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πππ πππ ππππ || @azmenkaβ ::ββββ
β you canβt save everyone. β ( for Oberyn )
ΖΈΜ΅Μ‘ΣΜ΅Μ¨ΜΖ· βΒ OBERYN IS NOT A MAN WHO ISΒ told what he can or cannot doΒ . . .Β the red viper is fierce and his venom is proud, and he is the master to his own actionΒ . . .Β hence, when balonβs son and heir, maron greyjoy, manifests seemingly from the shadows of the night, as the sea sings below his kingfisher, only to say he canβt save everyone, the red viper cannot help but to scoff.Β logicallyΒ oberyn understands these words to be trueΒ . . .Β he understands them all too well.Β in spite of his efforts to keep his family and those he loves safe, his failures have been monumentalΒ -Β he had failed to keep elia safe from the dragons.Β he had failed protecting her son from the mountainβs grasp.Β he had even failed in saving rhaenys from the bladesΒ . . .Β until the letter from starfall came.Β his redemption, his chance to avenge elia, to undo those wrongs, and give her rest.Β from the beginning, doranβs plans had matched his brotherβs.Β avenge their sister.Β bring down the lannisters.Β place the rightful queen on the throne.Β oberyn had not always agreed with his brotherβs motives, but the endgame was much the same.Β certainly, oberyn has taken liberties in how he has raised herΒ -Β adara sand, his bastard daughter, a sand snake, until the truth could be unveiledΒ . . .Β he brought her up no differently.Β hers is venom, much like his.Β
Β Β Β Β it was a venom he took pride in, when rhaenys went against doranβs wishes to first go to the iron islands, to secure the greyjoy fleet for her causeΒ . . .Β a wise decision, from oberynβs point of view.Β the ironborn were just as hungry for revenge, so why not spurΒ it into action ? ? ?Β and, admittedly, he had been apprehensiveΒ when news of the proposal cameΒ . . .Β but unlike doran, oberyn is pleasedΒ -Β a lord like willas tyrell or robb stark or edmure tully would have been wroughtΒ with boredom, lacking the force necessary to tear down a whole dynasty like the lannistersΒ . . .
Β Β Β Β it certainly shows in maronβs character, as he approaches the red viper and speaksΒ to him in such a mannerΒ -Β cannot save everyone.Β the thought is both vexing and amusing and the emotions play obviously over oberynβs face.Β stillΒ . . .Β he understandsΒ part of the intentionΒ . . .Β after all, he has made it clear his intentionsΒ -Β avenge his sister and her son, place his niece on the throne, and protectΒ his family by any means necessaryΒ . . .Β to save them from the absolute carnage and bloodshed the lannisters would see them through, again.
Β Β Β Β β you have a uniqueΒ set of losses which mirror house martellβs, lord of the axe.Β i know better than most what it means to avenge someone you failed to protect, as i am sure you do, βΒ oberyn says, his dark, near obsidian, eyes flashing amidst the darkness.Β Β β there will be no rest until blood pays for blood. βΒ avenge them they shall.Β a cold smile adorns oberynβs lips, reaping pleasure from the thought of slaying the mountain, taking his skull, and presenting it to tywin before he, too, is speared.
Β Β Β Β but revenge is not only for house martellΒ . . .Β house greyjoy shall also have its pound of flesh.Β the boltons.Β yes, the bloody and loathsome house of immorality and violence, placed precisely where they ought to beΒ -Β in the unforgiving cold of the winter, a damned place oberyn takes no pleasure in eventually returning toΒ . . .Β but the north is yet another necessity in the grand scheme of things.Β and, alas, with the starks dead and the boltons in power, it shall not be easy to procure.Β once, doran had thought robb stark a possible matchΒ -Β secure the north, corner the lannisters from both sidesΒ -Β but the boy was a fool.Β he thrust aside his crown for honor.Β he and his people paid the price for his faults, just as ned stark did.Β oberyn never liked the idea of ice and fire.Β too catastrophic.Β arguably the same could be said for the sea and fire, but a kraken and a dragon are rulers of the sky and sea, apex predatorsΒ -Β far likelier to endure.
Β Β Β Β it is this fierce and dangerous matchΒ -Β of which doran has been opposed to from the beginningΒ -Β that shall bring the boltons to their knees.Β oberyn can only imagine the absolute havoc the ironborn shall wreak onto them, particularly what maron greyjoy shall do to the bastard of bolton himself.Β ramsay snow.
Β Β Β Β oberyn hopes he has a chance to see it.
Β Β Β Β β once the south has been taken, might we dare to make a tread into the northern territories.Β our allies shall be greater, then, and our resources more plentiful. βΒ oberyn looks up at the moon.Β arianne is to wed willas tyrellΒ . . .Β arrangements, discreetly, are being made within this very moment.Β with house tyrell secretly within their grasp, right under the noses of the lannisters, the fight should be easy.Β more so, the mutual hatred against the lannisters shall be a great driving forceΒ . . .Β and with margaery tyrell to wed a princeΒ . . .Β Β β and when the full force of such an army travels north, the houses shall kneel.Β the boltons wonβt, not willingly, but theyβll have no trouble when your axe is lodged into their heels. β
Β Β Β Β the red viper steps away from the rails of the ship, turning to face maron greyjoy properly.Β a tall and broad boy, fierce and jaded and hungry for justiceΒ . . .Β as they all are.Β oberyn finds that he sees much of himself in the boy, the same angerΒ . . .Β the same losses.Β what a relief it is that balon greyjoyβs son shall not repeat the sins and follies of his father.
Β Β Β Β and the realm shall know fear for it.
Β Β Β Β β if the rumors are true, your brother is alive.Β i doubt youβll find him as you remember him when you and my niece doΒ secure the north, but at the very least youβll have him. βΒ oberyn exhales then, hooking his thumb through his leather belt, adorned with patterns of twisted snakes, and tilts his head to the sky.Β he longs for the shoreΒ . . .Β for a horse and his spear, to fight, not to sit and wait with utter impatience here.Β praise the gods, his moment is afoot.Β Β β i shall go into the stormlands when we port.Β they say the mountain is thereΒ . . .Β my men and i shall corner them.Β bring him down.Β and when i return, i shall present the mountainβs headΒ -Β consider it an early wedding present. β
Β Β Β Β rhaenys is unhappy with such a plan, though she recognizes the importanceΒ . . .Β oberyn must fight, lest he wither and perish on this ship.Β he must spill lannister blood beside his men.Β and with the mountain so closeΒ . . .
Β Β Β Β β and, with any luck, we shall have stormβs end and dragonstone not long after, βΒ oberyn says, smiling wickedly.Β Β β and i shall reap great pleasure in watching the lannister corpses rise before the iron throneΒ . . . β