The Art of Negotiation
"You say you want to cross my river?"
"We do," Catelyn replied.
"Well, you can't!" Lord Walder announced crisply. "Not unless I allow it, and why should I? The Tullys and the Starks have never been friends of mine." He pushed himself back in his chair and crossed his arms, smirking, waiting for her answer.
The worst thing was that she had known that this was coming. This was how Walder Frey operated and how he always had. He refused to enter a war until he could make certain of which side would be the victorious one and while his help was always appreciated it never came until it was no longer essential. Everyone knew that. The Late Walder Frey. It occurred to her that perhaps it had been a mistake to let Lord Walder's continual near-defiance go on as long as it had. After successfully sitting out so many engagements, he had started to believe that he was untouchable.
Perhaps after this war was done her father or perhaps her brother would finally bring the Twins in line and remind them of what it meant to have a liege lord one owed fealty to. Much as she hated to compliment a Lannister, she knew that Lord Tywin would have had the situation well in hand years and years ago. Though whether there would be any Freys left when he was done with them was another matter entirely.
"Why shouldn't you?" Catelyn countered. "It's such a small thing to you. Let us cross."
"A small thing?" Walder Frey repeated. "Come, Lady Stark, even if that were true it does not mean I need do it! It's such a small thing to feed the remains of your table to your smallfolk yet do you do it? No, don't answer it, I do not wish to hear your excuses. Or worse, your affirmations. But we both know it's not such a small thing. I am, as ever, a loyal Tully bannerman but Lord Hoster is hardly here to command me. It is understandable to be called upon to raise my banners and to, in time, rush to the aid of my liege lord but I don't recall being sworn to any wolves. Letting you through – and I'm sure you'll want my men as well – well I had better declare myself a Stark man now!"
Catelyn fought down her initial response. They both knew just what the chances of Walder Frey ever rushing to anyone's aid. Those that needed his aid never quite seemed to get it. "I was Catelyn Tully before I ever thought to wed a Stark, Lord Walder. My cause is my father's cause. It is perfectly proper – perfectly expected – for you to aid my son and his army on his way to liberate Riverrun."
"Mayhaps," Lord Walder mused softly. "Though expected is not the same as unpunished. It was perfectly proper and expected for House Hollard to support their House Darklyn, was it not? I wonder what that wine-soaked fool of a legacy would say about that. None too much if he's retained any sense, I imagine. Though Robert Baratheon always did hate a Targaryen."
Catelyn took a deep breath. Strictly speaking what he was saying wasn't wrong and he would know the Defiance of Duskendale better than she. But it was still rank cowardice and opportunism and all his clever words could not change that. "I understand that by joining us you would be taking a certain risk upon yourself and I am not ungrateful. And you are torn between two loyalties, yes. Certainly you need to be assured of the strength of the alliance we are building."
Walder Frey smiled beatifically. "I do not ask for much and I am willing to give so much to whoever is willing to indulge an old man his concerns."
"Surely you have some idea."
"Well to begin with I'm going to need to get rid of some family members," Lord Walder said frankly.
Catelyn blinked uncertainly at him. "Get rid of…what…precisely do you mean by that?"
The first thought that came to her mind was death by why would Walder Frey want her or hers to kill members of his own family? And why openly say it? Surely such things – if such a monstrous thing as kinslaying must be done at all! – were best taken care of discretely? As a Tully and a Stark she really wouldn't know but it only sounded logical.
"I mean that the Twins isn't a small place! I have two castles here. You'd think it would be nice and spacious. And it was once. But somehow over the years it's gotten way too crowded and I suspect my rabbit y descendents are to blame. So I must do what any responsible man must do with an overcrowded and unruly litter."
"…Drown them?" Catelyn asked. That didn't seem right but it was how an excess of small animals were dealt with.
Walder Frey shot her a downright scandalized look. "Drown them? I would never questioning your parenting, my lady, but…Mayhaps I should leave it there."
Catelyn smiled tightly. "That might be for the best. Why don't you just tell me what it is that you want?"
"I dislike children. I always have. The gods know why I had so many of them," Lord Walder grumbled. "I'm going to need you to take on a few of my young heirs as wards."
