The Tartered Dragon - Aegon, Son of Baelon

by mootjeman7

An man from our world is reborn in the world of ASOIAF and decides to make the best out of it through adventure yet it never is that easy, even for a third prince. OC-SI - Overlaps with HOTD.

43. Chapter 41

EndlessUnknown - Definitely not. Elamaerys is like a third of Westeros which is like 3-4 million square miles in area.

Tony McNucklz - Good spot. Lol.

SilentPower98 - Thanks for your review. There's about...ten to thirteen more chaps left I think. Not sure yet. But yeah, we're getting near to the end.

RandoMando47 - Part of the reason why the SI(s) have great stewardships is because they are 'selected' for it specifically. In this story, Aegon has a fair bit of protection from supernatural stuff, at least in the beginning. Any premise of rebirth with full memory definitely has to have that, I think. Especially in a world like ASOIAF.

Yeah, the Gael Arc wasn't the best but I do have the defense that I was changed it on the quick! Like seriously, I had to refashion a lot of the story because of that.

The Targaryen Islands will probably be more of a major port place like Gibraltar or even Singapore if I'm honest. But that'd be over centuries I think. Presently, it'll be quite bare and a fort basically.

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Everyone Else, Thank you for your reviews and comments, I always read them even if I don't respond to them.

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

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Late 115 AC – Elamaerys, the Judicial and Arbitration Courts Building

Gael POV

The crowd of tens of thousands that stood waiting in front of the specially constructed podium became quiet as Aegon walked up to the front.

"Oh, they became quiet." A sweet whisper from a young voice made Gael look beside her. Standing right at her left hip was Maegelle, who was staring out at the crowd with wide and fascinated eyes in a face full of curiosity, making Gael smile a little.

It had only been five and twenty days but her four nameday old niece had grown accustomed to their family. For the most part.

She was still widely attached to her husband, always seeking her husband out whenever he was home and in truth, the attachment she could tell was reciprocated by her husband, who had told her that Maegelle had helped him as much as Rex had in the year of peace on Velos, but she was opening to Gael and unsurprisingly Breannei, who was very much interested in her sister by blood.

Gael thought about saying something but she'd decided to hold her tongue, to let the young girl take in the experience, and Gael looked away to look at her children, who stood beside her as well with her eldest sons on the other side of Maegelle, with her daughters and Solonys on her right, before she looked towards the crowd. This was her first time out in the wider public in such a public way.

By now, the public knew about Maegelle, and the relationship she had with their family. And the circumstances of her birth, which Aegon had seen addressed under law, under royal writ and under religious exception before the ceremony that saw the creation of the Archonate of Elamaerys, the Council of Dragonlords and the chartering of the Articles of the Royal House of Targaryen, amongst other creations.

Gael looked across from the podium, towards where the group of men stood.

Edwyn Hestastis, Grand Scholar and now Chief Advisor to the Council of Dragonlords, Dorlund Vasrietālion, Arch Alchemist and Advisor, Aeloran Gyreon, Chief of the Legislative Assembly and Advisor, Visevor Rahlaeris, Head of the Civil Service and Public Works and Advisor, Lord Bryce Arenter, Head of the Admiralty and Head of the soon-to-be-built Naval School, Lord Maerro Calnaereon, Third Commander of the Elamaeri Army and Head of the soon-to-be-built Military Academy, Lord Galaenys Qarqaris, Second Commander of the Elamaeri Army, Count Aethan Celtigar, Fourth Commander of the Army and Advisor, Ser Cedrick Leodon, Chief Constable of the City-Guard, Lorgan Keller, Grand Scholar and Chief Judge of the Judicial Courts, Bodrin Landswright, Head of the Farmer's Guild and Advisor, Banneth Stally, Head of the Shipbuilder's Guild, Grey Haran, the Unsullied Commander, and of course, the person of interest, the High Septon of Elamaerys, High Septon Aurion.

The former Lysene slave, who had cast away his 'slave name', was nearing forty namedays of age, with his long white beard, wearing a long, white robes where, at the centre of his robes, where his heart lies, was there seven stars weaved of red, orange, green, blue, yellow indigo and violet, and the man cut an austere figure.

There were many in Elamaerys who had risen high, in position, and in both hers and Aegon's esteem and in the esteem of their people, but the Septon's rise would likely have the most lasting impact for generations to come, she thought to herself.

Aurion had taken to the Faith of the Seven like a babe to its mother, his hatred of slavery having open his heart to the swaying words of the Seven-Pointed-Star, and combined with the fervour he held for her and her family, those who he saw as his saviours from a life of indignity, his own words, the man had become the very means to push the Faith in a direction that her husband was recalcitrant to push any further than he was, or had been, doing.

Aegon's stories, particularly the creation story her husband told their children, the story of the One who breathed life into the Seven Aspects and the world through his mind and song, and using Divine Fire, breathed life into the world, has grown as the fundamental root of their Faith, an accidental misunderstanding made deliberate and doctrine after the time of the unrest between the Sect headed by Aurion and the Traditionalists, which had been when Aegon began to quietly utilise the fervent loyalty and the talents of Aurion, talent of charm and talent of making people listen, to push on this new root of the Faith.

A root that included their family as established to being the 'chosen' family the One and the Seven, where their family were 'granted a sliver of the Divine Fire', to use their gift and guide the 'chosen' people to live in the Promised Land and live in the 'right' way, as ordained by the Gods.

This way of thinking had been championed by the Septon Aurion, and under his leadership, the majority of the people of Elamaerys, particularly the new arrivals, had taken to this Sect of the Faith of the Seven, and she didn't think it would be long before the rest of their people adhered to this and the revised Seven-Pointed-Star Aegon and the Septon created.

Gael studied the expression on the High Septon's face, who looked at her husband with that familiar intensity and fervour he was known for.

The new Seven-Pointed-Star was written in High Valyrian and revised to include the position her family held in the eyes of the One and the Seven and included the new doctrines established by the High Septon and his disciples, which were supported by her husband, even if he had appeared or sounded disgruntled with it with her in private.

She knew her husband and she knew that for all of his disgruntlement, Aegon saw the adoption of the revised Faith to be more in line with their people, who were Valyrian and distinctly different in their culture and in their way of life from the Andals for whom the old Seven-Pointed-Star had been written for, and he saw it necessary to secure the safety of their family, and worked to do so.

Gael had her wariness and her reservations about the extent of which the Faith was being…changed, given her having been raised under the tutelages of Septas and still believed in their Gods, despite the doubt Aegon inspired in her with his experiences with cruel and evil Pretenders that haunted their family, but she also grew to understand the necessity of adjusting the interpretations over the years.

She did not believe her family was chosen, not necessarily, but she did believe her family were the best suited to guide and protect their chosen people.

It was their family that saw to the selection and liberation of their people.

It was their family that saw to the discovery of Elamaerys and it was their family that championed to this new way of life based on community and piety, which would see none of their people starve, or be subject at the cruel whims of lords as commonfolk were in Westeros or subject to the whims of malicious cruelty as commonfolk were in Essos.

Gael accepted that this change would do far more good than it would do evil and she thought the Gods would see this, see their changes that upheld the intent and commands of the Gods. That was her hope, at the very least.

A silent thought entered her mind as she looked away from the High Septon and towards Aegon, who was about to start, on how her father would have been proud at what she and Aegon had accomplished, especially with regards to the Faith.

Her father had worked hard to reconcile with the Faith, which had led to the Doctrine of Exceptionalism, and now…now their family would see itself tied into the root of the Elamaeri Faith, and now fully protected under Law and in Faith.

"People of Elamaerys." Aegon began, his voice raised as he yearned to make sure his voice was heard to the farthest person in the tens of thousands of strong crowd, and Gael focused on her husband's voice as the crowd quietened down, and she felt as if she could feel the rising curious anticipation of the crow.

Perhaps she could truly feel the anticipation. This was the fourth time a general assembly of Elamaerys – a reference that was coined after the second assembly for the Internment Ceremony at the Hall of Heroes – was called.

She looked towards the first rows of the crowd, whom she could see look upon her husband with eyes of interest and attentiveness.

Aegon's return has been…

As expected, Gael decided to use.

His welcome back meeting had only been the very surface of the excitement and adoration their people held for her husband and all of that had only been strengthened even further after the Interment Ceremony.

Two thousand, one hundred and six and thirty men had died during the 'War against the Slavers', and all of these men had been honoured by her husband during the Ceremony.

Aegon had, one by one, called upon each of the names of the fallen dead and each time, someone of their families or their friends if they had died without wife and issue, would come forth and hand over the urn to Aegon.

Aegon, reciting from the 'Ledger of Chivalry and Honour' which documented the deeds of the fallen men, talked about when they had fallen and what their sacrifice brought the people of Elamaerys and of the people of Liberty Bay before he'd speak of their specific deeds, such as saving the lives of their fellow Elamaeri or saving the lives of the former slaves.

High Septon Aurion would then consecrate their urns before they were moved inside of the Hall of Heroes and emplaced on their spot on a named shelf on one of the seven-sided marble obelisks and their families or their friends were given a Elamaeri Steel Medallion with the name of the fallen, to remember the great deeds of their kin or friends, and to remember that they were not forgotten by Elamaerys.

Aegon had done this two thousand, one hundred and six and thirty times, and each time, Aegon would speak of when they'd fallen and what their deeds were and there was not a single man or woman or child that had broken the austere silence and mourning of the ceremony, the only times that they had been broken had been when mothers or fathers or wives, who had come forth with the urns to hand over, tearfully thanked Aegon for the honour their kin had been given by him directly.

Aegon had earned an immense amount of appreciation especially as no ashes of anyone was left behind during the war, and she was quietly informed by a few of her servant girls, who generally brought her information about the general feelings by the commonfolk, that many spoke about how this was further proof that her husband was truly the Gods' representation in the world with how he represented all of their virtues, a phrase that was made popular by the Septon Aurion and his disciples, who were effectively the only Septons in Elamaerys.

The last assembly, the one before this one which had formally created the Archonate and gave out awards, deeds and titles, had only increased that appreciation as Aegon honoured thousands of men, who had worked here in Elamaerys and those who had fought with him, which she could tell had helped during Aegon's discussions with groups of men and Guilds on his ideas and plans.

