POV - Steve Roger (iii)

"Careful!" one of the trainers shouted, striding over to where the older children where whacking with wooden swords at poles set in the dirt and snow. Only occasionally at each other. "The real things are sharp but these will still kill you! Now take it seriously or I'll take them away and you can go study in the school."

Lord Rogers smiled as he heard the collective groan of two dozen children, and came to the realization that no matter the year, era or location, a kid would rather play than read.

He lowered his bow from here he was practicing, absently rubbing his left shoulder. The sun overhead was warm and caressed his face and bare chest, while the soft scents of the sea blew in from the coast. Snow still laid thick around the village, but he and the other "snow-boys" had made quick work of clearing the mud streets and freeing people up to go about their day happily.

The school had only recently opened. He and Dacey agreed to name it the Jeor Public School, it was a strong family name and easily recognized in the region. All of the families had been interested in sending their children to it, partly because of the free day-care it was providing but also because the winter held for little for people to do. Rogers had thought he would have to pass a law or decree, but instead all it took was a single town meeting and talking around a few of the more stubborn people. After being getting them convinced, even many of the adults had volunteered to come and study as well.

Classes followed the typical American pattern; reading, writing, lunch break, math, history, gym. Although in the case of history it was the history of Westeros, not the history of his World. Since it was the first school he was the only teacher, but he had to admit it was more fun than he expected. And that wouldn't last for much longer. There were several adults in town who were interested in teaching as well, and he figured that after a few months of teaching them the basics he could leave them to teach the smallest children and beginner adults, most of whom had never seen their own name written down before.

Gym was a lot more intense than the school he experienced. More like the military. He was lucky to have found Quinn and Gregor, two very good swordsman who were more than happy to teach young boys and girls alike how to use a sword and the new crossbows that were being locally produced. Plus they went on hour-long runs around the town; down to the coast, around the under-construction Capital Building, and back to the school.

Rogers grinned as he lifted the bow and aimed at the target a hundred yards away at the other end of the range. He could see the Capital just to the right, mostly covered in white powder but a steady stream of smoke rose from the center of it. He had set up dozens of blazers and make-shift furnaces at the site, all coal fed so they would produce lots of heat to keep his workers comfortable, and clear instructions to only use them in well ventilated space areas.

As the arrow left as a long, rapid blur in a shallow arc at his target, he could feel the rightness of it and new it would hit. A second later there was a soft "ca-ching" as the arrow slammed into the man-sized hay target and hit the iron guard at the back.

"You should knock off for a bit," a voice said from behind. Steve smiled and turned to look into the eyes of his beautiful wife. She was dressed warmly, but all he could see was a soft bear cloak wrapped tightly around her to protect both she and the growing child inside from the cold. Dacey had managed to almost sneak up on him this time; it was a game they had been playing since they met, and each time she managed to get a little closer to him before being caught. She added, "Class is about to start up again and they need their teacher."

He nodded and carefully unstrung his bow. You had to be careful with any bow, if you let the string get away from you it could easily cut you to the bone or take out an eye, but you had to be especially careful with his three hundred pound draw as the slightest mishap could take a person's arm off. Some people thought he didn't let anyone else touch his weapon because he was possessive of the well worked and beautifully crafted item, but it truth he knew no one but he could use it and anyone else would just hurt themselves if they tried.

"Yeah, I guess I should get back in there, oof!" Rogers was surprised when his wife walked up to him and gave a hard push while placing a foot behind his ankle and kicking it out from under him. The next thing he knew he was lying in a foot of snow, his bare arms, back and check partially buried under the soft ice. Almost immediately he launched to his feet, brushing off the ice and shouting, "That was damned cold!"

Meanwhile Dacey was partly doubled over, laughing hysterically. In between fits of laughter that brought tears to her eyes, she managed to blurt out, "I…thought you…liked the cold?

He thought about dumping some ice on her head, but instead chose to reach out and pull the coat open before pressing his body against hers. Steve suppressed a smile as his wife took a sharp breath, and then kissed her.

"Ewwwwww," came the chorus of small voices from small bodies as children looked over and saw the two. A few of the adults gave knowing smiles and started to round the kids up, making sure they racked the toys and equipment before herding them back over towards the school.

After breaking the hug Steve redressed, kissed his wife once more, and started to head indoors with her at his heel. Dacey was turning into his best student, and worked doggedly each day to perfect all she learned. His nose twitched a little as he walked, noticing the smell of fresh soup that had been served for the noon meal, and for a moment wished he had taken some. The food was actually for the children and few pregnant adults in the school, paid for by a collection from the families.

