Hassan could feel the darkness in the locket, like a maw trying to pull him in. He understood he would have to be much stronger before he could even try to use it. His training went into triple time, and those around him were amazed.
As the first flakes of snow started falling, a carriage arrived. Elanor, Beth, and Calancy had come to town. Elanor had picked up some bug that her healers were unable to counter, so they came to Brandon's Rest for the warmth and the healing. Nymeria came with them and entered the Great Hall, then the apartments, as if she would stay. When Calancy got a moment alone, she told Arya that Nymeria was pregnant. She put her hand on Arya's belly and said, "So are you, twins, it seems." Arya was in shock after that. The whole world was moving under her feet, as if she had never experienced it before. Things took on a new perspective, especially when she told Thomas. The man leaped for joy and danced her around the room. He was going to baby her now, wasn't he? She wasn't sure how that felt to her, or how it would feel. There were an awful lot of feelings happening.
Bran took his 'spyeye' out of the box and used it on a ship coming into port. He knew right then that every fort and city wall needed one. He gave it to a maester and told them to make 50 just like it. Winter was coming, but he sent 400 well-trained troops to the southern end of the north. They needed to see that their King was following through even in winter. They were ordered to bivouac for the winter, north of the neck, and closer to the coast. They were to set up a staging ground for all the other troops that would follow in the spring. This would show the North that preparations were underway. Also, locals would feed the soldiers while being paid for it.
When Ned realized Nymeria was home, he constantly cajoled her to go hunting. She licked his fur and nuzzled down against his warm purring body. It was good to have him around, and yes, they would go hunting, but not today. He lay down, resigned to it, and purred.
They had not yet started building forts, but they had set up watch buildings that some of the troops were using along the coast. In one of those, about halfway up the coast, was a telepath, and ping, Arya heard the voice say, "Halfway up the coast, Zon spy ship. Felt them before I saw them with the 'spyeye'. Small vessel flying no flag and headed north." Arya informed Thomas, and he ran down to send the information to Ming. Ming contacted Dirk, and they scrounged up a short-notice crew. Tormund, Jon, and Drena caught word and went to the docks with gear. Two assassins went as well. They took the smaller stonekin boat; it was faster and had enough 'flowers' for the job. The stonekin in town agreed to it at once. They grabbed a cook and wind users, and off they went. Jack scrambled onboard as they were leaving, with two gun crew soldiers.
As they fought their way past ice flows that were already starting to clog the bay, they cleared the spit of land that jutted out south of them. There, creeping along was a Zon spy ship, right under their noses. Before it could react, they ran it down and boarded it. A mage onboard the Zon ship was in the process of casting some spell, and Tormund clonked him on the head. They hog-tied them all and searched the boat, taking everything. They kept going because clearly there was more than one spy at work here. They fired a shot from a 'flower' to sink the boat and wake up the idiots on watch above. Those idiots ran out in time to see it sinking, and sobered up to make their report quickly, to Brandon's Rest.
It took the stonekin vessel 15 hours to spot the other spy vessel with the 'spyeye', but it had already seen them and was running for open sea. It was fast, but not as fast as a 'flower' shot. Jack lined them up and took out the whole back of the vessel with a shot. They caught up to it before it sank, and gathered the unconscious enemies and everything aboard. One man had broken his neck, and they let him sink with the vessel.
What they didn't know was that to the south, the third spy that had survived the crossing had rounded the southern edge of Westeros. It had lost contact with the other two vessels and was clearly in a busy shipping lane. They ran for home short of water and food, but they ran for their lives and for their orders.
A day later, the stonekin vessel returned, loaded down with prisoners and intel. All of it went to Ming's office, and he was shocked to find intel members of the Zon army there. He even knew one of them. The man he knew was even more shocked to see him alive and operating for the enemy. Ming questioned them all harshly, and from that and the paperwork he had, he put together a report for the leadership.