Wolf of Númenor

Chapter 7: Politics , Waltzing and a scheming Bitch

Ned was sitting in his solar once again, going through the books Baelish gave him. The master of coin had been with him, but he left to do his other duties. The crown was almost bankrupt; the only reason it was not was thanks to Tywin Lannister and the Iron bank. He remembered the day he arrived at the city to find it already sacked by Tywin Lannister. The old lion might not have any honor, but at least he did not touch the treasury. At the time, there were two million golden dragons in the vault and other treasures that belonged to the Targaryen's; now, it was completely empty. He needed to find a way to fix this and fast, or the realm would suffer the consequences of Robert's actions. His friend might have been a good warrior and a commander, but more and more, it looked like he was a terrible king.

All this thinking about the various problems was giving him a nasty headache. He closed the book and rubbed his head. "It would be good to take a small break." he thought. The door opened, and in came Jory Cassel.

"My lord." said the captain with a bow.

"What is it, Jory?"

"My lord, it the day of the archery competition; the king is demanding you attend. If you don't leave now, you will be late."

He sighed; he never liked tourneys; to him, they were pointless endeavors, but he must oblige if the king asks. "Tell the king that I will be there shortly."

"As you say, my lord." Jory bowed and started exiting the room.

"Jory, where are Sansa and Arya?"

Jory turned around and looked at him. "I believe they are in the gardens with Jon and the Tyrells."

"The gardens, thank you, Jory."

"Is there anything else you need of me, my lord?"

"No, you can leave." The man bowed and exited the room. So Sansa is with Jon, he smiled at the thought. He was glad that they made amends so quickly. Catelyn is a good wife and a caring mother, but when it came to something like bastardy, she hated everyone who was like that, especially Jon, and tried to make Sansa like that. Thank the old god's that she failed. It was good that he sent him to Highgarden, where he was far away from his wife, and he had the room to grow. Raising him as a bastard was not the best solution, but it was the safest; Howland is still refusing to talk to him after all these years; the only thing he did was send men to fight during the Greyjoy rebellion, but since then nothing, not even one celebration or simple visit. He knew why. The thoughts of his sister and Jon made his heart warm and hurt at the same time. After a long moment, he brought himself back to reality and shook his head. "The past is in the past." he thought. "We must focus on what is now and what is to be."

He got up from the desk and moved towards the door; once he opened them, he was greeted by three of his household guards standing at the door. Two followed him, and one stayed to guard the solar. They were making their way to the gardens.

Once there were his two daughters sitting next to a weirwood tree with Margaery Tyrell and her two-brothers sitting with them. Jon was sitting in between Margaery and Sansa. He started walking towards them, only to see him approaching and quickly get off the ground.

"Father," Sansa said as she did a curtsy.

"Lord Stark." the three Tyrells said.

"Lady Margaery, Ser Garlan, Ser Loras," he said as he slightly bowed his head. He then turned to his children. "The king has asked me to attend the first day of the tourney, so I came to see if anyone would like to come with me."

"I will, father," Sansa said.

"I think I will join too," said Jon.

Arya looked at Jon. "If he is going, then I'm going too."