The Chronicles of Valyria,
Book 1 Resurrection
Chapter 13
A dark scowl appeared on the face of Ser Arthur as he growled, "It is not from your wife, Lord Stark. But it does concern your firstborn child." With those words, he stepped aside and there appeared a tall young woman. She had long black hair and haunting violet eyes. She wore a simple dress of midnight blue wool and was a great beauty, but what was most surprising about her appearance, was the several months old baby she held in her arms.
Eddard got pale as a corpse and stuttered, "He.. he… hello Ashara," while secretly thinking, 'Seven Hells, Catelyn is gonne kill me."
"Hello Ned," Ashara replied softly. "Do you remember what we did at your last visit to Starfall?"
"No, but I can guess." Aurora whispered loudly through the otherwise silent room, only to get a smack against the back of her head from Gabrielle who hissed,
"Could you please behave a little like your age."
While Aurora rubbed the smacked place on her head, Gabrielle really packed a punch if she was irritated, Eddard swallowed loudly and said, "Yes… yes of course I remember, it is just, you… you never said anything in your letters. If I had known I would never…"
At this he was interrupted by Brynden Tully who said coldly. "You would never have what? Never would have married my niece?"
Eddard sunk into his chair with his head in his hands and muttered. "This is all so messed up."
Finally, Lyanna felt a little sympathetic to her brother and said. "Would everyone please leave us alone. This is something that needs to be dealt with in private. We can continue our past discussion in the morning."
The look in her eyes told them all that it was not a suggestion and not wanting to anger their new Queen, most chose to make themselves scarce and hastily left the room. The only exceptions were Aurora, who didn't want to miss the show, and Gabrielle, who forcefully shoved her wife out of the room while apologizing for her behavior.
When only Rhaegar, Lyanna, Eddard, Ashara and Arthur were left, Lyanna indicated that they should all take a seat, which they did so. Rhaegar and Lyanna in the middle, Eddard on their left and Arthur and Ashara on their right.
Now that they were more or less alone, Rhaegar said, "I don't want to be rude, but could someone please tell me what is going on? I hate it when people are discussing something which I don't know anything about."
Arthur made to speak but one look from Rhaegar made him shut his mouth before the King continued. "Eddard, Lady Ashara, could you please explain to me what is going on."
Ashara nodded and went to speak but was interrupted by Eddard. "Please allow me Ash." When she nodded, he turned to Rhaegar, Lyanna and Arthur and began his explanation.
"Ashara and I met at the tourney of Harrenhal, after my brother Brandon introduced us. We kind of hit if off the first night and by the end of the tourney, we were madly in love. The two years since, I have visited her a few times at Starfall and we exchanged many letters, but once the rebellion began, we lost contact.
The last time I was there, we… we made love and I was already making plans to ask her father for her hand, but then the rebellion happened. She no longer replied to my letters, so I assumed she didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore.
Then when Lord Hoster demanded that I marry his daughter Catelyn, as a price for him joining our cause, I gave in, thinking that Ashara would never want to see me anyway if we won, since her family fought against us."
At this point Ashara interrupted him and said, "It wasn't that I didn't want to respond Ned, I just didn't know how. My mother had forbidden me to reply to your letters, and when I found out that I was pregnant, you had already married Lady Tully. How do you tell someone that they made you pregnant, while you just heard that he married someone else?"
Lyanna softly took her brother's hand between her own and asked him, "Ned, do you love Catelyn?"
Eddard looked her in the eyes before letting his head fall and softly shaking his head. "No," he whispered. Now looking up to Ashara he added softly, "Until my dying day, I'll always love you Ash, but we can't be together. I swore to marry Catelyn I gave my vows before The Old Gods and the New. As much as I would want to, we can't be together."
Ashara sniffed once, before she replied equally softly, "I know Ned. I know your honor would never allow you to break your vows with Catelyn. I don't ask you to raise our daughter, all I ask is that you will acknowledge her as your own, so that she can have a name. But know this Ned, I cannot stay in Westeros knowing that you are married to someone else. So I have decided to go with the expedition to Essos."
At this all the men looked up in shock, but Lyanna said, "I understand, if I might make a suggestion, the Ladies Aurora and Gabrielle will be leading the expedition, this will keep them very busy for the first few months, so they will need someone to look after the twin girls they have adopted. When we are done here, I'll take you to them and introduce you, I'm sure they'll take you under their care and with them you'll be as safe as you can possibly be."
