Bran was in consultations with the houses and heads of Essos. He was selling them on the booty available after conquering the great western continent. They must, he said, develop wind users and bring a great many troops and ships. First, this Zonian's invasion must be stopped. "Westeros", he said, "Was turning them back already." He mentioned the great wealth of ships that Westeros was now collecting. The greed of the leaders of Essos was a great lever to convert into a selling point. They were thinking about returns on investment and how they could best profit from others' losses. Bran needed troops in the thousands, and the eyes of Essos' leaders gleamed with the thought of riches pouring in. Bran told them they needed to start training troops now because their fellow leaders were already doing so.
Sailors from King's Landing had come and collected 60 ships the Zonians had left behind; the Iron Islands took 20, and Bravvos took 20 as well. 50 of the ships had been split between Brandon's Rest and the wildlings. Bran walked the representatives from Essos along the Zonian vessels collected in King's Landing bay. Many would be sold to Essos leaders to carry troops west. The slave traders of Meereen seemed intently interested in sending a great deal of troops to capture slaves. Bran reminded them that only the Zonians would be available for such captures, as the other citizens of the west were indeed already victims of Zonian invasion. The slave traders said that it was indeed the huge Zonians they wanted for slaves anyway. Bran despised the slave trade but acquiesced to their vices to gain a great many troops for the upcoming return invasion and coin for the coffers to train and equip the Westeros contingent. The slave traders bought 10 of the largest Zonian ships and had hired sailors sent to sail them back to Meereen. A great deal rested on the decisive battle at the tree-kin enclave; this fight must be won. To that end, he ordered Forts #4-10 to send as many spare troops as they could along the northern roads toward the battle area.
Arya spent the next few days in contact with Calancy and Beth. She was worried sick about the coming battle putting the tree-kin and her friends at risk. Beth informed Arya that Calancy was now a young woman and had become a crack archer leading her own group of archers. She would face the enemy atop the tree-kin enclave's walls with the rest of her group and kin. While to Arya's mind, Calancy was still a young child, she only had to watch her own children grow into adults to understand. She smiled at that despite her misgivings. Arya wondered aloud to Thomas whether they should rush down to help with the defense, and he quickly shot that idea down. "Brienne, Hassan, and Bronn can help them as much as they need, Arya. We are needed here to maintain this city for now." It sounded like chickening out to her, but there was still so much to do here, so she nodded and snuggled into her husband's embrace, hoping against hope that all would be well with the tree-kin.
When the Bravvos mercenary group got as close to the enemy as they dared, they set up camp. They had too few troops to assault the enemy's rear for now and would wait until the enemy committed troops to engage. The 5-man livery team in black set up a black tent for the 6 women and began to set up a cooking station and other camp necessities. Somehow that group managed to cook without smoke or noticeable flame that might tip off the enemy to their location. On the third day, their scouts reported another 2000 troops from the other forts were inbound. That brought their total to 6000 fighters. Some of their archers had managed to bring down a couple of bucks that had returned to the area after the large Zonian force had passed through. The men in black quickly field-dressed the pair of deer and began cooking them for all the troops. When the Zonian commander had required ladders be built, teams were dispatched to collect the needed materials. One such team of 20 Zonians happened upon the Bravvos camp. The Zonian leader pointed back towards the enemy's rear line, and the Bravvos captain prepared to send his troops into battle. His archers had already begun firing, trying to stop the man from warning the enemy. Then the Bravvos captain felt a chill and turned to see three of the women in black casting a spell. A miasmatic darkness fell on the enemy soldiers, and the entire group perished before the enemy soldier could get 20 steps. The three women in black returned to their tent.
The Bravvos captain sent men to remove the bodies, but they were afraid to touch them. They used blankets and gloves to drag them away out of sight. He and the leaders from the other forts' groups stood looking at each other and trying to digest what they had just witnessed. It was deeply unsettling and gave a new and terrible understanding of the power of those women. They were escorting monsters, but the monsters were on their side. If any attempt was made earlier to chide or offend those women, it was gone now. Many of the troops moved their sleeping areas further away from that black tent.