Her Dream

Doran fixed his hair as he took the elevator up to the residential floors of House Martell in the Tower of the Sun. The ride through the desert from Progress Town to Sunspear left him with a lot of dust and sand on his clothes and his hair tousled.

He took advantage of the fact that he was alone in the elevator and quickly used some spells to clean himself up and remove all the dust from his clothes. Smiling a little mischievously, he stepped out of the elevator with a slight bounce to his step.

`It hasn't been that long since last I saw her and we wrote very often but stil,l I missed her.`

A servant told him that Rhaella is in one of the tea rooms. When he opens the double doors his eyes are drawn to the young princess with golden-silver hair. Rhaella is sitting in an armchair with Oberyn and Elia in her arms, Olyvvar is sitting on the table in front of the armchair and is telling a story that has captivated his audience. His grandparents are sitting at a round table on the other side of the room drinking tea and chatting quietly.

"Doran." The princess's purple eyes meet his own black eyes. They look at each other for a moment without saying anything, without moving, almost lost in each other's eyes.

"Brother! Rhae's back home!" Olyvvar's cheerful voice interrupts the moment and Doran smiles before entering the room.

"I can see that, Ollie." Doran walks over to his friend, who left the babies on the armchair and started walking over to him. "Welcome home, Rhae."

"Is good to be back." Rhaella smiles back and they both share a long-awaited hug. "Its only been a few moons but in some way it feels like I haven't seen you in years." She whispers in his ear.

"I share the sentiment, this past moons felt almost like an eternity." He answers.

"A lot has happened." Rhaella pulls away from his embrace and looks him up and down. "Your hair is longer, and you seem a bit taller."

"I have surpassed you in height." He says playfully.

And it's true, Doran already surpassed his friend, who is two years older, in height. Rhaella, at fourteen, is 165cm tall while Doran is already 167cm tall. When they were younger, age and height was a topic that caused many discussions, especially when choosing the next game or activity. Rhaella always said that Doran should listen to her because she is older and wiser, the prince replied that age has nothing to do with wisdom. After many discussions it was agreed that height was more important than age, how they came to that conclusion is something that neither of them clearly remembers.

"Sure you're not half giant?" She asks with a pout.

Doran laughs and shakes his head.

"It's my father's blood, maybe one of my grandparents is a giant."

"I'm sure Prince Trystanne's real father must be one of those legendary giants from Northern stories. Lady Asha must have visited the North of the Wall at some point." Rhaella jokes.

"Don't let Lord Dayne hear you joke about it." Prince Arthur intervenes. "He's always been sensitive about his height."

Lord Dayne's two sons are considerably taller than him, and even his daughter, Lady Mara, is almost as tall as he is.

Princess Dorna chuckles and looks at them.

"Maybe Rhaella's theory is true, Trystanne and Edric have the height of a half giant and it seems their children inherited that from them."

"That is not true." Olyvvar interrupts them. "Mors isn't as tall as Doran, and he's only a year younger. If we had giant blood he'd be tall, too."

"Perhaps Mors is the exception, or maybe he's a late bloomer." Rhaella answers.

"Possibly." Doran agrees. "Maybe when Mors gets back from the Summer Islands he'll be even taller than me."

"I don't believe it." Olyvvar murmurs.

"Speaking of that trip, have you heard from them?" Rhaella sits back down on the armchair with Elia on her lap. Doran picked up Oberyn and sat in a nearby chair.

"The last letter we received was before the Trial." Doran replied, Oberyn began to play with one of his brother's rings and Doran half kept an eye on the baby to prevent him from trying to swallow the ring, something Oberyn had already tried to do several times.

"Where did they send the letter from?" Rhaella looked at him curiously. "The last thing I heard about them was that they had reached one of the first islands of the archipelago."

"Yes, that was not long ago." Doran grabs the ring before Oberyn could swallow it and starts bouncing the baby on one knee to distract him. "Mors said they just arrived at Lotus Port in Walano."

The two continue to chat for hours until dinner.

***

"I really didn't expect to see you again so soon." Doran drops into one of the chairs. Currently they are on one of the balconies on the highest floor of the tower, this is Doran's favorite place to observe the stars and to make it more comfortable he decorated it with various pieces of furniture.

"And I didn't expect you to fight in a trial by combat, or almost die." Rhaella answers sitting down with much more grace than her friend.

