Supper was a lively affair, thanks to Arya and her boisterous attitude. She was also soaked with sweat and laughed every time she looked at me, because I crinkled my nose at her. The little scamp had jumped on me and made me sniff her armpit when she shoved it into my face.

“I really shouldn't have put a training dummy in your room.” I pretended to complain.

Arya's face lit up and she laughed again. She always had so much fun beating the thing up.

“It keeps her busy. And happy.” Dany added and her face went a little red. “Just like the books you gave me.”

I smiled at her, knowing the bookshelf made her happier than anything else she had in her life so far, and I looked across the table at Melis. She had been subdued ever since I had rewound time for her and undid all of the things she had done to herself in her claim for power, not to mention me making her super-horny and then not finishing her off beforehand. That had been a fun and harsh punishment.

Although, I had been tempted to leave her magical power intact and reduce her age physically, only to realize having that much power in an emotionally unstable preteen girl could have been a huge disaster. Since I wasn't an idiot, or wanted more trouble than she was worth, I put her back to who she was when the temple people picked her up when she was a child.

“We just have to figure out what Melis likes to do as a hobby.” I said and took another bite of the delicious breaded chicken nuggets. Both Dany and Arya loved the things, proving that all children had good taste. The dipping sauces were hit and miss, and the french fries were gobbled up quicker than I could make them.

Melis opened her mouth to say something, had a complicated look on her face, and closed her mouth without saying anything. She ate a french fry absently, barely tasting it, and her gaze dropped to her plate again.

“Maybe you can both show her your rooms after supper?” I asked and both girls nodded. “I have to head to the docks to get the cages ready for the animals, so I'll leave her in your care until I come back.”

“I'll look after her.” Dany promised.

“Thank you.” I said and gave her a warm smile, which made her blush.

We kept eating and I didn't try to keep a conversation going, since we were all technically kids and there was no real need to do so. Sometimes quiet was what was needed, to give people a chance to think about things.

I finished up first. “Leave the dishes and things. I'll clean up when I come back.” I said and walked around the table to Arya first. She lifted her arm to show off her other soaked armpit. “Bleh!” I said and she laughed. I pushed her arm down and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “I'll give you a good scrubbing bath before bedtime.”

Arya grabbed me by the neck and held on, kissed my cheek twice and intentionally smeared sauce on my face, then she let me go and grabbed the last few nuggets on her plate and ran for it.

“I'll get you for that!” I said and shook my fist at her, making her laugh and she disappeared into her room.

Dany handed me a napkin when I walked over to her. I wiped off my face and my neck, then leaned in to kiss her cheek. She blushed and looked happy, gave Melis a brief pointed look, and gave my cheek a quick peck. I gave her back the napkin and walked around to Melis, whom looked a little lost.

“It might take a while to get used to things around here.” I told her and then leaned down to kiss her cheek, too. “We have lessons in the mornings, practice every second day in the afternoons, and the rest of the day is usually whatever you want to do.”

Melis gave me a searching look. “What...” She paused and swallowed. “What about the evenings?”

“I usually let the girls choose.” I said and pointed to the couch. “We can lounge, listen to a story, play games, listen to music...”

“That one.” Melis interrupted suddenly.

I had to smile at her choosing the magical option. “I'll come up with something while I work.” I said and patted her shoulder. “I'll be back in an hour.”

Melis nodded and watched me walk out of the dining area and out the door.

“My room is this way.” Dany said and I watched with X-Ray Vision as Melis followed her into her room.

As soon as she saw the bookshelf, Melis stiffened.

“Jon said he found some of these from all over during his travels.” Dany said with a smile on her face and ran her fingertips along the spines of the books on one of the shelves.

“Can... can I?” Melis asked and waved at the books.

Dany stepped back from the shelf and gave her a pointed look. “As long as you don't damage them. Jon gave them to me and they are mine.” She said, intentionally staking her claim, like a dragon would.

Melis gulped at the intense look, knowing who she really was, and she nodded several times.

“Then okay.” Dany said and the smile was back on her face.

Mels didn't do what I thought she would, though. Instead of running her fingertips along the books, she walked right over to the shelf and reached up for a particular book I had slipped into Dany's collection to test if she had any latent magic.

