131
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298 AC
Summer Isles - Ebonhead
Eragon Targaryen
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"These feathers are itchy, do I need to wear them for a simple meeting over a meal?" I spin around Infront of the mirror and the feather cloak looks more like a dress over my shoulders than I am comfortable with.
"Eragon you are the prince here, you don't have to do anything but it will be just one of the many small things you do to connect better with the people here. Seeing you partake in their traditions will go a long way in having them accept you. We want Chief Belzal to 'bend the knee' so to speak and join us without a fight and this will be a small step in gaining his approval." I groan and spit out a red feather that came off the cloak as Nata looks amused as she looks over my shoulder into the mirror.
"Alright, why are only me and you wearing these though?" She looks back at the various outfits the others are putting on and she smiles while nodding.
"They have yet to actually marry you and so they are not princesses of the Summer Isles yet, they have some time till they also get pricked by feathers." I snort as she also adjusts her cloak.
Red and black feathers align with our house's colors and they cost a boatload to get, apparently red is an expensive feather on its own but black is stupidly rare. I will have some birds caught and breed them so we have the correct colors on hand in the future. The birds that were kept in the palace had blues and greens with some yellow here and there, not our colors at all.
"There is an alternative, some chiefs and princes also wear spotted panthers and I have seen a cloak made with a rare black spotted panther. The spots were a nice gold color and it looked good, but we will have people look into that later. For now, we need to convince people to our side and get some gold coming in. Metal is rare on Summer Isles so foreign trade to get some is very important, ships and places to sell our goods are how we will win them over." I turn around to face her and she runs her hands over my shoulder smoothing my feathers.
"So ships to trade with is going to be key moving forward for Ebonhead to grow in 'power'." She nods and I purse my lips in thought. "How many did we get by beating Xenioa?" She closes her eyes and her brows scrunch.
"I believe it is around fifty swan ships that were personally owned by him that we now have ownership of. Those are expensive to make and some of the biggest ships made in the Summer Isles, the gems so to speak. There was also close to double that in merchant's vessels her had taken over the years, so like cogs and whatnot." That is much more than I thought, I didn't even expect half of that.
"Where are all of those ships? There are not even half that number in the port last we were there." She sighs and places her hands on my cheeks.
"That is why we need to make a good impression on those we are about to eat with Eragon, we don't know but they do." She presses her lips on mine and lets go of my face before she walks over to the mirror to look over herself.
"What do you mean they know?" I pull a chair over behind her and take a seat as she double-checks herself.
"Prince Xenioa had recently sent out more than half of his fleet to acquire iron and other resources and they have yet to return. It is likely they will never return, they very well could decide the prince is gone and our 'ownership' is something they do not desire. They are ours by right but no one will care if we don't have friends to look out for us." So we got robbed before we could even count our earnings, which seems about right.
"Who exactly can help us with that specific problem, it will make us look weak if our 'winnings' sail off on their own. The men who are on those ships and should be working for us now seem to have committed a crime against us." She shrugs and turns around to hold out her arm for me to loop my own through.
"Shipbuilder Zenah will be important to have on our side as he is famed for leading his men to make the best of the best swan ships. The techniques are not necessarily hidden or kept secret but not many know how to have them built as he does. He had a working deal with Xenioa to make his ships for him, if we renew that deal we will see our ships return. It's both a respect thing to his skill and the years of friendships he has built with the sailors of the Summer Isles." So we need the old man on our side.
We stand together watching the others finish up getting ready, Shiera takes my other arm with haste seeing us waiting.
"These feathers are fluffy, they smell like some kind of perfume." She sniffs at the feathers oddly and I shrug.
"They smelled a whole lot worse before Nata got ahold of them." Shiera nods in understanding as I nudge Nata in the side to get her attention. "So what are we going to give the old guy to have him help us with our problem." She nonchalantly waves her free hand.
"He has lived here all his life and built boats most of that time, he will not want to leave and uproot his family so it's not a big problem. That and we don't for sure know if the ships ran off or just not made it back yet but it's best to have all the people in that business on our side just in case. He will want higher wages for him and his men but it won't be too bad, we still need to inventory the vault to see what we are working with." Thinking about the vault I scrunch my brows in concern about the dragons trying to dig it up.
