Oldtown

[AN:Marry Christmas]

(3months later mc's pov)

Unsurprisingly the Hightower was amongst the first things we saw from distance, a great spire jutting out in the distance against the green of the ever-expanding plains and the blue of the sea. Not long after that appeared the many vassal towers and domes of the Citadel and then the tall walls of the city. Lastly was the sprawl of the outer city which extended farther than the city walls could reasonably reach as was to be expected of a city so massive and ...old. After all not every city was a hellish abomination of city planning and all good reasoning like King's Landing.

As our little caravan made its way towards the gates of Oldtown proper I sighed in a more than a little relief.

Finally...the journey ended.

"We made it," I smiled.

"I do not understand your worry nephew," snorted uncle Gwayne Hightower next to me. "The Reach is one of the safest kingdom in the whole Westeros. You shall find no place as welcoming as the Oldtown."

"Your point?" I shot back. "Daemon is still out there with his dragon,don't forget he's been exiled again because of grandfather and he has no love for us. The safest kingdom in Westeros isn't safe at all if a fire breathing dragon comes from the sky, still too dangerous."

"As you say, but i find your worries are unnecessary, Daemon Targaryen mayhaps unpredictable but he would not lower himself to be a kinslyer." He said with a sigh.

You know nothing Gwayne Hightower.

Why are you siding with the man that almost broke your neck in the last tourney uncle? The man fucked his niece and boast about it to his brother. The rouge prince doesn't care if he's a dishonored person or not he would murder children if it serves his agenda. The next hit list of daemon is his own wife, I know he's going to murder that poor lady Royce.

Anyway I know the outcome and currently Viserys would never marry Rhaenyra to Daemon.

I thought it's pointless to inform Otto about it. Well everything is pointless at the moment.

I need to focus on how to present myself to the Hightowers.

Say what you will but roads in Europe during a similar era were not exactly safe.

Westeros? it's never safe.

Still we had had a surprisingly pleasant journey from King's Landing to Oldtown, made more pleasant but the fact that Otto hightower wanted to visit every single castle we could come across.

I would never thought that he would start his scheme's to replace Rhaenyra this early. Well , to be honest sleeping in a Lords castle is much better than sleeping in the camps. Also it's a good PR campaign.

And I loved the hospitality the Lords in this kingdom provided me the moment I became their guest. I could almost smell the hunger and ambition from every one of the them. And it disgusted me no less how much clingy their daughters were. Gods... some of them were in their 20 and unmarried also not prettier than my head maid/caretaker.

If i were a teenage boy, then I feared they would've forced me fathered few bastard by time I reached Oldtown.

Anyway...the storm has passed.

As it stood our 'little' convoy was composed of myself, uncle Gwayne, former hand of the king ser Otto, a dozen or so servants not my own choosing and twice that number in guards to dissuade any would be marauders.

The logistics of getting one side to another side of the continent is huge. And I have spent my journey wisely And done something good for the smallfolks, like smiling at them, talking to them blessing their children etc, I did this because I wanted the smallfolk to speak positively about me in future.

It also won me some good amounts brownie points with people, I had left a trail of children in my wake that would probably be speaking about the time that they were petted in the head by a prince of the realm until their dying breath.

The only mishap had been that I did not noticed that we were approaching some servants and guardsman were roasting a butchered Cow… oh that will not go great. Because I'm hungry and I believe all of our caravan as well.

As we got closer I noticed that our arrival was being expected which should probably not be any great surprise, I knew well enough that a royal visit was occasion for some fanfare so it was not too surprising that they would roll out the red carpet for a prince that was coming to stay for a considerable portion of his youth.

At the head of the formation was a youth atop a great white destrier and shining plate draped with hightower colours.

Well someone is fancy, I chuckled internally. Seriously, what could be more excessive than to ride the most expensive horse possible while decked out in armor so ornate that you might as well have equipped a dozen knights and it would have been cheaper.

"Either that is Lord Hightower or my mother's house is fond of wastefulness uncle Gwayne," I muttered.

That got a smile from Ser Gwayne it seems he knows that shining youth is.

"Oh ...rest assured you'll like him nephew ," uncle Gwayne commented. I envied how easily he can walk around clad in full armor the whole day without seeming to be bothered or even encumbered by it, hell the white palfrey he rode seemed more bothered by the load than he did.

"Well let us go greet him before he roasts to death trying to impress us," I laughed and the dutiful uncle speed up the horse by kicking it gently.

As my caravan scurried to catch up I rode up to greet my host though in actuality Ser Gwayne is the one that is riding, for my previous months with him at my literal back… it was not the best moment for my ego because I'm not safe enough age to ride yet.

