The House of Ice and Fire

A Young Dragon and Old Sheep

In the conflict that defined the Greyjoy Rebellion, Aemon Targaryen was embroiled in a maelstrom of chaos and carnage, where the whims of fate hung delicately in the balance. Unlike the skirmishes of his former life as Jon Snow, where battles were decisive and swift, the Greyjoy Rebellion unfolded as a protracted saga of shifting fortunes and bitter struggles. Jon Snow's wars finished in a single great battle. Aemon Targaryen's were battles of attrition and far more draining.

As Aemon surveyed the papers and notes, waiting for the next piece of news, he knew victory lay within his grasp. With two formidable fleets at his command, the Velaryons and the Redwynes. With five mighty dragons soaring overhead, Balerion, Vēttir, Viserra's marron dragon, Jēdar, Maegelle's sapphire dragon, Dȳñes, Aerea's silver-platinum dragon, and Averilla, Daenery's rich purple dragon. With the unwavering support of three entire kingdoms, the Westerlands, the Stormlands, and the North, the Ironborn stood little chance against the might arrayed against them. Especially when news comes about whether or not the forces from the North to help relieve the Riverlands alongside Aemon's father, Daemon, came back with favorable results. If that goes according to plan, it would be four kingdoms rather than just three that Aemon could use to end this rebellion.

Aemon did not dwell on the fact it was the same fleets, the Redwynes, and the Velaryons, though in Jon Snow's time, Stannis led it, and the same four kingdoms, the North, Westerlands, Riverlands, and Stormlands, that led the charge against the Ironborn in Aemon Targaryen's time.

For Aemon, this was the true essence of warfare—a relentless and unforgiving test of strength and strategy, where victory was not assured by the swing of a sword but by the careful orchestration of countless moving parts.

Reflecting on his past as Jon Snow, Aemon could not help but contrast the simplicity of battles like the Battle of the Bastards and the Sacking of King's Landing with the multifaceted conflict of the Greyjoy Rebellion. Where Jon had known the swift resolution of conflicts settled in a single confrontation, Aemon now grappled with the intricacies of a war that spanned entire kingdoms and had to find a way to make the smaller victories accumulate to results as important as one large confrontation. At the same time, he also ensured that he was not on the receiving end of one of those large confrontations that destroyed everything he had worked for. Aemon had to wonder how Rob Stark was winning his wars when facing someone like Tywin Lannister; he would have to label it as Rob was better than him and leave it as such, something Jon Snow had done as a child for many years.

The Greyjoys had struck with cunning and precision, their devastating assaults on Lannisport and Seagard as harbingers of the chaos. Aemon truly hated how perfect their timing was; this war was almost eight months long, and if it weren't for the timing, it would have been put down in less than two due to the Targaryen dragons. Still, only because all the lords were so naive and so used to peace that they had brought most of their forces to Harrenhall and not enough to garrison their keeps was this war lasting this long, and now Aemon had to clean up the mess, he was seven for god's sake. Yet, for every blow struck by the Ironborn, Aemon had answered with resolute determination and unyielding resolve.

The Black Burn, also known as the Fifth Dornish War, was a testament to Aemon's prowess on the battlefield, a solitary figure against the might of an entire kingdom's army. In unparalleled skill and valor, he had vanquished his foes and repelled the Ironborn invasion single-handedly. Aemon had read from letters from Saera that people had come far and wide while the Stormlands were at war to see the Dragon's Gate and see how the Red Mountain walls on either side of the gates were melted like candle wax; people had come to live in Summertown for safety and merely to live near such a great wonder of the world. A canyon that spanned miles, the only functional path leading two and from Dorne, after Daemon destroyed most the others and the fact that Dorne was not foolish enough to invade the Reach when they had a hundred thousand knights at the ready and the entire path was stone melted like it was liquid it's entire lifetime.