dancing with our hands tied | r. targaryen

x.

111 A.C.
KING'S LANDING
•••

"WHAT ABOUT LADY MALLISTER?" ALAYNE ASKS, "I FEEL AS THOUGH SHE'D BE A LOVELY MOTHER."

Rhaenyra, who'd been resting her head in Alayne's lap, looks up at the younger girl at the suggestion. There'd been talk that her father needed to remarry and in true Alayne fashion, it seemed that she was not taking the topic seriously at all.

"Are you trying to find my father matches?" Rhaenyra asks.

"Yes, but only ones that work for you," Alayne responds, "Lady Mallister gives the best hugs. You would quite enjoy her, I'm not so sure your father would though. She's quite old. I think she saw the reigns of both Maegor and Jaehaerys."

Rhaenyra meets Alayne's gaze and the two of them fall into a fit of giggles. A gentle breeze passes through, ruffling the leaves above and they both look up at them.

"I fear that they're trying to replace me," Rhaenyra speaks, "Marry my father off so that he may have a son."

"They're not trying to replace you," Alayne says as she looks down at Rhaenyra, "And if they are, is that such a bad thing?"

"What do you mean?" Rhaenyra asks.

Alayne shrugs, "I don't know, I mean imagine if you were no longer your father's heir. Then you could do whatever you want. Go wherever you want."

"Where do you want to go?" Rhaenyra asks and Alayne lets out a soft laugh.

"I said you could go wherever you want," Alayne responds as she taps Rhaenyra on the nose. The Princess scrunches her nose and goes to bite Alayne's finger and Alayne quickly retracts it, giggling as Rhaenyra continues to try to bite her finger.

"I want you to come with me," Rhaenyra says as she sits up, silver hair falling over her shoulder, "Syrax can fly us anywhere."

"Syrax isn't big enough to fly us anywhere," Alayne retorts.

"She will be," Rhaenyra says, "Someday."

Alayne looks around thoughtfully before looking back at Rhaenyra with a grin, "I want to go to Dorne."

"Dorne?" Rhaenyra asks slightly surprised, "Why Dorne?"

"They say it's beautiful," Alayne says, growing excited, "And that women rule Dorne just as men do. And marriage doesn't matter there, what does is love. It's the reason they refuse to submit to the rest of Westeros. They find our traditions to be queer. And they're not wrong. And there's something to be said about the fact that Dorne never bowed, even when faced with Rhaenys and Meraxes."

"You sound like you want to be Dornish," Rhaenyra says with a smile.

"I do," Alayne admits as she looks at the ground, "I feel life would be easier if I were."

Rhaenyra stares at Alayne, she wants to give her everything she's ever desired, even something as impossible as Dorne.

Alayne lets out a laugh and shakes off her desire as she looks at Rhaenyra with a small smile, "Where do you want to go?"

"Wherever you are," Rhaenyra answers. Alayne is caught off guard by the answer as she stares at Rhaenyra and a small smile crosses her lips.

"I think you're the only person in my life who would follow me to Dorne," Alayne speaks softly.

Rhaenyra smiles as she reaches out and tucks a loose strand of hair behind Alayne's ear, "I'd follow you anywhere."

Alayne reaches up and takes Rhaenyra's hand and presses it against her lips, an intimate action, but everything that she and Rhaenyra did had a certain level of intimacy to it. She smiles against Rhaenyra's hand, "Even to Storm's End?"