She looked at the side of her husband's face. Since the days of Dragonstone, her husband was capable of earning the love of people with remarkable ease and, as Aegon would say with a mirthless expression, ' with feigned genuineness'.

At times, she wondered if he truly believed that this of himself, that he feigned genuineness when in reality it was clear he deeply cared for their people.

Yes, Aegon truly blurred the line of scheming, such as the way he used people's appreciation and adoration so that his current and future plans would be accepted, such as his 'dripfeed' economic and pension plan with regards to the coin owed to their people, and with that of being the person their people believed him to be, like the way he went above and beyond for childless widows of the fallen, whom he ensured received the earnings of their husbands.

But Aegon was simultaneously that person, who took but always gave more than he took. And ultimately, Gael thought Aegon was too cruel to himself, especially since fewer people in the Known World would give the protections, privileges and prosperity her family were granting to their people and the price their people were paying for it was far less than they were receiving.

And she thought, as Aegon began to speak, nothing better exemplified all of this than today, the day that Aegon would see the Constitution of Elamaerys ratified.

"More than two and ten years ago" Aegon said, a momentary pause in his speaking before he continued "for some of you in the crowd, I stood like this on Dragonstone in your halls and in your taverns and on the shipyards, speaking to you about my Seven Blessed visions of a holy land and promising you a life of greater prosperity and opportunities for you and your families and you chose to trust in my promise and my vision from the Gods.

We temporarily settled lands, good fertile lands but lands untouched, and this became Corinth but only thanks to the fruits of our labour. We built our homes, we built our farms, we built our businesses and we built our ships. We grew wealthier and more prosperous as a people and each son and daughter was granted every opportunity they wished for.

We grew to form the beginnings of a new people with a new way of life, a way that sees us living the lives the Gods intended for us to live, a way of life that sees us grow and learn and become more than what we were yesterday, together.

And we have lived to our potential as a new people.

We have grown more numerous as I and my wife wished to free men and women and children from the abhorrence of slavery and take them in and these freed people were welcomed amongst us, amongst you.

You welcomed them into your homes, into your lives, into your families, embracing all of the great virtues of the Seven themselves." Aegon said, and she could hear the smile in his raised voice.

"Fewer times have I been more proud of anything than in those moments, when I saw the goodness that exists in all men and women flourish in your hearts." Aegon said and Gael saw a wave of people standing a little taller in her husband's praise.

Aegon continued.

"These new people and children took to our welcome and our Gods and our way of life admirably and nobly in short order, and became an integral part of our people, eating meals beside us, working beside us, and fighting our enemies beside us, showing us all that the Gods favour our people and our mission in ways they have not done since the time of the prophet Allard thousands of years ago.

No more was there Westerosi or Essosi.

There was only the People of Corinth." Aegon said as he gestured towards the crowd whose combined murmurs sounded approving, murmurs that quieted once more as Aegon began to speak again.

"And our people have continued to grow over the years as the lands of my visions from the Gods, a Piece of the Seven Heavens themselves, was found and continued to grow as the first of our people placed their boots on this holy land.

And we shall continue to grow as a people for we shall go be fruitful and spread across these lands and in time, also share the bounty of these holy lands to those who embrace our Gods and those who embrace our People and our way of life, who shall be welcomed into our lives and into our families as has been done before by our People." Aegon paused for a moment before he continued.

"Yet this remembrance is not why I am here, today, speaking to you all.

No, I am here to tell you that though these lands are holy, they are still just lands.

The promise of Elamaerys was never just about the land nor do I believe the Gods sent me these visions just to settle these lands.

No, the promise of Elamaerys was also about the People. You. All of you.

'For the body does not consist of one member but of many.'. The Gods tell us that combined, as a part of the many, we are stronger, and if one member suffers, we all suffer together, and if one of us dies in vain, we grow weaker for it.

I believe that this passage from God and his Seven Aspects is part of what God and the Seven wanted me to understand when they showed me the visions to find Elamaerys, why they have chosen me and my family as the Shepherds of our People, and why we found Elamaerys years after we settled in Corinth, for they wished me and my family to help our people grow into this new way of life, as ordained." Aegon said before he raised his hand and clenched his fist.

Gael glanced over to her eldest sons and she saw them attentively listen to her husband's words. They knew this was coming.

Aegon had spoken to them about this and the Articles of their House throughout the past year especially since his return, amongst other things, and they knew the truth behind their father's words, now and in the future.

That they were exceptional, yes, but that exceptionalism only came from carrying out the duty they hold to their people, no matter if Aegon finally acknowledged the interpretation many people believed about the Gods, and the rest they believed about their family.

Aegon had shied away from directly acknowledging himself and their family of the attribution of the 'divine' nature of their family for a long time, obfuscating and leading their people on with the smallest of information, such as that of the visions, were untrue, but with how important the Faith was to their people, who believed they too were chosen by the Gods, Aegon believed it necessary to use their belief for their people's and their descendants' benefit.

To make it easier for them, everyone, accept the new way of life, the principles, of their people that Aegon was obsessed about making sure would endure for all time.

Aegon continued, his hand opening and he outstretched his fingers.

"That just as any of us are incomplete as a sole member without the rest of our People, the many, these lands are also incomplete, that these Lands only form one Member of a Whole, and that it is incomplete without the People, all of you and me and my family, and that the Promise of Elamaerys, a Piece of the Seven Heavens, is incomplete until the Chosen People are brought in full Union with the Lands and the Promise.

And that is why I am here today." Aegon paused as he changed his posture and stood a little taller and Gael took the moment in the pause to glance at the crowd.

She was not surprised to see the crowd quietly riveted to her husband's…sermon.

Most of the crowd, anyway, she mused as she eyed the contingent of branch members of the Narrow Sea nobility, women and children and boys yet to be men, who all stood at the left side of the front, very near to her husband.

They were unused to being in a land so bereft of 'comfort', and it showed, and then there was of course their repressed anger and fear at the 'heresies' that were openly said about the Gods, which Gael knew was going to be long term problem.

They were careful, of course, in expressing their unhappiness, but you did not need to know their thoughts from the words of their mouths.

For now, both she and Aegon were content to give them time and allowances to get used to the new order of things, and the new Faith, with their children given rare honours so as to help foster loyalty to her children, but hers and Aegon's patience would not last forever…nor would they allow a scorpion to enter their bed.

Aegon took out the Constitution scroll, a document he'd worked on for years with her, Edwyn and Lorgan, and began to read out from it.

"Know that before God and the Seven, for the health of our Soul and for those who have come before us and those who shall come after us, to uphold the Honour and Command of God and the Seven, to make the Union of the People and the Lands Whole, and under the inviolable Stewardship of the Archon, the Council of Dragonlords and the Royal House of Targaryen of Elamaerys, I, Aegon, Archon of Elamaerys, First of His Name, of the Royal House of Targaryen and Dragonlord, declare, on the Seventh Day of the Eleventh Moon of the Year 115 AC, the following articles of the Constitution of Elamaerys;

It is the right of every Elamaeri citizen to be born and remain free and all liberties and freedoms henceforth articulated in the Constitution, the writs Articles, and the writs Codes of Elamaerys, shall be awarded.

It is the right of every Elamaeri to petition, in writing, the Archon and the Council of Dragonlords and express their ideas or their grievances, under the confines established in the Civil Code of Conduct.

It is the right of every Elamaeri to be granted Impartial, Fair and Just Hearing in the Courts of Justice and in the Courts of Arbitration under the System of Law established in the articles of the Code of Laws, and no excessive fines nor cruel and unusual punishments shall be inflicted.

It is the right of every Elamaeri man, woman and child, to learn their letters and their numbers and take advantage of opportunities provided by the Archonate, and unreasonable prevention of this right shall be subject to punishment under the law.

It is the right of every Elamaeri to hold full and inviolable ownership of their lands and their private homes, recognised upon the transference of the right of ownership from the Archon and the Royal House of Targaryen, which stand as steward of all virgin lands of Elamaerys under the law and under the Command of God and the Seven, and shall pass onto their heirs under the laws of inheritance.

It is the right of every Elamaeri to deny the search of their private homes by City-Guards or Representatives of the Archonate, provided the City-Guards or Representatives of the Archonate do not hold justification of right of entry as established under the Civil Codes of Elamaerys.

It is the right of every Elamaeri to be granted medicine and treatment from a member of the Healer's Guild, who shall charge fees fairly and reasonably, and if the individual is proven to be incapable to reasonably pay for treatment or medicine, the Archonate shall pay on their behalf with grounds of recompense or repudiation to fall within the guidance established in the Civil Codes of Elamaerys.

It is the right of every Elamaeri to be gainfully employed and the Archonate of Elamaerys shall promote provision of opportunities and employment.

It is the right of every Elamaeri to be equally eligible to be appointed to positions in the departments or institutions of government of the Archonate of Elamaerys, irrespective of birth or station, so long as they are suitable for the position and so long as they swear the Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution and to the Archon.

It is the right of every Elamaeri to have sufficient subsistence and the Archonate of Elamaerys shall work to secure the security and means of subsistence.

It is the right of every Elamaeri orphan to be provided lodgings, subsistence and opportunities by the Archonate of Elamaerys, and shall be, until the age of six and ten, a ward of the Archonate.

Mustering or keeping an army or war fleet within the lands and seas of the Archonate of Elamaerys, in times of war or in times of peace, without the consent of the Archon and the Council of Dragonlords, is against the law and is an act of treason, punishable to the fullest extent of the law.

It shall be the Royal Army and the Royal Navy, under the supreme command of the Archon, that form the basis of protecting the Temporal and Spiritual interests and safety of the People of Elamaerys, against enemies Human and Inhuman.

It shall be the Bank of Elamaerys, which shall operate under the rules established in the Articles of Banking, that shall work for the benefit of the People of Elamaerys under the direction of the Archon and the Council of Dragons, and that shall issue all Elamaeri monetary currency. No foreign currency shall be permitted to enter circulation and shall lawfully be exchanged for Elamaeri currency.

It is the right of the nobility to keep their titles, titles appointed to their person or appointed to their House by the Archon of Elamaerys, and their estates without fear of seizure or dissolvement, unless they have committed an act of treason.

