Chapter 23: Deliberate Tides
109 AC, The Narrow Sea
Laenor stood on the Galleon’s deck, staring at the endless sea around him. In his hand, he twirled the iron coin that had been gifted to him on his first day in Braavos. By every sense of the word, the trip was a widely successful one. He had met with the Sealord and convinced him to participate in the scheme to destroy the Triarchy. He had also managed to convince the Sealord to join his porcelain enterprise for the next few years. It was not as much as Laenor could have made, but it was a guarantee that the young Velaryon would not have to worry about any source of gold for any of his projects, so long as he continued his shipments of porcelain.
In fact, with just a single shipment, which had been worth millions of gold dragons, he had become wealthier than most lords of the realm, and over the years, he could foresee himself rivalling some of the greatest lords of the realm, a wealth that was completely independent of his father. Of course, he would need to make sure that he wouldn’t saturate the market and not sour the relationship that he had just forged with the Sealord, but there was a sense of freedom in the fact that Laenor would not need to rely on his father’s gold for his project.
And thus, given that Castle Driftmark was his fortress, by virtue of the lordship that he earned in his father’s tourney, there was very little that the man could do to stop his projects, not without overreaching in a way that would allow the royal family to do the same to the affairs of Driftmark.
Laenor would finally be free to do what he wished, to bring some beauty into this world. It was a victory, a great one at that.
Yet, as he continued twirling the iron coin, he realised that it didn’t feel as good as he thought it would, as his mind was preoccupied by the conversation that he had that ended with him receiving the coin in question, a conversation with an assassin of the House of Black and White, a conversation with a Faceless Man.
He had felt utterly defenceless before the assassin, one who seemed to know more about Laenor than Laenor had himself and spoke entirely in riddles.
For years, Laenor had felt as if the world was… not what it should be. He thought it was a strangeness, one that was entirely his own, but for every moment since that realisation, he wished to have his questions answered. Why was he the only one who felt like this? Why was he so different? Why… Why… Why…
The questions were endless indeed, and he held no answers, and yet, he knew instinctively that they lay in the Faceless Man’s words. Find the questions and peer into their truths…
That was what the assassin said, and Laenor couldn’t help but feel that it was utterly absurd. How could it not be? If he could peer into the truth of questions, that was the same as finding an answer. And why would he need to find questions, for he had many… Far too many…
Yet, the words would not leave his mind, and they had not for the remainder of his time in Braavos. Aside from a few trips to the Iron Bank regarding the deposits to his account, as well as arranging that a substantial part would be delivered to Driftmark, paying far too much for the delivery and its guarantee, but that was much better than the risk of delivering so much gold himself.
But aside from official trips, Laenor mostly stayed in the inn until the merchants had finished their affairs and had returned atop the Galleon, his trip to Braavos being soured by the words of an assassin. Even his desire to go to a play had been stifled by his obsession in trying to untangle them. It was a shame. He had loved every single part of the city. The architecture and the art, especially, but also the innovation.
The people were also… kinder. It was hard to put into words, but they did not have the glimmer of ruthlessness in their eyes, one that existed in that of every Westerosi smallfolk. This ruthlessness existed because they constantly needed to survive, unknowing of how much time would pass before their next meal, and thus, were willing to go to great lengths to ensure their survival. It was something that the average Braavosi did not have to suffer through, and something that Laenor wished that one day, the people of Westeros would not have to suffer as well, as unlikely as that might be.
With a sigh, he returned the iron coin to his pouch. His thoughts were in disarray, and he knew that he would make no progress regarding the Faceless Man’s words. Instead, he took out a small piece of parchment, which he quickly nailed atop a wooden canvas to stabilise it, grabbed his silverpoint, and continued the sketch that he had begun since he left Braavos.
Normally, Laenor would have preferred his dyes. He loved using colours extensively to show certain emotions and the like, but he could not. For one, the movement of a ship would ruin any wet paints, but also, Laenor was a known painter, and he did not wish to risk being recognised by anyone as a painter in a Velaryon merchant ship. There was something beautiful in the precision that he had using a silverpoint, something raw in the fact that every line on the parchment was filled with minuscule amounts of silver that enhanced its beauty.
He continued drawing and had not even realised that Joffrey had come closer, looking at what Laenor was sketching, speaking up, “Even when I believe that I’ve witnessed all of your talents with a brush, you still manage to surprise me, Laenor.”
The young Velaryon turned towards the source of the voice, recognising it as the one belonging to his friend, Joffrey Lonmouth: “I do try my best not to disappoint.”
“What is it of?” Joffrey asked.
“The Merling King. I thought some good fortune would benefit us all,” Laenor answered, though that was not entirely the truth.
He had felt drawn to a statue of the Merling King in Braavos and found it to be quite similar to the painting that he had gifted to his father before he went on the Campaign in the Stepstones. Ever since looking at the statue in question, he had felt the urge to draw or paint it. He would have normally waited until his return to Driftmark to do it, perhaps even make it a painting that would be hung in his new castle, but as his mind wandered and his thoughts turned cloudy, he simply took out some parchment and began to draw.
