In the royal court of King’s Landing, the septon-king Baelor prepared to hear cases and petitioners as the glittering nobility gathered in the cavernous throne room of the Red Keep. All the king’s councillors were there, from the Hand Prince Viserys to the master of laws Lord Terin, and the Kingsguard led by Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and more besides. So too were many significant knights and lords, including the emissaries from Dorne and other worthies.
The first matters to be heard by the king, high upon the Iron Throne, were criminal cases: alleged whores, thieves, and the like, the dregs of the city. Yet the king in his wisdom, hearing each case, showed himself merciful and gentle: one woman who was said to be prostituting herself against the king’s edicts was given over to septas to cleanse her body and soul; another man, allegedly a thief, was placed on the roll of alms for the royal sept so that he and his would hunger no longer. Other cases passed, similarly treated.
Then the noble petitioners followed. First among them was the Lord of the Three Sisters, Gelion Sunderland. He came bearing dark tidings: concern for a wavering of the Faith on his isles, as common folk turned to old heathen ways of their ancestors, and his belief that an alleged witch or sorcerer on Crackclaw Point was the cause. He requested of the king that more septons be sent to shepherd the weak to the righteous path, and for maesters as well. The king consulted with the High Septon, who was present, and who agreed to dispatch septons; as to the maesters, the king allowed that he would send to the Citadel to ask if they had any available to such a cause. Lord Sunderland’s other request, that he be given leave to lead a force of men into Crackclaw Point to root out this witch, led Prince Viserys to speak, and remind the king that the matter must be discussed with Ser Dermett Corbray, the Warden of Crackclaw Point. King Baelor agreed that the matter must go before him, and that he would be consulted. This seemed to satisfy Lord Sunderland.
After him followed a curious request from the Lady Elyana of House Mertyns, a widow once wed to a knight of House Meadows who died in the Dornish conquest. She came before the king seeking spiritual guidance, for her heart was troubled by the desire to be dutiful to her kin and wed again, and yet the duty to her late husband to whom she had been bound forever by her vows. To this the king—a septon in his own right—said that wedlock was a blessing, and that the Seven would not cause undue grief to those who were bereft of a spouse. Lady Elyana seemed greatly heartened by this.
Yet as the king spoke to the lady, a company of goldcloaks entering the throne room quickly made their way toward the Iron Throne, and there consulted with an officer of the City Watch who in turn approached Prince Viserys and his son the Dragonknight. And behind them came several men, among them Ser Roland Hunter, who seemed to know what had led to their appearance. Whispers spread through the courtiers, and then Prince Viserys himself was approaching King Baelor to whisper urgently to him.
And with that, the court session was called to a close by the Hand, as the rumors running rife became clearer:
Princess Daena was missing from the Maidenvault. Rumors have long claimed that she had made attempts in the past to escape, defiant to her brother’s will, but never before had she succeeded—until now, it seemed. Immediately Prince Aemon Targaryen and the Kingsguard were dispatched to lead a search, and the gates of the castle were ordered shut in case the princess was still in the Red Keep. In the hours that followed, however, no sign of her could be found… and so attention turned to the city beneath Aegon’s High Hill, as the City Watch came out in force to search the streets, alleys, pot shops, and more for the missing princess while her brother the king prayed for her safe return.