Kuman/TMI: Gerold was not expecting Quentyn to win, let alone need his dagger for the fight. He was too cocky and chose not to poison it.

Kuman: There will be a small arc at the Wall, but it won't appear for a little while, when Daemon will already have arrived. Garin though, will be discovering just what his friend had been up to.

oneiron: Doran has plans for Daenerys. Quentyn has plans for Daenerys. Doran and Quentyn do not have the same plan for Daenerys. I say no more.

Stunned: Well you obviously missed the part where Quentyn admits he is way subpar to Gerold and had to poison his blade to win. Or the fact that SIQuentyn has been in Westeros for a year and has trained with the best knights in Dorne. Or the fact that muscle memory exists and Quentyn even before the SI took over was a skilled warrior. And I won't indulge on your athletics comment. I sure didn't do six years of competitive swimming, and I certainly haven't done eight years of fencing that I had to stop due to studies even while I had an extremely good level and was on track to get a shot at the national team. And yes, if someone was teleported into our world and suddenly cured cancer and invented teleportation, he would have a hell of an edge over everyone (because that is what Quentyn is to these people, he basically saved thousands if not millions of lives with his inventions, and helped Dorne achieve a great standing). And yes, Daemon, Arianne, Gerold, Drey, Tyene...all these people certainly followed Quentyn without question.

ATP: He really isn't.

All the other commenters: Thanks and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Edric

The Water Gardens were truly a special place.

In the maze of gardens, pools and houses, there were spots that would seem cut off from the outside world entirely. A safe haven of peace, silence and beauty, despite the laughter and cheers of children and adults alike only a few steps away.

The lone pool he was currently in was one of these havens.

It was a pool completely surrounded by double-storey houses, which were hidden themselves with various trees such as palm trees, blood orangers and other trees he had never seen the like of which before.

In the middle of it all, a large pool filled with tranquil water.

Isolated from much of the gardens, and with guards standing at each door, such pools were reserved for guests of House Martell only, and Edric was thankful to have been invited there.

The water soothed his skin as he submerged himself completely, erasing the pain from previous spars and fights.

He dipped his head underwater, clearing his mind as he finally relaxed in peace and quiet.

Approaching the edges of the pool, he sat upon the steps that had been carved neatly into one of the edges, and brushed his blonde hair aside, enjoying the beauty of his surroundings, the chirping of birds, and the small sound of water dripping from a nearby decorative waterfall.

The peace and quiet did not last.

As soon as he made himself comfortable, an intruder appeared.

"Oh, Ned, I didn't expect to find you here." The familiar voice came from behind.

"I needed to relax after the morning spar." Edric countered. "And the prince didn't need me at his side."

"I see." The voice became nearer until Edric finally saw who exactly he was speaking to.

Cletus Yronwood had apparently had the same idea as him, as he wore only his breeches, carrying his belongings at his side.

The heir to Yronwood wasn't what he had expected. While most Yronwoods, such as Lord Anders, were blonde of hair, Cletus had dark hair, unlike both of his sisters, but still kept the blue eyes the Yronwoods were also famed for.

Not like it mattered. He himself did not have all of the particular Dayne attributes. Most Daynes, like his uncle Arthur, and both his aunts, had purple eyes and dark hair. He himself had neither, inheriting his father's blonde hair, and the blue eyes from his mother, Eryna Blackmont.

Her mother had light blue eyes, which combined with the usual purple from the Daynes, gave him dark blue eyes which often occurred in Daynes marrying with other Stony Dornish houses.

"Dark blue, like an ocean to drown in.", cousin Elinor had teased when he was younger and about to squire for Lord Beric. He had blushed furiously had her comment, she who inherited Valyrian silver hair and purple eyes.

He couldn't deny now that his deep blue eyes had fascinated many in Sunspear, not used to such a sight in a Dayne, or in any Dornishmen of their generation.

"Well get in." Edric finally let out. "This pool can fit at least six-and-ten people; it isn't like we can't share it."

Cletus nodded and slowly entered the water opposite him, and he too let the pool's magic do their work on his battered skin.

"First time at the Gardens?" Cletus finally asked as he found a couple of steps to lean on.

Edric nodded.

"I never got the chance to be fostered here like my cousins have." He admitted.

"Why is that?" Cletus asked, intrigued. "The Daynes and the Martells have been on good terms."

"Father." Edric replied with a slight wince in his voice. "He didn't talk much of his family to me, so it was my aunt Allyria who told me this before I went to squire for Lord Beric.

