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Rhaelle prays silently to the Mother and hopes she is shown some of the Her famous mercy. Her own mother, and father too, were sitting across from her. Queen Betha looked unsure of what to do while her husband wasn’t even looking at Rhaelle - King Aegon’s eyes were on Edwyle.
“Are you sure you wish to wed this man?” Mother asks for the hundredth time, sounding just as Shaera did when her sister asked the very same question.
“Yes, mother,” Rhaelle answers firmly. “I love him, truly.”
Edwyle takes a moment from looking slightly fearful of her father to smile gratefully. Their moment does not last long, however.
“Is it appropriate for you to wed again so soon after Ormund’s unfortunate passing?” King Aegon wonders aloud, trying to sound casual but strong at the same time.
Thinking of her late husband still hurt Rhaelle’a heart some. Ormund and she had never loved each other but had grown fond of their life together and having Steffon brought them even closer together. Yet, half a year ago, when their son was only a few moons old, Ormund had had a hunting accident and had gotten an infection that no maester could cure.
Rhaelle missed him, of course, but she knew that if she were gone and he had the chance to wed the one he loved she would wish for him to do it in a heartbeat.
“Ormund would want me to be happy, unlike you, apparently,” Rhaelle tells her father, raising her chin high. She was still a Targaryen and a princess, no matter how many times she wed.
Her mother looked stern at her talking back but that was when her father broke. Aegon wished for the happiness of those he loved more than anything. “I pray every night that you are happy, Rhaelle. You must know this.”
“Edwyle makes me happy, father,” Rhaelle urges, taking the King’s hand. “And he cares deeply for Steffon.”
Steffon, her precious son who soon would see his first nameday. Rhaelle knew that if she did go to live with Edwyle, Steffon would have to stay behind. She trusted Ormund’s young brother, Harbert well enough though and knew he would do the best he could by her boy.
It took a little more convincing and a promise to wait a little longer before wedding, but by the end of the night Rhaelle knew that one day, relatively soon, she would wed Edwyle, the man she truly loved.
Rhaelle was to be wed twice, technically. Once before the Seven and the Faith in the Great Sept of Baelor and a second time in the godswood of the Red Keep. Edwyle had said perhaps his men of the North may think they should wed in front of Winterfell’s own heart tree.
Instead of worrying about that though, Rhaelle focuses on her wedding feast. She sits at the high table, her parents as King and Queen on one side and Edwyle on the other.
Her name was now Rhaelle Stark. She thought it sounded better than any of Shaera’s beloved poems.
Said sister was dancing with some knights and lords on the floor, including their brothers and cousins, not Jaehaerys though. Jaeh wasn’t feeling terribly well and sat off to the side talking to some men of the council, seemingly unbothered by the fact his younger sister was getting married again.
Rhaelle hasn’t ever understood her brother though and supposes there isn’t much point trying to now.
At the other side of the hall, Daeron sat beside his betrothed, Bethany, who was bouncing Steffon in her knee. Rhaelle knew that Daeron was to wed the elder Redwyne girl but Lord Redwyne saw how hesitant Daeron was and wished to wed his beloved eldest girl, Olenna, to the future Lord of Highgarden, who once Shaera was promised to.
Rhaelle thinks it also has something to do with Lords Tyrell and Redwyne not much liking her family after Shaera broke one betrothal and Daeron was jumping around another.
But Daeron was to wed Bethany because just as Daeron preferred men, Bethany did women. (The only reason Rhaelle knew as much was because Daeron was the sibling she was closest to as a child and Bethany used to be her handmaiden.) She thought it was an appropriate match.
Though neither would ever love the other, Rhaelle thinks Daeron and Bethany look a pretty picture as they sit with Steffon, Bethany parting his wild hair and Daeron trying to feed him. Bethany laughed at something Daeron said and Rhaelle cannot help but smile.
“Is something funny?” Edwyle asks, clearly amused.
