“I know that the embodiment of evil, Being X must be behind all of this.” -From the Saga of Tanya the Evil Vol.
11
Queen Alicent Hightower was heavy with the King’s child.
Having seen what happened with Aemma she was wrought with worry.
Even though the good Maester had told her, by all indication she, and the babe within her were healthy, she was apprehensive.
She knew her husband was also concerned and he doted on her constantly.
She loved him for his concern, Viserys was many years her senior and she could not say she enjoyed his form, but he was good to her.
In some ways, she was already a mother.
Little Elaena was almost two now and with her mother dead, and Alicent the new King’s wife, it was up to her to help raise her.
She had help, of course, the wetnurse and other serving maids, and even the King’s first daughter, Rhaenyra who came to check on her and play with her.
Alicent’s relationship with Rhaenyra was complex.
She was only a year older than the princess, and yet it had always been Rhaenyra who had been the bold one and taken the lead in their conversations.
Alicent marrying her father, had strained things.
She felt an interloper between father and daughter.
They both loved Viserys and Elaena, and that united them, yet the undercurrent of usurpation of Aemma lay between them, unspoken, but keenly felt.
The realm had delighted when Elaena had survived.
She was still small for her age, but the egg that had been placed in her cradle had hatched.
The hatchling had scales of palest silver, and the young creature seemed to lend strength to the little Targaryen.
Alicent was more comfortable around dragons than most of Westeros, but even she was wary.
And yet the hatchling’s behavior was as keen as any well-behaved hound or horse.
Even so, the dragon keepers had said the hatchling would soon need to be taken to the pit.
It had clearly bonded with little Elaena, but until she was old enough to command it, a stray flame could ignite a room.
Elaena herself was somewhat of an oddity.
She seemed to develop like a normal child, only at times she would catatonically stare at nothing.
These spells would last minutes at a time and she could not be broken from them.
When she would finally snap out of it, she would weep and sob, but eventually return to being a normal young child.
It was the strangest thing.
The new Grand Maester suggested the babe may have been deprived of air during the difficult birth or shortly after and that it had impacted her mind.
He claimed that something similar would occur to those struck in the head, but given the overall rate of learning to crawl, toddle, and grasp things she likely would be able to lead a normal life.
Well, as normal a life as a princess could.
Alicent worried over her and would always hold her when those episodes occurred.
She hoped Elaena would get along well with the child in her womb.
They would be siblings of similar age.
It was possible they may even be married to each other if she bore a son.
A part of her yearned for a son, as it was something Viserys desperately desired.
Another part of her feared the consequences.
With a son, would Rhaenyra still be the heir?
Viserys had said she would be, but the realm would always prefer a male over a female.
If Viserys ceded to tradition, would Rhaenyra hate her forever?
She knew her father would want nothing more than to be the grandfather of the next King.
He had warned her not to press for it if it was a boy.
The thought should not come from her, lest she be viewed as grasping for power for her children at the expense of Aemma, his first wife.
It was with some bitterness, that Alicent knew Viserys still cared and longed for her.
He was not so vile or crass to speak her name as they lay carnally with each other, but when he was asleep and lost in his dreams, her name was heard.
She knew her husband worried over his brother.
Daemon had been exiled from court due to his rash words after the Queen’s death.
Viserys still loved him, and hoped he would not fall in the battles that were taking place in the Stepstones.
Alicent also knew there was no love lost between her father and Daemon.
She could not wish for his death, not when it would cause such grief to her husband.
She felt movement in her belly and smiled.
It would not be long now.
She cherished being able to raise Elaena.
Raisng her was not the same as having her own child and she longed to welcome it into the world.
…
Rhaenyra doted upon her little sister.
Such a tiny precious little girl.
Even after she began walking, Rhaenyra adored cradling Elaena like a baby.
Those troubling spells of her staring off at nothing had grown worse, and Rhaenyra was worried.
Then the day occurred, just shy of her third name day, Elaena stared off as was becoming so frequent and then collapsed.
Upon hearing of it, Rhaenyra had run to see how she was doing.
The Maester, again had no answers for them.
Both Rhaenyra and Alicent stayed by the girl’s side.
Relations between the two had grown strained with the birth of Prince Aegon.
Aegon the second, the first son of Viserys.
Rhaenyra heard the whispers, the talk of how it was only a matter of time until the King formally announced him as his heir.
The frostiness that existed between the two of them did not lead to quarrelsome words, not typically and certainly not while Elaena’s small frame lay almost unmoving.
Her breathing had not been an issue for over a year now, and they took comfort in the steady rise and fall of her chest.
Sometime, in the hour of the owl, Elaena awoke.
Rhaenyra immediately shouted for a servant to fetch the Maester.
Alicent touched her and felt to make sure she was well.
“Forgive me for causing you worry, mother, sister, but I am doing better now.”
The words, and the poise in which they were spoken stunned them both.
It wasn’t as if Elaena had never spoken before, but she spoke in the way of young children.
Not that the words were complicated, but the way they were spoken belied her years.
Rhaenyra was shocked, as they stared in silence at Elaena, the girl’s eyes darted around in panic for a moment, before slowly closing.
“I… tired.
Rest now.”
Rhaenyra looked at Alicent in confusion.
Had she spoken beyond her years and then regressed and just shut her eyes again.
What to make of it.
Soon, the Maester and the King arrived.
The Maester prodded the princess awake.
“Sleepy, very sleep, sleep.
No noise… please.”
The Maester assured the King that all was well; she had woken from whatever episode had occurred and any danger had passed.
“Will this happen again?” Viserys asked.
“Only the Gods know, Your Grace.
Your daughter may have these fits throughout all her life.
There was a boy from House Marbrand a few generations back who would get the shakes, but only once or twice a moon’s turning.
Predicting these is all but impossible.”
Rhaenyra felt a deep well of sadness rise within her.
If this was to keep happening, Elaena would never be a dragonrider.
That sort of risk was too great.
It was a bitter thought, but better than losing her all together.
They filed out of the room and Rhaenyra went to get some sleep herself.
The following days were odd.
Elaena was not her typical self.
She spoke queerly, at times seemingly to regress to an even younger age, and other times more fluently, not like when she first awoke, but somewhere in between.
She cornered Grand Maester Mellos twice demanding answers, her own father admonished her for hectoring the man who had already given his answer.
It was announced that Alicent was with child again.
Aegon was still a babe.
Viserys was busy with his new son, his pregnant wife, and of course running the Seven Kingdoms.
We are being pushed aside, me and Elaena.
Alicent still seemed to care about Viserys’ youngest daughter, but there was a lessening of the care and attention paid to her.
Rhaenyra tried to fill in that space, but it seemed she needn’t have bothered.
The active child had become more withdrawn and had asked for books with pictures.
There were fewer hugs and games, and when they played hide-the-treasure, there was no joy in her eyes.
It almost seemed as if the girl of three was humoring her.
Which was an absurd notion, but she could not shake the feeling.
Despite her earlier desire to do so, Rhaenyra slowly retreated from regular time with Elaena.
It was just discomforting.
Those sea-blue eyes had a way of seeing through her.
The heir of the Seven Kingdoms had taken to flying Syrax more and more often.
It was a way to clear her thoughts and dispel the disquiet from her mind.
The one silver lining in the change with her little sister was that she no longer had any of her episodes.