16 Otto Hightower I

Author's note: Pretty short chapter, considering how long I was out. But I am still too busy. Things should change after the 16th of February, so look out for that though.

I tried to write this as best as I could, I wished to show Otto's inner mind in a satisfactory manner, and I hope I did well.

There is no Master of Whispers position at this time, so there is that.

[3550 Words]

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This city is changing, Otto thought.

He was looking down at the port from the Small Council chamber's open window, showing countless working smallfolk, expanding and rebuilding the familiar sight.

He could hear the sounds of their work all day, the sound of an army of workers changing this city stone by stone into another image, the Prince's image.

If he were a lesser man, Otto would have sighed. The Prince proved to be a cunning and resourceful fellow, managing to stifle his efforts at gathering influence, his efforts at securing his family's legacy.

It wasn't long before the door opened, letting out his source of frustration along with his fat steward, discussing something over a thick book. 

Whatever they were murmuring was halted when they noticed his presence, the Prince's face lighting up with a seemingly overjoyed smile.

"Lord Hand! And I thought I'd been early!" The prince sat at the left of the King's seat, looking very used to the position.

"Your Grace." Otto softly bowed his head. "Or should it be Lord Governor?" He commented.

The Prince's steward didn't seem to need prompting, as he bowed his head to his liege and left the room.

Baelon chuckled, it was a hearty thing that gave him a cheerful aura. "I think Baelon would be most appropriate, we are family, after all."

Otto sat in his usual seat, which coincidentally seemed to be in opposition to his. "That would be disrespectful, your Grace." Baelon's smile widened. "I hear the smallfolk have been overjoyed at your efforts in this city, the only thing they could talk about is the recent trial."

"I'm just doing what is meant to be done, Lord Otto, nothing else," Baelon answers.

The room fell silent, they didn't like each other much and didn't have any reason to pretend to do so behind closed doors. So he continued waiting for the others to arrive, while the Prince was reading and writing on his book.

It wasn't long before the other members of the council came in, Grandmaester Mellos was first and had spent the rest of his time chatting with the prince about some scientific discovery or some historical book. Otto had found their conversation fascinating but hadn't shown that for obvious reasons.

Then Lord Tyland Lannister and Lyman Beesbury, the former had enthusiastically greeted the Prince but had continued to pester the Master of Coin for some enterprise he was planning, something to do with the riverlands. He would make sure to look into it later.

Corlys was offered to get his Master of ships position back, but he had refused, the conquest of Dorne and the Triarchy's meddling would keep him much too busy for that, but he had decided to spend more time in Kingslanding, for the sake of his squire if nothing else.

Lord Jasper Wylde came in with a pep in his steps, he was quite happy lately, which showed with his wide smile. He joined the Prince and the Grandmaester in their conversation.

And then came the King, fashionably late as protocol dictated, followed by Criston Cole the Commander of the Kingsduard, and young Daeron. The boy didn't seem to be very nervous, and besides widely smiling at his brother and Otto, he was quite respectful.

Daeron is to be Viserys' cupbearer ever since his return. He inwardly winced at that detail, the incompetence of his family, not bringing their ward to the most important funeral in recent times despite the King's demands, was the most idiotic thing that they did in their lives. The letters sent to his brother afterward were quite scathing in their remarks.

""Your grace."" They all rose and bowed.

"Please sit down." He responded, slowly sitting in his chair, and letting out a soft sigh.

"So. Let us begin this session, shall we?" He begins, looking in his direction.

Otto nods, clasping his hands on top of the table. "First order of business, thanks to Lord Corlys' help, the Dornish delegation was able to safely cross the Narrow Sea and had landed some days ago in Duskendale, in order to give us time to prepare for their arrival."

"Aye." Mellos nods. "The raven gave us a timetable of four to five days until they arrive in Kingslanding, the castle is overflowing with visitors from all over the realm preparing for the ceremony." He adds.

"Most of the preparatory construction efforts in the city will end by that time, it should be much quieter then." The Prince looks to his father. "I think the city will have more than enough to be able to accommodate all the recent visitors, I'd suggest a sizeable tourney after the ceremony, a ten thousand gold reward for first place in both the melee and the tilts, perhaps?"

