It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on his face. "Good", he said with a friendly but serious tone. "I just want you to keep in mind that life is no fairytale, and while I'm sure Jamison truly loves you, he most certainly isn't the perfect and chivalrous prince." Isabella nodded wordlessly, not bothering to argue with her brother. Of course she knew Jamison wasn’t perfect, but that wasn't what she wanted either, or what she loved about Jamison in the first place. "And you don't be an arse to Arianne when you marry her", she quipped with a subtle smirk, to which Desmor chuckled softly.
Just then they arrived at the pier, where a ferry with half a dozen Dayne guardsmen was waiting for them. Isabella, Cassana, Desmor and Ser Soren hopped into the ferry, which was then rowed smoothly over the river to the isle of Starfall. From there they made their way to the gates of the castle, and as they were opened, they saw the royal family waiting for them on the courtyard. In the middle stood King Vorian and Queen Arenna, and beside them Prince Jamison.
Isabella couldn't help but notice the gruesome and fresh scar going across Jamison's face, and while it shocked her for a brief moment, she was quick to push these thoughts aside. Jamison was a warrior, scars were only to be expected, and Isabella wouldn't let it bother her.
Unable to contain his excited grin, Jamison approached Isabella, and she approached him. They met in the middle, and wordlessly embraced each other in a long and tight hug. When they finally separated from each other, Jamison looked Isabella to the eyes, a vulnerable but happy gaze in his eyes. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this, Isabella”, he said, clearly struggling to keep his voice together.
“I may have an idea”, Isabella replied with a shy smirk, and Jamison chuckled warmly, taking her hand. “Welcome to Starfall, my love”, he said, kissing the back of her hand gently. Meanwhile, King Vorian and Queen Arenna arrived behind him, while Desmor, Soren and Cassana arrived behind Isabella.
“Welcome, Princess Isabella, Prince Desmor”, Vorian said with a warm and polite tone. “First of all, my condolences for your loss. The raven brought the news about your brother a couple days ago. Losing a family member is one of the worst pains in the world, and it shows strength on your part to push forward despite that.” Isabella nodded humbly to the King’s words. “I knew I would be safe here, Your Grace”, she responded calmly, and Vorian smiled to her.
"And you will be", Jamison said confidently, and Isabella shifted her gaze back to his husband-to-be. "I'll make sure of that. We’ll be married in a fortnight, and it’ll be a grand wedding, Isabella”, Jamison explained excitedly, a proud grin forming on his face. “The whole kingdom will be there, from Southpoint to High Hermitage, to see us pledge our lives to each other.”
“Will there be a tourney?” Ser Soren asked with a curious tone, and Jamison turned to look at him with an interested gaze. “Yes, there will be indeed”, he said calmly. “You may take part, if you wish, and Prince Desmor as well.”
“I’ll skip”, Desmor said flatly, but Soren was clearly interested. “I’ll consider it”, the Reachman knight said with a subtle smirk, and Jamison gave him a nod. “I’ve seen you ride before, when I was a kid. Back then you were quite impressive”, Jamison complimented.
“I still am”, Soren replied with a sly smirk, to which Jamison chuckled briefly. “I don’t doubt you”, he said tensely. Ser Soren turned his eyes to King Vorian now. “And what about you, Your Grace? Will you ride in the tourney?”
“No”, he answered without hesitation, a small smile on his face. “I’ll leave the jousting for the younger generation.”
After their little chat, Jamison escorted Isabella to one of the guest rooms, where she’d reside until the wedding. They spent the afternoon together, and it was the happiest Isabella had been in a long time. They reminisced about their childhood stories at the garden, and Jamison told her all about his latest adventure to the Central Dorne and back. There were a few details in the story that Jamison clearly was a bit uncomfortable talking about and skimmed over, but it was an exciting story nonetheless.
After hours of talking, Jamison leaned closer, and kissed Isabella briefly and gently on the lips. “You’ll have to wait a couple weeks to get more”, Jamison said playfully as they separated, smirking and winking at Isabella, who blushed and giggled at his antics. “Come, let’s go to the tower”, Jamison suggested cheerfully, and off they went.
-
After a couple of happy and relaxing days at Starfall, the first guests started to arrive. The very first to come were the Dayne’s of High Hermitage. There were eight of them, oldest being Lord Gerris, who was nearing his fifties. Isabella could see that he possessed the good looks of the Dayne’s, but his silver hair had started to turn grey, and age had brought the first wrinkles on his face. Gerris’ wife, Lady Evilin, on the other hand was stunningly beautiful with hardly any marks of aging, despite being merely a couple years younger than her husband. Isabella had heard Evilin to be a woman of foreign heritage, from Lys to be precise. Isabella knew precious little about Lys, but she did know that Lyseni were the blood of the Valyrians, which was evident by the silver hair and almost inhuman beauty of Evilin.
The firstborn son of Gerris and Evilin, and the heir to High Hermitage, was Ser Terrence Dayne. Terrence was a tall and handsome man on his late twenties, whom carried himself with a subtle sort of pride. He was dressed in simple and pragmatic clothes, not showing any kind of wealth in his attire. Isabella didn’t know much about Terrence, but apparently he had a reputation as a skilled but humble knight. He also had a wife, Adeline, pretty in a common sort of way, and around the same age as Terrence. She looked to be pregnant, even if still quite early, and they also had a daughter at the age of three, a sweet and shy girl named Tarla.
Then there were Arthur and Elena, the younger siblings of Terrence, Arthur being on his early twenties while Elena was on her late teens. They both had the good looks of their parents, and they both also wore more flamboyant attires than their older brother. Isabella had met them both years ago, and even remember having gotten along quite well with Elena.
And finally, there was Ser Phillip Dayne, the nephew of Lord Gerris. He was around the same age as his cousin Arthur, though he looked quite different. Phillip was handsome, as expected from a Dayne, but he had cut his silver hair really short, and sported a trimmed beard with slightly thicker mustache. He was dressed lavishly, in a silky purple robe and silver cape, and he was carrying ate finely crafted wooden fiddle. On his face was a calm and neutral expression, but Isabella couldn’t help but notice that there was something smug about him.
Later that evening they had a dinner with the Dayne’s of High Hermitage. Isabella sat next to Elena and Adeline. Elena described excitedly a fancy masquerade she had been to in Lys when visiting there with her mother a year ago. Adeline on the other hand shared with Isabella her experiences with taking care of a child, something Isabella would surely need in the coming years.
Next to them Queen Arenna and Lady Evilin were having a conversation about the differences in Westerosi and Lysene customs, while King Vorian, Lord Gerris and Ser Terrence talked about Prince Malcolm and Davos being on a mission in the Kingdom of Blackmont. On the other end of the table Jamison, Desmor, Arthur and Phillip were having a conversation that every now and then devolved into bursts of laughter.
After they were done eating, Ser Phillip performed a beautiful ballad with his fiddle, which brought Elena and Arenna into tears of admiration, and they all applauded for him.
“Never understood going through all the trouble just to learn to play some songs”, Jamison commented with a humorous tone, and while Arthur and Desmor chuckled at his words, Phillip gave him a cold glare. “Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to understand, Prince Jamison”, he said sharply, to which Jamison raised an eyebrow.
“How’s that?” he asked, keeping his voice calm. Phillip sat down and considered his words for a moment. “What I mean is that you have no understanding of art, my prince”, he said with a polite tone, though Isabella could spot the bitter resentment from his words.
“Aye, I guess we all have our weaknesses”, Jamison agreed with a sly smirk, raising his cup and nodding to Phillip, who reacted by scoffing and subtly shaking his head.
After the dinner, Jamison escorted Isabella back to her room. He was clearly a bit drunk, and as they entered the room, he gently pushed Isabella against the door and kissed her. The kiss lasted for many lingering seconds, and Isabella enjoyed every moment of it. As Jamison separated from her, a drunken grin formed on his face, and he grabbed Isabella from behind. However, she stopped him by grabbing his hands and pulling them away. “Don’t you think we should wait until the wedding night?” She asked quietly, and with a sigh Jamison backed away.
“You’re right”, he admitted calmly, a forced smile on his face. “We should wait. I want our wedding night to be unforgettable.”
Isabella nodded, her lips forming a soft smile. “And what about what comes after that?” She asked sweetly, to which Jamison raised an eyebrow. “After that, we are going to have a family, and in time our children will grow up to be strong and wise”, he said calmly.
“And will you be there to look after our children?” Isabella asked quietly, which seemed to confuse Jamison. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” He asked, gently stroking Isabella’s golden hair. Isabella touched Jamison’s scar lightly, and looked him in the eyes. “You’re a warrior, and an adventurer by heart”, she said, taking in a deep breath. “Will you be able to leave that behind to be a father and a husband?”
Jamison took a moment with his answer, clearly a bit uncomfortable with the question. However, after a brief moment of silence he put his hand on Isabella’s shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “You will always be the most important thing to me in this world, Isabella”, he assured with a serious and compassionate tone. “I can’t promise you that I will never fight again, but I do promise that I will always come back to look after you and our children. By the gods and by my honor, I promise it.”
Isabella nodded to his words and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Thank you”, she simply said, a thankful and relieved expression on her face.
“Actually, I want to let you decide something for us”, Jamison said now, an excited smirk on his face. “As you know, I’ve recently been named the Lord of Clearhaven. It’s a peaceful and quiet little town, with a port where ships from all over the world stop for a rest. If you want, we can move to live there after the wedding. It wouldn’t be quite as luxurious as here in Starfall, but at least we wouldn’t have to share our home with anyone. It would be just you and me, and those who would be there to serve us of course. So, what do you say, Isabella?”
[Stay in Starfall] [Move to Clearhaven]
-
Naemon
It was a calm and sunny afternoon when Naemon and Davos arrived to Blackmont. Riding towards the gate, Naemon eyed the castle with grim expression on his face. Never had returning home felt so unpleasant.
Riding into the courtyard, Naemon noticed several knights who had returned from the war, many of them were bruised and scarred from the battle, and none of them looked pleased. However, as they gave their horses to the stables, Ser Thomos the Thunder approached Naemon and Davos, a small and warm smile on his face.
“Prince Naemon, welcome home”, the knight greeted with a deep bow. “News of your success arrived here earlier, your father is very proud of you.”
“And news of the failure in Kingsgrave arrived to Oakswood”, Naemon responded dryly, to which Thomos nodded with a sigh. “Indeed, Ser Kegan arrived just a couple hours ago”, he explained, glancing at the knights on the courtyard. “In fact, I believe he is right now in the council chamber with Braddock, Lord Blackadder, Maester Mortin and Noctis.”
“I’ll go there as well”, Naemon decided without hesitation, turning to look at his squire. “Davos, you come as well”, he said, and Davos nodded obediently.
And so, Ser Thomos started escorting them through the castle, and quickly they made their way to the doors of the council chamber. Stopping there, Naemon turned to look at Thomos once more. “What about Benedict?” He asked quietly. “Why isn’t he with the council?”
“His Grace already met with Ser Kegan when he arrived”, Thomos answered calmly. “After that he… felt he needed some rest.”
“Of course”, Naemon scoffed, before turning towards the doors again, and walking in. Everyone in the room shifted their attention to him, and wordlessly he took the King’s seat at the head of the table, as the seat on the other end that used to belong to Gwendis had been taken by Braddock Blackmont. Davos sat down next to him.
“My prince, it’s good to see you”, Kegan was the first to speak up, a stern and respectful tone on his voice, and Naemon responded by giving him a small nod. “Prince Naemon, we’ve heard of your victory against Karsan Taller, an admirable feat indeed”, Braddock spoke up, forcing a smile on his puff face, and Naemon nodded silently once again. “Um, we were just discussing the war with the Manwoody’s”, he continued with a subtle gulp, and Naemon turned his gaze back to Kegan. “What happened there?” he asked calmly, and Kegan let out a deep sigh.
“A tremendous fucking failure, that’s what”, he growled sternly. “The siege was going fine for a couple weeks, then suddenly Prince Ferris Fowler was assassinated in the night, and the whole Fowler army decided to go back home. Well, that’s fine, we still had enough men to keep the siege going. Albin was trapped, and we had no reason to believe he’d get help, but apparently King Yorick fancies to lick Albin the Mad’s bollocks. Four thousand Wyl soldiers appeared from the east one day, and wrecked our siege.”
“But Albin let you go?” Naemon asked with a raised eyebrow, and Kegan shook his head. “It was his son’s decision”, he clarified with a small sigh. “I never saw the mad king himself, and perhaps that’s for the better. Prince Arvin sent me here with a message, saying that the Kingdom of Blackmont must stay impartial to the war between Manwoody’s and Fowler’s.”
“And do we plan to comply?” Naemon asked sharply, eyeing at everyone in the room. Now Maester Mortin spoke up. “King Benedict has decided that we will stay out of the conflict for now”, he said calmly. “With no betrothal binding us to King Garrison, there is no need for us to rush in his aid, at least not until we’ve had some time to heal from this war. However, it is questionable if we can assume to be safe if House Fowler falls.”
“It’s not just questionable”, Lord Stevron commented grimly. “If King Garrison is defeated, we’ll be next. And with the power of Albin and Yorick combined against us, what chance will we have?”
“Naemon, you must speak to your father about this”, Kegan pleaded with a serious tone, looking Naemon to the eyes. “Make him understand that we can’t back away from this war now.”
“I will talk to him, though I can’t guarantee that he’ll listen”, Naemon responded nonchalantly, glancing at Davos now. “And if it comes down to Yorick and Albin threatening us, I’m sure we will find an ally in King Vorian.”
“Yes, Ser, House Dayne will support you”, Davos assured proudly, and Naemon flashed him a small smirk. “That is relieving to hear”, Kegan said calmly, taking in a deep breath. “Still, it would be good if you spoke about this with Benedict.”
“I will”, Naemon promised again. “Was there something else that needed discussing?”
“No, I believe that is all”, Maester Mortin said with a dutiful tone. And so, everyone around the table got up from their seats, except for Naemon and Davos, as well as Noctis, who had remained silent throughout the earlier conversation. While the others made their way out of the room, Naemon shifted his gaze to the tall and lanky sorcerer, who also turned his dark eyes to Naemon.
“Davos, you can wait outside”, Naemon said calmly, and Davos nodded dutifully, glancing at Noctis with a subtle gulp. As Davos had made his way out, Noctis finally stood up from his seat, and took a couple steps closer to Naemon.
"I wanted to have a conversation with you, my prince", he said with a calm tone on his hollow voice. Naemon looked at the sorcerer with contempt, but gave him a nod anyway. "Go on then", he prompted.
"It is easy to see that you resent me, but I assure you there is no reason", he said quietly, a sharp glare in his dark eyes. "One day you will inherit your father's crown, and I will serve you a loyally as I have served him."
"Yes, one day I will inherit my father's crown", Naemon agreed sternly. "And what do you think happens then?" He asked coldly, and Noctis let out a small sigh. "I imagine you plan to drive out me and all the rest of the sorcerers", he answered with a slight hint of concern in his calm voice, and Naemon nodded.
"I guess you're not as stupid as you look", he said with a spiteful tone, standing up from his chair. However, Noctis ignored his insult and quickly spoke up again. "I understand why you see me as your enemy", he said, raising his voice a bit now. "What happened to your sister was unfortunate. However, I am no Aisha. She is a fanatic, bowing to the whispers of a shadow that she calls god in her delusions, while I am a man of knowledge and rationality. She thinks that by serving death she can control life, while I understand that in the end her methods are self-defeating. "
"And next you will tell me that the god you worship is the true god, the god we should all bow to", Naemon mocked dryly, and a thin smirk formed on Noctis' face. "I believe all gods to be merely creations of man", he replied sharply. "I learned my art in Mantarys, through years and years of practice and patience. The mages of the Freehold taught me many things, but worshiping any god was not among them. Magic can be powerful, and hard to understand, which is why it often deceives even the wisest of us to see gods where there are none."
"If there are no gods, then whom do you serve?" Naemon asked sternly, staring at Noctis suspiciously. "I serve the truth, and I serve your father", the sorcerer answered calmly. "Benedict is wiser than most, and certainly worthy of my respect."
“And why did you wish to speak to me about this?” Naemon asked with a quiet and sharp tone. Noctis started to walk towards the doors now, but turned to look at Naemon once more as he arrived to them. “Because you are the future of this kingdom”, he stated with a cold smirk, before bowing and making his way out of the room.
-
That evening Naemon sat alone in his chambers, wistfully looking out of the window as the sun was setting behind the mountains in the west. He hadn’t seen his father yet since returning, but he was curious to know if Lyla had returned, or if there were any other news about Gwendis. Of course, most likely there was nothing significant, or else someone would’ve already told Naemon.
The prince’s mind ran back to the last conversation he had with Gwendis, just a few months ago. It had been a brief conversation, Gwendis had asked him to go to Starfall and re-establish the alliance between Blackmont and Torrentine. At least I succeeded in that, Naemon thought grimly, letting out a sigh as he sat down. If he could go back to that moment, and all the moments before it, he wouldn’t be so quick to turn off Gwendis’ pleads for him to take more responsibility. He would talk to her, make her understand that they needed to stick together and have each other’s backs. Still it baffled him how Gwendis had left everything to follow a sorceress, and he had to wonder if it had been her choice at all. Perhaps Aisha had somehow possessed Gwendis with her magic, and forced her to leave.
Naemon’s thoughts were cut off by a knock on his door. Before he could even stand up from his chair, the door was opened, and in walked Benedict. He looked tired, and older than ever before, dressed in robes way too simplistic for a king. He didn’t even have his crown.
“Benedict”, Naemon said coldly, and his father nodded as he stepped into the room. “My son”, he responded calmly, taking in a deep breath. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about. Well, first of all, I’m proud of you for handling the situation with the rebels so swiftly.”
Ignoring the compliments, Naemon shot Benedict with a sharp question. “Any news of Gwendis?”
With a saddened expression on his face, Benedict shook his head. “Lyla has not returned, which means that either she still on her track, or… she is dead.”
“Is this what you came to talk about?” Naemon asked with a tired sigh, turning his eyes away from his father. “No”, Benedict said softly, taking a couple careful steps closer to his son. “I have been doing a lot of thinking since you left, and all this thinking has led me to a conclusion.”
“A conclusion?” Naemon asked quietly, shifting his gaze to Benedict again, who nodded with a small gulp. “I’ve decided that there should be no secrecy between us any longer”, he said nervously. “There was a reason why I always tried keep my family separated from my… projects. However, by now it’s come clear that that separation has only brought problems and driven a rift between us.”
“So, what are you saying?” Naemon asked impatiently, and his father turned down his gaze, struggling to say what he had in mind.
“I believe it is time I took you to see my laboratory”, he finally said with a tense tone. “Or dark chambers, as I know you call it.”
“Why?” Naemon asked with a baffled tone, not having expected this at all. “As I said, there should be no more secrecy between us”, Benedict answered calmly. “You’ve grown to be a man, and I believe you deserve to know what it is that has so often kept me too busy to tend to my family. So, will you come with me?”
Isabella
It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel… more from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on hi… [view original content]
So, already on my phone for the rest of the week and cursed with atrocious internet, my usual deeper thoughts have to fall flat a bit, though I nonethelesy would like to say something. First of all, I really loved Isabella's part. It was clear she wouldn't be bothered terribly by the scar, but she brushed it off even faster than I thought, that was legitimately sweet. I guess the next part for her or Jamison will show the wedding.
In Naemon's part, it broke my heart to see Lyla mentioned They consider her dead by now. Gwen however is not dead, she has a chance. It's a spark and the likes of Aisha, Valerie and Wesley will undoubtedly try to extinguish it, but I gotta keep my hopes up. Who really surprised me here was Noctis though. Don't get me wrong, everything about him screams evil sorcerer, but he came off as surprisingly rational and thoughtful in this part. I might regret it, but I believe him. I actually believe him to be loyal to Benny and Naemon, the future presumed king. I must also say, I love his disgust at Aisha. Turns out, even creepy sorcerers have standards. Any man that insults Aisha is a friend of mine. He is wrong with one thing though, worshipping certain gods brings power. I bet whatever magic he has is fundamentally different from Desi's fire and life based powers and Aisha's stinky evil magic of awfulness.
However, there is one issue. I also believe his distrust and disgust at any sort of god. If Gwendis returns to Blackmont, I see only one of two options for that: She either blows out the flame, fully giving in to her Great Other fuelled powers, or she allows herself to be consumed by the fire and hopes it is figurative and won't mean being burned alive (Gods speak figuratively, righr? It's a god thing to... right?). She'd essentially defy a god, which is kinda badass for sure. However, I guess it would come with the added factor of having, at least to a degree, accept R'hllor at least to the same degree as Kris. I doubt she has many options beyond these two If she returns to Blackmont as a believer in some other god, I could see Noctis being a thorn in her side. Gwen hates the sorcerers and after what she has been through, she has every right to do so. How would Noctis react when she, the rightful heiress by the law of an increasingly strong conqueror, returns to Blackmont? I can already see tension between the Blackmont siblings, but I bet he'll try to use it to his advantage, somewhat Littlefinger-like. I definitely sense potential for a future conflict there. At the same time, Noctis could also be an ally against the evil that is Aisha and Valerie, maybe even to Gwen, but I see him more likely as an adversary she has to overcome.
[Move to Clearhaven]
Jamison is the Lord of Clearhaven after all. It is very likely his duties will often demand for him to be there and it sounds better if he doesn't always has to move between Clearhaven and Starfall all the time. That could be frustrating as hell. It also feels more like them building a life for themselves away from their families, their very own life together, which sounds nice.
[Go with Benedict]
So, I can't deny that I am extremely curious. I have my theories what Benny is trying to do in his chambers, but he kinda threw them out of the window with him calling these chambers a laboratory. That makes it sound almost like science. Maybe he is actually the Westerosi equivalent of a scientist and not a sorcerer. Noctis' more rational approach to magic kinda supports that theory. I am curious and I think this is a chance to learn more. Who knows, maybe this knowledge will come in handy one day.
Isabella
It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel… more from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on hi… [view original content]
Isabella
It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel… more from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on hi… [view original content]
[Move to Clearhaven] It would be a good way to start a life for themselves, even if war with House Martell will happen sooner or later.
[Go with Benedict] I'm actually surprised Noctis is a real sorcerer and not some fanatic, and after so much time in the sidelines, we finally get to know more about him.
Isabella
It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel… more from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on hi… [view original content]
Isabella
It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel… more from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on hi… [view original content]
So, already on my phone for the rest of the week and cursed with atrocious internet, my usual deeper thoughts have to fall flat a bit, though I nonethelesy would like to say something. First of all, I really loved Isabella's part. It was clear she wouldn't be bothered terribly by the scar, but she brushed it off even faster than I thought, that was legitimately sweet. I guess the next part for her or Jamison will show the wedding.
Well, first of all I applaud you for having the patience to write as long of a message as you did with a phone Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed Isabella's part, it definitely had a bit of a slice of life feel to it, which might be a bit odd amongst the climax of the chapter and the book And yeah, the scar did catch Isabella off guard for a moment, but honestly she doesn't care at all. By now it's so much more than Jamison's looks that she's attached to.
In Naemon's part, it broke my heart to see Lyla mentioned They consider her dead by now. Gwen however is not dead, she has a chance. It's a spark and the likes of Aisha, Valerie and Wesley will undoubtedly try to extinguish it, but I gotta keep my hopes up. Who really surprised me here was Noctis though. Don't get me wrong, everything about him screams evil sorcerer, but he came off as surprisingly rational and thoughtful in this part. I might regret it, but I believe him. I actually believe him to be loyal to Benny and Naemon, the future presumed king. I must also say, I love his disgust at Aisha. Turns out, even creepy sorcerers have standards. Any man that insults Aisha is a friend of mine. He is wrong with one thing though, worshipping certain gods brings power. I bet whatever magic he has is fundamentally different from Desi's fire and life based powers and Aisha's stinky evil magic of awfulness.
Yeah, Lyla's absence breaks Benny's heart as well. Mainly because she was his last hope to find and bring back Gwendis, but also because Lyla herself was quite a reliable and loyal servant. As for Noctis, this streak of rationality and atheism is actually something that wasn't in his submission, but that I added cause I thought it would make him more interesting. Also makes him a great foil to Aisha, rather than just being a clone of her. And Noctis would argue your point by saying that perhaps it's not gods that give power to these worshipers of R'hllor or GO, but rather their magic is like any other magic and they just associate it with their gods. He does kinda acknowledge GO being at least some sort of entity though, by referring to it as a "shadow" that whispers to Aisha's ears. Anyway, Noctis might well be wrong, but the existence of gods is definitely meant to be an uncertain and ambiguous thing in aSoIaF, and I try to respect that aspect of the lore in NW as well.
However, there is one issue. I also believe his distrust and disgust at any sort of god. If Gwendis returns to Blackmont, I see only one of two options for that: She either blows out the flame, fully giving in to her Great Other fuelled powers, or she allows herself to be consumed by the fire and hopes it is figurative and won't mean being burned alive (Gods speak figuratively, righr? It's a god thing to... right?). She'd essentially defy a god, which is kinda badass for sure. However, I guess it would come with the added factor of having, at least to a degree, accept R'hllor at least to the same degree as Kris. I doubt she has many options beyond these two If she returns to Blackmont as a believer in some other god, I could see Noctis being a thorn in her side. Gwen hates the sorcerers and after what she has been through, she has every right to do so. How would Noctis react when she, the rightful heiress by the law of an increasingly strong conqueror, returns to Blackmont? I can already see tension between the Blackmont siblings, but I bet he'll try to use it to his advantage, somewhat Littlefinger-like. I definitely sense potential for a future conflict there. At the same time, Noctis could also be an ally against the evil that is Aisha and Valerie, maybe even to Gwen, but I see him more likely as an adversary she has to overcome.
You bring up a valid point. If Gwendis is to ever return to Blackmont, it is likely she'll return as a servant of one god or the other. Noctis might not be thrilled about this, but it's not likely he'd openly oppose her either. After all, he tolerates the other sorcerers of Benedict, and many of them worship different gods. In fact, even Benedict himself isn't quite as sold on atheism as Noctis, as evident by him being willing to listen and take advice from the likes of Aisha. So, let's say Gwendis returns as a believer and servant of R'hllor and one way or the other becomes the heiress: I'd say the most likely course of action from Noctis would simply be to have a conversation with Gwen, and perhaps try to convince her of his own set of beliefs. That said, tensions between Naemon and Gwen would be basically unavoidable, the question would be more about how well they'd manage to settle their differences.
So, already on my phone for the rest of the week and cursed with atrocious internet, my usual deeper thoughts have to fall flat a bit, thoug… moreh I nonethelesy would like to say something. First of all, I really loved Isabella's part. It was clear she wouldn't be bothered terribly by the scar, but she brushed it off even faster than I thought, that was legitimately sweet. I guess the next part for her or Jamison will show the wedding.
In Naemon's part, it broke my heart to see Lyla mentioned They consider her dead by now. Gwen however is not dead, she has a chance. It's a spark and the likes of Aisha, Valerie and Wesley will undoubtedly try to extinguish it, but I gotta keep my hopes up. Who really surprised me here was Noctis though. Don't get me wrong, everything about him screams evil sorcerer, but he came off as surprisingly rational and thoughtful in this part. I might regret it, but I believe him. I actually believe him to be loyal to B… [view original content]
Well since Liquid is currently limited to only having his phone, I now feel like I should take it upon myself to write the long comment here even though I usually write pretty long comments anyhow Anyway, both of these parts were awesome and I enjoyed both of them very much! Now first off with Isabella's part, I obviously loved this one! Isabella and Jamison's first meeting in story was something that I was very much looking forward to and it is safe to say it didn't disappoint! It really was sweet seeing their reunion unfold and probably the coolest thing for me was seeing how much her presence makes Jamison behave so to say He wasn't trying to insult people really and he was very respectful to other people compared to how he normally is. He was far away from acting like the Jamison that was about to make Morgan Allyrion have a heart attack in Godsgrace for example and of course that isn't a bad thing at all. I of course enjoy seeing that side of Jamison alot as well and I am sure that Jamison didn't just go away but I do feel that Isabella will be a good influence on him especially with what I have seen here. I have also just realized something, once the time skip to Book 2 happens, Isabella and Jamison will have been married for two years and maybe even have kids by that point so it is entirely possible that by the time book 2 gets here, Jamison could be a different man in some ways or maybe even compltely and I am quite intrigued to see how being a family man could change him. While I am pretty sure that Jamison won't turn into Vorian in regards to personality, I do think being a family man could help Jamison mature in some ways too. Of course, I could talk more about how much I enjoyed seeing Isabella and Jamison's reunion but I figure I'll let it rest for now
Now for some of the other neat stuff from this part was the interaction between Soren and Jamison. I know Soren has mentioned wanting to knock Jamison off of a horse and on Jamison's end, he has recognized that Soren is skilled on a couple of occasions so I feel this could potentially be foreshadowing for the finals of the tourney potentially? I don't expect you to tell me that of course but I do see this as a strong possibility I know Jamison is younger than Soren by a few years but Soren is very much in his prime being in his mid twenties so I am definitely seeing this matchup happening and of course I know who I want to win here With that said, their interaction was pretty awesome and I could definitely sense the competitiveness in the both of them coming out here and it got me hyped to say the least! I would also like to mention though that the Soren and Jamison interaction here has me motivated and I am decided on which path I will be taking for my next H&L and if all goes well, it will be ready for you soon!
