Chapter 15: Life in Harrenhal 2

~~~ Ronan POV ~~~

Ronan's hand is currently planted on a weirwood tree. Feeling it against his hand and stretching his magic as much as he could, he felt... nothing. 'This tree, it was moved here not grown. How unfortunate, I had hoped the castle was built around it instead but, well... We can't have everything I guess.' He thought.

Ever since he has arrived at The Seven Kingdoms he has felt the constant decline of magic. Though his core was still vastly superior. It just doesn't give him much confidence. His core that at the moment would have taken an entire day and night to recover during his time in Valyria, would now take an entire month to do so. It is an alarming feeling. 'It's a good thing I decided to visit magically inclined lands.'

Thoughout his journey across essos for the past year, he has found many magical locations. The land of YiTi is one of them. Magic is a welcome practice. They saw in those lands a sort of firebenders. They can bend existing fire but not conjure it.

The Shadow lands are exactly that, a land filled with shadow weavers. The good side is that they are practically weak gainst us. Making it easy to dispose of those that sought us harm. We took the trouble to make a scene and hunt down those that failed and tried to escape. Mainly to give a statement to this mages. 'Leave us the fuck alone!'. Short and sweet, just the way he like it. Though none of their magic compare to what we could perform, was still incredible on it's own.

Above them all is the land of Sothoryos that right now is being transformed by my Automatons. The island is extremely fertile, with an abundance of rare and exotic materials that can be gathered from the very inhabitants of the land. Whether they be by products or simply raw materials gathered by hunting them down. It was a rich land for the taking.

They stayed at Sothoryos for an entire month after the end of the doom. And saw for themselves the uninhabited land. It was filled with deseases, but those that can live off of it are a different matter entirely. There are flocks of Wyverns, though they look more like Mountain Banshees from Avatar. Their leather three times tougher than even the processed ones. Their teeth and horns are actually good for potions, healing mostly. They have an abundance of meat. Barely any fat at all, and surprisingly delicious and healthy. Not exactly what we expected of a creature thriving in poisonous lands. Adding to that is that their heart is a magically charged core, small, very small. It would take ten wyvern hearts to match the magical aptitude of a horse sized Dragon. But then again Dragon hearts are used for extremely magical relics or items, like Valyrian Steel.

Despite being weaker this doesn't make wyvern hearts useless. I had initially been reserved about using the small battery cores that we took from the statues because of their limited numbers but that all changed because of this. I currently have a thousand automatons working tirelessly in sothoryos. We can't expand greedily. We didn't want an extinction of such magical race. So we decided to kill only those that has gone feral.

A feral state is common in Sothoryos, whichever animal it may be. It was in the very air itself. Over exposure causes the mind to be corrupted, starting with halucinations and the like. A magical curse on the land. It is what is causing the deadly environment. But also the source of magical evolution of the creatures there.

Still, a thousand workers that doesn't go hungry, tired, or require pay or bound by any human limitations is already a giant boon on itself. We then built several runic machines to speed up the production process.

It has a good forge but their main focus is trade. That means shipyards and raw materials. Currently the two of the three shipyards they had built there can finish one ship each, every month. Small number for tireless workers, yes, but this isn't your average ships. Of the two ships, one is a war ship but the other is for trading.

The trade ship is armed with one ballista on the deck of the ship. On the bow is a thin sheet of metal protecting the front and will also serve as Ice breakers. This will allow me to take advantage of northern trade despite the harsh winter. Aside from a complicated lock storage for Anti-theft, each has a 'Cold Room', ensuring the preservation of quality of goods despite being transported in great distances. Their nearly as large as the warships, 50 meter long, tri-masted Carrack.

The warships are also Carracks, 60 meter long and sporting two stories worth of Rune Charged ballista bolts. There are two types of bolts, one for piercing and another bolt for explosive. This one is heavily armored making it slight slower. A third shipyard is producing one for our family's personal use. Though with all the enchantments and luxury that ship will have, it won't be finished for four more years to go.

This type of ships are powered with runes, giving it enhanced speed, durability, and an overall superior quality compared to any other ship currently on the waters. The after product was perfect, it sailed through waters like it was cutting through it. The only ones close are the designs bought by the Iron Bank, even still those ships have limitations mine don't.

As for materials that we trade, wood is in abundance, that means charcoal that sells like candy in the north, timbers and lumbers. Giant spiders the size of horses provide an abundance of silk. Basilisk skin for leather, second only to wyverns. Their scales for jewels, their poison and their glands for high quality antidotes. Their reproduction and growth rate is so fast in this lands killing one per day will not have any problem for future harvest or possibly over hunting them to extinction. This allowed me to sell our products at very cheap prices. And as Elise wanted it, to the masses.