Catelyn nodded slowly. Fostering children was completely reasonable. Girls would stay at home until they left to go to their husband's house and Ned hadn't wanted Robb to be a stranger to his people but if Bran hadn't fallen then soon enough…but then he'd be a hostage, too, instead of safe if crippled in Winterfell. She couldn't think about that. Still, best not to agree to anything without knowing exactly what it entailed.
"How many children are you intending to give over to my charge?" Catelyn asked.
"Twelve is a good age, isn't it?" Walder Frey said suddenly. "Almost a man grown, perhaps a woman. I can work with twelve-year-olds. By twelve they know their place."
"I hope you aren't suggesting that I take on as my ward every single member of your house under the age of twelve!" Catelyn exclaimed. That wasn't what he was suggesting. It couldn't be what he was suggesting.
"Well since you bring it up," Lord Walder said, "that sounds like an absolutely marvelous idea."
"It's really not practical," Catelyn protested. "Or slightly reasonable."
"I'll leave sussing out what is 'reasonable' or not to men with nothing else to occupy their time," he said dismissively. "All I know is that my castles are too cramped and Winterfell must be so empty now that so many have departed."
"The Twins would be empty, too, if you allowed your host to join with ours," Catelyn hinted.
Walder Frey laughed. "Oh, but it's all circular! I cannot empty my castle until you take my young relations and as long as my castle is crowded as it is I cannot join you and empty it of my men."
"You could do whatever you wish," she reminded him. "Is that not what you told your son? You are Lord Frey and you mean to keep that title for a good long time."
He laughed again. "That is true and, as Lord Frey, I am immune to manipulations."
"I am not manipulating you," Catelyn protested.
Walder Frey nodded. "I should say not."
"I am not even trying to."
"Good, good, best give it up for a bad job," he said, his head bobbing up and down.
"I will foster some of your relations," Catelyn agreed.
"How about thirty?" Walder Frey asked. "Thirty is a good compromise, wouldn't you think?"
"Is thirty the number of relatives you have under the age of twelve?"
Lord Frey studiously avoided looking at her.
"How about this," Catelyn proposed, "you seem really very eager to get rid of two of your grandsons in particular. You wanted them fostered with my sister and she denied you."
"Not just your sister," Walder Frey complained. "I also asked Stannis Baratheon and he informed me he was already soon to be fostering Robert Arryn. And that if he wanted to foster anyone else he would just retrieve his brother's bastard from Storm's End."
That wasn't at all what she had heard. "But my nephew was to be fostered with Lord Tywin. There must be some mistake."
"Well I'm certainly not the one making it!" Walder Frey exclaimed. "You would have to be blind as well as stupid to mistake Tywin Lannister for Stannis Baratheon and I am certainly neither!"
"I don't understand," Catelyn said stubbornly. "King Robert himself said that Robert Arryn was to go with Lord Tywin."
"I'm sure I don't know since I wasn't there and I would never dream of saying anything bad of a king and a dead king at that," Lord Walder replied. "Perhaps the arrangements were made between Jon Arryn and Stannis Baratheon and no one thought to inform the king about it and after Jon Arryn's death and Stannis leaving for Dragonstone the Lannisters and the king made their own arrangements. I've never seen anyone that eager to remove a child from his mother…"
If that were true…well, having seen Lysa and Robert together with no one to interfere Catelyn could perhaps understand why.
"And I asked Lord Tywin about the boys and he said something about his sister and how he was not in the business of fostering but apparently he can't be bothered with not bothering about fostering when it's the little Lord of the Vale. And Renly Baratheon said that having too many wards at his age makes him feel old. I even sent a letter to your Eddard and he never even replied to me! I heard later he was imprisoned for treason around that time so it may have been that but I'm not sure that's why he ignored me and I'm quite put out about it. I just don't see what's so difficult about getting rid of two little children!"
"Perhaps it's not the two children themselves but most of the noble houses in Westeros have married or fostered relations with your house at one point," Catelyn said delicately.
"And those that haven't should take their turn," Lord Walder said grimly. "It's only fair. But I really do have my heart set on ridding myself of these two."
