Blood of Dragons

The High Septon, Father of the Faithful and the Voice of the Seven on Earth, has been called to sit at the Father's right hand in the golden hall which is his abode among the heavens. Knowing the end was coming, he had made peace with his time being done and instead spent his last hours with the king. Baelor prayed over him and gave him a benediction through tears, and swore he would do as the High Septon asked of him. The old High Septon, his spirit strong though his body was failing, extracted three promises from the king. The first was the simplest: Ser Peron the Pious was called so that he…

The High Septon is on his death bed. Maesters have been sent to his side, even the Grand Maester at the request of King Baelor, and all agree that age and the ailments that come with them have taken their toll; the Seven are calling one of their own home at last, to sit among the just in the Father's golden halls with all those who have come before. The Most Devout have gathered, and prayers from septas, poor brothers, and more can be heard in septs throughout the city. Baelor himself has taken to spending much of his days and nights at the High Septon's side, reading to him from the…

The realm has known peace -- only some trouble on the Stepstones, put to an end by Lord Velaryon and Dornish allies, was of any real note -- in the last year, and some see this as a sign of the divine influence of the Seven smiling down on the reign of pious King Baelor. There are those smallfolk who have taken to calling him Baelor the Blessed, for the winter had been mild south of the Neck and few have suffered hunger from it. Singers tell of the king's miracles, and of the greatness of the sept rising on Visenya's Hill to glorify the gods. If they forget to tell overmuch of Baelor's more…

With Princess Daena safely under lock-and-key in the Maidenvault once more, King Baelor's most urgent prayers were answered... but as he kept to the sept, to pray at all hours for his sister's safe return, the rest of the court was not still in its labors. The small council met more than once, the Hand speaking for his nephew the king, as decisions great and small were made. Word filtered through the court that one topic the small council has turned its hand to ever since Princess Daena's recovery is the naming of a seventh White Sword after years of only six Kingsguard knights. Baelor, some…

Princess Daena has been found (some might say that stating she was captured would be more honestly put) in Duskendale after having escaped the Maidenvault, and thence the royal city. Word from Duskendale -- where a royal galley was already waiting to bring her back if she happened to go to the seat of House Darklyn in search of a ship to take her away from those who pursused her -- was bare regarding the details save to say that she was unharmed and would be placed on said galley forthwith with an added escort of Darklyn knights as well as the Kingsguard knight and his company of men-at-arms…

The royal fleet under command of Lord Alyn Velaryon has returned, and received a welcome befitting heroes following their victory -- alongside Dornish allies, admittedly -- against the Free City of Pentos on the Stepstones. The city waited ever since word reached King's Landing that they had won their victory, and even more so when word came from Sunspear that Oakenfist and his ships had weighed anchor and begun the long journey back from Dorne to the city. The king himself was there to await his cousin and the captains, lords, and knights of his fleet. Embracing, the septon-king then spoke a…

In Sunspear, the victorious commanders of the combined fleet and army which saw victory on the Stepstones were feted at the command of the Lord Protector of Dorne. Lord Velaryon, Prince Rhodry, and more attended the feast in the Sandship... but it must be said the crowd was thin, with the hall only half-filled. Ser Quinlan Qorgyle, the Lord Protector, carried on as if the feast was was packed to the rafters, and spent much time conversion with Oakenfist. The news from the Stepstones was largely to the good: though there were some lamentable losses, Pentos had ceded its control of the…

The wind does not stir, and has not done so for three days, now. Blackwater Bay is calm, a gray sea covered by a gray fog. Ships lie in that bay, and at the docks, waiting for a breath of air from the west to carry them out to sea, and to begin the long journey to Dorne. In the halls of the Red Keep, it's said that Lord Velaryon consults daily with maesters. The septons gathered at Baelor's behest to join the fleet (it would not do to leave any sailor, man-at-arms, or knight without the solace of spiritual council) join the king each day in prayer... but some worry that among them are those…

There are those who say that King Baelor has asked Grand Maester Clement to convince the Citadel that doves would be as reliable as ravens, and more pleasing to the gods beside, and the Grand Maester has dutifully experimented. From the drum tower of the Grand Maester, ravens still fly... but sometimes, too, white doves beat their wings to race away bearing messages (some have found their way to stoop on eaves and roofs of the city below Aegon's High Hill, their messages apparently not so urgent; and a few besides have found their way into bowls of brown in Flea Bottom.) Still, the Grand…

Rumors run rife, as they always do in the city of the dragon-kings. But they reach a new fervor on the topic of the Stepstones, controlled with increasing ruthlessness by the Free City of Pentos who extracts protection tolls in coin and goods and sometimes even flesh. For the realm of King Baelor, it is a nuisance, but not a great one -- or so some argue. And yet in the highest of councils, the king's own small council, the tenor of the conversation is quite other: the Master of Ships is in favor of a joint expedition proposed by the Lord Protector of Dorne; the Master of Coin would prefer…

If dark wings bring dark words, then what do white wings herald? Why, word of winter's end, of course. At long last it has come, after nearly two years. The white raven came from the Citadel early in the morning on the 21st day of month 8 and soon thereafter criers across the city spread the word of the arrival of spring across the city. Meanwhile, the king is said to have spent the day in prayer, giving thanks to the Seven for the end of winter. Curiously, the white raven is not the only white-winged bird to have been seen about the Red Keep of late. Several sightings report that cages of…

Almost a fortnight was past since Princess Daena had vanished from the keep called the Maidenvault by some at court, where she and her sisters had been immured soon after King Baelor's ascension. The revelation of her disappearance brought to an abrupt session the king's court, as he fled to pray for his sister's safe return and as others at court such as the Hand Prince Viserys hurriedly arranged a search for her. The City Watch combed the docks and the city, but the news of her flight was kept to the Red Keep for all of a day before it began to circulate throughout the city. Nothing the…

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…

The occasion of the wedding of Ser Aidan Dayne, the famed Knight of the Twilight, and the lady Aisling Ryswell was an unusual one in some respects. For one, King Baelor himself presided over the marriage, in his capacity as a septon of the Faith. For another, despite neither being a great lord or lady, not one but two tournies were arranged for the occasion; a rarity in these more austere and pious times. The reason for it had more to do with the Dornish embassy to the Iron Throne, of which Ser Aidan was a part, than to any native desire of theirs to make such a showing. Regardless of the…

The Seven Above must smile on the realm, and blessed King Baelor. Ever since the clamor at the miraculous healing of a beggar in the streets, the king himself has been ensconced with the High Septon and the Most Devout, the wisest and most learned men of the faith whose spiritual counsel proves increasingly important to the young king. Small council meetings of late have even included the High Septon, it is said, though he holds no official seat on the council, instead acting to advise the king and his most gracious Hand and councillors. Gifts have gone out from the Red Keep's treasury at the…