Everyone, Thank you for your reviews and comments, I always read them even if I don't respond to them. Will respond to your reviews of the last two chapters in the next post!
As always, please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think.
Note: If you would like to read ahead, the next three chapters after this chapter are available on P. .^T.^R.^E.^O.^N./ Boombox117
Mid to Late 114 AC – The Narrow Sea…
Aegon sat back in his chair, a deep green glow providing the light as he read through a tome written by a Valyrian named Aellares, who'd written about Ny Sar when it had ruled the 'twin forks of Mother Rhoyne, the Noyne and the Ayne rivers' which included the two major cities of Ny Sar and Ar Noy.
It was a fascinating read and one of the few treasures he and his scholars had found from amongst the indemnity of five thousand books from Myr, who Aegon was rather sure were keen to truly give him anything of particular value to him, with how much they'd given him tomes about accounting and taxes and recycled accounts of conquests and subjugations of people throughout Valyria's history.
And he noted quite keenly they'd avoided giving him anything about magic…which was understandable. Petty. But understandable.
In any case, this tome provided a great deal of insight of the Rhoynar at that age, at a time when Volantis was only a small colony.
And from what it seemed, the edition Aegon had – for no tome could survive so many thousands of years unless it was magic – could well be a faithful copy of the original account of Ny Sar and Ar Noy.
The Rhoynar, at least at that age, had a number of unique cultural quirks.
The original writer was vivid in his descriptions of Ar Noy with its green marbled buildings with 'canals for veins' and who laid gifts of pearls for the observation of a spring festival which the writer seemed to dislike with the way he'd spoken the other Rhoynar thanked the Mother Rhoyne with 'harvest made with care' whilst the Ar Noy did not follow the likeness of other, better, Rhoyne, using that as a justification for why Ny Sar had to impress on Ar Noy.
There were a number of descriptions and analysis like that, where the writer subtly disparaged the people of Ar Noy for being a bit different. It amused Aegon a little.
People were people, everywhere they we-
Aegon heard some sounds coming from the glass candle, sounds that he knew was likely Gael picking the glass candle from the lead box and Aegon looked up from his tome and waited for Gael to speak.
But then he heard some sniffles, causing Aegon to narrow his eye slightly, as he closed his tome and when he heard more sniffles, he realised it was almost certainly a little child…almost certainly one of his…likely one of the girls.
Aegon wanted to speak up but he knew it was better to wait, lest he startle which one of his girls it was. Soon enough he heard something knocking against wood and he could tell it was someone putting up the glass candle straight.
Finally…"Father?" a juvenile voice finally called out, a voice he recognised though there were strong scents of vulnerability and unsurety marring the voice.
"Breannei?" Aegon asked with a concerned frown. "Are you alright? Is everything alright?" Aegon asked as he placed the tome by the side, his full attention on the glass candle.
He was meant to speak with his family today although he expected Gael's voice to be the first to tell him of the day whilst afterwards he'd speak with his children about how their day went, especially since it was meant to be a rather eventful day.
The two girls were meant go on their first flight. The youngest dragonriders in the history of their family, a title that both of them really liked having.
It hurt a little that he wasn't there to watch his girls take their first flight.
The two girls had been promised they could have their first flight sooner than when the boys had theirs if they behaved and did all that Gael asked – they've been driving Gael a little mad with how active they've been – all of which they've done admirably and with a disturbing kind of determination that Aegon honestly was surprised by, given that children aren't always the most focused and easily bore of things – mayhaps not when it came to dragons… – and so they've taken their first flights at the age of nine namedays.
She sniffled more before she spoke. "I'm alright, father." Breannei said though her voice was breaking up a little as she spoke. "I miss you, father. I really miss you." And then Breannei started to cry and Aegon found himself stretching his arms around the glass candle as he began to grow more worried.
Did something happen during the flight? Or did it not happen? Ah…he should have put his foot and had the girls postpone their flight until he was back.
"I miss you too, my sweet daughter, I really do, but tell me Breannei, what has made you so upset? You wouldn't be so sad if you were alright." Aegon said as gently as he could.
"I was so happy, father, and so was Lysia! We were doing so good and we were faster and stronger than Tyria and Rhaena! Lysia was OK! Better than OK! She was happy to want to do more and she did it! We did it, father! It's so unfair!" Breannei said almost as a single string of words with how fast and how animatedly she'd spoken, and Aegon noticed how she'd lost the vulnerability and instead indignance had crept into her voice and Aegon bowed his head slightly.
In relief, and in exasperation.
Of course Breannei wouldn't just follow the rules. The girl had bouts of rashness in her.
"Braennei…" Breannei continued to speak over him as she hadn't heard and Aegon thinned his lips before he spoke again. "Breannei." Aegon had to repeat with more sternness and warning in his tone of voice and this time she did heed him.
"Yes father?" Breannei was more quiet in her tone of voice, realising that she was in error. Aegon silently sighed before he steeled himself a little.
"So, if I understand correctly, your mother took you and your sister on your first flight" "- and Castorys and Polaerys were there too" Breannei interrupted and Aegon's eyebrow twitched at the interruption and he let it pass, this time. "and gave you strict rules not to do anything than what you already promised you would do, correct?"
"Yes but" "- No buts." Aegon was stern in voice and he heard a pitiful whimper, soft but hearable nonetheless and he was quick to continue but in a softer tone of voice. "It may have been a long time since you have seen me, Breannei, but do you still remember what I have always told you about making promises?"
He wouldn't blame her if she didn't remember. The last time he'd seen her, she'd only been seven namedays. He'd been away from her nearly a third of her life and the first third she doesn't really remember. She knew him almost as much as a voice behind a glass candle than she had seen him…
"Don't break a promise." Breannei answered back in a quiet tone of voice, and honestly Aegon was a little surprised that she did remember.
"That's right, my sweet girl. I do, however, understand why you broke your promise." Aegon said gently and there was a small trace of a smile on his face as he spoke further. "It felt great, didn't it? Flying? Like it was something you were always meant to do?"
"Yes!" He could hear the surprise in her voice and Aegon smiled knowingly at the glass candle. "And I could feel Lysia really well! She knew what I wanted and I didn't have to say anything!"
"And I am very happy for you that you felt so close to your dragon as when we bond with our dragons, Breannei, we become like family with them, do you understand?" Aegon said cautiously. Breannei was nine namedays, just about, and he wasn't quite sure if she was ready to have a more detailed conversation about the nature of their bonds with their dragons.
He'd started young with his eldest sons, true, but that was mostly because he really wanted to create good roots for their personalities. Not that he didn't want to do that for all of his children, but he did know that he was quite severe with his eldest sons, especially Castorys.
And now with his three youngest, he was absent until only about half a year ago, and even then, it was nowhere near the same as actually being present and teaching them and listening to them, not only to their voices but also to everything else.
He really hated that he had to postpone his journey back…
"Yes, father." Breannei said confidently and Aegon smiled briefly at the eagerness.
"So then, can you understand why your mother was upset and why she punished you?" Aegon asked gently.
He heard her fumble and he heard her mutter 'no'.
"Well…" Aegon sat a little straighter as he lost his smile a little. "Lysia is a very young dragon, only five namedays old. Very small and very young, no better than a little hatchling compared to your brothers' dragons and that of your mother, right?"
When he heard a reluctant 'yes' he continued on. "When they are that young, they struggle a little with their flying. They can't really go too far. And when you flying with them, even if you are an adorable little girl, you can put them into a lot of danger if you are not careful."
Well, it wasn't quite true. Yes, normally, if they were a dragon raised in the dragonpit, it'd take another few years before the dragon could be safely ridden, but the dragons were faster growing, especially since they'd arrived in Elamaerys.
The dragons were allowed to fly freely more often, especially in the last year or so as his eldest sons were taking the younger dragons out for hunting, which he considered likely a considerable influence.
