The Whispers, the lord’s council chamber.
Lord Grim, Ser Pell, Ser Mason, Maester Aehl, Steward Herschel, and Empara sat around the table, discussing the “Eastward Advance” plan to reclaim the old lands.
A large map of the eastern Crackclaw Point was spread across the center of the table.
The plan had been mostly finalized.
Grim pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Reclaiming the old lands is a long campaign.
Securing our supplies is paramount.
At regular intervals…
say, a half-day’s march at a normal pace, we must establish a camp protected by wooden palisades, advancing step by step.” “My friends, House Crabb has not fought a distant campaign beyond our lands in over a decade.
In the past, our battles occurred close to home, where food was easily replenished and wounded soldiers could receive timely healing.” “It is different once we leave our gates.
You will be surrounded by enemies you must face at any moment.
If our supplies are not secured, we might collapse before the fighting even begins; we will have lost before the first blow is struck.
As company commanders, you must always put supply lines first.
The commanders of House Crabb must bear this in mind at all times.” The others replied solemnly, “Yes, my lord!” “Pell, your Survey Corps must set out ahead of us to scout the route.
The Survey Corps will select the sites for our camps in advance.
When choosing a site, you must consider the terrain, water sources, and all other factors.
I will lead the main host out in three days.” Grim stood, and the others rose to their feet as well.
Grim slowly met the eyes of every person in the room.
“To reclaim the old lands, united we stand!” “Yes!
To reclaim the old lands, united we stand!” “To reclaim the old lands, united we stand!!” “To reclaim the old lands, united we stand!!!” The war council had just concluded.
The others left the chamber, leaving only Steward Herschel behind to report on other matters of the domain to Grim.
The affairs of the domain were numerous, and Steward Herschel could only report them one by one.
Grim was listening intently when the heavy doors of the council chamber were suddenly pushed open.
Surana’s tall figure appeared in the doorway.
Surana bowed.
“Forgive the intrusion, my master.
I thought the council had ended.” Grim’s calm gaze shifted to Surana.
“Is it urgent, Surana?” “Your cousin, Lady Lyanna Crabb…” Before Surana could finish, another tall figure appeared in the doorway.
The newcomer was slender, her features bearing a striking resemblance to Grim’s own.
This was the very cousin Surana had spoken of—Lyanna Crabb.
Grim had barely risen from his chair when a travel-worn Lyanna Crabb threw herself into his arms, sobbing bitterly.
Her cries were full of grievance.
Grim turned over what might have happened in his mind, but he said nothing.
He simply reached out and gently patted Lyanna’s back, silently soothing her.
After a long while, Surana stepped forward and offered a few soft words of comfort.
She helped Lyanna Crabb to a nearby chair and poured her a goblet of red wine.
Grim waited quietly for Lyanna to drain the large goblet in a few gulps before speaking.
“Lyanna, tell me.
Why are you so heartbroken?
I am here.” Lyanna’s eyes brimmed with tears.
“Ushur wants to set me aside.
*Sob*.” Ushur’s full name was Ushur Meka, a merchant from Gulltown in the Vale.
About four years ago, under the arrangement of Grim’s mother, Lyanna Crabb had been wed to Ushur Meka of Gulltown.
Why would Lyanna, a noblewoman, marry a merchant?
Following the War of the Usurper, the Hand of the King and Lord of the Vale, Jon Arryn, had never relaxed his suppression of Crackclaw Point, the loyalists of the dragon kings.
The powers of the Vale naturally followed suit.
Grim’s mother had struggled to maintain the suppressed House Crabb.
After ten years of endurance, an exhausted Lady Crabb chose a dignified compromise, pushing a newly flowered Lyanna Crabb into a marriage alliance with the Vale.
The nobles of the Vale looked down upon the half-wildling lords of Crackclaw Point.
Forced to settle for the next best thing, Grim’s mother had no choice but to select Ushur Meka, a man of merchant birth who was said to maintain good relations with the various lords of Gulltown.
Strictly speaking, this marriage was a humiliation inflicted upon House Crabb by the Vale nobility.
The lords of the Vale had blockaded and suppressed the nobles of Crackclaw Point for nearly a decade, long losing their initial zeal.
Ten continuous years of blockade and suppression, coupled with this humiliation, was enough to demonstrate their loyalty to the Hand of the King, Lord Jon Arryn.
They could afford to loosen their grip.
House Crabb had indeed suffered a blow to its noble dignity, but the marriage did ease relations with the Vale.
The blockade on House Crabb was lifted.
Wandering merchants began to enter Crabb lands, bringing desperately needed supplies, and House Crabb’s leather could once again be sold at fair prices to merchants from all over.
The breathing room bought for House Crabb at the cost of Lyanna Crabb’s marriage, and the entirety of the events surrounding it, had long ago sown the seeds of deep hatred.
It was just that House Crabb had been too weak at the time for anyone to care much.
“Cousin, why does he wish to set you aside?” “*Sob*…
I only found out later.
A noble widow from Runestone has taken a fancy to Ushur!
That widow has no children.
If he sets me aside, their trueborn son could inherit her title.” Hearing this, Grim’s long fingers tightened their grip on his knee.
Lyanna continued, “Our marriage…
I was already mocked by the people of the Vale.
If I am cast aside, how am I to live?
I naturally refused, and he…
he struck me.
I was truly frightened then.
I waited until he left the house, took my maid, and fled back here in secret.
*Sob*!” Grim’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“It seems the men of the Vale truly think nothing of us.” Surana’s heart ached for Lyanna, and her tone was furious.
“Damn those Valemen!
The Others should bite their necks off!
That little worm Ushur thinks that if he just casts Lady Lyanna aside and marries some shameless noble widow, he’ll become a lord of the Vale himself.
He thinks House Crabb wouldn’t dare retaliate and would just swallow the insult.” Lyanna nodded sadly.
Yes, that was exactly what the wretched man thought.
Grim rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking straight at Lyanna.
“Cousin Lyanna, not a single person in the Whispers has ever forgotten your sacrifice for even a day.
You are my family.
Since you wed, your chambers have been kept exactly as they were.
They are cleaned regularly, as if you had never left this home.” Grim, as the lord of the house, had made his stance clear.
Instantly, Lyanna’s eyes welled with hot tears.
“Grim…” Lyanna had been terribly anxious throughout her journey.
When she had been married off, Grim was only eleven years old—shy and scrawny.
Grim’s mother had passed away, and the Grim whose memory had grown somewhat blurry to her had inherited the domain and become its lord.
Lyanna had not dared to be optimistic about how Grim would treat her after hearing of her plight.
Lyanna felt she had shamed her house and had no face to see Grim, but in the end, she found that she had nowhere else to go but the Whispers.
Only the thought of the Whispers—mocked by outsiders as a wildling backwater—could bring Lyanna any sense of security.
And so, Lyanna had come, regardless of the consequences!
The cousin she had not seen in four years had grown into a man.
His steady demeanor put her at ease.
Grim reached out and gently took Lyanna’s slender, ice-cold hands in his.
“Lyanna, this will always be your home.” “I want to ask you…
if I gave you Ushur’s head, would it make you feel any better?”