"I let my guard down." Doran confessed timidly, he picked up a blanket and passed it to the princess, who smiled gratefully. "All I saw in that moment was an innocent girl, a girl who had committed no crime, someone who was unlucky enough to be born into the wrong family. I saw Nysterica Yronwood and my heart ached for her circumstances."

"And then you hesitated." Rhaella spoke quietly. "Your kindness is one of your most admirable qualities, Doran, but it's also something that will kill you if you're not careful."

Doran laughed and threw his head back looking up at the starry sky. The stars shine like lanterns in the sky, millions of points of more colors than one could distinguish painted on a black canvas. Today is a rare night in which the moon is not present in the night sky and the stars are the protagonists of the night.

"You know, in the last few days I've heard that more times than in my entire life."

"It's true." Rhaella tightens her grip on the blanket and lowers her voice. "You have to be careful, you can't die."

"I won't." Doran assures her. "I have learned my lesson."

Rhaella stares into his eyes, her purple eyes holding a great intensity and she examines the prince's face and eyes very carefully. After a minute she nods and looks up at the sky.

"Sunspear has been bustling with activity lately, what about Kings Landing? The last thing you told me is that your brother is getting married soon."

"Yes, with Lord Velaryon's daughter."

"Aerea Velaryon, right?"

"Yes, that is her name."

"What is she like? I don't think I have met her."

"She's-" Rhaella hesitates for a moment. "She's not much different from most of the young ladies that abound in the capital."

`So a young lass who only cares about appearances, doesn't give a damn about anyone below her station, and thinks princes` farts smell like roses.`

"She's the perfect bride for my brother." Rhaella continues. "I've barely seen her once since leaving Kings Landing half a decade ago, but upon returning I realized how perfect she is for Aerys. Lady Aerea speaks of Aerys as if he had hung the moon in the sky. From her perspective everything he does is worthy of praise and admiration. I'm sure when Aerys will take lovers to his royal chamber she'll turn a blind eye and only care about their royal children. Like I said, she's the perfect bride for Aerys."

"Why does that seem to bother you? You almost seem sour." Doran looks at her warily, he doesn't know how to approach that subject. "Do you want to marry Aery-"

"Gods no!" Rhaella interrupts him before he can finish. She has a disgusted expression on her face and it seems she is smelling something very unpleasant. "Don't even say it out loud. The fact that I was almost—gods, I'd rather forget about the whole thing."

Doran lets out a sigh that he didn't even realize he was holding. He surprised himself with how relieved he felt while hearing Rhaella's vehement denial of his wild guess.

"It's not her marrying Aerys what bothers me, it's not even about Aerys. It's Aerea, or rather her actittude, her philosophy, the same way of thinking almost all the women in the capital, and most of Westeros, share."

"Oh." Doran realized the reason for his friend's frustration and looked at her sympathetically.

"Before I came to Dorne I thought that was how all women should be: Submissive, docile and obedient. Women should worry about raising children and pleasing their husbands, that is what they had taught me in Kings Landing. But when I arrived in Dorne I saw a completely different world from the one I knew. Here women rule their territories, fight on the battlefield and are masters of their own destinies. Do you remember my reaction when I saw a woman blacksmith during our first walk in Shadow City?"

"Yes, your surprise and disbelief were most entertaining. I had a hard time holding back my laughter." Doran remembers those moments fondly.

Rhaella ignores the playful taunt from her friend and continues.

"Dorne opened my eyes. It was almost as if until I arrived here the world was dyed black and white and only when I arrived to the land of the sun I began to notice the wonderful colors that dye this world. When I returned to Kings Landing all those colors disappeared, the world went back to being black and white."

"Do you want to stay in Dorne?" Doran asks, he can't think of anything that could solve his friend's dilemmas, at least nothing that he can do in the near future. The Targaryens will probably protest but he thinks his grandmother could convince them.

"I'd love to, but no. That's not why I'm telling you this." Rhaella's eyes begin to glow with a fire that is both scorching and captivating. "I have thought about how Dorne and the rest of the continent are so different in terms of ideologies and it did not take me long to find the answer: The Rhoynar. Princess Nymeria changed Dorne, before her arrival the Dornish laws were not so different from the rest from the continent. Women could neither fight nor inherit, but she changed all that. And that is what I will do."

