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Chapter 46: Omake 3: CountermeasuresChapter Text

"Always keep a backup plan."

-Apocryphally attributed to Queen Aemma Arryn.

109 AC, Gates of the Moon

"How have the Vale Mountain Clans been?" The Prince asked. Today she wore thick grey cotton pants, a navy linen tunic under a Stormlands longcoat, the thick black leather oiled to resist rain, and padded to resist wind and knives. "Settling in well?"

"Yes, the food we're providing them is keeping them docile, and the Northern Mountain Clans are good deterrent against any... untoward intentions." The Lady Paramount replied, placing down an empty teacup. Shaeterys immediately took the cue, stepping forwards and pouring more herbal tea for the blonde maiden. Fifteen years old, with a slender body under her exquisitely cut Vale dress, sapphire-blue eyes and pale unblemished skin, the Maiden of the Vale was singularly beautiful, surpassed only by the Targaryens or mayhaps Queen Alicent.

"They shouldn't act up anyway." Rhae idly said, sipping her hot milk. "The First Men are honorable and devout folk, in their own way. If they swore an oath, they would keep it. Doubly so if it was in front of a Weirwood Heart Tree."

Which the Vale Clansmen did, Shaeterys knew. Specifically the one at the Bloody Gate. Rhae made sure of that. She had done the same for the Free Folk up north, he also knew. Using the Godswood at the Nightfort.

"I shall take your word for it." Jeyne Arryn agreeable said. "But..."

"Always keep a backup plan." Rhaenyra Targaryen finished. "Like my mother always said."

The two cousins smiled at that, both taking long drinks before speaking once more.

"So any issues with your Andal lordlings?" The Prince of Dragonstone asked. "Your cousin still being a prick? Faith of the Seven causing problems?"

"The Faithful have their issues, but the High Septon's open blessing on us bringing wayward sheep into the flock has mostly silenced them." Jeyne replied. "And Shaeterys here has proven most useful in dissuading dearest Arnold. As well as my more... aggressive suitors."

From what Shaeterys was told, Rhae had wrangled the blessing out of the High Septon in the aftermath of the War of Four Directions, which saw a great influx of foreigners, including the Ironborn, Free Folk and freed slaves brought into the Realm. The High Septon's open blessing on the affair had quelled xenophobic sentiments in the bulk of Westeros, but there were still tensions in the Stormlands, where the Faith ran relatively thin, but Lord Boremund needed warm bodies for the coming harvest. And he didn't particularly care if said bodies were Essosi or from the other Kingdoms.

The North had their own issues, but it helped that the most unsavory wildlings had died at Castle Black, and the Free Folk under Lord Bael had been on their best behavior. Still, Rhae forbade the Northern Mountain Clansmen from going home, ostensibly to check Vale Mountain Clan betrayal, but in truth to keep them far away from their new neighbors in the Gift and New Gift. She'd also bribed a good number of Northern Houses with lordships in the Mountains of the Moon for their spare sons if they kept the peace with the overwintering Free Folk.

Meanwhile, in the Vale, Shaeterys had been beating suitors away from Lady Jeyne, with Artys looming behind him. Very few people were willing to stare down a dragon. The single most widespread rumor in the Vale now was that Shaeterys was Lady Jeyne's illicit lover, and that he'd marry her once he came of age. It didn't help when Rhae announced that he was promised a lordship in the Mountains of the Moon. Everyone and their mother believed that it was to elevate Shaeterys to a suitable rank to marry the Lady Paramount.

Even Shaeterys' own mother.

On the bright side, it meant that Ser Arnold Arryn, Lady Jeyne's cousin and self-proclaimed Lord of the Vale, had mostly backed down, as it was one thing to press a claim. Another thing to try usurp a Lady Paramount whom a dragonrider openly favored.

"But..." Rhae prodded.

"There have been murmurs of discontent, Nyra." Jeyne confessed. "My lords don't like that they're now on the same standing as 'wildling barbarians'."

"Do I need to send a couple of dragons to the Vale?" Rhae offered. "Baela and Rhaena could ride them."

"I will not say no to another few dragons." Lady Arryn replied. "But I think that I need a more... diplomatic solution."

"Anything for my cousin and one of my most loyal supporters." Rhae sincerely said, hand over her heart.

"I need to bleed my vassals." Jeyne bluntly said. "Strip them of enough men to make them less unruly. A lot of the anti-Clansmen sentiment comes from the young and brash hotheads."

"Huh, I thought that it'd be the older knights that would be more unruly. Bitter old men and all that." Rhae mused.

"I've spoken to them." Shaeterys spoke for the first time that evening. "The older knights are happy that their days of fighting Mountain Clansmen are over. The younger ones, on the other hand, feel that they've been cheated."

"Indeed." Jeyne concurred. "A childhood of hearing about gallant and dashing knights, swooping in to rescue hapless maidens from the savage Mountain Clans, only to find out that we've made peace with them and named them petty lords in their own right."

