Bab 49: Ja9
Jon was atop the tree, looking down at his enormous city with his entire kingdom around it. The city was in constant motion and developing in every way, new buildings were emerging, and houses for the new inhabitants were under constant renovation. Arya was by his side, gazing down from a height of 70 meters. The tree is growing an additional 20 meters per year, and Jon does not know its limit, but he would like to see it much larger.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked my little sister of almost 9 namedays.
"I would say magical, Jon. I never imagined seeing a place like this; it's a thousand times bigger than Winterfell and much more beautiful. I would not want to leave, ever." She said happily, her eyes shining with the view in front of her.
"I don't think father will like this, let alone your mother. Your mother already wants my head for bringing you here." Jon said, laughing. Lord Stark sent a message with the raven that went to Winterfell a moon after they arrived, demanding why Arya was taken and that he wanted her to return to Winterfell, her mother demanded that she leave this barbaric place and that Jon be taken for the crimes of kidnapping a noble girl.
"My time is running out, isn't it?" She asked timidly. We had a deal; she said she would like to stay here for 1 year before answering to her father, since the raven returned to Winterfell only to say that Arya is well and safe here while studying with him and being prepared for a world and not with the quite poor education of the seven kingdoms for nobles, he emphasized to her father that she would learn what really mattered.
Jon also did not lie when he also said that he would take Arya to the south, as soon as he could, but the journey is long and dangerous to Winterfell. There was no way to take her now with the current development of Arctic, so when the raven returned, making the same demands and how Jon was reckless in taking Arya, Lord Stark never had an answer again, Jon knew this was natural after his daughter being taken, but Jon thinks of Arya's well-being more than anything, and it would be good for her to get out of the septa's education and learn to be an independent and intelligent woman.
"You will answer to your father for the first time, and you will do it within the next 3 moons!" Jon demanded of her, at least she had the decency to nod her head.
"JON!!" A voice interrupted our conversation, and when he turned to see the source of the sound, Jon shivered as he automatically shrunk into a crushing hug, Seryna ran up to him as was her habit and hugged him tightly, but unlike before, she tries to kiss him now. Jon always tries to dodge her lips, not that he doesn't appreciate it, but he feels it's bad before marriage to do these things, he was entering puberty and starting to feel things seeing Seryna, the woman could have been a giant before, but she was so attractive that sometimes he had to fight against his instincts to take his future wife to bed and being forcefully kissed is not something attractive to him now.
Arya rolled her eyes at their interaction, making gestures like she was about to vomit.
"Stop it Serena! Why are you here?" Jon asked after he managed to get out of her hug and attempts at pecks.
"A group of people arrived on the western side of the territory, this one is much larger than the last ones, with almost 4,000 freefolk and 34 giants!" She said as soon as she let him breathe.
"Let's see..." Jon said using his eyes and saw through Caraxes flying in the sky the group stopped by a few hundred Artican soldiers who acted quickly as soon as the Warg sentinels warned of the approach.
"This is really big, let's welcome them!" Jon said after his brief warg. Looking at Arya, wondering if she wanted to join us, obviously she joined us.
Leaving the castle, Jon mounted a giant wolf that was not Ghost but one of its brothers, from the litter of Shadow and Blackarrow. He was gray and stood 2.4 meters tall, which the Arctic King commonly used to travel through the city. Arya mounted her she-wolf of the same size, and Seryna her shadow cat, one that Jon had given her, even though she was not a warg. Luckily for the animal, Seryna had decreased in size as well as in weight.
They quickly traversed the city via a military avenue to avoid passing through the crowds, followed by a few more Artican knights who had sworn to protect the royal family of Arctic. They left the city through the gate and headed west, passing through the farms of the kingdom.
Upon reaching the location in the west of the Arctic region, Jon approached his men, stopping the group now in the thousands, since if it were a conflict, they would already be preparing in case of a hostile movement from another party. The Artican army was quick to act in any emergency, with the white walkers as a daily threat, Jon had established a system with thousands of wargs patrolling the borders at all times, so mobilization is so swift that by the time the news reached Jon, his soldiers had already resolved the situation and maintained control.
With the soldiers making way for him, Jon went to the front of the Artican soldiers to meet the group. Tormund, who had proven to be a potential commander, approached to give the report on the group. They had not been hostile and waited for him to meet them, also mentioning that the group was led by an old lady whom the freefolk call the Mole's Mother. She was a forest witch, a type of weirwood priestess. There were a few in Arctic already, usually staying with the children of the forest under the Great Weirwood in the sacred grove praying to the old gods.
Jon stepped forward to speak with his possible new Artican members, a lady at the front of that group being helped by another member, looked at him from the crowd of humans and giants.
"IT IS YOU!" She said, seeming excited, and I raised an eyebrow.
"More than 3 years ago! I saw you crossing the wall to become the king beyond the wall and I was right, you created a space for us to survive against the cold darkness!" She said excitedly while moving closer to kneel.
"Please, accept us, king of this land! I gathered all those who believe in my words over the last few years as we moved from the lands further north in search of shelter, all are willing to follow you!" She was about to kneel, but Jon stopped her with the palm of his hand.
"There's no need to kneel, the Artican people do not kneel to anyone. There's a saying in this place that a king does not need to wear a crown all the time or have his people kneel to him; I only need your respect for me, this land, and our laws." Jon spoke for the first time and looked at the crowd that was watching them. All were wearing furs as clothes, typical of the peoples who still remain outside the Artican domains, many were looking at him with hope, since Jon imagined how this woman must have preached about him and what she saw years ago, now they could say the forest witch was not lying.
Jon sighed before raising his voice to these people. "YOU MAY ENTER ARCTIC! AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOW OUR RULES, WE DO NOT LIVE LIKE MOST TRIBES OUTSIDE THIS PLACE, WE DO NOT NEED TO WORRY ABOUT FOOD OR COLD. WE LIVE PEACEFULLY AND HARMONIOUSLY WITH 4 DIFFERENT RACES. IF YOU WANT TO ENTER HERE AND DISTURB THE PEACE OF MY PEOPLE, YOU WILL BE TREATED ACCORDING TO THE PUNISHMENT IN OUR WRITTEN LAWS FOR THE TYPE OF CRIME COMMITTED, BUT IF YOU WANT TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE AND FOLLOW OUR LAWS, YOU WILL HAVE YOUR PLACE IN ARCTIC!" He gave his speech that he usually gave to large crowds approaching the kingdom. His voice of 12 namedays surprised everyone, reaching nearly 4,000 people. Jon could use his magic to amplify his voice, and everyone quickly nodded in agreement.
"Tormund, organize a temporary place outside the city, and start settling them as soon as all the houses are available, but provide food and clothes to everyone," Jon told the man he had appointed responsible for border protection and surveillance and also responsible for organizing and delivering the new members to Aemon, whom Jon had placed the old Targaryen in charge of organizing and being responsible for the civilians in the city during this phase.
"May I see the giant Weirwood?! I never imagined that would be possible, even in the vision I had years ago, I didn't believe it. But now I'm seeing a colossal tree of 90 meters!" The lady who introduced herself as Mother Mole, spoke excitedly while looking at the tree kilometers away.
"Of course, you can, no man should be forbidden from praying to their gods," Jon said, remembering the large number of tens of thousands of people who join the Grand Weirwood to pray every week. Obviously, Arctic had a sect in this place with this colossal tree and a forest full of weirwoods at the feet of the Great Weirwood with children of the forest running and singing among the trees every day. The religion in this kingdom was to a point that Jon could say even radical.
"But I must warn, we have children of the forest, harming any of them is the most abominable crime in Arctic!" Jon did not fail to warn. They still did not know about the 4 races that the king spoke of before, but they would eventually find out, already warning about the children. They did no harm, only wanting to spend their day with nature and caring for their new children, which Jon had helped increase the birth rate so they would no longer be a millennia-old race facing extinction.
Upon hearing about the children, many looked in disbelief while Mother Mole had eyes shining at that moment. After settling things and leaving the group with Tormund now, Jon returned to the city accompanied by the two girls. We passed through the walls where thousands of dwarves were working and giants carrying stones with mammoths, the construction he had initiated finally to organize the structure.
After passing by the working people, Arya addressed her brother, "Jon, it's still morning, why don't we go to the arena, it's empty at this hour and Ygritte told me yesterday she would be fighting at this time!" She commented, making Jon look at her and then at Seryna on her shadow cat.
"Are you free? Don't you have training with the giant's army?" He asked his fiancée. He really didn't know everything about Arctic; he may be the founding king of the place, but always prioritized its self-functioning so that the kingdom would have autonomy and not rely exclusively on a single power, although one depends on the other.
"No Jon, they are busy with the constructions today. I can accompany you," she said, and the trio headed to the kingdom's arena, looking at the colossal structure that was still underway. It could already accommodate nearly 40,000 of the 100,000 people planned for this place at the end of construction. However, as the canal was being made to the sea, there wasn't as much labor to finish its construction every day, so on the days when there are no workers finishing the work, the people used these days to hold events with the public in a fight as a sport without fatalities in the arena.
Arriving at the place, there were only a few thousand Artican people watching, who had decided to start their day seeing some entertainment. The field was 200 square meters in size, and there were various fights happening at that moment, the Artican warriors trained here to exhibit themselves to the people when they were not training in the army's space.
They found a 12 namedays old Ygritte in a fight with another adult Artican woman. After several exchanges of blows, Ygritte yielded. She was a great archer, but still lacked many things as a warrior and her blade, even with the potions Jon was providing her, she couldn't beat an adult. These potions he provided were very limited, as he was the only one who could make them, hence he chose a select group of people to benefit from them.
Ygritte spoke with the woman after her defeat, gaining some tips, and joined them soon after she saw Jon, Seryna, and Arya in the royal box. She nearly sat in Jon's lap as she greeted them, to Serene's jealousy. Jon had gotten used to this; in the last moons, the girls threw themselves at him whenever they could. Arya was the only one disgusted, finding all their behavior too clingy.
