ONE / the fullness of youth

The stars shone brightly as whispered exchanges of haste were passed between three children. The light of the moon danced along their skin as they ran down the hill and into the godswood, the little feet cracking sticks and leaves in their haste to escape their guards. A girl with coppery blonde hair led the way as she weaved between the trees and stumps, holding her boys hands as she tugged them along. They all laughed as her hair danced with starlight and the boys eyes reflected the moon.

Luke, the youngest of the three, who was barely grazing six, huffed and puffed and nearly had to be dragged as they kept going. "Sel! My feet hurt!" He complained to the girl, tugging on her hand as they slowed to a quick walk. "I don't like all this running!' He stamped his foot, and Salaenya was reminded of their uncle Aegon whenever he threw a fit.

"Come now, Princess, must I always carry you everywhere?" She asked the younger boy, her pants obvious, exhaustion dragging her feet into a slow walk. His complaint about being called a princess made his older brother laugh. "Do you not wish to see the night sky atop the hill? It is always so beautiful." She said it excitedly, looking over at the other boy. She had just passed her tenth nameday and his eighth nameday was in a few days. Both of them were excited to be growing older and being allowed more freedom. Though they still had to sneak out at night in order to watch the stars,. "Don't you think, Jace?"

His cheeks flushed an apple red and he nodded. "I do." His grin then turned to Luke as he began to tease. "Weren't you the one whining about wanting to see where we go when we sneak away?" He asked with a toothy smile. His front tooth had finally wiggled its way free in the hour of the wolf when they had been unable to find sleep.

Luke puffed his chubby cheeks. "Yes! But I did not think you went so far..." he trailed off, his head dipping as he looked at the ground. Selaenya laughed joyfully, moving her hand from his and wrapping her arm around him. Her long, curly hair tickled the lip of Luke's nose and he scrunched it as he grinned at her. "You are far to happy so late at night, sister." They all knew she was not really their sister. They all also knew how the three of them were spoken about amongst the court, and from the lips of their very own Queen Alicent, but that did not take away from their bond. She protected Luke like an older sister would. Jacaerys... He was something entirely different to her.

"The night gives me energy." She breathed the crips air as they finally made it to the grassy knoll. It was not large; it could be considered a hill to a grown man, but to them, it was a mountain that heaved them closer to the stars. The wonder of a child melted across Luke's face as he looked up at the bright constellations. "You no longer look tired, Luke." She grinned, and Jace detached himself from her to run to the hold in the old oak tree at the bottom of the hill. Inside was a ratty blanket they had brought along to lay on the second time they had found their way here.

"It's so pretty." He said it simply, and Salaenya would recall in later years that he had always looked so lovely under the stars. The way they reflected off his eyes and spun themselves into his dark curls made him look as if he belonged in the sweet embrace of the sky for eternity. "Thank you for bringing me, Salaenya." He murmurs, his lips parted, as he gazes at the sky.

"I'm here too, Lucaerys." Jacaerys frowned as he laid down the patterned blanket. His mop of waving hair hung low into his eyes, Salaenya reached around and brushed them out of his eyes. His smile brightened the night as she finally pulled her hand away. "Let's sit." He finally said, before tugging Salaenya down to the blanket. She grabbed Luke and took him with her.

"I know you're here, but Laenya found the spot!" Luke argued. Then his face contorted as he looked between the two. "And she was the one who let me come! You wanted me to stay in bed!"

"You should be in bed, you're little!" Jace shot back, glaring at the boy.

Salaenya laughed at the both of them. "You're both little!" With her head thrown back, she announced it to the world. Completely disregarding the fact that she too was little. She also lived in a world of wonder that all of the adults in their lives now lacked. She almost feared growing older if it was possible for her to end up like the Queen. At least her mother still had zest for life and the ability to enjoy herself. Alicent—whom Salaenya almost felt bad for based on her jumbled dreams—was a sad woman who had only ever had one thing for herself. Even that was taken from her.

"You're little too, Sel!" Luke shouted, and Jace shushed him.

"Do you wish for us to be caught?" Jacaerys hissed, lightly pushing the younger boys shoulder so he would shut up. "The guards will find us with your running mouth as loud as it is!"

"Oh, leave him be, Jace." Salaenya said with a happy smile, laying on her back so she could look at the stars. She couldn't keep the smile off her face as she stared upwards. The stars twinkled in their own form of dance as she watched, trying to decipher the meaning. The two boys huffed and laid down on either side of her. "There's the mothers constellation." She pointed up to one of Queen Alicent's gods decorated in the stars.

