Ser Duncan the Tall

"Princess Obella, Prince Trystanne, and young Prince Doran," the king greets them, the Martell family bows, as per protocol, and the king kisses the princess's hand at the same time Trystanne kisses the hand of the queen, Doran followed his father's example and the queen smiled at him.

"What a proper young prince," cooed the queen.

The adults exchange a few words while Doran looks at them somewhat bored, Prince Jaehaerys and his family are greeting the Stark family. Doran notices that the children seem equally bored, Aerys tries to strike up a conversation with the Stark heir, Rickard, but the five-year-old seems uninterested. Rhaella grabs her mother's skirt with one hand and stands beside her, looking but saying nothing.

Elsewhere, Prince Duncan and his wife are talking to an old man in gray robes, Grand Master Theon Rivers, the first known bastard to attain the position of Grand Master. Doran remembers that Wulfric mentioned Theon, said that the bastard from the Riverlands is a friend of Aemon Targaryen, elder brother of the king; Apparently that friendship helped him reach this position.

Soon the king passes by to greet another Great House, House Tyrell, and Obella leads her son to a Valyrian-looking family.

The eldest of the group has hair a mixture of golden silver and gray hair, but his eyes still have the energy of youth: he is Aethan Velaryon, Master of Ship. Lord Velaryon served as Master of Ships to three Targaryen kings: first Aerys I, then Maekar I, and now Aegon V. Of all the members of the small council he has the most seniority.

After exchanging greetings, Doran is introduced to Aethan's son and heir, Lucerys Velaryon, who is 14 years old and the squire of the Dragonfly prince.

Their conversation is interrupted by the butler, who says that it is time to enter the banquet hall, which is a nearby room.

The banquet hall reminds him a bit of the Hogwarts hall, a high table and several long tables in front of it. Here are seven long tables. At the high table sit the king, his wife, his heir, and some special guests; those of higher rank.

His parents sit at the high table while Doran sits at one of the long tables, that table is full of children.

He sits between the Stark boy and Lord Arryn's nephew, Elbert, who is the same age.

"Good evening my lords, I am Prince Doran Nymeros Martell."

The two boys introduce themselves, Elbert seems somewhat shy while Rickard is gruff and of few words.

Seated in front of Doran is the Tully heir, Hoster, who is eleven years old. Next to him is his younger brother Brynden, who is six years old. On the other side of Hoster the Lannister brothers are seated, in front of them the Targaryen children.

The banquet consisted of seven courses, as is tradition, Doran especially enjoyed the roasted ham steak with honey and mushrooms.

Between courses he talked with the children sitting near him.

The first impression that he had of Rickard is completely correct, the boy is very stoic and prefers to remain silent to start a conversation. Elbert, on the other hand, once he got used to all the people, he became a new boy: cheerful and talkative. He entertained them with stories of the Eyrie.

Elbert is the son of Ronnel Arryn, younger brother of Jon Arryn; His parents died shortly after he was born and he was adopted by his uncle.

Jon Arryn was married twice: his first wife, Jeyne Royce, died of illness and his second wife, Rowena Arryn, died giving birth. At 31 years old Lord Arryn has no children of his own, nor does he plan to have any, it has been a few years since the death of his second wife and Lord Arryn has no plans to remarry. He made his nephew his official heir.

Hoster exchanged a few words with the prince, mostly conversing with the Motoon heir sitting next to him, they are both the same age and are squires. But his younger brother joyfully joined in the children's conversation.

By the end of the banquet Doran can say with certainty that he struck up friendships with Elbert Arryn, Brynden Tully, and even the stoic Rickard Stark.

He barely exchanged a few words with Prince Aerys but it is not that Doran cares much, from what he has observed Aerys is a superficial child, of course he is quite charismatic but he is also vain and proud. He reminds Doran too much of a young Draco Malfoy, although he hopes that, like Draco, Aerys will change over the years.

Young Draco and adult Draco were almost completely different persons.

He also talked briefly with other children.

***

The next day Doran woke up as soon as the sun rose, his parents still asleep. Myria brought him some fruit and a glass of milk as a snack. The breakfast will be held in a few hours in the banquet hall.

After eating he left his quarters to explore the castle, he doesn't have anything scheduled until breakfast and he plans to take advantage of the time.

Lothar follows him, still half asleep.

"Did you drink a lot last night?" He asks amused.

