In the first two weeks of their marriage, he did nothing but stay with her each night whilst doing his own paperwork for his position and such. There had been nothing but duty in mind as he did it with her, until she managed to get pregnant with a babe of his; she was getting more comfortable with him in her, at least, that was progress, instead of the squirming she did during their first night. As for his position upon Robert's small Council; it was tiresome work, but his marriage to Jon's niece had it's benefits with the hand, as the two worked tirelessly to insure the Kingdom wasn't falling into mayhem together as Robert whored and drunk, clearly still mourning for that woman Lyanna. His wife had given birth to a boy with golden-hair of whom she named Joffrey after one of the Lion Kings of old. Robert had gotten another whore pregnant within King's Landing. Business as usual happened in King's Landing, but here in the Stormlands, he and Jeyne visited each province within the region.
Jeyne was a good and gracious lady, generous and kindly, and the common folk adored her as they throw roses at her path whenever she came near one of their farming villages, nearby Storm's End or by one of the other castles of one of the other Marcher Lords, like Griffin's Roost, she was welcome wherever she went. He was happy and honoured that he was blessed with such a woman, one that everyone adored in the Stormlands. He himself, nobody was blessing their feet around him, but neither were they cursing at him, but the other Marcher Lords had given him ideas on how to make the small folk happy. They'd need some more charter towns and rights, which he was going suggest to Jon Arryn when he went to King's Landing and had a chat with Jon Arryn on how to proceed on these matters relating to his people.
"Are you pregnant Jeyne?" He asked her, as they went travelling to Red Ronnet's beautiful lands. He loved Griffin's Roast - it was both beautiful to look at, with it being the most fertile region in the Marches, with it's grounds being filled to the brim with red rose bushes and apple-trees that grew wild and plentiful here, and not, but anyhow the castle of Red Ronnet; it sat on a very highly defensible position and would be very hard to attack, which Stannis admired. It was large, but sturdy, with a metal drawbridge on two sides, as it sat on it's private rock island off to the coast and was surrounded on all sides by a natural moat of sorts. He had looked at how far the ledge went to the waterfall, and it had a sharp enough edge that it would kill a man if they were unwise enough to fall of it the battlement of the castle.
"I do believe so, by about a month or so, my lord." She responded, staring at one of the workers with a lovely looking smile an a gentle wave. The worker didn't smile back nor wave at her, but they acknowledged her with a bow of the head. That was something, at least.
When they arrived at Red Ronnets castle, the interior was just as practical as the exterior of it. The castle was orderly fashioned, and it had at least two large trebuchets on it's battlements; there were four rampart towers with three men filling in each segment. There were several guards that took daily walks on the ramparts, and they each carried two-handed weapons; for efficiency. Two handed weapons were more effective in killing men than the shield-and-sword kind of soldier, even though he was guilty of appreciating and using the later weaponry though. The men were also all dressed in red-and-white chainmail armour, all perfectly neat and tidy and in formation. Stannis liked this, it said a great deal about the owner of this castle that he'd keep it well-maintained like this. He himself did so, in Storm's End, although he'd have put archers and rock-throwing men in the ramparts though, to let loose and shoot arrows through the large gaped holes of the ramparts though at their foes. He thought he'd be okay anywhere in the Stormlands various castles if he were to be in a siege, given how all the castles were well-manned and executed, besides for Emma Morrigen's castle although. The young Lady of Crow's Nest was in dear need of a good regent to mane her walls for herself, whilst she herself grows up, considering she was only a five year old child at that. Her father, he'd have died during Robert's Rebellion in the Riverlands, where he was slaughtered by Ser Lewyn Martell before the King's Guard himself was slayed upon the battlefield himself by the ax of Ned Stark and his own gang of Northern men.
It was quite unfortunate that this little Knight's family was on the wrong side of the conflict, and thus their lands that were begotten by that traitorous Jon Connington's father had to disputed by the remaining Marchers lords that remained loyal to the Baratheons, and by extension himself, in this matter. He choice that Lady Morrigen, the loyalist faction, and the one with the current land dispute with the Conningtons, would get most of their lands. He also gave some of those at Stonehelm, because they also bled for the loyalist faction as well. Now, this Knight was just an unjumped landed Knight, with a castle only, and besides, he was the most becoming towards him, unlike Jon Connington, the traitor that had drunken himself to death in Lys, no doubt dying mourning Rhaegar Targaryen, the one that the Griffin Lord was reportedly fond of. That Dragon Prince was dead though, and he himself saw Jon Arryn burning the body of the former jeweled Prince. Indeed, he even removed the Prince's raven helm when he did it, to make sure it was truly him. And it was, he had long silver-gold hair tied in a ponytail and his face looked as purple in the face as they could get, indeed. He was as handsome as they said he was, but he was dead, and nothing the common folk said about him taking back his father's throne would make a difference, for he was as dead as a dead dog, for all he cared anyhow.
