Chapter 3
Horizons end
Waking up early was required on the day he'd be sailing away from Dragonstone. Rising before the sun he was in his working chambers writing to his friend and king. What could he say he wondered. Explaining himself would be redundant, he figured if anyone understood his motives it was Robert. All Robert ever needed was someone to solve his problems.
Dear Robert
I have secured the end of the war as promised. To earn the castles surrender I negotiated the marriage and adoption of the last Targaryens. The justice owed to my house has been paid with a son, mother and daughter as was taken and all offenders dead in the earth. The war is over.
Burning wax and affixing his seal on the letter he was ready for it to be sent to the maester and delivered to Kingslanding. With that done he called for the Steward of the castle and the castellan to organize the moving of the household.
The day passed quickly as Ned and the dragon's men planned out the exile of the Targearyans. The treasury and heirlooms had to be transported as Rhealla refused to leave anything for the Baratheons. He had argued that the crown was owed reparations while she had refused arguing that the castle and city would be enough, everything else would be her dowry to house Stark. As such moving all this material would be time consuming and expensive.
Together with the stewards he organized with the officers he could trust what would be shipped with the ships that he would be borrowing. Many of the men he'd transported to Dragonstone would be having an extended stay on the island. Offers of bonus pay took care of any concerns they may have had. The use of the royal navy he figured was still in his rights as he would have used them to transport his northern troops any way.
By dusk he was on his way to the harbor. He rode at the front of the precession with loyal men armed and armored to protect the carriage as they made their way past the castle gates and into the city where the royal forces had been entrenched. Their passing elicited a contrast of emotions. The commonfolk clapped and cheered while the soldiers would curse and sneer. There probably would have been a riot if he had not demanded all the Targearyan men dress in common clothes with no iconography. As far as he was concerned there was no need to antagonize the Baratheons anymore than he had already. Many of the Targearyan household were leaving with him and many saw them as traitors escaping justice.
The only good thing about his ride was that he got to see the city was in good standing and had not been sacked as fiercely as Kingslanding by the Lannisters. Where blood and fire had stained every corner of the capital, there was very little evidence here. Clearly Lord Stannis lead his men with an iron grip of discipline that he could appreciate.
When they finally arrived at the harbor, he dismounted and made his way to the carriage and let his lady be helped out by a servant. When she got out he took her gloved hand and began walking to the boarding plank of his ship. After a couple of steps he noticed that walking was still difficult for the former queen and thus he pulled her closer so she could lean on him. Her eyes found his and he saw surprise in them. Such closeness would look far too intimate to those watching, primary among them Lord Stannis who was waiting for them at the boarding plank. He felt blood flood his cheeks at the thought but nodded his understanding of the situation.
They took small steps together and by the time they reached Stannis her head was resting on his shoulder and Stannis was grinding his teeth in frustration at them. The man stood rigidly in front them with his hand on his sword. "Lord Stark your ship awaits. I wish you a good voyage and a sweet marriage for however long it lasts." The man declared with little cheer or venom.
"We will make of it what we can, Lord Stannis." He responded mutually just wanting to get on the ship and sail home.
"Take care to you as well cousin. I hope that the Iron Throne serves house Baratheon as well as it did my house. I declare to you on behalf of house Targearyan to house Baratheon that we forfeit all rights to the Iron Throne and denounce all claims to rulership of the seven kingdoms. I hope you and cousin Robert will take that as an end to this feud and leave us to our new life in the North." Rhealla responded to the Baratheon lord.
"Aye house Stark will see that commitment through. House Baratheon will forever be our liege. Robert is our king, Viserys is only my wife's son." He added hoping it would be enough to calm Robert's rage at those he determined to be simply dragonspawn.
"I accept your oath and I will tell the king of it. Though I will still advise him to drag you all to Kingslanding where justice can be dealt. Your insolence Lord Stark should be punished and whatever oaths made by a Targearyan if they can be trusted should be made in front of the whole realm not to me in proxy to the king." The Baratheon lord responded with brutal honesty and strict diplomacy. Reminding him that Stannis was not his friend and in fact his enemy as of the moment he refused him the Targearyans.
"As you wish Lord Stannis. However I simply remind you it is in everyone's best interest that peace is made and sustained. With that I bid you farewell." He said as calmly as he could while his wolfblood boiled at the man who dared proposing the harm of his family.
Ned helped Raella up the boarding plank while Stannis took off to wherever he had to be. The rest of their party followed behind to board the ship while he escorted his new wife to their cabin. He lead her the bed first before he left to supervise the boarding.
By the time they were sailing for the North it was well into the night. When he entered his cabin he found the sleeping bodies of his wife and her son together. Deciding he could find a place to sleep he left them to their slumber and went to check in on his boys. In a smaller room besides his he found the three cribs housing the little ones and a maid sitting on a rocking chair.
He couldn't help but smile as he looked in at the little pups. Daenerys was the smallest and the youngest with her closed eyes and tiny wisps of hair. Robb was the oldest with a full head of hair and a smile for his father as he looked up at him. Jon was between the two and sleeping peacefully. He picked up his heir who quickly began grabbing at his hair making him laugh at the boys adventurousness.
The maid watched them with a smile patiently while he enjoyed being with his boy. Not wanting to make too much noise he put the boy back down and gave him a toy to play with while he asked the maid if she had everything she needed to care for the children which she assured she did. She had others whom she shared her duties with and promised they would suffice.
With everything taken care of he found a net to sleep in with sailors in the barracks and dozed off before he could think otherwise.
Thank you to everyone who is following, favorited or commented. Please continue doing so as it helps motivate me to continue posting. I know it's been a while but I have been struggling with this chapter for way too long. On top of that I lost a chapter of ice and fire because it got corrupted for the fourth time and now I'm just so frustrated because every time I've written it I was so excited for it to be finished I just messed up and got it corrupted. If you enjoy this work please check out my other stuff as well and don't forget to comment.