"If I may ask, if you are so unhappy with having so many relatives about then why is it you seem so eager to bring more into this world and have a new son?"
He laughed. "Ah well a son is one thing and a grandson is quite another. It is not having an army of relatives that I oppose – and yes, I know your father says that about me but I'm quite delighted by the imagery – but having them all here is quite another. What is the point of having relations if they are not useful?"
Catelyn had always intended that her children would marry well and go on to do great things but such mercenary thinking was quite beyond her.
"At any rate my two grandsons are Walder Frey and Walder Frey. Big and Little Walder they call them for all that the big one is called Little and it just makes them both look ridiculous and then it makes us look ridiculous for calling them that," Walder Frey complained. "And I suppose we could just change the name but by now we're all rather used to it and we've so many Walders among us that it's impossible enough to keep it straight without adding more unnecessary complications. Do you know that sometimes I suspect that I may be the man with the most people named after him?"
"It would not surprise me," Catelyn said truthfully. "Or if not the very most at least you are in consideration for the honor."
Lord Walder snorted. "Honor. Honor indeed. At first I was honored, I will not deny you. When your son names his daughter Catelyn I'm sure you'll be honored, too. But at this point I honestly don't even know how many Walders and Waldas there are. Curse the man – or woman, probably, it's usually the women who name them – who figured out a way to name girls after me! It is to the point that unless the children are my sons or daughters I'm going to just assume that their names are Walder or Walda. And I'm usually right. Or so I think, at least, they never correct me."
"Didn't you say that you thought your wife would probably name a son after you?" Catelyn asked. "Shouldn't you ask her not to in that case?"
He shook his head in disgust. "I could but she'd probably take it as a slight or something. Some people are so overly sensitive. I let everybody else name their children after me, even some of my bastard children bear my name, but not her? Though at least no other wife of mine has gone for Walda or Walder. There is Waltyr and that's pronounced about the same but at least it's not exactly and gods knows the girl was probably trying to discredit all those nasty rumors. I don't even care at this point. But I made sure to be sure of Big and Little Walders names when I set out to foster them and I intend to get rid of the pair of them."
"I am perfectly willing to foster those two boys," Catelyn told him. "I imagine that it would clear up some of the confusion to be rid of two Walders, especially two with such misleading nicknames."
"It would," he agreed grudgingly. "Though I daresay it would introduce some confusion into your house. But if I must live with madness why not everybody else? I tell you that everyone over the age of five has memorized the order of succession." He snorted. "The order of succession. They only speak of birth order but I can leave the lordship to whomever I want so long as they're a Frey. With all these kings running about I'm sure I can find one to legitimize one of my bastards if that's what I want to do. I'm very tempted to just not leave behind any instructions at all and see what they'll make of that but they'd probably just go for birth order. That or there would be a war erupting between them. And while it would be a sight to see, the dead can't appreciate these things and I doubt it would be good for my house. Besides, that way I can't bar anyone bearing the name of Walder from inheriting."
Catelyn was not entirely sure what to make of this. He wasn't serious, surely? "You would prevent anyone named Walder from inheriting?"
"And possibly anyone who named a child Walder or Walda," Walder Frey said, nodding. "I don't know how many people that would disqualify, though. I do still need somebody to be the next Lord Frey. As distressing as the subject obviously is I will not live forever. Though I certainly do outlive most of the people I know. And in this time of war I can expect that it will only get worse."
Catelyn cleared her throat. "So we are agreed that I will take Big and Little Walder to Winterfell and foster them there?"
Walder Frey sighed. "I suppose it is better than nothing. But I reserve the right to request you foster more of my brood if you should need to negotiate with me in the future and to approach each and every one of your bannermen about fostering children."
"If the time should come that we ever need to negotiate again I understand," Catelyn said, deciding right then that she needed to make sure it would never come to that. "And you are certainly welcome to make your requests of who you will but I will not be held accountable for their answer."
"Of course not," Walder Frey assured her. "That would be unreasonable. But speaking of marriage-"
"We weren't talking about marriage," Catelyn interrupted.