But anyhow, he was here to discuss his castle and remaining levies with the Knight, of which he'd propose one of his own brothers be a consort to Lady Emma, to insure that they'd be no remaining conflict between the two Houses; and besides, it was a good match. Lady Emma would get all the support she'd needed to keep her newly attended lands and the support of the Conningtons, the former landholders of said lands, as it was. But then again, the little lady Emma did have a male cousin about her own age that still retained the Morrigen name that could potentially marry her, to preserve her own family name, but he supposed that if she was to take the Connington former lands, than she'd need their support in doing so to keep the small folk in check as It was. The land dispute in question was rather tiny affair in his opinion, but he wished to address it though, considering this was his realm.
They walked inside of the keep, where he and his wife were offered tea and some tiny sandwiches upon a plate by Connington's sister, Alynne. She had long ginger-colored hair that she kept in a braid; wore a simple red-and white modest dress, with a red-colored petticoat extending gently past her shoulders, and her skirt was long and full. She had a oval-shaped face, but she was nothing attractive to look at. Her oval shaped face was also full of freckles and she appeared to be about ten-and-two years of age.
"Thank you and sincerely, thank you for the food, I've been having lots of cravings as of late." His wife said, as she took the offer of bread and cucumbers on the platter with delight in her blue colored eyes. She was hungry no doubt due to cravings; she'd been having lots of them lately.
He himself though, he awaited Ser Ronnet's presence as he overlooked his troops. They were all neatly dressed, and seemed well-feasted, considering the fact that the other lords had just starved them out until they surrounded, but not until the Castilian of Griffins Roast died in the name of the farce King Aerys II, the abomination King, the scab King for all that it was worth. Now, young Ronnet was ruling over Griffin's Roast after his father died of starvation within these very walls, without surrounding an inch of the castle. He found that feet admirable of the past castellan, to never give up the castle, not over his dead bones that was. But, when they were riding here, it was no wonder much of the vast fertile countryside had been sacked and burnt down by invading forces that he had sent from Lord Swann and the remaining loyalist forces left in the Stormlands to attack Jon Connington's lands and by extension, his own castle's food supplies to insure that no loyalist forces could help them. Stannis admired the way the Castilian died though, in the name of his supposed King and in his own castle that he swore to protect at that. When he had discovered how the old man had died in such a valiant way, and during a siege nevertheless, he felt that Connington at least deserved some credit for how he died in service to his King... That was a noble sacrifice, to Stannis at least.
But besides, he saw the looks on some of the man's faces. They also had lost loves ones - and likely, some of them were cannibals, given that it had taken about a year for Griffin Roast to be completely surrounded and forced to do the very same thing he did, and besides, they were about close to doing the very same in their own siege done by the Tyrells on Storm's End.
Than, Ser Ronnet came out of his hold to greet them personally in his gravel-covered courtyard, where his wife was currently stuffing her face full of those tiny sandwitches she had been generously offered by the Conningtons. He was dressed in a simple red-and-white colored suit of armor, much like his troops of whom stopped in formation to greet their liege lord; he looked tired, with deep markings under his blue eyes. His red bread was recently shaven, and his hair was recently cut and washed. The air around him was that of a exhausted Lord, but at least he looked well-fed, given that he had ordered one of his other people to give them their remaining, but somewhat limited, food supply to the Conningtons to insure that they didn't die; and besides, those other lords lands weren't sacked and burned like the Conningtons were, so they could rebuild their food supply as it was from their farm lands surrounding their castle.
"Hello my lord, I apologize for being tired, I just need to rebuild my farmlands once again. The people you sent during the siege, they killed our farmers and took hold of their farm houses. I've been forced on this very limited supply line in the aftermath of it, and not to mention, I had to bury my father in the grounds of our Gods Wood as it was, at the same time as having to worry about our supply lines your Lordship has generously offered us to replenish our limited food supply." He sounded awfully tired. Stannis could hear it in his voice and in own body language at that. His shoulders were sloping, as if he were struggling to stay awake or something.
"I do not blame you, but you gave me no choice in the matter of besieging your fort. Considering your own Liege lord Jon Connington and your father, the Castilian here at the time, were loyalists to the Dragons of whom were off burning people left and right. You know, I was in an siege myself for an entire year too, during about the same time as Lord Richard Swann sent some of his remaining forces to besiege you here, as I ordered him too from within the walls of the currently besieged Storm's End, even though communications were a rather rough affair given that the Tyrell's could've intercepted any of my letters to him. But regardless, you do not see me grovelling in my tiredness, now do you, Ser Ronnet?" He knew he sounded harsh, given how the man just lost someone he cared for deeply, but he decided he'd have no mercy for those that grovelled at the hands of those burning abominations known as the Targaryens; they even burned his own lady wife's brother, and several other dozen Northern Lords . At one point during the war, he had been conflicted whenever he should rebel for his brother against the rightful King Aerys II, his king at the time, he'd know, but his loyalty of his brother and the actions of those on top, made him support Robert and send the Marcher army to the Riverlands alongside him like a good brother would do.
