Ch 62 ASOIF 5

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The first thing he had done was to break into the Citadel and make a copy of all the knowledge of the Maesters. There was no way he wasn't stealing all those books!

Carl still remembered how, when he was younger, Maester Naet had tried to convince Lord Hoster to send Carl to the Citadel to become a Maester. While he respected Maester Naet and felt the man was loyal to his father, Lord Tully, Carl also felt like the man held dual loyalties to his Lord and to the Maesters.

Maester Naet knew how much Lord Tully valued his heir, Carl, but he still tried to convince Lord Tully to "donate" Carl to the Maester's order when he saw how smart and quick learning Carl was.

Before Carl regained his memories, he didn't think too much of it. That's just how the Maesters were. But now that Carl remembered the situation and how hard Maester Naet worked to convince Lord Tully to pass Carl on to the Maester order, he held a bit of a grudge against the Maesters.

That inherent greed for Carl's talent to "belong" to the Maester order irritated Carl to no end. That arrogance and hubris of the Maesters to believe that they are the only people who should have control over talented people, and control over who was educated, was so incredibly offensive to Carl's sensibilities.

He also saw it as a form of power control. The Maesters controlled who could be educated, who could pass messages through their crow network, and they controlled what people could learn.

Even though many Lords and noblemen could go to learn from the Maesters and not join their order, in the end they would incur a debt to the Maesters for the privilege of learning. That debt would forever influence their decision making.

So Carl looked very disfavorably on the way that the Maesters controlled their power of education. He felt no guilt in the decision to steal knowledge that the Maesters crouched over more jealously than a dragon guards its hoard.

From the comfort of the Yamato's bridge, Carl plotted a course for Oldtown.

He already had eyes on Brandon and Lord Stark through his spy satellites, so he would be able to return in time to intercept them before they got themselves killed in a week's time. Carl shook his head ruefully. The things he does for family.

Since he had a week of time to spare, Carl had some items on his list to do in the meantime.

Carl left the Yamato in orbit and teleported down to the airspace above Oldtown. Oldtown was a harbor city in the south-west, on the coast of the Reach. Carl could still smell the sea air from his height above the city. It was still night when Carl arrived, which suited his purpose just fine, since most of the people would be asleep.

The city was mostly dark, lit only by a few fires, candles, and torches here and there. Some taverns and brothels still open and doing business. Some guard patrols wandering their "safe" routes.

The Citadel itself was dark at this time, indicating that most of the Maesters were already asleep at this late hour. That just made the already easy job even easier.

Carl manipulated his profound energy and flew down to the Citadel's roof. Spreading his senses, he scanned the building for any active personnel wandering around. He could have done all this with his technology easily, but Carl found the idea of personally breaking and entering the Citadel, home of the Maesters, to be much more enjoyable than teleporting the books up for scanning from his ship.

There were still a few young people awake in their rooms, studying late into the night. They seemed really determined to earn their links.

Earning their links, forging their links, forging their chain were all phrases that were used to indicate that someone had proved their mastery in a subject. Each link of a different metal represented mastery in a different area of knowledge, which they proudly wore around their neck to show their abilities.

Aside from personally offending Carl by trying to convince Hoster to force Carl to enlist, Carl's issue with the Order of Maesters didn't only have something to do with them being concerned over their power and influence.

By this point after having been the husband of the leader of an Empire and a leader of an Empire himself, he understood the politics and jockeying for position that humans do in the halls of power. He understood the methods that people will employ to keep their power, so he wasn't surprised by the actions of the Maesters.

No, his annoyance was that the Maesters were so bloody stupid in how they jealously hoarded their knowledge and only served the lords and nobles. They claimed to be knights of knowledge, but they never worked to push the boundaries of what they knew, only jealously squatted on what little they already had.

Carl had just spent the last ten years / couple centuries working hard to learn everything he could and uplift the human race and their allies in a few galaxies. To then come here to this tiny kingdom and see how small minded these maesters were personally offended Carl on a deep level.

Carl flew down from the roof and landed in front of the Citadel's gates. He stood there for a moment, looking at the two large green sphinx statues on either side of the gate. After spreading his senses, he learned of the nature of the colored stone. They were large blocks of Aventurine, with a hint of blood and fire magic residue.

'Apparently the statues were shaped with the Valyrian magic.' Carl thought. 'There must be a reason the Targaryen's house words are Fire and Blood. It's probably a left over from when they were of Valyria. House Targaryen only came and started conquering the seven Kingdoms about a hundred years after the Doom of Valyria, which was not even three hundred years ago. So many mysteries to discover.' Carl thought as he used a bit of telekinesis and silencing spells to silently open the locked doors and entered the front doors of the Citadel.

Now that he had "openly" and arrogantly entered the Citadel by the front door, Carl decided to sneak the rest of the way. Pulling on his magic, he cast the standard triple S stealth spells on himself. The SSS stealth spells obscured him from detection by Sight, Sound, and Scent.

One of these days Carl was going to have to figure out how to use one spell to do all three instead of relying on the three separate spells he learned in the Harry Potter world.

Quickly orienting himself, Carl moved through the dark halls towards the largest collection of books. There wasn't even a lit torch in the halls to light someone's path. Carl figured that since no one was up, it was too big of an expense for the Maester's to bother with.

Carl was somewhat surprised there weren't guards inside the citadel itself. He knew there were some that wandered the grounds and the outer wall, but Carl had bypassed all those by simply flying directly to the Citadel doors.

