A new player

After finishing her explanation, the Princess of Dorne enters her solar and refills her glass of wine, after taking a generous sip she sits on the sofa and gestures to her grandson to sit next to her.

Doran sits to her right, his expression thoughtful.

"But the danger for their dynasty is still a few generations away, with governing wisely and not angering more vassals, I think they could solve this problem. On the contrary, a war that is already on the horizon is more important than a distant crisis ."

"Your words have merit, grandson." She recognizes looking at him proudly. "But Aegon doesn't see it that way."

"How does the king see it?" The prince looks at her curiously, as if he hopes that she has the answer to all his questions.

"My contacts go far, but even they can't tell me what's going through Aegon's head. I only know rumors, rumors so unbelievable they're hard to believe."

"What rumours?"

"Dragons, whispers about dragons are heard in the wind."

"The king plans to bring back the dragons?! But how?! They went extinct a hundred years ago! How do you bring an animal back from extinction?" Doran's voice sounds surprised and excited, as if the prospect of dragons cheers him up.

"There are those who say that the dragons inside the fossilized eggs still live, and that with the right conditions they can hatch." Dorna sighs. "This is the talk of fools. I find it hard to believe that someone as sensible as Aegon would listen to such talk. But when you rule out the impossible, what remains however unlikely must be the truth."

"Dragons." Doran's mind drifts in a faraway direction, memories from decades ago surfacing. He remembers Norberta, the Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon that Hagrid hatched when he, in his past life, was the same age as he is now. He remembers that the baby dragon was adorable and quite endearing. Then his mind drifts to closer memories, to the first time he saw adult dragons. Those dragons were neither adorable nor endearing, they were ferocious beasts that seemed ready to turn him into a midnight snack.

"Don't get excited, grandson. I doubt we'll be seeing fire-breathing beasts flying through the skies any time soon." The princess smiles at him amused. "Coming back to the matter at hand, we can't count on the Targaryens to stop this war before it starts."

"Can we stop it?"

"We've tried, grandson, and we're still trying, but these Blackfyre are more cunning than expected. Daemon is never where he's supposed to be, so sending assassins turned out to be a futile effort. Maelys is even more unpredictable. Edarion is the worst of all, that man is slipperier than a fish."

"There is nothing we can do?" Dorian frowns. "Although we can't find the leaders, we still know where the pawns are. We know that their military power comes from the Golden Company and their economic power from the Edarion businesses."

"Attacking those points is not as easy as it seems. The Golden Company is a professional army that is always on the move, and Edarion's businesses are difficult to damage, that man has many powerful partners and damaging those companies would attract the attention of those partners."

"Partners? How dangerous are they?"

"We know of two magisters from Tyrosh, four slavers from Astapor, and two merchants from Qarth."

The prince grimaces, he knows that antagonizing these men will cost them dearly.

"Rest assure grandson, our hands are not as tied as it seems." Dorna places her empty glass on the table and turns to her grandson. "As we speak Jacaerys is working to weaken the power of the Blackfyre in Essos. And we are going to weaken their power on the continent."

"Power on the continent?! They have allies here?! Who?!" Doran's eyes widened in surprise.

"We are still investigating them, Obella and Trystanne are taking care of weakening some of them as we speak."

"Mother and father? Didn't they go with Lewyn and my brothers to visit Genna?" Doran clearly remembers saying goodbye to his parents, brothers and uncle on the dock just a week ago.

"Your brothers and Lewyn will go to Casterly Rock, your parents on the other hand will disembark on Starfall and will take another ship there." Dorna's gaze becomes more serious. "And it is time for you to become a part of these intrigues as well, grandson. You are old enough to be an active player."

`An active player? Is she referring to the game of thrones, as many call participating in the politics of the continent?` Doran looks at her excitedly, because although his grandmother has been training him for years for this, he was never allowed to actively participate in politics. His grandmother always told him that he is still young and that he still had a lot to learn.