The locals had stored enough food for a three-year winter before he and the hundred other workers had arrived, but with the additional mouths to feed many were concerned there wouldn't be enough to go around. He felt horrible about that, and had taken measures to ease the burden on people. The coast was thick with fish, and with the new docks they would be able to haul in hundreds of pounds each day. A few of the men were whalers, and with the high quality steel the town was starting to turn out they could bring in two or three of the large beasts a day if needed. The town had plenty of grass, oats and hay to keep the cows or sheep healthy through the worst of the winter. Hopefully the winter will be short and few of the animals will have to be butchered. He was determined to make sure his people were healthy and well cared for.

As everyone took their seats, Steve reached the front of the room and started writing on a blackboard. He had been mildly surprised to find that the smooth black slate was produced in the North and used in various parts of Westeros as a building material, but few if any had thought to draw upon a smoothed surface of it with sticks of chalk. He wrote a few small equations on the board with a steady "tap-tap-tap" and said aloud, "Okay, today we are going to start doing simple equations. Two plus two, five plus ten, that kind of thing. Who would like to try first?"

A few hours later after covering math and local history, Steve was cleaning the board with a wet cloth when Addam, a one of the builders who had followed from Winterfell and had been attending most of the classes, walked forward while carrying a large object covered in a cloth. The man wasn't really remarkable in a physical manner, average height, weight, average everything. But where he stood out was in mind; he often cornered Steve and asked all kinds of questions that sometimes he didn't have an answer for. He was the kind of overly inquisitive person that professors both loved and hated.

Curious, Steve asked, "What have you got there?" Addam often had little thoughts and ideas that he would come and bounce off his Lord, but never before had they required a show-and-tell.

When he set the object down on the desk Rogers had placed in front of the blackboard, Addam removed the cloth with a flourish. It turned out to be a scale model of the Capital Building as well as what looked like Sea Town, but not quite. Rogers looked at it in bemusement, peering down at the model like a child seeing a toy for the first time. It showed his current home, but built up two stories with a duplicate turned ninety degrees and placed to either side like a giant "U." It was also aligned with the Capital building, maybe a half-mile away, with a large rectangular garden running between the two which featured five weirwood trees placed in the five-pointed star formation while a circle of alternating red and white flowering trees ringed it.

"That, is a little much." Steve carefully said, pointing at the formation, "but other than that I like what I see. Though I do wonder how we are going to get all of this built." He pointed at the man-made canals and waterwheels that dotted the model, as it to make his point.

Addam, speaking with a slightly higher pitch than you would expect, burst out excitedly, "No need to worry! We don't have to build everything at once and we do need more room and we do need the canals and everything else on here! Plus until Winter is over we can spare the people to do these things."

He wasn't wrong, and as Steve looked back at the model he realized that it looked really familiar. When it dawned on him he said, "You made it look like my home?" Everything seemed to match up with what he could remember of Brooklyn; there was an expanded shipyard along the coast, with long builds nearby and aligned for either storage or shipbuilding, and the Capital placed at its current location at one end, the roads were much wider than Westeros standard, and laid out in really straight lines running first along the coast and then away from it. Closer to the coast was the canals and waterwheels and forges needed for growing industry, while homes were placed further inland and closer to the Capital. How had Addam gotten so much information out of him without even him knowing?

"Actually, your Lady wife helped me with the layout. She said it would be something you liked." The master carpenter said slowly, obviously concerned he had done something wrong.

Steve held up a hand, smiling, "I approve. Please continue."

He nodded. "Log construction is fast, simple and strong. Warm when it is done right. There is plenty of seasoned wood ready, lots of logs just sitting around waiting for something to be done with them." He pointed to a section of the model that was close to the current school; "I know how you worry about cleanliness, so we have a series of public bathhouses that can be fed by the natural hotspring right here. It is just sitting there unused at the moment, but with a little plumbing it could be wonderful. And near the homes, a school can be placed."

Steve started thinking aloud, nodding to himself as he spoke, "And next to that we can erect a hospital, library and other services as needed." His printing press had all the kinks worked out and was already producing books for the students in the school. Once he got in touch with the maesters at the Citadel he hoped they would see the merit and allow him to make more copies of books they could send him, but in the meantime there were lots of unread works just sitting at Winterfell and Castle Black that deserved to be read.

The Lord of Sea Dragon Point then tilted his head and pointed at the large wood and block wall that was included in the model, asking, "Why is this here?" It looked like something that belonged at Winterfell, or some other castle. A massive collection of towers and walls that surrounded and protected the city.

Addam shied away slightly, "Well, that is something I wanted to talk to you about. I don't know if we have enough stone or wood to build it, but we could talk with House Glover about importing some."

Steve grinned softly, almost jokingly, "Don't worry about the wall. A few small towers is all we will need."

Almost sad, Addam countered, "With all due respect m'Lord, a few small towers won't protect us should the worst happen. What if the Ironborn change their mind, or the South should invade? We have no army."

"We don't have one yet, but we will." Rogers confidently said. "But that isn't why I'm not concerned. I've been working on something in my spare time that will make walls pointless."