Rhaegar Targaryen, Son of the Dragon - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

King's Landing, 20 AC

Despite the morning chill in King's Landing, the orphans of Holy Light orphanage was happy. The children were running around the small garden that the orphanage housed watering the many flowers under the watch of many a Septa. Some children were tending to the hens and their hatchlings feeding them as well as collecting eggs from their nests. Some of the older children were washing the cows and helping the septas to milk the cows. Another group of children were helping in the kitchen preparing a modest breakfast. Watching over all these activities was Septa Jenny, who ran the orphanage.

While Jenny oversaw the children many of the Septas were preparing the orphanage to receive some special guests. While Jenny ran the orphanage it was only on the behest of her patron. It was he who funded the orphanage and Jenny was forever grateful for it. King Aegon the Dragon ruled from Aegonfort but it was his second son that funded the orphanage. Many institutions in King's Landing was funded by the young prince.

Just thinking about the young prince made Jenny sigh wistfully. Queen Rhaenys was truly blessed to have given birth to such a kindhearted son. It was too bad the Queen passed away untimely to see her children grow up. If the Queen was alive Jenny was sure the kind Queen would be proud of her youngest son.

Before Jenny dedicated her life in service to the Seven she was in love with a man. Unfortunately, her lover fell victim to sickness and died. She had hoped to bear his children but after the death of her one true love, she became a Septa.

Nonetheless, the love she held for children led her to take care of the orphans.

After the war of Conquest, there were many orphans in Crownlands and King's Landing. She was only happy to lend help in any way she could. But her work was hard with meagre contributions from the lords and wealthy merchants. Many times she had petitioned the newly crowned King Aegon for aid but her pleas went unheard. But all hope was not lost as one day Queen Rhaenys held court and Jenny was heard by the Queen.

Sympathetic to the plight of the poor the kind-hearted queen aided Jenny's efforts and the queen released funds and land for building an orphanage. Everything was going smoothly until one day the kind queen fell in Dorne leaving her twin children motherless. With the death of Queen Rhaenys, her hopes of building an orphanage remained a dream. The following years were of great turmoil as King Aegon and Queen Visenya unleashed flames of vengeance upon Dorne.

After long years of war, an uneasy peace was negotiated between Dorne and the rest of Westeros. With the realm in peace, Jenny had hoped the King and Queen would contribute to the orphanage but she was wrong. King Aegon was focusing on building his own castle while Queen Visenya was not sympathetic to her cause.

Months passed by and Jenny cursed the Dornishmen for taking the life of Queen Rhaenys. The late queen had granted them a lot of lands in the Rhaenys' Hill but the funds for building the orphanage was not enough to complete its construction. She had to depend on tents to house the many children under her care and many a night she and the children slept on empty stomachs. For Jenny, hunger was bearable but what she could not bear was the wails of the children under her care. It burned her soul to hear the cries of children. Oftentimes, she would pretend to work the fires to deceive the children that food was being prepared.

She and her fellow Septas would beg for any help but oftentimes they were turned away by the wealthy and powerful. Desperate she was prepared to sell her body to provide for the children under her care but then he came. It was a chance meeting with the young Prince Rhaegar that changed the fate of her and the children.

Jenny along with a few children were looking for some sympathetic patrons in the Street of Silk. The children were so thin with barely any colour left to their skin. Most of them were too tired to even walk but she hoped someone would be kind enough to give them a loaf of bread. Till noon they wandered until finally, they received a half-eaten apple from a rich lord of the Reach. Her heart broke when some of the children eyed the apple with hunger. Seeing that she cried and cried but the gods remained silent to her plight.

She fell to her knees with the begging bowl in her hand. The half-eaten apple silently mocked her but what hurt her most were the cruel comments by the Reach lord and his retinue. They mocked her and the children and there were many in the crowd to laugh along with the miscreants. It was then that a small boy moved near her and placed a pouch full of gold dragons in her bowl. Her dazed eyes found a small child in a black hood but she knew those purple eyes. The same kind eyes of Queen Rhaenys. The silver hair she could see under the hood was another proof that she was before royalty.

