(Lord Osric Stark POV)
--------------------------------
Three Days, that was about how long Osric had spent on Bear Island providing them the means and methods to safely mine Lyrium, Dimeritium, and Depleted Promethium. The good news was because the Depleted Promethium was in ore form, it was inert, no fear of it being depleted or Volatile. Also unlike the usual Volatile Promethium, from what his dreams told him until Magic had truly died in the world, Volatile Promethium would absorb and generate magic. But it was strange that Promethium was in ore form at all, because it was actually supposed to be an alloy.
Nevertheless, he'd provided House Mormont the means and methods to mine it as well as Dimeritium and Lyrium. Today was the last day he'd be spending at Bear Island on his trip because he planned to go through the Bay of Ice and travel through the New Gift pass by Queenscrown, and then travel to Last Hearth. Smalljon was looking forward to seeing his kin again, and there was talk of Lord Rickard or one of Torrhen's brothers heading to Last Hearth as well to ensure that their eventual trip to Karhold was quick and safe.
Whatever the truth was, they'd find out soon enough. Osric did not particularly enjoy feasts, he preferred to hunt more than feast. And when he and his boys caught something, he preferred to cook over an open fire in the wild. A passion for Hunting and Horses was probably about the only thing he shared with Theon Greyjoy.
He didn't so much hate Theon as he just tolerated him. Theon was Robb's best friend, but when his memories surfaced and so did his blessings, it was hard to reach equilibrium earlier. So Theon stuck with Robb mostly.
At any rate, the venison on Bear Island was quite good, just not quite spicy enough for him. Whenever he visited White Harbor, Lord Wyman made a point of spicing the meats. When Winterfell prospered, he'd be heavily importing Spices from Dorne.
The hotter the better.
Not that he'd shame House Mormont by demeaning their cooking. Especially since he'd made a decision on who he'd marry to Waymar. When the time came, Joffrey and Cersei would die after their father, Robb by that point would marry Arianne Martell, Sansa would marry Waymar's Brother Andar, and with a bit of negotiation, Waymar and Andar's sister Ysilla would marry Harrold Hardyng, uniting Jon Arryn's true heir with House Royce, and reuniting House Royce and House Stark. Waymar would be given Moat Cailin and he'd marry Dacey Mormont, to strengthen the ties that bind. As Lord of the Causeway and his right hand, Waymar would form House Royce of Moat Cailin and hold dominion over the Crannogmen Houses, House Flint, and the Houses of Cape Kraken. Depending on how things went, Bran, Arya, or Rickon would be given the land of either Sea Dragon Point, the New Gift, or Stony Shore. This of course meant reclaiming the New Gift from the Night's Watch, but he'd make a trade with Lord Commander Mormont.
Stony Shore itself would serve as the primary western dock of the North, serving as the place of drydock and shipbuilding to the west, and Sea Dragon Point would exclusively handle the shipments from Bear Island to Winterfell, Lord Wyman would handle the shipments from Last Hearth, Karhold, and Runestone.
There was something else hidden beneath Stony Shore. Something that would be vital to finishing Basilica and his blades. The creation of the new forge would be a massive undertaking, luckily most had already been acquired it was just a question of whether or not he'd be able to convince Tywin Lannister to invest in the project.
He needed approximately a million Gold Dragons, but he'd go for two and a half. Because if he could get two and a half million gold dragons from Tywin Lannister before the War, then that gave him an opportunity to truly fuck over House Lannister.
For the moment though, he would enjoy this hearty meal from the Mormonts. Dacey was pretty enough, but he wanted a Rose...
--------------------------------
(POV Shift: Lady Dacey Mormont, Heiress of Bear Island)
--------------------------------
Lord Osric had invited her to Winterfell, to help facilitate the transfer of Goods from Bear Island to Winterfell. Her mother had all but ordered her to accept the offer. The Rills and Barrowlands were already sending shipments to Winterfell and Deepwood Motte was sending wagons of Pine Nuts for some reason.
So it was that knowledge that led to the fact she was now part of Lord Osric's trip to Last Hearth. From what she'd gathered, they'd take a ship through the Bay of Ice, to the Gift and travel to Last Hearth.
After that it was Karhold and feom then on she wasn't sure.
--------------------------------
(POV Shift: Lord Eddard Stark, Warden of the North)
--------------------------------
He probably shouldn't be surprised.
But Tywin Lannister had arrived ahead of expectations and wished to see Osric. What Tywin hadn't expected was that Osric was not in Winterfell and wouldn't return soon. An arrangement that didn't particularly suit either of them. He didn't like Tywin, and Tywin had a low opinion of him as well.
But...
A guest was a guest, and Guest right had been offered and accepted. So until Osric returned at least, the Warden of the West would be a Guest of House Stark.
By the God's he could not wait until Robert got here. If only because Robert would find a way to improve his mood as only his oldest friend could do.
--------------------------------
(Author's Note:)
--------------------------------
Shorter chapter than I planned because, again, contrary to my plans this is the chapter in which we close out Bear Island. I had hoped for at least three chapters of Bear Island, but I had a rough three days prior to this. Seriously this concussion is a big problem, I won't get into it because honestly its not worth the mental exhaustion. Just know its a very severe one.
Anyway I'm hoping to get a little bit more than two chapters out of Last Hearth, but with this concussion I just don't know if thats possible. Anyway next Chapter we will see Last Hearth and House Umber.
--------------------------------
Join my Discord via this invite link:
--------------------------------
Thanks to Mitchell Howard, David Martinez, ROGUE505 Saver, Mathew T Linderman, Luck George, Kyle Diano, Julien, Morgan Sinn, Tom A, Nicholas Berenguer, Arimar26, Robin Kristiansen, Dragon emperor87, Vlone_Icy, Daniel Setchell, James Fleming, Zero 12995, Spencer Davidson, Rowdy_Rich, James Lloyd, reikon aijin, Beastmode2003, Birhaledin, Blood For The Blood God, Dymarkus Tillman, and Lorra Thorsdottir for their support on P-atreon.
And also a big thank you to Cody, Luci Alarra, TJ Cruz, Kunta, Availon90, Gavin Barclay, Dragonslayer29, Jacarya Robinson, Nathan Just, Francisco J Guzman, Axlii, Reece Hutton, Ken Harris, Zeldris Wrath, Duy, lonelynib _, Austin, D3EATH707, Cutler1812, Aleksander_402, Lewis Wilson, Profound Magician, Arzard, HxC 740 VxD, Attila Kovács, Ruby Uzumaki, Mudit Chadha, Maciek, Joao Goncalves, Dwhateverprof, Jibreel Kamal, Luis, Luis, Zeca, Bent, Jason, Solus 1994, Evil King, Manuel, Benoit Valtin, Craig Butler, Joseph Brann, Cristobal Ahumada, Nathaniel Lessord, GGbeejee, Trey-Way, FisherKing711, Calvin Ellis, adrian szydlowski, and Robert Hernandez for their past support on Patreon.
The next Chapter is currently available on my relaunched and rebuilt P-atreon, to access simply search the following link, but without the dash between the P and A, Two tiers with the same benefits but different contexts. The chapters on P-atreon will be published when the chapters following them are done and dusted and ready to publish over here on this site.
p-atreon.com/TheRagFromTheCragCorner24