4th Moon 135AD
"Okay father, I'm going to have to stop you there."
Alfie Tully held out his hand, palm facing forward in my direction bidding me to stop for a moment as he had his eyes closed, his other hand nursing the sides of his temple, seemingly trying to calm the head ache that was coming for him.
At near fifteen years old, Alfie was beginning to mature into the man that he would be as puberty had decided to grab him by the balls and do its work. Constant work in the yard had seen him lose much of his baby fat though his expression was still soft. His rusty red hair had dulled into an auburn colour over the years, but the bright blue eyes still remained along with fair, slightly pale skin.
I watched my son opposite me with mild amusement. "Problem?" I asked, reclining into my seat.
"Yes actually," He replied quickly with a huff that seemed out of character for the sort of person he tried to present himself as. "Your story. You somehow expect me to believe that the young prince to a large province would do something so stupid as to throw away four thousand men for the honour of some girl? Whilst he was fighting a war? Against an opponent that had been able to reinforce his own foes with an alliance of another princely house? One with more men than him at that?"
I simply nodded for my answer.
Alfie refused to believe it by the look on his face. "No." He shook his head. He continued to shake it, stopping for a moment to give me the sort of look someone would give when they think someone was telling them complete bullshit. "No. That's not believable at all. Not even one bit."
"I'm not lying to you one bit, son."
Alfie slumped into his seat, throwing his hands up into the air in defeat. "And I had so much hope for him! Fuck sake Robb! Fifteen years old and you are taking to task nobles many years your better and you throw it away in a righteous cause because of some blasted sense of honour!"
From the side, Henry looked up from the books he was reading. "There's nothing wrong with honour. It's only wrong when it gets in the way of being smart."
I turned and grinned at my second son and flashed him a thumbs up. "Yes, exactly that."
Henry was my second son and a spare to the throne if you will. In him, the Tully hair had taken a back seat to the Mooton black hair, but his eyes were very much Tully. Despite being only ten years old, he was taller than most of his peers and his quiet nature made others think him older than he looked.
Alfie still shook his head. "I know you are trying to teach me a lesson here father, but at least make it a little more believable. Even if he is young, he should have known better than to do what he did."
"But that's the thing son, he did know. The moment one of his most trusted advisors, his mother, found out, before she even said anything, he admitted he had messed things up."
Bright blue eyes looked at me with some mild disbelief in them. "We are talking about the woman who let her emotions get the better of her and started the whole mess in the first place aren't we?"
"The civil war was going to happen anyway. They were too many players on the board, doing their own thing, for their own goals in that particular game of thrones." With the way he had said 'woman' I had to check later on whether if he viewed the other sex negatively though I doubted it. I raised him to be better than that. "There was no way that it could be avoided. Your turn."
Alfie scoffed as his eyes darted down to stare at the table of snacks in-between us. "That's fucking bullshit father. How did this Ned fellow even last for as long as he did anyway? He has no sense of politics in the slightest. Was he not trained for it by his father?"
"He was the second son. He was trained and raised to be an able bannerman for his older brother." A moment passed before I spoke again. "And I'm also telling your mother and Ciri you swore in front of Henry."
Alfie's head shot up to look at me, his eyes wide open. From the side, Henry spoke in sing-song. "You are in trouble~."
"Whatever," He tried to nonchalantly wave it off but I knew that his mind was a whirl of actions that he could do to lessen the fury his mother and Ciri would bring upon him. "And anyway father, Henry is the second son and you are training him. Preparing him for the future. Just preparing him to be a follower won't bode well. I'm starting to think this entire family is filled with nothing but idiots."
Well, from what I recall, one of them was going to end up as a tree human thing, another was on her way to being a homicidal teenage assassin and the other was busy running with the cannibals on Skagos. So, all in all, the entire tragedy of the Starks might as well have been Social Darwinism at work on a massive scale.
