Chapter 6.3 Wynafryd Manderly

A beautiful young woman with long brown hair, gathered in a braid, looked nervously at the roof of a carriage. She wore a beautiful light blue dress, which made her milky white skin look soft.

"It's amazing" commented a male voice to the right of the young woman, belonging to Wylis Manderly.

Wylis is bald and has a bushy walrus mustache covering his mouth. Like his father, Lord Wyman, and his younger brother, Ser Wendel, Wylis is a huge, fat man, almost too fat to ride a horse.

"What thing father?" the young woman asked.

"The road. Since we crossed the Royal Road, and came to the part of the road, which connects White Harbor with Barrowton, on the east side, the one built by House Dustin, the difference is overwhelming. There's virtually no shaking in the car, the road surface is very smooth."

"That...is that a bad thing?".

"Not necessarily, daughter. He is your fiancé after all, making good roads is a positive quality, after all, and House Dustin, after your marriage, will become good friends with House Manderly" smiled Wylis.

"Yes, I suppose so" replied the girl in a whisper. She was quite nervous to meet her fiancé, to meet Wolfgang Dustin, especially because of all the things she had heard about his house the last while.

After a few hours the carriage finally arrived at its destination, and Wolfgang himself was personally waiting for the envoys of House Manderly. The eight thousand soldiers of House Dustin were lined up like an aisle to receive the guests, completely motionless, similar to the immaculates, on the sides of the grand avenue.

Wylis frowned as he took in the scene, but the next moment his face broke into a small smile. The power move was obvious, and Wyman could tell it was not a labor. These men in front of him were professionals, who trained seven days a week, every month. They were not peasants whom the lord called to war every ten years, and who with difficulty could handle a weapon.

Only the Lannisters could afford to constantly maintain such a professional army, because of their gold reserves. It stood to reason that House Dustin, who engaged in the same line of business, could do the same.

"Lord Wylis! It's good to finally meet him," Wolfgang said cheerfully, he was quite tall already, and although he had just turned 11, he could pass for a 14 year old."

"Lord Dustin, ditto, my good son if all goes well!".

"Likewise, my good father," smiled the young man, then turned to the little girl at Wylis' side. "Lady Wynafryd, is she as beautiful as the rumors say."

"Thank you, my lord" replied the girl with a blush, as she curtsied.

"Well, your city is beautiful. You will soon need to build a wall."

"I'm afraid the expansion is not yet finished, people are still coming from all over the North, especially from the parts closest to the wall. I will only start the walls when I know it won't be necessary to build more houses."

"It's a smart idea, that's the good thing about starting to build a city from a smaller base, you can plan everything in an orderly fashion, and this big street is refreshing to see, I've never seen anything like this before."

"So I have tried to make it so, Lord Wylis, and yes, we have put a lot of work into this great road, Germania Road, I like to call it."

"Germania?"

"It's an old Essos name, I found it appealing" the young man commented without giving it much thought.

"Besides it all smells very nice."

"White Harbor isn't much different, it's also a clean and tidy city."

"Well, the Manderlys of old were based a bit on Oldtown, even if it bothers to say so because of my House's enmity with the Houses of the Dominion."

"Fortunately Kingslanding wasn't built at the time, or they might have risked following them as a model" laughed Wolfgang.

"Have you been all the way there Lord?"

"No, I'm afraid not, but I've read quite a bit about the city. About its disorder and... its bad smell."

"Oh, the stench of Kingslanding, people know more about its smell than its location, many believe it to be in the Westlands."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, but mostly commoners."

"Well, this is Ser Morris, you probably know him from the rebellion" Dustin commented, pointing to a knight to his right.

"Oh, I know him. Unfortunately I didn't get to see him in action, but yes, I spoke a couple of times with him."

"He'll be the one to take you to your quarters then, see you in the evening."

"Oh, sure, see you."

"Feel free to explore the castle, Milady. This too will be yours in a few years," Wolfang said to little Wynafryd with a loving smile on his face, to which the girl nodded awkwardly. Wolfgang was quite handsome; a handsome northerner of course, and therefore a bit too coarse and masculine, but handsome all the same.