Blood of Dragons

Over the last fortnight, the city of White Harbor has been a stage for both lively festivities and quiet political maneuvering in the wake of the marriage of Lord Manderly's heir to Lord Royce's grand-daughter. The air has been filled with the sounds of merriment as lords and ladies from across the realm gathered for a season of contests, from feats of strength to snowball fights. Even the ancient godswood in the Wolf's Den drew curious eyes, with its immense heart tree pushing through walls and windows. Amid the revelry, undercurrents of alliance swirled. Rumors spread of private talks…

White Harbor roared with life, as the heart of the city was overtaken by a spectacle not seen in years: a grand horse race through its cobbled streets. Organised at the behest of Princess Daena the Defiant herself, the event saw the nobility of North and South alike thundering through snowy lanes, cheered by packed crowds from Fishfoot Yard to the outer alleys. Ten laps were declared through the course, those placing being marked until the overall victor was decided. By the end of it, the very stones of White Harbor rang with hoofbeats and thunderous acclaim. Snow drifted from a pale sky as…

On a chill, fog-wrapped morning in the waning days of the eighth moon, three lean black-sailed galleys slipped like specters into White Harbor's inner docks -- ships of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, come on their periodic missions to trade for supplies and to collect new recruits. Their hulls were salt-eaten and ice-scarred, their crew clad in the black of the Night's Watch, hard-faced and silent as they made fast beneath the mist-shrouded walls of the city. What first seemed a resupply mission swiftly proved otherwise. At the fore of the company was Ser Adron Mooton, First Ranger of the Watch…

What was promised as a contest of arms became instead a test of will, endurance, and blood. The great melee held upon the fields beyond White Harbor drew four companies of knights and men-at-arms -- forty to each side. Two bore the colors and heraldry of the South and two bore the arms of northern houses, the white and grey of House Stark at their head. Over hours from dawn to day, they clashed in village, hollow, and wood, the fog rolling low and the din of war echoing through the vale of the White Knife. Marshals cried themselves hoarse holding the lines together, driving bands of men nearer…

White Harbor's Merman's Court shone like a beacon against the harbor fog, its painted timbered vaults aglow with lantern light and the gleam of silvered plate. There, beneath painted krakens and sea-beasts, Lord Borian Manderly flung wide his gates to welcome Prince Daeron of Dragonstone, Princess Daena, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and a glittering company from across the realm. The occasion was the arrival of the Royces of Runestone for the wedding of Ser Waymar Manderly to Lord Andar Royce's granddaughter Dancy, a union of two of the great houses of the North and the Vale. None could…

After a smooth voyage up the Narrow Sea, the royal fleet made harbor at Gulltown beneath a slate-grey sky, the towers of House Grafton rising over bustling docks. Prince Daeron was received with due ceremony, alongside Princess Daena, Prince Aemon, and the rest of the royal company. Nobles disembarked to stretch their legs, survey the city, and briefly take in the salt-slick air of the Vale's eastern gate before Lord Grafton led the royal party to feast at his castle. Their arrival was marked, however, by another scene at the harbor's edge. Suspended in a crow cage near the seawall hung a…

On a brilliant autumn's afternoon, with the Blackwater gleaming under a sky of flawless blue, the royal progress to White Harbor set sail amidst grandeur, gossip, and more than a few surprises. Though the day was fine and the wind fair, one could not ignore the chill -- not in the air, but in the absence of the King himself, who did not descend to the docks to see his son off. Rumors were rife that they had been quarreling ever since the marriage of their cousin, Princess Elaena, ended as swiftly as it began. Daeron, the Prince of Dragonstone, stood at the forefront, flanked by his famed uncle…

The wages of life for mortal men on the earth are good and bad both, and so it is for the realms of men: there is good and ill that happens in every corner and part of them, happy tidings and wicked, occurrences shocking and delightful, endings joyous and onerous. Of late, this last moon and more, has seen more of these of note in Westeros. A ship from White Harbor bore tidings of a great melee at Last Hearth which drew famed warriors from throughout the North, only for nigh a score men to be killed in the process, and many more besides sore wounded before all was said and done. The occasion…

From the Citadel, pale wings took flight across the realm. In Oldtown, bells tolled. In Highgarden, the news was taken as reason for a winter festival to be readied. In the bowels of Casterly Rock, Lord Loreon resumed counting his coins. In Riverrun, the Tullys were occupied with the latest series of petitions and counter-petitions from the Blackwoods and Brackens, and considered the question of whom would attend the marriage of Jannia Tully to Lord Jarmon Buckwell in a few months time. At Storm's End, Lord Corwen Baratheon is said to have dismissed the news of a white raven's arrival, busy…