Chapter 23 (Epilogue)

A/N: This is where the story ended back in 2017. I know, I'm such a tease. If I ever do anything further with this setting it will be in a sequel. But that's less likely to happen then me maybe writing a sequel to A Motherfucking Dragon, I will admit.

Either way, hope everyone who made it this far enjoyed the journey!

-x-X-x-

To say Aegon Targaryen was upset would be an understatement. He was beyond upset at this point, and judging by the tense form of his sister-wife Visenya's shoulders, she was too. Still, the Stark King had asked for parley and Aegon would not be seen as a dishonorable man. He could not be seen as one, if he intended to truly hold the Seven Kingdoms for his lifetime and the lifetimes of his children and their children to come.

Already, a grand Targaryen Dynasty was forming. Aegon knew he needed the Starks in the North to bend the knee if he was to ever control the vast, barely habitable region. His spies had told him that much at least, though they'd mentioned little else. Still… they had his sister. Aegon grits his teeth as he looks across the Trident to where the Stark host awaits he, his sister, and their army.

Rhaenys is there, beside the Stark King. Aegon can barely make her out, but her silver hair and purple eyes are a dead giveaway among all the dark hair and grey and black eyes that the Northmen sport. The North is where the First Men blood still reigns, where it flows the strongest compared to the southern half of Westeros, where the Andals conquered and raped and forged their Kingdoms atop the corpses of their predecessors.

Of course, was he not doing the same? Certainly, he'd not raped anymore… but he was certainly forging something great, from the remains of what had come before him.

Regardless of his wandering thoughts, the fact of the matter is, the Starks have Rhaenys and Meraxes. Aegon can see Rhaenys' dragon from across the river as well, bound to the ground and surrounded by Northmen in robes. Maesters? Whatever they're doing to Meraxes, Aegon is sure he will not be happy about it.

"They are certainly taking their time in sending the signal."

Visenya speaks from his side and Aegon grits his teeth as he nods in agreement.

"These bastards… if they betray us, I will burn the entire frozen North to the damn ground."

His elder sister-wife's hand comes down on his arm.

"I will be right alongside you, if that comes to pass… but let us hear what Rhaenys has to say for herself first. We still know not why she flew off with Meraxes as she did."

Aegon grimaces and nods in agreement.

"As you say, sister."

And then a glint of fire catches Aegon's attention. The torch is waved aloft, and then covered once, twice, three times. That is the signal, and to Aegon's satisfaction, the Stark Host moves back, leaving just the King in the North and his brother alongside Aegon's younger sister and her dragon.

"There it is. Let's go."

The terms for this parley were overly generous in the Targaryens' favor, which was half the reason Aegon was sure this was a trap. Still, if it is a trap, they're going to regret inviting both Aegon and Visenya to ride into the parley on dragon-back. Mounting Balerion as his sister-wife does the same with Vhagar, the two rise into the air along with their dragons, and make the short flight across the Trident to where the King in the North awaits them.

Neither Torrhen Stark or his brother Brandon Stark seem all that concerned as they are buffeted by the wind kicked up from the dragons' wings. They stay motionless and still, in contrast to Rhaenys who shifts from foot to foot almost guiltily as Aegon and Visenya come in for a landing. The future King of Westeros is pleased to see that his younger sister-wife is not visibly injured, nor is Rhaenys bound in any way that she can see.

It's a good start. When his eyes trace to Meraxes however, he does not find such good tidings. The dragon looks fine… except for the grave wounds in Meraxes' hind legs. The dragon is breathing steadily, but laid out in such a haphazard way that it looks as if it will never use those back legs again. Something has mangled them most severely.

Pressing his lips together hard enough to whiten them, Aegon Targaryen descends from Balerion's back and walks towards the Stark King with his sister at his side. Torrhen Stark and Brandon Stark both look apprehensive, yet at the same time remarkably calm given they are surrounded by three dragons, two healthy and one injured.

As Aegon comes to a stop about ten feet away from the Northmen, he focuses his attention on Rhaenys first, not caring if it is seen as an insult.

"Sister."

Rhaenys blushes and inclines her head gracefully, even as she bites her lower lip.