"I can find a deployment or three in the Dornish Marshes that needs additional warm bodies." Rhaenyra offered. "Wyl has been particularly unruly."

"A good idea, but come spring, and we'll need those warm bodies." Jeyne Arryn denied. "Our projects in the Mountains of the Moon has great manpower requirements."

Shaeterys was aware of their plans. Once spring came, prospectors from the Westerlands and Oldtown would come survey the mountains for untapped ores, stone and other raw materials. Already, based on the information provided by the Mountain Clansmen, peaks rich in copper, tin and coal had been identified. Quarries and mines would be set up, and before long, the Vale would have new incomes. Which in conjunction with the Mountain Clan threat being ended, meant that they could free up much of the money and men spent on fortifying against them. More than enough to raise the Vale out of an impoverished nobility and into the ranks of the Westerlands and Reach.

"Then what do you propose?" Rhae asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow. "I'm not funding another Great Project. The Canals aren't finished yet, and I've already got another massive construction endeavor down south planned."

"I'm proposing another Legion." Lady Arryn said. "One that will satisfy those hotheads' thirst for battle."

"The Third Legion isn't even half raised, and you want to create a Fourth Legion?" Rhae dubiously asked.

"The Warden of the East needs a strong fist to keep her bannermen in line." The Warden of the East spoke. "We'll break the hotheads to the yoke of Legion discipline, and burn their energies on wargames and maneuvers. That should occupy them and make them unable to agitate."

"You make an excellent point on the Wardens and Legions." Rhae mused. "I'm finding it hard to refute you.

"Very well then." Rhae agreed. "I'll trust in your judgement. Send me a list of candidates for generalship for my review. I'll send over trainers from the First and Second Legion."

"Thank you, Nyra." Lady Jeyne said, frowning suddenly. "Say, Nyra. You've read Aegon the Conqueror's journal, yes?"

"I'm the one that edited out the politically dangerous bits before sending it off to the Citadel, yes." Rhae agreed, somewhat surprised by the change in topic. "What brought this up?"

"Why didn't Aegon subjugate the Free Folk and Mountain Clansmen?" Lady Arryn asked. "I understand he had no choice for Dorne, but for a man determined to conquer an empire for himself, why didn't he finish the job?"

Rhae laughed, the noise high and sweet.

"Oh cousin, I didn't need to read his journal to know the answer to that question." The Crown Prince smiled. "It's quite obvious once you think about it."

"Well, kindly elaborate, because I fail to see it." Jeyne replied.

"Shaeterys, why did I spare the Triarchy?" Rhae suddenly asked, turning to look at him.

"You went after the bigger prize. The abolishment of slavery." Shaeterys replied. "Also because you were afraid of the economic implications of the Triarchy collapsing."

"You're not wrong. But you're not right either." Rhae slyly smiled. "Mayhaps you should instead consider why I've increased trade with Volantis."

"You wanted to strengthen them." Jeyne remembered. "A counterweight to Braavos and the Triarchy..."

She trailed off, a look of dumbstruck wonder painting her face.

"The Vale Mountain Clans were our counterweight." The Warden of the East gasped. "A check on our power."

Shaeterys' breath hitched, as the full implications sunk in. Aegon had conquered six kingdoms, all of whom chafed under the rule of the fledgling dynasty. Which was why he instituted checks on their power. Ways to bleed their military might without rousing suspicion.

"The Iron Islands, to check the Westerlands." Rhae recited. "The Free Folk, to check the North. Dorne, to check the Stormlands. House Tyrell elevated over surviving Gardener daughters, to thin Highgarden's authority. House Tully elevated over more powerful Riverlords, to thin the Riverland's authority.

"Aegon the Conqueror knew what he was doing, and the recent war proved that." Rhae smilingly said. Shaeterys felt his blood turn to ice, as the truth of the statement sunk in.

The North was tied up by the Free Folk. The Vale by the Mountain Clans. The Westerlands by the Ironborn. Dorne sacked the Stormlands. The Reach was split, between the south and west, House Tyrell unable to decisively muster forces from the get-go. The Riverlands didn't have a unified response either, half committing west while the other half committed east. The Triarchy had taken decisive advantage of Aegon's counterweights, and had nearly managed to defeat the Seven Kingdoms as a result.

"But then... why?" Shaeterys asked. "Why have you undone his countermeasures?"

Rhaenyra Targaryen smiled.

"The right question, my dear cousin." The Prince softly spoke. "Because King Jaehaerys has broken all six Kingdoms to the yoke of the Crown's authority. It's been over a century since Aegon's Conquest. House Targaryen's rule is unchallenged. People grew used to obeying us."

"You're retiring them because you no longer need them." Jeyne grasped.

"Precisely." The Prince agreed. "I no longer need them to call my vassals to heel."

Silence reigned in the elegant solar for a full minute.

"Goodnight, my cousins." Rhae smiled. "It has been a most engaging conversation."

At that, her glass candle hologram vanished, leaving the two youngsters behind in silence and deep thoughts.