Father lost a lot in the rebellion. He lost a brother at Lord Stark's hand, and then a sister to the waters of the Torentine, out of grief. The only thing he had left was mother and aunt Allyria.

When I was born, father was overjoyed, or so my aunt told me. But mother…"

Edric repressed a sob.

"Mother got ill soon after I was born." He felt a tear run down his cheek. "She…she left us when I was but a newborn."

"I'm sorry." Cletus nodded sombrely. "It must've been hard on your father, and you."

Edric nodded.

"Father only had aunt Allyria and I left, you see. With mother gone…" Edric repressed another sob "I was the only thing he had left, really. Aunt Allyria wanted me to go to the Water Gardens when I was old enough, but father refused.

Aunt Allyria told me it was because he did not want to lose the last thing his wife left him.

Father…he never really recovered from mother's passing. He often got ill, and grew weaker as the years went on."

"Why agree for you to squire for Lord Beric if your father wanted to protect you?" Cletus asked.

"Aunt Allyria convinced him to." He confessed. "She told me that I couldn't be a proper Lord of Starfall if I had never once stepped outside Dayne lands, so she convinced him to squire for Lord Beric. I served him a short while, and then came back to Dorne when prince Quentyn asked for me. By then, father had passed, so it was hard for me to refuse."

Cletus nodded, and Edric couldn't resist asking him the same question.

"First time here as well?"

"Yes." Cletus replied. "For very different reasons."

"Your great-grandfather?" he asked.

Edric had heard of the duel between prince Oberyn and lord Edgar, and the ramifications that went with it.

"Precisely." He replied. "Neither I or our two sisters came to the Water Gardens. Ynys could've, but my father loved her more than anything and kept her close. As for I, well, the goodwill between house Martell and house Yronwood was lost when prince Oberyn killed lord Edgar.

By then, it was out of the question for me to be sent to the Gardens, and still out of the question for my younger sister Gwyneth to be sent there as well.

It is a shame. The Gardens are beautiful, and deprived me of an opportunity to meet a lot of dornishmen and women my age.

Instead, I met them as I travelled to and from Yronwood. That's how I met Allyria, I mean, your aunt. At a party thrown for Lord Manwoody's nameday, if I can remember correctly."

"At least you got to meet new people." Edric pointed out.

"I never saw anything of Dorne past the Star's Range, and visitors were few and far between at Starfall."

Cletus nodded.

"Enjoy your freedom while you can, then." Cletus smiled. "We're only young once in our lifetime, after all."

Edric didn't fully understand what Cletus was on about being young. For him, it seemed a burden, being so inexperienced and suddenly becoming the second or third more powerful lord in Dorne.

But still, he tried not to think much of it.

Right now, he only wanted peace and quiet.

But there too, he was about to be sorely disappointed.

Just as his conversation with Cletus ended, a feminine voice made itself heard.

For fuck's sake…

Edric had enough and decided to plunge his head underwater and wait it out. Surely it was just a servant bringing in…things.

However, he couldn't exactly hold his breath forever, and had to resurface.

When he did, he found Cletus face to face with a slightly older, blonde-haired woman, who was staring at him with fury in her eyes.

"You're not making any sense." He heard Cletus say.

"I said, dimwit, that we are to be betrothed." The blonde-haired woman said, angrily.

Cletus frowned, but remained calm.

"Lady Jeyne, there is absolutely no way I will marry a Fowler." His voice was tense now. "And don't tell me you came all the way from Skyreach to tell me this?"

"Hah!" she scoffed, as Edric tried to be as discreet as possible, not letting his mouth stay over the water, and slowly waddling towards the other end of the pool. "I wouldn't come all this way for you. Do not fret about it, I have other priorities. But on the subject of marriage, that we can agree."

"Let's go talk to Quentyn then. Surely he knows more than we do." Cletus answered.

"Sure." She grinned. "Lord Dayne!"

Edric froze as he had managed to tiptoe halfway through the pool already.

"My lady?" he asked as he turned around to face her.

"Please accompany us and act as a witness."

"I don't know…maybe I should…"

"Ned, come on, it will only last a few minutes." Cletus cut in. "And the pools aren't going anywhere."

"Fine…" Edric grumbled. "Let me change…"

As he left the pool and dried himself up, getting a change of clothes as he did so, he could hear the bickering between the two.

Clearly there was something he had been missing.

Once he had changed the best he could, both Cletus and Jeyne left in the blink of an eye, running towards where prince Quentyn had told them he'd be.

A small house in the middle of the gardens, guarded by several Martell guards.

Getting in was no issue, and soon enough Edric could hear the prince's voice through a door.

