A/N: Welcome to my latest story, The Seadragon's Roar. If you're new to my work, welcome and please do be sure to check out my other stuff, and if you're familiar with my stuff, then I hope you enjoy this one as well. Next three chapters on my Patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
_The beginning of the reign of Laenor Velaryon, the first of his name, is as disputed as every other thing we know about the King that countless dubbed the Builder, the Glorious, the Mighty, and countless more dubbed the Breaker, the Destroyer, and most damning, the Kinslayer. Did his reign begin when he crowned himself Lord of the Stepstones after seeing it abandoned by his relative, Daemon Targaryen, the Rogue Dragon? Did it begin when he finally rode through the gates of King's Landing at the head of the largest army in the Seven. Kingdoms at the time? Did it begin with his first marriage? Or his second? Historians, Maesters, and Scholars of all dispositions debate and present good arguments in favour of any of these, but there is no debate as to when the Legend of the Greatest King of the Targaryen dynasty began. No dispute as to where, either. It all began in Harrenhal, One hundred and one years after Aegon the Dragon forged the seven Kingdoms into one. _
— Archmaester Galadriel Velaryon, "The Life and Times of Laenor the Valiant, Great, and Undoubtedly Extraordinary."
"You will wear the Seahorse and the colours of house Velaryon because that is the house to which you belong, and I will not hear anything to the contrary," Corlys pressed, and I felt the urge to sigh. Prideful men were the bane of good sense and reason, it seemed. I tossed an exasperated look in my mother's direction, and I could see the smile she choked down. A lot could be said about this new life— not the least of which being the indignity of shitting in a chamber pot of all things, but none of them could outweigh the joy my family brought me. Rhaenys, Laena, and even Corlys when he wasn't being stubborn as a bull.
"Sadly, you will hear it again. I cannot win if I am not seen as a Targaryen, father. The lords of the realm, they will mislike elevating one of their own above them. The only reason Aegon could hold the seven kingdoms was because he was not one of them. Like it or not, the Targaryens are seen as better, higher, superior. They will crown a Targaryen but they will not crown a Velaryon" I said, and if the oddness of my speech bothered either of my new parents, they said little of it. I had decided that I was nowhere near crafty or circumspect enough to hide my advantages, and so I leaned into them.
I was no smallfolk to be accused of witchcraft and Corlys Velaryon was prideful enough to believe without doubt that the union of his blood with that of Rhaenys had been enough to create a prodigy beyond compare, as Maester Alaric put it.
"They will crown you because every tradition, whether Andal or Rhyonar, or First Man places you ahead of Viserys in the line. They will not so easily threaten their own claims" He said.
"They—"
"Enough, Laenor. Are you so shamed by our family? Our history? That you seek to cast it aside for another?" He said, and now there was audible hurt in his voice. I had pushed too much, I feared. But I could not stop here. This was my chance. Win the Great Council, and no Dance of Dragons— no dying of the Dragons either.
"I am proud to be a Velaryon, and a Velaryon I will remain. The blood of the seahorse runs in my veins as surely as it runs through yours. What does a name matter when we share blood?"
"History will not remember blood, but it will remember names. And I will not be the man who bore a son who refused his own name. Not after everything I have sacrificed for this family".
"So it's about pride, then"
"Everything is about pride, Laenor. You must not be as intelligent as they say if you haven't learned that yet" He said, and to make sure the conversation was at an end, he walked away.
"At least let me speak for myself in the Council" I called out to his back. He didn't reply, but something told me I'd won that much at least.
"Go saddle and prepare Igneel, Laenor." Mother said, turning in my direction. She had remained silent all through the argument, still pretending to skulk at the decision we'd made not to press her claim in her own right. I knew her too well, though, and she was definitely playing it up to get Corlys to come back begging.
"Laena, I assume you will be flying with your brother. Go help him" She said next, turning to my sister when she felt I was not moving quickly enough for her tastes. Laena peeped in excitement and next thing I knew, I was being dragged out of the castle towards the stable set aside for my ever-growing Dragon.
—
In the end, we were reasonably late to the Great Council. Not so late that the event had begun, of course. But we had made the choice to send a statement. Corlys had come ahead a week earlier, his fleet heading to drop him off at Maidenpool from where he continued on with a retinue that was about two hundred strong. Us, we left much later than he did and ended up making it to the castle around two days after he did. The dragons made a show of their arrival.
Jaehaerys would not be attending the council and that meant the only other dragon here would be Caraxes, and at the risk of sounding prideful, Daemon's wyrm would not compare. For one, Meleys was beautiful and fast. Even with all the training Igneel and I had done— both when he was younger and even up till date— it was still taking all he had to keep up with her as we flew around Harrenhal, roaring all the while.
