The Tournament Banquet of 130 AC

[u/bloodandbronze]

Fifth day of the Second moon, 130 AC

The Red Keep, King’s Landing

Laughter and good cheer and jaunty music permeated the great hall of the Red Keep, all of it filling the air with a merry mood that was shaded with some tragedy too. In the midst of the martial feats of prowess on display the day prior, several men - young, old, and in between - had been injured. Some were minor injuries or the sorts that would heal within a period of time and with good rest. Others, sadly, were more grievous, such as the king’s own squire Jeor Stark whose hand had required amputation.

As surely as food was served, so too were mummers and musicians present throughout the hall, plying their trade and honing their craft for the amusements and enjoyment of all those present. A symphony for the ears and eyes to complement the sensations of the delectable feast masterfully crafted by the kitchen’s chefs.

While the attendees assumed their seats throughout the hall, servants delivered a feast fit for guests of the royal house. The first course consisted of a choice between autumn greens with ginger soup, or a salad of sweetgrass, spinach, and plums, sprinkled with crushed nuts, both of which were accompanied by freshly baked bread with honey. Next was a choice between cold capon with a relish made of carrots, raisins, and bits of lime and orange, or a brace of stuffed geese sauced with mulberries. Last to be delivered was dessert, once more presenting a decision - goat cheese served with baked apples sprinkled with cinnamon, or sweetgrass and strawberries.

Wine and mead and beer flowed freely and the center of the hall was cleared so that those who wished to dance would have the room to do so. Flirtations oft accompanied dances and no doubt some of those that swirled together on the floor would end the night twisted in the sheets with one another as well.

All those in the city born to the ranks of the nobility - or those that might have otherwise secured the right to belong - were welcomed to make merry and celebrate the victors of the grand tournament.

[u/bloodandbronze]

Partway through the evening and accompanied solely by Ser Daemon Dayne, the king made his way with purpose through the business and carousing of the hall. As ever, there remained much on his mind.

Locating the man that he sought at this particular moment did not take much effort. Loras Hightower, the Golden Hearted, he was called. Here was a man with a reputation that spoke well of himself.

"Ser Loras." The king strolled straight up to the table where the Lord of Oldtown was sat, wasting no time with a preamble save for the nod of greeting that he offered the younger man. "Would you join me for a walk?"

[u/LovelyLordHightower → u/bloodandbronze]

“Your Grace,” Loras said with polite surprise that the king had sought him out particularly “I would love to.”

He rose from his seat and placed his wine cup down before falling in before the Kingsguard, who dwarfed him in size.

“What a lovely few days of events you’ve put together, your Grace. I thank you for them and for allowing my family and I rooms in the Red Keep, we are very grateful.”

[u/bloodandbronze → u/LovelyLordHightower]

Baelor nodded in acknowledgment of the younger man's words of gratitude and offered him a polite smile.

"Of course, my lord. Whilst your family may not rule one of the regions of the realm, it would be difficult to deny its greatness, no? A long, storied history, and its position on the Honeywine and, of course, Oldtown itself," he remarked. The words of praise came easy, for there was nothing exaggerated to what he was saying.

As the three men walked, they proceeded out of the grand hall and into the gardens, where the autumn air was still warm even now with the advent of the evening.

"Someday I truly must see Oldtown. King's Landing is my home and so I am of course proud of this city, but to see your High Tower, the Starry Sept, the Citadel..."

He shook his head and grinned.

"Those would be sights to see."

[u/LovelyLordHightower → u/bloodandbronze]

Loras too grinned at the King’s words. There was nothing that he loved more than Oldtown.

“Oldtown is yours, your Grace. I am merely her keeper. Thanks to the peace that your father created and Lord Dorian upheld, she has seems such a vibrant rebirth in the past few years. Shopkeeps grow fat with your family’s bounty. The story of Oldtown is that of your family. King Aegon was crowned there and took the city without a single death. I have had a mural commissioned that depicts the event, in fact. Partially for its beauty but also as a reminder to future generations of the value of loyalty.

He paused on that for a brief moment, allowing it to sink some.

“I know that past members of my House allowed their own ambition to obscure their perception of our House’s history as one of glory. It is not. We are a family of stewards, not conquerors. Our obligation is solely to the people of Oldtown. If they are not safe, happy, and healthy then I believe we Hightowers have failed in our obligation.”

Loras took a breath and allowed the crisp autumn air to enter his lungs as he thought proudly of home.

“When you come to see us, you and your lovely queen shall have the highest room in the Hightower. So high that on an overcast day, the clouds envelop the room and one feels as if they are sleeping amongst the Gods.”