It is the right of a widow to have her marriage dowry and portion of inheritance as established under the laws of inheritance and no widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to remain without a husband.

Villages and Towns shall enjoy all liberties and customs to grow and form into cities, which shall be defined as passing a census of thirty thousand Souls, at which point they shall be permitted a City Council with oathsworn Councillors selected from amongst themselves, provided the Major has been appointed to the City Council by the Council of Dragonlords.

It shall be the duty of the Archonate to ensure the lands, including virgin lands, of Elamaerys, which are holy, are protected.

All royal and legitimate members of the Royal House of Targaryen, which includes the Archon and Dragonlords, shall be inviolably bound by the Articles of the Royal House of Targaryen, which articulates God and the Seven's Holy Command to the Royal House of Targaryen in their duty to shepherd and protect the People of Elamaerys, and shall be impermissible to be changed in any capacity henceforth from the Seventh Day of the Eleventh Moon of the Year 115 AC.

Henceforth from the Seventh of the Eleventh Moon of the Year 115 AC, the position of Archon of Elamaerys which incorporates the position of Head of the Council of Dragonlords, the Council which shall govern the Archonate of Elamaerys directly and indirectly through the departments and institutions of the Archonate, established by Aegon the First of His Name of the Royal House of Targaryen, son of Prince Baelon Targaryen, and Dragonlord, under God and the Seven's Command, shall pass from the eldest son to the eldest son. Should there be no living eldest son of the direct line of Archons, the position of Archon shall pass in the same way as established in the Articles of the Royal House of Targaryen. This order of inheritance shall be inviolable.

Dragonlords, a title and position which shall be considered to consist of both genders, shall be sworn into the Council of Dragonlords under oath, including the heir of the Archon, upon their reach of five and twenty namedays, or, upon their gainful and true knighthood or their mastery of a subject in science, philosophy, mathematics or alchemy, and shall conduct themselves with honour, justice, fairness and as decreed within the Articles of the Royal House of Targaryen.

The Archon and the Dragonlords shall hold the rights on voting on all matters excepting the non-inviolable articles and rights established in the Constitution, and shall vote in accordance to rules and powers established within the Articles of the Royal House of Targaryen.

Dragons and Dragon Eggs, under law and under Command of God and the Seven, shall inviolably be the property of House Targaryen and shall only be inheritable to royal members of House Targaryen descendent of the issue of Aegon, First of his Name, and Gael Targaryen, First of her Name, whose inheritance shall not pass down the female line in any capacity should they marry in patrilineality outside of the Royal House of Targaryen. Should this article be violated, it shall be an act of treason and shall be punishable to the fullest extent of the law and resolutely lead to the dissolvement of the offending House.

It shall be inviolably forbidden to alter the intent of the Archonate of Elamaerys and the Constitution henceforth ratified on the Seventh Day of the Eleventh Moon of the Year 115 AC, under the laws of Elamaerys and under God and the Seven, and any action to alter either shall be considered treasonous, and the People of Elamaerys shall be called to honourable duty until the Union of the Land and the People has been reestablished under the Stewardship of the Archon, the Council of Dragonlords and the Royal House Targaryen of Elamaerys, who shepherd with the divine Blessing and under the Command of God and the Seven." Aegon finished, and as he rolled up the Scroll, a distant roar rang around them, and Gael looked up only to see the silhouette of Mīsaragorn in the far distance above them.

The murmurs grew amongst the crowd, a dense sound, and she was not surprised to see that many did not quite understand the intent of this document that would set in stone the lawful and moral principles of Elamaerys.

Only a few would understand and those few were either the shipwrights from Pentos, or those few were from Braavos, such as the scholars or the Builders, where the commonfolk of these Free Cities were typically aware of the 'guiding principles' of their Free City, which was similar to her husband's Constitution.

And if Gael was honest, she did not think they had need to create the Constitution with how the Faith was already in their palms as well as the institutions they were creating but she knew that Aegon was firm on this topic and had been for years, which had started at the same time when he guessed at the existence of Elamaerys.

'Those memories from another world, another life…' Gael thought to herself as Aegon looked to be ready to speak again. The many unusual devices, and strange ideas…much if not all of their success had come from these memories.

But amongst all of that success, such as glass and porcelain and liquid stone, there was also a drive in her husband towards a destination that was more than simply the new land he'd guessed existed beyond the Sunset Sea.

A drive she'd quietly, over the years, had come to understand was also related to these strange practices and queer customs of the people he'd seen in his memories.

No…not related. Inspired.

'A land or a people who all lived to eighty namedays of age, common and not. A land where commonfolk were all literate and could rise higher than lords. Commonfolk flying in metal ships, sailing in metal ships, horseless carriages, towering buildings that were fifty fold taller than the tallest of keeps…'

They had not spoken again about these memories after those few days he'd confessed to her, not in the days leading up to their wedding nor the years after it, but she knew those memories had greatly affected her husband.

Not only had they gifted him all of this knowledge, which included the language of these people, but it had also given him a lasting inspiration that saw him pursue the same path for their people as those strange people had reached.

"There is much that I have read out to you" Aegon began to say and Gael couldn't help but a let a little smile form on her face as she saw a glimpse of determination on his face from the angle she was looking at him from.

'At least it will keep him away from magic' she thought to herself a little wryly though there was a tang of seriousness in her thoughts.

There had not been a day where Aegon had not been busy with his duties, and with what was planned now that her husband and many of their men were back, he would have little time to pursue matters that had nearly killed her husband twice.

"Do not worry if you did not catch all that I have read out. What I have read out to you given to every home alongside a copy of the Seven-Pointed-Star and would urge you to know these words as well as you would know the Seven-Pointed-Star.

For now, I will tell you what is most important about these words." Aegon said as he walked a little closer to the edge of the podium, his voice rising.

"Every single one of you, constitute one member of a whole and as God and the Seven have told us, we are stronger together and these words, these articles, under law and under the God and the Seven, declare and affirm this strength, our fortitude, as a people and as a community, and I and my House, as shepherds of Elamaerys, shall ensure that this Union of the Land and the People will remain whole until the ends of time!" Aegon said before he raised his hand into the air.

"May the Gods bless us!"

Those last words seemed to have ruptured the stillness from the crowd and cheers and chants of her husband's names, and all of the epithets they'd assigned him, rang around for some time, and it was only after a long while afterwards, when the guards began to disperse the crowd, that Aegon returned to her and their children.

Their youngest children were the most excited, of course, and they peltered Aegon with questions about his speech, and once there was a lull from their questions, Aegon turned his gaze towards their eldest.

"That could have gone better." Aegon said in Greek, cautious as he was with the approach of their advisors towards them, a grimace of a smile. "What did you think?" Aegon asked their eldest sons.

"I don't think most of them really understand." Valarr was the first to answer, and he did so with a shrug.

"But they have – or will – accept it." Her husband remarked before a wry little smile formed on his face.

"They would accept anything." Valarr said with a roll of his eyes and he was nudged in the side by Castorys who looked at Valarr with a mild glare.

"Valarr…" Castorys said exasperatedly.

Valarr moved away slightly with a mild grin on his face. "I won't say anything more."

"I doubt" Polaerys began, pausing as he glanced at Valarr before he looked at Aegon again "they will notice much difference anyway." Polaerys commented. Polaerys continued. "Much of what father has spoken of is already established, for the most part anyway."

"Yes, much of what I said is already happening but now, the principles we have established, and accepted, shall be protected under law and in faith. Generations from now, these principles shall remain and that will give us a strength – and stability – that will see our country grow stronger than any other." Her husband said and the way he spoke told her, her eldest sons, that Aegon truly believe in his words.

There was a moment of silence before Castorys spoke up. "I wouldn't be so sure that everyone will accept it." Her son said and she saw a frown on his face as he looked a certain direction and she found out where he was looking. Towards the Ladies Sunglasses, Bar Emmons, Thornes and the Velaryons, who were seemingly in all in discussion.

"They will see this as tyrannical." Polaerys agreed.

Yes, they will, Gael thought. Most of the ladies were from minor nobility, true, but even then, they had grown up in keeps with fathers or brothers that were able to levy hundreds of men in their lands.

To find themselves, their children, forbidden the same rights as their grandsires or uncles, under law, was not what they, or rather their husbands, had agreed upon.

"Most certainly." Her husband with an indifferent tone of voice, and she looked at his face, which seemed friendly as he looked towards the approaching men. "Yet this shall be our way. Only our House shall command our people. Now and long in the future. Still, we will change their minds over the years. If they stay."

"What they saying?" Maegelle asked in High Valyrian with a look of confusion on her as she looked towards Solonys and Breannei.

"We're just talking about things should be good now." Gael said in High Valyrian with a smile on her face, getting her words in before her youngest children could give away anything now that their advisors were within hearing range.

Aegon stepped closer to Solonys and their daughters, and she saw him give them a reassuring look, one that their children, despite their young age, understood.

Neither she or Aegon or their eldest sons shied away from telling them from what they needed to know, and knowing to keep what they talk about in Greek private.

The language was going to be their way to keep secrecy in their House, after all.

"Breannei, Rhaena, come." Gael said as she took the hand of her niece. "There's still enough daylight if you wish to ride your dragons for an hour." She saw the look of gratitude in her husband's eye.

There would be matters to close with their advisors and having all of their children with them right now was not suitable. Solonys was an exception now that he was squiring and learning under his father like his elder brothers did.

The spark in her daughters eyes made her smile a little and soon enough, she and her daughters and her niece were being escorted back to their home.

…

…

…

Days later…

The noise from beside her woke her from her slumber, a noise of quiet, distraught mutterings, she realised as she grew awareness, her eyes blinking open.

Her gaze fell on Aegon, the source of the distraught mutterings, whose face seemed etched in quiet pain as his muscles were clenched tight, his hands at the centre of his chest and Gael quietly moved further away from Aegon in the bed, knowing that touching him when he was like this was not an option.

It looked like it was a bad one, she thought with a heavy look on her face.

It's been three and thirty days since he'd returned but this was only the fourth time that he looked visibly distressed by his nightmares. And often times…like today, the nightmares always became this bad when he needed his sleep.

