Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Twenty.

Oberyn spun his spear and thrust it down at the small dark shape at his feet, said dark shape blocked the blow and leapt back before thrusting her spear towards his gut, if Oberyn had been anyone else then he wouldn't have been able to dodge the blow and he would probably have wound up being gutted on the point, this was just a sparring match but Oberyn had told his daughter to not hold back, in real life no one would even if she was a woman.

But he had also taught her to use that, even in Dorne men would underestimate her because she was a woman and if no one truly perceived you as a threat then they would never see you coming. He swung the handle of his spear towards her feet and knocked her flat on to her back. Oberyn pointed his spear down at her. "I thought you better than that Obara, you need to be quicker on your feet."

"Yes father." Obara said and Oberyn stepped back and Obara got back to her feet, she twirled her spear in her hands and lunged for Oberyn who side-stepped but before he could retaliate Obara stuck out her leg and Oberyn stumbled, she jabbed the other end of her spear into her father's gut who grunted and fell to the floor he looked up just in time to see the point of his daughter's spear hovering in front of his face. "I only ever need one lesson father.

"Perhaps." Oberyn said with a shrug and used his hand to nudge the spear's point away from his face, as soon as Obara pulled the spear back however he quickly drew a dagger and shoved his eldest down to the floor and held the knife to her throat. "What is the lesson?" He asked.

"That you will cheat when we spar?" Obara mocked with a raised eyebrow.

"My dear daughter, is it truly wise to mock a man who holds a knife to your throat?" Oberyn asked with an raised eyebrow of his own, he made sure that he held the knife so that the blade was in no danger of actually cutting into her throat. "I shall ask you again, what is the lesson here?"

"Be wary of someone hiding an extra weapon?" Obara suggested.

"No." Oberyn said. "Try again, what is the lesson?"

"The lesson is...never assume that you are out of danger." Obara said and she breathed in relief when her father nodded and stood up, holding out a hand to help her up. She took it and grunted as she was pulled up to her feet.

"Well done, you are getting much better." Oberyn said and he could not hide the pride in his voice, he loved all of his daughters the same of course but Obara was the one that he had trained, he planned to train to train all of them of course but Obara had a taste for it and the skill to support it, to be honest she reminded him much of himself when he had been her age.

"Thank you father." Obara said as she twirled the spear in-between her fingers. "I wondered if we could train with the whip tomorrow, I need more practice with it."

Before Oberyn could respond the door to the room burst open and a small shape darted forward, her long braid flying behind her. The shape wrapped it's arms around Oberyn's legs and looked up at his face, a small smile on her face showing off a gape in her teeth. "Hello papa." She said sweetly.

"Hello Nym." Oberyn returned the smile and reached down to pick her up, Nymeria squealing in delight as she was hoisted up and rested against her father's shoulder. "Have you had a nice time with Septa Constance, where is she by the way?"

No sooner than when he asked did the woman, looking noticeably more dishevelled than usual with little Tyene held in her arms, squirming to try and escape her hold so she could join her sisters. "Prince Oberyn." The woman breathed harshly, her grey eyes burning like coals. "I am sorry but your daughters are little beasts, they refuse to be still and I have never seen such violent or noisy girls in my entire life."

Oberyn was honestly trying his hardest not to laugh at the poor woman, she was only doing her duties but she had condemned herself to an uphill battle when she had tried to tame any of his daughters, even sweet little Tyene had a fire burning inside of her that would not be smothered. Oberyn cleared his throat to cover up his laugh and placed a firm look on his face. "I apologise for them Septa, please take the rest of the day to rest and I will ensure they are disciplined."

The septa nodded, a pleased look on her face. She set Tyene down on the floor and left the room, shutting the door behind her as she left. Oberyn reached down and picked Tyene up and when she brought up to rest against his other shoulder Nymeria took her sister's hand. "I don't like the septa, she's mean and smells funny."

"She's mean." Tyene muttered in her father's chest as she squeezed her sister's hand.

