gajp

Thorkell then moved towards the rock with the runes and put a hand on the symbols. With only a moment of concentration the runes stooped to glow and Hinata felt the enchantment end. The runes, however, were still in place.

The Viking then turned to her. "Ok, here is how we'll do this: I'll leave the runes here and you try to copy the effect while I go get some stuff. When I'm done I'll call you with the three levels of urgency one at a time so you can get the feel of it. You will ignore the calls and then you will try to call me with the different levels of urgency and, at the last, I will respond and come."

"Do I have to pay the Mana cost three times then?" Because if the answer was yes then that could take a while.

"Nah, once you pay it you can change the level of urgency by yourself as long as it is kept in the time limit."

"And… what happens if I can't figure out how to do this enchantment to get more access to Red Mana?"

Thorkell raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you? It's very basic stuff. If you need to you can even use the Runes I already made, but it's probably not going to be necessary."

"R-right…" Hinata was already feeling nervous. She did not want to disappoint Thorkell in the first day of training.

"You might notice a symbol when I Walk out of the Plane. That's the Planeswalker's symbol and it appears every time that we Walk. And before you ask: no. I don't know what it means and nobody else knows too."

Thorkell then closed his eyes and started to concentrate, Hinata staying quiet as to not to disturb him. Then, with no warning, Thorkell simply vanished into the air and on the grass where his right foot used to be Hinata noticed a strange symbol drawn into the soil with five points into the top and one into the bottom.

For a while, Hinata looked at the symbol that represented her people. The mark of what was probably some of the more powerful and terrifying beings in the entirety of the Multiverse. She once more could not help but wonder; why did Planeswalkers even exist in the first place? Did they serve a greater purpose? Or were they just a casualty born from the unstable nature of the multiverse?

With no answers forthcoming, Hinata put aside her questions. She needed to focus on the task at hand. She searched the forest until she found a rock of similar size to the one that Thorkell used before. Then using her kunai, she made an exact copy of the runes that Thorkell made, referencing the original with her Byakugan.

Channeling the necessary Mana she put a hand on the left symbol just as Thorkell had done. She felt the energy enter the rock and the Runes started to glow but, just when Hinata though that it would work on the first try, the flux of Mana seemed to resist passing towards the right side and the runes quickly lost their glow.

For a moment Hinata thought she made a mistake while drawing the runes but, before she started to panic, the girl quickly took a deep breath and focused on the problem at hand.

Comparing the two sets of runes again with her Byakugan she concluded that they were as perfect copy of each other as she could get. So obviously the problem wasn't the runes.

Thorkell had said how she should have her own personalized magical system for this kind of thing. The Hyuuga considered trying to new symbols using seals instead of runes but quickly dismissed the idea. She did not know how long it would take for Thorkell finish, but she doubted it would be longer than it would take for her to reverse-engineer the runes into seals.

No, she needed some short of compromise. Even if Thorkell had explained what the Runes meant, they were still new to Hinata and she did not understand why they were drawn the way that they were.

Remembering the way it felt when she tried to use the Runes, Hinata once again put her hand on the left symbol and channeled the necessary Mana. This time, however, she paid close attention to the process using the Byakugan enhanced with Green Mana.

Like before the spell failed but, this time, Hinata confirmed what was wrong: the spell worked until the Mana tried to pass from the left to the right of the circle.

This gave Hinata an idea.

She looked for another rock of close size and, after finding it, proceeded to copy the runes once again, but this time with a change in design: the Rune from the left was put on the right while the one in the right was put on the place of the left.

After she was finished Hinata put a hand on the right rune and channeled the Mana. This time the mana flowed uninterrupted and the rock began glowing, and Hinata felt the same effect that she had from Thorkell's original enchantment.

The girl smiled at her success, her theory having been proved correct. Her Spark gave her the ability to understand every language, but she still found it strange when she had to read stuff left to right instead of right to left. In a way the Runes were a kind of language too so Hinata had an easier time 'reading' them right to left like she did with her own home language.

She was even a bit proud for this little innovation that allowed her to learn the spell in less than half an hour, Thorkell did said that it was a very simple spell but this was still the first time that she managed to use more than one Mana at once (excluding some of her summons of course).

Unfortunately it still took about an hour for Thorkell to call her across the Planes. Hinata actually almost fell asleep while waiting for him, sitting next to the runes that she had made.

