"Perhaps I was meant to burn alone in this world."
Aelyna Targaryen, the realms terror. Her life had been nothing but one great tragedy. War has loomed over her head since the minute she breathed air.
[Cregan Stark]
house of the dragon au
The princess' eyes were sunken from hours of crying. Daemon had woken her on the dawn of a new day. Lady Laena Velaryon had died as she was trying to bring another life into the world. Aelyna had no reaction to the news, her body stayed static in her bed. No tears, no screams. Nothing but a silence that scared her father.
Aelyna held to her youngest sisters as the family had travelled to Driftmark to give their final goodbye to Laena. Grief was a strange thing to Aelyna. Though everyone told her, that all she needed was time to process it all, she could her and feel the web of lies told to comfort her. Time would not heal her wounds.
She was a motherless child once again.
She had always mourned the mother she never knew, and now Laena. The only woman who was willing to be her guardian, her friend, her mother. Time would not heal her grief. Her grief would find a place in her heart and slowly wither inside of her. Forever under skin of what she had once had.
"We join today at the sea of sea to commit lady Laena of house Velaryon to the eternal waters. The domination of Merling King where he will guard her for all the days to come." Lord Vaemond recited in Valyron. "As the sea sets for her final voyage, Lady Laena leaves two true- born daughters on the shore. Through their mother will not return from her voyage, they will remain bound together in blood." Daemon had giggled breaking the silence of the court. Aelyna had sent her father a sharp eye, hers trailing to the boys clung to Rhaenyra's side.
Rhaenya had kept a lingering eye on her cousin. She could not believe how much time had gone by. Aelyna was no longer the toddler that trailed behind her, she was a young woman. Her mother must have been remarkably beautiful because her face was of that as though it was sculpted by the gods. Her hair and eyes were the only Targaryen traits she had, but none the less Aelyna had become a sight to behold. As lord Vaemond had spoken she held firmly to her sons, protecting them as she had Aelyna a lifetime ago.
Aelyna stood firm as Rhaena held her hand tighter. Laena's coffin released to the ocean as the sound of thundering waves crushed against the rocks echoed in her ears. Since she received the news, she had not slept much. She spent most of her nights at Baela and Rhaena's side. The girls always fell to sleep under their own tears. Her grief would have to wait, until she had the certainty that her sisters would be fine.
"Was it necessary of you to laugh?" Aelyna asked as she watched the sea, her father to her side. "Nothing of what lord Vaemond said was humorous.'
"Laena did not only have two daughters. She saw you as her own." Daemon replied as he placed his hand on Aelyna's shoulder. "Never let them tell you otherwise, Spitfire."
"What happens to the four of us now father?" Aelyna asked her father her eyes felt heavier with each hour "What will become of me? I doubt you'll let us stay much long in Driftmark."
