Starfall, 276 After Conquest

I think it is prudent if I start my story here, and just throw the details of what happened earlier when they are pertinent. After all, this visit was a pretty important point. You see, Arthur, that is, Ser Arthur Dayne, and myself, had just been knighted a few months before my father decided to screw everything up (admittedly, that was one screw up I don't particularly mind, and one of the places in canon I was not in any hurry to change).

Lord Lannister -that is, Tywin Lannister, who looked nothing at all like Charles Dance if I may add- had arranged a massive tourney at Lannisport to celebrate that my little brother Viserys -yes, THAT Viserys- was born. I guess that you all know how did that go in the end.

Oh, right. It actually started much earlier. I remember sitting in a bus heading home, then it falls over the side of the road and into a precipice... I remember panic as it tumbled towards an imminent death.

Then light, and I was being born amidst a massive fire. As you may imagine by all that I have said, I was given the name Rhaegar.

Yes. THAT Rhaegar. I had never particularly liked him, but here we are. I had somehow convinced my father to let me go to Starfall with Arthur -after all, I needed some time away from the shithole that was called King's Landing- and now we both gazed upon my best friend's ancestral home.

As I remembered how much of a shithole -excuse my swearing- was King's Landing, I decided one thing.

Fuck the Others, whenever I took the throne, my priority would be to set up a decent aqueduct in that place, maybe also establish an outer city so that I wouldn't have to leave half a million people homeless in the process.

"You ok there Rhaegar?" Arthur asked me, startling me out of my thoughts. I looked at him, shrugged and smiled.

It was said that Arthur Dayne was Rhaegar's oldest and closest friend. And I admit I had taken to him as well. Polite, Friendly, Well-Mannered but with that streak of fun mischievousness (did I make that word up?) that kept the spark of childhood even as we grew.

Oh, and he didn't mind me being a complete bookworm instead of being like Jon Connington.

Did I mention that I didn't really like Connington? anyway, back to where we were.

We were met by Lord Ulrick Dayne -Arthur's Father- and led into the halls. Then I saw her.

Cersei Lannister had been an unnaturally attractive -for a ten year old- little girl who was already too rotten inside to even look at. The young woman in front of me -and she had to be fourteen or fifteen, not that much of an issue considering that I was seventeen- was most certainly not. She was tall, with curves just in the right places, long black hair that fell to the middle of her back, a pair of haunting violet eyes, and a beautiful smile. Before she even introduced herself, I knew just who she was.

Would it be wrong if I happened to steal Ashara Dayne from Ned? Would it be even stealing her from him if he won't meet her for another four years or so? Would Arthur just kill me for thinking of it? Ok, scratch that last one, he wouldn't mind it. But still, I had liked the pairing of Ned and Ashara back in the day, a bit overdone for me, but it was good to see it popping up here and there. And why the hell am I even calling Lord Eddard Stark "Ned"?

Of course, I had never been good at talking to women, more exactly, to any woman I had any sort of romantic intent to, you could almost say Eddard Stark and my old self were pretty similar in that regard. So I was pretty much scrapping the idea, when I noticed the way Arthur was smiling at me.

It was his "I know exactly what you're thinking" smile, and I think it was fairly obvious. He chuckled, patted me on the back, and then went on and hugged his little sister.

After a nice display of actual brotherly affection -and I was silently asking God, why a Targaryen? Why not a house with less incest?- she approached me, and with a courteous smile introduced herself.

I did the same, and after a few minutes, Arthur and myself were left alone once more. Apparently to wait because Lord Ulrick had matters to tend to, and had hoped to see Arthur later in the evening.

"So?" He asked me. Once more -and you'll notice that is fairly usual- startling me out of my thoughts.

"So...?" I asked back, both sets of amethyst eyes met, yet I flinched first.

"Come on Rhaegar! We both know what you're thinking about!" He exclaimed and laughed loudly. I couldn't help but chuckle along.

"Well, excuse me Ser Arthur, but how was I supposed to know that you would have such a beautiful sister? Thank the Seven that only my family is crazy enough to marry brother to sister!" I let out with a laugh of my own.

We were still laughing a few minutes later, when a servant came to inform us that there would be a small feast and our presence was wanted at the main hall.