Shadows of the Realm: Rhaegar's Resolve (ASOIAF) (Completed)

283 AC

Maegor's Holdfast, Red Keep

King's Landing

Elia Martell

I have to say that when I imagined myself becoming Queen, I had a very different image, I thought that my ascension as Queen would be heralded by feasts, balls, and masked masquerades and tourneys just like how it was during the reign of King Viserys I. It was supposed to be a beginning of a rebirth for everyone with the death of the tyrannical Mad King and the start of the reign of the beloved Silver Prince but literally, the opposite has happened instead of that.

Rhaegar's reign began with the continuation of a bloody Westeros-wide Civil War. There were no feasts, no balls, and no tourneys, and now that the war is won, everyone is focused on rebuilding from the war. Even the regions that were relatively untouched by the war suffered from trade disruptions and loss of men and so there is no time for frivolity Rhaegar has made it very clear that he is not the type of king to engage in feasting but is more interested in administration.

Now, as much as that will come off as a king who is dutiful and competent a king must maintain the support of the nobles with feasts and tourneys. I must convince him to throw a few feasts now and then. And with Rhaegar openly showing to everyone that he is more than willing to rule through intimidation it is very important now more than ever to cajole the nobles.

It has been two months since Rhaegar arrived back in the city and I followed him a week later from Dragonstone. Rhaella would have come along with me but when she found out that she was with child she decided to stay in Dragonstone until birth along with Viserys. Rhaegar and I are not very confident about her surviving childbirth this time around.

Most of my handmaidens were sent back to Dorne once the war broke out. And now they are due to return but until they do I am all alone in this city. Thankfully Ashara arrived yesterday but along with her came that traitor Arthur and Ser Oswell along with Rhaegar's new son Maekar as well as her daughter Lyarra Sand who I believe will soon be legitimized either as a Dayne or a Stark, depending on how Ashara and Eddard Stark talk it out.

And as far as Rhaegar is concerned, I don't know what to think, I hate him so much for everything that he has done to me that I can't even measure my anger towards him, he humiliated me at Harrenhal and then added to it after running off with that Stark girl and starting a war over it, now while Rhaegar may come off as a love-struck fool who does stupid things, I can just pass it over as how other wives pass over their cheating husbands but this is not the case, he started a war that nearly killed me and my children and while I am sure that this has everything to do with his bloody obsession with prophecies, that wasn't my biggest problem.

My biggest problem is the new Rhaegar, he may come off as a charming king as he did back when he was a Prince, except this time the cracks are more prominent and it's quite clear to me that an amoral, reckless, and utterly dangerous person lies underneath his façade. And how long has he been keeping this mask on, ever since we married?

Now in a normal conversation with Rhaegar, you won't find a difference but it's his actions that speak otherwise, the way he killed that poor boy Renly Baratheon in full view of everyone, or the way he made a spectacle in the executions of Amory Lorch or Gregor Clegane and their men, no matter how guilty they were.

Doran and Oberyn both agreed when they told me that this new Rhaegar, might be just as cruel and mad as Aerys but to make things worse, he still has his sanity, which makes him a very dangerous person. That is why Doran didn't make too many demands, worried that Rhaegar might become vindictive.

I reach the Royal nursery where both Aegon and Maekar are kept. The maids are present but since the children are asleep they have a break. "Leave" I command the maids and they are hesitant as they might be concerned that I might hurt Maekar. I have always loved children and I find the notion that I would hurt a child much less kill one ridiculous, who do they take me for, Cersei Lannister? Now that is a bitch who will kill anyone. "I won't hurt the child and if the King asks you, tell him I told you to leave" Finally the maids leave.

I walk over to their cribs, both Aegon and Maekar are in identical cribs, both sleeping peacefully. You would know who is who with their tufts of hair. Aegon has silver hair while Maekar has raven black hair and both have their father's pale skin. Many women would expect me to treat Maekar spitefully, or even kill him just to protect my son but I am not that type of a woman, I have always had a soft spot for children, and this time it's no different.

Maekar is a motherless child and I melt on seeing that. Children have always been my weakness and I don't blame children for the stupidity of their parents.

Even Doran agrees with me that it is best for everyone that Rhaenys and Aegon grow up together as siblings with Maekar and he has told the other Dornish lords as such. Now the bigger problem will be the fools at court who will do their best to tear them apart.

"You know if it was any other woman, she would have most likely smothered him then and here" A voice comes from behind me, startled I turn to see Rhaegar leaning by the door of the Nursery. He wears a smirk on his face that even now feels so alien to me in all the years that I have been married to him.

"I am not other women, I don't blame children for the faults of their parents" I reply evenly but he just chuckles as he walks in.

"Yes, that's true isn't it, you are different from the other ladies," He says with such a smirk that I want to slap off.

"What do you want Rhaegar?" I ask him irritably, he is acting as if he doesn't owe me an apology at the very least.

"Well, I came to give you an apology for all the shit I have done toward you," He says with a shrug.

"Am I hearing things, or is the amazing Rhaegar apologizing to me," I say sarcastically, Rhaegar grew up as an only child and Crown Prince, so I doubt that he has ever had to apologize for anything in his entire life.