"And stupid and fat." Obara muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest, the girl had not been forced to attend any of the septa's lessons but that had been a conscious decision on Oberyn's part, Obara did not have the same amount of patience as her younger sisters and if the septa could not handle them then she had no chance of handling Obara.

"Obara. I know you don't like her but you will not speak ill of Septa Constance, she's a good woman and she is only trying to help. The same goes for you two, do not be rude to her or about her." Oberyn spoke firmly as he addressed his daughters, Tyene and Nymeria both nodded immediately and while Obara let out a longsuffering sigh she did nod as well, not willing to disobey her father.

Oberyn placed Nym and Tyene down on the room's bed and glanced at Obara who sighed again and walked over to the bed and hopped up on to it so she was in the middle of her sisters. "Now, I do believe that your Aunt will be arriving today. She will have missed all three of you you a great deal. You three will be spending most of the day with her."

Nymeria and Tyene both seemed excited, in Dorne they had both spent a great deal of time with their aunt and they had both missed her greatly and Oberyn was glad of that. Obara on the other hand did not seem quite as gladdened, she loved her aunt and Oberyn had no doubts about that but she knew that she didn't have much in common with her.

Elia was a sweet and gentle soul, when their mother had order them all be trained so they could defend themselves if they had to Elia had not wanted to, she did not want to fight and thus her training had not been complete. It was a shame as she had been quite skilled with a sword, if she had wanted to fight and carried on with her training then she would've been nearly unbeatable.

"What will you be doing father?" Obara asked her father when she realised that he said that they, meaning her and sisters would be spending time with their aunt. "Haven't you missed as well."

"Of course I have." Oberyn said and he meant it, Elia and he had always been closer as Doran had been sent away to squire by the time he was born and he did not return until he had turned six and by then Doran was a man grown while he and Elia were still children. They only really had one another most of the time and even when Elia began to make friends of her own she still kept him closer.

There was never a time that he hadn't been close to his sister but now she was thousands of miles away and he missed her like would miss his arm if it was removed and he would normally want to spend a great deal of time with her and he would but he had to do something first.

He had to make sure that Eddard Stark was actually good enough for his sister, the two of them would have a nice somewhat private chat while Elia reconnected with her nieces. "I have a few things to take care of Obara, I will spend time with her later on tonight or tomorrow. She will be here for a few weeks or so after all."

Obara nodded, her curiosity sated it seemed and there was suddenly a knock at the door. "Come in." Oberyn spoke and a young man who was dressed in the colours of House Stark and going by his broad shoulders and gruff face, as well as the fact that he was sweating like a pig in the warm heat, was clearly a northerner.

"Please forgive the interruption Prince Oberyn, but Princess Elia and Lord Stark have arrived in the Red Keep and are settling into their rooms. Princess Elia asked me to inform you that she was here and that she would like to see you as soon as possible." The man spoke, his loud voice echoing around the chambers.

Oberyn nodded. "Thank you, please return to my sister and tell her I will be there in just a moment." The north man nodded once and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Oberyn looked down at his daughters. "Are you ready to go?" He asked.

All three girls nodded and as Obara and Nym jumped off of the bed he picked up Nym, she had started to walk but she was still a little unsteady on her feet and he did not want her to fall and hurt herself, he lead his two elder daughters out of the room and they began to walk down the long corridors of the Red Keep.

After a fairly long walk that took them deeper in to the guest apartments, a small area near the maiden vault where noble guests stayed, they arrived in front of an oak door banded with black iron, standing in front of the door were two of the Stark's household guards, they bowed their heads as they approached and Oberyn knocked on the door. "My lord, Prince Oberyn and his children have arrived!"

"Send them in!" An unfamiliar voice called from the other side of the door and it could only belong to his good-brother, one of the guards opened the door and Oberyn stepped in with his daughters following him.

The first thing he noticed was that his good-brother was sweating and he couldn't stop the small half a smirk from forming on his face, these north men really couldn't handle a little bit of heat, if they were in Dorne then he would probably sweating enough to fill several buckets and be panting as well. His eyes soon strayed from Eddard Stark however and landed on his sister.