And then she felt as if there was a force across a impossible distance calling for her help, and instinctively she knew that she needed to let it go and let the force bring her across the Planes to Thorkell, but she resisted.

The call was so strong she initially thought Thorkell had started with the highest level of urgency, but then Hinata felt the calling become far stronger. Something that made her feel impatience as she once again had to resist accepting the summon.

Then the call became even stronger, almost desperate, and Hinata had to stop herself from simply stopping to resist. She grabbed the ground with both hand, almost worried that this was a real call and Thorkell was in trouble.

Then again if Thorkell was in trouble it was not like she would be much of a help, at least not yet.

Then the call became weaker like before, something that made Hinata sign in relief. However she quickly started to focus and then channeled the Mana to call Thorkell.

It was actually pretty simple to adjust the level of urgency, now that she knew what it felt like. Maybe it had something to do with Planeswalker's instincts but control it felt completely natural to Hinata; it was almost as if she was calling for help but using her mind and feelings instead of her mouth.

On the last of the calls, the one with highest level of urgency, Thorkell finally answered and suddenly appeared in front of Hinata, now carrying a large backpack on his back.

"Pretty good, Hinata! Told ya it was going to be easy." He said with a smile and then he noticed the Runes next to Hinata. "Huh? You inverted the order? Why did… oh, of course, the way you read your language. Good thinking!"

Hinata smiled at the compliment but Thorkell was quick to continue. "Well, I'm a bit tired since I had to Walk. When you call another Planeswalker the travel isn't as tiresome, but I had to visit more than one Plane to get everything. So, if you don't mind, I think that we can end the practical part here."

Hinata nodded. "As you wish Thorkell-Sensei."

The two of them then started to walk towards the marching army. "So, how are you planning on taking on the Capital?" he asked her. "I'll leave the planning up to you, but if you want some advice I am all ears."

Hinata once again could not help but wonder how many people would considered taking on a city with half-a-million people training. Still, she'd need all the help she could get, so she might as well take upon the offer.

================================================

The next few weeks while the army marched towards King's Landing were spent training with Thorkell. Since Hinata had managed to have a good night of sleep, Thorkell started to pick up the pace on the day after she learned the 'Fertile Ground' spell.

The Viking was, unsurprisingly, a strong adept of melee combat and since Hinata herself was a taijutsu specialist he insisted on an intense physical training together with the magical one. The Hyuuga had no objections to that, she was no strange to the pains of great physical training, so even though Thorkell made her work out more than before it was nothing that she did not expect.

He let her keep training with her shuriken and practice other shinobi techniques as well as her clan's fighting style. However, he made an important observation on that front.

"Your fighting style is pretty good but you should try to learn some other styles to complement it," he said while Hinata was practicing, calling her attention. "You can try to recreate some more advanced forms of your style by memory, and the Walker's natural talent with magic will probably help too since your style uses so much of this 'chakra' thing. However it'll be at least a few years before you can return to your world. You should try to innovate so that you're not stuck with the same moves until then."

It was a good observation and Hinata had every intention of following that advice later, when she had the time and opportunity to learn some other styles. Truth be told, some of the movements of her style were completely useless against opponents that did not have a chakra system.

Jyuuken, or 'Gentle Fist', was divided in three basic categories: the first focused on creating internal damage to the opponent with every move; the second focused on closing the opponent's tenketsu to stop him from using chakra; the third level focused on attacking the nervous system and paralyzing the opponent's body.

Hinata's Byakugan could not see the tenketsu before she gained access to Green Mana. It normally took a few years to a Hyuuga's eye mature enough to get on that level. Her cousin Neji was a prodigy to already see the tenketsu and use the second level of Jyuuken.

But here, away from the Elemental nations, the second level was definitely the one that Hinata needed least. It was completely useless against chakra-less opponents. However, the defensive techniques of the second level focused on how to manipulate your own tenketsu to better utilize the Jyuuken and techniques like the Kaiten so that, at least, was worth trying to recreate.

Hinata had used the first level almost exclusively and knew very little of the third since it demanded a level of chakra control that only a fully matured Byakugan could achieve.

Since she could no longer count with the help of any Jyuuken instructor, or even her Clan's scrolls, she would need to recreate everything from memory. How effective that would be was still to be seen, but Thorkell's suggestion to expand her hand-to-hand knowledge to other styles would be something to keep in mind.

