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Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

Eddard

Quiet, it has been a quiet year. A dull one at that, but Eddard Stark savored it. He savored it because he knew, as the snow fell harder than it had before on top of the roof he was underneath and on the training field he was looking over. Summer is ending. How he wished this peace could last, this peace he shared with his family, his people. Winter is coming.

It has been three days since his youngest's second name day. A small celebration, not many lords would have ridden all this way for a third son's name day. He did not mind, he preferred the more intimate affair. Two years, he thought. It did not feel so long ago that Rickon was just a babe on his mother's breast and now he is running along with his brothers through Winterfell.

Eddard placed his hands on the railing and took in the crisp cold air. A cold he was properly shielded against thanks to his leather doublet and fur cloak that befits a lord of the north. When he wasn't busy governing the north, delegating, approving marriage contracts and hearing the requests of his vassals and small folk alike, he was here on his balcony. Mostly to watch his sons train or the members of his house guard. But many times, like today, it would just be him and his thoughts.

It wasn't that way for long when a familiar voice broke his reverie.

"My lord" his master of arms announced himself

"Ser Rodrik" Eddard looked back and greeted the old man. A veteran of his house as his white whiskers and his scarred castle forged armor can attest to. Ser Rodrik Cassel has been serving House Stark since his father was Lord of Winterfell.

"I thought I'd find you here" Rodrik took up the space next to Eddard and continued. "Did you perhaps see me whipping those green boys into shape?"

"I'm afraid not, I just arrived here"

"Good, a sorry display that was. I swear, I could have mistaken those boys for girls the way they handled a sword"

Eddard chuckled at that. Gods have mercy on the poor boys who have a teacher as demanding as Ser Rodrick, Eddard knew firsthand.

"Anything to report, Rodrik?"

Rodrick shifted closer to the railing, causing his armor to clink and clank. He joined Eddard and absorbed the view of Winterfell before them.

"The usual business, nothing too exciting" A slight frown appeared on his face. "Well, except for a wilding sighting"

Eddard frowned at that as well, a more serious visage replacing his relaxed, almost jovial one before.

"This is… troubling. How many does that make so far?'

"Five within the last month," Rodrik answered.

They stood in silence, listening to the snow crunched by footsteps, the distant voices of the denizens of Winterfell and the sharp winds that whistle through the stone walls. All under the midday sun. Winterfell, his home, his family's home. The home of the Starks for thousands upon thousands of years. And where his responsibility began. As warden of the north, a title that was originally not meant for him, he had to protect the land and its people. Over the years Eddard grew used to the weight of his duty but it has always felt heavy. And with the news of these wilding attacks, it grew heavier.

"This latest sighting" Eddard interrupted the brief silence. "What transpired?"

Rodrick turned to Eddard to better address his lord. "For a mercy, no persons were harmed. Thievery and poaching are what the wildlings are guilty of this time. A farm village by the barrowlands was struck early in the evening. Half the crops were ripped from the root and most of the cattle was massacred."

"How do the farmers know it was the wildlings?"

"They spotted one in the act before he fled. But even then, the tracks that were left behind and the wounds the cattle suffered would have left no room for doubt."

Eddard mulled over the information and sucked in the crisp air and sighed a cold sigh.

"We can ill afford to lose food when we are facing the approach of what the maesters are claiming to be the longest and coldest winter in a thousand years"

"I agree," Rodrik concurred. "My lord, if I may, I would like to organize a group, guardsmen and smallfolk alike, to hunt down these savages and bring them to justice"

"You may, but it would not address the underlying cause"

"The Night's Watch" Rodrick grunted in affirmation. "I fear there is not much we can do when it comes to them. The Watch is undermanned, ill-equipped and the quality of their brothers in black is dreadful. It's not surprising that these wildlings have managed to slip through the cracks"

"You speak truly Rodrik, however, the Night's Watch has been in decline ever since Aegon's conquest. And these wildling reports have begun to come in very recently. No, I believe something else is happening"

Rodrik raised an eyebrow "At the wall?"

"Or beyond it"

"The King beyond it?" Rodrik questioned further

A quick glance from Eddard was all the confirmation that he gave Rodrik. And from the looks of it, Rodrik understood.

"I'll need you to find Maester Luwin, tell him I'll need a raven to be sent to Castle Black," Eddard asked Rodrik.

"You won't need to look far, My Lord" a voice chimed in from the doorway before Rodrik could have a chance to respond.

An Old man in a brown robe with golden chain links around his neck stepped into the circle.

"Maester Luwin" Eddard greeted the old man. Maester Luwin, much like Ser Rodrik, is a veteran of House Stark. A learned man from the Citadel, his chain links around his neck can attest to that. He has been ever so faithful to his duties and good company to him and his family.

"I hear you have need of me" Luwin replied.

"I do" Eddard replied. "But you came to me first, do you have something to report?"

Luwin gave a slight nod. "I have a raven of my own, one from Deepwood Motte"

"Lord Glover" Eddard surmised. "He rarely ever sends a missive. What did he have to say?"

"He gives… strange tidings my lord" Luwin answered, a pensive look on his face. He furrowed his brow as he continued. "Lord Glover wishes to inform you of a group of men and women who claim to hail from a dying land and seek sanctuary. They request an audience with you, my lord"

Eddard's gaze shifted to the side. It was not the sort of message he expected. Refuges in the north, of all the places in the seven kingdoms. He looked over to Rodrik and saw that he was thoughtfully stroking his beard.

Eddard returned his attention to the maester. "I would like to hear Lord Glover's words"

"Of course" Luwin pulled out the roll that contained the message and unfurled it. He began.

"To my liege, Lord Eddard of House Stark.

I write to you to bring to light a group of men and women, the likes of which I've never seen. People with queer looks and even queerer things about them. I am confident you'll agree, you'll see soon enough. They claim to be people of a faraway land ruined by war and wish to seek sanctuary. The man who spoke for them requested an audience with the local authority, so naturally, I directed them to you. They will be escorted by a dozen of my men and should arrive at Winterfell within the fortnight

Your loyal vassal and friend, Lord Galbert of House Glover."

Maester Luwin rolled the parchment and returned it to his sleeve.

"Strange tidings indeed" Rodik half murmured, as if speaking solely to himself.

"Stranger that Galbert didn't turn them away," Eddard added. "Which means whoever these people are, they managed to convince them of their story"

"You have doubts?" Rodrik asked.

"I have no reason to just yet" Eddard answered. "However if what these visitors say is true, harboring exiles in the north is not in our best interest. We do not know the details as to why they have left where they came from, which in giving them shelter and succor could invite unforeseen consequences. And in terms of succor, we certainly do not have an abundance of foodstuffs and the like to give away. We will be fortunate to have enough to last the coming winter"

"Wise words my lord" Maester Luwin added.

"And I'm sure Galbert would have thought the same," Eddard concluded.

He turned to Ser Rodrik, the old knight out of his musing. He assumed a different countenance, one that abandoned the placidness of his eyes and adopted a tightness in his jaw. The rest of his body, his stance followed suit. Eddard could feel it too, a tenseness in the air. There should be no reason for it, but Eddard could not help feel something in the wind.

"Ser Rodrik, make the rounds. Gather some men, I'll leave how many and who to your discretion. Prepare a lookout and I'll let you know when to assume your station."

"At once, my lord" Rodrik answered, bowed, and headed out the door while also acknowledging Maester Luwin.

Now with just the two of them, Eddard quickly addressed his remaining company.

"Maester Luwin, before I forget, I still intend to write that letter to the Watch"

"Of course, My lord" Luwin bowed and stepped aside as Eddard walked passed towards the door.

"Walk with me to my solar, there is more I'd like to discuss," Eddard said, as the maester began to follow and close the door behind them.

XXXXX

Ten days, this time Eddard was on the ground floor watching his eldest, Robb, train with his ward, Theon Greyjoy on the training field. Robb's swordsmanship was impressive for a boy of thirteen, as demonstrated when he bests opponents who are many years his senior. Theon being one of them. It most likely didn't show on his face, but Eddard felt immense pride in his son. A pride that he shared with his lady wife, Catelyn. Like his seat, Catelyn was not meant for him. But over time they grew to love each other and together they had five beautiful children. But he had one more child he claimed as his own.

Jon Snow stood at the edge of the training grounds. The boy inherited the Stark look, a long face, dark gray eyes, and even darker brown hair. Whereas his half-brother, Robb, favored Catelyn's Tully side, thick red-brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

Eddard walked over to the boy. Jon did not notice him until he was a few feet away, too focused on the bout before him. When Jon did notice who was approaching him, he stiffened and bowed deeply.

"Lord Stark" Jon uttered a little too fast.

Eddard patted the boy's shoulder, letting him know to be at ease. Jon has made it a habit to address him formally, rarely has he ever called him father. Eddard accepted the blame for this, he claimed Jon as his bastard and that entails an undesirable image. But he loved him no less than his trueborn children.

"He's good." Jon said as he turned back to the two young men dueling with blunted swords.

"Which one?" Eddard asked, although he already knew who he meant. Robb gets the upper hand on Theon as he and Jon observe the bout along with two guardsmen on the other side of the training field. Rodrik would usually be here to oversee the heir's training, but he had other matters to attend to on Eddard's orders.

"Robb of course" Jon answered, a small smile threatening to break his stoic face. He's far too serious for a boy his age, Eddard thought.

"You're quite talented with a sword yourself, Jon"

"Nowhere near as good as Robb," Jon replied with a statement that could have been laced with bitterness but was instead filled with admiration. They are not that far apart in age, Robb being slightly older, but Jon admires him either way.

"You two are young, with many years ahead of you gods willing. You'll have plenty of time to learn and grow."

"But if I were to ever get better than Robb then… never mind" Jon's small smile disappeared, he was back to his stoic self.

Eddard knew what he was going to say. Out of respect to him and Robb, he does not speak badly of Catelyn. Not ever. He would have reason to, the woman is as cold to the bastard boy as she is warm to her trueborn children. And Catelyn would have reason to, Jon was a constant reminder of the dishonor that Eddard inflicted on her. Catelyn forgave Eddard rather quickly for his deed of siring a bastard, but she could not forgive him for keeping the selfsame bastard in their home, near their children. Jon was the source of many arguments over their long marriage.

"I've been thinking," Jon started. "About what my place will be"

"Have you now" Eddard inquired, but he had a feeling where this conversion was headed.

"I have. I'm almost a man grown and I need to start thinking about my future. With no name and no land to hope to inherit, I don't have many options."

Eddard sighed, "You believe the Night's Watch to be your place?"

Jon looked up at him with a sudden surprise and then looked away as if embarrassed.

"Is it that obvious?" He whispered.

"Your uncle made the same decision, his reasons were far different from yours but in much the same way, you both felt that your only option was to take the black."

"Uncle Benjen" Jon spoke softly, more to himself than anything. He readdressed his father and continued. "And what other option would I have? What could a bastard hope to earn"

In the field, Robb parried a strike from Theon. His ward was larger than his son and a more aggressive fighter, which forced Robb to be on the defensive and bide his time. Robb did just that as he caught Theon's blade with his, twisted around it, and struck him in his shoulder. The older boy had to back off a few feet and reassess the battlefield.

"The Night's Watch is a lifelong commitment," Eddard reminded Jon. "One that is sworn before a Weirwood tree and the Old Gods themselves. You would be giving up much."

"I don't have much to give up" Jon retorted, probably not noticing the slight insolence he is showing. Eddard didn't mind.

"Truly? I would think you're brothers and sisters would surely miss you."

The small smile returned. "I doubt Sansa would. But aye, I would miss them too. Sansa as well. But they already have a place they are meant to be. I need to find my own."

Before Eddard could continue the conversation, a triumphant yell cut through.

"Yield!" Robb had Theon on the ground, the tip of his blunted sword on the older boy's neck.

"Argh! Couldn't bloody hit with how damned small you are, Stark" Theon snarled.

"That's the worst excuse you've had yet, Greyjoy" Robb exclaimed as he held out his hand to his downed opponent. Theon seemed to consider the hand as he sat on the floor, a scowl on his lean dark face, and then he grabbed it quickly to get it over with as soon as possible.

As Eddard and Jon approached, the two warriors-to-be appeared to have made amends as they match each other's cocky grins, although Robb's seems to be notably cockier. Eddard arrived before the two boys and looked them over.

"A fine display. You both did well"

"Thank you, Father" Robb bowed

Thank you, my lord" Theon followed suit

Eddard glanced over to Jon and then back to the pair.

"Perhaps one of you would do me the favor of testing Jon here. I would like to see how he fares''

"I'd be glad to," Robb answered. "Jon is my equal when it comes to the sword after all"

Theon chuckled derisively. "You are far too generous Robb, you know that."

Jon stepped forward towards Theon with quick aggression. The older boy had Jon beat by a head, but his furrowed brows and flared nostrils did not give a hint of intimidation from the height difference.

"What are you trying to say?" Jon asserted a slight tension in his voice.

"What I'm trying to say" Theon goaded. "Is that you're just a boy playing with sticks"

"Would you like to see what this boy with a stick can do, squid" Jon snarled

"I would love to, bastard." Theon gibed.

"Enough!" Eddard boomed, his voice causing the two boys to take a step back from each other.

Eddard sighed. "You will train together in good faith or you won't train at all. Understand?"

"Yes Lord Stark," The two boys said in unison.

"Father" Robe called out. "Ser Rodrik's coming this way"

Eddard turned around and sure enough, the old knight was fast approaching, his fur cloak flapping in the wind. Once he joined them, he gave a brief bow and uttered a single sentence.

"They've arrived my lord"

Ned gave a small nod, nothing more needed to be said. He walked towards Rodrik and began marching away beside him. They did not get farther than two steps when Robb called out.

"We would like to join you, Father"

The two older men stopped and turned their heads toward the boys. They were lined up together, Jon in the middle with Robb to his right, and each of their faces had a different expression.

Robb was beaming with excitement, Eddard told about the foreigners in Lord Glover's letter and Robb was fascinated at the prospect of learning about these visitors.

Jon had a weary look, eyes with a tinge of suspicion, and his mouth slightly closer to a frown than a smile. Jon heard the news at the same time as Robb and he did not have the same enthusiasm as Robb did.

Theon seemed to share Robb's excitement, but his was more of a mischievous nature. Eddard would at times be present when Robb and Theon have a casual talk and Theon would have that same look when the topic of battle or girls emerged.

"Very well," Eddard acknowledged. "But you three will stay near me"

Of Course!"Robb exclaimed and gathered the two other boys rather excitedly.

They resumed their march, the boys trailing behind. The anticipation of these foreigners' arrival was on his mind like an annoying itch these past several days. If he had to choose, he would side with Jon with his impression. He cannot help but feel dubious of this unlikely tale withinn Lord Glover's letter. Why would a group of people who have fled from a land ravaged by war choose the north as their destination? Any of the other six kingdoms would surely have been a more attractive choice. The Reach with its' veritable bounty of crops and abundance of fertile land came to mind. Or the Westerlands, home to the Lannisters, the wealthiest house in the realm. Surely they would make for a better and more profitable host than his house could be.

Whatever the reason, the visitors chose the North and House Stark. So he will meet with them with due courtesies. He trusts Lord Glover's judgment in turning these people over to him and will see what they have to say. The gate was in sight, the boys were conversing amongst themselves behind him but they spoke too quietly for him to make out what was being said exactly. But he was certain it was about the visitors they were soon to meet. He looked over to Rodrik, he wore a stone-faced but underneath it lies something Eddard had not noticed before, confusion. Rodrik's eyes were wider than usual, eyes that gave the impression that he had just witnessed something as baffling as an aurochs sprouting wings right in front of him and flying to the sunset. It did not bode well.

They finally arrived, and the guardsmen were stationed above, below, and around. They did not do as good a job at masking the bewildered looks on their faces as Rodrik did. And Eddard took notice of some of the guards gripping the hilt of their fiercely, with grim determination on their faces. Another group came forth, stablehands, bringing with them a band of horses. It would not do for the lord of the castle, his sons, and his companions to meet with another party without their mounts after all.

"Your Horses, milords" the stableman offered. Stableboy really, did not look much older than Robb and Jon.

Eddard and his group received the horses and mounted them swiftly. They then rode closer to the gate as it began to open, snow falling from the top edges.

Eddard did not know what to expect from these foreigners, he did not bother to speculate. But he had a feeling that even if he did, he would not come close. The word foreigner was apt, for they were the most foreign-looking people Eddard had ever seen. There were four of them sitting in a strange carriage with massive black wheels, wheels not made of wood but of a material he had never seen before either. The people themselves were just as strange, he was able to get a good look at them for the carriage open save for steel bars that arched and connected the front to the back. And on top of that, the carriage had no horses. Before he could begin to contemplate on how it would even move, one of the foreigners stepped out of the carriage. They seemed tall while sitting down but it was difficult to tell, but when one of them exited the carriage, it confirmed his assessment. The man stood at an imposing height. He'd surely overtake the stature of King Robert but not his build. He was lean, his companions leaner and their arms and legs were unnaturally long while their head and eyes were slightly larger than usual. Eddard sat there on his mount, not realizing that he had been staring for longer than what would be deemed as polite. But he looked around and saw that his company was doing the same. Wide eyes and mouths agape, like they've seen a herd of aurochs fly off into the distance.

He turned his attention back to the foreigners, the standing man who Eddard had assumed was the one who had spoken for his group to Lord Glover, was now speaking to one of the Glover men. One of many who accompanied the foreign group, they positioned themselves around the strange horseless carriage carrying the Glover standard of silver mailed fist on scarlet. He counted a dozen in his view. The glover man the foreigner was speaking to rode forward trepidatiously while the foreigner walked beside him. He got a better look at the man, his unusual features aside he had an unassuming appearance. Short brown hair, thick neck, an otherwise plain look. The Glover man stopped at his track, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

"My lord, I present to you Basia Merton of …" he paused and looked back at the man he introduced as Basia.

"Uhm, First Landing" Basia answered sheepishly. First Landing, Eddard considered the name. It sounded dangerously close to King's Landing, but he had a feeling that the man before him and the people he spoke for did not know the existence of the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. They might not be aware of it still. Basia turned to Eddard and addressed him further.

"It's good to finally meet you, Mister Stark. You are Eddard Stark, right?"

Before Eddard could answer, specifically to inquire about the foreign address, Ser Rodrik rode forward.

"You will refer to him as Lord Stark or my lord. And you would do well to show the proper respect and bow to a lord" Rodrik firmly demanded.

Eddard observed the man named Basia Merton. It was a peculiar thing to see someone who would tower over most men, Rodrik included, act so nervously. Basia pulled at the collar of his shirt and gulped. The clothing of the man was curious as well. It looked well made and of high quality, seemed to be made of cotton wool, and expertly stitched. Was this man a lord, Eddard thought, but he quickly ruled it out. If he was a lord, he would have addressed himself as such, Eddard glanced over to Basia's companions who were still sitting in the horseless carriage, and noticed they were wearing similar clothing. A uniform perhaps, Eddard pondered. But he did not see any distinguishing features, no coat of arms, or anything similar. No swords or other familiar weapons were on their persons. The two that sat in the back of the carriage, a man and a woman, appeared to be unarmed like Basia before him. But the man in the front had what looked like a crossbow without a bow. It might not have been a weapon, but the way he held it and the careful attention he was receiving from the Glover men said otherwise. Basia appeared to regain his composure and spoke once more.

"I'm sorry. We are not used to calling anyone lords or bowing to anyone for that matter. But far be it from me to insult a man in his house" Basia awkwardly bowed while keeping his head looking up. "Lord Stark '' he added in a questioning tone that was asking if he was performing the courtesies correctly.

"Be at ease, my friend" Eddard assured the man, deciding to be cordial. He was not sure how to address Basia. While most likely not a lord, he was obviously no mere smallfolk either. Aside from the fact that he had a family name, he was well-spoken, well dressed, and was chosen to represent his people, which could mean he had a higher status. Basia unfurled himself, a sigh of relief escaping his lips

"Thank you, Lord Stark. Now, as I'm sure you already know from your man Lord Glover, we are a group of refugees from a place far, far away." Eddard noted the emphasis on the second 'far'.

Basia continued. "A place we were forced to leave due to war between two powerful nations. Our home was the battleground and they left it ruined and caused the deaths of so many of our loved ones."

Basia's voice trembles at the last sentence, a mixture of fury and despair. If Eddard had to guess from his tone shift, Basia was one of those people who lost someone to war. He felt sympathy for the tower of a man, he was all too familiar with that kind of hurt. Basia collected himself and resumed.

"So then we set out on a journey, to find a new home for us. And eventually, we came to this plan- ahem, land. We didn't expect it to be inhabited by other people, that was the last thing we expected actually. So we searched and asked for the rightful claimants of this… land for permission to make a home for ourselves here.

It did not escape Eddard the momentary slip when Basia said 'land', but he disregarded that for now. It was a compelling tale but one shrouded in mysteries. He had many questions, where did they come from for a start? He mulled over the possible locations, they did not match the description of the men from Yi-TI or the Summer Islands. Essos seemed unlikely but perhaps Asshai. No, they did not seem to be practitioners of witchcraft and sorcery, Eddard decided. But a more pressing matter than his questions needed to be addressed first.

"I understand your plight, all too well. War always comes at a terrible cost"

Basia nodded solemnly in agreement.

"I assume you have many people with you?" Eddard asked

"We have just under two hundred"

It was far more than what he expected and what he expected was more than he can confidently provide for. Galbert would have known this too.

"I'm sure Lord Glover has informed you of our own plight. A long winter approaches and we only have so much food and shelter here in the north. I'm afraid there is not much we can give to you and yours" Eddard continued to speak from atop his horse.

"That's alright Lord Stark. We don't expect your charity, in fact we've already settled in what you called the Wolfswood and are living quite comfortably. And before you say anything, we have a way to earn our keep." Basia turned back to his companions and shouted out to them. "Fellas! Bring it around!"

The carriage began to move, an unnerving sight seeing such a thing move on its own without a single horse to aid it. Eddard could hear murmurs and whispers of sorcery and magic from the men around him. He looked to his sons and ward, they were sat in their mounts in a state of awe and disbelief. Robb tore his eyes away and met his.

"Father.." Robb started and took a moment to gather his thoughts but didn't have a chance to speak them.

"I do not trust them" Theon proclaimed brusquely. "I believe you should turn them away my lord, the nerve of these freaks to settle in your lands without your consent"

"I believe we should hear them out" Robb retorted and turned his attention back to his father. "The man seemed genuine to me. And they certainly don't look like they come from Westeros"

"I doubt Essos at that," Jon added and also turned to Eddard. "They haven't said where they hail from exactly, Lord Stark. Why is that?"

A fair question, Eddard thought, but before the conversation could continue, the horseless carriage began moving backward towards them. He could see what looked like two large crates made of another material he was not familiar with attached to the back. The carriage stopped several feet in front of them and the man and woman in the back exited as well. They walked around the carriage and detached one of the crates. It looked heavy, filled with whatever it was they had most likely, and the man and woman were struggling a bit to carry it forward. The crate looked heavy and large enough to be difficult for two grown men to haul, so to his surprise, he was relieved to see these people were having difficulty as well. It would be fair to assume that Basia's people are all similar in size, so he was worried that a people of such immense stature would also have immense strength. Fortunately, that was not the case.

The man and woman set down the crate and opened the lid to reveal the contents inside. Eddard was right to assume it had been filled to the brim, what it was filled with however was fruit and vegetables. A bounty of berries and corn, apples and barley, and others that he did not recognize. They set down the other crate and that revealed meats of varying kinds. Beef, pork, chicken, all in near-perfect cuts, neatly stacked and wrapped in what Eddard can only describe as a thin clear film.

"No matter where you're from, food is always a valuable commodity. And depending on the circumstances, it can be more valuable than gold." Basia declared. "We've been told about your long winters, they sound incredibly harsh but we are experts in surviving in even harsher environments. We can offer not just food but other goods as well"

Basia gestured to Eddard's Valyrian steel greatsword and his breastplate.

"We can also provide steel and other metals for your weapons and armor," Basia continued. "And it's not just goods, we can also offer you our services. I myself am a… uh builder of sorts and a miner. And there are many more like me, so if you need capable men and women with those skills, we're at your disposal."

Eddard took in what was said. It was an attractive offer, gods knew that the North needed all the help it could get. A Stark guardsman rode close to him and volunteered to sample the food in case it was tampered with. Eddard allowed it and the guardsman along with another of the guards hopped off their horses and proceeded to do as they said. The fruits and vegetables were the first to be tasted, they did look incredibly vibrant and enticing. The guards munched on the fruits and vegetables with a satisfying crisp crunch. They did not say anything, the pleasure written on their faces spoke loud enough. They tried the meat next, ripping off the queer film, and had the same result. Embarrassingly, Eddard's stomach began to growl. He realized he hadn't eaten in quite a while. Eddard shifted in his horse and readdressed Basia.

"These are grand proposals you are making. I hope that you are not embellishing your tale for the sake of your people" Eddard said.

"If anything Lord Stark, we might be underselling ourselves" Basia reaffirmed.

The company of Stark men grumbled amongst, many sewing doubts within the ranks. Be that as it may, Basia Merton and his companions have come all this way. What they were offering was something the North sorely needed and he would be a fool to reject it on mere suspicion. Eddard made his decision.

"Very well then, you and your companion may come in through the gates. We will break bread as is our tradition"

"That's right, Mr. Glover- I mean Lord Glover had us do the same. And likewise, we would like to invite you and your people to First Landing. You'll see for yourself that we really mean business"

"Then we best prepare ourselves" Eddard began turning his horse around along with those around him, Basia gathered his companions near the carriage. Only a few seconds passed when Eddard turned his back around slightly and called out to the tall foreigner.

"There is something I would like to know, Basia Merton" Eddard inquired.

Basia turned and assumed his previous, more respectful stance. "Ask away"

"From where do you hail, you have been vague about the detail up until now" Eddard saw Basia shuffle his feet, place a hairy hand on his hairier chin, and watch as eyes darted around as if looking for an answer.

"We're not trying to hide anything Lord Stark, it's just… a hard question to answer. We would need to explain a couple of things first before we can begin to tell where we're from." Basia took a deep breath. "But I can tell you this much, the land that we called home was an incredible place. Filled with wonders and brilliant people. And it had one hell of a view" Eddard spied a sad smile on the man's face.

"That place, our old home, is called Ganymede"

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

Holden

Snow, Holden saw snow. One second he was on the Behemoth fighting alongside two Martian Marines and a Belter officer against Captain Ashford and his goons for the fate of the Solar System, the next he was on his knees in snow and surrounded by countless trees while being as bare as the day he was born. Holden warily surveyed his surroundings and quickly noticed the bleeding faces on the trees facing him. A deathly chill went down his spine and froze him in place, despite not feeling the cold from the snow beneath. Where the hell am I, he thought to himself. Then a familiar voice broke him out of his reverie.

"Fucking creepy, aren't they" Miller said as he walked into Holden's view.

"Where?" Holden started, almost demanded

"This planet is beyond one of the gates. And it just so happens to be an Earth-like one too. Scarily so in fact, like a long lost twin sister, only this one's fatter."

"And we're here," Holden asked.

Miller laughed, the jowls on his face flapping like those of a basset hound barking. "Kid if you were actually here, your nuts would have been frozen off by now". Miller glided through the snow, not disturbing it, and adjusted his porkpie hat. "Also, I thought we already established that I'm not a physical being. Remember?"

"Right… Hold on!" Holden stood up, becoming acutely aware of the dissonance between his environment and the room temperature he was feeling. He should be freezing, but all he could feel was the texture of the snow and the lukewarm breeze of the wind. It was unsettling, to put it mildly.

"Are you saying that we're in my head or something? Because I was just in the middle of a firefight and if I'm floating in the middle of that right now.."

"Simmer down" Miller placated Holden, patting the air in front of him. "I ain't gonna take much of your time, so don't worry"

Holden took a breath and hesitantly asked. "Did we do it?"

Miller smirked. "Oh yeah kid, Just got under the power threshold. And now the station sees your ships as nothing more than a bunch of rocks floating in its orbit."

"So, we saved the earth… and the solar system"

"Hmm? Oh right, that too." Miller gave a shrug in the Belter fashion. "That was incidental to the overall plan, but hey good for you"

Holden frowned at that. "You could at least pretend to care." There was a momentary silence before Miller spoke again

"Yippee," Miller cheered halfheartedly. He quickly moved on and went back to pacing in the snow. "Anyways, we got more important matters to look at"

"Like what exactly"

Miller simply pointed upwards and Holden's eyes followed its direction.

There were what looked like thousands of them. Ring gates, with a star at the center of each one. It encompassed the evening sky and overwhelmed Holden so much that he forgot to breathe.

"Is that-" Holden gulped. "Are they all open?"

"Nope," Miller said matter-of-factly, Holden shooting him a confused look. "That's what's supposed to happen"

"What do you mean?"

"Three things were supposed to happen after we convinced the station that you and your pals were harmless. One, the ships would be freed. Obviously the most pressing concern, needed to get that one out of the way. Two, the security systems shutting down."

"The security systems?" Holden interjected.

"Uh huh, took the liberty of killing it myself. Can't have you monkeys getting your dicks caught in the microwave again." Holden huffed at the analogy, more so because it sounded close to what he would use.

Miller scratched the back of his neck as if trying to remember something. "Where was I? Right. And three, all the ring gates opening" He looked up to the sky once more and so did Holden. The RIngs that crowded the sky began disappearing, one by one until only one was left.

As you can see," Miller concluded. "We're two for three"

Holden gazed at the glowing light in the center of the lone ring. From this distance, it would have damaged his eyes but he wasn't here. This was just a simulation running in his mind, aided by the protomolecule and its agent that manifested as the old detective from Ceres station who accompanied him and his crew on a search for a lost girl. A search that led to said protomolecule, an ancient alien technology, and the people who tried to use it, tap into it and control it. Like monkeys with a microwave, they could not comprehend what they were fucking with.

Holden shifted his gaze back to his imaginary friend, Holden knew what that lonely star in the alien sky meant.

"We're on that planet, beyond the gate"

"Wel not physically. But yeah, a rendition of it so to speak. One that I dug up from the station's catalog. Apparently, we're near the North Pole, not that it's hard to tell. Aside from that, there's not much more info on the planet, a lot of it was… redacted."

Holden took note of what he said, what it could imply. "What's so special about this place?" he murmured, then decided to mentally file it for later.

"I don't know," Miller answered quizzically. "Like I said, most of it is redacted"

"I was talking to myself," Holden responded, annoyed.

"You do know, talking to yourself and talking to me is basically the same thing."

Holden glared at Miller, his annoyance growing. "We've been at this for a while now. For all I know, I could be floating in the air with holes inside of me, bleeding out."

Miller raised both hands in mocked surrender, attempting to appease the angry Earther.

"Alright, alright. I'll get to the point then." Miller returned his hands to his side, one finding shelter in his right trench coat pocket. "You know what this smells like? A case. One with a paper trail that I mean to follow. A trail that leads me through-" Miller's finger wagged the ring in the sky, "That ring", pointed his finger to the star within, "That system" and then pointed his finger to the ground, "and this planet"

"Well, good luck with that. I oughta get back to my gunfight now if you don't mind"

"I'm not done with you yet" The atmosphere of the conversation changed to a more ominous tone. The menacing aura washed over Holden and had him stilled. Miller's eyes became a fiercer blue. "Like I said, saving your solar system, that was incidental, I can take it or leave it. I wasn't built to be humanity's savior, to aid in their manifest destiny across the cosmos. I don't give a shit. I was built by the thing that made all this possible." Miller spread out his arms and gestured to the sky which now had the ring station and the ships that surrounded it.

The Behemoth, the largest ship in the solar system which belongs to the newly recognized Outer Planets Alliance. A generation ship turned warship, it now houses the wounded and dying who suffered the most from the abrupt deceleration that the station's security system caused. The Behemoth and its accompanying ships are one-third of the flotilla that came out to the RIng that formed near Uranus. Two-thirds of the flotilla consists of two other fleets belonging to the two major powers, the Mars Congressional Republic and the United Nations of Earth. The three factions have warred with each other for hundreds of years but now they are united in the face of catastrophe and tragedy on one singular goal. Survival.

Holden can see the ships floating away from the Ring station, towards the ring that will lead them to their homes and away from the hellscape they experienced. A sad bitterness grew in Holden. He knew that once they left this godforsaken place, they'll go back to killing each other as usual. And this time there will be a new goal, the new frontier that laid beyond the alien gate. A new solar system with a bounty of riches and a habitable planet to boot. He can already see it, a bloody gold rush. It is only human nature after all. Miller let his arms fall.

"I was built by a thing that makes a road between stars." Miller continued. "But the job's not done, something is stopping it. A directive if I were to guess, programmed by its creators. So, there's got to be a reason why this planet's system is the odd one out." Miller looked at Holden and gave him a confident smirk. "And my instincts tell me… there's a clue on this rock"

"Why do you care?' Holden asked out of frustration, almost yelling. "The ones who created the protomolecule are gone, dead for billions of years."

Miller shrugged. "Well, think of it like this. If you set a course for your ship to take you to a destination and you drop dead immediately after, do you think the ship will care that you're no longer breathing and stop what it's doing?"

It was easy to forget that Miller was a construct of the protomolecule, with no real free will of his own. He was given a job, to find things, and it did not matter that he had no one to report to at the end of it. For the first time, he felt pity for the man, construct, figment of his damaged mind.

"I understand, but what is it that you need from me"

"Isn't it obvious?" Miller said. "I'm gonna need a ride"

XXXXX

Eight months have passed since the Ring Gate incident. James Holden floated in microgravity on the pilot deck of his ship, the Rocinante, holding on to the edge of the pilot's chair as the ship orbited around the blue planet at a steady pace. He was overlooking the blue planet called Earth, where he was born. Where he had just returned from his visit to the farmstead he grew up on. His mothers and fathers gave him a warm reception. It was a lovely get-together, he'd only wish Naomi could have gone down with him.

Holden floated down the ladder to the bridge, where the rest of his crew was. Naomi Nagata, his XO, and his lover was at the command center viewing the planet below. The light from the viewing table illuminated her olive skin, her long hair floating around her head like a black cloud. Due to her Belter constitution, which was a result of her and her people living on the asteroid belt for generations, Naomi would not be able to survive for very long in the constant 1g of Earth's gravity. She could have taken the experimental gravity drugs and procedure to allow her to come to his family's home, but it was a long and painful process and he didn't want to ask that of her. Earth isn't her home anyways. Interestingly, while Holden's body was able to handle Earth's gravity naturally, during his visit to his childhood home he was always aware of the planet's pressure on his body. Holden guessed that's what happens when you've been out of the well for as many years as he has.

To his left was the pilot of the Roci, Alex Kamal, sitting on one of the chairs that control a portion of the offensive capabilities of the Martian Corvette battleship. He sat watching a martian news channel on a terminal mounted in front of him. Eating out of a bag of potato chips, with an empty can of soda floating near his head. Alex is the oldest of the crew, pushing fifty, with a noticeably receding hairline on his brown head and beer belly he would idly scratch from time to time. Much like Holden, Alex has not been to his home planet of Mars for many years. However, while Alex desires to see Mars and his family again, he cannot because of the shame of how he left it in the first place. Something that Alex confided in Holden during the time they've known each other.

Amos Burton sat on another chair across the bridge from Alex, eyes closed, arms crossed and chair reclined. He could be napping or just relaxing. Amos is the engineer of the ship, a burly, bald headed man with the look of a friendly neighborhood mechanic. His appearance belies his true nature however, that of a stone cold killer. Amos is the muscle of the group, the rock that the rest of the crew leans on. His morals are questionable, but he's as loyal as one can be for their friends. And he's an Earther like Holden, except he didn't share the same positive opinion of the planet. Holden didn't know much of Amos' past, not out of lack of interest but because Amos was closely guarded when it came to that topic. But Holden could infer from the little that Amos was willing to reveal, that he had far from a happy and normal childhood.

"Hey, hoss," Alex grabbed Holden's attention with his Mariner Valley drawl as he swiveled around to face him. "I forgot to ask how it was down there. You know, coming back to Earth and seeing your folks again after so long"

Holden clicked the heels of his magboots and magnetized him to the hull of the ship. "It was nice, Mother Elise was the one calling the shots when it came to the homecoming and Father Cesar tried his best at speaking Belter to Naomi over the comms"

"Yeah I heard that" Alex grimaces at the memory. "That was rough"

"Hey" Naomi chimed in from the command table. "At least he tried, that's more that can be said for most inners"

"It was pretty bad though," Holden said.

"Oh ya, it was terrible" Naomi agreed and returned her attention to the command table, now zoomed out to display the solar system up to Uranus.

"Well happy for you captain" Alex gave Holden a sad smile and swiveled back around to watch his regularly scheduled program.

Holden walked over to Naomi and held her by the waist.

"Whatcha looking at?" Holden asked.

"Preparing to plot a course, Fred Johnson just requested us to escort one of his ships from Tycho"

"Another one" Amos spoke from his chair without preamble.

"Thought you were asleep" Holden teased.

"Just resting my eyes cap," Amos reassured him, still in the same position. "Anyways, I'm not complaining. Pays good and job's straightforward, just boring is all. Hell, it's been pretty boring for the past several months." Amos punctuated with a deep yawn.

"Boring is good, boring is safe." Naomi countered.

"Well, I guess you're right," Amos grunted and went back to resting his eyes.

Naomi turned back to Holden. "I assumed you'd want to take this job, unless you have other plans."

"Nah, the only plan I had was to visit my family. I'm kinda free" Holden looked at the holographic map of the system on the table. "Sure, let's babysit another one of Fred's ships. Like Amos said, it's easy money.

"Guys" Alex spoke out loudly in an uneasy tone that got the attention of the rest of the crew. "Turn on your terminals. Y'all are gonna want to see this"

The crew did just that, Holden assumed whatever it was, was on the MCR channel Alex was watching, but he got the bright red banners for a breaking news alert on the UN channel he left it on. A jowly Earth looked directly to the camera, her eyes wide open as if she just saw a pig sprout wings and fly into space. The footage behind her looked like Belters in a small village made of prefabricated houses and something else that immediately confused him. Men in what looked like medieval armor on horses riding among them. The words at the top, white on black, said "Aliens on New Terra?".The Earth woman began to speak.

