Arthur 56 293 AC

The eve of the new year met us with a sunny and warm, if fairly humid morning, probably meaning there would be a storm in the evening if my months in the steps tones had taught me anything.

We were all up a bit before dawn, preparing for the hunt, which I was honestly a bit excited for, even beyond political ramifications. I had only gone hunting twice in my old life, and even then only as a teenager, and Dragonstone lacked the sort of game one would desire to hunt. Dragons had hunted all the wild fauna there to extinction long ago, and the rocky and cool climate didn't really support too much of anything, to begin with.

Storm-Sky, on the other hand, was subtropical, and while it strangely supported pine forests, it nonetheless had a wide variety of creatures to hunt, the largest of which were Deer, Bears, wild horses, Crocodiles, wild boars, a form of wild dog a bit smaller than a wolf called a Boelon, and a small but occasionally sited population of giant armadillos. They were apparently native to the deep arboreal valleys of the central plateau here, but I had only ever seen a recovered skeleton with its plates. That one was a bit bigger than a dog.

Basically we had our pick, but ostensibly we were hunting deer, as my uncle was of the opinion that every Baratheon man should catch a stag at some point.

My father and uncle both had equipped themselves with bows, while Jaerys and I were using rifles. It was funny seeing Jaerys use a gun, given his dislike of them, but he had explained that he had never learned to shoot with a bow, and he would take a rifle over a crossbow if he had to.

Father seemed fairly disinterested in the hunt itself, I think he was willing to go along with it as part of my duty in hosting Robert. I knew that he personally wasn't very inclined towards hunting at all. I couldn't say why though.

Anyhow, we hit the forest fairly quickly, heading inland, it started only about three miles upriver from the port and covered the majority of the inland part of the island. The only real predator we were worried about was crocodiles since they could be harder to spot, and we broke away from the river pretty quickly, heading eastward along the edge of the forest in the early morning sun.

We started seeing deer pretty quickly, since they were out grazing on the edges of the forest in the morning sun, though they scared easy, and we're quick to hide back into the brambles, probably as a defense mechanism against Boelon's, which were their only real natural predators as far as the people I had asked knew.

Still, it wasn't long at all before we had all nabbed a dear for ourselves. It almost felt like cheating using a rifle from horseback, like people who hunted in their cars. Without the mobility disadvantage of being on foot, I was able to just point and shoot in a way that my father and uncle with their bows could not, though my uncle thought it was the best thing ever, asking me to send him one in King's landing.

Obviously I wasn't going to refuse, by the time anyone managed to reverse engineer it fully we'd probably be up to our necks in ice zombies anyway.

We stopped to eat an early lunch at the base of a sizable rock formation, well down away from the tree line, while Robert set Justin, his squire, to carrying our Venison back to town and cleaning it. The food was pleasant if light, some fluffy sweet-bread from the baker back in Great Gallows and some dried fish.

It was a pleasant meal, and it was an opportunity to start the conversation that I had been planning on from the moment I knew my uncle was coming. Though I found it a bit tricky to start as I was actually rather enjoying the existing conversation, my uncle told me of his own hunts back in the Stormlands, and even the Vale.

"These woods are a fair bit wilder than the Kingswood. You can ride under the trees there, not so much underbrush." He explained, pointing up towards the bramble mess of my own forest that you most certainly could not ride through. Not safely at least. "But there's definitely more game here. Fewer poachers too I'll bet. The Kingswood is full of them, at least when it's not full of thieves."

"The Lord's around it aren't doing their duty then." My father interjected, glancing at my uncle. "They should be apprehending those men, probably chopping their hands off for stealing the King's game."

"Bah, let them steal it, I've never had much trouble finding game there myself, more tricky than it is here sure, but I've no real qualm with a few smallfolk trying to feed their families more than soggy grain. If it gets too bad I'll have someone take care of it, but it's not that bad, as t least not yet." My uncle said cheerfully.

Even as my father rolled his eyes I chuckled smiling. The difference between the two was plain as day, but it was mostly a moot point for me, at least currently. I hadn't even come up with game hunting laws just yet.

'Note to self, attach inland wildlife management department to the fishing permit system.'

While I was contemplating the shape of my future policy however, my uncle presented a golden opportunity for me to pop my own question.

"Of course, maybe you can crack down on them yourself if you think it's such an affair."

As my father's gaze sharpened like a hawk, Robert perhaps realized his misstep, and I could have sworn I heard a curse behind his otherwise happy look.

"Do you intend to let me be lord of the Stormlands after all then?" My father asked, his voice suddenly turning a few shades grimmer than normal as if daring my uncle to say no.

My Uncle glanced about for a moment, maybe for an escape, before sighing. Suddenly he looked an awful lot older than he had the moment before, though still clearly putting in the effort to be cheerful.

"...At the moment, I intend to, but there are a few issues with just handing it over the way you want it." He turned, glancing at me. "Arthur lad, you wanted to ask me to accept an oath of fealty today didn't you? I've seen you handling that letter in your pocket the whole hunt."

