#nissa traveler

[nissa-traveler]

#character design #doodles #original character #nissa traveler #furry

[imagienature]

Lac du Broc 🐟😎☀️

2022 (iPhone)

#stlaurentduvar #lac #nissa #holidays #shotoniphone #cotedazur #photography #instagram #picoftheday #travel #cotedazurfrance #photographie

[duckprintspress]

Did you know? So far this April, Duck Prints Press has put out 10, yes t.e.n., new short stories? Two to our website, and eight to our Patreon! Learn all about them now...

Website Releases

Title: Foundations Author: Johnathan Stern

F/F, Science Fiction, Meet Cute on Mars

Addison is browsing the stacks of the Valles Marineris Coprates Chasma University Memorial Library when she's shocked to find someone looking for the same obscure book about the history of space travel that is.

-

Title: Worlds Apart (but Still Close) Author: Sanne Burg

F/M and M/M to F/M/M, Urban Paranormal, Confessions of Mutual Attraction, When in Doubt Fuck it Out

Flo is consistently frustrated with how her boyfriend Arthur's bodyguard Kacen is always watching her suspiciously. But when she discovers Arthur and Kacen in bed together, it casts a whole new light on the relationships between the three of them, and Flo finds herself considering possibilities that had never dawned on her before.

Patreon Releases

Title: Coffee For My Valentine? Author: Cedar McCafferty-Svec

F/F, Contemporary Romance with a Splash of Magic, Bookshop-slash-Coffee-Shop Meet-Cute, Heat Resistance for the Win

Valentine's day is invariably a disaster for Nissa. And when she starts this Valentine's work day by spilling coffee all over a new customer?

Maybe she should have just stayed in bed this morning.

-

Title: Glass Slipper: A Dance Author: Cedar McCafferty-Svec

F/NB, Fantasy, Dating Royalty is Hard Even if Your Stepmother Isn't Evil, Attraction at First Sight, Getting to Know One Another

Going to the ball was Marienne's dream, but it still never occurred to her that she'd catch the eye of the Royal Heir Apparent. Their dance is a dream come true, and their walk around the gardens together helps demonstrate they could have a future together even putting perfect first-dances aside, but that doesn't mean things will be easy.

-

Title: Into the Wyvern's Lair Author: Mikki Madison

F/F (Pre-Relationship), Fantasy, the Inherent Eroticism of Being Competing Mercenaries After the Same Mark (and the Same Pay Day)

Usually, Kella wouldn't take a job from a tiny podunk town in exchange for the risks of facing wyvern, but they're offering 25 gold pieces, and that's too much to resist. She doesn't expect the job to be that hard - it's not her first time facing a wyvern - but she also doesn't expect competition, in the form of a stubborn mage who has been hired by the same town at the same rate. But what she really doesn't expect is the wyvern...

-

Title: Washer Wars: A Laundromat Feud Author: Samantha M. Piper

F/F, Contemporary Romance, Meet-Awkward, Sometimes the Only Difference Between Fighting and Flirting is Point of View

Every Saturday morning, before the crack of dawn, Dee goes to the laundromat to do her laundry alone and in the quiet, with her pick of the available machines.

Until the morning she's not alone anymore.

Truly, she doesn't know what's worse: the loss of her solitude, or that this intruder has taken the biggest washer.

-

Title: Fool's Gold Author: Eliot Lovell

M/M (Pre-Relationship), Fantasy, Dragon Hordes and Lifelong Dreams, Hurt/Comfort

When Tomas sets off to defeat a dragon, he does so despite the aches and pains of growing older and a bum hip. Little does he expect that his attempt to be a valiant hero will be derailed prematurely when he's set upon by wolves. After they leave him unconscious in the woods, the last thing he expects is to be rescued and nursed to help. But he has one burning question: who found him, and why?

-

Title: Escape Author: Sanne Burg

F/M + F/M Established Relationship with Partner Swapping, Contemporary Romance, Middle-Aged Characters, Friends with Benefits to Lovers

Anxiety means that it doesn't take much to push Liam into needing some quiet time to himself, and he's so appreciative of his wife Alice taking the initiative to get him that quiet time.

He's slightly less appreciative when their friends-with-benefits partner-swap married friends Dan and Lola show up, especially considering that it was finding RPF fanart of him and Dan having sex that triggered Liam's anxiety in the first place...

-

Title: Old Kings and New Author: Lyonel Loy

M/M, Fantasy, Omega/Omega, Middle-Aged Characters, Bonding Over Shared Favorite (Rape Fantasy) Books

No one in their right mind would name Isemund king, but he's the only heir left, and so the council names him and then flees before the conqueror Caith can seize the castle.

Isemund is prepared to die at the hands of the invader.

Caith has other plans in mind.

-

Title: Georgia Rain Author: R. L. Houck This is a sequel to the Patreon-exclusive story "Pretty 7 Days a Week"

F/NB, Contemporary Suspense, Reunion after a Long Separation, They Work Hard for the Money, You'll Never Guess How This Sex Romp Gets Interrupted...

Four years after the events of Pretty 7 Days a Week, Tomas, who has changed their name to Aster, has built themself a new, better life no longer working on the streets.

The last thing they expect is for Lydia to come sweeping back into their life. It's also the last thing they want...or so they keep trying to tell themself...

So, Looking for New Queer Short Stories to Read? Visit Our Webstore and Become a Patreon Backer Now!

#duck prints press #new fiction #short stories #queer short stories #queer fiction #r. l. houck #lyonel loy #sanne burg #mikki madison #cedar mccafferty-svec #johnathan stern #samantha m. piper #f/f #f/f/m/m #f/nb #m/m #a/b/o dynamics #omega/omega #f/m/m #eliot lovell

[dungeon-strugglers]

✨New item!✨ Skysweeper Wondrous item, very rare

This wooden broom, which weighs 3 pounds, functions like a mundane broom until you stand astride it and speak its command word. It then hovers beneath you and can be ridden in the air. It has a flying speed of 80 feet. It can carry up to 400 pounds, but its flying speed becomes 50 feet while carrying over 200 pounds. The broom stops hovering when you land.

You can send the broom to travel alone to a destination within 5 miles of you if you speak the command word, name the location, and are familiar with that place. The broom comes back to you when you speak another command word, provided that the broom is still within 5 miles of you.

While you are riding skysweeper you always know which way is north, and you ignore the effects of high altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet. If you are knocked off of skysweeper you instantly gain the effect of the feather fall spell cast on you, and the broom comes to retrieve you. As an action while riding skysweeper you can cast the invisibility spell on yourself and the broom at will. Dismounting the broom ends your concentration on the spell. These magical effects only apply to the rider who spoke the command word to activate the broom.

Nissa mounted her broom and felt the rush of exhilaration as she kicked off of the ground. It was wonderful to be in the air again. All of the woes of nearly being burned at the stake, just this morning, were swept from her mind as she flew into the crisp autumn sky. Soon she was thousands of feet above the world, her snowy owl soaring beside her letting out gleeful hoots as the pair dodged rain-laden clouds. They rose higher still, beyond the pinks and peaches of the setting sun, into the starry night. She was free! - 🖌🎨 Like our work? Consider supporting us on Patreon and gain access to the hi-resolution art for over 180 magic items, item cards and card packs, beautiful creature art and stat blocks, and setting pdfs with narrative hooks and unique lore!🧙‍♂️

📜 Credit. Art and design by us: the Dungeon Strugglers. Please credit us if you repost elsewhere.

#dungeon strugglers #dnd #d&d #fantasy art #artists on tumblr #artwork #dnd item #ttrpg #d&d 5e #illustration #artist #animation #art #dnd 5e homebrew #d&d homebrew #dnd homebrew #hand drawn #homebrew #d&d ideas #d&d items #fantasy item #item #illustrator #drawings #drawing #dragon #digital #fantasy

[stormcloudrising]

What do you think would change for Sansa and her abilities had Lady lived?

Hi Chasingtemptest,

Thanks for the ask!

Surprisingly, this is a difficult question to answer because on a Doylist level, IMO Lady’s death warrant was signed once George discovered during his garden style of writing that it was Sansa, and not Arya who was going to be linked romantically, and more importantly, magically with Jon and the creation of the Others.

He knew from the beginning that the direwolves were going to re-awaken the Starks connection to magic, and so if he wanted to hide from and later surprise the readers with Sansa being the female greenseer of the story, Lady had to die so the readers would discount the many clues he’s dropped about her abilities. She needed to be hidden in plain sight.

There must be a female greenseer in the story because all the evidence points to there being one at the center of the two great ancient mysteries surrounding Nissa Nissa, and the corpse queen. As George’s story is rhyming if not 100% percent repeating, there must be a female greenseer in the modern story as well. And while there are some clues that Dany could potentially have the ability as well, I think those are just symbolic while the overwhelming evidence points to Sansa being the greenseer, and Dany being a fakeout. Plus, there is the fact that fire is written as anathema to the weirwoods in the text.

I’m on record as stating that I think that I think George is telling a multiple timeline story, and that’s why we see so many different versions of the ancient NN/AA monomyth. Of course, part of that has to do with the fact that in the story as in the real world, different cultures tend to have similar myths about world changing events.

However, time travel has been a theme in many of George’s past writings, and it’s heavily present in ASOIAF as well with the greenseer arc. It’s not the traditional take on time travel where a person physically travels through time, but rather one where a special individual—a greenseer is able to send their consciousness through time with the ability to influence events and individuals.

So, yes, I think that Lady was always going to die to hide the truth about Sansa’s ability. What would have happened if Lady was not killed? The Hound would have found Nymeria, and she would have been the direwolf killed.

I say this because if not Sansa, Arya would have been the female greenseer as seems to have been George's original plan. It was always going to be one of the Stark sisters, and if not Sansa, it could only have been Arya. Thus, Nymeria would have had to die to hide this truth about Arya.

Instead, Arya’s wolf survived, and while we get evidence of their extremely strong warg bond, we don’t get the same hints of her being a greenseer, or the similar comparison to Bran’s greenseer ability as we do with Sansa.

The sister with the greenseer abilities and romantic relationship with Jon was originally going to be Arya. That’s why a relationship between the two is so heavily foreshadowed in the first book. If I had to guess, I would say that it was while writing the 2nd book and before the first was published that George discovered his garden style was taking him towards Jon and Sansa instead of Jon and Arya. He then went back in edits to drop in early clues about Jon and Sansa that would pay off later…hence the “Sansa look radiant.”

If Lady had not died, D&D’s hints to Sansa’s greenseer ability on the show such as Petyr’s greenseer advice to her; the bells ringing all day at her birth; the use of the dragonfly motif in her costumes; her wearing a chain necklace with an insignia that echoed the drawings of the Others; and her winding up as Queen of the North would have been Arya’s story. Of course, D&D would also have failed to tell Arya’s true story arc just as they did with Sansa, because unlike in the books, they put all their eggs in the Dany basket.

