Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Escaping his shadow

Tygett Lannister POV- 270AC, Kingslanding, shady looking tavern.

"Baldur Crowl." Tygett spoke, looking his old friend over. It had been 10 years since he had last seen the boy, now a man. Baldur had grown to be quite a large man, towering over Tygett by more than a foot in height, and he didn't know how many stones in weight. He was still similar looking to when he had last seen him, at least in appearances. He was dressed in a simple tunic and breeches, which looked no better than that of the non nobles in the place, in some case, lesser quality even. "I saw you at the tournament, I see your sword skills haven't abated any." Tygett praised.

"Not real war, but close enough fun to it." Baldur replied in response as Tygett nodded, taking a seat offered and sliding him over what looked to be ale, thought tasted much better. 

"What brings you to Kings Landing? There isn't any war here, at least of the type you enjoy." Tygett inquired to him.

"Came down with the black brothers." Baldur explained, motioning towards a couple, in the corner drinking with a number of the Baldur's barbarians. "The watch is looking to speak with the King about funding for a bounty program. As for my men and me, we are interested in participating." Baldur informed him, making smacking motions with his palm.

Interesting, it would seem that Baldur was planning some fighting North of the wall. Tygett didn't really care for concerns of wildlings himself, they were hardly any threat to the Westerlands, but if the king indeed backed the plan, than Tygett would be interested. Perhaps he could help them avoid his brother Tywin, the hand, and go straight to the king. He had seen that Maester Aemon was here in Kings landing, most thought it just a recruitment drive by the watch and of course to allow the Maester time to visit his family in the King, Queen and the young Prince Rhaegar. As of late, the king wasn't too keen on siding with Tywin, as evidence of Tygett not getting the position of master at arms for the red keep.

"A noble endeavor, perhaps I could help you get a meeting with the King?" He told Baldur, no doubt the rough man would need help navigating the courts regardless. 

"No need my friend, Maester Aemon seemed certain he could secure a meeting. Unless of course you are interested in keeping your sword sharp with us north of the wall?" Baldur challenged.

If given the right set of circumstances, Tygett was indeed interested. No one that far north likely gave a damn about Tywin Lannister and his brother was falling from King Aery's graces, perhaps it was time for a new Lannister to step in to be recognized as due. "Yes, I just may be. I will attend with you come tomorrow." Tygett promised, rising from his seat at the table, a sense of excitement in his gut at the thought. "For now, I wish you well my friend, I shall see you tomorrow at court." Tygett promised. He knew just how to get this plan accepted, it would require some measure of being bold, but then again, he was a lion of Casterly Rock.

The next day, Tygett found himself dressed in a fine doublet of black and silver, foregoing his most usual colors of gold and red in favor of separating himself as much visually from Tywin as he could for this occasion. It wouldn't do for the king to be too strongly reminded of his ever present hand. The King would surely hear from Maester Aemon without the council of his brother and Tygett would use this chance to strike and play on the budding resentment King Aery's had for his brother's effectiveness.

He was dressed and ready, waiting in the hall as Baldur arrived along with the two black brothers. The man was hardly dressed for court, dressed in the same clothes he had been dressed in that night in the tavern. None the less, he naturally struck an imposing figure, if a bit of a wild one. Tygett would have to make it work. "Good morning Baldur." Tygett said, walking forward, nodding to the two black brothers in the process. "Next time you go to see the king, I would recommend a change of clothes." Tygett said, looking him over with a raised brow. 

"Bah, it's hardly even dirty." Baldur defended his clothing attire.

"Hardly even dirty, you wore it in a tavern and he is the king. Little we can do about it now, luckily he is use to seeing peasants on a weekly occasion." Tygett reasoned, motioning him to follow. Soon they arrived towards the doors to the throne room. The guards let them through with few questions, obviously expecting the group, Tygett simply joining with them.

Baldur gazed around as they walked the halls. Tygett supposed it was an impressive sight of power with all the various displays, something the likes of Skagos would hardly have. Though he supposed he shouldn't judge, Baldur was a friend, one of the few true ones, refreshingly honest in Tygett's opinion, it's why he enjoyed spending time with the savage man.

Through the throne room they went and into the back, where the small council chambers were located. As the doors were pushed open, they were motioned towards empty seats, waiting for the king to arrive. Tygett guided the two black brothers on either side of Baldur and himself, a strategic seating to show that they stood with the watch on matters. Likely Maester Aemon would be doing most of the talking, with the two rangers filling in on any questions that were brought up.

