At the close of the sixty-third year of the Conquest, as the empire looked toward the New Year and the future, Emperor Aegon II laid out yet another grand vision for the Targaryen realm.
He had already built a massive emergency granary for mankind, and had carefully established reservoirs near King's Landing. Now, his gaze turned beyond the capital, surveying the boundless plains stretching from the Dornish Marches to Brandon's Gift, the towering mountain ranges, and the marshes scattered in between.
"My lords," the Emperor solemnly declared to the Small Council, "as the Queen and I rode Ghidorah and Silverwing across the skies, we looked down from the clouds and saw cities and castles, hills and swamps, the surging rivers, lakes, and streams.
We saw markets and fishing villages, ancient forests, mountains, wildlands, and pastures. We saw vast flocks of sheep and fields of ripening wheat, the ruins of old battlefields, toppled towers, and graveyards with their Sept.
The Seven Kingdoms are breathtaking—but do you know what I did not see?"
The Emperor struck the table sharply, his face grave.
"Post stations! I did not see a single proper post station.
At low altitudes I might spot a scattered inn or two, perhaps a small roadside market along the Kingsroad, but nowhere did I see a proper royal station.
We need post stations! Only with a broad network of stations across the realm can we build an efficient system of logistics—one that will truly unite our lands and ease the flow of people and goods."
Thus, the great post station project was formally decreed at the Red Keep. The endeavor would continue throughout Aegon's long reign, until the glorious era of seamless logistics he envisioned was at last achieved.
With the Emperor's postal initiative underway, other major works soon followed across the Seven Kingdoms—repairs and extensions to the Roseroad, the Ocean Road, the River Road, and the Goldroad. Though the construction of stations and the rebuilding of roads demanded enormous cost, the prosperity of the realm bore it well.
The newly appointed Master of Coin, Martyn Tyrell, proved both capable and accomplished, his record rivaling even that of the famed "Lord of the Air."
Over the decades that followed, the roads stretched mile after mile, and post stations sprang up like mushrooms after rain, set at measured intervals along the highways.
"He bound the lands together, uniting the Seven Kingdoms as one."
So read the inscription upon the pedestal of the statue of "Aegon II the Emperor" in the new Citadel at Harrenhal.
Perhaps the Seven themselves smiled upon his works, for they granted Emperor Aegon II and Queen Alysanne more children. In the sixty-fourth year of the Conquest, they welcomed their seventh child, a fourth son, whom they named Vaegon.
A year later came their daughter Daenaera. Three years after that, Princess Saera was born, her little face flushed red as her first cries rang strong and loud.
Not long after Princess Saera's birth, in the sixty-ninth year of the Conquest, the Emperor and Empress announced the betrothal of their eldest son, Prince Jaehaerys of Dragonstone, to Jocelyn Baratheon of Sunspear.
Their eldest daughter, Princess Daenerys, resisted entering marriage so young. She had heard how her father once climbed the Long Steps of the Gods on the Valyrian Peninsula, where he received the blessing of the Elder of Valyria.
The adventurous Princess Daenerys petitioned her father for leave to journey to the peninsula and seek the Elder's blessing herself. The Emperor granted her wish.
Soon after, the royal couple turned their minds to the marriage of their second son. For a time they considered a match between Aemon and their eldest daughter Alyssa, but Queen Alysanne set the notion aside.
"Alyssa belongs with Baelon," she told the Emperor. "She has been at his side since she first learned to walk..."
Two years later, in the seventy-first year of the Conquest, Jaehaerys and Jocelyn wed in a grand ceremony as splendid as the "Golden Wedding."
Jocelyn, sixteen, was hailed throughout the realm as a great beauty—long-legged, full-bosomed, with thick raven-dark hair falling to her waist. Her groom, Prince Jaehaerys, was just fifteen, a year her junior, yet all agreed they were a match made in heaven.
Jocelyn stood five feet eleven inches tall, a height that would shame most lords of Westeros—yet the Prince of Dragonstone still stood three inches above her.
"They are the shining promise of the realm's future," Ser Gyles Morrigen said in wonder, watching the dark-haired beauty and silver-haired prince side by side.
In the seventy-second year of the Conquest, the Emperor and Empress welcomed yet another daughter—the Queen's tenth child and sixth daughter—the beautiful and enchanting Viserra.
Though the four children of King Aegon II and Queen Alysanne were born over the span of a decade, they were astonishingly different in both character and appearance, despite sharing the same mother.
Prince Vaegon stood in stark contrast to his three elder brothers, as different as night and day. He was taciturn, reserved by nature, and so intensely sensitive that the other children—and indeed many nobles of the court—found him difficult to like. He was not a coward, yet he had little interest in the rough games of the squires and cupbearers, nor in the heroic tales of his father's knights. He adored reading, preferring the quiet of the library to the clamor of the training grounds.
Princess Daenaera was a year younger than Vaegon. She was frail and timid, easily frightened, prone to tears, and still unable to speak by the time she was nearly two. Even as she grew older, her speech remained halting. Her elder sister Maegelle was her guiding light, while her mother, Queen Alysanne, was her idol. Yet she feared her other sister, Alyssa, and would blush and flee at the sight of her brothers.