I started this answer by saying that your question was surprisingly difficult to answer on a Doylist level, but in typing out my response, I discovered that on a Watsonian one, that wasn’t the case after all. So, to answer your question, if Lady had not died, and George was not a garden style writer, Sansa’s story would have played out very similar to how it’s described in his infamous outline and she quite possibly would have never made it out of Kings Landing.

#ask stormcloud #sansa stark #jon and sansa #jon x sansa #thoughts on this and that

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

It's finals week here, and I'm craving the angst if you don't mind.

Maybe what's going on with disabled!reader? Or batmom!reader? (The only angsty ones I can remember off the top of my head)

"Y/N? Where are you going?"

It was Christmas morning and you were carefully packing a few boxes of snack cakes into your knapsack with ribbons and bows on them. "I'm gonna drop some snacks off to my mom," you answer, "I won't be gone long."

Bruce nodded, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. He didn't know- no. He did know you were going to see Jason too. To drop a notebook on his headstone. Your half of the conversation. Part of you still hoping against hope he'd pick it up and answer you. "Will you be back for lunch?" Even if you weren't, he'd have Alfred set a place and then save you a plate.

"I should be," you answer carefully.

"Visiting hours aren't for-"

"It's a long walk," you shrug. "And I wanted to drop off a couple presents alongthe way."

"I'd be happy to drive-"

"It's alright," you sigh. "Thank you but... I don't want to be around people yet today."

Bruce nodded and held out the travel mug of coffee he hadn't drunk out of yet, "Fair enough. Text someone if you don't want to walk back."

You take the mug with a little nod of thanks and exhale slowly. "Merry Christmas, Bruce."

"Merry Christmas, Y/N."

And when he watched you slip out the door, his chest hurt. He wasn't sure what was worse. The stupor you'd been in or watching you try and function when you felt like you were dead and they forgot to tell you.

_____________

You slipped into the visiting room, the boxes of snack cakes in your arms. Following a nurse who was wearing reindeer antlers and a silver feather boa. No matter how well the staff cleaned, there was still a faint smell of mildew.

But today it was overlaid with cinnamon and some kind of savory thing. Lasagna? You wondered if staff chose the Christmas dinner or if the patients did.

"Y/N," the nurse said, "She won't remember but-" "No one deserves to spend Christmas alone," you sigh. "And I figured she was probably running low on snacks."

"She does love her snowballs," the nurse said, watching you cross the floor. Wet boots squeaking on the linoleum. And she shook her head. After 20 years, she'd learned nothing could break your heart like kids who were still holding out hope.

"Hey Nissa," you say, "Merry Christmas."

"Who the fuck are you?" she demanded, squinting at you like you looked familiar but she couldn't quite place you.

"Just... Just a friend," you explain. You'd already learned that saying you were her daughter tended to make her angry. Because in her mind, she didn't have one. Not yet... and when you were feeling particularly petty, you wondered how it was any different than before.

"You got any party favors?" she asked, "This fucking after party is ass."

"Just sold out," you shrug, "Sorry."

"Fuck," she huffed, looking around, "You get hold of any-"

"You got it," you tell her, turning to walk away.

"Hey!" Nissa called, jerking he head at you when you turn. "What's your name?"

"Y/N," you answer, smiling a little.

"I hate that name," she chuckled.

And all you can do is shrug and walk away. There was probably something in there to unpack. But. It could wait until you were laying on the floor of your bathroom with a bottle from the liquor cabinet.

#Jason Todd #Jason Todd x reader #scruffy!verse #ask answered #minors dni

[filhadoboto]

Falling for You - Chapter 6

SUMMARY: Daenerys is a writer and is traveling through the North to do research for her new book when she crosses paths with a charming stranger with a northern accent. (rating: E)

Written for "Jonerys Falling for You 2023" - Day 5 - Free Choice

@iceandfirejonerysdiscord

AO3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6 (final) - The warg in my path

Daenerys Targaryen awoke from her recurring dream and once again she was unable to see her lover's face clearly.

Although she knew he was young and handsome, his face remained a shifting shadow. She knew he had a long face and dark brown hair. She knew he was strong because of how he held her against his muscular body. She knew he had soft lips because she always woke up to the warm feeling of them on her skin, on her lips.

She stretched and snuggled into her seat as the last images of her dream flashed through her mind. Dany didn't remember when she had first had that dream, but she was sure she had started dreaming about him when she was a teenager and she had thought the dream was a product of her hormonal body, however, now s he was an adult woman and the dream had accompanied her until now. Despite having the same dream for so many years, she had no idea what its meaning was. Maybe it was nothing more than a dream. Maybe it was just her imagination. Maybe it was some kind of premonition showing her what the future held for her .

After a long yawn, she looked out the window of the bus she was traveling on. Outside, the day had turned into night and the vehicle continued calmly along the road while a light rain fell. Trying to relax, Dany took out her cell phone and headphones, put some soft music on and tried to focus her thoughts on what awaited her. By her count, there was more than half the way to reach her first destination, a village called Winter Town that was a few kilometers from the largest city in the North, Winterfell.

Daenerys loved flying, but always chose to travel by bus when she was doing research for her books. Dany had become famous because of her stories based on both legends and historical facts and she always tried to reinterpret them, highlight a darker aspect, explore the role of secondary characters in her books. She found traveling on the road relaxing, and for a writer, it was always good to have new experiences and see the place where she planned to set her story. And, because of the way she wrote, it was always good to research the places where the historical event happened or where the legend originated or was most famous.

For some time she had been wanting to revisit the history and ancient legends of the North, especially those related to the Long Night, the Wall and the Others. She had read about the period called the Long Night and was fascinated by everything involved. First she thought about focusing on the story of Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa, but she fell in love with the story of the Night's King and his Corpse Queen. Because of them, she ended up delving deeper into history and became fascinated by the idea that a species like the Others existed. There was proof of the existence of the Children of the Forest and that they had fought humanoid creatures alongside the First Men and she wanted to see them in person, so she was on her way to where, according to the history, all the armies of Westeros had gathered to fight the Others.

According to the story, two Long Nights had happened and Dany was planning to write her story from the Others' point of view, exploring their motivations and their culture. Dany would begin her research from Winter Town and travel north. She would stay for a few days in a small town called Mole's Town, a few kilometers from the Wall, and pay a visit to Castle Black, the main castle on the Wall. Then she would continue her journey until arriving in the city of Hardhome located on the tip of the peninsula Storrold's Point on the Shivering Sea. There was a museum in Hardhome with an exhibition of weapons, armor and other artifacts that were supposedly produced and belonged to the Others. There were caves, known as screaming caves, with drawings similar to those found in the caves in Dragonstone that could be visited by tourists and she was quite excited about the idea of being able to explore them.

She would also like to visit the Lands of Always Winter, which was where legends said the Others came from, but as it was a little-known region, she would need to hire a team with experience in excursions in that region and thought it best to focus her research in places where access was easier. Depending on the success or failure of her research, she planned to either stay in one of the cities to begin writing or return to King's Landing by ship.

The bus slowed down and stopped on the side of the road and that brought her out of her thoughts. The lights inside the bus came on and after a few seconds a new passenger entered. Her heart sped up when she saw him. The stranger had the same long, brown hair and the same long, pale face as the man in her dream. He was dressed in black from head to toe and carried a dark gray backpack with him.

Dany watched him curiously when their eyes met. His eyes widened when they fell on her face and he looked at her as if recognizing the face of an old friend and gave her a polite smile. Without hesitation, Dany returned the smile and continued to watch him as he looked for an empty place to sit. His long dark hair was wet from the rain and his eyes were dark gray and looked mysterious and intelligent in the dim lighting of the bus.

She glanced quickly at the man asleep in the seat next to her and it was impossible not to lament the fact that the seat was occupied. She didn't know exactly what she would do if the stranger sat next to her. It wouldn't seem very sane of her to say, 'Hi, I know we just met, but I'm pretty sure you're the man of my dreams'. After a few seconds of assessing the sleeping people and the vacant seats, the new passenger decided to sit in the vacant seat in front of her.

Resigning herself to the situation, she turned up the music and closed her eyes. Her mind, as always, began to create possible plots, characters and backstories for each of them and, slowly, she began to let herself be carried away by the drowsiness that the movement of the bus and the sound of the rain caused. She woke up to the noise of passengers disembarking and saw that the bus had stopped at a roadside restaurant, where they would have about a forty-minute break. The passengers who had woken up disembarked, looking relieved to finally be able to stretch their legs and look for something to eat, but she was more interested in drinking something, preferably water. Even her seatmate had already disembarked and, after grabbing her bag, she followed the flow of passengers.

After going to the bathroom, a sleepy attendant answered her request and gave her a bottle of water. The other passengers chatted sleepily in small groups, but she looked for an empty table outside. She observed the scenery around her and took out her notebook to make some notes about the place and she was distracted writing down the ideas she had on the bus when someone stopped next to her table and said “Excuse me?”

Dany was startled by the sudden interruption and when she looked up she found the new passenger's mysterious gray eyes staring at her. There was a reddish glow to them, but she couldn't tell if it was because of the light in the place or not.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” he said with a small smile and she felt her heart beat faster.

“It’s fine.” she said, her voice rough from sleep and cleared her throat. “I was just a little distracted.”

"Can I?" he asked, pointing to the unoccupied chairs.

"Of course." she replied, indicating the chair in front of her.

But instead of sitting in the place she indicated, he sat in the chair next to her and smiled. His smile, seen from so close up, was simply mesmerizing.

He placed his cup on the table and his backpack on one of the chairs before continuing, "I'm sorry to bother you, but... You're Daenys Stormborn, the writer, aren't you?"

Being recognized surprised her and it took her some time to respond “Yes. I am."

That wasn't her real name. She had chosen it as a pseudonym when she began writing and publishing her stories. Her family was one of the richest in King's Landing and she had decided not to use her real name to avoid people linking her name to her father's.

The stranger stared at her with his mouth open and seemed amazed. Despite being used to being approached by enthusiastic and affectionate fans, she felt her cheeks heating up.

“It is an indescribable pleasure to meet you in person! I’ve read all your books and I dare to tell you that I’m your biggest fan!” he said enthusiastically before asking, “Can you sign my copy?”

She couldn't help but smile. It was exciting when one of her fans recognized her and asked for an autograph. And it was even surprising, in fact, that they recognized her, because the photo on the back cover of the books was so different from who she was that even she had difficulty recognizing herself. She did this on purpose so that it would be more difficult to see the color of her eyes and hair and identify her as a Targaryen. Of course, she took photos with her fans, especially during the launches of her books and at literary events, but not everyone recognized her immediately.

"Sure. It will be a pleasure.”

He picked up his backpack and took out a copy of her latest book and handed it to her. Dany gave him a grateful smile and asked “What’s your name?”

“Jon Snow.” he replied with a smile that made her heart skip a beat and his voice made her skin tingle.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jon Snow.” she said in an unconsciously flirtatious tone.

She opened the book and wrote: To Jon Snow, my biggest fan in the whole world. With great affection and friendship. Daenys Stormborn.

He smiled when she gave him the book back and read what she wrote. She saw him run his finger lightly over what she had written, as if he wanted to make sure it was real.

