Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you're a great inspiration!

Sunset and Shadows

A New Light

"Can I have a word with you?" the weather-beaten man asked, startling him. "My lord," he added as an afterthought.

"Of course," Jason Mallister replied, tearing his eyes away from the yellow-and-green ship – yellow-and-green? That was rich even for a Tyroshi vessel – to look at the old sea dog. Standing next to Amabel, the man proved that he was indeed Haggert the Short, not quite reaching her chin and about as wide as he was tall. But he was one of the most competent captains Seagard had. It was a shame that Jason had never sailed with him before. But why should he have? There were more than enough ships and crews that needed control and oversight.

"We'll reach Sunspear in a few hours," the captain said.

Jason waited. Surely Haggert hadn't come here to inform him of the obvious?

"I thought I should warn you that we might have some trouble entering."

Jason's first thought was that Doran Martell had closed Dorne's ports off. No, that couldn't be right. They had stopped at the Dornish coastline twice already. And even if the Prince had issued such an order, Haggert had no way of having received the news. They were in the open sea. "Why would you think so?"

"Because of the ships," the sea dog replied. "Today, we've encountered eight trading ships, three of them Tyroshi parrots," he went on and spat over the railing. "I'm sorry, my lady," he excused, not quite looking at Amabel. She didn't say anything but she didn't look revolted either. She was learning, as Jason noted, amused. Daena squirmed and tried to escape her aunt's grip but Amabel just squeezed harder and gave her a stern look just when the little girl was about to emulate the captain's rude gesture.

Someone further down along the bow laughed. Jason wondered what had happened. The child that had boarded the Silver Witch was not the same he was seeing now. She just looked like her. Less than a week aboard, she had grown… wild. Time and, no doubt, her septa's seasickness made it worse.

"You were saying something about ships?" Jason asked.

"Yes. It's a trading season. There will be a jam at the port. I've seen it before. Usually, they make a schedule to help matters but it's always long and tedious. Unless it's important that we land at Sunspear, I'd recommend disembarking at the Water Gardens and take it from there on dry land. It just isn't worth the hassle."

Jason considered – not the captain's words but the implications the man was probably unaware about. The sight of the ships had been irking him for a while. So many of them meant good trade which, in turn, meant that Dorne wasn't as affected by the sudden decision of the Iron Bank to demand payment of all the sums that were its due. He had started feeling the effects in Seagard, although he, personally, had no such debts, blessed be the Seven.

"Are there any dangers from come to anchor in the bay of the Water Gardens?" he asked, recollecting the charts he had seen. As far as he could say, there would be no unpleasant surprises but he'd need to have a look.

"No," Haggert replied at once. "I've been there before. There's even a chance that we could replenish our supplies from there, without going into the main port."

Jason wondered how the crew would like that. After being at sea, men insisted for their days of rest and pleasure in the towns and cities nearby. I forget. That's one of the toughest bastards in our fleet. He can hang anyone he wants without eliciting as much as a squeak from the rest of them.

"Let's go to the Water Gardens then," he said.

"Is the Princess there?" Daena asked excitedly.

"She might be," her father replied, his stomach flipping over with the renewed fear that she'd say all the wrong things. Her grandmother and aunt had talked to her repeatedly but she was a child. Things would be uncomfortable enough in the beginning even without such complications.

Around them, sea and sky were deepening their aquamarine into rich shades that would later bloom into indigo and dark violet. The further south ships went, the more saturated colours became, especially at night. "Bluer than any blue I have ever seen," Jason's lady grandmother had used to say. "So uncouth!" And she had never ever gone down this route, let alone set a foot in the Free Cities where sapphire and garnet were the shade of sea at any time of day.

"It's so beautiful," Amabel murmured and Jason smiled, looking at the new golden tinge of her skin. It felt like forever since she had smiled out of enjoyment of something.

The white palace emerged from the blue and amber horizon some time later and Daena gasped with delight. When they dropped anchor, Jason carried her to the boat and then out of it, knowing that for a while, she'd be unable to get her footing straight. She squirmed to get free.

"We're here!" she squealed out. "The Princess is here!"

"How do you know?" Jason asked tiredly, set her ashore and turned to help Septa Lynel but one of the sailors was already taking care of this.

"Because she's here!" his daughter replied, pointing excitedly at the pair striding towards them – a man and a young girl. "She's Princess Elia's lady in-waiting."

He wasn't sure if he should trust her or dismiss her words as a child's fanciful imagination. Besides, there was no time. The pair was already close enough for them to hear each other.

"Welcome to the Water Gardens," the man said politely. "In the Prince of Dorne's name, may I inquire what your names are?"

"Mallister," the girl supplied and smiled at Daena. "I know this lady. Daenaera Mallister, if I remember correctly?"

The man's smile became instantly friendlier. "I am Arel Dayne," he introduced himself. "And I am happy to meet you. This is Lady Coral Hightide. She serves the Princess."

So he didn't refer to Elia Martell as the Queen? Interesting. A look at Amabel didn't show him that she thought something was out of order. She was smiling at Dayne like any maiden waiting to be introduced to a good-looking man. Perhaps he was reading too much into a few words.

But the sights and people he saw in the palace clashed so sharply with what he had expected that he wondered if he had taken it all wrong. Perhaps Elia Martell was reconciled to her fate, accepted that she had no future but that of a humiliated, repudiated no-longer-queen? His first look at her made his scorn dissolve without any residue. She was ill. Weak from the childbirth. His contempt for the King grew stronger than ever. What man took for granted that his wife's health was his property that he wasn't obliged to compensate with respect and kindness? Jason could count to nine. The dragon king had bedded Elia Martell when he had already known that he'd send her away. Had he hoped that he'd get her with child that might finally succeed to kill her?

"Did he want to kill her?" he murmured and only when Amabel gasped, he realized that he had said it aloud.

Elia Martell laughed and the woman sitting next to her gave him a look of approval. "I can see we'll get along greatly, Cousin," she said and rose to greet them. "I am Naeryn Sand and I'm happy to meet you."

Jason ordered himself not to look. He wouldn't be this rude. Instead, he focused on her face. A delightful face, that was. She was extremely beautiful, with the silver hair and deep violet eyes that he had only seen in the Red Keep and on the portraits his mother kept. When she looked at him again, he realized why they called her a sorceress… and a whore. He felt the incredible sensuality clinging to her like a second skin and yet, she didn't seem to be doing anything to achieve this effect. Instead, as the Princess was exchanging her first words with Amabel, Naeryn looked at Daena who was staring at her open-mouthed. Jason was about to reply to the courtesy when his daughter asked, "Are you really my aunt, my lady?"

"Yes," Naeryn replied. "I am. Isn't it obvious?"

Daena started nodding so vigorously that for the first time Jason realized how much she had longed to have a relation that looked like her. Someone other than her grandmother, that was it. He chanced a look at the hand that had made her famous by not being there – and she caught him looking. A slight blush overcame her cheeks and he could just feel Amabel and Elia both giving him a look of disapproval. Naeryn's smile vanished.

In a flash of genius, Jason reached for her hand. Not the right one. The left. The perfect oval ending her wrist. He bowed over it as he should have done over her right hand and kept it just as long as he would have done with a queen. Which, of course, led him to another trouble. He had treated a bastard with the courtesy he should have shown the Princess herself. What was he going to do with Elia Martell?

When he turned to her, she was smiling. Her black eyes were radiant and warm, like a caress, and he immediately relaxed. "Yes," she said, beckoning him near. "I can see that we'll get along splendidly indeed."

That night, he dined with her and her – their – multitude of relatives. He felt strangely out of place in this hall of chattering and lack of etiquette. He had expected something like a court and instead, he got a wide table where everyone was talking about everything. At the lower table, Daena was chattering with a few children her age, probably making plans to join them in the pools the next day.

"We won't let her in without having her trained to swim first," Elia reassured him. "And they'll be keeping watch over her until they're sure she knows what she's doing. We've never had an accident here before."

By now, he was almost accustomed to that Dornish drawl swirling everywhere around him. A few discreet looks around confirmed that the Water Gardens didn't suffer any shortage of means or delays in trade. The silks looked quite new, as did the exotic Essosi fruit.

"I am happy to see that you have recovered so well, Cousin," he said. To his surprise, he found out that he truly meant it. Now that she had a face and kind manners – and a soft smile for Daena as well – she was suddenly more than a distant figure that just happened to be related to him.

Her smile broadened. "I am well now," she said. Following her eyes, Jason looked at the door. Ser Arthur Dayne entered the dining room and headed straight for the table, noticing too late the two extra guests.

"I am sorry," he said after bowing. "I am just coming from Sunspear and I didn't know you had guest, Princess. I'll go and…"

"No," she said and looked around the table. "Alynna, would you please move a little over?"

Her intention was clear. A chair was brought over from the unoccupied end of the table and placed so close to her own that it was indecent. She beckoned Ser Arthur to take his place and then looked at Jason and Amabel, a bright smile on her lips. "I believe you know the Sword of the Morning," she said and went on, simply, "My paramour."

Jason's wine made an attempt to choke him. In fact, Dayne didn't look this much differently, although a moment later, he took it in stride and even reached for Elia's own plate, although he gave her a quick questioning look before. She nodded.

In the soft light of the few candles, the star on Dyanna's forehead burned as bright as Nymeria's star. A thin translucent curtain in light green let the night breeze in but kept the insects out, yet the babe's soft skin was covered in bright red spots. Elia had no idea what irritated the sensitive skin but she was glad that the potions seemed to be working to relieve the little one's pain. The problem was, she smelled so nice that Elia was ready to eat her and become a flesh-eater. When Arthur entered, she was smearing the lavender-scented salve over her daughter's face and Dyanna was gurgling. When she spotted Arthur, her smile became so wide that Elia couldn't find her cheeks anymore.

"Go sit on the bed," she said mechanically. Dyanna being besotted with Arthur was nothing new. She'd even stop taking suck to smile and him – and not stop. He was too much of a distraction.

He silently obeyed.

Weeks ago, Elia had stopped thinking of how strange their situation was, that he was the man who had been around her as she swelled with this child, as if he were the father. But tonight, it was different. New. When she was done, she handed Dyanna to the wet nurse and watched them leave. Then, she rose and started undressing.

"What?" she asked as Arthur still wouldn't say a word. "What is it?"

"Tonight, you called me your paramour before people we don't know."

She rolled her eyes. "They're our cousins, Arthur. And at some point, it had to get out for the rest of the world as well."

"You never told me."

"What?" she demanded, uncomprehending, and donned her nightgown.

"Is that what I am?"

"My paramour? Of course, why are you…" she started absent-mindedly, and then fell silent, turning to look at him. "I never told you?"

"We never had any conversations of how we were going to continue," Arthur replied, pouring wine for both. "You were grieving and then recovering, and then it's been an enchanted life here, safely away from the rest of the world …" He shrugged. "I wasn't sure what your intentions were."

She bristled. "Don't you want to be my paramour?" she asked, suddenly scared that she was pressing him too hard, that she was hurrying things, that he might want to keep the relationship discreet so he could change his mind whenever…

"Of course I want it," Arthur replied, handing her the goblet. "I was just surprised. I thought you might want to preserve a certain image for the realm…"

Elia had been about to drink but instead, she left the goblet at her bedside chest and stared at it, stunned by the realization that he was just as unsure, insecure and scared as she was. The love that had bloomed between them was a precious thing, as precious as a finely shaped glass and just as brittle. Had fear kept them both from asking the question?

"A woman broken in body and mind, breathlessly waiting for her beloved husband to come to his senses and take her back which she'd accept gracefully and with a kind forgiving heart isn't the image I want to preserve to the realm," she said, poring over every word. "I won't play the Maiden and Mother. The realm will have to take me the way I am. I am not hiding away in the dark. This isn't the example I want to set for Aegon and his sisters. No."

Joy lit his face but still he hesitated. "It might be a dangerous game that you play," he warned.

Elia just laughed, suddenly feeling young and impish, as impish as the little sand demons inhabiting the pools under the light of day. "Sure. But it's one that I can win. Even when Rhaegar set me aside, he made it clear to everyone that the children were his. He made such a great show of being so hurt that he had to give them up. How would it look like if he suddenly proclaims they weren't his? He'll only make himself look even more erratic and foolish in the eyes of his lords. You were at King's Landing all the time from Aegon's conception to his birth. Everyone with half a brain knows that Rhaegar was the only dragon-looking man around me at the time."

That was all true and great but it wasn't the full extent of Arthur's concerns. "You know we Dornish aren't well-liked there," he said. "Aegon being surrounded by your immorality and mine isn't going to do him much favours with the rest of…"

"And looking at his mother hiding like a brigand will?" Elia challenged, her eyes flashing. "A future king needs morals. I won't be teaching him this if I keep lurking in the darkness and share kisses with you in the coop."

The image was such that Arthur grinned. That was what he had secretly hoped to hear.

"Doran might not like it," he felt obliged to warn her anyway.

Elia's eyes flashed anew at him – in fact, at her absent brother. "That will be very sad indeed," she stated. "But this part of my life is my game and we'll play it by my rules." Her smile became sly. "What say you?"

He closed the distance between them and sealed the new position with a kiss. "What can I say?" he murmured. "It's my duty and pleasure to serve you… in any way you desire."