Pre-Chapter A/N: Here we go with another chapter. Here on time! Next four chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio. Also started a new story (SI into Bill Weasley in the HP Universe) so go check that out. As we do when we have new stories, there's a cheeky little discount for the week. Code: THEFIRSTSON
XXXXX- LAENOR VELARYON (NINE MOONS INTO THE PREGNANCY)
"Profit on glass sales is up 17% on last quarter, but down 3% year on year," Parvella began her report with. I nodded, taking the news easily. We had made so much money last year from glass that it made sense that we wouldn't be able to hit that any more. Besides, we had deals with the Northern Houses that were going to kick in soon. Those would not pay in gold. Or rather not only in gold. We'd have them pay their fair share for enough glass to build five greenhouses, but were under no misconception that they were going to somehow find enough gold to arm and armour a large army.
They'd pay in ironwood, furs, horses, access to their ports, and several other things that we were yet to fully agree on. They really wanted the glass. They'd wanted it for years now, and factors had finally come together to mean that we could give it to them.
"Cement production is down quarter on quarter. All of it has been going to concrete for Atlantis castle—"
"Dragon's Roost," I corrected absently.
"Dragon's Roost's construction. Now that that is concluded, we have spare capacity even with the reductions in production from the summer storms," she said.
"Put every spare bit into the roads. We'll have to be careful with Torturer's Deep to make sure the storms don't wipe away everything as we build, but I'm sure they'll find a way to manage," I said.
"Perhaps the team that worked on Dragon's Roost can be assigned to the Roads. Zalindros will hate to part with his people, I suspect," Rhaenos suggested, having become more and more willing to contribute on things more than shipbuilding in years of sitting on this council. If only Thoren could be convinced to be similarly loquacious.
"They are my people. Not his. He will remember that. Assign them there," I said, turning to Parvella. She made a note. Probably just ticking down something that she had already written rather than noting it down. I had seen some of her pre-meeting notes and I wondered how she found the time to so thoroughly predict what would be suggested and its likelihood of being accepted. The fact that she hadn't made any contrary suggestions said that was the plan that she favoured as well.
"Speaking of Zalindros, when will he be returning to this Council?" I turned my attention to the Scribe that sat in Bernard's place. A teenager from Myr who had been one of the first to be put through our school program. Bernard had taken a shine to him and made him something of an apprentice.
He checked his notes, ruffling through the sheets of parchment with a flustered look. He got to the end before flushing and going back to the beginning and starting with a much slower pace. It had been written on one of the topmost sheets.
"His leave of absence covers the next sennight and no further," he said.
"Um, my Lord," he added in the silence.
"Alright then. On to the next order of business. Any news from my Uncle?" I asked.
"None," Parvella said. I nodded. No news was good news in this case. Anything we heard about them this early would be bad news. Even with our ships, they were still a moon or two away from being able to find a bird to send a report back to us. And then they would only do that if there was bad news to report. If things had gone according to plan, they would just journey back here and I would find out about their return from a patrol or a lighthouse watcher spotting them.
"Reports from that end say some storm watchers have been sounding the warning. But nothing of your Uncle or his fleet in particular," she said some seconds later.
"A storm should be no problem. Vaemond has faced many a storm, and that was on ships that don't hold a candle to that fleet. Nothing to worry about," I said. And it was not false confidence. If there was one thing I was confident about, it was my ships. My ideas, Rhaenos' team's designs, and our shipyard came together to create the best ships in the world. It was not even a close contest anymore. The Braavosi would not admit it in public, but even they knew that that fight was over. It was why they kept sending clandestine offers to Rhaenos to get him to come over to their team. All they achieved was burning a few of their operatives.
"The bank has had a good quarter. Five hundred and twenty-two thousand gold dragons loaned across the year. That is a 36% increase on last year's numbers as at this time. For the quarter, we have had a delinquency rate of 7%. 3% better than last quarter. Of course, that is because the loans given out before this year are the ones being paid now. When we pass the waiting period for this year's loans and repayments begin flowing in, I expect the delinquency rate to rise markedly," she said.
