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High Tide, Chapter 65: Rogue Legacies
🕑 Added 2024-04-23 10:13:44 +0000 UTCEighth Moon, 127 AC
Alyssa
With a hacking cough, she heaved more of her life away, throwing her whole body to the side of the bed in her agony. The years of stress and worry had taken their toll on her body, and ever since her beloved Baelon’s death the previous year, the melancholy that had once plagued her had returned with a vengeance.
She was sixty-seven years old. Both of her parents had lived into their 70s but Alyssa doubted she’d be able to match their accomplishment. She didn’t want to match their accomplishment. After Baelon died, the world just seemed so bleak and life had lost all meaning. Perhaps she might have fought to live even harder if the future was good, but knowing what was coming just left her feeling hopeless.
There was no purpose in her life anymore, all she did was eat and sleep and do her best to avoid thinking of either the past or the future. It was almost a blessing then when she had fallen ill. A summer fever of some sorts the Grand Maester had said, though summer was supposedly soon to be over.
“Mother,” her younger son said as he helped her back into an upright position. Alyssa gratefully laid back into her raised pillow with a sigh.
Her youngest sister Gael sat on foot of her bed beside where Daemon had pulled a chair to sit. Alyssa could not help but smile at the sight. She had had many, many disagreements with the pair in front of her, but they were still her son and sister, and she loved them dearly. It was sweet to see that the bond they had made in childhood had endured so long.
She could only hope the bonds between the rest of her family proved to be as strong. They would not listen to her. Wisdom and words alone had failed to convince them years ago, but perhaps strength, strength she hadn’t had since Balerion had died, might suffice.
There was little time left Alyssa knew, and so with a hoarse voice, she choked out, “Daemon, Gael, how is your daughter?”
“Helaena?” Daemon was confused. “She’s doing well Mother. Would you like me to bring her to you?”
Alyssa shook her head in false mirth. “How quickly you assume I meant your youngest and not your eldest. Do you not have three daughters? Hmm?” she challenged.
Daemon looked uncomfortable so Gael spoke in his stead. “Baela and Rhaena are also doing well. They have written to inform us that they will be coming to see you soon. As will the rest of their goodfamily.”
“House Velaryon descends on King’s Landing yet again,” Daemon said, but his tone was mixed and for once Alyssa could not quite tell what her son was feeling. Still she pushed onward.
“Even now, you still cannot let go of your grudge against them Daemon?”
Daemon looked aghast. “And even now on your deathbed you still advocate for them?” He sounded almost insulted. It was the chief matter that had always divided her and her younger son, he had never cared to understand why she spoke up for House Velaryon. But she didn’t speak for House Velaryon this time.
“No Daemon,” she rebuked him gently. “In truth, there was never any love lost between myself and Corlys Velaryon and his children I cared for only because they were mine own niece and nephews. It was Viserra I loved, and it was for her sake that I held dear those that she held dear. But for over a decade now, Viserra has long since ceased being the person I hold most dear in House Velaryon. That honor now rests with Baela and Rhaena and their children, my descendants and yours.”
Daemon backed down, looking a little ashamed by his outburst. Alyssa sighed and continued.
“I care for all my family. For my children, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and for my siblings. I have little desire to see them at odds with each other and I fear what that could lead to.”
Daemon scoffed. “It will not lead to war,” he said, but he sounded unsure.
Alyssa pressed harder. “Are you certain about that? Rhaenys and Aegon’s anger continues to grow. You saw how they raged when news came of your eldest grandson claiming Sheepstealer. Even my brother worried that he could not restrain them had they lost control of themselves. I fear for them; I fear for all of us if they are not kept in check. You two must be the ones to keep them in check when the time comes.”
“Keep them in check? Alyssa what are you talking about?” Gael protested but Alyssa could see the fear beneath the denial in her eyes. They knew her words had truth, they both did.
