Fire and Blood

Chapter 57: Unresolved Matters

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Driftmark ― High Tide...

Slumped along the steps of the cliffside courtyard, Aegon the Elder had gotten increasingly drunk on wine, as seen by the littered number of cups near his feet near the closest stairway. One, two, three, four... too many were beyond counting. His head felt heavy, as did the rest of his adolescent body. Aegon was living life on his terms: flaunting his royal status, being given as much wine as he wanted, and lecherously eyeing all the serving girls he set his sights on. The only thing Aegon lamented was his betrothal to his sister Helaena. As he was passed out in his drunken stupor, the Targaryen prince didn't hear the approach of an older lord near the courtyard steps.

Lord Unwin, disgusted at the sight of his grandson, descended the steps and towered over him. So, this is how you raised this, this... boy, my dear daughter? So disgraceful. I instructed you to present a prince worthy of our bloodline to be the world's envy someday. Yet from what I have seen about Aegon compared to the other Targaryen children, Beatrice, you are as unfit a mother as a queen. I had so many hopes for you; for our house. Shaking his head in disappointment, the Lord of Starpike woke his grandson with a stiff kick to the side.

"Ow!" Aegon yelped. He was now wide awake. Who kicked him? Once his eyes opened, he saw a silhouette standing over him. Before he could react, he felt himself being lifted to his feet by his collar. "Brother?" he asked, still slurring his mannerisms.

Unwin spun Aegon around and roughly dragged him up the stairway. "Get to bed," he sternly told him.

From a distance, Aemond observed his grandfather accompanying his elder brother into High Tide. Qarl brought Laenor back to the courtyard, but the heir to Driftmark broke free from his lover's embrace and entered the castle alone, still grieving for Laena. As he watched them, Aemond heard a dragon's faint but mournful roar nearby - Vhagar, the Queen of All Dragons, the oldest and largest in Westeros. As per the stories, her flames were so intense that they could melt a knight's armor and cook him inside, she could devour a whole horse in one gulp, and her mighty roar could shake the very foundation of Storm's End.

« There are other options in case an egg doesn't hatch. You need to know where to look. »

Aemond, being the sole Targaryen without a dragon, recalled his elder half-brother's advice. Heeding Aeonar's words, Aemond realized that there were alternative means to become a dragonrider in the event of an unhatched dragon egg. After ensuring that no one was around, the young prince took the opportunity to secretly trail Vhagar's outline as it flew close to one of Driftmark's sandbanks. Little did Aemond anticipate the consequences of his actions, which would go down in history as a controversial political scandal.

High Tide ― Hall of Nine...

Seated before the fireplace's warm glow, Rhaenys Targaryen was overcome with a profound sense of loss. Though most guests had retired to their chambers for the night, the Queen Who Never Was remained lost in her thoughts. Laena, her only daughter, had been taken from her, and with her passing, a part of Rhaenys had also died. Despite her sorrow, she found herself unable to shed any more tears. In the Seven Kingdoms, women were all too familiar with childbirth risks. However, this knowledge did little to assuage the heartache that plagued the Queen. What weighed most heavily on her was that Laena had been denied the opportunity to return home to Driftmark and be with her kin. This right had been taken from her by Daemon, and it was this injustice that had led to her untimely demise. "She wanted to come home, and he denied her," she lamented.