More Apocalypse challenge :)

1. Previously on An Apocalypse of Ice:
Everybody celebrated! The Stark family could finally eat as much as they wanted, and Julian had finally opened up the schools
and colleges to everyone. There was much rejoicing and smustling involved.
But there was trouble on the horizon. Will wasn’t quite as happy about the opportunity to go to college as he thought he should
have been. He had never liked school, but now he liked it even less, and he started fearing going to class. Mal found out that
Julian’s girlfriend, Jan Tellerman, was a Theorist and started thinking about arranging a marriage between Jan and Will. And
wannabe Captain Hero Ali Merana decided it would be a good idea to resurrect Sansa Stark. Considering that she’s planning to
get back to her old family and take over by any means necessary, no maLer how extreme, Ali appears to have been wrong about
this. Sansa is calling herself Alayne Stone and is probably going to cause a lot of trouble.

2. Will hadn’t known what to expect when he went to college, but passing out in the sand while considering himself lucky to have a
roof over his head was not on the list. He hadn’t even had any alcohol.

3. He had brought a few items with him, but the money he had was barely enough for walls around him, a roof, and a toilet.
Oldtown University might have been something special in Sansa’s day, but right now the administrators couldn’t handle the rush
of students who had come now that it was open again. Uncle Julian was probably trying to correspond with the professors and
deans to help them out, but Winterfell was a long way from Oldtown, and it was difficult to communicate in the best of Qmes.

4. He declared the math major, because math had been one of the few things that Will liked in high school. Math problems usually
had answers, even though he didn’t always know how to find them. Will preferred that to trying to scour old books for answers
that didn’t seem to exist and that he wouldn’t recognize even if they did exist.

5. But college was harder than he had ever thought it would be, especially because he could afford so liLle. Will’s life had narrowed
down to studying, eaQng, and trying to get some sleep in the recliner he had purchased. He wondered if it had been like this for
his ancestors when they had first returned to Winterfell.

6. But there were strange phone calls that livened up his day.
“Who are you?”
“Aliena Merana—”
“Who’s that? And how did you get my number?”
“That’s not important. You might be in danger. Sansa Stark has come back—”

7. “Wait. Are you for real?” Will asked.
“Yes! I saw her come back from the dead!”
“No, you didn’t. People don’t come back from the dead. THAT’S WHY THEY’RE DEAD.”

8. He talked for a liLle while longer, just because it was interesQng to talk somebody, no maLer how crazy. Then he decided it was
Qme for a nap.

9. “What am I supposed to do to get him to believe me?” Aliena asked herself while sing at the chess board. She understood
Will’s insistence that dead was dead. That was what she had always thought unQl she had received the telephone. But that
wasn’t true anymore, and if she was going to be a hero instead of the bad guy, then she would have to get the Stark family to
believe her before any of them had a run‐in with Alayne Stone.

10. She tried to warn anyone she saw come by the house when Alayne was out of earshot, but it looked like her warnings were going
over everyone’s heads.
“I wish it wasn’t true,” Ali told Chris Stark as she finished telling the story. “But I know it is. I saw her come back. And she’s
obsessed with your family. If I don’t find a way to stop her, then I don’t know what she’ll do to you in order to take control of
Winterfell for herself.”

11. Unlike Will, Chris gave the tale some consideraQon.
I’ve seen almost all of the other ghosts, she thought. Eowyn sure does like to scare me. But never Sansa. Julian’s the only one
who’s seen her haun?ng. And if they can come back from beyond the grave this way…why not another way?

12. Chris at least seemed to be thinking about it.
“I wish I knew whether I could believe you or not,” she said. “There’s no way to know. Sansa’s been dead for long enough that
most people who knew her are probably gone, too. But it’s possible. And if anyone like that comes near our family…” What
would they do? “We’ll protect ourselves.”

13. But things in Aliena’s house were a liLle bit normal. Alayne had taken a job as a test subject. Even though Ali was wary of leng
Alayne out of the house, they had to earn money, and it was beLer for Alayne to have a job than to leave her alone at the house.
Who knew what pies she might get her fingers in there? At least if she had a job, other people would sQll be keeping an eye on
her.
For her part, Alayne rose in her career quickly. A`er all, she had been a renowned ecological guru before, and she sQll
remembered a few things. If she kept on geng promoted, she reasoned, maybe she would come to her family’s noQce, and they
would realize what she could do for them.

