She smiled fondly at the mention of the boy. "He sounds like a good choice. We really ought to go hawking soon, and you may discover if you chose well."
At the mention of poisons, however, Elia winced. Just how educated she was was not something many knew but Dorne had long been fond of poisoned weapons and poisoned cups. "Every Dornish noble is taught something of it, mostly remedies and the signs of common poisons. We are not generally as viperous as the other kingdoms like to think." Not as a rule, anyway.
She pursed her lips and gave Toria a measuring look before she continued. She had said she would answer her, and perhaps Toria could do more to help if she better understood the possibilities. "I asked your aunt permission to examine her, or to let my maester see her when she first fell ill but Queen Kaelyn... was greatly displeased with the offer and offered no small insults in her refusal," she said softly.
"Without seeing her and knowing what she might have eaten or touched, what color her lips or mouth, or the scent of her breath when she first fell ill, it is almost impossible to say which poison, or if it is poison at all." Elia shook her head. "The problem is that if it is a poison, and we could find which one, it might be too late. Poisons which have these effects work slowly as they make their way through the blood and after a time, no amount of antidote will help," she said with regret.
"Though from what I have heard, Gwyn is holding remarkably steady and surely poison would have lifted by now." A lie, but kindly meant. There were poisons which bestowed a sleep from which one never woke, though they were forbidden even by Ashai tenets, and held in place by things which coiuld not be mixed or melded. The dress that Lazralene had examined had held something which seemed suspiciously like those compounds.