Often times, he barely slept, and always awake long before she was, but it took its toll on him, and when his body couldn't handle the short hours of sleep, he'd drift off, like today, into a deep sleep that seemed to be as harmful to his mind as the lack of sleep was to his body.

A soft whine at the edge of their bed drew her attentions, and she looked towards it, seeing old Rex whine softly, her ears hugging the sides of her head.

The mutterings seem to die down a little after Rex's whine, the noise seeming having bled through whatever nightmare he was having. She felt a pang of jealousy that a dog could help her husband when she, his wife, could not, a pang that swiftly left when she realised how ridiculous she was being at the jealousy.

From what Aegon had told her, he often slept with Rex in his room, often times in his bed, and he'd admitted her presence had helped more often than not.

Rex whined a few more times through the next little while, whenever the mutterings seemed to grow in volume, and always the mutterings lessened, and she watched Aegon in his sleep, watching him with a studious eye.

Finally, he woke, and he woke violently, his hands rising like a whip, clutching the air with his hands, his bare scarred chest showing as the covers fell off as he sat upright in quick haste, under the dim candle light from the candle that still burned on the desk. The look on his face…haunted and angry, lasted for an instant only yet in that instant, she could tell how much of a burden the war had been on his soul.

He'd confided in her about the source of his nightmares…it being about the 'things' he'd done. He never told her directly, exactly, what was done, only that it was brutal. She'd known a fair bit of what he planned on doing, before the war had even begun, but it seemed like Aegon was afraid to utter the things he'd actually done. What his men had done.

She was also sure that all of that…magic was haunting him too. He'd told her about the God's Eye, about their…descendants who he met, somehow, and the evilness of the Old Gods who wanted to wipe their family and their dragons out.

It wasn't hard to put together the unspoken words…about what he was leaving his brother, who is alone amongst vipers, human and creature alike, that surrounded him, and his nephews and nieces who were headed to a path of a civil war.

She hadn't said anything to him, remaining silent during these explanations but it wasn't because she blamed him for leaving their kin in Kings Landing to their fate.

No…it was she knew in her bones had Aegon involved himself, told them about these Old Gods and their crimes against their family, told Viserys about the obvious of his foolish actions, Viserys would never have allowed Aegon to leave. He would have forced Aegon, and likely their children, to help, to intervene, to solve his problems.

And Gael was selfish enough to not want that to have happened and she relieved that Aegon kept thinking of her and their children first.

These past four years had been awful for her and it had only been bearable because Aegon kept keeping his promise to her. That there was an end to his absence.

His last words that night, when he went to end the bargain he made with the evil creatures, had almost shattered her. Only his call afterwards, confirming he was alive, had allowed her to heal from something that almost broke her.

No…Gael did not blame him for choosing to return to her and their children.

"Aegon…" Her voice was soft and her words made him look towards her, the haunted look on his face slowly evaporating as he looked at her with his sole eye.

Aegon sighed deeply before he swept his hand across his face, his expression turning a little apologetic. "I have not harmed you, have I?" His eye washed over her body as if he was trying to find incriminating evidence.

"No." Gael told him and the look lessened with relief. The first night they slept together had been a shock to her. Aegon had warned her, and tried to convince her that they should sleep in separate beds for a while, something that offended her and she'd refused it vehemently.

She'd learnt that night that trying to wake him, touching him in his sleep was a terrible idea. They were fortunate that Aegon's instincts were to protect himself instead of attacking otherwise…

She had to convince him again, even threaten him, that sleeping separately was not something they can endure. They or their marriage. What were they going to do otherwise? Sleep separately until their deaths. No.

They were meant to be together for good and for ill. That meant to her that she was going to help him recover from his guilt and his nightmares, however long it took.

Rex hobbled towards Aegon and Aegon smiled faintly as the old greyhound placed its head on Aegon's lap, causing Aegon to sight as he caressed the top of Rex's head.

Besides, she thought as she stared at Aegon caressing the top of Rex's head…if Rex can help Aegon ease in his sleep than she could do so too. She only wished it wasn't taking so long…

She looked up from Aegon's hand and towards his face and she saw him looking at him with a look of barely restrained amusement, a look that made it apparent that he'd read her thoughts.

"Go on Rex…" Aegon said as he gestured towards the ground and Rex whined slightly before she got up and hobbled down onto the ground, her hindlegs almost giving out despite the short jump and Gael saw the flash of a stricken expression on his face and she felt shame for feeling guilty that a dog was able to accomplish something she could not.

Especially a dog that was going to die soon.

Rex hadn't much left, they knew, she thought as the greyhound fell into its cushion. It was going to be a sad affair for their family, particularly the girls and Valarr, when Rex passed on.

She was over four and ten namedays old now. She was going blind, she had a little wobble in her gait and she couldn't run anymore.

It was also likely that her smell could be going too and it was why the Royal Kennel Masters were in the processes of training up a couple of greyhound pups which also included a whole range of new poisons and venoms Lorgan Keller had discovered during the campaigns across Essos.

They would take over from Rex to be amongst their family as pets and as their silent guardians.

Well. Mostly silent.

Aegon moved towards her and placed his hand on her cheek and she saw him look at her softly, a gentle glint in his eye. "It will take time." Aegon said quietly to her. "And I am trying."

"I know. I know it will take time. That you are trying." Gael said in answer as she placed her hand on top of his. "It's just a little…difficult that there is another lady in your life that can help you better than I can." Gael said a little wryly.

Aegon snorted. "Well, she does have a good head start." Aegon said with a half-smile, his thumb circling on her cheek, and she smiled at that.

"I suppose she does." Gael said with a smile before she lost it as she continued.

"Was it as bad as it looked?" she asked with a concerned note in her voice.

Aegon lost the smile and sighed slightly. "Not as bad as before." Aegon hummed as the corners of his mouth raised slightly. "But still not pleasant." Aegon said as he began to take his hand from her cheek but she quickly stopped him from withdrawing from her as she took hold of his hand.

"I have never asked…" Gael began carefully as she studied his face. "But…do you think you will forgive yourself? Ever?"

She saw his expression break slightly, his face cycling through a number of emotions before he settled on one. A resigned expression. "I don't know." Aegon said as he looked towards the ceiling. "Perhaps one day. If I feel like I have outweighed the terribleness with the good several times over." Aegon looked at her, a trace of a humourless smile showing. "Though I doubt it."

She squeezed his hand. "It's a start. That you think it is at least possible."

Aegon met her gaze and looked at her for a long while before he shifted towards her and brought her hands to his lips and kissed them, without saying anything.

A few moments later, she pulled her hands away from his lips and placed them on either side of his face, gently pulling him closer to her, and Aegon moved his body closer to her, and she brought his lips to her own whilst Aegon snaked his arm around her, drawing her closer to him.

They kissed for a long while, and as much as passion was growing, hands moving, she glimpsed at the light coming from through the window that told her they did not have much time for that and so she pulled away from him, and gently pushing against his chest.

"Go. Do your exercises." Gael said with a faint smile hid her disappointment at her sensibility. She looked towards the window with stained glass which had been built in an expansion of their estate eight moons ago. "We won't have enough time and we both have a busy day ahead of us."

She looked at him a little amused at the childish look of disappointment on his face before he sighed and got off the bed and Gael laid down on the bed, her eyes focused on her husband, who began his exercises.

She simply watched him go, watching him exercise and it was some time later that she saw him do something she'd not seen him do before.

He sat cross legged first, before he leaned against his arms which were palm down against the floor at an angle and then, he lifted himself up before he drew his legs from underneath him and stretched them out, leaving only his palms touching the floor.

Her eyebrows rose. "This is new." She remarked, as the light flush she felt as she'd watched Aegon exercise grew stronger. Her husband had always been muscular but she definitely noticed the differences. He wasn't as big as he was before but certainly, he looked more muscular, even if he lost a bulk of weight. Aegon pulled back his outstretched legs before he outstretched them again and then did his 'push ups' without his feet touching the ground.

"Whilst in Velos" Aegon said with a strain in his voice "I decided to try out new ways to exercise that would challenge me."

Gael was sure he did so because he hadn't been training with the sword during all of his time in Velos. He'd grown to hate it, even if he had directly told her that.

Had it not been for their sons, she was sure he would have not picked it up again at all.

"This is one of them."

"Looks difficult." Gael said wryly and Aegon snorted which made him lose his focus and his legs fell, making Gael grin a little.

Aegon sent her a smiling half-glare before he got back into position. "You can join me in these exercises if you want." Aegon said before he raised his legs.

Gael eyed him a little dubiously. "I would hurt myself within a moment of trying." Gael dryly and Aegon laughed which caused his body to shake a little but he kept his legs from touching the floor.

"If you tried this from this moment, yes, but we can work your way up to this point." Aegon told her with a smile, one that did not look innocent at all. "It feels pretty good being this strong. And…can you imagine? All the fun we could have trying all kinds of new things with our new, combined, strength?" Aegon said with a smile that turned into a teasing grin.

Gael felt her cheeks warm up a lot more.

Their…love didn't lack. Aegon was… attentive. She was also fairly sure that some of the…things they did together were not…typical.

Her conversations with Daemera…as limited and hinting as it was, did tell her enough that perhaps her Aegon also knew things about love in the same way he knew things about all of these inventions and new ideas in science to lawmaking to finance to new 'machines' to even something he called 'steam power'…

Gael shook her head before she looked at him, Aegon having gotten into a new position on the floor in a more familiar exercise. "Do you think I should?" Gael asked.

This made Aegon startle a little as he turned to look at her with raised eyebrows.

Gael knew that she had gained some weight over the past ten years.

Aegon told her that he'd never broke their vows to each other, not even once, and whilst she believed him, she knew that four years was a long time. Even for Gael, who only had Aegon in her heart, felt the loneliness.

"What? No." Aegon said as he looked at her seriously. "Not if you don't want to. You're perfect the way you look. I just…I just thought that mayhaps we could spend a bit more time together in the early morns before we get sucked into everything. You know…share a routine together." Aegon sighed.

"With the kids, with the untold number of developments that are happening at any given time, with the tutoring of our sons, our daughters, everything else with the people, the nobles, even soon the development of our Keep on that mountain…"

Gael thought about it as she looked at Aegon's body. She couldn't deny that her husband's exercises helped enhance his beauty even if she was the only one who saw him without his chainmail covering him.

