A Game's End

by Bad0Wolf

The Song of Ice and Fire has ended... but has the game of thrones? How will Bran the Broken rule a realm in desperate need of healing? How will Sansa bring order and prosperity to a newly-independent North? Will Jon Snow once again find in the true North the happiness he had only ever experienced beyond the borders of the Known World?

4. The Lords of Small Matters - Prelude

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay but I've been busy with my work and also struggling to find appropriate directions with certain characters in this story. Originally, this chapter was supposed to be uploaded in bulk as a small check on how each member of the Small Council fared with the dauting task ahead of them. However, as I've been writing it, I've tried to find something appropriate for each of the four members of Bran's Small Council. It's not been easy but I've found something for each of them. In the next few hours, I should have the first of these chapters concerning the Lords of Small Matters up, a chapter dealing with Davos dealing with a far more serious issue than any matter of state. Hope you enjoy ^^.

King Bran the Broken – The Lords of Small Matters

With word of the King's Peace spreading through the realm, Bran and his advisers turned their attention to the other pressing issues that needed to be addressed.

The Great Council had accepted Tyrion Lannister's appointment as Hand of the King, but the entire court that had hovered around Cersei Lannister had either drained away prior to her defeat or been killed in the devastation of the capital. Offices needed to be filled to deal with the Crown's many problems. King's Landing remained in ruins and its people homeless, injured and hungry. Castles throughout the Six Kingdoms lay empty or filled with squatters and the victims or profiters of the war. Bands of brigands roamed the south, particularly in the Reach. While the Vale was spared most of these problems, even they had to deal with increased attacks by the hill tribes descending from the Mountains of the Moon, which kept the Knights of the Vale occupied. Claims were also being put forward that the king and his council needed to address before they had the potential to turn into another war.

While Bran the Broken held his courts of answers in the courtyard of the Red Keep, the minutiae of governance remained firmly in the hands of Tyrion Lannister. The Hand's first priority was filling the offices that he would need in his efforts to rebuild the realm.