Chapter 49
There was a quite amusing Joke that you heard about the Knights of the Vale, it made light of their Self-importance and pointed out that even Boys with Slings and Stone could hold the Mountain Paths of the Vale against any Host sent to take them, though it was by now not even seen as insulting anymore. For any Castle that is strong enough to actually be called such can be defended by a few Boys with Slings, even if a proper Army would have a far greater Chance of winning a proper Siege.
Thus, your Thoughts wandered further into the direction of what would happen if the Paths were taken before the Defenders had a Chance to gather the Men needed to defend them. How well would the Knights of the Vale fare against their own Fortifications was what you wondered since you had to change your Plans. But sadly you were sure that the Mountain Clans wouldn't be able to take possession of the Paths, that much was clear to you even if one considered the Equipment the Tyrells so kindly donated, perhaps they would find the Strength to hold them if you gave them a little additional help to get the Conquest of the Vale started.
No one could honestly declare that the Clans of the Vale didn't fight hard enough to deserve a proper Chance at ruling their Lands, and considering how much of Westeros was taken by Marriage, you were sure that the matter of Lineage would work out one way or another. But you still thought for quite a while about how to best solve the problems following the Conquest, finding someone with a decent enough Lineage would be simple, but finding someone with the right Blood and the Ability to rule on top of that would surely be a bit harder with how there was probably not a single Clansman that could read or write.
That being said, you didn't care for the Vale, if it burned then it burned, and if it prospered then it prospered, the Realm was far too large to care for every Province, and if you and the Clans have Success the Vale would play an even smaller Role than it was now, the Shadow of a Bystander just wasn't important enough to keep you interested. The Vale without House Arryn was nothing, much like how the Westerlands were nothing without House Lannister, the difference was that House Lannister didn't have any Cracks in its Defences anymore.
Not being weak isn't enough to rule over Humans, for every Weakness that can be found will and should be exploited to its fullest, it's the fastest and cheapest way to teach the Value of the Human Mind. You wonder if the Arryns of the past even owned the most basic kind of working Minds, no matter how costly the Undertaking might be, Weaknesses like the Mountain Clans can't be ignored for longer than absolutely necessary, why they haven't dealt with them yet is beyond you.
The costs of having so many Enemies behind their Defences, raiding the Streets and Villages literally each Day over the Ages, it truly must add up to a stunning and dismaying amount of lost Gold, Power, and Lives of every Class. Rebellion is like a Sickness that just keeps on giving, and that shouldn't be something new to them or anyone else for that matter, it drains everything that it can, and that with the Intelligence, Passion, Ambition, and even Greed of a Human. Just how blind are the Arryns that they permitted such a severe Sickness to spread over Centuries, no, more likely Millennia, since they first set Foot on the Continent they must have faced the same Enemy with the same Tactics.
And still they hold enough Power to threaten the Plans of your Family if they got their Act together, Isolation truly breeds madness, you just couldn't explain it to yourself in any other way. It also didn't make much Sense for the Targaryens to be okay with how things stood in the Vale, but you knew what it was that motivated them, and it was disgusting. Instead of seeking more Strength for the Realm they focused on weakening their Vassals to secure the Crown despite their massive Power that came with the Dragons, who would have thought that Dragon Riders could be Sheep, no wonder the Dragons died out if only fleeing Sheeps remained from their once great Empire.
At least the Timeline of it all made more Sense now, why would Wolves of all Beings hesitate to claim Westeros if they had Dragons at their Back, the few Thousand Men they gathered over the Generations couldn't possibly be worth that much effort and time. You guessed that there was always something twisted about the Targaryens, even the best one pulled stuff like marrying his Sisters, yes, plural, because one wouldn't be bad enough. You couldn't help but sigh at it all, this World had so much Potential and you enjoyed living on it, but sadly it seemed like someone would always find a way to twist and corrupt it given the Opportunity.
It was one of the Sides to Humanity that you remained unsatisfied with, you were still sure that everyone could learn some of the simple Truths of the World, but keeping that Belief was really getting harder as you discovered more and more of Humanity's Flaws, seemingly shared across Worlds. Yet that all changed very little, your likes and dislikes were meaningless to other People after all, and you learned that most People didn't even understand the basics of your Wish for the World to return to the Order of the strong. What did matter was that the Clans had actually very little Competition if the rest of the Vale would remain as passive as they usually were.
It sounded like madness, who would remain passive if the World around them is set aflame, but after thinking a bit more on it, it luckily seemed like the Answer to that Question was the Lords of the Vale. Mobility like the knowledge of Paths through the Mountains or simple Speed made for an Asset that couldn't be overlooked, it was why the Troops of the Vale were such a hurdle with all their Cavalry, but if they remained in their Fortresses their Speed would be of little concern. And if timed correctly their Speed wouldn't matter once their Castles were housing the Mountain Clans either, for these were as you remember fondly Castles that could be defended by Boys with Stones and Slings.