AN :
If we hit top 25 I will release another chapter tomorrow.
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 )
Two months had passed since Mother died and Doran became Prince of Dorne, two months and so much had changed already.
The Old Palace, normally so vast and empty, was now full of Dorne's nobility, hundreds of lords and landed knights and their families had flocked to Sunspear to renew their oaths, and the hallways of the great stone castle were now alive with more gossip and drama than they ever had been before. What's more, Elia had a new niece.
Lady Mellario had given birth to a healthy baby girl by Doran at the Water Gardens. With olive skin and raven hair, she showed her Dornish blood strongly, and Doran had named her Arianne. She was adorable and plump and Elia already loved her dearly, finding any excuse to go visit her mother and squeeze little Arianne's cheeks or pat her bum. It was a joyful thing, especially in the wake of Mother's passing.
Then, of course, there was the whole thing her betrothed had started.
Elia cringed at the smell of the workshop floor. The wood and sandstone building had been hastily erected on the flat ground between the shadow city and the coast. Chimneys billowed smoke up past the lead foundry into the sky, which blew to and fro with the smell of burning coal as the forges inside worked to prepare text.
The workmen looked rather strange with linen blankets soaked in water wrapped around their faces and gloves on their hands despite the heat of the workshop, greater than even the desert outside its walls. The men worked with iron files to carve the edges of the letters so that they fit into Callum's presses, while the men worked day in and day out to mold new letters from lead and tin.
Still, Callum wasn't hard to spot despite everyone's faces being covered. He was half the height of the workmen and his curly blond hair was obvious at a distance.
"Elia!" He shouted from across the floor, his voice barely audible over the sound of lead being filed away. "One moment!"
The boy wrapped up whatever it was he had been saying to- ah that was Morroq a jeweler she recognized from the Shadow City.
Callum trotted over, wiping his forehead with his sleeve as he approached her. "You really should cover your face in here you know." He said, still nearly shouting. "Let's talk outside."
Elia nodded, wanting little more than to get out of the oppressively hot workshop, and Callum pulled off the cloth from around his mouth and left his gloves by the door of the building on a rack of wooden pegs.
"So what brings you out here today Elia?" Callum asked as they stepped through the door and into the somewhat less sweltering heat, cooled mostly by the breeze off of the ocean. The younger boy seemed to be entirely in his element with the workshop. It was easy to forget how young he was when grown men hurried to do his every word. There had been some trouble with that at first, but it hadn't taken long for Oberyn and Callum to sort that out.
"I'm looking for Oberyn actually," she admitted, scratching her cheek slightly. "He's been distinctly absent today, and I was hoping he'd be out here at your print-smithy." She had looked all over the old palace for him, but her brother had done quite a good job of disappearing on her.
"Ah." Callum looked a bit embarrassed. "He's uh… well, he's not here."
Elia narrowed her eyes as she glanced down at him. "You know something don't you, Callum."
"He asked me not to say…" the boy replied. "It's an uh, private matter."
"Oh… which girl is it?" Elia asked, feeling her hackles raise. Her hot-blooded brother had been making eyes toward every unrelated woman in the palace right now, and given it was full of noble ladies, there were quite a few of them that could cause trouble. It stung Elia particularly because she'd gotten in so much trouble for her similar misbehavior in King's Landing, though she wasn't going to bring that up to Callum obviously. It was Doran she took issue with, as he seemed utterly unwilling to reprimand Oberyn for his foolishness.
She noticed that Callum wasn't answering, so she leaned down over him. "Callum Lannister, where is my Brother?"
Callum sighed, looking up at her with tired eyes. "I… oh well fine, the particular woman today is Lady Nalona, you know, Lord Yronwood's mistress?" Callum paused for a moment. "Or is it concubine? It's hard for me to tell with some of your customs here."
Elia snorted, knowing quite well that Callum understood their customs, he was just teasing. The boy really was quite clever when you got down to it. Growing to know him over the last two months, it had been a bit of a shock to realize just how clever he was indeed. She still wasn't exactly looking forward to marrying him by any means, but at the very least she wouldn't lack for conversation.
"The polite term is Paramour, but you knew that already." Elia placed her hand on her forehead. "And Oberyn's… what, running about the shadow city with her? Do you know if they're already laying together?" Elia saw Callum's cheeks color slightly as he glanced away. "I suppose that's a yes?"
"Oberyn is a very poetic speaker," Callum said, glancing away. "Sometimes I wish he were less so."
Elia chuckled slightly, knowing exactly what he meant, before returning to the task at hand. "Do you know where they've gotten off to?"
"No, I didn't ask and I don't want to know," Callum said plainly. "I'm quite content in my blissful ignorance." her betrothed gave a small laugh. "Still, if you'd like to walk about the city and look for them I suppose I could accompany you."
Elia glanced down at the boy, blinking slightly. Was he trying to court her? Well, she supposed it was appropriate, even if he was still far too young for it to have the desired effect. She shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose I ought to see if he's easy to spot at least. If I can't find him in the maze of the Shadow City then Lord Yronwood probably won't either." she reasoned, chuckling. "Very well, you may accompany me as an excuse to leave your unpleasant smithy."
"Hah, I'm here of my own free will, but I'll accompany you anyway." Callum smiled, and they walked the fifty-yard stretch of desert back to the gates of Sunspear together. The guards of course gave them no trouble, and they passed up through the gates into the winding streets of the the shadow city behind the first gate.
Elia glanced about as they clambered up some stairs, the brick houses spreading out around them forming thousands of little alleyways and balconies. She'd often gone exploring in these streets with Oberyn when she was a little girl. Their seeming danger as a child gave them a sense of wonder and adventure, even though not even the most hardened or foolish criminal in their darkened crevasses would dare to lay a hand on a child of House Martell. Not in the shadow of their own castle.
"You certainly know your way around here," Callum commented as they cut through a narrow alley, the boy not having to squeeze much at all, though it was a bit more challenging for Elia. "Have you spent a lot of time in the Shadow City?"
"Me and Oberyn both." she acknowledged, sighing in relief as she squeezed her way back out into the open air, now in a little bazaar where a few merchants hawked their goods, not the main bazaar by any means, that was within the second curtain wall, not here on the outskirts, these men mostly sold domestic goods, coarse fabrics, and household foods like dried rice. She smiled as she recognized one of them. "Lonno, it's good to see you."
Lonno had greyed a bit since she'd last seen him, but the cloth merchant recognized her quickly, bowing. "Ah, Princess Martell, it's been some years since you came through here." he raised his head with a smile. "Who's the boy with you, if I might ask?"
"He's-"
"Callum Lannister." Callum cut her off, giving the old man a smile. "It's good to meet you, are you a friend of Princess Elia's?"
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