“Thank you so much, I always wanted your autograph, but I never got to meet you in person.” he confessed with a smile.

“It's always a delight to meet such a kind fan.” she said “From your accent, I gather that you are a northerner.”

He smiled and nodded “ A ye. I was born in Dorne, actually, but was brought to the North when I was a month old and raised here. I was visiting some friends in Greywater and I'm heading home to Winterfell. I should have come back yesterday, but I ended up not being able to. Now I have to thank the old gods, because if I had returned yesterday, I wouldn’t have met you .” he said and then added in a curious tone “And it was really a surprise to meet you here, as I read that you were on vacation in Pentos.”

She gave him a small smile. “If people know I'm in one place and see me in another, they'll think I'm just someone who looks like me.”

“Very clever.” he commented “I guarantee your secret is safe with me.”

An icy wind blew and Dany ran her hands over her arms. Without hesitation Jon took off his hoodie and offered it to her.

"It is not necessary." she said.

“Please, I insist.” he said and she accepted. When she put it on, the residual heat from Jon's body enveloped her like a hug.

Jon gave her a look full of pride and satisfaction when he saw her wearing something of his and Dany felt her cheeks heating up. She remembered the dream once again and, before she could say anything about it to Jon, she forced herself to pay attention to him and was about to ask him about the red glow in his eyes when he said, “Excuse my curiosity, but I need to ask. Are you planning on releasing any books soon?”

Danny smiled. This was one of the questions most asked by her fans, both in person and through social media and correspondence. She didn't usually talk about her new projects, just as she didn't talk about her private life, but seeing a fan so happy to have gotten a simple autograph made her want to share something more with him.

“I’m actually traveling to do research for my next book.”

His eyes lit up with curiosity and expectation. “Will your next book be set in the North?”

"Yes." she replied in a conspiratorial tone “I have wanted to write something about the Long Night, the Wall and the Others for a long time. I want to see the battle sites in person and hear what people have to say about the legend mainly involving the Others and the Night King and his Queen.” she continued “Do you know their legend?”

Jon nodded and replied “Every northerner knows it. Certainly older people will tell you different versions of it.”

“That’s what I hope. I have already read the official sources and now I want to hear about the legends and mysteries surrounding these events and the places where they happened.”

He smiled. “I admit I'm already looking forward to reading what you're going to write about them.”

Dany gave him a grateful smile before commenting, “Well, I might change my mind if something more interesting catches my eye.”

His eyes lit up at her words and he nodded before saying, “As a fan of your stories, I know you enjoy exploring lesser-known facets of legends and stories.” she nodded and he asked "Have you heard about the wargs?"

“Wargs?” she asked, intrigued.

He nodded “They were an important part of the army that fought against the Others during the second Long Night . In the South people call them werewolves.”

“I've heard about werewolves, but I confess this is the first time I've heard about wargs.”

“What about skinchangers or greenseers?”

She shook her head “Also no.” she replied and wrote down the three terms in her notebook. As soon as possible she would definitely research about them.

Jon leaned closer to her and asked, "Have you ever read about Robb Stark, the second-to-last King in the North who became known as the Young Wolf?"

Dany nodded and said what she had learned in her research into the history of the North. “According to the official story, he went into battle alongside his direwolf, Gray Wind. He won every battle before he was betrayed and murdered and people thought he won because he turned into a wolf and commanded an army of wolves when he went into battle.”

"You are right." he said with a proud smile “Robb Stark was a warg and many thought the men in his army were too.”

“You mean he could, in fact, turn into a wolf?”

“No, but he could enter the mind of his direwolf and control the animal.” he replied and added “He and his brothers and sisters were wargs, although Arya and Brandon were considered skinchangers because they could enter the minds of animals other than their direwolves.”

Her curiosity awoke and she said “You managed to pique my interest.”

He gave her a satisfied smile, brought his face closer to hers and whispered, “They say there are still wargs and skinchangers out there.”

Dany looked at him for a few seconds before saying, “Really? And are they dangerous?”

He studied her for a few seconds and asked “How about I tell you what I know and you decide?” she nodded and he smiled before continuing “The wolf swood is full of mysteries and they say there is a creature out there, unlike anything you have ever seen before. He is known as Varamyr Sixskins and lived around the beginning of the second Long Night. He was one of the most powerful skinchangers who ever lived and he was called Sixskins because that was how many animals he could control. He was feared and hated by many of the freefolk and, when he was injured during a fight against some men from the Night's Watch, he tried to transfer his mind into the body of a woman who was tending to his wounds before he died and, when he was unable to do so, he transferred his mind to one of his wolves. Since then, he has survived like this, transferring his consciousness from animal to animal, searching for a human he can control. But each time he switched bodies, he lost a bit of his memory and his humanity, until the only thing that was left of Varamyr was his desire to live as a human again.”

"Interesting." she commented.

“And there is more.” Jon looked across the road and continued “There are reports of people who mysteriously disappear and only reappear days or weeks later, completely mad, wandering along the road.” he fixed his gray eyes on hers before continuing “Several abandoned vehicles have been found, bathed in blood, clothes torn, but they have never found any bodies, or any clue as to what happened to them.”

“They never found anyone?”

"Never. Not even any proof that they are actually dead.”

Dany imagined that scenario, imagined the beast, what it would be like to meet it in person and commented “It's good that we're traveling by bus.”

“Such a creature, if it truly exists, would be capable of attacking anything it wanted.”

She looked at him and there was a strange gleam in his eyes. Dany felt her skin tingle and ran her hands over her arms. Jon watched her and asked “Did I scare you?”

She gave him a fake look of disapproval and replied, “I’d say you managed to scare me while also making me curious.”

Jon gave her a satisfied smile and said “Don’t worry. Although Varamyr did indeed exist and was a warg and a skinchanger, this story is told by elders only to scare children and keep them away from the forest.”

Before she could say anything, the driver got on the bus and honked twice, signaling that the stopping time was over and that everyone should get back on the bus.

They both stood up and he said “I’m so glad I got to meet you in person.”

“I'm also happy to meet you, Jon.” she said and tried to return his hoodie, but he stopped her.

“No need, you can keep it.” he said and then added “That way you will remember me.”

Dany doubted she would ever forget him, but she was grateful.

“Then, thanks for the hoodie and the story. I will certainly seek to know more about what you told me.” she said, holding out her hand to him. He held it and surprised her when he lightly pressed his lips to its back. Dany felt heat spread through her body, starting at the point where his lips touched her.

The two boarded the bus and, upon returning to her seat, Dany saw that her drunk companion was already asleep in his seat. He was snoring softly again, but seemed to have taken advantage of the break to change his clothes, which significantly improved his smell. In front of her, Jon was talking to the girl sitting next to him and she felt a mixture of envy and jealousy in her chest. How was it possible that she was feeling jealous of someone she had just met?

After settling in, she found herself thinking about what Jon had told her. Maybe he was just trying to give her an idea for the next book, which she thought was really sweet, or maybe he was just trying to scare her. She promised herself that as soon as she reached her destination, she would do some research on the subject.

Dany had a strange, vivid dream when she finally fell asleep. She dreamed that she was running through a dense, dark forest. No, she didn't just run. She was running away in terror from something frightening. She heard agonized, terrified screams coming from all around her, as if the trees could scream, as drops of warm rain fell on her.

Then her nightmare scenario changed and she was back on the bus. The vehicle was stopped in the middle of the road and plunged into darkness. She assumed that the driver had made another stop, but dismissed the idea when she realized that there was no sound inside the bus and her seatmate was no longer next to her. Then her brain noticed that a strange but familiar smell filled the bus and that there was no sound either inside or outside the vehicle. Only the light where the driver was was on and she pulled back the curtains so she could look out the window and realized that they were surrounded by the dark silhouette of the wolfswood, and there was no sign of life outside. She sat back and took a deep breath and only then did she realize that the smell she was smelling was blood.

Quickly, she turned on the light above her. It was faint, but the little it illuminated was enough for her scream of horror to break the silence. In the hallway was the body of the man who had sat next to her. His eyes were wide and filled with fear, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world before his death, part of his face marked with what appeared to be claw marks from some animal.

Frightened, Dany staggered up from her seat and went to the front of the bus, bumping into other bodies. The driver was sitting in his chair, dead and with the same expression as the man inside, his throat was destroyed, as if he had been attacked by an angry animal. The windshield was covered in blood and the mangled body of a passenger was lying on the bus dashboard. She put her hand over her mouth to reduce some of the smell, and tried her best to ignore the sight. She examined the dashboard and found the buttons that activated the light inside the bus. Dany looked at herself and saw that her clothes were stained with blood. In a panic, she ran her hands over her face and they came back stained with blood too. That made her move and she went back to her place in search of her cell phone.

The scene was a thousand times worse than she had imagined. There were bodies,body parts and organs scattered everywhere, some bodies with parts missing, with their intestines hanging out and others seemed just asleep, but their cadaverous paleness took away that illusion. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, everything around her was bathed in blood.

The girl who had sat next to Jon was in pieces. Her head was connected to her body only by the spinal column and her legs and arms were full of deep bite marks. Then she realized that Jon wasn't beside her. She tried to gather the courage to look for his body, but the last thing she wanted at that moment was to see that beautiful male specimen torn to pieces.

No matter how much she tried to take her eyes away from that macabre scene, they didn't obey and she couldn't move her body either. No matter how much part of her brain sent orders for her body to move, she remained there, unable to move away. It was as if that grotesque scene had hypnotized her.

A drop of blood fell on her face and that was what made her move. Dany took her cell phone, got out of the bus, turned on its flashlight to light the way and her gaze was drawn to the blood marks on the ground. After a brief examination of her surroundings, she saw that there were paw prints of some animal moving away from the bus and entering the forest. She heard the terrifying sound of a howl that made her body shake in fear. A noise behind her filled her with terror and, when she turned to face the beast, Dany woke up.

Through the window she could see that the day was dawning, which meant she was reaching her destination and she didn't try to sleep again. Less than an hour later, the bus parked at the small bus terminal in Winter Town.

Jon made sure to get off the bus with her when she disembarked so he could say goodbye to her and she couldn't help but smile.

“I hope to hear from you soon.” he said looking into her eyes and she nodded.

“Maybe we’ll meet when I get to Winterfell.” she commented with a more hopeful tone than she should and he gave her a wide smile.

"I would love to."

----

The city was small, but cozy and beautiful, contrary to what she had imagined. Before traveling, she had made reservations at inns and hotels in all the places she would visit, and when she arrived at the inn, her room was already ready. Before unpacking her bags, she called her mother to let her know she had arrived safely and sent a message to her friends' group saying the same.

It was only hours later when she picked up her computer to start researching the things Jon had told her that she realized there was something that wasn't hers inside her bag. Dany took the white envelope carefully, as if it were a poisonous snake and could bite her at any moment. Her name was written outside in an unfamiliar handwriting. She sat on the bed and opened the envelope eagerly. There were two polaroids and a sheet of paper inside. Curious, she took the polaroids. Her heart quickened and she smiled when she saw that the first one showed Jon Snow. He had taken the photo in front of a mirror that she recognized as being in the bathroom of the restaurant where they had stopped.

