The scenery at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush was pleasant enough, and dish after dish was brought to the table, but the faces of those discussing affairs were grave. Some great matters were settled over a meal.
There was thick barley and venison soup, chilled beet, vegetable, and plum salad sprinkled with crushed nuts, and snails simmered with honey and garlic. There had also been roasted trout, but with wildfire and corpses having fouled the Blackwater Rush, no one had much appetite for fish from the river. After that came sweet bread, pigeon pies, baked apples fragrant with cinnamon, and lemon cakes dusted with sugar.
Gendry tasted everything in turn. He was the strongest man present, and naturally he ate the most. In this age, being able to eat heartily and fight fiercely was part of a kingly bearing, so the lords thought nothing of it.
"Do you know Ser Alliser Thorne, the envoy the Night's Watch sent south, Lord Mace?" Ser Barristan Selmy, Captain of the Kingsguard, asked Great Lord Mace Tyrell.
"I know him. He is a man who survived a lost war," Mace Tyrell said with a nod, dressed in a green velvet coat. The riverside was open and beautiful, but cooler than King's Landing. "Everyone knows his background."
There was a certain discomfort in Mace's words. In truth, he had also been on the losing side in that war years ago. Highgarden had barely managed to preserve its strength by staying on the margins, but House Tyrell had been shut out of the center of power in King's Landing for more than a decade, which was why they had been forced to seek another path and place their hopes on Renly.
At the mention of that war, Eddard could not help glancing at Jon. In the darkness, he had once told himself he would reveal the truth to Jon. But now, he suddenly felt that perhaps an ordinary life was a kind of blessing. The more he said, the more harm he might bring to Jon.
"Alliser was once a knight of House Thorne in the Crownlands. He fought for House Targaryen during Robert's Rebellion. He was one of the garrison commanders of King's Landing. After the city fell, Tywin Lannister gave him and Jaremy Rykker a choice between death and taking the black. Both chose The Wall," said Great Lord Stannis Baratheon, wearing the Hand of the King's chain. He remembered these old matters clearly.
"As I recall, Alliser had no sense of humor, was quite sharp-tongued, and did not get along with young lads, but he never struck me as a liar. And even if he had lost his senses, Lord Commander Mormont would not have." Ser Barristan continued.
"If what Lord Commander Mormont and Ser Alliser say is true, then it is terrifying. Alliser said the Night's Watch found two rangers who had been missing for a long time. By the time they found them, they were already dead. But the corpses were dreadful, pale and cold, with blackened hands and feet. Lord Commander Mormont ordered the bodies brought back to The Wall for study, but those corpses came back to life. One killed Ser Jaremy Rykker, while the other tried to murder Lord Mormont. It was Samwell Tarly, that boy, who saved the Lord Commander's life. Mormont's sword cut off one of the corpse's hands," Great Lord Stannis Baratheon said solemnly. He had been one of the first to accept such unnatural things, because the red priestess had preached to him early and told him many epics of the war of ice and fire. Besides, Stannis had truly seen dragons and the weeping sword, and that itself was a sign.
Randyll Tarly's face twitched despite himself. Courage, from that son of his? How could that be? Randyll had only given up after trying countless times. Ever since the red comet, the world has grown stranger and stranger, Randyll thought.
"The dead rising? Wights appearing?" Mace looked around at the others, whose faces were all very serious. "Forgive me, my lords, but are we truly supposed to believe in such strange tales?"
"What if they are true?" Gendry asked Mace.
"If they are true, then we must defend The Wall. The Reach is far from The Wall, but for the future of the Seven Kingdoms, the lords of The Reach are still willing to do their part. Still, stories of wights and the Long Night have been passed down to this day, yet no one has seen such things in a thousand years. What the Night's Watch claims is simply too unbelievable." Mace glanced at Gendry and immediately changed his tone.
"Where is Ser Alliser now?" Randyll asked.
"Ser Alliser has returned to The Wall. Tyrion treated him fairly. He allowed him to take some prisoners from the Red Keep's dungeons, and since King's Landing was in famine at the time, a few starving fools went with him as well," Great Lord Stannis said.
"Winter is coming, my lords," Eddard Stark said. "If the Long Night falls, the Night's Watch will be the only barrier defending the realm and holding back the dark forces sweeping down from the north. If we are not prepared, the result will be dreadful."
"Lord Eddard, your burden is heavy." Gendry looked at Eddard. "Autumn will be short, and winter will follow. If history is any guide, winter and summer mirror each other. A long summer means a long winter. The last long summer lasted about ten years, so this winter may last around ten years as well."
Winter and the Long Night were things many of them had not truly considered. Now Gendry had to impress this idea upon these great lords.
A ten-year long winter, or an even more terrifying Long Night, would at least break the record of the past thousand years in Westeros. The longest winter in the history of the Targaryen conquest era had lasted perhaps five or six years, at the end of The Dance of the Dragons, from 130 AC to 135 AC.
Mace felt the horror of such a long winter, while Bronze Yohn thought of the ancient legends.
Eddard nodded bitterly. "If so, The North will face pressure from several sides. First is the harsh long winter. We must feed so many hungry mouths. In the past, The North has always stored grain in preparation for winter, but the winter will be long, and I cannot be certain how long we can endure. Only my ancestor, the Old Man of The North, Cregan, ever faced a winter of five or six years. In those days, the people of The North suffered so badly that they sold their children, or even sold themselves. This winter, together with the darkness crossing The Wall, will be far worse than that last long winter. Second is the defense of The Wall. Even putting aside the strange things Old Bear spoke of, if the King-Beyond-the-Wall alone leads a hundred thousand men south, I will have no choice but to raise a great host and meet him in battle. Third is the Ironborn. I do not believe they can last long. The Ironborn cannot endure winter, especially since Prince Gendry has already warned us about them."
Roose Bolton listened quietly without saying a word. With Eddard present, Roose seemed to return to being a low-key, transparent figure, the shadow of the Warden of the North.
"The situation may become as bad as Lord Eddard says." Gendry rubbed the Valyrian steel ring on his finger. "Perhaps even worse."
Stannis curled his lip in displeasure. "My brother spent his life eating, drinking, and chasing women, and left this mess for us."
"The long winter will be long indeed, and it goes without saying that winter will batter The North. If snow begins to fall in King's Landing as well, that means at least half of Westeros is under winter's shadow, and that will be truly troublesome. Winter means many mouths crying to be fed," said Selwyn Tarth, the good man. Selwyn was rather detached, but his mind and judgment were sound. Mainly, he had only Brienne left as his heir, while Tarth was wealthy and kept apart from most affairs, so he had little desire to take risks.
"The Vale will be affected too." Bronze Yohn nodded. "North of King's Landing, there is The North, the Vale, the Riverlands, and the Westerlands. Perhaps the Stormlands, The Reach, and Dorne will fare a little better. If the Old Gods and the New are merciful, they will not let snow fall on Oldtown and Sunspear as well."
"My lords, this is our true enemy: the winter and the Long Night, and the war against them. Before the winter and the Long Night, Tywin, Volantis, and Lys are all small, no more than ants and dust," Gendry declared. "That is why the Seven Kingdoms must unite, along with the territories in Essos that I can control."
"Prince Gendry, Lord Stannis, and especially Lord Mace. The Reach is not only the granary of the Seven Kingdoms, and Great Lord Mace is now also Master of Coin. Your duties are heavy, and The North needs your help," Eddard said earnestly.
"This..." Mace felt his vision go dark for a moment. These poor beggars from The North looked as if they had come to ask for money and grain again. Seen that way, his position as Master of Coin felt more and more like a pit. Everywhere he turned, someone was reaching out for money. King's Landing needed rebuilding, winter needed preparing for, and future wars needed funding.
"The horn has sounded. We must provide enough aid to the Night's Watch, and to The North," Gendry promised. The lords nodded as well. The North was a line of defense. If the northerners allowed wildlings and those strange things through, disaster would follow.
"With greater power comes greater responsibility, Lord Mace," Gendry said to Mace, whose expression was bitter.
"That is true. Though the task is difficult, I believe I can overcome it," Mace said through gritted teeth. Perhaps the battlefield was not his stage, but he had already decided to spend his next spring on tax ledgers and grain reserves. If this truly was the Long Night, he might yet become the most important Master of Coin in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. Even if Mace himself could not manage it, he could always drag his sons in to help with the calculations.
Great Lord Stannis said, "We have won a broad victory, but we have also taken on a great responsibility. Now we must prepare for winter on one side and war on the other."
"Granaries, grain, roads. The road ahead is long. These matters are tedious, but there are precedents to follow," Ser Barristan said. "Build storage granaries at the ports, and prevent grain from being exported. But the news must be handled carefully. If we announce it too suddenly, we may provoke panic among the people again."
"We must also discuss Harrenhal," Gendry said. "House Whent is nearly extinct, and when the war began, they surrendered to Tywin."
"Lady Whent is only an old woman," Eddard quickly said. "And at the time, Tywin had twenty thousand men."
"That may be so, but Lady Whent did hand over the castle," Stannis said. "The other Riverlands lords mostly collapsed beneath Riverrun."
"But..."
"Enough, Lord Eddard. You may not know this yet, but Lady Whent has now surrendered Harrenhal to the Iron Throne as well. She is a grieving old woman, and the Small Council will not make things difficult for her. Harrenhal brings only sorrowful memories. In return, the castle will now be placed under the Small Council's administration," said Bronze Yohn Royce, the Master of Laws. This was the position they had all agreed upon. In winter, Harrenhal's location would be even more important.
"In truth, it will be our logistical hub going forward," Great Lord Stannis said plainly. "After all, it is Harrenhal."
Ser Barristan's feelings were complicated as well. After all, a certain Whent had once been his brother in white, back when the Kingsguard had truly been a dream team, the strongest of white knights.
Eddard nodded and said no more. Winter was coming, and people had to let go of some things.
Strictly speaking, with House Whent nearly extinct, the children of Hoster, as distant kin of House Whent, could in fact make some claim to the inheritance. But now, with Edmure having performed so poorly, what could he possibly demand from King's Landing?
As the final touch, the golden wine that was served carried a lovely flavor.
"To the Storm!" Mace said.
"To the Storm!" Stannis said as well.
Eddard drank it all in one gulp. At last, it no longer tasted like wood shavings mixed into wine. He was drinking good wine again, and that felt like life returned to him.
The oppressive, tense mood from earlier vanished. Even with winter coming, this grand feast was still something to be enjoyed first.