When Sam, the rescued telepath, had cried out mentally that it wasn't safe in Brandon's Rest, Wicket ran and jumped aboard the last troop ship leaving for Westeros. When Sam again began bemoaning the fate of Brandon's Rest, Wicket transmitted to her, "I am coming, Sam, I will be there soon." Within a day, Wicket and her 1000 troops were loaded aboard a conscripted trade train and were moving towards Barrowton. By the next morning, they reached the station below Barrowton, and the troops unloaded to move south and join the fight against the Zon. The Braavos troops were sorry to separate from her, as she had become a mascot/employer to them. Wicket remained on board, and more wounded were loaded to be taken to Brandon's Rest, then the train pulled out for the north.
Over 1000 new prisoners had been taken from the Zonian assault on Brandon's Rest. Temporary housing was added to the bustling prison building, and more guards were assigned. The intel building was a swarm of prisoner interviews and intakes. Tyrion had interviewed so many Zonians now, with a translator, that he began thinking in Zonian. All the intel people (some 40 now) began to collate and document the dribs and drabs of information they had gathered, along with all the papers, and the prisoners were moved to tent housing or sent back to King's Landing for further interviews. On day three after the fighting at Brandon's Rest, a meeting was held in the Hall with all the intel people, the leaders of Brandon's Rest, and the military leadership. It was during this meeting that Wicket arrived and had her tearful reunion with Sam. Sam broke down when seeing her childhood friend; they ran to each other, and they both melted into a puddle of joy and sorrow for all that had happened.
It was the consensus of that meeting that within a few days, the Zonian naval general would indeed commit his remaining forces to an assault on Brandon's Rest. But Belaletrix stood and said, "While the assault may come here, I think it wise that we might expect a feint here and the attack elsewhere along the coast." The three-eyed raven, which had been observing the meeting from Arya's shoulders, squawked and flew to Belaletrix's shoulder. Bran was throwing weight behind the dragon-kin's admonition. Through a telepathic link, Bran related that he would send 1/3 of the King's Landing gunships and whatever could be spared from the Braavos fleet and the Iron Island ships, north to aid in whatever battle presented itself. Somewhere to the west, at least 40 Zonian troopships with 40,000 troops were waiting to be deployed in a final assault. From all the intel they had collected, there were 50 mage ships and 150 slinger ships with assorted other assault and support ships to face. The Portsmith was deployed to search carefully for signs of enemy movement, and to run before any capture of the valuable ship could be effected. Syrio nodded solemnly at the assignment and went to resupply his ship for the mission.
The thousands of enemy bodies were collected by crews and moved to a location a mile south of the city. They were burned there, as burying so many was an impossible task. The location was nicknamed the Prye of Bodies by the rank-and-file workers. It took three days to collect and burn them all. The dead of the wildlings and Westerosi troops were buried with honors north of the city. The ceremony took on an almost religious nature, and much weeping and wearing of black punctuated it.
While all this had been occurring, Til had watched in amazement as a whole new steam engine began to be assembled. Tree-kin elders had tested him for affinity and discovered that he had a powerful fire affinity. In the cabin of the new engine, two handles protruded from the bank of gauges and controls. One was red for fire, and one was grey for wind. The red handle was connected to all parts of the furnace and pistons, as well as to the heat-exchange tubes that transferred heat to the water, producing steam. The wind handle was connected to a system that helped push the pistons back up when they were down, and to weight modifications beneath the engine to prevent its heavy weight from deforming tracks not designed to handle it. A tree-kin male that had been rescued from the enemy fleet volunteered to handle that duty. His wind affinity was one of the most powerful the tree-kin elders had recorded. Till was being trained in his fire affinity while serving as a consultant on all things steam train development. A full set of plans would be completed and sent back to King's Landing with them so that the steam engine could be duplicated. When full testing of the engine began, the entire group was amazed at the power and speed the drive wheels produced. Cade, the tree-kin wind user, was sworn in as a Westeros citizen along with 100-plus others. He had been fed and rested, healed and recovered from his miserable time as a Zonian prisoner. He was fascinated by this new land and the amazing steam engine and looked forward to this new part of his life. While his and Till's powers were amazing, it was thought that 4-5 hours of continuous use would be the limit of the train's function. In less than a week, the full steam engine and a long train of cars started back south along the coast. Much-needed supplies and a host of reinforcements were to be delivered along the way. Going downhill from Brandon's Rest, the steam engine reached speeds of over 80 miles per hour.