Chapter 286: A Great Gift and the Inspection Tour
When one party has made up their mind and is immune to persuasion, and the other party holds few bargaining chips to change that mind, a negotiation ceases to have any joy or challenge—usually resulting in a meaningless, one-sided agreement.
Egger had experienced such a setback once before when negotiating the price of technology transfers with Margaery Tyrell. Now, as time had passed, he found himself in a similar situation at the Edge of the World, thousands of miles away, facing another influential female character.
Only this time, he was the one with the upper hand.
Melisandre had misjudged him as the Prince That Was Promised and had come unbidden to offer her aid. Egger, however, was confident in his ability to be elected Lord Commander through his own methods and resources. While the Red Priestess's help was welcome, without her, it would simply mean a bit more effort on his part. Everyone appreciates coal in a winter storm, but if she expected to seize or share his influence and voice in the Gift and the Wall merely by adding flowers to a bouquet, she was vastly underestimating his political intelligence.
Fortunately, the priestess seemed to recognize Egger's resolve—or perhaps she was willing to compromise for her chosen savior. After a bit of back-and-forth haggling, Melisandre ultimately abandoned her third requirement entirely while maintaining her full support. In a way, it was almost an unconditional surrender.
The day after returning to Castle Black, the election continued, and all of Egger's campaign arrangements began to take effect simultaneously. Warner Buckwell withdrew from the race, and his original votes—after a very slight shrinkage—were transferred to Egger's name. Meanwhile, some of the Castle Black brothers who had been wavering and had ultimately voted for Yohn Royce the day before changed their minds and voted for Egger today.
In stark contrast to the Reformist camp, which stood united with a single core figure, the Conservative side—though more numerous—showed signs of internal chaos and a failure to reach a consensus. Yohn Royce hastily withdrew from the election after his one-day tour of the Lord Commandership race, while the two commanders who had made way for him the day before rejoined the fray. To the disappointment of many observers, these two veterans of the Watch still failed to reach an internal agreement, casting votes for themselves as usual. Everything seemed to have returned to the starting point.
But unlike any previous day, the brothers of Castle Black were no longer buying what they were selling.
The first vote after the Chief Logistics Officer's return ended toward noon. Egger, who had charged into the race midway, jumped to first place with over four hundred votes, leading comfortably over Denys Mallister's three hundred and Cotter Pyke's two hundred-plus. The data bluntly reflected the attitude of the Castle Black Watchmen: compared to their peaks, the commanders of the Shadow Tower and Eastwatch had both lost over a hundred votes. The drop for the latter was even steeper—aside from the votes of the soldiers from his own fortress, the number of votes Cotter Pyke received from the brothers at Castle Black had dropped nearly to single digits overnight.
If the voting results were somewhat within expectations, the next few pieces of news—seemingly unrelated to the voting but actually deeply intertwined—took the uninformed by surprise:
Twenty to thirty southern nobles following Melisandre collectively applied to join the Night's Watch. When Egger was in King's Landing and Queenscrown, he had twice rejected criminals joining the Watch... but Commander Mormont had later overruled that authority, meaning no officer of the Watch had the right to refuse anyone taking the black. And recruits like the Queen's Men—nobly born, named, and knight-trained—had always been the most welcomed additions to the Order.
Mormont had once sent the former Master-at-Arms, Alliser Thorne, south to retire in order to groom Jon Snow as his successor. The current Master-at-Arms of the Watch, Ser Endrew Tarth, publicly announced in the afternoon that he would soon begin an open recruitment of new soldiers in the Gift; healthy males under fifty could apply.
Shadow Tower Commander Denys Mallister, after an early lunch, led his retinue and packed belongings to depart westward for home, leaving only one subordinate behind to represent the votes of his fortress's soldiers.
As the vote count showed, even after being denounced in public by Egger and stripped of his dignity, Denys Mallister still received nearly a hundred votes of support from the Castle Black community—claiming nearly a third of the local vote on his own. This was a clear sign of being "recognized." This elderly man over seventy, Egger's number-one rival, had simply left without a word despite the situation still being relatively favorable.
Everything happens for a reason, but this time, Egger truly couldn't fathom the purpose behind Denys's move. By leaving Castle Black, he was abandoning his supporters there, which was tantamount to admitting he couldn't be elected—nearly equal to withdrawing. Yet, this conclusion contradicted his re-entry into the race today.
This passive behavior of handing over nearly a hundred supporters while refusing to cast his own votes for other candidates could be understood in normal times as a silent protest: if I can't be elected, no one else will be either. But to do so while Robb Stark was visiting the Wall...
It was practically a slap in the face to the Warden of the North, forcing Robb to adopt Egger's suggestion: cancel the representative voting rights of the fortress commanders and hand the latter a massive gift!
Could it be that the old man judged Robb would do this sooner or later anyway, so he simply returned to his own fortress to tell his men in advance—don't vote for me in the coming general election either?
Egger was utterly perplexed, finally interpreting it as Denys having accepted that Egger was about to win but being unable to bring himself to change his stance and vote for him, so he chose out of sight, out of mind.
Robb Stark was, after all, a young man who lacked patience. Consequently, the impact of Ser Denys's abnormal behavior manifested even faster than imagined. The day after Denys left Castle Black—the third day since Egger's return—the first round of morning voting ended. When the young Warden of the North discovered that the representative Denys left at Castle Black was still casting votes for his commander, he could no longer sit still and finally intervened.
Robb announced a decision that he theoretically had no right to make, but which many Watchmen cheered: the election was suspended, all voting representatives except the candidates were sent back, and preparations began for a one man, one vote election implemented for every single brother of the Night's Watch.
To ensure fairness, Robb would send personnel to every fortress along the Wall where Watchmen were stationed to oversee the election. The party he brought from Winterfell was large enough to handle this task, though the Winterfell guards were unfamiliar with the Wall, and the preliminary preparations would take some time. However, the fact was that the universe did not revolve around the Wall and the election of a bunch of Watchmen. During the few days the election at Castle Black was suspended, two major events occurred in the Gift:
Grain purchased from the North began to be transported to Queenscrown in batches. Although many families were not pleased to hear the grain was being used to feed wildlings, given that the Night's Watch had sent troops to help drive off the Ironborn and was willing to pay rather than take it for free, the procurement was relatively smooth. Although the volume wasn't large, combined with the small remaining inventory, it was enough to last until the Braavosi grain ships arrived without a total collapse.At Stark's summons, delegations from the four major families bordering the Gift also arrived at Castle Black.
With the Head of House Stark and Warden of the North visiting the Wall in person, the Glovers, Umbers, Karstarks, and Boltons could hardly send just anyone to handle the matter. In addition to the arrival of the family heads, the four parties brought family members and attendants totaling dozens of people per house. They gathered at Queenscrown before heading north, arriving at Castle Black in a grand group. Two to three hundred people swarmed in, instantly packing the Night's Watch headquarters—whose footprint had shrunk due to the new walls—to the gills. Even empty rooms that hadn't been inhabited for decades were put to use. The Chief Steward and the builders, acting as hosts, were run ragged receiving these noble guests. For a time, they had no energy to plot against Egger. With the suspension of the election and internal strife, Castle Black experienced a long-absent peace and bustle with the visit of this large group of guests.
Robb held a feast to receive his four important vassals on the day the delegations arrived.
"My lords, the reason I have summoned you has been made clear in my letters. The late Lord Commander Jeor Mormont implemented a 'Settlement Plan' in the Gift, taking in surrendered wildlings to transform them into Gift-dwellers to support the Wall's future operations and solve the manpower shortage. On the other hand, the wildlings have been our greatest threat since ancient times. To ensure the safety of the North, I have summoned you all to inspect the Gift together to decide whether we should intervene in this plan."
The leaders of the four families nodded their understanding. Galbart Glover was the first to speak: "We heard at Queenscrown that the Night's Watch is holding an election for a new Lord Commander. Has a result been reached?"
"Not yet. The candidates have been unable to reach an agreement for some time. Out of necessity, I have taken the unprecedented step of intervening, canceling the system of fortress representatives and changing it to a 'one man, one vote' election under my supervision." Robb swept a stern gaze over the high-ranking Watchmen present at the table, summarizing the situation with displeasure. The Night's Watch were not his subordinates or vassals, so it was inconvenient to criticize them publicly, but he said no more after his explanation. "The cost of this dinner is borne by Winterfell. You have all traveled hard; please enjoy yourselves. We will set out in a day or two to inspect the Wall and the Gift together and determine our final stance on the Gift Settlement Plan."
"The Warden of the North commands, and we shall follow faithfully." Roose Bolton looked at the few men in black present with his pale eyes, speaking up with a question: "However, the Night's Watch has not yet elected a Lord Commander—this means the black brothers themselves may not have a settled attitude toward the Settlement Plan. Under these circumstances, even if we form opinions and views on the plan, to whom should we express our demands, and what can we actually do?"
This was indeed a problem. Robb hadn't considered it, causing him to pause for several seconds before answering: "The election has been going on for over two months. Though I have intervened, I cannot interfere too much, and under these conditions, no one can say when it will end. But the intake of wildlings concerns the safety of the North, and the final decision on the Settlement Plan cannot be dragged out indefinitely... Therefore, I have decided to observe first. If the situation is wrong and the wildlings still show a tendency to threaten the North, we will ignore the election and simply call a halt to the Settlement Plan. Conversely, we will take no measures, return to the North, and let the Night's Watch resolve the issue internally."
Roose Bolton nodded with a frown. "There is no inherent problem with that... however, it seems a bit like an unnecessary move that complicates the whole affair. If you ask me, in times of chaos, one shouldn't be constrained by rules. Simply name one person to succeed as Lord Commander, then conduct the inspection and report the results to him. Wouldn't that eliminate many troubles and save untold manpower and time?"
Hand-picking? The term immediately popped into Egger's mind. He had thought the North was the part of the Seven Kingdoms that valued tradition most; he hadn't expected someone like Roose Bolton to have such an idea... Indeed, ordinary people have a million ordinary ways, but hard characters all share one common trait: they are rarely bound by inherent concepts.
He silently raised his guard against this man.
"Lord Bolton, the Wall has stood for thousands of years, and there has never been a Lord Commander named by the Warden of the North!" Cotter Pyke immediately spoke up in opposition. He was already somewhat annoyed about Denys returning to the Shadow Tower and Robb canceling the representative votes. Now, meeting the "Old Leech," he realized that some people's disregard for rules was far beyond what he had imagined. "Lord Stark ordered a reasonable modification to the election system, and everyone accepted that. But if there is a direct appointment, then the brothers' attitude toward the new commander... well, that would be hard to say!"
Earl Glover also opposed Bolton's opinion: "I also feel it is inappropriate. The Night's Watch electing its own Lord Commander means the person has the support of most of the soldiers, ensuring the garrison obeys orders. If we break tradition and force in someone who cannot command respect, the immediate trouble might be solved, but it is hard to judge if it will be a benefit or a curse for the future defense of the Wall."
If Robb Stark were to truly name someone as Lord Commander, that person would ten to one be Egger himself. After all, he was the Watchman the new Warden of the North was most familiar with, understood best, and had the closest relationship with—period. But taking power through such means when the situation was already favorable would feel like an unfair victory and lead to endless future trouble. Even as the likely beneficiary, Egger didn't quite approve.
Fortunately, Robb didn't seem to have entertained the thought.
"My lords, there is no need to worry about finding someone to offer opinions to." Egger seized the moment, speaking up first to state his position: "I am a supporter of the previous Commander and consider myself the successor to the Old Bear's implementation of this great plan. Everything regarding the Gift Settlement Project is currently operating under my arrangement and coordination... In two days, I will lead you all on the inspection of the Gift. If you have any opinions or suggestions, you may direct them to me."
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