Autumn sunlight streamed through the Red Keep's stained-glass windows, casting colorful patterns across the stone floor of the corridors. A full day had passed since Aegon's return to King's Landing from the Stepstones.
Last night's welcoming feast had lasted well into the night. Viserys had drunk two whole flagons of wine, a rare indulgence, while Alicent had held Aegon's hand and fussed over him for half an hour with reddened eyes. Rhaenyra had watched him all evening with a gaze that mingled longing and interrogation.
Now, the clamor of the feast had faded, and the Red Keep had resumed its orderly daily routine.
On his second day back, Aegon stood in his study, with the sails of busy merchant ships on Blackwater Bay visible beyond the window.
Spread across the oak desk before him was a long list on parchment-
It was the register of women and children he had brought back from the Stepstones, compiled overnight by Alyn Celtigar. Each line neatly recorded a name, age, place of origin, and skills.
The list contained forty-seven women and twenty-three children from both shores of the Narrow Sea: textile workers from Myr, embroiderers from Lys, dyehouse apprentices from Tyrosh, and even a few unfortunate souls abducted from Westeros who now had no homes to return to.
After all, Aegon had already arranged for those with homes to be sent back. The youngest of the children remaining were only twelve or thirteen, and the oldest sixteen or seventeen.
"Your Grace, everything has been arranged with the Faith." Alyn Celtigar stood beside the desk, holding a reply that had just arrived from the sept with which they had reached an agreement.
His gold cloak gleamed in the morning light. A beard had begun to grow on the young man's adolescent chin, and his