Divide and Conquer, Chapter 7: The Heartlands

Chapter Text

Third Moon, 101 AD (1 BC)

Aegon

As they approached Seagard, he held Aerion tighter in his arms with a mischievous smile on his face before he urged Balerion into a few sharp turns and sweeping rolls. His son’s excited cheers and shouts lightened Aegon’s heart before they finally came in to land at the castle.

“When will Valaena and I be able to fly on our own Father?” Aerion asked him as they dismounted from Balerion and climbed the rope ladder down to the ground from his saddle.

“For long trips like this?” he asked. Aerion and Valaena were already flying their dragons for short distances around Summerhall or whichever other castle they were staying at after all.

His son nodded.

“I’d say another five years at least then,” Aegon finally answered the question.

“But Caraxes and Meleys are more than large and old enough to carry us and make those trips already!” Aerion protested.

Aegon looked up to see the dragons in question circling over Seagard. At the age of seven both were already one-tenth the size of Balerion each and they had made themselves and their reputations well known to their handlers and the people of Summerhall alike. The day may come when the names and shadows of Caraxes the Blood Wyrm and Meleys the Red Queen were admired and feared across all of Westeros, but not yet.

“But you and Valaena are not. Besides, don’t you like flying with us? Don’t tell me you’re getting bored of little old me already,” Aegon replied.

“Of course not Father,” Aerion denied. “It’s just nice to be able to fly on your own.”

“It is. So keep practicing. Just because you can’t fly on long journeys like this on your own doesn’t mean you can’t still fly around Summerhall with Caraxes. Keep doing that, build your confidence and your skill and when you’re a little bit older, we’ll see if maybe those five years can’t be shortened to something like three,” Aegon told him with a wink and his son nodded eagerly.

In that moment Visenya landed Vhagar beside Balerion and helped Valaena dismount. Aegon smiled at the sight. Valaena might not be Visenya’s daughter by blood, but she treated her as if she was her own child and was much closer to her than most aunts would be to a niece.

Aerion hurriedly ran to Valaena once she was on the ground and the two began chattering and talking away as they always did. Visenya and him shared a smile as they watched their children eagerly tell each other about their respective flights.

They were thick as thieves the two of them, as close as true twins would be. Perhaps due to their dragons, both of them were also obsessed with the color red in the same way many children would obsess over their favorite color. Almost all of their personal belongings and keepsakes also had red in some way or form and they dressed near exclusively in red, with the slightest variations imposed upon them by their mothers and maids.

Many of the servants in their household had nicknamed the two of them the ‘Red Twins’ as a result and the epithet had spread to court as well. The two in question were proud of the moniker though they would often have arguments with each other over which shade of red was the best exactly. Perhaps the largest evidence for Aegon’s suspicion that their love for the color originated from their dragons was that Aerion preferred darker and more blood-like crimson shades of red while Valaena preferred lighter scarlet and pink shades.

Even now they wore red, two dashing doublets and breeches that were fit for both dragonriding and a semi-formal court event. The two outfits were trimmed and patterned in black and gold for Aerion and silver and purple for Valaena, some of the few other colors they had middling success in convincing the ‘twins’ to wear. Namely because black was the other color of their house banner, gold a symbol of their royalty, and silver and purple the color of their hair and eyes.

Turning his eyes away from the children, Aegon scanned the courtyard of Seagard. Everyone gathered was kneeling, lords, soldiers, and servants alike. The only exceptions were the Dragonguard they had sent weeks in advance to guard them during their visit. They stood proudly at attention as they formed a perimeter around them.

Aegon strode forward toward the entrance to the main hall, with his excitable children and Visenya beside him. He came to a stop in front of where the lord of the castle knelt.

“Rise,” he said with a smile and his brother Orys rose up.

Aegon smiled and laughed a little as he embraced him eagerly and his brother reciprocated. When they finally broke the hug, he asked his brother, “How are things at Seagard?”

“Everything is good. Better now that you’re here,” Orys joked.

“Such flattery,” Aegon teased before he turned his attention to the other nobles.

“Lord Frey, it’s a pleasure to meet you again.”

“Not as much a pleasure as it is for me Your Grace,” answered the Defender of the Twins.

A typical answer in the circles of nobility but there was a surprising amount of sincerity in Franklyn Frey’s words. The same went for the other Defenders, Keepers, and Masters sworn to Orys who had come to Seagard to greet and receive him on this formal visit. Aegon couldn’t say it displeased him at all though.

Though formally sworn to Orys as Warden of Seagard, his vassals were all sworn to Aegon as the King as well and it was an open secret that the vassals of Aegon’s Wardens were more loyal to him than they were to his Wardens. They obeyed the Wardens only when it did not contradict the Crown’s commands… exactly as he had intended it.

He trusted in Orys and the others’ loyalty, but he knew for a fact that such loyalty could not be taken for granted. It had to be ensured, by both the promise of reward for fealty and the threat of punishment for treason. The carrot and the stick.

It was for that reason that neither Aegon nor Orys made note of the fact that Orys’ wife, Arianne of House Celtigar, and their two children Baelon and Rhaella were absent. The three of them had remained in Summerhall while Orys had visited Seagard, ostensibly to continue representing House Baratheon at court and ensure that there was never a moment in which their important house was not represented in the capital.

The scheme was known as Alternate Attendance. Aegon had taken inspirations from the methods that had been used by a certain historical shogunate in the Land of the Rising Sun of his first life. Under the system, once the grace period that had been given to the Wardens to help them cement their rule over their new domains had expired, each of them was required to maintain a residence at Summerhall or Summerton at the very least and attend court by law. Whenever they wished to return home and visit their domains, an immediate family member such as a brother, a spouse, or a son had to replace them and ensure that the house was represented at court at all times.

Taking further inspiration from the Sun King’s court of Versailles, Aegon had shrouded this system in a veil of prestige, feasts, and games in the splendorous royal court. It was considered a great honor to be invited to court and a symbol of royal recognition for your house to be acknowledged as important enough for its representation to always be demanded at court to take part in the governance of the realm. Those courtiers who attended court had the privilege and advantage of close proximity to the royal family to ingratiate themselves and earn their favor while enjoying the feasts, games, and other spectacles of court and politicking with their fellow nobles.

Beneath the flowery guise however, some of his more clever Wardens had spotted the system for what it was. A way to keep them in check and ensure they could never rebel because they’d be putting either their own lives or that of their family members at risk. Hostages in all but name. Few liked having a sword at their throat even when they had no intentions to give that sword reason to slit.

Aegon had smoothed over any concerns they might have had though, reassuring them that while he did not doubt their loyalty, he could not say the same for any future Wardens that may be created and by imposing the system now he set a precedent that he could easily point to when he wished to keep other more disloyal Wardens in check. That all five of them served on his council and their families were already at court as a result also made the system quite moot in its effects on them and this simply formalized what had already been unofficial.

