After personally "sacrificing" himself and using a few small favors to appease the jealous Arya, the situation finally stabilized. Lady Stark no longer attempted to assassinate the "Mad King's daughter," while Daenerys, completely unaware of Arya's existence, settled comfortably into a homebody's life in the tower on the Lake Isle. She avidly read books like The Night's Watch's Fantastic Adventure, which Aegor had brought her to pass the time, awaiting the arrival of the great war. Of course, as the host, Aegor continued to visit the tower periodically, offering new feasibility details of the Great King's Landing Plan to soothe her emotions and prevent the hooked fish from slipping away, or taking her on a stroll along the walls of Crown Town so she wouldn't feel like she was under house arrest.
In addition, Aegor dispatched reliable subordinates to the Wall to accompany Lady Catelyn Stark, gradually persuading her to return to Crown Town in order to avoid worsening the chaotic situation.
Day after day passed. Dragon Crystal Bombs were deployed along the Wall, and Lightbringers were distributed to every planned fortress, but the long-anticipated final war still had not begun. Just as they waited endlessly for the dead to launch their assault, the first piece of bad news came not from the dead, but from the living, in the direction of Ice Canyon Port: the patrolling Northern navy spotted a large number of warships in the waters of Ice Bay.
The Ironborn fleet, which had been constantly raiding along the coasts of the Riverlands and Westerlands, had likely received word from the sole surviving ship after the disastrous four-on-one ambush of the last patrol. Regrouping, they returned in force, seeking revenge and to reclaim lost territory, while also aiming to eliminate the newly formed Northern navy that now posed a threat.
There were currently only three warships in Ice Canyon Port, with a fourth still under construction. Even more awkwardly, there were only enough skilled sailors to crew two ships. In such a situation where everything was in short supply, it was naturally impossible to confront Euron's fleet of dozens or even hundreds of ships head-on. Therefore, upon discovering the enemy, the Northern "fleet" decisively retreated into the harbor. If the Iron Fleet attacked from the sea, the fortress's many trebuchets and Wildfire incendiaries could bombard them with overwhelming long-range firepower. If the Ironborn landed and attacked by land, they would find themselves facing a well-prepared, well-defended fortress garrisoned by thousands.
Though not all of the defensive preparations made under Aegor's instruction were intended for the Ironborn, they nonetheless turned this port fortress, built jointly by the North and the Night's Watch, into a hedgehog that the enemy could not bite into.
...
On the other side of the Wall, another important event occurred: the "scripture-seeking fleet" Daenerys had dispatched ten days earlier arrived at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.
The two ships, meant to support each other, carried personnel originally assigned to retrieve The Prince (Part Two) and bring it back to Dragonstone for the Queen to read. Unfortunately, Daenerys eventually couldn't resist flying over on her dragon. Upon entering Crown Town, she was so charmed that she didn't want to leave. The existence of the book-retrieval team suddenly seemed meaningless. However, things were not so dire: the dozens of Unsullied on board were still alive and held considerable combat strength, and Moqorro, who accompanied the ships, was a powerful sorcerer like Melisandre. High-ranking priests of the Lord of Light were rare, and the Wall now had two. When it came to dealing with White Walkers, having more supernatural assistance clearly increased their chances of victory.
But just as Aegor was wondering where to house Moqorro and the Unsullied once they arrived in Crown Town, Daenerys summoned him through a guard.
"Commander," Daenerys asked softly, "I thought about your plan again last night and came up with a new question. The Great King's Landing Plan is undoubtedly the best method to achieve our ideal of breaking the wheel, but… the Reach supported my father and brother during the War of the Usurper. And now, upon my return to Westeros, they were also the first major power to send word expressing their willingness to recognize my claim. How can I reject the support of such a duchy, with whom I share no old grudges or recent enmity, and who could even be considered loyal? How can I turn against them?"
Aegor already had the answer in mind, but he noted that Daenerys had used the intimate term "we" subconsciously, clearly indicating that she believed he was her comrade. His heart relaxed, realizing that things he couldn't say before could now be stated more openly.
"A good question. Before answering it, I need to help you sort out your thinking. First, is the Reach truly loyal to House Targaryen?" he asked without hesitation. "To answer that, we must first distinguish between the concepts of 'Tyrell' and 'the Reach.' Since the Tyrells were elevated by Aegon the Conqueror to become Lords of the Reach, their legitimacy and tenure are both weak, and their hold over the region has always been superficial. The Tyrells must be loyal to House Targaryen because their legitimacy derives from your family. But the many noble families with Gardener blood who actually inhabit and control the Reach have always resented the insult of your ancestor making a steward their liege lord…"
Daenerys shook her head, interrupting with disagreement. "That's just malicious speculation. Almost all the Reach nobles supported my father and brother during the War of the Usurper. With their strength, if they'd had bad intentions at the time, they could've joined the rebels directly, and my father and brother wouldn't have been able to resist at all."
"True, but the reason the Reach nobles supported the King was because the grand alliance of Stag, Wolf, Fish, and Hawk left them no room to maneuver. Even if they'd switched sides, it would've been adding insult to injury and wouldn't have earned them any gratitude from the usurpers. Not to mention, in their eyes, Baratheon and Targaryen are the same—detestable outsiders and upstarts. Replacing a Baratheon king with another didn't benefit them. Only a weak royal family aligns with their interests. So, they would never help the strong side crush the weak. What they wanted to see was the King and rebels destroying each other," Aegor continued patiently. In a way, he was indeed smearing the monarch, but luckily the people he was accusing were hardly loyal martyrs, so finding leverage against them wasn't difficult, and he felt no guilt.
"Let's look at what the Reach army, which supported your father and brother during the war, actually did."
...
"The vanguard of the Reach army, led by Lord Randyll Tarly, repelled Robert Baratheon's forces at the Battle of Ashford but didn't pursue the victory. The main Reach army that followed marched directly east, pillaging and burning all the way to Storm's End. That was still within reason, but then came something miraculous. Tens of thousands of Reach land and naval forces, enough to turn the tide of the war, laid siege to Storm's End, which had only a thousand defenders, for an entire year. They completely ignored the fierce battles between the royalist and rebel armies in the North. They just drank, roasted meat, and held tourneys outside Storm's End, never sending a single troop north to support the royal army, and didn't take the castle until the war was already decided."
The Queen was still trying to defend the Reach nobles. "But Storm's End was the usurper's base. The Reach army besieging it wasn't meaningless. At least they were far better than the Lannisters, who played both sides."
"Besieging Storm's End was a sound strategic decision. If that had been all, it would have been a misjudgment of the battlefield, a mistake but not a crime," Aegor said, following her words. "But the other three suspicious actions make me question their true loyalty."
"The first—besieging Storm's End didn't require that many troops. Ten thousand were enough. Even if you consider preventing reinforcement or coordination from other Stormlands lords, twenty thousand would be the limit. No one could do anything against a force ten times larger. The other thirty thousand men could've gone north to join Prince Rhaegar and changed the outcome at the Battle of the Trident. You must know, the total number of troops the rebels fielded in that battle was only a bit over thirty thousand, and they only barely won. Your Grace, imagine if your brother had another thirty thousand Reach soldiers under his command in that battle. What would the outcome have been?"
Aegor didn't let Daenerys interrupt and pressed on.
"The second suspicious point is after Prince Rhaegar's death. The Lannister army marched from Casterly Rock to King's Landing, tricked their way into the city, and committed the atrocity that destroyed your kin. But if you look at a map of Westeros, you'll notice the distance from Casterly Rock to King's Landing is twice that from Storm's End to King's Landing. Lord Tywin made the longer march and reached the capital. The Reach army, only half the distance away, was still feasting outside Storm's End. Yes, they didn't march slowly and miss the opportunity. They didn't move at all." Aegor took a deep breath, feigning sorrow. "It's true Storm's End was the usurper's stronghold, but no matter how important it was, could it be more important than King's Landing, where King Aerys was?"
Daenerys's expression shifted subtly. Claiming to be the Conqueror reborn, she naturally had some memory of Aegor's words and the map of Westeros. Although his speech was laced with exaggeration and bias, he wasn't making it up.
"And finally, after King's Landing fell, before Dragonstone was attacked, House Targaryen had not yet been wiped out. Queen Rhaella, who was pregnant with you, your brother Prince Viserys, and you in the womb, had already taken refuge at Dragonstone. Though the royal army on land had been destroyed, they still held overwhelming naval superiority. The North, Vale, and Riverlands barely had any ships. If the Reach truly intended to support the King, they only needed to pull their land forces back to defend the Reach and order the Arbor Fleet to head north and assist. Even if they couldn't turn the tide, they could at least ensure your and your brother's escape overseas."
"But what the Reach nobles actually did was immediately reach a consensus that 'the tide had turned.' Then the fully intact army of over fifty thousand men surrendered to Eddard Stark's force of barely ten thousand. After a brief negotiation, they returned home unharmed. And the Arbor Fleet immediately switched allegiance and followed Stannis Baratheon, whom they had besieged for a year, to attack Dragonstone from the north." Aegor sneered and dropped the final bomb. "The ones who forced Lord Willem Darry to flee Dragonstone with you and your brother to the other side of the Narrow Sea weren't the usurpers, who barely had any ships, but the Arbor Fleet from the Reach, who were supposed to protect the Targaryen family."
---
The basic facts were true. Aegor merely tweaked some of the causal relationships and sequence of events. The Arbor Fleet hadn't actually attacked Dragonstone because the last Targaryen navy had already been destroyed by the fierce storm the night Daenerys was born—the storm that earned her the name "Stormborn." And the ones who forced Willem Darry to flee in haste with the Princess and Prince weren't the Arbor Fleet and Stannis heading north, but traitors within Dragonstone itself. The acting lord of the keep had begun considering surrender and offering the last two Targaryen children to the rebels in exchange for clemency.
But through this slight distortion, Aegor successfully evoked the Queen's memories of her childhood.
Daenerys vaguely remembered Willem Darry. The one who gave her warmth like a parent in her earliest memories was neither her infamous "Mad King" father nor Queen Rhaella, who died in childbirth, but the gray-bearded man who gave up everything to protect her and Viserys from the usurper.
At the time, Willem Darry rented a house for them in Braavos with a red-painted door. Daenerys clearly remembered: in that house, she had her own room, and there was a lemon tree outside her bedroom window.
Even when half-blind, Willem could still bellow from his sickbed and give orders. The servants feared him, but he was always kind and gentle to her, never raising his voice. Sometimes he called her "Little Princess," sometimes "My Lady." His hands were soft like leather, and his embrace as warm as a furnace. But this kind old man had never left his bed since she could remember, constantly surrounded by the scent of sickness and the sickly sweet smell of medicine.
After Willem Darry died, the servants stole their last bit of money, and they were soon driven out of the spacious red house. When the red-painted door closed forever behind Daenerys and Viserys, her warm childhood ended, and a cold and bitter adolescence began.
A strong wave of sorrow surged in her chest, and the familiar urge to cry welled in her eyes, but the Queen held back her tears in front of the Night's Watch commander. Along with the returning warmth of those early memories, a towering anger ignited within her. Any lingering guilt or doubt Daenerys had about annexing the Reach and establishing the Great King's Landing region was incinerated by that fire.
(To be continued.)