In any case, the dragons were just about the right size to be ridden, especially by his girls who did not weigh much. And with the dragons being more or less hatchlings, even if controlling them is more erratic given that they are juvenile mentally, the girls were well enough suited to ride them despite their tender age.
Plus, with all of the safeguards – years ago, he and Gael had meticulously looked into everything possible to keep someone in a saddle, including a lock that couldn't be removed without a key that Gael had – the children were safe as safe can be.
Still, the point had to be made.
"But Lysia didn't feel scared! She was happy!" Breannei protested strongly.
"Because Lysia is a brave dragon, just like her rider. But your dragon is also very young and inexperienced and doesn't quite know better which is why your mother was being so stern in having you promise her that you would do no more than your mother said you were allowed to do." Aegon leaned a little more.
"Or did you want to hurt Lysia, Breannei?" Aegon asked and he heard her move on the other side.
"No! How could you think that, father!" Breannei asked upset and indignant.
"I don't think like that because you are my daughter who wouldn't do something like that. I know you wouldn't ever do it on purpose." Aegon said meaningfully.
"But Lysia is fine!" Breannei said growing more upset, having understood what he meant. Breannei was quite precocious, after all.
"But she also could have been hurt." Aegon said firmly. "You have a responsibility to your dragon, Breannei. It's like how your mother looks after you or how Castorys, Polaerys or Valarr look after you. Lysia is your family and you don't want to do anything that might be bad for them."
Breannei was silent for a long few moments before she answered. "OK…"
Aegon smiled a little and once again, he promised that he'd make it up to Gael a thousand fold when he was back. Gods, he was really leaving her to dry.
"I'm proud of you Breannei that you are understanding what I mean and I am sure now that you see that your mother was right to be upset with you?" Aegon said with a raised eyebrow as he eyed the glass candle keenly.
"But six moons is toooo long! Rhaena also disobeyed by trying to outfly and only I get punished!" Breannei complained and Aegon hung his head a little in exasperation, glad that he didn't have to maintain a stern look.
He wanted to say that he would have punished her for a year…
"But did you do anything more that caused your mother to ban you for six moons?" Aegon asked knowingly. Gael was anything but unfair.
The silence and the shuffle was answer.
He didn't need to hear it from Breannei. He'd hear it from Gael. "What your mother has decided is fair and what will remain." Aegon said gently but firmly and he narrowed his eye slightly at suspicion, hoping she wouldn't go in a direction that would leave him disappointed in her. It would be clever but it was also be manipulative.
Though he was surprised when she said something, something he had never expected her to say. "Mother wouldn't have punished Rhaena like she punished me if she did it." It was a low mutter but Aegon heard it and it upset him.
When did she started to think like this.
"Breannei." Aegon's voice was sterner, sterner than he'd ever spoken to his daughter before and he heard nothing but silence on the end. Still he continued.
"Why do you think your mother would punish you more harshly than she would punish you?" Aegon asked with the same sternness in his voice.
When he received more silence, he narrowed his eye slightly and he relaxed his fist as he spoke again though it was more gentle, more soothing.
"Breannei." Aegon said with utmost gentleness and he could her shift. "Please answer my question. Will you do this for me?"
There was another silence and he thought she wouldn't answer…until she did.
"Because she isn't my mother...not like she is Rhaena's mother. Or Solonys'. Or like Castorys and Polaerys and Valarr." Aegon felt his heart break a little at the way she sounded so quietly upset.
How long has this been bothering her? Why is it bothering her now?
They'd never kept it a secret from Breannei. That Gael and Aegon were not her biological parents. Obviously, not in those terms but terms like how they had taken her in because she was Aegon's niece as a baby when her mother died.
Which wasn't true but few people knew the truth…that her mother had sold her for a few gold coins. And if he could help it, she'd never get to know that.
"You would make your mother cry if she heard you say that." Aegon said gently and with a sad note to his voice. He continued. "Your mother might not have given birth to you but she has done everything else a mother does. She has loved you, and does love you, as much as she loves our other children." Aegon said and he could quiet sniffles that were growing more audible as more time went.
Aegon continued, hoping to sear it in the silly girl's head that she was as much a daughter to his wife as Rhaena was. "In your mother's heart, you all share a piece inside of her. Equally. In every way, your mother is your mother and I'm very sad to hear that you think her not really as your mother, as that means you also don't think of me as your father."
"No!" Breannei cried out and he heard something crash, likely a chair, in the background. "No, father, no, you and mother are my father and mother, I'm sorry, please don't be sad, I didn't mean it!" Breannei cried out and Breannei continued to apologies and Aegon felt guilty for putting his daughter into such a state.
Aegon soothed her with shushes and a mantra of 'It's alright, I believe you' and finally when Breannei calmed herself he spoke again. "I am glad you didn't mean it, Breannei, but why did you think this? That your mother wasn't really your mother? You have known for a long time how you fully came into our family."
"Valaena said really mean things to me and Rhaena but me really the most. She said that I am a bastard and didn't deserve a dragon." Aegon winced at the name and what the girl had said to his daughter. That was Bartimos' daughter.
He would have to speak with Gael…and mayhaps speak with Lady Daemera as well. It was unacceptable. He didn't fail to hear that Valaena also said some other things to his other daughter as well…
"What Valaena said was wrong and unbefitting a noble lady of a House sworn to serve our House. I will talk with your mother about this. Anyway, you shouldn't care what she said. You deserved a dragon the moment you became our daughter, Breannei. We might not have given birth to you but you are our daughter and therefore you became a Targaryen because we wanted you as our daughter."
Aegon hated that he felt so torn. It should be simple but it wasn't. In fact, he had worked hard to remove any notions of Braennei's origin amongst their people.
He wanted her to be known as nothing more than a daughter of Aegon and Gael, at most a small footnote of her being a niece biologically to solidify the tradition of not marrying to closely within the family.
All because he didn't want it to be liberally known that a…out-of-wedlock child was brought into the family. It would set a terrible precedent and he really feared idiotic descendants doing the same without rhyme of reason.
Bastards were not seen as badly as they were in Westeros, true, but there was a little stigma about it, one that certainly would be worse if one was a 'Dragonlord' bastard…
"OK…" Breannei said quietly but he could hear the pleased relief in her voice and he was relieved himself to hear about it.
Aegon slapped his hands on the table, which caused a loud ruckus, and he heard her yelp a little. "Father, what was that?"
"Oh…" Aegon said in a put on embarrassed kind of voice. "I tried to hug you through the glass candle but I forgot that I am very far away and I made a bit of mess."
"Nooo, you didn't!" Breannei denied with a giggle in her voice and Aegon smiled a little wider.
"Really, I did! I really wanted to give you a good hug but I forgot like a silly person." Aegon said seriously and so the conversation turned into a much lighter one where Aegon was content to be a little silly in an effort to bond more with his daughter.
It was a little while later when Gael and his other children came into the chamber, and after a few directed questions at Rhaena and Breannei, followed by questions he'd asked his eldest sons before roping in Solonys who seemed a bit more hesitant and a bit moody no doubt thanks to being the only one who hasn't yet ridden his dragon, the tension in the room bled away as the conversation flowed easily, often helped on by Castorys or Polaerys, both of whom likely knew what he was doing.
Gael knew too but her odd silence was quite indicative that she was unhappy with him a little, likely because he was evading having Breannei be called to task for adding to her misbehaviour with her taking out the glass candle without any permission.
He knew she was right to be unhappy but he felt like they needed a bit of family time to help soothe over upsets.
Later, when it was time for him and Gael to speak, he'd ask Breannei to remain and speak with her and her mother to tell her off for the overstep.
A little while later…
The conversations with his children lasted for a long while, the day having been more eventful than usual, and the conversation he had with Breannei and Gael about Breannei taking out the glass candle without her mother's permission, and then later with Gael as they discussed their children and the upsetting news of what Valaena had said to Breannei, took some time and it was a long while later before they could anything else.
