If someone looks like a pig, would you say she is ugly?
By the same logic, if a pig looks like a human, would the other pigs find it ugly?
The Children of the Forest are the same.
"I'm not ugly. I look exactly like the Mother Goddess. I'm proud of it!" Little Mist said, hands on her hips, chest out, chin raised.
"As humans, you and Daenerys aren't ugly, but you used to be one who sang praises to the earth!"
"The Children of the Forest are the most beautiful beings in the world. The Mother Goddess herself said so."
"There's no need to be too harsh. Carbonfang has already begun a second life. It's normal to change form."
"Exactly. No matter how ugly humans are, they still look better than crows."
"That makes sense. Look at Carbonfang's wings. They're sparkling, like crystals of flame, far more beautiful than us."
Crows cawed. Some found Little Mist off-putting, while others thought she looked quite nice.
"Do you want to go with the Mother Goddess?" Little Mist widened her eyes and said pitifully. "I get pretty lonely on my own."
"What about Woodfruit? Didn't Woodfruit leave with you?" a crow asked in confusion.
"Woodfruit? You mean A-Fu?" Little Mist sighed. "She was burned away by the Mother Goddess."
"Burned away?" The crows were horrified. "Woodfruit is dead?"
"She's not dead," Little Mist quickly said.
"Oh, I thought she'd died." The crows let out a sigh of relief.
Little Mist continued, "She's not completely dead. I think it's worse than death. There's only one thing left."
She scratched the back of her head, thought for a moment, then said, "A-Fu was refined by the Mother Goddess with divine fire. Her soul was scattered, and only a single life imprint remains."
"Hiss—" The sky seemed warmer as thousands of crows inhaled sharply at the same time.
"That's terrifying!" The crows trembled.
"Little Mist, what nonsense are you spouting?" the Dragon Queen below ground her teeth.
Little Mist poked her chin and spaced out for a while before remembering her duty. She hurriedly said, "Don't be afraid. That's how opening a second life works. You'll all be burned until your souls scatter, and then—"
"Caw, caw, caw! I'm afraid of fire! I don't want to be burned until my soul scatters!"
"Having your soul scattered must hurt terribly. I'd rather quietly merge into trees and the earth."
The crows grew even more frightened and directly cut off what Little Mist was about to say.
"It doesn't hurt, it really doesn't," Little Mist said. "Fire doesn't hurt at all. Look at me." She spun around, turned back into her human-faced little sun, and said proudly, "When the Mother Goddess eats hotpot, she makes me squat at the bottom of the pot. I boil the soup in no time.
"I'm hotter than ordinary flames. How could fire possibly hurt me?"
"That makes sense. If you turn into a fireball, you probably won't be afraid of fire anymore," the crows said, half believing, half doubting.
Well, actually, you become a "fireball" only after being burned, not the other way around.
Little Mist herself had screamed miserably while being burned back then, but after becoming a fire spirit, she forgot all her previous memories.
"Then what about Woodfruit? Why is she still just a life imprint and not like you?" a crow asked in confusion.
"All living beings in the world have their own affinities, generally closer to one of the four great elements: earth, water, wind, or fire. I'm close to the fire element, so I was burned into a life imprint in one go and reincarnated as a fire spirit."
Little Mist sighed. "A-Fu has a thin fate. She's neither a fire spirit nor a wind spirit. And the Mother Goddess hasn't yet sung the Song of Water or the Song of Earth, so there's no way to transform her into another elemental spirit.
"But don't worry. Once the Mother Goddess sings her own Song of Earth and Song of Water, even if she only gets started, A-Fu will immediately be able to open her second life."
"What?" Bran was so shocked that he couldn't help interrupting. "Daenerys wants to gather all four elemental songs of earth, fire, wind, and water? Her ambition is far too great. If she really gathers all four, wouldn't she become a god-king? That's pure wishful thinking!"
"Long live the Mother Goddess! The Mother Goddess is omnipotent! The Mother Goddess will definitely gather all four elemental songs and become the world's greatest god-king!"
Little Mist transformed back into a tiny sprite and shouted fervently, pumping her small fist.
Dany pressed a hand to her forehead.
It was supposed to be a simple task of speaking from experience and recruiting others, yet she managed to make a mess of it and spill all of the Mother Goddess's secrets.
"Daenerys, being able to sing both the Song of Wind and the Song of Fire at the same time is already a stroke of incredible luck," Bran said earnestly as he went straight to her. "Even with just two elemental songs, don't you often feel you lack time to cultivate?
"Human effort has its limits. You can't possibly master every law in the world. Don't aim too high."
"My cultivation is my own business. Why are you getting so worked up?" Dany snapped irritably.
Bran said solemnly, "This isn't just about you. Don't forget your mission. Don't betray the trust the Mother Goddess placed in you.
"If, before the Long Night ends, you can't sing even one complete Song of Law, the world is finished.
"Unless you're willing to sacrifice yourself and fulfill R'hllor, letting Him summon the sun."
"Stop worrying about nothing. I know what I'm doing," Dany said impatiently, waving her hand.
"What do you mean you know? You don't have time to waste, and you don't have time for detours!" Bran was getting angry.
"If you're in such a hurry, then why aren't you helping me with everything you've got?"
"You said you needed crows. I brought every crow there is. As long as they're willing, they can all go with you. I've already done that much. How else do you want me to help you?" Bran said heatedly.
"Help me persuade them!"
"Don't push your luck. Ravens are my companions, not my slaves!"
"That makes it sound like I want to drag them off to be slaves or something."
After a pause, Dany asked curiously, "I thought you would entrust the mission of summoning the sun to Jon Snow."
"I hoped so too, but unfortunately he lacks far too many opportunities compared to you." Bran's words were filled with deep resentment.
The Mother Goddess's inheritance should all have gone to Jon.
"Mother Goddess, I persuaded two hundred ravens!"
A moment later, Little Mist excitedly led a flock of ravens down onto the King's Tower balcony. She proudly reported her results to the Dragon Queen, while the ravens, with eyes glowing red, gold, or green, stared at her curiously.
"Only two hundred?" Dany was very dissatisfied.
Bran had indeed kept his word and brought all the ravens over, nearly four thousand in total.
In the past, only three thousand ravens served as animal companions, rushing about and working tirelessly for the Three-Eyed Raven. The remaining thousand were too old, their souls weary and weak. They no longer took on tasks and usually perched on the weirwood trees, dozing off.
Now they had all come, yet Little Mist personally stepping in had only managed to call over two hundred companions.
Well, without Little Mist, perhaps even more ravens would have come to pledge themselves to the Dragon Queen.
Thinking of this, Dany's gaze toward the little one carried a hint of resentment.
"What's wrong? Mother Goddess, that's a full two hundred!" Little Mist looked utterly confused.
"Forget it. Next time, we'll let someone else make an appearance and speak for themselves."
After sweeping a glance over the ravens on the windowsill, Dany completely excluded Little Mist from the publicity team.
"I'm going to Dragonstone. Do you want to come along?" Dany asked Mance Rayder and his wife.
Mance's expression was solemn as he shook his head. "Most of the free folk at the Wall were brought over by me from beyond it. When they are fighting for their lives, how can I leave with peace of mind?"
"Do you think the fighting in the south will be any easier than at Castle Black?" Dany said dismissively.
"Besides, your son is still on Dragonstone. He's over two years old now, right?"
"No, he's still two months and seven days short of two," Dalla quickly corrected her.
"Don't you miss him?" Dany asked.
The gentle, graceful face of the wildling woman filled with deep longing.
"I do, of course I miss him. I dream of him every day. But I can't leave his father. On Dragonstone, he can live well and safely, and that puts my mind at ease."
As she spoke, Dalla's eyes reddened and tears flowed.
Mance Rayder patted his wife's shoulder and comforted her hoarsely. "If the Night King really crosses the Neck and goes south, then we'll go to Dragonstone."
"And you?" Dany turned her gaze to the silent wildling princess Val beside them. "Do you want to go to Winterfell? You haven't seen Jon in almost half a year, have you?"
Val frowned and thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't want to become his vassal, and he doesn't need me either."
Last Hearth, the ancestral castle of House Umber, aside from the Night's Watch fortresses, was the northernmost castle in the Seven Kingdoms.
The climate of the North was frigid, and unlike Winterfell, Last Hearth was not built atop a hot spring. Its architecture was more in line with northern style, with homes built underground.
Not the entire structure was underground. Rather, half lay below ground and half above. One could also describe it as a stone building with multiple underground levels.
In summer, they lived on the floors above ground; in winter, they huddled in the subterranean levels.
Ordinary villagers simply dug pits underground and built multi-story wooden houses at the bottom.
House Umber would never do that. After all, they were earls with a lineage spanning thousands of years, and among the North they were considered one of the great and powerful lords.
Their main keep resembled the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, not in outward appearance, but in foundation structure. Both were built atop raised earth platforms, with grand buildings constructed above.
However, the Hall of Supreme Harmony placed the palace directly on the platform, whereas Last Hearth built a castle with multiple underground levels atop a high platform of rammed earth and stone. The portion of the structure exposed above the platform was very low, with the edges of the gabled roof even drooping down close to the ground.
The layout of Last Hearth was also quite simple. It was a long rectangular strip, one hundred meters wide and two hundred meters long, oriented north to south. The godswood lay to the north, occupying about forty meters. The family keep within the raised platform was a fifty-by-fifty-meter square, with towers, stables, and storehouses surrounding the main keep.
The castle was encircled by a ring of stone walls eighteen meters high, wide enough at the top for two fine horses to ride side by side.
Of course, like Winterfell, there was also a marketplace outside Last Hearth where common folk lived.
Was an eighteen-meter wall tall?
Not to mention in the Great Heavenly Dynasty, even in southern Westeros, eighteen meters would be considered very high.
But the North was different.
On the vast plains of the North, winter snow could pile up to ten meters thick. The walls blocked the wind, causing snow to accumulate to fifteen meters. It was even common for snow to overtop the walls.
For example, in the original storyline, when Theon leapt from Winterfell's walls with the fake Arya, why didn't they die?
Because Winterfell's walls were fifteen meters high, while the snow outside was twelve meters deep. Jumping down was like landing on a quilt.
In past years, even if snow piled higher than the walls, those inside the castle were not afraid of enemy attacks. To assault Last Hearth, one had to cross over a thousand kilometers of icy wilderness. Large armies could not make it through, and small enemy forces attacking an earl's castle would be tantamount to suicide.
But this time, a great army had come. They lightly trod atop the snow layers, moving even more easily than walking. The walls almost immediately declared their fall.
When Dany passed by Last Hearth with her three dragons, she witnessed a scene like something out of a zombie siege from an online game in her previous life.
The square main keep of Last Hearth was swarmed on all sides, even across the rooftops, with wights whose eyes flickered with blue light.
(End of chapter)
Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon
https://patreon.com/Glimmer09