(Anya Waynwood, Ironoaks)
An exhausted Anya Waynwood sat within her solar.
Irritation visible on her face, her eyes bloodshot from a lack of sleep. Ever since that fucking King had declared that his bastard by Lysa would inherit the Vale, she had been both furious and ecstatic.
More the former rather than the latter truth be told.
She had hoped that she would be able to use the subsequent outrage coming from that decision to rally support for Harrold's claim.
That came undone once she realized that a significant portion of those she hoped to rely on was either dead, too young, or too loyal to the blasted King. Not to mention the significant amount of bastards that now ruled amongst her fellow lords.
'Bastards surround me from all sides.' The thought constantly runs through her mind much
Frustration bubbled within her, as she tried to come to terms with the changed reality she now lived in. It felt like everything was coming undone since that miserly old man betrayed the rebels.
She had hoped that Harrold would show some signs of being a true Arryn, he had the looks and pride at least, unfortunately her cousin had somehow managed to fuck that up.
She knew Arryns tended to be too proud, as one of the purest Andal lines in Westeros, it was to be expected. Jon Arryn had been just as proud, if not more so during his younger years, though that had been tempered by marriage and age.
Losing his wives and kin one after the other had shattered any pride or arrogance left within the old falcon.
Harrold had managed to offend quite a few Valemen when he loudly complained about the looks of a lord in comparison to his wife.
"How can that horse-faced drunk be wed to such a dainty flower?" Were his exact words. The Hunter heir was not pleased with the reckless fool.
This only days after she had gotten news that her son Donnel was killed in a tragic hunting accident. It was during the funeral that Harrold had managed to offend the Hunter heir, who had been passing by and wanted to pay his condolences when he had gotten word of the incident.
He and his posse had swiftly left shortly after, not before punching the young falcon to unconsciousness. The apologies she sent him doing nothing to soothe his rage.
It was a complete mess. An unavoidable one at that.
Ever since Erlend had completed his projects within the Riverlands and secured his borders, he had been focusing his attention on the rest of Westeros, particularly the Vale, which he declared that his bastard son would inherit.
Predictably, there was some outrage at that. Which she then used to elevate Harrold's position, but it was far smaller than she had expected.
The combination of the loyalty many Vale lords held to Erlend, Royce's support, and the several legitimized bastards who owed their positions to him, gave the King more than enough leverage to secure his natural-born's position as heir.
There were also those blasted 'Gentry' who couldn't be ignored. 'Military' Men are what they called themselves, those who gained much power from marrying into landed widows and heiresses.
Thankfully Essos had been causing quite a fuss, turning the King's attention from the mountains. Something she took immediate advantage of as Erlend shifted his focus on to the free cities.
She had gotten an interesting offer from both Pentos and Braavos. They promised gold, gold which she could use to bribe the greedier lords to her side and promises of martial support should she raise an army against Erlend.
Of course, she wasn't stupid enough to take it, she didn't want Ironoaks to follow Pyke. Instead, the offer changed from open rebellion to quietly destabilizing Mudd's position in the Vale.
Their hope was that Erlend could be dissuaded from making a decisive move in the short-term.
Using the heir's status as a former bastard had provided her with a somewhat valid cause to rally the lords to her side, but the Royces blocked her at every turn. Both Nestor and Yohn refused to budge an inch on the matter. It didn't help that the brats mother Lysa had been shoring up support for her son.
With that failing, she decided to use the Mountain Clans instead, bringing up the fact that Erlend had been too late to suppress the rebellion and that it was his Uncle Lorimas who had done most of the job.
Attempting to cause a divide between the two Mudds. That hadn't gone over very well, Lorimas himself killing the man she set up to take the blame for spreading the news.
It was a bloody affair, one which allegedly earned Erlend's amusement if rumors were to be true. So she jumped on that, painting him as the second coming of Maegor, who took pleasure in the suffering of his subjects.
There was some support for that, the man had not bothered to hide away the fact that he single-handedly wiped out several noble lines in the Greyjoy Incursions after all.
Unfortunately she expected too much from her fellow lords, who beyond complaining and muttering, were unwilling to voice their opposition loudly. The cowardice they showed was ridiculous.
Still, she persisted, she wanted an Arryn with Waynwood blood reigning over the Eyrie… No, rather she wanted Waynwood blood to reign over the Vale.
It wasn't easy for a woman to rule, at least not before the rebellion. If it wasn't for the support of her Uncle Elys, her distant cousins would likely have forced her to wed one of them and cede control over Ironoaks.
She wanted to repay the man for his support, and what better way than to have his blood ruling the Vale?
…
Going over the last parchments, she raised her head as a polite knock could be heard on the solar's Door.
"My Lady, Ser Wallace requests entry." One of the guardsmen said.
