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Chapter 20 - Changes
🕑 Added 2025-06-02 21:22:48 +0000 UTCStorm Kingdom
Storm’s End
9 BAC
Argilac watched as Garrin entered his solar, pale and twitching, with sweat gathered at his brow. Dismissing the Maester, he poured a cup of wine for the man. Garrin had to take it with both hands since he was shaking like a leaf in a storm.
Argilac had an inkling what happened.
“Argella, I mean Princess Argella.” The future good-brother of the Storm King started his speech, jittery as he stopped to correct himself.
“My King, she, your daughter, is not normal.” Lord of Nightsong realized his mistake; however, King Argilac took no problem with it.
“No shite Garrin, she is brilliant as a star.”
“No, not that. She did something to me; I felt like I was dying. I don’t know how to explain it.” Garrin drained his cup and then took the pitcher without permission, hoping the sweet wine would stop his shaking.
“Ah, that.” Argilac leaned back, choosing to ignore his future good-brother’s actions, as he understood what the man was going through.
“You know it?” Garrin put the now empty pitcher down, wiping his mouth.
“Yes, I felt her fury as well.”
“Is she a sorcerer? or something else? The lack of storms and the trees, it must be all her work.” Garrin was too busy to wonder why there were no storms, but now, it all made sense to him. Nobles and smallfolk thought it was the Seven showing their favor to Princess Argella, while in truth, it was the girl herself responsible for it.
“Argella said she wasn’t a sorcerer.” Argilac was both curious about the truth and dreaded hearing it, so the Storm King did the only thing that made sense to him and didn’t ask.
“And you believed her?” Garrin’s disbelief was evident, wondering what in the name of the Seven his king was thinking.
“Why would someone who can bring a person to their knees without even lifting a finger bother to lie? What if she is a sorcerer? Am I to kill my own daughter? No, no matter what she is, Argella is my daughter, and you will keep your thoughts to yourself.” Argilac wasn’t going to let anyone tarnish the reputation of his daughter, even if that person was the brother of his future wife.
“So, what did you say to her?” Argella had scared him as a warning when he confronted her for the disrespect she had displayed and tried to curtail her freedoms. So Garrin must have done something special to have felt Argella’s fury.
“I insisted that she sell the cure to the Free Cities, regardless of their stance against slavery.” Garrin still did not change his opinion, but he wasn’t going to say anything to the Princess about it ever again.
“Just that? Because I know my daughter well enough, and Argella wouldn’t get angry over you being insistent.”
“I may have called her childish.” He admitted, grimacing at the way Argilac narrowed his eyes. The aging Storm King’s fury may not have been able to match his daughter’s, but it still was a terrible thing to face.
“Seeing as my daughter already dealt with your punishment, I won’t do anything further, but Garrin, if it happens again, me breaking the betrothal with your sister will be the last of your problems.” Argilac warned, leaning forward to glare at Garrin.
It was one thing to save his life; it was another thing to insult his daughter, and Argilac wouldn’t stand for it, no matter the person.
“Don’t worry, my King, I don’t think I can talk back to your daughter again.”
—
Oldtown
The Citadel
The Conclave of the Maesters had gathered to discuss the recent events in the Seven Kingdoms, specifically, the Storm Kingdom. Princess Argella’s inventions were impressive, and though the Citadel had a hard time acquiring any knowledge on the inner workings of the machines, their effectiveness had proven to be unquestionable.
Greyscale outbreak had caught the entire continent by surprise, and the Citadel had scrambled to find a solution, only for it to become a moot point due to Princess Argella.
“Princess Argella’s discovery of a cure for Greyscale was unexpected.” Archmaester Kalım , the most senior healer with several silver links, was fascinated by the news, less so when the Maester they had sent over to test the cure reported that the leaves had no effect on other maladies. Still, that such a disease had been cured was definitely worthy of earning a place in history books.
“If I remember correctly, weirwood leaves have been tried as a cure before, yet they had no effect. The purple trees are more than just a change in color.” Archmaester Conley was the historian of the Conclave and was getting old enough to be replaced soon. Many substances had been tested, and while the ones with caustic properties showed effectiveness, there was no true cure for Greyscale until now.
“Rumors claim it was Princess Argella who created the mutant trees with magic.” Lakon’s Valyrian Steel links glinted in the light, his thoughtful frown making the wrinkles on his face become more apparent. After the Doom of Valyria, the Citadel considered magic to be dead, yet the events following Argella Durrandon’s birth could not be explained any other way, bar divine interference.
“While impressive, the cure pales in comparison to her, what did they call it, ah yes, the Iron Works. Weeping Town produces more steel and wrought iron than Lannisport. And her paper-making machine has severely damaged the parchment sales of Oldtown.” Yorick was the youngest of the Archmaesters in the Conclave, and had been brought to his current position due to his talent with his sums. By their estimates, if the current traction of the Storm Princess’ success continued, the Storm Kingdom would be a very wealthy kingdom, rather than one of the poorest.
“What has the Maester of Storm’s End had to say?” Archmaester Luden kept records of the Conclave, and rarely spoke, but this required everyone's voices in his opinion.
“Princess Argella explicitly forbade him from sending any of the manuscripts to us due to our refusal to give her the books she requested.” Archmaester Gavel , responsible for the rookery and the one in charge of handling the most critical communications of the Citadel, shook his bald head, as Maester Larry seemed more afraid of Princess Argella than any reprisal from the Citadel. He was the one who wrote the refusal letter to the Princess years ago, and since the young royal sent no letters after that, it was obvious they would not be getting those manuscripts easily.