"Also, one more thing…" the viking said next. "I imagine that you know how to use some melee weapons, right? You ninjas seem to train with the most ridic—varied types of weapons that you can."

"Ah, yes, in the Ninja Academy on Konoha I was taught how to use various weapons but I don't really use more than the occasional kunai in the field," Hinata explained. "I mostly focused on hand-to-hand combat."

"All well and good but, while I myself love a good fist fight, melee weapons have their uses. Especially when dealing with heavy armor."

Hinata's grimaced as she remembered her fight with Suzaku. "Yes, when I fought Ser Suzaku I had a limited area that I could hit him since he used so much protection. I'm not used to dealing with so much heavy armor. Ninjas tend to use little to no armor, but here it seems that iron and steel are easier to come by."

"Yeah, I figured that was the case. You can always just make your strikes more powerful—Mana can help there—but I suggest that you also have a second option available."

Hinata though that she knew where he was going with this. "You want to train me with a melee weapon?"

"Yep, pretty much. Granted, it'll probably not be that usefully against that Suzaku guy since he has more experience than you, but it is a nice and useful thing to learn. So, any weapon in particular you want to learn?"

"I actually own a Westerosi Short Sword. I had used it in a melee tournament back in King's Landing."

Seeing Thorkell's expression Hinata told him the story about how she had entered the Tournament of The Hand to earn the money necessary to travel to what she believed was her homeland in the Far East. After hearing it all Thorkell asked to see Hinata's sword and armor and she quickly pulled them out of her backpack.

Thorkell turned the sword and armor over in his hands. He gave a small hiss. "Given that this world has so little magic this is actually top of the line stuff. I can do it better, of course, but as far as no-magical steel goes this was definitely done by a great blacksmith."

Afterwards Hinata practiced a little using the armor, at Thorkell's insistence, but it was clear that, while it was very light armor and it was built to not limit her movements, the girl was not completely used to the extra weight. In the end Thorkell took her armor to see if he could fix the problem, something that Hinata gladly accepted.

Thorkell also taught her a bit about how to use her short sword, mentioning that when she grew up a little it would be best to trade it for a longer sword, but it was not obligatory: shorter swords were better for the faster style of fighting that Hinata was used to.

Even though she had only very basic training with using a sword Hinata still found it weird at first how the Westerosi sword was used in a different way than the Katana or the Wakizashi. Swords in her home Plane generally focused on cutting. Westerosi swords, while still perfectly able to cut things, gave a greater importance to thrusting and guarding, something that made sense considering heavy armor were far more common here.

As the days passed Hinata and Thorkell did a lot of sparring against each other, but that was far from the only form of training exercise that they performed. Thorkell took advantage of the fact that he was a Planeswalker to give Hinata what he called a 'Realistic Battle Situation Training', which, as the name implied, involved summoning creatures for her to fight.

At first it was just some normal wolfs and the like and the green-skin warriors that he had used in their fight, apparently they were called 'Orc Grunts'. Later, however, Thorkell started to put enchantments on those creatures to give Hinata a greater challenge.

Having to 'kill' your opponents in training gave Hinata a chance to not hold back, but Thorkell's summons barely responded in kind. So the Hyuuga had to fight seriously or she'd end up getting hurt. It did not help that Thorkell could heal her of anything short of death, so she had to fight with everything she had to not lose an arm... again.

As brutal as the training seemed, Thorkell proved to be incredibly patient with her even when she did not go so well. Hinata was thankful for that. She'd had enough harsh treatment during training when she was younger to last her entire lifetime.

As for her plans to take the on King's Landing, Throkell told Hinata that, while she should definitely always expect anything and everything coming from a Planeswalker, there were some basic general strategies when using one color or other. Green walkers in particular seemed to favor either using big and powerful creatures, a bunch of smaller and weaker creatures or various creatures of the same kind that had good synergy.

"Good synergy?" Hinata asked.

It was night and they were camping next to a giant river, the Trident. They would arrive at Harrenhal the next day and expected a quick surrender from the remains of the Lannister's forces in the castle.

Hinata and Thorkell sat around one of the many camp fires while some lambs were being prepared for them and the other soldiers around then to eat. Hinata had healed all the soldiers here, but as they traveled with the army the group had gotten used to Thorkell, so they paid little attention while the two Planeswalkers talked and instead enjoyed the night by drinking, talking, and laughing.

