The air in the capital was thick with the weight of summer. The sun hung high above the capital, a molten orb blazing down on red-tiled rooftops and narrow cobbled streets. The scent of sea salt from Blackwater Bay mingled unpleasantly with the stench of fish, sweat, and refuse baking under the relentless heat.

Street vendors fanned themselves lazily, their cries for coin subdued by the oppressive warmth.

Children darted through the crowds barefoot, their laughter quick and fleeting as they chased the promise of shade. Even the gold cloaks guarding the city gates looked more like statues, their armor glinting and their faces flushed under their helms.

The heat touched everything — it shimmered off the stones, settled into the bones of the old houses, and made tempers rise as swiftly as the mercury in a maester’s glass.

Birds flew slower, dogs panted in alleys, and the fountains in the square barely whispered with their sluggish trickles. It was the kind of day where wine turned to vinegar too quickly, and the promise of rain was nothing more than a distant, taunting memory.

In side the red keep, in a more private courtyard, could be heard the clashes of steel on steel, Grunts, and even laughter

5 kingsguard, all shirtless, and sweaty, they sparred and trained, in the blistering heat. all but ser jaime and ser Jonothor Darry were present, for the two were with the king and queen, as ever constant shields