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***
279 A.D.
Valley of the Solar Flame, Castle Osgiliath.
I stayed in the West for another week. Almost all of my days were spent with my family and related chores.
I went hunting with my father and learned that my archery skills had dulled over the years. This was hinted at by the fact that out of the eight rabbits I encountered, three got away with an arrow glinting in their sirloin. My father laughed for a long time afterwards, saying that my hands had started to grow from this very place.
Together with my mother, I visited the giant stalls that occupied half of the Cold family's territory and, under her supervision, looked at the fruit of my father's ten years of labor. By crossing horses bought from the Riswells, Merriweathers, Quargils, and the Dothraki mares I'd given him through Tiggett Lannister, he'd tried to keep the best traits of all the breeds. It wasn't working out so well, but a few of the handsome, rambunctious breeds, obeyed only by their owner's golden-haired wife, were awe-inspiring to behold. As Aerys joked, later receiving a wooden spoon to the forehead, this "breed" was known as the "subordinate breed" for their obedience to one woman, and his father had been trying to fix it for a year.
Went to the grave of old Chloe, who died a few years ago. Before she passed away, she asked to be buried deep in the woods, next to her unborn son. Later, my mom handed me a huge pile of records and books that turned out to be all the knowledge this old woman had accumulated throughout her life. A nice gift that made me tear up once again.
I went with my brother to the site of the new castle. He chose a very good place - almost in the middle of his domain, on the steep banks of a small river, in the place where it is crossed by one of the main branches of the River Road. In the future, the castle can become one of the many trade passes for merchants from the Riverlands and Western Lands. The main thing is to build a normal bridge, replacing with it the old wooden ferry, which, according to the locals has seen the reign of the kings of the West.
It was not without its troubles. The scandal that followed our arrival had to be cleaned up for almost three days. It turned out that I knew the "maester" who was in charge of the construction. Marcos had studied with me back in the days of the Citadel, and was the kind of ignoramus whose main desire was tasty food and corrupt women. After a quick check of his chain and finding no conclave seals on the links to prove they weren't fake, I realized something was amiss.
I had to send a raven to the Citadel and find out what the hell was going on. The letter that arrived two days later clarified the situation. As it turned out, Marcos was one of the few lucky ones who managed to escape from the Hightower huntsmen, and had stolen several hundred golden dragons, the seal of the Archmistress, and several expensive treatises from the Citadel. Valefar and Valgrave urged that he be apprehended and sent to Staromest, for trial and further punishment.
So Marcos went to his native university, shining all over the place with boot marks on his face, sides and chest, and broken legs, to get what he deserved. And as for an explanation for his injuries... he fell. From his horse. At the feet of a whole bunch of people.
That's a good explanation.
I can't tell the archmaestros that when my brother and I figured out how much of our money this pi***** had managed to drink and eat in the nearest Sarsfield brothel, and what would happen to those who lived in the wreck he'd built, we couldn't help but start beating the nedomeister with every available limb.
Mostly feet. Our hands, thank the gods, were held by Robin and the woodsmen, otherwise, in a noble impulse, my brother and I could have given Marcos too much iron in his system.
As a result, I had to increase the amount of money lent to my brother a bit, and began to design a castle worthy of becoming the new home of the Kold clan myself.
The most time, though, was spent with my sisters. Those fourteen year old pipsqueaks remembered me only as an older brother who played with them as a child, bringing them sweets, inventing new fun, bathing them until some time later. At the mention of the latter, Thea and Elia began to resemble a ripe red apple in color and rushed at the source of embarrassing memories with fists.
Still, a medieval upbringing and environment has a profound effect on people. I vividly remember my daughters, who at their age were disgusting and would often get into such scandals that only a belt would help. And here two fourteen-year-old girls, although they grew up without the need to do hard physical labor, behaved quietly and calmly, not playing on the nerves of parents.
"Idyllic." - I thought then, as I left the small farm with my family, leaving it in Bern's care. The old northerner had agreed to be the future castle blacksmith at his brother's place and even took on a few more apprentices. - "I wonder if my children with Eilis will be the same? I hope so."
Our journey took us to Lannisport, where the Pink Flamingo picked us up (though it would have been better if it had been a different ship - I was tired of explaining to my family what a flamingo was and where to find one) and took us to my fiefdom. The journey, which took three weeks, ended in the harbor of a city under construction.
Osgiliath.
"I repent, I couldn't resist" - I thought, standing on the bow of the ship as it sailed through the narrow gap of rocks that connected the harbor to the rest of the sea. - "I loved the professor's work too much, unlike the same Game of Thrones, not to leave his mark on this world. And it's a good name - Citadel of Stars... The main thing is to live up to it."
They looked simply magical. Their white skin, white as snow, was in perfect harmony with their thick black hair and cherry silk flowing down their shoulders, hugging almost the entire figure and leaving their shoulders open. Her mother, of course, had resented the idea that such clothing was too revealing and vulgar, but as soon as the Pink Flamingo approached the shores of the Dornian Desert, she immediately changed her mind.
"Still, despite the reigning fall on the continent, Dorne is the land of eternal summer. The sun is always baking like Hell, and it's thirty to forty degrees Celsius here all year round." - I thought to myself, dressed in light cotton pants, a linen shirt, and an arafat to cover my head from sunstroke. My lands, though north of the rest of Dorne and protected from the hot desert winds by the Red Mountains, were only slightly cooler, making the same northerners sweat completely in a matter of minutes.
«How beautiful! - Thea's voice brought me out of my musings, as she and Elia stood next to me, looking at the city under construction. - Brother, what's that?
When I looked at the long white finger with the neat fingernail (remembering the squeal of joy that the female half of me had when Mara, one of the craftswomen I'd hired in Meereen to take care of the VIP passengers, had given Cersei's nails a manicure, my ears started to hurt), I smiled, realizing that there would be many more questions like that.
«These are dry docks, Thea. They're where they build ships.
But I agreed with her. My city was indeed beautiful.
Usually cities in Westeros or Esosse appear according to the same scenario - a castle or fortress appears, a village grows around it, gradually developing into a city, and later its rulers, realizing that it is unwise to let their territory be plundered, wall it up. There is only one plus in such construction - small costs.
But the disadvantages of the same place to chew - spontaneous building, because of which there are slums and crime, the inability to lay sewage, the lack of a clear plan of their territory and the ability to make a normal defense of the streets. And that's just what immediately comes to mind. King's Landing is a prime example. The capital of the Seven Kingdoms has been overpopulated for a century. It's drowning in its own shit and vice - not for nothing is it home to Westerosse's largest slums and guilds of thieves and murderers. It's a very fucked up place to live.
Whereas Osgiliath was different.
First, I originally designed and ordered a sewer system to be dug that could handle the waste of two hundred thousand people, even though the plan was for the maximum that could live in the city to be 150. Second is the planned construction. I spent half a year working on the plans of the city and castle, sketching and calculating the location of every house, workshop, well, fountain, tree and the like. So now the city was growing even faster than the castle - the iron mines on the northern ridge were already working, providing ore for the smelters and forges on the northern edge of the city. Most of the manufactories, individual shops and workshops, which would become the city's crafts district in the future, were located there as well. A small part of them was already in operation, providing the needs of the builders for clothing, iron implements, furniture and other small things.
In the future, this city, built of white dolomite and marble found in the nearby mountains, would be a jewel in the sands of Dorne. But for now, it is only under construction. The marketplace, the residential quarters, the castle, the wells are yet to be completed. Plant fruit trees and wild grapes. Gardens on specially designed roofs. There's a lot of work to do, and besides him, that leaves the rest of the valley with just as much work.
"Will I have the strength and time?" - I thought as I made my way down the gangplank to one of the piers, to the welcoming delegation of mountain guards, Joen and Piper. I didn't like the way the latter two looked at me with their tired eyes, with their giant black bags.
