AN :
The story needs more power stones...
In the Game of Stones, you either win or you wait. The more Power Stones you offer, the faster the chapters come.
...
( Elia Martell POV )
The return to Dorne was cheerful, sunny, and quick, with the cool north wind behind them and a clear sky overhead they passed by Shipbreaker Bay and the Stepstones with neither black cloud nor pirate sails in sight. Past the Stepstones, the water turned a lighter blue and the sun blazed hot as dragonfire in the sky, and Elia could tell they were nearing home.
It was as smooth a trip as anyone could have asked for, but it contrasted sharply with the dark cloud that hung over her head.
Elia simply was not ready to face Callum again after her fight with his sister at the tourney grounds. The boy had been forgiving enough, but she was still terribly embarrassed that it had happened at all. She ought to have comported herself better, but she had simply been overcome with emotions at the time.
To top it off, she had insulted him further by a slip of her tongue. She felt guilt for that one, more than she did for slapping his sister when she had punched her. It was a sour situation, bitter as old grapes, and traveling on the same ship as him. Having dinner with him every night as her brother did? She couldn't do it, so she feigned seasickness and took her meals in her quarters until the last day of their journey, only leaving them when the hill of Sunspear came once more in sight.
Clambering up onto the deck she blinked at the sunlight reflecting from the pale beaches of Dorne, and felt the tension in her shoulders ease a bit. She was home now, not at a court full of snakes hoping to prey on her every weakness.
"Ah, Princess Elia."
Of course, being home meant that she couldn't really run from her problems anymore. She turned to face Callum, his green eyes sharp and a small smirk on his face.
"I'm glad to see you've recovered from your illness."
She deserved that. It bit, but she did deserve it. She had been hiding away for days. She gave him a small smile, hoping to reduce the damage a bit. "I think the winds of Dorne helped me out of it."
To her surprise, Callum's expression did soften, until he looked somewhat contemplative, glancing at the deck of the ship. "I… suppose that's understandable. I miss my own home quite a bit too, especially when I'm in King's Landing of all places." He gave her a more genuine smile as he turned to look up at her again. "It really is an ugly city. Lannisport is much better don't you think?"
Elia nodded, Lannisport had seemed… inoffensive compared to King's Landing. The smell was far better, and it lacked that dreadful spiky throne and its terrible presence.
It lacked Prince Rhaegar too, but best not to dwell on that.
"I rather agree." She said at last. "I think… well I don't think I would do well in the royal court. I don't know how mother did it."
"You'll be able to ask her soon enough." Elia nearly jumped as Doran approached the pair of them from behind and put his hand on her shoulder. "The Fire's still burning in the Sandship's Window." He pointed with his free hand. "I asked Oberyn to keep it lit as long as mother lived, so I'd know before we made port."
Elia turned to look at her brother. He'd done that and not told her? She ought to slap him! Her hand quivered at her side.
'Not in front of Callum.' she held herself back. He had already seen her slap his sister. She didn't want him to grow up thinking she was a violent-
"Oh, don't look at me like that Elia. I just wanted it as insurance in case we returned in bad spirits." Doran assured her, and she narrowed her eyes. He really would deserve it…
"It seems quite rude to not tell Elia if you were going to do something like that."
Elia blinked, craning her neck to glance down at Callum, who was frowning at Doran.
"Going over your family's head without consulting them, especially on important matters like that, can cause you a lot of problems. All my real arguments with my father have stemmed from him making decisions without telling me."
Elia felt a bit strange as Callum chastised her brother. On the one hand, it wasn't as if she disagreed with anything he said. She was rather angry with Doran herself, but to hear it from a child, and her betrothed as well. Everything was always confusing when she thought about Callum.
Doran actually looked a bit stung by the boy's words. "I… suppose I will take that under consideration." He smiled rather tightly, before glancing back to Elia. "Next time, Elia, I will let you know," Doran said frowning, before he turned and walked away, heading to the Captain as the man began to bark orders, bringing the cog into port.
"He shouldn't be clever about the important things" Callum grumbled. "There are things that hurt you worse if you hide them from your family."
Elia looked down at him, a rather morose expression on his face, and she wondered what exactly he meant by that. From his tone, he had actually experienced what he described. She considered for a moment if it would be impolite to ask, but decided she may as well, he probably thought her rude anyway. "It sounds like you've learned that lesson yourself." She questioned the child implicitly.
Callum's eyelids fluttered, and he frowned, his red lips pouting. "I- yes, I have." Callum sighed. "I had a… well I suppose you could call it a premonition, a feeling that my mother's pregnancy would go badly with my brother Tyrion. I never told anyone. I doubt it would have changed anything if I did, but I still regret it deeply." The boy shook his head. "Doubly so that I could do nothing to save her."
Elia winced slightly when he discussed Lady Joanna's death. With her own mother seemingly destined for death soon as well, she could sympathize. Still… "You could have been no more than five years old. There was little you could do."
"Little, aye, little." The bitterness in Callum's voice far exceeded his age. "Did you know, Princess Elia, that when my mother died I had already begun designing the printing press, a device to change the world itself? That I had already devised a dozen means to improve the Westerlands? Did you know that I had already begun writing a treatise on politics?" There was anger in his voice now, but not at her.