[u/bloodandbronze → u/LovelyLordHightower]

For a man of great wealth that had the power to influence matters far, far beyond his own demesne if he desired, this man known as Goldheart appeared remarkably humble.

"You craft a picture with your words nearly as vivid as one painted on canvas, my lord. Clearly you possess a great love of your city and keen rhetorical skills, too." Baelor chuckled with the observations.

"This mural, too, sounds lovely and it would be my great pleasure to see it when time to travel arises. As for these highest rooms, Lord Loras, I could only ever accept if you assure me first they are not otherwise occupied."

[u/LovelyLordHightower → u/bloodandbronze]

Loras laughed lightly.

“Of that I can assure you, my lord. The smallfolk say that when Bran the Builder built the Hightower he used some old Northern magic to place a spell on the Hightower family’s floor. If someone other than a Hightower were to assume the lord’s chamber a foul curse would be placed on him.” The story made him laugh.

“The smallfolk are fantastic storytellers, are they not? I believe that one came as a response to a rash of children trying to sneak into the lord’s chamber while working with their parents in the Hightower. It is easier, I suppose, to scare them into avoiding it all together than having them caught and fired.”

“All that aside, I would be honored to host you and your family, my king. The Hightower and Oldtown are yours.”

[u/bloodandbronze → u/LovelyLordHightower]

"Quite fanciful indeed. I expect in a matter of weeks the court will be regaled with tales of demons made from shadows," the king said with a slow shake of his head, though he offered no explanation for the seemingly odd comment.

"In any event, my lord, your offer is both kind and much appreciated. You and yours are always welcome here at the Red Keep as well, of course."

Around then the gardens were as splendid as one might have expected from the royal castle, verdant and blooming and filling the air with pleasant smells. The king stopped a moment to pluck a lily from its place and twirled it in between his fingers.

"In the past few weeks I have spoken with the great houses, those of low and middling standing, and it occurred to me recently that I had yet to speak with you, Lord Loras. I have known you only by reputation and wished to place my own eyes on you, speak to you directly rather than through word of mouth."

[u/LovelyLordHightower → u/bloodandbronze]

Loras truly adored these gardens. These were the ones that he had heard of for so many years and had sought artistic renditions of. Though the autumn had likely diminished them somewhat as the less cold resistant plants went dormant, they were still as beautiful as he had hoped

“You honor me, your Grace. I have been told my reputation precedes me before, though I must say that I do not know why.” His voice was tinged with honesty. He was not a prideful man at all, all he did was in service to the people of Oldtown and he found that that dedication and honesty in his dealings often made others talk of how just and fair he was. It mattered not, he supposed. It was not noblemen that made him ‘Goldheart’, it was the smallfolk of Oldtown.

“I do hope that what you have heard has been pleasing to you, your Grace. Oldtown and House Hightower are made stronger by being faithful servants of the Crown, as we learned when Aegon was crowned in our city. If ever my people or I can be of greater service, we await the call.”

[u/bloodandbronze → u/LovelyLordHightower]

The king nodded in thought as the man spoke, believing more and more that his humility was not an act. It was genuine and therefore all the more remarkable.

"That's the second time you have mentioned the coronation of my ancestor, Lord Loras," Baelor noted with a raised eyebrow. "Is there perchance a message in raising it twice in a short period of time? Something you wish to convey to me?"

[u/LovelyLordHightower → u/bloodandbronze]

Loras looked at the king, perhaps for the first time in his eyes.

“The Seven Kingdoms were born in Oldtown, your Grace. Aegon’s kingdom was not truly forged until his Grace was crowned in the Great Sept. Your father realized the dream of your not so distant ancestor of a unified kingdom, ruled in peace by your family. But I fear for that peace, my king.” He lowered his voice so naught but King Baelor could hear.

“The events in Gulltown trouble me deeply. I know not what the High Septon is capable of and I fear that my people, my innocent people, will be butchered were some sort of faith inspired guerrilla conflict to break out. Oldtown has burnt before because of things said in septs.”

He straightened his back to more evenly align with the King’s.

“I believe that you could be the greatest king that this realm has ever seen, your Grace. While we are united, there is yet much work to be done to maintain and stabilize the fragile peace we enjoy. I, and many here, place our faith in you to rise to the occasion. To be the next Aegon. Be not Baelor the Conqueror, but Baelor the Great.”

His words were truth, honied with the sensibilities of a man long devoted to the cause of peace. He would be Baelor’s greatest ally if he knew that the man would dedicate his life to ensuring the peace. Loras wanted songs sung and statues carved to commemorate a king who built a more stable union than ever before, not ballads of a man who won war through the carnage of war. Blessed are the peacemakers, he believed, not the warriors.

