Arthur

The opposing forces against Robert Baratheon had changed.

Azalea was living in the main camp, strategizing, planning, and fighting alongside them all.

Jon Arryn was back in the capital, overseeing the projects she and Rhaegar set off.

There are other ripples. Their formations have changed. Westerlands is in the main foray now. More incidents had followed the fire at Crakehall. Minor, but linked. North is here, but no skirmishes have gone beyond the neck.

Right now, the focus is on securing crops into storerooms of liege lords. The rebel forces have taken to burning down crops.

Azalea had said three things that have become their framework in tackling the entire issue.

"The goal is mayhem, not conquest."

"Robert has a benefactor supplying him gold. How else can he afford sellswords?"

"This discontentment towards the throne did not end with Aerys' reign. Robert has managed to tap into a network of that discontentment."

Varys was now in the war camp. Or close by. Numbers and manpower would not help in this kind of violence. They needed intelligence.

They did see some hope. They did not catch a lot of people, but they prevented things, and secured food, farms, and keeps. Without casualties.

Azalea was also not the only woman in the war camp. Maege Mormont was present. She had stayed out of the way of most southern parties. Arthur was not sure why but Azalea had weaseled out particulars of anyone who was in the camp, so Maege Mormant had started making her presence known during meals and certain meetings.

A bunch of them ended up having a meal on the strategy table and Arthur knew that Azalea deliberately chose to ignore the space next to Rhaegar and settled down right in front of Maege.

Arthur was a Kingsguard and a Knight, but he had been Dornish before that. The politics of women was subtle but it was present all the same, and while he never saw hostility from Azalea on that end, he knew the rest of the camp was hedging bets on how the first interaction would go between the two she warriors.

Arthur himself was not concerned. Out of everyone in the small council, Azalea relied a great deal on Old Bear. Moreover, Azalea was not built like that.

He knew the rest of the camp did not share his insight and he immediately saw the northern forces and some others freeze in anticipation. He even thought Maege straightened out her posture and got a little alert.

"What do you prefer to be called Lady Mormont?" Azalea would ask before stuffing a spoonful of the stew and a nibble of meat in her mouth.

"Maege is good enough, your grace," came the response. Some of the tension melted away to curiosity.

"Very well then, Maege, I was wondering if I could speak to you about Dacey?" Azalea said. The tension went taut again.

"She is under my brother's charge at the moment. I trust his judgment." Came a neutral response.

Azalea took a moment to swallow and waved away any aspersions, "Oh, I trust his judgment too. I still think a parent's authority on certain matters is supreme."

Maege did not speak. The tension did not loosen.

"Dacey has become part of my ladies, but she is still green and I thought I would take it up with you before speaking to her. It is about her Morningstar. I understand you gifted it to her when she was still very young," Azalea said offhandedly, putting another spoonful of the stew in her mouth, and eating away merrily.

There was an alarm across the room. Arthur heard a faint whisper of something along the lines of how women of Bear Island could not give their weapons up to play at being ladies. It was too farther away, and hushed to reach the ears of the two women.

But Arthur knew that Maege concurred with the whisperer and believed Azalea would ask Dacey to give up the Morningstar.

Maege Mormont's knuckles were white under the table. She was clenching her fists very hard. And this time, some hostility leaked onto her face when she put in a bit of bear's roar in her gritted response, "What about it?"

Arthur was not sure about Azalea's stance. She was protective of children and Dacey was a child. But she had also handed Lyanna Stark a dagger.

"Well, she has formidable form with it of course. And no wonder, if she has had it for so long, but considering she spends time in the inner palace, I was hoping I could make some changes to upgrade it. Give her more of a challenge. Obviously, this is whenever we get back to our homes. I had some designs in mind if you would be okay with them, and I wanted to run them by you because you are more familiar with the stances of Bear Island." Azalea was treating it like a mundane decision.

"Upgrade it?" Maege Mormont clarified as if she had not heard Azalea correctly but her stance was no longer defensive, just mighty perplexed.

"Uh-hmm," Azalea nodded as she chewed the last of her previous morsel, "In our last spar, she showed some promise for…"

"She wants to give more weapons to a nine-year-old girl," Whent's eyes went wide as he whispered to Arthur.

"When did you start doing your sword forms?" Arthur asked him with a raised brow.

Whent sputtered, "But you know what I mean!"

Arthur smiled and dove into his bowl of food.

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