Alfie wasn't done yet as he continued to rant about events about canon. "The father warns the queen about his course of action, giving her plenty of time to outmanoeuvre him politically and then dawdles when it comes to telling the king. To save him some dignity or something? What a bunch of bol-." He stopped, his eyes darting quickly to Henry who still worked diligently at his homework before he spoke up again with a sigh. "I mean, really. I was rooting for them and they just had to go and do one stupid thing after another."
"If you think you could do better, what could you have done then?" I asked, still reclined into my nice comfy chair. I was quite curious as to how he would avoid all the problems Ned faced in canon.
About how he would go around them.
"As Ned or Robb?"
"Both." I called for my other son as well. It would be nice for him to hear this as well since he had been keeping half an ear on the entire story. "Come here Henry. You might want to listen to this as well."
"Okay, father." The ten-year-old boy rose up from his seat and made his way towards us.
"Where you listening in on the story?" He nodded. "Do you know what's happening?" He nodded again. Like I said, he was a very quiet youth. "Alright, take a seat on my lap and hear what your brother will do in both Ned and Robb's shoes."
Henry blinked at me for a moment, then shook his head. "I think I'll just bring over my chair." And he went and just did that.
Seriously, he used to be so cute back when he was a baby.
"Alright, what have you got for me?" I asked Alfie.
Alfie licked his lips. "I'll start with Ned. If I was him, I would have put some of my men in the city watch. The place was corrupt right? I would have seen if some of my men could turn some of the officers over, if not, see who they were getting coin from. Find their benefactor and then see if we could come to an agreement of some sort. That would get the city watch on my side and give me an extra bite in the city with the swords at hand. And I certainly won't trust this Littlefinger fella. If he so much tells you not to trust him, don't trust him. In fact, I'd see to get rid of him."
I blinked. "You would? But he's well connected."
"To no-one important in the city." He pointed out with a shrug. "His only benefactor has retreated to their own lands and the other is dead. I'm sure I have a quiet, loyal and discrete man. That man would then find Littlefinger alone one time and kill him. The man is barely a noble. No-one will miss him."
"And now you are short a brilliant finance minister."
"I'll find another, maybe not of his brilliance but someone competent, but it would certainly rid me of a man that was of questionable loyalty and suspect motive in the end. Then I find out who killed the previous hand of the king, then I most certainly would not tell the queen when I find out her big secret!" He shook his head in disbelief at that last statement. "Honestly, what did he think he would achieve by doing that? He already had what might as well be an accurate assessment of the woman's family, why did he think she would silently go into exile with her incestuous brood and her lover? Honestly father, this Ned fellow would have lasted longer if he wasn't an idiot."
I laughed as I nodded my head in agreement with that. I distinctly remember having that very same thought when it came that moment in both the tv show and the books. I had been young, still in school and not all that knowledgeable about politics of any kind, but even I knew what he had done was stupid.
"And Robb?" I urged.
Alfie raised up two fingers. "Just two simple things really. One, don't trust the man from the family that has a history of rebellion against your house and is still for some strange reason, not attainted, and then give that very same man a command over a separate army. The second thing would be not to somehow equate some girl to be worth four thousand swords unless she can give me even more swords."
I laughed. "Yeah, that's about right. So, what did you get from that, Henry." I asked, looking at my second son.
The boy blinked for a moment before he answered. "Don't be stupid."
Well... that was more or less correct. "Nicely put," I said, amidst Alfie's chuckling. "But I want you to give me a better reason than that. On paper. You have till dinner."
He nodded. "Yes father."
I looked at Alfie who was shaking his head. "I remember you complaining whenever I did the same."
Alfie reached over to Henry and ruffled Henry's hair much to the younger boy's quiet protests. "That's because I didn't care much for the extra work. The Grand Maester gave me more than enough as it was. I didn't need any more unlike this little scholar here. Going to be my Grand Maester when I become king won't you?"
Henry was finally able to push his brother's hand off his head and tried to hide the smile that was on his lips as he gave a half-hearted glare at his brother. "No. I'm going to be your most able bannerman. Telling you to not be stupid when you are being stupid."
I laughed.
