Chapter 97
You were swiftly escorted to the young man you wished to see by two of Watermoon's knights, and Lord Palno was just that, young, he sat from what you could tell in the worst spot he could have been in as far as ages were concerned. Too young to demand any respect with his collected deeds and honours while he was just old enough that he naturally knew everything of importance in the world, probably much to the chagrin of his advisors and tutors alike.
Though that being said, he nevertheless had the manners expected of his station, and it seemed that his mind contained enough common sense that he had still successfully managed to doubt his abilities after everything that happened. You took it as a good sign, as you understood that this truly wasn't a reaction often witnessed in this part of the world, as most of the rebellions that had broken out on Westeros in the past had pretty much always ended in one-sided bloodshed.
And the few times when the bloodshed wasn't one-sided the realm ended up torn apart in legendary times of suffering, especially so when the rebellion involved the Crown and with it the dragons of House Targaryen. Even the Starks and their vassals who were lorded as some of the most righteous lords in the realm would have probably put the rebels to the sword to secure order before they would have reflected upon what they had done wrong which Lord Palno apparently disagreed with, a good sign indeed.
...
"Greetings, my Lord."
"Welcome to Watermoon, Lady Waydner, it's a pleasure to meet you, though I fear the first impression was a rather poor one, we hadn't expected your arrival for quite a few days else we would have provided you with an escort."
"No need to worry, my Lord, I heard that quite a few places in the realm currently struggle a bit with the chaos, and the knight I brought along has made sure I reached you safely."
"Speaking of escorts, might I inquire where your men and luggage currently are, so we can swiftly accommodate them?"
"The men you're speaking of are as of yet still on the ship you were expecting, I was already in the Vale when I was tasked with representing the Westerlands and House Lannister in the Eyrie for the time being."
"Hmm, interesting, you have my thanks for the explanation, my Lady."
"I'm glad that I could be of some help to you, though I have a question of my own concerning your City and its current state, since House Lannister might decide to support the Vale through Nora's harbour."
"So to get to the point and save the both of us some time, I would ask you what exactly House Palno can do, or plans to do in the future, to resolve the current situation?"
"In truth I hadn't planned to do much of anything about it, the current chaos might have resulted in a lot of damage and suffering, but I don't see a way in which introducing armed knights into the situation would really improve it."
"I left our captain of the guard and some of his men out there to act as a neutral party that channeled their anger in a way that made it less volatile, I'm sure you can still smell what I'm referring to, but again, I have no desire to rekindle the fire."
...
"I hope you will forgive me if the words I'm about to speak are taken as an insult or something along those lines, but I heard this all started when you decided to renew the whitewash of Watermoon."
"It's a little difficult for me to associate this plan you apparently had with the words you spoke a moment ago, I hope you aren't playing me for a fool, my Lord."
"I think your mistrust in this matter is understandable, so I can't really take offence to what you said, my Lady."
"Though while the plan behind why I ordered what I did was admittedly lacking, I'm not as maliciously incompetent as the results admittedly can make it seem."
"Well, it's not my place to question you about your quite clearly misbegotten plans, but please be so good and indulge me with your reasoning, I still can't grasp it."
"Well, your persistence is quite enticing, so I will indulge you with pleasure, my Lady"
"Even with half of it being reduced to rubble, Nora is actually as well if not better defended than it was before the Mountain Clans crawled out of their holes."
"So there was little reason to sizably reinforce the defences since they were always up to the task and the process of doing so would have taken so long that all proceeding raids no matter their size would have long been dealt with."
"Here in Watermoon we still trust in House Arryn's ability to defend the Vale, it was also why the refugees you probably saw before were let into Nora."
"Order will inevitably be restored, in the worst case the Crown would need to interfere and mayhaps they already decided to do so without our knowledge, but if you look at all of this without the fear these refugees hold things will work out."
"Which of course means that the task of House Palno, and with it my priorities are not the same as those of the Smallfolk, there's no reason to please the gods for better fortune or reinforce defences if House Arryn fields knights while the Mountain Clans field glorified raiding parties."
"You speak of their invasion in a rather concerning mix between present and past, as if it was a problem but was also dealt with already, as I understand it you aren't concerned with the words of these refugees, but when was the last time you received information reliable enough to actually act upon, my Lord?"
"Do they truly seem so out of date to you?"
"Well, I can see this matter has claimed your interest, and I suppose I would be quite the miserable host if I left this desire of yours unsated."
"Ignoring what we picked up from merchants and the like, the last official contact we had with the Eyrie happened when Lord Arryn instructed us to raise our banners with some basic information of what Houses had already claimed contact with the Mountain Clans."
"If that's the case, would you be interested in learning some of what House Lannister picked up about the happenings in the Vale, my Lord?"
"You did indulge me, so it would be only fair if I did the same, no strings attached of course."