#let's give darkstar dawn i want to see something funny

[allyriadayne]

could you talk more about the daynes post robert's rebellion?

SURE

first of, this is mostly my hcs, speculations and a mix of things i must have read back when there was the height of asoiaf meta in 2013 because there is almost nothing about the daynes post robert's rebellion. so bear with me.

just to set the scene, the members of house dayne left after the mess of the rebellion were the unnamed older brother of ashara and arthur, the lord and father of edric; allyria the youngest sister that i headcanon to be much younger than her older siblings seeing as she is betrothed to beric dondarrion who is was in his twenties per agot so i don't think the marriage would've occurred if allyria was in her middle thirties or forties if she was closer to ashara and arthur; edric, twelve years old, beric's loyal squire; and gerold aka darkstar head of high hermitage, also in his twenties? around arianne's age.

(c) Eddie Mendoza for the cover of A Song of Ice and Fire 2025 Calendar

under the cut because i'm crazy

i don't know if the books are ever going to make clear what happened at the toj-starfall zone but we can be sure only that ned went from one to the other with lyanna's bones and supposedly baby jon to return dawn to the daynes. ashara had a baby of father unknown and shortly after ned was there she took her own life, body never found. i go back and forward in thinking if ashara's brother lord dayne was there with her when ned went or if he was one of the dornish commanders defending the targs. in any case, his presence was completely zero during this time so i think he was too injured for a time or too sickly in general to do something to reestablish the dayne name in dorne after arthur being an important part in elia's disgrace and indirectly, her murder.

because yeah after arthur and ashara's death and going by the books there is zero mention of them, even in the chapters set in dorne or others about dornish characters make no mention of them. and it's strange considering that when you read awoiaf and f&b, the daynes are The knights of dorne. queen nymeria marries a dayne, sends a starfall king to the wall, meria martell commands a dayne to burn oldtown, arguably one of the most powerful cities of the time, out of all the sons of daeron ii and myriah martell, maekar marries a dayne, the only dornish lady. it could be nothing OR something but i think it does mean something. we see there's no daynes in oberyn's party in kl or speculation in general about the new sword of the morning beyond remembering dear old arthur. they've fallen completely into obscurity. the house was reduced to a young girl and its child lord.

edric's dad dies before agot (he doesn't seem to afflicted by his death when he meets arya if he were less than a year dead, inheriting the lordship at such a young age would've been dramatic to him), i would say just after becoming a page to beric dondarrion at 7 yo and i headcanon the marriage between beric and allyria was brokered at this time too. this was part of a fic i was writing like 500 years ago but i think lord dayne must have known he would not live too long, not to see edric grow so he must have looked for someone to prepare and take care of allyria and edric after he died. betrothing allyria to a marcher lord is......strange. if a dornish person would have to be married to someone it would go like this 1) not from the reach 2) not from the marches in that order, there is too much bad blood. the daynes have a longstanding tradition of killing oakhearts so marrying allyria to the heir of blackhaven and giving him his only heir, lord dayne entrusted a complete stranger with the future of his house.

beric would've been in charge of teaching young edric just about everything. he would be living in the stormlands for almost half his live, learning from a his maester and how to govern a stormlands' castle. meanwhile, allyria in a few years probably around agot time would be ready to marry beric when she reached her majority. she would've been the defacto ruler of starfall in edric's name when lord dayne dies, i think the idea was to swap when edric gained his spurs: he would return to starfall after a successful run as a tourney knight, probably gaining some recognition from whatever beric was tasked with at the capital (rip king) and then accompany allyria to be married to his knight master. andddd fin.

the thing is. allyria being so young during the rebellion, lord dayne absence for whatever reason and then dying, let the younger members with no connections in the wider dorne political context. it is said young children go to the water gardens and it's fun yeah but it's def a starting point for politics for many lords. it's close to the martells and it's an opportunity to make friends with future rulers, /everyone/ is going. the daynes didn't have this. allyria was probably very young when the rebellion happened (i think no older than 5) and for obvious reasons she was not sent to the water gardens; as for ned, i think lord dayne could not secure an invitation, this or he died too early to even try. if allyria had gone, she would've been for sure one of arianne's companions, she has both the breeding and the standing, but NOT and it's crucial, the reputation. see what arianne has to say in affc about gerold's standing:

"He is highborn enough to make a worthy consort, she thought. Father would question my good sense, but our children would be as beautiful as dragonlords."

it's must be passé to associate with the daynes at this point. think of the conningtons losing all standing when joncon lost the battle and was exiled.

in any case, allyria, more than edric, grew in obscurity. as of the books she's betrothed to a marcher lord nobody knows if he's alive or dead, has a missing nephew and it's in charge of one of the most ancient first men houses of westeros. sad! at least ned is having more fun. which leads me to darkstar. i see his thirst to prove himself, his notoriety as a cruel knight as another way to separate himself from what the main branch has fallen into. he is in his twenties so he was probably affected by the same dark cloud as the others.

"If I led a quarter of a million men to death, would they call me Gerold the Great? I shall remain Darkstar, I think. At least it is mine own."

he wants to have what arthur had, but not be the sword of the morning, he wants something that it's his own, as he says. he may want the sword and the fame like arthur, but not to be associated with another's bad luck so to speak. it's very telling that he's called one of "the most dangerous man in dorne" and what is the sword of the morning if not this? he's a dark mirror of the daynes pre rebellion, just like allyria would've been a renown beauty just like ashara is she wasn't cloistered. something something gerold and allyria as mirrors of what could've happened to ashara and arthur if they hadn't the protection of the monarchy.

i once read gerold is meant to have young ned's plot after germ scrapped the five year time skip and i think this is half true. i do think there is something to be done about dawn the sword and i think gerold is going to steal it and do something with it, something ned can't do because he's /still/ in the riverlands. i don't know what but i think it ties nicely with the theme of deconstructing the noble knight archetype. arthur is only great because he knew how to kill.

writing this i had a breakdown about the parallels between arthur and gerold

to finish this rambling i want to say my hopes for house dayne in what is left of asoiaf is 1) ned alive 2) gerold steals dawn 3) and like. something. honestly i will take anything at this point about allyria. DOES SHE EVEN KNOW? my poor girl and 4) if germ wants to clear the toj situation then it's fine.

thanks for asking and to anyone reaching this point lol. this is mostly general but if you want to talk about anything specific just message me! k thx muah!

#ask #Anonymous #allyria dayne #gerold dayne #edric dayne #ashara dayne #arthur dayne #house dayne #fallen and reborn #valyrianscrolls #let's give darkstar dawn i want to see something funny #all this to say 'which could mean nothing' #[keeps opening more gdox about gerold and allyria meeting] #just had to post this it's been HOURS

[pulpwriterx]

Ben Solo, Gladiator.  Part 2 : Lost, Stolen, Sold?

***

Prime Minister Organa-Solo was on pins and needles all day.

She hadn’t made any appointments, because she knew she would not have been able to keep them.

She locked Poe and Finn in her office when he arrived.

“Well, was it Ben?” Leia asked Poe.

“It was the Chief! I know Ren, I was in his command crew! Me and Poe got a seat in front…”

***

About a half hour into the spectacle, the Ringmaster came out to thunderous cheers.

Almost everybody but Finn and Poe knew what was about to happen.

“Ladies and gentlemen of all races and species! This is the moment you have been waiting for. I give you your champion! The Wookiee!”

Four other Wookies led a huge man bound in chains into the center ring.

He wore nothing but a Wookiee battle helmet and arm-guards, a short kilt or skirt of something that looked like interlinked rows of black flaps of carbon-fiber armor, an ordinary pair of black exercise shorts, and a pair of dusty Imperial boots.

The gladiator the called the Wookiee strained a little to the left and the right and then, with a great roar, he snapped all his chains like they were made of paper.

The crowd roared.

The gladiator ignited that familiar red lightsaber and the crowd roared, louder.

“Vengeance is mine! Valhalla, I am coming!” the Wookiee roared.

He fought three well-armed and fully dressed former Imperial officers at a time, killing them all, and one black-robed Sith, who also had a lightsaber.

