A Piece of Peace
Peace settles into The Vale, and I'm a little astonished that I've managed to keep all of my holdings through that nightmare (except for The Paps, of course). I take a breath, and then get to work. I change the succession laws back to primogeniture, so my firstborn son Nobbrick will inherit all my titles, because this elective succession thing has just been one huge headache. I hold a feast, attend a tourney, and witness a few weddings. I even have a fling with a knight from my court, Ser Walace. Everyone seems to have a decent opinion of Daisy: all her children, her entire council, and the new Queen. It's an odd feeling.
Some excellent news follows. It turns out my Master of Coin has been stealing gold, apparently for years. I empty his pockets and find I now have enough money—finally—to build a real city on my lands! It'll be a new holding and a better tax base than anything else I've got.
King Addison of the Iron Throne drops dead. This usually signals a massive war as everyone disputes the claim of the heir, in this case, Queen Cerenna Falwell. For the life of me, I cannot even track down who she’s related to that might give her a line to inherit. Neither can anyone else, apparently: she’s quickly imprisoned and a new King is named, Maric, another great-grandson of Robert Baratheon.
I decide to give my three sons landed titles so they can be my vassals. To Nomordrick, the youngest of my sons, I give Pebble. I give Needrick Sunset Keep. And, I give the newly built Wycliffe City to my heir, Nobbrick. I’d like to give something to my daughter Nondonna as well, but apparently the laws won’t allow it, so I decide to marry her off to Lord Paramount Steffon of The Reach. He lives on The Paps, so at least she’ll be close by. As long as some of my DNA is on that island, I guess it's not a complete loss.
The important thing is, I’m back sitting in Scarle Keep in Wycliffe, where this whole thing started with my great-grandfather Ninedrick, and my pleasant and agreeable children are spread out over the rest of The Fingers. Everything seems to have been tied up nicely!
And that’s when the Vale once again goes to war. It's Queen of the Vale versus Lord Steffon, my brand new son-in-law. And it's a war over The Paps. Again. It's a bit awkward in that I'm supporting my queen against my daughter's husband, and a bit scary in that The Iron Throne is on Steffon’s side.
This could get ugly.
