Chapter 32: Special

(A.N. Sorry for the long wait, and though I regret to inform you all that there will be no chapter this week for Borderlands, there will be two for the Game of Thrones.)

--------

Sailing from Asteria to beyond the wall was rather simple. Without even having to leave the Bay of Ice, Will sailed up along the land bridge, continuing on even as they reached the Frozen Shore.

It wasn't until they got into a secluded little bay that Will finally pulled the ship to land.

"Why are we going beyond the wall?" Oberyn asked, looking quite cold as he blew warm air into his hands. The time they had been sailing, Elia and Will had kept silent about it, and it didn't look as though they were going to tell him the reason why anytime soon.

"Are we really beyond the wall?" Jon asked, a little unsure if this was right. "Yeah. Those mountains there are the Frostfangs. Once we get on the other side, we should be able to see the Haunted Forest." Will answered, pointing out the mountain range off in the distance.

"If we are beyond the wall, why haven't the Wildlings just built ships and come this way?" Jon asked, not making sense of how easy it was to go beyond the wall.

"They don't like to be called Wildlings. They prefer the Freefolk. And I don't think you realize how hard it is for people to make it over the Frostfangs, especially with a ship. Do you see any trees around here?" Will said, stumping Jon once more.

"Then how are we going to cross?" Daenerys spoke up, knowing full well if a grown man couldn't do this, then the odds of her being able to were slim to none.

"That's why Will is here!" Aegon stated, laughing a little at their ignorance. They all knew Will could use magic, though no one really knew to what extent his magic went.

After unloading two teams of horses and Trojan, Will brought out two sleighs from his inventory before harnessing them up. Oberyn and Aegon drove the sleighs forward, following behind Will who was in the lead, running beside his horse, as weird as that sounded.

It only took a few hours to get to the base of the mountain, at which point everyone disembarked from the sleighs before Will stored them away, swapping them out for wagons.

"Are we really going to ride up the mountain?" Ellaria asked, looking upward, not quite making out where the top of it was.

"No, we're going through it." Will said, drawing all eyes to himself. Ignoring their gazes, Will walked over to the face of the mountain before extending his hand to rest on it.

It only took a few seconds, but before everyone's eyes, a smooth tunnel with a flat pathway was created. It was just big enough for one of the wagons to fit inside, with a little extra room on the sides.

"Impressive!" Oberyn said, whistling in appreciation at the sight of it. Once everyone was inside, Will closed off the entrance with 2 feet of stone, though he did leave a number of small holes open to allow for oxygen to still be able to enter.

It took almost a whole day to get through to the other side of the mountain, though that had mostly to do with the wagons moving at a horse's walk rather than a gallop.

When they finally reached the other side, everyone was glad to finally be out of the darkness. The three torches they had weren't enough to see very well in the dark, and it was almost like they were seeing for the first time when they saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Taking a deep breath, Aegon smiled widely before he spoke, "It's good to be home!!" The 5 years he spent as a child here might not have been much, but they meant more to him than anyone could ever realize.

"I thought you were from the south?" Jon asked, wondering if he had been lied to by his half-brother.

"I was born in the south, but I was raised here for a good portion of my life. After Robert killed our father, Will brought us here, as no one from here spreads rumors to the south." Aegon answered, getting an O face from Jon.

After traveling for the whole day, everyone decided it was best to rest up for a few hours, as this was just the beginning of the trip

. With Will there, it didn't even seem like they were camping out with the palace level rooms he built into the side of the mountain, giving everyone the comforts of home. No one was complaining on that front, it being about a millions times better than sleeping under the stars in the cold wind and snow.

For the next three days they all traveled northward at a leisurely pace, but the calm and quiet ride ground to a halt when a river of water rose up around the side of the sleighs, forming a shield wall of sorts as it stopped over a dozen arrows from hitting them.

Before anyone had a chance to realize they were under attack, it was already over, Will having locked the attackers in a stone prison of sorts, and now they were busy trying to get out.

Ignoring his panicked companions, Will made his way over to the makeshift prison, then jumped up onto the edge so he was looking down inside.

