It was much the same as with the delegation from the Reach.
Robert and Eddard had also come to the Riverlands with the party from the eastern Vale, led by Ser Denys Arryn, the newly appointed steward of the Gates of the Moon.
Having always lived at the Eyrie atop the Giant's Lance, the two young men of college age rarely got to travel far from home and were naturally thrilled.
Lord Jon was absent, and they could not find much common ground with older Arryns such as Denys Arryn and Elbert Arryn. With no one to keep them in check, the two brothers left the party to roam the Riverlands on their own "adventures."
The Riverlands lay in central Westeros, with the Kingsroad and three rivers-the Green Fork, the Blue Fork, and the Red Fork-running through it.
It bordered the Vale to the east and the Reach and Crownlands to the south. Passing through the fortresses along the borders would also take travelers to the Westerlands and the North.
With its extensive transport routes, it was a crossroads connecting five regions.
That very geographical position also made it a troubled land plagued by frequent wars, where blood all too readily flowed deep enough to float shields. Whenever a great war broke out on the continent, the tragedy of "the Seven Kingdoms fight, the Riverlands bleed" would unfold.
Still, it truly was a fine place to travel.
It encompassed all sorts of terrain, with countless plains, forests, hills, and lakes. Together with the fertile lands between the Trident's many tributaries, it still presented an overall picture of prosperity and dense settlement in peacetime.
As long as there was no war, life here was not difficult for the common people.
Though it had no great cities to speak of, it had many towns, including Fairmarket, Saltpans, Earl Harroway's town, Maidenpool, and Stoney Sept.
After crossing the Trident with their party, Robert and Eddard had first gone "exploring" at High Heart before following the western shore of the Gods Eye around the lake to get here.
They were very interested in the "ghost of High Heart" from local rumors.
She was a mysterious dwarf crone, possibly a woods witch, who had once foretold the union of the present King Aerys and his queen, Rhaella.
When the Tragedy at Summerhall occurred, the old woman had been at Summerhall in the Dornish Marches. Many believed she had perished in the flames as well, but she had miraculously survived and returned to live on the hill of High Heart in the Riverlands.
There, she had continued mourning her dear friend Jenny of Oldstones, the common-born wife of Prince Duncan "the Small," "Florys the Fox."
Titus spoke with Robert about the Seven Heavens and Seven Hells of Westeros.
The Seven Heavens were the blissful afterlife preached by the Faith of the Seven, where the heavenly Seven watched over all things.
The Father sent seven stars down from the heavens, and those who repented of their sins could taste the Mother's sweet milk after death.
The Seven Hells had likewise been created by the Seven to punish unrepentant sinners, each level deeper than the last.
Those who fell into the Seven Hells would burn slowly and suffer torment. Some ignorant and superstitious people in the Seven Kingdoms believed that deep in the Sunset Sea, far to the west of Westeros... at the end of the known world, stood the gates of hell.
Quite a few ignorant commoners also believed that the ruler of the Seven Hells could wield dark arts and command demons, and that a witch had to trade her unborn child to Him in return for His teaching her witchcraft.
Titus told Robert that the mysterious old woman on High Heart might be just such a "witch."
"So, did you meet this 'ghost'? Or get to see her witchcraft?" Titus, who had always been interested in the occult, asked with some curiosity.
"There was nothing there, just a tall hill," Eddard answered first from his seat at the table.
"Didn't we find thirty-one weirwood stumps arranged in a ring on the summit? Perhaps that was some sort of magical formation," Robert hurried to add, seemingly unhappy that his companion was belittling the fruits of his "adventure."
Eddard, who felt they had made the trip for nothing, remained unimpressed. "Oh, come on. In the North, ancient weirwoods are everywhere. Look at them all you like."
Dealt a critical blow by an authority on the subject, the young Lord of Storm's End promptly grew sulky.
As everyone ate and drank, time slipped quietly by.
By the time they stepped out of the tavern, the sky had long since gone dark.
Strolling along the riverside path to settle his meal, Titus sent a few soldiers back ahead to report, then took Oswin and Bowen along with his new acquaintances Robert and Eddard to the inn where the two were staying, to continue their conversation.
There, Titus unexpectedly discovered Robert's favorite weapons in his room: a pair of dark, heavy-looking spiked iron hammers.
He tried lifting one and found it rather strenuous indeed. Seeing this, Eddard remarked that he could just about lift Robert's hammer, but did not dare swing it with any force for fear of wrenching his back.
At that, Robert picked up the hammers disdainfully and gave them the look of a gym buff eyeing a pair of scrawny weaklings, as though to say, "You're both mere boys."
As everyone hurried back in alarm until their backs were against the walls, Robert laughed loudly and began swinging the heavy hammers, which seemed weightless in his hands.
Titus, who had been startled and loved stirring up trouble, watched with brightening eyes and gave Robert an embellished account: ever since their arm-wrestling contest in the tavern, Oswin had refused to accept his defeat by Robert, claiming that he simply had not eaten at the time, or he would certainly have thrashed the brat.
Naturally taken aback and angered by this, Robert carried his two hammers over to Oswin, who had drunk himself into a daze and was now sobering up.
Feeling a shadow fall over him, Oswin looked up blankly: ...
Robert repeated what Titus had said. Before Oswin could launch into his three-part "That wasn't me, I never said that, don't make things up," Titus cut in to goad him:
"You can't chicken out! You're Oswin 'Yellow Bull'!"
I'd rather not be. The Ironborn wanted to roll his eyes again.
"O great Ironborn warrior, in whose veins runs the blood of iron and salt..."
The young Earl kept at it, even shifting into an aria:
"...On the day he was born, the entire Kingswood... oh, no, the entire Iron Islands whispered his name: Oswin!
"A strongman the likes of whom Westeros has never seen, the foremost warrior under my command! Surely you don't think you can't lift Robert's little hammers? Don't tell me you're afraid and think you're no match for a strapping young fellow?"
The Ironborn glanced at his young employer, who was behaving like anything but a decent human being, then at Eddard's curious face and Robert's challenging gaze. He understood that there was probably no escaping this today.
Swallowing, Oswin clapped his hands and stood, then strode heavily over to the meow-meow hammers Robert had set on the floor. Choosing one that caught his fancy, he gripped it in one hand and heaved it up.
Titus, who had just tried lifting it with both hands, opened his eyes wide as he watched Oswin effortlessly twirl the hammer, then rest it on his broad shoulder. His tense face relaxed as he let out a breath and said:
"The way you were all talking it up, I thought it must weigh a ton. Is that all?"
Robert folded his arms. "Then why don't you try the other one too?"
With the hammer proudly on his shoulder, Oswin maintained his imposing pose and said nothing.
Though he still held his head high and chest out, looking no less impressive, traces of sweat seemed to appear on his broad forehead.
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After an awkward silence, no one knew who started it, but everyone burst out laughing...
Great iron hammer:
Before you continue