Chapter 28: Guest

(Ned Stark POV)

Ned sat in stunned silence, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He suspected Will was the one to meet Jon and give him the satchel, but it was just suspicion.

In the letter it never mentioned who the family was, nor that they knew who Jon's real mother was, and Ned had been a little hopeful that it might just be some sick prank or something, but Will's words seemed to hit him hard, and he knew that the secret he had wanted to take to his grave was out.

"Aye, let's talk about him." Ned said, his voice a little shaky. There was a long moment of silence that hung in the air before Ned finally decided to ask what he wanted to know.

"Were you sent by Viserys Targaryen and his sister?" Ned asked the question he wanted the answer to most of all. Will didn't answer right away, letting the question hang in the air.

"Viserys Targaryen is dead. As for his sister, she is with the rest of her family." Will answered, shocking Ned.

"Dead?! Are you sure?!" Ned asked, not sure if he could believe something like this. Robert would no doubt be jumping for joy at the news, hoping to pay the man handsomely for taking care of this thorn in his side.

"Quite sure. I watched his body burn until it was nothing but ash." Will answered, frowning at the memory of Viserys.

"His sister... What family do you speak of? All of the Targaryens are dead..." Ned said, sounding unsure of his own words.

"Rhaegar Targaryen had two other children besides your nephew with Elia Martell. Her and her children are alive and well, and they know all about their half-brother. All of them long to meet him, including Elia, who wishes to bring him with her. She might not be his mother, but she will love him more than you or your family ever could." Will said, shocking Ned with more news.

"As for Daenerys, her and the boy are about the same age. She knows about her nephew, and is rather excited to meet him as well." Will added with a half smile.

Ned didn't believe it. Couldn't believe it! "Impossible! I saw their bodies the day we took King's Landing! They're dead!" Ned stated, a little angry at the thought of what had happened to Elia and her children.

The topic was definitely a sore subject for him, and it was one of his worst memories of Robert. How his best friend had laughed at the sight of their mutilated bodies, it made Ned clench his teeth in anger.

"Are they? The corpses were unrecognizable. At least that's what I was going for when I disfigured them." Will said, a half smile on his face.

It disgusted him for what he had to do that day, but if he got to go back, he knew he would do it all again.

"What?!" Ned asked, shooting to his feet. "Calm down! I didn't kill the children or the woman! They were just a few of the casualties of Tywin Lannister. I took their bodies and dressed them in the clothing of the royal family, then I disfigured them. I couldn't have Robert send assassins to hunt them down, now could I?" Will said, calming Ned down a bit.

"How though?! You would have just been a boy yourself!!" Ned said, looking unconvinced that a child could have done all that.

"A boy with magic! Who was also close with the Martells. I wasn't about to let them be slaughtered. I was in the castle that day when Tywin showed up to the city. I saw Ser Greggor Clegaine and a small group of soldiers making their way towards the royal chambers! I acted." Will said, letting his past actions speak for itself.

Ned could hardly believe it, but it still wouldn't be the most ridiculous thing he had heard or seen today. I mean, he never expected someone to actually be able to best the GreatJon in a fight, let alone hand-to-hand combat, yet Castian had done it.

"Let's say I believe you. What does Elia Martell want with Jon, and why?" Ned finally asked after a minute without either of them saying anything else.

"You and I both know that your sister, Layanna, actually did love Rhaegar Targaryen. Well, Elia loved him as well, despite him loving another woman. Since Rhaegar's death, I think Elia has pushed the love she had for him to his children. All of them. There is also the fact that her children share blood with him, and they aren't going to stop until they find him, if only to at least make sure he is happy. Is he happy, Lord Stark? Would he go with them if given the chance, or would he stay in Winterfell with you and your family? With your wife?" Will asked, causing Ned to close his eyes and take a deep breath.

He couldn't deny that someone would do that for someone they loved, he himself had done it. He had taken his sister's child and raised him as his own, so the fact that Elia might do that for Rhaegar wouldn't be completely out of the question.

As for Elia's children, coming for their half-brother wasn't out of reason either. There wasn't much he wouldn't do for his bannermen, and they were only brothers in name, not blood, but he knew they would also fight and die for him if the need arose as well.

