The Rebirth of the Dragons - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rhaella Targaryen. 284AC

As she rode through its streets Rhaella had to admit Braavos was a truly beautiful city, way better than kings landing.

They been in the essosi city for a few months now ever since they fled from dragonstone, she was told she slept for nine days after the birth of her daughter, once she woke up she asked for her daughter, Maekar and Rhaenys be brought to her, with her daughter in her hands she first thanked the little ones for saving her life then disciplined them for practicing dangerous fire sorcery without supervision, she made them promise they would only practice sorcery under her supervision. She stayed in bed for the next few days getting visits from her children and enjoying herself immensely, she was given a new chance at life and she would appreciate every moment of it.

Not all of her visits were of the fun kind, she was also visited by Ser Barristan and Grand Admiral Velaryon, they brought news of the happenings of the kingdom and letters she had received, some of the information came from Varys in king’s landing. The whoremonger was consolidating his rule, the marriage of the new lord of Storm’s End Stannis Baratheon and Catelyn Tully was one such move, apparently the whoremonger wanted to bypass his brother in the inheritance line and make him lord of Dragonstone instead of Storm’s End but Jon Arryn the new hand of the king managed to convince him that such a move would break relations with Riverrun. Varys also informed that with what he saw and knew from his “little birds” the rule of the whoremonger was going to be reminiscent of Aegon the Unworthy.

News also came from Dorne, a letter from Prince Doran came with information from the south. Apparently all of Dorne wanted to continue fighting to avenge their princess and ‘her children’ Elia was loved by all. Another bit of news was an interesting group of three men, one woman and a young girl had just recently arrived at Sunspear, but he didn’t expect they would need his hospitality for long as they were headed to Essos soon, Another interesting bit of news was the marriage of Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Ashara Dayne, they were still in Starfall but would soon be heading north to Winterfell as Lord Stark wanted to bring his sister’s body to Winterfell were she belonged. A few days after that another letter came from Doran this time asking her help with a young servant girl with red hair and grey eyes that wanted a new home, he would be sending her to essos in a few days, it also had a few more bits and pieces of information that were not that important but would seem to be for anyone uninformed.

It was clear that the Prince of Dorne thought his letters were being intercepted, but he still managed to pass important information, the comment about the travelers with a young girl was both to let her know she had a new granddaughter and intentionally misleading when coupled with the ‘her children’ part of the letter, it appeared that he had been in contact with Varys, the spymaster probably needed to reveal Rhaenys survived, likely to gain trust with the whoremonger. The end of the first letter and the start of the second one were also pretty clear, Lyanna intended to fake her death and was on her way to join then.

An exact month after that second letter was the day they left Dragonstone, all twelve of the remaining ships in the isle left with then along with five hundred young men from the isle who voluntarily joined then as they wanted to fight for her family, the loyalty of the smallfolk of Dragonstone would always be to the Targaryens.

When they reached the city they were escorted to a large manse on small island in the eastern side of the city. She had with the help of Varys and some of her own contacts within the city bought not only the large manse there but all the property in the island, most of it was going to be converted for housing their rather large guard of eight hundred men and some of their families.

Shortly after arriving in the city they were joined by Ser’s Gerold, Arthur and Oswell and she finally met her youngest granddaughter Visenya. A week and a half after that Lyanna arrived, the young woman tore through the manse not stopping no matter who asked her to, even puling a sword she had in her hip when Ser Alliser tried to stop her from going into the children’s playroom, when she finally found her daughter and put her in her arms only then she stopped to talk. Rhaella was once again reminded why she liked the young woman so much, she was fierce in the protection of her family and those she loved.

The next few months were spent planning what to do with their resources, they had a fleet of sixty ships most of them warships that would be repurposed for trade, at the moment they needed gold more than warships, they also had quite a large amount of fighting men considering their situation. Lyanna received a letter from Lord Stark informing of her brother Benjen leaving Westeros for Essos with his new ‘Sellsword Company’ of twelve hundred men. that brought their numbers to two thousand men, under the training of Ser’s Gerold and Arthur they would become elite troops in a short time.

