288 AC

Ryam had handed off his report to Edmure, received a nod and was told to eat, sleep and return to him on the morrow.
Ryam who at this point felt filthy, exhausted and starved accepted these tasks with gusto.

Truly it seemed all of Pinkmaiden had moss growing on it, whether that was due to how the castle was constructed or due to lack of care Ryam did not know, nor did he particularly care at this point, the castle could have been made by Jaehaerys the conciliator for all Ryam cared.
Two of the men part of Edmure's host stood outside his impromptu Lord's chambers as the loyalties and ability of all guardsmen in this place were under question.

The room Ryam was designated had few furnishings and was cold, but it was somewhere to scarf down some bread and sausages still hot and dripping grease, dunk himself in hot water to try and scrub what felt like two days of battle and dirt off him and then finally rest his head and something other than his pack.
Ryam blissfully thought no matter how uncomfortable the bed was at least he would be awoken with the sounds of battle again.

Instead Ryam was greeted by vague mirages appearing at him, not really awake but not fully asleep either Ryam dreamed of the Riverlands, how it has been picked over and harried by every other member of the seven kingdoms at least once.
The Riverlands had never been a jewel unto itself by an extra, an addition to a Kingdom to make it more impressive,
"King Of The Isle and The Rivers" as Harren Hoare styled himself.
The Smoky black visage of Harrenhall being burnt and his ghost haunting its halls ever since rippled through the room.

"King Of Hills and The Rivers" as the Westermen called their petty titles trying to aggrandise themselves to stand beside The King Of The Rock as could any claim to be equal to Casterly Rock?
A Lion had no qualms eating trout when hardier lands weren't up for grabs

Many Storm Kings didn't even bother adding a river to their title, merely the river's people to their kingdom. Even Robert Baratheon now a Stormlander King only won his throne through men of the River.
Even The Kings of the North came south at times and when they did, they brought fire and sword.

What Ryam stared at now was a corpse already picked over by vultures, the best bits taken and what wasn't eaten was left for a reason.
Yet the Riverlands were not without strengths.
They had a population equal to that of the Westerlands at a full muster, there was more arable land than anywhere bar the Reach and more than any of that the Riverlands had history

Some Of the most important battles in Westerosi history happened here, from the Battle at the God's Eye to the Battle of the Bells.
These lands were old. Andal, Ironborn, Firstmen and Valyrian blood all watered the same soil here.
As Ryam now faced the endless forks of the Trident he shot awake.

If Ryam felt tired after his sleep last night Edmure showed it. If the man slept at all Ryam would be surprised as bags had started forming under his eyes and the lord's clothes looked ragged.
Though seeing Ryam part of the sleep seemed to shift from Edmure's eyes as he shook his head and bid his squire to sit.

"So before I give you my thoughts over the situation here at Pinkmaiden I want you, from what you have already told me. What are the problems here?"
Edmure had put down whatever piece of parchment he was reading and now sat at the other end of the table, giving Ryam his full attention.

Ryam knew immediately this was a test, he felt it was a weird test for a squire, but Ryam could hardly refuse so gathered his thoughts and tried to find some thread linking it all together.
"Olyver Piper was trying to entrench his regency here"

Ryam felt this was the most obvious thing that could be said but he knew Edmure was looking for a lot more than just that statement.
"Most of the guards here were fairly new and untrained likely only recruited recently under Olyver's regency, maybe the old guards felt more loyalty to little Lewys than a second son, so Olyver had them replaced"

That piece wasn't a huge leap in logic, but Ryam hardly could say that for certain, Only someone here longer than Olyver could really say why the guardsmen were replaced. Ryam made a mental note to see if any of the servants could say anything useful.
Edmure seemed pleased by this piece of thinking and a twinkle of what Ryam hoped was pride showed in his eyes.

"Food Stocks were not well maintained and were undersupplied for any reasonable amount of time, there has not been any bad harvests or droughts I am aware of, so it was more probable it was due to negligence rather than a more innocent reasoning"
Something about that answer made Edmure look confused but he indicated that he wanted Ryam to continue.

"Most confusing to me was the vaults. The amount of copper stars outnumbered the silver stags ten to one which would be unheard of for any poor house let alone a powerful vassal in the riverlands. I can not make any assumption about the vaults in relation to Olyver"

Edmure looked content and Ryam hoped that he had "passed"
Until Edmure shattered that thought.

"You do seem to be correct on your first point, Olyver had all the men who were still around from when he was a child replaced, conscripted farmer boys who were easily enticed with armour and pay that didn't require back breaking labour out in a field and whom now owed everything to the man who raised them up and so would do whatever asked of them"

"Though from there a lack of education and a lack of knavery steered you wrong"

Edmure now flashed a toothy grin as Ryam only looked baffled, How could Ryam have missed something over not being a blackguard?
"This castle could survive three moons rationing what they had so they weren't undersupplied but yes you were correct in saying they were poorly stored; it seems that was a task frequently skipped over by the new guards"

Ryam lost any sense of decorum over hearing that paltry store was considered enough for a house as powerful as Piper
"How in the Seven Hells is that enough? Brightwater keep had enough for two years at any given point and every house in reach would have at least equaled that, the Riverlands are fertile, and we have had many harvests. Why is it mostly tack and not dried flour?"

Edmure was stunned for a moment, Ryam feared that he had overstepped until a guttural laugh echoed out of his lord.
"Of Course! No wonder you thought it was undersupplied you grew up in the Land of Milk and Honey. Ryam you must understand that this has been a good year for harvests and dried flour still spoils, We store what we can the rest is eaten"

Ryam knew that dried flour stayed good for many many moons back at Brightwater keep but to be truthful he did not know how, but Ryam could not believe the stark difference in yields between the Reach and The Riverlands. Surely, he was missing something?

"Now for the Knavery,"
Edmure gave a light chuckle but it quickly turned solemn
"I ask you Ryam who deals mostly in Coppers?"
Sometimes Edmure asked questions Ryam wasn't supposed to answer but this didn't feel like one of those occasions.

The answer felt obvious, yet Ryam still thought for a second for fear of appearing a fool.
"Smallfolk?"
Edmure jumped at his answer to accentuate his response
"Exactly!"
"Olyver has had his new guards take all the coins and little savings his people have had for many moons now and then refuse to spend any of it when the smallfolk complain of broken equipment and underfed animals"
Ryam felt stupid he had never once considered greed.
"Ryam, as a lord you have a duty to your people and your lands to see them protected and in exchange they toil in the fields, Olyver broke that contract and now his lands tried to right that wrong"
Ryam didn't fully understand what point was trying to be made there.

"It was Rivermen who attacked us, because in their eyes we struck first"