Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun.
Chapter Three.
Dark wings, dark words. It was something of an old wife's tale, that any news brought by a raven was undoubtly news that was foul. Elia herself had never taken much stock in that but at this moment, she couldn't deny that she saw something in it. The news that had come to Sunspear was nothing short of the foulest that she could imagine.
By the command of the King, his eldest son and heir, Rhaegar of the House Targaryen, Prince of Dragonestone was to be wed to Cersei of the House Lannister, daughter of Lord Tywin Lannister and the Light of the West. The news had hurt so badly, it was almost like someone had stabbed her through the heart with a knife. Her tears had come unbidden and Elia made no attempt to stem their flow. That night, she had wept and wept and wept.
She had met Cersei Lannister before, she had scarce been more than a babe in truth. The Lady Joanna had just died and Elia and Oberyn and their Mother had come all the way to Casterly Rock for a visit. She had known what her mother's plans were, even back then. Apparently when her mother and the Lady Joanna had both been ladies in service to the Queen back when she had only been a princess.
She was to wed Jaime Lannister, heir to the Rock and to be the Lady of Casterly Rock while Cersei Lannister would have gone south to be wed to Oberyn. That had been her Mother's great ambition, to bind Casterly Rock and Sunspear together for all of the ages to come and yet that plan itself was ruined by the fact that Joanna Lannister had lost a war that it seemed all women would have to face at some point.
The war of the birthing bed.
Word of the Lady Joanna's death reached them when they had just set out from Dorne, Elia had only seen her Mother weep once before that when they had buried her father beneath the Old Palace and after that the Princess of Dorne had not shed a single tear though on her Father's nameday Mother would grow so very quiet and would be one of the few days that she would not hold court, instead perferring to retreat to her solar and not come out until the day had passed.
But when the word of the Lady of Casterly Rock's death reached Loreza Martell's ears, she had wept even more harshly than she had ever wept for her Father. She had not even had the time to dismissed the servant who had informed her of the death before her chest had began to heave with sobs and she had to bury her face into her hands in order to still her weeping.
Oberyn had looked more shocked in that moment than Elia had ever seen him and it had fallen to her to take control of the situation, dismissing the serving man with a kind word before she had pulled her Mother close to her and simply allowed her to weep until she had regained her composure and could finally speak again.
She had then dismissed Oberyn and called up a flagon of wine for the both of them, Oberyn had protested and had insisted that he stay but Elia had convinced him to leave, saying that Mother needed some time alone with her to grieve openly and she would not be able to do so if he was there. Mother had never been able to show any weakness to her sons, not once. Always and ever the Princess of Dorne.
Oberyn had not been pleased with it but he had left them then once she had explained it again, saying that Mother needed to be able to weep and to feel weak and yet she would never be able to do that in front of him once she had regained her composure. According to Ser Manfrey her brother had spent the rest of the night in a brothel.
Elia and her Mother had spent the rest of that night drinking deep from the flagon and sending down for two more, as well as some meat pies and cheeses and apples to eat. They drank and feasted in their room and her Lady Mother had spoken of the Lady Joanna and how much she had meant to her and of all the wonderful hot summer days that she and her and Queen Rhaella had spent in their girlhood together at the Red Keep when they had been summoned to attended.
It was a night filled with tears and laughter and too much wine and perhaps for the first time Elia was the one to wake up with a hangover while Oberyn was walking around with an almost clear head for which Oberyn took no end of pleasure in teasing her mercilessly for it but while a sore head and a smirking Oberyn was a terrible combination it was completely worth it.
Mother had not spoken of it in the morning, not did she seem to show any sign of the grief that had ravaged her the night before nor any of the wine that they had drunk which to Elia did not seem overly fair considering that she had felt as through an entire column of horses had ran over her the night before when she had finally awoken that morn.
But while Mother had not spoken of it at all, that did not mean that she had not remembered it. She had patted her head and rubbed her back as she head relesed much of what she had eaten the night before into her chamber pot and had reprimanded Oberyn for teasing her. Mother's eyes had still been dark and red and raw but they held no more tears then.
