Jaehaerys walked away. His men had secured a spacious mansion in Lannisport. He had organized his men's watches and assigned rooms for Serena and her sisters, Tyene and Sarella, who had decided to accompany her. Honestly, Jaehaerys wasn't too thrilled about having to keep Tyene out of his bed.
His mind drifted to his conversation with Tywin.
"Tyrion and not Jaime?" In a way, it made sense.
Sansa was a disgraced woman with few prospects. A marriage to a second son of a great house was a blessing for her. But Jaehaerys wasn't sure Eddard Stark would agree to such a marriage.
"He wants me to let my guard down," Jaehaerys sighed as he calmed himself.
If he considered Tyrion to be Sansa's husband, he could relax and hope that Ned would not accept. But if it was Jaime, it was much more likely that Eddard would accept. A stupid deception. It would not affect Jaehaerys much; after all, he was going to offer the same thing to the North, regardless of who Sansa's possible husband was.
----------------------
Ned rode a gray horse. His furs clung to his sweat-covered body. Despite having spent part of his youth in the South, his body was suited for the intense cold of the North.
He had traveled north with three of his children, Sansa, Arya, and Bran. Robb, Rickon, and Catelyn remained in the north. Rickon was too young to be separated from his mother, while Catelyn's pregnancy made it difficult for her to travel. Robb ruled Winterfell on her behalf.
Upon arriving at Casterly Rock, he received two invitations.
One was from Tywin Lannister, and the other was from Jaehaerys.
Tywin was the lord of the territory where he was, so he attended a meeting with him first. He did not like the man; he had turned the Trident into a slaughterhouse. Even when men knelt and begged for mercy, he gave the order to kill.
While he was on his way to meet Lord Lannister, his children went to explore Lannisport. They should be back before nightfall. The Stark family had been invited to stay at the castle.
Ned had doubts about the marriage between Sansa and Jaime. After all, Jaime had been raised by Tywin.
When he entered the office, he had eyes for nothing but Tywin Lannister. He had aged since the last time he met him, but he remained strong, or at least appeared to.
"Lord Lannister," he greeted him as he entered.
"Lord Stark," the man gestured to the only chair in the room besides the one Tywin himself occupied.
Eddard sat down and waited while Tywin wrote on a parchment. These were painful minutes for Lord Stark.
Eddard did not say a single word before getting up and leaving, furious. Jory Cassel was waiting for him outside the room. He asked a man to guide them out of the castle. He heard Tywin speaking, but ignored him.
Tywin had ignored tradition by not personally meeting Lord Stark at the entrance to his castle. It had been Tywin's brother, Kevan, who greeted him and offered him guest rights.
He was the guardian of the north, a Stark; his lineage had ruled for over 8,000 years. For Tywin to think he could snub him was foolish.
He left Casterly Rock, dizzy from the passages, and had to travel on horseback to Lannisport. Ned thought he could finally get away from all the golden glitz, but that was not to be. Lannisport seemed awash in gold.
He found Sansa, Arya, and Bran in a market. Sansa had her daughter in her arms, while the baby reached out her hands toward a purple cloth. Eddard had forbidden her to be too intimate with the child in public, but his daughter ignored him. Catelyn once told him that a mother's love for her children could not be controlled.
After confirming that his children were well, he ordered his men to find a place to stay.
"The prince has secured a mansion for you, Lord Stark," said a thin man wearing leather armor and carrying a spear.
"Jaehaerys?" The prince had sent one of his men, Brandon Snow, to invite him to his mansion. Many Lords may be offended by being addressed by a Bastard, but Eddard knows very well that Brandon was Jaehaerys's right hand.
Brandon left with the promise that Ned would go to the prince's mansion later. Jaehaerys wanted to discuss matters related to the north.
"Jon, come with me," he ordered, Greatjon Umber, the best warrior in the north. Or he would be second best, if you counted Daemon, who arrived a while ago.
"You want to beat up the prince? Of course, I'll help you," the huge man said as he followed him. He didn't care how the man leading them tightened his grip on his spear.
"Do you want the rest of your family to be taken to the mansion prepared by the prince?" Eddard listened to the man and hesitated. He didn't live on charity.
"Do it, my men will accompany you," Eddard watched as another man, just as thin and dressed in the same way, led his men and family away.
If any lord had offered him lodging, he would not have hesitated to refuse, but Jaehaerys was a good man. Eddard knew he would not harm his family.
—-------------------------------------------------
Jaehaerys finally had Lord Stark in front of him. He greeted him outside the leased mansion—a giant beside the wolf and a handful of men behind them.
"It's been a long time, Lord Stark," he greeted awkwardly. He had left Winterfell almost 17 moons ago. More than a year. His daughter should now be 7 months old.
"A shameless brat," said the GreatJon.
"Ah, Lord Umber, I remember your face buried in the snow and your ass in the air... no one took advantage of you, did they?" Jaehaerys had a good-bad relationship with the man. They fought once, then after Jon was beaten, he wanted to drink with the prince. Once sober, the Umber didn't talk to him again.
Jon looked at him with a mixture of anger and respect. He was a man who followed strength, but he had a natural dislike for the Targaryens.
"Enough, Jon," Eddard said. "We have much to discuss," Jaehaerys nodded.
"Let's go inside," he gestured toward the house.
It was luxurious and gilded; Jaehaerys could not describe anything in Lannisport that was not that way. The prince led Lord Stark to his temporal Solar. Only the prince and Eddard entered; Jon went to a small training ground to beat up the prince's men.
"I hear you agreed to stay in the mansion I prepared," the prince said.
"I haven't fully agreed yet," Eddard said, uncomfortable.
Jaehaerys had expected Ned to lunge at him with ice in his hand. When he arrived with GreatJon, he had expected a fight. But it didn't happen.
"I would like my daughter to be safe," said the prince.
"Your daughter," Lord Stark showed the first flash of anger. Anger that quickly faded. "Rhaelle Snow," he said the name softly.
"Rhaelle..." Jae repeated, honey in his voice. "I'll be brief. I want both Sansa and Rhaelle to live at ArgentStone," Eddard appreciated directness, having raised him, he knew him well.
"What do you want?" Eddard asked angrily. "A mistress? A trophy?"
"I want my daughter in my house, and I don't want Sansa to live in a place where she will be dishonored and mistreated because of my mistakes," said the prince sincerely.
"Mistakes?"
"My mistake... my romance with your daughter should not have happened. If I could go back in time, I would change things. But I can't," he said, even though, ironically, he traveled between worlds. "Sansa will not have a happy marriage, not the one she deserves," he added at the end.
"Thanks to you," Eddard said.
"Yes, thanks to me. That's why I want her to live in—"
"On your lands, in your castle, do you want her to share your bed? Do you want to give Daenerys a toy to vent her anger?" Eddard said.
"Sansa will come to no harm. From anyone, including Daenerys," the prince promised.
"You put me in a difficult position. Sansa would agree," Ned confessed, knowing his daughter's wishes. "But the North would not. In their eyes, you are a stranger who came and plucked the most beautiful flower in the North and then threw it away."
"Your words are not as hateful as I expected," Eddard sighed heavily.
"Ashara... I feel that the gods sent you to punish me," said Lord Stark as Jaehaerys nodded.
Ned was not a hypocrite. Could he hate a man for doing the same thing he did?
"The gods work in strange ways, Lord Stark," Jaehaerys said. "I will never touch Sansa again. She is my daughter's mother. I will protect her with my life and give her everything she asks for," he said, repeating what he had already promised.
"The North remembers," Ned said, not referring to him, but his brother.
"I want the North to remember this," Jaehaerys handed him a sheet of paper.
"Wheat harvested per acre before the improvement: 1,500 pounds in five moons. Wheat harvested per acre after the improvement: 4,500 pounds in two moons." Eddard looked at the detailed document, but his eyes quickly turned to the underlined part. "Improvement?"
"Yes. I tried it on my land before. On a small scale, of course. Before, each acre produced between 1,400 and 1,600 pounds of wheat. I used a method to improve production. The results: more than three times the harvest, and the time was cut in half." That method was, of course, the use of runes.
"And you want...?" Eddard found it difficult to ask.
"I can turn barren land into fertile land. I can't promise that the lands in the north will have this yield, but it will greatly increase what you already have," Jaehaerys said.
The prince knew that he had to convince not only Eddard, but also the north. Otherwise, his reputation would be the same as Rhaegar's, who took a woman from the north and then killed her lord and heir.
The crops would help the North. Some consider it foolish, and Jaehaerys may agree. He will not give them the method, nor the runes; he will carve them and install them. The Starks will have land to harvest, and he will have his daughter home.
"This is... how can I be sure you are telling the truth?" asked Eddard.
"I swear. I swear in the name of my daughter," said the prince, as he waited for Lord Stark's response.