Pledges and Secrets
Twenty Second Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC
The first answer that comes to your lips is one you have used countless times before, speaking of greater threats and war enduring on an almost unimaginable scale, but that seems lackluster considering the man before you. The lord of Hellholt is not ignorant of the happenings of the world. "You do not object to the concept of kingship, my lord?" you ask after a moment. "I do not mean merely someone to wear a circle of metal around their brow or keep the Iron Throne warm. Aegon's negligence arranged for just that, and the ultimate fruit of that decision is slowly fermenting in his own resentment in King's Landing."
Lord Uller laughs, but the jape does not distract him. "In matters of kings, the failings of men can all too easily be mistaken for those of laws, Your Grace. There have been fairer kings than Robert Baratheon, and wiser ones."
"And what might those fairer, wiser rulers do if they lack the tools to face the world?" you ask simply. "Granted, not all agree that the power of the king should be restored to the heights that Aegon held, or even the first Viserys whom lords could plot against but never trully countermand. Shall we then all count upon the good will and wisdom of each and every lord, to move with all the skill and often all the haste that is needed?"
"The Tyroshi were not that foolish you know, my lord," Dany interjects. "The archon was a fool yes, but many of the lesser functionaries of his court and city were kept on. Yet I do not think I have to here recount the fate that Tyrposh almost came to."
"So then is it enough to have a mediator king so long as he is competent? Could Dorne be made safe behind its mountains and its deserts? Would it be prosperous? I have not found such a state in all my travels, only those which function by the same principles I have outlined. They have endured tribulations greater than any Westeros has faced since ancient times. Of those times, my lord, only ruin and grave goods remain crumbling among the sands," you motion to the bronze belt buckle he bears, wrought in the familiar angular style of the First Men, doubtless the fruit of some treasure-seeking expedition.
"We have done well enough so far, in no small part through your aid, of course, Your Grace, yet that which you could provide Dorne in secret is less than you could as king upon the Iron Throne," the old lord notes. "Why change so much, so swiftly, when in the turning of the realm as in those of the wheel that which suits the journey ill is worn smooth?"
"Because, as in the mountain passes, the journey has just taken a hard turn and if we do not follow it swiftly, ahead lies a precipice," you counter one simile with another, hopefully not too glibly, for the words are true. "Dornish culture has more in common with that of the Rhoynar than the First Men, or even the Andals come to that, as a consequence to the troubles which have plagued them for the last thousand years or more, yet none of those things have anything in common with Hell, which has held sway over the Planes for who knows how long, or the empires of the deathless Genies who have seen even more ancient realms cast down into dust and carry the emblems and heirlooms from those times still like an heir turned old and grey, but still remembering what was."
"Our realm is of this world and not some other place, where earth and sky are turned about," Lord Uller points out though slowly, thoughtfully. "More magic there is in the world than was five years ago, but still less than in the realms where spirits reign "
"More will come. The works of magic, the knowledge of its working, pours more into the world day by day and by it are eased a thousand tasks, things of beauty and of grace worked. That will not be undone." You pause, considering your next words with utmost care for you have never spoken such to a lord of Westeros so bluntly, yet it is clear Harmen Ullter's mind already works along those paths. "As the tasks afforded to those counted here in the Seven Kingdoms smallfolk grow lesser in toil, so shall their eyes rise to other matters. They will look upon the world and see themselves poor, scorned, and without voice. If the law does not allow them to rise higher and speak louder, then they shall seek to take that power for themselves and there will be war none of us can afford."
Unsurprisingly, Lord Uller's expression is that of a man who has just bitten into a fruit to find it sour, or perhaps full of worms, but he does not speak against your conclusions reflexively as others of his standing might have done. "What is then to keep them from building their unsteady, foolish scaffolding atop the stairs you have so generously laid out for them, Your Grace? If there is one truth I have found can be applied to all men, both high and low, right and poor, it is ambition, and as with heady wine, the more you drink the more you crave it."
"Easier to contemplate rebellion against a man than a dragon," you point out dryly, bringing the conversation almost full circle. "Easier do so so with a king who is merely lord over lords than one who stands with institutions of power and prestige at his back. So the Crown is the State and vice versa, both of which have feudal obligations not only in achieving peace and prosperity for their vassals, but also their subjects, or as you said citizens. The Citizens simply have a stake in the same, adding one more link to the chain unbroken."
"It always comes back to dragons with your House, doesn't it?" the Lord of Hellholt laughs. "No offense, Your Grace, but I will be more at ease when I know those 'Wyverns' of yours outnumber the dragons and their riders." There is something in the words you are not hearing, something not at all lighthearted.
Dany hears it too, for she asks, "My lord, what has your House learned of dragons these past almost three centuries since Aegon came to Westerosi shores?"
Seeing the lord open his mouth instantly to deny knowing anything you interject, "My lord, I will not lay any blame upon you for the deeds of your ancestors. I, of all people, can hardly make such judgements given all the evils my own father wrought."
For a long moment there is silence, then Lord Uller answers softly, though the courtyard is empty of anyone save the four of you. "Not here."
***
Once the iron banded door of the chamber closes behind you, the wards flaring to light a thousand fiery runes, you lay your own spells upon stone and wood to ensure that no word spoken here passes beyond these walls unbidden.
"Queen Rhaenys did not survive Meraxes' fall before the walls of the Hellholt all those years past, as so many tales tell, but according to a family tale passed from one lord to his heirs, the dragon did," Lord Uller pauses, for though the words come quick enough to have been long considered, the reality of sharing them is still troubling. "The beast perished not of its wounds, though that would have been only a matter of time... but by a sorcerer's dagger. What manner of hedge witch or wizard it was, I do not know, only that the curse threatened the lives of the other dragons of Aegon's realm, Balerion and Vhagar. How much harm it could have done, no one truly knew, only that it is said Queen Visenya felt it and knew it to be a true casting."
"And so Aegon dared not press on Dorne again lest he lose all that he had already won, but this sorcerer dared not unleash his curse either should the magic prove less than deadly and open House Uller and all of Dorne to retaliation," you finish, shaken. You had not expected this conversation to lead to the unraveling of one of the most enduring mysteries of the conquest.
"This blood mage, they didn't just lay a curse blindly, did they?" Dany asks shrewdly. "They knew something of dragons and their riders, something that was passed on?"
"Dragons are fire and malice and rage. Mother's Mercy ward you from those that are wisdom also," the old lord recited, the words almost a sigh in the still air. "My father, and as far as I know my grandfather, also thought the Mother mentioned in the warning was the face of the Seven, but for a sorcerer to invoke her I think it more likely that it was Mother Rhyone, one of the Orphans before they lost much of the old ways perhaps."
"So by the fact that you told us all this, you decided we're not evil anyway?" Dany asks, breaking the somber mood.
"Yes, I'll trust my own judgement before that of a long dead witch," Lord Uller replies. "Not that it means I'll follow blindly, but you are a fit king for these times, Your Grace."
What do you do next?
[] Speak to lord Uller more
-[] Try to learn more about the mysterious mage
-[] See if you can recover any of Meraxes' bones
[] Learn what the others have managed in speaking to Lady Blackmount and Lord Gargalen
[] Write in
OOC: As you can imagine you guys got very good rolls there to get the lord to spill the secret, although in part it was the fact that he knows how divination works and he figured it would be best Viserys hear it from him. Not yet edited.
