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Ser Willis is a kind man. He will not only protect her, he will care for her. He'll console her. He'll play with her. All of that, she knows. But Ser Willis isn't her father. Jaehaera doesn't fully understand why she cannot follow him on their escape. But she knows enough. While people claim she is a lackwit, she understands enough not to ask questions.
Questions would sadden her father.
And they wouldn't change a thing.
She cannot follow him because she is her father's child.
Maelor cannot follow their father, or her, because he is their father's child, their father's son and heir.
Jaehaerys is gone.
Taken to the Gods because of the horrible men who came to her room and broke her mother's mind by killing him in front of her after making her choose between her boys. They killed the one she didn't choose.
Her father doesn't want them seperated but he doesn't have a choice. Kings don't have many choices anyway. These mean people knew meaner people. They could use them like they did Jaehaerys to hurt him, to force him to do things he doesn't want. Fathers don't abandon their children, so everyone will think he took his babies with him. Her father is smart. But the idea is also very sad.
Jaehaera refuses to cry.
She is a princess.
She is King Aegon II's only daughter.
She's the future King Maelor I's only sister.
Maybe she'll even be his wife one day, but she may already be a bit too old for him. She's six years her oldest after all.
She will obey her father, as good daughters do, and she will follow Ser Willis without complaint. She'll be kind, obedient, and brave.
As brave as her mother was when she told the mean men to kill her instead of her children.
As brave as her father when he separates from them despite loving them so much, because he loves them so much he needs to send them away for their safety.
Her lips still shake when she kisses him goodbye.
His own shake too.
But she will be brave.
Because she is her parents' daughter.
