Bingling

After spending the morning fishing with Arya, Gary returned to his room that afternoon.

He shut the door, ready to begin his magic practice for the day.

After a month of practice, he could now precisely control the thickness of the ice he wanted to freeze.

So today, he had planned a more delicate exercise in controlling his magic.

Inside the room stood five buckets filled with water, along with a stove and a large pot of boiling water.

Gary walked up to the first bucket and murmured, "Let's freeze this bucket of water into a proper cube first."

He held his palm above the water, and cold instantly enveloped the entire wooden bucket. At the same time, the water inside began to leave the bucket, slowly floating upward.

Finally, all the liquid water gathered in Gary's palm and slowly froze.

Looking at the oddly shaped ball of ice in his palm, Gary gave a wry smile. "Of course I couldn't get it right on the first try. Looks like I'll have to practice hard for a while again."

Only after successfully making a simple shape like a "cube" would he dare attempt more complicated structures. An ice wall, for instance, an ice spear, an ice sword, an ice bow...

Then he could temper them with magic, increasing the hardness and toughness of his ice creations until they rivaled steel.

Gary called this ability "Ice Shaping."

The Night's King seemed to know this trick too, but unfortunately, he appeared to be something of a dabbler in this area. He could not "shape" ice, only temper it with magic, so the weapons he and his army of White Walkers used were usually prepared in advance.

"Ah, let's keep going."

He put the ice ball into the steaming pot to melt, then walked over to the second wooden bucket.

Recycling it this way not only saved time, but also reduced the risk of exposure.

Gary was just about to begin his second attempt when a black raven suddenly landed on the windowsill.

Ravens were a very common kind of bird. Most were wild, but some had been domesticated by humans to serve as "messengers." They were bigger and stronger than carrier pigeons, so they could fly farther.

But domesticated ravens all wore leg bands. This one had none, so it was clearly wild.

Wild ravens rarely traveled alone, and rarely approached human castles...

Could it be the Other God again?

Ever since awakening the Crystal's power, Gary had no longer been harassed by gods. But he knew those greedy gods would not give up just like that.

He pulled the animal hide off the sword at his waist, drew Dark Sister, and slowly approached the raven.

The raven saw what Gary intended and spoke. "Luke, I flew for days to get here, and you're actually going to kill me?"

"Bingling?"

Gary recognized that voice. After twelve years of living together day in and day out, he knew the voices of all the Children of the Forest.

The raven hopped into the room and perched on the table to preen its feathers. "I'm exhausted. It's so hard just to see you."

Gary sheathed Dark Sister and sat down at the table, his face full of delighted surprise. "You-you're a Skinchanger?"

"You didn't know? I even took you to the Wall a month ago!" the raven squawked unhappily.

Gary had always lived with them in their true bodies and had never seen them use their Skinchanger abilities. "That deer that took Aunt Leaf and me to the Wall was you? But wasn't that a stag?"

The raven rolled its eyes at him. "Can't a stag be possessed? Anyway, I don't have much time. Leaf asked me to come and see how you were living."

It looked Gary over. "Hmm, even your face has gotten rounder. You must be living pretty well. Wait, what happened to your left hand?"

Gary froze, then glanced down at his gloved left hand and offered a vague explanation. "I accidentally burned it and it left scars, so I wear a glove to cover them."

Because Arya often launched "surprise attacks," he generally wore gloves now when practicing magic.

Fortunately, that was the case. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable if Bingling discovered he had a White Walker's arm.

"You've only been here a month and you're already hurt? Humans really are terrifying." The raven stood up and said furiously, "Who hurt you? I'll go give him trouble."

A trace of warmth welled up in Gary's heart. "I accidentally touched some hot water myself. It had nothing to do with anyone else."

The raven looked at the pot of water boiling in Gary's room. "Why are you boiling water? Don't the humans in Winterfell give you water to drink?"

Having lived with Gary, Bingling knew humans were fragile. If they kept drinking water with bits of ice in it, they would fall ill.

So during his time Beyond the Wall, they had often boiled water for Gary to drink too.

"No, I'm tinkering with a few things." Gary did not know how to explain and faltered for a moment.

As the saying went, one lie took thousands upon thousands more to cover up.

The raven hopped onto Gary's shoulder. "Luke, something's off about you."

Gary's tone was stiff. "I'm fine. Nothing's off."

The raven tilted its head and said, "There are traces of magic in your room, but Winterfell has no sorcerers. That's strange."

Not knowing how to answer, Gary chose silence.

"Could you have awakened a Skinchanger's gift?" The raven found its own answer and urged him, "Go to sleep. Let me see whether that's really it."

Gary hazarded, "How am I supposed to fall asleep in broad daylight? Next time."

The raven was no longer in a hurry. "That works. My next assignment is to stay with you anyway."

"What? What assignment to stay with me?" Gary froze.

The raven explained, "About a month ago, the Greenseer suddenly couldn't see you anymore. So he had me set aside my work watching the north and come south to find you."

The Three-Eyed Crow's "Greensight" could no longer see Gary? That was a godlike ability in Game of Thrones, and it had actually stopped working?

With Greensight, the Three-Eyed Crow could "monitor" every corner of Westeros. Even if he missed the "live broadcast," he could still watch the "replay."

An ability as broken as that had actually been blocked by the Crystal?

The raven rested on Gary's shoulder. "Yes, so I'll be staying by your side from now on. With this raven as a marker, I won't have to fly all the way here again next time."

Gary felt a surge of delight. Bingling might be a little childish, but she was an old mage who had lived for a thousand years. Her mastery of magic far surpassed his.

A magic teacher had arrived for free. Of course he was happy.

"Then, Bingling, should I make you a nest? Or would you rather sleep in my bed?"

The raven shook its head. "You need to get a birdcage and lock me inside. Once my consciousness leaves, this raven's own consciousness will wake up."

Gary had overlooked something very important: Bingling's true body needed care too. If she stayed away for too long, her true body might starve to death.

So Bingling would not be at Gary's side twenty-four hours a day. He would still have his own private space.

"Go now and bring back a birdcage. I've been flying all this time to get here, and I haven't returned to my true body in seven or eight days." The raven hopped off Gary's shoulder and returned to the table.

Gary went downstairs as instructed and made his way to the maester's tower on the western side of Winterfell.

Maester Luwin lived here, a highly respected old man. He had come from the Citadel and served in several roles: physician, teacher imparting cultural knowledge, and accountant compiling figures on life within the castle.

Nearly every castle had a maester like him.

But Gary had not come to see Maester Luwin. He was merely passing through on his way upstairs.

The maester's quarters occupied only the tower's first floor. The second floor above it was the "Rookery."

The Rookery was where Winterfell kept its ravens, so there was certainly no shortage of birdcages here. Gary had come to borrow one.

"I only need it for a few days. Once the cage I'm having made is ready, I'll return it."

A month ago, Gary really would not have had that kind of pull.

But things were different now. The servants and soldiers all knew Gary was on very good terms with the Young Wolf, Robb, and his relationship with Arya went without saying.

There were even rumors that the two Stark sisters had been giving each other the cold shoulder for a month because of him.

In short, Gary now carried considerable weight, and no one dared give him a dirty look.

After borrowing a small, square cage, Gary carried it back to his room.

The moment he entered, he saw a small figure chasing the raven.

"Damn it! Luke, get her out of here!" The raven landed somewhere high and did not dare come down.

Arya turned around excitedly. "Luke, is this your raven? Give it to me."

Gary set down the birdcage and walked over to Arya, his expression serious. "Arya, its name is Bingling, and it's my friend. You can't treat it like that."

"Wow, it even has a name?!"

Arya grew even more excited and cried, "Luke, Winterfell's other ravens only know one or two fixed phrases. But Bingling's different. It can say so, so much! I like it. I want it."

"Arya, Bingling is my friend. I can't give it to you." Gary stroked Arya's head and reassured her, "But you can come visit it often, all right?"

"All right, then I'll come every day." Arya's eyes sparkled as she continued negotiating. "If it lays eggs later, I want to reserve a chick. It's so clever, its children are bound to be clever too."

Before Gary could answer, the raven squawked, "Keep dreaming. I'm a male raven. I can't lay eggs."

Without thinking, Arya said, "Then I'll borrow a female raven from the Rookery. Once you've mated, you can have eggs."

What kind of outrageous talk was that? You're only three!

The raven was beside itself. "Luke, bring the cage over. I'm going back."

Gary put the cage on the table and opened its door.

The raven flew inside on its own, cast a wary glance at Arya, then said to Gary, "Protect this raven. Don't let it die. Otherwise, I'll have to find another raven and fly here all over again."

As soon as it finished speaking, the raven collapsed, lying motionless inside the cage.

Standing on tiptoe, Arya peered over the edge of the table with half her head showing. "Luke, is it dead?"

Looking at the raven's faintly rising and falling chest, Gary answered, "No, it's just asleep."

Even a raven could not take flying for seven straight days without landing.

"It fell asleep so fast. Then I'll come play with you again once it wakes up." Arya came and went in a rush, running out of sight in an instant.

She left that easily? That wasn't like her.

Gary rubbed his nose. He had a feeling Arya had probably gone to the Rookery to borrow a female raven.