Chapter 23
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Chapter 23
Wolfsport, Late Fourth Moon, 286 A.C., One moon later…
I watch Edric descend the gangplank, in a wolfskin cloak covering his blue woolen tunic and a mink-furred ushanka perched on his head, the straps tied up to the crown. Accompanying him isn't Dagwell, for he's back in the capital, but two short and stocky Ibbenese men in sealskin cloaks. Both have dark brown hair tied into short dreadlocks, but what interests me the most is their faces. They have prominent brow ridges, angled cheekbones, wide flat noses, and no prominent chin. All telling me one thing, the Ibbenese aren't human, they're actual neandertals!
"Brother! Cousin!" I hear Edric shout as he makes his way towards Jonnel and I. The rest of the Seastark are in Castle Warg waiting for Edric's return as we greet our returning kin. The two Ibbenese men walk up to us, sacks filled with their belongings slung over their shoulders and the slightly taller of the two with a large braided, brown beard with dozens of small seashells woven into it, has a small chest tucked under his left arm. He and his companion glance at my brother, who gives them an encouraging smile and nod, before the taller and older of the two Ibbenese looks to me with brown eyes.
"Greetings, Lord Seastark. I am Shipwright Bruk Vando and this is my apprentice, Faro Kulli. We were sent by Magister Grug Crood to give you the schematics and assist with the construction of a whaling ship. After the ship is completed, we will return to Ibben." He says in raspy, accented Common Tongue.
"Well met, Shipwright Bruk. You and your apprentice will be provided housing near the shipyards but tonight, you shall dine with my family in Castle Warg!" I signal the servants to collect their belongings to be taken to their housing, except the small chest that held the ship schematics. Surprise flashes across the shipwright's face, briefly speaking to his apprentice in Ibbenese.
"We are honored to dine with you and your family, Lord Seastark. I present to you, the schematics for my people's whaling ships!" He hands over the small wooden chest to me and I have another servant bring horses. We mount up and trot towards the Wolf Gate to Castle Warg.
"So, Edric. How'd you manage to bed a princess?" I roll my eyes when Jonnel asks the first question I'd expect him to ask. My brother blushes and looks at me sheepishly.
"Ah…Well, when I arrived in Lorath, I met with the princes and ruling magisters, several of whom had wives and daughters trapped in the city after a storm at sea wiped out the initial relief fleet. So, they hired me to take a small shipment of food and weapons to Morosh and transport the highborn ladies and children out of harms way back to Lorath. Princess Montoya was among them, golden hair, sapphire eyes, and slender. She was curious about me and the 'Sunset Lands'…" Edric continues to tell how he seduced a princess while we trot through the city.
The western harbor is full of ships, even in winter. The ships range from small fishing vessels to larger trade cogs to swan ships from the Summer Islands. We approach the Summer Islander trading post, made up of a single dock, two warehouses for storage, and a small bazaar. From a distance, a swan ship is docked at the trading post, unloading crates and barrels of goods as half a dozen Summer Islanders descend a gangplank. As we pass by I see a local merchant haggling with a Summer Islander spice vendor, both men wildly gesturing their arms intensely before coming to a deal, the local merchant handing over a few pieces of blue amber for a small bag of spices.
Edric gets to the part where he beds the princess in her family manse in Lorath, located in a section of the great maze that makes up a significant portions of the island. I turn my head left away from the sea, deeper into the city, passing by a street known as "Pillow Street" due to a number of brothels located there. A hanging sign of a painted dolphin with an erection marked the location of the newest one, The Frisky Dolphin, with patrons visiting even in daylight to get a taste of the Summer Islander women inside. In the year and a half since it's opening, the brothel has taken control of a good portion of the sex trade, forcing local, established brothels to start employing Summer Islander and other foreign women to keep up.
My brother starts telling us about the siege and how the defenders were stretched so thin that he and five-and-twenty Sea Wolves aided in the defense, with only ten returning home.
"Brother…" Edric address me. "…The five-and-ten men who fell in battle. They were good, brave men. What will happen to their families?"
"Their widows and children will receive a stipend from our house to assist them in getting by without the breadwinner. Men fight harder when they know their families will be cared for should they fall in battle. You will bring the first stipend to each of the fallen men's families and tell them how their sons, brothers, husbands, uncles, and fathers died heroically at Morosh." I tell Edric with a stern voice, leaving no room for argument.
Not that he did, instead nodding solemnly. "I will, brother. I owe those men that much."
We pass by the small canning workshop where inside, workers were packaging pre-cooked food in sealed airtight cans, made of tinned wrought iron. A far cry from the factories of Earth, this canning process is labor intensive, with each can needing to be hand-made and hours to cook the food and seal it in the cans. It's currently too expensive to sell to merchants and smallfolk so the cans are for the Sunset Fleet and the trade company, the sailors and traders appreciating the cans for extending their supplies at sea. Only my ships in the trade company have canned food but I have no doubt the other houses have noticed them on expeditions.
Further down the same street is the perfume shop, processing seagrease, or ambergris, among other ingredients into perfumes, and a tailor that made corsets from whalebone. Both run by Myrra with the assistance of Wyman's wife, Elsa, to take a load of me and give her something constructive to do. The products continue to see strong sales growth in the Seven Kingdoms but middling sales outside it.
