Words: 209k+
Links: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13928472/1/The-Redfish-Edmure-SI
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-redfish-asoiaf-edmure-si.954769/
( Edmure Tully's story, gaining memories of his past life after Robert's rebellion, and wanting to be the great lord of Westeros. )
Chapter 1
A.N. Hello there, it is my second and probably the last story in the ASOIAF universe, hope you like it, if you want more, check three more chapters at my P4tr3on: p atreon . com (slash) Ironwolf852.
Prologue
284 AL
Edmure POV
Waking up as a ten years old boy, wasn't something that I thought would happen to me, at first I couldn't understand what was going on. Thinking it was just a dream, was probably my defensive mechanism, but after weeks of living in another body, I had to acknowledge that if it was a dream, I wouldn't wake up anymore.
Memories of the boy of ten years old and memories of my past life were jumbled up in one massive mess, my head just hurt when I tried to force myself to remember anything. With weeks becoming months I finally could have some rest. The new maester of our castle Wyman thought that I was sick, it wasn't that far away from the truth. Still becoming a ten-year-old Edmure Tully was weird to say at least, just getting used to the body was weird. Robert's rebellion just ended, my sisters have left just a couple months ago, my father was busy with work, so most of the time I was left alone.
Lonely, that is how I felt, my friends, my family were gone, I know soon I will start forgetting them, then forgetting who I was before. So when I stole a bundle of paper made of animal skin and pen with ink, I started to write, first the names of myself and my previous family. After writing about my past life, I started to write of the story of the Song of Ice and Fire, as much as I could remember, main plot, characters who were the evilest, most trustworthy characters, the last list was short, aside from my stark family, there weren't many who I could trust.
Maester Wyman, let me be, after all, I was just a lonely child, now that my sisters have left, so nobody bats an eye when I closed in my room for weeks. A purpose that, what I was looking for when doing nothing brought me to my not-so-happy thoughts, I decided to have a goal, a goal that I could dedicate a lifetime for. Becoming a King of the Seven Kingdoms, might have been a great goal, but it seemed too much of work, I didn't have any royal blood, and even if I was a great King, there would be many families who would want to take me down.
Making the Riverlands the greatest land of the Seven Kingdoms, that is what I have decided, the Riverlands aren't even considered as a kingdom. It wouldn't be easy, first I need to learn more about the history of these lands, traditions, what kind of people lived in there, its strengths and weaknesses. So I made maester Wyman a happy man when came to him and asked to teach me of everything that is Riverlands.
"The Riverlands doesn't have natural boundaries, because of it being the central position of the Westeros." Maester Wyman started his lecture. "The Riverlands have been frequent battlegrounds for thousands of years, even after Aegon's conquest, it didn't change much."
"But it has many rivers, why don't the lords of the past built canals, to surround their lands with rivers?" I asked thinking, that maybe it was a good plan.
"It was considered, young lord, but it was too expensive, you need to understand that people living there are very diverse, some are peaceful folk, some are battle-scarred men and some are very devout, that brings to the lords that govern them, they are very different from each other too." He explains to me. "And that difference makes most of them fight each other for petty reasons if one lord decided to surround their lands with rivers, not only he would need to build just canal, but protect it for all the time it is built, as others lord would not let it to happen, that not speaking of other kingdoms."
"Still, I don't understand why not build forts around the existing rivers, blocking the passages to the lands?" I asked again.
"Most lands are indeed surrounded by rivers, but there are many passages where the water is shallow, it is impossible to protect every passage." He again explains to me. "And it falls to a previous reason, to whom those passages would belong, many lords would want them, and it would give even more reason for them to fight each other."
It seems that the first thing I need to do is somehow make other lords not fight each other, just thinking about it makes my head hurt, maybe I should just become a King in fifteen years it wouldn't be a hard thing to do. No, I can't give up just because it became complicated, becoming a King might be easy but holding that position would be almost impossible. What I must become is a great lord, no, a leader, someone who people would follow, someone who they would die for, I need to become that someone.
Knowing what I must become, I started training, in my previous life I trained my body at most twice a year, and that was just a warm-up to the most. So putting my head into it, after the lectures of the maester, I went to a master-at-arms, ser Desmond Grell, he wasn't a young man anymore, in his forties, he is a stout man with a belly. After I demanded to be trained more vigorously than before, he just laughed at me and said that he would do it happily.
The days become very tiresome, training my swordsmanship in the morning with ser Desmond, in afternoon attending lectures of the maester Vyman, then in evening training with a bow and spear, ser Desmond said I was still too young to learn to joust, and that I should not think to become the second Barrister the Bold. While doing something, I put my mind off things that plagued me, but at the nights, I could not help but feel that I didn't belong, that it was a mistake by gods, who put me in this body, I am was just a normal person, not good at anything, a man who in his lifetime hasn't fought anyone, who never had become a class president or a sports team captain, why was I brought there? I ask this question every night.
…
So weeks become months and months became years, the hardest thing that I had to learn was the speech of those people, I could not slip out a wrong word otherwise I would be questioned about it. Words like a god, would bring me to a Septon and I would have to pray to the Seven, for my heresy, as the word god describes R'hllor, also known as the Lord of Light, it is despised to be his worshipper in the Westeros, especially in the Riverlands. Numbers were even more annoying I am not twelve, but two and ten years old, like seriously it was so annoying to think every time I have to talk, just that I would not slip a modern word. So the best thing I could think of was to talk less, people already started to call me the quiet fish.
Lord of the Riverrun, the Lord Paramount of the Trident, my father, Hoster Tully, has gifted me a fine, young stallion horse at my name-day, another word I have to look out for, I named the horse Rain. Afterward, he told me that I was at the age where most boys become squires, and asked if I wanted to one too. Telling him that I would love to, but I wanted to see the sea and sail on boats too, and asking if I could go to the Seagard, becoming a squire to Lord Mallister, after thinking for a few moments he agreed.
So there I am, at the most dangerous place that will be in a couple of years when Ironborn will attack it. It was a place that will start my legend, or it will be the place, where it ends me, only time will tell, but if I want to become a great lord, I need a great reputation, and what a better reputation I could get, than that of the warrior that has fought in the Greyjoy rebellion. It was the only chance for me to become something more, to become a respected man, it was the start of my journey.