Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire.
Another dragon, another wolf, another stag
Chapter 26: Rhaella
"Talking"
"Thinking"
(Location: Riverrun)
"Your Grace, this is insane," Lady Stark protested as she stood across from the king. Rhaella stood quietly in the corner, watching her son and his wife face down Lady Stark. She only had to tilt her eyes to see that the Kingsguard who had been there when Lyanna died guarded the room in silence.
Rhaegar looked harshly at her. Since the tiltyard, they moved to a more private area so that they could talk. Rhaella knew that her son would want to demand an answer from Lady Stark when he came into the room. Elia had followed him in, looking almost as mad. It was a look that surprised Rhaella. "Are you saying that I am a fool, Lady Catelyn?" Rhaegar asked her.
She must've seen where she was going because she instantly said, "I did not say that you were a fool, King Rhaegar. But this claim, that Jon Snow is your son, it cannot be so."
"And why is that?"
"Because he is my husband's bastard," she explained. "He was brought to Winterfell with my husband when he returned from the south."
"From Dorne," Elia said her voice seemingly calmer than Rhaegar's. Rhaella wasn't fooled. When she was truly angry, Elia was very much like her brother. "Where Lyanna had been hidden away."
Lady Stark fell quiet. She looked as if she was trying to find a reason that would dispel what they were convinced. "I had thought that he was Lady Ashara's son."
"If Ashara had given birth to him, she would not have hesitated to claim him, just like she had claimed her own daughter."
"The only time she attempted to contact Winterfell was when she had sent Jocelyn to us."
"It does not change the fact that she would have claimed Jon as her son if he was hers. He is not." Both she and Rhaegar would not back down from that claim.
But Lady Stark was firm. "How is it you think that Jon is your son, my king? He has the look of the North on him."
"He wields two swords," Rhaegar answered. He made it sound like it made all the difference in the world.
She looked like she couldn't believe that was his answer. "So does Ser Arthur," she protested, tilting her head to the Sword of the Morning. "When I saw Jon Snow first hold a sword in each hand, I remember Ser Arthur's skill at Harrenhal and thought it to be even more proof that he was Ashara Dayne's bastard."
"My lady," Ser Arthur said quietly. "It is true that I am gifted with a skill with two swords. But so was Lyanna Stark. I've seen her skill myself at the Tower of Joy, when I entertained her request for a little spar. There is no doubt in my mind that Jon Snow is her son."
She shook her head in denial. "No, it's no possible." Rhaella wondered why she was trying so hard to deny the possibility.
Elia eyed Lady Catelyn. "How is it not possible, Lady Stark?" she asked. "Is this not what you would have wanted to hear? That Jon Snow is not your husband's bastard?" It was a well-known fact that Lady Stark did not approve of her husband's bastards. If no one knew of it before this tourney, they did now.
"That is not the point, your Grace. My lord husband is Jon Snow's father." It must have galled her to say such words but she still said them.
"He is not," she insistent.
It was odd to Rhaella to see Elia defend a boy who was potentially her husband's bastard. It might because she was Dornish, but there was something else to it. She was acting like a mother trying to protect her children. Why? The bastard wasn't hers. "My husband is an honorable man," Lady Stark said stubbornly. "He would not steal another man's babe."
"Would he take his sister's child from his rightful family?" Rhaegar asked her, "Out of spite for losing the war? I'd say that he would."
"He wouldn't."
"If there was ever a time for Lord Stark to be here, it would be now," the Dowager Queen thought to herself. Perhaps this was why he refused to leave Winterfell. If he had come south, he might have been forced to reveal the truth.
"My king," Ser Gerold said in a quiet rumble, "There is one man at Riverrun who would know the truth of the matter. Another Kingsguard, Ser Mark Ryswell. He had been with Lord Stark at the Tower of Joy."
"Send for him, now," Rhaegar commanded. "I will have the truth of this."
"I will go send for him," Rhaella told him. She walked to the door and reached for the handle. When she opened it and stepped through, someone was already waiting outside. It wasn't Ser Ryswell, but it still made her stop.
"Your Grace," Jon Snow said respectfully from where he sat on a bench by the door. He bowed his head in the utmost respect, not raising it.
She said nothing, choosing to reach out with her fingers and tilted his face up. She looked hard and long at him, trying to see what it was that made Rhaegar declare that this boy was his son. He didn't protest how she held him in place like so, though his eyes showed their worry. But surprisingly enough, there was kindness and gratitude in them too.
