Rodrik.

[Rhaegor]

I kept my hope just like i'd hoped to
then sang to the sea for feelings deep blue

As I watch my grandson and my brother interact, a deep gratitude swells my heart; were it not for the foundation built long ago on the soil of the Jungle, I would never get to know Rodrik this way; as soft, vulnerable; as someone he once was and who he has strayed so far from since the day he left our vine-strewn kingdom. But I do not cast any judgement on his soul, for hadn't there been a time when I too had partaken in his specific breed of darkness, acting as high-priest for the flames he served so fullheartedly? No, I feel only gratitude to be so close to his heart, and him to mine - forever, now. For good, as laughable as the whole ordeal might seem.

But the scene which plays out is not laughable, though its gravity is utterly respectable. Rodrik lowers his head after a moment's pause to find the boy's, accepting his show of humility with grace. His glowering eyes find mine, but only momentarily, their depths flashing elsewhere in what I guess is an effort to save face. I've always been the more vulnerable brother; younger, but also just different in nature. He'd been the king, and I'd always been his shadow; but I don't mind the life of servitude, for he was a worthy king, and indeed, my most beloved brother. I find no shame in having lived my life as I did.

My eyes are clearing as he next addresses Rhaegor. The young buckskin steps back to listen, ears perked handsomely; he nods in affirmation of his uncle's statement. "I hope to do him justice." The colt's voice is whispy, barely more than a breeze through some leaves; but it's there all the same, a testimony to the intense connectedness Rhae feels to his uncle. I choke upon realizing he's spoken, and I nearly set into my grandpa-ish emotional messiness again, but then Rodrik is speaking to me - clippedly - with the subtle urgency of one on the brink of something that I daren't deny him my full attention.

What if we could see dad again, Kavi?
I can make it happen.

"Rodrik..." My throat is dry, thoughts flying through my skull too quickly to be pinned down and used for critical thinking. "Would it - would it hurt him?" My brow furrows, a desperation I hadn't known I had building and building and building until I can't deny it. Father had died so long ago, decades, that the pain of his absence is now more memory than anything tangible. But in the idea of seeing him now, the wound reopens, and I find myself saying what perhaps I ought not.

"I want to see him again, Rodrik. And - he could meet Rhaegor."

Rhaegor

@[Rodrik]