14. And Aliena was in love. She wasn’t sure exactly how she had met Jocelyn Morgan, but she knew that they had been lucky to find
each other. There was just something about Jocelyn that completely enchanted Ali. Half the Qme, it looked like she was dreaming
of a place where life was ten Qmes beLer than it was here. The other half of the Qme, it looked like she was trying to find a way to
bring that perfect world in her head to life.

15. “I don’t know how to do it,” Jocelyn told Ali over chess a`er Ali asked her about the perfect world in her mind. It sounded like she
was talking to someone far off in the distance, but Jocelyn sounded like that when she spoke to everyone. “There’s so much
wrong with this place. People are so cruel, and when you find someone you like, she slips away from you all too o`en.”
“And the constant snow.”
Jocelyn blinked a few Qmes. “No,” she said. “The snow is beauQful. I don’t want to see a world without it.”

16. She had even told Jocelyn about the debacle with Sansa Stark, and she just thought it was sweet that she was willing to go so far
to make a beLer world. How could Ali be lucky enough that someone like Jocelyn would be interested in her a`er all the mistakes
she had made?

17. So once Ali told Jocelyn that she loved her, they got married right away. If Ali let her slip away, who knew if they would ever find
each other again, when it was so difficult to stay in contact with anyone out here? She had to take this chance while she could,
before Jocelyn came to her senses and found someone else who was actually good enough for her.

18. Of course, things weren’t going to be normal around here as long as Aliena had a formerly dead person in the house making
extreme plans, but at least it felt like now she could start to live her life again.

19. “The kids are growing up so quickly,” Mal observed as Chris beat him at mahjong. “Will’s off to college, and now Sabriel’s about to
become a teenager and choose her aspiraQon. Wasn’t it just yesterday when they were small enough to pick up?”

20. “I know. I was just helping Sabriel with a speech she has to give for school today, and I was thinking about how she’s not going to
be so liFle anymore.”
“They have to give speeches for school now? Back in my day, it was just reading and math problems.”
“Julian thought it was a good idea to help kids with their charisma.”
“It is. I should tell him that some?me, if he’ll talk to me.”

21. “Why wouldn’t he talk to you?”
“He—” Mal started. “We need to have a family meeQng. Jan’s a theorist, and she could really help the family. But to do that—”
“I see,” Chris said. She couldn’t help think that this could have been avoided if she had achieved her lifeQme want, and she didn’t
want to think about resolving the conflict, so she changed the subject. “What aspiraQon do you think Sabriel will choose?”
“I was hoping one of the kids would pick Fortune,” Mal said. “I know we don’t have to work as hard to get by as we used to, but
our family has always valued hard work.”

22. “Will and Arthur had to choose what was right for them, though. They wouldn’t have been happy if they’d picked their aspiraQons
to please us.”
“I know. I’m just hoping the kids are going to be as dedicated to making things beLer around here as we were.”

23. “Well, we had a lot to do,” Chris pointed out. “Laws, showers, food, and college were not small potatoes. They won’t have to do
as much as we did, but as long as they stay commiLed to the work, everything should be fine.”

24. “I know. I just hope—you won again?”
“Yep.” Chris smiled.
“How do you keep winning this game without cheaQng?”

25. As usual, not enough people were paying aLenQon to Sabriel as she grew up a few hours later.

26. But, unfortunately, she couldn’t stop herself from growing up unQl her dad and her uncle tore themselves away from the mahjong
table, so she grew up in the corner.
At least I have decent clothes, Sabriel thought. But what do I want?

27. It didn’t take very much thought. Sabriel wanted to break out of the house and go on adventures. But her adventures were going
to be beLer than every single one her dad and great‐grandfather had ever been on. There was sQll so much of the world yet to
discover, and she was going to do it.

