Chapter 12

Duncan had been able to pull through for me and had been able to talk to Egg and get me a sit around the table.

No actually, that was a terrible lie. I didn't have a seat around the table, I had a seat at the side. I don't know whether my presence was felt needed or wanted in this meeting of the big boys club, but Egg had quietly told me that I was to sit and listen. Only speak when spoken to me. That whole shebang.

No one had spoken to me yet, so I hadn't had the chance to speak, but I did have a chance to look around and see the who's who of Westeros. Lord Luthor Tyrell I had seen and up close, he looked far more handsome than I had taken him for earlier, although there was signs that he was beginning to put on a little bit of weight.

Considering what little I remember of him from canon, that he rode his horse off a cliff, it didn't surprise me all that much that it was his maester brother, Gormon, who had a seat around his table who did most of the talking for House Tyrell. I wasn't saying Luthor was stupid, he certainly knew quite a bit about the lands that he was overlord over, but Gormon was far more knowledgeable than him when it came to the Houses and their capabilities when it came to calling up man for war.

And speaking of the archmaester, after that little conversation during the first night, I had neither seen hide nor hair of the man after that. I couldn't help but wonder how I had come off to the man and what he and the maesters were planning or doing considering my association with the closest thing that was to them, rivals.

Well, I suppose only time could tell.

I...didn't really know what to think about Quellon Greyjoy. For the father that spawned a litter of brats that were idiots and in the case of one them, evil incarnated, he seemed a pretty decent fellow. When he spoke, the other lords, specially Ser Jason seemed to listen and regard him with far greater respect than one would think a westermen or reachmen or any mainlander would give to an ironborn.

Was I missing something here?

Princess Maria of Dorne couldn't really attend this summit of Westeros' lords since she was too busy being a Princess of Dorne and taking care of her children that included Oberyn and Elia Martell that had only been born a more than half a year ago. Didn't stop her from sending her devilishly handsome younger brother Lewyn Martell in her stead.

I didn't really what to expect from a Martell, but I guess I expected him to be somewhat more energetic or hot-blooded. The young Prince of Dorne was certainly a disappointment in that regard. He rarely spoke and seemed more intent on listening rather than speaking or doing anything else.

Ser Jason was golden, handsome and had an air about him. He was dressed in the finest of silks and cotton, dyed red and gold of course. Also, he really couldn't forget about the lion imagery on his clothes. What self-respecting Lannister would be seen without the golden lion of their sigil?

Basically, he seemed to be a more fun version of Tywin. He looked competent, able to handle himself a conversation and then some. Didn't he have a bastard or something?

Artos Stark looked just about as good as I last saw him, long-faced and grim looking. I really couldn't make out what he was thinking with my limited facial reading abilities. I was going to have all kinds of fun when eventually, I come across more stoic people, or people able to act so well that they can hide what exactly they are thinking.

Somewhat surprisingly, I saw another young face in the crowd in the form of Hoster Tully and his shock of bright red hair and blue eyes. I was beginning to notice a trend that apart from Aegon, Duncan, Luthor, Gormon and Ormund, a lot of the people in this council couldn't be any older than twenty or had just turned twenty.

I could say the same about Ormund Baratheon. I was of the mind that he was somewhat distantly related to the Starks considering that he was just as grim faced and nearly as severe looking as Artos.

It was difficult to tell with his hair, but it seemed as if Aegon had less of the famous silver-gold hair of the Targaryens and more grey hairs than anything else. And the crow's feet that had been developing around his eyes recently were now more than noticeable, more than ever.

I would say that he was aging quick, but the fact that he was in his late fifties, I really couldn't say that he was greying early.

And before I forget, truth be told, I hadn't even noticed, but the master of whisperers, Ser Joffrey had arrived from King's Landing some time this week. Either that, or he had been long before and I had only learned of him just now because I was in the same room as him.

The master of whisperers was the one was currently speaking, "Before they took Tyrosh, the Nine could call upon a fleet of only thirty ships, but ever since they took Tyrosh, they can now call upon an additional fleet of two hundred ships. Perhaps even more."

