Chapitre 93: Chapter 93 - Artican Trade in Westeros 20 (Journey to the West 07!).
[Chapter Size: 3000 Words.]
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Thrid Person POV
Westeros, 295 AC.
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In the midst of the sea to the south of the continent, the journey of the Artican fleet continued, encountering some storms along the way, while passing by merchant ships coming from the west that avoided getting close to them, following their route.
"It's a pity I can't map an underwater path as I was doing with Serume..." Jon couldn't help but comment to himself at one end of the ship.
"Jon!!" He heard a voice calling him and saw Arya approaching.
"Yes, sister?" Jon asked.
"You've been here all morning, come train with me!" She requested, and Jon, turning his gaze back to the sea, where everything was empty, nodded seeing that there was nothing more to do there besides think and murmur to himself.
"Let's go." Jon said, starting to leave that side of the ship. Seryna was resting in the cabin at this moment, so he was outside to get some air and see how things were going. The journey hadn't encountered any problems since they left from Dorne on this side, they were still 150 ships ready to face any threat at sea, so besides the storms, which they passed easily, by the way, they continued their journey peacefully.
Jon joined Arya in the largest space on the deck, while some fights were already happening there.
"Come on, you dwarf!" Tormund Giantsbane was in the middle of a fight against a dwarf opponent at this moment.
"Shut up, you damn fire-beard!" The dwarf growled as he used his hammer to hit the man.
"Hahahahaha! Come on, you damn boot-licker!" Tormund continued taunting the dwarf while using his axe against the heavy hammer.
"Take this then!" The dwarf exclaimed, changing his tactic, hitting the hammer on the ground, making it crack with the wood of the deck and Tormund having an imbalance as he tried to return to his fighting stance, but the dwarf took this chance to throw his hammer like a spear into the man's chest, making him fly backwards while falling with his armor a bit dented.
"Now who's the boot-licker, you damn redhead!" The dwarf cursed while spitting on the ground and starting to laugh.
Many who were watching the fight, began to laugh at this moment as Jon approached with his sister.
"He got you good, huh." Jon approached, Tormund wasn't weak, but certainly very naive to provoke a dwarf who could use anything to his advantage.
The big man sighed while looking at Jon, "I let my guard down." He simply said as he tried to stand up.
"Anyone else want to fight?" Jon asked the small crowd of men, dwarves, and even giants watching the fight.
"No, we're done here, you can use the space." The dwarf who defeated Tormund said, knowing that his king would train with his sister as he always did.
"Alright, let's go, Arya." Jon said as he aligned in the middle of the place with Arya, using his small thin sword made of Eldenmetal, Jon drew Darksister, and they both began to train fighting each other, while Jon helped Arya to refine her current skills.
"Keep your stance." Jon said as Arya tried to work with her feet. "You were lucky to face and find an opening against that sand snake in Dorne, but there's still much to learn." Jon spoke, putting pressure on the girl as he tried to defend from her constant attacks.
Arya at one moment fell backwards under this onslaught of attacks with the Valyrian steel sword, tripping and falling. "You must always hold firm on your knees and position, that's why you end up unbalancing and falling." He said looking at his sister on the ground, "Now get up again and let's continue." Jon requested, after all, he wouldn't go easy on her, since this could save her life one day.
Arya didn't complain, after all, she chose the path of a warrior, replacing the sewing needle with a sword in her life, as an Artican warrior, which she wished to become. "Could I be as strong as you when you kicked the butt of the prince of Dorne?" She asked, getting up and preparing to continue their fight.
"You can, just keep dedicating yourself and becoming a powerful warrior." Jon spoke, maintaining a tone of pride, before continuing. "Anyway, let's keep working." He said, and they resumed fighting a moment later, as Jon made sure to train Arya to her limit, making the girl have impeccable muscle memory, learning from her mistakes.
The day passed quickly as Jon asked his ship's cook to bring something for him to eat with his wife in their own cabin. He went there at this moment and found Seryna lying on the bed while she kept her hands on her belly, which was quite voluminous.
"Are you okay? You're not having the same symptoms as Ygritte, are you?" Jon asked with a tone of concern.
"I'm fine... Just a bit tired, he's making me quite anxious as he grows here." She said, pointing to her belly.
"He? So you know?" Jon asked with a small smile, they had not yet discussed the gender of the children, though Jon could already tell, after all, it was a part of him inside Ygritte and Seryna. While Ygritte was carrying a girl, Seryna was having their first son, but he was surprised that the giant woman knew it was a "He."
