First Meeting of the Athenaeum Club (4)

"Welcome my Lords and my Lady to the Athenaeum club. I hope your stay on Dustspear was already a pleasant experience and I am sure the next few days will be very rewarding for all of you. Many people sitting on this table probably never thought such a moment would ever happen, where nine noble families from different parts of Westeros, with many grudges between each other, would unite at the same table far away from the Center of Westeros on a small island of the Narrow Sea.

To be honest, I never expected such a day myself just a few years ago. And yet, here we are, united together on this round table. I know you all must have many questions that have been bothering you during your long journey. Before I explain the next itinerary, I will give everybody at this table the chance to ask me any question you like. Please."

Victor graciously offered to word to his guests and was very curious what question would be asked first. To his surprise everybody was quite calm, even the eldest son of House Manderly, that most of the time gives a rather dull impression. Surprisingly the first question came from the most inconspicuous person and the only female member, Tanda Stokeworth.

"Lord Victor, with all due respect, the King was very surprised when he learned about your private club and the members you invited. To put it mildly, the Athenaeum club seems like a small council. He was very disturbed by this club and wants to know your intentions." Tanda was calm but spoke with a little force in her voice. Obviously being backed up by the Targaryen King gave her quite a lot of confidence.

This brought Victor in a particular situation at the very start of the meeting. He had two choices now, either caving in and admitting his council in front of the king of Westeros and losing the confidence of the club members or offending the ruler of King's Landing and worsening his relationship with the Targaryen dynasty.

For many people this question would be hard, but for Victor this was actially very easy and beneficial. Tanda Stokeworth delivered an opportunity to him to prove his courage, strength and even a little overbearing madness in front of the Athenaeum club's initial members.

As a still ten-year-old just relying on House Di Natale would not be enough to demand respect from so many noble families of Westeros. Even if only Oberyn belonged to a Lord Paramount, the rest of those families were even older and had a greater history than their liege.

Showing absolutely no fear and pure confidence in front of the current ruler of Westeros will increase their awe and fear of Victor by a lot. And King Aerys was not really a concern for Victor in the long run. Why would he fear a King that wouldn't rule for many more years?

Even if the Mad King would go insane and would want to attack the Stepstones immediately after hearing about the situation, Victor wouldn't really care in the least. Preparing a fleet large enough to compete with him would take the Iron Throne a very long time. By that point the Usurpers' war would have already started because Victor was sure that Rhaegar Targaryen would try and win the favor of Lyanna Stark at any cost, which would automatically make him an enemy to Robert Baratheon.

There was no way this war would not start, even if the tourney of Harrenhal would somehow not happen. 

But there was very little chance the Mad King would really invest so many resources just because of some small private club in the Narrow Sea. The nobles of the free states of Essos were not even supposed to show much respect for the Iron Throne. What's the point in calling yourself a free state if you are getting ruled by the Targaryen's anyway? All of this made Victor's answer quite simple and very blunt.

"Lady Stokeworth, with all due respect, the Lord of King's Landing has no say in what kind of private club a member of the Free States is founding. If King Aerys is concerned about noble families gathering on Dustspear behind his back, he would have to discuss this issue with his own subjects.

As far as I am concerned, I only sent out some harmless invitations that seemingly were gladly accepted. Furthermore, I didn't even try to hide this event, which was already announced months ago. There is no deception nor conspiracy going on here. Quite frankly, I don't care if your King likes this private club or not, he has no say in Lys."

Everybody was very surprised by the boldness of this young heir of House Di Natale. Bluntly disregarding the majesty of the Targaryen family in front of nine of his subjects, important noble families at that, was quite disrespectful.

But to Victor's surprise nobody really showed any signs of anger, not even Tanda Stokeworth. It seems like the behavior of the Mad King over the last few years has already seriously damaged his relationship with his subjects.

This even further strengthened Victor's believe that his little butterfly couldn't change the fate of House Targaryen, maybe the details to a certain extent, but never them losing their throne in the coming years. If you are no longer loved but only feared by your subjects and do no have absolute force in the form of dragons, your doom as a King is not long away. Victor was very pleased with the situation and continued.

"I personally would like to have a good relationship with the Iron Throne or else I would not have invited only nobles from Westeros to the first meeting of the Athenaeum club. This is me showing my goodwill to Westeros and House Targaryen, which honestly offended many rich merchants of Essos.

I do not expect any praise for my behavior, but I will not accept any slanderous claims on the purpose of this meeting today. I hope this answer will satisfy your King. Are there any other questions more related to today's meeting?" Victor started rather stern at the beginning and turned back to the sunny boy once he asked for the next question, as if he never disrespected the long-term ruler of Westeros right now.