'It would be nice…'

"Alright. Tomorrow you can help me." Gael decided and Aegon smiled before he grinned at her a little as he got into another position, and she could tell the next words from his mouth would be mischievous.

"Your mother would raise a storm. Drawing up a sweat like a commoner…"

Gael laughed a little. Her mother seeing her doing anything that was unladylike…

"Only because it was me." Gael said with a fond smile that traces of sadness in it.

Her mother had never been much of a lady in her youth. Too wild, too prideful and too opinionated, and even had practised archery in her youth.

But time had weathered her and the loss of her siblings had broken her mother. She wondered if she held herself to blame for what had befallen Gael's siblings, that the Gods had 'punished' her, and made sure that Gael was raised as fine a lady when she was let out from her mother's shadow…

"Yes." Aegon said with a sympathetic tone of voice before he smiled softly at her.

"But I think she would have come around."

Gael smiled at her husband and the message that was in his words.

'Yes…it would be nice to think that she would have…'

"Yes…I think she would have." Gael said as she looked towards the window that let through the first lights of the morn. She remained silently, listening to her husband continuing his exercises, and it wasn't until more of dawn's light passed through their window that she spoke up again. "I have actually been thinking about them. Over the past few weeks. My father and my mother."

"Oh?" Aegon said in a strained voice as he continued his exercising.

"Yes. About what they would think of us. What we have accomplished." She looked at Aegon and she saw him looking at her curiously. "If they would be proud or if they would be disapproving."

Aegon hummed and he was silent for a few moments as he continued his exercises.

"They would be proud and disapproving." Aegon finally said. "Undeniably proud for finding Elamaerys, for ruling justly and fairly, but they would also be disapproving for how we have, in their eyes, reached beyond our birth."

Gael considered that. She didn't they would think they reached beyond their birth but she wasn't sure. She did know that her father had expectations of her husband, and perhaps had disclosed matters to him related to this.

If it was true, that her father had expectations related to her husband's comment, that could explain a part, small as it may be, about why Aegon never told her father, when he still had his mind, about their plans to leave Westeros.

The moment their twins were born, Aegon had been set on this plan, and had quietly worked to that end, only openly doing so in the last year of her father's life.

By then, it was already too late to stop them, and Viserys had been to distracted with the capital to notice or care when they'd been building ships and barges.

"But most of all, they would be disapproving about our inaction with the situation in Westeros…with our kin." Aegon added quietly, pausing momentarily before he shook his head and continued his exercises. "Mine own father certainly would be…and would be infuriated too." There was a sadness in his voice as he'd spoken.

Gael looked away from her husband and looked towards her hands. "We cannot be responsible. Even with these…Old Gods…sowing discord in our family. Father…mother…they would see that."

"Perhaps." Aegon said after a few moments. "Perhaps they would not." Aegon sighed before he got up and moved towards the desk though she spotted him glancing at the window. "I think we have some time left before we are called to break our fast."

Gael sighed silently as she looked at her husband take a seat. With a wave of the hand, he made all of the candles burn before he began to look through the documents that been piled up in front of him, documents he'd perused last eve.

Their conversation about their family, dead and living, was never very long…

She got up from the bed and walked towards the pile of washcloth and after dipping the cloth in the mildly perfumed water bowl, she cleaned her face with it. Moments later, she took one of the fine sticks that were beside the wash bowl and dipped the end of it in the small pot of mint paste before she used it to clean her teeth.

She took another of the sticks and after dipping it also in the mint paste, did she walk over towards Aegon. "Here." Gael said as she outstretched her hand to Aegon who'd looked up from the documents.

He took it and then took her too, placing her in her lap, an act that made her cry out a little. "Thank you, wife." Aegon said amusingly, a glint of satisfaction in his eye as she glared at him a little.

"I could have choked on the brush." Gael said to him disapprovingly.

"Ye of little faith. I would have saved you from the cruel and wicked Arak stick."

Gael rolled her eyes at the jest before she continued to brush her teeth as she sat in his lap, a glance sent towards the documents, and she saw a very familiar number on the page that Aegon was looking at.

"Three million, eight hundred ninety one thousand, four hundred and five and twenty acres." Gael said though her words had a bit of a wobble in it thanks to the paste and stick that were in her mouth.

"Yes..." Aegon said with a long-suffering sigh before he stuck the brushing stick in his mouth with an aggrieved look on his face.

That was how much land was allocated presently, the majority of the new land was allocated to the men and their families that went to war with Aegon.

"It is fortunate that we are only committed to pay for the labour of the farmhands and spare labourers for the farmlands." Aegon muttered after he'd paused in his brushing, which he continued after he'd finished speaking.

"Yes, only…" Gael leaned forward to flip over to the next page of the document "Two million, nine hundred and twenty six thousand, eight hundred and six and twenty acres of land of farmland we have committed in help create at the end of 124 AC." Gael said as she turned to look at her husband with a wry look.

Presently, they had about four hundred and twenty seven thousand acres of worked farmland, with about fifty thousand acres set to be finished in three moons. By the end of 116 AC, the expectation was that the farmers, the farmhands and the spare labourers would be able to till almost two hundred thousand more acres.

"Yes, yes, I am aware of how difficult it will be." Aegon said as he looked at Gael with a displeased look on his face before he looked back at the document. "It doesn't help that much of the northwestern lands, prime farmlands, are in flooded grasslands, marshes, and forests." Aegon said tiredly as his hand went under the documents and he brought out the map of the northwestern region of Elamaerys.

The northwestern region was characterised with marshes, forests, wetlands, and of course vast flatlands which were dominated by tall grass, grasses that can grow taller than men.

These flatlands with the tall grasses, were what they largely cleared and turned into farmland. The forests they'd cleared was only a small portion of the actual land that was cleared and that was largely done to help provide the woods for Redtown.

Gael leaned forward and her hand went towards the pitcher of watered down wine. Aegon was quick to grab the cup he'd used last eve and held it in front of her. She poured the wine and Aegon took the handle of the pitcher whilst she took the cup and drank from it, swallowing the mint alongside the wine.

Aegon took her cup after she had her fill and drank from it too, finishing it and he placed the stick in the empty cup. Gael too placed her brushing stick in the cup and turned her attentions back towards the map.

"There are still vast swathes of flatlands that we can turn into farmland." Gael said as she pointed towards the northeast of Elamaerys city, several leagues inland from the coast. The flatlands were like a crescent, with forests, hills or mountains to their south, with some parts of the north dotted with marshes and wetlands, or flooded grasslands as Aegon liked to call it.

Redwood Forests and hilly lands were also in concentrated parts in the middle of these grass dominated flatlands but in general, flatlands surrounded them.

They could turn it all into farmland and they likely would not even touch even a fifth of what was already promised.

"Aye, but we also have to think about proximity amongst other things." Aegon remarked before he placed a finger on the part of the map which was exactly where Elamaerys city was. "We've been steadily expanding outward from our settlement, particularly towards the northwest part." Aegon said as his finger travelled upward, and he touched upon a part where there was more of the redwood forest.

It used to be larger but they'd been cutting it down and removing the stumps slowly over the past few years. In fact it was where most of the wood had come from. Beyond it, was more flatlands and then there was a large area of freshwater marshes.

Aegon's finger went down the map, more west of Elamaerys, where there was more flatlands and where more of the clearing of the land was happening.

"Focusing here for the next five years will yield us the most return for our time, yes, but we also have to think about the next five and ten years. Building up as much as possible to nearby our capital, and I don't just mean farms and private plots of land" Aegon said as he glanced at her. She knew he was talking about villages and towns that he wanted to create around these large swathes of land.

Over the next ten years, they would increase their numbers by at least fifty thousand more people. Likely double that number.

Aegon wanted to prepare for those numbers and make sure there are other parts in their lands that these people could settle. He thought it was best that there was more 'economic activity' away from Elamaerys city.

Some of it included creating 'plantations' on a much larger scale than what they'd done in Corinth, such as growing sugarcanes, bananas, grapes, tea, cashews, sunflowers, flax, citrus and orange trees, silkworm farms, and so on.

Most of these plantations were being planned to be given to the landed knights, barons and lords, whose lands would be near to each other, and therefore giving the premise for towns and villages to be created for the workers that would be needed.

With how many these people were now landed, even if the vast majority were only landed knights with honours of distinction, there was going to be many of these lands that could grow to become highly valuable – and highly in need of workers.

With the wealth they would have, they would be able to accommodate and pay for seasonal workers and in time, this would naturally grow into villages and towns that would be capable of producing goods as well, growing an network of trade that would extend beyond just food or stone being delivered to the capital.

Her husband continued "whilst also expanding to the coasts is necessary."

"Not necessary. What you want." Gael corrected and this time it was her husband who rolled his eyes.

"What is best for Elamaerys." Aegon asserted and she looked at him with a glimmer of exasperation.

Aegon seemingly ignored her look as he looked back at the map.

"Spreading towards the coast now, instead of further inland, will allow greater chances that towns and cities will mature sooner rather than later, perhaps as little as a century." Aegon said before he glanced towards her. "And from there, more of the islands will be populated too." Aegon looked back towards the maps.

"And I would rather we utilise the time of our farmhands and labourers to the most difficult work now, when they're only at most a few years into their ten year paid service, rather than later when we might have it more difficult to harness labour when we shift the population towards increasing our production rates." Aegon said.

He continued as he pointed towards the northeastern side of their land. "Clearing vast swathes of flatlands in the northeast will then be largely out of our hands requiring us only to transfer land ownership and allocations to those who want to possess their own lands, particularly to these second and third sons who would find it a lot more attractive and possible to produce farmland out of those flatlands than marshes and forests."

Gael considered that as she stared at the map. "We will need a lot more labourers to meet our current commitments." She remarked after a few moments of silence.

Aegon sighed slightly and nodded.

"We do." He said before he flipped several pages of the pile of documents. "Six thousand are working alongside thousands of farmers now that the harvest is over and in a few moons, the soldiers who'd joined up with the army that were promised farmland, will also be available to help clearing lands once the remaining thousands of Redtown have been rehoused in one of the myriad of districts, freeing up pairs of hands of another five thousand men."

As it was presently, there were over six and ten thousand men working in the city to help with finishing off the constructions of the districts, homes and buildings.