"Yeah, some Planeswalkers try focusing on specific types of summons and come up with all sorts of enchantments and artifacts that increase the power of those summons. If done correctly it can be one hell of a thing to fight against," Thorkell explained. "Bears, birds, humans, elves, soldiers, warriors, mages, dragons, elementals, hell even fucking insects can be a pain to fight against if the Planeswalker knows what he is doing."

The Viking drank a bit of the beer that he had with him before continued. "To be honest, I sometimes do that too. I have a habit of getting the pattern of great warriors that I fought with. Or against." He then laughed. "I also like getting the patterns of big stuff that I killed. Like there was this one time that I was in a group that killed a big Red D…"

Thorkell's story was interrupted by a bard dressed in white. With his head bowed, he asked to be allowed to perform a song that he had composed in honor of the 'two powerful warriors that had battled in an epic duel, the likes of which Westeros had not seen since the Age of Heroes'.

"Yeah, sure, go on. I do love a good song," Thorkell told him cheerfully.

"Ah, y-yes, I w-would be honored to heard it," Hinata said, embarrassed that someone had written a song about her. (That awful 'Tiny Knight' song did not count.)

The bard thanked them and, with his instrument in hand, he started to sing.

Early that morning the Halfman rode out

Down to the river-ringed castle

And his warning to all within did he shout

There at the river-ringed castle

"Good sers," quoth he, "Forget our war,

A storm approaches you fast.

And if you tarry here, you are

Going to die to the last.

"Thunder shall strike that will shatter this wall

and Thorkell the Tall is his name

He'll hunt down your champions and slaughter them all

for Man is his favourite game.

"He took my father's head from his shoulders

and cut down the Mountain That Rides.

He searches the land now for any man bolder,

And all cowardice he derides."

Stay back, ye mortals, and pray to your gods

And let the sept's iron bells toll

There's mercy for none found with sword in hand

When Blood-Eye is out for a stroll​

Hinata found herself enjoying the rhythm of the song. It was, like all other songs that she had heard in Westeros, very different from what she had heard in her homeland, but she enjoyed it none the less. The singer also had a great voice and the melody was well composed.

A voice drifted down from the top of the wall

Of the high and beautiful castle

"Then I shall walk out to answer his call,

and defend all within this castle."

The speaker was small and fair of face

Bright as the moon were her eyes

Night-dark her hair as soft as lace

Gentle her speech, and so wise

Mistress of all battles, seen and unseen

Hinata Hyuuga was her name

A healer of soldiers and friend to the Green

The Maiden reborn we proclaim

The Bastard-King's own guard she defeated

And with Starks to safety she flew

In every Northern hall she is greeted

With thanks and respect she is due

Fall back, foul knaves, if you value your lives

And trouble good men nevermore

Your end comes with talons and claws and cold light

When our Wolf Queen steps out her door​

Hinata could not help but blush when the bard described her in a way that, she though, was much exaggerated. Thorkell and some of the soldiers seemed to notice that because they looked at her and laughed, something that only made her blush more.

The bard continued even as one of the soldiers yelled that he was getting too fancy with the meter. Thorkell however took the moment to make a question.

"What is with this 'Wolf Queen' business anyway? I heard some of the soldiers calling you that before."

"I think that has to do with the dire wolfs that I can summon. They're the symbol of House Stark and probably make a greater impression than my other summons," Hinata answered quickly, more focused on the song.

As the bard kept going Hinata noticed, at the corner of her eye, that Thorkell seemed to be thinking. However, he stayed quiet until the bard came to the final refrain.

Despair, thou, our foes, if tears ye can shed

For even you know what's in store

No Cold Ones, no Others, no grumkins are safe

When Wolf Queen and Blood-Eye make war​

Hinata clapped as the song ended, as did quite a few soldiers even if some were saying that this song would be too hard to sing drunk. She thanked the singer again, honored that someone would write a song about her (and a proper one at that).

Afterwards the soldiers started to discuss what other song they could ask him to perform. Thorkell however had a smile in his face.

"Ya know, this stuff gave me an idea… how'd you like to live up to this 'Wolf Queen' business?" he asked her.

Hinata blinked, momentarily confused. "How so?"

The giant got closer to her and started to explain, "Well I have some different kinds of wolf patterns that I can let ya copy and…"

================================================

As it turned out to copy another Planeswalker's summon the Planeswalker had to 'give permission,' similar to picking up the cost to summon another Walker. Thorkell gave Hinata quite a few new summons so the girl returned the favor by letting him copy her own dire wolves. It was still nothing compared to what he had given her but it was the least that she could do.