28. Mal hoped that everyone would play nice and come to the consensus that would be best for the family. But as he waited for
Julian with Brandon and Chris, he had a feeling that their discussion of marrying Jan into the family would be anything but nice.
Julian had said that he should have known Mal was going to do this to him. It wasn’t as if Mal wanted to hurt Julian, but how
could the family pass up this chance?

29. “Am I insane for even thinking this is a good idea?” he asked Chris.
“Not as insane as you might think,” she answered. “It’s far from ideal, but there’s so much that Jan could do with our help. Not
just for us, but also for everyone in the community. This marriage is at least worth considering.”

30. “Considering?” Julian asked, taking his seat. “You’ve already decided to go forward with it, haven’t you? Do I even have to be
here for this?”
“Yes, Julian,” Mal said. “We haven’t made any decisions yet. We just think it’s worth thinking about.”

31. “It’s disgusQng, that’s what it is. Think about it. You’re trying to set Will up with his uncle’s girlfriend. Isn’t that incest?”
“No,” Brandon said. “Will and Jan aren’t related by blood.”
“Well, it should be.”

32. Halfway down the stairs to the second floor, Sabriel heard her parents and uncles talking. She stopped at the landing to listen.
Was it true? Could she be the heir? She had dreamed that everyone would realize she was best for the job, but she had never
thought it could be real.

33. “This could be one of the best things that ever happened to the family, though,” Mal suggested.
“The only way that this is the best thing for the family is if I’m not part of the special liLle ‘family’ of Fortune Sims that you’re
talking about. Or if I’m not significant enough to be in your family—“
“You are important to us, Julian.”

34. “You’re sure not acQng like it, Mal. And what about Will? I’m not leng you do this to him, either. You always talked about being
a beLer parent than Mom and Dad, and you walked the walk for a while, but it looks like in the end you’re going to make just as
big of a mistake as them, if not bigger.”
Mal opened and closed his mouth, not knowing how to respond to that.

35. “That’s enough, Julian.” Chris cut him off. “Will can decide what he wants for himself. If he decides that this is too weird for him,
that’s his choice. But this marriage has advantages.”
“Name one of them.”
“Fine. She’s already almost at the top of her career, and she does something that we were desperately hoping to get done during
our Qme leading the family. Remember when Brandon and Mal decided that one of them would be a mad scienQst and the other
one would be a celebrity chef? Well, none of us ever became mad scienQsts, because there were never any ways to break into the
field. Jan is in the field, and she’s good at what she does.”

36. “That’s true,” Mal said, glad that somebody was supporQng him now. “And then there are the things we’d be able to do. Not just
else, but everyone else who lives in this community. Lights. Electronics. And we’d be able to move out.”
“Good. So I could die alone in some house somewhere and not have to watch the two of them pawing at each other,” Julian said.
“Do you have anything producQve to say?” Brandon snapped from the other end of the table.

37. “Of course it’s hard to find a job and get promoted. I know that, maybe beLer than any of you,” Julian said. “But it’s what we’ve
always done. There’s no reason why you can’t let Will marry someone he loves and let that person top the career.”

38. “Hey, I’ve got a brilliant idea,” Brandon said. “Is there anybody else who could invent all these amazing contrapQons we’re
thinking about? Then we can arrange a marriage between Will and that person and avoid all of this.”
“Well, my friend Benjamin Long is a mad scienQst,” Chris said. “If Sabriel was the heir, she could marry him, and we could avoid all
this weirdness.”

39. “But that’s not how it works,” Brandon said. “The firstborn son inherits. I know that I didn’t want to be the heir, but I had the
opQon to decide whether I wanted it or not. We can’t just disinherit Will while we’re sing around this table.”

40. Sabriel headed for the chess board to pracQce. She had heard enough.

41. “So you’re saying we should just go to Will and ask him if this is what he wants?” Mal asked.
“Yes,” Brandon said. “He’s almost grown up, and he can make the decision if he really wants to be heir or step aside in Sabriel’s
favor. It’s not ideal, but it will help us.”
“Fine,” Julian said. It didn’t look like anyone was going to budge, and he was as Qred of sing around the table as the rest of
them. Besides, Will would never agree to this.

42. “I never meant it to go this way,” Mal said to Julian. “I’m sorry.”

43. “Of course you didn’t want this.” Julian didn’t think that Mal was out to get him, but a`er listening to the other people around
the table talk about his relaQonship as if it meant nothing, it definitely didn’t feel like he was part of this family.

44. This Qme, Sabriel wasn’t scowling at the board just because she hated chess. She hurt, and she didn't want to show it, even
though nobody was around. "It doesn’t maLer," she told the white knight across the board as she moved it forward two spaces
and one space to the right. StarQng by advancing the king's pawn forward two spaces was geng boring.

45. "Hey, Sable!" Arthur said, sing down at the board across from her. "What's up?”
"Nothing." She advanced her queen's pawn.
“But you said ‘It doesn’t maLer.’”
“Nothing you’d understand.” Sabriel stressed the last word so that Arthur would back off.
“Okay. Whatever.”

46. Of course Arthur had backed off. He always did every Qme she challenged him. That just made this whole situaQon ten Qmes
worse. He would just want to play a peaceful game of chess, even though he hated chess almost as much as her, and that was the
last thing she wanted to do. Sabriel wanted a fight.
“Why can’t girls inherit Winterfell?” she asked.
“What are you talking about? Of course they can.”
“Only when there aren’t any boys around. Grandma was an only child, and our great‐grandma would have been some powerless
queen somewhere if her brothers hadn’t been murdered. But you’d never think of that, would you?”

47. Arthur moved a piece. “Do you want to be the heir? I bet if you told Dad, he’d let you.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is?”

48. “He shouldn’t have to let me,” Sabriel snapped back. “Uncle Brandon said when he gave it to Dad that it should go to the person
who’d be the best at it, but apparently he didn’t really mean it, he was only saying it because he only had brothers—“
“Wait. What are you talking about?”
“I overheard our parents and uncles talking about who they were going to marry Will to. It’s really sick and twisted—you don’t
want to know. And Mom said that one of her friends was a Mad ScienQst, and that I could marry him and it wouldn’t be so sick
and twisted. But Uncle Brandon said something about how it should go to Will first, because he was the firstborn son and
Winterfell was his to accept or turn down—“

49. “Well, that doesn’t mean—“
“Would you stop interrupQng me?” Arthur looked away from her. Good. “God, someQmes I wish I’d had a few more sisters and
aunts and a few less brothers and uncles. They’d understand.”
“I’m trying to understand, Sabriel.”

50. “You don’t even want to be the heir,” Okay, maybe that wasn’t true, but that wasn’t the point. “You’d rather just sit around in
your pajamas, go to parQes, and play mahjong all the live long day a`er you do what you have to do for the family.”
“I’ve never thought about whether I want to be heir.”
“Because you can’t be the heir.” And they’d s?ll consider you over me, even though it’d be just as sick and twisted if you married
Jan, and you’d like it even less than Will would. Even though you shouldn’t be the heir if you won’t just fight back.
“Well, I’ll ask you again—do you want to?”

51. This conversaQon was starQng all over again, but with one important difference: Sabriel had poured her heart out to Arthur, and
he sQll didn’t get it. “I’ll tell you again.” She got up from the chair. “That’s not the point.”

52. Will had a bed and a sink. This was an improvement. But having a couple more basic ameniQes while Will studied unQl he
dropped didn’t hurt.

53. Sure, the assignments sQll felt like they’d never end. Apparently, Will was supposed to have learned something called calculus in
school. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to do that, seeing as there hadn’t been any schools unQl a couple of days before he
was due to become an adult, but all his professors assumed that he knew how to calculate something called a derivaQve. He
didn’t.
It also would have helped if he could read the words and numbers wriLen on the pages that were supposed to explain the
problems to him. Will had trouble focusing, and when he put his assignment book away to take a look at it later, he noQced that
his eyes hurt. Why was that happening to him when he needed to focus as much as possible?

54. Aliena hadn’t stopped calling to dangle her conspiracy theories in front of him, and Will had started to get to know her beLer. She
didn’t really act like he expected a crazy person to act. Aliena just seemed like a normal person who wanted a beLer life for
herself. She didn’t rant or rave about anything but the supposed return of Sansa Stark, going by Alayne Stone. Could she be right?