That was how Jenny met the second son of King Aegon the Conqueror. The children under her care called him the Silver Prince and so did the people of King's Landing.

The thundering of hooves broke her out of her musings of the past. She could see two horses in the distance and immediately knew who that was. The white horse alone let her know that it was Prince Rhaegar and the other figure was most likely the trusted companion of the young prince, Ser Baelium Brune.

It has been three years since her chance meeting with Prince Rhaegar in the Street of Silk. Ever since that day, the Prince would send gold, food and clothes to the orphanage. The young prince was barely ten when they met and yet showed so much kindness for a street urchin like her. It was his generous contributions alone that saw to the orphanage’s speedy construction. The young prince would even visit the orphanage from time to time bringing many gifts and toys for the children. She prayed regulatory to the Seven to watch over Prince Rhaegar for he was an adventurous sort.

While Prince Rhaegar was known for his kindness, his adventurous streak was something of a legend. At the mere age of five, the young Prince managed to ride Balerion the Black Dread. To this day, she and many others had no idea how the young prince accomplished that especially when he has his own dragon, Starfyre. As punishment, King Aegon confined Prince Rhaegar to his rooms but the playful prince escaped the room to the ire of many. 

The Prince escaped the guards by hiding himself on the roof of Aegonfort and doused his father with a bucket full of water when he was holding court sitting upon the Iron Throne. It was alleged that the Prince shouted he did it to douse the flames of temper from his father to the whole court. Whatever the case the Prince failed to ‘douse the flames of temper' of the King. At the same time, the King failed to douse the adventurism of Prince Rhaegar.

Prince Rheagar was adventurous, funny, intelligent and kind yet strong. Good qualities for a good king but sadly he was the second son. The firstborn was Aenys Targaryen who was frankly sick for most of his life. It was onlyy lately the crown prince regained some health. The crown prince was the exact opposite of Prince Rhaegar. Prince Aenys preferred to stay in the castle with his books for company. Although, it was owed to the bad health of Prince Aenys.

The silver-white horse trotted to a pause and Jenny greeted Prince Rhaegar with a bow and a warm smile.

“Welcome back my Prince.”

She was awarded a warm smile from the prince. The prince maybe ten and three namesdays old but he was very handsome. According to rumours, many ladies of court fawned over the Silver Prince for his affections. Many maidens and even married women have tried in vain to draw the attention of the Prince to no avail. The Prince was courteous but he never showed interest in any woman save Alyssa Velaryon who he was friendly.

“Its good to be back. How have you been Septa Jenny?” asked the Prince

“I have been well my Prince. I hope you will join us for breaking our fast. You as well Ser Brune.” she gave the sworn shield of Prince Rhaegar a pointed look.

“Where the Prince goes, I go.” said Ser Baelium with a shrug.

“Yet, I did not have you with me when I swam across the Blackwater Bay.” said the Prince.

“I will have you know that I was wearing armour. If I jumped I would have drowned and what good I would be to you if I am dead.”

“I would find another Knight but I would surely miss your company Ser Baleium. Although, I wonder why you threw some poor tanner into the stream?”

“To save you of course.” said Ser Baelium indignantly.

“And did he?” asked the Prince with a drawl that made Jenny giggle.

“How was I to know that the tanner knows not to swim?”

“You ought to have asked before you threw the poor man into the Blackwater. I had to save that man from drowning in the river.” said the Prince with an amused glint in his eyes.

“Either way you returned back from the Blackwater which I consider to be a success on my part.”

“Only you Ser…only you…” the Prince shook with laughter as he stepped into the orphanage.

Jenny smiled as the children happily surrounded Prince Rhaegar asking for new stories to be told. She had to admit the Prince was a treasure trove of funny and adventurous stories that captured the attention of a large audience. Her favourite was the story of a race between a rabbit and a tortoise. There was a useful lesson to be learned from that story. The spirit of the story was hard work always triumphed inborn skill which she wholeheartedly agrees.

“Today I will regale you with the story of Princess Alice who finds herself in another world—a world not of her own but filled with wondrous beings….” The Prince began to tell the story and Jenny sighed. Sometimes she wondered where the Prince gets his boundless energy from. Prince Rhaegar had barely stepped inside the orphanage and already he was in his element.

                        ******

Aenys Targaryen relaxed into his bed as his brother massaged his legs. He smiled despite the pain he felt at the touch of his twin. Together they had come to this world but he was thankful to the gods not to curse his twin with the same sickness that he suffered from. Without his brother's steady influence he doubted he would have lived this far.

Aenys was three names days old when his mother died. When he learned of his mother's death he had fallen ill and it was his brother that nursed him back to health. His twin would stay day and night by his side. Rhaegar would entertain him with tales of faraway lands. It was Rhaegar that sparked his interests in books and songs.

Today was no different as he enjoyed the tender care provided by his brother.

Rhaegar would not allow servants to take care of him claiming that he deserved special attention. He admitted to himself when his brother stayed by his side he would feel half his discomforts disappear.

“You ought to prepare for your journey to the Reach brother. Don’t bother wasting your time with me when servants can easily look after me.” said Aenys

“The royal procession can wait. You are more important.”

“You will attract the ire of our father.” cautioned Aenys

“He may show his ire but father understands us better. Westerosi politics can wait for a few days because my brother needs my expert services.” said Rhaegar

“As father often love to say, the bond between the brothers will protect our kingdom.” Parroted Aenys with a chuckle which turned into a series of coughs.

“He is right you know. Family is all that matters sweet brother of mine.” said Rhaegar as he began to press a piece of cloth dipped in hot water on Aenys' oil-covered legs.

“If that’s the case we are short of one member.” said Aenys and he noticed a peculiar look cross his brother's face. He had noticed that whenever he brought up the matter of their younger brother Maegor, Rhaegar would immediately evade or outright change the subject.

Aenys knew his brother held some form of animosity against Maegor. But for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why. Both of them had seen Maegor less than six times in thirteen long years and all those times he never found any problems with his younger brother. Maegor tends to be a little snobby sometimes but outside that his younger brother was a likeable person. Even his betrothed Alyssa Velaryon dislike Maegor for some reason.

The door to his chambers opened and Alyssa walked in gracefully. Aenys smiled at his betrothed amicably while his brother gave him a wink. His future marriage to Alyssa was supposed to be a secret but his brother's constant teasing had exposed that tidbit of information. His father was not amused at that stunt as he was still in the process of negotiating the matter.

With the rumours abound regarding his match with Alyssa father was forced to announce the betrothal far sooner than he was comfortable. Later Aenys thanked Rhaegar as he was free from all the attention of many daughters of the lords. Looking back on it that was probably why his brother publicised his betrothal with Alyssa.

“I see you have things well in hand Rhaegar. It seems I am unneeded if my betrothed enjoy your company more than mine.” said Alyssa

“How cruel of you to say that my dear Alyssa. I worked my best to keep him safe and that’s how you thank me “

“How about you let me take care of my betrothed and you go on your tour of the Reach. King Aegon has been asking for you.” said Alyssa as she took a seat beside his bed and took over massaging his leg from his brother. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the soft hands of his betrothed on his legs.

“To be betrayed by my dear twin! I should have known this would happen. You have corrupted my innocent brother with your strange wicked wiles. Shall I bring Septon Murmison to save my brother's soul from the clutches of dear Alyssa.” said Rhaegar dramatically.

“If you don’t get out of this room I will set your precious hair on fire.” threatened Alyssa. Aenys had never seen his brother move so fast. In a blink of his eyes, Rhaegar was out of his room leaving him alone with Alyssa. He looked at her in surprise.

“Your twin is many things but the one thing he fears the most is about your health and his hair.” said Alyssa as a way of explanation.

“How did you know that?” Aenys asked in surprise as he was of the thought that only he knew of his brother's obsession with his long silver hair.

“A woman must have her secrets, my prince.” said Alyssa with a playful wink.

“Now, which leg ails you?”

The answer would be his right leg but since dear Alyssa was volunteering he decided to lie. He didn’t like lying but as his dear twin often liked to say, sometimes a lie is better than a hundred truths. The fact that he enjoyed Alyssa's work on both of his legs was a testament to the validity of that statement. 

I ought to listen to more of my brother's advice, he thought silently.