"Here is Princess Mikaela, my Queen." Ser Richard, of the Queensguard, announced. Mikaela had been with her dragon Sōna on the beach, practicing commands.
"Sweet girl. I have been looking for you everywhere." Maekora says, hugging her daughter, "Where were you?"
"I was with Sōna. Down at the beach, mother." Mikaela had just turned five as well as her dragon. She spent a lot of her days with her which worried her parents.
"Kaela, Sōna needs rest. The same way that you do. It is good to practice but she needs a break."
"But you said to spend a lot of time with her." Kaela retorts, as she takes a seat next to Maia, who played with a wooden dragon on the floor. She had just turned one.
"Yes, of course. But not too much time. I know what I said, but it is best to set a limit. Remember Sōna is your companion and your partner. She has boundaries and feelings too. She is no slave."
"I will remember next time."
"It is importnant that you do because Sōna is just like you, a living breathing creature. Yes it is important to build your relationship with her. But also understand how she behaves and learn from her. And she will learn from you too." Maekora continues to counsel her as they both sit on the floor, playing with Princess Maia.
"Did you happen to see your brothers anywhere?" Mae asks her daughter, who shrugs.
"I have not seen them." Kaela goes back to playing with her youngest sister, making noises and roaring like a dragon.
"What about your father?"
"I think he is down in the book room." Kaela guesses, playing with the toy dragon.
Mae sighs as she gets up from off the floor to the desk in the far corner. She looks at the letter that arrived from her Rhaenyra not too long ago.
It spoke of how much she knew that Maekora would absolutely adore Jacaerys and Lucerys, her two little boys. Again, she felt the pit in her stomach.
Jealousy.
Jealousy and envy that she was not there to help Rhaenyra raise those boys. But she did not know that Rhaenyra felt the same way, not being able to raise all of their children together.
When Jacaerys was born, the first thing Rhaenyra did was write a letter to Mae. When Mae read his name out loud, her eyebrows raised at the familiarity of it.
It was as if she were hearing her brother's name all over again, only replaced with the letter J.
She had hoped to meet her sons one day and Rhaenyra was equally obsessed with Maekora's daughters. They both could not wait to see each other as well as meet all of their children.
And now here Mae stood rereading all of Rhaenyra's letters. She was so focused on them that she did not hear her husband walk in through the doors of the chambers.
"Dada!" Maia giggled at the sight of her father.
"Hello, my sweet girl." Reid grabs Maia, fixing her on his hip, and embraces Mikaela in an awkward side hug.
"You summoned me?" Reid stepped closer to Mae's desk, eyeing the stacks of letters that Mae was looking at.
"I wanted to talk to you about taking a trip."
Reid's mouth opens in excitement, "Where will we go?"
"To King's Landing." Reid's face drops, he knows why Maekora wants to go there.
"Let me guess. To see the Princess." Mae looks down in shame and shakes her head.
"You know what, it's silly."
"It is not. I did not mean to offend you. It is just, it would be kind of rough to travel with the children all the way to King's Landing." Reid rocks Maia in his arms, the young girl falling asleep on his shoulder.
"Mikaela is the only one with a dragon large enough to ride." Mae sits down to properly think, "We could all travel by boat instead."
"But it is faster with the dragons is it not?" Reid counters.
"It is. But we have to wait until the children are old enough to ride."
"Well we will figure something out," Reid steps closer, "Are you sure you want to go to King's Landing?"
"I do." Mae whispers, her voice cracking with guilt.
"To be honest with you, Mae. I do not know how to feel about the children's betrothals with the Targaryens." Reid lowers his voice when Maia shifts in his arms.
"It has already been discussed, Reid. It is simply an option that was thrown out there. It hasn't even happened yet." Mae reassured him, as she walks past him, but he continues pressing on.
"But I do not want my children marrying tyrants."
"Tyrants? I know you are not talking about Rhaenyra's children."
"I have met the Princess. She is a reckless girl who makes nothing but terrible decisions just to sit on a metal chair! It would make sense if she gave birth to exact copies of her stupidity."
Mae's brows knit together in confusion, "Reid, what are you saying? Where is all of this coming from?"
"It is the truth, Maekora." Reid spits out. His behavior had completely shifted from calm and kind to angry and bitter.
