ELIA AND RHAEGAR : THROUGH THE EYES OF THEIR CHILDREN
RHAENYS
She loves her parents, there is certainly no doubt about that. The answer, she often seeks, is whether they love one another. King Rhaegar of House Targaryen and his Dornish wife, Queen Elia of House Martell. They are, undoubtedly, a matched pair.
Her mother's wit matches her father's dry humour. Her mother's raven tresses shine as much as her father's silver hair. Both dressed in attires worthy of their titles. They match, even if one is pale and the other russet. They match, even if one is strong and the other delicate. They match, even if one is a dragon Prince and the other the sun Princess.
Rhaenys remembers the story Uncle Oberyn had often told of how it was Rhaenys' grandmother - her mother's mother - who had put the match forth and made it possible for her only daughter to wed the Crown Prince. A clever match for grandmother was a clever woman. Nobody ever tells her whether her mother wanted the match for herself.
She hears of a Mad Targaryen King who wanted a bride with the blood of the Targaryens, a bride for his silver Prince. She will hear in her father's tales that her grandsire searched desperately for a princess for his son - only a princess would befit his royal son - and they found the Princess of sun in Dorne. Still, nobody will tell her whether her father wanted the match for himself.
Over the years, she understands it was mostly politics. The spears of Dorne and the might of the dragons - a match that would bring prosperity for all. A Targaryen and Martell alliance like the one where King Daeron II Targaryen married Princess Myriah Martell - a Targaryen Prince and his Martell Princess who bring peace to the realm.
Rhaenys grows up in a comfortable environment even if her parents aren't always around because they are King and Queen. She grows up seeing her mother rule as much as their father for her mother is the blood of Nymeria. She sees them smile when needed, demand when it is right, pass judgement when so desired. At the end of the day, all Rhaenys sees is a King and a Queen who do their duty right.
It isn't love she decides, it simply cannot be. She sees duty between them. Plain duty. However, certainly nobody could claim that didn't do their duty well.
AEGON
He loves his mother even if doesn't exactly love his father, complicated as their relationship is. It is nothing too unusual he thinks - several sons had strained relationships with their fathers, his own father being a prime example.
When people talk of his parents or ask him about his parents, he often hesitates, never too certain of who his parents really are and what they mean to each other. He tries to understand it certainly, for if nothing else, he should know this much about his parents. But it is so hard to understand them for he knows they have many sides and many faces.
In some moments, they are King and Queen ; in others, they are Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell ; and in the rest they are simply Rhaegar and Elia. Aegon is someone who has witnessed all these sides to his parents, which makes things all the more complicated. He also doesn't think his parents would truly be his parents if they weren't all of these facets packed into two human beings.
When they are in court, his father places a crown upon his head and sits upon the Iron Throne as King. His mother joins his father more often than not, wearing a matching crown even if her seat is a smaller one. However, it doesn't matter for she is Queen and together the duo are King and Queen and nothing else. In those moments, the kingdoms come first and they conduct their activities as mere duties.
Then there are moments, fleeting moments, when his father will bow his head towards his mother - a few whispered words which emit a slight laugh from his mother - before turning around to face his audience and pass his judgement or demand something from the group. There are moments when for no apparent reason his mother's hand will find his father's and they will continue on like they exchanged no intimacy in the middle of court. In these moments, Aegon understands that duty is not exactly the word to describe Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell.
It is mostly after everybody is gone and every eye turned away from them that his parents become simply Elia and Rhaegar. It is when they come to tuck a six name-day old Aegon into bed and talk while Aegon pretends to sleep that they rid themselves of the crowns and the pretence.
"He is beautiful, our baby boy.", his mother will whisper, her soft hands running through Aegon's hair.
"What else do you expect from your son, my dear?", his father will ask, his position unknown to Aegon for his eyes are closed. However, his father does sound near.
"Me? He is all you, this one. Just as much as Rhaenys is mine, perhaps even more so. Handsome as his father, he shall be."
"Well my dear Elia, then we can only hope he finds one Princess as lovely as you."
Then he will fall asleep and his parents words will fall upon deaf ears. Yet, in these moments he knows there is a lot more to his parents than it is visible.
Still, problem remains that he cannot decipher where to place his parents. They are certainly not simply duty to one another but he doesn't think it is love either for love is meant to be passionate and all-consuming from what he gathers. So he places his parents somewhere between love and duty for they are quite affectionate with one another. It will be Ser Barristan who will agree with him and nod that the King is certainly fond of his Queen, much more than their predecessors.
VISENYA
When she is little, she adores the fact that people often claim inspite of her looks she is her mother's child. A Martell in Targaryen colouring - the best of both her parents, according to her father. She only hopes that her life plays out as wonderfully as her mother's did. However, no, she isn't looking forward to being a Queen, she just wants a loveable Prince. She is young but she still understands that she wants what her parents have for that is the love she understands.
She isn't surprised by the fact that at first glance her parents do not appear to be in love for people mistake love to be an ever-burning passion. And her parents, born as they both were with crowns, put duty and appearances before everything. So when in public, her parents are King and Queen first, a mother and father next and then themselves. One has to get to the last layer to understand their love.
Sure it doesn't burn with a robust passion like the one Uncle Oberyn and Ellaria Sand present. And thank the gods, it is nothing like mere bitter civility that her Uncle Viserys and Aunt Dany show. No, it is more warm and soft glowing, almost like her parents love exists in an ethereal world, incapable of mortal understanding. And no, this notion does not make her a silly romantic for it is not a notion but a truth.
Her parents love lies in the whispered talks, in the light teasing her mother partakes in at their father's expense, in the smile her father presents and reserves just for her mother, in the fact that truthfully they are never too far from one another. It is not an in-your-face kind of love, it is the one which exists beneath the surface and young and delicate as she may be called, she understands it better than either of her siblings.
The entire Red Keep sees the King break down when the Queen passes away and people call it merely grief, even her siblings, without understanding that it is much more than grief, for her father cannot conceive of a world without her mother. It is truly that simple. She knows it because she had heard her father when he had said that "better the Gods take me before you Elia." He preferred death over a life without her mother and he had told her as such the day of her death.
Their love was more about stability, about being contend with simply being with one another and that is what many failed to see. For she understands that even if they were strangers on their wedding day, her father had put her mother's safety first by taking her to Dragonstone and building a life there while her grandsire was still alive. Even today, she would like to believe her father would put their mother first.
So yes, Uncle Oberyn isn't at all pleased with her father but so far the Red Viper has never claimed that his sister was ill-treated. So yes, people speak of a likeness and fondness between her parents but only because they do not understand that things run much deeper than that. She doesn't fully understand her father but she never doubts her father's love for her mother.