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When Loreza had married, it had been at eighteen. Somewhat early for a Dornishwoman, yes, but as she was the heir to the Sunchair and her own mother’s health had never recovered from the illness she had suffered under but a couple years before she had known that she would need to marry sooner rather than later.
With a practical mind that she would later do her best to instill in her children, she had chosen to marry Maron Gargalen, the second son of the then current lord. It was true that he did not bring all that much to the table if you focused on wealth and such frivolous details alone, but they had grown up together in the Water Gardens and she knew that he would be the support she would need as the Ruling Princess of Dorne, which was the main criteria for a man wishing to be her consort. The fact that it had been a few generations since a Gargalen married a Martell and even longer since a member of that family had become a Prince or Princess Consort didn’t hurt, nor did the fact that they had quickly fallen for each other over the course of their first year together.
Her only daughter had followed in her footsteps and took a cautious approach to her own marriage. Despite the fact that her betrothed had somehow managed to convince Oberyn that he was not a completely terrible option for his sister (read: a damn good option that they would be fools not to take), Elia had chosen to learn more about her betrothed and not simply fallen in love with him from a few gifts and nice letters. And though by the time Loreza had watched her daughter leave for her new home across the Summer Sea she could see the first indications of love between them, something that had given her much relief for she had never wished for her daughter to end up in a loveless marriage, Elia had not let herself swoon into his arms the first time she had laid eyes on him.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her own younger brother or her two living sons. Was it just a thing with Martell men? Was it built into their very beings? Her own grandfather had married his wife not long after meeting her, but his at least had a political motive to reassure their people that the Martells were Dornish first and foremost.
Regardless of the cause, her male family members’ adventures in romance never once failed to make her want to slam her head against her desk in exasperation.
Loreza had sent her younger brother Lewyn to help take care of some bandits threatening travelers in the Red Mountains that had turned out to be led by a disgruntled Wyl cousin. He had come back with tales of his success, several prisoners… and a woman named Sylvia that he proudly introduced as his paramour. She had to use all of her practice in controlling her expressions to keep from slamming her head against the arm of her throne.
It wasn’t that she disliked Sylvia. Not at all. Formerly a part owner of a very successful seamstress shop with her sisters in the Red Mountains, she had quickly shown herself to possess a keen mind for logistics and was very good at sorting out everything needed for feasts or hosting guests or anything of that nature, along with managing their wardrobes.
It had quickly gotten to that point where Loreza had bluntly told Lewyn that if he and Sylvia ever chose to leave each other she would all but beg Sylvia to stay in Sunspear because a person with those kinds of skills only came along once in a lifetime.
Not that that was very likely to happen. She may have wondered if Lewyn had done it because he took great pride in annoying her at times, but Maron thought otherwise and had pointed out his reasoning later that night.
(Or at least he had after he had stopped laughing at the entire situation. Which took at least ten minutes. She loved her husband with all of her heart, but dear sweet Mother he was the most difficult man in the world at times. And he had passed on said difficulty to their youngest…)
He pointed out that of all the times that Lewyn had annoyed her, none of them involved a situation like this. Her younger brother did not like to mess with other’s lives or emotions, nor did Sylvia seem like the type of person who would stand for it.
Not only that, but the tragic end to his betrothal with Ariadne Toland was well known, and even if he was the type of man to do something like that, he would not do it while involving a paramour.
Loreza had to admit that logic was sound. After Ariadne’s death, Lewyn had mourned her deeply, and she had never made so much as a whisper of him marrying someone else, nor did most of their bannerman make an attempt to make a match with him out of respect. If he showed up with a woman and introduced her as his paramour, the feelings involved were likely genuine.
And they were. Perhaps they had entered into a relationship a little fast in her opinion, but over the years they proved to have a remarkably stable relationship. They did argue as all couples did, but they did always make up at some point. They had also stayed together despite the little bit of grief they felt when Sylvia did not quicken for over a decade, to the point where they had stopped trying for children of their own long before Ovid had miraculously been conceived.
The only problem was how she did not take that as an indication on how her own sons’ romantic lives would go…
Doran meeting Mellario in Norvos and writing home about how he wished to marry her actually made Loreza slam her head against her desk multiple times.
Who could blame her though? At this point, Doran’s lack of interest in anyone was to the point of infamy in Dorne.
