Chapter Text
Daella was certain her lady was going to vomit right on her feet.
“My Lady, I can ask the driver to stop so you can take a break.”
Kiera shook her head, waving a graceful hand. The rings upon her fingers glittered in the sunlight. “I am well, princess. Tis only sickness of the early morning.”
Daella hesitated. “Are you certain? The green of your skin is beginning to clash horribly with the pink of your hair.”
A startled laugh bubbled from the other girl. “You’ve always had a way with words to make me forget my woes, Daella.” Daella grinned, cocking her head to the side in pride. Kiera reached over and patted her knee, albeit a bit wobbly. “I thank you.”
After reaching for the wineskin, Daella uncorked the top and passed it over to her lady. “Is this the first sign?”
Wiping the droplets of water from her lips, Kiera shook her head again. “I’ve had some familiar symptoms over these last weeks. I did not want to say anything for fear the king would order me to remain in Kings Landing.” She sighed, taking another sip. “With how vile I feel, perhaps that was a poor decision.”
“We are nearly to Ashford, you will be able to rest in your chambers.”
“And remain there the whole week?” Kiera groused grumpily. “Normally I’d be jumping for joy that I am with child, but the timing is atrocious. I haven’t even had the chance to tell Valarr and I am afraid -"
“Afraid of what?”
The girls both jumped about three feet in the air at the sudden intrusion at the window of the still rocking and swaying wheelhouse. “You couldn’t announce yourself before taking ten years off of my life, cousin?”
Valarr grinned cheekily, glancing forward to make sure his palfrey didn’t run into the side of the wheelhouse. “Are you all right, my lady wife?”
Kiera reached through the window and attempted to pat her husband's cheek, missed greatly, and only managed to almost smack his forehead instead. Valarr gently nudged her arm back inside before she lost it all together. “I am quite well, husband. Only tired and ready for rest.”
“Which isn’t easy in this rickety wheelhouse,” Daella chimed in, smirking at her cousin.
Valarr rolled his eyes, ignoring her to keep speaking to his lady wife. “We should be arriving at Ashford by the mid day. Hang in there a little longer.”
Kiera smiled and nodded, letting her eyes fall closed as Valarr pushed his horse forward and disappeared from view. Daella eyed her lady for a moment, before sighing softly to herself and glancing around the tiny wheelhouse. Gods, she couldn’t wait to get out of this little box. Her knee bounced anxiously underneath the skirts of her blue gown, foot tapping out a rhythm that was lost in the surrounding noises of the traveling party and Kiera’s harsh breathing.
When her grandfather had informed them all over the evening meal that they would be attending this tourney in the Reach, Daella hadn’t been sure who had protested the loudest. Rhae, for not being invited. Or their father, for being invited.
“You cannot be serious, father,” Maekar had said, his white fingers gripping his cup a bit too tightly. Daella winced, waiting for the cup to be crushed into dust underneath his steel grip. “A progress to the reach at such short notice is simply not possible.”
King Daeron blinked owlishly at his youngest son’s objection. Uncle Baelor sighed, covering his mismatched eyes exasperatedly. “Brother -”
The older prince fell silent when their father raised an aged hand. “It may seem so, my son. But I assure you that these plans have been in motion since the invitations from Lord Ashford arrived…three moons ago.” Maekar blanched, his cheeks reddening underneath his beard. Daella snorted, slapping a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. With a glance down the table, she could see that Aerion wasn’t doing much better in stifling his snickering. Daeron sat to Aerion’s right, staring unseeingly into his goblet. With a note of finality, Grandfather carried on. “You and Baelor will attend as Lord Ashford’s special guests. I have chosen Valarr and Aerion to be your representatives in the tourney but the both of you can certainly choose to bring more of your brood along with you.”
Grandfather’s words had given the implication that the choice would be Maekar’s, but his tone - quite gentle - was still firm and commanding.
Baelor spoke first. “Valarr, do you wish to have Kiera accompany you?”
Valarr elegantly swallowed the gulp of wine he had just taken. “Only if she wishes to do so.” His mismatched eyes swiveled over to where Kiera sat to his right. “My lady?”
Kiera’s large silver earrings touched her shoulders as she nodded in agreement. Lightning bolts, a gift from the late Lady Jena upon their wedding day. A peculiar gift from the future queen, but thirteen year old Daella had understood it. Kiera would be the mother of a king with Dondarrion blood, as well as Targaryen and Tyroshi blood. She would be a representative of more, so she should begin to find her place as of that very moment.
“Where else would I be than at your side?” Kiera then looked across the table at Daella. “As long as Princess Daella wishes to remain at mine?”
Grandfather’s voice boomed before Daella could form an answer. “That’s settled then!”
Noting that any further protests would surely fall on deaf ears, her father begrudgingly gestured to Daeron. He had to say his name twice before Daeron heard him, his eyes glassy and still unseeing. “You will enter the lists as well. And Aegon will be your squire.”
