Chapter 13 -

53AC

I sat in the newly fitted council chamber in my castle. As my ventures had expanded in many directions it became impossible to manage all of it by myself and delegation had proven to be key. I found that whilst delegation was the only way forward, it did bring about an unholy amount of meetings. While I could not say that they were boring as such, as any progress within my hold held value to me, they were certainly not particularly stimulating.

The recently elected leader of the College of Engineers was just finishing his piece on the status of their many projects. Specifically their progress with a new roadbuilding formula.

As it turned out, I was foolish to believe that simply digging holes and pouring concrete over would make a good road. It wasn't long before cracks appeared. To fix them road workers had to crush it, dig it out and pour the concrete in again. Maintaining the road was more costly than building it.

Thankfully, after setting the problem to my engineers, they were able to come up with a better method. The solution was using the concrete as a foundation with the surface paved with large stones. This way the road can stay flat and safe to walk on but if there are cracks you only need to replace one stone, there were more details to it but I didn't bother to memorize, what mattered was that the work was going better than before. The appearance of the road would be of far better quality as the method was improved. I was hopeful that once the road reached Storm's End it would be particularly impressive.

I had also begun to make plans for a road connecting Eastwood to Haystack Hall. With Ser Edwell a near-permanent resident of Eastwood, House Errol seemed a fine choice for allies. Their lands are very close and their political clout would prove very useful. I intended to keep them close.

I decided to unite our houses the only way I knew how, through trade. The Errol's have a stone quarry in their lands which until now had gone rather underexploited. I had considered creating my own but doing so would be far less efficient than simply buying the well-cut stone from Lord Errol.

A trade agreement also laid the grounds for what I hoped would be my salvation. Taking land from a high ranking vassal house would always cause opinion to turn against me, I hoped that by having two powerful houses on my side that I would be shielded from most of the ramifications.

"...at our current pace the new road should reach Storm's End by the end of the year. But my Lord if you would be willing to spare more coin to hire more workers we could finish it much quicker. " finished Qhory Flowers, the leader of the engineers. Qhory was a bastard of the Reach born to a Qohori mother and had been put forward by the other twelve ex-acolytes as the College's representative on the council. He almost always felt the need to tell me how much better things can be with more money.

"Continue as planned Qhory, there is no need to rush." I answered politely. As he set down I turned my gaze to my next councillor.

Morden cleared his throat and began to tell of his progress with the century. "The men are shaping up nicely now. As ordered, they are being drilled in various forms of combat, including on horseback with lances. The First Century is still well ahead of the others as they have had far longer to train, but the other four centuries are learning quickly. Given another year they will serve us well as the First Court."

I coughed and corrected him, "Cohort, not Court."

Morden raised an eyebrow at me but nodded and fell silent. He had thought my strange naming scheme to be an oddity. With no way to tell him where it was from without disclosing information that would have me branded a madman, I let him think I was just eccentric. All lords were in some capacity surely?

I spoke again and smiled at the portly CEO of my spirits enterprise, "Bryan, what have you to tell us of Eastwood Whisky?"

Bryan looked up and enthusiastically replied without taking a breath, "My lord! Whisky is being made more efficiently than ever before and in greater quantity. There has also been significant success with your idea for distilling wine into brandy as you requested. Last week I managed to make it drinkable. I estimate another three months before we can begin exporting it and a year before any significant quantity is ready for export."

Well, that was excellent news. Having multiple drinks to export allowed a larger profit margin for the company. More gold means more to invest with, a giant snowball of progress, at least I hoped.

I practically beamed at the man, "Very well done Bryan. I would like you to give me a sample to try as soon as possible. Can't be shipping inferior produce. I would prefer to wait until it is of higher quality so that people are impressed. Don't want to be ruining our good reputation."

Bryan nodded so hard I thought his head might come off, "Of course my lord! I will have some brought to you after the meeting."

With a nod towards Armon, the Maester began his report on the general matters and state of my holdings.

"Well, firstly I would like to note that even with all the gold invested in projects such as the road building and other endeavours. There is still a considerable amount left over." I nodded thoughtfully and Armon continued, "The dock under construction on the new lands to the north is finished, built fully out of stone and concrete so as to prevent easy destruction from storms."

I sighed, "Excellent, it is still a shame we can't build our own ships but at least we have our agreement with House Tarth."

"Yes indeed. In other news, the agricultural reforms have been applied to the new lands, and whilst sceptical, all the residents have now begun using them and should see increased productivity." The maester had taken full responsibility for pushing the reforms on the new lands.