"We have just received new communications from the two Belter ships that have escaped through the Ring gate housing the alien solar system"

Holden remembered. Shortly after the ring gate incident and before a proper blockade could be made, a group of ships commandeered by refugees from Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, had flown through the gates. The UNN and MCRN ships that were patrolling there managed to shoot down most of the ships that flew by, but two of the ships were able to slip through. They haven't been heard from again until roughly two months ago when the newly named ships, The Giuseppa and The Barbapiccola reached the orbit of the only habitable planet of the new solar system. According to the UNN probes that were sent after the belters ventured through the gate, the system consisted of 7 planets. Five terrestrial planets, two gas giants, and an asteroid belt separating them. It was eerily similar to the Sol system and it didn't stop there. The habitable planet that lay in the Goldilocks zone was strikingly similar to Earth. It had a singular moon roughly the same size as Luna, a revolution that is estimated to be close to the same length of an Earth year and was only slightly larger than Earth. And it's as blue as the Earth itself with almost a dozen continents and a single, massive ocean. It's no wonder why people have been calling it New Terra, although the Belters who discovered the planet have proudly given it the name of Ilus. Holden had thought it was an appropriate name seeing as how the Belters are from Ganymede and Ilus was the brother of Ganymede in Greek mythology. Since then, there has not been any communication from the Belter refugees. Until now.

"We bring to you breaking news from the alien planet colloquially known as New Terra. Footage has been released from the ground and what was discovered is…" The Earth woman took a pause. "Hard to believe"

One of the squares behind her displaying the footage expanded to fill up the screen. On it, two groups seemed to be gathering at what looked like the town square of the makeshift village. One was the Ganymede refugees with a thick-featured Martian woman at the lead and the other was a group of medieval men with fur coats, leather and steel armor, carrying actual swords. Their leader from the looks of it was a long-faced man with long brown hair, he had the air of a man with authority and his company seemed to regard him as important. The Martian woman was the first to speak.

"Welcome gentlemen to First Landing." The woman greeted them warmly. "My name is Carol Chiwewe, coordinator of this little community."

"A pleasure, my lady" the long-faced man reciprocated. "I am Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North." The camera zoomed in on his face, making the details of his face much more clear. He had an aged face, could have been in his thirties but could easily pass for mid-forties as well. The medieval man continued. "And I welcome you and your people as well, to the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros."

Holden gawked at his hand terminal, his mind almost refusing what his eyes were witnessing. It didn't help that he was seeing this through a screen. For all he knew, the footage could have been altered, actors in costumes from some old 21st-century fantasy movie superimposed on the footage. Some kind of elaborate Joke.

"What kind of joke is this?" Alex chuckled nervously. "How… how the hell are there human beings across the galaxy we didn't know about?"

"There shouldn't be," Naomi answered tentatively. "I mean bipedal extraterrestrial life, sure. Two eyes, two arms, two legs, that's likely. But to look identical to humans should be a statistical impossibility" Naomi finished the last part almost breathlessly.

"Are we sure they're even human?" Alex proposed, frantically scrubbing through the recording on the terminal. "They don't have some protomolecule shit on them, do they?"

"They look pretty human to me," Amos added in a level voice.

"You're awfully calm about this" Alex responded, his voice getting even more frantic.

"Well, we've seen a lot of crazy shit over the years. I figured we'd be used to seeing things we can't explain by now" Amos countered casually.

"Thi- It-" Alex stammered "They're speaking English for god's sake!" Alex gave an exasperated yell.

Holden's crew continued to fiercely discuss the universe-shattering revelation, but he began to tune them out as he continued to analyze the footage before him. A montage of sorts, he saw the medieval men in their medieval attire carrying banners that had the sigils of a wolf running on white and an armored fist on red. Pretty much all of them had a horse, they were either riding them, leading them along, or had them tied up to a tree. Holden had never seen so many of the creatures in the same place. Horses were rare on earth, not even on his farmstead would there be any when a solar-powered cart could do the job just fine. For that reason, owning a horse was a status symbol for the rich and influential. Some of the Ganymede refugees had camera equipment and attempted to do candid interviews with the medieval men. They were definitely speaking English, but they spoke differently. Not the 'Ye olde' English he knew about in the history books but a more archaic form nonetheless. But Holden couldn't deny, that they were human by every definition of the word and they looked like people from, what could only be described as, the Middle Ages of Europe. Holden along with everyone else expected that if humanity were to discover another sentient life form in space, that it would be little green men or something else utterly alien. Never did Holden, and he was sure the rest of the system, expect to see themselves in a mirror from a thousand years ago.

"Jim? Jim!" Naomi broke Holden out of his trance. She looked at him, her brows furrowed and her eyes piercing through his skull. "What do you think about all this?"

He looked away from her to consider the question and then gave his answer"

"I think I need some time alone"

Holden walked towards the ladder that led to the lower levels of the ship. He climbed down, for what could be considered down in the microgravity. He marched straight ahead through a corridor, past the crew quarters, and into the medbay. He closed the door behind him and scanned the room. Three auto doc chairs, equipment nailed to the counters in case the ship made any harsh maneuvers that could send scalpels and needles flying, and the distinct absence of an old Belter with a porkpie hat. Holden began to call out for him.

"Miller! Miller! We need to talk" Holden shouted to the void. It did not take long for the ghost to appear.

"Not so loud, kid" Miller grumbled, digging into his ear with his pinky. He was sitting on one of the auto doc chairs, one leg hanging off the edge.

"You have some explaining to do" Holden confronted the ghost.

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean 'what am I talking about'? You saw what I saw didn't you?" Holden's voice began to get louder, frustration seeping through.

Miller didn't respond, he looked off to the side as if he were the only one in the room.

"Hello?" Holden called out, taken aback by the abrupt halt to the conversation. Miller still didn't respond. "Miller? Are you there?"

"-one hundred and thirteen times a second-" Miller whispered to himself.

"Miller!" Holden shouted at him.

"Huh?" the old detective snapped out of his stupor. "Sorry, kid. This far out from the ring, the connection gets a little fuzzy."

Miller adjusted his detective coat a bit and returned back to the conversation. "So what were we talking about again"

"The people on Ilus" Holden reminded him, his irritation returning.

"What about 'em?"

"'What about them?' You didn't think to mention that there were humans on the other side of the fucking gate!"

"Must've slipped my mind." Miller gave his signature Belter shrug.

"ARRGH!" Holden yelled in frustration, placing both of his hand behind his head as he began to pace on the medbay floor.

"So about that ride." Miller attempted to change the subject.

"You and you're goddamn ride" Holden snapped back.

"Hey!" Miller responded in mock offense. "The way I see it, you owe me for saving your ass and your idiot species from total annihilation." Holden looked back briefly, a scowl on his face. "And admit it, you're curious too. Especially now, with your long lost cousins in space."

"You don't understand, do you, there's a reason why the UN has a blockade on the RIng Gate. To stop a resource war from happening. And to stop the new solar system from becoming a battleground where every major power races to conquer every planet, moon and asteroid." Holden stopped himself and looked off to the side. "But this changes everything. There is honest to god sentient, native life on another planet, and against all of our wildest expectations, they're human like us." Holden looked back to Miller, a grim visage on his face. "But soon the blockade will be lifted or broken through, and those people are going to be caught in the crossfire. History has shown what happens when an advanced civilization meets a primitive one, it doesn't end well for the latter."

"Always the Knight in Shining Armor," Miller said mockingly. "You're gonna save this world too?"

Holden scoffed. "Right, I forgot. You don't give a shit about us. You said so yourself."

"That is true, but…" Miller stood up from the auto doc chair. "This is obviously very important to you. So if it gets you to the other side of the ring, then I'll gladly help you save these primitive monkeys."

A short silence of agreement was shared between the two of them. Holden didn't know what he would even do exactly on Ilus. But he had to at least try to hold back the inevitable tide. And he hated to admit it, but Miller was right, he was curious. Who wouldn't be curious about a whole new solar system, a whole new world, and now a whole other culture and strand of humanity?

"Alright then," Holden said. "We already have a job to escort another one of Fred's ships to Medina Station. We'll figure it out once we get there."

Miller clapped his hands together. "Finally! It's about damn time we got back on the case. Especially after months of just floating around in this tin can with our thumbs up our asses doing nothing."

Holden allowed a small grin to surface. "We'll talk later Miller" and he began to walk to the door. As he got to the door and was about to open it, Holden heard muttering behind him.

"-one hundred and thirteen times a second, and no answer-" Miller's back was facing the door, his head tilted downwards. His form was glitching, while a blue aura started to emanate from him. Holden just stared at him, trying to understand what the ghost was saying.

"One hundred and thirteen times a second, and no answer. One hundred and thirteen times a second….. it reaches out."

Miller bursted into a cloud of glowing, blue fireflies.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

Jon

They've arrived at First Landing close to dusk after a five-day trek through the Wolfswood. They made good time due to having to keep up with the Ganymedian's electric cart. That's what they called their horseless carriage, Jon felt that horseless carriage was a more apt name. Like many things about the Ganymedians, the word 'electric' was foreign to the Northerners. But Basia Merton explained that electricity is similar to lightning. The difference was that where lightning is created in the heavens by clouds, electricity is man-made. Naturally, throughout the twenty-some guardsmen from House Stark and House Glover who accompanied them, suspicion of sorcery took root despite Basia's claims to the contrary. There were even whispers of the illusive lands in the far south of Essos, Asshai by the Shadow. Jon didn't agree with the assumptions, the Ganymedians didn't strike him as sorcerers. They certainly didn't look like what he imagined sorcerers would be.

During their march through the woods, the Ganymedians mostly kept to themselves. Only Basia made the effort to speak to the soldiers, a far cry from his companions. The other Ganymedians were wary of the Stark-Glover contingent, more so than the Stark and Glover men were of them. Robb had tried to become acquainted with the foreigners with Jon and a couple of Stark men at his side, but they were swiftly rebuffed. They could not even get their names. Normally such rudeness towards the heir of a great house would demand some form of punishment. But current circumstances gave way to some leniency to common courtesies. And that leniency was tested further. While Basia Merton tried his best to adopt Westerosi customs, the Ganymedians continued to use their foreign addresses. 'Mister', as Basia explained, was a title given to anyone, be they smallfolk or noble, as a means to be respectful. Many of the soldiers scoffed at the notion, they couldn't imagine any reason why a person of higher standing should show respect to a common peasant. Jon thought it queer, but he did not judge. He had to remind himself that these were very different people with very different ways of life, much like the magisters of The Free Cities of Essos.

Something else that Jon discovered was that the Ganymedians had their own tongue. Basia called it Belter Creole, a mixture of multiple tongues from the lands they came from. Jon could make out the common tongue within the words, which was interesting. That was something else that perplexed Jon and the others, the fact that they can speak the common tongue even though they hail from faraway lands. Basia admitted that he and his people also have no idea why that is.

Baisa Merton, Jon thought him odd. The man certainly had an impressive stature but his face was otherwise plain, he had brown thinning hair with a few white steaks and a bearded stubble. A face that would blend in with a crowd. But he was well-spoken, albeit awkward. He did not act as a man of low birth nor did he carry himself as one of high birth. It confused the guardsmen, seeing him speak to their liege lord on equal footing. Which is why by force of habit they would accidentally refer to Basia as a lord, which in turn Basia would profusely correct them. He was also very coy when it came to any details about his homeland, Ganymede, and the other lands he alluded to. He continually reassured them that all will be thoroughly explained once they reach First Landing. And so they did.

First Landing was fairly similar to the villages of the North. Wooden hovels, dirt roads, and many people milling about. But the similarities ended rather quickly, for one thing, the people of the village did not have the appearance of smallfolk at all. Many of them had the same clothing as Basia and his companions, while others had more varied clothing of different colors. All of which did not look like the raw wool or brown roughspun that the smallfolk would wear. However, Jon noted that some of the villagers were dirtier than others. Those villagers seemed to be the laborers, as they were wielding tools and traversing the village on electric carts.

And the village itself, while it did have those wooden hovels, it also had dwellings made of steel. These steel houses were in varying colors as well, Red, blue, yellow, and green. Among them, were other structures that Jon couldn't discern what their purpose could be, large poles with half circles at the top and massive panels on roofs of the steel houses facing the sky. But something else caught his eyes, along with his lord father, brother, and the rest of the Northman. A glass garden, as big as the castle courtyard. Winterfell has a glass garden, multiple at that, as well as a handful of the principal bannermen of House Stark. The surprise was the existence of a glass garden in the wolfswood, in possession of foreign visitors who had just settled. It spoke to the wealth and resources these visitors had. It made Jon wonder even more where they came from.

"These people are quite resourceful, aren't they?" Robb spoke from beside Jon, surveying the village before him.

"That might be putting it lightly, they look to be thriving." Jon countered. He saw children run across the dirt path and men gathered around sharing a drink. He heard music too, but could not spot a bard.

"From the little that Basia told us, his people have learned to survive in the harshest environments and that living in the Wolfswood is far easier by comparison. I'll admit I had my doubts, The North is as harsh as it comes. But it seems it was no mere boast." Robb paused for a moment and took in the cold northern air. "I can only imagine what their home must have been like."

"Ganymede" Jon tasted the name of the foreign land. As he did, a contingent of three electric carts came forward. At the lead cart in the middle sat a woman in the passenger seat, she was thick-bodied with shoulder-length hair and a roughened face. She was shorter than her escorts but still matched the height of Lord Stark. She stepped out of the cart with what Jon assumed was a guard on her side. The guard was a tall lanky man like many of the Ganymedians he had seen, and the man held the same bowless crossbow he saw on one of Basia's companions. The way the man carried it, Jon knew it had to be a weapon of some kind. The woman stepped closer with a warm smile and looked at the armored, horse-mounted men before her.

"Welcome gentlemen to First Landing. My name is Carol Chiwewe, coordinator of this little community." The woman introduced herself.

Jon spotted a man in the other cart carrying a device with a protruding lens pointing toward the woman. He then pointed it toward his lord father and for a moment Jon had feared it was a weapon of some sort but he soon realized it wasn't after his father spoke.

"A pleasure, my lady. I am Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. And I welcome you and your people as well, to the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros." The man with the lensed device pointed it back to Lady Carol. The device perplexed Jon, if it wasn't a weapon then what was it? Another oddity from the Ganymedians.

"Thank you, Lord Stark. Please, make yourselves at home. It is your land after all, I hope your escorts treated you and your men well." Lady Carol acted very diplomatically, a politician perhaps. From Jon's understanding, there are no lords or ladies in Ganymede but he'd guessed Lord Stark referred to Lady Carol as such out of tradition and respect to the leader of the group.

"Your man Basia has been a most amiable guide" Lord Stark skillfully responded, showing his own diplomatic side by omitting the other escorts who were anything but courteous.

"I'm glad to hear it." Carol then turned her attention to the man in question. "Basia, your wife is waiting for you. The shuttle is due to arrive in a few hours."

"You're right. Should be on my way before the missus gets too cross with me" Basia answered. Before he could leave, Lady Carol's guard began to speak to Basia.

"Oye bosmang" the guard then gestured his head towards the Stark and Glover guards. "Imalowda staying with us?"

"Ya beratna, they traveled with us for five days. Gotta make the trip worth it, to Sasa."

"Mi pensa milowda na have room fo da Innas" The guard spoke with thinly veiled disdain in his voice. The Stark guards shifted in their armor. Ser Rodrik stepped forward on his horse, irritation on his face. It was more of the Belter Creole that Jon had heard. And he heard the word 'Inners' used before and knew it was a label for them. A negative label by the way these people spat it out.

"Unte mi pensa we make room. We're their guests, not the other way around" Basia asserted. The guard just scoffed at that and said no more.

With that, Basia nodded at Lady Carol and moved further into the village, Jon wondered what this shuttle they spoke of was.

After Lady Carol finished harshly whispering to her guard, reprimanding him most likely, she turned to the armored guardsman.

"Apologies, Keve here means no offense I assure you. He's just… cautious." She gestured back to the escorts in the electric carts with a circling hand motion. "Alright then, I think we'd be better situated in the town hall, don't you agree."

Lord Stark nodded in agreement and ordered his men to move forward in a casual trot. Jon noted what was said earlier. It was clear to him that the man named Keve wasn't simply cautious and that Lady Carol tried to save face. It obvious because he had seen that same hostility from Basia's companions.

"Some of these people are not fond of us" Robb spoke beside him, seemingly reading his mind.

"Aye, but I don't understand why. We've barely met them." Jon agreed.

"They keep calling us 'inners' and the way they spit that word out, it's safe to say that it's nothing nice."

"Fuck em" Theon interjected. "These foreigners are bold to demand an audience from us and insult us in the same breath."

Robb continued. "Perhaps we remind them of people they don't like from their homeland. Maybe the ones who drove them from their homes."

"Perhaps" Jon spoke thoughtfully, cold air escaping his lips. The people of First Landing made way for the procession. Something Jon noticed as they walked by was how many children there were. And it didn't appear that there were many warriors as well. Most seem to be farmhands, builders, and other laborers. Night began to fall and Jon wondered what the villagers were going to do for light. Normally one would expect torches and lamps to be lit, but Jon half expected something else more fantastical. He was not disappointed.

Lights began to appear on their own, the poles that Jon noticed before illuminating great swathes of their surroundings. It shocked many in Jon's party, and cries of sorcery began bubbling up again. Jon was impressed at how much light these devices gave. Darkness threatened to envelop the village but was washed away so easily. The village looked brighter than it had mere moments ago. He looked at Robb and Theon and they were both in a state of awe and slight confusion.

They arrived at the town hall which was curiously more dimly lit than the rest of the village. Lady Carol and her people dismounted from their carts and invited the rest to do the same with their horses. Lord Stark and his men obliged, some taking it upon themselves to tie up the horses to the nearest trees or posts. They walked closer to the center of the town hall as it was called and in the middle was a massive metal table with a glass tabletop. Lady Carol motioned everyone to the table and everyone organized themselves without a word, one side was the Northerners and the other was the Ganymedes. Trepidation grew amongst them, Jon could feel it and the Stark and Glover soldiers started to get restless. Jon was getting restless too. After having witnessed what they have so far, answers were sorely needed. He could see it in his brother and the ward, and he could see it in the steely gaze of his lord father.

The ones who stood closest to the table were Jon, Robb to his right, and Theon to his left. Lord Stark was on Robb's side and Ser Rodrik stood steadfast next to his liege. Across the table was Lady Carol, and three other villagers with one carrying the bow-like weapon. One of the villagers stood out to Jon, another massive man who equaled the stature of Basia. But unlike Basia, there was nothing plain about him. He stood to the side draped in dark-colored garments and a face so pale he'd almost looked like a corpse. A man-shaped shadow is how Jon would describe him. Shortly after everyone settled in, a newcomer arrived at the Villager's side. He was a man of similar stature to the Northerners, a youthful man no older than 30 with the appearance of a Southerner. Jon thought he matched the description of the blonde-haired Lannisters he'd heard about, except with blue eyes instead of the signature green eyes of the Westerland family.

"Greetings, my name is Vincent Riley" the blonde man introduced himself. Jon noticed something else that was peculiar, the other villagers standing by Vincent were eyeing him just as coldly as they were eyeing the northerners. "You must be Mister Stark, correct?"

Many of the stark men bristled at the slight disrespect, even more so now that they know that it is a title shared by the lowborn. Rodrik nearly growled, no doubt wanting nothing more at that moment to knock some respect to the blonde man. The fact that the man looked like one of the Lannister brood didn't do him any favors. However, Lord Stark did not appear to be offended and moved the conversation forward in stride."

"You are correct. May I ask who you are exactly? Your role in the village that is?"

Before Vincent could answer, Lady Carol whispered in his ear. A slight blush of red bloomed on his face and he returned his attention to Lord Stark. "Ah, forgive me, I forgot that 'mister' is not an honorific that's used here. Lord Stark would be the correct way to address you, right?"

Lord Stark nodded, wearing a slight smile of amusement. "There is nothing to forgive"

"That's a relief," Vincent sighed."Anyways you asked what my role here is. Well…" Vincent paused briefly, his eyes looking away as if considering what he would say next. "I don't suppose any of you have heard of an astrophysicist before?".

As expected, no one knew what the word meant. Jon wasn't even sure he heard him correctly, it did not sound close to anything he was familiar with. His Lord Father did not let confusion be apparent but he gracefully admitted his ignorance all the same"

"I can't say we have. I assume that this is what you are."

"Yes, uh.. Lord Stark". Again, the Ganymedians stumbled with the noble address. "The best way I can describe it is that I am a… scholar of sorts. Specifically a scholar of space."

"Space?" Lord Stark questioned him further.

It was Vincent's turn to look confused, albeit slightly and briefly. He then realized the misunderstanding and gestured to the sky. "Space is all of this. The stars, the moon, the sun, and every other celestial body."

Jon thought it strange that the domain of the stars would be called something as plain as 'space', but it did intrigue him. Maester Luwin had taught him his stars among other things. And from all of his lessons, the names of the stars stuck with him the most, the Ice Dragon, the Shadowcat, the Moonmaid, and the Sword of the Morning.

"A learned man then" Lord Stark concluded. "We have many learned men here in Westeros. And those men would take up the golden chains and become maesters of the citadel."

"Maester, huh?" Vincent pondered the word. "That kinda sounds like a professor of some sort." Vincent continued. "Anyways, yes I'm a scholar of space and that is why I volunteered to be the one to explain to you all where we come from. But before I continue, there is a couple of questions I need to ask to know how well you'll be able to understand the information I'm about to you all."

"You think us slow-witted" Rodrik snapped. Annoyance was writ on the faces of the soldiers that stood around them and Theon looked like he was close to jumping over the table and gutting the poor man. Thankfully, Lord Stark raised his hand to subtly but firmly calm them.

"At ease men. There is much we do not know about these people, we came here for answers did we not?" The soldiers grunted in agreement, Rodrik unflared his nostrils and Theon slightly simmered down. Lord Stark nodded to VIncent, permitting him to ask his questions.

"Alright then" VIncent collected himself, the outburst from Ser Rodrik seeming to have taken him aback. "Well, the first thing I want to ask you is, 'What do you know about your world?'"

Jon thought the questions peculiar, perhaps Vincent wanted to gauge the knowledge of this land. Lord Stark took a second to contemplate his answer and spoke.

"There is only so much we know of the known world. We are currently in Westeros, which spans from the deserts of Dorne in the south to The Wall of the Night's Watch. What lays beyond that is the land of Always Winter where few dare venture. To the East is the land of Essos, their customs, and rulers far different from ours. And further from our shores, you have lands which only the tales from sailors the realm over can give knowledge of their existence. Lands such as the Summer Isles where men and women with skin like ebony hail from and the lands of YI TI where it is said that a golden empire has reigned for generations."

"I see, I see" Vincent was rubbing the stubble on his chin. "Then I suppose that means no one has ever explored the entirety of this world. Or even circumnavigate the globe."

Jon spotted something telling in what the blonde man said. 'This world' instead of the world. Jon didn't know why exactly, but he felt that it hinted at something.

"No" Lord Stark answered. "Many have tried, my ancestor during the time of The Winter Kings was one of them. King Brandon Stark, The Shipwright, set out to the Sunset Sea to the west and was never seen again. His son who inherited the throne had the Stark fleet burned to the last ship out of grief, so the story goes."

"Fascinating, there is so much history to this world" He said it again, Jon thought. "We've heard stories of dragon kings and incredible battles. I hear there was a rebellion somewhat recently."

"Aye, a rebellion led by the now King Robert of House Baratheon, against the Royal House Targaryen."

"And these are the dragon kings? Kings that had actual dragons?" Vincent asked.

Lord Stark nodded in affirmation. "Aye, but dragons have been dead for over a hundred years. None have been seen since.

"That's a shame, but amazing regardless,l I suppose both of us are finding out about things that we find hard to believe." Vincent then started tapping on the glass tabletop. Jon could see a faint light and slivers of movement from where he was standing. "I'm going to show you all something that I'm guessing will change everything you know about not just your world but… well everything." With that, Vincent gave a final press on the table and Jon's world filled with blue light.

A giant sphere floated above in between the two parties, manifesting from nowhere. But it was not solid, it could be seen through and spun around slowly. Jon at first couldn't understand what he was seeing, none of them could.

"By the Gods!" one of the Stark men exclaimed and he was not the only one.

"Seven Hells!" A Glover man joined in the chorus.

Jon's mind failed him in finding an explanation, it could only be magic. But they have been told profusely that these Ganymedians did not practice sorcery. Regardless, he felt the urge to challenge the claim. To ask why they've been lied to. Someone else beat him to it.

"What is this!?" Theon nearly shrieked. "You're man Basia said you lot are not sorcerers, but I'm seeing magic with my own eyes!"

"I assure you, there's nothing magical about this" Vincent attempted to soothe the raving Greyjoy.

"The young man makes a sound point." Lord Stark finally spoke after recovering from a stunned trance. "This… apparition that appears before us out of thin air. An explanation is in order"

"If I tried to tell you in detail how this thing works, we'd be here all night. But to put it in the simplest of terms, what you see before you is called a hologram, and it is created by ligh that is emitted by this table." Vincent took a pause and looked out to his captivated audience. "Do any of you see anything familiar?"

With that invitation, Jon began to scrutinize the sphere in front of him. It only took him a moment to realize that the shapes on it were land and surrounding it were bodies of water. And shortly after he spotted something he had seen before on the maps stored away in the libraries of Winterfell.

"Westeros" Robb spoke in awe.

Jon shared his brother's wonder, it compelled him to speak. To confirm something that this floating globe suggested.

"Is this a map of the entire world?" Jon asked the blonde man across the table, through the floating sphere.

"It is" Vincent answered, the sound of a smile in his voice. "We scanned your entire world in about two weeks." He directed his voice to the rest of his audience.

"But as you can see, it's a crude map." Lady Carol chimed in. "We didn't get any of the finer details, just the overall shapes of your landmasses. Probably because our equipment is really old, older than me." The stout woman chuckled. "In any case, I think it turned out pretty well all things considered."

Lord Stark focused on the map before him. Ever the leader, he did not waver in front of his men. Jon wasn't sure if he truly was unperturbed, he always saw his father as a pillar of strength and this further cemented his belief.

"Then can you tell me where on this map your homeland resides?" Lord Stark asked.

"That's the thing, we don't come from anywhere in this world" VIncent looked up and Jon followed his gaze. "We came from beyond your skies"

It was ridiculous, the realm of the sky belonged to the birds and, at one point in history, dragons. Beyond that many would say was the realm of the gods. For this man to say such a thing bordered on blasphemy at worst, and lunacy at best. Yet a part of Jon believed what was being told to them. Perhaps it was the child in him that used to be captivated by Old Nan's fantastical tales. But Jon was nearly a man grown, tales of grumpkins and snarks are for the babes. He did not want to be so easily enraptured by what sounded like the most elaborate mummer's tale he'd ever heard. But enraptured he was and he began to drown in childlike wonder.

"How?" Ser Rodrick stepped forward, his voice strong but with a hint of a tremble. Jon was surprised to see the stoic old knight unsettled by anything, even a small amount. "How is that possible?"

"Much like how your people travel the sea by ship, we travel the sea of stars by ship as well. A spaceship that is."

A sea of stars and a ship made to sail it, the child in Jon was bouncing off the walls and he couldn't bear it any longer. He had to ask.

"Do your people come from another world!?" Jon exclaimed, louder than he intended which garnered the attention of a handful of his side of the table, his father and brother included.

"We do. Well, technically we come from a moon that revolves around a distant world. And that moon is called Ganymede."

Jon looked up to his moon and back at Vincent. "Like ours?"

"Not quite, Ganymede is twice as big." Jon's eyes widened at that. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. I have a few more things to show you."

Vincent moved his hands toward the floating image and then moved them away from each other. The world became smaller and another smaller sphere appeared. "That is your moon"

"By the gods" Robb whispered in amazement. Jon marveled at the moon and at the fact that he was beholding it in a way that had never been observed before. Every one of them here was witnessing monumental revelations upon revelations and it did not stop here.

"You think that's amazing, you ain't seen nothing yet" Vincent repeated the motions with his hands and revealed even more heavenly bodies and a massive ball of fire. Jon knew that it was the sun itself that he was looking at almost instantly. Seven of these objects stood out and they circled the sun that lay massive in the center. Among the seven objects was one in particular that was familiar to him, the Red Wanderer. One of the heavenly bodies named after a face of the Seven, it was The Smith if Jon recalled correctly.

"This is your solar system" Vincent continued. "And these are your neighboring worlds. We call them planets."

Jon tore his eyes away to see the others in his company and sure enough they were stunned silent. Even Theon was slack-jawed. And his father tried his best to appear undaunted to his men but his eyes betrayed the shock that must be running down to his core. It must be, this changed everything they knew about their world and what laid beyond it. What could this mean to the North, to the Seven Kingdoms, to the entire world? And for the North to be at the forefront of this discovery will undoubtedly bring eyes from every corner of the world to them. Jon worried for his father for that reason.

"Those are the seven wanderers are they not" Robb pointed at no particular wanderer that was floating above the table. Jon thought so too until he realized something.

"No, that can't be right. The world we're in can't be one of the wanderers we see in the sky. Otherwise, we would only see six" Jon added.

"Oh right. Of course" Robb said sheepishly.

"Then does that mean that they're lying then?" Theon turned his accusatory glare to Vincent. "Could this be a ruse that you and your ilk have come up with?"

"I did say that our maps are not very detailed. Could be that this seventh wanderer you're talking about is a planet we haven't seen yet. We came from as far as your seventh planet after all". Carol reminded the hot-tempered boy.

"Seventh planet?" Jon questioned.

VIncent closed in on said 'planet' and Jon could see it in all it's beauty. A green swirling sphere and surrounding the green sphere were numerous smaller spheres, Jon soon realized these were moons. He recognized the hue, this was the wanderer that represents the Mother. To see the true appearance of the star that countless men and women prayed to for thousands of years, noble and smallfolk aliked, was beyond belief. Then he saw something else near it that he somehow knew didn't belong. A massive ring on it's own floated ominously near the wanderer and within it was a starless void.

"That is the RIng gate and that is how we came to your world" Vincent signaled the apparition.

"You and your people came through this RIng gate then?" Lord Stark asked incredulously. He sounded almost distant as if he were speaking to someone who was not present.

Vincent nodded and with a wave of his hand, the apparition, or hologram as it was called, was blown away and was replaced with their sun and wanderer. Except, it wasn't theirs.

"This is our solar system." Vincent declared in a way that could be interpreted as pridefully.

Jon observed the alien wanderers. There were eight that circled the sun, the other sun, and the third planet looked practically identical to theirs. He could also see that they had a Red Wander of their own. And their own equivalent to the Mother, only this one had a yellow-brown color to it.

"Similar to yours as you can see" Vincent continued. "A system that is unfathomably far from where we are now. Without the RIng gate, we would not have traveled to this world in a million years." Vincent then repeated the motions to close in on a particular location and displayed a planet of white and beige coloring. "This is Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. It was named after the god of the sky from an ancient religion of ours."

Jon immediately saw the parallel between this god known as Jupiter and the Father from the faith of the Seven. It seemed that these people named their wanderers after their own gods.

"Jupiter has many moons, but four stand out as the largest and the first to be discovered." Vincent closed in on a moon of brownish-gray coloring. "And the largest of the four moons is called Ganymede, our home"

Finally, the realm from which these visitors hailed was revealed and Jon now understood why they couldn't have just told them plainly. It was a fantastical notion, people living on a moon.

"And there you have it" Vincent declared. "Now you know where we come from and the state of things. I hope I didn't overwhelm you all"

He hoped in vain because everyone looked to be shaken to their core. A handful of soldiers looked to be on the verge of insanity. One even spoke out.

"Madness! Surely this can't be true!" A soldier practically shrilled. "What you suggest can't possibly be true lest you be gods yourselves. And you all look like men of flesh and bone to me"

"Aye!" Another soldier shouted, this one from the Glover party. "What proof is there that this isn't some profane sorcery at work here to trick us with a story as confounding and absurd as yours."

"And who's to say that you are not trying to trick Lord Stark for your own ends." Theon hissed and then turned towards the crowd of armored men that surrounded them. "We know very little of magic and the sorcerers that practice it. What if these are those sorcerers we have heard so little about? Perhaps there is no Ganymede, I sooner believe that these skinny freaks came from the shores of Asshai by the Shadows than some faraway moon."

An alarming amount of the men cried out in agreement. It was a rare sight to see men of the North ever be in agreement with an Ironborn, but fear could make a man do anything. And that's what it was, fear. Fear of the unknown, of what this could be mean. Jon could not blame them, the immensity of this discovery is beyond overwhelming. To discover how small they were and how indescribably enormous the sea of stars was. Jon felt like his mind could break at any moment and he found himself rapidly breathing in and out at an abnormal rate when he tried to make sense of the scale of what he was seeing.

The soldiers started to become rowdy, those who didn't give in to their base fears tried to quell them. Jon could see the look of worry and fear on the villagers on the other side of the table and saw two of them who seemed to be preparing themselves for a fight as they tightly gripped their alien weapons. Vincent protectively stood in front of Lady Carol and the tallest man in the group to the side just observed with his arms crossed in a chilling calmness. The man had been silent throughout the entire exchange as he kept observing with a focused stare. As the intensity of the situation was about to reach its peak, Lord Stark swiftly cut it short.

"Enough!" Lord Stark bellowed. Silence strangled the air, the Stark and Glover men stood as still as statues. Theon stilled as well, looking to the ground to hide his face. Even some of the villagers stood straighter at the sudden display of authority.

Lord Stark sighed heavily as he massaged the bridge of his nose. He lifted his eyes and directed them at the slightly frightened blonde man.

"I apologize for my men's discourteous behavior. I will endeavor to not let it happen again"

"It's alright, we expected as much. This is a lot to take in."

"I agree. And as bluntly as my men expressed their thoughts, I would be lying if I said that I too did not share at least some of their sentiment. Everything you just told us…" Lord Stark paused for a moment. Jon noticed how exhausted his father looked, despite not having overexerted himself physically. "...it's just too much"

"I understand. We'll give you all some time to process. But if you still have trouble believing us, we do have something else that could hopefully get rid of any doubt."

"And what may that be?" Lord Stark asked.

"In a few hours, there will be a shuttle that will arrive from our ship, the Barbapiccola. You'll see for yourselves as the shuttle comes down from the night sky."

"Shuttle?" Robb questioned.

"It's like a… rowboat for a larger ship. Sort of." Vincent answered. "In the meantime, we can get to know each other some more. I know some people here are dying to interview you and your men. We might have more in common than you may think. For instance, much like how your people fought in a rebellion, some of the people here also fought in a rebellion of sorts. Whether they succeeded in gaining independence or not depends on who you ask."

Another voice cut through the conversation. "Does deting upset you, Tumang? That beltalowda broke free from your Earth" One of the men standing nearby on the villager side of the table chided Vincent. Another example of animosity within the villagers, Jon noticed.

"No, it does not" Vincent replied calmly. "You know what does upset me, your ugly mug flapping his gums when he's not supposed to"

The other man was one of the abnormally tall ones, head shaved on both sides with a large, almost spikey tuft of hair on his head. He was armed with a weapon but he stowed it away as he shrank the distance between him and Vincent. The man towered over the blonde but to his credit he did not falter. "You know what really pisses me off? Seeing your fat Earther face among beltalowda, paxoniseki."

"I know what that means, nakangepensa." VIncent talked back and the taller man grabbed grabbed VInvent by the collar of his shirt.

A fight was about to break out. The Stark and Glover soldiers stood alert with their hands on the pommel of their swords. Rodrick dutifully stood in front of his lord and prepared for an escalation. Jon knew they would stand by and only act if their liege lord came in harm's way. He also spotted concern on the faces of his brother and father.

But then, a shadow slid into Jon's view, and a long arm was now wrapped around the instigating villager, choking him out.

"Enough of that beratna." The tall shadow said with the same chilling calmness of his stare. "To embarrass beltalowda"

"Pashang fong!"

The shadow, the tallest man in the group who had previously been as silent and still as a stone, tightened his hold on the smaller man's throat, enough for him to loosen his grip on Vincent's collar.

The shadow man let go of his victim, the smaller man was coughing and gasping for air as his left hand on the table supported him.

"Get up, Jokob" The shadow demanded. The man named Jokob slowly stood up while pushing his body with his left hand, his right hand caressing his throat.

"Thanks for the save Orcus," Vincent said to the shadow man, now named Orcus, as he backed away a safe distance.

"Don't it make you sick," Jokob growled at Orcus as he glared at him. "To have inner scum speak for us" He then turned his glare to the armored soldiers across the table. "To other inner scum"

The air grew heavier as those venomous words were spat out. Honor before anything else compelled the soldiers to half unsheath their swords and step forward. Rodrik stepped further, a picture of controlled fury.

"You dare insult House Stark in their domain!" Rodrick bellowed.

"Jokob! What the hell is wrong with you!" Lady Carol screeched.

"Fuck off duster" Jokob retorted. "And fuck you pampaw" he looked towards Ser Rodrick. "And your shit-eating lords too!"

Swords freed themselves from their sheaths. Jon's sword also joined in, a primal rage churning in his chest. He could see some other men behind the villagers, warriors by their stance, readying their weapons as well.

"Jesus Christ! Shut the fuck up, Jokob!" Vincent yelled.

"Make me, dzhemang! I want to see you-"

Jokob face slammed against the table violently, blood splattering in every direction. A hand-held his head down while another had his arm restrained and outstretched away from his body. The one to hold him down was Orcus, once again with a chilling calmness but his eyes were lit with cold fury.

