Chapter 13

Eddard Stark sighed as the foreigners walked out of the dining hall in an unhappy and angry mood, followed by Robert and the other Lords in attendance. He was happy that their ire was not directed at the Seven Kingdoms, but he hadn't expected such a reaction when he started telling the foreigners about the other realms in Planetos.

The meeting started out well, with Ned and the other Lords asking the foreigners questions about their homeland and society. The answers they received were astounding. Apparently, all their smallfolk received educational training comparable to or even more then what children of Lords got in Westeros. They also had magical ways to talk to people thousands of miles away, which they called the telephone and the internet. They had even more powerful weapons than the ones they showed in the morning, but almost never went to war with each other.

At some point, the foreigners started asking questions about the Seven Kingdoms itself, its laws and the people living within it. Ned was happy to tell them about the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, its general geography and its laws and customs. The first signs of unhappiness on the foreigners part came when Ned talked about how the Lords delivered judgement on the smallfolk in their lands, and about the option for a trial by combat instead of a trial by judges. However, Ned did not see them truly angry until he started to tell about the realms across the narrow sea.

The foreigners seemed to be interested in his descriptions of Braavos and announced their intentions to send a diplomatic party there in the future. Once Ned started to talk about the other Free Cities and the Dothraki however, the mood in the room quickly dropped. The foreigners seemed to have more of a hatred against slavery than Braavos, which was a city founded by free slaves. They immediately stated that they had no intention to trade or communicate in any way with those Cities until they stopped their barbaric ways.

The foreigners anger at the slave cities might even be a blessing in disguise. They asked about the products traded by those cities and informed the Seven Kingdoms that they could sell all those items, which included silk, glass and spices, to the Seven Kingdoms for cheaper prices if they would stop trading with any realm practicing slavery. Ned had the feeling that during the next summer, there would be war between the foreigners and at least one of the Free Cities. He also knew who would win that war, and it would not be the Free City.

The weapon demonstration this morning had proven Ned's decision to sell half of the Stony Shore to the foreigners to be the right one. With those weapons, combined with the impossibility to reinforce the Stony Shore due to its remoteness, there was no way Ned could have prevented them from taking the area by force instead. It was also not like the land was worth anything, as half of it was made up of swamps, and no large villages were included within its borders.

The deciding reason for his decision to sell the land was not the money, the offer to build roads or even the miraculous products of that other world. No, it was because he felt that the Starks had failed the Stony Shore. Time and time again, the Ironborn had raided and even conquered the region before being driven back into the seas. This caused the region that was once prosperous under House Fisher to decline to the state it was now in, with most of the population having migrated to Winterfell, Barrowton, Torrhen's Square or Deepwood Motte, leaving only some small fishing and farming communities behind.

Ned Stark was no fool, he knew that even if Balon Greyjoy was being peaceful now, the Ironborn would start raiding the western shores again in a few generations. Without a Northern fleet, which House Stark didn't have money for until yesterday, there would be no way to prevent the raiding. However, the foreigners had offered to patrol the coasts of the North. If they made true upon this offer, which Ned thought very likely now that they had their own port, this would allow the remaining half of the Stony Shore to be prosperous again. Ned was even considering on gifting that half of the Stony Shore to his son Bran when he became of age. With the money from the foreigners, he could rebuild the Fisher Keep next to the Fishing Village as a holdfast for Bran's new line.

While Ned was musing on the negotiations with the foreigners, Maester Luwin walked hurryingly back inside the dining hall. He carried a message in his hands which must have arrived in the raven's tower during the negotiations.

"My Lord, I have an urgent message addressed to your wife Catelyn. It was hidden in a box which was left in my observatory during the meeting with the foreigners."

Ned had no idea who would go through such lengths to send a message to his wife. They must have been very worried about the letter being intercepted, otherwise they would just have send a raven.

"Could you find my wife and send her to my solar? I think it is better if we read this letter in a more private place."

"Certainly, my Lord" replied Master Luwin before he walked off to find Catelyn. Ned himself grabbed the message and walked towards his solar, not yet reading the message as it was addressed to his wife.

Ned wondered what the letter could be about. The most likely suspect, the foreigners, were out as their existence was only known for a week. No one beyond Cerwyn could have gotten the news and send a rider with the box in that time and if the sender was someone in Winterfell or Cerwyn, they would not have used such a roundabout way to get the message through. It could have something to do with the health of her family, but that would not explain the secrecy involved.

Quickly after he arrived in his solar, he was joined by his beautiful wife Catelyn. Even though they had originally married out of duty, they had eventually come to love each other dearly.

Ned handed her the message, which she immediately started to read once she recognized the handwriting of the sender. Ned saw her eyes widen as she continued to read the mysterious message, which did not bode well. As Catelyn finished, she began to speak while throwing the letter into the fire:

"Ned, this message is from my sister Lysa. She says that her husband did not die of old age, but was instead poisoned! She thinks that the Queen and her family are the perpetrators."

As if this week could not get any more hectic. Had Ned done something to annoy the Gods? He already had to deal with the enormous King's Party and the stupidly powerful otherworlders. Now his good sister was claiming that the damned lions poisoned the man who had been as dear to him as his own father.

"Ned, I know you do not want to accept Robert's offer to become his hand, but we need to find the truth behind his accusations. The situation with the foreigners has also mostly been resolved, so there is no great need for you to stay here anymore. Please accept Roberts offer and find out who killed my Sister's husband."

"No Catelyn, I am not going to the snake pit they call Kings Landing while I am needed here. I am holding a meeting with my bannerman in a fortnight to discuss the foreigners, and no matter what the outcome is, I will need to stay here to oversee what both the foreigners and my bannerman will do. There only needs to be one incident between my bannerman and the foreigners without me being here to diffuse the situation to spark a war the North can't win. In the next few moons, they will also send their gold, inventions, crop seeds and knowledge to Winterfell, which I will need to inspect and test."

His wife first looked like she disagreed with what he said, but after thinking it through, she replied:

"You are right Ned, I was not thinking this trough. You can indeed not leave the North unattended while the foreigners are doing Gods know what. However, we still must investigate the murder of Lysa's husband. The Lannisters, if Lysa is right, must not be able to get away with it easily. Is there anyone you can send to Kings Landing instead of yourself? We can follow the example of the foreigners and send him as a so-called ambassador while his main mission is to investigate Lord Arryn's death."

"That is a great idea, Cat. Now, who do we trust enough to investigate this matter discretely while still doing the duties a so-called ambassador must be doing."

Ned thought about his possible options, he could pick one of his bannerman during the meeting in a forthnight. However, that option carried the risk that the bannerman would work on his own interests in King's Landing instead of those of the whole North. It would also make the other bannerman jealous for not getting that position. Both Robb and Jon were still too young for that job, and he didn't want to send them to the snake pit on their own. Benjen would have been the best option, had he not been a member of the Night's Watch. The final two options were master-at-arms ser Rodrik Cassel and Winterfell's steward Vayon Poole. Both of which had their own important jobs and would need to be replaced if they were to go South.

"I think we should either send one of our most trusted bannerman, or our steward Vayon Poole. However, I think it is best to wait until all the Northern Lords are here before picking an ambassador. The King will likely stay here until after the meeting of the Northern Lords, so it is not like we could start the investigation earlier if we already pick him now."

Catelyn agreed to this, ending the topic of Jon Arryn's murder. Ned then began to talk about the latest negociations with the foreigners.

"Apparently, those foreigners have a strong hatred against slavery. Once they heard that all Free Cities except Braavos and Pentos practice slavery, they made it clear that they would not trade with them. They are even offering to sell us their products for lower prices if we would stop trading with them. I am tempted to take them up on their offer if they keep their word on what was promised to us yesterday. Even Tyrion Lannister, against the will of his sister, wants to take them up on their offer if he gets his father's permission.

That reminds me, Tyrion Lannister seemed to be almost desperate to take the foreigners up on almost every offer they make. If his father does agree with him, it could lead to the Lannisters being in better or equal graces with the foreigners as us. That could be disastrous if the Lannisters are truly plotting against us, as the side in any war with the foreigners' support will win."

"But Ned, we even sold them part of our own land, there should be no way that they will help the Lannisters over us."

"That is maybe true now, but that could easily change if even one of my bannerman tries to do something they don't like. They seem to put high emphasis on the happiness and freedom of the smallfolk, with their human rights bill, and I know at least two of my bannerman who have severely restricted the rights of their smallfolk."

Ned was not looking forward to forcing Roose Bolton and Rodrik Ryswell to give their smallfolk freedom of movement. Those two houses forbade their smallfolk to leave their territory, as otherwise many of them would move to more fertile lands around White Harbor, Barrowton or Winterfell. However, Ned feared the foreigners displeasure more than that of those Lords.

When Ned went to sleep later that evening, he thought that even the snake pit called Kings Landing would be easier to manage than Winterfell in the upcoming weeks.

AN: Hi everyone. Thank you for the reviews for last chapter, as well as all the new people who favourited or followed this story!

Here we see the first major break from canon aSoIaF, with Ned not becoming Robbert's hand due to the events in the North. As the story goes on, we will move further away from canon with less and less recognisable scenes.