Chapter Text
Barely a half hour later and all four of them were in the air. Sunfyre soared between Vhagar and Dreamfyre, the two older dragons providing a buffer against the wind, one that Sunfyre desperately needed. Aegon could feel him struggling against the fierce winds, his wings having to beat two or three times for every one of the older dragons.
Driftmark was surrounded by little islets, many of them weren’t large enough for Syrax to have landed on. It made their goal slightly easier, something they sorely needed as the heavy rain turned their skin to ice, each drop feeling like it was a sharp stone even through their riding leathers. Aegon kept his eyes trained on the choppy seas below him, desperately searching for any hint of golden scales.
Aegon didn’t know if they had been flying for hours or for minutes when suddenly Dreamfyre dived, Sunfyre lurching downwards to follow her. Aegon could do nothing but grip desperately onto his saddle, fingers slipping against the wet leather.
Vhagar roared from above them, the massive beast circling as Sunfyre skidded to a stop on the muddy shore. Seeing that both Helaena and Daeron were dismounting, Aegon hurried to join them. Sunfyre kept pace with him as they approached before scuttling forward to curl into Dreamfyre, chittering as the older dragon shifted to shield them all with her wing.
Aegon breathed a sigh of relief as he escaped the rain, huddling close to his siblings as Vhagar circled closer and closer.
“What are we doing here?” He shouted over the wind. Daeron shivered beside him and Aegon tugged him close, rubbing at his little brothers hands in an attempt to warm them up.
“Dreamfyre wanted too.” His sister responded simply from where she was tucked against her own mount. Aegon groaned at her words, reminding himself that yelling at Helaena never did any good. Even when she did things like hold them up in a storm because her dragon wanted to.
Helaena continued on before Aegon could speak, perhaps aware of her brother’s irritation. “I think she sensed Syrax. They nest together sometimes you know. ”
No Aegon did not know! What he did know was that he could see neither Syrax nor Rhaenyra and now his boots were covered in sand!
Also Vhagar had yet to land and Aegon had a sinking feeling that perhaps they had neglected to consider that Aemond may not know how to do that. Or perhaps it was because Vhagar was too large to land? Though the islet they were on was quite big… Aegon could even see a small cave in the distance.
A small cave that seemed to be lit.
Ok so maybe Helaena had been right, because it looked as if that cave was indeed big enough to hide both Rhaenyra and her dragon and Aegons elder sister was the kind of person who would be smart enough to land and seek out such shelter from the storm. You know, like she had always told him to when lecturing him on being safe in the air?
Rhaenyra had given him many a lecture on the topic. Most often they targeted Aegons hatred and subsequent disuse of the leather safety straps built into his saddle, but they had also involved several tips and instructions on when and where it was safe to ride.
It was generally safe to ride while upset or angry but not unless you could keep that from affecting your dragon and it most definitely wasn’t safe to do so near cities or towns or other people in general.
It was safe to ride in the rain so long as you had the proper gear but not through strong winds unless your dragon was strong enough to resist them and riding during thunder and lightning was so dangerous Rhaenyra had threatened to tie Aegon to his bed if he even thought about doing so.
As thunder clapped around them, Aegon silently thanked the gods he just barely believed in that there was no lightening in sight just yet. He thinks Rhaenyra would actually kill him if he had been that irresponsible.
“What in the actual hells are you doing here!” Aegon froze, eyes widening as a familiar voice reached his ears.
He had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed that the aforementioned cave had been vacated as a very angry Princess of Dragonstone approached them. Syrax lumbered beside her, careful to keep one wing across her rider as they drew closer.
“Rhaenyra!” Daeron exclaimed, pulling away from Aegon and rushing to throw his arms around her as soon as their eldest sister came close enough. “We came to look for you!”
“I- what?” Rhaenyra looked a strange mix between angered and bewildered, her arms coming to rest upon Daerons shoulders.
“We were worried about you, Sister.” Helaena spoke, though she made no move to abandon her spot beside Dreamfyre. “It’s not good to be alone out in a storm.”
“Just- “ Rhaenyra sighed, looking suddenly exhausted. “Let’s get Aemond down here so we can all shelter in the cave. We can talk there.”
Aegon shifted uncomfortably at her words, his earlier epiphany now at the forefront of his mind.
“Uh so about that…” He said nervously, wincing when Rhaenyras blazing gaze turned upon him. “I don’t think Aemond knows how to get down.”
Half an hour later, Rhaenyra walked into the cave with one hand firmly keeping hold of the back of Aemonds neck. Their brother looked like a drowned rat in his elder sister’s grip, a rather disgruntled look upon his face as Rhaenyra sat him by the fire.
