Game of Thrones X Genshin Impact I
STARFALL, DORNE
One of the many old legends that still lingers on that is believed to hold some truth in it, is the origins of the noble family of House Dayne of Starfall. It was said that a very long time ago, the founder of House Dayne saw a star falling from the heavens above, and followed it. He followed and went to where the falling star would have fallen, and there he built his castle and his kingdom. It was a legend that must have been exaggerated, or maybe it was true after after.
No one can just deny the legend to be a mere tale, after all, one of the famous sword of Westeros is known to be Dawn. A sword that was said to be made of that falling star in the legend, and it was a sword that stood with the famous valyrian swords, steel weapons forged by blacksmiths from Old Valyria using dragonfire.
Lords of Starfall, or any of the men that had Dayne blood running in their veins would wield Dawn. Generation after generation, it would be passed down from one man to another. But so very few of them could bring out the full power of Dawn.
The Sword of the Morning, Arthur Dayne, was one of them. Alas, the man had perished somewhere in the miserable heat and barren desert in Dorne, dying for a cause and a man that wasn't worth dying for.
The next one to be worthy of that sword was Lord Beric's son, the heir and the next Lord of Starfall.
Edric Dayne.
The boy who was at first, suspected to be the late Aegon Targaryen, because of his looks. He had pale blond hair and dark dornish skin. He was a bright and clever young boy, and was beloved by Dorne.
Of course, anyone with a working brain and actually have seen Targaryens would easily dismiss it as what it was, rumors, but those who haven't seen the little lord, were enraged. Specifically, the Stag King of Westeros.
The fatman who was always drunk and surrounding himself with whores, with a golden crown on his dark head, his fat ass sat on the Iron Throne, and Baratheon stormy blue eyes raging furiously when he heard of the rumors, and ordered (screamed) for the little lord and his Lord Father to come to King's Landing at once.
The Daynes obeyed the royal decree and went to King's Landing, coming to the venomous snake-pit they call the 'court'. It was just after the Greyjoy Rebellion.
The Baratheon King sat on his throne, with his Lannister wife and his children besides them. The court was filled with piercing eyes at the Stony Dornishmen, some of them were green eyes. One pair belonged to a sneering woman in a red-gold gown with a crown on her head. Another pair belonged to a man wearing a white cloak, still and nervous, half hoping it to be true, and half hoping for it to be just a rumor. The last pair was the most dangerous, it belonged to a wise, aging man who stood tall and firm and proud. A lion who would not hesitate to pounce on his prey.
The Daynes kneeled, and the little Dayne heir stepped forward and presented himself. And at just one glance, the King's fury immediately died down and so did the court that was full of cautious eyes, tense shoulders, and fast-beating hearts of anticipation. Anyone that wanted to snuff the last flame of a dead dragon family had settled down as well. In just one glance at the boy, everyone (perhaps not everyone...) were relieved that they would not see bloodshed and a small body on the floor, would not see the Stag King becoming enraged by his fury and storm, and having the court swept by with it.
The boy may look like a dragonseed with his pale blond hair, but his hair was not of the Targaryen silver-white blond. It was just a pale blond, like silvergold or wheat. The boy had dark skin like most of those in Dorne had, but the boy's skin was lighter and of warmer tone. The Martell family, of the late Lady Elia Martell to be more specific, had a darker and far cooler-toned of skin. His eyes and even though his facial features are still young and boyish, may grow sharp and angular and 'exotic' compared to the facial features of Andals, but the boy would not grow into a fairy-like, ethereal non-human beauty when he grew up as most Targaryens often do. Targaryens, just as they could either become mad or be sane, also tend to either be born with ethereal beauty or just downright ugly and deformed. The little Dayne would become handsome, a beauty of his own right, but he was no dragonspawn. A dragonseed perhaps, as Daynes descended from a Dornish dragonseed founder. And also, Edric Dayne was three years older than the supposed age of Prince Rhaegar's youngest if the boy had live.
The little boy was a Dayne through and through... and to the sharp eyes of King Robert and his Hand, Lord Jon of House Arryn, he had Stark blood in his veins.
Bright silver-grey eyes that were so similar to their most dear friend, brothers-in-arms and foster-son.
The boy with his pale blond hair and dark skin with clothes of white and purple, had bright silver-grey eyes. That same boy smiled mischievously to another boy, one that was also familiar to the King and his Hand. Another boy that was the same age as the little lord of Starfall, with sunshine-yellow hair and bright stormy blue eyes. The boy who kept saying he was going to be the swornshield of the next Lord of Starfall.
Like a trip down the memory lane, the Stag King and his old Hand were seeing another pair of boys in the place of the Dayne heir and the Sand boy. Another pair of best friends, one with bright pairs of stormy blue eyes with a mischievous smile and the other boy having a exasperated look on his face, but a fond, warm look in his wolf grey eyes.
