Born in Flames || Game of Thrones

Chapter XXXV ''Advices''

She was currently outside the castle, getting some fresh air or rather calming her racing thoughts. She was standing against a stone railing, almost at the top of the stairs leading to the keep. In one hand she held Euron's short reply to her letter, and in the other she the silver clasp, but her thoughts were now moving in a different direction. Not even to the morning conversation with Tyrion about dragonglass, but for something else.

She thought about the dream she had that night. It wasn't one of those about the future, certainly not. After all, when she dreamed, she didn't understand the meaning of the things that were happening before her eyes.

She was about four years old at that point. She stood on the balcony in the Red Keep's throne room, trying hard to look over the stone railing, but she could barely reach it with her arms, after all, she was only three feet tall. So it was hard for her to see anything that was happening at the Iron Throne. Not that she understood much of what was happening, but she had recognized her father's silhouette earlier and wanted to see what was happening.

"Are you enjoying the view, princess?" she looked at the knight with her purple eyes, whom she always saw near her father, and now he was watching over her so that she wouldn't accidentally hurt herself. She reached no further than Ser Arthur's hip, and she obviously didn't like it. He could see everything very clearly, while she couldn't even see beyond the barrier.

"No." she replied in one word, returning to her attempts to pull herself up onto the railing. Failed attempts.

"Maybe I could help? Of course if you let me, princess." she looked at him again, but only when he knelt down on one knee next to her, lowering himself to her height. He was the only knight who acted like this around her. Others seemed to don't be good with children, or did not want to kneel in their royal guard costume. And her little childlike heart was always touched by the way someone would crouch or kneel to talk to her or take her in their arms. It reminded her of her dad, who always held her in his arms when they talked. Or her mother, who told her every time she hugged her how much she loved her youngest child.

"You can..." she murmured, reaching out for him to pick her up. Ser Arthur grabbed her gently under the arms and lifted her up, setting her on the thick stone railing. Now she had a perfect view of everything that was happening in the throne room, especially of her father, who - as she looked at him now - had a crown on his head. "Dad is a princess too?" she asked, causing a short laugh from her companion. She asked this question because for now she associated wearing a crown only with the way her parents and maids played with her while she was wearing her toy crown.

"Your dad became the King of the Seven Kingdoms today." he explained to her, leaning in a little next to her. He was still holding her by the arms so that she wouldn't accidentally fall off the balcony.

"And that's why there are so many people here?" she asked another question. For someone like her and so young, such titles made no impression and didn't seem to bother her. For her, the only difference was that before people called her father: 'prince', and recently they started calling him: 'Your Grace'.

"All the Lords of the Seven Kingdoms have gathered here to pledge their allegiance to him. Just as they had sworn to his father, and to his father, and over and over again."

"It's boring." she stated, earning another short laugh from the knight.

"Maybe. But also important."

"Will they ever swear like that to me too? I don't want to sit and be bored."

"When they swear to your father, they also swear to you. And to your mother and siblings."

"But how, they're saying it to him, not to all of us." she didn't understand it. No one has ever explained such things to such a young child. Besides, she didn't understand all this swearing of allegiance and so on, for her they were empty words for now. "At least no one swore to me."