Dragons Atop a Northern Spire
Twenty-Third Day of the Twelfth Month 292 AC
Seeing that the moment has come to move beyond promises, you place a sealed bag bulging with golden dragons on the table in front of Lord Commander Mormont, five times what you had given Cotter, though still a small enough sum as your finances are now balanced. "This is a gift to be spent how you see fit..."
Lost 1000 Gold
"I can hear the but in your voice, no need to be coy as a courtier about it," the old lord interrupts you.
"I would advise against using it for weapons and armor as in at most a month's time I have will be sending shipments of both, not only dragonglass, but steel, enough to arm and armor all the Black Brothers at need." Seeing the surprised expressions around the table you shrug. "Magic can serve many purposes and not only upon the battlefield. A list of preferred weapons would be useful of course..."
"You are just going to magic up thousands of pieces of armor and weapons." Ser Thorne sounds beyond mere disbelief. "If you can do that, how the hell haven't you kicked the fat bastard out of King's Landing?"
"Alister!" his commander growls. "That is not and never has been the concern of the Watch!" Once he has ensured himself that the knight is suitably chastised he turns to you. "I will see to it that the Lord Steward writes up that list at once. One thing we not lack for is
shortages in equipment, not just weapons and armor, but tools, clothes. I'm no corn counter, but you would have to be blind not to see it," he admits simply with a sort of courage that is far less common than that upon the field of war, that of a man willing to put his duty before his pride.
For one irrational moment you resent that he bears the black cloak of the Watch.
What use you might have gotten from such a rare commander? You shake the notion away.
"Beyond that my ships can deliver food to Eastwatch even earlier and I can also provide some magic. Nothing too uncanny: lanterns that burn without fuel, and belts that provide a limited amount of magical healing every day," With utmost care you demonstrate then go over the limitation of simple healing belts, remembering how misunderstandings over the limitations of magic can fester.
"So it should be good as long as the man isn't missing any limbs or digits, and he's not sick, including wound rot?" Maester Aemon concludes. "I would advise keeping such a thing safe in the keeps, least the wildlings hunt our brothers as wolves hunt deer over them."
"One more offer then I can make," you add. "In my travels I have gained the service of benevolent beings which can work stone like clay in their hands. I could loan the use of their services to the Watch..."
"Kindly meant though that may be I will have to refuse it at least for now," the Lord Commander says. "Let the men feel honest steel in their hands first before sending over grumpkins and snarks, friendly though they may be."
With that he bids you good day taking a somewhat reluctant Ser Thorne with him, though saying not a word about Maester Aemon.
***
Though the door closes with a very solid thud you still wait a few moments more to speak. "It is good to see you in the flesh, uncle. Before all else I would
thank you. Your advice has helped us... more than you can imagine."
"I never liked
him you know," he admits, "Not when we met at court, nor later when he came North with me and soon became Lord Commander, still less when I saw him in dreams and knew he was not as dead as many assumed. Yet perhaps this is a time for such as him. I can bring myself to be glad now, for the Watch and for you, though it causes the odd twinge of conscience." Though his words are light you sense a greater turmoil behind the old man's eyes.
"It is good to have twinges of conscience from time to time uncle," Dany says gravely. "It helps keep it working like a living sinew, not a piece of brittle stone."
"What's this?" he asks, looking around with an exaggerated scowl. "Someone giving me sage advice? I'll have you know that as the oldest here that is my privilege. I've suffered through a great deal of aches and pains to gain it, too."
Dany laughs a little, her expression most unlike the sharp predatory glare that had so unnerved Ser Alister Thorne. "Wait here a moment, there's someone you have to meet."
And so it comes to past that in the tower named for kings but too rarely visited by them a man who might twice taken the throne meets for the first time a woman who had been Queen of the Seven Kingdoms in truth and who had lived and died without once crossing paths with him... and now lived again.
Your mother greets Aemon warmly with a careful hug. After the moment of shock had fully passed the old man asks: "So you do not resent me for setting your children in
his path?"
"It seems they were always meant to walk a strange path." A shake of the head, then she adds, likely more to convince herself than any other, "They assure me that he is in fact the lesser evil, and with the world as changed as I have found it... who am I to judge?"
What do you do next?
[] Copy and repair texts from the vaults
[] Offer healing to the Black Brothers
[] Ask Maester Aemon of the troubles of the Night's Watch
[] Write in
OOC: Why yes, Viserys did feel briefly sorry he could not loot Jeor Mormont.