Lord Reesbury nods along. "That would be entirely possible with our recent acquisition, the Martells had a very sizeable treasury, after all." He then looks to the King. "I will arrange the preparation."

Viserys nods. "You do so." He then softly taps his cane on the floor. "Onto other matters."

Daeron does as his role dictates, dutifully filling the member's cups, meekly smiling when his brother playfully shook his hair in return.

Otto ignored the moment, you can't begrudge a kid for having his fun. "There is the issue of the city charter for Starfall, the conditions are all met for such an expansion, however, the Torrentine is not suitable for the number of ships predicted to visit them, it would be counterproductive to the plan of unification." He looks at the King. "Your Grace, I do not believe this idea would work."

"Sure it will, the river is a non-essential element of the plan, the idea is to move Plankytown's smallfolk to Starfall, build a sizeable merchant and military fleet in order to shift trade towards the new city, and weaken the Martell and Yronwood influence within Dorne while strengthening our allies ability to rule the place." Interjects Tyland.

Otto knew that the city charter was an inevitable matter, Starfall would become a city as soon as Lord Dayne bowed his head to the King. The issue lay with Torrentine, the river is quite treacherous, but it is still possible to traverse it.

The shift of the Dornish trade toward Starfall and the unification with Westeros would benefit House Hightower quite well, the closest port to the island is Oldtown after all. 

The issue is that if the Torrentine were to be built upon, it would be able to shift the movement of the Reach's exports toward the Marches, taking a considerable amount from Oldtown, it is much worse for him since the Marcher Houses are the most likely to turn antagonistic to Hightower's influence.

There is also the matter of the Shield Islands and the Arbor. The Redwynes due to their proximity to Dorne would be able to directly trade with Dorne in order to expand eastward, taking away from some of Oldtown's imports, and the Shield Islands would be able to use the Mander to get to Dorne through the Torrentine, completely bypassing Oldtown in the process.

And that is without including the Stormlands, who would be able to increase their power through the river.

So in short, Otto has to convince everyone against the usage of the river in order to maximize his family's interests.

"Excluding that, the river CAN be used." Says Baelon. "I had met this Braavosi fella while building the Seaguard canal, fascinating man, he had this ingenious idea inspired from the Braavosi canals upon which you could build several small dams and canals in or around a river like say, the Torrentine, in order to move it away from treacherous terrain and to slow its current." He lays back on his chair. "I had already sent the man to Starfall, and after a cursory inspection, he believes that the River could be made safe, or at least a part of it could be redirected in order to serve the same purpose. It would cost a lot of Gold, but the Daynes are flush with currency and workers since both the other half of the Martell's treasury and their smallfolk are in their possession."

"What the Daynes or other lords do with their river is none of the Crown's concerns. Let us drop the matter and move onto more concerning ones." Spoke the King, and so it is.

"I would like to start on our most pressing concern." Began Lord Tyland. "The Prince's conquest of Dorne seems to have put the Triarchy into a frenzy, they appear to worry about the consequences of it, mainly on the matter of the Stepstones."

That is right, Corlys had been working hard to prepare for the coming storm. Otto had already received news of "explorers" coming to find fortune at the Stepstones, who are obviously the Triarch's privateers acting as pirates in order to sabotage the Seasnake's hold into the region before Dorne is fully pacified.

Lord Wylde stroked his chin in thought. "That is quite a conundrum, I assume most of the ships of the royal navy would be occupied with the coming events?" He continued at the master of ships nod. "Then the only solution I can envisage is to support Lord Corlys with other methods, and to beseech loyal lords to offer their ships to the cause, offering rewards in exchange. Although I doubt the Seasnake would be amenable to the latter."

"Lord Corlys holds the Stepstones with the crown's blessing, it would be unseemly to refuse help at such a critical phase. He is a loyal bannerman to the Throne, I have no doubt that he will be quite open to the idea, Lord Jasper." Answered Otto, any chance to lower Velaryon's hold over the islands will be for the best.

"I think we are looking at the problem wrongly." Interjected Baelon.

The father looked at his son. "How so?" He asked.

