♛ THE WOLVES HAVE COME AGAIN
Though not yet a man grown, King Brandon Stark had lived a thousand lives and one. During the Long Night, he had seen and done more than most men ever would through the whole course of their lives. Yet, when he returned to Winterfell after the War for the Dawn, he found that his bannermen and bannerwomen looked upon him as they would a child. Worse, a crippled child. No amount of greendreams, skinchanging, nor any other magic would change that. But efforts to earn their respect and prove his worth would.
The restoration of the North was no easy task. Winter and the Boltons had ravaged the land and the people. But with the snows thawed and the flayed men in their graves, the spring that began Bran’s reign could only bring about better times. The young king formed a council around him representing the vast and varied land he was to govern. He called to him she-bears and mermen, Skagosi and Crannogmen, the moose and the silver fists, men of the mountain clans and even the free folk. This was not often a harmonious council in the early days, but together they could work in the interests of every region.
As a man, Bran shifted his focus from rebuilding the North to enhancing the kingdom beyond the state it was in before the wars. That meant taking Lord Manderly’s advice and building ships to give them strength at sea to guard both their coasts. That meant arranging for a few towns to grown into cities with greenhouses to support the people through the long winters. That meant pushing for the wider acceptance of women in leadership positions, an already common reality in his reign given the loss of so many male lords and heirs in the wars.
Stories that would become myths and legends would remember him as Brandon the Winged Wolf, Brandon Dragonskin, and Brandon the Bringer of Dawn. The histories would regard him as Brandon the Rebuilder, Brandon the Summer King, and King Brandon, the Forty-Fifth of His Name. Though he would never walk on his own legs again, Bran would never be known as Brandon the Broken.
