(Dragonstone: 8/10/298 AC) Cressen I

"And how are the educational materials? Are they still up to the standards established by Princess Azula, Maester Cressen?" questioned the Lady Mai, during her annual audit of the Grand Academy. Normally these sessions were quite intense, but the Lady Mai appeared to be preoccupied. Throughout her query, she had been looking down at some parchments detailing the progress of a project, currently underway, at the Agni Shipyard. Her meeting with the Industrial Administrator had apparently not gone well, as evidenced by the fact that Cressen had seen the man leaving the Firenation-style administration building, looking as if he had laid eyes upon the stranger himself.

"At the moment they seem so," the High Educator of the Grand Academy stated, before continuing, "The Citadel's books of higher knowledge and the Firenation's books of Education the Lady Azula had brought with her have meshed exceedingly well. There are some discrepancies, of course, in regards to your 'spirits' and 'bending,' and our 'higher mysteries,' magic if you prefer. But it still stands strongly as a balanced curriculum that allows for gradual learning and development."

She glanced upwards for a moment as if to reassure him that he still had her attention before motioning for him to continue.

"Furthermore, I will say again, as I always do, that it was fortunate that we spoke the same language when you appeared, as it allowed a more seamless translation of you alphabetical characters to ours," he said wistfully, before continuing. "That said, the Citadel is still uncertain of Lady Azula's need to educate the small folk. It could 'disrupt' the fabric of Westrosi society. It is already known, that several nobles, of note, are starting to grow agitated at us offering better alternatives and lives, to their subjects, and causing migration out of their lands." He stated. "Even with the King's blessing, it is still worrisome." He had begun to suspect that Grand Maester Pycelle was partly responsible for this backlash towards small folk education, at the behest of Tywin Lannister, but since he did not have the time nor the ability to investigate, it was merely a hypothesis of his own making.

"Yes," she began, "Princess Azula anticipated this reaction, but she let King Robert and the Late Jon Arryn know, that an education, a good education, was required in order to build the facilities needed for ship construction. Ships that King Robert himself commanded be constructed as one of the preconditions for allowing the marriage, between Princess Azula and Lord Stannis, to occur." She answered with a hint of annoyance, though not at him, it was directed towards the nobility, Cressen knew. "Although," she added, "I wonder if the Citadel's ambivalence about our education program has more to do with the educational materials themselves or the fact that Qyburn is the Academy's Master of Medicine? Or, perhaps, that some worshippers of R'hllor are members of the educational staff?"

"Who can say?" Cressen responded as Mai regarded him with a slight twinge of her brow, beneath her spectacles.

Although he had had his reservations of the man upon his naming to the position, he had grown less hostile towards him when he, along with the Lady Azula's childhood friend, Ty Lee, had been instrumental in saving the Lady Azula's life after the quelling of the Greyjoy rebellion. His methods may have been based upon questionably acquired knowledge, but it had ultimately done Stannis a great service and had aided in easing Stannis' mind. An accomplishment to which Stannis would never have admitted to others, save Cressen himself, and that was enough for Cressen to bear no ill will towards the man. Even so, he was not so certain others at the Citadel held the same regards for Qyburn.

'As for the followers of the Red God, the less spoken about them the better,' he thought. While there were still several fanatics present, within the large religious following the Lady Azula had 'acquired,' she had managed to maintain order. She used their belief that she was their promised savior, Azor Ahai, to keep them loyal and prevent them from doing anything without her consent. At first, a few months after the conclusion of Robert's Rebellion, only Thoros of Myr had arrived. He had been good company, slightly prone to drink, and insightful during his more inebriated moments, but nothing about his beliefs made him dangerous. It was only later when he had seen, or been allowed to see, the Lady Azula bend blue flames that he began to change. He no longer drank, and he took to seclusion, writing many letters to his fellow worshippers in other temples about the 'truth' he had discovered on Dragonstone.

Then the ships began to arrive, bringing with them a few worshippers at a time. Two or three at the beginning, and ever so slowly growing into the hundreds by the fifth year. Even now, they continue to come, having already reached near ten thousand strong. There had been a few incidences, most of which had been quickly resolved. One occurrence of note was the time when the woman in red had seen the Lady Azula and began accusing her of falsely claiming the title of Azor Ahai, before being exiled from Dragonstone under pain of death. Another had been when several of the R'hllorites had attempted to storm the sept to burn 'the false idols.' He had witnessed these vandals put down by the lady herself. Even though her belly had been practically bursting with child, it still did not prevent her from making an example of these rogue zealots. She had them hung, and burned their dead bodies herself, before having their ashes thrown into the sea.


