[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
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Thrid Person POV
Westeros, 295 AC.
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While Jon and his men would remain on their boats in the coming days, the raven sent by the Florahart family finally saw Highgarden in the distance, flying towards the place. Meanwhile, there were two eagles playing in the sky above that space. Jon wanted to see where his hosts lived and saw a large city full of trees and forests, with the Tyrells' huge castle with large gardens and a vast area filled with trees like a small grove for the local nobles.
Jon was surprised to see a heart tree there, but he should also know that as a family oriented towards that, it would be normal for them to have a sacred tree along with their collections planted on their lands.
What caught Jon's attention was not just the large number of people walking around the place, while servants and knights attended back and forth with large families surrounded by nobles entering and exiting Highgarden, but the huge number of tents positioned next to the site, there were at least 300 tents.
'So this is the tournament... let's have a look...' Jon thought as his two eagles went to a huge site that had been set up for the games among the nobles.
Meanwhile, the raven with the Florahart message landed softly on the maester's tower. "What is this..." The maester, responsible for filtering all messages, took the scroll from the raven's feet and began to unroll it.
"This is curious..." He said, taking a blank scroll and writing another letter with a raven from the citadel, he placed it on its feet and sent it flying to notify the order that Jon Artica is in Oak Garden and wanted permission to come to Highgarden.
After watching the raven head southwest, he returned to the scroll he received and began descending the raven tower, going to see his lords, heading to a special room where Olenna liked to have her tea often alone.
He approached the door and saw that Lady Olenna was arguing with her son at the moment.
"You want to use all of our best wine for all the guests, don't be foolish, waste it only on the great houses, you fool!" Olenna snarled at her compulsively ostentatious son.
"But what will they think of us?" Mace argued, unable to meet his mother's eyes due to always being intimidated by her.
"Sometimes I wonder if you really came out of me..." She murmured. "The lesser nobles serve only to be our vassals, we need to worry about pleasing houses like the Tarlys, Redwyne, Hightowers, Oakhearts, Fossoway among others, small vassals, we don't need to worry about spending too much from our coffers." She complained.
"But mom..." He spoke, but was immediately cut off.
"Enough! Stop being so foolish and leave if you're going to waste my time." She said, asking him to leave. The famous and portly Mace Tyrell, leader in name of the house, had to lower his head and withdraw with his mother dismissing him.
She returned to her tea at the table, while her face continued to be covered with a scarf removing her frontal part, after all, she had her own style.
As soon as Mace opened the door, he encountered the maester with the scroll in hand, but he didn't care, which could not be said of Olenna, raising her gaze.
"Enter maester... I hope you come with good news, especially about the northern fleet, I heard their ships freeze the sea, do you believe that?" She asked in her unique and bold way. He ignored the man who was supposed to be the head of the family, and entered to see the real head behind the Tyrells.
"I do not know of this, my lady. But I know they are in a coastal city at this very moment." He said, already aware of how thorny this woman's tongue could be, making her raise her eyes to that.
"Oh? That seems quite interesting, let me see." She said and took the scroll from the maester's hand.
She took it calmly and unfolded it, while she quickly read its content and cracked a smile. "It seems our guests have finally arrived," she murmured. "And, as I imagined, they want to negotiate. This is good," she spoke, already aware of the good business opportunity the Martells managed to get.
To her, this bastard was not just militarily powerful, but also rich with innovative products. Thus, wanting to enrich herself, she nodded in satisfaction as she turned back to the maester. "You may leave me alone. But ask a servant to call my granddaughter and my eldest grandson, since we will have a long conversation here," she said with a smile.
He nodded and began to exit, leaving his lady alone and finding a servant who could call Lady Margaery and Lord Willas. The castle was bustling that morning like the last few days, after all, there was a tournament happening calling everyone within reach and Highgarden was receiving many important guests while the hosts had to give attention to many of them or the most important guests.
Olenna was silent for a while looking at the scroll on her table, until the door opened with Margaery entering wearing a red dress with some roses printed on it, leaving her granddaughter impeccable.