The door to the library was firmly locked at this time of night when Carl arrived, but that didn't stop him for more than a second. He had too many methods to bypass such a simple lock. Deciding to use his telekinesis, the door silently swung open just as Carl reached it, before swinging closed behind him.

Carl spent several minutes idly looking around the large library. Despite himself he was a little impressed at the sheer number of books he was seeing. The Maesters must have been busy gathering, hoarding, and copying the books over the past few centuries.

There was no way he would be able to personally peruse their library in a short time. But he had some cheats available to him.

Now that Carl was here, he decided to hand off the hard work to someone else. He contacted the Yamato's VI and added the job of scanning all the books while he looked around for any hidden caches of secret magical items, knowledge, or dragon eggs that speculative fiction told him should be here.

Small flashes of white light told Carl that the VI had the job well in hand. It was teleporting up the books, scanning them, and returning them in a matter of seconds. Much faster than Carl could do on his own even with magic. That was the benefit of technology.

The Vi would create a database and virtual library, organized by author, title, and subject matter. A report would be generated for Carl, informing him of the general gist of the knowledge base the Maesters had, and anything of interest that Carl didn't already know would be highlighted for his later study.

Carl figured that most of that knowledge would consist of history. But after seeing those two statues in front of the Citadel, there was a decent chance of the Maesters having some magical knowledge that came from Valyria that would be of interest to Carl.

As to whether there were still intact libraries and knowledge in the ruins of Valyria after the Doom destroyed it, that was something that Carl would learn later, after a detailed survey of the area.

In the meantime, Carl wandered the halls of the Citadel, the largest center of learning on Westeros. It was admirable in its own way. They really had collected a large amount of interesting things to study. With the Lords as their sponsor, they had enough standing and power in this medieval world to do some interesting things.

Carl found one hall that had skeletons of various creatures on display. The giant's skeleton was most interesting for the remnants of magic that were still present in the bones. The 10-14 foot tall giants of Westeros were only half as tall as the 25 foot tall giants of the Harry Potter world.

So while they were on the small side, the remnants of magic in the Giant's bones intrigued Carl. He decided that he would have to meet the Giants in this world at some point. It would be interesting to look them over.

After some time, Carl arrived in the room where the Dragon glass candles were kept. Dragon glass is what the common people called obsidian. The glass candles that the Maesters kept were 18 inches tall and twisted looking. Carl cast some diagnostic spells on the candles and raised an eyebrow at the results.

Apparently these candles could be used to communicate with other candles as well as scry far off places. The distance viewing aspect of the candle's magic was interesting, since it dipped more into prophetic visions than any other magic type that Carl knew.

Carl was glad he had visited the Citadel personally. Aside from studying this intriguing magic, he could tell that someone would be able to spy on him with these candles, if they knew to look for him. But now that he knew how they worked, he could easily block their ability.

Carl pulled out the materials he needed from his Warehouse and in 15 minutes had crafted an amulet that would block the candles from being used to spy on him. He smiled at the amulet he had crafted, before putting it away in his Warehouse.

He then pulled out some materials and crafted a duplicate of the Dragon glass candles. His duplicates did nothing more than look exactly like the ones the Maesters had. Switching them out, he put the real Dragon glass candles away in his Warehouse.

Even though he had the impression that none of the Maesters practiced magic, he wasn't going to leave the real candles behind on the off chance that they could be used against him or his people.

After exploring for some time through the Citadel, Carl was a little disappointed he didn't find anything really interesting. Like a hidden cache of dragon eggs. Or the secret to crafting Valyrian steel. Or some other fun hidden magical trove.

'Ah, well. I know there are at least three eggs out there somewhere. It's only a matter of time before my spy probes find them.' Carl consoled himself. He would get some local style dragons to play with somehow.

It was getting close to dawn, and Carl had somewhere to be later that day, so he cut off his rather unfruitful exploration of the Citadel. Opening a window, he flew out of the building and closed the window behind him. After orienting himself in the air, he flew off in the direction of Harrenhal. He had a meeting to crash.

Carl was riding his newly cloned horse through the forests outside of Harrenhal while whistling a tune, acting completely nonchalant. He didn't want to bother with purchasing a subpar horse from some out of the way place, so he'd had the Yamato clone him a strong mount. And compared to the unenhanced horses around Westeros, his was leagues ahead on strength, endurance, and speed. Just one of those little bonuses of having advanced technology and knowing how to enhance a horse's physique.

After a few minutes he rounded a bend and came upon the sight of a familiar 16 year old girl waiting next to a large tree, nervously pacing back and forth. Her horse was contentedly munching the surrounding grass.

Carl put a surprised look on his face when he saw that Lyanna saw him. "Why, what a surprise!" Carl called out. "I didn't expect to see the Northern Rose out here, without guards and looking like she's doing something shady!"

"Carl! What are you doing here!?" Lyanna exclaimed, looking a little frustrated at his presence.

Carl chuckled a bit at her cross expression. "What? Am I not welcome in your lovely presence? Are we not friends, Lyann?" Carl put a comically tragic hurt expression on his face to tease the girl.

Lyanna stamped her feet in frustration at his jesting. "Who else knows you are here, Carl?" Lyanna angrily and intently asked instead of answering Carl's question.

"We would like to know the answer to that too." A tense voice called from off to the side.

