2nd Month of 293 A.C. Volantis
Prince Jon Targaryen
Volantis was hot during the summer, and even though he was a dragon, Jon found the heat to be somewhat unbearable. His uncle and aunt didn't seem to mind it, or at least he knew his uncle, the King didn't, but Dany, she seemed to vary. Volantis was an interesting place, it was filled with history and so much to do, Jon had done much of the sightseeing during his time here, but always behind The Black Wall, never in front of it, because that was where the usurper and his spies might seek to find them ad harm them. The usurper, the man was nothing more than a name to him, but after the King had tried to take back the throne, the usurper's name had become even more reviled. The usurper's brother had died during that war, as had Ser Willam Darry, Jon missed the old man, he could be stern, but he could also be kind as well, and he had made mother laugh, something that did not always happen. Jon loved his family, and he yearned for the day they would no longer need to hide, for when they could emerge from the shadows to fight. He would fight alongside his uncle then; he'd fight for what was theirs.
It was that thought that made him focus back to attention at the lesson that Haldon Half-Maester was giving him and Dany. "The Dance of Dragons started because of the greed and ambition of one man and his mother. Prince Aegon and Queen Alicent were very ambitious and sought to rob Princess Rhaenyra of her birth right."
"Why?" Dany asks. "Why would they do something like that?"
Jon speaks then before the half-maester can answer. "Because they believed that they were entitled to the throne." He breathes a sigh of relief that he has been able to say the word throne without it sounding silly. He has trouble sometimes.
"That is right my prince." Haldon replies nodding his head in agreement. "Queen Alicent had long tried to convince her husband, King Viserys, to name his son by her as his heir. But King Viserys was stubborn and refused to do so. Even when he fell out with his daughter, he continued to insist that she was his heir, no matter what."
Jon considers this, his mind trying to process this information. "But didn't you say before that King Viserys himself became King due to the decision of a Great Council? Which overlooked his cousin Princess Rhaenys because she was a woman?"
At this the half-maester shifts uncomfortable. "Yes, yes it did."
"Then why was the King so determined to overlook that very fact and name his daughter his heir, even when he had a son, or sons from his second marriage?" Jon questions.
The Half-Maester looks slightly unsure of how to respond then, but eventually replies. "The King was the King, my prince, he was the very basis for the laws. And whilst the Great Council had named him as the heir to the Old King, the Old King still had to confirm that choice, had he not done so, there was nothing any of the lords could do. For the King's word is law, and it is final."
Jon thinks over this, and then asks. "So he was hoping to use that fact to make sure that he got his way, even when everyone else had to abide by the rule of the firstborn son coming before a daughter?" the thought seems absurd, but they are dragons, and they are above the laws of men.
"Yes my prince. The King was in the right of it. Princess Rhaenyra had been raised to rule from the time she could walk and talk. Prince Aegon was a lech who did nothing but drink and whore, he would have made a terrible King." The half-maester replies.
Jon considers this, trying to get round this fact, and then he asks. "Why did half the realm rise for Prince Aegon then, if he was that incompetent."
"Because they were traitors." Says a voice that is not the half-maester, Jon turns and sees his uncle, the King standing there, dressed in the red and black of their house. He stands, as does Dany, he bows, whilst Dany curtseys. The King strides into the room and looks at the half-maester once before turning to look at Jon and Dany. "They were traitors who put their own ambition before their duty to the throne, to what was right. And we all know what happens when such a thing happens."
"The realm bleeds." Jon and Dany echo together.
"Exactly." Viserys replies smiling at them, causing something akin to pride to flutter in his chest. "I think that is enough for now Haldon," the King says turning to the half-maester. "I would speak to my nephew and sister alone." The half-maester bows and then walks out of the room. Once he is gone, the King turns to look at them and says. "So tell me, where would you like to go this evening."
Jon feels a flutter of excitement then, he always likes going on these little excursions with his uncle, where his uncle gets to be his uncle, and not the imperious King that he often is. Jon looks at Dany and then asks. "Could we go to the Dragon room?" the dragon room, a place where the words of the dragonlords are kept, where their decisions and rules were stored during the fall.
The King looks at him a moment before looking at Dany. "Do you wish to go there sister?"
"Yes, please." Dany replies shyly.
The King nods, and says. "Very well, that is where we shall go." A moment passes and then softly Viserys speaks once more. "After that we shall have something more to do." Without saying anything more, Viserys winks at them and then walks out of the room, leaving Jon and Dany to murmur to themselves about what else they could have to do.