Chapter 91

Well, there was everything considered little reason to endanger the lives of the innocent with such a drastic solution, since you still had plenty of time to come up with something a little more controllable. That you already had plenty of innocent blood on your hands was bad enough as it was, and you had absolutely no wish to dirty them even further if there were still alternatives that just demanded a little more effort. Thus, with your mind made up, you wandered through the streets to find out what it was that had the population up in arms despite the prevailing threat of the Mountain Clans.

Not that you seriously thought for so much as a second that there was a singular reason behind all this madness, as the average commoner of Westeros was just far too tamed by his lords and culture for that to be the case. There was a decent chance that a lack of food was the culprit like so often in times of war, but while you were sure that the Mountain Clan raids made farming a living nightmare, that would have probably resulted in more animosity towards the refugees than you were able to make out.

And from what you could see there also was no sign of looting beyond what one might expect with all the chaos, so it stood to reason that Nora had yet to run out of essential supplies. There was also the fact that the merchants were still breathing, so the unrest most likely wasn't directly connected to a lack of supplies or the difference in wealth that usually riled the populace up when the right circumstances aligned. It would have been far easier to simply inquire about what was going on directly, but you still had no clue how such a question would be received, since such agitated people would in your experience not take kindly to the questions of a stranger.

Furthermore, even if you risked it there was still the chance that you would have received nothing but lies or simple misinformation for your silver which naturally required that you would need to repeat the process over and over again just to get that common consensus. Hence, you swiftly returned your focus back to the present, there was simply no way an assassin worth his pay such as yourself would rush the gathering of information like that. The mere thought revolted you, but you did it in the past when it was required and time was of the essence, so openly inquiring was always an option.

Despite its state there were three places of importance in Nora that still remained intact for obvious reasons which would have been optimal to gather information, but you found that both Watermoon and the harbour district were for the time being closed off to you. You would of course still be able to slip in between the patrols around the harbour district if it became truly necessary, but with Watermoon being as watched as it was from both the in and outside, there was little point in trying even if it were required.

It was a bit bothersome that you were so limited in your options as you remained set on avoiding any additional loss of innocent life, but as long as Nora's Sept remained the center of activity it was, you could deal with it. For while the information you could gather from there was probably a little one-sided, you had enough trust in the Faith of Nora's populace that outright lies a few meters from the Sept wouldn't go unpunished in such desperate times, so things should still work out.

Hardship for obvious reasons tended to draw forth some zealotry in even the kindest of souls, which mixed with the fact that few had the inclination to anger the gods on top of their already existing troubles meant at least as far as you could reason that few would bother to spread misinformation. And hey, you had already planned to thank the gods for quite some time so mayhaps it was even fated that things were arranged as they were considering that the Sept would have probably been the last place you would have visited had you been occupied with writing reports for your master.

The Sept of Corbus as you learned it was called and the market surrounding it were the only places left untouched by the rebellion as far as you could tell, as its state was still far from acceptable for the vital role it served. Though after your stare was noticed by the old lady behind the counter as you bought yourself a bowl of soup you got your explanation far quicker than you could have hoped for as the Sept and its state was apparently directly connected to the rebellion House Palno had been facing.

If her words are to be believed, the good Lord Palno had decided that instead of reinforcing the walls or repairing the Sept, it was of far greater importance to whitewash the at the time still beautiful walls and towers of Watermoon anew. Or in other words the reason the population of Nora had thrown anything they had at the once pristine walls of Watermoon was essentially your master's decision that House Lannister's representatives were going to make use of Nora's harbour, what a mess.

If this wasn't madness you really didn't know what else the word was there to describe, for while you were aware that some lords of the Vale had a bit too much pride for their own good, this was truly unreasonable. Half the Vale was still being burned to the ground and overrun by the troops of the Mountain Clans and his own town was so overcrowded that even the Sept opened its doors for the people in need, and yet Lord Palno chose to risk a rebellion.

It was hard to believe, but it also rang true, despite your best efforts to argue with the nice old lady that no one could possibly be that detached from reality that a letter was all it took for this madness to happen. This was a problem, it's not unheard of that people spend more than they should to impress others, but the young fool that took over his house apparently never learned enough common sense for the populace to accept him, so they acted.

But these commoners weren't stupid, for they knew before they did anything that even if all of Nora was willing to fight House Palno with the high walls of Watermoon would have prevailed in the end. Hence, this mess of a rebellion that on the surface achieved a whole lot of nothing actually targeted the representatives of House Lannister that would naturally make the Eyrie their goal, and in doing so they were guaranteed to draw the gaze of House Arryn once this madness was inevitably brought up.