As for Jon being happy in Winterfell... no, no he wasn't. The boy had more often than not looked as though he was miserable, only recently coming out of his shell after he read the letter will had given him.

If Jon was given the chance, Ned knew what choice he would make, and he didn't even blame him. Catelyn hadn't made the boy's life easy, and she sure as hell didn't make him feel loved or welcome in Winterfell.

"You obviously already know the answer to these questions, otherwise you wouldn't have asked them." Ned said, sounding as though he was fighting down his anger and sadness.

He was angry at Will, not because of what he said, but because everything he said was right. He was angry at himself for how Jon felt, but he didn't know how else to do it.

"When will they come for him?" Ned asked, looking as though he was resolved with himself.

"Not long. Maybe a month, two at the most." Will answered, surprising Ned. "So soon..." Ned mumbled, letting out sigh after sigh.

"What about you? Where do you fit into all of this?" Ned asked, almost as an afterthought, but it was one of the things he really wanted to know.

"I was young when I met Elia. Despite me being the one to save her, she kind of took me in as her own. She might not be my real mother, but she's as close as the real thing... I might not care for a lot of people in this world, but I care about her, and you would do well to keep that in mind." Will said, lacing his words with a bit of a threat, one which Ned understood completely.

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(General POV)

Some people might think Will was taking a risk in telling Ned all of these secrets, about Elia and her children, but that really wasn't the case.

Ned would rather die than let Robert or anyone else hurt Jon, and if he passed on what he heard here tonight, he would only be inviting trouble upon his own blood.

Plus with the not so subtle threat, Ned kind of figured Will would hunt him down if he ever caused problems for Elia, which wasn't that far off.

For another 2 hours, Will and Ned talked about Asteria, what Will would do to improve, where he would spend the taxes, how much he would tax, and the layout. They only changed the subject to this to get rid of the moody atmosphere between the two.

Ned gave some tips on the layout that Will found helpful, and on the proper taxes and why they were like that, though given how Will wasn't sending anything off to the crown, he could afford to keep them a bit lower than everywhere else.

They also spent some of the time talking about the goings on in the North, and some of the other houses, and Will sort of guessed what Ned was trying to do when he hinted at the betterment of the North, Will reaffirmed his words that he wouldn't be paying any taxes to Robert, or Ned.

In their discussion, Will was a little surprised to learn how much Ned truly didn't like Tywin and Jamie, and the man wasn't very quiet about it either.

The Lannister's were the only ones Ned was truly vocal about, but Will suspected there might be others he didn't like as well.

Ned seemed to take the time to voice a few little things he was pent up about that he couldn't share with anyone else, one of the main topics being about the Boltons and the Dreadfort.

Will had to subtly divert the discussion away from that topic, and from what might have happened. Though he did learn that Ned was planning on either tearing it down, or using it as a small outpost.

No Lord was willing, or wanted to rule over the Dreadfort, especially not when all of the people were leaving the village. No one wanted to rule over an empty town, and most people felt it was better to send the stone bricks to other keeps.

There would still be a small inn of sorts there, but it would never be like it was when the Boltons were alive.

Before long, Ned left Will's mansion and went back to the inn he and his men were staying in. Will, on the other hand, sat in front of his fire as he wrote out a few more things he learned from today's activities.

He was also planning out when he would set off to Dorne and grab Elia, Rhaenys, Aegon and Daenerys. He wasn't sure if they wanted to live here in Asteria with him, but it would be nice if they got to see everything he had done so far.

If he kept to his schedule, Will should be ready to set out in a week's time. All he really needed to do was make sure everyone would be able to keep busy, and he would be set, he just wanted to make sure there were a few more extra buildings done.

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The next morning, Ned Stark and his bannermen left to go back towards their own lands, leaving Will to keep doing his own thing.

For three days, Will worked like a madman, constructing over a dozen new homes, setting work plans for the town which would be done in his absence, and making sure the guards of the city were prepared for most situations.

He had his own fire system in case a place caught on fire, but that was less than likely to happen with almost every place being constructed of 95% stone.

Still, the hundred or so guards knew everything they would need to defend the city, how to question people, what to do about approaching ships, and how to handle any problems that should arise until his return.