"Well, we tend to forget that the Triarchy is an Essossi entity, to them, war is but the continuation of their economic interest. They do not think of glory or honor, but of how they can expand their wealth and gain more riches. It is why they often use sellswords to wage war, they do not like to risk their own livelyhood after all."

The Prince took a pause to take a small sip from his cup. "So, while we're thinking in terms of land and armies, they do so in terms of gold. If we want to take the Stepstones, the wise thing to do would not be to intimidate them with swords, but to make the prospect of war too costly for them to consider."

"Here is what we know." The Prince extended a finger. "The Triarchy is a very loose alliance between the three cities. Right now they are content in their so called supremacy, but you cannot ignore hundreds of years of conflict and ruthless politicking in just some decades." 

Then another one, doing so for each of his points. "Secondly, the other Free Cities are only content to watch as long as the Triarchy is busy being in conflict with us about the Stepstones, meanwhile they are already building a foundation they can use to undermine the Sister's cohesion. I'd expect if we were to leave them be, they'd shatter back into their original states soon enough."

"Thirdly, Dorne finally capitulated into the Seven Kingdoms, this lowers the worth of the Stepstones in the eyes of the Essossi greatly, a big contributor to their wealth, especially for the Triarchy, is buying Dornish products and selling them to the rest of Westeros at a significantly higher price, this avenue for them is gone, so they would be much more reluctant to hang on to the islands."

"And finally, they firstly lost the islands to just the naval power of the Velaryon House and their dragons, along with Prince Daemon's support and... his leadership. Do not be mistaken, that combination made for a formidable force, but if his Grace were to express his intention to retaliate using his authority as King, then the Triarchy would expect the opposition of not only a house and a prince, but seven kingdoms chomping at the teeth to partake in the glory of war."

 While people were staring pensively at the prince in reaction to his speech, Otto focused his attention to the King.

Viserys was clearly agreeing with his sons opinion, and it was true, he does make a valid point. His initial argument about Essossi self interest spoke to his attention to broker a peace through indirect methods. 

He will just have to think of a way to turn his plan to his advantage.

"Excellently put, your Grace. But if we were to use your arguments as a basis, what would be the correct method to deal with the situation?" Spoke Beesbury.

"Well, I am not experienced in such matters, but I'd think we should make a show of force, we need to put the Triarchy in a precarious position while offering them a way out that is advantageous to our interest. Let's send missives to Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh beseeching them to send an envoy each, to represent the Triarchy as a whole, and to come to peaceful resolution to the Stepstone's problem. We could also send envoys to send for representatives of other Free Cities, Braavos and Volantis perhaps? To increase their unease."

That is an interesting solution, it would not only allow the Targaryens to take charge of the Stepstones instead of Corlys, but it would allow them to use the negotiations to not only influence the trade with the Free Cities, but they could also use it to push the flow of Essossi gold to those they deem favorable.

The Prince is quite adamant in balancing the power between the Blacks and Greens, pitting them against each other, he clearly had the ear of the King, more so than Otto, so it should be quite easy to convince his Grace into ending the conflict at once.

He did this previously by leveraging the Dornish conquest into empowering the marcher houses and securing their allegiance through bethrodals and favors, weakening House Hightower's hold over the Reach.

And it is quite clear that he wants to do the same again, Corlys was resolved to conquer the Stepstones due to the wealth he'd be able to amass with its strategic location despite the headache that comes with it, and he was right, because the amount of ships and gold he loses in securing the islands is overshadowed by the amount he gains through the tariffs enforced by those same ships.

And again, the conquest of Dorne would serve as another linchpin to this plan of his, as the Seasnake would be way more amenable to giving up his hold over the Stepstones when there is another almost equally profitable venture in Dorne, one that comes without any of the complications associated with the former.

"I believe that is an excellent plan." Answered Tyland, his eyes lighting up in excitement, he clearly realized the same thing as Otto, only he wasn't as good as hiding the fact.

"I concur." Agreed Grandmaester Mellos, looking at the King. "It is an idea that could work, assuring peace without any bloodshed, your Grace. And as the Prince had said, if they were to refuse to negotiate, your Grace could still wage war on the Triarchy."