When she started to speak about the meeting she had with the Council regarding the schedule of moving the new people who'd come from the second journey, ahead of the people who would come the incoming third journey in the next weeks, he could hear the tiredness more profoundly in her voice.
"I can hear the tiredness in your voice." Aegon said with a mild frown as she finished her explanations about the myriad of niggling problems they were dealing with. "Are you resting well? I know you have been busy for the past few weeks."
Gierūli, Mēīlmōrīs, Lōgomazda, Bykāgeltis, Dōrāelmion and Bōsa Zaldrīzes districts now, spread amongst them albeit unevenly, had fifteen thousand homes built, several thousands of homes well ahead of the initial schedule.
And with addition of thousands of new men, things were accelerating even more.
Still, there was a great many things happening at the same time. More lands were being produced into farmland, more families were moving and more construction was happening all across the main settlement.
And then there was the shops and factories that were slowly coming back to life, especially with the feeding of more materials and more goods and items with each arrival of the galleon fleet.
"It's just this day." Gael reassured him and he heard her sigh a little. "It was busier than most." Gael went on to describe her day, a day that had already been filled quite busily with the Council and the Redtown and with the children, and a day, it seemed that she'd spent travelling to one of the marble mines that some of the scaffolding fall apart and injure some of the workers.
One of the workers had been too badly injured to take back on riverboat and once she'd heard the situation, with the mine being farther away from the mines their sons were than this particular mine was to Elamaerys, she'd gone herself.
She'd flown back to get a healer and then flew again and back towards the mine and even helped a little with the bad wound. No wonder she was tired…
Aegon hummed a little, a bit of soothing in his tone of voice. "You did well, Gael…very well…" Aegon said softly, unsure of what else to say, and he felt another bout of guilt and sadness that he was not there and that he would not be there for some time yet.
"Thank you." Gael said with some happiness in her voice, knowing that he intended to soothe her, comfort her, and she sighed a little, almost wistfully.
"I wish you were coming back already…you're missing so much…" Gael said softly and Aegon knew exactly what she meant. He was missing so, so much.
He was missing seeing wild lands grow into farmlands. He was missing buildings going up and up…
He was missing their children growing.
He was missing his elder sons growing into men.
He was missing the first flight of his youngest children.
Aegon closed his eye. He was missing so much…
"I know…" Aegon's response was an equally quiet one, and equally laden with meaning.
"One more journey after this…one more…and I'll be back on the one after…"
The galleon fleet now on the Sunset Sea was the third journey back from Astapor.
The first journey started in the first moon of 113 AC and carried a cargo of five hundred adult sheep, three hundred lambs, three thousand chickens, three thousand fowls, a thousand pigs, two thousand goats and three thousand turkeys. The livestock feed alone was almost three times the animals' weight.
An unpleasant journey for the sailors and the captains, no doubt, given how hard it was to look after those animals, and feeding them, and cleaning after them…
Fortunately, no one ship was carrying bulks of animals. With the work of the blacksmiths, here and in Elamaerys, they created pens for the animals, particularly for the hares, chickens, fowls and pigs, that utilised as little space as available.
Plus the pigs were dosed with a healthy amount of drugs to dull them, sweetsleep in particular. The drug was rather easy to produce from quite common plants found in warmer climates, so it wasn't hard for the alchemists, now that their work managing the wildfyre on ships is done, to produce more of it.
They were making more of it now in Elamaerys as well, with a second harvest of medicinal plants had been harvested.
Spices, salt, herbs, seeds and fruit seeds, medicinal plants, resins, saplings, jams, dried fruits, grains, steel ingots, tin ingots, copper ingots, brass pots, linen, wool, leather, wax, feathers, ropes, iron tools, iron nails, dyes, caskets of wines and brandy and a hundred other smaller bits had taken up more than a third of the total capacity of the first journey of the two and forty galleons who had each a capacity of about twelve hundred tonnes.
It left less than about a third of the remaining capacity which had been used to carry the first shipments of treasures and people.
A thousand orphans, a thousand veterans, two hundred Unsullied who were fanatically loyal to Aegon and his family, a thousand miners who were all male, a thousand farmhand that were seventy to thirty split favouring men, and a thousand people who were more a sixty forty split that'd function as tutors – having been translators and thus educated to read – artisans, scribes, blacksmiths and jewellers.
Most of these working age people were of Astapori or Yunkai'i heritage and they were on the younger side of things, a more deliberate part for several reasons. Negotiation with the Regency Councillors had permitted him to take more of the younger people who were also 'less skilled'.
They kept the better skilled and the older people – though in reality they were mostly in their late twenties or early thirties and Aegon mildly resented being part of 'older people' classification – especially since they were incorporating more of the peoples who'd worked in the countryside into the city proper.
All of this had also included the veterans' equipment, their horses and armour and sword and other trinkets they'd taken for themselves, and included the armour of their fallen men, who would be brought home to their families.
The rest of the capacity on the galleons had been treasure, namely being about hundreds filled with fifty million gold coins and fifty million silver coins, eighty cases of gems and diamonds and jewellery, fifty cases filled with seven thousand books and texts, and about twenty statues small enough to be taken in this journey.
The second journey, which arrived in Elamaerys at the end of 113 AC, had been similar as the first one though there was a much greater focus in shipping larger livestock, like oxen, cattle, donkeys and goats.
It also included two thousand horses, which consisted of the soldiers' horses and some of the horses that they'd captured from the campaign in Liberty Bay.
All of that took the most of the capacity. The goods, not much changed from what they'd shipped the first time, were reduced but not excessively.
Similarly, they took the same amount of treasure, just shy of another hundred million gold and silver coins, and included the rest of the gems and diamonds and jewellery, and also some statues from Elyria.
The greatest capacity taken had been people.
Two thousand men, of which were three fourths Elamaeri and a quarter Liberty Bay soldiers, who, upon the advice of his commanders he'd agreed to take in, two thousand male labourers of all kinds of skills though these were mostly the artisan or manual labour kind that he'd liberated from the Heel of Essos; two thousand women and another thousand orphans. There were also a hundred Unsullied he'd accepted the request of, having asked to come to Elamaerys to guard his family.
Most of the new people were of mixed Valyrian and Essosi heritage, bearing silver or golden hair and mostly blue eyes, but there was a mix of also Astapori, Yunkai'i and likely some kind of Myrrish or Andalic kind of people.
The third journey, the one that was likely going to be arriving in the next few weeks or so, had the majority of the rest of the gold and treasure they'd taken from their campaigns, about eighty million gold coins and silver coins, which included the bulk of the indemnity from Myr, the majority of the smaller statues taken from Elyria and also Tolos, with the rest being largely goods and people again.
No livestock this time although there were about three thousand horses, which included breeds from Dorne and breeds from the Disputed Lands.
The people took the most of the capacity, with about seven thousand people on board those ships. Another thousand veterans, this time all of them Elamaeri, two thousand male labourers of a mix of Valyrian and Astapori heritage, three thousand women, all of them Valyrian heritage, and another thousand orphans, mostly Naathi and Astapori in heritage.
The fourth journey from Astapor, expected to arrive in Elamaerys at the beginning of 115 AC, which Aegon should be there for and watch depart, would be taking almost solely the rest of the treasure and the bulk of his people.
Six thousand Elamaeri, another thousand male labourers and three thousand women would be on board those galleons with about forty million gold and silver coins.
He was meant to be on this journey, the last journey, however plans had changed as he and Gael had to look hard at their colony.
The winter harvest was not as fruitful as they expected it to be.
Yes, the conditions were decent, but the rainfall was quite low with the temperatures consistently decreasing. And with so much of the colony now dependant on the production of the farms, even a third failing would have significant ramifications. Not enough to starve the colony but enough to cause lean times and that was unacceptable.
