## **Chapter 5: Echoes of the Mad King's Fall**
**15th Day of the 5th Moon, 283 AC**
**Temporary Camp Near Crofters' Village, Eastern Wolfswood**
Vaelen watched first light pierce the pine canopy, thin golden fingers tracing across his **nine-year-old son's** sleeping face beside their weathered traveling wagon. **Camped among Wolfswood crofts these three moons past—their longest pause in years.** Solvarin wanderers rarely lingered; the ancient curse binding their blood murmured constant warnings against rooting too deep, lest shadows find purchase. But Robert's Rebellion had shattered the North—refugees flooding roads, crofts stripped of men, fields lying fallow under winter's bite. Duty demanded they halt their wheels, mend what war broke before rolling onward.
Two moons past, word had trickled north on raven wings and ragged tongues: Mad King Aerys II Targaryen burned in King's Landing. Jaime Lannister's golden blade through his back, wildfire devouring the Iron Throne in green flames. Robert Baratheon claimed victory, crowned amidst the ashes. But to Vaelen, watching smoke curl from the cold firepit beside their wagons, triumph tasted like **charred bone**. The North bore scars deeper than maester songs admitted—widows keening in every hollow, children orphaned by royal wildfire and rebel steel alike. [1]
**Vaelen's thoughts drifted four years earlier, 279 AC, to a rare moment of warmth when Prince Rhaegar's retinue journeyed near their northern path during a Stark-hosted hunt. There, beside crackling fires and whispering pines, Vaelen's family shared brief refuge with Elia Martell and her children.**
*Flashback: The night's storm faded to gentle drizzle. Solvarin wagons nestled close, fires flickering orange against dark trees. Lira Solvarin sat carefully tending baby Raen in her arms, her dark hair blooming in damp tendrils.*
*Nearby, Princess Elia Martell sat wrapped in velvets, cradling infant Aegon with regal grace despite her pale features. Little Rhaenys (~3), soft-braided and bright-eyed, tottered after Raen (~6), giggling as they dodged puddles and snapped pine needles underfoot.*
*"Raen! Does your daddy fight monsters in the dark?"* Rhaenys asked, plopping on a moss-covered stone, eyes wide as a moon above.
*Raen puffed his chest proudly, glancing at Vaelen sharpening blades by firelight.* "Daddy fights **shadows**—big, bad shadows. Like black cats with stripes, and big wolves with blue eyes. He carries heavy packs and fixes broken wheels. **I want to be strong like him—to help people who fall down."*
*Rhaenys clapped sticky hands and scrambled onto Raen's back.* "Me too! Piggyback rides and strong shadows! **You're my strong shadow boy!**" Raen spun her through mud, both shrieking laughter.
*Elia smiled at Lira.* "Your wild one has North's heart. Wanderers carry more than burdens—**hope follows your wheels.**"
*Lira brushed Raen's damp curls.* "Solvarin blood protects the small and lost, Your Grace—roads or thrones alike."
*Vaelen bowed low.* "The Dance we carry is for those who cannot protect themselves."
*Elia touched shard curiously.* "Old stone. **Your blood carries old fire—careful it doesn't consume you.**"
"Dance isn't shard magic. **It's our blood. Fast feet, sharp eyes—curse takes payment when pushed.** Shard just warns of real monsters."
**That fragile joy now slaughtered.** Rhaenys' throat slit by Ser Gregor Clegane's blade. Infant Aegon dashed against stone. Children sheltered by **wagon fires**—not gilded halls—reduced to royal ghosts. Vaelen's chest tightened. **Highborn or crofter, war devoured the helpless first.** [2]
**Raen stirred, hardened by road life.** Vaelen knelt. "**Up, lad. Wheels move before dawn catches us rooted.**"
Raen scrambled up, pulling boots. They stepped into crisp air thick with woodsmoke and damp earth. Frostbrook murmured nearby—their temporary lifeline.
Vaelen took the short practice sword from the wagon. "**War's done, lessons aren't. Think when tired. Care beyond blade.**"
Footwork began: pivot, lunge, hold. "**Feet wider! Ground speaks if ears open,**" Vaelen corrected sharply. Raen stumbled, then reset resiliently—echoes of chasing Rhaenys flickering behind each step.
**"Better. Shadowcats teach faster than maesters."**
*"Vaelen!"*
**Mara—crofter matriarch—strode from nearby steadings, apron grimed.** "Your hands saved our south windbreak. Bay of Ice storms hit fiercer since levies took timber men."
Vaelen nodded. "**Good folk endure. Safe roads ahead.**"
Windbreak flashed: slumped timbers, crofter nursing shoulder, girl prying stone. **Raen heaved beside Vaelen.** *"Legs, not arms."*
*"Three! One! Two! Three!"* Stone settled. Dust swirled.
*"Seven blessings,"* Mara breathed. *"Wanderers keep roads kinder than kings."*
**Raen wiped sweat.** Vaelen saw Lira's grit in him—and Rhaenys' lost laughter by wagon fires.
**"Training's mending on the move,"** Vaelen low. **"Not just steel."**
Frostbrook washing:
*"King's dead,"* **Raen** mumbled, skipping pebble—plop. *"We stay now?"*
**"Wanderers can't root. Oaths endure. Long Night scorns camps."**
**Raen tossed another.** *"Crofters wave when we pass."*
**"Stand while wagons pause. Rebellion proved."**
**Gaze darkened.** "**Remember Princess Elia by our fires? Rhaenys called you 'strong shadow boy' bragging about me fighting dark. Clegane slaughtered her and Aegon.** War eats weak first."
**Raen froze.** *"Braid girl? Piggyback girl?"*
**"She believed you'd save folk like shadows can't touch. Innocents fall first. That's why we roam—and protect."**
Clearing: **Raen's strikes steadied—Rhaenys' giggles, "shadow boy," echoing behind swings.** Road taught young—no glory, endurance.
*"Enough. Sharper."*
**Raen squinted.** *"Don't feel sharp."*
**"Sharpness hides in work,"** Vaelen—**Jaime through Aerys, Clegane through Rhaenys, Robert's blood-crown, Lira's road grave.**
*"Posts packed. Noon departure."*
**"Break camp?"**
**"Always. Duty rides wheels."**
Vaelen watched **nine-year-old Raen** stack posts, crimson shard heavy. Mad King's fall changed nothing—**Solvarin Dance fragile as wandering peace, as Rhaenys' lost squeals by their fires.**
***