They were not, Finn observed, First Order Officers.

“Those are Imperials, Poe. Old Imperials. Men who were officers for the Empire.” Finn pointed out.

“What difference would that make?”

“They aren’t his people. Our people. First Order guys. We had some Imperials on the Finalizer, but they were all pilots. The old Imperial officers, they were Snoke’s guys. Most of them were pretty brutal, and universally despised. Even by First Order officers. The Chief’s war isn’t over. As long as one of them is alive? He can’t stop fighting.”

Poe nodded, understanding dawning on him.

Ben, because it was Ben, danced his Imperial opponents around for show, to please the audience, but he had to genuinely fight the Sith.

Finn and Poe knew he would win, and they knew he would either cut the man in half or take his head.

Ben did both.

He swung his lightsaber, forehand and cut the Sith in half, and then decapitated him on the backswing.

He caught the head as it was falling and held it up to the crowd.

The eyes were still blinking, and the mouth gaped in shock.

He walked around the bloody ring, shouting, and brandishing the head.

“Thus always to my enemies! Death to the Imperials of the First Empire! Death to the Sith! They are the ghosts of the past and they must die! And I will kill them all!”

The crowd roared.

“Send them all to Hell, Chief!” someone yelled.

Finn stood up.

“Four more for us, Chief!” he yelled.

There was a scattered cheer, from the crowd.

“I will hunt them to the last man, woman and child, my brothers and sisters!” Ben promised.

“The Chief was a good commander. He never asked us to do anything he wouldn’t do. We followed him because he was a good commander and we respected him. Not because we feared or hated him. That kind of loyalty doesn’t go away.” Finn explained.

As everyone began to file out, Finn and Poe made a beeline for the exit.

Poe went one way to look for Ben, Finn went the other.

Finn went out the rear door.

Behind the arena, under a large metal awning against the near-constant Arkanian rains there was a row of stalls.

Ben was standing in one, taking off his bloody armor.

There was hay on this dirt floor, and every gladiator had a stall.

Finn was so embarrassed for his Chieftain that he tried to leave without being seen.

“Hey, soldier! FN2187! I hear you got a name now. Finn. That’s funny, because I lost two names along the way. I’m not dead. You’re not being haunted. Come over here and talk to me.”

Finn turned around.

His Chieftain was smiling at him.

Finn went over to the wooden stall, even though he was almost overpowered by the smell of blood, gore and sweat.

The man who had been Kylo Ren was encrusted with all of that, along with a coating of thick Arkanian mud.

In a stall, with hay on the floor, like an animal might have.

With a collar around his neck, to keep him from escaping.

It made Finn think of when he had served under this man, and how they had called him “My Chieftain” or just “Chief”

He had been a good commanding officer.

They had feared Smoke, but loved Kylo Ren; he had always been one of them

Whatever fate the man deserved, this was worse.

When Finn got close enough, Ben trapped him in a back-slapping, hearty man-hug.

“How the fuck are you? I didn’t hurt you too bad on Starkiller Base, huh? I’m sorry, Finn. It was the betrayal that hurt me. I didn’t know what you knew then. That I could escape. That l could be free.”

“Chief, you’re not free, yet. What are you doing here?”

“My time. Like you said. That’s four less of the bastards who enslaved us. Four more for us.”

“Poe! Come here! I have to get you out of here, Chief. It’s not worth it. You can’t be in this place like a slave. Like an animal. It’s not right. Maybe you deserved punishment, but you…we changed. Both of us. We switched sides. I killed a lot of people when I was a Stormtrooper, too. But I made up for it, and I’m still trying to. I mean, you and Rey pretty much won the war. And people say Ben Solo killed Kylo Ren. So, you don’t have to hide out here. You’re a free man, now. You don’t have to live like this.”

“I’m not hiding out. I’m making up for my crimes. Doing time for them, anyway.”

“Not like this, Chief. I know it’s hard to accept freedom. To live with what you did in the past. But doing this won’t help.”

Poe walked up beside Finn.

“Ben? Holy Mother Force! I was really hoping that wasn’t you! How did you…never mind. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“I can’t just leave. You see this iron collar around my neck? It’s not just to attach shackles to. It’s a shock collar. If I go too far? It's a humane death. A quick shock, and I’m bantha fodder.”

Finn looked away.

“This is worse than the First Order. So much worse.” he said, his voice cracking with emotion.

“Ben, what the fark? If you try to leave, they shock you to death? You’re like my unofficial little brother. You think I’m going to leave you like this? I’ll get money. Lots of money. Your mother’s loaded. How can you stand the smell?” Poe persisted.

Ben laughed, sadly.

“You get used to the smell. And I don’t want to go. You guys should free somebody who’s here against his will.  I sold myself into slavery for five years. I might make it ten. It was good to see you both. I’m glad you found your way back. But there isn’t one for me. I’d like to talk to you guys for longer, but a very rich lady paid the Ringmaster a lot of money for my company, this evening, and I have to go take a shower and a bath. I’m doing hard time, you know.”

He winked at them.

“Who?” Poe asked.

“Did you see the Askajian Princess? She’s a big girl, but in all the right places, and she is six feet tall. Blonde. Blue-eyes. Beautiful. And you know Askajian women have four sets of tits. I saw her in one of the private boxes. That means she paid good money for the show, and for me. She always tells me I’m her favorite. Maybe she’ll buy me from the Ringmaster and keep me on a big pink cushion at the foot of her throne. A man can dream, can’t he?”

Ben winked.

“Its not all bad. I’ll see you guys around. I’ve got to go drown my angst in a beautiful woman.”

***

“Did you see anybody like that, Poe?”

“Yes. But I also saw Hela Darkstar. Ben was waving that head at her like it was a long-stemmed red rose. And she did keep him, as a concubine, once. For six months. He bet his ass on a hand of Sabacc, and lost. It took Han six months to negotiate a price with Fenrir Darkstar, and I was there the day he paid it. Ben didn’t want to go. And Hela didn’t want to let him.”

“I remember her. She was Thursday. And even when she didn’t show? Nobody else was Thursday. We’d better hurry. If Hela buys the Chief back from the Ringmaster? Why the fuck would he want to come with us?”

***

Leia put her head down on her desk.

“I’ve been trying to get that hellhole shut down for decades. Now they have my son. Fighting him like a dog and breeding him like a bull. Meanwhile,  I can give out fifty executive orders. The Darkstars will never carry them out. Unlike her father, Hela isn’t a big fan of the Arena, but she tells me it brings in a quarter of the revenue Arkanis gets. More, in a slow year.  She can’t just shut it down. Otherwise, who the hell would go to Arkanis? I keep telling the Senate, if we re-opened the old Imperial Academy as a branch of the Republic Academy then the Clans could afford to shut down the Arena. But it’s the Outer Rim. Nobody cares. Maybe they will, now. Did you find out how much Ragnar wants for Ben?”

“Two million in Imperial Gold Coins.” Poe replied

“Ben has that. I don’t know where he’s hidden it, though.”

“But I think Ragnar Darkstar would sell to his cousin and Chieftain for less.”

“Hela?”

“I saw her there. So did Ben. He told us an Askajian princess had purchased him for the evening, but I think it was Hela. Because it was Thursday. If she buys his freedom and takes him away? She’ll give him back his great-grandfather Kylo Skywalker’s clan. And Ben will have no reason to ever come home.”

“Yes he will.”

“You mean Rey?”

“I mean Rey. I hate for her to see him in that place, but there’s nothing else we can do. That Twi-lek trader? Fix it so he innocently tells Rey the story. She’s our only hope. I can’t just go bust him out. But she can.”

***

“Ben, what are you doing in this terrible place? You’re breaking my black heart. I hate this Arena, but my planet would starve without it. But seeing you here? I want to kill my cousin Ragnar, free you all, and burn this place to the ground.”

“I’m not going with you, Hela.”

“You are the son of Leia Skywalker, the grandson of Anakin Skywalker, the great-grandson of Kylo Skywalker, the rightful Chieftain of the Raven Clan. The scion of the usuper doesn’t deserve your birthright. Why let him have it? You took Kylo’s name. Now take your birthright, Ben. We’ll take it, together.”

