Act I of Devotion: Love
Chapter V: My Youth Is Yours
"At that day of beautiful sunlight by the sea, she said farewell to her prince. She was going to see him again, yes. But they would not be anything other than friends. That farewell paved the road for a future that Leila Lannister would dread for the rest of her life."
- Maester Maekar, Chapter III of the White Queen.
295 AC
A FEW MONTHS AFTER THE DUEL
THE VIPER'S KEEP
SUNFIRE
LEILA HAD NEVER THOUGHT SHE WOULD EVER BE HAPPIER THAN SHE ALREADY WAS. Being with Oberyn and just the two of them, it had been heaven on earth with nothing coming between it. Oberyn had ensure that Leila was happy at all costs for every day after that day, to make up to her for scaring her during their betrothal and as well as the fact that Leila was insulted by one of his family's bannermen. Leila, being the kind benevolent woman Oberyn saw in her, said that it was alright. She cannot truly please everyone in Dorne. Some would hate her truly and hiss at her. Some would like her and allow her to be their princess. It was how the world worked. Some will love you, others will hate you and there was nothing she could do about it.
Oberyn just felt like it was his own fault for not being able to control Yronwood. And for the fact that lord Yronwood's inflamed fury came from the very fact that he had been because he had slept with his wife and then paramour years before. And all his mistakes led to him putting Leila in the crossfire and he hated that. He hated seeing her hurt, hated seeing her pained. He loved her smile and he would kill to see that smile always on her lips.
She continued to say it wasn't his fault but he was fairly certain he had faults. But she assured him that it was all in the past and he had not met her yet at the time and she did not mind for he had a past like she did. And it did not bother her so long as he loves only her now. And she could see it as the days and nights passed that Oberyn loved only her and not in her life would she doubt that. Not when his heart speak truer than anything she had ever known in her life.
Leila finally saw her estate when she and Oberyn undertook travel around some houses as they made their way to Sunfire. After the events that passed in Sunspear, Oberyn wanted to ensure that in the new year he would take his beloved away from the capital and far away where the two of them can get some time for themselves.
Oberyn was insistent to his mother that after what Leila suffered, he'll not allow her to be unhappy again. And so, Oberyn decided that they should go through the country without people knowing who they are, knowing Leila and him shared the desire to be unknown to many. He didn't like being easily recognized nor does his beloved. She likes the privacy as much as she loves public life.
Oberyn went to great lengths and a rather lively talk with his parents to allow this radical idea of travelling incognito and without the proper escorts. Oberyn was a prince and a prince was not going to go put himself in danger by pretending to be a normal man. Regardless, Oberyn won over his parents with him saying great promises and assuring them that as soon as they arrive in Sunfire, a raven would be flying to Sunspear to inform of their safety.
They traveled with under the alias names of Lyra and Merios Marell, a pair of travelling husband and wife who were from far far away Lemonwood and were simple folk who helped with healing concoctions in their small village. They dressed simply and brought Mors with them, who they considered as another able protection and introduced him as Leila's redheaded brother. Leila adored seeing Dorne in this manner.
In Lannisport, she wasn't allowed to explore without a company of her father's loyal men or perhaps without an uncle or an elder male cousin. Leila found this freedom to travel very exciting and delighting to her. She loved this new adventure, not sure where it would take her but she was delighted to still follow it's path without doubts and with Oberyn and Mors by her side, she would never be lost.
Leila saw many fascinating things and enjoyed the beautiful life she saw throughout the journey. Maester Pyrose had mentioned once or twice that Dorne was a wasteland and even heard the man argue to her father that Dorne was no proper place for her to be wed and live. Leila found those words certainly true at time when she and her two men rode through the barren deserts, their horses carrying more water than clothes or other items. As well as the fact that Oberyn had gifted her a headscarf to keep out the sun. It was blending color of red and tangerine orange, looking like the scarlet sunset.
It was covered in beautiful tapestry-like stitches, weaved by the gold into the form of the lion and the sun pierced by the spear. Then beautiful flowers embezzled through the cloth in beautiful patterns. Leila was blinded with its beauty and had never stopped wearing it, only removing it when she was getting ready for bed. Oberyn said it suited her beautiful pale gold curls, much to her embarrassment and much of Mors and his teasing.
