105 AC
As the night turned, so did the mood of the feast. The musics tempo picked up and the tables began to be moved from the center of the floor so there would be more room for the attendees to dance.
As each house finished their meal, their Lord or Lady would come before us, usually with their heir as well. With them, they brought gifts for the new babe. The Lannister twins had gifted the King with a tiny helm that had a three headed dragon stamped into the side of it.
The King and Valera gave each other a look as the two presented the helm, wondering how this would be useful.
Many of the other houses brought clothes and blankets for the babe, as well as gems and jewels that a babe would have no use for. The Starks presented us with a bear rug, hunted themselves at fashioned specifically for the babes nursery.
The night had gone relatively well, by passing the glares being thrown between Daemon Targaryen and Qoren Martell.
It wasn't long after people began moving the tables that Daemon had cut Valera off from her never ending supply of wine. He told the girl that it would be shameful to get wasted at the first celebration of the fortnight long tournament, especially in front of all the high houses.
Valera pouted in return, shifting herself so she was turned away from her uncle.
From the crowd, Prince Qoren Martell watched Daemon take away Valeras chalice, replacing it with the clear glass of water that he had been drinking from. He saw as the Princess scowled at Daemon and turned her body so she was shunning him for cutting her liquor off.
Seeing this change in the Princesses attitude towards her uncle, Prince Qoren took this as his chance to go speak to the royal family.
Valeras eyes followed the man who was the perfect picture of Dornish beauty as he left his table and moved to the stairs before them. Before climbing the steps, Qoren bowed respectively, saying, "your grace."
A small smile creeped on to the Princesses lips as she watched the man, who was only two years older than her, climb the steps.
The Prince of Dorne, seeing Valeras eyes on him, winked at the girl, causing a blush to arise on to her cheeks.
No other man had been able to take Valeras mind off of her uncle until now. The girl believed she would only ever find Valyrian features to excite her, but seeing Qoren in front if her, she was entranced.
He was the complete opposite of what she was. Where she was almost as pale as parchment, he had been tanned from the hot Dornish sun. Valeras hair, almost a white silver, scarcely contrasted the jet black hair that framed Qorens face. The Princess was not the shortest for her age, but compared to Qoren she felt like a small bug.
Green crashed with Lilac, not going unnoticed by The Rouge Prince who continued to give a look of death to the Prince of Dorne.
"King Viserys," spoke Qoren as he finished his climb. The man's voice was deep and silky smooth which intrigued Princess Valera even more, "thank you for inviting me into your home, it is as beautiful as I was told."
Viserys held his chalice up in the air, cheering at the man's words and thanking him for making the journey to Kings Landing.
Once Qoren finished his formalities, he turned to the eldest Princess, "Princess Valera," he sighed, smiling with his teeth this time, "It is an honor and my pleasure to finally be able to meet you, your beauty is even more than was described."
Valera grinned at his words, holding her right hand out in front of her for the Prince. Qoren, seeing her gesture, happily took the Princess's hand into his own and bowed to place a delicate kiss on to her hand.
"Thank you," Valera nodded respectfully as the Prince stood back up, "I hope your travels were fair."
"Very," Qoren said gleefully, "the sea gods seemed to agree with my travels."
As the Prince finished speaking, he nodded at someone who stood off to the side. Valera followed his gaze and saw a man, holding a medium sized chest. He bowed before climbing the stairs to face the royal family. Once next to the Prince, the fair haired man knelt and presented the chest to the dornish Prince. Qoren grabbed the chest and carried it up to the table, placing it directly in front of King Viserys before carefully opening the top and revealing the items inside.
Rare jewels from around the world, fine silk, wine were inside for the elder members of the family and for the babe, swaddles, hand crafted toys and clothing made of silky material. The King thanked the Prince for his large gift, and appointed one of his three courtiers to assist the Prince with his every need during his stay. Viserys also thanked the Prince for makes the long journey to Kings Landing before telling Prince Qoren that he would like to have a private audience with him at the end of the night.
The Prince thanked King Viserys and bowed again before closing the chest and returning it to the man besides him so he could go place it with the other gifts. When the man returned, he held his left hand out towards him. The man took a medium sized black jewelry box out from his satchel, and handed it to the Dornish Prince.
The Prince of Dorne turned to face the Princess Valera, he took a few steps forward to close the space between him and the table that separated them. Valera, watched as Prince Qoren opened the box he held in his hands.
"Please accept this necklace as an apology for not being able to make it to your name day, Princess," Qoren spoke as he revealed the necklace.
Inside, a enchanting necklace lay, it was made of a silver that gleamed, even in the low light. The metal was bent to look like twigs that had been twisted together. At the center of the manipulated metal, lay a white gem that sparkled brilliantly and it caught the eye of every person who would look near it.
"It is from Asshai," Prince Qoren told Princess Valera, "my sailors brought back a story with it, if you would care to hear it."
Qorens words piqued the curiosity of the girl in front of him and she tore here eyes away from the necklace to stare at the man who now seemed only half as beautiful as he once was next to the captivating gift.
"I accept," Valera said bashfully. She had only ever heard of story's about the jewelry that came from Asshai, never seeing it for herself until now. It is said to be magical and when the Princess saw the beauty of it, she did not discount the possibility.
Only something magical could be so beautifully made.
Besides her, The Prince Daemons top lip twitched in agitation. Seeing the way his lover watched the Prince of Dorne and how she reacted to his gift made the Prince of the City murderous. He wanted to take the knife that was holstered under his arm and throw it through the eye of the man in front of him.
"I would love to hear the story," Valera continued cheerfully. Prince Daemon groaned next to her which cause the girl to shoot him a harsh look before turning back to the other prince, smiling.
Qoren Martell began to recant the story he was told by the captain of the ship that brought back the necklace.
According to the captain, The jewel at the center of the necklace was mined from a large boulder that was found in the Sea just outside of Pentos. Instead of the boulder sinking into the waters below, it floated and according to the Petoshi sailors, it was smoking in the water when they found it.
The men managed to hook it with some of their larger chain, and it smoked all that way back to the harbor. There the Prince of Pentos ordered for it to be sent to Asshai on the orders of his Red Priestess, who was also a sorceress who had trained in Asshai
The Priestess, who had hair as red as fire, claimed R'hllor sent the boulder, flaming down into the sea and inside of it, a precious stone would lay and it would hold a magic that had never been seen in the modern world.
The Red Priestess boarded the ship that took the boulder to Asshai and she watched as they mined away the layers and layers of black stone until finally, at the center there lay the gem, as white as snow in comparison to the darkness that had surrounded it.
The Red Priestess created the design for the necklace herself, and when it was finished, she kept it for herself, wanting to become the most powerful sorceress in the land of the living.
But, when the Priestess went to dawn the necklace, she was burned. Not only that, she seemed to have been stripped of all of her magical abilities, including her prophetic visions, for the woman had forgotten an important part of the prophecy the Lord of Light sent her.
Only the one born from the same storm that brought the magic, could use it.
The Necklace from Asshai:
Authors Note
I hope y'all enjoyed the chapterrr!
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