The Sealord of Braavos departs at last from King’s Landing, on his great galley. Trailing him shall be his escort, some of the finest ships of the royal fleet following him as far as Crabclaw Point to see him and the half dozen other ships of the Braavosi embassy off on their journey across the narrow sea to the Secret City. The Sealord Ferro has sworn to send a ship in a year to fetch his betrothed, the young Princess Rhaena, to be wed in the mightiest of the Free Cities. With all due pomp and circumstance, the royal court will turn out to see the Sealord depart, with King Daeron himself riding beside his soon-to-be good-brother. Preparations that had been begun in earnest are now reaching fruition, and it is said that many thousands of roses from the Reach have been brought to the city so that petals might cover the whole route from the Red Keep to the Mud Gate.
And yet for all this, the court continues on all its other business. What marriage matches are being contracted, some might wonder, and what is happening in Dorne, might ask the more serious? Princess Daena has taken all to white, but it is a color most becoming in her brother and husband’s eye, and still Baelor does not consummate the marriage (he prefers, of course, to pray). And what of the heir to Storm’s End, where gossip runs rampant concerning his attempt to make a match? But it seems his eye is turned south, to Dorne, and most notably of all it seems the Iron Throne thinks well on this, when before only one marriage had been contracted at the king’s behest between one of his loyal knights and a Dornish heiress—and that was thrown back at his feet, to the disappointment of the prospective groom’s father.
And there is more news of Dorne to be had, as the investigation of Lord Chester continues apace, with little success, and it’s said that the small council has met to discuss sanctions it may take against the Dornish. The Young Dragon’s patience has grown very thin indeed for the recalcitrant Dornishmen, and it may be that the Targaryen words, “Fire and Blood,” will find a more literal application if matters continue as they have despite the best efforts of Lord Tyrell, Oakenfist, and all the rest.