So, fortunately, they managed to sort out what they'd need before the second arrival of the galleons had come to Astapor, where, under Keller and his remaining commanders, had stocked it up with large livestock that'd be milked or used to bolster diets in small quantities, and if things worsened, they'd be available for slaughter. Including the horses. He'd also sent Lomerys and Galaenys back to Elamaerys to help keep order if things were to go bad.
Fortunately none of the measures were needed, no crops had failed, at least not in any kind of significance, but it has caused his delay as the third journey was meant to be the second journey and him on the fourth journey instead of the fifth now.
The fifth journey would not depart until mid to late 115 AC, which would carry the last four thousand Elamaeri, leaving about a thousand five hundred behind in Velos with an assortment of Liberty Bay soldiers to help manage the colony for the next few years, and about two thousand more settlers, with the rest of the goods carried largely miscellaneous goods and some copper ingots, now that they'd found a source of iron twenty leagues from Elamaerys city.
In any case, the delay to his return was a bitter one but one they had to take at a time that they could not gamble on the safety of their colony.
"Though first" Aegon said with a much forced cheer in his voice "first I must overcome the storm that awaits me in Kings Landing which, wife, I must admit will likely be almost as bad as my tormented yearning for returning home is."
"Your sense of humour really has grown worse." Gael said with some exasperation in her voice though she caught him by surprise by her next words. "And I wonder if you will be so cheery to return home when you learn, really, how much you are being worshipped, dear husband…or should I say Saint Aegon?" The teasing in her voice really made it clear how much she was enjoying rubbing it in.
"Ugh, Gods, don't remind me. Please." Aegon said as he placed his elbows onto the table and leaned his head against his right hand, a grimace on his face.
It must really be funny from her perspective.
He'd told her plenty about the battles and about some of things he'd done, or had happened to him, but he never really could communicate with her how…how much of an impact he had on people's lives.
And she was seeing it clearly with the arrival of soldiers and other Elamaeri and also the former slaves.
Hearing them speak about his name with worship and awe. Even the Unsullied, the ones that now helped guard his family, were not unaffected by this…phenomena.
He was only gladdened that his younger children were protected from all of this.
His elder sons were a little baffled but still quite accepting of it, and he wasn't quite sure if he should be happy with that or not. His sons always did think too well of him…
"Then stop your complaints masked as jests about our place of birth." Gael said and he virtually hear her eyes rolling.
"Fine, fine." Aegon said with a soft smile breaking through his bearded face. He knew that she wasn't worried, not nearly as much as he was, mostly because they'd talked endlessly about how he was going to approach things.
And with the Velaryons helping him out with this, whom he was going to repay – though not only repaying but also because he likes them a fair bit – Gael was confident that things would turn out fine, that not even his worst concerns, which she called 'ridiculous and macabrely paranoid' could sway away this confidence.
Which was rather ironic – even after he explained, she was not swayed to the point of irrationality – given that Seleyse had her ears finely connected the walls of the Red Keep and if she could get in…then others…
Yes, Aegon was not so sure that things would turn out to be fine.
The wedding was a highly anticipated and known event and many, many, people would be in attendance, including, he heard from Corlys, dignitaries from Braavos and Pentos, and perhaps even from more Free Cities…
Like Myr. Or Tyrosh.
And they'd know that he was coming too.
How easy would it be to pin something on him there? Carry out a replication – pre-replication if that is a word – of Purple Joffrey only with Aegon as the one who is pinned with the murder? Especially with his relationship with Daemon not so unknown, it could be a perfect way to get Daemon to do him in whilst avoiding having to do anything themselves.
And it wasn't exactly a secret that Aegon had a great, great, number of enemies. Including now, more overtly at least, the likes of New Ghis and Qarth with his responses to the assassination attempts quite fiery.
And the Hightowers could be a culprit too, especially since it would be a good way to potentially get rid of all of the threats of a King with Hightower blood and moulded by Hightowers too…
It was a shame he needed to settle face to face with Viserys. Aegon knew that much of Gael's confidence was spawned because of her faith in him but this was another type of conflict and Aegon really wasn't the kind that'd do well in it.
He was not bad, but he certainly was no Godwin of Wessex.
Aegon at least could comfort himself with the prospect of meeting the Velaryons and his old friends in Eldric and Bartimos and of course carrying some other important things too, such as picking up his uncle Vaegon and the gang of people Seleyse wants him to take to Elamaerys.
And also, quite importantly, probably most importantly, try and sort out the last major issue befalling his family…
The matter of appropriate matches.
"Have you thought further about Rhaena's potential matches?" Aegon suddenly asked as he turned his eye towards the glass candle. Out of all of his children, Rhaena was the one he was most worried about.
He didn't want her to be in the quagmire of shit that was Westeros, nor did he want her to become a fucking broodmare for some disgusting Lord, outside of the matter of marrying her out of the family and empowering another House.
And, of course, he wanted her to retain her power as a Dragonlord – Dragonlady sounded wrong – and someone with purpose outside of doing her 'womanly duty'.
And for that to happen, she would have to marry matrilineally. And he was more than happy to do that.
The question…of course, was who was the match?
One with the right blood, who would understand and accept their position as only a consort and whose children would not bear his name?
The pickings were slim. Startlingly so.
There was a moment of silence before Gael replied.
"Aemond would be a good match."
He could hear the neutrality in her voice. She didn't hold a grudge against children but she did not like Alicent. Aemma did not deserve to be replaced by a girl like Alicent, who Gael already had a bad impression of when the girl was seen next to her father with a book in her hands, pretending to be Saerra.
Neither was she impressed by the Hand when he tried to push for Alicent to be allowed to read to the old King, stating that it was Jaehaerys' wish, which was fucking ballsy given how much the old man was suffering from dementia.
Gael, as the 'last' daughter of the old King had more than enough authority to end that line of thinking and Aegon and Aemma had to step in with Viserys broached the topic again during dinner…
"He would be." Aegon agreed. "If it wasn't for everything attached to it."
Aemond, from a critical perspective, was a perfect match for his daughter.
About the same age, has best possible blood outside of his brothers and young Corwyn, wouldn't need to be so concerned about patrilineal or matrilineal matters and, quite importantly too, if he was to foster the boy in Elamaerys, he would raise the boy to become a decent man.
"Yes." Gael said with a sigh. "They would want our backing which we would not give."
"No, we would not." Aegon confirmed firmly.
If things turned out as ugly as he feared it would become, then involving his family and Elamaerys during the war was irresponsible beyond the pale.
Afterwards…when the war was dwindling down to the point that his family would not be trapped into kinslaying…
That was another story.
There was just too many advantages to wait and fix things at the end if Viserys and the others did not heed his warnings.
The problem, of course, was that he would have little means to influence things. But that might just be a blessing to tell the truth.
Letting one self-destruct after doing what you could to help was different than actively pushing one off the ledge…
"And Daemon, and perhaps Rhaenyra too, would see the match as a threat and a kind of betrayal." Gael continued and Aegon hummed.
"Only Daemon." Aegon said in answer.
Unless Rhaenyra truly turned to hate her half-siblings, which did not seem the case from what Seleyse learned from her spies in the Red Keep, Rhaenyra would not care overly much about the match.
In fact, she might even favour it, since it removes one brother.
"Only Daemon might see it as a threat. Though I think I might be able to smooth things over when he realises how much I…dislike Westeros." Aegon said in a more diplomatic way.
Gael snorted lightly. "Not if you keep being so reluctant." Gael sighed a little.
"You can make so many speeches and inspire even the most headstrong and even go toe to toe with a dark sorceress like that Lessela without revealing what you want from her but the moment you're in a more…courtly situation, you make it so much harder on yourself, especially since you know how to do it. You had plenty of allies when you did try, like when you went on the progression with Viserys." There was some exasperation in her voice and he knew what she meant.
