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A/N: Time skip, I need to age up the kids and move stuff along hopefully it won't give you all whiplash, it's around 8 years which is not far off from what House of the Dragon did. The next few chapters will be catching everything up and then on to establishing some stuff. Just take it at a stride and enjoy the ride, I had to do the jump eventually and it felt like a good point to make the leap.
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196 AC
Harrenhal
Aerion Targaryen
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"Well, it's finally done." I look at the last of the towers of Harrenhal as the last of the cleanup is done after the repairs finished last week, with this the castle is 'restored'.
"Can we go practice archery now?" Tessarion asks while pulling my pant leg, his desire to show off to his Mother evident as he looks back toward Narha who smiles at the sight of us.
"We just got back from the yard..." Tyraxes complains but everyone who knows him knows he is only doing so because his mother Bellenora won't let him practice until his seventh name day.
"Few more months little buddy, I will beat you- I mean I will train you like a hound." His displeased look cracks as his lips tug up, the little guy is more than eager no matter how much I try to slow him down with 'threats'.
"Will you rename the place now?" Rhaegar asks and I turn to see my second son from Daenerys and raise a brow.
"When the hell did all of you get out here?!" I hiss looking around almost seeming as if I was transported into an elementary school for Valyrian children. "To answer your question I do not know, not even the prideful Lannisters renamed Casterly Rock after they acquired it. We are more 'secure' in our hold over the castle than the Lannisters are of there's but there is still little precedent." I lean down to pick up Gaemon my only boy from Shiera and realize the kids slipped the coop or something and came to find me.
I eye the gathered crowd of silver-haired brats and take a deep breath as I vow once more to up my pull-out game. The same number as the Conciliator if none of his died premature, and to be honest it seems more than enough. At least until I have some legs wrapped around me and I contemplate just how much gold I have and how little another kid would impact my vast wealth.
"Visenya..." I speak up spotting her hiding behind Rhaella and it shows something is afoot. "What have you done?" I ask sternly but not unkindly as I know they will scatter like rats if they think I am about to dish out some punishment.
No 'dragon visits' always being the most effective at getting them to fall in line.
"I did nothing." She confidently speaks up without meeting my eyes and a shadow passing over the yard makes me shut my eyes helplessly.
"You started another swarm." I shake my head and kneel down holding Gaemon close as I meet my daughter's eyes.
"Maybe?" She responds unsure before another shadow passes overhead and her face turns sour. "I think I did..." The problem with warging and dragons, she can kick up quite a fuss when she is in her dragon's skin.
Well according to her it's 'they' can kick up quite a fuss as when they are warged together they are completely one mind. I am still a bit jealous to this day and wonder if cutting out an eye or something as if I was Odin before a Heart tree could give me some Warg powers. But I won't steal my daughter's thunder, she might have gained benefits from me but will never surpass me in weapons until I die. I can let her have something over me since I know it brings her great joy to show it off to me and be praised for being so cool.
Not even a moment after I set down Gaemon to try and fix the coming problem I see a small green dragon the size of a pony land.
"Oh no." Now my face turns sour as another dragon this one being twice the size and nearly neon pink lands. ""Please not inside the castle walls again!"" I shout in indignation as I shepherd my children into one flock and hurry them away in a bid to break up the coming storm.
A loud roar, not Drogon or Moonfyre loud but a damn impressive roar turns my blood cold as I watch 'Brightfury' crash into the ground ripping up my grass to shreds. Aemon's dragon named after one of his favorite dragons from stories I have told him tears up the emerald-green grass without a care in his eyes. His lime scales with black trim and wings make him a beautiful sight even as he does property damage at the level of a tornado.
"'If you don't stop so help me I will have your hide on my wall!"" I bellow as I finish guiding my kids into the open door of the Kingspyre.
""Don't mess up his grass Brightfury! You will be stuck on a 'fish diet' again if you don't stop!" Aemon joins me but seems to be having fun instead of taking it seriously.
One by one my kids call out to the dragons clawing and burning my freshly tended to lawn and I can't help but grit my teeth. Each time a dragon lands the ground shakes and another portion of the yard will need landscaping. The smallest use flames with the lack of body size to really do damage but their flames make quick work regardless.
"Oh, shit- turn around!" I hear Danny's voice behind me and turn just in time to see her try and squeeze in between Mya and Shiera as she makes to flee.
"This is your fault." I grit out as small hands grab at my clothes and cheerful voices fill the lowest floor of the biggest tower of my castle. "Let them all claim dragons or else it won't be fair you said, Moonfyre and Drogon will help rear them you said." The damn lazy parents fly off the first chance they get and even have taken to staying in the God's eye where their spawn refuses to fly to.
Damn Children of the Forest helping my mount escape what she has done by birthing dragons into the world as if it was her sole purpose.
"It will be fine, I am sure you can have all of this fixed by first light in the morning without any signs of damage. The hundreds of workers need something to do after finishing all the work on the castle so summon some. They will fix it in no time with smiles on their face with how little work there is until the expansion of the town is approved." Shiera slips next to my side while taking Gaemon's hand into her own with a small smile, our Son smiling happily as he watches his siblings antics.
"I know... just don't tell them that or else they will keep breaking shit." I whisper next to her ear, if my heathens knew I was not really mad they would do it all the time. "I can't have them thinking they can just melt whatever they want." I kiss her cheek as she snorts and points individually to all of my rambunctious brood who is currently bouncing off the walls.
"They don't seem all that concerned." I jerk my head to the side and she turns to see Visenya holding the youngest of all my kids Alyssa as if she is a shield.
"She is using her sister in hopes that seeing my cute babe will stop me from tanning her backside for once more kicking up a fuss. If not her 'accidentally' warging the wrong dragon sending it into a fit then she is flaunting her bond before the other dragons. She knows they can sense something when she is warged with her dragon, it is almost as if they all get jealous." Visenya and her 'piece of the sky' Meraxes can easily rile up the other dragons into a fit and I still don't understand the how or why it happens.
My best guess is they are jealous or think something is wrong, it seems more jealousy as the dragons seek out their riders most of the time. It was cute when the largest of them was only the size of a cart but with four of them getting to the size of ships it is dangerous and destructive. If not for the fact I know chains kill the spirit and growth of dragons according to everything I have read about in the limited books on the subject I would build a Dragon Pit. I let them free roam and no problems have happened with them having a nearly limitless supply of food provided to them.
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"Alright, you are going to hit this apple into the target after you see it start falling." I hype up my son Tessarion who seems born to hold a bow with his rapidly growing archery skills.
I have noticed that all of my kids seem gifted in similar aspects to my 'gifts' and it is exciting to watch them grow like weeds. In a few years, they become more proficient than men who have trained for tens of years and it will be the talk of Westeros. I am sure when Aemon hits his first battlefield swinging around a hammer it will be the stuff of nightmares. Like the Demon of the trident but born before the Demon of the trident, and damn is it a chest-beating moment to see him swing the thing around.
Like a caveman but also a dancer mixed into one, a raw strength not fitting his young age that paired with his training is enough to make me want to call out and claim my boy. I never understood why dads at sports games would say stuff like 'That's my son' but on the day I watched Aemon swing around a hammer a fourth of his own weight I knew.
"Ready." Tessarion calls out and I nod before tossing the apple and my eyes follow it as it flies up in an arch and then comes down.
The arrow darts out like a blur and pins the apple to the target getting a round of applause from the on-lookers. I ruffle Tessarion's slightly curly platinum-white hair as he giggles to himself and clenches his bow in both hands.
"Good job." I take out another and he quickly brightens getting another chance to show off making me smile wider. "Here we go." I toss it, making him panic for a moment as he goes for another arrow, but he cools off like the wall, takes aim, and hits his mark.
"I did it!" I smile and nod as he eagerly looks for me to toss another but I shake my head disappointing him for a moment.
It started as some kind of way of honoring their uncle Balerion, naming my kids by Narha and Bellenora after a God of Valyria as Balerion was. But it is not lost on me that Tessarion picked up archery and it was said that the Goddess Tessarion used a bow and had a divinity in archer. Goddess of music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague, prophecy, poetry, beauty, and archery if I use all the stories that are left of the Goddess. I thought a God's name was better for him since he is a boy, but Narha was insistent that Tessarion was perfect and the boy grew into the name well.
"Let's save the rest for Roach." My voice croaks for a split second but if Tessarion caught it he did not see it wise to ask about it.
My old riding pal does not have long for the world and every chance I get to hang out with him is a gift. I could not imagine what it would be like if Dragons did not live for hundreds of years, if I had to go through this with Moonfyre I would likely jump off the Kingspyre. Well maybe not since I have a family that would be distraught and the wolfs would come to try and take bites at them if I did. But it's not something I need to imagine anyway as Moonfyre will no doubt outlive me which feels good for me but bad for her.
Maybe in my last days, she will make sure to come by and see me every day bringing me snacks as I bring treats for Roach.