Now about the High Hermitage Dayne's, I definitely liked meeting Jamison and Malcolm's cousins! They all seem like pretty intriguing characters from what I have seen especially Phillip who clearly isn't a fan of Jamison Which does make alot of sense since they definitely seem to be complete opposites as characters and if I had to guess, they probably haven't ever gotten along considering how different they seem to be from one another. I of course enjoyed the other High Hermitage Dayne's as well and I am excited to learn more about them and with this wedding I am guessing we will meet some of the other Dayne vassals as well which I am definitely excited for too
Now for the choice, I am actually going to go against what will probably be the winning choice and vote for Isabella and Jamison to [Stay in Starfall] While I definitely agree with Liquid's points about them getting to have their own lives away from their families, I also feel like from Jamison's perspective, to obtain a bigger role in his father's kingdom which he clearly wants, he needs to be in Starfall. If he stays in Starfall, he has more of a chance to learn more politically along with taking part in council meetings at some point as well which have been goals of his from the very beginning. While Clearhaven was a very important get for the Dayne's and Jamison as well, I think Jamison still probably desires more and if he moves to Clearhaven, he is at the absolute edge of the Kingdom of the Torrentine and with that he will just become one of his father's bannerman rather than someone who could play a bigger role in the kingdom moving forward.
Now from Isabella's perspective, this could just be me worrying over nothing but I feel it is definitely safer for her to live in Starfall rather than in Clearhaven especially with the war against House Martell happening in Book 2. As we all know, House Martell will be defeating House Dayne then and I worry that with Jamison potentially being away during alot of Book 2 that Isabella will be left alone which could potentially lead to her being captured or worse if she is left in Clearhaven alone. Along with that, even if Jamison is there, he is still just one man and Clearhaven with how small it is would be pretty vulnerable if the Fallen Dragons, Nymeria or whoever were to go after it at some point. Starfall is probably the safest place in Dorne and I feel it will stay that way even when they are defeated by the Martell's and along with this, it also lets Isabella have her in laws and other members of the family around to keep her company whenever Jamison ends up marching off to war. Admittedly, I could be overthinking this choice considering that Jamison and Isabella might still spend alot of time in Starfall and if this choice wins, she might end up going to Starfall anyway once the Martell-Dayne war starts but I still think I am going to go with this choice for now anyway.
Wow... I think this might be my longest comment ever and because of this, I am going to keep it relatively short on the Naemon choice but I might give more detailed thoughts on this later when I feel like typing again I think Naemon should [Go with Benedict] largely because this is probably the best chance that Naemon will have to learn about his father's true intentions and why Benedict does what he does which I feel will help Naemon immensely. Edit: Getting more detailed about my thoughts here though, this part shows even more how Naemon is really starting to take his role as the future of Blackmont seriously. I can admit it was pretty cool seeing him take the Kong's seat in the council meeting and I feel at this point, Naemon has probably changed the most as a character from the beginning of the story until now. He has grown a lot and I would say that by the time Book 2 hits, he will probably be even more of an influence within the Kingdom of Blackmont. With all of this said though, if Gwendis does make it back to Blackmont, I can't help but be intrigued about where that will go. While I can't say for sure they'll develop a rivarly considering how close they are with one another, I do feel Gwendis leaving like she did will have a negative effect on her relationship with Naemon especially if she doesn't explain what happened to him. Along with that, if Naemon gets firmly established with his role in Blackmont politically, I don't really think he will just step aside completely so they will definitely have to try to work together which shouldn't be too hard considering their similarities but of course a lot can change in two years if Gwendis doesn't make it back before the end of Book one.
Isabella
It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel… more from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on hi… [view original content]
I was certainly surprised to see Phillip here, as I didn't expect that he would appear already in Isabella's part. I gotta say, he acted just the way I imagined he would and he already left quite an impression on me I really liked that little interaction between him and Jamison and I have to say, Jamison handled it a lot better than I expected. Guess that his journey really changed him and it is beginning to show, as I think that the Jamison from the earlier parts of the story would've reacted with way more hostility here.
Isabella
It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel… more from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on hi… [view original content]
I was certainly surprised to see Phillip here, as I didn't expect that he would appear already in Isabella's part. I gotta say, he acted jus… moret the way I imagined he would and he already left quite an impression on me I really liked that little interaction between him and Jamison and I have to say, Jamison handled it a lot better than I expected. Guess that his journey really changed him and it is beginning to show, as I think that the Jamison from the earlier parts of the story would've reacted with way more hostility here.
[Stay in Starfall]
[Go with Benedict]
Well, first of all I applaud you for having the patience to write as long of a message as you did with a phone Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed Isabella's part, it definitely had a bit of a slice of life feel to it, which might be a bit odd amongst the climax of the chapter and the book And yeah, the scar did catch Isabella off guard for a moment, but honestly she doesn't care at all. By now it's so much more than Jamison's looks that she's attached to.
Actually, it turned out to be unnecessary, as just now, I received access to the local wi-fi I also must say, CM3434 brought something up I haven't considered at all. If it wouldn't be for that, I'd stick with my vote, but he is right, Clearhaven is located closer to the frontlines in the coming Dayne-Martell war and as such, it could be more dangerous for Isabella to stay there. I think it would be sweet if she and Jamison could build a life for themselves there, but if Clearhaven is going to be besieged by the Martell troops in the coming war, I could see this taking a really terrible turn. If Jamison gets caught in a siege, he has a chance to fight his way out. Isabella though? She'd be at the mercy of Nym's troops and while those are hardly the most cruel bastards around, there's no saying what an army crazed by battle might do if they catch her. As such, I would like to change my vote to [Stay in Starfall]. I kinda fear this'll mean that Jamison remains in his secondborn role instead of building a fortune for himself, but Isabella's safety should always be the top priority. Maybe once things have all settled down, House Dayne has submitted and both hopefully survive, they can end up settling down there after all, but for the duration of the Martell-Dayne war, I'd much rather have Isabella remain relatively safe in Starfall.
Yeah, Lyla's absence breaks Benny's heart as well. Mainly because she was his last hope to find and bring back Gwendis, but also because Lyla herself was quite a reliable and loyal servant. As for Noctis, this streak of rationality and atheism is actually something that wasn't in his submission, but that I added cause I thought it would make him more interesting. Also makes him a great foil to Aisha, rather than just being a clone of her. And Noctis would argue your point by saying that perhaps it's not gods that give power to these worshipers of R'hllor or GO, but rather their magic is like any other magic and they just associate it with their gods. He does kinda acknowledge GO being at least some sort of entity though, by referring to it as a "shadow" that whispers to Aisha's ears. Anyway, Noctis might well be wrong, but the existence of gods is definitely meant to be an uncertain and ambiguous thing in aSoIaF, and I try to respect that aspect of the lore in NW as well.
I'd say this worked out exactly as you planned It's exactly these traits that caught my interest and I think this sets him apart from most of the other characters in the story. I mean, an atheist dedicated to rational thinking is something very strange in Westeros, I guess most atheistic characters in the story are more of the type that just don't care, but Noctis seems to approach the whole topic from a pretty unique standpoint. Aside from that though, he still gives me creepy and shady vibes. That being said, I am keeping an open mind on him. I know I have always done a mistake with that (like, that Aisha bitch), but he seems to be smart enough to know whom to be loyal to. Hopefully this means House Blackmont as a whole. I'd hate for him to end up playing the members of the house (be it Naemon against Gwendis because he sees him as more reliable than her, or Benny against both because he doesn't trust them to continue keeping him around), but I kinda fear he'll end up exactly as evil as he appeared to be at first. Such appearances are rarely misleading, I guess the only one I ever changed my mind on in a positive way is Lyla.
You bring up a valid point. If Gwendis is to ever return to Blackmont, it is likely she'll return as a servant of one god or the other. Noctis might not be thrilled about this, but it's not likely he'd openly oppose her either. After all, he tolerates the other sorcerers of Benedict, and many of them worship different gods. In fact, even Benedict himself isn't quite as sold on atheism as Noctis, as evident by him being willing to listen and take advice from the likes of Aisha. So, let's say Gwendis returns as a believer and servant of R'hllor and one way or the other becomes the heiress: I'd say the most likely course of action from Noctis would simply be to have a conversation with Gwen, and perhaps try to convince her of his own set of beliefs. That said, tensions between Naemon and Gwen would be basically unavoidable, the question would be more about how well they'd manage to settle their differences.
At least the Great Other, I'm pretty sure at this point is out of question for Gwen. I can't see her ever becoming a dedicated servant of the only being that is worse than Aisha. R'hllor could be more accepting, after all the church itself is certainly more accepting of others than the unanimously evil cult of the Great Other. Noctis' set of beliefs is pretty rational, should such a scene ever happen and should it be up for choice, I might even choose in his favour. Thing is, of course, that Gwen has hard proof of the existence of one god-like being that grants magical powers and we don't know yet what kind of an encounter she's going to have with R'hllor. She might actively choose not to worship either, but sharing Noctis' fully-blown atheism, that would probably depend on how deeply involved she gets into that whole religious aspect of the storyline as opposed to having her parts be all about mere survival.
So, already on my phone for the rest of the week and cursed with atrocious internet, my usual deeper thoughts have to fall flat a bit, thoug… moreh I nonethelesy would like to say something. First of all, I really loved Isabella's part. It was clear she wouldn't be bothered terribly by the scar, but she brushed it off even faster than I thought, that was legitimately sweet. I guess the next part for her or Jamison will show the wedding.
Well, first of all I applaud you for having the patience to write as long of a message as you did with a phone Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed Isabella's part, it definitely had a bit of a slice of life feel to it, which might be a bit odd amongst the climax of the chapter and the book And yeah, the scar did catch Isabella off guard for a moment, but honestly she doesn't care at all. By now it's so much more than Jamison's looks that she's attached to.
In Naemon's part, it broke my heart to see Lyla men… [view original content]
Well since Liquid is currently limited to only having his phone, I now feel like I should take it upon myself to write the long comment here even though I usually write pretty long comments anyhow Anyway, both of these parts were awesome and I enjoyed both of them very much! Now first off with Isabella's part, I obviously loved this one! Isabella and Jamison's first meeting in story was something that I was very much looking forward to and it is safe to say it didn't disappoint! It really was sweet seeing their reunion unfold and probably the coolest thing for me was seeing how much her presence makes Jamison behave so to say He wasn't trying to insult people really and he was very respectful to other people compared to how he normally is. He was far away from acting like the Jamison that was about to make Morgan Allyrion have a heart attack in Godsgrace for example and of course that isn't a bad thing at all. I of course enjoy seeing that side of Jamison alot as well and I am sure that Jamison didn't just go away but I do feel that Isabella will be a good influence on him especially with what I have seen here. I have also just realized something, once the time skip to Book 2 happens, Isabella and Jamison will have been married for two years and maybe even have kids by that point so it is entirely possible that by the time book 2 gets here, Jamison could be a different man in some ways or maybe even compltely and I am quite intrigued to see how being a family man could change him. While I am pretty sure that Jamison won't turn into Vorian in regards to personality, I do think being a family man could help Jamison mature in some ways too. Of course, I could talk more about how much I enjoyed seeing Isabella and Jamison's reunion but I figure I'll let it rest for now
Haha, well you certainly delivered I'm glad to hear you liked the reunion of Jamison and Isabella, it was a character meeting long in the making, so I really wanted to nail it. And you're right, Isabella's presence definitely has an influence on how Jamison acts and behaves, especially now that they've just been reunited after a long time apart. And I can also confirm that the 2 year time skip will change the characters of both Jamison and Isabella. Obviously they will still have many of the character traits they have now, but they will certainly have done some maturing
Now for some of the other neat stuff from this part was the interaction between Soren and Jamison. I know Soren has mentioned wanting to knock Jamison off of a horse and on Jamison's end, he has recognized that Soren is skilled on a couple of occasions so I feel this could potentially be foreshadowing for the finals of the tourney potentially? I don't expect you to tell me that of course but I do see this as a strong possibility I know Jamison is younger than Soren by a few years but Soren is very much in his prime being in his mid twenties so I am definitely seeing this matchup happening and of course I know who I want to win here With that said, their interaction was pretty awesome and I could definitely sense the competitiveness in the both of them coming out here and it got me hyped to say the least! I would also like to mention though that the Soren and Jamison interaction here has me motivated and I am decided on which path I will be taking for my next H&L and if all goes well, it will be ready for you soon!
Yep, a bit of a rivalry was indeed teased in this part between Soren and Jamison Nothing super serious of course, just a bit of competitiveness as you said. We'll have to see if this will lead to something in the tourney, it definitely could, since they are both highly skilled knights. And ah, I'm really glad to hear this part inspired you with the H&L! Looking forward to that
Now about the High Hermitage Dayne's, I definitely liked meeting Jamison and Malcolm's cousins! They all seem like pretty intriguing characters from what I have seen especially Phillip who clearly isn't a fan of Jamison Which does make alot of sense since they definitely seem to be complete opposites as characters and if I had to guess, they probably haven't ever gotten along considering how different they seem to be from one another. I of course enjoyed the other High Hermitage Dayne's as well and I am excited to learn more about them and with this wedding I am guessing we will meet some of the other Dayne vassals as well which I am definitely excited for too
Yeah, technically they are very distant cousins, since I imagine the High Hermitage branch isn't exactly brand new at this point. But anyway, they certainly share the Dayne blood. And yeah, Phillip pretty much despises Jamison, though I must say the two of them actually have some similarities as well in terms of personality. Sure, there are differences as well, but I'd say Jamison as a person is definitely closer to Phillip than Terrence for example, who is truly the complete opposite of Jamison. Anyway, we'll learn more about all of these characters in time
Well since Liquid is currently limited to only having his phone, I now feel like I should take it upon myself to write the long comment here… more even though I usually write pretty long comments anyhow Anyway, both of these parts were awesome and I enjoyed both of them very much! Now first off with Isabella's part, I obviously loved this one! Isabella and Jamison's first meeting in story was something that I was very much looking forward to and it is safe to say it didn't disappoint! It really was sweet seeing their reunion unfold and probably the coolest thing for me was seeing how much her presence makes Jamison behave so to say He wasn't trying to insult people really and he was very respectful to other people compared to how he normally is. He was far away from acting like the Jamison that was about to make Morgan Allyrion have a heart attack in Godsgrace for example and of course that isn't a bad thing at all. I of course enjoy seeing that… [view original content]
So, first of all, Isabella's decision is for her and Jamison to stay in Starfall. It's definitely the safer place to be with Nymeria's threat looming from the east. The down side is really just that they'll be more tightly attached to the rest of the Dayne family, which isn't like a completely negative thing, it just prevents them from being a bit more independent.
And Naemon will go with Benedict, to the mysterious dark chambers we've been hearing about throughout the story. Yeah, I kinda guess you'd be curious enough to choose this
As for what's next, I have two parts under work currently. One is a Nealia part, while the other is a one off PoV. I'll admit I'm not really close to finishing these parts yet, so don't expect them to be ready today. Tomorrow perhaps, or if not then by Wednesday for sure. I don't think much of a recap is needed, but I'll just remind that at the end of Nealia's last part she decided to go see Lien, who had badly injured her leg in the battle.
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And this time I have two new portraits for you. First, the mysterious sorcerer Noctis:
I was always a but curious just how Noctis looks, ever since I learned that this ominous, shady and probably evil sorcerer wears the single least threatening haircut of them all, the bowl cut To my amazement, you somehow managed to make him look creepy and threatening though. I hate to admit it, he's one of the few people who can pull off a decent bowl cut without looking like the reason why incest is frowned upon. You did a great job with that portrait, he looks genuinely cool, way more than he has any right to look
One thing I really like and which isn't mentioned nearly often enough is the background of the portraits, I love how you give each of the characters their own unique and very fitting background. I actually just had to look through the portraits and I haven't noticed a single background that looks like the other. Some might be similar, particularly those from the same family, but none are fully alike and I imagine that is a bit of a difficulty as more and more portraits are added to the mix. For now, Noctis' is actually among my favourite backgrounds, I love the contrast between his very light complexion and hair colour and the dark, creepy background. However, he is definitely still beaten by the second Gwen portrait, because those blue Great Other eyes are the stuff of nightmares (but make for a haunting and amazing background) and Davos' portrait, because I just now realized that the background kinda looks like what happens when the colours of House Dayne get mixed with the sun motif of House Martell and that actually makes it the most clever of the backgrounds.
And a one-off PoV next, you say? My educated guess is someone from the court of Lucifer. That is kinda the only place where we don't have a proper PoV at the moment, so maybe this one-off PoV is going to show us what happens around Lucifer after he lost the battle. It seems a bit too early for Lucifer to be brought down, that kinda feels like the strongest candidate to be chapter finale stuff, but then again, I have never been the most accurate with my predictions. So, the court of Lucifer is my assumption. Or maybe someone around Efran, we haven't seen what he's up to so far and at this point, I don't think he'll manage to keep his rule throughout the time skip. Both don't have PoV's around at this very moment. However, maybe I am absolutely wrong and you decide to show a one-off viewpoint from a character whom you otherwise wouldn't get the chance to show from this perspective and whose PoV adds something to a situation already covered by a full-time PoV. Someone around Nym for example, maybe someone involved with the conspiracy. Or a Wesley PoV, consisting of him being all broody and thinking about whatever edgy stuff he is always thinking about, I'd be almost tempted to read that Nah, someone around Lucifer or maybe someone close to Efran (in which case my money is on Elise) are my most likely guesses.
Voting is closed!
So, first of all, Isabella's decision is for her and Jamison to stay in Starfall. It's definitely the safer place to be… more with Nymeria's threat looming from the east. The down side is really just that they'll be more tightly attached to the rest of the Dayne family, which isn't like a completely negative thing, it just prevents them from being a bit more independent.
And Naemon will go with Benedict, to the mysterious dark chambers we've been hearing about throughout the story. Yeah, I kinda guess you'd be curious enough to choose this
As for what's next, I have two parts under work currently. One is a Nealia part, while the other is a one off PoV. I'll admit I'm not really close to finishing these parts yet, so don't expect them to be ready today. Tomorrow perhaps, or if not then by Wednesday for sure. I don't think much of a recap is needed, but I'll just remind that at the end of Nealia's last part she decided to … [view original content]
Hey! I've got a bit of an update for you, and one of the parts that I promised earlier. First of all, apologies for taking so long. I've learned over the past couple years that my creativity and inspiration for writing this story seems to come in waves, and sadly right now it's in a bit of a nadir. Not to worry though, I know it'll bounce back in time, it always does. Meanwhile, I'll try to push out parts the best I can, but my pace might be a bit slower than usually. Anyway, like I said, I have one of those earlier promised parts ready, and that's the Nealia part. It's a pretty short one, but at least it gives you something to vote for. I've made progress with the one-off PoV too, but painfully slowly, so I decided it's better to just post the Nealia part now and move on. So, here it is:
Nealia
Nealia felt weak as she walked across the busy street. Manda stayed by her side, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She asked as they arrived to the door of a small house made of white stone. Nealia nodded wordlessly, and so Manda pushed the door open.
They entered a dimly lit room with four makeshift beds. One of the beds was empty, and in two of them laid injured soldiers of House Allyrion. In the final bed, the one at the corner of the room, laid Lien, Ying sitting next to her on a simple wooden chair.
Ying was the first to shift her gaze up to Nealia and Manda, greeting them with a small nod as they approached. Seeing the condition that Nealia was in, Ying stood up and gave the chair for her. As Nealia sat down, Lien finally turned her eyes to look at her. She had been crying, it was easy to see, and even now there was deep pain and bitterness in her usually so bright eyes.
“Hi”, Nealia said weakly, gulping subtly as she looked at Lien’s left leg, which was tightly wrapped with bandage against a wooden plank to keep it aligned.
“I’m glad to see you survived, Nealia”, Lien managed to mutter, and Nealia nodded. An awkward moment of silence followed, until Manda cleared her throat. “So, how are you feeling now?” She asked softly.
“Like shit”, Lien answered grimly, her voice quivering ever so slightly as she spoke. “There’s nothing I can do except lay here all day, staring at the damn ceiling.”
“But your leg will get better in time, right?” Nealia asked carefully, and Lien let out a deep sigh. “It could take years”, she said with a devastated tone. “And even then, it’ll be weak and slow me down.”
“Don’t worry about it sis, I’ll be fast enough for both of us”, Ying assured confidently, but it didn’t do much to cheer up Lien. “Perhaps you could consider doing something else than fighting for your living”, Manda suggested calmly, turning her eyes to Ying. “What exactly do you plan to do next anyway?”
“We’ll stay here for now, as long as it takes for Lien to be in condition to travel again”, Ying said with a sigh. “After that, we’ll have to see.”
Nealia hesitated for a moment, but then decided to speak up. “I’m sure my family would welcome you in Starfall”, she said quietly. Her eyes met with Lien’s, who looked genuinely grateful for the offer.
“I was thinking more along the lines of moving to a big city like Volantis, Myr, or even Oldtown”, Ying interjected bluntly. “There I could take care of Lien and still find work as a sellsword without having to travel.”
“My father could hire you as well”, Nealia argued, to which Ying shrugged lazily. “Maybe”, she admitted with a sigh. “It’s useless to talk about this now anyway. We won’t be going anywhere for a while.”
For a moment the room fell silent again. “I will miss you”, Manda suddenly said with a gulp, a vulnerable expression on her face. “You’ve been good friends to me.”
“Perhaps we’ll bump into each other again somewhere”, Ying said with a small smirk, tapping Manda lightly on the shoulder. “And good luck for whatever battles Tryden will lead you to next.”
“Good luck, friend”, Lien echoed her sister’s words quietly, her gaze shifting from Manda to Nealia as she spoke. “And goodbye.”
-
After a couple days of resting, Nealia started to slowly feel better. The pain still came back every now and then, and she knew it would be wise to avoid any fighting for a while, but at least she didn’t have to lay down all the time any longer. In fact, traveling didn’t feel like an unreasonable thought anymore, at least on horseback. However, Nealia was dreading the approaching moment that she would have to make the decision of what would she do next.
Lien hadn’t asked her to stay, but she knew it was just because she didn’t want to be an inconvenience to her. Nonetheless it would feel wrong to leave her behind, even if Ying would always be there to support her. On the other hand, Manda had saved Nealia’s life, and they had become very close friends over the past months, so not going with her didn’t feel right either. Then there was of course the option of just returning to Starfall right away, but that would mean leaving behind all these people she had grown to love and care for. But I would have a family again.
Nealia sat at the taproom of the tavern, feeling bored and useless. She had visited Lien again earlier, and helped her with taking a bath, but other than that she had just been sitting in her room and in this tavern. Manda had went to the local blacksmith for something, though Nealia suspected that she just wanted to avoid her and the Yu sisters, perhaps preparing for separating from them for good. Nealia could even understand that mindset, why try to maintain something you know is going to end soon?
Nealia let out a deep sigh, feeling just frustrated and annoyed with the whole situation. Just then, she saw Tryden Flowers walking in from the door. She had seen him only briefly since the battle, and they hadn’t had a conversation. With a calm expression on his face Tryden approached Nealia’s table and sat opposed to her.
“Looks like you’re doing better”, he said, and Nealia gave him a small nod. “Feeling a bit better too”, she replied calmly. “And… How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine”, Tryden answered with a small sigh. “Managed to recruit some new members since the battle, but we are still short from the numbers we had before. Which brings to my mind… what is your plan going forward?”
“I don’t know”, Nealia answered truthfully, to which Tryden raised an eyebrow. “I see… You are having a hard time making the decision”, he deduced with a calm tone, and Nealia nodded. “Lien and Ying will have to stay behind, and I would feel awful abandoning them now”, she said quietly, keeping her gaze down.
“Understandable”, Tryden said smoothly, taking in a deep breath. “As you know, you’ll always have a place in the Rose Company, and I certainly wouldn’t be happy to lose another great fighter. That said, this is a choice you must make for yourself. Every path has its downsides, but I believe you should choose the one that you think will make you happy.”
“And what if I don’t know what will make me happy?” Nealia asked grimly, to which Tryden chuckled softly, tapping her gently on the shoulder. “Hard questions, mylady”, he said with a friendly smirk. “Sadly I don’t have the answer. I can only advise you to think through your options carefully and make a choice. Nymeria will march again in two days, and the Rose Company will go with her.” With these words Tryden stood up from the table. He nodded politely to Nealia, and walked away, leaving her to ponder on her options.
[Stay with Lien and Ying] [Continue with the Rose Company] [Head back to Starfall]
Ah damn, those aren't happy news I mean, I wouldn't mind the longer wait between parts, but we are sooo close to the finale of Book 1 and I can't even put into words how excited I am for that! Of course, I am excited for the things to follow as well, but you know how eagerly I await the end of the first book of NW. But well, as long as your motivation always comes back, that's a good thing, especially if parts continue to pour out inbetween even if maybe taking a couple days longer than usual. I was actually waiting to answer to our PM until the first book is finished, but now I kinda doubt that'll happen before the end of February, so I'll gotta answer faster than that
Now, for the part itself, that was just heartbreaking. Sure, it was a good idea to visit Lien, but damn that hurt to see her like this. She deserved better, that's just brutal. And this will lead to problems down the road. Because she'll need years to recover, probably throughout the entire timeskip, meaning her time with the Rose Company is definitely at an end. She takes it as expected, if not even worse than I feared. This will take a long time to heal, not just physically and I almost fear that she will never fully regain her strength. But well, maybe this can be seen as a chance. I am certain she will recover enough to live a normal life, without being seen as a cripple, with the chance to find decent work that doesn't require of her to put her life on the line for someone else. Considering how many others of the Rose Company have ended, leaving the sellsword life like this, wounded but alive at least and with the chance to recover, can be a blessing in the long run.
The choice... oh, the choice, this is one of those where I can barely choose. I would like to wait and see how the others think, but can carefully give my initial choice, keeping it a possibility that I will change my vote later. So, I like all three of these choices here. Heading to Starfall obviously means a Dayne reunion, probably already in time for Jamison's wedding. Just imagine him meeting up with Nealia again right during what already is the happiest moment of his life. The greatest knight in Dorne, getting a heart attack out of joy Staying with the Rose Company means staying with Tryden and continuing her life as a sellsword. I've come to genuinely like Tryden. He reminds me a bit of a combination of the rugged charm and honesty of Bronn, but with the cunning and people skills of Littlefinger, in an odd but surprisingly well-working combination. Hell, even his portrait kinda reminds me of both. And then, staying with Lien and Ying, which I consider the most decent choice. Ying cannot just give up on her own life entirely to be there for Lien. She needs help, Lien needs support beyond just her sister. After what she suffered through, losing the woman she loves will make a recovery only harder. See, I doubt not staying with either of them will lead to them vanishing from the story. The Rose Company will fight for Nym in the war to come, Tryden will probably encounter Nealia either way once more. Lien and Ying will be forced to remain in Godsgrace, probably taking some sort of role in the future Godsgrace storyline, be it through the eyes of Nym, Emerson or any other PoV now or later connected to that city. And a Dayne reunion must happen, if not now, then in Book 2.
As such, I currently lean in favour of [Stay with Lien and Ying]. My reasoning for that is that I doubt much will change for Tryden, he'll be seen through Nymeria's parts, maybe Dianna's if she returns to Nym's side in this chapter and I bet he will have encounters with Nealia as well during her stay in Godsgrace and after that. Returning to Starfall is pretty much a given, but it has been years either way, I am not so sure if two additional years will change things terribly. The Dayne family is pretty happy right now and with Nealia's return, they can have at least one happy thing in Book 2 as well, which I believe will deal with topics basically guaranteed to be pretty rough on them already. That way, Nealia wouldn't have to return alone. If she stays with Lien and Ying, maybe they can come with her. But if she leaves now, while we would get the reunion earlier than I ever thought, it would come at the cost of Lien and Ying. I would like to try and have them accompany her, but for that, Lien would need years to recover. Good thing the two year timeskip is almost among us. And who knows, it could even be a good thing to stay beyond that. Nealia could have more encounters with Nym and maybe she can influence her in favour of House Dayne once the war is over. After all, House Dayne will be the first royal house she defeats without actually causing it to cease to exist as she'll inevitably do with House Dryland. A new situation for her as well, in a way. And if Nealia isn't fully integrated back into the Dayne family when she arrives in Book 2, it is less likely she'll be fully involved in the war and maybe that way, it can be prevented that she has to end up fighting her friends at the Rose Company.
