Pre-Chapter A/N:Finally managed to get an upload in on time. Small wins! More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio. Experimenting with two chapters a week, we'll see how long I can keep this up for.
"This is a terrible idea. I must state my objections to this."
"Yes, you have stated your objections, Uncle. Seven times at this point, if I'm counting right."
"Eight," Laena corrected by my side.
"Eight times," I amended.
"And yet you insist on going forward with this... this... this foolishness."
"And yet I insist," I agreed.
"Please, Nephew."
"Your pleas are noted, as are your objections. Both are unfortunately disregarded."
"This is foolish," he said.
"I disagree," I said right back.
"The Dornish are not to be trusted."
"Good thing I don't trust them, then," I said.
"Then why are you negotiating with them? Leave this duty to someone else."
"No one else knows exactly what I want and will manage to get the exact terms I desire."
"You want their sand, you want them to pay some reparations for their failed attacks, and you want free access to the Dornish market for the goods you want to produce in the Stepstones. Anyone could state those terms to them."
"Well, yes. But the Dornish are likely to feel insulted if I do not go myself."
"Insulting the Dornish matters little. Send someone else, Nephew. I beg of you."
"But who else could do it? Who else could manage to negotiate with them and get what I need?"
"I can do it?"
"Can you, Uncle? I don't think you're willing to brave the dangers."
"Please, Laenor. Send me. Send anyone. Just don't go yourself," he said as we were only a few feet from my destination.
"Fine then, Uncle. You and Maester Bernard can lead the delegation. I won't come along," I said, getting a sigh of relief from the man as he turned and began to walk back to the castle.
"You never intended to go to Dorne, did you?" Laena asked, and I barked a laugh.
"Who do I look like to you? A fucking idiot? I just wanted Vaemond to think I was really going to do it so he would volunteer. He thinks he's convinced me to step off what he felt was a foolish path, not knowing I've pushed him onto it in my stead," I said.
"Please tell me you're not trying to get my favourite uncle killed."
"He's the one still alive," I pointed out.
"And hence my favourite."
"No. I doubt the Dornish would try anything. Killing Vaemond would be foolish and pointless. He doesn't ride a dragon. He is a capable Admiral, but we have dozens of those. They'd do nothing but garner our wrath."
"And if they choose to keep him hostage instead?"
"Then I will start at Starfall and burn one castle for every day he is not released to us."
"Starfall? You're still obsessed with Dawn?" she asked, and I had to turn my head to avoid her seeing the blush building on my face.
"Seven hells. If you get our uncle killed because you want your hands on a shiny sword, I'll kill you myself."
"Everything will be fine, sister. Trust me."
"That's the problem."
"Hm?"
"I do. No matter what, I do."
"That doesn't sound like a problem to me," I said with a smile. She just ignored me and kept on walking, though, forcing me to speed up to catch up to her.
I heard him not long after I saw him. Even with so much distance between us, Borros would make his voice heard no matter what.
"Cousin!" he shouted.
I smiled back at him, waving like a sane person instead of screaming and risking tearing a cord or something. The distance between us was actually that massive. So massive it was a few minutes before he had my bones creaking as he held me in his grip.
"Good to see you too, Cousin," I muttered into his chest as he held me. For all my growth, the Baratheon man could still toss me about like a paperweight if he got it into his mind to do so.
"Indeed. I almost thought you wouldn't come see me off." Was that some disappointment I could hear in his voice? We'd said our fair share of goodbyes at breakfast this morning. I'd thought that was enough. Deciding to come all the way down here was Laena's idea, and I'd only gone along with it because it gave me the chance to look at the ships one last time and see the progress being made on the harbour that would be here to receive them when they arrived, hopefully.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I said instead of any of the other thoughts that were on my mind.
"Good. Because it would be a shame for you to miss this," he said, and then I could breathe again. Thank Balerion for that.
"Miss what?" I asked.
And instead of a reply, he stretched out a hand, and Manfred of all people put a sheathed sword in it. Did he want to spar? Here and now?
"Kneel," he said, and I must have misheard. I looked back at Ben, far at the back, and he nodded. This was it. Laena was beaming from ear to ear. She'd been in on this for sure.
I dropped to one knee, not even caring about what the mud would do to my breeches. I was getting knighted.
"Good. Now you can help me polish my boots from there," he said with a laugh. I looked up at him, not shy to say I was gobsmacked. What the fuck?
