The Return of the Magnar

"Blake, what are you doing?"

Blake, sitting as he laid a brick, turned his head slightly to see a boy just over 6 years old, and a girl of 13 looking at him curiously.

"It's a fireplace, Lyn, do you still remember what it is? I'm sure from what I explained at school."

Lyn seemed to have been caught off guard, his eyes widening.

"I remember, you said it's for...for...keeping warm!"

Blake nodded to the young woman, placing mortar over one brick and arranging another on top of it.

"Yes, this will serve to keep the cabin warm during snowfalls."

The chimney was made of clay bricks, plus a very rudimentary cement he had made recently.

He had been experimenting in his lab for a while, and this cement was the best he could create with the meager materials he had on hand.

One of the most abundant materials in the tribe was the ash left over from the burning of so many campfires. With this ash, Blake made soap, which served both the needs of the tribe and to sell. That is until Blake found a way to make cement.

The process was not complicated, these ashes were moistened, compacted, and shaped into bricks, then these ash bricks were put in a kiln until they were calcined. The burning ash brick would then be dissolved in water, and to this mixture would be added baked, ground clay.

These simple materials created a cement strong enough to be used in construction, and which was also water resistant.

Most importantly, it was made from abundant materials that he could obtain very easily.

This was what had taken up so much of Blake's time, that the whole tribe worked as one huge machine, where no material went to waste.

As for why he was making a fireplace, it was because winter had finally come to the tribe.

Snowfalls were common, even snowfalls with hail.

In the tribe thanks to the abundant food, and different resources available to them, there were a lot of very young children, born in the last few years.

There were so many children at this time that the classes Blake taught at the school were now divided by age, with a total of at least 500 children.

After some thought, and seeing the risk of winter for these infants, Blake began to build chimneys.

Blake had years of building clay bricks in the workshop, he wanted to take these materials south when he got his people over the wall, but the bricks were easy to make, so he decided to use them for something more useful in the short term like these chimneys.

"Just like the fireplace in the workshop?"

The young woman asked again.

"Only smaller, it will keep your younger siblings from getting sick."

Blake continued to build the chimney without pause, all the builders in the workshop had been instructed in the use of cement, the shape of the chimney, and how to build it, so they were being built in many of the tribe's cabins at once.

"!!!!!!!!"

Blake looked up from the fireplace, looking in the direction the sound was coming from, getting up.

"Osha, tell your father I'll finish the chimney later."

Blake left these words and left the cabin, walking towards the south door.

"If it's the south door... then it's not Oswin."

Blake muttered.

His father Oswin had left for the Frozen Shore already 6 months ago, according to the messengers, storms had prevented the crossing through the Frostfangs, delaying their arrival, but thanks to one of the hunters, in charge of capturing goats in the Frostfangs, Blake had found a safe route, and had already sent a messenger to Oswin for them to finish their journey, finally reaching the tribe, it shouldn't be much longer, so the tribe had prepared for their arrival.

"It's the caravan of crows!"

One of the warriors in charge of the gates shouted to Blake to report.

"Open the gates, a storm is coming down soon!"

Blake shouted in reply, and the south entrance gates opened.

It wasn't snowing, but the cold winter breeze was enough to freeze a man if he stood too long.

"Mance, Benjen!"

Blake greeted the Night's Watch at the head of the caravan.

"Blake, lad, Oswin still not back yet?"

Blake shook Mance Rayden's hand, shaking his head.

"Not yet, but come in, your rooms are ready, the trip must have been difficult because of the storms."

"We got hit halfway, one of the horses died."

Benjen replied, recounting the hardships of the road.

Blake led them toward a large building that had been built for the sole use of the Night's Watch who came in the caravan.

It had 2 dozen beds, and two fireplaces to keep the place warm.

"Only you guys came, what happened to Qhorin and Ser Jaremy Rykker?"

Blake asked as the Night's Watch settled inside the building, changing their robes.

"A group of wildlings scaled the wall near Icemark, Qhorin is in pursuit with several other brothers."

Benjen replied, removing his thick bearskins, full of snow, and putting on new robes that the black axe tribe left in the building for their use.

"That's a pity, I was planning to show off our latest wares after they ate, who's in charge of the caravan?"

Benjen and Mance looked at each other for a second, until Benjen spoke.

"I'm in charge of this trip."

Blake raised an eyebrow at Benjen's statement, looking at Mance Rayder, who only shrugged.

"Well, let's go to the dining rooms, then let's talk business."

Blake just shook his head looking at Benjen's slightly chagrined face, not speaking further on the subject.

Mance Rayder was a far more experienced scout, a better fighter, and someone who had been raised on the wall since childhood. There was no better scout in the entire Night's Watch, with perhaps the exception of Qhorin himself, but the leadership of the caravan was given to a novice such as Benjen was, for the simple fact that he bore the Stark surname, leaving Mance as second in command, in case an accident happened and he was able to deal with the problem.

Blake thought that life in this world was very much marked by origins, like him being a savage who cannot cross the wall, Mance Rayder being a common man who could not even climb the chain of command of the Night's Watch, which it was said, was not swayed by the origins of its members, and Benjen who was simply born a little later, losing all claim to his family's estates and titles.

