----
113 AC
Water Gardens
Daeron Nymeros Martell
----
"Yea buddy, just keep clapping your little hands and smiling as if nothing is wrong." Aegon completely unaware of the morally defunct state of the bedroom just keeps excitedly beating his hands together.
Looking to my right I see the bare forms of Rhaenyra and Myriah as they still sleep away even with it being near midday. Aemma seemed to need to be relieved from watching over two young ones so she swung by dropping my Son off. Thankfully she did not see the state of the room, she likely expected at least something though seeing how I answered the door in the equivalent of boxers and covered in 'love marks'.
Hopefully, she just thinks her Daughter was extra horny last night and not that I got attacked by two rabid she dragons...
"Kep." The half-gurgled Valyrian word escapes my Son making me smile wide as I push aside all other thoughts.
""Smart boy, Father is right."" He shows off his little baby teeth that are quickly coming in as he makes to grab my right hand I was using to help him sit straight.
""Don't listen to anything he says Aegon, Mother is what you should be saying."" Rhaenyra speaks up in a muffled voice as her head rests against the abundant chest of her new body pillow. ""Mother."" She lifts her head to say clearly and Aegon is just shocked someone else was here this whole time and he did not see them.
He looks back and forth between his hands and his Mother before he smiles again bouncing in place.
"Mun." I snort, this boy is just teasing us at this point, only a single letter off for both of us.
""Come on you little shit, let's see about getting you some mashed food."" The word 'food' sets him off into his best rendition of a wiggling worm as I lift him up and head for the door.
"Get dressed." Myriah speaks up for the first time this morning, her voice hoarse and filled with an odd tone I have never heard from her.
"Nope, I like showing off my 'battle wounds'." I smile toward the two on the bed as I grab my self-defense water skin to make quick water bullets with and I head for the door. "If anyone asks I will be sure to let them know the ones with teeth marks are from my Wife and the ones with-." I dodge a pillow while cradling my Son tightly to my chest with an affronted look.
"I don't use my teeth, that would be your Sister who was new to this." Rhaenyra sits up fully with an annoyed look and I don't bother to correct her, it's quite cute after all when she starts squealing and biting when she is really worked up.
I would not want her conscious of the act, she may stop herself from doing it.
----
""Well look who we found Aegon, it's our favorite person in all of the lands."" Aegon who is already trying to escape my grasp to play with his Aunt who is eating her lunch makes noises as if agreeing with me. ""Don't let your Mother hear you, she might get jealous and send Visenya back to Kings landing."" I joke but earn a somewhat serious glare from Aemma who is being careful of the baby trying to climb over her shoulder to get to his Aunt.
"She wouldn't." Aemma speaks up placing a kiss on Aegons head as she helps him sit on the table before her next to Visenya who is munching away on some softer fruit.
I can't tell if those words were for herself or for Aegon but I feel the need to say something seeing how I put my foot in my mouth.
"She couldn't either, till Aegon wears the crown Dorne is still 'technically' independent and she can't send you away." I smile and steal a handful of berries that are usually rare this time of year.
Aemma nods but I can see the corners of her lips turn upwards as she starts mashing some of the fruit Visenya was eating to give to Aegon. Visenya for her part seems unbothered that her meal has been plundered and instead is rearranging Aegons face with her meaty little toddler hands. It's fun to watch Aegon interact with someone close to his age, makes me look forward to my next child with Rhaenyra even more.
I am stuck between wanting all my children back to back so they can be raised together and learn stuff together and not wanting my Wife pregnant for the next six years. I am certainly wanting a whole table full of children and I know we need to spread them out... but it's hard. Maybe adding Myriah in will fix that, even though the babe will be a 'Velaryon' and will have to spend time at Driftmark at some point.
Damn, that actually pisses me off now that I think about it, MY child will be raised in some other person's home away from me. I am sorta regretting my decision to go through with this but there is a way to fix this, it involves making sure Laena jumps on my dick as well though. I will 'Foster' my own child who will be a 'Velaryon' and the heir to Driftmark, and Laena's child who actually has Velaryon blood will be the one to spend more time at Driftmark. This way when they wed in the future one of them actually has experience in ruling from Driftmark, though I still want all of my children with me constantly.
Am I a Mother hen?
"Something wrong?" Aemma speaks up and a I look away from the plate being filled with some of my favorite food. "You look like one of those berries was sour." I nod with a smile suddenly feeling like an uncivilized person for actually coming out here in little to no clothes.
Definitely the Dornish mentality shining through but my Good Mother has not spoken up about it or seemed bothered by it.
