Chapter ninety-five: The kingdom in the making.

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~~~Tywin Lannister, Sixth Moon, 277 AC~~~

~~~Casterly Rock, Westeros~~~

"The king has been very reluctant to grant permission to the Reach in tax concessions, though so far, the only ones who have been suffering for it are the Tyrells, the Tarlys have ties to the Hightower and the Redwyne, so thanks to that, they can pay their taxes without problems, on the other hand, the Tyrells, due to the complete loss of the sale of grain to the North, have lost sixty percent of their income."

Tygett, my brother, who had the job of handling most of the spies in the realm who were under the orders of House Lannister, was giving recent reports on the outlook across the realm, and more and more. New machinations were emerging.

"Not only that, but due to the king's refusal to allow time for the Tyrells to reorganize, along with the incident at King's Landing in the death of Ser Victor's son, who though a distant member of Lord Mace, served to create more resentment from the Tyrells towards the king, and incidentally, the crown as a whole."

That was worrying, years of hard-earned peace with my hard work would not go down the drain just because some idiot decided to open his mouth when it didn't suit him, "the Reach thinks they stand to gain something from this, so far they are quiet, and there are rumors that Lord Mace is eager to avenge his cousin."

"Nonsense from a man without power," I spoke, scoffing at the idea that the fat man might have some sort of revenge, especially considering that the Reach's power was under Lady Olenna's influence. And she was smart enough to know that a move like that, in these times when peace reigned and progress was emerging, the idea of a rebellion where they would have to take on six kingdoms was beyond winning.

"Lady Olenna will not allow that to happen, she will control her stupid son for as long as it takes, she knows that tax reduction is an impossible thing to give, especially since even the North, when they were freezing to death in their frozen lands, paid their taxes, as for the matter of Ser Victor's son, he brought it on himself, besides what he said was practically treason, and it was his death or the Wall." I finished, giving as finished that subject, the truth, the Reach would not represent any problem, not with Olena at the head of the Tyrells.

"How is the situation in the North and Dorne?" Kevan, who was also in the room, asked Tygett, who was pouring himself wine.

"Prince Oberyn was last seen in Volantis, taking a ship to Xandar, as for Dorne, Prince Doran sent a retinue to Xandar to foster further ties between the two sides, though as it seems, Prince Oberyn does not belong to that missive," Tygett replied, returning to his seat and relaxing, not gauging what his reports brought.

For moons now, Dorne had been buying large quantities of food, weapons, and ships from Xandar, while Dorne was supplied with help from the crops on the edges of the Greenblood River, due to the long summer and lack of rainfall in Dorne, the river had been showing low water levels, so they were forced to buy abroad, something they had been doing years ago, buying food from Pentos, since due to their longstanding feud with the Reach, buying grain from the Tyrells was something that would not happen.

What surprised me was the fact that Xandar agreed to sell ships to Dorne, which, though they were not as large and powerful as what they used, and, instead, the ships sold to Dorne looked more like Bravossi caravels, did not make them superior to some ships in the fleets of the great houses of Westeros.

And though they had currently only taken control of eight warships and fifteen merchant galleys, that alone had raised the level of danger the Martells posed. As for Prince Oberyn and his role in going to Xandar, it was all a mystery.

The last that was known of him was that he had been 'exiled' by his brother, and had used that time to set up a mercenary company in Essos, as well as making a name for himself in those wastelands.

"The North is still quietly going on, they are getting richer and richer due to their trade with Xandar and Braavos, they are well stocked with grain thanks to Xandar, and with the support they have gained from Braavos and Xandar, they are gaining more power at every turn. And I've heard a rumor between the walls, but if it turns out to be true, the North will become a full player in every right."

That I knew, after the North no longer bought expensive grains from the Reach, and, instead, bought them from the Xandarian merchants, it had caused the North to breathe again, and as any Xandarian trader was a gateway to larger scales, they managed to enter a much larger and more promising trade, partly because the Xandarians were fair and right about it, which served as a bridge for them to have good relations with the Northerners.

The North, now having food, salt to melt the snow off their roads, high quality and specialized clothing for the harsh winter, managed to revive the Northern economy back, with the North beginning to export furs, timber, meat, horses, and even copper and jewels, with the latter found in the lands of the mountain men.

"What is this rumor?" I questioned Tygett, annoyed at his theatrical silence and lack of focus in meetings like these. "Xandar and the North are having closed-door meetings, between Lord Rickard and one of the Xandarian ministers it is believed that Xandar wants to buy the entire island of Skagos."

For the first time, I took Tygett's words as false, while Xandar had enormous wealth, buying the entire island of Skagos would involve an immense sum of gold, and even all the gold mined in thirty years would not be enough for that. Especially since Skagos was not a small island, it was easily larger than Arbor, or even all the Iron Islands combined.

Besides, Skagos was too far north of Westeros to represent a benefit to Xandar, considering there were no profitable trade checkpoints in that location, with only the North and Braavos being the closest.

Kevan sighed, as he spoke, though he seemed to be saying it to himself; "I don't see how something like that could be profitable, that island, while large, is located in a part where it is almost impossible to promote anything there, even the Starks, who claim to have control of the Island, rarely intervene on it, so what could Xandar possibly be interested in having control of such a place?"

"While I said they are rumors, it would seem that those rumors are closer to true than we think, especially if the North and Xandar are willing to contribute together on a project that will catapult the North as a whole into a prosperous and wealthy realm," Tygett said, getting up and going to a table where he had several papers and documents.

"These are hastily made copies, while not all the information is there, the most important information is there, and those are the constant meetings Lord Rickard has, and they speak of an infrastructure project in the Neck, north of Moat Cailin." Tygett handed me the papers, and the contents of this surprised me.

Xandar, with his advanced architectural knowledge, and having the hand, the gold, and the power to achieve his purpose, proposes to Lord Rickard Stark, Lord Paramount of the North, and Lord of Winterfell, the rights to lands north of Moat Cailin, that, with the nature of creating an artificial canal that crosses the land, and can connect both coasts, both the Narrow Sea and the Sea of Dusk.

Xandar would be responsible for paying for the cost of the work, in exchange for the delivery of rights over the canal and Xandarian control in the area, knowing that the North, as a regional power, and the houses, through which the canal crosses, will have special permissions to use the canal whenever they wish, however, under this premise, it is expected that the North, and by extension: Winterfell, will grant the land where the canal will be, to full control of the Xandarian crown.

This was, but for what I expected, if this came to pass, the North would have connected access to its two coasts, while giving the North an astronomical amount of gold due to the trade that would be created upon the completion of said work.

"Lord Rickard has three sons, right?" I asked Tygett, who nodded, "Three sons and a daughter, the eldest is fifteen days old from the name."

Well, that created a path to follow, and hopefully bring the North into the fold before it was too late, "send a letter to Winterfell, make it clear to Lord Rickard that I wish an engagement between his eldest son and my daughter Cersei."

"Brother, I don't think it's right to do that..." As Kevan was about to continue speaking, the door to the hall opened without warning, a guard entered, who earned my look of fury as he interrupted, "My Lord, excuse me, but Lady Janna wishes to speak with you urgently".