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They had come down from the Red Mountains, not raiders but a band of starving peasants. The soldiers of House Clover were prepared to turn them away with steel, none more than your father's uncle Ser Normund, a veteran of the Young Dragon's war with no love for the Dornish. Your father had been new to his lordship, it was a decisive moment. He had a choice to make.
He chose mercy. The storehouse was opened, food and water given to the hungry, parched dark faces filthy with mountain dust. Among them he had seen her, Dalia. She had caught your father's eye when she had stood her ground against your grand uncle's bared steel, and caught his interest when she had distributed the bread and wine before taking any herself.
Lord Garlan had yet to marry, and in the next few months near ended his planned betrothal to the Lady Redlark.
But of your mother you only had stories, her dark hair, and an olive toned skin that darkened to a deep brown under the heat of the sun.
She had survived a fraught adventure across Dorne's burning sands and the perils of the Red Mountains, bringing her people through mortal danger to safety, only to meet her end in the birthing bed. Lord Garlan had buried her among the roses, the resting place of the lord and ladies of the Rose Hall.
Until his young bride had come down from the Stormlands. The Redlarks were a knightly house of the Dornish Marches, fighting in the vanguard of the Young Dragon's army. Marisa Redlark's own father had been killed by Dornish treachery, cut down under a banner of peace by the Young Dragon's side when she had still been at her milk mother's breast.
Your mother's bones had been dug up and dispersed into the hills under the scornful eye of the now Lady Clover, four and ten and full of envy.
It was a scornful eye you'd find hunting for you from time to time. Perhaps if you had been less your mother's son, or lacked your father's clear grey eyes...
You are Edric Flowers, half-blooded and bastard born.
Your father had done what he could to protect you.
>you were apprenticed to the kennelmaster, Lyle, where you'd be out of view among the hounds. He is a kind and well meaning man, a second father to you
>you were given to the brutal master-at-arms, Ser Hobb, to train. He is a harsh, cruel man, but knows his business
>you were given to Maester Wilard, an absent minded guardian who had little time for you, but gave you access to his library
>you were given to the steward, Qarl, a favourite of Lady Marisa, he keeps you close to your father but leaves you open to her spite
