"I have the decree concerning the pay raise here, Your Grace, Lord Stark," said Lady Florence.
"Thank you, my lady," Alysanne smiled. She read through the parchment and handed it to Alaric. "I have sent orders for Robert Redwyne to come here after his duty for today is over; we shall discuss sending the recruits."
"I suppose it will do," Alaric said grudgingly in the meantime as he finished with the parchment. "If you have no objections, Alysanne..."
"None at all. Well done, Lady Florence," she stamped the royal seal on the decree. "Have the Grand Maester send it to the crownlands' lords, and, I think, the town criers must get some copies too."
"Indeed, the lowlifes should know that changes are in store," Alaric agreed, but he was very obviously throwing disapproving glances at the decree – namely at the lines that dealt with the wages' sum.
"I will take care of that. But, as a matter of fact, I've had another idea while preparing this text," Lady Florence said. "If you, Lord Stark, are so worried about the raise, we can supply at least part of it from the people's pockets. I propose a 'safety tax', or something like that, we'll call it... If one doesn't pay it, fewer watchmen are posted to guard one's street."
"We shouldn't count the watchmen before we actually have them, my lady," said Alaric. "We might not even have enough for the city to be properly guarded at all, at least at the start. Besides, it won't do to introduce new decrees accompanied by taxes. Better to wait until high summer, when hopefully the City Watch grows larger and the people's pockets grow fuller."
"Well, it was you who protested against the raise," she shrugged.
"I didn't protest in favor of taxes."
"They are quite helpful."
"In the Reach, maybe. Where food is more scarce, people are less eager to part with their coin."
Even though it was her own idea to let Alaric and Lady Florence work together and though she knew well she was too soft-hearted to deal with coin matters herself, Alysanne was suddenly struck by how suspiciously well the two of them actually got on. For sure, Alaric was all for carefulness and Lady Florence all for sparing no expense, but they always seemed to come to an opinion they shared and, in truth, valued each other's input.
She is quite beautiful too, Alysanne thought, looking at the mistress of coin as if she had never seen her before. At twenty-nine, tall and stately, with flowing chestnut hair, full lips and rosy cheeks, Florence Fossoway caught many a man's eye, and barely anyone at court ever took her husband seriously. We often forget to call her Lady Tyrell.
Alysanne never hid the fact that she married Alaric without love. What if he wasn't planning to wait for the return of his feelings forever? Lady Florence was married, and with a dimwit like Lord Martyn, she could have a dozen bastards and pass them off as trueborn Tyrells.
With Jaehaerys, Alysanne had never been jealous – but that was because the two of them had been like two peas in a pod for as long as they could remember. The very idea of him straying had been laughable. Alaric, though... He could very well like Florence Fossoway better.
When the other woman was finally gone, Alysanne was tempted to ask Alaric straightaway whether he had any dealings with her beyond the political ones. However, from her women's courts she knew only too well that such talks never worked and, if anything, had the opposite effect: loyal husbands began to stray after their wives' jealousy became unbearable (and vice versa), figuring out they might as well enjoy themselves if they are to be tormented with the spouse's suspicions anyway.
"Do we have some time left before Alarra's arrival?" she asked instead – Alarra was due to return from Rosby today.
"The heralds still haven't seen her retinue, so we definitely have about a couple of hours," he said.
"I think we don't have anything urgent for now – Ser Robert's still on duty, so we can't talk about the recruitments with him until the evening... I was thinking that we could spend some time together," in truth, she had planned to prepare for the next women's court, but it could wait, since the last one was only two days ago.
"That would be wonderful," Alaric's eyes lit up, and she immediately felt ashamed of her suspicions. "It looks like it's raining outside, so maybe we could sit in the library?"
"Septon Barth's recently bought some new books from the Citadel, we can have a look at them," she continued.
"New books? How much have they cost?" Alaric frowned.
"A hundred dragons, and fifty more for transporting them here," she admitted. "But many of these books deal with the history of the Faith, so the Starry Sept covered the transport's cost from The Royal Penance's Oldtown profits," according to the letter a raven from Lord Hightower had recently brought, the play was doing just as good in the Reach as in the crownlands.
"Darling, I love books as much as you do, but a hundred dragons? Especially now, when the last months have been full of spendings?"
"Lady Florence thinks the costs were worth it," Alysanne remarked.
"Didn't she ask you first? She should."
"She and Septon Barth ordered the books before telling me about it – after all, it's known how I value books. And they were right, I mean, I truly trust them and Grand Maester Elysar to take care of our library."
It was ironic – she honestly hadn't even thought of blackening Lady Florence's name right now, and, indeed, in this case she completely agreed with how the latter had acted. But the dismissive way Alaric spoke about the mistress of coin gladdened some small, selfish part of her heart.
