Part MDCLXII: Winds of Change
Winds of Change
Twenty-Third Day of the Twelfth Month 292 AC
You begin speaking not only softly, but slowly, to have time to gather your thoughts as you do so. "I realize you may be entirely sick of hearing this, mother, but the matter is more complex than that." Thankfully she does not interrupt as she is no doubt inclined to. "You mentioned Dorne, but you do not know the whole of my agreements with Prince Doran. There is one agreement that will seal their alliance far more readily than another daughter of House Martell meant to sit beside the Iron Throne..."
Your mother's eyes widen in understanding. "That is what she meant... you mean to bring princess Elia back. Perhaps..."
"No," the word low and fierce slips from your lips unbidden. "Don't say it, don't even think it. Your life is worth far more than courting the Martells. I will see that agreement fulfilled before the next year is done as I pledged to the prince of Dorne. There are other ways, though not as swift to reach the same end. There are other powers than the Old Gods and other places one might find the power I seek." Struck by inspiration you draw out the feather of the deva you freed from beneath Whisperwell, its power a soothing wholesome thing even to senses not attuned to the arcane. "Here is the key along one of those paths"
"What...?" she asks in wonder, then stops. "No, we have to settle this. If you will not wed Dorne then who?"
The question hangs starkly in the air, yet you cannot match it. You cannot give the answer your heart calls for, not only because she would reject it utterly but because Lya herself has not agreed to such a thing and so it would be presumption of the basest kind. Instead you appeal to reason. "I've spoken of how the world has changed, of how magic has caused the lines of power to warp and shift given the power that mages can wield. Yet many still refuse to see that change, and so any sufficiently powerful ally would consider us a junior party in a dynastic alliance at best. At worst, their lack of understanding for the powers I and my companions wield could be a liability, preventing us from applying our full strength. I rule a Kingdom now, and that has been recognized, but it is a small one. And many can claim the right to the Iron Throne when they do not hold it."
"A fleet dispatched is what it is" your mother counters. "If they do not understand your power, show them. I can attest that one does not need to understand how you spanned half the world inside a few moments to think very carefully what it might mean."
"And when they understand, what then?" you ask. "'T'would be as though Aegon set aside his sister-wives to wed the lady Sharra Arryn as she wished. One House above others with a king whose greatest strength is not the loyalty of his banners, so soon after upheaval and unrest besides. What new turmoil that might cause?"
"So you would wed Daenerys?" she asks, something of the urgency draining from her words.
The notion surprises you so much that you fall silent for a long moment. It had never entered your mind, however faintly. Ever since you were a boy looking down upon a your infant sister as the galley fled upon the wings of the storm she had ever been one to protect and to guard, your last living kin. Though you hold no particular disdain for the practice, to follow your ancestors in this would be absurd.
"I cannot wed her for I do not love her thus and do not think I ever shall. I will not ask of her to be an effigy of my rule, a prop in the game of princes. I will not stand in the way of her happiness..." As father did in yours, the words are unspoken but hang between you nonetheless. What might her life had been like if she had not been chained to a madman she was compelled to obey as husband and king?
She shakes her head. "Your heart is as grand as your dreams, but I fear more than I can say that both might lead you astray many a time in the history of our House. Prince Duncan wed as you would hope and ruin followed in its wake."
"And yet our House is older than that history, those sad tales of caution. I have seen it in dreams of power. Do you know how it all began mother, in the days long before the Doom smote Valyria? The Targaryens won their place among the Forty through sorcerous power and skill, the same that flows through my veins. The Valyrians prized sorcery, both in strenght and understanding above all other skills, and now the world has come full circle. In Sorcerer's Deep, magic has tended to my people and held our walls against those who would seek to tear them asunder. Lya's knowledge of the forgotten arts goes beyond any of those in my company. In the days of Valyria, I have little doubt that if she wished to she would have founded her own dynasty." If the Seekers did not hunt her down beforehand, you forbear from adding. Those horrors your mother has no cause to learn of yet.
You see her waver, but she does not relent. "You speak of dreams and visions, not of the world as men see it. I would believe you if I could, I would see you happy, but what of those who do not wish you well, who would raise their banners, or if they cannot for fear of your strength and instead plot and scheme?"
"To them I would give first words of reason and cause to change their ways. If they will not relent..." Now it is your turn to sigh, the sounds of men dying by fire echoing in your mind. "Then I will be true to our House's words."
She nods slowly, reluctantly. "I cannot be easy in this, but I will consider your words in the days to come."
"I can ask no more," you answer, relived that at least some of your words had moved her.
Then you turn fully to the collection before you... the very large collection, more than you could have imagined an order like the Night's Watch would hold.
How many days do you spend copying books (max needed 5)?
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OOC: A little surprised no one anticipated Rhaella suggesting that Viserys and Daenerys marry (though it did fit Viserys' own blind spot there). In any case the spirit of some of the other arguments worked as an answer.
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