Lady Elia Arryn at the first day of the sixth moon 296 AC
Today was her nameday but she was not in a festive mood, she had not been in a good mood on this day for fourteen years now, not since her Elbert had been murdered alongside Rickard Stark back then in 282 AC.
Her good and gentle Elbert had certainly not deserved it to choke painfully to death from a poisoned wine back then and to never be able to met his third child, seeing as their sweet Mara came into this world five weeks posthumously.
And sadly their older children could not remember much about their father but then it was certainly no wonder, seeing as Meria had been barely four namedays old and Jasper just short of his second nameday when Elbert was murdered.
Elia slowly made her way from her Solar towards the High Hall, feeling older than her thirty-nine years.
Not only because the sadness in her Heart, but also because of the chilly temperatures which never seems to become warmer in the hallways the Eyrie.
Her bones were not meant for these kinds of cool drafts and even though she had spent already nearly half life outside of her warm, nay hot lands of birth, she still missed the burning sun over Dorne.
But it mattered not if her bones and muscles were painful, Elia was a dutiful Lady and thus as soon as she had arrived in the High Hall, she took her seat in the consort throne and gave signal that the daily Courtdealings could begin.
It was her duty after all to look after the heritage of her children and she would sooner be in pain for every moment of her life than to dissapoint her children.
It had been turned into a good day after the first few morning hours had passed, mostly thanks to her wonderful Mara singing so many beautiful songs, being accompanied by her brother and Meria presenting her with such a beautifully warm and large shawl, thought Elia in the late evening hours, after she went to bed for the night.
Though the biggest surprise had been that suddenly Oberyn appeared in the High Hall with gifts and the promise to stay for up to half a year..
It had ended in an evening filled with laughter and joy, instead crying in her bed because she still missed her late husband, even though she was a widow for some long now.
... ...
They had such a good life and then came the Chaos of Harrenhal, the news that Rhaegars wife Princess Denyse of the Hightower family had sadly become infertile after her first pregnancy had ended in 280 AC with healthy enough twin daughters but also with a badly damaged womb.
If only Rhaegar hadn't done all the mistakes which he had done in the Summer 281 AC in Harrenhall.
Then Brandon Stark wouldn't have been murdered in command of the King, Lyanna wouldn't have been kidnapped a short time later by Rhaegar, only to be found two years later by her brother, chained to a bed in a secured room on Dragonstone and dying after the birth of a stillborn daughter. (officially!, in truth it was Jon Snow who had been born there)
What a horrible time that had been, thought Elia to herself and then she forced herself to push the dark thoughts away and to just concentrate on the current time with her children and her visiting brother.
...
...
Yep, Elia is Elbert Arryn's widow and has three children by him
They had married in 277 AC and their oldest daughter Meria had been born exactly nine moons after their wedding day.
