While the two converging friends would eventually diverge from the Sept and unto other places... the King was left with many other things to ponder over.
So, in the gardens of the Keep he currently was... looking over its expanse until it met the sunkissed seas.
The very garden whose grassy spaces are where Aemma used to organize croquet, among other games.
Of course, he also noted the approach of two silver-haired individuals.
Then again, it was just the Velaryon couple that he wanted to have an audience with.
"Your Grace." Greeted Lord Corlys upon approach.
"I'm glad we could meet." Viserys greeted back. "I know tempers ran hot today, and I wanted to assure you how much I value the bond between our houses."
"Rhaenys is my favorite cousin after all." He even japed as he mused with the Queen that Never was. The cousin he had unfortunately supplanted over.
"I wish to apologize for the tenor at the Small Council today, Your Grace." The Sea Snake also said in decorum. "It was not my intent to make offense."
"Your fleet is one of the realm's most important assets, Lord Corlys." Viserys said and then reasoned. "But you must understand, as King, it is my obligation to avoid war until such time it is unavoidable."
Peace was what he wanted, and if it could be done, he would always opt for it.
"None among us desire open war." Lord Corlys assented... but then he added. "Might I speak plainly, Your Grace?"
Viserys welcomed that and said. "I always welcome the unfettered thoughts of my council."
"I fear that the eyes of our enemies are presently fixed on the Red Keep." The Master of Ships counseled and then listed out that. "The Queen has passed."
"A girl has been named heir to the Iron Throne, the first in its history."
"The King's brother, so disinherited, has claimed the Targaryen seat on Dragonstone without challenge."
"Whilst a divergent prince with potential dragonblood is parading himself to be of bronze, overshadowing everyone else. A scandal in the making if not for the fact that it is only the few of us who know of this cloudy probability."
"But now, a foreign power has established a colony in our most critical shipping lane." The man bluntly concluded.
"You paint such an aspirant portrait of my reign, Lord Corlys." Was all that Viserys could say.
"It is an honest one, cousin." Rhaenys supported her husband and added. "At the moment, the Crown is perceived as being vulnerable."
Viserys noted that already and then asked. "And you think a blind incursion in the Stepstones is the only way to demonstrate that we are not?"
"The threat has already been unleashed, your Grace." The Lord of Tides then advised. "To elude a storm, you can either sail into it, or around it. But you must never await its coming."
"Alas, said storm has already arrived, and one can only persist through it."
To which, Viserys wondered. "Do you have another course of action to propose, my lord?"
"Join our families. Wed our daughter, Laena. Unite the two great surviving Valyrian houses." Lord Corlys, then and there, let out his aspirations. "With the Targaryen dragons and the Velaryon fleet bound in blood, you can show the realm that the Crown's strongest days are ahead, not behind."
A proposal that caught the King off guard, so he said. "I must admit, I haven't given marriage much thought. It's only been half a year since Rhaenyra's rushed appointment as heir... and my dear Aemma's and Baelon's passing."
"The realm expects you to take a new wife soon or late, Your Grace, to strengthen your line and produce more heirs." Rhaenys shared her support to her husband's decision and confidently affirmed. "You could not ask for a stronger match than our Laena."
A claim that ultimately rendered the King silent... with the thought of marriage now firmly swirling in his mind.
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And from that point onward... a succession of events kicked off...
Events that even Viserys struggled to keep up with... only reacting and coming to the decisions that he could.
Like a proposed dinner with Rhaenyra, following Alicent's advice...
But as much as that started warmly by confiding with each other's grief and thoughts... it ended on an awkward note with regard to certain Council proceedings earlier in the day...
Meaning that he couldn't divulge to his daughter then and there about a potential remarriage...
Only for him to be thrust right away by the morrow into the meeting with his potential bride.
Laena Velaryon was just a little girl who was more enthralled with dragons and only reciting whatever Corlys clearly wanted her to say.
A troubling matter that he unwittingly spelled out with the ever-accompanying and patiently listening Alicent once again.
Only for that to be interrupted with even more troubling news... of how Daemon had stolen an egg, Baelon's assigned egg, to give to a babe that he has apparently conceived with some whore he is planning to marry.
And Visery himself was invited to attend their farce of a sudden wedding at Dragonstone... but he didn't want to do so with well wishes, but with anger.
Angered by Daemon crossing so many lines he shouldn't have crossed.
But as he was advised by his Council to stay... he stayed... with Otto volunteering to be the one to head out for Daemon's arrest. Consequently leaving him to be in Alicent's easing company once again.
A presence that made him doubt and question... prompting him to seek the council of the ever-fair Master of Laws... who counseled him that Laena Velaryon should be the one to wed…
But... as a man of faults… Viserys thought otherwise...
And after sort of aligning his decision to remarry with his brazen daughter, who actually rode her dragon to the confrontation at Dragonstone... his choice would become clear to all…
By the proceeding day... as he had asked Otto to bring his daughter to the Small Council... wherein he announced that she is the one he intends to marry.
The Lady Alicent Hightower, who has been his only gracious companion all these moons of grieving... making her be his new wife and queen-to-be.
Under the council member's varying expression...
And much to the fury of the Master of Ships and tearful eyes of Rhaenyra... both of whom may have had their expectations betrayed.