"Don't underestimate a mother, Jon. I can feel him, I wonder if he will be as restless as his father, as I can already feel him moving." She spoke with a tone of love.
Jon approached and touched his wife tenderly while sitting by her side and kissing her belly. "I hope so, I'll even prepare a dragon for him, after all, Eragon needs more of his kind, and I would like to have a companion in the sky, just like my daughter inside Ygritte." Jon said softly.
"Do you already want to put him in danger before he is even born?" Seryna asked jokingly.
Jon just laughed, "You know that even if we don't want to, I doubt they'll stop from exploring all of Artica as soon as we take our eyes off him." Jon joked.
They talked a bit more until someone knocked on the door. "Your meal, as for the queen, my king." The royal guard announced, and Jon went to receive him.
They spent some time eating while Jon stayed with his wife until she fell asleep, the routine continued like this while Jon trained Arya and organized things for the ships and fleet.
A few more days had passed, and Jon found himself in a peculiar part of the south of Dorne. He had sent his two eagles to scout the region and even being at high sea, they could explore the continent and return due to their enhanced stamina.
He then, looking at the map, discovered he was near Starfall, the home of the Daynes, something that brought conflicting feelings for him, after all, there were many rumors circulating about him being the son of Ashara Dayne.
'I could go there, try to find answers...' Jon thought while again on an edge of the ship alone where he liked to stay thinking. 'But I feel I will regret it, that something even worse will be uncovered... I should think about this after these voyages, I'll first make sure to succeed with my trading company, then I will look into my origins...' Jon reasoned, not wanting his mind to be taken over by worries he should not have right now, his priority at the moment was helping Artica to be self-sustainable, then he would make sure to look into other personal matters.
Deep down he knew there was something very wrong with his origins, but not even the gods helped in this aspect, and he would avoid this topic for the time being. However, he could not help but look at the castle through his eyes; the Daynes are known for their incredible skills that their descendants generate with fencing, giving many powerful names over the years, Arthur Dayne was at the forefront, everyone says that Jon's father had defeated him at the Tower of Joy, but it was very hard to believe that had been done with a name feared by everyone in Westeros at that time. Unfortunately, he also could not access the vision of the fight, due to a block in the green sight.
His eagles continued flying over the castle, where it seemed to be bustling with activity that morning, its towers were tall as they flew, there were rumors that the castle was built thousands of years after a huge stone fell from the sky, the Daynes were direct descendants of the First Men, like the Starks, some houses in the North, and the Blackwoods.
'But they certainly do not possess Warg powers like some with that blood have...' Jon thought as he flew over the castle, he noticed that in his green sight, only the Starks and the Blackwoods themselves, who are currently in the Riverlands, have stronger Warg abilities in their blood.
Phoenix and Bleufire continued to circle the castle, while in the courtyard, there was a boy Arya's age training with the local master-at-arms. The eagles could see his features even from a distance; he had light hair and purple eyes, but they were no less piercing than those of Nyra Sand.
Jon saw a woman looking at the boy from a distance, with the same features, a possible aunt of his if Ashara proved to be his mother indeed, but Jon didn't want to think about that, especially since he learned at Sunspear about the suicide of his own possible mother.
Jon had a lot to ponder, but he didn't want to, his connections to people with Targaryen blood or even having his own dragon, but he didn't want this headache now. He might seem cowardly, but he knew it would leave a very bitter taste as soon as he found answers to these questions and as he had already thought, he didn't want that kind of thing at the moment.
Leaving the prow of the ship, he went to lie down with his wife after ending the connection with his birds while letting them fly around Dorne as much as they wanted before returning to the ships.
Days continued to pass, and nothing out of the ordinary happened as the fleet sailed between The Arbor and the continent, a large island structure in the south of the continent. However, the same could not be said for the other part of the fleet because at this moment, they were near the sea of Kinglands, and 30 ships appeared coming from the continent with an aggressive action towards the 50 ships.
"These guys... they never give up..." murmured a captain.
"Haha, let them come, after all, we've been without fun since we left Stepstone..." said a dwarf beside him.
"The news of ships being decimated should have spread through the region by now, but it seems our new friends don't know that we can destroy them just as easily." Another Artican commented.
"So be it... let's just destroy them." The captain commented. And he looked at the birds waiting for an order. "Slow down and prepare to exterminate all of them!" He said while the birds didn't move, but quickly all the captains of almost all the ships who had their eyes rolled back in warg mode, returned to normal and began issuing orders.
"Prepare for battle, slow down, and Giants, ready the harpoons!"