Still, Aegon breathed a small sigh of relief at their entrance. Aemond grumbled slightly, though an arched eyebrow on Rhaenyras part quickly silenced him and he was quick to copy her and rid himself of his soaked outer leathers. Rhaenyra fussed around some, ensuring their clothes were laid out to dry, before finally turning to eye each of them.
“So!” She declared, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall. “Want to tell me how and why you came to be here? Instead of being back on Driftmark as you ought to be?”
“Like we said, we were worried when you didn’t come back and so went looking for you.” Aegon replied, straightening up at the chance to finally make his displeasure known. “You’re the one who says that flying through storms are dangerous! We wanted to make sure you weren’t harmed.”
Rhaenyra raised one eyebrow at him, seemingly unimpressed with his rather logical and well practiced explanation. Aegon scowled slightly at her, crossing his arms and lifting his chin as he refused to cower under her scrutiny.
“So your solution to me, an experienced dragon rider, being alone in a storm is to have you four, each of you much less experienced, fly through the storm in search of me?” Rhaenyra stared at him, disbelief stark on her face. “Do you see how I am failing to find the logic in that?”
“You shouldn’t be out in the storm with no one knowing where you were!” Aegon scowled, surging to his feet as his hands settled on his hips.
Beside Rhaenyra, Aemonds face twisted weirdly and Daeron ducked his head into Helaenas, his shoulders shaking.
“If I shouldn’t be out here then neither should you!” Rhaenyra shot back, shaking her head in exasperation. “None of you have much experience flying through storms, you could have been seriously injured!”
“Well we weren’t going to just leave you out here alone!” Aemond protested, scowling at all of them. “No one knew where you were!”
“And you expect me to believe that anyone knows where you are?” Rhaenyra snapped back, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. “That you told your mother or father or any other adult responsible for you that you were going to fly off into a storm and they just let you go?”
Aegon bit his lip at the silence that followed her question, none of them willing to admit that they had not. Aegon and Helaena had only been allowed to fly to Driftmark on their own dragons because Rhaenyra had escorted them, with Daeron and Aemond being forced to take the ship with their mother and their nephews.
There was no way their mother would have approved of their decision and though Aegon privately hoped he could convince Rhaenyra not to tell her, realistically he knew that such a hope was futile. Their elder sister was more then happy to help them hide from or sooth their mother’s wrath when they pulled harmless pranks, but when it came to them being reckless and putting themselves at risk?
Well then she tended to side with the queen.
“We didn’t let Tessarion come!” Aegon defended, though he knew his argument was weak. “Thats why Daeron was on Dreamfyre!”
“Am I supposed to be happy about that?” Rhaenyra asked incredulously. “Helaena you claimed Dreamfyre not two moons ago and then flew off without telling anyone a week later. You have never taken a passenger before and I know for a fact that your saddle isn’t designed to hold two people!”
Helaena avoided Rhaenyras eyes, focusing instead on the beetle she had found as their older sister huffed and rubbed her forehead. Which was… concerning. Both in that Rhaenyra looked as if she was about to simultaneously cry and scream and that Helaenas saddle wasn’t fitted for two.
“How did you…?” Aegon trailed off when Helaena gave him a sheepish look before ducking her head again.
Rhaenyra sighed and kicked off from the wall, moving to crouch down in front of Daeron. The youngest of them all looked up nervously at her and Rhaenyra smiled gently, cupping his face in her hand.
“Daeron.” She asked patiently, though there was a band of steel evident in her voice. “Could you please tell me how exactly the two of you were secured to the saddle?”
Helaena gazed longingly at the cave mouth, looking as if she was considering making a run for it before Rhaenyra pinned her in place with a pointed glance. Their little sister looked abashed in a way Aegon had never seen before, shifting uncomfortably where she sat as Rhaenyra turned her attention back to Daeron.
“Uh- well...” Daeron looked between his two sisters, giving Helaena an apologetic look before turning back to Rhaenyra. “She put the leather straps over my legs.”
“Just over you.” Rhaenyra asked flatly, breathing a deep sigh when Daeron hesitantly nodded. “She used none to secure herself?”
Daerons wince was all the answer the elder princess needed and she stood with a heavy sigh. Aegon watched nervously as she turned to look at them all slowly, her exasperation clear.
“Right, here’s how this is going to go.” She announced, her voice stern. “We are going to sit here until the storm breaks and our leathers are dry. Then we are going to fly back to Driftmark, where you four are going to go and explain exactly what you did to your mother.”
“But-“ Aemond started to protest, rocking forward onto his knees.
