Chapter 2
The sun shined bright across the Reach as Ryker and Tyene's host rode towards Highgarden. The two siblings felt uneasy as they rode across the lush farmlands and vineyards of the Reach with their Dornish escort. Dorne and the Reach shared a bloody history that revolved around many border wars within the Dornish Marshes, King Daeron Targaryen even conquered Dorne for a short time and placed a Tyrell as it's governor. The campaign costed the Targaryen's and Tyrell's a total of fifty thousand soldiers and the Tyrell Lord had been brutally murdered by the Uller's of Hellholt. This had been why Ryker was shocked when Tyene had informed him that their father was sending them to Highgarden to secure the loyalties of the Tyrell's.
The escort that rode behind them was small, only twenty five men came with them, but everyone one of them rode Sand Steed 's. The Sand Steed's couldn't hold a man with full plate armor, but they had the capability to ride day and night, and then day once more. Oberyn had let them handpick the men accompanying them to Highgarden and Ryker and Tyene had been careful to pick men from Dornish houses that the Tyrell's wouldn't see as threats, the Uller's were ommited for this reason. The siblings ultimately decided on five Dalt's, five Jordayne's, five Gargelen's, five Allyrion's and five Martell's.
"My mother was a septa in the Reach." Tyene said as she gazed about atthe endless mazes of vineyards that dotted the countryside.
"Where's her Sept?" Ryker asked curiously, but Tyene shook her head.
"My mother was a septa and she was impregnated by a prince. The faith doesn't exactly take kindly to septa's that break their vow of chasity." Tyene explained.
"At least you know more than I know about my mother." Ryker noted and Tyene gave him a funny look, "Has he really told you that little?"
"I know my mother is Lyseni and that she was a highborn visiting Dorne at the time father met her." Ryker told her and it was the utmost truth. The first memory he had was of the ship that brought him from Lys to Westeros. He had only been three at the time, yet he could still recall the ship being named Larra's Delight. The ship had docked at Planky Town and a group headed by Areo Hotah had escorted him to the safety of the Water Gardens. Ryker spent a large portion of his childhood at the Gardens and had always cherished these years. Any child of any birth status could play in the Water Gardens and he had begun to see why Doran had gotten so much joy watching the children of varying degrees of birth status playing together with little care to the hierarchy of Westeros.
"Thinking about the Water Gardens?" Tyene asked suddenly and Ryker looked at her in disbelief.
"It's hard not to think we're twins when you do something like that." Ryker chuckled and Tyene joined in.
"It's the look in your eyes is." Tyene said, "And don't worry, I think about them all the time." She added in gentle manner.
"And it never mattered that we were bastard born." Ryker replied quietly and Tyene understood what her brother was hinting at.
"You don't think the Tyrell's will accept us?" Tyene asked him and she could tell he had mixed feelings about the idea.
"Our father crippled their heir and now he's sending two of his bastard children to secure their loyalties." Ryker explained his fear, but his sister had been quick to reply.
"But Willas never held any ill towards our father for his injury, he'd even been offered as a potential suitor to Arianne and she had seriously considered the match even though it was against her father's wishes." Tyene explained and her brother raised an eyebrow.
"Arianne considered Willas?" Ryker asked suprised.
"She even made plans to visit him, but father caught us before we even made it outta Dorne."
"Really?" Ryker asked, still somewhat skeptical and Tyene gave him a pleading look.
"Arianne's not as shallow as she seems." Tyene expressed, defending her cousin and closest friend.
"Ya, but sleeping with a guy like Darkstar only makes me question her
senses." Ryker replied.
He had met Ser Gerold Dayne several times and it was clear from the first meeting that he was a vain man. The Knight of High Hermitage had largely ignored him each time they met and Ryker had quickly surmised that it had been due to his bastard status.
"What? Aside from being an arrogant asshole he's got a lot of redeeming qualities." Tyene laughed as she found herself half heartedly defending one of her cousins many sexual conquests.
Ryker opened his mouth to reply, but a loud voice commanded them to halt and over two dozen men bearing the Tyrell coat of arms blocked the road ahead of them. The siblings quickly ground their horses to a stop and their escort followed suit. Ryker knew his twenty five men could have easily overtaken the Tyrell's owing to the fact that his men were horsed while they'd been on foot, but he'd obviously have to avoid any violence with patrols if they had any hope at securing the Tyrell's as allies.
Ryker gave his sister a nod and they both dismounted before giving their escort a signal the to hold back.
"We better not get killed." Tyene whispered and Ryker gave a smile that did nothing to reassure her.
"The Tyrell's are supposedly the most honourable in the realm, let's see if their's any truth to that." Ryker whispered back and Tyene snorted in reply.
They turned their attention back to the Tyrell's blocking the path to see three men were walking towards them and the middle one strided with a grace that led Ryker to believe the man was highborn.
"Name yourselves." The man in the middle said calmly once he had come within a few feet of them and aside from noticing that the man was remarkably handsome as well as the Tyrell heraldry on his shield that differed from the others. While the standard Tyrell heraldry consisted of a lone golden rose on a background of green, this man bore two golden roses on his shield.
"I'm Ryker Sand, Oberyn Martell's natural born son and this is my sister, Tyene Sand." Ryker answered and the Tyrell seemed a tad confused.
"You don't look Dornish." The Tyrell said, though his tone suggested he was more curious than suspicious.
"My mother was Lyseni and Tyene's was a Septa in the Reach." Ryker answered and the Tyrell went to answer, but Tyene had cut him off.
"You're Garlan Tyrell!" Tyene cut in and Ryker was surprised when the man smiled a moment before replying.
"I'm guessing the two roses gave it away?" Garlan asked her and Tyene shook her head.
"Our father brought us to Willas' twentieth nameday, but your father forbade us from enjoying the festivities." Tyene answered in an icy tone and Ryker gave her a hard nudge.
"What? The round trip only took four months." Tyene told him sarcastically and Ryker planted a face to his hand.
Ryker and Tyene had been fifteen at the time of Willas' twentieth nameday and it had been an ill-fated attempt to repair the tensions caused by Willas' injury at the hands of their father. Unbeknownst to his father however, Willas had taken the first step towards reconciliation between the two Great Houses and invited Oberyn to his twentieth nameday. Their father had readily accepted the offer and even commissioned the blacksmiths at Sunspear to design a cane for Willas. The trip to Highgarden itself had taken them a month and a half and they'd been in the great hall for a total of five minutes before the Tyrell's confronted them. In reality, it was only Mace Tyrell and his youngest son that took offense to their prescence and Willas tried pleading with his father and brother, but it was of no avail. Knowing they hadn't been welcome, Oberyn leaned the cane he had commissioned for Willas against a nearby table, bid Willas a happy nameday and promtly told us we were leaving.
"Willas had been angrier at our father and brother for confronting you then he'd ever been over the accident that caused his injury." Garlan admitted to them, "They finally relented after Willas showed them the countless letters exchanged between him and your father." Garlan added and he took a moment to gaze at the setting sun before looking back at his men that had blocked the road.
"The days getting long, we'll need to ride soon if we're to make it to Highgarden before nightfall." Garlan told them and the pair grew somewhat suspicious.
"How'd you know we were traveling to Highgarden?" Tyene asked and Garlan chuckled slightly.
"We've been growing rather popular lately." Garlan replied and though he hadn't openly said it, Ryker and Tyene knew that Garlan was hinting that the Martell's weren't their only option.
