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The Park [Sunday evening]

The sun was just starting to sink below the horizon after Dany dragged her son away from the bar. They'd switched to Dothraki once they were alone, with Dany asking questions about his home and how his parents were there, and Rhaego correcting her wording every now and then with a small smile. Like his father, he was gentler with her than he had proven to be with others, and Dany felt a sharp pang whenever she thought about it too hard.

She was doing everything in her power to ignore her pain, this weekend, and revel in what she had regained for the time being, but it was difficult when one of her children was a living reminder of everything she'd lost, and the other was an impossibility that would never come to be.

Talking to Lucrezia would settle her mind, she thought, and she did want to show off the child she'd spoken of mere weeks earlier. They'd arranged a walk in the park this evening by note, and Dany stopped to rest on a bench when she and Rhaego reached the edge, and waited.

[expecting two, but open park is open!]

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It was nearing dark when Lucrezia and her ... nephew arrived at the park. She had fallen into an uneasy silence with him, uncertain of how to communicate with this boy who was a stranger. He knew a Lucrezia who was a duchess, whose life was so unlike her own. All she knew of him was the one fact that he did not.

Her eagerness to meet Rhaego was drowning out her nerves, and so her pace quickened when she spotted the two figures on the bench. One silver-haired and familiar, and the other dark. He could be Moorish, if seen in the right light.

She hesitated, but decided that propriety was never the wrong answer. "Khaleesi," she said, offering her friend a quick bow of the head. "You look quite well, as always."

Dany didn't stand on formality, but her son may take offense if he thought his mother was being slighted.

Dany rose at the sight of her friend, setting a hand on Rhaego's arm as he moved in front of her protectively. "As do you, my dear Lady Lucrezia," she replied, glancing at the boy accompanying her with a lifted brow.

Rhaego watched the strangers, obviously apprehensive, until Dany interceded. "May I present my son, Rhaego," she said, her voice as steady as she could keep it. She didn't think she'd ever say those words. "The Stallion Who Mounts the World."

Rhaego puffed up a little at that, proudly. "It is an honor," he said, his accent rough, but light, twisting his voice to sound more gruff than it was.

"The honor is mine, I assure you," she said, offering a gloved hand. "I am quite pleased to make your acquaintance."

To see the boy Dany had spoken of ... did that mean another Dany's child had lived? He was so beautiful as to break one's heart. It hardly seemed fair, the cruelty with which someone had taken him away.

She gathered her thoughts and cleared her throat. "If it may please you both, I present my nephew, Juan Borgia, son of the late Cardinal Cesare Borgia. He will live in our household in Ferrara, as his father has, I am afraid, passed."

That ached to admit, even so far into the future as it was.

"I assure you, the honor is mine as well," Juan said. "I am humbled to meet you, your Highnesses, and pleased as well to be introduced to such a good friend of my Aunt."

Dany glanced to Lucrezia, the barest flicker of doubt crossing her face before she offered, "My heart breaks for the loss of your father." That was sincere, too, because she'd liked Cesare and knew what he meant to Lucrezia. "Have you lived with your aunt long?"

Rhaego, meanwhile, had clumsily taken Lucrezia's hand and dipped a slight bow over it, looking to Dany for approval. It warmed her to know that somewhere, she'd taught him Westerosi manners the same way Drogo had taught him Dothraki fierceness.

Lucrezia's face tightened, only the barest tic, as Dany's eyes met hers. Small as it had been, she was certain the other girl had spotted it. She also knew that Dany would not press her, for which she was unspeakably grateful.

"The life of a cleric is not suitable to raising a child, your Highness," Juan said. "I joined my aunt's household shortly after her marriage to Ferrara. She has been exceptionally kind."

Edited 2012-04-02 03:30 (UTC)

"How fortunate that you should be allowed to see this island with her," Dany replied diplomatically. "Have you been enjoying your time here? I fear that my son seems as overwhelmed as I was when I first arrived."

Moreso, because Rhaego struggled with the language spoken here, but he nodded all the same. "I do not understand their laws," he decided. "I have been denied wine and told to put on shirts."

"Truly, the people of this island are savages, then," Juan replied with a smile, "and unaware of the respect due one of your station. I find myself overwhelmed, as well -- it is surely a place of miracles and wonders."

"There is water that runs inside," Rhaego said, nodding. "And light without flame."