The result had turned out to be quite striking, despite the lack of colour. If anything, the lines seemed to almost bring out some… otherness, divinity, perhaps, in the face of the deity, or at least, his interpretation of it. With long wavy hair and eyes that almost seemed brimming with a hidden storm within, carrying a weight that had only emerged in very few of his paintings.
This time, he was not afraid. In fact, he embraced this weight, refined it every day with his silverpoint, to the point that at this moment, he barely did more than retrace the lines that he had already drawn to pass the time.
Joffrey snickered at that, “Another gift to your father?”
Laenor snorted and shook his head, “No. I think I will keep that for myself.”
They remained silent for a moment before Joffrey spoke up, “Are you well, Laenor? You have been acting strangely since you met with the Sealord. Did he attempt to force you to do anything?”
There was a bitterness in his friend’s voice, one that Laenor understood. Joffrey had come to Braavos as his protector and thought that he had failed in doing so, as he was too tired when they arrived because of his discomfort at sea. He thought that something must have occurred with the Sealord that unsettled Laenor, despite the fact that it was the interaction with the Faceless Man that made him feel subdued, enough that Joffrey definitely noticed, as much of his excitement regarding exploring Braavos had waned significantly since then.
He had obviously done his best not to speak of the subject while on Braavos, mostly as a security measure in case someone overheard them and realised the fact that the Sea Snake’s son was in Braavos and ripe for the taking.
But now, it seemed that Joffrey’s patience had run out, and Laenor sighed, “The meeting with the Sealord went well. Worry not, for you have not failed in your duties, my friend. I simply have much on my mind, a peculiar problem that I am seeking to solve.”
“Would you be willing to share it with me? Another pair of eyes on the problem could help, couldn’t it?”
Laenor hesitated for a moment before answering, “It is something of a personal problem, one whose rewards I will only reap when I find its answers myself.”
Joffrey looked dejected at Laenor’s refusal, but that did not change the fact that while the other boy was his friend, he had no intention of sharing what happened to anyone. For one, he did not know if he could actually explain his problem in the first place without sounding mad.
Joffrey had seemed as if he wanted to say something, up until one of the sailors spoke up loudly, “Captain! Ship on the Horizon!”
The Captain of the Galleon quickly followed his sailor’s gaze and took out his Far-eye. The Sea Snake had ensured that every Galleon’s captain would have one, all of them made from glass forged in Castle Driftmark. Lenses were surprisingly tricky to get right, but they were very effective.
Laenor followed by quickly taking his own Far-eye from his pouch, likely a much better model than the captain’s, and he looked at it, freezing as he quickly recognised the sails of the ship. They were black, signifying one thing: “Pirates…”
He had not known that he had said it out loud, but he could see Joffrey stiffen beside him, especially as the possibility of an impending fight. Still, a Galleon was much faster and much larger than a single pirate ship, so the possibility of trouble, while still existing, was still relatively on the lower side.
Laenor immediately cursed his thoughts as he heard the sailor yell out once more, “Another one, Captain. Black Sails.”
He immediately turned and saw another pirate ship in the direction that they were heading, and thus the realisation began to form. He looked around, and his feeling of dread intensified with every moment.
In almost every direction was a pirate ship, six of them in total, to be precise. Enough to box them in. Enough to force a fight.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Laenor muttered, “So much for a quiet return…”
Next to him, Joffrey stiffened and asked, “What is it?”
“We’re surrounded,” Laenor answered with a hollow tone.
The captain must have realised what was happening, calling for the guards and crew to arm themselves. Some of the sailors rushed to adjust the sails and prepare the scorpions mounted along the sides of the Galleon. The fight was inevitable, and honestly, Laenor was not sure that they would come out victorious.
Joffrey hissed in realisation, “How did they know of our presence enough to set up an ambush? Did the Sealord betray us?”
It was a possibility. This ambush was well-coordinated, too well, in fact. After all, while some pirates would randomly attempt to reave a handful of merchants, they would not dare to attack a Galleon because of its sheer size and speed. The resources needed for such an attack were also vast, so that left pirates hired by the Triarchy; there were quite a lot of them in the Narrow Sea in recent times, far too many, in Laenor’s opinion.
No, the Sealord would not have revealed Laenor’s presence in Braavos. He had more to gain by continuing their partnership. But who could it be?
No… If he was betrayed, then he would find out who was responsible later, but for now, he had to concentrate on surviving what was coming. He tried to steady his voice, though he wasn’t sure he succeeded. “That doesn’t matter, not now, at least. For now, Joffrey, we need to prepare. Go wear your armour, and I will do the same to my own. It seems that we have a fight ahead of us, and by the gods, we need to be ready for it.”
AN: This story is still relatively new, so if you'd like me to continue it, please let me know in the comments what you think of the rewrite so far.
As for this chapter, I felt I needed to slow things down a bit between what happened in Braavos and what's coming. It'll be pretty important, and I'm revealing a few things in it, so I'm really looking forward to that.
As I said before, I am planning on uploading more of this story (outside of normal uploads). I have a bit of a backlog of chapter drafts for this story that I’ll try to go through when I can. As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this chapter depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.