"Something like that, just worried about various future problems... Rhaenyra and I have been planning to tour Essos once we finish with Westeros." I have mentioned it in passing a few times, but seeing her eyes widen she likely is only really believing it now.
"When?" she asks curiously, keeping an eye on Aegon as she feeds him.
I bob my head back and forth while running through my plans and time schedules, Westeros will take at the very least another year or maybe even two if I knock up my Wife a third time. I will 'attempt' to not make her heavy with a third so soon after the first two, and if I can hold back Westeros can be finished before too long.
"Maybe a year break after the Progress and then we will leave, so two to three years from now we will leave. I am going to have teams of guards leave in advance for each of the places we plan to stop at. They will secure a place to stay with the gold I give them and we will just have to fly to each place instead of accompanying a small army from place to place." I can already see thousands of volunteers wanting to be 'stationed' in a Free City doing nothing but getting paid to watch over a small mansion until we arrive.
Seems like the dream job for some young and ambitious boys who want to make a name for themselves by serving the future Queen of Westeros and her 'consort'. I know if I was just some unimportant new knight or even a would-be squire, I would want that job. You get to see more of the world and steady pay with only a few weeks to months being actually on the job watching the people you need to defend before they fly off on their dragons.
"I thought you were just talking wistfully the last time you brought this up..." Aemma mutters while having a hard-to-read look on her face.
"You are welcome to tag along, I don't think you have ever been on the other side of the Narrow Sea so it certainly will be an experience." A thought comes to mind while the topic is in my head, Arryn knights would certainly be appreciated within the teams of people I plan to send over the sea.
I can start in Braavos with one team and then go to Pentos where another will be waiting and then maybe Norvos after. By this point, the team from Braavos could have made their way to another Free City and be waiting to save on the total cost by only using three to four teams instead of like eight. I can also pay them more this way and afford 'higher quality' men with more experience like some Vale Knights.
"I just might, things need to be handled but I can see to them during the Progress, and by the time we have 'rested' once the Progress is over I should be ready for another long trip." I nod while smiling seeing her take real interest in seeing more of the world.
"We are still not sure if we will cross the Bone Mountains but I know we will see everything west of the Bones. The only place we are not going is the smokey corpse of old Valyria, too hot this time of year." I joke and she rolls her eyes as she has to clean Aegons chin with a cloth.
"When is it not?" She asks curiously as if I actually know the answer.
"When the second long night hits." I reply evenly, she huffs taking my words to be another small joke.
I feel a chill up my back thinking about it, I have not even seen a real snowfall since I ended up in this world but I still feel some fear thinking about the 'Night King' being real. The dude could throw an ice javelin through a dragon in the show, which could be a crock of shit in this reality. But I have a sneaking suspicion that whatever is beyond the wall has a way to down a dragon, if not then defeating them would be too 'easy'.
Maybe the high-tier 'Others' are immune to dragon fire, but I doubt their armies are and if ten or so dragons swarm their armies at once they would burn them to nothing in minutes. That would leave the icy others to face the realms of men without their meat shields. They would lose without any real fight at that point... I doubt it will be that easy.
But maybe I am overthinking, dragons are supposed to go extinct before the next Long Night other than the three Daenerys revives. But hers were 'small' and I don't know how her fight against the long night goes since the books never finished before I died. So I am left to guess at what the war will be like, it makes me want to find a magical way to preserve myself so I can survive to face the threat.
I won't leave a threat of that level to my descendants who by that point could all be dumbasses who are overconfident in themselves. If my abilities pass down like I believe they have... I can easily see it going to their heads and getting full of themselves. Then they might lose the fight and make me look like a dumbass for all the advantage I was given in a debatably easy world, hell with what I have I could likely conquer the whole of this world before the next long night.
So failure is not an option as far as the ice corpses go.
"Hey, beautiful." I call out seeing Rhaenyra enter the room in a red and black Dornish-style dress that suits her body well.
Her silver hair a mess and her purple eyes still look tired but when she smiles it warms my heart. I certainly would not mind finding a way to live longer if it meant I could see more of those pretty smiles, if I find one she is getting just as much extra time as I am. While lost in my thoughts I can't help but appreciate how much I have come to care for this silver-haired Princess. Everything is just better when with her, my passion to see this world is magnified knowing she will be beside me, my desire to ensure my descendants rule for thousands of years is not just for 'my blood' but also equally for her as well. She makes no internet worth it, and that is something I find myself questioning almost every day.
But I would have it no other way at this point.