7th Moon 139AD
Highgarden
Gawen spied the banners that hung in in the great hall of Highgarden amongst the ancient ones like the huntsman of Tarly, the grapes of Redwynne, the hightower of Hightower and noted something about this new particular banners that made them stand out from all the rest that he had come to memorise from when he was young.
"Those are new." he finally said, moving his eyes away from the banners of houses that just some moons ago, declared fealty to Storm's End.
King Mern, the Ninth of His Name, clasped him by the shoulder and squeezed with as much force and gentleness he could muster in his advanced age. His royal father had a smile on his face, full of pride. "Testaments to your conquests, son. You've brought great honour and glory to House Gardener. You, Symond, Garland, John, you have all made me proud to call you my kin. The fruit of my loins." father's eyes had some moisture to them as he spoke those words.
Gawen brought a hand up to his heart and held there in a closed fist and inclined his head in a bow. "I was only doing the duty required of me by my king," he paused for a moment and smiled as he raised his head. "my king and my father."
"You always knew how to say the right words, little brother." his brother Edmund had entered the great hall from a side door, thus his presence was unannounced. With him was Ser Owen Rowan, now draped in the green finery of the Order of the Greenhand. "It's good to see you are well. Went Symond and Garland supposed to be with you?" he asked after his sons.
At the mention of the two princes, Gawen couldn't help but sigh. "Apologies brother, but they ran off to join Lord Peake's raiding party against the Dornish positions in the south."
A look of cold fury came across Edmund's face. "Stupid boys." he shook his head. "I suppose if something happens to them, its good enough that I have a few more sons."
"Edmund!" father interjected with volume that belied his old age, his tone aghast.
Brother at least had the grace to look a little bad for his words before he held up his hands in defeat. "Apologies father. I'm just ashamed for the way they have acted throughout the whole campaign. I'm just glad at the very least that one of my sons seems to be able to follow their commands." he finished, referring to the only other son that had come back with him, John.
"It's nothing more than the spirit of youth, my prince." Ser Owen said reassuringly. "Have no fear, they are well protected by some of the finest chivalry in the realm and Lord Peake commands a sizeable party. They will be fine."
Prince Edmund tsked in return to his oldest companions words. "If they were still little princelings, I would understand, but Garland is nearly three-and-twenty and he still acts like a child. I'm just glad that John was the one to be able to have some sense to the lot of them." the fact that his firstborn had not been mentioned didn't go well for Gawen.
The arrival of his two oldest nephews to his war camp had been something of a surprise. He could understand the reason as to why John was with him as his squire, but having Symond and Garland? That had set off all kinds of thoughts in his heads that did not sit well with him.
"Enough about my unruly children." brother began, waving the previous talk all away as it had brought something foul to the mood. "what we should truly be talking about is my brother, the conqueror!"
King Mern was nodding his head as brother spoke before he moved to speak as well. "You have expanded our holdings quite well, child. You did more than I expected you to."
"It was a spur of the moment thing actually." he replied.
For he was not lying.
When he had first set out to the borderlands, he had not been meaning to capture any lands or castles for House Gardener. He and his banner had been meaning to do nothing more than to bring vengeance onto the stormlords that had been raiding their lands in their incessant fighting amongst themselves. As it came more and more clearer to him that the Stormlands were in chaos, one thing led to another and the next, instead of burning down keeps and castles, he was capturing them instead.
Despite the fact that he found war to bring a darker sort of being out of him, he felt it necessary to do the things he did.
House Gardener's prestige had been lowered some after that debacle that lords and ladies called Mern's Folly when they did not thing they were listening. With the new lands and new houses they had captured from the stormlands, this was to surely to restore the prestige they had lost from the war against the Trident.
"A mighty fruitful one then for the reach if that is so." Ser Owen said, nodding his head in Gawen's direction respectfully.
King Mern, Ninth of His Name, stroked his brown, flecked with gray beard for a moment. "One that deserves a feast to be held in his honour me thinks!" Gawen went to open his mouth but father stopped him then and there. "It's happening son, don't even try to stop me."
Edmund laughed. "I think it a good idea really. Brother, you brought back to Highgarden many new bannermen and guests that will be staying here for the foreseeable future. A feast to let themselves be introduced to the rest of the kingdom is not so bad an idea."
A feast to parade the gains of House Gardener more like. Gawen thought to himself as he saw through the meaning of his brother's words. So he only nodded as he gave his permission for the feast to be held in his honour, but in truth, his permission was more of a cursory thing than anything that was truly needed for his royal father and brother to go about as they pleased.
