The Wanderer /ASOIAF

Starfall,

Dorne,

280 AC

A week has past and thanks to the diligence of the now named Maester Gordon and reinforcing my body with magic I was able to be healed in far less time than was necessary.

During the week I have been getting visits from lady Ashara Dayne who decided to keep me company. We exchanged stories about herself. I found out she was a handmaiden for Princess Elia Martell who is her close friend. She explained that it helps with her prospects for marriage.

I plainly told her that she shouldn't bother than men would be lining up from here to Caria for her hand. She laughed at it and said as she is an heir they are expected to marry into her family. Most noble men in Westeros will scoff at being beneath her in authority in her lands.

I decided to shoot my shot. Told her if anything she can ask for my hand anytime. I wasn't born a noble but I earned my stripes in blood and steel. She looked like she seriously considered it before she decided she would like to know me better first.

I told her of my adventures gallivanting around The Lands Between with the Elden Lord. She always seemed to be searching for more information on the land but I always brushed her off telling her later.

When the topic of magic came up I told her I would explain it better to her family. I may have let it slip that I am weaker than I would normally be due to how weak the magic in the land currently is.

Which sent us into a whole tangent of the targs and their dragons. Suffice to say even at my strongest I could never beat a drake. Run from it sure. Injure it of course. But defeat it? That was a realm left for the Elden Lord and the other monarchs.

It would take centuries before I can approach their level of power. For now I am just a man. Far superior to everyone else on this continent but until I can set a permanent portal between Caria and Dorne I have to downplay my abilities.

My magic will be minimal use and I will use my experience as a warrior and knight to travel around acting as a hedge knight. Gathering information that may be of use to Queen Ranni.

Thanks to her conversation I have already pinned down the timeline I am in. The Tourney of Harrenhall. It would be a good observation point of the different players in this realmn. I'll try to see as much as I can of the moving pieces that make up the future.

Overall I probably would try not to get too involved in the war. I want to see if what George wrote still applied to this world.

With that last thought I brought my mind back to the task I am about to embark on. The Dayne had sent a missive to the Martells telling them about me. Somehow Elia Martell gave birth to her son,Aegon in Dorne and she was still there when the letter arrived. They decided to come to Starfall to hear about me directly without it getting out.

I stepped into the throne room only to see it empty. There was a long table where the Daynes and presumably the Martells and those they trusted to guard them were. I stepped closer to where they were before lightly bowing my head in respect to them.

"You must be the knight who claims to be from across the sea who Lord Dayne pulled from certain death." said Doran Martell who had a woman and a little girl next to him along with who I can guess is Oberynn Martell and the large guard with a halberd should be Areo Hotah.

"Aye. My name is Solomon. A commoner turned soldier turned knight under The Elden Lord the king consort of Queen Ranni,daughter of Queen Renella the Sorceror Supreme."

"Many others and I were on an expedition to the west of The Lands Between to find uninhabited lands to settle. If there is already a society we are to contact their leaders and create a trade alliance. We are separated by what is known to us as the Storm Triangle. A great storm that has never stopped for more than ten thousand years since the Eldari who you may know as the children of the forest escaped from a war between them and the Ancient Dragons. Know one knows why it formed but it is well documented that it wasn't there before they ran away." I decided to Lord dump on them a little to add more mysticism to my home.

"The Children of the Forest are real?" asked Oberynn with a certain gleam in his eyes that promised further questions.

"As real as dragons and magic. There are a few that remain in the land of reeds but those only remained because they missed the opportunity to escape."

There was a shift in the room. Dorian in particular clenched his teeth probably thinking of the implications that the legendary Children of the Forest are refugees from our continent because of how dangerous it is. Oberynn decided to stir the conversation in another direction.

"The history lesson is well and good but can you tell me how you became a knight. A lot can be inferred from a society that allows small folk to rise easily to the ranks of a minor Lord."

Ahhh that's acceptable.

"Caria is not like Westeros. From what I have read from your library there is almost no words about small folk rising easily to ranks above them. Caria is first and foremost a martial society. The strongest lead. If you rest on your laurels because of your birth you will be ousted quickly."

"I was a small folk. Raised on tales of the legendary Lord Godfrey and his ascent from a young soldier of the Badlands to his ascent as the first Elden Lord of Queen Marika the eternal. I was trained by my father when I was young and my magic circuits were opened by my mother when I was ten years old."

"My magic circuits were rank A which is very uncommon for commoners. I was welcomed into the army when I was eleven and trained and fought in wars since I was twelve. I distinguished myself when I killed Lord Goodrick the grafted who was a scion of Queen Marika who ruled over the lands of Limgrave. As the one who defeated him I was entitled to all his lands but I rejected it and instead settled for a knighthood."

Doran was visibly startled. He was very confused why someone who earned the title of a great Lord would reject it.

"Why? You rose to heights you probably would never again. Why reject what you were owed?"

"I am not one for sitting in a castle and ruling. I have always been a wanderer at heart. Being a Lord in charge of over five million souls would grate on my soul. I was never taught to lead at that scale so I instead avoided it. The seat was granted to the most powerful noble family in the lands instead. I took some gold and treasures and left."

"I was then mentored by Elden Lord Ervyyk who raised me to a whole new level. Eventually I decided to strike out on my own which led to the expedition and me being here now."

I hope they are satisfied with that because they are getting nothing else.