Rhaegor could not explain his wife's dream, and Dragonzel did not answer his son's question. He only told his son that the dream foretold something good, which put both Rhaegor and Daniela at ease.
The facts quickly proved that Dragonzel's prophetic prediction was quite accurate. Daniela had been very apprehensive when giving birth to Daenerys, but her second delivery was exceptionally smooth. Serena and Lady Helena, who had rushed to help, hadn't even had time to prepare the things normally needed for childbirth to prevent accidents, when Daniela smoothly gave birth to a boy.
A beautiful boy who opened his eyes as soon as he was born.
He also had heterochromia; his left eye inherited his grandfather's deep purple, but his right eye surprised everyone, as its color had never appeared in the family before.
It was a brilliant gold.
The child even giggled when he saw his grandfather. Dragonzel was not ambiguous; once the child was a bit older, he kept him by his side, raising him with Diana.
It wasn't favoritism or anything; all of the Varezes family's third generation were raised by Dragonzel. The elderly Diana also particularly liked young children.
Dragonzel personally named the child "Igor."
Igor Varezes, in the High Valyrian accent commonly used by the Targaryen family, is "Aegon Varezes."
During these peaceful years, the Varezes family's population slowly expanded.
Helena, Jacaerys's wife, safely gave birth to her and Jacaerys's son a year ago, a boy with azure eyes and light golden hair. Rhaegor named this boy Osiris Varezes. He was also the third boy of the Varezes family's third generation. Soon after, Dan and Valenna's eldest son was also born, and this little boy, named Damion, was equally loved by the elders.
However, the Varezes family could support so many children, and each child even had specific duties. For example, while Jacaerys and Dan assisted their elder brother, they also held responsibilities for important military strongholds of the Varezes family.
Jacaerys was responsible for guarding the three fortresses that controlled the Bone Road; the title "Key of the Bone Road" from Dragonzel's own titles now fell to him. Dan was nominally the commander of the Silver Fleet, though he knew nothing about naval warfare.
But he had a dragon.
That was enough.
Orion was nominally given the title of "Commander of Princes Pass," responsible for the management of the pass established at Princes Pass.
But...
Boys, boys, boys.
The Varezes family could afford this, but that didn't mean other families could. The second and youngest sons of the Borderland Principality's nobles could join the Silver Blood Army or study at the Citadel in Silver Crown City. The Borderland Principality still had ample demand for Scholars.
But this did not mean that lords and minor nobles from other regions could.
The two major Dorne territories, which suffered heavy losses in the war that year, might still be able to absorb these newborn children, but other territories might not. And those who lost land or had their territories greatly reduced during the chaotic Dance of the Dragons found their lives increasingly difficult.
They needed an outlet for their frustrations.
King Aegon actually knew this, but he yearned more for peace and stability, so he tried his best to maintain the delicate balance within the Realm. But balances are meant to be broken; someone had to step forward to reshape a new balance.
King Aegon was unwilling to be that person.
He no longer had the energy to be that person.
Queen Samantha had been bedridden since giving birth to Baelor. King Aegon dedicated almost all his energy to caring for his wife, entrusting state affairs to his Crown Prince Daeron.
Before that, the Targaryen family gained three new dragon knights.
Daeron's younger brother, Rhaegar Targaryen, successfully tamed Horn Tide, becoming the knight of this young dragon, and Princess Ilena's dragon egg also hatched in the same year—after Ilena's birth, Queen Samantha restored the tradition of House Targaryen placing dragon eggs in the children's cradles. Unfortunately, neither Ilena's nor Baelor's dragon eggs hatched while they were still in their cradles.
Fortunately, in the year Rhaegar Targaryen tamed Horn Tide, Ilena's platinum-gold egg with a streak of gold hatched a young dragon of the same coloring.
And Prince Aegon's younger brother, Ilion, this taciturn youth successfully tamed Vermax, bringing this dragon, which once belonged to the King, to King's Landing.
He would serve the King as a Royal Dragon Knight.
King Aegon was helpless in the face of Queen Samantha's growing weakness; he had thought he would depart before his wife.
But unexpectedly, he was the one who fell first.
This year was 168 AL.
Dragonzel was sixty-two, Rhaegor forty-two, King Aegon forty-eight, and Crown Prince Daeron twenty-four.
The forty-eight-year-old King, as usual, resolved a cattle theft case in the Throne Room, sentencing a wandering knight who stole a plow ox to have his hand cut off—there were more and more wandering knights in the Realm, and they had no means of livelihood other than their swords, nor did lords have any interest in granting them land. The consequence was an increasing number of wandering knights, and also an increasing number of bandit knights.
But strangely, the increasing number of bandit knights ironically provided work for many wandering knights. They accepted employment from minor lords and villages, protecting their employers for a certain period, and some excellent knights, relying on their valor, even successfully gained a place with great lords, and even the King.
King Aegon tried to maintain balance; on one hand, he severely punished outlaw bandit knights, stripping them of their knightly titles and imposing heavy sentences, and on the other hand, he worked to coordinate land, settling a group of wandering knights, and actively employed another group of knights, either entering the court or serving as a royal army maintaining the peace of the Crownlands.
The King's Royal Guard of the Red Keep, the white cloaks, took this opportunity to expand considerably. The King would even organize a force composed of wandering knights specifically to deal with bandits in the Crownlands.
But no one expected that the King, who had been diligently handling a multitude of affairs that morning, would collapse on his way to Maegor's Holdfast after enjoying roasted meat and mead at noon.
The Scholars ruled out poisoning and performed emergency aid on the suddenly unconscious King.
Unfortunately, a forty-eight-year-old King was already considered an old man by Westeros's average age. Ultimately, Grand Maester Olford diagnosed the King with organ necrosis due to a sudden stroke.
The Scholars could not save a person close to death.
Black ravens brought black news, and the funeral bells, silent for over thirty years, rang again in King's Landing.
King Aegon II, who brought nearly forty years of peace and prosperity to the Realm, suddenly died of a stroke. His illness struck so suddenly that he left no last words.
But the Scholar attending the King recorded the King's last words before he suddenly lost consciousness.
It was "Samantha" in High Valyrian.
"People loved him," wrote Grand Maester Kas, who penned The Chronicles of Targaryen Kings, years later, in his assessment of King Aegon.
Aegon II of the Targaryen family, the Peace King, the Summer King, and the Just King. People never stinted on words of praise for him, because under his rule, the Realm was peaceful, prosperous, and stable, and the increasingly severe security problems were effectively alleviated—though it was a temporary solution. Moreover, long summers followed one after another, as if it were always high summer. Since the chaotic era of King Maegor I, this was the second such wonderful period in Westeros, with no internal wars and no long winters.
In the later period of his reign, even a farmer with only a small plot of land could fill their cellar with winter provisions, even drink their own brewed sour wine, and buy salt brought by merchants traveling on the well-connected Kingsroad.
Richer farmers and citizens could even frequently enjoy meat and spices.
No one did not miss this era, which was even better than the reign of Jaehaerys I.
After King Aegon's funeral, the increasingly frail Queen Samantha chose to seclude herself in the Black Palace, never leaving the palace again.
And Daeron, oh, he should be called King Daeron now, after his coronation, he swiftly flew to Harrenhal, where he summoned the lords.
He intended to convene a Great Council.
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