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XXXX- THE GREEN QUEEN
Of all the houses of the realm, House Velaryon was the one that fascinated her the most. Well, that was excluding the royal house that had become her own, of course. House Velaryon, sailors, up-jumped merchants, servants to House Targaryen, now the second most powerful house in the realm, and the wealthiest by some margin. Her father had not been shy in telling her what his spies had been able to find out about Laenor Targaryen's activities in the Stepstones. Throughout her earliest years, she had been taught that war was a surefire way to waste gold and prosperity and that was why House Hightower avoided it where they could.
Laenor Velaryon turned that on its head. He had used his war to enrich himself to the point where even without touching the wealth his father had left, he was one of the richest in the realm. And then instead of sitting on that gold and allowing it to do what it did best— attract more gold by its presence— he poured it all in the Stepstones. If she left the Red Keep now, she would notice the absent smell of human waste that used to cling to their city. The poorest of the poor had left the city in droves, on ships taking them to the Stepstones where they would be expected to work towards bringing the newest addition to the realm up to scratch. And all of it was funded with that gold.
She still couldn't believe it— the spies her father had snuck in with that group had to either be lying or be mistaken. Free food for all people until they found employment on the islands, and employment that paid so well each person had enough to buy food and no one went hungry. Massive buildings limited to only orphaned children that saw them being taught to read by Septas and fed three times a day. So much gold, and all of it being wasted.
It boggled the mind. If it was just the gold being wasted, then she could understand it as another young Lord without an understanding of how the world worked thinking they could change things by pouring in their inheritance to it. But somehow, despite the insanity in some respects, Laenor Velaryon had proven to be a genius in others. Rumours said he had rediscovered the liquid stone that Valyria had built its empire on. Even her father did not believe the accounts of his spies on this one. It just made no sense. A liquid that flowed like water all the time but hardened to stone when exposed to the elements? It had to be sorcery. And magic was dead. It had died with Valyria like the Maesters taught.
More likely, the young Lord was simply investing so much gold and manpower into building that he was making it seem like the structures were appearing overnight. The rumours of liquid stone were just that— rumours. What wasn't a rumour though was the glass. Glass better than Myr somehow. Spies from the Stepstones, the Triarchy, and even Braavos itself testified to this being the case, and wasn't that something?
She hoped she would get to see some of that glass, she thought to herself as her Husband finished exchanging greetings with the reason House Velaryon had come to mind in the first place. Rhaenys Targaryen, the Queen who never was, and her daughter Laena Velaryon had arrived, and instead of waiting for the Lord of the House before presenting themselves to the royal family like any other house ought to have, the Velaryons had just sauntered up the throne room and instantly been given pride of place.
Rhaenys Targaryen smiled and placed a kiss on her husband's cheek, calling him cousin rather than his title as was proper. The mother and daughter combo could have been mistaken for an older sister and younger in some circles. The decades had been far kinder to Rhaenys Targaryen than they had any real right to be. She was still so beautiful that many a Lord in the court turned in her direction when she walked past. Alicent suspected her husband's affinity to her was entirely familial, but with Targaryens, that could be a cause for concern in and of itself. Laena Velaryon, the one who had been her chief competition for Viserys' hand stepped forward next, and she said nothing as her husband praised another woman's beauty far more than was proper in her estimation.
Since her father's misstep with the taxes, her husband seemed to be working all the harder to get House Velaryon onside. He probably saw nothing in the insult of the two women presenting themselves to him without a Lord to lead them. Especially when said Lord's ships had been sighted.
She sighed under her breath as they were offered seats so close to the throne that it seemed improper. Ideally, she would have seen those seats go to her own House. The tourney being held was to honour her son after all, a son of House Hightower. She could understand her father's hatred now. If only he hadn't gone and overstepped in his eagerness to provoke them to act and put them on her husband's bad side.
It took hours of sitting and smiling as Lords leered down at her and her son before she heard the sound of a dragon's roar. A dragon that was not one of those already in the Pit. There could only be one source of that. The matching smile on the Velaryon mother and daughter duo left no doubts in her mind as to who had arrived.
"Cousin," Rhaenys' voice tore through the silence that the dragon's roar had caused in the throne room, and before she could even ask for leave, her Husband was already waving her away.
