The Triarchy ships were easy targets.

Daenys had been as strict as she knew how to be before they set out. The dragonseeds were to follow her lead. They would dive down as a unit at least three times, burning together to defend each other. Once she assessed their true reactions to burning the ships– for she feared that as fierce as they wanted to be, one or more would react as Gemma had in the Reach– she would give the signal and they'd continue in pairs. Addam and Hugh would remain together, as would Aenar and Jacaerys, while Ulf followed close with Daenys.

Alyssa had bitten back what she was sure was a very sour retort when Daenys affirmed that Bertram's message was right– Daenys wanted her here to defend Dragonstone. It had taken almost a whole of ten minutes for Daenys to have Alyssa realize the truth she was blatantly displaying with her own temper– she was not ready for battle if she was near-throwing a tantrum over not being chosen. Alyssa was fearsome, yes, but she would be of more use against Vermithor if it came to that. She and Gemma were still trusted to burn ships if Lohar had happened to plan a surprise attack beyond the blockade.

Daenys knew how frustrating it was– she would have been as mad as Alyssa if her own mother had told her the same thing. She knew that Alyssa somewhat resented not having gone to the Reach with her mother the way Gemma had, though Gemma had gently reminded her that Alyssa alone had been trusted to kidnap Otto and rob the Greens of their advantage. They each had different strengths to play.

As they neared where the battle raged, they could make out the banners and distinct hulls of the Triarchy's fleet. Lohar had divided it into two pincers– one was entering the Gullet south of Dragonstone, the other to the north. She signaled for Aenar and Jacaerys to take to the north once they split ways– Viserys was most like to be on one of the ships closest to the line between the Eyrie and Pentos. One thing had been made clear– if Aemond and Vermithor made themselves known, all would retreat save for Daenys and Vhagar.

She heard the shouts beginning when the six dragons descended upon the Gullet. Oh, do you remember now? She wondered if any of these Triarchy cunts were the same ones that had watched her descend on the Stepstones with Vhagar so many years ago. She wished Daemon were here to help her– not only would she be more confident against Vermithor, but it would be a beautiful sight for the two dragons to fly side-by-side incinerating the Triarchy once more, though Daemon had never been at the Stepstones while she was there.

Vhagar was the first to open fire, the warships gleaming bright in the rising sun and now bursting into flames that shimmered into the faces of the cheering Driftmark sailors. Daenys guided Vhagar the lowest of all the dragons, for her hide was thick and her legs were well-suited to ripping masts and plucking sailors off the deck.

The dragonseeds were doing well after the third descent. Hugh was the most fearless of all, he and Grey Ghost having practiced very much with dodging arrows. He swept up and around the ships, taking Addam and Seasmoke– who were equally brave– to the far edge of Lohar's first pincer to keep incinerating ships together. Even Ulf surprised her, cheering and shouting so many 'Dracarys's that Silverwing assumed it was implied after awhile.

She signaled for the three to remain there while she escorted Aenar and Jacaerys towards the north pincer, the boys both grinning wide as she flew beneath them. Jacaerys had always been a serious boy who knew the weight of his actions, and it pleased her that he had Aenar to guide him now that the situation was so dire.

In the unaffected second pincer, she saw more of the Velaryon ships suffering. They'd been taken unawares from the moment the battle began, and here she saw many of Lohar's warships had rammed into the Sea Snake's galleys, Triarchy men swarming aboard with ropes and grapnels. She could see a thin line had already threaded themselves on a path to Driftmark, likely to hit High Tide and Spicetown if they could afford it– it was possible it was being sacked already.

She took to that line, letting the boys search the ships furthest away– one was quite distant from the rest, likely the admiral's. Daenys and Vhagar bathed the line to Driftmark in fire, then turned themselves around to assist the others in the southern pincer. If those ships were done away with, then all the dragons could be put to the search.

"There, there, old girl," she said, smoothing her hand across the back of Vhagar's neck as they lowered themselves anew. Her dragon had been as hungry for battle as her, and only now the two of them seemed to relax with the smell of fire. Arrows and spears being lobbed at them did nothing to disturb their peace. She saw Addam dodging them as if he was born to do it– and perhaps he really had been; little was known of his mother, though those who spread word of him being Corlys's son believed Marilda of Hull had Valyrian blood in her as well.