"A queen as always..." Olenna said with satisfaction as Margaery curtsied with a smile and laughing.
"Thank you, Grandma!" She said approaching and sitting down after adjusting her dress.
"Great, now let's wait for your brother to arrive so we can have a little chat." She said and it didn't take long for the door to open with Willas appearing dressed appropriately to represent Highgarden as the future heir, as he walked with his crutch, an accident that happened with Oberyn Martell many years ago in a jousting dispute.
"Very busy with our guests?" She asked her grandchildren, as Willas sat next to his sister.
"Grandma..." Willas greeted her before continuing, "It seems they all decided to show up this morning." He commented.
"The melee happened yesterday, it's normal for them to be busy..." Margaery commented and looked at her grandmother. "Why isn't Loras coming... He never missed a tournament..." She asked dissatisfied.
"That must be because of a man sailing the waters of Westeros." She commented.
"The Artican fleet?" Willas asked.
"Yes, I've heard dark news coming from Stepstone, the sea has become a graveyard for pirates, there are wrecks all over the place in some areas of that place, possibly pirates tried to attack the 50 ships going north, but all were destroyed, fascinating, isn't it?" She commented, as Willas's eyes widened.
"Isn't that worrying?" Margaery murmured.
"Of course, it is, that's why Loras isn't here, the news already reached the capital, Renly Baratheon had to remain in the capital while they discuss about the fleet, without Renly, there's no Loras, you know that..." She clarified.
"I understand..." Willas commented.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Anyway, I called you here because I received this, we have guests waiting for us at Oak Garden." She spoke and showed the letter with the news from the coast.
"A part of the Artican fleet docked on our lands... I know it was in front of the citadel some time ago," Willas commented, reading the news and knowing the reports that the maesters had passed on to Lord Hightower, which he talked about yesterday.
"Yes, they landed with 10 ships in that small town and are waiting for our response, to visit us," she commented with a small smile. "And we will take this opportunity to do business, as they wish." She said calmly.
"Can we receive them in the middle of the tournament?" Margaery asked curiously.
"Obviously, my granddaughter. After all, they are very rich people we cannot refuse, after all, money is money, no matter where it comes from," she said, with a smile for her granddaughter.
"It won't be a problem, but how will the others react to this, they are people from beyond the wall and serve the old gods. I don't care much about that, but our guests... This tournament gathered many people..." Willas spoke cautiously.
"It doesn't matter what those fools think, we are before the opportunity for House Tyrell to enrich itself and create great business. Ice has become a big trend in the south and it's cheap. We won't turn it down just for an opinion of these fools," The Queen of Thorns commented.
"But how are we going to treat them? Even if they are rich, we can't simply treat them as if they were one of the most important houses, like this Redwyne or Hightower," Margaery commented. "He isn't a Stark Bastard?" She asked.
"You're right, my Margaery, as always, very clever and will be an even smarter future queen," Olenna commented with a satisfied smile and continued, "But that doesn't matter, after all, we may not treat them as a great house, but we will be quite accommodating and treat them well. Bastard or not, he brings wealth. He may be a Bastard in lands that freeze any man's balls, but he is a rich Bastard," she commented.
"What should we do when they are here?" Margaery asked again, as Olenna looked to Willas this time. "Well, we'll treat them like any noble. Let's get along and welcome them, but I want you to pay attention to finding out everything about this Artica and even how they eliminated the pirates at sea, seems quite useful..." She commented and continued. "Try to get closer; after all, he may be someone important in his land beyond the wall, but still is your age."
"Yes, grandma." Margaery responded.
"Yes." Willas said.
Olenna nodded before continuing. "I've heard that Arya Stark, who everyone said was kidnapped, is with an astonishing beauty. Let's see her first, maybe a marriage or an engagement with the Starks isn't a bad idea, depending on what this Jon Snow is like." She said, "Though I wished it was the older Stark daughter, Sansa, after all, she has a great chance of marrying a prince," she commented, as Margaery lowered her head and her grandmother touched her with her hand.