"Profits should also rise commensurately. A more aggressive risk profile gives us more room for growth," I said, feeling an argument we had already had many a time being rehashed again. Parvella was smart. When she didn't want something, she found reasons for it not to happen. When I shot those down, she went ahead to find other arguments, and then when I shot those ones down, she either found more or she gave it up. The giving it up part didn't usually happen until we had done this song and dance a few times, however. In any other person, I would have found it annoying. With her, it was charming. It gave me the chance to be sure I was considering all the possible angles. Anything I didn't see, she would definitely. Of course, when she did agree with me, the scrutiny was orders of magnitude less intense. We ran the risk of creating double blindspots.
So sometimes, even when I agreed with her, I took the other end of things to be sure I was considering all the angles.
"Yes, but growth that begins with us handling loans that the Iron Bank refuses to touch can lead to us developing a less than ideal sort of reputation. I doubt you want the Velaryon Bank to be seen as the second choice? Carrion feeding on the corpses the Iron Bank leaves behind? If we get that reputation, yes the people will come to us, but only after trying their luck with the Iron Bank. You want the best bank in the world. Not the second best. Because second best is just best loser," she said. Oh, so that was the angle this time. Interesting.
"You're right on one thing at least. We want the best bank in the world. And that means we have to be the best on every metric there is. We have to take the most in deposits, we have to give out the most in loans, we have to make the most profit, we have to have the most in reserves, and we have to do all those at the same time. At this point, we lead on exactly none of those. And the quickest way to get leading on one is to make more money. The more loans we give out, the more people are forced to bank with us if only to make paying back their loans easier. And the more money we make, the bigger our coffers grow. These are the things we must worry about before we can confront any problems with how we are seen. And I can guarantee you that no one who thinks of us as second fiddle to the Iron Bank has taken a look inside our walls," I said.
Parvella was about to respond before a knock came from the door. My head snapped upwards. There was only one reason for the council to be interrupted now. Either we were being invaded or the thing I was waiting for had happened.
Parvella's eyes met my own. Our minds had gone to the same place.
"Come in," she said, and by the time the door was swinging open, I was already rising from my seat at the head of the table.
The messenger was a young boy. Vylos or something like that was his name. He was out of breath, red at the cheeks, and visibly shaking.
"The Lady Laena—" he began, and I did not wait for the rest. I was already off. Parvella would handle the rest of the meeting in my absence. She would handle everything. I wasn't needed here anymore. Not as much as I was needed elsewhere. Igneel had already begun returning from the sea. My best friend could feel my anxiety already, and he was booking it now.
I was running as well. I hadn't even noticed when my feet began to do it. The council chamber was on Bloodstone's topmost floor. Only a fool could have decided such, I thought as I took the steps four, and then five and six at a time. I was doing more jumping than running down the stairs. I barely managed to stop myself from running through a serving girl carrying a tray of food. She dropped it in shock, but I could not stay and help.
"Sorry," I yelled out behind me, but I was already gone by the time the words had left my mouth. Hopefully she heard it. Laena. She was giving birth now. But she was not supposed to be giving birth now. They'd checked her just yesterday and said she still had a week or so before we could expect them. That meant two things. Either the babies were early or something was going wrong. It has to be the former. Gods, let it be the former. Please.
The stairs seemed endless and oh so short at the same time. The world itself a blur to my eyes as my feet took me to my destination faster than they ever had. Good thing I wore comfortable clothing most of the time and not court ware. Silks would have fallen apart with this much leg stretching and jumping. I arrived at the last bit of stairs and jumped straight down to the ground floor, landing with bent knees and springing forwards for the door. Someone must either have seen or heard me coming because they were already swinging the door open when I got there.
Igneel was landing in the large outer courtyard while I was racing down the outer stairs. He bent as he landed, eerily silent as I clambered across his back and into the saddle. My legs were barely astride him before he was pushing off the ground and catching the wind with his wide massive wings. One flap and we were soaring through the skies.
He was fast, but the distance between islands meant I had more time than I would have liked to run through my thoughts. Or rather for my thoughts to run through me. And they did. The very worst scenarios came to mind over and over again. My wife there in a pool of blood, malformed beings crawling out of her. It happened with our house too often. The incest our magic allowed us to escape most of the consequences of showed in that way at least. Even the journals I had read back in Valyria had mentioned it happening quite often. Always tragic each time, but the great Valyrian blood mages had been able to do little to stop it when it did happen. And if not that situation, there were other ways I could be ruined.
A dead Laena featured often. She was the one I feared losing the most. Children? We could always make more. And even if we never could make them, we could find them in other ways. There were options in that, but if I lost her, that would be it. The love of my life, just gone. I would survive, but would I ever be me again? How would my nights pass without her by my side? My days?