"Keting pashang to ando du, sebakawala? Did you forget where you are?" Orcus questioned the man who was once again at his mercy. Jokob did not answer, he struggled to move his face to see him eye to eye. The man's nose was ruined and his right eye had darkened around it. Orcus allowed him to lift his head a few inches and the blood strung from his nose to the table while bloody drool dangled from his busted lip.

"Did you forget what you are, welwala!" Jokob cursed. "We left Ganymede after inners like them ruined it!"

Orcus lifted the raging man's head even more and had him face Lady Carol and Vincent."Did they kill Ganymede? Their home?" Orcus then turned his head towards the Northmen. "Did they? They didn't even know your home existed before tonight. They don't even know their privilege or how fortunate they are to be born in this planet's loving embrace."

"You even speak like an inner" Jokob spit out. "Is that Earther whore's cunt really that sweet"

Jokob's face collided with the table once more with even more ferocity. So much so that the glass cracked and left the poor man's face a complete bloody mess. Jon thought the man to be unconscious until he let out a pained groan and spit out a tooth.

"Orcus stop! Do you know how expensive those tables are!" Vincent yelped.

"You have two more don't you" Orcus replied rather casually. He then lowered his head near Jokobs ear. "Now I may talk like an inner, but I can treat you like a Belter"

Orcus looked up to Lord Stark. A chill ran down Jon's spine.

"Oye bosmang. What do you do to little shits that backtalk you?"

Before Rodrik could voice his indignation at another foreign address, Lord Stark raised his hand to quell his master of arms. "If he were a man of a lower station, we'd have him flogged and thrown in a dungeon for good measure." Lord Stark answered.

"Heh, kinda tame. We belters would take a man out for a walk in a vacuum if they so much as look at you funny."

"Vacuum?" Lord Stark asked.

"Ah right. You see, beyond your sky, in the sea of stars as Vincent here put it so romantically, there is no air to breathe. If a man were to be thrown out of one of our spaceships, he'd die within minutes."

Jon hadn't thought of that. That beyond this world could be so hostile to life, much like traveling the seas can easily be bad for one's health depending on the sea's mood.

"If he were a man of the kingdoms, he'd receive the proper punishment as honor demands it. However, this situation is unique. It seems this man, Jokob, is a soldier who spoke out of turn. And it would appear you already have it handled."

"Oh I ain't done with him yet, believe me" Orcus responded. Jon spotted what seemed to be a subtle grin, the first time that his calm face had altered, with a less subtle wicked tone.

"Then there is nothing left to discuss on the matter" Eddard concluded. "More than anything, his insults leave me confused rather than offended. I've noticed the thinly veiled animosity that many of your people have towards us. These Belters as you call yourselves. I want to know why that is when we've just met?"

"Now that's a long story," Orcus said as he let go of Jokob. The barely conscious man fell to the ground and Orcus whistled to a nearby armed villager. The armed man dragged Jokob's sorry state away from the premises.

"You can start with what 'Inners' means?" Eddard proposed.

"It means exactly what it sounds like. You people were born on an inner planet" Orcus repeated the motions that VIncent did and had the system of wanderers that Jon was familiar with. Orcus closed in on the first five and directed everyone's attention to the string of floating rocks beyond the fifth.

"This is your asteroid belt. Any planet, world, wanderers, whatever you want to call them, that is encircled by that belt would be considered an inner one. And as you can guess the two big ass planets outside the belt are the outer ones." Orcus focuses on the singular blue planet. "Yours is an inner planet, so that means you're inners. Simple as that."

"And you refer to yourselves as Belters. I'm assuming that means you and your people are from one of these… belts"

"Correct! And unlike your garden world, the belt is a collection of floating rocks. With no air, rivers, or blue skies. On their own their inhospitable to life."

"Then how can you live there?" Robb chimed in.

Orcus chuckled. "We make them hospitable. We build shelters within the rocks, mine the ice water on them, and filter the air inside."

"But why go to the trouble then" Jon entered the conversation."To live in such a place."

"Because, young man," Orcus replied. "Their gold mines, literally. And not just gold, but other precious metals. Metals that were used to create our ships, craft our weapons, and build our homes."

This grabs the attention of many of the soldiers on the Stark side. "Could these precious metals be what was used to forge Dawn" Robb whispered to Jon and he found himself wondering the same thing. The legendary ancestral sword of House Dayne, Dawn, was said to be forged by metal that came from a fallen star. It was once wielded by the equally legendary Ser Arthur Dayne of the previous King's Guard. To think that they might have just learned the origin of the metals that were used to forge the sword was beyond exciting. Perhaps it could be replicated and more swords like Dawn can be forged.

Orcus let out a sigh. "And that's why Belters are nothing but slaves to the inner planets as we toil over these rocks and they grow fat with it's wealth.

"Slavery" Eddard condemned. "The practice is outlawed in Westeros, and for good reason, it's abhorrent."

"Now hold on, Belters are not actually slaves. The U.N and Mars outlaws it too." Vincent quickly tried to dissuade the notion.

"Would indentured servitude sound better? It makes no difference, if we don't do what the inners tell us to do or get out of line, they will cut our air and our water." Orcus answered Vincent, the blonde clearly showing his discomfort. "Now I'm not gonna carelessly aim my fury at any passing inner I see like little Jokob, but I understand where that kid is coming from. We've been fucked over by Earth and Mars for hundreds of years. So yeah, I'm gonna be a bit crossed about that sore subject."

"I will not feign to know your politics. Clearly, it's quite complex" Lord Stark cut in. "I believe we've seen enough for the time being. Until this shuttle of yours arrives that is."

"Right," Vincent replied. "Make yourselves at home, we have plenty of ways to kill some time. We got a small basketball court to play in and a bar if you want a stiff drink, so have at it."

Lady Carol stepped forward. "If you don't mind Lord Stark. There is more we would like to discuss. In regards to compensation for you and your government for our stay here."

"Very well" Eddard acquiesced. He motioned for Rodrik, Robb, and a few soldiers to join him. Lady Carol led the way away from the table. Jon stood there with the others, Theon included.

"They said they have drinks at this bar. Sounds like a tavern to me." Theon said to Jon. "You think they might have some whorehouses then. Would be interesting to bed one these tall wenches."

"If this is an invitation, then I'm not interested. I think I'll just have a look around"

Theon snorted "More for me then" and walked off. Jon was annoyed but how quickly Theon's tone changed about the Belters. One moment, he was ready to gut them with his sword and the next he was off to merrily partake in their hospitality.

Jon saw as the rest of the contingent of soldiers started to disperse. Some started to have conversations with the villagers. A few had more of the villagers with the strange devices pointed at them. Jon began to do what he said he would and strolled on the paved road in no particular direction, taking in more of the alien village.

XXXXX

Jon sat on a bench in front of a blue metal shelter, one of many that lined the paved road. The shelter he was in front of was a restaurant, as one of the Belters called it. Jon went inside and realized it was an eating establishment, and due to the fact he was one of the Northerners, he was given free food as a courtesy. He received a bowl of something called curry, cuts of cooked chicken mixed in a reddish-brownish sauce. Jon was not prepared for how spicy it was, but after a few bites, he became accustomed to the spice and even started to enjoy it. The hot dish paired well with the cold weather. As Jon was eating his meal the night sky had finally taken over and the stars shone brilliantly as they always had. But the stars mean something else to Jon now. They were no longer something unreachable to man, but endless possibilities.

Jon spotted a red-haired woman walking by, accompanied by a larger man with a dark complexion. The man was shouldering the lensed devices he had seen being carried around. The woman spotted Jon as he was observing them and hurriedly came over.

"Hello there, you must be one of the locals correct? Uh, Westerosi was it?"

"Aye" Jon responded, taken aback by the sudden confrontation"

"My name is Francine Rogers, but you can call me Fran. I'm a bit of an aspiring reporter. You've probably seen a couple of my colleagues running around here."

"The people carrying those devices?" Jon pointed at the aforementioned device that the man on Fran's left was carrying.

"Yes, those are cameras. They… Hmm, what's the best way to explain this?" Fran pondered. "They capture a moment in time to be seen later."

"I see…" Jon replied, still not really understanding what that meant. What he did understand was that they weren't weapons at least, so he felt more at ease with one being pointed at him."

"There's no real reporters here, well aside from old Gary who's retired. Just our little group as we show our homes what we are seeing."

"Your homes? You're not originally from Ganymede then? Like Lady Carol and Vincent."

"No, I was born and raised on Ceres and only lived on Ganymede for a few years"

"Ceres?" Jon asked.

"Ah I'm sorry. It's a dwarf planet in our system's asteroid belt"

"Dwarf Planet?" Jon asked further. He had only just learned of the term 'planet' mere hours ago and now apparently there is a distinction between planets. From the description, a dwarf planet sounds like a world that is smaller than usual.

"Uhm.. basically something that is too small to be a planet and too big to be anything else," Fran confirmed Jon's assumption.

"Uhm, Fran?" The man holding the camera spoke up. "Shouldn't you be the one interviewing him, not the other way around?".

"Ah crap your right!" Fran smacked her forehead. "Anyways, young man, do you mind if we ask a few questions?"

"Why would you want to ask me any questions." Jon inquired.

"Well, all of us wannabe reporters are interviewing as many Westerosi as we can. The big man, Mr. Stark, is the real prize but it looks like the Madam Coordinator has dibs." The red-haired woman answered cheerfully. Jon found it strange how the woman talked, not fully understanding her.

Fran continued. "So how about it! Got a minute to spare?". Jon thought she seemed friendly enough, so acquiesced to her request with a simple nod.

"Awesome! First, can I get your name?"

Jon hesitated, he knew what his name meant. It brought him shame whenever it came up and he thought that it no doubt brought shame on his lord father as well. However, Jon did not want to lie and he didn't think that the Ganymedians would know of Westeros's naming customs for its bastards.

"Jon… Snow" He answered.

"Jon Snow… that's a pretty name" Jon grimaced at the comment. "From what I heard, the governor of this region, Mr. Stark, came with three kids."

"We didn't bring any goats." Jon puzzled at the strange statement.

"Goats? No, kids. As in children or young people. In this case three young boys."

"Well Theon is a man grown and Robb and I are nearly grown as well."

"How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen"

"Hmm, I guess it depends. If you were an Earther or a Martian, you'd basically a baby. But if you were a Belter, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if you already had a job and family to take care of."

"I keep hearing about these different peoples," Jon said. "These are people from different worlds, not lands, correct?"

"Pretty much, but the Belters don't really have an official world that they claim. Although most people would consider Ceres to be it. But let's not get sidetracked here. We're talking about you after all"

"Right, Go on then?" Jon permitted the reporter.

"Now I'm assuming that you are related to Mr. Stark, you certainly do share a striking resemblance. But you don't share his last name, so a nephew perhaps. Care to clarify?"

Jon had started to regret agreeing to whatever this was. He didn't wish to divulge such a thing to a complete stranger. It seemed that the shame was plain on his face.

"I'm sorry, was that too personal? I can move to something else" Fran apologized sheepishly.

"It means he's a bastard" Theon interrupted. He walked toward the group from Jon's left with a slight stagger.

"Ah, you're the other kid- I mean young man that accompanied Mr. Stark." Fran greeted the Greyjoy with the same cheerful attitude.

"That's Lord Stark, wench. You'd do well to not forget such simple courtesies."

"Wench?" Fran turned to the cameraman as if looking for an answer only for him to shrug."

"You've been enjoying yourself Greyjoy?" Jon said bitingly.

"Aye, the Belter liquors are strong, I'll give them that. It'd make a man out of a green boy in seconds. If only they had some whores to go along with their drinks."

"Right…" Fran responded awkwardly then returned her attention to Jon. "What's this about you being a bastard?"

Jon begrudgingly answered the question. "Lord Stark sired me with another woman when he was already wed to a noble lady. I don't know anything about my mother, not even her name."

"So you're an illegitimate child then. Yet you were taken in by your father and raised alongside his other children. That's very admirable of him."

Jon blinked at that. "You think so?"

"Of course. I mean most powerful men where we come from would hide their illegitimate children and pay off the mothers to keep their mouths shut. From the little I've heard of Mr. Stark, including what you just told me, he sounds like a stand-up guy."

"Uh… thank you" Jon said, appreciating what he was almost certain was a compliment.

"Must I remind you again woman, it's Lord Stark. Not Mister Stark."

Before Theon could continue his tirade, Jon spotted Robb to his right accompanied by two Stark men and a Belter villager coming their way.

"Jon!" Robb called out as he got close. "They're telling us that the shuttle is arriving soon and to get to the landing area quickly."

Jon perked up. From the description of the shuttle and its descent, it sounded like a sight to behold. And it meant to further prove that the Ganymedians weren't false, but Jon had no reason to doubt their claims at this point.

"About bloody time" Theon slurred. "Were to then?"

"Just go down the road we came and take a left. There's a massive empty yard that the Belters call a landing pad. Dozens of people have already grouped up there so you can't miss it."

"Alright then. I'll see you there." Theon then half stumbled in the wrong direction for a moment and then promptly corrected himself.

Jon stood up from his bench and put down his almost-finished bowl of curry.

"Did they say how long?" Jon asked.

"We have about fifteen minutes from the sounds of it. Hurry, we don't want to miss it!" Robb exclaimed, a joyful and excited grin on his face. Jon could feel the same kind of grin to and joined Robb and his entourage.

"Damn it! And I was just getting started with the interview." Fran then looked to Jon with pleading eyes. "Let's pick this up were we left off later, okay? And if anyone else tries to get to you, tell them you're taken! You're my exclusive, got that!"

"Sure, we can continue this later" Jon answered, taken aback by the woman's sudden forcefulness. She then walked off with the cameraman in the direction that Theon had mistakenly taken briefly. It seemed like the pair had no interest in the shuttle. It made sense, Jon imagined that such a thing would be commonplace to these people.

"Tolowda ready?" The Belter villager with them asked the group. Jon could only assume that he was asking if they were ready.

The Stark guards were silent, letting Robb answer. "Aye… milowda ready?" Robb responded hesitantly. Jon was surprised that his half-brother had made the effort to learn a little of their tongue.

The Belter smiled a toothy grin. "Gut, we gow."

Jon, Robb, and their companions started to walk down the road. As they began, one of the Stark men broke their silence.

"You would think they's give us a man who can speak common properly for a guide." The Stark soldier to directly at Robb's left said sourly.

"Don't start again Merdrick" Robb reprimanded the soldier. "My Lord Father already had to stop you once from starting a fight with one of the villagers."

"Apologies My Lord." Merdrick deferred to his liege lord's heir.

"Unte mi know enough of your Inner lang." Their belter guide responded in the front by looking back. "But belta lang is easier on mi tongue."

Jon could parse the meaning of the Belter's words well enough.

During his time sitting on the bench alone, Robb and Lord Stark had been in talks with Lady Carol and what Jon assumed was her council. He was curious as to what was being discussed and dared to ask what it was about.

"The Ganymedians wanted to discuss the terms of their stay here in Westeros," Robb answered. "They also admitted that they've been mining in these lands without our knowledge."

That was concerned Jon, he knew that Lord Stark would be obligated to take action against such a slight.

"What did Lord Stark say?" Jon asked.

"That it was robbery, plain and simple. And the Ganymedians agreed, which is why they proposed to compensate us." The group turned the corner at the road, the light from the tall lamps that aligned the road illuminated it so fiercely. The bustle of the village became more congested, and the group had to navigate their way through the towering people of First Landing.

"They've given us enough iron and steel to outfit a hundred men with a full set of armor and a sword." Robb almost shouted over the commotion as he brushed against a gangly belter with markings covering almost all of his exposed skin. "And that is just the beginning. They also said with their mining operations, they can amass enough wealth to equal millions of gold dragons within the year."

"And all that for The North?" Jon asked, astounded by the number.

"No, not just The North. Father felt it would be selfish to hoard such wealth, so as a loyal servant to the crown he plans to write to King Robert himself about the opportunity. A royal envoy could be coming our way soon."

"How much of the iron ore that's being mined is House Stark and the rest of the Seven Kingdoms going to claim?"

"All of it" Robb said, shocking Jon.

"What do you mean 'all of it'? How would they profit?"

"They're not mining for ore, they're mining for something else. Something they call helium three"

"And what is that?"

"From what Lady Carol's shipwright said, it's fuel for their spaceships"

"And how much would the kingdom see of this Helium three?"

"None, they claim that it's useless to us"

"That doesn't sound right. Something that can give ships the power to traverse the stars has to be valuable to us in some way."

"I thought so too. Rodrick made sure to voice his dissent. But considering that we did not know of its existence before today or anything about it, we couldn't make much of an argument outside of our rights to anything produced from our lands."

"Which should be enough?" Jon countered.

"Which Ser Rodrick firmly reminded them"

"And did they refuse?"

"No, they were quite amiable in fact. Lady Carol said if The North or the King himself did not want them in Westeros, then they'd leave without a fuss. But they'll just go elsewhere in the world. Essos and the Summer Isles were mentioned, as well as any islands that haven't been reached by man." Robb and Jon stopped in their tracks and allowed a mother and her daughter to walk past them.

"And then we wouldn't have any authority over them," Jon affirmed and they resumed their walk, with the Stark men struggling to keep up but their Belter guide effortlessly moving through the crowd ahead of them. The guide made sure to still be close enough to the group he'd been assigned to.

"And less so for their other spaceship," Robb added.

"Other spaceship?"

"That's right! They came in two, the Barbapiccola which is floating in our sky and where the shuttle is meant to come from, and the Giuseppa which is on the moon as we speak."

"They have people on our moon?"

"So they say. They're mining there as well and in that case, there is really nothing we could do to stop them."

"People on our moon…" Jon repeated himself. He looked up to the night sky at the subject in question. He couldn't fathom the idea that there were people on the moon right now, even after these people had told them that they came from a moon themselves. "I think I'm getting rather exhausted from being amazed by all these wonders." Jon half chuckled.

"Then brace yourself, there is one more thing left to see," Robb said excitedly.

They've arrived at the landing pad, a paved gray square with more of those tall lamps on each corner. Scores of people surrounded the area, it looked like almost all of Jon's fellow Northmen were there. He spied his father with Ser Rodrik dutifully at his side. In front of them was another belter Jon hadn't seen before, he had a helm that was brightly colored yellow and wore spectacles like a learned man.

"Alright then!" The yellowed-helmed man shouted to the crowd. "The shuttle is due to arrive in a T-minus seven minutes, it'll begin its descent in two. Just to remind you all, you're gonna hear a loud boom as the shuttle breaks through the atmosphere. Don't be alarmed." He then pointed to the sky. "If you can see it, there is a star that is slightly moving across the sky, that's the Barbapiccola. Another star will look like it came from it and will get bigger, that'll be the shuttle." The yellow-helmed man then pointed at the ground, denoting a painted line that stretched around the landing pad. "Do not cross this line! For your own safety, stay behind the line unless you want your face to be burned off. That about does it then, any questions!"

Everyone stayed quiet, the Northmen didn't seem interested in the offer. And Jon got the impression that the man in front of them wouldn't be eager to answer any questions either.

"Beautiful! Alright then gentlemen, enjoy the show!" The yellow-helmed man finished his lecture and walked into the crowd.

Jon looked over to Robb who was looking up to the night sky and followed his gaze. It didn't take long for Jon to spot the star that was mentioned and sure enough, it was moving slightly to the right. Any other night, this occurrence would only entertain the maestars of the realm but now it had the undivided attention of Lords and soldiers in attendance. Jon thought it was a shame that Maester Luwin hadn't come. The old maester would have loved all this, but Lord Stark didn't think it wise to bring someone along who could not defend himself in a potentially dangerous situation. But Jon was sure Maester Luwin would have his chance soon to marvel at First Landing and its many wonders.

Then Jon caught sight of it, the star split, and another second star was formed and within minutes it started to grow. Then within another few minutes, it stopped being a star but an object that was clearly made of metal hurtling downwards from the sky. Jon instinctively stood back a few paces, his mind urging him to flee from the danger approaching. Jon steeled himself, however, but what happened next took him by surprise even though he was properly forewarned. A sound that could only be described as the loudest thunder strike Jon has ever heard, pierced through the air. Shouts and curses erupted among the crowd, Jon saw Robb covering his ears, eyes shut tight. It only lasted for a moment, replaced by the sound of fire blasting from underneath the metal vessel as it maneuvered itself toward the landing pad.

"By the Gods, that was louder than I expected!" Robb shouted, tentatively removing his hands from his ears. Among the Northerners, there were men who were shaking and holding on to the pommel of their swords. A few even fell to the ground on their assess, faces frozen in shock. The warnings were in vain for half of them it seems.

At long last, the shuttle landed dozens of yards away. The vessel was as alien as everything else Jon had seen. At first glance, one would not have guessed that such a thing could fly into the sky for it had no wings and it looked to be unbelievably heavy. The shuttle then opened, a massive door lifted upwards and a platform rolled out onto the grass. The first to emerge were people in strange suits with helmets that had glass visors that covered their faces. It looked too light to be armor, but it certainly looked like it was meant to provide some form of protection. Some of the suited men can be seen pushing ahead canisters and empty crates,. Not all of the occupants wore the same thing however, other men, women, and even children spilled out of the vessel as well, dressed in various garments. All the people began to disperse, as some reunited with loved ones and friends while others went elsewhere in the village.

Jon stood there watching the myriad of people that came from the shuttle. It struck him as odd that aside from how tall some of them were, they acted like regular people. Regular people who came from the stars. As he was observing, someone in particular caught his eye. A girl with long black hair and olive-colored skin. She had piercing bright eyes and an even brighter smile. Jon felt something in his core stir and was made aware of his heart's sudden quickness. Jon did not know much about the fairer sex, he spent most of his time with his siblings and out on the practice yard training his swordsmanship. He would blush at the occasional pretty maid who looked his way, but this was different, he felt a yearning he'd never felt before. Jon knew that he was looking at the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

"Papa!" The girl yelled in his direction. Jon froze in place, the foreign word utterly confounding him. The girl started running towards him and Jon could feel himself start to sweat not knowing what to do or why the girl was even coming his way. He found out why, as a large man passed by his side.

"Babygirl!" Basia called out to the girl as he embraced her in a loving hug not too far from where Jon was standing. Jon let out a sigh of relief and Robb clapped him on the shoulder to grab his attention.

"Must be his daughter," Robb noted as he looked at the pair, he then turned to Jon. "Come on, we'd best meet up with father"

Jon nodded and began walking with his half-brother. As he did he stole a quick glance at the girl behind him. Basia practically enveloped the girl with his massive body but the girl seemed quite tall herself. If Jon had to guess, she is probably half a head taller than him, but she looked to be the same age. Her smile was infectious and it warmed Jon in the biting cold. She then took her eyes away from her father and locked eyes with Jon with a curious look on her face. Jon quickly averted his eyes to the night sky, feigning that he was admiring the stars. Until he really was, he saw the star that was actually the ship, The Barbapiccola, moving slowly across the sky. Where the star girl had come from. That same yearning returned, not just for the girl but for what lay beyond the firmament. He yearned to reach for the stars.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

AN: Hey there everyone, got a shorter chapter this time around. Should've been done with this a while ago but you know, procrastination. Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this one, taking a crack at one of the most important characters in The Expanse. Now I'm not sure how often Avasarala will show up in this fic, she's kinda gonna be the eyes and ears of Earth. I have an idea for another POV to do the same for Mars and if you read or watched The Expanse, then I bet you know who I'm thinking of. With that said, please enjoy.

Avasarala

"For the last fucking time, the blockade will stay up." In the meeting room were some of the most important men and women of the United Nations of Earth. Representatives of the several military branches in the U.N, along with those representing the Economic and Social councils. Many important delegates of the U.N were sitting in the room around a large, circular table, and none more important than the Deputy Secretary-General herself, Chrisjen Avasarala. Avarasala exercised her authority as she made her decision on the blockade known to the rest of the table.

"I'm sorry Madam Secretary, but I must insist again that we lift the blockade as soon as possible. We have hundreds of colony ships who have been waiting at the ring gate for months now and already we have many of those ships fall victim to pirates." a young woman with a dark bob cut was the one to respond. Avarasala knew her name, Brenda Huang, a high-ranking member of the Economic and Social Council.

"Those fools have been warned extensively by the government not to approach the ring. What they do now they do at their own risk." Avasarala replied.

"Be that as it may, we have an obligation to protect our constituents."

"We can't protect them from themselves"

"Fair enough, but soon it won't be just pirates that endanger them. How long until one of the ships gets desperate enough to run the blockade? Shooting down those belter ships is one thing but shooting down Earth ships would be a disaster."

Avasarla grew tired of this song and dance and turned her attention to the stern men and women who represented the U.N's military power. Highly decorated generals and lieutenant generals were waiting with bated breath for the old grandma in the sari to redirect her ire at them.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, do I have your cooperation to enforce the blockade further and for as long as it is necessary?" Avarasla posited the question to the table. She noticed a flash of annoyance on Branda Huang's face and couldn't help but feel a petty delight internally. The woman has been a pain in her ass for these past several months after all.

"Madam Secretary, we'll do what we can, but our assets have diminished since Ganymede. We need more time." one of the generals answered, a balding 50-something man whose military uniform was the most crowded with badges among his peers. The man's name is Gerald Stewart from what Avasarala remembers. He has a respectable military career but is otherwise pretty dull.

"And how much would you need?" Avasarala asked.

Gerald Stewart began whispering to his colleagues, all the while Avasarala was feeling two holes being burned into the side of her head by the glare of Brenda Huang to her right.

Gerald Stewart finished his little chit-chat with his fellow military officers and gave his answer. "We're estimating around 8 months, conservatively."

"Madam Secretary, if I may-" Branda Huang barged into the conversation.

"You may not." Avasarala snapped back.

"Well, I will anyway." Brenda Huang replied defiantly. On any other day, Avasarala would respect the tenacity of a rival peer but on this issue, the young woman was only pissing her off.

Brenda Huang continued without wavering. "We are wasting time and money on delaying the inevitable. We should be using this to our advantage. Half of Earth's population is unemployed with virtually all of them having no chance of ever leaving basic. The ring gate is a golden opportunity for us to finally get out of this century-old stagnant, rut. There are people as we speak falling over themselves for the chance at venturing to the new worlds. We have aspiring colonists, pilots, engineers, medical workers, and security personnel ready to work. So forgive me madam secretary, but I don't understand why you are so hesitant about dropping the blockade."

Avasarala took a moment for the young, annoying woman before her to catch her breath. Avasarala already knew the talking points, only an idiot would not see the benefits of the ring gate. But like always, her fellow Earthers are so narrow-sighted, not considering outside factors. And as an Earther herself, Avasarala had to begrudgingly admit that if there is something that Earthers are known for, it's their selfishness.

"Tell me something Brenda," Avasarala spoke with a tinge of condescension. "Should Earth go down this route, what do you think the other players of this solar system will do? Do you think Mars and the OPA will happily allow us to get fat on the spoils of the new worlds?"

"Obviously Earth will have a discussion on the matter with Mars and the OPA. Perhaps a potential collaborative colonization effort or a treaty system. The new solar system is more than big enough for all of us."

"You're forgetting one thing. Ilus and the people who are already living there."

"You mean New Terra"

"Ilus, New Terra, Fantasy world, whatever the fuck you want to call it. The fact of the matter is, that planet is the crown jewel in this treasure box of a solar system and I find it interesting that you haven't mentioned it or the native human beings on the alien planet."

Brenda Huang crossed her arms, no longer caring to mask her growing frustration. Avasarala so does love getting under her opponent's skin. "I'll admit, that planet will be a point of contention," Brenda grumbled. "Mars and the OPA will no doubt feel threatened about Earth citizens laying claims on another Earth-like planet. As for the… native humans on New Terra, well there isn't much for me to say on that subject. The discovery has caused pandemonium across the system. Scientists are having existential crises while drinking themselves stupid and religious fanatics are seeing this as further proof that their god made humans in his image."

"Lay claims on Ilus?" Avasarala looked to the military personnel across the table, they looked as guilty as a child who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "Oh don't tell me you people are getting a hard-on on the idea of conquering a planet."

"Nothing of the sort." A female officer contested. Avasarala couldn't quite remember her name, Samantha something. It didn't help that she looked quite plain with her unassuming face and brown hair in a military bun. "But a military outpost would be a sensible idea" Samantha countered.

Avasarala chuckled humorlessly and turned back to Brenda. "It's funny, we've been so frightened of a possible alien invasion ever since we discovered the protomolecule but now it looks like we're becoming the alien invaders."

"Let's not be so dramatic. This would actually be a good thing for the natives of New Terra. Clearly, they are woefully behind us in terms of technology, I mean the footage looks like something out of the Medival era. And if that's anything to go by, then our presence will surely uplift their society, dramatically improving their quality of life. And within a decade or so they will go beyond their gravity well and colonize their solar system as well. With our help even."

"It's a beautiful picture you're painting Brenda. Makes me want to cry at the thought of humanity and their long-lost brothers and sisters in space coming together on a common goal. But once again, you're forgetting one thing. And something really important at that."

"And what would that be Madam Secretary"

"Humans are assholes." Avasarala said. "Sure, Mars and the OPA will begrudgingly go along with a partnership but sooner or later a knife is going to be found in someone's back. And as for the natives of ILUS…" Avasarala emphasized the name, realizing that it annoyed Brenda for some reason. "Well, you're a smart girl, you know your history. So I don't think I need to remind you of what happened to the native Americans when Cristopher Columbus discovered the New World."

Branda scoffed at that. "We are clearly much more civilized than people from nearly a thousand years ago."

"Brenda you are not that young to be this naive. The only difference between us and our distant ancestors… is that we have better toys."

XXXXX

The U.N building has a stark, utilitarian sensibility. Spacious and blindingly white, the hall Avasarala and her assistant were walking through could have a dozen people side by side with their arms stretched out walking down it with still a little room left over. To her left was the massive glass wall that gave the building a majority of it's light source. It presented a grand view of New York in all it's pollution-filled, filth-ridden glory. But it's the only New York that Avasarala ever knew, not its romanticized, younger self when half of it wasn't submerged in the sea.

"Let's see what we have on the itinerary." Her assistant piped up, turning on her hand terminal. The girl was young, prim, and proper. She held herself with a maturity that belies her age. Compensation was what Avasrala thought, it didn't help that the girl was barely five feet tall. The kind of stature only Earth could mold. The young assistant is named Setina, and she is the replacement of Avasrala's former assistant who had the bright idea to betray her.

"You have another meeting at one o'clock pertaining to new trade agreements between several North American and Asian shared interest zones." Avasarala listened as she fished out a pistachio from her purse, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. The crinkling of the plastic wrapper and crunching of the salted snack was joined by the sound of the women's shoes click-clacking down the diamond panel, ceramic floor. The sounds echoed through the cavernous, halls which were light on people who were outnumbered by the automated security drones that silently flew overhead.

"How exciting" Avasrala deadpanned. "What else?"

"Got the governor of the Brazilian zone who wants to touch base on humanitarian efforts for the aftermath of Hurricane Clara" Setina continued

"I hope that's all he touches base on, and not my current marital status. The old man is as horny as a teenager." Avasarala helped herself to another pistachio while she motioned her assistant to continue.

"And we have General Bradley who has more to report on the situation in the Middle East. He'll contact you at seven to go over the details. But from the little he said, seems more trouble is brewing"

"When isn't there trouble in the Middle East? Anything else?" Avasarala asked as they turned a corner to a more populated hall.

'That's it for now ma'am." Setina concluded as she turned off her hand terminal.

"Great," Avasrala said as they both stopped at an elevator and called it down. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to make a personal call. I expect a cup of coffee within the next fifteen minutes."

Setina glared at her boss. "I became your intern so I can learn from you, not be your maid," she growled.

Avasarala smiled, although she was aware that it most likely came off as condescending to the girl. "Honey…" she doubled down. "The prerequisite for interns is how fast they can make a cup of coffee. Hell, I'm actually giving you more time than usual because I kinda like you."

Setina huffed at that. "How would you like your coffee, your majesty?" she grumbled.

"Black with a little cream. How much cream I'll leave up to you to decide." Avasarala answered as the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. "Oh, and how well you perform on this task will be noted in your performance review."

Setina looked at her confused. "There's a performance review?". Avasarala just gave her a smirk as the elevator doors closed between them.

Elevator music droned in the background as Avasarala stood alone in the confined metal in its center. She liked the girl, a far cry from her previous assistant, Soren. Where Soren would take all of the verbal abuse like a punching bag, Setina would take every opportunity to fight back. It was refreshing for Avasarala, it also made her trust the girl a bit more. In hindsight, it seemed obvious, but Avasarala thought that Soren was just a spineless wimp. Only for it to turn out that he was actually biding his time for his moment to strike. He was in league with her political rival and blindsided her. She still mentally kicks herself for allowing an opponent to get the upper hand in such a fashion to this day.

The elevator doors finally open and Avasarala flows in between the group of people who fill in the elevator room. She stands out like a sore thumb due to her colorful sari. She decided to wear the teal green one with the red accents, one of her favorites. Avasarala believed it was her due diligence to give a splash of color to the stark white and deep blacks that dominated the U.N building and the attire of its occupants. There was the occasional blue and green that represented the colors of their home planet.

Walking through the halls, Avasarala finally arrived at her office door. Her office was rather modest for her station and a bit austere. She did give it a bit of her personality with the Buddha statue to the left of her worn-out desk and the lone potted plant that sat on top of it.

She had a nice view of the sea, from this high up you almost can't tell how filthy it is. Behind the desk were several flags representing the primary super states under the U.N banner, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, etc.

Avasarala made her way to her desk and plopped down on her creaky chair with a heavy sigh. The day had just begun and already she was dying to go back to her bed next to her husband. Except her husband is not currently home, speaking of which.

Avasarala brought up her desk terminal and made a call. She waited a few minutes, half expecting no answer. But the appearance of her husband's face squashed her doubts. Her husband, Arjun was currently on the moon with their grandchildren on a small getaway. He smiled at her with the same beautiful smile she had seen for the past several decades, sitting in a room laden with flora and artwork. The children can be heard laughing and playing in the background, not in the same way as before as the little girls now approach their preteen years. She thought it ironic that Arjun's environment was more lively on the moon than where she was here on Earth.

"My love" Arjun said with such warmth and with the same sparkle in his eyes that had not faded since they were kids in college.

What did fade was the tension in Avasrala's old bones. Her husband always had that effect on her. "Darling husband, It's been too long."

"Really? If I recall, we last spoke a week ago."

"Might as well have been a year" Avasrala sighed. "It certainly felt like it"

"More of this ring business?"

"It's only ever been about that damn ring these days"

Arjun nodded thoughtfully. "It's all anybody wants to talk about. Even here on Luna, it's been all over the news cycles. There are even public lectures on the Boston University campus."

"It's been an uphill battle to keep the blockade up. Now I'm under no illusion that the blockade will hold forever but I just need it to hold on long enough."

"You're buying time?" Arjun inquired, he was always do good at showing genuine interest in her work.

"No, I just need the people of the system to realize the dangers of traveling through the Ring." Avasarala took a pause and continued. "And more importantly, to keep them from abandoning their worlds."

"Mars…" Arjun probed. She knew that her husband was aware of her newfound affection for the red planet and for a particular Martian at that.

"That's right" She admitted.

"For what it's worth, I agree with you. If you have a dream enticing enough, then people will go headfirst into the unknown, not caring about the risks."

"Of course, you agree with me, you're my husband."

"Oh I'd be a terrible husband and partner if I didn't give you proper counsel"

Avasrala smiled at that. "But enough about work." she steered the conversation away from the tiring subject. "I want to hear about your day with the girls."

"Oh we had a great time today, we went to the James Irwin park, you know the one in Lovell."

"Everything is in Lovell dear. It's the capital city." Avasarala said teasingly.

"That might change soon. Shackleton has seen massive expansion in the past few years." Arjun leaned on the camera, the wrinkles on his broad forehead becoming much more visible. "And then we went to Boston University like I mentioned before. We took a little tour and you should've seen how Kiki's eyes lit up. It won't surprise me if we see her walking down those sacred halls when she's older."

"I haven't seen the Lunar campus before, I heard it's quite impressive."

"That's putting it lightly". As Arjun said that, a small figure came into view from the left and closed the distance.

"Nani!" the prepubescent girl exclaimed with excitement. She nearly pushed her grandfather out of the view of the camera and almost enveloped Avasrala's screen with her beaming face.

"Suri, my little angel. I hear you've been having a lot of fun on the moon." Avasarala cooed to her granddaughter.

The little girl gave an infectious giggle that could warm the coldest hearts. "Did Nana tell you that we went to Apollo land?!"

"No, he did not" Avasarala replied, making a show of her surprise.

"I was getting to that" Arjun piped up, now occupying a little corner of the screen.

"I rode five roller coasters and ate a bunch of cotton candy! I even got a shirt and a pushie, look!" Suri moved back a bit to show off her spoils. Her shirt was light blue with a bit of white for the logo of the theme park and the cartoon crescent moon with its equally cartoony eyes and spindly limbs. The little girl then ran off to the side and before Arjun could say anything, she came rushing back carrying a large plushie of an astronaut with a big head and bunny ears.

"Isn't he cute!" Suri squealed, aggressively squeezing the poor astronaut bunny.

"He's adorable. Have you thought of a name for him yet?"

"I haven't picked one. It has to be really cute too."

"Then why don't you think one over with your sister? Maybe she can help you."

Suri vigorously nodded at the recommendation and began to head while screaming "Kiki!" to get her sister's attention.

Arjun assumed his previous position at the center of the screen, chuckling at his granddaughter's exuberant joy.

"Apollo Land?" Avasaral teased him."

"Don't ask me how much it cost" Arjun sighed.

"I'm sure it was worth it" Avasarala now began to notice how exhausted her husband looked, drained really. She wondered if she looked the same to him. They are getting older now, him with keeping up with young people most of the time, either with their grandchildren or his students. Or her, with running a planet and now seemingly holding together the solar system. "When are you and the girls coming down the well?" She asked her weary husband.

"Not much longer, we should be bac-" A pop-up for an incoming call covered half of Arjun's face. "Duty calls?" Arjun said, surely noticing the annoyance on Avasarala's face.

