( Elia Martell POV )
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?
...
Still, while she wasn't interested much in the boy as a potential suitor, especially compared to his more skillful and funnier brother, she did find herself curious about just what went on in that tower of his, a feeling that Oberyn seemed to share as no-sooner had she suggested going to visit Callum's study then he had agreed to it.
Apparently, her brother's thirst for adventure manifested itself in a desire to take in the view from the very tippy top of the Rock. She shouldn't have been surprised, he'd gone up and stood on the top of the Hightower too.
"So do we knock at the bottom of the tower or..?" Oberyn asked, panting slightly as they finished the rather arduous climb up from the general living quarters to the very summit of the Rock. It didn't seem like it was that long, they were very close relative to the Mountain as a whole, but it was still some 200 steps on a spiral staircase between the balcony where they had dinner and the base of the Watchtower that Callum had made his home.
The stairs didn't lead straight up into the watchtower, as they were apparently older than it was, instead, they fed out onto a small stone brick platform that wrapped around the base of the watchtower, with a wooden door leading inside.
"I don't know if he'll be able to hear us if he's up at the top," Elia admitted, scratching the back of her neck as she reached forward and pushed the door open. It was unbolted, which became less surprising somehow as she was hit by the smell and sound of the inside.
"Oh! It's a rookery!" she smiled, as Ravens and pigeons turned to squawk down at her from above. Elia had always liked the Martell Rookery in the Sandship, and they had another one in the Water Gardens that wasn't as nice. The sound of bird cries was comfortable as far as she was concerned.
"Oh Great, a Rookery," Oberyn repeated, a bit less enthused. She imagined he was imagining something more adventurous. Regardless, she made her way to the opposite side of the tower and started to climb upwards.
There were several wooden platforms and ladders going upwards in a spiral along the sides of the watchtower, giving access to the various perches and nests around the rookery. As they climbed, Elia cheerfully tossed the bird a bit of the dried pork she'd brought with her for lunch, which caused a great kerfuffle of feathers as they all dived for it. Smirking, she beat Oberyn to the trapdoor at the top of the tower and knocked several times.
"Eh? Maester Eomund?" She heard Callum's voice, just barely through the trapdoor.
"Nope! You've got guests!" Elia shouted cheerfully back up.
"Oh!" The trapdoor was heaved open quickly. "Princess Elia, Prince Oberyn" The child looked down at them, a bit of confusion on his brow. "What brings you- no no, please, come on up, and do try not to let any of the birds through. It's near impossible to convince them to go back down."
Elia smirked at that, and hurried up, with Oberyn following quickly behind her, soon Lord Lannister's second son slammed the trapdoor back down, and Elia found herself in a strange environment indeed.
Callum Lannister's study was like stepping into a messy, but strange world of metal, wood, and wheels, as well as books admittedly, lots of books. On three sides of it, massive windows made of clear glass panels looked down over Lannisport, the Ocean, and the Westerlands, and atop a myriad of desks and tables, there were strange contraptions of cast-iron and wood that seemed to all be in a state of half assembly.
The remaining wall was covered in bookshelves reaching up to the rafters, with a ladder on wheels running up to meet them. Above even that was a storage area where crates and piles of materials sat in a loosely organized manner. It was all entirely bizarre, like nothing she had ever seen before.
"What a view!" Her brother, seemingly having no time to spend on the strange study, rushed to one of the windows, which was open to let in the ocean breeze on the heights. "I can see why you shut yourself up here now, little Lion." Oberyn chuckled. "This is far better than any of the balconies below."
Elia glanced over at the boy in question, who was smiling at her brother's words.
"We all came up here with my mother once, that is, Jaime, Cersei, and I, and we had a picnic. I adored the view. Afterward, I made a plan to have it converted into my study." He grinned. "I love looking out over the Westerlands, seeing the ships coming in and out of Lannisport. I'd live up here if Uncle Kevan let me." He sighed. "On a clear day, you can see straight to the tip of the Upper Spine, Fifty miles away."
"Hmm, I'd like a study atop the Sandship…" Oberyn started to mumble, and Elia could only roll her eyes, turning to their host herself.
"Your siblings said you were bookish, but what's all this mess up here?" She asked the boy, gesturing around at the various bits and bobs scattered across the desks in the room. "They look like the pumps on ships, and… and other things. These are hardly children's toys!"
"Did Cersei call them that?" Callum asked immediately, which gave Elia good cause to blush.
"Er…" she paused for a moment. "She may have made a passing mention."
"Cersei has a mean streak a mile wide and thinks my work is dumb." Callum carried on giving a slight smile.
"She loves me, but she's very bossy, and doesn't like that my interests diverge from hers so much. She can get Jaime to do anything with a bit of effort, but I'm not my brother, ah, my elder brother. I can't say for certain what sort of person little Tyrion will be yet."
Elia noted that from the boy's tone, he didn't blame the baby for their mother's death, but she thought it prudent to avoid that topic of conversation for politeness's sake. "You haven't answered my question though, what are these things, like… er, that!" She pointed her finger at what looked to be a stack of metal disks standing up on one of the tables. "What's that?"
The device was about the width and length of her calf and appeared to be a stack of repeating metal disks, a silvery disk, a copper disk, and a little cloth pad, then another silvery disk, and so on. On either side, it was attached to a thin cord of copper wire, like you'd find on a necklace.
"That's a voltaic pile" Callum replied, raising an eyebrow. "It's going to be part of a bigger machine once I can figure out a noise-maker."
"It looks like a stack of rings" Oberyn added helpfully, walking over and looking at the device.
"That's because it i- don't touch that, you could get hurt," Callum said rather hurriedly. "It's… oh forget about it. Come over here, the press I'm working on is probably more to your interest anyway."
"Hah, fine, fine!" Oberyn cheerfully walked over, and the younger boy let out a sigh of relief. Soon he began explaining how some sort of large stamp he had built work, and Elia was just left scratching her head.
Was it something in the blood that made the Lannister children so strange?
=======================
If you'd like to support my work, or get early access to chapters before public release you can join my P atreon
Link to join my p treon :
p@treon.com/moonlight10