8 No spies allowed here, My Lord

OldTown; The Reach; sixth moon of 97 AC

Hobert Hightower, Lord of The Hightower, Beacon of the South, Defender of Oldtown; Defender of The Citadel; Lord of Oldtown; Lord of The Port; Voice of Oldtown, entered the gates of the Citadel, uncertain of why the conclave requested his presence. Hobert had enough problems without the Citadel bringing more to his shoulders; most of these problems came from his vassals complaining about the lack of gold due to the North's sudden food prosperity. The North could now feed half of their people, which meant they were only buying half of what they used to, and consequently, breaking the fragile balance in The Reach's economy. House Hightower itself wasn't affected as much as the other houses, as House Hightower's gold mainly came from trade.

Two acolytes guided Herbert toward The Conclave's meeting room; Herbert entered the room and saw fifteen Maesters with masks of different colors sitting at a circular table in silence; Hobert saw one empty chair and sat on it.

" Wellcome, Lord Hightower. The conclave is happy that you have accepted our offer to join us in this important meeting." The Maester with a silver mask said

" Please… let us not waste time here, Maester. I have had many problems lately; I still have a lot of them, so as sooner I know what problem Citadel has, the sooner I can begin to work on solving it." Hobert said, and Silver-masked Maester nodded

" Very well, Lord Hightower. We are here to discuss the North, its newfound prosperity, and the new Lord of Skagos." The Silver Masked one said

" Very well… However, I have a question, why is it that I haven't heard any information on The North? Skagos specially… How could Lord Dovahkiin hide a City bigger than Oldtown for so long? Don't you have a Maester there?" Hobert asked furiously. House Hightower as protector of the Citadel, had the right to know things like this to better prepare itself should something go wrong.

" We do have a Maester up there; however, he is not answering our ravens; the only reports he sends are the ones of taxes payments and the births of Dovahkiin's children. We tried substituting him, but Lord Dovahkiin refused to let any other Maester on his island. We tried in vain to get spies there, but they were all found out. Some did return but with little to no information. Curiously enough, the only people killed were the spies; the merchants we used as decoys were allowed to venture into Skagos and sell their goods. They came back talking about Giants and Children of the Forrest, of how beautiful the city Winterhold was, and how many people lived there." The Maester with a black iron mask said; his voice emotionless

" So essentially, we are blind in Skagos. The information we have doesn't come from spies but from dumbfounded merchants. Lord Dovahkiin has Ice Dragons, something we know because he showed them the realm; he has a large fleet capable of destroying pirates as a fun pastime, something we know because of one pirate ship that managed to escape the slaughter and warned the other pirates on the stepstones. His island has 600.000 people living there… something we know because he said to the King. Is that it?" Hobert asked, his voice dangerously low, showing his disappointment.

" Yes… but it gets worse. We haven't gotten any important information from The North in a long time. The last big information we had was that Lord Stark asked that all his vassals build roads connecting their keeps and towns to the Kingsroad. Kingsroad, which House Stark and Dovahkiin paid to reform, using something called " Cyrodilic concrete.", " Skagossi concrete" or simply "liquid stone.". The Northern Lords like always followed the Starks of Winterfell's words like sheep, even if some of them disliked that. The whole road endeavor might've just proved valuable as the income and taxes from the North increased significantly, and we believe the roads greatly impacted it." The Gold masked Maester said

" Stop… stop just a second… are you saying THE WHOLE North has gone silent. Are you telling me that the Maesters in every Castle in the North simply stopped sending vital information and that now we are blind to whatever is happening up there?" Hobert asked dumbfounded

" No… we don't think they have just stopped sending import information; we believe someone is intercepting the ravens with vital information, both the ones coming from the North to the Conclave and the ones coming from the conclave for the North." Said the Silver Masked Maester

" What about spies? Surely Lord Dovahkiin couldn't have killed all spies in The North." Hobert asked

" No… he hasn't. However, getting spies inside the North was always a difficult task. They don't usually give important positions or household positions to someone from the south, and getting Northman spies is honestly more difficult than making a southern man get an important role in some Northen Lord court." The Bronze masked Maester said

