Thank you for All the Reviews! Unfortunately, my job makes it difficult to reply to all of you, but I hope you know how much I enjoy reading them!
I know a lot of you were wondering where Jon was, but fear not, he will be in this chapter, if briefly. Heddara's children will be mostly babies or small children and will only appear in passing in the story, as they're not the main characters.
Hope you enjoy this chapter! Tell me what you think, and what you would like to see happen.
When you read this, take into account that this is the North we are talking about. Land of practical people, not prone to too much gossip.
Chapter 2 – Age 20
II
"What news do you have for us, Lord Dustin, Benjen" Heddara asked, smiling at her brother from behind her desk in her solar.
Unlike in the south, the Northern council was not in court during the whole year. No northern man would be able to stand being coped up inside Winterfell, constantly pouring over paperwork.
Not even Roose, and that was saying something.
Instead she kept with her Lady Tallhart as the Master of the Order of Finance and Maester Luwin, as the Master of the Order of Healing. The two of them coordinated with the masters of the other Orders, who had all by now appointed several secretaries – mostly trusted brothers or cousins – that served in the council room if needed. Maester Luwin, whose Order was still mostly unfunded, and therefore had practically no work – for now that was – was a great help in coordinating the work between the Orders.
Anyway, this arrangement served her well. She did not wish to have a hoard of powerful Lords circling around, constantly trying to outdo each other in some male pissing contest.
Secretaries where much easier to deal with. They lacked the true power to face her, and their presence in the capital freed up the council members to do their jobs – which in most cases revolved around places very far from her seat.
Great Jon was having great fun organizing men to spread the laws around the northern holdfasts. Heddara hadn't changed much, but one thing she had made sure was clear was that the rite of first night would not be tolerated in any way, and that those who practiced it would be given the same punishment as a rapper, no matter one's birth. It had only taken Great Jon dragging a lesser Lord's third son out of his bed chambers by the collar of his shirt to show how serious she was about it.
The boy had chosen the Wall, and there had been no more talks about it.
At least in public. She had no doubt the brothels had been ripe with it.
"We have compiled a list of all the significant trade opportunities, per region my Queen. As you suggested, I sent my own men in every direction in the North. The various groups were led by myself, Lord Karstark's brothers and our cousins. Your brother was part of my own group, and I must say he was a very good help." Willam nodded at Ben, showing his appreciation. "I believe Lord Karstark will send you his findings on the overall state of infrastructures in our Kingdom in the next few days.
Benjen smiled at her, enjoying the praise. The travels had done him good. His skin was tanned by the sun, and a slight stubble had started to grow on his chin. When they had greeted each other earlier he had been busing with energy, telling her all about the amazing things he had seen.
She was glad. She hopped that now he understood that sometimes you didn't need to travel to the end of the world to see incredible things.
Or at least that you could go there after you had seen everything else first.
No need to rush.
"I am glad to hear it, Willam." Heddara said, nodding, and accepting the scrolls from her old friend. Wars brought people together, after all, and it made one drop official titles in private. "What are the most relevant, in your opinion."
Willam rubbed his chin, considering his words carefully.
"Well, my Queen, it is quite obvious when one looks at it that, currently, our major trade options are in some way derived from either wood, sheep, goats or fish. And for good reason. Goats eat almost anything, so it's very easy to Keep them fed through winter, and fish are very abundant in our waters. There is already some established trade with the Riverlands in wool, cheese and dried fish."
Heddara hummed. "What else then? As you said, none of that is exactly unexpected news."
He nodded. "I followed your advice and looked for abandoned mines. I found many more than expected. Too many, I would say." He frowned. "According to local smallfolk, many of the mines were used for basalt and dragonglass, which might explain why they were abandoned. Neither is very profitable. But most of the mines have good metal in them. Iron and copper mostly."
"We have some samples to show master Luwin. That way he can see which one are good or not." Benjen added.
She nodded. That was a good idea.
"However, my Queen, I must say none of those are the true treasure we found in the North" Lord Dustin said, smirking in obvious pleasure.
Heddara contained the childish urge to roll her eyes. The man had probably left for last the one thing he believed to be a true finding, in an effort to appear mysterious and leave an impression with her.
"And what is it?" She asked, playing along.
"The oil seeps, my Queen."
Heddara blinked in surprise. "The oil seeps? But aren't those things described by the smallfolk and the Maesters as dangerous and annoying? They can taint the fields if you aren't careful with them and aren't good for many useful things."
Willam and Benjen smiled. "Apparently that's not exactly true. The Maesters mustn't have really studied those things but many smallfolk have found uses for the oil that comes out of the rocks over the years." He took a piece of wood from a satchel he had brought in with him and gave it to her
On one side, the polished wood touched her fingers, on the other, a thin, black, strange substance had formed. She poked it with her finger and while it couldn't be considered hard as rock, t was not exactly soft either.
"That is the oil. After drying it becomes liked that. It Keeps the water away, so the smallfolk on the shores of the lakes in the Rills have been coating their fishing boats in it."
That sparkled her interest. "Is that so? That could be useful. Especially if it can be put on other things. Like roofs and tents." She rapped her nails on the black surface, before pulling her dagger from her boot and poking it. The strange material resisted, but eventually succumbed to the blade. "No good against blades, but it could still Keep the water away from the person inside an armor, as long as it doesn't make it too heavier."
She frowned. "It is said that the oil seeps can catch fire during storms, because the oil burns even faster than whale or seal fat." She eyed a candle sitting close by but decided not to experiment indoors. She had no wish to catch fire to her home.
Willam nodded. "That is all true my Queen. We still need to consider other uses for this new material and test its fire resistance. What I believe you would be more interested in is actually something Lord Karstark's cousin found in a smallfolk village in the foot of the lonely hills."
