Chapter 2 An APology too late?

CHAPTER 2

MAGELLA TARGARYEN

Magella Targaryen, the third daughter of King Jaehaerys and Queen Alyssane sat in a room in Bravos. Far from her home. Clad in the grey and white of the silent sisters, she looked down at the book resting on the table in front of her. She looked at the details written and explained about the body, thinking about the nephew who had written about things that the citadel had not learned in centuries.

While to the outside world, it was one of the remnants of tomes from the ruins of Valyria. She knew the truth of it all. Her hands rubbed the rugged cover of the book. Her fingers passed over the name of the book.

Se canon hen medicine-THE CANON OF MEDICINE.

The book was a well of knowledge. It was decades ahead of anything she had learned in her duty to the silent sisters. Sadness rose in her heart as she remembered the condition in which he had to write this. While he had tamed a dragon when he had been exiled, life after exile had not been so easy for him. More so, for a prince of a dynasty like theirs. Magella looked down at her hand. Her skin taut crusty skin was marred with wrinkles. These spots traveled up her whole side, covering the underside of her head. The remnants of greyscale. Greyscale which had been treated by her stubborn nephew.

He had been severely reprimanded for taking such a huge risk. Yet he had succeeded where her fellow silent sisters and even the best of maesters had given up. For that, she owed him a great debt. A debt that she had tried to repay when she had tried to plead with her grandfather to end his exile. Yet the old kind had not budged. Intent on having Aenys learn his lesson, and then the news had come of him claiming a dragon.

That had eroded all chances for forgiveness. The old king had been enraged when he had heard the news. Only her pleading had somehow managed to stop him from disowning him. And then she left her home as well. Chasing after her nephew. She had seen him struggle for his life. Struggle to have things that many in her family took for granted.

But he had persisted. And then he had succeeded in building an identity for himself. An identity aside from just an exiled price. He had beaten the odds and was now famous throughout the lands. The Blessed Healer. He invented and improved medical techniques. Making a name for himself.

She was deep in thought when she heard a knock on the door. She was broken out of her thoughts as she spoke up.

"Enter."

And a servant entered the room. Magella closed the book placing it back with the rest of the various tomes gathered on the side. The servant bowed, despite her continuous instructions to the contrary.

"My lady, there is someone here who wants to see the prince urgently," the servant spoke up and Magella frowned.

"The prince is not here. Tell them to leave a message," she replied. This was not a unique occurrence. Thousands wanted to see the price. Requesting him to heal their ailments. Yet he could only heal a few. More so, the prince charged quite an exuberant sum for his services now that he was famous.

If not for Magella's effort, the college and Magella frowned at the name once more had only been possible because of her efforts. Despite her order, the servant did not move. Magella stared at the servant who spluttered after a moment of hesitation.

"My lady, the person who wishes to see the prince is his brother Prince Daemon. According to him, he bears an urgent letter for the prince," the servant added.

Magella's eyes widened as she listened to those words. Finally.

"Go back and lead him to the special guest room. I will be there shortly," she said and the servant nodded and left the room. Magella locked the books on their special shelves. Then she moved out of the room. Making her way through the hall, she walked up a flight of stairs to two ornamental doors leading to the special guest room.

She opened the doors, and her eyes immediately found her other nephew sitting and standing as he observed the various tapestries adorning the walls. He turned to face, and Magella saw the canny resemblance to her sister, Alyssa. Daemon had inherited more of Alyssa than of Baelon. High cheekbones with a thin nose.

"It is good to see you, Aunt Magella," he curtsied. Magella walked up to him and observed him more closely. His face may have been Alyssa's, yet his eyes and demeanor were not like hers at all. They resembled someone else from her family. Maybe it was just her, but she had felt a hint of Viserra in them.

"So, has the king finally decided to remember that he had two brothers?" she said, a bit of heat leaking into her voice. And Dameon seemed startled by her outrage. When she had visited the Kingdom at her grandfather's funeral, she had thought that Viserys would call Aenys back the moment he rose to the throne. Yet the message never came. And while he may not show it, Aenys had also felt hurt at this.

