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lemonhemlock · 1 year

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https://at.tumblr.com/lemonhemlock/bro-wtf-happened-with-aegon-iii-and-viserys-ii/83go94e2ymsm

Can you please explain what happened to Ageon III and Daenaera’s children?

And Viserys II aswell? What went wrong with them? I just saw the show recently and haven’t read the books so I’m not sure (2/2)

Aegon III and Viserys II together produced 4 boys and 4 girls, enough for 4 exclusive Targaryen matches, should they have wished. Aegon had Daeron (143 AC), Baelor (144 AC), Daena (145 AC), Rhaena (147) and Elaena (150) - my goodness, these birth ages are so close, it's almost like Daenaera Velaryon is just a living womb or smth. 🙄 Viserys started having children earlier - Aegon IV (135 AC), Aemon (136 AC) and Naerys (138 AC).

The most baffling decision in all of this is that Viserys II forced his children Aegon IV and Naerys to marry in 153 AC, when it was clear that they couldn't stand each other. Aegon was generally a vile person, but he absolutely terrorized Naerys. She was uniquely predisposed to be his greatest victim. She couldn't escape him, she was frail, had health issues, was emaciated, repressed, an extremely religious person and would have preferred to become a septa. Failing THAT, Aemon and Naerys were presumably in love and would have probably managed to have a far happier marriage.

I get that, going by Targaryen logic, the eldest son has dibs on the eldest daughter, but Aegon made Naerys' life a living hell. He loathed Naerys, but insisted on having sex with her, just to terrorize her, even though she was obviously very uncomfortable with the concept of sex in the first place AND EVEN THOUGH Aegon already had tens of mistresses and could have gotten his rocks off anytime. Naerys almost died giving birth to Daeron II in 153 AC and BEGGED Aegon to leave her alone, since she had already provided an heir for him. Aegon refused just because he was the biggest arsehole who ever lived. He kept getting Naerys pregnant against her will until she eventually did die in childbed in 183 AC.

Most of this shit was happening when her father was still alive. What did he do about the constant rape and health threats his daughter was subjected to? Not a damn thing. Boneheaded nitwit BAELOR did more for Naerys than her father ever did by sending Aegon to Essos one time after Naerys was recovering from giving birth to twins so he wouldn't get her pregnant immediately again (!!)

Even Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, who was so pressed about his brother torturing his beloved Naerys, was such a fucking beta to this clown. I swear, all this man did his entire life was act like a goddamn cuck for his loser male relatives, even though he was arguably the sanest and the most capable out of all them, but he was too much of a bitch to grow a spine. At one point, two dudes try to assassinate Aegon AND INSTEAD OF LETTING THEM, Aemon saves Aegon and gets killed instead. Aegon kills Naerys a year later by getting her pregnant again. 🤦‍♀️

Anyway, it's not that I would particularly wish to saddle any woman with such a vile worm like Aegon IV, but it seems evident within the text that Daena would have been a far, far better match for him than Naerys. Daena is known to history as "the Defiant"; she had a lively and fiery personality and actually was willing to have voluntary sex with Aegon. Even Aegon seems to have liked Daena, if he was willing to sneak his way into the Maidenvault to get into her pants. They have a bastard son together, Daemon Blackfyre, encumbering House Targaryen with 4 (5?) future Blackfyre rebellions, because, guess what, bastards DO create succession crises in this universe !!!!

What you also need to understand is that the throne passed down like this: Aegon III -> Daeron I -> Baelor -> Daena -> Rhaena -> Elaena -> Viserys II -> Aegon IV -> children of Aegon IV

My favourite part in all of this is when, after Baelor dies, Viserys looks at this line of succession, sees his nieces are in front of him and says "You know what. Fuck that. My mother WAS a usurper" and proceeds to proclaim himself king. Then dies a year later, allegedly poisoned by his own rat of a son.

Aegon IV is such a fucking trainwreck of a king that I won't even attempt to get into it, but probably the worst thing that the does for the ENTIRE realm for generations to come is to legitimize his Great Bastards (i.e. children birthed by mistresses coming from noble houses) and to intentionally spread rumours that his trueborn son, the future Daeron II, was Naerys' bastard fathered by Aemon, just to fuck with Naerys, Aemon and Daeron. Daeron II will later have to deal with the Blackfyre rebellion thanks to his dear old dad.

Aegon IV also was the father of Bloodraven, whom I low-key (high-key) think is evil.

So that's Viserys' side of the family, but first came Aegon's side. Daeron I must have only waited a hot minute after his balls finished dropping, because he thinks that invading Dorne is a fine idea and that he should totally become a great military hero at the tender age of 14. This is not the most celebratory thing, because Dorne doesn't really want to be conquered. They don't want to be part of the Seven Kingdoms. Daeron is, therefore, assassinated, and is followed on the throne by Baelor.

Baelor the Blessed. Yes, that fucking lunatic. What more can I say. Another fucking half-baked idea this family had (Daeron I, it must have been his brainchild) was to wed BAELOR to freaking Daena. The same Daena who craved Aegon IV's musty sausage and "idolized" her brother Daeron. I feel like (??) either of those marriages would have been much better? What on god's green earth was going on in this House of Commons? Similarly, Baelor would have been better paired with his religious sister Rhaena (who later became a septa) or with Naerys herself. So many religious fanatics in this generation for some reason.

Either way, Baelor was a very special type of idiot. He walked all the way to Dorne to secure Aemon's release (who had been captured as a result of Daeron I's assassination). He voluntarily went into a pit of vipers to free Aemon, suspended inside a cage. He felt the gods would protect him, you see. A captive, probably very weakened Aemon had to physically drag this imbecile into the cage with him, so he wouldn't die. Then he had to free his own damn self using the key, climb out of the cage with a blacked-out Baelor on his back and carry him along the road until they reached safety.

Baelor is kind of a mixed bag in the sense that sometimes he pulls some shit out of his arse and you start thinking maybe there is something to this guy, but then he goes and does something norm-defyingly stupid like imprisoning his sisters in the Maidenvault, so he wouldn't be "tempted" to have relations with them, or fasting himself to death because he had "lusts". Even Baelor wasn't immune to the targussy; he just couldn't handle it.

ANYWAY, I'm sure there's stuff I've missed with the Aegserys cousins, but now you have the basics.

#aegon iii targaryen #viserys ii targaryen #aegon iv targaryen #prince aemon the dragonknight #naerys targaryen #daeron i targaryen #baelor i targaryen #daena targaryen #rhaena targaryen #elaena targaryen #asoiaf #house targaryen #ask #anon

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queenlorea · 2 years

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While i’m here i might as well post a snippet that’s been sitting in my drafts for a while:

It’s another ASOIAF AU focusing on Shiera and Daenerys’ relationship as sisters who both really hate their dad: also there’s magic involved because why not

“Shiera is four when her sister takes her swimming for the first time.

Daenerys is six years her elder; she is a trueborn Targaryen, and so her scales – birthmarks wound around her wrists and ankles – gleam burnished red in the sun as they wade into the tide pools at atypically ungloomy Dragonstone, poking at moss-green barnacles, admiring spiny starfish and tiny colourful sea creatures that have made their home in those warm, blue-green waters. The tidal pools are too shallow to swim in, are safe to enter only at low-tide, and so it is that Shiera learns to swim in the grey-green ocean just off Dragonstone’s glittering black shore, under the watchful eyes of her sister, and occasionally their cousins as well, smiling Baelor and quiet, curious Rhaegel.

Scaled wrists and ankles often mark those who are blood of the dragon; most Targaryens have red scales, though gentle Queen Naerys’ are pale lilac, near translucent against her pale skin: Shiera caught a glimpse of them once when she and Daenerys accidentally burst in on the maester tending to her sprained wrist. They say before the Dance killed the last dragons, only Targaryens with the potential to be dragon-riders were branded with the mark, but now the dragons are all gone, so it hardly matters anymore.

