The ship with black sails came to rest at a dock in Old Town. 4 women dressed in black disembarked onto the wharf. A very old, warty crone was there to greet them. "Welcome, sisters," she croaked with a hoarse laugh. The taller of the women in black smiled at the crone, "Hello again, Maggy, are you well?" Maggy croaked at her, "There is no well at this age....but passable works." A very large black carriage was being unloaded from the hold of the black ship, and six jet black horses were walked onto the wharf beside it. The tallest of the 4 women in black, Quaithe of the Shadow, pointedly asked Maggy, "Did you get them?"
Maggy the Frog pulled two items from the voluminous folds of her clothes. One was a blood red ruby attached to a golden collar piece, and the other was a vial of dark red blood. She retorted, "The priest was loath to part with them; he paid with his life. They have minions everywhere; two followed me here." The taller woman laughed as her 4 liverymen hitched the horses to the wagon. One jumped onto the driver's seat, and the other 3 climbed aboard various platforms around the huge carriage. The ship with black sails slipped out into the sea as the 5 women entered the carriage, and a whip cracked over the jet black team.
In Jun Wei's inner sanctum, 7 mages sat on cushions around the room. These were not the lowly mages that could inhabit birds or the types that were aboard mage ships in the attack fleets. These were, in fact, ancient magic users who were integral to his campaign. They both served as close advisors and as a front in the seminal attacks in hard-fought battles. Eminently powerful and deviously hard to kill, nearly a 1000 years of magical experience was held among the 7. No one with any sense wanted to know exactly how they had lived so long. Long Chen and Hao Ran wore robes of the deepest blue. Jian Yu wore darkest black. Chen wore light green, and Ming Zhi wore silver. Bo Yan wore deep green, and Tang Wei wore grey.
Ever the tactician, Bo Yang spoke first, "They are sure to use their damnable green fire again, as the host approaches!" His voice was as poisonous as his skills. Jun Wei flinched at the sound of it and asked, "Suggestions?" Much was discussed, and at last Jun Wei ordered Long and Hao to accompany his commander, Tang Zho, to the front for the upcoming fight. The three climbed onto strong horses and left the camp.
Before Hassan had gone southeast with Brienne to defend against the Zon, Thea had spoken to him. She had a strange look in her golden eyes. First, she had admonished him to be wary, and then she said that the old ones had called her away to the groves to give her a new task. She wasn't sure what it was, nor how long she would be gone. When they had parted at Brienne's camp, she had hugged him, and the familiarity of it had surprised Hassan. Thea continued on the wind train down to the tree-kin enclave. There she had entered the small grove and sat undisturbed for many days. Once Nymeria came and sat at her side, but didn't stay long. After the three days were up, she stood and began walking southwest through the Wolfwood. Nymeria and her pack of wolves accompanied her. She had said not a word to the tree-kin, so when their telepath reported what had happened, they had no idea what had occurred or where she was headed.
It took Jon 3 weeks to convince Drogon to allow Qotho on his back. He kept landing Drogon near the petrified Dothraki and trying to both keep Drogon from burning the man and lower his neck for a rider at the same time. Finally, the two things happened at once, and Qotho crawled up on the dragon's back. Jon laughed at his tent mates' terror and asked, "Did you piss yourself just now?" "Not yet," came Qotho's squeaked reply as Drogon plowed into the air, extra load meaning nothing. If the flight Jon had first gotten was bad, Drogon outdid himself with steep climbs and deadly dives for Qotho. Jon told Qotho that it would probably take them well into spring to arrive in the North. So they sold their two horses to a band of Dothraki and rolled up their few belongings in their tent and took off on the dragon's back.
The two of them discovered that the chore of landing Drogon outside a town and sending him in to buy food was becoming way more trouble than it was worth. They finally just let Drogon hunt as he would, and if it was a herder's goats, or horses, or cattle, they just piled a few skulls up and stacked some gold coins for the owners. They had many deadly adventures getting across Essos, and it was well past summer when they finally crossed the Narrow Sea and landed in the North.
The first word of their coming was sent in by Welbi, who was on a north terrace of her mansion when the dragon flew west over the startled citizens of Bravvos. The three of them had become something of an urban legend in the North of Essos by then, so many of the people had been looking for them, too.
When Arya heard the report, she grabbed Thomas and started dancing with him. "It has to be Jon and Drogon," she shouted.