Chapter 22

Your assumption proved correct, for your Father approved of your little Idea mere moments after he entered his Chamber, so with how solidly the Earth was frozen you've gotten his Answer before the first Stone could even be laid. Thus, you can't help but find yourself rather impressed with how your obstructed Connection was still able to prove itself useful, in such a simple way. In Fact, you hadn't even managed to gain all the surrounding Land before your Message was answered, which could certainly be quite useful in the future, so while thinking about this you send your Mother's Lion a small Message as well, just to make sure that you're not taken back to the Rock by a dozen Knights or so.

You appreciate your Mother and your Home, you truly do, but you still love the freedom you were denied in your earlier Years, and you have no desire to see the amount of freedom you currently have decline once more, especially if it can be avoided with a few simple Messages once in a while. And you suppose it makes her happy, if what you feel is true, so it's hardly the end of the World to actually use your little Cubs for something, right?

Well, you can't really help it, even if you already know that you're too soft in matters concerning your Family, for while saying you're happy if they're happy would certainly overstate things, you do still desire to please them when you can. And you suppose it wouldn't kill you to make the Lions of your Siblings a bit more animated, either, seeing as there isn't half a Continent between you three, in Contrast to your Father.

You enjoy your Thoughts and the Sight of the great Trenches in front of you with a playful Grin, and then wonder if you could get away with achieving a bit more, or if you would be stretching your Luck. You're often seen as big by others, despite being so frustratingly small, and you wouldn't want to disappoint those that saw you in that light. Thus, you soon began thinking about the Possibility of starting another Project, one that wouldn't take who knows how long to finish, and would show that you could do more than throw Resources at your Projects.

And you will have to be fast, for you can feel your Father's Desire to reunite with the Family, and you know that he won't be coming back to the Rock anytime soon. Yes, time is indeed a bit short, but if you have anything in abundance it's Thoughts, and you believe you already have one that fits the Situation quite decently. When you searched the Markets of the Town the first time, when you tried to find something interesting, you realised that the Place was as bland as it got, with only the Harbor providing you with some results for your Search.

Which means there's practically nothing of interest in the City of Lannisport, that's actually worth spending good Coin on, and that at the same time the Population finally has the Finances and time to indulge themselves a bit. If the broken down Trade would now be fixed by a certain little Lion, you could cultivate all the Goodwill you could reasonably wish for within the allotted amount of time. And you already saw a few ways to achieve your newest Goal, even without using your Abilities which is quite pleasing if nothing else, for you truly can't use your Ability for everything, even if it's so very much convenient.

No, you knew better than to get used to such a thing, for you didn't know who could stop you from using your new Strength, and so you had understandably little in the way of Knowledge when it came to its Weaknesses. Though, seeing as your Day has an additional eight Hours, you don't really need any additional help to be efficient, and besides, your Plan concerning the current Trade problem was simple, for you planned to just use the Rock to replace the Harbor.

Simple, you know, but simple is rather good, is it not, for what could your Family possibly gain by hoarding half a Mountain of nearly useless stuff. Especially the fine Fabrics would sell well, and with how much Gold your Family spent to somehow let the Rock seem less empty, you're sure it would be able to provide high Quality Goods for the rest of the Winter. Thus, you send two of your Knights and a few Guards, as well as a Message and a Crate of your Creations to your Mother, back in the Rock, and then continue to watch the work going on outside the City, for you're sure that when your Mother visits the Chambers you indicated all concerns she could have would vanish.

In a way, you did use your Ability to get that Gold, but Gold is Gold, and Stone is Stone, thus there shouldn't be any problems, seeing as it isn't actually connected to you and as such is fine to use, and you would of course deny that you use that logic as an excuse to get another Accomplishment without having to work for it. You wonder what others would think if they knew of your current mental State, but then dismiss it just a moment later, for there's just no use in thinking about stuff like that.

Some Days after the Guild started to sell the first Crates you can't help but wish for a Challenge, something that fills the World and makes it feel more real, not for the World or Humanity itself but just to have some new Goal, for how it currently stands, you could actually conquer this Continent if you wanted to. Thinking about it while eating your baked Fish, you finally realise that with your Father being the way he is, winning the Realm is practically the main Goal of your House, no, he would want more than just the Crown for the Family.

Now if only there were some decent Adversaries in the way, you could just stand behind your Father's Goals and call them your own, but with so little struggle in Sight it quite simply feels hollow and meaningless to gain the Realm. Yes, you might even say it feels a bit like Lannisport before you visited, but without any Solutions lying around. And so you once more hope that the next Day, or the next Month, or the next Year will provide you with a Goal worth fighting for, and who knows, mayhaps your visit to the Capital will do just that.