Carl looked over and acted like he was surprised to see the three men that he had expected. He had been tracking them and decided to arrive just before they did. Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and two knights of the Kingsguard, Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Oswell Whent. Surprisingly the two Kingsguard in white cloaks had their swords drawn while glaring at Carl.

"Hello there Prince Targaryen, Cousin, Ser." Carl cheerfully greeted the three men, ignoring the drawn swords. The amount of threat from the three men were negligible to Carl.

Ser Whent was a cousin from his mother's side. He hadn't had much interaction with him, but he had met him before, so Carl greeted him as a relative, to see if their resolve faces would falter.

Sadly, Ser Whent didn't seem to care one whit for his relative. He cared a great deal more for the opinion of his Prince, if the increased glare was anything for Carl to judge by.

The two Kingsguard spread out to bracket Carl and not allow him the chance to escape before their Prince got his answers. As if Carl was going to run anywhere when he spent so much effort to make sure he arrived at just this time.

Ser Arthur Dayne on Carl's right was a famous knight known as the Sword of the Morning. He was considered to be one of the most chivalrous warriors, and very good with the sword. He was considered nearly unmatched if he wielded his house's greatsword Dawn. Dawn was a sword made from a falling star that was tracked down by the founder of House Dayne over 10,000 years ago.

Carl noticed that Ser Dayne was in fact wielding his greatsword Dawn. This just got a bit more interesting, seeing how serious they were.

Ser Oswell Whent was wearing his well known helmet emblazoned with a black bat to show himself as a proud member of House Whent. He too was considered to be excellent with a blade, which is why he was part of the kingsguard, no doubt.

"Rhaegar!" Lyanna called out excitedly upon seeing the Prince.

Carl sighed. It seems like Lyanna really did come of her own volition. Looking at the attitude of the Prince and the Kingsguard, they weren't planning on letting anyone interfere with their mission.

"Lyanna." The prince smiled warmly at Lyanna. Carl felt quite annoyed since he could see that the Prince was acting and putting on a play for Lyanna's affections.

While Carl may have had many relationships in the past with a large number of women and would probably have many more, he never got involved with anyone unless the feelings between the two were genuine. He was always open and honest in their relationship, and always kept true. Never to cheat the feelings and sincerity of the other party.

So seeing Rhaegar being false and deceitful right in front of Carl's face annoyed the hell out of him.

Rhaegar nudged his horse, intending on riding forward to "romantically" meet with Lyanna, secure in the knowledge that Carl was check and mated by the presence of his two Kingsguards.

"So, what brings the prince and his two guards here on such a lovely morning?" Carl asked while maneuvering his horse to intercept the prince before his horse could take two steps. He had drawn Blue Orchid that was in the shape of a Valyrian steel bastard sword, making his intent to get in their way plain.

"It's no business of yours, boy." Ser Whent spat. "Now step aside before you get yourself gutted like a trout."

"I'm hurt at your attitude, cousin." Carl sardonically laughed. "But I'm afraid your joke Whent a little flat there. Besides, it is quite improper of your Prince to be meeting up here with a lady without her having a guard or chaperone. So I volunteered my services, being a good friend of her and her family. Don't you know how badly this could affect the Prince's reputation, let alone the lady's in question?"

Carl's chastisement wasn't taken well by Ser Whent, if his grinding teeth were any indication. The Prince's calm expression finally changed, his eyebrows scrunching up in annoyance. As the Prince and heir of the Kingdom, there were very few that dared interfere in his business. Ser Dayne had a completely expressionless face, but his eyes never left Carl's, always prepared for combat.

"Carl Tully!" Lyanna almost growled at him. "I won't put up with interference in my affairs from my brothers. What makes you think you can tell me what to do?"

Carl sighed at the stubborn young woman. Was she so eager to get away from Robert that she willingly allowed herself to be deceived by the Prince? Was she fooled by the romance of it all, and hoped for the fairy tale ending?

"What happens between the Prince and Lyanna Stark is the Prince's business. Not yours." Ser Dayne coldly declared, his eyes never leaving Carl's.

Carl sighed again at the man who seemed to almost worship the Prince. Whatever the prince decided would be what Dayne thought was right. What could Carl do when people were so stubborn they wouldn't listen to reason? He could only introduce his ideas forcefully remonstrate with them until their minds were changed.

This was a huge reason why so many people subscribed to the might is right attitude. It helped them avoid arguing with idiots that wouldn't bend no matter what was said. Might as well skip the blather and get right to the dance.

"And what does our esteemed Prince say on the matter, hmm?" Carl asked airily. He already knew the fight was going to happen. Even if he didn't interfere with the Prince's business, it was highly likely that he would try to use force to shut Carl up. Or at the very least take him prisoner so he couldn't spread news.

The blond haired purple eyed prince in black and red looked deeply at Carl, as if judging his determination. Carl simply raised an eyebrow while smiling steadily. He would not be swayed from stopping them here. Maybe once their heads were softened and they were willing to listen to reason, he could play nice with them.

"As the heir to House Tully, you owe allegiance to my family. Step aside. I have an engagement with the lady." Rhaegar stated, attempting to use the threat of the kingdom to force Carl's behavior.

That threat might have deterred Carl before he turned 18 and regained his memories. He would have had to think twice about whether taking action would be worth the risk of bringing trouble back to his small family.

But now that Carl had access to his full memory and power set, that was a pitifully small threat.

