Progressing

Progressing 

“-made over two hundred thousand gold dragons from the sales so far, after Lord Manderly took his portion. Most of that comes from merchants from Braavos. A decent portion comes from the Westerlands  and a few of the other Free Cities.” 

Harry hummed happily and drummed his fingers on the table. “Good, so Lord Manderly avoided selling in the South.” 

He looked back at the Maester. “Did he say what sold the best?” 

Luwin went through his notes. “He said the silks were the most profitable item. Not only did they take up only a small amount of space, but nobles and wealthy merchants were desperate to get their hands on them.” 

He leaned back into his chair and cast a gaze at his two uncles who had a look of absolute shock on their faces. Harry allowed himself a brief smirk at sight of both of them rendered speechless, before he continued. 

“Send a letter to Manderly and tell him to start preparing for a second trip once the new warship is finished. Focus on what he found to be the most valuable this time around.” 

Luwin wrote a note for himself to do that before looking up. “Will Lord Benjen be joining the trip this time My Lord?” 

Both of his uncle's eyes snapped to him. Harry answered before they could speak. “No, he should have got a good amount of experience on ships from the one voyage.” He finished and raised an eyebrow at his uncle questionably. 

Benjen nodded slowly. “Aye I learnt a lot. But I wouldn't say I'm an expert at sea yet. Another trip would help though. I feel there is still much to learn.” He finished with a hopeful voice. 

Harry shook his head. He didn't even need to think about his answer. “No. Sorry uncle. But it's time for you to start taking on duties regarding your future castle. Anymore sailing can be done from or around Sea Dragon Point.” 

He smirked. “Besides, it also time for you to get married.” 

Harry burst into laughter at the almost haunted look on his uncles face. He had gone bone white and his pupils dilated. He found it hilarious that Benjen found marriage a genuinely more terrifying prospect than spending months at sea, dealing with pirates, storms and slavers with the only protection coming from a wooden boat that could be sunk in any number of ways. 

After taking a few moments to compose himself, Benjen spoke. “So it's happening then?” 

Harry nodded. “Aye. You will marry Dacey Mormont in three moons here in Winterfell. Afterwards you both will travel to Sea Dragon Point and start ruling. “ 

Ned smiled and pulled Benjen into a side hug. “No need to be so nervous Ben. Dacey is a good woman. I'm sure the both of you will be happy together.” 

Benjen smiled shakily and visibly gathered himself. After a few moments he looked back at Harry with a firm look in his eyes. If Harry didn't witness it himself then he would never have guessed Benjen was on his way to a panic attack a few moments ago. 

“If I'm going to be ruling Sea Dragon Point, I need to know the state of construction. How far along is the castle?”  

It was a fair question. Harry nodded at Benjen and gestured to Luwin to grab the binder with the information on Sea Dragon Point from the shelf and bring it over.  

In the meantime, he stood and poured himself another cup of water from his jug. When that was done, he called a servant to bring him another jug of boiled water and went back to his desk.  

Benjen had the binder open and was looking at some of the sketches that Harry had drawn up of the finished project. 

Benjen traced his fingers across the page. “I've seen this before nephew, and I will repeat myself. This is good. This is very good. Too good even. It will take over a decade, perhaps even over two to build something like this. It will also cost an incredible amount of coin.” 

Harry waved him off. “It should hopefully be finished within the next three years or so. Your taxes will be higher than most lords for a few decades after it is finished to help pay Winterfell back for its construction. But that shouldn't be too much of a problem once trade starts to pick up on that side of the North.” 

Benjen choked. “Three years?!” 

Hadrian snorted. “Aye. I started this project years ago if you recall. I went all in on it. Hired as many free hands as I could find. Still, what really spread up the construction was the Giants.” 

Benjen sputtered. “Giants? You're using them to build this?” 

Harry smirked when his uncle Ned just watched with amusement on his face. He already knew this after all. Being in far more meetings like this than Benjen, who seemed perfectly happy to spend his time messing around with Hadrians cousins. 

“Of course I'm using the Giants to build. What else would I use them for?” 

“I thought you would have them trained. To join that army you're so set on building.” 

He shook his head. “I would like nothing more than to have them join. But their numbers are too few right now. Once they've had some time to have some more children and the Giants have started to become more comfortable in the North, then I will slowly start adding them. I don't see that happening for a while though. Not a few years at least. Even then, the number of Giants in the army will remain low for decades. They aren't a resource I can risk losing so easily. Not when their gene pool is so low.” 

Benjen scrunched his eyebrows. “Gene pool?” 

Harry just waved him off. “Don't worry about it.” 

Benjen looked doubtful but let it go. “How far along is the construction then?” 