He'd lost much of his desires to mould himself into something that'd appeal to Lords and heirs and to their wider family when he'd made the mistake with Gael.
He knew he would have to recover some of that…moulding but he was reluctant at a deep level to do that. Mayhaps it was pride. Mayhaps it was something else but he knew that he was reluctant to play the 'game' in a way that was contrary to him.
Though…given the stakes he'd be playing with, he was working on it.
"I am aware of what I must do, Gael." Aegon said as he eyed the glass candle. "Just as I know how I can deal with Daemon and Viserys." Aegon said without much worry in his voice. "Anyway" Aegon continued with a shake of the head.
"Whom else have you considered since we last spoke?" There weren't truly many more options. Not in Westeros. Other potential matches were in Lys, amongst the surviving noble families there. Particularly the ones who'd gotten aboard the Johanna train without real loss of position or wealth.
There were plenty of them, after all. Johanna had been quite smart in the way she'd preserved the majority of the noble families whilst also neutering them as a threat.
There were three families who they could adequately trace for six to eleven generations, families with dragonlord blood in their bloodlines and that had it confirmed with records and sparse mentions in a number of documents and texts.
There were four more families like that, with adequate evidence, but they were not politically attractive to tie his family to.
So it'd have to be one of the three, and likely not the Rogares, whom he already seriously considering given that they had appropriately aged daughters for Castorys.
"I'm reconsidering Monterys or Gaemon Velaryon."
"I thought you'd dismiss them as too lowly." Aegon mused quietly as he eyed the glass candle intently. Aegon personally preferred one of the two, if he could not have Aemond for Rhaena.
Their station mattered very little, only what they brought to the table. And what they brought was another connection with the Velaryons and the right blood.
Wealth and military alliances meant fuck all to his branch of House Targaryen.
"They are." Gael said with a note of conniption in her voice.
"However you've made it clear that you will only entertain consort matches of the right blood and boys that we can raise amongst us. It doesn't give us choices."
Aegon didn't say anything except hum an agreeable hum.
"Not that I disagree…not after everything we've seen happen." Gael sighed heavily. "I just…I do not like it."
Gael may have grown up under the suffocating shadow of Alysanne, but she did grow up as a Princess and was given the lessons of one.
Marrying a daughter, a Princess for all intents and purposes, to such distant landless branches of House Velaryon was insulting. Even grounds for mockery in the eyes of the Lords and Ladies of Westeros.
"Neither do I." Aegon admitted. "Aemond or Jaehaerys would have been perfect but given the ways things are in Kings Landing, and the high chance they won't want to part with them, not without assurances that we can't give. Will not give."
So that left only two persons in Monterys and Gaemon Velaryon as the most suitable and best aged boys for their Rhaena.
The two boys were six namedays and nine namedays old and were the sons of Aeryn Velaryon, who was the sole son of Victor Velaryon, Corlys' uncle.
He had Seleyse look into the Velaryon family tree, to see if there were any suitable choices – there were a number of branches of the family – and those two boys were the best choice…outside of Viserys' sons and Laena's Corwyn.
Victor Velaryon, just like Corlys' grandfather Corwyn, was a son of Daemon Velaryon, the uncle to Alyssa Velaryon who would become Queen and his ancestor.
And Victor Velaryon had married a daughter from a secondary branch of House Celtigar begetting Aeryn Velaryon, who ended up marrying a woman named Vora Sorrows, a daughter of a unlanded knightly House of Driftmark, who had the clear colourings of a Valyrian.
He'd had Seleyse look closer into this House Sorrows – and what a name that was as well – and she'd discovered that there were some unsubstantiated rumours that the founder of the House was a bastard of Aerion Targaryen.
The Conqueror's father.
There was a chance that it was true, small though it may be.
The First Night was a practice that had been going on – and still was to some extent even if it was officially banned – for millennia and it was a practice that the Targaryens of Dragonstone also partook in.
Orys Baratheon was a result of such an outcome. The only difference being that Aerion had seemingly taking a liking to this particular bastard child.
Fucking Baratheons…
In any case, she couldn't find anything more about them, excepting that there was more concrete evidence that Vora Sorrows' mother was likely a bastard of Corwyn Velaryon, with how the property the mother lived in – alone with her two children – had been a Velaryon property that had been repossessed after her death.
She'd only been a leatherworker in life and unmarried all her life.
Yes, it was likely this woman was a sidepiece of Corwyn Velaryon or at least another Velaryon.
In any case, it meant that the bloodline of Monterys and Gaemon Velaryon were about as good as it gets, outside of Rhaenys' line and Viserys' line, to ensure that there was still traces of dragonlord blood in the spouses of his children.
Well, there was also the Baratheons, the line of Garon Baratheon, brother to Rogar Baratheon and uncle to Boremund Baratheon. The only line outside of the main line that still has male issue.
Garan had a son with a daughter of House Connington, a son named Royce Baratheon who survived the Shivers, and who subsequently had three children.
One daughter and two sons, one named Arstan Baratheon, who is five namedays old, and one named Raymont, seven namedays old.
This Royce Baratheon, rules over a small land in the southern shore of Cape Wrath, his seat in Weeping Town, a town established over two decades ago, a consequence of his marriage with a daughter of House Mertyns, whom he seemingly is close to for his sigil is now one of a white pommel head on a grey background, a homage to the white owl on grey banner.
This was his least preferred option.
Not only was the Valyrian blood diluted to a point that he may as well marry Rhaena to a Lannister, but also he really did not like the Baratheons.
Fucking Baratheons…
"You will try, won't you?" Gael said after a long moment of silence.
"Try and get Aemond?" Aegon asked.
Viserys had hinted at the possibility of restoring bonds of kinship, not only between himself and his two brothers but also between their children.
Viserys wouldn't be the difficult one to convince.
No…
That'd be Alicent Hightower.
And he knew that he'd have his plate full trying to get that woman to concede.
One less son is one less dragon for their side.
It was cold and hard and simple math. And Otto Hightower and the other Hightowers were without aware of that.
Viserys would be swayed by a woman, a mother, pleading with her husband not to send away her son for more than a decade most likely.
"I will try." Aegon said with honesty. And honestly, Aemond wasn't the only one he was considering trying to get for his family. Helaena, though much younger than Castorys, would be a great match for his eldest.
But Aegon was reluctant to make his eldest wait for more than ten years…
Ah…if only Rhaenys had one more daughter…
"I promise you that." Aegon said and soon enough, they continued to talk, their conversation moving from one topic to another, and without even knowing, hours had passed.
Days Later…
Aegon awakened with a sharp climb into consciousness as the carrack moved jerkily upward and rapidly downward, the howl of the storm distantly whistling all around with rain pelting the ship melting into the howling song, and Aegon narrowed his eye at the glass window at the end of his quarters.
The skies were dark and rain were sharp and violent in their pelting, much worse than the earlier storm that they'd sailed into last eve, when he'd decided to take a moment of rest. He must have been more tired than he thought…
A whine below his bed drew his attention and he turned to look at Rex laying there with her eyes quizzically looking at him, a low whine emanating from the back of her throat.
"I know girl…" 'It seems a bit dicey out there…' Aegon thought as he rose from his bed, and he steadied himself against the wall of his chamber as he put boots on the ground, and he quickly walked over to his desk where items, such as books and documents and a little jar filled with little prototype ink-pen gimmicks, had fallen onto the ground.
He misplaced a step as the ship rocked more heavily but quickly recovered as he moved to pick up the items after he'd created a ball of flame to light up his surroundings with how dim the light from the corridor was here. During a moment of more sure footing, he managed to quickly place all of them into the desk drawers and moved towards the bookracks and tightened up the screws of the wooden barrier hinges that prevented the books from falling.
