Chapter 3: Cocoon
"These boils must not have matured yet. If we pop them ourselves she will be in excruciating pain. We need to wait." The old man advised Ned.
"Is she in pain? Why is the smell getting more intense?" Ned asked his doctor and advisor.
"I will use an injection to pour the most powerful poppy milk into her mouth hopefully she will swallow it and pass out." The old man did just that and Olivia didn't waste a single drop.
What she doesn't know is that three days passed by but Ned didn't work this entire time, nor did he visit his wife and their new baby but stayed by her side until the smell suddenly suddenly intensified and Ned became very scared that she died.
When Maester Luwin opened the sheets a drenched Olivia is unveiled. She is still sleeping peacefully but the boils have all popped on their own which explains the smell and her condition.
The two pitiful servants are tasked with cleaning her body which required three sessions. Olivia is then placed on clean bed and new blankets.
She finally woke up a day later and the girls made porridge for her to eat. She ate it and immediately wanted to get up but the girls stopped her.
"What's with that odd expression on your faces? I am not dead am I?" She rolled her eyes and the girls became excited.
"We were told to keep you in bed no matter what, so unless you can take on the both of us, you are not moving from here." Faith said with wide eyes. The two of them grabbed the side of the bed sheets locking her inside.
"What in the world.." Have these two gone insane? Chubby Faith was scared of her before. Narrowing her eyes dangerously Olivia looked at Faith straight in the eyes.
"I remember you falling on the ground in fear from just hearing me laugh. Have your scales hardened now?" Olivia asked the girl whose face turned red.
"I wasn't..." She turned to look at Anna who shot her a disapproving glare.
"Fell down from a laugh?" Anna asked with a sneer.
Faith stuttered cutely not knowing what to say. Olivia suddenly felt that she is in a good mood. "In any case, I won't move if you are adamant on keeping me here. At least tell me some gossip."
"We don't know any gossip because we have been here this entire time keeping you company incase you need us." Anna grumbled.
"Although...there is one thing we know that you don't.." Anna took a mirror and shown Olivia her new look. Olivia squinted her eyes seeing the blurred image when she finally saw it clearly she became stunned.
Her face has become very pretty. If she had been feed well before and possessed some baby fat on her scrawny face she would look absolutely adorable. But instead she has an overly pretty face and a pair of large grey eyes.
The large grey eyes are now vivid and slightly piercing, her eyebrows and eye flashes are large and deep black, a stark contrast to her beautiful pale skin, feature common in the North. She is very young but it is clear she will be a great beauty when she comes of age.
She touched her face feeling the soft elastic skin. Her full lips are now red without coloring. She smiled and a pretty young girl in the mirror smiled as well. What she laves the most is the color in her full lips that has deepened into a bright pink color.
"Caitlyn is going to lose her shit when she sees this." Olivia said happily.
Two people entered she saw that Ned heard what she said before but she couldn't care less. Maester Luwin checked, and probed.
"Good morning. I heard you welcomed a daughter. Congratulations lord Stark." She said looking at her cheap father who seemed to have seen a ghost.
"Why have you gone pale since entering the room? Does my new look remind of old ghosts?" She asked lightly but saw Ned throwing his body on the chair as if he lost all his strength.
If she was in a mood she would tease him some more but...
She ignored him since he looks to have suffered a blow. "Old man, how is the verdict will I live?" She looked at Maester Luwin who smiled at her antics.
"I have told you not to say that. You might be a bastard but you are from a dignified house."
"I feel like we are passed titles and honorifics you and I, remember when you set my broken ribs back in place?" She laughed seeing his frown.
"You punched me in the face I lost a good tooth that day." He complains in a low voice.
"It was very painful and I reacted. I made you a necklace out of that tooth didn't I? Tell me, who would have been so kind?" They chatted away not paying attention to the dazed lord of Winterfell on the side chair.
"Yes, you were very kind and you helped me collect medical herbs for a long time to make it up to me. I appreciate it very much. And... I learned a good lesson to hold you down before performing any painful procedures on you." Maester Luwin let out a suspicious smirk.
