The Realm's Delight

Chapter 23

A storm is a disturbance or a violent atmospheric disturbance, marked by strong winds, rain, thunder, and lightning. Storms can be caused by a variety of factors, including temperature changes, atmospheric pressure changes, and the movement of air masses.

While the definition of a storm and life don't go hand in hand, there are some similarities when one compared the ups and downs of life with the destructiveness of a storm.

In my life, the storm came when that man tried to assassinate me, a change of atmospheric pressure if you think about it. Dealing with the Hightowers was the rain, getting the people to accept my chosen for the seat of Lord of Old Town was the strong wind. I'd say things went swimmingly according to plan, but I was lucky. I expected more of a fight from the people, but maybe seeing the Queen there to lay the blame instead of me who was a princess not of their heritage had played a hand. Whatever it was, two stages of a storm had passed, with two more to go.

I'd say the Faith of the Seven was my thunder, the shock wave that is heard in a storm, loud and ear-shattering. Like his predecessors, the current High Septon was a pious man. He did not take kindly to what had transpired, both at the hands of the Hightowers and my reaction to it.

The High Septon denounced the actions of the late lord Ormund Hightower and his kin Ser Otto and Ser Gwayne. He called it greed and that the Faith did not support them, even if they were the Faith's biggest financers.

The High Septon also was not pleased with how they met their end. A trial by combat was a holy trial, where the gods could subtly manipulate two combatants to let justice prevail. But in the case of the Hightowers, they were set up against an unfair enemy, one that could not be manipulated subtly by the gods. He saw the trial as unjust and demanded that I be punished for it.

It was lucky that I had Alicent with me on this because she was the one to advocate on my behalf. Her argument was a simple one, that if the gods did not want me to win, they would have allowed the assassin to kill me, that my training with a sword from a young age was the gods' way of guiding me to victory on this very day.

Alicent was my witness that I was a devout woman, an exaggeration but I was not about to speak up on it. She put forward the information that I have been praying to the gods since a young age with her, that I was devoted to the gods as much as she was.

The High Septon seemed to be pleased by the Queen's testimony and relented in his push for punishment. But he did think that using a dragon as my champion had been unfair, so it was decided that an animal could not be used against a human in trials, especially one that can kill them with a single breath. I was more than happy to comply with the decision. There was also talk of a donation to further appease the gods, so maybe the High Septon was not as pious as I thought he was.

All that was left was the lightning, which I felt was the most dangerous of the lot. Lightning was deadly, like an arrow shot from the heavens or even a spear thrown. If it hit people, they were most likely than not dead on their feet. Lightning was like divine judgment if one thought about it. And I think the place I was about to head to put themselves up in a position that might think of their decision as just that, divine judgment.

----

I had always wondered what this place would look like. Seeing it with my eyes today did not disappoint me in the slightest.

The Citadel lay on the Honeywine, where its towers and domes were connected with arching stone bridges. There were houses and stalls on the bridge, and the gates were flanked by a pair of tall green sphinxes with the bodies of lions, the wings of eagles and the tails of serpents. One had the face of a man and the other that of a woman.