"Why does the Queen believe in such a strange religion when the old gods exist?" Luke, ever the curious one, asked with a newfound wonder in his eyes as she pointed out the stars to him. "Mother prefers the old gods."

"Her Grace would shave her head bare to spite mother." Salaenya sighed, lacing her fingers through Jacaerys's as he scoffed. "She is a frightfully sad woman who takes it out on the only person she knows won't be able to fight back." The girl's face pinched as she thought about it. "I don't know how they were ever close."

"Do you think Mother loved her grace?" Lucaerys asked quietly, his voice growing thick as he looked at the stars. "She is always so sad when speaking of her. It makes me upset."

"I think so." Salaenya's voice was quiet as she thought about it. "I think they loved each other very much. You can only hate a person the way they do if you loved them at one point. You can't ever be betrayed by a person who doesn't know you." She assumed so at least. She felt as if she could never be betrayed by Aemond or Aegon, she didn't quite care about them enough to consider anything they did a betrayal. Helaena could betray her along with Melarie, but other than that, she was sure nobody beyond her boys and her mother could hurt her in that way.

"How did Queen Alicent betray mother?" Jacaerys asked, and Salaenya was suddenly hit with the realization that they thought she knew everything. She almost forgot she was the eldest, and therefore they thought she was smarter, even when she truthfully wasn't. Luke excelled in high valyrian and Jace was already taking to the classes about the high houses. She just... existed with them all. She wasn't as like them as they thought she was.

"I don't know," she admitted, looking back up at the sky. "I just know they would be much happier if they did not hate each other so." Her dreams had told her as much. The way they smiled as young girls with joy on their lips had disappeared, morphing into something inhumanly angry. Something with sharp teeth and bloody gums, whether it was their own blood or each other's, Salaenya wasn't sure.

"I hope to never be so angry with another that I cannot love them." Luke said it quietly. His face morphed into something otherworldly for a moment. She was struck by his beauty again. He would make a fine man, and she would make sure he married a good woman who would appreciate him completely. "That seems a terrible fate."

"It would be," Jace whispered, the words almost salty on his lips as he thought of the tears he had seen his mother cry. "Let's promise we will never hate each other, even when Luke is being annoying." It was a whispered promise coming from the lips of a naive child. He did not know of the trials of life or what the future held for him. Brother commonly hated brother in their world of politics and power, but he would grasp that hope until the day he could no longer grasp it.

"Hey!"

"I could never hate either of you," the young girl whispered, a small confession under the stars as Luke curled into her side. "You two are my best friends. I will die before I hate you." The vulnerability of her words caused a deep sadness inside the other two. Because she was Luke's sister, she spent her days reading to him about the Valyrian histories and her nights giggling with him over his childish fantasies. And to Jacaerys, she was everything he had ever wanted. He hardly understood romance and care, but he knew there was a deep ache in his young chest that was only ever dulled when she was with him. He gripped her hand tighter as he thought about a world without Sel, his Sel. He never wanted to see it.

"I don't want you to die." Luke said it timidly, laying his head on top of her shoulder with misty eyes.

"I won't, because I'll never hate you." She grinned. Pressing one finger into his chubby cheek. He giggled quietly and dug himself deeper into her side. "I could never hate my sweet Luke, even if you smell bad!" His arms came to wrap around her center and squeeze, his giggle melting into laughter as Jacaerys reaches over and begins to tickle him. They suddenly forgot all about being caught as they all crashed into a heap of limbs trying to tickle one another.

Salaenya was tugged away from her assault on Luke by a pair of chubby hands. She wiggled, giggling joyfully and attempting to free herself from Jacaerys's grasp. She may have been older but he was already growing stronger by the day. Eventually, when they were older and grown, he would be able to lift her completely. Luke tries to grab at her as she twists around in Jace's hold. "I do not stink!" He laughs, shaking her as Jace continues to tickle her. "Princes don't stink!" He shrieked in a giggle.

"Do too! You and Jace always stink like dragons!" Her laughter was infectious and soon they could no longer grab at each other. Their laughter sapped the strength from their limbs as they rolled off the blanket and into the grass. Her knees scraped against the wet ground as she tried to catch herself, stand up, and run away from their assault. When she looked down, her white nightdress was stained green at the knees. She was sure she would be scolded for it. She didn't care.

