Sharpening the axe does not hinder the woodcutting. With his shoulders and neck massaged and official intelligence about Daenerys in hand, Aegor found his mind was indeed much clearer.
He had been caught between a rock and a hard place, agonizing over whether to accept Melisandre's proposal, primarily due to too many unknown factors, roughly three in total: 1. After the drastic changes in the plot, he was unsure where Daenerys was, and might have to spend a lot of effort searching for her after she went south, wasting a lot of time and energy for no reason. 2. Limited by the slow spread of information and the vast distance, he was likely to encounter the awkward situation of arriving at King's Landing, only to find the place already reduced to ashes by Daenerys's three dragons, a wasted trip with nothing to show for it. 3. The White Walkers might attack while he was away, and with morale severely diminished due to his absence as Commander, all his preparations could be rendered useless.
These three problems could actually be summarized into one key concern, he was afraid he would not be in time.
Now, the first two problems were resolved. Daenerys was likely at Dragonstone, and due to Stannis's sufficient military preparations, she might not attack King's Landing before establishing a firm foothold. So, combined with Melisandre's certain attitude, Aegor suddenly realized, his most detested unstable factors had been minimized. If he continued to hesitate, he would simply be acting like a woman.
Risks that need to be taken must be taken. If he was afraid of not being in time, then he should go quickly and return quickly. That was much better than overthinking everything.
...
"No!" Arya immediately objected strongly. "I finally get to come here, can't you, can't you wait until I leave before you get busy with other things!"
"If I could wait, I would not have been agonizing over this for half a day," Aegor explained helplessly. "Do you think the Gift is a good place right now? You and your mother came at the wrong time. Finish your business and hurry back to Winterfell. This place will soon be crowded with refugees from all directions, and you will not even have a place to sleep then."
"You, you, you," Arya was so angry that her voice took on a tearful, wronged tone. She did not understand Aegor's good intentions of wanting her to be safe. All she could see was that her master wanted to send her away just to go see another woman.
"Alright, alright, stay as long as you want. I will come back to accompany you as soon as possible, okay?" Aegor also realized something was wrong. As the Night's Watch Commander, preparing to go south to meet the Dragon Queen and King Stannis was a serious official decision and arrangement. Why did he have to tell Arya, creating the illusion that he was discussing it with her? He quickly changed the subject. "How did you and your mother, and Bran, talk just now? Did he agree to go home with you?"
Arya was still too young and easily distracted by Aegor's tricks. She forgot what they were just discussing and seamlessly switched to the new topic. "Uh, I almost forgot if you did not mention it. Why has Bran become so strange! I asked him what he did during the time he disappeared, and why Hodor, Summer, and the Reed boy were gone. He would not talk about anything, only saying that he can see everything now. He said a lot of things I did not quite understand, but basically it meant I am determined to join the Night's Watch. In the end, I do not know why my mother was actually convinced."
"So, your brother is confirmed to join the Night's Watch?"
"I guess so," Arya replied uncertainly. "Bran said there were some things he could only discuss with mother and asked me to come out first, so I came over here."
"Only discuss with your mother?"
Aegor repeated blankly. It was not surprising at all that Bran could convince Catelyn to agree to him joining the Night's Watch. After all, there was precedent and tradition, plus thousands of years of accumulated experience and eloquence, even he, the Lord of the Gift, was led by the nose throughout their conversation. But what private matters did he need to discuss with Catelyn that Arya could not hear? That was truly a bit strange.
While wondering, Aegor suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder. Arya had been standing behind him, pretending to massage his shoulders. At some point, her arms had slid forward to his chest, and she lowered her body, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning onto the back of his chair, her body almost pressed against his back, and her small head rested on his left shoulder. "Mas, ter."
As soon as he heard her suddenly sticky tone, Aegor knew she must have some strange request again.
"Stop being weird, speak properly. And, your chin is digging into my shoulder."
Arya pushed him away in feigned anger, but then leaned her head forward again. This time, she was clamping Aegor's shoulder blade with her chin and neck. The girl's neck, without an Adam's apple, was soft and did not dig in, but her small face was almost pressed against Aegor's left cheek.
"The ideas you gave me last time were not reliable. I studied it carefully later and came up with a good idea myself. Can't I just join the Night's Watch too? Why bother foolishly trying, to argue with that blockhead."
You too? Aegor had a headache. "Did I not tell you, the Night's Watch does not accept female soldiers."
"But are you not the Commander? I have inquired, you can make changes to the laws of the Night's Watch!"
She had come prepared. Aegor's attitude was firm. "Laws are laws. If they can be changed just for you, can they still be called laws?"
"Mas, ter, please," Arya whined stubbornly, putting her weight on the man and shaking him, rubbing her face hard against his cheek, her warm breath puffing onto his collar.
What happened to the good little girl? How did she turn into a whiny monster at the drop of a hat? With Myrcella, a genuinely sweet girl, as a contrast, Arya's deliberately acted performance immediately felt fake and gave him goosebumps. Aegor sat up straight. In their current position, if he turned his head, he could... Although he was very fond of this little apprentice, he had no desire to experience the melodramatic plots only found in light novels and Japanese anime, nor did he want to develop the relationship in that direction. The Second Miss of Stark, no matter how beautiful and cute, belonged to the category on his list of people he needed to keep his dick in check when facing.