Once he was sure all of his stuff were more or as secured as they were, after giving the old girl a little scratch on the top of the greyhound's head, he walked towards his door, his hands absentmindedly touching his chainmail – which he never has taken off excepting the times that he had need to wash his body with cloth and buckets of soapy water – before he opened the door and walked through it.
"My Prince." The guards, Ser Raevor and Ser Jon dutifully said as they bowed their heads, their hands holding them stead against the walls which had whale oil lamps attached.
These guards always guarded him when he asleep, even aboard the ships. The door itself was perforated a little at chest height, allowing the guards to look into his room when the blinds were closed, which never were when he was asleep.
They had taken it upon themselves to stand watch when he was unable to defend himself. And they weren't the only ones who wished this duty amongst his men…
His encounter with a 'demon', and his subsequent survival from dragon fire, the Myr episode, and of course top of everything before all of that happened, had changed a great many things in the way the men saw him.
Saint was the mildest of exalting words they used to describe him, and it was only growing worse back home as well as men returned home from the war.
It was almost disturbing how unyielding their loyalty and devotion was to him. Even if he was to do something kind macabre blood ritual, he knew that they would chalk it off as something that Aegon needed to do…
He'd vowed to himself that he wouldn't ever abuse their loyalty, not any more than he already was by effectively deifying himself, and his family, in the eyes of his people…
Aegon told them to remain at post and he nodded at them before he left them and walked towards the stairs that'd take him to deck.
He walked past the men in their quarters and then the men the main quarters where the men that warned him off from going above with how turbulent the conditions outside were but he set them at ease that it'll only be a short visit and soon enough, he'd gotten through the rocking ship and arrived at the hatch that led to the main deck.
He had to put in quite a bit of force into opening the hatch and when he did open it, he was greeted by raging winds that tossed rain aside at near parallel to the main deck. He looked around and he saw the men, the sailors, working hard in keeping the sails from taken too much damage.
It was fortunate that they were well away from the Stepstones and from Tarth otherwise, it could have been far more dangerous. As it was, they should be fine coming out of the storm without too much problems, and the men onboard were plenty enough to aid in making the minor repairs.
Aegon gritted his teeth as he clung onto the barriers and climbed up the steps towards the helmsman of the ship.
"MY PRINCE! YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE!" Captain Albin, the captain of this ship, said as rain pelted his straining face as he made his way towards Aegon, clinging onto the barriers as Aegon stepped up the steps.
"THE OTHER SHIPS!" Aegon shouted as he gestured towards the raging seas and the captain understood him.
"WE LOST SIGHT BUT THEY WERE SIGNALLED EARLIER TO KEEP TO BETWEEN NORTH AND NORTH-NORTH-WEST, MY PRINCE!" The captain explained as they both made their way towards where the helmsman was where there was a degree of head cover from the storm.
As they arrived for cover, the helmsman only spared a bare moment of his attention before he looked back towards the front though Aegon's attentions were grabbed when Albin turned fully towards Aegon and further explained "The storm worsened over the course of the past few hours, my Prince, and we lost sight of the other eleven ships not long ago."
"It was wise to signal them to go between." Aegon said as he looked away from the captain and towards the helmsmen who was gripping the helm tightly as he kept an eye on the large compass that was angled on surface atop a kind of dais.
They were in deep of the Narrow Sea, beyond Tarth and about in between Essos and Westeros, the deepest points of the Narrow Sea.
Between North and North-North-West, that'd take them on a trajectory towards the coast of Crackclaw Point, somewhere in between Claw Isle and Dragonstone, and it avoids them from being on a trajectory towards Massey's Hook.
They were still at least five days sail away from reaching Massey's Hook but they were in stormy season and it would not be surprising to encounter another storm only days later.
Keeping to the deep of the Narrow Sea was the best choice to take. The greatest dangers of any storm was travelling to close to coasts, especially if your ships weren't designed to be tanks on water.
Aegon remained on at helmsman deck for a little while longer, watching on as the ship rocked and bobbed onto ripples of violent waters, the rush of water crashing against the hull and the dim sounds of the sailors shouting a distant as he simply watched on.
Aegon glanced at the dark clouds, a brief moment of lightning caught by his eye, and Aegon awaited and listened for the arrival of the thunder, a thunder that came almost a full ten seconds later.
Aegon looked away and back towards the main deck, watching as his men, in all of their soft glowing glory which he no difficulty in seeing despite the pelting rain, did their best to keep the ship running and he was struck by a stray thought as he looked back towards the open raging sea.
He was reminded of something he'd read from an ancient book from the collection of Elyria he'd finished two moons ago. It was one of the many selections of texts and books he'd kept with him in Astapor. His scholars helpfully labelled and identified as something of interest to Aegon, and generally speaking it had been, for it gave a window of life of a typical Valyrian in the Empire's early days.
Though, today, he was drawn to remember a small almost insignificant paragraph that spoke of a Storm God worshipped by a people named Horodi'i, who once called the lands south of the Bay of Pentos home.
A part that they were not sailing that far off from.
The people had lived there long before there was a Pentos, and long before there was a Volantis. If he had to guess, then he'd guess that the book had been written not long after conquest of the Ghiscari Empire, with how focused the writer had been about how the Dragonlords should have cleansed their Ghicari taint from the doorstop of mother Valyria…
And this was a writer who had largely written a kind of anthology of Elyrian history till that point, the glory of his army general ancestor whom he so nobly descended from, and, oddly, a collection of random topics including how to raise a particular 'golden' feathered breed of songbirds into obedience which apparently was a very popular pet to have in the mainland of Valyria…
And it was almost disturbing how eerily similar the writer's notion of a Ghiscari taint was to that of Aegon's…
In any case…
Amongst all of that, there was a curious section during his writing about the slave markets of Tolos, about the kinds of peoples that populated Essos at that time, and amongst the names of peoples he used, some of them which the writer frustratingly never gave any context or description to, had been a people he'd named as the Horodi'i, who the writer had described as 'a people fair-haired, short and stocky of build found in the lands of the southern marshes below the crescent bay', and whom the writer had also offhandedly described as 'the right stock for hard labour' at the end of the entry…
The most interesting point though, of course, had been his description of the words to their songs of lamentations to their Storm God.
The writer described the whole affair 'as amusing as a spoiled child's desperation with how they howl a call upon their God, the one they name Stormbringer, and to whom they sing a call to bring the storms and drown them all like the God had done before to a people named the Dalros' .
And, as Aegon gazed upon the fury of the storm, he couldn't help but think back about this Stormbringer, and what its nature was, if it had ever been real.
As much as he hated to think about it, these entities, the lot that he'd felt in that astral plane, were likely powerful enough to affect the reality of the world in such a fashion.
The question though becomes had this world seen such power manifested? Given the kinds tales that exist of the Gemstone Emperors and the Bloodstone Emperor in particularly, he was not as doubtful as he wanted to be.
Aegon shook his head and he pushed himself out of his pensive thoughts and he glanced towards the captain who was standing by the helmsman, speaking of something into the man's ear.
Aegon called out to the two men, telling them that he was returning back towards the lower decks, and soon enough he made his down the steps towards the hatch, and, as he stepped down the steps and began to walk back towards his quarters, he couldn't help himself but fall back on his earlier thoughts.
If the stories were real, and that there did exist people who may as well become as good as so-called 'gods' of a kind…what did it take for them to get to that point?
Those Gems that he'd felt in that astral plane, they were beyond human, and yet…there was a decent chance that they had once been human.
And importantly, they had not felt as foul as the Toadstone, marking it possible that whatever they did not twist their Being into something abominable.
How? Why? When?
What did they do to become what they were? Was it perhaps, such in this case of this Stormbringer, a kind of linear progression? Human with 'magic, to becoming a human with 'great magic', to becoming an entity like those Gems?
"Let none disturb me for until it is time to break the morn fast." Aegon said to his guards as Aegon got to his quarters. He received their compliance and after he closed the door, he also closed the binds to the perforated door before he went over to the cabinet.