She was awoken from her musings of the past by a cough, she looked to her side to see Ser Alliser newly inducted member of the Kingsguard dismounting from his horse. with help provided by a stable boy Rhaella dismounted from her carriage and took a moment to straighten her dress. She was approached by a young woman who bowed then said:

“Welcome to the Sealord’s Palace your grace. I was instructed to guide you and your Kingsguard to the meeting room.”

“Of course, lead the way.” She responded giving the polite young woman a smile.

As she walked through the palace Rhaella politely listened to the few facts the young woman was listing but her mind was already preparing itself for the meeting, as much as she liked to hear about the various works of art the Sealord’s palace held she was there for a more important reason than sculptures, paintings and architecture.

It took half an hour for her to reach the meeting room and Rhaella understood the power play behind it, the Sealord wanted to show his time was more valuable than hers.

She waited outside the room while the young woman who guided her went inside, a moment later the door opened and she heard the announcement.

“Rhaella of house Targaryen. Dowager Queen of The Seven Kingdoms.”

Another power play, Rhaella thought, recognizing her as dowager queen but not as queen regent. We are willing to talk to you but not as an equal. She walked into the room with all the poise and grace that decades as a princess and later queen had given her. Waiting for her inside the room were three men, she knew some basic information about every one of them. The first was Donalo Zalyne current Sealord of Braavos, direct descendant of Uthero Zalyne who was Sealord at the time of the uncloaking, an arrogant and ambitious man who will try to benefit himself more than his nation. Next was Beqqo Reyaan keyholder of the iron bank, a man with a sharp business intellect but remarkably unambitious, he will always negotiate the best deal for his bank but never take much for himself. Sitting by his side was his son Bessaro Reyaan, the young man was being trained to replace his father. The young man had the same mind for business as his father but was a lot more ambitious; Varys had a lot of interesting information about his involvement with pirates all over the narrow sea.

Sitting in the chair available to her at one end of the table Rhaella opened the talks.

“Thank you Sealord, for receiving me today, the palace is just as beautiful as it is said to be.”

“Well your request said you had a business proposal beneficial to both Braavos and the Iron Bank, let’s share a drink and then we will hear your proposal. We are busy men after all, and don’t have time for small talk.”

Rude and arrogant just as expected. Rhaella thought.

She looked around the room as a servant girl brought wine to the table, Syrio Forel first sword of Braavos stood behind the Sealord looking at Ser Alliser with cunning eyes the same way Rhaella usually saw the Kingsguard do, analyzing a potential opponent.

Beqqo Reyaan was looking at her, when she caught his eyes he looked briefly to the Sealord and then back at her bowing his head with an awkward smile as if asking for forgiveness. It appeared he didn’t like dealing with the Sealord any more than she did.

The other man seated at the table was also looking at her, more specifically at the valyrian steel necklace she wore, an old family heirloom, greed clear in his eyes with also a hint of lust as he looked down towards her breasts. Rhaella knew even with age catching up to her she was still a beautiful woman and her valyrian features would always make her desirable, it was flattering to have the attention of a young man even if she would never involve herself with a man like him.

She picked up the goblet in front of her and drank the wine putting herself under the protection of guest rights. Unlike the bread and salt of Westeros, in Essos guest rights were offered with a drink.

“Now with this out of the way, what proposal do you have that is beneficial for us?” the Sealord said, it wasn’t lost on Rhaella that when he said us he wasn’t referring to Braavos or the iron bank.

“Let me assure you this first proposal has nothing to do with military action; After consulting with my advisors it has been decided to bide our time with a war to retake Westeros.”

Rhaella looked around the table to see the reactions of the men around her, not one of them showed any, their faces perfect expressionless masks.

Good negotiators. She thought then continued.

“That leaves my family with quite a large number of unused ships eighty to be exact, if we count the twenty i recently ordered built from the arsenal here in Braavos. We have decided to use those ships for trade, specifically trade with the Far East. Qarth, Moraq, Leng, Yi Ti and Asshai.”

She took a drink from her wine and then continued.

“As you know, a fleet of that size would make house Targaryen one of the largest private traders in the Free Cities, certainly the largest trading in the Jade Sea. We would be willing to sell our imported goods from the Jade Sea exclusively in Braavos and do our financial dealings exclusively through the Iron Bank in return we would like twenty percent cheaper tariffs on berthing, warehouse use and in coin exchange for the next fifteen years.”

“I thought your family was going into the trading business not piracy Queen Rhaella, this is robbery.” The keyholder said as he sat a little straighter in his chair.

“Ten percent for ten years” He offered.

“We would also offer that your trading be done through the Chequy Port, it would be easier for your traders since the customs offices are located there.” Said the Sealord.

It would also benefit you since you own most of the docks and warehouses there. Thought Rhaella.

She took a moment to think about the offer she received and it wasn’t all that bad, in ten years their military plans might well be underway and they would be able to move their trading to a new, better location.

“Doing our trade trough the Chequy Port would certainly be easier, thank you for your generosity Sealord.” She bowed her head slightly to the arrogant man letting him think he got something out of the deal that she wasn’t already willing to give. then she continued.

“A fleet the size of ours with an average of four hundred tons burthen per ship would bring an amount of goods previously unheard of, twenty percent for the next ten years.” She said.

“Yes a fleet of that size would bring a large amount of goods which would lower their value and lower the profit margin, ten percent for fifteen years.” Responded the keyholder.

“The volume of goods would offset the lower profit margin, fifteen percent for ten years and we add another twenty similar sized ships to the fleet within three years of the signing of the contract, thirteen percent for ten years if we fail to deliver the additional twenty ships.” Rhaella offered.

She watched as the Sealord and the keyholder moved their heads closer to each other and talked in hushed tones, they stayed that way for about two minutes until the Sealord gave a nod, then the keyholder looked at her and said.

“I can’t give you a binding agreement until my fellow key holders and i talk, but for now you have a preliminary yes from the Iron Bank, Queen Rhaella.”

“The City of Braavos also agrees to this deal. With the new year coming in two days time and it’s celebrations taking most of the city i say we meet at the Iron Bank, ten days into the new year for the signing of the contract?” The Sealord said also looking at her.

Rhaella internally smirk, this deal was quite good for her family and good start to their future plans.

“That is a good amount of time to deal with the minor details of the contract. House Targaryen agrees.” Rhaella responded looking at the men around her, including the until now silent son of the keyholder and giving a nod to each of them, she lifted the goblet of wine she was drinking and said.

“A toast to good business and profit for all involved.”

She spent another hour discussing minor details of the contract with all three men, the key holder’s son much more involved in the details of the deal than in the major point.

When the talks ended the young man offered to escort her back to her carriage, she accepted and they made small talk as they walked through the palace until they reached their destination in the courtyard, as they reached the carriage Rhaella looked at the young man and said.

“Bessaro as you know most of our fleet is made of repurposed warships, quite capable of defending themselves. You should inform your ‘Asset acquisition’ captains in the Stepstones of this fact; it would be a shame if you lost their services because of incomplete information.”  She watched with well hidden enjoyment as the young man’s eyes bulged with this little bit of information she revealed.

___________________________________________________________________________

285 AC

It was two days into the new year as Rhaella walked into one of the many sitting rooms in their home and saw her family there. Lyanna was seated on a chair with Visenya in her arms with a smile on her face as she looked at little Aegon sat on the floor playing with a stuffed toy dragon making it ‘fly’ above his real dragon egg, his third name day was fast approaching and the little boy was already becoming as much of a troublemaker as his older sister.