"A jest, a jest," he said. And uncaring for the gazes of disappointment coming from both Ben and Manfred, he drew the sword and placed it on my left shoulder first. Manfred coughed behind him, and he quickly moved it to my right, before he got an approving nod from his bastard brother.
"In the name of the Warrior, I charge you to be brave," he said first, and then his sword left my right shoulder and landed on my left. Was it just me, or did it feel heavier with that movement?
"In the name of the Father, I charge you to be just." He charged me again, and the sword was back on my right.
"In the name of the Mother, I charge you to defend the young and innocent." Back to the left, heavier than before again.
"In the name of the Maid, I charge you to protect all women." It wasn't just the sword; it was the air itself as the blade was back on my right shoulder.
"In the name of the Smith, I charge you to work diligently and keep your arms strong." Was it the charge? No one ever said anything about it feeling like this. Why did it feel like I was being judged, weighed, assessed?
"In the name of the Crone, I charge you to be wise." Was I the only one feeling this? I had my eyes closed and my head planted towards the ground so I could not tell, but Borros seemed to be speaking with no difficulty. Why did it feel like my lungs were being choked then?
"In the name of the Stranger, I charge you to face your death with courage." Not just my lungs, my eardrums felt about to pop, and my heart was beating at what felt like 200 beats a minute.
"Arise, Ser Laenor Velaryon, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." And with those words, it felt like whatever was weighing on me had stopped. The air lightened abruptly. I took a deep breath. And before I could even think about how to get my feet under me, Borros was pulling me to my feet. Thankfully, my legs did not give under my weight.
Even if they nearly did from what happened next. The backhand came so quickly I barely even saw it. Reflexes had me moving with the blow, though. So instead of taking a tooth or two, it merely stung something fierce.
"Let that be the last blow you receive unanswered," he said, and then like a fucking psychopath, he drew me into his arms again, a tighter hug than the first one, if that was somehow possible.
"And let this be your first embrace as a knight. Welcome, my brother," he said, and working my arms around him, I did my best to return the hug for all I had within me.
XXXX MID 109 AC
This was the second shipment so far, and so far, so good, it seemed the Triarchy was keen to keep their end of the bargain. If only things with Dorne had been so simple, I thought with some measure of disappointment.
"I've never seen anyone look sad to be receiving gold before. Chin up, brother," Laena whispered to my side.
"Just thinking about Dorne," I said.
"I don't see why you won't just have us burn their coast and leave it at that," she replied with a shrug.
"Because that would be burning the bridge, and why should I be the one to do so? Qoren hasn't ruled out the chance of making a deal, and since both you and Vaemond keep opposing any meeting between the two of us in person, then we have to keep communicating through intermediaries and then waiting for said intermediaries to complete the journey and then come back and then do that again and again. Things aren't going to meaningfully proceed on that end for a while, and until I know we have no other choice, I don't know if I feel comfortable just ruining the chance of ever making progress on it," I said, and wasn't that one hell of a dilemma? I had probably overplayed my hand by sending Daemon. Qoren knew I wanted peace now, and he was keen on dillydallying his way into the best terms he could.
And annoyingly enough, I was tempted to grant them to him. I wanted his sand. Dornish sand would work best for glassmaking. I had a lead on some sand in the southern end of the Stepstones near the limestone deposits, but those were still less than ideal. It was just lucky that we were still constructing the furnaces right now before we could test things.
"Laenor, look over there," Laena said from her position next to me, pointing off in the distance.
I saw the ship's red banner clear as day as it flapped in the wind. The red lion of House Lannister.
"So he's almost here then," I said. Ser Lancel Lannister, cousin to the Lord Lannister of Casterly Rock, and the one sent to take point in these negotiations. It had been a surprise that he had agreed to send a Lannister at all, much less one so closely related, but that was probably me imposing assumptions from my understanding of Tywin Lannister on the present iteration of the House.
House Lannister was yet to become the premier house of the realm. House Velaryon was just behind Targaryen in that regard, so in some ways, one could say that sending a cousin rather than a brother was an insult in that respect. Of course, I wasn't anywhere near petty enough to raise a big stink about something like this. Not when I was still going to be getting what I wanted.
Besides, a cousin of the Lord Lannister was much easier to host than a sibling, or flames forbid, the man himself. This one wouldn't expect much of a feast or anything of the sort. The pomp and pageantry were going to be much reduced as well. In this way and many others, the man was doing me a favour.
—
"Well met, Ser Lancel," I said, walking forward and stretching my arm out to clasp it with his.