«Greetings, Lord Temper. - The redhead stepped forward and, showing a perfect bow, continued. - We are pleased to see you and your family in Osgiliath. Allow me to escort you out.
"They're definitely up to something," I thought as I helped the others down the gangway. Short term earth sickness is the bane of any short cruise enthusiast. - "We've got to get away fast."
No such luck.
All the way to the castle and the already built guest quarters I had to tell and show everything to my brother and sisters, who, unlike my parents, who kept themselves in control, kept turning their heads and asking dozens of different questions, from "what are those hollow pieces of stone for?", which are actually flowerbeds, to questions about the building without a roof, which is the future greenhouse.
The only question I heard from my parents was asked already in the corridor of the donjon, when our merry company was almost approaching the guest rooms.
«Son, why are the corridors so big here? - At the puzzled looks of the others, my father circled the surrounding space with his hand and said. - ''I have traveled around the Seven Kingdoms for a long time and have been to many castles. The corridors there are so narrow and low that it's sometimes hard for two people to separate.
«The answer is simple enough: servants' corridors. - I went to the marble wall and tapped it with my finger. - All castles have hundreds of servants working around the castle at all times. Many lords don't like the sight of unwashed and ragged servants, so their houses are like an anthill, littered with hundreds of small and narrow passageways, with unnoticed or hidden entrances and exits. That's why the other castles have narrow corridors.
«What about you? - My brother asked as we made the last turn before the guest quarters.
«I followed the example of the I-Tian aristocrats. It was better to wash and dress my servants properly so that they would not only not be a nuisance to the eye, but also to please it. - At that moment three maids with buckets and rags appeared in the corridor and passed us. Dressed in simple hemp dresses, with short sleeves, light leather corsets, and white aprons, they were all pretty girls from fifteen to thirty years of age, recruited from among the wives and daughters of the laborers whom Alcaro had brought here.
«Aryce whistled boisterously as he glanced at one of the maids' sirloins, but was promptly slapped on the top of the head by his mother, who followed him. Cersei had always had a puritanical view of child-rearing, so she kept a very strict eye on her older brother, and looked at me disapprovingly, thinking I'd made the castle layout so I could sleep with the maids.
"Maybe one of my descendants will do that, but definitely not me." - The thoughts flashed through my mind as I settled the family into the newly furnished guest quarters and assigned them maids as permanent servants. Priscilla, the second most senior maid and an ardent believer in the Wife of Fire, one of the many goddesses of Essos, had to be specially assigned to Aerys. One of the most important traits of this religion was fidelity to her husband, so her followers were known for their selectivity and constancy to their partners. Hired her, and a few other girls, specifically for occasions like my brother or Oberyn. - "But I needed it for safety. Corridors like this, from which you can access any part of the castle, are a real boon to most assassins and thieves, who would do far more damage than the pennies you have to pay to dress the servants and wash them"
Long deliberation was the cause of my demise. Just as I was about to retreat to my newly furnished quarters and get some sleep after an exhausting journey, two hands descended on my shoulders, squeezing them as tightly as steel pincers.
«Where are you going, my lord? - Joan's words at that moment reminded me of the roar of a devil released from the bonds of Kotsitos, though he didn't even raise his voice!
«You have much work to do. - Piper's voice didn't sound much different, letting me know that something bad was about to happen.
My hunch was right - in my solarium, set up like a small pseudo-Eastern-style office, there were so many papers, ledgers, unread letters, and scrolls on the desk, chairs, cabinets, and even couches that my eyes popped.
«It was all accumulated correspondence that could not be examined without your participation. - Every word the redhead said plunged me into more and more despair and made me want to jump out the window. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that it was the fifth floor, and I probably wouldn't have survived the fall. - We need to dismantle it as soon as possible. You have three days.
Only when the two demons incarnate left my office was I able to pull myself together and sit down in the large and comfortable chair that stood at the headboard of the desk.
"You signed up for this yourself Felix" - I thought, taking and looking through the first report I came across, concerning the number of workers caught stealing. I had to decide what to do with them - cut off their hands, send them to the Wall, or come up with a third option. - "To create your own Paradise, you have to work hard."