Speaking of Rhaenys, Rhaella looked at the other side of the room where she sat on the floor, her head rested on the shoulder of Maekar as she played with Balerion the cat who was on her lap

The boy sitting by her side was reading an old looking tome, holding it with his left hand as far away as possible from the cat that was known to rip apart any paper that was in range of his claws.

On the same side of the room Viserys sat at a table playing a game of cyvasse with Ser Arthur, he appeared to be losing to the knight of the Kingsguard and was getting visibly frustrated.

She stayed a few moments there at the door enjoying the sight of her family; she lost much in the last few years, her son and good daughter lost to war. The less said about her husband the better, she lost him a long time ago to his madness. She also lost good friends like Lewyn Martell, Jonothor Darry and others.

But she also gained a lot, two new grandchildren born during the war, Aegon and Visenya, her daughter Daenerys, a new good daughter Lyanna, and as much as she lost friends to the war and her husband’s madness, many of her friends survived, some like Prince Doran were friends from her childhood.

She shook her head from these thoughts and properly entered the room, sitting in a comfortable chair alongside Lyanna.

“And how are you today your grace?” The young woman asked as Rhaella sat on the chair.

“Fine my dear a little tired but that is to be expected; i had a long day after all.” She responded.

Lyanna nodded her head in understanding.

“And how were your meetings today, any good news?” She asked.

“Well all twenty of our new ships should be ready by the next moon; apparently the arsenal is not that busy this time of the year. I was also able to hire a few captains with experience in sailing the Jade Sea.” Rhaella responded. “And how were the children today?” She asked.

“They didn’t cause too much trouble thank the gods. As you can see Daenerys is already asleep and Visenya is well on her way as well.” They both looked at the babe in Lyanna’s arms, whose eyes were half closed and mouth a little open.

“Aegon is learning to speak quite fast. He should be ready to start learning his letters and numbers in half a year.”

They both looked at the boy that had moved from his spot on the floor and now sat in front of his sister playing with his toy dragon, trying to keep it away from the cat while Rhaenys held her cat to keep him from jumping on her brother.

“Maekar and Rhaenys also did well in their lessons. Today i taught them history, more specifically about Daeron ‘The Good’ Maekar already knew a lot about him.”

“Ever since he learned to read he’s been interested in knowing about his namesake, it doesn’t surprise me that he learned about his namesake’s father.” Rhaella said looking at the boy still reading his book paying no attention to the chaos Rhaenys and Aegon were creating right there by his side.

When her uncle Aemon told her all those years ago that she would love her husband’s bastard as her own son she didn’t believe him at first. But now looking at him the boy reminded her painfully of Rhaegar at his age.

How could she not love him?

“What about Viserys?” She asked.

“Ser Gerold asked to take care of him today. Said there were some things a boy learns better from a man than a woman.” Lyanna responded.

“Good. It will be good for him to have a male role model, he’s been doing better but it will take years to erase the influence my husband had on him.” Rhaella said.

She looked to the table were Viserys had finally lost his game to Ser Arthur. He was visibly angry but instead of throwing a tantrum like he used to he just asked for another game and started setting his pieces on the board again.

It might be small but is progress, She thought.

Rhaella spent the next couple of hours enjoying her time with her family. She played a game with Viserys, spent some time listening to Rhaenys as she talked about her day, listened to Maekar explaining to Ser Arthur why a force of well trained archers would be better than the traditional spear wall at combating a heavy cavalry charge, and spent some time just holding Aegon in her arms as he talked with his not quite fluent speech until it was time to put the children to bed. Lyanna left with Visenya, Ser Arthur with Viserys and a few servants entered the room some took Maekar and Rhaenys and a few other stayed in the room as she left with Aegon now asleep in her arms.

