The House of Ice and Fire

History Before the Dance of the Dragons

Prince Aemon called Saera's two friends, Lady Perianne Moore and Lady Alys Turnberry, to be questioned. Threatened with imprisonment, the two girls quickly revealed that the three girls had practiced kissing, dressed at first, naked later on, thinking it was that Aemon wished to know rather than why they were mocking the court jester in a brothel. When the girls dared each other to kiss a real boy, Saera had proclaimed she would kiss a man, which is where her three males came in. According to Lady Perianne, "it was who did the training for all of them." When asked where the servants had been during all they had done, the two girls informed the prince that they had been ordered to stay outside.

Aemon was enraged and ordered Maester Vaegon to examine the princess and the ladies for any chance of pregnancy and to do so in secret so that not a soul knew of the fact that they were being tested, not even those being tested. Maester Vaegon confirmed characteristics of what he called mourning sickness, a common occurrence of those with children, in all three and claimed a high likelihood that all three were with children. It was said never had a soul seen the pure rage upon Aemon, never had they heard his rage boil over so, his rage and screams so true that Balerion's screams paled to his rider on that day. He made Maester Vaegon give the ladies Moon tea, make another for Princess Saera, and give it to Aemon for when he spoke to her.

Summoning the errant princess before him, Prince Aemon confronted her with the accusations leveled against her—a damning revelation that she had bedded not one, but three young knights in a reckless game of passion and folly. Yet when faced with the wrath of her cousin, Princess Saera showed no remorse, her words dripping with defiance as she likened herself to the infamous King Maegor the Cruel and his many wives.

"Maegor had more than one wife, why can I not have more than one husband?" Saera asked.

Enraged and ashamed by her brazen audacity, Prince Aemon demanded to know who else was privy to her indiscretions, only to be met with the chilling assurance that it was known only to the three young knights themselves. With a heavy heart and a grim resolve, Prince Aemon banished his aunt to her chambers, her fate sealed by her own arrogance.

Aemon was not gentle in telling her that she was with child; he was not in a calm enough mind to give her the gentle information he should; no, he roared her age and screamed at her that she, from what Maester Vaegon could gather, was with child. Aemon warned her that other lords and princes would force Saera to raise her bastard alone with no aid, and she should than every god there ever was that he cared enough for her to clean up her mistakes. She stated that it was unfair that Aemon could not bed any woman and that Saera could not do the same. Aemon returned saying he did not care what was fair; he told her it was unfair that children starve in the streets, unfair that men must die in wars, unfair that people suffer while the noble lords tourney and feast. He said he did not care what she considered fair; he told her all that mattered was the perception the people had and the reality. Aemon told her that the reality was that if Saera married one of the knights, then a lesser House would have dragon blood through her children and could one day fight back against House Targaryen, and he would not allow it. He ordered her to drink the Moon tea and pray to the gods that Aemon could salvage this for her.

Turning his attention to the three knights who had succumbed to Saera's charms, Prince Aemon offered them a choice—life at the Wall or death at his hand, for their transgressions had stained the honor of the realm. Yet when they demanded trial by combat, he granted their request, though with a twist of fate that would seal their doom.

Prince Aemon chose Balerion the Black Dread as his champion.

For as they faced the fiery wrath of Balerion the Black Dread, the fearsome dragon of House Targaryen, their fate was sealed in a blaze of fire and blood. And as the flames consumed them, their screams echoing through the night like the cries of lost souls, Prince Aemon knew that justice had been served, though at a cost too dear to bear. Prince Aemon sent letters to all parties and families in regards to the scandal and named it as the three men trying to rape Princess Saera rather than her willingly sleeping with them. The words of Prince Aemon spared Princess Saera's reputation and spared himself from action against the other families ' fur-burning men for the decisions they had caused. Only those in Summerhall knew the truth of things, and Maester Vaegon had written the only true account of the events.