I on the other hand grew up in the Water Gardens, with not just children of the nobility but also the common children, whether they were legitimate or not. my mother made it quite clear to me and my siblings from an early age to be respectful to everyone regardless of status and rank because one day we will rule them and they will serve us and as such we must treat them well.

And that was something that Aerys and Rhaella never thought to teach their son.

"Yes, I am indeed apologizing for humiliating you at the tourney, for running away with Lyanna and causing you more embarrassment and starting a war that nearly killed you and our children, and umm... should I also apologize for the death of your uncle as well"

How is he saying that with a straight face? I so want to slap him right now. At least he said 'our children' which right now might be more than what I can expect out of him.

"My uncle died in the field of battle, you don't have to apologize for that" I reply gritting my teeth, Uncle Lewyn was an amazing uncle, I still remember him tickling me so hard that I couldn't breathe and my mother blowing off in anger at him. He was always one to make everyone laugh. He died doing his duty which is exactly how he would have wanted.

"Oh, that's good to hear, I was worried that you and your brothers would want compensation for his death or something," He says as if he is amused. What is wrong with him?

"Why would we want to do that?" I ask him keeping my temper controlled, but he just shrugs and says "Knowing your brothers, they might make some excuse to ask for their ridiculous demands"

"Doran is ambitious but he is not callous like Tywin Lannister" I bite back, affronted that Rhaegar would think that my brothers would be so insensitive to take such advantage of our uncle's death.

"Maybe he is or maybe he isn't, who knows" Rhaegar just shrugs and tries to give me a winning smile but it comes as an evil smirk.

"As if you are any better, it has been barely a month since you have started to hold court and already you have a reputation as a dread like Bloodraven and people are saying that you are behaving like how Daemon Targaryen would have had he become king"

I intended to chastise him but instead, ad it ended up making Rhaegar roar in laughter which ended up waking the children and they both begin to cry.

"Shush, dears, shush" I take both the boys in my arms and try to calm them down all the while glaring at Rhaegar "What is wrong with you? Who laughs like that? And that too at being compared to Bloodraven and the Rogue Prince" I hiss at him.

"I ripped the tongues of the idiots who called Maekar a bastard I gave it in clear words to everyone on the first day of holding court that if they called Maekar a bastard then I will rip their tongues out I am not the first Targaryen king to do this and as for the executions which I do personally these days, they are all murderers and rapists and what's the point of having a Valyrian Steel Sword if you won't use it on people who deserve it," He says it as if he is not the least concerned.

I think about that girl Lyanna, it is obvious to me that Rhaegar did seduce her, but what I am not so sure about is Rhaegar's retelling of the events, what self-respecting girl will just sit by when her father and brother are murdered and people are fighting a war for her, that too a girl who had the balls to become a mystery knight for her father's bannerman's honor. For all, I know Rhaegar might have raped the poor girl, after all, he did have his obsession with the three heads of the dragon. Last I heard Rhaegar burnt all his tomes and scrolls of prophecy, maybe to cover his path to obsession and that no one might know least of all the Starks and Maekar.

Before I could say anything Rhaenys entered the nursery "Kepa, Kepa, Kepa you are back, come play with me and Balerion" Rhaenys enters chatting excitedly jumping onto her father who catches her and starts spinning her around making her laugh, no matter what I do, Rhaegar is always her favorite parent. Sometimes it's just not fair.

Both Rhaegar and I made it very clear to Rhaenys that Maekar was her brother as well along with Aegon and she should protect both of them and Rhaenys took it up with all the adorable seriousness of a three-year-old girl.

Then Rhaenys asks " Can you play with me, Kepa and Egg, and Mae play with us as well" Her lilac eyes make those adorable pleading eyes which I find it hard to say no to, But Rhaegar says "Not, now Rhae, after some time once they start walking then you can play with them, alright" She nods and then Rhaegar turns towards me "Come to my solar by evening, I have a lot to tell you about"

I nod while he turns to Rhaenys and tells her about some new game he has made called Tag. Whatever that is.

Later that Evening

The King's Solar, Maegor's Holdfast

Red Keep, King's Landing

Elia Martell

I sit in Rhaegar's solar, which is different from his solar in Dragonstone, back when we used to stay on the island. Rhaegar's old solar used to be filled with tomes and scrolls along with tapestries, but now it is sparsely decorated with a more focus on practicality rather than looks, there are only two tapestries in the Solar, the one of Daemon killing Aemond during the Dance, and the other of Bloodraven during the Redgrass field. No wonder he laughed when she brought it up, he is modeling himself on those two, now isn't that a scary thought and my fears are being confirmed?

Finally, Rhaegar started "Let's begin shall we" I nodded. "I want you to attend Small Council Meetings from now on" I am genuinely surprised at that.

"I thought that you wouldn't want any extra Dornish influence in the Small Council" I reply dryly and I am hesitant about this sudden offer that came out of nowhere.

Rhaegar nods at that "Yes, you are right but now I am fearing that the influence of the Reachmen is too great, you are a counterweight"

Of course, I am, but a chance to join the Small Council is never to be missed and Doran might need help.

