Suddenly, the small door behind them creaked open, and in shuffled the ageing Maester. He took one look at the squabbling siblings, promptly ignoring them, and loudly summoned Eddard, "My Lord, a moment!"
Eddard stood up with visible relief. "You all can play together now. Sansa and Bran will be on the same side, and Robb and Arya on the other."
"But—"
"No Buts!" He immediately quelled their protests, and quickly exited the Great Hall with the Maester at his heels, "What is it, Maester Luwin?"
"I've finished compiling a list of all the big and small farmers near the Western Shore, that would be the most affected by the Good from reach, My Lord," said Luwin while handing Eddard the list, "I've already started contacting them with your offer and the last of them would be reached by the week's end,"
Eddard's relief was palpable as he said, "That's excellent, and the timing couldn't be better. I am already hearing a word about the huge quantities of cheap grains entering all over the western shores, so we need to get ready as soon as possible."
Concern creased Maester Luwin's brow as he inquired, "My Lord, are we truly going to purchase from all of them?"
"Yes, It is my duty as their Lord," Eddard nodded while giving back to the Maester the list, "While it would be a good thing for the Smallfolks to have access to cheap food, we cannot allow our own farmers and merchants to suffer losses when demand suddenly drops. Even if they don't profit greatly, I'll ensure they don't endure significant losses. Besides the last time Jon was here, we extensively discussed all the steps we could take to handle the fallout from the sudden influx and we decided to use the profits from selling Starkhorses in the East towards stabilising the repercussions,"
"That sounds relieving," Maester said with a smile, feeling proud that Jon was thinking ahead and was using all the economics lessons he had taught him, "At least, this way we can handle all the internal things... As for the external," the Maester shook his head with a sigh, "I fear that a lot of Nobles will be angry with us in the near future, especially those who derive a substantial portion of their income from exporting to the North, like your Goodfather and his allies, not to mention the indirect ones like the Frey's... Most of the wealth Lord Walder is sitting on was made from charging exorbitant tolls for people travelling from South to North, especially those Merchants who carry food... so he's bound to grumble when the profits suddenly fall,"
"Don't worry, We won't stop all the import and we can always use more food, after all, Winter is Coming, " Eddard said nodding sagely, "And besides the Eastern shores are too far for the food from Reach to be transported feasibly, so the impact won't be as huge and moreover I already wrote a letter hinting to my good father that we would be decreasing our imports a while back, so I think he and his allies would have made enough preparation to move the good somewhere else like the Marches, Stormlands after all, we aren't the only ones with a scarcity of food... And as for Walder," Eddard's face immediately scrunched up in disgust as the image of that slimy face appeared in his mind, "that bastard has been leeching from the North for generations so... FUCK HIM,"
Maester Lewin was only shocked for a few seconds before he chuckled and said, "As you say, My Lord, FUCK HIM,"
....
Dacey almost fell as she staggered from the sheer relief she felt when she finally saw the iconic Hightower from afar. This journey had been exceptionally gruelling, and she couldn't be happier that it was finally over.
When Jon had been the one in charge and accompanying her on these voyages, she hadn't fully grasped the intricate complexities of traversing the seas while looping around Ironislands and constantly sailing day and night. It was only now, as the Captain herself, that she truly understood the myriad challenges involved.
Every few hours she would have to go back inside to try and warg into Cory, her Orca, so she could navigate as she wasn't a freak like Jon who could do it all with his eyes wide open. Charting their course, ensuring the well-being of the other ships, and tending to various captaincy duties left her with little respite. And she had to be even more vigilant during the night when the chances of them getting off course would be even higher, so she hadn't had a good night's sleep in quite a while.
To add to the already challenging circumstances, this time all the ships were crammed to capacity with people and Starkhorses because she had to bring excess people that would crew the new Galleons that they would be getting from the Tyrells, and since it was only their second voyage, they couldn't compromise on quantity, as most of the cargo had already been pre-booked by previous buyers. It made for an exceedingly cramped and demanding journey for everyone involved.
So all in all it was a very difficult trip for her and she was glad that it was finally over.
...
Several hours later, they reached their destination port. The main ship, upon which she had sailed, was the first to dock. Stepping off the plank, Dacey was taken completely by surprise when a vibrant blur streaked past her face. "Ahh—!" She exclaimed, startled, her heart racing as she teetered dangerously close to falling into the water. In the nick of time, Brian, who was following closely behind her, used his long arms to prevent her from plummeting.
"Are you alright?" Brian inquired as he steadied her and stepped onto the dock.
"What in the Seven Hells was that?" Dacey asked, both annoyed and bewildered, her eyes darting around in search of the mysterious intruder.
"I think it was a bird or something," Brian suggested. Almost as he uttered those words, the colourful apparition darted past them again. This time, Dacey caught a glimpse of the bird as it briefly hovered before her, its lightning-fast movements making it nearly impossible to follow.