Lyanna, still on foot under the tree, watched the confrontation anxiously. She had a good friendship with Carl and didn't want to see him hurt for stubbornly interfering with her business. But the Prince was her best bet at getting out of marrying that Baratheon oaf that had nothing but fighting, drinking, and whoring on his mind. And not necessarily in that order.

"Well, then. Our course is set." Carl laughed wildly and spurred his horse forward.

The two knights on either side of Carl also sent their horses forward to intercept Carl before he could reach the Prince. Carl maneuvered his horse to the left, putting Whent out of position as Carl passed on the left of Dayne. As they were passing, Carl swiftly knocked Dayne's greatsword out of position and smacked him with the flat of his blade, knocking him off his horse, and with lighting fast sword moves blocked Whent's strike, knocking him askew.

The Prince sat his horse calmly, positive that the combination of Ser Dayne and Ser Whent could subdue the Tully heir. Even if he had proved talented in the melee of the Tournament of Harrenhal, there was no way he could match the skill of the Kingsguard.

But seeing Ser Dayne being de-horsed in just one strike caused his eyes to go wide in shock. He pulled his own sword, in preparation for joining the fray.

Carl pulled the reins, causing his horse to loop around and face the unbalanced charge of Whent. Carl's last blow had shocked him, numbing the hand and arm that he wielded his sword right down to the shoulder. Whent felt like he was moving through molasses as he saw the incoming attack from Carl, unable to move fast enough to block.

Carl easily used the flat of his blade to knock Whent off his horse. He crashed heavily to the ground, unconscious. Carl looked around Whent was on the ground, unconscious. Dayne was flopping around on the ground like a fish, unable to shake the dizziness from Carl's strike.

"What do you think you're doing Carl!? You're messing everything up!" Lyanna called furiously as she charged him on her horse, her light blade held aloft with the intent to stop Carl from interfering more.

Looking the other way, Carl saw that the Prince was charging him too, with a determined look on his face.

Carl knew that Lyanna was quite skilled from their time on the training grounds, as well as watching her masquerade as the Knight of the Laughing Tree, so he didn't allow himself to underestimate her. But she was the target of this morning's intervention, so he would first subdue the Prince.

He spurred forward to engage Rhaegar first, and with a swing of his sword had knocked aside his strike and hit him with the flat of the blade. He watched in satisfaction as the Rhaegar heavily fell to the ground with a crash.

Looping around, he saw that Lyanna was still charging at him. He shook his head. He just couldn't treat her the same as those men, since he was trying to wake her up and prevent her from being cheated.

Reaching for his magic, he cast a sleep spell on Lynna. He knew he would have to be rough on her with sword work to subdue her, so he went for the soft approach instead.

He caught her sleeping body with telekinesis before she could fall off her horse and hurt herself. With a bit of telekinesis on the reins, he guided Lyanna's horse to a stop near him.

He then levitated the three unconscious bodies along behind him as he rode over to the tree that Lyanna had been waiting under previously. Lyanna's horse obediently followed behind him with her sleeping body draped over the saddle. He smirked a bit when he heard her snort in her sleep.

Carl spent a moment to divest the three men of their weapons before healing up the three men he'd knocked down, making sure they stayed unconscious for the time being.

Thinking for a bit on how he wanted the coming talk to go, he pulled out a wizarding tent and set it up. He set up five chairs in a circle, and tied the four unconscious people to their chair. It just so happened that four chairs his guests were sitting on were inscribed with truth and babbling runes to highly encourage the people under their effect to tell the truth.

If that didn't work he would directly administer veritaserum to get the Prince talking.

The following conversation should prove…enlightening.

Carl cast silencing charms around his interrogation victims so their voices couldn't interrupt the one he was questioning. They could still hear everything happening outside of their circle of silence, but their voices wouldn't pass outside the circle unless Carl temporarily disabled it. He also put a recorder underneath their chairs if they let slip any interesting information while he was interrogating the others, he wouldn't miss it.

With the scene set, Carl woke the four individuals up. The three men still had some traces of blood running down their faces and staining their armor from where Carl had knocked them out. The three men jerked around frantically, trying to free themselves.

Lyanna meanwhile stopped as soon as she realized she was tightly bound and sat glaring at Carl. If looks could kill, Carl would be roast by now.

But since her looks couldn't kill, Carl simply watched her adorably petulant pouting with a grin on his face.

It took the group a few minutes to realize that despite their yelling, they could only hear themselves and not the others. Carl savored the look of unease that crossed the men's faces when they realized that something strange was happening here.

Especially the look of unease on the Prince's face gave Carl some happy thoughts. It wasn't quite to the point where the Prince gave up on the idea of being able to pressure Carl into releasing him with the threat of the Kingdom, but it was a realization that all was not well.

Rhaegar may have also been thinking of the Defiance of Duskendale, where his father was held captive for over six months. Rhaegar firmed his will, determined that he wouldn't lose his dignity if something similar happened to him.

Carl meanwhile just sat casually in his chair, looking at his four guests while sipping on some Root Beer. He was waiting for the moment when they finally calmed down so he could begin, but it was taking some time for the two kingsguard knights to stop trying to free themselves. Even Prince Rhaegar was becoming impatient because it had become obvious to him what Carl was waiting for.

Rhaegar assumed it was because Carl was playing power games, and he wouldn't be far wrong.

