Hello, everyone! Here we go, the third chapter! You know what that means! Chapter 5 is two scenes from being completely finished! This chapter is jam packed, and is the longest of the chapters in this story, at around 17,000 words. Get excited! Thanks for all the super kind reviews. Please continue to leave them so I can finish up those last two scenes and make this story complete by the end of the month!
288.
As he writes his final letter to his brother Ned, Brandon Stark vows that this will be the last time that he will try to contact the Southern cunts. They have ignored his missives one too many times, and he is tired of defending the Seven against a threat that many presume does not exist.
The Nights Watch is fractured. It has not the support it needs to function, the supplies it needs to strengthen, or the men it needs to protect. What good is a wall if there is no one to man it? What good is the wall if it can no longer keep the evil out?
He had never been a believer in Old Nan's tales, but he did believe that no human could make that wall. It stood seven hundred feet high in some areas, and it had continued to keep the wildings out. But it had to have been built for something else. A human cannot climb near high enough to pass a wall half the size of the one that runs across the top of the North. Yet those who created the wall chose to make it so high that a man could never consider climbing it.
Why?
He was forced to confront the fact that there was something beyond the wall, and after his brother Benjen brought him that undead creature his worst fears were confirmed. The White Walkers were real.
And that meant that some of the other stories he had grown up hearing were also true, or at least based in truth. The White Walkers had to have been created, or born, or… he didn't know what. But the Children of the Forrest? Could they be real if the White Walkers were real? The tales said that the First Men and the Children of the Forrest had met many times, that the Children had taught the blood of his ancestors to worship the Old Gods.
The heart trees from the stories existed. The Wall that the stories said was created by the magic of the Children existed. The gods be damned Targaryens rode on the back of fire breathing dragons. If they were all real, if all of their stories were true, then the White Walkers must also have been real.
And if they were real, there would be another Stark to bend the knee to the shits in the South. His land had no love for Targaryens. But if he wanted to keep his land and his people alive, Brandon Stark, Warden of the North, would have to become Brandon Who Begged.
"But she did not escape, Your Holiness. She tried to escape by causing a fire but we are assured the silly whore did not get far."
"You are certain?" the wrinkled one asked, "We have come too far for our plans to be foiled now. We cannot risk open war with the Crown. The people love that Moon bitch," he sneered, "Who proclaims herself to be a god!"
The wrinkled one slammed his fists to the table in front of him, "There are only the seven, and yet this heathen claims she is the Goddess of the Moon!"
Septon Selwyn inwardly sighed. The wrinkled one was by far one of the worst Septons he had ever served, far worse than the fat one, or the shrunken one. The only reason Selwyn even bothered to speak with the wrinkled one was that he had done more to fool the dragonspawn than any High Septon before him – and there had been many before him.
However, there was a madness in the wrinkled one's eyes. He had always hated the Targaryens and their sister-marrying, and his hatred had only grown with the years. Septon Selwyn had thought he would abandon their plans to destroy the Crown when Prince Rhaegar had married a foreign bride. Yet, his marriage only seemed to anger the wrinkled one more.
"We have been given grave news, Your Holiness," Selwyn said cautiously. "Her Grace the Queen Serenity has woken from her Sleep."
Selwyn should have expected the wine goblet to hit next to his head, but he was still surprised that it missed him so narrowly. As the wrinkled one raged across the solar, Selwyn reminded himself that he and Septon Hightower had advised His Holiness to make his move while the King was occupied with his wife's illness.
His Holiness had laughed in their face and claimed that the Moon bitch was no true threat and that they would take their time to slowly ruin the Targaryens.
"We will begin the final course of action!" the wrinkled one stated, "Call our council together, Selwyn. We must make preparations. Send a raven to Oldtown and remind those bastards in the Citadel that we make the decisions and they follow."
Septon Selwyn bowed deeply as the wrinkled one wobbled from his solar and then rolled his eyes. His Holiness was truly a fool. He acted without caution, without reason, and was a terrible planner. Without he, Hightower, and the council, His Holiness would certainly have already ruined their plans. After all, the creation of the new Faith Militant was an idiotic idea. It was a direct violation between the Crown and the Faith, and if anyone found out what they were doing, all of their lives would be forfeit. Nonetheless, His Holiness had secured them weapons, and training and they were hiding underneath the deepest tower of the Sept.
If they were going to take the Crown and all the Seven to rule over this impious island, then they would have to dispose of the wrinkled one. He was not a man to rally the people or inspire love from the righteous. He was ugly, mean, and though he was the wrinkled one, he could have esily been the fat one or the smelly one.
It was no matter. For now, the wrinkled one would think he was in charge. When the time came, they would get rid of him and he would be High Septon. His Holiness the loved one sounds like an excellent name for the former Septon Selwyn, he thinks as he sends off two ravens – one due South and one due East.
Her children are excited to see her, especially young Rhaenys who has lived her whole life without her mother. It's been a three short years, but to Rhaenys it is the whole world.
Viserys is becoming a man, and he tells his good-sister all about his love of swordsmanship and reading. Rhaegon has started attending meetings with his father, who is determined his son learn how to be King before he must become King. Daenerys is as pure as the winter snow and as shy as a dove. Rhaena looks just like her mother, with her father's eyes, and she has her father's warm disposition, and Rhaenys reminds Serenity of her own mother.
Her husband cries when she wakes, and then tells her he loves her in High Lunarian. Serenity is amazed that he's learned her language, and is astonished to hear of what she caused with her Sleep. Westeros is no longer than land she first arrived in.
It seems as though the moment that she wakes, they are pulled by carriage to the warmth of her new retreat. Her husband takes her and the children to Summerhall to celebrate her wakening, as well as her nameday. They pile into the carriage, Serenity and Selenity on one side, Rhaegar on the other, and all of their children with them. Rhaenys is wrapped around her mother completely, and refuses to leave her arms. Rhaena and Rhaegon are playing with their toy dragons together, Rhaena from her grandmother's lap and Rhaegon from Rhaegar's side; Daenerys is dozing, with her head in Rhaegar's lap and Viserys is reading from his place next to his sister Their family of eight is perhaps too big for this carriage but they refuse to separate, and so they spend the whole ride to Summerhall close together – as a family should be.
The dragons mostly fly above them, as all but Viserys' and Daenerys' dragons, Meraxes and Stormbringer are big enough to fly long distances. Syrax, Rhaenys' dragon is nearing three and half years old and is larger than the carriage they sit in. Balerion is growing quickly, and has even hotter flames than Viserion. Serenity finds she misses the comforts of her family's dragons.
When they finally reach Summerhall, the children are sent off with Serena, Selena, and Seraphina and Rhaegar cannot wait to get to their rooms to touch her. In a display of barbarism, he slings his wife over his shoulder, and smiles as she giggles the entire way to their marriage bed.
He is giving that day, and every day after it. He put his tongue across her lower lips with such ferocity, that Serenity pulls on her husband's braided hair in pleasure. When he exposes himself so that they can become one, Serenity realizes that she has been celibate for three years but perhaps her husband has not.
He swears that he was faithful, because he knew how much it would hurt her if he wasn't. "I prayed you would wake every night, and that I would look at no other woman if the Seven would just give you back to me."
When he presses into her, Rhaegar groans so loudly that Serenity thinks the children will hear. He drops his forehead into the pillow next to her as he is fully seated within her. She is wet, and tight, as tight as the day they had first lain together.
Serenity, who is usually a shy lover, is passionate and encourages her husband at every thrust. To her it was only yesterday that she had last seen him, for time meant nothing in the void. Yet in this moment, she felt closer to her husband than she had since the birth of Prince Rhaegon.
She loved Rhaegar Targaryen, and she had no qualms with showing it.
Their children ride the three dragons and they learn to keep their beasts tamed and Rhaegar commissions dozens of portraits of his family at Summerhall. His favorite is one of Serenity holding the hands of both of their daughters, and he hangs a portrait as tall as him of he, his wife and their children posing together in the garden with the smallest of their dragons at their feet. He is celebrating his life now. Serenity is awake, his land is prosperous, and he has an heir with two sisters to wife. Summerhall is a dream. His children are all happy and healthy, and his wife is just so.
He is amazed by how wonderful of a mother his wife is. He has known that she was a remarkable woman, but he never realized how much the children relied on her until he was forced to be a parent with only a governess on his side.
When he finally retires from reading messages sent by the Hand, Rhaegar finds Daenerys, Rhaena, and Rhaenys playing in his solar. They know they are not supposed to be there without permission, and before he can reprimand them he finds Serenity smiling from the other side of the room as the girls dig through their mother's gowns.
They are all dressed up in Serenity's jewels, with too-big-tiaras on their heads and rouge on their lips and Rhaegar has to stop himself from laughing when he sees Rhaena strutting around the room in a gown that is so big she falls flat on her face. Serenity helps her up and the girls continue to play, with their stuffed dragons following them around aimlessly.
Serenity smiles softly as she smooths her hand over her belly in a way that Rhaegar is familiar with and terror strikes within his heart. Serenity has made that movement with each of their children and Rhaegar knows this means that his wife must suspect or know that she is with child.
She has only been awake for six turns, and it is not enough. Rhaegar is petrified that the Long Sleep was only the first of many and the two have their first real quarrel since before Rhaenys was born.
"You must drink it. You must," he insists, holding the moon tea out for her to take and Serenity is ignited in anger.
"I must do nothing!" she shouts.
"You will do as your husband and King commands!" Rhaegar shouts back and as soon as he says it he regrets it. During the Sleep he had learned more about his wife's home and so he knew how her matriarchal society worked and how thoughtless that command was. Serenity rarely went against him unless it was something she felt strongly about.
Before she can respond he apologizes and takes back what he said, and Serenity forgives him the entire night in their marriage bed. If she was not with child before, she certainly is now.
