ASOFAI : House of God

Who would have thought that he would one day have to deal with both a son of House Lannister and a son of House Baratheon in the same day?

Truth be told, Konrad had been warned by Tyrek about such a possibility, after his uncle was not known to be a man who loved to be on the losing side, and that included a ripe nautical trade deal with a new power. That was most likely Tyrion's objective, but judging by what he saw in the past few days, the man was anything but willing to fulfill his Lord father's command, making the young lord chuckle to himself every time he hears his uncle complaining how Tywin would somehow appear out of nowhere to make the deal himself.

Alas like always, all good things have to end one day and so, almost an entire week since he arrived in Volantis, Stannis Baratheon had finally managed to get a meeting with Maegyr, making Konrad wish he could be anywhere but in the city.

If the meeting between the two of them wasn't that important, Konrad knew his father-in-law would have thrown the Baratheon into a cell leaving the man to rot for even suggesting an annulment of engagement between him and Talisa.

Speaking of his fiancé, Konrad had to admit that the more time he and Talisa spent together, the more he started to see her as a good friend than a forced future wife for him. It was still awkward to spent too much time with her alone, but for the two kids, their time together meant quite a lot, as each learned something about the other.

To Konrad's surprise, Talisa's dream hadn't changed at all, and even after his priests, brothers and sisters had started helping the poor and unfortunate people of Volantis, Talisa still wanted to open the biggest hospital in the world where everyone, no matter of background could be treated equally. A noble dream, one that Konrad had to admit like quite a bit.

But going back to the present time, Konrad was currently sitting in front of his father-in-law, who looked like he had just run for many a mile under the scorching sun.

"That Westerosi think he can do whatever they want just because he is related to that useless piece of metal, they call throne!"

Konrad listened to his father-in-law's rant with an unnatural calm demeanour, uncharacteristic for a nine name days boy.

Beside him, Tyrek, his chosen uncle and the best swordsman Konrad knew, was silently standing, not saying anything, but only a fool would ignore the expression on the man's face. Tyrek was loyal to Konrad, and had sworn to protect him with his life. And while he would never move against someone without a very good reason, Konrad knew that his uncle was eager to start cutting down some idiots as message for the Iron Throne that his nephew was not going to become their pawn, something that Konrad was happy to agree to.

"Father-in-law, I'm sure Lord Stannis only said what he was told to say, hoping that you would be more inclined to break my engagement with Talisa in Favor for Renly Baratheon."

Maluquo drank a whole cup of wine before cursing Stannis, ranting about how the man's brother, despite being older than Konrad, was only known for being a lord paramount and nothing more, unlike Konrad who had led men in battle, at such a young age.

"Renly Baratheon is no one worthy of become my son-in-law. He has never fought a real war, nor faced a real enemy. He is nothing but a pretty boy living the dream of many young boys. Even my son, has more experience in the field than him and yet, that Baratheon believe I would trade you over for that pretty flower? I'd rather die than accept such a deal."

"Lord Maegyr… I left Westeros years ago, pledging my sword and life to Konrad, but even I heard stories about the king, even his younger brother Stannis has some experience under his belt, but I have never heard anything about the boy. Yes, he was still young, but… despite everything, my young lord over here is a proper example that age doesn't matter every time when preparing for battle."

The triarch took a few seconds to think, before turning his head towards his son-in-law. "What do you suggest I do then? This can't go unpunished and not even you could stop me from giving them a piece of my mind."

"I never said that we will not retaliate, but we will have to be smart about it. That means no one has to die, but it doesn't mean they won't get injured. Lord Stannis, however can't be injured, neither can Lord Tyrion or any Lannister men for now. The plan would be simple, with a small but elite team of our best fighters would sneak inside the ship and kidnap lord Stannis, but rather than taking him anywhere in particular, they would just leave him in the streets in the middle of the night tied up. That should suffice as a warning for him and his King brother."

What Konrad hadn't said was that this would also be a message to his father: Try to do something like this again and there will be hell to pay.

"Do you think that would be enough?"

"To shed the blood of that man would make the Iron Throne our enemy and no matter how much I want nothing to do with that throne, we can't afford such a war."

"Forgive me for saying this, but we won't be able to kidnapped him either then."

The triarch's face turned red with anger as he heard Tyrek's words. "What do you mean we won't be able to kidnap him? Are you afraid of a few guards and a wooden boat? Are you telling me that you and your fancy knights, can't handle a single man?"

Tyrek shook his head calmly, trying to reason with his lord's father-in-law. "No, my lord, I am not afraid of anything. I am telling you that it is not worth the risk. Lord Stannis is not a fool. He will have his ship well guarded and protected. If we try to sneak in, we will be spotted and attacked. If we fight our way in, we will cause a commotion which will end up with men dying. Either way, we will draw unwanted attention and provoke a response from the Iron Throne. They will not take kindly to us violating their envoy and their laws."

"Laws? What laws? They have no authority here. This is Volantis, the first daughter of Valyria."

 "My lord, I do not doubt our strength, but I question how we will resolve this if a war breaks out. Militarily speaking, we could beat anything Westeros throws at us, but at what cost? More than 70% of the goods in the city are acquired through trade. Trade with Westeros, trade with the Free Cities, trade with the Summer Isles, trade with the Jade Sea. Trade that depends on peace and stability. Trade that would be disrupted and destroyed by a war. A war that would ruin our economy, our reputation, and our future. Is that what you want, my lord? To throw away everything we have built for a petty revenge?"

In the end, the Lannister's words won against the triarch's pride, making Konrad realize just how stupid his plan had been. It would have worked, he had no doubt, but the cost would have been too huge for him to bear the blame.

"Then what do you suggest?"

Rather than answering Tyrel turned and looked at his young lord, who by now should have realized what his uncle wanted to do.

"An even bigger show of strength. I will gather all of our fighters and have them camp outside of the ship, building some small catapults just to put some pressure on Stannis. We won't do anything, but this should show him that we do not take kindly of such schemes here in Volantis."

Luckily for Konrad, his father-in-law found this idea appealing and so he agreed to put this in practice.

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