This kind of noble lady, once provoked, could not be shaken off.
"Alright, alright, I promise you. Ask your mother at dinner tonight. If she agrees, I will immediately change the law and take you in as the first female Night's Watch, okay?"
"You, you, you, I am not friends with you anymore!" Arya immediately hit him. She was straightforward and not at all shrewd, but she was not stupid either and understood perfectly that this was just a refusal.
"If you are not friends with me, you are not friends with me. Stop pressing on my shoulder, you are heavy."
Seeing that whining did not work, the girl immediately changed tactics and let go of Aegor's neck. She sniffled, and her tone suddenly became aggrieved. "Master, I feel like you do not care about me at all. Am I just a tool that can provide inside information in your eyes!"
Alright, alright, this trick had some effect. Aegor actually felt a little guilty. "How could that be? You have always been Master's most beloved and most cherished apprentice. But in this world, it is true that not everyone and everything can go as you wish. Fine. I promise, after the war ends, I will definitely seriously think of a way for you, okay?"
Aegor made the promise seriously, but this time, who would still believe him?
"No!"
Aegor shrugged, trying to push the girl away. "Get up quickly. A married woman clinging to a Night's Watch, what kind of behavior is that."
It would have been better if he had not said anything. Now her wronged tone immediately turned fierce again. "You are the married woman! Your whole family are married women! Do not use that word to describe me!"
Ha, now this was the Arya he was familiar with. Aegor relaxed. "But strictly speaking, a girl with an engagement is a married woman."
"Say that word again?"
"Married woman." Aegor did not hesitate. "Ow, you actually bit!"
Arya, who had been rubbing his face and pleading softly moments before, became angry and embarrassed, revealing the nature of a little she-wolf. She actually turned her head and bit Aegor's ear. Although it did not hurt much, it felt a bit off. The girl was still young and might not be able to distinguish the boundary between normal affection with Master and flirting with a man, but Aegor could not continue to mess around with her without boundaries.
"Alright, alright, stop playing." Aegor stood up from the chair, turned around, and grabbed Arya, who was still trying to run away and entice him to chase. He dragged her toward the door. "It is about time. Come on, let us go to the kitchen together and see what you want to eat. We will ask your mother at the dinner table later if she will let you join the Night's Watch."
...
A moment later.
In the main dining hall of the Hogwarts Town Inner Keep, the Commander of the Night's Watch, along with the high-ranking officials of Crown Town, received Lady Stark from Winterfell and her three children. They had dinner together and engaged in friendly and cordial conversation during the meal. The matter of whether she could join the Night's Watch that Aegor had promised to ask Arya about was naturally not mentioned by anyone. Instead, Catelyn voluntarily expressed her desire to continue north to the Wall, as a member of Stark, to visit the frontline officers and soldiers who were defending the borders of the Seven Kingdoms in harsh conditions, and incidentally go to Nightfort to fulfill the wish of the most devout Old Gods believers among the accompanying North soldiers who wanted to pay homage to the legendary giant weirwood tree.
If safety was ensured, it was not a bad thing, but Aegor found it slightly strange, wondering if this was a suggestion from Bran and Catelyn's private conversation. But if it was just that, there was no need to avoid Arya.
Despite his doubts, as an outsider, it was not appropriate for him to delve into the private conversation between Catelyn and her son Bran. After Aegor expressed his agreement and immediately arranged for cooperation, he simply announced at the dinner table that he would be taking a ship south to King's Landing to seek assistance from King Stannis, for no other reason than to observe the reaction of Greenseer Bran. If he said no, that the White Walkers were coming soon and he could not leave, then the plan, no matter how set in stone, would naturally have to be canceled. Conversely, it was feasible.
Fortunately, Bran, who was sitting nearby, only nodded slightly to Aegor after hearing this and did not speak.
The lively dinner ended. Arya was dragged back to her room by her mother, while Aegor returned to his residence after briefing a few subordinates on their work. Walking on the hard, flat frozen ground of Crown Town, he looked up at the sky and found that the weather was unusually good tonight. The moon was bright, the stars were sparse, and there were no clouds for miles.
A thought stirred in his heart, and he changed direction, walking toward Melisandre's residence.
"What do you want?" The Red Priestess was surprised by his visit and blocked the doorway with a frown.
"Pack your things, we are leaving immediately."
"Did you not say you were going to think about it carefully before? What has gotten into you now?"
"I have thought it over. The weather is excellent tonight. If we leave now, we can catch the ship to Dragonstone tomorrow morning. If the weather remains like this tomorrow and the day after tomorrow night, we can at least go and return two days earlier."
"Do two days make a difference?" Melisandre scoffed, but after thinking about it, the Prophet was so concerned about this war, fighting for every second. As his assistant, could she really be negligent and pour cold water on his efforts? She sighed, also looked up at the night sky, and shook her head helplessly. "Alright, wait a moment."
(To be continued.)
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