At least, that is what their father says. He is their king, he sits and stews and barely rules from the Iron Throne; crowned and garbed in scarlet, his heavy, gold-lined sleeves hiding his bare wrists. He never visits Dragonstone, cannot stand his crooked-backed son and his Dornish family. On Dragonstone, laughing and splashing through the tides, running over Dragonstone’s warm black sand, Daenerys is as free of him as she can be, trueborn daughter she is. They spend years like this, splitting their time between Dragonstone and King’s Landing. Daeron takes them under his wing, after Naerys dies and Aegon’s health worsens, giving them fine rooms at Dragonstone and paying the wages of Daenerys’ retinue of household guards and septas. Shiera misses King’s Landing, for Dragonstone is more secluded and quieter, but at least Daenerys seems happier here, or as happy as she can be, with her beloved mother and uncle both dead in the span of a few months.

At least the king has been ailing for a while now, swollen as a festering boil that has yet to burst, and Daenerys, now twelve to Shiera’s six, freely tells her, while they are walking over black sand, picking out sun-warmed orange sea glass and polished smooth obsidian to make a bracelet for Myriah, that she hates their father for pushing her mother into the birthing bed, again and again, until it killed her, and hopes he is rotting and suffering and worms are eating him alive. Most people would be horrified to hear a gently-bred princess speak so, but even Shiera thinks it is a bit ridiculous to expect Daenerys, still clad in mourning blacks for her mother and her stillborn sibling, to be sweet and mild-mannered and meek.”

#shiera seastar #daenerys daughter of naerys #good intentions (pave the road to hell)#rough drafts #my fic

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istumpysk · 2 years

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Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ACOK: Tyrion IX (Chapter 41)

Tyrion looked down upon the farewells from the high deck of King Robert's Hammer, a great war galley of four hundred oars. Rob's Hammer, as her oarsmen called her, would form the main strength of Myrcella's escort. Lionstar, Bold Wind, and Lady Lyanna would sail with her as well.

Robert seriously named a ship Lady Lyanna.

+.+

It made Tyrion more than a little uneasy to detach so great a part of their already inadequate fleet, depleted as it was by the loss of all those ships that had sailed with Lord Stannis to Dragonstone and never returned, but Cersei would hear of nothing less.

Daenerys spent the entire previous chapter whining about needing a fleet. We open this chapter on the same note, and let me tell you, nothing could make me happier.

Would somebody please give Tyrion and Daenerys some ships!

+.+

The Martells would not commit to actual battle unless Dorne itself was attacked, and Stannis was not so great a fool. Though some of his bannermen may be, Tyrion reflected. I should think on that.

What is this foreshadowing? Am I forgetting something obvious, or have we not received a payoff?

+.+

I know your secret, Cersei, he thought. His sister had oft called upon the High Septon of late, to seek the blessings of the gods in their coming struggle with Lord Stannis . . . or so she would have him believe. In truth, after a brief call at the Great Sept of Baelor, Cersei would don a plain brown traveler's cloak and steal off to meet a certain hedge knight with the unlikely name of Ser Osmund Kettleblack, and his equally unsavory brothers Osney and Osfryd. Lancel had told him all about them. Cersei meant to use the Kettleblacks to buy her own force of sellswords.

Do you want to know how stupid Tyrion is? He’s been told of Cersei’s scheme of using prayer to disguise her plotting, but he still can’t piece together that’s what Sansa is doing as well.

+.+

Well, let her enjoy her plots. She was much sweeter when she thought she was outwitting him. The Kettleblacks would charm her, take her coin, and promise her anything she asked, and why not, when Bronn was matching every copper penny, coin for coin?

You know who else is paying them, Tyrion? Littlefinger. Turns out you don’t own them either.

Still a little too preoccupied with your sister, champ.

+.+

"Princes aren't supposed to cry."

"Prince Aemon the Dragonknight cried the day Princess Naerys wed his brother Aegon," Sansa Stark said, "and the twins Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk died with tears on their cheeks after each had given the other a mortal wound."

Is that Princess NAerys I see in a Sansa chapter? What’s going on here?

Apparently the tale of Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk isn’t accurate. The power of song!

+.+

"Be quiet, or I'll have Ser Meryn give you a mortal wound," Joffrey told his betrothed. Tyrion glanced at his sister, but Cersei was engrossed in something Ser Balon Swann was telling her. Can she truly be so blind as to what he is? he wondered.

YOU GAVE HIM A CROSSBOW, AND WANT TO FEED HIM SEX WORKERS.

+.+

More likely, the Tyrells were balking at the proposed marriage. Tyrion could scarcely blame them. If I were Mace Tyrell, I would sooner have Joffrey's head on a pike than his cock in my daughter.

Lady Olenna agrees with you. Too bad this is only a fleeting thought, and you don’t examine it on any deeper level.

+.+

Sansa Stark rode a chesnut mare at his side, looking neither right nor left, her thick auburn hair flowing to her shoulders beneath a net of moonstones.

Every time he describes her I want to scream.

Sansa’s wearing the moonstones Joffrey gifted her, likely in an attempt to soften his rage. It won’t work. ☹️

+.+

The unshaven and the unwashed stared at the riders with dull resentment from behind the line of spears.

Take note of how he uses unwashed.

+.+

Halfway along the route, a wailing woman forced her way between two watchmen and ran out into the street in front of the king and his companions, holding the corpse of her dead baby above her head. It was blue and swollen, grotesque, but the real horror was the mother's eyes. Joffrey looked for a moment as if he meant to ride her down, but Sansa Stark leaned over and said something to him. The king fumbled in his purse, and flung the woman a silver stag.

(...)

In the crowd people were pointing, shoving, cursing one another and the king.

"Please, Your Grace, let him go," Sansa pleaded.

You tried, sweetie. ❤️

+.+

The dwarf slapped his flushed face so hard the crown flew from Joffrey's head. Then he shoved him with both hands and knocked him sprawling. "You blind bloody fool."

(...)

"You set your dog on them! What did you imagine they would do, bend the knee meekly while the Hound lopped off some limbs? You spoiled witless little boy, you've killed Clegane and gods know how many more, and yet you come through unscratched. Damn you!" And he kicked him. It felt so good he might have done more, but Ser Mandon Moore pulled him off as Joffrey howled, and then Bronn was there to take him in hand.

As fun as this moment is, it can’t be understated how stupid this is. Of course this will be the first thing used against him during his trial.

"In the days of the Targaryens, a man who struck one of the blood royal would lose the hand he struck him with," observed the Red Viper of Dorne. "Did the dwarf regrow his little hand, or did you White Swords forget your duty?" - Tyrion IX, ASOS

(Pray for Arya’s hands.)

+.+

Blood was trickling down Sansa's brow from a deep gash on her scalp. "They . . . they were throwing things . . . rocks and filth, eggs . . . I tried to tell them, I had no bread to give them. A man tried to pull me from the saddle. The Hound killed him, I think . . . his arm . . ." Her eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth. "He cut off his arm."

+.+

Gods be good, the wildfire, if any blaze should reach that . . . "We can lose all of Flea Bottom if we must, but on no account must the fire reach the Guildhall of the Alchemists, is that understood? Clegane, you'll go with him.

George reiterating Tyrion doesn’t know there’s wildfire everywhere.

+.+

Cersei reared up like a viper. "Your place is where my brother says it is," she spit. "The Hand speaks with the king's own voice, and disobedience is treason."

Boros and Meryn exchanged a look. "Should we wear our cloaks, Your Grace?" Ser Boros asked.

"Go naked for all I care. It might remind the mob that you're men. They're like to have forgotten after seeing the way you behaved out there in the street."

+.+

Ser Preston's corpse had been overlooked at first; the gold cloaks had been searching for a knight in white armor, and he had been stabbed and hacked so cruelly that he was red-brown from head to heel.

Aw, that’s too bad.

