So it took me quite a while to update this, which I'm terribly sorry for. Life, other ideas and inspiration got in the way but here we are, back with Rhaenys. Thank you for the kind reviews! Just to clarify Rhaenys is no OC of mine but the trueborn daughter of Rhaegar and Elia. Also I started writing this before A World of Ice and Fire came out so any information given there might not be what you can find in this story (Rhaenys birth year/place & relationship to her grandfather), however I decided against rewriting this.
There will be around three more chapters focusing on what happened to her and Aegon after the Sack of King's Landing.
As always, enjoy and tell me what you think! :)
Rhaenys was very close with her mother, always looking up to her on how to behave as a lady as she adored the way Elia moved or spoke or acted. She thought her a true lady, a beautiful princess and whenever she visited the Great Sept of Baelor she prayed for the same beauty and grace. However, Rhaenys lacked Elia's gentleness and had inherited Rhaegar's temperament and fighting spirit. But is was said, that she reminded Prince Doran and Prince Oberyn of her mother nonetheless whenever she ran around the courtyard with silly laughter and light in her eyes. Encouraged by these words she would try to impersonate her in sitting and walking properly, following her around her day which would make Elia laugh at times.
"Why do you call me those names, mother?" Rhaenys asked one day, not long before the war broke out which would tear apart her entire family. She came rushing into her mother's chambers just before the sun embraced the horizon and she was supposed to go to bed. Elia was seated on her large bed, smiling at the young, breathless girl and reached out to run her fingers through the dark curls on the princess head. "What is the sigil of our house, sweetheart?"
"A threeheaded dragon, one for Aegon and each of his sister wives, red on black", Rhaenys answered immediately.
"Very well. The first Queen Rhaenys was Aegon's most beloved sister, did you know that? Your father named you after her just after you were born. You are one of the three dragon heads." Rhaenys nodded, a silly giggle escaping her lips. "And do you know what the sigil of my house was before I married your father", her mother questioned further.
"A splendid sun with a spear because we are of the blood of Nymeria."
Elia smiled, bending down and taking the girl's face into her soft hands.
"You see, you are still a part of that house. You are the sun that makes everything beautiful but dragon's fire runs in your veins. You are unbowed, unbent, unbroken with fire and blood. You are my sunlight, my little dragon."
She had to think about this for a moment, the meaning of her mother's words not clear to her then. "So I am a beautiful dragon… like my Balerion?" she would ask and her eyes would shine with pride and joy.
"Of course!" Her mother laughed, ruffling her hair. Only years later, feeling broken and spent and so far from home, would her mother's words come to her again and give her strength when she repeated them to herself: I am unbowed, unbent, unbroken with fire and blood…
When Rhaegar had only eyes for baby Aegon or the war, Elia would come to Rhaenys chambers shortly before bedtime and brush and braid the girl's dark curls and tell her stories of Dorne and her childhood there. Rhaenys would listen with joy filling her big brown eyes and Elia would send her to bed with a kiss on her forehead and promises of visiting Sunspear soon.
When Rhaegar was too busy to call his daughter by the sweet names the parents had given her, Elia did it even more with genuine pride and love in her voice.
And in return, when the little girl found her mother curled up on her bed, crying because her husband had left again - with or without Lyanna Stark didn't matter - Rhaenys would crawl into her arms and press her small hand against her mothers and smile. And so the two princesses would lay still while sunlight or moonlight would shine through the open window.
"I am never going to be Queen, am I?" Rhaenys did not care for power or ruling - she had only just seen her fourth name day and didn't even understand the meaning of the word 'Queen' properly. However she understood that everyone cared more about her baby-brother now than about her and it made her feel empty and sad in her stomach.
Elia sighed, smiling sadly. "Of course you will be. You will be Aegon's wife one day as it is tradition in the Targaryen family." Even then Rhaenys could see how much her mother did not approve of this method. She seemed to think that any son of any lord would be better suited for the girl than her own brother; maybe Willas or Garlan Tyrell or maybe even a smaller house. But hearing those words made the princess hopeful and warmed her heart and brought a smile to her lips. Who could be a better husband to her than her own brother? Why would it be bad if they were to sit beside one another, ruling Westeros together as siblings? She knew she was meant to be Viserys Queen and she loved her uncle dearly, but little Aegon was the most precious person to her and she would rather rule beside him than anyone else. So she did not understand when lines of worry crowded her mother's forehead and she tugged her closer, holding her so tight the little princess could barely breathe.
Years later Rhaenys felt disgusted at the thought of marrying her little brother, of having his children. She loved him deeply but never, never, would she have been a good wife to him.
The war was hard and seemed to last forever. King's Landing remained untouched at first but Rhaenys overheard her father and her grandfather speaking of villages that had been burned or battles which had been lost. She didn't understand why people wanted to hurt her family or why her father rode out again and again and came home with a desperate look on his face and blood on his armour. When she climbed into Elia's bed at night, the Princess had no answer for her either. Why would anyone try to hurt her family, the rightful rulers of the Seven Kingdoms? Rhaenys knew nothing of what Rhaegar did or of Aerys' cruelty. All she knew was that she wanted her father.
And then came the day when he didn't return. When she would wait near the gates for hours until a small boy arrived, his hair ruffled and his face smeared with blood. He would not stop talking, screaming, saying her father's name and that of another and the guards needed to carry him to King Aerys.
Rhaenys remembered the screams of her grandfather and grandmother and the tears on her mothers cheeks and how Viserys would sob, eyes turning a horrible red. She remembered her mother tugging her close, her hand running over the girl's back. She remembered her saying her father's name over and over and small whimpers escaping her in between. "He will be avenged, little dragon. Robert Baratheon will pay for what he's done.", Elia would whisper at once and Rhaenys still did not understand.
Robert never paid for Rhaegar's death. In fact, it was the Targaryens and Martells who suffered but Rhaenys captured that name in her heart, captured the utter disgust and hate her mother had used with it and the more name days she saw, the more she swore to herself that Robert would pay when she would draw her war hammer across his chest and drown him in the Trident like he did her father and she would stab his children and cut the throat of his wife.
Viserys was sent away shortly after the news of Rhaegar's death arrived in King's Landing. Rhaenys had no tears left. When they told her, her father would never return, never call her sweet names or carry her around again, she screamed and wouldn't let anyone near her for days. Anyone but Elia and baby Aegon.
And then she was told that her grandmother Rhaella and her uncle Viserys would be taken to Dragonstone. She did not cry or scream only ran to Aerys and asked him why.
"Why can't mother and Aegon and I not go with them?"
Aerys looked at her long and intensly, all love seemed to have drained from him. "Do you think I will send you to Dragonstone so your uncle Doran can sweep in and carry you away to Dorne, so he can stab me in the back", he screamed. He never screamed at her - at his guards or Rhaella or even at Rhaegar sometimes but never at her. Still Rhaenys stood her ground, swallowing hard and reaching her hand out to touch his. Of course she had no clue on what her grandfather was talking about, still she smiled. "Then we will stay here with you, grandfather, so you won't have to be alone." Aerys didn't return the smile.
When Rhaenys went to her mother and told her they would stay with the king, Elia nodded and hugged her daughter close. "It is going to be alright, mother."
Elia kissed her head, her gaze drifting to somewhere far. "Yes, it will be, my sunlight."
She met up with Viserys the night before he and his mother would be sailing for Dragonstone. He had always been more like a friend to her than an uncle as he was closely her age. He had used to chase her around the castle or hide with her in empty chambers and played all games they knew. He used to read her stories of the kings of old or tell her about their ancestors. "
"You may become king now", Rhaenys had whispered when they met in one of the unoccupied chambers in the east of the keep.
Viserys had shrugged. "You still have a brother. Aegon will be King one day." But his voice trembled and Rhaenys knew in that moment there was no chance for them. Something terrible would happen or else Grandfather would not send his heir away.
"He wants to keep you safe." She had reached for his hand in the dark, squeezed it as hard as she could to give them both the comfort they needed. He had turned to her then, silver hair shining in the dim moonlight. "I will come for you again, I promise. I will find you again." They had sat there, smiling happily until they fell asleep and were awoken in the morning by servants shouting their names.
"Goodbye little sun", Viserys had whispered, his lilac eyes filled with unshed tears and in the blink of an eye he had pressed a kiss to her small, soft lips. He was gone before Rhaenys could say anything and when she wanted to bid her goodbye to him later, Aerys forbid it.
So when she thought back to that moment years later, she realized Viserys was the only boy she had ever loved and she might have become happy ruling as his queen.
Later she did not know how her mother planned their escape or how she seemed to know they would not win this war. She came to her bed one night, waking her with hushed words and shaking hands. She wrapped her daughter in a dark cloak, letting a hood cover her small face. Rhaenys asked her what was going on, her body shaking with fear, but Elia only kissed the girl's forehead and took Aegon from his crip.
Two men appeared in the room and Rhaenys wanted to scream, but her mother pressed a gentle hand to her mouth, telling her to keep quiet. Only then did Rhaenys notice the tears burning in the familiar eyes and another kind of fear overtook her.
Her mother took her small hands in hers, smiling at her sadly. "You need to be strong now, little dragon. As strong as the first Queen Rhaenys and as your father. You can't run or tell anyone who you are."
"Mother, I do not under-.."
"Promise me you will look after your little brother, Rhaenys. He is too small to look after himself. You can never lose him, please, you have to stay together." Rhaenys nodded slowly, tears making tracks on her cheeks now, her lips quivering.
"Won't you come with us, Mother?" she asked and even more afraid of the answer she already knew.
Elia let her hand drift over her daughter's cheek. "I will follow you as soon as I can. You need to be a strong girl now, my sunlight."
Her mother stood, letting her hand fall from hers and nodding at the men, who took Aegon and her hand and Rhaenys sobbed. "I will be as strong as you then, Mother."
The last thing she saw of Elia was her smile, saddened but hopeful at the same time.
She wanted to take Balerion but the men told her to hurry so all she had left were the clothes on her body and the small bundle that was her brother, wrapped in blankets and sleeping safely.
The men wore the sun of House Martell and that comforted Rhaenys at last. They escaped the Red Keep in the deep of the night, fog covering them while they hurried through the small streets of King's Landing down to the harbour. At some point one of the men scooped her up in his arms, so they could hurry faster and when she asked what was going on, they told her to be quiet. They were neither very gentle nor particularly friendly but her mother seemed to trust them, so Rhaenys would not utter any more words. Over the shoulder of the man she could see the castle on Aegon's hill and she silently prayed to the Mother and the Father and the Warrior that they might return her safely and keep Elia safe.
She fell asleep shortly before they reached the harbour and when she awoke it was in a small cabin on a ship which was rocked by the waves.