Will was drinking in the tavern closest to his mansion, which was run by an old woman and her two daughters. Will had gifted it to them, and they were free to use his name, as long as he got 5% of the monthly profits for his share.

The old woman had jumped at the deal, and it had quickly become the place to go to for a good meal and drink. The place was called The Jade Phoenix, something Abigale, the old woman's youngest daughter had come up with in honor of her mother's and Will's partnership.

Jade was her mother's name, while the Phoenix was the Sigil of Will's house, so it seemed rather fitting, though none of them actually knew what a Phoenix was.

The place had marble floors, granite walls that were coated in a white marble finish on the inside, and a shining oak bar, with tables and chairs to match, with green linen curtains. It had a massive kitchen, and a cellar. With it being just a tavern, there only needed to be a few rooms in it for the owner, which there were.

Anyway, Will was nursing a drink Jade had made. It was a mixture of Vodka, cranberry juice, crushed ice, and a lemon slice.

Will had shown her a few ideas from some of the drinks he had either seen or tried in his past life, and Jade seemed to just roll with it, coming up with a few of her own concoctions that weren't half bad.

Ale, rum, and wine were still popular, but people did like to try the Vodka drinks every now and then. As he drank the last bit of the sweet tasting drink, Will decided it was about time to call it a night.

He had already had a few, and was a little tipsy. Leaving a few coins on the table, Will left the place, waving over his shoulder to Jade as he did so.

Walking through the street towards his mansion, Will took a deep breath of the clear air around him, enjoying the moment.

He enjoyed it right up to the moment where he sensed something flying quickly towards him. Reacting a bit slower than usual, Will barely managed to dodge a rock that had been thrown perfectly towards his head, though it did manage to graze his right temple.

Snapping his eyes in the direction the rock came from, he frowned when he saw the perpetrator.

A young woman about as tall as he was, dressed in leather armor, long black hair, slender figure, and had a small metal club resting on her left shoulder, while she tossed another rock up slowly into the air with her right hand.

"Nice one! I thought I had you there!" The young woman said, puzzling Will for a minute.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, looking her up and down, clearly liking what he saw, but perplexed at who she was or why she would throw something at him.

"I'll tell ya if you can beat me!" The woman said, not giving Will the chance to agree or not before she shot off towards him like a bolt fired from a crossbow.

As quick as a rattle-snake, the woman was within range of him, swinging her metal club towards Will's midsection, forcing him to jump back out of her reach, but she had used her momentum to leap forward and kick him right across the face.

Will went down hard, but he didn't even get the chance to get back to his feet before she was upon him once more, swinging her club down towards his midsection again.

From this, Will at least figured that she at least wasn't trying to kill him, otherwise she would have gone for his head.

Still, she wasn't going easy on him, and Will barely managed to roll out of the way, though the club did get him a little, leaving a small scrape along his chest.

If he hadn't already been a little drunk, Will would have been a lot more aggressive and brutal, but right now he was feeling a little woozy, barely keeping himself from getting his ass kicked as he struggled to keep from throwing up the contents of his stomach.

As she charged at him, Will still hadn't gotten to his feet, and he didn't like that, so he quickly came up with a countermeasure.

When she kicked at him, he took the kick right in the chest, but latched onto it before she could pull it away, then pulled it out from under her, causing her to fall hard onto the back of her head.

Seeing the tables turn, Will sat up, then slammed his fist down hard onto her kidney, causing her to let out a shout of pain.

Will still didn't trust the woman though, and grabbed her right arm and pulled it behind her back, twisting it as he did so.

Will was now sitting on her back, straddling her with her arm pinned while pushing her face into the hard stone road.

"Alright, bitch!! What! The Fuck! IS YOUR PROBLEM?!!" Will shouted, breathing a bit hard.

The woman beneath him still didn't seem like she had given up despite her position, and was thrashing and bucking about beneath him, and Will was about done with this shit.

"If you don't calm the fuck down, I'm going to break your arm!" Will warned, but it didn't seem to have any effect on her.

Not one to bluff in a situation like this, Will suddenly twisted hard as he pushed up, snapping the girl's arm, causing another shout of pain.

