All this while, Ronan was actually quite busy.
For one just can't rush art.
And the picture just wasn't going to paint itself.
Especially when it's set on a big canvas like the one he chose to go for.
True painting, the sort that sought to capture every line of a man's face and the very weight of a shield on his arm... well, that demanded time.
Days bled into weeks when an artist tried to etch life from pigments that seemed to want to defy him at every stroke.
The paints available in this backwards world were still inconvenient things... with each batch fickle in color and prone to drying too quickly or not at all.
There were no bright, obedient acrylics and whatnot that stayed where they were laid. None just yet...
Ronan may have developed his art skills early but didn't really put some diligent development on the art stuff itself.
Then again, he also made it harder for himself because he insisted on a realistic style.
Not the type wherein a bird can mistake a painting of fruits over the actual fruits itself... but close enough.
Either way... that was the true thief of his hours.
For every single Order member was tough work. From each of their faces... to what part of their body was exposed during the impromptu posing.
Multiply that by a thousand... a thousand painted figures, each needing their own posture, their own expressions, their own place in the chaos of their awkward poses... and suddenly the task just got much bigger than it should have.
A lesser painter like the infamous Austrian would simply smear odd shapes and call them soldiers. But Ronan wanted the challenge, and that required some investment.
So... so much for the time crunch.
Of course, with every smearing stroke, his proficiency was rising fast, and there was no doubt that Heaven be giving him even better painting skills... at some point.
Chances are that it's speed-related or some shit like a realism art boost.
And that may not be as convenient as cameras and photographs... but it is something.
Then again, this was also just him busying himself with whatever... because of some rather awkward turn of events that was brewing back at home.
And at first, it was just Rhaenyra and her dragon visitations, so he had wanted to hurry on along to handle them as soon as possible...
But midway through this commemorative immortalization process... Jeyne sent some words that she wanted him to read and deliberate over...
And yeah... maybe another artsy excuse was something that Ronan could use as a delaying tactic.
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Granted, after that artwork was eventually finished, much to the praise of those who saw it... Ronan could only face the music.
Most probably... wedding music.
Then again, that didn't stop him from honing another craft.
But instead of blending the colors of the sky and the dull colors of the Littlefinger landscape... this one focused more on the color of bronze.
Or the actual metal of bronze itself.
Cause due to the interrogation of the Redsmiths and the eventual capture of the Tinmen... Ronan now had the foundation to work on the "Royce bronze".
Meaning that magical weapons were almost at hand.
Crafting tools up and then enchanting them... with neat powers and nifty tricks. Through runes.
A little late to start on... but what can he do when he has not much foundation to build up on.
All those carpentry, dog training, and whatnot needed some written and word-of-mouth knowledge to begin with... while warging was more instinctive.
Accordingly, the in-House forgers and forging relatives were just normal blacksmiths... while the ancestral armors were finished but expired products that were too difficult to reverse. Except for their etched runes that were footnotes that he scraped by with.
He had tried, of course... transcribing those runes on newly forged armors, bronze or not.
However, it took no effect, except for when he did so with an unfortunate bleeding mishap... which resulted in something that was unstable and unsustainable in the long run.
But it would seem that that was actually headed somewhere...
As supported by the smithing process he pried from the Redsmiths.
Who worked on copper tools, yes... but instead of them being red-orange or reddish-brown or greenishly oxidized... red was noticeably dominant.
For it would seem that their process had a more notable crimsonality to it... with every heated mold and melding procession being quenched by the blood of their victim.
Which just seemed wrong and morbid as heck.
But from that, it clicked in Ronan's mind...
About how ancient Royce forgers or ancient Redsmiths magicalized their bronze... via forging with blood.
Magical blood, of course. As First Men battling with the Children of the Forest and many ancient magic users for territory... one can easily assume it to be like so.
Supported even more by House Royce's more ancient motto... Run Before Your Blood Runs.
The literal translation of the runes in the sigil. Older and more fierce than the flimsier "We Remember".
Aside from being a boast of cruelty and assured victory... it also just posits their potential knack of hunting for blood.
Sort of like vampires, but not really.
Granted, the clue from the Redsmiths was just one half of the bronze equation. The copper half.
There was still the Tinmen... who was more about crafting with the heart, the heart that they lost. Which is actually just some Wizard of Oz BS that Ronan humored himself with.
For the Tinmen's actual crafting process was more on ritualistic intent.
Hammering away as if they were sinking their thoughts into the metal... into the trinkets they were making.
Which seemed like a whole lot of nothing... especially when he's seen the tin and non-tin stuff they've made...
Aside from the overt passion that was supposedly poured into them, they really weren't anything special.
But Ronan knew better. He knew how skinchanging was the transfer of thoughts... and he experienced the focusing of intent when working with runes.
Traits he's awakened. One after the other.
Out of the two supernatural First Men options that his Royce half could have awakened due to his Targaryen dragonblood... skinchanging it had to be.
So, his ancestors' and the TinMen's prior literally might just be hammering their thoughts into the very malleable tin.
A warg's divisible and versatile thoughts, in these cases.
Perhaps prepping the metal to actually have consciousness... a bit more conscious from being fed with a part of either the soul or spirit… to make it magical.
Maybe to make it receptive of the more intentful runes... runes that were akin to rules and commands.
Of course, these were all speculation until tested... but so far, magical metals really were a pain to produce, if they even were made this way.
One needed the infusion of magical blood... while the other was very Horcrux-y...
Perhaps made much more complicated when it came to the alloying of the actual bronze itself.
Which really made one wonder how the dragonlords made Valyrian steel as well. Was it more complex or actually easier?
Either way, Ronan already had all this speculative knowledge to base on... and even when it could be quite far off... the theory should still be solid.
Solid enough to grind through... and could be made even sturdier with Heaven's rewards...
So... by mixing Redsmith info... and Tinmen know-how... to bronze creation knowledge that he had already... the page should give him ample optimizations and solutions eventually.
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And long story short... the page eventually did.
After reading and reading his bullshits over and over... and way too obsessively... the theoretical "science" was finally in mind.
Like copper-to-blood ratios. Spirit and tin combos. And how to make such bloodied copper and spirited tin fuse altogether.
All that's left were practical applications... and for the first time in a long while, Ronan was actually thinking of getting a dragon.
Only because the beasts were magical blood banks, of course.
Alas, he did not have such access just yet... while his other supernatural enemies were pumping ichor no more... so he may have to make do with his own.
Donating blood... to himself.
And because he didn't want to die from too much blood loss... the produced magic copper should only be pitifully paltry. Much more so when it was to be mixed with magic tin… and alloyed into magic bronze.
By those considerations, it should only be enough to make jewelry.
Maybe he'll even make rings and rune them... for his "betrothed".
Then again, he wanted to go above and beyond... by making...