“Going to war with you to free my people? It’s tempting, Hela. But I’m not worth to be Chieftain of the Raven Clan. I’m not worthy to be Ben Solo. I’m not worthy to be anything but what I am. So, are you really going to waste your money talking all night?”

Hela shoved a chest full of Imperial Gold Coins at his feet.

“That’s 500 large, in Imperial Gold Coins, and you’re worth every one, you son of a bitch. Like it or not? You’re coming with me. I gave Ragnar two weeks, at the most, to finish your bookings? And then? You’re all mine. Again.”

Hela Darkstar was wearing her long red hair loose, and her Arkanian tattoos, and nothing else but the dagger strapped to her round white thigh.

She was sitting in a big, overstuffed chair.

“You can’t just buy me, Hela. This is my punishment, for the wrong I've done.”

“I can so just buy you, Ben. I spent a small fortune out-bidding that Askajian Amazon, just for tonight. You want punishment?”

She opened her legs as far as they would go.

“Kneel down on the rug, right about here and I’ll punish you. I’ll fucking drown you, and at these prices, you’d better lick it up and swallow every drop.”

“Don’t you even want me to take a bath?” Ben asked, laughing.

“Later. Right now? You want to be a cheap man whore? I’ll farkling well treat you like one. I’ll have you fine and filthy, and fuck you right on the goddamn floor.”

“You and I both know I don’t come cheap.”

Hela winced.

“That was a terrible pun! Get on your knees and beg my forgiveness for saying it!”

***

“Keep your eyes closed.”

Hela Darkstar, Chieftain of the Wolf Clan, High Chieftain of all the Clans of Arkanis, sniffed Prince Organa-Solo's hair.

“Nope. Still smells a little like bantha shit. I have to wash it, again.”

“I can do this, myself.”

“Ben, when you do things, yourself, without a smart woman around? You fuck up.”

Hela washed his hair, again, and rinsed it.

“Now we’re clean. But this water isn’t. I’m getting out. Parlay in the bedroom?”

“Parlay for what?”

“That chest of Imperial Gold Coins.”

Ben was still drying his hair with a towel when he came out.

“I’m listening.”

“Fucking pirate. So, is being a man whore the way you thought it would be in your fantasy of ‘By the Force, yes, women are going to pay to have sex with me? Where do I sign?’ Or do you find the whole thing a little demeaning?”

“Most of the time? It’s just like any man’s dumb teenage fantasy come true. But some of these women? Demeaning isn’t even the word. I’ve been asked to do some really weird things. Disturbingly so. And when I refuse?  Ragnar yells at me because he had to give people their money back. And some of these girls who just wanted, you know, the usual? They were awful to me. They treated me like I was…”

“A slave? A whore?”

“Speaking of which? General Pryde paid for an evening with me. Ragnar just looked at me when I said, ‘Go ahead, take his money. He’s been in love with me for years.’ It’s not what you think, Hela. I just wanted to spend some time with a human being who loves me. We talked. He tried to convince me to leave. Called me “Benjamin” and “Young Lord Vader”. Brought me the kind of cookies I liked. I cried, and he hugged me. And I said, ‘Alright Enric. You win. I give up. You can give me a blow job. I’ll take off my clothes. And he said, ‘My dear boy, my beautiful boy, I have been waiting for ten years for this, but I love and respect you too much to take advantage of you. You’re terrible at being a whore, you should quit.’ That was my low point.”

“You should quit. And you don’t have to live here. Come and live with me. You can just come here and do your fighting, and then come home to me, until your time here is served. Then I don’t have to give Ragnar this money. Also? You have to call your mother. And I won’t have time for you, every day, so you’re going to let Rebel Girl know that you’re alive. These are my terms.”

“They aren’t bad. Can I have the Askajian Princess to my rooms?”

“No. And no other women but Rey. You want to fuck around? Rent a room. You’ve got the money.”

#reylo daily #reylo week 2020 #save ben solo #ben solo lives #post tros #reylo #Star Wars fanfic