The land is so rich and fertile and most of all, it is summer all year round. They started with summer vegetables like tomatoes, pepper, greenbeans, sweet potatoes and melons. 'Basically what I can get my hands on the markets.'

Currently they are cultivating a grove of apple, pears, and blueberry trees. It would have normally taken 3 to five years to grow one. But we cheated with magic. Allowing us to reduce it by half that. 'We should see first harvest in just two more years.'

We plan to dipp our trade into beer, wine and possibly even vodka. Well I know how to make it just not really a fan. I prefer wisky. There are several more vegetables, fruits and even spices planted there but we are holding back because of one major component. Storage. Time and space magic is impossible with the current level of magic. And that won't change for thousands more years. The best we got are the ones we obtained during our time in Valyria.

There are runes to sustain cold but there has to be 'cold' first. Which means ice. The iron bank was initially baffled when I presented ships capable to actually trade ice as far back as southern essos. But when I presented a refrigirator and it's uses. Well they wanted a storage for themselves aswell. I agreed as long as of course it remains for their personal use. Giving me monopoly of selling the device itself. I built them a room sized Cold Storage as a gift for their acceptance of that condition. One I believe they gave to the Sealord to manage and put to good use. We have been trading ice with House Stark for only four months now. But all is going good so far.

Once I have secured food. I will be going after what we had been sneakily checking for some time now. The Volcanoes of Valyria. All it could offer, makes me giddy just thinking about it. I myself have personally seized a good amount of minerals for my personal use. I flew in secret of course not wanting to be seen. The few explorers I sent was actually there to scout the land than look for treasure, but they were never actually meant to secure anything aside from useless trinkets. I can't reveal too much interest yet or the competition might escalate. I am already being kept an eye on by many traders and merchants.

We spent a lot of time preparing ever since the final battle of Valyria. We had intially decided to go to Volantis and establish ourselves there. What we didn't expect was the entire battle to be so damn flashy. We were so focused on killing that Balrog, we didn't even know about the battle the Gods waged. And so we were forced to fly to uninhabited lands to replan. Explorers and pirates began rushing to the ruins. We knew then that showing any treasure of Valyria would be foolish. Mainly because we left nothing behind. We would be the only ones selling them if we ever did. So we had to scrap that idea, for now.

So this is what became of me. A Merchant. It's not a bad choice. But after being exposed to the cruelties of this world, Elise could no longer ignore it. So we inturn had to be 'more'.

And so here we are. A name of renown as Head of the most prominent House in Pentos. Releasing a sigh of disappointment I looked at the tree once again. 'How unfortunate indeed'. I then felt my beloved's hand on mine. She gave me a sad smile realising as well how challenging this task has just become. I then hugged her as I sat her on my lap while leaning on the tree. I kissed her temple, then her cheek, then her jaw. Once she looked to me I kissed her to her lips bringing a smile on to her face. A small reminder but more than enough for the both of us.

We just stayed there in each other's embrace for a few minutes. Once we have both calmed, we decided to return to our daughter. It is already nearing night time and a small feast has begun, but we are far from a celebrative mood. I nodded to our escort, Ser Barristan, who stood vigilant and ever watchful. We soon found ourselves on the hallway towards the Widow's tower that currently house all of the Lord Paramounts along with my family and the Royal family itself.

We entered our room and we were greeted by Ser Lewyn and Nymeria, standing guard inside the room. On the bed laid Princess Elia along with Rhaenys and Elizabeth. I went to the fireplace and restarted the flames, while Elesis went towards Elizabeth and just smiled at her. I just looked at my wife, while she hummed softly to the children. They soon fell asleep. I then moved myself close to the bed.

I grabbed my sword from the armor stand and placed it beside the desk at the corner of the room. Ser Barristan seeing me grabbed my sword off the stand stood in attention. I didn't pay him any mind. I sat at the edge of the bed, taking care not to wake them and then kissed my wife and daughter.

I remained awake through the night, simply checking the messages I had received. When midnight struck, my enhanced hearing heard the rustling outside the window. I grabbed my sword. And signaled Ser Lewyn. He nodded and stood hidden by the shadow next to the window.

The assasin was taken care of quickly. Barristan grabed the man by the shoulder, forcing the man to look at him as the knight shove the sword through the heart.

That action made me frown. This people really do put great weight on their honor. I can't really speak out against it. A man's repputation is everything in this world. But that doesn't mean I will put the safety of my family in their honorable hands. Lewyn noticed the frown on my face, then sent me an apologetic smile. The rest of the night passed with little to no fanfare, aside from the babies waking. I decided to handle it, not fully trusting the staff. And nearing sunrise, I prepared our clothes, much to Ser Barristan's surprise, and laid them to a nearby sofa.

An hour befdore the sun rose, I decided to take my daily routine.

~~~ Ser Barristan Selmy ~~~

The incident during the arrival of Princess Elia has spread throughout the castle. I can't blame the Princess' entourage for their reaction. I myself had urged the prince to meet his wife and daughter at the gate as soon as a patrol bought a report of their arrival. Still the prince chose to stay and sought Lady Whent himself, and instead sent Connington.

I have served the Royal house for majority of my life. For once I see in my Prince a better future. And so I serve faithfully. Which was why I didn't voice my disagreement to his decision and simply obeyed. Connington returned speaking of being humiliated by a woman unprovoked. But what the people whispered of was a different matter entirely. For him to be openly insulted was spoken in mirth and laughs to the humiliation of Connington. But what worried us is the whisper of lords and ladies alike. To leave the prince's wife and heir with only 'one' Kingsguard. It left a lot to be speculated and none of it pointed to anything good. And so the prince sent me to watch over the princess but also to spy on the couple. I found the act dishonorable, but I have my duty to my prince.

Walking to the Princess' room I saw a Martel guard and a red armored woman standing guard outside. The guard and the woman were attentive, my movements never leaving their eyes. I nodded to the Martell guard and he then knocked. I soon saw Ser Lewyn peak outside and ushered me in. As soon as I reached the princess I bowed deeply in respect. Inside the room I saw a red haired woman playing with Princess Rhaenys and another blue haired baby. Princess Elia immediately joined them. Looking at the two, I saw nothing but happiness from the princesses. The two babies would just babble and gurgle, and it would bring squeels of joy from the two mothers.

Hearing a chuckle, he saw a man at the corner of the room surrounded by parchments and what is recently called paper. He looked at me from head to toe then returned his attention to the women and kids.

I noticed Ser Lewyn standing by the door I chose to stand beside him. After a nod of greeting I stood guard. After a couple of hours, the children fell asleep. The man in the corner soon stood up with a stretch. He extended his hand to the red haired woman and asked. "I am going to take a walk, if you'd care to join me."

The red haired woman just laughed softly and accepted the offered hand. Once they left, I was ordered by the Princess Elia to keep them company until they return. I hesitated and looked to Lewyn, but the man nodded assuringly. So with reluctance, I folllowed her orders. Once I stepped out, the red armored woman stepped inside and saw her stood guard close to the window.

I soon reached the couple at the end of the hall and informed them of the queen's orders. They simply showed small smiles at that.

Through out their walk the couple continues to baffle me. The young lord would continue to woo his wife, as if he was still courting her. Small actions like holding hands, exchanging small kisses, and even giving her flowers. Their conversation revolved around unknown things to me but I simply didn't pay much attention as they are foreigners after all. Soon we found ourselves in the heart tree of Harrenhal.

The husband held the tree as if in prayer, so I left them in their silence. As I stood guard in their prayer, I noticed that a few people are keeping a close eye on the couple. It was the Stark children. I simply ignored them seeing as they plan to do nothing than to keep a look at the couple. Must be curiosity is all I thought of it. When the couple emerged, they decided return to their daughter. Reaching the hall to their room I couldn't help but release a sigh of relief at the sight of the two princesses. The night passed, but close to midnight an assasin came for them and dealt with it easily.

And the suprise of the day continued. Before the sun rose, the man laid out clothes for his wife. This was just never done. Any lord would think such actions beneath them. The man then removed his tunic and performed what he called 'exercises'. I admit it looks extremely effective specially with a body like his. I never knew the human body have such muscles. So not only are his senses sharp, he is built like a warrior aswell. The question is, is he as skilled as one?

Soon his wife woke, taking care not to wake their daughter. She joined her husband after freshening up. I was...uncomfortable watching her 'warm up' as it were. She has a body that any man in this world would kill for and any woman would surely envy.

An hour after, their baby woke and after breast feeding her, they all went out from the room after Lord Sieghart whispered something to Ser Lewyn. I chose to stay with the princesses of course.

When she woke she seemed to look for them. "Their gone?" she asked.

"Yes princess." I replied.

"why did no one wake me!?" she whispered harshly taking care not to wake Princess Rhaenys.

"You needed the rest Elia." Lewyn raised his hand as the princess was about to retort. "And they told me where they are headed. Your handmaiden is outside waiting, get freshened up then I will bring you to them."

"...thank you uncle." She said happily.

Seeing the princess so happy, it was strange. I have always seen her heartbroken face, every time her efforts were shurgged off by the king and the prince. Not even the court would take her seriously. I just hope it would last, but knowing the current affairs of the court, it is merely wishful thinking.