In the Fem!Maekar au, were Baelor and Maerys married when they were young, or were they married to their original spouses before they died? I see the latter as a more nuanced and interesting option...
Like, Maerys had feelings for Baelor in their youth. Her eldest brother who treated her well and knew exactly who she really was. Taught her the sword, perhaps they still fought together at the Redgrass. Her feelings weren't not requited...
But he married Jenna Dondarrion for politics instead. And they ended up having a pleasant marriage and two sons, while Maerys watched from the outside.
Then Maerys married a Dayne. A Dornish knight that reminded her of Baelor in some ways, was lacking in others, yet they still had six children before he died. Six kids that she loves but doesn't know how to mother.
Both Maerys and Baelor are widowed in their 40s. They reunite and marry, it's not the most politically advantageous match, but it's the one thing Baelor will allow himself to have over the good of the realm. Baelor takes in her children and raises them like the good father he is to his own sons. Gentle, stern, instructive, affectionate.
Maerys wants to be the same for his sons, but she can't fill Jenna's shoes. Jenna's sons are much better mannered and adjusted than her own. She's jealous, feels inadequate, even when Baelor coos his love for her. She wishes she were not so old, that she could still bear Baelor a child or six, but it doesn't happen.
She thinks of Visenya, the warlike sisterwife to the conqueror, and how she long survived her siblings. She built the Kingdom, yet her line went out. If she married her brother for duty, or if she truly loved him while he loved another more. If she loved her monstrous son and the monstrous things she did for him... And Baelor will tell her to come to bed and stop thinking of it all.
I think them marrying for alliances is the more realistic option. Though I could also see the king allowing Baelor to marry Maerys, hoping their children and Baelor’s eventual heir might take after the more typical Targaryen look rather than his Dornish features. I honestly don’t know how much Daeron even cared about this.
I really like your point about Maerys potentially feeling inadequate compared to Jena, and maybe even figures like Visenya as well. Maerys is no warlike, dragonriding sister-wife of the Conqueror, she probably wouldn’t even be allowed to fight alongside Baelor at the Redgrass field. This generation of Targaryens seems much more focused on appearance and public image, so she’d likely be pushed into behaving more like what’s expected of a noblewoman.
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