“Ahah!” Rhaenyra held up a hand, cutting him off swiftly. “I will have no arguments or excuses. Otherwise I may just let your mother in on the fact that not only did Helaena fail to secure herself properly but that Aemond you took flight without even knowing how to land.”
Helaena’s contrite gaze turned to shock, her brow furrowing at the elder princesses words as Aemond winced at the reminder. Aegon had no idea how Rhaenyra had gotten him to the ground safely but he was pretty sure Vhagar hadn’t landed on the islet, so it maybe they went somewhere else?
Though Helaena did tell him about how Syrax had managed to grab her off of Dreamfyre…
“Yes I will keep that to myself.” Rhaenyra answered Helaena’s silent question, finally sitting down next to Daeron who was quick to tuck himself into her side. “I’m sure your mother will be angry enough as it is and…” She heaved a sigh, shaking her head as an almost fond smile played at her lips. “I am not ignoring that you all did this for me.”
“We were worried about you.” Aemond muttered. Rhaenyra beckoned him over and he hesitantly shuffled to her other side where she was quick to put her other arm around him. “We know you are… upset, what with everything thats happened. We didn’t want you to be alone.”
Aegon nodded in agreement with his brother, staring almost longingly where Rhaenyra had wrapped his younger brothers in her embrace. Rhaenyra rolled her eyes, ducking her head to whisper something to Daeron that made him nod solemnly and stand up.
Aegon watched in confusion as Daeron walked over to tug on Aegons hand, a determined look on his face. A soft snort came from Aemonds direction as Daeron determinedly dragged Aegon to where he had previously sat, pushing him towards their elder sister before heading to sit beside Helaena.
Aegon finally got it when a hand softly pulled on his shirt, scrambling to sit down as Rhaenyra tugged him into an embrace and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. His face heated when Aemond snickered at him, though Rhaenyra was quick to put a stop to it by also pressing her lips to the top of Aemonds head.
“You are right.” Rhaenyra said eventually. “I have been upset. Laena was both my cousin and a dear friend to me and to lose her like this… well it has been hard.” She admitted, her grief evident as she dropped her gaze to the floor. “But the world doesn’t stop because I am grieving and I still have many responsibilities I have to attend to.”
“I’m sorry I made it worse.” Aemond whispered, curling into himself as everyone turned to look at him. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Oh, you sweet boy.” Rhaenyra chuckled, pressing him closer for a moment. “You have done nothing unforgivable. Yes, you should have waited at least another day before trying to claim Vhagar but I understand why you did it and so to would have Laena.”
“I wasn’t thinking.” Aemond admitted. “The moment I laid eyes on her it felt as if everything else had disappeared and no longer mattered.”
“She called to you.” Helaena added, a familiar dreamy look having overtaken her. “Dreamfyre did the same to me for weeks. It’s how I knew she was ready.”
“We will come back to that.” Rhaenyra said slowly, eyeing Helaena with a considering look. “But as for you Aemond, you were not wrong to claim Vhagar. Yes, you should have waited until at least the day after the funeral and yes you should have told us that you wished to try it, if only so someone could be with you to help ensure your safety. But you did nothing wrong in actually claiming her.”
Aemond nodded, a tension Aegon hadn’t even noticed he had been carrying draining out of his shoulders.
Rhaenyra had said all of this earlier that night in the Hall of Nine, her voice calm but taut as she tried to keep the situation calm. It seemed that Aemond had not believed her until now though as a sense of relief seemed to pass over him as she yet again confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his bond to Vhagar.
“Besides,” Rhaenyra said lightly, “from what I heard you were not the one to throw the first punch. Tell me was it Baela or Rhaena who gave you that bruise?”
Aemonds siblings laughed as he blushed, looking as if he wished he could sink into the floor as he gave a muttered answer.
“It is no matter.” Rhaenyra said, her voice tinged with a mirth Aegon hadn’t seen in her since a raven had appeared from Driftmark. “Children fight and there was no permanent harm done except perhaps to your pride. You have all made your apologies and I am sure you can make up properly.”
“Thats if mother ever lets us out of our rooms again.” Aegon muttered.
“That,” Rhaenyra responded, “is something you have brought upon yourselves. Your mother has every right to be furious.”
She did and she would be, Aegon thought. His predictions turned out to be true, for when they landed back at Driftmark his mother awaited them with a look of furious worry upon her face.
As she launched into a tirade, Aegon caught sight of Rhaenyra behind her.
Sagging against a wall, his sister looked tired but there was no denying the found smile that played at her lips. Aegon repressed his own as he turned his attention back to his mother, knowing it would only serve to anger her more.
Honestly, would she have rather they left Rhaenyra out there on her own?