That morning he finally tells her the thing he has been hiding, and Serenity is furious, for more reasons than he can count. This child means that they must act quickly against the Faith and the Citadel, because Rhaegar will not allow her to go into another Long Sleep. She must either decline tonics from Grand Maester Pycelle, or she must hide her pregnancy until the child is born. Either of those actions will tip their hands, and will alert the Faith that the Crown knows their plans.
"We could have been more careful!" she laments, "Had you told me this could cause such a devastating flaw in your plans we may have avoided this." She sighs, "It is no matter. I would not give this babe up for anything. But you cannot continue to keep me in the dark about these things, Rhaegar. Even if we are not equal in rights we are still partners in this marriage. I thought you understood."
The guilt is gnawing far deeper than before, now. Because hedoesunderstand. Serenity's people are not like his own. They follow the strength of women, not of men, and he has demanded time and time again that his wife go against her people's traditions to follow his own. Even if he has not asked directly, he has expected her to bend the knee. He knows it is unfair, that his wife, who was meant to reign over the eight as a Queen in her own right without the help of a man, must now play no part in the governing of his kingdom.
In the ten years that they have been married, four of her guardians had been on his Small Council. He had entrusted her mother to lord over Valyria, and yet Serenity had never asked him for the chance to rule. Not once had she whinged about the loss of her own Crown. She had bent the knee to his father, and then bent again to his wish to overthrow his father, knowing exactly what it would cost her if anyone found out about their schemes.
And he had taken and taken from her. She had produced an heir, and a sister to wife. Yet he was so entranced by the dragon that he demanded a third head, that his wife continue to produce issue. And she had nearly died to give the dragon the third head. But she never complained. He remembers seeing her in that bed, blood everywhere, her eyes glazed and unfocused but still screaming in agony. She begged him, not for her own life but the child that nearly killed her mother. And when she held Rhaenys in her arms she looked to him with such devotion in her eyes, with such pride, with such eagerness to see him pleased – "Rhaenys – third dragon?" she had choked and those had been her last words for three years.
He is ashamed of who he was before.
His wife deserved more than him, and more than the crown he had given her.
When he had crowned her Queen Consort, he hadn't known just how offensive it was. But he knew now, and he knows that things must change. The Westerosi will never willingly respect Serenity as a Queen Regent, but Rhaegar will subdue them if it means that his wife gains the acknowledgement she deserves. His wife was good, righteous, and she was born to reign, but if Rhaegar gives Serenity one half of his crown, then he must prepare to be questioned at every turn.
Sometimes, he thinks, maybe he should be.
The silent children are easy to control if he provides them with the basic comforts of life. A child with a full belly is a child who is willing to listen at the doors of his masters. Across Westeros, Varys has a network of Little Birds who are willing to spy for him as long as he gives them scraps of bread and a place to sleep. They are loyal to their stomachs, but none of his Birds has ever betrayed him for someone else's food and golden dragons.
He has a blind spot however. He had never managed to keep a reliable Little Bird consistently within Casterly Rock. He has plenty in Lannisport, and an abundance across the Westerlands, but he has no reliable spy within the Lannister ancestral seat.
Tywin Lannister is both cunning and ambitious, and he knows exactly how Varys operates. He had been the Hand of the King, and he knew that Varys gathered information, so he screens the help within his castle closely. Varys had bought information from servants, but they did not know what they heard, and could be easily swayed to stay loyal to their Lord.
Until now. He has finally planted a spy within Tywin Lannister's midst. Someone that no onewould ever suspect.
Tyrion Lannister, the imp of Casterly Rock, the worthless son of Tywin Lannister, has agreed to send information about his father in exchange for claiming a position on the Small Council in Valyria. He will receive a lordship, a plot of land with a resource he can exploit, and Tywin Lannister agrees to inform on his Lord Father.
Oh how Varys rejoices. It took very little on his part. Tywin and Cersei Lannister had done most of the work themselves. They had hated him from the moment he was born, cursed his very existence.
So when Varys whispers in Tyrion's ears that Tywin Lannister is not his father at all, but that he is the bastard son of Mad King Aerys and Joanna Lannister, Tyrion is willing to accept what he hears. He has the dragon dreams, and when the King's seal says he will legitimize his dwarf brother and give him a place to call his own, Tyrion is willing to turn on the family that had long ago turned on him.
They make the decision to hide that Serenity is with child again. She has successfully done it before, when she carried Rhaena, and she knows she can do it again. To hide their progeny this time, Serenity, Selenity, Daenerys, and Serenity's handmaidens have begun to sew more of the traditional dresses that his wife has always worn. The waist of these gowns falls under her breasts, and with the mountains of heavy, thin fabric, they can conceal a new child until she is at least six turns gone. They sew these dresses with more space for her swelling breast so they are not so obviously swollen, and Daenerys plots to widen her good-sister's crown to hide the weight she will gain in her face.
They have a plan. But Serenity will still need to be sent away before she births. Gowns, crowns, and wider bust dresses cannot hide a child forever.
These plans are expedited when a raven from Ned Stark frantically calls them home. Rhaegar reads the missive but is unsure what it means.
Your Grace,
I have received frightening news from my brother Brandon about things that are occurring north of the Wall. Please return soon, for I fear that danger is coming.
It is short, and to the point, yet it gives no information at all. Serenity points out that Ned is not one for the dramatics, and so he orders the servants to pack the carriage, and gather the children. They will expediate their journey back to King's Landing. He considers leaving Serenity at Summerhall, with their daughters but the moment he considers it Serenity levels him with a look that brings ice into his heart.
They have not had total peace since their argument a fortnight prior. He had always known Serenity wanted more than a meaningless crown, but she had never expressed outright desire to rule until that day. He cannot get her words out of his head, but he is terrified to bend a knee to his wife.
That must wait though, because Ned Stark is nothing if not a loyal servant of the Crown and the Realm, and if he is afraid, then something is truly wrong, and someone may yet burn.
289.
After spending two moons with her daughter, good-son and their family, Queen Selenity must return to Valyria. Serenity cries when her mother leaves, after all she was only ten and three when she left her mother's arms to marry Rhaegar, and it has been almost ten years since she had truly seen her mother. The children loved her, and had been spending time with her since she arrived during the Sleep.
Selenity remembers how deeply she missed her only daughter when she arrives in the newly finished palace across the sea. Soon, her family will join her in Valyria so that they may restore it to its former glory. It must be the home to the Lunarians and so Selenity has the palace rebuilt in the likeness of the one on the Moon and when the fountains glow and the prayer room is complete, they leave the Moon with the Palace intact so that anyone who sees it will know that the Queen of the Moon still rules from there.
The land has been purified, as much as Queen Selenity is able given that she has far less control over the Silver Crystal than she did before. It has a new mistress now and answers Selenity only if she prays hard. She has healed the land as much as she can, and sealed the cracks in the earth that led to the fires that cursed the peninsula.
The Lunarians are talented at making inhospitable places home, and have been since Queen Serene II, who expanded the Lunarian Empire across all nine planets in the solar system. The Lunarians have cleansed the earth so it can grow crops, and have restored the buildings that could be fixed. Few survived the Doom in condition that could allow them to be repaired. But the Valyrian people are descendants of her own race, and the Lunarians are able to replicate the fallen buildings so that the grandeur remains. The only problem is that the sky and sea are still red with the blood of dragons. Queen Selenity knows that this is something that can fix if the Neptunians, who have long held powers over the sea, begin to colonize the Second Valyrian Freehold.
The towers are high, and open on the top, made from white Lunarian stone. They are built with the strength to resist dragon fire and hold the weight of a dragon the size of Balerion the Black Dread. They have rebuilt almost half of the charred remains of the city of Valyria in under two years. In two more, with more Lunarian works and Mercurian builders, they will have finished fixing the damage done to the Valyrian peninsula.
She knows what is coming now that the Targaryens have laid claim to Valyria. She knows that her good-son's decision to take back the land from whence he came will have repercussions. But she cannot fault him. Serenity and Rhaegar are young monarchs. Her blessed daughter became Queen at only fourteen – she was barely a woman, in all senses. Now she is a woman grown, who has gained the love of the people and the loyalty of armies. Selenity knows that more love from Westeros breeds more disdain from Essos. They do not wish to see Westeros so United, and with the sprawling armies of the Silver Millennium behind them.
But, this place will one day belong to the blood of her children, and she commands that the smallfolk search every building up and down for the key to Princess Mars's vision. They had been searching temples until they realized that the Valyrians had long worshipped knowledge, rather than gods. Therefore, they had begun to look for a place that could be the key to knowledge.
"My Queen!" a knight calls, "We found the library!"
Selenity sits up and follows her guards towards the library where Lunarian servants are cataloging every item they see.
"It's still pristine," Selenity marvels, "And it looks like all the books are in order."
The knight nods sharply, "They are. At the back of the library there is a wall with scrolls stuck in it."
Selenity pauses, "Have you checked to see what they are?"
"Aye, Your Grace," says one of her advisors, "They're prophecies."
Selenity narrows her eyes, "They are a dangerous thing. Men are led astray by promises of gold and riches." But is she not also, she thinks, as they've taken this land because Mars knows it must happen? She consoles herself by recalling that Mars' visions come from Selene herself, and that she is the one Oracle for their people. Her words are truth.
"Read them all," Selenity declares, "Gather the nobles and have them prepare to read every scroll in this hall. We must know the Valyrians, for they are our sisters."
The knight nods, bows, and then rushes away to do her bidding. Queen Selenity VI will make Valyria a home that her daughter and good-son can use when they land to conquer as Aegon did three hundred years before. And they willland, with fire and blood.
When they return to the Red Keep Serenity's belly has just begun to swell and Ned Stark is in a panic.
His brother has been sending him ravens and he has become concerned.
There are odd reports from the North about things above the Wall. With Westeros' growth, Rhaegar had proposed that the North begin to take in wildlings who were suddenly willing to pledge their allegiance to the Starks, and to the Crown. Their population has grown exponentially in the last three years, with wildlings fleeing the snow beyond the wall for the milder temperatures south of the Wall and the colonization of the Martians. The population boom has not been a stressor on Northern resources. In fact, the wildlings have become an invaluable source of labor and have come with skills that allow them to trade meats, pelts, and crafts in Winterfell and White Harbour. Many of the wildlings have moved to work under the Mercurians, building the artificial land that would allow Westeros to support their population growth without draining resources.
