𝒜𝓁𝒾𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑅𝒽𝒶𝑒𝓃𝓎𝓇𝒶~𝐿𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝒹𝑜

The mother.

Alicent

"The library. You inquired why it happens, and I do not know, and I wish to know, so I shall know." Rhaenyra said prancing down a hallway leading away from the garden.

Alicent looked back at the fading light from the garden, reluctantly turned and followed Rhaenyra to the library which was huge, and had more books than they both could count combined. They spanned far beyond their heads.

"We must ask a guide." Rhaenyra remarked walking up to a small man and lifting her hand to tap on his shoulder. Alicent stopped her before she could demand answers of him.

"Should we be concerning him with this matter? How do you know he will not tell our fathers we've been wandering?" Alicent whispered in Rhaenyra's ear.

"He won't." She whispered back ignoring Alicent and tapping the guide on his back. "Sir we would like a book explaining bleeding!" She demanded, much louder.

The guide, who turned initially expecting someone taller, was met with Rhaenyra. "Well what kind of bleeding are you searching for, princess?"

"The kind that happens to young women when they come of age." Rhaenyra said staring the man in the eyes as he begun to itch his neck and look away.

"I'm afraid we do not have any books on that matter, princess." He stepped back and smiled at the the two girls who were visibly confused.

"Why not? How is one to learn of these things, without books?" Alicent inquired a bit irritated.

"You must ask your mother's. Forgive me but I must go." The guide then swiftly turned and walked away.

"We must go to my mother." Rhaenyra stated as she spun and began walking.

"Why must we Rhaenyra? Must we know these things if they are not in books?"

"You will settle for not knowing how your own body functions?" Rhaenyra questioned.

"I mustn't know until it is my time, Rhaenyra."

"We'll I wish to know. Mine own mother did not tell me enough when it happened to be my time." She said, turning back and continuing to walk. "You can join me or you can go back to the garden!"

Though the garden sounded much more appealing, she followed her friend down the small hallway that would lead them to the royal wing. Because she too, though she would never admit it, was very curious.

As the two girls weaved their ways through the red keep they began to hear wailing. Rhaenyra picked up pace. She knew whose screams they were, she would never forget them. She heard those same screams once every few years.

Alicents heart beat matched with the rhythm of their slippers making contact with the concrete as they ran. The wailing echoed through the dark, empty hallways. They soon reached Queen Aemma's chambers. Rhaenyra flung the door open and ran to her mother, shoving past six servants and tripping twice.

She was sobbing. Alicent watched as her tears ran down her face. She was but a child, clinging to her own mother. Alicent's eyes welled with tears as she watched the servants pry the young girl off of her mother. They quickly delivered her into Alicent's arms and she lead Rhaenyra out into the hallway. Following the winding paths Rhaenyra's sobs ricocheted off of the stone walls.

Alicent laid Rhaenyra in her place beneath the weirwood. She began stroking her hair as Rhaenyra clung to her legs and wept.

As Rhaenyra's cry's ceased to a snivel, Alicent began to tell her a story.

"When I was a child, my mother used to sing me and my brother a hymn about the mother. She would often weave us necklaces out of lavender flowers as she sang, it is the reason I love them so very much. She always chose this hymn because she knew that one day we too would have children and experience the same hardships she was facing.

"Gentle mother," she began singing. "fond of mercy, save our sons from war, we pray, stay the swords and stay the arrows, let them know a better day.
Gentle mother, strength of women, help our daughters through this fray, sooth the wrath and tame the fury, teach us all a kinder way."

Alicent sang the hymn three times until Rhaenyra went silent. She looked down to find her fast asleep, tears dry on her face.

Alicent began to weep laying her head on top of Rhaenyra's vowing to keep her safe for the rest of her little life. The only one that truly ever mattered was Rhaenyra, only her.