Tygett tersely informed the two watch brothers of how they should greet the king and what was expected in his presence. The two were from knightly houses, and were likely not strangers to how they should behave around nobility of a higher authority as themselves, being educated on such things, though he did this more for Baldur than the two present. They likely understood this as Tygett was rather over explanative of practices that were basics of childhood education.

As the King entered, they all rose from their seats and bowed. Aery's waved them to their seats pleasantly, not wishing to waste time it seemed. The Maester himself shuffled in behind the king, joined by Ser Barristan the bold, Ser Hightower and Ser Whent. Taking their seats around the table, they waited for the king to sit before being seated themselves.

"Your Grace, thank you for meeting with the men of the watch." Maester Aemon spoke. "Let us not forget our guests, Lord Crowl and Ser Lannister, whom have both professed an interest in supporting the watch." The elderly Maester spoke, motioning to all that were seated.

"The men of the watch have long defended the kingdom great uncle, it would behoove me to hear out any concerns you might have. As king, I hold the greatest sway of support than you would find elsewhere." Aery's said with a pleased smile. No doubt he was happy that for once, concern came to him first instead of Tywin.

The King listened attentively as Maester Aemon laid out the plan for a bounty system in combating the more dangerous clans that threatened the lands south of the border. A system that lords could help donate to, to entice the warriors of the seven kingdoms to go and help the watch.

According to Maester Aemon, the great spring sickness of the year 210 and the subsequent war from the king beyond the wall, left the gift and the nights watch in a heavily weakened state from its previous glory. Since then, they had been hard pressed to defend the wall, as a good number of their support came from the gift itself. He expected the bounty system to work in a number of ways to improve the watch, first and foremost, the more dangerous wildling clans that raided south would be beat back, second, the gift could be resettled and grown in numbers as it was safer, third, the man power of the watch could be focused on protecting the gift and rebuilding places that have fallen into disrepair, fourth, people may undertake the noble calling of joining the watch with the kings backing and support. 

Aemon expected it to not long be a drain on the kingdom coffers and that of generous donors under the kings lead, as they would be able to reach their former glory and in time actually support themselves with farms and manpower after the gift was resettled, leading to the watch no longer relying solely on donations from the south, instead supporting themselves. 

Tygett had to agree with the reason as he followed, asking a few questions about how the watch patrols worked and how they would go about stopping the more dangerous clans. Baldur proved to be insightful here, stating that many of the Skagossons spoke the old tongue and could navigate north of the wall, even blending in with the wildlings to root out the more problematic clans more effectively. Tygett was somewhat surprised by his reasoning of how they could launch a successful campaign against the free folk. The King seemed impressed with Baldur's certainty as well as the man swore to his grace that he would be more effective beyond the wall than any soldiers from the south.

When it turned to numbers and figures though, Baldur was certainly less interested, though Tygett supposed that he couldn't expect one with his upbringing to be very interested in the fine number of governance. Maester Aemon though had solid rationale beyond all of his claims, doing a good job of explaining it to the king and those in the room.

"Very well, you have my approval uncle. I shall arrange with my Master of coin to see you well funded and arrange with the Grand Maester to see messages sent out through the realm, asking for donations to the watch to pay for such a thing. My hand may find it a waste, but let him grumble." Aery's decreed.

"I thank you your grace. The watch will forever be in your debt." The Maester said with a bow of his head accompanied by the clinking of chains. Tygett noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Baldur seemed to somewhat flinch at the sound of the chains interrupting his staring off, interesting.

"No need for all this talk of your grace, you are kin and a Targaryen. If you weren't so stubborn, I'd have you here at my side as Grand Maester. Though we've had this conversation and I will respect your decision." Aery's informed the old Targaryen.

Tygett, finally seeing the chance he had been waiting for, took it. "My Brother would certainly disagree your grace, he sees little need in spending things frivolously." Tygett said, as Aery's eyes locked onto him, a bit of rage behind them as he was reminded that many thought Tywin was the real ruler, Aery's only a figure head. "I would disagree however. Allow me to go north and support this endeavor in your name, ensure it is a success and keep you apprised of any developments. My brother would never allow such an action from me, as you know. He thought to promote me as Master of arms for the red keep, when you wisely saw I lacked the experience to do such a duty. Allow me to gain experience by your hand, to prove to you my loyalty to the crown and king." He requested as the King nodded, stroking his shortly kept beard.

"Very well, you have my leave, I will inform Tywin that I have drafted you for a cause to the crown." Aerys told him, rising from his seat as everyone joined him. Tygett was well pleased by this, a chance to prove himself, and Tywin could claim no responsibility or role in it. This is what he had been waiting for, a chance, now it was on him to show he was ready to meet the challenge.

