Part I: Rhaenys
She's barely three years old when the Rebellion begins. She doesn't remember much of anything, but she can recall in her mind her mother's face and features, the softness of her caresses and the kisses she used to place on her forehead. She remembers little Aegon, and her mother's words.
"He'll be safe. You both will be."
Everything is a bit blurry remembers the night when strange men take her to a ship and mother had the sweetest and most tearful smile. She remembers that smile and after that nothing more about her. The men who take her away have gentle smiles for her, but she's too young to recognise the kindness for what it really is. Pity.
She doesn't remember much of anything really. But she remembers.
She's three years old when her family is slaughtered. Her father has it better, she thinks. He dies in battle, sword in hand and a vague sort of dignity. Her mother is raped and killed as if she is a common whore. No one had ever thought much of her, her uncle Oberyn tells her: in Dorne she was a second child, she would never inherit anything from her mother, the ruling Princess of Dorne. According to the rest of the six Kingdoms she was frail-looking and a woman to boot. Her entire demur screamed she was weak.
Still, and maybe thanks to their opinion of her, she managed to deceive them all. Her daughter is shipped off to Dorne before the Sack of King's Landing. Rhaenys is still alive, safe and sound with her uncles and cousins. And the girl never tells anyone but she thinks that Aegon is alive as well. "He'll be safe." Her mother had said, she remembers those words clearly. And if Elia Martell managed to save one of her children, why couldn't she have saved both of them?
After the King's Landing Sacking it became clear to everyone that Rhaenys Targaryen was not there. The Mountain had killed Elia and little Aegon but the girl was not with her mother.
The war was over, the Usurper King had taken the Iron Throne, he had killed Rhaegar, and his wife and son were dead as well. Still the dragon was alive, for Viserys Targaryen and little Daenerys Stormborn had been shipped off to Essos by a loyalist of their family. When news that Rhaenys Targaryen was alive and well in Dorne reached Robert Baratheon's ears, Jon Arryn and Ned Stark had to physically restrain him from declaring another war.
The realm couldn't possibly afford another war and certainly it could not afford to lose Dorne. Rhaenys Targaryen was the dragon's spawn, but somehow wise men convinced Robert that she posed no threat to him. That "she was only a girl, after all."
Robert raged and complained and threaten, and once completely drunk he shouted for his war hammer. But a peace with Dorne was signed nonetheless, and the Seven Kingdoms were pacified once again.
And Rhaenys Targaryen lived.
Her childhood in Sunspear is joyful, full of amusement. Her uncles love her fiercely, and Rhaenys doesn't know if it is because of her resemblance to her mother or if it's just her who they love. She especially likes Arianne, her uncle's Doran heir. Arianne is kind and clever and full of life; she's the one who teaches her to ride and to sew and how to smile in the proper way to make her uncles swoon. Doran and Oberyn seem completely fascinated by her; she rejoice in it.
The Sand Snakes, Uncle Oberyn's daughters, are incredibly different from each other. Obara and Nymeria are warriors and had they been born sons instead of daughters, they would have been knights. However Rhaenys can't shake off the feeling that Tyene is the most dangerous. She's so beautiful that when they wander in the Water Gardens boys and men alike turn their heads to stare at her. One day, Rhaenys sees one man approaching Tyene with a lascivious smirk and wandering hands and she has to stop herself from screaming that some horrid man was molesting her cousin. She doesn't because Tyene kicks him in the crotch, after a particular dark grin.
Rhaenys is in equal part awed and scared.
When she's seven she asks permission to learn how to use a bow. Doran says no, at first; he doesn't want her hurt in any way. Oberyn though insists it is a good idea.
"She must know how to defend herself, Doran and you know it. How long will this truce with Robert Baratheon hold? He wants her dead and he won't stop hating her for her father's sins anytime soon. I won't have her defenceless if she wants to learn."
Uncle Doran is bribed.
Her lessons begin some days later and her teacher is Uncle Oberyn himself.
"I'm no master with the bow, but I can teach you just fine. You'll learn the basics with me and then we will hire someone more competent." He winks.
The first day, it seems like all House Martell is there to assist her training. She should feel uncomfortable with their eyes on her head, staring at her every move, but she isn't. She feels loved and protected. She has no mother, no father, no siblings; but she still has a family.
When she shoots the first arrow, it misses. Her uncle Oberyn however laughs and roughs her hair fondly. With such "skinny arms" as he says, it's no wonder she missed the target but she has demonstrated that she can do it.
From that day she trains with her uncle for three months. At the end of this period even Obara is impressed with her skills, and she takes up the task of training her.
The spear is her favourite weapon and she wields it masterfully. Rhaenys though is too young and still too short to learn how to use it, thus Obara promises to teach her when she'll be older. Instead she teaches her how to use a dagger, how to hide it and the places in the human body which are the most vulnerable to the blade.
Quentyn, Arianne's brother, shows her some books about her family's history. Soon she learns about the first Aegon, the first Rhaenys and Vysenia. The conquerors. After that she decides that she wants a dragon and is distressed when Quentyn explains that there are no more dragons.
Rhaenys thinks about it for long moments before frowning. "Am I not a dragon? The books said so."
Quentyn quirks his lips in a odd smile. "You are a dragon. Just a very pretty one."
It is indeed a weird answer.
She's only eleven when she wakes up to bloodstained sheets. She screams frightened. It causes the whole house to wake up in alarm. The guards open the door of her chambers in a forceful way and her uncle Oberyn is behind them with a sword in his hands. His dark face softens when he sees her.
"Calm down, little dragon. You are not hurt. I'll call for Arianne, she'll explain it to you."
Rhaenys can only blink at him.
When Arianne arrives, she hugs her tightly. What her cousin tells her in the following minutes is something she never wishes to hear again. Enough to say that she's a woman now.
"Does it mean I'll have to marry now?" She asks fearfully.
Arianne chuckles, shaking her head. "Of course not, love. I've been a woman for three years now and I'm still unmarried. The first blood doesn't translate in a marriage. At least not in Dorne."
Rhaenys smiles relieved.
By her thirteenth name day, she is a woman grown: she is a little taller than Arianne, her chest is full and her waist thin but not frail looking.
It's by the same time that Robert Baratheon begins plotting her marriage.
Soon a letter, brought by a crow of King's Landing, reaches Sunspear. Rhaenys hears Uncle's Oberyn's shouts from her bedroom and follows them until she sets foot in her Uncle Doran's solar. They both have very dark expressions.
"Uncles, what is going on?"
The two men look at each others, before nodding at her.
"Come, little dragon. We need to talk."
They show her the letter sent by King Robert. It is very well written, she thinks, feeling numb.
It states in no uncertain terms that Rhaenys of House Targaryen is now the betrothed of one Robb of House Stark, heir to Winterfell.
She can't think of anything.
On her fourteenth name day she leaves Dorne behind her back with a hundred guards, her uncle Oberyn and Obara Sand.
The goodbyes have been so painful that she's restraing herself from crying. How can Robert Baratheon be so cruel? She's not her father. She has never hurt anyone, even if she so wished to kill the Usurper King, who seated on the Iron Throne made for her ancestor.
And he offered her to a Stark. The same family who has ruined hers. Lyanna Stark had bewitched her father and brought the entire realm to war.
It was an insult, though she knows it would be worse if the King had thought about a Lannister or his brother Renly. That would have caused a really unpleasant situation.
But this Robb is not only a Stark. He's younger than her, three years younger. It's so humiliating. She's fourteen, a woman grown, and he's eleven, a boy. She grits her teeth, she already hates this Robb Stark.
It's a long way from Dorne to the North, almost two months but she thinks that this period will be useful to her, at least the long journey will allow her to reflect. She hasn't wanted to board on a ship, she hasn't set a foot in one since her mother saved her life.
On the way to the North, they pass through the Reach, and Rhaenys is awed by the beauty of it. She even manages to stop the trip for a few hours to collect some flower and fruit. They are so beautiful she really finds herself distressed when they begin to wither. After that they cross the Trident, where her father died and she thinks that all in all it is a good place to die. Better than the room of the Red Keep in which her mother was murdered.
The more they go north the more she gets cold. It's not normal, she thinks. It is still summer and it should be warm at least. She doesn't expect Winterfell to be as hot as Dorne but she hasn't expected it to be so cold in summer.
When they are getting close to Winterfell she insists to stop.
"It's getting dark, and I don't want to reach Winterfell at night. We will continue tomorrow."
Her Uncle and Obara look at her knowingly. Oberyn shakes his head. "You must not be afraid of them. Remember who you are."
"I'm the blood of the dragon, and a dragon is never afraid. I know that. I'm not afraid. But they expected us today, didn't they? We shall keep them waiting for a bit longer." Rhaenys can't help but feel a little childish in saying it, but at the same time she doesn't care. In that same moment she could be in Dorne, with her whole family instead of in the cold North. It's Robert Baratheon's fault, but the Starks' too and she hates them all.
Isn't it enough that they killed her family? Must they alienate her even from the last bit of family she's left?
Winterfell is grey and somber, and more colder than she's ever dared to dream.
When she arrives with the Martell's banners shaking in the wind it's afternoon and surprisingly quiet, is it because of her?
She sees them immediately, they are all waiting patiently for her after all. The Starks.
The woman she presumes to be Lady Stark is heavy with child, but beautiful with her chestnut hair and blue eyes. The man on her side is tall and solemn, and the smile he gives her seem a little forced.
Uncle Oberyn helps her to dismount from her horse, and he's the one to speak first.
"Lord Stark, it's been a long time."
"Indeed it has. Welcome to Winterfell, Prince Oberyn."
Rhaenys is perfectly aware of the fact that everyone is looking at her, and can't seem to do anything.
"May I present you my niece? Rhaenys Targaryen."
It's her name on her Uncle's lips to shake her. She quirks her lips in a sort of smile but manages to look cold all the same. Lord Eddard Stark bows to her, and that's something that makes her mentally grin.
Rhaenys has tried with every ounce of her body to ignore the stares, but she only needs to look at her left to see him.
"And may I present you my first born son and heir? Robb."
Robb Stark is indeed a boy.
And he's looking at her with an awed, infatuated expression that makes Rhaenys cringe. She's a woman, three years his elder. He shouldn't look at her like that! She manages a smiles that makes him flush rather obviously.
That is the moment she hears him for the first time.
She hears a snicker and suddenly she notices the boy behind Robb Stark. He's tall, and dark and handsome. He's grinning and elbowing Robb, which seems to wake up the poor boy.
He bow profusely, "Your Grace." He stutters a bit.
Rhaenys smiles, even if inside of her she's screaming violently. "My lord."