"All right, since you trust them, we'll follow your lead," Alaric smiled. "But do be careful, Alysanne. These spendthrifts..."
"I thought you and Lady Florence have grown on each other."
"Somehow like Lys, Myr and Tyrosh grow on each other in times of peace," he said. "We can manage to do or decide something together if you ask us to, but there's no changing a Reachwoman's nature."
Alysanne looked strangely happy when he advised her to be careful with Florence Fossoway and her endless urge to scatter coin to the wind (he phrased it more delicately, of course). Was she, too, growing annoyed with her? But, as far as he could remember, she liked lavish celebrations and decorations and suchlike long before the Tyrells came to court. It was only today that she, for some reason, seemed on edge while he was talking to Lady Florence.
Was she jealous? he realized. To him, the thought of harboring any romantic feelings towards the mistress of coin was too absurd to even contemplate: even if he hadn't been married and hadn't loved Alysanne with all his heart, Florence Fossoway was practically an embodiment of all the qualities he disliked. Always flaunting her jewels, always having that ingratiating oily voice that got on his nerves, sometimes openly disrespecting her husband (it was one thing to act as head of the family – the Mormont women did that, after all – but even the weakest men deserved a modicum of respect!), she was exactly the sort of woman he was happy to avoid outside the council meetings.
"I would never break my vows to you, dearest," he said as they walked towards the library, and Alysanne blushed:
"Was I so obvious? Forgive me, Alaric. I was stupid."
"Don't worry, I've been stupid too," he recalled. "On our wedding day, I was terribly jealous when Ser Ryam crowned you queen of love and beauty."
"Ser Ryam Redwyne?" she laughed. "Is there something about the Reachmen that the rest of us lack?"
Alaric wanted to join in her merriment, but suddenly it came to him that there was, indeed, something about the people of the Reach that also partly caused his and now Alysanne's jealousy.
"Why did you think I could ever be attracted to Lady Fossoway?"
"Still angry about it?" she asked sadly.
"No, not at all. I think I have the beginnings of an idea."
"All right," Alysanne smiled uncertainly. "She's beautiful and dazzling, and whatever you say, she is an able mistress of coin..."
"Lady Turnberry is an able mistress of whisperers, but I haven't noticed you suspecting her of having an affair with me. No, it's the first part. The Reachmen are dazzling. Florence Fossoway looks the picture of a noble lady from southern songs and fairytales, and all the Redwyne brothers look like legendary knights."
"They have the best weather and best crops in the Kingdoms," Alysanne said with a half-jocular, half-wistful look. "No wonder they are thriving too."
"It's not just that," said Alaric. "It's that... come to think of it, in the South, most of the songs and legends come from the Reach. How many tales have you heard of the Winged Knight – and how many tales, and songs, and legends are there about Garth Greenhand and his children?"
Alysanne stood still and turned to him in surprise:
"Exactly! The Reach is the birthplace of chivalry – everybody says so..."
"We need to do something about it. What sort of capital city is King's Landing if the art and education and rules of knighthood all come from Highgarden? Even The Royal Penance we developed in the Reach."
"Alaric, you're missing the point here. It's not Highgarden we're talking of."
He stared at her:
"Then what have we been discussing just now? You just said – the birthplace of chivalry..."
"No, you don't understand: in the Reach, it's Oldtown we need to worry about rather than Highgarden. You've seen it yourself: the Starry Sept, the Citadel – both are in Oldtown. Highgarden's just the political center... although it is rather dazzling too."
Alaric remembered the southern city's bustling streets, the grand buildings of the Sept and the Citadel, and the many lords, ladies and knights flocking towards the Hightower.
"You're right: we need to do something about it. We mustn't limit ourselves to the Sunflowers," Alysanne continued, "since theatre is just one thing of many... Imagine something like the Citadel erected in King's Landing! We wouldn't need to buy books so expensively," she winked at him.
"What I can imagine is the wrath of House Hightower," Alaric said dryly. "They would want to stay the keepers of the Faith, the arts and sciences."
"We've already managed to produce The Royal Penance in cooperation," Alysanne said. "And if Milane Hightower, who is, after all, the heiress of Lord Gyles and Ser Eustace, comes to court, it's only prudent that we should make her feel more at home. The library of the Red Keep is, in its current condition, a paltry replacement for the Citadel."
"So we should what, humbly ask the Seneschal to expand his domain towards King's Landing? We would be bowing towards the Reach, not building anything to rival it."
"Of course we won't do that – the Hightowers are already overloaded with royal boons. We will just found a place for learned men and scribes... oh, don't we lack good scribes around here, only Grand Maester Elysar keeps something like a chronicle, and he's too busy to pay it proper attention... we won't even make the students take maester's vows – those who want will need to go to Oldtown for it."
