Stannis II (ASOS)

The rightful king, Stannis Baratheon was sitting with a small audience of people, including his son Jacob sitting on his right side and the Lady Melisandre on his left.

The climate on the Wall was getting to his bones, and it didn't make him feel any different than he was towards the small audience of brothers from the Watch.

"What is taking so long, why haven't you chosen a new Lord Commander yet?" The king gritted between his teeth.

The main brothers of the Watch in this audience were Ser Denys Mallister, Cotter Pyke, Samwell Tarly, another brother by the name of Bowen Marsh, and Maester Aemon, as the Tarly boy was there to provide assistance to the aging maester.

Another familiar face present was Janos Slynt, the former commander of the City Watch. He was a snivelling, and honourless schemer who wanted to rise high; his methods were of bribery and betrayal to get what he wanted.

The king's son glared at Slynt with a sharp stare, knowing his son had all the power in the world to get a bit of vengeance on the man, for what he had done to Ned Stark and the Seven Kingdoms.

"No one has achieved two thirds of the vote yet." The black brother named Marsh explained.

"I don't have time for delays; you must choose your next commander by nightfall."

"Excuse me, Your Grace. My royal counsel would be most useful in such deliberations." Slynt says in a tone; the king hears from the courtiers in King's Landing.

Slynt's proclamation made some of the Black brothers angry, and rightfully so. Janos Slynt would make a poor consoler, as it was evidenced in how the Imp was the one, who sent him to the Wall in the first place.

"The Night's Watch has always chosen their own leader." Maester Aemon pointed out.

"Slynt would make a terrible Lord Commander, with his history of bribery, spreading ugly rumours and betraying hands of the king." The prince sniggered.

"That is all lies." Slynt protested.

"I saw the evidence of your crimes; I would have you executed if I was king than Robert." The king replies.

"A man's past transgressions are wiped clean when he joins the Watch." The maester said.

"Maybe, but others will still remember those transgressions very clearly." The prince said calmly.

"The Watch cannot help you in your contest for the throne." Ser Denys spoke out.

"I do not require that, but I want some of your castles, as well as the Gift." King Stannis assured.

"The Gift was given to the Watch in perpetuity." Bowen Marsh protested, as he looked to be threatened by the king's presence.

"What do you mean to do with the Gift, Your Grace?" Cotter Pyke asked.

"I mean to make better use of it than you." The king replies in a stony tone, "I intend to restore the other ruins on the Wall, and to help the Watch guard the Wall against whatever it out there."

"There is a war for life itself, and if you fail, my king the world dies." Lady Melisandre interjects.

Prince Jacob rolled his eyes, at the proclamation as he didn't believe in Melisandre's visions. Stannis knew his son to be sceptical of anything the Red Woman said, but he wasn't alone in his thoughts.

"Is it the War for the Dawn you speak of, my lady?" Maester Aemon asked, "If it's true, then where is the promised prince?"

"He stands before you. Stannis Baratheon is Azor Ahai come again, the warrior of fire. In him the prophecies are fulfilled. The red comet blazed cross the sky to herald his coming, and he bears Lightbringer, the red sword of heroes."

The declaration made Stannis feel uncomfortable, as it was his son that should be the shining hero.

The king didn't believe he was Melisandre's chosen hero, as he was only a man of flesh and blood.

"All of you are excused, a part from Tarly and Maester Aemon. They should remain." The king said, as most of the brothers excited the main keep.

Jacob had his hand placed on his head in boredom, as this is what he will have to contend with when he rules the Seven Kingdoms, having to listen to many people and their problems. It was a life Stannis prepared for his son.

"Is it true, Samwell. You killed the Other with dragonglass?" The prince asked, in a different tone he used towards Slynt.

"It is frozen fire, my king. The small weapon was able to kill one of the cold children." Melisandre replies.

"I have ordered the mining of obsidian to begin on Dragonstone, where there are rich deposits of the mineral." The king stated.

"The dagger shattered when I tried to stab the wight with it." Samwell said nervously, as the young man was finding his confidence.

"Wights are only dead flesh come alive, but the Others are something more." The Red Woman replied.

"What of the passage through the Black Gate at Nightfort, the one you and the wilding girl found? I intend to make the castle my new seat, and you must show it to me?" The King said, in the usual iron tone he uses when talking to people.

"I don't know if it will open for a man, not of the Watch, but I will agree to show you the castle?"

"I ask to see Lightbringer, I want to know what it looks like." Maester Aemon asked.

"You are blind, Maester." The prince said.

"Samwell will be my eyes."

The king reluctantly draws out Lightbringer to see it shine like the sun's rays on the water. He didn't like having to pretend to be something he wasn't, but if it gave the blind maester a bit of peace of mind, then so be it.

"The sword glows like sunshine on water, Maester Aemon." Samwell tells the maester.

"The two of you are to be excused, and the Watch had better have chosen a Lord Commander by nightfall." The king said, giving the ultimatum.

