"Do you want to regain your health?" Dany asked Bran after Arya left.
"The reason I went beyond the Wall to find the Three-Eyed Raven was to heal my shattered spine." The great raven's red eyes flickered with an almost human sorrow.
"You are the Three-Eyed Raven now," Dany reminded him.
Bran said awkwardly, "I know. But Meera is pregnant. My child. Ado died in the refuge while holding back the Others. I need a whole body to take care of her."
And to satisfy her.
In truth, Bran had never intended to ask the Dragon Queen for help. He knew that even if Dany could heal his body, she would certainly demand an outrageous price.
Having already fused with part of the fragments of the Greenseer's Mark, Bran did not want to sacrifice the interests of the Three-Eyed Raven for his own private affairs.
But men always live so tired, so helpless.
The Three-Eyed Raven was also a man.
When Ado was still alive, Meera had grown used to a life of abundance. Now that Ado was dead, she found it hard to adjust to the current plain and frugal days. In her words and expressions, there was inevitably a trace of a woman's grievance.
What could Bran do?
Dany listened, both shocked and confused. "Your spine was broken. You can't father children. How did you get Meera pregnant? And you're only twelve this year. How did you manage that?"
Bran said softly, "Your suggestion."
"What suggestion? When?" Dany asked blankly.
"Ado."
Dany suddenly understood, then felt a chill, and finally went numb. "You're saying that's your child?"
"That is my child. The son of me, Ado, and Meera. I've already decided. His name will be Ado Stark!" Bran said firmly.
Dany's expression twisted.
Seeing the changing look on the Dragon Queen's face, Bran said coldly, "You look down on me?"
"No. I admire you. Truly," Dany said sincerely.
After a moment of silence, Bran sighed. "You are far luckier than I am. We both wanted to resist fate. You succeeded. I did not. In fact, Jon and I should both thank you. If you hadn't been the first to break the framework of destiny, we would never have been able to break free of its shackles.
"Fate is like a river. You were the first to break it, and you stirred up the entire current.
"We benefited greatly. We only needed to guide the turbulent flow away from its original direction. That was much simpler.
"But I still envy you. You're like a skilled sailor, steering the ship of your destiny and howling atop the waves. I only wanted to guide my own current toward a better direction, yet it turned a corner, seemingly away from what it once was. Even now, I don't know whether my fate has improved or worsened."
"What was your original fate?" Dany asked curiously.
"I would have parted ways with Meera and never tasted love in my life. Now I share weal and woe with her, yet perhaps this is love. It has sweetness and bitterness," Bran said in a world-weary tone.
"That's not something someone your age should say," Dany remarked strangely.
"Don't judge the age of my soul by the age of my flesh. I have lived for centuries within the trees. I have witnessed the splendor of the world and experienced the vicissitudes of human life," Bran said calmly.
"If you've already seen all the splendor and endured so much, why are you still attached to personal emotions? Why not completely become the Three-Eyed Raven?" Dany asked.
"The more I watch others' lives, the more I long to have a life of my own."
"That makes sense." Dany nodded.
Then she asked, "But do you dare let me heal you? Or rather, do you dare face me with your true body?"
"Will you act against me? Will you betray a sacred oath?" Bran countered.
There was no oath at the moment, but once they reached an agreement, they would certainly swear a sacred vow to one another.
Dany hesitated.
She neither righteously declared, "No," nor frankly said, "It depends."
Because she truly did not know what she would do.
"What price can you pay? Or rather, how many fragments of the Greenseer's Mark?" Dany asked.
If it's not enough, I'll take your life. If it's enough, I'll treat it as the price of your life.
At that thought, she suddenly felt rather shameless.
"There are no fragments of the Greenseer's Mark. That is the inheritance of the Three-Eyed Raven. It does not belong to me personally," Bran said.
Then you can go die.
"I think you should find an Odo," Dany mocked.
Ado equals "hold the door"; Odo equals "open the door."
"Odo?" Bran looked confused.
"If there's an Ado, why can't there be an Odo? There are so many men in the world, enough for you to form a 'door' group. Then you wouldn't have to trouble your small body anymore."
After all, you're a "green" seer. You have green sight and green dreams. In your eyes, the whole world is green.
Dany mocked inwardly.
"Caw! Caw! Caw!" The great raven flapped its wings angrily and cried out.
"What are you shouting for? No money, no treatment," Dany said like a shameless quack doctor.
The great raven suddenly fell silent. Its red eyes fixed deeply on her as it said in a low voice, "Since you say that, I'm relieved."
"Relieved?" Dany raised a brow.
"That attitude at least proves you won't betray your oath or grow fat on broken promises."
"Targaryen words are as unshakable as a mountain. The reason I was chosen by the Gatekeeper is because I never break my vows. No matter what, I do not want His choice to become a mistake," Dany sighed.
Bran fell silent at her words.
He had betrayed the oath of the greenseer, and Jon had once broken his Night's Watch vows. Thinking it over carefully, among those in Westeros who had both the right and the opportunity to forsake their vows, was Daenerys the only one who had held firm?
The thought left a bitter taste in his heart.
"I do not break my vows, but I do not work for nothing either," Dany continued.
"What I can give you is more precious than the Mark of the Greenseer," Bran sighed.
"What treasure could a greenseer still have?" Dany asked with interest.
"My life," Bran said solemnly.
"Uh, you're going to sell yourself to me?" Dany's lips twitched. "Or are you planning to become a subordinate god of the Seven as well?
"But you are different from your sister. Arya can indeed help me study the laws of death, but you, what can you do? Clairvoyance? Super-hearing?"
The raven shook his head. "When you face the final enemy, I can stake my life for you once."
"The final enemy." The smile faded from Dany's face, replaced by gravity. "Who do you mean?"
"Whoever it is, you save my life once, and I will repay you with mine."
Dany gazed into the great raven's eyes for a long while, then sighed. "You are very clever."
In the future, he would risk his life for her once, so when she healed him, she certainly would not dare to harm him secretly.
Click, click.
Gears turned, pulling chains; the chains drove the rolling shaft at the other end. A roll of snow-white parchment was dragged forward a section. The patterned portion that had already been printed moved ahead, revealing a blank surface beneath the steel stamp.
Bang!
A dull, rhythmic pounding echoed through the room.
Jon, Stannis, Melisandre, and the others widened their eyes in shock as they watched the steel stamp descend and rise, branding a clear array of runes and illustrations onto the thin white parchment.
Looking closely, they were unmistakably indulgence certificates.
The Dragon Queen was actually printing indulgences with a printing press!
Click, click.
The gears turned again. The printed portion was pulled to the front. A blade fell, slicing it into ten uniformly sized sheets. The sheets moved forward along a conveyor and were finally delivered into a wooden crate, where ten Unsullied stacked them neatly.
Click, click—bang—click, click—bang—
On the third floor of the guest castle, in a spacious hall cleared of furniture and decorations, three machines as large as bed frames made of wood and steel produced a steady rhythm without pause.
Every minute and every second, they ceaselessly produced indulgence certificates.
"Incredible, truly incredible! If this were used to print books, then—" Perestan was the first to recover from the shock. Looking at the Dragon Queen with fervor, he exclaimed, "Your Majesty, combined with your Dragon paper, the printing press and papermaking will usher in a golden age of culture!
"You are the mother of a new civilization, the sage of all maesters and scholars. You are the god of civilization!"
Dany lifted her chin slightly, her face full of pride, yet waved her hand. "The Long Night is not even over. Keep it low-key. Don't be so extravagant."
The old red-nosed doctor had been carried by wyvern from Castle Black to Winterfell.
From a technical standpoint, the Battle of Winterfell could help humanity directly and precisely understand the Others, the great enemy of this world.
Therefore, maesters were needed to record the Others' appearance, abilities, habits, and combat patterns, and then send ravens far and wide to inform all the lords of the Seven Kingdoms.
From a historical perspective, the Battle of Winterfell would undoubtedly occupy an important place in the history of human civilization. This was the first clearly recorded Long Night. The previous Long Night had ended mythic civilization, when human civilization had only just begun to sprout, leaving behind only legends without written records or books.
After Maester Theomore, Tyrion's uncle who had served as a spy, was exiled to the Wall, the position of maester at Winterfell had remained vacant, with only a single maester's apprentice managing the rookery.
Perestan was a doctor of history and had also worked under Jon for a time, making him the most suitable candidate to accomplish the three tasks above.
"Using this machine to print books could truly change the world!" Jon walked around the massive "bed board" of wood and steel and exclaimed in admiration. "Your Grace is truly heaven-sent with genius to invent such a device. If the Long Night had not arrived, it would surely have shaken Westeros."
Jiqi curled her lips, unconcerned. "The printing press was invented by Her Majesty two years ago.
"Dragon paper from Slaver's Bay and books printed with lead type on white paper have long been the favorite goods of maritime merchants.
"Many city-states along the Jade Sea and the Summer Sea have used Dragon paper and read inexpensive yet high-quality printed books. Only you in Westeros, remote and ignorant, remain unaware."
Is Westeros not the center of the world? How dare this Dothraki handmaiden speak so?
The nobles of the Seven Kingdoms felt uncomfortable, yet could not refute her.
"Why do these machines keep turning? At the Citadel we have also studied gear-driven mechanisms, but at the very least they require windmills or waterwheels to generate power," Perestan said, looking around in confusion.
"This is a perpetual motion machine," Dany said with a sly smile.
"It can run forever? Could it be sorcery?" Jon asked in astonishment.
Though he had never studied modern physics, he did not believe that under normal circumstances a machine could perform work indefinitely without any expenditure.
At least, he had never seen such a thing.
"To be honest, I would also very much like to know how long it can keep running." Dany gave a signal to the subordinate beside her. "Open the floor and let everyone take a look."
"Seven hells! What is that?"
"Gods above, why does that cow have no head? What kind of monster is that?"
Moments later, those who bent down and peered through the wooden opening in the floor cried out in horror.
(End of Chapter)
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