Without knowing the partisanship of these districts, do you deem this NC map fair? (14 districts)

[Sol]

That's better than your other one. My main quibbles are:
1. The Triangle--I think a different alignment of districts here is preferable. It's better IMO to have a Raleigh suburban+Johnston/Raleigh/Durham+Chapel Hill+Chatham etc. alignment than that Wayne to Alamance thing.
2. The 8th should include all of Robeson. You can then push the 7th north and then whatever district you have in that area into Moore or Harnett or wherever needs population.
3. There's a way to draw the 11th district in whole counties, which includes all that you have plus Watauga and minus McDowell. Alternatively you can do a more CoI focused district which withdraws from the High Country and takes in all of the Asheville area counties. But your map doesn't really serve either ideal perfectly.
4.You split Winston-Salem I believe.
5. Gaston County if possible should be reunited with the other portions of the Charlotte metro not in the 9th or 12th.

[Sol]

1. Got it, makes sense. How many times would this cut Wake?

It'd cut Wake into three pieces--though the portion in the Durham-Orange district would be pretty small. Alternatively you could cut Lee or something.

3. That's a good idea -- what do you mean by the High country here?

Basically the NW mountains--a bit of a nebulous region but basically centered in Watauga, Ashe, and Avery counties. Broader definitions include Mitchell and Alleghany and sometimes Yancey; there's a council of Government which covers all of the above plus Wilkes but I doubt Wilkes would usually be included.

5. How would that work? Isn't the 10th somewhat Charlottey here anyway?

Your 10th is a bit of a mix; certain portions of Catawba, Cleveland and Lincoln are somewhat Charlottey but the rest isn't. It's more that Mooresville, Gastonia, and Kannapolis are very much Charlotte suburbs and should be together rather than being drawn out into rural areas.