As the Tarly boy and Maester Aemon exit, Stannis turned to his son, who had a glum look on his face. He had begun to sit up straight, with the coldness of his eyes on the king.

The king was not pleased with the lack of attention his son had upon these deliberations with the Watch, it seems the journey from Dragonstone and the battle has tired him out.

The Lady Melisandre made her leave out of the main keep, as well because she respectfully wanted the king to talk with his heir alone.

"Do such deliberations bore you, Jacob or are you in your own world?" The king growled between his teeth.

"You shouldn't interfere in matters that do not concern us." Prince Jacob replied.

"The Watch are incapable of choosing a leader after Lord Mormont's death."

"Like Maester Aemon said, father. The Watch choose their own, whether you like or not, maybe it's the cold getting to you." The prince japed.

"You want to make japes at me, you think you are funny. Robert would have laughed at that insipid joke." The king gritted between his teeth again.

"The whole teeth grinding habit is unsightly father, even Uncle Renly said one day your teeth with shatter completely."

"Renly was immature and an ostentatious fool, never taking his position of Maester of Laws seriously, and he thought he could be a king." The king said, in a tone the prince never hears regularly.

"The decision you gave Jon, it's a complicated one. It conflicts with his sense of honour and duty, if he does refuse the offer, he will be a great asset to us. Especially with the eventual choosing of my northern wife."

"What do you truly think of him, Ned Stark's bastard?" The king asks.

"I believe Jon is trustworthy, unlike some of the other brothers on the Wall, a part from Samwell."

"You know the women of the North, since you have been there and feasted among their lords."

"Not as well as Jon. I was only a visitor, and Jon was born and raised in the North. He knows everything about the region, and it will be helpful to us."

"You value him a little too much, Jacob. I understand because he is one of your last friends left, as the others have become our enemies and others have died."

"I thought you would belittle me for being too caring, as it's not your style, father."

"After the voyage and making myself known on the Wall. I have thought things through, you are a man and you make your own choices. No matter how old you are, you will always be my son."

Stannis was used to Jacob being outspoken, and wanting to ask questions. It was in his nature to be curious and to find out things, it was what made him a great player in the game of thrones. He questioned a lot of things he thought were wrong.

Like the sacrifice of Edric Storm and how the Queen's Men painted the Red Wedding in their view.

The king blamed it on the years Robert made him foster in Highgarden with the ambitious Tyrells, where his son learned how to play the game of thrones, and knew about the overlords of the Reach in a personal manner.

Jacob's knowledge of the Tyrells was valuable to Stannis, as they were allied with the Lannisters and needed them out of the way to seize the Iron Throne.

"This time on the Wall will not be forever, we must take back the North and gain another army to fight the Lannisters. The Boltons rule the North, as the Starks are all gone, a part from two missing girls. What was Jacob's gain, hiding the younger one in the Vale?"

"Have you seen the Nightfort, father? it's a bit of a ruin, Jon showed me and you plan to make that your new seat?" The prince questioned.

"The castle can be restored, and this new seat is only short term. Until we have a plan to scrub the North clean of Boltons and Ironborn."

"I'm looking forward to beating down some Ironborn, after all the stories Uncle Robert told me about them, and how they were fierce fighters who used axes and sharp knives to fight."

"Don't get too overconfident, you may have beaten down wildings beneath the Wall, but you haven't been face to face with warriors, whom honour is as foreign to them as the Seven."

"We are the last male progenies of the Baratheon trueborn line, no matter what those idiots out there think, the future of our house rests upon whomever will be my wife."

This made Stannis think, as what Jacob said were one of the reasons why he kept fighting for the Iron Throne, and never wanted to give up. It was because he and Jacob were the last trueborn Baratheons left in the Seven Kingdoms.

The king knew his wife Selyse never agreed to marrying off their only son to a northerner, but it was the only way they could secure a long term alliance with the North. The cold region had unwed daughters, whom one of them could be Queen.

"Love is a fickle thing, Jacob. You were lucky to end things with the Redwyne woman, when you had the chance."

"She isn't my concern anymore, she and her family are traitors who will be dealt with. I don't care about her anymore, as securing your rule is more important than some silly girl from the Reach, who had delusions of marrying me."

"Good, your marriage arrangements will be discussed, after I talk with the new Lord Commander."

As the talks between father and son continued, the doors burst open for a black brother to come in, and announce. "A new Lord Commander has been chosen. Your Grace."

"Who has been chosen?" The prince asked, in the iron tone the king would use.

"Jon Snow, Your Grace. He has been elected with a unanimous vote to lead the Watch."

"You should go and congratulate him, Jacob. Your presence might make him trust you more than he does of me." The king said, as his son stood from his seat to leave with the black brother.

The king began to ponder in his own thoughts of how his son had shown the makings of a king, and was coming out of his idealistic, whimsical shell, and was becoming the man he didn't expect his son to become.

This could be the start of rebuilding his relationship with his heir; it could be as strong as it was during the War of the Five Kings, or will their newly formed relationship make them even stronger than once before.