Chapter 47

"Hey, Marie, I thought of something awesome, but I will need your help to do it."

"Normal awesome or Azami awesome?"

"Both."

"Why do I even ask anymore?"

"I don't know that either, but you could always just stop questioning what I'm saying, that should help."

"Sigh, what do you need help with, Azami?"

"I need you to deliver something to the Vale for me, I made these Necklaces here for the Lords and Knights serving under House Arryn."

"..."

"The Vale is on the other Side of the Continent."

"Yeah, but you will get some Knights to protect you as well, so don't look at me like that, Marie."

"And why can't those Knights deliver the Necklaces?"

"Because no one will actually wear them if they're brought by Men of House Lannister, obviously, but if they just act as an Escort for a little fanatical Follower of the Seven like you, then it should still get me the Chaos I want."

"You're quite distracting after all, and no one would question your good Intentions."

"I'm not going to do that!"

"See, that's why you're perfect for it, they are all obsessed with Honour and doing the right thing in the Vale, or so I heard, you would be perfect."

"Come on, Marie, if you play along with my Plans I will make it more than up to you, you can wish for whatever you like, and I will do my utmost to make it happen."

"Fine, if it's really that important to you, I will help you, but don't think that me doing this will be cheap."

You were quite happy that she gave so little resistance to your requests, though you supposed that it had more to do with her Interest in meeting those oh so righteous Knights of the Mountains rather than your Promise of compensation. You were fine with that though, for at least as long as she would help you in spreading Chaos across the Vale it would be absolutely worth it. Furthermore, you were sure that you could manage to endure the consequences of her Visit, even if she were to bring a number of those Knights back to the Rock in an effort to drive you mad.

Your normal mental State had long since ceased to be a problem for you after all, and you could surely endure a bit of preaching and screeching from a few Knights with unblooded Blades as long as your Goals were achieved. And there was of course always the Option of simply throwing them down the steps if they did manage to insult your House or Family enough. Thinking about it, you should probably make it clear that she really shouldn't bring any new Companions back to the Rock, it wouldn't do your House any good to split the Vale if it risked that someone with a working Mind might grasp the Goals behind the work of your Father.

If the Realm learned of the Rock's massive standing Army with all its Gold to support it, all the Enemies of House Lannister would cease their squabbles overnight to band together, and that would get costly awfully quickly. The Westerlands should still have a few more Years of preparation time to gather more Strength, at least if you didn't draw the attention of the Crown too much with your somewhat obvious efforts to destabilise the reign of House Arryn. Considering those Facts it became absolutely clear to you that you would need to make sure that no one, truly no one, would actually give the Vale the light of Day in the coming Months, hence you decided your Undertaking would require a new and much greater Distraction to keep the Realm occupied.

And you already had the perfect House to help you with your problem in Mind, for like so often throughout the Ages, the Riverlands under House Tully were struggling as the Realm was falling to infighting. An Alliance between Riverrun and the Rock should be quite cheap by now, and the Daughters of Lord Tully ought to be the same Age as you and your Siblings, perhaps a Year older at most, and a planned Marriage Alliance would certainly gain and hold the Attention of the Crown for quite a few Years.

Jaime, as young as he was, was still the Heir to the Rock, so he would certainly make for a great match in the Eyes of just about every House on the Continent, it would of course bring your House in conflict with the Greyjoys, but that wasn't the end of the World when the Losses were directly compared to what your House would gain. House Tully wasn't the worst Family to marry into either with how focused they were on Duty and Family, furthermore, such a Marriage proposal would get the Blessing of both of your Parents, which truly wasn't a given with their vastly differing Goals for your three.

You were fully aware that playing the Game of Politics didn't count as one of your Strengths, but you still felt like your way of thinking gave you a decent enough Plan to strengthen the Position of your Family. Gaining the Riverlands would allow your House to contain the Starks in the North when the time comes to strike, the Starks wouldn't lose against Wildling Tribes after all. And should worse come to worst the Castles and Men of the Riverlands should at least be able to slow down and harass the Knights of the Vale for a time, it would be such a Threat to the Capital that you really didn't think it would be a bad move to make as a Distraction and contingency Plan.

Yes, it contained a lot of ifs and shoulds, but that was never something that managed to stop you, action is better than inaction, and the Ironborn would sooner or later sue for Peace with the Targaryens, and the Influence of the Crown would grow from the Victory. You hoped that your Father didn't have any Plans to marry Jaime off to a useless House like the Tyrells who could only bring numbers to the War, and you genuinely didn't want to see your Brother stuck in the Fangs of those Vipers in the South either, sometimes the safe Choice is also the right Choice.