His Grace, King Daeron, has been ensconced more and more with the small council as news arrives from Dorne of the continuing issues there raised by petty bandits and rebels who refuse to bend their knees. It is said Prince Viserys has made all his efforts in convincing the king to trust in Lord Tyrell and his other captains in Dorne, but the youthful valor of the king will not be gainsaid from spending as many hours as he wishes in interpreting reports and sending orders. It is well known that certain Dornishmen have audiences with the king, perhaps so that he may seek their opinions on what their rebellious countrymen plan and how best to defeat them.
In other matters, the king has proved strongwilled in his opinions. The royal steward, Ser William Waxley, is now busily changing a number of arrangements for the royal tourney, and workshops throughout the city are now working through the night to create lavish ornaments and other decorations for the grandest tourney and feasting the realm has seen since the days of the Conciliator. At the same time, it’s thought that this has been at the urging of Prince Viserys and others of his councillors, when they can speak to him of things other than the Dornish. Though the discussions have been secret enough, rumor still manages to wend its way through the court despite best efforts: it is said that the king will announce his betrothal to his sweet sister, Princess Daena, on the occasion of the tournament.
In other news of the court, it has been said that there is a greater rift than ever between the royal princes, Aegon and Aemon. Never friends, at least in the past on some occasions the Dragonknight would accompany Aegon as brother and guardsman about his duties; yet now, since Aegon’s taking up with Cassella Vaith, Prince Aegon scarcely enters a room before his younger brother excuses himself. If their lord father, or Ser Reynard of the Kingsguard, has made any efforts to change this state of affairs, none can say. For the most part Prince Aegon keeps to his few duties, his mistress, and his boon companions in carousing about the city, while Princess Naerys and her ladies maintain her peaceful bower.
Elsewhere in the city, it’s said that Reyna Saltcliffe, daughter of Highgarden, is fast approaching the birth of the child she’s carried these past months. From the Master of Coin’s tower comes word, too, that a representative of the Iron Bank in Braavos shall be arriving in the next month to discuss certain matters of loans extended to the crown during the king’s war. And Prince Baelor has been seen on an occasion or two in the company of Lady Jyana Arryn, always in the vicinity of the royal sept—a true sign of the pious devotion to the Seven that both appear to share.