Chapter 107: Sea Dragon Point and Braavos
Robb, Jon, Bjorn and Loras has reached in Sea Dragon point and spend thier days and looking to do thier duty assigned by Lord Stark and Lord Artos. Well until a letter reached them.
The letter had reached Sea Dragon Point by thier own raven network, and it changed the mood of the hall at once.
Robb was the first to break the seal. Loras stood beside him, Jon and Bjorn across from them, while the hearth burned low and the wind moaned against the high windows. It was the sort of letter that did not simply inform a man of something. It made demands of him.
Robb read it once, then again.
Then he set it down and looked at the others.
"King's Landing - Uncle Artos is inviting us there for the Hand's Tourney. And House Stark of Sea Dragon point is sponsoring the whole Tourney" he said.
Loras gave a short breath through his nose, half a laugh and half disbelief. "For the Hand's tourney, of course we should go, Afterall it's Honouring new Hand of the Realm."
Bjorn leaned forward, broad-shouldered and blunt as a hammer. "A tourney means guests, lords, swords, and pride. Father probably wants us to be seen among them. Providing Robb as Hier of Winterfell and me as His Hier."
"You are right," Jon said quietly. "New generation of Starks."
Robb glanced at him with the faint look of a man who had learned to weigh words before speaking them. Artos had done that to him more than once, teaching him that a lord who only saw the surface of a thing was a lord who would soon be cut by what he had missed.
"It is political," Robb said. "Not just a celebration. A tourney means who is invited, who is seen, who stands where. Otherwise He would not call such a thing without meaning to set the realm in motion."
Loras smiled a little at that. "You sound like your uncle."
"I was raised by him long enough," Robb said. "And so were all of us, here at Sea Dragon Point. Bjorn and Jon spend thier whole Childhood at here."
Loras's expression softened at the mention. He had been raised between two homes in a way few boys ever were. Sea Dragon Point had made him harder, Winterfell had made him Honourable. Both important in Lord Artos eyes. Loras has always admired Lord Artos especially after The Tourney in The Highgardens.
Robb broke the seal fully and read aloud.
The first order was simple enough. Robb and Loras were to come to King's Landing for the Hand's Tourney.
But Bjorn was to go to White Harbor first, meet with Lord Wyman Manderly, and greet his granddaughter Wylla.
That made Bjorn look up sharply.
Robb noticed it and nearly smiled. Artos had clearly seen what others had not said aloud yet.
Bjorn was a good match for Wylla, Artos wrote, if the two of them proved willing and warns Bjorn showed proper respect to House Manderly. They were not just another northern house. They were one of the Sea Dragon point's most important trading partners, along with Valen's in Braavos and the merchants tied to the sea routes. More than that, the Manderlys were among the most loyal houses the Starks had ever had.
"Respect," Bjorn muttered. "He says it like I need the lesson."
Robb gave him a smirking look. "You do my little brother. You so have that Uncle Artos personality that we heard from stories. Though unlike him you do not dare going against your Father."
Loras snorted quietly into his cup.
Robb continued reading.
Jon was named too.
That part made the room go still.
Artos wanted Jon in King's Landing as well, but unfortunately the matter of the Wall was too important to leave unattended. Duty had its own laws. Jon would still go to the Wall as His representative, and do the work that the Wall required.
Robb lowered the parchment a little and looked at him.
Jon did not react at once, but the meaning was plain enough in his eyes.
Artos had not forgotten him. He had wanted him there. That alone carried weight.
The letter ended with another line for Jon: treat Lord Commander Jeor Mormont with the utmost respect. The old man had done much for the North, and much for Artos personally as well.
Jon nodded once and took a note of this in his mind.
Robb folded the parchment and set it down again.
"So that is the shape of it," he said. "A tourney, but not only a tourney. We are being placed. Moved.Represented as Next Generation of Starks and North . It's political tuning."
"Of course you are," Loras said. "That is what courts and Tourneys is for. We used to have a lot of Tourney. That's the first time I saw Lord Artos."
Bjorn grunted. "He probably wants me there to be the one to do your Dirty work Robb. Like father used to do for Uncle Ned. Be the big bad Wolf. Like our Sigil The DemonWolf."
Robb looked between them, then nodded slowly.
Jon's smiled and made a jape."Well, Your Looks go with it. "
Everyone laughed at it included Bjorn who is more like a mixture of Skagosi and Starks than a pure Stark. Although his looks are more Like Artos but a Savage Artos.
Sea Dragon Point had done strange things to these boys and made them into men before their time. Artos had never been content to raise simple warriors. He had taught them how to read faces, how to hear the politics behind a compliment, how to know when a feast was also a threat.
Robb looked again at Bjorn.
"You should take the offer seriously. White Harbor is not a place to blunder through. Lord Wyman is powerful, and his granddaughter is not some tavern girl to be charmed with boasting."
Bjorn let out a low breath. "I know that. But still I can't really... I don't know . I didn't think to be honest That I would be a Lord of Sea Dragon point. I know I always was a contender. But I Always thought i would go back to Skagos and marry there or will not. "
Jon smiled faintly, because he knew what Bjorn is feeling more than anyone.
For a little while after that they spoke of smaller things. The route south. Which men would accompany them. How many guards would be needed. What sort of reception they might find in the capital. Robb listened carefully, and so did the others.
By the time the conversation ended, the decision had already been made.
Robb and Loras would go to King's Landing via Winterfell taking Lady Margaery Tyrell with them.
Bjorn would go north to White Harbor.
Jon would go to the Wall after the preparation which are a bit delayed due to Winterguards going from Sea Dragon point in lot of access. Extra men required by Lord Artos. Then Host for Bjorn and Robb. They would have to wait to coming of the remaining men from thier duties at other areas.
And all of it, in one way or another, was part of the same design.
Braavos
Across the narrow sea, Braavos moved under a pale sky.
The canals shimmered with grey water.
Gondolas cut through the mist. Merchants shouted in a dozen tongues. The city was alive in the way only a great port city could be alive, with money, danger, and secrets all flowing together like currents beneath the stone.
Aldric walked through it beside Sera, and both of them had the look of children who were not quite children anymore.
They had spent days there already. Aldric more than Sera. Who has been quite a frequent visitor of the city.
Days of seeing ships come and go.
Days of listening to traders speak in clipped tones.
Days of hearing the language of money the way other children heard songs.
They had not come to Braavos as strangers. This was family to them, in a way Westeros could never quite understand. Their grandfather ruled here now, and his name carried weight.
Lord Valen, Present Sea Lord of Braavos.
That alone had changed the way men moved around them.
They were brought into his presence after a time, and even before he spoke, both children knew they were being measured with affection and judgment at once.
Valen looked older than the last time they had seen him, but not weak. The years had only sharpened him. He had the face of a man who had learned to survive by being patient, and had become dangerous because of it.
Aldric went to him first.
Valen caught him in a firm embrace and held him a little longer than the boy expected.
Then he released him and looked to Sera.
His expression softened in a different way.
"You have grown,My little princess" he said.
Sera smiled, a little shyly, and curtsied with a precision that made Valen's mouth twitch.
"Grandfather," she said.
Valen snorted softly. "Thats my cute girl."
That made Aldric laugh.
The household in Braavos was different from Sea Dragon Point, but not unfamiliar. There were meals, discussions, maps, ledgers, ship reports, and the quiet business of ruling something larger than a man's voice could command at once.
Aldric and Sera spent their days there in the company of clerks, captains, and kin.
They heard talk of trade routes, of ships bound for the North, of grain and timber and iron, of Valen's growing influence in the city, and of the strange importance of keeping both Braavos and Sea Dragon Point content at the same time.
Aldric asked questions afterall He would inherit the Valen family and hopefully Sealord Tittle one day if they maintain thier power.
With Children coming Lords and Merchants of Bravos are happy because they are seeing a Happy Lord Valen instead of the dangerous and cunning men they would see.
Lord Valen without his daughter was too much of cunning and dangerous man for Bravos to handle. With his family he is more happy and satisfied giving relief to people coming to negotiate with him.
They always celebrated his family coming to him well except that Son of Law of his. Well Although Lord Valen loves Artos like his own son but together at a table they are like demons who don't left very little for opposite sides.
On one evening, as lamps were lit and the canals turned black beyond the windows, Aldric sat with Lord Valen and Sera over a meal that had become more like a council than a supper.
Sera had learned to keep her face composed, though still angry at her father for leaving her like this.
Aldric, by contrast, was handling it more better.
He asked after ships. After men. After the Old Way in Braavos, though the answer was never simple.
Valen answered what he could and left the rest hanging in the air like smoke, knowing experience is the best teacher sometimes.
It was on one of those evenings that Aldric finally said what had been waiting inside him.
"Grandfather," he asked, "where is Uncle Waymar? Father said he would be here with us. Helping us understand and our Touch with North he said "
Lord Valen set down his cup, leaned back slightly, and looked at the boy for a moment too long.
"Waymar had work in Pentos," he said at last.
Aldric frowned. "Father said he would be here."
Valen's smiled
"yes," he said. "He was meant to be."
Sera's head lifted at once,
Valen looked back at Aldric and Sera, then smiled
"But some other work came up as well. Work laid by your father. So he had to stay for few weeks more. He will be here in few weeks"
...
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