" Do we have any information on the North at all?" Hobert asked

" Not many things… we know many Lords are using the "Liquid Stone" to reform their castles. An extremely non-reliable source said Lord Stark asked Lord Dovahkiin to sell "liquid stone" to all Lords with Castles on the western coast at a nonprofit price to fortify the western cost against the Ironborn reavers; in exchange Lord Stark gave Lord Dovahkiin eight years of tax exemption on "liquid stone," to begin whenever Dovahkiin decides to sell the "liquid stone" in the south." The Golden masked Maester said

" A source near Oldcastle reported a big construction in the neck; the source affirmed thousands of workers, a few giants, and mammoths began digging in the lands of the Neck. However, the said source hasn't reported in moons; we believe it was compromised," The Iron masked Maester said

" Another source reported that Lord Stark has sent miners and scouts up the North's mountains. We don't know why. However, we believe it is due to this "liquid stone"… maybe the Northen mountains are filled with an essential component." The Silver masked Maester began, " But the most important thing we know is that… there is a chance Lord Dovahkiin will betroth his daughter to Lord Stark's heir. It will all come down to if the girl is agreeable to the match." The Silver masked Maester said

" What is this liquid stone thing? What does it do?" Hobert asked, and the room went silent

" The name is self-explanatory… it's a liquid that turns into stone after some time. The Valyrians had something similar, but the recipe is still a mystery." The Valyrian Steel masked one said

" That is good, but what do you want me to do with all this information? I can't simply walk inside Skagos and demand answers to questions we shouldn't be asking." Hobert asked mockingly

" We agree, Lord Hightower. However, you can place a spy there… through marriage. Your brother has a daughter of similar age to Lord Dovahkiin's son… only six years apart. We could have her spy for us from the inside." The Silver masked one said, and this time it was Hobert's time to go silent

" Lord Dovahkiin's not going to accept, nor will Otto. He has plans for his daughter; he will not send her North to marry a barbarian just because he's good at catching spies." Hobert said, and the Silver Masked one nodded slowly

" The only option we see is asking more gold from House Hightower so we can train White Ravens… they would be able to outsmart any bird hunting them." The Gold Masked one said

" Send the numbers to my Maester… I will see if my coffers can bare the cost. Is that all?" Hobert asked

" No, we have other topics to discuss; the maester of Casterly Rock reported…." The Gold-masked Maester began, and Hobert realized this little meeting would take a few hours.

Kingslanding; Crownlands; sixth moon of 97 AC

Grand Maester Allar walked towards the small council room with a displeased expression carved on his old face; his eyes were dark due to the lack of sleep, and his breath was heavy due to old age.

Grandmaester Allar entered the small council to find almost everyone already there except for The King and Queen of the seven kingdoms. The Lord Hand was seated patiently on his chair, waiting for the King to arrive. The master of whispers and master of laws talked to each other calmly, and the master of ships held a no-nonsense expression as he wrote things on a piece of paper.

Allar couldn't care about any of them; he wanted nothing but a quiet night. Ever since the blasted Skagossi lord used magic to turn him into a bloody goat, he dreamed about being a goat; no night went by without him having a nightmare about the Giant barbarian coming back to transform him into a rat. The only thing that helped him was the milk of the poppy, but even that only made the dreams a little less pleasant.

The King and Queen entered the room gracefully, followed by their son Baelon. The Crown prince sat by his mother's side and quietly waited for the King to start the meeting.

" Very well; let us start this week's council meeting." The King began as he looked at the Master of Coins, " The year has reached its sixth moon; which means we are halfway through it… how will taxes be for this year, Lord Beesbury?" The King asked

" The taxes for Vale, Westerlands, and Stromslands will remain almost the same as the last year, with a small increase in taxes from Gulltown, mainly due to the Manderlyn fleet selling Skagossi gems and silver jewelry there. The Riverlands will yield more gold than usual due to Skagos buying sand from their riverbanks-" The Master of Coins, Lord Beesbury, began but was interrupted

" Skagos is buying sand from the riverbanks of the Riverlands? Why? The North has many beaches with sand. Why would they need to buy sand from the Riverlands? " Prince Baelor asked

" According to Lord Tully and Blackwood, Lord Seasworth and a man that identified himself as "Collge Apprentice Jon" went to negotiate on Lord Dovahkiin's behalf and mentioned that the sand needed to be from rivers only and not from sea beaches." The Master of whispers replied calmly

" Still, it does explain why he would need to go to the Riverlands… the North has rivers as well." Prince Baelor said

