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( SUNSPEAR, DORNE ) MID 284 AC
AS MAIDS TUCKED HER GRANDMOTHER INTO HER WHEELHOUSE, wrapping a quilt around her knees, Gwendys peered between their bobbing heads, "Are you sure that you won't be too lonely back in Saltshore all by yourself, Nana?"
"Don't worry about me, my love, worry about seating arrangements and the embroidery on your bridal gown. I'll have young Raj for company. Besides, I'll be seeing you in no time at all. The wedding is only a moon or so away. I'll send a raven ahead telling Ellaria and Shierle that they ought to set off in advance. My lovely girl. I'll see you very soon. Alright? Goodbye."
Yale Gargalen adored young Raj. He was a servant boy, but he might as well have been a ward for the Gargalen house. Her grandmother taught him how to read and write, and how to sew and dance. Gwendys supposed, it was to compensate for her loneliness, being pent up in Yellowbed with none of her family for company, save their ghosts. She'd never not had someone to look after, and now that her granddaughter was leaving, she'd have nobody to swaddle and nurture.
"Goodbye, grandmother."
She waved the elderly woman off, and the matriarch left, regal as ever. It was awful, some speculated, to outlive your kin — to see them enter the world, only to watch them leave again. The wheelhouse hadn't even departed, and Gwendys already ached for her grandmother to return. Unwelcome tears prickled at her eyes, and stubbornly, she tilted her head back and blinked to make them disappear. Luckily, that worked, because eight-year-old Arianne skipped up behind her moments afterwards.
"Excuse me, Lady Gwendys," she ineruppted, lacing her chubby little fingers with Gwen's. She chirped, "Do you like lemon cakes?" Her words were light and thin, like paper, and the brunette found it a relief to hear someone with a voice that didn't sound like a blade. She noticed how Arianne wore lacy gloves that were coarse against her own hand, and thought of it as slightly uncharacteristic for an eight-year-old. When Gwendys was eight, she didn't even want to wear a skirt. Her wardrobe was confined to a staple blouse and breeches.
She looked down at the young lady. Arianne was young, the same age as Tyene. She was pudgy with leathery skin and a round face. When blabbering on about the children, Prisha mentioned that Arianne used to pray to the gods to make her beautiful when she grew up. Actually, when Gwendys thought about it, she looked a little like how she had when she was young, except for the fact that Arianne had beautiful aquamarine irises to match that of her mother, and Gwen had a shade of russet.
"I suppose —?" She shrugged, and the young girl led her inside. Arianne took her through a shortcut past a hedgerow and they had soon entered a lounge area, where Mellario sat at a small brown table, filled with tea and lemon cakes. Gwen's teeth were already on edge at the sight of such a woman.