"Because Vermax and Arrax are dragons, Silly!" Jace shot back, trying to grab onto her shoulders to keep her down. She stumbled as she tried to rise to her feet, laughing as she fell forward and Jace landed on her back. "You would smell like dragon too if you came with us to the pit!" He said it in jest, but the pain of envy flashed through Salaenya at the mention of their dragons. She had been gifted an egg from her grandfather when she had been found; it had hatched a quiet and small thing with gorgeous night scales, and it had died in the wee hours of the morning three days after hatching. She had only been five but she had been devastated; it was the only thing that had made her feel like she was a Targaryen by right and not just claim. She felt out of place in the dragonpit now, with all of her family doting on dragons and learning to command them. She felt like a fraud. She was a fraud.

Lucaerys faltered in his spot, "Jace." His voice was quiet as they both noted that Salaenya had gone still. "That was mean."

Jacaerys faltered, wincing a little as he realized how insensitive he had been with his words. He looked down at her with pity in his eyes—pity Selaenya didn't want—and sighed. "I'm sorry, that is not what I meant." He knew how hard it had always been for her, with her image as a Targaryen. She did not share their mother's face or her hair, merely her eyes, which had grown to border on blue, unless she was angry. She hardly looked Valyrian compared to Rhaenyra and the rest of her mother's family. The only ones she had been told she looked like were called bastards at court. Even then, they still had the fact that they had been birthed by their mother to count as something. She was just a girl who had been taken in. "Please sit up, Sel."

She felt his weight shift and slide off of her back, and she quickly sat up with her legs crossed on the ground. She kept her eyes trained on the floor as she thought about her dead dragon. Nyrax would have been her name. She hadn't really been allowed to name her, considering nobody thought her dragon would live. "I don't like going to the dragon pit." She finally said while rubbing her nose. "Aegon always makes fun of me." He was close to a year younger than her, yet he always had something to yell at her about. He pinched and grabbed and did whatever he wanted, and he was only nine. "He says I don't have any Valyrian in me."

"But you come from a Valyrian house?" Jacaerys asked, his brow dipping into a disapproving frown. "Mother and Grandsire say that Daemon found you in the rubble of a Valyrian noble family across the narrow sea; that is why you were brought to live with us! Your egg wouldn't have hatched at all if you had no Valyrian blood!" He had nearly begun shouting, his hand raising into the air and Luke crossed his arms. "You could claim a dragon now and he would have to shut up!"

"All the dragons to claim are on dragonstone." She sighed. (She recalled in later years that the only reason she had ever been able to entertain the idea of a dragon was because of his never-ending hope. He had always pushed her for the things she was afraid of; she would forever be grateful for him.) looking back up at the sky. "Mother would not allow it."

"We can get Mother to understand!" Luke said this from his spot behind Jace. "She'll have to let you try once she knows about Aegon!" He was too confident; they all knew their mother would never allow her to step foot inside the dragonmont until she was older. Even then, she would fight Salaenya being put in danger until the last moment.

Salaenya shook her head with a glum smile. "She would not." With a heavy sigh, she turned to look at them again. Her braid swung around her back and Jace could have sworn he saw pale light shining in her hair. "She would be too afraid of me being killed; you know that as well as I, Luke." The boy looked glum as he looked down at his hands. They all knew Rhaenyra was too protective of her daughter, too scared for what the world may press into the girl's hands, and that she would do everything in her power to save her from it. Many targaryens had no dragons in their entire lives and lived to be great rulers, always dodging the accusations of tainted blood with their silvery hair and violet eyes. Salaenya had neither a dragon nor silvery hair, and everyone knew she wasn't of Targaryen blood.

She was already learning the cruelties of the world and she wasn't even eleven years yet. She was just waiting until someone decided she was worth enough to claim a dragon—she would even be willing to die trying. At least then she could avoid Aegon's taunts and Alicent's cruel eyes. "Maybe if we snuck to Dragonstone?" Jace sounded timid at the suggestion. Everyone knew he would never do it; the words of his mother were buried too deep in his bones to ever ignore. Her fire for protecting Salaenya was passed to him with the knowledge that he would one day marry her. He would never do anything to put her in danger.

"It's a nice thought, Jace." Her voice was soft as she spoke into the night air. Somewhere in the grass, his hand found hers and squeezed. "But it's the thought of a fool." His shoulders droop as he turns away and sits back. The cheer of their earlier moments had been sucked from them. A kiss none of them had wanted. She wondered if they thought she was weak because she did not have a dragon. She wanted to be strong like them too. She hated feeling like she was an imposter within her own family. She wanted a dragon to prove she could be one of them and to prove saving her was worth it.

