Chapter 85 - Artican Trade in Westeros 12 (Dorne 10).

[Chapter Size: 2900 Words.]

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Thrid Person POV

Dorne, 295 AC.

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"Good morning!" Jon woke up to Seryna looking at him. 

"Good morning, my wife," Jon commented with a smile, while his half-open eyes admired the woman by his side. 

"Hm..." Ygritte moaned beside him, waking up as well, while Arya was in a separate bed. Jon had no sexual relationship with his sister present in the room, so they slept peacefully and woke up with a light sleep. 

"You're already awake..." Arya appears, approaching the other bed while scratching her eye and stretching. 

Jon got up and began searching for a suitable outfit for the day, opening the chest and putting on some simple formal clothes. 

"What are we going to do? Can we go train?" Arya asked, wanting to fight. 

Jon turned to her while putting a garment over his current one. "Not in the castle courtyard, you can go train with the Artican soldiers at the entrance," Jon said. 

"I see. I'll do that then," she said, opening a smile excitedly. 

Jon turned back to his wives, also getting out of bed. "Can you stay with her? I plan to go to the castle's library, only if you want to join me," Jon spoke, knowing his women were not very fond of books. 

"Yes, Ygritte needs some air, so I'll stay with her and Arya," Seryna said, and Jon nodded. 

Jon left the room with his family and went to meet the Martells for the first meal, where he again saw them positioned at the table before they arrived and settled down with an initial greeting. Jon also noticed how Arianne was looking at him, thinking her father must have instructed her to try and seduce him. 

He just ignored her and went back to eating while exchanging a few words with Doran about various topics just out of politeness. Nyra seemed a bit thoughtful during the dinner, Trystane quiet while his brother seemed to have some fear of Jon since the incident with Oberyn happened. They left the place as soon as they finished eating, and while some royal guards followed his wives and sister, Jon went to the library of Sunspear. 

Which was not hard to find after a servant led him to the location, some nobles still being in Sunspear, greeted him, but there was always a fear. Jon was known for controlling various snakes, and everyone was so afraid that they did not protest him stopping to control something that could kill them at any moment, after all, none of them could even explain how he did something like that. 

He didn't care about the nobles as it was his ministers who would take care of foreign relations, so he continued until he finally found the place, his guard opened the door and checked for any danger before letting Jon pass, who as soon as he entered, found the maester carrying some scrolls while leaving. 

"Maester," Jon greeted him calmly. 

"Lord Artican," the man spoke, greeting humbly. 

Jon saw the man pass by him, but did not like at all how that man looked at him, it clearly seemed like he was his enemy, something more intense than Oberyn ever gave. 

"This guy... I must keep an eye on him..." Jon concluded and looked at his guards. "You too. Do not let him get close to any of my wives or sister, understand," Jon spoke sternly, and the men nodded. 

"Yes, my king. We will warn the others too," he spoke. 

Jon then looked at the library while finding where he could start and picking up some books that he was unfamiliar with, mainly about the ancestors of the Martells. 

As he read, his guards stayed with him, and he managed to get some peace until someone interrupted him by entering the library and approaching him. "Lord Artican, what a pleasant coincidence!" A woman with slightly tanned skin and black hair and eyes, approached calling for Jon. 

"Vilia Gargalen," Jon said calmly, not liking to be interrupted by someone who had exchanged a few words since the dinner a few days ago. 

"Good to find you, I was wondering what a man like you would be doing now," she spoke, and Jon knew she had followed him, probably on orders from her uncle, who seemed very comfortable in wanting to throw his niece into his bed. 

"I'm reading now, something I would like to continue doing," Jon replied dryly. 

"Hm..." The girl seemed disconcerted by Jon's attitude, but what more could he do? Jon had chosen to spend his day reading some books in this castle instead of with his wives, and he would not be interrupted by a noble from Dorne. She still didn't seem to give up. "I was wondering if you would accompany me for a walk around Sunspear," she insisted.

Jon sighed, wondering if she didn't know he had almost killed all the guards two days ago, "Sorry, my lady, I cannot accompany you. Besides, I am a married man. Even though I have two wives, I would not like to wander around alone with a single woman," Jon concluded.

The woman was speechless for a while until she nodded sadly. "I understand... Then I'll be going," she said, and Jon nodded to finally have some peace.

"My king, should I prevent them from approaching?" The royal guard asked.

"No need, we can't be so rude to nobles in a land that isn't ours," Jon said, and the guard nodded.