Indeed, at times it seemed as though it was as though the letter had never come at all. She had been quieter than when they had set out from Sunspear but she did not weep again after that night, though she had not smiled either and she had a much shorter span of patience with Oberyn than she had before but it had never been great to start with, but the Princess of Dorne had returned and any sign of weakness she had shown the night before was gone.
They had continued on their way then, taking ship from Ghost Hill and sailing over the Sea of Dorne landing at Cape Wrath and beginning the journey through the Stormlands proper, Mother had sent out messages two weeks before they had left to the Stormlands, to the Reach, to the Crownlands, to the Riverlands and to the Westerlands that her daughter was in need of a husband and as such once they had left Dorne, many castles were opened to them.
They had entered at least a dozen castles in the Stormlands alone and Elia found that none of the potential matches waiting for her inside were to her liking, most simply glanced at her up and down and made their mind up in that moment if she would be a suitable wife for them to take. Few of them were rude enough to say anything to her face, but the whispers she heard in their halls spoke of her ill health and plain features and how strange she seemed, how Dornish.
At least they had eaten well, that was something. The men of the Stormlands liked their hunting and they had the fertile lands to support it, racks of ribs crusted with garlic and sage, boar bacon and sausage and venison stews and pies and swans stuffed with a hearty mixture of nuts, mushrooms and dates and buttery cheese and fruit tarts for the sweet, it lacked for seasoning in her mind as North of the mountains it seemed that spice was limited to salt and pepper but she could not claim for a day of their journey that she had goon hungry.
And Oberyn was always there to cheer her up, making mock of all her suitors and not caring a fig if he was overheard. Oberyn had ever been fearless, if any man was offended by his words to the point that he would demand a duel then Oberyn would simply laugh and call for his spear. Yes, her little brother had no fear for any man or any thing and if Elia could fight like him, if she could move like him when he held a spear then perhaps she would have no fear either.
But she could not claim that her brother had much in the way of wisdom, all was needed was one mistake, one thrust of the spear that was mistimed and it could spell the end of him. No, at times she wished her little brother was more like Doran, just that little bit more cautious. In truth she was certain that both of her brothers would be much better suited if the both of them were just a little bit more like the other.
Of course her brothers at times could not stand the other and it oft fell on Elia to keep the peace when they had fallen to an argument which was often whenever Doran visited from Salt Shore, keeping the peace between two such different men as her brothers, in fact if it weren't for the fact that Doran was his brother then Elia was fairly sure that Oberyn would have poisoned him by this point.
Perhaps that was overstating the point somewhat, but it didn't feel like it when she was caught in the middle with Oberyn screaming at Dorne and Doran scoffing at everything their younger brother said and her with her headaches growing worse with every arguement that they had. For all her brothers claimed to love and protect her it seemed they were both willfully blind when it came to them hurting her.
And yet still she loved them, in spite of the pain and frustration that they both caused to her. Doran and Oberyn were her brothers and she would lay down her life for them in a heartbeat as she knew that they would do for her. That still did not change the fact that there were days when she longed to grab both of her brothers by their ears, bash both their heads together and then lock the both of them in a room together so they could sort it out without her.
In truth she was a little surprised that Doran had not decided to come with them at first but when she looked back on it she imagined that it only made sense, this wasn't just about finding a husband for Elia, her Mother always seemed to know how to wrangle the most benefit out of every action, she had once overheard Uncle Lewyn referring to his sister as more a fishmonger than a princess, haggling over the benefits of a deal with her lords as a fishwife did with a carp.
Uncle Lewyn hadn't come back to Sunspear for an entire moon's turn after that sally, but when he had returned none had hugged him tighter than Princess Loreza herself. It wasn't as though there was some truth in it, she wasn't sure if she had ever meet anyone with more patience than her Mother and she was more than happy to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of every decision before she committed herself to any action.
And Doran was just like her in that regard, deliberate and cautious just like their Mother and a man grown and her heir, it had been time for Doran to take his place in the Old Palace and learn it's halls and be ready to take their Mother's place as Prince of Dorne when she went to her rest. So Doran had been summoned back from Salt Shore while they had prepared for their journey North.
