Chapter Summaries

Gary practiced shaping ice in Winterfell when Bingling, a Children of the Forest Skinchanger, arrived in a raven’s body to check on him. Bingling revealed that the Three-Eyed Crow could no longer see Gary with Greensight and agreed to stay nearby, while Arya immediately took an interest in the raven.

• Gary practiced forming a cube of ice and hid his gloved left hand when a raven approached.
• Bingling revealed herself as the raven and explained that Leaf had sent her to check on Gary.
• Bingling noticed traces of magic in Gary’s room and suspected he had awakened a Skinchanger’s gift, but agreed to examine him later.
• Bingling told Gary that the Three-Eyed Crow could no longer see him with Greensight and that she would stay near him.
• Gary borrowed a birdcage from Winterfell’s Rookery and brought it back for Bingling to use while her raven body rested.
• Arya tried to claim Bingling and proposed finding a female raven for him before Bingling entered the cage and fell asleep.

Gary tried to learn skinchanging possession from Bingling, but their attempt only brought him into her dream through physical contact. In the dream, he relived the ancient War for the Dawn, fought the wights, and woke when Bingling dropped bird droppings on his face.

• Bingling told Gary that mana leaked from him as he slept and urged him to return home, but he persuaded her to postpone the journey and teach him skinchanging instead.
• Gary held Bingling’s leg and entered her dream, where she revealed she had witnessed the War for the Dawn and showed him the battle against the White Walkers.
• A First Men warrior saw Gary in the dream and handed him a dragonglass shortsword, which Gary used to cut down wights as he charged toward the White Walkers.
• Gary’s dream suddenly changed as he fought through the wights, and Bingling woke him by dropping bird droppings on his forehead.
• Bingling accused Gary of interfering with her dream, then flew into his face after he wiped the droppings on her feathers; Snow woke and wondered whether the raven had sneered.

Gu Li used his dream to revisit his memories and watch the first season of Game of Thrones, but Arya unexpectedly entered the dream and triggered its collapse. He followed the unconscious Arya into the deepest part of the dream.

• Gu Li abandoned archery practice in the storm and later left dinner with Snow as Arya and Sansa argued over him.
• Eddard reprimanded Robb over the sisters' quarrel, while Robb tried to comfort Sansa by promising to help her find a pet.
• Gu Li controlled his dream to revisit his college memories and watch Game of Thrones so he could recall plot details.
• Arya entered Gu Li's dream while he slept and climbed into his bed beside him.
• Gu Li discovered Arya was real when she resisted his dream's control, then the magical energy she touched shattered the dream.
• Gu Li followed the unconscious Arya into the darkness as they fell into the deepest part of the dream.

Gary and Arya remained trapped inside a magical ice shell while Snow, Robb, Sansa, and the raven tried to understand what had happened. Inside his shattered consciousness space, Gary created a new dream to search for Arya and woke in the body of a Ming Dynasty eunuch.

• Eddard ordered a search of Winterfell after Arya and Gary failed to return, while Snow secretly told Robb that they were trapped inside a huge ice shell.
• Robb tried to smash the ice shell, but the raven explained that magic would restore any damage and assured them that Gary and Arya were safe in hibernation.
• The raven could not reach Gary's consciousness, and Sansa admitted that Theon had made her fear Gary might compete with Robb for Eddard's title.
• A crack appeared in the ice shell, and the raven warned everyone to move back as Gary and Arya began to emerge.
• Unable to find Arya in his dark consciousness space, Gary created a new dream and found himself dressed as a Ming Dynasty eunuch.
• Gary realized he had no little brother and kicked the old eunuch, demanding to know what had happened to it.

Gary reshaped the Crystal’s enormous Ming Dynasty dream, found Arya, and altered their identities to protect them as the changes left him in severe pain. After learning the dream was based on Brotherhood of Blades, he hurried after Shen Lian to test whether the dream’s calculated martial arts could help him in reality.

• Gary changed the dream so the old eunuch became his subordinate and moved Arya to the Ming capital, then found her sick and frightened in an alley and healed her.
• Arya asked Gary to help her get revenge on the vendor who had hurt her, but nightfall left them unable to find him.
• Shen Lian stopped Gary for breaking curfew, and Gary changed his identity to become Wei Zhongxian’s favored adopted son before the strain made him cough blood.
• Gary took Arya to an inn, used an Eastern Depot badge to ensure her safety, and learned that Ghost Festival delayed curfew outside the main thoroughfare.
• Gary realized that martial arts moves calculated within the dream might have real destructive power and hurried after Shen Lian to investigate.

