By the time the flying discs of the Vale had reached even the cobbled courts of King's Landing, Ronan Stone was already knee-deep in his next creations.
Runestone's workshops had grown noisy... saws, lathes, and laughter mingled freely. The boomerangs still flew. The frisbees still spun.
Yet the bastard's mind, restless as ever, turned toward circles once more.
Only this time, the circle would not fly.
The next of them was nothing but a ring... smooth, round, and large enough to fit around a grown woman's waist, thrice over.
What… exactly does it do? Other than being a waste of what should be a flimsy wheel for a carriage.
Apparently, like the wheel, it circles... endlessly, if one is good enough to do so.
A claim that earned chuckles and raised brows alike.
The "hula hoop", as the bastard boy called it, was deemed strange and frivolous by others... neither toy nor sport nor art.
Most of Runestone's folk and curious people beyond thought the boy had finally made something useless.
Children preferred the flying toys. Men preferred tools and weapons. And women, though amused, had better things to do than sway and twirl a ring of wood about their hips.
The hula hoop should have gathered dust for a time, turning into a forgotten oddity stacked behind shelves of unsold curiosities.
But fashions in Westeros were as fickle as the sea winds that brushed the Vale.
It began with one lass, who, out of boredom or curiosity, tried the strange ring again and found herself laughing when it actually stayed up and spun.
Then another joined in.
Then another.
Before long, word spread among the land's young ladies that the toy... trimmed the waist and kept the hips light.
That, of course, was never proven... yet gossip needs no proof.
By the next moon, merchants in Gulltown were selling "Runestone slimming rings" at a tidy markup.
Wooden circles painted gold or wrapped in ribbons became the newest fascination of noble girls who wanted to be a bit more dynamic.
Some even claimed it helps improve dance and motion... with finding the rhythm and all that.
The bastard boy did not argue with the false rumor. If it sold, it sold... and he may even be the one who started all these untruthful claims.
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But while the little ladies and girls spun their circles, the boys weren't too keen on it...
Fortunately, it would seem that the Stone bastard had another wooden craft up his sleeve.
And so came the takraw.
It began with a few scraps of unique rattan wood and cane... woven together into a small, hollow sphere. A ball light enough to carry and firm enough to kick.
Apparently used to practice juggling with one's feet, and then to volley it against walls.
Afterwards, it could be kicked and passed around to other like-minded kickers.
And a game could then be played. With rules set by the ingenious bastard who introduced it.
Which is the "kick-volley" that it came to be. Or just takraw, like how the used ball is called. A game of feet, reflexes, and acrobatic grace.
Children in the villages began playing it between fences and farm walls.
And before long, Runestone's youths were holding proper matches... two teams, one ball, no hands. Only skill.
It became a sport of camaraderie, where bruises were earned with laughter and victory shared in sweat and smiles.
Soon, some young lords of the Vale and beyond could be seen partaking, jesting that it trained them for battle and balance alike.
It's hard not to partake when the takraw are disseminated their way... and when there's not much else to do...
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Thus, in another two rounds of creations, the Bastard of Runestone had once again reshaped the amusements of the realm.
A hoop that rolled around the hips.
A sphere that danced between feet.
And from the mind of a boy not yet grown came diversions that spread faster than songs.
The maesters and masters-at-arms wondered what would come next... what other oddities the boy might pull from his head.
How he'll distract the young ones that they're supposed to be teaching and training... with all these whimsical nonsense.
Though it was now clear that the bastard was something else.
Where others saw wood and air, he saw movement.
Where others played with toys, he made the toys and shaped their joys himself.