After seeing that we speed up Lord of the Hightower or the heir to the Hightower urged his steed to move forward to meet us.

As he came closer I reassed my opinion that the man was not the lord of the Hightower. He looked entirely too young at maybe nearly twenty-, if I recalled my lessons then Ser Otto's brother Hobert Hightower should be about forty six whereas the man in front of me at most twenty. That could only means he is Lord Hoberts Grandson.

He had the same slightly rounded but otherwise regal features that I saw on most Hightowers with shoulder-length chestnut hair and a carefully trimmed beard to match.

"Greetings cousin!" the Hightower greeted as we met.

"Greetings cousin!" I smiled back.

Then he greeted uncle Gwayne and Otto.

And things that surprised me more is Otto hightower after greeting the young Hightower rode ahead with two of his guards and disappeared. Oh...i suppose he's going to report to his brother immediately about the situation in kingslanding.

We rode back to the main part waiting in front of throngs of people on either side of the street… huh, was not expecting them to get this carried away about my arrival.

As we rode slowly down the streets waving at the people shouting their greetings as the Hightower spoke to me from the side.

"We have not had a chance to meet, I am your cousin Ormund," He commented with a smile that was not directed at me so much as his pride in who he was. Not the best indicator but still, I felt like that name rung a bell.

Ormund, Ormund, hmm. Oh yes! The Lord Hightower during the Dance! The one that got killed by Roddy the Terminator, the ASOIAF version of the T-800.

It would really suck to learn that the most awesome moment of your life was defined by how awesome your killer was. And I hope that this time I could change that outcome by hunting down those winter wolves.

"Ah, of course cousin," I smiled brightly as I scanned the crowd. I made a point to make eye-contact as much as possible and nod, every passerby I make a good impression on is one less pitchfork after all. "It is a pleasure to meet you formally."

"You will have to pardon my grandfather for sending myself in his stead," Ormund said casually. "You might know that he is not a terribly vital man."

I lifted a brow, no I did not. "I did not know that Lord Hobert was infirm."

"Not as such," Ormund responded quickly. "He is prone to a bit of sickness lately but with a mind sharper than the sharpest blade of Valyria."

Yah Lord Hobert Hightower is definitely have the Palpatine vibe...

My eyes went immediately to the blade Ormund tapped as he said that. Vigilance yes? I would have to ask later, the chance to study a Valyrian steel sword would make this entire trip worthwhile as Blackfyre was kept locked up tight and I had not been allowed to 'play' with it and father only uses the blade when he needed to intimidate someone. And everyone knows where the Darksister is and I definitely in need of one those expensive toys.

As we rode on I took a closer look at the city that everyone in the books had practically been tripping over themselves to praise. It was pretty enough I would say, I did remind me of a cobblestone fetishist's idea of city planning but any planning at all was good. It was also fairly clean I would say because I did not see that much excrement from various members of the animal kingdom including humanity literally everywhere, which made it better than large swathes of King's Landing. Honestly it was as if the moment Mellos died everyone shouted, 'all clear!' and proceeded to do unspeakable things in the street.

So, by the standards of the bleak hell-pit otherwise known as King's Landing this was pretty solid. Still a massive vector of disease to be sure but at least this was as nice as a city of this development level could hope to be.

"Oldtown is truly lovely," I noted in truth.

That got a proud smile from Ormund, "Indeed, we pride ourselves on it. The loveliest city in the kingdoms if I do say so myself!"

His booming voice only exacerbated the man's bragging. Yet honestly it was not as irksome as Otto's silence, my grandfather is very annoying sometimes , maybe because Ormund managed to not come across someone as condescending as Otto hightower?

As uncle Gwayne said Ormund is a likeable character, This made me understand why Daeron the daring the most beloved child of Alicent hightower and my not born yet little brother would become under his tutelage.

As neither of us seemed eager to continue and we proceeded through the crowd I decided that there was really only one way to start a conversation.

"You will forgive me cousin," I said with a laugh as I scratched the back of my head. "I had forgotten that most do tend to find me odd."

I was not expecting what followed.

"Well I imagine that most would!" Ormund said quickly as he straightened himself straighter on his destrier and stuck out his chest a bit with a broad smile, "It is quite fortunate that we Hightowers are not such simpletons people."

Huh.

I guess phrasing things as a challenge are the best way to approach you.

"Then it seems that the better choice was indeed the Hightower over the High Tide or Dragonstone or any other!" I said with an equally broad smile. That was sort of true in its own fashion.

"Indeed cousin!" I was sure if I stroked his ego a bit more he would literally explode. "You will find the Hightower as welcoming to you as King's Landing. No! Better in fact for you will only find kin within the tower's walls!"

