Song of the chapter: Good old days by Macklemore, Kesha
"Someday soon, your whole life's gonna change. You'll miss the magic of these good old days"

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8 years later

The soft sound of childlike giggles filled the huge chamber of the Queen Alicent. The now eight year old Alysanne was laughing herself into an early grave as she struggled to breathe under the weight of the young boy.

Her best friend, Aemond Targaryen, was towering above her as he tickled her sides, barely giving her a chance to breathe nevermind escape his grip.

"Okay, Aemond, we want her alive and breathing for her name day celebrations," Alicent says to her second youngest, but she does not bother concealing the smile on her face. Nobody else was inside the Queen's personal chambers, so they were free to be themselves. Alicent had sent out all the maids when she saw them throw suspicious glances at the overly affectionate children playing on her rug. She was not going to allow rumors to spread about her children at such a young age.

"Come now, my dear, the quests await," she announces quietly, holding out a hand to the young princess, who gladly skipped towards her Queen accepting her outstretched hand. And the three royals left the comforts of the chambers, with Ser Cristen Cole trailing behind them. As they grow nearer to the garden filled with people from all over, the young princess started growing nervous.

She was well aware all attention was going to be on her, but then again, she loved it. Even at such a young and naive age. She loved having everyone's eyes on her, the way people seemed to hold their breath when she entered a room, like they knew she could do either great things. It made her feel like the most important person in the room. And today she was.

Once they reached the garden, they were met by the rest of their royal family. Their titles were read one by one, starting with King Viserys I and the Queen Alicent, followed by his heir Rheanyra and her family, then the Queen's children Aegon, Aemond, and Healena with a very young Daeron clutching onto her hand. Aemond was the last one left beside the princess, turning towards the young girl one last time to give her a comforting smile. Not that she needed it, the realm loved her, and she had nothing to fear.

"And finally, we are all gathered here to celebrate the eighth name day of Princess Alysanne Royce-Targaryen."

The garden erupted in a round of applause as they finally set eyes on the princess. It was by no means a large celebration if it had to be compared to other royal events. But seeing as it was only her eighth name day, they had decided not to go full out. But the Castle's large garden was still filled with nobles. Only from houses the young princess liked, she had been quite vocal about who she likes and who she does not ever since she could speak. So, creating the quest list was not too difficult.

It seemed as the days turned to years and the princess grew older, her beauty became even clearer. She was only eight years old, and the realm already talked and sang of her beauty. Many Lords already suggested marriage pacts, and their young sons certainly did not frown upon the idea.

Seeing the young princess standing in the doorway, with the light hitting her just right, made her beauty and grace shine. The sun's rays hit the tiara on her head in a way that made it sparkle. And the purple gown she wore slightly trailed behind her as she started down the stairs. She walked with a straight back and a head held high as if she had years of training, it made her seem years beyond her age.

She looked like she could be Queen someday.

"Ladies and Lords, today we have come together to celebrate yet another name day of a very special girl, our very own Targaryen Princess. My brother's daughter,"

Though she was sure the King meant no harm with it, it actually hurt the girl a bit. She knew the said brother wouldn't be present. Though against her better judgment, the girl let her eyes roam the crowd in search of the man she is said to look so similar to. She probably would not even be able to confirm or deny that statement. She could barely even remember what he looked like. She remembered him from rare memories, and she knew what the people said about him, but his face was starting to become blurry and his voice unfamiliar. Her father felt like a distant memory she so desperately tried to hold onto.

"How about another round of aplause for the princess" Was all Alysanne heard from the King's speech after the mention of her absent father.

Shaking away any thoughts of the man, Alysanne made her way through the crowd of people. Every where she turned was a lady telling her she looked beautiful or a Lord telling her she would make a great Lady.

"Princess Alys, might I borrow you for a moment," came a familiar and comforting voice. Alysanne let out a giggle and grabbed Ser Leanor's hand as he escorted her to a less crowded area, where the royals stood conversing. "I got you something," Leanor said to her as he kneeled down to be her height.

Leanor pulled out a heap of folded up papers. To someone else, it might have looked like pages ripped from an old journal, but Alysanne had an idea of what it was. Letting out a shriek, she grabbed the papers from his hand.

Opening the top one, she saw hand drawn lines and a few landmarks and names. She looked behind her to find her best friend staring down at the paper. The gift from Leanor was maps of all seven kingdoms. It held the names of every road, river, and town. Other maps in the pile held the best routes off of the Kingsroad while another has the location of every dragon known.

Laenor laughed at the two excited children. They had attacked him with question many times about his adventures from when he fought as a knight. It was their dream to discover the world, but they believed they could not do that without dragons. So they explored it through maps and books.

Until they realized their worth without dragons, this was the best Leanor could give them. And it meant everything to Alys.

"Thank you, thank you, Nory," she repeated as she hugged him around his neck. Leanor picked the young spinning her around a few times before placing her back on her feet.

As the older man walked away, the two best friends folded up the papers, trying to contain their excitement. Aemond tucked the maps into his pocket before looking back at her. He lifted his hands up to her face to tuck a loose strand of hair away.

"Alysanne," a smooth sounding voice came from behind them.