Jon usually, at this time every day, either stayed with Brynden continuing his training along with kings and great thinkers and warriors of the past or stayed in his personal greenhouse for alchemy that he never stopped producing.
In terms of alchemy, for Jon, unfortunately, it was quite limited, as he didn't have a glasshouse to organize my experiments and had to keep plants he used outdoors. Some he had to isolate, as they were toxic and could harm nearby living beings, but he was still working on big projects. One of them was trying to free Brynden from the roots of the Great Weirwood, attempting to create something his healing magic was not capable of.
After watching more events in the area with the girls, while two of them still competed for his attention, Jon said goodbye to them as they went to do their afternoon chores. Jon went straight to the Great Weirwood. In the center, there was a chamber almost underground, with large roots and torches attached to them without catching fire. This place was created by the tree itself, after I started to energize it with my magic. Every day he comes here to provide new energy supplies. This was the heart of the tree and shone with magic and the tree's vitality.
Placing his hand in the center of the roots, a new glow was emitted throughout the room with a soft green. The tree did not grow visibly, but each year, it increased its height significantly. Jon hoped it would reach at least 300 meters. He always envisioned Arctic as a giant city beneath a sacred tree, as the most magical city and kingdom in the world.
After this, Jon returned to the surface and saw his sister taking her sewing lessons with Old Nan, Artican women, dwarfs, and even children of the forest in the sacred grove. All had great talent, unlike what Jon had imagined when he gave Arya an ultimatum that she should learn to sew while in Arctic. Despite her protests and dissatisfaction, she ended up enjoying her time learning to embroider with the other women, unlike in Winterfell. Their conversation topics in the sewing circle varied and were of her interest, and she showed a surprising talent in sewing, to the Artican king's surprise.
After greeting Arya and everyone else, Jon went to one of the highest places in the Great Weirwood, with a large opening to the city he had seen before with Arya. There was a large animal, white with green spots, sleeping curled up in the center of the place, basking in the morning's first rays. This animal was Eragon, who now had the size of a horse.
Jon didn't approach him in his sleep. First, he looked out over the city, but while he was observing the place, Eragon had already sensed his presence and Jon got a nudge from behind and a protest from his dragon and son, clearly unhappy about being ignored. Jon laughed and began to pet him.
"You're getting bigger, buddy!" Jon said while I ran my hand over his scales, with the sound of his happy purring at his father's touch.
"It won't be long before you can fly on him," said a voice, and Jon, looking up, saw Maester Aemon looking at him with eyes full of affection for him and the dragon.
The dragon, moving away from the boy, went to Aemon to ask for his affection too, with a cat-like purr.
"Traitor!" Jon muttered when Eragon switched, but kept a playful smile on his lips.
"Perhaps this old man has spoiled him too much!" Aemon said with a gentle voice and laughing at his own joke while petting the dragon.
I smiled at them. It was good to have so many people like this by my side. Like Arya, I had the same strange feeling of being near family with Aemon, but I thought that was because the old maester had been so kind since he met him.
"How did things go with the new members of the kingdom?" I asked, knowing that Aemon must have already dealt with the new group in the morning while Jon was in the Arena.
"The dwarves are preparing new houses in the eastern area of the city. It won't take long to have them move in there; we have half of the place completed already. Should I ask Thor to redistribute the workforce from the canal to expedite the construction of the houses?" He asked, stopping petting the young dragon for a moment.
"No, they can stay in tents until we finish the place. They are safe here now; we won't interfere with the canal construction at this moment, it is the priority, and then comes the wall of a thousand kilometers in length and 25 in height around Arctic. Our security and mobility must be our priorities," Jon said.
"We will have to dismantle about 4 mountains in the region for so many stones, we are taking sand from the sea to make the cement. I believe we can finish in a few years if we manage to reallocate all the workforce to this and nothing arises in that time," said Aemon, despite not being in charge of that sector. He and Thor, along with Jon and the council, had discussed quite a bit about its planning and priorities on which path the kingdom should follow.
"Yes, but for now, let's focus on the canal," he said, sighing, thinking about the future.
"Well, I guess our free time is over now, let's go down for our lessons," Jon said, changing the subject.
"Of course, professor!" Aemon said with a smile, as he said goodbye to the dragon. Jon had so much accumulated knowledge that even Aemon had to consider the young man in front of him a mind with more knowledge than him, so it was natural to call him professor.
The rest of the afternoon, Jon taught Aemon, Arya, and another 100 people with everything he learned from the gods and the green sight. Much knowledge learned was from the lands of Yi-Ti, where they are much more advanced than the maesters of Westeros. After the class, Jon went to the Weirwood forest to see how Leaf, Wind, and the other children of the forest were doing.
After that, he ended the day by returning to the arena to watch the fighting events with the girls again. At dusk, Jon went to his laboratory to make potions that were missing in stock for the rest of the night, thus, another common day for the king in Arctic, sleeping with Eragon and a handful of wolves in a space in the Great Weirwood.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone