Hello and welcome this chapter! Great response to the story so far, so please, continue to enjoy it!
Steffon and Arya wandered out to the tourney grounds as the day began. Steffon had registered himself for both the archery tournament and the melee. He was never that much into jousting. To him, it was basically a test of who cold hold a pointed stick on target the longest. The archery contest was a proper test of skill and strength, as the standard Westerosi composite bow had an immense draw weight, but Steffon instead preferred the longbow. The longbow was used by Northern and Westerlands archers, and was more powerful and longer ranged than a composite bow, but the draw weight was even heavier. This was partly due to the fact that a composite bow was about half the size of a man, while a longbow was often around the size of man (or bigger, in some cases), which in turn led to the draw weight of 150 pounds. Steffon had improved his arm strength over the years, and only recently had been able to move a longbow to full draw.
The melee was more like an actual battle than anything else. The chaos, the sound of metal grinding against metal, the feel of accomplishment when doing well, all of it had sounded attractive to Steffon. Not as attractive as Arya was to him, but still. The two walked into the tent that Robert had ordered set up for his son. Arya gaped in amazement at the weapons and armour inside.
"Steffon, this is amazing!" She said.
"That's not even half of it, Arya. I had a new shield made for me last night. Here, I'll show you." Steffon said, walking over to a bag in the corner of the tent. He pulled his new shield out and showed Arya, causing her jaw to drop. The shield was made out of tough, hard oak, and was well-curved so that it could protect most of Steffon effectively. What had Arya in awe though, was the pattern painted on the front. The background of the shield was gold, with the black crowned stag facing left, and a black direwolf facing right.
"T-that's amazing, Steffon!" She gushed.
"I thought so too. My brother will be King one day, not me. So I figured I should develop my own personal sigil. And lo and behold, I did."
"I can see that. Why are the stag and the direwolf face outward though?" She asked, a bit puzzled.
"There's symbolism in that, Arya. It's meant to symbolise the stag and the wolf protecting each other. Fitting, seeing as I'm a stag, you're a wolf, and we always have each others' backs, don't you think?" He asked.
"Yeah. Though isn't that armour standard for Stormlands nobles?" She asked, pointing towards the bronze coloured armour on a stand in the corner opposite them (think the armour Brienne wears in season 2, plus the helm she wore at Renly's tourney).
"Yes, but like I say, I'm not fond of decoration."
"But wouldn't that make things confusing on a battlefield?" She asked.
"That's why I had this made as well" He said, pulling out a second helmet from another bag. This helmet had no decoration on it, save for the stag antlers on the front (google Stormlands burgonet. You'll see what I mean). "Most Stormlands soldiers have kettle helms. Knights usually wear ones like those over there." He pointed to the visored helmet that was on the stand. "But this is my personal design. I based it on the helms of the soldiers who serve uncle Stannis. All I did was have it painted bronze and stick a pair of antlers on the front. My longbow's nothing special either; it's essentially a standard Westerlands longbow." he said. Arya was still slightly shocked by the fact that a Prince could be so humble.
"You really don't like fanfare, do you?" She asked, smirking.
"No. It seems a bit pointless to me. Why spend money on pointless feasts and tourneys when there's people starving in the streets. This is exactly what I hoped to avoid two years ago." He responded. This puzzled Arya a little.
"What were you trying to do two years ago?" She asked.
"Well, I came up with this idea of a Senate. I based it on the systems the Free Cities have. You have ten people from each of the Seven Kingdoms, plus the Riverlands and Crownlands. They represent the interests of the people to the nobility."
"And who would lead this . . . um . . . Senate?"
"A Lord Chancellor of the Senate would be elected by a popular vote. He would sit on the Small Council, presenting the Senate's ideas to the King and Council for approval. Whenever he wasn't able to attend the Senate's meetings, his duties would be taken over by his assistant, the Warden of the Senate. They'd have a small military force, maybe about 1200 or so, called the Senate Guard; it'd mainly be for the protection of Senators, and would join nobles on occasion when the Senate voted to contribute to a war." Steffon explained.
"But 100 is an even number." Arya pointed out.
"Which is why in the event of a complete deadlock, the Warden casts the deciding vote. The Lord Chancellor can either then approve the motion and take it to the Small Council, or he can choose to void it. In that case, unless 60 Senators vote together to overrule him, the motion remains voided."
"This all seems unnecessary. Nothing would ever get done." Said Arya.
"Perhaps, but you must at least create the illusion that peasants have control over their lives. They outnumber us, you know." Steffon said.
"What did the King and Small Council say?" She asked.
"Varys and uncle Stannis spoke in support of it, Varys because he believed that the common people have a right to voice their ideas, and Stannis because to him, birth counts for little."
"And the others?"
"They laughed. Right in my face." He said sadly.
"Well that wasn't very nice of them." Arya said, sourly.
"I can't really blame them. I'm a forward-thinking person. They're afraid that if commoners get too much power, they'll start getting ideas over their heads."
"It's a good idea Steffon, even if they're too stupid to see it." Arya deadpanned. Steffon laughed. The young couple always knew how to make each other laugh. A servant stuck his head inside the tent.
"My Prince, the archery contest is about to begin." He said.
"Well that's my cue." Said Steffon, grabbing his longbow and a quiver of arrows. "You coming to watch, Arya?"
"Of course I am, stag boy."
"Glad to hear it, wolf girl" Steffon responded. She then kissed him, their lips melding effortlessly.
"For luck" She said after they broke apart.
"Thanks, Arya." He said, smiling. The couple walked out over to the archery field. I'll win this, Steffon thought, for Arya.
And chapter complete! I know, I know, it's been awhile, but Uni has been a bit of a pain in my arse, but now I'm on my break, I intend to update as much as possible.
And oh my God, is the show getting really good or what?! You know how episode 9 is usually the one where D&D go berserk, well I know what the 9th episode's title is (it was leaked). I won't put it up here, but you can guess or ask in a PM and I'll tell you.
By the way, this may seem a bit egotistical, but I do want to see this story grow. So, I am putting out an official request for anyone who is interested in producing fanart for this story.
As always, auf wiedersehen mein fruends!