King's Landing 300 AC.
Arthur.
How he had kept his composure was beyond him, how his king had kept his own was something he'd never be able to explain. Knowing how hard it was for him not to just take Dawn and cut down every single person with the last name Frey, he knew it was only even more difficult for Jae to show restraint. When he'd been told exactly what they had done he'd understood why Jae had been ready to fly directly to the Twins and why Rhaenix had been so angered. What it was that had stopped him? Arthur had no idea but it had brought relief to all of those who'd been there.
For him, it had brought mixed feelings as he was both proud of his king for not giving in to the anger he was showing and yet almost willing him to do so. The knowledge that someone had held Rhaegar's body all this time and hadn't allowed him to be put to rest had left him furious. As angered as he was upon finding it out though, it was seeing it in front of him that had shown him how truly angry he could be. Not even hearing the news of the Elia's. Aegon's and Rhaenys's or even Rhaegar's deaths had made him as angry as he had been when he'd seen where they'd kept his greatest friend's body all this time.
Perhaps because upon learning of them his anger had been overwhelmed by the sadness and regret he had felt, where here it was in its pure unadulterated form. He could barely see the princess's expression as he had instead looked at the table and what lay upon it. As for his king's, that he could only imagine. Jae had kept his back to him until he had not and when he'd turned and bid him help him carry Rhaegar from the room, his face had been expressionless. They had carried the body and laid it on the ground and he'd felt his heart still when Rhaenix moved towards it and as she showed her own emotion as she brushed softly against it.
Then and only then had Jae's expression changed. He'd spoken loudly but firmly and had only come close to giving in to the anger that he was clearly feeling when the weasel had spoken. Listening to what his king said, hearing him include him in his words as he threatened the weasel with what could, what perhaps should befall him, Arthur felt a kinship he'd not felt with Jae until then. Jaime loved the boy like a son and Oberyn thought of him as a nephew but neither had truly loved Rhaegar. Arthur had and did and he loved his son just as truly. Both of them felt the same way and were of the same mind on the atrocity that the Frey's had committed and so he found himself closer to his king than he had ever been before as he listened to him speak.
"Watch and watch closely and know that this is the man you angered here this day. Know this and fear what will happen should you anger me again"
The last of Jae's words had Arthur eager to watch and see what it was he had planned, the Freys he knew would get off far easier than he had liked in terms of the debt they now owed. Knowing however how his king felt it was not out of mercy that he was letting them do so. Instead, there was to be a message sent here today and Arthur found himself looking on eagerly as that message was sent loudly and clearly. It was different than it had been at Hardhome and whether it was a force of will or whether Jae was stronger, there was no tiredness after it.
What there was were bridges, lots of them, the Trident was now full of them as far as the eye could see. Arthur remembered something that Loras had said to him a few days earlier. A tale of their visit to the Twins before Jae had been attacked. He'd said that he told Jae that he should strip the Frey's of their lordship and their lands and that as the king he had the right to do so.
"What did his grace say?" Arthur asked.
"That we didn't need to remove them, all we needed to was build more bridges." Loras said with a chuckle.
Build them Jae certainly had and yet it was how he'd built them that was the key to what message he wished to send this day. Burning down the keep and executing those responsible, while a large part of him still almost begged for it to be done, it would be lesser of a message than this. People knew the power of dragons, Harrenhal stood as a reminder and what Jae had done to the Golden Company made the Field of Fire now pale in comparison. The dragons were power, true strength, and a potent symbol of what would be unleashed upon you should you wake them.
