Bab 22: Chapter 22
The Wolf Princess
The sounds of working men surrounded her. They had started at dawn and continued working through the day, taking sparse few moments to take a moment to rest and eat, then continuing on with their work.
It had been three moons, or months as her husband preferred to say, when the fire had raged through King's Landing, driving a fiery, green wade of destruction through half the city. The destruction had been enough to make one take a moment and pause, for Branda herself, this had been the first time since she had seen such destruction on such a scale.
And in the place that she had begun to call home.
Yes, King's Landing would never replace the special place Winterfell had in her heart, even with all of it's colour and noise that Winterfell couldn't even compete against, but this was going to be her home nonetheless.
From here, her lord husband, in the future would then rule the Seven Kingdoms from this very city.
That night, seeing flames of green and fiery red dance through the darkness had made her pause. Then seeing the aftermath of the fire had wondered whether rebuilding the city was even remotely possible.
It seemed her doubts and pessimism was unfounded.
The people of King's Landing had rallied to their king and had thrown themselves into the rebuilding efforts. The docks, such a major industry of the city had been destroyed that it had been predicted it would take nearly a year all round of continuous work to repair and rebuild to the original standard now resembled something more of a dock of such a large city.
A dock that was large enough to finally be able to meet the requirements of docking ships that carried the heroes from the war.
Of course, just because they had been made respectable did not mean that they could hold the sufficient amount of volume that was needed. Only the lords, knights and men that had distinguished themselves in the fighting would have the honour of landing in the capital and making their way to the Red Keep to be given honours for their show of valour in defence of the realm.
Father, Brandon and Benjen better be among that lot. She thought. Benjen had made more than a few boasts about gaining glory and honour among the battlefield.
Such bragging had also been closely echoed by her own lord father.
In the hearing of hundreds of witnesses. It would be more than a loss of face if they did not live up to their words. She sometimes wished that at the very least, some of her family took less of the wolfs blood that ran strongly in their blood.
She almost cracked a smile at the thought. But we wouldn't be Starks without that blood.
"May I enquire as to what you find so amusing?"
Branda was knocked out of her thoughts by the question. She turned her head to look upon the rider next to her. Her goodaunt, Jenny of Oldstones.
She smiled, "Nothing more than shaking my head at men and their willingness to brag about their accomplishments or deeds that they have yet to commit."
Jenny laughed, "I admit, I have heard many a man do that, but not all. I don't think I've heard Duncan or your own lord husband do that."
Branda could very well have rolled her eyes out at that. Prince Duncan was nothing more than the picture of a perfect prince in all manners. Something about him, whether it was how he spoke, how he handled himself, anything, was enough to inspire people to trust him.
As her lord father had once told her, Duncan was the sort of man, other man would willingly follow.
Her husband didn't disappoint, but she was more of the mind that Aerys didn't boast simply because he didn't want people holding his own boasting against him if he failed to living up to his own words.
"Some men are smarter than others to keeping their own thoughts and deeds to themselves. I can respect that."
Branda was close with her good-aunt. The two of them shared more in common than she did with most of the ladies in court.
Jenny mostly kept to herself and shunned most of the pointless opulence of the royal court, much like how she shunned such frivolities as well. She would have gladly wanted nothing to do with any of that, but Queen Betha had wisely told her the importance of such things.
"You might very well not like some of the pointless characteristics of the court," Queen Betha had laughed mirthfully then. "Me and Egg dislike much of it. But these things are important in their own way. For example, the jewels and clothing that one wears can convey a thousand words that cannot be conveyed through speech alone in half the time."
Her interest had been piqued then as she helped the queen in her duties. "Such as?"
"A lady that wears a mother of pearl necklace the size of a pigeon's egg tells us that she is rich or that her House is of considerable wealth to afford such luxuries. Such a little thing might give a moment's pause to any parties that wish to act against or with said lady's House in their intrigue." She then smiled without any hint of mirth then. "Wealth by itself, is a measure of power. After all, having power means you have the means to acquire wealth. The two are not mutually exclusive."
Whether she disagreed with much of her new surroundings, she had to immerse herself in it nonetheless.
In her time in the capital and in her spending around the court, she had learned two constants. The royal court and the nobles who attended it do love their gossiping as much as they love their games of intrigue.
She couldn't really understand what was so half interesting about how allegedly, Lady Jeyne Crabb was busy rutting with a handsome stable boy.
Branda didn't even know who Lady Jeyne Crabb even was or why she would be so important.
And as a future queen, it was unfortunately her lot in life to smile and laugh and gossip along with these fools and lickspittles. Thankfully, her good-family was of a different breed and very much allowed her to truly enjoy herself without having to hear about barely realistic stories that have been exaggerated over time.