Edric finishes talking about receiving his knighthood from Stannis, the two Ibbenese men riding behind us speaking little and only to one another in their foreign tongue that to my ears, sounds like strangely similar to Basque.
"And afterwards you met with the newly freed slaves?" I inquire as we pass through the Wolf Gate out to the road to Castle Warg, shoveled of snow and covered in sand and gravel to increase traction as salt is still far too precious a commodity to dump on snow.
"Aye, I spread the word around that you were looking for settlers and a group contacted me. I met them in a barracks giving them temporary shelter and thought it was a few dozen to a hundred at most. Imagine my shock when they told me over a thousand were taking me up on your offer." Edric says with a grin.
"When I gave you and Wyman that order, I was expecting you to recruit a few to a dozen or two at most. Now I'm scrambling to build enough housing for a thousand people this winter." I say with a snort. The offer to settle in Wolfsport and Sea Dragon Point is an order I gave to both Wyman and Edric before they left to recruit people, preferably skilled craftsmen, to settle our lands and increase our numbers.
"I certainly wasn't expecting that many to want to start a new life so far away. They didn't even realize the distances involved and even after I explained it to them, they still didn't fully grasp just how far Wolfsport is." Edric says with a chuckle.
We ride pass the quickstone kilns and in the distance I see the saw mill cutting large amounts of wood for ship construction and smoke billowing from my large, walled metalworks. Now with a second puddling and a second steel furnace recently finished to produce more wrought iron and steel. I see small wooden cabins and squat two-story apartments constructed from quickstone being hastily built outside the city in a desperate attempt to create more housing. By the time they arrive in a moon and a half, we'll have just enough to house them in Wolfsport and the castle hamlet. The apartments themselves are not the kind from our world, lacking electricity and indoor plumbing with fireplaces providing heat and built for four families total, two on each floor with a common room for cooking and recreation. They are far from perfect, but at the very least, it'll provide temporary shelter and a fireplace for the settlers until spring.
"What kind of people are these former slaves? Are they mostly one people or made up of many?" I ask Edric as Jonnel chats with the Ibbenese shipwright and his apprentice.
"They are made up of many peoples who were either enslaved at a young age or born into Dothraki captivity. Mayhaps one in ten still speak the tongues of their peoples but most speak only Dothraki and know only the religion and culture of their oppressors. Many of them are eager to cast off the ways of the Dothraki and when I spoke with them a few times before they set sail, many were asking about the customs of the North and the Old Gods with great curiosity!" He says, causing Jonnel and I to look at him in surprise.
"Do you think many of them will adopt our customs and even the Old Gods?" Jonnel asks.
"Aye, some will hold to the customs and faiths of their parents in bondage, some may even hold on to the Dothraki ways, it being the only thing they know. But I'd wager my monthly allowance that most will adopt our ways and start worshipping the Old Gods." Edric responds with conviction. I smile at the news that most of the coming settlers will be willing to assimilate to the North, making settling them easier and hopefully preventing any bouts of xenophobia.
The Southroners and Summer Islanders haven't triggered much negative reaction due to the Southroners mostly intermarrying with the locals, even the six hundred that have migrated from the capital over the years since my return. The Summer Islanders for their part, are barely over a hundred and mainly keep to the docks, their trading post, and Pillow Street, allowing the Northerners to see them as exotic but not intrusive. Both their numbers, while growing fast, are still small enough to be seen as non-threatening to the Northern way of life and I'm worried a thousand foreigners suddenly showing up all at once might trigger a knee-jerk reaction. If most of them are willing to convert to our gods and assimilate, however, that should negate any potential fears of an "invasion" of foreigners.
"What kind of skills do they have?" I ask Edric.
"Roughly four out of five are shepherds and herders who manage the Dothraki cattle. Of the remaining one of five, half are pillow slaves and the other half are skilled craftsmen. While I think you could settle the pillow slaves and craftsmen in Wolfsport, I think you'll have a harder time with the shepherds." Edric explains and I nod.
" I don't intend to settle them in Wolfsport, I intend to settle them on the eastern shore of Sea Dragon Point. It's sparsely populated, poor soil for farming but good lands for pastures. There is a stretch of coastline east of Amber Hill, full of good pastures but mostly abandoned like the small keep that once guarded it from wildlings and Ironborn. You will be in charge of not only settling them in their new home, but restoring and garrisoning the keep when spring arrives. I will be assessing you and depending on how well you complete your task, I'll determine whether or not you deserve land in Sea Dragon Point to call your own." I tell him my plans for the settlers. The eastern shore of my lands have always been the poorest and least populated region so I'm hoping to use them and Edric to help repopulate and refortify the region for the future apocalypse.
Edric and Jonnel's eyes widen in shock.
"Truly, Hugo." Edric says my name, letting me he is taking this seriously. Myrra and my mother call me by name but my brother and cousins always address me as either "brother" or "cousin", only using my name if they're being serious.
"Aye, Edric. Only if you earn it and even if you do, it will be a non-hereditary title." I answer him.