"I once fancied building a second wall beyond the north, an attempt to expand our territory and bring more taxes to the Iron throne. My hand disagreed, called it folly. It may have been, but this will not be such. Even Tywin can't disagree with costs associated with the protection of the realm" Aery's said with a smile, no doubt he had made a wide decision, which Tygett believed he had, and all without his brother, a success.

As the king turned to leave, the gruff voice of Baldur spoke up. "Then he gave you poor advice"

The king stopped in his footsteps and turned a curious look on his face. "Poor advice?" He asked in questioning doubt.

"A physical wall is not likely, but a profit to be had is still there. He doesn't understand the people or their needs." Baldur informed him as the king turned back towards his seat.

"Please, be seated, I wish to hear my hands folly." The king said, rather pleased at the idea of someone disagreeing with Tywin on an intellectual level, even if it was from a barbarian.

As they took their seats again, Baldur continued. "The people are divided, but they unite in their want of food. Life is hard in the north, more so beyond the wall. They raid each other and they raid the north to survive. Few raid out of actual hate for the watch or the seven kingdoms, no matter what people may believe." Baldur informed the king as Tygett nodded in agreement. His reasoning was surprisingly, sound.

"Tywin is looking at them like a Lord might look to conquer a territory during a war, which is his folly." Baldur suggested as King Aery's nodded. "Provide what they need, food, in exchange for trade items, furs, pelts, skins and other things that may be found, collect taxes on these and you bring in profit where there was none before." Baldur supplied as the King listened.

"What of raids on these outposts? Would that not be the case?" he asked curiously.

"A harsh land may require different methods" Baldur offered.

Tygett knew of what Baldur spoke, he often told him stories about how his people followed strength, how cannibals were indeed a real thing and of the many cultures of his own island. The strong and most vicious often decided things in these types of cultures, they didn't follow the ideals or reasoning of the 7 kingdoms.

"I believe what my friend is saying is that, extreme tactics that may violate his graces laws and the faith of the seven, may be required." Tygett said softly as he leaned forward. Aerys looked between the two for a moment, before turning to the Maester.

"Great Uncle?" Aerys asked the man, whom had remained relatively silent. "It has merit. Even if such an endeavor fails, it will relieve the watch to rebuild and further ensure safety." The Maester supplied.

"Tygett." Aerys said turning towards him.

"Your grace." Tygett answered with an incline of his head.

"See it done, whatever… tactics may be required." Aerys accepted.

After the meeting with the King had been completed, Tygett walked with Baldur towards the exit of the red keep. They had many plans to make and Tygett would like to have a better idea of what Baldur had in mind to bring in profit and protect the watch. He may be a barbarian, but he was an effective commander against enemies of a similar type, he had proved that with his conquering of Skagos. Tygett knew little of the wildling culture, but Baldur could fill him in on what was necessary, he meant for this to be his moment to shine out from under his brother.

He was interrupted from further pursuing the conversation as a younger woman stopped to greet them in the red keep.

"My Lords, sorry for the interruption. I am Helena Whent, I was hoping I could have a word with Lord Crowl in private." She requested, looking to the large man, a determined look in her eyes. Baldur shrugged and motioned her to a side balcony to speak as the two stepped away, leaving Tygett to observe from afar, out of ear shot.

Helena Whent, or Helena the cursed as many called her. Tygett knew of her, of course many of the people in the south knew of her. In her youth, her mother and brother had been found dead by a knife and the young Helena had been there for the occasion. Following it, they said she became quite insane, often screaming and howling from the tops of the towers of Harrenhall through all hours of the night. Her father was forced to lock her away for years in response.

Tygett recalled that she was the middle child of her family, having an elder and younger sister. Tygett had seen her two sisters in court often, or in events, but never Helena. Rumors circulated about her, ranging from her being likely insane or cursed by Harrenhal itself. Some even thought she may be responsible for the murder of her mother and brother, though Tygett doubted that likely. Either way, the girl certainly was one that no lord wanted to be saddled with for himself or his heir.

The girl had resurfaced after a few years and was seen in public, always a bit rude and snappish, never being able to gain any friends outside of her sisters. She certainly didn't help to dissuade the whispers behind her back. Her father had tried unsuccessfully to find her a good match, only finding any sort of interest in small landed knights, which would hardly be an advantageous match for him. No one wanted a crazy or cursed Helena Whent, that was for certain. It was a testament to how strange the lady was that she would request to speak with the likes of a Skagosi when most maids gave him a wide berth, not that the Skagosi cared. Tygett would have to warn him about Helena the cursed, he had likely not heard of her.