Lord Walder frowned. "Weren't we? I could have sworn…but no matter. I'm sure we were talking about it at some point and at any rate we're talking about it now aren't we?"
"Marriages for political alliances aren't uncommon," Catelyn said slowly. It was how she had become a Stark and Lysa an Arryn though it had seemed to work out much better for her than for her sister.
"Your son isn't betrothed to anyone?"
Catelyn shook her head. It was clear what he wanted. And why not? Her own father had demanded his daughters become the ladies of two great houses for his part in a rebellion he was already inclined to support. "Not as of yet."
Lord Walder smiled pleasantly. "Oh, that is such a shame. The boy's fifteen already and leading an army and no betrothed? Well, perhaps a wedding is too much to ask for while all this unpleasantness is going on but I'm sure we can get all of that sorted out and then there will be all the time in the world for weddings. Your father might even come to this one!"
There was little point in reminding him of her father's delicate health or the half a dozen other Walder Frey weddings Hoster Tully had dutifully attended.
"What are you proposing?"
"I have as many daughters and granddaughters as I have sons and grandsons," Lord Walder began mournfully. "A male heir can be gotten rid of in various ways. There's fostering, of course. There's squiring. With a war brewing we can only hope they'll be positions opening up on the kingsguard. There's becoming a master or even sending them to the wall if they're particularly useless. But with the females there's really only marriage and, despite my best efforts, many of my young female descendents remain unwed and unpromised. You have five children of your own; perhaps you can understand my difficulties."
The tone of his voice indicated he didn't expect her to understand at all. After all, five children was nothing compared to…however many children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren he had to think of. And her five children were all members of a great house. Robb, in fact, might soon inherit much as it pained her to be reminded.
"Still, my misfortune is your gain," Lord Walder continued. "I have no particular daughter or granddaughter that I would prefer to see as the Lady of Winterfell so your son can choose any of them. I might recommend he not choose a Walda but that's just me. Roslin might suit him, she's a pretty little thing, very quiet and eager to please. But ultimately it's up to him."
Catelyn nodded, knowing that despite how he phrased it this was not a request. Robb would marry a Frey girl or they would not be permitted to rescue Riverrun. Still, the terms were generous for what they were. She didn't recall Brandon being given a choice between her or Lysa. "That's very thoughtful."
Lord Walder chuckled. "It is, isn't it? I can be kind."
Catelyn said nothing, just waited.
"But there are so many unwed members of both of our households, aren't there?" Walder Frey said slowly. "It does seem a shame."
Two marriages for the price of crossing a river? That was a little greedy but he did have all the power here. How often had he had such power over such a great house? Of course he would want to get what he could.
"Your husband is in the Lannister's hands but you do aim to free him and only a fool would kill him when a peace might be reached," he mused.
Catelyn started, uncertain she had heard correctly. "That is true, Lord Frey, but should he be freed he will already have a wife!"
Walder Frey sighed. "That is true enough, I suppose. But you-"
"Have a husband as you've just agreed."
He nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes, but your lord husband stands accused of a great many terrible things, my lady."
"And I assure you that there isn't a word of truth to any of it," Catelyn said icily.
He shrugged. "Perhaps, perhaps. Still, it seems that something must have happened to land him in this predicament. It cannot simply be that they wanted to remove him from his position as hand as King Joffrey could do that without all of the…dramatics. Now don't look at me like that! I never said I believed word of this treason. But you have to concede that it's highly unlikely that the queen woke up one morning and decided to start a war by arresting Lord Stark just for fun."
Could it have anything to do with her absconding with Tyrion? She hoped not. Surely Cersei Lannister wouldn't be so foolish as to think that taking Ned prisoner would in any way help that situation. Or perhaps it had something to do with Ned's investigations. She didn't know, couldn't know.
"All of this is entirely besides the point," Lord Walder declared. "There's a simple way of punishing someone accused of serious crimes without killing them."
Catelyn felt her blood chill. "You mean the wall." The wall with that boy. The wall away from her and their children and denied any claims to them.
"It could happen," he said. "And if it does well then you won't be married anymore, will you? But you're still so young, aren't you? You had that last boy what, two years ago?"
