Chapter 39: Insight

Back on Bear Island, Aiden got to meet the rest of the Mormonts still on the island, Jeor Mormont the previous Lord and Jorah's father, had taken the Black and had recently been made Lord Commander of the Nights Watch on the Wall, so he was the only one Aiden didn't meet.

Dacey showed him around the keep as she talked about her adventurers in the forest when she was being trained to hunt and survive by her father, although she was a noble, she didn't need servants to survive even in the harshest winter.

This was something Aiden appreciated about her, so Aiden enjoyed listening to her tales and spending time with her. Aiden grew to even like Dacey fairly quickly, she spoke her mind, good or bad, and didn't shy away from saying what she wanted.

Aiden enjoyed this way of doing things, it reminded him of his adoptive mother Elia quite a bit. The Dornish viewed things related to sex and marriage very differently, although Elia did maintain her purity before marrying Rhaegar, this was very uncommon.

Doran's eldest daughter, Princess Arianne, was very active sexually at a young age, much like Oberyn was. Oberyn had many bastard born children all thru Dorne, he had slept with many noble and commoner men and women. Arianne was the same, though she made sure to drink moon tea to keep from having a child, she had slept with many men and women as well.

So Aiden wasn't uptight regarding the subject, although he wouldn't go as far as Oberyn would at times, he grew up around the Dornish mentality towards relationships thanks to Ser Lewin Martell. So when the subject came up regarding such a topic, he didn't shy away.

However he was up front, when Dacey confessed her feelings, Aiden decided to tell her about himself first. He didn't want secrets between friends, so before responding to her on his feelings, he spoke of his origins and his goals. Not every woman would be comfortable with sleeping with a non-human after all.

It has happened before, the First Men and Children of the Forest had interbred on occasion in the past, though it rarely led to children no matter the combination since no matter if it was a male or female Child of the Forest, they had low fertility rates. Most long lived creatures were like that, it was basically an omniversal rule.

Elves, fairys, demi-gods and gods all had very low birth rates while goblins, humans and dwarves had high birth rates. The longer your life the harder it was to procreate, male or female, it effected them equally. Kryptonians had that same issue, it took forever for Kal-El, or Clark Kent, to get Lois Lane pregnant even after they married. This was due to the lower fertility they had after they had genetically modified themselves into semi-immortal beings. It was one of the reasons they just started growing their babies using the codex. Even Kal-El's real parents had been married for years before they finally had a baby, and they had tried daily.

When Dacey learned that he wasn't from this planet, rather than being put off, she was more intrigued. She didn't mind sharing, although monogamy was the norm in Westeros, polygamy wasn't uncommon either, most of the time they just didn't marry after the first, they either just kept them as lovers or did a concubine ceremony instead of a wedding.

When she learned of his city Kandor and where it was, she made sure to request to visit. Aiden agreed and decided to build another teleportation device for Bear Island as well. He also decided at that point to visit Riverlands and Reach to install one as well since he had people he cared about in both places.

The hubs were like a fail safe, a means to escape danger. He was aware he could set up barriers around the city or even the planet using his abilities, which he didn't really see a need unless he was going to leave the planet completely. He already had this desire, to explore space to see what was out there in this universe before moving to another one to explore.

He was going to leave a copy here since this world held a strong place in his heart, he would've already left had his copy not been enjoying the time beyond the Wall. There were still some things to accomplish and he wasn't fully accustomed to being at two places at once yet.

So by the next morning Aiden had already created a Phantom Teleporter in Bear Island, at breakfast he gifted the bracelet needed to utilize the teleportation device to Dacey and her family and told them how to use them before heading off.

"Where are you going?" Dacey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Back to Winterfell, Lord Stark is calling a meeting so I should be there to go over some things to see what I can do to help." Aiden replied.

"Good. I am coming with you. I need to talk to my cousin anyway and there is nothing for me to do here. Plus you promised to take me flying." Dacey said with her hands on her hips.

