Hugh Hammer (ASOIF/SI)

 "My lady" she greeted the Lady of the Vale.

 "You Grace" came the equally polite reply "please join us, won't

 you?"

 "I would be honoured" Rhaena replied, sitting herself down at the

 small table off in a corner of Lady Arryn's Solar, as usual Lady

 Jessamyn was also present, a tea service was laid out on the table,

 Lady Jessamyn pouring for them.

 Rhaena had come to like the rather tart and slightly earthy taste of

 the Yi-Ti drink that the two older ladies seemed to favour, and she

 also liked these invites that she got on a regular basis from Lady

 Arryn.

 As opposed to the endless rounds of courtly manners and mummery,

 the game played for position, however slight or fleeting, Rhaena felt

 she could be herself with these two women, neither of whom were

 married and neither of whom seemed to be in any great hurry to

 marry either.

 Once they all had their cups and had sipped at the liquid Rhaena

 started "I received a raven from my father yesterday."

 "Yes?" was lady Arryn's reply, her face showing only the kind

 concern that Rhaena had come to trust.

 "He, he tells me he plans to betroth me within a few moons at most.

 And that once this is done, I must return to Kings Landing."

 "Has his Grace mentioned who he will betroth you to?" asked Lady

 Jessamyn, her voice soft and lilting, soothing to Rhaena's somewhat

 frayed nerves.

"No, he has not, but he bids me to guard my honour and to be

 prepared to be wed soon after I return to Kings Landing."

 "You are very young to be married your Grace" Lady Arryn spoke,

 concern written in the softness of her words.

 "Aye, far too young" echoed Lady Jessamyn.

 "I am ten and four, though, though not yet flowered…." Was all

 Rhaena could think to say, remembering the unkind words of a

 Septa she had overheard, the old woman referring to her exercises

 as 'unwomanly and likely to delay her flowering'. She wondered if

 this was indeed the case, and if she should cease her pursuit of the

 perfection to be found in the forms of the lilagon hen izula ampā

 perzyssy.

 "Again, far too young, Prince Daemon is being hasty I fear…..I

 wonder what has prompted this?" asked the Lady of the Vale.

 "I don't know, my father did not say in his raven."

 "His Grace is obviously looking to shore up Alliances before the end

 of the war."

 Rhaerna knew that the war was likely to end soon, the Blacks had

 the advantage now, in no small part thanks to the forces of the Vale

 that had contributed to the taking of Kings Landing. Vale forces

 patrolled the streets of Kings Landing, watched from atop its walls

 and helped kept the peace in the parts of the Crownlands damaged

 by war.

 Lady Jeyne and Lady Jessamyn then began a rather long discussion

 on whom her father could be thinking of betrothing her to. They

 considered a rather long list of Lords, most of whom she had never

 heard of and many of whom she overheard the ladies remark on

 their age or unattractiveness. Rhaena shuddered at the thoughts of

 marrying some older Lord, probably fat and horrid to look at no

 doubt, and she considered defying her father.

And how to defy him? Why to marry one of the any number of fine

 young knights who vied for her attention, in secret of course, her

 intended would have to provide a Septon who would marry them.

 The Septon in the Eyyrie would probably never do it, he was a stern

 enough old man, whose sermons always seemed to be full of dire

 warning about lust and sin and eternal damnation. She let her

 imagination take flight for a few moments, thinking of the possible

 candidates she could approach, they would have to be first sons,

 and of major lordships, a snort of frustration greeting her

 concentration.

 There were really no good candidates to her mind, and the

 handsomest knight of them all was already married, and even if he

 was not, he was a landed knight, far to below her station to be

 considered unfortunately.

 Just them a screech of a dragon broke her train of thought, Joffrey

 on Tyraxes, swooping and soaring around the towers of the Eyrie, a

 jet of flames issuing from the dragons mouth every now and then.

 She went suddenly cold, her father's rage when he found out about

 her defiance, it, it would be a terrible thing, and he rode a dragon,

 the great beast Caraxes, the so-called Blood Wyrm. He, he would

 never allow such a defiance stand, he would rather burn the Eyrie to

 melted stone than allow her to defy his will.

 Though she loved her father, he was not an easy man to live with, he

 was stern and often frightening, and his rages were oft something to

 behold with sheer terror. And had he not constantly taught her and

 Baela that they were special, that their silver-gold hair and purple

 eyes set them apart from the rest of men. That the blood of old

 Valyria flowed in their veins, and that they were far too good to be

 wasted on anyone but someone of the Old Blood. Neither her nor

 Baela had understood what their father had meant until they were

 much older, and they had been betrothed to the sons of Princess

 Rhaenyra, and it had confused them mightily.

For had not the sons of Princess, now Queen Rhaenyra had little or

 none of the look of the Old Blood about them? They had asked their

 father this very same question one day, both of them accosting their

 father in his solar on Dragonstone.

 "Ah my girls, the Queens sons may not have the look of the Old

 Blood, but they can ride dragons, that is more than enough for me!"

 their father had replied to their questions.

 So Rhaena wondered who she was going to be betrothed to in that

 case. Was her father going to give up his wish for her to wed

 someone of the Old Blood and wed her instead to an Andal, or even

 a First Man? Or was he going to wed her across the Narrow Sea, the

 Three Daughters were probably out of the question, but one never

 knew with her father, he could be up to anything. Or maybe she was

 to be wed into Volantis, into the Old Blood there, mayhaps even to

 one of the powerful families who traditionally provide the Triarchs

 that rule the First Daughter? A most likely into a family of the Tigers,

 if she remembered her lessons about Volantis correctly.

 Yes, that must be it, her father must be trying to involve Volantis in

 this war, that did not bode well then for a war that was supposed to

 be nearly over, now did it?