"I have pleaded the same many times with Viserys, yet he has always delayed the matter. But this time, he gives Prince Aemon his complete forgiveness and welcomes him to his court," he explained and then handed her a letter.

She took it in her hand, examining the seal she had played with in her youth. The ravines of time crept unto her. The age had caught up to her.

"So, tell me Daemon, why is Viserys doing this? Why did he suddenly remember Aenys?" she asked him once more. And while Magella had not spent a great deal of time at court, she was not foreign to various plots and politics of it. And Daemon looked a bit sheepish at being found out. And spoke up after a bit.

"Queen Aemma is pregnant. And with four of their children lost in the care of the maesters, he wishes that Aenys come and look at her."

And Magella scoffed slightly. So, that was the reason. A part of her wanted to rip the letter in two, to shout at her nephew in front of him. To berate him. Yet she could not do that. She had felt her age catch up with her. The greyscale had healed, yet not without taking a huge chunk of her life with it. And it was quite aptly said, a Targaryen alone in the world was a terrible thing.

And despite the success, fame, and wealth Aenys had built for himself here. He lacked a home. He lacked a family. And everyone deserves to have a family.

"You know that Aenys is not like you, there is a very big chance that he may not respond to this letter," and it was true Magella had seen all three of them grow up. While Daemon had always looked up to his brother. That had never been the case with Aenys, who always had a separate identity to him. Daemon was about to speak up when she spoke up.

"But don't worry. I will try and convince him to accept it. Perhaps it is time that you all reconcile," she said and began to walk out of the room. But she had only moved a few steps when she heard Daemon speak up once more.

"I have heard that he is in Qarth. Will he even be able to make it in time?" he asked her. And she was a little surprised hearing how he knew about Aenys being in Qarth.

"Don't worry about that. He will be able to make the journey. He rode to Qarth on dragon back, and with the pace of his mount, he will make it in time." And she walked out of the room. Frowning slightly as she looked at the letter in her hand once more.

And while she knew that she could do it, she knew that it was not going to be easy to convince Aenys to do this.

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AENYS TARGARYEN

A part of Aenys chided him because of accepting the request to travel to Qarth. But the rational part of him understood the reason he had accepted such a request. Bronia Melaro was a very prominent member of the Ancient Guild of spices. And with the method in which Aenys had been contacted, he was also quite close with a certain troubling group.

Plus, Qarth was not called The city of cities for nothing. The city was the perfect place to trade due to its wealth. More so, the majority of the Qartheen were quite polite and generous. Aenys washed his hands with the water in the extensively decorated bowl. The water had been mixed with some distilled spirit, to act as an antiseptic.

And Aenys once more laughed at his fate. How even years later, the skills learned out of duty to his parents were helping him. Skills he had to relearn due to the complete turn of the eras. Yet he had no choice. There was not much he could have done to survive. To thrive. He could have groveled at Jaehaerys's feet and pleaded for mercy. Yet the old king thought himself infallible. And with his pile of mistakes glaring at him in the face. I had been in the perfect position to take the blame. Exiled for I had spoken up, as the man had refused to even listen to me as my own father lay screaming in pain on the bed. He had only listened as his daughters, or at least two of them, destroyed themselves. On how because of him, another took her own life.

And then he had forbidden me from claiming my birthright. Warned me of claiming a dragon. And my fists clenched in anger before I closed my eyes, taking in large breaths and exhaling through my nose to calm myself down. This was not the time to lose focus.

I began to walk out of the room, to the side where a heavily pregnant lady was lying on a bed. She was unconscious, with only a single other woman standing to the side. The famous surgeons of Essos had called it a hopeless case, with two children in such a complicated position. They had given up. And so, I had been called. They had refused to follow my instructions so I had selected the only person who had no problem with me.

And with that, I walked to the front of the bed. My self-designed instruments were placed on the table by my side.

"All right, let's get this over with!" and I picked up the scalpel.

Three hours later. I sat on a comfortable chair in the huge manse of my employer. The sheer amount of wealth on display just showed how prosperous Qarth really was. I drank the sweet wine provided to me with small sips, never having gotten quite used to its taste. The door to the room suddenly opened, revealing a man in his late forties walking towards me with a huge smile on his face. The man hugged me with force quite unexpectedly for a man of his age.

"Thank you for what you have done," he said as he separated from me. That huge smile still spread across his face.

"I just did what I could. I have given the instructions to the servants for further care, but I believe that everything will go normally," I said, explaining.

"Yes, Yes! They will follow your words. They will all do so, or they will lose their hands." the man said with an authoritative voice, showing the real man behind that smile. Both of us took our seats once more.

"Now, I believe that my work is done. I would like to take my leave." I began, but I was cut off as the man spoke up.

"Why so eager to return? You should stay and enjoy Qarth. Give me a chance to host you and show you around Qarth and its wonders," the man offered politely.

"I am afraid that I cannot do that this time. I have some work to get back to Bravos. Perhaps, I could return once I am done with my work in Bravos," I said. The man nodded and then spoke up once more.

"You are building a place to train healers in Bravos, right." And I nodded. Few knew about it, but for a man as well connected and rich as him. It was nothing too difficult to find.

"Yes, well that is the plan. But nothing is final yet," I replied. Then I remembered a certain detail.

"Ah, I forgot to mention that you should inform me if Lady Melaro is with a child in the future. It might be difficult for her to give birth naturally after the operation. So, try and inform if she is with a child once more."

"Of course, of course. I must thank you. The surgeons had given up. They had said that there was no hope. But some people had mentioned your name a couple of times, Prince Aenys. It is a blessing that you came and helped my family with this." The man thanked me once more.

I just smiled and accepted his appreciation. He then motioned toward one of his servants and the servant brought forward a chest from the corner of the room. Bronia then began to speak up once more.

"The gold has already been prepared and is in the other room, but as a show of my gratitude, I have arranged this special gift for you," and the servant placed the chest on the table. Bronia opened it, and my eyes widened as I recognized the contents in it.

"I have heard that you have been on the search for Valyrian steel for quite some time. I searched the vaults and found these two pieces of it. I believe that the gift is to your liking." He said as I examined the cup made of Valyrian steel.

This was perhaps the greatest gift I had received. Only matched by the Valyrian steel dagger given to me by the Sealord and another article that I had smuggled out of Dragonstone years ago. But I could not accept it. This was too much.

"While I appreciate the gesture, this is too much. I am afraid that I can not accept such an exuberant gift," I said apologetically but I was cut off.

"That can not be! You will have to accept it. For the children, you have given me. This is nothing. I have been praying for them for decades now. You will have to accept it!" he said emphatically. And I was about to explain how I this was just too much when we were interrupted by a servant.

"My Lord, a guest has arrived and wished to speak to the prince," the servant said as he knelt. Bronia frowned as he spoke up.

"A guest at such an hour. Who is it?" he asked.

"My lord, it is one of the warlocks. They say that they have a message for the prince," the servant explained. And I frowned as I heard those words.

The warlocks of Qarth were much more shrouded than I thought. A small part of their also had a presence in Bravos and had also carried the urgent message from Bronia himself to call for my services.

And now they had brought me another message. I looked at Melaro, and the man himself was frowning slightly. He looked towards me, asking me to decide, and I spoke up.

"Bring me the message," I said to the servant, and the servant brought me a sealed piece of parchment. I opened it up, my eyes widening as I read the name of the sender. It was Aunt Magella. I read over the message and read that she had written for me to rush back to Bravos, saying that an emergency had arisen.

I put down the letter. My thoughts raced as I tried to think up any reason for such haste. Recognizing that this was not going to be a leisurely journey back as I had planned. I was going to have to push my dragon once more to reach bravos.

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This story is on the docket, so this means you can expect weekly updates.

How will Aenys react to his brother's letter? And what does the rest of the Targaryen family think of Aenys return? Questions. Questions. Questions.

And what was the real reason for his exile? Why had Jaehaerys been so harsh on his grieving grandsire?

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