Rhaegar wasn't completely right, though, since Carl really just didn't want to deal with shouting men who didn't listen. Carl was waiting for the moment where all of his prisoners realized they didn't have any power in the situation and calmed themselves down so they could have a conversation.

Several minutes later Dayne and Whent finally calmed down and sat panting, glaring holes through Carl. Carl so wanted to condescendingly pat them on the heads as if they were puppies, but he manfully refrained. He would have to wait at least another half an hour for them to calm down if he insulted them like that.

"Well, glad to see everyone is finally paying attention." Carl finally said, the first words he had voiced after the four woke up. "I was hoping to have this conversation the easy way. But it seems everyone here was quite stubborn and wanted to fight, instead of talking. So, I can only use this method to force a conversation. I should mention that there is a silencing spell around each of you. Your voice won't go beyond that circle, so cursing me out won't do you any good."

The four suddenly started, only now realizing that they had only heard their own voices cursing Carl, but hadn't heard the others, even though they could see their mouths moving.

"We'll start this question and answer session with our esteemed Prince Rhaegar." Carl turned off the silencing charm around Rhaegar.

"What do you hope to accomplish from this foolish assault on our person, Carl Tully?" Prince Rhaegar immediately demanded.

Rhaegar was completely flummoxed at Carl's reaction, which was to chuckle in amusement. Rhaegar had expected for Carl to shout defiance, or demands, or some rebellious platitudes. Of anything he expected, for Carl to simply laugh was beyond his expectations.

The two kingsguard seemed to take great offense at Carl laughing at their prince. Which is exactly why Carl had them silenced, so they couldn't interrupt.

"That's not how this works, Rhaegar Targaryen. I'll be asking the questions here." Carl looked over at Lyanna and saw that she at least was able to hold herself back and wait to find out just what Carl was up to, if only because she recognized that she couldn't get out of the ropes. She'd already found that her hidden blades were gone, and the ropes seemed to move on their own to keep her from wriggling out. She was well and truly stuck.

Carl looked back over to see the sour expression on Rhaegar's face, which amused him greatly. For some reason, Carl had decided he really didn't like Rhaegar, even if he wasn't sure just why. He didn't particularly hate Rhaegar, but he definitely didn't like him. Maybe he would meditate on it later to figure out just why that was.

"Okay, first question. Why were you meeting Lyanna Stark today in such a remote area?" Carl asked Rhaegar.

"I was going to take her away to marry her." Rhaegar was surprised that his mouth ran off without him, even though he had no intention of answering the questions Carl posed him.

Even though the babbling and truth runes caused them to speak, they didn't have to elaborate too much as long as they answered the question. So Carl would have to keep asking more detailed questions.

"How were you going to marry her? Don't you already have a wife?" Carl asked.

"We were going to wed in a Weirwood grove. Yes, I am married to Princess Elia Martell." Rhaegar answered.

"Hmm, interesting. How can you justify marrying a second woman if you already have a wife?" Carl probed.

"Only in the North is marrying in a Weirwood grove considered a legitimate marriage. The rest of the Kingdoms would accept that our children were legitimate, but would not really consider Lynna a proper wife, especially with my marriage to the Princess Elia."

Carl noticed Lyanna's eyes narrowing at the Prince. Apparently she wasn't liking where the direction of the answers were going.

"Oh? And what did you think about Lyanna not being considered a proper wife?" Carl asked.

"It was very necessary, since that way Dorne and the other Lords wouldn't be too bothered by my 'youthful indiscretion', and wouldn't cause too much trouble. It would also allow me to continue controlling Lyanna if she thought she was an honorable and proper wife according to her people's customs. Besides, I needed her to bear a legitimate child for me."

Oh, yes. Lyanna was quite upset with Rhaegar's cold blooded answers that had nothing to do with feelings and romance.

"Oh? Why did you need any children you had with Lynna Stark to be considered legitimate?" Carl wondered aloud while watching the growing anger in Lyanna's eyes.

"For the prophecy and because Princess Elia cannot bear any more children for me."

"But you already have a daughter and a son. Enough to secure the succession. Why do you need more children for the prophecy?" Carl asked. Rhaegar looked like he really didn't want to answer that question, wanting to hid certain information.

"I needed another child because of the prophecies I found. I was hoping my son Aegon was to be the promised one. But he wasn't born under the proper signs. The prophecies spoke of a three headed dragon, as well as a Promised Prince, born of Ice and Fire; born under certain signs. I knew I needed at least three children, but my wife could no longer bear children, so I was seeking a solution. And then I saw Lyanna Stark at the Tourney of Harrenhal. The realization struck me that she is of the lineage of the Northern Kings, or Ice, while I am of the lineage of the Targaryens, or Fire. Any children we have would meet the conditions of the prince being born of Ice and Fire. So I needed her to bear that child to fulfill the prophecy."

Rhaegar was very verbose with that answer, but Carl saw that he was holding something else back. Carl didn't want Rhaegar to get away with not being completely honest. "What were all the conditions of the prophesied prince?"

"There would be a bleeding star and much smoke and salt that would herald the birth of the Promised Prince." Rhaegar's jaw snapped shut as soon as he got those words out, looking furious that he was forced to answer.

Lyanna had a look of confusion on her face amidst the anger. His words didn't really make much sense.

"What was your interpretations of those signs of the prophecy, and what were you doing to fulfill them?" Carl zeroed in on the matters that Rhaegar didn't want to confess to.