Besides that, they also slept in the beautiful sandy plains in plain furs under the fire from the logs they brought from a previous village. When they manage to get to a village, the three of them slept any inn they may come upon. If her father had been there, he would have threatened Oberyn and Mors but he was not there. Leila and the two shared a chamber. Mors slept on the comforts of an extra bed of furs in the floor with Oberyn and Leila in the bed. Oberyn said that he would sleep on the bed with Leila but Mors being a vigilant traditionalist, forced his prince to sleep with him on the floor to protect Leila's honor.
Not that Leila minded but she would have preferred to sleep with Oberyn by her side.
Sometimes, Oberyn would find two rooms. One for Leila and one for him and Mors. And when there was no spacing, the three of them slept in the stables. In a small village nearing Hellholt which was the Brimstone. There were no rooms whatsoever in the tavern or the inn because it was the celebration of the lord Harmen Uller's name-day.
Leila was very persistent with the matter and said she would not mind sleeping in hay, to which Oberyn and Mors were very horrified with such as Leila was a well reared young woman and if word catches Casterly Rock that a prince of Dorne was allowing his betrothed to sleep near horse dung then he would send his men to war. Leila assured them that it would be alright and due to her charm, she won them over and happily slept in the hay while the men lamented over how charming Leila can be.
But then they arrived in Sunfire.
Sunfire was a very simple place but it was unbelievably the most beautiful place Leila had ever seen. Sunfire was scarcely populated because it was at the edge of Dorne. But nevertheless it was a place of vegetation and water from the river Wyl. Leila owned the land south towards Kingsgrave and north towards Nightsong. And to her delight, her holdings were just near the Red Mountains where she hoped to climb every single day to keep her health.
The people welcomed her as they passed. Obviously, they would have heard of their prince's chosen bride and seemed as delighted in her as they were with him. Leila realized that the Dornish were a simple people. They desire nothing but affection and joy, unlike the more ambitious peoples far north in King's Landing and beyond. Leila greeted them as soon as she spotted them.
She got of her horse despite Mors' warning and walked towards the people, taking their small tokens of welcome and speaking with them and smiling with them. Oberyn watched with a proud smile as they walked their way there, with Mors minding two horses. They already seem to like her and she supposed it could be because of the wealth her marriage to Oberyn would bring since her dowry was such a vast amount.
But of course, Oberyn would deny that fact always.
They genuinely liked her.
Her favorite part of the place was the entrance. A beautiful large archway painted in red and gold marble, with the crests of House Lannnister and House Martell intertwined, a crown above it. Leila found it to be the image of the new beginning and she prayed that the beginning would be filled with greatness.
Leila had three large buildings to have as her keep, all were in vast spacing from one another because of the expanding garden Oberyn had desired to place for her. The largest building, she called the Viper's Keep much to Oberyn's amusement due to the fact that it was now the name the people gave him. He would laugh at the name often, with great amusement. Because it was true, he was like a viper. Quick and vicious but a strong animal. When Leila told him of the name, he chuckled and nodded his head saying, 'That would be a name our descendants will laugh about with pride.'
The Viper's Keep has a vast tangerine granite stone color. It has tall buildings that envelop upon each other with bright marble arches elaborately carved in Dornish tastes, walls half decorated in tapestries Leila brought from Casterly Rock. A small fountain with a statue of a lion over a bright pierced sun gracing it. The floorings were simple bright white marble, imported from Nimerod with sun disks beaming brightly. The inside housed a great deal of many things which she delighted in. A modest one hundred and fifty rooms surrounded them with three stories containing fifty each. Fifty were in operation and the other one hundred were still in need of work, mainly in the second and third floors.
The second building was called the Lion's Den. It was a few meters away the Viper's Keep and a smaller place with fifty rooms but it seems to be the jewel to Leila's eyes. It was the exact same copy of some places in Casterly Rock. The place was not done yet but it was becoming what had been the beautiful stained glass hall her great ancestor Gerold Lannister had built in honor of the prosperity he brought to the Westerlands. Leila had remembered walking through the place herself when she had been young. The beautiful pale gold arches, the large beautiful columns decorated in flowers and lions. Leila had adored them, most especially after she watched the sun rise. The light brightly beaming through the colors of the Nimerodian glass, it was spectacular to watch it. Oberyn had managed to remember every detail of her house's history and had it here as well, which made her ache for home a little less.
This would feel a bit like home.
"It's for our children to see a pride of their mother's house." He had told her when they first arrived in the building. "So that they will be not only prideful of the warrior blood they claim from Nymeria but as well as the blood of the ancient kings of the Rock, like their mother."
Leila was touched by Oberyn's kindness. She would have no doubt that she would want her future offspring to know as well as she did the power and might of her family and regardless of the fact that they will be Martells, their blood will run the lion's blood. And thus, it would be only righteous for them to know their origin.
The third was much further, near the Red Mountains. It was the smallest of the three of her present holdings, being a singular round tower that reminded her of the large tower above the Rock, which she calls the Lion's Tooth. But this was not that, of course.
This was round and simple dark stone held by wood, unlike the large pale white stone and concrete the Lion's Tooth had. It was surrounded by nothing, it was abandoned and far gone from the rest of her holdings. No one was there because it was too far towards the Red Mountains. Oberyn promised that one day it would not be just a lone tower and add more buildings and settlements once they wed and Leila agreed. But it still needed a name.
Leila however saw that when the sun would rise, it was like brightness of the Sunset Sea when the light illuminates through the Rock and the redness of the Red Mountains added more beauty to it. Leila decided to call the tower the Scarlet Spear.
Leila's moments with Oberyn here in Sunfire had been the happiest of her life and she would never trade it for anything. Leila doubted that she had ever been anymore happier than she had been with Oberyn. Oberyn truly knew how to make her happy and she had no doubt he'll make her happy for the rest of his life, dedicating his life to her just as she would to him. If this was a dream, Leila thought, she hoped that she may never wake. This was the paradise she had wanted to have all her life until the day she dies.
"You look beautiful." Oberyn complimented to her as he was still on bed as she smiled at her reflection, cheeks filled with scarlet. Oberyn and her had slept in the same bed last night, even the night before that. Wrapped among the sheets, his hair was still fuzzed around his handsome face with the light hitting him. "You don't need to clean up. You look lovely enough just the way you are, Leila."
It started when Oberyn was told that his chambers were yet to be finished. He only smiled and said he would sleep in the available chambers and that only being Leila's chambers. Then he smirked and was delighted to be sharing with Leila. In actuality, he had no plans on ever using his chambers. He planned to sleep in the same bed his beloved Leila would sleep upon. He would keep her warm in the nights and comforted with the light by day. Leila did not mind at all, in fact she liked it dearly.
Oberyn was there when she could not sleep in the late nights. He would hold her as she spoke and then reply with quirky remarks she adored. Oberyn would hold her tight when she would have unfavorable dreams, hushing her to sleep wrapped in his arms. And most dearly, Oberyn would be there to just love her. And Leila knew she could not go an hour of her life without love. And she loved Oberyn, dearly and without reservations. Oberyn Martell was to be her husband, political or no, he was the one for her.
"It's kind of you to think so, even if I look horrible." She replies, her brush flowing up and down as she worked her way through the strands. She had no attendants for today for her betrothed commanded that they be left alone that day. "But I do need this, to look presentable."
He frowned at her words. "Oh, Leila. You must not think yourself horrible. You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. I mean those words, my love. They are true."
"You think that now-"
Within a few moments, she gasped as he was behind her now with his hands wrapped around her. He was shirtless underneath, which she appreciated when in bed in the late nights but now she blushed deeply as she felt his lips pass through her ears. Slowly her eyes looked towards the glass mirror and saw their eyes meeting with such tense passion.
"You are and always will be so deeply beautiful to me, Leila Martell." She smiled softly as her blush intensified. "Oh, such a beautiful name you have."
"Not yet." She chuckled as his brow cocked upwards in interest. "We are not wed yet. I have not yet walked the aisle in my wonderful dress."
"We are almost as good as wed." Oberyn told her. "And I am yet to see that dress. Elia has been teasing me about it for months now and it is getting me anxious."