Gu Li sought a martial arts teacher and, after Shen Lian refused, persuaded Lu Wenzhao to arrange a meeting with Ding Baiying. Ding Baiying reluctantly demonstrated her Iaijutsu, leaving Gu Li with a chance to learn the technique.

• Gu Li went to the Northern Commandery Office and asked Shen Lian to teach him martial arts, but Shen Lian refused and left with Lu Wenzhao’s help.
• Gu Li told Lu Wenzhao he wanted to learn Ding Baiying’s version of the Qi Family Saber, and Lu agreed to arrange a meeting.
• After receiving a letter directing him to the Clear Breeze Teahouse, Gu Li met Ding Baiying in its rear courtyard.
• Ding Baiying drew her saber when Gu Li revealed her secrets, but she sheathed it after he threatened to expose her if he died.
• Ding Baiying demonstrated her Iaijutsu by cutting a wooden post in two with a single draw.

Gary gave Ding Baiying a tablet showing a vision of her and Lu Wenzhao’s future, then collapsed from altering the dream. When Ding Baiying returned with Lu Wenzhao to repay him, Gary asked them to demonstrate all their Qi Family Martial Arts.

• Gary privately gave Ding Baiying the Mirror of Rebirth and told her it showed her future with Lu Wenzhao.
• Ding Baiying watched only a few minutes, then hurried off with the tablet to find Lu Wenzhao.
• Gary struggled back to the inn, where Arya worried over his weakened condition and agreed to leave the dream with him.
• Ding Baiying and Lu Wenzhao arrived at Gary’s room and offered to repay his kindness.
• Gary asked Ding Baiying and Lu Wenzhao to demonstrate all their Qi Family Martial Arts.

Gary watched Ding Baiying and Lu Wenzhao demonstrate the Qi Family Saber and accepted Ding Baiying’s heirloom saber, Falling Plum. He and Arya then left the dream as it dissolved in the Consciousness Space.

• Ding Baiying carried Gary and Arya across the rooftops to Clear Breeze Teahouse while Lu Wenzhao fetched his saber.
• Ding Baiying demonstrated her close-combat Qi Family Saber routines for Gary.
• Lu Wenzhao demonstrated the orthodox Qi Family Saber’s saber, spear, and short-saber techniques and explained how to combine them.
• Gary declined to learn internal cultivation, then prepared to leave after seeing the demonstrations.
• Ding Baiying offered Gary her family heirloom, Falling Plum, and he accepted it with a promise to keep it for life.
• Gary and Arya left the dream, and the dream dissolved within the Consciousness Space.

Gary woke after the ice egg melted, but soon suffered a catastrophic reaction after the Raven identified his ice magic as the White Walkers’ power. The Raven used Winterfell’s Heart Tree to save him, then died from exhaustion, leaving Gary warned not to use magic until he recovered.

• Arya woke beside Gary, and Robb sent her to reassure Catelyn while asking Sansa to keep Gary’s magic secret from Catelyn, Ned, and Theon.
• Snow explained the events around Arya’s arrival and the ice egg to Gary, then left when the Raven asked to speak with him alone.
• The Raven told Gary that his ice magic was the White Walkers’ power, but Gary began bleeding and vomiting blood before he could respond.
• Gary woke three days later beneath Winterfell’s Heart Tree, where the Raven had used its power to heal him.
• The Raven warned Gary not to use magic until fully recovered and cautioned that immersing himself in the White Walkers’ power could turn him into a White Walker.
• After telling Gary it had spent three days channeling mana to save him, the exhausted Raven closed its eyes and died.

Bingling told Leaf that Luke could use White Walker ice magic but was still human, and proposed giving up her body to watch over him. Leaf agreed to help her fake their deaths and retrieve a mysterious egg that Bingling suspected was a dragon egg.

• Bingling returned to her body after three days of channeling mana, then entered Leaf's dream to explain what she had learned about Luke.
• Leaf worried that Luke's ice magic would make the Greenseer target him, and proposed going south of the Wall to protect him herself.
• Bingling explained that she planned to transfer her consciousness into another creature, sacrificing her body and Skinchanger abilities to stay with Luke.
• Bingling asked Leaf to fake their deaths and help her steal an egg, noting that the Greenseer could no longer see Luke or events in Winterfell.
• Bingling told Leaf she suspected the egg was a dragon egg and hoped to possess the dragon so she could protect Luke throughout his life.
• Leaf embraced Bingling and agreed to support her plan.

Leaf and Bingling tried to revive the white egg, but Bingling died after pouring her mana into it. A month later, Wind Spirit told Gary of her death, and he mistakenly believed she had sacrificed herself to save him, then vowed to grow stronger and kill the Night's King.

• Leaf and Bingling found a faint heartbeat inside the white egg, and Bingling decided to nourish it with her mana.
• Hours later, Leaf brought Bingling's corpse to the Three-Eyed Crow, who sent her to fetch Wind Spirit.
• After a month of recovery, Gary heard Arya's raven speak and followed Wind Spirit outside Winterfell.
• Wind Spirit told Gary that Bingling had died, and he realized she might have lied about returning Beyond the Wall to protect him.
• Gary drove Wind Spirit's consciousness from the raven and vowed to fulfill Bingling's wish by killing the Night's King.

Five years after Bingling's death, Gary returned to Winterfell as a skilled young fighter and reunited with Snow and Robb. Arya visited him, bringing a carved canteen and receiving a dangerous Mana-infused Ice Spear, before asking whether he would always stay with her.

• Gary spent five years training his Archery and saber technique, while Wind Spirit watched over him from a distance.
• Gary returned to Winterfell after suppressing bandits and watched Snow defeat Robb in the Training Yard.
• Gary learned that Arya had mastered six fast spear moves and defeated Theon, who was recovering from her attack.
• Arya gave Gary a carved bone canteen, which he identified as wild ox bone rather than dragonbone.
• Gary gave Arya an Ice Spear infused with Mana that could turn anyone it wounded into ice shards, but warned that it was too dangerous for her to wield yet.
• Arya asked Gary whether he would always stay by her side; when he said he would eventually leave Winterfell but return to see her, she kicked him and ran off.

The Three-Eyed Crow revealed that he believed Luke would become the next King of the White Walkers and ordered Wind Spirit to kill him. As Leaf mourned Bingling and vowed to save Luke, her words broke the Three-Eyed Crow’s hold on the dragon imprisoned in his consciousness.

• Wind Spirit and Green Grass reported that tribes had sacrificed seven human baby boys to the White Walkers.
• The Three-Eyed Crow accused Leaf of neglecting to investigate Bingling’s death and the source of Luke’s magic, then revealed his vision of Luke becoming the King of the White Walkers.
• The Three-Eyed Crow ordered Wind Spirit to kill Luke, and Wind Spirit agreed despite Leaf’s plea to send him away instead.
• The Three-Eyed Crow told the imprisoned Bingling that her sacrifice would help the Children of the Forest, while Bingling struggled against the vines binding her.
• Leaf came to say goodbye to Bingling and declared that she would save Luke from Wind Spirit, causing a crack to split the consciousness space and the vines to disintegrate.

Leaf’s Dragon Egg hatched into Bingling, who flew away to protect Luke and warned Leaf to beware of the Greenseer. At Winterfell, Gary was summoned to Lord Stark’s study after a day of training, while Arya suspected the meeting was connected to a letter from Benjen and her parents’ argument.

• Leaf visited the cabin and told the unhatched Dragon Egg that she had to save Luke from Wind Spirit and the Greenseer’s plans.
• The egg cracked, and the newborn dragon wrote that it needed to be put in the fire to absorb its energy.
• Leaf set the cabin ablaze, and the dragon emerged stronger, promising to protect Luke and warning Leaf that the Greenseer had selfish motives.
• The dragon flew away, and Leaf told six Children of the Forest that it would return one day.
• After training, Gary followed Steward Poole to Lord Stark’s study, and Arya followed them, suspecting the summons was tied to Benjen’s letter and her parents’ argument.

After Eddard ordered Gary to report to Castle Black, Gary decided to flee Winterfell instead. Robb and Snow learned of his situation and helped him prepare to escape, affirming that he was still their friend despite not being a Stark.

• Gary read a letter claiming he was not Brandon Stark’s bastard and confessed to Eddard that he had been raised by the Children of the Forest.
• Eddard dismissed Gary’s account of Leaf and the Greenseer, ordered him to leave for Castle Black the next morning, and noticed that Gary’s gold coins were more than a century old.
• Gary regretted giving Eddard his money and decided he would have to slip out of Winterfell that night.
• Robb and Snow brought Gary money and said they would help him escape Winterfell so he could travel south.
• Snow told Gary that he and Robb did not blame him for his origins and still considered him their best friend.

Gary left Winterfell after Eddard gave him a horse, but Eddard realized Arya’s mare was missing and rode after him.

• Gary told Snow he planned to visit the Citadel and then King's Landing before the two prepared to leave Winterfell.
• At the south gate, Robb arrived without a horse, and Eddard appeared with one and told the children to return to the Main Castle.
• Eddard offered Gary a Winterfell warhorse, and Gary accepted it and gave Eddard ice flowers for Arya and Sansa.
• Gary confirmed he had been raised by the Children of the Forest and rode away, promising he would return.
• Steward Poole told Eddard that Arya's mare was missing, prompting Eddard to order the horses saddled so he could pursue Luke.

Gary left Winterfell and traveled south, buying supplies before Arya caught up with him and insisted on joining his journey. After Arya revealed she had taken Catelyn’s jewelry and borrowed Ice for him, Gary realized returning to Winterfell could land him in trouble.

• Gary found twenty-seven newly minted Gold Dragons from Eddard in his saddlebag and continued south from Winterfell.
• Gary passed Moat Cailin, then bought blankets, provisions, a hunting bow, and arrows in a small Riverlands village.
• Arya caught up with Gary after pursuing him for a day and night, and refused to return to Winterfell because she wanted to travel with him.
• Arya revealed she had brought Catelyn’s jewelry box and borrowed Ice for Gary, along with her own weapons.
• Gary hunted rabbits and cooked them for Arya, who warned that Catelyn might blame him for taking Ice and that Eddard could imprison him if he returned.

Gary and Arya were attacked by a Shadowcat possessed by Wind Spirit, who accused Gary of serving the White Walkers and tried to kill him. When Wind Spirit refused to hear Gary's explanation, he formed an ice blade and prepared to strike.

• Gary told Arya they were heading to King's Landing, but a Shadowcat appeared at their camp and spoke with Wind Spirit's voice, ordering him to leave Westeros.
• Wind Spirit attacked Gary, and Arya stayed behind with her wooden spear instead of escaping on her horse.
• The Shadowcat broke Arya's spear and roared, frightening her mare; when Arya lifted Gary's Ice Spear, Wind Spirit mistook her for a White Walker.
• Wind Spirit accused Gary of betraying humanity and tried to kill him with Dark Sister, believing Bingling's death was tied to a sacrifice.
• Gary learned that Wind Spirit could survive the death of its host, then gathered water and formed an ice blade as the Shadowcat lunged at him.

Gary defeated the Shadowcat’s attack, but a venomous snake nearly struck him before Bingling, reborn as a white dragon, saved him. Bingling revealed herself to Wind Spirit and reunited with Gary, while Wind Spirit agreed to buy him time against the Night’s King.

• Gary wounded the Shadowcat and knocked Dark Sister from its jaws, then warned Wind Spirit to leave him alone.
• A venomous snake lunged at Gary, but Bingling caught and swallowed it before he could be bitten.
• Gary mistook Bingling for an attacker until he recognized her as a newly hatched white dragon, and she drove back the Shadowcat with dragonfire.
• Bingling identified herself to Wind Spirit and explained that she had transferred her consciousness into the dragon to protect Luke, whom she believed carried a god’s power.
• Wind Spirit agreed to buy Gary time to grow stronger as the Night’s King’s army expanded.
• Gary recognized Bingling, embraced her, and rejoiced that she was still alive.

Gary and Arya left the clearing after the Shadowcat died, with Gary taking Arya onward to King's Landing. Eddard found Gary's message and returned to Winterfell, planning to send a trusted subordinate after Arya.

• After Wind Spirit left the Shadowcat, Bingling attacked it with dragonfire, and its wounds left it unable to move.
• Gary returned to Arya, comforted her over her dead horse, and persuaded her to continue with him to King's Landing.
• Gary carved a message for Eddard into a tree, then rode away with Arya on his warhorse as Bingling circled above them unseen.
• Hours later, Eddard found Arya's dead mare and Gary's message, then returned to Winterfell to avoid provoking a dispute by entering the Riverlands.