Winter Rose.

lxxxviii.

He nodded, light eyes watching her. She looked like Rhaegar, contemplative as she gazed out with a dipped brow, two indigo eyes focusing on the field. Even from the other side of the room he could hear the clashing of swords, emotions swirling in the shades as the smile dropped from her face. "News from Dorne has arrived, Prince Oberyn has been found in Sunspear with his daughters."

A look of shock passed Rhaenar, eyebrows lifting. "He has?"

"Word came at dawn in the form of a raven." A weight lifted from her shoulders, her knees close to buckling as she placed a hand down on the side of the window to steady herself. "He is safe, as are his daughters; they're currently surrounded by their Dornish forces and the Lannister army isn't seen to be advancing." A smile rippled over her lips, a laugh tumbling from them. Days of worry melted from Rhaenar, just knowing that Oberyn and his daughters were okay.

Rhaenar nodded at Ser Barristan. "Thank you, Ser Barristan. That's the best news that I've received all week." He smiled a kind smile, nodding his head as he joined her.

"You have not been feeling yourself this week?" He questioned, her head shaking as they focused their attention on the field below them.

"Too many things to worry about." She muttered, Aegon was now just fighting one man, sweat building upon his brow as redness flushed his cheeks. He was good - she'll admit that, but she wouldn't let him win it all so easily. "No one warned me that being Queen in Meereen was vastly different to being a potential Queen here."

Barristan laughed slightly, the sound like warm honey to her ears. "Your brother Rhaegar found similar difficulties after your father returned from Duskendale. Aerys wasn't the same man he was before he left; sickly, thin, swore to the Gods that he would never touch another woman when they granted him his son." Barristan explained. "The eyes of all those in the Kingdom watched Rhaegar for what he would do; murder his father, overrule him, or find some way to be King so people wouldn't suffer."

She turned slightly, brow raised. "And what did Rhaegar do?"

"Caused a war that murdered thousands." It was a hard memory for Barristan to remember, the same betrayed emotions returning to him when Rhaegar told Barristan that he would do nothing. Rhaegar didn't seem to care that his father was slowly descending further into madness, he only ever took it as an omen. "Rhaegar was stupid that way; when he could have plotted with the high lords and Tywin at the tourney of Lannisport or Harrenhal, he didn't. It wasn't out of loyalty for House Targaryen either."

Rhaenar had never seen this side of Barristan before, of the heartache the man had for faults that weren't his own. "He chose to focus on this prophecy that Melisandre believes."

"You're warning me against it, aren't you? About Night Kings, and Armies of the Dead, and Azor Ahai." She briefly remembered Barristan telling her of Rhaegar's fascination with the damn thing. It had been one of the factors that had caused the downfall of her family, and now here she was presented with the very thing.

He nodded. "Prophecies are a dangerous thing; if you place it in motion, it'll come to fruition. Rhaegar believed in something he shouldn't have, something that could have easily been avoided if he stepped away." Barristan's eyes turned to the boy on the field. "That boy down there was believed to be the Prince that was Promised by Rhaegar because he was conceived beneath a red comet."

"And do you believe it?" Melisandre believes she or Jon Snow could have something to do with the prophecy, Rhaegar believed Aegon could have. Perhaps Ser Barristan was right, that prophecies are a dangerous thing that only come to pass if dabbled with their meanings.