The Prince of Dorne

Chapter Sixteen

Sansa did not know how this had happened, or indeed what was actually happening, all she did know was that after what had been a calm morning, if a draining one after she and Prince Lewyn had their conversation which, she had to reminded herself, had only happened moments ago and now it seemed like the entire world had been turned on it's head.

Sansa did not know much about having uncles, she had Uncle Benjen of course but he was a sworn brother of the Night's Watch which meant that Sansa did not see him very much and the few times she had, it shamed her to think back on it now, she hadn't liked him very much as he had always seemed to her such a cold figure and she had found him to be rather a cold and unpleasent figure and she had done her best to spend as little time with him as she could get away with.

He would be at the Wall with Jon now, and Sansa would need to apologise to him as well. She had already lost her Father, long before she should have, and she did not wish to lose anyone else even if there was nothing she could do to stop it. And if there was nothing that she could do then she wanted to make sure that her family, all of her family, knew that she loved them.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Arianne moving to stand next to her, considering that her uncle had just threatened her older brother and it looked like the both of them were about to come to blows she did not look so worried for either of them, if anything it looked to Sansa like she was both bored and amused in equal measure.

"Can you do nothing to stop this?" Sansa asked her while she looked towards her Prince and his Uncle, both of them had heated looks on their faces and they were speaking to quietly for her to hear what they were saying but going by the heat in their voices she doubted that whatever they were speaking about was anything pleasent.

Arianne shrugged her shoulders, her hand coming down to adjust the golden snake bracelet around her wrist, it's eyes were a pair of polished black diamonds and it was probably more expensive than any of the braclets that Sansa had ever owned in her life. "If I could convince any of the men in my life to abandoned their foolishness, or indeed of anything, then you would be speaking to the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms at this very moment. I've come to the conclusion that it's better to let them get on with it."

It did not sound like such a good idea to Sansa but she knew that it was not her place to interfer, she doubted that Dorne was so very different than all of the kingdoms north of it that they would forgive or treat even the possiblity of kinslaying lightly so she doubted that Prine Oberyn was going to kill his own nephew but...well, stories of him had reached even Winterfell.

None of them had been good to hear, the Red Viper of Dorne who used poisoned weapons and laid with women and men both, it was not the sort of story that her Lady Mother or Septa Mordane would have approved of Sansa hearing so Sansa had not told them that Jeyne had told her some of them or that she had overheard Theon telling stories to Robb and Jon.

He sounded like a villian out of one of her stories, a vile raider from the sands of Dorne who loved nothing more than to fight and to despoil maiden's virtues and carry her off to his lair, to keep her as a prize until one of the handsome nights in beautiful armor would come to save her from the villian and then would marry her at the end of it.

In her dreams the knight in the songs had looked like Joffrey, beautiful and golden and golorious but he had turned out to be a monster underneath it all and the thought of him made Sansa's stomach feel like a nest of rats was trying to eat it's way out of her.. She hated herself for being such a fool, if she had known better then she would never have begged her Mother to make her Father say yes to the king, if that had not happened then it might be that Lord Eddard would still be alive to this day.

That thought, that it might be her fault, was enough to make tears fill her eyes and she had to swallow her sobs before Arianne could hear any of them. She could not allow herself to weep, not in front of all of these people. She was still a daughter of House Stark, even if the sire who had brought her into it was dead and her Mother and brothers most like thought that she was a hostage in King's Landing, at any moment at the mercy of the family who took Lord Eddard's head.

That thought broke through her walls and sent the tears rolling down her cheeks, thankfully she was inclined to more silent tears as of late rather than the wailing of a child and so none turned to look at her as she wept all though Arianne reached out and gave her a squre of silk without a word and Sansa took it from her without a word, using it to brush away her tears as quickly as she could before anyone else could see her weep.

"Thank you." Sansa whispered and Arianne gave her a nod, she made no move to take the square of silk back which Sansa was very grateful for indeed. She had a horrible feeling that she would be needing something to cry into more and more in the future, she hoped that she was wrong of course but so far everything in her life seemed ready to make her weep.

Prince Lewyn and Prince Oberyn were now moving away from one another, their strides almost seemed to mirror one another as they moved, it was rather uncanny. Lewyn came to a stop first, his uncle stopped a step later. And then...oh. Sansa's cheeks flushed red brightly as her prince began to take his tunic of in the middle of the yard.

