Ch-3

The distance from Bear Island to Deepwood Motte is around 100 miles roughly so the journey will take a day of sailing along the coast and an hour or two of open ocean travel.

So Jon and Lyra sat on the deck of the ship talking and watching the coast go by seeing the occasional fishing village which was still recovering from the Ironborn rebellion years ago.

"Does bear island fish heavily? I'm sorry to ask this but I truly do not know much about your island Lyra. I know it's filled with forested hills and mountains so farming must be difficult." Jon asked as he pulled a small book and Reed pen from his shirt pocket.

Lyra sighed and drank from her cup of watered down ale, "No, as much as we would like too the Ironborn still attack any ships on the waters or villages on the coast.

Most people live a good distance inland to avoid being raided and the Mormont Keep and its village are one of the few as its Earthen wall and palisades are designed to destroy Ironborn ships."

Jon nodded and wrote down her explanation and sketched what he thought the area looked like.

"Have the attacks slowed since the Rebellion, I would have thought the King or at least the Lannisters would have patrolled more." Jon asked the Ironborn rebellion destroyed Lannister port and in return what little the Iron islands had were decimated in return.

Lyra just snorted and laughed at the idea, "The Royal fleet is focused on the Stepstones and their pirates are more of a concern in terms of trade, as for the Lanisters they ignore anything south of the islands so the Squids come North for raids." She squeezed her cup tight white knuckling it and probably cracked the clay cup.

Jon nodded, not sure how to respond to the answer, he knew that the southern kingdoms had no love for the North but this was ridiculous as the Royal fleet should be monitoring the Ironborn.

"Well...I have some ideas for protecting from the Ironborn, I showed you the Crossbow I built. It can be upscaled to destroy Longships and placed on walls easily and the larger ones are cheaper than the smaller ones.

Also, how much arable land is on the island? I know that the hills make it hard to grow certain crops and the dense forests do not help." Sketched out some pulley based Ballista to make it much more narrow and easier to aim and some Terrace farms like the Inca used along with irrigation to prove water.

"Some in the valleys as in outer parts of the island as the farther inland you the terrain becomes more mountainous, that is where most of the mines and quarries are. Why do you have an idea to make farm land?" Lyra asked semi sarcastically as she didn't think it was possible to make farmland on a large scale.

Jon nodded and fished his sketch of a terrace farm. "I call it terrace farming, it will require some testing on a small scale but in theory you would either cut or build a series of walls along the mountains and hills to allow farms to develop by washing away the soil."

The sketch was rough but gave the idea of what it is: first a hill that had a river or spring at the top would be selected then depending on if the hill or mountain is mostly rock or soil. As an area made of mostly rock would be cut away and that rocks be used to build walls to hold soil in to prevent soil erosion.

"Now, the problem here is that to my understanding most of the population of Bear Island like anywhere in the North is heavily focused on food production and preservation.

So to have the people stop doing that and build this it could cause many issues and any mess up could cause famines so to build these farms people need to be fed by other means.

I recommend building some of my new designs. [Jon pulled back his tube of Designs and placed two on the table.] First is my Brig design I showed you earlier; it could patrol the seas around the island and escort these.

I call them Fish Trawlers. They travel out into the deep sea and with massive nets pull fish up by the tons and return to port to have them dried and shipped inland."

Lyra looked over the designs; these ships are much more sleek and the sails are different than she was used to, the problem was how could her house afford to build these experimental ships.

"They are magnificent, Jon but I do both think my House could afford to build a fleet of these ships, maybe one Brig or two Trawlers but the Ironborn would swarm these ships even if they only have fish." Lyra added her house while not the poorest, they were still reliant on generations of wise spending to survive.

"Hmmm, okay let's talk this out. The Trawlers are quite fast for their size so to the sleek design and how trawling works they are normally completely harmless but I think I can change that it will cut into cargo size.

But by placing my Wolf Head Ballista on a rotating joint a group of men can defend the ship easily." Jon has to alter the width and depth of the ship to allow the large Ballitas and with the new design two can be placed onto a rotating platform to be able to fire like a modern turret.

The two back and forth Lyra pointing out areas to make it cheaper and easier to maintain, like areas having hatches to reach the hull in the event of a breach.

They spent hours on the deck of the ship till they approached deep water and passed the "lighthouse" at the point of the peninsula towards Bear island.

The two stood on the back of the ship looking at the North slowly fading away into the distance, Lyra looked at the new ship plans she and Jon made that would feed ther- no her people by the literal boat load it would be more if it wasn't for her dumbass uncle.

"We will have to name the ship, she will be the first of her kind and a blueprint for the new ones when they can be built." Lyra handed him the Design to be put into his tube for protection.

"The name will have to represent both or families you helped cut the cost down and easier to maintain." Jon placed the tube into his jacket keeping it on his person at all times. "I'm not very good at naming but I have an idea for a flag, a Direwolf and a Bear catching a fish from the air." If the fish just so happens to look like a trout that would bother Jon any.

Lyra smiled, she liked that idea having seen bears catch salmon from the rivers of Bear Island, "The Nanuq the ship will be the Nanuq Class it means Snow Bear I think that's perfect for a Fishing Ship that fights back."

The two new friends look out at the water towards Bear island and imagine the future, as the next two years are going to be interesting.

———————-

As they travel the open water the subject of available resources on Bear Island is brought up as many of Jon's projects rely on a variety of raw goods like iron and coal.

"Well the Island is around 15,000 Miles in size and our population is around the same from the last census, as for the mines I mentioned earlier it's mostly Iron, Dragon Glass and Basalt we haven't found a reason to expand as the rest of the small folk are focused around farming in some form." Lyra said as the two ate their lunch of dried foods and ale as they could see the edges of the island in the distance.

Jon's face split into a side smile at the mention of Dragon glass or obsidian he would be needing that for better quality alloys and the Frozen Dickhead Beyond the wall.

"The Mormonts used to, before the Dragon cunts took it, had Lands in the New Gift that fed the West coast of the North for generations and we had mines that dotted the mountains there. But that was all lost when it was stolen and given to the night watch which can barely monitor those lands and were practically abandoned." Lyra shook her head at the stupidity of the past and the annoyance that was the Targaryen's.

Jon thought about that, he knew his uncle/father could request the land but never would so he thought about another place that was untouched by mining operations and an outpost would be great to have.

"What about beyond the wall? Are there any laws that prevent lords from sending expeditions North as to my knowledge the Wildlings don't have mines of any kind. So in theory if a well armed and fed group moved North along the Milk Water River they could reap the lands there and with blessings from my Father bring woman and children wildlings south for settling the men would have to be left as no Northen lord would want them here." Jon hated the idea of sort of kidnapping but the north needed bodied and war brides have been a thing for millennia and those people would be much happier south of the wall or in walled settlements

Lyra racked her brain he was right nothing was stopping going Beyond the Wall she knew Bear Island had been raided more and more often over the years as the Watch declined. "I'll talk to my mother about that idea, but I know a great many men and women would like to get revenge and maybe even rescue their families from those savages."

The captain of the ship, a Bearislander with a massive chest and deep black hair by the name of Noah approached us. "My Lord and Lady we are interning at the bay of Bears. We will be docking with the hour please prepare."