"So lad, why have you dragged us out here, other than to show off your pretty lights some more?"
The King of Westeros was as boarish as ever, but she had to agree with his point, on the whole, she did not make a habit of staying up until the morning. It was poor for the health of the skin, and the expense of candlewax while trivial to her back in Norvos, was still something to be considered.
Then again, the Prince didn't seem to use candles. Instead, the center of town down to the black waters of the docks was lit up by small glass spheres suspended above balls, which all glowed with a sort of green-white light, quite distinct from that caused by fire.
They did get quite hot though, as the prince had warned them off of touching them. Apparently several people had already burned themselves.
"The quality of the glass is bad." The boy had explained "Not terrible mind you, by seven kingdoms standards, but not ideal for lightbulbs. The impurities and discoloring prevent some of the light from passing through it, and that, in turn, causes that light to become heat. I'm told the glassblowers back on Dragonstone are working on it."
She could understand the idea, but how one would figure it out in the first place was beyond her.
Either way, she steered clear of the things, though she could certainly appreciate that they lit the streets. It would be far more difficult for thieves and the like to move about if a city was lit up even in the night.
Still, in response to his Uncle's words, the boy smiled, gesturing up towards the forts on the hills and their own rings of lights. "Keep your eyes up there uncle and you'll find out soon enough, it's a bit of a surprise."
Mellario, listening in, gazed up towards the fortresses. She hadn't really paid them much mind before, save for the odd lighthouse beams they shined down from their towers, but they didn't particularly seem anything special in the light of the day.
Then those same lights began to swing wildly, up towards the clouds which still hadn't cleared in the wake of the evening storm, their bright beams seeming to create big circles of light above the town, making the night sky appear almost as day within a limited radius.
Then there was a shrieking sound, and her eyes were drawn to the island at the center of the Cove, where a single point of light was rising into the air.
She barely had time to think before the thing burst, high up in the air, sending flecks of green flame sparkling off into the night like a giant flower, and cracking the air with a noise like one of Lord Stannis' Cannons.
She heard the boy chuckling a bit, and realized it was because his father had tackled him to the ground.
"No need to panic father, they aren't mortars no matter how much they sound like them. The fireworks are rockets designed to shoot up and stay there, like those flares I gave you."
As the pair disentangled themselves, and Robert laughed at his Brother's caution, the Lord stood to his feet, glaring at his son as if he had poured spoiled milk on his lap. "You should have told me beforehand." He said simply, prompting what Mellario thought was definitely a roll of the eyes from his son.
"That would ruin the surprise father." He said as another "Firework" screeched into the air, this time bursting into flecks of orange-red light, rather than green.
"I only have those two types as of yet, though I'm fairly sure I could make others with a variety of metals. I'm planning to make it a habit of using them to welcome the new year, along with some other things."
"Other things?"
"A night festival I should think, waiting for the actual hour of midnight, eating and drinking unhealthily, probably give everyone a headache in the morning. I might commission some mummers to write songs as well. I didn't have time to really plan it much this year." The boy glanced back towards the town proper, nodding his head."I think that should be just about everyone awake at this point, if they're not it's their own fault."
Mellario watched as the prince walked over to one of the metal posts, reaching underneath the rim of it, his fingers seemed to push into something and the light began flickering out and then back on in rapid succession.
Seeing the curiosity of the rest of those present, he turned towards them, chuckling.
"Just giving them the signal to start phase two. We can go back up the hill and watch from the balcony at the Inn after this, I have some good wines to use up, and I don't drink much myself."
Leaving the light back on, he whistled as not one this time, but more than a dozen of the rockets screeched up at once, detonating at different heights and filling the sky with color for a moment as their loud blasts rolled over the port.
"Well, I can hardly say no to that." Robert chuckled, following the Prince as he made his way up the street, followed closely by his brother, and shortly after by a pair of his bodyguards, leaving her alone at the dock for a moment as her eyes traced the forms of the next explosions.
'Arianne is to marry a very odd boy' she finally decided, turning back to follow the prince up the hill, her path lit by the "Lightbulbs" and by the red and green blasts of the fire in the sky.
'A very odd boy indeed.'