Devotion (GOT Fanfic)

Chapter II

Act III of Devotion: Liberty

Chapter II : The Wandering Queen Part II

'My mother Queen Leila had always been a wanderer. I could remember stories my uncle Jaime had told of me about her, liking to go through the deep caverns of Casterly Rock on her own and sometimes even in the wide outskirts of the Lannisport with great uncle  Gerion.

But my mother's heart was devoted to work, duty and family more than her wandering. And proof of this could be found in her existence in itself when my mother's illness started to get the better of her well being and her devotions.

In the beginning, it was fairly controlled. Being kept away from the Red Keep aided in reducing her stress and her episodes of panic. Though as the queen and the first woman of court, she could not avoid it forever. My father had assured her that she did not have to return but my mother thought that work would help her and distract her from her ills.

However as time went on, it would not be enough. Just like my brother Aegon, she had quite a few things that prevented her from being well. Though my brother had managed to cope with all of it through work, my mother's only got worse.

She always found herself not being able to shut her eyes for any hour, plagued by ghastly dreams of the past.  I could remember watching her try and keep herself awake at court session and at times when she us all at dinner time, though she had worked to laugh the matter to not worry us.  However you would see her shutting her eyes, so often it worried us if she would fall head first onto the dining plates. But my mother was fearful of sleep, and I understood why.

At times, she would not dare feast on anything  at all even in the privacy of our family. It was as  if her despite her body demanding an end to pain it growled of, my mother continued to deny it what it desires. 

Her waist had gotten so thin at that point, my mother had contracted other illnesses which recently then had forced the maesters to consider my mother to not be well for any more strenuous activity, which her own role as queen required.

There was much more to my mother's illness and many maesters tried what they could to provide her with comforts, though she did not liked being touched by them. My mother had only truly trusted Oberyn Martell, who was familiar too with medicinal properties. This merited his constant visits to her, along with giving her companionship and comfort with Ellaria Sand by his side too. 

My father King Rhaegar had received reports on my mother's health almost everyday, his mind drifting from duty and towards the more pressing issue of my mother's situation. He could not bear to see her like that any longer. My grandfather had thought that my mother only required  time and perhaps more distractions. But my father had started to see more and more that it was only burdening her.

The family had gone and visited my uncle Viserys and my aunt Daenerys in Summerhall, the palace our ancestors built in the Stormlands. It was a breath of fresh air for my mother to be away from the stifling court and the duties that had strangled her, along with the memories of the past that should be long dead. This was the time my father had eagerly pushed my mother to think of her health and constantly voiced out his worry.

My siblings and I followed. Though, I did what I could through the ravens I sent from the Citadel. It was hard. I remember being told by Aegon that there was much tears and much hardship. None of us had wanted to lose our mother to this.