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-115 AC-
Many years in the Past...
'The Old, the True, the Brave'
Those were house Velaryon's words.
His words.
Till this day, Laenor did not know what they truly meant.
As he walked through the Red keep his mind wandered
If he took the simple reading of it, the old meant that his line was ancient.
Spanning far before the Doom, carrying the blood of old Valyria which flowed through his veins .
The brave could mean anything, perhaps it spoke of their ambition, his father was a testament to that.
Or how they could master the sea's and be the greatest sailor's known to ever grace Westoros and the lands of the far east, tales of battling kraken's and slaying pirates were common tales when he was boy.
But the 'True'?
The meaning of those words escaped Laenor's entire being, for he had lived a lie for his whole life.
Who was he but a coward that fled the truth?
He was always reminded that he did not only have the blood of the sea in his veins as his father loved to boast but the blood of fire and storms.
"Ours is the fury", is what his great uncle used to speak about, trying to muster up same of that fury in Laenor's veins. His great uncle Boremund Baratheon wanted him to become King and a great knight .
Laenor always preferred to watch knights on the yard then be down there with them and the further away he was from the crown the better.
"Fire and Blood" was his mothers and the words of house Targaryen and he believed them to be overly dramatic and boring.
The sort of words bards would write when they had nothing of substance to say.
The only good thing he got from those words was his beloved dragon, Seasmoke.
His pale silver grey dragon was about the size of a horse when Laenor found him as a boy and they were inseparable ever since.
Though his father despised him for it. He pushed him to tame a larger dragon at the time, in another life maybe Vhagar would have been his.
What a awful thought.
The rest he 'inherited' ?
The Crown's schemes, the courts rats and his fathers relentless ambition.
His marriage women he did not love nor desire and saw the man he did , meet the stranger and lose his life die due to her actions.
Seasmoke was his only solace, his only dream of escape. His dragon was the only thing that brought him true comfort, no amount of liquor or young knights could do that.
Yes, Laenor Velaryon was a bitter man, a man who only wanted to escape from it all.
His mind often wondered, thinking if he should be like his sister and flee to Pentos with a lover in his arms.
A Dragon rider like himself would find accommodations anywhere he pleased in the world.
Even that magister with Lys who bares his fathers ill will, would sell his children to get one on his side.
Nay that would not work, his father would drag him back to Westeros. Back to the life he despaired at and call it love.
Laenor could not abandon everything like his sister did to them all.
He wished he could, to run away from it all.
From so called Duty and escape the lies.
So when he saw a child dressed in green, sitting cross-legged upon the marble floor, his nose was buried in a large book.
His eyes were weeping, though he tried hard to hide it, wiping his tears so they would not stain the page.
He looked to be about Seven namedays .
Laenor Velaryon's first thought was to run away, what is the use of being involved with a young prince?
Royal life was already slowly driving him mad, so why burden himself more?
Only trouble is what he would find.
Trouble that kept him from escaping for a few brief moments before the wave came crashing down once more, to drown him like it always did.
Yet something about the boy before him made him pause.
Was it the bright auburn hair? The duel coloured eyes, the set of his jaw?
Or was it the weight on the child's shoulders that Laenor found familiar?
Yet something in the child's face stilled him, the way the young prince tried to swallow his grief and put up a brave front.
He saw himself there.
The boy looked up, meeting his own.
His eyes were red and wet with tears. Amethyst and emerald, Laenor could only marvel at their beauty.
"Fix your eyes, sword-swallow," snarled the young prince, sharply, "My mother told me to stay away from the likes of you!"
Laenor felt his eyebrow raise and his eye began to twitch.
"Has your mother failed to teach you manner as well?", asked Laenor as he lowered himself to one knee until they were level with each other, he smiled, "It's quite rude to insult a man without giving your name first"
The boy lifted his chin and held the book close to his chest.
Despite his messy auburn hair or his disheveled clothing and appearance, the prince spoke with confidence Laenor could not help admire.
"My name is Urrigon Targareyn, the one who will be the greatest Knight who ever lived!"
—
-Day 2 Morning, Mid 120 AC-
"Ser Laenor", said a voice behind him panting as if out of breath, he knew who it was.
Laenor did not turn but simple continued to stare at the waves beneath as they crashed on the sea stack he stood on, the same one his sister's casket was pushed off.
His eyes looked into its depths.
Perhaps they would swallow him whole.
"Urrigon", said Laenor as he fiddled with the dagger in his hands, tracing a finger across its edge.
A small steel blade, common. A gift from long ago.
How easy would it be to slit his wrist with it he wondered...
"Why have you come, Urrigon?"
"You stare at the ocean with a dagger in hand and ask why I have come?", said Urrigon, his steps coming closer.
"Why have you come Urrigon, do you not despise me?", said Laenor as he turned his head to look at him, "I heard mother's cry and I am sure my father has already sent his knights to drag me back to that farce".
"Ser Laenor those people came to share your grief", his voice becoming closer as he neared, "They all came to say their final farewells".
Laenor let out a harsh laugh, "Is that why they scheme? Is that why my father has not shed a tear, Daemon's laughter and lustful eyes towards Rhaenyra, my "wife"!?
Laenor grabbed his sides as if hugging himself, fingers digging into the blue clothes he wore, piercing flesh, "And what a wife she is! She only cares for her sons safety! When all could see I bare no love for her and her children and they towards me!", He yelled, collapsing to his knees.
"Ser Laenor…".muttered Urrigon, voice uneasy.
"Did I not warn you not to call me that Urrig?", said Laenor as he turned to face the boy and crawled to him, "Where has my red knight gone?"
Urrigon did not respond, his eyes slightly widened as Laenor grabbed his tunic and looked up at him while on his knees, tears streaming down his face.
"Answer me! Has he been consumed by the lies as well? Where is the boy that followed my heels? Who begged to see Seasmoke , despite knowing the dragon would hiss and snapped at you?"
Laenor out a sob as his tears blinded his vision, "Where is Laena, she left me in life and she continues in death. Urigg,I am so alone, so why can't I disappear?"
He dropped his head and wailed, for wailing was all he could do.
Wail and drown in his cups, what a worthless man he was.
Arms wrapped around Laenor's head as he was pulled into a embrace, his face landing on Urrigon's chest.
Laenor went still.
"Weep away lēkia Laenor", said Urrigon, the prince voice was cold despite its youth, "Let out all your despairs onto me, I will carry it all", he vowed in valyrian.
Laenor threw his arms around the boy and buried his face into his green robes.
Listening to the prince's whispers.
"So that you may carry your nieces", whispered Urrigon harshly.
'Rheana….Baela', thought Laenor as more tears stared to fall and his wails became louder, 'How could I be so selfish?'
His nieces mourned too, and he chose to burry himself and not comfort them.
Laenor heard a heard a chorus of footsteps along with his mother and father's voices but he continued to hold on.
To the prince that once held on him many years ago.
—
"How can you be so selfish!", spat Corlys at him, his father's face red with rage, "At your sisters Funeral!"
He was dragged into his father and mothers chambers, Laenor had chosen to sit down on a carved chair, If he would have guessed based on it's fabric and quality it would be from Yi Ti.
The land of the golden empire truly lived up to its reputation, he ran his fingers along the gold-threaded armrests.
"Laenor my dear trēsy, are you alright?", aked his mother Rhaenys, her tone lace in concern, "Did you harm yourself?"
Laenor only stared pass both of them, as if looking at a world he could only see.
The waves behind them all.
"He would wish he had once I am done with him!", said Corlys, stomping towards him.
His father was a aged man but still moved as if he lived half the years he had.
"Corlys no!"shouted Rhaenys blocking his fathers advance,"Laenor needs some time to grieve!"
"At the cost of embarrassing our house?! To be "comforted" by a little boy of Otto Hightower's blood?!"
"He at least show's that he cares Corlys! All you think of is your accursed ambitions and never our family!"
"What will you have me do?", shouted Corlys in his wife's face pointing at Laenor behind her, "I do not have the pleasure of having a child "comfort" him as he has!"
"Corlys what do you mean by that!", said Rhaenys covering her mouth in shock.
"I should have known you were ruined years ago, a sword-swallower as a son, truly that bastard Jaehaerys mocks me in death!", said Corlys as pushed aside his wife and stood before Laenor.
Laenor just continued to stare in the distance as if seeing through his father.
"Answer me Laenor! Or do you need that child Urrigon to hold your cock for you too!?"
"Corlys that is enough!", snarled Rhaenys as she grabbed her husband's shoulder forcing his head to turn to her, "You will not mock our son on such a day"
"I'll…" Laenor's voice was quiet, almost gentle. His eyes lifted at last, pale illiac meeting his fathers purple.
"What did you say, Laenor?", his father demanded.
"I said," Laenor rose slowly from his chair until they stood eye to eye, "if you ever speak ill of Urrigon again… I'll kill you."
His tone was calm, almost tender.
Corlys' expression flickered from disbelief to fury. "What did you just say to me?"
"But not before I show the realm what manner of man you truly are", Laenor said with a soft, crooked smile.
h
He continued, "How loud do you think they'll laugh? The lords of the realm, the traders of Essos, all the enemies you have made when they learn that the mighty Sea Snake, lord of Driftmark and High tide, is a grandsire to bastards?"
The blow came fast. Corlys Velaryon fist struck at his son, sending him falling back into the chair, raining down blow after blow, blood splattered the Yi-Ti silks.
"Do you know how much I've sacrificed !?", Corlys roared, his voice breaking with each word, "You ungrateful wretch! You waste of seed!"
Rhaenys screamed, clawing at her husband's arm, begging him to stop, but Laenor only laughed.
He laughed through the blood and the pain, through his mother's cries and his father's blows.
He laughed at the world that had lied to him, the gods who mocked him, the sea that waited below.
His sister was gone, leaving a hole in his heart yet in that moment, Laenor Velaryon had never felt so free.
He laughed, and laughed again.
For no lie would spill from his lips again.
END CHAPTER---
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