Barristan V
"If the Night's Watch can't protect the Wall then why should we support them?" asked Lord Arstan Selmy of Harvest Hall.
Sitting far away from his grand-nephew, Lord Barristan Selmy wondered if the boy's mother was an idiot. Aristan's paternal grandmother had seemed sane enough - she'd been betrothed to Barristan before he joined the Kingsguard. "Lord Selmy, I would say that if the Night's Watch can't protect the Wall alone then supporting them is very much in our interests. I would rather the Wildlings weren't attempting to storm my keep."
"The North can defend itself."
"And if the Easterlands is invaded would you like the North to rally to the banners or to sit back and declare it to be your problem?" asked Jon Arryn from the head of the Vale lords. "We have our own problems with the Mountain Clans in the Vale. Were they mustering entire armies I would hope that our noble King would march in our support."
A tacit show of support for the King's stated policy while at the same time a reminder that all the Kingdoms had existing obligations that couldn't be neglected. It wouldn't be wise to discount Jon Arryn, simply because he was no longer Hand of the King.
The current Hand gestured for silence. "While the Night's Watch was once thirty thousand strong, his grace agrees that an extended muster of that strength would not be necessary. Currently the Wall is only manned by two thousand men, nearly a third of whom are employed behind the Wall. Since posting four men for every mile of the Wall wouldn't be effective, they're concentrated in only three of the twenty castles along the Wall."
"The Night's Watch is only two thousand strong?" asked Lord Hightower in surprise.
"Slightly less than half of that. The remainder are made up of King's Men and small numbers of men from Queenscrown who help maintain the ports at either end of the Wall." Benjen Stark folded his arms. "The Lord Commander and the First Ranger advise me that the Wildlings settlements they know of can field at least forty thosand fighting men."
And women, Barristan added mentally, having discussed this with the Night's Watch brother attending the Council. Yoren probably wasn't the ideal choice for this matter but having spent more than a quarter of a century traversing Westeros to find recruits, he at least had a grasp of the various Lords. Still, mentioning that wildling women fought alongside their men probably wasn't going to help to represent them as a threat.
"You mentioned the castles." Tywin Lannister projected his voice easily to carry to all the lords gathered around the throne - which sat vacant at the moment, Prince Stark standing easily to one side while the King was tending to the affairs of the Small Council. "If seventeen castles are unmanned, the Wall has barely a sentry-watch. If each of the Seven Kingdoms undertook to restore two of the castles and a small garrison, then at least there would be no excuse for the Wildlings to cross unobserved."
"One has to give the Prince credit," Willem Dustin murmured from beside Barristan. "With his grandchild's lands most at threat, Tywin Lannister is forced to throw his support behind this."
"I'm not sure that was Prince Eddard's thinking, but it has worked out well for him."
"Restoring castles may not mean so much to a House as famously wealthy as the Lannisters, but most of us would prefer not to see our taxes raised." Which was a rich statement coming from Walder Frey's whose house had been growing rich on bridge tolls since before the Doom of Valyria. "Harrenhall is a lesson in how to waste money on useless castles - most of us rode past it on the way here."
"Don't worry, Walder. You can pay your tax in manpower." Hoster Tully waved off the concern. "Fifty or so of your sons and grandsons would be a good start on garrisoning one of the castles. If they take to it they can even join the Night's Watch and be out of everyone's way."
"Lord Stark of Queenscrown has agreed that timber and stone provided from his lands for the restoration of the castles won't be taxes," Ned Stark advised. "Material from the Gift would not be taxed in any case."
Barristan cleared his throat. "How many people will be needed to man the castles? And how will food be obtained for them?"
"There's something like five hundred men for each castle at the moment," Lord Hightower said cautiously. "If that holds true."
"Yes, we're expecting this will require around a thousand men from each of the kingdoms," agreed the Hand. "The king is going to form a new company of King's Men to further support restoring and replacing siege weapons along the top of the Wall."
"Which would mean almost ten thousand men on the Wall."
"Lady Tyrell will be shocked her son can count that high."