“I haven't read that one.” Dany said with a blank face.

“That's because you don't read it.” Melis said and walked over to her. She didn't hand the book to her, though. She infused some of her severely weakened magic into it to make it glow red, then she lifted it and poked Dany's forehead with the spine.

Dany gasped as the red glow slid into her forehead and her eyes widened. “I... I'm... immune to fire?”

“Yes, just like I am.” Melis admitted, made the book glow again, and poked herself on the forehead with the spine. “Ohhh, an Elemental fire spell.”

“How... why...” Dany whispered.

“He cares for you.” Melis said and needed a moment to stop the shivers of pleasure. She took a breath and let it out, then walked back over to the shelf and put the book back. “He doesn't want to push you or make you think he wants to use you for who you are.”

“He really does know.” Dany said, even though she knew he had hinted at it before.

“He does.” Melis said and walked back over to her. “He knows much more than any of us.”

Dany opened her mouth to ask how she knew that, then gasped when Melis held up a hand covered in fire. She wasn't afraid of it, or afraid it would burn everything around them, thanks to the knowledge she had in her head about it. Her hand reached out and her fingers ran through the flames, which danced around for her.

It made Melis giggle because it tickled and she caught her breath. When was the last time she giggled like that? Has she ever giggle like that?

“I think... we are going to be good friends.” Dany said as her hand slid into Melis' and the flames didn't die out or flickered.

Melis stared at the delicate hand that held hers tenderly and firmly and it didn't disrupt the spell.

“Do you want to sit and read with me?” Dany asked with a smile.

Melis looked at the girl's face and didn't see any deception there. “Yes, I do.”

The two of them walked over to the bed where Dany had left another book. Neither of them noticed the flames around their hands had gone out until they sat on the bed and Dany had to let go of her hand to open the book. They exchanged looks, shrugged, and laid down on the bed to read the next chapter of The Little Mermaid.

The funny thing was, the both of them thought it was a true story. I stopped watching and listening wth telepathy after that and chuckled as I went down to the docks on the cobblestone path. The animals would start arriving tomorrow and I needed spots for chickens, goats, pigs, sheep, and cow-like mammals.

It would take almost no effort to change them for my needs, increase their breeding cycles and production, and make them hardier and sturdier. I needed a lot of stock if the local lord was going to rely on me for staple foods, and I was sure that word would spread to the other three islands nearly instantly as well.

A little tweaking would make them tastier as well, so that's what I would do. My ingredients for potions were already growing like weeds in the first glasshouse, so I would have to start production of potions soon. What I was doing was getting myself more involved than I thought I was going to be, and I didn't mind.

Staying busy on a medieval world was always going to be a challenge, besides all the death and destruction, that is. I couldn't forget about that, which reminded me I had some cannibals to send along to R'hllor before they could have another feast of women and babies, since their meat was the tenderest.

Maybe Melis would like to come along to see magical fire as it cleansed the unworthy? She should enjoy the spectacle, at least. Prancing animals looked really cool when they were made of fire.

*

Melis had a most wonderful religious experience as she witnessed her prince bring to life the most beautiful and powerful fire she had ever seen. The deadly magical beasts he had conjured rampaged and devoured everything. Everything! It was... it was more than holy fire... it was a divine power in itself.

She felt her connection to R'hllor sing as she watched the Fiendfire dance among the cannibals and their houses, burning it all to even less than ash, then the frozen ground was eaten, then the rocks themselves were molten and spread out to remove all traces that anything was ever there, let along a full settlement of depraved people.

The warmth she felt, from both inside of herself and from outside from the cooling rock plateau, made her shiver with pleasure and joy. How could she have used normal fire to sacrifice to her god? It wasn't worthy. Despite him being the lord of light, the god of fire and shadow, normal fire just did not compare to Azor Ahai's sacrifice to her god.

One of the fire beasts, a horse with wings, trotted over to her. Melis couldn't stop herself as she reached out and her hand pet the thing's fiery snout. It ducked its head to let her run her fingers through its mane of burning fire and she felt nothing but safe in its presence. It also didn't burn her, to her surprise, because she had thought it was too hot for her to touch.

