Tony
Winterfell. The great Northern Keep. It was the seat of power in the North and the stronghold of the Starks for countless ages. Raised by Bran the Builder during the Age of Heroes, it had been first the home of the Kings of Winter and then the Wardens of the North. It had stood when other great castles fell and had weathered countless winters, never changing. Day after day, year after year, century after century it had remained, steadfast against a forever changing world, a beacon to those in the North to look upon and hold close to their hearts.
'They should tear this damn thing apart stone by stone,' Tony thought to himself.
As he walked into the Great Hall he wondered if Bran the Builder, in whatever part of the afterlife he was in, looked upon the castle he'd built and shook his head in disgust. Tony knew he would, if he had been its creator. Like Bran Tony was an innovator, striving to create new and better things. Bran had built the Wall and Winterfell and legend said that he'd had a hand in creating Storm's End as well. He had done things no man before him had done and created structures that had stood the test of time. That was all well and good and he was sure Bran was happy that people still loved his works, but Tony would never believe that Bran would have wanted Winterfell to become so static. Just because you finished with something didn't mean it had to remain as it was. Ned and his family should have pushed on, repairing and updating the castle till it looked nothing like the Winterfell of old. That would honor Bran's legacy better, to take what he had built and make it stronger, to continue the tradition their forefather had started. Leaving it as it was now was a slap in the great man's face.
That was the problem with the Starks: they were too rooted in the past. They clung to their yesterdays and wrapped themselves in it like those black cloaks they so enjoyed wearing. They still held to their old customs and their old weapons and even their old gods. They even used the same flags until they were so thread-bare that they looked like ghost-banners. It wasn't a matter of cost as much as them trying to 'honor tradition'.
'And where did honor get them?' Tony thought. Unlike his cousins he had sought of new roads for progress and had been rewarded grandly. No Stark had journeyed South as he had and now he was one of the wealthiest lords in the Seven Kingdoms. Iron Pointe was the envy of many and he was well respected by his peers. He had supped with Tywin Lannister and Mace Tyrell and Princes of Dorne. What of Ned Stark and the rest? If Robert's Rebellion had never happened the Starks would be seen as lesser Wardens of little importance to the lower kingdoms. It was only the rebellion that saw them gain any sense of power and fame. 'Interesting how you throw around the word tradition then march on a dynasty that lasted centuries. I guess you're allowed to pick and choose what traditions and oaths you are to maintain and which ones you should break.'
All of this passed through Tony's mind in a blink of an eye. He always thought fast, which is why he acted the way he did. Some called him scatterbrained or flighty; Tony was neither. He merely thought things through quicker than others and once he realized that a topic or a person would not be interesting moved on to something else. Everyone ended up agreeing with him in the end; it just took them longer to come to the same conclusions. It was as if he were running through the godwoods while everyone else strolled. That's why it was so difficult to deal with people save those he loved; Rhodey, Pepper, Hogan and Jarvis were the only ones that really understood him. The rest just made life so trying.
And Tony was about to have a very trying time.
"Your Grace," Tony said with a grin, giving King Robert a low, sweeping bow.
"Stark!" Robert bellowed, waving for him to join him at the large table that dominated the Great Hall. It was piled high with breads and meats and ale… and more breads and more meats and more ale. Tony wondered if they even had fruit in Winterfell or if the King simply refused to touch anything that didn't come from grains or beasts. "Come, come, sit your ass down here and join me! I'm breaking my fast and could use the company. The rest of this lot has left me all to my lonesome."
"Maybe that is because it is well past noon, Your Grace," Tony said. "Ser Jamie, always a pleasure."
The Kingslayer looked over and Tony and smirked. "See you're stuck here too, Stark."
"Oh, it's not that bad of a place if you enjoy gloom and darkness and cold." Tony looked over the table's contents and selected a few rolls and some bacon that hadn't been completely turned to coal. "And misery and boredom and cold and wretchedness-"
"You said cold twice," Jamie Lannister pointed out.