"I accept then, I shall join the Small Council," I tell Rhaegar and he is apparently satisfied with that and then he pulls out huge stacks of parchment and puts them on the table.

"Good, now that you will be a part of the Small Council, it is imperative that you know what is going on, no doubt you must have heard all about the construction projects that have just begun" I nod.

Ever since Rhaegar became King, the number of construction projects across the city has increased tremendously. Rumor has it that he is doing everything that his father wanted to do but didn't have the dedication for. "It won't do for you to come to the Small Council chambers ignorant"

I nod at that, I should know everything that they are up to when I enter it tomorrow.

Rhaegar begins what would then be a complete overview of all of his reforms and works that will be accomplished in time throughout his reign.

And even though Rhaegar might turn out to be cruel at times he still has his moments when I see the dedicated and focused Prince.

"First, we have the city itself" He pulls out a map of the city which shows all the sewers.

"Now, when my father desired to rid the city of its stench, Tywin Lannister brought in the best builders of both King's Landing and Lannisport to do a complete survey of the city and decide on how to raise the city and build more sewers underneath and they did, within two weeks they not only completed the survey but also made a complete plan on how to improve the old sewers and set up new ones and to generally fix up the city, really everything my father wanted and all he had to do was just give the go-ahead for this plan"

"Then what happened? And also how did they do all this in two weeks" I asked incredulously,

I look over the plans, a whole new sewer system and plans to raise the city, and a way to clear the stench and properly clean the city. The plans also include having the streets cobbled and having more houses built of brick and stone instead of mud. Remaking Fleabottom in the process.

"Well, then my father got the amazing idea of building a whole new city made of marble on the other side of the Blackwater by the time it was done, this plan was abandoned, and as for the speed, all I can say is that when Tywin Lannister lights the fire under you, things tend to go fast," He says matter-of-factly and I chuckle at that. Tywin Lannister is many things and among them comes an extremely hard taskmaster.

"So really everything I want to be done for the city comes under this plan so all I did was give the go-ahead," Rhaegar tells me but my eyes wander to another part of the map, to the part on Rhaenys Hill.

"What about the Dragon Pit? What is happening there?" I ask him and he just glances towards the map and says "Oh, that I am rebuilding it"

Did he just say rebuild the Dragon Pit "Rhaegar, Why would you rebuild the Dragon Pit?" I ask him puzzled but He has an unreadable look on his face and tells me "The Dragon Pit can seat over eighty thousand people, it's a great place for coronations, cremations, and tourneys and it completes the city skyline"

There is more to it, but I have a feeling that Rhaegar doesn't want to discuss it so I leave it at that, but I swear Rhaegar, that if you try to do something like Summerhall, I will kill you.

"And next in the city are the Inns and Taverns across the city" I am confused by that "What do you intend on the Inns and Taverns of the city?" He looks over the map for a while and says "I intend on building up more Inns and Taverns across the city and then sell it at cheap rates to the very Innkeepers and Tavern keepers that have been hired.

Why would you do something like that I was about to ask that but then I understood the unspoken part of that, those very Innkeepers and Tavern Owners will soon become his spies and informants all across the city, and at the same time it might help boost the local businesses.

"After that in the city, we have the docks which will go through a complete remake" I know that the docks are nothing more than a pile of ill-arranged wooden piers, and in the plans, they will be made of brick, stone, and some mortar called concrete and will be uniformly placed. The remake is much needed.

"And along with the docks we have the new Blackwater bridge, that I intend to build, it will be a fortified bridge across the river" He shows me a drawing of the bridge that will soon cover the Blackwater, and I nod "This will be very much needed, the ferry crossing is a huge inconvenience to all and the bridge will make things easier for us all."

"And next is the farmlands across the Royal demesne, we will be doing a massive shakeup, for starters, we shall stop the serfdom practices and start hiring people instead, and we shall start renting out the land as well to the bailiffs for a part of the produce, they will be more productive as they have a bigger incentive to be productive, something I call sharecropping"

Rhaegar is quite confident in what he is saying, this is a risky venture to stop serfdom even Aegon V didn't do anything this drastic but as long as it is in the Royal demesne it might be alright, I guess there has to be a first time for everything and even if things go bad, we can always buy more food.

"Speaking of Royal demesne, the laws of Aegon V are back only in the Royal demesne," He tells me in a sincere tone but he has an ulterior motive because I doubt that he has a love for smallfolk. And my suspicions are confirmed immediately after that.

"Now, of course, I am not bringing back Aegon's laws out of the goodness of my heart" Of course not, you have no regard for human life much less have goodness in your heart.

"I am rather doing them to help encourage people to flee the lands of other lords and come to ours, and our lands are now vast and across the kingdoms, Dragonstone, Summerhall, Dragon's Lair, and Dragon's Town" Dragon's Lair is the new name of Heart's Home while Dragon's Town is the new name Lord Harroway's Town.