Perhaps the only reason why Rhaenys and Aegon had not been able to start a war the moment word had come of Corlys the Younger claiming Sheepstealer had been because they had still been busy finishing up in the Summer Islands. Would such a distraction exist the next time the next time they grew wroth with the Velaryons? She did not know. Every day it felt like they came closer and closer to war.
Before Alyssa could continue speaking, she coughed furiously once again. Once she recovered, she looked to Daemon again.
“Viserys will not act to restrain his wife or son. A noble sentiment, but one that could endanger us all. You however Daemon, have every reason to do so. Your younger son and daughter are wed to Rhaenys’ children but your elder two daughters are married into House Velaryon. Your bloodline flows through all the heirs of both families and so you have every reason to act to prevent a conflict, to prevent your four children and their children from going to war with each other.
“You and your branch in the family and your dragons are essential for Rhaenys if she wishes to enforce anything on the Velaryons that could lead the two houses to war. That is a very powerful bargaining position that you can leverage to force her to moderate her demands if not stand down altogether. Perhaps in time, you might moderate Rhaenys and Aegon and force them to rethink their hatred of the Velaryons, but even if you are unsuccessful in that aspect, once Aemond and his peers ascend, the shared kinship between cousins will keep the peace between the Iron Throne, Dorne, and the Triarchy.”
Daemon still looked hesitant and uncertain. Alyssa grabbed onto his hand with the last of her strength. “Do you understand Daemon?” she asked him.
Slowly he nodded. “I understand Mother.”
Alyssa sighed as she almost collapsed back into her bed. She wasn’t sure if Daemon truly understood her counsel or would heed it, but she was going to be dead soon anyway. It would be kinder to take him at his word.
“Thank you Daemon, Gael. I must rest now,” she almost whispered, feeling her eyes straining. Her body ached and tired, her lungs burned from the incessant coughs, and the muscles of her abdomen protested against the constant, painful contractions.
She closed her eyes gently and faded away to thoughts of Baelon and their parents. Alyssa hoped that war could be averted and that it would be many decades more until more of her kin joined her, but something in her heart told her that it was too late.
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The Rogue Prince
Daemon wasn’t sure if his mother had known that that conversation would be the last that they’d ever have. She had died in her sleep that night. Now ten days later, as he watched the flames lick at her cremation pyre and begin their work turning her into ash, he considered his mother’s parting words.
He looked to his left and right, to where his four children each stood with their spouses and children, and he thought of them fighting each other to the death. Of Moondancer and Morning flying against Stormcloud and Tyraxes. Of the impossible choice that would be laid before himself and Gael in that scenario, the riders of Vermithor and Syrax.
It hurt to even consider, but Daemon knew that it was possible. The bonds between siblings that had once been so strong between his four children had strained over the years. Baela and Rhaena hated Aegon for trying to take their husband and sons’ birthrights to Driftmark, Aegon hated their husbands and extended it to them, and Rhaenyra despised them both for whatever reason, likely her mother and brother getting to her.
His two youngest were caught in the midst of it, between their beloved cousins and spouses, and the elder sisters they had adored growing up. But Daemon knew that they would choose Aegon over their sisters. Aegon was Helaena’s love, even if he had struggled to truly return it for many years, still hung up over the Velaryon girl. They had children together; she would never turn on him. And Jaehaerys? Aegon had been the older brother he’d never had, his mentor, his teacher. He was as loyal to him as Helaena, married to Aegon’s own sister.
These complex relationships had always ensured that the reunions Gael and he hosted at Summerhall were fraught with a hidden and underlying feeling of tension and hatred. Especially when his children’s spouses attended. Rhaenyra could not be barred since she too lived in Summerhall but it was always always better when his goodsons did not attend.
Though he was his eldest daughter’s husband, Daemon still despised Jacaerys Velaryon and his twin brother Lucerys by extension. Jacaerys was his rival, who had humiliated him in the training yard and challenged him on so many occasions. Daemon saw him and his dangerous ambitions as one of the main agitators in the feud between their houses and unfortunately he had seduced his eldest into joining him. Lucerys was polite at least but Daemon knew he was his brother’s hound.