Magic so pure flooded into her and through her, giving her a richer experience than she had ever had before, and it put all of her other sacrifices to shame and again she recalled every one of them and tears came to her eyes. The rest of the fire animals faded away, fully under Jon Snow's command, and the horse she petted seemed to rear up and transformed into R'hllor himself.

He smiled at her. HER! She wasn't worthy!

Her god then nodded at Jon and faded away into nothing. Melis was trembling from the shock and Jon hugged her and held her as she came to grips with what she just saw. What she felt. What she had experienced. It was too much. Too much!

They were suddenly back at the house in her room and she clung to Jon like a lifeline. How could her god look at her after everything she had done? She cried for them, for herself, and for the world. She had done what she thought was necessary, for power and in her god's name, to ensure the world didn't fall to the darkness or to the Dark One. To stop the world from ending in the Everlasting Winter and Endless Night.

Jon carried her to bed and laid with her and held her, to ease her trembling and to whisper sweet words into her ear. Melis barely heard him; but, his presence alone let her calm herself. His immense magical power gave her hope. If a small amount of fiendfire could consume an entire village in only minutes, what would it do if unleashed upon the masses of Wildlings that hunted all along the Great Wall?

Melis caught her breath and her eyes opened as she stared at Jon. When had she closed her eyes? She didn't remember. She opened her mouth and his lips caught hers. After a moment, she broke the kiss and shook her head. “I need to tell you...”

“I know.” Jon said and she felt shocked one more. “I'll visit The Wall soon and will reinforce it.”

Melis blinked her eyes at him, not really understanding what he just said. How was he going to reinforce a 700 foot high and 300 mile long super-wall made of ice using fiendfire?

Jon chuckled and shook his head. “I won't be using that. It eats magic.”

Melis gasped and stared at him as her brief interaction with the winged fire horse played in her mind.

“It only consumes what I set it upon.” Jon reassured her. “Which reminds me of something.”

Melis looked at his hand as a small opening in space appeared there. She watched as he created a beetle out of fiendfire, whispered to it to have fun, and it hopped through the portal. A burst of heat and lught came through it and Jon closed it. “What did you do?”

“Craster's Keep beyond the wall.” Jon said and laid back in the bed. “He only has four wives right now and five daughter-wives.”

Melis opened her mouth to ask why he was telling her that and he beat her to it.

“He hands his sons over to the Others because he doesn't like having competition for his women's attention.” Jon added and her eyes widened. “I'm clearing out that whole forest. There'll be no more rumors about strange things happening there, because there will be no more there for things to happen in.”

Melis could only nod in response. Taking out someone that was actively helping the Others was a good idea. It would be bad for the Night's Watch, though. Craster's Keep was one of their reliable outposts and rest stations when their rangers ventured beyond The Wall. Perhaps the warmth of the rock plateau would give them a nice place to set up their tents and bedrolls?

Well, it didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Both she and Jon had much more important things to worry about than where a Night's Watch member slept when he was out hunting Wildlings.

*

The four women and five teenage girls watched as their home burned to the ground around them. The fire was extremely hot and they couldn't move from their spots; but, it didn't jump to them or caught their clothing on fire. As long as they stayed right where they were, none of them would die like their husband did.

Only one of them, the oldest among them, had the courage to smile as the trees around them were consumed. She had thought the petrified wood wouldn't burn, since it was like stone; but, it burned just the same as normal wood and the fire spread away from them and left them behind.

It almost seemed alive as it flowed away from them and all that was left of the place they lived was the round spot they had huddled on. Everything else was gone. The animals, the grass, even the dirt was gone and left smooth bare rock.

The oldest woman kept smiling as she stood, encouraged the others to stand as well, then they hugged happily and walked out of the devastation towards the wall. Surprisingly, the warmth of the fire that burned their home had stayed with them until they saw the ice wall.

Their steps quickened as the bitter cold bit at their hands and feet. They rushed the rest of the way towards the thick wooden gate that would lead to their new lives and they didn't feel safe or felt relief until those huge doors shut behind them. Most of them broke down and cried when the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, an old man named Jeor Mormont, welcomed them to his hearth.