It would be unladylike for her to look so closely at him, and yet despite herself she could not help but keep her eyes fixed on his chest. He was not so broad shouldered as some of the men of the North but his arms still looked very strong indeed and Sansa imagined for a moment what it would feel like to have those arms wrapped around her when there was not a layer of cotton or silk or linen in the way.

He would probably be able to pick her up, if he wished to do so and Sansa found that she quiet liked the idea of that. She remembered how he had helped her up on to his horse when she had drunken to much of the wine that Joffrey had given her on that awful day by the river, he had been strong enough to pick her up then and Sansa would not mind him trying to do so again when she could remember it properly.

Both princes circled one another for a long few moments, their eyes narrowed at one another. Then, Prince Oberyn drew back his arm so quickly that Sansa could barely see it move it was such a blur and aimed his fist straight into Lewyn's face. She wasn't able to hold back the scream then as Lewyn's head snapped backward.

Arianne's hand came up to steady her as Lewyn stumbled backwards, for a moment Sansa thought that he was going to fall on his back but he regained his footing and then brought his arm up to wipe away the blood that was spread on his face because of his uncle's attack. Had he broken Lewyn's nose? Sansa did not think that she had ever seen a broken nose before, but it certainly looked broken from where she was standing.

How could all of them simply stand by and let this happen? Lewyn was the son of their prince and the heir to Sunspear, he would be the prince of all of Dorne and they were simply going to stand by and let his own uncle assualt him in such a way? Sansa could not see how such a thing could be allowed, it certainly would not be allowed in Winterfell she was sure enough of that if nothing else.

Prince Oberyn tried to hit him again but Lewyn was ready for him that time and he ducked out of the way of it, his hand lashing out quickly to snap around Prince Oberyn's wrist and then flung his uncle over his shoulder which had him on the ground and suddenly Lewyn was on the floor with him, his legs coming up to wrap around his neck.

Gods, how could they all simply stand by and let this happen? Surely they were going to kill one another if none of them did something to stop it and yet not a one of them moved, some of the men were cheering on one prince or the other and some of the women, be they ladies or lowborn, were whispering and giggling to one another and Princess Arianne just looked rather bored.

Prince Oberyn was choking and gagging for air as he used his fist to hit out at his nephew's long, it certainly looked painful but Lewyn did not look like he was about to let go anytime soon and so Prince Oberyn instead slapped his hand against the ground even if it caused a look of disgust to pass on the face of the large woman, that it shamed Sansa to admit that she had thought was a man when she had first arrived, who had ridden in with Prince Oberyn.

Once he had hit the ground enough Lewyn let his uncle out of the hold that he had him in and climbed to his feet, Prince Oberyn followed him up after a few moments once he had caught his breath. "This is a dirty move you know, not very honorable for a prince to do, less so when one is the heir to all that my brother holds dear."

"I will not be taking reproach about honor from you, dear uncle." Lewyn said with a laugh which made him wince, bringing up his hand to place the gentlest touch on his nose which only made him wince more. "Even less so, consdering that you have broken my nose. My Lord Father will not be pleased when he hears of this, no doubt he will send you into exile, again."

"Pah, if I had actually broken your nose you would be on the ground in agony. I barely broke the skin at that, it will heal and if you ask me every boy should have a broken nose or two in his youth otherwise it was not much of a youth worth living." Prince Oberyn gave a smile that. "Besides, I was owed blood for you stealing that kill that was rightfully mine, consider yourself lucky you are my own blood boy, if you were not then I would not be satisfied until I had taken an arm or a leg to pay off the debt."

Her prince let out a laugh then, and it seemed that all those that had gathered were now leaving the courtyard as if nothing had happened at all. When they had cleared away, the only ones left in the courtyard were both of the princes, the women that had arrived with Prince Oberyn, Sansa and Arianne and Arya with a group of little girls that Sansa had not noticed before.

One of those girls, the youngest with a cloth doll in her hands, ran towards the two princes. "Papa!" She cried and for one horrible moment Sansa thought that she was speaking to Lewyn, he would be a young father but younger men than he had children and men in Dorne were more willing to accept and keep their baseborn children close to them than, but she let out a small sigh of relief when it was clear that the girl was running to Prince Oberyn.

Prince Oberyn laughed at the sight of her and scooped the little girl up into his arms, pressing a kiss to her cheek as the two other girls that stood around Arya also ran over to hug the prince who Sansa had to assume must be their Father, Lewyn smiled at the sight of them all and then when he looked up at her his face flushed somewhat, glancing around himself to find his shirt which he quickly ran over to put on.

Despite herself, Sansa could not help but smile. And perhaps feel a little disappointment that he was putting his shirt back on, not that she would ever admit to that, of course. Prince Oberyn laughed at him and his sister joined in, the blond haired woman and the one with her long back hair bound in a long braid by red and gold wire did not laugh but they both shared a similar smile to one another, the ugly woman did something with her mouth that Sansa only just realised was meant to be a smile, but it did not do anything to soften her harsh features.

"Clearly I have been too kind to all of you, to think that you can mock your Prince in such a way." There was no heat in her prince's words and he reached over to tickle the side of the little girl in Prince Oberyn's arms, when she laughed it reminded Sansa of a little bell tingling in the air and the tenderness in Lewyn's eyes made Sansa think that he would be a wonderful father.

For a moment, the image of a little girl with light olive skin and dark hair hair that curled at the end running through the Water Gardens on chubby little legs, with a hundred cousins watching over her making sure that she would always be safe and loved and it warmed her heart the same as old visions of children with golden curls and skin as pale as milk had done a different life ago.

But, the images were just as like not to happen as she doubted that Robb would allow her to wed him, even if Sansa would have done so happily, and she doubted that Prince Doran would truly consider it for long either but Sansa could allow herself to entertain the imaginings for at least a few moments longer, none knew her mind other than her.

"Where is mother?" One of the girl's at Prince Oberyn's feet asked, she seemed like she was around twelve or thirteen years old which would make her slightly younger than Arya. Prince Oberyn shifted the girl in his arms so he could hold her with only one arm and then using his new free hand to rest on top of her head while giving her a smile.

"She is still at Hellholt with your Grandfather, my Love. I am still meant to be there but when I heard the news, I had to come back to speak with your cousin." Prince Oberyn let out a sigh and leaned down to put the little girl in his arms down and then rose to his full height, but to Sansa's eyes the man suddenly looked that much older to his eyes.

"Lewyn, we need to speak. Properly, this time." His voice was quiet, all of the the anger and laughter was gone from his voice now and he just sounded tired, and sad. Her Prince's eyes were sad as well, ahd he nodded at him.

"Arianne, can you keep Lady Sansa company for me?" Lewyn asked and his sister gave him a nod, both of the Princes made their way inside of the castle and all of the went running off and Sansa was glad of that, at least it seemed to distract Arya somewhat from her grief over their Father and allowed her to focus on something.

So then, Sansa and Arianne were left with the three women that arrived with Prince Oberyn. The tall ugly one glanced at Sansa and let out a small scoff and stalked off into a random direction, her steps sounding like approaching thunder. Sansa frowned and turned to the other two women. "Where is she going?"

"If I know my sister, then she's going to go and stab something or hit something or drink as much wine as she can until she can't see straight." The blond woman she said with a small sweet smile, she would not look out of place in King's Landing and she was so thickly dressed in layers that Sansa was suprised that heat did not bother her at all.

"Or to ride a stallion till he's broken." The other woman with braided dark hair said with wry grin and it caused both the blond woman and Princess Arianne to laugh, it was nice to hear proper laughter again even if Sansa didn't understand what was so funny about it and so she put on a small smile of her own, even if it did not feel or probably look quite right.

Arianne stopped laughing first and cleared her throat before putting a hand of Sansa's arm, before gesturing at the other two women. "Lady Sansa, may I introduce you to my dear cousins? This vision is Nymeria Sand, who has the blood of Nymeria of old and Mors Martell from my Father and whose's Mother was from one of the finest old familes of Volantis. We call her the Lady Nym, and so should you."

Lady Nym dipped into a curtsey that was perfect, the yellow silk of her gown glew in the light of the sun and a snake made of polished jet and jade was wrapped around her upper arm. Sansa gave her own curtsey back, which was much easier to do she had to admit she when she had a few dozen skirts to get in the way.

"And this is Tyene Sand, who would be mine own sister if not for the minor niggle that our father's and mother's are different." Arianne said with a smile as she walked over to Tyene and pressed a kiss to both her cheeks, which Tyene gladly returned and the two of them shared a quick embrace before Tyene turned her attention to Sansa and curtsied which Sansa again returned.

