Chapter 63 60

The Crownlands. King's Landing. 297 AC.

Lord Axel Arryn / Hand of the King.

Small Council Session.

The king had commanded that a tourney be prepared to mark the betrothal of Crown Prince Joffrey Baratheon and Lady Sansa Stark. This union was intended to strengthen the position of House Baratheon, and to bring peace and stability to the kingdom. The family of the future queen would be arriving at court before long. Among the notable guests in the travelling party were Lord Eddard Stark, his wife Catelyn Stark, his trueborn daughters Sansa and Arya Stark, his middle son Brandon, and his bastard daughter Elena Snow.

He did not know what had possessed Ned, a man who despised the south and its intrigues, to ride into the very heart of them. But in truth he was glad of it, for he had long since outgrown his old grievances and would have liked to return to the better days when the three of them could sit and talk without any of it. Ned's exaggerated sense of honor grated on him at times, but a more steadfast friend was difficult to find. Essos and King's Landing had taught him to value honesty, loyalty, and friendship. He and Robert had already devised a suitably "cultural program" for Ned's visit, though most of the ideas had been discarded as incompatible with the man's way of life.

The session ran long on account of the shortage of money. The Crown owed roughly one million two hundred thousand gold dragons in total, seven hundred thousand to the Lannisters and five hundred thousand to the Iron Bank of Braavos. Now the question was from whom to borrow more. The Tyrells had offered funds, but since he was already waging a trade war against them, he declined. To accept would be to hand the Roses a lever of pressure over the Iron Throne.

The foundation of the Tyrells' wealth was food. The lords of the Reach were the primary suppliers of food on the continent, and the Roses were their overlords. At a certain point the Reach had grown brazen and began selling food at extortionate prices. They could not simply be commanded or punished for it, since everything they did was within the law. He had no desire to endure such arrogance, and so, with the backing of the Lannisters, he had begun applying pressure to the Reach. Concessions were issued for the founding of new villages on Crownlands territory, on the condition that the Iron Throne would hold priority in trade arrangements. New settlements began to appear, populated from the overflow of King's Landing itself. This strengthened the lords of the Crownlands and increased the overall supply of food.

The fleet had been repaired and expanded. This opened up greater scope for trade and secured the safety of the coastal waters. Only the rulers of Myr had, in time, grown brazen in their turn, raising prices on everything. He had no intention of tolerating that either and sent them a letter of warning. The response took a long time coming and relations grew tense, but his reputation and standing in Essos proved useful. They believed him and stopped pushing.

Why, then, with so many positive ventures and changes underway, was the Crown still in debt? Projects cost money. Vast projects cost vast amounts of money. The bulk of the work was already done, and no major new expenditures were anticipated. Within three or four years, the Iron Throne would be in a position to repay what it owed.

There was also the problem that the trail of his father's killers had gone cold. The Lannisters, the Tullys, the remnants of the Targaryens, the archons of Tyrosh, and even the Martells had all been cleared from his list of suspects. Personally he had leaned toward the Sand Snakes as the culprits, given that half the hypothetical poisons capable of killing his father came from Dorne, but that too had been ruled out. In the end, a dozen names remained on the list. Not many, but not few either. And the moment he identified the guilty party, there would be war.

Having settled the budget for the upcoming tourney and resolved a handful of minor matters, the Small Council session came to a close.

...

Lord Axel Arryn / Hand of the King.

To spare everyone time, the Starks had come to King's Landing by sea. By protocol, Lords Paramount were to be received by a member of the Small Council, welcomed formally, and escorted to the throne room for the customary exchange of bows and pleasantries. He and Robert both had the same view of protocol, and so he waited for Ned's arrival at the dockside.

He had not been standing at the port since morning. He had ordered his servants to give him an hour's notice before the ship arrived and spent the intervening time on matters of state so as to free up the evening. When a three-masted Manderly vessel came into view in the harbor, he made his way down. The ship was large, though not exceptionally so. The Royal Fleet had a dozen of similar build.

First off the vessel came the Manderly knights and the Stark household guard. Then Ned Stark himself appeared. After so much time apart, looking at someone dear to you, you begin to understand that time is relentless and pitiless. Ned had aged. Aged noticeably. There were streaks of grey in his brown hair, and faint shadows beneath his eyes. His bearing, at least, had not changed.

"You've grown," were the first words Ned spoke after all these years. He had indeed grown, standing now at a full head above the man, all of his one hundred and eighty-eight centimeters of him.

"And you've gotten old." He nodded at the single grey hairs. A beat of silence, and then they were both laughing and embracing. Those present relaxed visibly.

"Axel, let me introduce you to my family." The children had formed themselves into a line and stood waiting to be presented. "This is my eldest daughter, Sansa." A well-groomed red-haired girl gave a curtsy. "My second daughter, Arya." This one looked like a small boy in a dress. "My younger son, Bran." The boy was doing his best to look brave, though his discomfort was plain enough. "And this is Elena Snow."

"I am glad to meet you all, but we must not delay. The king and the entire court are waiting in the throne room. A welcoming feast has been prepared."

"Indeed, we shouldn't keep the king waiting," Ned said with a quiet smile.

"A carriage for the children and Lady Catelyn, horses for the two of us are ready. We can set off whenever you like."