AN1: When reading Arianne's chapter in AFFC, I always wondered what kind of stories Oberyn would narrate to them. Well, here is my take of it. The large part in Italics is the story he narrated. Enjoy!
Does that girl ever get tired? Arianne thought with frustration. Her younger cousin, Sarella, hadn't stopped jumping around since they arrived this morning. She had asked about everything; the old ruin, the well Arianne had passed her day by its side, the castle's old inhabitants. Even about the rocks. Her father answered all of them up until a black viper almost bit Tyene and the Red one snapped at Sarella to wait.
When the sun had set, Oberyn and Tyene had milked almost every viper in the area and Sarella, for once in her life, seemed to lack of questions, Arianne had gotten up from her place by the well and had helped the others built the fire and to prepare supper.
Now the young princess was sprawled over the mat lain in front of her uncle and her bastard cousin Tyene was sitting next to her. All of her friends were positioned around them in a circle and listened to her uncle intently. He was narrating stories of Daemon the Dragonknight. They were all captivated; Obeyn was an excellent story teller. Only Garin seemed to think otherwise. He was snoring softly while his head was resting on the lap of Spotted Sylva.
Silence fell when her uncle finished his story. Arianne thought that she would like to meet a dragonknight like Daemon Targaryen. One who would fly to Sunspear atop his large dragon, ready to steal her away and...
"Arianne I asked you a question" the Viper's voice interrupted her musings. Everyone's eyes were on her and that caused her to blush.
"I am sorry but I was..."
"Daydreaming, again. You are in love, aren't you? You have passed all day swooning like an idiot by the well. But you don't tell us who he is" interrupted her Spotted Sylva. Arianne's blush deepened.
"I was not swooning over anybody!" she declared hastily.
"Oh, sweet cousin, that is a lie. We have grown up together, I can tell when you lie..." contradicted her Tyene with a very mischievous smile on her face. "Who is he? Please tell us, we can keep a secret"
"Yes, we can! How is he? Tall and fair or someone short and so hairy that looks like a bear?" Sarella had to say something; she always liked to push in where she didn't belong.
Neither, thought Arianne. He was tall, yes but dark and dangerous with a widow's peek. She blushed even more on the thought of her bandit and felt more uncomfortable. She didn't know what to say as her cousins and friends were firing one question after another without any mercy.
The one who saved her from their curiosity was her uncle. He rolled his dark eyes before interrupting them. "Arianne doesn't want to tell you now, so let her in peace" She smiled gratefully to him. He returned her the smile; one that was so similar to the one Tyene had given her shortly before. "You can pester her about it later, when you are cuddled under your blankets. For sure when she is dreamy and relaxed she will confide every little detail to you". Suddenly, she didn't feel so grateful anymore. "For now, I will tell you a love story".
A collective groan followed his declaration. "Papa, no please we don't want a love story!" exclaimed Sarella but the Viper paid her no hid.
"Of course you do my little snake. You just asked one from Arianne. She doesn't want to narrate you one, so I thought I might." The prince didn't wait for an answer. Not that anyone of them was willing to challenge him. All the members of the younger generation worshiped him like a god, from his sand snakes to his niece and her milk brother who was snoring loudly. They craved for his attention whenever he was around. Oberyn knew that and he usually found enough time to pass some time with them whenever he was around.
"Once upon a time, many years ago, before Queen Nymeria landed and burned her ship on Dorne's shores, the Andals lived here. For a while they shared their land with the First Men and other... creatures.
One of them was a beautiful Nyad. She lived in the well that Arianne passed her day sitting next to it. It's water was not only her life, but also her existence, part of her body and her soul. She lived in it and her shape was watery. She was fluid and cool as the water was, and when the summer days were extremely hot she would become still and vapory, just like the water does.
However she could obtain a more human form as well. Whenever she got bored of running free along the underground streams, she would reach the upper part of the well, grab its ledge and pull herself out. At that moment she would look like she was a tall and thin woman, with skin like a proper salty dornishwoman and her hair would be long and thick. She would be completely human; a woman full of flesh, bones and veins, but inside her the soul would always remain watery.
The beautiful Nyad loved to wander around her well and feel the heat of the sun on her face and the touch of the sand on her body. She would laugh and anyone who would hear her would feel like he had no problems in his life. But when she sang the sands moved, the animals came to her bewildered and no heart could resist her.
In that fashion she lived for many years, years beyond count, but for her were only a few, as she was immortal. She explored the world and still she knew nothing; until one fateful day. That day she was singing on the moon light. A great number of vipers were dancing around her and the sands were shifting in shapes on the air. That moment was when a Knight of the Andals saw her. He was bewitched by her beauty and her song had unintentionally grabbed hold of his heart.
The Knight moved closer to her and sat amidst the vipers watching her for hours. Suddenly, she saw him and she was stupefied. She cut off her signing; the vipers fled and the sand fell on the ground like raindrops. She had never seen an Andal before and she was equally impressed by him. The Knight moved closer to her and grabbed her by the hand and kissed her. He took her as his wife and she let him, because she was young and knew nothing of the Andals and men. They lived happily for a long time, until at some point the Knight said 'wife, I have to go back. It is not far my village from your well. Do not fear, I will not abandon you, I will come back to you. But first I will have to ask for my mother's blessing, which surely she will give'. And thus he kissed her once more and left her by her well.
The Knight travelled for a night and upon the morrow he reached his village. There he met his Mother and told her everything. The Mother listened carefully with a smile on her thin lips; a smile that never reached her eyes, because she didn't like it when her son did anything without her permission.
Mother was very sweet towards her son and always treated him like he was the most valuable thing in the world, but she always manipulated him. Mother would decide everything; Mother would decide whether he would wear chainmail or not, Mother would decide if he would drink wine or water. And of course Mother had already decided which woman he would take as his wife.
And now she was furious. She hated that he took such a decision without consulting her first. But Mother was manipulative and so she managed to hide her true feelings from her son, who never thought anything bad about her.
"So, Mother, what do you think? Isn't she great?" he asked her without suspecting anything about her true feelings.
"Of course, my love!" she answered enthusiastically. "She seems a great lady, even though..." she let her voice trail off.
"What is it, Mother?" asked the Knight with a little bit of concern.
"Nothing, nothing, son" she smiled less warmly now and cast her eyes to the floor. "Just..."
"What is it, good Mother?" urged her to speak further without knowing how she manipulated him.
"It is that the Nyads live thousands of years... they travel far and wide and they see many things and meet..." her voice trailed off once more.
"What is it, sweet Mother?" asked now alarmed the Knight.
"Who knows how many men would she have known, before you?" she said finally, her voice only a whisper. "But she seems different she..."
Her son never heard the rest of her explanation. He had already set off to return to his wife, red on the face and with fury in his heart. I forgot to tell you that he was a hotheaded man and the cunning Mother knew it. She counted on that and she watched with content her son go.
The Knight travelled twice as fast as before and reached her in half the time he did to return to the village, which already was half the normal time. He found his beautiful wife waiting for him, silently sitting by the well. When she saw him approach she run gleefully to him; because she was young and knew nothing of men. She grabbed him by the waist and hugged him, but she didn't sense that something was astray.
"My love! You came back to me earlier than I thought"
He detached her from him forcefully and kept her in a distance. "Love?" she asked looking him perplexed, because she knew nothing of men or she would have gone away from him.
"Tell me, love, have you travelled far?"
"Yes" she answered because it was true.
"Tell me, love, have you seen many things?"
"Yes" she replied again, because it was true.
"Tell me, love, have you met many men?"
She flattered at that moment because she finally sensed that something was wrong. The Knight thought that the answer was yes, as the other ones before that, like his Mother had said. Or else why would she answer as the good Mother had predicted, if she wasn't guilty of what she had accused her?
The Knight, as we said before, was bad tempered and often acted without thinking. He got very angry on that instance and his face became as red as a beetroot. In a blink of the eye, he got out his small dagger and cut his lover throat while hot tears stained his face.
The Nyad didn't understand what was going on, she only felt the cold metal cool against her skin and then her blood trickled down hot against it. But, as I have already told you, she was part of the water and the water was part of her. Instead of dying, she changed form and entered the well. However, her human form was lost to her forever because of her lover's act. And she was doomed to never sing again, to never feel the sand against her skin and her first lover was her last".
The Viper's voice trailed off. For a while only the crackling of the fire was heard and the soft snoring of Garin was heard. Everybody was a bit melancholic, but whether it was because of the story or of her uncle's story telling abilities, Arianne couldn't tell. Oberyn could make the stories come alive, she felt like she herself was the Nyad.
The silence didn't last long though. "What happened to the Knight?" asked Sarella. Couldn't she for once in her life not ask anything? Thought Arriane.
"He married again. But this time his wife was a woman of his Mother choice, a noble woman who elevated his stature in the local community."
"Did he ever regret what he did? Did he ever thought of her?" persisted the dark skinned girl.
"Who knows?" wondered Oberyn. "Did he ever cry for her? Did he ever think of her? Did he ever imagine that he was making love to her, kissing her instead of his lady wife?"
"Why anyone would lay with someone who he doesn't want?" asked Arianne before she could restrain herself. She blushed. "I am sorry it was a stupid question".
Her uncle smiled to her "There are no stupid questions, never. All questions must be posed and all questions must be answered".
"So, I can ask..." began again Sarella but her father cut her.
"...what happened of the Nyad?" finished her question and she smiled guiltily. "She travelled the dessert through the underground streams, trying to find something as wonderful as love again. But she found nothing. Eventually, she returned to her well and became so still with mourning that over the years her water dried out and she died".
That left Sarella speechless for a while. Oberyn grab the opportunity to send them all to sleep. Arianne curled up close to the fire between Spotted Sylva and Tyene. Sarella lay alongside her father, as she was the youngest of them all, and besides, her uncle liked to snuggle all his daughters whenever he could. Only Obara didn't let him do it anymore even though from time to time she would lay her head on his lap and listen stories with the rest of them.
Soon afterwards almost everyone was fast asleep. Arianne was stargazing when she heard Sarella whisper to her father "Daddy, did you make up parts of the story, if not all of it?"
"Why do you think that, my little snake?" he asked sleepily.
"Because, if the answers about their future were part of the original story, why didn't you narrate them before I asked? I think you made those stories up" she said very solemnly with the tone she used when she made a statement of great importance.
"And if I am making them up, does that make them less worthy to be told?" Arianne could hear the smile on his voice. He liked to encourage each and every one of his daughters to follow the inclination of their choice, even if it was a weird one; and he was always very proud for each of them. "Now, if you don't stop talking and sleep, you will prepare breakfast for all of us tomorrow."
That at last silenced Sarella; it was common knowledge that she hated cooking. Arianne kept looking the stars, and despite her cousin's accusations of false stories, she dreamed that night that she was too part of a stream, and that she travelled the world until she found her true love.
AN2: Any kind of feedback is welcomed. Thank you for reading!