don't mind me i'm living in an AU where daemyra chose to kidnap jaehaerys and indoctrinate him as if he was their own child instead of having him killed. "a son for a son" logic but sideways and to the left without any child death. but can you imagine the hijinks that would ensue.

no no but let’s talk about alicent as a mother-in-law because i can see her being so awful to valaena at first that even aegon is telling her “mom that’s too far” and valaena never says anything in return to alicent she also prevents aemond fron standing up for her because she really doesn’t want to be the cause of conflict between son & mother but alicent slowly sees aemond distance himself from her and even that doesn’t get her to start being nice to valaena. once during their anniversary celebration he toasts valaena & tells her “thank you for teaching me that you were the only thing i needed in my life to be happy. you’re all i need now & forever” and alicent realizes that she’s never seen aemond be happy before & now he’s grinning like a fool around his wife but things truly take a turn when valaena asks alicent to babysit for her because trusting her precious baby with alicent even though she’s been horrible to her makes alicent realize that valaena respects alicent. they slowly start to form a friendship. when otto is yelling at alicent and asking her to remarry his old friend to form new allies, valaena throws a check in his face & tells him “if you come near her again i will make dogs eat your withered balls. i don’t want to see you in the same room, city or even country as her” and alicent sees that this is the first time that anyone has stood up to her abuser for her & she gets so overwhelmed that she just hugs valaena. they become close after that going out to lunches & shopping with nyra. alicent has a huge crush on elenda baratheon and with valaena’s help she gets the courage to finally start dating elenda. also one time valaena goes to check up on alicent in her room and looks at the photos alicent has on her bedside, there’s one of aegon, helaena, aemond, daeron & valaena. and this time it’s valaena who gets teary eyed because she realizes that bedside table has photos of all her children which now includes valaena.

THIS

Valaena doesn’t say anything and doesn’t let aemond say anything bc she already has a wonderful mother in rhaenyra (and you can bet daemon is already making alicent’s life hell over it if he ever catches a glimpse of her behavior towards his daughter) and doesn’t need Alicent as a loving mother in law

But that’s not to say she doesn’t have boundaries or self respect!!! If Alicent gonna be like that, whatever, she’s not adding MORE family tension to the already loaded dynamics, She keeps her thoughts to herself and just pulls away which of course makes aemond pull away too bc where Valaena goes, aemond follows

Valaena is unbothered™️

But she never counts Alicent out bc she knows aemond does love his mother, so Alicent still gets invited to stuff like anniversaries (even if daemon tried to convince her that’s just blatant self flagellation)

And then she hears Aemond’s speech, which is more words and emotion and sheer happiness than she’s seen from her son in,,, ever and that’s all bc of this wild woman who reminds her so strongly of her first love, the one she never got over or really learned from

And holding the baby, watching that baby, this little thing that is so precious to her, is finally her turning point bc Valaena is so protective and keeps her family safe from anything and everything that could harm it, and while Alicent has been so awful to Valaena, she still trusts her with her family!!! Maybe she is family too!!

But finally having that protection extended to her, maybe seeing Valaena eviserate Otto (she’s spying she definitely not supposed to have seen this) is the last straw, she’s known for a while that she needs to be nicer to her husband’s wife but this,,, this is too much and the ice queen thaws

And Valaena (bi queen) helps Alicent (lesbian queen) come to terms with her sexuality and it’s like this weird catharsis for Alicent to have her, with those big purple rhaenyra eyes, help her through it and set her up with the Baratheon woman

And it gives aemond whiplash!! Bc all of a sudden, his mother and his wife are good?? Alicent is dropping off curly hair products, telling aemond to get out of the way she misses her daughter???