The Iron Islands, the Sea Tower.
At night, the waves were even more violent than during the day, crashing endlessly against the rocks at the base of the tower.
Amid the constant roar of the sea, Balon sat by candlelight, carefully reading the reply from King's Landing.
No matter how many times he read it, Robert's attitude in the letter remained just as offensive.
"Hmph, this is going too far!"
No matter how much restraint Balon tried to maintain, Robert's repeated warnings finally ignited his anger.
He slammed the letter down on the table and cursed, "That foolish stag who only knows how to hunt boars, does he think I am an idiot? Claiming Theon confessed of his own accord!"
Asha, standing by the fireplace, stepped forward and picked up the letter to read it herself.
She sneered. "Father, they cannot even be bothered to make up a proper excuse. It is obvious they do not take us seriously."
Asha Greyjoy set the letter aside and continued, "One of the longships I sent to patrol the Bay of Ice returned with only two survivors. The rest were all killed by men from Deepwood Motte."
"It seems the North has already begun preparing for war."
Balon's eyes darkened as he growled, "Deepwood Motte. The Starks!"
After Balon finished speaking, Asha pressed on, once again volunteering herself. "Father, give me twenty longships. I guarantee I will take Deepwood Motte!"
For a moment, with anger surging, Balon truly wanted to agree.
But the image of the alliance of stag, wolf, lion, trout, and falcon flashed through his mind, dousing his fury like cold water.
He slowly closed his eyes, steadying his emotions.
When he opened them again, his gaze had returned to calm.
"No. Now is not the time to go to war with the North."
Asha could not help raising her voice. "Then how long are we supposed to wait? Do we just let others ride over us and humiliate us?"
Balon did not mind her coarse language.
His eyes flickered as he recalled a previous letter from Euron, and at last he made his decision.
"I will write to your uncle Euron and allow him to return with the Dragon Horn."
Asha looked completely confused. She did not understand why her father had suddenly brought Euron into this.
But Balon's next words made her whole body jolt.
"Then I will order the Iron Fleet to help him capture a dragon."
"What?"
Asha cried out in shock. "Father, did you just say help Uncle Euron capture a dragon?"
When Balon nodded in confirmation, Asha still could not believe it. She even wondered if her father had grown senile.
She hesitated. "Father, dragons have been gone for hundreds of years…"
Balon stood up, walked to a cabinet, and took out a wooden box, handing it to Asha.
"This was sent along with your uncle's last letter."
"Open it, and you will understand."
Asha took the box with uncertainty and opened it.
Inside lay a single object.
A black dragon scale, stained with dried blood.
"This is…"
Asha looked up sharply at her father.
Balon answered firmly, "That is right. It is a dragon scale, found by Euron in a dragon's lair."
Still stunned, Asha lifted the fist-sized scale from the box and examined it closely.
After a moment, she looked up again, her expression conflicted.
"Father, do you really believe Uncle Euron? This scale could have been looted from somewhere else."
Balon shook his head and said in a low voice, "I know Euron. He would not lie about something like this."
"And he knows very well that if I discover he is lying, he will be cast into the sea forever, never to find peace."
Asha held the scale in silence.
The room fell quiet, with only the sound of waves pounding the rocks outside.
After a long while, Asha finally spoke. "So, Father, you intend to use Uncle Euron's horn to control the dragon he discovered, and then challenge the Iron Throne?"
Balon stared at her, his expression animated. "Exactly. This is the only way we can defeat the Iron Throne."
"With a dragon, whether it is the fertile Reach or the wealthy Casterly Rock, all will bow to us."
"Then we will conquer all of Westeros, just as Aegon once did."
But Asha was not pleased. Instead, she looked deeply worried.
"Father, if Uncle Euron truly can control a dragon, are you not afraid? When that happens, will the Iron Islands still be under your rule?"
"You exiled Uncle Euron. I do not believe he would so kindly hand over the Dragon Horn."
Balon smiled faintly, a trace of approval in his eyes. "Asha, the fact that you can think this far shows you are already a qualified ruler."
"You are right. If Euron were to control the dragon, the Iron Islands would certainly fall into his hands.
That is why the Dragon Horn must be under our control."
He paused, then continued, "A dragon is not so easy to command. Your uncle wants to use the Iron Islands' strength to control it."
"Then I will force him to hand over the Dragon Horn. Otherwise, he will receive no help from the Iron Islands."
Hearing that her father already had a complete plan, Asha's worries finally eased.
She looked at Balon with curiosity. "Father, did Uncle Euron say where the dragon is?"
This time, Balon answered without hesitation. "In the North, on Skagos."
At once, an image of a barren, desolate island surfaced in Asha's mind.
Skagos lay east of the Wall, across the sea from Eastwatch, at the mouth of Seal Bay.
Asha had never been there. She had only heard Maester Qhurn describe it.
From the Iron Islands to Skagos, unless one crossed the North overland, sailing there meant going around nearly the entire continent of Westeros.
According to Maester Qhurn, the waters around Skagos were treacherous, filled with reefs. In storms, the cold winds could freeze ropes and sails solid.
The people of Skagos rarely left their island and scarcely interacted with the outside world.
Though they swore fealty to House Stark in name, their relationship with the Starks was distant, with little contact between them.
In Maester Qhurn's view, the Skagosi were even more savage than the wildlings.
"How could a dragon end up there?" Asha asked, puzzled. What could possibly attract a dragon to nest in such a place?
Balon did not know either.
Euron's letter had mentioned only the dragon's location, not why it was there.
"I have already sent word to Euron. It will not be long before he returns to Pyke."
"Then we will question him in person."
Asha nodded, then asked curiously, "Father, what is the dragon's name?"
"The Cannibal," Balon said solemnly. "The wild dragon once of Dragonstone. The Cannibal."
...
While Balon and Asha were discussing how to control a dragon, far away at Deepwood Motte, Galon finished dinner with Lady Mormont and arranged for people to escort her and her daughters to their rooms.
The night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, Galon personally saw Lady Mormont and her daughters off.
After saying farewell at the gates of the North Bailey, Galon assigned a squad of soldiers to escort them, while he himself stayed behind to continue drilling his troops.
Once the training was done, he immediately turned to handling the daily affairs of Deepwood Motte with Steward Mormann.
In his spare moments, he worked with Maester Beckman on armor-piercing arrows.
In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.
During those ten days, Galon's routine remained the same, busy with all manner of affairs.
Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Ned Stark finally began his investigation into the death of Jon Arryn.
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