"Amongst all- I never…" The boy sniffled for a moment, then rubbed his sleeve under his nose and shook his head. "I-I've been blessed by the seven with knowledge beyond my years, but I have not a shred of an idea how to save lives. Within my mind lay plans, even bare ideas that could upend the order of the world for thousands of years, but I do not know how I could have saved my mother.
I know less than the average Maester. I could have a canal dug across the continent, or make the greatest army the world has ever seen. I could cast Dragons from the sky and lay castles low, but the knowledge I have… only the barest hint of medicine do I know. Not enough for my mother, not enough even when I knew it would go wrong."
Elia felt her heart quiver as she looked down at the boy next to her. She had not expected such an outburst of emotion from him. He had always seemed so calm and collected before now, far more than anyone his age ought to be. Far more than Elia herself was. To see tears forming at the edges of his eyes as he bemoaned his lack of medical understanding was a shock. She did not think he had ever looked so vulnerable. Every time she had seen him, he had acted more like his father. She paused for a long moment, sympathy warring with shock in her mind.
"... Why tell me this?" She asked, at last, the question plain in her mind. "I know that you have kept your control before, so why tell me this now?"
"Control?" Callum said, his green eyes softening. "Princess Elia, to tell the truth, you're the first person who's ever asked." He scratched his cheek slightly. "And… I may have gotten a bit carried away. I've been carrying that around for a long time." He rubbed his sleeve across his face again.
"Besides, who else am I going to talk to about something like that? My Father? Don't make me laugh. That'll just make him feel guilty too in the best case. Jaime wouldn't understand. I have no idea what goes on in Cersei's head, and Tyrion heard enough about Mother's death already. Uncle Kevan has enough on his plate, and I hardly get any time alone with Aunt Genna." Callum sighed. "We're going to be married someday, so I might as well tell you now."
Elia glanced down at the boy, his golden locks casting shadows on his face in the afternoon sunshine as he looked up at her, expectantly, almost challengingly. Like he expected her to turn on him with the words he had shared. Even at her most bitter, Elia did not think she would do that to him, hearing what she had just heard. Instead, she reached over and pulled him into her arms, giving him a short hug. She didn't find him appealing sure, but she was no heartless woman. She couldn't help but comfort a child carrying so much on his shoulders. She rubbed a circle in his back with her hand as she held him.
After a few seconds had passed, Callum backed up, looking at her with a hint of confusion on his face. Then he blinked, sighing, and the tension of the moment faded away. "Say, uh, Elia. You didn't tell Cersei about the dress stuff that Doran and I were teasing you with, did you? The first time I visited the manse in King's Landing?"
Elia paused for a moment before she felt the tugging of a smirk on her lips. She hadn't of course, that conversation had been more embarrassing for her than for him, but now the shoe seemed to be on the other foot, as Callum's cheeks were slightly pink. " And what if I did?" Elia asked teasingly, enjoying her payback as Callum squirmed.
"Well, she said something about me having a womanly heart, right before she punched you." Callum scratched his cheek. "I'm kind of uh, curious about where she got that idea."
Elia felt her smirk trend towards a grin. "Well, I'm not saying I told her anything." Elia implied she had, deceiving as easily as she breathed. "But if I did, she might have had some opinions on what sort of dress you'd look best in."
Callum seemed to freeze at that, and she knew she had him. He might be able to keep his control on more serious matters, but he seemed to have a weakness where Cersei was concerned.
"Uh, I hope nothing too…" Elia's betrothed looked a bit panicked, "improper."
Elia felt her mind screech to a halt for a second, now wondering what exactly Cersei had done to give her brother the impression that she would put him in an improper dress.
Well, more improper than putting a boy in a dress to begin with. Perhaps Cersei's own tastes trended towards revealing outfits?
Still, Elia could work with this. This was a golden opportunity for banter and a way to tease the boy that wouldn't make him angry with her. "Oh? Are you worried she'll make you wear it?" Elia asked, her lips pursed in a bright smile as she looked down at the girlish boy and his panicked expression. "Or that you'll look good in it?" She pressed her hand to her chin as if she was thinking.
He actually squeaked a little after that.
It was only after they had actually docked at the peer and started leaving the ship that Elia realized she had just had the conversation with Callum that she had spent the entire trip avoiding, and it hadn't been remotely bad. If anything, she had left the conversation feeling better than she had gone in. It made her feel rather foolish.
Still, those feelings faded away as they started the hike up towards Castle Sunspear. For mother waited there, and Elia could never walk fast enough to get back to her side.
...
Chronicle of the Targaryen Dynasty in the Seven Kingdoms
Maester Willem
276AC - Seventh Moon
Prince Rhaegar Targaryen Announces that he intends to personally depart to Essos to seek a wife in keeping with his father's wishes. He will be accompanied by Lord Steffon Baratheon and will meet with King Aerys' allies in the free cities.
They plan to initially visit Lys, then Volantis, then the other free cities if no suitable brides can be found there. Lord Tywin Lannister, Hand of the King, announces his intention to return to Casterly Rock for several months to put his domestic affairs in order.
=======================
If you'd like to support my work, or get early access to chapters before public release you can join my P atreon
Link to join my p treon :
p@treon.com/moonlight10