"Haha...now I know why you always insist I let you bind me before doing anything painful." Her laugh make Ned wake up from his stupor.
"I am glad you are well now. If you will excuse me." He left like his back is on fire.
"The lord stayed with you when you were under. Even with the unpleasant smell." Anna seeing the tension between the two tried to meditate.
"Why don't you go and get rid of your smell as well?" Olivia closed her nose in disgust. It seems the girls had spend a lot of time taking care of her forgetting about the residual smell they got from cleaning her.
The two girls ran outside to take care of their business. "Then there was one." Olivia looked at the old man with a piercing gaze.
"You were scarier before coming out of your pus filled cocoon early. Your cold expression will have to be practiced from the beginning now. The entire face has turned into a blooming flower." The smirk on his face when he saw her glare crumble because of his words is very clear this time.
"That was scary." She shuddered remembering the cocoon.
"Do you know what happened?" Maester Luwin's face became serious. "All your wounds have healed as if you were healed by magic. You don't even have scars."
"I made something and drank it without testing it first. If I had known what was coming I wouldn't have freaked out so much." She admitted embarrassedly.
"What did I tell you about doing secret experiments? Did you really make something so miraculous?" He is caught between excitement and reproach.
"I was confident about it. It isn't miraculous. If only there is another way to expel the impurities without the cocoon. Even if I try to sell it like this no one would buy it. Those boils are very painful and I imagine they were even uglier?" She asked the still surprised Maester.
He nodded with grimace remembering her previous state. "You want to sell the medicine or the formula?" His eyes shone with interest.
"Formula? You must be dreaming old man. I'm ten not stupid." She looked at him up and down with mockery.
"I was just curious." He grumbles.
"Don't be greedy. Your old hands can not perform these kinds of precise measurements if there is a single mistake a disaster may happen when some poor soul consumes the solution." She rolls her eyes at him.
"You managed to perform a miracle even though it was unsightly and very disturbing. The results are more than worth it." He comforted.
"Yes, I don't look like an abused child no matter how you look." She saw her old scars have all vanished without a trace.
"Next time don't consume untested solutions, you gave us such a fright." The tone became softer with a hint of pleading.
Olivia raised her hand and agreed. "Aye."
"I will leave you to rest. " He stood and left noticing the young lady didn't ask about the new born in the family like she normally would. It seems Olivia had given up on being the Stark family member for good.
Ned is drinking tonight. He can not believe what he saw today. His 'daughter' looks like a perfect blend of her mother and her actual father who was regarded as the most beautiful man in all of Westeros. If that man had black hair and grey eyes he would look like Olivia.
It is not too obvious but if one knew the prince from childhood it will be easier to see the similarities. There is also his sister in the her expressions especially when she was talking kindly with the Maester.
"What should I do? If the Southerners see her, she will be exposed." He mummers as he passed out after drinking too much.
Days went by, after knowing Olivia is doing well, Ned started to visit his newborn. He just didn't want to bring a heavy heart near a new born child. Now that his mind and heart can focus, he can see and interact with her without fear of bringing bad luck.
"Ned." His wife woke up to find Ned holding and playing with the baby.
"Did I wake you?" He asked gently. They started to mend the broken communication channels this way.
On the other side of the large castle, Olivia is conducting an important experiment in the Winterfell blacksmith's work shop.
"Okay you can come in." She had been coming here for several days now without her father's knowledge. She bribed the guards with very 'potent' medication.
The assistants and the blacksmith came in. They became astonished at the amount of the solution inside the cooking pot.
"You made so much?" The blacksmith helped his assistants to pour the boiling translucent solution into the prepared glass wall shapers. There are 19 six meters tall melted solution poured into the shapers by the end of the day.
Why would they work so hard? Because she has a better processing method to produce sharper blades that will take at least a century to rust.
The swords will be lighter and sharper. The materials are the same with only two new ingredients which are available in abundance in the North.