"Wait, why is it non-hereditary?" Edric asks in confusion.
"Think of it as punishment for forcing me to pay for their transport here. I don't mind that you sired a bastard, Edric. I do mind when that bastard costs me five thousand dragons to fix the mess you caused." I say sternly and Edric scratches the back of head looking sheepish. "Which reminds me, what are their plans with the unborn child?" I inquire.
"Prince Qarlan Ennarhan told me he would inform us of the bastard's birth and that they'll be sent to us once the child has been weaned." Edric explains. I nod and glance out into the bay and spot the pod of orcas.
"Look over there! The spotted whales are helping the fishermen!" I point to the bay. Edric, Jonnel, and the two Ibbenese men follow where my finger is pointing and see the pod of orcas swimming in formation towards two fishing boats holding a large net stretched out between them.
"The spotted whales herd large schools of fish into the nets of the fishermen." As I finish my sentence, the fishermen seem to catch a large load as they begin to struggle. Soon enough, they seem to have everything under control and the orcas swim up to the fishermen and begin to feed.
"The fishermen leave their nets open just enough for the spotted whales to eat the trapped salmon. Once they've taken their share, the fishermen will take their haul." I explain what's happening under the surface.
"You ordered the spotted whales to help the fishermen!?" Edric asks in astonishment and I chuckle.
"No, I didn't order them to do anything. I merely formalized our current deal with them, they assist in fishing and whale hunts, they get first pick." I answer and Jonnel chuckles.
"Cousin made a big speech about spotted whales being 'messengers of the Old Gods' and since then, the fishermen and whalers practically worship them!" He says to Edric as we reach the gates. The orcas finish taking their share and allow the fishermen to haul their catch, who wave and toss some salmon to the orcas before I turn my head away and enter Castle Warg.
The rest of House Seastark, along with the fosterlings, greet us in the courtyard, mother wrapping herself around Edric before admonishing him on his recklessness. The rest of my family crowd around him, giving him hugs with the exceptions of Elsa and Myrra, each holding nine moon old Bennard and one moon old Jeyne respectively. I greet five-and-ten moon old Stannis, being held by a maid while the twins are happy to see their uncle. Edric gushes over Jeyne and how big all the children are getting. After a few minutes of catching up, I introduce the Ibbenese shipwright and his apprentice and show off the chest with the plans. My nine nameday old sister Breyna looks at the foreigners with curiosity.
"Why do you have seashells in your beards?" She asks them innocently.
"Breyna!" My mother goes to scold her for her rudeness but the shipwright laughs.
"Well little lady, in our lands, a shipwright weaves a seashell into their beard for each ship they build." He tilts his head upwards and holds his beard in his hand. "I have forty shells and my apprentice has six and is hoping to get his seventh building a ship for Lord Seastark!" The shipwright answers my sister's question with a raspy but soft voice. She smiles and nods at his explanation before the family and I escort them to the Great Hall for guest right…
One and a half moons later…
As I watch the Essosi disembark from the five-and-ten galleys, cloaked in various furs and looking closer to wildlings to what one usually imagines when they think of Essosi. Only prior announcement to their arrival and the Dothraki tongue they speak prevent the locals from mistaking them for wildlings. The former slaves gaze around the city and bustling harbor in a mixture of awe and exhaustion, the more than five moons of travel by galley no doubt taking a toll on people who have probably never been on a ship before. Some of the poor souls kiss the solid ground when they step off the docks, ecstatic to be off the ships. City guardsmen hand them fur cloaks and loaves of bread, eagerly accepted with words of gratitude in foreign tongues.
Edric and my mother speak with the leaders of the former slaves, a small group of eight older men and women, through a translator brought over by the head captain of the transport fleet. The same man I am currently speaking with.
"Lord Seastark…", the dark-haired Braavosi sellsail captain stands with two crewmembers, addressing me in accented Common Tongue. "…There is still the matter of our payment. We, of the Flying Dolphins, were contracted by the Princes of Lorath to transport these people and their… cattle." He says as I see a pair of bull aurochs being pulled off of one ship, a breeding pair of bison off another, and a breeding pair of musk oxen on a separate third galley. They were joining dozens of reindeer, sheep, and goats already ashore.
"Aye..." I say with a tired sigh and signal to two servants carrying a large chest before setting it down and opening it to reveal numerous golden coins. "…Your payment. Five thousand gold coins as written in your contract with the princes." The captain and crewmembers' mouths widen into a shit-eating grins, revealing a golden top molar in the captain's mouth. The crewmembers take the chest from my servants
"Oh? It seems we have concluded our deal, Lord Seastark." He says, staring at the gold with an avaricious glint in his eye, before looking to me. "The lads will enjoy the next few days in your city, spending their pay in taverns and brothels."
"And I'm sure the whores will appreciate their company, and their coin even more!" I jape. They chuckle but the captain continues.
"If you have need of our services again, then ask for me in the next four days. If not, then we shall sail back to the Narrow Sea and find work there." The captain gives a final short bow and heads back with his crewmembers carrying the chest back to their flagship. I make my way over to where my family and the freedmen leaders were standing. My brother spots me coming their way, gestures to me and then walks a few steps towards me. In full view of not just the freedmen leaders, but many of the freedmen ashore, placed his knee on the ground and knelt, causing a storm of whispers in Dothraki.