Luke and Jace both only thought of how to make Salaenya feel better. Thoughts of weakness never crossed their minds in moments like these. Luke was young, and he didn't understand the accusations being made about his legitimacy yet, but Jace understood. He knew exactly how Salaenya was feeling at the moment. She wanted to prove she was a Targaryen. She had never been given the chance, but while his dragon had hatched and he had been training with it since he was able to talk already gave him one. He knew the pain far too well for someone so young. And while Salaenya thought they believed her weak, they thought of her silent strength, which they each wished they possessed.

Jacaerys had not been told much of the world of women as he was still young, but he knew it was hard in the way a life of a man never would be. They had no rights, no say in matters, and were exchanged for power at the drop of a hat. He had heard of betrothals for power since he was a boy. He wanted Sel—his Sel—to know she was not a tool for him. He knew she had to be very strong to live in a world where she was constantly held to a standard he wasn't. He wished he could understand; he also knew Salaenya was glad he didn't.

In his young mind, he already knew he would love her, even if he wasn't quite sure what love was yet.

"I love you, Sel, dragon or not." Luke finally said, breaking the sombre silence with his warm words. "You'll get a dragon someday; you'll see." He sounded so confident, so sure, that Salaenya smiled at him despite her heavy heart. She brushed a strand of his thick and dark hair from his forehead in a way their mother had done hundreds of times before.

"If you say so, sweet boy." She sounded so much like Rhaenyra then that they almost wondered if she was a copy of her. She was so lovely and beautiful, gentle in a way only a woman could be. Salaenya did not realize just how alike she was to the crown princess in her mannerisms. Jace was sure if she saw how perfect she was, she wouldn't think herself inadequate. He hoped someday she would see what he did.

Luke leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his sister, burying his face into her neck. He didn't know how to make her feel better with his words so he tried to push all of his hope into the tightness of his grip on her waist. She kept one hand in Jace's and wrapped the other around Luke, burying her face into his soft hair with a contented sigh. Here with her favorite people, she knew exactly who she was. She knew she had nothing to prove with her boys.

They sat like that for only a while longer before they made their way back to the blanket and cuddled into a pile. Luke lay between Salaenya and Jacaerys, his eyes drooping as the girl pointed out the many constellations she knew to him. Jacaerys kept his hand in Salaenya's as he too listened to her tales of the stars.

Soft footsteps sounded just below them on the knull. Salaenya sat up and turned to look, while Luke just stayed cuddled into Jacaerys now by her side. He was nearly asleep and Jacaerys was holding him. As she looks down, she sees the warm face of Havaena, her mother's handmaiden and longtime friend. (Everyone, even Salaenya, knew there was something more going on there; they never spoke of it.) The woman padded softly on the grass, her golden dress lifted in her hands as she made her way up. Her brunette hair was let loose for the night and her worry worn face was set into a peaceful expression. Though her eyes held the promise of scolding,.

"Princess, princes," she said evenly, her voice betraying none of the frustration she was feeling. Salaenya gave a sheepish smile as Jacaerys finally sat up. "You are supposed to be abed at this time of night. What, pray tell, are you doing on a blanket outside with no supervision?" The woman's voice was beautiful, and she understood why her mother was so taken with her. Despite being what some would call plain-featured, Havaena was one of the most beautiful women in all of Westeros, competing with even her mother and the Lady Queen Alicent.

"We wanted to watch the stars." Salaenya's sheepish response pulled a sigh from the older women. She was seven-and-twenty, yet she looked as if she were just grazing one-and-twenty. Not many women are graced with such youth. Her gaze pierced through the children in the way only a woman who had accepted her motherhood—to children not of her own—could.

"You could not enjoy them from the balcony in your chambers, princess?" Salaenya didn't like when Havaena called her by her title. She didn't care if it was frowned upon for a handmaiden—a lannister bastard no less—called her by her name. Havaena was family in their eyes; she had always been there; she had always been present in their lives.

"The light from the town makes the stars look dull," Jace told her, his own voice groggy with the thickness of sleep. "It's prettier out here."

"You all know you are supposed to ask your mother if you may go and watch the stars at night." Havana was exasperated now; she seemed almost baffled by them. "What if someone had stumbled upon you all and thought of something immoral? What if they had told the king? Did you think of these things before putting your honor on the line for a few moments of stargazing?" The three children looked down in shame. "You are lucky your mother was abed or she would have knocked the keep down to find you all."

Salaenya scratched her cheek as she tugged at the end of her braid. "I'm sorry, Miss Havaena, we weren't thinking properly." She kept her eyes trailed on the soft grass just under the edge of the blanket.

"We won't do it again." Jacaerys said timidly, his hand reaching for Salaenya's again. They were usually well-behaved children who almost never got into trouble, so being scolded always stung a little more than it should. Aegon always called them suck-ups, or ass kissers, but they really didn't like breaking their mothers or Miss Havaena's trust. "We just got really excited."

The frustration slipped from Havaena's beautiful features with a sigh, being replaced with the softest of smiles. "I know you will do it again; you are children." Havana stepped forward and sat besides them, her robe pooling around her on top of her nightgown. She was elegant even in stillness, with her legs crossed, as she looked up at the stars. "What constellations were you looking at tonight?" There was a contentedness in her voice as she sat among them.

Salaenya had been told that it was better for people labeled bastards to not bare children. It would only extend the suffering that was their life to their naive child. She assumed that Havaena had accepted that long ago, along with her affinity for women, and became a mother where she could. She helped Rhaenyra when she was ill and the children were raucious, when she was tired and when the boys wanted a bedtime story. At first, Havana helped because she loved Rhaenyra, but now she helped because the three children all cuddled on the blanket where the closest she would get to being a mother, and she loved them all very dearly. Salaenya hoped she knew that they all felt the same and loved her very much, despite not being able to say it out loud.

"Syrax! The goddess that our mother's dragon is named after." Salaenya grinned, making room for Havaena and pulling Luke so he was laying his head in her lap. Jacaerys moved to the other side of the brunette woman and looked back up at the stars. "Mama showed me where it was a few nights ago and now I am trying to find it again to show Luke and Jace."

"Ah, Syrax, what a lovely idea." Havaena agreed, then lifted her slender fingers to the sky and began pointing. "Do you see those two bright stars there? That seem to fall into the third, then the curve of four? That is the beginning of her."

Salaenya looked and looked; eventually, her eyes snagged on the right stars and she giggled in glee. "Yes!" Her voice was full of wonder as she turned to look at the handmaiden. "You know of the stars, Miss Havaena?" She asked as Jacaerys squinted while trying to find the stars being pointed at. Havaena placed her arm over his shoulder and guided his eyes to the right patch of stars.

"Yes, I do." She smiled gently, as Jace laughed when he finally saw them. "My mother used to show me all sorts of constellations when I could not find sleep." Her smile turned to something melancholy as she thought of her mother. Salaenya and Jacaerys both shared a look, knowing her mother, who was as sweet and kind as she was beautiful, had passed of the shivers a year before. "She knew of all the constellations in the sky, and when she ran out of stars to show me, she made new ones up."

"Do you miss her terribly?" Jacaerys murmured quietly, looking up at the woman with his wide and childlike eyes. Havaena saw much of herself in Jacaerys as the years wore on. He knew what the courts said about him, even as a sweet child who had never done any wrong, and he still smiled despite the agony of being considered a bastard. "I do not know if I could live without mother." He whispered the last part, and Havaena pulled him under her arm again.

"I do, but the pain dulls with time." Her voice was thick as she spoke; it was uncommon for her to speak of her mother, knowing that she had lain with Lord Lannister and conceived her out of wedlock. It was almost as if she invited forces with ill will anytime she spoke of her mother near a lord or lady. "Everyone loses their mother with time, but someday the pain will dull so much that you will look at your life with happiness, because who would anyone be without their mother?" The sweetness in her voice was like a soothing balm on a burn. Salaenya slipped her hand into Havaena's.

"I do not know who we would be without you, Miss Havaena." She said it softly, drawing the older woman's eyes to her for a moment. "You are just as important to us as mother."

It was a forbidden sentence, though everyone knew just how important the woman was to Rhaenyra and her children, even to Laenor. They all had found something important in Havaena. Salaenya, Jacaerys, and Lucaerys all found a second mother. Rhaenyra found a lover who was not bound by political ambitions. Laenor found a confidant who understood almost all of his struggles. She had slipped easily into the inner workings of their corner of the Targaryen family, as easily as breathing. Salaenya watched as her breathing faltered and she looked down at the younger girl. There was something she couldn't place swimming in the depths of Havaena's eyes.

"You are important to me as well, my sweet children." Her hoarse voice seemed to tremble as she held them tighter to her chest, wrapping an arm around Salaenya. The affection seemed to come from her heart and into them all. Even the sleeping Luke felt the way her care ebbed and flowed into their beings. It was a stolen moment and they all knew it wouldn't last forever, but they all just looked back up to the stars and watched the night pass them by.

A great crystalline star shot through the sky faster than they could breathe. One blink and it would have been missed. "A shooting star! Make a wish!" Salaenya grinned, closing her eyes and wishing for everyone she loved to be forever happy. She wished and wished, repeating it three or four times in her head as she squeezed her eyes so hard they felt as if they would pop. Then, when she felt like the wish had taken, she opened her eyes to gaze at her family. Both her companions had their eyes closed.

"I need not wish for anything," Havaena said when she opened her eyes, looking down at them all. Jacaerys opened his eyes after a moment. "I already have everything I need, right here."

"Even when I am not present?" Another voice cut through the air. They all turned to see Rhaenyra, with a gentle smile and a disheveled nightgown. Her hair was let loose from its normal braids as she moved towards them all. She was just as elegant, if not more, as Havaena as she sat on the other side of Jacaerys. "What did you wish for?" She asked him, and Salaenya moved her head to look at her mother.

"I can't tell you or it won't come true." He said matter of factly. Rhaenyra threw her head back in a laugh, shaking her head with a sweet smile. Salaenya hoped she would grow up to look half as beautiful as her mother. "Don't laugh!" He puffed his cheeks as they grew red, crossing his arms as Salaenya giggled.

"My sweet Jacaerys, I am your mother; all wishes can be told to me."

He thought about it and looked hesitantly at Havaena for a moment before waving his mother down. Salaenya looked up at Havaena with a smile as Jace whispered his wish into their mother's ear. "What a good wish; it will be sure to come true one day, my boy." Her hand came to rest on his cheek for a moment. Then she kissed the crown of his head and looked at Havaena.

"A good wish?" The woman smiled gently at Rhaenyra, and behind Jace, they slipped their hands together. An almost silent communication passed between them, one that Salaenya knew she would never be privy to, and they both looked down. Rhaenyra hummed and nodded, running her other hand over Luke's thick head of hair. "It must be very important; good kings make good wishes, you know."

"And good queen?" Salaenya asked, looking between the two.

Rhaenyra laughed gently as she looked at her only daughter. Her hair had turned a goldish-red over time and she had grown into the soft beauty of youth. "They make even better wishes, my sweet." She replied, her eyes melting as the young girl smiled happily. "A good king is never without a good queen, though a good queen would not drag her king and little brother off to trouble now, would she?"

Salaenya smiled sheepishly and looked down. "I suppose not."

"You are full of trouble, my girl." She smiled, and Salaenya thought of the legendary beauty of one of the old gods she couldn't remember the name of. Rhaenyra was everything a Valyrian queen should look like—everything Salaenya aspired to be one day, though she knew she would never quite be as beautiful as her mother. There were few who possessed a beauty as ethereal as Rhaenyra. Salaenya would never be one of them and she would learn to live with that one day. "Much like I was in my youth." Salaenya smiled at the thought; she was glad to be like her mother in some ways.

"Yes, but Jacaerys wanted to go tonight; I wanted to sleep." Salaenya defended herself as if she had done nothing wrong. Jacaerys bent forward to shoot her a sharp glare. She shrugged, looking up at Havaena with her bluish-violet eye color mix. "It's true, he wanted to come and have us sit together; I only brought Luke because he begged and whined, then he almost threw a fit like Aegon." The two older women laughed, joy seeping from them.

"I did not!" Jace defends, his hands flying into the air. "You take it back!"

"Why would I take back the truth?" She said it in mock confusion, and she swore she saw him readying to crawl over Havaena's lap to wrestle her to the ground. "You're just mad because we were caught!" She pointed a finger at him and laced her other hand into Luke's hair. He cuddled further into her lap as he began to softly snore. (In later years, Rhaenyra would recount that Salaenya was the only person who could keep Lucaerys asleep for the whole night. Her entire being soothed the young boy, who often suffered from night terrors.)

"You're so mean to me, Selly Bell." He grumbled, crossing his arms again and pouting like the child he was. Salaenya's grin was toothy as she reached around and poked him in the cheek.

"What else would I do with my time but torture you?"

"Read?" He mumbled, glaring at her finger for a moment before he tried to bite at it. She quickly pulled her finger away with a laugh. Havana snorted, the sound very unlike her ladylike nature, while their mother just chuckled gently. Salaenya giggled once she knew her finger wouldn't be bit off by her reckless younger companion. "Like a normal girl."

"You speak of normal when you enjoy my strangeness the most." She grinned, and the pout on his lips melted into something else as he looked at her. "Remember, I am to be your wife one day; you'll have to get used to all of my oddities." The words slipped from her tongue easily, as if she were not a child who was already betrothed to the boy who was being raised as her brother. She liked messing with him; she hadn't really let the reality of the situation sink in quite yet. She was young and naive and she had no grasp of what her future with Jacaerys would hold. Not only would she be his wife, but the mother of his children and his queen.

Rhaenyra still hadn't found the right words to explain it to her yet. Havana thought it would be better to let her learn over time. Salaenya would change with each passing season, her mind changing with the tides. There was no doubt she would make her own way into the discovery of the world of women when she was able. Right now, she was just a girl who had found puppy love with the boy she was meant to marry. They could only hope it grew into a true bond of devotion and that they found a love match that was refused to many. They would be lucky if they truly fell in love.

Salaenya didn't need to realize that yet and neither did Jacaerys. Better to let them find love on their own than try to shove their duties down their throats.

"I am to marry the strangest girl in Westeros." He sighed, though his lips tugged at a smile. "You'll decree we dance every day and sing on every solstice to appease the cakes we eat!"

She gasps, "How did you know, my king?" She giggled and he grabbed her hand on Havaena's lap. The two older women shared a look. This is enough; this is all they need for now. Let them be children. They shared their small smile before looking back down at the giggling children, while the youngest of them slept soundly in the lap of the oldest child.

At ten years of age SALAENYA was said
to be growing into the beauty of youth.
Her grandsire, King Viserys the peaceful,
was already excited to see Jacaerys and
Salaenya married. Queen Alicent has been
told as the one who kept the king from
Marrying them together so young.

—- A DANCE OF DRAGONS, recorded by Septon Eustace.

Many days later, when Salaenya and her brothers were free of the punishment of sneaking out, she found herself in the company of her aunt Helaena. Despite the girl being older than her aunt, she always felt like a child in the presence of sweet Helaena, who always took the time to explain her odd fascination with her bugs. Salaenya, along with Melarie Stark, (who was set to marry Aegon at four-and-ten.) always listened attentively whenever the blonde girl spoke of her bugs and her threads. Her dreams were a puzzle and her mind was the key; they still had yet to figure out many of her drawings.

This time, Queen Alicent sat with them as the three girls sat around, giggling with each other. Salaenya had always found the young queen quite beautiful, with the loneliest of looks set on her fair face. Her mother always said that Alicent had always been a pious woman, which was evident by the seven pointed star that always hung from her neck. She often saw the Queen leaving in the wheelhouse to go to the sept to pray. She wasn't entirely sure what she could be praying for. No matter how hard she thought of the worries of the Queen she could never find a reasonable answer.

"Sel, do you think Aegon will be nice to me once we are married?" Melarie asked, pulling Salaenya from her mind and her eyes away from the Queen. She looked at the girl with light eyes and dark locks, the youngest daughter of a second son of that late Lord Stark. (She had been told this; she had a hard time paying attention to all of the houses and their colors when learning of them from the Maesters and the Septons.) Her dress was white and grey, with the smallest amount of green embroidered into the bodice and wolves woven into the fabric. It had taken Melarie some time to get used to the warmer weather. "He is always brooding whenever I am near; am I not pretty enough?"

Salaenya frowned as Helaena looked up at the girl. "You are so very pretty, Mel." The girl said it with a confused look. "Aegon is just a boy; what does his opinion matter? I think you are one of the prettiest." She heard Alicent sigh and glanced over at the woman for a moment. Many had said that Salaenya looked as if she could be Alicent's daughter when she was younger, but the way she acted always whispered of Rhaenyra's influence.

"Melarie will marry Aegon as you will marry Jacaerys," the Queen said with a pitiful glance, knowing that Melarie will have a less than decent husband. "His opinion matters greatly if she wishes to have a happy marriage." Salaenya squinted her eyes at the Queen. There was the morose look in her eyes again that came and went like the tides or like the phases of the moon. She wondered what could have made the Queen such a sad woman who depended on a religion for comfort.

"But all Aegon does is throw fits and try to pinch the maids." She purses her lips in confusion. "Why would any marriage to him be happy?"

"The thread of red, the red of blood, all centered in the fire." Helaena mumbled to herself, momentarily pulling Salaenya from her stare-off with Alicent. "Ash will come to consume us." It was a thick silence after her words. It was so thick that Melarie grabbed Helaena's hand and kept her eyes firmly on the spider that gave her the creeps.

"Aegon is... temperamental," Alicent conceded, not knowing how to defend her young son from the brutal words of a girl barely his senior. "But he will grow into a decent man who will treat Melarie fairly." The woman nodded, her auburn hair falling down her shoulders as she looked at her hands thoughtfully. There was uncertainty on her tongue as she said the words. How could she lie to a child? How could she look at a girl as sweet as Melarie or Selaenya and tell them she would be treated fairly? Alicent had been married to Viserys and treated fairly; Aegon was not half the man his father is.

She swallowed thickly before turning her gaze back to the child on the floor.

"Do you think I'm pretty, your grace?" Melarie asked, her whimsical voice piercing through the odd tension in the queen's shoulders. Salaenya and Melarie oftentimes reminded her of Rhaenyra and herself. She hoped they never faced the same fate as the two childhood companions.

"The prettiest." Alicent's voice was thick again as she looked at Melarie.

Salaenya thought her response was odd, considering her daughter was in the room, but she decided to look down at the spider to forget about it. She needed to forget about trying to understand the Lady Queen. Alicent was an enigma that Salaenya would never be privy to. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to be privy to her strangeness, even if it was something that always pulled at Salaenya's curiosity.

Her mother had always told her not to concern herself with the affairs of a viper. She had always tried to listen to her mother's teaching, but the Queen always looked so sad. It was as if a rotting sort of anguish had sunk its teeth into her heart and refused to let go. Salaenya had always pitied pathetic things, and she thought Queen Alicent was the most pathetic of them all.

Melarie pulled Salaenya back into the conversation. It helped the girl forget all about the lingering sadness in Alicent's eyes as she gazed at Rhaenyra's oldest.

QUEEN ALICENT WAS SAID to call
for princess Salaenya in her sleep for
many years after she was married to
king viserys. None knew why, but some
assume it has something to do with
the valyrian blood flowing through
Salaenya's veins and Alicent's apparent
sensitivity to it. (That or she was obsessed
with rhaenyra's eldest, knowing she could
never be as free.)

—- A DANCE OF DRAGONS, recorded by Septon Eustace. (added notations by mushroom)

The world was bright as she walked, soft grass crushing underfoot as her fingertips grazed the flowers. The sunlight felt like nostalgia as it grazed her skin, reminding her of the sun when she was ten. The air smelled of sweetness and flowers; the future and past mingled in the air.

"Salaenya?" A sweet voice called, older than she had ever heard it. She turns on her foot with a delicate smile to see Jacaerys. He was older, his jaw sharper, and all of the fat of youth slipped from him to leave a beautiful man in its wake. His skin was sunkissed and his curls reflected the golden light. "You were lost for a moment." He said it gently, his hand coming to grab hers as his other rested on her cheek.

"Just thinking." Her voice was quiet, her mind stilling at the touch of his hand.

"About Luke?" His voice was no longer gentle. "About how you couldn't save him?"

The sky darkened, the heavens cracking open and crying on the two of them. "How you couldn't save me? Or mother? Or Havaena and Daemon? How your purpose is to save yet all you've done is make us suffer?" The anger was palpable, with cruelty dripping from every word. She tried to pull her hand away from his yet his grip was crushing. It hurt.

The meadow was gone and what was left was rock and sea. She stood on the ground as the world crashed around her. "What are you saying? I have no purpose!" She shouts, fear dripping into her with every raindrop. "Please! Jace, you're hurting me!"

"You hurt us!" He shouts, then he points to the sky as a tattered dragon falls from the clouds. There was a red blur just beside it and she thought it looked so much like a doublet. "You are meant to save! So save, Salaenya!"

She couldn't understand; she didn't get it, but she didn't have to think for too long as the largest dragon she had ever seen dipped from the clouds before them. Ships appeared in the sea, arrows firing and digging themselves into Jacaerys's back, then three to his neck. As she screamed and blood dripped from his mouth, the dragon dropped and swallowed them whole.

She woke screaming, crying for Jacaerys and Luke. Both came to her that night and stayed with her till morning. This was only the beginning. 

And so it begins... im so excited!! ahhh I love this book so much its silly! Praying I got the ages right I'll actually cry if i didnt.

Words written 7,892 (bro how???)