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Rating:
Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warnings:
Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceMajor Character Death
Category:
Gen
Fandoms:
House of the Dragon (TV)Warhammer Fantasy
Characters:
Ikit ClawRhaenyra TargaryenJacaerys VelaryonLucerys Velaryon (Son of Rhaenyra)Baela TargaryenRhaena Targaryen (Daughter of Daemon)Daemon TargaryenCorlys "The Sea Snake" VelaryonHelaena TargaryenAddam VelaryonBackground & Cameo CharactersSilverwing | Alysanne Targaryen's DragonOriginal CharactersJoffrey Velaryon
Additional Tags:
Crack Treated SeriouslyCanon-Typical ViolenceThe Dance of the Dragons | Aegon II Targaryen v. Rhaenyra Targaryen EraAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceCanonical Character DeathCharacter Turned Into a HumanIkit got isekai'd as Jace's twinSkaven Species (Warhammer Fantasy)Death to all GreensHuman ExperimentationScience ExperimentsIkit is his own warningSilverwing still has shit taste in male ridersPOV MultipleBackground RelationshipsBackground Character Deathshow canon onlyDragon RidersAnimal AbuseIkit is an abusive dragonriderTho he's fairly mellow compared to his SkavenselfGood Parent Rhaenyra TargaryenNo beta we die like LucerysDysfunctional FamilyCannibalismBlood and TortureCanon-Typical BehaviorBAMF Helaena Targaryen
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:2026-02-26Completed:2026-04-22Words:181,492Chapters:55/55Comments:1,270Kudos:749Bookmarks:159Hits:33,605
The Rat Prince of Westeros
SkilledWarriorKiwi
Chapter 2: Laenor
Chapter Text
Laenor loved his children.
Even if they hadn't been of his seed he would have loved them well and true regardless. Yet with Aenar's silver hair it seemed one of their fumbling attempts did in fact bear fruit, to both of their surprise.
They had certainly tried, but after a year of marriage where his spend had not caused a baby to grow within Rhaenyra they were beginning to look for alternatives. He wasn't oblivious to the whispers that started as months passed after their wedding with no declaration of pregnancy, that perhaps Rhaenyra would be like her late mother and her troubles with childbearing. They did attempt so, but as beautiful as Rhaenyra was she simply was not to his taste and most of their tries ended in embarrassed failure. It was why Ser Harwin had been invited in, loyal and would never betray Rhaenyra.
Yet it seemed for naught as the silver hair, lacking any gold hints, was all the mark of House Velaryon. It lacked the tightly curled texture, but was far more thick and rough than Jace's own brown locks, not silky and straight with streaks of gold like Rhaenyra's. King Viserys didn't care either way, at one point stating that Jacaerys no doubt took after his Baratheon or Arryn blood where dark hair was common. With Aenar's thickly silver hair without a single hint of gold there was no doubt he was of Laenor's and thus his twin was as well.
Corlys and Rhaenys were overjoyed to be grandparents. (Laenor refused to think about the way his mother's face had become glacial when she saw Jacaerys first, before just as quickly melting when she then saw Aenar with his silver hair.) Corlys especially cooed and coddled over Aenar as per previous talks the second son was the one fated for Driftmark, as Laenor's heir just as he was to the Sea Snake, while Jacaerys would sit upon the Iron Throne after his mother.
Aenar himself seemed especially interested in Corlys, reaching up to tug at the man's snowy locs and trying to pull at the numerous glittering jewels and golden bands threaded within. The Sea Snake cooed down at the babe, Aenar's little nose scrunching as he tried to swipe at an emerald tied within the locs.
"Have never seen a babe with eyes so bright," Rhaenys observed, leaning over her husband's arms to peer down at Aenar. All she got in response was a grumpy little scowl.
That continued to be a trend; Jacaerys was a happy noisy baby who grew into a happy noisy toddler. Always eager to be held, babbling and cooing and laughing. A bright, friendly boy.
Aenar was far more distant, extremely withdrawn and watchful. Barely uttering a noise even as his gaze seemed to consume everything. However his quietness was a welcome reprieve from the crying fits Jacaerys would work himself into. Aenar never cried. In fact, he never babbled or whined. Never sobbed or laughed. Just watched.
Rhaenyra worried over him but the midwife assured them both Aenar was sound of mind, or at the very least aware.
"Some babes are less prone to crying, and able to sleep through the night," the woman told them. "They are rare but well welcomed. His needs are diligently attended to so he has no mind to squall. If he continues his silence in his toddler years then it can be cause for concern, but we know he is not deaf."
That had been a worry at first, but a simple test of snapping fingers out of sight let them know Aenar had sharp hearing. The continued quiet worried Rhaenyra however, especially in comparison to Jacaerys. Laenor spoke to his parents about it, wondering if he and Laena had such a contrast where one loud and boisterous, the other withdrawn and silent, and was disappointed when it turned a negative.
Rhaenyra lavished attention upon both of her sons in trying to soothe her fears and Laenor tried to push his worry back as he helped his wife. Perhaps Aenar would simply have a morose personality. Some were born with such a thing, tired from the moment they were born.
They took two eggs from Syrax's latest clutch for their children, tucking in a green egg with orange swirls next to Jacaerys and a purple and black for Aenar. The egg profoundly interested the silver-haired babe like nothing else, little chubby hands clinging at the scaled shell and often Laenor would have to gently tug the egg away as Aenar tried nibbling and sucking on it.