But while they had entered many great castles and were entertained by many lords, and Oberyn had made mock of many of them, even to this day she could not stop a snicker from escaping her when she thought of poor sweet Baelor and his unfortunate flatuance and the cruel but amusing name that Oberyn had given him, it didn't change their final destination. It was always going to be Casterly Rock, the first time she had seen it her breath was stolen away.
There was no finer castle in the world than Sunspear, she held that as a fact true in her heart but nothing could compare in grandure than the seat of House Lannister, it wasn't a castle that had been built by the hands of man but the hands of the gods, a massive rock that jutted out from the sea with a ringfort and towers carved near the top.
This was the heart of the Lannister power, not just being their seat and so fierce to look upon that Visenya Targaryen herself had said during the conquest that she was glad that the King of the Westerlands had chosen to yield as she did not think even with her sibling's dragons could they burn the Lannisters out but also where a great deal of their gold came from, the mines buried deep under the hard stone like graveworms through the rotting flesh of a corpse.
It amazed her and disquieted her all at the same time, if nothing else she was uncertain if she would enjoy staying there. Her health had never been the strongest to say the very least, many days in her childhood were wasted away behind the walls of Sunspear or the Water Gardens while other children her own aged played in the narrow alleys of the Shadow City or the pools of the gardens. The thought of staying and having to do what would surely be a massive amount of climbing did not suite well with her.
Thankfully, most of those fears were soothed. A small host of Lord Tywin's household knights met them on the road, halfway between Lannisport and the Rock, bands of black silk wrapped around their upper arms showing that their entire household was in mourning. Ser Kevan Lannister was at the head of the nights, his round face was grey and drawn and his eyes had a hint of redness to them.
They greeting was polite and respectful but, quite understandable considering the circumstances, could not be called warm. They were escorted into the Rock itself and Lord Tywin had not been there to greet them but the majority of the House Lannister household was, all of them dressed in black and their faces were pale. Something heavy hung in the air, a storm that had not yet arrived.
Both of the Lannister twins were there and if not for their dress then Elia was not certain if she would be able to tell the two of them apart, were one born the same sex as the other than she was certain she would not be able too. They both had the same manes of golden curls which framed their pale faces, they both had the same green eyes and the same pale skin with faint freckles going over the bridge of their noses,
No, the only real difference was how they carried themselves. Jaime Lannister seemed barely able to stand, the green of his eyes were framed by redness and it was clear to her that he had been crying not long before he had been summoned down to come and greet them. The Lady Cersei was different, sorrow was not the word she thought of when she took in the little lady of Casterly Rock.
Rage, that was the first word that came into her mind the first time she had seen Cersei Lannister. Her fists were clutching her skirts so tightly that her knuckles had turned white and she was biting her bottom lip so hardly that Elia was worried that she might cause herself to bleed. Her eyes were red from tears that had been shed before as well, but while sorrow burned in her brother's eyes there was not a trace of it in hers.
No, rage was all that she saw in Cersei Lannister's eyes, rage and hate that should not exist in any child so young. Elia could only think that it must have been the loss of her Lady Mother that had brought such a strength of hatred up in the young girl but Elia did not think she could fully understand that, when her Father died she had been heartbroken and spent much of her time weeping into the sheets and pillows of her bed.
But then, she should not have judged the girl on her own experiences with grief. Oberyn had burned and raged with grief as well when the Maester had come to tell them that Father had slipped away in the night, the fact that he had done so in his own bed with his own wife warm and safe had done little to sooth her brother and he had screamed at the Maester to get out.
Elia had been unable to give him any sort of comfort, try as she might. She hadn't been able to give herself any comfort, she had barely been able to breath after the Maester had told them, it took all she had to not break down sobbing. Oberyn had not spared a thought to her, he had stormed out of the room and out of the castle and out into the Shadow City.
It took the guards three days to find him, stone drunk and in the bed of one of the most expensive whores of the Shadow City. The headache he would have for the next three days was certain to be punishment enough but Princess Loreza had him dragged before her and Elia was certain that to this day she could still hear the ringing of her ears from the sound of her mother's shouts.
