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Lord Tyrell looked happy with Oberyn's response. "Splendid, splendid, the tourney will be in a week, the day of my boy's nameday feast. It should give you enough time to equip yourself." He then finally appeared to notice Maggie and I, "And who are your companions Prince? I can't say I recognize them."

"I have had the honor of traveling with Ser Harry Dresden and his daughter Margaret since leaving Essos and we've shared adventures along the way." Lord Tyrell's son perked up when he heard my name, I restrained a grimace, anonymity had been nice while traveling.

"Any friend of House Martell is a friend of ours. Will you also compete in the tourney Ser?" Lord Tyrell didn't seem to care about my response, as soon as he didn't recognize my name his attention waned.

"My thanks my Lord, but I will have to decline entering the lists. Living in the free cities has left me out of practice." He nodded and waved us away, the son's eyes followed us as we left the hall.

Oberyn was ebullient. "A joust! It's been far too long since I used a lance, are you sure you won't join in the fun?"

"I hardly know the first thing about it. Anyways, with my luck, I'd skewer a spectator."

"With the way you are on horseback? I doubt it. For all your complaining about riding your form is perfect for the tilt, you don't ride like that without years of training."

I could hardly explain that as the hitman for a supernatural queen I had the relevant combat skills installed as part of the general violence and mayhem package, so I grunted noncommittally.

He laughed "One day Harry I will hear your whole story, until then I'll just tell more and more ridiculous tales until you're forced to tell the truth in embarrassment."

"You can give it a try, but I doubt you'll approach reality."

"Now that is unfair, you can't just tease me with revelations like that." As we bantered we circled the inner keep. The space between the castles and the first layer of walls was crowded with buildings, a smithy, barracks, stables and an armory. It was easy to forget while walking amid the flowery walls that this was a fortress, that almost all of its architecture was designed to make killing the enemy easier while simultaneously protecting its defenders. I didn't really understand how such massive fortifications could be built, I didn't think anything on earth from this time period was so large. The only easy explanation was that the extraordinary political stability of pre-conquest Westeros had allowed the castles to grow without end. The Gardeners, the late and roasted ruling family, had claimed a heritage that stretched back thousands of years, far longer than any dynasty I was aware of.

It took almost half an hour to circle the main keep, we had just begun to investigate the apparently famous briar maze between the second and third layers of wall when we were intercepted by the heir of House Tyrell.

"Prince Martell, I'm told we've met before."

"Once yes, you couldn't have been more than six, I was visiting my sister for her first pregnancy. Harry this is Willas Tyrell, the next Lord of Highgarden. Willas this is Ser Harry Dresden, best known for his practice of letting his foes throw him down twice before defeating them, and his lovely daughter Margaret."

Willas didn't quite know what to make of that, so after a moment of confusion he pressed on. "A pleasure I'm sure. I recognized the name Dresden, are you the wizard of Braavos?"

Subtlety and tact were apparently somewhat heritable, looks like Maggie was in trouble. "I haven't claimed or heard that title, but I am from Braavos."

"Are you the wizard then? My grandfather has brought me an amazing device that he said were made by a man called Dresden, is that you?"

"I have some skill, it can't be taught though.If you're seeking power you'd be better off studying politics." One highborn semi-student was enough, even if I hadn't been only staying a week.

"I'm not my aunt, I don't want to waste my life failing to get spells to work, I just wanted to see some magic, your compasses weren't what I dreamed of as a young boy." I glanced around, other than the four of us in the labyrinth no one was in eyeshot. I was really being too much of a softy.

"Alright, for an early nameday present then." I held out my right ungloved hand and theatrically pulled back my sleeve. "My hand is empty, nothing hidden in my coat?" He nodded, eyes fixed on my open palm. If I'd been doing stage magic it would have been a perfect time to ready something in my off hand. I wasn't my father or my namesakes though, no props were needed. I raised my open hand to the sun, focused for a second, closed it, and brought it back down in front of Willas. "You're satisfied my hand was empty?" Maggie was grinning at me, she'd seen this trick before. At his gesture I opened my hand, and for a second it blazed with sunshine, causing Willas and Oberyn to flinch back. "Many happy returns."

If it had been an act it would have been a perfect exit line, but Willas immediately exploded with questions. "How- wait magic obviously, is that all you can do? No the compasses, what else can you do? Are there other wizards around? Where did you come from?"

I answered his last, "I've never met anyone with my power since I arrived. I was lost for a time until my daughter and I found ourselves in Braavos, so if you're seeking other wizards you're out of luck since I can't find them either."

He barely waited for me to finish before continuing "Did you study in Qarth or Asshai or are you from even further? How did you even get lost enough to reach Braavos?"

I cut him off before he could continue further. "Magic, for all of them. I wouldn't be much of a wizard if I explained all my tricks." He looked a little abashed, perhaps he had slightly more tact than his father. "I know the Prince needs armor and we all need lodgings, where should we go to find them?"

Instead of giving us directions, he called for his horse and led us, first to a blacksmith who had plate that only needed minor adjustments to fit Oberyn, and then to an inn that catered to visiting nobles who didn't rate quite highly enough to have rooms assigned in the castle. The entire time he refrained from asking further questions, although he kept shooting me glances when he thought I wasn't looking. He chatted with Maggie when he wasn't answering Oberyn's or my queries, and my initial impression of him as a younger version of his father was fading as he seemed well-spoken. He left us at the inn eventually, claiming he had duties at the castle and riding back up towards the keep.

"So he saw more magic in five minutes than I'd seen in two months of travel. What's the secret? Flirt with Maggie? Because if so, I assure you that I can do that." Maggie blushed, she had been riding next to Willas for the little jaunt, and ducked into her room to avoid our laughter.

"Not to be too overprotective, but that might get you a bit more than sunlight." I turned back from watching Maggie's retreat towards Oberyn and held my hand out, this time calling my little ball of sunshine, casting heat from the blazing pinprick that could be felt a yard away.

He was completely unintimidated by the glare from the ball. "So that is the trick then. Tell me, can your magic help me in the joust? If I win, I swear I'll be as zealous as you in defending her honor."

"Well a wizard might help for that, but as a knight I never could."

"Then I only have myself to blame. I should have introduced you differently if I wanted to make my victory even more certain."

"You're that confident? I'm surprised that Lord Tyrell invited you to potentially overshadow his son's big day then."

Oberyn was pensive as he replied. "He wants one of his sons to be the next Leo Longthorn, in truth Willas is too young to be jousting against the knights here. One fewer skilled knight won't get him to the finals and some part of Lord Tyrell knows that. It also would have been rude to not invite me, there's enough bad blood between our families that he doesn't want to add anymore."

"How old is he anyways, thirteen, fourteen?"

"He was born in two hundred and seventy four, so either thirteen or just fourteen then. He should still be with the squires, he doesn't have the experience or bulk to face knights."

"Well let's hope he gets knocked out cleanly in one of the first rounds, no one needs to get injured in a spectacle."

"Honestly if his father wasn't the Lord Paramount no one would be in the tourney, jousting is dangerous enough. An inexperienced opponent can be deadlier than an expert and he's not the only borderline candidate I saw walking Highgarden."

"Well then, win the tourney and hope he's not in your bracket, at this point you're committed."

'"True" Oberyn exhaled before brightening. "So if Maggie gets asked for her favor will you curse or help the poor boy who dares to cast his eyes so high?"