"Well done. Do you have an estimate for how much arable land I now have control of in that area?" I questioned, knowing how much food we could produce would decide how much land could be given to barley production for making whisky.

Armon hummed, "The land seized from House Buckler makes up around a third of your lands in total, about three-quarters of that is suitable for crops. We should have ample food moving forwards to stock up for winter."

I smiled, that was indeed very good news. The messy seasons of Westeros still boggles my mind slightly. I had never seen a winter in Westeros, having arrived in this world shortly after the end of the previous one. I hoped it would be short and a time for some relaxation as there is very little work to be done during winter. Increased land productivity means that no one under my lordship should go starving, certainly no need for importing food from the Reach as other kingdoms are known to do.

I turned to my last councillor to see what he had to say, Ser Jarett had truly proved his worth over the last couple of years. He ran an orderly town guard and kept the peace.

The once hedge knight smiled, "Not much to report over here I'm afraid, though I suppose that is actually a good thing." There were smiles all around the table at that. "As more people continue to move here I have seen fit to train more guards from the local populace, Eastwood stands at a population of around seven thousand as I understand it. There are only some hundred and twenty guardsmen but there is little work to be done. The people are content here and crime is very low. Petty thievery is uncommon as there is plenty of paid work."

That was something I was very proud of. Keeping an organised town with a constant stream of migrants was a difficult job. One Ser Jarett had taken too like he was born for it. Criminals were hunted and punished accordingly, and crime was rarely committed. Especially serious crimes, there was little mercy to be found for rapists and murderers in Eastwood, and no excuses for thieves.

"Good work, Ser. Now I believe that is everything for this meeting. Thank you all for your hard work and I hope the progress continues. The next meeting will be in a moon's turn." That said, I stood and made for the door.

Meetings were truly miserable, but better than doing all the work myself.

As I walked back towards my solar, I thought to the future and all it had in store. I was now uncomfortably close to an event which could be very important for me. Elissa Farman, at some point during the year 54 AC, would steal three dragon eggs and flee to Braavos.

Larissa Velaryon, my new mother in law, insisted she accompany her daughter to her new residence and I gladly accepted. The more friendly faces Elena had around her, the better. After some conversations with her I managed to dig out some information regarding her former best friend Rhaena Targaryen, who is now on Dragonstone with Elissa. Things seem to be going the same as in canon, which is a relief. This means her departure with the eggs will inevitably happen.

Knowing that, I had to decide what to do about it. Safely recovering both Elissa and the dragon eggs would secure me as a friend of House Targaryen, something very much in my best interests considering they flew on fire breathing monsters. The question was, how could I do it? This was an event that would require a detailed plan and must be executed flawlessly.

I needed to speak to Morden.

I sat in a tower of my husband's home with my mother. She had decided to stay with me at Eastwood for a time to help me settle in, and I had never been more glad. Sewing had always been a method of dealing with problems for me and this time was no different. The difference this time was what I was sewing. I had made cloaks for my father before but had never crested them. The sigil of House Eastwood was an eagle and the stitching was particularly difficult.

I had been forced to acknowledge my first reaction had been a bit dramatic. Sprinting off in tears at my misfortune to be marrying Aelon was perhaps one of my more embarrassing moments.

My mother was right when she said Aelon was handsome. He had the same silver hair and violet eyes as me. He was tall, with soft white skin and a strong yet slender body. He had smiled when he saw me approaching his castle and had been kind to me. To my shame I had been rude to him at first, worse than that, I had shown him just how unhappy I was to be marrying him, almost in tears in the sept.

I had seen the hurt in his eyes and he had been distant ever since. During the few conversations I had with him since, it felt odd. He was courteous enough, but he talked to me almost like my uncle, treating me almost as a child then his wife.

I was glad of being offered privacy to sort out my thoughts but now I was beginning to feel dismissed. My husband, as drunk as he was on our wedding night, had seemed to at least enjoy himself. After being left alone for the week since I was beginning to feel that perhaps he wasn't pleased with me.

Just as that thought crossed my mind I finished the last stitch in the cloak. I hesitantly raised it up and admired the stitching.

"That's very well made Elena. The lines are perfectly straight." Her mother's soothing voice spoke from across the table.

I put it on the table so she could see it better. "Do you think Aelon will like it?"

Mother smiled, "Of course he will. The first gift from his wife. He will love it."

I frowned and looked down, "I haven't seen much of him since our wedding."

The ageing Velaryon frowned, "I have noticed. You mustn't worry too much Elena. You are both young and have yet to find the rhythm of your marriage. It will come in time, you should try speaking to him."

I bit my lip and considered her words. "I will find him now to give him the cloak."

