Second Visit to Dorne (1)

In late April 280 AC Victor started his second journey to Dorne with his guardians and 200 private soldiers of House Di Natale. They used four heavily armed battleships that were controlled by some of the best sailors and captains Lys had to offer.

Four battleships seemed like a bit too much space for only roughly 350 people in total, but Victor carried many gifts for this trip with him. Let alone the wedding gifts for Elia Martell and Rhaegar Targaryen which amounted a significant sum, he also needed gifts for some noble families he would visit along the way. If this trip really ended with him visiting King's Landing in person, he would need a lot of gifts and money to lessen any difficulties he would face.

After a few days of sailing on the sea without any extraordinary events they arrived at the port of Sunspear. Since Victor didn't really announce his visit beforehand the arrival of four very large and obviously heavily armed transport ships caused a lot of commotion. At least Victor didn't drive into the port directly and kept a certain distance while showing the flag of House Di Natale.

After one hour he slowly drove into the port, very slowly and without showing any signs of hostility, because he expected someone from House Martell to already be present in the harbor.

To his great luck Oberyn Martell was already there waiting for him, but his beard and clothes looked rather messy, as if he had just woken up shortly and didn't spend the night in good rest. When he finally walked down from his ships together with his closest guardians he already started laughing when he saw Oberyn from afar.

Oberyn's guards and many soldiers at the port already knew Victor, the future son-in-law of Prince Doran and close ally to House Martell and Dorne. They were all relieved that no enemy attack was incoming and glad that finally somebody arrived that could keep the prodigal second son in check.

"Victor, do you have to cause such a mess? My dear brother let someone pull me out of bed just because the sign of your family was spotted at the harbor. I didn't expect it to be really you.

Don't you know that House Martell is currently very busy? Elia's wedding is only a few months away. Everything is messy. I hope you do not cause any trouble."

While Victor was quite amused by receiving a lecture from somebody like Oberyn, he gracefully kept walking without looking into his eyes.

"Don't worry, I am only here to give my wedding gift to your sister, make sure that the rest of your family is healthy and by the way take you away from Sunspear, which will definitely leave the rest of your family from a heavy burden.

I am not a great friend to House Martell?"

Oberyn's sleepy state was quickly swept away when he learned about leaving Sunspear with Victor. On the one hand he was angry with Victor deciding and his behalf and just trying to make him follow, but on the other hand he was really relieved to be finally free from all those wedding preparations. He had to stay 'calm' within his own mansion and not cause any more drama before Elia was successfully married to the Targaryen prince, or his older brother and his mother would probably really sink him to the bottom of the ocean this time.

While talking about the events of the last months, as they only parted ways at Dustspear a little more than a month ago, they arrived at the large banquet hall of House Martell.

When Prince Doran and his mother learned about the arrival of Victor, they made sure to gather the whole family to meet him. Elia was very excited about Victor's arrival, because she learned from her brother that the future husband of her little niece Arianne brought his wedding gift with him.

Even though she was a little sad that Victor didn't want to participate in her wedding in person, she was very grateful that he wanted to give her a very generous gift. Having such a large gift and some elite soldiers of House Di Natale as her personal guards would lift her status in her future family by a lot. Even though she was the oldest daughter of House Martell, the nobles of the Crownlands would still look down on her most likely.

Having special gifts from House Di Natale which would not only symbolize wealth and power, but also a very close connection to the increasingly famous and rich families of Lys, could make her future life a lot easier. The stronger her natal family and their allies the less court deceptions she would have to face.

At first Victor was quite surprised when he received Elia's enthusiasm for his gifts, especially the armor made of high-grade Cloud Steel for Rhaegar Targaryen, because he always remembered her a very modest and frugal person that didn't really view materialistic things as the most important.

But when he thought about the countless power struggles and deceptions this poor woman would have to face in the future he instantly understood. The more wealth and personal military power she had, the better she could protect herself and her future children and Victor was giving her both.

What surprised Victor the most was the condition of the Princess of Dorne, Oberyn's mother, because she looked even better than the last time. Obviously, she was quite weak the last time he saw her, but he would have expected a worse situation this time, as he remembered her dying this year in the world without him.

Doran could see the suspicion of his future son-in-law and gladly relieved him of them.

"Mother was getting very sick a few weeks ago and every doctor in Dorne was already hopeless. She desperately wished to at least live until Elia's wedding was finished, but everything seemed like the wish was destined not to be fulfilled.

Luckily Oberyn returned from the meeting of your Athenaeum club on Dustspear just when all hope seemed to be lost. He insisted, against all the wishes of her personal doctors, that she should use the medicine you created, Penicillin.

Honestly it was pretty much a last effort, and nobody expect Oberyn really believed in the miracle cure. You have to excuse us because nobody had ever seen the effect of Penicillin or knew what it was made of."