"Well, it is cold," Tony said simply.
King Robert snorted. "I have a remedy for that. It involves two great big tits pressed up against your face! I know that always gets me warmed up better than furs and blankets!" He turned to Jamie, his mouth half full of sausage. "That sound good, Kingslayer? A good long fuck warm you up? Or are you afraid that you'll mess up that pretty hair of yours?"
Tony looked off to the side, rubbing his palm along his chin and cheek. Say what you would about King Robert, he had a way of making any conversation utterly awkward.
"I'd ask you, Stark, but everyone knows your balls are firmly in your wife's hands." Robert reached out and Tony watched in mute fascination as Robert snatched more sausages, realizing the king's fingers and his breakfast were the same width. Jamie merely quirked an eyebrow and Tony shrugged, silently asking 'what, you want me to say something?'.
"Yes, but what beautiful hands they are… and at the very least I know where they've been." Robert nearly choked after that retort, coughing and laughing at the same time as he grabbed a large mug of ale and took a look slurp of it. Tony looked towards Jamie, who found it his turn to shrug. "I'll have to be careful, Your Grace. Wouldn't be good for business if people found out that I'd killed our King."
"Especially if it weren't your swords that did it," Robert said with a laugh, grabbing a loaf of bread and tearing it in two. He looked up at Tony, using the loaf to soak up the grease from his sausages before speaking. "Ah, those are some good swords! And hammers too… damn good hammers. Wish you had been around back when your cousin and I were fighting to claim the Iron Throne." Robert leaned back, a pleased smile crossing his face. "Just imagine it, would ya Stark? You could have made me the war hammer to end all war hammers. Black as pitch with gold bolts like those of lightning. Would have called it Thunderstrike and used it to crush that bastard Rhaegar's chest in! 'stead of his rubies flying off he would've had them embedded between his ribs!"
Tony merely nodded, hoping the King wouldn't ask him to make 'Thunderstrike'. War hammers were so simple and boring. A heavy lump of metal on a stick… sometimes the lump had little lumps on it. Pathetic and not worth his time. Now a helm like the one Robert had worn during the war would be an interesting project. He'd seen the stag-horn helmet before in the Red Keep, displayed with honor, and found it sorely lacking. Were he given the chance he could have made one black with white horns sharpened like spears and arrowheads. Something worthy of a king. Of course now he'd have to deal with all that fat that surrounded the king's head and that would mean-
"Kingslayer!" Robert bellowed, wiping his lips with a napkin. "What would you have Lord Stark make ya if you could have anything? Suppose you could… if ya begged your father for money."
Tony could tell Jamie didn't like that. He didn't feel sorry for the knight, however; Jamie Lannister might be an interesting person to talk to but that didn't mean he didn't deserve to have the piss knocked out of him every once and a while. Not like Tony… he never deserved it and never understood why people tried to.
"A sword," Jamie said simply.
"Boring," Robert exclaimed and Tony found himself agreeing. Predictable and boring, much like Jamie Lannister. The man had wits but lacked the interest his brother Tyrion had. He was a soldier and a knight and Tywin Lannister's eldest son and all of those titles meant his entire life Jamie had been taught not to think too deeply. "Boring, just like Renly! He wanted a sword too from Stark here… can you believe that? Every man in the Seven Kingdoms has a sword! Every keep and castle and fort from Dorne to the Wall has a bloody blacksmith that could make a sword! This is Tony fucking Stark! He's a goddamn artist and you ask for a sword? That's like asking my cook to make beef stew! Its like getting the best whore from across the Narrow Sea and asking her to jerk you off! Boring… boring!"
Jamie gave the king a slight smile. "I am the best swordsmen in the Seven Kingdoms, your grace. Why would I want something I am not skilled at using?"
"He has a point," Tony said with a smile. "A boring point but a point."
"I am a boring man," Jamie stated. "Until I have a sword in my hand."