“I’m simply proud of my match-making skills,” Rhaelle tells him, nodding to her younger brother. Her husband - wasn’t that odd to think! - smiles lovingly at her before going back to speaking with his sister, Jocelyn and her husband.
Rhaelle turns to her side when she hears her mother’s familiar voice. “Are you enjoying yourself, Rhaelle?” Queen Betha asks, minding not at all the way young Aerys was fussing with her ever-so-slightly greying curls.
“Yes, mother. Thank you for helping me plan this.”
“Shaera let me have no part in hers, as you’ll know. Of course, I didn’t actually know she and Aerys were wedding... but that is neither here nor there. This is your day, my darling. May your life with Edwyle last longer than the one you and Ormund shared.”
Her mother leans over to kiss her forehead, as though she were a girl again. “I love you, mother.”
“I love you even more, my darling.” Rhaelle cannot even begin to imagine how much she shall miss her mother being so far away.
After many tearful goodbyes and a long, tiring journey North, Rhaelle, now rather heavy with child, finally arrives at her new home. Winterfell is more beautiful than Edwyle said and far colder than he warned. Her husband seems right at home though.
He greets his people and speaks with some lords and ladies, introduces Rhaelle to his mother and her aunt, Melantha, who couldn’t come to the wedding due to her failing health. She is pleased to be having a grandchild soon though, and says she cannot wait to get to know Rhaelle.
Almost as soon as all this is done and Rhaelle has settled in her new chambers and has been given a quick tour of the main castle - that part alone is bigger than the Red Keep, which very much surprises her - Edwyle tells her he is going down to the crypts.
He looks so solemn when he speaks about that, Rhaelle sees, and yet he seems comfortable too. For Edwyle and Starks in general, it seems, death isn’t a thing to fear because they shall be reunited with their loved and lost ones soon enough. One day her husband shall lie in the cold stone tombs like his ancestors.
Edwyle promises to take her down there one day, after their child is born. Rhaelle doesn’t know if she is more excited or terrified.
Though the maester was certain they were having a boy, it is a girl Rhaelle births on the last day of the two hundred and forty-sixth year after Aegon’s Conquest.
She has eyes like lilacs and dark, curling hair and within her first week of life many lords and ladies speak of betrothal between her and one of their sons.
Rhaelle and Edwyle dismiss them for the time being and pick the name Jorelle for their girl. “We will have more children,” Rhaelle promises, solemn as any Stark, “a son or two.”
“I care not for a son. Jorelle is my pride and joy,“ Edwyle insists.
Even so, Rhaelle is with child again soon enough and this time the child she births is a boy, a year after Jorelle. His eyes are a darker purple than his elder sisters but his hair the same wild mess. They decide to name him Rickard, a good and strong Northern name.
They make sure to treat Jonelle and Rickard as equally as they can and their children are close as twins. Not too close though, Rhaelle doesn’t wish to raise another Jaeh and Shaera.
Their family grows even more in three years after Rhaelle births twins, a girl and a boy. Serena and Beron are the prettiest babes she has seen, both with delicate and sharp Valyrian features, such as their high cheekbones. True, they have their elder siblings’ dark, un-combable hair but they’re smaller and not so broad (one difference between them is that Beron’s eyes are the colour of storms, Serena’s a purple tinted with grey).
All four of her children are healthy, though, and that’s all Rhaelle can think to care about.
Due to just giving birth to twins, Rhaelle cannot travel to Kings Landing for Daeron and Bethany’s wedding but she sends gifts and wishes them her best. Not only does she get a letter back from her younger brother but also her son.
Steffon, now seven, is learning to write and his handwriting is as terrible as hers once was, as Ormund’s always was. He writes that he is so pleased to hear he has younger siblings and hopes to one day meet them, he speaks of how soon he shall foster in the capital and is friends with Duncan and Jenny’s and Jaeh and Shaera’s children, his cousins.
Rhaelle decides that for Steffon’s tenth nameday she shall visit him and cannot wait for that day. She wonders what he looks like, what he acts like, if he shall even recognise her at all.