She moved to the second photo and stared at it for a few seconds as her brain tried to make sense of what she was seeing. It was a photo of what appeared to be the same bathroom and the same mirror. In the reflection was a humanoid creature with long silvery-white hair, blood-red eyes, long fangs protruding above its lips. The creature had one arm raised in front of it and its hand ended in long, frightening black claws. The creature wore the same black hoddie that she was wearing.

The same hoddie that Jon Snow was wearing and that he had given him as a gift the night before.

Dany forced herself to put down the photo, pick up the sheet of paper and read it.

Dear Daenys, First I need to apologize for having gone through your things without your consent. Second, in case you haven't already deduced from the photo, it's me, Jon Snow, your biggest fan. And I'm a warg. As you've seen in the photos, I'm living proof that wargs are as real as this sheet of paper you're holding right now. The story of the greenseers, skinchangers and wargs is my story and the story of many members of my family and so many other families in the North. Something I didn't tell you about us is that if we spend a lot of time in the minds of animals we acquire some of their characteristics. At first I imagined that this referred to the behavior and habits of the animals, but to my surprise, I acquired physical characteristics. And no, I don't turn into a wolf. I know how much I risked by giving you the photos and information in this letter, but I trust that you will destroy the photos and keep the information confidential. I hope I have inspired you to write about wargs, but if I have frightened you and have not achieved the goal of changing your mind, you will still be left with your original idea. I believe my revelation has left you with two options. First. You can get rid of this letter and the photos, move on with your life and try to forget everything I showed you and told you. Second. If you wish, you can come and meet me when you visit Winterfell and ask all the questions that, I have no doubt, are buzzing in your mind right now. If you choose the first, know that I was very happy to meet you in person and I will always remember our meeting and regret not having had more time with you. If you choose the second, my cell phone number is written down on a piece of paper that I put in the pocket of the hoodie I gave you. Whatever your choice, I hope to read something written by you soon. Maybe someday we will meet again and we can talk again. I bet we'll have some great stories to tell each other. From your biggest and wolfish fan. Jon Snow P.S.: If you're scared of meeting me, I promise I won't devour you. P.P.S.: I think that sounded strange. What I meant was that you don't need to be afraid of me. I promise not to do you any harm. P.P.P.S.: Who am I trying to fool? I don't know if I'll ever see you again, so let me tell you that I wanted to devour you from the second I smelled you and our eyes met. I would love to devour you, but not in a literal way.

Her cheeks flushed and she felt heat spreading through her body as she read the last part. She had an idea of how he wanted to devour her, and when a rather graphic image of her and Jon filled her mind, she forced herself to focus on what to do. With shaking hands, she searched her pockets for the paper and found the paper with his phone number on it.

Dany knew she should choose the first option, she knew that the first option was the safest, that it was the only right choice to make... but most of her was inclined to choose the second option and her mind was already working and formulating theories and questions she would ask Jon and possible plots for a story. She could feel the euphoria, the taste of a new story awakening in her mind, taking over, flooding her consciousness. She could already glimpse every detail, every character. She could see everything!

She looked at the photos and reread that letter several times and each time it seemed easier and easier to believe those words. The second option seemed even more tempting, after all, it wasn't every day that a supernatural being showed up to a writer and said he was her fan and asked her to tell his story.

Who was she trying to fool? Even though she knew the risks and dangers of going to meet him, it was already a lost war.

Danger be damned! I need to know more about all this!, she thought.

Daenerys put down the letter, took out her cell phone, saved Jon's number and sent him a message that simply said: Tell me where and when.

---

The sun was setting when the taxi stopped in the Weirwood Park parking lot. There were few people walking around, some with their children and pets, others alone and others accompanied.

Jon had given her options for a place and time and she had chosen the Weirwood Park because she had heard it had the oldest weirwood trees in all of Westeros and she had chosen that time because there were fewer people who could witness what Jon had said he wanted to show her.

She had arrived at Winterfell after lunch and, despite having prepared herself for this meeting, she was nervous. The three days she had spent in Winter Town were full of discovery and anxiety. She had visited some historical sites, spoken to some people and considered whether she had made the right choice. And in the three nights she spent in that city, she had her recurring dream, but this time, with each dream she managed to see a little of her lover's face, until that morning she saw Jon Snow's face emerging from the shadows. When Dany woke up it was with the feeling that he was the man she had been looking for since she started having that dream.

Apart from exchanging messages to arrange the place and time, they hadn't spoken to each other. She walked following the signposts and easily found the section where the picnic tables were. Jon was sitting on one of them and stood up when he saw her approaching.

Dany walked up to meet him and he was more handsome than she remembered. She stopped when she reached the table and it stood between the two.

"You came." he said with a mix of relief and happiness.

"I did."

He motioned for her to sit down and, when the two sat down facing each other, he said “When I wrote that letter I was sure you would choose the first option. And when I received your message and saw that you had chosen the second, at the same time as I yearned, I feared the arrival of that day.”

“I can leave if you want.”

“No, I don't want you to leave, but I can hear your heart beating fast. Are you afraid of me?” he asked.

No, she wasn't scared of him, she was scared of her feelings. Of her feelings for him. Did he remember what he had written to her? Did he remember that he had written that he wanted to devour her? Was he serious or was it just a joke, a tease?

“Should I be afraid, Jon?” she asked and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Do you want me to be afraid of you?”

“No, I don’t.” he replied quickly “And you must not be afraid of me. I just want to show you who I really am.”

“Do you really want me to write a book about wargs?” she asked and before he could respond, she added “I mean you don't know what kind of person I am, Jon. I could reveal your secret, I could be gathering proof of everything and just sell the story to some tabloid. Maybe I'm even planning to kidnap you and keep you imprisoned in a private zoo.”

"And you are?"

She smiled and replied “No. I just want to understand why you would risk telling your secret to a stranger.”

He gave her a guilty smile. “What if I told you I used that as an excuse?”

“An excuse for what?” she asked intrigued.

“To get closer to you. When I saw you on that bus, I figured you were doing research and when you confirmed my suspicions I thought I would have a chance to meet you again if you had a reason. I wanted to see you again and have the chance to get to know you better.” he confessed and then added “And, maybe I don't care which story you choose to write, because now I have my own story with you.”

“Oh!” was the only thing she could say.

“Are you afraid of me, now?” he asked again.

She looked him in the eyes before replying “Do I look like I am afraid?”

"No." he replied in a relieved tone “And I don’t want to make you uncomfortable either.”

She gave him a smile and changed the subject. “You promised me information.”

"I did. You can ask me anything you want, and if I know the answer, it will be yours.”

“First, I think it’s time you knew something about me.”

"What?" he asked intrigued.

"Daenerys Targaryen." she replied “That’s my real name.”

“It’s a beautiful name.” he said and gave her a smile that made her heart skip a beat and added "It's a pleasure to meet you, Daenerys Targaryen."

She loved hearing him say her name. Dany returned the smile and said “Thank you. My friends call me Dany and you can call me that if you want.”

He nodded and she took her notebook out of her bag and opened it before saying “I did some research on what you told me, but I would like you to tell me what you know.”

He nodded and obeyed. He told her about skinchangers, who could wear the skins of any beast. He told her that, when the animal died, part of its spirit continued to live in the human being and vice versa and how one skinchanger could always sense another. He told her how it was possible for a skinchanger to enter the mind of an animal that had belonged to another skinchanger and that it was common for part of the previous skinchanger to be felt in the animal. Jon told her about a special type of skinchangers, the greenseers, who in addition to doing what wargs did, could also wear the skins of any beast and could look through the eyes of the weirwoods as well.

Jon then told her about wargs and about when and how he realized his connection to his direwolf, Ghost and what it was like to discover what he was. He told her about his wolf dreams, where he dreamed that he was the direwolf. He talked about how he could feel the forest, its smells and the presence of other animals during these dreams. He told her about how it felt to run free through the forest, about the feeling of hunting and feeding and how free he felt when he had these dreams. He talked about his relationship with Ghost and how he could sense the direwolf's presence and tell if he was near or far from him.

Dany gave him a grateful smile when he finished and asked "If you bite me, will I become a warg too?"

“No, but that’s how the legend of werewolves came to be.” he replied “Wargs are born and not created.”

“So your children will be wargs too?”

“They may or may not be.”

She wrote down that information before asking “Have you ever tried to get into the mind of another animal besides Ghost?”

"No!" he replied, looking horrified at the idea “Ghost is as much a part of me as I am a part of him. I wouldn’t have the courage to betray our connection like that.”

“And have you ever tried to get into someone else’s mind?”

“Although it’s tempting, I haven’t.” replied Jon “And to enter the mind of another human being, that person must have a fragile mind and to try that on someone like that would be something very similar to rape in my opinion.”

“And if the person gave you consent, what would you say?” he stared at her in silence for a few seconds and she added “What would you say if I told you I wanted you to try to get into my mind?”

“Even with your consent, I don’t think I could.”

"Why?"

“You don’t strike me as a person whose mind is easy to dominate.”

She nodded and looked at the notes she had made earlier.

“You told me that having an emotional connection with Ghost made it easier when you first entered his mind.” she said and he nodded “What kind of prior connection do you think you would need to have with me to make it easier?”

He stared at her for a few seconds before replying “I… I don’t know.”

She gave him a half smile. “What if I don’t resist?”

“Are you asking me all these questions because of the book or because you really want me to try and get inside your mind?”

“How about you try to find the answers by going inside my mind?”

“I… That's not a good idea, Dany. Even with your consent and you offering no resistance, you may go mad or suffer some other irreversible mental damage.”

Noting his discomfort with the topic, she asked “Can I meet Ghost someday?”

His face lit up with a smile that made her heart race.

"Of course. You can meet him now.” he replied. Jon stood up, walked over to her on the other side of the table and offered her his hand. She looked at him, confused. “I'm asking you to trust me and come with me.” he clarified.

Dany took a deep breath and nodded. She put away her notebook and held his hand. Jon gave her a satisfied smile and led her through the various paths to a deserted part of the park. Night had arrived and the park lights were on. Above them the full moon appeared over the tree canopy and illuminated them. Holding hands, they looked like just a couple walking and enjoying the good weather. His long brown hair being tossed by the wind and touched by the moonlight gave the impression that some strands were silver. Dany stopped herself from running her hand through it.

“Can you show me what you showed me in the photos?” she asked.

He nodded “But I need you to control yourself and not scream. I don't want people to think I'm attacking you or doing anything worse.”

“I promise I will restrain myself.”

They stopped only when they reached a small clearing in the forest that was lit only by the moon. He let go of her hand and took a step away from her. Before her eyes, his hair began to change color, his nails turned into claws and his fangs became larger. When he opened his eyes and looked at her, they were red.

“Wow.” she said and, without thinking, she closed the distance between them and couldn't resist running her hand through his hair. “You're really real.” she whispered.