"Doran, this is serious. Although we call it a game, here the stakes are lives and the future of thousands. Losing means not only your death, but also the death of your loved ones. Every false step can have devastating consequences. Are you ready for this?" The princess looks at him very seriously, analyzing his every move.

Doran swallows nervously but nods.

"Good, your first mission will be anything but easy." Dorna sighs wearily. "I would have preferred it to be something simpler, but given everything that is going on... I have faith in your abilities, grandson, as long as you move carefully and do not let pride or arrogance influence you, I trust you will succeed." ."

"What will be my mission?" Doran looks at her warily, because although he is excited to finally be recognized as someone trustworthy for matters of vital importance in the eyes of his grandmother (the person he most admires in the world), he is nervous about the mission.

"We have reasons to suspect that the Yronwood have allied with the Blackfyre, your mission will be to go there and find out the truth."

Doran can feel his jaw drop to the ground and he can't get a word out.

`House Yronwood?! They are our most powerful vassals! This- but!`

Doran opens and closes his mouth several times without knowing what to say. The Yronwoods have a military strength of 4,500 men, and that's not counting the men of their vassals. Counting their vassals and allies, they come to a staggering 16,000 soldiers, which is nearly half the military power of Dorne. And their economic power is nothing to scoff at either, although the Martells' wealth has increased exponentially over the last few years, the Yronwoods also benefited from many of Doran's inventions, and they are the second richest house in Dorne.

The prince knows that this could well mean a civil war in his kingdom!

"H-how?" Doran clears his throat and rephrases his question. "What led you to have these suspicions?"

"Since the beginning of the year the Yronwoods have been increasing their guard from 400 to 800, the reason they gave is that their lands are being attacked by a vicious group of bandits. I want you to go there and find out the truth of the matter."

"That's suspicious, doubling the number of guards... But what led you to suspect they're siding with the Blackfyre."

"The Yronwoods have always coveted our position, and on more than one occasion have tried to make moves against us. The most recent was a decade ago."

"A decade ago?" Doran tries to remember an important thing that happened ten years ago.

`Ten years ago, something to weaken our house... I don't remember anything outstanding, ten years ago Mors-`

"Salazar! The assassination attempt!"

"Yes, it was the Yronwood who tried to kill your brother." The princess's eyes cloud with anger. "They used a snake of all things, an insult to my nickname."

Dorna Martell is known as the "Snake Princess" or the "Golden Viper".

"Those bastards! Why didn't you destroy them?!" Doran is even more furious than his grandmother.

"We did," his grandmother tells him and Doran looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "Anders Yronwood, his wife Wylla, their daughter and heiress Myra, and the husband and daughter of Myra. They all had an 'unfortunate accident' at the end of the year 248."

Doran is silent for a moment.

`There was a time when I would have said that murder is never the answer, but that was a life ago. The fact that I feel satisfaction at this news is the ultimate proof that I am no longer Harry Potter. I am Doran Nymeros Martell`

"Who is Lord Yon Yronwood, a distant relative?" Doran remembers that the Lord of Yronwood has always been Yon Yronwood.

"Anders' younger brother, he and his family lived in Pentos overseeing the Yronwood businesses there. After the death of his brother and his family he returned to Dorne."

"Do you think that during his years in Pentos Yon allied himself with the Blackfyre?"

"I suspect so."

***

The two Martells spent another hour catching up, the princess gave him more details about the mission and the prince told her what he found out about the Holy Order, she said that she will discreetly get rid of Umbert, neither of them want a maester member of that group nearby.

At the end of the meeting it was well past midnight and the prince went straight to his room. Upon entering he carelessly took off his clothes and threw them on the floor, as he was too tired to fold them.

As he approached his bed he saw a bulge curled up against his pillow and a smile blossomed on his face. He sneaked over to the bed and pulled up the blanket. With eyes shining with love and affection he saw his little sister sleeping hugging his pillow.

Careful not to wake her he lay down beside her and covered them both with the blanket. Almost instantly Elia seems to gravitate towards him.

`It seems that I am more comfortable than a pillow` The prince thinks amused.

Doran fell asleep hugging his little sister.