A year before her visit to see her son, she gets awful news from the capital. Jaeh was dead. Jaehaerys, her spoiled, seemingly-perfect, cold and distant brat of a brother was dead. Rhaelle hadn’t ever gotten along with or even terribly liked Jaeh, preferring Daeron’s company, but she never wished for him to die.
It was mother who wrote to her, informing her of the news. Shaera was distraught, of course, but father just as much which surprised Rhaelle as it did her mother. King Aegon loved his family to the point of foolishness and would do anything for them but he had gotten along least with Jaeh, whose personality was practically the opposite from their cheerful, welcoming, accepting father.
Mother writes that Jaeh died peacefully in his sleep and her father is regretting so much that wasn’t his fault. Father has always been so good at taking the blame for things out of his control though, so Rhaelle isn’t all that surprised.
Rhaelle writes that she shall come for the funeral and decides to bring Jorelle and Rickard. At least they might meet Steffon, and their cousins... that gets her thinking of the new heir to the throne.
With Jaeh gone that means his son Aerys is heir to the throne and shall rule Westeros when her own father is gone. Rhaelle doesn’t know much of her nephew, who was only just older than Steffon at nine, but she remembers he was quite a brat as a babe and according to Daeron’s letters, he still was much the same.
Perhaps Daeron was just japing, as he was wont to do? Rhaelle wasn’t sure but supposed she should write to her brother about it anyway.
Speaking of Daeron, it would be so brilliant to see him once again, even if it were under tragic circumstances. Her younger brother was a new father and wrote constantly of his son, Baenar, as though the gods crafted him especially. Daeron wrote of his son’s sand coloured skin and auburn hair and handsome eyes the colour of plum.
Rhaelle could only be happy Daeron was so enjoying married life. His friendship with Bethany also seemed to be improving, even if she were no Ser Jeremy.
Duncan and Jenny often wrote too and briefly spoke of a betrothal between Jorelle and their eldest son, Durand, but nothing more had come of it as the decided to wait until the children grew at least a little. Duncan already had five children with his beloved Jenny and Rhaelle had only met two of them, which was unfortunate.
Also, she hadn’t seen her father in so long. Everyone used to say that if her father was in one of his bad moods, rare as they were, only she could get him out of them.
Rhaelle would also see her mother again. Betha Blackwood was one of her greatest friends and it felt odd to raise a family without her mother being a constant presence in her grandchildrens’ lives.
Though she couldn’t be glad of Jaeh’s death, Rhaelle was pleased she had an excuse to see her family again, especially her eldest son.
Rhaelle thanks the gods, Old and New, for the blessed life they had given her and that, whether he ends up, they protect Jaeh as best they can. Promise me, she thinks, for Shaera if not for me; she always prays, day and night. Look after her and Aerys, who shall need help in his reign, and Rhaella, who was named for me and is too sweet for your world.
Jaehaerys’ funeral is as somber as her brother was while he lived. The Targaryen banners hang all around the throne room and there are many candles lit. Ser Duncan, the elder, stands vigil alongside Daeron. Duncan, their brother, may have been the one to take their place, as the elder brother, but he has never been a knight.
At least it gives Rhaelle an excuse to speak to him. Duncan tells her that Jaeh had been growing pale as an ice dragon in his last days and in his will left most things to his son, as was expected, but he also left some things for his girl, which made Rhaelle smile.
Another thing, that wiped the smile from her face, was Jaeh’s final wish: for his son and daughter to wed. Rhaelle, upon hearing this, cannot help but turn to look at Prince Aerys, the heir to the Seven Kingdoms, who was standing with her Steffon, and didn’t look anything like the heir to the Iron Throne should. He is only a boy, she remembers, one who lost his father.
And then she looks to his sister. Princess Rhaella was as pale as Jaeh was and is just as small and quiet. While Jaeh’s quiet often had cunning behind it, Rhaelle suspected the same was not true for his daughter.
