Lord Tarly's Decision

Randyll Tarly was heavily conflicted but honestly, if his bottom line of betraying the Reach was not broken, he had no real reason to decline the goodwill of Victor Di Natale. His family was not very good at business and by cooperating with House Di Natale and maybe selling their products in the Reach he could gain a lot of additional resources. Training military commanders and reliable soldiers costs a lot of money.

His heart was a little touched when he thought about the secret oppression House Tarly suffered over the last decades by House Tyrell. The noble of the Reach was aware what kind of person the current decision maker of House Tyrell, Lady Olenna, was and just how far she would go to assure to position of her family, especially her useless son. When he thought about having to bow down to and follow a useless person like Mace Tyrell, he was getting sick in his heart.

He could already foresee the situation where if they ever happened to be a big battle, which he would be confident to win, Mace Tyrell would hide far and wide, but after gaining victory he would try to take all the credit. Not only stealing credit but also telling everybody how great he truly was. The constant struggle finally turned into anger in the heart of the just recently married heir of House Tarly.

"I don't like how you tried to coerce me into this alliance Victor, but many things you said are certainly true but have always been hidden deep in my heart. Nobody likes to be a subject to somebody else, especially since you feel you are a better and more respectable person than your liege. But House Tarly has always been a noble family of the Reach and will continue until the last drop of us is bled.

Nonetheless I can feel that you truly want to gain some goodwill in the Reach and there are no negative effects if we just reach a commercial cooperation. But at any time if your interests' conflict with the best interests of the Rach, not House Tyrell, I will always choose to side with the Reach. In case of a large war between the Reach and Dorne I will not communicate with you nor Oberyn Martell.

There will be no shady deals and no betrayal, as long as I live. If you can accept those conditions, I am willing to formally start friendly relationships with House Di Natale and use the influence of House Tarly and House Florent to improve your relationship with the Reach."

After finally thinking it through and considering the consequences Randyll Tarly still offered a deal that could make a soft alliance between House Tarly and House Di Natale possible. He wanted to strengthen his own family with a commercial cooperation and further increased the political and military influence of House Tarly in the Reach.

Victor's statement about him being a threat to House Tyrell truly made him a little fearsome and he decided to increase his strength and influence on a point where House Tyrell could never attack him without becoming extremely susceptible to attacks from the outside of the Reach. The family of his new wife also played a certain role in his decision.

House Florent of Brightwater Keep is a noble house from Brightwater Keep in the Reach, one of the main houses sworn to House Tyrell of Highgarden. Their sigil is a red fox's head encircled by blue flowers on ermine.

Descended from Garth Greenhand by his daughter Florys the Fox, House Florent boasts a superior claim to Highgarden by their close blood ties to the House Gardener, the extinct Kings of the Reach.

As vassals of House Gardener, the Florents married into the royal family numerous times. Through the centuries of the Kingdom of the Reach, the Peakes and Osgreys boasted about marrying their daughters to Florents.

This rich history made House Florent very influential in the reach, for more than his own family. To improve his relationship with the family of his wife and improve her status within the family, he needed to increase the power and influence of House Tarly first. Cooperating with Victor Di Natale and the noble families of Lys seemed like an excellent opportunity.

"I am very glad to hear you say that, Lord Tarly. You don't have to worry about being asked anything that will make you uncomfortable. Oberyn and I will just make you the spokesperson for our goods in the Reach. You can buy low grade cloud steel weapons in lager numbers and sell them in the reach.

Of course, all the luxury items we produce like fine wines, honey, sweets, and many more will be available for you as well. Surely, this means that House Tarly will be among the noble families that will receive the first invitation to the Athenaeum club, as the only family of the Reach."

Victor explained his intention full of excitement. Gaining the support of Randyll Tarly, the future first warrior of the Reach, will prove very valuable to counter the influence of House Tyrell of Highgarden and House Redwyne of the Arbor.

The rest of the banquet was left for the three young men to discuss further cooperation, and everybody found topics of interest. Oberyn and Randyll often argued about wars between the Reach and Dorne, but overall, there relationship seemed to improve a little with every glass of high-quality wine they were drinking.

Randyll Tarly didn't know yet that going from frugality to luxury is quite easy, but returning from luxury to frugality is something very hard, especially if your wife will enjoy countless luxury in the future. While giving Randyll Tarly a lot of immediate interests right now, in the future this will heavily bind House Tarly towards the interests of House Di Natale.

They might now bother to much about House Martell and Dorne, but at least they will defend the interests of House Di Natale in the Reach. That was more than enough return on investment for Victor to be very happy about today's conversation.