Blood of Dragons

Prince Marence's return from his campaign in the Boneway -- a debacle, many say, though the lives lost were few -- was not greeted with any great fanfare in the streets of the shadow city, nor within the halls of Sunspear itself. The less said of what happened at Yronwood, where Lady Yronwood had outmanoeuvred him and forced the prince to a peace that many consider humiliating, the better -- or so those who cling to the prince and support him would have it. Marence himself has been a brooding man... and a busy man, too, though he has kept his counsel close. Ser Mavros Uller has often been seen…

And like that, the Yronwood rebellion in the Boneway comes to an end: not with a bloody battle, not with the Yronwood banners dipping, nor the Martell banners. But through a truce, a peace negotiated under the worst of circumstances: a ruse that left the Martell host ill-prepared, more than evenly matched, outwitted. And all because Prince Marence, good and just as he is, gave the Yronwoods one chance too many to surrender itself. The Yronwood army had been forced -- or so Prince Marence thought -- to go to ground, to leave the Boneway itself and be driven, step by step, towards a dead end, an…

The Dornish royal fleet travelling toward Yronwood had encountered contrary winds after it rounded the Broken Arm... and then a gale howling from Cape Wrath and the narrow sea split it apart -- galleys racing west, fat-bellied cogs anchoring to weather the storm... and one last galley, leaking water and unable to stand such seas, forced to chance the storm. The Prince's Pride carried notables: the heirs to Hellholt and Lemonwood, the famed Bastard of the Red Dunes, the illegitimate daughter of the infamous Ser Mavros Uller whose capture by Lady Yronwood precipitated this show of arms, and…

Hunting in a great company at the edge of the desert north of Sunspear, the Prince of Dorne was attended by courtiers, knights and ladies both, as they tried their hawks and falcons, and tested their bows and spears. Prince Marence had been in a notably glad mood, and the rumor about the court was that recently Ser Mavros Uller had communicated from Yronwood that negotiations went well and that Lady Yronwood would soon relent in her near-rebellious obstinancy. At a desert oasis, they hunted their fill, sending arrows at scattered birds that the hunters had raised. All was going well... ...…

To settle matters in the Boneway -- that has been the chief concern of Prince Marence, it seems, but some say he did not seem to find it an urgent concern, and others say that that's due to the prince's own slow deliberation, attempting to navigate the complexities of the situation. Lady Yronwood had provoked much and more, but she has kept her swords close since the flare-up in the Marches. Is it because Lord Wyl's heir has been a guest at Sunspear, and rumors swirl that he is on the verge of betrothing Ariana Martell (other rumors say quite the opposite)? Is it because Prince Marence has…

The storm howling out from the Summer Sea, hammering at the walls of Sunspear, had broken without much harm, save the collapse of a hovel or six, and water-loged alleyways. Sunrise showed a clear, crisp sky, wrack upon the stony shore, and a handful of scattered merchant ships from Dorne and the Free Cities -- some listing quite badly -- that managed to survive the onslaught, avoiding being driven onto the rocks. And day brought something else: a tired raven from King's Landing, a note about its leg. It should have been glad tidings that came from distant King's Landing, the sort of tidings…

After years of dearth and destruction, with festivities few and far between, Dorne is free, no longer chained to the Iron Throne, and a mood of celebration has slowly returned. Why it took so long for the Prince of Dorne to sponsor a tourney, who can say? Feasts there have been, certain frolics, hunts... but not a tourney, though in the past Prince Marence had not stinted. Some whisper it was because the prince found playing at war distasteful for a time. Others that it was to spite his brother who had done well enough in the days before the war. And there are others still that say it was the…

In the court of Sunspear, in the grand hall of the Sandship, amidst the revelery of the courtiers and ladies and knights who flock to the troubled halls of the Old Palace, a feast took place. A feast, and... an incident. Thrown for vague purposes -- the arrival of Lord Wyl's heir seemed cause enough -- the feast was well on its way when Prince Marence arrived with Coran Wyl ("Just Coran", as he would note to those who prefixed "Ser" before his name; and that was a matter of speculation, that he lacked knighthood, stirring old gossip in some quarters). Wyl, a gracious man, made sure to…

A raven from Blackhaven arrives at King's Landing, bringing long-expected word of King Baelor's departure from Dorne after negotiating the peace and walking, barefoot, in a show of piety that was over-matched only by his first such journey to Dorne with the forty-nine hostages in his train. The Grand Maester received it eagerly from an assisting younger maester, and read it... and blanched. Unease, and an immediate visit to the royal apartments in the middle of the night, awakening Prince Viserys from his sleep to inform him of the news. It did not take long for what came from Blackhaven to be…

The negotiations between the King of the Seven Kingdoms, Baelor Targaryen, and the Prince of Dorne had ended. Word had passed through the court of Sunspear that among the terms of the new peace were the unmaking a marriage (that of the heir to Salt Shore, Joleta Gargalen) and, more importantly, the betrothal of Prince Marence's daughter Mariah to the king's cousin, young Daeron, the son of Prince Aegon and his sister and wife Princess Naerys. This was met with unrest in some parts of the court, concern that too much was being given away to this pious boy-king who thinks the Seven speak to him.…

Three weeks now has King Baelor been at Sunspear. Three weeks in which he has prayed more than he has discussed peace between the realms, and three weeks in which Prince Marence seemed increasingly exasperated, and indeed the court. Yet the young king has given all signs he means to acquiesce to almost all the demands placed on him to make amends with Dorne. Some say Prince Marence should ask for more, far more, but it seems honor compells him to greater modesty. There is, however, one firm point, one bargain to seal the peace, that King Baelor has proposed ... and that has been controversial.…

It was a feast of welcome, and a feast filled with joy. Years ago, the hostages demanded by King Daeron departed for the Red Keep, and now free Dornishmen and women have returned to their native land. The shadow city and the Old Palace were lit with torches and lamps, music played, and wine flowed. Many were the lords and ladies from throughout the realm who were there to greet their kin and celebrate with them, from crippled Lord Gargalen to Lady Allyrion. Courtiers great and small were there as well, and with them came the talk of what to do next, what great challenges were before Dorne…

Though autumn may be slowly turning leaves north of the Red Mountains, in Dorne the sun still burns nearly as fiercely as it did in the long, blood-drenched summer, though the night winds off the sea blow cold. Prince Marence has been said to have kept late hours, doing what he could to begin to repair the damage done to Dorne by the Targaryen invasion and conquest, and the rebellion that followed. Ser Mavros Uller, the former exile, is now accounted one of his chief advisors, though he holds no formal office (Prince Marence's father's doing, it's said.) Thoughts turn towards the matter of the…

It was, in a way, anticlimactic. When the bird arrived, tired from its long journey from King's Landing, the Old Palace's maester carried the message to the Seneschal, who in turn brought it before Prince Marence, who was at that time in conference with certain lords and ladies and knights, discussing the way forward for a war-weary Dorne. The message was read, and King Baelor's terms -- practically in perfect agreement with Prince Marence's counter-offer -- were, it seems, much as Prince Marence hoped. What were two more towerhouses in the Prince's Pass and the Boneway, after all, when…

The Dornish court gathered in the Prince of Dorne's throne room, beneath the golden dome of the Tower of the Sun. The cause? Word had at last had arrived from King's Landing. and rumors had it that the new king Baelor, pious to a fault, spoke of peace. The Prince arrived in company with his brother, Prince Rhodry, whose expression was murderous. Everyone soon discovered why, when the prince read the letter from the king. Though Baelor wished peace, and offered to exchange all the hostages held in King's Landing in return for the Dragonknight and certain other prisoners, he had been convinced…