Chapter Text
134 AC – 137 AC
The fifth year of the reign of Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen was an eventful one. Kicking off with the death of Lady Jeyne Arryn, the indomitable Maiden of the Vale, 134 AC was led by the Arryn Succession Crisis that had broken out after Jeyne's passing. Thankfully, Ser Corwyn Corbray's fears of the Vale of Arryn's mountains "running red" with the blood of his countrymen did not come true, although the Crisis ended in blood all the same. The Trial by Seven at Gulltown helped to secure Ser Joffrey Arryn's claim to the Vale at the cost of King Daemon Targaryen's left eye, Lord Borros Baratheon's mental stability, the lives of several Vale lords, and alliances for both Houses Arryn and Targaryen. The year was also mired by rising of marital tensions between the queen and her uncle-consort, and the Prince of Dragonstone and his wife over family drama, scandal, and punishment.
The premature birth of the Lord and Lady of High Tide's twin sons, Princes Corwyn and Corlys Velaryon, with the former being stillborn, was the climax of the year's drama and heartbreak. Bittersweetly enough, as House Velaryon mourned for Corwyn and celebrated the birth of Corlys, the two above royal couples reconciled through their mutual mourning and relief over the stillbirth and birth of the twins. Meanwhile, the health of Rhaena and Corlys was poor following the early birth, and mother and son were watched over and cared for diligently by Princess Rhaenys, maesters, septas, and wet nurses as they tried to heal. Lucerys would bring his daughters and Daenaera to visit their bedridden mother and frail baby brother to try and lift their spirits and to encourage a swifter recovery. While the Black Targaryen's rallied over their loss, the Green Targaryen's ended 134 AC on a happy note after Prince Daeron Targaryen and Lady Bethany Hightower welcomed their firstborn child, Princess Saera Targaryen, during the penultimate week of the year.
As the last two months of the year wore on, Prince Lucerys Velaryon realized that a large number of cousins followed his only son in the line of succession on Driftmark. Luke's hope of fathering a spare was dashed after Maester Thaleus had advised him not to impregnate Rhaena again in fear that a fifth childbirth would take her life. Seeking closer immediate relatives to inherit in the event that the frail Corlys were to die without fathering an heir of his own, let alone dying in infancy, Luke petitioned his mother to have the Hull Brothers legitimized so that they could carry on the Velaryon name. Although hesitant to have the rumored bastards of her first husband be named legitimate, Queen Rhaenyra understood her son's reasoning for it, and she decreed that Addam and Alyn of Hull could both now carry the title of Lord Velaryon. While Lucerys called the two men his half-brothers, his grandmother did not call them her grandsons since a flicker of suspicion told her that Addam and Alyn were actually her late husband's lovechildren with Marilda of Hull.
Regardless, she tolerated the two men for Lucerys's sake. Addam and Alyn were grateful to be declared legitimate, and their mother had tears in her eyes when she heard the news. A small feast was held for the two brothers at High Tide to celebrate their legitimization. Lord Alyn Velaryon was especially happy since his firstborn child, his and Lady Joyce Wylde's infant son, Cordylion, could now be called Lord Cordylion Velaryon instead of Cordylion of Hull. The last days of 134 AC were a happy time for Marilda and her family.
During those last days, the Targaryen's at King's Landing hoped that 135 AC would be a better year for them. And it would be, for there would be plenty of births and the spreading of goodwill to be had during that year. Midway through 135 AC, three year old Princess Alyssa Targaryen's dragon egg hatched. The eggshell was blue with white speckling, and from that egg hatched a dragon that possessed sky blue body scales with white belly scales, wing membranes, and horns, and grey eyes. Alyssa was bouncing off the walls with excitement when the hatchling was born, and she happily chased after and played with the dragon after it had hatched.
She also showed the hatchling off to her older brother Baelor and their cousins Aeric and Daemion. Septa Maris Stone, the children's minder, noted how the dragon's coloring was reminiscent of the colors of House Arryn of the Eyrie's heraldry: sky blue and white.
"You know what would be a good name for your dragon, Alyssa?" Maris said as she watched the princess carefully place the hatchling on top of her platinum hair. Both the girl and the dragon turned to face Maris.
"What?" asked Alyssa as the hatchling screeched in unison with her future rider.
"Aemma." Maris replied with a soft smile.