He had also done his best to stress and emphasize how much of an honor and an advantage it was for them to have mandatory court attendance as well, so that even down the line should their descendants not serve on the council, they would not be unrepresented at court and they would always have the opportunity to maintain their strong bonds with the royal family and ensure their interests were protected. The old ties of kinship and friendship that he had with the members of his inner circle had been instrumental in reassuring them once he had given his explanation, and Aegon did not intend to abuse that trust.

So long as they stayed leal and loyal, Houses Baratheon, Velaryon, Celtigar, Qoherys, Scales, and all the others would only prosper and thrive from the Alternate Attendance system and rise high in his court, council, and bureaucracy, ensuring that the Wardens always had a place in the system he was creating.

And if the Wardens constantly making trips between the capital and their seats wasted their money and stimulated the economic development of the local regions from inns, roads, and so forth being built, well that was just a happy coincidence. One that brought the Crown more tax revenues for little cost of its own. And if the Wardens’ long absences from their wards ensured that their vassals who were more loyal to the Crown and royal officials dispatched to those regions slowly ended up doing all the real ruling instead of them, well that was just the march of progress and centralization.

Funnily enough the fact that the only ones upon whom Alternate Attendance was currently imposed were his inner circle had helped sell the idea that Alternate Attendance was an honor given to any house that was seen as so important their presence was demanded at court at all times. Many Defenders and Keepers aspired to be invited to court and while the ‘honor’ of Alternate Attendance had not been given to any of them, it could be at any moment if Aegon wanted to keep a closer eye on them.

Once they had had lunch, an entertaining event where Lord Frey and the other Defenders and Keepers of Seagard Ward had done their best to ingratiate themselves with him, Visenya, and Orys, they rode out into the city of Seagard.

Everywhere they passed, Aegon was pleased to see thriving neighborhoods and markets. The specter of dread, poverty, and fear which had once hovered so thickly over Seagard had been lifted, leaving behind a prosperous and happy people, many of whom had gathered on the streets to wave and cheer as they passed by.

“Welcome back Lord Orys!”

“Long live King Aegon!”

“All Hail Targaryen!”

“Blessings on you and your family Your Grace!”

“Thank you so much for everything!”

“Long live House Baratheon! Long live House Targaryen!”

“Loyalty is Our Blood! Fire and Blood! Loyalty is Our Blood!”

Some chanted their praises for his brother Orys and his house and words but the vast majority called out blessings and thanks for Aegon and his own family. A familiar sight which repeated almost everywhere they went within the Riverlands. The people knew who had saved them and freed them from the yoke of the Ironmen, and they knew who had made their lives so much easier and helped them to not just survive but thrive.

For the past five years, Aegon had done everything he could to turn that gratitude into an eternal loyalty. He had abolished unpopular old laws like the right to the First Night and worked alongside Rhaenys and Visenya to create new laws like the Widow’s Law and laws forbidding the mistreatment and physical punishment of wives by their husbands for any reason, all of which had been wildly popular among the smallfolk and especially amongst women.

Irrigation canals, dams, and reservoirs expanding on existing older systems and the introduction of new and innovative agricultural tools, methods, and crops had greatly increased the yield of the Riverlands’ fields and making the region even more of an agricultural breadbasket than it had already been. What would have become the Ruby Ford had also been dredged and dug to make the Trident navigable to ships.

The charters that he had given had seen settlements like Seagard, Fairmarket, Harroway, Maidenpool, Saltpans, Summerton, Crabtown, Duskendale, Stoney Sept, Dragonport, Derlyn, and Hull all begin to thrive and turn into booming cities and market towns, with their growth feeding the prosperity of the people and the coffers of the Crown equally.

Great aqueducts, wells, and bathhouses were being built in the settlements to supply them with clean drinking water alongside the rivers and promote cleanliness. Roads and bridges were under construction to link all of the new cities and towns to each other, and these were no dirt tracks or wooden pontoons fit only for backwaters. They were being made from stone and concrete, paved and macadamized like how Old Valyria had made roads whenever dragon roads were deemed unnecessary and too expensive to make. The bridges too were dual drawbridges (long traditional stone arched bridges with two large gatehouse drawbridges in the middle which rested on a central platform when lowered) that would allow for the passage of both people and ships.

Once complete, these roads and bridges would crisscross through the Riverlands and one day through all of Westeros, linking every major city, castle, and town, stimulating trade and allowing for the quick movement of the Crown’s armies and officials.

With the peace and prosperity brought by House Targaryen and its efforts, the Riverlands were well on their way to becoming the imperial heartlands that he envisioned. The economy was thriving, the people prospering, and the cities growing. The Doctrine of Exceptionalism continued to spread and grow in strength and influence as more and more Riverlanders came to accept it as a fact of life, as part of their loyalty and allegiance to House Targaryen.

Culture was also beginning to change. A hundred years of Ironmen rule had isolated the Riverlands culturally from the rest of Westeros and with Aegon’s rule for the past five years, the radical reforms and changes that he had brought, the Doctrine of Exceptionalism, and a spirit of religious tolerance, the culture of the Riverlands continued to diverge all the more from the rest of Westeros and move closer and closer to the Imperial identity Aegon wanted to create.

An identity that would be a blend of the local Westerosi traditions with that of Valyrian and Essosi customs, and held together by the principles of tolerance of all religions save those that did harm to others and loyalty to House Targaryen and to the Empire of Westeros. Such a cultural identity would take years to nurture and develop but Aegon could already see the signs.

Exceptionalism and religious tolerance were becoming readily accepted in the Riverlands, and the Rivermen were already eager loyalists of his family. Valyrian and Essosi culture was also starting to permeate and infuse into the region, coming from Aegon’s own family or from the five Valyrian Wardens he had raised and the populations of Dragonstone, Driftmark, and Claw Isle which had started mingling and moving into the Riverlands.

Not to mention, the tens of thousands of people that arrived from the Free Cities every year that helped to repopulate the many regions that the Hoares had left bereft of people in their tyranny and cruelty. A mix of refugees fleeing the ceaseless wars in Essos and skilled slaves that had been purchased and freed. There were even some exiled magisters, bureaucrats, and nobles of Valyrian descent hailing from Lys that had arrived a few years ago after Volantis had reconquered the city and handed them over to Aegon per their agreement.

All of them had since been put to use in the ranks of the bureaucracy at Summerhall or in the Navy and Army. The various exiled Lyseni noble families like Rogare, Haen, Ormollen, Pendaerys, Saan, Moraqos, Dagareon, Orthys, Lohar, Maar, Nahohr, Sathmantes, Vhassyl, and the like were also strong candidates to receive future lordships from him in addition to the cadets of his existing Wardens and the rest of the dragonseeds from Dragonstone if they proved worthy and competent.

