Only months before, Prince Marence had revealed the agreement made with King Baelor to exchange envoys to further the cause of peace between the two realms of Dorne and the Seven Kingdoms, and now the first party of envoys—those from King’s Landing—had arrived at the Planky Town. Greeted by the castellan Ser Laurent Dalt and certain other leading lords and ladies of the court, the envoys were welcomed into the citadel there to spend the night and to see their goods and gifts brought to the shore. The very next day, early in the morning, the lords and ladies and knights who made up the embassy—led by the Most Devout Geryn—rode upon splendid sandsteeds, gifts from the Prince of Dorne. Escorted by a hundred men-at-arms from the prince’s household, as well as scores more in the following of those who greeted them in Planky Town, they rode in pomp and splendor through much of the day to reach Sunspear just before nightfall. There, Prince Marence himself greeted them, and he was seen to embrace the Most Devout in friendship—who would ever have thought that a Prince of Dorne would embrace a Tyrell, no matter how long he had worn a septon’s robes?
Despite all the ceremony and pageantry on display, the shadow city—normally rousing itself to life as the sun sinks below the horizon—was sullen, unusually quiet; few welcomed the envoys, reflecting a strain of thought found throughout the court and the city, from the lowest to the highest; few could forget the death and destruction that the brothers of Baelor and Geryn had brought down on Dorne, and fewer still were ready to forgive as readily as Prince Marence seemed to be.
Yet at least they passed through the Threefold Gate without incident. There in the feasting hall of the Sandship, the guests were treated to the finest Dornish meals… and, thoughtfully, rather less spicy fare from the Seven Kingdoms, especially prepared for them. Prince Marence could be seen spending time speaking with Lord Athell Connington and Lord Joscelyn Mallister, as well as with their wives that each had brought to Dorne. Elsewhere, the Most Devout spoke with Dornish lords and ladies alike, expressing his hope that lasting peace could exist between the two realms. Though some at the tables, both low and high, looked on the foreigners with distrust and uncertainty, still, all knew that Prince Marence expected the best behavior… and that was what was offered, more or less. To what degree that might be due to the fact that Prince Rhodry was notably absent—allegedly occupied on some unexplained task (which most take to mean hunting or whoring)—remains left to the imagination…