Pool of the Maiden, also known as Maidenpool, appears as both a destination for Princess Saera Targaryen’s youthful circle and a setting for the tournament that first brought Criston Cole to the royal court’s attention. Its connections to courtly recreation and to the Mooton family give it a modest but recurring place in the account.

Setting and Courtly Visits

During the year when Saera’s favored companions were often together at feasts, balls, hunts, and hawking, the group once sailed across Blackwater Bay to Dragonstone. Pool of the Maiden is one of the places associated with the circle’s shared recreation, whose members included Jonah Mooton, Red Roy Connington, Braxton Beesbury, Perianne Moore, and Alys Turnberry. The account places the town within a wider itinerary of courtly leisure rather than describing its streets or buildings.

The Tournament and Criston Cole

A tournament at Maidenpool, held in honor of King Viserys I Targaryen’s accession, made the town the scene of Criston Cole’s first notable appearance before the court. In the melee’s final moments, Cole knocked Dark Sister from Prince Daemon Targaryen’s hand with a morningstar, pleasing the king and angering the prince. Cole then gave the young Princess Rhaenyra the victor’s laurel and asked for her favor to wear in the joust. He won again in the lists, defeating Daemon and unhorsing Ser Arryk Cargyll and Ser Erryk Cargyll before Lord Lymond Mallister defeated him. The tournament thus links Maidenpool to Cole’s rise at court and to the early relationship between the knight and Rhaenyra.

The Mooton Connection

The town’s association with Jonah Mooton later became personal as well as political. After the scandal involving Saera and her companions, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen arranged for Perianne Moore, who was not pregnant, to marry Jonah. The marriage succeeded, and the pair eventually became lord and lady of Maidenpool in the Riverlands. In this way, a place first connected to the young company’s outings and a royal tournament also became the home of one of the relationships reshaped by the scandal.