It was an ugly sight as the Queen slowly removed the bandage from Prince Joffrey's left eye. Two long gashes from his brow to his cheekbone looked to have healed over in the time the royal party had returned to the capital. But the eye was not healed, could not be. The talons of the ravens had made his eyeball burst like a balloon, and only some remnants of it remained inside the socket.
"I've been made ugly for life" the prince wailed shakily, looking at his mother with his one good eye.
"A King should have scars," the Queen said, but even her voice seemed a little shaky. This was more than just some scar, her son had been brutalized. She wanted to throw up at the sight of the missing eye, but she wouldn't for her son. "You were set upon by many ravenous birds and you fought them off. You're a warrior like your father" the Queen's words seemed to cheer the boy slightly. Or she had assumed it had.
"I'm nothing like him," the Prince said morosely, "I didn't fight off anything. They surrounded me and gashed my eye out while I flailed my sword like a child" he muttered. "Will it hurt, this…procedure to remove what remains of my eye?"
"The Maester will give you enough potions to numb you and make you sleep through it" the Queen assured him. "And when you wake you'll be a different man than you were."
The Prince stiffened, his lone eyes focused on something behind the Queen. The woman turned and saw a raven standing there, its dark eyes staring right at her, making a shiver run down her spine.
"Blasted bird" the Queen rushed to the window but the raven flew off.
"The Winter this year is said to be a long one. It might be a good idea to start storing what can be stored from now" the Maester said, rolling a piece of parchment in his hand. "There's not been an official message of the season changing from the Citadel, but one of my connections writes that it might be closer than we expect."
"Better to store now than wait for a message" Jon agreed. "And even if there is no long winter, the stored food can still be used."
"Very well. Let us begin storing a portion from the next harvest. It shouldn't be too long from now, yes?" Cregan asked and the Maester nodded. It did not ease him to know that Winter was already approaching, it did not feel right. It felt too soon. "What does your connection say about the Moat? What kind of crops can we grow around it?"
"He says the lands can be utilized to grow some good crops, my Lord. Rice, Tomatoes, Cranberries, Apples, Potatoes, Corn, and Onions are some of them."
"Good… good. And what of the cost to restore it?"
"The cost… the cost would be great my Lord. Most of it is disrepair and it might be best to raze the entire thing and build a new structure."
"No, we're not razing it. But… how about centring the development around the three towers that are still standing? Instead of the twenty towers were break the stones of it and use what we can from it along with newer stones to lift the wall and rebuild the wooden keep with a stone instead?"
"That might be feasible… but the cost would still be great" the Maester admitted. "Do we need to repair the Moat? What threat do we have from the South? The King is your father's brother in all but blood, and your sister is betrothed to the heir to the Throne. Who would dare raise arms against the North?"
"It would be foolish to think that we have allies everywhere. Friendship breaks and betrothals can be nullified. And then what? Moat Cailin is one of the North's most important strongholds. It commands the causeway, the safe route for armies to travel through the swamps of the Neck. It is an effective natural choke point which has protected the north from southron invasion for thousands of years… it was foolish of us to let it decay for so long and be reduced to the state it has now. I want you to send a raven to Greywater Watch. Have them survey the borders and make an estimate of how much of it can be repurposed. Tell them our plans for it and get their opinions on it as well."
"At once, my Lord" the Maester bowed and slowly made his exit.
"Do you think it might happen like that? Everything falling apart and us being in danger?" Bran asked, having been present in the meeting all this time.
"As a Lord, you must think of the good and the bad. You can never go wrong in preparing yourself for the worst. But never let it cloud your judgment for the present. Only act if there is an opportunity" Cregan explained. "Understood?"
"Yes," the boy frowned slightly.
"Jon told me about the new appointments. How are they going?" Cregan turned his attention to his half-brother.
"We've found suitable replacements for the Captain of the Guards and Master of Horses. Riven worked with Jory for a while, his third in command if you will. He's a good replacement. And Hawren was selected as the Master of Horses. Your mother found them suitable for those roles. As did she find the replacement servants to her liking."
Hearing his mother and Jon working amicably together was a relief. Cregan had told his mother about Jon's true parentage. She did not believe him at first but it made sense to her in the end, making her furious at her husband for lying to her. She did not glare or be rude to Jon. They hardly talked to be fair. But when they worked together, neither had an issue with the other, so Cregan was happy about it.
"Anything else to report? Maybe about some glasses perhaps?" Cregan asked.
"We have not heard back from them yet. You will know once we do" Jon stated. Cregan called for the meeting to come to an end and the three of them went their respective ways. Cregan headed for his chambers, passing by the training yard on the way. Ser Rodrick was training fresh recruits, who would replace the ones that Cregan's father had taken with him. Theon was there as well, but he was not being trained. Theon was tasked with training the new archer recruits for Winterfell. There was no doubt that Theon was the best archer in Winterfell, nowhere near as some down South, but best here. Cregan had tasked him with training the new archers, and the young man had taken to the duties as easily as fish to water.
Entering his chambers he found a few ravens on his desk, and on their legs were parchments tied. He approached them and the ravens let him take the parchments off of them. He read through each of them, a smile growing on his lips.
"Good job" he gave each raven a gentle scratch before throwing the parchment into the fire, watching them burn with a triumphant smirk. Then he pulled out parchments of his own and tied them to the ravens. They took flight not long after.