" This Jon boy mentioned that most riverbanks in the North are made of a mixture of clay and sand, and it would be difficult to separate clay from sand and that the Riverlands riverbanks have high-quality sand. The Riverlords tried to get an over-the-line deal but were shut off when Lord Seasworth said Dorne could provide the same kind of sand and that that closed the deal… as no Lord in the Riverlands wanted to lose a trade agreement to the Dornish." The master of Whispers said, and Prince Baelor nodded

" You may continue, Lord Beesbury," King Jaehaerys said

" The Reach's taxes will suffer a little this year due to the lack of Northern interest in buying their grains; however, due to the trade agreement with Pentos, the Reach Lords will be able to recuperate most of their revenues… the projections for the following year would return to normal, the Reach Lords would get less gold, but their taxes should remain the same as the taxes on exportation are a little higher. The Reach's economic balance will remain balanced, however less lucrative than before… still more fruitful than the Vale, Riverlands, Stormlands… and perhaps The North…. Then there is the North; The North taxes this year will be higher than ever. Trade is booming there; something happened, and suddenly, their domestic trade increased by more than 150%," Lord Beesbury said.

" Really? That is surprising… why is domestic trade suddenly booming in The North? I thought the Northern settlements were so far away from each other that domestic trade was pretty rare," Prince Baelor asked

" I don't have an answer for that… Your Highness," Lord Beesbury said

" It's probably due to those "liquid stone" roads." Grand Maester Allar said, and the room went silent

" Liquid Stone?" Asked Kings Jaehaerys.

" Yes, Your Grace. The Master of Whispers brought the roads to our attention two years ago… Your Grace surely recalls that…." The Grand Maester began

" Yes, I do remember the talks about roads… I even gave the North a 15% tax exemption. My memory does not fail me, Grand Maester. Your's, however, might be failing you, as you didn't mention anything about Liquid Stone." King Jaeharys said calmly

" Well… I must apologize then, Your Grace. The North's roads are made of Liquid Stone. House Dovahkiin produces and sells the Liquid Stone called by them "Cyrodilic Cement.". The liquid stone does the same as the Valyrian liquid stone did." Grand Maester said, masterfully hiding the fact he was withholding information from the King

" Is Lord Dovahkiin selling the Liquid Stone in the South? Perhaps we could buy from him to help us in the construction of the Red Keep." The King asked

" So far, he hasn't sold any Liquid Stone in the south. I fear if the liquid stone does come south, it will come through the Velaryons; who would not sell it cheap to the Crown." The Master of Whispers said

" I fear Lord Dovahkiin and The Velaryons proximity might cause problems, Your Grace," Grandmaester said

" Oh… and how is that? The Northerners are loyal to whoever their swear to… that has been proven throughout history many times." King Jaehaerys said

" Well… The Northerners might want to support Rhaenys claim when Your Grace eventually passes. According to the Northern succession system, the second son would never inherit before the descendants of the first son; it doesn't matter if this descendant is male or female. They might see prince Baelor as a usurper if the right words were to be spoken. They would fight for a rightful queen in their minds. There is also the fact the North doesn't like, Your Graces very much." Grandmaester said, carefully spreading discord, only to be stopped by the master of whispers

" That is not even a possibility. The North will follow Prince Baelon. House Dovahkiin's relationship with House Velaryon is nothing but a trade agreement mutually beneficial. According to my informants, Lord Dovahkiin held Lord Corlys in high regard but seemed very indifferent towards Princess Rhaenys."

King Jaehaerys seemed thoughtful about the topic but said nothing

" Let us drop House Dovahkiin topic for now. The North doesn't play in the games of the south." Prince Baelor noted, and The Grandmaester nodded reluctantly

" Lord Beesbury, was that all?" The king asked

" Yes, Your Grace; however, I would like to note that House Dovahkiin, for the fourth time in a roll, is paying the maximum amount of gold in taxes that The King's law permits a vassal House, so we don't exactly know how much Gold they make a year. The only other House to do so is House Velaryon."

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A/N: Hello! This chapter is a 2 parter as well; many of you asked me to do a South reacts to North fear King Jaeghaerys… so here it is. This is just the Frist part of a 4 parted thing… the last two will show the reaction of the realm to when the north sends all Maesters south

Thank you for your support ❤️❤️ n