He spent more time reading and finishing a book, moving on to the next before being interrupted once again, this time by Arianne Martell. "Lord Artican," she began, approaching as the guard just stood silently; she seemed to have left her guard outside.

"Lady Martell," Jon greeted her, despite being displeased.

"I didn't know you liked to read. Does our library please you?" she asked.

"It's quite interesting," Jon admitted. "I like its history; there's great historical value here."

"I'm glad you liked it," she said, noting Jon's displeasure at being interrupted, then continued, "I was wondering if you would walk with me later. I want to show you some sides of Sunspear that you haven't seen yet," she said, and Jon sighed once more.

"Sorry, Princess Arianne, but I will be with my wives as soon as I leave here," Jon said, indicating he would not accept her invitation.

"I understand... alright then, sorry to interrupt," she said before leaving the library.

He continued reading his books, moving from the second to the sixth book without stopping for lunch while staying entertained absorbing all that information. Some people entered the library, even just to look at him in a corner focused on his tome with a royal Artican guard by his side, but no one else interrupted him.

He only noticed one person in particular later, which was Nyra entering the place in a purple dress and going up to a section of the shelves and picking a specific book. She looked at him for a while and placed the book under her arm before leaving without looking back, head bowed.

'A book about Targaryen dragons,' Jon noted, watching the girl leave.

It was late afternoon when Jon finally decided to leave the library. As he left the place and headed towards the exit of the castle to meet his wives outside, the areas where the Articans were stationed were quite spacious. They calmly waited for any orders, but usually, they relaxed and drank, holding banquets every night. Of course, they didn't accept food from Sunspear, only eating the food they had brought themselves to avoid being poisoned or anything of the sort.

When Jon arrived at the location, everyone was in a circle while Arya fought against a dwarf. The girl seemed to have been doing this all day, as she was quite sweaty and dirty while wearing a small leather armor.

Jon approached as everyone nodded their heads, even the dwarf fighting Arya at that moment, to show their respect to their king.

"You've finally arrived," Seryna commented.

Jon approached his wives in a corner while Ghost lay behind them as if protecting their children. Jon approached and petted Ghost, "I've had enough reading for today. How are things here?" Jon asked, sitting down next to them while his guard positioned himself with the others.

"Your sister is trying to prove herself as a warrior, but she can't beat everyone," Ygritte said.

"Hm... that's just how she is, always in a hurry..." Jon smiled and turned his attention back to the ongoing fight.

"Come on little Arya!" the dwarf laughed as Arya, frustrated, attacked him. He defended with his shield, repelled her strike, and pushed her back. Arya lost her balance and ended up falling on the dusty ground. "You still need to plant your feet firmly to fight someone stronger than you. Hahaha. I heard you defeated a human, but you can't expect a dwarf not to be stronger than that human you fought!" the man said, laughing.

Arya quickly got up and went back to the fight. They continued to fight until the evening, when Jon returned to the castle, while his wives went to clean Arya. Jon went to an Artican soldier who kept some of the wargs' birds in the fleet and requested to bring back 50 ships to the harbor, as it was time for them to conclude their negotiations, and Jon would make the final one the next day.

After lunch the next day, after Jon spent the morning in the library again, he went to meet with Doran, seated in an open house like the first negotiation they had at the banquet. The man was with his guard while two Artican soldiers stood behind Jon.

"Do you play?" Doran greeted him and asked, pointing to the board.

"Yes," Jon said, already familiar with the rules of the board game.

"You know I love this game. It has a strange name, Checkers. But it always sharpens my mind like a whetstone," he said and asked Jon to play with him.

Jon nodded and saw him make the first move with a piece. "I always feel good about the strategy of this game, and it helps me think a lot about the future of House Martell," he said.

Jon said nothing and played his piece.

The man looked at his move and made another.

Jon moved another piece.

Doran moved another piece, pondering Jon's strategy. "I like to play this game mainly with other nobles, after all, I can always match my sharp mind with theirs," Doran said.

Jon moved a piece to the other side. "A game cannot define a mind," he said as he made his move.

Doran moved his hands before starting to shift the middle of his game. "It's true, but it's always good to see what kind of person you're dealing with."

Jon didn't respond and moved another piece, trying to block Doran's advance.