Dead children but a living Laena were another possibility. And here instead of my pain, it was hers that consumed me. What would become of her if her womb spawned death rather than life once again? She would break. There was no doubting it. My wife would break and I doubted that I could pick up the pieces. Igneel's roar, the first sound he had made other than his breathing since I had climbed astride. I turned my attention to the world then and found Vhagar had roared a challenge in our direction. We don't have the time for this.
I reached out, I felt her in my mind's eye. Shut up, I commanded and she went still. Igneel and I landed seconds later. I slid off his back and began my journey into the palace. The birthing room was not far from the entrance. Situated just for this eventuality.
Two knights met me at the door. Neither barred my way, already turning the handle to open it. The tradition was that Lords did not see the birthing chambers. Everyone had learned that that particular tradition was not one I paid heed to. I stopped at the built-in antechamber, washing my hands and accepting the sanitised overcoat that covered me from the neck down before stepping in. This was the little I could contribute, but I made sure she gave birth in the most germ-free chamber I could create. I entered to meet my wife lying on the bed, a sheet over her lower body and her women around her as well as the Maesters.
"Laenor," she called before even seeing me.
"My love," I called back, feeling like I could breathe for the first time since that boy had walked into the meeting room.
"What's happening?" I asked. The room was too silent, too still, too dare I say organised for what should have been happening.
"A false birth, my Lord," Bernard was the one that answered. I turned to Laena to confirm.
"It felt like they were coming. But it seems our little ones do not want to part with me yet," she said.
"Oh," I said, feeling myself slump two steps backwards. Nervous energy fled my body. I just felt tired. And a traitorous part of me felt angry. All that panic and fear for nothing? No. Not for nothing, I corrected. It was to make sure I saw how stupid this was.
Atlantis being but a short flight away was nothing but a fanciful idea that I had never stress tested. I would never do this again.
"Alright then. How do they feel?" I dragged a chair over to the bed next to her before waving a hand to direct everyone in the room to leave.
"Energetic. They must have been playing a prank on me. Just as you used to do when we were younger," she said.
"I don't remember my pranks leading to much good."
"Remember when Mother thought Vhagar had killed you? She almost died of fright. And then she turned so red when she found you not dead," she said, and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"I'll have more of my things sent over. The Council will fare without me for the next week or so while we wait for our little ones. I'll have Aegon sent over as well. Heavens know he'll get up to no good if we leave him with no real supervision for even that long," I said.
"Good. You look a mess and I think you need to suffer my company more. You put these little rascals in me, after all."
"I will enjoy every moment of it," I said, leaning down and planting a kiss on her lips. I pulled away, only for her hand to snake up and grab my head as I tried to lean back, and pull me back in for a longer one.
-- (ONE SENNIGHT LATER)
I did not, it turned out, enjoy every moment of it. It was a good thing Lords were not expected to retire in this world. Because if this is how it would have been, then I doubted I would have lasted long before taking myself to do something truly dangerous out of boredom. And it had only been a sennight so far. Aegon had arrived two days in, and for the last four days, we had spent the mornings and evenings training.
I spent my afternoons either sparring with the Knights on the island who were not guarding Laena or swimming, or even flying with Igneel. Vhagar had so far been giving us a wide berth. With a calm mind, I could not repeat what I had done with the Queen of Dragons earlier. Stretching my mind out to Sunfyre while I watched him fly had yielded a great deal of zilch.
So either it was all in my head and Vhagar had calmed for an unrelated reason those days ago, or whatever I had done needed a more agitated state of mind than I was capable of consciously inducing or reproducing. Either possibility was likely, but I could not bring myself to accept the former as the truth. I had felt myself do something. I had felt the energy within me do something. And with nothing else to do most of the time other than fight, swim, or fly, I spent more time than I probably should have trying to get that energy in me to do more than I was used to it doing.
My inner flame worked easily with fire, but it seemed to be capable of more. And I would not rest until I found out that more.
"Firmer, Laenor," my wife said from her seat. I looked up from the foot I was massaging before nodding and getting back to work. Well, I would find out eventually. For now, I had work to do.
A/N: I promise I did not bait and switch with the childbirth thing. They just weren't meant to come this early and there is a reason for that. Next four chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early. Don't forget to check out the new story or redeem the discount.