Chapter 20 — "The Commission"
Jon Arryn's response arrived in twelve days.
Twelve days was fast for a Lord Paramount. It meant the ravens from the Blackfish and Lord Royce had landed within hours of each other and Jon Arryn had read them together and made his decision without the usual deliberation that major financial commitments demanded from a man managing six noble houses with competing interests and a mountain problem that had been bleeding Vale trade for longer than most of the men arguing about it had been alive.
Either the argument had been that compelling.
Or Jon Arryn had been thinking about the mountain problem independently and the letter had arrived at exactly the right moment.
Probably both.
The response was brief in the way Jon Arryn's responses were always brief — everything necessary, nothing wasted.
Land grants approved for up to four additional clan settlements pending successful pacification and negotiation. Operational funding authorized under Lord Royce's proposed structure. Command authority formally assigned to Alaric Snow under the Blackfish's military oversight.
One line at the bottom in Jon Arryn's own hand:
Lord Royce speaks highly of the investment argument. So does Lord Edwyn. I find I agree with both of them.
Alaric read it once and handed it to the Blackfish.
The financial arrangements took longer than the authorization.
Edwyn handled the prior arrangement — the personal compensation negotiated with Jon Arryn on Alaric's behalf, the details of which Alaric had never been fully told and had decided not to ask about. What he knew was that it produced a figure payable upon completion of the year campaign.Something more substantial. The kind of payment that said the Vale understood it had been given something it had been failing to achieve for generations and intended to compensate accordingly. So it is a great payment considerable amount even.
The operational budget came separately through Lord Royce's treasury. A considerable sum disbursed in three instalments across the campaign year — administered by Alaric with full authority over how it was spent.
Full authority.
He filed that carefully.
Four days after the financial papers were signed Edwyn came to find him.
He walked into the room Alaric had been using at House Starke's Gate-adjacent holding without knocking — he never knocked — and sat across the table and looked at the ledger open in front of Alaric with the unhurried attention of a man who had been doing his own arithmetic for several days and had arrived at some conclusions.
Alaric didn't close the ledger.
Edwyn looked at the figures for a long moment. His eyes moved down the columns with the methodical patience of a man who had been managing accounts since before Alaric was born.
He stopped at a specific line.
"The supply contractor," he said.
"Yes," Alaric said.
"The rate per unit is twelve percent above the Gate's standard contracted rate."
"Mountain terrain surcharge," Alaric said.
"Extended supply lines. The contractor accounts for the additional operational risk."
"The Gate has been supplying mountain operations at the standard rate for thirty years."
"Then they've been undercharging for thirty years."
Edwyn looked up from the ledger.
Alaric looked back.
The silence had the specific quality of two people who understood each other very well and were taking a moment to confirm that understanding was mutual.
Edwyn looked back down.
"The equipment allocation," he said.
"Cold weather gear," Alaric said. "The standard allocation is insufficient for extended high altitude operations. The Bren incident established that."
"Mountain campaigns require above standard .The campaign records from the past two months support that."
"And the surplus at campaign end."
"Returns to operational reserves," Alaric said. "Administered by the operational commander."
Edwyn sat back in his chair.
He looked at the ledger.
He looked at Alaric.
He looked at the ledger again.
"How much total," he said.
"Enough to be useful," Alaric said.
"Everyone should have someone checking their figures."
"I know," Alaric said. "That's why I didn't hide it . They will ignore it and you know this. they don't care about this. They will think big atleast Lords who really matters. "
That landed somewhere in Edwyn's expression that he kept carefully still.
He looked at the ledger for another long moment.
"Your Uncle," he said finally, "would have given the surplus back and apologised for keeping it as long as he had."
"I know."
Edwyn was quiet.
"The supply contractor," he said. "Is he reliable."
"The equipment allocation." Edwyn stood. "Make sure the cold weather gear is genuinely better than the standard issue. Not marginally better. Visibly, demonstrably better. Men who can see what their equipment budget produced don't ask questions about where the rest of the budget went."
"Already arranged," Alaric said.
Edwyn picked up his cloak.
At the door he stopped.
Didn't turn around.
"You said you learned the financial argument from me," he said.
"I did."
"I taught you the argument," Edwyn said. "I didn't teach you this." A pause. "Your father taught you this. Whether you know it or not."
He left.
Alaric sat with that for a moment.
Brandon Stark. A man notorious for his habits in the North. A man who had apparently known exactly how much you could take and what you could defend and where the line was. Well in most matters, as in the end.
He looked at the ledger.
Closed it.
The force assembled over three weeks.
One thousand men.
The composition had taken more thought than any other part of the preparation. Hundreds of Vale veterans from the Gate's standing garrison and Lord Royce's household troops — disciplined, experienced, the backbone of the operation. Hundred mountain rangers from the Gate's rotation, supplemented by men who had served in the Painted Dog campaign and returned with the specific mountain competence that couldn't be trained in a yard. Former clan fighters — Painted Dogs primarily, with men from two smaller clans that had settled quietly in the wake of the ridge — who knew the passes from the inside in ways no map could replace
One hundred additional men. Knights, specialists, a small medical contingent, supply officers. The logistical infrastructure a year-long mountain campaign actually required and that nobody ever included in the stories they told afterward.
Harys commanded the ranger column. Given the rank formally — column commander, operational designation only, no title attached. He received it with a slight nod and no comment which was how Harys received everything.
Davan commanded the former clan fighters. His Westerosi had improved considerably over three months of daily contact with Vale soldiers. He used it with the careful precision of a man who understood that language was its own kind of weapon and had decided to learn it properly.
Ser Aldric commanded the Vale veteran column. Recovered from the rib wound, walking properly again, his skepticism now something he wore in a completely different direction than before the campaign.
Alaric commanded everything.
On the morning they moved out the Blackfish was at the inner gate.
Not ceremony. Just standing the way he stood at everything — present, watching, making no performance of it.
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