𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐇𝐄𝐌 ‒ 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣

▬ raven's call

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set in between the first and second episode of house of the dragon.

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𝟏𝟏𝟑 𝐀𝐂

WHEN VAELNYRA IS OVER A YEAR OLD, Haelora receives a raven from King's Landing. She had been expecting it for some time now, a scroll she did not wish to see ever since she had learned of Queen Alicent Hightower's pregnancy. She had been breastfeeding her babe, a delicate little thing. She was as sweet as a berry, smaller than Daella and Saeherys at her age; however, for what she lacked in size, she made up for in personality. She had the curiosity of a lamb and bravery of a dragon despite being only one.

There had been times where the babe would attempt to climb out of her cradle without fear- two nurses were quickly dispensed to take watch. She had only begun to walk, but despite her legs stumbling over one another, tripping over nothing, it did not stop her from walking around the vicinity they would be in, searching for something, anything.

The birth had been difficult, for hours she laid in that damn seat, the same seat she had laid in when birthing Daella and Saehaerys, and her angel babes, Aenys, Elaera and Baelor. She wondered if it would be her last time laying in that seat, her legs sprawled out on the length of the chair, blood leaking from inside her. She thought she would follow Aemma and maybe, it wouldn't have been so bad.

When Rhaenys visits from Driftmark, her heart stops for a moment. She had seen her father reborn. Her wisps of hair was pale and shone like white gold, the same shade that Prince Aemon had. Her eyes were as pale as lilac just like Vaelnys and Aemon, perhaps even lighter than theirs. Eyes so light they looked like pearls under certain lights and many thought that the child was blind due to the cloudiness of her eyes.

She was a frail babe but hopefully, like Vaelnys' mother, she would become tall and strong. The maesters feared Vaelnyra would not live and follow her older siblings to the Stranger. Haelora held the babe to her breasts and sniffled. "You will live," she mumbled. "You will live.." Her aunt Aemma had been so excited to meet her and yet.

It had been nine moons since her brother had remarried a child. A girl closer to Daella's age than his own sister's age. It had been over a year since the death of her dearest cousin, Kind Queen Aemma, and it had been a year since her niece had been proclaimed heir.

It was the first of its kind, proclaiming a Princess of Dragonstone instead of a Prince. She thought it rather ironic how in order for her brother to have been given the throne, a woman was so easily passed over, simply for not having a cock, as if having something down there was all the requirement you needed to become a ruler. And now, his own daughter was heir. Perhaps being the king had blinded him.

Haelora had never felt the pressure to bear children. It had been once a fear of hers. Her mother before her had passed from bearing her and her forgotten twin brother, whom she would never know. Then, her cousin Aemma who she had witnessed be sliced open. Hands digging into her belly and pulling out a babe. She couldn't stand anyone's hand near her belly after that. Not even Vaelnys, not even her own.

She stood to inherit nothing, only the Targaryen name. The third child of the Spring Prince and his wife, Alyssa, and a woman. What was the need to bear children? But when she did, she knew of no greater joy despite the hardships. And so when she learned of the birth of her new nephews, twin heirs, the son's Viserys had always yearned for. She felt bitterness pooling in her stomach, and suppressed the urge to storm into King's Landing and yell at her brother once more. But not only that, she could not help but feel bitter sadness towards her new nephews.