Chapter 42: Drogo
Affectionately referred to as Rogo by his adoptive mother, he is a smart baby with a chubby body, light brown skin and large brown eyes. He makes small baby noises even in his sleep. Olivia knows the problem with his spirit makes him very sensitive to the mood of those around him.
This is why she stayed away from the child when she was grieving her father's death. Smiling, she took him into her arms and started playing with him. This picture is harmonious, her long white hair against the baby's fluffy black hair coupled with the beautiful balcony scene makes it look like a painting.
Olivia took a small break while her people buried her glass discs all around the Haunted forest, the walls and the concrete grounds are opened to insert the discs and then closed with fresh concrete. Her dragons are helping to spell the places making them seem as there they were never dug up in the first place. They do it at night having it look normal the next morning.
The harbor and it's housing is also covered in this new form of protection. Unfortunately even after placing each glass disc tens of meters away from each other, the number of spelled discs finished after covering these three places. The Haunted city, it's forest, the harbor and it's residential area.
The work took her people many days to complete. After which Olivia went out together with her dragons she activated the runes by reciting an incantation and igniting her flame in the center of the core spell. She mused that it reminds her of the limited amount of formation knowledge she new at some point. The activation of the spell caused a supernatural storm to engulf the tree places.
Non magical beings felt nothing but everyone else felt it. A shift in the atmosphere of the North. Which would explain why at noon the next day when Olivia is having late lunch with her siblings and adopted son, several uninvited 'guests' arrived in her city.
"Don't lurk, come on in. We have apples and peas. Would you like some?" She is seated with Rogo on her lap helping him eat his food by cutting it down and making his vegetables softer.
Rickon looked at the balcony glass with bated breath. Bran looked at Olivia for a while before going back to conversing with Jojen and his sister.
"Are you sure we are to come in when there are guests?" One asked in old tongue feeling like they are disturbing.
"You are right to feel guilty, we are having a nice family time and you didn't even use the door." Olivia answered her in old tongue.
"We live in nature, the concept of a door is lost of us." The voice defended.
"Excuses. You have been a live long enough to learn what that thing is called." Olivia said rolling her eyes.
"We are not here to argue. What spell did you use a few hours ago? It is very powerful." Olivia remembered her dragons saying it can still be upgraded if she increased her strength in the future.
This made her believe her spell to be very weak.
"This is my home. Do I need to explain myself every time I do something?" Olivia stood up and left the dinning table opening the balcony window allowing the four sisters to enter.
"Wow.." The children around the tabke exclaimed.
"Are those children of the forest?"
"They are speaking old tongue."
"Nanna, what are they saying?" Bran turned to the stunned old woman and sked her.
"Young lord, it is rude to listen in on people's conversations." The nanny said.
"It's an order." Bran said but the old woman looked to Maester Luwin and they laughed at him together.
On the other side of the room, Olivia welcomed her teachers. "Would you like tea?"
"Tell us would you? We feel a powerful breath on the spell. One that doesn't come from you, but it is around you." Olivia knows they mean her dragons.
"We always seemed like birds to them. At that time we used illusion magic to disguise ourselves when you went to train." Aeryn said to expel her confusion.
"Illusion? I always said you were my dragons to them? What birds breath fire? Aren't they supposed to be very old and powerful?" Olivia is confused. But thinking deeply, her dragons always did seem weird around the children of the forest.
"They are old. They gave up their power to make the wall. This is why it became easy for the night king to hunt them one by one over the millenniums." Aeryn said.
"I had help." Olivia said.
"If you have someone that powerful helping you then you should have told us." One of them said with accusation.
"You trained me how to use my fire in battle, I had to beg for you to teach me a simple spell now you think there is something I should have reported to you?" Olivia frowned.
"It is not personal, we just don't trust humans." One with mild attitude said. Olivia used to asked their names all the times but it seems they have not gotten over whatever problem they had with humans.
"Funny, because you are the ones in my home right now uninvited. You want my help but you only want me as a puppy who will not ask for anything even though you want me to risk my life in the battle fighting on your side."
"We taught you how to fight."
"I can't fight an army on my own."
"You have an army."
"An army of normal humans against death that bring along a strorm? Those things are not disturbed by the storm, they bring it. If I am to win against them I need an actual strong army and you are sitting on information I need to make myself the ideal army because you 'don't' trust humans."
"What would you have us do?"
"The only ones who can answer that question is you." Olivia said in annoyance. They looked at each other and started a silent conversation. Seeing this, Olivia stood up and went out.
"Call me when you have made up your mind." She left them.
"What are you hoping to squeeze out of the plant people mother?" Aeryn asked curious. They are in the room in a powerful glamour to hide themselves.
"You'll see." Olivia smirked and went out.
She finds her siblings and the Stark servants finished and have left the table. The boys were probably taken away by the old nanny so they don't disturb the conversation. She shakes her head with a smile when Rogo makes baby sounds. "Mommy is not ignoring baby, it's just a small distraction." Her time with Rogo is interrupted by Leaf.
