[italicized text indicates high valyrian dialogue]
All the lords from the Seven Kingdoms gathered in King's Landing for King Viserys' tournament. His wife, Aemma Arryn had suffered a series of miscarriages throughout their marriage, Rhaenyra being their only living child. She was doted on by both of her parents. However, Viserys wanted to host a tournament to celebrate Aemma's current pregnancy because she has carried this baby fully to term, and they were both excited about the prospect of having a second living child.
Rhaenyra was also excited to have a sibling, although she told Alana that she would never be replaced in her life. She wanted to have a sibling in the same way Alana had Laenor and Laena. With Laena Velaryon being the oldest of the clan, she was very protective of both Laenor and Alana.
When Daemon had escorted the girls back from the dragonpit, their ladies-in-waiting immediately prepared baths and dresses for them. Although Alana's title wasn't technically princess, she is the daughter of a princess, the granddaughter of a prince, and the great-granddaughter of a former king, so Viserys made sure that his young cousins were always treated befitting their stations whenever they were in King's Landing.
Rhaenyra was dressed in a gown of traditional Targaryen black and red. The dress was red but it had black etchings throughout the stitching. Alana was dressed in sea blue to represent House Velaryon, with etchings of black throughout the stitching to represent House Targaryen, since she is a product of both the dragon and the sea. Their gowns brought out their purple eyes, Rhaenyra's just a touch of a shade lighter than her cousin's.
"Do you think your mother will give birth to a son?" Alana asked as she and Rhaenyra were being escorted to the tournament. She and Rhaenyra often spoke in High Valyrian when they were in places where they could be overheard so that they could still speak freely with each other.
"I would hope so, then my father can finally have his heir," Rhaenyra responded.
"What will happen if the baby is another girl?" Alana asked.
"Then my Uncle Daemon will become King. He is technically Father's heir until he has a son," Rhaenyra said.
"What if cousin Viserys named you heir instead? You are his child," Alana said.
"Yes, but I'm not a son," Rhaenyra said.
"That should not matter. I was doing some reading and it was recorded that our great-grandmother, Queen Alysanne, believed that an heir should be named based on birth order not gender. My grandsire Aemon had an older sister, Daenerys who died from the shivers but Alysanne tried to push the king to name Daenerys as heir because she was older," Alana said.
"And the King decided not to," Rhaenyra pointed out.
"Yes, but this King, your father could decide to name you heir. My mother was my grandsire's heir and she was skipped over. My father chose Laenor as his heir even though Laena is older. Your father could be different than those before and around him. You are his child, his blood, and you have just as much of a right to the throne as my mother did," Alana said. Rhaenyra looked at her cousin and their conversation paused once they reached the tournament. Alana and Rhaenyra were presented to the King, and he kissed both of their foreheads after they curtsied to him. Seated at Viserys' right was his Hand, Otto Hightower, who was brought to King's Landing by Jaehaerys after his son, Baelon died. Baelon had been Hand to the Old King when he became heir after Aemon was killed.
Seated next to Otto was his 16-year-old daughter Alicent Hightower. Toward the end of the Old King's life, Alicent would read to him, but because Jaehaerys was so old and borderline delirious, he often mistook Alicent for his daughter Saera, who had left King's Landing years ago. Rhaenyra and Alana were seated below the King, and the knights of the realm who came to participate were introduced.
A Dornish knight by the name of Ser Criston Cole caught the eye of young Rhaenyra, she thought his black hair was handsome and his eyes sparkled from where she sat. Boremund Baratheon was introduced as his opponent and he asked for the favor of his niece, Princess Rhaenys. Boremund was the son of Alyssa Velaryon and her second husband Rogar Baratheon, half-brother to the Old King Jaehaerys and Good Queen Alysanne. Aemon, Rhaenys' father was his nephew, and Jocelyn Baratheon, Rhaenys' mother was his sister. Boremund was one of Rhaenys' many supporters during the great council, claiming that she had the better claim as the eldest grandchild of Jaehaerys and Alysanne, born to their eldest son.
Rhaenys happily granted her uncle her favor, but he was still defeated by Criston. As the tournament went on, Criston continued to defeat his opponents, and then it came to the final round. He would be facing off against Prince Daemon Targaryen. Cole was only one year younger than the Prince, 22 to Daemon's 23, but he knew Daemon was a formidable knight, he was a knight that hadn't yet seen battle, and Criston Cole had seen battle.
The realm rejoiced when Daemon was introduced. He was truly the people's prince. He was both beloved and feared by the smallfolk. Some claimed him to be the very best of heroes, while others claimed him to be the very worst of villains. Daemon had served in a few positions on his brother's council, but not the position he wanted the most.
Hand of the King.
Daemon Targaryen was one of Viserys' fiercest supporters during the Great Council, he was ready to come to physical blows with anyone who opposed his brother. Daemon didn't want the crown for himself, no, but he wished Viserys would've been smarter. Daemon has never liked Otto Hightower from the moment he came to King's Landing to replace his father Baelon as Jaehaerys' Hand when Baelon died. Daemon had always been able to see Otto Hightower for what he was.
An ambitious second son who is trying to rise too high above his station.
Daemon had hoped when his brother became King he would let Otto go as Hand, just because he served as Jaehaerys' Hand doesn't mean he had to stay, but he didn't, and Daemon could see how Otto was whispering things in Viserys' ear for his own benefit and not for the benefit of the realm. Anyone who knows Daemon knows that he is fiercely protective of his family, and if he feels like someone is a threat to someone he loves, he wants to eradicate that threat, immediately and indefinitely.
Daemon rode his horse over to the royal box to ask for the favors of his niece, Rhaenyra, and his cousin, Alana, just as he said he would. The girls smiled when they saw him approaching and he held out his jousting stick.
"It would bring me great honor to have the favor of my beloved niece and cousin to carry me through this final round," Daemon said with a charming smile on his face. The girls smiled as they grabbed their favors and dropped them around Daemon's jousting stick.
"Good luck to you, cousin," Alana said with a smile.
"To your victory, Uncle," Rhaenyra echoed. Daemon smiled at the girls before going to his starting point to face off against Cole, while the girls returned to their seats. Although Daemon was a formidable opponent in the tournament, Criston Cole, the Dornish knight was able to get the upper hand on him and win the tournament. He was given the Crown of Love and Beauty, which was made up of Winter Roses to give to a woman in the crowd to name her the Queen of Love and Beauty.
Criston Cole rode over to the royal box and placed the crown on the lap of 7-year-old Rhaenyra Targaryen. While some people saw this gesture as sweet and adorable, since she is the daughter of the King, others found it a bit strange that a 22-year-old knight would crown a 7-year-old child as the Queen of Love and Beauty, even if she was the Princess.
Criston was sworn in as a knight of the Kingsguard and Viserys named him Rhaenyra's protector. He made sure to make a point that this was also to be extended to Lady Alana Velaryon whenever she was in King's Landing, as Rhaenyra's closest companion, and as the daughter of his beloved cousin and Targaryen Princess, Rhaenys.
Criston accepted his new role with an honored bow.
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one year later
105 AC
Aemma Arryn was in labor. She was in much pain and had been in labor for hours, but with Viserys by her side, she found new strength and was able to bring the babe forward, a boy, who they named Baelon, after Viserys' beloved father Baelon the Brave. At last, the King had a son, an heir!
But tragedy was soon to follow.
Aemma began to hemorrhage after her labors, and although her midwives and ladies-in-waiting did their best to stop the bleeding, the Maester was unable to save her and she died from loss of too much blood. King Viserys was devastated. At last, he had a son, but at the cost of his wife. He remembered she had some bleeding after giving birth to Rhaenyra, but it was not as much as he just witnessed the midwives trying to stop. Viserys told himself that everything would be alright and that although he lost his wife, at least he still had his children, Rhaenyra and Baelon.