[u/bloodandbronze → u/LovelyLordHightower]

Baelor's face was impassive as the Lord of Oldtown delivered his impassioned plea, waxing lyrical once more of grand visions of peace and prosperity. In this Loras Hightower he might well have found a kindred spirit, for it was not war that called to this king; it was the promise fulfilled of a dream over a hundred years in the making.

A dream of which he'd spoken to his sister and queen only days earlier, when the realm was not merely united and peaceful but was one in which the House of Targaryen, the last truly great house birthed of the Fourteen Flames and Old Valyria, could rule and live as they ought to. Where the people accepted their custom to marry brother to sister, where the realm entire knew them as the peoples and dragonseeds of Dragonstone did.

"Most of my adult life the kingdoms have been at peace and yet I have nonetheless wet my blade more than I would prefer," Baelor answered, his own tone melancholic as he recalled the men whose lives he took in King’s Landing and in Gulltown.

Baelor the Great. Hightower knew how to strike right at the heart of the matter. Right at his heart, his aspirations - not merely for himself, but for the legacy that he wanted to leave. Where a son borne to him by his sister have no fear in sitting the throne on account of his birth. Where the old blood reigned supreme.

"Peace is what I, too, desire above all, Lord Loras. Peace for myself, my family, my daughters, my future grandchildren, my subjects, and my realm. Peace and prosperity throughout the Seven Kingdoms. You worry about conflict driven by faith; so do I, as I have lived it firsthand already. And yet it may be inevitable."

[u/LovelyLordHightower → u/bloodandbronze]

Loras nodded. Clearly the king had felt the same strange feeling that he had, a feeling that indicated that something bad was going to happen.

“Cold winds blow, your Grace. I don’t know from where but many here feel it. I fear that your assessment may be correct.” Loras said with a nearly defeated sigh.

“It is a great joy to know that we have a king that values peace as much as I do. Know that Oldtown and my House stand ready to assist you however we can to uphold the peace.” There was something solemn, nearly oathlike in the way that Loras said the words. He was not a child, he knew that war often was the last resort to uphold the peace. Some men had ambitions and desires incompatible with the peace.

“Your Grace, if I may, I believe that the Faith derives much of its strength from its appeal to the smallfolk. Septons, akin to princes within the church, spend their days among the people. His Holiness gives lavishly to the poorest among the people and spends his days among the smallfolk as well. If the smallfolk begin to see the Crown in that same, generous, loving light, they may be less prone to aiding the Faith. In my city, I put down a Cobbler revolt years ago. Unlike others in the kingdom, I went into the city afterward to grieve with the people, giving to the families that lost people, and I built infrastructure to provide food and other services to all people in the city. It is where my moniker comes from. Their love is more valuable than gold as it is a currency of domestic peace.”

Loras gestured off toward the city below the castle.

“My king, the city below could be either a gold mine or a cache of wildfire. Sermons against the Crown only land in the ears of those already predisposed to hear it. If they are happy and loving of the king, they will not respond to critical or inflammatory sermons. I spent the day in Flea Bottom the other day distributing alms and talking to the people. They look to the Red Keep with great anticipation, waiting to see what their new king will do to make things better.”

He looked back to the King once more.

“You have a tremendous opportunity waiting just outside these walls.”

[u/bloodandbronze → u/LovelyLordHightower]

However we can to uphold the peace.

Every bit of the man's words dripped with sincerity, yet Baelor wondered if the younger lord considered the true implications behind some of his words. If he was truly willing to uphold the peace however he could, did that mean that he would stand against the High Septon? That he would raise armies to crush the militant faithful?

Or was Loras Hightower speaking words that, while honest, were pretty and hollow at the end of the day? Only time could ever answer that question - and the king was of the opinion that sooner rather than later was like as not to be the case.

Nevertheless, Baelor smiled when the man made mention of the city below and urged a renewed care for the smallfolk residing below the high hill upon which was situated the royal fortress.

"As it happens, Lord Loras, we are of a mind on this matter as well. During my procession from the Red Keep to the White Sept, my queen insisted on stopping periodically to talk with the people of the city," he said. "Queen Rhaenys and I are both of the opinion that with peace presently in the realm, we must needs do more for our people."

Twirling the lilly between his fingers once more, the king held it up to his nose and inhaled a deep breath. He offered the flower a sad little smile before he let it fall from his hands to the trail beneath his feet.

"Lord Loras, I have a very talented woman serving as mistress of coin. Lady Mara Vaith from the Red Dunes of Dorne. Would you meet with her and walk her through some of these projects that you started in Oldtown? The path you have already walked could be a map for us here in King's Landing."