"Three. But if the worst were to happen then marrying me wouldn't win anybody anything. My son would have Winterfell and my brother the Riverrun. There would be no dowry and no land. I'm no Stark by blood, either."
"Oh, I can't expect all of my descendents to go and hold keeps!"
"And you can't expect that I will sit here and discuss my possible future marriage plans if my husband is taken from me," Catelyn said firmly.
Walder Frey must have seen that she meant it because he let the matter drop. "Well you do have four other children."
"How many marriages do you need?" Catleyn couldn't help asking.
"All of them," Lord Walder said immediately. "I need all of the marriages. I thought I had made that clear. My sons may not approve of my way of doing things but I do not envy this task when it falls to them."
"What do you have in mind?" Catelyn asked reluctantly.
"Your eldest daughter, Sansa was it?" he asked rhetorically. "They say she is very beautiful."
"She is," Catelyn said, wistfulness battling with pride in her voice. "She is also very much a hostage in King's Landing and very much betrothed."
"To the king who keeps her father in chains," Walder Frey said dismissively. "Surely you wouldn't keep such a betrothal!"
"Are you advising me to break a betrothal when those people hold the lives of my husband and daughters in their hand?" Catelyn demanded.
He shook his head. "Oh, I would never advise anybody to break a betrothal, especially with me. I'm afraid I'd take it rather hard. But at the same time is it really reasonable to expect a betrothal to continue after this?"
"The Lannisters may demand Sansa wed Joffrey as a condition for freeing her father or simply wed the pair without asking given that they are already betrothed," Catelyn pointed out. And if Sansa wed them she'd never truly stop being a hostage, would she, even if they didn't call it that. It was a terrible thought and just one of the reasons why they needed to cross the river to get to Riverrun and free her family. "I cannot in good conscience plan another betrothal while my daughter may be married any day now."
"That does seem…prudent," Lord Walder said, looking quite put-out. "But what of Arya Stark? She is not betrothed, is she?"
"She is not," Catelyn confirmed. "But I must warn you that my daughter is not…she has always been willful. If you are expecting demureness then you are looking in the wrong place."
"Children will be children and if she does not grow out of it then it is no matter," Lord Walder declared. "I daresay I have had worse in a gooddaughter. And in a wife, come to think of it. She is young, yes? She must be for your boy to be your oldest at fourteen."
"She is nine."
"Well then she is of an age with my Elmar!" he exclaimed. "It's best to have children of an age. It's not always possible but a marriage cannot begin truly until both parties are of a certain age, even if the ceremony is conducted sooner, and if the woman is too much older than the man it wastes too many good years. But not every woman is as understanding as my dear Joyeuse and would balk at marrying an older man. With Elmar, Arya won't have to worry about either possibility."
Ned was only two years older than her and they had never had any difficulty on that front. Catelyn could easily see why a woman as young as the current Lady Frey might 'balk' at marrying a man ninety years of age though most marriages were a bit closer than that. Hadn't Lysa wept at the thought of marrying Jon Arryn once? She had had to concede she had appreciated that Joffrey was so close to Sansa's age. The inevitable waiting around until a girl had had her moon's blood that transpired when a man was sufficiently older was a bit uncomfortable when the girl in question was her daughter.
Arya had never wanted to get married, Catelyn knew, but such dreams were impossible enough in times of peace and even more so during a war. At least Arya would appreciate it being someone her own age she could get to know before the wedding. And something told her that Walder Frey wouldn't mind Elmar going off to join his kin at Winterfell once things settled down.
"You are aware that Arya is also a hostage in King's Landing?" Catelyn asked. "So while she is not betrothed and a betrothal now is not out of the question, I cannot guarantee that she will be returned to me unmarried and available to be wed to your son."
"I am not so unreasonable as that!" he exclaimed. "Obviously this betrothal is conditional on all of that. Just as your son's betrothal need not be followed through with should he die in this war."
"How very kind."
"But that does remind me! What about your other sons?" Walder Frey asked eagerly.
"You are already marrying your children to forty percent of mine," Catelyn protested. "That is ties enough, is it not?"