"You idiots are really gonna have to learn to stop killing and robbing everyone you come across!! It's getting ridiculous!!" Will shouted down to his captives, who were all looking up at him in terror.

Rumors had spread about him over the years, and with the snow turning to water and shielding their would-be victims, and the ground rising up and encircling them, it didn't take a genius to figure out who they had attacked.

None of them even bothered to raise their weapons, realizing there wasn't really anything they could do in this situation but hope Will took pity on them and didn't kill them.

"C-Castian! We didn't know-!!" One of them tried to explain himself, but he was cut-off when the ground beneath him gave way and he was buried, leaving only his head exposed.

"Look!! Even if it wasn't me, it doesn't mean you can just go around killing everyone that has something you want!! Otherwise, like today, you'll run into someone that could bend you over and put you in a really bad situation!" Will said, getting a few cries of horror from them.

He watched them without saying anything for a few minutes, letting them suffer a little at what might happen. 'Kill them or don't kill them?' That was the question that was plaguing Will's mind at the moment.

"Have the Giants left the Mountains?" Will asked, completely derailing the train of thought of all the Freefolk. "Ummm... No? They're still in the Thenns Mountains." The man buried up to his neck answered, looking quite comical in Will's opinion.

'So Mance hasn't been able to get them yet...' Will thought, absently wondering if Mance ever would get them. After all, they could fight against the undead with their Dragonglass weapons, so going south beyond the wall was pointless for them.

Still, wouldn't it be hilarious to bring some of them down and scare the living daylights out of the Southerners? Yup! That's exactly what he would do!

"Well... You all have fun getting out of here! Should only take a few hours if you start digging now." With that said, Will walked back to the sleighs, a little smile on his face as he realized how long it would take these idiots to get out of that jail.

"What the fuck was that?!!" Oberyn shouted with weapon in hand, looking over to where Will had come from, half expecting more attacks to come their way.

"Don't worry about it. They were just some poor schmucks who needed some enlightenment!" Will stated, chuckling a little darkly towards the end.

Not bothering to explain any further, Will got them all going once more, only this time there weren't any more interruptions.

It took another day's travel before they made it to the Milkwater River, at which point a ship with a familiar fiery bird on its sails appeared. He had taken the time to swap the sails to another ship, so hopefully people would know it was him now.

Will was all for traveling by land in the south or in Essos, but it was taking way too long to traverse the north as they were.

Granted that was just his opinion, as to anyone else in the world then they were actually making a really good time, especially over such rough terrain. By ship, Will could have them in the Thenns Mountains by midday tomorrow, an unprecedented feat.

The sailing was smoother than the sleighs, so there weren't any complaints from anyone, not that Will would have cared for their complaints. Well, maybe Elia's complaints, but she meant something more to him than the others. Even Rhaenys.

In no time at all the group had reached the entrance to a valley that was familiar to some of them, but unfamiliar to most of the group.

Aegon was the first to jump out of the sleigh, which they had been in for the last hour since disembarking the ship, then ran forward through the snow until he got to a familiar dirt pathway that was obviously still in use, seeing as how there was barely any snow on it.

*Whistle!!*

With a loud whistle, he stood still and waited for a few seconds until a slight rumbling could be heard as something big approached.

As everyone waited only a few feet away from him, most of them were wondering what the rumbling sound was coming from, while the other three people who did know were smirking to themselves.

Their smiles only grew wider when the first giant came into view, followed shortly by 3 more who were just as breathtaking.

Aegon shouted something that not many of them could understand, but the giants sure could. They all seemed to be studying the group carefully, but their expressions turned rather happy when the snow around them gained a bit of life and began to move around them.

What followed was the 4 giants running over and scooping up Aegon, then throwing him into the air, catching him as if he was a little toy. Rhaenys came over and greeted them, getting a similar greeting.

Elia and Will walked forward together, only the giants were a lot more calm and relaxed with them. From past experience, they had learned not to do that with Elia, but Will was pretty excited to go for a ride, even going so far as to boost the height he went by three times.