And then there was Aegon. Daemon loved him dearly. He had been like another son to him, his squire, his protégé. The only thing that had ever divided them had been their views on the Velaryons. He found it bitterly ironic that once he had started tolerating the Velaryons, Aegon became unforgiving in his hatred of them. If only they could have been united on the matter.
Perhaps they still could be, Rhaenys and Aegon had spent years reasoning with them, trying to convince them to see their side, and Daemon could, he really could. Whenever he ignored the fact that it was his daughters and grandchildren in line to inherit House Velaryon’s power and wealth, he could see why it was such a threat. In his heart he was still a Targaryen loyalist, he still felt that Corlys and Viserra Velaryon and their spawn were opportunistic snakes, dangerous and ceaseless in their ambitions and lust for more. And yet, and he cursed his uncle for making it so, he was now irreversibly tied to the Velaryons by blood and in some ways, invested in their success.
It was infuriating and confusing, and left him not knowing what to really think or whose side he should be on. Was this his punishment for opposing his uncle’s plans all those years ago? Was this what his uncle had intended all along? It was not lost on Daemon that he likely wouldn’t be in this situation if he had fought so strongly against Aegon and Rhaenyra’s marriages to the Velaryon brats.
From the corner of his eye, he saw his grandsons fidgeting and flicked his eyes briefly to observe them. He had many, many grandsons and he could not help but care for them all. But some stood out to him more than the others.
Aemond was one of course, the future King, rider of the largest dragon in the world. He was looking at something across the courtyard on the other side of the funeral pyre from himself. Daemon followed his gaze to where his Velaryon grandsons stood. Rhaena’s son Baelor was there, a good and strong lad, as was his namesake, Baela’s second son, whom Daemon would privately admit to having a special fondness for.
He couldn’t help it, the boy looked very much like him and he had his name. That Baela had been able to convince her husband to give their son his name amused him to no end. His rival had been forced to name a son for the man he hated just to keep his wife happy and Daemon had gleefully played along to annoy him as much as he could.
More than just that though, there was something very sweet and innocent about his namesake that was endearing. The young boy was rather oblivious about the tensions in the family and so very child-like. It was a welcome escape for Daemon whenever he spent time with his namesake.
But Daemon could tell that Aemond’s gaze was not focused on either Baelor or his namesake. No his eyes lingered on the grandson that had been named for Jacaerys’ father, the man that he hated almost as much as he hated Jacaerys himself.
Corlys the Younger stood beside his brother and cousins, his back straight and his head held high. Only thirteen months ago, he had been much less confident and secure in himself, but ever since he had claimed his dragon he carried himself with a proud bearing, his spirit filled with an inner strength and fire befitting any true Targaryen.
Daemon’s feelings on that matter were so very mixed. On one hand, Corlys claiming Sheepstealer, or rather Telarion as he was now named, had been a very impressive feat and one that he could not help but feel proud of and approving of how it had brought out his eldest grandson’s fire and will.
If only he was a Targaryen in name and not just blood but alas, he was a Velaryon. And the fact that the Velaryons had acquired another large dragon, almost as if it had been planned to lure it from Dragonstone and claim it, and the fact that Baela had helped in this, it left him wondering if maybe Rhaenys and Aegon were right to worry so much about the Velaryons.
After all, the only reason why he had relented in his dislike and distrust of House Velaryon had been because of his eldest daughters but if those same daughters now seemed to fully support House Velaryon in its schemes to grow powerful and possibly even move against Daemon’s own house, could he in good conscience support them any longer?