The reason they came in after the solution was done cooking is because she didn't want to share her indestructible glass making formula.
She 'borrowed' the workshop so they can manufacture these walls for her first batch of glass houses. The same day after finishing her own work she stayed with the master blacksmith to show him 'his' new formula for steel weapons.
It is as good as a magical runes when it comes to sharpness and the ability to take damage without getting chipped and ruined is very high. When the final product came out, Olivia herself became stunned. It is a weapon that can cut other weapons.
It is no magic weapon but it is pretty close. Not to mention it is cheap to produce. "I am very happy helping you lady snow. I look forward to your enlightenments." He chased her away with an excited look on his face.
It is obvious he is not planning on resting even after all that work. Shrugging, she decided to go rest since she is now done making her glass walls. Next is the conversation with her cheap father.
The next morning, Ned found his estranged daughter waiting for him outside his office. It is four in the morning. "How come you are here? How did you know my time of going to work?" He asked her opening the door inviting her in.
"I came here to.." She is cut off by a hard stare.
"You haven't greeted me politely." He said narrowing his eyes.
"You spoke to me first. I assumed we are barbarians now." She blinked looking up at him confusedly.
"We greet. Olivia." He said in a tone that sounds like a sigh.
"Well, greetings to the quiet wolf." She did a perfect curtsey. Ned raised an eyebrow hearing her amused tone. She is either in a good mood or she is slowly forgiving him.
"Well, hello to you too young lady. What brings you here so early in the morning?" He asked her feeling lighter all of a sudden.
"I made something that might interest you. But first I need your word that you will not..." She tilted her head trying to find the right words. "Freak out." She made a scared face trying to show him what not to do. Seeing her playing around like this after the way she was at that time his heart is put in slight ease.
"I will not make any such promises. It is better to just show me and hope for the best."
"I'll take it." She stood up. "Please come with me."
Without a word they walked towards the smithy. Ned is surprised when he heard clear sound of a hammer falling repeatedly on metal. He knows his master of arms wakes up at 9 in the morning.
"Alfred it's me." She knocked and heard a 'come on in.' Before she and her father entered. The entire place is hot inside which goes to show the pots have been on all night.
"Come and see my masterpiece. I will sell it to the lord for a high price." The man didn't raise his head and assumed she was alone.
"So he can do what with it? Sharpen his office papers?" She ridiculed.
"Well, not all the kids can have frost. The others will have to settle for my non magical masterpiece. I will give him this one so he can choose to give it to his favorite son. I don't think I can make something like this again in this life." The man sighed.
"I say we sell it to the masters across the narrow sea." She said in response.
"How can you say such a thing..." He raised his head in annoyance. When he saw Ned, he hurried to greet him.
"I agree with you this masterpiece belongs to the family." Ned accepted his greeting and then saw the blade being forged.
"Your band of soft children? What will they do with a blade? I say we sell it to the highest bidder in the annual auction in Lys. You can make a fortune, retire and take three wives and seven concubines." Olivia offered but the two people turned to her in unison. She took several steps back feeling creeped out.
"Fine do whatever. That's not why we are here anyway. Master Alfred can to walk towards the already formed glass walls. With your hammer? I need to show the lord something interesting." She asked. The man just followed her instructions
"Why does he need a hammer ?" Ned asked when he heard 'glass' his heart skipped a beat. Did someone make glass?
"Don't worry about it." She answered calmly.
When Ned saw the glass he touched it to make sure he is not mistaken. Looking at his daughter's smug expression he asked her with a trembling voice. "Is this glass? Olivia did you make glass?"
He asked her still squatting. "That impressed you huh? Master Alfred can you hammer the glass for me?" Before Ned could object, Alfred put his strength into it and smashed his hammer on the glass wall but a dud sound came and recoil made master Alfred drop his hammer on the glass looking at it as it bounced around and settled on the glass a small distance from where they stood
Silence..
"Soooo.." Olivia turned to her cheap father with a smile. "How much is the North willing to pay for my glass houses?"
.....