"Aemma?" repeated the princess curiously. The hatchling turned its head quizzically.
"Queen Aemma Arryn." explained the septa. "She is your great-grandmother on your father's side, little one. She was your grandmother's mother. Blue and white are the Arryn's family colors, just like your dragon's scales."
"Oh." was all the little indigo eyed girl said. She then took the hatchling off of her head and looked at her. Alyssa may not have understood everything Septa Maris had said, but she liked the name Aemma. It had a nice ring to it.
"Aemma." she repeated with a grin, and the dragon twittered joyfully in response.
More excitement would befall Alyssa and her family a few months later. Following the reconcilement of her parents late the previous year, Baelor and Alyssa were told by their mother on New Year's Eve 134 AC that they were going to have a new sibling by the ninth moon. While Baelor was indifferent about the sex of his new sibling, Alyssa hoped to have a little brother to boss around like her older one did with her. The princess's wish was granted, for Baela gave birth to her second son on her due date. Strong and healthy just like his older siblings had been at their births, the newborn prince almost entirely resembled his father in looks with brown hair and eyes and a pug nose, the only proof of his Valyrian heritage being a silver-white streak in his hair.
But regardless if the child was born male or female, the child was the fruit of Jacaerys and Baela's reconciliation, and the baby boy's birth was greeted joyfully by his parents. He was christened as Prince Aelyx Targaryen in honor of another bygone Lord of Dragonstone just like his Uncle Joff did with his own second born son. When Alyssa saw her baby brother for the first time, her eyes widened and she pointed at Aelyx's brown and silver hair and loudly said that "He's a zorse! A zorse!" After the laughter of her family had died down, the princess was placed on her mother's bed and she crawled up to see Aelyx.
Alyssa frowned as she carefully scrutinized the baby. She gently poked his chubby cheeks and the tip of his pug nose and rubbed the silver-brown peach fuzz that was on Aelyx's head. When the prince began to cry, Alyssa's frown disappeared and was replaced with an expression of sisterly concern, and she wrapped her arms around him and kissed the top of his fuzzy head. The nearly five year old Baelor's reception of his younger brother was more reserved and formal in comparison to Alyssa's. Nevertheless, the boy had a sweet, brotherly smile on his face when he was first introduced to little Aelyx.
Sometime after the birth of his son, the Prince of Dragonstone traveled to Claw Isle to attend the wedding of the youngest of the Four Storms with Aegon the Younger and Thea. While Aegon mingled with his future in-laws, Jace interacted with the other wedding guests. Bartimos had invited lords and ladies from not just the Crownlands and Stormlands, but also from the North, the Vale, and even from the Reach! Some of those faces were familiar to Jacaerys, such as the Lord and Lady of Gulltown, Lord Joffrey Arryn, the Lord and Lady of Winterfell, and Ser Corwyn Corbray. Cassandra's presence at her youngest sister's wedding made up for the glaring absence of Borros, Maris, and Ellyn, although the latter had a cheerier reason for not coming to Claw Isle with her husband. Lady Baratheon, just like Baela, had recently given birth to a baby boy, the long-awaited Arryn heir who would help to finally cement his father's claim to the Eyrie.
The overjoyed Joffrey and Ellyn named their firstborn child Rymond, his namesake being the maternal great-grandfather of Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen, Ser Rymond Arryn. The heir to the Eyrie was preceded by a Stark cousin who was born earlier that year, a little girl named Kinna. Having two grandchildren born to her in one year had the Lady of Storm's End brimming with joy. The Grafton's congratulated Jace on the birth of his new son, and the Lady of Gulltown asked about Prince Baelor Targaryen and reminded the crown prince on just how darling and sweet Baelor had been during last year's visit. While the Lord of Claw Isle's distant cousins from House Grafton were amiable, his cousins from House Peake, who descended from Bartimos's other great-grandaunt, Lady Prunella Celtigar, were a little more awkward.
The Peake guests consisted of Lord Unwin Peake, his son, Titus, and nephew, Amaury. Unwin was a known Green during the reign of the Young King, but he was quick to forget his past loyalties to Aegon the Elder in an attempt to weasel his way into the good graces of Rhaenyra I. He tried to promote his relatives to Jacaerys as candidates for positions in his mother's court. Relatives like his cousin, Septon Bernard, who could hopefully replace the queen's current and very old confessor; Amaury and his respective granduncle and bastard half-uncle, Sers Gedmund "Great-Axe" and Mervyn Flowers, were all offered to become future Queensguard knights whenever a vacancy were to become available; and Unwin tried to suggest that his widowed aunt, Lady Clarice Osgrey, could become another of Queen Rhaenyra's companions. Lord Peake even proposed the idea of having his two year old granddaughter, Marianne, betrothed to either Jace's newborn son or one of his three young nephews.
Jace endured Lord Peake's barrage of self-serving suggestions as politely and courteously as he could, although deep down he found the man to be extremely annoying and grasping. The crown prince was saved by Unwin's own son and heir, who turned his father's attention towards Bartimos, who went off on a glib tangent of his own about his distant blood ties to House Peake just like he did with Lord Piers Grafton at Gulltown the year before. Thanking both the Seven and Titus for freeing him, Jace went on to talk with Ser Corwyn Corbray. He had a much more rewarding conversation with Corwyn, and Jace put his matchmaking skills to work. After the wedding festivities for Clement and Floris had ended, Jacaerys had created a betrothal between the thirty-five year old heir to Heart's Home and Bartimos's twelve year old niece, Lady Beatrice Celtigar.
By the end of the year, Jace would also create betrothals for Corwyn's two daughters. The oldest Lady Corbray was promised to the Lord of Ninestars, and the youngest was engaged to Lord Elmar Arryn of Gulltown. Both betrothals were made to help heal the rifts between the Vale lords in the aftermath of the Trial by Seven at Gulltown. While Bartimos and the Corbray's were happy with the engagements, Beatrice was, understandably, less than thrilled about hers since her fiancé was twenty-three years her senior and a widower whose children were a few years older than her. Not allowed to have a say about her future nuptials (about anything really), Beatrice pretended to be happy about her engagement in front of her family, and she cried herself that night when she was alone in her bedroom.
Outside of Claw Isle, more change, both good and bad, abounded. Lord Royce Caron passed away from natural causes in 135 AC, and his son Manfryd had to resign as Master of Coin so that he could take up his new responsibilities as the Lord of Nightsong. Manfryd was succeeded by Ser Jason Belmore, the Lord of Strongsong, a redheaded man whose talent for blades was matched to his power over finances. Rhaenyra liked the initiative and energy that Jason brought to her small council, and he soon fit right in with his fellow councilmen. Two Belmore women, one of Jason's daughters and a niece of his, both began serving as ladies-in-waiting for Princess Baela Targaryen.
The Black Targaryen's fortunes picked up even more as the year waned. After six months of bedrest, Princess Rhaena Targaryen was finally well enough to resume her duties as Lady of High Tide, although her sorrow over her stillborn son would last forever. While both the Velaryon's and Targaryen's were immensely happy with Rhaena's recovery, they still waited with bated breath over the health of her infant son Corlys. The first months of the boy's life were uncertain due to his premature birth, but his growth was slow and steady. He reached to be a month old, then two, three, half a year, and then finally, a year old in the eleventh moon of 135 AC.
The first birthday of Prince Corlys Velaryon was celebrated with great felicity by both his immediate and extended family members. The clergy who served at the Red Keep told Queen Rhaenyra that her grandson's survival was the result of divine intervention, a statement that left a bad taste in Luke and Rhaena's mouths since they wondered why Corwyn could not have been spared too. Rhaenyra noticed this discrepancy too, but being a devout follower of the Faith, she set out right away to pay homage to the gods, especially to the Mother.
She made a pilgrimage to King's Landing's sept to give thanks to each of the gods at their individual altars. Under the guidance of Ser Belmore, Rhaenyra made generous donations to charities that benefitted widows and orphans, and to local septs, motherhouses, and shrines. While these actions earned the queen the great respect and appreciation of the clergy, her third homage would earn her great love from her subjects, especially those who lived in the capital. In the name of the Seven, Rhaenyra I oversaw the dissemination of free bread and beer to the people of King's Landing. Loved as the Realm's Delight as a princess, Rhaenyra gained a newfound reverence as a charitable and conscientious queen.