Oberyn and the others just looked on dumbly, not believing what the hell they were seeing.

It wasn't until about an hour later when the group got to the base of a certain mountain region that they saw lots of giants walking all around.

"Incredible!!" Oberyn stated, taking in the scene that Elia had described to him on more than one occasion. If he was being honest, he wasn't sure he had completely believed all of the stories, especially about the giants, but now he could see that she hadn't lied about one detail.

The giants all came out to greet them, many looking towards Elia in delight, while Aegon and Rhaenys ran over to meet some others, looking as though they were meeting long lost friends.

Will on the other hand was meeting a group of giants who seemed separated from the others. They looked like they were greeting each other respectfully, and it seemed as though they were happy to see him, which was saying something given how Will usually left people.

When everyone was introduced to each other, Aegon and Rhaenys led them all to a mountainside, which was exactly the way they remembered it.

Running through the place, they were excited to see some of the things they had left behind, reminiscing about everything in stories to the others.

Once everyone had decided to settle down for the night, they all gathered in the living-room, where Will sat waiting, looking like he wanted to talk with them all.

"Is this why we came North? To see the Giants?" Jon asked curiously, having wondered what reason they could have had for coming here since they set out from Asteria.

"It's one of them. The giants are people that everyone could learn from, even if some of the things they do aren't for everybody." Elia answered warmly as she looked down at Jon, who was sitting between her and Daenerys.

The two of them were like brother and sister almost, despite being aunt and nephew. It had only been a short time that they had known each other, but they had a lot in common.

(A.N. No they are not going to get together in this!!)

"What are the other reasons?" Rhaenys asked, not complaining, just curious.

"One of the reasons is because of your Targaryen bloodline, but you're not the only ones here who could learn something from this." Will said, looking at each of the 4 Targaryens, then to Oberyn and his children, then finally to Drox.

"What do you mean?" Aegon asked, looking rather confused at that.

"Everyone here is special in their own way, yet they're just like everyone else in so many other ways. Some of you are magical, most of you are royalty, but that doesn't make you any more special than anyone else in the world. There are thousands of others out in the world with great magic, and there are thousands of people who all come from some form of royalty. It's just how things are." Will said, his words making a bit of sense, and yet no sense at all.

Seeing their confusion, Will continued. "The Targaryens have ruled over Westeros for 300 years, but that doesn't mean that they are meant to be the rulers, right?" Will asked, looking towards the 4 Targaryens in question, though his eyes rested a little longer on Daenerys than the others.

"Why shouldn't the Targaryens sit on the throne? It's ours by right. Isn't it?" Daenerys asked, getting a long drawn out sigh from Will.

"How did the Targaryens get to be the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms?" Will asked calmly, wanting nothing more than to start shaking the little girl's head until she started thinking clearly.

"Our ancestors conquered them." Aegon answered solemnly. Of course he knew, he was named after the very ancestor who did the conquering.

"But weren't they at war with each other all of the time? Didn't him stepping in and uniting them bring about an era of peace?" Daenerys asked, knowing there was some good that came with the bad.

"Yes, that is true. But how many hundreds of thousands of people did they burn alive with their dragons to claim it? And though they did bring peace, it didn't last forever. Just because someone can go and conquer the world, does it mean they should? Just because they have power, doesn't make them good leaders. The Targaryens ruled through fear, but as soon as they lost the tool that caused so much fear to the common folk, wars started up once more." Will explained, making all of them think on those words.

The people had been so terrified of the dragons, they had actually attacked the Dragon Pits in King's Landing many years ago, and killed the dragons that had threatened their lives so many times.

Once the Dragons were no longer there, the Targaryens had to think of some other way to keep the populace scared, which resulted in the creation of Wildfire.

"Aerys Targaryen is the perfect example of why just having 'royal blood' doesn't make you fit to be a good leader." Will stated, though he did look apologetic to Daenerys, who looked a little downcast at the mention of her father.

"For the first 20 years of his rule, the Seven Kingdoms thrived!! Do you know why?" Will asked, looking at each person, Elia and Oberyn included, as he wasn't sure they knew what the answer to it was.

"Tywin Lannister." Will finally answered, getting frowns from everyone present. Even Jon didn't like Tywin, though that was due in large part to his own father's distaste for the man.

"What did Tywin have to do with why the kingdoms prospered?" Oberyn asked, looking like he ate something rotten when he mentioned Tywin's name.

"Tywin was Hand of the King during the first 20 years of Aerys reign. But then Aerys got jealous after hearing everyone's love for Tywin, and feared he was getting too powerful, which he was. But there were other ways to go about it. Instead, Aerys took his son and heir and made him a member of the King's Guard." Will said, confusing most people once more.

"Isn't that a great honor?" Jon asked, clearly unaware of what it meant to be a king's guard.

"For some, yes. But for the nobles it's different. To pass on your family name and keep your bloodline going, you need an heir. The knights of the Kings guard are forbidden to marry, father children, and to hold land. Aerys took Tywin's heir, leaving him only his Dwarf of a son, the son Tywin never wanted." Will explained, getting mixed reactions all around.

At the mention of the dwarf, both Oberyn and Elia frowned. Not out of disgust, which was their usual reaction when they thought about a Lannister, but that wasn't the case with Tyrion.

They had seen him when he was just a baby, heard what everyone thought about him, even his own sister. He had been just a baby at the time and he was being abused, so they could only imagine what he was going through now that he was older.

"As long as a lord has someone else to continue the family line, he would be ecstatic to have one of his sons on the King's Guard, regardless of how stupid it actually is." Will said, getting a few more confused looks.

"How is it stupid?" Aegon asked, not seeing what was wrong with being a King's Guard.

"Oh come on! Just because some cunt wears a crown and calls himself special, means I'm supposed to pledge my life to protect him?! Forgo my family?! Fuck that!!" Will stated like it was the worst thing ever.

"And for a king to be so fucking stupid!! Anyone of those guards could forsake their vows and stab him in the back!! They're just words!! Not some binding magical contract!! Honestly, that whole system needs to be reworked." Will added, going over in his mind how he would have done it.

Oberyn let out a humorless laugh before saying, "You mean Jamie Lannister! How he stabbed Aerys in the back."

Aegon and the others listening simply nodded, every one of them knowing all the stories about Jamie Lannister.

"I would have done the same thing if I was in his situation." Will said, shocking everyone. They all wondered if Will would simply break a vow like that, and if his earlier statement was anything to go by, then he just might.

Obviously he could understand a bit of what they were thinking, because Will asked, "If I was to order any of you to kill one of your own blood, would you do it?"

That seemed to surprise everyone, but only long enough for Oberyn to get to his feet. "Of course not!! Not even the Gods could compel me to harm my blood!" Oberyn stated, then began to pace slowly around the room.

"Exactly. I had been in the city for weeks before Tywin came, and in that time, Aerys had plans to burn the entire city to the ground. Using the Alchemists, he had them place large caches of Wildfire in the tunnels beneath the city.

I followed them, and took all of the wildfire they had made, but no one, not even Aerys knew about that little tidbit. Anyway, on the day Tywin showed up to the city, Aerys ordered Jamie to bring him the head of his own father, while at the same time ordering one of his pyromancers to ignite the caches of Wildfire.

Jamie, forgoing his vows, slew the pyromancer before he could inform anyone of the Mad King's order, then killed Aerys himself. Not only did he choose family above his vows, but he saved half a million innocent lives in the process. I can't say I wouldn't have done the same were I him." Will explained, making all eyes in the room go wide in disbelief, save for Oberyn's two youngest daughters, them not being old enough to understand a lick of what was going on at the moment.

Seeing no one about to say anything anytime soon, Will said, "It's one of the reasons I think the whole King's Guard thing is ridiculous. Having a man forsake his family and loved ones to protect someone who might be a total scumbag, it's ridiculous.

