It took one month to get from old town to Sea dragon point. The land was sparsely populated, littered with ruined keeps and circles of weirwood trees. It wasn't much to look at, not yet. Jon had spent the time they were traveling to subtly reshuffle his companions minds. He couldn't create new memories or feelings but he could enhance what was already their, their honor to fight for him? Their loyalty to house Jotun, however small it may be? All was shot up sky high. It was a long process. Meddling with the mind to much and you risk breaking it. A few minutes at a time however, over the course of a month, that could create strong emotions, strong enough that he didn't feel the need to hide what he could do. So, when they found a ruined keep near the coast, a big one, he turned to his companions and spoke, with a voice of authority, "This is where our new life will begin. I am about to show you something inconceivable. You may find it troubling but fear not, I am a merciful lord, I won't turn on you what I am about to show you unless you truly break my trust and know this, I will know when you do. I see all. Now observe!"
He raised his hands into the air and closed his eyes. He envisioned a castle with a town around it, a big one. He let magic flow through his veins and alter the world around him. Stone walls rose from the ground, houses, streets, stairs and a castle that would inspire greatness. When he was done, he opened his eyes and they stood in the middle of the great hall of his new castle. His companions were stunned, gazing out the arches onto the city beneath them. Maester Alfred looked at him as if he was a god, clenching the valyrian steel link on his chain, "Magic… has returned"
"No, it is just me, so far. But that all will change very soon"
"What do you mean milord?"
"I saw it in my dreams, the magic will return one day and with it comes a war that we cannot afford to lose", He smiled, "Go on, you are the first citizens of Snow's edge. Down there is the craftsman's district, for the blacksmiths, stone masons and so on. Over there is the guards headquarters. I will show you around"
They spent the next days just exploring the empty streets. The people that came with him claimed houses as their own and they constantly welcomed new additions to the city. Every few days, a new group of smallfolk would come, drawn in by the new structure. Jon introduced himself to the small villages on sea dragon's point and his city grew. He brought with him the new, cold resistant rice plants, with the modification of growing faster. Outside the city gates, in the water rish lands, countless rice farms were planted and within the walls, he planted fruit trees. He created gold mines underneath the city with his magic, which attracted miners from other lands.
In a flash, six months had passed and they had developed a routine within the city walls. Justice was upheld, trade was done and there was even a port, which began drawing in the attention of the other houses of Westeros. Barrowtown was amongst the first to start trading with them. Sea dragon point, was full of resources. Even without the gold mines he had artificially created, there were plenty of sought after wood types, oak, ironwood, birch, mahogany and -with a little nudge- the citizens of Snow's edge had even figured out how to create sake.
Jon was sitting in his solar, going over the taxes he had started collecting. He didn't need to pay any to the crown yet but still, the numbers were important, so that he could keep track of what was in his coffers. Sake had recently found its way down to king's landing and the king himself has requested for ten barrels of it, which he had anticipated, the ship to take them would be arriving in a month, that would be roughly a hundred golden dragons for something that cost barely a few silver stags to produce. He wanted to be a well liked lord, so he let the brewers keep a tenth of the sales, so that would be 10 golden dragons, more than enough for each of the brewers to feed themselves and their families for multiple months, maybe a full year if they rationed it out. There were a dozen brewing masters in Snow's edge. He didn't worry about the recipe leaking out, for Sake you needed rice and sea dragon point was one of the few locations with the right terrain to grow it in large quantities. He had a monopoly on rice and therefore, one on sake as well.
He set down the papers when he heard Maester Alfred rushing into his solar through one of the secret entrances hidden behind the large, bronze mirror on the wall. He pushed it open, holding a few rolls of paper in his hands. The young maester combed through his golden curls with his hands, "I know you said you wanted to wait, milord but the marriage proposals just keep coming. I can't keep dodging them forever. I have sorted them on the order of who is least likely to betray you once they know your real identity"
That's right, Alfred knew the truth. He needed someone to talk to about it and the maester was immensely loyal to him, he made sure of that.
"Okay, who are our options? Only the ones who are not likely to betray me to the crown"
The young maester put away some of the scrolls, putting three on the desk, "These three are from families that had sided with the Targaryens and are most likely still loyal. First is Desmera Redwyne, you made quite the impression on her during that tourney 7 months ago, she is your age and the Redwynes have the largest fleet in westeros, a very promising candidate. Lollys Stokeworth is the-"
"Lollys, really? I heard she is as dimwitted as a common whore and she is also nearly 15 years my senior, no thank you", Jon cut him off. He had met Lollys briefly during his stay at king's landing. She tried to seduce him after he was made lord of sea dragon point. Too old for him and also not his type. She was on the chubby side. He could appreciate a curvy woman but Lollys was not curvy, she was just fat.
"Well, then that leaves only the last, Lyanna Oakheart, a girl only one year your senior. The oakhearts are an old and powerful house"
"Hmmm… Oakheart or Redwyne? When I need to get Dany over to westeros, I'll need ships… send a letter to lord Redwyne, I will accept his proposal"
POV: Catelyn Stark
Catelyn watched as Arya read the newest letter from her bastard brother.
She had thought, even hoped that when he left for south, he wouldn't return and would instead just vanish from their lives but no, the gods played a cruel trick on her. Now he was a lord of the north.
'Glorious purpose', yeah, as if. All that would be glorious would be his death.
She knew that Arya hadn't stopped stealing axes from the armory, she kept on practicing with them and now, she even wanted to travel to snow's edge to show the bastard how 'great' she was at it.
Snow's edge, his little city… they say he built it in one day… nonsense.
No person could build a city in one day, that was a power reserved for only the gods.
Likely, he had built a rudimentary structure within a month or two and expanded rapidly after that. A good team of stone masons could create a castle within six months. It likely was much smaller than the reports told. People loved to exaggerate these things. Maybe he even found a half built stronghold from the first men and rebuilt it. That could explain why it was so big in the tellings. Either option was as likely as the other.
Though one thing was sure, if she had anything to say about it, Arya would never go to that bastard lord's city.
"Milady, Lord Stark has requested you to come to his solar"
"Yes, I'm coming", Catelyn stood up and walked through the halls of winterfell, which radiated heat from the hot springs it was built upon. She had been in the solar a great many times, so she knew the way. When she entered, her husband was smiling at her, "Catelyn, come in, come in"
"Yes, my dear, what is it?"
"Glorious news, Jon is set to be married next year and he has invited us to the wedding"
A lump formed in Catelyn's stomach. This couldn't be happening!