"The Bleeding Star is a roaming star that only comes about every several hundred years. It will be back in a little more than a year. I simply had to get the timing right for Lyanna to bear a child at the proper time." Rhaegar was trying hard to keep from speaking, but he couldn't stop himself babbling his answers out.

Carl saw out of the corner of his eye that Lyanna was no longer paying any attention to him and only glared at Rhaegar. Apparently the idea that Rhaegar was simply using her for a broodmare didn't sit well with her.

"And the smoke refers to war. I was going to instigate a war. I've already spread the rumors that I've kidnapped Lyanna Stark to have my way with her. With the hotheaded nature of her brother Brandon, I'm sure he'll rush straight to Kings Landing seeking to avenge her honor on me. My father has been increasingly paranoid lately, so he will likely kill Brandon, and he won't stop with just him, once his paranoia is inflamed. War will come because the great houses will not put up with their lords and heirs being executed for no reason. That will fulfill the smoke part of the prophecy."

"The salt means tears. Great grief is needed at the birth of the Promised Prince. Once I am sure that Lyanna is pregnant, she will be locked up in a tower while being fed information on how her family was slaughtered, how the realm is at war because of her. The great guilt and grief she feels will cause her to shed many tears in her grief, thus completely fulfilling the prophecy as the promised prince is born."

Carl saw that Lyanna's confusion had completely turned to anger and rage at hearing Rhaegar's plans for her. Especially as she thought about how naively she had accepted his sweet lies previously. Any amount of affection she had for Rhaegar died, shriveled up in her fury.

Carl coldly sneered at the Prince's confession of his plans for Lyanna. He knew that leaders and rulers had to make hard choices sometimes because of circumstances beyond their control. It was the nature of the job. Sometimes a ruler can't make a good choice; they could only make a less bad decision.

But here was a prince that deliberately sought out the bloodiest and most heartless things to do in order to fulfill some nebulous prophecy. In his great pride and hubris he acted like it was naturally up to him to fulfill prophecies. Of course some prophecy that he read about in a book that had been sitting there for hundreds, if not thousands of years, applied to him, and only him.

If someone tried to convince Carl that Rhaegar didn't have some of the madness that his house was known for, he would have laughed in their faces. Planning to rape some girl so she gave birth at the time a comet was passing by, planning the cold blooded murder of some loyal lords and heirs. Plotting the whole rebellion and war to fulfill such a nebulous thing as prophecy.

If that wasn't madness, Carl didn't know what was.

And of course the idea that the prophecy didn't need mortal help to fulfill it never occurred to Rhaegar. Of course the prophecy wouldn't be fulfilled in 700 years the next time the comet came. No, in Rhaegar's mind it could only apply to him and right now.

"You're a bloody idiot and a mad man, Rhaegar." Carl put up the silence ward around Rhaegar once more and spat at his feet in disgust.

Carl then noticed that Lyanna was back to looking at Carl, but not in an angry manner. She was asking him to let her ask Rhaegar a question. He swiftly made a decision and waved away the silencing charms. "Go ahead and ask your question, Lyanna." He gently said.

She looked back over to Rhaegar with a mix of almost tears and hard faced anger. "Did you truly mean the words you said to me, Rhaegar? Or were they just a way to deceive me?"

"I don't feel anything for you. Well, maybe a little bit of lust, you are good looking after all. I only told you I fell in love with you at first sight to use you to bring the Promised Prince forth." Rhaegar confessed.

The angry tears began to fall from Lyanna's eyes. Carl felt for the girl. He remembered his own heartbreak back in his original world. Just because he was a stupid teenager didn't mean he didn't feel the crushing hurt and betrayal. It may have even amplified the feelings much more than normal because he was a stupid teenager back then, the same as Lyanna was now.

Carl waved and the ropes binding Lyanna let her go. Before Carl could get up to comfort her, she gave a huge cry and threw herself at Rhaegar and started pummeling him.

Carl could have stopped Lyanna's attack at any time, but he thought she deserved to let out her anger a bit. He just made sure that she didn't permanently damage or kill the Prince just yet. She was strong enough to defeat three experienced knights in the joust, after all. She was easily able to beat a man to death. But Carl did chuckle darkly at seeing the frantic struggles of the two Kingsguard Knights where they were tied up because they couldn't protect their Prince from his well deserved beating.

After a few minutes, when she finally wound down, Carl pulled her away and brought her up to a room in the tent. He spent some time simply holding her to comfort her. He was letting her know that even though she felt betrayed, the world wouldn't end for her. She still had family and friends to support her.

He then set up for her to have a bath and a cup of wine. Not that cheap rotgut stuff that they served at tourneys, but some proper wine fortified with magic and profound energy. That always seemed to help his girls in the past settle down their emotions.

Once Carl was sure she was doing okay, he went back downstairs and looked over his prisoners for a bit, shaking his head at what the Prince had confessed. There was no way he would work with a Prince that induced a civil war just to fulfill the nebulous requirements of a prophecy.

At least not while said Prince was a free agent.

The sheer amount of stupidity and underhanded deception in Rhaegar's decision making killed any possibility of Carl ever letting Rhaegar go free. He couldn't ever trust that in the future Rhaegar would actually be able to recognize what was good for the realm. Not when he easily let himself be suckered into some prophecy that he had read in some thousand year old scrolls.

Carl ignored the glares he was getting from the three men and levitated them out of the chairs and down to the cells he had in the basement of his wizard tent.

