To epitomize the world in which we live, we must first step back and remember that we are flawed.
But to understand the world in which we live, we must recognize that man realizes just this: the good exploit the flaws and the wicked jeopardize their...
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Ned Stark stares out at the silently and blindly raging Meereen from the balcony atop the pyramid, night and darkness painting the landscape that's turned from disruption to frenzy at the hand of Tyrion Lannister. The breeze is rather warm on his thick skin, but even he can feel its drop in temperature since arriving here two years prior. Indeed, his words of long ago and continuing now—a pretense of Stark reminders—ring loud in his ear now that the winds are shifting for a long night ahead—winter is coming.
But only then does he notice the new presence at his side, the rather lithe form of Oberyn Martell leaning against the wall as they both gaze into the night, Ned Stark changing that. He bows his head in greeting, "Prince Oberyn."
"Just Oberyn, Ned Stark," the Prince responds with that thick Dornish tone that Ned's come to take comfort in as a sign of familiarity, even with the break between Stark and Martell twenty years prior. The dark eyes of the Dornishman turn to his with something of a quandary, admitting to the Northern man, "You're different than I expected."
Ned Stark's wracked with confusion, questioning, "How?"
"I expected a noble and simple man. I got the first, but I don't you're as simple as others suppose. Gabrielle saw an intelligence and wisdom in you—a man of sacrifice," Oberyn admits, seeing a flash in the other man's eyes, again recognizing all that Ned's lost in this war. "I respect that."
Ned's eyebrows quiver with an intent to understand, "You respect me because she does?"
"She's a good judge of character. I am one of many to trust her with my life," Oberyn's eyes pry into the grey of Ned Stark's, as if seeing beneath the layers of masks the man has constructed through the past years. "You are the same."
Ned shrugs as his brain surges with fear, "She did save my life, so I suppose you are right."
"No, it's more than that," Oberyn steps forward with the intent to truly understand this man, and Ned's reminded of the notoriously ingenious mind of Oberyn Martell, as well as his danger. "You are grateful for her. You've lost much in your time gone, but she's protected your kin. I saw how protective she was over Lady Sansa in the capital and how close she was to your bastard."
"Jon..." Ned mutters, having long forgot of the connection between Gabrielle and Jon, eyes widening with a wish to understand.
And Oberyn seems to see as much, his composure slipping into a rather wide grin that's almost taunting, "Can't explain her commitment to him, but she lived for those messages he sent her. I was just another man in a line leading to him."
"She loves him?" Ned's eyebrows spike and his heart raises in the epitome of fear and surprise, wondering just how long this has lasted and how it came to be.
"Certainly. I know love, and that was it. It was not traditional in any sense, but it was true. He'll be lucky to have her," Oberyn relates, but Ned's eyebrows lower into a frown at the implication and Oberyn's expression shifts into something protective. "Do not regard her like that. Gabrielle has done much to survive, as have you from what I understand. All I meant is that Jon will be safe and warm as long as she is with him. And once she is, I doubt they'll ever part again."