Ashara nodded softly and both Eddard and Arthur looked at her with gratitude while Rhaegar asked, "What is her name, Lady Ashara?"
Ashara turned her daughter around in her arms, so that the others could see her face while she looked at Rhaegar and said, "With your permission Your Grace, I have named her Elia."
Rhaegar smiled sadly and said, "I do believe that would be fitting. She always liked your company and to now have your daughter named after her, it would please her I believe."
Ashara looked relieved to hear that and turning to Eddard she asked softly, "Would you like to hold her Ned?"
Eddard looked surprised by the offer and he nodded mutely. Ashara stood up and walked around the table holding the small bundle securely against her chest. She carefully handed Elia to her father under the scowling looks of Arthur.
Eddard looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms and he couldn't suppress a smile from creeping onto his face. The girl had his thick black curls, and her mother's haunting violet eyes. Elia looked at him with curious eyes and grasped his hand with both of hers before bringing his thumb to her mouth and trying to suck on it.
Eddard softly pulled his hand away from the girl's face, aware that he hadn't washed his hands for a while, and said tenderly, "She looks just like you Ash." At that moment Elia began crying softly and Ashara took her daughter back in her arms while saying, "I think she's hungry, I'll take my leave so I can feed her."
Eddard nodded softly before asking, "Will, will you stay in the city until the expedition leaves?"
Ashara nodded but said, "I will Ned, but the more we see each other, the harder it will be to say goodbye when the time comes."
Eddard could see the pain in her eyes but he knew she was right. As much as they both may hate it, it would be best if they didn't see each other more than was necessary.
Lyanna also stood up and said, "Come with me Ashara, I will introduce you to the Ladies and there you can sit down to sate the little one's apatite."
Lyanna gave Rhaegar a kiss before she led Ashara out of the room, leaving the three men behind them.
As soon as the women had left Eddard raised his hands in surrender to Arthur and said, "I swear on my honor, if I had known that your sister was pregnant, I would never have married Catelyn. I love your sister and I wanted to marry her, I still do but it is just not possible, we shall have to make the best out of this situation, no matter how hard it will be."
Arthur nodded sadly and replied, "I understand Lord Stark, I am not happy with it, but I understand that you aren't either. It is a difficult situation for us all, and it could all have been avoided if my mother hadn't forbidden Ash from writing you."
The three men spoke for a little while longer before they split up for the evening.
Lyanna led Ashara to Maegor's Holdfast and up to the rooms of Aurora and Gabrielle. When they entered the Holdfast, they could hear subdued voices arguing, which became louder the closer they came to the door which led to the rooms of Aurora and Gabrielle. The twins were sitting in a different room, at the bed of Yara Greyjoy, who was also visited by her brother and her uncle.
Yara had been recovering quickly, thanks to Gabrielle's skills with healing, and she was able to talk with the others and even joke around, though she had to be careful not to lay on her back as that would re-open her stitches and cause her to start bleeding again.
Lyanna poked her head around the door of the room and said, "Silvana, Lissena, could you join me for a moment?"
The twins quickly stood up and replied in unison, "Of course Your Grace." Before they hurried to join them in the hall.
Lyanna introduced them to Ashara and said, "Girls, this is Lady Ashara Dayne, Ashara, these are Silvana and Lissena, the adopted daughters of Aurora and Gabrielle. Girls, Ashara wanted to meet your parents, is it safe for us to go and see them?"
The twins fervently shook their heads and Lissena said, "No Your Grace. Mom said she was angry at mom, and because they were fighting, she sent us out of the room and told us not to come back in until it was time for dinner."
Lyanna sighed deeply before turning to Ashara and saying. "Please follow the girls, they can show you a quiet place where you can feed the little one." Ashara nodded and the twins eagerly led her towards a small sitting room that was deserted and which contained a very comfortable couch in which Ashara took a seat.
The girls sat down besides her and looked with interest as Ashara removed a brooch that held her dress up at one shoulder and lowered the fabric to reveal a large breast, swollen with milk. The little Elia instinctively latched onto the large brown nipple and started suckling hungrily.
"Ahhh," said Silvana softly, "She is so cute. How old is she?"
Ashara looked down at the girl and replied with a proud smile, "She is three months old now."