"Rise, brother." I command. Now I don't normally have my family kneel to me, but I'm doing this for a reason, I need to quickly establish to them that I'm the one in charge. By having Edric kneel to me in their presence, I can already see from their faces, many of them reaching that very conclusion. The recent arrivals continue to whisper amongst themselves and sending me looks of fear and awe. Edric rises and we walk to my mother and the freedmen leaders. Five men, all middle aged, and three women, one crone and two women in their twenties.
"Greetings, and welcome to Wolfsport! I am Lord Hugo Seastark of Sea Dragon Point, Ser Edric's elder brother and lord of these lands." I introduce myself, the translator does his and job and I note with amusement a quirk of the Dothraki language being that they didn't have a word or sea or ocean, instead calling it ize eventh or "poison water". This meant in Dothraki, our house name is "House Poison-Waterstark of Poison Water Dragon Point" and that their nickname for me is the "Poison water wolf". The old crone, who I idly wonder how they survived the voyage, speaks first to the translator.
"Honorable lord of these lands, we are a people freed from bondage but with no home. Your brother, the black wolf, told us that if we make a great journey, we will find a home in these lands. Does your brother speak true?" The crone speaks with the softness that vaguely reminds me of my grandma from another life, but pierces me with her tired, world-weary eyes.
"My brother speaks true; I offer your people a place to call home. I only require you swear an oath of fealty to me, adhere to the laws of these lands, and learn Common Tongue." I see the freedmen leaders visibly relax when hearing the translator's words, as if they were expecting harsher requirements. One of the leaders, a bald middle-aged man with copper skin, almond shaped eyes, and long salt and pepper beard says something passionately to me in a tongue other than Dothraki.
"Flarys, son of Falrem asks about religion. There are many amongst the freedmen who wish to cast off the Great Stallion and embrace the gods of these lands. But he and two hundred of the group are Lhazareen and do not wish to give up their god, The Great Shepherd. He pleads that you allow his people keep their god and they will faithfully serve you." The translator says and I vaguely recognize the name "Lhazareen" as the people of Lhazar, a land east of Slaver's Bay and south of the Dothraki Sea. From what I remember from the books and show, they were basically the region's punching bag, constantly getting raided and enslaved by Slaver's Bay and the Dothraki.
"Rest assured, while I encourage conversions to the Old Gods, it is not a requirement. As long as you don't practice human sacrifice, break any laws, or try to convert anyone to your faith, then you and your people may worship in peace." I say in a firm voice. The man smiles and eagerly thanks me by cupping his hands to face and bowing multiple times wishing blessings from the Great Shepard to House Seastark.
"Where will we live? Surely we will only stay in this city for winter?" Another leader, a pale scarred man asks me through the translator.
"Indeed, you shall be provided temporary housing in Wolfsport and the surrounding villages for winter. Once spring arrives, the people who wish to be shepherd will settle in their new home. In the nearly empty eastern parts of these lands, between the Wolfswood and the shore, there are good pastures for grazing. My brother has been tasked with restoring a keep and resettling the area and those of you who are shepherd will go with him. Those who are not shepherds may go with my brother, or settle in Wolfsport or any part of my lands." I explain and this starts a round of discussions of where their winter housing will be, and which groups will settle where in spring.
The general agreement is the eight hundred shepherds and herders, including the two hundred Lhazareen, and a hundred craftsmen will go with Edric to their new home while the one hundred pillow slaves wished to settle in Wolfsport. During their stay in winter, they will attend mandatory classes organized by my mother similar to the lessons given to the orphans. The curriculum will be teaching Common Tongue along with the history and customs of the North. It'll be a far cry from the modern education of Earth but hopefully they'll have a basic grasp of Common Tongue by spring. The leaders agree to my terms and move to speak to their people and I watch the freedmen's reactions to my proclamations, a mixture of joy and relief. The leaders then present themselves to me and kneel, or at least the old crone couldn't kneel so I allowed her to get away with a simply bow. The rest of the freedmen kneel and the leaders swear an oath on behalf of their people in their tongues and the translator proclaiming it in Common Tongue. My new subjects rise to their feet and begin to be escorted by the city guard to their temporary housing…
Later…
I sit at the desk in my solar reading a scroll from Oldtown announcing the return of the Yi-Ti expedition, minus two ships lost in a storm in the Jade Sea. Wyman writes that they purchased much in silks, gemstones, paper, saffron, and other spices and will be back in three weeks. I place the scroll down to pick up the next one, eyes widening when I see the royal seal. I open and quickly scan the scroll, a royal announcement of the birth of Princess Cassanna Baratheon. I write a generic congratulations scroll, thinking about the royal succession. Stannis is still currently the heir since Robert hasn't produced any sons yet nor has he declared his eldest daughter Argella heir. Cersei's due to give birth within the next moon but I had a sinking feeling that despite the aid of Myrra and the Tyrion, all my efforts at the wedding were in vain…
A/N: Next chapter might take a while due to work getting crazy. Next chapter will be the expedition's return!
Wolfsport, Late Fourth Moon, 286 A.C., One moon later…
I watch Edric descend the gangplank, in a wolfskin cloak covering his blue woolen tunic and a mink-furred ushanka perched on his head, the straps tied up to the crown. Accompanying him isn't Dagwell, for he's back in the capital, but two short and stocky Ibbenese men in sealskin cloaks. Both have dark brown hair tied into short dreadlocks, but what interests me the most is their faces. They have prominent brow ridges, angled cheekbones, wide flat noses, and no prominent chin. All telling me one thing, the Ibbenese aren't human, they're actual neandertals!
"Brother! Cousin!" I hear Edric shout as he makes his way towards Jonnel and I. The rest of the Seastark are in Castle Warg waiting for Edric's return as we greet our returning kin. The two Ibbenese men walk up to us, sacks filled with their belongings slung over their shoulders and the slightly taller of the two with a large braided, brown beard with dozens of small seashells woven into it, has a small chest tucked under his left arm. He and his companion glance at my brother, who gives them an encouraging smile and nod, before the taller and older of the two Ibbenese looks to me with brown eyes.
"Greetings, Lord Seastark. I am Shipwright Bruk Vando and this is my apprentice, Faro Kulli. We were sent by Magister Grug Crood to give you the schematics and assist with the construction of a whaling ship. After the ship is completed, we will return to Ibben." He says in raspy, accented Common Tongue.
"Well met, Shipwright Bruk. You and your apprentice will be provided housing near the shipyards but tonight, you shall dine with my family in Castle Warg!" I signal the servants to collect their belongings to be taken to their housing, except the small chest that held the ship schematics. Surprise flashes across the shipwright's face, briefly speaking to his apprentice in Ibbenese.
"We are honored to dine with you and your family, Lord Seastark. I present to you, the schematics for my people's whaling ships!" He hands over the small wooden chest to me and I have another servant bring horses. We mount up and trot towards the Wolf Gate to Castle Warg.
"So, Edric. How'd you manage to bed a princess?" I roll my eyes when Jonnel asks the first question I'd expect him to ask. My brother blushes and looks at me sheepishly.
"Ah…Well, when I arrived in Lorath, I met with the princes and ruling magisters, several of whom had wives and daughters trapped in the city after a storm at sea wiped out the initial relief fleet. So, they hired me to take a small shipment of food and weapons to Morosh and transport the highborn ladies and children out of harms way back to Lorath. Princess Montoya was among them, golden hair, sapphire eyes, and slender. She was curious about me and the 'Sunset Lands'…" Edric continues to tell how he seduced a princess while we trot through the city.
The western harbor is full of ships, even in winter. The ships range from small fishing vessels to larger trade cogs to swan ships from the Summer Islands. We approach the Summer Islander trading post, made up of a single dock, two warehouses for storage, and a small bazaar. From a distance, a swan ship is docked at the trading post, unloading crates and barrels of goods as half a dozen Summer Islanders descend a gangplank. As we pass by I see a local merchant haggling with a Summer Islander spice vendor, both men wildly gesturing their arms intensely before coming to a deal, the local merchant handing over a few pieces of blue amber for a small bag of spices.
Edric gets to the part where he beds the princess in her family manse in Lorath, located in a section of the great maze that makes up a significant portions of the island. I turn my head left away from the sea, deeper into the city, passing by a street known as "Pillow Street" due to a number of brothels located there. A hanging sign of a painted dolphin with an erection marked the location of the newest one, The Frisky Dolphin, with patrons visiting even in daylight to get a taste of the Summer Islander women inside. In the year and a half since it's opening, the brothel has taken control of a good portion of the sex trade, forcing local, established brothels to start employing Summer Islander and other foreign women to keep up.
My brother starts telling us about the siege and how the defenders were stretched so thin that he and five-and-twenty Sea Wolves aided in the defense, with only ten returning home.
"Brother…" Edric address me. "…The five-and-ten men who fell in battle. They were good, brave men. What will happen to their families?"
"Their widows and children will receive a stipend from our house to assist them in getting by without the breadwinner. Men fight harder when they know their families will be cared for should they fall in battle. You will bring the first stipend to each of the fallen men's families and tell them how their sons, brothers, husbands, uncles, and fathers died heroically at Morosh." I tell Edric with a stern voice, leaving no room for argument.
Not that he did, instead nodding solemnly. "I will, brother. I owe those men that much."
We pass by the small canning workshop where inside, workers were packaging pre-cooked food in sealed airtight cans, made of tinned wrought iron. A far cry from the factories of Earth, this canning process is labor intensive, with each can needing to be hand-made and hours to cook the food and seal it in the cans. It's currently too expensive to sell to merchants and smallfolk so the cans are for the Sunset Fleet and the trade company, the sailors and traders appreciating the cans for extending their supplies at sea. Only my ships in the trade company have canned food but I have no doubt the other houses have noticed them on expeditions.
Further down the same street is the perfume shop, processing seagrease, or ambergris, among other ingredients into perfumes, and a tailor that made corsets from whalebone. Both run by Myrra with the assistance of Wyman's wife, Elsa, to take a load of me and give her something constructive to do. The products continue to see strong sales growth in the Seven Kingdoms but middling sales outside it.
