The tragedy of the King who Flew

  What Paul Arryn did not realize is that it was not King Aegon who should concern him, but Queen Visenya who had been a long time friend of Rickard, considering him almost a son. When news of Rickards death reached King's Landing, despite Aelyx I wishing to let the Vale handle their own matters Visenya and Vhagar flew to the Eyrie like they had many times over the last four decades, followed close behind by Prince Baelon on the back of Balerion who refused to let his Mother put herself at risk alone. There Visenya dispensed justice for those who had turned on Rikard.
  The men who supported Paul thought that trying and punishing the usurper themselves would earn mercy, however the only mercy Visenya showed them was to have them hanged instead of burnt. Prince Baelon oversaw the hangings and many voices both on the gallows and in the crowd, questioned that the Highborn were not given the honor of a beheading. This critique saw Baelon offer beheading to any others in the crowd who spoke during the execution. The hanging was from that point forward a silent affair.
  Those who were personally involved in Rickards death alongside Paul were "given the honor of feeling what it's like to fly" as Rickard had known upon Vhagar, though while the late Lord Arryn had ridden upon Vhagar's back as a friend to Visenya, the Lords who killed him were picked up in Vhagar's claws one by one and dropped from the sky high over the mountains of the Moon with the specific instruction to any who might hope to find and bury what remained of them, that to do so would be treason. -- The tragedy that is the story of Rickard Arryn, the King that Flew is one that begins sweetly at first with Aegon's Conquest. In a bid to take the Vale without undue bloodshed, Visenya Targareyen flew to the Eyrie to bypass the Queen Regent Sharra Arryn, and the host she held at the Bloody Gate, however what Visenya did not realize was how young the boy-king truly was. When Sharra Arryn returned to the Eyrie, rushed having seen the flapping of leathered wings overhead she entered her hall to find Rickard sitting upon Visenya's knee talking on and on about the games he liked to play, showing her carved figures that bore the sigils of his bannermen, as well as figures cut in the likeness of legendary figures such as Symeon Star Eyes, the Winged Knight and Serwyn of the Mirror Shield.
  Some Bards speak of this meeting in a fashion that would make one think Visenya's focus upon the sweet boy was such that Sharra's arrival was not noted until she shrieked the words 'no!' when Rickard asked to fly with Visenya, however some tell the tale in a more sinister manner, that Visenya was well aware the moment Sharra arrived and made the suggestion herself in a bid to force Sharra to her knees.
  During the first visit of Visenya Targaryen to the Eyrie during the talks that saw the Vale become one of Aegon's Kingdoms, a leather belt and buckles were fashioned that Rickard owned the rest of his life, the belt and buckles were used to secure him with Visenya upon Vhagar's back. Twice during the talks Rickard saw his Kingdom as a Falcon would, flying over the wide reaching grasp of the Fingers from the height of the Mountains of the Moon, down to the valley that stretches from the Eyrie to Longbow hall and out over the Narrow Sea These flights and Rickards place as the last King of the Mountain and Vale earned him the nickname 'The King who Flew.
  By the time Visenya left, Visenya and Rickard had forged a friendship which would endure his entire life, with many at court claiming that Visenya spoke of the boy like a son right up until Baelon's birth, and even after she valued every letter, and looked forward to every visit to the Vale. Rickard was much the same, with many who knew him claiming that he saw Visenya as a second mother much to Sharra's annoyance, though some paint Rickards favor of Visenya more as a crush in youth and an unrequited love through the early years of his marriage to Rayna Stark, the Wolf of the Eyrie who by all accounts hated Visenya's visits, the flights that Rickard would take during them and the way he would go on about them for days after his return from them.
  However where Rickard and Visenya had forged a friendship, Visenya had made a life long enemy of Sharra, and this enmity was passed on to Rickards younger brother Paul who was raised by Sharra to resent his brother and the friendship he had built with the Dragon Queen. As the years went on this resentment built to a deep division in the Arryn household that extended to the Vale itself. Long after Sharra Arryn died her hatred for Visenya and the loss of the Vale to house Targaryen would nearly see the ruin of her house when Paul Arryn took the opportunity of Aegon Targaryen's death and the many other rebellions in the realm to rise up against his brother with the help of house Grafton, Egen, Hardyng, Redfort and Tollett.
  Rickard Arryn and his children were imprisoned in the sky cells, while Paul, having lost his own wife sought the 'comfort' of the Wolf of the Eyrie, finding her as wild as her namesake though some who know more of the tragedy than others say she was no different from any other 'beaten dog' in the end. Rickard, rightly, believed that it would only be a matter of time before house Targaryen came to the aid of him and his family, what he did not suspect however was his brothers commitment to power. King Aelyx, perhaps for the insistence of his aunt Visenya, sent a large force from the Crownlands to aid Lord Royce, Corbray, Waynwood and Waxley in taking the Bloody Gate and marching on the Eyrie, however for this press to reclaim the Vale for it's rightful Lord, Paul Arryn warned Lord Royce that proceeding past the Bloody Gate would see Rickard and his family in their entirety were thrown to their deaths by way of the Moon Door. Doubting this King Aelyx commanded they proceed.
  Two days later when reports reached King's Landing of Rickard Arryn's death, Visenya is said to have slapped King Aelyx before returning to Dragonstone to take Vhaegar to the Vale. It is uncertain if Prince Baelon followed her because of a son's duty to his mother, his own ties to Rickard having grown up with frequent trips to the Vale with his Mother, or because he was commanded to by Aelyx, but it was not long before the men who had followed Paul Arryn heard that they were not only waiting for the armies of Rickards supporters to climb to the Eyrie, but also that Dragons were sighted in the distance.
  Visenya arrived in time to see Paul Arryn thrown from the moon door, Landing to the pleading of the men who supported him begging mercy for their part in the Death of Rickard and his family. When Lord Royce and his men arrived those who were complicit in the death of Rickard Arryn and his family were separated from the others, the courtyard of the Eyrie was separated into two lines of those to be executed. One side of the courtyard was for hangings that Prince Baelon managed with the help of the heir to house Corbray. The other side, that the crowd kept well clear of was for those who would have the honor to fly, as Rickard once had.
  As the hangings began many in the crowd and those who were to be hanged criticized Prince Baelon, stating that hanging was not fit for nobility and that they should be given a beheading however Prince Baelon responded by offering a beheading to any in the crowd who thought the scum assembled to face the punishment for their treason were being treated unfairly. This quieted the crowd almost immediately though some of the condemned still called for a proper beheading, what silenced them however was when Vhaegar swept down from the sky, grabbing the first men from the other side of the courtyard, startling the crowd and the prisoners both, carrying men out into the sky and simply... Flinging them from Vhaegar's claws before sweeping back around to the screams of those who assembled to watch the executions.
  Vhaegar made four flights to grab all those who were condemned to fly, throwing them out into the sky around the Eyrie, their screams cutting through the sky before Visenya landed and informed the crowd to spread the word that any who saw fit to find and bury those who had the honor to fly with her would be executed for treason.
  Today many songs are sang about Rickard Arryn both sweet and sad, and just as many sad songs are sang about Rayna Arryn and her children. Paul Arryn is remembered as a Kinslayer almost universally outside the Vale, however some in the Vale still hold hope in their hearts of finishing what he started.