Rhaelle eventually goes over to Shaera, who looks as distraught as Rhaelle might have guessed. “Thank you for travelling so far,” her sister says once they have embraced.
As girls they were never close, Rhaelle always with Daeron and Shaera with Jaeh or Duncan, but they had always looked out for each other. Now both had lost a husband. “I wouldn’t ever miss this. Jaehaerys and I never got along well but I loved him greatly.”
Shaera nods, tears in her bright eyes. She looks brave though, despite her wet eyes. Rhaelle reaches over and squeezes Shaera’s hand in her own.
“You are welcome to visit Winterfell, if ever court becomes too much for you.”
Her elder sister nods, looking proud and strong, like the queen she shall never be. “I hope to see your home one day.”
Rhaelle spends the rest of the day with her children and is happy to see how well Steffon and Rickard get along, just like Jorelle and her cousin Rhaella. She wonders what Edwyle would say if she asked to foster Rickard in the south. No doubt the answer would be a sympathetic no.
The morning after a feast celebrating Jorelle’s tenth nameday and her betrothal to the Bolton heir, Rydan - which had been risky and slightly argued against but it was needed to make peace between their families - a raven comes from the capital. The maester gives Rhaelle the letter and instantly she recognises her sister’s elegant writing.
Shaera starts by congratulating Jorelle’s betrothal and sends a package containing presents for her niece. She also sends another gift, one from young Rhaella. Jorelle will be pleased, no doubt.
Rhaelle reads on to find something that shocks her to no end. Shaera was to wed again, to Lord Ulson Dayne - who was their cousin, through Ulson being Aunt Rhae’s eldest son - who she is apparently in love with. Father and Mother have agreed to the match and she would like for Rhaelle to come down for the wedding and to bring her children too because Shaera has only met the eldest two.
“What is it?” Edwyle asks, nodding towards the letter she is holding tightly.
“Shaera. She is to marry Lord Dayne and would like for us all to join her,” Rhaelle tells him, already thinking of the awfully long journey to Kings Landing again, with the younger children too...
“All of us?” At Rhaelle’s nod, he closes his eyes, seemingly thinking hard. “There must always be a Stark in Winterfell. I shall accompany you, of course. Jorelle can get to know her cousin Rhaella, perhaps. And it shall be good for Rickard to meet his fellow heirs; your Steffon, Prince Aerys, Prince Doran and Tywin Lannister are all within his age range, the Tully boy a little older, it’ll be good for him to make allies with them.
“The twins cannot stay here on their own. Yet, a Stark must stay.”
Rhaelle thinks for a moment. “Your mother?”
“That is a good idea actually. I shall speak with her about it,” Edwyle nods, not looking so worried anymore.
Going back to the capital is much better now that she isn’t here for Jaeh’s funeral and Edwyle is here (his mother did indeed stay at Winterfell, a Stark in name if not blood but none would point that out to the fierce Melantha).
Jorelle befriends Princess Rhaella and Joanna Lannister and speaks with young Yohn Royce for the first time. Rickard spends much of his spare time with Steffon, Aerys and Tywin Lannister, whose mother had been a friend of Rhaelle’s.
Serena falls in love with the songs and music of the court and Rhaelle wonders where she gets it from. Even Beron, serious and distant, enjoys the capital and the heat that comes with it.
For her part, Rhaelle will always love the place where she grew up even if she doesn’t miss the gossip and rumours and schemes. She has missed her family though and is happy to spend time with them again.
Duncan and Jenny are as in love as ever before and their five children are beautiful and sweet, clearly not raised in court but indeed in Duncan’s little home in Oldtown. Daeron and his Bethany had a strong kinship now and the births of their two children have brought them closer.
The bride herself, Shaera, seems happier than Rhaelle had seen her in a long time. Ulson Dayne is a handsome and charming - like a knight from Shaera’s songs - and treats Shaera like a true queen and her children like his own.
Rhaelle gives him a little speech on never hurting her sister and so on and, though he often seems joyful and carefree, Ulson is solemn when he swears to never hurt her.
