Dragonstone at the 1 day of the ninth moon 296 AC
Renly Baratheon was the Governor of Dragonstone and the Blackwater Bay for already three years now, three very unhappy and nerve-wracking years and dear gods but did these three years felt like a lifetime already, thought Renly as he made his way from the training court back to his rooms.
Sometimes, especially like now, after having to deal with the old Targaryen followers from the other Islands, he wondered if he should not have rather stayed on Tarth and accepted the Evenstar's offer to just marry Brienne, for there the weather was nicer, the people were friendly, Brienne loved him well enough to see only the best in him and Lord Tarth himself had chosen to ignore Renly's little adventures with the very handsome sailor in the little house at Tarth's western Shore.
And it was not that Renly has disliked Brienne back then, even though it had been a bit embarrassing for him that not only Brienne was a better and stronger swordfighter than him but also that she was already then with barely thirteen as nearly tall as him, even though he was three years older than her. No, it was mostly that she was really not pretty by even half of his standards and if he ever had to marry a woman at all, not that he would really like to do so, then he would really prefer this Bride to be a lot prettier, mostly for his aesthetic pride.
But to be honest, the ten Years of being fostered on Tarth since shortly after his sixth nameday had been enough for him, even though the Sapphire Island and it's Lord had helped him immensely after he had survived the siege of Storm's End as such a young boy but lost Mother to the hunger and having to live with the guilt back then, heavily intensified by the grief of his older brothers for her.
Well, Stannis had not been able to look at him back then and had sent Renly to Tarth as soon as possible then, even though Stannis and his wife would only be allowed to leave the capital and to live on Storm's End after Robert's heir had been born and so his own fostering on Tarth had left their ancestral seat completely in the hands of a Stewart for three years.
Oh how it all had hurt him when he was a little boy all these years ago, but his brothers certainly had their own problems to work through and neither of them were very sensitive brothers, even then.
How Stannis hated it back then, to have to stay in King's landing and not be allowed to leave for his own domain till their oldest brother sat safely and secured in his uncomfortable throne.
Renly grinned slightly at his thoughts and the never ending dislike, nay hate between his older brothers, while he tugged his belt loose and pushed his dusty legclothes down.
The bathtub had been already filled for him and he sighed blissfully as he sat down in the warm and soothing water.
Renly reminded himself to stop thinking about his older brothers as much, for he felt a headache already starting behind his eyes. Or was this new pain rather because of the always troublesome Lords of the Blackwater Bay and their endless complaints?
Renly regretted it not for the first time that he had been forced by his brothers to become the Governor here on this Sevens bedamned, dragon spawn infested and ugly pile of Stones.
Dragonstone should have really stayed under the control of the Stonewolves, like in the first ten years after the War or at least they could have done him and everyone else then the favor and extinguished the Targaryen loyalists...
Oh well, thought Renly to himself, nothing to be done then and thus more work for himself to fulfill since then and in the years yet to come.
It was still a better Situation here for him in the old Targaryen seat than as in anywhere in the Reach, where the Hightowers, the Tyrells and the Florents were still keeping their feuds against each other and against the surrounding Kingdoms, hot and bloody and occasionally even very very deadly.
It was sad for such a rich and important lands like the Reach that even the Targaryens loyalists here in Blackwater Bay and the surrounding areas had more sense than the proud Hightowers and the greedy Florents thought Renly with a tired chuckling while he leaned back in the tub and he felt the headache slowly leaving his mind.