Already Aegon had approved of Jaehaerys and Rhaenyra’s plan for their middle children, Aelyx, Gaemon, and Elaena, to claim the Cannibal, Grey Ghost, and Caraxes once they were old enough. Once Uncle Aemon passed, Caraxes would be left unridden and could be claimed by anyone in the family and if the Velaryons sought to tame a wild dragon, then House Targaryen would do the same. The Cannibal might be fearsome and Grey Ghost elusive but they were the last true scions of the Forty and Daemon was sure that his grandsons had what it took to claim those dragons.
However, it all indicated a trend, a trend his mother must have seen to speak as she did. Rising tensions between the two sides, both houses racing to claim more and larger dragons and prepare for anything. He knew Rhaenys and Aegon grew wary of just how many dragons the Velaryons had. They already had more than they did, 18 to their 15, and that gap could widen further in the coming years if the Velaryons had more children.
It was crass but in the simplest terms, they had more breeding pairs and in a ‘war of the wombs’ or whatever tripe one might call it, they were undoubtedly winning. It did not help that they had so many more female dragons, including Dreamfyre, perhaps the most prolific and fertile she-dragon since the Doom. A ceaseless egg-laying bitch that one.
For now, at least, House Targaryen still had the advantage, with larger dragons and more riders of fighting age but for how much longer? Once the Velaryon children and all their dragons had grown up, they could overwhelm them with sheer numbers.
Rhaenys and Aegon were all too aware of this. Once Rhaenys ascended the throne, the matter could not be delayed anymore. There would be a reckoning and somehow or another House Velaryon would have to be reined in or they would have to accept being second to them forever and Daemon knew his house and he knew that they’d never accept that happening without a fight… nor would he.
Yet war? To raise his sword and his dragon against his own daughters? His own grandchildren? His dear Baela and Rhaena, who had once been his pride and joy, and their young children? It was painful to imagine. He would eagerly tear Jacaerys and Lucerys Velaryon apart but even now that fantasy was tainted knowing the pain it would cause his daughters and their children.
It would be so much simpler if Corlys and Viserra and their spawn would all disappear, leaving only Daemon’s daughters and grandchildren. It would be so easy to trust in House Velaryon then, trust that they wouldn’t betray them or attack them without Jacaerys and his ilk to lead them astray. If his daughters could only see that… but alas they had shut down all of his and Gael’s subtle suggestions on the matter and in truth, he could not blame them. He would never do it himself if he was in their position.
But he wasn’t in their position. He was in an impossible one of his own. And he found it difficult to choose. Perhaps this was why his grandfather had never decisively acted against Viserra, it was easier to simply ignore the problem rather than confront it.
Ultimately however, Daemon had to think of his legacy. Dorne was a piss-poor legacy and would be for decades more. Summerhall might be a fine castle and palace but much of Dorne was still in ruins and the rebellions had only recently been put down for good. No Dorne was not his true legacy, his descendants were.
And as much as it might pain him to acknowledge it, Daemon knew that his Targaryen descendants were more his legacy than his Velaryon descendants. His Targaryen grandchildren were close to him and adored him, they looked up to his deeds and heard his stories with pride.
His Velaryon grandchildren though, they had always kept him at a distance, likely due to their fathers filling their heads with distrust of him and the feud between the houses. Daemon might be their grandfather, but he was not someone that they would look up to, not someone that they would remember and honor. By generation after them, his legacy would be all but forgotten in House Velaryon, leaving only blood. And blood wasn’t enough when his blood would also flow in every Targaryen starting from his grandchildren onwards.
He hoped Rhaenys and Aegon’s actions wouldn’t lead to a war, and he would honor his promise to his mother to moderate them but he did ultimately agree with them that the Velaryons had to be reined in one way or another. Corlys and Viserra were old and likely to die soon but Jacaerys and his siblings had to be restrained from causing chaos and further disturbing the balance of power between their two houses and threatening House Targaryen’s very existence and continued position.
Daemon had little desire to go to war with his eldest daughters and Velaryon grandchildren and he would do his part to temper Rhaenys and Aegon’s warmongering but if they did not do the same with Jacaerys and his siblings, there was nothing that he could do about it. If war started despite all their best efforts, Daemon would remain loyal to his house, as he always had been.