By the time of third moon of next year, Redtown would be empty and ready for the next five thousand people from Velos, with the one and ten thousand men continuing to work to build more of the city, including paving stone roads.

"The consistent arrival of settlers every year will allow us to maintain the pace of farmland we need to create over the next eight or nine years along with the arrival of thousands of oxen and horses over the next four or five of journeys." Aegon said as he paused to look at her.

There was a limited supply of oxen and cattle currently in Elamaerys, with the majority of the focus having been livestock and horses.

Now though, they aimed to shift the supply of incoming animals to be oxen-centric and small, fast breeding livestock.

An oxen could plough around 30 acres of land on average, more than a horse, greatly aiding the farmers and diverting more resources to other parts of the colony.

Later, in a three or four years, they'd focus towards importing donkeys, pigs and other livestock, with a particular focus on sheep and sheep herders, for the hilly pastures in the far east beyond the river Sȳziarves.

"And if we can't, we'll reevaluate the idea to shift towards the northeast sooner than is ideal." Aegon said though she could see the reluctance in the idea in his face before he lost it as he shook his head.

"We'll work it out, whatever happens." A wry smile formed on his face "It's just rather fortunate we have the coin to fund this massive undertaking." Aegon paused before he spoke further "Not that having too much coin in general isn't a problem in itself." Her husband said with some weariness in his voice.

That…that was true…on both accounts.

Aegon's time in Velos, or rather some of his blacksmiths and people, was characterised with many things, but most of all, in smelting down the gold, silver and copper coins from the spoils of his war against New Ghis.

Half of the coin remained in Velos, to be used to develop Velos and to facilitate the purchase of goods their settlement in Elamaerys needed, the other half or so, ten million gold marks, twenty million silver marks, and a hundred million copper coins, were smelted down to be used in Elamaerys.

With the gold marks being about one point two times the weight of a golden dragon, the silver marks one point six times the weight of a silver moon, and the copper coins about one point three times the weight of a copper star, they managed to slightly increase the total number of coins they had.

It was rather fortunate that the slavers prized purity of the metals…

The coins from the other slaver cities were roughly the same in terms of weight conversion and purity, which had also been melted down when one of the two Lysene mints had been sent with the fourth journey when Aegon's blacksmiths, now royal minters, found it easily replicable and created six more, allowing them to smelt down some of their treasury here in an adjacent building within the walls of their manse, thus giving them some room to increase their currency stock even if the quantity they smelted down slaver coin was many times lesser.

In any case, that meant that they had made just enough coin to pay for half of the all of the deferred wages in Elamaerys immediately, with the remaining to follow in the next year, which totalled roughly;

Hundred and ten thousand gold dragons

Six million, two hundred and thirty six thousand silver moons

Twenty two million, seven hundred and eighty thousand silver stags

Seventy nine million, seven hundred and thirty two thousand copper stars

It was a staggering amount without even considering the coin owed to the men and women who went to war with Aegon, who were owed far more, and had to be managed on a 'dripfeed' and pension plans that would last ten to twenty years.

With the census they had, updated yearly, which included the jobs and origin of the individual, and the payrolls that were kept by the heads of the Guilds which were overseen by administrators, it was easy to track the total coin people were owed, and they'd used these documents to sort people into groups.

Aegon had spent much of the first five and ten days sitting down with groups, hundreds or thousands of people at a time, addressing the massive influx of coin that was coming, explaining what it means when income and spending grow faster than the production of goods, which was their present situation, and how they'd be implementing measures to prevent a loaf of bread costing five silver moons, for example.

It was why they'd be paying the labour of the farmhands and the general labourers out of the coffers of the Archonate, and got an agreement from the farmers to keep prices fixed for at least ten years with additional incentives provided, such as the 'Productivity subsidy' which included House Targaryen selling new tools for agriculture made out of Elamaeri Steel at make-cost or at a loss, so as to help the farmers purchase the goods which would be able to help reduce the cost of labour substantially, such as the Elamaeri Steel ploughs that could be drawn by oxen or horses.

And similarly, they got other essential goods to be fixed within a range of prices with the Guilds, with a split percentage that ensured that domestic goods were still supplied per demand and not completely used to be sold in foreign markets, at least at the beginning when the production rates were still low.

With, on average between one thousand to two thousand families moving into their farmlands, the necessity of fixing pricing is expected to dwindle in the coming years as staple food surplus will be a certainty.

Similarly, with the production improvements Aegon and his scholars have come up – some tested in Velos, others like the new types of spinning wheels yet to be tested – such as the mechanisms that used water or the winds to drive movement without the need of men.

One of these things was called a windmill, which Aegon wanted to use to drain excess lake water from the lands and create rice fields, and to use to ground wheat and barley grains into flour.

The other most notable application was going to be a watermill, which would seriously reduce the number of men required to sawing planks from wood, allowing them to increase their shipbuilding rates to several orders of magnitude.

During the height of the construction of the galleons in Corinth, they had four hundred men, two men per wooden trunk, with one on top of the wooden trunk and a man underneath the trunk which was elevated at an angle, pushing up and pushing down to cut down the length of the plank.

Aegon's design, which he called a crankshaft, 'converted' circular motion, the flow of the river, into a vertical movement, and this movement, when connected to vertical saws, was able to cut out the need of so many men cutting planks of wood and only needed one person to push the wooden trunk through on a means that Aegon called a 'conveyor belt system'.

These watermills can also be used to ground down wheat and barley if necessary, and also had other applications like grounding down the stone ingredients in porcelain, which they have started mining in small amounts in the past few years, significantly reducing the amount of initial preparation.

Another improvement that was going to be implemented was the improvements to the looms. The new version had peddle like devices the woman used to push the weft from one side the other, increasing the rate of weaving by many, many times.

"How fast do you think the mills can be built?" Gael asked.

"Lorgan has issued out copies of the designs of the components of the watermill to the Carpenter's Guild. We already have the Elamaeri Steel components. With how much wood we have piled up around us, I expect we will have the first mill working in twenty days." Aegon said with a contemplative look on his face.

"The Bakers Guild will be delighted to see their stores of flour increase." Gael commented and Aegon smiled at her a little wryly.

"Aye. And soon so will everyone else once we have shown the sheer usefulness of using the river to drive our machines." Aegon said with a glint in his eye.

She looked at him a little amused. "Sometimes I wonder if all you can think off is productivity." She said the last word with a teasing mocking lilt to it and Aegon's lips twitched in response.

"It's not all that I think of." Aegon said with a mild grin on his face and she rolled her eyes playfully. Aegon continued, and she could sense the seriousness in his tone of voice. "But we are in a very delicate situation. We're currently very coin rich at the moment and we don't nearly produce enough which will weaken our economy if it isn't addressed quickly and efficiently…"

Aegon talked about the effects of inflation and other points of 'economic activity' and how deep their impacts could be, and he drifted off in this topic with no interruption from her.

Some time later, he continued to talk though he shifted to another direction, talking about how their situation, whilst not ideal, was actually a perfect storm to help solidify the diversification from mainly agricultural and third-party trade centric economy towards a goods productive society with a solid agricultural foundation that would be used to fuel population growth.

Her husband continued to speak that they had the 'unique' position to push towards a direction with the goodwill and adoration they'd built up with their people, pushing them towards becoming an industrial centre that would dominate the markets with their goods, from silk to linen to porcelain to jewellery to sugar and tea to wines and ales, which they would be able to massively outproduce with all of the improvements he and their people would be focusing on.

Improvements that would see people focused, specialised, in skillsets, increasing their productivity which would combine to increase overall productivity, using an example of how this would work with the example of a farmer supplying wheat to the watermill or windmill and the flour to the baker.

She couldn't help but smile a little as Aegon continued to grow animated, passionate, about the path Elamaerys would take over the next centuries, giving predictions – he always loved to talk about such long term visions when they were both long dead – and how his ideas about 'steam power' would fuel it all.

Aegon stopped in his explanations, and looked at her a little nonplussed as he trailed off on his explanations. "What?" he asked, a little frown on his face.

Her smile grew a little wider before she shook her head. "Nothing…go on, I'm listening. Tell me more about what you see could happen for our land."

"Not could…will." Aegon said with a small smile on his face though she could see the driven commitment he had in his eye.

'I believe you…' Gael thought to herself. "Will happen." She corrected. "Have you figured out at least a template for this steam power?" she asked.

Aegon's expression fell a little.

"No, not yet." Aegon's look turned contemplative.

"I plan to sit down the scholars, Jollos Floren in particular, with the Alchemists and my blacksmiths and get them working together to come up with prototypes and proven theories of the behaviours of steam…"

Aegon continued to speak about the topic of steam power, talking about strange matters such things like pressure and chamber integrity and so on, and she, well…

She just listened warmly, gladdened as she was that yes…

Yes, Aegon would one day be able to forgive himself. She was sure of it. For the good he and their sons were going to create, would one day vastly overshadow all of the wrong he did in the war.

That much she was sure of and would make sure to remind him.

Every day if she had to.

For her husband gave more than he took, nothing more exemplified this attribute of his than his drive to see to the prosperity of generations beyond when the bones of men had ground to dust…

-Break-

Late 115 AC – Elamaerys, Court of Arbitration

Castorys POV

Castorys remained quiet as he observed the now weekly 'Lower Council' meeting, where his mother and his father sat with all of the advisors to discuss everything.

Castorys swept his eyes across the long table of the most complete Courtroom that fashioned temporarily as the meeting of the Lower Council.

Aside from his mother, father, Valarr and his twin Polaerys, there was present, Edwyn Hestastis, Dorlund Vasrietālion, Aeloran Gyreon, Visevor Rahlaeris, Lord Bryce Arenter, Lord Maerro, Lord Galaenys, Lord Aethan, Lorgan Keller, Ser Cedrick Leodon, Bodrin Landswright , Banneth Stally, Grey Haran, Ser Uthrik, Lazyros Anerohr, Illero Sorros, Yraevar Valtaris, his uncle Vaegon, and Jar Qen-chi, who had been invited specially for this meeting.

All people who had a major role in aiding his parents with the settlement, except his uncle, and whose voices father and mother found valuable and useful.