"I'm sorry darling, this looks important," Avasrala said despondently.

"Don't be. Go on and save the worlds. We'll talk again soon" With that, Arjun ended his connection leaving only the red pop-up message on top of the U.N blue desktop background.

Avasarala clicked on the pop-up but not before switching the mask of a doting grandmother to a powerful political figure. The video call opened and the person who replaced her husband's spot on the screen was a man half his age of African descent. He wore a military uniform with the name 'Lipson' on a badge on the right side of his chest and a badge denoting his rank on the left.

"Lieutenant." Avasarala greeted the man on the screen.

"Madam Secretary, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Lipson said with an air of professionalism you'd expect from a military officer.

"You are, so this better warrant the interruption."

"I'm afraid it does and you're not gonna like it"

"Great," Avasarala grumbled. She has noticed that Lieutenant Lipson has always been the bearer of bad news so she braced herself. "Alright then, out with it

"This has to do with the Ring Gate"

"Why am I not surprised?"

'Well, you might be surprised by this. A charter was granted around five months ago to Royal Charter Energy. A charter for New Terra."

"What?" Avasrala snarled.

"Two ships are already en route and approaching the belt. They are the Edward Israel and the Cassandra Princess.

"Why was I not informed of this?"

Lieutenant Lipson raised a closed fist to his mouth and coughed lightly. "The Department of Exploration doesn't usually report to higher officials about any charters granted."

"Yeah, that's because it's normally nameless asteroids in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, not another goddamn planet." Avasarala quickly came to an obvious conclusion. "Did that fucking bobblehead sign off on this?"

Lieutenant Lipson shifted at that, looking visibly uncomfortable. "You mean the Secretary-General?"

"What other idiot bobblehead would I be talking about."

Lieutenant Lipson repeated the coughing motion. "Yes, well. The matter was run by His Excellency by the Department of Exploration. But most notably by a certain someone from the Economic and Social Council."

Avasrarala darkly cackled. "That little bitch."

Of course, it was Branda Huang. She had to hand it to the girl, she had balls. If she were not so diametrically opposed to her, then Avasarala might have taken her under her wing. Probably for the best she doesn't, she would have molded Brenda into a true monster on the political battlefield.

"I see then," Avasarala continued. "She's trying to force my hand. It's not going to look good when those two RCE ships pass the hundreds of colony ships out there waiting and get permission to enter the gate. The less than flattering title of Ring Tyrant I've been given by the media is going to hold more weight."

"What do you plan to do Ma'am?"

"Fuck her… and fuck the rest, I'm not moving from my position. They can call me what they like, I'll weather the bad pr. This is more important than my image."

"Very well then, I'll let my superiors know to hold the fort. But are you sure there's nothing we can do about the RCE ships"

"Like shooting them down?" Avasarala asked as casually as if she were asking whats for dinner.

Lieutenant Lipson recoiled at the suggestion. "Uhh… of course not." Lipson stumbled.

"Then I don't think there is much we can do," Avasarala concluded. "I'll try to talk to Esteban but I can't promise anything. He's usually easy to manipulate but once the fucking bobblehead made up his mind on something, he becomes as stubborn as a mule."

Avasarala looked at the professional military man on her screen. It's been a little over a month since they've been in regular contact and ever since then she has been curious as to why the Lieutenant had expressly come to her and so readily offered his aid. It's something she's been meaning to ask him and now was as good a time as any.

"Lieutenant." She called out to the man.

"Yes, Ma'am" Lieutenant Lipson looked like he was about to say more but straightened up and gave her his full attention.

"I'm grateful for your assistance, but I must ask. Why are you so eager to help me?"

Lieutenant Lipson looked genuinely puzzled at the question. "Because I agree with your position."

"Plenty of people agree with me. But you are more passionate than most. You even did a bit of espionage on my behalf at the risk of your own career. A man willing to do that must have stronger feelings for this cause."

Lieutenant Lipson took a moment of silence and his eyes wandered away. For a second, Avasrala thought the screen froze with how still Lipson was. He then redirected his eyes to her and took a deep breath.

"Because I am a patriot ma'am, through and through. Now your opposition may be saying pretty words to the masses, selling a dream of opportunity and prosperity. But I see what they are really doing."

"And what is that?" Avasarala prompted, invested in his reasoning.

"They're giving up on Earth. Forgive me, madam secretary, but I'm about to say something that may come off as treasonous."

"Did you forget who you were talking to?"

Lipson shyly chuckled, most likely embarrassed at briefly forgetting Avasarala's role in ending the war between the UN and the MCR. "Of course, then you would understand that we have ruined our homeworld. And what is most frustrating of all is that we have the power and the resources to heal her wounds but instead, we are all too eager to abandon her for a fresh new planet. Ready to let Earth waste away like a dried-up carcass on the side of a road."

Avasarala simply nodded in understanding. It seemed that they were like-minded after all. Her office door buzzed and Setina with a coffee cup in hand walked across her office floor. Her assistant tried her best to keep her displeasure from being apparent but the slight frown and stomps of her feet gave it away. She's like a petulant teenager, it was kind of adorable.

"Your coffee ma'am." Setina said with the same enthusiasm as a nurse who was assigned to a perverted old man.

"What, nothing to snack on?" Avasrala asked in mocked disappointment

"You didn't ask" Setina sputtered with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Setina, you must be considerate of someone's unexpressed needs. How are you going to hold on to a partner like that."

Setina scoffed. "I do not need to hear dating advice from you!"

Avasarala shrugged, playing at innocence. "It's just that I haven't seen that pretty girl that would visit you in the office in a while."

"Maya… uh, we're just in a rough patch right now. I have work and she's been surprisingly busy with her acting- wait! Why am I talking about my love life with you!"

"I may be your employer but I can be a mentor of many things for you."

Avasarala heard a familiar cough through her terminal screen. "Ma'am"

"Ah! Apologies Lieutenant, didn't mean to put you aside." Avasarala turned back to her screen.

"No worries Ma'am" Lipson responded.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me"

"Well, there is one thing you might be interested in"

"Go on."

"We have received word that James Holden and the Rocinante are heading out to the Ring. Medina Station to be exact."

"Is that so? I surely hope that idiot doesn't get himself into trouble." Avarasala took a moment to realize what she said and sighed. "Oh, who am I kidding? I'd be surprised if he doesn't get himself into any trouble. Maybe start another war if it tickles his fancy."

"Well, it seems like he and his crew are on a simple escort job for a couple of supply ships coming out of Tycho station and going to Medina. They haven't reached Tycho yet from the looks of it." Lieutenant Lipson continued with his report.

"It'll be a while until they reach Medina then. Thank you for the heads up, Lieutenant." Avasrala said as the gears in her brain started to turn, incubating an idea. "Hmm. I'd very much like to speak to James once he reaches his destination. Him and Fred Johnson."

"You have a plan?"

"An inkling of one. Speak to you soon Lieutenant."

With that, the Terminal screen turned off and Avasrala turned to her Assistant who had been standing there quietly.

"It's not too late to get me a snack you know. Before my coffee gets cold."

"Are you serious? You know we have drones for that." Setina blurted out incredulously.

"Setina, I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself. Honestly, I'm much too nice to you."

Avasarala took joy in watching her assistant fight back the urge to explode. Setina is such a proud young woman, she'll go far and Avasrala will make sure she does.

"What would like, your majesty?" Setina said the last part the same way someone would say 'You fucking old bitch'.

"Surprise me, but nothing too sweet. I'm an old lady after all and I need to watch my blood pressure."

With a huff, Setina turned around and stomped out of the office. Avasarala took a sip of her coffee, ' Not bad' she thought. She'll hold off on calling her husband again for now since her next meeting will be starting soon and she needs to prepare. So much has changed since the protomolecule, since the war, since the RIng Gate. And most of it was not for the better. Her job has been harder and more stressful than it has ever been before and it didn't help that she'd been promoted to the second highest office in the U.N during that time. And considering who's in the highest office, she might as well be in charge. Now in the ripe old age of seventy-four, she is finally considering something that she never thought she would even entertain the idea of before.

Retirement.

Avasrala let the idea marinate and then pushed it away. ' No, this job will be the death of me" she thought. ' Without me, who's going to keep the system from burning to the ground'.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

Hello once again. Don't have much to put here in the author's notes but noticed some of the comments so I would like to say thanks so much, it really means a lot. I don't want to reveal too much of what I have planned because things might change, but I will say this much. In the next chapter, we're going to be returning to a previous POV. Who that is I'll leave up to you to guess. And one more thing, I wanted to state something for posterity. This fic starts in the year 297 A.C in Westeros/Ilus/New Terra/The Ilu system and also starts in the year 2355 A.D on Earth/The Sol system.

Basia

The squeaky chairs with the rough leather were the most common ones that the colonists were able to bring with them on their year-and-a-half-long journey to the new system. They were thoroughly worn out, with tearing that spilled out some of the inner stuffing and the indentions of the numerous asses that planted themselves on it. Many of the things they brought with them were of the same quality. Worn out and slightly battered, just like them. As long as it's still functional, that's all that matters.

Basia looked around the room he was in. He and his friends, if he could call them that, were in the middle of a heated discussion about the state of things. There were eight of them in what could be perceived as a circle, to the side was the bar and its bartender serving the only two other people in the metal box. The backdrop was appropriate for the sort of debate, a metal shipping container turned hideout bar. Dim light bulbs dangling in from the roof like an old man's nutsack. Only a select few of the colonists were allowed in and all were Belters, so no Earthers, Martians, or Westerosi.

"Is the extra helium-3 really worth it? This planet's moon should have enough." Pete grumbled. He is the youngest of the group, he sat on his chair leaning towards the circle, fiddling with something metallic in his hands.

"You can never have enough helium-3. And the fact that there's a shit-ton here makes it even more worth it. So suck it up and play nice." Loris countered. She sat across from Pete in the circle. The tallest and skinniest Belter here, a real rockhopper, and her curly, red hair was obscuring half her face. Looks like she didn't bother tying it up tonight. Basia knew she was going to be the one to argue with Pete, they always seem to butt heads every chance they get.

"It's just… we came all this way, across the fucking galaxy. Only to have to answer to Earthers anyways." Pete whined.

"I mean they're not really Earthers" Loris gave a weak reply.

"They look like Earthers to me." Coop chimed in, focused on filing his nails while leaning against his chair across from Basia. A gaunt-looking Belter like many men his age and pale as a ghost. He looked perpetually worn out but his eyes were a different story, always alert.

"There were plenty of other places we could have landed. Bunch of Islands out to the west." Pete proposed.

"It doesn't matter, Pete. Either way, we're gonna be contested for the land that we hold. Earth or Mars would eventually come out here, and they wouldn't allow Belters to have anything for themselves, that's for sure." Loris countered Pete again.

"And the fucking Welwalas in this town made sure of that. They practically rolled out the red carpet for the Earther fuckers." Coop chimed in again, with more venom in his words. Basia wouldn't have worded it the same way, but he shared Coop's sentiment. Word came out that Royal Charter Energy was on its way here for research purposes and the Earther corporation was receiving assistance from some of the colonists to build a landing pad for them. It seems that the RCE will be coming in with a heavy shuttle which requires that sort of thing. In exchange, the colonists who were hired were going to be paid quite handsomely.

"Mi na du pensa so, I wouldn't go so far as calling them traitors. I mean, can you blame them for taking the job? They got family that didn't take well to treatment and can't kom down to this rock with them. So why not make some scrip while they're here, and use it when they go back through the Ring." Zadie said. She was the one sitting next to Coop and the most Belter of them all.

"Ah, so because they don't want to live here it's okay for them to get theirs and fuck us over, right." Coop spat out. Zadie didn't look like she appreciated his anger being directed towards her. Basia got a bit worried, Zadie had the hottest head in this little group and back on Ganymede, she would usually be seen with a black eye from a bar fight.

Before anything could arise, however, Scotty piped up after he took a puff from his pipe sitting next to Basiam, scratching his protruding belly that peeked out from his ill-fitting dirty shirt. "Well look at it this way. We have technically been given a lease on this land by this continent's government. That could be a good buffer against the RCE and whatever claims they want to make."

"That's still pending since we haven't gotten confirmation from their king." Ibrahim corrected Scotty. Sitting next to Pete, Ibrahim laid a hand on Pete's twitchy hands, stopping him from fiddling with whatever it was he had. Basia recognized that gesture whenever his wife comforted him by putting her soft hands on his rough and calloused ones. "And who's to say any of the governments from back home would even recognize the Six Kingdoms anyway." Ibrahim continued.

"Seven" Caterine droned out from Loris' side. Caterine was cut from the same cloth as Coop, both being old-school OPA, before the OPA was a proper government. Which meant that they dabbled in gun running, smuggling, and the occasional acts of terrorism in Earth-Mars territories.

"Yeah, Seven, thanks Cate," Ibrahim responded.

"Well, at least beltalowda were the ones to make the first impression instead of inyalowda." Scotty added and then took another puff from his pipe.

"Mi no pensa it was a good first impression thanks to that stupid coyo, Jokob." Zadie reminded everyone.

"I don't know. I think Orcus handled that pretty well." Basia finally spoke up. He usually doesn't say much in these meetings and mostly just listens. But every now and then he'll share his thoughts with the class.

"I don't know how I feel about an OPA thug violently smashing a man's face against a table being our first impression," Pete said.

"OPA… hmph" Coop derided the comment.

"Are you saying he's not? I mean just look at him, there's no way he's just another civilian." Pete argued.

"Oh, I'm not disagreeing on that. I just don't recognize whatever that son of a sabaka is a part of as the real OPA. I wouldn't call those bootlickers who answer to the pinche Butcher and bend over for the inners OPA. And make no mistake, I know what that welwala Orcus really is."

"And what's that?" Ibrahim asked.

"A lackey in Fred Johnson's pocket," Coop answered.

Coop was a bit of a contradiction for Basia. The man was a member of a splinter group of the OPA, the kind that not only had no love for inner planet types but would go one step beyond and actively treat all inners as enemies, civilians, and soldiers alike. He still sported the split circle of the OPA on his left shoulder blade. And because of that, men like Coop wouldn't also have any love for the inner planets themselves, preferring living on the rocks in the Belt or the moons of the gas giants. But Coop, more than Basia possibly, wanted to stay on this planet and was willing to compromise with the Westerosi.

"Well is there anything else that someone would like to add?" Ibrahim called out to the circle. "Any more bitching and moaning?".

"Ya ya, I got a plan I'm working on beratna. I'll let kowmang know once it's ready." Coop announced and promptly got off his seat and headed out.

Soon the topic of conversation devolved into more mundane issues. Talk about work, family, back pain. Although Coop's last comment about a plan stuck with him and it seems he wasn't the only one mulling over it.

"What do you think Coop meant by that? Talking about some sort of plan." Scotty leaned in to Basia as if he were whispering but spoke loudly anyways

"Something dangerous I bet," Basia answered. He didn't know Coop all that much, he didn't associate with him all that much either. But spending a little over a year in a crowded cargo ship with the same group of people would inevitably make you more familiar with said present company. From what he could gather from his conversations with Coop and witnessing the common brawl he would have with a shipmate, any plan he comes up with would most likely be a violent one.

"I'd keep an eye on him" Scotty warned as he took another puff from his pipe. Basia just gave a Belter nod and didn't promise anything.

Soon, the members of the little circle started to thin out and Basia was one of the last ones to leave. He had a hankering for a couple of beers and decided to head for a bar within town. He could have gotten a drink where he was but the ambience wasn't to his liking and the beer tasted kind of flat.

Night had already fallen, it was a little longer than the usual meeting. As he strolled through the makeshift shops, he spotted many of the guests milling about. The Stark and Glover men were spread across the colony. Many of them were spending their time in the two drinking establishments in town, while others chatting with the populace.

For the most part, things were peaceful, but a few fights did break out. Thankfully it's only been drunken brawls and it seems that both Belter and Westerosi were starting fights equally.

"Wow, mi nunca seen a sword before" Basia heard a child no more than eight yell excitedly. The belter boy stood next to a little girl around his age as they marveled at the sword being held out to them by a Stark soldier.

"This sword is nothing special little ones." the soldier chuckled. "Blades like these are made by the dozen in Winterfell's forges."

"Could I have one then!" the boy requested.

"Live steel would be too much for you. Perhaps a wooden sword would be more appropriate." The soldier rebutted.

"Wood! That's fancy!" The Belter boy showed the same amount of enthusiasm.

"Joey, we're surrounded by trees. Wood ain't as big a deal as it used to be" the girl next to the boy reminded him.

The boy scratched the back of his head. "O ya, I forgot about that."

Basia moved on and heard a loud yelp up ahead where the carts would normally be stored under a sunroof.

"Get that ting away from mi!" a Belter man screeched as he scrambled away from a neighing horse.

"Calm yourself, man! The beast won't hurt you." One of the Stark men who was handling the horse tried to assure the fearful Belter who was sitting on the dirt floor.

"Dun't pish yaself, Nico." the other Belter who was present was laughing at his friend's expense. "It's just a dumb anymal. You haven't seen these in tumang movies before?"

"No, I don't watch Earther shit. Now shut up and help me up, you nakapensa pshang!" the downed belter howled at his chuckling friend.

Basia got closer to his destination, another metal box with light fixtures around it. This one was gray and had a sign that said 'Lalo's Bar". As Basia made his through the group of Belters loitering near the entrance properly drunk and reached out to the handle of the front door, a man in armor came through and bumped into him.

"Gods damn it! Watch where you're going, whoreson!" Basia could tell that the man in front of him was incredibly inebriated and looked like he was raring for a fight. But the drunk armored man with the now familiar sigil of a wolf looked up at him and froze. Basia was used to this, at a little over seven feet tall, he was taller than a majority of the Belters around him. Not as tall as the rock hoppers who grew up in Null G however, those Belters would normally be around eight feet tall. And Basia was thicker than the average belter as well, almost like an Earther. So his imposing size intimidated a lot of the people he's met in his life. Sometimes he would use it to his advantage to de-escalate a potentially violent situation like he's doing right now as the drunk Stark man moves around him without meeting his eyes or saying another word. It's a good thing he had his impressive size because he was anything but a fighter and Basia was certain that the much shorter man would have folded him in an actual fight.

The inside of the bar was livelier than usual on account of their recent visitors. Basia saw that many of the Westerosi kept to their own but few dared to make acquaintances with the Belters. It was louder than usual too, he could barely hear the music from the speaker in the corners from all the laughing and hollering. Basia looked to his left and to his relief he saw his pal Arlo sitting on a stool near the bar nursing a drink with an empty stool next to him. His friend was a bit younger than him and had dirty blonde hair, a matching goatee, and a busted nose that never quite healed properly. Basia and Arlo would meet around this time for a couple of drinks before heading back home from the mines and it looked like Arlo saved him a seat.

Basia claimed his stool and looked down the bar for its bartender. It was Laila who was on shift today and she was entertaining a group of Westerosi patrons. The girl is hands down the most popular of the staff due to her looks and playful personality. She wasn't very tall for a Belter at a little under six feet and her porcelain skin made her look ethereal.

"So this world you were born on is covered in ice" one of the mustachioed Westerosi questioned the girl. He was the oldest of the bunch and had the least hair.

"That's right, Europa is completely covered in ice with a deep ocean underneath." Laila gave her signature smile and brushed aside her long black hair away from her deep brown eyes. She does it in a way that enraptures her clientele and if Baisa wasn't already spoken for, he'd be under her spell too.

"An ice world aye. You'd fit right in with the North then." Another of the Westerosi patrons declared. This one in particular had the iron glove sigil on his armor.

"I'm already loving it here! The snow is so pretty!" Laila chirped.

"Speaking of pretty things." Another soldier spoke up, this one had the wolf on him and looked to be the youngest of the group. "I need to know, are all the girls from Europa as pretty as you?"

Laila giggled at that and blushed. "You're too much Owen".

Basia had a feeling she was playing up her hospitality for the guests. She was that good at it. He lifted a closed fist with his thumb and pinky finger sticking out and shook it to signal her to serve him. Luckily, Laila took notice.

"Sorry boys, I have other guests I need to tend to!" Laila announced to the group of men as she made her way down the bar.

"We'll be waiting Laila!" One of them hollered as he waved his mug of beer in the air."

Laila stopped in front of Basia and a bit of her facade started to drop. Basia would credit that to his regular patronage of this establishment for the familiarity. Also the fact that she was one of the people who was a frequent patient of his wife on the Barbapicocola. She didn't do too well with the steroid cocktails that were part of the treatment for Belters to acclimate to a planet with an Earth-like gravity. Those Westerosi men wouldn't think she was so pretty if they saw her convulsing on a medical table with vomit all over her chest and blood coming out of her eyes.

"Basia, how's my favorite customer doing!" Laila greeted him.

Basia waited a moment for Arlo to chime in but he was abnormally quiet today. He just focused on his drink and didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings.

Basia looked back to Laila and then nodded to Arlo. "I thought Arlo was your favorite."

"You're both my favorite!" Laila exclaimed with outstretched arms.

Basia then gestured to the Westerosi men to his side. "Seems like you've been making friends with the locals."

Laila gave a Belter shrug, lifting both hands with palms upward. "They're an interesting bunch. You know, it's a bit comforting actually."

Basia raised an eyebrow. "What is?"

"That men thousands of light years away from us are still horndogs. Just go to shows that we're not so different from our distant cousins."

"That's one way to look at it. Anyways, I could use a beer."

"Of course" Laila reached under the bar and got a glass mug. She then turned around and began filling it up from the draft. Those were new, before those were installed, they all had to have canned beer and bottled vodka and spirits.

Basia turned back to Arlo who was still ruminating his half-empty drink and called out to him. "Arlo?... Arlo!"

"Huh…" Basia's friend finally acknowledged him and gave him a weary smile. "Oh hey."

"What's going on, Kopeng? Something eating at ya."

"Oh, it's just… fucking loud in here," Arlo grumbled, taking the smallest sip imaginable from his mug.

"I get the feeling that's not all it is"

Arlo sighed although it couldn't really be heard "It's my wife"

A chill ran down Basia's spine. "What happened? Is she alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, Traci's fine. It's just… she came down with gravity sickness."

Basia took a moment to take in what was said, unsure if he heard correctly. "I don't understand. I thought she was cleared, she finished her treatment didn't she?"

"I thought so too, but it turns out she's been faking it this whole time."

"How?" Basia asked in disbelief.

"I don't know. She's a lot stronger than I thought…" Arlo wearily said, taking another tiny sip out of his glass. "I chewed her out though. Stupid woman, what was she thinking."

"She probably didn't want to disappoint you and the kids."

"I would've been more disappointed in losing my wife. And wouldn't want to live on the planet that killed her."

"Is she in a…" Basia began to ask.

"Water tank? Yeah, some were brought down from the last shuttle drop. Traci's not the only stubborn one here."

"So now what? Are you going back up to the Barb?"

"Not much of a choice, is there?"

"Ya, you're right stupid question". Basia looked in front of him and noticed the glass of beer that was served to him. Nice of Laila to just leave it here, she probably read the room and thought it best to leave them alone.

Baisa took a long sip of his drink and continued. "Are you going to take a trip over to the Giuseppa, then? Or ya gonna find a spot to settle on this world's moon?"

"Yeah about that. Me and the family are not staying in the system. We're going back through the RIng. Gonna get a ride on the Barb to Medina Station and then take a commercial ship to the rest of Sol"

Basia stopped himself from taking another sip and set his mug down. "What? But once you go through the Ring, you won't be able to return. At least not until the blockade is lifted."

"That won't be an issue for us because we're not coming back," Arlo said somberly.

"Wha… what do you mean?" Basia stammered.

"Listen Basia, I've always been straight with you, so I'll tell you how it is. What happened to Tracy was a wake-up call."

"Wake-up call?"

Arlo gave a belter nod, lifting his hand in a closed fist and rocking it forward and back in a knocking motion. "I know that you're all in on Ilus. I get it, who wouldn't want to have access to basically unlimited air and water? It convinced me to give this place a shot. But the longer I stay here, the more it just feels… wrong." Arlo paused and took a drink from his mug, this one longer than the previous minuscule sips. "Our kind are not made to be under a well, we belong among the stars."

Basia listened to his friend and became more visibly frustrated with every word he said. He grabbed his glass aggressively and matched the aggression as he chugged the rest of his drink and slammed it down. "Laila! Another!" he shouted out to the young bartender who was entertaining a new set of patrons. Basia didn't bother to confirm if she heard him as he turned back to Arlo.

"So you're just giving up then?" Basia accused his friend.

"Don't…" Arlo warned.

"Because that's what it sounds like!"

"Basia it's my wife! What if it was Lucia?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't leave the whole fucking system and go back to Sol. Did you already forget what it was like on the Barb? Getting turned away from every port and station in the Outer Planets, having to beg for scraps of moldy food and expired rations, and having to drink our recycled piss and being unable to shower because the water was too precious."

"It sounds to me that you want to be an Earther real bad." Arlo took his turn to be accusatory.

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm tired of living like a rat in a cage, being at the mercy of Earth and Mars, and having to always be fucking conscious of the air I breathe or the water I use. And I'm sorry that I want better for my family, for all of us. I mean why leave the system, where would you go?"

"... I'm thinking Callisto."

Basia gave a mocking laugh. "The MCRN moon?"

"There's good work there. And it'll only be temporary. Once Ganymede station is rebuilt, we'll move back-"

"Ganymede's gone, Arlo" Basia interrupted.

"The rebuilding effort is making a lot of progress. They're thinking it could be back up and running within a decade"

"It won't be the same… and it won't be ours either."

"And what? Is this plot of land any more ours then? Ilus is already taken by the Ferrumang, we're just renting the place." Ferrumang, he's been hearing that term more often lately. The word basically means iron men in Belter Creole which sounds fitting enough. Like Tumang for Earther means earth man and Pomang for Martian means dust man.

Basia responded to his friend's assertion. "More so than any decent rock a Belter can live on back in Sol. Here we're on equal footing with the Westerosi. And it's just the beginning, this world has so much land that hasn't even been discovered yet. Land that we can make our home."

Basia once again saw a glass of beer in front of him. It seemed Laila did hear him after all or maybe she just knew he was going to want another beer. He took a sip from his fresh glass and finally began simmering down. "Look Kopeng. I understand why you gotta leave Ilus to keep the family together, I do. But what I don't understand is why you're leaving everything behind. We're pioneers for crying out loud. You can make a claim in this system, and not just on Ilus' moon but in this system's asteroid belts or even the moons of the two gas giants. And it'd be yours, no one else's."

Arlo sighed another inaudible sigh. "That's a nice thought Basia, but you and I both know that Belters can't have anything for themselves. The RCE is going to make sure of that once they get here." Arlo drank the rest of his beer which was almost certainly lukewarm at this point. "I think that's it for me. I won't be leaving this rock for a couple of days, so it's not goodbye yet."

"Good, would have been a terrible way to leave things as," Basia admitted with slight embarrassment. "Sorry about blowing up on you like that."

"It's all good, it's all good. Oyedeng, beratna." With that Arlo lifted himself up from his stool a shuffled through the other patrons and out the door.

The stool that was occupied by his friend was quickly taken by a lanky Belter with bedraggled hair and an even worse-looking beard. "Metexeng! Mi wanya sum biya!" the Belter called out to Laila.

After Laila gave the lanky belter his rum, Basia flagged her down. "I think I'm calling it for tonight." Basia fished out his hand terminal from his pocket and Laila did the same from her apron. He then waved it over Laila's to transfer his digital currency. While he paid for his drinks, a thought occurred to him.

"Laila, how are the Westerosi paying for their drinks, sasa ke?"

"Apparently it's all on Mr. Stark's tab," Laila answered as she wiped down a dirty mug with a rag.

"Really?"

"Ya, he is the bosmang of the North after all."

"And the bosmang takes care of his crew." Basia stood up from his seat. "See ya later, sesata."

"See ya later, beratna."

XXXXX

Basia woke up to the smell of bacon, real bacon. He doesn't think he'll ever get tired of that or can ever go back to the vat-grown stuff. He was lying on his bed and noticed the empty space next to him. It wasn't empty when he got here, it had the sleeping form of his wife. He got up and dressed quickly, the bacon and now eggs enticing him to go faster. Basia sped walked out the door and was greeted by the sight of his two children sitting on the dining table, Felcia and Jacek.

"Mornin' Papa" Felcia greeted him, taking her eyes away from her datapad for just a moment. Jacek didn't say anything, too entranced by his Hand terminal, playing a game or watching a movie or something.

Around the corner came his wife, Lucia, in an apron that was a bit too big for her thin frame and a bun tying her brown hair. She carried in two plates when she saw him.

"Baz, you're finally awake." She set down the plates in front of the children. Basia's stomach cried for the food but the children must come first. "You must've had a fun night coming home so late."

"Nah, it really wasn't." Basia yawned and stretched. He looked at the food that's been served to the kids and saw how much they were enjoying it. "You're getting better at that Lucy."

"You surprised?" She teased him, placing a hand on her hip and tilting her head.

Basia chuckled. "I'm sure whatever you do, you'd be a master of."

"Perhaps if I was born on Earth, I would've been a cook instead of a doctor," Lucia said as she wiped her hand on her apron.

"That'd be tragic. The universe would lose a brilliant doctor." Basia said as he walked over to the head of the table to take his seat.

"Are you just buttering me up because I'm gonna feed your favorite breakfast?"

"Of course not." Basia rebutted, his rebuke being punctuated by the loud growl of his stomach.

Lucia and Felcia laughed out loud, causing Jacek to take off his earbud.

"What happened?" The young boy asked.

"Something funny, but you missed it. Go back to your little game." Felcia teased her little brother.

"What! Tell me! What happened? I wanna know!" Jacek whined, nearly jumping out of his chair.

"You should've been paying attention then, Jacek" Felcia teased him further.

Lucia brushed her hand into Jacek's messy brown hair. "Papa did something silly, honey. His belly growled like an old air recycler." Looking back toward Baisa, Lucia said. "Sit tight Baz, I already got your food ready." and then headed back around the corner to the kitchen.

With Mom gone, Basia decided to keep his kids engaged, especially Jacek.

"So, anything interesting you two been up to?" Basia asked them.

Jacek answered first. "Nothing much, just been hanging with Reese and Dano. We talked to a Ferrumang and he was telling us a story about a rebellion with some squid guy who wanted to be king or something. I thought it was pretty boring but Reese seemed to like the story a lot."

There's that term again, Ferrumang, it appears to be catching on with the children too. Basia wondered who was the one who coined the term in the first place.

He then turned to his daughter. "What about you baby girl?"

"Oh, pretty much the same. I went to the plant conservatory with my friends, and then I studied under Doctor Mazur for the rest of the day." Basia listened to what his daughter was saying and the last part got him a bit worried. Lucia has told him that their daughter has been asking her about her time at university. Even asked if it was possible to use Lucia's connections to get Felcia an interview for a pre-med program on Luna. Any other parent would be ecstatic about their child showing such initiative for their future but all Basia could think about was the fact of his little girl being thousands of light years away from him. At least she's still too young to apply for the program but only by a few years. She can realistically go as soon as she turns sixteen.

"That's not all you did!" Jacek interjected, gleefully and mischievously. "You were also talking to that boy too. I saw you!"

"Wha… Shut up, Jacek!" Felcia yelled at her brother, a shade of red blooming on her cheeks. She looked at her father worriedly. "Don't listen to him, Papa!"

Basia raised an eyebrow at the statement. "What's this all about?" He asked her, but his son didn't give her the chance to answer.

"She was talking to one of the boys that came with the Ferrumang, one of the sons of their bosmang I think."

"The red-haired kid?" Basia tried to confim. From what he remembered, Lord Stark had two sons, the other older kid being a political hostage of some kind.

"Nah, the one with the long black hair. Kinda looks like a girl." Jacek giggled.

"No he doesn't" Felcia snapped back, seemingly offended by the remark.

"What? You getting mad that I'm making fun of your boyfriend?" Jacek taunted, enjoying her sister's increasing embarrassment a little too much.

"Jacek, go back and play with your stupid game. No one wants to hear your annoying voice." Felcia growled. Basia caught her look towards him nervously again.

"All right, that's enough you too." Lucia suddenly appeared at the other end of the table. The three of them didn't seem to notice her arrival. "I could hear you two fighting from the kitchen." She set down her plate and came around the table to set Basia's plate in front of him. Once Lucia sat back down, Basia and her mirrored each other as they reached for the center of the table for the coffee pot. Basia went ahead and her let take it first.

"Jacek stop teasing your sister, it's perfectly normal for a girl her age to start being interested in boys."

"Mama, Papa, it's not like that. He just wanted to ask me stuff about the Barb and Space and stuff."

"Do you like the boy?" Her mother asked with a warm smile.

"I… I don't dislike him…" Felcia nearly whispered and then stood up from her chair. "You know what, I'm actually kinda late. Doctor Mazur is waiting for me. She's been teaching me the basics of cellular regeneration." Felcia then took her bag from a nearby coat hanger and began to leave.

"Felcia, you haven't finished your food." Lucia called out.

"I'm full. Thanks, Mama! Bye, Papa!" Felcia said her farewells as she headed out the door.

There was a brief silence at the dining table until Jacek broke it.

"I'm actually done, so I'm gonna leave too. Me and my friends are gonna go with some other kids to see these Ferrumang teaching people how to ride horses."

"Okay honey, but be careful. Those things are dangerous, they can kick your chest in."

"Don't worry Mama. I'm going for Reese anyway, he's getting really into all this kings and knights shit."

"Jacek! Language!" Lucia reprimanded him.

"Oh! Sorry, Mama." Jacek looked down at his feet with shame. Basia couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Okay, go on ahead then Honey. Stay safe."

"Yes, Mama," Jacek replied obediently and left the table to go out the door.

Now it was only the two of them and they sat there eating their breakfast for a minute in silence. Basia got some more coffee and took the leftovers from Felcia's plate. It was then that Lucia spoke up.

"If everything all right, Baz?" Lucia asked him with a concerned look.

"I mean, it would be a shame for it to go to waste." Basia joked.

"No, you idiot." Lucia gave a half smile. "Something's bugging you. I can tell."

Basia sighed, he didn't think that his low spirits showed on his face.

"It's Arlo," Basia admitted. "His wife has gravity sickness."

Lucia just looked to the side, dejected.

"You don't seem surprised," Basia said.

"I was the one she's been going to for the gravity drugs. I've also been injecting her bones with extra calcium phosphate. But the drug's effect is diminishing and the extra calcium is causing her cardiovascular issues. She had a heart attack in my clinic, thankfully a couple of heart compressions and mouth-to-mouth was enough to save her but she won't be so lucky next time."

"... fuck" Basia whispered.

"Language," Lucia said softly. "But yeah. It's awful."

Basia took a sip of his coffee. "When we first landed here, dozens of people collapsed in the first hour, even after taking the treatment. And for those who were physically fine, their agoraphobia ended up being too much for them. I thought we were past all that."

"Yeah, but if there is one constant. It's that people do stupid things all the time." Lucia took a s sip of her own, already having finished her food. "I'm guessing Arlo will be leaving soon?"

"Yup. And not just the planet, but the whole system." Basia answered, a bit of his anger coming out while fiercely biting down on the last of his bacon.

"Really? Why would he do that? He and his family could just go to Ilus's moon." Lucia questioned.

"That's what I said!" Basia exclaimed with his mouth half full. He swallowed his food and wiped his mouth. "Excuse me. But yeah, he said something about now belonging here and going back to Ganymede."

"Well, I can't say I don't understand him. I really miss seeing Jupiter in our sky." Lucia said wistfully.

"I do too… but I don't think I can ever go back there."

"... I know. It'd be too painful for me too."

They left the rest unsaid, but they both knew what they were alluding to. Their oldest son, Katoa. The one Basia left behind. Lucia would always try to reassure him that it wasn't his fault, that the war killed him, but the fact remained that he gave up on their son. He resigned to the belief that his son was dead and decided to leave as soon as possible to save the rest of his family. Except he wasn't dead when they left, he was still alive and Basia only found out after the fact when Katoa was well and truly gone.

Almost like a defense mechanism, Basia swiftly changed the subject to something else.

"So… Felcia has been seeing a boy," Basia asked his wife from behind his coffee cup.

"It's nothing serious if that's what you're worried about."

"Why would I be worried?"

"Well, I figured you would be. It is your only daughter who's having her first crush."

"How are you so sure she has a crush on the boy?"

"Oh please. The way she talks about him, it's as clear as day."

"Really? How can you tell."

"It's the subtle things. Like how she spends a little too much time describing his gray eyes or smiles extra wide when she recounts how shy he was. Trust me Baz, our girl's in love."

Basia digested the information. Truth be told, he had always dreaded this day ever since Felcia was born. That one day his little girl would fall for some boy and he was pretty certain he'd want to strangle that boy the chance he got. But oddly enough, he didn't feel that way. In fact, he saw a silver lining in all this.

"That's good. I'm happy for her. Being in love is such a wonderful thing." Basia said after a momentary pause.

"Huh?" Lucia uttered with surprise writ on her face.

"What?"

"It's just… I'm surprised is all. I didn't think you would be so accepting of your daughter seeing a boy."

"Oh come, what do you take me for?" Basia rescinded in mock offense.

"An over-protective and smothering father. You never let her out of your sight on the Barb and it took you a while to let her roam the colony on her own. You spoil her and she loves being Daddy's little princess. That's why she was worried about you finding out"

"Well, she doesn't have to worry. I'm fine with it." Basia affirmed.

"Really? The thought of someone taking your baby girl away doesn't bother you?"

"If anything, that boy might keep her from leaving," Basia muttered a little under his breath.

Lucia's shoulders sagged and she let out a tired sigh. "Oh, I see. That's why you're so okay with this. Baz, she's not gonna be that four-year-old girl forever. She's going to leave eventually."

"Yeah, but I don't understand why she has to go across the galaxy back to the place we just fled."

"Baz, she wants to go to Luna."

"What's so special in Luna?" Basia argued.

"Only the most prestigious university in the solar system."

"Well then, we can just build a university here and then that can be the most prestigious university in this solar system!" Basia nearly shouted, quickly realizing that he was upsetting Lucia. He reeled his anger in and apologized. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

"It's okay," she said softly. "I understand, I don't want her to go so far away either. But she deserves to decide what she wants for her life and I just want her to be happy."

"I want her to be happy too." Basia paused for a moment and then continued. "And now she has another choice to make."

"Baz, I know our daughter. She's not going to give up on her dream for what amounts to a high school sweetheart."

"That's a bit harsh on the kid. Who knows, he might be the one."

"Baz."

"And what teenage boy wouldn't fall over themselves to hold on to my beautiful baby girl."

"Baz!" Lucia asserted louder.

"And who knows, Felcia might take after her old man in this respect. I've always been a hopeless romantic."

"Baz, stop!" Lucia got her husband to shut up. "You and I both know what kind of person she is, so don't get your hopes up."

Basia's hand terminal chimed from his pants pocket. He fished it out and turned off the alarm.

"Looks like I gotta go." Basia got off his chair, chugged the rest of his coffee, and went around the table to kiss his wife goodbye. "I'll be back home sooner tonight, okay."

"You better, I hate going to bed alone." She gave him him an angry pout which then morphed into a slightly seductive smile and Basia couldn't help but kiss her more passionately.

As he got to the door, Basia looked back at his lovely wife who was in the middle of picking up the plates from the table. "Love you, Lucy," He said to her.

She looked back at him and smiled warmly. "Love you, Baz"

XXXXX

Basia was coming back from the mines during his break when he saw the Westerosi grouped up together in the town square. He decided to take this route because he wanted to get a quick snack along the way, it was longer than his usual paths which either take him to his house or the hideout bar. He decided to get a little closer out of curiosity while holding onto his wrapped bean burrito.

Within the throng of Westerosi were the leaders of the group. The bosmang Lord Stark, his right-hand man Ser Rodrik, and the one in charge of the Glover soldiers, Ser Karlon, or was it Kyle? From what Basia could gather, it looked like they were preparing to leave. Many of them were already on their horses or packing things on their horses and horse carts. But Basia also spotted a few non-Westerosi, a couple of Belters, and a handful of Martians as well.

"Oye, Basia," he heard someone call from behind and looked back to see Orcus walking towards him with a single strap over his shoulder carrying a large, cylindrical knapsack.

"Oye Orcus," Basia greeted the man. Orcus is one of the slight minority of the Belters here that match his height, albeit a bit shorter by a few inches. Even so, Basia felt that even if Orcus were the size of an Earther he would not be intimidated by him one bit. Which was a good thing really, Basia tended to get along well with people he didn't automatically scare away. And Basia got along well enough with the lean-looking Belter.

"It's been a while since we spoke," Basia added.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Been busy and I'm about to be even busier."

Basia took another glance at the knapsack "You heading somewhere?"

Orcus pointed at the group of Westerosi with his thumb. "Going with them."

Basia was mildly surprised at that. "Really? Where to?"

"To their fancy castle. You've been there haven't you?" Orcus asked.

"Only at the front gates. Looked impressive, though. And really old."

Orcus huffed and looked at his soon-to-be traveling companions. "To tell you the truth. I'd rather stay. Not good with all the talkie-talkie stuff. But I drew the short straw to represent the Belters." Orcus inserted a hand into a pocket on his duster and took out a carton of cigarettes. He then dug out a lighter from his left pants pocket and proceeded to light the cig dangling from his lips. "We're gonna be talking shop with Lord Stark in his hole and make things official. Then he's gonna message his buddy the king and summon his bannermen."

Orcus took a drag from his cigarette and Basia took another bite from his burrito. A mildly amusing sight, Basia imagined. "Well, I think you'll do fine," Basia assured him. "I heard you made quite the impression on the Northerners."

Orcus grinned at that. "That little display with Jokob seemed to have got me some respect from them."

Basia nodded to the Belters among the Westerosi. "You going with them then?" He was beginning to surprise himself with how he'd been subconsciously nodding like an Earther lately. Basia didn't want to admit that Arlo might have been partly right.

"Ya, me and my boys. Along with one of the ex-Martian Marines, Aaron, and his loyal recruits. And then you got little ol' Vincent all by his lonesome."

"None of the other Earthers wanted to go with him"

"There's only five in the colony and they all declined because they were too busy. And one of them is my wife too so I'd rather she stay here." Orcus said as he exhaled smoke from his nearly closed lips.

"Yeah, your wife is probably the busiest of them. In fact, Felcia just went over to her for lessons just this morning."

"What do you mean? Rosa's was on the morning shift."

Basia's stomach clenched. He gave Orcus a questioning glance but his slightly confused face reconfirmed his words. He then analyzed Lord Stark's immediate surroundings and noticed the distinct lack of a raven-haired boy. The realization of what was happening began to dawn on him and he was now actually starting to get bothered by it. He looked down at his half-eaten burrito, he suddenly lost his appetite.

Orcus broke Basia out of his stupor as he spoke to him again. "Alright, time for me to head out. You take care of yourself, beratna. I'll see you when I see you."

Orcus started to walk away but as he did, Basia recovered from his minor shock and called out to him. He had a question he had been wanting to ask a fellow belter ever since his conversation with Arlo. Something that's been at the back of his mind. And Orcus was a particular case which would make it interesting to hear his perspective.

"Oye, Orcus"

He turned back to him several feet away. "Ya?"

"Your wife is an Earther and your Kid is gonna grow into an Earther body. I'm assuming that you're staying on this planet for their sake. For their comfort."

"You'd be correct," Orcus answered matter-of-factly.

"So, would you still be here if you had a Belter family or if you were on your own?"

Orcus took a second to formulate his thoughts behind his eyes and took another drag from his cig. "It's hard for me to imagine how I'd even end up here if wasn't for Rosa and little Emilio" Orcus answered. "Don't know how different it would be with a Belter family, I suppose it depends on what we both wanted. Like you and Lucia."

Basia gave a half smile. He suspected Orcus didn't want to be at odds with his decision to settle on Ilus with his family.

"But I was a different man before I met Rosa and the younger me wouldn't have set foot on this planet to begin with." Orcus continued. "Why do you ask?"

Basia sighed and shook his head "Just curious. Good luck, beratna."

Orcus gave him a Belter nod and walked off. It seemed like he still retained more of his Belter qualities than Basia did. Funny, no one has yet to call him a welwala. Arlo would be the closest one.

Basia strolled away from the town center, throwing away the rest of his food in a nearby recycler. He didn't have much time left on his break, so he wasn't sure how to spend the rest of it. He could drop by Arlo's and have a quick drink while he's still here. Or he could check on the family, and if his daughter was there he'd have a talking to with her, although Lucia would surely come to her defense. Or he could just sit on this bench in front of him and rest his weary body. He decided to do the latter, careful not to accidentally fall asleep.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

Eddard

Snow began to fall, adding to the thick layer on the ground. Landing gently on his hair and fur cloak, the familiar chill of a Northern morning comforted him. He observed his men preparing for their departure. Fourteen from his house not including himself and the boys, and ten under Lord Glover's banner. They dutifully carried crates containing the village's compensation unto wooden and electric carts alike. The sun was at its apex, which meant they could cover plenty of ground before it sets. He spotted his son and ward already mounted but he was not able to spot a particular raven-haired boy.

"My lord" his master-at-arms, Ser Rodrik, called out to him as he was walking closer. The man looked like he aged a decade, the events of the past few days had taken a toll on him, as well as the many confrontations he's had with the Ganymedians. Fortunately, Rodrik's years of experience and discipline taught him to restrain himself, at least for his lord's sake.

"The horses have been saddled and almost all of the men have been mounted. We are ready to depart at your command."

Eddard acknowledged his guard's report, but continued to survey his surroundings.

"Have you seen Jon?" Eddard asked him.

Rodrik's face scrunched in thought. "I can't say I have my lord." He tugged at his white whiskers and looked around. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen the lad all day."

Eddard hummed at that. It was unlike Jon to be late, he'd always been timely when summoned. Eddard heard another tree fall from a distance, it's been a constant sound since he and his men arrived. The village known as First Landing to the Ganymedians continues to expand. One of Lady Carol's men stated that the village was a little under thirty thousand square meters, a form of measurement that Eddard was unfamiliar with. Further clarification put First landing at around a third of Winterfell's size, which is impressive if in it's own right. Although half of the village seems to just be an open field, with only the construction of a metal platform with a flat surface occupying that space.

"Shall I send someone out to fetch him, My lord?" Rodrik asked.

Eddard spotted two figures walking towards them, Belters as their stature made clear. "We'll spare Jon a few minutes," Eddard answered Rodrik. "We still have a few things to look over."

The two Belter men stopped a few feet in front of them. Eddard has been at the Ganymedian village for only two nights but he's noticed striking differences among the Belters themselves. Many of them were clearly educated and had decent breeding, akin to merchants or tradesmen. But just as many Belters weren't much different from a wildling, which caused much friction with his men. He had to constantly break apart any potential brawl for every perceived slight. However, Eddard had to admit that the crudeness of these Belters was beginning to vex him. Fortunately, more reasonable Belters and other Ganymedian were never too far to reign in their unruly fellow villagers.

This is something that Eddard has taken note of during his stay here. The wilder breed of Belter was an extremely violent sort, clashing with their more civilized brethren and each other just as much as with his men. This realization made Eddard second guess his agreement with the Ganymedians, but he had his own reasoning to stay the course and he thought it best to leave it to King Robert's judgment on whether to accept or turn them away.

Unfortunately for Eddard and Rodrik, the two men in front of him seemed to be of the wilder variety.

"Oye bosmang. Milowda gutegow. How bout you?" The one on the right spoke. The man talked and moved like one ten years younger than Eddard but his aged face added fifteen. And on that face were tattoos of bold shapes and harsh lines that spread down to his neck. Eddard had noticed similar markings on many of the Belters in the village. He had known of tattoos being used in Volantis to mark slaves as the property of their master. It gave the claim that Belters were enslaved in some way more credence, which did not sit well with him.

"How many times must I repeat myself to you insolent wretches? It is not 'bosmang' or Mister Stark, it is Lord Stark."

"Lord?" The tattooed Belter puzzled. "What's that?"

Eddard sighed, yet another display of how these people were so much more different than them. He glanced over to Rodrik and saw him pressing his eyes with his finger and thumb and whispering "Gods have mercy on me" to himself.

"Oh sabe, like the magic man the Earthers believe in. The one that can turn Awkwa into wine?" The other Belter said. This one looked less weathered than his companion, with a fuller head of hair.

A toothy grin grew on the tattooed Belters face. "Oh, can you turn Awkwa into biya then, boslord?" He asked Eddard.

Eddard didn't want to dignify that with a response. Rodrik surely will as he stepped forward, eyes lit afire. Eddard wasn't sure if Rodrik would just berate them further or strike them with a gauntlet fist but he had half a mind to step back and allow Rodrik to do either.

"Oye! What are you two pinche idiots doing?" Eddard heard a shout from a distance and spotted a figure approaching. It was the man known as Orcus Mazur. He had learned little of the man during his conversations with Madam Carol and the other leaders of the village, and one thing he'd learned in particular gave him cause for concern.

Orcus without a doubt was one of the tallest men he had ever seen, even among a village of the tallest people he's ever seen. The man only ever wore black the few times he'd seen him which made his pale skin stand out. He almost looked like a corpse and his scarred face added to his deathly appearance.

"Bosmang," the tattooed Belter responded as Orcus got closer. "Mi just asking da innas ketim gonna finish. Milowda been waiting fo-" Orcus punched the tattooed Belter in the gut, causing him to fold into himself. He knelt on the snow, coughing uncontrollably. Eddard wasn't too surprised at the casual violence at this point, which even further colored his opinion of the Belter people. However, he did catch the smallest semblance of a smirk on Rodrik's face watching the downed belter being humbled.

"Keting did I tell you two before I left?" Orcus interrogated not just the Belter kneeling before him but the other one still standing. The other Belter froze in place as if he had encountered a dangerous beast ready to pounce on him.

Neither answered and Orcus spoke again. "If one you don't ansa me in the next five seconds, I'm going to break an arm." Orcus pointed to the tattooed man.

"... you said na to talk to de innas" the Belter finally answered after he stopped his coughing fit.

"Ah, so you did hear what I said." Orcus chided. "So what? You think you're bosmang then? Don't gotta listen to me?"

"Na Orcus, mi - " Eddard almost didn't perceive the inhuman speed of Orcus' gloved fist striking the tattooed man close to his left temple. He crumpled to the ground in such a fashion that Eddard would have thought him dead then and there if it wasn't for a soft whimpering reaching his ears.

Orcus then fixed his glare on the still-standing Belter who tried his best not to avert his eyes. His best wasn't enough it seemed.

"You, why didn't you stop him?" Orcus questioned him, with a steady voice tinged with annoyance.

"... ah sabe bosmang. Dano's not a patient coyo. Tried to stop him, but he don't listen."

"Well, you didn't try hard enough. Now get this sorry sack of shit out of my sight and find me someone who can listen." Orcus ordered the younger Belter as he obediently and promptly dragged the tattooed Belter like a wounded animal across the snow.

Orcus turned to the two other men, Eddard noticed the smoking rolled paper dangling from his lips. These were called cigarettes from what Eddard was told, a form of drug that consisted of a plant known as Tobacco which is rolled up, ignited, and inhaled. Apparently it is used for relaxation and pleasure; the closest comparison Eddard could think of was sourleaf, which dulled the senses and gave the user the infamous bloody red smile. He had even seen some of his men partake in these 'cigarettes' as well, to mixed results.

"Apologies for that gentlemen," Orcus said after he exhaled smoke carefully away from them, crushed the cigarette in his right hand, and tossed the remains away.

"Your men lack discipline." Rodrik criticized.

"You can say that again." Orcus just gave a sly smile. "Right, I haven't really introduced myself. Name's Orcus Mazur, at your service." Orcus gestured to himself with a wave of a hand and tilted his head forward slightly.

"We've been told about you from Madam Carol and the other village leaders, as well as the rest of our entourage." Eddard had begun to familarize himself with the titles of the Ganymedians. None of them were nobility, so it would have been inappropriate to refer any of them as such. The one person in the village who would not look out of place in a southern court was Vincent Riley, their 'scientist'. Eddard caught many of his men referring to VIncent as a lord to which he simply laughed off and corrected them. Eddard was then surprised to learn that Vincent, by his own admission, would consider himself the closet to lowborn status out of anyone in the village. He mentioned something about barely being a human while living on basic, whatever that meant.

"Nothing too bad I hope." Orcus jested.

"Bad enough, we heard that you're a pirate." Rodrik harshly responded, clearly not appreciating Orcus' jovial tone.

"Ex-Pirate" Orcus tried to correct Rodrik. "Until I met my old lady who made an honest man out of me."

"I wouldn't be so churlish as to call my wife an 'Old lady'. Even if she is much older than me." Rodrik retorted, brows furrowed with an unpleasant scowl. He had the look of someone who had just smelled something foul and couldn't get the stench out of his nose.

"She's actually eight years younger than me. 'Old lady' is just a saying we have." Orcus tried his best to maintain a friendly rapport.

Rodrik continued to glower up at him.

The Belter then attempted to retreat to Eddard's less abrasive temperament. "Your man doesn't seem to like me very much."

"He doesn't like many people." Eddard gave the Belter a sympathetic look.

It was an odd feeling having to physically look up to someone so often. So many of the Belters here were taller than Eddard and his men, it was beginning to strain his neck. Orcus casted a shadow on them as his slightly enlarged head blocked the sun momentarily. He turned it towards the other men of the village who would be accompanying them.

"Have they made their acquaintance?" Orcus asked, shifting his body and allowing the sun to peek out.

"Vincent has. The young man was certainly helpful in informing us on your people." Eddard spotted another man among a group of four armed soldiers. These were Martians from what he was told, men and women who hailed from a red world much like the star of the Smith. A red "planet", that is. It's a term that he still hasn't gotten used to. The one who was clearly the leader of the group was a man of a darker complexion, like that of the summer islanders. "I cannot say the same for those soldiers." Eddard continued.

Orcus snorted. "No surprise there, Aaron is a bit of a hardass. Ex-Martian Marine that one, some of the toughest sons of bitches in our solar system, and this one I bet."

"Marine?" Eddard questioned. "A sailor then. I would imagine you would all be marines if you sailed this sea of stars"

"Eh, they mean something different to the inners. Marines are elite soldiers and Mars likes to say that they have the best. Hard to argue against that, they sure do live up to their planet's name."

Mars, the god of war. In Eddard's conversations with the leaders of the village and VIncent, he learned of the namesakes of their worlds. Jupiter, Neptune, Venus, Mars; were the ones that were mentioned. Gods that represented many aspects of life such as the sky and the sea or love and war. Although they claim these ancient gods no longer hold sway over them, the fact that their worlds are named in their honor speaks to some lingering reverence.

Orcus exhaled sharply from his nose. "We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other on the road, I'm sure."

"My lord" Rodrik requested Eddard's attention. "It seems we won't have to send someone out after all."

Ser Rodrik nodded in between his lord and the Belter towards the young raven-haired boy jogging briskly towards them through the snow. Eddard excused himself and walked out to meet him.

Jon stopped before him, breath slightly haggard and worry in his eyes. "Fath- Lord Stark!" Jon stammered and assumed a courtly bow. "Forgive me, I've lost track of time. I- I know that's no excuse for slowing everyone down, I just-"

Eddard held up his hand, signaling Jon to cease, and placed it on his shoulder.

"Peace Jon, no one is upset." He assured the boy.

Jon looked up to him, relief washing over his face. "Thank you, my lord."

Eddard removes his hand from Jon's fur coat shoulder. "Although, I would like to know where you've been."

Jon's eyes widened and shifted elsewhere. Red began to bloom on his cheeks and Eddard was certain it wasn't due to the cold. "I've made a friend," Jon answered softly.

"Is that right?" Eddard said, beckoning him to continue.

"Aye, she showed me around the village."

"She?" Eddard raised an eyebrow at that. Noticing Jon's eyes darting around trying their best not to meet his.

"Aye, her name is Felcia. She's the daughter of Basia Merton. The man who met with us." Jon stopped fidgeting and forced himself to look Eddard in the eye. "I wasn't trying to court her Lord Stark. I was merely curious about- "

"Calm yourself, Jon. I can scare fault you for something as natural as showing interest in a girl." Eddard reassured him. In truth, he was glad Jon found the warmth of a women's company. It's a beautiful thing to discover at his age and if Jon does decide to go to the wall, it could be a pleasant memory he could hold on to.

Jon gave a sad smile. "Perhaps I am. But I don't know where that would lead, considering…" Jon's voice trailed off and he looked down to the ground.

Jon never said it plainly, but Eddard was aware of the boy's sense of self-worth, or lack thereof. Jon's status is a burden he's been carrying his entire life and regrettably, Eddard was unsure of how to help him lighten it.

Eddard patted the sullen boy on the back. "Come, your mount is waiting. And so is your brother."

Jon looked at him and gave a curt nod. Eddard watched Jon walk towards the rest of the party with their mounts as he passed by Rodrik coming towards him. Rodrik, however, was accompanied by the blonde learned man, Vincent Riley, and three others he hadn't met.

"My lord. "Rodrick spoke as he reached him. "Vincent here wishes to speak to you."

Eddard gestured to the young man to do so.

"I won't take much of your time Mister- ack. I mean, Lord Stark." Vincent corrected himself, stealing a glance at Ser Rodrik next to him as if awaiting retribution. To Rodrick's credit, he kept himself composed, for the most part.

Vincent continued. "We have a few last-minute additions to the group awaiting your approval." Vincent turned to the three standing behind him. "Care to introduce yourselves?"

A young woman stepped forward, red-haired like his wife and eldest daughter but cut short reaching only to her chin. She had a thin freckled face upon pale skin and much like other Belters, was taller than most women he's met, reaching his height. Eddard noticed how jovial she was, nearly hopping towards him with child-like glee.

"Mister Stark, it's a pleasure to meet you!" The excitable redhead exclaimed. "My name is Francine Roger, but you can call me Fran. I came to you personally to humbly request for my team and I to join you on your trip to your home."

"It's Lord Stark." Rodrik reminded her with a stern voice albeit less harsh than with the other Belters. No doubt Rodrik softened his usual rebuke when addressing a woman.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She apologized, flustered at the correction. "Ser Rodrik was it?"

Ser Rodrik graced her with a small smile, a rarity since coming here. "All is forgiven, my lady."

Francine giggled. "My lady… I could get used to that!"

"Du na let it get to your gova, sesata. Lord and lady are fo da bik mangs on desh rock, sasa ke?." One of three spoke up, a Belter who looked to be the same age as Francine. He carried two large sacks on his person, one on his back and another hanging by straps around his shoulder.

"Sabez, Yosef. But I will be big when I document all the pelesh-pelesh of this world. " Francine retorted, sprinkling some of her native tongue in her words."

"Fran…" the third member of the group recalled the red-haired woman and pointed her back to Eddard, another Belter but with the look of a Summer Islander. The man was the tallest of the group, about a head and a half taller than Eddard, he was holding a device that he came to learn was used to capture moments in time to be viewed later. Another of the wondrous devices of the Ganymendians, too many to keep track of that he has forgotten the names of a few including this one.

"Ah right, thanks, Marton." Fran resumed addressing Eddard, now more in control of her excitement. "As I was saying, Lord Stark, may we join you to your home?"

Eddard looked to Ser Rodrik, to receive a form of silent counsel. Rodrik only gave a half-shrug as cold air released from his weary sigh. Eddard was confident they both shared the same thought, three more wouldn't make much of a difference.

"I assume you and your men will be traveling with Vincent in his… electric cart," Eddard asked Fran.

"That'd be correct sir, I mean my lord," Francine answered, bowing a little too deeply and awkwardly. It was a peculiar thing, she looked like a swan but had the grace of a three-legged bull.

"I see…: Eddard grunted in assent. "Three more shouldn't be an issue. You and yours are welcome to join us."

"Thank you, Lord Stark, you've really made my day!" Fran beamed and then turned to Vincent. "You too, Vincey". She leaned in to kiss the blonde on the cheek and promptly gathered her companions to join the rest of the party. Vincent, clearly enamored with the girl, must have done her a favor.

"Will we have any more surprise additions, Mister Riley?" Eddard asked the blonde, continuing to use the foreign titles and their proper usage to the best of his newly acquired knowledge.

It took a moment for the young man to register that he'd been talked to as he caressed his cheek and faced the direction of where Francine and her companions went. He swiveled his head towards Eddard just as quickly.

"Uh- no Lord Stark. That should be it."

"Very well, we have everyone accounted for on our end. I presume all that's left is Orcus on his."

Eddard, Ser Rodrik, and Vincent joined the rest of the convoy. The banners flapped in the winter winds, those of a direwolf running across a white field and the silver-mailed fist on bright red belonging to his house and Lord Glover's. But he spotted another banner to the side, that of a split circle on black, the coats of arms of the Outer Planets Alliance.

From what Eddard could gather, they are one of the three great nations of their worlds. A good portion of the Belters in the village bear the emblem on their skin, their devotion unmistakable. Eddard had asked for more details about this nation and its structure, but most of it was conflicting. Different names of leaders and worlds were thrown around and their purpose either concerning or understandable. Vincent put it simply by stating that 'it's complicated'.

Eddard clambered onto his horse and was told by a Glover man that everyone from each party was set to depart. And thus they did, the convoy snaked in between the wooden and steel homes alike as its denizens saw them to the untamed lands of the Wolfswood.

XXXXX

Night fell as they settled down to camp by a riverbank. The first day of traveling was largely uneventful. Much like their trip to First Landing, the road was cleared of trees for the carts to travel smoothly, and as such so too did their horses. No doubt the lumber was used to build the houses in the village. In the encampment, light was provided by campfire, lanterns, and electric lanterns. Multiple tents were set up but most had not been occupied, the night was still young and there was drinking to be done. The Stark and Glover men helped themselves to a bit of the compensation they received, wine made from the grapes of the Ganymedians glass garden as well as an exotic drink from one their worlds, Ceres whiskey. The drink, by all accounts, is incredibly strong with an equally queer taste. Eddard could attest to it, he took one sip earlier and it tasted woodsy, sour, and a bit coppery. It wasn't to Eddards taste so he left it unfinished and it seemed most of the guardsmen felt the same. However, he caught a few of them still partaking in the dirt brown drink.

To the east were the boys sitting around a campfire. Robb and Jon shared a log between them while Theon claimed a stone for himself. A few guardsmen accompanied them either standing nearby or leaning against a tree. They were closest to the river bank with a clear view of a pallid bridge that ran across said river.

To the west was where the electric carts clustered together. The drivers and most of the passengers preferred to stay close to their means of transport. Nearby were the Martians engaging in a form of exercise from what Eddard could tell. As it was, they were separated between Northmen and the Ganymedians, save for a scant few who dared to venture to the other side such as a few of his men who seemed to be making amiable conversation with the Belter contingent. A contingent that consisted of eight Belters including Orcus, which would bring the number of First Landing villagers who traveled with them to seventeen.

Eddard heard the footsteps before he heard the voice. "My Lord, we have finished preparing your tent. It is ready for you whenever you wish to retire."

"My Thanks," Eddard responded. "Although it's much too early to do do, perhaps I should spend some time with my sons underneath the stars."

"I fine idea, I can bring some refreshments if it pleases. Wine preferably, none of that Belter swill."

Eddard nodded in affirmation as Ser Rodrik assumed his place next to his left and then gazed up to the night sky.

"Astonishing is it not?" Eddard spoke. "A mere few days ago, what we knew of the stars above was limited. We resigned ourselves to believe that it was the realm of gods, beyond the reach of men. But now we know what lies beyond and I'm afraid I won't be able to see the night sky the same way ever again."

"Is it a regrettable thing, My Lord? To be given such knowledge." Ser Rodrik queried.

"In some ways it is. Much like a boy who has just become a man and learns of the true nature of the world. This revelation… has proven difficult to come to grips with."

"Hmph, many of the men are doing poorly at that. Or they're just in outright denial."

"I can scarcely blame them. It makes me wonder how the rest of the kingdoms will respond."

"Aye, I dread what the southern houses will do. They're greed knows no bounds." Ser Rodrik grumbled, no doubt referencing the claims of vast riches among the stars.

Eddard lifted an eyebrow and softly chuckled. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with the Ganymedians."

"I may be ill-tempered at times, but I am no fool. I can see what they can provide and how much of a boon it can be for the North." Ser Rodrik reaffirmed.

Eddard returned his gaze to the night sky. "All those countless stars hold worlds of their own. And among them is the homes of our traveling guests."

"It'd be that over there" a voice appeared behind him.

Eddard saw an outstretched arm pointing to the sky in the corner of his eye. He turned to see Orcus, wearing a thick black coat with a hood lined with furs.

"Or somewhere in that general area. I'm still familiarizing myself with your constellations." Orcus gestured to the sky again. "That's the Moonlady, right?"

"Moonmaid, but aye." Eddard corrected him.

"Is there something you need, Orcus?" Rodrik interrogated.

Orcus put up his hands in a placating manner. "Just thought some cultural exchange might do us some good. We're more or less segregated here, so I wanted to break the ice."

"Break the ice?" Rodik repeated, clearly unsure what it meant."

"Uh… to relieve tension. Get a conversation going. Maybe we can join you two for a drink perhaps."

"We? I don't see anyone with you." Eddard questioned, looking around the looming Belter.

"Hm, what do you mean? I have a kid right-" Orcus looked around, and then looked some more around his vicinity as if he just lost a coin purse.

"Where the hell did he go" Orcus spoke to himself. "Darrow!" He yelled out to the void.

"Relax Orcus, I'm just taking a leak." A young voice came from behind a tree in the relative darkness a few yards away. A moment later, the owner of the voice emerged and in the light, Eddard saw more detail. He was about his height and had the body of a man grown but not the face of one. He did not look much older than Robb and he shared a similarity in that they both have red hair. Although the boy in front of him had a brighter shade of red and amber eyes instead of blue.

"Hello there," the boy greeted Eddard and Ser Rodrik as he stood in front of him and next to Orcus. "I'd shake your hands, but I just took a piss and I haven't washed my hands yet."

Eddard sighed at the boy's rudeness. It was becoming tiring and slightly aggravating to have to weather the continued lack of formality, despite knowing how different their peoples were. Eddard didn't have to glance at Rodrik to know he was prepared to correct the boy firmly, but he decided to take the initiative instead. "Young man, I understand you come from another world with different customs, so I'll tell you this once. You cannot speak in such a manner to someone you just met when you're here in The Seven Kingdoms. You'd risk offending a person of a higher station and if I was a less forgiving lord, I would have your tongue."

The red-haired boy was taken aback, to which Orcus added on to what Eddard said.

"And I'm sure if you spoke like that to a higher official in the navy, they'd have you use that tongue to clean all the toilets in the ship. Seriously, what the hell is Aaron teaching you?"

"I'm… sorry" The boy said sheepishly.

"Ok, try it again. This time, speak to him like he's an admiral." Orcus prompted him.

The red-haired boy then stood up straight and raised his hand flat against his right temple. "SIr! my name is Darrow O'Faran of Londres Nova! Reporting for duty, sir!" The boy half-shouted.

Now it was Eddard's turn to be taken aback. It was certainly a more respectable greeting, albeit not a very appropriate one for any lord or lady. It sounded more like a military greeting than one that can be used in court. Orcus was now mirroring Rodrik's state during their stay at First Landing, eyes shut, slight grimace, and two fingers messaging the bridge of his nose.

Orcus released his noes and spoke again. "That's my fault I guess, should've been more specific. Just say 'It's a pleasure to meet you lord' and leave it at that, alright."

Darrow loosened up "Yeah, ok. I can do that."

Darrow O'Faran, Eddard thought. A strange name and by Orcus' words, he can assume that the boy is one of the five Martians that accompanied them. Eddard briefly wondered what he was doing here instead of being with his fellow Martians. Was it really an earnest attempt at acquainting himself with the Northerners?

"So what do you say?" Orcus asked Eddard. "Are you open to a little drink?"

Eddard pondered the suggestion for a moment and then gave his answer. "Very well then. You can join us at the campfire near the river" Eddard moved to the side so that the aforementioned campfire was in view. "My sons and ward will be present. As well as a few of my guardsmen."

Orcus clapped his hands together. "Sounds good. Let's get going, kid."

The group walked through the camp, Stark and Glover men either diligently at their post looking for threats or relaxing with a cup of wine. Or the Belter swill that Rodrik so aptly named. Eddard only noticed two Belters among his men and fortunately, they too seemed to be in amiable spirits. Strong drink can sometimes be a way of making friends between men of different lands, or different worlds in this case.

They arrived at the campfire but not before Eddard heard a fragment of the conversation between the young boys near it.

"And you haven't bedded her yet?"

"She is not like those common whores you're so used to, Greyjoy."

"Hmph, seems like you missed an opportunity then. I heard from a few men of that village that Belter women are quite flexible."

"That's enough Theon." There was a brief pause and a change in inflection. "She sounds lovely, Jon."

"What are you kids chatting about?" Orcus chimed in, earning the attention of Robb and Jon, and a nasty scowl from Theon.

"Do we look like goats, you longed neck freaked." Theon spat out.

"Long neck freak, that's a new one," Orcus noted as he scratched the stubble on his chin.

"At least he didn't call you skinny," Darrow added.

Eddard stepped closer to allow the campfire light to reveal him. Once the young boys noticed, they stood up from their seats and bowed.

"My Lord." Jon and Theon addressed him.

"Father" Robb greeted at the same time.

"Boys," Eddard responded simply.

Robb shuffled slightly to the side, adjusting his fur coat. Jon followed suit "We can give you our seat for you and Ser Rodrik if you'd like. We don't mind standing." Robb offered.

"There's no need for that!" A voice in the distance was heard and was soon revealed to belong to Vincent Riley, as he came forward holding onto multiple metal devices underneath his arms. Upon closer inspection, Eddard realized they were folding chairs that the Ganymedians used quite often. A convenient device for travel, he would admit, among many of their other conveniences.

"Pardon the intrusion, Lord Stark," Vincent spoke. "It's just that I spotted a Belter and a Martian attempting to rub elbows with the local governor, so I thought I should come in and represent good ol' Earth. With your permission, of course."

Darrow snorted off to the side. "Good ol' Earth."

Eddard gave Vincent a nod. "You are welcome to join us,"

"Great!" Vincent then turned his attention to Darrow. "Hey Mars boy, be a dear and help set these up!"

Darrow looked to be slightly annoyed, grimacing and looking to the side briefly before finally relenting. "Sure thing, blue boy,"

VIncent just chuckled at that and two prepared the folding chairs. Once they were done, Eddard and Ser Rodrik took their seats. Only four were available, which left VIncent standing next to two empty chairs.

"I could bring some more from the carts for the Martian kid and the Guardsmen," Vincent suggested.

Darrow sat down on the ground near the campfire. "I'm grand."

A nearby guardsman turned to Vincent. "You don't need to attend to us, My Lord. We'll remain standing to keep vigil."

"You guys don't have to call me that. I'm not a Lord, furthest thing from it really."

Robb and Jon had already returned to the log they were resting on when Robb perked up to VIncent's comment.

"You've mentioned something that before, Mr. Riley. You said you were closer to a peasant than a Lord. Why is that?" Robb inquired, adopting the foreign address. Eddard saw that Jon was also attentive, Theon not so much.

"You don't need to be so formal with me. Just Vincent is fine."

Eddard felt a tap on his shoulder and saw three glass cups held in one of Orcus' hands and three large bottles held in between fingers in the other. "Here you go, Lord Stark." He handed him the glass cups, except they weren't glass cups. They were made of a transparent material that could bend with a little pressure. Plastic he remembered, a material that still confounded him.

Before the drinks could be poured for Eddard, the guardsmen did their due diligence and tasted each one. As a show of good fate, so did Orcus. The drinks were deemed untouched but one of the guardsmen was misfortunate enough to have been given the Belter whisky. His face was wrought with disgust as he dry-heaved his way back to his post.

"As for why I consider myself closer to a peasant." Vincent continued with a full cup in hand. "Well, that's because I was born in basic."

"And what is Basic?" Robb inquired.

"Basic…" Vincent trailed, appearing to take a second to mull over his answer. "Is an arrangement made by the United Nations of Earth for a majority of it's people. Those who cannot work or have no merit."

"Why have such a thing?" Jon chimed in. "Can't your world put these people to work? Have them on as soldiers or farmers or builders?"

"That's the thing, there isn't enough work due to how many people live on the planet. So the U.N basically takes care of the people on Basic by giving them just enough to survive on."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Theon surmised. "I'm sure many of the smallfolk would be happy to have all their needs met without any of the labor.

"At face value, it does. But it's not really as comfortable as it sounds. Like I said, the U.N gives the bare minimum to the people on Basic. Tasteless grey food, paper clothing, and shared living spaces with complete strangers." Vincent leans forward wearing a serious look. "If you're on Basic, that means you have no ownership, not even the paper clothes on your back. You have no purpose, any craft or skill you want to learn would have to be out of passion because you're not getting paid for it. And you have less freedom, you want to more out of life, gotta ask the U.N for permission, even when it comes to having children."

Robb blinked at that last remark and Eddard couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at it too.

"What do you mean you have to ask for permission to have children? How could your rulers enforce such a thing?" Robb asked incredulously.

"It means exactly that, having children in Basic is against the law unless the U.N allows it. As for how they can enforce it, everyone on Basic has to take a mandatory contraceptive. I have a feeling you all don't know what that is; it's essentially a form of medicine that prevents you from having children."

The looks of horror were shared among the Northerners, Eddard too felt disturbed by Vincent's description. He couldn't imagine such a law being passed in the Seven Kingdoms, let alone anywhere else. Not even the most heartless lord would entertain the idea, mostly because it would be against their best interests. This is why Eddard suspected that there was a reason, which his son promptly inquired for.

"Why would your world do that?" Robb criticized. "It's just too cruel,"

"Well, depending on who you ask, it's a necessary cruelty. Earth, to put it simply, is overcrowded." VIncent replied.

"How overcrowded could an entire world be to go such lengths," Robb questioned further. He looked to be both critical and curious as to the nature of Earth. Eddard did too, the more he heard of this far away world, the more unappealing it seemed.

"It's a lot of people. I don't have the exact number though." Vincent brushed the topic aside, Eddard noticed. A wise thing to do, he can only surmise that the population of VIncent's world would cause unrest to his men, which was unneeded at this juncture when they were trying to make peace. A peace, however tenuous, was being held in place by the Ganymedians effort. Eddard was no fool, he could put together the magnitude of the nations and the worlds beyond his skies through all the information he's received so far. That's why the Ganymedians have gone through the effort of working with them, they are aware of how threatening they are and have been trying their best to be reasonable and friendly. As such, through his summation, Eddard concluded that they were nothing more than savages to these people. A people who by their admission were of the lower class of their worlds. Harrowing thoughts of an unstoppable invasion have crossed his mind and while the Ganymedians themselves would be unable to do so with their number, they've been apprehensive on any questions regarding future visitors. And so, this peace remained tenuous.

"Enough about me though," Vincent asserted and turned to the lone Belter of the group. "How about you Orcus? I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know much about you after all our time together on the Barb. Where are you from? Ceres?"

"Eros," Orcus answered flatly.

The joviality on Vincent's face melted away. If he had been ashamed before, he would have been doubly so now. "I'm sorry to hear that." Vincent lamented, a tinge of guilt in his voice. "Did you have family there?"

"Not really, the only real family I ever had is waiting for me in First Landing," Orcus answered.

"Is Eros another one of your worlds?" Jon interjected, curiosity in his eyes.

"Hardly," Orcus answered him. "It's an asteroid in the Belt… was an asteroid that is."

"What happened to it" Jon questioned further.

"It's quite a complicated and long story. The short version is that an incident occurred that caused the loss of many lives." Vincent interjected, more so deflected. He continued to avoid divulging any more details of their people's homes and history like the other leaders of the village.