"I'll take your word for it," Tony commented, taking a bite of bacon and wishing there was some fruit. Unlike most men he didn't believe that one could survive on just meat and beer alone. "Never much of a swordsman myself. Can make them just don't like swinging them around." Rhodey had tried to teach him but Tony just didn't have the feel for it. He understood how to make a sword or a spear or a hammer, he just didn't enjoy swinging them around.
Robert, who was clearly growing restless, took a long swing of ale. "Well now Stark, ya came all the way up here to see me so ya might as well get around to telling me what ya want."
"Right, of course. Right to business, love that." And he did. It'd been fun to play around with the King and the Kingslayer but Tony found himself honestly growing tired of the game. It wasn't fun to taunt a target that would kill you if you pushed it too far. Anyone else, even the mighty Tywin Lannister, and Tony would spend honors just ribbing and jabbing. The King though was different and that forced Tony to pull his punches… something he hated to do. It was his damn need to always win that drove him mad.
Tony reached down and grabbed the canvas bag he'd brought with him. He shifted it from hand to hand a few times, wanting to live dangerously, before opening it up and pulling several wads of cotton out.
"Going to knit me a sweater, Stark?" the king asked.
Tony chuckled. "No, no not that. No, this is something rather interesting. We were mining about a six months ago in one of the deeper sections of the mines… the southern one that runs… ok, it really doesn't matter right now, the point is that we found something we've never run into before." Tugging at the cotton, Tony found what he was looking for: a small, glowing white stone.
"By the Seven," King Robert whispered, looking at the stone that Tony held up. It was polished smooth like a gem stone, barely the size of a silver stag. The light that poured out of it though was brilliant, lighting up the king's face like a candle wick would. Jamie Lannister stepped forward, for once unable to hide his surprise. "Never seen a gem like that."
"It's not a gem," Tony stated. "Looks like one, I'll admit, but the density is all wrong and the way that it's shaped-"
"Looks like a gem and gleams like a gem, Stark… that makes it a gem."
"As you say, Your Grace," Tony stated, realizing it was a waste of time to bicker with the king about the little glowing rock. "But you can see that they aren't like anything else we have in Westeros. Maester Jarvis did some research and found that they are Sunstones… I wanted to call them Starkstones but I guess I was overruled. These little buggers never stop glowing, even if you leave them in a dark pit for days on end."
"Interesting little trinkets," Jamie stated, doing his best to act indifferent.
Tony merely smiled. 'If only you knew.' He wasn't about to tell the blond that the Sunstones did more than glow. Jarvis had researched them greatly and found all manner of interesting traits the Sunstones were said to have. Mystics claimed they were magic given solid form and used them to amplify their own abilities. Tony didn't believe in magic but had found that the Sunstones were the closest things to making him a believer. Metal was the instrument of their miracles and he'd enjoyed experimenting with them. A helm or gauntlet that had Sunstones embedded in it became light as a feather yet stronger than any steel he'd ever worked with. Once he'd inlaid one stone in a gauntlet he'd been fiddling with it had suddenly felt as if he weren't wearing anything at all upon his hand. Yet, when he struck the metal with his hammer it would not bend or break.
More amazing was their reaction to silver. When a coin was pressed against the stone it would unleash a blast of… well, Jarvis called it magic but Tony wasn't sure exactly what it was. It was powerful though, as a stone the size of a gold dragon had thrown him across the room when he first attempted it. The silver didn't even need to be pressed against it; a light scraping on the back of one stone would cause the beam of light to shoot out the front, destroying much in its path. Tony had always wondered why there was so much gold around Lannisport compared to silver… the Sunstones might be the answer.
He wasn't about to let Robert or the Kingslayer know those facts, however. Tony had learned early on in life that a secret is worthless if everyone knows it. The Sunstone was already an interesting bauble, if the King's refusal to look away from its glow was any indication. Let them know that the Sunstones could revolutionize weapons manufactory and he'd see all his plans ruined as the Crown moved to seize every last one of them. Rulers and lords got easily frightened when lesser men discovered thing that could be used against them.