"We are prepared to give you our sacred fruit. It is partially the reason we are still alive even after exerting ourselves with the construction of the wall." It is obvious there is reluctance in those green eyes.
"Immortality? I need something to help with the war, make my soldiers stronger or for them to not become undead upon death. Runes, spells something that can let me look my people in the eyes and tell them they stand a chance against a god of death and his army." The more she spoke the frustration in her voice became apparent.
The leader of the group sighed after hearing her her. "That was a test. And you passed, although we do have a fruit that prolong life it is not useful for this war instead we will give you something that will definitely help you."
Leaf stood up and took off one of her sleeves putting it on the table. Her clothes are made from plants but these plants are designed to stick together making wearable soft fabrics.
"Use your fire on it. If you can burn it, I will give you that fruit." Leaf said smiling.
"You're going to lose." Olivia released her flame on the sleeve but nothing happened. Frowning, she continued but the same thing happened.
She gave up and picked the sleeve up looking at it. "Which tree is this? Can I get the seeds or a branch?" She asked in excitement.
"We will give you a single tree as a sacrifice to the course but you must treat it with respect." One said on the side.
"I thought you guys warship trees." Olivia asked incredulously. Giving her an entire tree? This must be the carrot, now where is the stick?
"We do, but we understand the generous nature and only take what we need. Unlike humans all you do is kill trees to build your houses."
"Yes yes, humans are scum. When do I get my tree? I can't wait to start." She hugged Rogo tightly in happiness. They remembered something and looked at her she instinctively took a step back 'here comes the stick' she thought.
"We first need you to come and see someone."
"Where?"
"South of here."
Olivia knew she is not going to get any answers so they left after she handed Drogo to the nannies. Her adopted son has a small army of nurses.
She and the children of the forest ran through the forest like monkeys until they came to the large weir wood tree.
"I can't get over this sight. It is very beautiful." A snorting sound came from one of the children. Olivia is distracted by the powerful mental waves coming from the big tree.
"There was a time when we had many of such trees." The one who snorted lamented while the others nodded with nostalgia.
"Come on, lets go in." They entered the dark place but because of being magical, they all have good eye sight so in no time Olivia felt the mental waves grow and she felt suppressed.
The seniors used to do this when they wanted to put her in her place during the time she was still young and new in school. As time went by she learnt to negate the pressure by covering herself with her own plant power.
When they came to, it is to a weird sight of a man tree. She looked for a long time but failed to see where the tree starts and the man begins. The man's eyes are open and whites are showing, she floated to his face and waved her hand but the man didn't answer.
She frowned but then his eyes opened abruptly scaring her, she screamed and dropped on to the large vines. The old man laughed at her.
"Hehe..." She ended up laughing at herself.
"Are you cultivating some sort of plant magic?" The spirit energy in this world is not enough to have significant strength in cultivation, but magic will definitely make a difference.
"I needed the time that it grants me."
"I am somewhat of a plant mage and I can feel this is incomplete. Can you leave the tree?" She asked but he smiles and changes the topic.
"I need to pass over the know how of being a green seer to your brother Bran. He is the one destined to take the lead in tracking the whereabouts of the night king and help humanity in defeating him." The old man said in a somber tone.
"No." She answered without hesitation.
"Don't be so quick to dismiss me. Why don't you grab a branch?" He offered.
"That will be like caressing your thigh." Olivia raised an eye brow.
"Just do it and I will take you to see the current position of the night king."
"Fine, but I am not taking responsibility for what happens next." She put up mental walls so the old men doesn't get inside her head to read her mind or something equally perverted. As soon as she touched the tree she gets a list of formulas, most of which are similar to the ones she got whenever she touched a regular weir wood tree.
"Eew, no." She ignored it and then she felt a connection with it but she cut it out of her mind when the mental tentacles tried to delve deep into her mind like a plant taking root.
Being pushed out of the sea of consciousness must have hurt the man. "Is that what you are going to teach my little brother? How to enter into people's mind space?"
"I need the connection to be able to take you with me into the place."
"Maybe, but why were you lurking around my memories? A mental connection doesn't need you to see me naked does it?" She spat in anger.
"I must have lost my way, lets try again." His voice calm as before.
"Forget it. I don't need to go there in my mind, I will just go in person. That way, I don't run a risk of being lost in the mental world. I obviously can not trust you." She turned to the children.
"Bring me my tree and I will be leaving." She turned to the child and said in a firm tone.
"We have someone taking it go your home as we speak." One of them said making Olivia smile, she wants to leave now though.
"Wait, you are not supposed to change so much...." The man on the tree said to Olivia his earlier amiable expression gone, replaced by a scrawl.
She walked away from him not even bothering to reapond.
"Here." The man moved the tree root carrying a leaf towards her. "I know you are good with medicine, I will give you this many leaves if you give me another chance."
"If I go in with you, you hold the power to flood my mind with horror and make me lose my already fragile sanity." She shook her head.