Hey! I've got a bit of an update for you, and one of the parts that I promised earlier. First of all, apologies for taking so long. I've lea… morerned over the past couple years that my creativity and inspiration for writing this story seems to come in waves, and sadly right now it's in a bit of a nadir. Not to worry though, I know it'll bounce back in time, it always does. Meanwhile, I'll try to push out parts the best I can, but my pace might be a bit slower than usually. Anyway, like I said, I have one of those earlier promised parts ready, and that's the Nealia part. It's a pretty short one, but at least it gives you something to vote for. I've made progress with the one-off PoV too, but painfully slowly, so I decided it's better to just post the Nealia part now and move on. So, here it is:
Nealia
Nealia felt weak as she walked across the busy street. Manda stayed by her side, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She a… [view original content]
[Stay with Lien and Ying] This is the best course right now, at least for Naelia's consciousness. Leaving the Rose Company will be hard, but war means they will eventually return, one way or the other.
Hey! I've got a bit of an update for you, and one of the parts that I promised earlier. First of all, apologies for taking so long. I've lea… morerned over the past couple years that my creativity and inspiration for writing this story seems to come in waves, and sadly right now it's in a bit of a nadir. Not to worry though, I know it'll bounce back in time, it always does. Meanwhile, I'll try to push out parts the best I can, but my pace might be a bit slower than usually. Anyway, like I said, I have one of those earlier promised parts ready, and that's the Nealia part. It's a pretty short one, but at least it gives you something to vote for. I've made progress with the one-off PoV too, but painfully slowly, so I decided it's better to just post the Nealia part now and move on. So, here it is:
Nealia
Nealia felt weak as she walked across the busy street. Manda stayed by her side, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She a… [view original content]
Hey! I've got a bit of an update for you, and one of the parts that I promised earlier. First of all, apologies for taking so long. I've lea… morerned over the past couple years that my creativity and inspiration for writing this story seems to come in waves, and sadly right now it's in a bit of a nadir. Not to worry though, I know it'll bounce back in time, it always does. Meanwhile, I'll try to push out parts the best I can, but my pace might be a bit slower than usually. Anyway, like I said, I have one of those earlier promised parts ready, and that's the Nealia part. It's a pretty short one, but at least it gives you something to vote for. I've made progress with the one-off PoV too, but painfully slowly, so I decided it's better to just post the Nealia part now and move on. So, here it is:
Nealia
Nealia felt weak as she walked across the busy street. Manda stayed by her side, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She a… [view original content]
Ah damn, those aren't happy news I mean, I wouldn't mind the longer wait between parts, but we are sooo close to the finale of Book 1 and I can't even put into words how excited I am for that! Of course, I am excited for the things to follow as well, but you know how eagerly I await the end of the first book of NW. But well, as long as your motivation always comes back, that's a good thing, especially if parts continue to pour out inbetween even if maybe taking a couple days longer than usual. I was actually waiting to answer to our PM until the first book is finished, but now I kinda doubt that'll happen before the end of February, so I'll gotta answer faster than that
Yeah, I am kind of bummed about this as well, because I really had the drive and determination last month to push out the rest of Book 1 with a very rapid pace. However, a part of what has slowed me down now are the other projects that I need to take care of. It's not really even a time issue though, I'm just bad at concetrating on several projects simultaniously, and obviously sometimes I just have to prioritize my concentration on the uni projects. But yeah, perhaps better not to wait until the end of Book 1 with the PM, it might still take a while
Ah damn, those aren't happy news I mean, I wouldn't mind the longer wait between parts, but we are sooo close to the finale of Book 1 and I… more can't even put into words how excited I am for that! Of course, I am excited for the things to follow as well, but you know how eagerly I await the end of the first book of NW. But well, as long as your motivation always comes back, that's a good thing, especially if parts continue to pour out inbetween even if maybe taking a couple days longer than usual. I was actually waiting to answer to our PM until the first book is finished, but now I kinda doubt that'll happen before the end of February, so I'll gotta answer faster than that
Now, for the part itself, that was just heartbreaking. Sure, it was a good idea to visit Lien, but damn that hurt to see her like this. She deserved better, that's just brutal. And this will lead to problems down the road. Because she'll need years to recover, probably th… [view original content]
Yeah, no doubt here, especially university projects absolutely should be priority stuff. I know what you mean with that, I am also not particularly good at concentrating on several things at once, a reason just why it takes me so long to finish the H&L's I have planned out for such a long time now. I can't write them while having an FoT part in the making and I can't concentrate on FoT while having an unfinished H&L. That means I'd have to outright pause writing FoT for about two days to finish writing down an H&L and more often than not, I rather opt to not keep the readership waiting and instead push the H&L to when I have time (like when I'm on vacation, where I commonly write so much more than usual). But yeah, I kinda hoped for the book to be finished before the end of this month, but after anxiously waiting for way over a year for a conclusion to this part of the Great Other/R'hllor storyline, I'm certain I can wait some time longer without losing my mind
Out of curiosity though, how many parts would you say are left in the entirety of this book? I suppose we'll get at least one more PoV from Nym, Dalia, Kris, Dianna, Tomas, Gwen, Naemon, Jamison and Kortney and maybe another for Emerson and Ortheg, as well as at least one minor PoV whose part is currently in the works. Means, correct me if I'm wrong, it will be about ten parts until we know how Book 1 ends, eh? I definitely should write my reply to the PM first, I just hoped I could time it so that I could further discuss some of the points there with the knew information the end of Book 1 should bring, now I kinda have to improvise
Ah damn, those aren't happy news I mean, I wouldn't mind the longer wait between parts, but we are sooo close to the finale of Book 1 and I… more can't even put into words how excited I am for that! Of course, I am excited for the things to follow as well, but you know how eagerly I await the end of the first book of NW. But well, as long as your motivation always comes back, that's a good thing, especially if parts continue to pour out inbetween even if maybe taking a couple days longer than usual. I was actually waiting to answer to our PM until the first book is finished, but now I kinda doubt that'll happen before the end of February, so I'll gotta answer faster than that
Yeah, I am kind of bummed about this as well, because I really had the drive and determination last month to push out the rest of Book 1 with a very rapid pace. However, a part of what has slowed me down now are the other projects that I need to take care of. It's no… [view original content]
Yeah, no doubt here, especially university projects absolutely should be priority stuff. I know what you mean with that, I am also not parti… morecularly good at concentrating on several things at once, a reason just why it takes me so long to finish the H&L's I have planned out for such a long time now. I can't write them while having an FoT part in the making and I can't concentrate on FoT while having an unfinished H&L. That means I'd have to outright pause writing FoT for about two days to finish writing down an H&L and more often than not, I rather opt to not keep the readership waiting and instead push the H&L to when I have time (like when I'm on vacation, where I commonly write so much more than usual). But yeah, I kinda hoped for the book to be finished before the end of this month, but after anxiously waiting for way over a year for a conclusion to this part of the Great Other/R'hllor storyline, I'm certain I can wait some… [view original content]
Ehhhh, as much as I'd love for a Starfall reunion for Nealia, I believe Liquid puts up a good argument here. Nealia is best with Lien and Ying for now, hopefully there will be other times for Nealia to take them to Starfall with her.
Hey! I've got a bit of an update for you, and one of the parts that I promised earlier. First of all, apologies for taking so long. I've lea… morerned over the past couple years that my creativity and inspiration for writing this story seems to come in waves, and sadly right now it's in a bit of a nadir. Not to worry though, I know it'll bounce back in time, it always does. Meanwhile, I'll try to push out parts the best I can, but my pace might be a bit slower than usually. Anyway, like I said, I have one of those earlier promised parts ready, and that's the Nealia part. It's a pretty short one, but at least it gives you something to vote for. I've made progress with the one-off PoV too, but painfully slowly, so I decided it's better to just post the Nealia part now and move on. So, here it is:
Nealia
Nealia felt weak as she walked across the busy street. Manda stayed by her side, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She a… [view original content]
Yeah, you are right, though at the same time, compared to the ones I mentioned, I could just as well see his storyline for the book ending where we last saw him. The others have storylines that are at a place where they simply aren't finished yet for this book, there's still significant plot points that need to be resolved, such as the war with House Dryland, the Great Other/R'hllor confrontation, Dianna's escape from the Ironborn or the wedding of Jamison and Isabella (which I am very confident with guessing we'll see it from Jamison's PoV and not from Isabella's). Verro is at a slightly different point, where I could see his latest part making for a decent finale for his storyline in this book, but if more is to come, I could see it more likely that he'll get two additional parts instead of one, because for the time being, his future direction for the time skip seems to be all set up already. I am honestly not sure if any remaining PoV will get more than one additional part before the end of the book, it seems kinda late for two parts, but I was wrong before. Guess we'll see it in time
Out of curiosity though, how many parts would you say are left in the entirety of this book? I suppose we'll get at least one more PoV from Nym, Dalia, Kris, Dianna, Tomas, Gwen, Naemon, Jamison and Kortney and maybe another for Emerson and Ortheg, as well as at least one minor PoV whose part is currently in the works. Means, correct me if I'm wrong, it will be about ten parts until we know how Book 1 ends, eh? I definitely should write my reply to the PM first, I just hoped I could time it so that I could further discuss some of the points there with the knew information the end of Book 1 should bring, now I kinda have to improvise
Well I did some counting, and I'd say there is still 12-15 parts left in this chapter (though I'll try to post two parts simultaniously as often as I can), and then the epilogue to finish off Book 1. For some PoVs I know that I can conclude their storyline in one part (and some PoVs have already had their last part), but with others I feel like two more parts will be needed. But yeah, it's up to you of course, if you want to wait it out to be able to delve more into future speculation with your PM then that's fine by me, but at this point it's pretty clear that Book 1 won't be finished during this month.
Yeah, no doubt here, especially university projects absolutely should be priority stuff. I know what you mean with that, I am also not parti… morecularly good at concentrating on several things at once, a reason just why it takes me so long to finish the H&L's I have planned out for such a long time now. I can't write them while having an FoT part in the making and I can't concentrate on FoT while having an unfinished H&L. That means I'd have to outright pause writing FoT for about two days to finish writing down an H&L and more often than not, I rather opt to not keep the readership waiting and instead push the H&L to when I have time (like when I'm on vacation, where I commonly write so much more than usual). But yeah, I kinda hoped for the book to be finished before the end of this month, but after anxiously waiting for way over a year for a conclusion to this part of the Great Other/R'hllor storyline, I'm certain I can wait some… [view original content]
12-15, I see, very interesting. In that case, I could actually see Verro receiving another part, whereas Nym is probably going to get 2, including the actual chapter finale. Maybe Gwen and/or Dalia as well, depending on how close the confrontation truly is. And well, I think I'll try to answer more quickly then. You know I have a bit of a backlog when it comes to PM's in either way, so we'll see, it might be that I will only get the time to answer once there is more to speculate and discuss either way, but I definitely won't explicitly wait for this to write my PM
Out of curiosity though, how many parts would you say are left in the entirety of this book? I suppose we'll get at least one more PoV from … moreNym, Dalia, Kris, Dianna, Tomas, Gwen, Naemon, Jamison and Kortney and maybe another for Emerson and Ortheg, as well as at least one minor PoV whose part is currently in the works. Means, correct me if I'm wrong, it will be about ten parts until we know how Book 1 ends, eh? I definitely should write my reply to the PM first, I just hoped I could time it so that I could further discuss some of the points there with the knew information the end of Book 1 should bring, now I kinda have to improvise
Well I did some counting, and I'd say there is still 12-15 parts left in this chapter (though I'll try to post two parts simultaniously as often as I can), and then the epilogue to finish off Book 1. For some PoVs I know that I can conclude their storyline in one part (and some PoVs have already had their… [view original content]
Hey! I've got a bit of an update for you, and one of the parts that I promised earlier. First of all, apologies for taking so long. I've lea… morerned over the past couple years that my creativity and inspiration for writing this story seems to come in waves, and sadly right now it's in a bit of a nadir. Not to worry though, I know it'll bounce back in time, it always does. Meanwhile, I'll try to push out parts the best I can, but my pace might be a bit slower than usually. Anyway, like I said, I have one of those earlier promised parts ready, and that's the Nealia part. It's a pretty short one, but at least it gives you something to vote for. I've made progress with the one-off PoV too, but painfully slowly, so I decided it's better to just post the Nealia part now and move on. So, here it is:
Nealia
Nealia felt weak as she walked across the busy street. Manda stayed by her side, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She a… [view original content]
Hey! I've got a bit of an update for you, and one of the parts that I promised earlier. First of all, apologies for taking so long. I've lea… morerned over the past couple years that my creativity and inspiration for writing this story seems to come in waves, and sadly right now it's in a bit of a nadir. Not to worry though, I know it'll bounce back in time, it always does. Meanwhile, I'll try to push out parts the best I can, but my pace might be a bit slower than usually. Anyway, like I said, I have one of those earlier promised parts ready, and that's the Nealia part. It's a pretty short one, but at least it gives you something to vote for. I've made progress with the one-off PoV too, but painfully slowly, so I decided it's better to just post the Nealia part now and move on. So, here it is:
Nealia
Nealia felt weak as she walked across the busy street. Manda stayed by her side, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She a… [view original content]
And Nealia will stay with Lien and Ying. Alrighty, this choice will above anything else determine where and how Nealia's storyline in Book 2 will begin. There is a small chance I'll change my mind, but I'm pretty sure this was her last part in Book 1!
Now, about that one-off PoV I promised earlier. I basically scratched my earlier process with the part yesterday and started from the beginning, and this time I've made progress much quicker. In fact, I'm fairly confident I'll get it done later today. And well, I guess I could reveal that this part will take place in Lemonwood
Flames danced on the torch, illuminating the grey stone walls of the dungeon cell under the castle of Lemonwood. Efran Dalt, the Lord of Lemonwood, sat by the wall with the keys in his hands. His prisoner, Adian Dalt, sat on the other side of the room, dirty and pale from weeks spent in captivity. Tense silence lingered in the room, as the moment of truth creeped closer.
“This might be your last day as a prisoner”, Efran stated calmly, gazing at Adian with his one eye. “And my last day as a lord… or well, just last day, period.”
“I… I’m sorry”, Adian muttered awkwardly, to which Efran chuckled in amusement. “Why would you be?” He asked with a sigh, and with a gulp Adian turned his gaze down. “Byrron suggests that I should blackmail your father by threatening to kill you”, Efran continued, not waiting for an answer.
“And… are you going to do that?” Adian asked quietly. Efran stayed quiet for a moment, studying Adian’s face, seeing the fear in his eyes, and how his lower lip trembled ever so slightly. “Do you think it would work?” he finally asked, a subtle smirk forming on his face.
“I don’t know”, Adian answered, and his tone seemed genuine. “Dallin cares for me, but I’m not sure if he would value my life over the future of this house.”
“The future of this house”, Efran repeated Adian’s words quietly, an intense gaze in his eye. “Does he think that my rule would destroy House Dalt?”
“In truth, I don’t think he sees you as a Dalt”, Adian replied quickly, and for a brief moment there was an uncharacteristic sharpness in his eyes. Efran chuckled softly at his words, turning his gaze down for a moment. “Perhaps I’m not”, he said nonchalantly, taking in a deep breath. “I may share your blood, but we are not family, not really. I was raised among killers, taught to be ruthless ever since I learned to walk, while you read your books and learned the proper ways of a nobleman.”
“Then why did you want to rule Lemonwood?” Adian asked carefully, to which Efran shrugged lazily. “To be honest, it was never something I truly desired”, he admitted. “However, Byrron made sure to keep reminding me that it was my birthright, and that it would be my duty to avenge Jaxar, the father I never got to know. The father Darin stole from me.”
“So, it was all for a vengeance?” Adian asked now, and Efran nodded. “Primarily, yes”, he confirmed with a hollow tone on his voice. “But I also thought that perhaps I could be something more than just a pirate or bandit, and my claim to Lemonwood was the opportunity to reach that.”
“But at what cost?” Adian asked grimly. Efran narrowed his eye, remaining quiet for a drawn out moment. “Many lives were lost, but it was hardly the first time that has happened”, he finally said coldly, managing to hide the regret from his words. “This world is ruled with steel and blood, and I only did what was required to defeat those born luckier than myself.”
Adian didn’t respond to this, and for a moment the room remained silent. Then, Efran stood up and grabbed the torch from its holder. “I will not follow Byrron’s advice”, he stated calmly, looking his prisoner to the eyes. “If your father wins, he’ll find you and the rest of his family from down here. And if he loses… well, then we can have another conversation.” With these words Efran walked out of the cell, closing and locking the door behind him.
Efran arrived to the courtyard, where his troops were preparing for a battle. He saw Ser Axel commanding his men with a stern tone, holding the battle axe in his hands. The troops didn’t look very eager though, and who could blame them. Everyone knew their chances to be slim ever since the news about Santagar’s and Ladybright’s joining forces with Ser Dallin and Lord Byrant had arrived.
Efran headed towards the main keep, but on his way he was approached by Ser Byrron Granit. “Mylord, the enemy will arrive within an hour”, he informed sternly, taking in a deep breath. “If I may suggest once more…”
“I will not run and hide”, Efran cut off Byrron before he could finish his sentence. “We didn’t work years take this city just to give it up at the first sight of threat, did we?”
“No, but if you were to hide now, you’d have the chance to gather more men and strike again”, Byrron argued, to which Efran just chuckled coldly and shook his head. “No, Byrron, this war ends today, one way or the other”, he said with determination that left no room for arguing. And so, he walked past Byrron and in from the doors of the main keep, and made his way to the lord’s chambers.
Opening the door and stepping in, Efran saw Lady Elise sitting by the table with her bastard son Athen. The boy looked frightened and nervous as always, and there was concern in Elise’s eyes.
“Afternoon”, Efran greeted calmly, and they both shifted their attention to him. “My love”, Elise replied, a small smile forming on her face. Efran did love Elise, but that was not the base that their relationship stood on. No, it was trust. Efran knew Elise to be one of the few people that he could fully rely on, perhaps the only one aside from Byrron.
“You don’t have to stay, Elise”, Efran said with a subtle gulp, and the smile faded from her face. “Take your son, and go somewhere safe before it’s too late. I know I promised a good life for you here, but if I lose the battle today…”
Elise stood up from her chair, and rushed to kiss Efran, effectively cutting him off. “I will not abandon you”, she said as they separated, grasping his hands in a tight grab. “I am yours, and you are mine. I will fight by your side today, and nothing can change my mind.”
“The odds are stacked against us, Elise”, Efran said with a sigh. “And what of your son?”
Elise glanced at Athen with a gulp, uncertainty flashing in her eyes for a split second, before she regained her composure and confidence, and shifted her eyes back to Efran. “I’ve told him to plead for Ser Dallin’s mercy in case we are defeated”, she explained calmly. “He is a knight, he wouldn’t harm an innocent child.”
“I hope so, for the boy’s sake”, Efran said sternly, looking at the boy timidly sitting by the table. Elise put her hand on his cheek, which made him shift his attention back to her. “We haven’t lost yet, my love”, she whispered, leaning her forehead against his. “And today we’ll fight for our lives, future and our love.”
-
The sun had already began to set, and the battle had been going on for a while when Efran led his cavalry down the main street of Lemonwood. The defenders on the walls of the city were being overwhelmed, and Efran was certain there were already troops of Dallin inside the city. However, he wouldn’t bother chasing them, he would strike on the head of the snake. The leaders of the army stood outside the walls, behind the frontlines, and that was where Efran wanted to attack.
With Byrron and Elise beside him, and about a forty riders behind him, Efran rode through the market square, now approaching the western gates of the city. They halted about a hundred feet away from the gates, and Efran turned his gaze to Byrron. He gave him a subtle nod, and the Granit knight rose a war horn on his lips, and blew to it. As the majestic echoed in the air, the guards started opening the gates.
About a dozen infantrymen of the attackers rushed in form the opened gates, but they turned around quickly as they saw Efran leading a charge straight towards them. They cut through them like hot knife through butter, and Efran took down three men with his Valyrian steel sword.
They rushed out of the gates into the crude fields outside the city, the ground trembling and dust whirling under the hooves. From here they could see the attackers scaling the western walls, while the defenders desperately tried to hold them back. However, on the hill southwest of the city stood the cavalry of the enemy. Among them Efran could see banners of Dalt, Granit, Bravespear, Santagar, Ladybright, and even Martell. The cavalry had took notice of their charge out of the city, and begun to re-assemble their lines to face towards Efran’s riders. The moment of truth, Efran thought with nervous excitement, grasping tightly to the hilt of his sword.
The horns sounded in the distance, and the enemy riders raised their shields, as well as their spears, swords and lances, ready to charge. Then the horn sounded again, and the enemy began their charge. Efran raised his glimmering sword towards the sky that was painted red by the setting sun, and turned to look at his men. “Forward, brothers!” he roared, and so they charged against the enemy.
On the first clashing Efran deflected a spear aimed at his head, and dropped a Santagar rider from his horse. Many of his troops fell, but Byrron and Elise both remained standing as they regrouped for the next charge. If the numbers had been against them in the first charge, now the difference was even clearer. There was perhaps twenty of them left, while the enemy cavalry still had close to a hundred riders standing.
“To death!” Efran roared from the bottom of his lungs, leading the charge again. He didn’t even care if his troops were following, he would die fighting to the end. And then he saw it, charging right towards him – Ser Dallin Dalt. It had to be, he looked so much like Darin, and he had the same eyes as Adian.
With deadly precision, Efran slashed past Dallin’s shield, and opened his throat. As the chaos ensued around him, he saw the Dalt knight falling from his horse, dead. A satisfied grin formed on Efran’s face, and he closed his eyes, ready to die. A couple seconds passed, before someone thrust their spear into his chest. Then came another, and the third one knocked him down from his horse. The red sky above Lemonwood was the last thing Efran saw.
Aha, I expected Lemonwood! What I did not expect though is that Efran himself will end up as the PoV, I would have guessed Elise or Byrron, so you certainly surprised me there. And what can I say, I am glad we got Verro out of there. I really doubt this would have ended kindly for him if he would have remained by Efran's side, but that was to be expected after most of his allies abandoned him after he actually conquered Lemonwood.
I must say, Efran appeared almost reasonable in this part, emphasis on almost. That was up until he seemed genuinely surprised that Dallin is under the impression he seeks to destroy House Dalt. I mean, we got a man who finally admitted himself that he is not even entirely sure he has Dalt blood, he conquered the Dalt seat and he killed how many Dalt's before that statement? Two? Three? Top of that, he made it clear that he wants to kill every Dalt that is not himself. That was the moment where he turned from reasonable to delusional. Maybe he genuinely considered himself reasonable, but at core, he was a mad dog and he was lying to himself with all this. I am curious what happened to Byrron and Elise though. Being by his side, the implication is that they both died, but we haven't seen it, which leaves some slight chance for them to survive. Especially Elise, being a young woman and all, is usually one to get captured if the chance comes up, so I wouldn't be too surprised if we haven't seen the last of her or Byrron. Considering how loyal they were to Efran, his death at the hands of troops allied with House Martell could leave them vengeful and since the whole conspiracy storyline will likely be expanded in Book 2, maybe they'll join it with the last of Efran's loyalists. Or maybe they are dead, but since it hasn't been seen, that'd be just speculation at this point.
The Bastard’s Bastard
Flames danced on the torch, illuminating the grey stone walls of the dungeon cell under the castle of Lemonwood. Ef… moreran Dalt, the Lord of Lemonwood, sat by the wall with the keys in his hands. His prisoner, Adian Dalt, sat on the other side of the room, dirty and pale from weeks spent in captivity. Tense silence lingered in the room, as the moment of truth creeped closer.
“This might be your last day as a prisoner”, Efran stated calmly, gazing at Adian with his one eye. “And my last day as a lord… or well, just last day, period.”
“I… I’m sorry”, Adian muttered awkwardly, to which Efran chuckled in amusement. “Why would you be?” He asked with a sigh, and with a gulp Adian turned his gaze down. “Byrron suggests that I should blackmail your father by threatening to kill you”, Efran continued, not waiting for an answer.
“And… are you going to do that?” Adian asked quietly. Efran stayed quiet for a moment, studying… [view original content]
Well, we knew this was going to happen. Now Nymeria has full control over southeastern Dorne, and the alliance with House Toland and Gargalen will allow her to expand westwards. Once Vaith is taken over, besides the desert, there will be almost nothing to prevent the siege of Hellgate Hall.
The Bastard’s Bastard
Flames danced on the torch, illuminating the grey stone walls of the dungeon cell under the castle of Lemonwood. Ef… moreran Dalt, the Lord of Lemonwood, sat by the wall with the keys in his hands. His prisoner, Adian Dalt, sat on the other side of the room, dirty and pale from weeks spent in captivity. Tense silence lingered in the room, as the moment of truth creeped closer.
“This might be your last day as a prisoner”, Efran stated calmly, gazing at Adian with his one eye. “And my last day as a lord… or well, just last day, period.”
“I… I’m sorry”, Adian muttered awkwardly, to which Efran chuckled in amusement. “Why would you be?” He asked with a sigh, and with a gulp Adian turned his gaze down. “Byrron suggests that I should blackmail your father by threatening to kill you”, Efran continued, not waiting for an answer.
“And… are you going to do that?” Adian asked quietly. Efran stayed quiet for a moment, studying… [view original content]
Oh wow I can't say I was expecting this one! When I heard that it would be a PoV from Lemonwood, I was actually thinking it would be Ser Dallin or someone from Nymeria's side not Efran himself! With that said, it really is a nice surprise and this was a very enjoyable part! Seeing this unfold from Efran's PoV definitely displayed him in a different way than how I had perceived him so far and it showed me that Efran very much lives up to his reputation. Up to this point, I had perceived Efran as someone who had only succeeded because of the power he had gained from the allies he had bought rather than anything particularly special about him especially after he had to be saved from clear defeat by a middle aged Darin. Along with that, if I remember correctly this was the only real combat we had witnessed from him in the story so I hadn't really been too impressed by Efran's actual combat ability but this part definitely changed that! He knew he was defeated so he went out and took down Ser Dallin before he was overwhelmed by the numbers which admittedly was really beast and in a way this was probably the best ending that Efran could have hoped for considering he had basically no chance of holding off the superior numbers.
Also I just realized something, Ser Dallin may just win the award of being the weakest knight in the entire story He ran and left Dianna to die after her troops were overwhelmed by the Ironborn which I gave him a pass on since the odds were against them but then he gets owned one on one by the man that he was trying to stop in Efran Which it is clear that Efran's reign is over so he has succeeded but man combat definitely wasn't Dallin's strong suit! Anyway, this was a really awesome part and what I would say will be the conclusion of the Dalt storyline and I will say that it was very enjoyable and I am excited to see what will come of some of the other characters from it here such as Elise and Ser Byrron.
The Bastard’s Bastard
Flames danced on the torch, illuminating the grey stone walls of the dungeon cell under the castle of Lemonwood. Ef… moreran Dalt, the Lord of Lemonwood, sat by the wall with the keys in his hands. His prisoner, Adian Dalt, sat on the other side of the room, dirty and pale from weeks spent in captivity. Tense silence lingered in the room, as the moment of truth creeped closer.
“This might be your last day as a prisoner”, Efran stated calmly, gazing at Adian with his one eye. “And my last day as a lord… or well, just last day, period.”
“I… I’m sorry”, Adian muttered awkwardly, to which Efran chuckled in amusement. “Why would you be?” He asked with a sigh, and with a gulp Adian turned his gaze down. “Byrron suggests that I should blackmail your father by threatening to kill you”, Efran continued, not waiting for an answer.
“And… are you going to do that?” Adian asked quietly. Efran stayed quiet for a moment, studying… [view original content]
Hello again! So, there is no voting to close this time, but I wanted to give you a little update regarding the next parts. I am currently working on two parts, Nymeria and Kris being the PoVs. I have made some progress, but these are very important parts (especially the Kris one), so I really want to take my time to make sure I'm satisfied with them. Now, it is possible that I'll already have them done tomorrow, but perhaps a more realistic promise is that they will be posted before the weekend.