And along similar lines, Aegon had also arranged marriages between his five Valyrian Wardens’ houses as well as with the newcomers. Orys had married Aegon’s cousin Arianne Celtigar, and Arianne’s eldest brother Alton had married their mutual cousin Maella Velaryon. Alton’s younger brothers had all married into the exiled Lyseni families, as had the Qoherys brothers and Josua Scales.

His cousin Aethan Velaryon he had steered away from the match with another cousin, Alarra Massey, that had unfortunately sullied the bloodline of both House Velaryon and House Targaryen in that other world and his cousin had since fallen in love with and married a buxom and beautiful lady from House Rogare. He had little doubt that his other Velaryon cousins, Jacaerys and Corlys, would likely find Lyseni brides as well. They were quite sought after given their splendid beauty after all, though Aegon himself was hardly tempted when his sisters were far superior.

Though he hoped that they would never have to marry out of the family again, Aegon knew that it was likely at least some of his descendants would end up doing so inevitably and it was his hope that when that happened, there would be many choices for them that perfectly fit his criteria for being culturally Valyrian and pure in blood. His five Riverlander Wardens and their houses were the current strongest candidates for that and keeping their blood pure by encouraging their intermarriages with each other and with the Lyseni instead of the local Andals and First Men was a key part of his strategy.

The Wardens were not the only ones intermarrying with the Lyseni however. Many of the Defenders and Keepers in the Riverlands were doing so as well. Normally the Lyseni nobility would be quite obsessed with keeping the blood pure but as they currently lacked almost any lands and assets of their own, many were willing to give their less important family members’ hands in marriage to the landed nobles of the Riverlands. The Riverlanders, nobles and smallfolk alike, were also intermingling and intermarrying with the folk from the three islands in Blackwater Bay, including the dragonseeds, and with the refugees and freed slaves from Essos, many of whom were of Valyrian descent as well.

The cultural convergence that Aegon had been planning for in the Riverlands was thus being accelerated as the Westerosi Valyrian hybrid culture that existed on the three islands in Blackwater Bay formed a template that was being quickly followed across the whole Riverlands. Cultures, peoples, and bloodlines were mingling and Aegon anticipated the process would only continue until in a few decades the Riverlands were completely unrecognizable from what they were before he had conquered.

It was not all smooth-sailing however. The Riverlands that were forming under his rule was an almost haphazard mix of Ironmen, Rivermen Andal and First Men, High Valyrian, Westerosi Valyrian, and Essosi cultures, bloodlines, peoples, religions, traditions, and customs, and such mixes and unions were not without their difficulties.

Some culture clashes were inevitable though. Such as religious disputes that Aegon had had to resolve with the Crown’s power and a strengthened emphasis on the Doctrines of Exceptionalism and religious tolerance. Or the matter of former slavers in their ranks, with many of the exiled magisters and nobles of Lys had having to be reprimanded severely a few times for proposing measures that resembled slavery or for being rude to former slaves and thralls or treating smallfolk like slaves. He’d have to be careful about who exactly from those families he granted fiefs to in the future.

Yet despite the difficulties Aegon was already seeing hopeful signs. It was early days yet but they made him optimistic about the future. He could see it in the way the Riverlanders and the newcomers alike had combined their skills and talents to bring greater mutual prosperity for the Riverlands and all its peoples, old and new both. In how the cultures and traditions had begun to merge ever so slightly.

The Lyseni and the other Essosi had easily adopted bread and salt as guest right and they had taken to the concept of knighthood with almost romantic eagerness. Some of the Riverlanders had converted to the Fourteen Flames or to R’hllor or to the Lyseni Lady of Love even as some of the freed slaves and other immigrants had converted to the Seven while many others stayed loyal to their original religions yet were respectful of each other nonetheless and adhered to the principles upon which the kingdom was built.

The Riverlords, the former slaves and thralls, and the smallfolk of the Riverlands, all agreed that slavery and thralldom was evil and the former Lyseni elites were slowly realizing that the old ways were no longer practical in Westeros whether they truly repented of their slave owning ways or not. Within a generation or two, their descendants would have assimilated to the new mode of thinking anyway.

Little by little Aegon could see his Imperial and Westerosi Valyrian Riverlands taking shape, the heartlands of his empire, the model template upon which he would base the rest of his conquests upon. Its unified culture and people was slowly forming, its economy and infrastructure were developing well, and its cities and towns were prospering.

And that was all good news. It was critical that the Riverlands remained stable and prosperous because soon, very soon, they would support the conquest and consolidation of yet another kingdom that Aegon would be adding to his nascent empire in all but name. Or rather… two.

Their ride through Seagard had finally seen them to their destination as Aegon had thought to himself. The harbor. The port and docks of Seagard had been home to a small fleet for thousands of years that House Mallister had kept to defend its coast against the Ironmen reavers. When those same reavers had conquered Seagard they had then massively expanded the infrastructure to moor hundreds of longships and allow them to easily move reinforcements from the Iron Islands to the Riverlands.

When Aegon had conquered the Riverlands and named his brother the Lord and Warden of Seagard, he had gone even further and upgraded the local infrastructure so that it could support hundreds of galleys. These galleys made up his new western fleet, the fleet that would conquer the Iron Islands for him.

Several of them had been built entirely on the western coast from shipyards set up along the whole coast, some had originally been from Dragonstone and had been moved a great distance halfway around the continent by sea, and a few weren’t even galleys at all but rather captured longships. Rows upon rows of ships were moored within the harbor, safe from storms and tides, their masts rose from the waves like trees.

The admiral who commanded the fleet was waiting for them as they arrived. Aegon smiled at the familiar sight and embraced the man eagerly once he had dismounted from his horse.

“Jacaerys! It’s good to see you cousin!”

“It’s good to see you as well Your Grace!” his cousin greeted him cheerily before he turned to Aegon’s children standing beside him.

“My word. This can’t be Aerion and Valaena! My goodness! How much you’ve grown!” he said as he squatted to talk to the twins.

“You look familiar, but I can’t remember your name,” Aerion confessed.

“Ah that’s fine. You were just a little wee lad the last time I saw you. Well even more of one than you are now. I’m Jacaerys Velaryon, the brother of Aethan and Corlys, I’m sure you know them?”

Aerion and his sister both nodded.

“Brilliant. Saan!” he shouted to one of his captains. When the Lyseni arrived, Jacaerys instructed him to show the prince and princess around the docks and the fleet and Aegon allowed it once he had dispatched ten Dragonguard from his platoon to shadow his children and ensure they came to no harm.

With the children entertained, the four of them got to business. Aegon walked along the docks beside Visenya, Orys, and Jacaerys as they inspected their western fleet.