Her little brother suddenly burst out in a cheer. Daella chuckled, reaching over to brush a stray lock of silver hair from Egg’s forehead. He’d always wanted to be a squire, but since Daeron refused to go any further in his knightly duties than what was necessary, poor Egg was at a bit of a standstill. This was certainly a curious decision though. Their father wasn’t blind, he knew Daeron did not wish to partake in any of these kinds of activities. Wouldn’t Valarr be the more appropriate choice for Egg to squire for? Valarr would do it in a heartbeat if he was asked.
“Daeron, won’t that be fun?” Egg called across the table, his smile taking up his whole face. Daeron gave him a smile back that didn’t quite reach his eyes. It was soon agreed that Daeron and Egg would leave on the morrow for Ashford so they could arrive early to the tourney.
By the end of the meal, Egg was practically vibrating out of his seat when he and a pouting Rhae were sent off with their septas. Matarys, who was abed with a light fever, would be staying behind as well. At least Matarys and Rhae would still be in the company of their cousins Aelor and Aelora. Their uncle Rhaegel was too gentle for the bustle of tourneys but he would take great care of Matarys and Rhae in their absences. If there was anyone else that Baelor and their father trusted their children with other than each other, it was the sweet and funny Rhaegel.
“Father, may I have a word?”
Maekar glanced at Daella briefly, already in pace to follow Baelor and Grandfather into his private solar. “Can it wait, Daella?” Daella shook her head, her gaze flickering over to the chair that Daeron was slowly rising from. Maekar waved Baelor and Grandfather on, stepping over to where Daella stood. “What is it?”
Daella knew she was interfering, but something her mother had taught her from a very young age was to look after her own. Despite being older, Daeron was her own.
Her words stumbling a bit, Daella relayed her concerns. “- you know as well as I do that Valarr would take Egg on if you asked. He’s very fond of him and -”
Maekar held up a hand in a motion very much like Grandfather and Daella fell silent. “I appreciate your worries, Daella. But you are not Aegon’s mother -” Daella scoffed. She wasn’t trying to be Egg’s mother. She most certainly wasn’t trying to be Daeron’s mother either. “ - and this will be good for both Aegon and Daeron.”
“But Father -” Daella winced at the whine in her tone.
“No, Daella. This matter is finished.” Daella scowled grumpily when Maekar kissed her cheek and sent her off after her lady, a soft good night whispered into the dimming corridor.
A horn blew and the wheelhouse came to such an abrupt halt that Daella toppled forward from her seat and landed in a heap in her lady’s lap. Kiera caught her with ease, both girls erupting in tired giggles as Daella righted herself. This was not the first time along their journey that either of them had found themselves with a lapful of each other. “I wonder if we are there?”
Kiera glanced out the window, brushing a few sweaty pink strands of hair from her forehead. “I’m not quite certain.”
Daella followed Kiera’s gaze, shifting to stick her head out the window. A rider was suddenly cantering past the wheelhouse, holding one of their banners in his right fist and what looked to be a scroll in the other. Not that Daella could get a good look, considering the rider had gone from a canter into a full on gallop.
“A raven for Prince Maekar!”
That got her attention. Who was sending her father a raven while they were still traveling?
Valarr was passing by their window again. “Cousin! What has happened?”
Her cousin brought his horse to a halt, exasperation crossing his face. “A rider from Ashford has just joined our party.”
“From Ashford?” Kiera pressed a hand to the frame of the window. “Has something occurred?”
Valarr nodded. “Aye. Prince Daeron and Prince Aegon never arrived at Ashford Meadow. They seem to be missing.”
—-
“I’ll kill him. I will throttle him where he stands when I get my hands upon his neck. I will strangle -”
“Daella?”
“ - him until he passes out and - what?”
Kiera grins, holding a shawl of blue in her hands that she had just pulled from the open trunk at her feet. “Once you are quite finished threatening Daeron with bodily harm, would you mind sending word down to the grounds about where Valarr’s pavilion is to be constructed?”
“Oh! Certainly, my lady.”
Once Daella returned from carrying that duty out, she found Kiera curled up upon the large bed of their chambers. Valarr and Kiera would be staying in here while Daella was in the connecting room just to the right. The Ashford family had essentially vacated their whole apartments so Daella’s own family could take them. The only one who had not been forced from her chambers was Lady Gwin Ashford, and that had only been because this tourney was being given in her honor.
Once she established that Kiera was deep in her sleep, Daella washed her face and hands in the basin beside the bed and slipped from the chambers, her own light green shawl tugged over her shoulders.
She could hear the arguing when she approached the doors of the lords’ chambers. Her uncle Baelor’s voice was trying to keep a soothing tone, but there was already a tinge of exasperation to it. Her father snapped back, his words fuzzy and difficult to make out through the heavy oak of the doors. Ser Donnel gave her a fond smile as he pushed the door open, announcing her presence to her family inside.
“Princess Daella, your graces.”
Baelor immediately waved her in, delighted to be interrupted. “Come in, come in, niece. How are Valarr and Kiera?”
“Uh - Kiera is resting. The journey from the Roseroad did not quite agree with her. And Valarr has gone down to the tourney grounds to oversee the construction of his pavilion.”
One of the servants pulled out a chair for her, and without caring who was watching, Daella plopped herself into it with a grunt. The same servant gently rested a goblet to her right and filled it halfway with wine, bowing and retreating when Baelor dismissed her. “I’m glad you are here, Daella. Your father and I wanted to ask you if you possibly had any inclination of where Daeron and Aegon had gone off too.”
Daella sighed, taking a sip from her goblet. Maekar avoided her exasperated glare, slouching further into his seat on the other end of the high table. He was no doubt remembering her warning the evening prior to their departure from Kings Landing. “Father, you are about to slide right off of that chair.” Maekar glowered in her direction, and for a moment, Daella felt her mother’s spirit overtake her in her increasing temptation to hurl a few walnuts from the serving dish at her elbow right at her father’s head. “My apologies, uncle. I do not know where they are but I do have a theory?”
Baelor nodded. “Please share it.”
The legs of a chair scraped across the floor. Daella folded her hands in her lap, trying her best to be proper in front of Lord Ashford. “It is not a very interesting theory, but I do suppose Daeron and Egg could be hiding in an inn along the Roseroad or even near here? Daeron was not fond of the idea of being a part of this tourney, he’d rather have remained a spectator. I know Egg - er Aegon certainly wanted to come, to be someone’s squire.”
“Do you suppose Aegon might have left Daeron and tried to find his way here on his own?” Baelor asked.
Daella hesitated. “I…am not certain. I struggle to believe that Aegon would have attempted that. But I suppose anything is possible.”
Lord Ashford excused himself then to see to the final preparations for the royal box and the rest of the servants followed, leaving Daella alone with her uncle and father. Baelor smiled gently, shifting in his seat and opening his mouth to say something. Only to be interrupted by the loud screeching of chair legs once again and Maekar lumbering to his feet. “I best be off. I ordered one of the squires to prepare a fresh horse.”
“Wait - brother, where are you going?”
Maekar stared at Baelor like he was addleminded. “Daella is likely correct and Daeron and Aegon are hiding in an inn near here. Ser Willem will be accompanying me and once we depart, we should be able to find the boys by the morning and be back here by dawn.”
Baelor shook his head. “You cannot go just yet. We are expected at the royal box in a few hours."
Her father scowled. “Finding my sons is far more important than being there for the opening ceremony of a nameday tourney for a child younger than Daella.”
“And for that, I do agree. But Daeron is nearly twenty. He and Aegon will be all right for a while longer -”
“And how could you possibly know that they are all right, brother?” Maekar shot back. Daella grabbed at the serving dish and popped a few walnuts in her mouth, hoping to chew loudly enough to drown out the childlike bickering of two grown men. “They could be in a ditch somewhere and -”
A ditch was likely for Daeron, but Daella doubted he was harmed. Now Egg was another story, but she still hesitated to believe that her little brother would have left Daeron if the option had been given to him. The boy wanted to squire and even if he offered his services to a passerby knight, one look at that silver hair would lead to an immediate rejection.
“ - Aerion is already my representative. He can take my seat at the ceremonies -”
“Didn’t Grandfather ask for all of us to be there?” Daella interrupted. Baelor flapped a hand in her direction. “Daeron and Egg are already gone, I do believe it would be noticeable if you were missing too, Father.”
Before Maekar can open his mouth to protest, a knock came at the door along with a servant and a note for Daella. She read the note and passed it to Baelor. “There’s your answer, Father. Lady Kiera is not attending the ceremony tonight due to her ailing stomach and she is requiring my presence.”
Her father groaned dramatically and sank back into his chair, looking quite a bit like Aerion in that moment. Daella rose to her feet, hiding a chuckle. Gooddaughter to the heir to the throne did outrank the Anvil at this very moment. “Am I excused, uncle?”
Baelor nodded, smiling gently. “You are excused. Good night, Daella.”
She kissed his cheek and passed around the back of her father’s chair and waiting before he got her message and let her peck his cheekbone. “Enjoy the ceremonies, your graces,” she called over her shoulder with a teasing lilt to her voice. Maekar harrumphed loudly, his displeasure known as Baelor laughed.
As the door fell closed behind her, Daella heard her father’s voice ring out with irritation. “Why did it have to be Daella that is the responsible one?”
Baelor hushed him, but the words smacked her just the same.
Swallowing back the hurt, Daella squared her shoulders, bid a good night to Ser Donnel, and returned to her lady.