Lord Walder appeared not to hear her. "The second boy…I quite forgot his name so I'm just going to call him Brandon because gods know every other Stark is named Brandon. It's not quite as bad as me and all the Walders and Waldas but it's getting there."
Catelyn glanced down. "Bran, actually."
"Right, Bran," Lord Walder agreed, nodding his head. "He's nice and safe at Winterfell, yes? Should anything happen to your Robb in this terribly dangerous war he's in Bran will be the heir of Winterfell."
"My son Bran had a very bad fall a few months ago," Catelyn informed him. "We were afraid he might die and then that he might never wake up. The gods were not that cruel but he will never walk."
"I don't need a goodson to be able to walk."
"He may not be able to…fulfill his obligations as a husband," Catelyn said delicately.
Still, this seemed not to worry Walder Frey. "I'm sure there are ways."
What ways she did not care to ask. "I'm afraid it's quite impossible."
"It's quite understandable your grief is making you shy on this matter," he said. "But what of the two-year-old? Surely he hasn't fallen!"
"Three-year-old," Catelyn corrected. "And no he has not but he's also three. Surely even you would have to agree that that is far too young to entertain the notion of a betrothal in all but the most dire of alliance or peace agreements!"
"And you don't think that saving Riverrun and then freeing your family is dire, is that it?" he asked rhetorically. "Catelyn Tully, I am surprised at you."
Catelyn forced herself to be patient, thanking the gods once more that she had had the foresight to come in and not let someone else do it. Most anyone who wasn't her blood would have offended Walder Frey greatly and Robb probably would have stabbed someone by now. "You have your two marriages and I have two new wards. Surely that is enough for the privilege of crossing your river or would you like to try and find a husband for my uncle the Blackfish?"
Walder Frey hesitated. "Well, I had considered it. But given how very difficult you're being about your children I have no doubt that you'd be absolutely impossible about him. But you could at least let me have your brother Edmure!"
"I am not at liberty to just give you the heir of Riverrun," Catelyn protested. "Nor would I be able to just hand you over my uncle any more than my father was able to persuade his brother to wed. You already have arranged to have the future lord of Winterfell as a grandson. Isn't marrying into one great house quite enough for one negotiation?"
Walder Frey shot her a knowing look. "I don't know, Lady Stark, is it?"
Well that had been a rebellion and not a river crossing and gods knew that Jon Arryn needed a new heir after the losses his house had suffered. Ned had been honoring a preexisting agreement between their two houses.
"Well fine, be that way if you must," Lord Frey sulked. "But if we should ever have need to renegotiate our alliance I'm afraid that I really must insist on Edmure so try not to let him do anything stupid and get married before this war ends, will you?"
"Somehow I do not think that marriage will be on any of my kin's mind until this war is won," Catelyn said tiredly. "Now if that is all-"
"Not quite yet. There's one more thing."
Catelyn valiantly suppressed a groan. What did he want this time? Sansa's firstborn child as his next wife?
Oddly he was smiling. "No need to look at me like that! It's quite simple. I request only that my son Olyvar become your son's squire and – in due time – be knighted."
Robb was not a knight himself and likely would never be, favoring the old gods of the Starks to the seven of the Tullys for all that there was a sept in Winterfell as well as a godswood. But Brynden was a knight and Edmure. There were knights anywhere one looked in the south. They'd find a way.
"That would be perfectly agreeable," Catelyn agreed, attempting to keep the surprise at such a reasonable request out of her voice. Robb had never had a squire and probably had never considered the idea but it would be no hardship. Far from it, in fact.
Judging by the look in Walder Frey's eyes, she either hadn't completely succeeded in masking her surprise or he simply knew better. "I'm not an unreasonable man, Lady Stark. I only wish to better strengthen what will no doubt be a long and fruitful alliance."
"I have no doubt," Catelyn said, smiling tightly. "Now do I have your leave to bring word of the terms of our crossing to my son?"
"But of course. Do give me regards to all of your various relatives and don't let anybody – least of all my growing brood – tell you that I can't remember my courtesies."
When Catelyn took her leave of the place, she resolved never to return if she could help it. If she ever did it would be too soon.