"Don't worry about that, you will be queen, no matter what happens, even if we must eliminate whoever stands in our way, don't worry." she spoke with a smile, while her tone was firm, seeming determined to do what she was saying.
So the small meeting had ended, as Willas went to the maester and asked to write to Oak Garden, authorizing Jon Artica's coming and went back to talk to the guests, after all, the archery competition would begin in a few days and then the joust, the main event.
A raven was sent again to Oak Garden, heading towards the Coast for a few days until it arrived at the location, while Jon spent his days training with his men, but not leaving the ship, since he had to wait a while to receive a response. However, he already had a good look at the tournament places, but with no games during these days.
Today, the raven landed at the Floraharts' mansion. And it didn't take long for a servant to approach the ship, calling Jon with some soldiers and informing about the response from the letter.
"Finally!" Arya shouted wanting to escape the boredom of the last few days.
"Yes, let's get ready. Men, attention, gather all the merchandise and supplies! Prepare for the trip, we're going to the capital of this Kingdom," he spoke, while the trade ships moved at the same time, preparing to depart, while a part of the men would stay at the location to protect the merchandise of the ship.
As the giants finally began to disembark at the port, leaving everyone stunned, now seeing giants for the first time on firm land. The curious only saw a glimpse of them walking through the ship, but seeing at least a dozen of them walking through the place made them wonder if they were dreaming seeing men of 4 meters armored as happened in Dorne.
They began to prepare large shipments with Artican products to offer to the people of this kingdom. "Finally, we'll see these southerners!" Tormund shouted joyfully.
"Shut up, Tormund, do you want to offend people here quickly?" Spoke a dwarf.
Jon organized his entire trade company while mounting an extra wolf, which was among the animals, since he no longer had Ghost to ride. He proceeded ahead along with his wife, sister, ministers, and royal guards, while all his people walked right behind with dwarves, giants, and Artican men.
The whole city stopped to see the group passing through the place, starting to follow to the east of the city. Jon didn't even bother to say goodbye to the Florahart family, with Jon already knowing they were a bit hostile towards them. Despite the beautiful words of the woman, her eyes always shone saying that they were welcome there. So, he left the city without greeting them.
After conducting an initial inspection as soon as they left the city before hitting the road, the Artican group quickly organized themselves. A large line of Artican warriors with wagons was responsible for carrying their products in the middle of the group along the road. The giants were at the front of the group, and there was a set of mounted warriors behind them.
They continued down the road for the rest of the day and were in a forest with the road as they began to emerge into large green fields with grass, fruit trees, and even vast plantations. They continued on this path for the next few days, stopping at convenient places for rest.
On the road, they didn't have any problems, after all, all the men who encountered them on the road immediately became frightened, seeing giants with armor making the ground tremble in front of them, and began to run away, very scared. This wasn't what Jon wanted, but there was nothing he could do about it. After all, people got scared and ran away as soon as they saw them.
After a while, some local soldiers appeared, with some courage they approached Jon demanding their intentions, but Jon had letters from House Tyrell, presenting it because they were authorized to walk through the Kingdom to Highgarden.
The soldiers let them go after that, recognizing the seal, and a group like that, despite having creatures they had never seen, couldn't represent a danger with just that number to an entire kingdom.
They continued on their way for another day until a vast city with vegetation all over the place, beautiful and impeccable, which made Seryna and Arya be amazed, appeared before them.
"I must admit, it's not like Artica, but it certainly has its beauty," Jon commented, despite already being accustomed to this sight seen through his birds in the sky many days ago.
He spoke again before tapping his wolf to keep it moving forward. "Now, let's move on, we have to meet some important families to negotiate," he said, and they started to move forward, circling around the city to not scare the people. After all, they didn't even have streets structured for the passage of giants like their wagons.
"This is a tournament!!" Arya exclaimed next to him pointing towards the distance where there were tents and a large place like an arena set up.
"Yes." Jon confirmed.
"Can we participate!?" She exclaimed wanting to participate immediately.
"We'll see..." Jon commented, as Seryna smiled at Jon, since he hardly ever denied anything to his sister.
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