He took out a breadroll from last night, a wineskin of water and a wooden bowl, and Aegon bent down in front of the old girl, who had begun to rub her head affectionately against his leg, earning her a gentle scratch behind the ear, and he poured out the water from the wineskin into the bowl.
"You'll have to wait a little longer before we can eat, old girl." Aegon said to the greyhound who had begun to drink from the bowl.
Aegon stood back up and made his way towards his desk and he sat behind it in his seat. He unlocked the desk drawer, taking out a book and a blackened stone, and sat back in his chair as he rolled the blackened stone in the palm of his left hand, a pensive look on his face.
Aegon lit a flame at the centre of his palm that had its centre the blackened stone, and Aegon, with an absent mind as he continued on his thoughts, increased the temperature of his fire in his palm.
Or perhaps it was something far more simple…more worldly.
It could have been that this Stormbringer had been some kind of wandering Rhoynar, a powerful one perhaps, who had been sympathetic to these Horodi'i, and called upon his, or hers, power of water magic and all of its connections to the storm, and washed these enemies of the Horodi'i, with the ignorant people deifying someone they did not understand.
Like how his people were deifying Aegon.
And, perhaps, this was a similar Rhoynar origin to this Elenei, the Goddess of the Wind that the mythical founder of House Durrandon had supposedly married.
Perhaps he was putting too much thought on it. Humans loved stories. And loved exaggerating stories, especially stories that were important to them personally.
The ancient gods of his Earth had been more or less stories to explain how the world worked, with storm gods and sun gods and moon gods and the like forming a basis of how the universe worked in the eyes of those people.
People were like that, seeking – or making – answers to make sense of things.
This Stormbringer could just be same, a figment of imagination, created to explain the world. Just as Elenei could have a been figment, or at most a normal woman but immortalised through history, accidentally or on purpose, as a goddess.
But still…he couldn't help but wonder, with all that he's learnt personally.
Aegon thought as he glanced towards his palm, where the flame now was subsumed within the hovering molten stone, and he closed his fist, the glowing red-white hot molten stone now floating above his fist.
Aegon swept his fingers on his right hand around, forcing the molten stone rotate about its axis, his eye intently studying the molten stone.
It forced him to see stories differently.
He'd always had that perspective, ever since he'd reincarnated in this world, but his recent 'exploits', and his experiences, forced him to see it all with more clarity.
Aegon sighed as he closed his eye momentarily, and, after a few moments, he reopened them and killed the inner flame within the stone, absorbing what was given, back into himself, and Aegon quickly opened up his left hand again to catch the now blackened and cold stone.
"Play time's over. Time to read again." Aegon muttered to himself.
With his strategies settled for dealing with Kings Landing, his brothers, and the number of dangerous possibilities that'd be made present during his stay and during the wedding, he had nought but time on this journey to read in between his calls with his family and the occasional calls with Seleyss in King's Landing, Lorgan in Astapor and Baerros in Lys.
He put the blackened stone back into his drawer and he sat back in his chair and created a small ball of flame, no larger than a small silver coin but enough to provide light for reading, and he took hold of the centuries old book. It was by a traveller who'd, amongst other things, written about his accounts about the strange and dangerous peoples of Mossovy, a land far to the east and north of Essos.
It was the best account he'd read about the lands and the different peoples that far and unknown to much this side of the Bone Mountains.
Though one had to look at the descriptions of these Mossovy peoples with a pinch of salt, especially given the boasts and far-fetched descriptions the traveller had made about being hosted like an honoured archon by the ruling Prince of Jin Qi.
Descriptions like 'a people with pale skin so thin one could see the blood course their blue veins' and 'a tall green skinned people with brighter red hair than the waters of the Bleeding Sea and who possessed ugly black eyes the size of the smallest of pearls'.
This was also a man who described the Yi-Tish as 'a rich people unfortunate to be weak of body and possessing of weak eyes'…
Yes, not exactly the best person to learn from but this traveller's account of Mossovy was one of few books that contained anything about that far northeast, and it was the only account that had any mention about a city, other than Nefer, that far northeast.
The city of Vorosyk, a crumbling city surrounded by dead lands and a place the traveller described as 'haunted with ghosts and ill-intentioned spirits' that was still populated by a number of different peoples who the traveller had observed to have strange traditions and habits that peaked Aegon's curiosities.
One always learnt about a people through their traditions and culture…
Later…
The storm had abated hours later, well into the mid afternoon that day, and it had taken them several days to meet up with the rest of the fleet of twelve ships, whom all had sported some amount of damage but nothing particularly limiting.
Which was good, as they were already two days, at the least, behind schedule, which was admittedly a small delay given the context of an average three moons' journey from Astapor to Driftmark, but in any case, Aegon didn't particularly mind the delay for it would reduce the amount of time he'd spend in Westeros.
He only hoped the Velaryons kept their promise and wouldn't make for Kings Landing until after his arrival…
The routines of his days were all but the same as they continued their sail towards Driftmark. Wake up, check in with Mīsaragorn through their bond, exercise his body and at times with the sword, read, spend some time with the crew and his men, revisit his plans during his stay at Westeros, speak with Seleyse or Lorgan occasionally, and speak with his family on a daily basis almost.
In all honesty, it differed very little from his normal routines since his war with Myr had ended.
The only differences being, when he wasn't hunting Dothraki causing him learn how to better his manipulation of spiritual energy and learnt how to store life-force energy in gemstones, or wasn't sending messages like when he flew to Qarth and burned down the known Assassin's Guild building for the Sorrowful Men or his message to New Ghis when he'd burned down the palace of Razhan zo Hizha, the man who sent the Sorrowful Men after him, was that he was less involved with everything even with though he could be with his glass candles.
From preparation of goods and people for the journey to Elamaerys, to being involved in matters between the city states of Liberty Bay and Braavos and Lys and from being involved in the running of the Liberty Bay cities themselves from legislative or legal perspectives.
Not that he was too involved in his return from Myr.
Advice was sought out from him by the Regency Councillors, yes, but ultimately, they had accustomed to their roles of leading and representing their cities. The teachings he and his legal and philosophy scholars had imparted on them had been used and expanded to fit into the cities they'd grown to rule over.
Expansion that included regulations that protected the rights of property and assets of both the individual and that of the assets within the borders of the city states, which had grown from the need to protect sources of income for the city and the people with how Braavos had grown more intent to invest within the region.
And the Councillors weren't just dealing with immediate problems or concerns either, not with how they were investing in training and maintaining a standing army of five thousand strong, to begin with, trained up by Unsullied and by gladiators who'd taken up the well paid offers from the Councillors.
The Dothraki Khalasar that his army, the Unsullied and the men Meereen had raised and had fought off was a warning to all of the cities, especially Meereen.
His own hunting of the Dothraki helped send a message that Aegon and his men wouldn't always be here to save them and so, the people were in full support of their taxes – a new concept anyway for them though it fitted well with the idea of 'common good' that most slaves had always had a strong leaning to – being used to maintain a standing army and investment in infrastructure and civil institutions, like the recent expansion of the bureaucracy at the harbour and ports, which was how the Regency Councillors were selling the increase in taxes.
Yes, they were doing very well, especially with how they were also preparing their successors adequately, taking heed of his lessons not to be senselessly possessive of power to the detriment to yourself and to those you were responsible for.
He was rather proud of them, even if he was leery at how they were ignoring the growing presence of the Red Faith in the cities. He really would have liked them to deal with the fanatics but he understood why they really didn't want to…
As part of his…unofficial duties as 'hero' and 'champion' of the people of Liberty Bay, he was often flying to one city or town or another, and do a bit of public speaking or public appearance at the behest of the Regency Councillors who wanted to make use of his 'soft power'.
It was rather ironic that they were using some of his teachings against him to get him to help with difficult groups of people to do what the Councillors wanted…
In any case, he could see the steady rise of the Red Faith within the cities, like he'd seen on Kaerell's paintings all those years ago, and he saw as well how they using him to get more followers of their faith.
Like his own people, the Red Priests were creating an image of a Saint of him in the eyes of the people of Liberty Bay, and he couldn't exactly oppose it, as much as he wanted to.
'Oh, I am not a saint, I'm only a man, do not believe them, they are crazy fanatics, persecute them' were the kinds of things that he'd like to say but he knew that'd only create a dangerous situation that Aegon wouldn't even be present to deal with.
And then the point that the Red Faith would be an ally against the Long Night…
So yes, he had to suck it up and keep his lips closed and pretend that he was seeing nothing instead of going on a path that could inspire a great deal of unrest and an enemy of the Red Faith who could be troublesome enough to be a serious threat to everything he wanted in the future for Elamaerys and Liberty Bay, even if he did believe that he could bend the future to disobey the fate, like what Kaerell had painted about the Red Faith, the world seemed to remember was to be.
And after having talked with a man named Jaerros, tattooed with black and red flames on his face and whom was undoubtedly an important man in the Red Faith, even if he gave pretence of being a humble monk, that thinking had only been solidified.
What a bastard that man was, smiling at him as he declared Aegon a true champion of R'hllor, and clearly insinuating that Aegon was an ancestor of Azor Ahai. Bastard. He truly wanted to run his sword through him…
It only increased his desires to ensure that the Elamaeri denomination of the Faith of the Seven was going to be within the very bedrocks of Elamaeri society.
And he'd have to make sure he'd invent some kind of device that'd knock some sense into his descendants when the fanatics reared their ugly heads…
It was not all doom and gloom though, when it came to the Red Faith.
Volantis, whom had not reacted in any way he expected them to, almost as if they were being politically neutered, and he could point a finger only to one culprit. The Volantene did not have the sense not to react to what he's been doing.
At the very least, he would have expected aggressive moves, either by approaching a troubled and angry Myr with promises of milk and honey, or by making aggressive moves to their east, towards Mantarys.
Instead, the Old Blood were eerily silent in their actions, with Volantis operating as if nothing had happened over the past few years.
When he'd asked Jaerros, the man had evaded his line of questioning, only saying that their Lord had spoken and that Volantis was listening, phrasing that had made him increasingly wary about what the Red Priests were doing.
It was another reason why he was intent on letting this go and take as many of the transplanted people in Velos as he could now rather than later, who were rather isolated from the rest of the Liberty Bay for the most part.
Plus, Velos was also where a significant portion of his remaining army and people were, many of whom had taken upon them to teach the peoples of the Disputed Lands the Faith of the Seven, something Aegon had encouraged.
The days continued to repeat, routine after routine, the only break in true monotony being that of seeing land through the eyes of Mīsaragorn, who now had taken to hunt in Massey's Hook as he waited impatience for the ships to arrive at Driftmark, and soon enough it became that time, when they saw the familiar Westerosi designed ships passing them by, including ships with sails with the Seahorse.
And it was not long before they saw land and saw the familiar port of Driftmark.
And, as Aegon climbed down onto the pier, his eye latched onto the familiar sight of Corlys, Rhaenys and a grown Laena and her husband, Aegon allowed a small smile to grow on his face, one that grew slightly when he smelled familiar meld of seafood and stews that the food stalls by the piers were famous for.
Aegon ignored the curious eyes that were on him, and continued to ignore it when they started to realise who he was as Aegon walked towards the Velaryons with his guards at his back, his smile falling as he dropped into his familiar routine when he saw Corlys walking to meet him half way with his own sets of guards.
Idly, Aegon mused that Corlys must have had the harbourmasters inform him immediately when ships bearing Aegon's, or rather his branch of House Targaryen's sigil, a draconic circle with eight dragon heads, his musings stopping when he stopped in front of Corlys.
"Prince Aegon of Elamaerys." Corlys officiously said with a light incline of the head. "Welcome to Driftmark." Corlys said as he gestured towards a guard who had a small plate of bread and salt.
Aegon took the bread as he ignored the wide eyed stare at his face from the guard and he drowned out the scream in his head about trusting food offered in a place not of your control, and dipped it in the salt before he took a light bite of the bread.
"Lord Corlys, I thank you for your welcome and your guest right." Aegon said as officiously as Corlys and the man smiled lightly before he gruntingly nodded as gestured Aegon forward.
"Come, my old friend." Corlys said with a charming smile. "Laena has been looking forward seeing you again for moons!"
Aegon allowed himself a show a small smile. He'd liked Laena. A fiery little girl who'd had strong opinions, even if she did not share them.
Aegon arrived by the other three Velaryons, and he noted the surprise on the two young married couple at the scars on his face, and he ignored them as he smiled warmly at them before he looked towards Rhaenys whom had stepped forward.
"Cousin." Rhaenys said as she warmly embraced him.
"Cousin. It is good to see you again." Aegon said as they parted and then Aegon turned to look towards the two young people.
"Ser Daeron now isn't it?" Aegon said with a curious note to his voice. He'd met the young man – and Daemion, his brother – many years and seen him a few times before his departure from Westeros.
"Aye, my Prince." Ser Daeron said with a serious and stiff nod. "I was knighted a few years into the war in the Stepstones."
Aegon nodded slightly at the man before he turned to look towards Laena, whom he allowed a small smile to creep through his bearded face.
"Lady Laena. You've grown beautiful. As beautiful as your mother."
Laena curtsied at him and he noticed a small bump on her belly, though he did not dwell on it when she spoke. "Welcome, Prince Aegon. I am glad to see you again after so many years." It was very formal, the way she spoke.
Aegon decided then that he'd set the tone for this particular…reunion.
"I am glad too, though, I expect I look rather different from the last time you'd seen me. A few more scars and the loss of a rather nice eye." Aegon said with a thin smile and it caught most of the people around them by surprise that he'd so openly talk about his…rather grim scars.
She took a few steps closer to him and she frowned at him though he could tell that she was trying hard to maintain it. "Hmm. I think it suits you well." Laena then smiled a little teasingly. "A warrior prince ought to have a few scars and you were always a bit too pretty with that emerald eye of yours, Uncle."
"Laena." Rhaenys warned exasperatedly but Aegon would have none of it as he smiled a little wider.
"It is alright, cousin." Aegon said with a chuckle in his voice. "Little Laena is quite right in her assessment that my scars suit me better. Especially since I have to scare quite a few people into doing what I want, which is a lot easier now." Aegon said as he eyed Laena in a particular way. Not his most hateful or threatening but enough to make people nervous. "Though I doubt I can easily scare the one who tamed Vhagar."
"You're right on that uncle." Laena said with a defiant raise of the chin and they both stared at each other for a long few moments before Aegon cracked a smile and Laena in turn drew a wide beautiful smile and soon enough they embraced.
"I am glad to see you so well, Little Laena. I will look forward to seeing your brother too." Aegon said as they parted.
"We have had the maester send a raven to the Eyrie. He'll soon be here." Laena said with a smile, a smile that soon faded. "It is a shame that aunt Gael isn't here." She then looked at him keenly. "Or your children."
"One day you'll meet them again." Aegon promised. Many, many years from now.
Or, if possible, he'd have Laena, and Laenor if he wants to, along with their parents, come visit Elamaerys.
"I would like that." Laena said and soon enough, they all made they way towards the castle of Driftmark and Aegon was surprised to feel himself to be as at ease as he was in that moment in time.
He only really felt like that, ever since he'd departed Elamaerys, when he was on Mīsaragorn.
And, Aegon, even as they talked, grew unsettled with this feeling. It was a false feeling. A dangerous feeling.
He knew the Velaryons would not betray him but he was still in Westeros.
A place that was not a home and not welcome to him.
And Aegon would do well to remember that.