Birthday Banquet

On January 15th 280 AC it was finally time for the birthday banquet of Victor. As the fame of House Di Natale grew stronger by the day due to the new miracle drug Penicillin pretty much everybody wanted to get an invite for this special banquet. Isabella did indeed invite representatives from every noble family of Lys but refrained from inviting the richest merchants from Essos and the Lord Paramount's of Westeros.

Victor specifically asked her not to make this birthday to grand in terms of political influence. He didn't want to poke the Targaryen's in the wrong way just a few months before the official marriage of Rhaegar and Elia. The only person invited related directly to any Lord Paramount was Oberyn Martell.

But Victor decided to enhance his influence in Westeros by inviting some heirs of smaller noble families. He invited the future heir of House Tarly, Randyll Tarly. Randyll Tarly will become the Lord of Horn Hill and head of House Tarly. He will marry Lady Melessa Florent, who will give birth to Samwell Tarly in 283 AC. Randyll is a lean and balding man with a short, bristly grey beard.

He is a narrow man, but iron willed, shrewd and capable, and is considered one of the finest battle commanders in Westeros. Victor wanted to reach a relationship with this future military leader of the Reach before he became famous in the next war. He knew that his relationship with House Tyrell would never become close, as he was already thinking about gaining benefits in the south of the Reach, so having a close relationship with House Tarly could cause internal friction among the noble families of the Reach in the future.

Victor also tried to increase his influence in the North for the first time by inviting the oldest son of the Lord of White Harbor, Wylis Manderly and his wife Leona Woolfield. He didn't think he could have any great discussions with this fat man, nor did he have any power to make an alliance on behalf of his father, but Victor only wanted to show some good will to House Manderly as the White Harbor would likely be the place where he set foot on the North for the first time in the future.

Isabella invited some more minor nobles from Westeros nothing major. The birthday banquet started in the evening and was a very grand occasion. All the guests were very surprised by the huge amount and diversity in food, the wonderful art performances, and grand decoration of the banquet room.

The many small nobles of Westeros spent a wonderful night and had many gains by expanding their own network across Westeros and with the nobles of Lys.

Victor spent several hours dancing and talking with many noble girls, but only his dance with Ashara Dayne, who was wearing a purple dress, left a lasting impression in everybody's mind. When the banquet was nearing its end Victor took the stage on last time to deliver a thank you speech.

"I am very glad everybody of you could arrive in Canahs to celebrate my tenth birthday with me. I know that for many nobles of Westeros the journey by ship is often bound with a lot of hardship and risk. House Di Natale deeply appreciates your efforts and wishes to show our goodwill for this. We will invite all the present nobles from outside of Lys to take an additional vacation of one week. House Di Natale will pay for all additional expenses and has already made an agreement with some nobles of Lys to provide you with a luxurious place to stay and make sure you do not lack anything. This is of course not mandatory and only represents our good will for your effort.

For all knights present I would like to announce that the blacksmiths of House Di Natale improved our steelmaking craft during the last year again. This miraculous material is strong, flexible, rust-resistant, and produced through a new process of ironmaking which takes place over three days and nights. House Di Natale will hold a special event in three days where we offer some of the new specially crafted weapons. Everybody that is interested in weapons is invited.

After leaving the banquet hall we additionally prepared a small gift for all the people present today. Once again, I represent House Di Natale and myself to thank you all for your presence today and I hope we will see each other again for my next birthday. Have a nice evening and a safe return journey!"

With the conclusion of Victors speech loud cheers broke out in the crowd. Many smaller noble families were very glad to accept such an offer, as taking a journey to Lys was something they might never do again, at least not in a short time.

Knights like Oberyn Martell and Randyll Tarly were especially surprised about the announcement of the new specially crafted weapons. Oberyn planned on staying in Lys for some time anyways, but Randyll decided to postpone his return journey until after he could see those new weapons. Even though his family owned the Tarly ancestral blade Heartsbane, a Valyrian steel great sword, if House Di Natale could produce special weapons that came even close to a Valyrian steel sword and on a large scale, this could have a large influence on future wars. He needed to make sure what was going on before returning to Westeros.

When leaving the banquet hall Randyll Tarly was very surprised by the large noise in front. Every representative of a noble family revoiced a finely crafted small glass bottle when leaving the Di Natale estate. The small glass bottle contained a small white tablet. After repeatedly asking the stewards that handed out the glass bottles it was confirmed that every noble family received one small pill of Penicillin.

Everybody was elated of course, as just bringing this small bottle back to their Lord Paramount's would guarantee them a very heavy reward. Randyll Tarly was again surprised by the generosity of House Di Natale. This banquet and the additional gifts would cost a fortune and House Tarly would never be able to pay for such a large sum without hurting their bones, but for House Di Natale that just seemed like a nice little gesture nobody cared about. He might need to reevaluate the importance of this noble family and the relationship of House Tarly and House Di Natale.