"Huh?"

"I will be the Nymeria of this era, I will bring that change to the rest of the continent starting with Kings Landing. I will show the world that women are good for more than just giving birth."

Doran is speechless, her passion is so captivating, her eyes so bright- He almost wants to look away so he won't be burned by her light.

"You know, I'm sure when your parents sent you here they didn't expect a revolutionary to return home." He joked. "How do you intend to initiate this change, oh great Nymeria?"

"Don't tease me, I'm serious."

"I know." Doran smiles brightly at her, the biggest, most genuine smile he's shown in weeks. "I know you, Rhae, and I know that once you've set your mind on something you won't stop until you succeed."

"Hmph." She blushed and looked away to hide the redness on her cheeks. "The first thing I'm going to do is show the women of Kings Landing that a woman can be strong and independent. For that, I plan to open a business in the capital, the first of many."

"Oh? What kind of business?"

"I'm sorry, dear friend, but I'm not going to tell you my ideas." She smirks. "I don't want you to copy them."

"Hey! I'm not-" Doran breaks off realizing that yes, many of his ideas and inventions are copies of others (from another world). "Fine, keep your secrets. On a more serious note, if you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll help you in any way I can."

"I know, but this is something I have to start on my own. It's not just about changing the world, but also about proving something to myself."

"Besides that secret business, what else do you have planned?"

"I plan to use the coins I make from my businesses for two things, one is to invest in more businesses and the other is to open various institutions to help the women of Kings Landing, and later on in all of Westeros. I want to provide them with an education, jobs and much more. I know my dream is not something I will achieve in a short time, most likely I will spend my whole life working for it. And I am ready for it, I am ready to dedicate my life to a cause."

Doran is again left speechless. Watching his best friend find her passion and seeing her determination to pursue her dreams stuns him and makes him question his own life.

Everything Doran has done so far has been the product of his duties as a son, a grandson, a brother, and a prince. Duty has dictated his actions both in this life and in the last. The closest thing to experiencing what he sees in Rhaella's eyes was his decision to become a healer, but even that was a product of his near-obsession with devoting his life to saving others.

There are as many similarities between him and Rhaella as there are differences. Both made the decision to dedicate their lives to a cause, a just cause that will benefit millions. The big difference, what differentiates them, is the reason they decided to dedicate themselves to that cause. In Rhaella's case its passion, in Doran's its duty. Passion and duty are as different as night and day but sometimes, as happens twice a day, these two concepts brush slightly.

"I wish you the best of luck, Rhaella." He speaks with sincerity and a slight touch of something that he himself does not understand.

Jealousy, jealousy over the fact that his friend has not allowed the chains of duty to imprison her. Jealous that Rhaella had the strength to break those chains and decide her own fate, something Doran dare not dream of doing. Duty is something that has always dominated his life, and it will do so until he takes his last breath.

Being born as the firstborn has more disadvantages than advantages in his opinion, the weight of a kingdom is not something anyone can carry on their shoulders, that is something Doran knows well. And for that very reason he cannot allow himself to be selfish, because if he rejects that weight it will be his little brothers who will have to bear it. Doran will carry that weight so that his siblings can live happy and carefree lives, he will carry that weight because it is his duty and obligation, they are the chains that imprison his passion.

"Maybe one day you too will find a dream of your own." Rhaella seems to understand her friend much better than he understands himself.

"Maybe." Doran's response is vague and hollow.

The future is uncertain and treacherous, he cannot know what will happen in a year or ten, but he does know that these chains of his will never be broken for he himself will never dare to break them- they are part of who he is, of the man he will become.

`Duty is the death of passion.`

***

NOTE: There are advanced chapter in my p@ tre on if you want to support me and read some chapters earlier.

p a t r e o n. com /EdenofKovir

Remember what I said about my health improving? I spoke too soon...

Writing the differences between Rhaella and Doran's futures was not easy, I don't know if I expressed it well. There is a big difference between choosing something and having that something imposed on you. Did I explain it well?

Doran isn't bitter with his life, in fact he's quite happy with it, but this conversation with Rhaella sparked a few things in him. Things that he himself has been subconsciously ignoring. Nothing will change, only now he is aware of some things about himself that he was unaware of before, he will continue walking the path that will lead him to be the Prince of the Desert.