I imagine you remember pretty well where these characters are, but a very short recap anyway: Nymeria defeated the Dryland armies at the Battle of Godsgrace Bridge, and after that the Fallen Dragons arrived with the Gargalen hostages. Valor suggested that Nymeria should wait for Jeremie Gargalen to come of age before making her decision regarding who will inherit the lordship of Salt Shore from Lord Jorvian, who fell in the battle. As for Kris, he is traveling with Dalia, Desirea, Mother Minesa, Belan the Brave and the former slave who calls himself Hangman. In Dalia's latest part they arrived to the Scourge, and Dalia had a little chat with her daughter about the concerning things she had seen in the flames. However, when asked Dalia decided to not share the details about these visions with Kris, Belan and Hangman.
but these are very important parts (especially the Kris one)
Oh my god, oh my goodness, it is happening at last, isn't it? I predict the Kris part will start the long-dreaded confrontation and then either a Gwen or Dalia part to continue and possibly end it. Until then, don't mind me, I'm just slowly hyperventilating back here. Gosh, I'm pretty sure this is going to be one hell of a long week
Hello again! So, there is no voting to close this time, but I wanted to give you a little update regarding the next parts. I am currently wo… morerking on two parts, Nymeria and Kris being the PoVs. I have made some progress, but these are very important parts (especially the Kris one), so I really want to take my time to make sure I'm satisfied with them. Now, it is possible that I'll already have them done tomorrow, but perhaps a more realistic promise is that they will be posted before the weekend.
I imagine you remember pretty well where these characters are, but a very short recap anyway: Nymeria defeated the Dryland armies at the Battle of Godsgrace Bridge, and after that the Fallen Dragons arrived with the Gargalen hostages. Valor suggested that Nymeria should wait for Jeremie Gargalen to come of age before making her decision regarding who will inherit the lordship of Salt Shore from Lord Jorvian, who fell in the battle. As for Kris, he … [view original content]
Hello again! So, first of all, sorry for the long wait, but once you see the combined length of these two parts I'm sure you understand why it took a while Add to that the fact that there have been many other things keeping me preoccupied throughout the week. Nonetheless, I hope these parts were worth the wait. Without further ado:
Nymeria
The river Vaith ran low, and the red sands around it were shimmering under the blazing hot sun. Nymeria’s army had marched towards the city of Vaith for a couple of days now, advancing slowly but surely. They had left Lady Delena Gargalen and her son Jeremie to Godsgrace for Lady Esperence to look after, but kept Gabby and Bridget with the army. They weren’t kept in shackles, since they had both knelt and sworn their allegiance to Nymeria and House Martell, but for all intents and purposes they were still hostages. After all, Salt Shore was currently controlled by Eli Sand, and Nymeria would not blindly trust on the loyalty of a bastard girl she had never met. They also still had Harbert and Howar Uller as hostages, whereas Mizro the Sharp had joined the Rose Company.
Nymeria stood next to her tent, watching as the troops made their way to the river to bath and refill their flasks. The camp was spread thin right along the riverside, making the distance between the vanguard and rearguard over a mile. At the vanguard were the sellswords, most importantly the Fallen Dragons. Behind them came the Rhoynar warriors and Martell soldiers, led by Nymeria, Mors and Varyn. Then came the vassal forces, at the very rear being the soldiers of House Allyrion, led by Emmett Allyrion.
Nymeria saw Mors, Varyn and Edd Prally conversing by the council pavilion, but instead of going to them she decided to head towards Valor Veltaris’ tent. She walked through the camp, her guards Nesea and Jadisha following close behind. Arriving to Valor’s tent, she noticed it was guarded by two soldiers. One was Olyvar Forrester, the man Nymeria had met in Sandship, while the other was a young boy with olive skin and dark hair. Nymeria couldn’t be sure, but to her the boy looked Rhoynar.
“Princess Nymeria”, the two said in unison and bowed to her. “Is you commander here?” Nymeria asked calmly, and Olyvar nodded, a subtle smirk on his face. “Aye, you’ve come to see him?” He asked, and Nymeria nodded. “Alright, come in then”, Olyvar said, turning to push aside the curtain that worked as a door. Nymeria turned to her guards, giving them a small nod to indicate that they could wait outside.
Stepping into the tent, Nymeria saw Valor sitting by a small table, Bridget Gargalen opposed to him. They both looked a bit surprised by Nymeria’s presence, but after a brief moment of awkward silence Bridget stood up and gave Nymeria a small bow. “Your Grace, I was just about to leave”, she explained, though her hesitating tone revealed it to be a lie. Nonetheless, Nymeria gave her a small nod.
As the Gargalen lady walked out of the tent, Nymeria took the seat opposed to Valor. “Having a little chat with our prisoner?” she asked nonchalantly as she sat down, and Valor let out a small sigh. “I was asking her how Gabby had reacted to your decision to wait for Jeremie to come of age”, he clarified.
“And?” Nymeria urged the Valyrian commander to continue, and he took in a deep breath before speaking up again. “Apparently she hasn’t been particularly talkative lately”, he said sternly. “Bridget thinks it’s just because she is so crushed by their father’s death.”
“And Bridget isn’t?” Nymeria asked with a raised eyebrow. “We all have our own ways to handle grief”, Valor responded quickly, tapping the surface of the table lightly with his fingers. “Bridget is the sort of person that carries herself with dignity no matter the situation, but it’s clear that her father’s death still pains her.”
“You seem to know her well, despite just meeting her a couple weeks ago”, Nymeria stated with an intrigued tone. “I don’t claim to know her, but I know her kind”, Valor replied smoothly. “She is a good woman, smart and humble.”
“And beautiful”, Nymeria added, her lips forming a tiny smirk, to which Valor chuckled awkwardly. “Yes, beautiful as well”, he admitted with a subtle gulp. “Anyway, I imagine you had a reason to come and see me, Your Grace”, Valor quickly changed the topic, and Nymeria nodded.
“So far you have been a great help in my efforts to win this war, but I still hardly know you”, she stated with a calm and quiet tone, her eyes studying the Valyrian commander’s face as she spoke. “I’m sure you understand that I have a certain amount of prejudice against you.”
“Yes, that is definitely understandable”, Valor replied calmly, considering his next words for a moment. “In many ways the Freehold is the greatest civilization the world has ever seen. Its scholars and sorcerers have a deep and comprehensive understanding of this world and how it works, its artists craft works of art more complex than anyone else, its poets use the beautiful tongue of Valyria to convey meaningful thoughts and philosophies, and the dragons give it strength comparable to that of gods. However, I fear all this sophistication and power has made Valyrians arrogant, blind to the beauty and wisdom of other cultures, as well as to the value of human life.”
“How wise of you to understand this”, Nymeria commented dryly. “By the way, you are not the first Valyrian I’ve met after my arrival in Dorne”, she continued quickly, and Valor narrowed his eyes. “I’m not?” he asked with a mildly surprised tone.
“A girl named Eraehra Galnaris visited Sandship, if only because the ship carrying her got damaged near the coast of Dorne”, Nymeria explained, and Valor nodded with an understanding expression on his face. “I have met the Galnaris family, long ago”, he said. “I imagine you treated this girl well?”
“I did”, Nymeria confirmed with a small sigh. “At first just seeing her made me feel pure anger, and I am almost ashamed of some of the initial thoughts I had. However, it was clear that she was just an innocent girl, someone who had no part in the destruction that my people had to face. You on the other hand…”
“I have apologized for my part in the war”, Valor said tensely, and Nymeria could spot a touch of nervousness in his words. “I know”, she replied coldly. “You said earlier that seeing the death and destruction brought upon Rhoyne disillusioned you from the glory of the Freehold. However, disillusioned or not, abandoning your own people is quite a drastic move to make, some would even say reckless. What exactly was it that made you do it?”
“It was a decision I came to after a long series of events, each making me more and more cynical towards the Freehold and its dragonlords”, Valor said with a deep sigh, turning his gaze down. “The first thing that I was unhappy with was the utter destruction of Sarhoy. At that point the war had barely begun, and I thought the dragonlords did what they did to give a stern warning for all the people of Rhoyne. Nonetheless, burning down the whole city and salting the lands around it felt unnecessary and excessively cruel, and all it did was escalate the conflict. Still I managed to convince myself that perhaps it was necessary in order to defend Volantis. Later came the battle at Volon Therys, which somewhat reinforced this feeling. The power that your water wizards showed that day was as impressive as it was terrifying. Part of me believed that unless help would arrive from Valyria, Volantis itself would be the next to be flooded, its people drowned by the command of Prince Garin. And then help arrived, three hundred dragonriders. The great families of the Freehold had decided to bring the Rhoynar resistance to an end, no matter the cost. I wasn’t terribly fond of this approach, but I also remembered my troops drowning in Volon Therys and thought once again that perhaps this was necessary. And so, we marched up the Rhoyne, defeated Prince Garin’s armies and reconquered the Volantene settlements. With Garin as our prisoner and his armies destroyed, the war was already won. However, the dragonlords’ hunger for destruction was yet to be satisfied, and Sar Mell was the first to suffer their wrath. I saw children being put to chains as they watched their homes being reduced to ashes. Only a man with no heart could see that without feeling contempt towards his own. After that we marched up towards Chroyane, burning down every village and town on the way, and I simply couldn’t convince myself anymore that any of it was necessary. It was simply cruelty for the sake of cruelty, and I decided I couldn’t take part in it any longer and still be able look myself in the mirror.”
“They call you the Fallen Dragon, but as I see it you rose above the rest of your kind when you left them behind”, Nymeria said with a genuinely respectful tone. Valor smiled at her words, though there was a hint of grief in his lilac eyes. “No doubt half of your people would rather see me dead than marching beside you”, he said sullenly.
“Perhaps, but I also know that some of them respect you”, Nymeria responded calmly. Valor looked at her with disbelief and confusion. “You jest, right?” he said with a little chuckle, but Nymeria shook her head. “General Varyn hates Valyrians as much as any man of Rhoyne who saw the terror their dragons brought, but he spoke quite highly of you back when Forovos first brought up the possibility of hiring you”, she explained, and now Valor nodded understandingly. “I see, he respects me as a commander”, he deduced calmly.
“He does, but I think he also respects the fact that you left the Valyrian army when you saw the true extent of their cruelty”, Nymeria spoke with a friendly tone. A moment of silence followed, until finally Valor spoke up again. “It is clear you are not someone who would want to take away other people’s way of life or destroy their culture. So, why do you want to conquer Dorne?” he asked with an interested tone, looking Nymeria to the eyes.
“There are a couple reasons”, Nymeria said with a sigh, after considering her answer for a moment. “Most importantly, I see it as the only way for the Rhoynar culture to survive. On the other hand, when I look at Dorne, I see a fragmented land full of internal conflicts. Meanwhile the other kingdoms of Westeros grow stronger, more unified. If Dorne doesn’t unite under one banner, it is only a question of time before it will be conquered by either the Gardeners or the Durrandons. For them this land would be just an unimportant corner in their kingdom, its people and lords having little worth aside from presenting more taxes and resources for some faraway king, who will never see them as his own. However, if Dorne unites now under the banner of Sun and Spear, they will have an identity they can be proud of. Unified under one banner Dorne will never bend, bow or break against any invader from the north.”
“You are truly ambitious, my princess, I admire that”, Valor complimented softly. “However, don’t you think many here see you as much as an outsider as they would see the Gardeners or Durrandons?”
Nymeria nodded calmly, and stood up from her chair. “Yes, but I intend to prove them wrong”, she replied sharply, flashing Valor one more smirk before she walked out of his tent.
-
After a couple more days of traveling, they finally arrived to Vaith. It was a small town, even smaller than Godsgrace. The walls around it were old, and not particularly high or sturdy looking. Perhaps they were strong enough to keep bandits and desert tribes from raiding the city, but not much more.
“Not quite as beautiful as Godsgrace”, Mors commented with a light-hearted tone. “I was a kid the last time I was here. Don’t remember much, but I do remember being really bored.”
“If you were bored I can only imagine how bored your brother must’ve been”, Nymeria replied, and Mors chuckled warmly. “I’m pretty sure he was still young to travel so far and was left back to Sandship”, he said. Just then Varyn approached them.
“My princess, my prince, I’ve now sent the messenger to the gates”, he informed with a dry and professional tone. “We should know soon what kind of welcome awaits us here.”
“In case they won’t surrender peacefully, we should be able to overwhelm their defenses with ease”, Mors stated confidently, and Varyn nodded in agreement. “Indeed, though if the losses are too great, we might have to push our march to Brimstone for later”, he said with his cynical tone.
“Vaith troops submitted to Lucifer only after losing a battle against his armies, and Lady Esperence mentioned having been in contact with Lady Myra”, Nymeria remarked strictly. “I think we can trust that they will want to cooperate.”
“Maybe so”, Varyn replied quietly, turning his gaze towards the town. After a couple minutes of waiting, the messenger finally rode back from the gates, flying the orange sun and spear banner.
“Your Grace, I have been told that Lady Myra is in control of Vaith, and she will gladly open its gates for you”, the messenger said with a bow. And so, the Martell forces marched into the city with no resistance. People had gathered to the streets, and many seemed to be welcoming them with excitement. “It seems the people of Vaith didn’t much enjoy being under the rule of King Lucifer”, Mors commented, a charming grin on his face as they slowly rode through the central square of the town.
Entering through the gates of the castle, Nymeria immediately noticed a tall and dark-skinned woman standing in middle of the courtyard, surrounded by guards clad in the colors of House Vaith. As Nymeria and Mors dismounted their horses and approached the woman, she immediately kneeled, keeping her gaze down in a humble manner.
“You may stand up, Lady Myra”, Nymeria said calmly, and so she did. “Your Grace, it is an honor to finally meet you, after all the stories I’ve heard”, Myra spoke to her with an admiring tone, before turning her eyes to Mors. “And you as well Prince Mors. The city of Vaith is yours to command.”
“Where is your husband?” Mors asked curiously, glancing around to see if the lord was there. Myra’s expression soured slightly, and she took in a deep breath. “Lord Kris is not here”, she informed with a gulp. “He left some weeks ago, to… find my bastard daughter.”
“Has she been captured by someone?” Nymeria asked softly, but Myra quickly shook her head. “No, she… escaped”, she explained with some hesitation in her words. “It’s a complicated story, one better left for later.”
“I understand”, Nymeria replied calmly. Lord or not, the city is under my rule now, and Kris Vaith will have his opportunity to bend the knee later. “Now, please allow me to escort you to the council chamber, so we can have a more comfortable discussion”, Myra suggested politely, and they agreed. So they made their way into the keep, and to the doors of the council chamber. As they entered, a plump and grey-haired maester was already waiting by the table, and next to him sat a young boy, no more than three years old. The boy’s skin was of slightly lighter tone than Myra’s, he had a curly dark hair and bright green eyes.
“This is Maester Jason, and my son Nickon Vaith”, Lady Myra introduced as they approached the table. “Nickon, Jason, allow me to introduce you the Princess and Prince of Dorne, Nymeria and Mors Martell.”
The maester stood up from his seat to bow to them, whereas Nickon just looked at them with a confused expression on his face. “It is an honor, Your Grace”, Jason mumbled, and Nymeria gave him a small nod.
“Would you take Nickon to Henry for me, Jason?” Myra asked politely, and the maester nodded obediently. “Of course, mylady”, he responded, and proceeded to escort the boy out of the room. After they left, silence lingered in the room for a moment, until Myra cleared her throat to speak up again. “Lady Esperence has been in contact with me, and she has kneeling to you now is the smartest move to make”, she started calmly. “And I believe her. No doubt many lords and ladies of Dorne will hesitate to do it because they see you as an outsider, but I don’t have that issue. I am an outsider here as well, and I have managed to keep this city in order quite well, despite the continuous absence of my lord husband. I have no doubt you are more than capable to rule Dorne.”
“Thank you”, Nymeria responded gently, taking a seat by the table. “And in return for your submission, you can always count on House Martell’s protection and aid against all enemies.”
“Good, because I am sure King Lucifer will begin to plan his attack as soon as he hears that I have bent the knee to you”, Myra said with a touch of concern in her words. “I wouldn’t worry about that too much”, Mors interjected now. “With your support we surely have the power to crush Lucifer, and we also have the sons of his most important vassal as hostages.”
“I am relieved to hear this”, Myra said, taking in a deep breath. “However, I have one question for you. I’m sure you are aware that King Lucifer has no legitimate heir. He has only a bastard daughter whom has lived most of her life as a sellsword, and no other close relatives who could claim his title. If you indeed defeat Lucifer, whom do you plan to give the lordship of Hellgate Hall?”
[Say that Martell's will inherit Hellgate Hall] [Say that Uller's will inherit Hellgate Hall] [Say that you don't know yet]
-
Kris
”I don’t know”, Dalia said with a deep sigh, shifting her eyes away as she spoke. ”All I know is that a fight awaits us at the end of this journey, a battle against the servants of the dark.”
”We are ready for a fight”, Kris said confidently, tapping lightly on the hilt of his sword, the End of Night. Belan nodded to his words as well, stern determination in his eyes. ”Life and light will prevail over death and darkness”, he said confidently.
”Let us hope so”, Dalia replied with a small nod, before heading back to her daughter. Silence lingered in the air for a moment, until Hangman spoke up. ”She isn’t telling us everything”, he stated calmly, to which Kris raised an eyebrow. ”How so?” he asked.
”The way she spoke, the look on her eyes… there’s something she isn’t telling us about this fight that we are heading into”, Hangman said, a sharp look in his dark eyes. “Perhaps she has a reason for it”, Kris suggested calmly, and Hangman shrugged. “If you trust her, I trust you”, he said with a relaxed tone.
“I’m still a bit surprised that you chose to come with us, Hangman”, Kris changed the topic, eyeing the former slave with intrigue. “Especially since my mother is here as well.”
“I’ve never liked your mother, but she wasn’t the one who made me a slave”, Hangman said nonchalantly. “And she wasn’t the worst owner I had. Now that I’m a free man again, I choose to follow you.”
“I realize I’ve never asked you about your life before slavery”, Kris said calmly. “You were a man of Rhoyne, right?” A subtle smirk formed on Hangman’s face now, and he nodded. “Not just a man, I was a prince”, he said, and Kris narrowed his eyes, uncertain if he was being serious. “Hondo was my name, Hondo of Ghoyan Drohe. My father Javed ruled the city, and my older sister Khepri was his heir. I was a commander, thousands of men following my orders. All that was lost in the flames brought by the dragonlords of Valyria, and soon I was just another slave to be sold on the markets of Volantis. ‘Three golds for this stubborn bastard who refused to die in a hanging!’, shouted the slaver, which apparently impressed your mother.”
“I… I’m sorry to hear this”, Kris said with an uncertain tone, and Hondo chuckled warmly. “Don’t worry about it, mylord. I’ve learned to accept my past and be grateful for what I still have.”
“Do you know where your family is now?” Kris asked, and Hondo shook his head. “My father died in the war”, he started with a sigh. “As for my mother, brother and sisters… I hope they found a way to survive, as unlikely as it is.”
“If they did survive, it’s likely that they are here in Dorne”, Kris pointed out. “You should go to Princess Nymeria, and ask if your family is with them”, he suggested, but Hondo looked uncomfortable with the idea. “My family wouldn’t recognize me anymore”, he said grimly, but Kris just shook his head.
“Nonsense”, he insisted, looking Hondo to the eyes. “Do you really think your family wouldn’t be happy to see you again, after years of thinking that you were gone forever?”
“If they even are alive”, Hondo remarked dryly, and Kris grabbed him gently from the shoulder. “After we’re done with this mission, why not find out?” He asked with a smirk. “We’ll go to Princess Nymeria together, I’m kind of interested to meet her myself.”
“Aren’t you technically in war with her?” Hondo asked with an amused tone, and Kris shrugged. “A minor inconvenience”, he quipped, and they both laughed.
-
After a few more days of traveling towards the coast, Kris woke up one morning to rain drops falling on his face. Opening his eyes and raising up, it took him a moment to realize what was happening. The sky was grey with clouds and rain fell on the sand.
“It’s raining”, Kris heard Belan exclaiming with a confused tone behind him. “But it’s summer… this is not normal, right?”
“This is the work of our enemy”, Minesa stated grimly, eyeing the darkening sky above them. “We are close.”
As they continued forward, the rain started to get heavier and heavier, and the winds were raising as well. Finally, after hours of walking in the rain they arrived to the coast, and saw it. By the cliff next to the sea stood a dead tree, and next to it was a group of nine. The servants of the Great Other. One of them was a tall warrior clad in heavy dark armor, the visor of his helmet depicting a human skull. Behind him stood three women, two of them pale and dark-haired, and the third one tall and dark-skinned. Valerie. Beside Valerie stood five men whose minds she clearly controlled with her dark magic. Few of them looked like capable soldiers, while the others seemed to be just some poor peasants that Valerie had managed to cast her spell on.
Kris glanced at Dalia, who gave him a wordless nod, proceeding to approach their enemies with determination in her eyes. Kris, Belan and Hondo followed close behind, Minesa and Desirea coming behind them.
They stopped a couple dozen feet away from them, and drew their weapons. No one said a word, but the winds howled around them, and the sea stormed. Kris raised up his sword, its warm and orange glow being a stark contrast to the darkness and rain. “Valerie, I’ve come to deliver you your punishment!” he yelled, to which Valerie reacted with a mocking laughter.
“You have all come here to die!” she screamed, her voice sending shivers down Kris’ spine. “Your flames will wither away, your pathetic lives will end, and the Great Other shall prevail!”
“I take the big one”, Dalia said quietly, looking at Kris. “You three take the rest.”
“Are you sure?” Kris asked, and Dalia nodded, a confident smirk on her face. “I’ve fought his kind many times before”, she said, fiddling the arakhs in her hands and turning her gaze to the servants of darkness.
“Alright then”, Kris agreed with a subtle gulp, glancing at Belan and Hondo, who both gave him a small nod.
“May R’hllor be with us!” yelled Mother Minesa, and so Kris, Belan, Hondo and Dalia charged towards their enemies. The first one that Kris faced was a tall soldier armed with a spear. Kris deflected his first thrust, and stepped to right, seeking for a hole in the spearman’s defense. There was no emotion on his face, only cold determination, the work of Valerie’s dark magic.
The spearman kept thrusting and swinging tirelessly, making it hard for Kris to get in range to do any real damage. And the swings that he managed to make only lightly scratched the man, or were completely dodged. Glancing quickly behind him, Kris saw that Hondo had taken down one of the peasants, but struggled with a soldier armed with sword. Belan on the other hand was surrounded by two of Valerie’s soldiers, forcing him to concentrate just to defense. On the other direction, Dalia was moving her arakhs with deadly speed, but most of her hits were absorbed by the big man’s sturdy armor.
Shifting his attention back to his own opponent, Kris dodged another thrust of the spear, rolled closer to the soldier, and penetrated his stomach with the End of Night. The man died without as much as making a single groan. His body simply collapsed as Kris pulled his sword out, the look on his eye remaining just as dead as it was before. For a moment Kris considered rushing to help Dalia with the big warrior, but then he noticed injured Belan being pushed to the ground by the two soldiers he was fighting against. Without a moment of hesitation he charged between these two mindless soldiers and Belan, one of them armed with a sword and the other with an axe.
He parried the sword, and continued with a quick strike towards the axeman, slashing open his throat. As the dead axeman collapsed to the wet ground, Kris turned towards the swordsman and raised his defense. Showing no emotion like the rest of them, this man struck his swings with speed and precision that made clear he had been a skilled soldier before being enslaved by Valerie.
Steel clashed against steel again and again, and Kris noticed he was having a hard time keeping up, not to mention finding chances to do damage. He was starting to get tired, and then it happened – one of the soldier’s strikes hit him on the elbow of his swordhand. It didn’t cut deep enough to truly damage his arm, but the flash of pain made his loose grip on his sword. Left with no defense, Kris felt panic settling in as the dead-eyed soldier raised his sword to make the killing blow. However, at the very last moment Hondo cut him down from behind.
Blood, sweat and raindrops running down his face, Hondo breathed heavily, as knelt down to pick up Kris’ sword from the ground. “Here you go, mylord”, he said with a pained grin as he handed him the End of Night. “Thanks”, Kris said with a hollow tone as he grabbed the hilt, turning to look at Belan. The boy was still conscious, holding on to the deep wound on his right shoulder. Kris was about to go and help him, when he heard a painful scream behind him. Dalia’s voice, he realized, and immediately spun around. What he saw was the dark warrior’s blade penetrated through Dalia’s stomach.
She looked at him, helpless confusion in her dark eyes, like she couldn’t understand what was happening. “Kris”, he heard her saying weakly, and then the dark warrior pulled his blade out, and all life disappeared from Dalia’s eyes. She collapsed to the ground, blood pumping out of the wound.
“Mother!” Desirea screamed with a shocked and frightened tone, rushing to Dalia’s dead body. It was a heart breaking sight to see Desirea, who despite all her wisdom and maturity was still a child, holding her dead mother with tears in her eyes. Kris rushed in quickly, stepping between Desi and the dark warrior, and Hondo joined beside him swiftly. “We can take him together”, Hondo said sternly, and Kris nodded, grasping to his sword with anger.
“Let’s kill this son of a bitch”, he muttered, raising his sword and moving in for the first strike. The dark warrior parried Kris’ sword, but Hondo’s strike on the other hand landed on his ribs. However, it merely made a small dent on his sturdy armor, to which he hardly even reacted.
Kris and Hondo split up, surrounding the warrior from two sides. He chose to face Kris, trying to take him out quickly with a hard downward swing, but Kris managed to dance out of its way. Simultaneously Hondo thrusted his sword to the unprotected area under the warrior’s left arm. With a painful growl he turned around, and managed to smack Hondo on the head with his armored elbow, sending him stumbling down to the ground. However, this gave Kris enough time to slash the dark warrior behind his right knee, which made him kneel. Kris saw his opening, just one last strike and it would be over. However, as he raised his sword, he couldn’t bring it down. He felt dizzy, and something compelled him to let go of his sword.
The dark warrior turned around, and Kris could see his one red eye glowing behind the visor, like a predator eyeing its prey. Kris could only watch as the warrior raised his sword to end his life. Just as he was about to strike, burning bright flames consumed him. Kris snapped out of the spell, and quickly backed away from the dark warrior that was burning to death inside his armor.
Turning his gaze to left, Kris saw Desirea standing there with her hands raised, determination and fury burning in her eyes. In his last moments the dark warrior removed his helmet, revealing his burned and mutilated face, before collapsing to the ground.
“No! The Great Other cannot be defeated, you will die!” screamed Valerie, approaching them through the storm with murderous look in her eyes. “Burn, servant of the dark!” Desirea responded, rising her hands again, and now the flames rushed to Valerie. She couldn’t do anything but scream in pain as the flames began to eat away her skin. Defeated, she turned around and ran off the steep cliff to the storming sea, to her death.
Immediately after this, the storm and rain started to die down, and rays of sun pushed through the dark clouds. Desirea collapsed to her knees, exhausted by the magic she had used. There were two of the servants of dark left, but it was clear they were not a threat any longer. The other one had passed out after Valerie fell, while the other just looked defeated.
Kris helped Hondo and Belan up, while Minesa made sure that Desi was alright. After a moment, Kris, Desi and Minesa approached the last Great Other worshiper standing, and Kris kept the End of Night drawn. They stopped a dozen feet away from them, and a tense silence followed.
“I know you must kill me, and I accept that”, the servant of darkness said with a sullen tone, turning her gaze down. “Who are you?” Kris asked sternly.
“My name is Aisha… I was raised to serve the Great Other, and I will do so until I die”, she answered sharply, looking Kris to the eyes now. “If the gods will that I die here today, so be it. However, I beg of you to spare my companion, Princess Gwendis Blackmont”, Aisha spoke, gesturing towards the unconscious lady next to her. “She has followed me merely for a couple months, and I believe it would be the will of both of our gods that she does not die here today.”
“She is trying to trick us”, Minesa hissed with a scornful tone. “We should burn them both, it’s what they deserve.”
“No”, Desirea said, her voice thin and weak, but at the same time surprisingly decisive. “She is correct, the princess will not die today. I can tell she can still be saved, and that is what we will do. The other one however, has to die. How you want to do it, I don’t care.” With these words Desirea walked to the unconscious Princess Gwendis, and lifted her from the left arm, dragging her away.
Kris stepped closer to Aisha, raising his sword to execute her. “Wait!” Minesa yelled behind him. “She must be burned, to properly punish her for her heinous crimes.”
Kris let out a sigh, looking the dark priestess to her purple eyes, seeing despair and fear in them. Perhaps she indeed deserved a punishment as harsh as burning alive, after all she had worked together with someone as horrible as Valerie. However, to Kris she was just a stranger, and he certainly wouldn’t take any enjoyment in seeing her slowly burn to death.
[Give Aisha a quick death]
I changed my choice about Aisha because even thought I would like to burn her, I realized that burning her wouldn't make follower of R'hllor any better than Aisha and Valerie cutting people open and taking pulling out their hearts, and Gwen would probably realize that and I don't want that.