But while Oberyn had raged with grief and Elia simply allowed herself to feel it, Doran and Mother withdrew into themselves and would not allow anyone to see them for days and days at a time. It seemed as though the Lord of Casterly Rock was much the same in that regard as Lord Tywin had not attended them for even a single day of their visit, leaving their comfort in to the hands of the eldest of his younger brothers.
But while Lord Tywin might not have shown his face to them when they were there in the Rock, his presence was felt in every stone, in every inch of the seat of House Lannister. It was older than House Lannister in point of fact, it had belonged to House Casterly before the first Lannisters had put all of them to the sword or Lann the Clever bedded all the maids of Casterly so they would have his children if you went with the songs, but for all of that it seemed as though Lord Tywin had built the Rock himself, for how keenly his presence was felt.
Her Mother had gone to him every morning, evening and night for every day they had remained there. She did not eat with the rest of them in the Great Hall of Casterly Rock, she took her meals with Lord Tywin and for all the time they were there they did not seem to leave the other's side. At the time, when she was younger and naiver and knew less of the world she had thought that they were simply sharing stories of the Lady Joanna, taking comfort in one another in the sharing of the memories they had of her.
The truth was not something so sweet, the haggling was being done in that room that would see her wed to the eldest son of Casterly Rock, who at the time was a boy of barely eight. She would have to wait awhile before she was wed of course, till Jaime Lannister turned sixteen or around that and when Elia was practically going to be an old woman, near to thirty.
It seemed however that it was not to be that she and young Jaime would be wed after all, Lord Tywin was as much a mountain as his Rock and he would not be budged. It seemed that whatever Lady Joanna had hoped and planned had not mattered much to her husband now that she was gone, if it ever did. Had the Lady of House Lannister still been alive than perhaps she when working with her Mother could have convinced the Lion to see the match through.
But Joanna Lannister was dead and who could truly say what would have been different if she still lived? Perhaps nothing would be different if Lord Tywin saw no true advantage in the match but then again who could actually say? All that was made clear to her after the fact was that she was not to be betrothed to Jaime after all and Oberyn would not be betrothed to Cersei either.
Which to be sure she was glad of, Jaime was a sweet boy but she did not fancy waiting so long for she was wed nor did she much fancy a husband that was that younger than her. Oberyn was also glad of it as he did not seem to much like Cersei either, and she was happy enough with that as Elia did not think that she would want someone like her to be her good sister.
She had not been rude through out their visit of Casterly Rock, no the worst she had shown to them through the majority of their visit was a sense of disinterest. But she had seen the worst of her when Oberyn had asked about the monster. All through out their journey they had heard the tales of the creature that had killed Lord Tywin's wife as it was born.
A red squalling little thing, born with no skin and a long black leathery tale with with no eyes and a pair of wings like a moth and more teeth than could fit into his mouth, all of them sharp and ending into points. According to one of the tales they had heard as they had made their journey, the little demon had been born starving and after having made a feast of his mother's innards he had bitten off the hand of the midwife who had pulled him free.
It was like something out of a story told to terrify children and many of them were different, some had said that the demon of Casterly Rock had been born with eyes like burned like brands or had claws where hands should have been. A septon in a small town they had passed through had been preaching that the monster had been born to Lord Tywin so that he might be made humble, to remember that no man may stand higher than the King.
She did not see how a deformed child could be punishment, surely such a thing was simply punishment for the child itself and what of the Lady Joanna? What crime has she committed that was so terrible that she deserved to be torn apart by the birthing of a babe. It seemed so terrible unfair, and even to this day it saddened her to think of.
But Oberyn had only wanted to see the monster, it had been one of the first things he had asked when they were all of them sit around a table together to eat. Jaime Lannister had frowned and had turned his gaze down to his plate, saying nothing at all but his twin had only smiled, the first smile that Elia had seen the girl give and it was small and cruel, sharp as a dagger blade.
All she had said to Oberyn's request to see the child was a nod and a promise that she would show them later, every day that passed during their stay had Oberyn asking again and again to see it and all that Cersei had to say to him was that it would be soon enough, that soon they would both be able to see the monster.