“Hmm, perhaps we could strike a bargain with her?” Seneschal of the Citadel, Tagon, finally spoke after listening to the arguments. The wealth gained by the Storm Kingdom due to Princess Argella’s genius might be impressive; however, they were the Citadel and would not go begging for knowledge to a girl barely a sliver of their ages. They would try to see if a good bargain could be struck, but if not, then the matter would be closed.
“We have nothing of value to offer for her machines, save perhaps the Valyrian glass candles.” Lakon knew it would never be accepted; however, his purpose was to see if the Storm Princess actually possessed magic, and bringing the glass candles near her was a sure way to check.
“Should we consider granting her access to our library in return for the manuscripts?”
“Considering will not be helpful, so perhaps we should send a letter to the Princess?”
The Conclave continued until sunset, as several more matters were brought forward.
—
Storm’s End
Lords of the Storm Kingdom were as impatient as they were prone to solve their problems with violence.
The construction of an Iron Works in her grandfather’s lands and the promise of Power Looms for Blackhaven had the remaining nobles speeding up the infrastructure construction in their respective lands, all the while queries about what boon they would receive flowed like a flooding river.
Ei had other matters on her mind, specifically, plans for a grand library in the Storm Kingdom. First, a faster method of copying books was necessary, as she would convince her father to pass an edict that all books the foreign merchants had brought would be rented with coin for a few days, with the price depending on the value of the book.
Books would be copied and sent to the library she would be building near the Storm’s End. Weeping Town would be the obvious choice due to the trade the town received, but with the Iron Works and the paper machine, it would be too much power in the hands of one lord.
So the library would be built near the Storm’s End, and books from every settlement that traded with the Storm Kingdom would be gathered there, open to all citizens of the kingdom for learning, including with reading lessons sponsored by the royalty to increase the literacy rate.
After that, Ei would need to build a press, mass-press books, build more libraries, and eventually, public schools.
Which all required funding, meaning she had to continue her efforts to grow the economy.
For now, she was going to mass-produce ink and build a typewriter.
—
“Princess, may I ask what this contraption does?” Maester Larry asked, inspecting the small device. It wasn’t like the massive paper-making machine and had buttons with letters and punctuation marks.
Rather than explain, he watched as Princess Argella sat on the chair and began to press the buttons, and he watched with wonder as the arms inside the machine pressed letters into the paper with clicks, while the piece of paper slid to the left after each letter.
When it was at the end, the Princess just pushed the top of the machine to the back, which raised the paper a bit higher to write on the second line.
She pulled down a small lever, releasing the paper from the machine, and handed it to Larry.
“This is a typewriter; I built it to increase the speed at which a person can write.”
The letters were simple, uniform, and easy to read, and the writing was faster than what any literate man would have written at the same time.
With this, the Citadel could copy books in days, rather than weeks, and could be a great addition to their endeavors when it comes to gathering knowledge, but there was the small problem of Princess Argella being wroth with the Citadel.
—
King’s Solar
Typewriters were delicate and required a mastery of working with smaller parts, which not many artisans had, except jewelry makers, and making a typewriter wasn’t exactly their field.
So, Ei had to make the small machine herself.
Ink, seeing as it was mostly used by the nobility, was not produced anywhere in the Storm Kingdom and was mainly purchased from other sources, mainly the Oldtown and the Free Cities.
Which was about to change, as she had commissioned the start of an ink workshop in the lands of House Morrigen of Crow’s Nest, along with another paper machine and several jewelry workshops, as the first two would mostly be used for her own projects, and profit would be low.
All that was left was to convince her father on the matter of mandatorily acquiring and copying every book that entered the kingdom for a small fee as compensation.
“You want to take books from the merchants and visitors? Why?” Argilac might have been drunk, but he wasn’t drunk enough to just pass an edict like that.
“I intend to copy the books and build a grand library to increase the prosperity of our kingdom.”
“If you say so. Do as you wish.” Argilac shrugged, pressing his seal on the letters, which would be sent to the relevant trade places, along with the typewriters and scribes.
He was sure Argella knew what she was doing.
“So, Beric, you were saying?” The Storm King resumed his conversation with the red-haired lord of Griffin’s Roost.
“As I was saying, the woman was something to behold, for a smallfolk. Had really great tits, though the husband looked like a goat’s arse.”
Argella furrowed her brows just as she was leaving, wondering what the noble was talking about.
“What is he talking about?” Had the noble, who was married and had children, cheated on his wife and was gloating about it?
“He is talking about taking his right as a lord.” Argilac shook his head. Really, what were pleasure houses for?
Argilac watched his daughter frown, and she walked back to his desk, standing before him, obviously displeased.
“I thought that disgusting and degrading tradition was not practiced anymore and was merely a leftover. Father, I insist that you ban this act immediately.”
The right of the first night wasn’t really practiced anymore in the Seven Kingdoms, at least, not as much as it used to be, but it still was prevalent. However, it was an old tradition, and the lords might not appreciate their freedoms being curtailed.
“Princess, they are just smallfolk; they are lucky that I even took interest in them.” Beric Connington said, face flushed and drunk with wine, which revealed his inner thoughts, as otherwise only the foolish nobles would speak in that manner, lest they incite rebellion in their own lands.
Argella’s face became hard as stone as all traces of emotion left, and Argilac knew something was about to happen.
His daughter grasped Lord Connington by the collar, and launched him at the wall.
No eleven years old girl should be able to throw a grown man like that, much less lift him.
Argella was no normal eleven-year-old girl, and she proved it once again as the Lord of Griffin's Roost slammed into the wall and fell down, knocked out.
The wall, which was sturdy enough to withstand the fury of the storms that battered it for thousands of years, had spider cracks across it. Argilac sobered up immediately, looking at his daughter with a gaping mouth.
"I won't insist again."
The following day, the right of the first night was banned across the kingdom on the pain of death.