She looked...well, happy and healthy and amused at how her husband was reacting to the heat but he also saw the concern and the love in her eyes for the man and he did not know how he felt about that, if Eddard Stark had been a savage who cheated on her and was cruel to her then Oberyn would know how to deal with that, he would gut him with his spear the moment he heard about.

He didn't know how to deal with the fact that his sister might actually love him, might actually want to stay with him.

"Oberyn!" Elia shouted, a wide smile spreading across her face as she turned her eyes from her husband to her brother. She popped out of her chair and hurried over to her brother, pulling him into a hug and Oberyn couldn't stop a grunt from escaping his mouth.

Who ever has said that his sister was weak and fragile had clearly never been on the other side of one of her hugs, not that he was complaining at all. Adjusting Tyene slightly so he was sure that they weren't crushing her between them he returned the hug with one arm, throwing it over her shoulders. "I've missed you sister." He whispered into her ear.

For a few moments the siblings simply stood like that for a few moments, enjoying the fact that they were back together again for so long before Oberyn broke the hug and stepped back.

Elia sighed as she stepped away, her eyes were wet but not sad. She smiled at Tyene and held out her arms and Oberyn gladly handed the small girl over, Elia held her tight and pressed a kiss to the top of blond head. "I've missed you little one." She whispered and Tyene cooed as she wrapped her arms around her aunt's neck.

"Didn't you miss us as well Aunt Elia?" Nymeria asked as she and Obara stepped forward.

Elia smiled and knelt down in front of them. "Of course I did my love, could I have a hug? It's been so long since I've had one from all three of you." Nymeria quickly obliged her aunt, rushing forward and throwing her arms around her aunt's middle and Obara, while not quite as emotionally open as her sister, did not deny her aunt's wish and she walked over to her and hugged her.

Oberyn kept his eyes on them for a moment before footsteps and the sound of someone clearing his throat made him look away from them and he locked eyes with Eddard Stark. "It is a pleasure to finally meet your properly, Prince Oberyn." He said before he held out his hand.

"And to you Lord Stark." Oberyn said as he took his hand and shook it, deep down he knew that he wasn't a bad man but he had to be sure. "I wondered if you and I might have a private chat."

Lord Stark looked surprised for a moment but he nodded, Elia looked up at her brother and frowned. "Oberyn." She warned in a tone that sounded a great deal familiar to him, she had used it a great deal when they were children and it was used only when he was about to do something that she didn't approve off.

"Nothing to worry about sweet sister, we shall be back before you know it." Oberyn said with his famous smirk before he turned his attention to his daughters. "Until we return, you three be sure to keep your aunt company." As soon as he heard the words of consort he turned to Eddard and gestured at the door with his hand, beckoning him to go first.

Eddard stepped forward and opened the door and the two men left the room, neither of them noticing Elia's rather heavy frown, and began to walk down the corridors.

As the two lords walked together Oberyn began to speak. "Forgive me for saying this lord Stark, but the south does not seem to agree with you." The man was still sweating even now and he briefly wondered if his sister's husband was in fact in danger of collapsing, he hoped not because if he did then Elia would no doubt blame him for it.

The other man, to his credit Oberyn thought to himself, took it in good humour as he simply grimaced and replied. "Well, wolves are not built for such heat I am afraid to say. I do not know how you southerners stand it."

At that Oberyn could not help but laugh. "Forgive me for laughing Lord Stark, but if you can not handle this pray that my sister never asks you to visit Dorne with her, you might burst into flames. to us this weather is but a cool day."

"Aye, perhaps it is. I shall not recommend you come to the north then Prince Oberyn, I imagine that the cold would be a quite shock to you." Eddard said as he reached and brushed a hand over his long face to wipe away the sweat.

"I am from Dorne, Lord Stark. It is never cold." Oberyn pointed out. "Even at night it is simply cooler than the day and it is still as warm as a King's Landing afternoon, we truly do not bother with nightclothes in Dorne. Most of us sleep without covers as well."

