Author's Note: I realize that my story's timeline is a bit off from the main series and especially the novels, but for the sake of continuity, please ignore this detail and go with it. Also, Jaime comes back to King's Landing a little earlier too. Like Season three, episode six early.

Also, thought I should mention: each segment is narrated from character perspectives, so not everything is going to be completely accurate. I wanted to emphasize the biased nature we all inherently have to a certain extent!

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FROM THE BOOK SERIES, A SONG OF FIRE AND ICE!

Happy Reading! ^-^

Chapter 4: The Beginning and the Army

Riding one of Dorne's legendary Sand Steeds, Lyra Stark was beginning to sweat a little too much for her liking. Plus, her body was beginning to ache from all of the traveling. Irritably, she couldn't help but to think, Coming to King's Landing by boat would have been much more efficient and faster, but nooo; Prince Oberyn just had to take the scenic route so that his youngest daughters could see the countryside outside of Dorne. Not that Lyra minded that much; she enjoyed riding, especially if she was riding a Dornish Sand Steed. Made for desert climates, the Dornish Sand Steed was reputed to be the fastest horses in all Seven Kingdoms; not only that, but they were reputed to possess the most endurance, being able to go days and nights riding without water. So far, this one has most definitely upheld his breed's reputation, Lyra thought, patting her Sand Steed's chestnut coat. According to the stable boy, this Sand Steed's name was Brightsun.

The Martell convoy was making great timing, the fast speed and smooth riding of the Dornish Sand Steeds helped a lot though. Ahead of the rest of the Martell convoy, Lyra galloped over the hill; she had never seen Yronwood, which is where Prince Oberyn said they would be staying the night. Reaching the top of the hill and slowing Brightsun to a stop next to Prince Oberyn, Lyra looked over at the horizon with wonder. She had obviously been North of Sunspear before, but she had not been through the Northern part of Dorne that led to the region of Westerns known as The Reach. There was still a bit of bad blood between Houses Tyrell and Martell due to the fact that the last time a Tyrell visited Dorne, he was assassinated by the Martells through leading him to a bed full of venomous scorpions. Also, when Lyra Stark and Princess Meria Martell made their yearly travel up North, they had always gone by boat.

House Yronwood was the second most powerful house in Dorne; though of course, House Martell was the most powerful. Although Lyra knew that the only reason why House Martell was the ruling family of Dorne was because of Nymeria, the Rhoynar ancestor of every member of House Martell. Oberyn liked to boast that being descendants of Nymeria herself is why the Martells have such warrior-like and passionate personalities; and Prince Doran liked to remind his older brother that Nymeria was a shrewd politician in addition to being a fine warrior, but it was her political acumen and charisma that ultimately won over the other Dornish houses after the new House Martell had conquered them.

Defeating your enemies is one thing, but winning them is an entirely different matter. Prince Doran liked to repeat this riddle quite often to Princess Arienne, especially, Prince Trystane, and Lyra. Lyra felt like that was the wisest advice Prince Doran had ever given her. Essentially the riddle meant that defeating your enemies is the easy part, but making them your allies, and thus, winning them over is the hardest part of ruling over your former enemies; but this was the most important part when it comes to ruling.

Obara rode up with Nymeria, stopping next to their father, Oberyn. "So these are the cowardly cunts who like to brag about how they used to rule more of Dorne than the Martells", Obara sneered.

"The fallen King Yoren. Not even brave enough to go down with the men who fought for him, so instead he goes to the wall", Nymeria said with both pity and disgust.

Not only was there a little bit of bad history lingering from long ago between the Martells and the Yronwoods, but there was also some recent bad history between the two houses. Though this was many years ago, an adolescent Prince Oberyn was discovered in bed with Lord Yronwood's paramour by Lord Edgar Yronwood himself. The two fought a duel to settle the matter "like men", they say. Lord Yronwood lost against Prince Oberyn, not even lasting five minutes against his young Prince. Oberyn wasn't called 'The Viper' for nothing, even as far back as adolescence. The duel should have settled things between the two houses politically; but it did not do so personally. Thus, ever since, House Yronwood has kept its oath to House Martell, but they have done so rather reluctantly. In fact, during any name-day celebrations, the current Lord Yronwood always sent his younger brother to represent them in his stead; an insult to House Martell.

"It no longer matters," Oberyn said to his daughters, "though House Yronwood like to remind us that they were once greater kings than we were", he smiled, "they still ended up bending the knee to a woman, a warrior woman who had beaten them by herself no less. Even now, they continue to bend the knee to House Martell, while even being too afraid to compete against us in tournaments." This earned a laugh from the three women next to him.

They all paused for a moment, still on their horses, soaking up the exquisite scenery before them. Sunspear was generally considered to be one of the most beautiful cities of Westeros, but it was still located in a deserts climate, granted though in an oasis. North Dorne, however, where the fair colored 'Stony Dornish were from, was so close to Storm's End, so it was lush and green due to the late fall rains; Lyra had even heard that they get snow sometimes! A sight that she longed to see in her own homeland.

"Well", Oberyn interrupted everyone's thoughts, "the convoy is about twenty minutes behind us, shall we go ahead and meet with Lord Anders? You girls know how Ellaria gets after a long trip, and I believe that we would all prefer to have her resting quietly in her courters; rather than us having to listen to her complaining about how exhausted she is." Oberyn said this, winking at the three women. He loved his paramour, and Ellaria Sand had even been considered part of the Martell family since Lyra was very young; which is why Lyra, Arienne, and Trystane had always had no trouble referring to her as "Aunt Ellaria", which they all knew she loved and ate up being given the privilege of being called the "aunt" of anyone in the Martell family. Though they all admitted, she could at times be difficult to travel with. Having been born the bastard daughter of a rich Dornish lord and raised in her father's household (Dornish bastards have always been known to be treated with much greater kindness and kinship than the other kingdoms of Westeros), she could be such a petulant "princess" sometimes, just like Princess Arienne herself. Especially when they all traveled together on the roads.

Lord Yronwood was polite, but that was all Lyra could say about the man. Despite being so foreign to the rest of Westeros, the Dornish all still believed in good hospitality and "Guest Rights"; just like the rest of Westeros. It seemed though that Lord Yronwood forgave Prince Oberyn about the "Paramour and the Duel Incident" because the "royal party", including Lyra and the Sand Snakes, were all given chambers to sleep in, inside the castle for the night; however, it seems that he doesn't completely forgive the incident. Seeing as their men, were invited to make camp and sleep outside the caste walls, in addition to having access to Yronwood's hunting grounds, instead of inviting them to feast at his table as the Starks and the other noble houses usually did. In other words: Lord Yronwood has forgiven Prince Oberyn and does not wish to piss off House Martell; but they are friendly with House Martell professionally, and not personally. House Yronwood had made it painfully clear that they were simply tolerating the fact that the Martell's host needed a place to stay for the night, which House Yronwood was tolerating simply because they swore and oath to House Matell; but otherwise, they were not welcome.

Covered in a fine layer of dirt, grime, and, embarrassingly, sweat, Lyra reluctantly had dinner with the Yronwoods without having a proper bath; instead, she'd only been given enough time to wash up and change into a fresh gown, much to her's and her other female relatives' chagrin. Especially Ellaria and Princess Arienne, who both liked to look their best on any occasion. Needless to say, Lyra was more than happy when Lord Yronwood, seeing how exhausted Lyra was (she was yawning constantly and obviously just to annoy him), told her that he "insisted" that she retire to her chambers early.

Arriving to her chambers for the night at the Castle Yronwood, the first thing Lyra did was ask that her hand maiden would mind to have a warm bath drawn up for her. Lyra did not really have handmaidens until she was eighteen and that was mostly due, if not entirely, because of her mother's behest.

Lyra, I know that you have this strange obsession with proving how independent you are, but you're a lady and you need to start acting like one, is what Princess Meria had told her.

In Dorne, having a handmaiden who was the daughter of a lesser noble house was not uncommon. Especially if the lady she served was to be the future Lady of a kingdom. However, in return for the girl's service as handmaiden to a Lady, Lyra was expected to eventually use her influence to arrange a better marriage for her than she would have had she not been in Lyra's service. Shortly after Lyra's eighteenth name day, Meria had Ashara Dayne be Lyra's head hand maiden; Ashara Dayne, who was named for her beauty of a second cousin, and Edric Dayne's tragic aunt who killed herself. The sweet, blonde haired, freckled girl told Lyra that she would ask the Yronwood servants for help and that she'd have it done as soon as possible.

Finally alone, Lyra poured herself a goblet of Red Arbor Wine and reclined in a cushy chair. She felt her mind drift for a moment, looking out of the open balcony at the beautiful, twinkling stars. It's a new moon, she observed, sipping her wine. When Ashara and the Yronwood servants arrived with a copper bath and buckets of hot water, Lyra poured Ashara a glass of wine. Motioning to the other woman, Lyra stated to her, "drink my friend". With that, Ashara walked over, took the glass of wine Lyra was offering her and sat next to her lady, both women sipping their wine as they watched the servants prepare the bath. In Sunspear, Lyra had two handmaidens, and she had asked both of them if they should like to go with her to King's Landing, and then eventually, Casterly Rock. After much prodding and assuring both girls that Princess Arienne would be happy to have one or both of them as her handmaidens upon her return, only Ashara had asked to come; so she was the only handmaiden whom Lyra had brought with her.