Hello again! So, first of all, sorry for the long wait, but once you see the combined length of these two parts I'm sure you understand why … moreit took a while Add to that the fact that there have been many other things keeping me preoccupied throughout the week. Nonetheless, I hope these parts were worth the wait. Without further ado:
Nymeria
The river Vaith ran low, and the red sands around it were shimmering under the blazing hot sun. Nymeria’s army had marched towards the city of Vaith for a couple of days now, advancing slowly but surely. They had left Lady Delena Gargalen and her son Jeremie to Godsgrace for Lady Esperence to look after, but kept Gabby and Bridget with the army. They weren’t kept in shackles, since they had both knelt and sworn their allegiance to Nymeria and House Martell, but for all intents and purposes they were still hostages. After all, Salt Shore was currently controlled by Eli Sand, and Nymeria would not blin… [view original content]
Whew... oh man, I don't even know where to begin. This part went so much differently than I thought and feared and I am pretty certain some of you have heard my sigh of relief, that's how loud it has been. To give you an idea how tense it was for me to read this part, I have read it for the second time as I write this and my hands are still shaking. Oh what a part, what a lovely part
Let me start with a couple things from Nym's part and get the vote for that one out of the way. Obviously, my reaction to Kris' part is way stronger, because the part as a whole has been pretty much the highlight of the chapter for me so far, but that does not mean Nym's part was bad in any way. In fact, it was excellent in its own way, a calmer part nicely setting the stage for the final weeks of the Dryland-Martell war. I particularly loved the interaction between the characters. Valor and Bridget, did I ever mention I ship it? Pretty sure I did. Pretty sure that ship is about to sail or has sailed already, given Bridget's kinda flustered reaction at being seen together. Unfortunately, it seems Valor got Nymblocked at the wrong moment However, that isn't all bad, because it gave us one of the best talks we had in the story, as I legitimately enjoyed this conversation between the two of them. Valor has some serious competition, but at least in terms of personality, he has excellent chances to become one of my favourites. Nym is at that point already of course and this part only strengthened the appreciation I have for her as a character. Then there was Myra, whom I certainly like as well. Good thing Kris survived his fight, because after what that woman has been through, she is one of those whom I really want to have a happy ending. When it comes to the choice, I easily pick this one here:
[Say that Uller's will inherit Hellgate Hall]
It's easy as that, House Martell doesn't need Hellgate Hall, they will get all Dorne. Whom would they leave at Hellgate Hall either way? Jaran would be the only one not busy conquering the entirety of Dorne and I think it has been made clear before that he isn't particularly interested in ruling. Hellgate Hall is close to the Uller seat and as such, it sounds like a good idea to give it to them. At this very moment, I consider them to be very questionable allies, but I assume that such a token will do wonders in securing their loyalty.
And now, the sweet miracle that is Kris' part. Holy shit did it not go as I thought it would. First of all, before saying anything else, about the part there is something I absolutely have to do.
In his last moments the dark warrior removed his helmet, revealing his burned and mutilated face, before collapsing to the ground.
Or well, that is what I'd say if he would have said anything. Seriously though, it is super unsettling that this man actually was silent. He freaking burned to death and did not say a word. Compare that to Valerie and I gotta say, Edgelord Wesley actually managed to freak me out a bit here, even as he died.
So then, oh man, I'm still shaking, this is great. There were a thousand possibilities in my mind how this could play out and somehow, you ended up still surprising me. You surprised me in a situation where I was certain I had taken everything into account, because never would I have thought that this will end up as such a clear victory for Team R'hllor. Wesley is pretty much the only one who did not surprise me here. As the main meat shield of Team Awful, he was always the one taking the greatest challenge and I was always certain that his chances against Kris, Dalia, Belan and Hangman were terribly low. Not that he did not deserve it. That being said, while the fact that he died was something I correctly predicted, the way he died utterly surprised me. Desi OP, pls nerf XD I gotta say, it is ironic that he, the unstoppable warrior, got eventually killed by a little girl with no chance to fight back. Out of all the ways he could have died, this is by far the most satisfying for that fucking monster. To think how close he came to actually win this, it's scary. He killed Dalia (more about that below), Belan was already left unable to fight and I though Kris and Hondo together kinda gave him a nice beating, I am certain he could have killed them with the Great Other power there. I have to wonder, this force that compelled Kris to put down his sword, was that Valerie or Wesley? The former sounds likely, we know she has these powers, but if Wesley was actually capable to influence his enemies like that, in the same way Valerie and probably Aisha were capable of doing, that would make him even more terrifying. Those he cannot beat in a fight will be dominated and then killed. Thank R'hllor for the marvel that is Desi, because without her, they would have been chanceless.
Seriously though, Desi is a beast! Ho boy, did I underestimate her. Why does she need companions and protectors again? In the end, sure, they took out Valerie's mooks, but Desi scored the important kills here. Fucking Wesley got what he deserved and Valerie, oh man, oh this is lovely, I couldn't have thought of a more fitting end for her. I must admit, I am saddened by Dalia's death though, way more than I thought I would be. Between her and Kris, I do like Kris a bit more, but Dalia really grew on me from the beginnings in which I hated her like Aisha. I knew someone had to die, but this really hit hard, particularly because this part has increased my appreciation of Desi even more and the poor girl deserves better than to lose her mother in this. She knew it though, she knew one of them would die. And I am so glad Desi survived, because this means Gwen has a chance, an actual legit chance to get rid of the demon in her head. Dalia was the warrior, she would have likely not been able to help her with this.
Onwards, to the rest of them. First of all, I was surprised how quickly Hangman grew on me, or should I say Hondo. Really powerful writing there, you made me care for him in the matter of a few sentences and I am actually relieved he survived and that is about a character whom I saw as little more than a redshirt before this part. He was the one with the biggest death flag and he somehow pulled through, making him kind of a legend in my opinion. May he refuse to die for the rest of the story Valerie though, she got what she deserved. That being said, I am surprised by her fate the most. With everyone else, I had my theories about their fate, but I never thought Valerie would die here. Burning to death and jumping down a cliff is a pretty impressive way of going out, but I must admit, with how powerful she is, I don't buy it yet. I will remain hesitant to actually praise her death, because I fear she might have found a way to survive. Either that, or her god might end up resurrecting her. He controls death after all. Just imagine it, Valerie the Lich, back from the dead and ready to serve her master. Here's the thing, the main reason I don't fully believe she is dead is that the Great Other has warned Gwendis of one of his own servants and it is definitely not Aisha, not after this part. Valerie however, she was always my most likely guess. And what has she done so far in her attempt to destroy Gwen? Not much, I'd say. So, I wouldn't say I am certan she survived, but I wouldn't put it past her to have some sort of spell prepared for this moment to survive the fall and to cheat death.
And man, I think it goes without saying that Gwen's survival is my highlight of the chapter We did it, we actually did it. Clearly, refusing the darkness at any given time turned out to be the right way. I think it would be either that or fully giving in and becoming sort of a dark counter to Desi, allowing Wesley and Valerie to win. But I would never want that for my dear, so refusing the Great Other turned out to be the good thing to do. If not for that, I suppose Desi wouldn't have spared her, if she would have actually become like Aisha. She would have suffered the fate the Great Other warned her about. From the way she acted in this part, it seems Valerie has enthralled her as she did with Jamison. He dropped unconscious as well after the spell was removed, if I am not mistaken. But this is over now. I wouldn't say Gwen is among friends, but Desi seems to be open-minded about her. It could be worse, she has Desi around, I actually believe that Belan and Hondo won't pose a threat to her and Kris definitely not, he has been through a similar situation. The only one I consider a problem is Mother Minesa, but I actually trust her with following Desi's order. I am curious about what Aisha said here though, that neither god wants Gwen dead here. We know the Great Other favours her, as much as he can favour a living being, but her being important to R'hllor was something I, at best, only speculated about so far. Aisha went to pretty much confirm it. Means, what Gwendis has here is definitely not a one-way connection to the Great Other, but probably a connection to these godly beings in general. What could have been used for evil in service of the Great Other can probably be used for good as well, maybe in service of R'hllor even. If that is her only option, I will not disapprove. Her fate has improved massively in this part and while I hoped for this, I did not truly expect it. That being said, this is not over yet. There are three books still to come and my watch will continue. It's over when she reaches Book 4 safe and sound, until then I can see tons of twists, dangers and hardships still to come. But I shall be happy right now. The most immediate danger of dying in this confrontation has been averted successfully. It is a victory, even if there are more fights to come. And well, now, I believe there is a choice to be made
Ahem....
[Give Aisha a quick death]
I know, I know, this is me, the same me who ranted about Aisha to hell and back, who sees her as evil incarnate and who hates her stupid guts. I have seen nothing good in her, she is far and above my least favourite character in the story, a title she will at least carry in the questions you undoubtedly ask at the end of the chapter. And yet, here I am and grant her the small mercy of not burning to death. I am surprised at myself here, but in a way, I think Gwen's survival has made me more open for mercy. Don't get me wrong, I want Aisha dead. This whole choice, this whole situation, it puts the greatest smile of them all on my face. She failed, she failed so thoroughly. Gwendis lives, this is by far the best situation she has been in since she left Blackmont and Aisha is doomed. There is no way out for her right now. And given the opportunity, I realized... I don't care how she dies. If something would have happened to Gwen here, my fury would have been tremendous, I would have definitely picked the most painful way for Aisha to die. But this is not what happened and I take absolute pleasure in the fact that she lost her cool here when presented with her possible death by fire. She fears this and it is oh so sweet. However, she has lost and Gwendis has successfully escaped her grasp. There is nothing more she can do. And due to this, I realize I don't care how she dies, as long as she does indeed die. She won't be missed. That being said, even I cannot deny that her request to spare Gwen came as a bit of a surprise and has made me more willing to grant her a quick death. Hey, I doubt it was done out of any selfless fondness for the girl she borderline abducted and held hostage for months. For sure she did it out of the final desperate attempt to have someone continue her life work, that Gwendis, through whatever means, ends up serving the Great Other after all. That won't happen on my watch though. And it must be said, her request might have actually saved Gwen's life. She almost took her life, there's no way saying how long Gwendis will continue to be haunted by what Aisha dragged her into, but she also somewhat saved her life, or at least tried, even if I suppose Desi would have spared her regardless, sensing that she can be redeemed. Doesn't change the fact that, for undoubtedly rotten reasons, Aisha did a decent thing here and it miraculously gave me enough reason to not hate her less, but to care less about giving her the most brutal death available. That being said, I mean it, I don't care how she dies. I myself think she earned a quick death with her final actions here in this part. However, I will be the last to run to her defense and argue against burning her. If that's what her fate will be, see if I care. She brought it onto herself. I am surprised she will actually die here, I could have seen her being a recurring villain for a long time to come, but actually, her death makes it even more likely that Valerie will return as an antagonist. Aisha is done for, may she burn in hell. But I am so damn excited for what is to come for Gwendis now, without having to fear for her life at every turn. This is guaranteed to be good
Hello again! So, first of all, sorry for the long wait, but once you see the combined length of these two parts I'm sure you understand why … moreit took a while Add to that the fact that there have been many other things keeping me preoccupied throughout the week. Nonetheless, I hope these parts were worth the wait. Without further ado:
Nymeria
The river Vaith ran low, and the red sands around it were shimmering under the blazing hot sun. Nymeria’s army had marched towards the city of Vaith for a couple of days now, advancing slowly but surely. They had left Lady Delena Gargalen and her son Jeremie to Godsgrace for Lady Esperence to look after, but kept Gabby and Bridget with the army. They weren’t kept in shackles, since they had both knelt and sworn their allegiance to Nymeria and House Martell, but for all intents and purposes they were still hostages. After all, Salt Shore was currently controlled by Eli Sand, and Nymeria would not blin… [view original content]
Hello again! So, first of all, sorry for the long wait, but once you see the combined length of these two parts I'm sure you understand why … moreit took a while Add to that the fact that there have been many other things keeping me preoccupied throughout the week. Nonetheless, I hope these parts were worth the wait. Without further ado:
Nymeria
The river Vaith ran low, and the red sands around it were shimmering under the blazing hot sun. Nymeria’s army had marched towards the city of Vaith for a couple of days now, advancing slowly but surely. They had left Lady Delena Gargalen and her son Jeremie to Godsgrace for Lady Esperence to look after, but kept Gabby and Bridget with the army. They weren’t kept in shackles, since they had both knelt and sworn their allegiance to Nymeria and House Martell, but for all intents and purposes they were still hostages. After all, Salt Shore was currently controlled by Eli Sand, and Nymeria would not blin… [view original content]
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Isabella
It was a beautiful day when Isabella finally saw the white towers of Starfall rising to touch the skies ahead of her. The travel from Oasis Castle to the Torrentine had been calm and trouble-free, and though the sad news of Ferris' passing still troubled her, Isabella couldn't help but feel more hopeful and happy after every passing day.
In a stark contrast to the desert they had just crossed, the Kingdom of Torrentine was beautifully green and full of life. The farmlands on both sides of the river were ripe with crops and fruits, and horses, sheep and cattle grazed on the pastures.
"I'm happy for you Isabella", Desmor said with a small sigh as they approached the ferry pier at the eastern bank of Torrentine. "Just... don't let Jamison be an arse towards you, okay?"
"Why would...", Isabella started, but quickly cut herself off. "I won't, I promise", she said with a small sigh, and Desmor nodded with a proud expression on his face. "Good", he said with a friendly but serious tone. "I just want you to keep in mind that life is no fairytale, and while I'm sure Jamison truly loves you, he most certainly isn't the perfect and chivalrous prince." Isabella nodded wordlessly, not bothering to argue with her brother. Of course she knew Jamison wasn’t perfect, but that wasn't what she wanted either, or what she loved about Jamison in the first place. "And you don't be an arse to Arianne when you marry her", she quipped with a subtle smirk, to which Desmor chuckled softly.
Just then they arrived at the pier, where a ferry with half a dozen Dayne guardsmen was waiting for them. Isabella, Cassana, Desmor and Ser Soren hopped into the ferry, which was then rowed smoothly over the river to the isle of Starfall. From there they made their way to the gates of the castle, and as they were opened, they saw the royal family waiting for them on the courtyard. In the middle stood King Vorian and Queen Arenna, and beside them Prince Jamison.
Isabella couldn't help but notice the gruesome and fresh scar going across Jamison's face, and while it shocked her for a brief moment, she was quick to push these thoughts aside. Jamison was a warrior, scars were only to be expected, and Isabella wouldn't let it bother her.
Unable to contain his excited grin, Jamison approached Isabella, and she approached him. They met in the middle, and wordlessly embraced each other in a long and tight hug. When they finally separated from each other, Jamison looked Isabella to the eyes, a vulnerable but happy gaze in his eyes. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this, Isabella”, he said, clearly struggling to keep his voice together.
“I may have an idea”, Isabella replied with a shy smirk, and Jamison chuckled warmly, taking her hand. “Welcome to Starfall, my love”, he said, kissing the back of her hand gently. Meanwhile, King Vorian and Queen Arenna arrived behind him, while Desmor, Soren and Cassana arrived behind Isabella.
“Welcome, Princess Isabella, Prince Desmor”, Vorian said with a warm and polite tone. “First of all, my condolences for your loss. The raven brought the news about your brother a couple days ago. Losing a family member is one of the worst pains in the world, and it shows strength on your part to push forward despite that.” Isabella nodded humbly to the King’s words. “I knew I would be safe here, Your Grace”, she responded calmly, and Vorian smiled to her.
"And you will be", Jamison said confidently, and Isabella shifted her gaze back to his husband-to-be. "I'll make sure of that. We’ll be married in a fortnight, and it’ll be a grand wedding, Isabella”, Jamison explained excitedly, a proud grin forming on his face. “The whole kingdom will be there, from Southpoint to High Hermitage, to see us pledge our lives to each other.”
“Will there be a tourney?” Ser Soren asked with a curious tone, and Jamison turned to look at him with an interested gaze. “Yes, there will be indeed”, he said calmly. “You may take part, if you wish, and Prince Desmor as well.”
“I’ll skip”, Desmor said flatly, but Soren was clearly interested. “I’ll consider it”, the Reachman knight said with a subtle smirk, and Jamison gave him a nod. “I’ve seen you ride before, when I was a kid. Back then you were quite impressive”, Jamison complimented.
“I still am”, Soren replied with a sly smirk, to which Jamison chuckled briefly. “I don’t doubt you”, he said tensely. Ser Soren turned his eyes to King Vorian now. “And what about you, Your Grace? Will you ride in the tourney?”
“No”, he answered without hesitation, a small smile on his face. “I’ll leave the jousting for the younger generation.”
After their little chat, Jamison escorted Isabella to one of the guest rooms, where she’d reside until the wedding. They spent the afternoon together, and it was the happiest Isabella had been in a long time. They reminisced about their childhood stories at the garden, and Jamison told her all about his latest adventure to the Central Dorne and back. There were a few details in the story that Jamison clearly was a bit uncomfortable talking about and skimmed over, but it was an exciting story nonetheless.
After hours of talking, Jamison leaned closer, and kissed Isabella briefly and gently on the lips. “You’ll have to wait a couple weeks to get more”, Jamison said playfully as they separated, smirking and winking at Isabella, who blushed and giggled at his antics. “Come, let’s go to the tower”, Jamison suggested cheerfully, and off they went.
-
After a couple of happy and relaxing days at Starfall, the first guests started to arrive. The very first to come were the Dayne’s of High Hermitage. There were eight of them, oldest being Lord Gerris, who was nearing his fifties. Isabella could see that he possessed the good looks of the Dayne’s, but his silver hair had started to turn grey, and age had brought the first wrinkles on his face. Gerris’ wife, Lady Evilin, on the other hand was stunningly beautiful with hardly any marks of aging, despite being merely a couple years younger than her husband. Isabella had heard Evilin to be a woman of foreign heritage, from Lys to be precise. Isabella knew precious little about Lys, but she did know that Lyseni were the blood of the Valyrians, which was evident by the silver hair and almost inhuman beauty of Evilin.
The firstborn son of Gerris and Evilin, and the heir to High Hermitage, was Ser Terrence Dayne. Terrence was a tall and handsome man on his late twenties, whom carried himself with a subtle sort of pride. He was dressed in simple and pragmatic clothes, not showing any kind of wealth in his attire. Isabella didn’t know much about Terrence, but apparently he had a reputation as a skilled but humble knight. He also had a wife, Adeline, pretty in a common sort of way, and around the same age as Terrence. She looked to be pregnant, even if still quite early, and they also had a daughter at the age of three, a sweet and shy girl named Tarla.
Then there were Arthur and Elena, the younger siblings of Terrence, Arthur being on his early twenties while Elena was on her late teens. They both had the good looks of their parents, and they both also wore more flamboyant attires than their older brother. Isabella had met them both years ago, and even remember having gotten along quite well with Elena.
And finally, there was Ser Phillip Dayne, the nephew of Lord Gerris. He was around the same age as his cousin Arthur, though he looked quite different. Phillip was handsome, as expected from a Dayne, but he had cut his silver hair really short, and sported a trimmed beard with slightly thicker mustache. He was dressed lavishly, in a silky purple robe and silver cape, and he was carrying ate finely crafted wooden fiddle. On his face was a calm and neutral expression, but Isabella couldn’t help but notice that there was something smug about him.
Later that evening they had a dinner with the Dayne’s of High Hermitage. Isabella sat next to Elena and Adeline. Elena described excitedly a fancy masquerade she had been to in Lys when visiting there with her mother a year ago. Adeline on the other hand shared with Isabella her experiences with taking care of a child, something Isabella would surely need in the coming years.
Next to them Queen Arenna and Lady Evilin were having a conversation about the differences in Westerosi and Lysene customs, while King Vorian, Lord Gerris and Ser Terrence talked about Prince Malcolm and Davos being on a mission in the Kingdom of Blackmont. On the other end of the table Jamison, Desmor, Arthur and Phillip were having a conversation that every now and then devolved into bursts of laughter.
After they were done eating, Ser Phillip performed a beautiful ballad with his fiddle, which brought Elena and Arenna into tears of admiration, and they all applauded for him.
“Never understood going through all the trouble just to learn to play some songs”, Jamison commented with a humorous tone, and while Arthur and Desmor chuckled at his words, Phillip gave him a cold glare. “Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to understand, Prince Jamison”, he said sharply, to which Jamison raised an eyebrow.
“How’s that?” he asked, keeping his voice calm. Phillip sat down and considered his words for a moment. “What I mean is that you have no understanding of art, my prince”, he said with a polite tone, though Isabella could spot the bitter resentment from his words.
“Aye, I guess we all have our weaknesses”, Jamison agreed with a sly smirk, raising his cup and nodding to Phillip, who reacted by scoffing and subtly shaking his head.
After the dinner, Jamison escorted Isabella back to her room. He was clearly a bit drunk, and as they entered the room, he gently pushed Isabella against the door and kissed her. The kiss lasted for many lingering seconds, and Isabella enjoyed every moment of it. As Jamison separated from her, a drunken grin formed on his face, and he grabbed Isabella from behind. However, she stopped him by grabbing his hands and pulling them away. “Don’t you think we should wait until the wedding night?” She asked quietly, and with a sigh Jamison backed away.
“You’re right”, he admitted calmly, a forced smile on his face. “We should wait. I want our wedding night to be unforgettable.”
Isabella nodded, her lips forming a soft smile. “And what about what comes after that?” She asked sweetly, to which Jamison raised an eyebrow. “After that, we are going to have a family, and in time our children will grow up to be strong and wise”, he said calmly.
“And will you be there to look after our children?” Isabella asked quietly, which seemed to confuse Jamison. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” He asked, gently stroking Isabella’s golden hair. Isabella touched Jamison’s scar lightly, and looked him in the eyes. “You’re a warrior, and an adventurer by heart”, she said, taking in a deep breath. “Will you be able to leave that behind to be a father and a husband?”
Jamison took a moment with his answer, clearly a bit uncomfortable with the question. However, after a brief moment of silence he put his hand on Isabella’s shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “You will always be the most important thing to me in this world, Isabella”, he assured with a serious and compassionate tone. “I can’t promise you that I will never fight again, but I do promise that I will always come back to look after you and our children. By the gods and by my honor, I promise it.”
Isabella nodded to his words and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Thank you”, she simply said, a thankful and relieved expression on her face.
“Actually, I want to let you decide something for us”, Jamison said now, an excited smirk on his face. “As you know, I’ve recently been named the Lord of Clearhaven. It’s a peaceful and quiet little town, with a port where ships from all over the world stop for a rest. If you want, we can move to live there after the wedding. It wouldn’t be quite as luxurious as here in Starfall, but at least we wouldn’t have to share our home with anyone. It would be just you and me, and those who would be there to serve us of course. So, what do you say, Isabella?”
[Stay in Starfall] [Move to Clearhaven]
-
Naemon
It was a calm and sunny afternoon when Naemon and Davos arrived to Blackmont. Riding towards the gate, Naemon eyed the castle with grim expression on his face. Never had returning home felt so unpleasant.
Riding into the courtyard, Naemon noticed several knights who had returned from the war, many of them were bruised and scarred from the battle, and none of them looked pleased. However, as they gave their horses to the stables, Ser Thomos the Thunder approached Naemon and Davos, a small and warm smile on his face.
“Prince Naemon, welcome home”, the knight greeted with a deep bow. “News of your success arrived here earlier, your father is very proud of you.”
“And news of the failure in Kingsgrave arrived to Oakswood”, Naemon responded dryly, to which Thomos nodded with a sigh. “Indeed, Ser Kegan arrived just a couple hours ago”, he explained, glancing at the knights on the courtyard. “In fact, I believe he is right now in the council chamber with Braddock, Lord Blackadder, Maester Mortin and Noctis.”
“I’ll go there as well”, Naemon decided without hesitation, turning to look at his squire. “Davos, you come as well”, he said, and Davos nodded obediently.
And so, Ser Thomos started escorting them through the castle, and quickly they made their way to the doors of the council chamber. Stopping there, Naemon turned to look at Thomos once more. “What about Benedict?” He asked quietly. “Why isn’t he with the council?”
“His Grace already met with Ser Kegan when he arrived”, Thomos answered calmly. “After that he… felt he needed some rest.”
“Of course”, Naemon scoffed, before turning towards the doors again, and walking in. Everyone in the room shifted their attention to him, and wordlessly he took the King’s seat at the head of the table, as the seat on the other end that used to belong to Gwendis had been taken by Braddock Blackmont. Davos sat down next to him.
“My prince, it’s good to see you”, Kegan was the first to speak up, a stern and respectful tone on his voice, and Naemon responded by giving him a small nod. “Prince Naemon, we’ve heard of your victory against Karsan Taller, an admirable feat indeed”, Braddock spoke up, forcing a smile on his puff face, and Naemon nodded silently once again. “Um, we were just discussing the war with the Manwoody’s”, he continued with a subtle gulp, and Naemon turned his gaze back to Kegan. “What happened there?” he asked calmly, and Kegan let out a deep sigh.
“A tremendous fucking failure, that’s what”, he growled sternly. “The siege was going fine for a couple weeks, then suddenly Prince Ferris Fowler was assassinated in the night, and the whole Fowler army decided to go back home. Well, that’s fine, we still had enough men to keep the siege going. Albin was trapped, and we had no reason to believe he’d get help, but apparently King Yorick fancies to lick Albin the Mad’s bollocks. Four thousand Wyl soldiers appeared from the east one day, and wrecked our siege.”
“But Albin let you go?” Naemon asked with a raised eyebrow, and Kegan shook his head. “It was his son’s decision”, he clarified with a small sigh. “I never saw the mad king himself, and perhaps that’s for the better. Prince Arvin sent me here with a message, saying that the Kingdom of Blackmont must stay impartial to the war between Manwoody’s and Fowler’s.”
“And do we plan to comply?” Naemon asked sharply, eyeing at everyone in the room. Now Maester Mortin spoke up. “King Benedict has decided that we will stay out of the conflict for now”, he said calmly. “With no betrothal binding us to King Garrison, there is no need for us to rush in his aid, at least not until we’ve had some time to heal from this war. However, it is questionable if we can assume to be safe if House Fowler falls.”
“It’s not just questionable”, Lord Stevron commented grimly. “If King Garrison is defeated, we’ll be next. And with the power of Albin and Yorick combined against us, what chance will we have?”
“Naemon, you must speak to your father about this”, Kegan pleaded with a serious tone, looking Naemon to the eyes. “Make him understand that we can’t back away from this war now.”
“I will talk to him, though I can’t guarantee that he’ll listen”, Naemon responded nonchalantly, glancing at Davos now. “And if it comes down to Yorick and Albin threatening us, I’m sure we will find an ally in King Vorian.”
“Yes, Ser, House Dayne will support you”, Davos assured proudly, and Naemon flashed him a small smirk. “That is relieving to hear”, Kegan said calmly, taking in a deep breath. “Still, it would be good if you spoke about this with Benedict.”
“I will”, Naemon promised again. “Was there something else that needed discussing?”
“No, I believe that is all”, Maester Mortin said with a dutiful tone. And so, everyone around the table got up from their seats, except for Naemon and Davos, as well as Noctis, who had remained silent throughout the earlier conversation. While the others made their way out of the room, Naemon shifted his gaze to the tall and lanky sorcerer, who also turned his dark eyes to Naemon.
“Davos, you can wait outside”, Naemon said calmly, and Davos nodded dutifully, glancing at Noctis with a subtle gulp. As Davos had made his way out, Noctis finally stood up from his seat, and took a couple steps closer to Naemon.
"I wanted to have a conversation with you, my prince", he said with a calm tone on his hollow voice. Naemon looked at the sorcerer with contempt, but gave him a nod anyway. "Go on then", he prompted.
"It is easy to see that you resent me, but I assure you there is no reason", he said quietly, a sharp glare in his dark eyes. "One day you will inherit your father's crown, and I will serve you a loyally as I have served him."
"Yes, one day I will inherit my father's crown", Naemon agreed sternly. "And what do you think happens then?" He asked coldly, and Noctis let out a small sigh. "I imagine you plan to drive out me and all the rest of the sorcerers", he answered with a slight hint of concern in his calm voice, and Naemon nodded.
"I guess you're not as stupid as you look", he said with a spiteful tone, standing up from his chair. However, Noctis ignored his insult and quickly spoke up again. "I understand why you see me as your enemy", he said, raising his voice a bit now. "What happened to your sister was unfortunate. However, I am no Aisha. She is a fanatic, bowing to the whispers of a shadow that she calls god in her delusions, while I am a man of knowledge and rationality. She thinks that by serving death she can control life, while I understand that in the end her methods are self-defeating. "
"And next you will tell me that the god you worship is the true god, the god we should all bow to", Naemon mocked dryly, and a thin smirk formed on Noctis' face. "I believe all gods to be merely creations of man", he replied sharply. "I learned my art in Mantarys, through years and years of practice and patience. The mages of the Freehold taught me many things, but worshiping any god was not among them. Magic can be powerful, and hard to understand, which is why it often deceives even the wisest of us to see gods where there are none."
"If there are no gods, then whom do you serve?" Naemon asked sternly, staring at Noctis suspiciously. "I serve the truth, and I serve your father", the sorcerer answered calmly. "Benedict is wiser than most, and certainly worthy of my respect."