Carl may or may not have had a lot of fun playing with the tropes of the Harry Potter world.

A sweet wizarding tent with all kinds of bells and whistles was definitely one of those must have items. And yes, he did have quite a few special trunks with huge amounts of land inside. He just didn't have House Elves to manage his Trunkland, because he would have needed stasis pods for them.

Once the prisoners were secured, Carl returned back upstairs and began preparing a meal. He figured that Lyanna would eventually wander back down when she got hungry.

While he was cooking, he wondered what he was going to do with Lyanna for the next week. At the very least he had to keep her and the three stooges out of sight of the gossip channels of the Seven Kingdoms for the next week to keep the timeline stable. But how to explain that to someone with only a Westeros education level?

And he was once more faced with a choice. Should he enslave Rhaegar to act his part? Should he replace the three stooges with HFRs while keeping them locked up? Should he only replace Rhaegar with an HFR, Obliviate the two knights, and let them follow the Robot Rhaegar?

Thinking back on what Rhaegar had planned for Lyanna, Carl suddenly didn't care what his fate would be. It was like the situation of traitors back in the Illusory Demon Realm all over again. Why should he agonize over their fate, and over his morals in dispensing punishment? Why should he torture himself with indecisions over people that deserved to die?

Whether they were imprisoned for the rest of their lives in a jail cell, which was apparently the "humane" thing to do, or if they were imprisoned in their bodies for the rest of their lives, or if they were just executed. Carl was just so done with agonizing over the decision and moral quandary. They deserved whatever their fate was.

Carl decided that he would let Lyanna decide Rhaegar's punishment. It might help her get over the betrayal and sense of being used. But whatever Rhaegar's fate would be, Carl didn't particularly care.

He returned his attention to the pizza he was making. Pizza and Root Beer. Yummm…

Carl and Lyanna were sitting at the tent's dinner table, having just polished off the last pizza. One of the things Carl enjoyed about cooking was seeing how much people enjoyed his food. And while Pizza wasn't considered exotic in most of the worlds Carl had been too, in this one it was.

He had made some basic sandwiches to make sure his prisoners didn't starve, but otherwise ignored them. They deserved the Spam he fed them. He also ignored when Lyanna took the sandwiches down to them and took the opportunity to yell and beat them with a staff through the prison doors. Carl figured it was cathartic for her, what she needed.

He and Lyanna hadn't talked about important things at dinner, mostly about superficial things like foods and such. Carl was debating in his head how much of what was going on that he would tell Lyanna.

On the one hand, she had been an easily fooled 16 year old girl just a bit ago. But on the other hand, he could see the steel in the silk glove of her personality. Especially when she realized how much she had been fooled, she seemed to be taking on a much more cynical air lately.

"Carl, are you going to tell me now what is going on, or are you going to use your magic to silence me too?" Lyanna asked out of the blue, staring over the dinner table at Carl.

Carl didn't answer right away, looking in her eyes to judge her sincerity and temperament. He felt like he could trust her now. She wasn't going to be flighty and go off blabbing secrets. She wasn't going to let herself be fooled by promises made of air. Lyanna felt nervous over his silent contemplation, so she started explaining herself.

"The main reason I trusted Rhaegar's word so much is because it gave me a way out from my betrothal with Robert. I see how Robert looks at me, and how he's infatuated with my looks, but he doesn't really know me, or respect me. The moment I'm not around, Robert goes looking for the nearest whore to lay with. He doesn't care that I hate it. He doesn't respect our betrothal enough to stop. I hate it." Lyanna was clenching her fists tightly, as if she wanted to throttle someone, or several someones. "And I know he would continue doing it even after marriage. Even if I chastised him for it, he would just blow me off. I just can't allow myself to marry a man like that."

Carl looked at her contemplatively for a moment more. "Tell me, Lyanna. If you had the power to control your life without anyone to order you around, what would you do?"

Lyanna gazed away from Carl, her unfocused gaze staring off into space, thinking on the question. The idea was so appealing. Just leave all the expectations and betrothals behind. Just live her life...doing what exactly? Without the food, shelter, and gold of House Stark, what would she have? How would she live? But if she had the power…

"I would want to marry a good man, one who loved me. I would want to travel and see the world with him. I would want to enjoy life with my new and old family. I would want to gallop my horse across the Dothraki Sea. Figure out a way to see Valyria. Climb the tallest mountain. Sail the seas. I want to live." Lyanna had a light of life inside her as she extolled her desires.

Carl noticed just how beautiful she looked at that moment.

She then slumped back into her seat. "Instead I'll be relegated to a house wife while my oaf of a husband goes whoring every night." She finished, with her head drooping down, already half convinced of her eventual fate.

"Perhaps not." Carl murmured, causing Lyanna's head to raise abruptly so she was staring at Carl.

"What do you mean?" She demanded, pleaded.

"I mean, Lyanna, that I can help you gain enough strength to live your life as you want."

"Yes!" Lyanna exclaimed.

"It won't be easy." Carl warned her in a serious tone of voice.

"I don't care. I want it." Lyanna demanded.

"There are conditions to this offer." Carl chuckled at the accidental innuendo before warning her once more.

"Whatever they are, they are worth it. I know you, and trust that you wouldn't hurt me." Lyanna gazed expectantly at Carl.