Mae grabs Maia from Reid and hands her to a servant, who had walked in to grab the girls for a nap. Reid grabs his temple and winces at something.
"Are you all right?" Mae placed her hand on Reid's cheek, who grabs it and tightens his hold on it.
"We are not involving ourselves with the Princess and her offspring. I will kill every single last person in this realm before my child-"
Mae had grabbed a goblet of water and threw it in his face. He is taken aback and blinks away the water several times. He rubs his eyes, "I am sorry. I do not know what came over me."
"Are you sure you are feeling all right?" Mae asks, combing her fingers through his now wet hair.
"No, I am okay. I was not myself." He still rubs his eyes, disoriented. This whole interaction was strange. Reid had never acted like this before. It still angered Mae that he spoke about Rhaenyra the way he did.
"Whatever happened just now with you is no excuse to be speaking that way about my friend. I never want to hear you speak ill of Rhaenyra and her children. Do you understand?"
"I am sorry I did not mean it. I know Rhaenyra is your friend." Reid quickly apologizes as he shakes his hair.
"I do not care. Any words that come out of you when your angry are words you have been wanting to say for a long time." Mae storms off, grabbing Mikaela's hand who was falling asleep on the couch, completely unaware of the argument her parents just had.
•
Maegon sat on the cliff side by the castle. He sat watching the waves on the beach, his dragon Embar, sleeping not too far from him.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Maegon?" Maekora asked him, as she sat next to him, unafraid of the long way down.
"Is it true that we are going across the sea?"
Mae strokes his curly hair, "We are. Does that sound exciting?"
"It does. Will Embar get to come?"
"Unfortunately not. We are traveling by boat this time. Until you are all old enough to ride. You are only four, and your siblings even younger."
"Why, mother?" Maegon groans in annoyance. He really hoped that Embar would come and see the wonders of the world with him.
"Because it is not safe, dear boy." Maekora combs her fingers through his dirty blonde hair.
"But-"
"Ahh, no more arguing. The decision is final, young man." Maekora quickly quips and Maegon rolls his eyes.
"You keep rolling your eyes like that, they will stay that way." This gets a laugh out of Maegon who no longer argues and drops the topic.
•
Maekora now sat in the throne room, her siblings and their children present. As well as her own.
"I wanted to talk to you all about the trip back to King's Landing. I am asking each and every one of you if you wish to join us on the trip. Should you wish to not go, you shall stay here in Ashbourne or the Islands."
"We wish to join you," Maegor raises his hand, rubbing his son's shoulders.
"Okay, Maegor, Max, and Steffon. Anybody else?"
"What about you, Maelora?" Mae points to her sister, who informs her that she will be at Silverock for the next six months with her husband and her daughter, Serra.
"Anyone else?"
"Jaeron would like to go with you." Pricilla says, smiling at her son.
"Just him? You are not coming, brother?"
"No no. We have seen Westeros one too many times. Jaeron would love to go with you." Maekor explains as he looks down at Jaeron.
"Yes, I want to see the other dragons!" He claps his hands in excitement that earns a laugh from his father.
"Sounds good to me, little man." Mae messes up his hair, and turns back to her own children.
"How do you two feel about going?" Maegon and Mikaela smile at their mother.
"We want to see Weseros!" Maegon fiddles with his fingers as he flashes a toothy grin.
"Yes of course. Westeros has a lot to offer for you kids."
Mikaela grabs her mothers hands and whispers, "Is there really a princess that rides a dragon. Just like me?"
"Yes! There is. And she is wonderful." Mae tells her as she plants three kisses on her head, "I am sure that Princess Rhaenyra will be happy to meet you."
"I am very happy to go see "Renira," Kaela loudly says.
"You know, she isn't the only Princess that rides a dragon." Mae informs her which makes the little girl squeal with excitement even louder.
Mae smiles and turns to her nephew Steffon, who wore an angry look on his face. Despite his parents always being very caring and happy with him, he was always mad at everything.
"Steffon, are you all right?"
"I want to go be with Perzys." Steffon mutters out.
"Why don't you? Perzys is probably waiting for you outside."
"Because Father is not letting me near Perzys. He says I make too much fire."
Mae chuckles at his response. Steffon was quite the pyromaniac, using his dragon to burn trees and fields of unused grass. He was out of control. Maegor and Maxine thought it would be best to limit his time with Perzys to control his problem.
