The Sovereign got to the listing ship first. Many forms lay prone on deck. Captain Dirk used his spyglass to study what he could see. They looked like tree-kin almost exclusively. As they came alongside and cast boarding nets, he sent two scouts to find out what was happening on that ship. The first scout yelled for water, healing, and food. The second scout ducked below deck and came back shouting for more healing, water, and food below. "One of the wind users is dead, along with a few more below decks. They've all collapsed."
Captain Dirk ordered many over to do the healing, and one of the tree-kin healers that went said, "These are almost all tree-kin; I know several of them." The other two Brandon'e Rest boats pulled alongside the ship, and several more healers jumped on board to aid the victims. The scout came back on deck and said, "There must be 1000 of them on board; they are packed everywhere below decks." One of the women tre-kin victims on deck roused, shouting, "We surrender!" When she realized another tre-kin was healing her, she looked around, amazed. "The dragon-kin are following us to recapture us," she said.
As those words sank home for Dirk, a crewman in the crows nest pointed west and shouted, "Sails!" When Dirk looked, he could see three sets of masts coming, about an hour out. Dirk made his telepath contact Jon Snow, asking if Drogon could fight. The platform ship's captain began sailing towards home, and Jon and Qotho goaded Drogon into the air. The dragon closed on the three enemy ships quickly, two smaller ones and a much larger ship. The two smaller ships were side by side, and a quick blast of dragon fire took them both out at once.
They could see dragon-kin in the water everywhere as the ships exploded. They swam toward the larger ship. Jon could see two non-dragon-kin swimming with two young tree-kin in their arms. A dragon-kin swam near them with a knife in the air, and Jon pointed for Qotho to shoot. An arrow transfixed the dragon-kin's head, and he sank into the water. As the dragon approached the last enemy ship, the captain standing on deck raised his hands in surrender. The rest of his crew followed suit, and the ship stopped. Qotho pointed towards the back of the ship, where one dragon-kin was releasing a large bird. The dragon swooped near, and Qotho shot the bird from the sky.
In 30 minutes, the Sovereign pulled alongside the enemy vessel, and the dragon-kin were tied in ropes. Westerosi soldiers ordered the rest of the dragon-kin crew to come out on deck. Two came out swinging swords but were quickly dispatched. The rest surrendered after that. Skeleton crews were set up for the two new ships, and all 5 ships headed for home.
Several days later, Drogon landed outside Brandon's Rest, and Jon called for a large wagon. All of the backpacks and huge saddlebags were loaded into the wagon, and it was directed towards the new maester building. Intevar and several other tree-kin were at the docks when the ships sailed in; they had been told a very large group of tree-kin were on board. A group of tall older tree-kin was the first off the boat, and Intevar ran towards them shouting, "Fellow scholars welcome!" He knew these men personally. After about a week, most of the freed peoples had recovered, and Intevar coaxed his scholar group to the maester building. He had already taken them to the rooms in the stone-kin caverns, so they understood what they were going to see. The new scholars were stunned by what they were seeing for the first time. They had already sworn allegiance to Westeros and were studying the new language, but they quickly became indispensable to the work at the maesters' building. They immediately expanded everyone's knowledge of the runes the Grey King had left behind. Study and translation of the runes grew by leaps and bounds with their help.
The maesters' building became the center of the world for the study of the magi that preceded humanity. Over the years, experts trickled in from everywhere. Thomas returned from that building one night to find Arya sobbing into a pillow. He ran to her side, asking what the matter was. She looked at him and said, "All those years, the face of death never bothered me. Now it haunts me every moment. Each new death fills me with dread." She was shocked when, instead of commiserating with her, Thomas began castigating her. "How can you say such drivel, Arya? Someone has to lead! Who better to save lives than you? Yes, some will die, but more will live because of your leadership. What would you do if the Zonians were in this room trying to kill our children!"
"I would kill them," she said. She went off to find food and spent a very long time soul-searching about this. Thomas sat wondering if he had done the right thing, but he decided he had no choice when faced with her irrational fear. Obviously, the mission into the rooms had done a great deal of damage to her self-esteem. He would seek help figuring out how to deal with a clear issue, but his main concern was the well-being of the love of his life.