Of course, Rhaella had told her that such gossips sometimes held a sliver of truth of some kind in their telling. And that sometimes, as rare as it was, such gossip could prove useful in some manner when it is time to be used against an opponent.
Beside her, Jenny sighed, "It will be good to have Duncan back. Daeron has missed his father and I'm sure the same for Duncan for his son."
Branda then realised that she had been lucky. Lucky that Dany had her father beside her so soon after her birth despite a war being fought. How many fathers were away from their children? And how many of those fathers would ever get the chance to hold those children again?
"He's grown so big." She smiled as images of the young lordling came to mind, waddling about the castle ground beside his mother. She leaned in the direction of her good-aunt, a sly smile on her face, "Think Duncan would be able to recognise him when he sees him?"
"I would hope so. He has his eyes."
They laughed quietly among themselves as they rode back towards the Red Keep in a route that had been specifically chosen so that the returning victorious warriors would spend as little time as possible in the damaged part of the city and into the still presentable part of the city that had not been touched by the fire. Reconstruction had also been redirected to this route, so it was far more frequent to see standing houses or buildings, made of wood, not the stone or mixture of both that she had seen common when she had first come to King's Landing.
This was still better than nothing.
Reconstruction could have been faster, but with the works at the dock, and her husband insisting on improving upon the sewage and drains system of the city, only the foundations of buildings had been marked out before any building was erected.
Of course, this had angered some, but temporary shelters had been built outside the city walls for the homeless to take shelter in. Others had also been redirected to a supposed new town that was slowly being erected further down the Rush by the order of the king.
She didn't know the full details, but rumours about this new town had been making it's way round the court as soon as people had come to learn about it. Some said that it was supposed to be a new seat for the royal family. Others disagreed and thought that it was to serve as nothing more than a quiet town for the Targaryens to retreat to if they ever want to take a moment away from the chaos of the capital.
Of course, that was only some of the rumours that she had heard. There were dozens more, some even completely and utterly absurd to even consider nothing less than the fanciful thinking of madman.
When they made their way back to the Red Keep, she had set out to find her daughter. Upon finding her daughter, she also found Aerys with her in his office.
Aerys was busy playing with Dany that he never noticed her entering his office. Smiling at the scene in front of her, she decided not to disturb, but instead went to his desk to look upon what he was working on.
It seemed that he was less working on anything and more practicing. She frowned as she picked up a piece of paper and looked upon the uneven, chaotic scribbling etched upon it.
"Why do you force yourself so?" She eventually asked, holding up the piece of paper.
Aerys nearly jumped at her suddenly speaking, turning quickly to face her. His eyes blinked in recognition before he spoke, "Don't you knock?"
She smirked, "Why? What have you to hide?"
He smiled at that, picking up Dany in his arms. "Force myself to what?" He asked her.
She waved the piece of paper, "This. You can't write with your right hand anymore. Don't torture yourself like this."
Maester Gyldayn had cursed the incompetent fool that had set Aerys' arm after it had been rebroken by the pirate lord that had captured him. According to the maester, the bone had been set wrong that it put unnecessary pressure on his muscles that rendered the prince unable to complete any motor actions that needed a degree of finesse involved.
Writing was one of those actions that was beyond Aerys with his right hand now.
His face fell then, "...That's my writing with my left hand."
"Oh." Her eyes glanced back to the piece of paper and she supposed that she could see some effort had been made to at least keep his writing legible and strait. "It's gotten better?" She said, trying to at the very least, pick up his spirits.
He gave a quick laugh then. "You are not very believable." He then proceeded to bounce a giggling Dany in his arms, smiling all the while, "Then again, I have a scribe at hand if I need to actually have things written down."
"Or a stamp." She said, throwing the paper back onto the desk and making her way towards Aerys and her daughter. "Why is it so important that you learn how to write anyway? I know many lords than can neither read nor write and that doesn't impair them in any meaningful way when it comes to the running of their lordly duties."
Aerys shifted some so that she could have a good look at their child. "You would be surprised at how useful simple things such as reading and writing can be. Especially if you are expected to be running seven entire kingdoms and the two spares."
I suppose that would explain his business with the orphanages and the Faith.
Whatever Aerys had done with this supposed printing press of his had given the queen a massive boon in the form of extra hands to help with the running of the many orphanages and charities that she supported. The queen might have laughed and japed at Aerys' attempt at battling corruption among the goldcloaks, but she had been the most grateful when septons and septas became available in their dozens to help her with her duties.
