First Meeting of the Athenaeum Club (3)

The world seemed silent for a minute. All people could hear were the sound of the waves hitting on the shore and the wind sweeping around the boat and the sails.

Finally, the silence was broken by Jason Mallister.

"Lord Di Natale, I don't know why you invited the people of the Iron Islands, but I can accept that this is a neutral territory. As long as I am not attacked or insulted, I can remain peaceful while being on Dustspear. I was sent by House Tully from the Riverlands to increase the cooperation between the noble families of Lys and the Riverlands.

There is a lot of room for beneficial cooperation between both sides and I will surely not damage those possibilities because of the Iron Islands, I can assure you of that." With a calm but prideful demeanor Jason Mallister declared his intent to Victor, who was quite assured of this promise. If someone like Jason gave you his word, he would make sure to be able to keep his end of the bargain.

While getting one positive answer Victor turned his head towards Rodrik Harlaw. An average-looking man, Rodrik has brown hair and eyes, and a short, neat beard that is grey. He has requested a Myrish lens to assist with his vision. You could feel the deep thoughts when you looked into his eyes.

In the end he accepted the same conditions and was able to control the iron born that guarded him quite neatly. This was honestly no small achievement as they really lacked any discipline. To be able to make them listen to any command, even in the face of an enemy they deeply detested, was able to showcase Rodrik's methods.

Now they were only three more members missing, all families that House Di Natale didn't have any contact with yet. Roland Crakehall was to first to arrive among them. Roland was big and strong with a booming voice. When he stepped down the ship you could hear the wood of the planks made a squeaking noise.

As the Lord of Crakehall he was an important noble of the Westerlands and one of Tywin Lannister's closest aids. There was not much talking between both as even though Roland seemed like a typical warrior at first, he still had a very cautious mind and obviously wanted to observe his surroundings before participating in any specific talks.

House Stokeworth and House Grafton arrived at the same time, seemingly travelling together for a period, two days before the official start of the first meeting of the Athenaeum club. With Tanda Stokeworth, the Lady of Stokeworth and the head of House Stokeworth, the oldest current member of the club arrived, as she was already in her fifties.

She didn't bring any of her two daughters, as they were still under the age of 20, to this important occasion. Tanda is not considered a particularly clever or attractive woman. She obviously knew that she was just invited to represent the crown during this meeting and was very aware of her status and position. As such Victor had no problem with her behaviour whatsoever.

Gerold Grafton is a wide man with thick arms and shoulders, but he is not tall. His hair is a dirty blond mop, and he has a booming voice. Growing up as heir apparent of House Grafton he was taught from day one about respect and authority. As the firstborn son, he was raised to be a lord from his birth. Most of his childhood was spent in Gulltown while his teenage years were mostly spent in Pentos. As his position is extremely important in the Vale, he naturally had a large and charismatic aura. Gerold was very cautious around Victor, because Gulltown was heavily dependent on the trade from the Narrow Sea. If he made the young heir of House Di Natale angry and risked the life blood of his family and Gulltown, maybe even the whole Vale, he would become a street mouse upon his return. But both Gerold and Victor only had beneficial trade intentions which let to them having a very pleasant conversation.

After everbody arrived on time for the first meeting of the Athenaeum club Victor announced to everybody that there would be one rest day and the meeting would start on time on March 1st 280 AC. The rest-day was deeply needed, especially for Tanda Stokeworth, who travelled a long time in her late fifties to participate in this gathering.

Everybody was able to enjoy the beauty of the climate on Dustspear and the fabulous architecture combined with the most beautiful maidservants and the most delicious food. Only this extreme enjoyment was already enough to make up for this long trip and the time spent on the journey. Even noble families of Westeros could not enjoy such luxury on a regular basis, especially military families.

Finally, the day for the first meeting arrived and everybody was seated on a large round table in the middle of a large hall full of white marble. Everything seemed luxurious and grand. The white walls made you feel like you were in heaven.

Nobody could guess just how many slaves died on Dustspear to build the Athenaeum club in time and in such a beautiful condition. The Nahohr and Maar family not only used many of their skilled artisans but also purchased many slaves from Essos and Victor used up a large amount of the war slaves from his victory on the Stepstones.

Nobody would care about the many bones buried on the island of Dustspear, where the most famous private club of the next centuries would be born on this very day.

Victor sat on the round table and looked around when a feeling of grandeur and pride fulfilled him. After being in this world for over ten years he developed a small military family of Lys into a powerful noble family that can even invite representatives from all the administrative regions of Westeros.

This was an achievement he was deeply proud of and gave him even more courage to face the difficulties the war in the coming years would bring to him. But right now, he had to lead this first meeting of the Athenaeum club to success.