At Sea

Trystanne hated the whole trip down the Narrow Sea.

The ship seemed too small and his cabin even smaller, although his rational part recognized that The Golden Spear is a huge warship and his cabin is the largest on the ship, big enough for a whole family to travel comfortably. But the prince is not in the mood to be rational, for Trystanne traveling by sea is the worst torture.

Obella wouldn't even let him go up on deck.

"Only because I almost fell during that stupid storm." the prince murmurs bitterly, "Ah, and those times when I jumped into the water so as not to feel this devilish swaying. It's not like I was going to drown either, I know how to swim very well!" The prince sulk lying on the bed, with his hands hugging his stomach fighting against the urge to vomit.

The rocking of the ship made him gag, and the awful food they served him tasted even worse when it went back up his throat. Besides, why did he need salt soup, meat, cheese, and bread when he had wine to feed himself? It was red and vinegary, very strong.

The prince preferred to spend these trips half-drunk to hopefully forget his discomfort. It helps a little but not much.

**

As Trystanne pleads for the sweet relief of dead, his family enjoys the boat ride.

Obella is leaning against a mast talking to the captain, they talk about their travels through the seas since the princess herself traveled a lot before getting married.

"From the frozen North to the warm Summer Islands, what days were those." she sighs wistfully.

"Do you miss them princess?" Moreo Taris asks curiously.

"Travels?"

"Aye."

"I'm not going to deny it, I miss the freedom of those days." Obella turns her gaze to where her son is learning to sail under the watchful eyes of Lothar and half a dozen expert sailors. "But not enough. I no longer can spend half my life on ships traveling from one place to another, or be impulsive and spontaneous like I once was. I will never experience the happiness of those days, but that is not a bad thing. My current happiness is a thousand times better. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world."

"I see." Moreo also looks at Doran, who tries to pull a rope to pick up a sail with all his might but without moving the sail an inch. The sailors laugh good-humouredly and one of them ruffles the prince's hair and then teaches him the correct way to do it, helping him to pull. Five other sailors help them and the captain and the princess watch as the sail is folded.

"Fold the other sails too!" ordered the captain.

"Fold them? The wind is good- Oh!" Obella says before stopping abruptly, she spent enough time in the sea to recognize the signs once she looked.

"A storm," the princess realizes, looking at the horizon. The sky is still clear but the sudden change in the wind is a sign that expert sailors recognize.

"Aye." Moore nods his head. "Open water storms are always unpredictable. It would be better if the prince and you go below deck." He advises her.

Obella agrees with the captain and walks over to her son and takes him below deck. Doran has his private cabin on the ship but Obella takes him to the cabin she and Trystanne travel in.

Along the way she tells Doran what he should and shouldn't do during the storm. The prince complains saying that he already knows that. It is not his first boat trip and reminds her of the storms they faced on their way to King's Landing.

Entering the cabin, Trystanne lifts his head from his pillow and looks at them with a questioning eyebrow.

"It's already night?" he asks, dragging his voice, he has messy hair and a complexion as pale as his hair.

"No, a storm is coming."

"Grand." Trystanne groans and buries his head in the pillow.

Obella and Doran give him sympathetic looks.

`I don't know how to create motion sickness pills but I know several potions and spells that have the same effects. When I get home I'll make some potions for Dad's next sea voyage.` Doran thinks about how he might explain the potions and remembers that measters already use potions as medicine. `Potions that in many cases are as effective as the healing oils the anti vaccine Army of Karen uses` Doran grimaces.

The prince was horrified reading several medical books, the methods are so primitive and wrong that it even turned his stomach and the number of times he read that leeches are used as a remedy for a wide variety of diseases made him want to hit his head against a wall.

`The Citadel,` Doran realizes, `If I go to study there for a year or two...` ​​An idea forms in the prince's head. `The hard part will be convincing mother` Obella was always protective of her children but since the assassination attempt three years ago she steadfastly refused to stray too far from them. `It took her years to get to the point where she doesn't feel like she has to constantly watch over us.`

Doran remembers her mother crying during the first few days on the ship because she missed Mors, something that made him very sad and he tried everything in his power to cheer her up.

`But that may not be my biggest obstacle,` Obella allowed him to roam the capital on his own, of course accompanied by twice as many guards as most children of his status, but the important thing is that Doran had quite a bit of freedom during the tourney and enjoyed taking his time to explore the capital and make many friends, and not only among the nobility.

`Rhaella,` Doran sighs as he remembers the princess he befriended a few days ago. At the thought of his new friends his mind wandered and he remembered her. Doran was able to spend a lot of time with most of his new friends, either exploring the capital and the castle or enjoying the wonders of the tourney, but since he only befriended Rhaella one day before leaving the capital, they couldn't spend much time together.

`We promised to write to each other at least.`

One of the things he is used to is letters, most of the communication in the wizarding world is through letters. Although Doran remembers a group of Japanese magicians trying to create magical mobile phones, an invention that was scheduled to be presented to the public in mid-2009.

`Too bad I died before that, I was really excited to get one. Mobile phones won't be possible in this world for several generations, hopefully I'll live that long.` Doran knows that's pretty unlikely.