Princess Saera was born three years later and proved exceedingly difficult to care for from infancy. She had a fiery temper, a stubborn will, and a defiant nature. The first word she learned to speak was "no," and from then on "no" became her constant refrain, shouted daily with force. Even after turning four, she refused to be weaned. Though she could run freely throughout the castle and spoke more words than her brother Vaegon and sister Daenaera combined, she still clamored for her mother's milk. If the Empress sent a wet nurse, Saera would fly into a rage, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"By the Seven," Queen Alysanne murmured to Regalus one night, "watching her, I see my sister Rhaena."
Saera Targaryen was willful and demanding, craving attention so intensely that she grew sullen whenever it was denied.
The youngest, Princess Viserra, had a mind of her own. She never made a fuss and rarely shed tears. The words "cunning" and "conceited" fit her perfectly. Men universally agreed she possessed breathtaking beauty: the deep violet eyes of true Targaryen blood, silver-gold hair, porcelain-white skin, and features exquisitely delicate and alluring. Yet she carried a mature, womanly air far beyond her years, unsettling to those around her. A stammering young attendant once called her a goddess descended from heaven, and she accepted the praise with delight.
...
Also in the year 72 of the Conquest, to celebrate the marriage of young Lord Darklyn to the daughter of Theomore Manderly, a grand tournament was held at Duskendale.
Prince Jaehaerys had returned to Essos. Thus, the two elder princes entered the tournament, bringing their sister Alyssa with them. In the squires' melee, Prince Aemon wielded a warhammer to defeat his younger brother and ultimately claimed victory. He then excelled in the joust, earning knighthood for his outstanding performance at just seventeen years of age.
Overjoyed at his new title, Prince Aemon mounted his dragon Caraxes and took to the skies for the first time. This crimson dragon was the fiercest among the younger generation of House Targaryen's dragons. The dragonkeepers who tended the Dragonpit knew its nature well and nicknamed it "Blood Wyrm."
...
In the North, the seventy-second year of the Conquest marked the end of an era. Lord Alaric Stark of Winterfell passed away suddenly. Both of his strong sons had preceded him in death, leaving his grandson Edric as Warden of the North.
In the seventy-third year of the Conquest, Queen Regent Rhaena passed away on Dragonstone. The realm plunged into mourning. Rhaena had earned the nation's gratitude for her crucial role in the War of the Monsters and the War of the White Walkers, and grand funeral rites were held across the land.
Aegon himself presided over his mother's burial, knowing that throughout his long life he would witness the passing of many loved ones. Though Rhaena's soul had been gathered into the Emerald Dream, Aegon could not suppress a thread of sorrow and melancholy.
...
Year 74 of the Conquest.
The gossipmongers at court often said Prince Baelon was like Prince Aemon's shadow, mimicking his brother's every action and destination. And indeed, this was true. "Brave" Baelon followed in his brother's path to knighthood, achieving it a full year earlier. When Aemon attained knighthood at seventeen, Baelon resolved to do so by sixteen.
He traveled across the Reach to Old Oak, joining the seven-day tournament hosted by Lord Oakheart to celebrate his son's birth. The young prince disguised himself as the mysterious knight known as the "Silver Fool." He unhorsed Lord Rowan, Ser Alyn Ashford, the Fossoway twins, and Ser Denys, heir to House Oakheart, before finally being defeated by Ser Rickard Redwyne.
Ser Rickard helped him to his feet, removed his mask, then commanded him to kneel before knighting him on the spot. After the evening banquet, Prince Baelon spurred his horse back to King's Landing, racing straight for the Dragonpit.
Refusing to live forever in his brother's shadow, he had long since chosen his future mount: the famed dragon Vhagar. Since the death of Queen Visenya, no one had dared ride the mighty beast for over thirty years. Now, spreading its wings and roaring to the heavens, it carried "the Spring Prince" straight into the clouds.
Soaring over Blackwater Bay, they arrived at Dragonstone, delivering a grand surprise to his brother Aemon and his dragon Caraxes.
...
"The Mother in Heaven has been exceedingly gracious to me, her blessings granting me many wise and beautiful children."
In the seventy-fourth year of the Conquest, Queen Alysanne announced that her daughter Maegelle would enter the Faith as a novice.
"It is my duty to offer a child to the Mother."
Princess Maegelle, only ten years old, joyfully took her vows as a Septa. A naturally quiet and studious girl, it was said she read the Sevenstar Scripture every night before bed.
No sooner had this child left the Red Keep than another new life was born, the Mother's blessings upon Alysanne Targaryen seemingly unending.
That same year, Queen Alysanne gave birth to her eleventh child. The infant boy was named Gaemon, in honor of the head of House who had valiantly fallen resisting Volantis before the War of Conquest.
Alas, he was born prematurely. The long and arduous labor drained the Queen's strength, and the maesters feared for her life. Gaemon was frail and undersized, barely half the weight his elder brother Vaegon had been at birth ten years earlier.
Though the Queen recovered, the boy's vitality waned steadily. In the third month of his life, as young Gaemon lay on the brink of death, Regalus once again demonstrated his miraculous power.
The Emperor extracted one of his own kidneys, fashioned it into a seed of life, and implanted it within Prince Gaemon, miraculously saving the fragile young child.