They spent most of their time after that training, with Hinata learning more about how to use her new summons as well as a few more combat spells. They had a lot of time to practice since the army had stopped their march for a week while smaller groups were sent to take care of the remains of the Lannister army that were still attacking the Riverlands in small independent groups.

During this week there was one day in particular where something strange happened. It was night and Hinata was already in bed but she suddenly felt a presence that… no, not a presence. It was like something all around her had exploded in energy, as if something big had awaken.

She picked up some clothes to protect herself in the cold night and walked outside her tent. Her eyes immediately looked into the stars and among them she saw an enormous red comet with a long tail that appeared to be covering half the sky.

"Ya felt it too, eh?" She heard a voice said to her side.

Hinata turned around and saw Thorkell walking towards her with his eyes also fixed on the comet.

"That's not a natural comet," she said, and it was clearly not a question. She could feel that something had change, that something big had happened.

"Aye," the Viking said. "I'm not that great in feeling magical presences but this one is just ridiculous. I think the local gods decided to step up their game, because that decay feeling that the local magic had is not only gone, but I can feel the local magic getting stronger."

Hinata's eyes widened. "Do you think that… they're doing this because of us?"

"Who knows?" Thorkell said. "Gods don't tend to like Planeswalkers. They can't predict our arrival out of the Blind Eternities so we tend to screw with any prophecies and fates they had planned." He turned back to the comet. "But I don't know; if they could do that at any time, then why leave magic in that dying state in the first place?"

Hinata remembered something that she had read in the books at the library of the Red Keep. "I… once read that magic here started to die on the day that dragons became extinct." Thorkell turned towards her with surprise. "Maybe… they're returning?"

"Let's hope that it is the case! Dragons are fun to fight against," Thorkell said with an almost manic grin. "Still, if they're back then we should let them grow up for a few centuries, have some kids, and then hunt them."

Hinata had to sigh, but couldn't help smiling. That was exactly the response she had expected from Thorkell.

================================================

Three days after the comet (still high in the sky and visible even during the day) Hinata took a bit longer to get up, her mind deep in thinking. When she did get up, however, she sat in front of the small mirror that she had been provided and looked at her face.

By her calculations today was her fourteenth birthday. She had been at Westeros for almost an entire year.

Hinata looked at the young woman in the mirror. She still kept her hair cut short but now the back of her hair and her bangs reached shoulder-length. She had considered letting it grow more at one point when she was at the Red Keep looking after Arya and Sansa, and she had also considered changing it to a shorter length when she was planning her travels towards the Far East, but now that she looked at it she thought that this haircut looked good on her.

She had grown taller too, if not by much and, she hoped, looked a bit more feminine too. She had also grown a bit more muscular since she spend so much time training now that she did not have to regularity do missions almost every day, but that was nothing out of ordinary from a Kunoichi.

Remembering what Thorkell had told her about how Planeswalkers aged she could not help but wonder when she would stop physically aging. She was never one to care all that much about her own beauty, even with Kurenai-Sensei telling that she was good-looking, but she could not help but wonder how many other people would kill to have the eternal youth she had acquired by chance.

Would she ever get sick of seeing the same young face in the mirror? She decided to leave that matter for another time.

Her birthdays, back home, were always treated as an important affair. Even after she lost the title of heir to her little sister, her father always celebrated the occasion with the rest of her family. For the most part it was a formal affair, although Hanabi always found a way to make sure that she had some fun.

Last year, when she had her first birthday since becoming a Gennin, she also had a second celebration on the day after with her team. That one ended up far more informal and involved going to Kiba-kun's house to party with both her team, Kiba's sister who had actually baked her a birthday cake, and Hanabi—who also came to the party, of course.

Thinking about her family and friends made Hinata sigh. They likely believed her dead by now. She had been at the brink of death when she Walked out of her home plane and after so long… Even if they had not already officially declared her dead, it was only a matter of time until they did.

Her sister would definitely be affected by that and would probably take the longer to accept it. Hinata would have to apologize to her because of that, but she was far from the only one that would be affected. She knew her father enough to know that, while he rarely showed open affection, he would take her 'death' very badly; he had never fully recovered when her mother died, after all.