"So, they'll be able to earn links, but they won't have to take vows," Alaric summarized. "Won't that make the Citadel angry?"
"On the contrary. Have you forgotten the Citadel allows for students to leave without taking vows?"
"Oh... yes, I haven't thought of that," the Citadel wasn't something Alaric had thought about too often before marrying Alysanne, and even now it usually wasn't high on his list of priorities. The impressions left by their visit to the Citadel after their wedding weren't exactly rosy.
"So the Citadel would remain the only place where you can qualify as a maester. We shouldn't even name our... building after it."
"Then what should we name it?" he smiled. "We can't keep calling it the Building, after all."
Alysanne thought for a while – he saw her lips moving quietly as she considered the possible names.
"How about the Foundation?" she suggested. "The Reach always uses floral names, and we should pick the ones that mean stability and firmness."
"That'll anger them still," Alaric shook his head. "'The Foundation' implies it's more important than the Citadel."
"Maybe 'The King's... something'. The King's Grant, the King's Gift..."
"You've already got me to arrange for a New Gift," he reminded her. "I think that should be enough for the nearest future. If people hear 'the King's Gift', they'll think it's a training yard for the future Night's Watch men."
"We'll keep that idea in mind for another day," Alysanne chuckled. "Let's call it, say, the Bookcrown for now, and a proper name will come when the building's finished."
As he turned ahead to walk further, he realized they had already been standing right in front of the library's doors, talking, for a few minutes now.
"It's very strange, you know," Alysanne said as they finally went inside the library (a new bookcase with Septon Barth's recent acquisitions could be plainly seen, since it was the least dusty one). "When I married you, everyone expected me to start looking towards the North, but for the second time in less than a year we are being inspired by the Reach instead."
"Inspired – yes, but we want the capital to outshine Oldtown, not to trail after it," he answered. "As for the North... our ways are different, in part, because of the harsh conditions we live in. Even if everyone suddenly turns to the old gods and begins to hate knighthood and tourneys, it would be impossible for King's Landing to fully copy the winter town."
The coziness warmed her heart: it was lovely to sit by Alaric's side and read a new book with him (Gemstones of the Known World and their Properties by an Archmaester Lyonel), listening to the soft pitter-patter of the rain on the roof and – in some precious moments – feeling the baby's slight moves and kicks inside her belly. Not to mention that the earlier jealousy was now replaced with pleasant thoughts about the new project.
But I now know I'm scared of losing Alaric, Alysanne said to herself. When I suspected there was something between him and Lady Florence, I didn't even think about disgrace or possible problems with Lord Tyrell. I was only frightened he no longer loved me.
Was she – it felt scary even to consider it – in love with him now as well, in the very sort of love that eventually developed in well-arranged marriages, the one she talked about with her ladies-in-waiting but had never known herself, since she and Jaehaerys had loved each other from their early childhood and regardless of any arrangements?
She glanced at Jaehaerys's portrait that now hung in the library, next to the portraits of their grandfather and of Daenys the Dreamer. The painter – a renowned Volantene artist – had perfectly managed to capture her first husband's confident smile and kind but determined eyes. I thought of our wedding when I sat for him, Jaehaerys told her later.
After Jaehaerys's death, she had barely kept herself from destroying or at least hiding the portrait – the memories were too bitter. Thankfully, Grand Maester Elysar had been there to talk her out of it.
Forgive me, Jaehaerys, she pleaded silently now. Maybe I'm just selfish. Maybe I want someone to care for me just that much. If Alaric hadn't loved me so dearly, might be I wouldn't have felt anything in return so soon. I still cry at night when I have nightmares about how I lost you and Daenerys, but it's Alaric who comforts me afterwards. I'm sorry, my darling. I'm so sorry. When you died, I felt like a dead woman myself, but time has passed, and I feel I'm alive, my heart beats, and my blood runs in its vessels.
Feeling tears coming to her eyes, she swallowed firmly to prevent herself from weeping. First, she wasn't yet ready to speak to Alaric about it, second (this thought made her smile with how out of place it was), tears would ruin the expensive manuscript she was currently leaning over.
I'll visit the sept later today or, most likely, tomorrow, and collect my thoughts. Alarra's arriving soon, and then we've got this meeting with Ser Robert – it's no time for confession of feelings. I don't want it to be rushed.
As the urge to cry finally went away, Alysanne resolutely looked at the picture of an emerald in front of her. They had precious little free time left, so she had to use it well – bask in the tenderness of the moment and read Gemstones and their Properties.
And that's what my life is always like, she mused. The love and family, and the ruling, and the court, and the studies, all mixed up together like this... I wouldn't have had it any other way, though, however hard it can get. I knew what I was in for when I was crowned.