55. “Nah. Can’t be.”

56. Will decided to freestyle for Qps when he got back from class and couldn’t even think about derivaQves for another minute:
They got the situa?on, they got me facing
I can’t live a normal life, I was raised by the stripes
So I goFa be down with the hood team
Too much television watching got me chasing dreams…
Tell me why are we so blind to see
That the ones we hurt are you and me

57. He didn’t get any Qps, but he did get to meet a girl named Celeste. Will would have liked to meet more girls, but being stuck in his
dorm unable to call anyone and having to teach himself calculus really did a number on one’s ability to meet people.
“It is so cold out here,” Will complained. “I know I’m supposed to be used to it, but I don’t think I ever will be.”

58. “I don’t think I will be, either,” Celeste said. “And that’s good. It’ll kill you if you let it.”
They talked for a liLle while longer before Celeste had to go to class and Will went inside for an instant drink.

59. Somewhere along the line, what Will wanted out of life had changed. The thought of being a celebrity chef like his mom didn’t
seem as appealing anymore. That would just mean more studying a`er he had done something important for the family. Will
wanted something that didn’t mean as much work, and he wanted to have a liLle fun and companionship instead of constantly
going from bed to refrigerator to the patch of floor with his assignments. That was why he wanted to meet girls at college. But
with the phone lines down so o`en, it was next to impossible to stay in contact with anyone.

60. Will wasn’t sleeping as well as he used to. He had nightmares where he never saw his family again and was trapped in this small
house without wallpaper or floors for the rest of his life.
I should work on my assignment, he thought. But finishing those last twenty math problems didn’t appeal to Will at all.

61. Five more minutes, he told himself. Five more minutes and then I’ll get to work.

62. “Well, snowman?” he asked. “It’s got to get beLer, right?”

63. “Hey, Sabriel, about earlier today—”
“Just a second. I’m looking for a job.”
“How hard do you have to look?” Arthur asked. “There’s nothing in the paper. And why do you want a job? Isn’t school and
skilling enough?”

64. “Hmmm. Volunteering in a poliQcal campaign,” Sabriel told the paper. “Sounds like that’s right up my alley. And it’s not enough
for me,” she said, lowering the paper to look at Arthur and trying not to sound angry. “I want to get out of the house. Dad
worked at an embassy before he started geng serious about adventuring, and I want to try that. Plus, it’s not too early for me to
start on my resume.”
“What’s a resume?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, Sabriel. I really am asking you what a resume is.”

65. “Am I wrong, or are you more focused on Ricky Cormier than your prepara?ons for going to Oldtown?”
“…”
“I guess I’m not wrong, then.”

66. “Sabriel, it’s…” Arthur took a bite of his grilled cheese sandwich and watched his sister focus on the paper. “How did you know?”
“How did I know? You spend more Qme staring at him in history class than you do taking notes.”
“Yeah, but…I’m not supposed to think about guys that way, am I?”
“Who says?” Sabriel shrugged. “I don’t think about anybody that way.”

67. “Come on. Let’s work on our body points together so that Dad will actually let me go to this job. I don’t really think I’d be
aFacked, but he’s weird about stuff like that.”

68. As expected, Sabriel gained her body points. “See, Dad?” she muLered as she walked down the steps. “I’ll show you. I’ll show all
of you.”

69. “How does she do it? I’m already bored out of my mind,” Arthur complained a`er another long day at school. He had a gazillion
assignments for his college prep classes, and he also had to keep building up his skills. Having a good Qme didn’t seem to be on
anyone’s agenda but his own.

70. Sabriel didn’t know the answer to that quesQon, either. She had spent three hours shuffling paper around and trying to get phone
lines out to talk to prospecQve donors, and it was even more boring than chess. But she had to do it. She had to do something if
she was going to stay sane.