"Crazy bitch!" Will shouted, jumping off of her, while at the same time grabbing her club from the ground beside her before getting to his feet and putting some distance between himself and her.

"You bastard!!" She shouted, kneeling as she clutched her now broken arm.

"I fucking told you!! Stupid cunt!" Will said, his eyes narrowed at her. "Now... who the fuck are you, and why are you here?" Will asked, though it was more of an order.

The girl huffed and growled for a minute or two, then locked her own narrowed eyes at him. "My name is Dacey Mormont! Daughter of Maege Mormont, and heir of Bear Island!" The girl, now known as Dacey said, causing Will to frown.

'Fuck...' He thought, wondering if Maege was going to come after him now. "And what exactly was your goal in attacking me?" Will asked, a bit more calm now that he knew who she was.

"I was testing you! My mother told me you were strong and smart, and I wanted to test you out myself." Dacey said through clenched teeth.

"Did your mother send you here?" Will asked, wondering if this was one of those times where the parent tries to have the daughter seduce the powerful Lord.

"Yes! She said I could learn a thing or two from you, and if I wish to lead one day, it would help me." Dacey answered, sucking in air between her teeth, trying to not let herself scream anymore than she already had.

Seeing as how it wasn't actually a true threat to his life, Will shook his head before walking past Dacey and towards his mansion.

"Hey!! Where are you going?!" Dacey called out, still on her knees. "I'm going to bed! I'm tired." Will answered, not stopping as he got further away.

"What about my arm?!! Aren't you going to fix it?!!" Dacey asked, a little pissed that Will would just leave her like this, but he was beyond caring at the moment.

"It's your punishment for attacking me like that. Come find me in the morning, and maybe I'll see about fixing it." Will said, then rounded a corner and disappeared from view, though he could still hear Dacey cursing his name off in the distance.

When he got to his bed, Will was out like a candle in a hurricane, sleeping more soundly than he had in weeks.

When he woke up the next morning, Will wondered if it was just because he was mostly drunk that he slept so well, or if it was the little brawl he had with Dacey that had wrung him out.

He couldn't be sure until he tried them both again, but he wasn't sure if Dacey would be willing to let him break her arm again. Speaking of Dacey, Will left his home to go find her, only to see her sitting outside his gate, still fast asleep.

'Did she sleep there?' Will thought, walking slowly towards where she was. He had only gotten within 10 feet of her before her eyes snapped open, her gaze moving quickly to Will, who was now staring at her clearly for the first time.

He thought he got a pretty good look at her last night, but him being a little tipsy and the dim lighting, it hid a bit of her features which he hadn't noticed before.

She was actually really beautiful, despite her lanky appearance, and Will couldn't help but give her a few once overs.

"Are you done?" Dacey asked, a bit of a scowl on her face.

"Well good morning to you too, Sunshine!" Will said, jumping over the massive gate like it was nothing to him, shocking Dacey somewhat as he landed right beside her.

"So, should we go get some food before we look at your arm?" Will asked, getting narrowed eyes that looked as though they were trying to rip him apart.

"Arm it is!" Will said in a sing-song voice as he grabbed her injured arm, not being gentle at all.

Dacey fought back a growl, but she couldn't hide her pain from him. It took Will only a few minutes to reset her arm and heal the break, much to Dacey's shock.

Her mother had told her about Will's healing ability, but she had thought it had been somewhat exaggerated, but it was almost just as her mother described. She wasn't bathed in water, but her arm was.

Once Will had healed her, he began to walk away like he didn't care about her anymore, which only seemed to annoy the woman. She quickly caught up and fell into step beside him, though she didn't say anything.

Before long, Will was walking into the Jade Phoenix, getting a wave from Jade herself before he took a seat at his usual table. To his annoyance, Dacey also took a seat at his table, though she still wasn't talking.

"What are you doing?" He asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. She was worse than Drox when it came to shadowing, and that was saying a bit much considering Drox never left his side for over a year.

"Aren't we getting something to eat?" She asked, looking around the room at the half dozen people who were already seated at different tables in the room, eating food of their own.

"I mean, what are you doing at my table? Go away..." Will said, giving her a little shooing motion.

