Chapter 65-THE END!
Chapter 65-Epilogue IV-The END!
For thirteen years, Prince Aenys held no office, focusing on his children and his work as a healer, yet he remained highly involved and acquainted with the Court's affairs. His age doing little to diminish his sharp mind, rather only adding to it.
And so when Queen Rhaenyra would succumb to an ailment of the heart, tradition would be defied once more as her daughter would be named heir after her, counter to the tradition which would have her son, Prince Viserys, two years younger, to succeed after her.
The lords, misguided about their powers and importance, would grumble. Some of the older men still clung to the illusion of power they believed they had been granted in 101 AC when they chose the succession. However, times had changed, and they should have learned to adapt.
The Crown had grown much more powerful in Queen Rhaenyra's reign. That power threatened the hold of the Great Houses, whose hegemony had never truly been tested, even by Aegon the Conqueror, who had decided not to challenge the status quo.
In that illusion of power, three Great Houses would proclaim the calling of a Council, to decide upon the succession, claiming that tradition must be followed and that Queen Aemma step down in favor of her brother Prince Viserys.
To this day, many argue that the letter was written with the Prince's consent, yet a thorough sifting of the histories gives no indication of his involvement in the plot. His later life and relationship with his sister tend to support that Prince Viserys was not involved in this plot.
These Lords were the House of Lannister, House Tully, and House Greyjoy. There were others as well, yet of the Great Houses, these were the most noteworthy. It is speculated that House Hightower was also involved in this plot, and the tensions between the ancient custodians of Old Town and the Crown in the later years somewhat support that argument, yet nonetheless, they were not the initial aggressors.
These three Houses would withhold taxes, with the Greyjoys going so far as to begin raiding once more, attacking the northern shores in a massive attack that broke the King's peace. This all happened within weeks of Queen Rhaenyra's death, and in their mourning, the Crown did not give them a swift response. Yet a response would come, and it would be damaging.
And so four dragons would take to the skies once word of Greyjoy aggression reached the capital, including Prince Aenys's Grey Ghost, which had grown up quite a lot over the years and was said to be only a quarter short of the Great Vhagar. Its rider had once slain.
The Queen would ride Silverwing, and her consort would ride Vermithor, with Lord Velaryon riding his Seasmoke as he commanded the Royal navy from the skies.
They would make for Pyke and the Iron Islands and would unleash upon them the wrath promised by Queen Rhaenyra. The Great Seastone throne would be destroyed, burnt to a crisp by dragonfire as Queen Aemma would stand triumphant infront of a broken Lord Greyjoy.
"You should have listened to my mother's words."
And with that one attack, the other Houses would lay down their arms and beg for mercy as the young Queen would announce the appointment of her new Hand. Prince Aenys Targaryen.
Despite being out of the Council for thirteen years, he would take no time to take up the charge as the lords of the other two houses would be summoned to the capital to answer their crimes.
House Greyjoy and the Iron Islands would be taken up by the Crown, and Prince Viserys Targaryen would be announced as the Governor of these lands.
For House Lannister and Tully taxes would be doubled and hostages will be taken, along with a castle from each region, much to their protest. It was the first Redrawing of the maps since Aegon's conquest, and would be symbolic of the Crown's new prowess.
For House Lannister, it would be the port city of Lannisport, and for the Tully, it would be the castle of Harrenhall, with House Strong of Harrenhall foregoing their fealty to the Tully's and becoming a part of the expanded Crownlands.
And so the realm shall have peace once more. Prince Aenys would expand on his earlier plans, expanding the Crown's holdings in foreign lands through a secret agreement with the Iron Bank. Braavos would have a third Sealord of the decade, with the last one dying due to poison, a feat to this day believed to be carried out by the Iron Bank for his role in the deterioration of the relationship between Braavos and the vaunted Prince Aenys.
The Prince is believed to be the orchestrator behind the Great Burning of Slavery's Bay, which would spell the end of the practise of slavery in this region and allow the Crown to gain a foothold in those foreign lands through his various connections, hence expanding the Crown's influence.
Yet, unlike his previous reign as Hand, he would rule for more than a decade. In 148 AC, the Prince would resign over a disagreement with the Queen over the dispute in the Stepstones, and her consort, King Aerion, would take up his position.
The latter half of Prince Aenys's life is marked greatly by his contributions to the scientific and medical world. Away from the responsibility of his children, who had all grown up, he dedicated his life to the art of healing, writing books, developing medicine, and saving lives.
To this day, nearly five hundred years after their inception, Prince Aenys's medical texts are taught all over the world to budding healers, marking the sheer brilliance of the man. He alone is credited with transforming humanity with his breakthroughs.
He would make leaps in logic that we only now begin to understand, citing many to hail him as a 'Prophet' despite his writings clearly showing his aversion to such a religious title.