She could also imagine how her team would react: Kiba would be angry, probably at Neji in particular; Shino would too, but in his own silent way; Kurenai… Hinata frankly did not know for sure. She had come to see Kurenai as a very special person to her, always understandable of Hinata's weaknesses and always pushing her to be stronger, but in a gentle, kindly way that worked out so much better than what she was used to. Hinata liked to think that she and Kurenai were close, but she did not know how she would react to her 'dying'; hopefully she would be able to help Kiba and Shino.

Hinata sighed once more and shook her head; this didn't help her. She had to keep training and focusing on her goal to return home as soon as possible.

Thinking about training Hinata realized she was already late. She quickly grabbed her gear and ran out of her tent. As she got close to their meeting place the girl noticed that Thorkell wasn't alone in the clearing they met at. She heard a conversation as she approached.

"Hey, look, she's coming!" one of the soldiers said. The group opened up so Hinata could see what they had prepared.

Hinata felt herself blush deeply as she noticed that they had put a table in the clearing and there was a very big pigeon pie on top of said table. The soldiers were not alone: Thorkell, Lord Robb and even Lord Stark seemed to have been waiting for her close to the table.

"Happy Name Day, Lady Hinata!" the soldiers said in union.

Hinata was so embarrassed being the center of attention like this that she pressed her fingers together as her face turned crimson. The others noticed, going by the laughs that following the gesture. "H-how d-did you all found out?" She asked; as far as she remembered the only person who knew her birthday here was…

"Arya told us before we left Riverrun." Lord Robb said, smiling at her. "She made us promise that we would celebrate with you since she wouldn't be here to wish you a happy name day herself."

Hinata had to smile at that, of course Arya would do such a thing. "Y-you all didn't have to do so much, it must have been hard finding me a pie in the middle of the war."

"Nonsense." Lord Stark said, also smiling. "After everything you did for us this was the very least that we could do."

Hinata still found this to be an exaggeration, but she thanked them all individually and shared the pie with them.

As they ate the pie Thorkell, who had for once picked a small piece since otherwise there would be no pie left for everyone, came to her. "The date was actually very convenient because I was just about finished with those adjustments to your armor." He smiled at her. "So you can think of it as part of your birthday gift."

"Speaking of gifts…" Lord Stark said and signaled to Lord Robb, who has carrying a packaged. Taking the box from Lord Robb he handed it to Hinata. "Arya also told us to give you this."

Hinata open up the packaged and inside she found out a cloak of the same color as her jacket. It was very similar to the cloak that Lord Stark and Lord Robb used but aside from the color and the size it had another particular feature: the Hyuuga Clan Symbol sewn on the back of it.

Looking closer Hinata could see that the work was not perfect, but if this was done by who she thought it was… "Was Lady Arya the one who did this?" she asked.

"Aye, she did ask my wife and Sansa to help but she did it mostly by herself," Lord Stark revealed. Hinata could not help but get even more flattered by the gift. For Arya to do this, even though that she hated using the needle, was amazing but to ask her sister for help showed how much she appreciated Hinata.

"I will treasure it," the girl said as she put on the cloak. It was actually very comfortable, especially since the days had been getting colder lately.

She received other gifts too. Some dresses, combs, bracelets and some other accessories. She even gained a necklace made of silver with a pendant of the dire wolf of House Stark, a gift from Lady Stark. Lord Stark also mentioned that his gift would have to wait for a few more weeks but he already had something in mind. Hinata could not help but wonder what he could possible give her.

"Well, since everyone is done, its time for my gift!" Thorkell said as he got up and then gets a big box that he quickly put in front of Hinata. "Your armor was pretty good for this Plane's standards, light and forged in a way that it would not limit your movements or flexibility. But it was also heavier than what you're used to… until now at least!"

He then opened the box and began putting the pieces of armor in front of Hinata. As he did Hinata started to notice differences. Thorkell had borrowed the forge of one of the blacksmiths that followed the army to make the adjustments on Hinata's armor, but the girl had not seen him working because he wanted surprise her.

And a surprise it was. Runes glowed with a weak red light on the armor's surface showing everyone that that there was a heavy dose of magic applied to the armor.

"I kept the design the same and it's still made of the same top of the line steel, so it is not as good as I could do. But I compensated with some powerful enchantments," Thorkell explained and then he smiled. "Want to try it out?"