71. “Nothing to do, people who don’t believe me when I say the phone lines are down, and I’m working for a crook,” she ranted. “And
I’m coming back here to people who don’t respect me and don’t think I have anything to contribute to the family? I don’t think
so!” Sabriel clenched her fists. She didn’t care if anyone heard her. In fact, part of her wanted them to hear so they’d rethink
making Will the heir.

72. She had thought geng a job and geng out of the house would make things beLer. It wasn’t.

73. Mal had considerably more job saQsfacQon, having just received his final promoQon. He returned from his latest mission feeling
like he was on top of the world.

74. When Will received a phone call from Spencer at the end of his second year of college asking if he’d like to come visit, Will
gratefully accepted as soon as the semester ended and he could get transportaQon from Oldtown. There were a few weeks
before classes began, and he was not going to spend those weeks in his four‐wall shack if he could help it. Unfortunately, he was
having the usual trouble with the phones, so he hadn’t been able to get everything in order to arrange a visit to his family.
“Hey, Will!” Spencer greeted him. His cheerfulness was a liLle disorienQng. “How’s college treaQng you?”

75. A`er hours of transportaQon, Will was in no mood to mince words. “Badly,” he said. “I don’t know why everyone else in the
family wanted to go so much. If they were there, they would have hated it, too.”

76. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Spencer said. “Is it anything that being back here can help?”

77. “Not really,” Will sighed. “Class sucks. Maybe it wouldn’t suck so much if it didn’t consume my enQre life. That and trying to have
a good night’s sleep and make my eyes stop hurQng. And it’s nice that you’ve invited me over and that you’re willing to listen to
me complain, but things are going to be just as bad when classes start again.”
“Well, I know that if you don’t talk to someone, it’ll only get worse, and it doesn’t sound like you have very many people to talk to
out there,” Spencer told Will. “Maybe your eyes hurQng is something to tell your dad about, though.”

78. “Yeah.” Will doubted whether his dad would be able to help, famous doctor or not.

79. “Well…why don’t you come in and relax for a while before you have to go back to Oldtown?” Spencer suggested. “Standing out
here in the cold isn’t going to do you any good. Play some darts. Have something to eat. Do something that isn’t about school for
a liLle while.”
“Sounds good to me,” Will said.

80. He stared at the bulls‐eye and grasped the dart. No trouble seeing this.

81. While walking around the neighborhood, Sabriel thought she saw Will through one of the windows of the house. Could it really
be him? Without even thinking about what the consequences might be (this was an adventure, a`er all), Sabriel knocked on the
door, where she promptly met Spencer Fitzhugh and discovered that Will was actually there.

82. “Sabriel! It’s great to see you! You got tall!” Will said as his sister joined him at the darts game.
“I did! It’s a good thing. People don’t try to pat me on the head anymore,” Sabriel said. “It’s great to see you, too. Where have
you been?”
“At college.”
“No, I mean, why haven’t you called?”

83. “Same reason why nobody calls. I can’t,” Will explained. “All I get when I pick up the phone is ‘This number cannot be reached at
this Qme. Please try again later.’”
“Well, that’s dumb.”
Will didn’t know why this irritated him so much. Of course it was dumb. But it was just the way things were, and he couldn’t do
anything about it now.

84. “Weren’t you going to come home if you were here?” Sabriel asked.
“Sable, I’ve got to head back to Oldtown,” Will explained. “I’m studying all the Qme. Literally. All the Qme.”
“That’s stupid.” Somehow, Will being in this house made Sabriel too angry to think. “You think Spencer is important enough to
visit, but not your own family?”

85. “He called me and asked me to come over,” Will said. “You haven’t. What was I supposed to do?”
“You’re supposed to care,” Sabriel said, holding the darts in her hand and focusing on the board. She didn’t want to look at Will.
“You’re supposed to at least try.”
“I am trying. I’m trying harder than I’ve ever tried in my life, just to get by. College is hard, Sabriel. It’s not some magic kingdom
in the sky like Dad says.”

86. “Huh.” Sabriel went to retrieve her darts and pointed at Will. “You know…”
When had his liLle sister started being such a control freak? What had he done to offend her, other than not calling, which wasn’t
an opQon? He should have realized there was something wrong with her when she was a toddler and she got weird about
learning to talk. Why had he helped her do that? She wouldn’t shut up now.