Makes me understand a saying a bit better now. 'Love is the death of duty, and duty is the death of love'. To give up your family for what you believe is right, and to abandon what you think is right for those you love. It's easy to say that you'll give your life to protect someone else over your family, but it's even harder to do."

Again the room was quiet, even Oberyn's children were, and that was no small feat.

"What I'm trying to get at with this whole thing, don't live your life thinking you're better than anyone else in this world, and that the world owes you anything, because you get what you earn.

Your life is special to those who love you, but to the rest of the world, you're just another noble. Those of you with magic might think you're great, but there are others out there with magic who could just as easily replace you.

As for being noble or royal blood, it's just words. Any commoner could claim to be royalty, and there's not much you could do to disprove it. Their blood is red, the same as yours.

Take what you say seriously, because people will judge you by your words and your actions. Listen to those around you, but imagine yourself in their place and the situations you put them in.

Don't expect blind loyalty, because it'll come to stab you in the back! And just because someone says it's important, doesn't mean it is. A position as a King's guard is nothing special. Just a glorified bodyguard."

With his words spoken, Will sat back in his chair, letting each of them digest his words at their own speed. He hoped they all understood the general idea of what he was implying, but if not he would try to explain it better.

"So you don't think any of them should rule the Seven Kingdoms?" Oberyn asked, gesturing towards the four Targaryen children.

He didn't seem mad about it, just curious about what might be implied by that. Did Will want to let the Baratheon's continue to rule? Did he have someone else in mind? Did he think no one should rule? It was a bit iffy.

"I think it doesn't matter whose blood it is that sits on the throne, so long as they do it right. Let the kingdoms pick who rules over them, but don't leave it up to one man. Representatives from each kingdom should be put on a council, after all, who knows better what a specific kingdom needs than someone from said kingdom.

Right now, a man who has never been to Dorne is ruling over it. He doesn't know what needs fixed, the problems they are facing, or what's going on. Representatives would. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it works." Will said, internally hating himself for saying that.

He was basically suggesting a government of sorts, and creating the politicians of the world, politicians in which he despised. Though he hated them, he knew they were a necessity to the running of the world.

"You've clearly thought long about this." Oberyn stated, having finally retook his seat.

Elia knew all about how Will thought a kingdom should be run, as it had been in the book he had given her a few years ago. Doran had even taken a few things from it and had been slowly creating little bits of a council, each of them in charge of certain things throughout Dorne, but it was a slow process and wouldn't happen overnight.

Will spent the next hour or so explaining things in a bit more detail, even giving his views on what he thought a good king should be, just in case one of the four children with a claim to the throne felt they needed to lead.

He also made a point that he wouldn't be helping any of them claim the throne, but he wouldn't stand in their way if they did, but figured the chances were lower than not that they would actually want the throne after he asked them a simple question.

"Why would you want to sit on the throne?" Power was the most common reason, but that wasn't always the case.

Will explained about the duties of a good king, and even referenced Tywin and Aerys again. Kings simply picked a Hand to do all of the ruling in their stead while they did whatever they wanted, but that was the wrong way to go about it.

The Hand of the King should be thrown out of the ruling, but a group of advisors should be picked to help lend their wisdom in guiding the king to make all the correct decisions so he wouldn't have to do everything himself.

It was basically what Will was trying to do back in Asteria. He was smart, sure, but he wasn't smart enough to do everything by himself, and there were trades where he knew next to nothing about.

If he had people who knew those things to give their input on why certain actions should be carried out, and what the consequences of such actions would be, it would make it far easier to decide on these sorts of things.

Needless to say, Will gave everyone a lot to think about for the night. Over the following days, most of them asked a few follow-up questions on the subject of ruling and such, and Will was more than happy to explain what he thought on the matter.

Eventually though, Will decided to show them one of the other reasons for bringing them all North.

It was mid-day and everyone was gathered outside near the face of one of the mountains, a few giants present as well, all gathered around something that was chained to the mountain face.

Looking at everyone around him, Will pointed a finger towards the thrashing undead, which was straining against it's bindings to try and get him, then shouted, "This, ladies and gentlemen, is white walker!"