288 AC
A Week had passed since Lord Tully's Host had arrived at the gates of Pinkmaiden.
Maester Vyman, fifty loyal Tully men along with baggage trains with grain, seeds along with various assorted tools.

Edmure had grown weary in the past week not fully trusting the Maester of Pinkmaiden that they were doing what was right to ensure Marq would awaken. Maester Uthor fits the worst stereotypes of a Maester looking like a spindly grey rat seemingly only knowing medicine and ravencraft despite his full chain. Despite being a reachman by birth Ryam felt no kinship with him.

A clasped handshake and a nod were all the greeting Vyman and Edmure exchanged before Vyman was sent to Marq, Edmure barked at the current guards of Pinkmaiden they were to be drilled within an inch of their lives by the seasoned Tully guards, some of whom had seen combat during the War of the Ninepenny Kings under the Blackfish. Ryam was to start taking some of Tully men to the smaller holdings that had been extorted to return their coin along with new tools, seeds and grain if need be.
Once all orders were given Ryam set off whilst Edmure ventured deeper into Pinkmaiden to see if his suspicion was correct over the competency of Uthor.

Maester Vyman was a man well into his late sixties with silvery grey hair and sharp eyes which he was currently using to stare holes into Uthor as he described what he had done to treat Marq since he had been impaled by an arrow.
Whilst in theory both men were of an equal rank, that of Maester, the fact that Maester Vyman was allotted to a Lord Paramount usually meant the Conclave of the Citadel believed him more competent, It also helped the Vyman was a close ally of Lord Edmure and the current steward of Riverrun when Lord Tully was indisposed.
Edmure watched as Vyman fired off question after question and clarifications of answers not really understanding any of it, Edmure had no interest in healing nor herblore so the two Maesters might as well have been speaking a foreign language to him.

Eventually Vyman sighed, getting Edmure's attention.
"Maester Uthor has followed the accepted consensus of what to do when a wound gets infected and then prevents the wounded from awakening"

Edmure had partially hoped the Maester was incompetent or secretly poisoning his friend, whilst he knew the Stranger visited everyone he knew Marq would not have wanted to be killed like this, by his own peasants thinking he was ringing them dry of every copper they had.
Both Maester's and Lord now ventured towards the chambers of Lord Piper.
Maester Vyman kept examining every stone they seemed to pass along with servants and the seemingly ever present moss.
Once again Uthor was questioned and Vyman concurred. Lord Piper had no sickness other than being eighty and four. His brain seemed addled and even Archmaester Ebrose could not bring a mighty Lord out of this husk.

Edmure hoped his body would not outlive his mind.
Uthor was dismissed and slinked away to help in some other way the keep desperately needed.
Vyman decided to break the silence that had now formed.

"Gods Edmure, you look terrible"
Both men shared a short smile.

"Though tell me truthfully why have I been called here? Your note left much to be desired except for the urgency.
"If Marq were to die of his wounds then a boy of only six name days would be Lord of Pinkmaiden as currently Clement is barely able to hold his stool let alone council, The only person with a direct blood tie to the Pipers who could have served as regent already tried to entrench himself here by replacing all those who disagreed with him and took every opportunity he had to beggar the smallfolk here, As such the keep itself is in disrepair and effectively Lordless"
Edmure sighed and continued.

"Maester you know what it was like when I was a boy teaching me along with my father how I would rule one day and how much I ran from it or tried get out of my lessons, I have been the acting Lord of a smaller keep than Riverrun for scarcely more than a week and I am exhausted."
Vyman looked at the Lord who he once taught his letters and numbers.

"Being a Lord is no easy task, that is why you have a Steward, a Maester, a Ladywife and others to help you, You have been doing the work of four my Lord"
Edmure brightened a little over that. The responsibilities of the Riverlands weighed heavily on House Tully, though one day it would be Edmure's responsibility and that terrified him. His father Hoster was one of the best statesmen the Seven Kingdoms had. The Alliance that took down the three centuries of Targaryen rule was weaved by his own father, how could Edmure live up to such a man?

Truly that was one of the main reasons Edmure had taken Ryam to squire, Edmure would need a steward he could trust implicitly and was competent. Picking anyone from amongst his own bannermen would scorn the rest of them so it had to be an outsider. Combine that with the fact Ryam and Edmure shared blood through their mothers and the Tullys were known across Westeros to put family before anything it led to Ryam being the only real candidate. As If Axell were to marry the young Lady Crane there was a strong possibility of being given a small keep or holdfast of his own and Rychard was already half a Maester according to the rest of the Florents.

Whilst Maester Vyman was the current Steward and Maester of Riverrun few men could ever hold both positions at the same time between the duties and knowledge needed for both, Edmure thanked the Seven Vyman did not stick to just Ravencraft and Medicine, Vyman forged a yellow gold link for his studies in money and accounts and his steel link for architecture and castlecraft made him more than qualified than most.

Edmure knew that one day Vyman would pass and he hoped Ryam could live up to him.
"Well then Vyman I have some of my duties to offload, I want you to oversee the education of Lewys Piper, I will need you to start lessons with my squire Ryam, right now I think most prudent would be over castlecraft as this place stands as a great example of a well made hold gone to rot and most annoying of all, the general accounts of House Piper are yours to decipher after Olyver has skimmed and stretched what was already present"
Vyman bowed his head dutifully.

"I am yours to command, Lord Edmure"

Ryam led the ten Tully men with him, Ryam despite being the youngest one in the group by at least twenty years still rode at the front and held all the authority here, he was a little lordling of noble birth and currently spoke with the voice of Edmure Tully. There was two carriages following him with copper filled chests, sacks filled with seeds and most importantly to Ryam were the ploughs. All the grain on Planetos mattered little if the ground could not be tilled.
The first hamlet came into view as they passed over a small hill, quickly upon seeing men riding towards them the smallfolk that were the most fit and able formed a crowd preventing the Tully retinue from riding much closer, The mob might have numbered more than a hundred Ryam thought.

"We have nothing more to take!" one man yelled.
"Let The Stranger take you all!" another roared.
"All we do is toil in the fields for you to take it all!" A man near the front of the crowd yelled.

Ryam realised quickly he needed to say something quickly before this mob decided that twenty men on horseback could not hold back more than thrice their number even if unarmed. Ryam already saw some of the mounted knights getting skittish and holding their hands not too far from their blades.
"Riverlanders! Please listen to me! You have been done a great disservice! Your Lord Clement Piper has fallen ill and his brother tried to assert his own control over these lands, to take every last coin and stalk of grain he could pilfer off of you, but no more! Lord Edmure Tully learning of this has sent me to give back your coins, to give back your grain and help you to start planting and living your lives again. Please let me and my men through to give back what is owed."

The crowd went from roaring, to silence and then back to roaring. Rarely ever did a lord give back to the smallfolk he ruled over.
Ryam knew that just dividing the coins taken equally amongst the villages that were stolen from wasn't perfect but he hardly expected every peasant to know exactly how much was taken from them and to then not lie about it so it would have to do.
Grain was much easier to dole out as simply put House Piper would not be bankrupt by giving out large stores of it and it only served to quickly endear the smallfolk back to them.
Once the Tully men had dismounted and had the small folk form lines for coin and grain alike the most difficult part of this righting of the wrongs began.
Ryam called out to the crowd and asked

"I will need the help of twenty men to look over the farms and the equipment, There is a silver stag in it for every man I find helpful"
Edmure taught Ryam that a bag of stags was a quick way of getting smallfolk attention, Seeing the reaction of the men in front of him Ryam could hardly disagree.

The fields that lay in front of Ryam truly angered him, there was a full third of the field lain bare, most of the other two had half grown stalks trampled by horse and man alike, there was no fencing preventing the livestock this farm had from eating and crushing the food that was there and the crops that had grown were not placed well, some were too close to each other meaning both would likely not fully mature and others were so far apart you could fit another one in between them.

Ryam never felt in place with the host Edmure left Brightwater Keep with when stories of battle were shared, it simply wasn't something he knew well.
But after being raised as a reachman to one of the largest houses on some of the most fertile land and having had all the secrets a house like that had drilled into his head before he left with Edmure. He now looked at this field and saw nothing but opportunities.

With an unearthed confidence he started giving out orders. All current crops were to be picked, retill the soil, construct some fences around the fields, divide the farmland into four distinct sections one for wheat, one for barley, one for clovers and one for turnip then use the measurement of a hands length between each seed. Once harvested, move each crop to an adjacent field, Allow the animals to graze on the clover and mix their manure into the soil.

Ryam was quickly questioned over these orders but Ryam didn't need to explain himself, the smallfolk did not need to know why this would work all they needed to know was a lord had commanded them and they were to obey. As well as they had been promised a silver stag for their efforts.

Ryam though quickly realised these were not things that could be done within a day, let alone a few hours as Edmure had expected him back by nightfall and Ryam still had three other villages to visit, distribute the grain, coin and tools and then probably give similar orders so Ryam told two of men he brought with him to stay here until all of Ryam's orders had been followed and then to give out the stags. Whilst not the most pleasant place to stay for potentially a moon depending on speed they were obligated to do what he said and it helped reassure the farmers that they were a little more protected.

So on Ryam travelled now with ten and eight men, then ten and six and then ten and four.
Each farm was slightly different, one already had fencing, another was split into a dozen smaller plots that individual men dealt with and the last one had half of the field left to fallow as well as bees.
Ryam could not remember why but he knew bees were important. Final orders were given along with a mental note to talk to House Bracken about horse breeding if he got the opportunity.

Then just as the sun was still barely shining the now eight man smaller retinue rode back for Pinkmaiden.

Ryam reported as factually as he could what had occurred at each farmstead to Edmure, Whilst Ryam had not been given the strict instruction of completely change how these peasants were farming he was told to fix the damage done by Olyver and his thugs and in Ryam's eyes he had done just that.
Edmure was actually pleased with it as he knew part of the letters he had with Darla and Lord Florent talked over practices used in the reach that was part of the reason their farms produced more than any other farmland in Westeros so this could work as a good trial run to see if it made a difference or was he being sold smoke, Either way Ryam was to continue as his squire and steward to be.

"We will need to locate the whereabouts of the brigands who attacked us though, no matter if they thought their cause was just they took up steel against their liege and the price of that was death"

Edmure appeared sorrowful over those words but what was he to do? Even with the situation as it happened they could have killed two of the most important heirs in the Riverlands and to have any response other than death would not only have his Lords lose respect for him but might inspire other smallfolk to do the same thing and that just could not stand.

"Though you have done much to dissuade the smallfolk from siding with those outlaws when we come asking if they know where they are hiding out"
"I think the smallfolk will be happy once this has all died down and they get to live their lives in peace"
"Also now that you have seen to the farmlands I will have you to start attending lessons with Maester Vyman as I want you to have a broader knowledge base than just farming and fighting"

Ryam chuckled at that because he had not actually practiced with his blade since they were last attacked.
The two friends spent the rest of their evening sharing stories over food about the Whents, As Edmure's mother died not long after giving birth to him so Ryam was privy to stories his mother had told him about the three Whent sisters, in particular Ryam remembered always laughing at a story his mother told him about when they were preparing Minisa for her wedding her dress had fallen from her window as she was getting dressed and as such got covered in dirt causing her to worry and cry until their father came in held the dress up to her and said if Hoster knew he was marrying a Mudd he would demand a larger dowry!

As always that story got uproarious laughter probably waking a few retainers of Pinkmaiden,
Before going to their respective rooms the two decided for a quick spar as Ryam was supposed to be squiring here after all.
Ryam was thrashed and beaten half a hundred ways by Edmure but it helped both of them to unwind a little bit before both headed to their beds.
Maester Vyman quite liked Ryam, he had decided. He saw a lot of Edmure in the young lordling but Edmure never cared for his studies much whereas Ryam truly looked engaged when being taught. An old trick the Citadel loved to teach was when first teaching someone explain each of your links in detail and if by the end they haven't glazed their eyes over then they will be an attentive student.

Maester Vyman had eight links in total, Black Iron for Ravencraft, Yellowgold for money and accounts, Steel for Architecture, Silver for Medicine, Lead for Law, Brass for Agriculture and Copper for History. Vyman argued he should have earned a red gold link for his thesis on prospecting for ores in the Vale but that was an argument to be had with Archmaester Benedict.

Ryam knew with about two years of study he probably could earn a brass link but that would be the height of his knowledge, All the gold making pursuits he knew all relied on grain rather than trade so despite the wealth of his house a yellow gold link would have had him starting from the basics, Which caused Vyman to laugh as the current Archmaester for accounts was called Ryam.

The first set of lessons Ryam would receive was on the construction of and maintenance of castles.
Vyman's teaching style seemed to speak much more to Ryam than the style of Maester Rennan which had just been to drone on and on about the subject until Ryam was free to leave, Whenever then Ryam got tested it was hit or miss whether he did well. Vyman asked questions, seemingly simple ones but it told him what Ryam knew and let him guide the conversation.
Ryam took to his lessons like a fish to water

"What Is The Purpose Of A Castle?"

Ryam thought for a second knowing his first thought was probably wrong, but then could not really think of a better answer.
"To House a Lord and his household securely"

Vyman nodded gently.
"An answer most would give but not fully correct, the purpose of a castle is to have a physical manifestation of your strength. If you were to put any mighty lord in a paupers hall they would lose all the respect they have earned. Put Tywin Lannister in Clegane Hall and the Reynes and Tarbecks would still be here. Casterly Rock inspires fear and greed, Storm's End is a stubborn piece of rock demanding the forces of nature to break upon its wall and Winterfell is a sign of the Lords of Winter that they will remain a hearth in the harshest winters."

"Whilst Lords commands peasants and sheep alike purely by their status and upbringing to have the your Lords beneath you to follow your actions even if it was to cause them death is to have them believe you are not an equal but a superior"

"But what makes those castles so impressive is their craftsmanship the decades it took to build them and how every stone was placed with purpose, some argue that Westeros will never see another architect like Bran the Builder I argue we won't need one until all the castles he built fall and the Wall will melt before that"
The Lesson Continued for hours after that going into the techniques that have been used for centuries over Westeros to build castles and why it was done until Vyman closed the book he was quoting from and told Ryam that was this lesson done.

The only thing Ryam knew he had left for today was to start back up with proper squiring lessons with Edmure, Right now it was stamina which was Edmure's way of saying wear brigandine and run laps around the castle and then get thwacked by every manner of weapon Edmure could find.
It seemed that this was to be Ryam's routine for the foreseeable future as neither Edmure nor Ryam could leave Pinkmaiden in its current state.