"No more than other knights, my prince." He replies after stifling a yawn.

"Are you sure that is alright for us to explore the Red Keep?"

"If it isn't one of the Targaryen guards will say so."

Doran walks through the endless corridors and after a while he hears the sound of metal colliding, he follows the sound and arrives at the training yard.

A dozen guards and knights are in training, among them he recognizes the Velaryon heir and Ser Duncan the Tall.

Doran watches as the Kingsguard Commander engages two knights at the same time.

Ser Duncan is a towering man, he is over two meters tall. He has sun-streaked hair and brown eyes, he has a scar on his cheek. He is fast and strong despite being almost sixty years old.

Doran watches as he defeats his opponents and instead of bragging gives them advice on how to improve their technique.

"Ser Duncan the Tall, the best knight of the Seven Kingdoms according to many." Lothar comments, looking carefully at the commander.

"The best?" Doran looks at him doubtfully. From what he has seen Doran has no doubt about the ability of the white cloak but he saw his father take on half a dozen knights at the same time and win.

"Not in skill," Lothar admits, reading the prince's expression at him. "But what defines a knight is more than skill. It is his character. Ser Duncan is the embodiment of chivalry itself, even when he was a boy no older than me he faced a blood prince to protect a peasant girl."

When Duncan was about sixteen or seventeen years old, not even he himself knew his exact age, his mentor died. Before he died he made him a knight, with little more than a sword, two horses and an armor too small for him Ser Duncan set out for Ashford's Tourney, where he planned to make a name for himself. On the way he met a bald boy named Egg whom he ended up accepting as his squire, not knowing that Egg was the youngest son of Prince Maekar.

At Ashford he met Prince Baelor (Daeron II's firstborn son and heir), Prince Aerys, Prince Maekar, Prince Valarr (Prince Baelor's son), and Prince Aerion (Prince Maekar's second son).

While he was watching the Torney, waiting for his turn, his squire came running. Prince Aerion was assaulting some itinerant puppeteers who were performing plays using dragon-shaped puppets. The prince was offended that in one of the plays the dragon lost and took it out on the poor puppeteers. Duncan arrived at the same time Aerion was beating up a young woman whom he had a crush on. Duncan gave Aerion a beating and was arrested by the guards.

In Westeros the law says that if someone attacks a blood prince he must lose the limb with which he hit the prince, in Duncan's case a hand and a leg because he punched and kicked the prince.

Prince Baelor was on Duncan's side, he disapproved of his nephew's actions, but things got complicated when Prince Daeron (Maekar's firstborn) said that Duncan kidnapped Aegon. Aegon was supposed to be his older brother's squire but Daeron was a drunk with no interest in chivalry, he shaved off his younger brother's hair and hid in an inn where he drunkenly spent day and night. Duncan passed that inn on his way to Ashford and Aegon decided to follow him, if he wasn't going to become a squire to his brother he would become a squire to another knight.

Daeron didn't want to admit to his father that he lost his brother so he made up a story about how a tall, stocky outlaw kidnapped Aegon. So Duncan ended up facing charges not only of assaulting one prince but also of kidnapping another.

Maekar was too stubborn and did not believe Aegon when he told the truth as the young Egg already had a reputation for telling half-truths and lies to get his way.

Baelor recommended that Duncan demand a trial by combat, in the end Maekar demanded a trial of all seven. A combat between fourteen knights, seven against seven. Duncan, who didn't know many knights, had a hard time finding allies but Aegon and a friend he made during the Tourney helped him and Prince Baelor himself joined his team.

The trial ended in victory for Duncan's side when he defeated Aerion and forced him to surrender. Unfortunately, during the battle, Maekar's mace hit Baelor's helmet and shortly after the combat ended, the crown prince died.

"Aerion and Maekar's actions were not punished?" asked Doran surprised, he knows that Maekar became king after the death of his brother Aerys.

"Aerion was banished to Lys for a few years and King Maekar..." Lothar sighs, "It was agreed that Prince Baelor's death was an accident."

The two continue to watch the training, Doran seeing Ser Duncan in a new light.

`A poor knight faced a prince to protect a peasant, you are quite something ser Duncan.`

***

NOTE: So is quite obvious I love ser Duncan, he is by far my favorite knight. In westeros most knight shit on their oaths but ser Duncan was always an honorable and a genuily good person. I read Knights of the Seven Kingdoms and damn! I recommended it 100%.