The Princess` View

"Prince Doran is been spotted entering Shadow City, my princess."

"Good, send him this way as soon as he reaches the towers"

"As you order." The knight bows and leaves the Princess of Dorne's solar.

Dorna Nymeros Martell gets up from her chair and walks over to the small table containing a pitcher of wine and several glasses. After filling herself a glass she goes to the balcony, opens the glass door and walks to the marble railing.

"Shadow City is beautiful in the evening light." The princess takes a sip of wine and leans against the railing. In the distance, across the bay from Shadow City and Sunspear, she can see the lights of Progress Town, a town that grew up around the Research and Development Institute founded by her grandson.

"He is not even twelve years old and has achieved so many things, thanks to his innovations and inventions Dorne has increased enormously its wealth in recent years. The future of House Nymeros Martell has never looked brighter." The happy words of the princess are pronounced in a nostalgic and somewhat sad tone, her eyes are clouded with concern. "But why do I feel this restlessness in my bones?"

Dorna remains silent and watches the sea, she sees some ships approaching the harbor. Even from that distance she is able to distinguish the type of ship because of its triangular sails and its small size.

Four years ago Doran showed her the drawing of a ship, that drawing, more than looking like the work of a child, was the work of a master crafter with many details describing the rigging of the sails, the method of construction, the load capacity,... .

Doran had already sent his sworn shield to hire carpenters and shipbuilders by the time he showed her the design of his ship but his nervousness was a clear indication that he feared his grandmother would shut down his project, the princess was somewhat skeptical upon seeing the strange triangular sails, unlike the sails of any other ship in existence, but did nothing to stop her grandson's project; She, in fact, sent Jacaerys to recruit shipbuilders to help her grandson.

Since Doran returned from the Citadel and saved Olyvvar's life, the Princess of Dorne developed a great respect and trust in her grandson's intelligence. That does not mean that before she did not recognize Doran's genius, but after that incident she was much more willing to support the crazy ideas of her oldest grandchild.

Dorna put her faith in her grandson and the little prince did not disappoint.

Doran had claimed that these ships would be the fastest in the world and could cruise at between 8 and 11 knots depending on some factors. The Princess did not know how to take those affirmations because to her they sounded like a child's dream. In all the Known World no ship is known that has sailed at a speed greater than 6 knots, the average speed of oceangoing ships being 4 knots.

Doran claimed that his ships would be twice as fast and that sounded downright impossible. The craziest thing of all turned out to be the truth of Doran's claim.

The maiden voyage of the first caravel was from Shadow City to Planky Town and the ship made the journey in record time.

According to Doran the caravel was so fast because it could sail against the wind, the prince explained a complicated process which he called "tacking", by which they would point the bow of the ship into the wind, angling the sails such that it was able to capture the wind and propel the ship forward in the relative direction it needed to go. This means that the ship moves in a zig zag therefore requiring constant manoeuvring, sailors having to re-rig the sails over and over again.

The most innovative of all is that the caravel is the first ship on the high seas that has no oarsmen!

But this boat, as innovative as it may be, has its drawbacks, the main one being its size. The caravel has a length of about 16 meters and a cargo capacity of 60 tons. Given its size, it is not very useful in combat, as Doran said, the caravel is not a warship, it is a merchant ship; although it can be used for reconnaissance and exploration missions so it would be useful in a fleet. But Dorne doesn't have a real fleet, though the princess feels that will change soon.

Its size also means that the crew is much smaller, something that ultimately turned out to be beneficial as there are fewer workers to pay.

After that maiden voyage, Doran did several other tests to look for possible flaws in the design, and it seemed that there was always something to improve as the final design of the caravel was not completed until two years later. In the process of designing the perfect caravel her grandson built 18 prototypes, all that work was worth it because the average speed of the first caravel they built was 6 and a half knots while the speed of the final prototype turned out to be 8 knots and a fourth.

So far the Sun Shipyard has built a total of 94 caravels, which are dominating the trade routes of the Narrow Sea.

"And now he designed that titan of the seas, the Galleon." She mutters looking at the galleon docked at the Progress Town docks, even at this distance she can distinguish out the giant that dwarfs the ships around her.

As useful as caravels are, the Princess of Dorne thinks that the most important innovation for her kingdom was the new ways of farming.

Dorne has one of the most drastic climates on the continent, the overwhelming heat and arid soils have made it difficult for them to farm since ever. The little land that they could use for agriculture was around the rivers and that land was mostly used to grow crops that they could use for the creation of exotic products to export to other places, with that gold they then bought food to feed the population.

But since Doran revolutionized agriculture in the desert they no longer have to import as much food as they can produce enough to feed all the dornish.

This had many positive consequences, such as lowering food prices, smallfolk are no longer hungry and can feed more mouths, which resulted in a considerable increase in the population.

Seeing this Doran suggested doing a full population census, many in court protested saying that this census is just a waste of resources but she saw the benefits of such a project.

"The world is a big chessboard and the powerful control the pieces, but many don't even know how many pieces they have at their disposal." She told her daughter when they discussed the census.

Another of her grandson's innovations that was very beneficial to the kingdom was double-entry bookkeeping. As a ruler she has to manage an entire kingdom, for this she has the assistance of many government officials and given how extensive her duties are, there are many corrupt officials who took advantage of how difficult it is to keep track of everything to enrich themselves. Double-entry bookkeeping made it much easier to record accounts and balance budgets, exposing many of those corrupted workers.

The sound of the door opening snaps the Princess of Dorne out of her musings.

"It's a beautiful night."

"Yes, Grandmother." Doran kisses her on the cheek before sitting on the railing.

"Your love of heights is fascinating, grandson. You never seem to fear falling."

"It's not that I'm not afraid of falling, Grandma. The emotion of falling, the embrace of the wind, overcomes the fear of hitting the ground."

"I'd be more worried if I didn't know you could transform into a bird before hitting the ground." Dorna sighs and shakes her head.

`His genius is only surpassed by his recklessness`

"Just for that reason I told you my secret, so you stop worrying."

"It wasn't so Obella wouldn't rip your ears off after catching you sitting in a precarious spot dozens of feet above the ground?" She jokes with her grandson.

"You got me grandmother." Doran confesses with a mischivious smile.

They both chuckle a bit before getting serious.

"Shall we begin our meeting, my sweet child?"