He gave her a small smile and said “I am and thank you for not yelling.”

She looked him in the eyes. “I have no reason to scream.” she said and asked “Does it hurt?”

He shook his head “At first, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.” he replied, and a few seconds later, he was back to his normal appearance. Jon pointed to a spot in the wolfswood before saying “Ghost is going to come out of the woods. You do not have to be afraid."

"He is here?"

“He was watching us the whole time.” he replied.

She was surprised to hear that, but she nodded and Jon whistled loudly. In the next second, a mountain of white fur rushed out of the darkness of the forest. Dany gasped, but forced herself to remain still. The last thing she wanted was to draw the direwolf's attention to herself.

“Slow down, boy!” Jon said in an affectionate tone and the animal slowed down and began to walk. Jon held her hand again and gave it a comforting squeeze. He looked at her and said “Sorry, he’s looking forward to meeting you.” Dany looked at him with wide eyes and he asked “Remember what I said about sharing emotions?” she swallowed and nodded “He likes the same people as me. Which means he’s very happy you chose to come here.”

When he finished speaking, the direwolf stood before them, and when she looked at him, his intelligent red eyes were fixed on her. The moonlight made his white fur shine and gave it a fantastic air, as if the animal were a forest spirit.

“Dany, this is Ghost.” he said and stroked his ear before adding “Ghost, this is Dany.”

Still unable to move, she heard herself say, “Hi boy.”

“You can touch him if you want.” Jon suggested and she looked at him with wide eyes. He laughed and added “He won’t hurt you.”

She looked at Ghost and took a deep breath to gather her courage. Hesitantly, she reached up to the direwolf's immense head and touched its fur. Slowly, she began to pet him and she couldn't help but laugh when he pressed his head against her hand.

“I told you he liked you.” commented Jon, who was watching them with pride and satisfaction in his gray eyes.

“I like you too, Ghost.” she said and, to her surprise, he licked her hand, which made her laugh again. She looked at Jon and asked "Can I see you warg him?"

He gave her a smile and nodded, “Come.”

She followed him to the edge of the clearing and watched as he sat cross-legged against the trunk of a tree and took a deep breath. His eyes were white and his body was still. Ghost walked up to her and there was something different in his red eyes, something definitely human.

“Jon?” she asked in an uncertain tone.

In response, the direwolf lowered his head and brought his snout to her hand, as if he was asking her to pet him and she did. Then he bent down and, confused, she looked at Jon and back at the direwolf.

“Do you want me to ride you?” she asked and Ghost, no, Jon nodded.

Ghost was big enough for Jon himself to ride, and he wouldn't ask her to do that if it wasn't safe for her and Ghost. As soon as she was properly sitting on his back, Ghost-Jon got up, started walking, and for the first few seconds she had her eyes closed, her face pressed against his soft fur, her arms wrapping around his neck. He walked around the clearing before entering the forest and Dany forced herself to relax and enjoy the experience.

The ride was brief, and about five minutes later, Ghost-Jon took her back to the clearing. Jon was waiting for them standing when they entered the clearing and she deduced that Ghost was in charge.

“So, what did you think of the experience?” he asked as soon as she dismounted the direwolf.

“Absolutely terrifying and absolutely incredible.” she replied with a sincere smile and petted Ghost.

They stayed with him for a few more minutes and Jon took her back to the park entrance.

“What places do you want to visit in Winterfell?” he asked and she told him the ones she remembered.

“I had a crazy idea.” he said.

"What is it?"

He hesitated for a few seconds before saying “I want to accompany you on your trip. If that’s okay with you.”

“Do you want to be my research assistant?”

“I want to be your guide, after all, who better than a northerner to guide you through the North?”

That idea seemed perfect to her.

“I like the idea and I’ll love having you as my guide.” she replied and Jon held her hand and placed a kiss on her gloved palm.

---

The next day Jon took her on a tour of the historic fortress of Winterfell. She was impressed not only by what she saw, but also by everything she heard.

He also introduced her to a lady who was known as Old Nan, who was happy when she heard that Dany was preparing to write a book based on the stories and legends of the North. The lady told her everything she knew about the Long Night, the Others, about the Night King and Dany wished she could hear all the stories that nice little lady had to tell. Old Nan had a gift for telling stories, and as she listened, Dany felt like she was in the story.

Throughout her days at Winterfell Jon convinced her to continue her journey by car instead of bus as she had planned and, when he stopped about forty kilometers after they left the city behind to show her a very preserved part of the place where the battle had taken place during the second Long Night, Dany realized that this had actually been a great idea.

Jon not only knew much of the history of the North, he also knew the meaning of the symbols used by the children of the forest and the wildlings. During the trip and the many stops they made, she wrote down every bit of information, noted details of the landscape, noted how people dressed, spoke and greeted each other. She wrote down some details of the vegetation and ideas she would like to explore in the future.

During the trip they also talked about their lives. Jon told her that he and his mother were very close and shared many things like a love of horses and Northern history, but he didn't know his biological father. His mother had told him that she had met his father during a music festival and that he was the result of a one-night stand. They didn't exchange names or contact details, and weeks later, Lyanna discovered she was pregnant but had no way of contacting him. Jon grew up in the company of his cousins and his uncle Ned ended up becoming his father figure.

She told him about her family and her life and he asked her several questions about her process, about her books and she spent hours talking about her characters.

Dany noted that the last time she had had her recurring dream was the morning she had seen Jon's face and she couldn't help but wonder if that was a sign. She had been attracted to him from the moment she saw him and there were times when the tension between them made even the task of breathing almost impossible, however, at no point during their trip did they comment on what he had written in the letter about wanting to devour her.

She had no doubt that Jon was as attracted to her as she was to him. The way he looked at her, touched her and spoke to her made it clear that he was interested in her. And there had even been a few moments when they had almost kissed, but since she didn't want to do anything that could harm the dynamic between them, Dany had walked away and pretended that she didn't understand his intention. She knew that the way she acted confused him, because she also touched him and looked at him with interest and always kissed his cheek in gratitude when he showed her something new.

As Jon had told her that they were in the off season and as she had made reservations before leaving Dragonstone, she was not concerned with the idea that they might arrive at a location where there would not be a room available for Jon. But that changed when they arrived at Mole's Town, which had maintained one of its main features for centuries, which was its underground buildings connected by tunnels.

As soon as they entered the inn where Dany had made her reservations and Jon asked for a room, the receptionist informed them that there were none available either in that inn or in any other in the city. According to her, a group of Night’s Watch fans were gathered in the city for two weeks to reenact some historical battles that took place on the Wall.

Without thinking, Dany invited him to stay with her in her room. He was hesitant to accept, but since the alternative was sleeping in the car, he ended up accepting. After leaving their things in their room and changing into more weather-appropriate clothes, they headed to the Wall. Dany was eager to climb the great wall of ice that they had seen many miles before reaching the city.

The Wall had been a tourist attraction for centuries, its nineteen castles had been transformed into museums and there were people who swore they had met one of the Others or with one of their creatures.

Jon told her more details about the Night’s Watch, the Wall and the Others as they walked through the museum. She felt a sense of wonder as they passed through the tunnel that led to the other side of the Wall and visited the godswood where the Night's Watch recruits took their vows.

The sun was low on the horizon when they entered the elevator that would take them to the top of the Wall. Seen from above, the landscape was breathtaking. They sheltered from the freezing wind behind one of the watchtowers and Dany was gazing out at the forest beyond the Wall, her imagination playing out an attack by the Others and their creatures when she heard Jon ask, “Have you ever really wanted to kiss someone, but you didn’t know you should?”

She looked at him and answered without thinking “Why don’t you try your luck?”

It was only when Jon's gloved hands cupped her face seconds later and her eyes met his that she understood he was talking about her. Her heart raced and she felt her body react to his proximity and before she could do or say anything else, he kissed her.

His lips were soft, but they were cold as they tentatively touched hers for a few seconds. The way he held her face, the feel of his lips against hers was painfully familiar and, all too soon, he pulled away. She sighed, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that he was watching her carefully, as if he were gauging her reaction. Dany gave him a sweet smile and then he kissed her again gently, as if he were afraid of hurting her or that she would be scared.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and she kissed him urgently, voraciously, as if they didn't have enough time, as if she would disappear if she didn't kiss him. Jon responded to her urgency and her gloved hands delved into his hair and she wished she could feel it between her fingers. He pulled her closer to him, but it was difficult to feel the heat of his body and even his body with so many clothes on. There were too many layers between them and she couldn't wait to get rid of each one of them.

Jon was the first to break the kiss and he rested his forehead on hers before placing soft kisses on her nose and cheeks.

Without thinking, she heard herself saying “It is you, it has always been.”

He looked at her with confusion and she told him about her dream.

“Are you telling me I’m literally the man of your dreams?” he asked with a smug smile.

Dany smiled and nodded “You are. Now, kiss me again.”

He didn't hesitate to obey and when he pressed her against the wall of the watchtower and kissed her more intensely, Dany felt her entire body ignite. It was only when their lips parted once again that Dany realized that it had already become completely dark and the lights at the top of the Wall had been turned on.

“We should go back.” he said “Not long until it closes to the public.”

She nodded and Jon gave her a quick kiss before holding her hand and guiding her back to the elevator. The thirty or so minutes that passed until they reached their room at the inn felt like an eternity to her, and as soon as Jon closed the door to their room, Dany pressed him against it and kissed him as her hands began the arduous but pleasurable work of freeing him from his layers.

It was Jon who had a connection to a beast, but at that moment it was Dany who felt like there was a beast inside her. And that beast wanted to devour Jon, wanted to make him surrender to her . W anted to make him hers .

It was only when she managed to bare his chest that Jon stopped her and said “Dany, I don't have any condoms with me. Do you?"

She shook her head and said “I don’t, but I'm on birth control if you want to keep going.”

“Are you sure, Dany? I might not be able to stop once we start.”

"I'm sure." she assured.

He nodded and gave her a mischievous smile before confessing in a smug tone, “One of the best parts of being who I am is knowing that you want me as much as I want you.”

Well, she couldn't smell his arousal, but there were other ways of knowing. Dany undid the button and zipper of his pants and, slowly and provocatively, slid her hand inside until she found his hardened member and held it carefully through his underwear . Jon threw his head back and moaned her name when she gave it a light squeeze. She wanted to feel him without the barrier of his underwear, but before she could move her hand, Jon kissed her and she began to caress it , making him moan against her lips.

“I love hearing you moan like that.” she whispered against his lips.

She broke the kiss and removed her hand from inside his pants, but only to place soft kisses on his throat. She lightly nibbled the skin at the base of his throat and laughed softly when he moaned. She plunged her hands into his hair and pulled him against her to kiss him, planning to continue her exploration, but Jon reversed their position, pressing her against the wall. He gave her a passionate kiss that made her lose her breath and moan when he caught her lower lip with his teeth and bit it lightly. Jon licked her lip and she moaned once again.

As he kissed her, his hands rested on her waist and slid under her clothes to her back and up, caressing her spine, his heat sending goosebumps across her skin. Jon looked into her eyes as his hands removed the top part of her clothes and she just stared back at him as she tried to catch her breath.

“Now we’re even.” he commented when she was naked from the waist up. He knelt before her and his lips rested on her breasts, his soft, warm lips wrapped around her nipple and he sucked it, making Dany arch her body as a moan of pleasure left her lips.

She pressed her body against his, her hands resting in his hair as he gave the same attention to her other nipple. As his lips and teeth explored her breasts, his hands began to remove what was left of her clothing until she was naked before him.

Jon sat on his knees and looked her over from head to toe with his hungry gray eyes before saying, "You're even more beautiful than I imagined."

She gave him a smile before suggesting “How about we tie the game again?”

Jon smiled, but stood up and, with her help, finished shedding his layers as well. Dany licked her lips as she looked him over from head to toe and when her eyes met his, Jon asked “Do you like what you see?”

She licked her lips once more and nodded slowly. In the next second, Jon was kissing her, his hands tangling in her hair. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers delving into his hair, their bodies as close as possible, the heat of his skin making her body ignite. Without breaking the kiss he guided her to the bed and they both laughed when they bumped into the furniture.

His hands left her hair, rested on her ass and he lifted her off the floor and then carefully placed her on the bed. She pulled him along with her and Jon didn't resist. He kissed her nose, her cheek and kissed down the column of her throat until he reached her breasts where he stayed until her nipples were hard and she was panting with desire once again. He continued down her belly and only stopped when he reached the silver-blonde hair of her cunt. After positioning himself between her legs, he gently moved her knees apart so he could see her. He looked at her cunt with hungry eyes when he saw her soaking wet. Without warning, Jon bent down and licked her, sending a wave of pleasure through her body and making her let out a loud moan.

“Mine.” he growled against her wet folds.

“Say it again.” she ordered, her hands gripping his hair tighter.

He looked at her and his eyes were red and the sight made her walls contract.

Before obeying her, Jon licked her, making her moan louder “Mine.” he said and kissed her clit. “Mine.” he inserted a finger into her and licked her again “All mine.”

Dany moaned his name without realizing it and Jon increased the speed of his fingers and focused the attention of his lips on her clit and then Dany saw stars as her orgasm hit. He continued to lick her and his fingers continued sliding in and out of her for a few more seconds.

Jon lay down next to her and asked “How are you feeling?”

“Amazing.” she replied, panting and he gave a satisfied and proud smile.

Her hand rested on her dick and she stroked it, making him moan.

“Are you sure you want to continue without protection?” he asked in a serious tone and Dany couldn't help but feel happy and relieved that he was so careful and asked for her consent once again, just to make sure she hadn't changed her mind.

“I want to keep going, if you want too.” she replied.

In response, Jon kissed her with renewed enthusiasm and positioned himself between her legs. She moaned against his mouth as he ran the tip of his member through her wetness before positioning it at her entrance. He looked into her eyes as he slid into her slowly, giving her time to adjust to his size. Dany moved her hips when she was ready and their bodies easily found a rhythm, as if they already knew each other. As their bodies moved in harmony, Dany realized that this was the scene from her recurring dream that had finally come true.

“You look so beautiful with me inside you.” he commented as he slowly slid in and out of her.

Intoxicated with the sensations caused by Jon, the only thing she could answer was his name in a breathless tone. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as he kissed her lips and one of his hands found her clit. Her pleasure grew and grew and it wasn't long before she was seeing stars once again.

Jon kissed her neck and whispered against her sweaty skin “That’s my girl.”

Maybe obeying some primal instinct, Dany bit his shoulder, marking him as hers, and whispered, “Mine.”

Jon moaned loudly as he reached his orgasm and she felt him spilling inside her. A few seconds passed before he pulled out of her and Dany moaned when she felt his fingers over her entrance trying to keep his seed inside her. He looked into her eyes and there was a mixture of possession and pride in them as he whispered, “Mine.” once again.

After catching their breath, they took a long hot shower together and then snuggled into each other's arms in bed.

Dany was almost asleep when she heard Jon whisper “I didn’t think it was possible to love someone this much. Home stopped being a place when you entered my life and I'm so scared of losing you.”

She surprised him when she turned in his arms to look him in the eyes.

"You wont lose me. You are everything I dreamed of finding and more.” she said, brushing aside a strand of his hair and placing her hand on his cheek. “I am right where I belong and nothing could ever stop me from being with you.”

---

“Jon?!” Dany called.

"Yes?!" he replied from somewhere in the house.

Almost a year had passed since the day they met and now they were living together in Winterfell. She was finishing the first book in her trilogy inspired by him and there was one detail she needed her boyfriend to confirm.

“Can you help me with something, love?” she asked when her boyfriend joined her in her office seconds later.

“Of course, sweetheart.” he replied with a smile.

“Can you read what I wrote and tell me if it’s good?”

He gave her a sweet smile. “You know I love reading everything you write, Dany.”

She indicated the computer and Jon sat down to read.

Dany made a point of staying close. She really wanted to see his reaction to the book dedication. It wasn't long before he read aloud, "I dedicate this story to my husband, Jon Snow, whose wild side inspired me and guided me through the long history of the wargs."

He turned to look at her with an expression between curiosity and surprise and asked “Was this the way you found to ask me to marry you, Daenerys Targaryen?”

She gave him an innocent smile. “That was my way of telling you that I want you in my life permanently, Jon Snow.”

Jon stood up and wrapped his arms around her waist before saying, “Permanent?” he asked and she nodded “I like the sound of that.”

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her. Her lips met his in a gentle kiss, but touching Jon always set her body on fire and it wasn't long before they were both devouring each other.

“My Dany, I love you so much!” he whispered against her lips “I could never love another as I love you, even if I wanted to.”

She smiled and kissed him with redoubled enthusiasm, planning to show him in other ways how much she loved him.

#jonerys #jonerys falling for you 2023 #ice and fire jonerys discord #snowstorm #jonerys week 2023 #jonerys au #jonerys fic #jonerys fanfic #jonerys fics #jonerys fanfiction #fic rec #jonerys fic rec #jonerys fanfic rec #snowstorm fic #snowstorm fanfic #snowstorm fanfiction #daenerys targaryen #daenerys stormborn #jon snow #daenerys x jon #dany x jon #jon x dany #jon x daenerys #daenerys targaryen x jon snow #asoiaf #asoiaf au #asoiaf fic #asoiaf fanfic #asoiaf fanfiction #falling for you

[vorthosjay]

what about jace bringing food through the blind eternities? are the ready for a take-away service now or is jace's planeswalking different from huatli in that aspect?

Planeswalking with food was always a gray area. Planeswalkers can travel wearing organic fabric. Nissa travelled with a big wooden stick. Why not other plants?

I think it has a lot to do with the planeswalker's skill (Karn can planeswalk with HUGE things), and also that the multiverse is a lot more porous.

[jasper-book-stash]

February 2024 Reading Wrap Up

I finished off my reading challenge with time to spare! So let's talk about the books I've read this month. I'm making this up before the end of the month, because I don't foresee myself finishing up my current book in the next few days.

Religious Text

None applicable.

1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?

A Book of Pagan Prayer | Ceisiwr Serith

This book sucked ass. Fucking Robert Graves in the bibliography, treating any "non-Abrahamic" (meaning not Christian, Catholic, or Jewish in this context) as Pagan-with-a-capital-P, a baffling usage of Zoroastrianism, using "Indian" instead of "Indigenous"/"Native American", misusing "shaman", the baffling choice to have a prayer that you need to use to prepare yourself to pray, sloppy editing, self-contradiction without realizing the author did that, and, dare I say, an overly-Wiccan syncretic approach.

I genuinely have no idea how it got published.

Hands-On Chaos Magic: Reality Manipulation through the Ovayki Current | Andrieh Vitimus

I damn near threw this one across the room within the first nine pages. Why are you citing a WHITE WOMAN when talking about hoodoo? Why is J K Rowling's Harry Potter book in the bibliography? Why does the bibliography suck overall?

2/10 - Trash

None applicable.

3/10 - Meh

None applicable.

4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier

Witchcraft For Everyone: A No-Nonstense Guide to Creating Your Own Magical Practice | Sam Wise

I wrote my thoughts on this one in a separate post.

7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats

From Sanctity to Sorcery: An Author’s Guide to Building Belief Structures and Magic Systems | Angeline Trevena

This is a perfectly passable book talking about religion and magic systems. But I still prefer Timothy Hickson's "On Writing and Worldbuilding" books and YouTube series (under the YouTuber name Hello Future Me).

Zendikar: In The Teeth Of Akoum | Robert Wintermute [reading challenge]

I'll admit, this one was a dredge to get through. I much prefer the short-and-sweet version of the story found through the WOTC website (or, even better, MTGLore.com). But hey, Nissa at least gets time to shine! She deserves something nice.

Memories & Memoirs: Essays, Poems, Stories, Letters by Contemporary Missouri Authors | Sharon Kinney-Hanson

This wasn't for a reading challenge, but rather, it was my book club book for this month (our theme was "biography"). I chose memoirs instead of an actual biography because I genuinely don't care about a lot of people who have biographies written about them.

But there was something...nice about this. It was nice, reading stuff by people like you in the place you live (admittedly 24 years ago). It's an experience I don't often get - not a lot of people set their stories in Missouri, and even less are from Missouri themselves. The best we usually get is traveling characters stopping to appreciate the St Louis Arch. So it was nice to be...seen.

Diadem: Worlds of Magic: Book of Names | John Peel [reading challenge]

This book has been on my TBR list for ten years, and I've finally read it. And it's pretty good! You can definitely tell that it's made for a particularly young audience (probably preteen at most, as the main protagonists are 12-ish) and is a product of its time (the mid-1990s). Baby (cough, preteen) Jasper would have gone hogwild over this, if they had bothered actually reading it when they got it. But to Current Jasper, it doesn't hit how they would have liked.

9/10 - Very Very Good

Snow White with the Red Hair, volumes 13-20 | Sorata Akiduki

Volumes 13 to 19 were 9/10, and volume 20 hit 10/10, but I'll just bundle them all together here. Snow White with the Red Hair is an ongoing manga series about a romance in a fantasy world (though notably, one that doesn't seem to actually have magic, merely fantastical creatures and plants). The main romance is a woman on the run from her home kingdom after her prince became obsessed with her due to her red hair, and the second prince of the neighboring kingdom, though neither really know each other when they meet. At this point in the story, they're fairly dedicated to seeing each other despite the woman working hard to be a proper royal herbalist (following her dreams) and the prince dealing with the politics of his older brother (who recently became king) and his land along with a dedicated loyalty to the woman.

It's surprisingly sappy and adorable, despite the fact that I don't typically read romance. These two characters and their friends have wormed their way into my heart.