He motioned for one of his servants to come over and bring a heavily bundled object. The servant carefully positioned it on her table and took away the rolls of cloth that had been used to protect it during the travel. Inside was a strange contraption made of metal, with a fat string coming out, that immediately reminded her of a wick.
"Is that...?" She started, before stopping, uncertain. For some reason it reminded her of an oil lamp, but at the same time not. It was metal, and in a cylindrical in shape, instead of like a teacup as they usually where, and the wick was much bigger, but it had an almost surreal resemblance. It even had a small place to hold it.
"An old blacksmith wondered if he could use the oil for fire, instead of using candles. Their village has a big seep nearby, and it would be cheaper to use it instead of buying wax for candles or whale oil for the little oil lamps. He figured he could use a metal container for the oil" he pointed at the metal casing. "And copied the basic design of an oil lamp. He had some troubles with the oil itself. Apparently, it was too strong, smelled to badly and made too much smoke when it burned. So, he gave up."
Willam smiled then, going over to pick up the candle she had looked at earlier, and bringing it around to where the metal oil lamp stood.
"It was only by chance, years later, that his son decided to get rid of his father's things and burned the oil lamp, with oil inside it, and noticed something happening with it. He experimented and discovered that by boiling it, it would change properties. He didn't truly understand what happened. I doubt anyone not a Maester could, but what he found was that by boiling it like one boils water, and Keeping only the parts he wanted, like one gathers the pure vapors, he made a mixture that gave a good light."
He fed the candle flame to the lamp's wick, and it caught fire, burning with a clear, whiter flame.
Heddara, looked at the lamp, coming closer and gently picking it up, so she could get it to her level.
"So, what do you think, my Queen?" Lord Dustin asked, an excite grin on his face.
Heddara put the lamp down and got back into her seat. Hidden by the desk, she rubbed her child through her stomach, trying to calm down it's kicks.
"I think we must invite that blacksmith to Winterfell for a meeting with Maester Luwin."
Heddara followed the sound of a crying babe to the nursery, where she found Jon being comforted by his nursemaid.
"My Queen! I'm sorry for the noise." The maid said, as she curtsied hastily.
Heddara motioned for her to rise, and gently took her nephew into her own arms. "It is fine, babies cry."
She dismissed the maid as she gently rocked the child.
"What is the matter little one?" She whispered, giving him a kiss to his brow, and rubbing his nose with hers, prompting him to giggle softly. "Now that is better. You're about to be a big cousin, you have to be a big boy to take care of him or her."
She tickled his tummy and smiled as he let out more giggles and gave her a smile.
Already she knew most Lords understood that Jon was not her late brother's son. Barbrey Ryswell, Willam's wife, had made a few comments on how incredibly gifted Lady Ashara must have been to be able to carry the child for at least six and ten months, considering the boys apparent age.
The Lady had sent her a smile with the comment, so she understood that her words had not been born out of malice. Thankfully, Lady Dustin appeared to be thankful for her husband and her brothers safe return home and was not holding a grudge over her father's refusal of her betrothal to Brandon. The position she had given Willam on her council probably helped with that.
For now, the situation was to her advantage. Jon was safe from southern attention, as the Lords in the North knew not to speak of the issue where it could be overheard. In time, when the Moat was ready, and their shores secure, then she would let the knowledge that Jon was Lya's son slowly spread among the people.
For now, she would Keep to her words. Jon was her nephew, born in Dorne and discovered by her husband as he secured a ship to take Lyanna's bones back north. She had never stated who the mother or father were, but everyone had immediately jumped to Brandon's and Ashara's obvious fascination with each other, just as Rohar had predicted they would.
Without looking at the babe, one couldn't tell his age, so no one could refute those claims.
It would remain so, for now. Jon would be told the truth as he grew up. His cousins would be as siblings to him, and when the time came, she would make sure he could follow whatever path he chose for his future. Maybe she would legitimize him, when she was sure he would be safe.
She was glad her sister's son would be able to grow happy.
She would make sure of it.
Heddara passed Rohar a letter, as she picked up another. One week to go until she gave birth, and she could no longer stand comfortably. Her ankles were swollen, and she couldn't even see them properly. Rohar, gods bless him, massaged them daily, which helped immensely.
In truth she should have been confined to her rooms, but she had put her foot down and insisted on being allowed to move from her rooms to her solar, so she could work.
At least she had not suffered from sickness at all.
"Ah, my brother got betrothed. To Bethany Ryswell." Rohar commented.
Benjen raised his head from the sums he was working on. "Willam's good sister?"
"Yes." Rohar said. "My nephews and nieces will have good horses when they grow."
Heddara turned their conversation out, as she read the letter in front of her.
The Dornish were finally making contact.
After the war, she had sent Baratheon a notice with the news of her sister's death as the Northern army made its way home. From what she had gathered, it hadn't taken him more than a day to get a new betrothed.
"The Dornish will be visiting us soon." She said, bringing her husband and brother's attention back to her.
"Oh, is that so?" Rohar smirked at her. "Has Doran finally gotten tired of laying low?"
She chuckled. "Apparently"
Benjen frowned. "I still don't get why they didn't just declare independence. They were in the perfect position to do it."
Rohar shook his head. "They lost too many men at the trident. If they rebelled, all Baratheon had to do was ride full force down to Susnpear and he would have them." He sighed. "The Dornish would have resisted, like they did to the Targaryens, but it would have been too bloody for them. Doran didn't want to risk it."
Benjen nodded, looking contemplative.
"Anyway, we will soon meet the youngest Martel. As we speak the viper is making its way North, along with two former white cloaks." Heddara stated, picking up her quill to write a reply.
