[i]The Eyrie[/i]

The old proverb stated that The Wall was always the last place to get news but things were hardly better atop the Eyrie. It was true that Lady Jeyne Arryn, like other Lords Paramount, had received a brief message announcing the death of the King from the Capital yet ravens lacked the strength to bear overly detailed messages. Therefore, it was almost a week later, when the first outsiders made their way up the windy mule-track past the three waycastles, that any details found their way to her ears. King Aegon II was dead-poisoned after apparently threatening to murder his nephew. No one had been held responsible as of yet. This news of the royal death brought Lady Jeyne no sadness, Aegon II had been no King of hers, house Arryn had supported the Princess's and her Blacks during the Dance so the Loss of Queen’s boy was a relief. According to the Dan the mule-boy and Dafyd the  food  merchant who had come to deliver the cheese, flour, oats, salted meat and horse-hay, Aegon’s nephew the son of Princess Rhaenyra’s boy who by blood was a quarter Arryn. Lady Jeyne was more than aware that Dafyd and Dan could not be entirely relied upon to provide a true and honest accounting of all facts but she was equally aware that they would be her only source of information for a long time until the official story made its’ way into the history books.

The two men brought her further news; another royal was dead, Lord Qoren Martell had apparently been thrown from a horse making his eldest daughter Aliandra ruling Princess of Dorne.  This news brought a smirk to Lady Jeyne’s face. The Lady Paramount of the Vale smirked for Dorne and The Vale were two kingdoms more though far apart were more alike than most would think.  Both being separated from the rest of the Kingdoms by large chains of Mountains which had a tendency to isolate the two regions from the world and both having to deal with troublesome elements with the Orphans of the Greenblood in Dorne and the clansmen in the Vale.  And now both kingdoms were ruled over by powerful women after the rulers heirs had died stupidly as men do best.

Despite the Dance of the Dragons having been a conflict between two female would-be Monarchs it seemed to Lady Jeyne that it was the first time in living memory that two Lady Paramounts had ruled. Well…one lady Paramount and one Princess. She smiled again dipped her quill in ink and wrote an elaborate letter to her Dornish counterpart offering her condolences for her fathers’ death and congratulations over her own coronation. This letter would be a long one and would include a gift so would not be sent by raven; instead Jeyne would send a messenger through Gulltown bearing the letter and pear brandy and scented candles.  Jeyne usually sent wine to high Lords but she imagined that Princess Aliandra of Dorne would have no shortage of fine wines.  The scented candles were the speciality of house Waxley who were able to infused candles with essences of fruits which supposedly could  subtlety alter the moods and emotions  of people exposed to the candles. Lady Jeyne had frequently burned Waxley candles during a meeting with troublesome lords to make them more positively pre-disposed towards her political propositions.   These almond and rose oil candles would be packaged in such a way that they would be protected from the sun’s heat throughout the long journey to Sunspear. No doubt the letter would arrive several weeks after Aliandra’s crowning ceremony but Lady Jeyne trusted that it would be well received nonetheless.
Turning her thoughts to home, she called her niece and nephew to join her over dinner and would gauge their reactions to the new, particularly with regard to the death of the monarch. The Targaryen one.


Roland was the first to arrive to the table, still sweaty from sparring with the Ser Brus master at arms dressed in his leather surcoat with beads of sweat clearly visible upon his forehead.   Ser Brus had been a great fighter in his day but that day was past and he was too old to even have participated in the Dance making it very likely that her Nephew had decisively beaten the old veteran warrior thanks to his own youthful energy. As Roland made his way towards the table a servant approached him with a basin of cool water. No doubt the contents of the basin had been snow earlier this day, the servants were incessantly talking about how still covered the roofs and walkways of the Eyrie despite spring having arrived. After rinsing his face and hands in the basin Roland sat himself down at the table heavily with little regard to how others might perceive him. In doing so he was very much like his father, Lady Jeyne’s  late brother, a few years ago when, before he had gone to serve has Ser Belmore’s squire, Roland was more impressionable he would have taken more care as to how he presented himself to others and would have practiced even when he was around his family.  Jeyne often wondered if it had not been a mistake on her part to send her nephew to Strongsong, after all, most high lords did not serve as squires to their own future bannermen and serving as a squire always carried some element of risk to it. She accepted , however,  that Roland was not ‘most high lords’, he had lost his parents at an age when young boys needed the counsel of their fathers the most. Lady Jeyne serve as an adoptive mother but could never replace her brother even for her own nephew, she could not teach him to fight with a sword, nor to ride like a man nor play games with other boys his age.  Nor could she allow Roland to grow up a weakling locked away from his people surrounded by women without learning how to fight for himself. No one would respect or wish to marry a Lord of the Vale who had never fought for himself nor seen beyond the walls of his own castle. 

Thus, when Lord Belmore had made the offer to take on Roland as a squire she had been quick to accept it. For a Lord who had successfully raised a  five strong sons of his own, each braver and nobler than the last, to take on her nephew for a few years as he had  was a great opportunity for her and the future Lord of the Vale. Roland had since grown so alike to the Belmore boys in manner and appearance that when he returned home in their company lady Jeyne had mistaken Erryk Belmore for her nephew when the two decided to play a practical joke by donning each other’s armour and surcoats.  The boy who had left the Eyrie almost three years before had been nothing like the man who had returned smiling, confident, and broad shouldered. Jeyne  had been  particularly surprised by how much Roland had begun to resemble her brother in his all things. All he needed now was to grow a little taller and grow a beard and he would make a fine Lord paramount of the Vale.  The next task would be to find him a suitable bride. 

Yet this was not the most urgent match in need of making, her niece Sharra was older a year older than Roland and was also unwed. With regard to her Lady Jeyne would make it her upmost priority to arrange a matrilineal marriage for Sharra so that the fragile Arryn name might live on if a similar fate to her brother was to befall her nephew. Hours later with Roland gone to bed. his muscles aching from practicing with Ser Brus. and Sharra gone to take a bath,  Jeyne took up her pen once more and wrote to the Lords of the Vale.




[I] 
To the noble Lords of the Vale,

 As many of you are aware, my regency for Lord Roland Arryn will shortly draw to an end. On the date of his fourteenth name-day my nephew will assume his rule over the Vale.  To celebrate this occasion I wish to invite you and your families to a tourney that will be held a month from now at the Gates of the Moon. There will be opportunities for squires to participate in a melee amongst one another after which the most deserving will be granted their spurs and knighted for their efforts.  Furthermore Jousting Lists will be assembled for any anointed night of the Vale to test his mettle against his valiant peers. The Champion’s purse will be a full set of armour tailor-made to the champion’s measurements, the runner-up will win a fine destrier from the stables of House Arryn and the knight who achieves third place will receive a fine Summer islander Goldenheart Longbow, quiver and arrows.  The first to arrive shall be lodged in the Gates of the Moon where a banquet shall be prepared in the great hall. Space outside the Castle will be cleared for guests to assemble their tents and house their servants and equipment.  Lord Roland and Lady Sharra will both be in attendance and we all look forward to your presence.

May the seven bring you joy and health,
Lady Jeyne Arryn
Regent to Roland Arryn Lord of the Vale and Warden of the East.
 [/I]