Although like most of the septons and the septas, she had been surprised to learn that they were also teaching many young orphans and street urchins that had been taken in how to read and write.
Branda wasn't oblivious to the plight of the poor and many of the smallfolk. She understood that some lords wrongfully exercised their power and their lordly duties, but even she couldn't wrap her head around why it would be so important for orphans and urchins to have that particular knowledge.
"Do you know who will be honoured in the coming feasts?" She asked, taking her daughter out of his arms and into hers as gently as she could without disturbing the babe.
"I have heard of a few names, but I think it will be more than that."
"Such as?"
"Lord Ormund, Prince Duncan, Lewyn Martell, Barristan Selmy are some of the names that I can call of the top of my head. I'm sure there will be more." Said Aerys as he walked round to his desk and took a seat. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed him frown, before that frown quickly disappeared as she turned on him.
"Don't think I missed that." She told him.
He tried to act innocent and oblivious. "Miss what, my lady?"
"That frown. I saw it. What is it?"
Aerys sighed. "I would like to think that things will calm down for the foreseeable future, but I highly doubt that. There's still that matter I told you about." He leaned back in his chair. "Along with others that I rather unsure as to whether intervene or not."
In her arms, Dany's eye lids were heavy upon her eyes as Branda realised that the babe was tired and would soon be taking her afternoon sleeping. She would soon be have to be placed back in her crib.
But for now, she was interested in what other events was Aerys wondering on whether to intervene. Especially if they stopped him from carrying out the duties that had been given to him. "What could possibly be diverting your attention from the rebuilding of the city? Remember that the rebuilding of the city has been tasked to you. Discontent among the smallfolk about the speed of the reconstruction might be huddled among a small number of the populace, but if it takes any longer, a riot is very likely."
He grimaced slightly before frowning, "I know, but they are going to have to believe and trust in their prince on this...but I will make efforts to at least have more shelters built."
"And the speed of construction increased as well." She suggested.
"Fine, that as well. I can't promise on anything though."
"As long as you put in the effort, and show the people that you are trying, then at the very least, that will quieten down some of the murmurs."
Perhaps she wouldn't be so bad when it came to the time of her being queen. The queen had told her once that Hand of the King might be the realm's premier advisor to the king, but at the end of the day, it was the king's queen that spent the most time at his side.
And thus, had the king's ear.
It would be up to her at the very least, to make sure that her husband and future king was given the best possible advise that she could give.
Such as this, "You should talk to Rhaella."
Aerys blinked in surprise at the sudden turn of subject before his face settled into a more certain expression. "I know. I should. But I don't know how to approach her. Or the subject."
The subject being that Aerys would admit that he had some responsibility to the fire that destroyed King's Landing and killed his princely father among thousands of others, but he would lay the blame at the maesters. He had no evidence and frankly, some of the things that he said about them were simply absurd.
But Aerys had been so sure of it when he had been explaining it to her. About how there as probably a section of the maesters that were out there, willing to destroy or kill anything that had anything associated with magic in Westeros.
How they had killed the remaining Targaryen dragons during the Dance.
And how they had probably been the cause of the fire.
And for what? Because according to him, they probably did not look kindly to him sponsoring the closest order of learned men that could be considered their rivals, the Alchemists' Guild.
"I'm sure you will think of something. Letting this problem fester will do nothing for you now or in the future." She said, persisting with trying to convince him to carry out the action, "Perhaps at the up-coming feast?" She suggested. "Away from any prying ears and wandering eyes. I'm sure there exists such a place in the castle."
Branda had no right to say this, but she thought that the princess had been in mourning too long. Perhaps the feast, with it's sounds and merrymaking would raise the princess up from whatever darkness that she was feeling.
A happier mood that Aerys could take advantage of and broke the subject that had seemed to drive a wedge between the two of them.
Aerys nodded. "I'll try, but I don't think I've ever been of the convincing sort."
She moved forward and took his right hand in hers, an awkward interaction considering she held her babe in her arms. "You convinced me of your worries. I'm sure you can do the same with her."
A lie in truth.
She hadn't been convinced of anything, but Aerys had been so sure of anything.
Unfounded accusations with no evidence were just but a stepping stone away from being unnecessarily paranoid. There was nothing wrong with a small amount of paranoia, but a paranoia that allowed one to see threats and conspiracies when they didn't exist, was not a paranoia that bode well for anyone.
But Aerys was her husband and he was convinced of the guilt of the maesters. At the very least, she might not be able to convince him other wise, but she can keep her eyes on him and stop him from doing something that might very well damage relations between themselves and the Order of Maesters.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone