Aegon drummed his fingers on the table. Daeron was being more cautious than he expected. It seemed he had misjudged the man. Well, that gave Aegon the excuse to be the enthusiastic one.

"I understand your worry here, Daeron. I would disagree about the boarding issue - you could burn every man on those smaller longships to a pile of ashes before they came close enough to board. On the over hand, if something goes wrong, the closer-range attacks may well be our undoing. As I said, there's the risk that a ship set on fire may continue on its course, coming into contact with our own, and setting our own ship a-blaze. But, if we were to use them not upon every ship - perhaps one galley, with the sole job of setting the seas alight, for example, they could be deadly. The different types of fire (and of course our ships without any of these new weapons) working in tandem would require a much higher level of discipline and training, both on parts of our men and officers. If it worked well, we could destroy fleets that outnumber us massively, with few casualties. Recall, if you will, the Battle of Gulltown in Aegon's Conquest. The battle had been lost, but Vhagar's fire put such fear and disarray into the Vale's fleet that they destroyed themselves, effectively."

He smacked the table. He knew his enthusiasm was getting the better of him, but Aegon was determined to make these weapons work. Valarys was still listening intently. He had not sed anything yet, not knowing much about naval warfare. Better to shut up than look like a fool. But he began to speak now.

"Father, may I say something"?

Aegon glanced back in surprise.

"Of course lad."

Valarys swallowed, and stepped forward. He looked at Daeron, and quickly looked away. His eye still unnerved him.

"Well, I know the Ironborn. They're brave, and love a good fight. But they're still men, and their most prized possessions are their ships. And to a man who's ship is his world, fire is a very big fear. Fire that you can't put out? An even bigger one. The reason this weapon is so effective? Fear. They'll be scared and confused, and in one big, disorganized, clumped group. And then, you burn them."

Aegon nodded in approval. Seems his son had more of an idea than he let on.