Arya was reading a science textbook to her daughter, and in the other bedroom, Thomas was reading a description of a historical battle to their son. It didn't take 20 minutes, and the kids were out like lights. The two of them both made it to the couch and collapsed on it at the same time. They smiled at each other, and Thomas pulled a vase of cut flowers out from a hiding spot and handed them to Arya. "To my beautiful wife," he said. "What's this for?" Arya said with a smile. "Because this is going to be a rough patch coming up, and I wanted you to have some joy and love beforehand." Arya giggled as she set the vase on a side table and leaned in to kiss him. They fell into each other's arms.
1000s of miles to the east, a black ship with black sails was leaving a port so dark that no light could shine. In that darkness, three women dressed in all black stood on the deck looking westward.
On the west coast of the north, a group of ships was sailing north. 30 miles north of Fort #3, they encountered a thick blanket of smoke on the water. The sighting was reported, and the ships stopped. Silence was called for, and the captains stood on prows and listened. Little could be heard but the sigh of the breeze, the surf against the shore, and the screech of gulls on the wing. One gull separated from a group of them and slowly flew over the waiting ships. One archer on board an Iron Island ship knew exactly what that meant; his arrow bisected the gull's path, killing it. The captains called out a maneuver, and all the ships shifted, with their sides pointing toward the smoke. 10 Zonian assault ships streamed out of the smoke, straight for the Westeros fleet. The front Westeros ships fired their guns and circled out and back. Non-gunships tacked out to sea and swung around south. The other gunships circled up slightly while the whole fleet fell back toward the south. Out of the smoke came sling ship projectiles, ice, and fire. Because of the smoke, the slings couldn't zero in on range and did little damage. The first 10 Zonian ships were sunk, and their crews swam for shore. Then the next few ships out of the smoke were slingers and mage ships, with more assault ships mixed in. The guns at the front fired, but the majority of the Westeros fleet ran before the enemy; the distance allowed them to keep firing. More Zonian ships went down, but continued to charge after the Westeros fleet. This nip and tuck battle carried all the way down the coast until it reached the range of Fort #3's guns. Four Zonian ships were sunk in that first pass, but the Zonian fleet turned back north then, and the Westeros fleet turned and chased them. Twice more, this same battle played out, and in the end, 35 Zonian ships were sunk, and one Westeros fleet ship was destroyed. A Zonian assault ship had caught an Iron Island ship in the middle of a tack and rammed it. Both ships went down, but it was close to Fort #3, so the Westeros troops swam to a friendly shore, while troops captured the Zonians as they came to the beach. The battle ended when the Westeros fleet chased the Zonian ships back into the thinning line of smoke near dark.
Gawen, the steward of Deepwood Motte, ordered his men to chop down trees around the town wall to just under the range of the guns on the walls. Reports were coming in that south of them, Zonians were cutting a path towards the city. He intended to have a clear firing range before slings could reach the walls of the fort and town.
The Zonians had completed their bailey fort walls and now had kitchens and foundries working. They were expanding the shallow beach to accommodate more ships. The foundries had taken the steel rails up from the train tracks and were melting them into blanks. A blacksmith was hammering the metal out into weapons. Their woodcutting squads were chopping through the wood towards the north. They had sent squads to capture the balloon station on the point of land southwest of Deepwood Motte. The people stationed there had seen them coming and fled by sea. The Zonians were gaining ground every day.
Tyrion and the intel group were sitting in front of a map, with pieces representing the troops, their ships, and the enemy's troops and ships positioned on it. Tyrion listened to a telepath report then said, "50 ships down and 400 to go." Those around the table were deep in conversation about how exactly to counter the Zon landing and attacks. Several nodded at Tyrion's remark and went back to tactic planning. If Deepwood Motte fell, Brandon's Rest would be next. Nothing about this was going to be easy, and they needed more troops. The trains were gathering those who could be spared, but it might take days to get them all here. Volunteers were straggling in from the north and east daily, but they were still outnumbered badly. Bran was in telepathic contact with them, making suggestions and telling them what he could do to help, but it would fall to them to defeat this last push of the Zonians.