Despite being moored at Seagard, Orys owned only twenty of the ships present, and the rest were held by the Crown directly and moored at Seagard free of rent and fees since much of the expenses for building the infrastructure needed had been borne by the Crown and would continue to benefit Seagard long after the western fleet moved its home port to Lannisport.

“How many ships are there in the fleet?” Visenya asked as they walked.

“110 galleys. 70 longships,” Jacaerys answered.

“Is that enough?” Aegon inquired.

“Maybe. Maybe not. There are more ships being built but at most we’d have only 30 built before the invasion, most of those longships.

“And the crews aren’t exactly well trained or experienced either. They know how to sail the ship from one point to another but if you ask them to face the Westerlanders or the Ironmen at sea they’d probably fail.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have the kind of time needed to train the crews to that level nor build enough ships to move the whole army at once. It shouldn’t be a problem though. With Vhagar I can escort the fleet back and forth while it moves all our soldiers and supplies to one island and ensure the landing force has no opposition as we make a safe foothold in the archipelago.

“From that point on all the fleet has to do is move our forces onto each island one by one. If either the Lannisters or Ironmen face us at sea, Vhagar will destroy them no matter how experienced and well trained their sailors are,” Visenya said.

Aegon nodded. “We still have about a year to finalize all the details but Visenya’s idea makes sense. It would be preferable if our navy was up to scratch but we do still have dragons to rely on and speed things up until it is.

“How goes the war in the Iron Islands?” he asked.

“Brutally,” Orys replied. “Word came from a trader yesterday that the Lannisters are massacring all the Drowned Men on Great Wyk. Supposedly that includes anyone they even remotely suspect is a Drowned Man whether there is proof or not.”

“So much for the chivalry and decency of the Westerlanders,” Aegon observed dryly.

When he had egged on Tybolt Lannister years ago, Aegon had known it was only a matter of time before the greedy lions had pounced on the chaotic situation in the Iron Islands and his expectations had been fulfilled when the Lannisters had invaded the Iron Islands three years ago with a fleet of three hundred galleys and twenty-five thousand men.

Having learned from the mistake of his predecessor who had sent a vassal who had tried to make himself King instead of giving the islands to his liege, Loren Lannisters had elected to personally lead the invasion force, with his brother Gerold as his second. Left at home to hold the Rock was Loren’s youngest brother Tybolt, none other than the amusing prince Aegon had met all those years ago.

At first things had gone exceedingly well for the Lannisters. Most of Westeros had cheered their invasion and heard with glee tales of how the Westerlanders were laying low the vile reavers hated by all. With an understanding with Aegon’s own Kingdom of Rivers and Hills and an uneasy peace with the Kingdom of the Reach to the south, the Lannisters had felt safe in dedicating a significant portion of their army to waging war in the Iron Isles. More than two-thirds to be precise.

Divided and bloodied from their defeat in the Riverlands and years of civil war, the Ironmen hadn’t stood a chance. The Lannisters swept over each island, broke each castle, and slew every reaver they found, sending lords and their sons to the Wall or executing them and forcibly marrying their daughters and sisters to the sons and brothers of their own vassals to permanently secure the West’s rule of the islands. Loren had arranged his own brother Gerold’s marriage to the sole remaining daughter of Lord Harlaw and gave his brother the island.

He had also apparently forgotten that he had a wife waiting for his return at the Rock because word had it that he had taken a number of paramours himself from the daughters of several Ironmen houses. ‘Justice’, Aegon had heard it called, for millennia of Westerlander daughters taken as Ironmen salt wives. In his arrogance and overconfidence in his own power and victory, Loren had even claimed the Valyrian steel sword Red Rain from the vanquished Drumms to replace the lost Brightroar and rejected House Reyne’s claim to their ancestral weapon, infuriating the red lions.

However, despite their initial success, especially after freeing the thralls and getting their aid in controlling the islands, the Westerlanders had started to struggle. The Reach and the other kingdoms in Westeros had begun to realize the power the Westerlands could attain over the Sunset Sea if they consolidated control over the Iron Islands. Skirmishes had begun anew at the Westerlands’ southern border, sapping their forces’ strength and soon revolts had broken out in the Iron Islands, led by the Drowned Men and bastard lines of the deposed nobles.

That was when the Westerlands began their bloody reprisals, outlawing worship of the Drowned God entirely to impose the Faith of the Seven upon the islands and putting bounties on the heads of the Priests of the Drowned God and on anyone even remotely suspected of being their acolytes, men, women, and even children if the rumors were true.

The Westerlands were enacting their revenge for millennia of raids and rapes and it was brutal to hear unfold. Word had come of massacres and brutal skirmishes and fights for months now but it was slowly dying down, an indicator that the Westerlanders were succeeding in finally destroying the hated Old Ways of the Drowned God and the Ironmen reavers.

Aegon had let it all happen intentionally. He had planned for years to let the Westerlands greatly weaken itself as it destroyed all of the Ironmen for him and tarred their own reputation. While he could have done it himself, Aegon was certain the Faith and the other kingdoms would not hesitate to call him a savage butcher and murderer for destroying the hated Ironmen. He certainly would not have gotten the level of leeway and blind eye turned the Lannisters were getting since they were supposedly faithful worshippers of the Seven that were simply doing their holy will.

Now the fanatics among the Ironmen were utterly broken and much of the population thinned, leaving empty room for the islands to be resettled and molded in the image of whoever conquered them, forever ending the savage reaving ways of the past. The Lannisters had already started importing Westermen to settle the islands, mingling with the freed thralls, but Aegon knew the process would not be nearly complete by the time he invaded in a year or so.

The Westerlands themselves still had at least half of their army garrisoning the islands and suppressing the remaining revolts, ensuring that those forces were cut off from the homeland and could not go to its aid, weakening the Westerlands’ own defenses. Thus, when he finally made his move, he would attack the Westerlands and the Iron Islands at the same time with all the forces that he had been preparing for the past five years, overrunning both greatly weakened kingdoms and bringing them under his rule.

As the four of them watched the sailors hard at work maintaining the ships, Orys spoke aloud. “It will be nice to no longer have the threat of the Ironmen. The war in the islands has been disrupting trade too, Seagard hasn’t been growing as much as it should.”

“Soon Seagard will thrive as the Iron Islands are civilized and resettled and the trade routes from the Westerlands and the rest of the kingdoms reestablished,” Jacaerys reassured Orys, evidently having become fond of the city himself after spending the past few years here.

“And the Iron Islands will have a new Warden,” Aegon said. “You,” he told Jacaerys.

“Me?” Jacaerys looked surprised.

“I promised you years ago that there would be more lands to go around beyond the Riverlands didn’t I? I’m keeping the promise. You will be Warden of the Iron Islands and you will have your pick of whichever island you want to be your direct demesne while the other islands will be given to Valyrians in our ranks to hold as your Defenders and Keepers,” Aegon explained.