Cletus and lady Jeyne didn't even knock and just barged in.

The prince was standing over a table with a map of Dorne laid out in front of him. A tall red-haired woman was at his side, whom Edric recognized as Lady Nymella Toland.

Prince Quentyn paid no mind to the sudden interruption, and only raised a finger, continuing what he had previously been saying.

"…we expect that with the conflict up ahead, Northern wood will no longer go through us directly from White Harbor. Our ships will go through Braavos instead, and construction of the fast frigates with the wood of the Torentine will instead replace the heavier vessels constructed by the Ansons and Rowes."

"Quentyn, I…" Cletus tried to cut in, but was instantly silenced by Nymella Toland and a croak from his fro…Achilles, Edric reminded himself.

"You don't expect the North to stop sending their wood?" she asked, sneering at the three of them so much that Edric wanted to just disappear from the face of the earth.

"They need the coin to fund their upcoming conflict with the crown." Quentyn continued. "Needless to say, we are more than eager to give them such coin. I am more worried about Stannis Baratheon's fleet patrolling off Greenstone and Tarth. I feel like I will have to reroute some of your ships to patrol that area and protect our shipping coming to Ghost Hill and the Tor."

"Not an unwise choice, but it seems your friends have something to say…" the lady of Ghost Hill looked straight at them.

If Edric could've died from embarrassment, he would have collapsed right there.

"What is so important that it cannot wait a couple of hours till I am done here?" Quentyn raised an eyebrow.

"You knew she was here?" Cletus asked.

"It's hard not to notice." Quentyn raised an eyebrow, with Achilles croaking as if in approval. "I dined with her, Jen, Fiora and Delilah yesterday. Lord Fowler had business with my father and brought them along."

"Quentyn." Jeyne spoke up. "I don't want to marry him."

Jeyne pointed straight at Cletus.

"To be fair, neither do I." Cletus sarcastically remarked.

"You didn't mention this yesterday." Quentyn pointed out. "Why?"

"I learned it from mother today." Jeyne replied. "And you didn't know?"

"No, I didn't." Quentyn frowned. "What exact words did Lady Jynesse use?"

"She told me there would probably be a Fowler-Yronwood match soon." She frowned. "She told me that it would be a historic event."

"We now know why the old Hawk was at the Gardens…" Lady Toland whispered to the prince, just within Edric's earshot.

"Well, you seemed very happy together the last time you two met." Quentyn crossed his arms. "Why would you not like each other now?"

"Just because I see a pretty girl does not mean I'm going to marry a Fowler."

"Just because I see a pretty boy does not mean I'm going to marry an Yronwood."

The two replied almost instantaneously.

"I'm only jesting." Quentyn smiled. "I suppose such a union is meant to rule at least one of Skyreach or Yronwood. In any case, Jeyne, you know your sister's preferences. You know you have to be the heir.

Cletus, you know your own succession laws. You know you cannot be a consort to a less powerful house.

A union between you both is impossible. I'm instead leaning towards Cletus being betrothed to Delilah."

Jeyne seemed satisfied, but Cletus doubled down.

"I'm not marrying a Fowler!" he protested.

"Shame, she's a lovely girl. Quite smart, beautiful hair and eyes, and she has many qualities I'm sure you'd love considering how much time you spend in the bedroom." Quentyn shrugged as Cletus' cheeks went red. "Anywhow, my hands are tied. I do not have the power to cancel such a betrothal, only my father has. But I can promise to talk to him."

Cletus looked disappointed but reluctantly nodded.

"Well, Yronwood, it would seem your concerns were unfounded." Jeyne teased.

Cletus raised an eyebrow but breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now that your childish concerns are gone, please leave the grown-ups to talk." Lady Toland frowned.

The three of them made their way towards the exit, but as Edric turned his back on the table, Quentyn raised his voice.

"Not you, Lord Dayne. You stay."

Oh.

Whenever the prince called him "Lord Dayne", it meant there was either trouble brewing or serious affairs ahead.

He looked at Achilles, the tree frog having grown to the size of twice a grown man's hands put together. The frog only blinked at him and continued resting itself on a corner of the table.

"Sometimes I wonder how I'm the youngest of these three…" Quentyn whispered to lady Toland.

"I can see why." She frowned. "I fear for the future of house Yronwood and house Fowler."

"Well, it seems we should have our concerns on quite a different front." Quentyn growled. "Fucking Yronwood, trying to sneak behind my back like this…I always knew he was too ambitious for his own good."

