Chapter 32: Interlude - The Realm's Delight

111 AC

Rhaenyra's Chambers, Maegor's Holdfast

Red Keep, King's Landing

"Prince Aegon is finally coming to King's Landing," Mariya Strong excitedly chatted with her other ladies-in-waiting as they went about attending to her, Uncle Aegon was coming to King's Landing for the first time in five years and Rhaenyra would be ready. She knew that her uncle would be her greatest supporter against that shrew Alicent and all the harpies that flocked to her.

Who better to challenge House Hightower than the man who destroyed Myr and rules the Riverlands in all but name?

Rhaenyra wore a dress of red silk with gold brocade, sleeveless, and with low necklines and shoulder cuffs. Rhaenyra wondered if the uptight Alicent would have a stroke and die if she saw this dress, if only. Her silver-gold hair was in an upswept hairstyle away from her face and then falling down her back.

"Will Prince Aegon support you, Princess?" Jeyne Stokeworth curiously asked her whilst twirling one of her blonde curls, Rhaenyra turned to her with an affronted look.

"Of course he will, how dare you suggest that he will side with Alicent?" She hissed angrily to which Jeyne looked down in shame when Anya Redfort spoke up in her defense.

"Do not take offense for what Jeyne has said, Princess, she was merely expressing caution for Prince Aegon hasn't come to court for nearly five years and the rumors of his quarrel with your father, the King is the talk of the court," Anya speaks in a measured tone.

"Whatever differences my uncle has with my father does not reach me. I am his favorite niece, and certainly the only one to be worth his time, both my uncles quarreled with Otto Hightower, and neither of them has any love for Alicent, so I am certain that my uncle Aegon will support me." Rhaenyra answered boldly which put the worries of her ladies at rest.

Her uncle once told her stories about Cinderella and Snow White, at first she thought they were mere stories, but now she understood, it was a warning, her uncle had warned of the evil stepmother, she foolishly believed Alicent's flowery words when she first married her father, no wonder both Uncle Aegon and Uncle Daemon refused to come for the wedding, they saw the farce for what it was well before anybody else.

Then as her ladies were talking Ser Steffon Darklyn, her sworn protector entered the room, "Princess, it is time, Prince Aegon is soon to arrive in the city, the King requests your presence with him, the Queen and the Small Council in the yard to greet Prince Aegon."

Upon hearing that Alicent would be present Rhaenyra felt a frown come upon her face but it quickly disappeared for just as he spoke a loud screech of a dragon was heard, Rhaenyra felt a smile coming on her face, it was the screech of her uncle's dragon Gaelithox.

Courtyard of the Red Keep

Gaelithox had landed in the Dragonpit less than half an hour ago and now finally, Uncle Aegon and his retinue entered the Red Keep, the presence of Alicent couldn't dampen Rhaenyra's excitement, she was finally seeing one of her uncles for the first time in years, she will be damned if she allowed Alicent to ruin it.

Rhaenyra stood by her father's right hand while Alicent stood by the left, Alicent's shocked look upon seeing Rhaenyra's clothes brought a smirk on her face and which widened when Rhaenyra and her father ignored Alicent's comment about her clothes which made Alicent turn red in shame.

Then for the first time in five years, Uncle Aegon rode into the Red Keep upon a black stallion, while Uncle Daemon was tall, well over six feet, finely muscled with a broad chest. Uncle Aegon was slender but lean, a little under six feet. He used to be clean-shaven like Uncle Daemon but now he sported a beard or rather a well-formed stubble, it was a particularly impressive-looking stubble giving him a rugged masculine appearance. Her father once said that not many Valyrians could pull off a beard without looking like grandfathers, but it seems that Uncle Aegon could pull it off.

However his silver-gold hair was the same as before, he eschewed the long hair flowing hair that Uncle Daemon sported, instead having a short cut with loose strands around his face. He wore a scarlet silk tunic with black boots and a smoke-colored cloak.

A relatively plain and black colored wheelhouse entered right behind Uncle Aegon, her cousins Daemon and Aegor were no doubt inside, she had last seen them when they were babes at their mother's breast, she couldn't even go to Aunt Dacey's funeral with only a letter having to make do.

Uncle Aegon got down from his horse and walked toward her father who wore a black velvet doublet decorated with a red three-headed dragon, but it did nothing to hide his corpulence. Hopefully, her half-brother Aegon would take after her father in this regard, people would be loath to support a gluttonous fool over the Realm's delight.

