ALL NOVEL Chapter 37: 37
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187 AC
Sunspear
Maron Martell
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Reading the letter from my sister I can't help but rub my forehead, any hopes have long been smashed but I still have a bad taste in my mouth. There are no 'Targaryen' women of the right age to marry other than Daenerys Targaryen. She is beyond reach with both dragon and babe in her stomach, and I won't settle for a bastard. Not that I hate bastards but because this marriage was to complete the pact and have Dorne join the other Kingdoms under the dragon.
So instead it will fall to my heir to marry one of the next generations of Targaryens, either one going to the throne or one with a dragon. None of the boys of my sister have managed to have a living babe yet, only a stillborn and a current pregnancy. I have two bastards with one being a girl and the other being a boy, it will not be the first time a Martell was raised from a baseborn and it will not be the last. But I need to carefully watch for the best hand, either the throne or a dragon is the prize.
I also can go ahead and marry one of my bannermen's daughters and work on making some more as far as what's available to me. That will make some happy, there was some discomfort with me not having a legal wife this long. I am still angry I was not allowed the hand of Daenerys, her dragon could have gone to one of our kids in the future. But after seeing what her husband will do to people on a whim I am glad I kept the inquiries for her hand private.
I can only imagine what Aerion Targaryen would do if he knew I was seeking his wife's hand before they managed to seal the deal with a child. I still even had thoughts that if she got with babe I would take her so long as Aerion was removed silently. But forty thousand dead men is a good way to realize my plans are foolish, that is more men than I can call on from all of Dorne. I have to thank my sister again for wisely cautioning me to not anger the dragon.
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187 AC
Harrenhal
Aerion Targaryen
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"I will just wait a few more months, it's no big deal since they have been fine this long anyway." Daenerys rolls her eyes at me as she passes the message back to me that came from DragonsRest.
"Someone died, it is just one person but the men up there have cost quite a lot of gold to train and equip. It will soon become two and then three and eventually twenty men will die and so on and so on." I shake my head at her, she has been getting grouchy the larger her belly grows and with her reaching close to the end of this pregnancy it is at an all-time high.
"OR...He was drunk and got caught off guard, Daenerys I won't fly up North to check on it personally when you could go into labor any day now. I also know for a fact you don't want me to leave, you want me there at your side so I don't get why your nitpicking this." We had an accident in the town we are building outside our walls just yesterday and she didn't make a big deal.
"I know you won't leave me... help me walk back to our bed." She groans as she tries to stand up on her own and I sigh as I make my way over to her.
"Maybe I should just bind you to the bed for the next few weeks, you are sure to have the baby soon if the size of your belly is any indication." Her eyebrows furrow together and her eyes narrow harshly, I called he fat. "You look flawless, I can't believe I am so lucky." I slide my under her arm and then lean down to put the other under her knees and lift her up.
"Wahh!" She loses control and is startled for a moment before her hands clench onto my doublet.
Successfully avoiding any mood swings from me commenting on her baby belly I push the door to my solar with my foot and head to the bedroom. She is suffering from the current state she is in and she just wants to get up and distract herself. I debate just playing a song for her while she reads until she knocks herself out and sleeps the rest of the day. I roll the thought around in my head for a moment before I decide it's a great idea since I need to go check on the state of the road.
Westeros very own Dragon road just like the Freehold used to build, I don't doubt I am doing it wrong but what I am doing is working. I am paving a road by having men first dig a trench and then fill it with stones, then Moonfyre flies over and melts it. I check on it every week and make a long pass over the whole thing they have managed to get ready. Once the road cools off they can use it to help make the progress faster and slowly but surely we will make it to the King's road.
Mine might not last as long as the Freeholds whose roads still stand to this very day but my road is way better than the current roads of Westeros. I hope to eventually have the entire road system of Westeros replaced with dragon roads but we will need more dragons. It's a perfect job for my children in the future once they are old enough to fly on their own. That is if they can hatch eggs which I am confident they can, my son or daughter inside Danny will prove that.
I look down at her belly as she lays back on the bed as I pull the covers out from under her and then place them over her legs. My little dragon rider will be here soon and with him or her another dragon will sing and fly. But for now, I need to make sure my child's mother is comfortable but not covering up so much of her body she gets hot but not too little she gets a chill.
A perfect balance, as all things should be.
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I hear off at a safe distance men cheering as Moonfyre finishes off her last pass over the glowing orange road she melted. It took me quite a long time to realize she has more control of her fire than I thought, leading to this road becoming possible. It needs time to settle and cool but once it does it will be a nice semi-smooth road that will last hopefully a long time. Realistically if it gets cracked or grooves are worn into it a dragon can just remelt it and it will smooth back out. I can already imagine telling one of my kids to go remelt the roads and them stomping off in a huff. So far the road behind that is already settled and in use is a nice sleek black that reminds me of Dragonstone.
I don't doubt I am missing some magic to make it better but for now, this is more than fine.
I can see the King's road off in the distance and am proud of just how much has gotten done in the time we have been working on it. Not all the rock that is mined can go to repairing Harrenhal so I wanted something to use it for and this is perfect. It tempts me to experiment with burning Harrenhal walls a bit and see if I can fuse them to make an airtight bond. It would help with insulation and make the castle a nice sleek black like Dragonstone. But I can't do anything with people inside as they would cook alive so I would test it with an abandoned keep somewhere first.
With this done I can do one of two things, head back to pamper my wife and make her feel less miserable or... I can do anything else.
""I will leave it up to you! Take us back or take us on a trip for a few hours!"" Moonfyre trills and shakes her head like a wet dog before turning back to Harrenhal. ""I figured!"" She only rumbles as she brings me back to the castle.
At least now I have someone to blame for my suffering that is not myself and my own decisions to knock up my sister-wife.
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"Roach my boy, you wouldn't send me off to the headsmen would you?" I ask as I hold out an apple to him and his head whips around in a quick nod. "Good boy." I pass the apple off and he stomps a foot in glee.
Though I expect he knows what I am going through with him having his own kid on the way with my sister's horse swelling. I wonder if I should continue the name onto his child and name it Roach as well. A name that will be carried by all with the blood of the original Roach who is the terror of the Tourney grounds.
Thinking of Tourney grounds my thoughts run to the Tourney grounds we have been building up and making quite large for the future massive tourneys held here. There will also be a sports stadium for soccer and baseball in the not-too-far future. The Iron Throne cup tournament is going well with other kingdoms outside the crownlands making teams to send in.
I can house hundreds of thousands of people in Harrenhal if it was just about space and not about comfort. So I will be putting off anything hosted here until one tower is complete and able to be decked out for higher-end guests. The medium to lower-end guests will stay either in an unfinished tower or in the growing town in between the Gods eye lake and Harrenhal.
But once they start I plan to have one a year that will become a normal occurrence for men to come earn glory and enter the 'Harren-hall of fame'. A giant slate of stone that will sit outside the Tourney grounds where people's names will be etched if they win. It will stroke people's egos and pull in a large crowd as people jump at the chance to join. Meaning more gold brought straight to my awaiting coffers.
Every five years though there will be a much bigger Tourney with a stupid high prize pool that will be built mainly off the earnings of what's made from the guests. I don't expect to make big of charging people while there here during it but instead from 'vendors' who will need to pay me to rent space. Like some brothels travel and go to places like Tourneys and I will accommodate them and make them pay 'rent' in return for space and protection. Eventually, I hope to pull in some big money holders in Essos into coming for my tourneys. I want to spread my power into Essos as steadily as I can until I have an unshakable foothold and a lot of friends.
I even have been humoring taking some of the old cities of the Kingdom of Sarnor in the Great grass sea under my protection. The Dothraki stand no chance against a dragon and there is tons of land in their Great grass sea that used to be a booming Kingdom with riches. I would also be making a ton of friends by opening up a lot of trade in Essos and places for people to expand and grow towns and live. The people living in the Grass sea with no walls or permanent cities would love the idea of those ancient cities of that kingdom coming back. There is a huge opportunity there but I can't do it alone and would need to commit full-time to keep the Dothraki out. That or I kick them back over the Bone mountains and banish them from the west side of Essos.
It would be interesting to see the old rivalry between the Dothraki and the Jogos Nhai be settled once and for all in a massive war of my own making. The Dothraki would be an invasive species so to speak and the Jogos Nhai would have to put them all to the sword or risk being put to the sword themselves. I am sure Yi Ti would be pissed at me for upsetting the balance they have but my 'money sense' is tingling the more I look into the old Kingdom of Sarnor. But I need dragon riders to help me with this so I am many years out unless I uproot from Harrenhal but I have no intentions of doing that.
By the time I have some sons and daughters raised up and ready for war against the Grass Sea, I will have Harrenhal damn close to my goals. I will be able to pass it off to a kid of mine while I go commit war crimes in Essos and rebuild a massive kingdom. But I might just be dreaming a little too much as I still have goals in Westeros like with Skagos and I am already itching for Essos.
Soon I will be looking into Sothoryos or Ulthos like the English trying to find spice or something... god I need help. This baby on the way is not just driving Daenerys crazy but also me, I wish the baby would just come out so the worry could stop and my mind can rest.