"Princess Rheanyra," Alysanne replied with a small smile, looking up at the older women.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your name day," she said with a gentle smile, as a younger brown haired boy came to stand by her side. "And Jacearys wanted to give you something."

The younger boy walked up to her with a kind yet nervous smile and gave her a small box and a kiss on her cheek. She opened it to find a beautiful necklace with a red stone in the middle.

"Thank you, it's truly beautiful," she gasps as she holds the necklace up. She glances over to the proud looking Rheanyra, the confident Jace and shy looking Luke beside him. Then she looks to her side to see Aemond with a stone cold expression on his face staring at Jacearys.

"Of course," Rheanyra says as she walks away with her boys. Alysanne sighed as she looked down at the necklace. She would have liked it more if it were a kind gesture. But she knew it was more. It was a small piece of a bigger plan. A plan where Jacearys would be the one marrying the beautiful Princess Alysanne and becoming King.

Alysanne continued her night with socializing and laughing. Don't get her wrong she loved having all the attention on her and everyone wanting to talk to her, but right now she wanted to be laying under a tree along side Aemond with a book about Visenya in her hands.

"When is it done," Aegon complained to his mother. He had clearly found a glass of wine somewhere.

"When everybody is done enjoying a night full of our company, Aegon," his mother scolded him. This caused Alysanne to sigh and turn to her best friend.

"We are going to be here all night," she huffed, resting her head on Aemond's shoulder. Usually, he would laugh at her dramatics and tease her, but he couldn't find the energy in him, so he just huffed and groaned with her.

"Viserys, I will be escorting the kids to their chambers. I think the festivities have taken its toll on them all," Alicent said to her Lord husband. He looked over all the exhausted children, he gave them a small smile and nodded to his wife.

Aegon let out a laugh of disbelief, but instead of complaining, he high fived the younger girl. Alys walked past him with a proud smile. Aegon threw his arm around her as they walked down the halls.

"Thank you for saving us, Your Majesty," he dramatically groaned, leaning on her. She found him to be annoyingly heavy but failed to push him off her. "I know I still owe you a gift, but I am sure Jacearys's magnificent necklace makes up for it. Though to make you feel special, I shall bring you along on one of my amazing adventures soon. You know, show you the world and all that, how does that sound, Alys?"

"No, I would not like to see the world of brothels. Thank you, Aeggie," she answered, Rolling her eyes. Aegon let out a huff of annoyance and shoved his laughing brother into the wall. Alysanne smirked over at Aemond as he covers his laughter, even Heleana was giggling at her joke. Luckily, Alicent seemed to block put their bickering.

The two boys soon had to go into their room. But Alysanne managed to convince Alicent that she wanted to enjoy the last few hours of her special day with Heleana. So, the two younger girls were able to spend the night together.

Heleana was excitedly telling Alys about something she read about, as she sat braiding the younger girl's hair. She had gifted Alys two beautiful dresses earlier.

Alysanne was the only person who actually listened to what she said and had slight interest in her stories. When Heleana starts talking about insects, Alys admittedly has no idea what she's saying, but she listened to the excited girl none the less. Other topics, like mythical creatures or dragons, were something they both could passionately speak about for hours on end. But only when they had alone time.

Because when everyone was watching, they were different, their whole family was.

Alysanne immediately became confident and polite, while Heleana became silent and guarded. Aegon would become arrogant and unapproachable, while Aemond decided to stand around brooding.

But when they were alone, they were a group of kids spending alone time.

"Who's there?" Heleana said, snapping the princess out of her thoughts. Aegon came into the room with a big grin, while Aemond followed behind him with a smaller smile. Aegon dramatically fell down on Alysanne's bed beside the two girls. And Aemond took the pillow from Alys and made himself comfortable on the floor beside her.

"So, who are we talking about, ladies?" Aegon mocks them in a high-pitched voice.

"You." Alys deadpans.

The funny thing is they were actually talking about him and how many wines he had in.

The tree children fell into a comfortable silence after a few minutes of giggles and jokes. Aegon lay half asleep, and Heleana finally decided to call it quits for the night.

Alysanne looked down at the boy who tapped on her knee. He makes a gesture to the wall, and Alys immediately understands his request. She gently climbs off her bed and follows him to the secret door behind the magnificent painting of a silver dragon.

"I still have to give you your gift," Aemond says to her as he pulls out a small box. Alys gently takes the box from his hands. She can feel his burning gaze on her as she gently opens it.

Inside it lays a beautiful silver ring. The ring was in the shape of a dragon whose body wraps around your finger. The eye was a purple gem that symbolized the Targaryen feature. Alysanne held it gently in her hand. She finally looked up at Aemond with an awestruck look. Upon seeing her face, he let off a sigh of relief, knowing she liked it. He gently grabs her hand and slips the ring onto her finger.

"It is a promise ring because I promise to always stay by your side," he whispered as he looked down at her.

"Thank you, Aemy, it is beautiful," she says breathlessly as she looks at him through her lashes.

"Just like you," he says in High Valyrian with a smile. She quickly looked away from him with a giggle, trying to hide her red cheeks.

(2260 words)