The Council
Jon Snow
"I don't know how to be a dragon"
When he spoke these words he never in a million years did he expect the outcome he received.
Ahead of him were standing 5 people each bearing characteristic valyrian features of pale skin , silver-gold hair and purple lilac eyes. There were three women and two men. Of them two were dressed in rich velvets of black and red with the three headed dragon stitched on them, they carried a calm and composed countenance and carried themselves in a manner that inspired respect. The other wore a dress imbued with black chainmail, her features one of a war hardened warrior, her valyrian steel purple eyes scoured through him like he was an open book. She carried a sword, a longsword to be exact at her waist, her hands ready to draw it at the first sign of danger.
Of the men one was dressed as a lord with a cloak of black and red adoring his shoulders. His face was one of a man who knew his way around things. His body was not one of a warrior yet a certain strength lay in his eyes.
The other one was a whole different story. He was tall with a sharp chiseled face that represented everything valyrian. He was covered in a black plate armour adorned with rubies and a giant three headed dragon sigil in the center. On his head was a crown, a band of valyrian steel with square cut rubies on them. By his waist was a sword, probably a bastard sword with a ruby decorating the pommel. His posture and composure inspired loyalty and respect from bystanders.
Seven hell's.
The conquerors and their parents were in front of him.
Starting a conversation with an ancestor you grew up hearing stories of was awkward to say the least. While all five of them knew everything that happened to their house after their deaths he was still bombarded with questions specially regarding the choices he made and the repercussions that occurred due to them.
Visenya chastised him for nearly a quarter of an hour from his choices until Lady Vaelena put an end to it.
"...and then what do you do? Go prancing like a little shit to tell your cousin's about your parentage without thinking of how valuable the information was. The younger girl was fine but the older one….how big of an idiot are you…from the moment you were named king in the North all she did was try to undermine you and yet like a fool you trusted her. After that you decided it was a good idea to take a boat south instead of flying, a stuid decision that led to the death your own fucking drag….",
"Visenya enough the boy knows his faults you could better than try to remind him of it", Lady Vaelena cut the queen off.
"But Muna!!!"
"None of this the boy has suffered enough we are here to help him not belittle him"
"Speaking of helping….", Aerion began….
And thus they stared Lord Aerion and Lady Vaelana were to teach him about old Valyria, the houses that ruled them, about the customs and traditions that governed daily life, of the government, of the conquests of the freehold, the ancient valyrian religion, about the years the Targaryens spent of Dragonstone after the Doom and about their most leal supporters the Velaryons and the history of their house.
Another interesting thing they taught him was the power dynamic in Westeros before the conquest, the regular skirmishes between the Dornish and the Storm and Reach lords. The Arryns and how they defended against the Hoare. The riverlands under the reign of the Hoare kings. The Bolton rebellions that plagued the North along with Ironborn raids on the Stoney Shore and Bear Island. Also the wars that the Starks and Arryns fought for the three sisters.
It was during these lessons he realised even though he grew up in Winterfell learning the history of House Stark he never knew of the true Kings of Winter and the ruthlessness with which they conquered the north. Uncle Ned had kept most of the histories of the King's of Winter away from him and his cousins.
The conqueror was not exactly what he expected. He could be serious at times and light hearted at others, he taught him strategy and all about warfare on a continental scale. Through and through a young ambitious man who wanted to carve his name into the history of the world could be seen but not in an arrogant sort of way.
Learning to make in the field decisions and knowing when and when not to use dragons were a part of the lessons. Aegon told him of the battles he fought and of the decisions he made while fighting them. According to him a good commander must be ready for anything and if an unforeseen situation arises he must salvage all he can and turn the tide in their favour. No sacrifice was too small or too great while in the field but the commander must never fall or else it would be over.
Queen Rhaenys was more of a ruler than the rest of them. Her lessons focussed on various branches of rulership. On coin and how it should be allocated for various projects at once, what should be prioritized and how a balance should be found. How food and equipment supply must be maintained during a war. How the high lords and ladies must be swayed to allocate the necessary supplies. How construction of mega projects like castles and cities must be handled. Another important thing she focused on were the laws and what one must take into consideration before changing or amending old laws or creating new ones.
Queen Visenya taught him personal combat. Her lessons were brutal and left him destroyed and broken in the yard. For her dark sister was an extension of her hand, something that couldn't be said about Longclaw and him. He prided himself of being a good swordsman but learnt the difference between being a skilled fighter and a formidable one soon enough. Her greatest ally was her speed.
God she was fast….
He learnt that there was more to using valyrian steel weapons than met the eye. Those with the blood of old Valyria could imbue the blade with the magic in their blood and forge a bond with it. It was almost sentient. For bonded individuals the blade became a part of their body and a companion almost like dragons.
The lessons in dragon lore and valyrian magic were probably the most interesting one, learning of blood rituals to heal and harm amongst other things were amazing. But dragon lore was even better, how to care for eggs, the right temperature and place for hatching one, taking care of a hatchling, food so it grows fast, bonding with it, mounting it for the first time and last but not the least using it in a war.
Another thing he learnt was of the relationship between the conquerors, from their childhood the three were inseparable but it all changed after Queen Rhaneys death. Aegon and Visenya grew apart with differences in ruling standpoints and her problems to conceive a child added to the widening gap between them. The queen suspected the maesters and the faith of having tried to have poisoned her and even succeeding after she had Maegor but the conquerors refused to act on her accusations. After their death though they knew those accusations to be true. The faith and the maesters had been conspiring to orchestrate the fall of the dragons since the day the conqueror was crowned at Oldtown.
It was a maester who supplied the schematics of the scorpion that killed Queen Rhaneys to the Dornish, it was the faith and the maesters who made sure Maegor had a low fertility and had all the children he conceived poisoned before their birth resulting in them being stillborns. This continued for years and claimed lives of various princes and princesses of the blood some prominent ones were Prince Baelon the Spring Prince and Princess Alyssa Targaryens and their third son Aegon, Prince Jaehaerys son of Aegon the Usurper along with all of Jon's own grandmothers children except his father Rhaegar, uncle Viserys and aunt Daenerys.
One of their personal requests had been to burn down the stony and starry sept and Jon had promised them that he would do it if could. One of his personal main aims was to make sure the faith of the Old Gods had a resurgence in the south.
Another thing he learnt was the importance of blood purity, The blood of old Valyria had magic in it and mixing it with lesser men resulted in dilution of it. Such an action would lead to Targaryens losing control of their dragons but there was a way to get around this. Marrying into houses like Stark, Blackwood, Reed, Mormont,Dayne, Martells and even Baratheons would be of no issues considering each of them had strong magical bloodlines and would only help increase the amount of magic in their blood.
According to Queen Visenya he had more magic than anyone after Doom as a result of carrying the Blood of old Valyria and the blood of the first men and if he could use it well he would have no equals.
Finally after moons of training he was ready, ready to do something he would have thought impossible moons ago. Something that would change the seven kingdoms forever.