This was only the third such meeting and there was a kind of repetition to the topics that was talked about, which Castorys thought would likely remain for some time, at least until the settlement was self-sufficient. In both matters of goods and in the institutions that his father had created.

Presently, the talking points had been from the prices of goods to shortages to schedules of the multitude of developments that were happening to the needs – and complaints – of the people which ranged from insufficient lodgings to requests to have this or that purchased from this Free City or that Free city.

He turned his eyes to his father, who was now speaking on the list of goods that had been created by the Guild leaderships, and he watched his father carefully.

Most of the goods that were being requested were all items that could be made in Elamaerys but not in the quantities that were requested, not for a long time yet. For example with how busy the blacksmiths were, one could wait moons for the production of your item, even though there were like six hundred blacksmiths.

Most of them were working directly for father, forging ploughs, Yi-Tish seed drills, waterwheels and a few dozen other things that were going to be used in all kinds of machines from Elamaeri Steel. The rest working to make things like nails, pins and all kinds of things that were necessary for the continuation of construction homes and furniture.

So that meant anything else that was not quite needed but wanted, was having a long wait, so they were just going to buy tons of it from across Liberty Bay.

Similarly, there were other shortages like spices, jams, honeys, and dyes, which they were not yet fully capable of producing yet to large scales, especially fruits which would probably take at least a few years if they were fruit bearing trees, and there were shortages of meat.

Well meats that were anything other than fish, crabs and shrimps. Those were plentiful in the river and near the coasts. Meats, even chicken meat, were still a rationed food because of how few they still had.

Even the wolfbears and other animal meats the hunters brought back were thinning and the jungles on the other side of the mountain were difficult to pass. And the meat of the striped lion-like cats weren't exactly the best meats to eat either…

In any case, Castorys thought as his father talked about the focus on the supply of livestock over the next few journeys, which would include oxen for farmwork, it was fortunate that Sallen Baerros was always in communication with them.

With him in Velos, working moons ahead of time to gather goods, the livestock and anything else, it made things a lot easier…

The meeting continued, moving on from the list of goods, and moved towards the discussion on the people of Elamaerys, and if there was anything new to discuss.

Yraevar Valtaris, the Head of the soon-to-be-built Bank of Elamaerys, was the first to speak up, who talked about how the number had climbed to ninety four percent of the war veterans and volunteers had agreed to the pension plan.

The pension plan would spread out their earnings over a period of five and twenty years, which would be on top of the income they'd earn as workers, and would see their sons prioritised for allocation of farmland once they were of age.

From what his father had said to him, it was a necessity that the vast majority agreed to this plan as else they would be forced to do one of two things. What exactly his father meant, Castorys did not know for father had not deigned to expand on what that was but Castorys could tell that neither options would have been pleasant…for anyone.

Valtaris continued to speak as he explained further. The rest of the men wanted their coin immediately for supposed practical reasons. They wanted to use it to purchase vast amounts of goods from overseas and hire folk for their businesses, which they wanted to start up immediately. These businesses ranged from breweries to goldsmiths to leatherworking shops to inn keeps to jewellers.

Castorys eyed his father keenly as he seemed deep in thought. Castorys knew that father did not like a massive influx of coin into the 'economy' for fear of driving up prices for years to come, so these men who were determined in their way posed a problem to his father.

"Arrange a meeting with these men." Aegon said with a tone of finality, his eye flickering to Lord Maero then to Lord Galaenys before he looked towards Valtaris. "I will reach an accord with them that satisfies their entrepreneurial ambitions and our needs." The men nodded their acceptance and soon the meeting turned towards the quarries and the mines.

As it was, there were about four thousand quarrymen and miners all throughout Elamaerys, working across many different sites at any given time.

Marble, granite and limestone were the most quarried stones and which all of the stone buildings were built from. He and his brothers – including Mīsaragorn who father was able to direct without riding – mostly picked up the quarried stones from these quarries.

Presently, these quarries were still the focus, especially the marble and the limestone as they had many, many tons of granite and shaped granite bricks at the six depots that were all around the settlement. These stones were more than enough to build the rest of the homes.

Now, they would focus on building the many new buildings his father and mother wanted to build, like these 'Academies' for the military and the navy.

Basalt, sandstone from a source found on the western most coast, and slate were all stones that were slowly being quarried now as well however. Particularly sandstone which was being preferred to be used to build the river walls around the wharf where the shipyard was being planned to be built.

Then there was also the Yi-Tish claystone, quartz, feldspar and clay from the river or from the lakes, which were the ingredients used for porcelain. The source of the Yi-Tish claystone was the furthest quarry by several leagues and was not far from the pass where on the other side lead to the southwest jungles.

Castorys listened as his father spoke about the iron mines that were going they were going to have to increase production of.

With the new techniques his father and the blacksmiths had trialled out in Velos, thanks to a few slaves from Asabhad who were blacksmiths of their own and used a technique that melted pig iron, small amounts of steel, iron sands, sand, glass and ashes all together into a clay pot which allowed for excellent steel swords to be made, and his father, with Lorgan, the blacksmiths and a few of the other scholars, figured out a way to hugely increase the amount of steel they could produce once they gotten their hands on a number of books from Asabhad after they'd sent ships there which gave them a direction on how to build better and much larger bloomeries, crucibles and furnaces.

And it all depended on the production of wildfyre thanks to the incredibly high temperatures that it burned at.

"We've increased our rate of production of wildfyre by fourfold since we started up again." Dorlund said in answer to his father's question about where the Alchemists were with their work

The Alchemists had their building built on the eastern side of the river, which was mostly finished now with all of the Alchemists having relocated there. The eastern side of the river was completely sparse for the moment, and the building was situated on a hill that was surrounded by a small range of hills that were slightly taller than it.

He and Polaerys had helped a lot with moving the stones and the equipment there as otherwise it would have taken perhaps weeks to move all of the materials there.

Despite the wildfyre not being so volatile as before, as Polaerys kept on saying, it was clear that no one really wanted to test that notion. Including his parents.

"We still only grow a limited amount of the ingredients we need however. The supplies we received will only last us a short time." Dorlund pointed out. "Until that is solved, our capability to meet the quantities Your Grace want for this new method of smelting will be difficult."

"Do we not have enough stores of the wildfyre left for at least the interim?" His mother questioned with a frown on her face.

"We do, Your Grace." Dorlund said in answer to his mother and there was a bit of reluctance on his face, which did not leave as he spoke further. "However with the experiments we're running, we would like to reserve a quantity for our needs."

Castorys sent a questioning glance to his brother who only sent him a look that meant 'Not sure'.

Dorlund sent a look towards his father who was watching Dorlund intently before the man looked towards his mother again. "But yes, if we must, we can supply about six or seven moons worths of wildfyre, Your Grace. After that, we will be hard pressed."

"By then, you should have another few tons of the ingredients." His father remarked before he looked towards Bodrin. "But I agree. We will need to have a local source of supply of the plants again at some point."

"Bodrin." His father said as he looked towards the man who was in charge of the farmer's guild. And he supposed this new 'Agricultural School' which was meant to teach farmer's sons all of the subjects relevant to farming from scholars and learn techniques from experiences 'retired' farmers.

These 'retired' farmers would also be part of the 'walking eldermen' program who would who would assist farmers in making their lands more productive.

There was also additional part where the school would research ways to make lands more productive but 'without damaging the environment' as his father put it.

His father had shown him a number of drawings of some kinds of metal carriages that were pulled by horses or oxen and that had at the bottom some twisted metals that his father said could help till the land much faster.

Bodrin would be help in making them and getting the farmers to use them…

If they worked at least…

"Can you and your fellows have a look at what sites are ideal to grow these plants the Alchemists need? It is not yet urgent but in the next few years, I want us to be able to meet at least a quarter to half of what we need annually."

"Of course, Your Grace." Bodrin looked towards Dorlund who nodded slightly at the man.

"Good." His father said. "It is important that we grow our steel production capabilities. The applications of large scale steel production will be myriad but most importantly of all, it will help us make more tools for the 'mills, for the farms and for the ships too." His father said decisively before he moved onto the next topic which was about the next phases of construction, which this meeting was centred around the expansion of the sewer system.

There had been a number of delays to the construction of the next spine of the sewer system as mother decided to focus more on the construction of the buildings, but now there was enough manpower to direct to the completion of the next spine, the 'broadleaf' extensions that would be dug to feed into the main channels from across Elamaerys, and the construction of the aqueducts as presently, water was being boiled though he knew that some people just drank from the river, a point he knew displeased his parents greatly.

In any case, there had been some changes made to the sewer system, particularly where the channels would be dug. With most of the districts concentrated to the edge of the city centre, which would become situated on the banks of the river, the location of the latrines was proving to be inconvenient to the people, and a number of arrests had been made for 'public disorder' with people relieving themselves in areas that were still bereft of works.

So to address the issue, there would be hundreds of latrines and bathhouses to be built over the next year with the second channel to be dug to depth of six yards deep and five yards across with concrete linings. It would be about six leagues long and feed from a higher elevation, allowing a greater speed downstream.

The plans was for this second – and the third in about three or four years – channel to also to be connected to the inhouse latrines though this was largely dependent on 'adequate' solutions from the scholars who had this problem amongst the many assignments his father had given the scholars to help find solutions for.

The aqueducts – of which there would be three, two on the western side of the river and the other on the eastern side – would also feed from this higher elevation, though about a league further upstream, and it was expected that this would take about three years to complete.

After the sewage system, the discussion went towards the building designs for the new buildings his father had requested for, the buildings being a 'Military Academy' and a 'Navy Academy'. Father wanted to create these places where boys could be sent to learn the art of war from experienced knights and commanders and help them prepare better. It was also his father's attempt to create a standing professional army.

Castorys could see the appeal of it. Having a professional army but he wasn't all too enthusiastic about doing away with the tradition of squiring…

Illero Sorros ended up showing a few drawings of the kinds of buildings he and his subordinates were thinking, which had been passed around the table and ended up with the commanders, before other buildings and their designs were discussed.

Such as two City Guard buildings and the Bank of Elamaerys building on the eastern side of the river, an expansion to the Learned Guild building – his uncle had spoken up for the first time during this part and talked about the inadequacies of the building – a few other buildings for Archonate officials, finally, the construction of castles and fortresses.

