Dacey required about five minutes to compose herself. After that, she and her husband left the maester's chambers.
Word spread quickly through the moat that its lady was with child. Luckily, Gregor and Dacey were able to partly control how the news travelled. The ten members of the secret council were told first. Then the top officers of the Legion without Banners. After that, the common soldiers, the retainers of House Clegane, and the residents of the adjoining towns were informed.
The overall response to the news was one of ecstasy. Gregor and Dacey wrote to their families, apprising them of the news. Lady Maege Mormont and Lady Daliah Clegane were both delighted that they would soon be grandmothers. Ser Tarrence Clegane was proud of his son for starting his line of succession so soon after his marriage. Sandor was happy that he would be an uncle, as were Ellyn, Alysane, Lyra, and Jorelle happy that they would become aunts.
At the behest of his fellow Legionnaires, a small feast was held to celebrate the looming arrival of Gregor's heir.
Gregor made sure to keep it a small feast. He had no desire to needlessly waste food, even on a joyous occasion such as this one. Proper management of provisions was critical to maintaining the integrity of the Legion. Aside from that, Westeros would soon face another winter, and no one could afford to have insufficient stores then.
This last summer had been a short one. Hopefully, the subsequent winter would be no longer.
Gregor had seen about six or seven winters throughout his childhood in the Westerlands. All of those had been relatively mild, and House Clegane of Clegane's Keep had gotten through them without any substantial loss.
But these last two winters in the North… they had been something else entirely.
Although he had never entered the southern half of the United States until he started college, Gregory Welch's childhood had not been confined to the northern half of the country. He had an aunt and an uncle who lived in Canada. On several occasions, Gregory, his parents, and his siblings had paid them a visit. As it happened, his aunt and uncle liked to travel. Every time Gregory's family visited them, they met up in a different city. Among the cities they had seen were Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto.
Whichever town he went to, Gregory had always enjoyed his vacations in Canada.
With one minor exception.
When he was thirteen, he and his family had travelled to Winnipeg. There had been no wrong with the city itself or its occupants. The true problem was the climate, as they had gone there in the middle of January.
During winter, Winnipeg was supposedly the coldest perpetually inhabitable point on Earth in the Western Hemisphere. Gregory had discovered firsthand that that allegation was quite true.
His family had stayed there for a week, but they spent a total of eleven hours of that interval outside. The temperature rarely rose above zero, and there was always at least eighteen inches of snow on the ground. Often the roads were too icy for vehicular transportation, so they were usually forced to walk whenever they went somewhere.
That had to be the roughest winter of Gregory's first life.
But in spite of how lousy that experience had been, Gregor felt that winter in Winnipeg was still preferable to winter in the North. At least in Winnipeg, snowstorms generally only lasted a few hours, and there were days when no fresh snow fell at all.
This reprieve was not to be found anywhere in the North. There seemed to be a blizzard every day. On a merciful day, there was two feet of snow on the ground. On a harsh day (and those outnumbered merciful ones three times over), there was four feet. The average temperature was usually five to fifteen degrees colder than that of what the average had been in Winnipeg.
Gregor had already survived two winters in the North, but that did not make the prospect of facing a third one any more appealing.
There was also the painful reminder that the Legion had not emerged unscathed from either of the first two winters.
During the first winter, the renovations to Moat Cailin were still underway. There was too little room in the towers that had been built to house all of the Legion's members. Even when every inch of free indoor space was allocated, many of them were forced to sleep outside. To keep warm, they camped around large bonfires which were refueled with ironwood every hour. Despite these efforts, fifty-eight Legionnaires had perished in the snows.
The second winter had been even more catastrophic. Although Moat Cailin was by then large enough for the entire Legion, it was not large enough to include the smallfolk in the newly-built adjoining towns. The houses in those villages were strong and firm in the summer, but against the full fury of Northern snows in wintertime, they provided inadequate shelter. Only eleven Legionnaires had died, but nearly a hundred smallfolk had been lost, as well. In Gregor's mind, civilian casualties were always far worse than martial casualties.
Naturally, he would not allow the people of Moat Cailin to suffer these hardships a third time. He would take measures to ensure they did not.
Nearly all of the losses on both occasions were attributed to poor or insufficient housing. Gregor had noticed that, and he had taken steps to rectify that predicament. The houses in the villages were reinforced, and more towers had been erected in the moat.
Now, every house in the villages could withstand even the fiercest of blizzards. And even if they could not, the fourteen towers of the provided enough rooms so that the Legionnaires and the townspeople could live together comfortably. Interestingly, they would still have enough space that the living conditions would not be overcrowded.
Gregor was pleased by these breakthroughs. Not only would he guarantee the well-being of all the people staying at Moat Cailin, but there would also be no need to seek a safer haven elsewhere. Gregor would not have forced his people to brave another brutal winter at Moat Cailin unprepared. If he had been unable to give his people suitable living quarters when the winter snows came, the only option would have been for the Legion and the smallfolk to relocate south until summer returned.
Gregor was determined to keep the Legion without Banners in the North as much as possible. That was one of the main reasons why the Mountain had chosen Moat Cailin as its base of operations: its location.
Actually, the location of the moat accounted for two of the reasons for picking Moat Cailin as his new stronghold and the headquarters for the Legion without Banners
The first reason was because of its surroundings. From the south, it was protected by miles of marshland and bog. They formed a natural barrier from anything that came up the Kingsroad.
Of course, the true threats would come from the north. However, from that direction, the moat had no barricades, natural or otherwise.
To be precise, it had nothing of the sort before Gregor came along. That was another of the amendments he had imposed upon the moat.
After the villages and the new towers had been raised, Gregor had seen to the construction of a wall that bordered the lands immediately north of Moat Cailin.
The wall was not made of stone, wood, metal, or any traditional type of foundation. It was made of something that had not even existed in the world before Gregor came along.
When the Essosi architects first arrived at Moat Cailin, Gregor had presented them with a compound he had put together himself. The compound was a batch of homemade concrete.
The architects were greatly impressed by the concrete and its uses. They asked to know how this compound had been created, and Gregor obliged them with a summary of the smelting process.
In order to make concrete, Gregor needed cement, which also had yet to be invented. Luckily, he had the means to create that, as well. He had put together large amounts of clay and calcite-rich limestone, and he combined them with equal portions of water and sand. His blacksmiths heated the ingredients together in the forges of Moat Cailin.
The resulting mixture was a little crude, but it was sturdy and malleable enough to accomplish its intended use.
Gregor and the architects had a steady arrangement. The Mountain's blacksmiths smelted the concrete; the architects used it to build a thirty-foot wall along the northern border of Moat Cailin. They also used it to reinforce the houses in the villages and the moat's towers.
Although Gregor had told the architects how concrete was created, he had not given them a demonstration of the process. So while they knew how the compound was made, they did not know how to make it themselves.
During their stay at Moat Cailin, the architects proposed that Gregor give them the recipe for smelting concrete. That way, they argued, they could make the compound themselves without relying on his blacksmiths or overworking them.
Gregor was tempted to share the recipe. However, his blacksmiths assured him that smelting concrete was no chore for them.
Moreover, Gregor saw a business opportunity. While there was no such thing as copyright in this world, so long as Moat Cailin alone held the recipe for concrete, the ability to manufacture and sell it would be exclusively Gregor's.
So he declined to share the recipe with the architects. They were disappointed, but they accepted his choice.
Concrete and cement were the first objects from his first life that Gregor had introduced to the Known World. Through his connections, he had sold massive quantities of both of those substances on the markets of the Seven Kingdoms, the Nine Free Cities, and Slaver's Bay. They had brought in a tremendous amount of income for House Clegane of Clegane's Keep.
Gregor still owned the patents to cement and concrete. As long as they remained his, the treasury at Moat Cailin would continue to grow fuller. All he had to do was ensure that the required materials were always in abundance.
Water could be provided by the Cut or the moat's aqueduct, sand could be imported from Dorne, and clay could be dug up from the lands surrounding the moat.
The only material that proved a bit of a challenge to locate was the calcite-rich limestone. Fortunately, Gregor had ways of acquiring that mineral.
If there was one thing the Westerlands were known for (other than having the vainest and proudest Great House), it was that they produced the greatest miners in all the realm. Many of the Westerlander Legionnaires had at least some experience with mining. Gregor opted to put those skills to use.
After getting special permission from Lord Eddard Stark, Gregor had tasked those Legionnaires with locating and digging up any valuable caches of limestone or other precious metals in the southern half of the North. This past year had yielded very fruitful results. So far, they had found veins of limestone, moonstone, zinc, iron, ebony, silver, malachite, quicksilver, and even an occasional gold one.
The mining operations were even more lucrative than the concrete and cement marketing. The profits generated from these operations were around ten times greater than the expenses incurred.
If this enterprise became successful enough, Gregor would probably push to continue their mining operations throughout the rest of the North, all the way to the wall.
At any rate, now that a wall of solid concrete had been erected along the northern border of Moat Cailin, the fortress was protected from both directions now. There were only three gates in the wall, and each of them could be sealed off with concrete doors if need be.
Once the Long Night occurred, the concrete wall would provide a formidable obstacle against the Others. Gregor knew it would not hold them off forever, but it would greatly delay their advance south. The Legion without Banners would even be given some time to push the Others back or evacuate the moat.
Furthermore, once the Others were past the concrete wall, their hardships would not stop at Moat Cailin. Even if they managed to obliterate the Legion, they would still have to face the hazards of the Neck. Gregor did not know how deep the swamps were, but he believed they would be able to swallow up a huge proportion of the White Walkers before they reached the Riverlands.
That was one of the two reasons why Moat Cailin's location made it the optimal choice for the Legion without Banners.
The other reason was due to the moat's position relative to the rest of Westeros. It was just barely in the North. It could actually be rather humid at times. Even so, it shared the same climate of the rest of the region.
As Gregor knew well, the landscape of the North was frigid and inhospitable year-round. The temperature never rose about seventy degrees, and there were snows even in the summer.
Only the Northmen were accustomed to such everlasting cold. Gregor hoped to familiarize everyone else in the Legion without Banners with that climate, too.
That was why Gregor had selected a northern holdfast as the Legion's base of operations. It would be as a precautionary measure.
After the Ironborn Rebellion, the Great Summer would come, and it would last about a decade. While the rest of the realm would bask in sunlight and heat, the North would stay somewhat chilly.
In Gregor's mind, by indefinitely stationing a significant percentage of Westeros' fighting force in the North, every member of that company would become well-acquainted with the chill during the Great Summer. Therefore, once the Long Night came about, the Legionnaires would not be strangers to winter. That would give them a greater chance of surviving the extreme weather.
It would do the Legionnaires no good if they forgot how hazardous winter could be. They would have enough burdens to contend with without having to adapt to a steep drop in climate.
Even before he first went north, Gregor knew that life at Moat Cailin would be difficult. But in the long run, the extra difficulty would be worth it.
A few weeks after Gregor learned that his wife was in the process of making their first heir, Westeros was touched by winter again.
This winter was no more pleasant than the two before it. But at the very least, Moat Cailin was better equipped to endure this one. The Legionnaires and the smallfolk all found ample shelter from the blizzards within the confines of the moat.
Remaining indoors did not block out the cold completely, but everyone was able to find a way to stay warm.
For instance, at night, Gregor and Dacey were able to keep each other warm. Very effectively, one might say.
Although she was with child, Dacey was not opposed to engaging in intimate activities with her husband. In fact, her pregnancy seemed to exacerbate her libido. Gregor was all too happy to feed her appetites. Every night for the first two months following Maester Kennick's diagnosis, the Bear Islander and the Mountain made love at least three times.
That had been a rather exhilarating experience. It actually made Gregor think of a joke he had heard in his first life:
What do you get when you combine the Lord of the Rings with porn? You get A Song of Ice and Fire.
While not especially clever, he always thought that joke was hilarious. Partly because it was undeniably true. He and Dacey could attest to its authenticity. Apart from that, the Legion without Banners now had enough female members that the Legionnaires could establish a city of their own. Gregor had not been the only one to notice that. Some were taking advantage of it, as a matter of fact. It was not hard to determine which ones. At Moat Cailin, there were hardly any secrets about who was fucking who.
Whenever they were in bed, Gregor made sure his wife was always on top. That was how they usually did it even before she became pregnant. Before, they had done it primarily so that he would not smother her. Now he did it so that he would not put too much pressure on her abdomen. He would risk no hurt to his unborn child, especially not whilst doing the act in which he or she had been conceived.
