章 54: Arthur XXI
293AC
I was woken in the morning by Jaerys, who informed me that I was invited to breakfast with the lady Desmera and her Tyrell relatives.
As much as I wanted to roll over and go back to sleep at the news, I could hear the call of duty a mile away and it would be far easier to simply get out of bed and deal with the issue than procrastinate on it.
'Best get dressed then.' I clambered into my suit begrudgingly, cracking my back and applying a tiny amount of perfume. It was, unfortunately, necessary when one only had sparse opportunities to bathe.
"Do you know where I'm supposed to be meeting them Jaerys?"
"Yes my prince, I had one of the servants instruct me."
I nodded, and the man led me on through the keep to another of the towers, a rectangular squat thing on the edge of the inner castle. It rose only slightly above the outer walls and was covered by a vine-draped pergola.
I was the second person there, aside from guards, and was met at the table by Lady Margaery. "Good morning my lady," I said, nodding to the young woman, about my age, and I got a smile in return.
"Good morning prince Arthur. It's good to meet you again. I'm afraid the food isn't ready yet, but I'm sure my grandmother and cousin Desmera will arrive soon."
"Oh, that's little concern, I ate quite well last night."
She nodded, a small smile on her face as we sat in relatively comfortable silence.
It wasn't altogether that long before Desmera and the Queen of Thorns made their way up to the balcony. Desmera refused to meet my eyes, but the old lady frankly just looked disgruntled.
"Good morning lady Ollena, lady Desmera," I said, nodding towards them as they approached.
"And what's good about-?" Ollena started before Desmera tugged on her arm, shaking her head lightly.
"Bah." the old woman said. "Look what you've done to my granddaughter, turned her overnight into a startled squirrel. Do you make a habit of breaking young woman's hearts?"
I stared at the old woman for just a moment, then a grin slowly spread across my chin. "With a face like mine? Hah, surely you jest lady Ollena." I laughed, and I won't deny there was some bitterness to it. "Still, lady Desmera, I did not intend to offend you last evening, if indeed I did."
"You-.. you didn't." The girl said, a little nervously, and clearly embarrassed. "I just… I shouldn't have been so presumptuous."
"Hmph. Should have known a pitfall when you saw it, girl." The Old Woman Looked Behind her. " Still, I'm too hungry for this, bring out the food."
We were served, and the food was actually quite good. I made sure to eat with a focus on decorum (more so than usual) so as not to give the witch any other ammunition to harass me.
I made some small talk about the food, praising it just as I had last night, while lady Ollena bitched and made opaque references to things that were likely calculated to annoy me. Desmera seemed still just a bit too shy, but she did eventually start opening up, talking to her cousin mostly. She seemed to have a bit of a rapport with Margaery while I was left ignoring and occasionally fighting off the thorns of Ollena.
It wasn't exactly a comfortable meal, but the food was good and the weather was excellent, so we continued apace for several hours until I heard a loud commotion starting to form in the courtyard below us.
"What on earth is going on down there?" I asked, turning towards Desmera who was the closest to the edge.
"I don't know," she said in clinic her head towards the noise. "It seems like a lot of people are running back and forth."
I got up, moving from my chair to the railing along with Desmera, though Ollena just gripes at us being too excitable.
"Hoy," I shouted down at one of the soldiers at the level below. "What's going on down there?"
The man turned his head to the sides before looking up at me. "Ah, Lady Desmera, and you must be Prince Arthur! We're putting some ships to sail, two Ironborn ships were spotted in the bay, and they seem to be fighting each other."
"Really?" I said plainly, glancing out towards the water, where sure enough I could just make out the rectangular sails of Longboats in the distance. "hmmm, stop for a moment," I commanded, and pulled off one of my gloves. "When you get down to the docks hand this to the captain aboard the Sword of Baratheon and tell him I want him to assist you, and to take prisoners if he can."
The man caught the glove and nodded, before continuing on, and I turned to the girls beside me. "Well, that's a bit more excitement than I expected this morning. Would you all care to help me find a place to better look down at the bay?"
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