After meeting his family, Gawen took off to find his wife and children. They had since long left the Hightower as a place of abode instead to guest upon the comforts of Highgarden by the request of his brother. It seemed as if Edmund planned to make use of him sometime in the future when he came to his throne with him given some sort of position of influence in the kingdom.
Prince Gawen had meant to find his own family in the sprawling estates of Highgarden, but instead, he was found by another member of the king's council who did not at all seem pleased with him. Which was strange considering him and Theo Tyrell had been friends in their childhood.
"Is something the matter?" Gawen asked when he eventually came to the Tyrell lordling that had recently inherited his position of High Steward of Highgarden which in turn, made him one of the most powerful people in the realm as the chief advisor to the king.
"Prince Gawen," he bowed stiffly, looking a little bit older than the last time he had seen him. "It's good to see you. Do you mind if we take a walk?"
Gawen eyed him some for a moment before nodding. "Lead the way please." it seemed as if he was going to have to hold off going to find his family for now.
They made pleasant talk as they made their way through the hallways of Highgarden before leaving the insides of the castle to instead, walk amongst the gardens, out in the open. Gawen knew that the walls had ears and open places such as this were one of the few places available to residents in the castle to speak of sensitive subjects without fear of eavesdroppers.
The high steward eventually came to a stop in front of a fountain and turned to face him. "Are you proud of yourself?" he asked, some bite to his voice.
How...bold.
So bold by the words of him that he was taken back for a moment before he found himself. "I suppose their is a point to the tone of your voice?" he asked gently but with steel in his voice. They may have been playmates in their youth, but he was still his prince.
Theo Tyrell pursed his lips for a moment before turning away, his nose held high for the sake of his pride. "There is. The lands you have conquered. The lands you and every other lord is going to conquer whilst the stormlands fall more and more into chaos, do you know how difficult they are going to be to administer?"
"A little, I suppose." he dryly responded for he knew the task ahead of them when it came to subjugating the notoriously independent stormlords. Even the Durrandons had trouble with them at some points in history. He eased off a little. "At the very least, they are not the marcher lords of the Dornish Marches."
That was a certain kind of difficulty that he would not have wanted to think about.
Theo shook his head before he began to wander about, hands clasped behind his back. "The Reach, Dorne, the Stormlands. We all share a long history, full of blood and death. They might kneel to us today, but they will most certainly rebel tomorrow. I see nothing but constant rebellions in our new holdings."
Gawen winced. "Me and you are closer in thinking to that more than you can think."
He had not set out to capture castles and lands. He had set out to bring justice the warring stormlords for their own deprivations to reach lands. Only after the deed had been done could he truly begin to see the task that he had set upon him and his kingdom.
"His Grace has got it into his mind the new lands would be enough to stop his bannermen from speaking in their cups about him."
"So he knows of that?" he asked, disheartened. He ran a hand through his hair. "I had hoped that he would not know of that."
Theo ignored his words and continued speaking. "Many lords had been promised land from the acquisition of the Trident. Many of those lords died during the final battle, but still many survived with losses and their pride damaged. They had been promised new lands and titles and only came back home in disgrace and dishonour. Sure, his grace might very well make amends by giving them lands from the conquests to the east, but the stormlords that had been brought to heel would then very well rise up in rebellion at their lands being taken away from them."
"I see no potential way that his grace could have come out of that unharmed."
It was certainly a situation that had no easy fix to it that he could see. As Theo had said, lands and titles had been promised only for many of the northern lords to find themselves evicted from their castles by the victorious rivermen when they had made their demands for the return of all the knights, lordlings, lords and royalty, himself included, they had captured.
House Footly had lost Tumbleton to the trouts, along with Houses Appleton, Leygood, Redding were amongst some of the noteworthy houses that had found themselves evicted from their ancient seats. It was said the trout king had given some of those seats to the bastards of said house, others to his own lords and the rest he had kept in the grip of his own house.
Some did not take well to their new situations. Petitions for renewed war against the Trident to recapture their seats was amongst a common theme amongst those houses who still had the means to carry on with their lifestyle.
The high steward sighed. "And there you see is the problem, my prince. We have some unruly lords who need to be sated in some way and new lands filled with nothing but unruly lords with more pride than sense. Take away from one and give to the other does nothing but cause problems. If you were going to capture all those castles and keeps, the least you could have done was slaughter all of the houses to the man."
At that, Gawen gave him a look. "I am no beast."
Theo Tyrell merely shrugged his shoulders at that. "A suggestion, nothing more."
A suggestion that Theo somehow thought would have worked with him.
After that souring of the mood, they had parted ways and he resumed his quest to find his family.