"Allow him in." She responded.
The door opened suddenly, letting in her youngest son.
"'What is it, Wallace? Is Harrold acting up again?" She asked.
In a deadpan voice, "I merely wanted to talk Mother." Wallace said quietly.
Raising her eyebrow at his tone, she turned to look at her son. His usually stern eyes looked vacant, almost absent. As if he wasn't truly there with her.
"Are you alright Wallace?" Unease filled her. She had already lost a son, fearing that her youngest might have caught something or that he was in danger.
"I'm perfectly fine, mother." His voice remained impassive.
Genuinely worried for her son, She rose up and moved towards him. "No… You are not fine, we should take you to the Maester." Anya insisted.
"We are pushing to put Harrold on the High Seat when King Erlend made clear his natural-born son was to be the next Lord." Wallace suddenly pointed out, taking her by surprise and stopping her midstep.
Flustered by the sudden statement, "A bastard cannot reign over us." Anya said, she had already made this clear to her children before, there was no reason to bring it up again.
"Yet, Harrold would not make for a good Lord."
"His blood is purer."
"His blood is as red as everyone else."
"That's enough Wallace. You're a grown man, start to act like it."
"I'm sorry mother, but I must insist on your true reasoning."
Letting out a loud sign, Anya stared at her still vacant-eyed son. "Power… Wallace. That's the true reason." She said, exasperated with whatever had come over her child.
"I see." He responded.
"Now, will you go see the Maester?" She demanded, only a foot away from her oddly behaving son.
"I'm perfectly fine mother, I already told you."
Anya frowned at her son's words, he did nothing as she placed her hands on his face, trying to perceive what was wrong with him.
"I'm perfectly fine, mother." He repeated.
Before stepping forward and grabbing the dagger by his side. Faster than she could react, Wallace stabbed her straight to her heart, as she looked at him in shock and horror.
"Standing firm." were his words to her as she crumbled into his arms.
Confused and terrified at the implications of her son's words. The words of House Mudd.
How? When? Why?
His stony eyes remained on hers as he held her close to him, holding her closely in his arms, unflinching as she looked at him with confusion.
She wanted to understand what was happening, why did her own son betray her, did he also kill Wallace?
Would her eldest follow her next? What did this all mean?
He stayed there watching her, her eyes beginning to fade while he held her close, the dagger still in his arms, as banging could be heard from the entrance of her solar.
'It wasn't supposed to be like this.'
…
(Tyrion Lannister, Casterly Rock)
"I see you're hard at work again, Nephew." Uncle Gerion voiced as he entered the solar.
"Uncle, It's good to see you back. How was your trip?" Tyrion looked surprised that Gerion had returned so soon.
"As well as could be expected lad," Gerion responded.
With so many eyes focused on the Iron Islands and its future, Tyrion has asked his Uncle to discreetly travel through the Riverlands and find out what exactly their 'King' was up to.
They had heard tales of the massive projects the King had been undertaking and rumors of its completion shortly before the attacks; he wanted to know if any of it could be useful for House Lannister.
Now that his Uncle was back, he hoped to get a better understanding of what exactly the Royal Family sought to achieve with these changes of theirs.
"It's best we wait for Genna and Kevan to arrive. I'm afraid we'll need their thoughts on this matter." Gerion said.
"Is it that important?" Tyrion asked.
Looking uncharacteristically grave, "Unfortunately Yes." Gerion said.
Tyrion frowned, his Uncle was by far the most cheerful of the family and to see him so grave, felt off. Whatever he found, it didn't bode well for their family. At the least it meant trouble was brewing.
Aunt Genna was the first to enter, giving her brother a firm hug before kissing his cheek and seating herself on one of the seats.
Directly contrasting her previous actions and before either of the pair could react, she smacked her brother in the head, "Honestly, what were you thinking sneaking like that, into the Royal Domain no less." She scolded her brother as if he was an errant child and not the grown man he actually was.
His Uncle Kevan was next, followed by Tygett and Stafford who was the only one to greet Gerion warmly.
Whilst Kevan and Tygett glared at their brother almost immediately. Tygett expressed his opinion more clearly by punching his brother in the chest, sending the most carefree of the lions onto the ground.
"Yeah… I deserved that." He groaned in pain.
"What in seven hells were you thinking Gerion," Tygett exclaimed.
Stafford looked on, baffled by the actions of his kin. The man was unaware of what exactly Gerion had been up to, which was intentional on Tyrion's part. His Uncle couldn't exactly keep a secret if his life depended on it.
"That's enough." Kevan stopped Tygett before the two could get into a brawl. "While it was incredibly foolish of you and Tyrion to make such a daring move. I'm just glad you're safe."