Eddard coughed roughly and spluttered and Oberyn could not help but laugh at the reaction, it was funny however everyone north of Dorne were so close minded about everything, even mentioning nudity was something that set them off. A man and a woman had to be nude and together to make the precious heirs that were always made to seem so very important. "I am sorry Lord Stark, I did not mean to shock you."

"I am not shocked." Eddard said as he got his breath back and cleared his throat. "Simply was not expecting that our conversation would go to such a place."

"My brother and sister have told me that I tend to be...inappropriate when it comes to conversation, I must admit that learning the proper social graces has never held much of an interest to me, I would much rather someone mean what that they say and say it." Oberyn said with a shrug of his shoulders and was there a faint look of both surprise and approval in Lord Eddard's eyes or was he simply seeing things?

"I...am surprised to hear you say such a thing Prince Oberyn, I always thought that most southron lords were incapable off seeing past their little game, caring for nothing else." Eddard admitted. "I am actually pleased to hear that you do not play it as well."

"Well, I am not a southron lord. I am a prince." Oberyn pointed out with a chuckle. "Indeed that is part of the reason why I tend to not come to feasts or tournys and spend much of my time away from home, going to Essos or the Summer Isles there I am just a foregin lord and it does not matter what I do and I do not have to watch my words, I am afraid that not even Dorne is free from the game. It seems to be a fact of life everywhere you look."

"Not in the north." Eddard said as he and Oberyn walked through a covered bridge which over looked a training yard. "We do not have time to entertain such a game of power grabbing and deceit."

Oberyn's eyes narrowed as they reached the gallery on the other side of the covered bridge, normally he would assume that if someone said that then they were simply playing the oblivious fool but Eddard Stark did not seem like a liar, he seemed like an honest man and that forced him to accept a horrifying possibility, that he simply believed that and he actually was an oblivious fool.

Well, fool was too harsh. The man was not an idiot but he was oblivious if he thought that the game did not happen in the north, his own father was playing it right now. He may not want to play the game but he had always paid attention to all the lessons that his mother had taught him and it was obvious to even him what Lord Rickard Stark was doing.

A marriage to the Baratheons, A marriage to the Tullys, A Marriage to the Martells and Eddard being fostered to Jon Arryn, quite an alliance and said a alliance could only be meant for one thing.

Removing the Mad King.

Oberyn did not object, of course. There was a reason he was called the Mad King after all, Oberyn had only been summoned by the king once since he had come to the Red Keep and it still unsettled him to think about all this time, the man looked as if he hadn't slept for days and glared at him wit deranged eyes.

The king had also said some...very unkind things, to say about Eila, it had taken a great deal of control on his part to stop himself from doing something he would regret and he had never been known for his great control but he hadn't fancied being burned alive so he managed to keep a tight hold on his anger.

Queen Rhaella on the other hand, as soon as she had been free of her husband, had come to his rooms and offered him a very gracious apology. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman, she was clearly not married to a gentle husband and she was also married to her own brother on top of it. Everything about the woman seemed to radiate sadness, her eyes, her mouth and even her stance.

He did not envy her, he imagined that being queen was not a sweet consolation to being bond together to a monster for the rest of time.

Removing Aerys from the throne could only be to everyone's benefit but if Eddard Stark was not aware to what his father was planning then he would clearly not be able to survive playing the game, and to be honest he didn't care if he would survive it or not or if he was so naïve that he thought that the game wasn't played in the north.

What he cared about was Elia, if her new husband could not play the game then Elia would suffer for it, the only thing that Oberyn could hope for was that as a second son of the Lord of Winterfell then he wouldn't really have to play the game and if he did ever have to play the game then by that time came Elia would be able to teach him to play the game to some degree.

Oberyn was pulled out his thoughts when he felt Eddard gently tapping him on the shoulder. "Are you alright, you seemed to be lost in thought."

"I'm fine, actually I was wondering if I could ask you something." Oberyn said as he came to a sudden stop, Eddard nodded and crossed his arms.

"Do you love my sister?" Oberyn asked, Eddard looked surprised at the question for a moment before he nodded firmly, his face showing no doubt at his answer.

