(Four Moons since arriving at the wall, Three and a half since the Long night fell)
Dorne 301 AC.
Mellario.
Watching the world turn to darkness had been perhaps the single most disturbing thing she'd ever experienced. Living in eternal night, seeing people panic as the sun no longer rose had almost left her at wit's end. Yet watching her daughter calm people and bring order where there was none had made her prouder than she had ever dreamed she could be. Arianne despite her own worries and concerns, both for the babe that grew within her and her husband who was off fighting a war, had put them aside for her people.
Her words resonated and when she told them that her husband and his dragon were fighting for the people of Dorne alongside her uncle their prince and the king himself, Mellario had seen some of the worries fade away. When she'd then saw that torches were lit and placed to offer the most light they could and that guards were to roam the streets carrying lanterns, not to subdue but to protect and offer assurance, then people soon began to calm.
Now moons later it had become almost an afterthought that you went to bed and rose to a moonless night. Her eyes had become accustomed to it, her moods had no longer swung because of it and instead, it was the babe her daughter carried that became her concern. That Tyrion wasn't here to hold Arianne's hand was something that she knew had led to tears falling from her more than once. Not having Ellaria and her cousins, Oberyn and even Trystane here had only added to those tears. So Mellario had done her best to offer her the comfort that those who weren't here could not.
She knew she had helped and that her daughter appreciated that help. Yet each night she went to her bed, Mellario prayed to any god that would listen to see this night end and her family returned safely to her. For Tyrion was her family now and she worried should he not return, then her daughter's heart would be broken never to recover. Not even the babe she was so close to delivering would fix the wound in her heart should she lose her husband, Mellario feared. It was why when the letters arrived she was so relieved to see Arianne's mood improve so completely.
"Mother, from Tyrion." Arianne said happily as she read it, her daughter smiling more than wiping her eyes which was something she was grateful for.
"What does he say, my love?" she asked once Arianne had finished.
"That the fight goes well and that their plans are working. He says the Wall has fallen and yet he welcomes it as that was not the fight they were meant to face. Oberyn is safe and well or as well as he ever can be." Arianne said with a chuckle and she wondered if Tyrion had used those exact words "That he misses me and wishes he could hold my hand, and rub my feet when they pain me so." Arianne said smiling broadly now.
She listened as her daughter told her the things she could and withheld things that she knew were between a man and wife. Oberyn's letter had her laughing even more and Mellario thanked her goodbrother for bringing her such cheer. Their dinner that night was a most welcome one, the mood in the palace improved dramatically by Arianne's own joy. Mellario even noticing a smile on Areo's face as her daughter made fun of her faithful guard.
When she took to her bed it was in a much better mood than it had been when she woke and yet her worries were soon to return. The sounds of screaming woke her up and she ran barely dressed from her room to her daughter's to find it a hive of activity. Maester Myles, some acolytes, Areo, and some of Arianne's ladies all huddled around the bed as her daughter cried out in pain.
"Ari, Ari, my love." she said moving to her and not realizing it was the babe that was causing her daughter's distress, were it not for Myles's words she'd not have gotten an answer either as Arianne was in no state to do so.