No, it was better that the King think of it as something of interest but not something of need.
"Trinket, yes," Tony said with a smile, pulling out several Sunstones, including one roughly the size of his palm. If the smaller ones were like candles this one was a bonfire. "But even trinkets are worth something if used right. Lovers love candles but we also need them to light our rooms. Wine is a wonderful drink but boiled it helps mend wounds. Same thing with these little guys here. You put one of them in, I don't know, a lamp or something and suddenly you have no need for oil or wicks or flames. Imagine being able to light your Red Keep without all that smoke?"
"Ye, I see what your getting at," the King said, though Tony could tell he really didn't. "Is there any more to this than that? I can't imagine this was so important that you'd travel up North to the snow and ice when ya could have waited a month and saw me in King's Landing."
"And miss out on all the gloom and despair?" Tony jested, flicking his hand almost dismissively. He leaned back in his chair, slouching a bit as he spoke. "It isn't the stones that brought me here, Your Grace. Rather, it's where they are located."
Robert growled, looking down at his empty mug. "I get enough riddles from Littlefinger and the Imp and the Eunuch! Out with it man, out with it!"
"The Sunstones were found in the southern mine on the farthest end of Iron Pointe. In fact, they were found at the very end of the tunnel." He glanced over at Jamie and knew at once that the Kingslayer had figured out the issue. "I can't dig out another shovel-full of dirt without crossing the border into Lannisport."
"Lord Tywin," Robert grumbled, soundly more like a bear than a stag.
"Not exactly a pleasant man and not one I would want to upset," Tony stated. "He was kind enough to make me the Lord of Iron Pointe and I have no desire to offend him." He looked over at Jamie and smirked. "Personally, I have no desire for them to begin singing 'The Rains of Iron Pointe' anytime soon." The Kingslayer laughed at that, as did Robert. "I was hoping that you could serve as a neutral party, your grace, and help arrange a deal for me to mine the Sunstones. I would be willing to purchase the land or pay a tax upon all I find if Lord Tywin wishes to keep his holdings. I'm not looking to rob Casterly Rock… I'm hoping we can work out an arrangement that will benefit everyone."
"Hmmm… I'll see what I can do, Stark."
"You're welcome to keep those Sunstones, if you wish," Tony stated, noticing how taken the King was with the glowing stones. "A gift. Hopefully I will be able to mine more soon. If not, then I'd rather they go to someone who can enjoy then." Of course, that was a boldface lie. Tony had already managed to find a whole storeroom of the Sunstones and those few he'd passed to the king were actually the worst of the bunch. Robert couldn't see it but Tony had used a special gem-cutter lens to inspect each one and found cracks and flaws in each. The eight stones all together could do something but would not match the strength of the ones he had waiting back in Iron Pointe.
The only reason he wanted to mine further was his hopes that bigger and better stones lay just beyond his border. He had plenty of experiments he wanted to perform on the stones and ideas for new weapons he could create, as well as the need for lesser stones to continue tricking Robert and the Lannisters into believing that the Sunstones were only trinkets good only for lamps and toys.
Tony looked over at Jamie and smiled. 'A raven will be sent to your father, won't it Kingslayer? Good… tattle on. See what I care. I welcome the challenge it might bring.'
~MC~MC~MC~
Author's Note: So I know that the first chapter's author's note stated that we would have the banquet scene but, as I wrote this chapter it just got so long that I realized that I'd either need to trim things or split it in half. I went the route of splitting.
I hope I was able to capture all the characters' voices properly. Some are based on the show, others the book, to create a nice mix of the best performances.
Next chapter will see the second half of this chapter, with Tyrion and Tony verbally sparring and Benjen discussing with them Jon Snow.
If you have suggestions or ideas that you'd like to see (interactions with characters, who should get POV chapters) let me know.
Thanks for reviewing!