The Sandship
Author note: Ok, I have finally chosen the idea of the relationship between Ihsan and Oberyn being a less strained version of that between Indiana Jones and his father Henry Jones Sr, for the sake of how different they react on things in their lives. / Rogercat
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As the Martell family had promised Elia in the last letter they sent to her before the wedding, next to no one outside them knew that she had remarried, not even anyone else in Dorne for the sake of this not leaking out to untrustworthy people. If it came out in the rest of Westeros that Elia had married into another royal family, the supporters of the royal Baratheon dynasty would view her new marriage as a threat, Tywin Lannister even more so as his own daughter Cersei was the current queen consort of Westeros and mother of the heirs to Robert Baratheon.
"As if the remaining four Targaryen heirs would even be able to join up to reclaim the Iron Throne in the future…my two grandchildren are in a different world, and Viserys and little Daenerys are in exile somewhere in Essos," Ihsan thought for himself, closing a thick old book shut and tried to not cough from the dust flying up in the air.
It truly was a endless task to try and find any clue to what could form a magical connection between their world and Arda, so they could finally see Elia again. Even Ihsan, who was proud to say that he could read very ancient texts and roughly understand how they would be spoken.
"And I can not request more ancient books from our bannermen, unless they start wondering if I have started to get feeble-minded due to my age…"
But as he was about to cross over the courtyard, Ihsan's glare fell on the Sandship, the ancient keep of House Martell that was said to have been built by Morgan Martell himself when he had gained a dominion over a strip of coastland fifty leagues long and ten leagues wide of his own here in Dorne. The former Prince consort knew that the most ancient parts of it was closed off since generations ago, but what if…
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Oberyn knew that something was not normal when one of his older daughters came to tell him that his father had entered their painting room, borrowing a few large brushes and then left again with a burning touch despite it being in the middle of day at the moment. Worse, Ihsan was seen picking up a hoe on the way to the Sandship. Therefore he chose to follow after Ihsan in case something happened.
For being a such ancient keep, the Sandship was surprisingly deep if you followed the worn stone stairwells down, with its final cellar being no less than 97 meters below the surface. As a child, Oberyn had not been the first among later-generations of Martells to claim that it felt like entering a tomb instead of a keep.
"Father? Father, what are you doing?"
In response, Oberyn was alarmed by the sound of something cracking not far from him. When he turned around the last corner, he saw Ihsan using the hoe on the wall in front of him.
"I took a closer look here earlier, and I noticed that there is something strange with this wall. It is not well seen because of the darkness, but when I knocked with my closed fist, a piece of dried-up plaster fell off. Look here!"
Ihsan was right. The wall that was opposite to the door frame, seemed to have been plastered over, as if there was something there meant to be hidden. Where his father had been hacking away pieces of the plaster, Oberyn could see very faded letters.
"It is the same as the most ancient text I have found in the old books so far, and I want to see what it says."
Dashing off to find a hoe of his own, Oberyn started to help his father. Once the plaster had been removed almost everywhere, they could see how the whole wall was covered in the text, like it was something important. Sadly some of the words had faded with age, and it was extremely difficult to read.
"To find the secret that lays hidden, on the request of my...mother, the path to the final resting place of…"
Cursing softly over that his eyesight had gotten weaker with age, Ihsan took a step back in a attempt to see if he could read the last words closest to the floor better. Only for him to suddenly step on a trigger of some kind, and the equally surprised Oberyn to suddenly proceed to tumble backwards down a entire stairwell as he lost his balance.
"Daaaaaaad!" a less than pleased Oberyn called from somewhere in the darkness below, using the family word he had not used since early childhood, or in the rare moments now in adulthood when he allowed himself to be a little boy in need of his parents.
"By the spears of Dorne, I am so terribly sorry, son!" Ihsan responded in fear that his youngest child could have gotten injured, and hurried down, fearing some of the worst things that could happen now. There was a very real reason to legends was speaking of deadly traps for possible grave robbers who wanted their greedy hands on the valuable grave goods buried with some ancient king or lord.
Thankfully Oberyn was not hurt by the tumble down the unexpected stairwell, but father and son agreed that it was enough craziness for this day, since it simply had ended up in a new underground chamber that was empty of anything. Whatever the secret stairwell had been made for, perhaps Morgan Martell simply did not want any of his descendants to accidentally bump into his burial chamber and disturbing his last rest.
"Stay with Ellaria for the rest of the day, alright? I will ask the palace guards to ensure that the girls are not doing something in there that could result in some form of injury when we adults are not there with them."
That was a logic Oberyn could not refuse, despite him feeling rather tempered by whatever other mysteries that the Sandship could hold. In that way, he was indeed the son of his father.