"If you truly mean to forge trust between our peoples, then transparency would be much appreciated, Mr. Riley," Eddard spoke. Vincent looked hesitant to speak further, but thankfully Orcus did so in his stead.

"One million people were slaughtered on Eros Station by a group known as Protogen. Then the rock crashed into one of our planets, Venus." Orcus said plainly.

The air grew denser and Eddard's men had their attentions gripped by the Belter's words. No more so than his sons at that.

"Surely you exaggerate." Robb gave a nervous chuckle. "I cannot even begin to imagine losses at that scale."

"I'm not overblowing it. If anything, it might have been more." Orcus affirmed his statement with a serious look in his eyes.

"A million people, not even our most bloodiest wars had that many casualties." one of the Stark men commented nearby, to which a Glover man responded in kind. "Aye, mayhaps Robert's Rebellion but it's hard to say."

"And who is this Protogen? They do not sound like any of your nations?" Rodrik broke his silence. Eddard's master-at-arms no doubt had an expressed interest in what he perceived as a threat.

"They're not a nation. They… " Orcus trailed, struggling on what to say next. "How could I put this? I guess you could say that they were a company of maesters whose main goal was in the advancement of humanity."

"A company of maesters?" Theon snickered. "Like the Golden Company? Hah, how could some maesters be capable of cutting down so many people? Are they warriors as well or are your people that weak?"

Orcus did not take any offense, he simply answered the boy's question. "They weren't killed the same way one of your armies might butcher a village or something like that. Eros and its people were attacked in a much more sinister, colder way."

Orcus took a moment to look around, noticing that all eyes were on him. Well, almost all of them. The Martian boy, Darrow, continued to look into the fire, this was a tale he already knew it seemed. Vincent on the other hand looked like he was on the verge of panic. Clearly, Orcus has already shared more than the Ganymedians were comfortable with. The northerners set to guard them stepped closer, Rodrik's gaze grew harsher and Eddard's sons had dread writ on their faces. And as for himself, Eddard felt heavier. The more he learned, the more he worried for not just his home but for all of the realm.

"The scientists- our word for maesters" Orcus clarified, then started over. "The scientists of Protogen were working on a project to further their goals. They needed test subjects, so they started looking. Now most scientists would use animals for that sort of thing but protogen did not hire normal scientists. These people were unfeeling monsters in human skin, they had no regard for human lives, no empathy, because it was literally ripped out of them." Eddard didn't understand what Orcus meant when he said 'ripped out of them'. He didn't have much time to think on it as Orcus continued.

"And so they found their testing grounds, Eros station." Orcus stopped a moment as he scratched his chin. He looked to be mulling over his next words. "You all know how a plague works right?"

A deathly chill ran down Eddard's spine. He saw Rodrik lower his cup and give him a worrying glance. The guards shared the same look. They instinctively gripped the pommels of their swords as if to defend themselves from an invisible enemy. Robb, Jon, and even Theon had the same appearance as his second son, Bran, would have when hearing Old Nan's tales.

"You don't mean?" Jon stammered.

"Protogen unleashed a plague on Eros station, one that they had a hand in crafting. They murdered millions of Belters so they could see the results of their work. Men, women, and children all suffered horrifically. Their bodies decayed as they vomited blood. Limbs started to fall off and some of them melded together to make some kind of… abomination of arms and legs and faces. All the while those people were still alive and screaming in agony." Orcus stopped himself for a moment and formed a humorless smile. "But don't worry, all for the good of humanity they said."

The picture that was painted was ghastly, some of the color faded from a few of the guards' faces. The rest did not wish to entertain the tale and scoffed at it, returning to their posts. Whether they truly didn't believe it or refused to, Eddard could not say. As for himself, he had kept a healthy amount of skepticism with what he'd learned. But he's seen enough with his own eyes to give these accounts their due consideration. He could not afford to be willfully ignorant. His sons believed the tale from his judgment, however. Theon was wide eye, his expression hard to read, while the two other boys both had a look that ranged from sheer horror to indignant fury.

"I can't imagine any maester being capable of such bloodshed." Robb shuddered. "Did it not give them any pause?"

"Where they… where those villains brought to justice." Jon nearly demanded. His anger and disgust were plain as day as he leaned forward from his seat.

Orcus chuckled darkly at that. "Justice… that's cute." Orcus looked up to the raven-haired boy and realized he offended him. "Yeah… you could say that. My boss, Fred Johnson, and his men at Tycho Station found Protogen's base of operations, Thoth Station."

Orcus notice the looks of confusion on some of his listener's faces.

"Stations are basically cities in space." Orcus clarified.

That did make it clearer, Eddard thought. Then he could equate this to a Lord and his bannerman attacking another Lord's castle. He assumed that that would be the closest comparison, considering what he was told about the sizes of the cities of Earth and Mars. It was sobering to learn that not even King's Landing could compare to the likes of New York City and Londres Nova.

"So Fred and his boys went in guns blazing. Half of the evil fuckers got taken out and the leader was executed then and there. As for the rest that survived, they were taken prisoner and shipped off as far away from the sun's warmth as you can get." Orcus looked around at his anxious audience. "Protogen is no more, in case you're wondering."

"That sounds like justice then." Robb attested. "Good, others take them."

Orcus raised an eyebrow at what Robb said but continued. "Fat load of good that did for the people writhing in agony on Eros."

"You said Eros used to be an asteroid. What happened to it?" Jon questioned the Belter.

Orcus obliged. "You see, those people on Eros were beyond saving. And we couldn't risk whatever was on there from spreading to the rest of the Solar System. So, the inner planets along with Tycho Station and some other third parties came together to launch the infested rock to the sun. But things didn't go as planned and Eros ended up crashing into one of our planets, Venus. The asteroid was obliterated and those poor Belters were put to rest."

"It crashed into one of your worlds!" Robb exclaimed. "What about the people that lived there."

"There's no need to worry about that Robb," Jon assured his half-brother. "No one dwells in Venus, it's too harsh to live in. Same for Mercury." Jon then turned to Orcus. "Isn't that right?"

"Someone did their homework," Orcus confirmed, pointing his cup to him with an approving smile and a nod.

Vincent spoke up for the first time since the Belter started spinning his tale. "Orcus, why did you tell them all that?"

"Because they asked." He answered bluntly. "And Lord Stark's right. If we're gonna trust each other, we have to be honest. Even with the ugly truths."

Orcus directed his attention to the Martian boy nearby. "Got anything you want to share, kid? You've just been staring at the fire this whole time."

"Nah, not really. Just tagged along so I don't have to do any more of those damn drills from Lieutenant Moore." The Martian boy answered lazily.

Orcus huffed. "Fair enough."

"Could use a drink though."

Aren't you a little too young?"

Darrow looked to Eddard's sons and ward who were holding onto their own cups. "They look a little too young too. What's that Earther saying, again? When in Rome."

Orcus stared at the boy thoughtfully and then spoke up. "Fuck it, help yourself."

"I think that's enough about ourselves for the time being," Vincent reclaimed everyone's attention. "I would like to know more about these dragon kings, the Targaryens. I still can't really wrap my head around actual Dragons existing."

"Aye, they did exist. But they died out during King Aegon III's reign." Jon added.

"How long ago was that?" Vincent asked.

"Around a hundred and fifty years, I think," Jon answered.

"Hmm," Orcus hummed. "My understanding is that this Aegon guy took over shit because he had dragons. If his family lost them, then why did everyone keep following them?"

"Stability," Eddard answered curtly. "But the Targaryen's power waned ever since then."

"And they would eventually fall," Vincent added. "After Robert's Rebellion that is. I heard he's massive for an Earther. six and a half feet tall and a bear of a man."

"Aye, and his Grace is a force to be reckoned with in battle,"

"So much so that he earned the title of the 'Demon of the Trident'." Robb excitedly explained further. "It was said he fought like a man possessed, like the warrior himself. No one could withstand the wrath of his war hammer, not even the prince."

"Demon of the Tirdent…" Darrow chewed on the words. "Heh, kinda like the "Ghost knife of Callisto, huh Orcus."

"You don't need to mention that, kid. That was a lifetime ago."

"That sounds like quite a title," Theon probed. "There must be a story behind it."

"Maybe another time" Orcus tried to shut down the inquiry, but Darrow was not acquiescing.

"It's a nickname he got for years of smuggling around the Jovian system and harassing the MCRN patrols at Callisto. It was said that Orcus was like a ghost, slipping past fleets undetected. But he didn't earn his title until he pulled off the craziest thing ever. A railgun collateral shot through the fusion reactors of three Martian heavy frigates. It left those ships crippled on the float, absolutely vulnerable to boarding. And that's what the 'Ghost Knife of Callisto' did."

Eddard now has a clearer idea of the kind of man Orcus is or was at least. He knew he was a pirate, but now it seems that he was one of profound infamy. Suffice it to say, Rodrik''s glower indicated that his opinion of the Belter has lessened even more.

"I thought you didn't feel like talking?" Orcus grumbled at the Martian boy.

"Eh, changed my mind," Darrow replied lazily.

Robb scratched his chin, looking at Darrow's way. "I don't quite understand everything you said, but it sounds impressive,"

"It was dumb luck." Orcus disputed. "I wouldn't be able to make another shot like that in a million years."

Jon chuckled. "I suppose it's like how the Dornish shot down Queen Rhaenys' dragon when she tried to conquer them."

"A dragon was killed? How?" Vincent asked impatiently.

"The Dornish fired a scorpion bolt into the eye of the dragon. It caused it to come crashing down." Jon answered.

"A scorpion bolt…" Vincent mulled on the words. "I got an idea of what kind of weapon that is. And if it's what I think it is, then that's one hell of a shot. I'm not sure which would be harder, that or Orcus's."

"Can we move on, please? We're talking about a time in my life I'm not too proud of." Orcus pleaded. To which Eddard had a modicum of sympathy, every man had their regrets.

The night went on with more idle chatter, until eventually, more and more people drifted away to retire to their sleeping arrangements, leaving only Eddard and Rodrik around the dying fire.

"I do not like this," Rodirk broke the silence.

"I'd be surprised if you liked any of it. But that's why I brought you." Eddard responded.

"If even half of what that pirate says is true."

"Former pirate." Eddard corrected him. "The man has been nothing but courteous to us. We should at least return the favor."

"Apologies my lord."

Eddard simply nodded. "It is not lost on me the apparent danger we face. I would like nothing more than to turn these people away and be done with it. But I'm afraid that's not an option."

Rodrik did not say anything, the old knight just listened intently.

"Change is coming to our world Rodrik, whether we like it or not. All we can do is learn as much as we can. To better prepare ourselves."

"For what, my lord?

"I don't know"

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

Holden

It was all very routine. Holden had lost count of how many times he'd had the Rocinante dock into Tycho Station. It happened so frequently that it had become mundane but every once in a while, he would take notice of just how remarkable the process was and the station itself. A massive city station in the belt shaped like a spin top, home to thousands of people and the lifeblood of the OPA. The station consisted of two counter-rotating rings encircling the inner sphere, with the top harboring multiple waldoes capable of ripping apart warships.

Holden felt the familiar jolt as the magnetic couplings grabbed hold of their ship through his mag boots and up his legs. He stood on the flight deck with Alex who was sitting in the pilot's chair, blue light enveloping their surroundings. Alex has already done the hard part as he navigated through the docking bays and coordinated with the station's traffic control. Their ship lay suspended in vacuum as the rest of the procedure proceeded as it did countless times before.

Holden noticed Alex had his undivided attention directed to his terminal, which was out of the norm since he always liked to pilot the ship manually until it settled, even though it was completely unnecessary. Holden peeked over Alex's shoulder and saw what looked like an interview with a scientist dressed as smart as he probably was. The interviewer less so, looking the part of a man of the press. The two men sat across from each other on chairs that looked more like art pieces than furniture in a room sparsely decorated that faded into darkness at the edges.

"As you are already aware, the Bering Survey reports were released just a few days ago, and what was revealed was nothing short of revolutionary, " the scientist stated. His tone was that of a professional with decades of knowledge, but his elderly eyes couldn't hide his almost child-like excitement.

"So we heard. Eight planets, not seven as the Belters on New Terra believed. And we're hearing talk of what could be another Mars." The Interviewer remarked. The man couldn't be further from a man of science with his slicked-back hair and face made for the camera, but he clearly came prepared.

"Bering Survey FIve, the Mars analog or what the Martians have been ambitiously calling it, "New Ares". The scientist answered as he shifted uncomfortably in his spiral-shaped chair. "And for good reason, Bering Survey Five is twice as large as Mars and has a Magnetosphere to boot."

"I'm sure the Mickeys are chomping at the bit for of that rock." Holden caught Alex grimacing at the remark. "And if I am understanding this right. They're saying there are three planets in the habitable zone in the Bering solar system as opposed to one in ours." The interviewer followed up.

"Yes! Absolutely astonishing isn't it? New Terra, New Ares, if I may be so bold as to call it that, and in between those two is another planet that resides in the Goldilocks zone. And what's most exciting of all is that the third planet is what my colleagues have been labeling as a pre-garden world."

"Really now? Is this new information you've just given us, Professor Hudson?" The interviewer questioned, leaning slightly forward now visibly more interested.

"Very new" The professor confirmed. "And I'm sure more discoveries are being made as we speak."

"Tell us more about this 'Pre-garden' world you mentioned. What does mean exactly?" The interviewer probed.

Professor Hudson reached over to the small table in between the two men and activated a hologram of a planet. The hovering sphere had an almost translucent blue tint to it and what appeared to be clouds covering it. "It means that this world, Bering Survey Four, is on track to become a naturally habitable one." Professor Hudson explained as he rotated the subject in question and gestured to it. "The planet has an atmosphere composed of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Currently unbreathable, but the blue that you are seeing on the planet, the more vibrant blue that is, is actually lichen and algae. We are predicting that in the next few thousand years, that plant life will change the atmosphere into a nitrogen-oxygen mix similar to Earth."

"And let me guess, this one also has Magnetosphere." The Interviewer leaned back.

"Exactly!" Professor Hudson exclaimed, nearly jumping off his seat.

"A few thousand years seems like a long time though."

"In terms of the universe, it's actually incredibly miniscule. And it can be made even shorter with the terraforming knowledge of Mars. This planet and New Ares would be substantially quicker to terraform than Mars."

"Wow, exciting stuff there professor. I'd love to talk more about it, I mean we haven't even gotten the outer planets, but I'm afraid we're running out of time. Is there anything you like to say to the fine people of… well Sol I suppose?"

Professor Hudson looked to the camera absolutely beaming with an energy and enthusiasm that should belong to a younger man, "This is just the beginning. We are at the precipice of a new space age, a new scientific revolution!"

The broadcast switched over to a commercial for a well-known detergent brand before Alex turned off the terminal entirely.

"The new solar system just got a whole lot more irresistible." Alex drawled, his usual round cheerful face not so cheerful. "The powers at be are all gonna want to have their piece of the pie."

"Except that not one of them is going to want to share." Holden sighed. He then patted Alex on the shoulder and tilted his head towards the ladder leading down to the ops deck. Holden disengaged his mag boots and let the microgravity and a little inertia direct him down the steel ladder, Alex followed suit.

They made their way down from the ops deck to the crew airlock. Naomi and Amos stood there waiting for them. Amos leaned against the open airlock frame with his large arms crossed and Naomi her hands on her hips engaged in a conversation with one of Fred's usual engineers. The engineers had just arrived to look over the Roci and after some pleasantries, the crew walked on over to the other end of the airlock chamber.

After depressurization and decontamination, they arrived at the crossword entryway between the observation deck and the rest of the station.

Amos was the first to detach himself from the crew, lazily strolling to the side. "Got some time to kill, so I think I'm just gonna hit the bars and brothels. Maybe hit some guys, we'll how the goes." Amos swivels his head towards Alex, a mischievous grin encroaching on his pale-skinned face. "You coming with?"

"Only if we're sticking with the drinks and girls." Alex nervously chuckled as he cautiously walked over to the burly mechanic. "I don't need another black eye."

"I think you handled yourself, alright."

"You're being way too generous there, partner."

As the two began to walk off, Holden called all to them, "We'll see you guys later, then!"

"See ya, cap!" Amos raised his hand in a backward wave while walking away and not looking back. Alex gave a simple nod.

Now two remained, and before Holden could get a word in, Naomi cut through the silence.

"A drink sounds good, actually. I think I might just stop by the Blauwe Blome, some of the repair crew might join a little later."

"You're not gonna invite me?" Holden teased.

Naomi glanced over to the entryway to the observation deck. "I have a feeling you're going to want to stay with the Roci a little longer."

"Just want to look over maintenance, that's all."

"Sakai is competent enough, Jim"

"It's not that it's just…" Holden blanked for a second. He looked at Naomi who looked back inquisitively at him through her long, black curly hair. They've been together for so long that he should have known that Naomi would have sensed something was off. In truth, Holden didn't feel very comfortable having Sakai and his crew of unfamiliar faces in charge of repairs for the Roci. Sakai has been the replacement for Sam for a while now, ever since Sam died during what many have been calling the 'Slow Zone incident'. The event where every ship was in the flotilla to investigate the RIng was abruptly decelerated by the RIng station. Suffice it to say, Holden missed having the Roci in Sam's hands, as did the rest of his crew.

But that wasn't really what bothered him, not this time. During the trip to Tycho, Holden had been dwelling on his decision to go to Ilus. Tried to think about what compelled him to make it. And underneath that was a feeling that permeated his mind, something that slowly grew the closer he got to the ring where all this madness began.

Dread.

Naomi moved to the side, taking the non-verbal queue that Holden needed to work things out by himself. She gave a knowing and warm smile and saw him off as Holden walked towards the Observation deck

XXXXX

Holden kneeled on the belly of the Rocinante as he welded the newer tungsten-steel plating as well welding together any breaches he came across, he still had more to go from the looks of it. It was light work today, the others who are caring for the Roci's needs were working on the more technical aspects of ship repair, like checking the reactor and life support or replacing maneuvering thrusters, and retrofitting newer and shinier components. The old girl deserves it after all.

Sparks bounced off his helmet visor, his right mag boot keeping him firm on the hull. Once he finished, Holden turned off the welding torch he was holding in his gloved hands and lifted his helmeted head. The port was currently facing sunward and in response, Holden's visor darkened as he stared at the sun. The Sun, or Sol as it was being called more often now, appeared much smaller out here in the Belt than it did on Earth or even Mars. It was still clearly distinguishable as the Sun as opposed to in the Outer planet where it's just simply the brightest star.

"So… how long are we gonna sit around here?" Holden heard a familiar gruff voice near. He knew it wasn't coming from his comm channels, not just because he had them switched but because the voice wasn't accompanied but the subtle static that came with transmitted communication.

"It's been a while, Miller." Holden nonchalantly responded, not wasting the effort to search where he was. And he didn't have to as Miller walked into view in front of him.

It was uncanny to see a man standing in vacuum with nothing but a long coat jacket, dress pants, and a porkpie hat.

Holden stood, activating his left mag boot to further glue him to the hull. Miller loomed over and blocked the sun, which didn't make sense to Holden since the old Belter wasn't really there.

"You had plenty of opportunities to pop in. " Holden continued. " So why didn't you?"

"Didn't have much to say," Miller answered, placing both hands in his coat pockets.

"And now you do?"

A smirk on the basset hound face of the Belter ghost indicated that Holen was spot on. "I got something that might perk your interest." Miller turned around to take in the view. The Sun was slowly being partially eclipsed by a distant asteroid, Holden thought that maybe that was what blocking the sun earlier.

"I heard something strange," Miller spoke as he faced directly toward the sun. "A voice. A human voice."

"From Ilus?" Holden Inquired."

"Yeah." Miller spun around and started pacing on the hull. "Now normally what I would get is… remnants of the the ones who created me. Like recordings waiting for me to discover in a format that would be impossible for your primitive minds to understand. It would be like trying to describe color to a person who was born blind."

Miller then stopped in place and turned to Holden. "But what I heard was painfully understandable. A human voice wormed its way through the cacophony, and it had this to say."

"The Long Night approaches." Holden heard a voice that didn't belong to the old Belter detective. It sounded older, ancient even. And it sent an unnatural chill down his spine. But it was definitely human, an old man to be specific. And the old man's voice sounded pained and weathered.

"Did you…"

"Transmit the voice. Well, I am in your head after all." Miller confirmed. "Now if tried to share what I usually hear, then you might go insane."

Holden ignored that unsettling comment and moved along. "What does it mean? What's the Long Night?"

"Hell if I know," Miller said flatly. "He could have just said what he had for dinner that day and I still would have brought it up because it's the only coherent human thought I heard amongst the noise."

It took Holden a brief moment to catch the implication. "Are you saying that you've heard human thoughts before?"

Miller raised an eyebrow at him, the sun and stars doing a decent job of lighting it. "Did you forget how the RIng was created in the first place?"

Holden blanched at that. If he was standing there with another person in a vac suit, they most likely wouldn't see the look of horror on his face. But he doubts that would be an obstacle for Miller.

"The people of Eros… you can hear them?"

"Kind hard not to. Constant screams of agony, confusion, pain."

"And you've been hearing that this entire time. That's beyond horrific!"

"Don't feel too bad for me, kid. After a while, it just becomes white noise to me."

"Jesus Christ," Holden whispered.

"I don't think even he can help those poor souls now."

They stood on the hull of the Roci for a moment. To the distance was the habitation ring that encircled the station and housed fifteen thousand residents. The habitation ring spun around to create thrust gravity for the people who call Tycho station their home.

Holden started to march over to where he spotted another weakness in the hul and kneeled down to inspect it further. "Is there anything else you feel I need to know besides ominous premonitions," Holden asked from his lowered position.

"Not at the moment," Millers answered. "Although I do want to circle back to my first question. How long are we gonna sit around here for?"

"The crew for Fred's freighter we're escorting won't be ready til the next station day." Holden answered as he finished welding the small section of the hull beneath him. He stood up and turned his entire body to Miller. "Which is like two days on Ceres in case your wondering."

"So eighteen of your Earth hours then. Alright, guess it can't be helped. I'll see ya once we're on our way then, kid." Miller flickered a bit as faced sunward before he became full solid again as if he changed his mind.

"You know… " Miller started but stopped for a few seconds. His back towards Holden, the small sun to their side now. "This is probably against my better judgment but I gotta ask. Why are you so hell-bent to go that rock anyways? Is it really just out of the goodness of your own heart?"

Holden froze at the question levied at him. Moreso because it didn't sound like something the old Belter detective would, but something he'd been asking himself for a while. He struggled to find the reason, but now Miller had asked him directly, it started to become clear.

"Because… I feel responsible." Holden answered as he walked over to another spot the hull to work, minding his oxygen on his HUD. He still plenty left in the tank.

Miller nodded thoughtfully, twisting his lips to the side. "I see. Because you opened the RIng gate, right?"

"A world that has been left alone for god knows how long is now in the crossfire of a civilization spanning an entire solar system" Holden kneeled down and lit his torch again. "And I opened the gate."

"You couldn't have known."

"That doesn't really change any-" Holden paused what he was doing and looked back to Miller with bemusement. "Wait a minute, are you trying to cheer me up?"

Miller grunted. "Depressed people are less productive. And I'm going to need you to be productive so we can get on that rock and back on this case as soon as possible."

"Oh, and here I thought you actually cared." Holden lit the torch again and went back to his repairs.

"That'll be the day." Holden continued with his repairs as Miller stayed silent for a minute. During that silence, Holden started to become aware that he had to go to the bathroom. Now he could go in the suit since he had the condom catheter hooked up, but he rarely ever used it. He never truly felt okay with essentially pissing himself.

"Good chat!" Miller pierced through Holden's musings. "Next time I drop by we better be half to Jupiter, understand."

"Yeah, yeah." Holden droned out from his crouched position.

Holden didn't look back to see Miller start to flicker and then evaporate in blue fireflies. But even what seeing, he somehow knew the exact second when Miller returned to wherever it was he came from.

XXXXX

In Tycho station, the day is divided into three shifts. Shifts being an apt enough way to describe it, seeing as the majority of Tycho's inhabitants were contracted employees. The rest of the citizens of this small city were the worker's families, visitors, and people that make up the crews of the ships that dock in the many ports of the station. Either for business or for pleasure.

Holden navigated through the bustle of the crowd. It was morning as far as the station was concerned, so he saw many employees making their commute to start their shift as well as children of all ages going off to school. Vendors lined the walls, restaurants, barber shops, electronic stores, etcetera, etcetera. This part of the habitation ring is a traveled one, the section that Amos and Alex went to was not as family-friendly. Unless a lost child wandered in, the youngest people you'll see there would be adventurous teenagers who'd want to see what a pair of breasts look like outside of their hand terminals.

Despite Tycho station being the de facto seat of power of the OPA, its population is quite diverse. Belters make the clear majority but Holden still sees many Earthers and Martians in the mix. That might be why you're never too far from the plants that occupy the corridors and the vines crawl across the wall, against the station's spin gravity. To appease the Earthers and Martians that endeavor to make their world a garden. But the Belters seem to appreciate it too. It's almost like it's something innate to humans to have a desire to be near some form of nature.

On those aforementioned walls were massive screens that seemed to push the vines away, broadcasting the latest news from across the solar system. These days, however, it seems that every new station is more interested in what's going on outside of the system. It has been non-stop coverage of the newly discovered planet. Footage of snowy landscapes, castles and knights in shining armor, or regal-looking men in large fur coats. And when there's no new footage to share, talking heads and pundits oversaturate the news channels with their 'insightful and valuable' opinions. Then there's what is not being said, the governments of Earth and Mars.

Publicly the two inner planets have only admonished those who were making the trek to the Ring gate for greener pastures and expressed the risk of exorbitant fines and even seizure. Their words rang hollow, however, when word came out that two Royal Charter Energy ships were making their way to the Ring Gate. No doubt they received permission to cross too unlike the less unfortunate colonists who are currently being held up by the blockade. Holden has a bit of inside knowledge as well, he knows that Avasaral is fighting tooth and nail to her political rivals' imperialistic ambitions at bay on top of the insatiable greed of the multitude of Earth-based corporations. It must really stick her craw to know one of them managed to slip through the cracks.

As for Mars, turn on any Martian Broadcast, and the words "New Ares" will appear more times than "Martian Congressional Republic Navy. Which would normally be unthinkable for a nation as patriotic as the MCR.

Holden didn't cover as much ground as he'd like, but the sea of people started to thin a bit. He saw the new bar Naomi mentioned she would be at now. She texted him about it just as he got back from performing ship repairs. The Calanthe Orchis it was called, and apparently ot was a sister location to the Blauwe Blome. She heard about it while she was at the Blome and was sold on it by being a place where you can actually have a regular conversation without blaring club music threatening to rupture your eardrums. That's not to mention the other senses being assaulted by the poorly filtered air caused by the sheer number of people or the sticky seats covered with old alcohol stains, vomit, and other fluids that are best left a mystery.

"Excuse me, sir, can I have a moment of your time?" Holden heard someone call all to him outside of his periphery. He turned around to see that it was an older man in a formal black suit and tie. He looked to be as old as one of Holden's fathers, wrinkled face but eyes still clear and unclouded. The sharply dressed man still had a full head of hair but the greyness was slowly but surely overtaking the black.

A Mormon, from the looks of it. Holden was about to wave him off until saw the rotating sign near him. What was on it caught his attention, "Join us in a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the new world and spread the gospel of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ."

Holden inched forward, still looking at the sign with trepidation in his step. He removed his gaze from the sign and on the old, man with a warm smile in front of him. He was by a handful of formally dressed Mormons who were fishing for people in the foot traffic.

"You are all going to Ilus?" Holden asked, skepticism underlying his question.

The old Mormon looked confused for a second until he made the connection. "Ah, you mean New Terra."

"Right." Holden complied. It never felt right to call it that to Holden. He thought it was pretty shameless of Earth to essentially claim a planet they didn't even discover first as an extension of itself. That would be the Ganymede Belters who made that discovery, but even they don't have much right to name it either, since the planet is already inhabited by humans no less. But for the lack of a better name, Holden settled on Ilus. He sure as hell wasn't going to call it 'Bering Survey Three'

It's just… last time I checked, there's a blockade around the Ring gate."

The Mormon just smiled amicably. "We're well aware, but…" he then leaned a little closer. "It's a bit of an open secret that the blockade isn't going to last for very long. Any day now, Earth and Mars will realize keeping such a strict checkpoint is more trouble than it's worth."

The Mormon leaned and Holden found himself agreeing with the words being said. Logistically, it must have been extremely strenuous for the two inner planets to keep watch over an operation set as far as Uranus. Communications on its own would have around a 3-hour delay. Politically, while the UNN and MCRN made up the bulk of the manpower at the RIng blockade, they were still reliant on the OPA-owned Medina Station that serves as the central hub between the two systems. That reliance on maintaining traffic, providing resources, and keeping a patrol on any pirates who'd want to take advantage of the situation has made the two older governments uneasy. They've only now barely started to recognize the OPA as a proper government, barely.

"Even so, there's gonna be a long line to the other side of the gate," Holden added.

"That's why we've called in an overdue favor from the one holding the keys" the Mormon retorted as if he just said something clever.

"You mean Fred Johnson?"

"That's right. I mean he does owe us for 'repurposing' our ship after all. Allowing us to skip the line is the least he can do."

Their ship, which is now called Medina Station, is currently the central hub of the Ring gate. Before that, it was the flagship of the OPA, the OPAS Behemoth. Couldn't have given her a better name, at 2,460 meters long and 960 meters wide it truly was a behemoth. But before all that, when the ship was first born, it was called the Nauvoo and its original purpose was to be a generation ship to carry thousands of Mormons to a faraway star. In a way, the ship is fulfilling its original purpose by facilitating a path between two solar systems.

"It's gonna be dangerous. I don't think I give you a history lesson on what will happen if you try to introduce a new faith to a foreign civilization. Plus, you're not gonna be the only religious institution that's gonna the same idea." Holden warned the old man in front of him, but it didn't seem to faze him.

"We are prepared for the trials ahead, I assure you. And besides, 'Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him'."

"I'm assuming that's a passage."

"James 1:12"

"Powerful stuff," Holden commented. "I should get going though, nice talking to you."

"Oh! How rude of me. I didn't even give you my name or ask for yours." The old man reached out his right hand. "Mark Hatchet"

Holden took the man's hand and shook it firmly. "James Holden."

The man named Mark Hatchet had his eyes open wide in surprise. "James Holden? THE James Holden!?"

"Uh… yeah." Holden grimaced, realizing his mistake.

Mark Hatchet laughed heartily, an old man's laugh. "I had no idea was talking to a celebrity this entire time. That means you were part of that whole 'Turning the Nauvoo into a battering ram business' weren't you?"

"I'm… sorry," Holden said sheepishly.

Mark Hatchet laid his other hand over Holden's and shook it softly. "All is forgiven, son. All is forgiven."

Holden left the old man shortly after, he walked a little further and the Calnthe Orchis was in front of him. The bar was tiny in comparison to Blauwe Blome, it had one rectangular bar in the center with two bartenders serving it. Pink LED light bloomed from the floor with hints of violet coming from the seat. On one of the incredibly thin silver barstools was his Xo and his lover, Naomi Nagata, enjoying a pink drink with two of her friends. He recognized one of them, a tough-looking Belter woman by the name of Malikah, a look of disappointment on her face suggested that she didn't really like the drink in her hand.

"This just a Blue Meanie but pink" Malikah ranted.

"Don't fix what's not broken" Naomi grinned at her friend as she took another sip.

Holden took an empty seat next to Naomi, he knew she felt his presence when without looking she slid the drink in front of him.

"Wanna try it? Pink meanie, they call it. Malikah here thinks it doesn't taste any different." Naomi offered with a playful smile.

Holden picked up the bulb and took a sip. "It's… sweeter."

"It's all in your head!" Malikah objected. "They just changed the coloring for a marketing stunt."

The other, much smaller, woman with Naomi's group piped up. "Neva liked da blue meanie. Gif me gut ol biya any diye."

"You two are no fun." Naomi pouted.

"How's it going?" Holden asked his XO, taking another sip of the vibrant drink.

"Not as good as I hoped. These two are too set in their ways. They've just been complaining since we got here."

"There's not even a Golgo board here." Malikah ranted to the smaller woman next to her and then swiveled back. "Naomi, when are we gonna play a game with you again?"

Naomi switched her attention to her friend sitting to her right. "Oh, I don't know. It's been a while, I might be a little rusty."

Malikah looked like she was about to say something until she noticed Holden sitting behind Naomi.

"If it isn't the famous Captain Holden. I couldn't see you because of how small you are."

"Nice to see you too, Malikah." Holden gave a strained smile.

"Can you not Jim small, he's tall for an Earther you know." Naomi slightly exasperated.

"I just like teasing your boyfriend sesata, that's all"

The two Belters begin to chat with each other and Holden lifted his view to the screen above the young bartender in front of him. The regular news broadcast had just ended and gave way to a special report from New Terra. The scene was from the perspective of the backseat of a Mule Expedition Rover. A glorified electric cart essentially. In the left front seat was a young redheaded Belter woman and next to her was a non-descript Belter driver, save for a few tattoos.

Around them were men in armor and furs riding on horseback. It looked like an escort and a few of them carried large flags either with the design of a wolf running in a field of white or a silver gauntlet on red. And further in the distance was a massive castle covered in snow. It looked like the castles he'd read about when he was a child. Books of heroic knights saving the princess and fighting dragons. A particular favorite of his was Don Quixote. While technically not a knight, he embodied a knight's principles to a T. It's was where the Rocinante got her namesake after all.

The redhead on the screen started to stand up from her seat and motioned the camera to keep her in frame. "This is Francine Rogers and as you can see, we are but mere meters away from the castle known as Winterfell. I'm beyond honored to be the first to show the worlds are true living castle, straight out of the history books."

The Mule the woman was on along with it's medival entourage looked to be somewhat close to the castle. At the steady pace they were at, Holden would guess that they would arrive in half an hour. But considering the communications lag between Tycho and Ilus, which has to go through Medina, the recording he's watching would have happened 6 hours ago at least. This means the colonists and their native escorts would be at the castle by now and the sol system can expect another report very soon.

"Oh! It looks like the Wolf Prince is nearby. Johann! Can you move a little closer!" Francine demanded the driver, who acquiesced without complaint.

The Mule closed in on a teenage boy atop a horse. He looked to be no older than fifteen and had a thick head of red hair, a darker shade than Francine's. The boy started to notice the Mulle getting closer, but it was intercepted by an armored man and his horse.

"You approach too casually to an heir of a great house, girl." the armored man snarled.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I- I didn't mean to offend." Francine stammered.

"There's nothing to forgive, my lady," the boy assured the flustered Belter woman. "Merdrick, let her through. I'm sure she means no harm."

The armored man named Merdrick begrudgingly slowed down his horse's trot to move out of the way.

"I apologize for my guard. Merdrick is as loyal as they come but he can get easily roused at the smallest hint of a slight or threat."

"It's alright Lord Robb. I'm a big girl, I've dealt with worse." Francine turned to the camera and positioned herself a little to the left side of the frame to get a better view of the subject. "We'd like to record a little interview with you as we've done with many of your men. The recorded video will then be sent to the or system to be seen by billions of people!" The boys eyes widen at that last comment. "Oh Video is like a…"

"I know what a video is." The boy said as Francine quickly held her mic close to him. "I've seen a few in your village. It… beggars belief. I don't know what else to call but sorcery."

"I promise you, it's not. But I can't really tell you how it works. Anyways- woah!" A bump in the road caused Francine to jostle slightly. She held on to and leaned against the metals bars that loosely made up a frame work of a roof but wide enough to stand in beween. The camera shook as well, but the boy remained stable on his horse. The perks of having transportation that's alive, Holden thought.

"Okay," Francine readjusted herself and resumed what she was doing. "So, Lord Robb. We hear you being called The heir of House Stark. But what exactly does that mean?"

The boy had a puzzled look, but understanding washed over his face soon after. "It means that I am next in line to inherit the seat of Winterfell, where the Lords of House Stark have ruled the North for thousands of year,"

"8,000 years, right?"

The boy smiled at that. "That's right."

"That incredible! The longest Earth dynasty don't even come close. Must be a lot of pressure to carry the torch then."

The stoicly nodded, or did his best to. "My lord father has taught me well of the responsibilities of being Lord of Winterfell. I'm confident that I will make my father proud, as well as the rest of my people."

Holden heard a gruff grunt two seats to his right. "Hmph, pompous little coyo."

"Hmm, what's da, Zorya?" Malikah looked up to the screen from from her normal colored drink that she replaced the Pink Meanie with. "Ah, mo pinche talk about da new earther world. I'm getting sick of hearing about it. What gut does it do for Beltalowda, huh?"

"Beltlowda found da world and made a home for themselves." Naomi added.

"Dey not Belta no mo." Zorya growled. "Welwala pretending to be Innnas. LIke that prissy Sabaka playing reporter on da screen." She finished off by spit on the floor.

"Hey! You can't do that here!" The bartender in front reprimanded Zorya, to which she simply grumbled.

Holden looked back to screen to another face taking it up. It looked like this Francine Rogers found someone else to point her audience too. Soon enough the recording ended with them reaching the castle yet. The broadcast switched over to a rerun of a popular Martina drama that's been trending on the net. A point for Mars since when it comes to the arts, their about as dry as the deserts of their planet.

Naomi's two Belter companions started to ease off on their complaining. Probably because they were properly getting drunk. Holden let Naomi know that he was heading to their apartment and gave her goodbye kiss. And to her friends, he told them goodnight. But as Holden exited the bar, he looked at his hand terminal and realized that according to the station, it was actually the morning.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

Catelyn

In the center of the small seven-sided building, the Lady of Winterfell felt a momentary peace in this long fortnight since her Lord husband and firstborn had ventured off with the strange foreigners to the Wolfswood. She faced the statue of the Mother, one of the faces of The Seven, and prayed to it as she had for the past several days. She prayed to the Mother to keep her loved ones safe, to ensure that they come back to her. She stood up from the stone floor, straightened her gown, and then glanced at the candles she lit in front of her one last time before she exited the Sept.