He took a sip of water. “The foundation of the castle is complete as well as the main hall. The barracks are done and one of the walls is beginning construction. The docks are finished for now. They are still small for now, as there isn't many ships coming in that way. That can be expanded in the future though. Other than that, most of the focus so far has been on building up a proper sewer system that can easily be expanded. That is almost complete as well. The rest hasn't been started yet.”  

Benjen leant back with a genuinely stunned look on his face. “Thats a lot more than i would have thought.” 

He smiled. “Truly, the giants are a blessing. The sewers weren't meant to be ready for at least another year or so. They have sped up construction massively.” 

Benjen nodded slowly. “It sounds like it.” 

He allowed his uncle a moment before he continued with a more serious tone. “There still aren't that many smallfolk besides the construction workers, but it is starting to fill up more. I can't leave another person in charge for much longer. So after the wedding you are going to have to take over your new duties.” 

Benjen looked at him with determination. “Aye, i will nephew. You can count on me.” 

Harry smiled and relaxed. “Good. Remember you also need to pick a new name.” He finished with a wink. 

Benjen groaned. “What about Pointer? For Sea Dragon Point?” 

Harry just stared at him while uncle Ned broke out into laughter. Even Maester Luwin, who had been keeping a respectful silence so far, let out a few chuckles.  

Benjen looked genuinely insulted. “What?” 

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Thats a terrible name brother.” Ned replied. 

He recoiled. “It's not that bad! Its descriptive!” 

Ned started laughing again. Harry just enjoyed the moment. His uncle's laugher had been rare the last few moons, since word came of Jon Arryns death. 

Benjen deflated. “Fine. Fine.  What about Seascout? Because we scout the sea for signs of the Ironborn?” 

Harry just sighed. ”Uncle, I think you should ask your wife for ideas.” 

He just crossed his arms. “Fine, fine. I still don't see what's wrong with them.” 

They just enjoyed the moment for a while before Benejn spoke up again. “Nephew, i appreciate you going through all this effort for me, but would it not be better to focus on Neds castle now? As you said, the foundations of mine are done. The rest can be built overtime.” 

Harry frowned. “I have been working on Moat Cailin. Since before the end of the Ironborn Rebellion. But I see your point. I have only had a hundred men working there and progress has been slow. So far they have only managed to clear much of the ground and knock down a single tower. I have been putting it off because it won't bring in immediate benefits like a new port on the Western Coast will. But with things becoming more chaotic down South, perhaps it's time to go all in.” 

The mood immediately sobered at the reminder of what was happening in the South. 

After Jon Arryn was killed. Lysa Arryn declared war on the Mountain Clans. Declaring them savages and heathens. The Faith was quick to join in. Encouraging all true believers of the Seven to destroy the savages. From his spies' reports, their numbers quickly swelled, and many travelled to join the armies of the Lords of the Vale who were quick to muster. Eager to avenge their lords death. 

The problem was that after a moon, they failed to find any large groupings of the clans that they could vent their anger on. 

The army had thousands of undisciplined smallfolk in it. They quickly ran out of patience and started going after every worshipper of the Old Gods they could find. Which means that they started pouring out of the Vale into the Riverlands in short order, as there were a lot more Old Gods worshippers in the Riverlands than anyone wanted to admit. The Riverlands was swiftly becoming consumed with chaos. This wasn't helped by a lot of Septons in the Crowlands and the Reach seeming to think that this was a good idea, joining in. 

Unfortunately the King was too deep into his cups to really care at the moment. It seemed that the death of Jon Arryn broke something in the man. He was very close to calling for a war on the Mountain Clans himself. His brother Stannis managed to talk him out of it though, after he was made Hand of the King and convinced Robert to put down the Faith Militant properly. The King apparently wanted to name Ned to the position but decided against it due to all the trouble with the Faith. Knowing it would probably just make the problem worse. 

The crown was preparing to wage war on the Faith now. 

Honestly, Harry had no idea how that would go. He expects the crown to put them down in short order, but fanatics have a way of multiplying. Baelish is also a tricky man. He half expects for Robert to die in some accident. Hell, he half expects Robert to commit suicide via battle because of how depressed the man seemed. 

“Is there nothing we can do to help?” 

He looked up at his uncle's question and at the solemn look in his uncle's eyes he hesitated.  

Harry could easily have Baelish assassinated. That would take care of the driving factor behind the recent resurgence of the Faith. It would also create a martyr as he was well loved by the smallfolk in the Vale. Which may cause their numbers to swell even more.  

He could have his skinchangers and his army sweep into the Riverlands to hunt the fanatics down. Which would kill a lot of them, but he expects that as the chaos grows worse. More will join the Faith out of sheer desperation. A drowning man will grab onto anything that looks like it would help them float. Even if in his struggles he would push another man down. 

He expects that Stannis knows having Northerners hunt the fanatics down would only cause more problems. Hence why the North hadn't received a call to war like the Crownlands, Stormlands and the Riverlands. The Westerlands, Dorne and the Reach were staying out of it for now. 

At this stage, things have come close to spiraling out of control. At any point they could get even more chaotic and Harry had no desire to invite that chaos the Norths way. So while he could probably put down the Faith. It would require a lot more blood than his uncle was probably expecting and Harry had no desire to shed Northern blood when it wouldn't benefit the Kingdom. 

“No uncle. There isn't much we could do. I could call the banners and march South. I could probably hunt down the Faith Militant. But it would take a decent amount of time and cause a lot of Northern blood to be shed. Having Old Gods worshippers fight them would also probably make the situation worse before it gets better. I have no desire for my people to die in the Riverlands for little gain. Doing so would also mean that many of my projects would have to put on hold, meaning the North would suffer. Still, i will have letters sent to the Riverlands encouraging the lords to have the Old God worshippers flee North.” 

His uncle looked more somber the longer he talked. But Harry was happy that at least he didn't argue. 

Seeing that the mood had grown a bit too somber for his liking he decided to change the topic.  

“Maester, how goes the Navy on Bear Island?” 

The room seemed to breathe easier now that the topic changed.  

Even Maester Luwin seemed less tense as he answered. “The speed of construction has increased dramatically my Lord and the costs have also decreased a lot. It seemed we underestimated just how much damage Jorah Mormont and his wife were causing.” 

Benjen frowned. “I don't see one man and a woman could make such a big difference.” 

Ned, who also seemed almost relieved about the change in topic, was the one who answered. “Lynessa Hightower had very expensive tastes. Tastes Jorah was only too happy to cater to. That means a lot of the time workers weren't getting paid when they were meant to, so a lot of them just didn't work. Slowing everything down. Or supplies weren't bought when they were meant to be and so they had to wait for them to arrive. Overall, he caused a mess. I don't know how he expected to get away with in the long term. The only reason I think it took Maege so long to discover him, was because she just didn't want to think badly about her nephew.” 

Luwin cleared his throat. “Yes, it seemed he had a larger impact than we thought. Things have sped up dramatically my lord. The construction should be finished within a year at this rate.” 

Harry smiled. “Excellent. I will have to speak to Lord Manderly. We are going to need some of the Stark ships to travel to that coast and for the Lord to lend us some experienced captains who are willing to teach.” 

He leaned back. “Next, you should have finished going through the reports from Lord Karstark by now? Yes?” 

Luwin nodded firmly. “I have. I have summarized it for you here my lord. “ He passed Hadrian a stack of parchment. Harry put it down, deciding to go over it later. Then gestured for Luwin to continue. 

The Maester quickly did so. “The war was overall a great success. The Skagosi did not put up much of a challenge in open battle, even when they had a rough parity in numbers. I believe less than three hundred men were lost in the whole campaign for close to one thousand five hundred dead Skagosi warriors. Overall, the army performed admirably.” 

Luwin took a breath before continuing. “That said, Lord Karstark said there were a few places they could improve. Discipline can be improved more in some areas. Higher standards for officers will also be needed in the future as it seemed that not many of them displayed initiative. Waiting for Lord Karstarks order before they ever did anything. Including setting the camps.” 

Harry nodded thoughtfully. About what he expected. The army is still new. Improvements are going to be constant. 

Luwin continued. “That said, his biggest complaint was about the skinchangers.” 

That caught Hadrians attention. “Oh?” 

“Lord Karstark believes that the army should have skinchangers of their own who are trained with the army. Apparently, the skinchangers that were sent were lacking in discipline, one got themselves killed before they even arrived on the island, and the others either didn't show up to where they were needed or couldn't keep up with the army on a march. Slowing everything down because Lord Karstark wasn't willing to leave such an asset behind. The army also suffered from multiple ambushes and couldn't track the enemy without skinchangers present. He writes they are an important asset and that their value cannot be understated. Therefore, he wants as many of them as he can get.” 

Harry hesitated. Skinchangers were dangerous. A few rouge ones could do a lot of damage. He would really prefer to have them all sworn directly into his service. Still, he knows that it is unrealistic in the long term. The Children have said that magic is growing stronger. More will be born before long. The art will become more common. Harry will just have to increase his plans to come up with counters. 

“Tell Lord Karstark I will consider it. When he arrives in Winterfell we will speak about it more at length and decide just what role they will have in the army and how and when they can be used. I will not have the General of the army spying on all the lords in the North. Not that I believe he will, but the next General might. Perhaps I can lend him one of my Huntsmen to train a few for the army but the numbers must be limited.” 

Luwin made a note. “As you say.” 

Harry rubbed his temples. Damn sometimes he hated ruling. A lot of this shit was just tedious. 

“Next. The food situation. How have my new crops been growing?” 

Luwin brightened. “You were correct that rice would grow well in the Neck my lord. Lord Reed has expressed....”