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Valkyrie wiped the sweat out of her eyes and for not the first time since arriving on the island, lamented the loss of her magic. She didn't realize how many tiny ways she had used it every day, for things even as simple as keeping a cool breeze on her so she didn't get all sweaty. In a place as humid as the island, that skill would have been very helpful.

It was a minor thing to be annoyed about, but it helped take her focus off of the way her arms and shoulders were burning. The practice sword that Edmund had made for her wasn't terribly heavy, but she had been drilling with it all morning. She hadn't learned much yet, but Valkyrie was a dedicated student and wanted to learn everything to perfection.

Leaning the sword against a tree, she got a drink of water from her canteen and massaged one of her shoulders. She was mildly pleased with how hard the muscle there felt and wondered if maybe she should go hunt down Percy later since she felt like she was looking especially good in her sleeveless tank top and yoga pants.

Nodding to herself, she picked up the practice sword again. She would practice for another hour, then go see if Percy wanted to get lunch.

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Valkyrie let the tip of the sword rest on the ground so she could hold it with one hand while she took the dagger from him. She wouldn't have thought it would make a good weapon, but she understood about things having special properties against certain creatures.

"What's a white walker?" she asked, handing the dagger back. She was pretty much going to ask him about every noun he said that she didn't understand.

"A wight, have you heard of those? It's a man that's been possessed by the cold and walks in undeath," Jon explained. "Unnatural and normally only seen north of the Wall but they're moving south now, and quickly."

"Not something you want greeting you, put it that way."

"I haven't heard of anything specifically like that," Valkyrie admitted. That didn't mean her world didn't have them though, she was still learning about things like that. Half the time she only learned about something because it attacked them.

"We have things that are sort of similar though. At least undead things. None that got that way because the cold made them that way."

"Most frightening thing I've ever seen," Jon admitted readily. "And I hope to never see one again even if I do want to go home someday. That's why I keep the dragonglass on me even though it makes a poor weapon as a general rule."

Never too careful. Never too safe.

"I can understand that, it's one reason I still wear this," she said, holding up her hand to show the plain black ring there on her finger.

"It helps me do certain types of magic. Even though it's useless here, I wouldn't want to suddenly end up back home without it."

"What sorts?"

Magic wasn't something mentioned often in Westeros, except among the red priests and Jon had tried to get used to people mentioning it easily here. It was foreign, yes, but he wanted to try to understand and accept.

"For combat, I guess?"

"The ring helps me control Necromancy," she said, realizing just how that sounded. Most people didn't think death magic was the most respectable course of study.

"I mean, I don't control dead bodies or anything. I really just use it to control shadows. Mostly I do elemental magic though. Fire and air is what I have the most practice in."

"That's nothing I've ever seen before. Some say the Targaryens are immune to fire," Jon explained. "They are a royal house in Westeros and ruled for a long time. Most of them are mad but there were a few good ones."

Like Maester Aemon, at least, though he'd never ruled.

"An entire family of people immune to fire?" she said. That seemed more than a little odd. Maybe a group of Adepts could do something like that in her world, but she would have thought that would be a learned skill.

"Is that sort of thing normal in your world?"

"No, just with them. They are the Blood of the Dragon, or so it is said," Jon explained. "I have never seen it myself but the rumor is that fire runs in their veins. It would explain that, anyway."

Madness, too, but that was neither here nor there.

Valkyrie could sort of understand that, she was a descendant of the Ancients after all. It gave her some interesting abilities when it came to magic, but nothing like that.

"But doesn't that mean... I mean... how does a dragon's blood get into a person? Do they mate? Because that's just... ewww."

"No, the Dragon is their sigil," Jon explained, then nodded toward Ghost. "I was born a bastard but my father," at least in their telling of it to him, anyway, "Was Lord Eddard Stark. The direwolf is the sigil of House Stark, so the Starks are known as Wolves."

"Oh, I see," Valkyrie said. That made a lot more sense than them being actually related to dragons somehow, because that would be just icky.

"Is that what he is then, a direwolf? He's gorgeous. Terrifyingly huge, but gorgeous."

Jon nodded. "Yes, a direwolf. He was one of a litter of six my brothers and I found a few years ago."

It was so long ago, now, and Jon was so far removed from the boy he'd been that day in the wood. He wondered if now, Ghost would have even taken to him.

"He's a big boy, isn't he?" she asked, although the answer was obvious. Apparently 'dire' was a synonym for 'really freaking big'. She knew that he was dangerous, but he looked so... fluffy. She wanted to just bury her hands in his fur.

"What's his name?"

"Ghost," Jon explained, laughing. "Because he's silent and pale like a ghost. It's not terribly creative but I think it suits him, more or less."

At the mention of his name, Ghost perked up a bit. "He can be sort of aloof, sometimes, but is generally kind. I've never had issues with him unless someone's hurt me."

"It's a very fitting name. Better than Snowball or something like that," she said. Snowball would have been an amusing name for a beast like that though.

"Do you think he'd let me pet him?"

"I think so, yes," Jon said, nodding toward Ghost. "Ghost, she means no harm."

He didn't think Ghost perceived a threat but it was better to establish that up front.

Valkyrie knelt down and held out her hand, fist closed, so that the wolf could sniff it. She didn't know a lot about dogs and less about wolves, but she was sure that was the right protocol.

"Hello, Ghost. It's nice to meet you."

Ghost greeted her with a lick to the hand and Jon was glad; at least he was going to behave today and not cause a scene. Not that he ever had, really, but Jon had never had him around so many people before.

"He likes you well enough, it seems."

"That's good, because he has very large teeth," she said, scratching the animal behind the ear. She figured if he hadn't attacked her yet, then doing something like that wasn't going to cause him to flip out.

"So he must eat you out of hut and Compound then, or does he hunt for himself?"

"He hunts for himself," Jon said with a quick, sharp laugh. "I have never had to give him anything except when he was a pup and still needed milk. He's been hunting most of his life. It's better game back home, certainly, but he manages here."

Valkyrie had a momentarily disturbing thought that he probably ate monkey or something like that, which was seriously gross. Maybe he took out small dinosaurs. He looked like he could take out a small dinosaur.

"No special treats or anything?" she asked before turning back to Ghost. "Not even some bacon for you? You poor thing."

"I try not to feed him by hand overly much. He still needs to remain sharp in case of battle."

It wasn't likely that such a battle would come to the island, mind, but Jon liked to be prepared for any eventuality.

"You hear that?" Valkyrie said to Ghost, ruffling his fur playfully.

"He thinks you might get soft. A big fierce dire-wolf and he thinks you'll get soft."