Leila missed Elia's presence around her. Elia had always been around Leila's rooms the first opportunity she gets before breaking their fast. Elia was an elder woman than Leila but she couldn't help but think of her as a little sister. Elia is kind and shy and it reminded Leila of Cersei.
She had read her aunt Genna's letters over the past months and found that in those letters, her aunt had started to praise Cersei's changing body. Growing taller, hair getting longer. Her features changing. Leila was missing out on gracious events back at the Rock.
Jaime isn't home anymore though. He is being fostered to House Crakehall and was growing into a fine boy according to the letters being sent home to the Rock from Crakehall. She wonders if Jaime was still thinking of her. Has he grown as fair as their dear sister.
And her heart aches knowing she was parted from her poor dear Tyrion. Tyrion was a strong babe, her aunt writes. He has had his first name day and was very delighted to have gotten Leila's present, a book she had translated from Valyrian, which was about dragons.
Oberyn had helped her on it, sometimes because she could not understand the lettering. She had no doubt his nurse was reading it to him. She was very clear in her instruction, otherwise the nursemaid knows the consequences of defying the lioness.
She wonders how he fairs, more than Jaime and Cersei. She knows they will be well. But poor Tyrion deserves more. People will look down on him for the being he is despite being a lion. Leila feared that he will turn vain and cruel when he lacks love. Leila loves him deeply and would never allow him to feel so alone. Leila hopes to see him soon.
"The dress isn't with me." Leila smirks slyly to Oberyn, her shyness disappearing. He looked at her curiously. "I left it to Elia, hidden away in Sunspear. We are to wed there, are we not? I will not have you searching for it to glimpse at it."
He groaned. "Leila, I merely wish to see it-"
"Chapter Seven of the book of the Mother, on marriage. It says that thou bride and groom will not be loved and blessed by the gods if thou will not honor the secrecy of thy binding union till the day of thy wedding. To be binded, regardless of what will come."
"It is very attractive when you say such facts with that brilliant lips of yours but I merely wanted to see how beautiful you will look on it. With my imagination of course."
She rolled her eyes playfully and smiled. "Oh, regardless. You would force me to try it on to see if it does fit me and my looks."
He chuckled. "I would wish to see how even more beautiful my bride will look at the altar of the gods when we wed."
"How I know you so well..." Leila whispered as her eyes shown with deep affection, seeing that his own orbs beamed the same.
"Yes, yes you do." He smiled down to her and placed a chaste kiss on her brow. He placed his arms around her shoulders and leant her closer to him. "I love you."
"I love you too." She murmured back as he leaned in for a kiss on her lips, which she responded with kissing him back. One arm was removed from her shoulder and into her beautiful pale gold curls, patting it with care. Soon, her lips parted from his and smiled at him as her blush beamed again. She eyed his lips. "What do you say to a morning meal before going for our ride?"
Oberyn smiled brightly, seeming as happy as he could ever be. "I would not mind at all."
"Shall we bring Mors?" Their eyes met again. The stare was hot enough to undress them both bare.
"No." Oberyn said to her in reply, a grin on his features. "I prefer the two of us alone."
She grinned the same way.
"Good."
Her youth was his.
LEILA HAD NEVER THOUGHT THAT SHE WOULD BE SATISFIED WITH WORKING IN THE FIELDS WITH HER SETTLERS. Oberyn had the idea of it all, of course but she agreed to it almost immediately. The two of them arrived just in time for the planting season, where the rain poured for the dear soil accompanied by a much needed overflow of the Wyl river that helps with the food that will be harvested in a few months time. Oberyn had told her that in order for them to be effective leaders in the future and much more beloved, they needed to be seen by the people. Caring for their well-being and seeing to their needs.
This was one of the most important needs of the people in great honesty. Dorne lacked the vast resources that the Westerlands or any of the other places in the country and so it was of great necessity that they grow food often to avoid having a mass of starving people. Lucky enough for Leila, the lands she had been gifted were wealthy with fertility and as luck would have it, she had people who never surrendered easily.
They were filled with so much energy, plowing through the fields and placing the crops carefully through the muddy ground with large smiles and singing with such cheerful voices that echoed through her ears. She was honored to be liege lady over these people. They were very great simple people who valued joy above everything else and she delighted in it.
Leila chuckled as Mors rolled his eyes at her playfully as he bent forwards, placing the crop towards the fertile field. She had been joking with him all morning with Oberyn talking and getting to know more and more about the people he would govern with his future wife. Mors was great with field work, helping in the fertile lands of his home whenever the time of the planting came about.
Mors was trained by his father in that manner, in fact he taught all his sons the same lessons. They were after all responsible for all the people they govern, most especially Mors, for one day he will be lord of Kingsgrave and serve for all his people's needs. Leila reckoned he will be a great lord one day and had no doubts his abilities will serve him well.
"I have never seen anyone as happy as ye here with mud all over yer face, Leila." Mors commented as she smiled at him, continuing her work with her silk like hands touching the mud. "Ye look like ye never had mud on ye, ye ken?"
"I have never had mud touch me, dear Mors." His brows rained downward at her words. "So, I'm very happy being touched by it."
"Ye never knew the touch of mud before?"
"No, I never have. I grew up in a castle-"
"I ken that, so have I-" He interrupts but she continues as she rubs her hands together, standing upwards.
"That is a cavern of rocks. I have never had the pleasure to have mud."
"Casterly Rock had no mud? Ye would have had. It rains and the rain creates muddy ground."
She shook her head with a look of certainty in her face. "No, not that I'm sure of. It rains but it usually just sweeps off the stone of the Rock."
"Not even the pigs? Surely that has mud!" Mors says as she chuckles aloud. "Ye have to give me an answer, Leila. I need to ken if yer lying or no."
"I am telling you the truth." She tells him. "I've never touched mud until now. As for having pigs, we had some. But my brother Jaime had been the only one who has touched the mud there."
"But you have not?"
"I am a woman, Mors. Not a single woman in the world I was born in would be allowed to be in a pigpen." She retorts to him as he snorted. "In the Westerlands, the messiest thing a woman can do is cough without covering her mouth with Myrish lace as a handkerchief."
He snorted louder than the last time. "Well, it is different here in Dorne. Women are free to be who they are, get muddy and yer father will not hiss at ye like a damn snake about to kill ye with venom."
Leila laughed aloud. "Oh, my father will do more than hiss at me dear Mors. He will have me fed to the lions underneath Casterly Rock."
"Well isn't that a worthy death for a Lannister of Casterly Rock?" He sarcastically remarked. "A lion's death to a fellow lion. Tragically poetic of yer lord father."
"My father is not a poetic man." She shakes his head at her sworn sword. "A straightforward man, a soldier, a politician. But no poet, dear Mors."
"We'll take it from here, my lady!" A soldier told her as he walked over to her and Mors, causing her to look at him and then to her redheaded friend.
"And pray tell why am I to be removed from where I want to be, sire?" Leila questions as the soldier flushed, bowed his head both in respect and embarrassment. "I am lady of Sunfire. Surely you remember that I had vowed to help the people with the harvest."
"I did not mean to disrespect my lady but...the prince."
"And what of the prince, ye greenboy?" Mors questioned, cleaning his dirtied hands with the cloth he was given by the worker. The boy soldier swallowed the lump of his throat. The redhead was a large man. Too large for any man to argue with. Or fight. "Swallow the lump of your throat, ye greenboy. Ye'll choke on your own lump."
"A raven had just arrive...from..from Sunspear." The boy said, properly. "The prince Oberyn would like to see you."
"Oh, I see." Leila nodded.
"I shall take it from here, then ye greenboy." Mors told the boy soldier. He was a handsome boy but young. A greenboy, truly. He leaned to point to the fields. "Go take our place, boy."
The soldier boy obeyed and jumped to the mud and started to work. Mors handed her a clean cloth. Leila thanked him softly as she wiped her hands clean.
"What do ye think is in the raven that is so important?" Mors asked. "Do ye think it's something about yer father or anything else?"
"I don't know." Leila admitted. "But what ever it is, it seems important."
"Then let's gang. Ye cannot be uninformed for too long."
And so they left for the Viper's Keep.
LEILA QUICKLY CHANGED HER CLOTHES INTO MORE COMFORTABLE AND CLEANER ONES THAN THAT OF STAINED MUD. She met her beloved as he was standing by the paraphet, looking about the unfinished ponds as silent as he can be. Leila had never seen him silent for long. Oberyn could not bear the distances of silence. He hated the silence despite knowing its varied perks. He liked the conversations, the footsteps. Anything that had sound.