The fact that her youngest child, eleven years younger than her eldest, gave her two grandchildren before Doran got married should say it all. Granted, as finding Obara and Nym existed had triggered a not so subtle investigation as to whether he had begat more children than just those two (none somehow if you excluded Tyene, who they knew about in advance) perhaps that wasn’t something to talk about often.
Regardless, despite the fact that the Heir to the Sunchair should have his pick of marriage candidates Doran had managed to stay single for thirty entire years. Oh, he was courteous to all of the woman he had met, but showed absolutely no interest in any of them. He had also shown no interest in any men, so that could not be a reason. Not that it was too much of a problem as he had two younger siblings, but Loreza had not wished for her son to have to rule Dorne alone without a consort to support him.
So yes, by the time Doran had turned thirty and showed absolutely no interest in the countless people he had met, Loreza had all but completely given up on him finding anyone and had started to quietly debate on which of her younger children should marry and produce an heir for their brother.
And of course, it was when she had all but given up that he finally met someone.
They had been talking of their family making an official visit to some of the cities in Essos for quite a while, and Doran finally ended up going to represent them.
(As Lewyn and Sylvia had gone to visit her family, Elia made a quick trip to visit her Gargalen cousins, and Oberyn was still doing who knows what in Moraq at the same time, Loreza had finally remembered how beautiful silence was. She almost cried when both her brother, goodsister, and daughter came back at almost the same time and ruined the lovely silence.)
Upon arriving in Norvos, Doran had sent a raven to her, assuring her that he had arrived safely and would soon meet with the local leaders and port owners after a festival concluded.
Barely a moon later, he had sent another message proclaiming his undying love towards the Lady Mellario and begging her to allow them to marry.
Okay, that had not been the exact words he had written. But Loreza knew her son, and she knew that that was what he had meant with what he had said. He truly believed himself to be in love with this Norvoshi noblewoman.
The moment Lewyn arrived back in Sunspear, she called him into her solar, shoved the letter at him, and told him that this was his fault. He just laughed at this entire situation.
(As did Elia. Oberyn found it all hilarious as well judging by the letter he had sent that said he was finally heading home. And from what she heard from his wife, her own goodbrother had laughed so loud you could hear it from the complete opposite side of Salt Shore. And no doubt Maron’s laughter could be heard all over the afterlife.)
Agreeing to let them marry did give Dorne some very good trade deals in addition to her worry about her son’s rule being somewhat alleviated, so she would not complain.
When her son arrived with his bride, through the weeks that followed she saw for herself that Doran did indeed love Mellario. The woman had also been trained to run a household, so with much help from both Elia and Sylvia she started to transition wonderfully into the role she would have in Sunspear.
Doran’s first impulsive in his life was currently proving to have some good results, though she still wished that he had done this ten years before.
Unlike her brother and eldest son, Loreza had fully expected this kind of thing from her youngest.
Oberyn saw someone, made an opinion on them, and refused to change it without a damn good reason. While she had wondered if he would ever wish to have a permanent partner, especially after her lovely granddaughters had appeared from the sands, she had known from the start that he would follow the same path as his uncle and brother.
(If she was honest, she would not have been surprised had he come home from Essos with a paramour instead of a daughter. Not that she regretted Nym arriving instead, for she adored all of her granddaughters.)
Loreza was mainly just relieved that his attentions had fallen upon the Lady Ellaria Uller instead of someone it would be harder to negotiate with.
Yes, there was the fact that Ellaria’s children would continue the Uller line, but given the agreements that house had already made regarding succession when Ellaria had been legitimized that would not be too difficult to sort out. She already had some ideas to take care of that and would share them when the time comes.
There was also the fact that Tyene had literally latched onto Ellaria and looked up to her as a mother figure already, Nym was happy because she gave warm cuddles, and Obara deemed her “acceptable company” (read: she really liked her) and she did not want to disappoint her grandchildren. Nor her son, for she doubted he would find someone he liked so much ever again.
Of course, Oberyn wouldn’t dream that someone would be willing to stay with him for more than a brief time because she knew her son well and thus knew that he was surprisingly self-deprecating when it came to romance, so Loreza had to take things into her own hands and talk to Ellaria first before telling her to discuss it between themselves and give her their answer.
When her son and soon to be gooddaughter came to her the next morning, all three sand snakes trailing behind them, she smiled at the knowledge that her entire family would soon be settled into what she prayed would be happy partnerships.
Somehow. Seriously, why did they all have to take this approach to romance? Why couldn’t they have been more cautious and waited to know their partners like she and her own daughter?