Chapter 51 - Improvements and Target
I was back in the unnamed keep near the Stony Shore, in the north-western part of the Wolfswood, where our group was currently staying.
I had spent another couple of hours with Lord Stark, discussing the developments in the North and the things we needed to focus on in the coming months.
The first matter was connectivity.
The North was vast and its greatest weakness was not just its lack of people or resources, but also its distance. A lord could live several weeks away from another lord. During winter, that distance felt even greater.
I told Ned that the Children of the Forest could help with the roads.
They had a natural connection with the earth, water, plants and forests. They might not possess enough raw power to fight an army directly but that did not mean their abilities were useless.
It was quite the opposite.
They could help widen roads near the keeps and castles. They could strengthen the earth beneath them, remove dangerous stones, control the growth of plants around the roads, and make the paths more resistant to heavy rain and snow.
When the Children's residences would be eventually distributed among the various northern settlements, every lord could receive their assistance.
A better road meant faster movement, faster movement meant easier trade and easier trade meant more prosperity.
The second matter was food security.
Again, the Children could help here too.
I had thought about improving the grains of the North, selecting the strongest seeds of wheat, barley, rice and other crops that could grow in Westeros and perhaps even bringing useful varieties from Essos. But the problem was that it would take years. We did not have years to experiment and breed the correct seeds.
So for now, we needed to use whatever means we already had.
The Children could help improve the fertility of the soil and encourage stronger crops. Subsequently, I would introduce better methods of farming which will include use of manure, compost, wood ash, crop rotation practice and other forms of natural fertilization.
I already had a plan for how to spread that knowledge throughout the North, as I do not want to personally explain every detail to every lord, maester and the farmers.
But I had not told Ned about that yet as it would be too much for one conversation.
The third matter was security.
Because of my connection to the land and my abilities as a greenseer, I could now sense things through the trees. I could also warg into animals much more easily than before.
During my travels and visions, I had noticed something extremely troubling. Banditry was more common in the North than many people realized. Some of it happened along remote roads but much of it happened along the routes used by merchants and smallfolks.
This was something that I could not allow to continue. So, I asked and convinced Ned that the patrols needed to be strengthened along the important trade routes.
If merchants knew that the roads were safe, more merchants would travel. When more merchants travelled, trade would grow. And if trade grew, the North as a whole would grow with it. The people would have more goods, more opportunities to buy and sell their products and eventually have better lives.
After that, our conversation turned toward the Children themselves. We discussed which northern lords would welcome them and which ones might object.
For the most of them, we believed that they would eventually accept them. There might be some resistance from the more rigid lords but that could be handled.
However, there was one lord I was particularly concerned about in the whole North.
He was very ambitious. He would see the Children not as allies but as tools that he could use for his ambitions. If he was given access to their abilities without restraint, he might surely try to use them entirely for his own benefit.
Worse, I knew that this same lord would eventually betray the Starks and the North when the time comes, as he believed doing so would increase his own power.
I had seen enough of his character to know that I could not simply ignore the possibility.
So I have decided to deal with the problem before it became one.
I would nip the danger in the bud. And I would do it now, before the Game of thrones started. I was not an expert in politics and its manoeuvrings, and I think we should not play in the field where the opponent has an advantage. So, I will do it my own way.
When I returned to the keep, everyone was busy with their assigned work.
Viserys was training. He was lifting weights, running around the keep and practicing with the wooden sword.
He hated almost every moment of it. But he was doing it as he had no other choice.
Dany was learning from the girls. She had become much more comfortable around Emma, Val, and Leaf. She no longer hesitated before asking questions or sharing her thoughts.
I had also noticed that Viserys was not happy about it. Sometimes he watched his sister interacting with them with clear irritation.
I ignored it, for now.
As evening came, we had dinner together and then retired for the night.
The next morning, I woke up early before everyone else.
Today was important as there was something I needed to do and I had to do it at the proper time.
I walked toward the heart tree near the keep. The old tree stood quietly beneath the morning sky. I sat down beside it and rested my back against its trunk.
I did not actually need to touch the tree to use my greenseer abilities, but being near it made things easier.
The connection was stronger here. The magic flowed more smoothly through me when I was surrounded by the presence of the weirwood tree and the life around it.
And today, I needed that smoothness.
I closed my eyes and took a slow breath.
Then I reached toward the strange network of magic that seemed to connect the forests, the trees, the land and the living things around me.
My awareness slowly expanded. The keep disappeared from my immediate thoughts. The trees and the earth became clearer.
Then I pushed farther towards east, towards the central-eastern part of the North.
I touched that distant point within the magical network. And then I saw my target in front of my eyes.
I looked in front of me at the Dreadfort, the seat of House Bolton.
---
End of Chapter 51 - Improvements and Target