When she put Aegon in his bed and returned to the same room she was in there were some differences in it, the servants had moved a few chairs and a small table who was filled with fruits and refreshments, the chair she was sitting on before was at the head of said table. She sat back on her chair and waited for the others to arrive, a few minutes later Lyanna entered the room again, behind her came Ser Gerold, Ser Willem, Ser Barristan and Grand Admiral Velaryon their unofficial small council.

She waited everyone to take their seats but before she could start the meeting Ser Willem said.

“I still don’t understand why we meet here and not somewhere else, We could have a room set aside specifically for this meetings.”

She looked at the Darry knight, his hair mostly grey now with only a few streaks of brown, he looked a lot frailer than what he used to look when he arrived in the Red Keep, but his eyes still held that same strength that made him the master-at-arms of the Red Keep.

“We meet here Ser Willem because we all seen the children playing in this room. We meet here so we will always remember what we fight for.” Rhaella responded.

She looked at the others, Lucerys and Barristan both gave her a nod, Lyanna gave her a soft smile, Ser Gerold stayed as stoic as ever.

“Now if there is no more interruptions let us start this meeting. Lyanna what do you have for us today?” She asked.

“I have a lot of information to share today your grace. First of all is my brother Benjen will be arriving in a few days with his new ‘Sellsword Company’ of twelve hundred men; a hundred of them, those whose loyalty is without question will be joining our guard, the others will actually work as sellswords but will always be available to us at short notice.”

She took a moment to drink from her goblet. Grape juice not wine, Lyanna never drank wine in these meetings.

“We also received a letter from Lord Varys. He had to reveal some information about us, specifically the survival of Rhaenys in order to maintain his cover and gain trust. And now he feels safe enough to directly contact us again instead of using Prince Doran as an intermediary.”

Rhaella suspected as much based on some of the letters Doran had sent, but it was still good to have confirmation.

“His letter is in your solar if you want to read it your grace. But the basics of it is that with the marriages of the usurper to Cersei Lannister and his brother Stannis to Catelyn Tully things are settling down in the seven kingdoms, the crown is also already 500,000 gold dragons in debt to the Lannisters, the small council is filled with men who are either incompetent, corrupt or unsuited for their positions, and the Greyjoy’s are already planning a rebellion.”

There was a lot of muttering at the table, Rhaella heard Ser Gerold muttering about ‘unworthy sons not fit to carry the name and blood of Steffon Baratheon’ and Rhaella silently agreed, her cousin would certainly understand the need to have competent people in the small council and he would never put the realm in that big of a debt in such a short time.

She took a drink of her wine and said.

“Well the alliance between Baratheons, Lannisters, Arryns and Tullys certainly is powerful enough to keep the realm together, but it seems like only military might will be keeping the usurper on the throne. I don’t want to event imagine the state the realm will be in when we make our move, nor the mess we will have to clean after. But i don’t think this is enough information to change our plans.”

She looked at Gerold and Lucerys the two men had more experience than anyone else in the room on military matters.

“I agree your grace. Four of the kingdoms united is a solid alliance, at the moment almost impossible for us to fight against even with a two front war, Dorne could still fight, but i wouldn’t trust the Tyrells to fight for us again, the Iron Isles are a non entity and the North suffered the most casualties in the war, Lord Stark will need time to rebuild his strength.” Ser Gerold said with Grand Admiral Velaryon nodding his head in agreement.

“So we keep to our plans. How is the condition of our forces at the moment?” Rhaella asked.

“It will take some time to put those green boys that volunteered at Dragonstone to the same level of the more experienced troops. Prince Rhaegar and Ser Arthur trained the guard at the castle to a high standard.” Responded Ser Willem, the master-at-arms had been put in charge of training the troops leaving the sword training of the young princes to the Kingsguard.

“Most of our ships have already been repurposed for trade, but they could easily be brought back to a war configuration, at the moment our fleet would have complete control of the Narrow Sea. Only the Redwyne and Iron Fleets would be able to challenge us.” Lucerys said complementing the report of the master-at-arms.

