The long and boring trip to Highgarden was both long and boring. As much as one could appreciate nature's beauty and glory, one could only take it for so long before the desire to burn it down and replace it was some kind of civilisation took hold. I wasn't entirely sure how nature lovers stood it all out there in small groups or by themselves. It took the presence of my lady-wife and a certain amount of – private time - to keep my mind occupied most nights and pleasant conversation with those around me to keep me going during the day.

The infrequent nights away from the presence of Sansa, when she wanted alone time with her ladies, found me actually training. I actually had a sword or two in my possession, mostly as the result of wedding gifts; I'd never really picked them up and decided that now was the chance. I was nothing if a clunky amateur but had a natural dexterity on my side, which I used to my advantage as much as possible. My blows would not be strong, but they would be frequent and fast coming and I hoped to make Arya proud with my eventual skill.

I was mostly the butt of jokes by those who saw fit to teach me the art of sword craft. For the son of Robert, I was a shite fighter and somewhat uncoordinated with the sword. It had been a little while since the duelling with Arya, which had been mostly in just and my duties had kept me from too much training. Not that it apparently mattered. But I gritted my teeth and did what I could. Sansa was supportive if no one else and even Tywin offered a few words over a dinner one night after training.

Still, I got a little better and didn't manage to make too much of an ass of myself. I doubt I'm going to enter any competitions, but I now know a thing or two about how self-defence in this world of utter chaos. With the likes of Clegane in my posse, let's hope I never have to use any of these skills. Which reminded me for the first time in a while to send for Brienne of Tarth, as my desire to correct the course my father tried sending us down is evident in the actions I've taken. Even if she doesn't join up, I would be tempted to knight her just to poke tradition in the eye and show everyone that women can be knights.

A lot of what I was doing was incremental stuff in the long term – the printing press, focusing on road improvements, development of gun powder, and the like. But it would hopefully develop into stuff down the road. The printing press would hopefully lead to an increase in literacy and books, and take a lot of the power away from the Maester's. Road improvement would lead to greater travel and the faster spread of ideas and news. Gun powder to better military technology. From what little I understood of the greater society of this world from the show and what little I'd read of the books, and maybe a wikia or two, it had been stagnant for a while. If I could bring Westeros out of the medieval age and start it onto the road of the industrial revolution, and make the Crown hella rich in the process.

It was too bad that my knowledge wasn't more engineering based or I would be able to kick-start the steam powered era. However, it would be tempting to establish a college of sorts when I got back to King's Landing. I'm sure that Qyburn wasn't the only Maester who either hadn't made it in the rigid system of the Citadel or had been kicked out for unbecoming experiments. If I could attract them and put them to use inventing for the Crown.

The time on the road without the duties of ruling was actively giving me time to think and consider. With a large number of problems either eliminated, like in the case of Little Finger, or minimized, as Cersei would soon be, I would have a certain amount of time to set things in motion. I might have to keep a number of projects away from King's Landing, as I made a pretty good target along with the city itself as the seat of my power, but was a good time. And if they were set up and put in motion now, no matter who was in charge down the line, they would either finish up or just keep turning over.

I was already cranking out messages to send back to Tyrion back home, as fast as the even roads would allow. I was damn near ready to issue a Kingdoms-wide proclamation that all the administrative regions needed to invest some serious case in this cause. It would make everything operate so much smoother in my opinion, which seemed to carry a lot of weight these days. More so as I was proving myself a halfway capable leader who was actually willing to do the job instead of drinking and whoring myself into an early grave as my father had intended on doing. There was still a long way to go to correct his mistakes but we were getting there.

The Iron Throne's finances were under control – spending was down, tax collection was become efficient and the tax code was a reflection of current conditions, and deals had been struck with my two major creditors for repayment. Dorn had been given the man who'd wronged a well-liked Princess of theirs to punish as they saw fit and a voice in the governance of the country they'd married into. Even if I couldn't give them the Lannister's to punish, as I needed them to help me rule, I hoped it would be enough. I'd even quelled a rebellion from the Iron Islands and taught them a lesson on the precious iron price of theirs.

Hell, I even talked Tywin into sending a research party up north to see about the white walkers and whether or not they could be a problem. Hopefully Jon is doing what he did in the show's canon and bringing the free folk into the fold as a defence force. If I could figure out how to add to that, whether by raising the unemployed masses as a citizen militia and sending them north with the promise of pay or raising the armies of the Lords, who knows. One of the letters I was considering sending was on the subject of acquiring the Unsullied and sending them north for the use of the Night's Watch. I doubted that they'd be happy with that gift, but probably wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

The other major problem was the remnants of the House of Targaryen - Daenerys and her brother. Viserys was not a problem and quite possibly dead already from the crown of gold he received from Khal Drogo. If the show's canon was anything to go off of, she was already well on her way to securing an army somewhere in the Free Cities. Even if he sent for the Unsullied at this point, there was the chance she'd get there first and present the better offer with her dragons, but it was worth a try at this point. Even if only to attempt to deprive her of a large portion of her army.

There was bound to be war between the two of them and I need a way to counter the dragons. Hence the gunpowder. If cannons could be developed then that could be something. Le sigh.

Heavy was the head that wore the crown after all…