"No, my Lord." He sighed, brushing back his ginger-hair. "You did what you had to do, like my cousin and my father choice too." He shrugged. "You know, we were very close to cannibalism my lord, but my father choice to die on his own will, not being accursed by the Gods by the sin of eating another man's flesh. It was a blessing that you broke the siege, before we had to resort to that measure." He muttered, staring him right in the eyes. He felt a sudden urge of respect for the man; he seemed determined, and had survived a siege much like he had done. They also, had been down to rats and many of his own men had died of starvation, even though he had shared everything they had out of their kitchens to make sure that everyone had survived. But not everyone had, and besides, he remembered having to force down the smallest rat down his brother's unwilling throat, as he refused to eat it. He wondered if he had to do something similar to insure the survival of his little sister, of whom looked a bit on the skinny end of things, and his own youngest brother.
So thus, they begun speaking about other topics, but not before he said, somewhat reluctantly, that he respected the man's sacrifice in the name of duty and honor. It was something every man should do. The Lord seemed a bit shy about the compliment that he had rewarded the man, but he took it nevertheless. They talked over a nice bowl of freshly grained tea, and a view of the sea before them. Ser Ronnet seemed reasonable to the request that he give Raymond, his seven year old brother, up to Lady Emma as a consort to support her reign over their former lands, although he seemed a bit offended at the request at first which was reasonable, considering they had a former land dispute anyhow. He also told Ronnet to get married, to Alysanne of Tarth, the Evenstar's first born daughter, born from the breasts of a Glover woman the man had married and produced children with, of whom included his son Galladon Tarth, a young blonde-haired boy that Stannis was going to foster one of these days in Storm's End, considering Lord Tarth's loyalty to the Baratheon cause during Robert's Rebellion. The Knight seemed amiable to the idea, despite the girl's youth, and the fact that he considered House Tarth to be an invaluable alliance due the House's location on an island plentiful both in of gold and food, both things the earnest Knight desperately needed right now.
Besides, the marriage would unite the Stormlands under his rule, which was his intent to begin with.
"I will accept your suggestion on whom I should marry, my lord." He gave a small smile. "Even though Alysanne is a very young child at the moment..." He said softly. He was about twenty years old, and was a healthy, hearty man, even if he was a bit on the skinny side after nearly starving to death like his father did before him, most ironically. He also had a bit of a frugal smile. Stannis did not expect he'd end up having respect for the man, but he did. Duty was a very important thing to Stannis, and what his family scarified was in the name of honour and duty to their rightful King and there was no higher one of achievement than doing that. Not to mention, the Knight was a preserving survivor, worthy of the respect that Stannis was giving him at this very moment.
"She's a healthy, hearty girl of ten whilst her brother is ten-and-two years of age, and besides, she's from a good family and has a decent linage. You couldn't do much better than that, Ser. But regardless of my opinion of what you should, I'm not one to force you to do marry the girl, if you do not wish too." He stated matter of factly. Although, he wouldn't force a marriage on the Knight, for that was not his way, he just wished to see the Conningtons regain some semblance of their family legacy back from the threshold of nearly losing all of their repute and land during the course of the war. He supposed making good with a loyalist Baratheon house might perhaps save them, and they might regain some land that they had lost, and become more than Landed Knights as they were currently, but Stannis didn't know. Maybe, maybe not, whom knows? He supposed. Anything could happen.
The Ser in question laughed at that statement. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope for the Griffin Knight to regain the lands his House had lost in the war previously . As for his wife, she was off sitting on the side lines, with a cup of water in her hands, as she talked to Alynne with a hint of playfulness in her voice. Stannis would think that she'd make a good mother, when his son came into this world. He fullily expected that the babe growing within her womb was a boy - if it was a girl he'd be disappointed to say in the least; he wanted a son to fulfil his own role as Lord of Storm's End when he died someday and not one of Robert's brood from Cersei to take it from him, if Jeyne provided to be infertile; he also wanted someone to take his father's name with him to the next generation, because it would be highly unlikely that would be the case if this was a girl, he understood, because they'd likely be married off to some other high lord. But then again, he could always have another child in the case the one that Jeyne was carrying was a girl.
And so they left the region, but not after he was done helping Connington with his land problems and what not. He was a good man, not a bad one. And besides they both survived a siege. He felt some level of sympathy for his current position too'; it seemed to Stannis be a rather down one due to being loyal, a unfitting thing for loyalists to the Crown as it was.