Chapter 44.1- The Seadragon's Roar

XXXX- THE GREEN QUEEN

Of all the houses of the realm, House Velaryon was the one that fascinated her the most. Well, that was excluding the royal house that had become her own, of course. House Velaryon, sailors, up jumped merchants, servants to House Targaryen, now the second most powerful house in the realm, and the wealthiest by some margin. Her father had not been shy in telling her what his spies had been able to find out about Laenor Targaryen’s activities in the stepstones. Throughout her earliest years, she had been taught that war was a surefire way to waste gold and prosperity and that was why House Hightower avoided it where they could.

Laenor Velaryon turned that on its head. He had used his war to enrich himself to the point where even without touching the wealth his father had left, he was one of the richest in the realm. And then instead of sitting on that gold and allowing it do what it did best— attract more gold by its presence— he poured it all in the Stepstones. If she left the Red Keep now, she would notice the absent smell of human waste that used to cling to their city. The poorest of the poor had left the city in droves, on ships taking them to the Stepstones where they would be expected to work towards bringing the newest addition to the realm up to scrap. And all of it was funded with that gold.

She still couldn’t believe it— the spies her father had snuck in with that group had to either be lying or be mistaken. Free food for all peoples until they found employment on the islands, and employment that paid so well each person had enough to buy food and no one went hungry. Massive buildings limited to only orphaned children that saw them being taught to read by Septas and fed three times a day. So much gold, and all of it being wasted.

It boggled the mind. If it was just the gold being wasted, then she could understand it as another young Lord without an understanding of how the world worked thinking they could change things by pouring in their inheritance to it. But somehow, despite the insanity in some respects, Laenor Velaryon had proven to be a genius in others. Rumours said he had rediscovered the liquid stone that Valyria had built its empire on. Even her father did not believe the accounts of his spies on this one. It just made no sense. A liquid that flowed like water all the time but hardened to stone when exposed to the elements? It had to be sorcery. And magic was dead. It had died with Valyria like the Maesters taught.

More likely, the young Lord was simply investing so much gold and manpower into building that he was making it seem like the structures were appearing overnight. The rumors of liquid stone were just that— rumors. What wasn’t a rumor though was the glass. Glass better than Myr somehow . Spies from the Stepstones, the Triarchy, and even Braavos itself testified to this being the case, and wasn’t that something?