"Ah, I think I have a solution for that, Steffon." Mae smiled at him as she kneeled down and looked him right in the eye.
"What is it?" Steffon grumbled.
"Whenever you feel like burning something or you have some anger. Why don't you do something else? Paint on a canvas, play with your cousins, or maybe even scream."
"Scream?"
"Yes. As loud as you can whenever you are alone. It helps a lot more than you think." Mae replied as Steffon nodded and smiled at her.
"What if I really do want to see some fire?" Steffon suddenly asks.
"Then, paint or draw a fire. You do not have to use Perzys to see fire."
"Okay. I will." Steffon gives her a tight hug and runs back to Maegor who embraced him warmly.
She sighs and wraps her hair up in bun, smiling at everyone who left the room. They would all be going to King's Landing very soon.
•
"Now grab it from here, and pull." Marissa instructed Markus, who were both strengthening the reins on her large white dragon, Snowstorm. Marissa and Markus were getting ready to leave for the Sunset Islands, with Maekor and Pricilla.
They groaned and pulled with all their might, eventually getting the reins just right. Markus collapsed on the floor, exhausted.
Marissa caressed Snowstorm's white scales, praising her patience.
"Does Darkwing already have his reins set?" Marissa yelled over at her brother, who still laid on the floor.
"Yes. He does! It wasn't that big of hassle. Compared to now." Markus breathed heavily.
"Oh relax. She was a good girl. Right Snowstorm?" Marissa cooed at her, calming her down with a Valyrian lullaby.
"Right. Such a good girl." Markus rolled his eyes, "I feel Snowstorm does not like me."
"What makes you say that?" Marissa innocently asked.
"She almost crushed me to death like five times." Markus crossed his arms, staring at Snowstorm's large orange eyes.
"Oh no she didn't. Maybe you did something to her. Snowstorm would never do such a thing." Marissa laughed into Snowstorm's scales, the dragon purring at her.
"I'm going back to the castle." Markus told her as Snowstorm watched him leave. It was true: Snowstorm did not like Markus. It could have been that when Markus was a young boy, he chained Snowstorm to the dungeons where Marissa was sure not to find her, leaving Snowstorm there for days. The dragon having largely no reason to feel threatened by the young boy, allowed for him to chain her. It seems the she-dragon has never forgotten Markus's actions.
Markus walks back into the castle, bumping into Mae.
"So are the dragons ready for your departure?" Mae asked him.
"Yes, they are. We also checked in on the ships. They are ready for you, Your Grace." Markus answered.
"Thank you, brother." Mae squeezed his hand as they both went their separate ways, readying themselves for their trips.
•
When Rhaenyra Targaryen heard of the Queen across the Sunset Sea's trip to King's Landing, she could not contain her excitement.
She was in her apartment in the Red Keep when she had heard the news. Ser Harwin was in the room, speaking to both Jace and Luke, about his night in the City.
She smiled at the sight as she closed her eyes, resting her head on a pillow that was placed by one of her servants.
Her husband, Laenor, was off drinking and nowhere to be found. It made her a little angry but all she could think about now was the arrival of Mae. It would be awhile before she would get there, but the excitement and anticipation put a smile on her face.
"Princess?" Rhaenyra opened her eyes and was met with the smiling face of Ser Harwin.
"Harwin." Rhaenyra acknowledged him and raised her eyebrows, waiting for what he had to say.
"I was going to tell you that I must go. I have been summoned. I already told the little lads." Harwin informs her, as he places his helmet on, and properly clipped on his gold cloak.
"Oh, it is all right. We will see you later, Ser Harwin," Rhaenyra beamed at him as he left the room.
•
"Mother?"
It was Jace and he wore a puzzled look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Rhaenyra asked him, as she grabbed him and ushered him to sit next to her.
"Where is Ser Harwin going?"
"He had to go. He will be back later to play with you." Rhaenyra reassured him as she placed a hand on his cheek, kissing his forehead.
"What about Father? Will he be back as well?"
The innocent questions of a child but it also frustrated her that Laenor was always off drinking but he still loved his sons. Rhaenyra just wished that he was there more often.
"He will be back as well, dear boy."
Jace jumped off the couch, happily going back to play with Luke.
Rhaenyra sighed as she laid back and watched them play. She simply could not wait for the young Dragon Queen's arrival.