The Vault is similar to how the Iron Bank from the stories I have heard of the bank. Both are an old mine but with our vault being an old gem mine the palace was built over the entrance. The old entrance to the cave with the path the miners took is in the basement of the palace. Going down it you run into a door where the tunnel narrows and it takes four keys to open the door.
It is not a massive opening but instead, root-like tunnels from a central room, and in that room is where the past princes or princesses have stored things. I can say a lot about Xenioa but I can not say anything about his nature to keep and not spend. Chests filled with gold from years of trading gems and rare woods along with other resources to Westeros will come in handy very soon. The golden dragon is used all over but it comes from Westeros, free cites have their own coins and there are not many if any at all in the vault.
It seems he was focused on Westeros for trade which is convenient for us, he also held onto quite a few chests of gems or princes before he did. It seems to be one of the problems of the Summer Prince or princesses, you stockpile up stuff only to get challenged and then lose it all. It is why I am looking forward to some Princes and princesses not bending the knee, Ebonhead is one of the biggest so also the richest but I am sure most have a fat stockpile for me to loot.
The dragons have taken up home in the basement and have sniffed out the tunnel and taken interest in the door and I pray they don't melt it down. Conveniently we don't need guards to watch the door at least because the dragons took the duty for themselves.
"Seems we are all ready, let's get there before our guests arrive." I am brought out of my thoughts as Shiera pulls me and Nata toward the door.
Let's hope this goes well, if we can pull the head figure of the Red Flower Vale all that is left on the island of Jhala is the prince of Golden Head and then Jhala is completely under us. We sent someone to Golden Head on our behalf just last night and are awaiting a response. They will arrive to discuss with us to bend the knee or it will come to a challenge.
I am hoping it will come to a challenge personally, the city of Golden head is not bigger but the jungle around it is one of the densest places in Summer Isles for Golden heart trees. Most of the Golden heart trees that are cut for bows grow in the jungles of Golden Head.
It will fill our armory with more bows if they decide to fight with us rather than bend the knee.
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I miss the food of Dorne, the main diet of the Summer Isles is fish and fruits.
I will have animals brought in and raised as soon as I can, those ships need to return as I can't do anything with the ones we have. The ones we have here are for defending from naval attacks and they also may run off if I allow them to leave the port.
I smile at the serving girl as she sets a grilled side of fish Infront of me but my stomach is not looking forward to the same meal I just had last night. I would kill for a spicy chicken or even a sliced steak with spiced flatbread.
"Something wrong Eragon?" Shiera asks from my side as she sets down her glass and looks at me with concern.
"No, I am just tired of the same meal over and over as there are only so many ways to prepare fish. I will survive, I am just a bit spoiled and need to get over it." She nods and her right hand disappears under the table and pats my leg as her face takes on an understanding look.
"The ships that went back after the challenge was won to let our people in Dorne know of our progress carried a letter requesting for spices and other Dornish goods. I am also getting tired of fish but am making up for it with the different fruits, I saw some chickens in the market the other day. Later on me and you can head down to one of the stalls and buy one or have them serve it up for us." My eyes widen and I quickly nod in agreement.
Before I can speak more with her about it Nata clears her throat and asks our guests about their night and if they rested well.
"It was a nice celebration, the Dornish were a treat to celebrate with and it showed how well different cultures can come together." There was a healthy serving of insinuation in that sentence and it seems the man is more on board with the idea of joining us than we thought.
"Well coming together is one of if not the biggest motivators that started this and I was hoping to talk to you about doing just that." Nata jumps on the opportunity since the man himself decided to bring it up in a roundabout way.
He looks over at his wife for a moment and then at his daughter who is sitting on his other side and then nods before looking back toward Nata and me.
"You plan to bring the islands together, I will skip all the guesswork and assume I am right. What I want to know is what I get from 'coming together' with you. What will I lose and what do I gain is what it all boils down to and I want it cut clear your intentions. I won the Red Flower Vale for myself and my family and I will not give it up without a fight." Seems the fish will go cold as I push it to the side to get it out of the way.