Work Text:
SUNFYRE and MOONDANCER
a Laena Velaryon's ballade
about the Dance of the Dragons
A breath of darkness, of dawn the herald,
Shadows inflamed the sulphurous sky:
The Green and the Black did blood each other
Two were the Dragons that danced that day.
Enter the eldest, Sunfyre, the splendid,
As bright and glorious as the radiant Sun;
Then rose Moondancer, young, swift and nimble,
She leapt, she flickered the pearlescent Moon.
"Brother, betrayer, it is in my hearth
that you make your entrance with the first light,
Therefore in defiance, until my last breath
I'll strive and I'll tear all your glory away ."
The Sun's blazing flames the Moon did eshew,
As his sharpened maw, as his piercing claws,
She soared up, from above she struck him:
Fangs sinking deep into impaired wing.
The Sun then unleashed his golden flame,
While she, blinded by fire but never tamed,
held on; and so entwined both dragons fell,
Biting and battling, concealed by smoke.
"Sister, stouthearted, you eclipsed a king,
A reckless Moon came to dance with the Sun:
A toll you'll pay, from my grasp you won't flee,
In this broken dawn together we'll sink ."
From air both Dragons hit the merciless ground
Where the Moon, mangled, exhaled her last breath;
Reveled the Sun in his fiery triumph,
Yet nevermore he would soar above earth.
This is the tale of the sea-green Maiden,
Forged in silver, in fire and in blood,
Who did spread her wings and fearlessly fought
To eclipse the Sun's glory once and for all.
Eluded the blades who yelded Dragonstone
To the usurper, in a murky morn
She flew, facing death, to avenge the fate
That betided the Queen Who Never Was.
Safe was the Maiden, the King was broken,
Yet her revenge took the bitterest toll:
Empty the skies, the flames are but ashes,
The music of Dragons is muted and lost.
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