161 AC, Sunspear

The Lord of the Seven Kingdoms

Daeron was distracted from his writings by the sound of a door opening. Looking up he saw Ser Brus Smallgood enter and sketch a short bow.

"Your grace, Ser Oscar Tully is without. He requests an audience. "

Daeron put his quill into the inkpot and closed the book. He frowned. Why would Ser Oscar wish to meet with him?

"Let him in."

Ser Brus nodded and left. Daeron cast his mind to remember what he knew about Ser Oscar Tully. He was cousin Aegon's man through and through. And though Aegon had squired under him, Daeron had seen Ser Oscar deferring to Aegon in the campaign. That was a good sign, for it showed that he wasn't grasping and knew where his place was. Daeron remembered speaking with his uncle about Aegon's time across the Narrow Sea and his uncle had told Daeron more about the man his cousin had squired under.

He has known war from when he was younger than you, uncle Viserys had said. He is a great soldier and one with a great ability to lead armies to victory but I do not trust him to navigate schemes and traps. A frown creased his uncle's face then. Take this to heart Daeron, a soldier's place is only in war. To hold the peace and rebuild the realm, one needs a softer touch, a gentler hand. Remember that the greatest of us was called the Conciliator. It did not escape Daeron that the soldier his uncle was talking about was no longer Ser Oscar Tully but Aegon.

Daeron knew not why his uncle mistrusted Aegon with any position of power. He had followed his cousin's exploits in Essos as closely as he could, just as he knew Aemon and uncle Viserys did. And what exploits there were. Never a lost battle, nor was there a man on that side of the Narrow Sea who could best his cousin in single combat either.

Aegon was a dragon, simple as that. He showed the old blood in Essos what it meant to be a true dragonlord. All that Aegon had done had pushed Daeron and Aemon to hone their own skills. After all, it would not do for the future King and his future Hand to be anyone's lesser in any endeavour. But now, all Aemon's memory did was stab Daeron's heart with anger and grief.

Just let Dorne be pacified, Aemon, and I will show Braavos what it means to wake the dragon. Daeron's hands curled into fists. His blood boiled at the thought of Aemon unavenged.

Daeron now strove to finish this Dornish conquest for Aemon's memory alone, for the sake of everything they had planned together. Everything was in place, he had proven himself and stepped out of the shadow the Dance had cast over the realm, just as he and Aemon had always talked about. And though Daeron did not lay the blame for Aemon's death at Aegon's feet, he still wondered how the war would've gone with Aemon by his side. Perhaps it would've been Aemon governing Dorne in his name. Or perhaps Aemon would be by his side now as they went over their plans to pacify and integrate Dorne.

Daeron shook his death. It would not do for him to dwell on what-ifs. The past was dead and sow as Aemon. The only thing left was to integrate Dorne and people would talk about Daeron the Dragon for ages to come. He was sure of it.

Daeron was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of the door opening. Ser Oscar Tully stepped in. He bowed deeply.

"Many thanks for agreeing to see me, your grace," he said.

"This is the first time we met, is it not Ser?" Daeron asked.

Ser Oscar nodded. "Indeed your grace, and I wish it were under better circumstances than those that face us now," he said stiffly.

Daeron leaned forward onto the table from where he sat, steepling his fingers. He could guess why. Ser Oscar was Aegon's man through and through, that much Daeron knew. He also knew Aegon had given Ser Oscar a task of some importance while he was gone. That Ser Oscar had not waited for Aegon to return and chose to come to Daeron spoke of the importance of the matter at hand.

Daeron held up a hand. "Do not tell me what it is, Ser. Let me guess."

Ser Oscar smiled tightly. It did not reach his eyes. "As you will, your grace."

"You would have waited for our cousin Aegon to return to Dorne if the matter relates to something he asked you to do," Daeron said. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest. "Either you have discovered something that requires urgent action, or the matter at hand is serious enough to involve me."

Ser Oscar's smile fell from his face. "It is both, your grace." Ser Oscar paused, seemingly choosing his words carefully. "The Dornish are planning a rebellion."

Daeron sucked in a sharp breath. It would have been naive of him to not expect that they would do such a thing, of course. The Dornish were known for their perfidy. But for it to have been discovered so quickly spoke of the magnitude at which the Dornish were planning things. Daeron did not wish for it to be true, that his conquest might fall apart at the seams. He could not bring himself to believe this, to accept what this might entail.

"You are sure of this?" Daeron asked. He leaned forward in his chair, almost standing up. "It is not just some rumor, unfounded and without basis?"

Ser Oscar nodded, his mouth cast into a grim line. "There are no proofs I can offer you, your grace, other than my word. The nature of conspiracies makes them shy of the written word." He paused, seemingly choosing his next words with great care. "I have cause to believe that Lord Armond Dayne means to murder Prince Aegon, destabilise the realm's influence and crown Maron Martell the prince of Dorne."