Vhagar groaned in delight, more fire consuming the Triarchy ships. Daenys knew they'd reacted as quickly as they could have, though she wished she'd gone out to find the Gay Abandon before anything befell Aegon and Viserys. They were just boys, boys who did not understand the scale of this war. A powerhouse like Vhagar could have rescued them if they knew, if only they knew how serious it would be.

Already, she could see their courage failing. Their warships were bursting, sinking, being ripped apart. Blue fire, orange fire, red fire, gold fire, all of it mingled brighter and brighter than the sun above, clouds parting as if to show the gods themselves what Daenys was reaping in Rhaenyra's name here. Screaming men leapt into the sea only to be swallowed by the waves. Tall columns of black smoke rose up even from the water.

She thought that if they found Viserys soon, she could have Aenar and Jacaerys take him back to Dragonstone while the rest of them turned to Driftmark to clear any Triarchy cunts from High Tide and Spicetown. How many ships had burned by now– thirty, fifty, seventy? The raven had said that Lohar's fleet 'seemed' to near a hundred in number. If that was true, surely less than half those ships remained now. They were of no use to anyone, and it would serve Lohar to retreat. If only they could rob Lohar of the hostage...

"MOTHER!"

Her entire stomach turned, the sound no mother ever wanted to hear– her child crying out for her. It wasn't a cry of triumph, as if Aenar was saying he'd found Viserys. No, it was a panicked cry, a cry of fear.

She saw him on Aegarax, flying towards her in a hurry. Jacaerys was on the saddle with him, leaning forward with his face pale and armor bloody. Aenar was drenched– he must have fished Jacaerys out of the sea himself, her boy always a strong swimmer. "RETREAT!" she shouted to the other dragons. Vhagar made their signal– fire shot into the sky. Addam was the first to respond, then Hugh, then Ulf– they followed Vhagar back to Dragonstone, Aegarax's wings beating hard beside her.

"What happened?!" shouted Daenys over the wind. She could see Aenar struggling to hold Jacaerys upright– the boy was ready to topple over. There was so much blood...

"They caught him with a grapnel when we lowered ourselves over the admiral's ship!" said Aenar. "I couldn't see Viserys, they likely have him below deck or the ship with him is already gone... they tore Vermax open, it was– it was–" She could see the fear in his eyes, it must have made him think the same thing was about to happen to Aegarax. "They tore his belly open, they fell into the water. I landed Aegarax on a burning ship and dove in to fetch him. They were shooting quarrels at Jace, they wanted to sink him, but I got him out in time. Mother, he swallowed all this water, he was spitting it up when I got him on Aegarax. Vermax... Vermax is dead, I saw him sink fully when we took flight."

"You saved him, my brave boy," said Daenys. One choice made different and they would have shot you down, not him.But of course their target had been Jacaerys, what did Aenar matter when Rhaenyra's son had been there? Daenys feared perhaps she should have brought Alyssa in his place, though Alyssa would have risked burning Viserys to take those ships. "Good, good, I'm proud of you."

She whistled over her shoulder, motioning Addam to come to her. "Take Hugh and fly over Driftmark, not to burn but to see if there are any Triarchy ships attacking their ports. Meet us back at Dragonstone. As soon as I see Jace delivered to Gerardys, I will deal with anyone on Driftmark. We've burned enough ships elsewhere, the Sea Snake's fleet will have the rest running back to Tyrosh."

The boy nodded, he and Hugh turning their dragons west. Within a few minutes, she could see Alyssa and Gemma circling over the island. The girls dropped down as soon as they saw their approach, guiding them back to the cave's Dragonmount. Daenys had Aenar slip in first, then landed Vhagar behind while the girls remained outside with Ulf.

"Here, here, to me–" She had Aenar gently lower Jacaerys into her arms– his weight was much heavier than expected, gods, she feared that he was already going to limp from loss of blood. Please, please, don't let Rhaenyra lose another boy, she cannot take this, not a fourth child, no, please. When she hoisted Jacaerys up to stand beside him, she saw the gash in his abdomen. She resorted to scooping him up. "Maester– MAESTER! SOMEONE GET THE MAESTER!"

Two Dragonkeepers ran to help her with Jacaerys, the others rushing to fetch Gerardrys– and Rhaenyra. Ser Adrian Redfort of the Queensguard reached them first. He ripped off his long flowing cloak, spreading it out with the Dragonkeepers to make a pouch for Jacaerys to be carried the rest of the way. Daenys accepted a wrap from one of the Dragonkeepers' cloaks, threading it under Jacaerys's body and tying it tight to stop his bleeding. She let them carry him the rest of the way. Gods, she hoped Gerardys would be ready to tend to him.

She went back to Aenar, who hugged Aegarax and whispered to him, likely words of praise for being so brave. "You did a great thing, my boy," she told him as she neared. Aenar's face was still wet... wet... with sweat. She cupped his cheek when she neared, finding he was pale, too. "Come, let us get you some wine."

"I don't feel well," said Aenar, shakily reaching an arm to her. "That swim... it was hard..." He fell onto her, grasping desperately for her shoulders. She felt him stagger, which only further alarmed her.

His weight was much harder to bear than Jacaerys's had been. Slowly, she guided him to sit down, eyes widening when she saw him holding a hand over his own stomach, bright red with blood. "I must have taken an arrow, too," murmured Aenar wearily as she propped him up against Aegarax, who trilled mournfully. "But I was so worried about Jace... I couldn't let him die..."

"Gods be good." Daenys began to unfasten his armor. The wound was much worse up close. "Guards– someone– HELP!"

She heard the beating of wings, Alyssa and Gemma making their way in. Aenar whimpered as Daenys pressed her hands onto the wound, trying to stop the blood. "Mother," he said weakly. "Mother..." She heard his voice break. "It hurts, it hurts..."

"Breathe, my boy," she pleaded. "Breathe, it'll be alright." She heard the girls landing, she heard Alyssa and Gemma both shouting out to ask if Aenar was alright. Daenys didn't know what to tell them– she felt frozen. "Come on, up you come, up–" She struggled with everything she had in her to lift him back onto his feet. "Come– girls, help me, help me, please."

Alyssa reached her first, looping her arm under Aenar's other shoulder. "What the hell did they do to you?" she asked. She sounded angry and afraid.

"Stop, stop," Aenar begged, knees buckling. "It feels worse, please!" He choked out a sob, wailing when Alyssa tried to help Daenys hoist him up. Everyone else had gone to tend to Jacaerys, no one was coming back for them. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Gemma, run up and find some help!" begged Daenys. Not my boy, please, not my boy.

When her daughter ran, the other removed her dragon riding gloves, using them try to and stop Aenar's wounds. "It's fine, Aenar," said Alyssa as hopefully as she could. "You'll have a wonderful scar to show off to your girl in the Riverlands. You know, Cregan has all these scars, it is a thing of great importance in the North..."

"You're going to marry him," murmured Aenar, resting his head on Daenys's shoulder. She felt her own knees barely able to handle the strain of carrying him, but she walked as fast as she could trying to get him into the castle. Gods, if Gemma could at least find Bertram to tend to him, he would be alright, Bertram would know what to do. "I want to go to the wedding, I want to see Gemma marry this Tarly boy, I want to see if Bertram... Bertram would abandon going to the Citadel if perhaps Aegon died and Helaena were free..."

"Stop talking," pleaded Alyssa. She sounded ready to cry, too. She was doing her best to run alongside Daenys– and Daenys could scarcely run as it was– but they were both afraid and Aenar was looking worse by the second. "You'll get to see it all, Aenar. The more you talk, the more blood comes out, you must be quiet for once, brother, please."

"I wanted to save the boys," cried Aenar, closing his eyes. "I wanted to save them, I did my best, I tried, I tried so hard, but it hurts, it hurts, I'm afraid, Mother, I'm afraid, I'm so afraid."

Daenys nearly collapsed, her shoulder colliding with the nearest wall as she stumbled, about to break under his weight. She could hear steps rushing back to them– Gemma and Bertram must not be far now. "HELP!" screamed Alyssa as Daenys tried to whisper every comfort to her son, "Hold on, my sweet boy, my brave boy, you've got to hold on, you've always been so strong, I've always been so proud of you, you are fierce and you will survive this, you only have to keep fighting..."

"Hold me, please hold me," Aenar begged. She was holding him, did he not feel it? She was ready to shatter from holding him, she remembered how she first held him when he was born, just like this, only he weighed so much less and even thenher arms wanted to break.

"I'm here, my boy," she said, tears burning in her eyes when she realized no one was coming back fast enough. He was still bleeding all over Alyssa's gloves. Daenys was pressing down onto the wound but she could feel her own fingers becoming soaked. Blood, his blood, he'd never bled so much. "Mother's here, you're not alone. You are safe, you are safe and so loved, so, so loved, Aenar, you must hold on. Stay, please, stay."

"Daisy," he whispered. "I told her I'd come back."

Daenys collapsed when she saw Bertram and Gemma coming towards them. She cried out in pain, her knees hitting the ground. She hugged Aenar to her and Alyssa tried to lift them both but they failed. He was finally silent. Gemma started to scream, Bertram fell down beside them and felt at his neck before anything. He kept feeling, kept feeling, but never moved his hand to the wound.

"No," pleaded Alyssa. "No, no, no." She turned away towards the wall. "No, no, no, no, no."

Daenys hugged him tight, as tight as she used to hug him when he was a little boy sneaking into her and Rolf's bed wanting their comfort. She used to tell him nothing could hurt him while she was there, that he didn't need to fear any nightmares, for she would always protect him.

"Aenar," she said still, caressing his face. "Aenar, please, wake up."

Bertram pulled away at last, falling back and staring at nothing. Gemma's screams echoed in the hallway, Alyssa covered her face and breathed so heavily that Daenys feared she'd simply stop. "Mother," said Bertram gently. "Mother, he's... it was too much blood. There was nothing..."

Daenys lifted him, resting her forehead on his. My baby, my baby. My firstborn, my boy, my sweet boy. Aenar was still. He did not reach his little hands out to hold her, he did not giggle and warn her not to tickle him. How he used to badger her with questions, how he used to want her to chase after him.

"I will burn everyone in this world," said Alyssa angrily. "I will burn them all, burn them all..." She looked down at Aenar, eyes mad and shining. "He would have... he would have told me not to. But he's not here, you're not here, you selfless fool!" She covered her face and Gemma wrapped her arms around her.

Alyssa muffled a scream of her own into her palms. By now, another few guards had come back, but they would not come to take a boy to be healed, they would come to take him to the Silent Sisters. "I will kill them all for this!" shouted Alyssa when the guards came to a stop, silent and unmoving. "Aegon, Aemond, Alicent, Otto, I will kill them all, all."

Aenar wanted to speak with Otto and I did not let him. Aenar wanted to go back to Daisy, he was only here for me. I failed him. I failed to protect him.

_

"Aunt Daenys, please let me in."

Gemma turned up towards the door, but made no move to call to it or open it. Alyssa was curled up on Daenys's lap, and her mother's fingers gently ran through her hair. Bertram was in his corner, the book on his lap still open to the same page it had been a day ago– he stared at it but did not read.

"Please," begged Rhaenyra. "Please, I want to know you all are alright."

Once more, her sweet Gemma seemed filled with fury. She marched to the door, opening it and looking up at Rhaenyra without an expression, "How fares Jace?"

"He is much better today," said Rhaenyra carefully. Daenys could see her straining to look inside. "And you all?"

"My brother is dead," said Gemma. "I know it is not your fault, nor Jace's fault, but I think you should understand if we don't want to see you, cousin. We don't want to see anyone. Until my father returns from Harrenhal, until Cliff comes from Stone Hedge, we won't take any guests."

"I only... I know the pain your mother feels. I know the pain you all feel, whether you believe me or not. I want to be here for you."

"You can be here for us. Behind the door. We need space right now, Nyra. Please. Aenar died so that Jace might live. We admire that, but we need to mourn it, too." She closed the door without waiting for her to reply.

Daenys knew she should have said something, perhaps she should have asked Gemma to be kinder. Rhaenyra had lost Lucerys, had lost Baelon, had lost Viserys and almost Jacaerys. She knew what it was like to lose a child and to lose a sibling. Still, Daenys could not bring herself to argue in her niece's favor. She did need space. She needed to be here, alone, with only her children. They needed her now.

Alyssa had not left her side. With no outlet for her anger, she had only tears. She slept most of the day and ate little. Bertram could not concentrate when he tried to read, and whispered that if he'd been braver, he could have been on dragonback helping them. If he cared less about books, he might have appreciated Aenar's past weeks here instead of being shut away in the library.

Gemma, gentle Gemma, was doting on her mother. She felt the same loss as the others, surely, but when Daenys had asked her how she was feeling, Gemma had replied only with, "I lost my brother. It hurts. I want to avenge him and I want to cry all day. But I think I understood Aenar best of all, even better than Lys. He and I both understood the power of grieving through action, through not letting the world stop. So I won't. I will continue to do." Even now she was the only one attending meetings, though she refused to speak to anyone during them.

Gemma seemed to think Daenys needed her the most, and this was true. Daenys kept thinking back to her conversation with Aenar, to his birth. She had never even imagined herself having children before she first started sleeping with Otto, she never imagined loving them so much. She'd lost so many people by now, but none of it had ever prepared her for losing her son, her first baby.

No news could bring them peace. Word from Oldtown was that Daeron and Tessarion had finally taken flight– the Greens finally had another dragon. On the Red Fork, they learned that the Lannister army had prevailed at the Red Fork. Daenys feared for Cliff, who was closest and likely was involved in the battle. Though Rhaenyra received word that Dalton Greyjoy had raised his banners in her name, and had launched an assault on Lannisport wherein they sacked the city and made off with uncounted wealth and more than six hundred women and girls (including the now deceased Lord Jason's favorite mistress and natural daughters), it was not as much to celebrate with Aenar gone.

Lord Walys Mooton had led a hundred knights out of Maidenpool, joining with the half-wild Crabbs and Brunes of Cracklaw Point and Celtigars of Claw Isle to retake Rook's Rest. They'd tried to finish slaying Sunfyre, which had gone quite poorly. At least, it confirmed for them that the dragon was alive, but it seemed, as far as they knew, so was Aegon, which meant there was still a chance that Sunfyre could be a problem for them.

The Reach, however, was more secure than it had ever been. With Ormund Hightower's retreat after Honeywine, the Tarly-Beesbury-Rowan alliance had never been stronger. Bertram had even heard of a raven telling that the Tyrells had started restraining their vassals, doing what they could to stop the Hightower army from marching back through the Reach. Daenys wondered if her old godmother had heard of Aenar's death and chosen to do something to keep Daenys from getting any ideas about burning Highgarden. She knows what it is like to lose a son, too. For a brief moment, she was grateful.

It was enough for Rhaenyra to decide to act, even without Daenys in any condition to participate in the taking of King's Landing. Aemond's absence was enough for them to swarm in, for what would Helaena and Dreamfyre do? Daemon was surely about to arrive any day now. The moment he did, he and Rhaenyra would lead the seizure, with their dragonriders behind them. Baela would need to join them, as Alyssa and Gemma could not bring themselves to the skies.

Hours later, another knock came at the door. "Go away, Rhaenyra," called Gemma. "Seriously."

"Gemma," called Cliff. "Let us in."

She ran to the door this time, both Alyssa and Bertram perking up. When Gemma opened the door, Cliff was not alone. Gemma crashed into her father, hugging him tight and bursting into tears while Cliff rushed to the others. He hugged Alyssa first, then Daenys, then Bertram.

"Rolf," said Daenys, her voice breaking. She slinked out of her bed, legs still aching and heart weary. He ran to her, catching her as she collapsed into him in tears. "Our boy, our sweet boy."

"I know." He held the back of her head as she buried it in the crook of his neck. "I wish I could have gotten here sooner."

"We had to burn him," she whimpered. "We had no choice, we could not wait. He was honored as a Targaryen Prince, and his ashes were spread into the sea. His sword, the sword I gave him, the Orphan-Maker I took from Roxton and he renamed Wildfyre... I kept it, it's all I have left..."

"I will take the sword," said Cliff. "You promised me your Bloodrain, but I will take Wildfyre and I will make Aenar proud."

"You're being rash," said Gemma sadly.

"This is my fault!" said Cliff. His eyes were filled with tears, too. "Aenar told me at Stone Hedge about Rhaenys, he said one of us had to come back to be here with you, Mother, and I told him to come. I told him to leave Stone Hedge to me. I was– I was jealous, jealous of how the men were so loyal to him, how they saw him as this great leader. I wanted to have my reputation, too, and I made him come here. If he hadn't come, he would never have died."

"Jace would be dead," said Bertram quietly.

Cliff did not hesitate to say, "So? My brother would be alive. I met Daisy at Stone Hedge, she told me about Aenar, and I didn't even feel bad for having encouraged him to go. He's never going to see her again and it's my fault."

"No, it's mine!" shrieked Gemma. "I was the one who got so angry after Rhaenys that I made the call, I should not have tried to move you from your positions. He came at my summons because he knew Father couldn't. I brought him here, I brought him to his death!"

"No, it's my fault," insisted Alyssa. "If I hadn't always refused to follow the rules, Aenar never would have had to step up alone. I should have been at the Gullet but Mother was right to have me stay, I would never have saved Jace and I would have gotten Aenar hurt trying to protect me. I should have listened to him more often!"

"All of you, be quiet!" snapped Bertram. "It's my fault. I keep thinking books and ravens alone can fight a war, but I'm a Targaryen and I haven't even bothered to try and claim a dragon. I should have claimed Silverwing instead of Ulf but I didn't even try. Aenar encouraged me and I ignored him because I didn't want him bossing me around. But Aenar knew better, he's always known better, he was always the smartest of us–"

They started to bicker, shouting over each other until at last Rolf yelled for them to be silent. As soon as they did, Daenys weakly drew away from him. "It is not anyone's fault," she said with all her strength. "Not any of your faults, at least. All of you, Aenar loved you as you were. He admired all of you and he never resented leaving Stone Hedge, he never wavered on answering summons, he never minded being the one to keep the peace, and he was always smart and stillcaring enough to know he couldn't impress on someone something they didn't want to do."

She held Rolf's hand tight. "My boy... your brother... would not want you all fighting over blame. It was his choice to come, to leave Daisy and Stone Hedge. It was his choice to stay, even when he could have returned. He chose to save Jace when he could have let him drown, when he could have saved himself."

She rubbed her forehead as they kept to their silence. "If it is anyone's fault, it is mine. It was my choice to marry and have all of you so Rhaenyra might have her alliance. I brought you all into this world, I taught you to fight and gave you dragons to give her warriors for this war. I had always hoped it wouldn't come to this but I was an idiot. I set you all up for failure. I birthed Aenar and I killed him, too."

"No," insisted Rolf. "If you ask them not to blame themselves, then you will not blame yourself, either. We gave you all a choice years ago, and more recently. Since you were all old enough to understand, we asked if you wanted to be sent to safety in Essos and all of you chose to stay. This... this is the risk we take. This is what our fight is. Aenar himself said he would continue to fight for Rhaenyra's rights because of what it meant for him to see his cousin on the throne, to empower all women like your mother and like you, my daughters. Aenar was selfless and brilliant and you... you should all strive to still be like him, as you always have, rather than sullying his memory with arguments and anger. You have to love each other, please. He would have wanted it. It's what I want, what your Mother wants. We cannot let this tear us apart. We have to honor his memory."

Gemma was the first to return to tears, rushing towards her parents and pulling them in for a hug. Bertram followed, then Cliff, then Alyssa. Rolf and Daenys engulfed them all, and they cried together.

-

A/N: This was such a hard chapter to write but it haddddd to happen. It would not make sense for Daenys not to lose any of her kids. I've yet to plan her death (which inevitably has to happen, too) but we'll see. In terms of planned stories, I am actually adding another between this one and the other I had planned– it will be Daemon x OC, the one-shot I wrote with a Hightower OC in my Sprinting Fox Unwritten. Eager to get to working on that one! Comment for more.