She made sure to speak in a way that didn't leave any room for a no, Aiden just shrugged and replied, "Only if your mother says it is fine will I agree."

"Oh don't worry about momma bear, when are we leaving?" Dacey said with a grin.

Aiden looked to Winterfell, using his vision and hearing he noticed that in a few hours the Umbers and Karstarks would be arriving in Winterfell.

"You have two hours, meet me in the main courtyard when your ready then." Aiden said as he began to rise into the air.

He wanted to get a better view of what was happening within Westeros, this way he could see how best to help the people in the quickest manner. He already had some ideas, improving agriculture, establishing a road system, improving education and lastly getting rid of the Wall.

The Wall was another source of magical drain on the world, it fed off the ambient magic to sustain the wards that would kill any undead that tried to pass thru it or over it, which is why when the Night King killed one of Daenarys' dragons and resurrected it he didn't attempt to fly over it. He destroyed it first so that he could then fly south.

Had he attempted to fly over it, the dragon would've been destroyed by the magical barrier that extended well beyond the height of the Wall.

Upon seeing the situation across Westeros, Aiden had a mixture of emotions. He saw a fractured south, which was good for his side since it didn't allow them to solely focus on them, but it was bad for the commoners of each kingdom.

When kingdoms wage wars, it's not the nobility that suffered, it was the common people who did. Forceful recruitment into the military forces, stripping families of their labor force of young healthy men and boys which would make harvesting and construction to dwindle, which would in turn cause more famine and economic issues in those territories.

The elderly and extremely young wouldn't be able to harvest as much food or repair homes that have fallen into disrepair, so hunger and sickness would become prevalent the longer things went on. Hunters and skilled labors were always the first to be transcripted into the army, so even game would become rare for villages.

What little agriculture and game the villages could gain would be taken to feed the armies of these kingdoms, causing a downward spiral of starvation and a dwindling workforce that wouldn't be able to keep up with the workers needs. As they starved, their energy to perform work would decrease, they couldn't get enough energy thru eating food to stay healthy.

'I guess I will need to act much faster than I originally suspected, I didn't expect things to devolve into this so quickly. All three brothers view themselves as kings, so before things get out of hand, I need to go rescue those two innocent kids from Kings Landing. I can feel the peoples hate for Robert within the city. It won't be long till they rise up against the crown, which would put both Myrcella and Tommen in danger.' Aiden thought as he looked towards Kings Landing.

'Petyr Baelish needs to be dealt with soon, but not yet. His scheme works in my favor for now, he is keeping the Vale out of the conflict so they have it much better than most.' Aiden then turned to Dorne.

'Why am I not surprised about Doran, his thirst for power is beyond me, I wonder if mother and Uncle Oberyn are fully aware of his plans? I will have to let them know that he is no longer trustworthy, he will give up his niece and nephew in exchange for his own children. Well once I get Myrcella and Tommen out, lets see how he reacts when all he has is Joffrey, his daughter will suffer under that psychopath, although she is almost as bad as him in her thirst for pleasure and power.' Aiden thought as he took in the massive amount of information that poured into his mind.

Then he focused on the Riverlands and Reach, 'They are doing ok, I am glad to see that the gold I gave both are being used appropriately, though the people aren't able to fill their bellies, they aren't starving. Which is also draining the other kingdoms of their commoners. Many families are migrating to the Reach, Riverlands and Vale from the Westerlands, Stormlands and Crownlands in droves.'

After absorbing the current situation, Aiden knew tonight would be the time to begin to set some things into motion. Arianne was already enroute by ship to Kings Landing with her brother Quentyn to finalize the engagement agreement. So if Myrcella and Tommen disappeared, this may bring a wedge between Dorne and the throne once again.

Aiden knew that once Arianne's true nature was revealed, her time within Kings Landing would be short, Joffrey and Cercei wouldn't like her openning her legs for Robert, which is what she planned. Arianne was a beautiful woman, but she was power hungry and manipulative.