"You're amazing, you know, Lord Artican," he said, moving another piece, eyeing Jon's game. "You're incredible, there's no one like you in Westeros. You've conquered wealth, power, and status in lands beyond the Wall. You possess powers I've never seen in my life and didn't even know existed. I also heard that you defeated my brother in single combat without him being able to touch you, that when you're only of an average squire's age. My brother was supposed to be one of the greatest warriors of Westeros and lost to you, a man half his age," he commented.

Jon moved his pieces, captured one of Doran's, and did not respond to his speech.

Doran just smiled as he played another piece. "I know you rejected my daughter, but I still want to be your ally. We can become strong for difficult times," he said as he played another piece.

"Difficult times?" Jon asked and captured another one of Doran's pieces.

"We all have enemies. If we don't have good strategies and good allies, we will always be overtaken and conquered. Like this." Doran moved a piece and began capturing two of Jon's pieces, moving another into a position Jon hadn't noticed.

"You may not know, Prince Doran, but Artica has no enemies. We win our own battles with our own strength and destroy all our enemies," Jon said and surprised Doran by moving his piece, capturing one, two, three... six, seven, and eight pieces, leaving Doran with just 2 against a whole group.

"This..." He frowned, seeing his pieces being destroyed so suddenly by a boy less than half his age.

It didn't take long for Jon to win the entire game, leaving the prince with little to say, and Jon took the initiative. 

"Now let's negotiate," Jon said, and one of his guards brought over some papers he had asked to hold. "Here are all the contracts regarding our negotiations," Jon said and handed them to Doran, who began to read quickly, contracts for ice, the port, and sand with the goods that Artica would sell to House Martell. 

Doran nodded as he began to read, and seeing that everything was as they had negotiated, he started to sign. "I'm sure you haven't finished yet." 

"No," Jon said. "I want something else." He showed another paper to Doran, who set aside the one he had signed and started to read. 

"You want this?!" He looked surprised at what Jon was requesting. 

"Yes, I want your approval to bring these people to Artica," Jon said. 

"You really want to bring literate people to Artica to be stuck for 5 years without leaving the country, but earning a sum of a thousand gold coins and even an opportunity to live on your lands and settle there?" Doran said incredulously. 

Jon had a plan to accelerate the intellectual development of the nation; he planned to bring in 2,000 new teachers from the south, literate people who could teach everyone in the common tongue. This would be an expense of 2 million gold coins, but Jon could easily guarantee this with the trade he was opening in just 5 years. 

"Yes, they won't be able to leave the country for 5 years, but after that time passes, we can open our borders, or they stay there as long as they do not harm the kingdom or they can return with the money," Jon concluded. 

Doran thought quickly and worked all this information in his mind, ending up accepting it, after all, he could send some spies, since Oberyn could not enter after all the hostility created. 

Jon was well aware of Doran's plans but didn't care much, after all, no one could leave Artica or pass information to the south during that period. 

"As for the books, I will provide them," Doran also said about the other paper where Jon demanded a large quantity of books to take to Artica. 

Jon nodded while letting Doran think about his plans and everything he heard in that room, Jon continued his way until he stopped at the window with his guards. 

"Looks like our ships are arriving..." Jon said, smiling as 50 ships were appearing on the sea horizon and coming towards the city's port. 

At the port, the citizens of Dorne were already starting to get used to the strange events in the city over the last few days, giants appearing with dwarves as a group from the north came to negotiate, snakes crawling through the city strangely, and now the gossip was about how the man who controls the giants and all this new group is a sorcerer who can charm all the snakes in the city, making many fear him. 

The ships in the port with the people who hadn't accompanied Jon to the Martell castle had become a sort of attraction for the local people, who showed up every day at the port to watch the giants walking through the huge ship, while there were grumbling dwarves that scolded the people occasionally when they bothered them too much, but they ended up finding the scene amusing. 

However, today was different, and the people and fishermen soon noticed something as the ships in the port quickly made way, after all, another 50 Artican ships were waving their flag as they approached the port. 

"What?! More ships..." Someone alerted. 

"They're not going to attack the city, are they?" Another murmured. 

"Mae! More giants are coming?" A child pointed to the sea next to his mother, while she swallowed hard. 

Jon saw all this through his eagles as he left the castle, after all, he had to organize the place with his men and the merchants, he approached Ghost, mounting him with some guards following. "I hope Doran hasn't forgotten to warn his men, after all, the city is getting agitated with the presence of our 50 ships," Jon smiled and headed for the port.

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The last chapter of Dorne is next, after that they will head to the Reach!

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