Blood of Dragons

The remains of the blessed King Baelor, the septon-king who had brought peace to the Seven Kingdoms and Dorne with his gentle piety, were given to the flames in the courtyard of the Red Keep in the watches of the night. A solemn ceremony, beginning from his death when the silent sisters were charged with the tending of the body and following through with seven days of lying in state and vigils by the knights of the Kingsguard, culminated in the king's corpse being placed on the bier, a crown of flowers upon his brow. He had wasted away in his long fast, and there was little flesh to his bones,…

King Baelor, the First of His Name, the renowned septon-king whose zealous piety has brought peace between the Seven Kingdoms and Dorne, has collapsed. On the fortieth day of his fast, an act of penance to attempt to right the wrong of his defiant sister Daena's birth of a natural son, the king was praying in the late hours of the night before the Father in the royal sept, bent down on hands and knees in show of abject humbleness, when a novice of the sept replacing candles cried out at seeing Baelor sink forward, and then fall onto his side. Ser Peron the Pious and Ser Aleyn Florent were…

The new year has dawned. The realm at large is at peace. Dorne to the south lies quiescent under the rule of its new young Prince, his own sister establishing herself in the court of the Iron Throne as wife to the king's young cousin. All is well, all is well... ... except, that is, the king himself. For Baelor the Blessed has fasted for a fortnight and more, ever since the birth -- the lamentable, sinful birth -- of Daemon Waters, the bastard son of his sister and former queen Daena. Daena the Defiant, she is called, and her son's name was chosen in defiance to torment the king. "Daemon?…

The High Septon is dead -- long live the High Septon! Barely a day since the internment of the remains of the former stonemason raised to the Seven's Voice on Earth, and the Most Devout has made the swiftest election of a new High Septon that any man can remember. It was not one of the Most Devout, nor some famed septon, nor at least a septon at all -- something to mark them as different from their predecessor, who could hardly say the words of a prayer without stumbling over them. No, instead this time the High Septon... is a child, a boy eight years of age, a draper's orphan it is said. Why…

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…

Maron Nymeros Martell, Lord of Sunspear, Prince of Dorne, had called for a public court beneath the great dome of the Tower of the Sun to hear out petitions and requests, to pass judgements, and to make announcements. These things he did, nearly without incident. From giving his blessings to the betrothal between Ser Jordan Dayne, his castellan of the citadel at Planky Town, and Rhialta Santagar to dealing with concerns from Cyrissa, Lady of Kingsgrave that the shariffs had grown slack in their efforts against criminals, Prince Maron showed a measured, thoughtful manner belying his years. More…

King Baelor, the First of His Name, the septon-king of House Targaryen, held court in the Red Keep beneath the dragon skulls that had come to adorn the throne room. Of late, misfortunes had befallen his house -- an unwed sister bearing a bastard child whose father she would not name, all the prayers wasted in trying to kindle life in dragon eggs left from his father's day -- and many saw in the king a change. He had become less easy to smile and more zealous in his prayers, and this was on full display during the petitions brought before him. Many of the lords and ladies and knights who…

In normal circumstances, word that a princess was with child would be met happily. Yet the last such occasion was fraught: the Princess Naerys nearly died, the twins she gave birth to died in the cradle, and King Baelor nearly fasted himself to death, praying for forgiveness for whatever sins he might have committed against the Seven to make them withhold their blessing. So, it would be no surprise if the court received word of a royal pregnancy with caution. That is, if it were Princess Naerys who was pregnant. The rumors first came from serving women who tended to the king's sisters and…

Princess Daena has been found. Or, rather, Princess Daena has returned, for the princess -- missing for several moons, causing a great uproar in the royal household and the king's court, and many a fervent prayer from King Baelor -- appeared at the quays on the Blackwater Rush. Her hair was dyed black, even to her brows, but the imperious violet eyes and the way she spoke was enough to make the customs sergeant she presented herself to uncertain, taking her to his superior, and from there rumor spread and a great commotion began. A motley troop of watchmen were quickly gathered to escort her,…

The Iron Bank's business with Dorne appears to have been settled at last -- at least, as evidenced by the departure of the bank's envoys to the Planky Town and away across the narrow sea on a purple-hulled galley. They had largely retreated to the manse they leased from a merchant, and saw few visitors... but occasionally they accepted invitations to dinners and feasts with guildsmen and traders and even lords and ladies of the realm. Yet on these occasions they revealed almost nothing about what had made them come to bring pressure to bear on Sunspear, saying only it was a matter for the…

News of Princess Daena's escape from the Maidenvault arrived in Dorne just as King Baelor prepared to return to King's Landing, and though he prayed for a swift wind to blow the fleet home, Lord Velaryon's ships maintained a good, steady, but unremarkable pace as they crossed the Sea of Dorne, and Shipbreaker Bay, and finally beat against contrary winds to pass through the Blackwater. At certain points, the fleet sent swift, small galleys to resupply and to find out if there were any word of the princess, and to relay the king's commands to have the City Watch do all it could to recover his…

In the days following the marriage of Prince Daeron Targaryen to Princess Mariah Nymeros Martell, King Baelor and Prince Maron, both, have busied themselves with matters that have interested them. Between audiences, councils, sermons, and entertainments, both men have been busy. King Baelor, a septon in his own right, was greatly moved by sermons made by Sunspear's septons preaching reconciliation and forgiveness on the anniversary of the Submission of Sunspear. So much so, in fact, that he personally carried out acts of reconciliation, meeting privily with Ser Mavros Uller and Prince Rhodry…

The realms rejoiced at the marriage of Prince Daeron to Princess Mariah, as King Baelor officiated and administered the vows. After the melee born in violence, tensions had eased somewhat, and while still there were incidents of old feuds and old blood causing fresh troubles, none of them were serious enough to cause lasting turmoil. Instead, the court and the shadow city were consumed with the entertainments prepared by Prince Maron in the days leading to the marriage, from a horse race won by the bastard daughter of Ser Mavros Uller to a pageant featuring fantastical scenes of ancient heroes…

With the wedding of Princess Mariah to Prince Daeron fast approaching, there have been incidents that have raised concerns whether the guests that accompanied the northern wedding party would be able to survive their visit to Sunspear. Tense meetings, a few beatings, and even a suspect death or two have made the lords and knights in King Baelor's company all the sharper with their Dornish hosts. And the Dornish hosts have wondered much the same. A particularly dangerous incident in the practice yards of the Old Palace, involving Princess Mariah's uncle Rhodry Nymeros Martell, brought matters…

It had not even needed the landing at the Planky Town for the royal wedding party to learn that there was a new Prince of Dorne: a Lysene ship on its way back to its home port shared the news as it passed, and there was much wonder and surprise. King Baelor led the day's prayers with a benediction for young Prince Maron, and for his ailing father Prince Marence, as Viserys and others of his councillors quietly convened to discuss the matter. The next day, the fleet under Lord Velaryon's command arrived at Planky Town, bearing peace when once his ships had brought war. Disgorging the royal…