Blood of Dragons

For those who had traveled to the riverlands months earlier, who witnessed a wedding and a feud and the unquiet spirits (if such they were), the return to the royal city of King's Landing may well have been greatly welcome. But though the city may have been welcoming, it had not stopped in being what it was, the center of the realm, the heart of it, the high seat where lords and knights and ladies existed in King Baelor's court. Beneath the shadow of the Iron Throne, and the shadow of the Maidenvault where the three princesses now linger, life went on. And so for those who returned, the first…

Nearly two months had passed since King Baelor had decreed that the murderer Quenton Rosby would be transported to a septry near Saltpans, famous for the brothers who minister to women and children and those in need. The arrangements took time to make, including a wheelhouse with bars on its doors and an escort of a dozen gold cloaks, personally selected by Ser Richard Harte, the commander of the City Watch. It would be a long, slow journey thanks to the wheelhouse, but the king insisted that Rosby travel in comfort. And so, too, did the king insist that two septons would accompany him, to…

In the Red Keep, all manner of rumors may be heard, about embassies and septons, of tourneys and princesses locked in the keep a wit has taken to calling the Maidenvault... but one thing that is not a rumor, though some wished it were, is that King Baelor seems to have struck an accord with the High Septon regarding the disposition of Ser Quenton Rosby, the mad knight who brought a reign of terror to King's Landing with his murders of prostitutes and noblewomen alike, as well as his brutal killing of the heir to Storm's End, Ser Tancred Baratheon. When the king had met with the High Septon to…

Word has been spreading through the halls of the Red Keep, from the small council down: over the last weeks -- months, even -- the king has secretly been preparing something that some might find curious, even objectionable. And now, it seems, he is prepared to reveal it; not in some grand public edict, but merely by circulating through the court commands to see ships outfitted, supplies readied, and gifts to be gathered. The project that he has kept so quiet, even as he has distracted the realm with the locking up of his sisters in the keep which the court has taken to calling the Maidenvault?…

Rhaena's nameday came with great fanfare, with a tourney in her honor ... though that was not, it was said, her own desire. Pious and mild, Rhaena never favored tourneys, but it was Que-- Princess Daena who insisted that it was only proper for her younger sister's sixteenth nameday. And so a tourney was held, and it was good, with many fine deeds, with shows of boldness and chivalry, and it was Ser Brynden Tully who carried the day after the three princesses deliberated. Some say Daena dearly wanted Ser Humfrey Westerling to be named Rhaena's champion... but the courtiers there noticed that…

In the late morning, bells began to ring through the city: _it is done_, _it is done_, _it is done_. The crowds in the streets and squares took up the call in shouts and cries: _it is done_, _it is done_, _it is done_. In the halls of the Red Keep, it was said in whispers: _it is done_, _it is done_, _it is done_. Daena Targaryen, daughter of Aegon the Third of His Name, sister to Baelor the First of His Name, and.... that is all. She is no longer his wife. She is no longer his queen. She is Princess Daena, as she once was and as -- it seems -- she will always be. The High Septon granted the…

The last blessing given by the septon at a late morning service, many waited for the king and royal kin to depart before they made their way from the Royal Sept. His Grace King BAELOR did not make a quick departure, but the king - looking pallid (in the midst of fasting, some say, to seek the intervention of the Seven in the murders that have been plaguing King's Landing) - made his way to the statue of the Mother, praying silently to the statue, before he departed the sept. The Saltcliffes, DAGUR and REYNA alike, awaited the King's pleasure, as did the Lord JUSTYN Serry - though his ironborn…

Though some doubted that King Baelor -- so pious and peace-loving -- would be a patron of chivalry in its more warlike manifestations, when word came that there would be a royal tourney, it seemed that that would not be the case. Certainly, no melee was planned, but the jousts were always the center of any tournaments. The promised prize was rich, gold for the winner and the knight to come in second. Of course, only knights were permitted in this tourney... Which led to the swift growth of a particular rumor: that the tournament was taking place so that the king might find some men worthy of…

The king, returned to his royal city with a holy fervor in his heart and a body made weak by predation and the venom of vipers in the Boneway. Still, after a time of rest and contemplation, occasionally closeted with the High Septon and less occasionally the Hand, the king held court for the first time since his return. The glittering court gathered to see the young king, and hear his commands. Some noted that the High Septon and members of the Most Devout went before the king in his arrival, and the High Septon stood near the dais with the royal kindred. The four knights of the Kingsguard…

Activity in the harbor of King's Landing, at the mouth of Blackwater Bay, has roused talk and gossip at the court. Three ships -- the royal flagship and two other gallies -- are being supplied with every amenity, and with supply enough to feed a small army of men-at-arms and servants. The sailors, as sailors do, may talk of it in the winesinks... but in the court, it's officers of these ships, and certain courtiers (some quite high in the command of the realm) who speak of the obvious: King Baelor is well, or well enough to travel at least, after months of recovery at Storm's End as a guest of…

The turmoil that followed the feuding in the Reach seems to have left a black mark over some of the court of King's Landing -- or perhaps a curse for the gods. Because no sooner had the worthies of the court returned safely from Highgarden and Grassy Meadow, but that new trouble appeared. The problem? The notorious pirate Sullehman Saan, come to avenge the death of his younger brother. Having found safe harborage for his small fleet among the smugglers' coves of Crackclaw Point, he ranged into Blackwater Bay to cause his trouble and take his prizes. And a rich prize he took, but one with…

As King Baelor -- still ailing -- nears Storm's End to be tended by Lord Baratheon's maester (a renowned expert on treating injuries and illness caused by snake venom), away to the north in the Red Keep, Prince Viserys rules the realm as best he can. Even with all of his experience and skill, it's said that he has begun to feel the weight of all of his duties, and seems both more tired and shorter of temper than is his wont. Though Prince Aemon the Dragonknight is now safe and sound, escorting the king, his other son ... well, the less said about Prince Aegon's doings, the better; no man, and…

A raven from Blackhaven arrives at King's Landing, bringing long-expected word of King Baelor's departure from Dorne after negotiating the peace and walking, barefoot, in a show of piety that was over-matched only by his first such journey to Dorne with the forty-nine hostages in his train. The Grand Maester received it eagerly from an assisting younger maester, and read it... and blanched. Unease, and an immediate visit to the royal apartments in the middle of the night, awakening Prince Viserys from his sleep to inform him of the news. It did not take long for what came from Blackhaven to be…

The court in King's Landing has featured certain upheavals in the last month, following Lord Cargyll's stepping aside as Master of Coin. The office was, to no one's surprise, granted to Beron Buckwell, the King's Scales. Buckwell -- son to the influential Lady Taria -- had more or less fulfilled Lord Cargyll's duties when he was away from court, so this merey made the tacit situation official. Rumors claim Lord Cargyll's long absence from court had less to do with famiial concerns and more to do with arguments he had had with King Daeron over the cost of his efforts to hold Dorne. Of course,…

The pious king Baelor's long journey reaches its midway point, or near enough, after he departed Blackhaven -- where he reacquainted himself with his former sworn shield, Ser Doran Dondarrion, somewhat recovered from the harrowing experience that was the flight across the Boneway -- and began to lead the former Dornish hostages up the Boneway. Though the king was on foot -- and bare foot at that, with scabs covering his rough feet and new cuts and gashes leaving a trail of blood behind him -- the gods must favor him, for the weather was overcast, taming the heat of the sun. It's said the…