"A pleasure to meet you both, my ladies." North of the mountains, it would not be the style that would be afforded to most bastard girls but they were not north of the mountains and Princess Arianne certainly had not issue with doing so. "Did you have a good ride from the Hellholt, it sounds like a very fearsome place to be."

"It is, but that suits House Uller wel enough. Half the Ullers are half mad, and the other half are worse." Lady Nym said with a smirk. "But it's comfortable enough if you manage to ignore the smell of sulfer in the air, and the taste of it in the food and water."

"Speaking of food, you both must be hungry. Are you hungry, Lady Sansa?" When Sansa responded that she was indeeded hungry Princess Arianne clapped her hands and called for a servant boy who she sent running off to the kitchens before she turned back to face them. "Come to my room, we shall talk and eat. What could be finer?"

Her father being alive could be finer, the thought came so sudden and unprompted that Sansa nearly reeled from it as it entered her head and her eyes burned, but she manged to just about hold the tears back which caused her eyes to burn. She nodded, thankful that she did not need to speak as she did not trust herself to speak without crying.

Princess Arianne's chambers in the Water Gardens were much bigger than her own and the four of them sitting around a large table in the middle of the room, the only thing that was different about it was that the table was much closer to the ground and instead of sitting on chairs there were pillows and rugs that they could sit on and lean against.

Much of what they spoke about was little enough, new wonders that had come in to Planky Town from traders be they new silks or exotic fruits from lands that were named in such ways that Sansa did not think that she would be able to spell even if she tried to do so. They asked her a few questions about the North and Sansa answered them as best as she could.

When Princess Arianne was speaking about her Father increasing the taxes lemons the door to her chamber opened and servants brought in their meat, it was quiet a little feast in truth. A young goat that had been roasted in honey and lemon that was served on a bed of rice and lentils with raw lemons cut in half around it, a roast squab for each of them, grape leaves stuffed with chunks of mushrooms, dragon pepers, onions and grapes, a thick paste made of aubergines and more peppers, peppers stuffed with cheese and breadcrumbs, carrots roasted in honey, bowls of different coloured olives and pale flatbreads.

For the sweet, it seemed that every fruit in Dorne was present before them. Grapes, pomegranate, oranges of at least a dozen different types, a massive bundle of grapes, figs and more lemons which Sansa thought would have been much better if they had been made into lemon cakes but sadly they were not present, but there were biscuits flavoured with jasmine and lavander, cream cakes that had been flavoured with rose water and figs that had been battered, fried and dipped in honey.

There was no wine which Sansa was grateful for, but there was a pitcher of juice that had been freshed squeezed from oranges and a pitcher of lemonsweet and a pitcher of pomegranate juice and finally a pitcher of goat milk and honey which Sansa found help to deal with a bit of the burn from the food, though she had to admit that in her time in Dorne if you managed to look past the burn then you could find there was a world of flavour behind waiting for you.

She tried a bit of the aubergine paste, tearing a bit of the flatbread and dipping it into it but it was far too hot for her tongue and her throat was soon burning and Sansa was coughing, Lady Nym and Tyene laughed at her as Arianne quickly handed her a goblet of milk and honey which Sansa drank from until half of it was gone.

Between the four of them, they managed to finish off the goat and Sansa managed to finish off two of the stuffed pepers, one of the stuffed grape leaves, a few olives, a little bit of the roast squab, half her carrots, half a flatbread, some grapes and two of the cream cakes, she had taken a bit out of the battered figs but it was so sweet that it had made her teeth ache so she had abandoned it.

Princess Arianne and her cousins had made their own dent in the food and when it was clear that none of them were going to eat anymore she command the servants who had brought it in to tell the guards that the leftovers were to be given to the poor in the Shadow City. The servants cleared away the food and the four of them were left alone then.

"If you do not mind me asking, but Prince Oberyn is your Father?" She asked Nymeria and Tyene, that was the most obvious guess and Arianne said that Tyene and her did not share a Mother or a Father but that did leave the possiblity that Lady Nym was a bastard daughter of another Martell, she did not think that Prince Doran or Prince Oberyn had another brother but they did have a few cousins who bore the Martell name.

When Nymeria nodded, Sansa continued with her question. "Those little girls, they are all your half sisters?" Tyene nodded at that and that meant the large woman was their sister as well, to have so many sisters Sansa did not know how she would cope. She imagined have to cope with five Aryas and she did not think she could survive.

"Do you have any other sisters?" Sansa asked, following her question with a sip of milk.

"Well, knowing our Father we could have hundreds of sisters, and maybe even some brothers, that we might not know about. He did his best to bring the rest of us back here to Dorne but he cannot know for certain." Tyene shrugged her shoulders. "But as to sisters we know about, yes. We have two, Elia who stayed with her Mother at Hellholt even though she pitched a monster of a fit when our Father told her that she had to remain there, and Sarella who I assume is still in Oldtown."

"Oh, what is she doing there?"

Princess Arianne and her cousins shared a smile then, a smile that hide secrets. "Playing a game." The three of them said at all once and Sansa did not know what to make of that.

"Speaking of Ella, what do you think Nym? A bow?" Lady Tyene asked and Sansa was confused, she was speaking to her cousin but she was gesturing to Sansa as she did so.

"No, look at her arms. They are too skiny, if she tried to use a bow then she would just wind up breaking her arms." Sansa using a bow? Why would she ever have need to use a bow, any sort of weapon? Lady Nymeria looked at her intensely then and picked up a knife. "I think she would do better with knives, much lighter and easier to hide."

"You would say that." Tyene said with a laugh.

"What are you talking about?"

"What weapon would suit you best." Princess Arianne answered before either of her cousins did, her mouth was hidden behind the rim of her goblet but from the way that her skil wrinked around her eyes Sansa could tell that she was amused. "Do not pay them any mind Sansa, small minds must find small ways to amuse themselves after all."

"And you know a great deal about that, sweetest sister." Tyene teased and Arianne had her vengence when she picked up a lone olive that had been left behind by the servants which she flung at her cousin who merely smiled sweetly as it bounced off the front of her gown and rolled under the table. "Well, Lady Sansa? Do you have opinions on what weapon you should perfer?"

Sansa truly didn't understand, she wasn't like Arya. She didn't want to pretend to be a boy, to run around with a sword belt. So, with no understanding she fell back on what she had been taught. "My-my brothers are the ones with weapons, they will keep me safe from those that would do me harm and will kill those who try and hurt me, as will my future husband."

Those words brought a sweet image to her mind, of Robb and Lewyn running into the Throne Room of the Red Keep, Robb carrying Ice with one hand like it weighed as much as a dagger and Lewyn with a spear and Joffrey cowered and begged them for mercy and they gave him none and that was a very sweet hope indeed.

"Of course." Princess Arianne spoke to her gently, but something about her tone irriated Sansa just a little bit. It was the sort of tone that her Mother had used when she had to explain to Rickon why he could not have his sweet before his turnips, like she was a child that did not understand anything. "But...relying on others to protect you, it never ends well. Sometimes, you can only depend on yourself. You must have your own weapons, at times."

"I...a lady's armour is her courtsey." The words came so easily to her, even after all of this time it still felt like it was true. "And her blade is her strength of will, of refusing to be dragged down by those who would try and shame her, who would try and drag her through the muck. Those shall be my weapons, if I must choose one."

"I thought so." Lady Tyene said with another sweet smile, reaching out to take hold of her hands. Her blue eyes, an old color for a Dornishwoman to have, looked almost purple close up. "Yes, I think you and I have a few things in common. We must speak more of this, Lady Sansa. I would be delighted if you would do me the honor of breaking your fast with me in the morning."

Sansa agreeded to that quickly enough with a smile of her own and their little feast seemed to have ended there and Sansa made her own fairwells and made her way back to her chambers, her head felt so very full and all that she wished to do now was go back to her chambers and slee for as long as she could before breaking her fast with Lady Tyene in the morning..

Lady was waiting for her in her chambers, she was wet which must have been from the pools and Sansa knelt to hug her tightly, her scene comforting her before Sansa rose and changed into her sleep clothes before she climbed into her bed, her eyes falling shut as the sound of insects chirping and the scent of lavander and jasmine lured her into slumber.

And when she dreamed, she dreamed of lion banners aflame and banners of the direwolf and the speared sun flying side by side.

End of Chapter Sixteen

Okay so, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. This was orignally meant to have another Lewyn and Sansa conversation, but I decided that absence makes the heart grow fonder so I decided to hold it back, it might get used in a later chapter but we will see, it might not fit later chapters but who knews.

Please follow, favorite and leave a review if you enjoy, constructive criticism is fine and welcome.

With a lot of love,

DiscordantSymphony