The Realm's Delight

Chapter 3

It was an odd thing watching your parents be happy about an accomplishment of yours no matter how small.

Before Viserys and Aemma I had another set of parents in another world. I don't remember them well, but I can assume they weren't that bad since thinking about them did not make me feel anything negative.

Viserys and Aemma were the kind of parents who would ensure that a child would not go wanting for love or go forward being spoiled rotten. Viserys was the spoiler giving into any requests I had if I just played his weak spots, which more often than not was me. Aemma was the stern hand, always setting limits but never too harsh. They both loved me and I began to love them too if I could read my emotions right.

I had spoken my first word when I was almost one year old when I spoke my first words. My parents were overjoyed at that. They had a bet going on whether I'd say 'father' or 'mother'. Of course, neither one since my first words were 'Baelon', my grandfather was over the moon and was halfway to Vhagar to take me to the skies. My mother of course did not approve and so I was deprived of the skies once more.

By my second name day, I was walking and very interested in reading, something that my father was all too happy to indulge in. Back in my original world, I was not a good student. I read as much as I needed to, I wrote what I needed to and I studied just enough to pass my exams. But things here were different.

I was taught to speak in, read and write the common tongue before I was taught Valyrian. The common tongue was very similar to English, so mastering it was a walk in the park. Valyrian on the other hand proved to be a slight challenge. But it was interesting. I was eating up every lesson, absolutely devouring any texts that were given to me to learn from. The Maester was flabbergasted at how quickly I was learning things. My grandfather jested that my granduncle Vaegon would approve of me. Of course, Granduncle Vaegon was sort of the black sheep of the family even if no one spoke about it him like that, so I was a little bummed out by the comparison.

It was also around that time that I lost another sibling, a brother from what I had heard my nannies speak. My father was distraught but also extremely glad that my mother made it. My parents had not told me but I had overheard that it was touch and go. It was the first time that I felt so afraid when I realized that I didn't have much time with my mother. My father was not about to stop until he had a son.

On my third name day, I begged my father to let me train with a sword. I had grown bored with just reading and was desperate to learn the way of the sword. In my previous life, I was very much a nerd and absolutely devoured anything that had to do with medieval-influenced fantasy. And being reborn into such a time where dragons were a reality as well? I could not wait to get started.

The only problem was that I was a girl and not many people wanted to teach a girl how to fight. My father certainly did not want to, no matter how much I begged him. My mother was the same, choosing instead to indoctrinate me in the ways of a Princess.

I went to my grandfather to ask for help, but he could not convince my mother either. In desperation I went to the one person that I knew would find a middle ground for me, great grandfather Jaehaerys. True to my hopes he did find me a middle ground. He convinced my parents to allow me to train with a sword, while also making me promise to not neglect my courtly studies. I agreed to it, beggars can't be choosers after all.

The same year I lost my great-grandmother. The funeral was held in Dragonstone, where I had been living with my parents and Great Grandmother. Things were not going well between the Old King and Queen in the last year and eventually, the Queen perished. Great Grandfather was devastated and did what he always did when confronted by strong emotions, buried himself in his work. None of them was ready for what happened the following year.