Aegor had many things he wanted to accomplish, but stopping the White Walkers' invasion was undoubtedly the top priority, the prerequisite for all other work and plans.
Melisandre had confirmed that she could sense the magic within the Wall. Aegor guessed it likely came from an unknown number of giant weirwood trees growing beneath the ice, their presence keeping the White Walkers and the army of the dead from launching a direct assault at will.
But while the magic within the Wall was vast and majestic, it was dispersed across a range at least a hundred leagues long, of unknown height and width. Its power was greatly diluted by the sheer scale, and its intensity seemed to remain constant. The Night's Watch had no way to control or strengthen this power.
However, the force the Red Priestess called "R'hllor's nemesis," the aura of ice magic permeating the world, was growing stronger as the temperature fell, and the pace of change showed no sign of slowing. This undoubtedly meant the White Walkers themselves were growing stronger, and the effect could extend to the wights as well. Eventually, the Wall's deterrent would no longer be enough to restrain the White Walkers' determination to march south.
The most troubling part was that no one knew when that day would come.
---
Ranger patrols had long since ceased, but the Night's Watch now had skinchangers capable of controlling birds. Immediately after taking office as Lord Commander, Aegor summoned them to the Wall to carry out aerial reconnaissance beyond it.
Not long after his return to Crown Town, reports from various strongholds began to arrive.
Yohn Royce's risky mission to deliver messages beyond the Wall half a month ago had not been a coincidence. The skinchangers did their best to control animals to scout far afield, but within nearly ten miles of the Wall—their effective range—there was no sign of the dead or the White Walkers.
Either they were buried under the snow, or they truly were not near the Wall.
What exactly were the White Walkers waiting for?
Or perhaps there was another possibility. They were not waiting at all, but instead preparing some larger action beyond the Night's Watch's sight.
The connection between the Land of Always Winter and the Seven Kingdoms was mostly blocked by the Wall, but at its westernmost end lay the Great Gorge and the mouth of the Milkwater River, which cut through the Frostfangs.
Such obvious "loopholes" could not be ignored. Aegor ordered the Shadow Tower to carry out high-density patrols south of the Great Gorge. This required a great deal of manpower. So while Crown Town strained to push forward its construction, he also had to find ways to increase troop strength to support the Wall's western end.
Yet reality kept him from giving his full attention to the task. Crown Town had become a gathering place for all manner of unusual individuals in the Gift, full of troublemakers and vexing situations.
---
First was Melisandre.
The Red Priestess had moved here with her followers under the pretense of assisting the Lord Commander.
Her presence was reassuring in some ways, but her constant murmuring about the Long Night, prophecy, heroes born from boiling seas, and dragons hatched from stone was maddening. Worse, she took advantage of Crown Town's dense population to preach, causing small but real disruptions to the Logistics Department. After testing his tolerance several times, she had grown adept at pushing boundaries.
Then there were Jaime and Cersei's two bastard sons.
By the rules of the game among nobles, Robert's two "sons" had to take the black to survive. Tommen was relatively obedient, but Joffrey was entirely unruly. From prince to recruit, he spent his days venting endless resentment at everyone and everything around him. Were it not for Jaime, Aegor could have dealt with him more harshly. But as the new Lord Commander, he needed the Kingslayer's loyalty, along with that of the Westermen who followed him, and had to give some face to Tywin, still alive in the Westerlands. He could neither beat nor berate Joffrey, and it took considerable effort to find a barely acceptable way to handle him.
Finally, there was the Warden of the North's foster brother, Theon Greyjoy.
The young Ironborn had not yet committed the foolish, vile acts he would in another life. Feeling wronged and resentful, convinced that despite his loyalty to House Stark he had been sent to the Wall unfairly, he sulked and complained. Aegor spent time speaking with him, made a few attractive but empty promises, and gave him the post of Crown Town Archery Instructor to keep him occupied. That seemed to settle him, for now.
---
Those figures could at least be kept out of sight and out of mind once arrangements were made. But the greatest headache was a certain girl who refused to go home no matter what.
The capital of the Gift, thriving under favorable policies, became the playground of the Stark family's second daughter. Using the snow-blocked roads as an excuse to avoid returning home, she spent her days dashing around Crown Town. One moment she would be at the industrial park watching workers burn charcoal and smelt copper, getting covered in ash. The next she would slip into the school and, relying on her natural talent and the training of famous masters, "bully" the Wildling children on the training ground with a wooden sword. Then she would head to the warehouse to take dragonglass, claiming she wanted to help in the war between the living and the dead. Inevitably, she would spend half a day causing trouble and then leave the mess for others to clean up.
Aegor found, to his dismay, that perhaps because he had not acted as her teacher or given her real discipline for too long, the authority he had once held over Arya in King's Landing had vanished. "Master" had shifted from a respectful title to an affectionate nickname for a friend. She had even begun to play with it.
For example, "Master, Master, Master!" repeated several times in quick, lively tones usually meant she had discovered something new or had a good idea to share.
But if it was a long, drawn-out "Ma-aster" in a lazy tone, it usually meant she was bored and wanted him to think of something to amuse her.
The most absurd moments were exchanges like this:
"Master, oh, Master."
"What is it now?!"
"Nothing, just calling you, hehe."
He could not send her away, nor could he be harsh with her. After only a few days of this, the word "Master" was enough to make his scalp prickle.
Thankfully, an unexpected savior arrived just in time.
---
A few weeks after his election as Lord Commander, another team arrived from the industrial park in King's Landing, bringing a fresh shipment of supplies and new helpers for the Night's Watch. The leader of the group was someone who genuinely surprised him.
Hurrying to the unloading square at Crown Town's main gate, Aegor spotted her at once, a figure smaller than everyone else in the crowd. After a year apart, the once-green girl seemed to have grown fully into her role as the Southern Head of the Night's Watch Industry. Dressed in a warm black trench coat that still showed her slender figure, her pretty face lightly powdered and lips painted, the "black-robed woman" had just pulled down her hood. She stood calmly in the square, directing the unloading of supplies, showing no sign of being new to Crown Town.
(To be continued.)