Almost at once, the Stag King immediately and publicly apologized to the Daynes, especially to the young heir, for the assumption and accusation. The next thing the court had known, was that the King had engaged his oldest daughter to the Dayne heir, and declared the Sand boy as his bastard, and had treated both boys very well until they left.
Years passed by, with the little Starlord growing to be a heartbreaker of a man that everyone had known he would be. He was a rather careless young lord, who liked to disobey his father to make troubles and having fun on his little adventures outside his home. Befriending the volatile and eccentric second Prince of Dorne and his many bastard daughters, creating rumors of how he must be sleeping with them. Going off the continent to go to Essos and becoming a famous sellsword there before being dragged by his (pitiful) infuriated and so serious, so dutiful swornshield, and the beloved Sunny Stormy bastard of the Stag King, Ser Dainsleif Sand. The Starlord had also perhaps looked up King Baratheon so much because he was not only sleeping around and keeping companies with bastards and whores, but also liked to indulge in alcohol. Some feared and speculated he would become like how the Demon of the Trident became the Fat King Robert. Those who knew him personally though, never had doubts on the Lord Edric Dayne.
Their Lord Edric was no reckless, impulsive young man who is easily swept by his emotions and desires. In fact, the boy was more often compared to the Lannister Lord and the Queen of Thorns with how clever and sharp-witted he was, and how he would wield with his silvertongue. A mix-mesh of the Tywin Lannister and Lady Olenna Tyrell. A man some people feared was a unholy combination of the two, a man who if not a Dayne in another life, would have been the result of the union of the cruel old lion and the queen of thorns.
He was cold and calculating, with a firm grip on his emotions and desires, and all the ridiculous rumors tainting his image was something he either schemed or a scheme of another that he greatly encouraged. He liked to be underestimated by fools who overestimated themselves, he said.
Not to mention, his skill of the blade, experience in the battlefield (one they assume he had accumulated from his time in Essos as a sellsword), and his conniving and cunning plans. His leadership skills? Never to be questioned, he was a great leader for someone of his own age, practically the perfect young heir that every vassals and noble families would want to ensure a stable and secure future. But if anyone had an inkle of traitorous thoughts in becoming an enemy of his? His swornshield, the fearsome "Twilight Sword" could easily sniff out any traitors and spies and rats and birds, and wouldn't hesitate in cutting them down immediately once he sniffed them out. If the Baratheon bastard didn't end you, it would be the Starlord himself who would take you out, and you would always rather prefer death than whatever the Starlord of Dayne had planned for you.
Unexpectedly, the young Starlord who was only an heir to a minor noble household in Dorne, one of the vassals of the Martells, became one of the great and dangerous players in the Game of Thrones. They could tell he had no aspirations to the throne, but he made it clear to anyone that needed to know, he wouldn't hesitate striking down to those who went against him and touched any of his people.
He made this very clear early on in the game when the Queen had decided to have his dear friend, Dainsleif Sand, dead all because he was a bastard son sired by her Baratheon King and husband. He was just a boy at that time, not even past ten years of age, and had no difficulty defeating her by making sure he had legitimate and valid evidence that could be used to damn not only the Queen and her fool of a brother, but also all of their children, if she so much as stepped out of the line. He had ensured he not only had the Great Old Lion in his debt, but also the whole of Westerlands in his sold debt, to make sure they all were on his side against the twins when he made his threat.
"Princess Jeanne and little Princess Barbara would be perfectly safe, but what of the rest of your children?" He had said, an innocent smile but dark and cold wolf eyes "House Lannister will be ruined in just one quick snap of my fingers, and you know what they say, words travel fast just as the ax coming down for your necks. You could kill me and my dear friend here and right now, or maybe sometime in the future, and you may never be suspected of being my murderers. But death won't stop me for ruining you two. It won't stop me from having your heads on pikes, and the names of your great family dragged into the mud."
A victorious smile was on his face, smug and arrogant but very certain of it.
Tywin Lannister wanted to wring the little dornish boy's neck, but at the same time, couldn't help but be amused and respect the little lord in front of them. Edric Dayne was still so young, but he had managed to get his hooks on him and the Lannister family, and put his (foolish, foolish and so utterly stupid) children at the edge of the cliff, hanging onto it barely.
The little boy that hadn't even reach the age of ten years, had beaten the Old Lion of the West, the Golden Queen of Westeros, and the Kingslayer.
He wouldn't even be able to retaliate or go against the boy, not with the sure threat of utter ruin to the family and legacy. He doesn't even want to with how much the boy had gained respect from him (gained the reluctant but hard-earned and well-deserved trust and gratitude from him, because the boy had plans and those plans he intended to join and take control of because those filthy greyrats and towers had been Joanna's murderer-).
