Hugh Hammer (ASOIF/SI)

 The young highborn maids tittered and blushed as Addam tried to

 make conversation with them, the gardens of the Red Keep were

 sheltered enough that the blustery winds coming in off the

 Blackwater Bay did not make the temperature uncomfortable. So,

 these maids were still able to wear what was apparently 'summer'

 fashion, which appeared to Addam's eyes to consist of less material

 than was usual, and in some cases decent. Not that he was

 complaining, but it necessitated wearing a longer than was usual

 doublet, to hide the incessant cock stand he found himself sporting.

 The conversations seemed to always centre on his dragon and what

 it was like to ride it, with enough sly inuendo from the elder, or bolder

 maids to make Addam blush, adding further to his discomfort.

 Thankfully Hugh came to his rescue, requesting his presence and

 that of the other dragonriders, apparently there was something for

 them to discuss. The highborn maids were equally all a flutter around

 Hugh, who did his best to be polite and to ignore them, much to their

 disappointment.

 Once out of earshot Hugh whispered, "you were in need of a

 wingman to rescue you young Lord, you were drowning, not waving."

 "Erh, thank you, I think" replied Addam as Hugh led him further away

 from the gardens "I suppose the dragonriders are not required for a

 meeting of some sort?"

 "You suppose correct my friend" came Hugh's reply, making Addam

 feel somewhat relieved. Meetings of the dragonriders required Ulf,

 Prince Daemon and Queen Rhaenyra, people who made him

 nervous.

"But, the 'alert posture' is being scaled down to a single dragon 'on

 alert' as opposed to two dragons and their riders, a new schedule

 will be posted, starting next week."

 "Oh?"

 "Yes, apparently Vhagar has been located, in the Reach with

 Tessarion and the armies of Lord Ormund Hightower. For now, we

 need not fear a surprise attack. But I doubt the dragons, or the

 armies of the Greens will stay still for long."

 "What, what do you think the Greens will do Hugh? I mean, we, we

 have the former King, his mother and most of the previous Small

 Council in our hands, we have more dragons, and we have Kings

 Landing…."

 "This is a… a what you might call a 'civil war', a strange name I know

 Addam, but one that pits family against each other. These wars are

 always bloody and are never easily resolved and leave a legacy of

 bitter resentment and hatred for decades afterwards."

 "That sounds, depressing" replied Addam, not knowing what more to

 say on the matter.

 "Aye lad, it is. War is not all heroics and fair maidens waiting for their

 loves to return. We are lucky in that we ride dragons; we don't have

 to slog through the mud and the blood, but our chance of being killed

 are actually much higher than that of the average peasant levy."

 "How so?" Addam asked, not sure he was understanding correctly.

 "There are eighteen, I mean ten and eight dragons with riders in this

 war, six of them are either too small to be ridden or their rider was

 unable to mount them due to other issues…."

 "You, you mean Queen Haelena don't you?"

"I do yes Addam, anyway, that leaves ten and two dragons 'available

 for operations' as it were, of these ten and two dragons two are dead

 with their riders and one is missing, its rider incapacitated by injuries

 suffered in air-to-air combat. That works out at a one on four casualty

 rate, how many battles do you know of where one in four knights fell

 in combat?"

 "Erh, I don't know, I suppose not many?"

 "Aye, not many indeed, usually losses are in the order of one in ten

 or one in nine in a battle, we dragonriders have double the casualty

 rate of other combatants Addam."

 Addam said nothing in response, wondering where exactly Hugh

 was going with this.

 "Fret not Addam, I am not turning craven on you or anything like that,

 just making sure that you don't misunderstand what it is we are

 doing here. Our role is vital, crucial to the success of our Queen's

 endeavors, but it is not without risk to ourselves, we are not

 invulnerable."

 "It's the dragons isn't it Hugh, this is all about the dragons!" Addam

 retorted; his mind suddenly clear as to what Hugh was trying to say.

 "Yes, it's all about the dragons, they must live Addam, they must not

 be sacrificed to win this war. Dragons make the armies of the High

 Lords obsolete Addam; they make the position of the Targaryen's

 unassailable on the Iron Throne. And yes, I know you are a Velaryon,

 but you share blood with the Targaryens and your ancestors hail

 from the Freehold also. The great Lords of Westeros will always be

 plotting and scheming and without dragons how long do you think

 they would stay subservient to the Iron Throne? A decade or two,

 perhaps a generation at most. With dragons to enforce the peace the

 realm will prosper, and senseless deaths heaped on the alters of the

 ambitions of the Andal Lords will vanish."

