Brienne of Tarth was recovering slowly; she had stayed at the tree-kin enclave because of all their healers. The blow she had taken in battle broke 5 ribs and cut her deeply. No internal organs had been damaged, but it hurt her to breathe. She had heard the stories about the strange room that had been discovered in the stone-kin tunnels, and she feared Arya would be going in to explore them without her protection. She began doing her fighting exercises despite the pain, trying to get herself in some battle shape to defend Arya.
Several thousand Zonian corpses had been gathered and moved to the burning field, and Drogon was tasked to burn them all. The stench of the fires hung dreadful in the air of the western part of the north for days. The rails had all been repaired, and the trains were running on time again. Construction on the Zonian palisade camp, which was now the counter-invasion camp, was nearing completion, and one by one the men of the Black were showing up as trainers there. Trains stopped every day to unload soldiers and foodstuffs for the growing camp. A small village near the camp began to grow as more farms were set up to feed the soldiers. There were nearly 40,000 troops stationed there now, and the number kept growing.
Wicket met with the captain of the Bravvos mercenaries and gave them their final pay. She thanked them for their service and asked if they might be up for reforming later for the counter-invasion. They said they liked that idea but would be headed home for now. The captain told her they would be sailing back to Bravvos on the wind ships that had been given to them. And he invited her to return to Bravvos with them. She agreed but said she would be bringing her friend Melony with her, and they must have a private cabin. The captain agreed, and some time later the whole group sailed back to Bravvos from Fort#4.
There were close to 5,000 Zonian prisoners in the camp east of Brandon's Rest now. They had fallen into the routine of work and rest. They were treated well, fed and cared for, and some had begun to receive payment for their work. The others were jealous and strove to begin paid work as well. The camp had been expanded to house another 1000 Zonians who had been captured at the Battle of Tree-kin Fortress. The rest of the prisoners had been sent to King's Landing. Those who failed to adjust to this new life were sold off to slavers from Meereen, and once that became understood by the larger prisoner population, they began to adjust much quicker. At Brandon's Rest, a group of about 200 of the Zonian prisoners was sent to the counter-invasion camp to be sparring partners of the troops there. They were paid well and had relative freedom in the camp. They loved the fighting and training because the Zonian culture was very much a martial one; the men saw themselves as extensions of their fighting ability. More than being happy, they actually became friends with their sparring partners. Several of them began petitioning Arya to swear allegiance to Westeros. She told them through intermediaries that they must prove their allegiance over time before that could happen. They seemed to understand and accept those terms, and they fought fiercely on the training grounds. The Westerosi troops had a real chance to experience battle with Zonians in a true combat situation, and the Zonians learned a great deal about Westerosi tactics. They drilled alongside their Westerosi counterparts, excelling in sword and axe training but lagging in bow and spear work. In one-on-one mock fighting, mostly the Zonians won by overpowering their opponents, but on occasion a Westerosi defeated them. The Zonians would cheer for their guys, and the Westerosi would cheer on theirs. A certain camaraderie developed among both groups; they would laugh and chatter together at the local watering hole after the day's fight.
The last 1000 of these prisoners at the Brandon's Rest camp were much less interested in adjusting. They still saw themselves as superiors to the Westerosi and plotted to escape over and over. One night, a group of six of them tunneled under the fence and crawled out. What they didn't realize was that Drogon was on top of the giant granite rock watching them go. The escapees took about ten steps, and in a flash, they were faced with a full-grown dragon. Drogon cooked them before they could run away. A crowd of wide-eyed prisoners still inside the fence learned this lesson quickly.
Stone barracks had been added to the prison camp, and lots of the prisoners were set to cutting firewood for the coming winter. Many of them were tasked with constructing the new town area, digging tunnels, and helping the stone-kin build the walls. A large contingent of stone-kin was carving up the giant granite rock that stood next to the old walls of Brandon's Rest. The stone taken from inside the rock became wall parts, and the tunnelings inside it were feeding the building of the walls. As the first snows began falling, doors and windows were being installed in "Granite Hall," as the locals began to call it. The walls were all but done, but the houses would wait until spring to be built.
Not long after, Brienne returned on a wind train with a group of tree-kin scholars who were there to study the runes on the walls of the room.