"So, father will die from this disease?" Helaena was not close to her father, and she already knew from her dreams that this would not change, but she did not want him to die. Even if he was not a great father, Helaena still loved Viserys and did not wish pain and suffering upon him.
"The second Viserys had started showing symptoms of leprosy, he was already a dead man walking, this world is just too primitive to stop an illness like this. It may take longer than it would have before and Viserys might experience a less painful end, but he will die." Lilyanna said, her voice never wavering.
Lilyanna knew she sounded callous, but it was the truth. Viserys Targaryen was going to die of leprosy and nothing short of an absolute miracle would save him. "The oil will be less effective when directly used on the skin but it's our best bet."
"If it is less effective, then what about the other ways it can be used?"
"It can be used internally, either ingested through the mouth or injected on the infected areas, but this comes with side effects. Cough, difficulty breathing, throat spasms, kidney damage, visual disorders, head and muscle pain, and paralysis when used internally. When used on the skin, at worst you may get mild skin irritation."
The room fell into silence as Lilyanna continued to work, the process taking much longer to due to small body. Over an hour passed before Lilyanna finished, pouring the freshly made oil into ten small jars that she had taken from the kitchen days earlier.
"Now, I just have to figure out how to get this into Viserys' room without getting caught." Lilyanna spoke aloud.
"You could use the tunnels." Helaena said while pointing to the adjacent wall.
"You know about the tunnels? Wait, why am I even asking?" Lilyanna asked, she was aware of the secret tunnels that encompassed the Red Keep that Maegor the Cruel had ordered to be made by the builders he tasked with the Keep's construction.
After The Red Keep was completed, Maegor had a feast thrown for those who took part in the construction. In reality, this was just a ploy so he could roundup all the builders and put them all to death to protect the secrets of the castle.
It should not have surprised Lilyanna that Helaena had known about the tunnels, due to her dragon dreams. The only reason she herself knew was because of her preexisting knowledge of the world she was in, but she had yet to explore them as she did not how to navigate the maze of tunnels and most certainly did not want to walk into one of the many traps littering them.
"I can show you which path to take to father's bedchamber." Helaena walked to the wall she had pointed at. She pushed against it, causing the wall to give way, revealing that is was a secret door. "But how are you going to get father to take it?"
Lilyanna smirked, reaching into her dresser, and pulling out a folded piece of parchment. "With this."
Helaena took the parchment from her sister's hand and read its contents aloud. "Your Grace, I was going through various tomes and found a recipe for a medicine that I believe will alleviate you of your pains. All that is required is that you apply it to the areas of infection. - Grand Maester Mellos."
Helaena looked up once she was done reading and stared blankly at Lilyanna. Slowly, Lilyanna's smile dimmed, her lips forming a pout and crossing her arms in offense.
"Stop looking at me like that." Lilyanna muttered.
"Like what?" Helaena asked, her expression remaining the same.
"Like you think I'm an idiot!" Lilyanna exclaimed.
Helaena tilted her head to side, "But I do think you are an idiot."
"Hey!" Lilyanna yelled, offended by her twin's affirmation. She knew that Helaena did not mean anything malicious, but she had never taken insults to her intelligence very well.
"I do think you are very smart, Lilyanna. But I also think you can be very dumb and oblivious to things around you. You are the dumbest smart person I know." Helaena said with a kind smile on her face.
Lilyanna stared at Helaena blankly, she opened her mouth trying to speak, but no words came out. Helaena's smile grew wider as she took in Lilyanna's stumped expression, she could feel her sister trying to think of a witty comeback, but failing.
After a minute, Lilyanna scoffed, "Whatever. This is going to work, I know Viserys, he's too trusting and is not smart enough to question the note. And even if he does, Mellos will just take credit for it."
"If that is what you believe." Helaena airily said.
Lilyanna rolled her eyes, "Can you please just show me the way to his chamber?"
Helaena walked through the trapped door, motioning for Lilyanna to follow her. Lilyanna grabbed two of the jars of the chaulmoogra and the note she had written, closing the door behind her as she entered the tunnel.
The twins walked through the winding maze of tunnels in silence. Lilyanna looked around the tunnels, amazed by the craft and detail that went into making them.
The two could see various parts of the Red Keep, seeing small gaps that allowed them to look inside rooms and hallways.
It did not take long for Helaena and Lilyanna to reach a dead-end with a large door. The door was much larger than the one that led to their own room, indicating that it was the King's chambers.