Hide | Kiersten White [reading challenge]

Kiersten White is an author I recently started reading, and I absolutely adore her writing. In Hide, she captures the exact feeling of being a broke queer person in a conservative small-town and the danger that comes with it. Along with a more supernatural danger.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea | Rebecca Thorne [reading challenge]

This is a damn fine story with damn fine characters, a loving and already-established relationship (where there's no "will they break up" drama), and a fascinating set of magic systems. My only real complaint here is that the stakes are much higher than what I expected from something marketed as "cozy fantasy". The settings and vibes often were more cozy, but there were higher stakes than what I expected, what with the dragons and the queen and- Well, it was a good book. It was inspired by Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, but don't expect the two to be the same.

10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone

Well, everyone who's into the genre these fall under, at least.

Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe | John Boswell

This is an incredibly in-depth look at exactly what it says it is - same-sex unions in premodern Europe (stretching back to ancient Greece and Rome) with comparisons to opposite-sex unions of the times. If you're interested in one or both sides of those, pick it up. Just be ready for the long haul; this book is 464 pages long and has multiple appendices.

#jasper post #books #bookblr #authors #reading wrap up #2024 #february 2024

[bace-jeleren]

I had a dream last night that they announced a new MtG set, which was going to star Nissa, who looked roughly like she does above, traveling the multiverse looking for powerful artifacts. But, like, the tone of the story was so melancholy and bleak it made me physically uncomfortable, so much that it distracted from the fact that Nissa looked undeniably Peak Gay.

#magic the gathering #nissa revane

[pumpkinspice-creations]

Pokémon trainer 'sona. Self insert bay-beee.

Nissa will kick your ass, then let you know where you can improve, if you're open to that. They've been a trainer for about 24 years and have won several championships. They're well travelled and have a special interest in shiny Pokémon.

#human #my art #pokemon #pokemon oc #pokemon trainer #human practice #still learning #flat colors

[247reader]

Day 27: Shaykhah Shuhdah, Fakhr-un-Nissa!

Fakhr-un-Nissa Shuhdah was the daughter of Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn al-Faraj al-Dinawari, a Kurdish scholar in the Persian city of Dinawar, in modern-day Iran. He ensured that his daughter received an excellent education, and she studied with some of the most significant Islamic scholars of her day, becoming an expert in Hadith, the records of Muhammad’s actions outside of the Quran, as well as a noted calligrapher. Settling in Baghdad with her husband, she became a teacher herself - in fact, students travelled from across the Abbasid Caliphate to hear her speak on theology, literature, and history, and she earned the title, among others, of Shuhdah al-Baghdadiyyah, the “Writer of Baghdad,” for her literary and calligraphic accomplishments.

After the death of her husband, Fakhr-un-Nissa, now middle-aged, devoted her time even further to her academic pursuits. With the assistance of a land donation for the Caliph, she opened a school, with free tuition for scholars. By the time of her death in 1112, the ninety-year-old teacher was famous and beloved, and her funeral was attended by thousands, from impoverished students to state officials.

#fahkr-un-nissa #shayhkah shuhdah #kurdish history #iranian history #iraqi history #abbasid caliphate #history #awesome ladies of history #october 2023 #my art

[imagienature]

Nissa la Bella

2022 (iPhone)

#ilovenice #nissa #shotoniphone #nicefrance #frenchriviera #villedenice #nicetourisme #alpesmaritimes #cotedazur #photography #instagram #france #dreamplace #nice06 #picoftheday #niceislove #travel #cotedazurfrance #photographie #hello_france

[eorzeanflowers]

10 Characters/10 Fandoms/10 Tags

tagged by: @otherworldseekers, @starrysnowdrop and @reikatsukihana! Ty!

I don't really exist in fandoms very much, but I'll list my top ten franchises and my favorites there.

FFXIV - Lyse. I adore her character so much in Stormblood, I just wish we had more time with her. She would've been really neat to take through Shadowbringers, with her cheerful personality.

RWBY - Ruby. I wanna cheat and say all of team RWBY, but I won't. Ruby's journey through V9 really jumped her past Weiss as my favorite from the show. Also... Gun-scythe?!?!? Hello?!?!

Baldur's Gate 3 - Karlach. I may have romanced Shadowheart my first run, but Karlach has my heart forever. She is just... so good!

Nier - 2B. She's neat and a much more enjoyable protaganist than the dumb little boy of 9S. (Most of my dislike of 9S is his gameplay and his ideas in the final act) A2 is a close second tho.

Genshin Impact - Eula. She's got such a cute quirky little personality, and her fighting style looks like a dance with that greatsword.

Magic: The Gathering - Nissa. I've adored Nissa and Chandra since I started magic, but Nissa's story is a little more special to me. She's also the only planeswalker card I kept when I sold my collection.

Honkai Star Rail - Kafka. She's the main driving force in the game it seems really. And that voice!!!!! Gives me the good kind of chills.

FFIV - Rydia. I would die for any of the cast of IV, but I have the softest spot for Rydia.

Hades (Supergiant Games) - Zagreus. Dude's just living his best life, running away from home. He's bisexual, poly and all around great guy. What's not to love?

Arcane - Caitlynn. Yes, I know this is just league of legends, but I don't play the game and I enjoy the show!

Tagging: Uhhhh... @traveler-of-light, @pumpkinmagekupo, @the-littlest-kojin, @phoebe-of-ivalice, @lizzy-calaxio, @unbloomingmoonflower, @under-the-blood-moonlight, @terminuspride, @panmennoby, @wildstar25 and whoever sees this! Tag me. :3 I love seeing people's favorites.

#the rare leigh #10 Characters/10 Fandoms/10 Tags #That's... uh... A lotta ladies. ^.^; #Poor Zag is all alone in there... #Not that he'll mind lol

[sylvan-librarian]

Nissa’s Pilgrimage Part 2: Duels of the Dual Origins

Time for another deranged essay about Nissa. Last time, I wrote about my own attachment to the character (which hopefully explains why the hell I’d go to the trouble of writing an entire essay series about her), but this piece discusses a more practical matter: why was Nissa written into the world of Magic The Gathering in the first place, and what role does she play within the game’s larger narrative? That matter is a little complicated because it involves extensive rewrites and retcons on the part of the story team at Wizards of the Coast.

Nissa Revane was introduced as a character in a video game first: Duels of the Planeswalkers, which was released on the Xbox 360 (an ancient relic of a bygone era) in June of 2009, a few months before Nissa’s initial appearance as card in the first Zendikar set, which hit shelves in October 2009. According to the Voice for Vorthos panel at Pax Prime 2015, the designers of Duels of the Planeswalkers needed a face character for their black/green elf deck, centered around the way elves were presented in Lorwyn (read: racists). Since no existing planeswalker fit the mold, the design team, according to Jeremy Jarvis, created this “kind of a villainous, you know, hardcore, staunch xenophobic person that would run this elf deck. That was the need for her; that’s how she was created. She was visually meant to be slightly off-putting; it’s why she doesn’t have eyebrows and her eyes are just these solid green orbs.” This was Nissa’s introduction, and it was how she was presented in Magic’s overarching lore from her introduction in 2009 all the way to Magic Origins in 2015. After some cursory digging through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, I found Nissa’s original blurb on Magic’s website, circa 2011:

Her planar travels have taken her to other places where elves thrive or even rule, such as the sunny world of Lorwyn. There she met elves who fully embraced their role as the pinnacle of nature, using both life magic and its shadow to assert their primacy.

Yikes.

Further insights into Nissa’s original personality can be found in the 2010 novel Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum, which recounts Nissa’s journey to Eye of Ugin with Sorin Markov and the vampire Anowon and Nissa’s subsequent release of the Eldrazi Titans. In this particular scene, for example, Nissa explains to her vampire companions that all “‘elves receive power from the land. We do not need to cut and hack and burn as humans do.’ She looked from Sorin to Anowon. ‘You are all, human and vampire, suckers of life. You are the same in our eyes.’” Later on, we get Nissa’s thoughts on goblins. Despite her previous protestations, she starts to warm up to her vampire ally Anowon, who thus far has been nabbing goblins every few days in order to feed on them; Nissa rationalizes his actions this way: “He was a vampire after all—a merciless vampire. He could not be trusted. On the other hand, he had conducted himself fairly, and who could blame him for feeding on the goblins, who were, after all, barely lifeforms. They were not children of the forest, but rather opportunists of the stone and dell.”

…barely lifeforms.

Yikes again.

Needless to say, there was little to like about Nissa’s original presentation in Magic fiction. Aside from how poorly written she is in Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum (on top of being xenophobic, she is also presented as belligerently naive and an incompetent leader), there is simply nothing fascinating about a stupid racist. Many other villains in Magic’s lore are beloved and have countless fans of their own: Bolas, the Phyrexian Praetors, and even Nissa’s mortal enemies, the Eldrazi Titans themselves, are fun to like, depending on personal preference. Their villainy is so overblown and impossible that it’s easy to suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the fictional mayhem for what it is. However, in our current cultural climate where stupid racists have spent the last decade driving the world closer and closer to hell, the original Nissa’s brand of villainy just isn’t very fun to engage with

However, Nissa’s presentation in Magic’s lore did a complete 180 between 2014 and 2015, retconning nearly all of her villainy and transforming her blatant, remorseless xenophobia into a simple distrust of outsiders and a desperation to protect her home. Her motivations of seeing “elves at the pinnacle of nature” was completely erased from her background entirely, replacing it with a respect for all life, and her magic, which was previously tied to summoning and buffing elves and elves only, became inexorably tied to the land and its leylines.

Readers wouldn't receive the full retcon of Nissa’s backstory until “Nissa’s Origin: Home” was released in the summer of 2015, but we did get a glimpse of who Nissa would eventually become in the 2014 story “Nissa, Worldwaker,” a piece of webfiction revealed in tandem with her card of the same name during the preview season for the 2015 Core Set. It’s interesting to note that at this time in Nissa’s development, the story team appears to keep Nissa’s old self largely intact; instead of simply erasing the rough edges of her backstory like the Magic Origins retcon would, it seemed at the time like “Nissa, Worldwaker” was supposed to be the beginning of Nissa’s redemption arc. For example, look at the opening blurb at the very beginning of the story:

The elf Planeswalker Nissa Revane has led a difficult life. She's been exiled from her tribe, the Joraga, on more than one occasion, and becoming a Planeswalker set her even further apart. She traveled to different worlds, seeking to understand the nature of elves' responsibility toward nature, but she always returned to her home plane of Zendikar. Whatever peace she managed to find for herself came to an end with the rising of the monstrous Eldrazi. These vast, interplanar beings, devourers of entire worlds, had been imprisoned on Zendikar millennia before. Desperate to save her world, Nissa broke the lock that kept the Eldrazi on Zendikar. Her hope was that the Eldrazi, freed of their confines, would travel out into the Multiverse. Their threat would spread, but Zendikar would be saved. It didn't work. At least one of the three Eldrazi titans remains on Zendikar, threatening all life on the plane with annihilation. Nissa stayed to fight the Eldrazi, but she fears it's hopeless. To defeat the monstrosities that assault the plane, all of Zendikar would have to fight as one…

Notice that while the story is clearly setting Nissa on a new path, it doesn’t deny what her character was previously, nor does it deny that the events that took place in Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum did in fact happen the way they were originally reported. In “Nissa, Worldwaker,” we are presented with a Nissa a few years after she naively set the Eldrazi free, broken by her endless fight with Ulamog’s brood and wracked with tremendous guilt from the actions she took at the Eye of Ugin. 