Dany, for her part, hid a smile.

"I suppose these miracles are beneficial to our purposes," Lucrezia said lightly. "They helped me to convince Juan that I was not feigning confusion at his face, nor lying about my age. Crossing time is not something one believes easily, but in a world filled with such madness, it is perhaps easier to come to understand."

She imagined Dany might have had the same difficulty, trying to explain Fandom to her offspring. There was no good way, was there?

"Rhaego was very confused to not see his father here," Dany offered, as lightly as she could. "And my other child come to visit, Rhaella, does not seem to comprehend why her father and I are as young as we are." She smiled, and added, "And neither of them -- "

"I do not like this other child," Rhaego interjected. Dany sighed, because yes, she knew that. "She is a fiction."

"Perhaps we are all fictions," Juan observed, "and the light of tomorrow's day will shine on but one person who has dreamt it all."

He shrugged. "I confess, I did not believe my dear aunt at first when she claimed to be unwed. That, at least, was something I understood, or thought I did."

Dany smiled a little. "Do you like your aunt's husband?" she wondered, because that would bode well for Lucrezia's future, at least.

"I do not feel it my place to render such opinions," Juan said, "but I find him to be an admirable man. His armies are well-used to protect Ferrara, but he is just, not cruel. He is a renowned patron of the arts, as is my good lady Aunt. They are respected by their people."

Lucrezia smiled, to hear the boy tell it, but her smile did not quite reach her eyes. Something strange was twisting in her stomach. Her fears should be settling. Why the sudden panic?

With Sforza, all she had asked for was kindness, which he had lacked. This Duke sounded ... solid, as though one had stripped away the cruelty of Sforza and left behind the dependable parts. It was a reassuring future. Was that not enough?

She had vowed once to make do with that, to create love where none existed. Perhaps she was tired of being a pawn.

"I fear I must show my ignorance," she said, clearing her throat and hoping no one would mind the slight shift in topic. "I only know the term khaleesi, which translates roughly to Queen. I have no concept of the dothraki word for your title, Prince Rhaego."

"Khalakka," Rhaego offered, happy to speak in his more comfortable language. "But I only make our slaves call me it." He glanced sidelong at Dany, and added, "And only sometimes, then. We are all equal, under my parents."

Dany smiled, wondering if this would have truly been her future. If her slave-saving would have blossomed into a more peaceful existence altogether, and if she and Drogo would have been so united.

Tyrion and Joanna passed through the park on their way back from a shopping trip to the mainland. If he had a daughter even for a moment, he fully intended to spoil her like a proper Lannister.

His steps slowed when he saw Daenerys and noted that she had a young man with her dressed in what appeared to be the manner of a dothraki warrior. Well. Whoever he was, this would be interesting.

"Stay with me," he told Joanna, softly, before stepping as quickly and lightly as he could manage across the rest of the park.

When he was at the bench, he bowed pleasantly. "My lady," he said. "Enjoying the evening air?"

Joanna, eyes nervous, curtseyed but said nothing.

Dany eyed the young lady curiously, but rose to dip a slight curtsy herself. Rhaego, watching her, ducked his head once, though he was studying the strangers intently. Out of habit, he stepped just a little in front of his mother, just in case. Though the man was so small, he was unlikely to be a threat.

"Lord Tyrion," Dany greeted with a small smile. "I am enjoying the evening, yes. It's finally warm enough that I might." Her gaze flicked back to the girl, and she rest a hand on Rhaego's arm and gave a murmured command in Dothraki. He stepped aside, obviously uneasy. "Lord Tyrion, this is my son, Rhaego." Her small smile wobbled, just a touch. "I believe I've spoken of him to you before. Is this your daughter?"

It was a fair guess, this weekend. She only wondered who the girl's mother might be.

"A pleasure, Rhaego." Tyrion bit his lip, thinking how cruel the island was to show these shadows of children to both of them. The question jarred him out of it.

"And she is mine," he confirmed. "Daenerys Targaryen, khaleesi, this is the Lady Joanna Lannister. I was married to her mother once."

He would use Joanna's title, even if the girl didn't; he figured she deserved as much.

He turned to his daughter. "I have the honor of having the khaleesi in my class."

A flicker of surprise passed through Joanna's eyes before she murmured a greeting. She'd never met a Targaryen, let alone a dothraki. This time with her father remained full of surprises.