 "You, you believe that to be so Hugh?"

"Aye I do, I also fear that this war could lead to the end of dragons,

 something which would be a disaster for all of us Addam."

 "Truly, you believe that dragons could go, could go extinct?"

 "They could, if enough are killed yes, dragons are magic and magic

 is needed to birth them, the less dragons in existence the less eggs

 will hatch, it could be that enough dragons are killed that no more

 eggs hatch Addam."

 "That, that is….."

 "I know, a terrible thing to contemplate."

 "Aye Hugh, terrible….you, you seem to love the Targaryen's, and,

 and their dragons…."

 Hugh gave him a wan and wistful smile before he continued,

 seeming to have been collecting his thoughts and carefully

 marshalling his words "they have been good to Dragonstone, and

 good to Westeros, major wars, before this current situation, were

 unheard of. The lands were united and at peace, something of a

 codified set of laws was implemented, life was better for most than it

 was in the era of the 'warring states' before the conquest."

 "I. Hugh, I mean….."

 "Say what you have to say Addam, you won't offend me" Hugh

 smiled at him.

 "You, you are, sorry you were a, a smallfolk, a blacksmith….and…."

 "Why would I have these concerns, why would I have these cares for

 others beyond eating the next day?"

 "Yesss….."

 "We are all not like Ulf and Nettles you know?" replied Hugh, letting

 out a small, sad sounding laugh "though too many of us are in truth.

Smashing hot iron all day sometimes gives you time to think, and it is

 amazing what you can pick up in taverns, especially those in ports.

 With enough information and enough time to think, you can

 formulate a pretty accurate picture of the world beyond your forge

 and Dragonstone."

 "Hrrmmmm, I see…." Came his reply, not really seeing at all if he

 was honest. But he supposed Hugh was just very cleaver, and that

 was the explanation for it. Or that Hugh was much older than he

 looked, for it seemed to Addam that Hugh sounded like a man with

 many years of hard and sorrowful experience behind him.

 "You think that the Greens will march on Kings Landing?" Addam

 asked, remembering back to a question he had asked a few minutes

 ago", wondering what the man would have to say on the matter. He

 wondered what would happen now that they held the capital and had

 eight dragons to their enemies two.

 "I don't know if I am honest, they may have a massive advantage in

 men but as the field of fire proved, that is negated by dragons. And

 we have more dragons than they do, their only way to win would be

 to find some way of neutralising our advantage in dragons."

 "How would they do that?"

 "Poison, assassination, treachery, the usual weapons of the weaker

 side. You notice that all the dragonriders are always accompanied by

 a coterie of guards at all times?"

 This was true, he had ten guards assigned to him at all times, as did

 Hugh and Ulf, the Prince, the Queen and the Princess also had their

 own guards. Nettles despised such protection and the strange, dark

 little waif rarely resided in Kings Landing anyway, preferring to spend

 most of her time on Dragonstone with her mount.

 "I have heard that Princess Baela is going to move back to

 Dragonstone soon…"

"Yes, to guard the place, its currently vulnerable to attack, with

 Nettles and Sheepstealer based there also that should give pause to

 any attempt by the Greens to attack. That is another way we could

 be defeated, by being 'defeated in detail', split into smaller packets of

 dragons and overwhelmed by Vhagar, who can take any of our

 dragons, with the exception of Caraxes, possibly."

 "So our supposed superiority, might not be as….telling as we

 believe?" asked Addam.

 "Yes, unfortunately, there is an old Valyrian saying 'it's never over

 until the fat lady sings."

 What a strange saying Addam pondered, while out loud he said, "so

 there is more fighting to come then?"

 "Oh yes, much more I suspect, there will be more than enough

 treachery, horror, waste and stupidity to last a lifetime for all of us

 before this is over."

 They walked along in silence for a few moments, before Addam

 asked "will you dine with grandfather and I tonight? I would very

 much like if you could join us Hugh."

 "I'm afraid I cannot, I have prior arrangements unfortunately."

 "Oh, anything, well, interesting?"

 "Oh yes, in the Yi-Ti sense of the word."

 Addam did not know what Hugh was talking about, but that did not

 sound very pleasant.