"Brother, you have gotten fat and old, and did I mention fat," Uncle Aegon greeted her father in a manner that no other man in Westeros would dare to with a grin, while the entire courtyard held their breath in shock before her father laughed boisterously and along with it the entire Red Keep gave out a sigh of relief.

"Aegon, look at you, you have aged as well, and nicely at that, and that is a nice beard, who would have thought that you would have pulled it off." Her father said with a wide smile before embracing his brother to which Uncle Aegon responded with a lopsided smirk, "You should have known better, Viserys, there is nothing I can't pull off."

While protocol dictated that Uncle Aegon greet the Queen after the King, Rhaenyra decided to throw that into the water, "Uncle Aegon, it has been so long," She exclaimed by opening her arms to which her uncle had no choice but to hug her before even turning toward Alicent. Rhaenyra saw from the corner of her eye that Alicent's left eye twitched in annoyance but she didn't break, her years of practice coming into play.

"Rhaenyra, look at you, have grown more beautiful than ever, dare I say you are the fairest maid in the realm," Uncle Aegon said with a warm smile, and like she intended, his eyes did dip to her chest before turning back to her eyes.

"You flatter me nuncle," Rhaenyra giggled before turning her attention to her cousins who had gotten off the wheelhouse and now stood behind their father.

"Daemon, Aegor, my beloved cousins, I haven't seen you in so long," Rhaenyra exclaimed before wrapping the surprised boys in a hug, Alicent would have to wait a little while longer.

(Six Months later)

The King's Chambers

Her father was furious at her, Rhaenyra knew that from the second she entered the room, she had just woken up from her unusually long sleep only to be immediately summoned by her father to his chambers. Her activities the previous night with Uncle Daemon were going to trouble her though Uncle Aegon did bring her back to the Red Keep before any harm was done, she hadn't lain with any man in the Street of Silk or with Uncle Daemon who left her half naked in the middle of a brothel for some reason.

Her father beckoned her toward him where he was heating his Valyrian steel dagger on a brazier, a dagger passed down from King to King from Aegon the Conqueror, just like Blackfyre and before that the Lords of Dragonstone from Aenar the Exile.

"One of the last Valyrian pyromancers inscribed this on the dagger on the orders of the Aegon the Conqueror after he had his dream of the Great Winter and the dangers that come with it," he said to her looking at the dagger that was now red hot, he handed over the heated dagger "Take it and read."

Rhaenyra could see the inscription of High Valyrian glyphs on the dagger and she read it out loud, "From my blood come the Prince That Was Promised and his will be the Song of Ice and Fire."

After reading it her father turned to her and said "This is the responsibility that is now upon you, that I have given unto you, the burden of this knowledge and it is greater than everything else, be it the throne, yourself or your desires," The meaning of the last word was understood but he continued "Truth be told, only those with the ability to dream have ever realized the true weight of our responsibilities while the others have played around without a care in the world like Daemon."

"And who are these dreamers in the family, I have never heard of them," Rhaenyra asked with curiosity.

"I am a dreamer myself, though I have trouble interpreting them and they are fleeting to remember, the other dreamer in our family as of this moment is Aegon, my brother, and his dreams are more concise and far more recurring," Her father answered.

"Uncle Aegon is a dreamer!!" Rhaenyra gasped, "But when? How?" She couldn't say the words but her father understood.

"Truth be told, I learned about his abilities quite recently, my sire and grandsire did a very good job of keeping it a secret," Her father revealed, "And as for his dreams, he dreamt my Uncle Aemon's death, Aunt Gael's death and our sire, your grandsire Baelon's death."

"He did? Then why didn't he try to stop it," Rhaenyra asked incredulously.

Her father shook his head "It's not that simple, Rhaenyra, and you think that he didn't try, for a fortnight before my Uncle Aemon left for Tarth to fight the Myrish pirates, an eight nameday old Aegon told my sire that he dreamt of a dragon being killed by a crossbow bolt to the neck surrounded by a sea of sapphires."

"The Sapphire Isle," Rhaenyra quietly whispered to which her father nodded, "That's right, the dragon was our uncle in a manner of speaking but at the time my sire didn't put much stock in the dreams of a boy until that fateful day."

"Since then my grandsire and sire have been protective of Aegon, refusing any offers to foster him or to send him to the Citadel, something which they planned on doing due to Aegon's prodigious intelligence, Aegon dreamt that a dragon would drown in the Blackwater Rush and that dragon was our aunt Gael and he dreamt that a dragon would die when its belly would burst from within."

"Grandfather Baelon," Rhaenyra nodded in understanding.