The sept was a small one, thoughtfully built for her at the request of her husband. But as she glanced back at the sept among the godswoods, she could not help but feel it was out of place. An invader from a different faith on these sacred grounds. She couldn't help but feel the same about those who came before her lord husband a fortnight ago.

Catelyn only briefly saw the strangers and was given a short explanation of their intentions by her husband. An exiled people seeking refuge was what she was told, and hearing that, she voiced her concerns, but her husband gave his reasons as to why he had decided to pursue this further, and Catelyn acquiesced, however ill at ease it made her.

But her anxiousness will soon wash away. A scout had arrived near an hour ago to announce that her husband's party was only a few leagues away. She walked briskly in between the imposing redwoods, cutting through the shadows that they cast. At the stone entrance awaited two guardsmen, one clearly half the age of the other.

"My lady," the older one greeted her with a slight bow, and the younger guard followed suit. "We've received word from the watchers. Lord Stark and his retinue are nearing approach."

Catelyn gave the man a simple nod and continued through the small tunnel, the two guardsmen filing next to her.

At the other end of the tunnel was the small courtyard of the North Gate, where members of the Stark household prepared to receive their lord. Servants and stewards dotted the field as well as a matching number of guardsmen.

In the corner of her eye, Catelyn spotted the familiar figure of her daughters being escorted to her by the captain of the household guard, Jory Cassel.

"Jory, has Father arrived with the longfellows, yet?" She heard her youngest daughter ask the captain. The term 'Longfellows' was one that was catching on amongst her household and the smallfolk alike. Some caught a glimpse of the strange foreigners, and their appearances were quickly exaggerated. Rumors that the 'longfellows' were ten feet tall and had long faces and limbs to match. The smallfolk spoke of sunken eyes and claw-like nails, while others claimed to have seen one of them lift a horse with one arm.

All falsehoods, but with what little Catelyn saw of the foreigners, she could see why such creative gossip was being spun.

"He has, my lady. You'll see him very soon."

"Did you see any of the longfellows?"

"Only a glimpse. But my uncle will have more say on that matter, I'm sure."

Sansa hastens her step towards Catelyn and joins her by her side.

"Thank the seven that father and Robb have returned. I was getting so worried about them, Mother." Sansa stood there in her light blue gown and braided red hair. A spitting image of Catelyn in her youth, whereas her younger daughter took more from the northern side of her parentage.

"I'm glad too, Sansa," Catelyn said as she caressed her daughter's long red hair. "Each day felt longer than the last."

"Have you heard the stories, mother? About the foreigners? They say they're as tall as trees and have eyes of pure black. That they can lift a man up into the air as if he were a babe.

"And where did you hear such fanciful stories?" Catelyn asked with a subtle teasing undertone.

Sansa took a moment to answer, redirecting her gaze briefly. "Jeyne," she finally revealed her source, which explained Sansa's momentary lack of confidence in its veracity. "But she heard it from the baker, who heard it from one of the guardsmen."

Catelyn simply smiled as she stroked her hair. A few moments later, she heard the distant shouts of men and the loud creaking and groaning of Winterfell's massive northern gate

At last, the party has come through the gate, and in the front was her lord husband, leading the smaller party of Stark and Glover soldiers who were proudly holding their banners high into the air. Catelyn did not see her son until the second half of the escort came through. Robb, her eldest, was riding side by side one of the horseless carriages she glimpsed before, but this time in motion. There were three of them, and mounting the carriages were the foreigners in question, who were soon to be their guests. And their guests were large indeed, the smallest looked to be at least six feet, but he had the look of a southern lord with his blonde hair and the quality of his clothing. The company the young man had with him in the carriage couldn't be more different; they were taller and lankier, with one who looked like he hailed from the summer isles. The lone woman among them looked to be better bred however, she appeared well-kept and had more color to her cheeks.

The aforementioned carriage was the one her son was trotting alongside, but it soon stopped along with the others as the horse-mounted, armored men got closer to the center of the courtyard. Her lord husband, Ned, arrived first as he dismounted his horse and came forward to embrace her.

"Cat" He breathed softly, holding her firmly in his arms.

"Ned" She responded warmly into his collarbone and slowly moved her face to see his gray eyes. "Welcome home."

Ned chuckled. "You are speaking as if I had just returned from war."

Catelyn gave a tired smile. "You rode off to the unknown. It left me with no less uncertainty." She looked to the side to see Robb dismount from his horse nearby, accompanied by loyal Stark men. "And with our son no less. My worry was tenfold of that when you went to fight off Balon's rebellion with Robert."

"Then I'm glad to tell you that your worry was unfounded."

"Welcome home. Father" Sansa came forward into Ned's embrace, Arya joining afterwards.

"Girls…" Ned said warmly. "I apologize if I worried you as much as your mother."

"I wasn't worried. I knew you'd be back. Not like Sansa, who was crying every night." Arya teased.

"No I wasn't!" Sansa let go of her father and stared daggers at her younger sister."

"Sansa, Arya. Let's not squabble in front of your lord father when he's just arrived."

Her daughters ceased their fighting for the time being while Ned patted them on their shoulders and head.

"And where are the boys?" He asked.

"Rickon is asleep, and Bran has come down with a fever."

Neds frowned. "Is he alright?"

"Maester Luwin assured me he's gone through the worst of it and is now recovering."

"Good," he said, visibly relaxing.

Catelyn peered around Ned's shoulders and saw the foreigners settle in not too far away from them. "Ned… about our guests," she whispered.

Ned nodded. "We've met with them; they were hospitable hosts, for the most part." he let a small grimace escape.

"And…" Ned continued. "We've come to an arrangement."

"What kind of an arrangement?" Catelyn questioned."

"I'll tell you in detail in the solar," Ned gave his assurance to her, which was then followed by her son's arrival.

"Mother!" Robb fell into her embrace. Already matching her height, it did not feel so long ago when she had him swaddled in her arms. Now she has her arms around his shoulders, broadening as he gets closer to being a man.

"Robb, my son," she held his face in her hands. "You look like you've enjoyed yourself." She smiled.

"Mother, you won't believe what we've seen! Old gods as my witness, the things we've seen and learned…" Robb stopped for a moment, excitement clear as day on his face that his eyes almost looked wild. "It'll change everything." He finally said, quieter, more contemplative.

Catelyn released him, and Robb turned to their guests. "Those people," Robb said. "They are from the stars."

Catelyn wasn't quite sure she heard him clearly. Robb's voice started to sound wistful at the tail end.

"Robb," Ned called out to their son. "I'll explain things to your mother. There is too much to discuss while we are out here."

"Of course, father," Robb responded. "I wouldn't know where to begin anyway." Robb proceeded to greet his sisters lovingly. Arya hurled question after question at him, which he tactfully delayed for another time. Robb then looked around as if he were looking for someone.

"Father, did you see where Jon went?"

Catelyn grimaced at the mention of the bastard. It always unsettled her that her son was so close to him. She has voiced her grievances and concerns to both her husband and her son regarding the bastard, but to no avail. It wasthe first time Robb had ever shown anger towards her when she suggested to him not to associate with the bastard. She's learned to grit her teeth through it these days.

"He must have left with the guardsmen for the courtyard." Ned surmised.

Robb grinned. "I'll join him then. Pray, excuse me, father, mother," and ran off in said direction.

In the corner of Catelyn's eye, she spotted figures approaching them. Ned also noticed, as he moved to receive them. The first of which was another who had the look of a summer islander, this one stockier and darker of skin. He also had the look of a soldier and certainly had an air of discipline as he marched towards them, followed by a group of young men and women. They all wore the same uniform, a black shirt with red accents on the shoulders and matching pants. And on their right breast is what appeared to be a sigil, a red hoop surrounded by two smaller orange and black circles on a field of orange and black split horizontally. Catelyn did not recognize the heraldry, and she could not hazard a guess as to what lord it would belong to. She couldn't even understand what the sigil was meant to symbolize.

The man halted his approach and addressed her lord husband.

"Governor Stark, where will you have us quartered during our stay?" The man asked bluntly. Catelyn was slightly displeased by how terse the man was, and the title her lord husband was addressed as was unfamiliar. Although it was clear what the title meant, governor must mean 'one who governs' and by all accounts, her husband does govern the North.

"Lieutenant Moore, you and your people will be staying at the guest house. Your rooms will be prepared soon, and I'll have some of our household escort you all there shortly." Ned answered.

"Thank you, Governor." Lieutenant Moore showed his gratitude with the same rigidness.

"I hope you didn't forget about us, Lord Stark." Catelyn heard a low voice outside of her periphery, and when she turned to see its origin, she couldn't help but let out a small gasp.

The man was the tallest person she had ever seen. As the man got closer, his figure grew larger, and when he stopped a few feet away from them, she felt like a child next to him.

Catelyn could feel Sansa clutch at her dress, hiding behind her. Arya was wide-eyed without a hint of fear.

It took a few moments for Catelyn to notice the small group of men behind him. Three in total with looming heights as well, although not as high as that of the man leading them. They had no uniforms like the others, but their garments were unusual as well. The clothing, while foreign, looked to be well-made, but was heavily worn out.

"Orcus," Eddard addressed the tower of a man. "We will prepare a room for you and your men as well, next to Lieutenant Moore's."

The towering man, now given a name, Orcus, furrowed his brow. "Hmm, not sure that's a good idea. Unless you don't mind a little roughhousing."

"What do you mean?" Ned queried.

"You've seen it yourself, Lord Stark. Us Belters and the inners, especially the Mickeys here, are bound to get a little confrontational with each other."

"I assure you, Governor Stark, my recruits are as disciplined as they come." Lieutenant Moore cut in.

"You sure about that, Aaron?" Orcus then turned to the direction of one of the men behind him. All three looked much younger than Orcus, and the one who was focused on looked to be the youngest. "Lalo, kepelésh did to get da beauty mark de?"

Catelyn was taken aback by the strange tongue. What made it stranger was that she understood a few of the words but sounded completely foreign. The young man who was called upon gave a mischievous grin, which only made Catelyn's skin crawl.

"Oh ya, da duster over de gif it wit love." The young man named Lalo pointed his head towards one of the shorter but broader men who were under Lieutenant Moore's command, from what it seemed.

"Keep being a pervert to one of my comrades, and I'll give another one skinny." The shorter man barked back, stepping a little closer to confront Lalo.

"Private Turner, control yourself!" Lieutenant Moore commanded with an edge of anger in his voice.

"Yes, sir!" The young soldier obeyed quickly, assuming a rigid stance with his chest held high.

Lieutenant Moore turned to Orcus with equal annoyance. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to start a fight in front of our hosts."

"That's the thing, Aaron, I don't have to." He then turned to Ned with a somber look. "As much as I wish it were different, Belters and Inners are like oil and water. We just don't mix." Orcus told Ned.

Catelyn spotted the appearance of the young, blonde man she had seen earlier with the rest near Orcus. He came in unnoticed during the two men's argument.

"I understand, I'll have a room prepared for your Belters on the opposite end of the Martians." Ned granted the request.

"Great, but uh…" Orcus grabbed the blonde man by the shoulder, startling him, and shook him like he were his little brother. "Vincent here can stay with us. He's Beltawala with the way he drools over little Francine."

"You really didn't have to add that last part." The blonde man, Vincent, groaned.

Ned simply nodded as he turned his attention to her. She could not get past how ghastly he looked, his jovial personality did little to dull his intimidating visage. And when he turned her way, it took everything in her being not to step back and instinctively pull her daughters behind her.

"You must be Lord Stark's better half. Lady Cateyn correct, a pleasure." Orcus bowed, still towering over her.

Catelyn cleared her throat and remembered her courtesies that had been instilled in her since she was a child. "The pleasure is mine, my lord," she returned a bow.

"My lord?" Orcus chuckled. "I'm flattered, but if I'm a lord, then Vincent here is the King of New England."

"New England is a region in the North American zone. I think you meant the England in the European one." Vincent corrected him.

Orcus looked at Vincent with an unimpressed face. "Never been to your planet, remember."

"Are you one of the longfellows?" Catelyn heard her youngest daughter chirp up.

"Arya!" Catelyn chastised her daughter in a hushed tone.

To Catelyn's relief, Orcus merely smiled. "Longfellows…" Orcus said the word, as if he were appraising it. "We prefer to be called Belters, little lady."

"I'm not a Lady!"

"Oh, then what are you?"

"I'm Arya."

Orcus's grin grew wider as if he were going to laugh, which looked unnatural on his grim, scar ridden face. "I like that," he said.

After a few more pleasantries and Vincent's brief introduction, more of the Stark household arrived with their steward, Vayon Poole, leading them. Ned organized the servants to escort their guests, and they were shortly on their way to the guest house. Around two dozen, from what Catelyn saw, with a handful that stayed behind to tend their horseless carriages.

As their guests left their line of sight, Ned turned to her.

"Now then, I believe it's time I inform you on what we have seen."

"Yes, if it pleases,"

XXXXX

Catelyn sat on a lavish wooden chair one of the large glass windows in their solar. The evening light seeps through it before it gives way for the night. Ned sat at his desk, writing more letters than she had seen him write in one instance. It was several minutes until he seemingly wrote his last and stood up from his chair. He walked over to her with a tired gait. Catelyn started to notice it as they headed for their solar. Ned looked troubled, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. A few times, Catelyn tried to catch his attention, but she found him deep in thought, and from his demeanor, the thoughts didn't seem to be pleasant ones.

Ned sat down before her, a deep sigh escaping his lips.

Catelyn took a sip of her mint tea. "You seem hesitant."

"For good reason," Ned grumbled. "What I am about to tell you would have you think I'm a madman if I weren't your husband. Maybe you still would."

"Ned, you are not so old to have lost your senses. And if you give me your word, I have no reason not to believe you." Catelyn assured her lord husband.

"I would not blame you if you have doubts, Cat. I was there myself, and I'm beginning to doubt half the things I saw."

"And what did you see, Ned?"

"The impossible." Ned looked out the window, the sun began to hide behind Winterfell's walls. "Our guests come from a land called Ganymede. Except it's not a land, it's a moon. A moon of a distant world"

Catelyn stopped mid-sip; she wasn't sure if she heard him correctly. Ned continued.

"They fled their home after it became a battlefield between two great nations and boarded ships capable of sailing the stars. They embarked on a long, arduous journey until finally arriving here."

Catelyn didn't know how to respond, she felt like she was being told a tale from an old nursemaid, not an account from a Great Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.

"I know," Ned spoke. The incredulous look on Catelyn's face must have been obvious.

"They must have done something to convince you. I don't think you would have taken them purely at their word."

"They did not give us the chance to cast suspicion. The first thing they showed us was a map of the world, if you could believe it."

"How do you know the map was not falsified?"

"I didn't consider that because it was how the map was presented that shook us. They brought us to a large table to meet with their leaders, in particular an older woman who had the look of one who had lived their entire life in a desert. It was at this table that an apparition shaped like a globe appeared above it. An effigy of our world, Westeros, Essos, Sothoryos, and lands beyond all laid bare before us."

"Magic…" Catelyn's voice trembled.

"It was the first thing we suspected, but the Ganymedians assured us that wasn't the case. That all their wonders were simply the result of human ingenuity and hundreds of years of knowledge. They didn't care to explain it any further than that." Ned paused for a moment. It gave Catelyn time to process what she had heard.

Ned continued. "But it was their final demonstration that left no room for doubt. We gathered in a small, empty field, separate from the village but not too far. We gathered there for a reason, because that was where we would witness one of their flying ships descend from the skies." Ned paused again, as if recalling the memory. "And that's what we saw. It was a small vessel really, made of grey metal with sharp angles. It looked more like a box than any ship I've seen. The Ganymedians called it a 'shuttle'. And as it came down, it pierced the heavens with a thunderous crack. It was the loudest sound I've ever heard, and it echoed in the air for what felt longer than a few seconds. Finally, it landed on the ground before us with such power and precision that I thought to myself that this is what it must have been like to witness a dragon take flight. But I can't imagine it being any grander than this."

"Shortly after the vessel landed, massive metal doors on its side opened on their own, releasing the men, women, and children who were on board. That's when I came to fully realize that the Ganymedians spoke true. They are a people who hail from the stars."

Catelyn said nothing for a moment, absorbing what she had been told. The moment stretched longer, and she looked around the solar. They were the only ones present in the room, candles lit along the walls. There was one on the table they shared, close to burning out. She intentionally allowed the moment to stretch long to give time to make sense of things. It was not what she expected; to be fair, she didn't know what to expect with how strange the foreigners were. An exiled people from beyond the stars, who embarked on a pilgrimage to find a new home. A tale akin to those of grumpkins and snarks, but she told this as if it were fact. And if it is fact, then one detail she found rather concerning.

"You mentioned earlier that the foreigners fled from their home due to a battle between two great nations," Catelyn questioned, to which Ned slightly tensed as a response.

"I do not wish to alarm you, especially when we know so little. But the Ganymedians had been very forthcoming and spoke plainly. Those great nations are known as the UN and MCR, or the United Nations or Earth and the Mars Congressional Republic. The first is easily understood: a collection of nations all under one flag. But the second, Mars, is wholly unfamiliar. But from what I've been told, Mars is ruled entirely by a council chosen by its people."

"Not unlike Volantis," Catelyn added.

Ned nodded. "But the more I hear of Mars, the more I think that that's where the similarities end."

"And these two kingdoms, or nations as you say, come from this moon as well?"

Ned grimly shook his head. "Earth and Mars are not countries or even lands at that. They are two worlds."

The pit in Catelyn's stomach she hadn't noticed before, grew larger. She felt as if she were Bran or Rickon being told one of those infamous frightful tales from Old Nan. Except she didn't have the comfort of knowing that it was all just fantasy.

"Will they come here?" Catelyn asked.

"I asked the Ganymedians, and to their credit, they did not soften their word. I'll give you the same courtesy." Ned inhaled softly. To Catelyn, it looked like he might change his mind, but she knew ned well enough that he wouldn't. And he didn't.

"They know of our existence," He said softly.

Catelyn didn't notice the vice grip she had on her cup. She can't remember the last time she had been this stressed besides the birth of her children.

"Are we in danger of invasion?" Catelyn spoke as if someone were listening in.

"They say it's unlikely. Much would be in the way: political tension, the cost of travel, and a barricade between our world and theirs."

"Forgive me, but such assurances from complete strangers will do little to comfort me."

"Their reasoning is sound, but I too share your sentiment."

"I don't wish to question your judgement, but was it the correct decision to bring these people, who could be our potential enemies, to our home?"

"I did not make my decision lightly, Cat. That I can assure." Ned said calmly. "What I've told you is but a fragment of what I've learned. And what I've learned is but a fragment of what there is to know. There was the option to turn them away, and they claimed that they would do so willingly. But I fear doing so would have been a grave mistake. It would have left us in the dark for what's to come, be it war or something else. And I felt it was my duty to inform the realm of this discovery, because this does not just concern the North, nor does it just concern the Seven Kingdoms. The entire world is involved now, whether we like it or not."

Catelyn felt the conviction in her husband's voice. He was deathly serious, and the weight of the room grew heavier.

"And it would not be without benefits. Like I mentioned before, we have come to an arrangement. Along with their horseless carriages and floating maps, they have other tools at their disposal. Tools that allow them to carve the earth for metal and iron. And tools that can forge that metal faster and in greater numbers than any smith could. Already they have given us enough iron and steel to outfit our household guards twice fold. And that won't be all, food, wool, and medicine they offered to provide."

"And what do they ask in return?"

"To simply be allowed to stay where they are. Perhaps even protection. They mentioned having been able to fight off bandits and wild animals, but will soon be unable to do so. They didn't clarify why."

Catelyn heard a knock on the door behind her, followed by a voice.

"Paron, my lord, you requested me?"

"Master Luwin, you may enter."

The door opened to reveal the aged, balding man in grey wool robes. He walked in and promptly bowed. "My lord, my lady. Forgive my lateness. I was enthralled in conversation with our guests. Revelation upon revelations, one of which was the true nature of the wanderers in the sky. Neighboring worlds, much like ours. To think I would be alive for such discoveries."

"Maester," Ned called back the old man's attention gently but firmly.

"Ah, forgive me once again, my lord. I have not felt such excitement since I was a young acolyte."

"For a learned man, I cannot blame you. Now, for the reason I've summoned you. I had just finished with the letters. They are sitting on my desk, written and sealed. I presume you have the ravens prepared."

"I do, my lord. The ravens will be sent across the realm with all haste." Maester Luwin swiftly shuffled to the desk as Catelyn looked back at Ned.

"These letters are intended for your bannerman?"

"And one for Robert."

"What did you include in these letters?"

"Nothing that would have them believe I've gone mad. But enough to grab their interest."

The evening went by with not much else said besides idle talk. The sun finally retreated, giving way to the night sky. The night sky now has a new meaning. What was once was a scenery that she would enjoy has now become a harbinger of doom. Part of her wanted to deny it, it would be easy to do so with how absurd it all sounded. But to do so would be to doubt her husband, to lose faith in him. And aside from that, it would be a cowardly thing to do. Even so, she still found it difficult to absorb the new information given to her. Ned was right; if it had been anyone else, she would have waved it away as a mummer's farce, but she had seen enough to know that these foreigners were strange beyond comparison. It would be obvious to conclude that they were not from their land, but now it seems that they are not from this world.

Ned stood from his chair, explained where he was going, kissed her gently on her head, and left the room. Catelyn sat there in the solar looking out the window. She lifted her pot to take another sip of her mint tea before realizing it was empty. She stayed a little longer anyway.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or The Expanse. They belong to George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey respectively.

Jon

The courtyard sang with the clash of steel as young men traded blows. Jon watched from a distance, but his mind was elsewhere. He thought back to their visit to First Landing, the things he saw. Worlds that existed beyond their skies, nations with their own history spanning centuries and millennia, all capable of sailing the stars. Jon never fancied himself a sailor; the call to the sea never enticed him. But he had been fascinated by the stars for as long as he could remember, a realm so far and unreachable. Except now it was reachable.

Jon had heard of and seen examples of the achievements of the star people, as his countrymen had started to call them, through what the Belters called a 'video', a moving image on a tablet of glass. He saw things he could not believe: massive ships as big as mountains, floating cities among the stars, and worlds, or planets, of different shapes, sizes, and colors.

It began to snow again, flakes started to land softly on the bench he sat on, and on his fur coat. Something as commonplace as snow was remarkable to the Belters, as it was to Felcia. Felcia… she has occupied his mind since they left her village. He could not deny, he had been smitten by her, and the time they spent getting to know each other only made the feeling stronger. He did not try to court her, at least not intentionally, but there were moments. Jon did not think it was appropriate to pursue such a thing, considering his standing. Felcia is not a highborn lady, but he didn't think it was correct to say she was a common girl either. She had a family name, a father in a leadership role, and a mother learned in medicine. She'd be comparable to a daughter of a wealthy merchant if he had to make a comparison.

"Mind if I sit here, mate?" Jon heard a voice behind him, layered with a foreign accent. He looked back to see a red-haired boy in an equally foreign uniform. He stood tall behind him, with a slight stubble and broad shoulders. Jon wondered if he had seen him before; he seemed familiar.

"You may," Jon answered, still unsure who the boy was.

The red-haired boy lazily sat down next to him, a container made of metal in his hand. The container had a splash of colors on it: red, green, and yellow. The red-haired boy lifted it to his lips and drank its contents, grimacing from the taste.

"Don't know how you people can get up this early without some fucking coffee." The red-haired boy exclaimed as he continued to drink out of his colorful container. "I have to drink this fucking shite to keep myself from nodding off". It was then that Jon finally recognized him.

"You were with Orcus when he came to our fire a few days ago," Jon confirmed.

"Yeah, don't think I spoke with you and your brothers much."

"Half-brother." Jon corrected him. "And Theon is not our blood."

"Right, political hostage or something? Name's Darrow by the way."

"Jon," he returned the courtesy.

Darrow surveyed his surroundings for a moment as if he weren't sure he was at the right place. He still wore what Jon had come to learn was a Martian military uniform, but Darrow had added a fur coat over it. Jon wondered where he received it.

"Nice fucking place you have here," Darrow spoke.

"Thank you… " Jon said tentatively. He looked over to the castle walls reaching for the sky. "Winterfell is the ancestral seat of House Stark—a monument to their legacy."

"You sound like a damn tour guide. What do you really think about it?"

Jon took a moment to ponder the question, and also pondered why Darrow was being so aggressively inquisitive. "It's home," Jon finally answered. "It's the only home I've ever known."

"You like it here?" Darrow probed further.

"My father… Lord Stark treats me well. And so does his household. And I get along well enough with my half-siblings, most of them."

"Hmm, well, I ain't got a family, not really. Mom died when I was young, so my aunt took me in. She wasn't really a parent, though, just a woman I happened to live with. I stayed with her in Breach Candy until I decided I didn't want to stay in that shithole anymore." Darrow stopped himself as if he had just realized something. "Right, Breach Candy is on Mars. And Mars is one of our worlds, see, in between-"

"I know," Jon stopped Darrow's attempt at exposition. "Your people call it the Red Planet. It is a desert world with no air and no water, where the sun will boil you alive in seconds, even with one of your space suits. Which is why Martians live underground."

Jon saw Darrow cock his head towards. A smile crept on his face, and a chuckle escaped his lips. "Who told you all that?"

Jon didn't answer right away; he looked to the courtyard. Boys this time took the field to spar, a little younger than him, perhaps. "Someone from your village," Jon answered, still looking towards the courtyard. "I learned quite a bit."

"Making me feel bad. Haven't really bothered to familiarize myself with your world." Darrow stretched in his seat, arching his back like a cat, and yawned. "But maybe it's because I've been so fucking knackered. Your world's goddamn gravity is probably why. Ilus just had to be the same size as Earth."

Gravity, Jon thought. An invisible force that held a world together and everything on it to the ground was the best way he could comprehend it. It's the reason why Belters were so tall; they lived on asteroids and spaceships with little to no gravity. From his understanding, Earth has a normal amount, to which everything else was measured in reference to. Mars is half Earth's size, which would explain the Martians' appearance of slightly lanky but not quite like a Belter. Jon looked to the Martian boy next to him and saw a clear example. Darrow had a grown man's body, matching the height of his father, and his arms and legs were ever so slightly longer than an average man. But he had a boyish look to him, his face absent of any of the weathering that came with age.

"What'cha looking at, mate?" Darrow caught his attention.

Jon glanced up at him, and then he glanced at the container in his hands. "What is that?"

"Poison. You want some." Darrow stretched out his arm in offering; Jon was not entirely sure if it was in jest."

Darrow seemed to realize he had confused the raven-haired boy and physically deflated. "It's not really poison, just a shitty energy drink to keep me awake." Darrow cleared up. "They're not normally this awful, but some sick fuck decided to bring grapefruit and avocado flavor on the Brab when we left Ganymede."

The Martian shared quite a bit about himself with a complete stranger. Jon didn't think he'd do the same. Regardless, the redhead was affable enough, albeit a bit coarse, and he didn't mind the company.

Jon felt movement to his left side and saw a group of young men and women walking towards him. They all wore the same Martian Uniform Darrow had and were looking in his direction. There were four of them, two boys, two girls, and they didn't look to be much older than Jon either. The boy in front, with dirty blonde hair and amber eyes, looked bigger than Darrow, but only slightly. He stood with a sense of authority, arms crossed, with a look of disappointment. Jon barely knew these people and their customs, so he didn't know if the boy in front was anyone of note. He certainly spoke with an air of confidence.

"You still talking with the tinnies, Darrow?" the blond said with barely veiled contempt. Jon noted the word he used to call the northerners, which he's heard a scant few times, only ever from the Martians. Jon didn't know if others had heard them, but each time he had, it irritated him more and more.

"There ain't nothing better to do," Darow gave an uninterested response, not even glancing his way.

"You could train?" The blonde poked.

"We're gonna train in a minute, aren't we?" Darrow once again gave an aloof response.

Jon saw the dirty blonde's face twitch in annoyance. "You're lucky that so few of us have dust in our blood. Otherwise, we'd kick you to the curb."

"Lucky me," Darrow said lazily.

Jon saw the dirty blonde's fists clench, and he saw him begin to step forward before he was stopped by the girl next to him. She has deep black hair like his, but looks the most foreign of the group, exotic even. She had almond-shaped eyes and a small, flat nose, quite comely, Jon thought.

"Don't, Ryan. You're already on thin ice," she pleaded to the dirty blonde as she held him by his arm. Ryan looked at her, and the anger on his face melted away. He heeded her plea and stepped back.

"Yeah, you're right. He's not worth it," he simmered.

"You can do so much better than him, Emily," Darrow remarked, still not looking their way, taking a sudden interest in the snow falling on the palm of his hand.

"What? Like you? A gutter rat, dope slinger." Ryan insulted him. Anger now replaced arrogance. A condescending tone dripped from the words.

Jon saw that Darrow was finally giving the Martians his attention. He expected to see anger in his eyes, but instead, he saw weariness.

Darrow sighed and simply said, "You got me there," and went back to his drink.

Ryan puffed his chest with a cocksure grin. "Good, at least you know your place."

Just then, Jon's opinion of the newly met Martian had worsened. If a man insults you, you protect your honor, and doubly so if they spit at the name of your family and home. Jon didn't know what a 'dope slinger' was, but it was paired with 'gutter rat' and he knew well enough what that was.

As the group of Martians turned to leave. Jon stood up from the bench and called out to one of them in particular. But not in defense of the Martian boy behind. He was a man grown; he can defend his honor. No, he called out to the arrogant blonde for a different matter.

"Ryan, was it?" Jon said. The young man in question turned around, eyebrow raised as if he didn't expect anyone else to speak to him. The others turned too; they looked more worried than anything else.

"That's right. And who are you?" Ryan asked.

"Jon Snow, son of Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell," Jon answered. The same cocky grin reappeared on Ryan's face, and it had begun to annoy Jon greatly.

"Ah, you're the governor's lovechild," Ryan said mockingly.

Jon could surmise that the Martian in front of him had just called him a bastard. He felt the familiar pang of shame and anger whenever he was reminded of his status. He pushed that feeling down, however, and continued to face him.

"I am," he simply said.

"Okay, lovechild. Is there something you want to ask me?"

"I would ask you to stop disrespecting my people."

"I'm sorry, but in what way did I disrespect you people?" Ryan questioned, acting confused but clearly disingenuous.

"Tinny. As in tin, a lesser metal. You think us inferior, don't you?" Jon bit back. His sound sharper, and he could tell that Ryan picked up on it.

"Am I wrong?" Ryan taunted.

"From what I've seen…" Jon slowly moved his hand to the pommel of his sheathed sword and gripped it, "You bleed just like the rest of us,".

Ryan's cocky grin turned feral as he, he too, reached for something on his right hip and gripped its handle.

"You wanna try me, kid?" Ryan dared, as he darkly chuckled.

One of the other Martians to his left stepped forward and grabbed his arm.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" the other Martian exclaimed. This one shorter and leaner. Brown skin and more bearded, but did not look much older than the one he was admonishing.

Ryan brushed him off aggressively without even sparing him a glance. "Stay out of this, Amir," he told him.

Jon stood his ground, but soon felt a hand on his right shoulder.

"Oh my days. I knew you were a meathead, but I didn't think you'd be this stupid." Jon heard Darrow say next to him, but he was looking straight at Ryan.

"Oh, now you want to get off your lazy ass." Ryan mocked, his focus now turned to Darrow, now paying Jon no mind as if he had stopped existing. More disrespect to fuel the anger in his breast.

"You realize what would happen if you pull that gun out, right?." Darrow questioned him.

"Relax, I was just trying to scare the kid."

Darrow glanced at Jon and back at Ryan. "Does he look scared?"

Ryan just scoffed. "Nah, just looks dumb and uncivilized."

Jon gripped his sword pommel tighter and slightly unsheathed it. He could feel his teeth grinding and his rage bubbling up from the pit of his stomach. Jon attempted to take one step further, but the hand on his shoulder latched onto him tighter, seizing him.

"Well, Ryan, if you're done being an absolute cunt, then can you do us a favor and kindly fuck off?"

"Why don't you make me. It's been a while since I last kicked your ass."

Jon saw Darrow out of the corner of his eye, reach for something on his right hip as well. "Did you forget that I'm also carrying?" Darow said in a much lower, deathly serious voice. "If we're going another round, it won't be with our fists."

"Now who's the stupid one?"

"As long as no Ilusian is hurt, then it's fair game. Now come on, you show me yours and I'll show you mine. I just hope you're as quick as you are with Emily."

Ryan cocked his head, jaw clenched wire tight, and his body almost seemed to tremble as he let out a low, humorless chuckle.

"I'm going to kill you, you fucking rat," he spat out.

Jon noticed the other Martian who tried to hold back Ryan earlier spot something from behind the Martian group.

"Shit! Lieutenant Moore is coming!" He nearly shouted, which got the attention of the other two nameless Martians, a boy and a girl with no outstanding features.

Ryan, on the other hand, still stared down Darrow, unwilling to give ground.

"Ryan!" Emily called out to him, grabbing onto his arm. She was surprisingly strong, from what Jon could discern. The Martian girl was able to tug him back with just one hand.

The hot-headed, dirty blonde relented, but not before he said the last word.

"We'll continue this real soon, gutter rat."

The Martian group walked off, leaving Jon and Darow standing in the snow.

Once they were far out of view, Jon spoke up, "You didn't have to do that."

"No, I think I did." Darrow retorted, already having let go of Jon's shoulder. "And not for your sake. That asshole could have caused an interplanetary incident. Would have really fucked shit up for all of us." Darrow continued to talk, but now it sounded like it was more to himself and devolved into a mumbling rant. "And after Moore basically had to beg to keep our guns, and he pulls this shit. Can't believe Emily and Amir have to put up with his shit. They're not his fucking babysitter."

Darrow was already starting to head towards where the group had gone before he turned around to Jon. "You're not gonna tell your da about what happened, right?"

Jon has heard the word 'dad' multiple times by now, so he assumed that 'da' was another way to say father.

"Nothing has happened, so there is nothing to tell. But I won't let this stand. He insults my people and, in the same breath, insults my family."

"So you're gonna pick another fight with him? Cause he could have easily killed you if he wanted to. I know we haven't shown off our weapons, but I'm pretty sure we described them to your people."

"I know about your 'guns'. I've seen your videos."

"Then you should have known how stupid it was to bring a sword to a gunfight. He was a good eight feet away from you. You weren't gonna reach him before he pulled that trigger."

"What would you have me do then? Stand by as my people are insulted like a craven."

Jon sat back down on the bench.

"Yeah, well, you dying a brave man isn't gonna do me or the rest of us any good."

Jon simply glared at him, and Darrow took that as a sign.

"Ok, guess I should fuck off then too. Or else Lieutenant Moore will drag me to training."

Darrow shuffled off towards the training yard where the rest of the Martians were. Jon sat there alone again. Several minutes later, the Matian appeared in the training yard. They sparred, but not with swords but with their hands. Mostly grabs and throws, an unusual fighting style that one would not be likely to see in the North, or really anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms. Darow's turn soon came up, and unfortunately, his sparring partner was Ryan. And as expected, he got his retribution; Ryan threw Darrow more brutally and sneaked in a few punches and kicks. Something tells Jon that he wasn't done with the redhead yet. Afterwards, they exercised by lying on their belly and pushing their bodies off the floor, and then lying on their backs and lifting their body instead. They rounded it off by jogging off from the courtyard in a single line with Lieutenant Moore in the lead. They then soon returned to the courtyard from the other direction and repeated the entire exercise. It was safe to say that Jon wasn't the only one looking at them oddly; there were plenty of curious looks from the guards and passersby.

The Martian training went on for almost an hour, but he stopped paying attention halfway through. He then thought back on his visit to First Landing and wondered when he would return to the village of the star people again.

XXXXX

On the second day of their visit to the Ganymedians' village, many of them had decided to separate from the greater group. At the moment, Robb was accompanied by Theon as well as two trusted Stark guardsmen and a Glover man. Jon didn't have the same kind of entourage. He wandered the strange village alone, and frankly, he preferred it.

As he walked through the unfamiliar sights of oddly shaped homes and traveled the remarkably well-paved footpath, he was reminded of the times when he was a young boy wandering through the stone buildings of Winterfell and its halls.

At that age, everything was new to him, and everything seemed bigger. He remembered witnessing his first sparring between two men in the courtyard. Now he knew that it was just a routine sparring session between two novice swordsmen, swordsmen that Jon couldn't even recall what they looked like. But in his memory, it was the most thrilling thing he's ever seen. How much he wished at that moment that he could be a man already, so that he could swing a sword too. Jon didn't know that he didn't have to wait very long to get his chance.

"Hey!" Jon heard a soft voice behind him. He turned around to see the girl from the sky, wearing the warmest smile, looking at him. "You're one of the governor's sons, right?"

"Governor…" Jon half-mumbled until he realized she meant his lord father. "Aye… My father is the… governor of the North." Jon tried using the foreign title. It felt strange to refer to his father as anything but the Lord of Winterfell or the Warden of the North.

The girl did not say anything, as if she were expecting something. It was an awkward silence that started to unnerve Jon. Thankfully, the girl spoke again

"Can I have your name?" She asked coyly.

"It's Jon… Snow, if it pleases my lady."

The girl paused for a moment, mild surprise on her face as Jon worried in that brief time if he had said something wrong. Before Jon could apologize for a perceived slight, the girl in front of him started laughing heartily.

"Oh wow!" She exclaimed as she continued to giggle. "You guys really do talk like that!"

"Like what?" Jon asked, more confused than embarrassed. Although still sufficiently embarrassed.

"You know…" The girl said, her laughter finally subsiding. "Talking all fancy like that."

"Fancy?"

"You know… all formal and proper." The girl gestured with her hands. "Loosen up, ok. I'm no one special that you have to talk to like that."

Jon felt disarmed by how playful the girl was. And he did not know how to take her request.