It makes sense, Maegor was the one who drew up the plans for the tunnels. Of course, he would want it to be known that he was the King, even if he was the only one using the tunnels. Lilyanna thought.
Helaena moved to the side of the door, looking through the eye slit that was craved into the wall. "Father is still asleep. You should be able to place the oil and the note on father's desk and get out."
Lilyanna nodded in agreement, quietly pushing the door open and tip toeing into the room. Lilyanna took a quick look at her father to ensure that he was still asleep as she made her way to his desk.
Just as Lilyanna had placed the items down, she heard the voices of her mother and oldest sister from out in the hall.
The secret door was on the other side of the room, so Lilyanna was forced to dive on the floor, sliding under Viserys' bed when she heard the bedchamber door begin to open.
"I have told you before, princess, the King is perfectly fine." Alicent said as she and Rhaenyra walked into the room.
Rhaenyra rolled her eyes, "Well, excuse me for wanting to see my father's condition with my own eyes."
Lilyanna pressed her head against the cold floor, refusing to move a muscle out of fear of getting caught. The young girl hoped that the two would not notice the chaulmoogra oil and the note she had written. Unlike Viserys, Alicent and Rhaenyra would most certainly question the validity of the objects.
Rhaenyra walked to the side of Viserys' bed. The man was still peacefully sleeping, unbothered by the world around him.
Even though there was a blanket covering Viserys' entire body expect for his head, Rhaenyra could still see the now flattened area where his left arm used to be.
"Kepa." Rhaenyra whispered as she pressed a gentle kiss upon his brow. "Thank you, Alicent."
Alicent tore her gaze away from the adjacent wall, staring at Rhaenyra in shock. "Excuse me?" She whispered.
Lilyanna too was also shocked, not expecting Rhaenyra to say anything nice to Alicent, let alone thanking her.
Rhaenyra began playing with the rings on her hands, a flash of heat running up her neck. "Thank you, for taking care of my father. I know it could not have been easy sitting there as he… as he had his arm removed."
"It was nothing. I was just doing what any wife would do in this situation." Alicent responded, the words not feeling quite right as they left her lips.
"Yes, what any wife would…" Rhaenyra trailed off, she hated that she was reminded of how her father stole Alicent away from her, turning her greatest support into her enemy.
"Thank you, for taking the children with you to the pit. I would not have wanted them to witness it even if they would not have been in the room. Although, I disagree with you flying in the air with them… they had fun, so I thank you for that." The words rushed forward as Alicent spoke.
Rhaenyra gave Alicent a tentative smile, "You are welcome."
Alicent returned the smile before her eyes widened and her cheeks burned. She then cleared her throat, making an offhanded excuse and calmly (quickly) leaving the room.
Rhaenyra let out a winding sigh, her head leaning up towards the ceiling. "Damn it." She then placed another kiss on Viserys' head and left the room as well.
Lilyanna immediately crawled out from under the bed when it became clear that no one else would enter again.
"Whoa…" Lilyanna whispered to herself while looking at the bedchamber door. She was filled with hope that Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship could be saved or at least strengthened.
"That was unexpected." Helaena said once Lilyanna rejoined her inside of the tunnels.
"Yeah, let's just hope I don't have to do that again anytime soon." Lilyanna replied, walking past her sister and back to their room.
Helaena hummed to herself and followed, she had been referring to the moment between their mother and older sister. The silver haired twin had assumed that the bond the two women shared was irreconcilably severed, but seeing how they were in private when the rest of the world was not watching, changed this opinion.
Lilyanna's presence is changing things. I hope it will change this. Helaena pondered.
A Fortnight Later
Viserys Targaryen did not appear like the aging King he had been weeks earlier. Granted he still looked much older and weaker than his age suggested, but he was healthier than he had been before the surgery.
Viserys had even called Mellos to his room in order to thank him for the oil that had been making his recovery possible.
"Oil, Your Grace?" Mellos asked in confusion.
"The oil that you left on my desk, Mellos." Viserys clarified.
Mellos' face became gravely serious as he stared at the King. "Your Grace, I did not leave any such oil on your desk."
"You are not lying?" Viserys asked, he then reached into his pocket and pulling out the chaulmoogra jars. "You did not leave these for me?"
"Husband," Alicent said from her place next to Viserys. "The Grand Maester could not have left this oil for you." Alicent had spoken to Mellos and requested that all treatments be discussed with her, and the oil in his hands was not have been one of them.
Viserys then had Mellos bring forth all the Keep's maesters to figure out who could have given the King the oil to use. One by one each of them denied being the perpetrator, all being unfamiliar with the liquid within Viserys' hand.
It was this commotion that drew Rhaenyra to her father's bedchamber.
"Father? What is going on? Why are there maesters coming in and out of your room?" The princess asked as she walked up to her father, the Queen, and the Grand Maester.
"Rhaenyra, you know how I have doing better than I have been these past few weeks?" Viserys asked his daughter.
"Yes, I have noticed. We have all assumed that it was a blessing." Rhaenyra said.
Viserys shook his head, "It was this." He said while showing the jars of oil that he had placed on the table. "I have been placing it on the areas of infection each morning and they have been making me feel better. I had thought that Mellos or one of the other maesters had left them here for me, but I have discovered that is not the case."
Rhaenyra thought about what her father had said, "When were these jars placed in your room?"
"The day of my surgery." Viserys replied. "Why do you ask?"
"I think I know who had placed these here." Rhaenyra sighed, she then explained how on that very day Lilyanna had asked her if she could buy some strange fruits that she had seen in one of the city's many markets and how she wanted it to make something for Viserys.
"Why did you not tell us this before?" Alicent immediately asked, her thoughts swirling as she tried to comprehend what Rhaenyra's was implying.
Rhaenyra clenched her jaw, "I did not think it was serious. Lilyanna is five, I did not think whatever she would make would work, but it appears that I have been proven wrong."
"Stop this." Viserys said, ending the argument that would have undoubtedly occurred between the two women. "Ser Criston, go to my daughter's room and bring Princess Lilyanna here at once."
"Yes, Your Grace." Criston responded, turning on his heel and leaving the room to complete his King's order.
Five minutes later and Criston had returned with Lilyanna at his side. Lilyanna looked between her parents, older sister, and the Grand Maester and she immediately knew why she had been summoned to Viserys' bedchamber.
"Lilyanna," Viserys said as he motioned his daughter forward. "Did you make this?" He asked pulling one of the jars of the table and holding it for her to see.
"I did, father." Lilyanna said earnestly, not seeing the point in lying when everyone in the room knew the truth.
"And you wrote a note, pretending to be Grand Maester Mellos? Why?" Viserys asked, his expression never changing as he towered over his daughter.
"If you knew the oils were from me you would not have taken them. I knew if you thought the Grand Maester gave them to you would not have questioned it." Lilyanna responded.
"How? How were you able to make this... medicine?" Mellos quickly asked before anyone else in the room could speak. He knew from his fellow maesters that Lilyanna was very smart for her age, but to make something like this without any previous training, knowledge, or experience was unheard of.
For someone who had only just left infancy, who was still learning to read and write properly, it was unthinkable.
Lilyanna was unfazed by the question, "I brought Chaulmoogra berries, took out the seeds and crushed them until they became an oil, Grand Maester Mellos."
"Chaulmoogra berries? I have never heard of such a fruit." Mellos said, as if surprised that there was something that he did not know.
"They are from Yi-Ti." Rhaenyra answered.
"Yi-Ti?" Viserys asked Rhaenyra.
"Yes, Yi-Ti. It is where the merchant that Lilyanna bought the berries from said they originated. It is why they were so expensive." Rhaenyra said, her eyes never leaving Lilyanna's form.
"Expensive?"
"They cost three silver stags."
"You gave your sister three silver stags to buy this fruit?"
Rhaenyra shook her head, "No, I did not. Lily already had the coin in a purse she had brought with her."
"Lilyanna, where did – how did you get three silver stags?" Alicent finally spoke as she removed herself from Viserys' side and stood in front of their daughter.
Lilyanna shrugged, refusing to make eye contact with the woman as she knew Alicent would not like the answer.
"Lilyanna." Alicent stressed, using the tone that she almost exclusively used with Aegon whenever he did something wrong.
Lilyanna let out a sigh and said, "I asked a servant to lend me the money. I said I would pay them back when I eventually received my own allowance."
This statement was a lie, in truth, Lilyanna had been stealing money from the Knights and lower nobles of the Red Keep for the last two years. Being a small child and her ability to disappear and not be found had made it quite easy for her to reach into people's pockets and purses without being noticed.