"I do, I do indeed love your sister. I love my wife." Eddard said firmly as he crossed his arms. "Is that hard for you to believe?"

"No, not that hard to believe to be honest. Elia has a gentle soul and a kind heart, if you get to know her long enough then it is hard not to love her." Oberyn had only known a few people who didn't like Elia. "But that isn't what I truly wanted to ask you, do you think you can take care of her, protect her from any possible threats, better than I could? She's far away from the rest of her family, from everyone who cares about her."

Eddard was quiet for a moment before he let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, then he opened them after a moment and Oberyn was surprised to see that his eyes were staring at him coldly, like chunks of cloudy ice. "First of all, your sister does not need to be protected but yes, I wouldn't let anyone hurt her if it was in my power to stop."

"And you are wrong, she is not away from her family or everyone she cares about, she is away from some of the people who care about her, my family cares about her. I care about her, I love her more than you can understand. I truly hope that one day you can love someone like I love your sister because then you will understand."

Oberyn was silent with his mouth hanging open slightly before he shook his head and shut his mouth, after a moment he couldn't stop a smirk from spreading across his face, who would ever guess that the so called quiet wolf could be so passionate? If it weren't for the fact that his sister was married to him and that he didn't really think he actually had a chance than he might actually try to bed him.

Not to mention he already had his hands full with trying to get under Jamie Lannister's skin.

"Well said...Brother." Oberyn said and he smiled at the look of shock that spread across Eddard's face. "Shall we head back?"

"Lets...Brother." Eddard said with a smile of his own and the two men turned and began to make their way back, a new understanding having formed between them.

Elia watched Obara and Nymeria play wrestle in the middle of the chamber as Tyene sat in her lap, she had missed this. Just enjoying being with her nieces, the last time she had done so was a few nights before she had left Dorne and it had not ended well.

Obara had been angry with the fact that she was being sent so far away, she had always been far too much like her father and instead of expressing how upset she was that she simply got angry and had yelled at all of them and when Elia had chastised her she had simply screamed in anger which upset her younger sisters and she left the room.

She had only seen her again on the morn that she had left and she had still been so angry about Elia leaving that she hadn't even said goodbye even when Doran commanded her to, simply running back inside of the water gardens and it had hurt Elia but she understood why she had done so.

Obara had not apologised to her yet but she did not want to force the issue, she had missed them all so much that she did not want to have an argument.

She wished that Doran and his children were here as well but she would take what she could get and she would see them again one day, perhaps she would be able to convince Eddard to come with her to Dorne but considering how he and rest of the northerners had reacted to the heat of King's Landing would probably collapse.

She wanted to tell Doran that she was expecting a child in person, she wanted to see her big brother react to it in person, such joyful news should not be told in a letter. She couldn't wait to see Oberyn react as well, she would tell him when he came back with Ned.

The door suddenly open and one of the guards that Ned had placed outside came in and he seemed a little surprised. "Forgive the intrusion my lady but...Prince Rhaegar is here, he wishes to see you."

Elia's eyes widened and her mouth dropped in disbelief for a little moment and strangled squeak was all the came out of her mouth as she tried to speak. She took a deep breath and stood up from chair, she handed Tyene over to her oldest sister. "I want the three of you to go to the bedroom and not come out until I fetch you, do you understand?" She asked.

Obara nodded and held her sister close to her chest and walked over to the door that lead into the bedroom, Nymeria following them. As soon as the girls were in the room and when she was sure that the door was firmly closed she turned to the guard and nodded.

The guard opened the door and as soon as Rhaegar stepped through he left the room and shut the door behind him, even after all this time Elia was stricken by Rhaegar's beauty, his long silver hair went flowing over his shoulders and down his back and his purple eyes seemed to shine in the warm afternoon sun. He was dressed in a black doublet and red pants and his full lips pulled into a smile when he saw Elia.

"May we speak?"

End of Chapter Twenty.

Thought I would leave you guys on a cliff hanger, please leave a review and follow and favourite and never be afraid to give me constructive criticism.