"While his father still lives?" Daeron asked. "Surely it would not rally those of the nobility who bent the knee recently, to pledge to the son while the father yet lives? Besides, young Maron is a hostage at King's Landing." Perhaps the information Ser Oscar had was wrong. How could Dayne crown a hostage who was thousands of miles away deep within the security the Red Keep offered? "Does he mean to steal Maron Martell away from King's Landing?"

"I believe it would be a symbolic gesture as the child would be something to rally people to the cause," Ser Oscar offered.

Daeron shook his head. "Something does not add up, Ser. Besides, there is very little chance of them killing my cousin," Daeron said. "Not unless they poison him."

"Or otherwise scheme, assassinate, murder and indulge in the sort of treachery that the Dornish are wont to do, your grace," Ser Oscar said, shrugging.

"Take care of how you speak, Ser. Dorne is now part of the realm. Baseless accusations will not aid us in pacifying their heat," Daeron chastised. "How did you come by this information?"

Ser Oscar looked reluctant to speak. Daeron pushed him. He needed to know why Ser Oscar did not want to reveal his source to his King.

"Tell me how you came by this information, Ser. We cannot act on speculation alone. Many on either side have lost sons and brothers in the war. That does not presuppose that all of them would rebel."

"It was Qorgyle. He came to me with this information, your grace." Ser Oscar winced.

Daeron understood his reluctance now. "I would not trust him in any manner, Ser," Daeron said. He frowned. Perhaps his uncle was right. A soldier could not maintain the peace when all he knew was war. "He is too sly by half and too ingratiating for it to be anything but a ruse." It was just as well Aegon would be returning within two moon's turns. Daeron trusted him to deal with the Dornish plots better than Ser Oscar.

"I had thought of that possibility, your grace," Ser Oscar replied. "And it seemed to me that Qorgyle is selling out Dayne to gain the Prince's favor. For that to happen, there would need to be some truth in words."

Daeron sighed. Ser Oscar seemed to be missing the point entirely. The important question was why Qorgyle needed Aegon's favour. There were too many plots for Daeron to keep straight in his head. Aegon could deal with it.

And yet, another question remained. "You are not wrong Ser but that does not explain why you chose to tell me this. Aegon is more than suited to deal with this. It is why I appointed him to govern in my name, after all."

"And that brings us to why I requested this audience. Your return to King's Landing has been planned out in advance. This is known. So is the path you are going to take." Ser Oscar paused, looking to see if Daeron was following. Daeron nodded, gesturing to Ser Oscar to continue. "As you go through the Boneway, you will be ambushed and killed. With the King dead and the realm in turmoil, Dayne hopes to rally more Dornishmen to his cause than would rise up if you were alive. Your heir is a child and another regency would paralyze us."

A thrill of fear shot through Daeron. This was more well-thought out than he had expected. He hummed, hoping Ser Oscar had not sensed his fear. "That is easily remedied. I will sail to King's Landing, instead of going by land," he said, hoping his voice did not betray his unease. Daeron drummed his fingers against the wood of the desk. He was still not convinced of Ser Oscar's words regardless of the gravity of the situation they implied. "We still need to verify this information,"

Ser Oscar crossed his arms across his chest and clasped his chin in his hand. "What if we sent a false King? Your grace would leave to King's Landing by sea in secrecy. Someone impersonating you will continue in your original planned route and spring the trap if there is one."

Daeron nodded. "This plan is not without merit. Who would we choose for this task?" Daeron already had a person in mind but he was curious. He wanted to know what Ser Oscar thought about this.

"I must admit, I have not given much thought to the matter. Perhaps we could pick up someone with your look from Dragonstone and dress him up in your armor?" Ser Oscar posited.

Daeron shook his head. "You've given me much to think about, Ser. You may take your leave now. I shall think about your plan and come to a decision."

Thankfully, Ser Oscar knew not to linger once dismissed. He bowed sharply and left. Daeron knew there was only one person capable of commanding the chaos that would ensue in an ambush.

Daeron pulled a piece of parchment closer to himself and took his quill from the inkwell to write the missive. His replacement would have to arrive in secrecy earlier than expected and take Daeron's place in the party leaving north. That meant sending out instructions as soon as possible and not by Dornish ravens. Daeron would have to send a swift rider to the Stormlands and have a raven sent from there to King's Landing. It would be unwise to let the Dornish suspect anything, whether it truly was a ruse or not. There was much to plan and a trap to spring.

—-

A/N: So, this is back. It took me a while to rediscover my love of writing and my reason for writing. I am very happy to be continuing to write again, especially continuing to write this story. I already had large parts of this story planned out even before my hiatus which helped me jump right back in. I have the outlines for the immediate next couple of chapters and the story points they contain already written. The only thing left is to expand the outlines into proper chapters to show off this living world of Ice and Fire.

I've also planned out how I'll be writing since it was haphazard for some of the earlier chapters. I have a routine planned out which should help me balance this writing and my real life. Anyway, thanks for reading! Did you like it? Hate it? Want to complain? Let me know, I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts.