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lunarmoonanons · 1 year

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Fire and Salt chp5

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YN was young. That may have made her naïve. She would curse herself for her stupidity for trusting her friend, who in the end turned out to be jus like the rest of them.

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YN could tell her father was not handling the cards life had handed him well. The death of his sister had left him in such a state of sorrow and drunken grief, his body swayed and his steps stumbled. His state crumbled when he found his child YN, falling to his knees and beginning to weep. YN rushed to him, trying to get him to his rooms so that he may rest. Once there he held her hand tight before she could go.

“YN. My dear daughter.” He whispered, kissing her forehead repeatedly. “My child. My child. I am unfit to be a parent. I am restless and wretched.”

“Go to sleep Papa. You’ll feel better when the wine is gone.” YN pushed him back to his bed. Once she left, YN found her cousins and brothers running to the lower areas.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” YN asked.

“Someone’s stolen Vaghar.” Rhaena said, YN paused then turned angry. She couldn’t believe she trusted Aemond.

“Aemond.”

The five ran to where the culprit was, lo and behold she was right. He was smug and arrogant as he walked in. Proud of his conquest, but his smile faltered when he saw the furious glare from YN. He was wrong, she wasn’t going to be happy for him like he thought she’d be.

“It’s him.” Baela sneered.

“It’s me.” Oh how YN wanted to slap the look off him.

“Vaghar is my mother’s dragon.” Rhaena got angry.

“Your mother’s dead.” He was trying to seem nonchalant about it, but he truly just wanted to get away from them. “Vaghar has a new rider now.”

“She was mine!”

“Then you should have claimed her.” YN’s fist clenched, his face betrayed to her what he would say and her eyes dared him to utter it. “Perhaps your cousins can find you a pig to ride. It would suit you.”

With that, YN threw her fist into the side of his face, shocking Aemond that she gave the first blow. Rhaean ran forward, but he shoved her to the side making YN run to her as Baelal punched him to which he returned. Threatening them all that he feed them to his dragon, causing Jace to attack him, but Aemond was the calmer fighter and kicked him back, as well as punched Lucerys in the face.

YN jumped forward and tackled him to the wall. Grabbing his thin neck and punching his ribs. Her anger did not let her see the rock he grabbed, as he then rammed a large pointy rock across her cheek. The force shoved YN to the wall, making her hit her head harshly on the stone and fall to the floor. Her vision was weak and dizzy, and her head felt pain. Jace saw a large gash on his sister’s left cheek, and blood on the side of her head that hit the wall. Her eyes were fluttering and she couldn’t move that well. Aemond also stood shocked at what he did.

Jace shoved him to the ground in retaliation for his sister, Rhaena and Baela joining his side and beating the silver haired boy to the ground. But he grabbed another rock, kicking the older three off him, and holding Luke’s neck. He threatened them all again with dragon fire and blood, YN could barely make out him calling her brother’s bastards, but she saw his rage and how Aemond was about to almost kill one of them. She wanted to get up, but her head hurt so much and her vision thrashed like she was on a stormy ship. It would be so easy to just fall asleep right now, just close her eyes and sleep. Then screaming from Aemond shook her from the need to sleep, Luke was holding a knife and Aemond was holding his bloody eye.

YN tried to sit up when the guards came in, but the act of even lifting her head caused such dizziness that she let her head drop back down. Harrold Westerling came to her, holding her up as she mumbled.

“I… an accident, just a mistake.. I should sleep it off..”

“No princess. Stay awake.” He commanded, carrying her to the maesters.

The maesters quickly stitched up her cheek and applied pressure to the side of her head. Once she could sit up on her own, her family and many others had burst into the room. Jace was holding Luke, and YN was sitting in a chair as she grabbed the arms tightly for support. She watched in worry as the maester stitched over Aemond’s eye. Her grandfather, the king, demanded to know what had happened.

Queen Alicent was unforgiving, slapping her own older son as she blamed him for letting it happen. YN could barely focus on the scene, her head no longer hurt but it felt like it was swaying.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Her grandparents stormed down the stairs, YN turned her head to see their worried faces. Rhaenys comforted her two cousins before turning more worried at the sight of YN, Corlys rushing toward her. “YN! What happened? Who did this to you?!”

“YN!” Rhaenys sped over to her, Baela and Rhaena following behind.

Corlys inspected her shaking hands, and swaying head wrapped in a bandage. He took her small shaking hand in his as his wife looked the girl over. “Who did this to you YN? I will see them properly punished, I will have their hands driven with nails.”

That proclamation made Aemond tremble slightly, his guilt and fear amplifying the pain in his eye. Alicent seemed just as worried Corlys would demand punishment against her already injured son. Finally her mother arrived, followed by Daemon.

“Jace? Luke! Show me. Show me.” She rushed to the boys, but her attention was shifted when she saw the state of her daughter. A sheen of sweat covered her light brown skin, her left cheek had a long stitch in it, she had dirt in her hair and clothes, her silver white curls were stuck to her head with dried blood, and a cloth wrapped around her head. She was also shaking slightly, and swaying the chair sat. “YN! YN, my little girl, what happened? Who did this!”

“They attacked me!” Aemond defended.

“He attacked Baela!” Luke cried.

“He broke Luke’s nose! He nearly killed YN!” Jace shouted.

The children all started their shouting match, the noise irritating the king as well as YN. Viserys looked to his granddaughter as her shaky hands went up to her ears to drown out the screams.

“You knocked her against a wall! Now she can’t even sit straight!”

“You cut my eye!”

“He stole my mothers dragon!”

“enough …”

“He was going to kill Jace!”

“Enough.”

“It should be my son telling the tale!”

“He called us-”

“SILENCE!!” Viserys yelled, though he regretted it when he saw the noise making YN wince in pain. But he had to control the room.

YN heard her brothers whisper to their mother that Aemond called them bastards.Confirming to YN what she thought she heard, and making her anger all the new.

“Aemond, I will have the truth of what happened.” The king walked to his injured son. “Now.”

“What else is there to hear?” Alicent asked, her frustration at the scene evident. “Your son has been maimed. Her son is responsible.”

“It was a regrettable accident.” Rhaenyra interjected, placing her hand on YN’s shoulder.

“Accident? THe prince Lucerys brought a blade to the ambush. He meant to kill my son.” Alicent defended.

“It was my children who were attacked. I’ll remind you, that my daughter here can barely hold her head up, she looks as though every breath she takes is a pain.” Rhaenyra bit back, making Alicent silent as she saw the girl hold her head in pain. “It was my sons who were attacked. Forced to defend themselves and their sister. Vile insults were levied against them.”

“What insults?” Viserys asked.

The room was quiet. Everyone most likely knew of the insults. The same vile talk YN had overheard in the Red Keep. Whispers from those who did not know how to not make other’s affairs their own.

“The legitimacy of my son’s birth was put Loudly to question.” Rhaenyra stated.

“What?” Her poor grandfather, like YN, despised the talk of the boy's patronage.

“He called us bastards.” The room’s tension seemed to still time. Queen Alicent looked unnerved and slightly worried when it was put out there, like she was guilty. Aemond said nothing, he knew what YN would think of him now. She hated it was people called her brothers bastards, but he couldn’t help but smirk at the absurdity of the situation, surely his father wasn’t blind.

“My son is to inherit the throne, Your Grace. This is the highest of treasons.” Rhaenyra had already made it known that Jace would take the throne instead of YN.

It made people rally to Jace knowing that he wouldn’t marry into a family, but have a family to inherit the throne. YN, as a woman, would marry into a house and hold their names. She also was not seen as a fit heir to the throne Loudly proclaiming in retaliation when she was five that if she were to have the throne, she’d dismantle the nobility and give the common folk equal standing to them. She may have been a child, but that unnerved too many noble lords who insisted Jace should inherit instead.

“Prince Aemond must be sharply questioned so we might learn where he heard such slanders.” That made Aemond look back to them, YN was now glaring at queen Alicent who seemed worried and guilty. She knew her step-grandmother was where he heard it.

~~~

Aemond and YN were lying under on the trees in the garden when he told her what he heard his mother say.

“She said they were not of your father. That you are the only legitimate one, and since you’re a girl you couldn’t inherit.” Aemond said, gulping at the fury on her face.

“Then she’s a liar. I don’t care if she’s the queen or your mother, if you repeat her words I’ll never be your friend again.” YN spat. “Promise me.”

~~~~

Now here he was, people looking to him to tell the truth. But he couldn’t bring harm to his mother. He looked to the ground as the two mothers argued about him. He should’ve smashed the boys against the wall, maybe then they wouldn’t get him in trouble.

“Aemond.” His father got his attention. “Look at me. Your king demands an answer. Who spoke these lies to you?”

With a flickered look to his mother’s worried face, Aemond mentally said goodbye to the only friend he had. “It was Aegon.”

YN snapped her head to him. The pain in her throbbing head and the rage at her uncle’s lie drowned out the scolding from her grandfather to her other uncle. Viserys got so frustrated at his family for fighting over and over again. Declaring that they are family and must apologize to each other.

“I know Alicent, I can not restore his eye. And what of YN? We do not know what all the effects of injuries to the head are in young children. She may be in permanent pain. They must make good will.” Viserys tried to get his wife to reason.

“There is a debt to be paid.” Alicent demanded. “I shall have one of her son’s eyes in return.”

The room murmured in shock. Whispers of the queen going mad circulated. YN tried to stand so that she could shield her little brother, but her grandmother made her still. Alicent ranted that her son was Viserys’ blood. Viserys scolds her to temper her judgment. YN just kept her eyes on Luke, wanting to pick up her sweet brother and run him to his room.

Alicent then demanded Ser Criston to remove Luke’s eye, screaming that he was sworn to her. YN finally shook her grandmother off, standing to shield her brother with her body, pain forgotten as she wrapped him behind her. But it seemed her grandfather would have none of it, deciding that was the last of it.

Until the queen grabbed his dagger and dashed to Luke, only to be stopped by Rhaenyra as YN pushed both her brothers behind her. Her mother was fierce and strong as she held the struggling queen in place. The mad woman screamed about duty, sacrifice, and whatever.

“Exhausting wasn’t it.” Her mother interrupted the woman. “Hiding beneath the cloak of your own righteousness.” Her volume dropped as she whispered. “But now they see you as you are.”

With that, the queen was pushed back. YN saw a cut down her mother’s arm. The room seemed to divide into factions. Greens and Blacks. Everyone was staring at the queen like she was a mad woman.

“Do not mourn me, mother.” Aemond interrupted the shock “I may have lost an eye. But I gained a dragon.” He put on such a cold, strong front. But it nearly crumbled when his eyes met his nieces, his only friend, his YN. The message she sent was clear.

You are nothing to me now.

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