Thunderstick

[Obara sand's journal]

It was the middle of the seventh month of 281 AC, the scorching heat of the Dornish sun touched my skin roughly that day, me and Arianne were sitting idly in the water gardens, accompanied by Arianne's guard Areo Hotah, having a break as the heat was unbearable, even to us Dornish.

The smell of smoke and metal was everywhere, Uncle Morian had turned the Sunspear port into a temporary military district, people didn't complain, as it gave them jobs to do, and Uncle didn't shy away from rewarding the smallfolk. I didn't really know at the time, but war was coming, smallfolk whispered the prince's deed in the tourney, faces of disgust were always there, father, uncle Morian, and uncle Doran were constantly fighting if they weren't dealing with the nation's affair.

Our peaceful rest was distributed when we heard thundering booms from the courtyard. Arianne commented that it was Uncle Morian playing with his toys again, and so I asked her if she liked to see him play with his 'toys'. She said yes, so we stood up, and ran towards the courtyard.

There, we saw uncle Morian, holding a long stick with some metal attached to it. He was aiming the stick towards a target at the edge of the courtyard. He then pushed the trigger at the bottom of the stick, and a loud boom came out of it, smoke rose through the air, and the target has a hole now.

Arianne was curious about it, so she approached Uncle, and tugged his robe. He turned around, and smiled at Arianne, he offered if she would like to shoot it, she excitedly said yes. So he put a strange ammunition to the stick, and he gave it to Arianne, with some guidance and safety of course.

Uncle Morian guided Arianne on how to use it from her back, he made sure that it was safe for her, he held her hand, and Arianne pushed the trigger. The 'recoil', as uncle Morian said it, was too big for Arianne, so she stumbled to the back a bit, but Uncle Morian kept her safe.

She was giddy when she shot it, 'it's fun' said Arianne, but before Morian could allow her to shoot again, Uncle Doran came to them, telling Arianne to stop. He said that it was dangerous, and a little girl isn't allowed to shoot it yet. Arianne was about to protest, but Uncle Morian agreed with Uncle Doran, he told her that maybe once she grew up, she can practice more. She smiled at him, and she got back to me.

Uncle Doran then told uncle Morian to relax a bit, as she was getting married next month, stop with the testing of the 'guns', and enjoy your single life for a little more. Uncle Morian just smiled and said 'If Ashara found out that I've been going to brothels a month before we're getting married, she'll choke me to death.' which I find funny, but then uncle Doran made a joke that Morian was into that sort of thing, even the guards started laughing, and Uncle Morian just laughed it off.