He's like a discount Mace Tyrell.

And there it is. It had not been lost on me or any of the court in fact that I had more or less been sent here for the sole purpose of getting me so green that I would have to sing a modified cover of a Ramin Djawadi's Game of thrones main theme.

Ah I would be called back a year later for Rhaenyra's wedding. I need a plan to avoid going back to kingslanding at least for a decade.

Mmm I'll just act sick it will be a excuse enough for me to stay and I'll make sure to send my mother a stunning Green dress. I do have all of my pocket after all.

I needed time to create a lot of stuff from my old world. cheaper Glass, compass, printing machines, well designed Ships. Better steel weapons, better Farming tools.

By the time I returned to paying attention Ormund was still talking about the glories of House Hightower. He would have made a good PR guy in another world.

…

As I said from afar the Hightower looked big, from up close? It stops being big and starts being 'how the bloody hell did you make this?' As we got off the first of the ferries and made our way up the massive stair from the main dock to the tower proper I was struck by the sheer scale of it.

In fact I was so struck that it was not until we were a fair ways up the steps that I managed to tear my eyes away from the massive monument to overcompensation to notice the small army of Hightower servants and Hightowers proper awaiting us atop it.

Once again it was not hard to pick out the head Hightower. Hobert Hightower was a thinner version of Ormund and honestly had more grey in his hair and lines on his face than a man of his age should. To be expected given that Ormund would be the lord in sixteen years at the very most I supposed.

I went to my default and smiled brightly as I reached the top step.

"Greetings Lord Hightower, Or should call you grand uncle?" I made as polite a bow as etiquette suggested, a royal is only allowed to bow so low after all.

"Greetings my prince, You can call me Hobert if want." his voice was reedier than his grandson's but still had that same weirdly gregarious quality to it yes definitely giving off the Palpatine vibe.

"My thanks for taking me on as your page," I smiled.

Lord Hightower smiled. "Nonesense my prince Raemond. I thank you for letting this old man pass on chivalry another future knight."

That got way too many approving gestures from the crowd, the Reach and its hard on for chivalry. Which was a lot like taking a vow of celibacy in a brothel really, actually that sounded far too benign. It was more like swearing of drugs before taking a dive into a sea composed of concentrated hallucinogens tailored to induce a propensity for incest and pedophilia.

yah pedophile like Daemon.

That led to veritable barrage of introductions and later feasting which I would hazard a guess had absolutely nothing to do with becoming a page. As it turns out there were about thirty plus living Hightowers at the moment along with a dozen or so representatives of their seven vassal lordly houses in addition to more knightly houses than I cared to recall. It was unnerving how alright they all were with my nature, probably jockeying for favor with Hobert who was in turn jockeying for the Green's. I really appreciated this but as exhaustion began to catch up with me.

Honestly it felt like an eternity before they remembered that I was bone-tired and wanted to find my room.

Not long after I thanked my hosts and turned in for the night. They had been gracious enough to provide me with rooms that I suspected had been explicitly prepared for me. It was a large set of apartments located right atop the second of the three segments of the tower with a ramp leading to the top which would suit me very well for at least a few years. It's presence along with the style of the walls and the proportions of the furniture made me suspect that they renovated everything for my use.

I was sort of flattered but also kind of embarrassed because I was fairly certain that I would not be able to do what they expected me to do but I'll have to do it regardless.

I smiled as I looked over the letters I had prepared for my family, one for Mother and a far simpler one for little Aegon. I had promised them all that I would write at least once a week and I was not one to break a promise when possible.

It did make me a bit unhappy to see what letters were not present. I saw little point in writing to Viserys, the man had given the permission to shipped me off with no bargain, and he was able and rarely dined to notice my existence when it was not useful or I threatened his perpetual delusions. Certainly, writing to Aemond and Helaena would be similarly pointless, the little terror is still a babe and poor little Hela was scared of me. Neither could read yet in any case. I did wish I was on better terms with them though.

It would do me little good to think too much about that, Viserys was not worth the effort and I could bond with the other two later.

I dug through my pack a dug up two of my last acquisitions before leaving King's Landing. It was a small request that I had been granted but I thought it was worth the trouble.

I heated the ivory-coloured wax stick over the candle a dripped some judiciously on each folded up letter before stamping them each with my seal.

I smiled with a bit too much pride at seeing my own sigil, a black dragon's head with its green eyes and greenflames the same dragon of my dreams. I could not tell if it was smiling or attempting to intimidate which in its own way was suitable.

I probably would have gotten more sleep that night if the dreams didn't go into full 'roller-coaster 'mode.