"The problem with dreams is that it is hard to interpret them and by the time you do it is too late, and then there is a sickness that dreamers like Daenys and Aegon suffer from, you can call it melancholy, depression, sorrow, pensiveness, and the like, some take to gluttony to cover it up, others like Aegon take to drink, and of course, there are those like Daenys, who kill themselves because they cannot bear the burden of the dreams."

"Daenys killed herself?" Rhaenyra questions in surprise, all she had known about Daenys after she arrived in Dragonstone was that ten years after the doom and two years after ascending as Lady of Dragonstone, she died peacefully in her sleep.

"A painless and traceless poison from the Freehold, something like the tears of Lys but much more potent, the weight of the Doom was upon her, she couldn't convince any other family other than hers to flee, and since the doom, she was plagued with nightmares of her failure, it's a miracle that she bore through it as long as she did, for she was a strong woman indeed."

"And the same affliction is upon Aegon, he lives with the weight of failure, the pain to save those he could have," Her father said with misty eyes, he then pointed to the table by the window, "See that table over there, there are five empty jugs of wine, Aegon and I talked about his dreams today morning, out of these five jugs, I can say that I have drunk wine for only a single jug, the remaining wine was drunk by Aegon."

"He drinks to cover up his pain," Rhaenyra realized with shock.

To which her father sighed, "He has done quite well to cover it up, I didn't realize it until today after seeing him drink the wine like it was water, however, it would be unfair to say that Aegon drinks all the time, for he has poured his grief into his work on Fairmarket whose prosperity now stands as a testament of his intelligence, resourcefulness, and willpower."

"Aegon was always the clever one, he had an unnatural intelligence that baffled all the Maesters, he was talking in full sentences within his second nameday, and what made it even more astounding was that until his first nameday, he battled with a life-taking sickness that nearly took him."

Her father sighed and took a breath before saying "It was no surprise to me to hear of his success in Fairmarket though the report his Maester sent to the Citadel was more than concerning, according to his Maester, Aegon didn't bother to sleep, he could work from dawn to the next dawn without bothering to rest, the death of his wife made it worse, others have to remind him to sleep and when he does sleep he sleeps after ingesting nightshade, why do you think you had such a long sleep?"

Her father changed the topic from her Uncle Aegon to her within the blink of an eye, "Jaehaerys would have disinherited you for what you did yesterday night."

"For a lie?" Rhaenyra asked incredulously, she hadn't lain with anyone yet people assumed the worst, "You've yet to ask me the truth of what happened,"

"The truth does not matter Rhaenyra, only perception, you have exposed yourself and now we must both suffer the consequences," Her father says with a self-mocking smile.

"Was I born a man, I could have bed whomever I wanted, I could father a dozen bastards and no one in your court would blink an eye," Rhaenyra replied with disgust.

Her father ruefully nodded "You're right, but you were born a woman."

"So you will strip me of my titles and name Aegon in my stead," She said boldly but with fear creeping up her belly about whether her father would do it.

"I would," Her father immediately said which caused her heart to drop before he sighed and said, "But it is mine to hold the realm together, not sow it with further discord, which is why I shall give you exactly one year and six months for your courtship, you will find a husband, upon the appointed time I will ask you for your choice in husband, and he better of a respectable stock, if you do not then I will choose one for you and you will accept it without any protest."

"Get me married off, so I can be a remedy to your political headache," Rhaenyra asked sarcastically to which her father immediately replied straight to her face, "You are my political headache."

"There are four men in the Seven Kingdoms that I consider a worthy match for you, you can choose those who are not of these four but they have to be respectable enough for me to accept as your consort," Her father declared.

After taking a deep breath to regain her thoughts from her near disinheritance, Rhaenyra asked "Who are the four that you consider worthy?"

"Qoren Martell, the Prince of Dorne, your marriage with him will bring the Dorne into the fold, Laenor Velaryon, your marriage with him will put an end to the succession problems that plagued me and uphold the Pact of Oldtown, and then we have Jason Lannister, the wealthiest Lord Paramount who might be a good counter to the Hightowers just like how they were a counter to Corlys Velaryon," Her father answered, he seemed to have left the fourth.

"And the fourth?" Rhaenyra pressed to which her father looked at her and answered, "The fourth is Aegon."

"Aegon, as in my half-brother Aegon?" Rhaenyra asked again wondering if her father had misspoken.

Her father shook his head, "Not your brother Aegon, Rhaenyra, I am talking about MY brother Aegon."