"You don't like the pleasure of my company?" Dacey asked, giving him a fake pout.

"Not hardly! Right now you're just a pain in the ass. Your mother might want you to learn something here, but I never agreed to anything like that, so go away!" Will said, brushing Dacey off like she was nothing to him, which she really wasn't.

"Is this because of me fighting you last night?" Dacey asked, wondering if Will was just a little sour about their fight.

"Look, I'm all for a good fight, but I like to know I'm going to be fighting before I'm attacked out of blue! Not to mention you're just poor company!" Will stated, causing Dacey to mumble something under her breath before she inhaled deeply before letting it out.

"Alright, I'm sorry for attacking you like I did. I took things a bit too far last night, and for that I apologize." Dacey said somewhat sincerely, though she was looking like she just sucked on a lemon.

"That's just great! Now we can be best friends and take long walks through the forest!!" Will said, his words practically dripping with sarcasm.

Not really caring about Dacey any longer, Will walked over to the bar and grabbed a sandwich that Jade had already prepared for him.

"I'll just eat on the go, Jade! As for her, don't give her any special treatment, and she has to pay up before she gets anything! Thank you!" Will said, pointing towards Dacey before he left the place with a skip in his step.

He had other things to do than babysit some little girl with anger issues, and he was already getting a later start than usual to his morning.

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Will didn't see Dacey for the next two days, but he knew from listening around that she was still here in Asteria, though what she was doing was unknown.

Still, if she didn't cause a problem and left him alone, Will didn't really care what she did. Sadly though, it would seem the woman had only been biding her time and watching him from a distance with her spyglass that her mother had gifted her, one of the very ones Will had gifted Maege.

Will hadn't been secretive in planning his little trip out to sea, though no one actually knew where he was going or how long he would be gone, they did all know he was going somewhere, which meant, Dacey knew he was going somewhere.

"I want to come with you out to sea!" Dacey said, sitting down at his table once again in the Jade Phoenix as he prepared to eat his dinner. Will only scoffed in response, not bothering to give her a proper response.

"How about this! Let's arm wrestle, and if I can beat you, I get to go to sea with you?" Dacey said, this time earning Will's attention.

"That's just stupid. I don't gain anything by accepting, so I'll pass." Will said with a hint of laughter in his voice before he went back to eating his stew.

"I'll leave you alone if I lose!" Dacey stated, thinking that should be enough to appease Will. It wasn't.

"How about you leave me alone anyway, and I might not send you back to your mother with a broken leg instead!" Will stated, letting the words hang in the air.

Dacey had been around him enough to know that he wasn't one to go back on his words, and if he said he would do something to someone, he almost carried it out to the letter.

"What do you want?" Dacey asked, hoping to find some way to convince him to agree.

Will stopped eating momentarily, looking Dacey in the eyes for a second, then glanced down at her hands. They were small and dainty, but looked a bit rough and calloused.

"How good are you with your hands?" Will finally asked, causing Dacey to frown in confusion. "What do you mean?" She asked, looking at her own hands then back up to Will.

"It's quite simple. I want a nice relaxing massage, but most women around here aren't strong enough to do it hard enough to get in the right areas, or they're not skilled enough with their hands to do it right. Do you think you could do it?" Will asked, curious if she would agree to something like this.

Getting a proper deep tissue massage was something he truly loved from his old life, but no one here did anything like that. Some whores in brothels would rub a man down, though not even close to a proper massage.

Will was actually planning on going to Essos to try and find someone who was skilled enough about biology, and who was strong enough to actually dig into the muscles on his back, but that wouldn't be for some time, and if he could get Dacey to do it, it just might be worth making a bet of this caliber.

She looked like she was thinking it over for a few seconds, then agreed, much to Will's delight.

If Will won, Dacey would not get to go with him on his sea voyage, but instead would have to give him a 3 hour long massage tonight in his mansion.

However, If Will lost, Dacey got to go with Will, wherever it was that he was going, and he wasn't allowed to just go somewhere close and come back, or dump her off somewhere.

He had to take her with him so she could learn about what it truly meant to be a Lord, or in her case, a Lady.

