Oliver
I had arrived at Casterly rock and as soon as I got out of my carriage, I was instantly pulled into a hug by my other childhood friend Abelina turner, I nodded at the guards who were about to restrain her to not worry about it.
"Oliver, I haven't seen you forever!" she sequels excitedly. "turner! you too" as she envelops him in a hug
"Lina, its only been a month" I say using her nickname
"but it was so boring, if I wasn't forced to practice working leather, I was made to go over our finances with father" she pouted
I met Lina about 7 years ago when my father contracted her father who was an upcoming fine leather merchant based in lannisport. When she first met she was just as hyper as she is now, she squealed and said "oh my, I finally get to meet a lord" she then had fun with it and started kneeling before we both fell over laughing, she didn't really like working with leather and money and would always sneak away often with myself and turner to go and hunt. She was a great archer and even took down a mountain lion with a headshot right through its eye much to turner and my surprise. Over the years I continued to hangout with Lina and learned that she had very good ideas in politics and that she was fiercely loyal and trustworthy to me even though she enjoyed gossip.
"so, have you heard the latest gossip?" she smiled evilly as we looked at her with wide eyes "the carpenters house just got egged and when his little devil walked out he got egg aswell" she laughed
"please tell me it wasn't you" turner says as he facepalms
"well I couldn't let things get boring while you were, away could I?" she says then we all laugh.
I get to the castle and the guards stare at Lina, a commoner when but when she says "don't you have something better to do you fools" they immediately avert their gaze as she continues walking with us smiling. We arrive at the castle and I usher them into the war room.
"I have received word of some interesting developments my friends, south of here in Highgarden, the tyrells just signed an alliance with dorne." I continue "another more pressing development has occurred in the vale, the islands north of the vale have united and formed an eighth kingdom"
"what position does that put the crown in?" Lina asks
"well as it is an internal rebellion of the vale with only former lords of the vale and no obvious outside influence it means the crown will not intervene considering it an internal affair. Though if a peace was achieved then the seven kingdoms would become 8 and then the new kingdom would be legitimate and have to swear to the king" Turner responds correctly
"now this alliance with the tyrells and martells, what does that mean for us" Lina asks
"it puts the crown in quite a precarious spot, but as for us is isn't necessarily bad, by putting pressure on the crown like this alliance has done it has undermined the authority of the Landing, in turn meaning it is the best opportunity to separate Casterly rock from the crown" says turner
"I like where this is going, call the banners of your region and train your men heavily, I will do the same with my current garrison and the Lannister navy stationed here, even without any other kingdoms support the crown would still have quite a numerical advantage over a semi independent westerlands at about 15,000 to 40,000 Lannister troops under Tywins and Jaime's command but by trying to bring the westerlands under their direct control would severely weaken their hold on the crown meaning a perfect opportunity for other kingdoms to strike, Tywin would never leave himself open like that, but alas lets call the banners but wait and see if ned stark makes any changes while he is there"
"is there anything I can do Oliver?" Lina asks
"Actually, why don't you go and make introductions with the new kingdom in the Sister, tell them that Oliver Lannister is keeping a close eye on the happenings of the region" I say and then walk out of the room to continue preparing.
I walk down to the training grounds and start a conversation with lord harrow, commander of the Lannisport and Casterly Rock garrisons "my lord" he greets me as I walk over
"how many men do we have in this garrison and how goes the training?" I ask
"well my lord, we have 2000 men at the Casterly rock, 1000 men in lannisport and 2000 more men will be here within the day since you called the banners, as for the training of the troops with rigorous training we can expect to have battle hardened solders by the months end, any more training then that will put our solders further and further ahead of the competition"
Ned Stark
After a week in kings landing, I still contemplated the contents of the letter from Oliver Lannister, it raised more questions then it solved making me nervous but frustrated at the same time, I walked into the small council chambers for todays meeting sitting at the end of the table.
"Lord Stark, Glad you could join us today" lord Baelish master of coin said "have you heard the news from the vale? Lord Tyrion is being held by your wife in the eyrie as well as a new kingdom had formed from its islands"
My ears perked up at the mention of the new kingdom, I had already received word of Tyrion's imprisonment for the murder of bran stark and intended to send a raven to the eyrie after the meeting. But the new kingdom was a pressing issue with its proximity to white harbor, the trade center of the north. "this new kingdom is an interesting prospect, but as they are not supported or warred by any other major kingdoms, we will not do anything" I stated
"but my lord, this undermines the authority of the vale and by extent us" lord Baelish replies
"no, it does nothing to undermine us, it is the vale's choice how to proceed and that is final"
"Now for the pressing issue of the martell tyrell alliance" the minister of war says "an alliance has recently formed between the reach and dorne, they have new trading privileges with each other and aswell as undermining the crowns authority it also is doing massive damage to profit margins of the crown"
"there is nothing we can do about this my lords, if any further developments come of the region tell me, anything else" I respond
"one more thing" lord Baelish says "king Robert has decreed a tournament in your appointment and the estimated cost of tournaments is 20 million gold, with recent deficits in trade from the deep south due to the alliance it makes a number like that hard to fund"
"20 million" I raise my voice "and lord arryn just allowed this to happen as hand"
"well lord arryn tried to curb Roberts spending but his efforts were to no avail and after a while he just gave up" grand measter pycell says
"we cannot do 20 million, we will make it 5 million and loan that money from the iron bank, the prize purse will be 500,000 gold with 300,000 for the winner, 150,000 for second and 50,000 for third. The rest will be spent on setting up the tournament and the feast after" I say and then stand and walk out of the room.
I stand and walk through the halls observing the throne room is empty while Robert is on one of his hunts and eventually make it to my room and see Arya practicing with her bravosi, sword trainer "you are getting good Arya, where is your sister" I eventually say after watching her
"thank you, father," she says "he is a good trainer, we both know she is with Joffrey" she says with an edge as her trainer then bows,
"Arya as I have told your sister, things in kings landing are not safe anymore, you must return back to Winterfell" I say as she nods
I smile at them then walk over to my desk and start writing on a letter
"My dear Catelyn, you must release Tyrion Lannister as he is completely innocent of the crime accused, I have received information that he did not commit the crime and has been used as a scapegoat by his sister Cersei. I am working to get justice for this crime return north and show Robb this letter but nobody else......Eddard Stark"
I put the stark seal on the letter and send a raven to deliver it.
I walk out of the room and down into the city and to the brothel of the master of coin peytr Baelish's brothel. I walk into his office. "lord Baelish do you have a minute" he nods and ushers me to a more private room.
"I know the truth about the queen's children, and what she did to bran. I need your support when I tell Robert when he returns from the hunt, I have already been attacked by them and I don't know who I can trust"
"you shouldn't trust me, but I can help you" lord Baelish starts "I will send solders to support you when the time comes"
"thank you" I say and then leave the brothel and start the walk back to the red keep to confront the queen.
A/N
Hey guys, longest chapter yet ! so oliver is consolidating his power while eddard has found out the truth, how do you think things will go ? write in the comments !