Dragonstone (12/28/284 AC)

She stood before the gathering crowd at the sept and issued her proclamation, "I am AzorAhai! I am the Firelord! You see me as the one who will wash away the darkness?! And yet you defy my commands?! My commands to keep the peace and maintain the order that I wish to be kept here?! On the island I call home?! Those who wish to continue challenging my decrees, step forth and face my fury!" none had come forth, and she continued, "Those who wish to remain here with their true savior, the one chosen by R'hllor, prostrate yourselves, and remember who it is you bow to!" at that, the worshippers of the Red God began to fall to their knees, bowing their heads in reverence and fear.


(Dragonstone: 8/10/298 AC) Cressen I

"Well, whatever the case may be," she uttered, dismissively, "I trust you have your written summary of the current educational systems in place and details of their effectiveness? You know how demanding Princess Azula can be in regards to the academy?"

"Yes, the Princess…" at that he paused and glanced at the Lady Mai, who wore a slight grin on her usually expressionless face.

"You lose," she stated bluntly.

'Curses!' Cressen thought to himself, 'how absurd it was for such a game to have come about on the day when 'the Scourge of the Reach,' had added a third title to her name?'

Storm's End (283 AC)

"I will not negotiate with her servant, Maester Cressen!" grumbled Stannis Baratheon several hours after the negotiations with Lo, the Lady Azula's envoy, had passed. "If she wishes us to prostrate ourselves before her supposed 'superiority' and make demands that she has no right to do, then she is no ally of ours, Princess or otherwise. Especially not some stranger who appears from the darkness, commanding a ship that should, by all rights, not exist." He stated, in the privacy of his solar, after dismissing the envoy sent by Lady Azula. "I will speak only to this 'Princess Azula' herself and gain the measure of her character, personally," he continued, "and if she wishes to show good faith in our war then she will need to do more than destroy a few ships, send food, and dispatch an old woman with a few guards to negotiate."

While negotiations had gone less than ideally, Cressen had understood Stannis Baratheon's caution. For how were we to know this foreign Princess had the best intentions for Westeros? It was true that she had annihilated the Redwyne fleet, and it was true that she had sent the smuggler along with his salted fish and onions. She had even included some food from her ship's stores, for which the starving guardsmen, and little Lord Renly, of Storm's End were understandably very well pleased. However, it may well have been a ploy by the Free Cities, or some other foreign power, to take advantage of the chaos brought about by the rebellion in order to gain a foothold in Westeros through Storm's End. In the end, the Lady Azula had answered these questions of suspicion with more than words, she answered with flames, fury, and steel. During the night, after the negotiations had concluded, Cressen had been staring out towards the bay. There, Azula's iron ship, 'the Black Behemoth,' as some at Storm's End had begun calling it, floated ominously. Cressen noticed a single light emanating from the top of the small palace built on the monstrous ship before it had been snuffed out.

Before the moon had reached its zenith, Cressen had retired to his chambers. Just as the heaviness of sleep was beginning to overtake him, he heard something that sounded like thunder and caused the ground to shake. When he had finally managed to reach a window to identify the source of the menacing sound, he only caught a glimpse of a large black form entering the treeline near Storm's End. Stannis himself had awoken and summoned him to the battlements, along with several other guardsmen. Together, they listened to trees snapping and being crushed, as birds began unleashing a torrent of 'squawks' and 'caws' at having been rudely awoken and shaken from their nests. In the distance, the lights from the Tyrell encampment rose above the tree line, shouts and cries of alarm were heard once the snapping ceased. After which, the Tyrell encampment exploded into a firestorm, with lightning seemingly emerging from below the trees. Men were heard shouting, horses neighed, and the sound of the black form crushing dirt, and flesh, and bone, trees, and tents, went long into the night. That night was not a quiet one.

In the morning, many of those who had emerged during the night's events had remained alert and attentive on the battlements. The heaving, crushing, sound slowly made its way towards Storm's End from the trees, black smoke rising all the way until finally emerging. It was being escorted by a woman, and two men, on horseback. The horsemen behind the woman were carrying what appeared to be a standard of a black three-pronged flame, within a red field, and gold border down its sides. The woman was dragging a fourth, stumbling, rotund man, by a chain fastened to the iron collar around his neck. She had at her horses' side a bloodstained Tyrell banner, wrapped around something, and strapped to her back was a sword many had heard tales of, the ancestral sword of house Tarly, Heartsbane. It did not take long to realize who the man being dragged was or what was wrapped in the bloodied Tyrell banner afterward.

She quickly raised her right hand in a fist and the iron monster behind her ceased. She drew Heartsbane and pointed it at the man who held Storm's End. "I am Princess Azula of the Firenation! Stannis Baratheon wishes to speak to me?! So be it! Open your gates, and come forth, so we may speak! And know this Stannis Baratheon! I can do more than 'destroy a few ships!'" she proclaimed.

Maester Cressen chanced a look at his lord and saw that all the others present both on the battlements and below had also turned their attention towards him. He frowned and grunted, muttering something under his breath before calmly stating, "Very well! I will speak with you Lady Azula!"