Chapter Forty Two

Thirteenth day, Third Moon, 251 AC (+4 days)

I stretched my neck as I sat, hunched over the table, writing a variety of letters while my family sat around playing games before they went to bed.

It had been another long day of work, overseeing the construction and prep work, and I needed to finish these letters by tomorrow so that the messenger could take them for me. I needed to write some introductory letters to the Lords of the North, as well as some merchants and tradespeople.

The letters to the lords, for the most part, were simple enough things.

To the right honorable Lord Karstark,

I greet you, as the newly elevated Master of House Ragnar, of whom Lord Edwyle Stark so generously recognized some few moons ago, and I wished to convey upon you my best wishes. I, unfortunately, will not be attending this fall's gathering at Winterfell, as I am needed here in my newly appointed lands to bring together its peoples and forge together a strong land, free from the predations of the Ironborn. The good House of Glover and Mormont to the north of my lands have kept my lands free from small raids of wildings, just as the entire North, led by William Stark, protected us from the despicable Raymun Redbeard, the so-called King-Beyond-the-Wall. It is my intention, in writing this letter, to seek both your advice and acquaintance. I would be grateful to you if you were willing to impart any knowledge or advice on how I can best protect my lands and serve Lord Stark.

In lieu of attending the fall gathering, I instead gift to you a most excellent drink of my own creation, in hopes that you will enjoy it. I have taken to calling it vodka, though many have called it by another name, Northern Water. I find it best enjoyed in small cups and drunk quickly, for it packs quite the punch.

I look forward to meeting you in person at the next fall gathering, or old gods willing, sooner.

May the old gods bless you, and your family.

-Michael Ragnar, Master of House Ragnar.

The letters were overly florid in my opinion, but Maester Erwyn had instructed me in my lessons that such things were required. Most of the letters were almost identical, especially to the Houses that I was not likely to interact with. Houses like Karstark, Umber, Bolton, and other small Houses that were quite the distance away and held no real resource I needed.

Other Houses, such as Manderly, Glover, Mormont, Tallhart, and Ryswell, had different, more personalized letters. To the Ryswells I talked of horses; Glover of trade; Mormont of ships and trade; Tallhart of future opportunities in mining and trade; and Manderly of trade and naval expertise. With all the letters, I sent a small barrel of vodka, to both give a gift, and to create a market. I hoped that if they tried it, and liked it, they and their vassals would buy more, and hopefully trickle down to their peasants. Unfortunately, I did not have enough brandy to gift to the lords, so I made do with the vodka.

For the merchants and tradespeople, I had a few different types of letters. One was to the blacksmith in White Harbor that had made my cast iron stove; another was a wheelwright I had done business with before, one was for a bowyer, a fletcher, a shoemaker, and an experienced miner. Tradespeople were essential to a growing city, especially once people become more specialized in their jobs, and forego making everything themselves. We were making do for now, but our demands for goods was only going to increase, and we needed people dedicated to specific jobs, and I needed them to be damn good at it too.

Mining was simple enough now, but we had yet to truly dig deep, and we had no one experienced in such a thing. Same with a weapon and armor-smith, as we currently had enough training weapons, but we did not have enough armor or real weapons for all our recruits.

Arrows we had enough for now, but as my military expanded, so would my need for arrows. Having someone dedicated to that, as well as making bows, would be vital in the coming years. Especially since I was considering something along the lines of medieval England, with their longbows. Most people in the region owned their own bows for hunting, so I hoped that would make for an easier transition to longbows. I still needed to figure out an incentive scheme for that though.

Most of my letters to the tradespeople were to people I had met, inquiring if they would be willing to come and work for me, or if failing that, they would recommend someone to the role.

The letters to the merchants, on the other hand, were centered mainly around food. I was doing my best to keep food coming to the city, especially since the new arrivals had little in the way of saved food for the coming winter. Further, I had hoped to distribute my own store of food next summer to many different farms so that crop rotation could begin.

Of which, Koryn had completed his training program the other day, and when he came to me, I had a realization. Targeting the farmers in the area, was by far the more crucial task. I needed to expand the regions food production quickly, so Koryn was instead talking to the farmers in the region, few as they were, and only talking to the larger (for some definition of the word) villages about the rest of the program. His task was so large, he conscripted some of his and Zane's eldest children to the task, and even then, this would likely continue in the winter.

The goal was to have as much farmland as possible, come next summer, under plow with the four-crop rotation method. Hopefully, that would secure our food supply and allow me to focus on money-making.

Still, the situation wasn't all bad. A few more people had trickled in, though I didn't expect any more as winter approached, and Lord Stark's tax collectors had come by and dropped off the payment. It had been well received and quieted many people's fears about going hungry.

It led to a bit of a funny situation. I paid my workers in coin, and then they turned around and paid my back to coin for the goods I owned, such as iron and food. It was amusing to see the money moving like that, but I knew it to be a good thing. Nyra had told me that I ought to keep the money and just hand out the goods directly as payment, but I knew that wasn't the best option. I was no economist or banker, but I knew that money movement was important to an economy, and that switching people from a barter-oriented society to coin-oriented was best.

I was shaken from my thoughts as I felt Nyra wrap her arms around me from behind. She kissed me softly on my temple and said, "Those are some deep thoughts, for so late at night, my love."

I sighed. "Yes, they are. I was just finishing up writing these letters, as they need to go out tomorrow."

"Are you done them?"

"Yes, finally," I replied. I took a look around the room, only to find it empty. "Where did the kids go?"

"Bed," she responded. "Ryden has been asleep for a few hours already, his training has left him exhausted, and the others followed half an hour ago. You've been deep in thought for quite a while."

I leaned back in the chair and slid it out from the table. Nyra took the opportunity to come around and sit on my lap. She burrowed into my chest to capture the heat of my body as I wrapped my arms around her. "He's quite taken with the training, and doing well, according to Donovar."

"Yes, he is," Nyra said, proudly. The light from the lantern on the table was cast over her face as she looked up at me. "After the Ironborn attack, he has become determined to not let it happen again. At least not while he was unable to do anything about it."

I let out a sigh. "I know, I just wished he didn't have to. I don't like the thought of him on a battlefield."

"It won't be as bad as you're thinking. He will be fully armored, in the best available, so he won't have to worry so much about getting hurt."

"Armor isn't perfect you know," I retorted.

Nyra rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious; it isn't. And I still have to decide on how to arm and armor all my men."

"I know, but it helps me sleep."

Ah. We sat in silence for a while, before she spoke again. "So, you are determined then, about the house words?"

I gave her a wry grin. "Yes. 'Who Dares, Wins' will be our words."

She gave a low chuckle. "Pity."

"I know, but I still hope to salvage something with the Ironborn. 'Reap What You Sow' can be our unofficial words. Like the Lannister's 'A Lannister Always Pays Their Debts.'"

"I suppose it will have to do." She gave out a light groan as she stood up and stretched. She reached a hand out to me and said, "Come, my husband. Bed awaits."