“And why did you wish to speak to me about this?” Naemon asked with a quiet and sharp tone. Noctis started to walk towards the doors now, but turned to look at Naemon once more as he arrived to them. “Because you are the future of this kingdom”, he stated with a cold smirk, before bowing and making his way out of the room.
-
That evening Naemon sat alone in his chambers, wistfully looking out of the window as the sun was setting behind the mountains in the west. He hadn’t seen his father yet since returning, but he was curious to know if Lyla had returned, or if there were any other news about Gwendis. Of course, most likely there was nothing significant, or else someone would’ve already told Naemon.
The prince’s mind ran back to the last conversation he had with Gwendis, just a few months ago. It had been a brief conversation, Gwendis had asked him to go to Starfall and re-establish the alliance between Blackmont and Torrentine. At least I succeeded in that, Naemon thought grimly, letting out a sigh as he sat down. If he could go back to that moment, and all the moments before it, he wouldn’t be so quick to turn off Gwendis’ pleads for him to take more responsibility. He would talk to her, make her understand that they needed to stick together and have each other’s backs. Still it baffled him how Gwendis had left everything to follow a sorceress, and he had to wonder if it had been her choice at all. Perhaps Aisha had somehow possessed Gwendis with her magic, and forced her to leave.
Naemon’s thoughts were cut off by a knock on his door. Before he could even stand up from his chair, the door was opened, and in walked Benedict. He looked tired, and older than ever before, dressed in robes way too simplistic for a king. He didn’t even have his crown.
“Benedict”, Naemon said coldly, and his father nodded as he stepped into the room. “My son”, he responded calmly, taking in a deep breath. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about. Well, first of all, I’m proud of you for handling the situation with the rebels so swiftly.”
Ignoring the compliments, Naemon shot Benedict with a sharp question. “Any news of Gwendis?”
With a saddened expression on his face, Benedict shook his head. “Lyla has not returned, which means that either she still on her track, or… she is dead.”
“Is this what you came to talk about?” Naemon asked with a tired sigh, turning his eyes away from his father. “No”, Benedict said softly, taking a couple careful steps closer to his son. “I have been doing a lot of thinking since you left, and all this thinking has led me to a conclusion.”
“A conclusion?” Naemon asked quietly, shifting his gaze to Benedict again, who nodded with a small gulp. “I’ve decided that there should be no secrecy between us any longer”, he said nervously. “There was a reason why I always tried keep my family separated from my… projects. However, by now it’s come clear that that separation has only brought problems and driven a rift between us.”
“So, what are you saying?” Naemon asked impatiently, and his father turned down his gaze, struggling to say what he had in mind.
“I believe it is time I took you to see my laboratory”, he finally said with a tense tone. “Or dark chambers, as I know you call it.”
“Why?” Naemon asked with a baffled tone, not having expected this at all. “As I said, there should be no more secrecy between us”, Benedict answered calmly. “You’ve grown to be a man, and I believe you deserve to know what it is that has so often kept me too busy to tend to my family. So, will you come with me?”
[Go with Benedict] [Refuse the invitation]
[Go with Benedict] hell yeah, let's go.
[Move to Clearhaven]
So, already on my phone for the rest of the week and cursed with atrocious internet, my usual deeper thoughts have to fall flat a bit, though I nonethelesy would like to say something. First of all, I really loved Isabella's part. It was clear she wouldn't be bothered terribly by the scar, but she brushed it off even faster than I thought, that was legitimately sweet. I guess the next part for her or Jamison will show the wedding.
In Naemon's part, it broke my heart to see Lyla mentioned
They consider her dead by now. Gwen however is not dead, she has a chance. It's a spark and the likes of Aisha, Valerie and Wesley will undoubtedly try to extinguish it, but I gotta keep my hopes up. Who really surprised me here was Noctis though. Don't get me wrong, everything about him screams evil sorcerer, but he came off as surprisingly rational and thoughtful in this part. I might regret it, but I believe him. I actually believe him to be loyal to Benny and Naemon, the future presumed king. I must also say, I love his disgust at Aisha. Turns out, even creepy sorcerers have standards. Any man that insults Aisha is a friend of mine. He is wrong with one thing though, worshipping certain gods brings power. I bet whatever magic he has is fundamentally different from Desi's fire and life based powers and Aisha's stinky evil magic of awfulness.
However, there is one issue. I also believe his distrust and disgust at any sort of god. If Gwendis returns to Blackmont, I see only one of two options for that: She either blows out the flame, fully giving in to her Great Other fuelled powers, or she allows herself to be consumed by the fire and hopes it is figurative and won't mean being burned alive (Gods speak figuratively, righr? It's a god thing to... right?). She'd essentially defy a god, which is kinda badass for sure. However, I guess it would come with the added factor of having, at least to a degree, accept R'hllor at least to the same degree as Kris. I doubt she has many options beyond these two If she returns to Blackmont as a believer in some other god, I could see Noctis being a thorn in her side. Gwen hates the sorcerers and after what she has been through, she has every right to do so. How would Noctis react when she, the rightful heiress by the law of an increasingly strong conqueror, returns to Blackmont? I can already see tension between the Blackmont siblings, but I bet he'll try to use it to his advantage, somewhat Littlefinger-like. I definitely sense potential for a future conflict there. At the same time, Noctis could also be an ally against the evil that is Aisha and Valerie, maybe even to Gwen, but I see him more likely as an adversary she has to overcome.
[Move to Clearhaven]
Jamison is the Lord of Clearhaven after all. It is very likely his duties will often demand for him to be there and it sounds better if he doesn't always has to move between Clearhaven and Starfall all the time. That could be frustrating as hell. It also feels more like them building a life for themselves away from their families, their very own life together, which sounds nice.
[Go with Benedict]
So, I can't deny that I am extremely curious. I have my theories what Benny is trying to do in his chambers, but he kinda threw them out of the window with him calling these chambers a laboratory. That makes it sound almost like science. Maybe he is actually the Westerosi equivalent of a scientist and not a sorcerer. Noctis' more rational approach to magic kinda supports that theory. I am curious and I think this is a chance to learn more. Who knows, maybe this knowledge will come in handy one day.
[Move to Clearhaven]
[Go with Benedict]
[Move to Clearhaven] It would be a good way to start a life for themselves, even if war with House Martell will happen sooner or later.
[Go with Benedict] I'm actually surprised Noctis is a real sorcerer and not some fanatic, and after so much time in the sidelines, we finally get to know more about him.
[Stay in Starfall]
[Go with Benedict]
Well, first of all I applaud you for having the patience to write as long of a message as you did with a phone
Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed Isabella's part, it definitely had a bit of a slice of life feel to it, which might be a bit odd amongst the climax of the chapter and the book 
And yeah, the scar did catch Isabella off guard for a moment, but honestly she doesn't care at all. By now it's so much more than Jamison's looks that she's attached to.
Yeah, Lyla's absence breaks Benny's heart as well. Mainly because she was his last hope to find and bring back Gwendis, but also because Lyla herself was quite a reliable and loyal servant. As for Noctis, this streak of rationality and atheism is actually something that wasn't in his submission, but that I added cause I thought it would make him more interesting. Also makes him a great foil to Aisha, rather than just being a clone of her. And Noctis would argue your point by saying that perhaps it's not gods that give power to these worshipers of R'hllor or GO, but rather their magic is like any other magic and they just associate it with their gods. He does kinda acknowledge GO being at least some sort of entity though, by referring to it as a "shadow" that whispers to Aisha's ears. Anyway, Noctis might well be wrong, but the existence of gods is definitely meant to be an uncertain and ambiguous thing in aSoIaF, and I try to respect that aspect of the lore in NW as well.
You bring up a valid point. If Gwendis is to ever return to Blackmont, it is likely she'll return as a servant of one god or the other. Noctis might not be thrilled about this, but it's not likely he'd openly oppose her either. After all, he tolerates the other sorcerers of Benedict, and many of them worship different gods. In fact, even Benedict himself isn't quite as sold on atheism as Noctis, as evident by him being willing to listen and take advice from the likes of Aisha. So, let's say Gwendis returns as a believer and servant of R'hllor and one way or the other becomes the heiress: I'd say the most likely course of action from Noctis would simply be to have a conversation with Gwen, and perhaps try to convince her of his own set of beliefs. That said, tensions between Naemon and Gwen would be basically unavoidable, the question would be more about how well they'd manage to settle their differences.
Well since Liquid is currently limited to only having his phone, I now feel like I should take it upon myself to write the long comment here even though I usually write pretty long comments anyhow
Anyway, both of these parts were awesome and I enjoyed both of them very much! Now first off with Isabella's part, I obviously loved this one! Isabella and Jamison's first meeting in story was something that I was very much looking forward to and it is safe to say it didn't disappoint! It really was sweet seeing their reunion unfold and probably the coolest thing for me was seeing how much her presence makes Jamison behave so to say 
He wasn't trying to insult people really and he was very respectful to other people compared to how he normally is. He was far away from acting like the Jamison that was about to make Morgan Allyrion have a heart attack in Godsgrace for example and of course that isn't a bad thing at all. I of course enjoy seeing that side of Jamison alot as well and I am sure that Jamison didn't just go away but I do feel that Isabella will be a good influence on him especially with what I have seen here. I have also just realized something, once the time skip to Book 2 happens, Isabella and Jamison will have been married for two years and maybe even have kids by that point so it is entirely possible that by the time book 2 gets here, Jamison could be a different man in some ways or maybe even compltely and I am quite intrigued to see how being a family man could change him. While I am pretty sure that Jamison won't turn into Vorian in regards to personality, I do think being a family man could help Jamison mature in some ways too. Of course, I could talk more about how much I enjoyed seeing Isabella and Jamison's reunion but I figure I'll let it rest for now 
Now for some of the other neat stuff from this part was the interaction between Soren and Jamison. I know Soren has mentioned wanting to knock Jamison off of a horse and on Jamison's end, he has recognized that Soren is skilled on a couple of occasions so I feel this could potentially be foreshadowing for the finals of the tourney potentially? I don't expect you to tell me that of course but I do see this as a strong possibility
I know Jamison is younger than Soren by a few years but Soren is very much in his prime being in his mid twenties so I am definitely seeing this matchup happening and of course I know who I want to win here 
With that said, their interaction was pretty awesome and I could definitely sense the competitiveness in the both of them coming out here and it got me hyped to say the least! I would also like to mention though that the Soren and Jamison interaction here has me motivated and I am decided on which path I will be taking for my next H&L and if all goes well, it will be ready for you soon!
Now about the High Hermitage Dayne's, I definitely liked meeting Jamison and Malcolm's cousins! They all seem like pretty intriguing characters from what I have seen especially Phillip who clearly isn't a fan of Jamison
Which does make alot of sense since they definitely seem to be complete opposites as characters and if I had to guess, they probably haven't ever gotten along considering how different they seem to be from one another. I of course enjoyed the other High Hermitage Dayne's as well and I am excited to learn more about them and with this wedding I am guessing we will meet some of the other Dayne vassals as well which I am definitely excited for too 
Now for the choice, I am actually going to go against what will probably be the winning choice and vote for Isabella and Jamison to [Stay in Starfall] While I definitely agree with Liquid's points about them getting to have their own lives away from their families, I also feel like from Jamison's perspective, to obtain a bigger role in his father's kingdom which he clearly wants, he needs to be in Starfall. If he stays in Starfall, he has more of a chance to learn more politically along with taking part in council meetings at some point as well which have been goals of his from the very beginning. While Clearhaven was a very important get for the Dayne's and Jamison as well, I think Jamison still probably desires more and if he moves to Clearhaven, he is at the absolute edge of the Kingdom of the Torrentine and with that he will just become one of his father's bannerman rather than someone who could play a bigger role in the kingdom moving forward.
Now from Isabella's perspective, this could just be me worrying over nothing but I feel it is definitely safer for her to live in Starfall rather than in Clearhaven especially with the war against House Martell happening in Book 2. As we all know, House Martell will be defeating House Dayne then and I worry that with Jamison potentially being away during alot of Book 2 that Isabella will be left alone which could potentially lead to her being captured or worse if she is left in Clearhaven alone. Along with that, even if Jamison is there, he is still just one man and Clearhaven with how small it is would be pretty vulnerable if the Fallen Dragons, Nymeria or whoever were to go after it at some point. Starfall is probably the safest place in Dorne and I feel it will stay that way even when they are defeated by the Martell's and along with this, it also lets Isabella have her in laws and other members of the family around to keep her company whenever Jamison ends up marching off to war. Admittedly, I could be overthinking this choice considering that Jamison and Isabella might still spend alot of time in Starfall and if this choice wins, she might end up going to Starfall anyway once the Martell-Dayne war starts but I still think I am going to go with this choice for now anyway.
Wow... I think this might be my longest comment ever and because of this, I am going to keep it relatively short on the Naemon choice but I might give more detailed thoughts on this later when I feel like typing again
I think Naemon should [Go with Benedict] largely because this is probably the best chance that Naemon will have to learn about his father's true intentions and why Benedict does what he does which I feel will help Naemon immensely. Edit: Getting more detailed about my thoughts here though, this part shows even more how Naemon is really starting to take his role as the future of Blackmont seriously. I can admit it was pretty cool seeing him take the Kong's seat in the council meeting and I feel at this point, Naemon has probably changed the most as a character from the beginning of the story until now. He has grown a lot and I would say that by the time Book 2 hits, he will probably be even more of an influence within the Kingdom of Blackmont. With all of this said though, if Gwendis does make it back to Blackmont, I can't help but be intrigued about where that will go. While I can't say for sure they'll develop a rivarly considering how close they are with one another, I do feel Gwendis leaving like she did will have a negative effect on her relationship with Naemon especially if she doesn't explain what happened to him. Along with that, if Naemon gets firmly established with his role in Blackmont politically, I don't really think he will just step aside completely so they will definitely have to try to work together which shouldn't be too hard considering their similarities but of course a lot can change in two years if Gwendis doesn't make it back before the end of Book one.
I was certainly surprised to see Phillip here, as I didn't expect that he would appear already in Isabella's part. I gotta say, he acted just the way I imagined he would and he already left quite an impression on me
I really liked that little interaction between him and Jamison and I have to say, Jamison handled it a lot better than I expected. Guess that his journey really changed him and it is beginning to show, as I think that the Jamison from the earlier parts of the story would've reacted with way more hostility here.
[Stay in Starfall]
[Go with Benedict]
I think it was just because Isabella was there that he acted more calmly than he would have previously.
Actually, now that you bring that up I think that it might indeed be just because of Isabella.
Actually, it turned out to be unnecessary, as just now, I received access to the local wi-fi
I also must say, CM3434 brought something up I haven't considered at all. If it wouldn't be for that, I'd stick with my vote, but he is right, Clearhaven is located closer to the frontlines in the coming Dayne-Martell war and as such, it could be more dangerous for Isabella to stay there. I think it would be sweet if she and Jamison could build a life for themselves there, but if Clearhaven is going to be besieged by the Martell troops in the coming war, I could see this taking a really terrible turn. If Jamison gets caught in a siege, he has a chance to fight his way out. Isabella though? She'd be at the mercy of Nym's troops and while those are hardly the most cruel bastards around, there's no saying what an army crazed by battle might do if they catch her. As such, I would like to change my vote to [Stay in Starfall]. I kinda fear this'll mean that Jamison remains in his secondborn role instead of building a fortune for himself, but Isabella's safety should always be the top priority. Maybe once things have all settled down, House Dayne has submitted and both hopefully survive, they can end up settling down there after all, but for the duration of the Martell-Dayne war, I'd much rather have Isabella remain relatively safe in Starfall.
I'd say this worked out exactly as you planned
It's exactly these traits that caught my interest and I think this sets him apart from most of the other characters in the story. I mean, an atheist dedicated to rational thinking is something very strange in Westeros, I guess most atheistic characters in the story are more of the type that just don't care, but Noctis seems to approach the whole topic from a pretty unique standpoint. Aside from that though, he still gives me creepy and shady vibes. That being said, I am keeping an open mind on him. I know I have always done a mistake with that (like, that Aisha bitch), but he seems to be smart enough to know whom to be loyal to. Hopefully this means House Blackmont as a whole. I'd hate for him to end up playing the members of the house (be it Naemon against Gwendis because he sees him as more reliable than her, or Benny against both because he doesn't trust them to continue keeping him around), but I kinda fear he'll end up exactly as evil as he appeared to be at first. Such appearances are rarely misleading, I guess the only one I ever changed my mind on in a positive way is Lyla.
At least the Great Other, I'm pretty sure at this point is out of question for Gwen. I can't see her ever becoming a dedicated servant of the only being that is worse than Aisha. R'hllor could be more accepting, after all the church itself is certainly more accepting of others than the unanimously evil cult of the Great Other. Noctis' set of beliefs is pretty rational, should such a scene ever happen and should it be up for choice, I might even choose in his favour. Thing is, of course, that Gwen has hard proof of the existence of one god-like being that grants magical powers and we don't know yet what kind of an encounter she's going to have with R'hllor. She might actively choose not to worship either, but sharing Noctis' fully-blown atheism, that would probably depend on how deeply involved she gets into that whole religious aspect of the storyline as opposed to having her parts be all about mere survival.
Haha, well you certainly delivered
I'm glad to hear you liked the reunion of Jamison and Isabella, it was a character meeting long in the making, so I really wanted to nail it. And you're right, Isabella's presence definitely has an influence on how Jamison acts and behaves, especially now that they've just been reunited after a long time apart. And I can also confirm that the 2 year time skip will change the characters of both Jamison and Isabella. Obviously they will still have many of the character traits they have now, but they will certainly have done some maturing 
Yep, a bit of a rivalry was indeed teased in this part between Soren and Jamison
Nothing super serious of course, just a bit of competitiveness as you said. We'll have to see if this will lead to something in the tourney, it definitely could, since they are both highly skilled knights. And ah, I'm really glad to hear this part inspired you with the H&L! Looking forward to that 
Yeah, technically they are very distant cousins, since I imagine the High Hermitage branch isn't exactly brand new at this point. But anyway, they certainly share the Dayne blood. And yeah, Phillip pretty much despises Jamison, though I must say the two of them actually have some similarities as well in terms of personality. Sure, there are differences as well, but I'd say Jamison as a person is definitely closer to Phillip than Terrence for example, who is truly the complete opposite of Jamison. Anyway, we'll learn more about all of these characters in time
Voting is closed!
So, first of all, Isabella's decision is for her and Jamison to stay in Starfall. It's definitely the safer place to be with Nymeria's threat looming from the east. The down side is really just that they'll be more tightly attached to the rest of the Dayne family, which isn't like a completely negative thing, it just prevents them from being a bit more independent.
And Naemon will go with Benedict, to the mysterious dark chambers we've been hearing about throughout the story. Yeah, I kinda guess you'd be curious enough to choose this
As for what's next, I have two parts under work currently. One is a Nealia part, while the other is a one off PoV. I'll admit I'm not really close to finishing these parts yet, so don't expect them to be ready today. Tomorrow perhaps, or if not then by Wednesday for sure. I don't think much of a recap is needed, but I'll just remind that at the end of Nealia's last part she decided to go see Lien, who had badly injured her leg in the battle.
-
And this time I have two new portraits for you. First, the mysterious sorcerer Noctis:
And also, Ser Phillip Dayne:
I was always a but curious just how Noctis looks, ever since I learned that this ominous, shady and probably evil sorcerer wears the single least threatening haircut of them all, the bowl cut
To my amazement, you somehow managed to make him look creepy and threatening though. I hate to admit it, he's one of the few people who can pull off a decent bowl cut without looking like the reason why incest is frowned upon. You did a great job with that portrait, he looks genuinely cool, way more than he has any right to look 
One thing I really like and which isn't mentioned nearly often enough is the background of the portraits, I love how you give each of the characters their own unique and very fitting background. I actually just had to look through the portraits and I haven't noticed a single background that looks like the other. Some might be similar, particularly those from the same family, but none are fully alike and I imagine that is a bit of a difficulty as more and more portraits are added to the mix. For now, Noctis' is actually among my favourite backgrounds, I love the contrast between his very light complexion and hair colour and the dark, creepy background. However, he is definitely still beaten by the second Gwen portrait, because those blue Great Other eyes are the stuff of nightmares (but make for a haunting and amazing background) and Davos' portrait, because I just now realized that the background kinda looks like what happens when the colours of House Dayne get mixed with the sun motif of House Martell and that actually makes it the most clever of the backgrounds.
And a one-off PoV next, you say? My educated guess is someone from the court of Lucifer. That is kinda the only place where we don't have a proper PoV at the moment, so maybe this one-off PoV is going to show us what happens around Lucifer after he lost the battle. It seems a bit too early for Lucifer to be brought down, that kinda feels like the strongest candidate to be chapter finale stuff, but then again, I have never been the most accurate with my predictions. So, the court of Lucifer is my assumption. Or maybe someone around Efran, we haven't seen what he's up to so far and at this point, I don't think he'll manage to keep his rule throughout the time skip. Both don't have PoV's around at this very moment. However, maybe I am absolutely wrong and you decide to show a one-off viewpoint from a character whom you otherwise wouldn't get the chance to show from this perspective and whose PoV adds something to a situation already covered by a full-time PoV. Someone around Nym for example, maybe someone involved with the conspiracy. Or a Wesley PoV, consisting of him being all broody and thinking about whatever edgy stuff he is always thinking about, I'd be almost tempted to read that
Nah, someone around Lucifer or maybe someone close to Efran (in which case my money is on Elise) are my most likely guesses.
Hey! I've got a bit of an update for you, and one of the parts that I promised earlier. First of all, apologies for taking so long. I've learned over the past couple years that my creativity and inspiration for writing this story seems to come in waves, and sadly right now it's in a bit of a nadir. Not to worry though, I know it'll bounce back in time, it always does. Meanwhile, I'll try to push out parts the best I can, but my pace might be a bit slower than usually. Anyway, like I said, I have one of those earlier promised parts ready, and that's the Nealia part. It's a pretty short one, but at least it gives you something to vote for. I've made progress with the one-off PoV too, but painfully slowly, so I decided it's better to just post the Nealia part now and move on. So, here it is:
Nealia
Nealia felt weak as she walked across the busy street. Manda stayed by her side, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She asked as they arrived to the door of a small house made of white stone. Nealia nodded wordlessly, and so Manda pushed the door open.
They entered a dimly lit room with four makeshift beds. One of the beds was empty, and in two of them laid injured soldiers of House Allyrion. In the final bed, the one at the corner of the room, laid Lien, Ying sitting next to her on a simple wooden chair.
Ying was the first to shift her gaze up to Nealia and Manda, greeting them with a small nod as they approached. Seeing the condition that Nealia was in, Ying stood up and gave the chair for her. As Nealia sat down, Lien finally turned her eyes to look at her. She had been crying, it was easy to see, and even now there was deep pain and bitterness in her usually so bright eyes.
“Hi”, Nealia said weakly, gulping subtly as she looked at Lien’s left leg, which was tightly wrapped with bandage against a wooden plank to keep it aligned.
“I’m glad to see you survived, Nealia”, Lien managed to mutter, and Nealia nodded. An awkward moment of silence followed, until Manda cleared her throat. “So, how are you feeling now?” She asked softly.
“Like shit”, Lien answered grimly, her voice quivering ever so slightly as she spoke. “There’s nothing I can do except lay here all day, staring at the damn ceiling.”
“But your leg will get better in time, right?” Nealia asked carefully, and Lien let out a deep sigh. “It could take years”, she said with a devastated tone. “And even then, it’ll be weak and slow me down.”
“Don’t worry about it sis, I’ll be fast enough for both of us”, Ying assured confidently, but it didn’t do much to cheer up Lien. “Perhaps you could consider doing something else than fighting for your living”, Manda suggested calmly, turning her eyes to Ying. “What exactly do you plan to do next anyway?”
“We’ll stay here for now, as long as it takes for Lien to be in condition to travel again”, Ying said with a sigh. “After that, we’ll have to see.”
Nealia hesitated for a moment, but then decided to speak up. “I’m sure my family would welcome you in Starfall”, she said quietly. Her eyes met with Lien’s, who looked genuinely grateful for the offer.
“I was thinking more along the lines of moving to a big city like Volantis, Myr, or even Oldtown”, Ying interjected bluntly. “There I could take care of Lien and still find work as a sellsword without having to travel.”
“My father could hire you as well”, Nealia argued, to which Ying shrugged lazily. “Maybe”, she admitted with a sigh. “It’s useless to talk about this now anyway. We won’t be going anywhere for a while.”
For a moment the room fell silent again. “I will miss you”, Manda suddenly said with a gulp, a vulnerable expression on her face. “You’ve been good friends to me.”
“Perhaps we’ll bump into each other again somewhere”, Ying said with a small smirk, tapping Manda lightly on the shoulder. “And good luck for whatever battles Tryden will lead you to next.”
“Good luck, friend”, Lien echoed her sister’s words quietly, her gaze shifting from Manda to Nealia as she spoke. “And goodbye.”
-
After a couple days of resting, Nealia started to slowly feel better. The pain still came back every now and then, and she knew it would be wise to avoid any fighting for a while, but at least she didn’t have to lay down all the time any longer. In fact, traveling didn’t feel like an unreasonable thought anymore, at least on horseback. However, Nealia was dreading the approaching moment that she would have to make the decision of what would she do next.
Lien hadn’t asked her to stay, but she knew it was just because she didn’t want to be an inconvenience to her. Nonetheless it would feel wrong to leave her behind, even if Ying would always be there to support her. On the other hand, Manda had saved Nealia’s life, and they had become very close friends over the past months, so not going with her didn’t feel right either. Then there was of course the option of just returning to Starfall right away, but that would mean leaving behind all these people she had grown to love and care for. But I would have a family again.
Nealia sat at the taproom of the tavern, feeling bored and useless. She had visited Lien again earlier, and helped her with taking a bath, but other than that she had just been sitting in her room and in this tavern. Manda had went to the local blacksmith for something, though Nealia suspected that she just wanted to avoid her and the Yu sisters, perhaps preparing for separating from them for good. Nealia could even understand that mindset, why try to maintain something you know is going to end soon?
Nealia let out a deep sigh, feeling just frustrated and annoyed with the whole situation. Just then, she saw Tryden Flowers walking in from the door. She had seen him only briefly since the battle, and they hadn’t had a conversation. With a calm expression on his face Tryden approached Nealia’s table and sat opposed to her.
“Looks like you’re doing better”, he said, and Nealia gave him a small nod. “Feeling a bit better too”, she replied calmly. “And… How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine”, Tryden answered with a small sigh. “Managed to recruit some new members since the battle, but we are still short from the numbers we had before. Which brings to my mind… what is your plan going forward?”
“I don’t know”, Nealia answered truthfully, to which Tryden raised an eyebrow. “I see… You are having a hard time making the decision”, he deduced with a calm tone, and Nealia nodded. “Lien and Ying will have to stay behind, and I would feel awful abandoning them now”, she said quietly, keeping her gaze down.
“Understandable”, Tryden said smoothly, taking in a deep breath. “As you know, you’ll always have a place in the Rose Company, and I certainly wouldn’t be happy to lose another great fighter. That said, this is a choice you must make for yourself. Every path has its downsides, but I believe you should choose the one that you think will make you happy.”
“And what if I don’t know what will make me happy?” Nealia asked grimly, to which Tryden chuckled softly, tapping her gently on the shoulder. “Hard questions, mylady”, he said with a friendly smirk. “Sadly I don’t have the answer. I can only advise you to think through your options carefully and make a choice. Nymeria will march again in two days, and the Rose Company will go with her.” With these words Tryden stood up from the table. He nodded politely to Nealia, and walked away, leaving her to ponder on her options.
[Stay with Lien and Ying] [Continue with the Rose Company] [Head back to Starfall]
Ah damn, those aren't happy news
I mean, I wouldn't mind the longer wait between parts, but we are sooo close to the finale of Book 1 and I can't even put into words how excited I am for that! Of course, I am excited for the things to follow as well, but you know how eagerly I await the end of the first book of NW. But well, as long as your motivation always comes back, that's a good thing, especially if parts continue to pour out inbetween even if maybe taking a couple days longer than usual. I was actually waiting to answer to our PM until the first book is finished, but now I kinda doubt that'll happen before the end of February, so I'll gotta answer faster than that 
Now, for the part itself, that was just heartbreaking. Sure, it was a good idea to visit Lien, but damn that hurt to see her like this. She deserved better, that's just brutal. And this will lead to problems down the road. Because she'll need years to recover, probably throughout the entire timeskip, meaning her time with the Rose Company is definitely at an end. She takes it as expected, if not even worse than I feared. This will take a long time to heal, not just physically and I almost fear that she will never fully regain her strength. But well, maybe this can be seen as a chance. I am certain she will recover enough to live a normal life, without being seen as a cripple, with the chance to find decent work that doesn't require of her to put her life on the line for someone else. Considering how many others of the Rose Company have ended, leaving the sellsword life like this, wounded but alive at least and with the chance to recover, can be a blessing in the long run.
