food kitchen

The news of Varys' death reached storm's end only a day after Renly returned, the very day of his name day celebration. Renly sat at a table with his closest companions by his side his castellan, Courtney Penrose and Ryu, as well as a few lords and ladies of the stormlands and, in the hall, all the castle's servants were eating and drinking, having a good time, when Jurne came walking in, "Milord! The master of whispers, Varys is dead!", he looked at him more questioningly than shocked. He had pieced together that Renly had killed him.

"How unfortunate…", he gave Jurne a look. The maester nodded and sat down next to Renly.

The festivities were broken up after that news, no one wanted to eat, only some wanted to drink. Looking over the feast which was still half full. Too much to feed to the dogs, Renly ordered the food to be divided amongst the poorest of Storm's end. Full people were happy people and happy people were loyal people. Currying favor with his people was the first step of many to become a successful king. Storm's end had more than enough food to feed everyone and still have food left over.

"Why did he have to die?" Asked Jurne at a later time, in Renly's solar.

"He sent a faceless man after me", Renly explained, "as soon as news reached him that I wasn't dead, he would've sent more"

"But i don't understand, why would Varys send assassins to kill you? You are a generous lord, the people love you, you are fair and strong too", Jurne paced in front of the desk.

"Why isn't important, what is important is that he is gone and I can continue my venture to Valyria", Renly stretched, the Valyrian steel dagger still in his hand. Out of habit, he poured some magic into it but this time, the flames returned. He was no longer in his solar, no, he was in a room full of Valyrian steel artifacts, filled to the brim and standing there was himself, Renly Baratheon, two little, kitten sized dragons resting on his shoulders, next, he was in a room, Robert on his deathbed, with Renly standing there, a Valyrian steel blade in hand, "kill those golden cunts for me, Renly, make them suffer"

The Renly in the Vision smiled and nodded.

That is where the vision cut off. The blade was cracking at an alarming pace. Before he could cast mending, the blade shattered.

"What was that?" Jurne asked, clearly frightened.

"A vision of the future, a good future…" Renly smiled, "I will leave for volantis in a week. From there, I will fly into Valyria"

"Fly in? You wouldn't survive, milord, the very air wants to choke you in Valyria", Jurne looked frightened, "no expedition to the Valyrian freehold has ever returned"

"Have a little faith"

"I am a man of reason. If you want faith, you should be talking to a septon", Jurne scoffed, turning heel and walking out of the solar. 

Renly called for his Castellan, the big man arrived quickly.

"Lord Courtney, I have a task for you"

"What is it, my lord?"

"Whilst I am away, I want you to establish a food kitchen, a place where the poorest of Storm's end can come to eat. Under my rule, no one shall starve in my castle. Don't give me that look! I won't be giving them roast pheasant or anything like that, the bare minimum, potatoes and roast chicken, the things we have an abundance of", Renly explained.

"If that is what you want my lord", he seemed hesitant but didn't argue.

A week later, the first food kitchen opened and Renly was there to oversee it. At first the lowborn were sceptical. When the first man tried to pay but was told it was free, the news spread like wildfire. Within a few hours, the establishment was flooded with starving people.

Renly smiled at the happy faces of his citizens. A little girl, dressed in rags, came up to him and hugged his leg, "thank you"

Her mother was panicked, thinking her daughter would be punished, but instead, Renly got on one knee and ruffled her hair, "you are welcome, what's your name?"

"I'm Lilly", she beamed, "and you are Renly Bara- Bare- bar-"

"Baratheon" Renly helped her.

"Yes, that! You are a nice lord, I bet you are the nicest lord in the whole of Westeros", Lilly's smile was infectious. Soon other children came running up to him and he spent the rest of his day telling stories and playing with the little ones.

Only days after the start of the food kitchens, Renly set out to sea again.

They sailed right past Tyrosh and Lys, almost six long months and were only a days voyage away from Volantis, when Ryu approached him, "milord, the crew and I have been thinking and we- well we want to accompany you to old Valyria, we just can't let you go there alone, it wouldn't be proper"

"Very well", Renly said, "you can come with me"

A week later, they arrived at old Valyria. He had carved runes into the ship, which formed an air bubble, to protect them from the smog. It was a ship wide casting of the air bubble spell. The coast was being patrolled by stone men. They were animalistic, running up and down like zombies. A few magic missiles killed them rather easily. When they docked, Renly took three men with him, Ryu and two soldiers, each under an air bubble spell to protect against the poisonous air. As they walked further in land, towards the big towers, there were fewer and fewer stone men but they did encounter something else… drakes, wingless dragons who still breathed fire. One had ambushed them. A drake, as big as a horse had sprung up from behind a rock and began spewing fire against them. He hit Ryu in the arm, burning it.

The drake then pounced, biting into the burned arm.

The guards' swords did nothing against the metal-like scales on its body.

Renly drew a circle in the air with his pinky and spoke, loud and clear, "Fulmen"

A lightning bolt shot from his fingertip to the drake. It screeched in pain, letting go of Ryu's arm but it wasn't dead, no, it pounced at Renly. Renly was pinned under the massive weight of the drake. In panic, he transformed into the first thing that came to mind, a grizzly bear. He threw the beast off him with his new animalistic power and the two locked in combat, swiping at each other with their massive claws. The drake opened it's mouth to spew fire at him, when an arrow flew past Renly's shoulder, right in the thing's throat, piercing into its brain, killing it.