After agreeing on the time and location for the compensation delivery, prisoner release, and the upcoming trials, the group in the reception hall dispersed.
Walking out of the hall, Arthur let out a long breath. The affair of the Peach Orchard had consumed nearly a year of his life and immense energy, but finally, it had reached a favorable conclusion.
He climbed the spiral staircase slowly, his fingers brushing against the familiar grooves of the stone wall.
When he pushed open the bedroom door, sunlight streamed through the colored glass window, falling upon Lady Nymeria. She was reclining on a soft divan. Her waist, once slender, was now noticeably fuller, and the dozen or so weapons she usually carried were nowhere to be seen.
"How does it feel to be pregnant?" Arthur asked, the corner of his mouth lifting involuntarily.
Lady Nymeria yawned lazily and complained with a straight face, "I can't ride, I can't touch my weapons, I have to watch what I eat and drink, and I'm always sleepy."
"The only 'weapon' I'm allowed to touch now is an embroidery needle. Most of my time is spent listening to handmaidens and septas share gossip and stories." She stroked her slightly rounded belly.
"These past few months feel like I've been living in the Seven Hells. I should never have agreed to carry your child before you left."
Arthur leaned down and pressed his ear gently against her stomach. "I think you're enjoying it."
Although Lady Nymeria kept complaining, the smile that unconsciously graced her face betrayed her true feelings.
She didn't deny it. A flash of tenderness softened her eyes. "Have you thought of a name for the child?"
Arthur answered without hesitation. "If it's a girl, we'll call her Ashara."
Nymeria raised an eyebrow. "And if it's a boy?"
Arthur looked up. "You decide."
Nymeria looked at Arthur with some surprise. Seeing he was serious, she traced her fingertips lightly across his cheek and whispered, "Lewyn. My great-uncle's name. What do you think?"
Lewyn Martell was Nymeria's great-uncle. After Elia Martell married Rhaegar, he donned the white cloak and became a member of the Kingsguard. He died alongside Rhaegar at the Battle of the Trident.
Later, Jon Arryn returned his bones to Sunspear, which helped broker the peace with Dorne.
Arthur held her hand. "The name of a great knight."
---
Early the next morning, the audience hall of Starfall was packed.
Sunlight poured in through the high windows, illuminating the proceedings.
The trial of the captured Arbor men was held here.
Arthur, Stannis, and Willas sat behind a long table on the dais. Observing knights and commoners sat on chairs lining both sides of the hall, leaving the central aisle clear.
The great doors opened, and a group of fifty prisoners was escorted by guards to the center of the hall.
"I'm innocent, my Lord! I'm just a foreign wine merchant! I was forced into this!"
"My Lord, please see the truth! We were threatened into joining! I only cooked and scrubbed the decks!"
"I'm a fisherman from the Arbor! They tricked me onto the ship with promises of high wages!"
As soon as these prisoners entered, they began crying out their innocence. Some wept uncontrollably, their words slurred with tears.
"Silence!" After Ser Barton roared twice, quiet returned to the audience hall.
Arthur cleared his throat and spoke loudly.
"Based on the interrogations and investigations conducted by Lord Stannis and myself over the past week, we have determined that you were coerced into joining the rebel Arbor fleet without knowledge of its true purpose."
"Furthermore, you did not participate in the attack on the Peach Orchard manor. You are innocent of these crimes. You may leave freely now."
The hall fell silent for a moment. Those who had been sobbing stopped, their eyes wide with disbelief, until the guards urged them to move.
On the dais, Willas was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Arthur to release so many people right at the start of the trial. "You are more merciful than rumors suggest."
"This is not mercy, but justice," Arthur corrected him. "Since I am presiding over this trial, I must seek truth from facts and ensure the judgment is fair."
The subsequent prisoners were brought into the hall in groups of ten. Like the first group, they had been pre-sorted based on the severity of the accusations against them.
Ordered from lightest to heaviest charges, they were brought in to be identified by the survivors of the Peach Orchard.
Arthur, along with Stannis and Willas, rendered judgments based on the evidence gathered from interrogations and the identifications.
As the trial progressed, the atmosphere grew heavy.
When three survivors simultaneously identified a sailor as the one who set fire to the almshouse, the man wet himself on the spot.
A knight steadfastly denied his guilt despite the evidence, only collapsing into a boneless heap when his accomplice's confession was read aloud in court.
The crimes became graver as they went on. To ensure no mistakes were made, gathering materials and evidence took time. The trial dragged on for a full week before all seven hundred prisoners were processed.
Of the seven hundred, aside from the initial fifty-odd innocents released, the remaining six hundred or so had either participated in the looting and arson on the Arbor or the attack on the Peach Orchard.
Over one hundred fifty men with lesser charges (looting without causing injury, or crewing ships during the Peach Orchard attack without going ashore) were sentenced to fines and flogging.
More than thirty men who lied during the trial had their palms pierced with daggers and were subsequently hanged.
Over two hundred men identified by survivors or implicated by accomplices in the attack on the Peach Orchard were beheaded. Their heads were mounted on spikes along the coastline of Starfall.
The remaining nearly three hundred men were permitted to take the black, led by Ser Norbert.
They would travel north by ship with Stannis and the Royal Fleet to King's Landing, and from there to the Wall in the North.
Arthur spared Ser Norbert's life because the knight had—albeit unwittingly—helped him pass false intelligence, which prevented the Arbor fleet from attacking up the Torrentine.
Despite Horas Redwyne's strong demand for Ser Norbert's execution, Arthur allowed him to take the black.
During the week of the trial, the Reach fleet carrying the eight hundred thousand gold dragons departed from Oldtown and arrived on schedule at Starfall's port.
Arthur arranged for Fat Karen and Nick to verify the amount. Once the count was confirmed correct, the gold was deposited into the treasury.
Subsequently, Arthur kept his promise and released all the Reach prisoners who had been held for over half a year.
Starfall, Reception Hall.
"Ser Horas," Arthur asked, "regarding the list of men who attacked the Peach Orchard that I gave you—have you caught any of them on the Arbor?"
Horas looked troubled. "There were sixty names on the list. We have captured five. The rest are nowhere to be found. It is likely they have changed their names and fled the Arbor."
"Relying only on names to catch them is indeed like fishing for a needle in the ocean. Moreover, once they learned we were hunting them, they likely fled by ship long ago. Catching them now would be too difficult," Mathis Rowan advised.
"I suggest we let this matter rest here."
"As Lord Mathis says. The trial and these matters end here."
Arthur knew well the difficulty of catching fugitives. Since the ringleaders, Paxter and Desmond, were dead, and the other perpetrators of the Peach Orchard attack had paid the price, he decided to quit while he was ahead.
"The subsequent compensation from the Arbor will be supervised by customs officials from the Iron Throne, and backed by the honor of Highgarden and Lord Willas. I trust it will be executed properly," Arthur said.
Willas chimed in, "In that case, we can consider this conflict officially concluded."