His mother Rhaenys mentioned such a profound fascinating in the egg as a good sign and spoke of Aegon the Conqueror's own son Aenys was a sickly and withdrawn babe until his egg hatched into Quicksilver. The ill babe recovered swift with such a bond and his lady mother suggested that such a thing would happen to the same of Aenar if not simply to give him a voice.
As it was he wasn't blind to the worried mutterings or hesitant words of the maester that Aenar may have been born soft headed, simple, and that was why he refused to speak. Rhaenyra refused to entertain the words, insistent that Aenar simply wished to see the world before speaking upon it until he was old enough and forbade anyone speaking ill of her child.
Still, it did not stop them from trying in their own way to urge words into Aenar even if it would be simple burbles like Jacaerys happily supplied. Salt water baths, special fluid mixes, singing Valyrian songs, even taking him into the sept upon Dragonstone to hear the religious chanting, nothing caught the babe's interest. Aenar would just watch them with those vivid green eyes, looking duly unimpressed at his parents attempts to get him to utter a sound.
"Though once he does speak, I will wonder how quick you will lament it," Rhaenys said, an amused gleam to her eyes after hearing Leanor's concerns yet again during her visit. Laenor had just waved her off, unaware of how badly he was tempting fate in dismissing those words.
And so his worries over Aenar being a soft headed child as well as a mute were dashed as Aenar was the first to sit up and crawl. A three month old baby crawling was unheard of, even with all the knowledge of the midwives and maesters. He also grew his front teeth in shortly after learning to crawl, oddly pointed and large they were against his pink gums. Despite that he never bit Rhaenyra when fed, but after some light suggestions from the midwife Rhaenyra began to use a nursing horn.
Then at the tender age of six months, Aenar spoke.
It had happened upon an unassuming morning, while Laenor and Rhaenyra ate a small meal of fruits and fresh bread by one of the windows overlooking the sea while a gaggle of maids cooed and fussed over Aenar and Jacaerys in the middle of the room. Jacaerys seemed determined to crawl as his brother grew ever more practiced, even if at most he managed to squirm. Aenar had been sitting upright, thick silver hair gleaming white in the sunlight streaming through the window, as he held a dragon figurine in his chubby hands.
The air had been calm and content, the distant sound of waves crashing up against the rocky shores of Dragonstone. Laenor bit into a grape, the skin splitting to sent a burst of sweetness in his mouth.
Then a swell of noise from the group upon the ground caught the attention of Laenor and Rhaenyra while Jacaerys made a confused burble.
"Princess, my lord!" the excited call from one of the nursemaids had them moving. "He spoke! Aenar said his first words!"
"What? Already?" Laenor said, baffled but following in his wife's wake as she hurried over.
"He did! It was true words," she insisted, even as Laenor and Rhaenyra sat down in a very un-noble manner on the plush carpet before Aenar. The other maids looked just as eager.
Aenar peered up at them before he tossed the figurine aside even as Rhaenyra leaned forward excitedly, "My love? Can you say your words?"
The boy raised a hand, bright green eyes burning, before smacking himself on the chest while declaring, "Ikit!"
"Did he sneeze?" Laenor asked, brow furrowing as he exchanged looks with his wife. "I don't think that was an actual word."
"No, I think it was just a nonsense word," Rhaenyra agreed. "Aenar, my darling? Do you-"
"Am Ikit!" came the shout again, louder and more shrill.
"No, you're Aenar," Laenor tried to prompt, unfettered by the childish glare directed at him even if there was something so vicious in that green gaze it made him shiver. "Can you say that? A-"
"Am Ikit! Am Ikit, Ikit, Ikit!"
Laenor and Rhaenyra managed to tolerate the tantrum for a month before they gave in.
The screaming never stopped once Aenar spoke his first words, the toddler displaying a level of absolute spiteful rage that took Laenor aback. Every day whenever Laenor or Rhaenyra were within Aenar's presence the screaming would start, the demands for that specific name.
Jacaerys would always cry when his twin started shrieking and the maids got multiple bleeding bite marks across their hands when trying to calm the irate child to no avail. Eventually, after every single attempt at soothing the rage failed miserably, a frazzled Corlys suggested they simply do as the child demanded and rename him.
"He is not too old for a name change yet," The Sea Snake said, rubbing at the bleeding spot on his scalp where Aenar had torn one of the locs off after the man failed to sooth his grandchild.
When they gave in they went upon Syrax and Seasmoke, Rhaenyra with a furious Aenar and Laenor with Jacaerys, and flew to Oldtown to visit the Starry Sept and the Citadel.
There, after a sizable donation, they got the blessings of the High Septon to officially change Aenar's name to 'Ikit'. It was a near unheard of thing yet Aenar's not yet being a year old was enough that with their donation the High Septon was amendable to bless the babe with the seven oils and officially stamp upon the scrolls which they then handed to the maesters at the Citadel to cement the decision.
It was like a candle being snuffed, the abrupt cessation of the rage. Laenor almost felt foolish, showing his son the sheet of parchment where it had been inked and signed for his renaming, but Aenar's Ikit's fury vanished the moment it was explained he held a new name. Ikit, just as he demanded.
The babe had hummed contentedly, seemingly changing back into the quiet, unassuming boy he had been before uttering his first words. The ferocious rage vanishing like the wind even as Laenor rolled up the vellum document and Ikit gave them both a toothy smile.
Rhaenyra and Laenor exchanged hapless looks but simply decided to accept it as it was.
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