Lilyanna had been taking this money and placing them in a large sack that she had now hid within the walls of her bedroom, loosening a few bricks with Helaena's help in order to make it possible.
She had done this just in case she needed the money in the future. It would be best for future problems/endeavors if she had her own money that was not monitored by the Crown.
It was not as if Lilyanna could tell her mother this, so it was the lesser of two evils to simply lie about where she had gotten the money.
"Lilyanna!" Alicent exclaimed, shocked by what she had just heard.
"I am sorry, mother." Lilyanna tried to put on pitiful face of remorse, but either it was not convincing, or her sins were too great, because Alicent was not falling for it.
"How did you know that this concoction would help me, Lilyanna?" Viserys asked, temporarily sparing Lilyanna from Alicent's wrath.
"I read through the few books we have about Yi-Ti in the Keep's library. It said that chaulmoogra could be used to heal skin aliments." Lilyanna told her father.
"Skin aliment? How do you know I have such afflictions on my skin?" Viserys questioned.
Lilyanna had to fight to not look like she thought her father was an idiot, "I have heard about the symptoms you have, father; bleeding from the nose, loss of hair, and scaring on the hands, feet, and face. I knew that the chaulmoogra oil would help with this."
"And it can cure my disease?" Viserys had started to become hopeful, wondering if the treatment his daughter had secretly given him would cure him.
"No, it will not cure you." Lilyanna said, she did not want to become response hen Viserys' disease would continue to ravage his body by lying that it would. "I do not know what the disease is that you have, father. But the oil will not heal you, only slow down its speed."
The room grew quietly as everyone inside gave their attention to the King, Viserys visibly deflated at what Lilyanna said. The King then surprised everyone when he turned to Mellos, "Grand Maester, I want you to be in charge of Princess Lilyanna's education from now on."
"Father, you cannot be serious about this."
"Viserys, let us talk about this."
Rhaenyra and Alicent said respectively, to the both of them it seemed like a rash decision to put an aging maester completely in charge of a little girl's education.
"Clearly Lilyanna has some protentional in this area, besides it is not as if we can send her to the Citadel. It would best not to ignore this." Viserys stated, there was a shine in his eyes as he looked at Lilyanna.
"I agree with you, Viserys, Lilyanna does have... a talent for medicine. It is clear with how she created this oil for you, but to have the Grand Maester be entirely in control of her education is excessive and unrealistic." Alicent said to her husband, gently trying to get him to see reason.
"I must agree with the Queen, Your Grace. It would be best if Princess Lilyanna continues her education as is." Mellos said, the maester did not know how to feel about Viserys' decree. It was clear to him that Lilyanna was intelligent, but she was still a small child, a girl, it was yet to be revealed if this was an act of genius or simply luck that grew from a young girl's whims.
There was also the unseen presence of Otto Hightower. Despite being ousted from his position years ago, he could still be felt through the actions of Alicent and her Greens. Mellos believed that it would only be a matter of time before Otto returned to the Red Keep, whether it would be because of the King, or the Queen had yet to be seen.
Mellos thought about how Otto would react to Viserys' demand that Lilyanna be taught by him to essentially become a maester.
Viserys thought about what was said to him, "Perhaps you are both right, Lilyanna should maintain her normal schedule. However, I want Lilyanna to have lessons with you at least once a week, Grand Maester."
"Of course, Your Grace." Mellos replied with a bow of his head. He then turned to Lilyanna and Alicent, "Let us start as soon as possible. Does tomorrow work for you, my Queen, Princess?"
Lilyanna said nothing, looking up at Alicent and waiting for her mother's answer before responding. She already knew that Alicent would agree, the Queen had no choice since Viserys had decreed that Lilyanna would learn from Mellos.
"Of course, Grand Maester. That would be fine for Lilyanna." Alicent said, visibly conflicted about the situation. Alicent felt that so much attention, so much pressure was now being placed on her daughter and she could not do anything to stop it.
"Thank you, Grand Maester." Lilyanna said, hiding her true feelings on the matter, knowing that it was best to go along with the decision instead of fighting against it.
Lilyanna did not know why Viserys was suddenly wanting Lilyanna to learn from Mellos. She had assumed when the King confronted her that he would write off her actions as blind luck, giving her a slap on the wrist for her deception, not order her to become Mellos' student.
Helaena was right, I really am an idiot