"My name is Felcia Merton, by the way." She offered her hand, but not in a way Jon expected. Most ladies would offer their bare hand to be kissed upon, but Felcia offered it with the intention of a handshake. He reached for it tentatively, unsure of himself and apprehensive about going against everything he was taught. He held her hand gently, but Felcia quickly clasped on and shook vigorously. Jon did not fight it, staggered by her surprise forcefulness and still unsure how to proceed.

"Come on. You don't need to be so stiff," Felcia giggled, letting go of Jon's hand. "I know this all might seem kinda strange to you, but don't worry, we don't bite."

Jon started to feel a bit of creeping shame. He thought that he might seem like a scared child to the girl in front of him. It didn't help that she was noticeably taller than him too. So Jon steeled himself and faced her again.

"I am alright, my lady. Just… tired." Jon lied.

"Suuurrre… ," Felcia ribbed, clearly not fooled. "So Jon, how are you liking our humble little settlement so far. Pretty cool, huh?"

Jon continues to parse what the foreign terms are as he hears them from the Ganymedians. He could only surmise if she was asking if he approved.

"It's impressive. I've never seen anything like it."

"I could say the same thing about your world. I mean, the air here is amazing, almost addictive." The girl took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled with pure bliss.

"The air?" Jon questions as he consciously took a less deep breath through his nose and exhaled mildly. "I suppose it is quite crisp today."

"You wouldn't get it. We Belters usually have to breathe in recycled air in our stations and ships. That kind of air would be stale or really stuffy. Which is why back home I would hang out in Hydroponics, where all the plants are, but even that doesn't compare to here."

Felcia then held out her hands as she collected snowflakes. She brought her hands toward her as she admired what she caught. "And don't get me started on the snow. I've only ever seen it in Earther vids or E-books. I always thought it looked pretty, but I also thought I'd never see it with my own eyes, either. Until now, that is."

"Do you like the snow?"

"I… never gave it much thought."

"Hmph, I guess if you always live around it. You'd get used to it." Felcia hummed, a tinge of disappointment in her voice. Jon immediately regretted not giving a better. answer.

Before Jon could say anything, however, Felcia spoke with an even brighter attitude. "You look a little lost, by the way. I noticed you were just walking around a bit."

"I wouldn't say I'm completely lost, but I admit I have been wandering without any real direction."

"How about I help you get your bearings?"

"You wish to help me?"

"Yup! Lucky for you, I have some time to kill, so I can show you around the place if you'd like."

Jon thought over her offer. It would be beneficial to have someone to guide him, and he had to admit, he didn't know where to start. He looked back at Felcia and stilled for a moment. Her large, deep brown eyes were looking at him, and he felt exposed, strangely enough. As a bastard, he was used to most people he met to not pay him much mind or be given the simplest rehearsed pleasantries. Rarely did he ever feel seen, and the ones who do see him, he could count on one hand. With Felcia, he'd run out of fingers, but it was different with her. Jon had ventured to the whorehouses of Wintertown on Theon's insistence, accompanied by Robb as well. He'd seen how the women of the night would look at him with lustful eyes, whether that be for his manhood or his coin. He didn't feel that from Felcia; what he felt was… warmth.

"I'd be honored." He said.

"Awesome! Oh, and none of that 'my lady' felota, okay. Just call me Felcia."

"As you wish my-" Jon stopped himself and cleared his throat. "Felcia"

"Great!" Felcia exclaimed. She then snatched his arm and dragged him towards the center of the village.

First Landing was bustling as always. Jon had never seen a village as busy as this, and as the sun retired for the evening, the Ganymedians didn't. Their lights that shine brighter than any lantern kept the darkness from claiming their homestead and they continued their never-ending work.

Felcia stopped suddenly in front of him and spun around. She let go of Jon's hand and folded her arms, looking to their corner and mulling over a thought.

"Hmm, I actually don't know where we should go first," she said and then looked back at Jon. "What do you want to see?"

Jon thought it over, and it did not take him long to find an answer. "I would like to see the vessel you came in from. The one that came from above the skies."

"The Shuttle? Sure, I can take you there. It's not going to take off for a while anyway."

For a mercy, Felcia didn't grab his arm again as she led the way. He didn't dislike it, but he would rather not be seen being dragged around by a woman he just met. He wouldn't know how to explain that to his father or brother.

But a few seconds in, and Jon was starting to think it would have been better if Felcia had led him by the arm. She walked briskly through the crowd of people, without colliding into any bodies where whereas Jon had to excuse himself a handful of times already.

Jon kept her in his sights, however, and soon the crowd started to thin and he saw the shuttle itself in the field. Only a few men stood watch around the vessel, with a few others tending to it with their tools. Fire sparked from the exposed hull, a sheet of steel layed on the floor while men in visored helmets went to work.

Jon caught up with Felcia, and thankfully, Felcia slowed to a more relaxed stroll.

"Did you see me come out of the ship when we landed?" Felcia asked.

"I… did," Jon answered.

Felcia just smiled and quickly walked up to the man in front of the shuttle's door.

"Oye, Androis." Felcia greeted the man. He was Belter, from what Jon could tell. The man's height told him as much, as well as the markings on his skin.

"Felcia, Kewe Tudiye?"

"Good, good. Beratna," Felcia greeted her fellow Belter. "Listen, do to pensa mi can show my kopeng here da inside of the shuttle?"

The belter hummed as he stroked his fork tongue beard. "This coyo, ferrumang no? Du na remembera a tumang like dis."

"Ya, he Ilusian. His name's Jon. Im da son of the governor in fact."

"Ooooh, bosslet. Bik coyo then." The Belter exclaimed, although Jon could tell from his tone that he was not genuinely impressed.

Jon stood there unsure how to respond. Felcia continued the conversation regardless.

"It'd be fine, keya? Milowda won't cause trouble," Felicia promised.

The Belter man looked at Felcia for a moment, then looked at Jon, then back to Felcia. In way as if he were trying to determine something.

"Are to tu gonya du amolof in deya?"

Jon had no idea what had just been said, but he did hear a sharp yelp from his side.

"What!? No! Why would you say that! I've just met him, nakagepensa!" Felcia screamed.

"Uzgun, sesata. Mi just thought-"

"Well don't, okay!" She interrupted, incredibly flustered. "So, can we go in or what?"

"Hmm. ya ok." The Belter man finally acquiesced, picking at his ear at the same time.

"C'mon, Jon," she said to her raven-haired companion and then looked back to the Belter man. "Taki, Androis." She said begrudgingly.

Felcia walked up the ramp leading Jon until she turned around to ask the Belter man one more thing. "Wait, are you saying that no one is in there, right now?"

"Na at da moment," He answered, tilting his head slightly towards her.

"Oh, ok" Felcia vacillated and then continued to walk up the ramp.

The ramp led to a pair of closed steel doors, but Felcia fiddled with a device with symbols on the side to get it to open. The inside of the shuttle was too dark to see beyond the daylight that bleeded in, revealing a few feet, but as they entered, light suddenly flooded the room. The door then closed on its own behind them. Jon was slowly getting accustomed to the strange devices and artifacts the Ganymedians possessed. It was still hard to believe their claims that none of it was magic. Even still, he couldn't help but stare at the fixed light sources and the steel doors that closed on it's own.

"Jon… hello?" He heard Felcia call out to him and snapping him out of his astonishment. He saw that her standing by a table, waving him over.

"Over here," she said, and he did just that.

As Jon joined her, curiosity got the better of him, and he asked what had Felcia so flustered earlier outside.

"What did that man say to upset you so much?"

"He said something stupid. That's all." Felcia answered tersely, a bit of red returning to her cheeks. Jon did not broach the matter any further; he had a feeling it would be bad for his health. "Anyways, forget about that! I have something I want to show you."

Felcia fiddled with the buttons on the table in the same way she had done on the device by the steel doors. After a few minutes, the apparition of globes appeared on the table in the same way it had the first time he and his party saw them when they first arrived at the village.

Felcia was smiling ear, she looked as if she was expecting a grand reaction.

"Amazing, huh? Bet you've never seen something like this before."

Jon was in a precarious position in deciding how to tell her he had without disappointing her. In the end, he decided to speak truly.

"I have… actually. One of your young maesters, Vincent, showed us this." Jon disclosed. He then looked down at the table and noticed a crack in the glass and dried blood on the edge. "Same table, too," he muttered.

"Oh…" Felcia frowned. "Darn, just my luck. I should have shown you something else then."

Jon felt a pang of guilt for causing her to be so crestfallen, so he tried to reassure her.

"The spirit map is still incredible the second time." He said.

Felcia heard his words and gave a half smile. "Spirit map?

"I'm not sure what else to call it?" Jon confessed.

"I mean, you're not far off. We call it a system map or a star map. You know, since it's a map of your solar system."

"Star map does sound more apt."

Felcia smirked and then leaned forward against the table, pressed a few more buttons, and the globes started to spin.

"Do you want to move it around? Explore your system?" She invited.

Jon didn't notice that the star map was of his world, of his sun. Even looking more carefully, he would not be able to determine that.

"How do I move the worlds around?"

"With your hands. Just reach out and swipe or grab or pinch." Felcia demonstrated by using both hands and spreading them apart on the star map to enlarge a part of it, getting a closer look at his world. She then brought her hands together to revert the map to its previous size.

"See, like that." Felcia affiirmed.

Jon, taking in the instructions, stepped forward to the table. Unsure of the device, he raised just one hand. Felcia mentioned he could swipe, so he did just that. The next thing he knew, he saw all the worlds spin around on the table at incredible speed, causing Jon to back up and become disoriented.

Felcia stopped the spinning map with one outstretched hand and grabbed Jon by the arm with the other. "Whoa, are you ok?"

Jon shook his head to reorient himself. "What happened?"

"I think you swiped a little too hard." Felcia giggled. "It's sensitive, so just do light movements."

Jon nodded and returned to the edge of the table. He heeded Felcia's advice, and sure enough, he was able to navigate the map with little issue. He received more instructions on what hand movements do what, but it was strangely intuitive once he knew the fundamentals.

His world looked unnaturally detailed; he felt like a god peering down on it. That in itself also felt unnatural.

He moved from world to world, looking at each one closely. Absorbed in their majesty. The first one, yellow in coloring, with winds that looked unbelievably fierce. The Warrior without a doubt.

The second world, this one violet. It had one moon like his world, but it looked tiny in comparison. The world was completely obscured in miasma. What lay beneath, he could not even begin to fathom. This one was the Crone.

The third world was his own, but the fourth was strikingly similar. It was the same size, from what he could tell, and markedly bigger than the first two. It also visibly had seas, but the water, if it was water, was an unusual shade of dark blue. The land, however, seemed to be covered in what he could only describe as blue grass that shone like moonlight. And speaking of moons, this one had two. The maiden, Jon soon realized.

The fifth world was a far cry from the previous one. It was a desert world, from what Jon could surmise. Red as blood. He's heard that some of the Ganymedians came from a world called Mars that was described like this. To hail from such a desolate place, the people of Mars must be made of sterner stuff. This one was, without question, the Smith. The brightest of the wanderers in the night sky.

Jon was so enthralled by the star map that he didn't notice the giggling near him. That is, until it got a little louder.

"Was I doing something wrong?"

"No, no. It's nothing. It's just that… you seemed to be having a lot of fun."

Jon smirked at the comment. He had to admit, he was completely engrossed in the map like a child would be on a map of far-off lands.

"Hey! You smiled!" Felcia exclaimed as she quickly stepped closer. Inspecting his face as if to make sure he was

Jon involuntarily leaned back from the sudden closeness. "Does that surprise you?"

"A little." Felcia leaned back as well. "You've been brooding this whole time until now. I thought maybe you were trying to be all dark and mysterious to impress me."

"I-I wasn't-" Jon spluttered.

Felcia giggled some more and playfully punched Jon in the arm. "I'm just messing with you." She then adjusted the map to herself and focused on the larger worlds.

"I saw you were looking at the inner planets of your system. I thought maybe we should check out the outer ones."

"The Father, the Mother, and the Stranger." Jon named the sixth, seventh, and eighth worlds, respectively. The Father was the largest, had an orange coloring, and had a massive ring around it. It had numerous rocky objects around it, and from what he remembered from the first time he saw a star map, these objects would be moons. The Mother was nearly as massive as the Father, but not quite. It did not have the same ring, but what it did have was noticeably more moons and a brighter green coloring. Both the Father and the Mother had visible movement on them, like a storm brewing across their faces. Not so for the eighth and last world, the Stranger. It looked like a solid ball of ice. No wind, no cracks, nothing. It was a perfectly smooth dark blue ball suspended in the air.

"Wait. There are eight worlds. We were told yesterday that there were only seven."

"We thought that too. But the Bering Survey probes found another planet out beyond our view. Luckily, the inners have been playing nicely and shared their data, so we were able to update our maps."

The only thing that Jon could gather was that the inner worlds from where Felcia is from had recorded their worlds and shared the information with the Ganymedians. It troubled them to know how much was being discovered by an entity they had yet to meet.

"Would you like to see the Sol system now?" Felcia asked excitedly. Jon determined she meant her worlds, and yes.

Felcia fiddled again with the table. Jon was closer now to see what she was doing and saw what looked like a glass pane with images and symbols on it. Felcia pressing on them would cause them to react, and new images, symbols, and what looked like sentences would appear. Jon stopped looking any longer, accepting that he had no chance of understanding what she was doing.

The star map then blinked out of existence for a brief moment, and then a new one appeared. At least, Jon thinks it was a new one. At first glance, it looked so familiar to the previous one that it might have been the same. But upon closer inspection, it was clear that it was a different star map due to the fact that the worlds clearly not the same.

"Hmm, where should I start?" Felcia hummed, and Jon already had a suggestion in mind.

"How about your home?" He requested.

"Ganymede? Sure!"

Felcia then focused on the largest world, a near-identical twin to the Mother, except this one had a yellow-brown coloring with white bands across. Jon also notices a great red spot near the bottom of the world. Felcia then focused even more on a massive brown-grey sphere floating around the world."

"Ganymede is one of the four major Moons of Jupiter. It's not only the biggest moon orbiting Jupiter, it's also the biggest moon in the solar system." Felcia described.

Jon stared at the floating moon in front of him and took in the details. Ganymede looked cold and desolate, save for the lights that peppered the side of the moon. He didn't know what these lights were until an astonishing realization occurred to him that this was where the people of Ganymede must have settled.

"Is this where you lived?" Jon pointed to the lights on the moon.

"No, those are military stations." Felcia spun the moon and stopped at a large dome that dwarfed the lights Jon saw before. "This is where we lived."

What Jon saw was what he could only describe as massive glass gardens that looked to encompass entire cities. The domes, as he would describe them more aptly, were connected to each other with snaking steel tunnels, and what Jon thought looked like bridges. Jon could not fathom how much gold it would take to create the glass domes, let alone everything else.

"At least, that's what it looked like before the domes fell." Felcia said wistfully.

Jon looked to her, noticed her somber turn. "You left your home because of war. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Earth and Mars happened. It's always Earth and Mars."

"The two great nations of your world, or worlds."

Felcia nodded. "Earth crossed over to Mars' side and then Mars fired back. And in the middle was us. The worst part… it was all a misunderstanding, so Earth and Mars went back to hating each other from the safety of their own planets while the ones that were left behind on Ganymede had to pick up the pieces."

Felcia looked at the spinning globe with an air of sadness. Jon felt a sharp pang of sympathy. He tried to imagine what it would be like if he were forced to flee Winterfell or the North due to a war they had no part in. He would feel righteous fury, first and foremost, and a desire to reclaim his home and punish the ones who drove his people out. Despair would come in the interim, when he and his family do their best to survive in a faraway land. Jon wondered if Felcia had that same desire; she didn't mind being here, as she enjoyed the beautiful snow and intoxicating air, as she put it. But still, she looked at the apparition of her home as if it were the grave of a loved one, and Jon wanted to ask if he missed it. He decided not to; he felt it was a stupid question to ask. Of course, she would miss her home, so instead he decided to ask a different question.

"Why is it called Ganymede? The world that it belongs to is named Jupiter after one of your gods, is it not?" Jon had heard a tidbit from his father when he gave a short summary of what was discussed between him and the Ganymedians.

Felcia smiled. "Not our gods, but yes, that is correct. Ganymede is named after the cupbearer of the gods. He was supposed to be really beautiful. Then you have the other Galilean moons named after Europa, Io, and Callisto, who were a princess, a priestess, and a… shoot, I forgot the last one."

"Gallien?"

"It's what the four major moons are called. They were named after an ancient Eather astronomer called Gallieo who discovered them."

"I see." Jon believed he remembered Vincent calling himself an 'astronomer'. From the blonde man's explanation, an astronomer is a learned man who studies the field of stars. An amusing thought crossed Jon's mind of Maester Luwin discovering the major moons of the Mother and naming the Luwinien moons.

His next thought was of the namesakes of the other moons. Felcia enlarged the view and brought the four moons in question closer together. They all varied in size and color, with Ganymede coming out as the winner when it comes to size. Of the other three, one was dark brown and the second largest, another was pure white like the snow he had stood upon outside, and the fourth had a sickly yellow color ot it, and was the smallest of the group.

"And what relation did they have with Jupiter?" Jon asked, wondering about the namesakes of the moons floating before him. "Did they serve him?"

"Yes… but kinda of by force. All four have something in common in that they were all kidnapped by Jupiter to be his lovers. That part of the story always creeps me out."

"Your gods don't seem to be any different from human lords and kings," Jon commented.

Felcia puffed up her cheeks. "I just said they're not our gods. They're from an old, dead religion and an Earther religion at that."

"Apologies," Jon said sheepishly and then pivoted to another question. "Although if the namesakes of your outer worlds and moons are those of an Earth religion, why keep those names? Wouldn't the Belters want to name their homes themselves?"

"I asked my papa the same question a while ago. He said some Belters tried to start a movement back in the day to rename the outer planets. Members of the OPA, I'm pretty sure. Back when it was just considered a terrorist organization by the inners and not an actual government. Anyways, none of their names caught on, I couldn't tell you one of them. Most of the outer planets have had their names for centuries, so it's kinda hard to just change them now."

Felcia moved on from the moons of Jupiter to the other outer planets, then to the inner worlds as well. Jon listened intently to Felcia intently on how the nations came to be. She kept it, so Jon didn't know the full history. Felcia admitted that she only scratched the surface, as she put it . And the table didn't only summon the star maps, it also summoned moving images that Felcia called 'videos'. These videos depicted a summary of the history of Sol, the name or their collection of worlds. He learned of how man had achieved the impossible and ventured beyond their. How they left their world to settle new ones on Mars, Ceres and the asteroids of the Belt. And he saw the floating cities that many called home in the void. Tycho Station was the most well-known one, from what Felcia told him. Apparently, the leader of the Outer Planets Alliance normally resides there.

He then witnessed how they waged war and Jon felt unsettled by it. They fought at a distance from their spaceships at what was described as tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of leagues away. From what he could understand, they fired explosives that could track their movements or massive steel bolts to pierce their enemies. It all felt so cold and detached, only ever getting intimate if the one combatant boards another.

Jon didn't know how long they had both been in that shuttle. It felt like an hour, but it could have been several. After whatever amount of time had passed, Jon wanted to ask something that he thought was childish, but he felt he needed to ask anyway.

"Do you think I would be able to see these worlds myself one day?"

"You want to travel to space?"

"Forget it. It's just a foolish thought.

"No, I don't think so at all. I think it's great. That means I did a good job in showing you how amazing space is. In fact, I won't be staying here like my family will. In a couple of years, I'll be leaving this planet to go to Luna to study at the most prestigious colleges in the system. Our system, that is."

"You're going to leave?" Jon asked wistfully.

"Yep! As much as I love it here, I have a goal that I have wanted to achieve ever since I was a little girl. And besides, I can always come back when I graduate. It's not like Ilus is going anywhere."

Jon couldn't help but feel a little disappointed hearing that she plans to leave in the near future. Especially since he has taken a liking to her. From what he heard, and specifically from Vincent, was that colleges were a place of learning, much like the Citadel. So that would mean Felcia is a type of maester in training, then, a learned woman. Jon had never heard of a female maester, but the Ganymedians did do things very differently from them.

"What would you be studying at this 'college'?"

"Hmmm, I guess without overexplaining myself, I'm studying medicine like my mother."

"You're training in the healing arts, then?"

"I guess you can say that."

"In that case, I wish you luck." Jon simply said.

"Thanks! But hey, since you want to see other moons and planets too. Why don't you come with me when I leave? I won't be the only one going; lots of people want to go back home for their own reasons. If you're okay with leaving your family and home for a long time."

Suddenly, Jon wasn't so somber anymore. He had already been contemplating the idea of joining the Night's Watch and taking the black. He resigned himself to never amounting to much as a bastard, and he thought he could find honor and a purpose at the Wall. He would also be joining his uncle Benjen as well, so he wouldn't be completely alone.

But now, a much more exciting path has opened before him. A path he could not imagine a mere few days ago. And if he were to travel with Felcia, he wouldn't be alone either.

Before Jon could give Felcia his answer, he heard footsteps and light chattering from the doorway.

"Oye, so ya doing xiya, métexeng?" One of the three Belters who entered the shuttle asked Felcia. One of the extraordinarily tall ones he's seen in the village. The ones who looked to be at least seven feet tall.

"Nada Beratna, just showing a friend around."

"Hmm, well fongi fongi. Milowda working now, sabe?."

"Ya sabez, milowda leaving then." Felcia responded and turned to Jon. "Alright, I guess that's it for now. These guys are going to start moving some stuff out, so we should get going." Felcia explained as she made the 'videos' and the star map disappear from above the table.

As they were leaving, Jon caught some glances from the other Belters, and they were far from friendly.

"Ferrumang beltawala?" One of them chuckled derisively to his companion.

"To kom pensa ses would Wanya paxoniseki?" The other Belter laughed, not bothering to hide.

Once again, Jon could not understand the Belter tongue, but he didn't need to understand a word to be certain that they were belittling him. He wanted to confront them, but what could he do when he couldn't speak to them properly? And of course, he had Felcia there with him.

The tallest one who spoke to Felcia, however, did not say another word. He only gave Jon an ice-cold stare, as if he were suspicious of him. It was clearly becoming hostile in the shuttle, so he moved alongside Felcia and exited the vessel.

They hopped off the ramp and gathered some distance from the shuttle. Jon noticed more Belters waiting outside with more of those 'Electric carts' as they were leaving.

"Sooo," Felcia mused. They were already approaching the town square. "Since I took you somewhere. I think now is the time for you to return the favor."

Jon didn't expect such a request. "Where would you want me to take you?" he asked.

Felcia held her chin and looked up to the sky with pursed lips. She looked like she was deep in thought, but Jon had a feeling that she already had something in mind. "I want to see one of your horses." Felcia decided.

"You've never seen a horse before?"

"I've never seen an animal larger than a rat before."

Jon thought it was an easy enough request, and they were already headed in the direction where his mount was hitched with the others.

"Very well then. I suppose I'll lead this time."

Felcia seemed to be excited at the thought and fell in behind him. The crowd of people was still dense, but what really made it difficult to navigate was that many of the Ganymedians were going in entirely different directions. Again, he bumped into a handful, none so much as giving him a glance. Eventually, the crowd thinned, and Jon and Felcia walked side by side with enough space around them

"So you're dad is pretty important, huh?" Felcia abruptly asked.

Jon heard her question and considered how to respond.

"Of course," Jon said. "He is the lord of House Stark, one of the great houses and one of the most ancient. And he is the Warden of the North, entrusted to protect one of the seven kingdoms of the realm.

Felcia was wide-eyed. "Whoa, that sounds pretty important."

Jon felt pleased with the explanation he gave and the impression on Felcia.

"So does that mean your dad is like second in command then?" Felcia asked further.

"The Great Lords and the Lords paramount would be directly below the king, aye." Jon answered."

"Ahh. Like a captain and his XO. Or a Bosmang and his bosslet."

"I presume so," Jon said, even though he didn't fully grasp the comparison. He still thought it sounded similar enough

"Hmm, but I've been wondering. Why is your last name Snow when your dad's name is Stark?" Felcia asked.

Jon froze but still kept walking. Jon didn't know how to answer; it seemed to him that Felcia didn't know what the name 'Snow' meant, so he did not have to worry about his bastardy when speaking with her. But that she was asking, he felt the temptation to lie. Jon didn't say anything for a minute, and Felcia started to take notice

"I'm sorry. If it's too personal, I won't pry," Felcia said apologetically.

Jon saw her apologize so honestly, which then compelled him to be honest as well. He felt a slight shame for even considering lying and debasing himself further.

"No, it's alright," Jon assured her. "The reason my name is Snow is because I am a bastard."

Jon didn't know what kind of reaction he would get. He braced for the worst but instead got almost no reaction.

"Did you do something bad?" Felcia asked with a slightly confused look.

Jon felt his guard slip, now sharing in the confusion. "I suppose my birth would be the bad thing I did."

"Why would you say that?" Felcia asked, still sounding unsure what Jon meant but now worry creeping in her voice.

"My father sired me with another woman when he was already married to his lady wife." Jon clarified.

"Ohhh, you were born out of wedlock. So the old meaning for bastard."

"The old meaning. What does bastard mean where you're from?"

"We usually use that word for someone who's a bad person, or someone you really don't like."

"Then what do you call actual bastards then?"

"Hmm, we don't really have a word for them, at least not Belters. Most Belters don't do marriages; they see it as a dumb inner tradition. My family is kinda the exception."

Jon was astounded by what he heard, and a little foolish for being so apprehensive. But as surprising as it was, he should have expected the Ganyemdians, and in this case, the Belters, would see things so differently.

Felcia halted where she stood and gasped. "Are those the horses!?"

They arrived where the horses were hitched near the outskirts of the village. No one was nearby, with the nearest dwelling several yards away.

"That they are," Jon confirmed. "I'll bring mine forward. You wait here."

Felcia nodded, and Jon trudged towards his mount. The horse Jon rode in on was a young black courser. Strong and healthy, and well kept, as evident by its shiny, clean mane only marked by the snowflakes clinging to it.

He mounted the horse and rode it forward. And much to Jon's amusement, Felcia was left starry-eyed.

"Wow, it's a lot bigger than I imagined. Way bigger than what I saw in the inner vids." Felcia exclaimed.

Jon dismounted, his feet imprinting on the snow beneath him. "Her name is Whisper. She just turned four years old, from what the stablemaster told us." Jon said as he petted the horse. He reached over the saddlebag slung over the horse's side and fed it a dirt-covered carrot.

Felcia stood several feet away. She was clearly admiring the horse but was just as clearly wary of it.

"Would you like to pet her?"

"Uhh, I don't know. I thought I could just see them from afar." Felcia quavered, now becoming less excited and more nervous.

"Are you afraid?" Jon said, half-teasing, half genuinely asking.

"Like I said, the largest animal I've ever seen is a rat."

"There is nothing to be afraid of. She's the gentlest mare I've ever met."

"She doesn't bite, does she?" Felcia worriedly asked.

A small chuckle escaped Jon's lips, but he cut it short. "No, I promise you she doesn't."

"Ok, I'll take your word for it then." She agreed, timidly.

Felcia proceeded to approach the horse with great trepidation. Once she was arms-length apart, she reached her trembling hand out towards the mare. The mare was not bothered in the slightest by the Belter girl, but regardless, Felcia treated the horse with the same precaution one would a dangerous beast.

Felcia's hand was now a hair's breadth away. Jon moved to the side but still kept close. Felcia lingered there for a moment. Jon thought she might change her mind and pull back her hand. The moment stretched out a little longer until Felcia did eventually pull back her hand, but involuntarily, as the horse suddenly sneezed a rather loud sneeze.

"AHHHH!" Felcia shrieked. She stepped back quickly and found herself slipping on the snow below her feet. Jon saw her falling backwards and, without thinking, caught her by the waist with one arm. Jon then felt her long arm wrapped around the back of his neck, and her other hand clenched tightly on the furs on his chest.

"Wha- what happened? Did I make her mad?" Felcia spluttered, still holding on to Jon while her feet tried to find purchase on the snow floor.

Jon saw the girl cowering in his arms before simple mare, and though he knew it'd be rude, he couldn't help it. He started to laugh.

"Huh… what's so funny!?" Felcia huffed.

It took a minute for Jon's hearty laughter to go down to a more subdued chuckle before he could answer. "It was just a sneeze." Jon grinned.

"That was a sneeze! That sounded like she was coughing up a lung!"

Jon once again let out an uncontrollable laugh, this time harder.

"Alright, get it all out, you jerk." Felcia relented, but Jon could tell by her tone that she wasn't truly annoyed, at least not anymore. Her playful punch to his chest told him as much. And as he opened his eyes and looked at her, he saw a smile crack through her feigned annoyance.

And what a smile it was. Jon abruptly quit his laughter as he became enamored by her joyful, almost mischievous smile. His eyes traced upwards to her small, tipped nose, then to her large brown eyes that pierce a man's soul. Eyes that hid behind strands of her silk-like black hair, cascading over her unblemished, warm skin.

Felcia continued to giggle until she wasn't. And then her face started to get warmer, redder. And her eyes were no longer looking directly at him; they were trying their best to look elsewhere.

"Uhm…" Felcia whispered. And it was then that Jon realized how closely he was holding onto Felcia. How close his face was to hers. A hair's breadth.

Jon released her quickly, as if she were on fire. He stepped away a few feet, not being able to bring himself to look at her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… " Jon didn't know what to say next, embarrassment choking his words.

"It's alright," Felcia said softly. "Thank you for catching me."

Awkward silence filled the space between them. That and the winter wind. Jon finished adjusting his fur cloak for the fifth time and dared to look back at Felcia. He saw her rubbing her arm as she shuffled her left foot. She then started to slowly peek to her left to see him, but once she saw Jon did the same, she bashfully jerked her head the other way.

"You're really strong, by the way." Felcia broke the silence, still not looking his way. The confidence that she had up until now was starting to waver.

Not wanting the silence to return, Jon glanced at the horse and said the first thing that came to his mind. "Do you want to try again?"

Felcia finally turned around, surprised by the suggestion. "What! I- I don't know. I mean, I could just try again next time, or I can…"

Jon didn't know what came over him as he stepped towards and grabbed her by the hand. Felcia jolted, but to his relief, she didn't pull away.

"I'll help you this time," Jon assured her.

Felcia looked down at her hand being held and then back up to his eyes."

"Okay," she whispered.

The two approached the horse hand in hand, and as they got closer. Jone raised her hand to the horse's face. Jon made sure to do so slowly, and Felcia allowed him to guide her hand just above the horse's muzzle.

The horse blew air out of its nose, which caused Felcia to recoil, a small gasp escaping from her. Jon held her trembling hand firmly but gently.

Jon saw Felcia transfixed on the horse. Eyes wide, stiff as a statue. Jon tried to call out to her. "Felcia, Felcia." And eventually, he managed to tear her eyes away from the terrifying beast and onto him.

"Don't be afraid, I'm right here," he said to her. Something in his words dispelled her trepidation. Her eyes now truly see him, her hand noticeably trembling less, and her body started to relax. She nodded to him, now determined to see it through.

They were already close enough not to step forward. Jon raised Felcia's hand again, brought it forward through the air, and gently placed it on the horse's face.

It was a night and day difference. A second ago, Jon saw a scared, trembling girl, and now he saw a girl radiating with joy. She was completely enamored by the horse, and she continued to caress it. Jon thought that this was what she must have seen when he, too, was absorbed by the star map; he couldn't help but smile. The horse started to nuzzle Felcia, and to her credit, she accepted its affection.

"Jon!" she gasped. "I think she likes me!" Felcia giggled, and she continued to giggle and laugh as she became acquainted with her new friend.

"She's beautiful," She said as she held the horse's face in both hands and stared in it's eyes.

"She is," Jon agreed, but he wasn't looking at the horse.

XXXXX

"You won't be returning to First Landing then, Vincent?"

"Not yet. Still got a lot I want to see. You know, I may be an astrophysicist, but coming here might make me want to switch my profession to anthropology." Vincent stood in front of one of those foldable tables Jon had seen being used. They were both under another one of their foldable contraptions, this one a blue tent. Vincent had many of his effects strewn across the table with his attention on a tablet propped up on top of it.

It had been a week since they had returned to Winterfell from First Landing. And already, another trip has been planned to the star people's village to commence in the morrow.

Jory Cassel, captain of the guard, will be leading the party, with Vayon Poole joining as well, to facilitate the current trade scheduled. Jon eagerly volunteered, and he wasn't the only. Maester Luwin had also joined, and Jon had never heard him plead with his father to allow him to join. It was ultimately unnecessary, Lord Stark thought it wise for their maester to learn as much as he could from the star people.

In any case, Jon stood there after Vincent spoke with the all-too-familiar feeling at this point of not quite understanding what the star people were saying. Astrophysicist, Anthropology, he might as well be speaking Valyrian, as far as Jon knows. Vincent seemed to notice that he lost Jon as well.

"Anthropology is the study of people and culture," Vincent explained, and Jon simply nodded. "Anyways, after we're done here, though, a couple of interested parties and I are going to want to see this giant ice wall we keep hearing about."

"You plan to journey to The Wall?"

Vincent gave a light chuckle and shook his head. "It's baffling to me that you guys couldn't give it a better name than just 'The Wall'."

"What would you name it then?"

"I don't know. Maybe "The Great Wall of the North' or something."

"Like your Earth's Great Wall of China."

"Well, I'll admit it's not the most original name, but-" Vincent stopped himself and turned around, leaning against the thin white table. "Hang on, have you been studying up on Earth?"

"I've been learning about your worlds, aye. I had a… helpful guide."

"Well, that's great that you've taken such an interest in the Sol system. Most of your countrymen have been uh… a bit close-minded to say the least." Vincent turned around to his tablet and continued with whatever it was he was doing. "Hell, a lot of them are still struggling with the concept of being able to go above this world's atmosphere."

"Much like how you struggle to understand our years-long seasons."

"Okay, well that is a genuine conundrum," Vincent wagged his finger, like a maester lecturing his pupil. "Your seasons are an anomaly when you take the behavior of your world into consideration."

"You've mentioned this before on the ride here, but you didn't explain further."

"I didn't want to bore you and your brother, but if you insist." Vincent then picked up his tablet and folded it in a specific way. He tapped on it a few times and then turned it towards Jon. Jon stepped forward, and on the tablet was a moving image of a world.

"Is this my world or yours?" Jon asked.

"Try to take a guess."

Jon looked closer and recognized the shape of Westros in an instant.

"My world then," Jon answered confidently. "But what is it that I'm supposed to see?"

"The rotation and axial tilt."

Once again, Jon doesn't follow.

Vincent hung his head and sighed. He then swiped on the screen to bring up another world on the side. Jon felt safe to assume that this one was Earth.

"As you can see, both planets spin at nearly the same speed, and they're both tilted in nearly the same angle. Just like everything else on this planet, it's virtually identical to Earth, which is uncanny to say the least. Honestly, it kinda creeps me out, no offense."

"... should I be offended?" Jon asked, genuinely not understanding why both planets' similarities would be disturbing.

"I… guess not. Anyways, since both planets are so alike, it stands to reason that their seasons should be the same. But from what I've been told by your people is that you are all on the tail end of a decade-long summer while expecting an equally long winter."

"Longer, actually." Jon corrected.

"Ok, longer. But my point still stands. I even checked our simulations of the planet's heliocentric orbit, and just like everything else, it's nearly identical to that of Earth's. So we can cross out an irregular orbit as the cause. So as of this moment, you're seasons have yet to be explained."

Jon took the measure of the blonde man. He looked young, but Jon remembered him mentioning he was twenty-nine. Only a few years younger than his father. But Vincent certainly carried himself as someone with vast knowledge and experience, which is why he deferred to him when it came to the field of stars. But this time, Jon felt an urge to add something.

"Most of us have never really considered our seasons and their length. We just accepted it as the way things are. Some would say that the gods willed it, and others would say it's magic." Jon said.

"Hmph, no offense. But I'm not going to be satisfied with superstition as the answer." Vincent said. Jon ignored the slight stab at his people's way of thinking. A part of him believed he didn't mean to offend. "You there is a saying from Earth, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'."

"Did one of your Earth 'scientists' say this?"

"Actually… no. It's a quote from a science fiction writer."

"A science fiction writer?" Jon asked, confused.

Vincent paused a moment. "Someone who writes and tells stories."

"A mummer. Then" Jon determined.

"A what now? You know what, never mind. What I'm trying to say is that I believe that everything has a reason behind it. And just because we don't know right now, doesn't mean we won't in the future."

"Perhaps there are some things that men are just not meant to know. Things we cannot comprehend." Jon debated

"Respectfully, I disagree. And I think you're grossly underestimating the human mind."

"Maybe you're overestimating it."

Vincent just smiled as he picked up his tablet and set it upon the table.

He turned back to Jon and said. "Well, if I doubted mankind's potential, then I would never have become a scientist.". He then went back to his tablet and continued his work.

Jon left the foldable blue tent behind and strolled towards the great hall. He thought about all he's learned and seen these past few weeks and how unbelievable it feels that it's only been a few weeks. His whole world has changed quite literally, and the time before the star people arrive almost seems like another life, another reality. The star people were an interesting people, and interesting for different reasons. Sure, some have vexed, others have confounded him, others amused, and some… some he became quite fond of.

But there was a gnawing thought in the back of his mind. He has heard the rumors and hearsay from the smallfolk outside of Winterfell. Claims that the star people are monstrous creatures from the seven hells or divine messengers of the gods. But Jon met with them, spoke with them, and they were mortal men and women, just like those of the realm. And Jon knew men had their vices, their weakness. The worlds of the star people know of their existence, and like all men, they will know greed. And Jon doubted they would be as amiable or kind as the few star people he met. And from his experience, they were the minority.

Their world is on a precipice. What happens in the coming weeks, months, years will change the course of history. Whether it's for the better or the worse, only time will tell. Jon arrived at the entrance of the great hall. Night has not yet fallen, but regardless, Jon wished to retire for the evening. He opened the heavy, massive wooden stepped forward. One small step after the other.