Viserys looked at his hand, and so Otto just nodded in assent. It was clear that he already made his mind, but the King often wisely consulted all his advisors before making a decision.

"This seems like a logical solution, I want you all to prepare for the event, I need a list of envoys to send to the Free Cities, after the allegiance ceremony of course, choose people with previous experience in dealing with Essossi entities. And I'd like to make a more detailed plan over the coming days." The King fidgeted with his ring. "If there is nothing else, you are free to leave."

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"Father. Sister."

"Gwayne." Answered Otto.

Alicent just nodded in response.

Otto poured a cup for his son while he sat down, a slight upturn on his lips.

"All things are well, I hope?" He asked.

His son just sighed, he seemed exhausted as of late, the Prince's new position put him in charge of the Gold Cloaks, which put him ,as the Commander of the City Watch, in a precarious position.

 "It is work." Answered Gwayne.

"I hope the Prince isn't making your life much more difficult than it should be?" Interjected his daughter.

Otto couldn't understand Alicent's antagonism toward her step son, admittedly, the circumstances of his birth were strange to say the least, and he was always eccentric -if not intelligent- in his behaviour, but that doesn't explain the illogical claims of evil birth.

Maybe her late mother forced too much holy matters in her upbringing, but he couldn't fault her for that, never.

"That is what vexes me so, sister. There was no signs of any sort of animosity from the prince, he didn't chase out any of our men as long as there wasn't any evidence of any wrongdoing."

"And did the same for Daemon's lickspittles..." She remarked.

"Yes, however, he did double our numbers and filled them almost exlusively with his men, former Purple Cloak veterans who participated in the war at Dorne." Gwayne's hands shifted to his eyebrows. "They are a respectful lot, they listened to orders and did as their jobs untailed, but they brokered no corruption nor crime, and I have no choice but to side with them even over my own men."

He turned to Otto. "We are visibly losing trust with our people, Father. I don't think I can keep them on our side for much longer."

Otto's took a sip of his drink. "That is to be expected, these men have outlived their usefulness anyway. The Prince has put us in a corner, we must get rid of the chaff and keep those that are more agreeable to the new changes."

His son just nodded.

"What about Larys?" His daughter, impatient as always, interjected.

"What of him?" Answered Otto.

Alicent looked almost offended. "He kept us abreast of the happenings of Kingslanding and the Seven Kingdoms! What are we to do without his information?" 

If it were not so infuriating, Otto would have laughed at his daughters face. Her bringing in that man in order to gain some semblance of independance was allowed if only to placate her, but he hadn't anticipated her reliance on the clubfoot.

"He was but a creature grasping at his betters like ledges of a ladder, thinking himself some rendition of Lann the Clever, he is -and was- of no import." He mindlessly stroked his beard. "Although his connections on the... darker side would have been useful in this situation."

Otto had his ways of gathering information, mainly through his connections with the higher class, he was all too much of a public figure to associate with such people, and having a person capable of consorting in those muddy waters was quite useful.

But their power always lay in their traditional legitimacy and the many alliances gathered through generations of planning, such a setback could barely be called such.

"I do not know how the Blacks will react, but we must distance ourselves from the matters of the Prince at all costs, he is in an unmovable position that gives him much more freedom than we do." And the fact that he has the King's uncontested favor was left unsaid.

His daughter's face twisted in displeasure at the mention of anything related to Rhaenyra. "I heard Corlys' was oft too preoccupied with the inclusion of Dorne, they are much too busy to care." She commented.

"As they should." Responded Otto. "Dorne is the most important matter at the moment, the Blacks may have an advantage in mercantile matters but we have our own means to take advantage of the situation." He shifted his gaze to his daughter. "The Dornish procession is to come in a few days, you are to ingraniate yourself with them, make a good impression."

He then looked his son in the eye. "You are still unmarried, I believe it may be time for you to do so. There are many options, so I will alow you some measure of choice, but I will need a decision, understood?"

Gwayne seemed unwilling to do so, but he nodded nonetheless. 

"The coming events are to be crucial, so I need the utmost caution in how we proceed, we cannot allow the Seasnake and his ilk to grow too strong." He finished.

Knowing untirely too much that it is exactly what the Prince wanted.