Thoughts and letters

A shorter chapter

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Nine months later

Casterly Rock, early 286 AC

A few week after Lannisport, I had my thirteenth name day. I'm going to turn fourteen in a few months. It's still pretty young and I oftentimes wish I could be an adult faster. Well, it was already the case in my past life. Every kid is just way too eager to grow. And it's even more true when your mind is older.

Today, I'm reading a couple of letters I received. The first one is coming from lord Andrew. It's been a while since I last heard of him, so it brightens my mood.

[Dear young lord,

I'm glad to announce that the construction of the Windy Keep has recently taken an end. We began to cut the trees and should be able to sell a part of the wood in Lannisport, in a few months.

Considering your love with the coats and sayings of houses, I won't try to attract the fury of the seven by hidding those of house Windhill from you. On my coat lie three pieces of golden wheat with a white background. As for my motto, its words are: Forever Snow and Gold.

I heard about the flourishing first harvest of these 'potatoes' as you called them. I wonder who created the fries just after its apparition in the Westerlands.

And I also have been promised the hand of a young lady from house Payne. I would say that things are going in the right way here, young lord.

May your future projects be as successful as this one.

From a knight to another,

Lord Andrew Windhill, ]

Looks like he is finding his place, there. It didn't take him too long to adapt to such a harsh place. That's pleasant to see.

And yeah, the first harvest of potatoes has been more blooming than I anticipated. Its quantity is still minimal for now, so the price is a iota too high. we didn't forsee such a growing demand. Only house Yarwick sown it on its fields, until just a while ago. The potatoes are now going to be scattered to a dozen of small houses, in different parts of our lands.

The 'someone' inventing the fries was me, but I decided to not make too much of a spotlight for myself. I don't need to be known as history's greatest cook. So I explained the reciepe to our chef and asked him to make it an anonymous western invention.

When it comes to the crop rotation, the effect aren't noticeable yet. It will take some time before a true change in the quality of the soil and crops takes place.

I also supervised the construction of a dozen of Leon towers, as I decided to name them. The experts estimated the need to build fifty-seven of those to cover our entire coastline.

These towers either have a circular or square base, to fit with the landscape. Their size vary from twelve to seventeen meters high, but most are going to be fifteen meters high. The highest of them are situated near the ports. It ended up being a big cost, but we can take care of it.

For the supplementary warships in Lannisport, father only gave his approval for fifteen of them. This will bring the number of warships in the port to fourty-one.

Because of both the towers and the ships, we still had to somewhat increase the taxes in Lannisport. At this rate, It will go back to normal after nine months to a year.

The spaghettis are getting more popular after each passing month. Add it to the fries and the Westerlands may really become a worldwide culinary reference.

I go out of my thoughts and continue to read my letters. The next one is from Jaime. It's actually pretty unusual for him to send a letter, so I'm surprised.

[Dear little brother,

I am pleased to inform you in advance that your siblings are on their way to Casterly Rock. You must ask yourself, but how is it possible ? Could it be that the seven graced me their favor by sending me Jaime, my awesome and dearest elder brother ?

And you would be right, but not only. To make it short, two uncles of king Robert stayed in Kings Landing for half a year. They are from house Estermont, his mother's family. He insisted to visit their home in return. So I went to Greenstone as a royal representative, along with Cersei and a covey of guards. As for how the bloody place was… I swear, this prank of an island only has a Greenshit for a castle.

With the insistence of our favorite sister, Robert decided to pay a visit to Casterly Rock. We could have taken the Goldroad to come, after riding on the Kings road, but Deep Den was the only stop. So we took Rose road, Ocean road and Sea road. We stopped at Bitterbridge and Highgarden. Now we are quitting Crakehall and should arrive in three days.

This time, I shall properly beat your ass Leo. You only took me by surprise in Kings Landing and I'm going to prove it.

Ah and last news, Cersei is pregnant. You and I are going to be uncles.

See you soon,

The best Lannister, ]

Great, I don't suppose the child to be Robert's. It would have made a few things easier. But the two of them loving each other is just impossible in this reality. In the end, I can't control everything. It will bring problems, but I saw it coming.

I could have warned my father about their incestuous relationship, but he wouldn't have believed me. Tywin is smart, yet he refuses to consider certain possibilities. The idea of his own children acting like Targaryens is something he would protest with all his might. I now know him enough to anticipate that much.

Anyways, so the king is finally arriving. I heard of their little trip more than three months ago. It shows how much the king cares about his duties.

I'll be happy to trash Jaime around like last time. It can only do him good to realize that he isn't untouchable. I feel like their stay here is going to be fun.

After opening the last letter, I realize that it comes from Hornvale. I read it rapidly before destroying it.

I sigh helplessly before thinking about all this ordeal. It's the fourth letter sent by Melara now. I recieved one of these every three months. And it's always about the same things, over and over. The only variation is that its content seems to be getting darker and more depressive.

It leads me to think that she may be heavily abused at home. But I stayed silence, in case it was a trap. She could be forced to try to approach me by her father. This possibility made me wary of her letters.

But from time to time, I tend to think that I may be heartless while dealing with her. I like to imagine that there was some truth in this small story of ours. My detachment wavers every time I think about her beauty, her natural grace and the warmth of her touch. But the mess related to this situation is just not worth is.

''Am I that weak ? I don't think I fell in love with her, though… So what is this annoying feeling ? Regret, mayhaps ? How am I to understand the world if I can't even completely understand myself ?''

I force myself to stop these irritating thoughts. This has a way of getting on my nerves.

I also informed myself concerning lord Andros Brax. I found that he tried to marry both his heir Tytos and his second son Flement to the daughters of lord Holster Tully, before the rebellion.

He also tried to marry Melara to Edmure Tully. But Holster declined every single one of his proposals, shaming lord Brax's vigorous attempts in the process.

After that, he tried to marry Melara to Willas Tyrell, firstborn and heir of Mace Tyrell. But lady Olenna was the one to categorically refuse the match.

So he tried to marry Tytos to the newly born Margaery Tyrell. To make him better understand her thoughts on the matter, lady Olenna sent him a dead horse with a horn planted on its forehead. When one knows that the sigil of house Brax has a unicorn on it, the meaning is quite clear to deduce.

So it seems that Andros Brax is set on marrying his children to the great houses. His own isn't small, to be sure. But it's far from being worthy of a great house.

His ambition has caused him to loose face multiple times, now. Add a violent nature to it and you got a dangerous man possibly blinded by his emotions.

I'm going to search additional informations on him, in case I should put him back to his place in the future. But precise informations are difficult to go by. I must search either for a way to pressure him, or… to kill him without arousing suspicion.

Speaking of Willas Tyrell, I didn't know that he existed when I watched the show. He even has a younger brother named Garlan. So dealing with a possible problem related to the Tyrells may be more complicated.

Earlier this year, a small Tourney was organized in Highgarden. Oberyn and Willas faced each other on the final of the joust. Willas was knocked from his horse and his legs were crushed with the impact.

He is now crippled and completely unable to walk. There has been some rumors about lady Olenna trying to get a special device to allow him to stand up.

Anyway, if I want to beat Jaime, I should go training with ser Cerval or ser Benedict. I've been negligent with my swordsmanship, as of late. So it's time to change that.