Hinata immediately accepted and started to put on the armor. First the coat of mail, that apparently was exactly the same as before. Then the cuirass with the faulds, that had quite a few runes over the area of the chest and waist.

As soon as she put it on, Hinata immediately felt a difference, and not only because it felt as light as a feather. Thorkell seemed to notice her change in expression because he smiled and said: "Now to test it out. Why don't you try to take down that tree over there without using Mana?"The soldiers who were still around then seemed confused by the suggestion but Lord Stark and Lord Robb simply waited to see. Hinata herself simply obeyed the request and punched the tree that Thorkell had pointed to, using only the normal amount of chakra that she did to use such attacks.

The first thing that the girl noticed was that felt very little shock from hitting the tree, maybe this armor's protection extended outside the area it covered? The second thing that she noticed however was that the tree bent and fell over. Her punch had been almost as strong as when she used Green Mana!

The soldiers seemed impressed but Thorkell just laughed. "The armor not only gives you a greater degree of protection over all of your body but it also increases your physical strength in a considerable degree. Unfortunately, as good as the steel was it's not that great of a magical conductor so I couldn't go overboard with the effects."

Hinata had to hold herself back not to laugh at the expressions that the soldiers were making. Lord Stark and Lord Robb for their parts only shook their heads, not expecting less than that from that impossible man.

Next, she put on the greaves, which had received each an identical pair of runes. As soon as she slipped them on Hinata felt something different. This time however she did not waited for Thorkell to tell her to test it; she turned around and simply ran.

Only her hard-trained reflexes stopped her from falling when the little bit of force she pushed with was greatly amplified. Just a bit of strength was enough to make her go at speeds that, before, she would have to use her full strength to achieve.

She soon turned around and, as quick as before, ran the considerable distance back towards the group.

"This one is definitely going to be of great use but only after I get used to it." Hinata commented and Thorkell just nodded. Both warriors understood that this bust of speed would be worthless if she did not know how to use it right.

The soldiers watching now simply kept themselves quiet as Hinata put on the vambraces with the symbol of the Hyuuga Clan. They too had runes in it but they were more discreet and somehow Thorkell had made her Clan Symbol also glow with that same weak red light.

She felt the enchantment once again after she was done putting on the pieces of armor, but this time Hinata was not sure what this one did. Thorkell however made a suggestion: "Try out your aim with those flying stars of yours."

Hinata did so, aiming towards a random tree, and as she threw it she noticed that her aim was better and faster than before. "I put an enchantment on these vambraces that increases your dexterity and reflexes, as a bonus it shall also help a bit to adapt to the enchantment on the greaves," Thorkell explained.

This made the Hyuuga stop and think that such equipment and the secrets behind their production would probably be priceless not only here in Westeros but also in her home Plane. The small audience of soldiers certainly looked impressed enough at least.

However now Hinata noticed that something was missing in the box. "What about the great helm?"

"Yeah, sorry but that one had to go: I know that with your eyes it makes little difference for you if that thing was all closed up but still…" He then picked up something that he had been hiding behind his back. "I had to make room on your head for this."

It had a circular format and appeared to be made of a very bright silver. There was no glowing but the runes in it where separated by small square-cut sections.

Hinata had to laugh, as she understood the joke. "The Crown of the Wolf Queen?"

"Hahah, yeah pretty much." He carefully put the crown on Hinata's head. She did not feel an immediately reaction but Thorkell quickly explained, "Now try channeling one Green Mana for base and two more on any color while focusing on your Crown."

Hinata did so and the Runes on her Crown started to glow too, but in a green light and then she felt something weird. It was like if she had summoned two normal wolves but instead of then being right there in front of her they were in the forest hunting with other wolves close by.

"Now do it again," Thorkell said, making her break concentration.

She did so and once again she felt two more wolves connect to her. These were not summons but normal wolves she connected to in a way that was almost as strong as her regular summons. But, still, the point evaded her. Normal wolves were not an expensive summon and she had a large number of special wolves far better than any natural wolf on Westeros.

"Now do it again," he said, surprising her.

"I already have four…" she started to say, but Thorkell interrupted her.

"I know, just do it."

Hinata did so, if a bit hesitantly.

Then her eyes widened.

"T-this…" She stutter. If she could use this while trying to take King's Landing then…

"Yeah." Thorkell had a big grin on his face, knowing exactly what Hinata was thinking. "Happy birthday Hinata."