The first decree on the table was to send all thieves to the deepest level of the iron mines, depending on the size of the stolen goods.
***
Eilis arrived a month and a half later on a huge Volanthian Navy battle dromon called the Sun of Valyria. This three-decked monster, barely squeezing into the harbor, carried in its depths almost two hundred Unsullied, who served as the ship's guards, promised as a dowry chests with full gold and incredibly beautiful girl, recently announced as the third daughter of the Triarch of Volantis Atraxes Belroy.
In a word, shock. That's what my parents, sisters and brother experienced when they first saw a slightly battered battle dromon, which, according to the attendants, had wiped out a small pirate squadron on the Steps in one fell swoop, then an endless string of chests full of jewelry, gold and silver being carried onto the pier, and finally my beautiful bride, in the company of my young son, who could already walk.
Gods only know how much strength it took for me not to laugh at that moment - Aerys, who has shown this month that he is not far behind Oberyn in seducing the weaker sex (good thing he is 100% straight, otherwise I don't know what I would have done), and my father, who has never looked at any other woman but his mother, watched the girl coming down the gangway in prostration. They were only brought out of this state by the heels of the female half, who noticed something wrong.
Eilis had become even more beautiful in the intervening time.
Her long, waist-length platinum hair slowly swayed in the breeze, enveloping her perfect figure with a second skin, hidden by an airy silk garment that gave a huge scope for imagination. Her gait, statuesque and proud, and her cornflower eyes, shining with intelligence, attracted attention at once, making it clear that in front of you was not a simple beautiful pacifier, but an intelligent and noble lady.
"And how did she hide all this from me?" - The thought ran through my head as I bent in a traditional bow and kissed the outstretched hand.
«Greetings to you in Osgiliath, my lady. - I said, unbending and trying to make my voice warm and caring. - I am glad to see you made it here without incident.
«It is mutual, my lord. - Eilis smiled sweetly and performed the traditional Seven Kingdoms bow, showing that she would have no problem with culture and etiquette. - Lyon, greet your father.
The words to our son caused him to poke his head out from behind his mother's legs, where he had been hiding, and elicited a wave of delight from the female half of the welcoming delegation, consisting of myself, my family, Joen, Piper, Robin, and a few dozen guards.
Lyon was beautiful. Though the baby chubbiness wasn't even going to go away, it was already apparent that he would look like a male version of Eilis and Cersei, whose golden hair he had inherited. In the future he would be the storm of women's hearts, making the others envious.
But right now he's just a little boy who sailed to an unknown place and saw a huge scary man who turned out to be his daddy.
"Gotta make things right" - I thought and, breaking all rules of propriety, took my son in my arms, who was already trotting away. Lyon, even though he was scared, didn't show it. After twitching a little and looking for a non-existent escape route, he stared fearlessly at me with his red eyes.
At that moment it seemed to me that even the sea had stopped making its usual noise. It was as if everyone in the world, having realized the significance of the moment, did not dare to disturb the giant two-meter tall man and his little son in their struggle of gazes. I looked into every feature of that childish and restless face, watched every movement of the iris, looked at myself in the reflection of those red lakes. And I could see the character of the man-lyon hadn't taken his eyes off me for a second during the minute that our game of staring was going on.
The test I'd used on Earth to test all my children and grandchildren, this golden-haired fidgeter passed.
«Do you know who I am?" I was the first to ask, having learned everything I needed to know.
At his perplexed shake of the head, I only laughed loudly, scaring away all the neighborhood seagulls. Quickly tossing and catching Lyon in mid-air, eliciting excited shouts from everyone present, I settled him comfortably on my shoulders and said, "I'm your daddy:
«I'm your daddy. And you are my son, Lyon Temper.
So, accompanied by the joyful laughter of a small son on my shoulders and the lamentations of his mother that she would tear my head off for such treatment of her grandson, I moved towards the castle.
In two weeks Eilis and I would be married, and I had a lot to prepare for. The guests would be special.
***
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