Three days after Clay convinced his lord father, a raven arrived in White Harbor from Winterfell.
Clay, who was at the time consulting with Maester Seomer about the availability of certain materials, was the first to see the letter tied to the raven's leg. However, he didn't open it himself. Instead, he brought Maester Seomer with him and presented the letter to Lord Wyman.
As they climbed the winding stone steps of the tower, the light filtering through the arrow slits cast moving patches of light on them. Clay realized he'd never really examined this relatively new family castle.
His lord father's study was located in the main tower, twenty meters above the ground. This tall, white tower was the thickest and most prominent in the complex, and it was also the most ornately decorated. It had a rather grand name: Seagard Tower.
Clay watched the slightly unsteady steps of the Maester. The Maester wore a chain of metal links around his neck, made from various metals.
Black iron, red copper, gold, silver, steel, and more. Each metal represented a different field of study. For example, black iron stood for ravenry, red copper for history, and silver for medicine.
He found it strange. A Maester should hold a very important position in a noble family, but after being home for so long, Clay, standing by and observing, had noticed that Maester Seomer was being deliberately, if subtly, excluded from the family's core affairs.
The Maester was getting old, and climbing the stairs was difficult for him. Clay, resigned, had to slow his pace to match the old Maester's.
"Maester, have you been to Harrenhal? How does our new castle in White Harbor compare to it?"
Clay initiated a conversation, as the silence was becoming awkward.
The old maester took two breaths, his pale golden eyebrows lifting slightly as his green eyes glanced at Clay. He responded in a low voice,
"If you're asking about size, it would take seven or eight new castles combined to even begin to match the outline of Harrenhal, but it is a ruin, after all."
This answer surprised Clay. He hadn't been to Harrenhal, and hadn't even left The North since returning to Westeros. In his view, the new castle was already an oversized structure. Seven or eight castles to equal Harrenhal? Just how massive was Harrenhal?
"Black Harren squeezed the Riverlands for decades to build that fortress, the largest in the Seven Kingdoms. If not for Aegon Targaryen's dragonfire, it might still be the most magnificent castle in the Seven Kingdoms today."
Whether the old maester didn't want to discuss the topic further, or simply didn't enjoy talking to him, he fell silent after those few sentences, and the quiet staircase was once again plunged into silence.
Unsure of what to make of it, Clay shrugged and followed Maester Seomer to Lord Wyman's study. The two Manderly guards in armor at the door were surprised to see Clay and Maester Seomer together.
What surprised and puzzled Clay was that he detected a sense of wariness in the two guards' eyes as they looked at Maester Seomer. Why would a family be wary of its own maester?
Maester Seomer seemed accustomed to this, and produced a letter clutched in his hand, handing it to one of the guards.
"A letter from Winterfell, please pass it on to Lord Wyman."
After saying this very calmly, Maester Seomer nodded slightly to Clay and turned to leave, his movements swift and decisive, without any hesitation.
As soon as he left, the attitude of the two guards immediately changed. The guard who had just received the letter immediately bent over and opened the oak door painted with a mermaid for Clay.
Stepping into the room, Clay immediately saw the old lord drinking heartily from a bottle. Using the sunlight streaming in from the balcony, Clay examined the color of the wine, estimating it to be Summer Red from Dorne.
"Grandfather, a letter from Winterfell." Retrieving the letter from the guard who was standing at the door, Clay called out to the old lord. The guard smiled at him and closed the door of his own accord.
"Hmm? It's you, Clay. A letter from Winterfell? What does it say?" The old lord mumbled, throwing the wine bottle onto the table and standing up from the large armchair that could accommodate two Clays, looking at Clay.
Clay shook his head and walked into the room, surveying the opulent decorations that reeked of gold dragons, while heading towards the old lord's desk.
"No, I haven't read the letter yet."
Taking the letter, Lord Wyman surprisingly didn't open it immediately. Instead, he asked, "Maester Seomer came with you?"
How did the old man know? Clay was a bit confused, but then it made sense. Maesters were in charge of delivering messages, so the old man's question was reasonable.
"Yes, but he didn't come in. Probably had something to do," Clay replied, but the old man just let out a cold laugh.
"He doesn't have a damn thing to do!"
Rarely, Clay saw undisguised disdain and disgust on the old man's normally amiable face, which made him puzzled.
"In the future, keep your distance from him," Lord Wyman said glumly, grabbing a bottle and taking a long swig.
"Why, Grandfather? Aren't Maesters quite useful to nobles?"
"Do you know his family name?"
This question took Clay aback. In his memory, the Maesters' vows required them to abandon their family names and become servants of all of Westeros, so Clay only knew him as Maester Seomer, but he didn't know his family name.
"Lannister, remember this: he's a Lannister. Don't trust any of those maester's oath-filled bullshit. No matter how many metal chains he wears around his neck, I can still smell that disgusting lion stench on him."
Now, Clay finally understood why Lord Wyman, and indeed the entire family, treated Maester Seomer the way they did. With his Lannister background, earning trust in the North was a fool's errand.
Clay didn't know why a Lannister would come to White Harbor to be a maester, but as a member of the Northern nobility, White Harbor, although it detested the Lannisters, couldn't just kill Maester Seomer because of it.
They could use methods like poisoning to get rid of him, but that would be dishonorable. Or perhaps there were other reasons Clay didn't know about. In any case, the family's approach to Maester Seomer was to give him the cold shoulder, letting him do nothing but handle official correspondence with Winterfell.
But knowing this made Clay more cautious about the people around him. Who knew what was going on behind the backs of all those who called him young master in this castle? Fortunately, he'd inquired about the stock of a certain ingredient for the Swallow Potion today, and there was no loss.
"Now, let me see what this letter from Winterfell says."
Lord Wyman ignored Clay's changed expression, unfolded the letter, and slowly read its contents…
(Typographical errors will be corrected later. Dog head to protect my life!)
This Maester Seomer isn't something I made up. There really is such a person, and the old man's wariness of him is real, not just me making things up. Don't accuse me wrongly, I'm so pitiful…
....
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