Edric finishes talking about receiving his knighthood from Stannis, the two Ibbenese men riding behind us speaking little and only to one another in their foreign tongue that to my ears, sounds like strangely similar to Basque.
"And afterwards you met with the newly freed slaves?" I inquire as we pass through the Wolf Gate out to the road to Castle Warg, shoveled of snow and covered in sand and gravel to increase traction as salt is still far too precious a commodity to dump on snow.
"Aye, I spread the word around that you were looking for settlers and a group contacted me. I met them in a barracks giving them temporary shelter and thought it was a few dozen to a hundred at most. Imagine my shock when they told me over a thousand were taking me up on your offer." Edric says with a grin.
"When I gave you and Wyman that order, I was expecting you to recruit a few to a dozen or two at most. Now I'm scrambling to build enough housing for a thousand people this winter." I say with a snort. The offer to settle in Wolfsport and Sea Dragon Point is an order I gave to both Wyman and Edric before they left to recruit people, preferably skilled craftsmen, to settle our lands and increase our numbers.
"I certainly wasn't expecting that many to want to start a new life so far away. They didn't even realize the distances involved and even after I explained it to them, they still didn't fully grasp just how far Wolfsport is." Edric says with a chuckle.
We ride pass the quickstone kilns and in the distance I see the saw mill cutting large amounts of wood for ship construction and smoke billowing from my large, walled metalworks. Now with a second puddling and a second steel furnace recently finished to produce more wrought iron and steel. I see small wooden cabins and squat two-story apartments constructed from quickstone being hastily built outside the city in a desperate attempt to create more housing. By the time they arrive in a moon and a half, we'll have just enough to house them in Wolfsport and the castle hamlet. The apartments themselves are not the kind from our world, lacking electricity and indoor plumbing with fireplaces providing heat and built for four families total, two on each floor with a common room for cooking and recreation. They are far from perfect, but at the very least, it'll provide temporary shelter and a fireplace for the settlers until spring.
"What kind of people are these former slaves? Are they mostly one people or made up of many?" I ask Edric as Jonnel chats with the Ibbenese shipwright and his apprentice.
"They are made up of many peoples who were either enslaved at a young age or born into Dothraki captivity. Mayhaps one in ten still speak the tongues of their peoples but most speak only Dothraki and know only the religion and culture of their oppressors. Many of them are eager to cast off the ways of the Dothraki and when I spoke with them a few times before they set sail, many were asking about the customs of the North and the Old Gods with great curiosity!" He says, causing Jonnel and I to look at him in surprise.
"Do you think many of them will adopt our customs and even the Old Gods?" Jonnel asks.
"Aye, some will hold to the customs and faiths of their parents in bondage, some may even hold on to the Dothraki ways, it being the only thing they know. But I'd wager my monthly allowance that most will adopt our ways and start worshipping the Old Gods." Edric responds with conviction. I smile at the news that most of the coming settlers will be willing to assimilate to the North, making settling them easier and hopefully preventing any bouts of xenophobia.
The Southroners and Summer Islanders haven't triggered much negative reaction due to the Southroners mostly intermarrying with the locals, even the six hundred that have migrated from the capital over the years since my return. The Summer Islanders for their part, are barely over a hundred and mainly keep to the docks, their trading post, and Pillow Street, allowing the Northerners to see them as exotic but not intrusive. Both their numbers, while growing fast, are still small enough to be seen as non-threatening to the Northern way of life and I'm worried a thousand foreigners suddenly showing up all at once might trigger a knee-jerk reaction. If most of them are willing to convert to our gods and assimilate, however, that should negate any potential fears of an "invasion" of foreigners.
"What kind of skills do they have?" I ask Edric.
"Roughly four out of five are shepherds and herders who manage the Dothraki cattle. Of the remaining one of five, half are pillow slaves and the other half are skilled craftsmen. While I think you could settle the pillow slaves and craftsmen in Wolfsport, I think you'll have a harder time with the shepherds." Edric explains and I nod.
" I don't intend to settle them in Wolfsport, I intend to settle them on the eastern shore of Sea Dragon Point. It's sparsely populated, poor soil for farming but good lands for pastures. There is a stretch of coastline east of Amber Hill, full of good pastures but mostly abandoned like the small keep that once guarded it from wildlings and Ironborn. You will be in charge of not only settling them in their new home, but restoring and garrisoning the keep when spring arrives. I will be assessing you and depending on how well you complete your task, I'll determine whether or not you deserve land in Sea Dragon Point to call your own." I tell him my plans for the settlers. The eastern shore of my lands have always been the poorest and least populated region so I'm hoping to use them and Edric to help repopulate and refortify the region for the future apocalypse.
Edric and Jonnel's eyes widen in shock.
"Truly, Hugo." Edric says my name, letting me he is taking this seriously. Myrra and my mother call me by name but my brother and cousins always address me as either "brother" or "cousin", only using my name if they're being serious.
"Aye, Edric. Only if you earn it and even if you do, it will be a non-hereditary title." I answer him.
