Silver Princess || House of the Dragon

Chapter XIII ''Driftmark'' [+18]

She asked her father if she could go horse riding with the Queen. She knew she had to go to him to get Alicent to agree. She wanted to talk to her privately in some... let's call it a more favorable environment.
She achieved what she wanted, or rather she almost succeeded, because barely had time to arrange everything with her father, when the Maester came with the information that a raven had arrived with important news.

The next morning, in a much worse atmosphere, she buttoned Visenya's coat, crouched down in front of her and tried not to show her sadness. Daemon was standing not far behind her, so she didn't see him nodding to the maid to take the girl outside so they could be alone.

"You can cry if you need to, you know that?" he said when the doors closed.

The news that had come to them yesterday and had made her so sad was that her friend, Laena Velaryon, had died. She didn't want to cry, she knew it would definitely affect her daughter badly, that she had to be strong at least because of this, but... It was hard to keep a calm face and smile when another person she loved was gone.
They were friends, and - through Rhaenyra and Laenor's marriage - sisters, and now she is gone. She passed away due to complications during childbirth, just like her mother. This hurt her even more and increased her fear that this would happen to her one day. She wouldn't want her daughter to grow up without a mother, as she had to, as Laena's girls will have to...

"Not in front of her." she replied, obviously referring to Visenya. She looked at the door for a moment longer, where the maid came out, holding her daughter's hand, and then she finally got up from the ground and turned to Daemon. "She was my friend. I wasn't at her wedding, I didn't visit her after the birth of any of her children, or even when she died. She rejoiced, she suffered, no matter what, I wasn't there. The last time we saw each other... Before Visenya was born, then we just sent each other a few letters." she wanted to walk away and sit in the chair for a few moments to calm down before leaving for Driftmark, but before she could take even a step, Daemon was next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Your paths have diverged, you can't blame yourself for that." his grip was strong. One hand rested on the back of her head, holding it against his shoulder, as if hiding it from the world so she could cry out all the tears that had gathered in her, let go of the sadness, the regret, the pain that gripped her heart. He kissed the top of her head several times, as if encouraging her even more to not keep these devastating emotions inside. "Now you will go to say goodbye to her and send her on her last journey."

These words broke her for some reason and tears began to flow from her eyes. If she was going to cry, it would be now, not later, in front of everyone at the ceremony. She let him hold her close in a comforting embrace, gripping Daemon's clothes tightly herself. It wasn't the first time she had experienced the loss of someone, the first was her mother. She cried much more for her. She went through a long mourning period before she was able to come to terms with her death.

There was a stage in her life where she wanted to name her daughter after her if she ever had one, but she decided against it. She didn't want to be reminded of her mother by looking at her, or to scratch scarred wounds. Instead she had beautiful Visenya, bursting with energy, almost four-year-old now.

She lost track of time, crying in her husband's arms until the tears stopped flowing on their own. She needs to calm down, they have to go, and her daughter can't see her like this.

***

As if it wasn't bad enough that her friend had died, leaving two daughters, they also heard about the fire at Harrenhal and the death of the Hand and his son, Ser Harwin. Due to this, the King reinstated Otto. She had a good feeling that removing him from his position years ago would not be the end of their troubles with him. Now he is back and will cause more problems.