The wildlings have been coming in droves, and countless wildlings have brought back stories that Brandon Stark has told his brother.
"But White Walkers are a myth," Rhaegar said in shocked horror, "Surely they are making these things up to have a better reason to come south?"
"Doubtful, Your Grace," Ned said, "Brandon has been taking them in with open arms and they've no reason to lie," he paused, "And Princesses Pluto and Saturn have sent messages that support their claims."
"But…" Rhaegar is horrified.
"It makes sense," Serenity pointed out, "Your own lore says the Wall was built because a great evil lived North of the Wall. And you must've seen what the stone drawings under Dragonstone depict."
Both her husband, Ned and the Hand look at her blankly.
Serenity raises her silver brow in shock, "Tell me you've both seen the drawings at least below the Red Keep."
"Near the Dragon heads?" Rhaegar questions. He'd been there only recently, showing Rheagon his past. He'd never seen anything relating to White Walkers there.
Serenity leads them past the dragon heads and towards a wall that Rhaegar is terrified to find out moves.
"It's in this passage," Serenity says, "These are similar to the ones at Dragonstone but they're far smaller."
Rhaegar examines the murals and what he sees haunts him. There are men dying on the ground, slaughtered by beings that he can only describe as undead, guided by mummified white creatures who walk through snow. Even in the heat of the summer, it chills him to the core.
Ned reacts first, "If these White Walkers are real then we can't just let them overrun the wall. The Night's Watch has been under siege for years – since before your father passed, and their numbers are dwindling."
"What do you suggest we do?" Qarlton asks, "If the reports from your brother and our people beyond the wall are true, nothingcan stop them from overrunning us."
Rhaegar looks thoughtful and is about to speak when Serenity cuts in, "That's not true."
All heads turn to her and she beckons them forward to a small scene at the far end of the corridor. "Look here," Serenity says, as Rhaegar helps her bend carefully close to the ground. "I missed it the first time that I looked at these but when I came the second time I noticed that these were covered," she points to pieces of chipped red paint on the ground, "Someone covered this section of the murals, and if you look closely…"
Rhaegar, Ned, and Qarlton all lean in towards a small piece of the mural in which a man is attacking a mummified white corpse with bright blue eyes. It's so faint that Rhaegar almost misses it but when he sees it he gasps.
"That's…"
"Dragonglass," Serenity confirms, and then points to another small soldier, wielding a blade, "And that's Valyrian steel."
"Is this wildfire?" asks Rhaegar, looking closely at the green flames in the background.
Serenity nods, with a small smirk.
"So there is a way to defeat them?" Qarlton asks.
"Aye," confirmed Ned, "There is a way to defeat them."
"Not that it helps us," pointed out Qarlton, "We don't have enough Valyrian steel for an army."
"That's not necessarily true," Serenity says after a pause, "My mother wrote me not a day ago to tell me that they've figured out how to open the ancient library. Maybe one of the texts will have a solution. We don't know what Valyrian steel is. It might be similar to our own sword making."
"We'll have to speak to her," Rhaegar says, "If we are going to fight against the Others we need to start creating the blades we need now."
"The timing could not be worse," Varys laments, "Now we are fighting a war on two fronts. My Little Birds tell me that the Faith Militant is on the move."
"Then we will fight a war on two fronts," Rhaegar says with confidence that he doesn't truly have. "The Faith and the Citadel can wait. When we destroy the army of the dead, we will turn our eye to the Sept."
When they leave the dragon heads, Rhaegar does two things. First, he calls upon Jaime Lannister to become the Master of War, and second, he calls his children together.
Rhaegar commands the Jovians back to Westeros and within a turn he will have an army of half a million trained swords. The Jovians still on their home planet are making plans to expedite their departure and arrive on Westeros within another turn. He turns to his people and asks that any able bodied man, willing to fight to gain the entire continent, and keep Westeros free volunteer in his army. He's amazed when, across Westeros, one million men immediately join forced and begin to move North.
Wildling scouts have said that the wights are gathering at an alarmingly fast pace, which Rhaegar believes could only mean that the White Walkers are approaching. The temperature in the North is dropping, quickly, and the Martians have begun to travel to Winterfell to temper steel and create Valyrian swords. All of the miners available have begun to pull dragonglass from Dragonstone, and fifteen ships a day are moving between the island and the mainland to bring the materials necessary to create dragonglass weapons. The smiths are working day and night to create the weapons, and in a twist of events, the wildlings have begun to fashion arrowheads of dragonglass in the thousands. Known for hunting, the wildlings nearly rival the Martians with a bow, and Rhaegar plans to use this to his advantage.
Viserys is adamant that he fly a dragon into battle but Rhaegar denies him. Viserion is their largest dragon, and their oldest, and although he is bonded with Rhaegon, he allows Rhaegar to ride him. It is not as natural as riding his own dragon, Balerion, but it is not difficult. Viserion is a docile dragon, but he is fiercely protective of his family. Especially Rhaegon.
Viserys is persistent, though, explaining that he and Marexes have fully bonded, and he knows how to safely ride him. They are too young he argues, and they have not had enough time or practice with their dragons to use them effectively in battle. Viserys grudgingly accepts this, and Rhaegar reminds him that his brother has promised to protect his good-sister, nieces, nephew, and sister in Dragonstone, where they will be safe.
He then reminds Viserys that he is not to mention this until Serenity is already on the ship and leaving towards the seat of Targaryen power. He cannot risk his wife, and he cannot risk his children.
"You cannot ride Rhaegon's dragon," Rhaegar explains, "But I can."
He has great plans. Princess Saturn had come to him in the early hours of the morning with important information.
"There is a man Beyond the Wall," she says evenly, her violet eyes impetuous and her short black hair unmoving in the air, "He calls himself the Three Eyed Raven."
Rhaegar does not know what that means but when Saturn explains it, Rhaegar is dumbfounded.
"He is a skinchanger, then?
"They call them wargs," Saturn corrects, "But there is something you should know. He is in passion of your ancestral sword."
Rhaegar does a double take, "He has Blackfyre?"
Saturn shakes her head, "Dark Sister."
"But that means-"
"Yes, Your Grace. The Three Eyed Raven is the man once known as Bryden Rivers."
"That's not possible," Rhaegar whispers, "He is long dead."
Saturn shrugs, and it is the lest terrifying movement he has ever seen the Silent Soldier make, "He wants you to have it."
Rhaegar sees no blade in Saturn's hands and so he replies, "Where is it?"
"North of the Wall," Saturn supplies, "buried beneath a Heart Tree. You must retrieve it yourself."
"I cannot spare the time to travel beyond the Wall, Princess Saturn. There are preparations to be made."
"There are," Saturn grants, "Princesses Jupiter and Uranus can make them while you travel."
Rhaegar squints because he feels as though the Soldier is pushing him, and he is King. No one tells him what to do.
But she continues, "You will bring Serenity and the children to Winterfell. You must treat with Brandon Stark. The North does not enjoy your rule, and does not enjoy the prosperous summer that has come. You must make sure that the North is loyal."
"Ned is here," Rhaegar says, "They would never disobey while a Northerner is on the Small Council."
"They may not," Saturn says, "But Brandon is still under the impression that his pleas for help were purposefully ignored. You must make sure he knows that is not the case. In person."
Rhaegar twitches but a week later, under the watchful eye of Saturn and the Kingsguard, they are taking a ship to White Harbour where they will ride by carriage towards Winterfell. It takes them a fortnight to arrive, as they take plenty of breaks for Serenity to stretch her legs and back.
When they do, Rhaegar is met by the dour face of Brandon Stark.
"Your Grace," the Northman says, "Welcome to Winterfell."
Rhaegar tries to smile but he knows he is not wanted here, "Thank you for taking us at this time, Lord Stark."
Serenity can sense the tension in the air, and so can all the children but she smiles brightly and says, "We've come baring grain, produce, and wine from King's Landing, to help you prepare for the next winter," she turns to Serena, "Would you be so kind as to hand them over to those in charge, Serena."
The pretty handmaiden nods and disappears to retrieve the gifts that the King and Queen have come with.
This is when Serenity notices that Daenerys is staring hard at a young boy with red-brown curls and a sharp jaw. Serenity wants to laugh because Daenerys looks so struck that her mouth and eyes are open wide.
"These are your children, Lord Stark?" Serenity asks smiling widely at the youngest, an infant in Lady Catelyn's arms. When Serenity holds her arms out, Catelyn dutifully hands the child over, and his eyes stare straight into Serenity's.
"Yes, Your Grace. My eldest, Robert. This is Sansa and Lyarra. And you are holding Rickon, Your Grace."
Serenity is glowing and Catelyn's heart is seizing because everyone knows the Queen is strange.
"I give many blessings to this child," Serenity says fondly, "Young Rickon, you will grow to be great." And she hands the boy back to his mother who is stunned because it seems as though the Queen has just blessedher youngest child.
Rhaegar clears his throat, "I would like to speak to you, Lord Stark."
Princess Rhaeye and Ned follow the pair and although it takes some time, Brandon eventually accepts that Rhaegar had never received any letters that North was in so much danger.
"The army is being pulled together," Rhaegar says, "The Jovians are returning and Princess Mars tells me that the Martians have taken over every armory in the North to make Valyrian steel."
"I don't understand," says Brandon, "They told me that that is what they were doing, even showed me the blades. How?"
Rhaegar smiles, "We recently learned that Valyrian steel uses a method of sword making that my wife's people have long practiced. It requires hotter flames, and materials that are not available in Westeros," he turns, "Princess Mars, how goes the creation of the blades and the arrows."
Princess Mars stands even straighter than before, her onyx hair falling to her waist, "The smiths assure me that they have all of our smallfolk creating the arrowheads, and all of the priestesses tempering the steel. The Mercurians have also started making more swords. I have been assured that we will have at least one hundred thousand swords by the end of the turn."
"So many?" Brandon questions, "How? It would take many years to create that number of blades."
"We have the steel already prepared, and Mercurian advancements mean that we just have to pour the liquid steel into molds and then finish the blade. It is a simple process for the less grand blades."
"One hundred thousand will not be enough," Ned says finally, "The Jovians are a force of at least a million in total."
Brandon is boggled by these numbers. The Jovian army is the same population as the entirety of the North.
"Aye," Rhaegar says, "But Princess Jupiter says they have their own weapons and shields." The group pause for a moment until Rhaegar speaks again, "I would like to speak to Lord Stark alone."
When the rest leave they are staring at each other.
"I know what Northerners think of my family," Rhaegar says, "And although we have never tried to slight your house, I know that many of the kings before me ignored the North and the problems that you alone face. I will not be that monarch," Rhaegar insists, "I want unity. And peace."
Brandon seems more open to it than he had been before, "I agree, Your Grace. I am… sorry that I thought ill of you before."
Rhaegar shrugs, "Tyrion Lannister will get his due."
Brandon's eyes darken, "Never trust a Lannister."
Rhaegar silently agrees.
Two days later, Rhaegar leaves his wife and children at Winterfell to venture past the wall and retrieve Dark Sister. Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Barristan Selmy accompany him to Castle Black where Rhaegar finally meets his great-great uncle, Aemon. The man is blind, with a shrunken head and no teeth but Rhaegar is delighted to meet the man who had once sent him many letters. Rhaegar tells Aemon all about his children, and Aemon seems to tear up when Rhaegar whispers into his ear that his wife is with child again.
The following morning, they venture out into the Land of Always Winter towards the Heart Tree. Saturn had assured him it was quite close to the wall, and it only takes about three hours of searching to find the tree. The three dig with blades heated by flame until they hear a clang and from the frozen ground Rhaegar pulls the lost blade, Dark Sister.
She barely recognizes herself in the mirror. Shorter hair, wider hips and lips that are a dusty rose. She's finally escaped his bed, the disgusting oaf.
He is nothing, has never been anything. She is the one who rules, the one who controls, the one who is everything. She is meant to be Queen. She is mean to rule. No one can stop her.
And she thinks of that as she sends for the Tears of Lys.
After their trip to the North, the Targaryens head south via ship back to King's Landing. The Queen is quite swollen now but Daenerys' plan to widen her crown and her flowing dresses hide the babe quite well. Rhaegar and Serenity's intimacy is perhaps the only reason that he can tell she is expecting.
Only the most important people know of the coming child, not even the entire Kingsguard. Aside from their mission past the wall, Ser Arthur has exclusively protected the Queen and children, as he is Rhaegar's closest friend and confidant.
War is imminent, and they need a plan to defeat the Others and stop the Long Night.
"We must lead them to the wall, Your Grace," Jaime says to the Small Council and the Queen's Council, "We cannot defeat them beyond the wall."
Jon Arryn heartily disagrees, "If they get past the wall, we're all in for the seven hells."
"Yes," Jaime agrees, "But it will be easier for us to keep the wall than to keep terrain we've never fought on. And most of our army has never been past the wall. They have no idea how cold it will be."
"The Queen's people are prepared for the cold," Princess Venus says, "We are immune to the most extreme temperatures you have on this planet."
"Regardless," Varys cuts in, "We need to look at this with several contingency plans."
"And what would you suggest?" Jon asks drily.
Baelish looks at Princess Jupiter who leans forward, "We need to tier our attack. Our best bet is to send the Plutonians and the Saturnalians beyond the wall to cut down as many of the wights as possible. They aren't the main threat, but if we can get rid of them we can focus on the Walkers."
Rhaegar squints. He hadn't known that Princess Jupiter had an eye for war, which is foolish of him, because he remembers Serenity telling him that the Jovians had overthrown their royal family a dozen times in the last hundred years, and the newest family was the one Princess Jupiter was the head of.
"Then we station our bows on the wall. From there, they have the advantage of a bird's view. They can spot when our people are returning from cutting down the wights, allow them through the gates, and then send off as many arrows as possible before the Walkers reach the wall. Once they reach us, we allow them into the keep and destroy them there."
"You can't honestly be suggesting that we let them across the wall!" shouts Baelish in horror.
"We have to," Jaime says, catching on to what Princess Jupiter is saying, "If they break down the gates then we have no way of stopping any other Walkers from crossing into the North. If we leave it open, and kill as many as we can before they get through the gate, and cut them down before they can get far into Castle Black, then we have a chance of defeating them."
"If we follow this plan," Rhaegar says, "How many men will we lose?"
Princess Jupiter sighs, "It depends. Princess Mars and I are banking on the fact that the Martians have the ability to send arrows thrice the distance of your kind, and that if we use some of the wildfire…"
"Wildfire?" asks Jaime, his face going ash, "We're using wildfire?"
"Yes," Rhaegar confirms, "We have thousands of cachets of it left over from my father's reign. It destroys the Walkers, and if we are smart about it, we may be able to use it by attaching it to the arrows."
"If we do that, Your Grace," Jon says, "Then we will destroy most of the resources that are beyond the Wall."
"It doesn't matter," Rhaegar says with finality, "The only thing it will destroy is timber and stone, and we have enough of that below the wall to be concerned about it here. How many?" he demands of Princess Jupiter again.
"If we stick to our plan, the wildfire works in our favor… and you allow us to help you, then we may lose no more than two hundred thousand men."
"Two hundred thousand?" Baelish nearly shrieks, "For the plan you are suggesting, that is a large number!"
"It's not," Princess Mars says, "Because we are including the wildlings that have yet to cross the wall in that number. Reports have been coming in say that they've been engaging the wights and burning their dead as they move south."
"And what of us, Your Grace?" Princess Venus asks, "Where will you ask us to be?"
"What could a woman do in this matter?" questions Jaime, not unkindly.
Princess Venus smiles before holding up a small wand and yelling, "Venus Star Power!"and before them they see Princess Venus in clothes that would make even a Dornish whore blush.
"Put those away!" Varys gasps at her bare legs.
"Did you think that we were considered Serenity's guardians for no reason?" Princess Mars questioned, "We were given gifts, ones that Serenity carries thrice fold."
"She won't be going," Rhaegar grinds out, "And neither will the four of you."
"The Jovians would be far more likely to listen to me than to him," Princess Jupiter points out while glancing at Jaime.
He looks mildly affronted but says nothing.
"I know," Rhaegar acknowledges, "But if any of the states in Essos, pirates, or slavers find out what we are doing they will use this time of weakness to attack. Even the Ironborn are a danger. We've been watching them closely in case they try to rebel again, but they are still a risk. You need to stay with the rest of my family, in case we are invaded."
"They won't," Ned says, "The Tullys have a close eye on them."
"We have a plan, then," Princess Jupiter says, only slightly irritated that she would be sitting out the excitement.
"We have a plan," Rhaegar agrees.
Serenity is only three turns from birth when Rhaegar announces it is time for the last armies to move to the North. They've spent night and day preparing supplies, resources, and men to face the threat beyond the all and Serenity is worried that facing them will end in disaster.
The migration is done now, and the planets are abandoned. Rhaegar is gracious enough to allow Queen Selenity to visit with their family while the war occurs so Serenity may have some comforts. Serenity is overjoyed when her mother arrives from Valyria because it means her children will have a grandparent, and she can spend more time with her husband.
When Rhaegar is done making love to her he tells her he loves her with an odd inflection in his voice, Serenity becomes suspicious.
"What?" she demands, "What have you done?"
Rhaegar thinks this is as good a time as any, and so he informs Serenity that he intends to lead his men into battle.
Serenity is shocked and horrified. She knows her husband is an excellent swordsman, but this is a mistake.
"Rhaegon is not ready to be King," she cries, "If you leave and never return I will be broken and you will never meet our child."
Rhaegar know that he has upset her, and tries to make it better by informing her that he plans on riding Viserion and spraying the wights and Walkers with dragonfire.
Serenity cries even harder and continues to cry until she is exhausted.
"Then what shall I name them if you leave me here alone?" she whispers, her face swollen from her tears, and her throat hoarse from her cries.
"I think if it's a boy we should name him Aegon."
"Absolutely not," Serenity chokes, "What about Jaehaerys?"
"Mmm," Rhaegar agrees, "I think that is a sound choice."
"And for a girl?"
"Serenity."
"Yes?" she questions.
"No," Rhaegar says, "We have named all of our children for my family and none for yours. If we have another princess, we will name her Serenity."
Their next daughter cannot be Selene, but Rhaegar clearly doesn't understand that the naming tradition within her family comes with conditions. But the sentiment counts for something, and so the tears begin again, and Serenity tells her husband how glad she is that she has him, even if it's only for now.
It is still summer, but the temperature is dropping rapidly as they move north. They've set up camp and Rhaegar and Tywin Lannister are in the midst of a heated debate.
Brandon Stark had previously indicated that they had been reporting about the issues beyond the wall since Aerys had been King. Tywin Lannister had kept yet another secret, and this one was dangerous.
"I dismissed them because I thought there was no such thing!"
"It is not your choice what information you choose to relay to the Small Council, and to me!" Rhaegar snarls, "I am your King, or perhaps you have forgotten while my father went mad on the throne. You answer to me!" Rhaegar takes a deep breath, "Had you warned us of this sooner, they would not be as prepared for us. They are moving south because they are ready to fight. You have brought a war to our borders!"
Tywin isashamed about that, but Rhaegar doesn't see it. He's known he made a mistake for many years. When the missives continued to report the strange happenings above the Wall he didn't say anything in fear that Rhaegar would question why no one had been told sooner. Then he had deluded himself into thinking the reports had to be wrong. After all, what King could raise an army of the dead?
Tywin drops to his knees and he apologizes. Rhaegar is a gracious King and reminds him that if he has kept anymore secrets he must tell them now or Rhaegar will have his head if he hears of more.
Tywin hesitates and it is enough for Rhaegar to press him for answers. This is when Tywin admits that he has heard that there is an unknown man across the narrow sea that has heard of the Summer Queen and has been buying up information. Then he admits that he's known about this man since before Rhaena was born, but the inquiries became more frequent after the Long Sleep. Tywin has sat on this information for almost six years. Rhaegar controls his temper, and allows Tywin to leave his presence unharmed.
They are on the eve of battle and Rhaegar misses his wife, but he knows he may never see her again.
Viserys and Rheagon are practicing dragon riding with Daenerys's dragon, Stormbringer, who's finally big enough to ride. Rhaenys is clambering over the beach with her own dragon, Syrax in search of shells and Rhaena is playing with Daenerys when they hear a low keening noise.
Princess Venus is rushing to Serenity who is hunched over in pain. They bring her inside, with the children following anxiously.
"Isn't it early?" Daenerys asks her brother, already knowing his answer. After all, they had seen this before.
Viserys looks shaken, but replies in the affirmative. He's seen his good-sister birth before and he knows that the last two have been treacherous. Rhaenys had almost killed her, and Viserys thinks his good-sister may die on this day while his brother is leagues away at the wall. He's ten and three now, so he knows how dangerous birthings are.
After what happened to his own mother, Serenity is smart enough to bring several Mercurian healers to Dragonstone, but the fortress is mostly barren. It has little in the way of supplies for a birth and so the Princess of Mercury must make due with that she has.
Viserys promised his brother he would protect his good-sister and take care of her and their family while his brother was away, so he leads his sister, nephew, and nieces away and into the arms of their governess, who captures their attention long enough for Viserys to sneak back to his good-sister's chambers.
Within only two hours, there is a high pitched wail from the room and Viserys opens the door to see his new niece or nephew. It's too soon though, and he hears another agonized cry, and he realizes that his good-sister has just made him an uncle twice over, and his brother's good-mother is crying tears of joy as she holds a new child.
Serenity smiles radiantly as her children are placed in her arms, and Viserys reminds himself that he has Daenerys and needs to stop blushing when he sees his good-sister's beauty.
"Prince Jaehaerys," Serenity announces, kissing his clawed feet. She turns to her new daughter, "Princess Jaehaerya."
The moment that Jaehaerya is in her arms she knows that this child is not the next Selene. She loves her, as she loves all her children, but she will not inherit the Silver Crystal, and so she cannot be Serenity.
Viserys takes Princess Jaehaerya into his arms and is amazed when she blinks and her eyes become catlike – dragonlike – before they return to a vibrant shade of violet.
Somehow, his good-sister has birthed five dragons – true dragons. It both excites and terrifies him. His ancestors had been dragons because of their abilities, their affinity. His nieces and nephews were something else entirely. He's watched them grow and they are… not entirely human. Princess Mercury theorized that the strength of the Silver Crystal had affected all of Serenity's progeny. They had lived in her body with its power, had absorbed it, and so their blood was stronger than the blood of their ancestors.
His good-sister had restored House Targaryen with her womb, but has built their Kingdom with her wisdom and heart.
He loved her more than anyone in the world except maybe Daenerys.
Across Westeros and farther North than most Westerosi had ever travelled, the Saturnalians and Plutonians are retreating from their settlements beyond the wall swiftly, and are signaling to the Martians that they have succeeded in their task. They move down the wall to ready themselves for battle. The wildlings have abandoned their old homes beyond the wall and are in the North, escaped from the Walkers. Everything is going according to plan.
"We have left few wights," the Princess of Pluto announces, "and we burned all of our men and women who fell to their swords."
The Westerosi are skeptical about women soldiers, and are shocked to find that the Jovian army, called the Amazons, is entirely female, and a third of the Martians are young maidens no older than ten and four. The Jovians are wearing revealing leather skirts with their breasts free, swords and shields strapped to their backs, and legs covered in tall boots. The Martians are clothed in firey red robes with armor strapped to their chests, and their hair in tight plaits. They are representing their homes on the battlefield for a land they have only just settled with pride.
The Martians are stationed on the Wall, and from his position with Viserion Rhaegar can see that the White Walkers are approaching. Their army is only slightly larger than expected – about one hundred thousand strong, a fraction of their own forces - but what shocks him is that they have a wight Dragon.
"Fuck!" yells Jaime from below, "Take it down! Take it down!" he screams at the archers. This is was not something that had foreseen, and Rhaegar is sure that this will ruin all of their plans.
"We can't let it breach the Wall!" Ned shouts from his position with the archers.
At this moment, Rhaegar is both horrified and relieved to see his wife's guardians appear in a crash landing just beyond the wall. He knows he ordered them to stay put, and he is suddenly plagued by the thought that his wife and children are unprotected. As soon as they are standing, Princesses, Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus also appear, and they are ready for battle. They are lined up together like a seasoned military force, and Rhaegar remembers that these nine women are more than just Princesses, and defenders of his wife – they are reincarnations of goddesses. They are still as death, and with their weapons in hand they are the most intimidating force he has seen. Sailor Mercury has a harp of water in her hands; Sailor Venus holds a poisoned blade in one hand and a chain of molten metal in the other; Sailor Mars holds a bow and arrow of fire without burning; Sailor Jupiter has a rod conducting lightening from the skies to her body and holds a set of rods in her hands that he knows become a single baton; Sailor Saturn holds a staff that is already red with blood; Sailor Uranus wields a jewel encrusted sword that is directing the wind against their enemies; Sailor Neptune is holding a mirror that is melting the snow around her; and Sailor Pluto is holding a giant key that Rhaegar knows is not symbolic at all. They stand proud, and Rhaegar suddenly wonders if they have seen total war before.
Sailor Jupiter is the first to act, she runs full speed ahead towards the Wall and the Westerosi are stunned when she high jumps over the Wall to take command of the Amazons. This is the back up plan, Rhaegar knows. If the Walkers breach the Wall, they will be faced with all out battle, and they will lose the advantage of the Wall.
Sailors Mars and Venus join the archers on top of the Wall and Mercury joins the men who are stationed inside of Castle Black and begins using her ice powers to fortify the Wall.
When the wight dragonfire hits the wall, no one is surprised how much devastation it causes. The Martians are light on their feet, and when they see the dragon coming abandon their positions to move down the wall and continue to shoot arrows of dragonglass and wildfire.
Rhaegar commands Viserion to fly and while the wight-dragon is distracted he unleashes dragonfire from the skies. Sailor Venus brings him backup and calls on a meteor shower of molten hot rocks to destroy the enemies below. The Outers are still beyond the wall and Pluto is unleashing death itself on the beasts. Saturn has elected to achieve hand-to-hand combat and is using her staff to slice the remaining wights and white walkers in half.
Rhaegar can hear when the Wall is finally breached, and he watches as the Outer Princesses make a sudden, hasty retreat at an inhuman speed to jump across the wall. Venus and Mars are still directing the archers to destroy as many as they can before reaching the wall. Mars is holding a bow of fire and when she opens her eyes, she releases a hundred arrows of fire that burn all who touch them.
The only good news is that there are more ways to kill the White Walkers than expected. They had prepared Valyrian steel and dragonglass but had no way to prove that they worked until they had used them on wights. The Wildfire, and apparently Lunarian magic were also weaknesses. Viserion's dragonfire was also deadly, and in the frozen terrain there was fire everywhere.
South of the Wall, Sailor Jupiter has commanded the Jovian army, at one million strong. They are beating their chests, snarling, and they are ready to fight the Walkers.
"Amazons!" shrieks Sailor Jupiter in Lunarian much to the amazement of the Westerosi men, "We Die With Honor!"
"We Die With Pride!" they shout as one as the wall falls under dragon fire.
"FOR DEATH!" they all holler as Sailor Jupiter sends her signature attack – Thunder Dragon- straight at their enemies, and they begin to stampede. Her people are skilled in war, but the Walkers are hard to kill. That is the reason they needed the Wall. Their aerial assault cannot take place where they have men so Jupiter directs the Amazons to keep the enemy bottle necked.
Sailor Mercury gathers the Mercurian ice mages to build up the other sections of the wall.
"We cannot allow them to breach the wall in more than one place. The Amazons have them at bay, but if we start dividing our forces they may be able to get by."
Her orders come too late though, and the wight-dragon annihilates a portion of the wall directly in where the Mercurians planned to reinforce. The Martians did not see the dragon coming, and Sailor Mars watches as a hundred of her archers are felled by dragonfire.
She cannot mourn them, and instead calls for the rest of the archers to cluster and drop the wildfire in the gaps in the wall. If they wall is down, they will stop as many from crossing as possible.
The Westerosi army, led by Jaime Lannister and Ser Barristan finally engage in battle at the second hole in the wall. The Small Council had agreed that this was their last option. Anyone killed could be reanimated, and become a wight. Lunarian armor stood up against the weapons of the Walkers, because it was made with the same technique that created the famed tempered Valyrian steel, but the Westerosi had only been able to get the barest cover with breastplates and chain male.
If they are to defeat the walkers the wall cannot be breached again. They had only planned for a single breach of the wall, not two, and certainly not three.
Rhaegar must face the Night King himself and defeat the wight-dragon himself.
Jaime Lannister's men are tiring. He can tell because they are falling faster than expected to the Walkers. This is when he locks eyes with Sailor Mars and nods his head sharply. Mars sends a flaming arrow far south of the wall and when it burns he knows that the second league of Martian archers and Amazon horse riders have gotten the message.
They are to kill anyone who is injured beyond healing. Or, more accurately, they are to make sure that they dead stay dead. The Martians are stationed high in the trees and have been directed to send arrows at White Walkers to insure they are unable to fully invade the North. If even a single walker passes into the Seven Kingdoms, then the battle is lost.
Jaime rallies his men, and calls for them to remember what these beasts will do if they are able to invade their land. The Westerosi are renewed and begin to fight in earnest.
King Rhaegar is upon the dragon and that is when the battle is decided.
Viserion unleashes the hottest dragonfire yet and the wight-dragon meets its fire with his own. The two Kings are in a stalemate until from below, Sailor Saturn uses all of her might to jump high in the sky and send her glaive straight through the belly of the beast. The wight-dragon howls in pain and when she rips her weapon from its wound she throws a cachet of wildfire straight at the wound and braces herself for the dead fall she is now in.
Rhaegar sees she is not slowing down and before the wildfire fully explodes he nosedives with Viserion to catch Saturn, just in time to see the Night King abandoning his dragon with a great leap from the skies.
The Jovians have successfully dwindled down the numbers of White Walkers, and they are finally picking off enough that Sailor Pluto calls on the Plutonians and Saturnalians to carry out the last phase of their backup plan. If they are to truly defeat the White Walkers, and claim the entire continent they must destroy every single White Walker. The Plutonians and Saturnalians begin to creep up behind the last several thousand walkers that are still beyond the Wall and they launch a surprise attack.
They are placing pressure on the Walkers from all around and that is when the moral of the people is finally strong enough to make the final push.
Rhaegar jumps from his dragon and commands him to burn the dead. Viserion flies off to complete this task and Rhaegar pulls his weapon from his belt.
Dark Sister, the sword that conquered Westeros would conquer the Land of Always Winter. Rhaegar faces the Night King and baldly says, "There is no surrender. You are defeated, and you will die."
The Night King laughs and gloatingly responds, "If I die, another will take my place."
"Not if they all die with you!" Rhaegar lunges and their blades clash so hard that the sound hurts his ears. He wields his shield to stop the Night King's blade. He cannot break his promise to Serenity. He cannot die before his child is born. He cannot lose his kingdom to this beast.
In that moment, he feels a warmth tingle of his skin, and hears a voice whisper in his ear, "I give you my grace, and the grace of Selene."
Rhaegar's next jab is so strong it sends the Night King back several feet. They are both surprised, but rather than allow the Walker to recover, Rhaegar fights him even harder, finally slashing so hard he removes one of the King's arms. The Night King is not deterred and continues to fight him viciously and manages to kick Rhaegar hard in the chest before he can block it with his shield. Rhaegar falls back but stands up quickly and throws a dagger straight into the Night King's eye. While the Night King tries to remove the blade, Rhaegar charges with all his might at his enemy before running him straight through with Dark Sister and pulling so hard he cuts the demon king clear in half.
The Walkers are shocked but continue fighting, knowing they are surrounded, until Viserion flies overhead and unleashes dragonfire on the last remaining pocket of Walkers.
Hesitantly, Rhaegar locks eyes with Sailor Jupiter who looks at him and then Ned Stark. Have they won? The Amazons begin to cheer, and the rest join them.
They've defeated the White Walkers but there is still much to do.
Sailor Mars orders all the White Walkers and the dead to be gathered, stacked, and burnt. Under orders from Rhaegar, Viserion destroys the rest of the wall. Already, with the White Walkers gone, the air is warmer, and the clouds in the sky disappear.
When they send scouts up north they find all the settlements of the White Walkers. There are none left, but there is a castle of ice with a clutch of sixteen dragon eggs. How the Night King kept these eggs, or even how he obtained them, Rhaegar does not know but he won't question it. When his eggs are tucked safely away in a trunk, they begin the long march back to King's Landing.
It is two days later when word reaches Dragonstone that the battle is won, and the Royal family can return to the Red Keep. Still exhausted from the birth of Jaehaerys and Jaehaerya, Serena, Selena, and Seraphina help the children aboard the ship and the nurse-maids carry the newborns.
The King is on route to King's Landing, and the people are celebrating their win. The people beg for a tourney, a festival, and a day of rest. The Westerosi have conquered their whole continent, and they have defeated the White Walkers in combat. There will be no Long Night. King Rhaegar Targaryen, First of his name has faced what he believes is the greatest enemy that would threaten his reign.
It is a glorious day.
But it is not over.
290.
In the aftermath of war, Rheagar is more acutely aware of the fact that though he has an heir, and his family grows, he is not immortal and one day his son will need to marry to have his own heir. Serenity and Rhaegar have come to the conclusion that they must wed their children off, but there is hesitation. Serenity wants no part in the traditional wedding customs of her husband's people, but Rhaegar is less resolved against sister-marrying. They have had this argument every year since Rhaegar was born but they had always come to an impasse. And at no time had the discourse become this passionate, or his wife become so resolute.
"If we marry Rhaegon to a house without Valyrian blood their children may lose the ability to ride dragons," he points out.
"Rhaegon isa dragon," Serenity pleads earnestly, "You saw him when he came from my womb. He is more dragon than all of his ancestors, Rhaegar."
Rhaegar isn't offended by the implication that his son his more of a dragon than he because he knows that in some sense, it is true. He may be the blood of the dragon, but his children were born as dragons.
"I have consulted Princess Mercury," Serenity insists, "And we believe that by introducing the Lunarian blood back into your line we have ensured that the Targaryens will be dragonriders for ages to come."
"We cannot know for sure," says Rhaegar. He is mildly annoyed that his wife has been speaking about these affairs with her guardians and without him present, "You have yet to try to ride any of the dragons, and neither have any of your guardians."
"But they let me touch them, and they have protected me before."
"Aye, but that may be because they know you are their riders' mother."
"It may," Serenity concedes, "But we cannot continue this practice, Rhaegar. It is dangerous, and it is not our way."
"It is the Valyrian way," Rhaegar says. His annoyance has grown to true anger now, because although he knows that his wife has trouble with the practice, he is the product of that practice and is perfectly healthy. He knows that his words are harsh, that he is excluding his wife from his people by separating her from her Valyrian children.
"It is not!" Serenity cries passionately, "The Valyrian way was once the Lunarian way and we have never practiced sister-fucking!"
That stuns Rhaegar into silence. In all of their years of marriage, Serenity has not once cursed. Not when she was at death's door, not during the pain of childbirth, not in their marriage bed. Yet this is something that has driven her to such high passions that she refuses to see reason.
They both breathe heavily and refuse to meet each other's eyes as they sit at opposite ends of the table.
"I…" Serenity begins, "I won't apologize for feeling this way, Rhaegar. I have bent to many things over the years we have been together. I have left behind my culture and practices and embraced yours and never once have I complained."
It's true, he knows. Even after the fight they had at Summerhall, Serenity had still not complained about the loss of her Crown, or the loss of the traditions of her people. Rhaegar had learned Lunarian, but aside from that and Serenity refusal to wear any color but the white that signified her family's status, she had adopted the ways of his people completely.
"I have not complained," Serenity repeats, eyes fierce but sparkling with unshed tears, "And I have never asked for you to give me anything but love and respect. And for the most part, you have given it," she says, "But I have given more, and this is something I will not give."
These words hurt Rheagar more than he wants to admit because he knows it's true. He had come to the same conclusion during the Long Sleep. Her people had aided against the dead, her guardians had protected his children, and her love had brought more peace to the island than had been seen since King Jaehaerys. He tried to be a better husband, and he thinks he has done better, but he knows that Serenity has still given more to this marriage than he ever has.
It strikes him, brutally, that Rhaella had felt the same way about his father. He had never abused Serenity the way that Aerys had gone after Rhaella. He loves her, loves her truly, madly, and deeply. But he has shunned her, forgotten her, and left her alone at King's Landing without a single friend. Before Queen Selenity had arrived, she hadn't had contact with her mother for many years. She had trained their children to hide the crescents between their brows at his bequest because he did not think that the people would take kindly to a half foreign future King.
She had given up practicing the religious rites of her people, and most importantly, she had given up the near immortality of her people to marry him. If she had stayed on the Moon, married the other suitor, she would have lived at least a thousand years, and now she would not age any older than he. During their wedding ceremony, Serenity had tied her life to him. When Rhaegar drew his last breath, Serenity would also draw hers. She would grow old, wrinkle, and become a wise woman, something that those who came before her had never experienced.
In that moment, Rhaegar makes two decisions that he knows he should have made long ago. First, he will give his wife a Crown, just as she has long deserved, as she was born with. Second, he will bend the knee to Serenity and he will end the practice of sister-marrying, starting with his brother Viserys.
"I do love this place," Serenity admits as they step from their rooms to meet with the Rose of Highgarden. This could be the first wedding that they arrange and Serenity is nothing if not excited.
Margaery Tyrell is but seven years old and Serenity can already tell she is a beauty. From the starry-eyed look her good-brother gives, she assumes he agrees. Margery has copper brown locks that end with a loose spiral, and wide, doe like eyes that are as expressive as Serenity knows her own once were. She is a beautiful girl, and from the way she treats Rhaenys so sweetly, Serenity knows she is just as radiant within as she is outside. She is eager to meet the new children, and when she holds them in her arms she grins so widely that Serenity fears her heart may melt.
She is the perfect bride for Viserys.
"She is so small, You Grace!" she whispers with a lisp. Her two front teeth are missing, and she couldn't be any more adorable than she is in that moment.
Serenity had never wanted to betroth their children like they were property, but when they retire to their rooms after the children all meet for the first time, she thinks this may be the right decision. She has to curb her laughter while Viserys speaks a mile a minute. He can't stop talking about the Rose of Highgarden, and Rhaegar has to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing at how smitten his fourteen-year-old brother is over a girl who is still years from flowering.
"And if we were to arrange a match?" Serenity asks, "Would that please you, Viserys? Be honest. You are allowed to say no."
Viserys looks at her in horror at the suggestion of denying the betrothal agreement, "Margaery deserves to be a Princess, sister. How- I have to wed her!"
Rhaegar snorts and Serenity steps on his foot to shut him up. Her good-brother is almost a man, but in many ways, he is still just a boy, a boy who might be in love.
"Well, then it's a good thing your brother and I are here to have you wedded, is it not?"
Viserys dreams of Margaery all night long, and is eager to escort her around the next day while their families make arrangements. Olenna Tyrella is just as formidable as Rhaegar remembers her. It's a good thing too, since her son Mace is about as much of an oaf as a man can be.
"There are many boys who are closer to my granddaughter's age," Olenna points out, "And she will not flower for several years yet."
Rhaegar inwardly rolls his eyes, "Aye, Viserys is seven years older than Margery. But he is a Prince." As much posturing as she is making, Rhaegar knows that Olenna wants Margery to marry Viserys as much as he does. It would give the Tyrells more power, and they had not been able to offer a Lord for one of the Queen's guardians to marry a decade earlier. If Olenna has her way, she would have every one of her grandchildren married into his house. Rheagar knows this won't happen, if only the reason that as young as Loras Tyrell is, he clearly has no interest in the fairer sex.
"Then what would you name as the dowry?"
Rhaegar smiles and leans back.
Olenna's eyes turn to slits. She won't make a scene to the king, but if he asks for the impossible she will tell him the impossible is simply not possible.
"I ask no wealth," Rhaegar begins and Olenna's eye twitches, "I ask something else instead."
"Name your price, Your Grace," Mace says eagerly, "Would you like agricultural products, or-?"
Olenna gives her son a sharp look and he falls sheepishly silent.
Serenity smiles widely, "No. We would ask something else of you. Something that will raise your house, Lady Tyrell. You are, of course, born to the Redwynes?"
"That's correct," she says sharply, "But I have no desire to see the Tyrells replaced as Wardens of the South."
"Oh no," Serenity cuts in, "We have no desire to take that position from your husband's family. The Tyrells have been ever so loyal to my husband's family, and I believe you should continue to be rewarded."
This is when Rhaegar begins, "I offer Margery a true crown, not as a Princess of the Blood, but as Princess Consort to a Prince who will inherit land."
Olenna raises her brow, "You mean to make Prince Viserys your heir?"
"No," Rhaegar corrects, "My son Rhaegon will inherit the Iron Throne. But I have plans to make Rhaegon an Emperor, not a King."
The words sink in, and Olenna is suddenly very glad that she did not dismiss Viserys Targaryen as the husband of her prettiest granddaughter. "We are most interested, Your Grace," Olenna says, containing her eagerness completely.
"My good-mother, the Queen Selenity has taken control of Valyria, and has been restoring it to its former glory. We desire for Viserys to be the Prince of Valyria. He will rule over all of the Valyrian peninsula, and if you so choose, Margery will rule beside him."
Mace opens his mouth but winces, and Serenity thinks Olenna may have stepped on his foot or jabbed him in the side because he stays quiet.
"And what conditions does this rely on?"
Yes, Olenna Tyrell is a sagacious woman.
"We can only give a loyal house control over Valyria, after all, it is the home of my ancestors," Rhaegar begins, "We know you are a loyal house, but some of your neighbors… are not."
Olenna understands this immediately, but Mace seems confused.
"And what house do you speak of, Your Grace?"
Serenity smiles very widely, and in her sweetest voice, she replies, "Lady Tyrell, how would you desire for House Redwyne to become the rulers of Oldtown?"
Olenna's lips spread and mirror Serenity's. This Moon Princess is as shrewd as she is beautiful, "Why, Your Grace, I believe I would desire it verymuch." Her good-daughter may be a Hightower, but she has no love for their family. They are ruthless, dangerous, and as ambitious at the Lannisters. Their lordship over the cultural capital of the Seven Kingdoms made them haughty, and Olenna detested haughtiness.
When they leave Highgarden, Viserys is excited to marry Margery Tyrell when she flowers, and Rhaegon and Serenity have the means and support from the Wardens of the South to destroy house Hightower and the Citadel for good.
They must be quick, quiet, and swift. If they are to dispose of their enemies within the Faith and the Citadel, it must be done in one fell swoop. Neither can warn the other, and neither can be prepared for the attack. Rhaegar and Serenity are at King's Landing, and Rhaegar will lead the war against the Faith.
It is dangerous, they know, for many devout members of the Faith may rise against them. But if they can prove that the Faith is acting against the will of the people, and against their own Gods, then they will have the will of the smallfolk at least on their side.
Rhaegar knows he cannot send a military force into the Sept without angering the people, and making a martyr of the High Septon.
So instead, they leak the letters from the High Septon to Grand Maester Pycelle. This, Venus reasons, gives them the reasonable suspicion to arrest and try every Septon and Septa in the Great Sept across King's Landing. It also gives them a reason to storm the Citadel, and arrest every Maester, Septon and Septa in the Realm. They do not know the extent to their treason. To prevent any from escaping, Rhaegar sends small groups of knights, all trusted members of the Lunarian army, to each castle in the realm. It takes preparation, preparation that takes weeks. To keep the nobles from unrest he provides a Mercurian healer in the place of each Maester. The only Maester who is left untouched is Rhaegar's great-great uncle, Aemon Targaryen who resides at Castle Black.
The nobles cannot be angered, or Balerion may burn more men before the day is done.
The letters stolen from the Sept are printed in the morning newspaper, and outrage flies across King's Landing. Before the Faith Militant can rise to protect the Sept, Serenity's guardians, the Kingsguard, and a contingent of Jovian warriors are outside of the Sept, proclaiming the arrest of every Septon and Septa in the region.
The smallfolk are surprisingly supportive. They loveSerenity. She is the Summer Queen, the one who brought Summer, the Healer of the Sick, the Mother of Westeros. In fact, the smallfolk are so supportive of the arrest of the conspirators, that they gather outside of the Sept and the Citadel to yell obscenities, and throw stones through the windows.
When Princess Venus steps out of the entrance to the Sept, the High Septon's hands roped together with her chain around him, the smallfolk cheer, and a riot begins. The Kingsguard subdue them as best as they can, but the smallfolk outnumber all else and soon men, women, and children are rushing at the Sept to destroy those who would kill the Queen.
Until they hear a voice in the air.
"My lovely friends," she says, so sweetly that some of the children begin to cry, "I thank you so dearly for caring about myself and my children. But I am afraid that you will get hurt if you continue to stampede each other. I would be devastated if any one of you were hurt because of me."
They see her after they hear her. She is standing on a tower, Rhaegar beside her, and in a moment of sheer genius, she holds her infant son in her arms. How could anyone want to hurt the Queen, the smallfolk wonder, when she is the one who ended Winter, gave them food to eat, and healed them of their wounds? Who would hurt a simple mother?
She isn't sure where it begins but the people fall to their knees, submitting to her, and allowing the Kingsguard and the Jovians to take every single man and woman within the Sept to trial.
A group of a dozen Targaryen loyalists search the Sept from top to bottom, and take every scrap of paper that could be evidence to the Red Keep. When it is done, the smallfolk begin ripping the Sept apart block by block until it is a pile of gleaming white marble.
It takes only days to review every bit of information, and witnesses begin to spill forward rapidly. Men, women, and children, who had unknowingly been part of the plot to kill his family are confessing that they think that they contributed in some way. A farmer travels all the way to his throne room to confess that he grows the toxic weed that was key to the Long Sleep so it can be sold to make moon tea, and tearfully promises he will burn it all, and every other crop he has if it means that no one will ever poison the Queen again. He, and all the others are pardoned, and thanked for their honesty and loyalty to the Crown. They are not truly guilty of crimes, only smallfolk who were used unfairly.
The Faith is not so lucky. Only a week from their arrest, Balerion, Viserion, and Rhaelle burn every single one of the conspirators alive. They are told either they will bend the knee and confess or burn. The leader of the group claims they did nothing, but Rhaegar shoots this down dispassionately.
"The Faith Militant was disbanded. You had no right to recreate it, and all members of it will be executed. It is a direct violation of the agreement we made. You have broken the treaty between the Faith and the Crown. And you have aided the High Septon in his goal to murder my wife."
That is when Venus presents the High Septon, her gold chain around him glowing. "The Chain of Aphrodite ensures you may only speak the truth. If you try to lie, you will be punished."
But the High Septon is haughty, and he does try to lie. When he does, the chains tighten, glow, and he screams as they grow hotter and hotter.
"As I said before," Venus says as she forces him to submit, "you may only speak the truth!"
The Septon breaks within minutes, and confesses to far more crimes than they had been aware of. The plot against the Targaryen family goes back further than they had expected.
The Grand Maester had been poisoning the Targeryen children since Viserys I had been king, but their methods of poison had changed. They had been careful in the beginning, poisoning the family with water that was laced with a hallucinogen. The nobles and smallfolk had passed it off as madness within some members of their dynasty when in fact, they were going insane from the poisons. It had probably aided in the Dance of Dragons.
All because the Targaryens had continued to wed brother to sister, the Faith schemed to destroy the Iron Throne and rule Westeros themselves. Their efforts had grown stronger under King Aerys, who was mad even when the Faith had abandoned poisoning water for poisoning the women and children.
They had stopped when Aerys became so unstable that he would have noticed something was wrong, but when he died, just as Rhaegar had thought, the poisoning started back up again. That was when Rhaella died, and Queen Serenity nearly died.
"They are not like us!" the High Septon snarled, "At all! It is unnatural how long they live. She- their kind is sinful! The seven made us to die! So we will do it for them."
The smallfolk cheered when he burned.
When the Maesters are dragged to King's Landing, Rheagar expects there may be some anger from the nobility, but they are met with only a small amount of resistance, and only from the houses that had sent a number of sons to become Maesters, such as houses Tarly and Hightower. They've evidence that the Hightowers have committed treason though, after the Septon spoke under Venus's chain. With help from the Redwynes and the Tyrells, the Starry Sept is demolished the same way that the Sept of Baelor had been, and the Citadel is emptied of anything that could be useful and sent to King's Landing.
That is when they find out there was more to this plot than they could have imagined.
The Citadel is almost entirely free of wrong doing. Most have no knowledge of the plot to ruin the Targaryen family, and those who do know admit that they were forced into submission by the Faith.
Grand Maester Pycelle sings the truth for all to hear. He had no true desire to end the Targaryens, and the only reason that the Faith has kept him under their thumb was threatening to frame him to take all the blame. In fact, that is half of how the Faith has kept the Citadel under their control. The other is that they have taken young women from their families and forced them to become Septas in King's Landing under His Holiness. The girls have no idea that they are being used for leverage, but the Faith had assured the maesters that their family members would be killed if they did not comply.
Pyrcelle tearfully admits that he had been trying to fool the Faith for years. First, he had tried to give a fake poison to Rhaella, but when Viserys was born the Faith threatened to kill his younger sister. Daenerys was born out of his reach, and was safe, or so he told the Faith. Then he had tried to give Serenity another potion that counteracted the effects of the poison. He had been unsuccessful because there was no way to test out of the potion truly worked, and by the time he had perfected it before Rhaena was born, the Queen had already given birth in near secret.
Then he says that by then he noticed that Princesses Mercury and Mars were watching him closely, and he had confirmed this when Seraphina had seduced him. By this point, he started keeping the papers sent by the Faith and those in the know at the Citadel instead of burning them in hopes Seraphina would find them in his solar and report back to the King. At least this way, they would know that there was deception, but they would know that it was not him acting alone but on orders.
Mercury was already wary of him, and there was no way for him to sneak the counter potion into Her Grace's wine without alerting their attention. If he stopped the potion he was currently giving the Queen he would entirely top his hand, and they might kill him before he could explain that there was a greater scheme. Then the Faith would kill his sister, and they might even try to kill him. If another Targaryen babe survived, he knew the faith would kill him, and his sister, just the way that they had done to the others who defied the Faith. Then they would replace him with a maester who truly sought to murder the children.
So, he gave Her Grace a low dose of the poison, high enough that if it failed to work he could convince the Faith it was an anomaly, and low enough that he wouldn't kill mother and child. Then he made sure to not allow the child to suckle from her breast in case the milk was still toxic. But he had made a grave mistake. He didn't understand Lunarian physiology, and although the children were born with the Silver Crystal healing them, Serenity took the brunt of the poison. Then she had fallen into the Long Sleep.
Rhaegar's anger flared as he heard the story from Pycelle, and then he demanded more answers. Who was the Citadel in contact with? How did he put the poison in the Queen's food?
Pycelle admits he has few other answers, because he does not reside at the Citadel. Venus unchains Pycelle and they interrogate the Conclave of the Citadel.
What they hear puts Princess Mars ill at ease.
The Citadel has been sending messages East, but they do not know to whom. Septon Selwyn, who has stayed alive to interrogate knows only a fraction more.
"There is a man," he says, "in the East, who is willing to pay for information about the Queen, and his payment was giving us the weapons we needed to take the Crown."
This is troubling indeed, because it means that somehow, some man from the East, perhaps the same man who Tywin Lannister had hidden from their views, was interested enough in Serenity that he was willing to ruin her Kingdom.
Now Rhaegar must decide what should be done about Grand Maester Pycelle. He had tried to protect Rhaella, and Serenity, and even their children. But he was a coward, and the smallfolk would be in a rage if they found out that Grand Maester Pycelle had poisoned the Queen, and caused the Long Sleep and did not receive punishment. But by the risks he was willing to take, Rhaegar also knows that Pycelle had made the decision to poison the Queen so that another maester would not doing it more thoroughly. It is clear from the way he cries so earnestly under the Chain of Aphrodite he had no desire to hurt the Crown. Yet he cannot go unpunished.
The Hand recommends exile, but Tyrion, the newest member of the Small Council, but also the King's half-brother disagrees. "Your Grace, would it not be best to… Send him to take the Black?" It amazes him how well Tyrion has taken to politics, and to his new name.
This makes Rhaegar pause. "Could you not summon Uncle Aemon to take his place as Grand Maester and sentence Pycelle to the North?"
The thought is tempting. His great-great uncle Aemon is a truly good man, wise, and according to his mother, very kind. He cared only about the health and safety of the people.
"The vows are for life," Ned Stark points out, "Wouldn't summoning Maester Aemon set a precedent that the Black does not need to be permanent?"
"Aye," says Qarlton, "It could be a problem. But, in light of what's happened the people may not question it if His Grace desires only for his uncle to treat Her Grace."
In the end, Pycelle is sent to take the Black. There is no Wall, anymore, but there are points across the Land Beyond that are vulnerable to pirates. Rhaegar had previously sent half the men of the Night's Watch on a new mission – to build settlements for those who decide to live in the Northern tip of Westeros. The other half were stationed across the islands and the coast of Westeros to keep watch for pirates. Pycelle would join those in the Northern tip, where it was still cold, and he would work as a maester to keep the common folk safe from disease.
Maesters are not meant to treat smallfolk, so taking the Black is still a true punishment, even without the fear of manning the wall and freezing to death.
Maester Aemon, his great-great uncle is sent for, and it takes persuasion, but eventually Maester Aemon agrees to be the Grand Maester of King's Landing.
That very night, Serenity receives a raven that Princess Pluto, the virgin who guards the gates of time is with child.
Serenity is just twenty-five the first time an assassin makes a true attempt on a Targeryen. She is enjoying the sunshine at Dragonstone while her children play. Rhaenys has just celebrated her nameday, and they are all playing games in the sand and jumping in and out of the ocean. They are making a mess in the sand, but her infant twins are asleep, both full and sated from her breast. She is lying on a chaise that the servants have carried into the sand and there is a large tent hiding most of the sun so that the babies can rest in peace.
The hatchling dragons are hopping around with the children, trying to catch fish in the shallow water, and Serenity feels so at peace that she falls into the same deep slumber that her children are entrenched in. Selena, Serena and Seraphina are watching the children, but her guardians are with their own families. They have deserved a rest after fighting the Night King and absolving the Faith, and Serenity feels safe in their home at Dragonstone. This is the ancestral seat of her husband. Their people here are loyal to the Crown. They perhaps love her even more than they love Rheagar.
She wakes from her nap, happy and rested and sees that the children have tired of playing. They are napping now too. She gives a kiss to each of her infant's brows, and smooths her dress as she stands to wake her children so they can retire for supper. Her white dress is falling to pool around her, and Serenity leans over to wake Rhaenna from her slumber.
The first thing she hears is screaming from Ser Barristan who is rushing towards the beach at lightning speed followed by Ser Arthur. She turns to where they are pointing just fast enough to see that an arrow is heading straight towards her sweet good-sister, Daenerys.
She does not think before she moves. She made a promise to Queen Rhaella that she would love Dany and Viserys like they were her own. They are her own.
She is the only mother Daenerys Targaryen has ever known.
When Rhaegar arrives on the back of Balerion in a panic to arrive Dragonstone within hours, he has to see his weeping sister who mourns that she has killed both of her mothers. His heart is frozen with fear and he is about to question her when the Mercurian healer calms his panic, and sooths that Queen Serenity will be just fine.
"It is no worry, Your Grace. She will not even have a scar. The arrow hit her leg. With the ointments I applied and the healing powers of the Silver Crystal, she should be fine when she wakes in the morning."
That is when Rhaegar understands his father's desire to see the world burn. The Targeryans had been both mad and great, and as Rhaegar sits upon Balerion's saddle he sets out to destroy the thing that almost ruined his reason for happiness.
That night, perhaps knowing that Serenity would disapprove if she were awake, Rhaegar unleashes Balerion's hottest dragonfire in town in a public execution.
This man speaks little Common Tongue, but from his tanned skin, the scar on his face and his accent, it is known he is an assassin from Meereen. Rhaegar makes the children watch, and in a moment of clarity, Viserys forces even young Rhaenys to watch as this assassin burns. Daenerys cannot stop crying, not in pity for the conspirator but for her good-sister. Rhaegon is stony faced, and Rhaenna is silent as she watches Balerion circle overhead.
Rhaegar pulls the last dragon egg from Rhaelle's clutch, a white egg that has sprawling lattices of silver lines that mimic the most intricate lace and he steps into the flames.
"YOU WILL BURN!" he yells over the man's pained shrieks, "YOU WILL BURN!"
From the ashes of an unknown man, Rhaegar Targaryen, bald and naked as the day he was born rises with a newly hatched Silverwing.
When Serenity wakes the following morning, it is to the purring of the most beautiful dragon she has ever seen. Similar to Stormbringer, Daenerys' mount, this dragon is different. She is entirely white with the most beautiful veins of pure silver across her entire body with eyes as grey as the sky on a winter day. In truth, she looks similar to her own mother. This is her dragon.
Rheagar is holding her hand and kisses her deeply. He must tell his wife what he did, but he believes it is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
When their eyes meet, Serenity knows that she and Rhaegar must confront the obvious. Someone wishes the Targeryans dead.
But the dragons have grown and the ships have been built. Rhaegar has long desired for them to cross the Narrow Sea. With hundreds of thousands of men, the King of the Seven Kingdoms has eyes to set out for Valyria and then all of Essos, dragons at his back. Rhaegar will retake what was his and what should be his by conquest, in fire and blood.
Serenity doesn't like it. She has no desire to take Essos, but Rhaegar has no intention of allowing anyone or anything to hurt his wife again. It seems they have enemies at every corner, and yet they have never fallen to those who wish them harm.
First Aerys, then the Night King, then the Citadel and the Faith. Now they must destroy those who would work against them in Essos.
Rhaegar's eyes smolder and Serenity is reminded again that her husband is a dragon, a man of fire. He opens his mouth and he makes a promise in High Lunarian that chills Serenity to the core.
"I will make the world for you."
What do you guys think? Did you spot the easter eggs? I'll give anyone who guesses what's coming in chapter 4 in a review a snippet of the chapter in a review reply. :) Who knows? Maybe you'll guess correctly!