"Don't the Fowlers and Yronwoods hate each other?" Edric asked.

Quentyn and lady Toland looked at each other, as the prince beckoned him to come closer and look at the map of Dorne laid before them.

"Lord Anders Yronwood and Lord Franklyn Fowler were two of the ten-thousand strong Dornish host at the Battle of the Trident, led by great-uncle Lewyn." Quentyn said. "When Lewyn fell, it became lord Franklyn's host. Immediately, he was beset upon dozens of Valemen, and would've been cut down if not for Lord Anders' rescue.

In the chaos, Lord Anders had not seen the Fowler sigil Lord Franklyn bore, and saved his life."

"These two have been friends since the Rebellion." Lady Toland continued. "And although the enmity continued with lords Edgar and Ormund, ever since Lord Anders took the mantle of Bloodroyal, things have been shaping up nicely for them, since they both revel in the idea of getting revenge for their failure on the banks of the Trident. An alliance you helped create, my prince."

Quentyn coughed.

"Erm…yes." Quentyn smiled awkwardly. "I wouldn't say create, but reinforce. I leveraged their friendship to expand my influence in the area, notably to exploit the woods and mountains of Skyreach and the Prince's Pass. Wood that is now used to enrich your house, lady Toland."

"As you say, my prince." Lady Toland scoffed. "But now these two have some sort of pact, and this doesn't spell anything good for us."

"Why?" Edric asked.

Nymella Toland reached into her tunic and drew out two daggers before Edric could react, throwing them straight onto the map, where the Prince's Pass and the Boneway lied.

Edric jumped, his eyes darting between Quentyn and lady Toland, and then at Achilles, who had remained still, not moving from where he'd rested, a few inches from the tip of one of Lady Toland's blades.

Quentyn nodded.

"Because the Fowlers and the Yronwoods control the only two major land routes in and out of Dorne. Such a pact could essentially trap us in our own peninsula." Quentyn fumed. "For generations we've been content to play them against one another, so that neither could reconcile and create a potential pact that could block both land routes into Dorne, but now…"

"Yronwood has been a sly player." Lady Toland said with a voice filled half with loathing and half with respect. "He tied himself to the Allyrions, and the Daynes of High Hermitage. An alliance with the Fowlers would make sense…"

"Not to mention he tried to go for the Qorgyles…" Quentyn sighed. "Soon enough he'll be proposing Gwyneth's hand for Ned. This ends now."

"Why not let it go through?" Edric asked.

"Because the Dornish lords would not accept it. Father wouldn't accept it. And I wouldn't accept it." Quentyn frowned. "And then we'd be pressured to give your hand to an Eastern Dornish house to stop them from controlling the whole Marches."

"What are you going to do?" Lady Toland asked slyly.

"My father will likely furiously oppose this marriage." Quentyn replied. "But I need both Fowler and Yronwood taught a lesson not to go behind my back. A proper one."

"What are you suggesting?" Edric asked.

"Yronwood has been losing influence ever since I left and he knows it. He's been trying to regain that influence substantially. That is why he is moving quite aggressively." Quentyn replied. "Yronwood was briefly the centre of Dornish attention before I brought it back to Sunspear."

The prince slowly paced around the room, Achilles taking the opportunity to jump on his shoulder once more.

"Yronwood has been the centre of medicine production, especially since the guilds there have been taught extremely early on. This has proved to be a consistent source of wealth since the Dornish houses that could not afford to set up guilds would buy surplus from Yronwood, since we haven't hit sufficient capacities here at Sunspear, and I have had other priorities…" Quentyn roamed his fingers on the map. "But if I gave monetary incentive for the guilds to move to a more…suitable place. Let's say…Ghost Hill?"

Lady Toland laughed, with Achilles croaking as well.

"I can see where this is going, but what about Fowler?"

"Fowler isn't dependent on my actions, but I certainly know where to hurt him." Quentyn smirked. "I need a word with Jennelyn."

Clearly there was something Edric was missing since both Quentyn and Lady Toland were smiling from ear to ear.

"I'm going to make sure none of them dare make a move on my house again." Quentyn smirked. "I'm sorry to leave so early, but my father has requested my presence, and I need to have the arrangements concluded for the whole Fowler-Yronwood situation. Good day, Lord Dayne. Lady Toland."

Before he could leave with Quentyn, though, the red-haired lady of Ghost Hill coughed and turned to Edric, while Quentyn looked on, confused.

"Say, lord Dayne, have you met my daughter Teora?" she grinned.

Edric blushed as he could hear Quentyn's voice rise behind him.

"Lady Toland!"