Silence was the most unbearable thing for him.
"What is wrong?" Leila asked as she walked towards him, dressed in her low cut tangerine dress. It was made from satine, one of the dresses she bought at Planky Town before they left Sunspear. Oberyn turned to look at her. She was beautiful as always. Her hair was loose despite a small braid on the side of her head. Covering it was a similar colored veil made of refreshing silk, decorated in flowers. "Oberyn, tell me."
Leila knew that Oberyn was only ever silent when something is wrong. Truly and deeply wrong. He just sighed as her worried face looked towards him grabbing her hands and locking it into his own. As he rubbed it, she pursed her dried lips into a small line.
"You must tell it to me, my love. Otherwise we will not know how to deal with what comes our way." She pleads to him as he continued to rub her skin. "Please, Oberyn. Tell me."
Silence.
A sigh.
"Edgar Yronwood is dead." Oberyn finally says causing her look to falter even more, though this time in confusion. "A raven had just come from Sunspear. Maester Ecbert had informed me when I was meeting with the tenants."
"He was fine to attend to feast during the visit of your great aunt the Queen Mother of Nimerod."
Two months after the incident during their betrothal celebrations, The queen mother of Nimerod, Mariam Martell came to visit Dorne after her son was crowned the new king. Leila did not know what to expect but when Mariam came to greet her and Oberyn, she was impressed with the woman. She was charismatic, intellectual and a wonderful conversationalist. She and Leila corresponded as of late, finding her wonderful advice and poetic nature enjoyable. Leila too started writing correspondence with the current queen consort of Nimerod, Taella Targaryen, who probably is the most wittiest woman Leila had the pleasure of writing to. She was cousin to the king, Aerys Targaryen.
"But he got unwell and had died, painfully." Oberyn tells her, looking down. "According to the raven from my mother, of course."
"Then gods rest his soul." Leila says in a whisper, as if forcing herself to forgive the man who has humiliated her to all of Dorne. "But what does this mean for you? Why is your relation to all of this?"
"Yronwood's son, now lord in his place, came to my mother in Sunspear and demanded to see me." Oberyn sighs. "He blames me for his father's death and demands to seek justice for supposedly causing his father's death."
"How dare he?" Leila gasps aloud. "He cannot blame you for such at thing. You did nothing of sorts, you did not murder him."
"They said that his wounds only festered and continued to be open." Oberyn tells her in a chuckle. "I already had Ecbert look at his wound after the tourney but he still died."
"Why would they accuse you of killing him, Oberyn? You didn't do anything."
"They think I laced my weapon with poison that infected his flesh when I cut him open."
Leila paused for a moment. Oberyn had been the man who had been the most found of herbs, Leila recalls. He was the one who pointed out the poisonous herbs and the ones that were safe. Leila had seen her betrothed make poison and taught her some of the basics of making antidotes for certain poisons. But she never found him to be an unfair man. He would never lace his weapon with poison while fighting in a fair duel. She knew him well enough to know that.
"You would never..."
"No, I would not." He said in reply, sternly as he possibly could. "I will never allow myself to cheat my opponent with their own death. Not while I have my honor, Leila."
She nodded and looked at his hands, kissing it. "Then I believe you. But what shall we do? We will have to face Yronwood and your mother.."
"We shall do all we can to face all on our path and we do it together." Now he was the one who kissed her hands.
She smiled as her heart bursted in joy.
How wonderful youth can be.
But no one can stay young forever.
Hey guys! Merry Christmas! I hope that you'll have a great holiday and that you'll be happy as well as blessed on this great day. Don't forget to take it easy today!
I'm sorry for not updating in a while. School had been hectic and more and more busy but I hope that you forgive me for it. I'll be updating Queen of Storms soon for the New Year!
Anyway, I wanna give you a heads up about the fact that there are only TWO more chapters for Act I. And hurriedly we are gonna get you to Act II entitled 'Endurance'. I do hope you'll have tissues for it. It will be a rollercoaster to cry for!
I'll see you soon!
Much love to all of you for the holidays!
Xoxoxoxo Author