Luthor Tyrell leaned forward on the table, "More?"

Ser Joffrey nodded his head as aged eyes drifted towards the younger noble, "Tyrosh was founded by the Valyrians as a fortress city to control the Stepstones and the trade that comes through it. In turn, this means their shipbuilding capabilities are not something to be taken lightly."

The Lord Reaper of Pyke was quiet for a moment before speaking up, "So how many ships do we expect?"

Ser Joffrey gave a light shrug of his shoulders, "Tyrosh certainly doesn't have the capabilities of the Arsenal of Braavos when it comes to shipbuilding, but I suspect that more and more ships have already been set to sea ever since Alequo Adarys was inserted as the city's Archon. These Nine did make solemn vows to help with each others goals."

"But to truly invade us or ward off the predations of the other Free Cities?" Lewyn Martell asked as he looked around the table, "My lords, it is true that a Blackfyre is among the Nine, but who's to say they will directly go to install him upon the Iron Throne? Lys, Myr, Volantis, Braavos and even Pentos. All these cities would have reason to worry about these warlords and wonder whether they are next on their list for each of their crowns."

Ser Jason slowly nodded his head, "I understand what you are saying. It's just as likely for the Nine to strike out at Westeros as it is just as likely for them to strike at any one city in Essos."

"That," Artos Stark began slowly, "Or the Free Cities band together to bring these Nine low. It would not be the first time, nor the last such a union has happened. It's rare for the interests of the cities to align, but they do occasionally align when something does threaten their trade or autonomy."

Egg nodded his head in a sagely manner at the words that had been said, "You speak wise words, Prince Lewyn, but we cannot leave the defence of the realm to nothing more than mere chance. Even if the Nine gather their strength and strike elsewhere, we should operate underneath the state of mind that they shall strike for Westeros. It's better to be safe rather than sorry." He finished with a slight smile and nod in my direction.

Ha. I had been acknowledged and it was for an idiom that I had said out of hand once in his presence. I still smiled.

Like I said, I take what I can get when it comes to recognition.

Lord Ormund's stormy blue eyes looked in the direction of Ser Joffrey, "How many men can the Nine call upon for an army?"

"In total? I would say a little over a hundred perhaps more if they gather any of the larger Free Companies to their banner."

Gormon smirked somewhat, "A hundred thousand men? The Reach can call that many men."

"Aye," the Hand of the King agreed, "But I doubt many of those hundred thousand men are seasoned killers the likes of those that follow the Nine." A giant hand rubbed at his clean shaved jaw, "If it comes to war, the Nine will certainly have a better advantage in us when it comes to the experience of the men-at-arms underneath them," An eye drifted towards Luthor Tyrell, "As well as in the quality of their officers and leaders."

Ser Jason leaned forward onto the table, "From what I understand, don't the Free Cities leave the fighting to the Free Companies? Rarely do any of them actually take to the field with citizen armies."

Lewyn slowly nodded his head as he agreed with the statement, "And in the Free Cities, trade is considered a more honourable trade than arms. You'll find hardly a soldier or man of arms in the lands across the narrow sea."

"Doesn't mean they don't have them, my lords." Ser Joffrey interjected, "True, skill in trade is valued more than skill of arms in the Free Cities, but they are not so stupid to believe that trade alone would stop an invasion force. Why would they keep a large, highly trained and professional fleet then? Tyrosh does have citizen armies, but they would rather spent the blood of sellswords than their own citizens in their wars. Most serve garrison duty in the Disputed Lands, and even then, some of these men-at-arms fight in the occasional battle against a Free Company or two."

"But how many of those men-at-arms will be deployed for an invasion of the realm?" Artos Stark asked, "As you said, they garrison in the Disputed Lands and the other Free Cities would pounce at any perceived weakness, especially Lys and Myr. They have fought over the Disputed Lands for centuries. I doubt they would just stop now."

Gormon hummed, "Would it be too much to suspect we will only see an invasion fleet of half their total number or thereabouts that they can call upon?"