The choice... oh, the choice, this is one of those where I can barely choose. I would like to wait and see how the others think, but can carefully give my initial choice, keeping it a possibility that I will change my vote later. So, I like all three of these choices here. Heading to Starfall obviously means a Dayne reunion, probably already in time for Jamison's wedding. Just imagine him meeting up with Nealia again right during what already is the happiest moment of his life. The greatest knight in Dorne, getting a heart attack out of joy
Staying with the Rose Company means staying with Tryden and continuing her life as a sellsword. I've come to genuinely like Tryden. He reminds me a bit of a combination of the rugged charm and honesty of Bronn, but with the cunning and people skills of Littlefinger, in an odd but surprisingly well-working combination. Hell, even his portrait kinda reminds me of both. And then, staying with Lien and Ying, which I consider the most decent choice. Ying cannot just give up on her own life entirely to be there for Lien. She needs help, Lien needs support beyond just her sister. After what she suffered through, losing the woman she loves will make a recovery only harder. See, I doubt not staying with either of them will lead to them vanishing from the story. The Rose Company will fight for Nym in the war to come, Tryden will probably encounter Nealia either way once more. Lien and Ying will be forced to remain in Godsgrace, probably taking some sort of role in the future Godsgrace storyline, be it through the eyes of Nym, Emerson or any other PoV now or later connected to that city. And a Dayne reunion must happen, if not now, then in Book 2.
As such, I currently lean in favour of [Stay with Lien and Ying]. My reasoning for that is that I doubt much will change for Tryden, he'll be seen through Nymeria's parts, maybe Dianna's if she returns to Nym's side in this chapter and I bet he will have encounters with Nealia as well during her stay in Godsgrace and after that. Returning to Starfall is pretty much a given, but it has been years either way, I am not so sure if two additional years will change things terribly. The Dayne family is pretty happy right now and with Nealia's return, they can have at least one happy thing in Book 2 as well, which I believe will deal with topics basically guaranteed to be pretty rough on them already. That way, Nealia wouldn't have to return alone. If she stays with Lien and Ying, maybe they can come with her. But if she leaves now, while we would get the reunion earlier than I ever thought, it would come at the cost of Lien and Ying. I would like to try and have them accompany her, but for that, Lien would need years to recover. Good thing the two year timeskip is almost among us. And who knows, it could even be a good thing to stay beyond that. Nealia could have more encounters with Nym and maybe she can influence her in favour of House Dayne once the war is over. After all, House Dayne will be the first royal house she defeats without actually causing it to cease to exist as she'll inevitably do with House Dryland. A new situation for her as well, in a way. And if Nealia isn't fully integrated back into the Dayne family when she arrives in Book 2, it is less likely she'll be fully involved in the war and maybe that way, it can be prevented that she has to end up fighting her friends at the Rose Company.
[Stay with Lien and Ying] This is the best course right now, at least for Naelia's consciousness. Leaving the Rose Company will be hard, but war means they will eventually return, one way or the other.
Head back to Starfall]
I want her to possibly make it in time for Jamison's wedding! That would be a great reunion.
Yeah, I am kind of bummed about this as well, because I really had the drive and determination last month to push out the rest of Book 1 with a very rapid pace. However, a part of what has slowed me down now are the other projects that I need to take care of. It's not really even a time issue though, I'm just bad at concetrating on several projects simultaniously, and obviously sometimes I just have to prioritize my concentration on the uni projects. But yeah, perhaps better not to wait until the end of Book 1 with the PM, it might still take a while
Yeah, no doubt here, especially university projects absolutely should be priority stuff. I know what you mean with that, I am also not particularly good at concentrating on several things at once, a reason just why it takes me so long to finish the H&L's I have planned out for such a long time now. I can't write them while having an FoT part in the making and I can't concentrate on FoT while having an unfinished H&L. That means I'd have to outright pause writing FoT for about two days to finish writing down an H&L and more often than not, I rather opt to not keep the readership waiting and instead push the H&L to when I have time (like when I'm on vacation, where I commonly write so much more than usual). But yeah, I kinda hoped for the book to be finished before the end of this month, but after anxiously waiting for way over a year for a conclusion to this part of the Great Other/R'hllor storyline, I'm certain I can wait some time longer without losing my mind
Out of curiosity though, how many parts would you say are left in the entirety of this book? I suppose we'll get at least one more PoV from Nym, Dalia, Kris, Dianna, Tomas, Gwen, Naemon, Jamison and Kortney and maybe another for Emerson and Ortheg, as well as at least one minor PoV whose part is currently in the works. Means, correct me if I'm wrong, it will be about ten parts until we know how Book 1 ends, eh? I definitely should write my reply to the PM first, I just hoped I could time it so that I could further discuss some of the points there with the knew information the end of Book 1 should bring, now I kinda have to improvise
Verro might also have another part or two as well.
[Stay with Lien and Ying]
Ehhhh, as much as I'd love for a Starfall reunion for Nealia, I believe Liquid puts up a good argument here. Nealia is best with Lien and Ying for now, hopefully there will be other times for Nealia to take them to Starfall with her.
Yeah, you are right, though at the same time, compared to the ones I mentioned, I could just as well see his storyline for the book ending where we last saw him. The others have storylines that are at a place where they simply aren't finished yet for this book, there's still significant plot points that need to be resolved, such as the war with House Dryland, the Great Other/R'hllor confrontation, Dianna's escape from the Ironborn or the wedding of Jamison and Isabella (which I am very confident with guessing we'll see it from Jamison's PoV and not from Isabella's). Verro is at a slightly different point, where I could see his latest part making for a decent finale for his storyline in this book, but if more is to come, I could see it more likely that he'll get two additional parts instead of one, because for the time being, his future direction for the time skip seems to be all set up already. I am honestly not sure if any remaining PoV will get more than one additional part before the end of the book, it seems kinda late for two parts, but I was wrong before. Guess we'll see it in time
Well I did some counting, and I'd say there is still 12-15 parts left in this chapter (though I'll try to post two parts simultaniously as often as I can), and then the epilogue to finish off Book 1. For some PoVs I know that I can conclude their storyline in one part (and some PoVs have already had their last part), but with others I feel like two more parts will be needed. But yeah, it's up to you of course, if you want to wait it out to be able to delve more into future speculation with your PM then that's fine by me, but at this point it's pretty clear that Book 1 won't be finished during this month.
12-15, I see, very interesting. In that case, I could actually see Verro receiving another part, whereas Nym is probably going to get 2, including the actual chapter finale. Maybe Gwen and/or Dalia as well, depending on how close the confrontation truly is. And well, I think I'll try to answer more quickly then. You know I have a bit of a backlog when it comes to PM's in either way, so we'll see, it might be that I will only get the time to answer once there is more to speculate and discuss either way, but I definitely won't explicitly wait for this to write my PM
[Stay with Lien and Ying]
[Continue with the Rose Company]
Voting is closed!
And Nealia will stay with Lien and Ying. Alrighty, this choice will above anything else determine where and how Nealia's storyline in Book 2 will begin. There is a small chance I'll change my mind, but I'm pretty sure this was her last part in Book 1!
Now, about that one-off PoV I promised earlier. I basically scratched my earlier process with the part yesterday and started from the beginning, and this time I've made progress much quicker. In fact, I'm fairly confident I'll get it done later today. And well, I guess I could reveal that this part will take place in Lemonwood
The Bastard’s Bastard
Flames danced on the torch, illuminating the grey stone walls of the dungeon cell under the castle of Lemonwood. Efran Dalt, the Lord of Lemonwood, sat by the wall with the keys in his hands. His prisoner, Adian Dalt, sat on the other side of the room, dirty and pale from weeks spent in captivity. Tense silence lingered in the room, as the moment of truth creeped closer.
“This might be your last day as a prisoner”, Efran stated calmly, gazing at Adian with his one eye. “And my last day as a lord… or well, just last day, period.”
“I… I’m sorry”, Adian muttered awkwardly, to which Efran chuckled in amusement. “Why would you be?” He asked with a sigh, and with a gulp Adian turned his gaze down. “Byrron suggests that I should blackmail your father by threatening to kill you”, Efran continued, not waiting for an answer.
“And… are you going to do that?” Adian asked quietly. Efran stayed quiet for a moment, studying Adian’s face, seeing the fear in his eyes, and how his lower lip trembled ever so slightly. “Do you think it would work?” he finally asked, a subtle smirk forming on his face.
“I don’t know”, Adian answered, and his tone seemed genuine. “Dallin cares for me, but I’m not sure if he would value my life over the future of this house.”
“The future of this house”, Efran repeated Adian’s words quietly, an intense gaze in his eye. “Does he think that my rule would destroy House Dalt?”
“In truth, I don’t think he sees you as a Dalt”, Adian replied quickly, and for a brief moment there was an uncharacteristic sharpness in his eyes. Efran chuckled softly at his words, turning his gaze down for a moment. “Perhaps I’m not”, he said nonchalantly, taking in a deep breath. “I may share your blood, but we are not family, not really. I was raised among killers, taught to be ruthless ever since I learned to walk, while you read your books and learned the proper ways of a nobleman.”
“Then why did you want to rule Lemonwood?” Adian asked carefully, to which Efran shrugged lazily. “To be honest, it was never something I truly desired”, he admitted. “However, Byrron made sure to keep reminding me that it was my birthright, and that it would be my duty to avenge Jaxar, the father I never got to know. The father Darin stole from me.”
“So, it was all for a vengeance?” Adian asked now, and Efran nodded. “Primarily, yes”, he confirmed with a hollow tone on his voice. “But I also thought that perhaps I could be something more than just a pirate or bandit, and my claim to Lemonwood was the opportunity to reach that.”
“But at what cost?” Adian asked grimly. Efran narrowed his eye, remaining quiet for a drawn out moment. “Many lives were lost, but it was hardly the first time that has happened”, he finally said coldly, managing to hide the regret from his words. “This world is ruled with steel and blood, and I only did what was required to defeat those born luckier than myself.”
Adian didn’t respond to this, and for a moment the room remained silent. Then, Efran stood up and grabbed the torch from its holder. “I will not follow Byrron’s advice”, he stated calmly, looking his prisoner to the eyes. “If your father wins, he’ll find you and the rest of his family from down here. And if he loses… well, then we can have another conversation.” With these words Efran walked out of the cell, closing and locking the door behind him.
Efran arrived to the courtyard, where his troops were preparing for a battle. He saw Ser Axel commanding his men with a stern tone, holding the battle axe in his hands. The troops didn’t look very eager though, and who could blame them. Everyone knew their chances to be slim ever since the news about Santagar’s and Ladybright’s joining forces with Ser Dallin and Lord Byrant had arrived.
Efran headed towards the main keep, but on his way he was approached by Ser Byrron Granit. “Mylord, the enemy will arrive within an hour”, he informed sternly, taking in a deep breath. “If I may suggest once more…”
“I will not run and hide”, Efran cut off Byrron before he could finish his sentence. “We didn’t work years take this city just to give it up at the first sight of threat, did we?”
“No, but if you were to hide now, you’d have the chance to gather more men and strike again”, Byrron argued, to which Efran just chuckled coldly and shook his head. “No, Byrron, this war ends today, one way or the other”, he said with determination that left no room for arguing. And so, he walked past Byrron and in from the doors of the main keep, and made his way to the lord’s chambers.
Opening the door and stepping in, Efran saw Lady Elise sitting by the table with her bastard son Athen. The boy looked frightened and nervous as always, and there was concern in Elise’s eyes.
“Afternoon”, Efran greeted calmly, and they both shifted their attention to him. “My love”, Elise replied, a small smile forming on her face. Efran did love Elise, but that was not the base that their relationship stood on. No, it was trust. Efran knew Elise to be one of the few people that he could fully rely on, perhaps the only one aside from Byrron.
“You don’t have to stay, Elise”, Efran said with a subtle gulp, and the smile faded from her face. “Take your son, and go somewhere safe before it’s too late. I know I promised a good life for you here, but if I lose the battle today…”
Elise stood up from her chair, and rushed to kiss Efran, effectively cutting him off. “I will not abandon you”, she said as they separated, grasping his hands in a tight grab. “I am yours, and you are mine. I will fight by your side today, and nothing can change my mind.”
“The odds are stacked against us, Elise”, Efran said with a sigh. “And what of your son?”
Elise glanced at Athen with a gulp, uncertainty flashing in her eyes for a split second, before she regained her composure and confidence, and shifted her eyes back to Efran. “I’ve told him to plead for Ser Dallin’s mercy in case we are defeated”, she explained calmly. “He is a knight, he wouldn’t harm an innocent child.”
“I hope so, for the boy’s sake”, Efran said sternly, looking at the boy timidly sitting by the table. Elise put her hand on his cheek, which made him shift his attention back to her. “We haven’t lost yet, my love”, she whispered, leaning her forehead against his. “And today we’ll fight for our lives, future and our love.”
-
The sun had already began to set, and the battle had been going on for a while when Efran led his cavalry down the main street of Lemonwood. The defenders on the walls of the city were being overwhelmed, and Efran was certain there were already troops of Dallin inside the city. However, he wouldn’t bother chasing them, he would strike on the head of the snake. The leaders of the army stood outside the walls, behind the frontlines, and that was where Efran wanted to attack.
With Byrron and Elise beside him, and about a forty riders behind him, Efran rode through the market square, now approaching the western gates of the city. They halted about a hundred feet away from the gates, and Efran turned his gaze to Byrron. He gave him a subtle nod, and the Granit knight rose a war horn on his lips, and blew to it. As the majestic echoed in the air, the guards started opening the gates.
About a dozen infantrymen of the attackers rushed in form the opened gates, but they turned around quickly as they saw Efran leading a charge straight towards them. They cut through them like hot knife through butter, and Efran took down three men with his Valyrian steel sword.
They rushed out of the gates into the crude fields outside the city, the ground trembling and dust whirling under the hooves. From here they could see the attackers scaling the western walls, while the defenders desperately tried to hold them back. However, on the hill southwest of the city stood the cavalry of the enemy. Among them Efran could see banners of Dalt, Granit, Bravespear, Santagar, Ladybright, and even Martell. The cavalry had took notice of their charge out of the city, and begun to re-assemble their lines to face towards Efran’s riders. The moment of truth, Efran thought with nervous excitement, grasping tightly to the hilt of his sword.
The horns sounded in the distance, and the enemy riders raised their shields, as well as their spears, swords and lances, ready to charge. Then the horn sounded again, and the enemy began their charge. Efran raised his glimmering sword towards the sky that was painted red by the setting sun, and turned to look at his men. “Forward, brothers!” he roared, and so they charged against the enemy.
On the first clashing Efran deflected a spear aimed at his head, and dropped a Santagar rider from his horse. Many of his troops fell, but Byrron and Elise both remained standing as they regrouped for the next charge. If the numbers had been against them in the first charge, now the difference was even clearer. There was perhaps twenty of them left, while the enemy cavalry still had close to a hundred riders standing.
“To death!” Efran roared from the bottom of his lungs, leading the charge again. He didn’t even care if his troops were following, he would die fighting to the end. And then he saw it, charging right towards him – Ser Dallin Dalt. It had to be, he looked so much like Darin, and he had the same eyes as Adian.
With deadly precision, Efran slashed past Dallin’s shield, and opened his throat. As the chaos ensued around him, he saw the Dalt knight falling from his horse, dead. A satisfied grin formed on Efran’s face, and he closed his eyes, ready to die. A couple seconds passed, before someone thrust their spear into his chest. Then came another, and the third one knocked him down from his horse. The red sky above Lemonwood was the last thing Efran saw.
No decision.
Aha, I expected Lemonwood! What I did not expect though is that Efran himself will end up as the PoV, I would have guessed Elise or Byrron, so you certainly surprised me there. And what can I say, I am glad we got Verro out of there. I really doubt this would have ended kindly for him if he would have remained by Efran's side, but that was to be expected after most of his allies abandoned him after he actually conquered Lemonwood.
I must say, Efran appeared almost reasonable in this part, emphasis on almost. That was up until he seemed genuinely surprised that Dallin is under the impression he seeks to destroy House Dalt. I mean, we got a man who finally admitted himself that he is not even entirely sure he has Dalt blood, he conquered the Dalt seat and he killed how many Dalt's before that statement? Two? Three? Top of that, he made it clear that he wants to kill every Dalt that is not himself. That was the moment where he turned from reasonable to delusional. Maybe he genuinely considered himself reasonable, but at core, he was a mad dog and he was lying to himself with all this. I am curious what happened to Byrron and Elise though. Being by his side, the implication is that they both died, but we haven't seen it, which leaves some slight chance for them to survive. Especially Elise, being a young woman and all, is usually one to get captured if the chance comes up, so I wouldn't be too surprised if we haven't seen the last of her or Byrron. Considering how loyal they were to Efran, his death at the hands of troops allied with House Martell could leave them vengeful and since the whole conspiracy storyline will likely be expanded in Book 2, maybe they'll join it with the last of Efran's loyalists. Or maybe they are dead, but since it hasn't been seen, that'd be just speculation at this point.
Well, we knew this was going to happen. Now Nymeria has full control over southeastern Dorne, and the alliance with House Toland and Gargalen will allow her to expand westwards. Once Vaith is taken over, besides the desert, there will be almost nothing to prevent the siege of Hellgate Hall.
Oh wow I can't say I was expecting this one! When I heard that it would be a PoV from Lemonwood, I was actually thinking it would be Ser Dallin or someone from Nymeria's side not Efran himself! With that said, it really is a nice surprise and this was a very enjoyable part! Seeing this unfold from Efran's PoV definitely displayed him in a different way than how I had perceived him so far and it showed me that Efran very much lives up to his reputation. Up to this point, I had perceived Efran as someone who had only succeeded because of the power he had gained from the allies he had bought rather than anything particularly special about him especially after he had to be saved from clear defeat by a middle aged Darin. Along with that, if I remember correctly this was the only real combat we had witnessed from him in the story so I hadn't really been too impressed by Efran's actual combat ability but this part definitely changed that! He knew he was defeated so he went out and took down Ser Dallin before he was overwhelmed by the numbers which admittedly was really beast and in a way this was probably the best ending that Efran could have hoped for considering he had basically no chance of holding off the superior numbers.
Also I just realized something, Ser Dallin may just win the award of being the weakest knight in the entire story
He ran and left Dianna to die after her troops were overwhelmed by the Ironborn which I gave him a pass on since the odds were against them but then he gets owned one on one by the man that he was trying to stop in Efran 
Which it is clear that Efran's reign is over so he has succeeded but man combat definitely wasn't Dallin's strong suit! Anyway, this was a really awesome part and what I would say will be the conclusion of the Dalt storyline and I will say that it was very enjoyable and I am excited to see what will come of some of the other characters from it here such as Elise and Ser Byrron.
Hello again! So, there is no voting to close this time, but I wanted to give you a little update regarding the next parts. I am currently working on two parts, Nymeria and Kris being the PoVs. I have made some progress, but these are very important parts (especially the Kris one), so I really want to take my time to make sure I'm satisfied with them. Now, it is possible that I'll already have them done tomorrow, but perhaps a more realistic promise is that they will be posted before the weekend.
I imagine you remember pretty well where these characters are, but a very short recap anyway: Nymeria defeated the Dryland armies at the Battle of Godsgrace Bridge, and after that the Fallen Dragons arrived with the Gargalen hostages. Valor suggested that Nymeria should wait for Jeremie Gargalen to come of age before making her decision regarding who will inherit the lordship of Salt Shore from Lord Jorvian, who fell in the battle. As for Kris, he is traveling with Dalia, Desirea, Mother Minesa, Belan the Brave and the former slave who calls himself Hangman. In Dalia's latest part they arrived to the Scourge, and Dalia had a little chat with her daughter about the concerning things she had seen in the flames. However, when asked Dalia decided to not share the details about these visions with Kris, Belan and Hangman.
Oh my god, oh my goodness, it is happening at last, isn't it? I predict the Kris part will start the long-dreaded confrontation and then either a Gwen or Dalia part to continue and possibly end it. Until then, don't mind me, I'm just slowly hyperventilating back here. Gosh, I'm pretty sure this is going to be one hell of a long week
Hello again! So, first of all, sorry for the long wait, but once you see the combined length of these two parts I'm sure you understand why it took a while
Add to that the fact that there have been many other things keeping me preoccupied throughout the week. Nonetheless, I hope these parts were worth the wait. Without further ado:
Nymeria
The river Vaith ran low, and the red sands around it were shimmering under the blazing hot sun. Nymeria’s army had marched towards the city of Vaith for a couple of days now, advancing slowly but surely. They had left Lady Delena Gargalen and her son Jeremie to Godsgrace for Lady Esperence to look after, but kept Gabby and Bridget with the army. They weren’t kept in shackles, since they had both knelt and sworn their allegiance to Nymeria and House Martell, but for all intents and purposes they were still hostages. After all, Salt Shore was currently controlled by Eli Sand, and Nymeria would not blindly trust on the loyalty of a bastard girl she had never met. They also still had Harbert and Howar Uller as hostages, whereas Mizro the Sharp had joined the Rose Company.
Nymeria stood next to her tent, watching as the troops made their way to the river to bath and refill their flasks. The camp was spread thin right along the riverside, making the distance between the vanguard and rearguard over a mile. At the vanguard were the sellswords, most importantly the Fallen Dragons. Behind them came the Rhoynar warriors and Martell soldiers, led by Nymeria, Mors and Varyn. Then came the vassal forces, at the very rear being the soldiers of House Allyrion, led by Emmett Allyrion.
Nymeria saw Mors, Varyn and Edd Prally conversing by the council pavilion, but instead of going to them she decided to head towards Valor Veltaris’ tent. She walked through the camp, her guards Nesea and Jadisha following close behind. Arriving to Valor’s tent, she noticed it was guarded by two soldiers. One was Olyvar Forrester, the man Nymeria had met in Sandship, while the other was a young boy with olive skin and dark hair. Nymeria couldn’t be sure, but to her the boy looked Rhoynar.
“Princess Nymeria”, the two said in unison and bowed to her. “Is you commander here?” Nymeria asked calmly, and Olyvar nodded, a subtle smirk on his face. “Aye, you’ve come to see him?” He asked, and Nymeria nodded. “Alright, come in then”, Olyvar said, turning to push aside the curtain that worked as a door. Nymeria turned to her guards, giving them a small nod to indicate that they could wait outside.
Stepping into the tent, Nymeria saw Valor sitting by a small table, Bridget Gargalen opposed to him. They both looked a bit surprised by Nymeria’s presence, but after a brief moment of awkward silence Bridget stood up and gave Nymeria a small bow. “Your Grace, I was just about to leave”, she explained, though her hesitating tone revealed it to be a lie. Nonetheless, Nymeria gave her a small nod.
As the Gargalen lady walked out of the tent, Nymeria took the seat opposed to Valor. “Having a little chat with our prisoner?” she asked nonchalantly as she sat down, and Valor let out a small sigh. “I was asking her how Gabby had reacted to your decision to wait for Jeremie to come of age”, he clarified.
“And?” Nymeria urged the Valyrian commander to continue, and he took in a deep breath before speaking up again. “Apparently she hasn’t been particularly talkative lately”, he said sternly. “Bridget thinks it’s just because she is so crushed by their father’s death.”
“And Bridget isn’t?” Nymeria asked with a raised eyebrow. “We all have our own ways to handle grief”, Valor responded quickly, tapping the surface of the table lightly with his fingers. “Bridget is the sort of person that carries herself with dignity no matter the situation, but it’s clear that her father’s death still pains her.”
“You seem to know her well, despite just meeting her a couple weeks ago”, Nymeria stated with an intrigued tone. “I don’t claim to know her, but I know her kind”, Valor replied smoothly. “She is a good woman, smart and humble.”
“And beautiful”, Nymeria added, her lips forming a tiny smirk, to which Valor chuckled awkwardly. “Yes, beautiful as well”, he admitted with a subtle gulp. “Anyway, I imagine you had a reason to come and see me, Your Grace”, Valor quickly changed the topic, and Nymeria nodded.
“So far you have been a great help in my efforts to win this war, but I still hardly know you”, she stated with a calm and quiet tone, her eyes studying the Valyrian commander’s face as she spoke. “I’m sure you understand that I have a certain amount of prejudice against you.”
“Yes, that is definitely understandable”, Valor replied calmly, considering his next words for a moment. “In many ways the Freehold is the greatest civilization the world has ever seen. Its scholars and sorcerers have a deep and comprehensive understanding of this world and how it works, its artists craft works of art more complex than anyone else, its poets use the beautiful tongue of Valyria to convey meaningful thoughts and philosophies, and the dragons give it strength comparable to that of gods. However, I fear all this sophistication and power has made Valyrians arrogant, blind to the beauty and wisdom of other cultures, as well as to the value of human life.”
“How wise of you to understand this”, Nymeria commented dryly. “By the way, you are not the first Valyrian I’ve met after my arrival in Dorne”, she continued quickly, and Valor narrowed his eyes. “I’m not?” he asked with a mildly surprised tone.
“A girl named Eraehra Galnaris visited Sandship, if only because the ship carrying her got damaged near the coast of Dorne”, Nymeria explained, and Valor nodded with an understanding expression on his face. “I have met the Galnaris family, long ago”, he said. “I imagine you treated this girl well?”
“I did”, Nymeria confirmed with a small sigh. “At first just seeing her made me feel pure anger, and I am almost ashamed of some of the initial thoughts I had. However, it was clear that she was just an innocent girl, someone who had no part in the destruction that my people had to face. You on the other hand…”
“I have apologized for my part in the war”, Valor said tensely, and Nymeria could spot a touch of nervousness in his words. “I know”, she replied coldly. “You said earlier that seeing the death and destruction brought upon Rhoyne disillusioned you from the glory of the Freehold. However, disillusioned or not, abandoning your own people is quite a drastic move to make, some would even say reckless. What exactly was it that made you do it?”
“It was a decision I came to after a long series of events, each making me more and more cynical towards the Freehold and its dragonlords”, Valor said with a deep sigh, turning his gaze down. “The first thing that I was unhappy with was the utter destruction of Sarhoy. At that point the war had barely begun, and I thought the dragonlords did what they did to give a stern warning for all the people of Rhoyne. Nonetheless, burning down the whole city and salting the lands around it felt unnecessary and excessively cruel, and all it did was escalate the conflict. Still I managed to convince myself that perhaps it was necessary in order to defend Volantis. Later came the battle at Volon Therys, which somewhat reinforced this feeling. The power that your water wizards showed that day was as impressive as it was terrifying. Part of me believed that unless help would arrive from Valyria, Volantis itself would be the next to be flooded, its people drowned by the command of Prince Garin. And then help arrived, three hundred dragonriders. The great families of the Freehold had decided to bring the Rhoynar resistance to an end, no matter the cost. I wasn’t terribly fond of this approach, but I also remembered my troops drowning in Volon Therys and thought once again that perhaps this was necessary. And so, we marched up the Rhoyne, defeated Prince Garin’s armies and reconquered the Volantene settlements. With Garin as our prisoner and his armies destroyed, the war was already won. However, the dragonlords’ hunger for destruction was yet to be satisfied, and Sar Mell was the first to suffer their wrath. I saw children being put to chains as they watched their homes being reduced to ashes. Only a man with no heart could see that without feeling contempt towards his own. After that we marched up towards Chroyane, burning down every village and town on the way, and I simply couldn’t convince myself anymore that any of it was necessary. It was simply cruelty for the sake of cruelty, and I decided I couldn’t take part in it any longer and still be able look myself in the mirror.”
“They call you the Fallen Dragon, but as I see it you rose above the rest of your kind when you left them behind”, Nymeria said with a genuinely respectful tone. Valor smiled at her words, though there was a hint of grief in his lilac eyes. “No doubt half of your people would rather see me dead than marching beside you”, he said sullenly.
“Perhaps, but I also know that some of them respect you”, Nymeria responded calmly. Valor looked at her with disbelief and confusion. “You jest, right?” he said with a little chuckle, but Nymeria shook her head. “General Varyn hates Valyrians as much as any man of Rhoyne who saw the terror their dragons brought, but he spoke quite highly of you back when Forovos first brought up the possibility of hiring you”, she explained, and now Valor nodded understandingly. “I see, he respects me as a commander”, he deduced calmly.
“He does, but I think he also respects the fact that you left the Valyrian army when you saw the true extent of their cruelty”, Nymeria spoke with a friendly tone. A moment of silence followed, until finally Valor spoke up again. “It is clear you are not someone who would want to take away other people’s way of life or destroy their culture. So, why do you want to conquer Dorne?” he asked with an interested tone, looking Nymeria to the eyes.