Alfie scoffed playfully. "Then I think you will find yourself solely lacking a duty to be done then, little brother."
The door burst open into the solar where I was having some time with my sons and I could think of only person that would do so without even bothering to knock.
I rose from my seat and opened my arms for a hug. "Hello dear, how are you?"
"Don't you 'how are you me', husband." Zhoe sniffed as she strode towards me with long purposeful strides. Well, they would have been if it wasn't for the fact that she was with child again and her middle was already quite big. "You know very well how much I feel. Oh, hello little ones, hope you were having a nice time with your father?" She asked, having noticed my two other guests in the solar.
Both boys had risen to their feet and I had noticed had retreated to a safe enough area behind me. Bastards. "How are you mother? You look positively glowing." Alfie greeted with a charming smile.
"My son the charmer," she replied as she accepted a kiss on both cheeks from the elder. She looked down to the younger then. I ignored how she had snapped at me and had been sweet with Alfie and Henry. The various pregnancies had made me used to it. "And what about you Henry, anything to say? Words to charm me?"
Henry was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "You are very pretty today."
I held back a smirk as Zhoe raised an eyebrow. "And I'm not pretty any other day?"
"You are always pretty but today you are even more pretty."
Safe. Well done son. Seems you got some of your old man's wit. Good job. I shall pass a cookie on later.
"That'll do I suppose." Henry only needed to get up to his tip-toes to land a kiss on his mother's cheeks. He was very tall, my son.
"Now I suppose it's my turn?" I asked with playful cheer. "Though I think all the good ones were taken by our sons."
"No amount of flattery will turn away my ire at you." My wife replied, all her attention back on me once more.
I kept the good cheer on my expression even as I spoke. "No?" Less spoke and more whined like a chastised puppy.
Much like Bruno the Retriever.
"The day of your daughter's wedding nears and you run away from your duties."
"In my defence, I'm really not good at being a planner."
"You can plan campaigns against foes that outnumber you but a single wedding unmans you so?"
"Two completely different things honey."
My eyes searched for help from my sons but they didn't seem interested in stepping in. Henry had suddenly found something outside the solar window interesting and Alfie was thoroughly enjoying the show that was happening in front of him judging by the smirk that I could see from the corner of my eye.
"No more." Zhoe declared with finality, taking one of my hands into her own. "You shall be helping me with the plans. The seatings. Everything. It's not so kingly to leave your pregnant wife to such matters."
I was pretty sure I had also left her with an army of helpers and assistants, but I think that would have more than likely placed me in more trouble. So, I just accepted my fate as I was dragged out of the solar.
But not before I cast some evils in the direction of my two so-called sons. Alfie's smirk just grew wider but at the very least, Henry had the good grace to look down ashamed.
Yeah, Henry was definitely my favourite. There was a time that Alfie was that, but that was certainly not now anymore.
Me and Zhoe talked some as she led me to wherever we were supposed to be going. Through the corridors and hallways of Riverrun, past windows that overlooked the town that had grown around Riverrun. Unlike a weed though, its growth had been seen to with care and tenderness with the hands that seemed like that of a gardener.
Planned growth and expansion had been the name of the game and that was how it was to be. Though I doubted Riverrun would grow any more than it had already done. It wasn't really near any kind of major trade route even if a fair amount of traffic passed through the Red fork.
By now, I was sure that Edmynburgh was already going to outgrow Riverrun in terms of size and scope in a couple more years. Its location at the confluence of the Trident demanded it so.
But Riverrun was always going to be the home of the Tullys even when I eventually move my seat to the new palace that was being built. It was going to take some time though, most of the resources available had been directed towards finishing what was left of the canal that connected the Blue Fork to Ironman's Bay.
Lord Frey now reported that it would be finished within a year. Perhaps even months if the workers worked hard enough, though that risked death and injury and the canal had claimed quite a few lives already.
I expected that and the riches the canal would bring would more than see to the families of the workers that died.
"Can't you talk to her?" Zhoe was asking with a sigh. "I try and try and try. What's wrong with marrying in a Sept?"