Duncan shook his head, "It's not that much of a jump. They still have to leave the garrisons for their conquered territories. Enough to protect Tyrosh and whatever number they need to patrol the Disputed Lands from any form of probing attacks or invaders."

The conversations and discussions followed among similar themes of troop numbers that the Nine can call upon for a potential invasion of Westeros. Some of the lords didn't agree with Gormon's estimation and estimated larger numbers themselves. Others thought lower as they argued that the Nine might as well also split their forces into three. One to try and invade Westeros and the other two to make attacks in the direction of Lys and Myr with the total number of their forces being split between the three of those armies.

Eventually, Aegon was able to regain control of the council and an estimate was made from the information that Ser Joffrey was able to provide for them. We expected an invasion force from as little as thirty thousand to as large as sixty thousand, even still, that was nowhere near enough. Aegon ordered the aged master of whisperers Ser Joffrey to keep his ear on the ground for a more definite number of troops they can be expected to see.

Afterwards came the bargaining and talking about how many men each of the kingdoms could muster and with what supplies. The north being the furthest region from the potential battlegrounds wasn't required of much. Artos made some talk of probably a few thousand men or a few hundred northern cavalry, but definitely a promise about having the Manderly's sent some of their fleet down to help with troop transport and to bolster the Royal Fleet when it came to action with the Fleet of the Nine.

I think their was a general agreement among the Nine that they were probably going to be outnumbered by the Nine when it came to the naval arena or at a tactical disadvantage, especially if any of the pirates and sellsails of the Stepstones bow their flags to the Nine.

Although the Iron Islands was the land of ten thousand kings or something, Quellon could only promise the Iron Fleet. The Iron Fleet was the only fleet the islands could call upon that could reliably fight in a s naval battle. Longships were best suited for raiding instead of full pitched battles.

The reach was going to be supplying the largest contingent of men and materiel as Luthor had promised along with a promise that the Redwynne fleet would be involved one way or another. Those ships would be vital in the ferrying of troops and the supplying of needed material.

Apparently, the Stepstones did have fertile land, but it was rarely farmed due to the pirates, and the lands that were farmed could only support the local population and whatever pirate lord or tyrant the local population looked to for protection from the other pirate lords, pirates, slavers and the likes.

The support of the stormlands was already a given considering their relationship with the Crown and they would be sending the second largest contingent of men. The riverlands also promised men and materiel.

Dorne was probably serving one of the more vital tasks to the whole operation if it happened. Dorne was the closest to any of the kingdoms when it came to the Stepstones and thus, their position made them a perfect place for a staging ground for troops to be sent to the Stepstones. Both men and material for as long as the war continued.

"I was very impressed with you." Egg said at the end of it all. I raised an eyebrow and Egg raised a goblet of watered down wine to his lips, "You did as I asked. You kept quiet throughout all of the proceedings."

"Thank you. I can follow simple instructions, nothing to be impressed about grandfather."

Egg chuckled and in that moment I saw the idealistic men that seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. I blinked when I realised this was a chance right here. A goddamn good chance to see if I could lead him away from the path of burning down Summerhall and killing a lot of good people.

But how do I approach the subject though? I mean, if I just start talking about dragons, I was bound to raise some curious eyebrows from the old man.

The Lord of the Seven Kingdoms sighed, "If only more of the lords were receptive to most of my suggestions as like the ones of today."

Hold up. Was he hinting at the reforms that he had been trying to push through? I could probably us this...right?

"Your reforms? You mean." I asked.

Egg nodded as he brought the goblet to his lips again. He looked older than the last time I saw him, "If only the lords can understand the benefit of what I'm trying to give them. I don't know how they can't understand that my reforms are simply for their sake as well as for the smallfolk?"

My lips suddenly felt dry as I licked them, "Perhaps you are approaching this the wrong way?"

My question raised an eyebrow, "How so?"