Gregor had sworn to himself and to Lady Maege that he would not treat Dacey like an invalid or a weakling when she was with child. While he stayed true to that promise, he did become a little more protective of his wife.
Once a week, Dacey stopped by Maester Kennick's chambers for a checkup on her condition. Without fail, Gregor accompanied her to each of these appointments. He wished to know everything: the growth of the fetus, the details of what Dacey could expect, the recommended alterations to her diet and exercise routine, and everything else.
One would thing that Gregor was absorbed with his wife. Of course, even a fool could plainly see that Gregor loved and cared for Dacey deeply. Be that as it may, his true enthusiasm was driven by the bear girl's slightly protruding lower belly.
That fixation was simple enough to comprehend. Gregor was not obsessed; he was merely undergoing the sensation of euphoria, just as any eager young man soon to be a father did.
Dacey did not mind Gregor's newfound captivation with her lower torso. By extension, it was a newfound captivation with the rest of her, too. In other words, it was just one more thing about her that her husband adored. Plus, since the baby was his, he had a right to be so concerned. Additionally, she enjoyed all the attention he gave her.
Gregor and Maester Kennick were not the only ones who spent a lot more time around Dacey after her pregnancy was announced. Oberyn Martell and Ellaria Sand tended to be there for her quite often. In fact, they seemed to make Dacey's well-being one of their foremost concerns. For what reason, neither Dacey nor her husband could fathom at first.
When asked, Oberyn explained that he and Ellaria had several reasons for their sudden interest in Dacey. Firstly, they respected the Bear Islander and everything she stood for. She had been the very first female Legionnaire, and she had inspired many women across the realm to follow her example. In addition to that, Ellaria had been pregnant once, as well. As such, he was one of the very few highborn ladies in Moat Cailin who were in a position to help Dacey cope with her own pregnancy and prepare for her impending transition into motherhood.
There was also the fact that Oberyn and Ellaria held her husband in equally high regard. Oberyn had not forgotten how Gregor had saved his sister, and by all accounts, he never would (just as how he would never have forgotten if the Mountain had been the one who murdered her). Additionally, Oberyn was grateful that Gregor counted him among his greatest friends and his most trusted allies.
Oddly enough, Ellaria fell with child again a couple months after Dacey. From what Gregor recalled of the Sand Snakes, since Elia had already been born, Obella had to be the next one on the way. Dacey congratulated the older woman on her own bundle, and Ellaria, while grateful and thrilled, insisted that Dacey's pregnancy was still the truly momentous event at Moat Cailin.
The most prominent reason of all was due to something even Gregor himself had not yet considered. Oberyn pointed out to him that the Legion without Banners had begun as a company of men and women from all over the realm who were fighting alongside each other. Now, it was becoming more than that. The degree of tolerance and understanding between the members of the Legion without Banners was almost unheard of, even in the Night's Watch. Because of that factor and many others, the Legion was starting to become like a family.
When he thought on this, Gregor realized the prince was indeed correct. He was quite pleased to confirm this discovery. He could scarcely recall the last time any form of bias had caused an issue at Moat Cailin. Even those individuals who had come to the moat with the most extreme of prejudices had cast them aside in favor of respect and broadmindedness. That could only mean one thing: the Legionnaires were not just comrades anymore. They were now brothers and sisters in arms.
Oberyn was also keen to mention the possibility that the Cleganes and Martells would be related as more than even that. If all went well, they would be family through marriage, and eventually blood, too.
Gregor was still very open to the prospect of a marriage contract between Sandor and Obara. But he was curious as to what the exact nature of his relationship with the Oberyn would be. He thought on that for a while.
If Sandor and Obara ended up together, then Gregor's brother would be wed to Oberyn's firstborn daughter.
So what would that make the Mountain and the Red Viper? Gregor would be the brother of Oberyn's son-by-law, and Oberyn would be the father-by-law of Gregor's brother. What they would be to each other, Gregor was not entirely certain.
In any case, they would be family in both the physical sense and the spiritual then. That would mean a plethora of benefits to all parties involved. Chief among them was the fact that the Cleganes would be the very first house from the Westerlands to marry into Dorne. Quite an accomplishment, particularly for a house as young as theirs.
Of course, with Gregor's marriage to Dacey, the Cleganes had already been the very first family from the Westerlands to marry into the North. They had already set one precedent; why not another?
Some japed that with the joining of House Clegane and House Mormont, giants would soon return to the world.
It was not hard to imagine how that rumor had taken root.
Gregor was twenty-two years old in 287 A.C. He was now fully grown. His ultimate height came out as seven feet, nine inches. During her first pregnancy, Dacey saw her seventeenth nameday. She was a little over a foot shorter than her husband at six feet, seven inches. But she was still growing, albeit gradually.
With all that in mind, it was reasonable to assume that all of Gregor and Dacey's children would be a little taller than average. They would probably even be the tallest members of their generation. Gregor certainly could not think of anyone who would come close.
Sandor and Dacey were approximately the same height, but given the accelerated growth rate of men, that would probably change.
As far as Gregor knew, there were only three people in Westeros who stood taller than Dacey, and all of them were native to the North. They were Greatjon Umber at seven feet, three inches, Smalljon Umber at six feet, ten inches, and… a certain single-minded stableboy in Winterfell at six feet, eleven inches.
In any case, the Mountain was the tallest man in the Seven Kingdoms, and his wife was the tallest woman. Logically, they would have taller children than any other couple in the realm. Just how tall, they could not say for certain. But they would find out soon enough.
Nine weeks after Gregor and Dacey were married (and five after they found out about the latter's pregnancy), a raven flew in from the south. It brought with it a letter which Maester Kennick promptly brought to his lord. The wax held the form of a crowned stag, which indicated that it had been sent from King's Landing.
The letter brought glad tidings.
Robert Baratheon and the rest of the Small Council had gone over Gregor and Oberyn's case to legitimize the latter's daughters, and after much debate, the King had chosen to give them his approval.
The letter contained a royal decree signed by Robert himself, formally legitimizing Obara Sand and Nymeria Sand as trueborn daughters of Prince Oberyn Nymeros Martell. It declared that from that day forward, the girls were to be recognized as Obara Martell and Nymeria Martell.
According to the letter, only Obara and Nymeria had been legitimized. That was primarily because they were the only two of Oberyn's daughters whom he had specifically referred to by name in the petition he and Gregor had sent to the King. Robert had not legitimized the other Sand Snakes merely because he did not know their names. Varys could have told him, of course. But the Spider was hoping to avoid saying anything about Oberyn's "bastard son." Aside from that, the King had not asked.
Robert said in his letter that if Oberyn wished to legitimize the rest of his daughters, all he had to do was write the Small Council again, and they would make Martells of the other Sand Snakes, as well as any other baseborn children the Red Viper might have had in the future.
Robert even offered to legitimize Oberyn's paramour. Everyone who heard that proposal was greatly surprised by it, Ellaria herself most of all.
Ellaria Sand was the only child of Lord Harmen Uller. If she was given his name, she would become the rightful heir to Hellholt.
That concept might have seemed very appealing to most baseborn children. However, Ellaria actually preferred the lifestyle of a bastard. With no name of her own, she had freedom to do whatever she pleased in the world. She had no responsibilities, duties, or obligations. Other than Oberyn and the Sand Snakes, she was not bound to anyone or anything.
Some may have thought it selfish of Ellaria to choose the indulgent lifestyle of a bastard over the privilege to continue the legacy of her father's family. Luckily, Lord Harmen had a younger brother, Ser Ulwyck Uller. From what Gregor heard, Ser Ulwyck was still unmarried, but he was much less opposed to commitment than his elder brother, so the line of succession of House Uller was guaranteed in any case.
Even with all that said, Ellaria would not simply disregard King Robert's proposal. Perhaps there would come a day when it would be more ideal for her to be trueborn. She could not suppose a reason as to why that would be. Nonetheless, she would keep the King's offer in mind, and she would wait until such a day came. Perhaps she actually would be Lady Ellaria Uller of Hellholt sometime in the future.
What really mattered was that Obara and Nymeria now had their father's name. When this winter ended, Oberyn would discuss the idea of betrothal with his eldest, and Gregor would send a raven to Clegane's Keep to proposition his brother. Then they would finally know whether or not a marriage contract between Obara and Sandor was truly on the table.
Robert Baratheon was not the only highborn who wrote to Moat Cailin during that winter.
Two weeks after the king's letter arrived, two more ravens arrived from Winterfell and Highgarden. Lady Catelyn Stark and Lady Alerie Tyrell had finally answered the missives sent to them by her uncle and her brother respectively.
The reason they had taken so long to respond was not due to lack of interest. Quite the contrary; the idea of uniting the North and the Reach through marriage had caught their fancy. They had spent the last eleven weeks going over that concept with their husbands (and goodmother in Alerie's case).
After discussing this topic amongst themselves, the two Great Families decided to exchange some correspondence with each other, as well. Recently, a number of ravens had flown back and forth from Winterfell and Highgarden. More letters had been sent between those two fortresses in the last three months than they ever had in history
Robb Stark and Margaery Tyrell were still too young to speak for themselves, but their parents were raising them to be dutiful children. When they were old enough, they would consent to whatever matches their parents chose for them, and they would fulfill their obligations without protest.
After a great deal of deliberation, Lord Eddard Stark and Lord Mace Tyrell agreed to entertain the notion of a betrothal between the former's son and the latter's daughter. No marriage contracts had been drawn up just yet, but one was being heavily considered.
So for the present, it appeared as though the wolf and the rose just might be joined together in the near future.
Now that the issues of Obara's legimization and Robb and Margaery's betrothal had been resolved, Gregor was able to better focus on problems closer to home. Mainly getting his people through winter and caring for Dacey for the duration of her pregnancy.
Incredibly, not one person at Moat Cailin died during this winter. The improved housing arrangements ensured that everyone stayed warm and comfortable.
In spite of the unfriendly weather conditions, many of the moat's residents could often be found frolicking out in the snow. That crowd was not limited to the children at the moat. There were grown men and women who partook in activities typically reserved by a younger group. These activities included snowball fights, making impressions in the snow, and snowmen building.
When he had a bit of leisure time, Gregor would join his fellow Legionnaires out in the courtyard for a bit of amusement in the snow. He packed a decent snowball and designed a fair snow angel, but his snowmen were larger than anyone else's.
Whenever he built one, Gregor liked to whistle the melody to "Let's Build a Snowman"from Cannibal: The Musical.
Every now and then, one of his men would look at him in astonishment. That was not too surprising; they had never heard that tune or anything like it before. Even so, Gregor never told anyone the lyrics to that song. That was mostly because of how goofy and ridiculous the song was (just like the musical it was from). All the same, he rather liked that song (and the musical itself).
Dacey was able to accompany her husband in the snow for the first half of her pregnancy. She even joined in some of the activities.
The Bear Islander proved to be much better at snowball fights than the Mountain. Whenever two teams were designated, Dacey often commanded one of them, and her team was usually the one that won.
Then again, many of the people on the opposing team were reluctant to chuck snowballs at her. Not only was she the lady of Moat Cailin, but she also carried the heir to the moat inside her.
Dacey was quick to notice this, and she adamantly asserted that neither she nor her babe was a weakling, and that she could take a few blows. Not wishing to displease their lady, the other combatants agreed not to treat her any differently in a snowball fight.
This went on until the fifth month of Dacey's pregnancy. At that time, in the midst of a particularly heated battle, Dacey took a snowball to her lower chest. It had not struck anyplace close to her abdomen, but the force had been enough to knock the wind out of her. After she collapsed, Gregor promptly came to his wife's aid and carried her inside. Maester Kennick confirmed that she was merely short of breath. Gregor suspected that the other team had been hiding rocks in their snowballs, but he never found any evidence substantiating that theory.
At any rate, after much insistence (and begging) on the part of her husband, Dacey agreed to withdraw from the snowball wars until after their child was born.
One thing Gregor really admired about Dacey was how gracefully she handled her pregnancy.
Gregor could vividly recall his first mother's last two pregnancies. Gregory Welch's mother had been a very king and compassionate woman by nature, but whenever she was expecting, she could become very impatient, irritable, and sometimes unpleasant to be around.
Dacey was nothing like that. She was susceptible to mood swings, but those never lasted long. They actually seemed to be under her control. She had impressive discipline over her mind and emotions. Gregor wondered how she came to possess that feat. Maybe it was because the residents of Bear Island were accustomed to hardship, even more so than most of the other Northern houses.
Dacey still experienced many of the other symptoms that traditionally complemented pregnancy. The first three months were plagued morning sickness. She was more susceptible to changes in temperature, and she rose from bed at least once a night to use the privy.
She tried not to allow the symptoms to impact her everyday life. Still, in the seventh month, she voluntarily agreed to stop sparring in the training yard. By then, her reflexes and her range of motion had been severely reduced by the swell in her abdomen. Even so, she did not relinquish her duties as the Lady of Moat Cailin.
Finally, the day came.
In the early morning near the start of the ninth month of 287 A.C., Gregor was awoken very abruptly by his wife. As the Mountain regained his senses, Dacey complained about a sharp pain in her lower body. She appeared to be having contractions. They quickly discovered that her water had broken.
Gregor jumped out of bed and got dressed as quickly as he could. Dacey could not be bothered to dress. That was a bit of a problem; she was clad only in her smallclothes. So Gregor wrapped her in a thick robe of wolfskin, and he placed soft sheepskin slippers on her feet.
After that, Gregor carried Dacey down the stairs of the Lord's Tower, and he brought her all the way to Maester Kennick's chambers. To their good fortune, the maester was an early riser. He had already eaten his breakfast and he was preparing for the day.
When his lord arrived with his wife in arms, Kennick snapped to attention. One glance at Dacey was enough for Kennick to understand what was going on. He had already assembled a birthing chamber in the adjoining room. He had Gregor bring Dacey to that room. The Mountain took Dacey over to the bed and set her down gently.
As the maester tended to Dacey, Gregor went to fetch the midwife. He found her in one of the villages north of the moat. It took a few minutes to get her out of bed, but once she was apprised of the situation, she hastily and compliantly followed her lord back to the moat.
The midwife was a middle-aged woman named Vera. She and her family had been among the first of the smallfolk to move into the towns north of Moat Cailin. Vera had three children of her own, and she had assisted dozens of other women with the delivery of their babes.
Shortly after Dacey's pregnancy became known, Vera had offered her services in the birthing chamber. Since she had ample qualifications for the part, Gregor was quick to grant her that request.
When they returned to the birthing chamber, they found that Dacey and Maester Kennick were not alone. Oberyn Martell and Ellaria Sand had joined them. Somehow, the Red Viper and his paramour had caught word of what was happening. They must have seen Gregor carrying Dacey to the maester's quarters. That was the only reasonable explanation.
How they knew mattered little to Gregor. What was important was that they were there to help. Ellaria wished to assist Vera with the delivery, and Oberyn planned to provide moral support for Gregor.
Once Dacey was comfortably settled, Gregor and Oberyn were shooed out of the room by Vera and Ellaria. They claimed that other than maesters, men had no place in the birthing chamber. Gregor tried to protest, but Vera was deaf to his pleas and demands. For his wife's sake, he did not make a scene. Reluctantly, he joined Oberyn out in the corridor.
Dacey was already dilated ten centimeters, so the birthing process began straightaway. Even so, the process itself lasted a grueling four hours.
That was more than enough time for the magnitude of what was taking place to sink in mentally. Gregor sat outside the door to the chamber with Oberyn, and he lamented on the situation.
For these past eight months, Gregor had been greatly looking forward to this moment. Now that it had finally arrived, he found himself very apprehensive.
Every now and then, his wife let out a shriek of agony. Every one of those screams was like a knife in his heart. The worst part was that he could do nothing to relieve Dacey's pain.
Gregor prayed to the gods – the Old, the New, and the God he had worshipped in his first life – that Dacey and their child would survive the ordeal. Dacey was a strong woman; any child with their genes would be equally tough and resilient.
What really troubled Gregor was what would happen after his first child arrived. Publically, Gregor was supposed to hope for a male child. Secretly, Gregor did not care if his child was a boy or a girl. Whatever it was, he would love and care for his child just the same.
He just hoped he would be a good father. In both his lives, he had looked after his younger siblings quite often, but he had not actually raised them. His parents had raised them alongside him.
Gregor tried to assure himself that he could handle fatherhood. After all, he was the commanding officer of over three thousand men and women. If he could see to the well-being of that many individuals, surely he could do the same for an infant.
Of course, every one of the Legionnaires had come to Moat Cailin grown or mostly grown. They had all been sired and raised by someone else. This child, however, had been conceived by him, and he would be responsible for its upbringing until it came of age.
Gregor voiced none of his qualms, but one look at his face was enough to tell Oberyn that the Mountain was inwardly freaking out. Fortunately, the Red Viper was able to reassure his massive friend that his worries were unfounded.
Oberyn stated that he knew Gregor would be a great parent. He debated that if Gregor was half as good a father as he was a battle commander, his child would have one of the best fathers in the realm. In the little time he had known them, Rhaenys and Aegon had taken a liking to Gregor. Oberyn was convinced that that was a surefire sign of how good Gregor really was with children.
By the end of the fourth hour, Oberyn had succeeded in comforting Gregor and assuaging his doubts about fatherhood. Gregor admitted that his fretting was needless.
Less than five minutes later, Dacey's screams finally ceased. They were replaced by the wailing of a newborn child.
Gregor slowly turned to the door and stared at it intently.
A minute later, Maester Kennick gradually pushed open the door, smiled down at the younger man, and announced "You have a son, my lord."
Gregor and Oberyn swiftly got up off the ground and stepped inside.
Ellaria was taking small sips from a glass of wine. Vera was helping Dacey sit up in bed. Dacey herself was obviously exhausted. But she was smiling wider than Gregor had ever seen her smile. When she saw her husband, her smile grew even bigger.
In her arms was a bundle. A very large bundle. Gregor tentatively approached the bed. Despite how tired she was, Dacey managed to scoot over enough to make room for her husband. He sat down beside her and gazed at the contents of her arms.
Their infant son was indeed quite big. Two whole blankets were needed to swaddle him. His wails had subsided to light coos, and he had yet to open his eyes.
Dacey carefully passed the newborn over to Gregor, and the Mountain gently took their boy in his arms. He held him against his chest and delicately stroked his soft cheek.
A few seconds later, the boy gradually opened his eyes. He stared upward at his father, babbling incoherently.
Gregor broke into an even bigger grin than his wife. He turned to Dacey and placed a soft kiss against her lips. After that, he told her "You did beautifully."
"I'd like to think so," Dacey remarked with a note of smugness, "How many other women catch a prize this grand in the birthing chamber?"
"Just how big is he?" Gregor queried, curious.
"He weighed about seventeen pounds at birth, m'lord," Vera informed the Mountain.
Oberyn whistled and commented "Even a pair of regular-sized twins does not normally weigh that much."
Ellaria scoffed at her lover's blunt statement. She then looked to the Mountain and asked him "What will you call him, Gregor?"
Gregor and Dacey had discussed many possible names beforehand, but they had never settled on any one. Ultimately, they simply decided that if they had a boy, Gregor would chose the name, and Dacey would chose the name if they had a girl.
"I thought about naming the boy after my father or grandfather," Gregor disclosed, "I also thought of naming him after one of my old friends in the Westerlands. But he's a Northern child. He should have a Northern name."
"What name have you in mind, my lord?" Maester Kennick enquired.
Gregor looked back down at his newborn son and proudly declared "Rickard."
Dacey contemplated that name for a few seconds, and she nodded in approval. "Rickard Clegane. It seems quaintly fitting."
By then, Ellaria had emptied her glass of wine. She was quick to refill it. She also filled up four other glasses and gave them to Gregor, Kennick, Oberyn, and Vera. Then she filled a sixth glass with water, topped it with a bit of wine, and gave it to Dacey.
Once everyone had a goblet, Ellaria Sand held hers in the air and pronounced "To Rickard Clegane, firstborn son of the Bear and the Mountain, heir to Moat Cailin."
The others raised their glasses and repeated "To Rickard!"
They drained their cups in one long gulp.
Soon after that, the room was emptied of everyone except Gregor, Dacey, and little Rickard. The two new parents wished to have some private, personal time with their son before they resumed their responsibilities to Moat Cailin and the Legion without Banners. Vera and Maester Kennick would remain in the latter's office in case Dacey or her son needed attention. Oberyn and Ellaria would stay close-by, but they would not tell anyone of Rickard's birth. That privilege belonged to Gregor and Dacey.
For a whole hour, the three Cleganes were left all on their own without any interruptions or anxieties. To Gregor and Dacey, that had to be the most blissful sixty minutes of any winter they had ever seen.