"Do you plan to encourage people to migrate towards our lands and then what" I question him and he is silent after that and then he says "Not sure, other than maybe it may cause all the smallfolk in the other lands to rebel and make their lords dance to our tune and also maybe hire the skilled laborers and artisans, I haven't thought that part through" He admits

Of course, he hasn't, he never thinks things through, and now that is the same in both the Rhaegar.

"And how exactly do you intend on paying for this" Now this is a question that I want to ask " These projects are not cheap", Rhaegar is nonchalant at that "Doesn't matter, I have inherited a full purse" I can't believe that Rhaegar has such a full purse, "How much?" He just throws it at me "Seven Million in Gold Dragons and Ten Million in Silver Stags" I am stunned at that number.

Now that is a full purse. "Tywin did most of the work didn't he?" I ask Rhaegar because there is no way that the Mad King was this good in administration and finances, Rhaegar nods, "Yes, Tywin did most of the work, and thankfully in the two years he wasn't there my father and his cronies didn't throw it all away but then again my father was frugal" But will this be enough?

"Of course, this is not my only way of getting money, because recently I met with Lords Velaryon, Mooton, and Grafton in organizing a trading expedition to the East, like the Seasnake only in this case we ended up pooling together somewhere about eighty-five ships along with fifteen ships from the Royal Fleet"

EIGHTY-FIVE SHIPS I think in shock, the Seasnake only had twenty.

"The other three have contributed twenty ships each while I have contributed twenty-five along with the fifteen escorts" The Seasnake became the richest man in Westeros with somewhere about fourteen ships if this goes well then everyone involved will be rich beyond measure. I can't even imagine how much money might come from this.

"Are you sure, that this expedition will work, and who is in charge?" I ask him because this is a very risky and important venture and a very trustworthy person should lead it "This expedition may or may not work but we will only know if we try it out and as for the person leading it, Velaryon will be leading it" He just says it like that.

VELARYON, WHY HIM? He is the least trustworthy, I am outraged at the fact that the Mad King's sycophant is leading this important mission

"Velaryon?? Why could you possibly give him anything?" I ask him in shock "That man deserves to burn in the Seventh Hell or have forgotten everything that he has done with your father" I ask him wondering whether Rhaegar forgot about his father's sycophants.

"Don't worry because I told him that if any of my ships go missing during the trip, I will be taking the replacements from his ships" Rhaegar tries to reassure me, it works in a way because he deserves that, Velaryon deserves nothing less.

"And of course from now on we will be taking a very important role in trade, just like how House Hightower does in Oldtown" That is good, it will help King's Landing rise above the common squalor that it usually is.

"And also to save costs on manpower, we will press-gang the prisoners of the city into working into something I call community service, these criminals are usually good for nothing so I figured that we get some use out of them and course, the City Watch will be keeping a close eye on the prisoners"

I am apprehensive about making criminals work, Didn't Maegor do something like this?

"And my greatest project, The Bank of King's Landing," he unfurls a new parchment but I don't see what in the parchment because I am still trying to understand what he means by a bank, "Do you mean like the Iron Bank," I blurt out

He nods and smiles "Yes, like the Iron Bank, let me explain to you how it works"

After that Rhaegar explains to me the concept of Fractional Reserve Banking, which is something all banks run on, along with that he also tells me about Insurance and Mortgages that he intends to introduce.

After thinking about everything for a while when I finally ask "What if everyone withdraws their account at the same time?"

He chuckles at that and says "Well, in that case, my dear Elia we are fucked as shit"

So that's a trade-off that we have to take. The Insurance idea seems reasonable and something that I can see my brother adopting in Sunspear and as for Mortgages, it's an even mix of a bag.

Then Rhaegar pours for us two cups of Dornish Red and after drinking for a while, I say "You have a lot of things planned out"

He chuckles and says "Sweetheart, this is not even half of it"

Then he goes on to tell me how he has set up something called the Fire Department, a force of men dedicated to putting down fires both in the city and out, some part of them are full-time paid members while the rest are part-time volunteers that will be paid according to the number of hours worked.

Following that was the revamp of the bureaucracy of the Seven Kingdoms, the old bureaucracy was a creaking old ship that was one hole away from capsizing, the only reason why it survived so far was because of Tywin's sheer force of will.

The tax collecting system was so open to corruption and abuse that extortion and bribery were encouraged. Vital official positions changed hands quite frequently and were mostly political appointments. So Rhaegar decided to throw the whole system out.

He decided to set up a new class of people meant to be in his words "Civil Servants" mostly literate smallfolk that won't change with change in politics and the only way to kick a person out of being a Civil Servant would be to bring charges of bribery or treason.

And this would be mostly adopted for the Master of Laws and Master of Coin. So that the justice system and the taxation system had a functioning bureaucracy that the kingdom will still run even if the person put in charge is an incompetent mess. Even the Army and the Fleet will have their Bureaucrats who will be in charge of all logistics.

He has also set up a Hospital, which is a place where the Smallfolk who don't have access to Maesters will come for medical help pregnant women, now, of course, there are such small-scale places in nearly all towns with healers but this will be different with at least a thousand beds and at least fifty full-time healers and more midwives and nurses and paid for by the Crown.