I nodded, I wasn't really shocked he had seen, I wasn't exactly being discreet. "Yes Uncle, I had intended to ask you at a good time."

He turned back towards my father, his eyes locking. "Stannis, you aren't an idiot, you can see what kind of problems that giving house Baratheon Three Kingdoms would cause right? Four when Arthur marries the Dornish princess since their inheritance system allows for it. Tywin Lannister will be banging down my door in a week looking for his debts, and demanding I give Joffrey the Riverlands or something to make up for it."

My father grit his teeth, but my Uncle raised a finger before he could protest.

"I'm well aware you've been dutiful, and frankly, I think you deserve it, you've been more reliable for me than anyone besides Ned, even if we don't like each other that much, I know you have your duty to the family." The king sighed, turning back towards me. "Which is why a compromise needs to be had, I think at least. I imagine Jon would still tell me it'd be best to keep it for the crown, like some fat old greedy viper, but that's not the sort of man I am."

I nodded, already seeing where he was going.

"You want me to disinherit myself then, to accept the Kingdom of the Narrow Sea?"

"Aye." My Uncle nodded, though he continued before my father could explode with righteous anger like he seemed to be about two seconds away from doing. "Not entirely though, you'll still be in the line of succession, and you can add Dragonstone and it's vassals to your kingdom if you want. Tarth too I suppose if your father agrees and you want it. Cersei keeps telling me you were sleeping with Lord Tarth's daughter."

"I'm not." I quickly corrected, such rumors would hurt Brienne far more than me, but I still didn't want them giving Arianne any heart attacks.

"If you say so." The man winked at me, and I had to remember that he was still Robert Baratheon, even if he seemed to have his head screwed on correctly for the moment. "And what say you Stannis? You've been awfully quiet save for those teeth of yours."

"I refuse. Arthur will inherit properly, as is his right."

My Uncle rounded on him, standing up as his voice took on a tone of anger. "Then I can't give you the damned Stormlands, no matter how much you groan and whine, for all your talk of duty have you not considered my own to the rest of the Seven-Damned kingdoms?"

It was barely a second before my own Father's ego rose to meet my Uncle's, he stood a little shorter, but they had the same fire in their eyes. "Duty? Don't presume to tell me of duty to the kingdom Robert, or should I ask your small council when they last saw you? I'm the master of ships at sea half the time and I still make it to more meetings than you. Why do you only have a duty when it means denying me or my heir what I have by all rights earned?"

"Because I can't fucking…" Robert sat back down onto his rump with a thud. Staring up at my father. "Fine, fuck it, seven hells. You want your answer so badly? It's because I've been a lovesick drunk obsessing over a dead woman for a decade, there, happy? Lyanna died and my life went to shit and they put a stupid fucking crown on my head. Is that what you want to hear Stannis? I know damn well I've been a terrible king," My Uncle's features softened a bit. "but I'm not going to keep being one now. Not if I can help it. So let me at least fucking try."

I think it was the third time in my life I had seen my father caught entirely flat-footed. He just kind of stood there for a moment, Stannis Baratheon, was big, imposing, grim, and his mouth was just kind of hanging open like a fish, flapping pointlessly in the wind.

If only I had a camera I would have made it into a banner to hang on my wall, it was so ridiculously out of character for my father.

I don't think a dragon or the Stay-Puff marshmallow man could have gotten more than a grim sigh of resignation out of him.

Eventually, he pulled at his eyes, seeming to regain focus, sitting down across from my uncle.

"I… Arthur, are you alright with that?"

"Yes." I nodded, "Let Edric have the Stormlands, or Shireen even, I don't care, I'll always be their brother." Besides, there was a good chance I'd end up running another kingdom anyway through Asha, and it wasn't like I had any limit on how far I could expand my own Kingdom in the meantime. "I do want one concession though Uncle."

"Oh? You want a price boy?" Robert chuckled, "what is it then?"

"I don't want the Stepstones to be a Lord Paramountcy, everyone already calls me Prince, so why not give me the same deal as Dorne and make it official. I can even put a little crown on my flag when I get around to making it. Besides, no one wants to be lower ranked then their wife."

Robert nodded, smiling for a moment, before rather suddenly his eyes got a kind of deer in the headlights look and he slapped his forehead, cursing again. "Ah, the Dornish Princess yes?"

My father also wore an expression like he had just realized something important, but unlike my uncle he hid it well, under a general demeanor of grumpiness.

"Yes?" I nodded. "We even have the contract signed by both parties now, I was planning to deliver it in person once the war ended and I could take a leave from my duties."

"Her mother is in the fleet, with a part of the refugees from Norvos."

"Ah, I take it she doesn't know about the marriage yet?"

"No."

"Ah…" I nodded.

It seemed I would be meeting my future mother-in-law a tad earlier than I had expected, and from the look of dread on my Uncle's face, she likely hadn't been briefed at all.

'Oh God, I'm probably going to be hosting my future mother in law in a seedy pirate tavern.'

My Royal Uncle was one thing, but now this?

If they were so intent on visiting then why couldn't they all just wait for my goddamned Spiky Doom-Fortress?