Chapter Text
Prologue
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Greed and misunderstanding had ruined everything. Had the dragons survived this never would have happened. His family had been forced to bend to the will of others, and it had led them down the path to destruction.
He'd thought that what he was doing would help them, to steer them back upon the proper course. Summerhall showed him that too much direct action was inadvisable, but what else could he do, trapped as he was? He'd tried again, with Aerys, only to discover that the poor man's mind was incapable of taking the strain of what was to come. Aerys saw the face of the enemy everywhere, and it led to madness.
With Rhaegar, he'd been far more subtle, and it had borne fruit. Rhaegar's mind had been able to take the strain of all that he saw. Once again, the greed of others had been the undoing of his house. The dragon was never intended to bow and scrape to others; the dragon was intended to lead them. It was the purpose for which they had been spared from the Doom. When Daenys had her visions, she had seen much, including the enemy that none now believed in. The plan and purpose had been lost over time. Some of his kinsmen had achieved pieces: Jaehaerys had begun construction of better roads but run out of time and funding. Others failed see the brilliance, and there simply weren't enough dragons to complete the work. The dance destroyed his family irreparably, and was the first toll of the bell that heralded the death of the dragons. Magic had weakened, and they had all suffered for it.
Three of those remaining could bear the suffering required to reforge House Targaryen, but they were widely sundered and not in positions of power. They were children. Three heads has the dragon, but those heads were the barest flickering of flame now against the darkness. One more puff of fate, and those flames would extinquish. All were currently being smothered by those lesser than they. It had to change, they had to change, but unfortunately they would have to suffer to make it so. Had all gone as intended, Rhaegar would have forced his father's abdication with the support of the entire realm, but again greed and petty hatreds had combined to destroy his family.