"Wait, why is it non-hereditary?" Edric asks in confusion.
"Think of it as punishment for forcing me to pay for their transport here. I don't mind that you sired a bastard, Edric. I do mind when that bastard costs me five thousand dragons to fix the mess you caused." I say sternly and Edric scratches the back of head looking sheepish. "Which reminds me, what are their plans with the unborn child?" I inquire.
"Prince Qarlan Ennarhan told me he would inform us of the bastard's birth and that they'll be sent to us once the child has been weaned." Edric explains. I nod and glance out into the bay and spot the pod of orcas.
"Look over there! The spotted whales are helping the fishermen!" I point to the bay. Edric, Jonnel, and the two Ibbenese men follow where my finger is pointing and see the pod of orcas swimming in formation towards two fishing boats holding a large net stretched out between them.
"The spotted whales herd large schools of fish into the nets of the fishermen." As I finish my sentence, the fishermen seem to catch a large load as they begin to struggle. Soon enough, they seem to have everything under control and the orcas swim up to the fishermen and begin to feed.
"The fishermen leave their nets open just enough for the spotted whales to eat the trapped salmon. Once they've taken their share, the fishermen will take their haul." I explain what's happening under the surface.
"You ordered the spotted whales to help the fishermen!?" Edric asks in astonishment and I chuckle.
"No, I didn't order them to do anything. I merely formalized our current deal with them, they assist in fishing and whale hunts, they get first pick." I answer and Jonnel chuckles.
"Cousin made a big speech about spotted whales being 'messengers of the Old Gods' and since then, the fishermen and whalers practically worship them!" He says to Edric as we reach the gates. The orcas finish taking their share and allow the fishermen to haul their catch, who wave and toss some salmon to the orcas before I turn my head away and enter Castle Warg.
The rest of House Seastark, along with the fosterlings, greet us in the courtyard, mother wrapping herself around Edric before admonishing him on his recklessness. The rest of my family crowd around him, giving him hugs with the exceptions of Elsa and Myrra, each holding nine moon old Bennard and one moon old Jeyne respectively. I greet five-and-ten moon old Stannis, being held by a maid while the twins are happy to see their uncle. Edric gushes over Jeyne and how big all the children are getting. After a few minutes of catching up, I introduce the Ibbenese shipwright and his apprentice and show off the chest with the plans. My nine nameday old sister Breyna looks at the foreigners with curiosity.
"Why do you have seashells in your beards?" She asks them innocently.
"Breyna!" My mother goes to scold her for her rudeness but the shipwright laughs.
"Well little lady, in our lands, a shipwright weaves a seashell into their beard for each ship they build." He tilts his head upwards and holds his beard in his hand. "I have forty shells and my apprentice has six and is hoping to get his seventh building a ship for Lord Seastark!" The shipwright answers my sister's question with a raspy but soft voice. She smiles and nods at his explanation before the family and I escort them to the Great Hall for guest right…
One and a half moons later…
As I watch the Essosi disembark from the five-and-ten galleys, cloaked in various furs and looking closer to wildlings to what one usually imagines when they think of Essosi. Only prior announcement to their arrival and the Dothraki tongue they speak prevent the locals from mistaking them for wildlings. The former slaves gaze around the city and bustling harbor in a mixture of awe and exhaustion, the more than five moons of travel by galley no doubt taking a toll on people who have probably never been on a ship before. Some of the poor souls kiss the solid ground when they step off the docks, ecstatic to be off the ships. City guardsmen hand them fur cloaks and loaves of bread, eagerly accepted with words of gratitude in foreign tongues.
Edric and my mother speak with the leaders of the former slaves, a small group of eight older men and women, through a translator brought over by the head captain of the transport fleet. The same man I am currently speaking with.
"Lord Seastark…", the dark-haired Braavosi sellsail captain stands with two crewmembers, addressing me in accented Common Tongue. "…There is still the matter of our payment. We, of the Flying Dolphins, were contracted by the Princes of Lorath to transport these people and their… cattle." He says as I see a pair of bull aurochs being pulled off of one ship, a breeding pair of bison off another, and a breeding pair of musk oxen on a separate third galley. They were joining dozens of reindeer, sheep, and goats already ashore.
"Aye..." I say with a tired sigh and signal to two servants carrying a large chest before setting it down and opening it to reveal numerous golden coins. "…Your payment. Five thousand gold coins as written in your contract with the princes." The captain and crewmembers' mouths widen into a shit-eating grins, revealing a golden top molar in the captain's mouth. The crewmembers take the chest from my servants
"Oh? It seems we have concluded our deal, Lord Seastark." He says, staring at the gold with an avaricious glint in his eye, before looking to me. "The lads will enjoy the next few days in your city, spending their pay in taverns and brothels."
"And I'm sure the whores will appreciate their company, and their coin even more!" I jape. They chuckle but the captain continues.
"If you have need of our services again, then ask for me in the next four days. If not, then we shall sail back to the Narrow Sea and find work there." The captain gives a final short bow and heads back with his crewmembers carrying the chest back to their flagship. I make my way over to where my family and the freedmen leaders were standing. My brother spots me coming their way, gestures to me and then walks a few steps towards me. In full view of not just the freedmen leaders, but many of the freedmen ashore, placed his knee on the ground and knelt, causing a storm of whispers in Dothraki.
