Chapter 93

But despite the failings of the Arryns the populace of Nora for all the good it did them had put up a decent effort when it came to getting rid of House Palno, so there was a decent chance that the Vale as a whole was still savable. And the treatment of the Sept of Corbus despite the madness in the streets made it abundantly clear that the faith in the gods and their teachings were still a force of order and virtue. All in all, the lands of House Arryn had everything considered still a good chance to bounce back from the catastrophe they had suffered since the Mountain Clans had lost what unity they once possessed with their fanatics.

And as long as the Lannisters would take over what remained of the Vale once they were done with the Arryns you honestly couldn't conceive a way that could have stopped the recovery effort no matter how many issues the Houses of the Vale could have created for them in the time that still remained. You supposed that there were still a few months or perhaps up to a year of war the Vale had to endure before the Lannisters would make their move, but since they couldn't let the Crown interfere, you very much so doubted that the Lannisters had planned to wait for much longer.

Ignoring the power of your master, he sounded a little bit mad when he told you that he worked in some sense for the gods, but with how things were coming along you couldn't help but wonder if his claim of receiving help through divine intervention actually had something to it. The Lannisters had of course laid most of the groundwork for their takeover themselves from what you knew, but as you considered how little damage the Vale had actually suffered as the populace was essentially just displaced while the host of the Vale remained intact if disorganised it felt like things had gone a bit too smoothly.

Walls and wells could easily be rebuilt, and given enough resources were invested to restore the roads, towns, and villages the refugees could be returned to profitable employment in no time at all. And since most Houses would naturally be somewhat strained with restoring their lands and keeps after things had settled down, anyone that could provide the needed gold for such efforts would be welcomed with opened arms. Add to all of that the fact that the Lannisters had the ability to simply make the castles of troublesome lords vanish into nothing, as they had done with the camp of the Mountain Clans, and it felt like they had for all intents and purposes already secured themselves the Vale.

You knew of course that there was nothing on Westeros that could have stopped the Lannisters from taking the throne, but knowing that the gods actually interfered on their side was still something else entirely. Though you guessed that since the Targaryens were even at the best of days considered sinners with all their incest, you could understand why the gods would side with your master and plow the way for the Lannisters to secure the Vale to take on the Targaryens.

You were still under no illusion that they were perfect, but as you once more looked over what the people of Nora had to do for a potential interference by House Arryn, never mind the Crown, you had to agree that the realm was indeed in need of some change. Though you wondered why the Lannisters hadn't just received some kind of divine mandate, the Seven Kingdoms were never united when it came to matters of faith but as far as you could tell there would have been no reason for the Lannisters to take the continent by force if the Crown lost the support of the Faith.

Well, you supposed that the reasoning of the gods would always remain beyond you, despite how much your master has done to bend your mind in ways it shouldn't have been able to, as you did your best to explain the madness he has brought into your life. Though admittedly that wasn't entirely true, there were plenty of possibilities for why the gods might have decided to remain as quiet as usual that you could most certainly comprehend. But even so, you had only hollow confidence supported by little more than your own experiences and lessons to support what you had managed to remember.

The answer of course being what you saw around you as you followed a gang of raiders from one of the less charming factions that had made the forge district their new home. It was easy to forget, as the awareness of the fact tended to fade away quickly every time you interacted with decent people for a change. But deep down in all humans is a core of not just light but also darkness, from the vilest scum of the world to the most righteous of saints it was always there in the background.

And remembering this, it was quite obvious why the gods remained unheard despite their involvement, as even the most stalwart of human souls would naturally fall to its own darkness if provided with such nigh unlimited power over the realm. Power didn't corrupt as far as you knew but the unlimited desire of humanity for more be it meaningful or the opposite, be it valuable or simply a fancy of the moment, nothing has plagued humanity more than greed no matter the severity. And it would make sure that whoever ended up being chosen by the gods would either walk the path into darkness willingly if not consciously, or would end up empty and overburdened.

Few stories were as dark or tragic as those that centered around the fall of genuinely good souls, and since the gods had existed for who knows how many millennia, it was quite obvious why they had reservations about granting people the power to actually speak in their name. And despite how much additional work their decision created for your master, you found that you were still glad about it, as you knew for certain that the Seven Kingdoms were far too weakened to deal with a corruption of the Faith on top of everything else. Though you still wondered why your master hadn't used the fact that he had managed to secure their support to swing the opinion of the faithful in his favour since your master usually used everything that wasn't nailed down.