The girls carefully stroked Elia's hair as she drank and kept bombarding Ashara with questions.
When the girls led Elia away, Lyanna resolutely turned to the door of Aurora and Gabrielle's room and walked towards it with a brisk pace. She couldn't understand what was said behind the door, not because it was muffled by the door, but because it was some strange language she had never heard before.
She knocked loudly and the yelling stopped and after a few seconds the door was pulled open abruptly and she looked into the red face of Gabrielle. Lyanna raised a single eyebrow and asked, "I wanted to introduce you to someone, but if you two are too busy disturbing the peace it can wait." She turned around before saying over her shoulder, "I couldn't understand what you were saying, but half the castle must have heard you shouting."
Gabrielle swallowed and asked softly, "Was, was it that bad?"
Lyanna nodded and Gabrielle's color, which had lightened a little during the short talk, went bright red again.
Aurora poked her head around the door and she still had a small grin on her face, apparently, it was only Gabrielle who had been pissed off, the reason was rather obvious seeing as how they left the council chamber.
"Hey Lya," Aurora said cheerfully, to the obvious displeasure of her wife. "Did you need something from us?"
"I wanted to introduce you two to someone but if you are too busy it can wait.
With a cheeky grin Aurora winked to Lyanna, before turning to Gabrielle and giving her a very passionate kiss, which lasted nearly two minutes, and Gabrielle's face grew softer with every passing second until she was grinning weekly when Aurora let her go again.
"Shall we go?" Aurora asked innocently, ignoring Lyanna's flabbergasted expression at seeing Gabrielle resting her head on Aurora's left shoulder and embracing her tightly.
"I'm a great kisser," Aurora whispered to Lyanna and Gabrielle added,
"Yea, she sure is."
Not a hint of their argument seemed to remain and Lyanna asked softly, "How did you do that? And if it is that easy to calm her down, why didn't you do it earlier?"
Gabrielle grinned softly while she replied, "Aurora and I share a bond that goes deeper than anything you could ever imagine. Our minds have a connection that allows us to feel what the other feels, think what the other thinks and even use each others senses.
For example, if you were to blindfold one of us and cover our ears, we would still be able to defeat any number of enemies, as long as long as the other can still see and hear.
And thus, if we have an argument, we usually deal with it in silence, but sometimes it just feels great to let it all out and blow of some steam."
Lyanna gaped at them until she recovered and asked incredulously, "So you were fighting, just for the sake of it?"
Both women nodded and Aurora said, "Trust me, once you and Rhaegar are married for a few years, and you have a bunch of kids running around, it'll feel very good to just let it all out once in a while. We usually do it in the training ring, but we don't want to destroy half the city if it gets out of hand, so we'll wait until we can destroy a few castles to, 'have a proper argument'."
Lyanna shook her head and muttered, "Unbelievable, you two really are crazy."
"Uhu," she got confirmation from both and muttering to herself she led them to the room where Ashara and the girls were.
When they reached the room, they found Ashara still nursing Elia while she was answering a question from one of the girls. Lyanna knocked and the trio looked up. Ashara's eyes widened in shock, as Aurora and Gabrielle were still wearing their armor, by lack of what they called 'decent clothing', and she had not given them any attention during her entrance in the council chamber.
"Don't worry," Gabrielle said with a soft smile on her face, "we don't bite. We just don't have anything else to wear, as at the moment we absolutely refuse to wear a dress unless absolutely necessary. In these dangerous times, we prefer heavy steel over soft silks."
Ashara seemed a little relieved by these words and Aurora asked gently, "So, who is the little munchkin over there?"
Ashara blushed a little and replied, "Her name is Elia, she is the daughter of me and Ned."
"Yea," Aurora said a little sheepishly, "I figured as much. Sorry for my rudeness by the way, it was just so unexpected from the honor-obsessed Eddard Stark, to have a child out of marriage."
Ashara nodded and said, "I understand it must have been quite a shock for everyone. My brother was not happy when I told him who the father was. He nearly stormed into the chamber to attack Ned, if it hadn't been for Ser Gerold ordering him to stay his hand."
"But what will happen to little Elia now," Gabrielle asked cautiously. "I don't think Ned's wife will like it if he comes back to the North with both a child and a second wife."