"Okay then. Remember your words. Now, take my hand." Carl offered his hand. The moment Lyanna grasped Carl's hand, he shifted the both of them into the Time Pearl.

Lyanna gasped in shock and wonder as she looked around her. They were in the middle of a plaza that was set up as the arrival and departure area. There were tall buildings on three sides, raised up more than 10 stories. The fourth side led to one of the practice fields that went on for as far as her eyes could see.

The buildings were made out of a strange metal with large glass windows. They were the most clean and fascinating buildings she had ever seen. Everything looked different, strange. Even the walkways were made out of stone. But it was all smooth, as if the stone had been poured instead of the normal cobblestone.

She looked back at Carl, wide eyed. "What is this place?" She asked in wonder.

"This is where you will learn, sweat, and bleed to gain the strength you wish for." Carl answered. "Now, come. I'll show you were you will sleep." Carl led her off to the dorms. It had been a long and trying day for her. "Tomorrow very early we will start with your training." Carl warned her with a sadistic smile. "So get some decent sleep."

Lyanna warily looked at him while following behind. She didn't like the look of that smile one bit…

Lyanna collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted from running miles with a tire tied to her waist, while a "robot" whipped her. If it wasn't for the amazing physical prowess and the ability to fly that Carl had shown here, she would never have put up with such treatment! His amusement at her pain and suffering just made her angrier!

Lyanna was lying almost boneless face down on the massage table. The few "ki" pokes that Carl had done to her had gotten rid of most of the aches and pains from the day's training. And now she was being massaged by Carl, which felt heavenly. Just the massage alone was almost worth the pain of the day's exercise.

But Carl's knowing smirk still pissed her off! The jerk!

Lyanna looked over her computer terminal to see what lessons she would have today. There had been a download the previous day of knowledge about a topic called Algebra. She still wasn't sure exactly what applications the complicated math had. But looking at the worksheets on her screen, it looked like she would be solving problems on the subject to really cement in her mind the topics.

So many of the things that Carl was introducing to her was beyond the knowledge of anyone on Westeros. If asked before she entered the time dilation, she didn't think just a few months would have made such a huge difference in her outlook and life.

But that was before she was introduced to so many new things. Brand new knowledge. Movies. And chocolate. And chocolate ice cream. She supposed she could forgive Carl some of his amusement at her expense, as long as he kept providing her with chocolate.

He was still a jerk! But a chocolate bearing jerk.

It had been over a year since Carl began training her, and Lyanna was missing her family quite a bit. Carl had explained to her how he had blindly made the jump back in time to save her father and brother from the Mad King. She had nearly cried herself to sleep that night, thinking about what the consequences for her family would have been if not for Carl. She could only blame herself for listening to that bastard Prince.

So she was willing to forgive Carl for a lot. But he sure pushed the edge of what she was able to forgive with his damned knowing smirks and jokes! Especially because she hadn't been able to defeat the training memory of Carl back when he was just as far along. She was so close, though!

Lyanna was so ecstatic! She had finally beaten memory Carl! She had been so excited she'd jumped into Carl's arms and kissed him. Then immediately punched his shoulder. That damned smirk again!

Lyanna was proud of her progress. She had already reached the Martial Master level. Already she could walk a wide path across Westeros if she so desired. And that wasn't even including the amazing knowledge and technology that Carl had available.

Her view of what she wanted out of life had changed completely in the past five years. She still loved her family, but there was so much more that she wanted, too. No way was she going to let Carl with his damned smirks that fired up her blood get away from her!

Carl smiled down at Lyanna where she was cuddled up to him in their shared bed as she slept off their bout of lovemaking. They were eight years into their training session. Before going back in time and saving Lyanna as well as her family he hadn't had any idea or expectation that he would grow so fond of the wild girl. But spending so much time with her here, alone together, had given him them time to get to know each other. Her excitement and joy in life were very endearing and refreshing for Carl who had lived for quite a long time by this point.

Carl was pretty sure that his idea to just chill for the next 10 years as the heir of Riverrun wasn't going to happen due to Lyanna's influence. At the very least he was sure to spend most of his time exploring their world together, when they weren't building up the North and Riverrun to be the best Kingdoms around. Maybe they would even travel around the galaxy to see what was out there and only visit home on special occasions.

They still hadn't had a discussion of what she wanted to do with Rhaegar when they left in two more years. Carl wasn't fool enough to open that topic. Either she would bring it up herself, or it could remain unspoken until they exited the Time Pearl.

She knew about his capabilities so she could decide the most appropriate punishment for Rhaegar when the time came.

And since she knew about the Jump Chain and that he only had 10 years in the world, not including time dilations, then he was sure they would be spending lots of time together exploring, instead of attending to boring administrative duties. Carl snorted. He would probably have to unload the heir duties on Edmure so they would have more time to enjoy themselves before he was off to another world.

He would have to see about sneaking in some training downloads into Edmure's head at night so his younger brother could take over the heir duties. That way Edmure wouldn't feel overwhelmed with the sudden extra duties.

And he wouldn't be surprised if Lyanna asked for the training session for her family at some point. He was sure that if she did ask for her family, then he would drag his own family in with them as well. He really wasn't sure if he could convince his two ladylike sisters to participate in the martial training. He would have to work on his persuasion skills. But at the very least they could benefit from the profound cultivation if nothing else.

Carl decided to stop thinking about future possibilities and just relaxed into a pleasant and content sleep in bed next to his girl.