I tried to think of a way to explain it. Problem is, I didn't particularly know what Egg's reforms entailed. I really should have looked that up. I was mentally berating myself for not actually looking it up when I had the chance other than working on the base assumption that basically boiled down to that he was trying to make the lives of the smallfolk better.

Especially in regards with not knowing how he was actually trying to do that.

"Well..." My brain was firing all synapses on full auto as I tried to think of something, "Perhaps you are approaching this in the wrong manner, grandfather." A slight shift in his facial features and I took that as a cue to tell me that I had him intrigued and that I should continue, "I mean, smallfolk have been living in their current conditions for thousands of years and the nobles have been living like they have for thousands of years. Nothing of note has happened and as far as they are concerned, they see no reason to change."

To my knowledge, there were no peasant's uprising like the Peasant's Revolt of England or the German Peasants' War, or if they were, they were never really covered in Aerys' Westerosi history lessons. I couldn't really put it past myself to not be surprised.

I was beginning to think that the lords didn't particularly care for things that impacted them directly so anything important or anything that impacted the smallfolk was something that did not matter all that much.

Or perhaps they were covered and someone figured that they weren't relevant for the education of a prince. Hm, something to check up on with Maester Gyldayn.

I think Egg was interested as he leaned on his desk and crossed his arms, "And how would you bring upon change that would make them care?"

"Ehh..." I blinked as I tried to think of something. Come on, how difficult was it to bring change without going the Littlefinger route? I tried to recall anything I knew about the medieval world from back home and I was only getting bits and pieces. Something about a middle class and something else about the death of knights as the be all, end all of the battlefield which led to gunpowder...I think?

Wait, didn't the Black Death have something to do with this shit?

Oh shoot, I was losing it here. I couldn't think of jack.

I just decided to try and bullshit my way through and hoped my bullshit stuck, "Start small." I began slowly, "Don't try to push everything all at once. Just have success stories of your reforms or something to convince the other nobles that your way is the right way." Oh god, that was so horrible that it's not even funny. My bullshitting wasn't working, "Look, let's just not try something drastic or anything. I mean, we don't have any dragons now, and when other Targaryens had tried to bring them back, it never ends well," Never ends well as in, everybody dies, "So we can't really force people to do whatever we want anymore, we have to be smart about it."

Something I said, probably the 'we don't have any dragons anymore' line set off something in Egg's head but I really hoped the other part that I said, that 'it never ends well' for anybody who tries to bring back the flying WMDs had stuck even more in his head. He smiled fondly at me as he walked towards me, "You make some good points, Aerys. But what kind of king would I be if I only looked to the few instead of the many?"

"Isn't that what many past king's have done?" I asked as Egg threw an arm over my shoulder and led me out of the council room, "I think I know which people a king would think more valuable, the nobles or the smallfolk."

He smiled, "Strange is it? Nobles rely on the smallfolk for much of their wealth and power. Yet many consider them to be well beneath them even though we rely on such people for near everything. A strange world we live in, is it not?"

"Strange." I nodded in agreement, "If you don't mind me asking, why do you do this? The reforms, everything. I know about your childhood, but did it have that deep of an impact on you?" Never read the Egg and Dunk series so I didn't know jack about the smallfolk lives.

And the same when it came to the modern series. Apparently, the Arya POVs explored the ordinary lives of the smallfolk during the original timeline, but once again, I skipped through them so I don't jack about the average smallfolk and their lives.

But I am rather aware of the consequences of the War in the form of the very popular, socialist, perhaps communist push-back by the smallfolk in the form of the High Sparrow and his Poor Brothers.

That had been fun, reading Cersei deal with them.

Egg's face saddened some, "It did. I saw much. I learned much. But it wasn't until your Uncle Daeron died then I realized what I had to do."

Daeron Targaryen? My dead uncle? What did he have anything to do with it?

Apparently, my confusion was plain on my face and Egg was nice enough to clear it up for me, "Your uncle died putting down a rebellion. A rebellion that was primarily caused by a noble who did not think much of his smallfolk."

I blinked, "Oh."

Oh.

That explained quite a bit.

Quite a whole lot more.