III / Mother Knows Best

    "Aegon told us too, Rhae. He didn't give us a choice." Rhaelys knew that her brothers oft acted as Aegon's puppets, as his playthings, but she is sure they could have refused him. They could have come to her for help but they didn't. "Why can't the two of you speak up to him, then? He isn't your master," Though she acted angry with them, the look on Luke's face was enough for Rhaelys to forgive him. And Jace, too.

They were her baby brothers. And there was nothing they could do to make her hate them. Even something as stupid as this. And in the back of her mind, she knew they were right. Aegon had put them up to this, and they had gone along with it since they worship him.

"Do you promise you won't do something like this again? Do you promise to be nice to Aemond from now on?" Both boys nodded, and Rhaelys smiled. "I'm still going to tell mother, but I'm also going to tell Queen Alicent. Her son had a bigger part in this than the two of you, I gather." They both sheepishly nodded, looking a little guilty.

"Why don't you go and find Joffrey? And I'll go find Mother, and speak with her about it." Luke nodded and ran off, while Jace stood there still. "She's going to be angry." Rhaelys shook her head. "Mother is never angry with us, Jace, you know that. We are her children." Jace held her hand shortly. "Yes, but what Luke and I did was wrong. Aegon told us it would be funny and in the moment perhaps it was, but his reaction wasn't funny. It made me feel bad."

"That tells you that you are sorry for what you did, Jace. And that is a fine quality. When you are grown, please remember to sometimes say you are sorry, if you've done something wrong." Now her brother smiled as well and chased after Luke, and Rhae could see them finding Joffrey and walking off with him.

Rhaelys sighed as she knocked on her mother's door. "Come in," She heard Elinda's voice tell her. Lady Elinda Massey was the youngest of her mother's ladies. To Rhaelys' thirteen, she was only eighteen. Sort of a big sister to her, who had been there since Rhaelys' eighth name-day. "Mother, there was an incident in the Dragonpit," Though her mother had only given birth hours ago, here Rhaelys was again, bothering her. 

"Seven Hells. What happened?" Her mother told her, a kind smile on her face and Daera on her breast. "Jace and Luke were helping Aegon prank Aemond. They told him that they had found him a dragon, and then proceeded to bring out a pig, dubbing it, the Pink Dread." Rhaenyra smirked. "That sounds like Aegon. I shouldn't laugh because it wasn't funny in the moment, but it sounds so funny to me. Is Aemond alright?" Rhaelys nodded. "He went to his mother's room, but he'll be alright, I think."

"Would you go there, and tell him that I am sorry on behave of my sons? I cannot leave Daera just yet." Rhaelys smiled at her mother. "Of course, lady mother, I will go there right now. Queen Alicent won't mind my being there, right?" Rhaenyra nodded. "She might not make it so clear, but she loves you dearly. Just as she loves her children dearly. She just shows it differently." That, Rhaelys did not agree with. Queen Alicent loved Aemond and Daeron, perhaps, but was cold to both Aegon and Helaena. Though Rhae found that Aegon was deserving on that treatment from her, he wasn't from his own mother. A parent is supposed to love their children.

In that regard, her grandsire is not much better. He is a loving grandsire, but he has not always been a lover father to Alicent Hightower's children.

In the halls to Alicent's chamber, Rhaelys finds Aemond. "Aemond!" Rhaelys shouts and catches up to him. "Uncle, I am sorry for what my brothers said to you. My mother is sorry as well, but she is with my sister so she could not tell you herself." 

"It's alright, Rhaelys. It's not your fault. It's Aegon's." Aemond told her, and she smiled slighty at him and grabed his hand. He shook his head loose. "You don't have to pretend you care, Rhaelys. I know you don't." 

Rhaelys shook her head. "I wanted to see if you were alright. There is no pretend, Aemond. We share the same blood. We are family." Aemond smiled at her. "Do you mean it?" She nodded and grabbed his hand again. They walked into Alicent's chamber and found Helaena there as well. "I'll go to Helaena and you can talk to your mother," He nodded as they let go off of each other's hands.

Aemond had burned his face, which had not been there last Rhaelys had seen him, and because it, Alicent rushed to her son. Of her children, Daeron was her favourite. But he was in Oldtown, and so Aemond was the closest to a favourite she had. 

"He did it again," Helaena said, Rhaelys walked over to her aunt. "Good day, Queen Alicent," She said as she passed the queen, sitting down next to Helaena. "After how many times you've been told! Must I have you confined to your chambers?" She questioned her son, out of nothing but love. It sounded rough, though. "They made me do it!" He tried to defend himself, but it was no use. Rhaelys felt sorry for him again.

"As if you needed encouragement, your obsessions with those beasts goes beyond understanding." Aemond was on the verge of tears, and Rhaelys was sure that his mother yelling at him was not helping with getting his feelings under control. "They gave me a pig!" They shouldn't have done that, and hopefully, they never would again. Rhaelys would make sure of it as well. After this, she had to go and find Aegon. "A what?" Alicent questioned, no understanding what her second son meant.

