Chapter 269: Hot Potato...es
"The Gift awaits your arrival, my lord." Egger felt a wave of relief. Though the itinerary was set, he couldn't let Robb go to the Gift immediately; he needed time to prepare. Before crossing into this world, Egger had always decried the exhaustive preparations for leadership inspections as empty formalism, yet here he was, becoming the very person he used to despise. "However, there are still matters to attend to—I came south due to a lack of provisions, but I've spent the entire trip fighting. As of now, I haven't secured a single grain of rice... Permit my men to camp briefly outside the city while I assign tasks to my subordinates to purchase grain from various regions before we head north. You've just returned from the south; I imagine you also need to remain at Winterfell for a short while to handle both family and state affairs."
"Two days," Robb agreed decisively. "There are indeed many matters pending, but my brother's whereabouts are unknown and his life hangs in the balance—finding him is my highest priority. We move north in two days."
"No problem." One could tell from his tone that there was no room for negotiation.
"In addition to myself, I shall invite the four houses closest to the Gift—Glover, Umber, Karstark, and Bolton—to accompany us. We shall collectively decide on this great matter that concerns the North, and especially their own security."
"This..." Egger was stunned. Of those four houses, only Glover and Umber could be considered somewhat friendly toward him. He had expected to only deal with Robb, but now that number had jumped to five. The inclusion of the other four added massive variables to his plan to borrow Stark's influence; he had to get word to Queenscrown as quickly as possible. "As a liege lord, such consideration for your vassals is truly admirable. In that case, I shall take my leave..."
"Enough, even you are resorting to flattery. Stay seated; we are finished discussing the Wildlings. Next, I have a few things—or more accurately, a few people—to turn over to you, or rather, to the Night's Watch." Robb waved a hand, stopping Egger who had already stood up to depart. "Joffrey, Tommen, and their sister Myrcella are currently at Winterfell. While their parentage is no longer in doubt, King Robert's final will wished for them to live. Therefore, my father planned out the futures of these three children: the two boys must 'voluntarily' join the Night's Watch, while the girl will change her name, be adopted by Winterfell, and grow up alongside Sansa and Arya."
"Am I to take the two boys back to the Wall this time?" Egger had been warned of this months ago, so he wasn't surprised. "The Night's Watch has no right to refuse. I only worry... with the Kingslayer and his two sons reunited at the Wall in this manner, he might see it as a deliberate insult and do something impulsive."
"If the Kingslayer has even a shred of sense, he should know this is protecting those children!" Robb replied categorically. "And even if we take a step back, what if it is a deliberate insult? The Targaryens relied on dragons to conquer and forced Westeros to accept their family's privilege of incest; who does Jaime Lannister think he is? The moment he crawled into bed with his sister, he should have been prepared to be insulted by the entire world!"
After a pause, Robb remembered that the man sitting across from him wasn't Jaime Lannister, and his tone softened. "Even if the Kingslayer does develop feelings about it and tries to act, how you handle him is the business of the Night's Watch. I believe... you won't let me down."
No one wants to hold a hot potato, but taking in figures who are "impossible to kill yet difficult to handle" is precisely one of the functions of the Night's Watch—especially at a juncture when Egger needed favors. Egger shrugged. "Since you trust me so much, my lord, I will do my best to handle it."
"Watch them closely. Whether the Night's Watch keeps two idle men or turns them into true brothers of the Watch doesn't matter. The key is—do not let them fall into the hands of those with ulterior motives and bring further disaster upon the Seven Kingdoms."
Egger nodded. He understood exactly what "further disaster" meant. If Joffrey fell into Tywin Lannister's hands once the Westerlands recovered from the war... following Stannis, Aegon, and Euron Crow's Eye, Westeros would almost certainly have yet another king.
So many troubles, Egger thought, frowning. But looking at it from another angle, while Robb was dumping trouble on the Night's Watch, he would have to offer compensation or preferential treatment in other areas. The Starks were usually honest people; by leveraging this desire to make amends, Egger could find ways to extract more benefits.
"Wait... sit down, there's more!" Robb raised his hand again, stopping Egger who was itching to leave and prepare for the Northern lords' visit to the Gift. "You captured Asha Greyjoy at Deepwood Motte recently. Didn't that spark any thoughts?"
"Spark any thoughts?"
Egger didn't immediately catch Robb's meaning. What was he supposed to think? Asha was indeed a woman of wild beauty, but even if his mind weren't consumed by the Gift Settlement Plan... he wouldn't do anything to the Daughter of the Kraken. His law-abiding instincts and views on gender—shaped by his upbringing—were one factor, but he was also certain that any man who dared to rape a woman like Asha might succeed the first time, only to be stabbed to death in bed with a pair of scissors sooner or later.
Seeing that Egger didn't take the hint, Robb stopped speaking in riddles and gave a prompt: "Your beautiful prisoner has a brother."
"Oh... right." Egger's mouth hung open and his eyebrows shot up as he realized more trouble was headed his way.
"During the campaign in the Westerlands, Theon suggested I send him back to the Iron Islands to persuade his father, Balon Greyjoy, to join our cause... but because the war was progressing smoothly, I ultimately declined," Robb explained. "Which is to say, when the Lord of the Iron Islands sent his brothers and daughter to attack the North, his son was still in my hands."
Theon Greyjoy was a hostage; calling him a ward didn't change the essence of the matter. The point of a hostage is to make the other party hesitate at a critical moment, but what if the other party ignores the hostage's existence?
The hostage becomes useless.
Egger could guess the rest: given Robb Stark's character, it was unlikely he would order the execution of a foster brother he'd grown up with, especially when the fault did not lie with Theon.
"Everyone tells me I should end his life with my own blade," Robb said, explaining himself before Egger could offer an opinion. "But on second thought, according to the laws of Westeros... Theon is the first in line to the Seastone Chair. Whether it's his sister or one of his uncles, anyone wanting to secure that seat must first remove Theon as a rival. Why not keep him alive to leverage against the rulers of the Iron Islands in the future?"
"But the moment he puts on the black, he automatically loses that function," Egger shrugged, nearly tempted to tell Robb to just admit he simply didn't want to kill his foster brother. He bit his tongue.
Robb was noncommittal, perhaps having developed a skin as thick as Egger's when it came to speaking nonsense. "Keep him alive. Don't let that mad uncle of his send someone to sneak in and kill him. Other than that, treat him as an ordinary man of the Night's Watch."
Egger sighed. Keep him alive? With the Great Other and his servants north of the Wall, humanity tearing itself apart in the south, and a bunch of crazed Ironborn across the sea, what "ordinary Night's Watchman" could claim to be absolutely safe?
"I'll do my best, but I give no guarantees."
Theon wasn't Bran, and Robb couldn't ask for more for him... but this time, Egger didn't rush to leave. After standing up and sitting down twice, he waited patiently in his chair, watching Robb in case he was suddenly called back again.
It seemed there truly was nothing left. The two stared at each other for a few seconds until Egger prepared to bid farewell again. Then Robb Stark spoke one last time: "Egger, both Commander Mormont and I have always placed great trust in your mind. Do you think... in this matter, have I done wrong?"
Was he referring to not killing Theon? Egger made an indifferent face. "Killing him is duty; sparing him is sentiment. Based on Theon's upbringing, social circle, and the resources he can mobilize, his existence poses almost zero threat to the North now that we have repelled the Ironborn. It's not a matter of right or wrong. I'll only speak as a man of the Night's Watch—with the army of the dead approaching, the Wall needs capable hands and war supplies, not one troublesome figure after another being stuffed into our ranks for various reasons."
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