Thank you again for all your kind or otherwise reviews. It has been quite an adventure, and I've had fun along the way. Fanfiction is a great place to stretch your writing muscles and try your hand at depicting different genres or characters (OC or canon) than what you might otherwise try out. While this is technically the epilogue, there's no guarantee that down the road I may not randomly add a DLC (haha) for certain characters. Cheers!

Here's How Our Story Ends

Sandor and Alysanne retired to her old cabin in the swamplands. Sandor contented himself with hunting and fishing, even lending his brute muscle for building works for the villages and towns nearby when necessary and needed. Alysanne resumed her work as an eccentric healer, though she was now more readily recognized and accepted as an official member of her landed family. They could never have children of their own, but they would argue over whose idea it was first to adopt orphans—be they children or animals alike. Within their forty-three years of marriage, they brought into their peculiar fold thirteen children and a menagerie of an endless array of animals any king would envy for its diversity. Neither one of them attempted to leave their home in the swamps, though they never kept their children from exploring. And neither one of them was interested or willing to answer the calls to arms when war came once more to Westeros. They had fought their battles and were more interested in living their lives together than they were in giving a damn about the rest of the world.

Jorah and Erlora jointly worked to secure the safety of the Bear Islands. They collaborated with their allies to the east as the political stability of the south continued to unravel. Jorah relied upon his past diplomatic and warrior training, while Erlora's particular set of spymaster skills came in handy. Though the Bear Islands suffered great losses in the eventual war with the southern government, both Jorah and Erlora survived it. They continued to support Lady Maege's heir when Lady Maege was lost in battle. Once peace was restored, their marriage welcomed into the world one son and one daughter. A welcome surprise to Jorah, who had long before given up on fatherhood.

When the government in the south completely destabilized and the southern territories erupted into regional civil wars, Tyrion and Sansa were quick to cut their losses. Together with their two children and Lady Stark, they sought the aid of an old friend, Theon Greyjoy, leader of the Ironborn, and retreated north. They were nomadic for a time, as the war displaced many, making an unsteady home among the Ironborn for as long as it was necessary. It was during their voyage to the north, immediately following the surrender of all southern forces, that a freak storm came upon the ship. Smashed against the rocks, nearly all hands were lost and counted among them was Tyrion and Sansa's youngest child and Lady Stark. Devastated by the losses, though grateful they and Joanna had survived, the remaining Lannister Starks made their way to Winterfell, where they settled in with their kin.

The Baratheon Starks of Storm's End worked with their allies in both the north and east, the Sapphire Islands, to stand against the encroaching southern forces. Both the Lord and Lady of Storm's End fought bravely on the battlefield. When the war finally ended, the Stormlands expanded their borders, and the neighboring lands voted to elect Gendry Baratheon as their next king. Soon enough, this movement took hold of the entire southern region of Westeros, and two years after the grand experiment of a bureaucratic government without nobles failed, Gendry Baratheon took the throne with Arya Stark functioning as a type of Lord Commander of their forces. Their seat of power remained at Storm's End. Neither Gendry nor Arya had pleasant memories of King's Landing, and from Storm's End, they ruled with a firm but just hand as their son grew to resemble his namesake.

Their neighbors to the east, Jaime and Brienne, also fought bravely during the southern wars. And when the time came to swear allegiance, the Sapphire Islands were one of the first off-continent areas to bend the knee to the Baratheon throne. Just prior to this, Jaime became the happiest man in all the kingdoms when Brienne delivered a beautiful baby girl into the world. Within a year, a son was born. A year after that, another daughter. Two years after that, a son. And a year after that another son. Both Brienne and Jaime would have been glad to have more children, but with the last pregnancy, the maester's warned another could be the death of Brienne. Jaime and Brienne agreed that five were enough and were content.

When the war was over, and Gendry Baratheon assumed the throne of the southern regions, the kingship of Robb Stark in the north was officially declared and a clear, agreed-upon dividing line between their kingdoms was drawn at the Neck. Encouraged by friends and family alike, Sascha began her own training school akin to the maesters, only this was solely for metallurgy specialists and those kin to them who had desires and designs for machines, be they for war or peace alike. People traveled from all over the known world to be part of this school, and within a few decades, it changed completely the face of Westeros. There was rarely a place that did not employ an invention that came from these collaborative endeavors. The Wall and its forces under Lord Commander Jon Snow was one fo the first places to employ the bulk of these inventions, though other landed houses and cities were quick to jump at the opportunity as well. Even Oldtown benefitted from these changes, with the former Lord Bran leading in the integration of machines with learning processes for the maesters.

Robb and Sascha had no more children but were doting parents to all three of their own and happily welcomed into their fold Tyrion and Sansa with Joanna. Robb became known for his fair and stable rulership and together Robb and Sascha were renowned for their mutual respect and devotion for one another. Few could believe, or recall, that there was ever a time where these two did not hold each other in high regard. For Robb, he daily thanked the gods that his petulant arrogance had not ruined his family or kept this future from becoming reality. For Sascha, she begrudgingly had something she could thank her father for. Though she never did because he was a bastard.

While all was not always well, neither was it perfect, and most assuredly not predictable, each of these individuals wrestled with their demons, fought for their loves, and found marvelously unexpected joy at the end of the road that was their life's journey.