VISERYS TARGARYEN
My sister Aerehrys was back at the capital, I can't wait for her to tell me about her adventures across the continent of Essos. She had brought a lot of luggage with her and I noticed a new sword at her waist. Aerehrys was not the prettiest girl in the court, or even in the city, but she had a singular sense of justice and unparalleled oratory skills. But what interested her most was swordplay, when we were little I often caught her playing with other boys and Daemon in the streets of King's Landing, which was frowned upon. Her septa must have gone mad every time she looked after her. Her hair was always cut short and messy; the dresses she was ordered to wear were always torn and covered in mud. She is fearless and daring topped with a delicate intelligence. Her way of looking at the world was highly displeasing, especially to our father, from whom she never received any affection.
"You look like a slave," My father said in a disdainful tone.
I watched her go. Although my father hated my sister, he nevertheless her many talents, which are very useful in the court.
King Baelon sits on the throne, by his side is his hand, Otto Hightower, who was younger, better looking and his charm equalled the status of king. However he had a penchant for arguing with royal orders, he was sometimes unsympathetic but he was a loyal friend and an asset to the crown and the small council.
FALLEN NIGHT
I stood in front of the door to Aerehrys'room, it had been a year since I had entered that place. I knocked and very quickly the door opened revealing my sister, she had washed and her long hair was still wet. Her dressing gown showed the curves of her body through the light. Each time I forgot that she had become a woman.
"You have come at last, come in. " She articulated calmly.
Her room was small and smelled of dust from her long absence and roses. I went up to her and hugged her. She did the same.
"Your hair has grown, it suits you beautifully" I complimented her.
"That's very kind of you, I'm going to cut it off".
"I missed you," I confided.
"I missed you too. You are going to tell me everything that happened while I was away."
"I will, but first you'll have to count the memories you've made on this long journey. "
FROM DAEMON'S SIDE
He was in Rhaenyra's room, lying comfortably on her bed. He didn't get to greet his sister, she had left as quickly as she had appeared.
"I think Aerehrys has come back to attend our wedding," he explained untied.
"We don't have to mention her in our conversations," complained Rhaenyra, decidedly exasperated.
"What has she done to deserve this hatred?"
Daemon was one of those people who liked to understand, conflicts stimulated him, he liked to deconstruct them, to solve them and this from his earliest childhood. Rhaenyra sighed and took her turn on the bed and began to kiss her betrothed, this languid game lasting a few minutes. Then Daemon pulled himself out of his cousin's grip.
"I'm going to visit Aereherys, just like my brother, I'm very curious about the stories she could tell."
"Do you like her? Did you miss her?" Rhaenyra asked abruptly. A small smile appeared on Daemon's face.
"You're fairest maid in all the Seven Kingdoms" he praised her beauty.
Rhaenyra was promised to Ser Criston Cole, a charming knight with pale green eyes and black hair. He had won the tournament in King's Landing, so he won the favor of the king. Prince Daemon Targaryen, being jealous, said to his cousin: "When he looks at you, he sees the little girl you were, not the woman you've become, but I can teach you how to make him see you as a woman.". So he taught her the art of pleasing a man, first kissing lessons, then he taught her how to undress seductively. He took her on the back of a dragon to the lonely rocks of Blackwater Bay, where she could quietly learn to use her mouth. He also took her to a brothel, so that she could see men and women giving each other pleasure and to observe the whores of the capital. After that Rhaenyra had a meeting with her betrothed, Ser Cole, she showed him what her cousin had taught her and he quickly fled, he was after her innocence as a young girl. He refused to marry her, Aemon Targaryen was furious, he summoned his nephew Daemon and lectured him. Daemon was delighted, his stratagem had worked. "Give the girl to me to wife, who else would take her now?" he declared to his uncle and supported by his cousin who had fallen in love with him.
She smiled back and kissed him one last time before letting him go. Soon Daemon arrived in front of Aerehrys'room, when they were little they used to play with swords and fight. He didn't think of her as a girl at that time, she was like his second brother. Unlike Viserys, they had many similarities in character, both having a taste for adventure and an inability to stay put. Aerehrys always remarked to him that she's two years older than him and that he have to do everything that she want, she called him little chick. He entered the room, the clanking of his golden armour could be heard, he didn't really like wearing armour, he found it too cumbersome and garish, but this time he made an exception. He entered the room under the gaze of his two brothers.
"My lady, allow me to greet you and welcome you back to the capital," Daemon said solemnly.
He approached her to offer her a purple rose and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. At this touch Aerehrys closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Thank you... this flower matches the colour of your eyes."
Daemon smiled at her and sat down beside them.
"Let me hear your stories then."
AEREHRYS
It had been a month since I had returned to the capital, this city stinks of shit. It hadn't changed, but it was either this smell of shit or during the war periods a smell of corpses and blood. On the mainland of Essos there was no problem with the smell, there they are much more advanced, they clean themselves with water and shit is not poured on the streets of the city. Nothing had changed in a year. I learned of Daemon and Rhaenyra's wedding at the very entrance to King's Landing. I was standing in front of the door to the king's headquarters, where he decides whether to fuck whores or throw banquets. Two guards were posted at the front, I knocked and entered. There was no one there but my dear father. I sat in the chair on the other side of his writing desk. He was scribbling on a sheet of paper, I don't know what, or to whom. I was never really interested in royal paperwork, but I must admit that in times of conflict it became very curious.
"Time beautifies you nicely." I began.
He continued to scribble on his piece of paper, ignoring me. A few minutes later he finally decided to say something.
"What are you doing here in the capital? " asked the king. "You should have stayed there, on the continent of the savages, the free men, It suits you" he added without even deigning to look at her.
"Well, I missed the politics and the charm of that city, and I'm not too bothered about tumbling horses" she said wryly.
"You're not as smart as you think you are,"
She had heard that line over and over again.
"You've reached your twenty-sixth year, you're not going to stay in the capital indefinitely... "
He started talking about marriage again, in her lifetime she had gotten three marriage proposals, the first was when she was fifteen, his first name was Doran from house Lannister, he was a very good match, Lannister gold was highly prized. But he was old and paunchy, and he practised very original perversions. The second was Ruger Tyrell, he was a very pleasant man, and he was very good at debating, which interested Aerehrys very much, but when he caught her wielding a sword with one of the new knights of the royal guard, he was so frightened that he fled. And the third one, she doesn't remember his name but when he proposed she left on a journey the next day. She had no desire to marry, her only passion was fighting and travelling the world. She wanted to see and know everything, that Daemon Targaryen did, on his dragon Caraxes. She had no dragons.
"Every time a Targaryen is born, a dragon's egg is laid on a hill not far from his birthplace."
When Aerehrys was born, no eggs were found.
"The crown has many enemies, the Martell, the Tyrell, the Lannister, the Hightower... We need to put them back in their place, around the crown, Targaryen supremacy will reign and extend beyond the greatest forest and the deepest sea. What do you think? "
So boring, she thought.
"The Targaryens have ruled the Seven Kingdoms for centuries, and the name of Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters still comes up in court, centuries later. You have dragons, dragons are powerful and they are also a very good means of locomotion." she poured herself a cup of wine and took a sip.
"The Dornians had resisted the conquest of Aegon I Targaryen, Rhaenys Targaryen, the Conqueror's sister-wife had arrived in Dorne riding her dragon Meraxes, the Dornians would not fight, nor submit. That's how she met Princess Meria Martell, blind, fat and almost bald, Rhaenys then said to her: "We will return with fire and blood. "To which the Princess of Dorne replied..."
"Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken." Aerehrys cut in with that little gleam in her eyes and that slight smile imperceptible by the king's old eyes.
"You look like those Dornians whores, your hair and eyes black as raven, as dark as the longest night of the longest winter," criticizes the king, still with his nose in his papers.
"How awful, the name Sand doesn't suit me. "Aerehrys exclaimed ironically as she took another sip from her cup of wine.
"You owe it to yourself to secure the future of the Targaryen dynasty, you will marry Prince Rohar Arryn and keep the Vale for us."
"They will never accept a Targaryen bastard" she protested.
"I have ignored you for a long time, you have become quite volatile. "
She took this as a semi-threat, she remembered the punishments her father had given her, one day he had locked her up in a dungeon for five nights because she had disobeyed his septa, she was seven. She was whipped if she uttered even one word. It was childish. She immediately stopped remembering, other memories might come to the surface. She simply stood up and walked out of the room. In the hallway she passed Daemon, who was positioned nonchalantly against the wall. He was probably on guard.
"I heard everything, congratulations to the future princess of the Vale. "Daemon said as he approached Aerehrys.
"This is never going to happen... "
"Father looked very serious, it is true that you are now a woman, you will marry and give little heirs who will become knights. "he added.
"That's not me," she confided, "the Vale of Arryn is far too boring. "
"In the Vale, the men fuck sheep," he commented in turn, "You cannot fault them. Their sheep are prettier than their women."
They were in a secluded corner of the corridor.
"You are far too fearless to give yourself to this life" he said as he ran his hand through his sister's hair which she had now cut, "Your hair is so dark" he frowned, clearly puzzled and saddened.
Daemon approached Aerehrys, he was far too close to his sister but after all they were Targaryens, it was tradition. "Are you still chaste, my little dragon?" he stroked her cheek with a tender gesture. "I'm not a dragon," she replied. "Oh yes, you are. You have slept with dragons, you have eaten with dragons, you have lived with dragons... "He touched her lip with his fingertips, which made her shudder. "And you only like one dragon."
"You have special tastes... "she said, "fondness for deflowering maidens? "she scoffed, to which he laughed.
"I want to play, little dragon," he put his other left hand on her waist and moved a little closer to her. "Let's play," she whispered, she placed her hand on Daemon's sword, Dark Sister, it was made of Valyrian steel, the famous ancestral sword of House Targaryen that belonged to Rhaenys Targaryen. "You've got the wrong sword, little dragon," he said, and with a furtive gesture pulled the sword from its scabbard. "You are fast little dragon, have you learned to fight with faceless men?" She moved away from her brother and began to observe the sword, she was fascinated. "Do you like it? "he asked "very much". He in turn took the sword from his sister. Both of them in fighting position, he was surprised, she had changed her usual posture. An exchange of glances and he thought he heard the first scream of a clash of swords. "Stop, by the seven hells" their father's voice appeared through the walls.