Mother beamed a smile at me, "Good, he will come around with time Elena."

With those last words I stood and took a deep breath. I had noticed Aelon had the habit of manically traversing his lands, his schedule was truly hectic and attempting to find him without direction would be very difficult.

I set off towards the yard, Ser Morden would most likely be there training the men. The burly man, despite his appearance, had been nothing but kind to me since my arrival.

The castle of Eastwood, whilst stout, was not large and it didn't take long for me to arrive at the yard. Sounds of clashing steel and roared commands filled my ears and I grimaced. This was certainly no place for a lady.

I saw Ser Morden stood watching the proceedings from the sidelines, the form of Ser Edwell Errol at his side. I began walking towards them, as I got closer Ser Edwell's gaze met mine and I smiled at the knight.

Ser Edwell whispered a word and Ser Morden turned and was suddenly walking to meet me.

"Lady Elena, I did not expect to see you in the yard. How can I help you?" Said the gruff voice of the elder knight.

I held up the cloak and spoke nervously, "I was hoping to find my husband. Do you know where he is?"

Ser Morden raised an eyebrow as Ser Edwell reached us, the younger knight smiled and spoke, "He told me he was at the Engineering College speaking to Qhory about a project of his. I can escort you there if you wish."

I vaguely recalled the face of the Reachman, the leader of the Engineers in Aelon's budding town. I couldn't pretend to understand what their purpose was, but knew they were held in high regard by my husband.

I smiled at Ser Edwell, "That would be kind of you, Ser."

We began walking out of the castle proper and into the town, a pair of guards fell into step behind us. The town was brimming with activity, it was so different to Tarth. The castle town of my original home was smaller and had far less going on. There was a whole estate here dedicated just to making the foul drink my husband ships off around the kingdoms.

Whilst the appearance of the town and the surrounding scenery could not match the beauty of Tarth, it made up for it with activity. The townsfolk seemed happy and always on the move. I missed Tarth a lot, but looking around I was sure that Eastwood would grow on me.

I decided to strike up a conversation with the knight walking beside me, "Ser Edwell, I am surprised that you spend so much time at Eastwood. Does your cousin not need you at Haystack Hall?"

The knight scoffed lightly, "Eastwood is far too interesting for me to leave now. Haystack Hall will always be my home, but it is dreadfully dull most of the time. Besides, Aelon has come to be a friend of mine and training his men gives me something to do besides drinking."

That made good sense, Tarth certainly seemed rather dull now that I had something to compare it to. For a young knight I could certainly see the appeal of a purpose.

It didn't take long before we stood before the half built tower of the engineers. It was sure to be a magnificent building once completed.

Ser Edwell walked up to the building and the guards at the entrance parted to allow us entry. Inside was what I could best describe as a scrapheap. Discarded wood and metal littered the hall whilst a group of men laboured over a contraption with a purpose I could not place. Some turned their heads as we entered but showed no particular interest in abandoning their work.

Ser Edwell turned a corner and I was met with the long silver hair of my husband, who seemed to be engaged in an enthusiastic conversation with the man I identified as Qhory Flowers. I fidgeted in nervousness. Edwell coughed and stepped back with a nod before turning back around the corner and presumably leaving the College.

Aelon turned with a start and his violet eyes widened as they met mine. We stood in silence for a moment before he spoke, "My lady, I would not have expected to see you here. How did you even find me?"

Maybe he didn't want his wife interfering in his affairs, I was hit with another bout of nervousness, "I asked Ser Edwell where I could find you and he brought me here. I'm sorry, if this is a bad time I can return to the castle."

Aelon nodded once and spoke quickly, "No, there is no need for that. What did you need me for?"

I jerkily brought the cloak up and flapped it out for him. Aelon looked at me questioningly.

"I noticed you don't have a cloak with your sigil on it. I thought you might want one made for you. I'm sorry I should have waited until dinner to give it to you, I shouldn't have disturbed you whilst you are busy." He gazed at the cloak for a moment before gently taking it from my hands and looking at the crest sewn on the back.

"That was very thoughtful of you, and it's perfectly fine. I wasn't doing anything particularly important anyway." Qhory huffed and seemed to mutter from behind Aelon after hearing that. Aelon continued, "Qhory, you will be fine without me here for a while won't you?" The engineer nodded and walked off towards the group of men I had seen before.

My husband closed the distance between us, giving me the first real smile I had seen from him, he pushed his arm for me, "My lady, I have some time now, I will escort you back to the castle."

I beamed back at him and held onto his arm as we began the walk back to the castle.

Mother was right. Perhaps I can find happiness after all.