The day when it finally came was on the night before their last day at Casterly Rock, Cersei had come to them with her brother following behind her in tow with a candle clutched in her hand with the flame making her green eyes seem to glow in the darkness. They made their way through the long cold halls of Casterly Rock till they came to a set of stairs that did not seem to have any end at all.
It was dark and dim and cold, she had been dressed in a nightgown when the twins had came to collect them and it was not overly thick so it did little to keep out the cold and thus she had to hold herself as she walked to try and bare the brunt of the cold. They kept walking into the dark, the light of Cersei Lannister's candle the only way they had to see it.
Were it to be extinguished, Elia did not think they would be able to find their way back to the higher levels of the castle.
At some point after walking what seemed so far that Elia had to assume that they were deep below the Rock, there was a cry. It was a wail of absolute misery and fear and it made Elia's heart ache to hear it. She didn't know what had possessed her but it forced her to run down the stairs and past Jaime and Oberyn and Cersei even as the younger girl shouted for her to come back.
The stairs came to an end in a small passage way that Elia had run down her, her heart hammering in her chest and every breath she took almost hurt and with every step she took made the crying louder and louder. There could have been no mistaking it, it was a babe. A babe that had been left all alone in the cold and the dark, who could let that happen?
A door was waiting for her, small and the same colour of the wall it was built into so that she nearly missed it. Were it not for the babe's cries then Elia was quite certain that she would have missed it. Elia was quite certain looking back that she did not actually need to throw herself at the door in order to open it but at that moment, she hadn't wanted to waste any time.
A cry of shock was what met her as she threw herself inside and an old wetnurse jumped out of her wooden chair, settled next to a crib. Her grey eyes had widened and she had stepped closer to the crib, to perhaps protect what was held within and again as Elia looked back she could understand. Bursting through the door with her eyes wide and her chest heaving she imagined that she must have seemed quite fearsome.
Cersei and both of their brothers had chosen that moment to walk in and the younger girl had spoken of how she had brought them to see her brother, the wet nurse had tried to send them all away, saying that Lord Tywin had given orders that the babe was to be left alone and none was to see him. Cersei had responded by telling the older woman to get out of her way, calling her nothing more than a milk cow and that the babe belonged to her and if she did not leave then she would her guards kill her.
The old woman's face had paled and half ran, half stumbled out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her. Elia frowned and was about to tell the girl that what she had said was awful but Cersei walked over to the crib and rested her shoulder against it before she looked back at them with a grin on her face while beckoning them closer.
When Elia looked down into the crib, she was fairly certain that she had fallen in love at that moment. To be sure, the babe was deformed and would just as like not live for long but that did not mean that he deserved to be locked away in the dark for all his life, be it short or long. And there were no wings nor any pointed teeth nor a tail. The head was a little too big for the body, his limbs were a little bit too short and one eye was black while the other was green, but this was no monster. Just a baby, hungry and cold.
Oberyn had said it best, quick and to the point as ever when he looked into the crib and let out a disappointed grown, his eyes narrowing in disappointment. "That's not a monster." He had spoken as he glanced down at Cersei, his hands crossed over his chest and spoke to her like he thought that she was a lackwit. "That's just a baby."
The sharp gasp that left Cersei's mouth had made it clear that she did not approve of either of their reactions but Elia could not find it in herself to care as she stared down at the babe with a smile on her face, watching as his stubby little arms waved and his legs kicked. He was such a sweet little thing, there had still been traces of tears in his eyes but he cooed when he looked up at Elia and in that moment all she had wanted to do was pick him up and take him away from this terrible place.
Before she had been able to do anything however Cersei Lannister had let out a scream of frustration and stormed over to the crib, pushing Elia out of the way and made her stumble back and Oberyn came forward to steady her and the elder of the Lannister twins began to scream that he was a monster, that he was going to die and he should and that he should not have lived this long. As his elder sister's voice got louder and louder, the babe began to wail harder and harder.
Cersei spun then, her entire body tight as she reached down and begin to pinch the babe harshly, his arms and his stomach and then between his legs and the wails that were once were born of hunger and coldness was now born of pain and Elia was about to step forward and pull her back and tell her to stop but Jaime Lannister had stepped forward and sized hold of his sister's arm before she had a chance too.
