Blood Upon The Snow ||| Cregan Stark

eleven

It was quite a normal day to begin with. Jacaera and Jace were studying High Valyrian. They studied by having Jacaera read a tale about Aegon the Conqueror completely in High Valyrian. Jace would repeat what she said back and translate the meaning of the words.

Joffrey was sitting with a handmaid at the end of the table, they were reading a book together.

Jacaera stood across the table, hands clasped behind her back, and spoke the words from the page of the book to him.

"The Conqueror and his sisters sailed with a great army."

She looked expectantly at Jace as he stared at the table, his mind trying to work out the translation. He paced a moment and consulted his parchment before he had an answer.

"The Conqueror and his sisters sailed with a great army."

The doors to the hall opened as Jacaera nodded and continued. She looked at the next passage and spoke it to Jace.

"And landed at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush."

Jacaera spotted Rhaenyra as she approached, smiling at her child trying to learn his mother tongue. He very much regretted his laziness in his former years

Jace sighed as he tried to translate. "And landed at the Blackwater Rush."

He looked up at Jacaera who shook her head and then looked to Rhaenyra. She repeated the word he was missing. "Mouth," Rhaenyra emphasized it as she walked closer.

Jace repeated it after his mother, saying it to himself a few times before coming up with the rough translation.

"At the end?" He asked, looking between Jacaera and his mother.

"Mouth," Rhaenyra corrected, smiling playfully as Jace cursed and turned back to his notes.

"Mouth! Ah, come on, Jace, you knew that." He was frustrated with himself and Jacaera was quite amused. He rifled through his parchment and Rhaenyra wondered what side the stubbornness came from and when Luke would show it. Because both Jace and Jacaera had shown it in different ways.

He repeated the word a few more times, trying to drill the meaning into his head. Jacaera sighed and looked at her mother, giving her a bored look as she turned back toward Jace.

She recited the word he was having trouble with, just to feel like she was doing something. "At the mouth."

Jace was leaning on the table as he talked to himself. Rhaenyra could see how frustrated he was.

"Perhaps that's enough for this morning." She knew her children but she also knew they needed breaks. Beating himself up wouldn't help.

"No, no! I-I want to keep going." Jace looked up from the table and pleaded with his mother. He tried to be as sincere as possible, to prove he was really trying to learn. He turned back to Jacaera. "Sister?"

She shrugged and recited the next passage for him. "Aegon ordered that the trees should be felled."

As she spoke, Jace paced the end of the table. He really wanted to get that sentence completely correct.