The castles and fortresses, the ones funded by the Archonate, would predominantly be for housing the soldiers, and they'd be situated several key areas.

Most of which was going to be on the coasts in the north, east and west, which was where the main focus was on the population growth.

These were much longer term plans, with the first no sooner completed than six to ten years from now, but the Builders were working on the planning based on the castle and fortress designs his father and the commanders have created.

Materials, number of men, all that and more.

The discussion after this soon turn away to the final point which had been about the silk farm that situated on the western side of the river for which Jar Qen-Chi, the overseer of the Silkworm farm, had been invited for.

Last week it had been the head of the Carpenter's Guild and the Clothworker's Guild who'd been invited, where both of them had been given their moment to say their piece, or pieces, about the tasks they were given.

This time, with the Silkworm farm overseer, it was about finally getting the silkworms to breed in far greater numbers and to see the silkworm weavers to start producing greater volumes of silk in the next two years.

The Yi-Tish man was among just shy of two hundred Yi-Tish and Lengese in their settlement and he had about twenty Yi-Tish or Lengese, not including their wives which were mostly Valyrian or Summer Islander in origin, who worked with him to keep the silkworm population surviving.

Castorys knew a little about the silkworms, and the difficulty Jar Qen-Chi and his people had in making sure that the silkworms survived throughout the years.

There had been occasions where the silkworm population had dwindled nearly completely, but fortunately, Jar Qen-Chi and his people were able to save a portion each time they were threatened. Now with mulberry plants grown in small sectioned off plots on farms and grown in the wild in the redwood forests, which had both happened during the time of the first settlers, the population was finally at its most highest point, the higher elevation on the western side of the river apparently doing wonders in keeping the population stable.

But there was still much to be done in order to get the numbers of the silkworms to the right amounts that would make it worthwhile, which was exactly what Jar Qen-Chi said, as he talked about the number of silkworm farms they would need to create over the next few years to see them being able to produce enough silkworms for harvest and to create the quantities of silk wanted.

"Have you identified the most suitable locations of these silkworm farms?" his mother asked the Yi-Tish man.

"Yes, Your Grace." The small Yi-Tish man said with a bow of the head before he continued. "The temperature in the hills on the eastern side of the river are suitable. We can create easily a dozen silkworm farms in the vicinity of our current farm."

"It would be cumbersome to continuously send men with bags of mulberry leaves across the river and up the hills." His mother said with a frown before she looked towards Bodrin.

"Do you think we can plant mulberry plants on the other side of the river and close to these farms?" his mother asked the man.

"There may be some parts on that side where the soil is moist enough." Bodrin said with a thoughtful look. "Yes…it should be fine although I would suggest we may have to use more dragon droppings as fertiliser."

"That won't be a problem." His father said before he looked towards the Yi-Tish man. "Work with Bodrin to mark out the suggested sites for the farms and create a list of materials you will need for their construction. I wish to see the buildings, including the frames and the wooden pots, all finished in the next two moons."

"Yes, Your Grace." Jar Qen-Chi said before he bowed his head. "I will collate colony pots for the new farms."

The meeting after that had wounded down quickly, much to his relief, and likely everyone else's too, Castorys thought a little wryly.

"Seven more days until we have to sit in another one of these meetings." Valarr muttered from beside him as they watched most leave. In the end, only he, Valarr, Polaerys, his parents, Vaegon, Edwyn, Lorgan, Lord Uthrik, and Dorlund remained behind, with his twin brother having gotten up to speak with Dorlund.

"You can always ask father to exclude you from the meetings." Castorys remarked with a raised eyebrow as he got up from his seat though he saw Valarr's expression turned distasteful from the corner of his eye.

"As if I can do that. What would I say? 'Father, this way of governing you created for all of our sakes so that we won't feel useless as spares? Well, I would prefer to feel useless than bored senseless'." Valarr said with a quiet hush.

Castorys' lips twitched as he turned to look at his brother. "Honestly you should. I would love to see what father would say to that."

Valarr groaned. "Gods, aye…no, I would rather suffer through this than that."

Castorys snorted before he shook his head and walked over to his twin was and he saw Polaerys have an animated conversation with Dorlund, the Alchemist.

"-ot as much as we hoped…" Dorlund trailed off as he looked towards Castorys and Valarr, a curious look on his face.

"Hope we're not interrupting?"

"You're not, Your Grace." Dorlund said with an incline of the head.

It still felt odd to be referred to as anything other than 'My Prince'. With what his father has done with the Archonate, any member of House Targaryen was automatically referred to as Your Grace to mark their royal status…

"We were just discussing the experiments the Alchemists Guild are conducting." Polaerys informed them.

"Ah." Castorys said before he met Dorlund's gaze. "The experiments for which you need a large amount of your stock of wildfyre." Castorys said with a leading tone of voice and Dorlund got his silent question.

"Yes. Your father has asked that we find means to create wildfyre concoctions that burn at different temperatures." Dorlund said before he looked towards Polaerys before he looked towards Castorys again.

"It has proven quite difficult in finding the right combinations of ingredients to increase or decrease the burning temperatures."

"At the moment, they're just really throwing anything they can think of in the concoction that they think will alter the properties of the wildfyre." Polaerys helpfully supplied.

"I wouldn't quite put it like that…" Dorlund said a little reluctantly "But yes, we are being free thinking in our approach to find the right mixtures. Which is needed. As you all aware, wildfyre is a recipe that has remained unchanged for thousands of years. Creating the powder form of wildfyre is perhaps the greatest advancement that has been made in hundreds of years and that had come quite accidentally too." Dorlund said before he smiled wryly.

"So we will find a way, in time." Dorlund looked towards Polaerys again. "And once we have your brother, and yourselves if you so wish, brought into the secrets of wildfyre and Alchemy, you may able to aid us in finding the solutions your father wishes."

Castorys looked at his twin a little amused with how he was smiling at the thought of being let loose amongst the madmen known as the Alchemists.

"Dorlund." His father's voice came from behind him and he saw his father approaching.

"Your Grace." Dorlund inclined his head slightly.

His father gave a faint smile at the man before his father swept his eye across him and his brothers. "I have need of my sons." His father said.

"Of course." Dorlund said before he bowed and left Castorys and his brothers with their father.

"Father?" Valarr asked curiously.

"Come have a walk with me." Their father said as he began to walk away and Castorys exchanged a few looks with his brothers before they followed on the heels of their father.

They made it out of the building with their guards following their steps.

"Where are we going?" Polaerys asked as he looked towards their father.

"To our future Keep." Father said with a smile towards Polaerys. "It's not such a bad day to go for a walk." Father said as he looked towards the heavens.

It was just past noon presently. By the time they arrived at the top of the mountain, it would be two or three hours past noon…

"But if you have wish to ride your dragon there, I will not stop you." His father added before he continued to walk on and Castorys could seriously see Valarr mulling it over.

Valarr looked at him and Polaerys before he sighed heavily and made his decision.

"No…we'll all walk, I think."

His father only smiled at that.

Hours later…

Castorys pulled himself up over the ledge, the hand of his father helping him, and he breathed out heavily before he fully outstretched out his body, and looked around at which point he noticed that there was some changes made since he'd last been here, a few weeks before his father had returned.

Right at the middle, there were a few stone slabs that were placed around in a circle, and there were a few bags there too.

"Ah." He heard from behind him and he saw Polaerys heaving a little, his hands on his knees, whilst Valarr looked as red as Polaerys but not as tired.

"Here, drink." His father said as he handed over one of the sheepskins to Polaerys, the other to Valarr before he gestured it to Castorys but he'd just shook his head.

He'd had his fill earlier.

"Father, did you do this?" Castorys asked as he pointed towards the stone slabs.

"I did." His father confirmed, and, after he glanced at his brothers, he begun to walk towards Castorys, and then past Castorys.

Castorys watched his father sit upon one of the stone slabs and he gestured him and his brothers to come forth.

They did and a few moments after, they took seat on the stone slab from across their father.

"I came here last night and prepared this for today." Father explained.

"Prepared? For what?" Castorys couldn't help but ask with a bit of confusion.

His father sighed a little before he raised his hand and Castorys' eyes widened when a flame was created right in the centre of his palm.

"Yes, finally!" Valarr couldn't help but say laughingly but he quickly got a hold of himself "I meant no offense father. It's just we've been reading your journals on magic and false gods and more and now that you're back…" Valarr scratched the back of his head. "We thought we might have started this sooner."

"And when would father had have the time to do this?" Polaerys asked a little dryly and Valarr shot Polaerys an annoyed look before Valarr shrug his shoulders.

"You may have a point there." Valarr conceded.

"I had wish to have done this perhaps a week or so ago but other matters had come up, unfortunately." His father interjected before the flame in his hand flew towards the centre and grew into a larger ball of flame.

Castorys frowned before he leaned forward and placed his hand closer to the flame, and he got his suspicions confirmed. "You've changed the nature of the flame, father?"

"I have." His father confirmed, his expression full of seriousness. "Whilst you all have been able to bend the flames from candles or campfires, you have not been able to further progress your abilities in magic."

Castorys grimaced slightly. Yes…they, all three of them, had had difficulty moving on to the next phase of controlling flames, which was to alter the heat of the flames.

"It's bee-" Polaerys was cut off by their father raising his hand who smiled proudly at Polaerys before he looked towards Valarr and then to Castorys.

"I do not hold it against you. I myself did not learn the next stages until I was almost ten years older than you are right now. To expect you to be able to grapple with conceptional and symbolic understanding of fire without much context, when you are still so young and inexperienced with life" His father said before he gestured towards the flame which began to change its form into the shape of a dragon.

"Would be unfair of me." Finished his father in saying, and Castorys watched as the dragon had burst apart, into a thousand smaller flames that began to hover above their heads and Castorys couldn't help but gape at it when they began to change colours, from orange-red to blues and whites.

"Which is why I will begin teaching you directly starting from today." The flames then began to descent at an angle, with flames melting into each other, until they were once more a single blue-white flame, which Castorys could definitely feel.

Castorys looked towards his father who was looking at them with a faint smile.

"And we will start with the symbolisms you can learn from the ancient tale of Prometheus, who stole fire from the Gods to give to humans…"