(Third-person perspective)
This time, a sinister smile flashed across Aermir's face; the Lord Arryn's summons of him was tantamount to accepting his status as the weaker party. They wouldn't allow him to break their backs with war reparations, but he should be able to withstand a few blows.
Jon couldn't even remember the last time he'd been humiliated, but now he had to endure it. While Lord Grafton spoke with Aermir, all Jon could think about was cutting off the arrogant boy's head. He finally took a deep breath and forced a smile.
" Lord Drasil, as we said before, your sale of weapons to the enemy has hurt us greatly, but we understand you are simply doing business, just as we have done with the Ironborn in the past. Now, we shouldn't view this as a divisive act. Since we are united against the Ironborn threat, we should confront them, at least as neighbors. We shouldn't hinder each other. We all know that no matter how well-prepared they are, it's useless; they are still Mountain Clans, and in the long run, they will lose this war, while we remain neighbors. Rather than opposing each other, we should at least be tolerant of one another."
Aermir turned back and smiled at Lord Arryn, and said,
"My good lord, first of all, we are not united in this fight because the Vale wants to help us. We are fighting because our king has ordered you to. We have been fighting the Ironborn, and you have simply decided to ignore their existence, just as you ignored the Three Sisters, until you are powerless to do anything more. What help has the Vale given us other than the king's order to invade the Iron Islands?... Nothing at all."
Aermir gestured to the other Vale lords and continued.
"That's why I despise the Vale Lords. You're only glorious when it suits you. Don't misunderstand, I'm not a naive young man who believes justice can rule the world. I understand, but I still dislike you hypocrites."
Aermir took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Lord Arryn.
"These are the demands of the Emre the Druid. If you accept these conditions, I will accept peace."
Jon tried to resist, but as the discussions continued, he received more news of the Mountain Clans marching north; he knew he couldn't afford to be caught in the middle. Therefore, he had to at least reach a truce.
Eddard wanted to end the war, but he knew Aermir wouldn't agree, so he had to persuade Jon. The first day of discussions yielded no results, and everyone returned to their rooms. Jon was studying the reports he had received, and the situation was dire. They had lost six thousand men in the battle against the Mountain Clans, and all their harvest was gone. Worst of all, he still had to feed the useless army on Paps.
Aermir made it clear that the Druid would allow supplies to reach Paps, and all the other lords heard him. He had already sent a raven to tell them so they could smuggle Lord Grafton from Paps, but only a few knew about it. So until today, he hadn't actually sent anyone to the island to help. He only used one or two ships to provide a little support and managed to smuggle 35 nobles from the island.
They had also tried to smuggle a few hundred knights, but his beasts sank the ships, and they stopped trying to smuggle soldiers after that. But now everyone knows that Jon has to feed ten thousand men, even though they are incapable of fighting. That cunning old fox is using them to waste his limited resources. Now they have to spend all their emergency supplies and buy food from the Riverlands and the Reach; the problem is that the Riverlands sold their harvest to Essos three months ago.
There are still three or four months until the next harvest, but by then, the Vale's food supplies will have long been exhausted, and they still need to feed a large army. The Vale's Winter are not as bleak as those in the North, so they don't have large-scale granaries, and even if they did, Summer only started a few years ago, so they won't have enough supplies.
The Mountain Clans ' attack came at the worst possible time. Besides, the Mountain Clans had enough supplies for at least six or seven months, thanks to the harvest they had plundered. Jon, exhausted, rubbed his temples thoughtfully when there was a knock at the door.
The door creaked open, revealing Eddard Stark standing in the doorway. The weariness on his face mirrored Jon Arryn's mood. Jon gestured for Eddard to come in and closed the door behind him.
"Sit down, my old friend," Jon said, gesturing to a chair. Eddard agreed, and the two sat facing each other, maps and parchment scattered on the table.
"You're in a dangerous situation, Jon," Eddard began, his eyes fixed on the map. "You've suffered heavy losses, and Aermir seems determined to continue the war. I've tried to reason with him, but his loyalty to the Druid is unwavering."
Jon said angrily.
"You ask him what he means? You are his lord. Can't you even control your own vassals?"
This time, Eddard said angrily.
"What do you expect me to do? Order him to back down when his war is so righteous? Your men were the cause of this war; besides, you, as the lord, are also at fault. When I ordered you to deal with the Three Sisters people, did you do it or did you sweep them under the rug?"
Eddard sat down, trying to calm himself down, and continued.
"When my lord has the right to uphold justice, I cannot ask them to stand idly by. I will not lose the respect of the nobles in order to save the Vale."
Jon sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair. "I know, Eddard. I made a mistake with the Three Sisters, and that's why I tried to find common ground, but Aermir's demands are unreasonable. The influence of the Druid on him is undeniable."
Eddard leaned forward, his expression grave. "We must find a way to end this war. The Vale cannot afford further losses. What's unreasonable about his demands? Jon, wake up. You are the defeated, he is the victor. Of course he'll make his demands. You're still pretending it's a draw, but it's not. Your men have been utterly defeated. Don't underestimate him just because he's not Druid. None of you have seen him and his men truly fight. He wasn't bluffing when he said he could leave the Citadel if you were all wiped out. Don't think of this as bowing down to a child; think of it as cutting off Druid's leg in this battle."
Jon took a sip of his drink and shook his head.
"I can't do that, Ned; we failed because of the Druid's magic and his damned animal, not because of that boy, so I can't accept everything he wants. I also want peace, but not at this price. If we give in to a child, especially one without a real lineage, the Vale will become a laughingstock of Westeros."
Eddard didn't want his respected second father to be defeated and humiliated, but deep down he knew that if things continued this way, Aermir would mercilessly crush him. So Eddard had to persuade him, so that at least he would still have some strength to rebuild.
Eddard knew that Aermir wouldn't end it all with war, as he had with the Ironborn. He would destroy them from within. Years had passed since the war, but the Ironborn were still killing each other, and he didn't want that to happen to Jon. "One last gamble," he said.
"Don't you know Druid are priests of the Old Gods? Are you getting senile? Are you not even thinking straight anymore?"
Jon was startled by Eddard's words, but before he could speak, Eddard continued.
"Do you really think you'll only be fighting Mountain Tribes? Let's say you gather 40,000 men and crush the Mountain Clans; what do you think will happen when they begin to retreat? They'll turn to Aermir for help, and most importantly, they'll pray to the Old Gods. Who do you think will answer their prayers?"
At that moment, Jon realized. Eddard was right; he might be fighting the Mountain Clans now, but once they started to falter, they would turn to the Druid for help. Eddard continued.
"By signing a peace treaty with Aermir, at least you won't have to divide your forces to deal with a second, more powerful army. Facing Aermir's five thousand men, you'll need at least two to three times that number, while he has ten thousand. Since your men attacked him, he can summon the rest of the Knights Templar army. Even then, you might not be able to defeat him, as the Druid might aid him. I haven't even considered the North lords who might join Aermir's side when the war actually begins."