( Elia Martell POV )
Their hosts had certainly made an impression during their first week staying at Casterly Rock. While the distances one had to walk within the monstrous stone fortress were somewhat distressing, the Lannisters were gracious and hosted them (appropriately given her mother was Princess of Dorne) in the familial section of Casterly Rock, near to the very summit of the mountain.
Their rooms had windows looking out over the city of Lannisport, where they could watch the Dromonds and merchant ships coming into and out of the harbor.
Every morning and evening they dined with the Lannisters on one of the grand balconies, a strong carved hollow in the side of the mountain face that looked out over the ocean. From the balcony's window, she watched the great shadow of the watch stretch out over the sea in the morning, and in the evening the sunset filled the sky with glorious golden and red hues as it reflected off of the ocean and the clouds. She could see why House Lannister had made those their house colors.
Elia was certainly enjoying her time there, the food was good if a bit mild by Dornish standards, but that seemed to be more a matter of the spices the chefs chose to use than a lack of access to them. The views were excellent, and the Lannisters were not stuffy, boring, and reclusive the way that the Hightowers had been.
Kevan Lannister was a decently friendly fellow, and rather mindful of her mother's status as Princess, took great effort to show them all appropriate courtesy. Meanwhile, his sister, Genna was more free and open, a woman who would do well in Dorne, Elia thought. She certainly seemed to lead her mousy Frey husband around by the nose.
Of course, while this was in part a social call, the end of their long tour around Dorne, the Reach, and the Westerlands, their arrival in Casterly Rock also served a second purpose, one Elia had to consider, as her mother and Oberyn were both happy to remind her. No, she, and to a lesser extent Oberyn were here to assess if there were any compatible betrothal candidates amongst Joanna Lannister's children. To that end, Elia had taken a bit of time to get to know them.
Jaime appeared to be, to Elia's understanding, a typical boy of his age. Obsessed with swordplay and knightly things, he became fast friends with Oberyn, who regaled him with stories of their travels up the coast and what life was like in Sunspear. According to Oberyn Jaime showed enormous promise with the sword, even young as he was, which interested Elia mildly. It would be interesting to have a great warrior lord as a husband, even if he was the Lannister heir and she would certainly have to give up her Martell name for him.
She could certainly imagine a favorable arrangement where her husband would go off and destroy their enemies while she managed the affairs of the realm, and she certainly wouldn't mind a husband who could name her the queen of Love and Beauty in a tournament… Overall he seemed a suitable enough choice. Better than anything the Hightowers had to offer even if he was a bit too young still. She didn't need a bookish husband, after all, she already had that part taken care of.
In a similar fashion to Oberyn with Jaime, Elia had made an attempt to get to know Cersei and found that she was… dissatisfied with her life at Casterly Rock. The girl seemed to be utterly dissatisfied with anything remotely ladylike that was required of her, except perhaps cosmetics and clothing, which she seemed to have a rich taste for. Still, she protested against the lessons she was being taught by Lady Genna, complaining constantly and refusing to do much at all of her work.
Now, Elia did not like embroidery much herself, but she could not remember ever rejecting her lessons as fiercely as Cersei did. No, the girl seemed to have no interest in growing up to be a proper Andal lady whatsoever. She was loud, brash, and demanding, fierce, and willing to fight physically. She was also more than happy to rope her twin brother into her attempts to avoid her duties.
Indeed on the fourth day after Elia started attending her lessons with her, she was pleasantly surprised to discover that Cersei was better behaved throughout her lessons.
The girl sat still, didn't complain too much, and actually managed to get some embroidery done. It was a nice change of pace from three days of whining, and Elia wondered how exactly it had happened. After lessons were over but before dinner, she asked Cersei why her mood was so much better, and the girl looked at her surprised, before quietly admitting that they didn't know that they were supposed to be meaner.
It had taken Elia a minute or so after that to realize that it had actually been Jaime in disguise throughout the entire day! Wearing one of his sister's fine dresses while she wore his yard-clothes, he had apparently spent the entire day attending her lessons in her place so that she could go out and take his instead!
When Elia got back to her own room she threw herself onto the bed and rolled around laughing. It was so incredibly silly, and she didn't doubt that the twins had done it many times before as well. Jaime was too skilled at embroidery, probably better than his sister because he actually paid attention! She'd had difficulty explaining her snickers that evening at dinner, as she glanced back and forth between the two children, who gave nothing in particular away despite wearing each other's clothes throughout.
She'd even asked Oberyn after dinner if 'Jaime' had performed well in the yard that day, and Oberyn just said that he'd been a little slower than usual, but not really enough to matter. A little slower than usual, from her brother who was a known talent with his sword! Elia couldn't help but smile thinking about it. It was like something from a fairy tale or story, a brother and sister so identical that they could pretend to be each other with no one the wiser.
If she did end up marrying Jaime someday, Elia decided that she would ceaselessly remind him that their first full day together had been with him in a dress.
Still, as amusing as the elder pair of Lannister siblings had turned out to be, Elia still found herself quite curious about the younger boys. Tyrion, she knew, was little more than an infant, and as Cersei had almost proudly confided in her, a twisted monster of a child whose birth had killed Lady Joanna.
Elia wasn't quite convinced the boy was a twisted monster, though she hadn't seen him yet, but she could understand the pain of losing a parent, her own father was dead after all. She hoped she'd get a glimpse of little Tyrion before she left, just to satisfy her curiosity regarding what Cersei was talking about.
That just left one more Lannister child to investigate, the second son of Tywin Lannister, Callum, who seemed to be a young recluse of a boy if anything. Oberyn confirmed that he didn't take any of Jaime's lessons, which was certainly odd, but what was moreso was where the boy elected to spend his time.
While Jaime and Cersei seemed to spend a great deal of time exploring the Rock together (something Oberyn and Elia enjoyed accompanying the younger children on, given that the Rock was such an expansive castle) young Callum spent all his time up in his study, the green wooden structure that sat on top of the Rock's sole watchtower. His sister claimed it was full of dusty books and toys he enjoyed playing with, while Jaime said it was full of clever little devices.
Elia thought he might be a bit like Lord Hightower, hiding himself away as far from anyone as he could get so he could read in peace. That certainly wasn't what she wanted from a husband, but she was also quite curious. Callum seemed intelligent enough for conversation at dinner, particularly with his Uncle Kevan, and on a couple of occasions her mother.
They'd had a fairly long discussion on the merits of establishing more banking native to the Seven Kingdoms rather than relying on the Iron Bank so much.
Once they'd gone into loans and interest rates it had mostly gone over Elia's head, but Callum had seemed to keep up just fine, even suggesting the usage of promissory notes as a major function that banks could perform. Elia wasn't quite sure what that would even do. Wasn't that just something that said you'd pay them back later?
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