87. “Uh, hello? Are you even listening to me?” Sabriel waved her le` hand around in the air.
“Uh, yeah.” Will paused. “What were you saying?”
“You should do something about the phones. You’ve got to do something for the family, right? And it can’t be food, because
Mom did that. So maybe it can be phones.”

88. “Yeah.” How would be go about doing that, exactly? Will took the darts and stared at the board again, feeling just about as upset
as he had when he turned up at the house. He never should have come anywhere near Winterfell.

89. A`er he finished making the sandwiches, Spencer le` them to themselves and headed outside to meet the bruneLe who had
walked by.

90. “I haven’t decided what I want to do yet,” Sabriel said as they sat down to eat. “I’m working on a poliQcal campaign now, but I
don’t like it that much.”
“Well, what’s your lifeQme want?” Will asked, hoping to steer the conversaQon to more friendly ground. He felt like he barely
knew anything about Sabriel now that she was a teenager, and he wanted to fix that.
“Adventure, of course. Lots of it. I am a Stark, a`er all. But, like you, I can’t do what I want.”
What would you say if I told you I wanted to woohoo twenty women? Will thought. That I’m not a Stark?

91. “No. I guess not. I haven’t been able to do what I wanted ever since I le` for college.”

92. Sabriel couldn’t take listening to him anymore. “Oh, boo hoo,” she said.
“What?”
“Everyone’s been waiQng for the opportunity to go to college. Dad, Uncle Brandon, and Grandma wanted it so badly that they
had mental breakdowns when they couldn’t go. Everyone’s worked as hard as they could to make those dreams into a reality for
you. What are you doing? You’re throwing those dreams away! And you’re the heir! What kind of heir are you going to be, if you
don’t value what your ancestors have done for you?”

93. “One who doesn’t think that life should be all about work!” Will stamped his foot on one of the table legs. “So I think that we
shouldn’t have to spend every waking minute at work, skilling, or trying to meet our most basic needs. I didn’t think that was a
crime.”
“It’s not like things are magically perfect now that we have showers and food again. There’s sQll a lot to fix—”
“I know! I know beLer than you do! I’m always cold. I’ve been paying off the mob for two years, which is a lot harder when
you’re not sing on generaQons of money. I can’t call out, even though you don’t seem to believe me. And my only hope of
being able to keep geng by is to work every minute of every day. Don’t tell me things are magically perfect.”

94. Will looked off in the direcQon of Oldtown as the light started to fade.

95. The woman who had walked by the house introduced herself as Alayne Stone as Sabriel went back home, probably to do some
more of that precious work of hers. Will thought “totally hot bruneLe.”

96. “What brought you here?” Will asked Alayne.
“A stroke of good luck,” she said.
“Good luck? Being around here? I’m not sure if I’d describe it that way.”

97. “BeLer than the alternaQve,” she said, heading over to throw a dart. “Winterfell’s hardly the worst place in the world.”
“I guess.” Will shrugged. A`er all, he could think of somewhere that was worse.

98. They sat down at the table a`er their game, and Will started explaining the way his a`ernoon had gone: escaping from college,
trying to cool off, and eventually losing his temper with Sabriel. He talked about being the heir and about all the pressure he was
under. He talked about his studies and about how he couldn’t see the words in front of him someQmes.

99. She just listened with the same half‐smile on her face.

100. Special guest star: Spencer Fitzhugh, The Fitzhugh Legacy, by smoothiequeen87
Music credit: “Gangsta’s Paradise” ‐ Coolio

101. Next Qme on An Apocalypse of Ice:
+ More college shenanigans, or lack thereof.
+ Love 
+ The main event will be the resoluQon of the generaQon 4 heirship. Arthur doesn’t seem to care about it, but Will and Sabriel
definitely do. How will everyone work things out when Will comes home on Tuesday to visit? Will I be able to get all the photos
that I need? :P

102. “LILY. WHY IS THIS PICTURE STILL ON YOUR HARD DRIVE? DELETE IT NOW!”
Hahahaha, never. :P Happy Simming!