She didn't know if it was the same thing that her son had seen, but she knew that this boy was a Targaryen. His face might be long and his hair brown, all characteristics of the Starks. But his face was the same face of her grandfather, King Aegon V. They had the same kind features etched into their faces. She had seen those features when she begged her grandfather to stop her marriage to Aerys. He had taken her in his arms and told her he wish he could, but his hands were tied. Even though she should've hated him for his inability, she still loved him for the kindness he had given her in that moment and the years before. "This boy is a Targaryen," she told herself, lowering fingers away. "He is a dragon."
"Mother, is something the matter?" Rhaegar called to her.
She ignored his call for looking at the boy before her. "What are you doing here?" she demanded of him.
"I thought it prudent to come before the king," he replied, not looking her in the eyes again, "To see if there was any way I could explain myself."
Perhaps it would be for the best. If he was in there, everything would be explained and things would be put to rest. "Come," she told her grandson. That last word had an odd taste to her now. "Stand up." He did as he was commanded and she brought him back into the room.
When everyone in the room saw him, they all reacted. The Kingsguard had faces filled with sadness but also relief. Rhaegar looked as if his heart was lodged in his throat. So was Elia's. Lady Catelyn was the only who dared to speak. "Jon, what are you doing here?" she demanded. Even though she spoke as lady would speak to a bastard that lived under her roof, her eyes flicked over to the king, to see if what she had said would cause her harm.
Rhaegar did not say anything. Jon Snow took that as a prompt to answer, "I came to explain my actions for what happened. Forgive me, your Grace," he said to Rhaegar, bowing his head low. "I did not mean to ruin the last joust."
The king found his voice. "I will not hold it against you."
"Come," Elia said to him, "Stand before us." She gestured to the spot in front of them.
He looked at them both. Rhaella saw the uncertainty in his eyes and knew it was still there when he looked back at Lady Stark. He must have thought that in this situation, she was his closest ally. That was wrong, he was with family now. He could trust the royal family. "I do not think that is right, your Grace," he said respectfully. "I will stand next to Lady Stark."
Catelyn Stark did not look sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. If Rhaegar did not like what he did, he did not show it. "Tell us then, Jon, what happened?" He said the boy's name with a slight distaste, as if he knew that wasn't his actual name.
He breathed deep before saying, "It was when I was on my way to the tiltyard. I saw the Redwyne twins harassing my friend, Samwell Tarly, with drawn blades. I remembered what happened the last time they tried to do that, by ambushing him along me and several others in the godswood."
"So you acted."
"I did. I did not have a weapon of my own but I was able to surprise one of them and take his sword. They were so surprised by my presence that I was able to knock down another and take his sword too. I fought them away from Sam and kept them away. When I was able to get Sam towards the castle to find the maester, they turned their attentions to me. I did not know how long we fought, only that we were moving. It was only when Robb joined me that I saw we were in the tiltyard during the final joust."
Rhaegar considered him for a moment longer and then looked at Ser Gerold. "Have a man go to the maester's and confirm that Samwell Tarly is there being attended for his wounds," he commanded. "If he is able, get his side of his story."
"Yes, your Grace," the White Bull replied. He went to the door.
"Ser Hightower," Jon said, making the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard stop. "He fought back. Sam will probably try to deny it and his father might dismiss it, but he fought back. I saw him throwing punches and he gave the Redwyne twins black eyes. Tell Lord Tarly that."
Ser Gerold inclined his head to him. "As you say, my prince," he said in his quiet but strong voice. Jon's face paled at those words. He opened his mouth to speak but he was already gone from the room.
Silence filled the air as the door closed. Rhaella watched her grandson look around the room. He was uncomfortable being there now that he thought he said his piece. His eyes flicked over to Lady Stark in a silent plea. She stared at him for a moment longer, like she was deciding to heed his plea or not. Finally, she said, "Thank you, Jon. You may go—"
"Jon," Elia said, overriding her and making him pause in mid-step. "Stand before us."
"I-I do not think that is proper, your Grace. I have said my piece. I will not intrude any longer."
"You argue to a queen?" she asked him. Her voice was not threatening nor was it the false calm voice she had used on Lady Stark.
Yet still he flinched as if he had been struck. "What has Lady Stark done to the boy?" Rhaella thought to herself. She looked to Lady Catelyn with a heated stare. She did not return the gaze.
"No, your Grace," Jon replied. He still did not look at her or Rhaegar.
"Then stand before us."
He went to them hesitantly, almost like a knowing lamb to the slaughter. When his feet did reach them, he looked down at them. He would not look his father in the eye. Was it because if he did, he would know that was said was true? Rhaegar and Elia waited for him to look up but he refused to do so. "Lift your head, my grandson," Rhaella urged him. He was a Targaryen. A dragon did not shy away from others.
But still he looked at the ground. Elia's expression was gentle and so was the hand that reached out to lift his chin. There was little strength in her fingers but it was like they held him in place. Twin smiles appeared on Rhaegar's and Elia's faces as they looked at him. "Lyanna," the king said. "You are her son."
"Your Grace," Jon said, his voice quiet but also filling the room. "There must be some sort of mistake."
"There isn't. You have her eyes and her hands with the sword. You are Lyanna's son. You are my son."
"You are our son," Elia told him with a mother's warmth and kindness. Her fingers moved forward and her hand now cupped his face. "I promised Lyanna that I would love any child of hers like they were one of my own."
It was a surprising thing to see her show so much love to her husband's bastard. But Rhaella had long suspected that there was something more to her son and Lady Lyanna. Listening to Elia say those words, it made her wonder if Rhaegar wasn't the only one who loved. The question she now had was should she keep the thoughts to herself or demand the truth from her son.
Jon shook his head. "My queen, you are mistaken. I am not Lady Lyanna's son. My father is Lord Eddard Stark."
A spasm of anger passed through Rhaegar's face at those words. "That is a lie," he told him. "You were lied to, stolen away from your family." He reached out and placed a hand of comfort on Jon's shoulder.
He shook his head again. "No, that's not true. I'm just a bastard."
"You are not a bastard. You are my son, a prince of the Iron Throne. Your name is not even Jon. You are Daemon of the House Targaryen, a dragon."
"No. My father's Eddard Stark."
"He is not," Elia told him, her voice comforting. "He is the man who took you away from your actual family."
His head shook again. "No, that's not true."
"It's alright, Daemon. It's alright. You're with your family now. When the tourney ends tomorrow, you'll come home, back to King's Landing."
Jon's face paled. He looked horrified at the idea. "That's not my home. My home is Winterfell," he protested. Lady Stark's face winced slightly at those words.
"They may have raised you there, but it is not your home. Your home is in the Red Keep, alongside your siblings."
Rhaella saw a change come to Jon's eyes. They were unsure before but now they hardened into denial. "No," he said, shaking his head harder. "That's not true. The prince and princess are not my siblings. I do not belong in the Red Keep."
"You do," Rhaegar told him. "You are my son, Daemon."
"No, that's not my name."
"It is."
His head kept shaking. "No."
"Do not deny us this, Daemon. We thought you were dead all this time. This should be a moment of joy and celebration."
"No, this isn't real. It's a lie. It had to be a lie."
"Why would he deny this?" Rhaella asked as she watched. She would have thought that Jon would have been ecstatic to know that he was accepted, not shunned, by his true family. But he was refusing and denying everything that they told him.
But as he denied, Rhaegar got that stubborn look on his face, his eyebrows furrowing together and his eyes glinting in the light. "It is the truth," he said with the authority of a king to Jon. "You were taken from us by the Starks. You were lied to. You were hidden away from us. But you are with us once more. You are Lyanna's son and mine and Elia's. You are Daemon Targ—"
"NO!" he roared, breaking away from their hands as he stepped back. His voice had filled the room, overwhelming all others. He stood away from Rhaegar and Elia, looking at them like they were thieves come to take him. "My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."
"Daemon," said Elia, trying to be reassuring. He only turned and left the room. Once the door closed, they all heard him run off.
Rhaella left the room to search for her long-lost grandson. Sandor followed behind her, having stayed outside the room. He was quiet but she sensed there was something probing in his stare. "Do you have questions, Sandor?" she asked him.
"About what, your Grace?" he asked in his usual growl.
"About this whole situation," she said back.
"No, I don't. Either the boy's a Stark bastard or a Targaryen prince. It makes no difference to me in the end." That was always the thing with the Hound. He was brutally honest about whatever was in front of him.
Rhaella smiled to herself. It was that brutal honesty that made her keep him around. The court at the Red Keep might look at her sworn shield as something that did not belong but he always gave her honest council. He could look at the courtiers and the ladies with a sneer and see right through them. But when she found her grandson, what would be needed was delicacy, not bluntness. "Would you please go check on Daenerys, Sandor? I want to make sure that after that has been revealed, she is fine."
"Of course, your Grace," he said. He turned and walked away.
She listened to his armored feet striking the stone floor until it faded away. She continued to look for her grandson. She went around the castle but could not seem to find him. As she looked for him, she did think about what to call him. She had long known that if Rhaegar had gotten a son on Lady Lyanna, in spite of all he had planned for, the babe would be named Daemon. It would be done so in order to bring a different life to the name instead of one that dealt with betrayal and attempted usurpation.
But the boy had lived his entire life with the name Jon. She wondered if Lyanna had named him as such or if Lord Stark done so. Not for the first time since Rhaegar declared who Jon was in front of the tiltyard, she wished that Eddard Stark was here in Riverrun. If he was here, a lot of questions could be answered. But for now, she would have to settle for finding her grandson and ensuring that he would be okay. Until he was more comfortable with what was happening, she would call him Jon.
When she did find him, it was the place she should have looked first: the godswood. He was sitting before the heart tree and he wasn't alone. The Stark children were all around him and their wolves surrounded them. Two walls, one of flesh and one of fur and claws, prevented her from approaching her grandson. She hung back, staying behind a tree and listened.
"So, what does that mean?" Brandon Stark asked Jon, looking at him with a puzzled look.
Sansa Stark looked down at her brother. "It means Jon's a prince, a Targaryen," she told him. She looked at Jon with a slightly awed expression. Ever since they had come to Riverrun, Rhaella could see that the girl had an idealized view of the world, believing in the songs and the romantic stories. But because of those songs and stories, she had been distant with Jon, since he was a bastard.
And now, she found out that he was a prince all along. "She must think that this is a song right now," Rhaella thought to herself. If she was a cruel or a cynical person, she might've laughed at the foolish girl.
Her sister looked at her with an angry expression. "He's not a prince!" Arya Stark declared.
Sansa looked at her with a little frown. "Arya, you heard the king the same as me. He said that Jon was his son."
"I don't care what that stupid king said!"
"Arya, you can't say that! He's the king!"
"I don't care!" she practically screamed.
The two of them might've come to blows if Robb Stark hadn't put himself between them. "Sansa! Arya! Stop this at once!" he commanded them with a lord's voice. "This is not the time for one of your fights! This isn't about you now!"
The younger became silent and stepped back, though she continued to glare at her sister. Sansa ignored her and looked at her brother. "But Robb, you heard King Rhaegar too."
"I did, Sansa. But the king had never laid eyes on Jon before now. How would he know if what he said was the truth?"
"He said I have Aunt Lyanna's eyes and hands," Jon said hollowly. He spoke as if he was ashamed of those simple facts.
"What does that mean?" Brandon asked.
He hunched his head lower, almost hiding it. "I don't know. I don't know what all of this means."
Robb put his hand on his shoulder. "It will be alright, Jon. When the tourney is done, we'll go back to Winterfell. Father's there. He'll be able to explain this all."
"And what was he says that it's true? That I am the son of the king? If it's true, by rights I should be sent to live with them in King's Landing."
"No," Arya said vehemently. "You're coming home."
"But if he's King Rhaegar's son, he belongs in King's Landing," Brandon said. He was confused, it showed on his face. But he was trying to work his way through it.
Robb looked at him with an authoritative look. "Nothing is decided until we get back home. Father will tell us the truth."
"But what if he says the same King Rhaegar did?"
They fell silent. Rhaella saw they didn't know the answer to the question. "Perhaps," Jon said, "it would be best if Lord Stark didn't tell me the truth."
They all looked at him like he was mad. "Jon, he would have to tell the truth if you asked," Sansa said to him. "Are you saying that you'll refuse to ask him?"
"I wouldn't be able to."
She frowned. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that maybe it's best that I don't go back to Winterfell."
Silence fell in the godswood. Rhaella looked at her grandson, hopeful that he was considering come to King's Landing. "Are you going to King's Landing then?" Brandon asked.
"No," said Jon.
"Where will you go then?"
"The Wall, to join the Night's Watch," he answered.
A cold feeling washed over Rhaella. He would abandon all that he would know and all that was his to join the Night's Watch? All so he would never know the truth? He was that scared of it? "Jon," Robb Stark said, looking how she felt, "That's going too far."
He looked up at him, a determined look in his eyes. "You know that I was thinking of joining the Night's Watch before we came to Riverrun. It's an honorable calling. Starks have manned the Wall for thousands of years."
"I know but—"
"But what?" he demanded. "Do you have a better idea for what I should do!?" His cousin didn't answer him. None of them did.
Until Rickon crawled into his lap, placed his little hands on Jon's face and said, "Don't go."
His face broke and he hugged the boy tight. "I don't want to go, Rickon. I don't. I just don't know what else to do." His voice sounded close to tears.
Arya hugged him tight. "You're still my brother," she told him as she held onto his arm. "I don't care what they say. You're my brother."
They all hugged him and Rhaella watched. She was struck by what she was seeing. Even though the truth was revealed, they were willing to love him. They were willing to take him away from his true family to protect him. They didn't want him to run away. Suddenly, she felt that her own family didn't deserve him, at least not right away.
She left the godswood as silently as she had entered. "Perhaps we should let him stay with the Starks," she thought to herself. At least until he came to terms with the truth. Once he was used to it, they could have him come to King's Landing. She would have to trust Lord Stark to keep in Winterfell when he told the truth to Jon. A command from the king would make him keep Jon there.
But she had a niggling feeling that it wouldn't work like so. The last time a note like that was sent to Winterfell, she watched her son sail away to White Harbor. If this idea was to work, it would need to be written the right way. She would have to talk about it with her son. She found him and Elia in the lord's chambers. She walked into the solar and saw they were in the bedroom.
"Rhaegar, we're going to lose him," Elia said. She stood beside the bed while he paced.
"We're not going to lose him," Rhaegar told her.
She wasn't convinced. "He's going to leave with the Starks, Rhaegar. He will leave with them and as soon as he crosses the Neck, he won't come back down." Rhaella stepped out of sight so they wouldn't see her. If they did, they would stop this conversation right away. "We lost Lyanna, Rhaegar," her son's wife continued, "and we thought we lost Daemon once already. I don't want to lose him again."
"I don't want to lose him either, Elia," he said, his voice muffled. He must've stopped pacing and was holding her close now. "And we won't. Daemon will be coming with us."
"You have a plan?"
"I do. The Starks will not hold him again. He'll back in King's Landing with his actual family."
Rhaella stayed where she stood, out of sight of them both. She didn't know what to do. Jon wanted to be with the family he knew and she respected that. But Rhaegar wanted him to come home. It was something that she wanted if she was being honest with herself. Dragons should never be sent so far away from each other.
But that wasn't what Jon wanted. He wanted to go back to the people he knew and forget everything that he had learned at Riverrun. He was willing to go so far as to run away if it meant he could avoid the truth. Should she tell the Starks what her own son was going to do? Should tell Rhaegar that the son long-hidden from wanted to ignore the truth?
It was a question that had her wonder in complete silence. But in the end, she decided to hold her silence. Whatever would happen, she would accept it. This was not her decision to make. It was up to the gods.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
I'll admit I didn't expect that kind of a turnout for the last chapter. It was actually surprising for me. Thank you for it.
Some of you might believe how Rhaegar and Elia recognized Jon might be flimsy. The duel-wielding is on flimsy ground, I'll admit, because I didn't want to put it in before now. I wanted to mislead about the apparent similarities between Arthur and Jon.
The eyes, that's something else. Whenever people meet Jon, they say that he has the Stark look. To me that was the general view. If people look past the general view, they can see details that are different. They might have had the same eye colors but I'd be willing to be that Lyanna's eyes were a little different from Ned's.
The name change was also deliberate. A lot of stories I've read where Rhaegar wins and Jon lives in King's Landing, he's always named Jaehaerys or something that can be shorted to Jon. You can't do that with Daemon. Plus, it gives Rhaegar a chance to try and redeem that name after the whole Blackfyre debacles.
If you're wondering where Jocelyn was when her family was in the godswood, she's still a little wrapped up in the fact that her supposed father is actually her uncle.
I'll see you all next chapter!