"You have fire, if you feel any suspicion you can expel me from your mind with it." Right. Trees are allergic to fire, but she knows better than anyone how complex mind maps are. She bent over and touched the leaves. There are many but the one she is particularly interested in is the one that will improve and enhance her magic.
This is what the dragons have been asking her to focus on but the only way she has is the body forging pill that improves her body strength which does not directly influence her magic power.
If she improves her body and increase her magic at the same time, her flames will bring down immortals and melt iron and steel at that time.
The important thing is that Aeryn can continue to improve even after she sever her connection with herself by occasionally taking this pill.
This is really too fucking tempting. Even now her body is stronger than her magic because there is no cultivation manual to draw in magic into her body she can only wait for it to gather at a natural pace which is not fast enough.
Sighing, she takes the leaves. They're a lot so she is left without a way to carry them. The others watched her until she got down after enforcing her mental power even further, she grabbed a branch and her eyes went white.
This time the tentacles didn't go where they shouldn't and Olivia had no reason to lose her temper. "We are related you know, by blood." They are in a green place with green grass and a setting sun in the horizon.
"I know. I could smell my blood in you. I have learnt not to fuss about it." Olivia picked up a stick on the ground. "Where are we?"
"You mean when are we?" The old man smirked at her reaction.
"Time travel? That can't be without danger." She looked around to find they have moved to a place with a man on the throne.
"He is handsome. Is he someone important?" Olivia watched the young man get down and walk away.
"That was Aerys II. Traveling to the past is not my specialty, I can see the past that I have witnessed as it happened with my crows." There is a crow on the open window watching everything.
Olivia watched closely as a Maester gave the young king something and the king drank it all without hesitation. As soon as he went away the young Maester showed an evil smirk.
"He was not mad at all but he was poisoned by the grey rats?" Olivia whistled knowing this led to her grandfather and uncle's death.
"Targaryens had no dragons anymore, no actual magic nor did they have any kingdom that truly loved them." Olivia rambled.
The old man looked at her curious. "I have spent a lot of years to steel my resolve not to get angered by the things I see. I brought you here to see if you will get angered knowing what came after the king went mad."
"I am angered. But I am bored more than angered, bring me somewhere interesting." The evil old man took her to the scene of Aerys laughing as two men burnt to a crisp.
"I meant a battle field or somewhere I can see my father." She can not smell the burning flash but the look in the eyes on the young man as he reached for the older man is full of hope, hope, despair then rage.
"They are my grandfather and uncle aren't they?" Olivia watched as they suffered until they died. The mad king's evil crackles sounded in the quiet throne room.
"No wonder everyone was angry. Even I wish to kill the bastard." Her eyes glazed in anger.
"Can I bring people into memories like you?" She asked him, the old man gave her that evil smirk again.
"If you become the tree eyed raven." He said.
"I thought that was for Bran?" She tilted her head.
"You don't trust me to teach your brother I will teach you and you teach him. Only he has the talent to become the true three eye raven, you favor your Targaryen bloodline too much." He said but Olivia rolled her eyes at his statement.
"Show me something else since you are done torturing me with ghostly screams of my dead relatives."
"You do it now, you want to be able so show people the world's memories? Go for it."
Olivia closed her eyes and thought of the date but non came to mind so she thought of people. The hungry wolf battling the Andals. Nothing happened. She tried again but still nothing. She released a loud scream that had all her frustrations at being denied the chance to witness a glorious Stark victory.
A long while past but there is no change in scenery. "Cough, perhaps I can help?" The old man asked by the side.
"I want to see the victory of the battle between the hungry wolf and the Andals. I want to see the time when Starks and the Boltons came together for the first time to face a new enemy and their truce allowed for a crushing victory against a powerful foe." The more she spoke the more excited she became.
"I will leave that to be your graduation test. Lets start with something we are all so worried about."
Olivia didn't have a family in her last life, she was adopted into the school of power but she didn't have strong connections with anyone inside even her master became estranged as she became disappointed with her.
Her mind was always occupied with dreams of becoming stronger and never about legacy and family. In this life she has this thing called family but she had to be careful not to overstep and become an obstacle like her stepmother has always made her out to be.
Her family is very precious to her which is why she left when she was young. To not let her temper get in the way and destroy something she values greatly.
"Here is what you do..." Olivia and the old man went to various times and places trying to show her how to become him and do the things that he does. Of course Olivia is eccentric but she is teachable.
In the end it became apparent that she can only watch the present memories of the world. Her green seer powers can only be used to see the current events which is powerful but not as powerful as seeing the future or the past.
The old man is disappointed by this news but Olivia has her dragon dreams if she is in danger to warn her even though she is without a way to control them.
Olivia learned all she can be taught and took away her leaves to collect some other ingredients and made several middle grade pills that will allow her to breakthrough in her magic powers.
To make sure that the effect from taking the pills is maximized, she improved her body's ability to store magic again and again before attempting to take a single magic enhancement pill.
....