Jacaerys bowed humbly. “I’m honored by your gift Your Grace.”

“Rise cousin. This is your just reward for leal and loyal service, and for being a true kinsman and friend to me for many years. The Iron Islands will thrive under your stewardship, I have no doubt about that,” Aegon said.

He watched his children look at the ships with excitement as Saan showed them around before he turned his eyes to the horizon where somewhere beyond in the far-off distance to the west, laid an archipelago that would soon be his.

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When they made their way back to Summerhall, they landed at the top of Dragonsreach. In the years since they had conquered and renamed the castle, they had completed its largest two towers, now known as Dragonsreach and the Tower of Summer, and given them flat open roofs with crenellated battlements.

Due to the sheer size of the towers and the enormity of their diameter, they made perfect landing spots for dragons once the roofs had been reinforced to support their weight. A rather important addition to the castle in Aegon’s opinion. The five main towers of Summerhall ranged from 400 to 650 feet in height. Given that the average height between levels tended to be 10 feet, that meant a whopping 40-65 levels to climb with stairs or ascend in winches. A tiresome and often terrifying endeavor, one that Aegon and his family left for their servants and lessers.

For their part, they made use of their dragons to fly between the towers and the rest of the castle below and they had even renovated and modified the roofs of the other three towers to make them landing pads for their dragons as well. A central stone bulkhead in the center of each roof sheltered the entrance to a spiral staircase that descended into the tower below and the highest level of each of the five towers was reserved for a platoon of Dragonkeepers and Dragonguard who tended to and protected the dragons whenever they roosted on the roof above and kept a watchful eye on the surrounding skies and lands from their high viewpoints.

As the four of them dismounted from their dragons, they smiled at the sight of those who had come to greet them. There were of course some Dragonkeepers who rushed to tend to Balerion and Vhagar, and a troop of Dragonguard commanded by the ever-loyal Ser Gaemon Gryvetheon, but their eyes were focused on that of their kin.

With a cry of childish delight, Valaena rushed to her mother Rhaenys and Rhaenys picked her up and swung her around happily before setting her down to let her greet her younger siblings. Aerion was not far behind his sister and Aegon and Visenya followed along happily to greet their family. Rhaenys hugged Visenya before she came to him.

“I missed you,” she said before she kissed him greedily.

“I missed you too,” he told her once they finally broke the kiss.

He held her tightly for some time after that, only letting her go when he remembered they had an audience. The children had started complaining as usual, embarrassed by their overt display of affection. Aegon simply sighed to himself in amusement before he greeted his children with exuberant hugs and teased them with some well-placed ruffles of their previously neat hair.

They would just have to get used to it, he thought. Neither he, Rhaenys, nor Visenya had ever shied away from public displays of affection, they were proud of their family and the love they had for each other, even when lesser men and women tried to judge them. And perhaps in ten years or more, the children would understand it themselves. The pairs had already started forming.

There were Aerion and Valaena of course, the pride and joy of him, Rhaenys, and Visenya. Their eldest two children, only seven years old but already so responsible for their younger siblings and eager to learn everything there was about their house and their ways. They had also started riding on their dragons Caraxes and Meleys, though for only short distances and durations around Summerhall. It was early days yet, but he had no doubt that Aerion and Valaena would grow up to become a fine Crown Prince and Princess, and one day be more than worthy successors to his empire.

Aerion and Valaena were not his only children though. Far from it. The next oldest after the so called ‘Red Twins’, was Aegor, a curious and charming young boy of 5 who hung on every word his elder siblings told him of their trip. He was bonded to Aegarax, a dragon Aegon was certain had become the Cannibal in that other world.

Aegor’s most likely pair was his younger sister Rhaena, named in part for her mother Rhaenys. She had been born in 98 AD, the year after their conquest of the Riverlands, the likely result of a particularly… celebratory night he had had with Rhaenys and Visenya. She often toddled after Aegor who in turn ran after Aerion and Valaena and kept him company whenever the twins ended up excluding him from their games, intentionally or not. Her dragon was a white and silver young drake named Quicksilver that had had hatched in her cradle.

After Rhaena had come his and Visenya’s only daughter Daena in 99 AD, and just a year ago had come his youngest child yet, little Aenar who had been born to him and Rhaenys. Daena and Aenar were little more than toddlers but it was their intention to see them paired to each other as well and it was why Daena had been given a dragon egg once Aenar’s Silverwing had hatched in his cradle. Perhaps it was some kind of fate, but the bronze dragon which had hatched for Daena was Vermithor.

Three sons and three daughters. Two sons and a daughter from Visenya. Two daughters and a son from Rhaenys. All perfectly paired up to keep six splendid young dragons within the family, to keep the blood pure and ensure that he did not have a single grandchild that wasn’t also the grandchild of both of his sisters. The perfect little family.

Aegon would burn the world down to keep them all safe and happy, but only if he couldn’t give it to them first. More than just his own ambitions and desires to be remembered, to leave his mark upon the world and be so much more than he was now, Aegon meant to leave his children and family something far greater than that his predecessors had left to him and his alternate self had left to his family. A Westeros wholly subjugated and broken so that they could shape it and remake it as they pleased would be his wives’ dowry. An Empire of peace and plenty, free of the wars and rebellions which had plagued Aenys and Maegor, would be his children’s inheritance.

And little by little that dream was already slowly starting to come to fruition. The Riverlands were well on their way to becoming the heartlands of their new empire, and the castle of Summerhall, once a symbol of Harren’s tyranny and cruelty, was being remade in their image, into a symbol of their family’s greatness and the prosperity of the empire they sought to rule, a place of light, beauty, and music.

Much work remained to be done on the castle of course but they had made so much progress as it was already. The towers and roofs had all been completed and renovated so they were fit for dragons. Visenya had combed the entire castle to ensure its security was to her liking, sealing the small postern gates in the outer walls that she saw as unnecessary, and filling in the staircases between the Hall of a Hundred Hearths and the galleries above so that the only entrances were inside Dragonsreach Tower behind the hall were just some of her design changes.

Rhaenys had also renovated much of the interiors of the towers and the Hall of a Hundred Hearths to make them as lavish and luxurious as any Essosi manse. Harren himself had been rather ostentatious and so despite their outward appearances, the towers and the hall had already come very well furnished and ornamented but Rhaenys had taken it to a whole new level, ordering for many of their rooms and corridors to be repainted and refurnished with new ornaments, features, marble, and so forth. She had also ordered for the construction of new parks, gardens, and fountains in the open spaces between Dragonsreach and the godswood and had also required the use of redstone in many of the renovations so that the other of their house colors would be represented in their castle’s appearance.