Barristan gave Willem a warning look. Even with Lord Tarly serving as Warden, Mace Tyrell could cause considerable problems if he put his mind to it. Just dragging his feet, since a good fraction of the Reach's contribution would come from the Tyrell's lands, could slow progress.
"Food will be more of a challenge. There aren't enough small folk on the Gift to feed ten thousand men for any length of time so this will require shipments. There were gardens and animal pens, but many of them haven't been used for centuries."
"Why don't we just establish new knightly houses for each castle," grumbled Lord Yronwood. "It would be cheaper."
"That would need to be negotiated with the Lord Commander," said Prince Stark drily. "The king has no overall objection if you can come to an agreement."
"Which castles would you see as being restored?" asked Jon Arryn, looking towards Lord Tywin.
"That would depend which three castles the Night's Watch feel they can do without best," the Westerland Lord Paramount replied smoothly. "Although for ease, probably each kingdom should take responsibility for adjacent castles."
Tywin XIII
It was a nearly perfect summer's day. The sky was clear with just a hint of cloud. Tywin was sitting in the comfortable shade with Kevan, watching the royal tournament unfold from House Lannister's private box.
The only fly in the ornament was that the seat on the other side of Tywin wasn't occupied by Jaime. In complete disregard of the fact he was heir and needed to prepare to one day rule from Casterly Rock, Twyin's elder son was down in the centre of the arena, showing off his skills against young Ser Willas Tyrell.
It wasn't that he objected to seeing a Tyrell getting thrashed, nor Jaime demonstrating his superiority. But Jaime was no longer a boy and there were other and more important responsibilities to attend to. Besides, the principal purpose of this tourney was to let knights show off their skills in hope of joining the Royal Guards. Which was certainly rewarded open-handedly - Jorah Mormont, for one example, had been granted three galleys to reinforce the Mormont's small fleet in the west.
Realising that only the dregs were left in his goblet, Tywin held it out and a southern-looking page accepted it, replacing it with a fresh goblet of Arbor gold.
"Jaime's could have finished this long ago," Kevan noted.
"He's showing off." Tywin sipped from the new goblet. It had even been chilled to perfection. "He isn't as soft as Tytos, but he will need good counsel when I am gone."
"You're not that old." His brother shook his head. "And Tyrion has a good head on his shoulders."
"The problem with that statement, Kevan, is that both head and shoulders aren't here with Jaime. The question is when or if Gerion and the boy will return from Essos."
"And whether they return with Brightroar."
"After more than three hundred years, I would be very surprised." He drank more wine. "I hope your sons have wiser heads on their shoulders."
"They're too young to be sure."
"We were young too."
Kevan shook his head. "Speaking of the young, Tygett's boy is old enough to consider fostering."
"I've mentioned Tyrek to Prince Arryn. His foster-sons have done well for themselves and it would give Tyrek prospects to have young Robert and Rennart look to him as a foster-brother."
Jaime returned to his horse and rode off the arena floor below, while Willas Tyrell had to be carried off. Men moved out to quickly rake the sand before the next joust.
"That won't please Mace Tyrell."
"Mace Tyrell has displeased the King - repeatedly. I'm more concerned about the grandmother. She has Robert's ear." Tywin grimaced. "Be so good as to visit Ser Willas and express my wishes for his quick recovery."
"You won't go yourself?"
"No." Tywin shifted in his chair. "Tell Jaime that he's to take my chair at tonight's feast."
"Where will you sit?"
"I have another engagement." He rose from his chair and paused as his guts roiled. "Let the lords get used to Jaime as their prince. I will dine with Cersei and her husband. Her quarrel with her brothers does nothing for our House."
There was a privy between his box and the stairs, he remembered. As he got older he found he needed to visit it more often than in his youth. Age consumes us all, he thought. One day I'll be with Joanna again. But before then I must secure my House... and for better or worse that rests on our children.
Jaime, the sword. Cersei, the ruler. Tyrion... His face twisted. "The imp." He mummured to himself as he opened the door to the privy.