But the next day, the Stranger took baby Baelon too, and King Viserys was once again without an heir, except for his brother, Daemon Targaryen. Rhaenyra was devastated to learn about the loss of her mother and her little brother. At only 8 years old, she felt a deep grief. She no longer had a mother, and her father was King, she didn't know how much time she would get to spend with him as the years went by and things needed his attention.
She served as his cupbearer now, but council meetings were hardly the time to bond with your Father who is King of an entire realm. After the death of Aemma, Rhaenys came back to King's Landing with her daughters Laena and Alana to bring comfort to Rhaenyra. Corlys and Laenor stayed in Driftmark, but Rhaenys wanted to be there to support her young cousin, and she knew Rhaenyra and Alana would love having Laena there too, even though she is four years older than them.
Viserys loved that his cousin gave his daughter support at this time.
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one year later
106 AC
As the year went by, the people of King's Landing began to talk. Aemma had been gone for nearly a year and Viserys still had no heir. A lot of people on the council didn't want Daemon to take over as King after Viserys died. Otto Hightower believed the young Prince would be worse than Maegor the Cruel, but then Viserys did something that nobody expected.
He named his only living child, Rhaenyra Targaryen as Princess of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne. And he made all the lords of the Seven Kingdoms swear fealty oaths to her, that they would defend her right to succeed her father once he was dead. Many lords take their oaths seriously, and when the time comes, a lot of the lords would, but some others would not. After that moment, whenever Viserys held court, he always had Rhaenyra sit at his feet when he was on the Iron Throne so that she could learn the ways of the court and see how things were done.
And of course, with naming his daughter as his heir came a round of marriage proposals from all the lords in the realm, wanting their sons to be the future king of the seven kingdoms, but since his daughter was only 8, Viserys was not listening to many of the proposals, he was not going to marry his child daughter off to a man that was 2-3x her age.
But people were also still wondering when Viserys himself was going to remarry. Many people had brought prospects forward for him, but only two were taken with serious consideration. 13-year-old Laena Velaryon, the eldest daughter and child of the Seasnake Corlys Velaryon and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. The Targaryens and the Velaryons were the last two remaining houses from Old Valyria, and marriages between their families had been happening since the days of the Conquerors. The Conquerors, Rhaenys, Aegon, and Visenya had a Velaryon mother.
The other potential bride taken into consideration was 18-year-old Alicent Hightower, daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King. Viserys was only 29 years old, and as far as he was concerned, the succession was settled. He named Rhaenyra as his heir and he had no plans to take it back, but he knew the council would only continue to harp on him if he did not remarry. Although he did not want to insult House Velaryon since he loves Rhaenys dearly and their houses have been allies and family for years, Viserys chose to marry Alicent, for he could not find it in himself to marry a 13-year-old child.
This decision made Otto Hightower overjoyed, but Corlys Velaryon was very angry. That was now twice that he felt his House and family had been slighted. The first time was when Rhaenys was passed over being named Princess of Dragonstone to succeed the Throne after Jaehaerys, and now with Viserys passing over his daughter to marry the daughter of a second son.
He was insulted.
Corlys' answer to this was to bring his family back to Driftmark, he took a pause from serving on Viserys' council, and he ended up forming an alliance with Daemon Targaryen, who also did not approve of his brother's choice of wife, in the Stepstones. The two invaded and wanted to forge their own Kingdom.
With Corlys gone, Rhaenys allowed Alana to go back to King's Landing to be with her cousin. She was not insulted by Viserys not picking Laena to marry, she was relieved. She didn't want her thirteen-year-old daughter married off to her much older cousin. She didn't take it to heart as her husband did.
But Viserys' decision would have lasting consequences.
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now that the introductions are out of the way, we will be getting into the story, and remember, this is following the book timeline, but aspects of the show adaptation will be woven in where it fits.
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