"Rise, brother." I command. Now I don't normally have my family kneel to me, but I'm doing this for a reason, I need to quickly establish to them that I'm the one in charge. By having Edric kneel to me in their presence, I can already see from their faces, many of them reaching that very conclusion. The recent arrivals continue to whisper amongst themselves and sending me looks of fear and awe. Edric rises and we walk to my mother and the freedmen leaders. Five men, all middle aged, and three women, one crone and two women in their twenties.
"Greetings, and welcome to Wolfsport! I am Lord Hugo Seastark of Sea Dragon Point, Ser Edric's elder brother and lord of these lands." I introduce myself, the translator does his and job and I note with amusement a quirk of the Dothraki language being that they didn't have a word or sea or ocean, instead calling it ize eventh or "poison water". This meant in Dothraki, our house name is "House Poison-Waterstark of Poison Water Dragon Point" and that their nickname for me is the "Poison water wolf". The old crone, who I idly wonder how they survived the voyage, speaks first to the translator.
"Honorable lord of these lands, we are a people freed from bondage but with no home. Your brother, the black wolf, told us that if we make a great journey, we will find a home in these lands. Does your brother speak true?" The crone speaks with the softness that vaguely reminds me of my grandma from another life, but pierces me with her tired, world-weary eyes.
"My brother speaks true; I offer your people a place to call home. I only require you swear an oath of fealty to me, adhere to the laws of these lands, and learn Common Tongue." I see the freedmen leaders visibly relax when hearing the translator's words, as if they were expecting harsher requirements. One of the leaders, a bald middle-aged man with copper skin, almond shaped eyes, and long salt and pepper beard says something passionately to me in a tongue other than Dothraki.
"Flarys, son of Falrem asks about religion. There are many amongst the freedmen who wish to cast off the Great Stallion and embrace the gods of these lands. But he and two hundred of the group are Lhazareen and do not wish to give up their god, The Great Shepherd. He pleads that you allow his people keep their god and they will faithfully serve you." The translator says and I vaguely recognize the name "Lhazareen" as the people of Lhazar, a land east of Slaver's Bay and south of the Dothraki Sea. From what I remember from the books and show, they were basically the region's punching bag, constantly getting raided and enslaved by Slaver's Bay and the Dothraki.
"Rest assured, while I encourage conversions to the Old Gods, it is not a requirement. As long as you don't practice human sacrifice, break any laws, or try to convert anyone to your faith, then you and your people may worship in peace." I say in a firm voice. The man smiles and eagerly thanks me by cupping his hands to face and bowing multiple times wishing blessings from the Great Shepard to House Seastark.
"Where will we live? Surely we will only stay in this city for winter?" Another leader, a pale scarred man asks me through the translator.
"Indeed, you shall be provided temporary housing in Wolfsport and the surrounding villages for winter. Once spring arrives, the people who wish to be shepherd will settle in their new home. In the nearly empty eastern parts of these lands, between the Wolfswood and the shore, there are good pastures for grazing. My brother has been tasked with restoring a keep and resettling the area and those of you who are shepherd will go with him. Those who are not shepherds may go with my brother, or settle in Wolfsport or any part of my lands." I explain and this starts a round of discussions of where their winter housing will be, and which groups will settle where in spring.
The general agreement is the eight hundred shepherds and herders, including the two hundred Lhazareen, and a hundred craftsmen will go with Edric to their new home while the one hundred pillow slaves wished to settle in Wolfsport. During their stay in winter, they will attend mandatory classes organized by my mother similar to the lessons given to the orphans. The curriculum will be teaching Common Tongue along with the history and customs of the North. It'll be a far cry from the modern education of Earth but hopefully they'll have a basic grasp of Common Tongue by spring. The leaders agree to my terms and move to speak to their people and I watch the freedmen's reactions to my proclamations, a mixture of joy and relief. The leaders then present themselves to me and kneel, or at least the old crone couldn't kneel so I allowed her to get away with a simply bow. The rest of the freedmen kneel and the leaders swear an oath on behalf of their people in their tongues and the translator proclaiming it in Common Tongue. My new subjects rise to their feet and begin to be escorted by the city guard to their temporary housing…
Later…
I sit at the desk in my solar reading a scroll from Oldtown announcing the return of the Yi-Ti expedition, minus two ships lost in a storm in the Jade Sea. Wyman writes that they purchased much in silks, gemstones, paper, saffron, and other spices and will be back in three weeks. I place the scroll down to pick up the next one, eyes widening when I see the royal seal. I open and quickly scan the scroll, a royal announcement of the birth of Princess Cassanna Baratheon. I write a generic congratulations scroll, thinking about the royal succession. Stannis is still currently the heir since Robert hasn't produced any sons yet nor has he declared his eldest daughter Argella heir. Cersei's due to give birth within the next moon but I had a sinking feeling that despite the aid of Myrra and the Tyrion, all my efforts at the wedding were in vain…
A/N: Next chapter might take a while due to work getting crazy. Next chapter will be the expedition's return!