“There are a couple reasons”, Nymeria said with a sigh, after considering her answer for a moment. “Most importantly, I see it as the only way for the Rhoynar culture to survive. On the other hand, when I look at Dorne, I see a fragmented land full of internal conflicts. Meanwhile the other kingdoms of Westeros grow stronger, more unified. If Dorne doesn’t unite under one banner, it is only a question of time before it will be conquered by either the Gardeners or the Durrandons. For them this land would be just an unimportant corner in their kingdom, its people and lords having little worth aside from presenting more taxes and resources for some faraway king, who will never see them as his own. However, if Dorne unites now under the banner of Sun and Spear, they will have an identity they can be proud of. Unified under one banner Dorne will never bend, bow or break against any invader from the north.”
“You are truly ambitious, my princess, I admire that”, Valor complimented softly. “However, don’t you think many here see you as much as an outsider as they would see the Gardeners or Durrandons?”
Nymeria nodded calmly, and stood up from her chair. “Yes, but I intend to prove them wrong”, she replied sharply, flashing Valor one more smirk before she walked out of his tent.
-
After a couple more days of traveling, they finally arrived to Vaith. It was a small town, even smaller than Godsgrace. The walls around it were old, and not particularly high or sturdy looking. Perhaps they were strong enough to keep bandits and desert tribes from raiding the city, but not much more.
“Not quite as beautiful as Godsgrace”, Mors commented with a light-hearted tone. “I was a kid the last time I was here. Don’t remember much, but I do remember being really bored.”
“If you were bored I can only imagine how bored your brother must’ve been”, Nymeria replied, and Mors chuckled warmly. “I’m pretty sure he was still young to travel so far and was left back to Sandship”, he said. Just then Varyn approached them.
“My princess, my prince, I’ve now sent the messenger to the gates”, he informed with a dry and professional tone. “We should know soon what kind of welcome awaits us here.”
“In case they won’t surrender peacefully, we should be able to overwhelm their defenses with ease”, Mors stated confidently, and Varyn nodded in agreement. “Indeed, though if the losses are too great, we might have to push our march to Brimstone for later”, he said with his cynical tone.
“Vaith troops submitted to Lucifer only after losing a battle against his armies, and Lady Esperence mentioned having been in contact with Lady Myra”, Nymeria remarked strictly. “I think we can trust that they will want to cooperate.”
“Maybe so”, Varyn replied quietly, turning his gaze towards the town. After a couple minutes of waiting, the messenger finally rode back from the gates, flying the orange sun and spear banner.
“Your Grace, I have been told that Lady Myra is in control of Vaith, and she will gladly open its gates for you”, the messenger said with a bow. And so, the Martell forces marched into the city with no resistance. People had gathered to the streets, and many seemed to be welcoming them with excitement. “It seems the people of Vaith didn’t much enjoy being under the rule of King Lucifer”, Mors commented, a charming grin on his face as they slowly rode through the central square of the town.
Entering through the gates of the castle, Nymeria immediately noticed a tall and dark-skinned woman standing in middle of the courtyard, surrounded by guards clad in the colors of House Vaith. As Nymeria and Mors dismounted their horses and approached the woman, she immediately kneeled, keeping her gaze down in a humble manner.
“You may stand up, Lady Myra”, Nymeria said calmly, and so she did. “Your Grace, it is an honor to finally meet you, after all the stories I’ve heard”, Myra spoke to her with an admiring tone, before turning her eyes to Mors. “And you as well Prince Mors. The city of Vaith is yours to command.”
“Where is your husband?” Mors asked curiously, glancing around to see if the lord was there. Myra’s expression soured slightly, and she took in a deep breath. “Lord Kris is not here”, she informed with a gulp. “He left some weeks ago, to… find my bastard daughter.”
“Has she been captured by someone?” Nymeria asked softly, but Myra quickly shook her head. “No, she… escaped”, she explained with some hesitation in her words. “It’s a complicated story, one better left for later.”
“I understand”, Nymeria replied calmly. Lord or not, the city is under my rule now, and Kris Vaith will have his opportunity to bend the knee later. “Now, please allow me to escort you to the council chamber, so we can have a more comfortable discussion”, Myra suggested politely, and they agreed. So they made their way into the keep, and to the doors of the council chamber. As they entered, a plump and grey-haired maester was already waiting by the table, and next to him sat a young boy, no more than three years old. The boy’s skin was of slightly lighter tone than Myra’s, he had a curly dark hair and bright green eyes.
“This is Maester Jason, and my son Nickon Vaith”, Lady Myra introduced as they approached the table. “Nickon, Jason, allow me to introduce you the Princess and Prince of Dorne, Nymeria and Mors Martell.”
The maester stood up from his seat to bow to them, whereas Nickon just looked at them with a confused expression on his face. “It is an honor, Your Grace”, Jason mumbled, and Nymeria gave him a small nod.
“Would you take Nickon to Henry for me, Jason?” Myra asked politely, and the maester nodded obediently. “Of course, mylady”, he responded, and proceeded to escort the boy out of the room. After they left, silence lingered in the room for a moment, until Myra cleared her throat to speak up again. “Lady Esperence has been in contact with me, and she has kneeling to you now is the smartest move to make”, she started calmly. “And I believe her. No doubt many lords and ladies of Dorne will hesitate to do it because they see you as an outsider, but I don’t have that issue. I am an outsider here as well, and I have managed to keep this city in order quite well, despite the continuous absence of my lord husband. I have no doubt you are more than capable to rule Dorne.”
“Thank you”, Nymeria responded gently, taking a seat by the table. “And in return for your submission, you can always count on House Martell’s protection and aid against all enemies.”
“Good, because I am sure King Lucifer will begin to plan his attack as soon as he hears that I have bent the knee to you”, Myra said with a touch of concern in her words. “I wouldn’t worry about that too much”, Mors interjected now. “With your support we surely have the power to crush Lucifer, and we also have the sons of his most important vassal as hostages.”
“I am relieved to hear this”, Myra said, taking in a deep breath. “However, I have one question for you. I’m sure you are aware that King Lucifer has no legitimate heir. He has only a bastard daughter whom has lived most of her life as a sellsword, and no other close relatives who could claim his title. If you indeed defeat Lucifer, whom do you plan to give the lordship of Hellgate Hall?”
[Say that Martell's will inherit Hellgate Hall] [Say that Uller's will inherit Hellgate Hall] [Say that you don't know yet]
-
Kris
”I don’t know”, Dalia said with a deep sigh, shifting her eyes away as she spoke. ”All I know is that a fight awaits us at the end of this journey, a battle against the servants of the dark.”
”We are ready for a fight”, Kris said confidently, tapping lightly on the hilt of his sword, the End of Night. Belan nodded to his words as well, stern determination in his eyes. ”Life and light will prevail over death and darkness”, he said confidently.
”Let us hope so”, Dalia replied with a small nod, before heading back to her daughter. Silence lingered in the air for a moment, until Hangman spoke up. ”She isn’t telling us everything”, he stated calmly, to which Kris raised an eyebrow. ”How so?” he asked.
”The way she spoke, the look on her eyes… there’s something she isn’t telling us about this fight that we are heading into”, Hangman said, a sharp look in his dark eyes. “Perhaps she has a reason for it”, Kris suggested calmly, and Hangman shrugged. “If you trust her, I trust you”, he said with a relaxed tone.
“I’m still a bit surprised that you chose to come with us, Hangman”, Kris changed the topic, eyeing the former slave with intrigue. “Especially since my mother is here as well.”
“I’ve never liked your mother, but she wasn’t the one who made me a slave”, Hangman said nonchalantly. “And she wasn’t the worst owner I had. Now that I’m a free man again, I choose to follow you.”
“I realize I’ve never asked you about your life before slavery”, Kris said calmly. “You were a man of Rhoyne, right?” A subtle smirk formed on Hangman’s face now, and he nodded. “Not just a man, I was a prince”, he said, and Kris narrowed his eyes, uncertain if he was being serious. “Hondo was my name, Hondo of Ghoyan Drohe. My father Javed ruled the city, and my older sister Khepri was his heir. I was a commander, thousands of men following my orders. All that was lost in the flames brought by the dragonlords of Valyria, and soon I was just another slave to be sold on the markets of Volantis. ‘Three golds for this stubborn bastard who refused to die in a hanging!’, shouted the slaver, which apparently impressed your mother.”
“I… I’m sorry to hear this”, Kris said with an uncertain tone, and Hondo chuckled warmly. “Don’t worry about it, mylord. I’ve learned to accept my past and be grateful for what I still have.”
“Do you know where your family is now?” Kris asked, and Hondo shook his head. “My father died in the war”, he started with a sigh. “As for my mother, brother and sisters… I hope they found a way to survive, as unlikely as it is.”
“If they did survive, it’s likely that they are here in Dorne”, Kris pointed out. “You should go to Princess Nymeria, and ask if your family is with them”, he suggested, but Hondo looked uncomfortable with the idea. “My family wouldn’t recognize me anymore”, he said grimly, but Kris just shook his head.
“Nonsense”, he insisted, looking Hondo to the eyes. “Do you really think your family wouldn’t be happy to see you again, after years of thinking that you were gone forever?”
“If they even are alive”, Hondo remarked dryly, and Kris grabbed him gently from the shoulder. “After we’re done with this mission, why not find out?” He asked with a smirk. “We’ll go to Princess Nymeria together, I’m kind of interested to meet her myself.”
“Aren’t you technically in war with her?” Hondo asked with an amused tone, and Kris shrugged. “A minor inconvenience”, he quipped, and they both laughed.
-
After a few more days of traveling towards the coast, Kris woke up one morning to rain drops falling on his face. Opening his eyes and raising up, it took him a moment to realize what was happening. The sky was grey with clouds and rain fell on the sand.
“It’s raining”, Kris heard Belan exclaiming with a confused tone behind him. “But it’s summer… this is not normal, right?”
“This is the work of our enemy”, Minesa stated grimly, eyeing the darkening sky above them. “We are close.”
As they continued forward, the rain started to get heavier and heavier, and the winds were raising as well. Finally, after hours of walking in the rain they arrived to the coast, and saw it. By the cliff next to the sea stood a dead tree, and next to it was a group of nine. The servants of the Great Other. One of them was a tall warrior clad in heavy dark armor, the visor of his helmet depicting a human skull. Behind him stood three women, two of them pale and dark-haired, and the third one tall and dark-skinned. Valerie. Beside Valerie stood five men whose minds she clearly controlled with her dark magic. Few of them looked like capable soldiers, while the others seemed to be just some poor peasants that Valerie had managed to cast her spell on.
Kris glanced at Dalia, who gave him a wordless nod, proceeding to approach their enemies with determination in her eyes. Kris, Belan and Hondo followed close behind, Minesa and Desirea coming behind them.
They stopped a couple dozen feet away from them, and drew their weapons. No one said a word, but the winds howled around them, and the sea stormed. Kris raised up his sword, its warm and orange glow being a stark contrast to the darkness and rain. “Valerie, I’ve come to deliver you your punishment!” he yelled, to which Valerie reacted with a mocking laughter.
“You have all come here to die!” she screamed, her voice sending shivers down Kris’ spine. “Your flames will wither away, your pathetic lives will end, and the Great Other shall prevail!”
“I take the big one”, Dalia said quietly, looking at Kris. “You three take the rest.”
“Are you sure?” Kris asked, and Dalia nodded, a confident smirk on her face. “I’ve fought his kind many times before”, she said, fiddling the arakhs in her hands and turning her gaze to the servants of darkness.
“Alright then”, Kris agreed with a subtle gulp, glancing at Belan and Hondo, who both gave him a small nod.
“May R’hllor be with us!” yelled Mother Minesa, and so Kris, Belan, Hondo and Dalia charged towards their enemies. The first one that Kris faced was a tall soldier armed with a spear. Kris deflected his first thrust, and stepped to right, seeking for a hole in the spearman’s defense. There was no emotion on his face, only cold determination, the work of Valerie’s dark magic.
The spearman kept thrusting and swinging tirelessly, making it hard for Kris to get in range to do any real damage. And the swings that he managed to make only lightly scratched the man, or were completely dodged. Glancing quickly behind him, Kris saw that Hondo had taken down one of the peasants, but struggled with a soldier armed with sword. Belan on the other hand was surrounded by two of Valerie’s soldiers, forcing him to concentrate just to defense. On the other direction, Dalia was moving her arakhs with deadly speed, but most of her hits were absorbed by the big man’s sturdy armor.
Shifting his attention back to his own opponent, Kris dodged another thrust of the spear, rolled closer to the soldier, and penetrated his stomach with the End of Night. The man died without as much as making a single groan. His body simply collapsed as Kris pulled his sword out, the look on his eye remaining just as dead as it was before. For a moment Kris considered rushing to help Dalia with the big warrior, but then he noticed injured Belan being pushed to the ground by the two soldiers he was fighting against. Without a moment of hesitation he charged between these two mindless soldiers and Belan, one of them armed with a sword and the other with an axe.
He parried the sword, and continued with a quick strike towards the axeman, slashing open his throat. As the dead axeman collapsed to the wet ground, Kris turned towards the swordsman and raised his defense. Showing no emotion like the rest of them, this man struck his swings with speed and precision that made clear he had been a skilled soldier before being enslaved by Valerie.
Steel clashed against steel again and again, and Kris noticed he was having a hard time keeping up, not to mention finding chances to do damage. He was starting to get tired, and then it happened – one of the soldier’s strikes hit him on the elbow of his swordhand. It didn’t cut deep enough to truly damage his arm, but the flash of pain made his loose grip on his sword. Left with no defense, Kris felt panic settling in as the dead-eyed soldier raised his sword to make the killing blow. However, at the very last moment Hondo cut him down from behind.
Blood, sweat and raindrops running down his face, Hondo breathed heavily, as knelt down to pick up Kris’ sword from the ground. “Here you go, mylord”, he said with a pained grin as he handed him the End of Night. “Thanks”, Kris said with a hollow tone as he grabbed the hilt, turning to look at Belan. The boy was still conscious, holding on to the deep wound on his right shoulder. Kris was about to go and help him, when he heard a painful scream behind him. Dalia’s voice, he realized, and immediately spun around. What he saw was the dark warrior’s blade penetrated through Dalia’s stomach.
She looked at him, helpless confusion in her dark eyes, like she couldn’t understand what was happening. “Kris”, he heard her saying weakly, and then the dark warrior pulled his blade out, and all life disappeared from Dalia’s eyes. She collapsed to the ground, blood pumping out of the wound.
“Mother!” Desirea screamed with a shocked and frightened tone, rushing to Dalia’s dead body. It was a heart breaking sight to see Desirea, who despite all her wisdom and maturity was still a child, holding her dead mother with tears in her eyes. Kris rushed in quickly, stepping between Desi and the dark warrior, and Hondo joined beside him swiftly. “We can take him together”, Hondo said sternly, and Kris nodded, grasping to his sword with anger.
“Let’s kill this son of a bitch”, he muttered, raising his sword and moving in for the first strike. The dark warrior parried Kris’ sword, but Hondo’s strike on the other hand landed on his ribs. However, it merely made a small dent on his sturdy armor, to which he hardly even reacted.
Kris and Hondo split up, surrounding the warrior from two sides. He chose to face Kris, trying to take him out quickly with a hard downward swing, but Kris managed to dance out of its way. Simultaneously Hondo thrusted his sword to the unprotected area under the warrior’s left arm. With a painful growl he turned around, and managed to smack Hondo on the head with his armored elbow, sending him stumbling down to the ground. However, this gave Kris enough time to slash the dark warrior behind his right knee, which made him kneel. Kris saw his opening, just one last strike and it would be over. However, as he raised his sword, he couldn’t bring it down. He felt dizzy, and something compelled him to let go of his sword.
The dark warrior turned around, and Kris could see his one red eye glowing behind the visor, like a predator eyeing its prey. Kris could only watch as the warrior raised his sword to end his life. Just as he was about to strike, burning bright flames consumed him. Kris snapped out of the spell, and quickly backed away from the dark warrior that was burning to death inside his armor.
Turning his gaze to left, Kris saw Desirea standing there with her hands raised, determination and fury burning in her eyes. In his last moments the dark warrior removed his helmet, revealing his burned and mutilated face, before collapsing to the ground.
“No! The Great Other cannot be defeated, you will die!” screamed Valerie, approaching them through the storm with murderous look in her eyes. “Burn, servant of the dark!” Desirea responded, rising her hands again, and now the flames rushed to Valerie. She couldn’t do anything but scream in pain as the flames began to eat away her skin. Defeated, she turned around and ran off the steep cliff to the storming sea, to her death.
Immediately after this, the storm and rain started to die down, and rays of sun pushed through the dark clouds. Desirea collapsed to her knees, exhausted by the magic she had used. There were two of the servants of dark left, but it was clear they were not a threat any longer. The other one had passed out after Valerie fell, while the other just looked defeated.
Kris helped Hondo and Belan up, while Minesa made sure that Desi was alright. After a moment, Kris, Desi and Minesa approached the last Great Other worshiper standing, and Kris kept the End of Night drawn. They stopped a dozen feet away from them, and a tense silence followed.
“I know you must kill me, and I accept that”, the servant of darkness said with a sullen tone, turning her gaze down. “Who are you?” Kris asked sternly.
“My name is Aisha… I was raised to serve the Great Other, and I will do so until I die”, she answered sharply, looking Kris to the eyes now. “If the gods will that I die here today, so be it. However, I beg of you to spare my companion, Princess Gwendis Blackmont”, Aisha spoke, gesturing towards the unconscious lady next to her. “She has followed me merely for a couple months, and I believe it would be the will of both of our gods that she does not die here today.”
“She is trying to trick us”, Minesa hissed with a scornful tone. “We should burn them both, it’s what they deserve.”
“No”, Desirea said, her voice thin and weak, but at the same time surprisingly decisive. “She is correct, the princess will not die today. I can tell she can still be saved, and that is what we will do. The other one however, has to die. How you want to do it, I don’t care.” With these words Desirea walked to the unconscious Princess Gwendis, and lifted her from the left arm, dragging her away.
Kris stepped closer to Aisha, raising his sword to execute her. “Wait!” Minesa yelled behind him. “She must be burned, to properly punish her for her heinous crimes.”
Kris let out a sigh, looking the dark priestess to her purple eyes, seeing despair and fear in them. Perhaps she indeed deserved a punishment as harsh as burning alive, after all she had worked together with someone as horrible as Valerie. However, to Kris she was just a stranger, and he certainly wouldn’t take any enjoyment in seeing her slowly burn to death.
[Give Aisha a quick death] [Burn her to death]
[Say that Uller's will inherit Hellgate Hall]
[Give Aisha a quick death]
I changed my choice about Aisha because even thought I would like to burn her, I realized that burning her wouldn't make follower of R'hllor any better than Aisha and Valerie cutting people open and taking pulling out their hearts, and Gwen would probably realize that and I don't want that.
[Say that Martell's will inherit Hellgate Hall]
[Burn her to death]
Whew... oh man, I don't even know where to begin. This part went so much differently than I thought and feared and I am pretty certain some of you have heard my sigh of relief, that's how loud it has been. To give you an idea how tense it was for me to read this part, I have read it for the second time as I write this and my hands are still shaking. Oh what a part, what a lovely part
Let me start with a couple things from Nym's part and get the vote for that one out of the way. Obviously, my reaction to Kris' part is way stronger, because the part as a whole has been pretty much the highlight of the chapter for me so far, but that does not mean Nym's part was bad in any way. In fact, it was excellent in its own way, a calmer part nicely setting the stage for the final weeks of the Dryland-Martell war. I particularly loved the interaction between the characters. Valor and Bridget, did I ever mention I ship it? Pretty sure I did. Pretty sure that ship is about to sail or has sailed already, given Bridget's kinda flustered reaction at being seen together. Unfortunately, it seems Valor got Nymblocked at the wrong moment
However, that isn't all bad, because it gave us one of the best talks we had in the story, as I legitimately enjoyed this conversation between the two of them. Valor has some serious competition, but at least in terms of personality, he has excellent chances to become one of my favourites. Nym is at that point already of course and this part only strengthened the appreciation I have for her as a character. Then there was Myra, whom I certainly like as well. Good thing Kris survived his fight, because after what that woman has been through, she is one of those whom I really want to have a happy ending. When it comes to the choice, I easily pick this one here:
[Say that Uller's will inherit Hellgate Hall]
It's easy as that, House Martell doesn't need Hellgate Hall, they will get all Dorne. Whom would they leave at Hellgate Hall either way? Jaran would be the only one not busy conquering the entirety of Dorne and I think it has been made clear before that he isn't particularly interested in ruling. Hellgate Hall is close to the Uller seat and as such, it sounds like a good idea to give it to them. At this very moment, I consider them to be very questionable allies, but I assume that such a token will do wonders in securing their loyalty.
And now, the sweet miracle that is Kris' part. Holy shit did it not go as I thought it would. First of all, before saying anything else, about the part there is something I absolutely have to do.
Or well, that is what I'd say if he would have said anything. Seriously though, it is super unsettling that this man actually was silent. He freaking burned to death and did not say a word. Compare that to Valerie and I gotta say, Edgelord Wesley actually managed to freak me out a bit here, even as he died.
So then, oh man, I'm still shaking, this is great. There were a thousand possibilities in my mind how this could play out and somehow, you ended up still surprising me. You surprised me in a situation where I was certain I had taken everything into account, because never would I have thought that this will end up as such a clear victory for Team R'hllor. Wesley is pretty much the only one who did not surprise me here. As the main meat shield of Team Awful, he was always the one taking the greatest challenge and I was always certain that his chances against Kris, Dalia, Belan and Hangman were terribly low. Not that he did not deserve it. That being said, while the fact that he died was something I correctly predicted, the way he died utterly surprised me. Desi OP, pls nerf XD I gotta say, it is ironic that he, the unstoppable warrior, got eventually killed by a little girl with no chance to fight back. Out of all the ways he could have died, this is by far the most satisfying for that fucking monster. To think how close he came to actually win this, it's scary. He killed Dalia (more about that below), Belan was already left unable to fight and I though Kris and Hondo together kinda gave him a nice beating, I am certain he could have killed them with the Great Other power there. I have to wonder, this force that compelled Kris to put down his sword, was that Valerie or Wesley? The former sounds likely, we know she has these powers, but if Wesley was actually capable to influence his enemies like that, in the same way Valerie and probably Aisha were capable of doing, that would make him even more terrifying. Those he cannot beat in a fight will be dominated and then killed. Thank R'hllor for the marvel that is Desi, because without her, they would have been chanceless.
Seriously though, Desi is a beast! Ho boy, did I underestimate her. Why does she need companions and protectors again? In the end, sure, they took out Valerie's mooks, but Desi scored the important kills here. Fucking Wesley got what he deserved and Valerie, oh man, oh this is lovely, I couldn't have thought of a more fitting end for her. I must admit, I am saddened by Dalia's death though, way more than I thought I would be. Between her and Kris, I do like Kris a bit more, but Dalia really grew on me from the beginnings in which I hated her like Aisha. I knew someone had to die, but this really hit hard, particularly because this part has increased my appreciation of Desi even more and the poor girl deserves better than to lose her mother in this. She knew it though, she knew one of them would die. And I am so glad Desi survived, because this means Gwen has a chance, an actual legit chance to get rid of the demon in her head. Dalia was the warrior, she would have likely not been able to help her with this.
Onwards, to the rest of them. First of all, I was surprised how quickly Hangman grew on me, or should I say Hondo. Really powerful writing there, you made me care for him in the matter of a few sentences and I am actually relieved he survived and that is about a character whom I saw as little more than a redshirt before this part. He was the one with the biggest death flag and he somehow pulled through, making him kind of a legend in my opinion. May he refuse to die for the rest of the story
Valerie though, she got what she deserved. That being said, I am surprised by her fate the most. With everyone else, I had my theories about their fate, but I never thought Valerie would die here. Burning to death and jumping down a cliff is a pretty impressive way of going out, but I must admit, with how powerful she is, I don't buy it yet. I will remain hesitant to actually praise her death, because I fear she might have found a way to survive. Either that, or her god might end up resurrecting her. He controls death after all. Just imagine it, Valerie the Lich, back from the dead and ready to serve her master. Here's the thing, the main reason I don't fully believe she is dead is that the Great Other has warned Gwendis of one of his own servants and it is definitely not Aisha, not after this part. Valerie however, she was always my most likely guess. And what has she done so far in her attempt to destroy Gwen? Not much, I'd say. So, I wouldn't say I am certan she survived, but I wouldn't put it past her to have some sort of spell prepared for this moment to survive the fall and to cheat death.
And man, I think it goes without saying that Gwen's survival is my highlight of the chapter
We did it, we actually did it. Clearly, refusing the darkness at any given time turned out to be the right way. I think it would be either that or fully giving in and becoming sort of a dark counter to Desi, allowing Wesley and Valerie to win. But I would never want that for my dear, so refusing the Great Other turned out to be the good thing to do. If not for that, I suppose Desi wouldn't have spared her, if she would have actually become like Aisha. She would have suffered the fate the Great Other warned her about. From the way she acted in this part, it seems Valerie has enthralled her as she did with Jamison. He dropped unconscious as well after the spell was removed, if I am not mistaken. But this is over now. I wouldn't say Gwen is among friends, but Desi seems to be open-minded about her. It could be worse, she has Desi around, I actually believe that Belan and Hondo won't pose a threat to her and Kris definitely not, he has been through a similar situation. The only one I consider a problem is Mother Minesa, but I actually trust her with following Desi's order. I am curious about what Aisha said here though, that neither god wants Gwen dead here. We know the Great Other favours her, as much as he can favour a living being, but her being important to R'hllor was something I, at best, only speculated about so far. Aisha went to pretty much confirm it. Means, what Gwendis has here is definitely not a one-way connection to the Great Other, but probably a connection to these godly beings in general. What could have been used for evil in service of the Great Other can probably be used for good as well, maybe in service of R'hllor even. If that is her only option, I will not disapprove. Her fate has improved massively in this part and while I hoped for this, I did not truly expect it. That being said, this is not over yet. There are three books still to come and my watch will continue. It's over when she reaches Book 4 safe and sound, until then I can see tons of twists, dangers and hardships still to come. But I shall be happy right now. The most immediate danger of dying in this confrontation has been averted successfully. It is a victory, even if there are more fights to come. And well, now, I believe there is a choice to be made 
Ahem....
[Give Aisha a quick death]
I know, I know, this is me, the same me who ranted about Aisha to hell and back, who sees her as evil incarnate and who hates her stupid guts. I have seen nothing good in her, she is far and above my least favourite character in the story, a title she will at least carry in the questions you undoubtedly ask at the end of the chapter. And yet, here I am and grant her the small mercy of not burning to death. I am surprised at myself here, but in a way, I think Gwen's survival has made me more open for mercy. Don't get me wrong, I want Aisha dead. This whole choice, this whole situation, it puts the greatest smile of them all on my face. She failed, she failed so thoroughly. Gwendis lives, this is by far the best situation she has been in since she left Blackmont and Aisha is doomed. There is no way out for her right now. And given the opportunity, I realized... I don't care how she dies. If something would have happened to Gwen here, my fury would have been tremendous, I would have definitely picked the most painful way for Aisha to die. But this is not what happened and I take absolute pleasure in the fact that she lost her cool here when presented with her possible death by fire. She fears this and it is oh so sweet. However, she has lost and Gwendis has successfully escaped her grasp. There is nothing more she can do. And due to this, I realize I don't care how she dies, as long as she does indeed die. She won't be missed. That being said, even I cannot deny that her request to spare Gwen came as a bit of a surprise and has made me more willing to grant her a quick death. Hey, I doubt it was done out of any selfless fondness for the girl she borderline abducted and held hostage for months. For sure she did it out of the final desperate attempt to have someone continue her life work, that Gwendis, through whatever means, ends up serving the Great Other after all. That won't happen on my watch though. And it must be said, her request might have actually saved Gwen's life. She almost took her life, there's no way saying how long Gwendis will continue to be haunted by what Aisha dragged her into, but she also somewhat saved her life, or at least tried, even if I suppose Desi would have spared her regardless, sensing that she can be redeemed. Doesn't change the fact that, for undoubtedly rotten reasons, Aisha did a decent thing here and it miraculously gave me enough reason to not hate her less, but to care less about giving her the most brutal death available. That being said, I mean it, I don't care how she dies. I myself think she earned a quick death with her final actions here in this part. However, I will be the last to run to her defense and argue against burning her. If that's what her fate will be, see if I care. She brought it onto herself. I am surprised she will actually die here, I could have seen her being a recurring villain for a long time to come, but actually, her death makes it even more likely that Valerie will return as an antagonist. Aisha is done for, may she burn in hell. But I am so damn excited for what is to come for Gwendis now, without having to fear for her life at every turn. This is guaranteed to be good
[Say that Uller's will inherit Hellgate Hall]
[Give Aisha a quick death]