Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun.
Book 2
Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty
"I am sorry to tell you my prince that it does seem to be getting worse," Maester Caleotte spoke gently, like Doran was a child and not a man grown and prince of an entire kingdom, he would find it rather amusing if the pain he felt was not so great in that moment, gout was simply a danger of the way of life he lived, he had never been an active boy and most of his time had been spent sitting down, either to read for his own pleasure or to rule from atop his high seat.
And he had perhaps overindulged through out the years, he had always been something of a picky eater in truth and his poor mother had oft despaired of him as he had pecked at his food like a bird, considering that his mother had lost two of her children in the cradle not long after him it was only natural that she would be protective of her only child and heir.
But as he had grown into manhood and had inherited Sunspear and all of Dorne from his mother the responsivity of ruling crashed down on to him and the blades of the great game were ready to tear into him and all that he loved and so he had indulged in fine wine and food to help him through the pain of it all.
But every action had a consequence and that was doubly true for anything that brought you any sort of joy or pleasure, the sight of his swollen fingers and the ache in his joints was proof of that.
A humourless laugh slipped from his lips and he gave a weary smile to the maester when he looked at him with concern. "I believe your fellow maesters call gout the illness of kings, well I would never be so vain as to call myself an equal to one it seems that it has settled for affecting only a lowly prince this time, it is what it is Maester Caleotte and I do not see the need to weep bitter tears over it."
"As you say, my Prince," Maester Caleotte hummed sadly, tutting at the sight of Doran's swollen fingers and toes. "All we can do for the moment is to try and make the pain as bearable as possible, would you like me to prepare a thimble cup of milk of the poppy for you?"
"Please," Doran said with his smile turning closer to a grimace as the pain turned sharper.
In truth he would like more than a thimble cup but any more than that would dull his wits and he would not allow that, there were too many who would try to take advantage of him in such a state and so he would only allow himself the slightest amount of relief.
He took the cup as it was offered and swallowed it within a single gulp, within moments the worst of the pain faded but the entirety of it could still be felt through the slight haze that the milk brought on.
But he could delay no longer even if all he wished to do was crawl into a dark room and forget the world, he was the prince of Dorne and the time had come to rule.
Areo Hotah, ever faithful, came forward and began to wheel his chair out of his solar and through the corridors of the old palace and he was once again thanked the gods for his captain of the guards, the man knew just how gently to push him to ensure that his chair would not be jolted which would spare him any added pain on top of the sort he was already dealing with.
He had not truly wished to return to Sunspear, he was perfectly willing to leave the day to day rule to Arianne and her husband, but with the arrival of Princess Arya Stark to Dorne to become his daughter's cupbearer it was imperative that he be there to greet his niece.
His first thought upon seeing the girl was how much she reminded him of Oberyn, in terms of appearance she was clearly her father's child in almost everything except the shape of her eyes which was all Elia, the girl could not keep still and when she was not running she was climbing, when she was not climbing she was swimming, and when she was not swimming she was fighting someone larger than her with a new weapon than the one she was using yesterday.
She had already delighted her cousins, Eddard seemed to follow her every word to the letter and little Oberyn seemed more willing to speak to her than to anyone else and he had showed her the best way to make sand castles to ensure that they stayed up.
Even baby Aron seemed to adore her, always willing to abandon his mother to toddle after his older brothers and cousin when they up to some mischief or other.
It always brought him joy to see children at their play, it was part of the reason he had chosen to take up residence within the Water Gardens, and the delight was even greater when the children were his own flesh and blood, his grandchildren and his niece taking simple joy in one another's company.
He wished that it could last forever, but the world would show them it's true face soon enough and there would be no more time for games and play then, they would need to learn how to survive.
But not today, not yet.
Aero wheeled him into throne room and then carried him up the steps of the dais and set him down on the throne, he was willing to let his lords underestimate him to an extent but he would not let them see that he had deteriorated to such an extent and so he had made sure that he would be within the throne room earlier than the rest of them.
Hotah hide the chair behind the prince's door just as the lords and ladies who swore him their allegiance walked into the room, his daughter and her husband came to sit behind a long table that had been placed in front of the dais along with the rest of the council who aided in the rule of Dorne.
It had been so long since he had held court that he had truly forgotten how dull it could be, the false flatteries that wore on and on until they got to the point of what they wanted and more often than not it was something petty that he would expect from a child and not from someone who responsible for land and lives.
And when it wasn't petty, it was dangerous. Houses arguing over the borders of their land or who owned a new source of water that had just been discovered, with the wrong decision he could make an enemy who would like nothing more than to see him and all that he loved driven into the ground.
No, he did not miss this but he would be glad that he could at least spare Arianne from it for a few more days until propriety allowed him to return to the Water Gardens.
He had his own issues to deal with their regardless, something that kept him up all night with the guilt.
Lauryn Sand had settled into the gardens to an extent, she was less likely to burst into to tears without anything to prompt it at least but the girl still did jump from time to time and seemed to flinch from any noise that was louder than a tray being set down on the table and Doran had to wonder what horrors she had faced on her journey to reduce her to such a state.
The morning after she had arrived Doran had sent a bird to Starfall to inform House Dayne that Lady Ashara's daughter had returned to Dorne and that she had brought with her news of Lady Ashara's death and that she had no-one else in the world to care for her and yet there had been no response to that bird as of yet.
That had no worried him unduly in truth, Dorne was a large land and in the mountains to the North where Starfall lay there were many an eagle, hawk and even the odd ambitious vulture who could bring down a raven easily enough.
No, it was only when the next three birds had been sent with no response that the worry had started to set in and it only began to grow when the messages sent to High Hermitage also did not receive a response.
It was of course entire possible that House Dayne wanted nothing to do with the girl, he knew little enough what conversations were held within the halls of Starfall about Ashara Dayne's flight with Brandon Stark but he doubted that it brought up pleasant memories to be reminded of it.
And he was not prepared to force the girl on them if House Dayne did not wish to have her, if it came to that then Doran would ensure that Lauryn would have a place at the Water Gardens and at Sunspear, her miserable life was at least in part due to his own machinations and if his way to atone for that was to care for the miserable wretch she had become then so be it.
But the lack of response was a concern and could not be ignored, he had ordered riders with messages to ride on Starfall and to High Hermitage and this time if there was not a response...
It meant that something was wrong.
A shriek brought him out of his musings and cut the next petitioner off, questions began to fill the air like hornets and Doran was about to gesture for the herald to slam his staff down and bring the lords and ladies to silence when the doors the hall flew open and a maid came rushing in, tears rolling down her face.
"What is the meaning of this interruption?" Doran asked, firm without raising his voice.
The maid shook and kept sobbing and it was the guard who came in after her, paler than any Dornish man had any right to be, who spoke. "My prince, I...I'm afraid that-" He stopped speaking then, looking down at his boots.
"Speak!" Aero Hotah said, slamming the butt of his long axe against the ground.
The guard flinched but spoke, but he did not lift his gaze. "Princess Arya, she had fallen from the spear tower. She's dead."
And in that moment, the world seemed to end.
End of Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty
Welp, I'll let this chapter speak for itself.
The next chapter sees us go to Bear Island to visit House Mormomt and to see how Sansa is adjusting.
With warmest regards,
DiscordantSymphony