The two of them had also started work on the Isle of Queens within the Dragons Eye that he had dedicated to both of them. With their disagreements on what the island’s role should be, Aegon had mediated and split the island in half between them, with Rhaenys getting the west and Visenya the east.

In the east Visenya had plans for a castle and a nearby port that could serve as the base for a small fleet of riverine ships and make full use of the strategic positioning of the island. Meticulous as always, Visenya had also created a plan wherein their family could escape by ship to the Isle of Queens for refuge should anything happen in Summerhall. To that end, the castle she was designing would have many farms on the fertile land to feed it and vaults to store that food and any other treasures their family wished to keep away from Summerhall.

Rhaenys for her part wanted to make a private lakeside retreat for their family and any select guests they wished to entertain on the western part of the island, with plans for manses, parks, woods, and gardens. Both of them had also agreed with Aegon’s own proposal that the island could serve as a potential dragon preserve and secret storage for dragon eggs and dragonlore to supplement their existing preserves, vaults, and hatcheries at Summerhall and Dragonstone.

None of these projects were anywhere near done of course, and Aegon anticipated it would likely be decades if ever before it truly was, but slowly and surely, they were making Summerhall and the rest of the Riverlands into their own as much as Dragonstone was.

His attention was drawn by the dragons stirring. Satisfied that their riders had no more need of them, Balerion and Vhagar huffed as they brushed off the tending of the Dragonkeepers and took flight to the neighboring godswood where the rest of their family’s dragons roamed freely. Even from here Aegon could hear Meraxes and the others roaring as they greeted them.

One of the first things that they had done as they had settled into their new castle had been to seal off all the entrances into the godswood except for a single gate directly opposite the Summer Tower. The walls surrounding the godswood within the castle were a hundred feet high, much like the walls that ran between the main gate and Dragonsreach. They were crenellated and had battlements as well, perfect for their Dragonguard to patrol over the entire wall and ensure that no one attempted to enter the godswood without House Targaryen’s permission.

Though perhaps it was more accurate to call the godswood the ‘dragonswood’ now, and most within the castle did, referring to it as the Dragonwood. The weirwood heart tree was long since gone after all, fed to Harren’s endless construction on the castle, and the area was certainly never going to be used to honor the gods. Instead, large caves were being dug into the ground with earthen walls and roofs raised and reinforced with stone and concrete to form shelters for the free-roaming dragons all over the small forest, of which there were currently seven. Balerion, Vhagar, Meraxes, Caraxes, Meleys, Aegarax, and Quicksilver, with Silverwing and Vermithor still small enough to be kept in the stables and away from the older dragons.

All of those dragons were allowed to roam the woods freely because they were bonded to Aegon and his family members and so there was little risk of theft or of them flying away. Whenever they had need of them, they had naught to do but call them with their minds and they would come wherever they were within the castle, if they had room to land, so that they could carry them wherever they wished to go. That was how Aegon and his family moved so easily through the massive castle and its gargantuan five towers.

Though a lower priority compared to the rest of the work on the castle, they also intended to build a Dragonpit within the Dragonwood that would hold any unbonded dragons or disobedient and unruly bonded dragons and prevent them from flying away, adding yet another layer of security for the dragons. The stream that flowed from a spring within the wood would be diverted to make room for the building, though it would still flow into and feed water into the neighboring bathouse.

The Dragonpit itself would be built near the bathhouse so that any excess heat from the dragons’ flames could be used to help heat the water in the baths. Aegon did not really understand why the Dragonpit in that other world had had eighty thousand seats. The pit was built to hold and protect the dragons not be the public’s Colosseum to see spectacles and risk anyone getting access to the dragons it was built primarily to protect.

In any case all of that wasted space would be put to use here, with vaults to house the adult dragons, separate storage vaults for dragon eggs and some dragonlore, and hatcheries and nurseries for any young hatchlings and drakes, all dug deep into the ground. There would also be barracks for the Dragonkeepers and Dragonguard within the pit’s structure so they would always be at hand to tend to and defend the dragons and it would be these pit guards and keepers responsible for patrolling the rest of the Dragonwood and its perimeter walls.

Of course, the Dragonwood and the future pit within it were hardly the only dragon-related infrastructure that they were planning for. Most of their dragonlore was now kept in private libraries within the royal apartments near the top of Dragonsreach and they also kept most of their tomes pertaining to magic, limited as it was, and the Freehold’s history and culture with it. All of this lore had been copied from the original manuscripts stored in vaults in Dragonstone. Aegon intended to copy all of it once again and have the new copies placed in vaults beneath the castle Visenya wanted to build on the Isle of Queens.

The three of them, Rhaenys, Visenya, and he were in agreement that their dragons and their lore all had to be protected. It was integral to who they were, it was what made them House Targaryen, what made them so powerful and almighty. That other timeline which had seen the dragons go extinct and House Targaryen lose its culture and identity as dragonlords and Valyrians had to be prevented no matter what.

To that end they had set aside large vaults on Dragonstone. These vaults were carved deep into the Dragonmont itself and were heated by the volcano and sealed with walls made of dragonstone and steel doors. All of their original manuscripts of dragonlore, magic, culture, history, and other such tomes, heirlooms from Old Valyria itself, had been placed within those vaults, as had all the excess eggs of their house.

These were the many eggs that had been laid over the Century of Blood, Vhagar and Meraxes’ unhatched siblings and offspring. Aegon had had them all moved from the old damp and dark undervaults and cellars they had been slowly petrifying in to the new heated vaults and had ordered that they were counted monthly to ensure that none were ever left unaccounted for. At latest count there were exactly fifty-three eggs in total in those vaults.

As the dragon population grew, there might one day be hundreds, perhaps even thousands of eggs in that ‘egg bank’, kept dormant but viable by the ambient volcanic heat and the methods and spells in their dragonlore. Ensuring that no matter what calamity befell the other dragons in the rest of the world, the dragon species itself would never die out and their house would never be denied their birthright.

Furthermore, in case anything ever happened to Dragonstone such as the Dragonmont erupting like the Fourteen Flames had or the island somehow being lost to enemies, they would also have their egg vaults in Summerhall and the Isle of Queens to fall back upon. Without the natural heat of the Dragonmont, keeping those eggs warm enough was more complicated though.

Eggs that did not hatch after a long period of time could eventually petrify and turn to stone. To prevent this the eggs were heated with special firepot contraptions and furnaces to keep them viable indefinitely. This was part of the dragonlore their ancestors had passed down to them. There was usually no risk of the eggs hatching either when they were stored this way too.

Dragon eggs only hatched naturally if they were incubated in extremely hot volcanic vents. It had something to do with the immense heat and the magical nature of volcanos. It was why there were so many hatcheries on Dragonstone, and it was why the natural and preferred habitat of dragons was in and around volcanos.

There were artificial ways that dragons could be hatched of course, usually when they bonded to an individual of dragonlord descent, in the cradle or otherwise. However, as they were unhatched, the bonds could often fail to form, which was why some of his family members’ eggs had never hatched and they had ended up claiming adult dragons instead. That or the eggs had just never been viable to begin with; such things happened at times in nature. Alternatively, eggs could be made to hatch, whether they had someone to bond with or not, using spells and rituals powered by fire and blood as his house words commemorated. Rituals that could, under certain circumstances, even restore and hatch non-viable or petrified eggs.

To further strengthen their control over the dragons and protect them from thieves and harm, preserves like the Dragonwood and large guarded shelters like the Dragonpit were seen as essential. With all of the dragons currently removed to Summerhall, Aegon had removed most of the preserve on Dragonstone to let the island continue to develop but he had kept enough to sustain a small population of free-roaming dragons if need be. There were also long-term plans to build Dragonpits at both Dragonstone and the Isle of Queens that would go hand in hand with the planned vaults for dragonlore and eggs in both locations, though Aegon doubted those pits would be built anytime soon.

Ideally the only dragons that would be allowed to roam freely would be dragons bonded to members of House Targaryen. No dragons left to hatch and grow up in the wild or formerly ridden dragons allowed to fly off and lair all over the continent once their riders died like in the other world. If that did happen, their house would prove why they were dragonlords by shepherding the rogue dragons back into the pits with their own dragons and knowledge of dragonlore. Something their counterparts in the other world had done at times but strangely did not do nearly as much as they should have.

The general idea was to concentrate all of their lore, their dragons, and their eggs, along with all of their Dragonkeepers and Dragonguard in Summerhall, Dragonstone, and the Isle of Queens, with pits, barracks, libraries, vaults, and hatcheries at each location. The small number of locations and sites increased the efficiency of their guards and keepers while also promoting central control of the dragons but still provided enough redundancy to ensure that even if calamities befell two of the three locations, their house and its dragons could be restored from the sole remaining seat.

If the legend of the lost vault on Dragonstone which supposedly kept most of their family’s dragonlore and magic was true, then its contents would also be added to this redundancy plan should it ever be found. Aegon wasn’t sure if it even existed though. His father had told him and his sisters the story as children and the three of them had gone looking for the vault after he had died but they had never found any hints of it.

It had been that search that had uncovered the glass candles and the scraps of magic lore they now had, and just that had taken them years of digging through all of Dragonstone’s known libraries, records, and vaults, hunting for hidden passages and rooms and finding the oldest and most forgotten corners and records. The ‘Chamber of Secrets’, as he referred to it whenever he wanted to be cheeky, seemed to be more myth than fact, but it was nice to dream at times he supposed.

With the dragons having left to return to their lairs in the Dragonwood, Aegon decided that it was time he and his family got off the roof. He led them to the bulkhead and the spiral staircase within at the center of the roof and the chattering between his children and wives continued as they descended past the highest level where some of the Dragonkeepers and the Dragonguard were stationed to the royal apartments below.

Beneath the highest level of Dragonsreach, Aegon and his family had reserved another five for their own use. Those five levels had their apartments and chambers with all the lavish amenities and luxuries within. Their solars, private libraries, and vaults to keep their personal belongings and so forth were all there as well.

Below the royal apartments were another four levels with different uses. The first and fourth were barracks and armories for the Dragonguard, ensuring the royal apartments were protected from any intruders climbing up the stairs from below. The second and third levels meanwhile were dedicated to the chambers and workplaces of their most trusted servants and household members. Maids, cleaners, cooks, secretaries, butlers and so forth, all of whom tended to and maintained the royal apartments above and the quality of life its denizens were accustomed to.

All of these levels together still made up only ten in total and there were fifty-five more beneath them. For security reasons, no one winch was allowed to ascend all sixty-five levels in a single continuous chain running from the base to the roof. The highest any winch from the base went was to the fifty-fifth level, the same level as the lower of the two Dragonguard barracks in the royal apartment complex. One would have to pass through the security checks of those Dragonguard and then climb a flight of stairs one level higher to the fifty-sixth level to access the winches that led from there all the way up to the roof.

So now the question was, with fifty-five levels of Dragonsreach still available and all of the other four towers to boot, what had they done with all of that space? Well, it varied.

Dragonsreach was so huge that its lower fifty-five floors held chambers and quarters for almost all of the servants in the entire castle, especially the staff that worked in the kitchens that were appended to the north side of the tower. These servants mostly resided in the lower levels though many climbed the stairs to perform duties in the higher levels.

Towards the eastern side of the tower, near to the Hunter’s Hall and the stables, were the sleeping quarters and armories for the cavalry cohorts of their legions. The Royal Couriers also had their headquarters in that area. At a moment’s notice any of those cavalrymen or couriers could be sent out on horseback with all of the equipment they needed in ready access.

Scattered through the lower levels were also several joint barracks reserved for the Royal Legion, the Provincial Guard, and Dragonguard who secured the entrances to the tower from the rest of the castle and the entrances to the galleries in the Hall of a Hundred Hearths, the kitchens, and the bridge to the neighboring Tower of Summer.

There were some levels dedicated as chambers and solars for the most trusted courtiers and guests of honor as well as all the high-ranking members of the Elder Council, also known as the Royal Council. There was also a public library on one level and the remaining space was for the sleeping quarters, records halls, offices, and so forth of the staff of the various ministries, civil services, and bureaucracies that operated under the Council of Elders.

The adjoined Tower of Summer served as an extension of this role, with almost the entire tower save its base and roof and highest level reserved for the governance of the kingdom. The Elder Council met on one of the higher levels and there were more libraries, records halls, offices, storage, solars, and so forth for the various bureaucrats, elders, ministers, and civil servants in the Tower of Summer. At the highest level was of course the dragon landing pad and the attached barracks for the Dragonkeepers and Dragonguard there and the base of the tower were barracks for Legionaries who served as guards and gaolers for the prison cells beneath the tower. The confessors also resided and worked in those lower levels.

The Tower of Winter to the north of the kitchens adjoined to the Dragonsreach had massive subterranean vaults beneath the tower and vast storerooms and granaries on its lower levels. Almost all of the castle’s food stores, the same stores that enabled them to survive winters, sieges, and daily life, were kept in those granaries and vaults and underground tunnels linked them to the kitchens and Dragonsreach if the need arose.

Those vaults were also put to use as the treasury, the mint, and the bank were all kept there as well. To protect all of these vital and important resources, there were barracks throughout the tower and especially at the base housing several legionaries. The rest of the tower was sleeping quarters and workplaces for the staff and servants who managed and oversaw what was kept within the tower but there was still plenty of space available in the upper floors to store many more things and house many more people.

The remaining two towers, Autumn and Spring, were both dedicated for the housing and entertainment of the vast majority of the courtiers at court, as well all but the most honored envoys and guests, and nearly all of the resident nobles. Large and lavish apartments were given to the courtiers, especially to the nobles who were allowed to keep their own retinues of guards and servants within those reserved apartments, though the number had to be within reason and was strictly regulated by the Crown of course.

Games and lavish luxuries and amenities dot the two towers to help entertain the residents in addition to the spectacles of court and the other important events that were usually held in the nearby Hall of a Hundred Hearths or Dragonsreach. It would be where entire families of nobles were raised and died as the Conquest progressed and more and more nobles came to court, willingly or compelled to by the Alternate Attendance system.

They were kept in this gilded cage by the Crown’s control of the tops of the towers for the Dragonkeepers and Dragonguard maintaining the roof for the dragons’ landings, and the barracks and quarters of legionaries and royal servants at the base of the towers who patrolled and cleaned the levels above, arbitrating disputes between the various residents and their retinues, protecting them from any intruders, and overall keeping order and cleanliness in the towers. Long-term residents that were no longer classified as guests and had no important role or position in the council or court were also charged fees for the upkeep of their apartments though they could be granted exemptions.

In theory the residents of Autumn and Spring Tower had free roam of much of the castle save restricted areas like the Dragonwood and the barracks and prison cells, free to take part in court (which was they were here for after all) and be entertained by the spectacles of life in Summerhall. At a moment’s notice however, Aegon and his family could have any resident of the two towers arrested or imprisoned due to the advantage in numbers their soldiers had within the walls of Summerhall and if the loyal retinues of that resident attempted to protect them and resist by holing up in the towers, they could simply starve them to death because all of their food and other necessities were kept elsewhere in the castle and had to be brought to them on a regular basis.

These were all the currently planned and intended uses for Summerhall’s five towers but in truth, barely a fifth of the available space was currently being used, if even that. There were many, many empty rooms, corridors, or even entire levels in all of the towers, they were simply so ginormous. Aegon however had no qualms with this. He was sure that as the Empire grew to its true size and developed to its true potential, they would expand into all of the available space and put it to good use, even if some of those uses differed from what they were now.

He put those thoughts aside for the time being however. There would be time to worry about all of that and the governance of his realm another day. Today he wanted to spend time with his family, many of whom he hadn’t seen in a few weeks as Visenya, Aerion, Valaena and him had visited several settlements across the Riverlands.

As their family settled back into their apartments however, Aegon was displeased to be disturbed.

“Your Graces,” one of their secretaries said, addressing him and Visenya. “There are some matters in need of your attention that Queen Rhaenys was unable to resolve on her own.”

He noticed Rhaenys nodding her acknowledgement at the secretary’s words and Visenya turned to him with a look in her eyes. He knew that look, it was the look that told him that she would follow his lead in this regardless of what he decided but would much rather prefer if he decided a certain way. He just wasn’t fully sure which way that was.

Taking a guess, and motivated by his own feelings, he shook his head. “Put them on our schedule for tomorrow. Visenya and I will not be seeing to any matters unless they are of the utmost importance and urgency today.”

The slight smile on Visenya’s face told him that he had guessed correctly. The two of them sat down to relax after the long journey and they spent the next few minutes relating to Rhaenys everything that had happened on their journey all the while their children chattered and played and misbehaved around them.

It was not a particularly noteworthy or important event to remember, but seemingly mundane and domestic moments like this were what made life worth living.

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The Targaryens and their Dragons in 101 AD (1 BC)

• Visenya Targaryen, born 73 AD (29 BC), 28 years old, rider of the she-dragon Vhagar which hatched on Dragonstone in 50 AD (52 BC). Vhagar has bronze scales with greenish-blue highlights and flames and bright green eyes.
• Aegon Targaryen, born 75 AD (27 BC), 26 years old, rider of the dragon Balerion which hatched in Old Valyria in 13 BD (115 BC). Balerion is known as the Black Dread for his black scales and wings and for his black flames with red swirls.
• Rhaenys Targaryen, born 76 AD (26 BC), 25 years old, rider of the she-dragon Meraxes, which hatched on Dragonstone in 14 AD (88 BC). Meraxes has striking silver scales and imperious golden eyes and accents. Her flames are silver-gold.

Aegon Targaryen married both his elder sister Visenya and his younger sister Rhaenys in the same wedding ceremony in 93 AD (9 BC). He has three children with each of them, two sons and one daughter with Visenya, and two daughters and one son with Rhaenys. The eldest two children, Aerion and Valaena, are false twins because they were born from different mothers on the same day and are half siblings through their father and first cousins through their mothers. Their closeness, same nameday, similarly colored red dragons, and obsession with red as their favorite color have given the pair the moniker of the ‘Red Twins’.

Aegon and Visenya’s children:

• Aerion Targaryen, one of the Red Twins, born 94 AD (8 BC), 7 years old, rider of the dragon Caraxes which hatched in his cradle on Dragonstone in 94 AD (8 BC). Caraxes is known as the Blood Wyrm for his lean slender build and his blood red scales and wings. His flames are a dark crimson, the color of dried blood.
• Aegor Targaryen, born 96 AD (6 BC), 5 years old, bonded to the dragon Aegarax which hatched in his cradle on Dragonstone in 96 AD (6 BC). Aegarax has scales as black as coal and menacing green eyes and flames that are the color of wildfire. (Aegon Targaryen believes Aegarax is the same dragon that would have become the Cannibal in another world).
• Daena Targaryen, born 99 AD (3 BC), 2 years old, bonded to the dragon Vermithor which hatched in her cradle in Summerhall in 100 AD (2 BC). Vermithor has bronze scales, large tan wings, and golden-red flames.

Aegon and Rhaenys’ children:

• Valaena Targaryen, the other of the Red Twins, born 94 AD (8 BC), 7 years old, rider of the she-dragon Meleys which hatched in her cradle on Dragonstone in 94 AD (8 BC). Meleys is known as the Red Queen for her regal bearing and queenly personality and she has scarlet scales, pink wing membranes, and a bright copper crest, horns, and claws. Her flames are copper swirled with scarlet.
• Rhaena Targaryen, born 98 AD (4 BC), 3 years old, bonded to the she-dragon Quicksilver which hatched in her cradle in Summerhall in 98 AD (4 BC). Quicksilver has silvery-white scales and pale white wing membranes and fireballs.
• Aenar Targaryen, born 100 AD (2 BC), 1 year old, bonded to the she-dragon Silverwing which hatched in his cradle in Summerhall in 100 AD (2 BC). Silverwing has beautiful silvery scales and blue fire.

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Author’s Note: Hope you guys liked this chapter and all the details on the Targaryen family, how the Riverlands and Summerhall are becoming the heart of the future empire, future conquest plans, and more!

Lmk your thoughts, suggestions, and any questions in the comments below or over on Discord!