These feelings were soon shared with even the people of the Reach. However, one Reach lord sought to exploit the queen's charity. That man was George Graceford, the Lord of Holyhall. House Graceford's heraldry depicts the face of the Mother, and seeing how Rhaenyra I paid most of her respects to that goddess, George saw an opportunity to advance his family. He wrote to the queen offering the hands of any of his granddaughters in marriage to the heir to Driftmark or his Targaryen male cousins: Aelyx, Aeric, and Daemion.
However, the Lord of Holyhall was more well known for his cruelty than for his brains, and Rhaenyra was quick to find George's letter to be quite distasteful. Rather than telling George to f*ck off, the queen responded to him as politely as she could that she wanted to wait until her grandsons were a little older before she began looking for potential granddaughters-in-law. Disappointed, Lord Graceford nevertheless told himself to bide his time. Because who knows, perhaps her grace would consider a Graceford bride for one of the princes when the time came.
And speaking of the Reach and grandchildren, the Voice of Oldtown welcomed his first two grandsons in 135 AC after the births of three granddaughters. His firstborn grandson was Lord Willam Hightower, the third born child of Ser Lyonel Hightower and Lady Patricia Redwyne. Willam was soon followed by his cousin, Prince Valerion Targaryen, the second born child of his Aunt Bethany and her second cousin-husband, Prince Daeron Targaryen. Handsome just like his father, the midwife who had attended to his mother when he was born stated that the prince was the most beautiful baby boy she had ever seen; beautiful as his older sister had been when she was born. Princess Saera Targaryen was nearly a year old when her little brother was born.
Grandchildren aside, Lord Ormund Hightower welcomed two children of his own the same year Willam and Valerion were born. Prior to the birth of her step-grandsons, Lady Sam gave birth to a pair of twins, a girl and boy each, four years after the birth of her daughter, Lady Lilith Hightower. Ormund named his twin children Regina and Reginald, and he declared that they would be his last children, as he was five years away from turning fifty, and he was getting too old to be a father to anymore children. Samantha was twenty-two years old when she had the twins. Twins were also welcomed by Lord Alyn Velaryon and Lady Joyce Velaryon near the end of the year as well.
The twins were both female, and Alyn named them Rhaenyra and Rhaenys in honor of the queen and the Queen Who Never Was. However, the birth of the twin sisters was dampened somewhat by the birth of a bastard half-brother named Laenor Waters during the previous month. Alyn was unfaithful to Joyce, and he was seeing Lady Lyra Hayford behind her back for as long as they had been married. He got Lyra pregnant with Laenor, and she named Alyn as the father of her illegitimate child after he was born. Wanting to prevent further drama, Rhaena dismissed Lyra from her service, but Alyn, using his newly acquired powers as a lord, installed his mistress and their bastard son at Driftmark, and he continued to see her.
Disappointed with her youngest son's philandering ways, but in no position to admonish him for his behavior, Marilda proudly knew that her oldest son would be faithful to his wife. Dismissing the loyal Ser Addam Velaryon as his sworn shield so that he could be free to marry, Lucerys worked with his older brother to betroth Addam to Lady Alysanne Blackwood so that more (trueborn) half-nephews would be born. Knowing how close Baela and Aly were, Jacaerys approached his wife and told her about Luke's plans to marry her best friend to Addam to see if she would be alright with it. Baela did not want her friend to go, but she acquiesced since she knew that Addam was a good man and that he would treat Aly well, as well as help out her brother-in-law securing House Velaryon's line of succession. Plus, the marriage would finally end Lord Samwell Blackwood's persistent nagging about finding his sister a husband to avoid the stigma of spinsterhood.
Ser Addam Velaryon and Lady Alysanne Blackwood tied the knot during the last days of 135 AC at High Tide. Baela did not participate in the bedding ritual even though she did not drink as much as she did at the Eyrie the year before. The princess would make frequent visits to High Tide to see her friend on the back of her dragon Moondancer. In contrast to how last year had ended, 135 AC ended on a happier and more wholesome note for Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen and her family. 136 AC would prove to be a mostly good year for the family.
White ravens released by the maesters at the Citadel announced the long-awaited end of winter and the return of spring. Leaves budded on the trees and flowers began to blossom as the snow and ice melted under the bright sun. Grain imports from Braavos, Lorath, and Pentos began to lessen as peasants were able to start growing crops again. One week after the seasons changed, Prince Aegon the Younger married Lady Thea Celtigar. Many remarked that there had not been a royal couple as close and inseparable as the prince and his lady wife since the days of his great-grandparents, Prince Baelon and Princess Alyssa Targaryen.
Aegon and Thea would fly together on the back of Stormcloud around King's Landing and sometimes over the local fiefdoms, go out hawking in the Kingswood, make occasional visits to Claw Isle, or walk together in the Red Keep's gardens. And of course, being young and vibrant, Aegon and Thea enjoyed making love, although not to the extent that the Spring Prince and his beloved sister-wife did. Queen Rhaenyra's paternal grandparents were said to have spent every waking moment together in their bedchamber engaged in intercourse when they were not out flying their dragons. It was even said that the org*smic cries that were uttered by the older Alyssa during her wedding night were loud enough to be heard by the people of Duskendale! Whatever pleasurable noises that were made by the prince and his wife as they consummated their union on their wedding night might as well be compared to the squeaking of mice.
Regardless of the decibels, none could deny that Aegon and Thea were happy together. Their happiness increased after Thea became pregnant for the first time just a month and a half after the wedding. Lord Bartimos Celtigar and Lady Adela Bolling were overjoyed with the news that their daughter was pregnant, and the former could not wait to finally have a pure Valyrian grandchild. Unfortunately, tragedy would strike Aegon and Thea. Just one month into her pregnancy, Lady Celtigar suffered a miscarriage, and Aegon was at his wife's beside comforting her as she mourned for their lost child.
Bartimos and Adela were devastated by the miscarriage, and the Lady of Claw Isle blamed herself since she was part Rosby. Her own mother, Lady Dinah Rosby, had two stillborn sons before losing her life in childbed with her daughter. Adela in turn had two stillborn children herself, a girl and a boy, and she miscarried another son before finally having Thea. And now, the Rosby curse was afflicting Thea. Heartbroken over the loss, Aegon and Thea remained hopeful that the next pregnancy would succeed.
While the prince and his wife worked to overcome the first tragic obstacle in their marriage, one soul in the Westerlands found herself at a crossroads. Lady Maris Baratheon had been living a comfortable life with her daughter and Ser Jason Lannister and his family at Casterly Rock for the past two years since she had dismissed herself as the lady-in-waiting of Princess Baela Targaryen. She rarely left House Lannister's mighty castle, not even to attend the weddings of her youngest sister Floris and former fellow companion, Black Aly Blackwood. Maris spent her days watching Tara play with her cousins, doing needlework, conversing with Lady Johanna Westerling, or contemplating the great weirdwood tree that stood in the godswood of the so-called "Stone Garden". The godswood was all contained within a great cave that existed inside of the massive cliff that made up Casterly Rock.
If not for her daughter and Johanna, Maris could spend all day looking at that weirdwood. Outside of Lady Baratheon's sanctuary, however, forces conspired to "make use" of her. Widowed for three years by 136 AC, the twenty-two year old single mother was still viewed as being a desirable candidate for marriage due to her family and ties to the Targaryen's. Lord Jason Lannister had been receiving numerous letters from his bannermen asking about his twin brother's widow. Lord Brax offered his heir as a potential second husband for Maris even though he was five years younger than her, Lord Farman's sons competed with each other over who was the most worthy to court her, and Lord Humfrey Lefford was interested in marrying his eldest grandson to Maris.
Jason had initially disregarded these proposals out of respect for his former sister-in-law after she had moved to Casterly Rock as she continued to mourn for her late husband, Tyland. However, by the third year of Maris's widowhood, Lord Lannister decided that it was time to get her remarried. Working together with the Prince of Dragonstone and Lord Borros Baratheon, when his mind was not lost in the throes of his addiction to milk of the poppy, the men decided that Maris's second husband would be one of Jason's cousins, Ser Erwin Lannister. Maris was not too pleased about this, especially since she had not been consulted about whether or not she wanted to remarry at all. She had met Erwin a few times during her stay, and she found him to be, although friendly, an insipid and ungainly man.
"He is as blank as an unmarked sheet of paper." vented Maris to the weirdwood when she visited the Stone Garden after learning about her engagement to Erwin. She paced back and forth and continued ranting. "The only thing that makes him remarkable is his knighthood. Probably bought the title with his family's gold. Tyland was a knight himself, but he was a man of substance and he possessed so many talents!
He served the Young King as Master of Ships, and then Queen Rhaenyra as her Master of Coin. He was so intelligent, so witty, so clever, and for one blessed year, he was mine, and I was his. Tyland gave me our daughter before the winter fever took him from us both. And now, the powers that be seek to couple me with Erwin just so my father can retain our family's ties with the lions of the west..."
Maris stopped pacing and she looked up at the face of the ancient weirdwood. The white tree's expression remained stoically unmoved. All that could be heard was the distant breeze echoing down the cavern. Perhaps the Old Gods had long since abandoned this tree? Lady Baratheon signed deeply and her shoulders sagged.
"It is just so unfair..." she muttered.
Unbeknownst to Maris, her sentiments about Erwin were shared by Jason himself. He had agreed to the marriage solely to preserve his family's ties to the Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. Jason's interest in Maris, however, went deeper than that. Lord Lannister followed her into the Stone Garden one day, and made his presence known after observing her contemplate the weirdwood for a little bit. Exchanging surprised pleasantries, Jason steered the conversation his way.
"I have heard about your misgivings about marrying my cousin from Johanna, Maris. To be honest, I do not blame you for your feelings about Erwin. He is unremarkable and thoroughly bland. He is not at all worthy enough to marry you, nor is he worthy of having sweet, little Tara as a stepdaughter. I only agreed to marry you to him out of respect for your father's wishes.
I cannot guarantee a happy marriage with Erwin, but I can offer a solution that can make it bearable."
"What would that be?" Maris asked. She was not sure why, but something did not feel right here. Jason turned his gaze from the weirdwood to look Maris straight in the eye. Green and blue irises transfixed, Jason made his move.
"Become my paramour." he said casually as if he was discussing the weather. Maris froze where she stood as she stared at her married, former brother-in-law.
"What?" she said, and Jason repeated his offer. Shock soon gave way to outrage. "Your brother was my husband, Jason! I am the mother of your niece! How could you say such a thing!?"
"I have grown tired of my paramour in Lannisport." Jason said after Maris had stopped shouting. "She has become a liability to me. All that woman does is needle me for money, luxuries, and a bigger manse whenever I visit her, and she has groomed our daughters to do the same too. I will dismiss her and place the girls under the care of a motherhouse after you accept my offer.
Marry Erwin to end your widowhood, but share my bed with me and become my new mistress. You have the choice between being bored every hour of the day for the rest of your life, or be bored half the time and entertain me through the other half. I will give you until your wedding day to decide, Maris. I will be waiting until then. Good day to you."
A smirking Jason then turned and left the Stone Garden, leaving behind an absolutely appalled Maris alone to take in everything she had just heard. Jason's words rang out in her head for days after the conversation had taken place. They haunted her dreams at night and lingered in the back of her mind during the day. She did not want to marry Erwin, but she also did not want to become Jason's mistress either. Her third option was to join a nunnery.
Becoming a septa meant that she could swear off men, but then Tara would be left alone at Casterly Rock without her mother. Maris was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She had never felt so alone. Why did being a woman have to be so hard? How could the gods curse the female sex to suffer such troubles?
To be constantly underestimated, viewed with contempt, and exploited by the opposite sex while being expected to adhere to unreachably high standards, and to absolutely have no say or control over any of it at all? The whole situation felt hopeless, and as the months went by, Maris felt herself resigning to the idea of becoming Jason's glorified whor*. But then came a ray of hope, a surprise fourth option for Lady Baratheon. It presented itself during the feast Lord Lannister held to celebrate the betrothal of his only son, Loreon, to a girl from House Broom. During the feast, Maris caught the eye of Roland Westerling, the Lord of the Crag and Johanna's own father.
Roland had been a widower for little over ten years by that time, and Maris quickly hatched a plot to end that. She talked to the old man, listened to him as he regaled her about his past exploits, laughed at his jokes even when they weren't funny, and provided him with companionship as Jason observed with some jealous wariness. His lady wife reassured him that Maris's friendliness with Lord Westerling was harmless. Seeing her slimy former brother-in-law look so envious caused Maris to smile with smug satisfaction. Lady Baratheon and Roland grew closer together throughout the course of the latter's visit to Casterly Rock.
The night before the Westerling's were due to head back to the Crag, Roland and Maris arranged to be married in secret in the dead of night in Casterly Rock's sept. Witnesses to the marriage included Roland's manservant, one of his nephews, and Maris's chambermaid. The newlywed's announced their marriage as wheelhouses were being loaded for the Westerling's journey home. There was nothing more satisfying than seeing Jason's jaw drop and his eyes nearly bug out of his skull when the revelation that Maris had escaped his lusting clutches came to light. Making this even sweeter for Maris other than that she achieved this all on her own was that she was now Lord Lannister'sstepmother-in-law.
Wife of Ser Erwin Lannister?
No.
Mistress of Lord Jason Lannister?
Never.
Second wife of Lord Roland Westerling and the Lady of the Crag?
Yes!
However, Maris soon faced the consequences of her quick remarriage. Marrying Roland wounded Ser Erwin's pride, and infuriated Jason, Borros, and Jacaerys. Lord Borros overwrote his previous decree of his second born daughter being forbidden to return to Storm's End until he died to being banned for all time. Johanna was disgusted that Maris, who was over ten years her junior, was now her stepmother, and whatever friendship the two women had had before the secret wedding took place quickly dissolved into a loathsome tension. But the biggest consequence for the new Lady of the Crag was that she was soon separated from her daughter.
Three year old Tara had accompanied her mother to her new home, but the little girl quickly became unhappy at the Crag. All of her stepsiblings were more than a decade older than her own mother, and Tara missed her cousins back at Casterly Rock. Distraught at the idea of not having her only child around, but wanting her to be happy, Maris made the difficult decision to send Tara back to her uncle's seat with an entourage that was led by some of Roland's sons and grandsons. No longer on speaking terms with the Lord and Lady of Casterly Rock, Maris corresponded frequently with Tara's septa to glean information about her daughter's growth and activities. A few days after the little Lady Lannister had left the Crag, her mother and stepfather held a small but proper wedding ceremony that was attended mostly by his lordship's extended family.
The wedding cape that graced the bride's shoulders depicted the heraldry of her second husband's house: six white seashells on a field of golden sand. Seashells were not as glamorous as stags or lions, but they would due. House Westerling is a proud and ancient family, and is one of the most powerful bannermen sworn to House Lannister of Casterly Rock. One of their ancestors had even been a Targaryen consort in the previous century. Roland's second wife found the Westerling's to be worthy of her.
At twenty-two years of age, Lady Maris Baratheon became not only a stepmother, but also a step-grandmother and even a step-great-grandmother thanks to Jason and Johanna's daughters having become mothers in recent years. While her stepchildren held Maris in contempt, some of her step-grandchildren, especially the younger ones, were a little more receptive of her. Baela was flabbergasted when she heard what her former companion had done, and Alysanne shared the princess's feelings when she came to visit her at High Tide. Regardless, the two women wished for Maris to have a happy marriage with the elderly Roland.
Aly's own marriage to Ser Addam Velaryon proved to be a good one, and the couple even welcomed their first child together, a son, late in 136 AC. Christened as Phaeton Velaryon, the baby boy let out a hearty cry when he was born. Just like his twin cousins Rhaenyra and Rhaenys, Phaeton's birth was preceded by the arrival of another bastard son who had been fathered by his Uncle Alyn on his Hayford mistress, Jaehaerion Waters. House Velaryon's rival by the Sunset Sea, House Hightower of Oldtown, welcomed two more additions to both their immediate and extended families. Lyonel and Patricia had another daughter, Lady Ilia Hightower, and Daeron and Bethany welcomed another son, Prince Aeryn Targaryen.
Queen Alicent Hightower was over the moon with joy as her youngest son gave her more legitimate grandchildren. She spent most of her days with Bethany visiting Saera, Valerion, and the newborn Aeryn, and her visits with Lydus Rivers became more infrequent as time went on. Prince Aemond Targaryen was both angered and hurt by this development, but since he and his family had nowhere else to go, he did everything he could to ensure that his son did not feel left out by his trueborn relatives. Aemond would take Lydus out for rides on Vhagar's back, and practiced swordplay with him in the Hightower's training yard as Alys Rivers looked on with motherly pride. Alys gifted her son with a handmade charm that would grant him good luck on his sixth nameday, and she told him that he would become a great knight one day. She would know, for the fires that burned in her bedchamber's hearth "told" her many things.
Another dragon was also born in 136 AC. Turning two years old that year, Prince Daemion Targaryen's dragon egg hatched, which greatly delighted the little boy. The hatchling had grey-green body scales, dark grey wing membranes, belly scales, and horns, and red eyes. Nameless during the first days of his life, the hatchling eventually gained the name of "Redfang" after a servant observed how bloody the hatchling's teeth were after he had killed a mouse. The hatchling would sleep over his future rider's bed in a cage, snatch toys up with his jaws, push balls around with his head, and would scare the castle cats, which elicited much laughter from both Daemion and his older brother.
136 AC would be a sad year for Lady Myrine Darklyn. Her beloved father, Lord Gunthor Darklyn, died after getting thrown off his horse during a hunt when he was forty-six years old. His untimely death hit House Darklyn hard, but not as hard as it hit Myrine. She wept for days, hardly spoke a word or ate a thing, and appeared to enter catatonia on some days. Prince Viserys Targaryen and his older brother and Thea comforted Myrine as best they could, and Viserys accompanied Myrine and her relatives at the Red Keep to Duskendale to attend Gunthor's funeral, and the girl's emotional health began to recover after she returned to the Red Keep.
The following year of 137 AC be a year marked with great changes and a touch of sorrow. The landmark event of the year was when Prince Jacaerys Velaryon created a betrothal between his five year old only daughter to the eight year old Lord of Highgarden, Lyonel Tyrell. Ascending as Warden of the South when he was just a baby following the sudden death of his father in 129 AC, the young Lyonel's rule was carried out through a panel of regents that was led by his widowed mother, Lady Regent Mary Crane. Jacaerys the Matchmaker worked with Mary to secure the engagement between their children to strengthen Queen Rhaenyra's power in the Reach after decades of tension between the Blacks and Greens. The betrothal was welcomed with great optimism and joy, and many saw the match as being the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
That year also saw the fulfillment of another match that had been the brainchild of Jace's. Two years after the creation of their engagement at Claw Isle, Ser Corwyn Corbray and Lady Beatrice Celtigar were married at Heart's Home. They were thirty-seven and fourteen years old respectively at the time. Thea attended her beloved cousin's wedding with her husband. Other wedding guests included Corwyn's two married daughters and their husbands, the Lord and Lady of the Eyrie, and the Celtigar's.
Thea had become pregnant again by the time Beatrice's wedding was held. Hopes were high, as was caution, that this pregnancy would be successful. Sadly, history repeated itself, for Aegon and Thea's second child also bled out after only being carried for one month in its mother's womb. Once more, Prince Aegon was by his wife's side consoling her as they mourned the loss of their second child.
"We will have a child one day, my love. I promise you that there will be a child..." said Aegon to Thea in a soothing, husbandly voice. As much as he wanted to be hopeful, the prince's spirits were nevertheless low after the second miscarriage. In cruel juxtaposition to Aegon and Thea's attempts to start a family of their own, her older half-brother was able to start his without issue.
Ser Clement Celtigar and Lady Floris Baratheon welcomed their firstborn child, a daughter, in 137 AC. Full name being Lady Faeryse Cletigar, she was the firstborn grandchild of her paternal grandfather and his late first wife, Lady Priscilla Crabb. While the girl's step-grandmother was happy that Bartimos had finally become a grandfather, sadness prickled Adela's soul for she had not become a grandparent herself. Adela prayed every morning and night to the Mother to bless her with a healthy grandchild. Thea often prayed alongside her mother in the Red Keep's chapel.
Queen Rhaenyra sympathized with her daughter-in-law over the miscarriages, but she had other, living grandchildren to focus on. Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen turned fourteen in 137 AC, and he was now too old to keep serving as his half-aunt's cupbearer. That honor was bequeathed to his half-first cousin once removed, Prince Baelor Targaryen, on his seventh birthday. With both Baelor and his cousin, Princess Alysanne Velaryon, both turning seven on the same day, Rhaenyra I decided that it was time to bring her eldest granddaughter to the Red Keep to start her training as a future queen. Her care entrusted her uncle and aunt, Alysanne would grow close with her cousins, and everything looked so bright for both Houses Targaryen and Velaryon.