Cersei and Jaime will have to comply with the Heir of Starfall, or they will perish. The family and the Westerlands will not lift a finger to help them and the filthy incest-born children they had brought into the world. In fact, he will just have to end them by himself just to prevent of the filthy truth coming out and staining the good name of the Lannisters.
(Oh Joanna, how far have our children have fallen? Tyrion, the boy that had taken your life and had a deformed, grossly deformed body, turned out to be the most good of them three. Cersei is your perfect image, but was an Aerys in the making. Jaime, turned out to be a fool that was easily led by his cock. What have I done to our children? What could I have done differently?)
When he spoke, his son was pale faced and was shocked by what he said. And Tywin could see that the fool was, slowly but surely, comprehending the consequences to his actions.
"What do you want."
Edric Dayne with his pale gold hair, dark skin and wolf-grey eyes, smiled like a snake at him.
"Jeanne as the next heir, Joffrey be permanently out of the way, Tommen that sweet boy will become a perfect heir for youself to mold my Lord, and for no harm to come for my dearest friend Dain here." The boy crossed his knee and leaned back, so casual and lax since the conversation started, and never really worried for his life "In exchange, not a word of the foolishness of our dear Queen and Kingsguard here have done, and a clean name for the Lannisters and your legacy, and a lifelong ally... provided that you don't ever turn on me and mine."
"How can... how can we be sure this is not just a ploy to put that bastard to the throne?" Jaime asked, suspicious and accusing, but wary to not anger and offend the young boy.
Tywin nodded "My foolish son is right, young Edric, how can we be sure to trust you to not put your bastard on the throne?" Lannister lion green eyes flashed, a curl of the corner of the lip "how can we be sure this is not a scheme to put yourself on the throne, Young Starlord"
Edric Dayne tilted their head, eyes still and unwavering on Tywin's "Believe me or not, Lord Tywin, Ser Jaime, but I have no interest or any ambition at all that is related to the Iron Throne. And my Dain is going to becoming my swornshield, my sworn knight. He is loyal to no one else, to nothing else, but me. He is mine, and he will go nowhere without me." The boy said this with conviction, and the Baratheon bastard that stood behind the Dayne boy without so much as fidgeting, tensing or even flinching at how his dear friend had spoken of him "And Jeanne is a wonderful friend, a dearest one of course, but our betrothal is a temporary political tool we can use until one of us founds another that we would be romantically involved with for the rest of our lives. Whether we wed or not, I will stay as the Lord of Starfell and be a loyal vassal to the Martells."
"Jeanne should become queen and the ruler of Westeros, even if she does not have a greedy bone in her body..." The boy said, and his facial expression turned to that of a solemn and serious look that would match the Lord of Winterfell's everyday look "even if she does not want it, if it was duty, she will bear it and she will do a fantastic work on it. She will thrive, and Westeros with it, will thrive, if she becomes the Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. I believe and swear on it, your granddaughter will become the greatest ruler ever known in Westeros. She will be your legacy, and after you, she will make her own legacy, one of a Baratheon-Lannister that will be remembered forever."
Tywin Lannister was struck dumbfounded at the boy's words. The first instinct he had after processing those words, was that it was just a fancy lie that was just there to sway him away from he should really do, snap the brat's neck and pretend nothing like this has ever happened. A girl becoming a queen? One that will be his greatest legacy? Jeanne was a bright young child, Tywin is sure of that and is proud of the young girl who was so well-behaved and took her duties very seriously even at her young age... but to become the Ruler of Westeros?
Preposterous!
However, he thought, it was coming from a boy who had beaten old and veteran players of the game of thrones, and had played them all like a fiddle. A boy who was his granddaughter's betrothed and who swore that he and his wanted nothing to do with the Iron Throne. A dangerous player in the game but cared not for the throne. He must be lying, Tywin thinks.
But looking at those wolfgrey eyes, that firm and unwavering conviction, at how he was so sure that his words were nothing but the truth.
"How can you be sure of that?"
The boy smiled "Would you like a bet, Lord Tywin?" the boy laughed "If our dear Jeanne disappoints you and fails to rise up to the expectations you have of her, then I will quickly put a son in her, and you can do whatever you want with her and the heir to the throne. Do away with her or keep her out of sight, I care not, I will leave this place by then and return to my duties as the Lord of Starfell, and with that, you can rule Westeros as the regent until the heir grows up."
Silence.
"I'll even toss you a freebie to make sure you have nothing to worry about-"
And then Cersei starts to shriek and scream and curse death threats on the young boy whilst struggling against Jaime's hold on her as she tried to jump at the boy. Dainsleif Sand who did not hesitate to point a sword, tiny it may be but still as sharp like any valyrian steel would be, was quick and fast in his response. His friend and lord, did not even flinch and looked surprised at her attack.
"I WILL KILL YOU, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE-" and at the look of how she kept screaming, her face flushed red and eyes so dangerously mad and green like Aerys favored fire, Tywin knows what to do.