She used sex as a weapon, she used it as a tool to gain power over others. She would instill jealousy among lords purposely, all to gain her own following of men outside her father's control. She wasn't happy that her father married herself off to the crown prince, she wanted Dorne, to return it to an independent kingdom.

It was already largely independent, this is why instead of being called Lord like the other rulers in Westeros, they were called Prince and Princess instead, this was due to they were granted much more autonomy than the other kingdoms since they weren't conquered like the others.

They only bent the knee, figuratively, after the Iron Throne promised to regularly wed the Targaryens and Martells moving forward, only then did the continent stabilize and become more united.

That was also why Doran wasn't considered a Warden, he was a Prince of Dorne, a seperate royal bloodline than the Targaryen and now Baratheon line.

After gaining enough information, as well as enjoying the additional sunlight from being so high into the atmosphere, Aiden began to then look out to the stars.

'I wonder whats out there, is this world alone in this great cosmos or are there more worlds to explore. It's strange, it's like I am drawn to travel. I wonder if it's what I was made for, to explore new worlds like my brother Sho.' Aiden thought with a sigh, he felt a desire to leave but was a little afraid to leave before at least resolving the main issues with this world.

He knew he could return to this universe, but there are multiple universes within this one, different timelines within one universe. This is what made the Omniverse so complicated and vast since it contained not just an infinite number of universes, but it also contained a infinite number of multiverses of those same universes.

Picture a skyscraper, it has multiple floors, and perhaps different departments. Each floor would be a multiverse, on every floor there are rooms or offices, those rooms are the various unique ultiverses and timelines. Then the floors above would be the various different multiverses called a Megaverse, each floor represented a different multiverse. Skyscrapers have elevators and stairs, so the floors are connected in some way, linking them together. Now to go an even step further, that same skyscraper represents universes and multiverses has to be built on something.

The Omniverse is the planet which that skyscraper is built on, so there isnt just one skyscraper, there is an infinite number of skyscrapers on that planet, all of different sizes and various shapes, like a city.

So to travel back to the same exact universe, you would need the address of the building, the floor it was on, as well as the room number for the specific point in time you wanted to return.

Without that knowledge or at least a beacon to guide you, you could return to a different timeline or alternate reality entirely and then have to navigate each room to see which one you wanted. This was why Aiden was a little hesitant, although he had the Fortress that could act as a beacon or guide, he didn't want to leave till he at least resolved the more pressing matters.

He was fully aware of the original trajectory of this universe thanks to the Old Gods vision they provided, so he had a small fear in the back of his mind that he may return to such a timeline. Although he has learned to keep his anger in check, should he return to a world like that, he wasn't sure if that anger wouldn't take over.

He knew that timeline still existed, there were many timelines within this universe, some even had reincarnators from other universes that changed those trajectories using special abilities given to them. He could see many of them if he consentrated enough.

After almost two hours of planning Aiden returned to Bear Island, he decided to begin putting things into motion to hasten Robert's downward spiral at an accelerated pace. He wanted Robert to suffer for what he planned to do to Elia, Lyanna and the rest of his adoptive family. He also wanted to take down the Citadel, he learned of their plan as he surveyed the Reach, he didn't like the Maesters due to how they horded knowledge the way they did.

Death by his own hands would be too easy, he wanted Robert and the Citadel to see everything fall apart right before their eyes. He would give Robert what he wanted, a war, but it would be a losing battle since his own people would be against him.

Landing in the main courtyard, Dacey and her mother were already waiting for him. Dacey was in a fine dress instead of her armor, she had her armor and luggage within the storage space built within the bracelets.

"Ready to go?" Aiden asked as he admired how attractive Dacey was.

"Aye. I can't believe how convenient this bracelet is." Dacey said with a smile.

Aiden gave Maege a nod then picked Dacey up in a princess carry and flew off back to Winterfell.