We did seven circuits as planned, and by the second, I could make out specs on the ground as people came out of Harren's folly to watch our arrival. This bit had been my idea. I had few advantages over Viserys so I had to show off every one that I could. One of them was that I rode a dragon while he did not. Sure, he had ridden Balerion itself, but considering he'd only ever flown through the skies once, then could he really call himself a dragon lord. When our dragons landed, Corlys was waiting and took mother into his arms, bestowing a chaste kiss onto her lips.
I turned aside, focused on helping Laena off Igneel's back. With how small we were, the saddle needed no alterations to keep the both of us comfortable all through the ride.
—
"Of the Great Lords, the only support I have been able to guarantee is that of Baratheon, Stark, and Manderly. Celtigar, Bar Emmon, Darklyn and the likes will fall in line if they know what is good for them, but there is too much that hangs in the balance, he said." I nodded, turning to the pineapple juice in my cup. It was a testament of Corlys' wealth. Pineapples weren't even native to Westeros, but the second I'd expressed my interest in them, he'd secured a consistent supply all the way from Tyrosh of all places.
"I'll still speak for myself" I said.
"I was never going to go back on that. Now more than ever it is necessary that you speak for yourself" he said, looking stricken by something.
"What bothers you, my heart?" Mother asked, instantly perceiving his change in mood.
"Laenor was right. The Lords of the realm seem to love me little and regard me even less. Lannister just about spat in my face and Tyrell has rejected every attempt at an audience. Tully speaks, leaning this way and that, but never committing. I would have assumed that my deeds would have won some measure of respect at the very least".
"They did. They just won you some jealousy as well. You made yourself, father. These men. These men outside were made by their birth. All that is special about them is the fact that they popped out of the right set of legs at the right time" I could see that the words had done some of the work in cheering him off. Faults or no, Corlys Velaryon was a pretty alright man at the end of the day. You just had to dig under mountains of pride.
"The earlier days were spent disqualifying some of the other claimants. Seara Targaryen's bastards, the fool who thought he could claim descent from the Old King himself, and the idiot that thought claiming to be Maegor's bastard would win him more than scorn and disdain. All that remains is yours and Viserys'." He said, speaking to me like I was his partner and co-conspirator rather than seven year old child.
"Good. So the speeches are tomorrow?"
"The law is on your side, the facts are on your side, tradition is on your side. Do me proud, Laenor."
—
"Our father was Baelor the Brave, our mother, Alyssa Targaryen herself. My brother's claim to the throne comes from that. Blood, and power. Jaehaerys himself disinherited Rhaenys' line when he passed her over to my father, Baelon. As Baelon's oldest son, what was his would rightfully fall to Viserys, not some spawn of the Seahorse. Also, the Old King is old. His heir must be a person prepared to accept the throne at any time from now. To grant that to a seven nameday old boy would be to doom the realm to a long regenthood. Now contrast that with Viserys, a man grown, rider to the Black Dread himself, and a father to a daughter, son soon to follow" with that, Daemon Targaryen took his seat. He was eloquent enough. At least what passes for eloquence in this world. But one thing he hadn't been was convincing. At least, I hoped he hadn't been. I for one sure wasn't convinced.
"And now we will have Laenor Velaryon who has elected to speak for his claim himself," The Archmaester said in a monotone voice as if all of this was far beneath him.
"Thank you Uncle" I said with a smile as I stepped forward to the middle of the gathering. Harrenhal was the largest castle in the realm and that was clear to see as the hall of a hundred hearths contained what had to be the entire nobility of the realm. Hundreds of Lords in a crowd that stretched as far as the eye could see. If I had to convince all of them, then that would have been near impossible. Good thing that the Great Lords decided how their lessers voted, then.
"My name is Laenor Velaryon, son of Rhaenys Targaryen, Grandson of Aemon Targaryen, Great Grandson of Jaehaerys Targaryen." I said when I stepped forward, and in a coordinated move, Igneel let out a roar right outside the castle. With his age, the roar did little but echo across the hall. No, it was Meleys' answering roar that felt like it made the ground itself shake.
"I claim the Iron throne, the throne of my GreatGrandfather by blood and the traditions of the andals, the first men, and the Valyrians. Aemon Targaryen was the first son and the heir to Jaehaerys before he was slain by the cowardly assassins of Myr, we all know this. The same way we all know that when he died, Jaehaerys chose Baelon as his heir to avoid muddying the succession. That went against the laws and traditions all over Westeros as Aemon had left a daughter behind but the situation was understandable with the context that war could have been on the Horizon with the free cities, and it was unclear whether the child in my mother's womb was a son or daughter. Now neither of those things are true, and Viserys Targaryen is no Baelon the Brave" I said, gesturing with my hands and projecting my voice so it could be heard all over the hall.
"I am here, the Grandson to the last heir, and we all know a daughter inherits before a brother in near all situations, and what is certain is that a Grandson inherits before a nephew. I am ahead of Viserys in the line of succession by every tradition known to Westeros. By Ryonar tradition, both my mother and sister would be ahead of me, but we are not Dornish. By the andal succession practiced throughout the south, the first male line has priority over all else, even where the only issue of the line is female. By First Men tradition, much the same is true. And while Daemon Targaryen can come here and claim we are no andals as we are the blood of the dragon, he would be ignoring the fact that Aegon the Dragon himself chose to submit House Targaryen to Andal law in matters of succession when he took an andal title in styling himself King and was blessed before Andal gods. House Targaryen has only once before deviated from andal succession since assuming the Iron throne. That was when Jaehaerys himself took the throne over his nieces Aerea and Rhaella, but even then it was recognised that he had the lesser claim and that circumstances were dire enough to necessitate his kingship."
"This body can not fail to note that Aerea was Jaehaerys' heir for most of his early reign. Now, I will contrast Jaehaerys' situation with that of present. The realm is at peace and has been so for multiple decades. The present king is strong and wise. So wise that he understood the need to call this council for the Lords of the Realm to make their will known. The rival claimant in this case is a Grandson rather than a daughter. I am no little girl hiding from the world. I ride Igneel, the fastest growing dragon the world has ever seen. I am the son of Rhaenys, the rider of Meleys, and a scion of the houses Targaryen, Velaryon, and Baratheon. I will make a great king, a wise king, and if you won't be so hopeful, then at the very least you can agree with me that even if my balls are yet to drop, they're big enough for me to stand here and speak for myself rather than hiding behind my little brother." I said, drawing loud laughter from the Iron Islands contingent and smatterings of chuckles from the rest.
"I ride the fastest growing dragon Westeros has ever seen, Viserys was only able to bring an aging Balerion to the sky. He rides no dragon, commands no great respect, and hides behind his brother. Would you all see a realm ruled by Daemon Targaryen? I can assure you that my mother, Rhaenys would make a great regent, trained since she was a girl at her Mother's teat by her father Aemon to one day rule these kingdoms. And she will not do so alone. Make me king, and we shall create a regency council made of the Lord Paramounts from all regions to give you all a voice in how the realm is ruled" I said, drawing whispers from many. Even Corlys hadn't been briefed about this. He would probably think it a terrible idea, and I agreed. We just needed them to vote now, and if I was promising to share the power with them, then they would be more likely to give it to me in the first place. What happened after? Well, that was for after.
"So, Lords and Ladies of Westeros, I ask you to vote in favour of the laws and traditions that your ancestors have held dear for millennia. I ask you to vote for the same laws by which you claim your seats. Lord Bartheon, when Argella Durrandon married Orys Baratheon, was it not their son who inherited Storm's End rather than any of her father's brothers? Lord Royce, you who bent the knee to Lady Jeyne after the death of her brothers and father, why did you not do so to any of her uncles? Because you know the truth. You know it in your very bones. Lord Tully, you must exercise the same wisdom your ancestor Tommen Tully did when he supported Agnes Blackwood, recognising her right to Raventree Hall and joining her to battle the Hoares. Lord Tyrell, was it not your ancestors who supported King Garland the Sixth even during his minority? Surely you will not deny me my birthright for sharing his affliction— age. Lord Ellard Stark, no family here is older than yours. In no family here is the recent that a daughter inherits over a brother more entrenched. Lord Lannister, need I remind you that your family's claim over Casterly Rock comes from Lann the Clever himself, who married a Casterly daughter?" I said, turning to each Great Lord in turn. Some of the arguments were weaker than other others, but I just needed a majority. Just one more vote than Viserys would be enough.
"Thank you for your time, and I do hope you vote wisely as the fate of our realm hangs in the balance" I said with a bow. As planned, Igneel released another powerful roar that Meleys echoed in no time.
The voting began two hours later, and I watched as Lords trooped to the ballot in single file. At least, I was certain that I had a chance. Why was that? Because no one had publicly declared for either Viserys or myself since I had spoken. That meant something. It meant the Lords themselves did not know who was going to win and that could only mean neither party had a clear majority.
—
"The votes have been counted and collated, and the will of Westeros is known" Vaegon said from the dais.
"With a vote of ten and five hundreds to three and five hundreds, Viserys Targaryen's claim to the Iron Throne is declared the rightful claim to the Iron throne."
A/N: And so we have a story on our hands, boys and girls! Next three up on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.