Jon also joined in this game, taking over the mind of Serume, after all, he himself wanted to destroy that fleet following the queen's order, believing they could harm them without retaliation.
As for the pirate ships approaching, there was that man who spoke with the royal guard and prepared the 30 ships, seeming madness after hearing all the rumors about this fleet, but the payment was still good enough for him to risk, besides the types of loot they could get.
Noticing the fleet slowing down in the distance, he frowned, and when they got close enough to the range of the harpoons so they couldn't flee, they saw the first projectiles falling on the ships and exploding immediately as had happened with the last pirates who tried to face these 50 ships.
"Gods! What is this?!" The same man, who was further back, saw half of his fleet being destroyed with wildfire and wasted no time in issuing the order for them to turn back, however, it was already too late for them, the harpoons kept falling on the fleet and exploding more and more ships, making that captain fall into the water with many men.
But when he saw his men starting to be pulled into the water, his hopes had already been lost, leaving only regret for having accepted this madness in place, a tentacle grabbed him and pulled him into the sea, even with his instincts fighting to try to breathe, he knew he would die there, and when he spotted the huge monster appearing in front of him in the water as it opened a round mouth with several teeth, throwing him inside it, he had already accepted his fate.
"Looks like this one ended as quickly as the last, but this time I won!" The dwarf said on one of the ships, betting again with the last man he did in Stepstone, but this time winning the bet.
"Damn... lost everything I won..." Complained the man, but handing over the bag of coins to the dwarf.
The fleet went back to raising its sails and sailed north while leaving this sea with smoke raised, with no one having survived it.
Returning to Jon and his ships, they were passing by Oldtown when a ship approached them with a white flag.
"What should we do, my king?" A captain asked.
"Let it approach, let's see what they want." They were in a region with many commercial ships, but none had approached them, until now...
The ship approached them while maintaining its non-aggression intentions, getting close to the fleet while turning to follow the ship's side, as the fleet simply did not have a brake to stop quickly.
"Who are you and what are your intentions!" A royal guard shouted to the ship alongside, there was a group of common sailors, it seems they were paid to approach this dreadful fleet and everyone could see the fear and caution in their eyes.
An elderly man dressed in black with chains around his neck, something that was easy to identify as a maester, approached the edge of the ship.
"I would like to speak with Jon Artica." He spoke with his elderly tone.
"I am here." Jon went next to his royal guard, looking at the maester with a cunning look, he did not like the order with the exception of Luwin, who never did anything to make Jon suspect him.
"Lord Artican, I am here on a mission from the Citadel." He spoke, after all, they had sent him with the risk of being attacked by the ships with a common ship after paying a lot for these city sailors to have the courage to come here, even with a peace flag.
"What does your order want with me?" Jon asked directly with a not very friendly tone.
The man, despite seeing a bit of hostility in Jon's tone, continued confidently. "The Citadel invites you to the city, we want to meet a man like you and your endeavors in your kingdom beyond the wall." The man spoke and Jon knew there was something strange there.
"Sorry, we are just passing through, I have no intention of visiting the Citadel at this moment." Jon spoke, he was going to visit the city on this trip, but he did not want to do it now and did not like a maester inviting him to some kind of trap.
"But my lord! You could buy many books, Lord Hightower is in Highgarden at the moment in a tournament, but he would certainly be pleased with your presence in the city." He tried to insist.
"I'm not interested in that right now, return to your city maester, I will continue my journey and perhaps, visit your city in the future, but not now." Jon spoke and turned back to his men, "Let's continue the journey." He said leaving the maester and the sailors surprised by this and when the man tried to argue once more, Jon's ship began to gain more speed, leaving them behind while trying to avoid the fleet that was coming behind.
Jon no longer cared about that maester, he first had business with the Tyrells if they would receive him, but he was surprised by the information he received, there was a tournament in Highgarden, which means they would have a bit of fun while traveling back north.
It took a few more days for them to approach a small port city in the Tyrell territories, there were Oakenshields and Old Oak, as the biggest in the region, but they would not be the most viable to reach Highgarden, so they chose the city known as Little Oak Garden.
Raccoon here ->
Little Oak Garden is a city I decided to create based on the port cities of the region, I didn't find anything more viable on the map to get to Highgarden, I had done this with Old Oak in my first draft, but it's so far that I created a new small city, after all, Westeros has many cities to house millions of inhabitants and we only know the main ones, which gives margin for the creation of new ones, as I did with FrostRoar in the north.
Jon never had a conversation about the gender of his children? I don't clearly remember this, but I have doubts, if anyone remembers, please let me know so I can fix this part.
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🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone