Four men sat in a dark room, only lit by a few candles, they sat at a small table of meager means, their grey robes bunched around their seats as they sat, looking over raven scrolls.
Their chains clinked as they put down and picked up various scrolls “The Hightowers are overreaching” Archmaester Harmune said as he threw down the latest raven scroll from Maester Alfador, the measter serving at the Hightower.
Maester Hunnimore laughed, his Dornish accent coming to the front as he looked at Harmune derisively “They have always overreached since the moment our predecessors let Lord Hightower into the faction. They had no idea the Lord would tell his own children, they passed down the secrets through their line. Ever since they have overreached! We are supposed to work in subtle and they go traipsing around making a mess of things!” he said, annoyance in his voice.
Archmaester Gyldayn shook his head “there’s nothing to be done about it, we guide the Hightowers just as we do the Lords of the realm. We let them think they are in charge and it keeps them happy, complacent. Easy to manipulate like the rest of them, simple-minded in their greed” he said, his voice coming out gravely with age.
He was the oldest member of their order, the most senior Archmaester and as such he led them. When he died Archmaester Abelon will lead them and it continues as such.
Archmaester Perestan scoffed “I still say the Archmaester who told Hightower was mad in the first place. He rambles about messages from the gods in his journal. It was obvious he was mad” he said derisively.
Abelon nodded and made a gesture of agreement “It had to be madness! Look at where it’s led us! The Hightowers could expose us! If they spill the secret to the wrong person, it could be the end of our guild entirely” he said with narrowed eyes as he looked over the Raven from Maester Alfador, from The Hightower.
Gyldayn looked at them with narrowed eyes “There is nothing to be done about it. We can only move forward by making better choices. Let Hightower plot and scheme and if it comes to it his neck can be cut off and our problem solved. They know to keep us out of it” he said, his voice filled with warning.
Abelon raised his hands in surrender, leaving the matter there. He was right, there was nothing to be done now. Their order had been working towards a goal for centuries and they were just one cog in a well-oiled machine. They would each one day be replaced by new Maesters to sit these seats and take on their sacred duty to limit the power of men with greed in their hearts.
The once Kings of this realm slaughtered the masses in an attempt to one-up the other, they would not let it happen again. They kept each kingdom balanced, not letting them become too powerful. They had seen what happened when they didn’t control the kings and lords with Harren Hoare. His power had grown unchecked and he had been an unchecked power that terrorized the realms.
Now they were subjected to the dragon spawns. One uncontrollable power for another.
The dragons were resilient, their order had been attempting to limit their power since the beginning of their conquest but it had been for naught. They were able to control their power to some degree but somehow the Targaryens always found their way around their plans.
