King's Landing 298 AC.
Aemon Targaryen.
Each morning he woke up he found himself staring at the reflection in the looking glass, stunned at the man who stared back at him. He'd taken the pendant off only the once and had immediately regretted it. The world going black once more and the old aches and pains that had disappeared, soon returning. It had so unnerved him that for the briefest moment he couldn't find the pendant and even when he had, a part of him had thought that maybe it wouldn't work this time.
Seeing the world come back into focus had been a huge relief and he'd sworn he'd not take it off again unless he had to. He still didn't truly understand the magic's involved, Jae had told him to speak to Melisandre and to Shiera, and that they'd both look through the books if he received no answer from either of them. The red priestess had explained that her own ruby was a gift from R'hllor and she'd noticed some of the same markings on the pendant when Jae had shown it to her. Shiera explaining that hers was from Asshai by the shadow, both hers and Melisandre's had required blood also, but neither of them had access to Dragonblood and it made Aemon's pendant stronger.
Aemon thought about that a lot, there was magic in blood and in his family's most of all, though his nephew also brought a great deal from his Stark side too. Dragon's though were creatures of pure magic, other than maybe Jae's Direwolf, the only true creatures of such that there were known to be alive. There were tales of course of many others, Krakens, Ice Spiders, Grumpkins and Snarks, Aemon had read of them all, and yet other than Dragons and Direwolves, he couldn't for certain say whether they existed or not.
The library in King's Landing was both impressive and very much not so. It contained volumes that he'd read many years earlier and very few that he had not. So he'd sent word to Marwyn and Loamara to gather up all the books they'd found and to bring them to him. Yet he felt the truth of things was in the books that Jae himself held, the one that Ser Arthur had brought to him so many years earlier and the one he'd found in Dragonstone, Daenys's journal. While he waited for access to both, he threw himself into his new duties as Prince of House Targaryen. Training with a sword under Ser Bonifer something he'd not wished the need to do and yet his nephew was once again right on that.
"If I'm right about what's coming for us, and what we may need to do to beat it, uncle, then everyone will need to play their part. I know you have no wish to bear a sword, but sometimes it's forced upon us no matter what and I'd rather you able to, than not."
Jae had been right, he may see himself as a Maester and he knew his knowledge and experience would be helpful to both his niece and nephews, but their house had to be protected at all costs. Many years earlier he'd been too old, too weak to do anything when they had almost fallen, he'd never be so again. So he practiced with a sword and he practiced with a dragon. Only one of those things bringing him true pleasure.
Sandorix was everything he'd imagined, the bond they shared something he'd never felt before and something he knew only four other people could understand. Whenever he got the chance he'd take to the sky and find himself just looking down on the world below him. Seeing the Red Keep, the Sept of Baelor, Dragonstone, and Driftmark and feeling that his joy in doing so was shared by the dragon. He'd look to see Dany, Shiera, Tyrion, and Jae, his nephew's bond different and not requiring him to at times be with Rhaenix, yet all of them felt exactly the same way. They'd been gifted something truly special and unlike those who came before them, they'd not waste it.
Today though was a special day, just as it had been a couple of days earlier when he'd seen his nephew married and watched him crown his queen. To see Jae so happy made his heart fuller than it had been in years. That the young boy who'd come to him all those years ago was now a king, a husband, and by the sounds of how people cheered, loved, meant the world to him. Now he'd get to see the great and the good come and kneel and swear fealty and he'd stand and look into each of their eyes. Should any waver, show any doubt, or seem to be playing their house false then he'd see them brought low.
