A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

Twenty-Sixth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

Worried about what you had heard from Ser Axell, you decide to take a moment of quiet to discover if little Shireen's dreams are indeed from R'hllor, or else dragon dreams woken by the presence of the Dragonmont looming over the island. The more you think about it the more questions come to mind to cast into the ether seeking. Answers you find indeed that make an interesting hearing. Shireen's mind indeed flies beneath the wings of ancient Wyrms, not quite a sorceress but poised upon the brink. Even her father might hatch and tame a dragon.

Intrigued, you ask of the Dornish memory of the first Daenerys who wed a prince of Dorne. Neither the Red Viper nor either of his siblings can safely attempt to ride dragons. Of all of them Nymeria, Tyene, and Sarella have the affinity, though whether it be only blood or temperament also you cannot say. Tyene will probably keep to her griffon, but still you see no reason not to make the offer. If nothing else it might be worth some teasing, and with Tyene that is always an opportunity to treasure for she never hesitates to do the same to you.

Going further, you ask of the Usurper's own bastards, or at least those of them you are sure of, briefly entertained by considering his befuddled expression were he to ever learn you had posed the question. To your surprise in turn the answer is 'yes' three times over. Mya Stone, Gendry Waters, and Edric Storm could all tame a dragon if given the chance. Certainly a matter to ponder for the image, the theater of it. What more proof could you give that you are not concerned over Robert Baratheon's legacy than to hand his children dragons?

Then again fools are many, and you can well imagine them swarming to try and use any of the three to rally support against you. You do not know either Gendry or Edric, but Mya you suspect would not wish for the sort of attention a dragon would get her.

Speaking of dragons, you ask which of the tamed wyrms you might summon back from the grave. Five do you count who would fly again if called—Meleys once ridden by Princesses Alyssa Targaryen and Rhaenys Targaryen, Caraxes who would fly again after its doomed battle with Vhagar, Silverwing who bore Good Queen Alysanne, Grey Ghost who had never known a saddle, and Balerion the Black Dread who hatched in Valyria the Fallen.

Questions answered for the moment, you stretch to sooth away the small pains of staring into fire and smoke, though there is no cure so simple for the racing of your heart. Tonight... tonight would be the night you ask Lya to marry you. You would say you are as nervous as on the eve of battle, but that would be a lie, for fear in battle can be walled off like a beast behind bars of iron, where the nervousness you feel now is like mist and shadow creeping in. You do not fear she will say no as you had in Braavos during your first dance or in Volantis under the stars. No, what you truly fear is that she will accept and find no pleasure in being Queen, that she would take on a burden for your sake and...

You shake yourself. Lya is not some wilting flower in the wind to say yes just because she has been asked. If she has concerns then you must trust her to bring them up, not conjure them beforehand in the silence of your own thoughts. For now you have an evening play to attend, and whatever should happen at its end you wish to make it pleasant for both of you.


Two ships upon the harbor's waters float, one an old Tyroshi galleon, too riddled with rot and barnacles to be worth salvaging, another a Ghiscari galley still in the prime of its life but chosen for its authenticity. The Sorrows of Semyla is an old play, having brought tears to the eye for almost three hundred years, but never had it been put to stage quite like this—upon the water, the audience watching from floating stands, looking down upon the action raptly, every word the mummers play seen across Essos in enchanted glass. A tale of passion and vice it is in its beginnings, even as the the smuggler Naero asks in sweet and cunning verses what harm there is in transporting slaves. A rattle of chains and a chorus of moans fill the silences of his words.

All for the love of a beautiful woman, Naero tells himself, a pitiable fool clearly worse than the Ghiscari partner he would betray and whose daughter he would woo. Another time, another night when the stars did not shine so bright, you might have scoffed at the notion that Semyla, Ghiscari born and bred, would have so despised the notion of transporting slaves that she would forswear her lover. But that night is not now. Looking down from the height of the balcony veiled by magic in Lya's company you hang upon ever word and dread the inevitable tragedy as surely as any other. The battle is joined with the creaking of wood smashing against wood with the sudden burst of conjured fire... and the odd flowery of not altogether scripted magic.

"I guess they had a ship's wizard or two," Lya says, smiling at the improvement to the play.

"The mummers did let Moonsong get involved. We should all count our blessings that the 'dashing captain Moonsong' does not swoop in to save all of them at the end."

There is no rescue of course, only the rush of pallid robes as Semyla has a change of heart in the midst of battle, and throws herself before her father's sword. She takes a mortal wound, and her father falls soon after, leaving the two doomed lovers alone at last aboard the wrecked ships as they drift away from the docks. They sing the last aria together, the princess' voice slowly failing until she goes silent, the Braavosi singing the last sorrowful lines alone as the burning ships sink beneath the waves.

"That was lovely, the best I've ever seen that performed," Lya says, wiping away a tear, proof if there was any need of her words. "I loved that you had to make the captain a Ghiscari and not just a Stepstone pirate too. We are making the world better, even amid masterfully performed tragedy."

How do you propose to Lya?

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OOC: I very specifically did not have Viserys get stereotypical jitters. He knows Lya, he trusts and knows how she feels from a thousand gestures spoken and unspoken. The only fears he has are for her happiness.