"Go get your son, Rhaenys." She and her daughter seemed to run out of the room, but even in all their haste, they were so graceful that it beggared belief. Alicent did not have to wait long. In a matter of minutes, the Velaryon contingent was crowding at the entrance. The Lords announcing themselves were paid little attention as the entire court had their attention turned to Laenor Velaryon and his eclectic group. By his side stood the man she knew to be Ser Ben Celtigar, his sworn shield. And then there were others she could not place. Men and women of clearly foreign origin. His slaves. Laenor Velaryon had brought his slaves to Westeros. She was not the first to note it. She watched as the rest of court realised this as well. The whispers spread like a pox and she watched Lord Darklyn flush as he stumbled his way through the rest of his introductions and the gifts.
In the end, the other Lords in front of the Velaryon contingent stepped out of the way to let the Court have what it wanted.
"Introducing Ser Laenor Velaryon, and his regent, the Princess Rhaenys Targaryen Lady-Regent of Driftmark, Mistress of the Tides." The announcer finished, and House Velaryon stepped forward. Where one would have expected the Queen Who Never Was to do the leading, she seemed content to step back and allow her son to take the pride of place. He walked forward, shoulders straight and head held high.
He reminded her of Daemon more than anything else. His frame was more slender than Daemon's had been, showing the difference in their breeding. At his side was a blade a bit shorter than Dark Sister had been and he crossed the space between him and the throne room with a swagger that was positively Daemon-esque. His mother and sister followed behind, and their entourage behind even them as he covered the distance between him and the Iron Throne.
"Your Grace, my congratulations are overdue. A healthy newborn, a son that grows even stronger with the years, and the most beautiful maiden the realm has ever seen for a daughter," he started. His voice was different from Daemon's, that was for sure. Where the late Rogue Prince had spoken with a voice that dripped with arrogance that was near impossible to ignore, the Velaryon Lordling's voice was smooth. It was alluring to listen to rather than grating as Daemon's could have been at times.
"The Seven have been kind to me indeed, young Laenor."
"Yes, your grace. Please accept my gifts," The Velaryon lord said, and then Alicent's attention turned fully to the packages behind him. The first gift he offered to the King himself.
A scale model of the entirety of Valyria— multiple cities on multiple islands. She had seen the one the King had at present, and this one put that one to shame with the level of detail it possessed. As well as the sheer size of the thing. It took four men to carry it and bring it up to her Husband. Her husband, who was so taken with the gift that instead of remaining on his throne and resolving to look closely at it later as he had done with dozens of other attempts by Lords to get in his good graces, got up from the Iron Throne and climbed down the steps himself to reach the model.
"This is fantastic. How?"
"The Sealord of Braavos was kind enough to assist in finding a detailed enough map that survived the doom, and then the burden of building it fell to my artisans," he said.
"The liquid stone I've heard whispers of then?" he asked. And where any other man would have been shy to admit spying on such a powerful Lord, her Husband was the King and feared no one.
"Yes, your grace."
"Brilliant. Simply brilliant. We must have a discussion about the process."
"If you wish, your grace. But I did come with other gifts as well. For my cousins and your wonderful wife, if I may," he said.
Alicent's ears perked up at that. She could see more things being ferried into the throne room but she hadn't dared hope.
One of them was brought to the front with a wave of the lordling's hand.
"Even in the Stepstones, they tell tales of your beauty, Princess Rhaenyra. It is my hope that with this, you can behold the gift you give to the world," he said, and then the cloth was pulled away from the object, drawing gasps from all over the room. Even her jaw had fallen open against her will.
It was a mirror. But it was nothing like what she had ever seen. The glass was perfectly clear and straight. Any who looked at it would see themselves clear as day. And then there was the frame that surrounded the glass. Red and black woods married together with dragons carved along the surface made even the frame itself a work of art, worthy of being compared to the finest of Lysene tapestries.
It was beautiful. Easily the most beautiful thing that Alicent had ever seen. And she was the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and before that, a daughter of one of the greatest and most storied houses of the realm. The mirror being given to Rhaenyra was a treasure that Lords would have fought over. It was the kind of thing that would eventually be passed down across generations. Comparing it to a blade of Valyrian steel was probably an exaggeration, but that was the closest thing she could think of.
"And for when you find yourself out and about, the companion gift to this one will hopefully be of some use," he said, and then another object was placed in his hands. Swaddled in cloth just like the mirror had been. When he uncovered it, there were even more gasps. A mirror designed to be held in the hand and used at all times. Looking at it, Alicent decided that she wanted one. The full-sized mirror was probably going to be prohibitively expensive, but surely the crown would have the funds to procure one or two of those for her use. She was the Queen after all.
"Thank you, my lord. You flatter me, truly. These gifts. To call them beautiful would be an understatement," The Princess said, and then she stepped closer to the Lordling before placing a kiss on his cheek. A kiss that sent the whole of Court into a frenzy that not even the gifts, beautiful as they were, had managed.
It was a stroke of luck that allowed Alicent's eyes to run over the Lady Laena when they did. She was glaring at the Princess, and it was a look that Alicent knew well. It was the same look she had given the Princess at many a time when the Prince Daemon would come see them and only have eyes for his niece, little more than a girl at the time, while Alicent was at the cusp of womanhood and should have been far more attractive. Jealousy. What an interesting emotion.
To his credit, Laenor Velaryon only needed a second or so to compose himself as the Princess returned to her seat before he called forth the next member of the royal family. This time, it was her son Aegon.
"For the Prince Aegon, I have no doubts that you will grow into a warrior that is a credit to the name you have been given, and so my gifts are to spur that development forward. The first is a horse, bred from the finest Dornish sandsteed, famed for its sure-footedness," Laenor said, and while there were some scattered applause as her boy walked forward to stroke the horse with a bright smile on his face, no one could mistake the gift for being even slightly comparable to what he had given Rhaenyra a bare second earlier.
Was this a statement? An announcement of where Velaryon loyalties lay?
"And to aid your lessons in the yard, a training sword of your own," he said, offering a wooden blade. It was beautiful and well crafted, but it was still a wooden sword in the end. A wooden training sword and a horse. That was all her son, the future King, was due as far as Velaryon was concerned? Oh she would have to take steps to answer this insult. Aegon did not see it as such though, accepting the sword with a bright smile on his face, and barely remembering his courtesies before he was off like a stone from a catapult.
"And for the youngest one, I bring a crib worthy of a Prince." The cloth was pushed aside to reveal an ornate crib. Black and red like the frame for Rhaenyra's mirror. Targaryen colours, yes, but she could have hoped for something a bit different. After the reveal of the mirror, the gift that would have been extraordinary in any other context just seemed a bit bland.
"Thank you for your kindness, Ser Velaryon. I cannot wait to put him to bed on it," she said, knowing full well that she would never use it.
"And for you, my Queen, I bring the best jewels the world has to offer," he said, revealing a necklace and a set of earrings. They seemed to shine in the light with their green glow.
"Emeralds from the best craftsmen in Yi-Ti," he said. And she could see the work was well done. She didn't have any pieces that could compare in beauty. But then she caught another look at Rhaenyra's mirror in the corner of her eyes, and it was all she could do to maintain the smile on her face.
"A beautiful gift, Ser. You have all my thanks," she said.
XXXXX- LAENOR VELARYON
"You outdid yourself today," Mother said as we converged back at her rooms after Court had come to a close for the day.
"Thank you, Mother," I said.
"Truly. I did not know your artisans were able to make things of such beauty. That mirror? One of a kind," she said. Laena had gone deeper into the receiving room, pouring out a glass of wine for herself. It was her I kept my attention on when I spoke.
"Not really," I said.
"What?"
"The mirror. I've got like a dozen more or less just like it back at Bloodstone. You each have three in your rooms and bathrooms waiting for you for when you visit," I said with a smirk as I watched a smile spread across Laena's face.
"So you had the Princess fawning over something we have an abundance of?" Laena asked.
"Indeed. Well, she might have the only mirror of that sort in mainland Westeros for a while regardless. I'll pretend they are difficult to make to drive up the price as much as possible," I said.
"Oh where did I go wrong to have raised such a cutthroat merchant," Mother said, spreading her hands out to the heavens.
"And you know you used to be such a proper lordling," she said next, pinching at my cheeks.
"Having to deal with the Essosi, and the Dornish, and the Lannisters day in and day out can do that to you," I said with a sigh.
"A good thing you are back here where you belong now, isn't it?" she asked, cupping my face and sparing me a fond smile.
"Indeed," I agreed.
"Now what is this nonsense I hear about you wanting to participate in the Joust?" And with the question, the smile on her face slipped away and a friendly cupping turned to her pinching at my cheek, practically squeezing it.
"The entirety of the Kingsguard, every great lord and knight in the Seven Kingdoms, and then some are going to be participating, and you somehow have gotten it into your head that this would be a good first joust?" she asked, tone making it clear what exactly she thought about the idea.
A/N: So Laenor comes to court and gets to court a bit. Next chapter starts the tourney. Next six chapters up on patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early– 15% discount for a limited time.