And even the most miserable nobleman, still had better status than the best of Smallfolk men, just as the most miserable of Smallfolk men, had more rights than a savage.

The very idea seemed repugnant to him, and had it not been for the white walkers, Blake would have preferred to spend his life north of the great wall.

"This place is empty."

Mance sat down at one of the dining tables, talking.

Before, the cooks served the food in the middle of the tribe, and all the tribesmen would look for somewhere to sit and eat, sometimes just sitting on the floor. But because of the snowfall, Blake had built a building exclusively for eating, where his tribesmen would not get cold in case of snowfall.

"It's too early, the tribe's dinner will be served later."

Blake gave orders to serve the food plates, light the fires and torches to finally sit down at the table opposite Benjen and Mance.

The meal was fish soup, fish stew, mushrooms, onions, carrots, and hot milk. In consideration of hosting the Night's Watch when there were winds and frost.

"I once went with Yoren to look for recruits to the south, you should see the welcomes we got from the nobles after crossing the neck, a dog would eat better."

Mance enjoyed the food as he chatted.

"To the north, the old customs must be respected, and anyone who violates them is not to be trusted."

Blake replied, and Benjen, along with several others of the black brothers, nodded as well.

Among the old customs, was to welcome your guests with food, also called Guest rights, and after that, the host must protect the guest.

Blake had made sure to always greet the Night's Watch with food, thus honoring the old customs, earning even a little of the Night's Watch's trust.

When the meal was finished, Blake led Benjen and Mance to his home, which was no longer a crude wooden hut half-submerged underground, but a large house, with stone foundations.

"It's a magnificent house..."

Benjen approached, looking at the entire outside of the house, one of the walls was brick, with a chimney. The other 3 walls were wood, but they had beautiful finishes and supporting columns that made it look like some knight's rest house. The roof, on the other hand, was triangular, with red tiles that protected the interior from the rain.

"Hahaha, Blake, I like coming to your tribe to see the things they do, it's a surprise every time."

Mance ran his hand along one of the pillars of the house, smiling.

"This is what I want to show you."

Blake walked with the two men to the brick wall, then, with a hammer, he tapped the wall a few times, showing how firm the structure was.

"It's a mortar we're producing, you can see how strong it is, water resistant too, of course. I'm hoping to sell it to the Night's Watch, I know they have a lot of dilapidated castles."

Blake set the hammer on the floor, leaning on it as he explained.

Benjen touched the spot again where Blake had struck with the hammer, though small chunks of brick had fallen, the structure proved just as sturdy.

"It's a good mortar, but I can't decide that on my own."

Blake knew this, Qhorin would if he would have such authority, as he has over a year trading with them, but Benjen did not, so he lamented that he was not coming on this trip.

"Blake, what are you doing banging on the house, you just built it and already you want to break it!"

Ygritte poked her head out from the entrance of the house, shouting.

"Sorry sis, I didn't know you were inside."

Immediately Blake's expression softened a little, apologizing for disturbing her.

"Hello little Ygritte, you've grown so much!"

"Mance!"

Mance greeted Ygritte with a smile, and she responded in kind, running to hug him.

"I want you to sing me the songs you know, I'm going to write them down and teach them to everyone at school!"

"Oh, you know how to write?"

Mance gave the girl a skeptical look, who ran back into the house, pulling out a rustic leather-bound notebook.

"Of course, I know how to write, just like reading and counting, Blake taught me, look!"

Ygritte proudly displayed the letters in the notebook, earning a nod from Mance.

"What is that language?"

Mance could not read, so he could not say much about the notebook in Ygritte's hands, but Benjen, on the other hand, gave it a strange look, for he did not recognize any of the words written in the book. From the handwriting, the young Stark knew they were not scribbles written by a child, but letters in a language he did not know.

"It is the language we use in the tribe. The lands beyond the wall do not belong to Westeros, so it is only natural that we use another language."

Blake stepped forward, looking at the words written by his sister, nodding to her for her good work.

It wasn't completely untrue, the language they used south of the great wall was slightly different than the one they used to the North, only experienced scouts could fully understand the wildlings, just as some wildlings learned the language south of the wall well.

"You can take 3 baskets with you with the mortar, it just needs water and it will be ready to use, let Denys see the result and offer a deal with the next caravan."

Blake spoke again about business, and Benjen, who was still looking sideways at the book in Ygritte's hands, almost absently, finally nodded.

"!!!!!!!!"

Everyone turned their heads at the sound of the horn.

"It comes from the west."

Mance Rayder said with furrowed brows.

"It's my father, he's finally arrived."

Blake gave a slight smile, walking to the center of the tribe to give orders to his tribesmen and out to the west gate to greet his father.

"It's Dad!"

Ygritte ran after Blake, leaving Benjen and Mance, who eventually walked to the west gate as well.

The Magnar had arrived.

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Hi, sorry for my absence from yesterday's daily posting, it was beyond my hands. Yesterday there was a storm and the power went out in my housing development, it has not yet arrived, so I am posting to you from my work as I am not sure if it will be back for the rest of the night.