Alyn Velaryon and Racallio Ryndoon's Passage Negotiation

Alyn Velaryon and Racallio Ryndoon’s passage negotiation secured the Velaryon fleet’s route through the Stepstones in 133 AC without a battle. The agreement was hard-won: Alyn had to deal with a ruler whose control of the channels made him indispensable, whose conduct could turn abruptly from fellowship to suspicion, and whose demands were met through carefully chosen concessions rather than literal compliance.

The Stepstones and the choice to negotiate

On Alyn’s return to the Stepstones during his voyage toward the Sunset Sea, he approached with more caution than on his previous visit. Because the Free Cities’ alliances and betrayals were continually shifting, he sent scouts ahead disguised as fishing boats and merchantmen. Their reports showed a divided archipelago: Racallio had recovered Bloodstone and the islands to its south, while Pentoshi sellswords hired by the Archon of Tyrosh held rocks to the north and east.

The routes through the islands were dangerous and restricted. Booms closed many channels, and the hulks of ships sunk during Alyn’s earlier attack blocked others. Racallio and his followers controlled the waterways still open. Alyn therefore faced a direct choice: fight his way past Racallio, whom the Archon had styled Queen Racallio, or seek terms. The stakes extended beyond the passage itself. Alyn feared that defeating Racallio might cost him half his strength, and he expected to need every available man if he was to have a chance against the Red Kraken. Choosing parley was thus a strategic effort to preserve the fleet for the dangers still ahead.

Parley at Bloodstone

In 133 AC, Racallio was at the height of his power. Alyn detached the ship Lady Baela from the fleet and sailed her into Bloodstone beneath a parley flag to arrange free passage. The approach avoided an immediate assault, but it did not quickly settle the matter: Racallio kept Alyn in his sprawling wooden fortress for more than a fortnight. Whether Alyn was guest or captive remained unclear even to Alyn, a fitting uncertainty in a negotiation where the host’s welcome and threat repeatedly blurred.

Racallio’s treatment of him changed from day to day. At times he addressed Alyn as a friend and brother-in-arms and urged him to join an attack on Tyrosh; at other times, he consulted bones about whether to put his visitor to death. He also made Alyn wrestle with him in a mud pit while hundreds of pirates jeered. These shifting performances made the parley more than a discussion of safe passage: Alyn had to endure tests of loyalty and status inside the very stronghold from which Racallio controlled the route.

Suspicion could follow apparent fellowship without warning. After beheading a man accused of spying for the Tyroshi, Racallio presented the man’s head to Alyn as a token of their bond. The next day, he accused Alyn himself of being in the Archon’s service. To prove his innocence, Alyn had to kill three Tyroshi prisoners. Racallio was then so pleased with him that he sent two of his wives to Alyn’s chamber and asked that they bear sons as brave and strong as his guest. The sources disagree about whether Alyn complied, leaving that part of the encounter unresolved.

Terms and passage

The final bargain reflected the difference between Racallio’s demands and Alyn’s concessions. Racallio requested three ships, an alliance written on sheepskin and signed in blood, and a kiss. Alyn gave him the three least seaworthy vessels in his fleet and supplied an alliance writ on parchment bearing a maester’s ink rather than blood. For the kiss, he offered a promise from his wife, Baela Targaryen, if Racallio ever visited them on Driftmark.

Those substitutions allowed both men to claim an agreement without Alyn surrendering the fleet’s best ships or accepting the demanded form of oath. Racallio accepted the terms, and the Velaryon fleet passed through the Stepstones. The negotiation’s success was practical rather than secure: it bought the fleet passage through waters controlled by an unpredictable power, while preserving Alyn’s strength for the rest of his voyage. The crossing thus turned on restraint, reconnaissance, and a bargain calibrated to satisfy Racallio without granting him everything he asked for.