Engagement

Doran looked at Walder Frey, who was walking towards them with a smirk and a victorious gleam in his eyes.

All eyes were on Lord Tytos who to everyone's surprise, especially the Freys, was looking at them obviously annoyed with a frown and a grimace.

"What are you talking about Lord Frey? You and I do not discuss any engagement between our Houses."

Tywin and the other Lannister children visibly relax and the older one looks at his father with appreciation and even a hint of respect.

"Of course we did," Lord Frey hesitates before looking at Tytos with great intensity trying to intimidate him. "Don't you remember Tytos? We agreed to this union to repair the broken bridges between our houses after your son attacked mine a year ago."

Several loud laughs could be heard echoing around the room, Duncan's being the loudest.

"If I remember correctly young Tywin attacked your son after he insulted not only Lord Tytos but also Prince Arthur and my own brother." Duncan said, looking at him with contempt.

"You are embarrassing yourself and your house Frey." Jason Lannister scoffed.

"After Kings Landing it was obvious to me how shameless the Freys are, but today you showed me that you don't have the slightest decency." Obella glares at him with such contempt that Walder takes a step back, his face purple with anger and embarrassment.

"Frey, you and your ilk are not welcome in my castle. First you showed up uninvited and now you are trying to force an engagement with my beloved daughter? Guards!" Tytos gets up from his chair and looks at the weasel with anger. "Escort the Freys out of my castle at once! With all these honored guests as witnesses I forbid entry to Casterly Rock to any Frey!"

"You can not do that!" Shouts Ryam Frey, Walder's son who announced the false engagement. Other Freys also protest but the guards forcefully remove them from the room.

"You will regret this coward! You listen to me! You will regret this! No man will marry his son to the daughter of a coward" Walder yells as he is dragged away by some guards.

Before the spectacle, more than one person laughed and mocked the Freys, Jason Lannister being one of the most vocal.

"Well done, brother!" Jason got up from his chair and went over to his brother's to pat him proudly on the back. Tytos smiled sheepishly at the compliment.

Tytos claps his hands loudly calling everyone's attention and with a nod from Obella Lord Lannister addresses all the guests.

"The Lying Frey mentioned my daughter, he said that no man will marry his son to my Genna." The harshness in his voice took more than one person by surprise again. "So I thought this would be the best time to announce the union between House Lannister and House Nymeros Martell!"

The room erupted in murmurs, Tywin looked at his father with wide eyes, Doran looked between his parents and the Lannisters ready to explode, and Rhaella looked at Genna with an unreadable expression.

Trystanne smiles at his son calming his temper, Doran knows that his father will never allow him or Mors to be trapped in an arranged marriage; Trystanne Dayne will take his children and go somewhere far away before allowing such a thing.

`Which means- Lewyn!` Doran glances at his uncle, who doesn't seem at all surprised by the announcement, the prince observes that the announcement didn't catch Genna off guard either. Both children are blushing and look at each other on the sly but obviously they both knew about the arrangement in advance.

"The cat is out of the bag." Obella says playfully raising her glass. "To Lewyn and Genna!"

"To Lewyn and Genna!" Duncan says raising his glass of wine, and others follow suit.

"Phew." Doran hears Rhaella's sigh of relief and looks at her with a raised eyebrow. She, noticing his gaze, blushes and turns her head in the other direction.

'Huh?' Doran looks at her in confusion before turning his attention back to Mors, who was tugging on his sleeve.

"Dory, does that mean Genna will be our aunt?" He asks him in a loud whisper that was heard by everyone at the table.

`Mors needs to learn to whisper, and so do I,` Doran thinks, remembering his conversation with Rhaella at the Godswood.

"Yes, it seems so, little brother."

Mors looks at the Lannister girl with intensity.

"Will she play with me?"

"I think so, you both like Twins a lot." Doran replied, remembering that the Lannister brothers told him about Genna's love for the game he created.

Mors nods and turns his attention back to his food, Doran watches in amusement as his brother shoves a huge piece of cake into his mouth, staining his entire face.

"You have a lovely brother." Rhaella tells him, who also looks amused at Mors. Doran nods his head in agreement. "I would also like to have a little sibling of my own or a cousin." She says the last thing, raising her voice and looking at Duncan and Jenny, due to the blush on their faces it is obvious they both heard her but pretended not to.

"You could talk to your parents about it."

"I did." Rhaella shrugs. "Mother had us when she was still young and never fully recovered. They tried several times without success."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Doran places a hand on her shoulder. "If you want I can lend you my brother, I could use some break from the little troublemaker." The prince jokes.

Rhaella blushes even more but hits back.

"You shouldn't say such things Doran, I could take your offer and then not return him."

"Would you steal my little brother?" Doran answers her dramatically, placing a hand over his heart.

"Yes."

"Oh, the pain, the betrayal. I can never recover" They both burst out laughing.

The rest of the banquet passed without problems, after eating many danced to the music of the minstrels. Doran danced with Rhaella, Genna, and more than a dozen girls his age; in the end his feet hurt so much that he could hardly walk.

By the time the men were so drunk they started singing not-for-children songs, Doran and his friends were sent to bed. Some protested wanting to spend more time having fun but not Doran, the boy was too tired.

When he got to his bedroom the servants changed his clothes and tucked him in. Before falling asleep Doran thanked the gods that everything went well.

`The Freys were neutralized, I had a good time with my friends and Tytos liked his gift`

Doran fell asleep with a satisfied smile on his face.

***

The next day Doran could barely wake up when his servants came to wake him up for breakfast.

All the fuss of the day before took a toll on his young body and it showed.

"Son, do you want to stay in the castle today?" His mother asked him, having noticed his tiredness.

That day they had planned to explore Lannisport, Doran was excited about it but he has to admit that he doesn't feel like spending the day running around.

"Yes, I'm still sleepy."

"Do you want one of us to stay with you?"

"No, papa. Go enjoy the city, I'll be fine with Lothar for company."

"If you prefer so... But remember that it's not a bother, son, if you want your mother or me to stay, we'll do it with pleasure."

Doran smiled warmly at them and assured them that they need not worry.

"Our son is growing up so fast..." Obella takes him in her arms and cuddles him with kisses.

"Mama!"

Doran blushed and thanked the gods that the Martells were having breakfast alone that morning because he didn't want his friends to witness his mother embarrass him that way.

"I bet you're glad your friends don't see you now, eh nephew." His uncle jested. "Especially a certain princess."

"And I bet you're sorry we're not having breakfast with the Lannisters." Doran hits back. "Don't think I didn't notice the little glances you gave the cub"

Lewyn blushes but doesn't keep quiet.

"You're one to talk, Dory." He mockingly says his childhood nickname. "You couldn't take your eyes off the dragoness all evening."

"I was being polite, and she's my friend!"

"Of course-"

"Enough!" Obella interrupts their discussion. "You are the oldest but you behave with more childishness than Mors. Why can't you be more like him?"

Both princes turn their eyes towards the younger Martell. Mors was gorging himself on blueberry muffins, purple syrup smeared all over his face. Doran and Lewyn look at Obella with a raised eyebrow before looking at each other.

With knowing smiles they each pick up a blueberry muffin and smash it into their face.

"Children…" Obella sighs but the amused twinkle in her eyes is unmistakable.

Trystanne and Mors have no qualms about bursting out laughing.

"You wanted us to be more like Mors, mother."

"Yes sister, will you never be satisfied with us?"

"My love, I bet you would now rather these two rascals were back at each other's throats."

After the lively breakfast the Martells say goodbye, Doran returns to his room to sleep a little longer while the others go to Lannisport.

***

Doran woke up from his nap before noon and went to one of the smaller dining rooms to get something to eat.

As he waited for the servants to bring him food, he was surprised by the presence of a friend.

"Rhaella!" Doran gets up from his chair to greet the princess but she motions for him to stay seated.

"Doran." The dragon princess greets him and sits in the chair to his left.

"Didn't you go to Lannisport with the others?"

"No, I was still tired from the trip here."

"I'm not surprised, you barely had time to disembark before you got caught up in the festivities."

"Yes, but it was a lot of fun. The Frey's face was priceless."

Both children laugh at the memory of the weasel screaming and kicking.

"He looked like a child throwing a tantrum." Says Doran making the princess laugh even harder.

The children are then interrupted by the arrival of food.

"Your uncle and aunt won't join us?"

"They went to Lannisport with the others."

"So it's just us in the castle for the day." Doran has a thoughtful look on his face.

"Did you have anything planned for today?"

"I wanted to visit the library." Doran admits but inside he is thinking about what they could do together because he wants to take advantage of the time they have together since he has few opportunities to spend time with her.

"The library doesn't sound like a bad place." Rhaella says, but Doran hears the slight disappointment in her voice.

`No doubt she is thinking the same as me, if we go to the library we will spend the day reading which will be fun but both of us will be in our own world.`

"I know We can play Trivia!"

"Trivia? What's that?"

"It's a game that I created in the Citadel with my friends."

"Oh? And what does it consist of?" She asks her friend, intrigued and much more animated.

Doran explains the rules of the game and they spend all day playing, returning to the castle the others are surprised to find them in a bloody battle of knowledge with Lothar and Gerold as referees.

"What was the name of the first knight in the service of a Stark King?" Lothar asks, looking at the question book.

"Ser Manderly!" Doran quickly responds.

"Wrong, it wasn't a Manderly." Lothar tells him before looking at Rhaella who is biting her lower lip.

"Ser Brandon Snow!" She replies with sparkling eyes.

"Correct!"

After explaining the game to the newcomers, they join the game, forming teams. Rhaella, Obella and Tywin were a team. Doran, Duncan and Kevan were another team. And so on.

***

Trivia was the first of several games that Doran taught his friends, and so the days and weeks passed between playing games and exploring Westerlands. But like everything in life, the journey had to come to an end and the Martells and Targaryens left Casterly Rock to return to their own homes.

Saying goodbye to his friends was hard but what was worst of the whole thing was saying goodbye to his family when they arrived in Oldtown, it was especially hard to see his little brother cry.

And so Doran, after a tearful farewell, returned to his studies with the goal of learning as much as possible about this world and discovering the hidden secrets of the Citadel.

***

NOTE: Congrats to those who predicted the Lewyn/Genna thing.

I could have make the Frey getting ashamed scene longer but I did not see the point of doing that.