#atfd

“I wonder if the water feels as lovely as it looks,” she said to her armored protector. “Let’s pray there’s time for a swim.”

“You’ll catch a chill,” Daeron chided, removing a gauntlet to wipe at his sweaty brow.

“In this heat? I’ll melt first. It’s maddening that you can bear armor at all,” she replied. “Perhaps I’ll feign drowning. You could free yourself of that steel to rescue me. You’ll get a swim and be a hero all at once.”

“Don’t you dare. Dragons don’t fare well in the God’s Eye. Didn’t your tutors ever teach you of the battle here? A prince of green and one of black, both atop their dragons. Over this water they met and did dance above the lake-”

“Daemon upon Caraxes. Aemond One-Eye riding Vhagar. They died. Only not here,” she pointed north over the lake’s endless waters. “They fought at Harrenhal and we’re nowhere close to it. You should’ve paid attention to your lessons.”

“Didn’t have to. My teachers were afraid of me. I was ugly in spirit long before my face caught up, Silverbright.”

“You’re terrible.”

“My little sister is wise beyond her years,” he kicked a rock into the shallows and grumbled a curse. “So it’s safe to say our quarry isn’t around here. We ought to keep looking. Riding off already put Shaena in a foul mood. Any more disappointments and our lovely queen will deny me that moonlight swim I hope for.”

“You just told me not to swim here!”

He winked, “I like to push my luck.”

She swatted at his chest plate. To that Daeron snatched hold of Dany’s waist and feigned throwing her into the lake. Their laughter drew many a stare but she cared not. They hadn’t been together in months. After the visit with Jon at Wendwater Keep, Daeron had ridden off. Keeping the king’s peace here and there, checking on the work at Summerhall, winning glories at Highgarden. Always somewhere else.

Leaving Daenerys to tend with their family. A task which grew more and more burdensome.

Too often it fell to her to try and keep peace between the queen and the princess. Visenya did not welcome her upcoming wedding to Edmure Tully and Shaena often took the brunt of those protests. The closer they came to Riverrun, the more frequent the arguments became. Truly, she had come to prefer the wailing of Jay’s twins to the angry words between mother and daughter.

Unsurprisingly, another row had erupted during the midday ambling that the queen had invited the princesses and their ladies on. Shaena’s attempt to break the monotony of the wheelhouses by taking in the countryside had quickly descended into more acrimony.

When people talked of Shaena, they would speak of her refined features. Visenya had a softer look than her mother, her eyes especially. They were large, round pools which looked purple or blue depending on the light. Before her easterly travels, Visenya’s fuller figure had set her apart from Shaena and Dany. Now it was her hair, which her niece had taken to dying a striking pink, defying any notion of changing it back.

Dany had been riding close enough to catch Shaena glaring at those pink braids when Visenya brought her horse alongside the queen’s.

“I’m not being unreasonable,” Visenya had said in a poor attempt at whispering. “Why must I wait so long? Torn from Volantis and now court as well. Banished from the world itself. This marriage is an exile by another name.”

“Riverrun is not some backwater,” Shaena had lectured. “By river or road, many a visitor will come your way. It is the host that makes a hall grand, not the hall itself.”

“How would you know? You’ve never lived anywhere but court. Please, if I must marry this man, have us come back with you. Father need only name Lord Tully to some grand appointment after the wedding and-”

“No. Hoster Tully died barely half a year ago. The new lord paramount needs time to show off his new bride to his bannermen. The riverlords are a divided lot more oft than not. Able and firm, Lord Hoster managed to shepherd them together for the rebels. Edmure could do the same, this time for our benefit. If we drag him off at court, he’ll lose sway in these lands at a key time. No, for now Edmure Tully does us more good at Riverrun. As will you.”

Visenya had scoffed at that and a red flush of anger crossed Shaena’s face.

“Daughter, you’re blood of the dragon. Our ancestors made these lands our realm. You can make Riverrun your home. Your father long gave your way to most of your whims, now you must accept his will in this. Find the good in it. Charm your husband and his riverlords. Once both are yours, you will return to the capital a power in your own right. Giving Lord Edmure an heir would go a long way…”

“I am not a brood mare!” Visenya’s outburst had drawn the attention of everyone within earshot. “How many friends did I win us in the Free Cities? Now I’ll never see them again. There was power there I might have harnessed for us. All I learned of those lands will be useless. This riverlord will have no use of such culture. The depths, the refinement. As close to Old Valyria as there is...”

“Then teach him!”

“Send him a tutor! Not your only daughter,” Visenya’s voice had faltered, lowering from rage to despair. “Mother... my queen, you raised me for better.”

“And I thought I raised you better. Sadly we have both met disappointment. Hold your father to account for that.”

to be continued...

Anonymous said: I imagine if Visenya at stayed in Myr and Daemon IV would've forced her to marry him?

Just a correction, but Visenya was in Volantis when Daemon met her, not Myr. Now on to your ask. Simple answer is not at all! 

Daemon came to Volantis to win a bride of royal blood, not kidnap one. If that was his intent, it would’ve been easier to never seek an introduction to Visenya at all, to keep her and her protectors ignorant of his intent until she could be stolen away. That’s not this Blackfyre’s style. He sees himself as the True King, a noble leader from a family of rightful rulers, chased away by the treachery of the unworthy House Targaryen. No, he came to win Visenya’s hand, and she saw enough of his hero complex to try and use it to her family’s advantage.  Had Visenya been allowed to stay, and Rhaegar showed any interest in crushing the rise of Daemon IV, this newest pretender might very well have met his end at Myr. Crushed by a hasty coalition of Targaryen and Volantene strength.

Anonymous said: Will you write more about Rhaegar and Shaena’s relationship in the future? Their relationship (lbr all the intersibling relationships) is so interesting

Oh definitely. Watching her daughter marry a man she has no desire to is going to bring up a lot of ugly memories for Shaena. She was born to be a queen, and that’s a role she performs very well at, but the price was an unhappy marriage with Rhaegar. Neither of them loved each other in that way, and it destroyed much of the sibling bond between them.  I’ve let people believe there was reproductive issues for why the couple only had two children. The truth is far simpler and shows just how little the two get from the marriage. Their relationship is strongest when it comes to parenting and ruling, and weakest in romance. It’s not they hate each other like Robert and Cersei did, but there is some animosity there. A rift which has been growing because of Rhaegar’s recent behaviour, making Shaena question his abilities as both a parent and ruler.

Anonymous said: Why weren’t Jay and Viserys in this chapter? And why did Jay pick the name Shaera for his daughter? Wasn’t she disgraced?

Jaehaerys and Viserys weren’t in this chaper because they were travelling apart from the rest of the Targaryens. Lynesse and the twins travelled with the king’s party but Jay had things related to the Inquiry that kept him back. Both were in the Bridal Camp by Jon’s POV and we’ll be seeing them next chapter.

"The twin princesses were presented in the Sept of Baelor as Rhaella and Shaera, in honor of queens past.”  That’s the reason Jay pressed the names he did. Rhaella might not have had the best family life, but she might have sang her gentlest son the same bedtime stories her mother did for her as a child. To Jay, those are the sort of things that matter. As for whether Shaera was disgraced, I think her older brother Duncan took the cake for that during their time. There’s songs about the Prince of Dragonflies after all. 

Anonymous said: Can you make a list of all the new warriors people have. Like the first chapter.

Sure thing. Household of the Prince of Dragonstone, Aegon the Younger Ser Osric Waters, Knight of the Kingsguard and sworn protector Ser Loras Tyrell, Standard-Bearer and future goodbrother Ser Justin Massey, Esquire of the Body Ser Gerold Dayne, the Darkstar, sworn to heir Ser Humfrey Hightower, sworn to the heir Ser Mark Mullendore, sworn to the heir Ronald Storm, nephew to the Hand, the heir’s groom 

Anonymous said: Is A Time of Dragons, is Visenya in love with a character we know?

Yes. I’d check out the Martell section from the first chapter. Even if you don’t, the next update makes it pretty clear who Visenya loves. Her sexuality isn’t as closely guarded as Daeron’s, and those closest to her have known for some time. 

Anonymous said: You think it's possible you might give us flashbacks to the night Arthur dayne and the others died help shaena and her kids escape in ATfD?

We’ve already had one flashback to that night at the end of Jaime’s first POV and parts of it described in one of the Maester scrawls. Since Jaime is the only POV character who was there, we might see it again through his eyes. That’s a big maybe though, since I think some of the power of the Tower of Joy scene in the books is Ned only truly recalls it once.

Anonymous said: So in ATF does Rhaegar know/suspect that Ned knows the truth about Lyanna and Jon?

He suspects, yes. Not that he can do much about those suspicions except stew on them. Under Ned’s leadership, the Starks have stayed largely removed from matters to the south, swearing fealty to the crown while remaining a strong power in the rebel alliance. If Ned knows, he’s not used the secret to undermine Rhaegar or reveal the truth of the Knight of the Laughing Tree to the realm. That’s about all Rhaegar can comfort himself with.

Anonymous said: In ATfD, during the rebellion, Lyanna was at Storm's End during the siege correct? What did Stannis make of Robert's bride? Given that most likely his brother ordered her well being to be of paramount importance, more than Stannis and his men's lives for sure. How did she act/treat her new good brother? Was she able to leave a good impression on him, or was there resentment in a similar sense to how Stannis resented Eddard for the love Robert bore him?

Stannis did not care for Lyanna. He blamed the Targaryens first and foremost for rebellion, yet from all he had heard of Lyanna, she had not helped matters and had proved herself more troublesome than she might be worth. 

It was never lost on Stannis that while Robert left to win glory, he was left behind to safeguard not only their home, but their family’s future. All Robert’s heirs were his responsibility, and even he managed to see all of them and their home through the siege, Robert still partly blamed him for Lyanna’s death.

That’s not to say Stannis hadn’t developed some respect for Lyanna. He will have a scene where he reflects on their time under siege together so you’ll get more detail there. 

Anonymous said: Don't know if this spoilery but can you give us an idea about Aegon the heir and Margaery's relationship in atfd?

Aegon has definitely been charmed by Margaery. She dispelled any illusions Aegon had about truly loving the other women he’d romanced before, and even he’ll admit she’s changed him for the better. It’s not Aegon has learned how to respect women as he should, only that he’s come to value Margaery especially. He’s had dalliances since their betrothal, but never with women of note, who are then easily sent away in a twisted gesture of respect familiar to men at Highgarden.

Shaena would be thankful for Margaery’s influence in that change of character, and happier still at the way the rose has opened Aegon’s eyes to the realm. Margaery has inspired him to think beyond the power of one day wearing the crown to what sort of kingdom he will be given. Through subtleness and charm, she’s done her best to shape Aegon into a king she can both marry and rule beside.  Although on that count she may have done too well a job, as Aegon has become keenly aware of just how valuable he is to the Tyrells.

Anonymous said: in atfd, robert baratheon wins a seat on the small council. what position does he hold? it is never specified in the story.

It’s never specified because he doesn’t hold a position. Neither does Renly. The Baratheon seat is an advisory one and does not carry any specific role beyond that. The small council traditionally consists of seven members with stated duties, but there have often been additional seats added for royal advisors. That doesn’t mean there’s no power to the role, having the king’s ear and being present should the crown wish to dispense new powers is something most lords would envy. Renly is certainly putting his position to good use. 

Anonymous said: what is aegon the heir's relationship with members of his family other than rhaegar, whom we know is not close to his son? is he fond of his cousins and aunt daenerys? is there a favorite uncle of his whom he confides in?

As a child, Aegon felt closer bonds with much of his family but much of that has weakened or frayed. Visenya and Daenerys were his childhood playmates, and there was a time when he trusted his sister above most. He was never very close with Jay, who was rarely at court and usually unhappy when present, or Viserys, who took out his jealousy through childish teasing. Daeron and Egg intrigued him more, though he always preferred Egg’s tales of Targaryen heroes to Daeron’s, whose versions were usually more somber and less grand.  Over time though, this changed. Daeron and Visenya became disapproving of how Aegon conducted himself at court, usually in regards to ladies. He grew less interested in spending time with his sister and cousin, preferring the company of Theon and other young men of court. Egg’s attempts to push Joffrey, who Aegon couldn’t stand, into that group became transparent and damaged most respect he held for the uncle he would have named his favourite.  At this point, Aegon’s strongest bond is with his mother, though he still feels she failed him by allowing Visenya to turn Rhaegar against him and for sending him away. No matter how much he enjoyed his time at Highgarden, that sort of personal betrayal lingers with him. He trusts the friends he makes on his own more than the family he was born into. Osric Waters and Theon especially. And that’s a wrap. Back to writing for me!