Capítulo 69: Unbroken
Arthur Uller watches the Summer sea lost in his own memories.
"Eight years doesn't seem like a long time but so many things have changed."
His last battle all those years ago seemed like his end, Arthur still remembers waking up in his bed surrounded by his wife and grandson; the joy he felt at being home was soon overshadowed by the discovery of the extent of his injuries.
He lost all sensation from the waist down, he could no longer walk or perform any activity that required the use of his legs. He was no longer of any use, neither as a consort nor as a husband. Arthur Uller had never felt more useless in his life and in those days he truly regretted having survived.
He remembers cursing the Seven, demanding to know why they took his legs but not his life. He demanded to know what a heinous sin he had committed to deserve such punishment.
`Better dead than a cripple`
Arthur remembers looking at the balcony of his quarters and thinking about throwing himself from there, or using the sheets as a rope and hanging himself, or using a knife to pierce his chest,... The prince consort thought of many ways to die, at first they were passing thoughts but as the days passed that thoughts became his most constant companion. Eight days after waking up, after having an accident and having to be cleaned by his servants, the prince reached his limit.
`I am a man, a knight and a prince but I can no longer control my insides. What is the meaning of this miserable life?`
That day Arthur made up his mind, he planned to say goodbye to his family before doing so. But he was in for a big surprise when his eldest grandson refused to leave his side, the three-year-old boy stayed day and night by his side. No matter how cold or cruel he was, nothing he did could make the boy leave him alone. After a few days Wulfric brought him a strange chair with wheels on the sides, which improved his mood enough that those dark and forbidden thoughts faded for a while.
Little did the prince know that this would only be a fleeting joy, a few days after receiving the wheeled chair he encountered his greatest obstacle: he could not go up or down stairs with that device.
And so all those dark thoughts came back with even more force, and again Doran became his shadow.
It was his grandson who found the solution to that problem: elevators. And so the Martell family moved into the Water Garden for a year while several elevators were built in the towers. During that year Arthur began to recover his spirit, it was somewhat slow but each advance was received as a great feat by his family; That warm and cheerful reaction only served to make his mood worse at first but over time he came to see how genuine they were and he himself shared their joy.
A year after waking up Arthur felt truly grateful to be alive, he thanked the gods for allowing him to see his children and grandchildren grow, and above all he thanked his grandson for staying by his side during all that rocky journey.
'If Doran hadn't become my shadow during those dark days I wouldn't be here today' is something Arthur often thinks about.
Doran, the first-born child of his first-born child.
His grandson and his little savior.
Doran was always more mature than other children his age, Arthur came to the conclusion that this maturity was due to his intelligence since Doran could understand and perceive things that older children ignored from an early age.
But no matter how intelligent and insightful his grandson was, he was still a child and behaved as such: he enjoyed listening to stories, playing with his uncle and brother, napping with his father,... But when the little prince was three years old he seemed to lose a lot of that childlike innocence, and Arthur can't help but blame himself for that.
The prince consort came to the conclusion that the little genius understood too much of what was happening around him in those grimm days, Doran could read the atmosphere and adapted accordingly; becoming someone more mature and responsible to fill a gap that he created.
Because of that Doran developed a wisdom beyond his three years of life and a great spark was lit inside him. Doran didn't spend as much time playing games anymore and he didn't slack off on his lessons either, instead he tried too hard, looking like he was racing to become an adult as soon as possible.
That's not to say that Doran ignored his brother and his uncle, he was still a great brother and friend but his main focus seemed to be on gaining as much knowledge as possible in the shortest period of time.
Doran was already known as a genius by those around him, Wulfric and Caleotte had long praised him for his intelligence; both said that they had never seen a student as talented and intelligent as Doran. And they were not wrong. But after that, Doran went from being a talented and intelligent but somewhat lazy student to one dedicated and almost obsessive in his eagerness to learn.