The Septas along with the Silent Sisters will also help in this. And all of it will be led by some Ex-Maester who was kicked out of the Citadel, when I asked why he was kicked out all that Rhaegar said was that he was too successful, that doesn't make any sense.

Why will they kick someone out for being successful? …Unless his methods were unethical and knowing this new Rhaegar who has absolutely no ethics, they must be like two peas in a pod.

"Won't the Maesters be upset with this?" I ask him

But Rhaegar laughs at that "Sure let them, but first, they have to decide on a Grand Maester, and right now they aren't doing a very good job at that" That's true, It has been months since Pycelle died, and yet the Citadel hasn't elected a successor.

"But why are they taking so long?" I wonder out loud

Rhaegar simply shrugs and says "This is more than just some seat, there is politics played for this, and no doubt they know what happened to Pycelle so this is, in essence, a very risky seat because one wrong move and you are dead, and the wrong move as far as Pycelle is concerned is that he was a Lannister stooge and they know this"

Everywhere there is politics, even the Citadel, a place of learning has politics running in it. The top contenders are Gormon Tyrell and Marwyn the Mage, and when I asked Rhaegar about who he wants he was tight-lipped about it.

After that Rhaegar tells me about the School that he is going to set up, it will be a place where children will be taught to read and write and be taught on how to prepare themselves for Bureaucracy or the Army or the Navy.

Now, most of the students would be from well-off families who can pay to have their children taught by the Tutors that will be teaching in this school. Along with the rich kids of merchants will be children of Minor nobles from the Crownlands.

But that wasn't the end of it, there was a secret part to this as well, the Street Urchins and the Orphans will be taken in as well, they will be taken from a very young age and taught everything at the expense of the Crown and in turn, those children, when they grow up, will have unflinching and blind loyalty to the Crown where they will be soon sent either to the Army or the Fleet or the Bureaucracy or they will become spies and informants for the Crown.

And to add to all of that all orphanages from now on will be directly under the control of the Crown. Now at first glance, it looks like the King is a benevolent one who cares for the poor orphans of the city but this is just Rhaegar's way of getting more loyal servants who won't have second loyalties to anyone.

At first, I am more than horrified that what Rhaegar intends on doing with these children but then he reminds me that these children are the ones that grow up to be murderers and cutthroats in Fleabottom provided they survive that long or end up in a bowl o' brown.

And even though I don't like it, I can't protest much because Rhaegar points out that these very children will soon work for Aegon and the future Targaryen dynasty.

And that wasn't the end of Rhaegar's reforms, he had another one that included setting up a professional army, before disbanding the army after the war he gave an offer to those want to continue as soldiers and nearly twenty thousand men took his offer.

To make the soldiers loyal to the Crown, Rhaegar has brought in incentives for the soldiers in the form of pension, care of the wounded, and after twenty-five years of military service, the soldiers will be given their land which they will own to farm if they want to stay as farmers while the others will be given other forms of employment provided they live that long and if they died in service of the Crown then their parents will be given a lump sum of money, marriage is not allowed for the lower ranks and permitted only for the officers who have special permission.

But that wasn't even touching the changes and the things that Rhaegar will be doing to the Army, I couldn't go through it all except knowing that fortresses will be set up across the Crownlands and that of the Royal demesne. And the final thing I managed to catch from it was that all soldiers will give an oath of allegiance to the King after completing their training both in Sept and in front of him during the year-end parades that he will be introducing and the oath is similar to the one taken by the Kingsguard as far as loyalty to the King goes.

And that is all I was able to get through without having my head explode, I need to sleep. After seeing me overwhelmed he takes me out of the solar and to my chambers when I realized that it was already nightfall.

For a moment, Rhaegar was back to his old self the one I knew before the Tourney.

THE NEXT DAY

MORNING

The King's Solar, Maegor's Holdfast

Red Keep, King's Landing

Qyburn

Sitting in the King's Solar with the King wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I got kicked out of the Citadel. But who knew, I had no idea what to expect when I got a summons from the King, I was so close to joining a group of sellswords called the Brave Companions, they were infamous even amongst the other ill-liked sellsword groups as the worst of the worst and thankfully before that could happen I was called to the Red Keep from a messenger who came specifically for me.

At first, I thought that I would be punished for my unethical experiments but then I realized that the king wouldn't waste his time on someone like me, but it was a bigger shock when the King appeared to be interested in my experiments and wanted me to continue under his patronage.

"Your grace, are asking me to continue doing my experiments, only this time on criminals," I ask the King thinking I might have misheard. But the King just reasserts his offer "That's right, I am willing to give you my patronage and you will be allowed to do your experiments and in exchange, you have to work for me" Now that is a very good offer.

"Now I have many things that I want you to build for me, I will give you the ideas" He pulls up a stack of parchments and shows it to me.

"First and foremost, I want you to build something I would call a flamethrower" Flamethrower so if the name is to be believed it is closed to throw flames.

"I am sure that you are well aware of the fact that I have a lot of wildfire lying around" I nod, of course, who isn't, the King continues "Now, this is a very potent weapon especially if you use it in ships but the problem is that we need a way to get this wildfire on to other ships" The Pyromancers under Aegon IV tried something like that but it failed miserably.

I look over the plans, it is based on a siphon, which normally expels water but this time will expel jets of wildfire that will be ignited with a fireball. Now, this is an interesting concept.

But apparently, that's not all, the king has new farming methods that he wants me to test out on some of the Royal lands.

"Your grace, what might these be?" I ask holding another parchment, it has the sketching of something I don't know and all that is written is 'still', the king looks up and says "Oh that, that is a 'still', it is meant to create a new type of drink that I call whiskey, we use barley for it but we can get to that later" The King goes back to the flamethrower.

"This flamethrower is something that I want to be set up in all the ships of the Royal fleet in five years, and they should all be completely functional and the crews should be well trained by then," He says with a sense of urgency, What is in five years that the King is desperate to have them? "Will you be able to do it?" The king asks me and I say "Yes, your grace I will be able to do it" A challenge is always nice.

"Good, but now we need to decide on what you will be called outside because it won't do to have you go around as the man making weapons for me, it will make you an obvious target" Agreed, I will most likely be killed within moments of people finding out that I am making weapons for the King.

"That is why you will have a new daytime job which will be your official job, you will be the Director of the Hospital of King's Landing" I have heard of this hospital, no doubt it will anger the Maesters but it will be leagues better in helping the people.

"Your job will be basically in charge of all the healers and everyone else in the hospital, and with your extensive knowledge in healing which I want you to teach the other healers and soon we will transform the Hospital to also being a place where future Healers come to learn their trade" Now this is even better, a chance to get back at the Citadel is not to be given up.

"I accept your grace, and I will be honored to work for you" I gladly tell the King,

The King smiles "Good, we will be doing great things Qyburn, great things that will change the future of Westeros"

Yes, indeed we will, your grace.

A King who believes that for knowledge sacrifices must be made, all for the greater good. Never thought that I would see that.

NOON

The King's Solar, Maegor's Holdfast

Red Keep, King's Landing

Jon Connington

I am not sure what to think of this new King Rhaegar, he is different from the Prince Rhaegar that I knew of, when I asked Richard all he said was that the pressure and stress of war were what changed him. This is all my fault if I had not lost at the Stoney Sept then my Prince would not have changed, although the King tried to absolve me of the blame, I will still hold that defeat to my heart.

"Jon, are you still going over that battle at Stoney Sept, How many times do I have to tell you to leave it be ?" The King brings me up out of my reverie and looks exasperated at me, I futilely try to deny "Um, No your grace" The King waves it off "Please, Jon I know you well enough" That's right he does know me better than I know myself.

"Alright I think it's time we had a little talk about this battle, and take it out of your chest," He says seriously, "You keep saying that you could have done better that day, so let me ask you what would you have done better"

I have thought about that since the moment I ran from the Stony Sept and finally, the answer I got was from Myles Toyne, the captain-general of the Golden Company, a mercenary group I nearly joined before I got my recall from exile,

"I would have burned down the entire town and everyone in it killing Robert Baratheon and making Eddard Stark and Hoster Tully run back home with pardons," I tell Rhaegar but he doesn't respond right away, but I know that he is not pleased.

"You think that would have worked," He asks me in an emotionless tone, I know that tone, it's the tone that he uses to show his displeasure at something. Oh no, Rhaegar is displeased with me, I need to do something "What would you have done my King, I mean that it's obvious that.. um. you would think that it won't work"

He doesn't say anything for a while, Please say something, anything even if you are upset with me, please say something, I hate the silent treatment,

"You would not have crushed the rebellion, Jon if you would have burned the town you would have just made things worse for us all" He finally speaks,

"How my King?" I ask him.

"If you had burned down the town, all you would have done was cause massive deaths amongst the smallfolk and shamed the Royal cause, and more lords would have gone over to the rebels in protest because remember you were at the time fighting for the Mad King and if you did burn down the town regardless of whether Robert escaped or not it would have emboldened the rebels to fight to the death, that is why I gave such generous terms to them, besides the Northern rebels were hoping that you had burned down the town and killed Robert" Northern rebels? Why would they want Robert dead?

"Why would the Northern rebels want me to kill Robert, my King?" I ask him

He simply chuckles "They were hoping for independence" Independence, those bastards.

"And that's not all if Robert had died, then the rebellion would have fractured and the Northerners and Valemen would have simply retreated home, and unless you have an amazing plan to capture either Moat Cailin or the Bloody Gate, then this war might have gone on forever"

Moat Cailin and the Bloody Gate, I forgot about that.

"So in the end, it was good that you lost, your defeat helped us know the real extent of rebel power and helped keep all the rebel eggs in one basket for me to destroy also remember there are lessons in defeat, and everything that happens to us happens for our good regardless of how it looks at the time"

My King, you are wiser than I would have ever thought.

"Now, why exactly did you come now, we have the Small Council meeting later today," He asked me looking at his parchments, Now this is something I don't want to ask but I have to ask "I have come to ask for your permission to marry Cersei Lannister, your grace"

He looked up and asked, "Did you say Cersei Lannister?"

I nod "Yes, your grace, Tywin came with an offer, and as your edict demands, I have come to ask for your permission" Now I know that Rhaegar doesn't like the Lannisters and he will most likely reject this but I can't go to Tywin and say I didn't try.

And unlike Rhaegar I am intimidated by him, How is Rhaegar not intimidated by Tywin Lannister?

"Why would you even accept such a proposal?" He asked me with narrowed eyes

"Your grace, Tywin said to me that if I had married his daughter then I would have the support of the West in keeping the peace in the Stormlands"

Rhaegar looked at me incredulously "Keeping the peace in the Stormlands or destroying what's left of it" I didn't quite understand "I don't understand your grace"

"House Connington's hold over the Stormlands is weak right now, and even if Summerhall will soon be built allowing you to have the direct support of the Crown, you need to reconcile with the rebel warlords, and knowing Tywin he will most likely antagonize the Stormlord's making them rebel against your authority thereby making you more dependent on him"

"I never saw it like that, your grace" This is Tywin Lannister, of course, he would have done something like this, I should have known.

"Well now you know, you can always tell Tywin that you would prefer to keep the peace in the Stormlands most preferably by marrying someone from the Stormlands" Rhaegar advises me. Yes, I should do that.

"And to add to that, tell him that I refused to give permits in the first place" He adds, Yes I should do that. "Thank you, your grace"

"Now how is the organization of the army going along with Lord Tarly," The King asks me and I quickly reply "Everything like you wanted your grace, the standard uniform is being placed for everyone like you have ordered along with that the standard-issue weapons and armor" The King nods "Good because soon they will be deployed"

The King has brought up a novel idea of maintaining a standing army to ensure the loyalty of the lords especially those in the rebelling areas. This is something that other kings ought to have even thought of but they didn't, even back when they had dragons they didn't. At least Rhaegar thought of it and is doing something about it.

I look over the details of the army one more time to ensure that everything is just like what Rhaegar wants.

The new uniform for the soldiers is a practical one in addition to intimidating.

Everyone at first is given a black gambeson and boots and over that, a full-sleeved mail hauberk made of riveted mail. l and over that, they will be given a black tabard with the Targaryen sigil and then a mail coif to cover their heads. And finally, to top it off they will be given a pot helm with a faceplate.

The lower ranks of the infantry will be given a kite shield, an eight-foot thrusting spear, and a mace or an ax for melee combat along with a dirk.

The upper ranks of the infantry will be distinguished by the fact that they will have spaulders on the shoulders and that they won't have kite shields but heater shields and they will be wielding arming swords.

The horsemen who aren't Knights will also have the same armor and weapons as that of the officers of the infantry except that they will be wearing Great helms instead along with a ten-foot-long lance and they will have two shields, one a buckler and the other a heater shield. And of course, instead of tabards, they will be given surcoats and mantles.

The Knights will also be having standard-issue plate armor complete with breastplates, pauldrons, couters, gorgets, vambraces, greaves, gauntlets, and tassets, and underneath it all riveted mail and a black gambeson.

As for the castles that will be used, well some will be constructed from scratch while others will be repurposed and expanded according to need.

The main headquarters of the army will be Fort Balerion which was the previous site of Fort Hollard, it will be built from the ground up as the Mad King had destroyed the castle, and the new fortress will be much larger than the old castle. It will be the largest castle of all the other castles built for the Army as it should be. It will also be the main training ground for the Army and the main recruitment center in the Crownlands.

Following that, it will be Fort Vhagar in the Dragon's Town which was previously known as Lord Harroway's Town, and as for this Fortress, all that Rhaegar said to the builders in charge when they asked for his opinion on how the fortress should look was that they go to the Twins and copy one of their castles. I have to admit that even if these Freys are good for nothing, the same can't be said about their castles, The Twins are indeed mighty impressive and nigh impregnable.

Then another Fort called Fort Meraxes was just a little distance away from Maidenpool, now this Fort will also be built from scratch, and of course, Lord Mooton was dy to acquiesce when Rhaegar asked him for land near Maidenpool for the Fortress and also help in the construction.

Following that was Fort Meleys, now this fort is located in Crackclaw Point, it will be built along the shore opposite of facing Dragonstone, at first we thought of using the Whispers but it turned out to be wholly unsuitable for the task of holding an army when it was falling into the sea.

Dragonstone will also be a main Fortress, though its focus will be less on the Army and more on the Fleet.

Then there are new acquisitions of the Vale, Dragon's Lair previously known as Heart's Home, which will soon be the residence of Prince Viserys, why Rhaegar decided to honor those bloody Royces with a Royal marriage and a Prince as a squire in addition to everything else that House Arryn used to once hold, I will never know. Those people don't deserve Rhaegar's mercy.

Most important however will be the Three Sisters, which will not only be a new holdout for the Crown in the Vale but also serve as a launch point for any Royalist invasion of the North, straight up the White Knife through White Harbor and to Winterfell, from the stomach of the North to its heart.

And with this smuggler Davos who has been captured and with the King granting him clemency if he works with the Crown to rid the Three Sisters and other areas of all the pirates and smugglers that he has been in contact with in his entire life as a smuggler. The main fortress, which used to be the castle of the now-extinct House Sunderland is Fort Caraxes.

Then finally will be Summerhall and the Fortress along with it, the Castle of Summerhall will be built on the base of the hill while the Fortress will be built on the mount and then both will be connected by curtain walls up and down the length of the hill thereby making the entire hillside a defensive structure.

Summerhall will be given to Rhaegar's son Maekar, at first I was apprehensive about the Stark girl's child becoming a Prince but Rhaegar made it quite clear that his son was to be treated as any other Prince and he made an example out of it by personally ripping the tongues of the fools that called Maekar a bastard despite being warned not to. After knowing what Rhaegar would do for his son, I decided to accept Prince Maekar. The fortress on the mount will be called Fort Vermithor.

While most of these castles are yet being built, encampments will be built to house soldiers for the duration of construction

But that wasn't the end of it, Rhaegar decided to set up a permanent set of builders who will be working for the Army, setting up the Forts, camps, and of course, the siege weapons whenever needed, to add to that their will also be a group of healers in each Fort and all soldiers will be taught basic healing techniques for wounds that they might receive.

Then was what I would call Rhaegar's pet project in the Army, the Longbowmen, they proved their usefulness during the battle of the Trident, and Rhaegar was so impressed with them that he mandated that every Fort must have at least a hundred longbowmen and to encourage more Longbowmen in the Army, he has given them a higher wage compared to the other soldiers, then again being a Longbowman was no easy task, they have earned their high wages.

But his most important contribution to the Longbowmen would be his re-establishment of the Raven's Teeth, three hundred of the best Longbowmen in the Army would be stationed in the Red Keep itself just like how it was during the time of Bloodraven. They would all be armed with a weirwood Longbow that was gifted to the King by the Green Men from the Isle of Faces or at least that's what Ser Gerold tells me. Their Captain was a man chosen by Rhaegar, a man named Anguy who was decidedly better than the others.

"Your grace, everything seems to be in order," I tell Rhaegar "I shall be at the Small Council meeting in a few hours" He nods and I leave.

Now, this is a King worth serving.

EVENING

The King's Solar, Maegor's Holdfast

Red Keep, King's Landing

Gerold Hightower

It was another exhausting day in the Small Council when the King called me to his Solar, the very fact that it was an exhaustive day at the Small Council is a fine example of how productive we are, I sat on the Small Council for the Mad King and back then it was Tywin Lannister doing all the work while the rest of them were cozying up to the Mad King and making japes at Tywin's expense to make the King happy.

I think that Rhaegar has given us so much work, that no one has time to play politics and unlike the Mad King who will lose interest within a week, Rhaegar will be on your head until you do your job.

Now, this is why I let the Mad King die, for a worthy king.

"Ser Gerold, I wanted to talk to you about something, an idea of mine that I have been toying around for a while" The King has many ideas these days, most of which might work if given time.

"Yes, your grace, what might it be?" I ask the King, I know full well that he might say something that will change everything.

"The setting up of something I call the Royal Guard" I knew something like this would happen, he has been changing so I figured that it was only a matter of time before he did something to the Kingsguard.

"Your grace, do you intend on expanding the Kingsguard," I ask him, but I am not sure that expanding the Kingsguard would be a good idea. The Kingsguard is a sacred institution that has been unchanged for nearly three centuries and-

"I am not talking about the Kingsguard or even Knights for that matter" Thank the Gods, Wait if it's not Knights then what is it, before I ask the King, he answers

"They will not be Knights, for they shall be warriors, five hundred of them, fifty under each of the Kingsguard, and a hundred and fifty under my control and with my sons and brother leaving the Red Keep once they come of age, it will help in better protection for the Royal family and in times of war, they will be the spearhead"

I can see the benefits of having more men under the command of the Kingsguard as it will help in the protection of the Royal family, and with the family going off to Dragonstone, Summerhall, and the Dragon's Lair, this is just what might be needed.

Back during the time of King Daeron II when the Royal family was large, the Kingsguard struggled to protect everyone as everyone wasn't necessarily in the Red Keep.

But there are a few questions to be answered "Your grace, where will we find men of such loyalty that we can entrust them with the safety of the Royal family" Although I might know where to find them.

The King promptly answers "Dragonstone, Driftmark, and Crackclaw point"

Yes, these are the three places where the people will die for House Targaryen rather than betray them.

"The training for such men will be over two years to ensure the best combat ability and utter loyalty" I agree with that, two years of hard training will be needed to make soldiers of the quality defend the Royal family, so I ask "The Kingsguard will be involved in training them" The King nods.

I ponder over this new development and I find myself agreeable to such an idea.

An elite set of warriors, utterly loyal to House Targaryen, who will be the personal and ceremonial guards for the Royal family and at the same time will work in close association with the King's military maneuvers.

I ask the King the final questions that I have "What kind of warriors do you intend your grace to form the Royal Guard?"

The King is silent for a moment before answering "Halberdiers"