Tower of the Hand

[Lord Dread]

The Tower of the Hand, The Red Keep

The tower's small hall is a long room with a high-vaulted ceiling and bench space for two hundred. The private audience chamber is not as large as the king's, but has Myrish rugs, wall hangings, and a golden-tinted round window that give it a sense of intimacy. The Tower also has a solar, and a garderobe.


Current Lord Hand of the Realm:

Ser Otto Hightower

Full Name: Ser Otto Hightower
Age: 62 (born 67 AC)
Marital Status: widowed
Children: Alicent Hightower (born in 88 AC), Ser Gwayne Hightower (born in 94 AC)
Traits (6 points): +2 Survival, +1 Duel, +3 Charisma
Temperament:
- Meticulous: This character loves to analyze situations down to the last minute before acting. On one hand this means they'll probably have a clear picture going in, on the other their decision-making abilities could easily become paralyzed as they spend too much time analyzing and not enough acting. +1 detection rolls, -5% movement speed.

Being the father of Alicent Hightower, who would later become queen of Westeros, Jaehaerys I. appointed Ser Otto due to his vast knowledge and learning Hand of the King, where he would rule the kingdom for two years until the death of Jaehaerys and the coronation of Viserys I. . When his daughter Alicent became the spouse of the king, Ser Otto tried to convince Viserys to name Aegon and his siblings heir to the Iron Throne - a demand, which wasn't solely refused, but ended within Otto's demotion so that he had to step down as the Hand of the King. He eventually returned to Oldtown, but returned to the capital in 120 AC, when he was named once more Hand of the King after the demise of his successor. Though the old King wished to name Rhaenyra as his heir, Ser Otto played a crucial role within the Small Council after Viserys' death by crowning his eldest grandson King Aegon II in an act of defiance instead.

[Barry Goldwater]

Daeron opened his mouth to protest and openly ponder why Aegon didn't just call on the Lord Hand himself, but by then his brother had already taken off. He shook his head, grinning slightly despite himself - truly, some things would never change, no matter how old they grew - and departed, hand in hand with his bride, to seek out Ser Otto. Tessarion would be free to fly in circles overhead unsupervised (unless Aegon and Sunfyre wanted to stick around), but the Blue Queen was a sufficiently well-behaved and trained beast that she was not likely to cause any unintentional damage even without her rider.

From their meeting with King Aegon in the courtyard of the Red Keep, Prince Daeron and Brienne Baratheon departed for the Tower of the Hand. Per his instructions they were there to meet with Ser Otto Hightower, the former's grandfather and Hand of the King, whose knowledge and skills with the quill the King had need of in the next stage of Green diplomacy.

[Lord Dread]

More than mildly surprised, Ser Otto looked up, as he was unsurprisingly doing his work, as he was writing down stuff. Maybe the same letter over and over, maybe another document, of which he will send a copy to the Citadel, maybe even the names of those, they recruited within the last few days in order to estimate how much gold the Iron Throne will owe them.
In the end it didn't matter too much, as he laid his feather aside to greet both the Prince and the lady with the usual procedure, despite the fact Daeron was his grandson.
"Ah, as I see you and Lord Baratheon have at least made one agreement on common terms", he laughed friendly, although becoming serious quick again, "However, I hope despite political matters, I hope that your journey was so far undisturbed? Your Queen mother constantly glared at me for having allowed your brothers to send you on this journey - let's hope my fine daughter now considers to talk with me again in personal and not via courtiers.
The people already begin to speculate whether I will father a few bastards or not as so many maidens showed up recently at the Lord Hand's tower! Hah!"

[Barry Goldwater]

"Fear not Grandfather, my meeting with Lord Baratheon went well indeed, as you can see from the presence of his firstborn by my side. Lady Brienne Baratheon, my grandfather Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King; Lord Hand, Lady Brienne Baratheon." Daeron stepped back, grinning, to let the pair complete their introductions. Formalities were often forgotten, at least on his end, when it came to greeting his beloved kin. Once they had finished exchanging greetings he continued, "I'll have to introduce her to Mother as well, of course, if Brienne here is to soon call her good-mother. Anyway, her father and my brother the King alike wish for us to be wed as speedily as humanly possible. Can you summon the castle septon and make the arrangements?"

"Alas, Brienne's father is still reluctant to enter the war on our side, despite having arranged the marriage of his eldest to me." Daeron added afterwards, the smile sliding slightly off his face. "King Aegon agrees with me that we should reach out to offer him further assurances, and Lady Tyrell too. He requires you to dispatch letters to Highgarden and Storm's End, offering the hands of his twins in betrothal to the great Lord and Lady Paramount - Jaehaerys for the Tyrells' oldest daughter and Jaehaera for the Baratheons' heir, for the latter are already tied to us by my marriage to Brienne - as well as whatever else you think might win the two of them over to our side. High office and such." Despite being relieved at no longer having to run errands like a messenger boy, the princeling still felt a tad poor at asking someone else to do his work for him. "My apologies for placing this additional burden on your shoulders Grandfather, I'd fly to the Reach to negotiate with the Lady Paramount myself, but King Aegon requires my and Tessarion's presence here with war on the horizon."

[Lord Dread]

"Fear not Grandfather, my meeting with Lord Baratheon went well indeed, as you can see from the presence of his firstborn by my side. Lady Brienne Baratheon, my grandfather Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King; Lord Hand, Lady Brienne Baratheon." Daeron stepped back, grinning, to let the pair complete their introductions. Formalities were often forgotten, at least on his end, when it came to greeting his beloved kin. Once they had finished exchanging greetings he continued, "I'll have to introduce her to Mother as well, of course, if Brienne here is to soon call her good-mother. Anyway, her father and my brother the King alike wish for us to be wed as speedily as humanly possible. Can you summon the castle septon and make the arrangements?"

"Alas, Brienne's father is still reluctant to enter the war on our side, despite having arranged the marriage of his eldest to me." Daeron added afterwards, the smile sliding slightly off his face. "King Aegon agrees with me that we should reach out to offer him further assurances, and Lady Tyrell too. He requires you to dispatch letters to Highgarden and Storm's End, offering the hands of his twins in betrothal to the great Lord and Lady Paramount - Jaehaerys for the Tyrells' oldest daughter and Jaehaera for the Baratheons' heir, for the latter are already tied to us by my marriage to Brienne - as well as whatever else you think might win the two of them over to our side. High office and such." Despite being relieved at no longer having to run errands like a messenger boy, the princeling still felt a tad poor at asking someone else to do his work for him. "My apologies for placing this additional burden on your shoulders Grandfather, I'd fly to the Reach to negotiate with the Lady Paramount myself, but King Aegon requires my and Tessarion's presence here with war on the horizon."

Being so far fond, Ser Otto nodded, as he was asked regarding the High Septon.
"Yes, we shall arrange the marriage as soon as possible, if this is what you wish, Daeron", he replied, knowing that it might be for now the last days of joy, the Prince spent before reality would require more serious duties for him, "It won't be a large ceremony but in these times it is probably reasonable."

When Daeron adressed his other issue, Otto was somewhat surprised to learn that Baratheon demanded more after they already had granted him one request. Yet, if the King demanded it that way, there was less he could do about it. Although there were possibilities though.
"Jaehaerys being offered as a marriage candidate to House Tyrell might indeed help us to convince them of our cause", Ser Otto remarked friendly, "Fear not, Daeron, as I will take this into my own hands. I had hoped Ormund or at least Hobert could persuade her in regular ways, but I will ride myself to Highgarden, taking a small escort on my way. Ormund will most certainly be by the time at the capital. I will send a letter to Highgarden, where I will inform the Lady Tyrell of our intents, but I have to be certain that the Reach joins our ranks. If I don't return, I put my trust in Aegon to name a better Lord Hand than me - perhaps even another man from our family like my son Gwayne.
That is our foremost priority - even if both the King and his mother won't see the wisdom behind it..."
He sounded somewhat bitter when speaking out the last sentence, but shook his head solely, before turning his attention back to the Prince.
"As regarding Baratheon, send him a letter that we will think over a second engagement, but solely if he joins up forces with the capital and proves his worth at defending Aegon's dynasty from Rhaenyra and her beasts", he added then, "I don't know what by the Seven is getting into him, but the Stormlands aren't the only ally we need to secure for our cause. We still await the Riverlands' response whether they follow King Aegon's call and from the North we hear almost nothing - thus it would be irresponsible to waste all our marriage ties to one single house if we don't even know whether we can besiege Rhaenyra and her allies effectively.
So in short: We will do as his grace wished, but make the second marriage between House Targaryen and House Baratheon tied to the condition that the Stormlords actually join with the Green. Understood?"

[Barry Goldwater]

Being so far fond, Ser Otto nodded, as he was asked regarding the High Septon.
"Yes, we shall arrange the marriage as soon as possible, if this is what you wish, Daeron", he replied, knowing that it might be for now the last days of joy, the Prince spent before reality would require more serious duties for him, "It won't be a large ceremony but in these times it is probably reasonable."

When Daeron adressed his other issue, Otto was somewhat surprised to learn that Baratheon demanded more after they already had granted him one request. Yet, if the King demanded it that way, there was less he could do about it. Although there were possibilities though.
"Jaehaerys being offered as a marriage candidate to House Tyrell might indeed help us to convince them of our cause", Ser Otto remarked friendly, "Fear not, Daeron, as I will take this into my own hands. I had hoped Ormund or at least Hobert could persuade her in regular ways, but I will ride myself to Highgarden, taking a small escort on my way. Ormund will most certainly be by the time at the capital. I will send a letter to Highgarden, where I will inform the Lady Tyrell of our intents, but I have to be certain that the Reach joins our ranks. If I don't return, I put my trust in Aegon to name a better Lord Hand than me - perhaps even another man from our family like my son Gwayne.
That is our foremost priority - even if both the King and his mother won't see the wisdom behind it..."
He sounded somewhat bitter when speaking out the last sentence, but shook his head solely, before turning his attention back to the Prince.
"As regarding Baratheon, send him a letter that we will think over a second engagement, but solely if he joins up forces with the capital and proves his worth at defending Aegon's dynasty from Rhaenyra and her beasts", he added then, "I don't know what by the Seven is getting into him, but the Stormlands aren't the only ally we need to secure for our cause. We still await the Riverlands' response whether they follow King Aegon's call and from the North we hear almost nothing - thus it would be irresponsible to waste all our marriage ties to one single house if we don't even know whether we can besiege Rhaenyra and her allies effectively.
So in short: We will do as his grace wished, but make the second marriage between House Targaryen and House Baratheon tied to the condition that the Stormlords actually join with the Green. Understood?"

"Certainly, I agree on all counts..." Daeron replied, nodding, though seemingly unsure. Not of Otto's proposal to deal with the Baratheons - that they already had a marriage tie between the two houses should be sufficient grounds for his new good-father to intervene on the side of his new in-laws, but of the prospect of directly addressing Baratheon. "Do you require me to write the letter to Lord Baratheon, however, or should I leave the task to your scribes? I understand they likely have a better grasp of language and writing than myself."

[Lord Dread]

"I guess I'll leave the answer to Baratheon to you, Daeron, since it might be some good training for you as well", Ser Otto answered faithfully, patting the young boy on his shoulder, giving him a grandfatherly look for a brief second, "As you can see I'm an old man and the Stranger could take me at any point where he wishes to take me with him. Nothing would make me prouder, if you could fill one day my role, while teaching your children and grandchildren the same lessons as I tended to do towards you and your brothers from time to time."
From what he knew of Daeron, the Hightower was certain that he came probably more after the Hightower line, when it came to his attitude than his brothers. Time would probably tell whether he was wrong or right, but time was these days a rare good - while it couldn't hurt for Ser Otto to suggest Daeron, that he was probably capable as well to achieve the same wisdom as he himself did over the years. After all the boy might be able to return after the war to Oldtown and study at the Citadel as well, maybe even as much as he once did.

[Barry Goldwater]

"Very well grandfather, I'll see what I can do." Daeron affirmed with a nod. Then, unless Ser Otto had anything else to say to him, he would depart with Brienne - first to prepare for his wedding, then to send a letter to his new good-father.