[text + bonus 30 second wolf video]

[wolfdreamer]

[The post begins with a direwolf, peering with sharp curiosity into the device. It is a short video; it lasts only for about a minute, just long enough to take in the sheer size of the direwolf--large enough to fill the frame until he shifts to sniff at the device, and then you can see that he's very large indeed, and not only because of the perspective. But he's friendly-looking, for a wolf, ears pricked, eyes bright--and then the video ends.]

--

This is a direwolf, called Summer. There are six direwolves aboard this ship, and they are all of House Stark. They are not a threat to anyone save to those that might mean threat to the Starks. They are not pets and they are not tame, but they are not wild either. They will not bite you without reason. If they cause some mischief, you need only inform any of my House, and we will make right whatever they have wronged.

People are often afraid of direwolves. You need not fear any of our six. You may be wary but do not attack or provoke them and they will do you no harm. They are rarely apart from us so there should be no reason to do so. But I thought it should be said, as there are new people aboard this ship.

I am Bran of House Stark, and by my word, Summer will not harm you. If you would like to meet Summer, you may.

[SO THERE. And Bran might end there, all that having been said, but... a few seconds later, and he adds:]

I have some questions, too. I am looking for someone that might perform a wedding. And I am looking for people that might know of [--and this is more delicate to say--] transformations.

Thank you.

Comments

[text] I THOUGHT YOU SAID MY MONEY OR MY *WIFE*

[jurisimpudent]

A justice of the peace, actually, who is a particular type of legal official. Governors and presidents are of a different branch of government; they are not judges in matters of law.

[text] I WAS AT THE SQUAREDANCE AND SOMEONE YELLED "HODOWN!" AND MY WIFE HIT THE FLOOR

[wolfdreamer]

Then are captains able to act as judges?

[text] i lol'd

[jurisimpudent]

No; why do you ask?

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

I have been told that captains can perform marriages.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

I see. No: that is completely false. Who said as much?

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

Most people have told me that they can. Perhaps it is different in their worlds.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

They have been watching too much terrible television, then, I suppose, or have had their heads filled with too many idiotically romantic notions. It is a trope in fiction that captains can marry off people at sea; however, he cannot do so unless he is also ordained, or a Justice of the Peace, and moreover cannot do so in most cases unless the ship is at port.

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

But if there are many different people of different worlds and customs then perhaps they can be married by captains where they are from.

Why would the ship need to be at port?

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

Because marriage is overseen by the jurisdiction of a government; the sea belongs to no country.

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

Some countries might claim the sea. But that might be different for each world too.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

Law allows for a strip of the sea extending not far beyond where the land ends; open ocean is owned by no one.

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

The gods might claim to own it. Not our gods, but others. And what if there was a world that was all seas?

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

Then it would not, I should think, be inhabited by humans.

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

If they went about on boats it would be inhabited. Or if they lived beneath the sea. That would mean that it was inhabited by humans.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

How could they do either of those things, though? Beneath the sea, there would be no air; on ships, there would be no place to grow food.

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

The people of the ships could eat things harvested from the sea: fish and mussels and sea-weed. And the people beneath the sea could breathe water instead of air, and then they would never have to come above the surface.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

Have you ever met a person who breathed water?

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

No. But I had not met an attorney before I met you. So perhaps I need only wait.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

A water-breathing person is a bit different from a lawyer.

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

But they are both unknown. Or you were unknown, and now you are known. There are many people from many lands here, most of them strange to someone of Westeros: but now I know of them. So perhaps it will be the same for someone that might breathe water.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

[A slight pause.]

I suppose I can't argue with that.

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

Because it is very true, I think. I would like to meet someone from every world so when I returned to Westeros, I might say that I had. Even if I forgot them eventually or thought of them only as stories.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

But there might be millions and millions of worlds.

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

Then I would get to meet millions of people.

[text]

[jurisimpudent]

But how would you have the time?