It took some time, but he eventually found them in one of the many gardens of the castle. Delilah looked just as lovely as he had last seen her, but to him, the children had changed. It felt as if years had gone by since he had last seen them even though he knew that it had only been a couple of months, several at most. Instead of joining them immediately, he had stayed back some to watch Meredith and Eustace play amongst the grasses and flowers.
The children were at a play of some kind, perhaps a king and his court judging by the crown of flowers that Eustace wore upon his head and the way Meredith bowed and paid him homage. Their mother was sat at the side, in the shade of an apple tree with their youngest Criston sat upon her lap, clapping happily at the sight in front of him. In truth, it was Criston who was the first to notice him, clambering from his mother's legs and up to his feet to make a mad dash to where he was.
"Father!" the little boy cried out happily.
That cry was more than enough to alert the rest of his children and wife to his presence.
Before he knew it, he had three small bodies smothering him from all sides. "Children!" he laughed. "how have you been? Well, I hope."
"More than well," Eustace said, rubbing his nose into his middle. "We missed you, but Merry and Cris missed you more."
"He's lying. He was crying when you left." Criston declared before quickly jumping away with a giggle as Eustace meant to whack him on the head.
"That's a lie!" the boy yelled out in denial.
Little Merry was giggling as she released him from her hug. "It was quite funny to see really. If Robar was here, he would have made a sweet painting out of it. In fact, I think I shall tell him when he returns."
Eustace let out a yell of rage and chased after Meredith who didn't know whether to squeal in fear or giggle in excitement. It was all strange really, to see his children at play after so long away and having seen nothing but the unmoving bodies of dead men.
"My prince," Delilah Hightower curtsied him as she neared him. "It's a pleasure to see you once more."
"My lady," he returned, pulling out the favour she had given him before he had rode off to war. "I believe this is yours."
She took the favour and studied it for a moment before nodding, a sparkle to her eyes. "I do believe it is. It seems dear prince, you were able to return to me and yours. You look just like the day you left."
A devilish grin came across his lips as he rolled his shoulders. "I might have come back with a few mementos upon my persons."
"Is that so?" a glint was in her eyes then. it was somewhat strange and exciting for him to have learned that his wife was quite infatuated with scars from battle. "I suppose I shall have to study these mementos in depth then at the earliest time available."
It seemed sleep was going to be a rarity for him in the coming days.
"I'm glad you are back," Delilah said as they watched the children at play underneath the apple tree. "each time his grace spoke of your deeds and victories, my heart quickened at the thought of you meeting some end in a distant land."
"I made a promise that I aimed to keep, my lady." he said, bringing her closer to him. "though somehow, I suspect the events that my father spoke off might very well be different to the ones that I went through."
She giggled in amusement at his words. "That I have no doubt it, my lord, but you see, I doubt his grace even cares. He was announcing to everyone and everything about your deeds and those of the princes as well. I suspect he was almost trying to hide something." she finished in an all too familiar tone that told her that she had come to learn something whilst he had been away.
"What is it?" he asked, knowing that she was just dying to share the gossip of the court intrigues that had unfolded whilst he had been away.
Much to his surprise, apparently, court life in Highgarden suited his wife quite well.
"It's true your father has been announcing about the feats you and your nephews have carried out with great fanfare not as a way to celebrate your martial prowess," she paused for a moment. "perhaps in part to celebrate your martial prowess but to also try to drown out the noise that his own nephew, King Lancel has been in talks with King Edmyn."
That caught him by surprise. "What? Why? Lancel must surely know that father holds no love for Edmyn."
At that, she shrugged at him. "I do not know of the reasons as to why he's doing any of this, one can make a guess and many have, but only he would know. Though its said that the talks had been in secret before the queen dowager found out about them and put a stop to them. He was meant to travel to the Trident before he was found out."
Well, Gawen couldn't help but guess as to why that explained all the amount of noise and commotion his royal father had been making about all the victories they had been acquiring as of late. It was all to deflect attention that his own nephew might very well be allying or warming with relations someone that he loathed with a passion.
For every time Edmyn was spoken about in the presence of his royal father, a black rage would come across him.
But secret talks? Of what was the most importance to him. Alliance? Edmyn did have a son and Lancel did have sisters who were of an age or nearer enough to each other but one was already married and he had last heard the last one was betrothed to some lord of the Western Isles, a Harlaw of Ten Towers. With no-one from the main line to be married, one would have to find a suitable match from the cadets and such a marriage would be insulting at the least.
Delilah not aware of the thoughts that raced through his mind, shrugged her slender shoulders, her bodice moving up and down with the action. "Who knows? There is a limit to how much I can learn, dear husband."
He kissed her forehead. "Apologies, wife." he said, despite that, if what she was saying to be true, then father was going to react in some way more than he already was.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing." he said. "just the future."