"And you, Ser Laenor. It is a pleasure to meet the youngest knight in all the realm," he said in turn. I smiled at the compliment before he continued.
"Let's hope it goes better than it did the last time a dragon rider was the youngest knight in all the realm, eh?" he asked with a chuckle. Was this some sort of jokester? Or was he mocking me? Trying to piss me off? It was too hard to tell, so I just kept my placid smile on my face even as he kept our arms joined for just a bit longer.
I let go, and then he did the same with a nod. "And if I am not mistaken, this is the fairest maiden in all the realm," he said with a flourish and a bow in return for Laena's curtsy.
I waved my hand to the side, and one of my servants stepped forward with the bread and salt. That was one thing that was beginning to look up, thanks be to the Fourteen. Mother had sent us the staff needed to form the very beginning of a household here on Bloodstone, and it was a game-changer not having to wash my own clothes or deal with food made by sailors. The food wasn't plentiful because we were stuck shipping it in from Driftmark after Driftmark shipped it in from the Riverlands. It wasn't the best supply chain, all things considered, but it was passable. We'd probably have to begin buying food from the Slaver's Bay cities sooner or later to feed our growing population if things in the Reach didn't look up soon.
"Back in Lannisport, they sing songs of your beauty and tell tales of your grace and charm, but I must regrettably inform them that even their wildest creations fall short of the vision that you are to behold in person," he said, looking at my sister with the kind of look that made me want to put a knife in his eyes.
Thankfully, his snake mouth was busied with the bread and salt soon after, and I was ushering us off to the solar for a meeting.
—
"So my cousin said you wanted to meet to discuss hiring some staff from House Lannister," he said the moment he took his seat across from me.
"I want your best surveyors," I said, joining him in cutting straight to the point.
"For these islands? I doubt you'd find any gold," he replied. "I have an eye for such things, you see, and I'd be impressed if you found more than a few bare nuggets."
"Gold is far from the only thing that can be of value. Are your surveyors only trained to spot gold?" Because if they were, that would be another can of worms.
"Far from it. They are the best in the world at what they do. If there is anything of value under these islands of yours, they will find it," he said.
"Good."
"But then that leaves the matter of payment," he led on next. And this was the part that the in-person meeting was needed for.
"I will pay their wages while they are working for me at half again the rate you paid them, and pay you a facilitator's fee of one dragon per surveyor," I said, and he scoffed.
"Allow you to pay our surveyors more than we do? Do I look like a fool to you? You'll pay them just as much as we do and pay us two dragons per surveyor as a facilitation fee," he said. Of course, the prospect of giving more money to his people was the kind of thing that a Westerosi noble would be opposed to. He probably just didn't want me paying more than them so I couldn't poach them after the period ended… which, admittedly, was my plan.
"That is acceptable to me," I said.
"Then we have a deal, Ser Laenor," he said, rising and stretching his hand. I took it.
"If it is not too much of an imposition, could I have a tour of the islands? I admit to finding myself curious about what the islands look like now without the pirate occupation," he said. And I nodded. That was fine. There were things I wanted to check on myself.
"That is acceptable to me. We can sail out together on the morrow to look at things."
— TWO MONTHS LATER
"This is an amazing amount of progress to make in just two months, Nephew," Vaemond said, probably seeing the disappointment on my face. And the worst part was that he was right. I had just set my expectations way too high. These were people. And they couldn't just hit the ground running. There were a million things they had to do first to have in place before they could get any work done. Accommodation, feeding, clothes, and the like.
The Triarchy had given me the slaves just as negotiated, but they had done so with only the clothes on their back and the chains around their wrists. Even breaking said chains would not matter if I just started working them like horses. No, instead, we had to help them get settled first.
"It is indeed. But it just feels like not enough. The Triarchy is probably laughing at us now," I said. And that was the truth. They'd gotten the better of the deal, even after ostensibly giving me everything I wanted. And I couldn't even lean back on Driftmark as much as I would otherwise want to. Mother had given me this as a test, and admitting I couldn't handle it and needed help was just admitting failure.
"Let them laugh. I see the beginning of greatness here, Nephew. And if there is one thing my brother taught me, it's that greatness can't be rushed," he said.
"You're right," I admitted with a sigh.
"Well, there's no point in just watching them and doing nothing. Let's get to it, Uncle," I said, walking forward to join the builders as they worked on the row of houses. The slaves sleeping in tents were probably watching these buildings with no small amount of anticipation. The nights on these islands could have a biting chill to them.
A/N: And that's the chapter. Slow down, work in progress.Next six chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.