Legacy of the White Dragon: A Dance of Dragons

Chapter 17: Duty

Aemon Targaryen (107 A.C.)

Three moons since the coronation.

Kingslanding - Godswood

He waited in the godswood, one of the few places where he found peace. In this place, among the kings of Westeros, his uncle had returned to Winterfell, and he couldn't blame him. The city was something he also preferred to avoid. But now he was the heir to the throne. Destiny seemed to have plans for him to be the heir again.

He had been the heir in his previous life, but he had experienced so much loss, shock, and betrayal that he couldn't think rationally back then. Now he had the time and the support of his family, and the two people he loved most, who would become the most important in his life, were supportive of him.

Rhaenyra, in his mind, should have been named the heir. She is a compassionate and brave woman who cared for her little brother after the death of her mother. She had taken on the role when her father couldn't. It reinforced his idea of having the will to rule. That and his own mother had also been heirs for a time and had been groomed by his father. To become the Wardenness of Winterfell, only the marriage with his father had changed. Then, in his past life, he met Lyanna Mormont, and during his time with Freeflok, a couple of women led. So, in his mind, he didn't care if she was a woman. He would have supported her. But, the lords in the Seven Kingdoms were too stubborn and set in their ways to accept a woman ruling over them. To set in their ways, even in Vale, two women held power over two great houses.

Then there was Laena, someone he had loved for longer than Rhaenyra. He had always expected to marry her, not just for political reasons but because of her spirit, kindness, and bravery. Laena reminded him much of Arya, and he realized it when he saw her again after all those years away in Seadragon Point.' He went to clear his mind and started to sing. "Jenny of Oldstones," though the events in the song had not yet happened. He changed the words, replacing Jenny with Rhaena and Oldstones with Harrenhal, after the widow of the princess of Aegon the Uncrowned. He had never sung before, not in his previous life. Bastards were supposed to be shunned, and he highly doubted Lady Stark wanted him to sing in the halls of Winterfell, though Sansa did so on occasion.

"High in the halls of the Lords who are gone."

"Rhaena would dance with her ghosts."

"The ones she had lost and the ones she had found."

"And the ones who had loved her the most."

"The ones who'd been gone for so very long."

"She couldn't remember their names."

"They spun her around on the melded old stones."

"Spun away all her sorrow and pain."

"And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave."

"Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave."

"They danced through the day."

"And into the night through the snow that swept through the hall."

"From winter to summer, then winter again."

"Til the walls did crumble and fall."

"And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave."

"Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave."

"And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave."