1 Ser Aurion Celtigar POV
Maegor the indifferent
40 AC
Ser Aurion Celtigar POV
It has been 40 years since Aegon's conquest and 40 years since Westeros was forged into one by fire and blood, and it has been 3 years since the true dragon died. There were many speculations as to the causes of the King Aegon' s 'the dragon' death, whispers of assassination and kinslaying orchestrated by Queen Visenya and his son Prince Maegor during the one and only visit of the whole Targaryen family of Kingslanding on Dragonstone in the year 37 AC. Others say that it was due to his declining health caused by his age and burdens of kingship, mostly caused again by his son Maegor who had led three successful expeditions on the valyrian peninsula and established a powerful sellsword company whose sole purpose is the eradication of the dothraki without the throne's permission. Lastly, others said it was due to an unknown illness caused by the sorcery of Prince Maegor.
But I know better, me and my 'brothers' or 'buddies' (the prince's new word for close friends) because I have been with them following the prince through thick and thin in these past fifteen years. I know that he is not one to dabble curses, he may be indifferent towards the other side of his family but I know he is not petty enough to commit kinslaying. Despite not being favored by the king and his achievements watered down by his father, he had created the most successful mercantile-trading company in the known world, the most powerful sell-sword company in essos, rediscovered the secrets of the valyrian sorcery and metallurgy after his successful expeditions, established a new faith in Dragonstone and made Dragonstone a hundred times richer and better than ever.
My loyalty has proven to be significantly beneficial to me and my house and that also goes for the rest of the men who have followed the prince. Mostly composed of second and third sons of the new ennobled houses of the Crownlands, except for the houses from the Driftmark, Maidenpool, Dyre den and Duskendale. After more than a decade of hard labor and management, accompanied by a hectic schedule, our prince's ideas and innovations have bore fruit and made most the houses who sneered and laughed at us before, seethe in jealousy now.
Oh ! I know ! who started the whispers and painted Prince Maegor and Queen Visenya in a bad light! It was none other than the prince's good sister which had also been supported by her primary family and tolerated by the king and his heir. Now the Velaryons rue the day they started to pull the dragon's tail and not just one but two dragons hahahaha. The only thing that left me baffled in this difficult situation is the king's and his heir's lack of response towards these negative allegations and dishonorment to their son and brother, and sister and step-mother. The house of the dragon is truly a messed up family, sorry for the lack of a better term, they may ride dragons and rule the skies and everything beneath it, but their family dynamics are surely chaotic.
Now, with the rise of Prince Maegor comes also the start of the rise of mine own family, Westeros will now recognize my family, the whole world will now know that Velaryons are not the only living house of the old blood of Valyria. The rise of house Celtigar will be sure and steadfast and so is my house's devotion and loyalty to prince maegor.
Even to this day I still remember the day when Prince Maegor put all the fools in court, especially the new royal graces in their place. It happened after the Prince Maegor two of the four uprisings during King Aenys' first year of reign. After Prince Maegor, together with his men that also includes me, ended the uprising in the vale we had gone back to Kingslanding to annouce our campaign's success, and also enjoy the festivities and celebrations in honor of our successful campaign.
The prince was not even given the honor to have his seat at the high table during dining because according to the queen, the table was just small enough for the large family of the king when the table could easily make space for the prince, they should just be thankful that the Queen dowager was not present in the celebrations for there would truly be a serious problem. I know the prince never truly cared about it because he always took a seat along with his men during the celebrations to forge close brotherhood ties between them, but he understood the meaning behind the act for he is not a fool, just indifferent.
We were having fun, drinking ale and whiskey, laughing and making jovial japes when suddenly the royal herald caught the crowd's attention and told everyone present to be silent for the king's announcement, the king gave pleasantries to the crowd and thanked us and Prince Maegor for our good service to the realm and then he called the prince in the front to announce and present him his rewards for the good service done.
In front, he announced that he will give blackfyre to his brother, for the prince is more fit to wield it and offered him the position of the hand of the king, the prince thanked the king for the honor but politely declined that left everyone on the room astounded and silent. Then the queen suddenly intervened and tried to politely force the prince to accept the gift and position to save the image of her husband, but once again the prince politely declined the offer. After their offer was declined twice, the king graciously asked the prince why and his answer was enigmatic, " I just don't feel accepting it". The queen was astounded and told the prince of how ungrateful he was but the prince just laughed it off and tried to walk away when the king grabbed the prince by his arm and asked him the real reason for turning down his gifts the prince answered, " I refuse to be given something that I can create better and I refuse to be the hand that will wipe the king's arse full of shit." Everyone was left astounded once again even we, the prince's men but we never ask our prince unless given the permission, that only left us his brothers to speculate our own conclusions to the actions of our prince. I for one, speculated that the prince had enough of his brother and his family. After that, the prince went out of the hall unceremoniously and we as his men followed him.
Now, it has been 3 years since that incident and not even once did the prince visited Kingslanding again and King Aenys and his family to Dragonstone. Also, in that 3 years the businesses established by the prince had all further grown. But there is one problem, Prince Maegor remained heirless. If it comes down to the worst possible scenario, which is the prince's untimely death, all his riches will go to his brother and his brother's children. That is why we are here now in Winterfell, to find the prince's new wife that will ensure the continuation of the prince's bloodline.
Me and my brothers were shocked to say the least by the prince's choice and it may have been etched on our faces for our prince told us his reasoning behind it. " Sigh, is it really that shocking? I will be choosing one of the daughters of House stark because of three reasons: First, to ensure the northern loyalty to house targaryen and completely bring the north to my side; secondly, to further improve the magic of my bloodline; and lastly, to ensure that 'the prince that was promised' is my descendant. I understand two of the three reasons behind selecting a bride from the northern House of Stark. I could have championed one of the daughters of my house but I know the prince's way of thinking. Once he had come up with a decision there is no way circumventing that.
Of the two available daughters of house stark, the prince chose the comely one. I guess he's had enough of strong-willed women. Then a week later, they were married under the weir wood tree. After another 3 days worth of celebrations we have gone back to Dragonstone, where they were married under the customs of Valyrian marriage which is held and officiated by the Queen dowager Visenya. Then a year later a healthy baby boy named Aerion was born, almost indentical to the prince when he was born, according to a teary-eyed Queen dowager Visenya. Now, the house Targaryen of Dragonstone had never been stronger and secured, or so they say.
