Evening
After being relentlessly badgered by Gaemon throughout the day, King Jaehaerys was finally persuaded. He had made the historic decision to partition royal territory and grant his sons their own fiefdoms.
However, the exact size, scope, and location of these new domains required meticulous planning before any official decrees could be made.
Through deep consultations with Septon Barth, his Hand of the King, Jaehaerys reviewed the Crown's current territorial holdings. The vast majority of the royal lands were concentrated within the Crownlands. During Aegon's Conquest, this region had been sparsely populated by minor lords, allowing the Targaryens to claim the lion's share of the territory for themselves.
Yet, most of the established noble fiefs were clustered around Crackclaw Point and the islands dotting Blackwater Bay. Geographically speaking, the sprawling wilderness of the Kingswood and its borders should have fallen under the jurisdiction of the Stormlands.
However, because the Kingswood had never been formally granted to any lord, it had remained the Crown's exclusive hunting reserve, effectively rendering it absolute royal property.
After carefully studying the maps, Jaehaerys and Barth identified four distinct, unowned regions adjacent to the Crownlands: the Kingswood, the Baywood, the Wendwater Forest, and the Stag Plains. Combined, these tracts encompassed roughly twenty-five thousand square miles—more than enough raw, untapped territory to partition into new princely fiefs.
Westeros operated on a rigid feudal system, but Aegon's Conquest had violently rewritten the old rules. The ancient, decentralized era of "my vassal's vassal is not my vassal" was dead and buried.
Today, every single noble on the continent was forced to swear ultimate fealty to the Iron Throne, regardless of who their immediate liege lord was.
Therefore, in theory, every inch of unclaimed wilderness in Westeros belonged solely to the state and the royal family.
But in this technologically stagnant era, the Crown simply lacked the bureaucratic infrastructure to map and track every acre. Unless a region was culturally significant or heavily populated, it was effectively ignored.
Currently, the Iron Throne's primary streams of revenue were direct taxation on the nobility, port tariffs, and the seigniorage generated by the royal mints. The only land that truly generated direct, exploitable wealth for the Crown was the city of King's Landing itself.
Without sufficient internal tax revenue, the Iron Throne was constantly forced to seek massive loans from the Iron Bank of Braavos just to fund infrastructure projects like the Kingsroad.
As Gaemon saw it, the Iron Throne was a national government in name only.
If House Targaryen didn't possess the apocalyptic power of dragons, the title of King would be an empty honor. In terms of pure, grounded economic and military infrastructure, the Crown would actually be weaker than several of the Great Houses.
Developing the untamed lands bordering the capital wouldn't just provide seats for the royal princes; it would drastically multiply the Iron Throne's baseline, independent power.
As for the risk of a cadet branch growing too powerful and eventually rebelling for the throne? That was a hypothetical nightmare Jaehaerys couldn't afford to let paralyze him.
Any Targaryen with a dragon and enough ambition would find a way to rebel, whether they possessed a castle or not.
But by formally granting lands and titles, the Crown would effectively buy the loyalty of the vast majority of the bloodline. If a rebellion did spark, these landed princes would be heavily incentivized to defend the Iron Throne and crush the usurper simply to protect their own lucrative holdings.
Having finalized the scale of the lands to be partitioned, and after a long, private discussion with Queen Alysanne, King Jaehaerys gathered his prepared documents. He planned to formally present the proposal to his sons that very evening.
Although Gaemon was the only one who had demanded a fiefdom, Jaehaerys had his own strategic vision. He needed to maintain absolute unity within the family, which meant ensuring his sons were treated with equal fairness.
---
The Small Dining Hall, The Red Keep
Warm, amber candlelight bathed the intimate dining hall.
This room was specifically utilized for private, internal family gatherings. Its modest size prevented the oppressive, cavernous feeling of the Great Hall, fostering a sense of actual family warmth.
A long, polished oak table dominated the center of the room. The attendees had already taken their seats.
Tonight, the gathering was exceptionally small. Aside from the King and Queen, only Princes Aemon, Baelon, and Gaemon were present.
They represented the entirety of House Targaryen's living male line currently residing in the Red Keep.
"I summoned you all tonight because there is a matter I must announce," Jaehaerys began, speaking from the head of the table before the meal had even truly started.
"You are all likely aware that Gaemon has been relentlessly petitioning me for his own tract of land. After discussing the matter at length with your mother, I have decided that it is time to reform our family's internal structure. You are all growing into men. You have, or will soon have, families of your own. The Red Keep is vast, but it cannot belong to all of you."
He paused, letting the heavy weight of his words settle over his sons. "From this day forward, when a royal prince comes of age and marries, he will be required to vacate the Red Keep and establish his own household."
"If you choose to remain within King's Landing, the Crown will provide you with a generous annual stipend to maintain your household and raise your children. However, if you wish to forge your own legacy, the Crown will carve out unclaimed territory from the realm and grant you your own fiefdom. The choice is yours."
The King's sudden, sweeping decree left the table in stunned silence.
Prince Aemon was the first to react, his voice laced with anxiety. "Father, I can understand granting them lands, but surely they don't need to be banished from the Keep! The castle is more than large enough to house us all."
"Enough," Jaehaerys replied, his tone cold and absolute. "Some decisions must be made early, Aemon. It is the only way to prevent far greater devastation in the future."
Having recognized the systemic flaw threatening their dynasty, Jaehaerys was determined to excise it immediately. He would not wait until a bloody civil war forced his hand, leaving him with nothing but bitter regrets.
Realizing their father's decision was irreversible, the princes fell silent, immediately turning their thoughts toward their own futures.
In truth, Baelon was the only one genuinely grappling with the choice. As the Heir Apparent, Aemon's path to the Iron Throne was already set in stone. Gaemon had engineered this entire situation specifically to claim his own territory, so he accepted the decree with perfect, smug calm.
Baelon, however, sat with his head bowed, his mind racing. The Crown was offering raw, undeveloped wilderness. Taming such harsh land was a monumental, grueling task. It would require astronomical sums of gold, a massive labor force, and years of backbreaking work before yielding any real results. In the beginning, there would be nothing but dirt and trees. Everything would have to be built from scratch.
Currently, Baelon enjoyed a comfortable, opulent life funded entirely by the Crown. Leaving the capital meant taking on the crushing burden of creating his own livelihood. The pressure was immense.
But Baelon was a warrior to his core. He was no stranger to hardship, and he possessed zero desire to live out his days as a pampered, idle prince. Forging a domain from the wilderness would be agonizing, but it would be his. It was a chance to build his own true legacy.
Seeing the fierce, determined light enter Baelon's eyes, King Jaehaerys nodded in quiet satisfaction.
"Well?" the King finally asked, breaking the silence. "Have you made your considerations? Will you take the coin, or will you take the land?"
"We want the land!"
Baelon and Gaemon answered in perfect, simultaneous unison.
"Since you both seek your own domains, I have selected several tracts of land for you to consider. The choice of where to stake your claim is yours."
With that, Jaehaerys gestured to Grand Maester Feniel, who had been standing quietly in the shadows.
The Grand Maester stepped forward and unrolled a massive, sprawling silk map across the table, measuring nearly ten square feet. It was a meticulously embroidered, highly detailed chart of the Crownlands and its immediate borders.
Jaehaerys had commissioned it specifically to clearly define the borders of his vassal lords. Tonight, it would serve as the canvas upon which Gaemon and Baelon would carve out their futures.