The story opens with Nissa getting rescued by a human man named Hamadi after Ulamog completely annihilates Nissa’s Joraga clan down to, apparently, Nissa herself. Her first reaction upon waking up in her savior’s tent shows that much of her old xenophobia still remains: “‘Where am I?’ Nissa said. Mistrust everyone. Even though the human saved her, the old Joraga instincts remained. She felt vulnerable, naked under the furs, and she knew her full power was a long way from returning.” Nissa and Hamadi later talk about this with each other: how nearly all the civilizations of Zendikar were isolated and separated from each other, and it took the rise of the Eldrazi to bring them together. 

Then, Nissa listens as Hamadi begins to tell her about the destruction of his home and his people, and it’s here we begin to see Nissa’s transformation; as she listens to Hamadi’s stories, 

a growing ache welled up within her body and lodged itself in her throat. She was responsible for all of it, all his loss and all of Zendikar's devastation. Hamadi had pulled her, a Joraga elf, from certain death. He had risked his life and had saved hers. And she was the cause. Dark memories started to crawl into Nissa's mind from all the worst places. All her failures, her foolish choices, her selfishness and arrogance, poured into her gut like a lead weight. She became tangled in the web of her past that was filled with the bodies of a thousand innocents who had fallen to the Eldrazi. She could have saved them all.

This is the most important section of “Nissa, Worldwaker” for the character’s burgeoning growth, but this story also shows readers something else: the transformation of Nissa’s magic. Nissa’s first card, Nissa Revane was a planeswalker that cared only for elves, and all of her story appearances have shown this narratively. However, with Nissa, Worldwaker, we are given a card with a completely altered skill set. In this card, Nissa animates lands into creatures that fight for the player and untaps lands to symbolize how her deep connection to the land can generate a near endless amount of mana. While I assume the primary reason for this shift in Nissa’s skillset was due to the team’s desire to explore a new design space, the story, “Nissa, Worldwaker” also tries to explain this shift narratively; by rejecting her former tribalism and xenophobia and embracing all life on Zendikar, Nissa unlocks the might and the loyalty of the land itself. This is driven home by Hamadi revealing that the nickname he has been calling Nissa throughout the story, “Shaya,” means Worldwaker.

While this created an interesting setup for future Nissa stories, Magic’s story team clearly decided that Nissa’s previous way of life (read: racism) made her unsuitable to be a hero of Magic the Gathering, so they instead opted to retcon her entire backstory as a part of making her one the iconic five planeswalkers for their Magic Origins initiative. At the time, Wizards of the Coast announced that they would be getting rid of the yearly standard set release model they had been using - two three-set blocks and a core set per year - opting instead for three two set blocks per year and no core set at all. Forecasting deeper, more focused storytelling, Magic Origins was marketed as being the “final'' core set while also introducing revised backstories of five planeswalkers who would be the focus of Magic storytelling for the foreseeable future: Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar, and Nissa Revane. 

While a handful of the other stories in the Magic Origins arc simply revised certain elements to make these characters more palatable to readers - Chandra’s for example - Nissa’s revised backstory, “Nissa’s Origin: Home,” reworked the character from the ground up, completely erasing from the narrative much of her characterization in Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum and elsewhere, and even bringing into question the canonicity of the redemption arc forecasted the previous year in “Nissa, Worldwaker.” 

In the original canon, Nissa embraced the xenophobia and tribalism of the austere Joraga tribe, and she was only truly ostracized when she became a planeswalker. In the new canon, Nissa spent her childhood being ostracized by the Joraga because she and her mother were the last of the animists. 

Nissa constantly has nightmares, and the Joraga clan believes that these nightmares are a curse the world of Zendikar has placed on the animists because of some unknown crime. Numa, the chief of the Joraga, tells Nissa’s mother one night after Nissa wakes up screaming and startles the village: “‘Your people angered Zendikar and they paid the price. There is a reason that you are the last of the animists.’” Nissa overhears this, and being young at the time and not knowing any better, she runs away to avoid causing any more trouble for her family.

This sets Nissa on her hero’s journey, where she comes to embrace her burgeoning animist powers, learns that her dreams are not a curse from Zendikar but instead a plea for help, and experiences her first major failure (of many). She journeys to the Akoum mountain range for the first time and finds the mountain where the Eldrazi Titans are imprisoned. Not understanding enough about the threat she is facing, she attempts to reach her consciousness through the mountain and is met with the oppressive, impenetrable, alien mind of Emrakul, the greatest of the Eldrazi Titans. The trauma of realizing she is no match at all for this creature causes her planeswalker spark to ignite and she ends up on Lorwyn.

Here again is where Nissa’s story diverges dramatically from her original background. Originally, Nissa was fascinated by Lorwyn’s fascist elves; as mentioned earlier, we are told that there “she met elves who fully embraced their role as the pinnacle of nature, using both life magic and its shadow to assert their primacy.” In the revised origin from “Home,” Nissa does, in fact, meet Lorwyn’s elves, but she is absolutely horrified by their way of life. After she finds Dwynen’s tribe slaughtering innocent, helpless boggarts simply because they are ugly, she exclaims, “‘There is so much evil … So much darkness already. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it all. It’s horrible. It’s awful.’ Tears welled in her eyes as she thought of her precious Zendikar. ‘Yet you insist on adding more.’” Obviously, this does not go over well with a bunch of elf supremacists, and she is forced to planeswalk back to Zendikar before she gets executed.

And here is where Nissa’s two origins largely converge. Strangely enough, despite Nissa’s characterization as belligerently naive, incompetent, and wildly prejudiced during the events of Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum, nothing in this novel has been officially retconned as of yet. In fact, other than a few flashbacks to show personal growth, Nissa’s life during this time wasn’t addressed in a meaningful way until late 2022 in Magic The Gathering: The Visual Guide. In the small blurb we get about Nissa, we are told:

Joined by the vampire planeswalker Sorin Markov, Nissa journeyed to the Eye of Ugin, the magical control center of the Hedron Network. Nissa’s distrust of vampires ran deep, and she betrayed Sorin by destroying the central hedron—rather than helping him repair it—in the hope that Sorin was lying and the Eldrazi would leave once they were freed. The truth was far worse.

In essence, we are told that the basic events of Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum did in fact happen largely the way we were told they did. Without being instructed otherwise, we can really only assume that the Nissa in the modern canon was probably less incompetent, hateful, and racially prejudiced than what the novel told us. 

But why was Nissa changed so drastically, and what does this mean for us readers and players? The answer to the first question can be found in the Voice for Vorthos panel at PAX Prime 2015. Kimberly Kreines, one of the Magic Story Team’s lead writers at the time, explained:

We want her values to reflect the way we as a company are evolving as well and we want to set ourselves up for the best success with this character moving forward, and so the parts of her personality we chose to preserve, we carefully thought about that, and where we see her evolution going next is, you know, we’re happy with where we are with her right now, and excited, really excited, for the potential of all of these characters.

In other words, Nissa’s shift from a racial supremacist to a shy cinnamon roll was part of a larger shift in the evolution of the Magic Story Team’s values. It’s important to note that Nissa was not the only character whose sharp edges got polished down during the Magic Origins stories. Chandra, for example, had been presented previously as selfish to a fault, not really caring who gets hurt by collateral damage. Jace gets transformed from a mind mage who is more than happy to destroy the minds of basically anyone who gets in his way to someone who only destroys the minds of those who he believes deserves it.

Seen in this context, one can see that the changing culture at Wizards of the Coast pushed their creative minds to ensure that the main characters of their world were more heroic (or at least less terrible) than they had been previously. You can definitely view this through a cynical lens and argue that the protagonists of Magic stories from 2015 and beyond have suffered extreme ‘Disneyfication,’ in that they are now more palatable to a wider audience than the morally gray (at best) way they were presented previously. And the relative backlash at the time reveals that is certainly what many Vorthoses believed. For example, a 2017 article from Hipsters of the Coast argued that Nissa’s change may have been worth it in the end, but that many Vorthoses also had “their confidence shaken” by these abrupt changes to existing lore.

Fast-forward to 2023, however: Magic’s player base is larger than ever, and many of these new players came into the game in a post-Magic Origins world. Nissa’s original story has almost been forgotten. These days, Nissa is mostly known for her relationship with Chandra (more on that later), how she and Chandra’s relationship has been mishandled and botched throughout the years and then, finally, given the respect and honor it deserves (definitely more on that later), and for being a green menace during the both War of the Spark standard season and in the early days of the Pioneer format.

To conclude on a more personal note, I came into Magic the Gathering in 2014, and I fell in love with Nissa’s cards and Nissa’s character during the Magic Origins and Battle for Zendikar stories, so the dramatic shift in Nissa’s character portrayal did not bother me then and still does not today. While an argument can certainly be leveraged against Wizards of the Coast for, at times, sacrificing story quality in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, I can’t say I see that in the Magic Origins changes to the game’s main cast of characters. From my point of view, Nissa as a complex character - a genuinely good person who has made terrible mistakes then learned from them - is much more interesting and relatable than a Nissa who is a genuinely terrible person (racist) that gets a chance at redemption (realizing that non-elves are people).

If you stuck through this meandering, long-winded nonsense, thanks! I hope you learned something or at the very least found something to enjoy about it. Next time, I will be talking about Nissa during the early days of the Gatewatch story arc, so I hope you are prepared for a lot of…

See you next time!

References

Annelli, J. (2022). Magic The Gathering The Visual Guide. DK Publishing

Byrne, L. (2017), Retcons of Revane, Part II 

Lee, A. (2014) Nissa, Worldwaker

Magic Story Team (2015). Nissa’s Origin: Home  

Magic Story Team (2015). Voice for Vorthos Panel at PAX Prime 2015

Wintermute, R. B. (2010). Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum. Wizards of the Coast

#magic the gathering #nissa revane #vorthos #gatewatch #essay

[theunwellkingdom]

Card Showcase: Fathers' Parting Gift

Sorcery 138/275 Common

Look at the top 7 cards of your library. You may reveal an equipment or basic land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.

When Tourmaline could resist the call to adventure no longer, her fathers decided to send her off with a surprise. One was a skilled blacksmith, the other a glassblower, so together they forged her a sword of glass to keep her safe as she traveled across Lyrea!

I designed this card in the same vein as existing 1-mana green spells like Oath of Nissa or Commune With Spirits, but adjusted to support the green/white Equipment sub-theme. Since Equipment cards aren't as plentiful or immediately impactful as creatures, Fathers' Parting Gift lets you dig further into your deck to search for one. To account for this, I also limited it to only hit basic lands... Otherwise players might be tempted to ignore Equipment entirely and use it to search up some of this set's powerful special lands!

#uwk #the unwell kingdom #mtg #homebrew #devlog #art #game design #cards #tourmaline