Ashara shook her head and replied. "No My Lady. I cannot stay here. Ned and I cannot marry, my station is too low for the Lord of Winterfell, and even if it was not, Ned will never break his vow to Lady Catelyn. So, I have decided to go with your expedition to Essos."
Both Aurora and Gabrielle were surprised by this and Lyanna quickly interceded before they could ask questions. "I suggested to Ashara that it may be smart to get to know you two and the twins. I figured that since the two of you will be leading the expedition, you will be kept very busy for the first few months and quite some time after as well. So maybe Ashara could keep an eye on the twins for you, while you are away.
Besides," she added after a quick self-debate. "It will be expected of your position after you conquer the Stepstones. Rhaegar plans to name you 'Wardens of the Narrow Sea', and give you dominion over the Stepstones."
Both ladies looked a little hesitant and judging by their looks, they were having a mental debate on what to say until Gabrielle took the word. "I'm very sorry Lyanna, but we can't accept that. It is vital for the success of our mission that the Seven Kingdoms are kept out of it. We will be going to war soon, and if we are to avoid any reprisals against Westeros, we need to publicly break ties with the Iron Throne."
Now it was Lyanna who was shocked and Aurora said carefully. "We had planned to tell you this during the council meeting but Ashara and the Munchkin interrupted that plan a little. Please don't say anything to Rhaegar or anyone else about this. We will tell them tomorrow and it would be best if they heard it from us."
Lyanna nodded softly and said, "I see, then I will leave you for now and we shall meet at the council meeting tomorrow."
She nodded to the adults in the room before quickly leaving the room to find Ned and give him a good scolding for knocking up Ashara, it was time to see if it really did feel good to let it all out.
The rest of the evening and during dinner, the family of four spent getting to know Ashara and dotting over little Elia, who was officially nicknamed 'Munchkin', by Aurora, because she found it a cute name for the little girl.
The next morning after breakfast the council met again and as soon as they were all seated, Lyanna looked sternly at Aurora and Gabrielle and hissed, "You tell them now, or I will."
Under the confused looks of the others, Aurora and Gabrielle set their faces in a slight scowl before Aurora began her tale.
"Very well, we had planned to tell you all this yesterday, but events conspired against us, so we shall do it now. Once we have taken the Stepstones, you, Rhaegar, need to publicly condemn our actions and exile us from the Seven Kingdoms."
As expected a round of gasps and cries of "WHAT," and "WHY," came from all sides.
Aurora raised her hands to silence them before she continued.
"I am not saying this because I want to, but because it is necessary. We need to make it public knowledge, that all ties between us and the Iron Throne are severed.
Why this is necessary is very simple. We are going to war in Essos. And it will not be a pretty war. I don't know if you are familiar with the term, 'War-crimes', but that is what we will be committing on a large scale.
We are not just going to fight the Ghiscari. If we are to be ready to face the White Walkers when the Long Night comes, we shall need an army which's equal has never been seen in this world. In order to do that, we shall have to turn to Astapor and their Unsullied. As deplorable as slavery is, it is still very common in Essos and the Unsullied are but a single result of this system, but it is one we need to exploit.
I will buy every unsullied we can find, and I will free them all. But to avoid more to be trained, we shall have to completely destroy Astapor, also to set an example of what will happen to those who resist us.
We will rebuild Valyria with the slaves we will liberate. The volunteers who will help us take the Stepstones will stay behind there to populate it and hold it as a new province of Westeros. Only myself, Gabrielle, the twins and any who are willing to leave behind everything, will go to Valyria. The Iron Fleet will come with us, since they don't give a shit what the rest of the world thinks of them, am I right Victarion?"
The new Lord of the Iron Islands nodded solemnly and replied, "That is correct. Our way of life, our religion, and our very culture is built around the fact that the rest of the world sees us as pirates and reavers, which is exactly how we like it."
Aurora nodded at Victarion's words and continued. "Valyria is easily defendable. The dragons of old shall return to their home and retake it with fire and death, the legends will do the rest. But the Seven Kingdoms cannot be involved in this conflict. To many innocent lives would be lost if that were to happen."
Rhaegar sighed and after a few moments he said, "You are right, I really, really don't want to admit it, but you are right. The two of you know more about the threat we will face in the Long Night, than anyone else in the world, so we have no choice but to listen to your advice and act accordingly if we are to survive.
The closest city to the Stepstones is Tyrosh, which also happens to be a city largely populated by slaves. The slavers of Tyrosh are reputed to be amongst the cruelest anywhere in the world. Start your conquest in Tyrosh, and I will have a justifiable reason to exile you whilst at the same time you will be removing the biggest threat to the Stepstones."
Gabrielle looked calculatingly, but Aurora nodded in agreement while saying with a little pride in her voice. "It is a sign of great king, if one can do what must be done for the good of his people, no matter how distasteful or deplorable the things might be."
Rhaegar accepted her words with reluctance before asking, "What force would you need to take Tyrosh? It is an ancient fortress city with walls of the same build as Dragonstone."
Aurora twisted her lips while she thought before asking, "It depends, do they have siege weapons like catapults or ballistae, because if they don't, it will be fairly easy and we need no more than the Iron Fleet.
If they do however have heavy weaponry, we cannot use dragonfire to burn their defenses and it will be a lot harder to take the city. I suggest we visit it first to see what we will be dealing with."
The others all nodded, but Jon Arryn post an apt question. "Why are we just hearing this now, after we spend nearly a week working on the preparations for your expedition?"
With a wry smile Gabrielle replied, "That is because we didn't realize it was necessary until the 'golden assholes' escaped. The danger posed by the Ghiscari completely changes the whole balance of power in Essos. Because they could potentially unite all the slaver cities against us and if they strike before we are ready, we will lose everything. We have to take at least a few of them one by one, until we can get the numbers we need to effectively fight against the Ghiscari."
Aurora nodded in agreement and added, "And it is crucial, that this point of our plans does not leave this room, as it needs to be a complete surprise for the people if it is to be believed."
Another round of nods was all the answer she got, and soon the discussions turned towards more serious matters, like the rebuilding of Flea Bottom and the strain it was putting on the royal treasury.
The gold Rhaegar had ordered to be seized from Casterly Rock was still under way, but since it was too much to be safely transported over land, it came by sea under escort of the Redwyne fleet. However, the Stepstones were still in the way of the treasure fleet and needed to be taken before they could safely pass through the island chain.
The rest of the day and the day after that followed were spent in endless discussions about finances, manpower, food stores and all other things that were of importance while planning an invasion.
The main problem they were facing was the fact that they didn't have the ships to get the necessary men to the Stepstones. Of the royal fleet, a full ¾ was burned to ashes by the wyverns, and the merchant fleet that had been anchored was completely destroyed, leaving them with just 38 heavily damaged and barely afloat vessels.
Victarion had gotten word that Dagmer Cleftjaw had set sail from the Iron Islands with just over 500 longships and 26,000 Ironborn, men, women, and children as a large part of their population had decided to seek out more fertile places to build a new home for themselves, preferably by force.
The point was that the Ironborn alone didn't have the manpower to take the Stepstones, as nearly a third of their number were women and children, and they didn't have a means to get more man there, unless the Stepstones were secured. Eventually it was Oberyn who came with a solution. The prince had continued to sit in on the meetings, as his brother's recovery would take many weeks if not months.
The Dornish fleet, added with every ship they could find, for a total of 138 ships, would travel back and forth twice between King's Landing and Ghost Hill in Dorne. At Ghost Hill, they would be awaited by the 5,000 Dornishmen Oberyn had promised them. From there the army would march across Dorne to join up with the Iron Fleet which would wait for them at the mouth of the Greenblood.
The third trip the makeshift fleet would take would carry mostly knights on foot and heavy infantry, as they would land on Bloodstone, which was the most heavily defended of the islands and the main base from which the pirates operated. The Iron Fleet would, once they joined up with the army, sail to the tips of the Broken Arm, where they would drop off the women and children and from there on separate into a dozen smaller groups which would each take one of the smaller islands.
The second largest island, named Grey Gallows and after Bloodstone the most heavily defended, would be taken by Aurora and Gabrielle, who refused any company as Aurora said, "We need to try some of the more 'creative' ideas we have and anyone you send with us would face more danger from us than from the enemy."
Finally, everyone agreed with this plan and at the end of the week, two things happened. The first trip with nearly 7,000 men left King's Landing. Half of the men on those ships were captured Lannister soldiers and the rest were volunteers from the North and the Vale.
The second thing that happened was that at dawn, the fifteenth day from their trip to Dragonstone, both Silvana and Lissena came running into their parent's bedroom and yelled, "THEY'RE HATCHING."
