[THIRD’S PERSON POV]
Nothing particularly noteworthy had happened during the welcoming feast.
The great hall only contained the wealthy merchants and the armed retinues of the royal progress.
The formal invitations for the high lords of the realm to attend the celebrations at Harrenhal would be sent out specifically for the eighth moon of the queen’s pregnancy.
With Queen Alysanne currently being only seven moons pregnant, there was still an entire moon left before the letters of invitation were scheduled to be sent across Westeros.
Even King Jaehaerys would only stay for two brief days before flying back to the Red Keep on the back of Vermithor, as he strictly planned to finish his royal work in the capital before returning to Harrenhal for the birth.
The current feast simply contained light entertainment that came from the Free Cities.
There were singing bards, dramatic storytellers, and skilled acrobats who performed daring tricks to easily entertain the royal family and their tired retinues.
After the lavish feast had been celebrated, the living chambers were formally assigned for all the royal guests.
The entire royal family would be staying in the towering heights of the Kingspyre Tower.
This was the specific tower where the chambers of Princess Rhaena and Prince Aelor had been relocated to, ever since Princess Rhaena had officially moved their household out of the Widow’s Tower earlier this year.
The chambers of the young princes were situated very close to each other.
They were always kept close together because the boys were close friends and maintained a great relationship.
Meanwhile, the chambers of the young princesses were located very near the private chambers of Princess Rhaena and the primary guest chambers of the king and queen.
“Why do I have to share my room with Maegelle? I am a big princess now,” Princess Alyssa complained loudly to her mother when the arrangement of the rooms was first announced.
Meanwhile, Prince Vaegon and Princess Daella would also share their nursery rooms, which were also located directly near the chambers of the king and queen for ultimate safety.
“If you sleep all alone in the dark, you will surely get eaten by the terrible ghosts that haunt the endless halls of Harrenhal,” Prince Baelon teased his little sister.
It was a small payback for something embarrassing that had happened back in the Red Keep.
“I am not scared of any ghosts! I will easily beat them all,” Princess Alyssa stated, trying desperately to sound brave.
However, she was then unsurprisingly very amicable about sharing a room with her sister Maegelle.
Meanwhile, Aemon, Baelon, and Aelor were now huddled closely together near the winding stairs.
“So, where exactly are we sleeping tonight? Are we staying in Aemon’s room, my room, or Aelor’s?” Baelon asked his younger cousin and his older brother.
The three boys then began to eagerly plan for their secret sleepover.
“Let us just stay in my room. I easily have the largest room out of us three, as well as having the biggest bed. With how wildly Baelon sleeps, I absolutely would not want to share a bed with him in a small space,” Aelor pointed out to his older cousins.
“Agreed. Baelon kicked me directly in my face the last time we all slept together. It woke me up immediately because I genuinely thought someone was attacking me in the dark,” Aemon agreed firmly with Aelor.
“Hey, I fully apologized for that accident. What more do you want from me?” Baelon complained.
The three young princes were then led down to the steaming bathhouse, where the three boys all took a warm bath at the exact same time.
Later that night, the three princes were seen wearing their comfortable sleeping attire.
They were standing closely together out on the high stone terrace of Aelor’s room.
Being situated near the very top of the Kingspyre Tower, and with the moonlight shining extremely brightly, the boys had a perfect vantage point to illuminate the entire sprawling view of the Gods Eye.
The three princes could clearly see the breathtaking beauty of the largest lake in the realm.
“Tomorrow, we will go fishing down in that lake, and we will swim there as well. I practiced my swimming a lot back home, and I will gladly show off my skills tomorrow,” Prince Baelon said boldly as the silver moonlight reflected perfectly off the still water of the lake.
Thanks to six full years of being constantly exposed to the magical healing aura of Aelor’s Essence, the local population of the fish within the Gods Eye had completely ballooned in size and number, exactly like the flock of elegant black swans that would constantly swim across the lake.
One of the absolute best time-passing activities in Harrenhal for the many guests who would stay there was fishing, as they would often fiercely compete against each other for the largest captured fish.
There was also active boating and swimming, but those activities were only truly popular during the warm summer time.
Once the bitter winter finally set in, the deep water of the Gods Eye always became extremely cold and dangerous.
[THIRD PERSON’S POV]
The very next day, the three young princes woke up early, got properly dressed, and had a hearty breakfast together.
Both Prince Aemon and Prince Baelon were scheduled to train with Ser Ryam Redwyne that morning.
Ser Ryam was the specific Kingsguard knight officially responsible for the martial training of both the eldest royal princes.
Aelor, desperate to escape the boredom of shadowing his mother, begged Princess Rhaena to let him join in their morning drills.
“Fine, but you will show absolute respect toward Ser Ryam of the Kingsguard. He is a sworn brother of the white cloaks. He is not a common man under our employ like Rysio, and he certainly will not appreciate your childish jokes,” Princess Rhaena warned Aelor sternly, even while the young boy celebrated his small victory.
“What about my white sword?” Aelor then asked his mother hopefully.
Princess Rhaena simply glared at him heavily.
Aelor immediately took that fierce look as a definitive answer.
He wisely kept his mouth shut, just genuinely happy to be allowed to join the martial training with the legendary knight.
When Aelor finally walked out into the dusty training yard where Baelon and Aemon were already warming up, Baelon cheered loudly for his arrival.
He was especially excited to see Aelor wearing a proper set of heavy training attire.
Aelor was swiftly handed a massive greatsword carved entirely out of dense wood.
The practice weapon was specifically built to closely mimic the exact weight and shape of the white sword he had just acquired from the Green Men; it’s custom-made by the servants for their young lord from the orders of Princess Rhaena.
Aelor then climbed up onto the raised wooden platform and happily joined Aemon and Baelon as Ser Ryam began to instruct them individually.
“Prince Aelor, I know perfectly well that you have learned your nimble footwork from a Braavosi water dancer. I will start our first session with a brief spar, purely to allow me to properly grasp your current progress,” Ser Ryam declared. Read this novel at NovelPing for the best experience.
Aelor nodded eagerly, while Baelon and Aemon were firmly instructed to spar against each other on the other side of the platform, as they had already been learning under Ser Ryam since the very start of their training years ago.
As Ser Ryam and Prince Aelor stood facing each other on the wooden boards, the martial contrast between the two fighters was extremely noticeable.
Aelor adopted a stance clearly derived from Braavosi fencing forms.
One of his legs was planted firmly in the back, while the other leg was positioned to support his shifting weight in the front.
This specific stance allowed for a sudden, explosive lunge and a rapid thrust attack against the enemy.
In stark contrast, Ser Ryam held a highly solid, grounded defense that showcased the absolute basics of standard Westerosi swordsmanship.
Aelor initiated the bout.
He lunged forward with blinding speed and tried to stab Ser Ryam directly toward the torso, a highly typical beginning attack for a trained water dancer.
When Ser Ryam smoothly blocked the incoming strike, Aelor immediately used his forward momentum to flawlessly follow through the blocked stab with a heavy slicing motion.
Ser Ryam was genuinely surprised by exactly how quickly Aelor was able to connect his rapid attacks with each other.
Ryam suddenly remembered seeing one of the personal guards of Aelor when the royal progress had first arrived.
It was Rysio, the famed First Sword of Braavos who had grown old on the job.
Seeing exactly how Aelor moved with such fluid grace, Ser Ryam immediately knew that Aelor had been instructed incredibly well by the foreign master.
But despite acknowledging these impressive skills, Ser Ryam was certainly not just some common household knight.
He was one of the greatest swordsmen in Westeros.
Once he was fully able to read and predict Aelor’s flowing movements, Ser Ryam smoothly countered a wide swing.
He easily made Aelor drop from his solid stance, and then he completely overwhelmed the young boy’s next attack with a much heavier, punishing strike.
The brutal force of the parry made Aelor drop his wooden greatsword completely.
Within a fraction of a second, Ser Ryam was steadily pointing his own wooden blade directly against Aelor’s pale neck.
“That is very good progress, Prince Aelor. Given your immense physical traits and your martial display today, I would have easily believed it if someone said that you were already ten name days old and that you had been rigorously practicing swordsmanship ever since you were able to walk,” Ser Ryam praised warmly.
He gracefully lowered the pointed wooden sword away from Aelor’s neck.
“You possess an extreme balance over your own body, as well as remarkable physical control. However, the Braavosi water dance has a highly significant weakness against knights. It relies mostly on sheer speed and evasion, causing the dancer to be easily outclassed by a much heavier strike from a larger weapon. I will begin your training today by teaching you the basic Westerosi stances. I will teach you how to use a heavy sword exactly like how you would throw a heavy punch, making every single strike vastly stronger and more grounded,” Ser Ryam explained.
He then began to instruct Aelor on the proper Westerosi forms alongside his royal cousins.
Ser Ryam would strictly correct Aelor’s physical form if he found it to be wrong.
However, this only happened very rarely, with Aelor quickly earning continuous praise from the legendary knight for his brilliant adaptability.
When the grueling morning session finally finished, Aelor, Baelon, and Aemon were completely exhausted.
They eagerly sat down and ate to their hearts’ content, devouring the massive spread of fresh food that the castle servants had thoughtfully prepared for the three hungry princes.