Ser Preston treated her like a lackwit child. Arys Oakheart was courteous, and would talk to her cordially. Once he even objected when Joffrey commanded him to hit her. He did hit her in the end, but not hard as Ser Meryn or Ser Boros might have, and at least he had argued. The others obeyed without question . . . - Sansa I, ACOK

No, I will not be the bigger person.

+.+

Lady Tanda's daughter had surrendered her maidenhood to half a hundred shouting men behind a tanner's shop. The gold cloaks found her wandering naked on Sowbelly Row.

I’m sorry, I had no intention of making you read this again, but I realized it’s more Cersei foreshadowing.

+.+

Tyrek was still missing, as was the High Septon's crystal crown. Nine gold cloaks had been slain, two score wounded. No one had troubled to count how many of the mob had died.

"I want Tyrek found, alive or dead," Tyrion said curtly when Bywater was done. "He's no more than a boy. Son to my late uncle Tygett. His father was always kind to me."

The mystery of Tyrek Lannister!

Jaime Lannister suspects Varys had a hand in Tyrek’s disappearance during the bread riots, and you know what? I think I agree.

Aegon VI, Gendry, Tyrek... what are you up to, sir? Trying to mold the future to create a better tomorrow?

+.+

They whisper that the gods are punishing us for the sins of your House—for your brother's murder of King Aerys, for the butchery of Rhaegar's children, for the execution of Eddard Stark and the savagery of Joffrey's justice. Some talk openly of how much better things were when Robert was king, and hint that times would be better again with Stannis on the throne. In pot-shops and winesinks and brothels, you hear these things—and in the barracks and guardhalls as well, I fear."

"They hate my family, is that what you are telling me?"

"Aye . . . and will turn on them, if the chance comes."

"Me as well?"

"Ask your eunuch."

"I'm asking you."

Bywater's deep-set eyes met the dwarf's mismatched ones, and did not blink. "You most of all, my lord."

"Most of all?" The injustice was like to choke him.

The injustice was like to choke him! The foreshadowing is coming fast and furious in this chapter.

He thinks he’s the good guy, I can’t.

+.+

The queen has never been known as a friend to the commons, nor is Lord Varys called the Spider out of love . . . but it is you they blame most. Your sister and the eunuch were here when times were better under King Robert, but you were not. They say that you've filled the city with swaggering sellswords and unwashed savages, brutes who take what they want and follow no laws but their own.

Ah yes, Tyrion has sent hundreds of unwashed savages and sellswords into the streets of King’s Landing to police the smallfolk, and do as they please. Up until this point we’ve only ever heard about it from Tyrion’s perspective. That might have been a careless idea, huh?

+.+

Disgusted, he pushed it away, shouted for Pod, and sent the boy running to summon Varys and Bronn. My most trusted advisers are a eunuch and a sellsword, and my lady's a whore. What does that say of me?

Bronn complained of the gloom when he arrived, and insisted on a fire in the hearth. It was blazing by the time Varys made his appearance. "Where have you been?" Tyrion demanded.

"About the king's business, my sweet lord."

Which king?

Tyrion summons Varys and Bronn at the end of this chapter, but Varys doesn’t serve any purpose. He quite literally just stands there. It’s almost like he’s only there to signal to the reader he wasn’t at the bread riots.

+.+

"Ah, yes, the king," Tyrion muttered. "My nephew is not fit to sit a privy, let alone the Iron Throne."

Varys shrugged. "An apprentice must be taught his trade."

Just like Aegon, eh?

Not fit to sit a privy, heh.

+.+

"And you never go far enough." Bronn tossed the wingbone to the rushes. "Ever think how easy life would be if the other one had been born first?" He thrust his fingers inside the capon and tore off a handful of breast. "The weepy one, Tommen. Seems like he'd do whatever he was told, as a good king should."

A chill crept down Tyrion's spine as he realized what the sellsword was hinting at. If Tommen was king . . .

Tyrion has now had plenty of hints that Joffrey is a dead man - do you think he’s going to do anything about that? Don’t be silly.

Final thoughts:

One of the only times you’ll see me happy a chapter wasn’t written from Sansa’s perspective.

18 down, 31 to go. :(

-> return to menu <-

#operation stumpy re-read #acok #tyrion ix

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kyubicled · 3 years

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< [INDEX]

"King Cregan Stark would rule many long years in the North, and would aid House Targaryen in binding up the wounds inflicted upon the realm during the Dance of Dragons. He would outlive Aegon III, whom he had fostered for five years at Winterfell, and would go on to see Aegon's sons and even his brother, Viserys, succeed him. First came King Daeron I, soon to be remembered as the Young Dragon, who sought to finish his ancestors' work of conquering Dorne for House Targaryen. Wisely, he didn't attempt to wholly follow in his forebears' foot-steps, as he remained in good relations with the Kingdom of the North, at least at first. When Daeron asked for the North to aid him in his campaign, Cregan plainly refused the boy of fourteen, seeing little reason to involve House Stark in affairs that were so far removed from the North. Indeed, he forewarned Daeron that Dorne could not be conquered by force of arms, as even Aegon the Conqueror had failed to do so, when House Targaryen still had dragons. Daeron, perhaps feeling insulted, mocked Cregan as a craven, and instead stated perhaps the Spartan would surly aid in the cause of uniting the South, to which Cregan had reportedly guffawed so hard that his maester had to treat him for chest pains. Once more, Cregan kept the North out of the South's intrigues, and while his more eager sons chaffed at being denied the chance to go to war, once more it would prove to be the wiser choice. Daeron's conquest of Dorne would quickly prove to be a disaster, with Daeron losing ten thousand men to claim it, fifty-thousand more to hold it, and then his own life of eighteen years when Dornishmen ambushed and murdered him under a banner of peace.

When Baelor I ascended the throne after his brother, it seemed a more amiable return to the norm of peace for Westeros. Baelor was a man of peace and piety, who was beloved by the people for his benevolence. But the latter years of his reign would be seen as the start of a long embitterment between the North and the South--an embitterment which would become so terrible that thrice the continent would nearly go to war. Cregan at first believed Baelor a somewhat zealous yet ultimately harmless ruler, and continued to maintain good relations with the South for a time. But Baelor's very piety towards the Seven caused him to alienate himself from the Starks, whom were devoted to the Old Gods of the First Men. Soon, Baelor was repeatedly and incessantly attempting to convert the Starks towards the Faith through many means, sending a great number of septons to the North to turn the First Men towards the Seven Pointed Star. It would ultimately culminate when Prince Rickon, Cregan's eldest son and heir--sent was on a diplomatic mission to King's Landing to secure a marriage to one of Baelor's sisters in the hopes of binding the two realms together--was seized by Baelor's Kingsguard, and forcibly made to kneel before the statues of the Seven against his will. When he refused to convert to the Faith upon Baelor's instruction, he was purportedly stripped of his cloths, made to wear the garb of a begging brother, and confined to Baelor's recently finished Great Sept, made to do menial work as any common septon.

This incensed the now two-and-seventy King Cregan to such an extent, he sent ravens to call for his banners, before sending another to King's Landing, demanding the release of his son and an official apology from Baelor for the insult, or that he would drive out all septons of the Faith from his lands by force, march on King's Landing himself to free his son, claim a daughter of House Targaryen to wed into House Stark as retribution, and to have Baelor beg his forgiveness to him in person and on his knees. When this ultimatum came to Baelor, he began a fast which would end in his, perhaps arguably, unfortunate demise. His uncle and successor to the Iron Throne, King Viserys II, was swift in undoing the damage of his nephew's ill-begotten zealotry, immediately releasing Prince Rickon. As he had been fostered alongside his brother at Winterfell, Viserys knew Cregan well, having arguably learned the best between them in the Starks' court, and had likely contributed to his adeptness in his years as Hand of the King. When Viserys extended the proverbial olive branch to him, Cregan's anger softened, as he had often corresponded with Viserys over the years through ravens, having been both a mentor and a sort of father figure to him as he was with Viserys' brother, Aegon III. The two kings readily agreed to put an end to the bad blood between them, and to seal this reconciliation, Prince Rickon would wed Princess Rhaena, daughter of Aegon III and Viserys' niece. This marriage pact would be remembered as the Second Pact of Ice and Fire, which Cregan had, as history so ironically recalls, rejected so many years before. While this brought peace to the realm, Cregan and Viserys both would meet most untimely and much mourned deaths within a year of this auspicious union, after both had striven so long to ensure that their two realms would prosper together. Rickon and his Targaryen bride would be crowned as the King and Queen in the North, whilst Viserys' son Aegon VI and his sister-wife Naerys would ascend the Iron Throne, and the enmity between Rickon the Cold and Aegon the Unworthy would threaten to undo everything their fathers had accomplished.

Rickon and Rhaena's relationship was strained in their first years of marriage, primarily due to their differing religious beliefs. Rickon was a steadfast believer in the Old Gods, and his disgrace at the hands of Baelor had in no great way endeared the Faith of the Seven to him. Inversely, Rhaena was nearly as pious as her brother had been, and had shared his belief that all should come to worship the Seven-Pointed Star. For the sake of the realm, they did their utmost to make the marriage work, but when Rhaena purportedly wept on their wedding night, Rickon could not bring himself to consummate the marriage. It was only a few years later, when her husband lay feverish and half-delirious from wounds taken in his suppressing of a rebellion on the Isle of Skagos, that Rhaena finally gave her maiden-head to him. Their marriage was happier after that night, and made only happier when she fell pregnant shortly afterwards, and bore him a son, Prince Jon Stark, nine months later. She would go on to give Rickon sixteen more children, all of whom would be raised in equal faith to both the Old Gods as well as the New.

But of all of Rickon and Rhaena's children, it would be their second child--and eldest daughter--that would by far have the most intriguing of lives. Not but a few days before her birth, a most peculiar event had taken place in the Dawntown. The Spartan, in the utter breaking of his tradition of emerging only when a Stark called upon him to save the North from peril, came out of the Forward Unto Dawn of his own accord, shocking the whole of the North. The Aglow Lady was with him as well, though some claim something seemed amiss--her glowing form, said to be of a tranquil, comforting celestial blue, seemed to shudder and flash an eerie red, and her kind voice seemed to suddenly speak in a disturbing tone, ominous words escaping her lips. What the Spartan did or what befell the Maiden of Light remains an utter mystery to this very day; only that the Spartan flew with some great haste southward, and months later, traders from Dorne would report he had flown into the most inhospitable part of the Red Mountains, in a place where even Balerion the Black Dread was said to have not dared fly near. It would be the last the world would see of the Algow Lady, for she never appeared after that unsettling day, and none dared to inquire the Spartan afterwords of what had occurred. All that was known was that the Spartan had returned to Winterfell the very night Queen Rhaena gave birth. It is speculated he came at Rickon's behest, as Rhaena's birthing of their second child was reportedly an arduous one, and that the Spartan had helped ensure that both babe and mother survived the delivery. What words passed between them afterwards is entirely unknown, but some witnesses claim that the Spartan seemed somehow smaller when he departed that next morning, and when the royal family had come to see him off, he lingered to look down at the newborn girl, before he whispered some mystery to the sleeping baby, and then slowly--almost reluctantly, some would claim--he departed in silence, returning at once to his slumber within the Dawn.

That princess's name would be Cortana Stark, and the day of her birth in the hundredth and sixty-ninth year after the Conquest would not be the last she would see of the Spartan.

The princess was born with the dark hair of House Stark, though her beauty seemed certainly to have been from her mother--by the time she had come of age, men said that no fairer maiden lived in all of Westeros in her day, and many songs praised her countenance. Of all her features, the most striking were the vibrant blue eyes which seemed too vivid and lively for mere mortals, seemingly alive with a celestial blue light only the Aglow Lady could match. It was an oddity as to why the princess possessed such eyes, when neither the Starks nor Targaryens were known to carry them, but by the very word of her parents, when the Spartan had helped deliver her into the world, he had lain a blessing upon the child with his otherworldly healing, which her eyes' otherworldly beauty was a consequence of. Some even claimed that, as she ripened into a woman grown, Princess Cortana seemed of the very likeness of the Maiden of Light, which only reinforced the notion, and would only be further added to as she grew. From the accounts of Winterfell's maesters, the princess never once came down with infirmity or aliment, and indeed was reported to be the healthiest of all the Stark children. And from her earliest years, she would display an exceptional intelligence, quickly outpacing her siblings in their learning. She delighted in books and study, and absorbed knowledge at a unrivaled pace, with many accounts from Winterfell claiming that she could memorized great manuscripts and histories in a single day if she was not caught in the night and sent to bed. So clever and intelligent she became, that by the age of two-and-ten, she sat on her father's council, and advised him in sundry affairs of state and law. She also loved the arts and music, and became a harpist and singer so haunting in melody that she could reduce even the most stony of warriors to tears, or bring cheer to even the most downtrodden of souls. She was also known to greatly cherish the lives of even the common people, and would daily walk out into the streets to sing to the smallfolk of Winterfell, and see to the needs of everyone she met. For her kindness, charm, and wit, she was soon so beloved by all the North that she was hailed 'The Joy of Winter'. Many suitors came, from Sunspear to Last Hearth and even from the Free Cities, to beg her hand in marriage, some offering lavish sums of gold, others great swaths of land, rare gifts of exotic origins, and even promises to conquer cities in her name--all of which were refused.

But for all the knowledge, fame, and love she received, Princess Cortana held from her earliest days an insatiable curiosity of the Spartan, and of the Aglow Lady, and of the mythical Forward Unto Dawn; always eager to hear tales from her father of the great deeds and epic legends which concerned them. So great was her desire to learn of him, that upon turning thirteen years of age, she asked her father bid her leave to enter the Dawn and speak to the Spartan. While it was not a strictly brazen request, her father told her the Spartan would likely not answer, as he was meant to be called only in great times of need, and not before, and warned her further still that the Spartan had endured a great loss when last he had gone to sleep, and would thus be even less like enough to answer. Nevertheless, he could not deny his beloved daughter, and so bade her enter the hallowed halls of the Forward Unto Dawn.

But to the stunned shock of the realm, the Spartan did indeed come out of the Dawn beside her. To this day, it is unknown as to why the Spartan awoke to the whims of a princess. Some claimed it was her great beauty and spirit which compelled him, causing the hero to be enchanted by her as so many other men had. But many a maiden had desired the Spartan, more than a few being Stark princesses before Cortana, and all had been rejected. Indeed, the Spartan never professed any romantic love for the princess, though the actions he would take on her behalf nevertheless indicated an astounding care which he held her with. Others stated that he was drawn to her intelligence, and that he had found a kindred spirit whom shared in his ideas and machinations. Regardless, the Spartan would return with her to Winterfell, where he was received as a guest of the utmost honor. King Rickon offered the Spartan a place in the great fortress-palace, but the Spartan contented himself with a small abode within the city, as humble and unassuming as legends say. For almost a year, he would remain there, and would display a most unusual compliance to the wishes of Princess Cortana, teaching her of the history and wonders of his people, and familiarizing her with the mysteries of his technology, to which she displayed a miraculous adeptness to understanding and comprehending. And each night, she would regale her younger siblings with fantastical tales and stories she had learned from the Master Chief's culture. And for the first time in the North's history, the Master Chief had not come out of necessity to end some war or deliver the people from some dire peril, and now walked among the people in peace longer than he had even been recorded to do. There was a great excitement in King Rickon's court, chiefly over the widely-speculated relationship between the Spartan and Princess Cortana. While there was no indication that it was anything more than a close partnership, perhaps even a friendship, it nevertheless filled the people with thoughts that the Spartan would wed the princess, and from their union would bring a golden age for all, as the Starks would join their house with the North's fabled champion of yore and form a doubtlessly matchless alliance. Some even whispered that the princess would soon be great with child by the Spartan, and that she would give birth to demigods and heroes by his holy blood, and that Rickon should pass over his own sons and name the Spartan as the future King of the North. All of these, however, were firmly rejected by both the Starks as well as the Spartan, whom were swift to publicly denounce the rumors. Nevertheless, many could not deny the way Princess Cortana smiled whenever she was in the Spartan's presence, nor could they ignore the way the Spartan seemed more at ease when he was in hers. Accounts left behind by her own writing indicate the princess had intentions of releasing new innovations to medicine and science, breakthroughs which would doubtlessly help to further the advancement of the Kingdom in the North, perhaps all of Westeros and beyond--but sadly, fate was not so kind as to permit it before events in the South would halt her efforts.

Aside from an attempted invasion of the North by the King Beyond the Wall, Raymond Redbeard--which was swiftly averted when the Spartan met with the freefolk king and negotiated his army's disbandment in exchange for an increase in the settlement of freefolk around the Dawntown--the Starks continued to enjoy the peace that had lasted for generations. And with the Spartan aiding them, and with him the promise of newer innovations and technologies to further advance civilization, a new day was seemingly on the horizon. But in the South, it was decadence, not prosperity, that was the watchword of the ruling court. Aegon the VI, later known as the Unworthy, had proven himself one of the worst Targaryen kings. While he was handsome and charming in his youth, he was a man ruled by his desires, and proved to be a depraved, glutenous, and lustful man. He was infamous for very publicly taking many a mistress to his bed, and of siring many a bastard between them; all of this, to the shame and disgrace of his sister-wife, Queen Naerys, and the outrage of his younger brother, the famous Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, Lord Commander of Aegon's Kingsguard. He filled his courts with sycophants, granting titles and fortunes to men who could satiate his lusts, and soon the court became as bloated and corrupt as Aegon had become. He also attempted to start an unprovoked war with Dorne, though his two attempts both ending in humiliating disasters for him. Rumors even circulated that he had dreams of conquering the North, though this was never confirmed. The news of the Spartan's return would have doubtlessly scattered such follies to the wind in any case. Nevertheless, soon enough, King Aegon caught wind of Princerss Cortana's now-famed beauty, and many believe he came to lust after her as he had so many other women of noble birth. He invited the Stark princess to his court, allegedly to hear her harp music and to share the knowledge she had learned from the Spartan with the South--though King Rickon feared this was little more than a veiled attempt for Aegon to try and ensnare his daughter, as he had heard of the Targaryen's debauchery. But Princess Cortana herself swayed him to allow her to leave, for the sake of sustaining good relations with the Iron Throne, under the condition the Spartan would go with her as a deterrent to any possible advances on King Aegon's part. The Spartan did agree to this, and in the year 183 After the Conquest, when Princess Cortana was but a few days away from her fourteenth nameday, the two arrived in the Spartan's great Steel Eagle at King's Landing, and the Spartan landed in the derelict Dragonpit--where, in the days of the Dance of Dragons, he had cleared away the roof to land his flying machine in as he oversaw the city's protection. Whilst their arrival was abrupt, they were nevertheless received with great ceremony, as there still lived men from the days when the Spartan had brought an end to the Dance of Dragons.

Their time in King's Landing would be remembered by many to be of impeccable timing, for not a week after they had landed in the Dragonpit, an assassination attempt was made on King Aegon's life. Whilst in hindsight it would not have been any loss to the realm had he died there, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight nobly defended his king despite the defamation and insults he had suffered at the hands of his brother over the years. There, he would have died, had it not been for the Spartan's timely intervention and his summary use of his advanced healing arts to heal Aemon's otherwise fatal wounds. Thereafter, Aemon and the Spartan would be known to practice and train together, and many accounts wrote of how the two formed a deep respect for each another, perhaps out of a shared sense of martial honor and nobility. A year later, Princess Cortana would aid in the delivery of Naerys' youngest child, and while she did ensure the queen survived the birthing, she could not save the child, who died days later. Despite this, Naerys would maintain good relations with Cortana, and the two shared a love of the harp. It was no surprise that afterwards they, as well as Naerys' son, future King Daeron II, shared a great rapport between all five of them.

But, true to King Rickon's fears, Aegon the Unworthy was not content to keep the princess as a guest in his court. Indeed, it is likely only the Spartan's presence at her side that deterred the king from attempting to seduce her. Unfortunately, an opportunity arose for him when disaster struck the city. In an event which seemed all too convenient for Aegon's interests to be considered coincidence, the Alchemists' Guild reported that a grave error had been made. They had been commissioned by an unknown employer to produce a great cache of wildfire, and that some hapless apprentice had allowed some to burn. The Wisdoms allegedly warned that such a vast concentration of wildfire would lay King's Landing low in one fell moment unless someone could stop it. The Spartan, ever courageous and selfless, opted to enter the breached chambers himself, bidding no man to follow him in--but not before he advised Prince Aemon to evacuate and burn the surrounding houses around the Guild. It would prove to potentially save the city from great destruction, as the entire guild would minutes later erupt with such intense force, it shook all of the capitol. But as the surrounding buildings had already been put to the torch, the wildfire had nothing to feed upon, and soon died out. The city was saved... but of the Spartan, there was no trace, and many people, noble and commoner alike, mourned deeply--believing that the Spartan had given his life to save the city. Princess Cortana had tried to go out and search for him, but was barred from leaving the Red Keep by Aegon's Kingsguard. That very night, she was escorted from her room, summoned by the king, even as Prince Aemon and his men tried to assess the damage done upon the city, and searching for any sign of the Spartan. Taken to his bedchambers and locked inside, it is widely believed Aegon attempted to seduce, or possibly even rape her--but the guards outside burst in when they heard King Aegon's screaming. Inside, she was found clutching a dagger close to her, her garments half-ripped, and the king was found writhing on the floor in agony, with blood seeping out between his legs; King Aegon was so fat that they could not see it at first, but it was later confirmed by the Grand Maester that he had been emasculated in his entirety.

King Aegon had the Stark princess immediately arrested for attacking his royal person, and thrown into the Black Cells, much to the protests of Queen Naerys, Prince Aemon, and Prince Daeron. While they did prevent him from summarily executing her, and instead have her put on trial, they found the trial to be entirely in Aegon's favor--later it would be confirmed that Aegon had rigged it so she was assuredly found guilty--and he summarily sentenced her to be burned at the stake. When Daeron warned his father that it would result in an inevitable war with the North, the king allegedly replied, 'Then let me see them to the flame with her and their precious champion.' This only further supported the suspicion that Aegon had in fact orchestrated events to see the Spartan eliminated. The next day, Princess Cortana was led before the Great Sept of Baelor, where Daeron, Aemon, and Naerys could only watch as she was tied to the stake. When she was given a chance to publicly confess her guilt, Cortana instead defiantly stated the king had wrongfully attempted to rape her, and that she had simply tried to defend herself. When her protests fell on deaf ears, she only furthered her defiance by proclaiming that Aegon would not succeed, for the Spartan would emerge to stop him. Even as the King's Justice neared the pyre with his torch, the confidence in her eyes did not falter, though men claimed to have nevertheless seen tears running down her cheeks.

But before King Aegon could have his vengeance against Princess Cortana, a great clamor arose in the city--and what would follow would be the subject of a thousand songs, stories, and mummers' shows. For on the lips of the smallfolk soon chanted a single word--the same word that they had shouted when they opened the gates of the city in the Dance of the Dragons, the same name they had proclaimed their savior when he had ended the tyranny of Maegor the Cruel--'SPARTAN! SPARTAN! SPARTAN!' And lo, the crowds parted, and to the shock of all gathered, came the Master Chief himself, miraculously alive in his seemingly untouched battle armor and holding his fearsome thunder weapon, the Battle Rifle. Charging forward with the swiftness of the north wind and the force of a thunderous storm, he charged forward to rescue Princess Cortana. Aegon ordered that the Spartan be stopped, and commanded his men to kill him before he reached the princess. It would avail them nothing, as all who dared to stand in the Spartan's way were shot down and smitten by his legendary armament. Those who somehow managed to evade the Battle Rifle's fire were received the Spartan's fists and kicks, each so powerful they sent men flying through the air or crushed them within their own armor. So did Aegon the Unworthy's men die by the score, turning the yard before the Great Sept red with blood. Countless numbers assailed him from all sides, and he felled them all with otherworldly might, and allegedly he killed more than a hundred men that day. The King's Justice, in an effort to spite the Spartan, set the pyre alight, hoping that the princess be engulfed in flames before the Master Chief could reach her. This, too, failed, as the Spartan leaped into the air so high that he was at her side within the blink of an eye. Tearing her bonds with his own hands, he picked her up in the crook of his arm, and rescued Cortana Stark before the flames could reach her.

King Aegon seethed and trembled with rage at this, causing his morbidly obese body to quake with a hideous quiver. He shouted for his men to slay the Spartan, but none who remained dared approach, and indeed many fled screaming for their lives, so struck with terror at the Spartan's massacring of their comrades. Seeing this, Aegon commanded his brother Aemon to attack the Spartan, which Aemon refused, as he claimed the Spartan's slaying of so many men left him duty-bound to protect his king above all else. Aegon then shouted that there would be war between them, and that as long as he lived, he would not rest until both the Spartan and Cortana Stark were dead. But that would prove a fatal mistake, as the Spartan wordlessly raised his thunder weapon until it was level with Aegon--then opened fire. The shots fired so quickly that Aemon had no time to try and shield his brother, and before the entire court and the onlooking smallfolk, the king was riddled with an entire volley of the Spartan's lightening-quick missiles, ripping through him with ease. As he lay dying, however, he gave one last command, even as blood came from his mouth--and in one fell swoop led to generations of conflict--and used his last moments of life to legitimize all of his bastards, before he expired. So passed Aegon the Unworthy--the third Targaryen king to fall at the Spartan's hand. To ensure a riot did not break out among the already-riled smallfolk, Prince Daeron instantly ordered his father's men to stand down and assail the Spartan no further, stating that his father had indeed been in the wrong by trying to have Princess Cortana executed for simply defending herself from his advances. He summarily pardoned Cortana of all charges put against her, and received both her and the Spartan back to the Red Keep and seeing that both were treated for any possible injury. It was only after restoring order to the city that Daeron allowed himself to he crowned, and immediately set about to righting his father's mistakes. While he set about to reform his father's court and ridding it of it's corruption, the Spartan and Princess Cortana furiously flew back and forth between King's Landing and Winterfell, and ensuring that Aegon the Unworthy's foolish actions did not lead to war between the Starks and the Targaryens.

But for all this, many still saw the Spartan's actions, however heroic, as a blatant insult upon the Iron Throne's honor to allow him to so handily dispatch their king without retaliation. Many of Aegon's former court, especially among them Aegon's bastards--lead by Daemon Blackfyre--demanded that honor had to be satisfied and that the Spartan face some form of justice for slaying King Aegon. Further, King Rickon was furious at the travesties which his daughter suffered, and the whole of the North was in an uproar over what many believed was the attempted murder of their hero. To resolve the issue, the Spartan plainly asked if there was any who wished to face him in a trial by battle to satisfy the honor of both parties. And to this in turn, Aemon the Dragonknight accepted, though many believed it was only his honor as a knight of Kingsguard that moved him to do so, having failed to protect his king--not on account of any affection held for Aegon.

They met on the morrow, at midday, and the duel that would ensue would be the stuff of legends; with both King Daeron and King Rickon bearing witness, histories say the two champions struggled against each other for more than an hour with the sun blazing upon them, with Aemon's armor of whited steel and gold glistening in the sun, while the Spartan's legendary blade, Lightbringer, shone with the brilliance of a living star. Again did Dark Sister find itself facing the Spartan, for Aemon had wielded it with honor in his years as a knight, and this time, it would face the Spartan's great might. Each time Lightbringer and Dark Sister clashed, the roar of thunder and the shriek of steel filled the air and made a most terrifying noise. Though the Spartan seemed the better of the two, for even Aemon the Dragonknight admitted he could not hope of defeating the Spartan in combat, the latter was reported to have held back the greater part of his strength that day, out of respect for Aemon and to make the duel a fair one--he even removed his famed gold-visor helm and for the first time revealed his face to the public, stating that he would concede victory to Aemon were he to so much as scratch him. Aemon, out of honor, did likewise, and the two battled long and hard with the utmost conduct of chivalry. The duel only ended when Aemon, in a stunning display, caught the Spartan unawares for a single moment, and thrust Dark Sister forward. The crowd was struck silent, stunned as they watched Aemon the Dragonknight triumph where the likes of Maegor the Cruel, even Aegon the Conqueror himself and the countless armies that had faced the Spartan before had failed--he had wounded the invincible Master Chief. It was little more than a graze to his cheek, and only a small trickle of blood seeped from it, but it was that scratch by which the Spartan conceded defeat, which Aemon accepted, his honor as a Kingsguard satisfied. The crowds cheered with great uproar, and the two champions left the ring with a mutual feeling of the highest respect for one another. The realm was once more brought back from the brink of war, thanks to the efforts of the Spartan, Princess Cortana, and King Daeron. The Spartan would return Princess Cortana to Winterfell, where he was once more received as a hero. He would not remain even the night he brought Princess Cortana back, however, opting instead to return to his slumber. But before he did, he made her a simple promise, the same one that he had, as legend has it, made to Bran the Builder in ages past: 'Wake me, when you need me.'

These words must have had some effect on the young princess, for after that day, she was reported to have rarely smiled, a strange sadness in her ethereal eyes, and would longingly gaze out her balcony west-by-southwest, to the Forward Unto Dawn, and composed songs of somberness and sorrow, in which she lamented the loneliness of the Spartan's sleep. For seven years, she would remain in Winterfell, and her grace and beauty would only grow over the years--though she never married, and many believed she pined after the Spartan with such a sorrowful love that it inspired songs for years to come. Finally, on her nameday of one-and-twenty, her father bade her to follow her heart, and to go to the Spartan's side. She set out the next morning, and tearfully bade her family farewell, and all of the North wept as she left them. Arriving at the Dawntown, she entered the Forward Unto Dawn's hallowed halls alone, and found the Spartan's ancient resting place--a dark, cold room of glass and metal, where the Spartan slept in one of many icy coffins, which according to legend, halted the ravages of time upon the body and afforded those who slept therein a dreamless, ageless sleep. Entering the one beside his, she joined him in his slumber, content to be by his side throughout the ages. Many have come to accept her reasoning for this was that she had seen a great loneliness in the Spartan's solitude, and with the Aglow Lady gone, he would have to face the centuries alone--a fate she could not abide, and instead resolved herself to leave behind the family she loved and accompany the Spartan in both his time spent walking the earth, and in his death-like sleep.

Thus, to this day, she remains the oldest living Stark, counting in this two-hundred and ninety-five years since the Conquest a hundred and twenty-six years of life, being the oldest known person to live after the Spartan himself, and still having all the grace and beauty as the day she first chose to stand at the Spartan's side for all eternity."

--A History of the Spartan and House Stark, Part IV, by Maester Benjymen

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fromtheboundlesssea · 4 years

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Actions Speak Louder Chapter 28

Sansa IV

Sansa did not care about the dragon eggs. In fact, she found them rather disconcerting. How could she not? They were strange to look at, the scale like texture was rough against her hand if she rubbed along the shell. Then there was the temperature of them. While Naerys, Jaehaerys, and Daemon all claimed that the eggs felt warm to them, to Sansa, they felt like nothing. Jon likened it to touching stone, but stone was usually cold to the touch. These eggs though… They didn’t feel like anything. They didn’t feel hot or cold or anything in between. It felt as though they were nothing.

Even so, Naerys kept all three eggs in her room. The black egg was kept in the chest that it had been originally presented in with warm silk and cotton protecting the egg like a cushion. The jade colored egg tended to rest on Naerys’ desk, which she stopped using since she had gone blind. The egg was wrapped in a fur and Sansa could see Naerys occasionally rubbing the egg thoughtfully when she wanted to simply sit down in her room and not lay on her bed. The third egg, the cream colored one, was always in Naerys’ bed. Sansa had come into check on her children in the middle of the night and often found her eldest daughter asleep with her arms wrapped around the egg protectively.

Jon tried to ease her worries by reminding her that it was simply some old Targaryen tradition that had died out with the last of the dragon eggs, but Sansa could see that it did not soothe him either. What good had dragons done to the Targaryens except for making them hated. For all that people spoke of Aegon I Targaryen bringing the unification of Westeros, he was still called a conqueror. For all the goodness that the first Rhaella supposedly had, she still threatened to burn all that did not submit to her. Would the first Visenya have been as good a fighter if she had no dragon? Although Sansa had never known battle, she doubted that being amongst the soldiers and riding upon a dragon and raining fire down upon them was the same thing.

Perhaps it was because she was Northern that she saw the dragons differently and feared them in a way that anyone of Dornish descent, the Dornish who had successfully kept back the dragons and even killed them, would feel. Torrhen Stark, the King Who Knelt, had done what he could to protect his people from dragonfire, and Sansa knew she would do the same, although the fire she had initially faced in her marriage had been a metaphorical one. And she was happier for it in her marriage to Jon.

However, perhaps it was because her husband had a Northern look that she sometimes forgot that he was a dragon true, especially recently.

Sansa shook her head and continued on her way to the small council of women that Princess Elia had brought together to discuss things the actual Small Council might not initially view as necessary.

Continue on Ao3

#jonsa #jonsa fic #jonsa child #actions speak louder #into the unknown #my writing

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ladywolfmd · 6 years

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Ships that Pass in the Night

My gift for @weasleyrose for GOT Secret Santa. <3

It took some time but I finally managed to finish it! It’s split into ten parts but I’ve decided to post it by two’s. I hope you like it! Merry Christmas! :)

Summary: He’s a pilot, and she’s a concert ballerina. Two people you’d never think would cross paths yet for some reason, life keeps pushing them in each other’s way from the moment they both arrived in White Harbor yet they never seem to meet. But the question is, do they even want to meet? And what of the strange dreams they’ve been having?

Part I & II | Part III & IV | Part V & VI | Part VII & VIII | Part IX & X

Part I: The Ballerina

She was smiling slightly, remembering her performance last night. It was her first time to dance a solo in the Royal Theatre in King’s Landing.

It was a reenactment of The Knight of Tears and she danced the part of Princess Naerys locked in a forbidden love affair with her brother Prince Aemon opposite Loras Tyrell, the principal dancer of Redwyne Ballet Company.

She was glad that all went well but she was far happier to be able to come home for the holidays. But first, she had things to do in White Harbor like some last minute shopping for presents.

She looked out the window and smiled wider when she saw Newcastle come into focus as the plane descended.

Once the plane landed, she reached for her carry-on, then proceeded to re-arrange her large hat, making sure her recognizable hair was tucked in and she put on her large framed glasses.

It’s not that she was that famous yet but she was in the North and was too tired to socialize at the moment with her father and brother’s supporters.

Her phone vibrated in her breast pocket then.

It was Robb informing her that there’s been a mix up with the car they hired for her that they’re still sorting so in the meantime would she be okay to taking public transports.

Sansa sighed and typed out her reply. Her muscles were still sore and she wanted to protest so badly but she knew Robb. If there was a problem, there really was a problem. So she hurriedly typed her reply saying her plane just landed and she’d be fine.

Just as she went back to the aisle to join the line of people going out, a rather large man who was rushing behind her, practically pushed her forward, his bag knocking her into something—or—rather someone.

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the unmistakable dark blue hat with wings—the pilot’s! She knocked into the captain!

Continue reading on AO3 or here

Embarrassed and slightly ticked off by the rude passenger who knocked her off in the first place, she started bending down to retrieve the hat when two sets of hands stopped her and helped her up.

“It’s okay ma’am! We’ve got it,” came a melodic voice coming from the beautiful blonde stewardess named Val. Val grinned at her and handed her her glasses.

She smiled back and took it from her when she heard another pleasant voice behind her. “Here’s your stroller and your phone, ma’am. Are you alright?”

She blushed at the handsome smile she was greeted with. The man had dark wavy hair, dark eyes, a crooked grin and was also wearing a pilot’s uniform. He must be the captain!

“I’m so sorry captain!” She managed trying to look down to see if his hat was stil on the floor when she heard chuckling.

“Oh no, ma’am. I’m Satin Flowers, the co-pilot. The Captain there is the one you knocked over,” he pointed over her shoulder and she colored once more when she saw the Captain bent over and retrieved not only his hat but a few other items on the floor.

“I’m so sorry! Here, let me help,” she started moving forward when Val and Satin stopped her. “No need. Satin go help,” Val nudged Satin with a curious look in her eye which Satin returned, grinning as he helped the captain but not after whispering something in his ear that made the Captain drop his hat again.

Sansa heard chuckling and turned to see Val smirking before facing her with a grin. “It’s just a small heads up to compose himself before our captain greets you—Miss?”

Sansa was about to answer when her phone rang. She almost groaned when she saw who was calling and it couldn’t wait. She looked up at Val with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I have to get this. Please tell te captain I’m sorry and thank you for the wonderful flight. It was nice to meet you and Satin.”

Val nodded though was that disappointment in her eyes? “Go ahead. It was a pleasure to have you come aboard the Ice Dragon! Have a nice day!”

Sansa grinned at her and answered her phone,

“Where’d she go?”

“Ugh. You guys took too long and she had to go.”

“Why didn’t you stall?”

“What are you two yapping about?”

“A gorgeous woman of course, captain. Awfully polite too.”

Part II: The Pilot

“I hope you didn’t harrass a passenger for my benefit.” He grumbled at his two best mates who were bickering about a gorgeous red head, apparently.

Satin smirked at him. “You know we’d never. But she seemed like a nice person. And very familiar, I just can’t figure out from where.”

“Well, we could just look it up,” Val’s eyes lit up.

He sighed deeply then, brushing the top of his hat and placing it back on. “Am I that hopeless that you guys are resorting to harassment and stalking?”

Ah. Guilt.

At least with Satin looking down and Val’s eyes softening a bit, they had the decency to feel some inappropriateness.

“Sorry, it’s just, you know we know how tough this…holiday is for you,” Satin offered.

“It’s not like we wanted you to jump on this person. You know, just some small flirting or even just a small greeting from one gorgeous person to another would brighten you up some,” Val shrugged.

He took a deep breath then and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s fine guys, I know you mean well. Just... I’ll be okay,” he tried for a smile but his eyes were pleading.

Val huffed but nodded. “Fine. Well, Satin and some of the others are meeting for drinks later at Wolf’s Den. You should join us.”

Normally, he would but all he wanted to do for now, especially after the last two flights he did was to go to his hotel and sleep. And if he was lucky, he’d dream again.

He was about to open his mouth to speak but Satin beat him to it with a shake of his head and a half-smile. “No pressure, cap. We’ll try again tomorrow. Try and catch some sleep.” He gave him a knowing smile, since he was the only one who knew about the strange recurring dreams he had.

Val linked her arms into both of theirs and started pulling them to walk. “Come on, my handsome pilots. Let’s go and grace the people.”

Satin laughed. “Let’s go, Captain,” he winked.

The captain groaned, slipped on his wayfarers, then straightened his posture as they stepped out of the plane and went where the rest of the crew waited.

As customary for Dragon Air, the crew would all walk inside the airport together with him, his first mate, and the chief purser leading the pack.

The cabin crew were all lined up and gave ready greetings as the three of them passed. This always made him awkward but he couldn’t deny that it was still pleasing and flattering to hear.

“Great flight, captain. ”

He gave a nod of his head and smiled back.

“Captain, smooth flying. ”

He carried on, after acknowledging with a smile. Will he ever get used to being called captain?

“Thank you, captain. ”

By this time he was already slightly flushed, still unused to compliments but there was that thrill nonetheless, especially since he’s only been named captain for barely a year.

“Hope you enjoy our layover. You deserve it, captain. ”

He couldn’t help the bigger smile he had on when he reached the end of the line, and turned to face them.

“Excellent work this flight. Enjoy this long deserved layover and come back to the Ice Dragon in one piece. We do have a title to maintain,” he smirked.

“Hells, yeah!” Grenn, one of the flight attendants whooped. “The Ice Dragon is the best among Dragon Air’s airbuses.”

Everyone chimed in with their agreement.

“Thank you Grenn,” he tipped his hat at him. “Now, shall we?”

They all smiled at him as he faced forward, readjusted his hat, and with one last deep breath, he lead his crew inside, inwardly beaming with pride that he was lucky to have a top notch plane to fly, and the best cabin crew one would hope for.

So no, he won’t allow himself to brood much. Not when he had so many things to thank for.

#gotsecretsanta #weasleyrose #jonsa #ladywolfmdfic #jon snow x sansa stark #jonsa fanfic

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sarcasticsweetlara · 5 months

Text

How House Rogare affected Larra's life and views and Westeros.

Obviously, House Rogare was greatly wealthy and full of clever people, they owned a bank and made trade agreements not only with the Targaryens but with the Martells as well, though obviously Aliandra did not have children with Drazenko as she must surely have married again after his death, maybe to a Wyl in order to show her subjects that Dorne will not bow to the Targaryens.

Larra was the youngest of Lysandro's trueborn children, and from what we know about all her legitimate siblings is that they were good warriors and seemed to value knowledge as Larra's oldest sister Marra owned many books and a library.

Even after the Lysene Spring it seemed Larra's brother Moredo and her sisters Marra and Lysara were fine and wealthy enough to receive Larra in her last days before her death.

I will not say they were pure with no ulterior motives, but that they were clever with their business.

Viserys' marriage with Larra emphasized they were all in with the Valyrian Customs as after all they had involved themselves not only through marriage but by finances.

Daeron the Young Dragon knew about the marriage of his uncle Viserys with Larra and at some point his plan was to do something similar and wed a wealthy noble either from Lys or Braavos (of Valyrian descent) whose family would not represent a threat to Westeros but still powerful enough to aid them in wars, just like Larra and her family did in the beginning; or who knows, maybe wed a Rogare but making it known he would not tolerate being fooled.

...

I think maybe their sigil was a mermaid to symbolize their international trade and their alluring courtesans' uncommon appearance, as they were said to have white blond hair, which is said to be rare even among Valyrians.

Larra herself had a willowy appearance as well as white blonde hair alongside blue-violet eyes probably. This means that among the Lyseni the Rogares were quite unique.

Larra knew she was in a foreign land in which they were not exactly patient with foreigners, and as I said before, Valyrian seems to have had no influence nor similarities with the Westerosi Language and its dialects are of course different to it as well.

We don't know the details of her whole relationship with Viserys, but we know that life in King's Landing must have been really hard for her to drive her away in the end, like it happened with Mellario of Norvos.

...

The Rogares raised Larra in a completely different way of how she was expected to behave in Westeros and the maesters may have ignored her subtle ways of assimilating and seen her retaining of her Lysene side as something bad thus making her more unpopular, just like they did with her mother-in-law Rhaenyra.

In a certain way Larra reminds me of Catherine de' Medici in that their lives were deeply marked by scandals and that at first both courts disliked them and that both of them married second sons who no one expected to become monarchs, if Larra had stayed in King's Landing she probably would have risen and helped her children, as well as introduce a new fashion and maybe Aegon IV would not have become so rotten, Aemon would not have felt he needed to make up for his brother's acts and married and had kids and Naerys would have been happier and maybe have had a better marriage.

Larra as a queen would have been so iconic and it would have helped later with the marriages done at different times of her great-great-grandsons Valarr and Daeron had with Kiera of Tyrosh and even make the court more inclusive and progressive, granted, it would have taken time but it could have worked.

As queen she could have created her own court, a difference between being the queen consort to being the wife of the Hand of the King (though we can say obviously that for a while as Aegon III seemed to have been absent as king, Viserys and Larra were the unofficial "First" Lord and "First" Lady of the Realm) and involved herself more with the Velaryons, Celtigars and Rhaena's daughters, as well as the old allies of the Blacks and slowly gain her own allies and loyalists. Larra's own father Lysandro reminds me of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, Larra's intelligence helping Viserys II would have made the Kingdom prosper.

As a queen Larra's words would have had more weight and thus gained more respect and truly discipline Aegon IV in a more efficient way than Viserys did, and by having her mother by her side Naerys' life could have been calmer, Naerys could have inherited the crown Larra would have used, and maybe even name a surviving child of hers after Larra. Naerys would have loved wearing the crown of her mother frequently to show she was proud of the woman who gave birth to her, and that Westeros owed a lot to Larra Rogare as she had been first the Second Lady of the Realm as the wife to the Hand of the King and later the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms who had been so resilient through all her life in King's Landing.

...

Maybe Larra did try to keep in touch with her children but failed to keep going in the end.

For those who say Larra is a random person who appears out of nowhere, remember her family is the reason Viserys was able to get back to Westeros, it may have been far away from ideal circumstances but in the end it helped House Targaryen with making alliances with Essosi and reaffirm their Valyrian otherness; maybe in another world Viserys could have traveled willingly as a man to Lys and met Larra there and then get married under both a Lysene ceremony and a Westerosi Faith of the Seven ceremony.

With this marriage House Targaryen was showing Essos they could have more unions in the future if they were willing to support the Targaryen monarchs as well.

Also, this way the Rogares helped the Targaryens in not having to rely ever again on certain family from Oldtown as the Rogare Bank was wealthier, thus showing House Targaryen would not be lenient with them, and Lotho, Larra's brother founded the Bank of Oldtown.

Whether you like Larra Rogare or not, we can not deny that her existence does influence House Targaryen and Westeros, and if she had been able allowed to still communicate with and visit her children, things could have been vastly different. Her death also impacted her family as they had now officially lost her without any hope and she had been buried away in Lys, and now they could only hold on to the memories Larra had left them, and in the case of her children to paintings, the stories of Viserys II, Aegon III and Daenaera and maybe the own recordings of Larra.

House Rogare may have received and given refuge to Aegon IV and Aerion, as well as also presented them Rohanne and Kiera as possible brides for Daemon Waters and Valarr and Daeron Targaryen (son of Maekar I and Dyanna), as most likely they had Valyrian blood that may have or not have been Rogare blood; also, maybe one or the two of Larra's sisters Marra or Lysara married into Westerosi nobility to gain more leverage, and Marra probably was the great-grandmother of Aelinor Penrose, while Lysara was probably wed to a Velaryon, Moredo to Bethany Hightower probably as Samantha Tarly did not try to do anything to them, and Drako Rogare probably was wed to Ellyn Baratheon (as she is not mentioned living in Westeros when the fates of her sisters are revealed) in an effort to bind themselves together, and the Rogares also could have presented Serenei to Aegon The Unworthy as an affair as Serenei could have ended up living with the part of the Rogare family that had been sent to the Brother Perfumed Garden.

Aerys II maybe could have also hoped to wed a Rogare to his son Rhaegar at first.

House Rogare does have a big impact on the story.

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