Both of them got situated on the table, locking hands as they got into position. All of the patrons in the Tavern were sitting around, their full attention on what was going on, some people even placing bets.

Jade had stepped up to be the referee, and once they were both ready, she signaled the start of the match. It was short.

Dacey was strong for a woman, even stronger than a lot of men, but she had no technique. Will was actually surprised when her fist slammed against the table in a flash, having expected something more after how confident she looked.

"Was that it?" He asked her, almost laughing at her shocked expression.

Will finished his food before he walked back to his mansion, an oddly quiet and calm Dacey walking a half step behind him.

When they got inside, Will led her to his bedroom, then told her to wait outside for a minute while he got everything ready.

Inside the room, Will built a massage table with the headrest out of stone, then he padded it with furs, and put a layer of silk over top of it.

Once it was ready, Will undressed, and wrapped his lower body with a towel, then opened the door, shocking Dacey for a moment, until he explained that this was how they were done.

He climbed onto the table and gave her a small glass jar that held some oil, meant for something very similar to this. She was a little perplexed and unsure of what to do, but she scooped out a little bit and began to rub it into his skin, though not very good.

It was painful. The woman was rubbing away his very skin, and Will could swear the woman was digging her fingers into his bones on purpose to cause him pain. Rarely if ever she actually rubbed a muscle, choosing instead to hurt him. She didn't even get close to pushing on a pressure point, and it was more punishment than reward. Will could only take so much abuse before he slapped her hands away.

"You're terrible!! Did you ever learn anything about human anatomy?!" Will asked, unsure what she learned growing up in this world.

"What does that mean?" She asked, almost making Will facepalm. "The human body! Do you know anything about the inside of your body, and why it does what it does?!" Will asked again, a little more annoyed than he should have, but he was allowed to be, considering his hopes of having a beautiful woman rub him down had been ruined with Dacey's ineptitude.

"I know where the heart is! And... where babies come from..." She said, trailing off towards the end like she was embarrassed.

Will was shocked. Not only did she know next to nothing about the human body, but she looked and acted like she couldn't even talk about sex!! Big fucking deal, it's sex!!

Without it, there would be no people!! And people would live their lives in misery, having no other reason to tolerate the opposite gender.

Despite this not going like he hoped, Will still wasn't deterred.

"Lay down for a minute, and I'll show you what I want you to do!" Will ordered as he got off the table, gesturing for her to take his place.

"But my armor?" Dacey said, pointing at the armor on her body. It was good that was her only concern, and not that fact that Will was going to be rubbing something into her skin while she was half naked. Would make things go a bit easier.

Not worrying about her armor, Will pushed Dacey onto the table, then covered her ass and legs with a thick blanket.

Once she was laying face down, Will touched her clothes and made them disappear inside his inventory, leaving her completely topless, much to her embarrassment, though she didn't freak out like some anime girl.

Will then proceeded to cover her in oil, pressing deeply around the shoulder blades, and on either side of the spine, causing the girl to start moaning in pleasure.

He went up her scalp, running his hands through her silky hair, all over her neck, and dug deeply into her shoulders, the whole time explaining what he was doing, and why, but he wasn't sure she was even listening to him over the sounds of her moaning!

He did her arms, and even her feet, showing her how he wanted her to do it. Once he went over everything other than around her legs and breasts, something he didn't think was even remotely appropriate, Will restored her clothes back where they were before.

It might have been considered a bit creepy with how he had done it, but he had not touched her inappropriately, and she hadn't said anything, so he figured it was alright. If she had asked him to stop he would have, but she didn't.

"Do you think you can do that?" Will asked, already pulling Dacey off of his massage table. Rather than answer, Dacey only stared intently into his eyes, not showing any emotion on her face.

Will was about ready to ask her if something was wrong, but he didn't even get the chance to utter a sound before her lips locked onto his, and she pushed him closer to his bed.

Along the way, she had even pulled his towel off, leaving him butt-ass naked. Seeing where this was going, Will once again made her clothes and armor disappear, making them both equally naked.

'It might not be a massage, but I sure as hell ain't complaining.' Will thought as his hands once more roamed around Dacy's body, only this time there was no place off limits!!