ELLIPSISM, aemond targaryen

[060] i light the way

BEING THE PRINCESS of the Seven Kingdoms and the daughter of the future queen meant that since you were born you understood more things than you should have at your age. It meant that even though you grew up in luxury, you understood everything behind it: how much loss and blood cost the power your family had, what responsibilities their position required and especially the fact that as soon as your loved ones take their last breath, this duty falls on you.

And because of this, being a normal person was never an option for any child born into some powerful House of Westeros, and especially not a child born into House Targaryen. The children of House Targaryen were never children in the first place, they were never supposed to become free people, because their family didn't need them to. Since its inception, House Targaryen has needed their children to be soldiers, dragonriders and rulers and therefore, all the children were taken to the Dragonpit and given swords before they could understand it.

There was never a moment in the history of House Targaryen when one of them was not preparing for war and preparations for war have never been greater than since Queen Alicent Hightower entered the Throne Hall dressed in a green dress to send a clear message to her half-daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen - there will be a war and I am ready to fight. And from that moment it was clear to everyone that the future of Westeros had two options, and both the Queen and the Princess were ready to fight for theirs.

The birth of each offspring meant that one side gained the upper hand over the other, and in the following years the smallfolk celebrated the birth of a new Targaryen almost every year: Prince Aegon Targaryen, Princess Helaena Targaryen, Prince Aemond Targaryen, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, Princess Aemma Velaryon, Prince Daeron Targaryen, Prince Lucerys Velaryon, Prince Joffrey Velaryon and so on. And despite the fact that everyone could see that even Rhaenyra's silver-haired daughter didn't share the same resemblance with Ser Laenor Velaryon as she did with Harwin Strong, the smarter ones knew that it wasn't about the legitimacy of the children as much as it was about the number of dragons and heirs that Rhaenyra Targaryen got with their birth.

Alicent Hightower's children and Rhaenyra Targaryen's children were pieces on a chessboard. They were born to fight their battles, be traded for alliances through marriage pacts, and die for their cause. Of course, all children have received love from their mothers - a love or fondness similar to that which a small child feels for a favourite toy which he does not want to give up, cries when it is lost, but after a while finds another one.

In the eyes of the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms, there was no person who was not replaceable. After the death of a peasant, someone else takes up the craft, after the death of a soldier on the battlefield, others go to fight, and after the death of a king, someone else takes the throne. As long as there is someone who can replace the previous one it is immaterial who it is and what kind of relationship you have with him.

Game of thrones was no place for feelings.

And Aemma Velaryon knew that. Maybe she was the only one of her brothers, cousins ​​and uncles who realized it or was the only one who decided not to close her eyes to this fact. Maybe it was because Aemma Velaryon had always known more than everyone else. She noticed more than others, thought more than others, saw more than others. She liked to observe people on the court and when they started to bore her because of their overly simple personality and clarity, Aemma began to notice more complex and powerful people who were harder to understand. People who observed other people the same way she did, but because they considered her one of the simpler ones, they lost the opportunity to understand and use her as she did with them.

Otto Hightower was one of those people. Always in the center of the events but hidden in the background, silent and observing the surroundings with an unreadable face until the moment when he uttered the words which for some reason always had more influence and meaning than people thought. He was a man where it was hard to know if he cared about anyone in his family and if he was even capable of loving someone after losing his wife.