"Because she wants it to be outside?"
"I know that," Zhoe replied. "But why the God's Eye? There's many beautiful places to hold the wedding in Riverrun or just in the lands surrounding it."
"But not as beautiful as the God's Eye." I replied with a smile. "Come now Zhoe, you have been to the place. You have seen its beauty and so has Ciri. She wants it to be there. Just let it be."
She sighed in resignation but she wasn't done just yet. "All that soft grass is going to play havoc with my ankles."
"Then I'll make sure to carry you."
"I doubt you'd be able to handle the weight, husband." She replied with a look I knew all too well. The look disappeared though rather quickly and the conversation took itself in a direction that I had not expected. It was still about the wedding, but certainly not in the direction that I thought it was going to go in with the look she gave me. "Ah yes, a Dornish prince is coming."
I had to catch myself before I fell flat on my face as my legs nearly gave up on me. "...A Dornish prince is coming?" I repeated and she nodded. Now I was very confused. "For the wedding?" I continued being confused. "Why? That doesn't make any sense."
Relations with Dorne were cordial enough, but I wouldn't say we were allies or on very friendly terms really. They were on the other side of the continent. They weren't really a priority. Hell, unlike the north, they didn't even have an envoy of their own who was hosted in Riverrun like Ser Glen Manderly. Most of our diplomatic efforts were mostly concentrated on keeping track of what was happening in the kingdoms around us.
Amazingly enough, the north was probably the closest thing the Trident could come to call bona-fide allies, despite the fact that no proper military treat or agreement had come into being between us. Just trade and aide (mostly us to them) but I had finally got them to relinquish some ironwood.
I was on a quota of how much ironwood I could buy and only the Crown could buy it so I had made excellent use of it. The Flagships of the Three Fleets happened to be made out of ironwood and were the most powerful ships we could float.
And the biggest as well.
Though the north had me beat in the number of ironwood ships they had.
Zhoe sniffed her nose as her face dropped some, a frown playing at the edges of her feet. "Also, a Ser Roland Royce will also be attending the wedding along with some Vale lordlings."
I nodded pleasantly enough whilst internally, I was screaming so loud at my misfortune. I just couldn't help but wonder why it was always WEDDINGS!?
I know who Ser Roland was. He was one of the most strident supporters of Ronnel Arryn, who just so happened to now be a good-son of Torrhen Stark. I was still ultimately surprised that the Vale had yet to fall into civil war despite the ever-increasing tension between the brothers Ronnel and Jonos.
Actually, Marq Vance had been reporting about that. There was budding tension alright in the Vale alright. Some stabbings and killings here and there, but not of any prominent lord that would see things spill over, just minor ones who acted as agents and supporters of either Ronnel or Jonos.
Sharra Arryn, the Dowager Queen was ultimately the one responsible for making sure that shit wasn't hitting the fan. She led a third faction that aimed to keep the peace between the brothers and thus the Vale.
The whole thing sounded like a ticking time bomb that was just about ready to blow and I did not want to deal with the fallout cos Westeros being Westeros, I was going to be dragged kicking and screaming into the mess.
Or maybe I was just being too pessimistic even for me.
"You could have said no."
"The Royces would have taken offence."
"They are in another kingdom entirely. I don't really care if they would have taken offence."
"They also happen to be kin of both the Starks and the Arryns. Denying them would have insulted both."
Fuck off Westeros! Leave me alone! I don't want this! I was enjoying my years of peace! Why the fuck was this happening to me? I just could never have it easy could I?
"Anything else?" I asked, resigned to my fate as to be the punching bag of fate. I'm sure Murphy had a hand in this.
If he was an actual god in Planetos, one way or another, I was going to find a way to kill him, then do the Irish Tap Dance atop his goddamn grave. Then I realised, the Riverlands were the butt-monkey of Westeros. This was to be my life. And that of my heirs.
I definitely knew how though I didn't know why, I just knew the cause of all my problems was definitely Aegon's fault.
I hope some Faceless Men teabags his corpse when the Essosi get tired of him and his inbred little family.
"The Pynes, Boggs and Crabbs shall also be attending the wedding."
Okay, now I was more confused than ever. Those where Crackclaw Point houses. Houses so notoriously independent that they continued to fight amongst themselves for their petty kingdoms, some not even stretching beyond the land around their holdings.
Hell, they were so insignificant I didn't even bother keeping tabs on them. They kept to themselves and thus they never really bothered me.
"...I suppose it's going to be an interesting wedding then."
Zhoe hand was reasonably tight around mine. "Not too interesting I hope. I won't have anything ruin my daughter's beautiful day."
"Father! Mother!"
And speak of the devil and she shall appear.
Cirilla Tully was a vision of beauty and I wasn't saying so because I was her father or anything like that. No. She was honestly the prettiest thing to ever grace this planet as far as I was concerned, and her mother wholeheartedly agreed with me.
Taller than her mother and slender in frame, Ciri's red hair was held in a tight bun behind her head, something she liked to style her hair in whenever she went for a ride and true enough, the girl was dressed in riding leathers.
She rushed towards us, taking the both of us in an eager hug but a gentle one as well, in care of her mother's condition. "All you should have seen it."
"Seen what, child?" Zhoe asked, gently returning it as I did so as well.
She took a step back, smiling brightly at us. "Oh, nothing much, just me once more proving myself to be the better rider."
"Of course, you would be." A small voice said from behind her before it's owner soon appeared beside Ciri. "I was riding a pony. You weren't. Hello mother, father." My second daughter Triss (I couldn't help myself) greeted, hugging the both of us as well, her hug on me coming up to my waist.
"Hello there my little merigold, how have you been?" I asked, going for her hair.
She slapped my hand away as she slid away at the same time as well. "Been better if I didn't have to hear her going on about beating me so. When I'm old enough to ride a proper horse, I'm going to win all our races, you'll see."
"I can't wait little sister." Ciri grinned down at little Triss.
Triss was an eager and always curious child of eight years, much like her older siblings though markedly different than the one closest to her in age. In truth, Henry always did seem like the odd one out from the energetic bundle that had been the fruit of my loins.
The Tully hair had once again won the gene and Triss' hair was the brightest yet. So bright it reminded me of a video game character of my past and first life, but she had her mother's brown eyes though, more akin to hazel than brown in truth.
The little girl was always a constant shadow for her older sister whenever she was in Riverrun and did as much to imitate Ciri in all ways. From the clothing, to the hair, to the interests and to even being half-a-horse herself.
I kneeled down to Triss and half whispered. "Don't worry, when you're big enough, I'll give you the finest horse we have in our stables. I'm sure you'll win."
Triss grinned at me. "Deal?" She asked as she held up her pinky.
"Deal." I sealed the deal as we locked our pinkies together.
Ciri looked half amused. "You do realise I'm right here, right? I heard everything you said."
"So? Father has always said that one should always seek every advantage that they can."
"That I did." I said, nodding. "My children listen to me. You have no idea how warm that makes me feel inside."
"Hopefully you all listen to me more though," Zhoe butted in playfully. "And have inherited my sense instead of your father's grandiose notions of himself." The girls giggled and I scoffed.
"Grandiose notions of myself?" I repeated. "I'll have you know, nothing I say about myself is even one percent wrong."
"As you say, father." Ciri replied with a bite to her cheek.
I swear, sometimes it felt like I got no respect from my own family.
Which sucked.
But I would rather get no respect from my family than deal with the nonsense that was surely heading my way.
Fuck Westeros.
***AN: And Edinburgh inspired me for the city name. You guys were right, I should just name it after Ed!
Some ages to help some people around
Edmyn 'Too Many Names To Note' Tully - 39 y.o.
Zhoe Tully nee Mooton - 37 y.o.
Cirilla Tully - 19 y.o.
Alfred Tully - 14 y.o.
Henry Tully - 10 y.o.
Triss Tully - 7 y.o.