Cersei had squirmed and tried to pull her arm free from her twin's grasp but it was clear that the heir to Casterly Rock had no intention of letting go, while Jaime was dealing with that Elia hurried back over to the crib and looked the babe over. He would have bruises to be certain but it didn't look like any lasting damage had been done.
She reached down and picked the babe up and held him close to her chest and did what little she could do too sooth his tears, Cersei had pulled herself free by this point and stormed over to the door and threw it open before slamming it shut behind her. The babe let out a whimper at the noise but he did not break out crying again and Elia was going to take that as a victory.
They spent roughly another hour in the little nursery before Ser Kevan came and found them, a small frown of distaste on his face as he spoke to them with tones of iron as he asked them to come back with him to the castle proper. Elia pressed a kiss to the smooth forehead of the babe and placed him gently back in the crib before following the rest of them out.
Even after they had left the next morning, Elia had not forgotten that little baby all alone in the dark and she prayed that he would find some happiness in the world and she didn't forget Cersei Lannister either. How cruel and full of rage she had been, how quick she had been to hurt her own brother and a little baby as well.
And now that girl was to wed Rhaegar Targaryen, her mother had not been able to secure a marriage between her own children and the children of Casterly Rock and when they had left from the Rock she did not think she had ever seen Mother as angry as she had done that morning but when King Aerys had reached out to them with the offer to have Elia wed the Prince, Princess Loreza had smiled despite the pain that had been ravaging her for so very long.
A small part of Elia was glad that her mother had not lived to see this, to see the offer of making her a Queen be snatched away and given instead to the daughter of the man who had spat on what the friendship she had formed with Lady Joanna, she would've been spitting with rage and already thinking of a way to make them pay for it with a gentle touch that made it seem as though she had done nothing at all.
And while in most cases Doran was more like their Mother than any of them it seemed as though he was not like her in that case, to be certain he had disapproved but if Doran was plotting something then he made no indication to her and in truth Elia was glad of that. She had been angry and heart broken when the word had come to them but she had no stomach for plotting and even less for revenge, let this be the end of it.
The door to her room opened then and she had looked up, expecting it to be Oberyn or Doran as only her brothers would come into her apartments without announcing themselves or seeking her permission but it was in fact neither of her brothers but instead the closest thing she had to a sister. Ashara Dayne was lovely, with her long black hair and her violet eyes and her soft smile, she was beauty incarnate.
"Ashara!" The name slipped out as she jumped from her bed and threw her arms around Ashara's neck and held her close to her and Ashara held her back and held her even more tightly than Elia was doing to her. "I am so very glad to see you, you know that I am but what are you doing here? Why aren't you at Starfall?"
"Doran sent us a raven, he asked that I attend you when you go North." Elia could go and kiss her brother right now, she would do her duty as it was expected of her but that did not mean that she did not have fear in her for what was to come. To go as far north as north went away from all of those that loved her and would protect her, an honor guard would escort her but they would be heading back to Dorne as soon as the wedding was done.
If Ashara was going to be with her, then she could do this. She was certain enough of that.
A thousand things had to be done, she had to speak with Ashara properly and she wanted to ask about Lauryn, had her friend brought her daughter with her or did she leave her at Starfall? More trunks still had to be packed and she had so many worries and fears that she wanted to confess to her friend and have them be soothed but that could all wait until later.
For now, she simply enjoyed the embrace and shut her eyes and allowed herself to simply remember happier memories of her girlhood, when Ashara would come and sit with her inside while all the other children played on without her.
End of Chapter Three
Another rewrite of another chapter done.
The first thing you might notice is that the segment of Jaime and Cersei reacting to the fact she was to wed Rhaegar has been cut, it doesn't really add anything to the story at all and the Lannister presence is still felt in this chapter from Elia's recollections of them from when she went on her bridal tour.
Plus, I feel that Chapter Nine is overall a much better introduction of the Lannisters even though Tyrion is probs my least favourite of the Lannister siblings, at least to write for.
Loreza Martell is not the Princess of Dorne's canon name cause GRRM still has not given her son, which is bullshit if you ask me.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this rewrite and will leave a review to see what you think of the changes, with a lot of love,
DiscordantSymphony