Edited 2012-04-02 03:04 (UTC)

Once. He'd been married to her mother once. The Imp was full of surprises, indeed. "It is a pleasure, my lady," Dany offered, smiling at the girl to put her more at ease. "Your father is a wonderful teacher."

Rhaego, for his part, had relaxed a little. He was eyeing Tyrion a little critically, though. "You are...." He frowned, looking to Dany doubtfully, trying to recall a word she had taught him. "Maester?" he tried.

Well, marrying her twice wouldn't have done much good, would it? The rest of the story was, rather firmly, for another time -- or perhaps never.

"Something like it," he said. "Not a real one, but the school here lets whoever wants to play-act at it in front of a group of learners. It's a rather marvelous vocation; we should try it at home."

Rhaego obviously had a little difficulty with some of those words -- much though he'd been taught to use the Common Tongue, it was obvious he spoke Dothraki more often than not -- but he nodded, all the same.

"Are you finding the island to your liking, milady?" Dany asked, looking over at Joanna. "I imagine it must be somewhat different from anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms, though I've not seen them myself."

It took Joanna a moment to remember that she knew how to speak. Rhaego's chest was quite distracting, as was Daenerys's very presence.

"It's wonderful," she finally said, stumbling over her words just a little. "Father took me off the island, and we went to a store that had all sorts of tiny tablets you could read things or speak with people on" -- those would be computers and telephones, Joanna -- "and to another place that had more kinds of clothing than I ever imagined. And everything smells so much nicer than home. Have you enjoyed your time here?"

Tyrion was content to step back and watch how his daughter handled this.

"I find myself amazed nearly daily," she confessed. "If not by magic or technology, then by the people. I have found that the company on Fandom is more welcoming and kind than any at home. Though, of course, I must rely on secondhand to hear of your home, but Westerosi or Dothraki, our world is harsher than this one, I think."

"I've never been so far as Essos," Joanna confessed. "My mother moved to the Reach before I was born, and I grew up near Highgarden."

Behind her, Tyrion seemed to twitch at that.

"But from the little I've seen, I would say you seem to be right. Everyone I've talked to has been ... surprisingly kind."

"I came of age in the Free Cities," Dany offered with a small smile, though she caught Tyrion's twitch. "Pentos, especially, is beautiful. Should you have the opportunity, I cannot recommend a visit enough."

She tilted her head, trying to ask the tactful question without being too intrusive. "Highgarden, though? Is your mother associated with House Tyrell?"

Tyrion's twitch got more pronounced, but he didn't stop Joanna from answering the question. For one, he was curious to see what the girl would say.

"She worked for Lady Janna," Joanna explained, and seemed inclined to leave it there.

There Tyrion did jump in.

"My wife was a crofter's daughter," he explained. "I was quite young, and it wasn't a marriage my father approved of. It was ended quickly."

He didn't want to explain more, and he hoped Daenerys would be merciful enough not to ask. But at the same time, the whole sad tale was hardly a secret.

Dany processed that information quickly, biting her lower lip, and offered, "How wonderful that your mother has a skill, Joanna. I wish I could say the same -- a lady of leisure has much to learn in the world, when on her own. Plus," she added, "I find that marriages of love produce the best children. Don't you agree, Lord Tyrion?"

There. Something to please everyone.

If she gets to be Queen, she'll be good at it. Tyrion realized that with a start as he flashed a grateful look at Daenerys's diplomacy.

"I've always heard as much," he agreed quickly. "At least, my parents are said to have found much joy in each other, and certainly I'm a pinnacle of manhood to prove it. And of course Rhaego and Joanna are proof of the theory as well."

Pay no attention to Jaime and Cersei. They wrecked the pleasant theory.

"I am strong because my father is strong, and I have the blood of the dragon and the strength of the stallion," Rhaego argued, confused by the conversation. "Not because my parents love."

"It certainly doesn't hurt," Dany replied good-naturedly.

"Lions, a dragon, and a stallion born to a dragon," Tyrion couldn't help but point out. "We've a bit of a menagerie here, don't we? And all of us strong in our own ways."

He put a bit of stress on that "all,' for Joanna's sake.

Edited 2012-04-02 16:07 (UTC)

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The Park [Sunday evening]

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