It was about the size of her fist and the bird's beauty was astonishing, with a radiant emerald green crown, bronzy green feathers, and a violet throat. Its long tail extended well beyond its body, with the upper part shimmering in iridescent blue and the underside a deep bluish-black.
*Chirp* *Chirp* *Chirp*
"What the hell is wrong with this madbird..." Brian muttered, attempting to capture it as he clapped and leapt around but was having no luck.
The tiny critter kept zipping away and flicking back across their faces, almost as if it wanted them to follow her. And suddenly, it clicked inside Dacey's mind.
"So, he succeeded..." she mumbled to herself, recalling her conversation with Jon before her departure and his reason for staying behind. "Wait! Brian, stop! Forget about the bird; I'll handle it." She lowered his hand. "Can you ensure the rest of the ships dock properly?"
"Yes, of course. But where are—" Brian began to ask.
"I'm relying on you, Brian," Dacey interrupted while moving backwards towards the direction the bird was cruising in, "I'll be back in a few hours so Don't worry. And remember to take all the crew except for the guards to the same inn we used the last time, as I am sure Jon already booked it for us. You got it?"
"Yes, You can count on me,"
"Perfect. Now where's the damn bird," she mumbled while turning around, "Ahh! Fuck! Will you stop doing that," she shouted at the bird when it suddenly reappeared before her, her breath catching in her throat. "Now, take me to Jon," she commanded, and the bird seemed to understand, flying away.
About 10 minutes later after walking through a few winding streets, they left the bustling port behind and came to an isolated area of the port with not many ships around. And there she found their prize from the Tyrells, docked perfectly and visible from afar were two huge galleons in pristine condition.
She admired the Galleons in awe while following after the bird. They were large multi-masted sailing beasts and were primarily designed for huge cargo transport and long sea voyages. It was easy to tell even from afar that it was built to withstand the rough seas and any potential pirate attacks with its sturdy wooden hull that was reinforced with Iron.
"Like what you see?" a voice suddenly rang out from above. Dacey looked up and found Jon gazing down at her with a grin, from the bow of the ship, dressed in loose, comfortable white attire suitable for the warm weather.
"Definitely," she said returning his grin, "They're perfect,"
"Oh it's only the start," Jon said in a smug tone while coming down towards the dock, "It won't be long before we have a long line of them available at our beck and call,"
"What were you doing in there," she asked curiously as he stepped off the plank.
"Oh nothing," Jon said waving nonchalantly, "Just checking to see if that Tyrell granny didn't send a faulty piece,"
"Hmm... Wouldn't put it past the old crone," Dacey scoffed before she waved her hand in the air, "And can you tell this damn bird to stop annoying me," the bird chirped even more excitedly when she tried to capture it.
*Chirp* *Chirp*
"Aww she's just playing with you," Jon said with a smile, "I am sure that she's just excited to be your friend,"
"She almost made me fall into the sea," Dacey grumbled.
"Ah! Sorry about that," Jon said sheepishly, "She's not properly accustomed to humans yet. Tweety! Come here! It's time for your sleep," he barely finished his sentence and the outrageously colourful bird disappeared from where she was hovering above Dacey's head and appeared in front of Jon' shirt pocket. Jon took her into his hand and placed it inside where it immediately fell asleep in the warmth.
"Phew! Now that the critter is gone, I need to tell you something important," Dacey said, her tone turning sombre.
"What is it?" Jon asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Have you scouted around the Iron Islands lately?"
"No," Jon shook his head, "You know that Frost is busy most of the time on that secret mission so I haven't had the time lately. Why? Do we have a problem there?"
"Yeah, A serious one," Dacey said nodding, "One of the minions on his routine checks around the shores of those Reavers to find vulnerable targets came across a disturbing gathering of a huge number of ships on that Island of Orkmont,"
"How many?"
"Twenty-something and they are slowly increasing," Dacey said with a serious face, "So I was a bit suspicious and immediately had a minion with a bird spy on them. Can you guess what I found?"
"They are preparing to attack us, Aren't they?" Jon said with a pondering expression.
"Exactly!" Dacey said with a surprised expression, "How did you know that?"
"It was only a matter of time," Jon shrugged with an unconcerned expression, "We have been focusing most of our attacks on the ships coming out of that island so as to not stir the whole pot so eventually they were bound to catch up... I mean it's not like we can completely hide the port,"
"Why are you so nonchalant?" Dacey inquired, her curiosity piqued. "You do realize that our port is still vulnerable, and we can't handle a large-scale attack at the moment, right? Even if we halted all trade and assembled our ships for an ambush at sea, it would likely be a Pyrrhic victory and set us back significantly."
"Don't worry, I have a plan," Jon said with a mysterious smile, "And if the timing is perfect, then not only would we come out of this unscathed, we will also make a huge profit out of it,"
"Really?"
"Yeah! You just need to wait and see..."
///