After his passing, he would be named 'Saint' and 'Highness' and received many other religious accolades. While his own religious beliefs are often a point of debate to this day, his penchant for not caring about the religion of his patients is a storied fact and a part of the oaths of Healers all over the world.
His writings were immortalized by his successors and, to this day, are preserved and guarded zealously by the Royal family and his 'Red Cross'.
The Prince's empire, based on his medical discoveries, would continue to grow and to this day is the largest privately held enterprise by a family and is still at the forefront of medicine and science, as it is run by the Prince's descendant, Saint Aenys IV.
His role in history, and in shaping up the world as we know it to be is clear to any person who studies history and it if oft said.
'Half of us wouldn't even be alive if was not for the Aenys Targaryen.' A fact that some mathematicians drummed up.
A very interesting practice would be initiated in the Prince's second time as Hand. The Watch would be expanded and would be furnished with weapons of Dragonglass, a dark, brittle material found in abundance in the caves of Dragonstone. For years, no one would be able to see the wisdom in such a fact, and those weapons of black obsidian would remain symbolic only until a violent cold would come guzzling out of the Great North, bringing with itself the Dark Night that threatened to swallow up entire humanity.
King Aegon IV would be the King at the time and would have a walker presented at a Great Council, which would House not only the Lords of the realm but even beyond. The Crown at the time was in a conflict with Braavos, and despite counsel to the contrary, the King would have a representative from the Free City come to the Council as well.
'Death marches on all of us. Hundreds and thousands of dead men impervious to steel. Men, it is the Dark Night, and it is real, and it comes to envelop us all, lest we face it together. The enemy is strong and ancient, yet we are not without help. My Great ancestors foresaw this enemy and had us prepare beforehand. These cold beings impervious to any metal, fall to one thing. Fire. Frozen or Live. And that damned Healer has had us making weapons of 'Frozen Fire' for more than a century.'
(King Aegon IV during the 'Calling of the Dawn')
There are many different records of that speech, yet the above record is from the Royal historian and considered to be the most accurate account.
And so, a truce would be called as the whole world would furnish its best warriors in a gathering at Kingslanding, where a special force would be announced.
The Black Brothers would protect the realm, yet why must they wait for their enemy? Three thousand brave men would go beyond the Wall to put an end to this threat before it could reach their lands. A mistake that would prove to be very costly as the Dark Night would swallow up these three thousand men, adding to its might the strength of some of the finest warriors to grace the Earth.
Humanity would survive and emerge victorious in the end, yet at great cost. Three Hundred thousand would die, including three members of the Royal Family, including King Aegon IV.
Yet I am not here to extoll on the virtues of King Aegon IV, of which the man had many. Nor do I write this to account the events of the second Dawn, for we are here to discuss the man named Aenys Targaryen.
It is this action of furnishing the watch with dragon glass and weapons that, in many minds, cements the Prince as a dreamer. A unique prowess of House Targaryen that allows some of its members to glimpse into the future. The same power saved the Royal House when Daenys the Dreamer warned them of the impending Doom of Valyria.
Some records even show that Aegon the Conqueror possessed the same gift, yet records of that are scarce. Many have credited this rather than the ability to ride dragons as the power that allowed House Targaryen to build an empire, and Queen Rhaenyra II gave us the answer to us in 384 AC.
"Dreams did not make us Kings. Dragons did."
These iconic words were said during the signing of the Dragon accords, a set of rules that would allow only the direct Royal line to bond with dragons after the Great Targaryen Civil War of 380AC.
Now, after the declassification of the last of Prince Aenys's diaries, we learn that it was over this very accord that he resigned from the position of the Hand, giving us a better understanding of Queen Aemma's dying words.
'I should have listened to him. He was right.'
And with that, I pose my ultimate question. If we believe Prince Aenys to be a dreamer, just what exactly did he see in his dreams. Did he see the world of today, shaped by his ideals, or did he see only the second coming of the Dark Night? Or Both? Or Even more?
Yet I believe in one thing, that the vaunted Healer, Prince, Hand, Dragonslayer, Butcher succeeded in his life's purpose, one that should be shared by everyone.
~" He wished only to leave the world in a better state than the one he had been born into." ~
(Excerpt from the Diary of Alicent Hightower-The Light That Shined The Way)
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~The END~
This story began over a year ago. In the year, my life has changed a lot, and I owe much of that change to this story. I began it during a very precarious situation in my life where everything was falling apart, and through the help and support of all the patrons and readers I was able to pull through those tough times.
I have no words to convey my gratitude to all of you for making this possible. I could thank you a million times, and it would not be enough. This was my most extensive project, one very dear to my heart. And now it is over.
For some reason, I did not wish to write this chapter and kept putting it off for some odd reason. This story had been a part of my life for over a year, and now it is complete.
I hope you guys liked this. Sorry for rambling. Appreciate the love.
Tell me what you thought of it! I would love to hear your thoughts!
~Drkest.
~An indiotic rambler.