Wouter

"Just as easily" is the wrong choice of word, considering that the Florents lost their lands and their castle and most of them lost their lives as well. Tarly did not support the Florents over the Tyrells, anyway; thus Rowan would not necessarily support Tarly over Tyrell either, should Tarly make a move to overthrow the Tyrells as lord paramounts. Probably? Most of the GC are outcasts and they lived in the stepstones for the most part (as the usual battleground for the GC is there). It's not terribly likely that Tarly has got buddies there, especially not in the plural. Maybe the GC member was pointing at Tarly with his comment about "friends", but it just as easily could just be less powerful lords who lost part of their lands for siding with the Blackfyres in the wars of the past (well, rather because of their fathers/grandfathers doing so, but the sentiment could linger). "People" do not forget the Tyrell army, to the contrary! A crucial point in the "fake supply" idea is that the GC "proves" it is pro-Stannis by either attacking and defeating the small Tyrell holding force, or by chasing it away. What you may be confused by is that only a small part of the Tyrell army is still at Storm's End; Mace took most of the original siege army when he went back to KL to free Margaery. The Tyrells left enough to pin the small garrison in the castle, but don't expect them to be able to muster much resistance against a good part of the GC.

One possibility is that they pretended to be allies of the (Stannis) garrison inside the castle, bringing supplies after battling/chasing away the Tyrell holding force, so they could just walk in. Or maybe Jon Connington knows some secret about the castle that others don't, but that should rather be the province of the Baratheons as those lived there, after all.

Was she next in line in the Florent family? I didn't realise this, that's indeed a good point as Brightwater Keep is a rich catch. Makes me wonder if Sam could eventually get it (depending on him not becoming a maester and the Watch not surviving the books in its present state, though). I agree that it may be possible Tarly felt this as a slight. Tarly captured Maidenpool, but the army he used for it likely was filled for the most part with forces from (other) Tyrell bannermen, and only a relatively small part of the army being his very own troops - I guess. Looking at it from another angle, Mace may not give him full credit in public but he did give him command of his own, very large army, so his competence as a commander is defacto acknowledged (during Robert's rebellion he commanded "only" the vanguard of Mace's forces IIRC).

The point is, Mace is his liege lord and serving him faithfully has served Tarly well in turn; he is now reaping rewards. This does not give Tarly a reason to turn turncloak.

It's always possible there is a turncloak among the Reach group, but didn't even Mace more or less dismiss Aegon as a credible threat? He seemed to be way more focused on Cersei and the High Septon and see Aegon and co as no more but a band of outlaws and sellswords (not taking into account the formidable reputation of the Golden Company, which is not your average sellsword band, including in size).

What behaviour are you referring to? As things are, Randyll Tarly stands to gain under Tommen/Margaery; he has arranged a lucrative marriage for his son with the heiress of Maidenpool. And he is a respected commander under Mace Tyrell, lately he even has been leading his own army (instead of only the van). Why would he switch to Aegon, especially if the latter has only the outnumbered Golden Company for the time being? If it looks like Aegon will win, maybe.

I agree about the Tyrell army - we have no reason to believe it is not more numerous than the Golden Company (the Tyrells have/had 2 armies in KL, each easily larger than the GC), but many Dornish have a natural disdain for the Reach (and vice versa). As far as we know, Randyll Tarly could be leading this army (if Mace decides to stay near his daughter, in KL) which would make it a dangerous opponent for a GC that has divided its forces to some degree. I also wonder where Martin is going with the tunnels from the CotF - this has to come into play at some point, maybe with the Reeds who are looking for a way out (assuming Jojen is still OK, Brans last chapter has a bit of a creepy atmosphere around Jojen). Thanks for typing this out Trebla, much appreciated!

I don't think we know what he thought about Robb - he may well have regretted the death of an enemy of the Lannisters. Baratheon did not start the war anymore than Stark, Arryn and especially the Targaryens themselves did. What started it was Aerys' demands for the heads of Robert and Ned, remember? More to the point though, the Baratheons did not balk when the Lannisters had Elia and her children killed (the Starks did, though Doran may or may not know that - through the Daynes maybe, or "friends" at court). Stannis also was in charge of the fleet sent to capture (or kill?) Viserys and Daenerys, shortly after the war. He's not a natural ally for Doran. However, Doran also looks at Connington with suspicion (probably justified, considering Varys' and Illyrio's hands in events).

That's a good catch, Arianne has some unfinished business there. Especially since we (and she) still don't know who betrayed the entire Myrcella plot to Doran.

What's strange about that? Arianne, especially in a chapter that brings news about the war of Connington and Aegon, sounds much more interesting that the Damphair. What could he be doing anyway, with Asha and Theon still far away from him and Euron and Victarion even farther?