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Author’s Note: Hope you guys liked this chapter! Apologies for its short length, I was struggling to really get into the minds of Alyssa and Daemon this chapter to write their POVs. If you guys have any suggestions to extend it or streamline it, I’m all ears. Atm I believe I have conveyed everything I wanted to but if there’s a better way to do it I’d be down to hear any suggestions.
Next chapter, we finish up the storylines of the North, the Arryn-Mootons, and the Western Bloc.
Comments
Tertius711
I mean wdyt this chapter was mean to set up?
Tariel Khalvashi
Come to think of it, I'm more interested in whether your Damon is capable of killing his own grandson.
Tertius711
Both?
Tariel Khalvashi
So in the worst case scenario, Damon could actually kill his own grandchildren? Or are you just trying to escalate the situation and keep readers waiting?
Tertius711
The Thucydides Trap exists for a reason after all.
Tushar Srivastav
Say what about Taygaryen their reasoning is solid as the time goes the Velaryon power will grow and soon they will be replaced no matter what they try. Their best option right now is to stop velaryon now.
Tertius711
How would he copium that exactly though? How should it be added organically ? At present the idea is that he does care for his non Targaryen family but he doesn’t care more than he does for the Targaryen side.
Robin
I like it, though maybe a little more denial? Daemon could be trying to convince himself that when hostilities start it will just be posturing and then he'll get custody of his grandchildren and everything will be fine.
Tertius711
Tariel, that is indeed the impression I am intending to create so glad it was conveyed. Stay tuned to see how the confrontation goes!
Tertius711
Robin I have made some changes that I think improve on what you criticised.
Tariel Khalvashi
Based on this chapter and your answer, the impression remains that in the event of war, Damon will choose the Targaryen side and, if necessary, will even kill his grandchildren. In this case, it will be interesting to look at the confrontation with the dragon who can resist him, i.e. Corlis Jr.
Tertius711
Hmm a fair point. Any suggestions/ideas on how to correct this? Daemon and Gael have also been in denial about war for many years now but subconsciously knew it was an increasingly likely possibility.
Robin
It’s not really coming across. Has similar vibes to a teacher: fond but distant. Even if he’s trying to create distance now there were several years where he and Gael didn’t think war was coming and their Velaryon grandchildren were visiting regularly. He should be much more emotionally invested.
Tertius711
Stay tuned to see how Daemon's fate goes ITTL! We shall see about those dragons and young Targs ehh? Yeah sorry. It does feel a tad filler even to myself but to wrap up the storyline, gotta cover it.
Tertius711
He is emotionally connected to them but the fact that they are Jacaerys and Lucerys' children has always created some distance and tension there. He is undeniably closer to the Targaryen grandchildren. In some ways it could also be Daemon on copium trying to compartmentalize. Unreliable narrator and all that.
Robin
I was surprised by how lukewarm Daemon seemed towards his Velaryon grandchildren. I get that some distance may have grown as they grew old enough to understand, but my impression was they’d been visiting regularly since they were little. And in cannon he loved the Strong boys. So I expected a much stronger emotional connection to his Velaryon grandchildren.
Maciek
Well, we'll have to wait to see whetether this famous Daemon's "loyal to the end" act will result in his survival or demise :) Man would definitely go down in history if forced to fight either his daughters or grandchildren....... Targ's plan to claim mentioned dragons has some merits, but if Dance will start in 132, those kids (maybe except Aelyx) will be too young to fight, even if they succeed. More likely would be that some Targs will lose their dragons and try to claim another ones in desperate attempt to replenish losses. The worst in this chapter is that we have to wait another FOUR years (or chapters) for Dance to begin :)
Tertius711
I got you covered dw. Stay tuned!
Tariel Khalvashi
Please make these proud idiot Targaryens with their delusions of majesty suffer and regret starting a war.