The boy performed perfectly in all subjects learning extremely quickly and before he was four years old Wulfric approached them with a serious expression and said the following:
"If Doran continues to progress at this rate we may run out of things to teach him before he reaches squiring age."
Wulfric suggested that they send him to the Citadel so that the child could develop his mind to its fullest capacity.
"The mind in order to develop requires exercise and work, just as a swordsman must challenge his ability fighting against more experienced opponents, a scholar must challenge his mind in the company of wise men and scholars. I am afraid that the little prince could never reach his maximum potential under my tutelage and Caleotte's."
Obella was against the idea and Trystanne supported his wife's decision. Dorna, on the other hand, seemed thoughtful, since she herself is an avid scholar who knows about such things. Arthur thinks that Doran must have seen what he saw, because after Prince Daeron's funeral his grandson asked his grandmother, and not his mother, for permission to study at the Citadel.
"Clever on his part for even if Obella refused if he had permission from the Princess of Dorne nothing could stop him from going to the Citadel, not even his mother." Arthur admired the cunning of his grandson, seeing more and more of his wife in the little prince.
Obviously that did not mean that getting that permission was easy, Doran spent hours and hours arguing with his grandmother for weeks.
"G`andpa look!" Little Elia's sweet voice pulls Arthur out of the sea of memories. Arthur looks in the direction his adorable granddaughter is pointing and sees the gigantic ship sailing across the bay toward the Sun Shipyard.
"Dowy`s boat!" Shouts the little princess, Elia had just turned two years old but she already spoke with the eloquence of an older child.
`It seems like Doran is not the only genius among my daughter's children.` Most children begin to say their first words between their first and second year of life but do not begin to form sentences of more than two or three words until their third year of life, Doran was the exception and now it seems that his little sister is following in his footsteps.
"Yes, my little sun. It's your older brother's ship."
"Dowy the`e?"
"No, little sun. Doran is at his mansion in Progress Town." Despite telling his granddaughter that Arthur knows otherwise, Doran is on board the ship that fascinated the little princess.
"Want Dowy. He pwomise play w` me!"
"Don't worry little sun, I am sure Doran will come home soon and he will play all the games you want."
"Umu!" Elia nods and turns her attention to the ship.
Arthur knows that Doran will be home before nightfall to compare the information he got from his spy network with what his wife got from her own spy network.
`They behave like children competing to see who has the best toy.` The prince recalls with amusement the competitions between his grandson and his wife to see who has the best espionage network.
"So Doran will be home soon."
Arthur and Elia turn to the young woman who had just entered the balcony.
"Ella!" Elia extends her arms to the Targaryen princess, and Rhaella takes her in her arms with a warm smile.
"Dowy comin` home!" Little Elia says with a big smile.
"Yes, little sun." Rhaella kisses the little girl's forehead, turns her gaze to the prince consort and looks at him with concern.
"Grandfather, how are you?"
Arthur looks at her with affection, in recent years he came to see Rhaella as a granddaughter, which is why he insisted that the princess call him grandfather.
"I'm fine, dear child. You don't need to waste your time worrying about my health, I'm better than I've been in years." Arthur smiles reassuringly at her and Rhaella smiles back.
`And all thanks to the little rascal.`
Arthur leans on the balcony railing and looks at the ship that is getting closer to the docks. He never thought that he would ever be able to stand on his own feet again, but thanks to Doran that seemingly impossible dream came true.
Four moons ago Doran developed a way to heal his legs.
The treatment was long and only his wife, daughter, good son, grandson and himself know what it consisted of. After regaining sensation in his legs, what followed was a long process to regain strength in them, and although he is now able to walk on his own, he still needs the support of a cane.
Arthur will never fight on a battlefield again but he doesn't care anymore, just being able to walk, to dance with his wife and be able to please her as a man is more than enough.
`I have to agree with ser Lothar, magic did explain a lot of Doran`s quirks.`
***
NOTE: It's the first time I've dealt with a character who went through such a trauma (lose mobility in legs), do you think I described well what Arthur went through?
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