“Good, we will be expanding both our army and navy in the future, so it would be good to have better trained and more experienced troops to guide the recruits and help them improve faster.” Rhaella said giving a nod to each man, recognizing their hard work.

“But an army is nothing without good commanders. How does the training goes Ser Barristan?” She asked.

“Going well your grace. Prince Viserys doesn’t have much interest in battle strategy, still he is learning fast and should grow to become a competent commander of troops. Maekar, on the other hand, is a natural. He understand tactics and how to best use troops in a battlefield better than most men grown and is already developing new tactics by himself; he has a talent and potential like none other i have seen before.” Ser Barristan ate one of the grapes on the table and then continued.

“When it comes to Sword play they are quite similar, neither of them has the talent to be one day compared to the likes of Ser Arthur, or if you pardon my lack of modesty, myself.” There were a few chuckles around the table at that. “But they should, when grown men, be good enough to challenge the likes of Lord Stark or Bryden Tully.” He finished.

“So. Good enough to be considered amongst the best swords in the seven kingdoms, but not enough to challenge the best amongst the best?” Ser Gerold asked.

“Exactly” Answered Ser Barristan.

“Good, while the usurper has himself and Ser Jaime Lannister who could be considered amongst those best of the best, we have more in this category, not only in quantity but in quality as well.” Rhaella said. Looking at the two knights of the Kingsguard at the table as they both nodded at her in thanks for the compliment.

They stayed in the meeting for another hour, talking about their plans for the future, how much of the profits from their trade should be set aside for the military and many other smaller maters. When all other issues were resolved, Rhaella brought her new idea to her advisors.

“Now, for the last mater of today’s meeting, i want you to prepare the royal ship, Grand Admiral Velaryon. I will be traveling with the first trade convoy.”

Rhaella saw five surprised faces looking back at her.

“And what will be your destination your grace, for how long a voyage should i stock the ship?” Lucerys asked.

“Lys, Volantis and Elyria” Rhaella responded.

“Looking for allies your grace?” Asked Ser Willem.

“Looking for family Ser Willem, if they will be allies only time will tell.” Rhaella respond.

If the look she saw in his eyes was right. Ser Gerold, the oldest person in the room, immediately recognized her plan, she was proven correct when he asked.

“You think they could be enticed into an alliance your grace?”

“I think it should at least be tried Ser Gerold.” Rhaella responded.

“What is this about family your grace? I thought there weren’t any Targaryens anywhere in the world apart from maester Aemon.” Lyanna asked with a confused look on her face.

“We are the last Targaryen of the ruling line yes. But there are many in Essos who carry the Targaryen name or blood.” Rhaella responded.

“I will start in Lys where Daenora and Maegor, the wife and son of Aerion ‘Brightflame’ live. Maegor himself has quite a few children and grandchildren if i remember correctly.”

She took a drink from her goblet and then continued.

“Next stop will be Volantis and the Varezys family. Old blood, a minor family in the days of freehold. Also the family were Daella, the daughter of King Maekar married into. She died a few years ago, but her sons and daughters are still alive.”

She looked around the table to see looks of comprehension starting to appear in the faces of everyone present.

“My last stop will be Elyria. Where Vaella, the daughter of Daeron ‘the drunken’ lives with her many children and grandchildren.”

She looked at the others in the room. Ser Gerold had a contemplative look on his face, no doubt trying to remember something about the people in question. Rhaella herself remembered a few of them visiting the Red Keep in the days of her grandfather, but she was too young at the time to remember much of it this days.

The others weighted in the pros and cons, Lyanna was the first one to respond.

“It is a good idea your grace, if nothing comes of it, at least you tried, if it does, we would have a powerful block of alliances in the south.”

Rhaella looked at the young woman in front of her and gave her a smile.

“True enough my dear, even if they only help with contacts in their cities, it would still be beneficial for us.”

And if they help militarily, especially Maegor. Then our campaign in the Stepstones would be so much easier.Rhaella thought.