================================================

It was a little more than two weeks later that the army finally arrived at King's Landing. Their scouts told them that Lord Renly had finally decided to pick up the pace and would be arriving at the capital in, at worst, three days. Hinata would only have one chance at this.

As the night took over the sky, Thorkell was on foot watching from a distance the big walls of the city full of soldiers with arrows and torches. He already had a barrel of beer by his side and he leaned back to watch the show.

He heard a trotting getting close to him and turned to see Lord Stark, Robb and some other high Lords coming to him. The rest of the army was positioned all around them but, while they had no orders to prepare an attack, many were waiting to see what would happen. Word had spread that Hinata was going to try taking the city by herself.

"So, where is she?" Lord Stark asked him.

After her birthday Hinata and Thorkell started to train even harder. It was necessary to break in her new armor, but she also had to master all the new summons and the… 'new recruits'. She had also acquired four new Mana Bonds during the entire trip: two White and two Green.

"Getting ready. She has to gather her new pets." And she was also probably summoning as many creatures as she could. When they had time to prepare, Planeswalkers were famous for preparing small armies of summons in advance and then attacking after their bonds refilled themselves.

Lord Stark sighed. "I still cannot believe I agreed to this madness."

"Meh, relax. Hinata is pretty smart, she can take care of herself." She had told him her general plan of attack and it seemed good enough. The only difficultly was trying to predict how Suzaku would react to a battle like the one that Hinata was going to give him. Thorkell had told her how White Walkers normally operated, but in the end it was impossible to know for sure.

Lord Stark seemed like he wanted to say something but he stooped when he heard noises from behind him. The soldiers murmured and whispered, surprised and even a bit afraid as they let someone pass by them.

Sure enough, Hinata, in full amour and with her crown, sword and cloak, comes out of the middle of the soldiers. That itself would not be reason to give the soldiers alarm but what scared them was what she was the animal that she was riding.

Because she was not riding a horse. She rode a giant wolf, far bigger than even the greatest dire wolf of this Plane. Many people on the Plane that Thorkell had picked up their pattern used this type of wolf as a mount but this one was not a normal mount even by their standards. This wolf came together with a spiked armor and they were of a different, stronger and better breed than your regular wolf mount.

As Hinata came closer the group of Lords had to use all of their ability to keep their horses under control. The animals obviously wanted to distance themselves from her monstrous mount. Even Robb's dire wolf looked a bit intimidated but he, probably out of pride, did not retreat and in fact growled at the girl's mount.

The summon however paid the dire wolf no attention and simply stood still, under the command of his master. Looking at the reactions Thorkell had to laugh.

"Nice entrance Hinata!" He told her. Those Orgrimmar War Wolves that he picked up at the Argent Tournament really helped the girl to make an impression, plus they were really great mounts.

"Thank you…" She answered in a quiet tone, her eyes fixed on the city that she was about to invade.

"Good luck, Hinata," Thorkell told her after a moment of silence, making her look at him. "May this battle be the first step on your true journey."

Hinata smiled at him but then turned towards Lord Stark, who was looking at her too. He wanted to ask again if she was sure of this but, now that he was seeing her ready to battle, the answer was obvious just by looking at her eyes. "May the Old Gods protect you Hinata, good luck," he told her instead.

The girl nodded and then her War Wolf started to slowly walk forward. As he did that, however more cries and screams were heard from the soldiers behind them and soon they open up a big corridor for what was coming.

Wolves. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of wolves came out of the woods running together towards Hinata's position. Most of them were normal wolves convoked by The Crown of the Wolf Queen, the magical artifact that allowed Hinata to bypass the four summons limit by taking control of the local wolves. However aside from them she had summoned a great number of different types of wolves out of many patterns that Thorkell had given her. Some were bigger than normal, some just had special characteristics and some had very special abilities that would be key for the Hyuuga in this battle.

As the thousands of wolves formed a series of long lines behind Hinata the soldiers on the wall, even at the distance, saw the many glowing eyes of the creatures as they looked at King's Landing Wall's and their many torches. A sense of fear started to take hold in the soldier's heart but it was only just beginning.

For the thousands of wolves gathering by magic of the likes of it this Plane had never seen before suddenly and with perfect union started to howl in a loud and thunderous sound that would inspire the nightmares of ever man, woman and child who lived after this battle for generations to come.

The Wolf Queen's Invasion of King's Landing was about to begin.