The wedding is a beautiful occasion and the wine the sort you can only get in Dorne. Ulson dances with Rhaella, which makes Rhaelle beam and tears go to Shaera’s eyes. Aerys too seems to at least sort of like his step-father and, as far as Rhaelle can tell, is kind enough to his sister and future bride.
Father grins as he dances with Shaera and Rhaelle smiles at seeing the two together - Shaera had admitted she once was jealous of Rhaelle’s easy relationship with their father, so it is nice to see them get along.
By the time Rhaelle has been wed to Edwyle for twenty-and-five years, Jorelle is married to Rydan Bolton, and is a beautiful woman and has somehow managed to win the Bolton over and their boy, Roose, is cold and distant even at twelve but is respectful and intelligent - still, Rhaelle thinks they should watch out for him.
Their son Rickard is a true Northern heir and adored by his future people, has the respect of those who one day shall be his bannermen and he is utterly in love with his wife Lyarra. Their four children Brandon, Eddard, Lyanna and Benjen, are all darling children who Rhaelle loves with all her heart. She sees much of her siblings in them too; Duncan in Brandon, Jaehaerys in Ned, Shaera in Lyanna and Daeron in Benjen.
Serena has grown wiser than a maester and as good at singing and dancing as any Southron lady, and has been wed to Yohn Royce for a while now, given him an heir in young Andar, and Robar and Waymar, all handsome sons Serena speaks highly of.
Their youngest, Beron, has grown to be much like Daeron - brave, loyal, generous and a brilliant swordsman - but he is quite happy to wed a woman, the pretty, young Alana Karstark. He and Alana have their daughter, Lansa, who is spoiled rotten by, well, everyone. Beron lives in a nice little house in White Harbour with his small family and is truly happy.
Too-far away in the Stormlands, Steffon had wed Cassana Estermont. Their sons, Robert and Stannis are as different as Dorne and the North but gods, Rhaelle loves them so much. Over the years, Steffon has made as many visits as he could to Winterfell, as has Cassana and Shaera and her parents. Rhaelle missies her son everyday but it helps to think that he is safe and sound, ruling the Stormlands brilliantly.
Also along the way fierce and gentle Melantha passed in her sleep, which broke the hearts of the entire North but they have been working on their grief. In better news, Edwyle has been sending support to the Wall and is as loved by his people as ever; the North’s relationship with the rest of Westeros is better than ever.
She and Edwyle are happy as can be and Winterfell has really become her home. Rhaelle wonders how she could ever have not lived here with him (not that she was unhappy with Ormund... but they never loved each other). Edwyle’s hair and beard are greying and Rhaelle isn’t so fast with her riding now, their age clearly catching up on them.
And Rhaelle is quite happy with how her life turned out.
As for the rest of her family; Aerys and Rhaella have wed and had their first three children, Rhaegar, Shaena and Daeron. In Dorne, Shaera and Ulson have had three Dayne children, all beautiful and handsome as true dragon lords; Arren, Arthur and Ashara.
Duncan and Jenny have had another child, making their number six, though Rhaelle hasn’t met the babe, Haelenna. And Daeron and Bethany have their three children, all dark-red hairier and freckled, or so Mother writes, and are living happily in Summerhall.
As for her parents they are doing quite well. Father has managed to win over any lords who might have been unsure of him - which was in no part due to the fact he had marriage ties to Starks, Baratheons, Arryns, Redwynes and Tyrells through them. It also helped that he had many a grandchildren that might be used for marriage ties.
Mother was doing well too, and wrote to Rhaelle as much as she could. Queen Betha was nearing her seventieth year and couldn’t simply ride up to Winterfell, nor could Rhaelle visit Kings Landing all the time. They both had duties to attend to. Rhaelle missed her mother, though, and hoped they could see each other again soon.
Not that Rhaelle didn’t love Winterfell and her family up North. In fact, she loved this life she had and wouldn’t change it for the world.