Chapter 24: Golden Chains and Weirwood Grafts
The victory over Dagon Greyjoy's Ironborn armada had elevated House Volmark to legendary status within the North. Lord Aelyx Volmark, the Shield of the Sunset Sea, was no longer merely a wealthy and powerful vassal; he was a pillar of Northern strength, a figure whose pronouncements carried immense weight, his name inextricably linked with the miraculous storm that had saved Torrhen's Square and the seemingly inexhaustible river of gold flowing from Skagos's "Heir's Hoard" mine. Aelyx, ever the master strategist, knew that such unprecedented prestige and wealth were currencies to be spent wisely, not hoarded. The time was ripe to secure the next crucial phase of his dynastic ambitions: the matrimonial alliances of his children.
These would not be ordinary Northern marriages, designed merely to forge temporary alliances or acquire modest landholdings. Aelyx envisioned something far more profound, a systematic grafting of the strongest, most promising Northern bloodlines onto the burgeoning tree of House Volmark, ensuring that all future scions would be raised under his direct, shaping influence on Skagos, their loyalties absolute, their magical potential carefully nurtured within the hidden sanctuary of Mount Skatus. His conditions would be audacious, almost unheard of in the annals of Westerosi marital customs, but the allure of Volmark gold, he wagered, would prove an irresistible solvent for even the staunchest Northern pride.
Aelyx convened a council with Lyanna and their elder children – Torrhen, Visenya, Lyra, Maegor, and Aenar – in the great obsidian council chamber beneath Mount Skatus. The true seat of their power, where the starry sky of the enchanted ceiling gleamed down upon them.
"The Ironborn are broken, their threat extinguished for a generation," Aelyx began, his violet eyes sweeping over his remarkable offspring. They were young adults now, each a potent blend of Stark resilience and Valyrian fire, their magical abilities honed, their loyalty to him unquestioned. "Our standing in the North is unparalleled. Now, we secure the future through blood. It is time for you, my children, to take spouses from the noble houses of the North."
A ripple of anticipation, and perhaps some apprehension, went through them. Marriage was a duty, they knew, but the specifics were unknown.
"These will not be traditional alliances," Aelyx continued, his voice devoid of sentiment, replaced by cold, strategic clarity. "The spouses you take, and the spouses your sisters are given to, will come to Skagos. They will become part of House Volmark in all but name. Their children, our grandchildren, will bear the Volmark name alone, and they will be raised here, on Skagos, inheritors of our traditions, both public and… private." He let that last word hang, its meaning clear to his magically adept children.
Torrhen, as the heir, nodded gravely. "A bold move, Father. It will ensure the purity and loyalty of our line, and concentrate our strength here. But the Northern lords… they are proud. They will not easily part with their children or surrender their grandchildren's lineage."
"Pride, my son," Aelyx said, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips, "has a price. And we, thanks to the… fortuitous bounty of the Heir's Hoard, are uniquely positioned to meet it. We will offer bride prices and dowries so substantial they will rewrite the ledgers of every noble house in the North. We will offer golden chains, so heavy and glittering that few will be able to resist their allure, even with the conditions attached."
Lyanna, her Stark heritage giving her a keen understanding of Northern sensibilities, added, "The approach must be managed with care, Aelyx. We must frame these unions as strengthening the North through House Volmark, not as Skagos absorbing the best of their blood. The wealth will sweeten the terms, but the honor of their houses must be seen to be respected, at least on the surface."
Aelyx conceded her point with a nod. "Precisely, my dear. The illusion of mutual benefit, while the true, lasting advantage accrues to us."
The process of identifying suitable matches was meticulous. Aelyx, Lyanna, and their elder children themselves poured over lineages, assessed political strengths, and considered the personal attributes of potential candidates. Lyra's greensight was invaluable, offering fleeting glimpses of potential unions, highlighting compatibilities or subtle warnings of future discord. Tibbit's network of discreet informants across the North provided detailed reports on the health, temperament, and even rumored latent talents within various noble families.
For Torrhen, the twenty-four-year-old heir, a wife of impeccable Northern lineage and strong character was paramount. She would be the future public Lady Volmark, mistress of Icefang Keep. Their choice eventually settled on Lady Myranda Manderly, the eldest granddaughter of Lord Wyman Manderly of White Harbor. She was reputed to be intelligent, robust, and well-versed in managing a large household, her Manderly blood bringing connections to the North's wealthiest port and a pragmatic, trade-oriented mindset. The Manderlys, despite their wealth, were always ambitious for greater influence.
For Visenya, the fiery twenty-two-year-old sorceress, a different sort of match was needed. Her husband would have to be strong enough to respect her spirit, yet willing to accept a secondary role within House Volmark's Skagosi domain. They identified Ser Bennard Karstark, a younger son of Lord Harrion Karstark, a renowned warrior with a fierce reputation in border skirmishes, yet one with little prospect of inheriting Karhold itself. He was ambitious, strong, and perhaps, Aelyx surmised, hungry enough for power and wealth to accept an unconventional marriage.
Lyra, at twenty-one, with her gentle nature and profound mystical gifts, was a more delicate consideration. Aelyx, surprisingly, allowed her a greater say. Her greensight drew her towards House Reed of Greywater Watch, a reclusive house known for its ancient ties to the magic of the crannogmen and rumors of greensight in their own bloodline. Young Howland Reed, a boy of quiet intensity and rumored mystical inclinations, was deemed a suitable, if unconventional, match. The Reeds were poor but ancient, and the infusion of their unique bloodline, Aelyx felt, could only enhance the magical diversity of his own.
Maegor, the nineteen-year-old warrior prince, needed a wife who could match his boisterous energy and bear strong sons. They looked towards the Umbers, and found young Eddara Umber, daughter of one of the Greatjon's younger brothers, a woman said to be as fierce and hardy as any Umber shieldmaiden, with a laugh as loud as Maegor's own.
Aenar, the quiet, scholarly eighteen-year-old enchanter, was perhaps the most difficult to match in a traditional sense. His interests lay in ancient lore and the deep currents of magic. Aelyx, after much consideration, decided to seek a match from a lesser branch of House Stark itself, if King Torrhen could be persuaded – perhaps a distant cousin, a quiet, intelligent girl who might appreciate Aenar's scholarly nature and bring a fresh infusion of direct Stark blood without major political complications. If not, a daughter of the Glovers or the Flints, houses known for their steadfastness, might suffice.
With the primary candidates identified, Aelyx prepared his envoys – primarily Torrhen, accompanied by a retinue of imposing Skagosi guards and several glamoured house-elves acting as treasurers and scribes. Aelyx himself would handle the most delicate negotiations, particularly with King Torrhen Stark regarding any potential Stark bride for Aenar, and with Lord Wyman Manderly for Myranda.
The offers they carried were, as Aelyx had predicted, staggering. For Myranda Manderly's hand for Torrhen, Aelyx offered Lord Wyman a bride price of five thousand golden dragons, an entire chest of raw, high-quality gold ore from the "Heir's Hoard" (enough to visibly enrich the Manderly coffers for decades), and a twenty-year trade agreement granting Manderly merchants exclusive rights to transport certain Skagosi goods to the southern kingdoms, a deal that promised immense profits. The conditions were stark: Myranda would reside permanently on Skagos as Lady Volmark, and all her children would be Volmarks, raised on Skagos.
Lord Wyman Manderly, a man whose joviality masked a razor-sharp mercantile mind, listened to Aelyx's proposal in his private solar in White Harbor. His eyes widened at the mention of the gold, and gleamed at the terms of the trade agreement. The conditions regarding his granddaughter were unusual, almost an absorption rather than an alliance, but the sheer scale of the financial inducement was breathtaking. White Harbor, while prosperous, had vast ambitions, and such an influx of wealth and preferential trade could elevate it to rival even the great ports of the Free Cities. After three days of careful negotiation, during which Aelyx artfully emphasized the honor, the security, and the unparalleled prosperity Myranda would enjoy as the future ruling lady of the incredibly wealthy Skagos, Lord Manderly, with a mixture of awe and acquisitive glee, agreed. Myranda, a pragmatic young woman, when consulted, saw the immense power and opportunity offered and consented to become the bride of the formidable Torrhen Volmark.
The negotiations for Visenya's hand with Ser Bennard Karstark were handled by Torrhen Volmark at Karhold. The Karstarks were a proud, martial house, but Bennard was a landless younger son. Torrhen offered a dowry for his sister that would allow Bennard to establish his own significant holdfast (under Karstark suzerainty, but funded by Volmark gold), a personal fortune in gold, and a high position within the Skagosi military command, second only to Maegor. The conditions were that he would reside primarily on Skagos, his children would be Volmarks, and he would swear an oath of fealty not just to Karstark and Stark, but a personal, binding one to Lord Aelyx Volmark. Bennard, a man of action and ambition, saw a path to power and wealth far exceeding anything he could achieve in Karhold. After a brief, spirited meeting with Visenya herself on Skagos (where her fiery beauty and sharp intellect both intimidated and captivated him), he eagerly accepted.
For Lyra's hand, Aelyx himself, accompanied by Lyra, made the perilous journey into the Neck, to the shifting, hidden stronghold of Greywater Watch. Lord Martyn Reed, a quiet, watchful man with eyes that seemed to hold ancient secrets, listened to Aelyx's proposal for his son Howland. The dowry offered was not just gold (though a significant amount was pledged to "improve the defenses and waterways of the Neck"), but also access to Skagosi healers, unique herbs from the Glass Gardens, and rare books of lore that Aelyx knew would appeal to the Reeds' scholarly and mystical inclinations. Lyra and Howland, two quiet souls with a shared affinity for the hidden world, seemed to find an immediate, if unspoken, understanding. The Reeds, valuing magical kinship over political power, agreed to the unconventional terms, seeing in House Volmark a potent, if mysterious, ally in preserving the old ways. Howland, it was agreed, would spend significant time on Skagos, and their children would be Volmarks, inheritors of both Stark-Reed mysticism and Velaryon-Volmark power.
Maegor's match with Eddara Umber was perhaps the most straightforward. Lord Umber, the Greatjon's successor, a man as bluff and hearty as his forebear, was impressed by Maegor's martial reputation and Aelyx's immense wealth. The bride price offered – enough gold to re-equip the entire Umber household guard with new steel and fund a series of new watchtowers along the Bay of Seals – was irresistible. Eddara, a tall, boisterous young woman with a laugh that could shake rafters, met Maegor during a hunt organized near Last Hearth and declared him "the only man in the North big enough and loud enough" for her. She seemed unfazed by the prospect of moving to the "wilds" of Skagos, eager for adventure and the promise of strong sons.
Aenar's match proved the most delicate. Aelyx approached King Torrhen Stark directly. He sought not a daughter of the main Stark line, which would carry too many political implications, but a more distant kinswoman. He spoke of Aenar's scholarly, retiring nature, his need for a quiet, intelligent companion, and his desire to further bind House Volmark to the Stark lineage through this gentler union. He offered a truly monumental gift to Winterfell for this alliance: the funding and Skagosi expertise to construct a second, even larger set of Glass Gardens, dedicated to cultivating not just food, but a vast array of medicinal herbs for the benefit of all the North, along with a personal endowment to the Winterfell library that would make it the envy of any Maester in Westeros. King Torrhen, after consulting with his wife and Maester Walys, identified a suitable candidate: Lyarra Snow, a legitimized bastard daughter of his deceased younger brother, a bright, bookish girl of seventeen, often overlooked but possessed of a keen mind and a gentle disposition. The King, seeing the immense benefit to Winterfell and recognizing Aelyx's genuine (if strategically motivated) desire for this specific kind of union for his quiet son, agreed. Lyarra, grateful for the opportunity of such a high-status marriage that would remove the taint of her birth, accepted with quiet dignity.
Over the course of two years, these matrimonial negotiations were concluded. Each agreement was a triumph of Aelyx's strategic use of wealth and his understanding of Northern ambitions and needs. The dowries and bride prices paid were legendary, reshaping the finances of several Northern houses and further solidifying Skagos's image as a land of almost mythical prosperity. The conditions, while unprecedented, were accepted, the allure of gold and the power of the Volmark alliance overriding traditional concerns about lineage and residency.
Betrothal ceremonies were held, some at Winterfell, some at the respective lords' castles, and a grand, collective series of wedding feasts were planned to be held on Skagos itself the following summer, a display of Volmark magnificence designed to awe the entire North.
The new Northern spouses-to-be – Myranda Manderly, Ser Bennard Karstark, Howland Reed, Eddara Umber, and Lyarra Snow – began to make preliminary visits to Skagos, to Icefang Keep, to meet their future in-laws and to acquaint themselves with their new home. They saw a thriving, well-ordered domain, a magnificent castle, a prosperous port, and a ruling family of immense power and charm. They saw the public face of House Volmark, meticulously crafted by Aelyx.
None of them, not yet, were privy to the secrets of Mount Skatus. They were not told of the dragons, the phoenixes, the house-elves in their true forms, or the true nature of their Volmark spouses' abilities, nor of the Elixir of Life that sustained Aelyx and Lyanna. Their role, for now, was to be the Northern grafts onto the public branches of the Volmark tree, to bear children who would carry the Volmark name and be raised within the Skagosi fold. Whether any of them would ever be deemed worthy, or trustworthy enough, to learn the deeper truths and perhaps even share in the Elixir, remained a decision for Aelyx alone, to be made in the fullness of time, based on their loyalty, their discretion, and perhaps, any latent magical talents their Northern blood might yet reveal.
Aelyx watched these developments with profound satisfaction. His elder children were now betrothed, their futures intertwined with the great houses of the North, yet firmly anchored to Skagos. His bloodline was poised to absorb new strengths, new magical potentialities. His influence over the North was becoming absolute, not through conquest, but through golden chains and carefully cultivated dependency. The public dynasty was secured. The hidden dynasty, within the mountain, continued to thrive, its secrets safe, its power growing, awaiting the day when the children of these Northern unions, raised in the sanctuary's arcane embrace, would take their places as the next generation of immortal, dragon-riding sorcerer-lords of Skagos. The weirwood grafts were taking hold on the ancient Valyrian oak, and the forest of his ambition was spreading its roots ever deeper into the soil of the world.