Once the servants finished drawing the bath, Lyra gave them a small amount of money for their trouble and begged their leave. As the water cooled, Ashara helped Lyra out of her dress and pulled her hair up into two knots on her head; so that Lyra could bathe without having to worry about getting her hair wet. After Ashara set out a silk lilac purple robe with red flowers and green stems beautifully embroidered on the sleeves on the vanity chair for Lyra, she bid Ashara's leave for the evening.

After Ashara left, Lyra poured herself more wine and slowly stepped into the hot bath, adjusting her cold, bare skin to the splendid heat of the water, she began to feel the knots in her body unwind. It was unusual for Lyra to feel so cold in the evenings as Sunspear tended to be very mild during winter; in fact, Lyra could not recall it ever snowing there. The northern part of Dorne, however, was becoming a little too cool for the popular dress style Lyra was wearing.

Winter is coming indeed; you always promised me that father.

Finally adjusting to the bath water's temperature, Lyra sat down in the tub and poured vanilla oil into the water and grabbed the soap. Reclining in the bathtub, drinking her wine, Lyra began to contemplate. She never contemplated about her upcoming marriage to the Kingslayer; doing so made her chest tighten, her finger and toes go bluish, and for her to become short of breath. Lyra had this happen ever since she was twelve; the masters told her that it was an unfortunate affliction, but that she had a good chance of overcoming it eventually with age and experience. So instead, Lyra contemplated what it will be like to hold such a high position as Lady Lannister of Casterly Rock.

I'll be better than Lady of Winterfell; I'll be The Lady Lannister of The most powerful family in all of Westerns. Despite Lyra's strong desire to regain her seat in Winterfell, she also knew that being the Lady Lannister of Casterly Rock was a more prestigious position. Despite her disappointment that she may never re-take her father's seat, she couldn't help but to be a little excited about the position of being the future Lady Lannister.

After finishing her bath, Lyra dried herself off and put on the silk robe that Ashara had left her. She shivered a little as a breeze came through the open balcony. Though Yronwood Castle was still in Dorne; Winter was coming and Lyra had heard that beginning in the Fall, the northern part of Dorne begins to chill to the point that the populous starts to wear sleeves. I'll need to wear my warmer clothes and start wearing gloves and leggings tomorrow.

Lyra sat at the vanity, getting ready for sleep, when she heard arguing outside in the hallway. Immediately, she stopped what she was doing and went over to the door so that she might be better able to hear. It sounds like Oberyn and Lord Anders Yronwood. I wonder what's wrong. Quietly opening and closing the door from her chambers to the hallway, Lyra silently padded down the hallway towards the voices, which stopped in Oberyn's quarters.

Silently pressing her ear to the door, Lyra listened intently to the two men argue.

Doran has instructed you to maintain a standing army in Boneway since Robb Stark called in his banners, and you felt that it was irrelevant that I know about it?! Said a slightly hushed, but furious voice that sounded like Oberyn's.

As I've told you a dozen time before; Prince Doran felt that this information was only an 'as needed to know basis', and he did not believe that you needed to know about the army. He said, 'the less people who know, the better'. That voice had to be Lord Yronwood's. Your issue is not with me, Prince Oberyn. I'm only following my prince's orders.

Prince's order-Oberyn trailed off.

Of Fuck! Oberyn must have seen Lyra's shadow reflected by the tiles in Oberyn's room. Before she could hear Oberyn walking, Lyra ran as quickly and quietly as she could back to her rooms.

Closing the door to her rooms, Lyra heard a door open out in the hallway, it was Oberyn no doubt. She then heard the door close after a few seconds.

Clutching her chest, Lyra's heart pounded. Too fucking close. Regaining her brearings enough so that she could process and think about what she had just heard Lyra was flabbergasted; if we were politically neutral in the War of the Five Kings until, technically now, then why has Prince Doran ordered a secret standing army on indefinite standby since Robb called in his banner men?

"I suppose that Winter is coming, father," Lyra quietly said to herself before turning in for the night.

Author's End Note: Sorry if the story is going pretty slow so far. I have to build things up a bit. The good news is that the next chapter will feature a Jaime and Lyra interaction.

BTW: Is Prince Doran a sneak MF or what? :D