"Brother… sister."

Visenya's nostrils flare as she inhales noisily, but otherwise, the eldest of the three does not speak. Aegon smiles slightly.

"It is good to see you well, little sister. We'd feared the worst, Visenya and I both. Whatever possessed you to fly North alone, I do not know…"

Rhaenys blushes even harder and falls silent. Seeing that he's not going to get an answer from his sister-wife, Aegon finally turns his attention to Torrhen Stark, King in the North.

"Well? You called this meeting. What do you want?"

Torrhen Stark inclines his head, but when he does, it is more subservient than Rhaenys' own movement had been, to Aegon's surprise. The words that fall from the Stark King's lips shock him even more though.

"I wished to apologize in person, your grace. The unfortunate accident that saw your sister's dragon felled by our weapons was a mistake not to be repeated. The North has no quarrel with your family, nor your armies… nor even your cause."

That brings Aegon up short. Nonplussed, the silver haired man stares at the King in the North incredulously, parroting the other man's words back at him.

"Nor even my cause? You do know that my cause' is to conquer the Seven Kingdoms and all of Westeros, do you not?"

Torrhen pauses, and the nods a single time.

"Yes."

Aegon's brow furrows.

"And you understand that the North is one of those Seven Kingdoms, do you not?"

Another pause, another nod.

"Indeed, we are."

Aegon finds himself leaning to the side for a moment, to stare at Stark's massive army, still visible even from all the way to where Torrhen had it pull back. When he looks back to the King in the North, he is as incredulous as ever.

"Then explain to me how the North has no quarrel with me and I have no quarrel with it, when you bring your armies down to the Trident after tearing my sister and her dragon right out of the sky!"

Torrhen glances at Rhaenys and that draws Aegon's eyes to his sister-wife as well. To his surprise, it almost looks like Rhaenys is in support of the Stark King, giving him a very familiar look as she tilts her head towards Aegon. Torrhen lets out a sigh and scratches at his unruly hair.

"As I said, that was an accident. Queen Rhaenys has been afforded every courtesy that befits her station. She has not been our prisoner."

"It is as he says brother. The North has treated me well, and they have even tried their best to heal Meraxes' injuries."

Aegon grinds his teeth together.

"Injuries caused by them, no?!"

Rhaenys ducks her head at that, cowed by his tone. There's a moment of silence as Visenya puts a hand on his arm and calms him. Aegon flares his nostrils and looks back at the Stark King.

"And the army you have brought with you? Am I to believe you do not intend to fight?"

Torrhen Stark shakes his head in the negative.

"No, your grace. I have come to bend the knee and renounce my claim to the title of King in the North. I will be the last who bears it, and I will be the last to bear this crown."

And just like that, Torrhen Stark pulls the heavy crown from his head and hands it to his brother. Brandon Stark manages to make the thing disappear into his furs startlingly easily, but Aegon is more focused on the now crownless Stark in front of him to truly notice. This is not going at all how the Targaryen expected it to go. It feels far too good to be true and despite his good fortune, Aegon finds himself arguing against his own interests.

"You have an army four times our size! You have a weapon that can apparently rip a dragon from the sky! All that I have spoken to, all that have counselled me in these last few months have told me the North will be my most difficult challenge! And yet here you are, at the head of your army… to SURRENDER?!"

There's a slight smile on Torrhen Stark's face as he nods.

"It is as you say your grace."

"WHY?!"

"The Old One has spoken. He has declared you to be the King of both Andals and First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm."

Aegon blinks dumbly at that. He has heard some vague tales of the Old Gods that the First Men worship, but nothing about a specific 'Old One'.

"Has he now? And where is this Old One, to speak so clearly to you about the future?"

Rather than grow angry at the vague accusatory tone Aegon has taken, Torrhen just smiles wider.

"He is all around us, your grace. He is in the very air your breath, he is the whispers on the cold northern winds. The North is his domain and the Starks have long been his shepherds. It is his decree that there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. Just as it is his decree that we give up our crown and bend the knee to Aegon Targaryen, First of his Name. Will you accept my surrender and my oath?"

Aegon just stares, mouth opening and closing a few times, but no words coming out. Visenya touches him on the arm once more and he does not respond. Finally, his elder sister-wife elbows him right in the ribs and Aegon chokes out a single word.

"Yes!"

Clearing his throat, the Targaryen composes himself and coughs into his fist.

"Ahem. I mean, yes. Yes, I will. Kneel Lord Stark, and swear yourself to me. I will allow you to continue to rule over these lands in MY name, as Lord Paramount of the North."

Torrhen Stark descends to one knee without complaint and in a bit of a daze, Aegon and he say the words, affirming the former King's fealty and loyalty. When the two parties, Starks and Targaryens finally part ways, Aegon is still a bit in a daze even as he gets back on Balerion and both Rhaenys and Visenya mount their own dragons, flying back across the Trident to their army. While Meraxes' leg injuries are grievous, the dragon is apparently recovered enough to fly, at the very least.

It is not until they are all back in their camp and more specifically back in Aegon's tent drinking wine, that the Targaryen King is finally able to rouse himself from the stupor Torrhen Stark put him in. Visenya is giving Rhaenys a dressing down when he speaks, but Aegon is not listening to what his elder sister-wife is saying. Instead, he focuses on Rhaenys and Rhaenys alone.

"Rhaenys, I would have answers."

The youngest of the three siblings swallows thickly and turns to face her brother and husband nervously.

"Of course, brother."

Grimacing, Aegon tries to figure out where to start. Well, when in doubt, start from the beginning right?"

"Why, sister? Why did you fly North alone? What took you that far away from us, from safety?"

Blushing in embarrassment and shame, Rhaenys looks at the floor.

"Curiosity, at first."

That gets a scoff from Visenya, but Aegon cuts off their older sister with a hand and allows Rhaenys to continue, his eyes burrowing into her skull as she refuses to meet them.

"I thought nothing of safety… after all, with Meraxes at my side, was I not as safe as I could be? That was my thinking anyways. I went North because I was curious… I'd heard a strange tale from a Maester at one of the fortresses we conquered, and I wanted to see what the North was like with my own two eyes. It is gorgeous brother, far more beautiful than I would expect a cold, frozen place to be. Towns and villages, sprawling larger than I'd ever seen dotted the landscape as I flew overhead on Meraxes."

Rhaenys stops and clears her throat, but by this point both of her siblings are listening intently as she continues.

"But I did not go North to see settlements… I wished to see this so-called Wall."

Both Aegon's and Visenya's eyes light up with understanding. They'd each heard of the Wall as well.

"It is truly as magnificent as both the Maester and the books said brother. It almost reaches the clouds, it is so tall. There are castles dotting both its base and its top, on either side of the wall, and there are countless men in black cloaks running to and fro. But then I wanted to see what was beyond such a massive structure. I wanted to see why the Wall had been built in the first place."

Aegon stiffens.

"The histories say it was the White Walkers that the Wall was built to keep out Rhaenys. Tell me you did not willfully seek out ice demons."

Rhaenys blushes deeper and glances away. After a moment, she speaks with a tremor in her voice.

"I-It does not matter! There was nothing beyond the Wall brother, I swear it to you! Nothing but wild First Men, savage in their activities. If the White Walkers did once exist for the Wall to hold back, they are gone from this world. Past the wildlings, as the North call them, is only ice and snow… cold and death."

Rhaenys shivers and Aegon accepts his sister-wife's words at face value. It is not easy for him to imagine a frozen wasteland, given he has no true frame of reference, but he has no desire to visit such a place either, and so he takes Rhaenys' word for it and moves on.

"So then, you went far, far North, found nothing, and eventually returned. I assume it was on your return trip that you were shot down?"

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Rhaenys starts, stops, and then starts again.

"I… yes brother. I grew over-confident in Meraxes' invincibility. On my initial trip, I steered clear of Winterfell and went straight to the Wall. On my way back down, I wished to see the North's capital. It is there that I learned just how powerful their weapons are."

Finally. Aegon leans forward, intrigued to hear what the Northmen had that felled a dragon. Rhaenys bites her lower lip and continues.

"Winterfell in particular has massive defenses. The ones that brought down Meraxes were strange in nature at first, but I believe I understand them now. Huge, barbed iron-headed bolts with strong metal chains attached to their base. They fired many up into the air towards me, but they only needed one to bring Meraxes and I down… in the end, three hit. The barbs dug into Meraxes' hind legs and the chains immediately begin to pull back. At first, Meraxes fought it… but then the second and third bolts struck, and the strength of the pull became too much."

Rhaenys pauses for another breath before continuing.

"When we finally landed, there were a hundred bowmen aiming their arrows at us, surrounding us in a circle. Fearing for my life as well as Meraxes', I surrendered, rather than ordering Meraxes to try and burn the lot of them. At first, the Northern King treated me as I expected. I was his prisoner, though I was given accommodations befitting my stature. And then, the next day everything changed…"

Aegon lifts an eyebrow and Visenya finally speaks.

"Well? Spit it out!"

Rhaenys flinches but nods bashfully and continues.

"H-His God spoke to him while I slept it seems. When daylight broke, my weapon and armor were returned to me and I was taken to see Meraxes, where the Maesters of Winterfell were already working to heal his back legs. Torrhen Stark himself declared his intention to bend the knee to you, and asked for my counsel on how best to do it. I can confirm that he did not come up with any sort of ruse on the way here to the Trident brother. He was planning to surrender his crown from that very moment back in Winterfell."

Pressing his lips tightly together, Aegon moves onto the next question on his mind.

"And the army he brought with him? Was that your counsel Rhaenys?"

His younger sister goes wide eyed and shakes her head.

"N-No brother!... That was the counsel of Brandon Stark. Torrhen's younger brother is a man hungry for conflict, but even he obeys their God, this… Old One that Torrhen spoke of. He was willing to surrender and bend the knee to you, but he convinced his brother that a show of force was still needed. What you saw out there was the full might of the North. Brandon… he also said that it was important for the bannermen who followed Torrhen to see him kneel before you in person, so that they know where their loyalties lie."

Aegon finds himself reeling at all this information Rhaenys has dumped on him. He doesn't truly know where to begin. In the end, he decides that simple is best.

"Rhaenys… tell me truthfully sister, should we be wary of the North?"

Immediately, the young woman shakes her head, her silver locks whipping back and forth.

"No brother, I do not believe so. Torrhen Stark is an honorable man and the North is loyal to him, from what I was able to see. They assembled faster than I would have ever expected, and he hid nothing from them, making his attentions to bend the knee clear from the very first letter he sent out. I do not think we need to fear the North Aegon. So long as we treat them with honor, they will be our greatest allies."

Rhaenys sounds uncharacteristically confident as she speaks, and despite it being his younger sister-wife who's saying it, despite it being the one who's prone to flights of fancy reassuring him… Aegon finds himself believing her. Still, he looks to Visenya all the same.

"What do you think?"

Visenya frowns severely, but eventually lets out a sigh.

"All Rhaenys has told me lines up with what I've heard from others. Torrhen Stark, by all accounts, is not the kind of man to break his oaths and he holds control of the North firmly in his fist. The Starks in Winterfell are very nearly worshipped by the Northmen. They will make for good servants, if we do not abuse them."

Letting out an explosive sigh, Aegon nods and reaches for more wine.

"Very well. If you are both in agreement on this, I will accept your counsel. The North is conquered, as unorthodox as the conquering was."

"With your leave brother, I would go check on Meraxes."

Aegon nods his head and tilts his wine glass towards Rhaenys. A moment later, she is gone and Visenya is approaching him with a familiar, hungry look in her eye. Aegon can't help but grin as his elder sister-wife begins to undo the clasps on her armor.

One would wonder, if either of the two Targaryen siblings would be so relaxed, if they knew what Rhaenys had truly found up north, beyond the Wall. One would wonder how they might react to seeing the glowing blue handprint on the Targaryen Queen's covered arm. Rhaenys grimaces as she rubs at the marking, feeling the presence of the Night King in the back of her mind even as she walks towards where Meraxes is being tended to.

For now, she has avoided joining her brother and sister in bed… how much longer though, before one of them catches sight of the blue handprint imprinted on her flesh?

-x-X-x-

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