"I can feel the love brother," Gerion said jokingly only to receive a sharp look from his eldest brother.
"I take it that you have some information for us."
Gerion nodded at them, "Indeed I do."
"Than out with it." Genna prodded impatiently, not one for dramatics.
"When I first entered the Riverlands, the most obvious change I noticed was the paved roads, linking all the major holds within the Kingdom."
"Paved roads? That hardly seems all that troublesome." Stafford pointed out.
"Quite the opposite Stafford. Paved roads allow for better trade and swifter movement of an army. Why do you think Tywin was so insistent on maintaining our roads?" Tygett answered his cousin.
"Still, that doesn't seem that problematic." The man still looked skeptical.
"During peacetime, it allows for smoother trade and travel. Which would be attractive to merchants, that means a lot of gold passes through the Riverlands just for that trait alone." Kevan said.
Tyrion agreed with that, merchants would no doubt insist on routes that go through the Riverlands when traveling through Westeros just for the security it provided. When passing through they're more likely to spend their coin there, which would earn the Riverlands a reasonable profit, and that's if they didn't simply insist on setting up trade there.
"In war, they could also be better able to move their armies from one location to another. Allowing them to quickly respond to any potential enemy in a matter of weeks rather than months as is the norm." Tygett added.
"The Royal Banners are already the most powerful army in Westeros. This just made them more dangerous." Gerion sighed. "There's another issue too."
Kevan motioned for his brother to continue, "The five fortresses project." Gerion said.
"The What?"
"Five fortresses have been built around the Riverlands. Guarding key entry points into the Kingdom. The Twins, Blackwater (King's Landing), Stoney Sept, Stoneyhead, and Fieldstone"
"By the seven he's preparing for a potential rebellion," Genna exclaimed.
"Not necessarily, I doubt anyone is stupid enough to do so in the King's lifetime," Tygett said assuredly.
"With fools like Mace Tyrell in power, you never know." Genna deadpanned.
"I don't get it, he has Dragons, why would he need fortresses?" Tyrion questioned his Uncle curiously.
"The Targaryens lost their dragons due to their foolishness, who's to say the Mudds won't do the same?"
"Gerion makes a good point." Kevan agreed with his brother.
The Dance proved to Westeros that having those monsters as your mounts didn't mean you couldn't be vulnerable. Especially from your own people.
"That would make the Mudds their own worst enemies." Tygett looked thoughtful.
"It will be decades before any cracks show, the same happened during Viserys reign and Jaehaerys before him." Kevan said. "What about the Royal Banners?"
"Even when a significant portion of them were sent to the Iron Islands, they still had more than enough men to man the Five Fortresses," Gerion spoke. "The only weakness I could make of it, was that there was a certain lack of patrols that you would expect during peacetime."
"So bandits can still prove troublesome to them during War."
"I wouldn't recommend it though. They were pretty ruthless with those brave enough to commit banditry."
"It's still something we can use. There's bound to be someone foolish enough to do so, given the right price." Tyrion said.
No one disagreed, Gold could make even the most sensible man lose their wits. Gold and Woman.
Gerion proceeded to give everything he had gathered about the five fortresses, having visited them all. He had been unable to get too close, but what he provided gave them a general view of the significance of the forts to whatever their King planned.
"So… the King effectively turned the Riverlands into a man-made fortress," Tyrion said.
"Can't blame him, it has always been the most vulnerable of the Kingdoms," Gerion replied. "I'm sure you've also heard about the Tourney he plans to hold."
"Why didn't he hold one after the Greyjoy Incursions?" Stafford finally asked.
"Lands and titles had to be redistributed, borders altered and many people had to be returned to their homes or given new ones." Kevan sighed. "Short as it may have been, the attacks by the Ironmen all but devastated Westeros."
"It has also made the situation worse, as more bastards had to be raised up, in order to keep some Houses from going extinct. Hence, no one had time for a Tourney… Now that everything has been largely dealt with, there's no reason for him to hold it off any longer." Genna continued.
"I take it we'll be attending then," Tyrion said.
"Obviously, not doing so might be seen as an insult and our enemies won't hesitate to use it against us."
"Even the northerners are going to attend it. This is by far the biggest Tourney Westeros has seen since Harrenhal."
"Speaking of Harrenhal, who's going to tell Cersei that Lyanna and Elia will both be there," Tyrion smirked at his kin.
The solar was plunged into silence as everyone dreaded the Golden lionesses' reaction to that particular tidbit.
"Can't we just leave her here?" Gerion whined.
"And let her cause more damage than usual, are you mad?" Genna looked incredulously at her brother's words.
Tyrion merely shook his head at his family's antics. Not that he planned to be the one to inform his sister. No, thank you, only a fool would take such a thankless task.