Weeks have passed since Daeron II’s triumphant return to King’s Landing, and in all that time he seemed to exchange no more than a dozen words with his cousin, Prince Aegon. Those who cared about such things supposed it had to do with the hot-blooded prince’s taking as mistress the Dornish hostage Cassella Vaith. Certainly, when Aegon finally appeared before the king in his private solar in Maegor’s Holdfast, his father the Hand of the King, Prince Viserys, was also present. What was said is known only to those present in that room, but the discussion lasted near an hour.

All the noblest and best of the city were gathered in the throne room of the Targaryen kings, with the great black skulls of the dragons looking down upon them. Merchants, guild masters, and even small folk looked down upon the glittering court from the galleries, as the king and the royal kin—save Prince Aegon and Princess Naerys—entered the thronged hall.

The Young Dragon entered in triumph into King’s Landing, greeted by his adoring subjects despite the steady drizzle of rain. A huge fleet of ferries and rafts and boats carried him, the Hand, the Kingsguard, and hundreds upon hundreds of knights who had fought through the whole of the campaign with his grace. Before the River Gate, the king was greeted by the High Septon, the, royal councillors and the rest of the court, as well as by his loving siblings. All the great knights and lords and ladies at court were present, save for the ailing Princess Naerys who stayed indoors, and her husband Prince Aegon.

In the early hours of the day, Prince Aegon Targaryen entered the Dornish Tower with a dozen guards, knights, and several servants. This was similar to his other visits over the past weeks, as he provided Ser William the Steward assistance with arrangements concerning the part of the Dornish hostages in Daeron’s arrival. But this was not a usual visit, to oversee fittings or discussion of details.

In the small hours of the day, Prince Viserys Targaryen, uncle and Hand to King Daeron, departed from the Red Keep with a train made of equal parts of royal household knights and his own personal guard from the Tower of the Hand. Accompanying him was his son, Prince Aemon of the Kingsguard, and the Lords Ryger and Cargyll of the Small Council with their own small retinues. A minimum of followers and supplies travel with them, and those largely carried by mules rather than in ox-cart wagons.

With word of the king’s safe arrival at Blackhaven reaching the city, and the feasting and rest he would find there from the open hands of Lord Dondarrion, the business of the court becomes all the more hurried as preparations of all sorts are made to ensure that the Young Dragon’s arrival in King’s Landing will be one to remember. There at the verge of the Red Mountains, the larger part of the king’s host will disperse, leaving only a core of the men from the crown lands and the isles of Blackwater Bay, and a number of other doughty knights and lords who choose to share with him the great welcome. Those at court know well what that welcome entails, if they’ve been paying attention…

Word sweeps like wildfire through the Red Keep when a raven from Dorne announces that King Daeron has decided to return at last to King’s Landing after nearly two years spent conquering and pacifying Dorne. The news spills over its high walls to the streets below, and excitement is in the air; in some quarters of the city, flurries of celebration—near-riots, according to the City Watch—erupt spontaneously. The bells of the septs of the city, from the greatest to the very meanest, toll with joy, and not long after it’s said that his grace’s kin are seen amidst a small throng of the court at the royal sept to offer up their prayers to the gods for the king.

Though the name of Serion Vaith is only vaguely known among the smallfolk of King’s Landing as that of some rebel Dornishman, the court of King’s Landing has had greater cause to know, and rue, the name of the man who had almost single-handedly maintained Dornish sentiment against King Daeron Targaryen, the rightful lord and protector of Dorne. In his endless efforts, Lord Serion lost much of his army in return for what seemed to be only fleeting victories against his enemies, yet Dorne’s commoners (and far too many of its nobles) were heartend by it. So when a raven arrived from Sandstone, the news it contained was enough to rouse Prince Viserys and the small council from their beds for a hasty meeting, and afterwards the news began to spread throughout the castle (and even, slowly, to trickle down into the city) that Serion Vaith, the rebel leopard-lord who sacrificed an arm in his battles, was dead.

Ravens arrive almost daily in King’s Landing from various corners of Dorne, bringing news of rebels and outlaws, skirmishes, supply trains, deaths, garrisons, and more. Amidst the onslaught of tidings are the occasional gems, the things that inevitably slip from the chambers of the high and mighty to the court at large, and thence on to King’s Landing. Most notably is the news that his Grace, the King, has put aside his hunt for the now one-armed rebel Serion Vaith, who is thought to have taken to skulking in the desert. Instead, after seeing Vaith secured against possible attacks, he has placed himself in Hellholt—the most central of the great castles of Dorne—and given time to catching up with much of the business that was relegated to a secondary place behind his attempting to put an end to the most troublesome and pernicious of rebels.

In the dark hours of the night, Princess Naerys was brought early to the birthing bed after great pains ripped through her heavy womb. The labor was mercifully brief, but alas the child (a daughter) had been dead in the womb and came into the world stillborn. It’s said that the princess in her grief has been terribly weakened, and her apartments are hushed as maesters and septas constantly sweep in and out to see to her. Her father and brothers both have visited her, though it was the Dragonknight who has been said to spend the most time with her.

With all the turmoil in King’s Landing, where it’s said many a knight seems to forget his vows when at court, the sight of Prince Aemon the Dragonknight always brings such talk to a stop—at least when he is around. Finally fully recovered from the poisoned wound he took months ago in the service of his cousin, King Daeron, the prince has spent much time about his duties as the sole Kingsguard in the city, and he has kept his bedridden sister company in those hours which he has had free. For acquaintances and friends, he has had a little time, but they have noticed that even that has suddenly come nearly to an end for a new duty has been added to his tasks: seeing to the security of the Dornish hostages.

Much of interest has taken place in King’s Landing of late, some of it causing a stir due to scandals that surround them. The tales told are not all clear, but surely they must have some substance to them?

Confused word arrives from the Dornish Marches, as several ravens arrive through the morning and afternoon: Broken men from the war in Dorne have made some small incursions into the Dornish Marches. A whole army of demon Dornishmen, under the command of the vengeful spirit of the Hell-knight, bringing the seven hells to the villages and holdfasts. Men flying the banner of the Fowlers, or the Manwoodys, or perhaps the Sun of the Rhoynar without the spear. They number a fifty, three hundred, four thousand. They’ve sacked holdfasts, or perhaps castles. They’re near to Blackhaven, or to Nightsong, or somewhere in between.

Kingsgrave has surrendered to King Daeron, and then with Lord Tyrell the Young Dragon successfully seized Blackmont after its small garrison—abandoned by Lord Andrey Blackmont, a rebel who took what few troops remained to him down the Torentine to live like outlaws in the reaches around Starfall—surrendered to him. Such was the glad word that has eventually found its way to King’s Landing. On the other side of Dorne, Ser Alyn Velaryon—the king’s cousin, and already far-famed as admiral of his fleet—has arrived at the Tor to find Lord Serion Vaith’s forces gone and Lady Jordayne recently surrendering the section of the castle which she and her loyal men had captured to the garrison commander. But other news from Dorne is less than good.

With the word from Dorne a mixture of good and bad heaped with healthy servings of general frustration, the court of King’s Landing has continued on with barely a pause. Much has happened of late against this background: