OPEN POST.

[moondancer]

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[moondancer]

[ If she breaks out of the one word, would this conversation end? It's a risk she can't take. ]

Broken?

[ Is that what she and Daemon are now? ]

[suchstrangepower]

[There's a question that has been haunting Rhaenyra for quite some time now. She's loathe to speak it into the universe as a certainty, though. For multiple reasons. Although it is hard to come up with any other accurate word.]

...Fragile.

[moondancer]

Sorry.

[ Though Baela understands it's not her fault. She's capable of empathy, isn't she? ]

[suchstrangepower]

Kind.

[Especially kind, since they are discussing her father.]

[moondancer]

[ She pauses, considering. ]

Desire.

[ That's what she wants to be. Ferocious, fiery, and kind. Can Targaryens be that? ]

[suchstrangepower]

Goal.

[It may be a rarer trait for their family line, but surely it's not out of the question. Surely everyone agrees Queen Alysanne was kind?]

[moondancer]

[ You know there's that one Targaryen who needs to be different… ]

Struggle.

[suchstrangepower]

Effort.

[moondancer]

Unrewarded.

[ She doesn't mean to be such a downer! ]

[suchstrangepower]

Is that really how you feel?

[moondancer]

[ She presses her lips together, considering the question. She could lie, but what would she gain from that? ]

Not always.

[ It's the truth, isn't it? She's luckier than Rhaena, given she has a dragon and is seen as a candidate for… what? Inheritance? ]

But it's certainly harder, given we're women. Sometimes, I think it's made harder because of him.

[ Daemon. ]

[suchstrangepower]

It is harder, you are certainly correct about that.

[What can she actually say to make her feel better about this? If we win this war, it may start to change? Two non guarantees in a row, she can't see that providing any optimism.

Oh, Daemon. Has it ever occurred to you that the women in your life might be having these types of conversations about you? Probably not.]

Nor can I disagree with that. He has always seemed to find making things more difficult for both himself and others an addictive hobby.

[moondancer]

[ Despite her ill feelings, she can't help but wrinkle her nose and smile. Her father is a pain in the ass, but he isn't a malicious one. Everything he has done has been to better his family. ]

Was he always like that? Even when he was younger?

[suchstrangepower]

Oh, yes.

Well, maybe there was a point in his own childhood where he was less restless, but at least for my whole life that has been the case. He's a double edged sword, in human form. It is hard to fully fault him for always wanting to be doing something. Or proving something.

[moondancer]

[ Baela's heard the stories about the Rogue Prince, of course. She expects half of them to be exaggerated and contain some untruths. To hear a sliver of how Rhaenyra views him… ]

Is that why you like him?

[ She can't quite pinpoint the actual why, but she suspects it might have something to do with his restlessness and desire to prove himself until the end of time. ]

[suchstrangepower]

[Has she ever been directly asked why she likes him, before? Certainly not by someone else who also likes him.]

It is certainly a large contributing factor. There is something special about having those traits in myself understood by someone else without having to explain anything. And although he may occasionally burn too hot... the warmth the rest of the time has always seemed worth it to me.

[moondancer]

[ If only Baela understood what it was like to want to be someone else. Does she wish to be Jace? No. She likes herself too much to want to be someone else.

… She would like his patience, though. ]

That's why he's so frustrating, isn't it? He's a true dragon, but sometimes he acts like, well… I don't want to say.

[ A fool. Rhaenys would happily supply various descriptors. ]

[suchstrangepower]

An ass?

[Rhaenys wouldn't have taken long to get that descriptor, either, but she probably wouldn't have said it with as much amusement as Rhaenyra.]

I have always liked that a little too much in people, if I am honest.

[moondancer]

Really?

[ Baela's incredulity is accompanied by a wide smile. (Did Baela really think any better of Rhaenyra? She and Daemon are kind of mirrors.) ]

[suchstrangepower]

Really. Does that surprise you very much?

[She won't be insulted, regardless of the answer.]

[moondancer]

[ She can't help her light laugh. ]

A little. I always thought, well… You liked the confidence in someone. It never occurred to me that you'd like the fact that they were an ass.

[ Now, if Rhaenyra had said she liked him for his ass, Baela would finally have an excuse to seek therapy. ]

[suchstrangepower]

[It's fair to laugh, it is a funny topic.]

Oh, confidence is very attractive as well, you are correct about that.

[moondancer]

[ Which her father has in spades. Baela doesn't wish to think more about it.

She gestures with her hands, fingers spread like she's holding something that's invisible. ]

Jace has this quiet confidence… [ Speaking of, Baela begins to lose her confidence as he remembers who she's speaking to. But she trucks on - ] He's hardly an ass. That's what I like about him.

[suchstrangepower]

[Be grateful she did not keep talking about how she likes them a little mean, that would have been a much more scarring path to wander down.]

You are wiser about this than I was at your age, then. Or then I am now, even. I think we must give Laenor most of the credit for that, he was much more kind than he was an ass. Although he was also a horrible gossip.

[moondancer]

[ Her eyes brighten along with her voice. ]

Really?

[ What Baela knows of him, he had been kind and gentle and had a laugh akin to a dragon's roar. He had to be the calmer side to the coin; her mother was ferocious. ]

Did you gossip a lot with him?