"They said they found a dragon for me." Helaena listened half to the conversations and half to the bug in her hands. "The last ring has no legs at all." Rhaelys tried to keep up with both conversations, but it proved harder than it seemed. "But it was a pig." Alicent looked at her son with sympathy. "You will have a dragon one day," She was only feeding onto his obsession, the one she had just shamed him for. "He'll have to close an eye..." Helaena exclaimed, and Rhae was not sure if it was about the dragon, Aemond or the bugs with no rings.

"Helaena?" Rhaelys questioned as Helaena shrugged. She just knew he would have too, why, did not matter all that much. "Who must close an eye?"

"They all laughed, all three of them..." Aemond said, teary eyed. "Those wretched boys..." Rhae knew that the queen meant her brothers, and while they were partly to blame for this, most of the blame fell on her Aegon's shoulders.

"Grandmother, it was my brothers, yes, but it was Aegon who suggested the prank, who found the big, and who brought it in the dragonpit. My brothers were merely his puppets." Rhaelys stood up and walked over to Aemond and Alicent.

Queen Alicent quickly hurried off, and all Rhaelys could assume was that she would now relay the tale back to King Viserys, her version of the tale, though.

Aemond stood there, stunned and alone. "Aemond, come," Helaena said and Aemond slumped over to them, not quite eager for anything. "It'll be alright, I promise. You'll ride a powerful dragon and you'll be a great knight," Helaena continued and he smiled, hugging both his sister and his cousin tightly.

"You are brave and gentle and you will be a brave and true knight, serving all of the realms." He smiled at her, and believed himself in love for a simple moment. Before he remembered who she was and what his mother had said of her. She could not be trusted.

⭑

    It did not take long to find Aegon. He was in the outside courtyard, looking at some maids. Rhaelys held her breath as Aegon approached her. "What did you tell her?" He was wearing his green shirt, which painfully reminded her of what side he was on. Why could they not all just get along?

"Tell who of what, Uncle?" Aegon eyed her down as she stood in front of him. "What did you tell my mother of the prank your brothers and I pulled on Aemond?" Rhae pulled her eyes. "You tell me it was a prank, but it was cruel. You say you and my brothers did it, when we both know it was merely you." Rhaelys told him, while he in turn rolled his eye.

"You believe yourself superior to me, do you not?" Rhaelys nodded with full confidence. "I am superior to you, am I not?" She liked smiled in an innocent way, almost pouting. "You aren't." He quickly replied, though he did not seem so sure of his words. "What is it that I have done? Made Prince Aegon Targaryen speechless, it seems. You must be so proud of me now, my Prince," She mocked him and he realised, but he did not really care in the moment. "Mayhaps, Princess, you have done much more than that to him."

Rhaelys knew not what happened before her eyes. Aegon was known for loving the maids and taking their maidenhood, and yet here he stood before her, in her chambers, like a little boy who was scared to say a word. "He would talk to me so informally, Uncle?" Aegon flinched at the word. "Don't call me that. You are only three years younger than me,"

"You are my Uncle though, or have you forgotten?" She smirked. "You are rather slow, of course." He shook his head as fast as ever then. "You take that back, Rhaelys Velaryon, or I will burn you alive." The grin on her face only increased in size. "You dare threaten the heir's heir? Do you wish to be executed for treason, Uncle?"

"I am an heir as well. And to question my capabilities is an act of treason as well, Niece." This is the type of banter they always have, and Rhaelys loves it. Secretly, she loves provoking him. "Sod off, will you?" He says, waving his hand.

"Why do you hate me so? Has your mother brainwashed you enough, Aegon?" She yelled at him, and hit him in the chest,  in an attempt to remain strong. "I don't hate you. You simply annoy me to a fault, Rhaelys," She could not utter a single word. "You've never said my name before. You never address me, as if I was a person as well. I have always just been an object to you," He spook his head and his eyes softened for a moment. "You've always been a person. You are not the person my mother says you are," Rhaelys thought of Alicent, and her eyes became full of hate again.

"You are just as bad as your mother." She said, only hatred in her eyes. "You really are your mother's son. Come on now, what has she said of me?" Rhaelys gulped down her fears as she looked him in the eye. "What has she said?" She asked, more stern this time and not really asking, but just to gain an answer. 

The things Alicent had said about her could not be worse than what Aegon has already said to her face, could they? "She says you are a stupid girl with who is too wild and that I should just get you dumb enough to marry me, so that I'd be King." Had she said that? That was cruel, even for Alicent.

"When did she say this? Have you always thought like this, or is this new, my Prince?" Her voice was bitter and sharp enough to cut through any amount of skin. "She told me just today. She finds you a spoiled cunt. She said your mother would kill me if I dare claim the throne, the throne my mother has said is mine, and I told my mother I would not want to claim it, for it is your mother's." Rhaelys closed her eyes and rolled them internally. "Of course she would. Our mothers hate each other so much," Aegon laughed at the statement.

"I do not care for the throne, Rhaelys, you must know that. I have no desire nor taste for duty. I care not for tradition. I do, however, care about you." Aegon said, and she shook her head. "You might care about me, but will you support me when it is my time to sit the throne, or will you stand behind your mother like a scared little boy?"

"I am not a little boy anymore. And I am my own man." Rhaelys looked desperate for some sort of affection at Aegon's words. Not that she would get it from Aegon, nor did she expect she would. "What to know something of amusent, Prince Aegon?" She did not wait for his answer. "You and I are not so different. The only real difference is that you've got a cock and I've got whatever I've got. If I were born a man, like you, no one would request my right, no one would call me a bastard. Only because I am a girl, they do."

"So as you say, I can never know any problems, simply because of the cock I have?" He sounded as if he was laughing at her. As if he was making fun of her like he did his own brother with the pig whom he had dubbed the "Pink Dread" and that stupid prank. "Is this all just a joke to you, Aegon? Like Aemond is? Like I am?" Aegon looked ashamed and Rhaelys felt a little bad for what she had said. But then again, he had deserved it. Really he had. Then why did she still feel so guilty?

"How could you be a joke to anyone, Rhaelys? You are so sure you are perfect, aren't you? And I can't stand it. Do you pretend all the time or do you simply believe you are perfect? Because at this point I cannot believe either. Do you think you are good and dutiful and obedient?" Rhaelys could do nothing but laugh. "Do you truly not know me at all, Rhaelys? Do you really think I think so little of you?" She was surprised by the fact he thought of her at all.

She must put Aegon far away from her mind, and the best way to do that is to ride Vermithor. "I'll be off now, Uncle. Have fun with your maids," She smiles as she walked away. She must get him from her mind.

⭑

    A little while later, Rhaelys sat in a carriage with Ser Erryk and lady Lanna Lannister, her only lady-in-waiting. "I'm so glad you could join me, Lanna. It would have been quite morning riding with Helaena. My offer still stands, you know." Lanna shook her head.

"There is no way I am getting anywhere near a dragon's back, my princess, but I am delighted to join you after you come back down." Rhaelys smirked at her friend. "Are you sure? Vermithor is more than large enough to comfortably saddle two, as I've told you many times."

"Ser Erryk, will you please tell Princess Rhaelys I am not getting anywhere near her dragon?" Erryk sighs, and Rhaelys is glad that he is here. He is her sworn protector so he must be, but he is also what she imagines an older brother to be like. She cannot compare it to anything, but to her, he is amazing. "Lady Lanna, I am sworn to the princess, not to you." Rhaelys smirks, but is quickly told off by her shield. 

"That I am sworn to you, princess, does not mean that I must do you bidding. I still have a mind of my own, thank you very much." Erryk said, and Rhaelys smiled at his words. "So will you ride on dragonback with me?" She asked and he quickly shook his head. "Seven Hells. I would fall off in an instant, princess. No, I will wait here where it is safe."

"He must keep me company, must he not?" Lanna was older than Rhaelys. But only by two years. She was five and ten, and considered herself a woman grown. She fashioned herself in love with Ser Erryk, simply because he had shown her an ounce of kindness. He was quite uncomfortable with the whole situation, but kept his cool. He could not disrespect the princess' lady.

"Keep your hands to yourself this time, though," She whispers in Lanna's ear, who looked annoyed. "Fine. This time, at least." She said, and Rhaelys sighed. she was only thirteen, but she knew not to touch people if they didn't want to be touched. Helaena, for example, hated hugging and physical touch of any kind. Even with Rhaelys (the two of them were very close), there were moments were she was comfortable being touched and moments were she was not.

"I'll go and ride, then. I will see the both of you later," Rhae said as she got out of the carriage, and walked towards the dragon mount. A few of the dragon-keepers stood there, with Vermithor in close hand. "Māzīs," She said, and the dragon slowly walked towards her. In the air he was very fast, but on the ground he was so slow. He was over a hundred years old, once the mount of the Old King. Rhaelys could not fault him for being a little slow.

"Dohaerās Vermithor," Rhaelys said, as she petted her dragon, stroking his bronze scales. She got in her saddle, and quickly rose to the sky. The wind was heavy today and she felt like she was soaring through the skies.

Rhaelys may be a Velaryon, and though she loves sailing and the sea, but she adores her dragon and to be on top of him. When she is riding in the skies, she feels like she is free. She feels free of Aegon, and the thoughts of him she has constantly. She feels she can just be Rhae, instead of Princess Rhaelys of House Velaryon, heir of Rhaenyra Targaryen, second-in-line to the Iron Throne.