Chapter Text
Jon Snow knew he shouldn't be there.
He knew that crossing that river was expressly prohibited and venturing into the forest could mean or be severely punished by his people if he was caught or killed by their enemies for invading their territory.
His people called their enemies the phantom people . The first villagers who lived there believed that the skin of the phantom people possessed magical powers that could be used from curing diseases to increasing longevity and, some said, they could even fulfill wishes if you were strong and brave enough to hunt, capture and kill one of them. And those beliefs had led his people to hunt the phantom people, with villagers invading their village in the forest and kidnapping people to take off their magical skins. The war was not long in coming, since in retaliation the phantom people attacked with their magical beasts and it was only after much blood spilled on both sides that the leaders agreed to a truce. Each people would stay on their side of the river, the phantom people would remain in the forest and the villagers would not disturb them. Or at least that was the story that his mother told him when he was a child and she took him to see the ruins of the old village that was closer to the river than the current one and that was destroyed during the war.
Centuries have passed, the war has become legend, phantom people were feared and remembered as enemies, murderous and bloodthirsty creatures that killed anyone who dared to set foot in their territory and the villagers learned to fear the forest and stay away. He had grown up hearing horrifying stories about foolish villagers who wanted to prove themselves brave and whose mutilated bodies were seen days later hanging from the branches of trees at the edge of the forest.
He remembered the nights around the campfire where he and all the other children listened while the elders in the village told stories about the mysterious people of the forest, how impressed and curious he was every time he heard about how pale their skin was, and tattooed with drawings of the horrible magical beasts, such as dragons, snakes and harpies, that followed and protected them in battle, malicious eyes that could lead you to complete madness and melodious voices that could bewitch you and compel you to do what they wanted.
These stories were meant to scare children and fill their hearts with fear and keep them safe and out of trouble, but he had long since ceased to be a child and his curiosity about the phantom people led him to consider the idea of crossing the river and trying to see one of them with his own eyes. He had grown up knowing that the forest was forbidden territory, but that didn’t diminish the fascination he felt when he watched the forest from afar and heard the faint sound of leaves rustling in the wind during his walks through the ruins of the old village.
It was on a full moon night that he first saw someone from the ghost people. After months and months pondering whether it was worth it or not to risk his life to kill his curiosity, Jon had finally decided to cross the river and take a look at the forest. Accompanied by Ghost, his faithful dog, Jon had explored a few meters, fascinated by the trees and the aromas and colors of the forest. Ghost had looked at everything, initially suspicious of everything, as if he was waiting for something to attack them, but after a while, he had started chasing small animals that hid among the tree roots and seemed as excited to be there as Jon. When the sunset made the forest darken, Jon decided it was time to go home. But when he came out of the forest, the full moon had turned the scene into something that seemed out of a dream and that made him hesitate to go home, so the two of them had sat on the rocks by the river bank and watched as the moon made its way across the night sky.
It was well past the middle of the night and he was preparing to cross the river and return home when he heard Ghost's slight growl and he looked at the forest in alarm. Jon's heart sped up, fear and anticipation invading his body when he scanned the forest line and saw her. She was standing at the edge of the forest, her arms spread and her face turned to the sky, seeming to be watching the full moon above them. The wind stirred her long silver hair, her clothes danced around her and she looked like the moon made flesh.
Delighted by the sight and without thinking about what could happen to him, Jon started walking slowly towards the girl and he was about ten steps away from her when she heard him. She turned towards him and he stopped. For a few seconds their eyes met and he felt his heart beat faster and he held his breath, as if he feared that any movement of his would frighten her and she would disappear in midair. Ghost snarled when the sound of great wings flapping filled the air and their eyes parted, but before he could identify the source of the sound, he felt something hit him violently and his body flew in the air and hit the ground and then he lost the senses.
The sun was hitting his face when Jon woke up in his bed. He blinked a few times, confused by the dream he had last night. He had dreamed of a silver-haired girl bathed in moonlight and then... then he realized that he was not in his bed, much less at home. He was lying on the edge of the forest and the sun hitting his face was seeping through the canopy.
Why was he still in the forest? He remembered admiring the moon until late at night and thinking about returning home... but what was he still doing there?
Jon looked around, startled. In front of him were the remains of a fire that he didn’t remember lighting, he also didn’t remember how he got there and his whole body ached and his head was the worst part. He relaxed when he saw Ghost's huge body asleep next to him, raised his hand to his forehead and felt a soft piece of fabric wrap around his head. With both hands he untied it and saw that it was stained with a mixture of macerated herbs and blood. He stared at the piece of fabric for a few seconds and then the memory of that fabric dancing in the wind around the girl's body hit him.
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Daenerys Targaryen was an inconsequential fool!
She knew it was dangerous to wander the forest boundaries. She knew that she could be captured by one of the barbaric villagers who lived on the other side of the river and that they wouldn’t hesitate to kidnap, torture and rape her before taking off her skin to use as a bizarre lucky charm. And if it weren't for her faithful guardian, if it weren't for her dragon Rhaegal, this could have been her fate last night.
According to ancient stories told by her people, the barbaric villagers of the plain believed that the skin of her people had magical powers and had hunted and captured them for many years until her hitherto peaceful people resolved to fight back and the great war began. Both sides lost many people until the leaders agreed to a truce and to make a peace agreement that established that the two peoples committed themselves not to cross the river that separated their territories. But she had already heard several stories about some foolish barbarians who had found death while roaming the forest trying to find the place where her people lived and their bodies had been left at the edge of the forest as a reminder of the terms of the old agreement.
What the barbarians never discovered was that it wasn’t their skin that was magical, but the ink that they used to get their tattoos. As soon as a woman discovered she was pregnant, the fruit of the sacred tree was incorporated into her diet and when the baby was born, the midwife performed a ritual that consisted of mixing the umbilical cord blood with the sap of the sacred tree and, with this mixture, the baby's skin was tattooed with the protective animal of each clan. An unbreakable bond was then created between the baby and the tattoo, which developed as the child grew.
It was thanks to that bond that Rhaegal had protected her.
That day had been one of the worst in her life. Early in the morning, she had had to pretend she was the happiest girl in the world while her engagement to Drogo from the Dothraki clan was made official and the wedding date was announced. In the society in which she lived, it was customary for families to make matrimonial arrangements when their children were born, whether with families of the same clan or other clans, and everyone grew up already knowing who they would spend the rest of their lives with.
Her older brother Viserys had married Doreah from the Lys clan a few months ago, and Daenerys was the first in the Targaryen clan to be promised to someone from the Dothraki clan and many of the girls around her thought she was lucky to be promised to someone like Drogo, who was one of the strongest warriors in his clan. But luck wasn’t the word she used to describe her commitment or the way her destiny had been decided at the time she was born and left her with only two options: build a relationship with the man she was promised and learn to love him or, if she was unable to love him, learn to respect him and honor the commitment made by her family, even if it meant resigning herself to spending the rest of her life with someone she didn't love and couldn't connect with.
It wasn’t for lack of attempts that she had failed to create a connection with Drogo and the fact that there was a ten-year difference between them and he had already been promised to two other girls from the Dothraki clan (who had died years before she was born) it didn't make it any easier for her to find something that would help her create the kind of bond they were expected to create. So, unable to have another feeling besides fear for her betrothed, she had been left with the second option and she had resigned herself to honoring their commitment and building a family with someone she couldn't even have a conversation with.
When their families made the announcement that their wedding would be the day after her eighteenth birthday, that is, in less than eight months, Drogo had held her hand and deposited the tenderest of kisses, but when no one else was paying attention to both, he had taken her aside, pulled her against him and whispered in her ear about how he would look forward to the day when he could finally get his hands on her and doing everything he had been fantasizing about since she stopped being a child. His hungry gaze had sent shivers of fear through her and she had turned away from him and, as soon as she could, asked her mother for permission to leave, and instead of going to her room, she had fled as far as her legs could get her.
She had walked aimlessly for hours in the forest and when her legs got tired, she had sat against a tree and cried herself to sleep. When she woke up, the forest was dark and the moonlight filtered through the canopy of the trees. It was because of the moon that she had dared to walk to the edge of the forest and it was her heart filled with sadness and hopelessness that had distracted her from the world around her. When she felt Rhaegal slide over her skin to materialize beside her, Daenerys knew there was some danger close by, a danger she hadn't seen, but her dragon did. Then she looked around and saw him, their eyes met for a few seconds and fear invaded her when she realized who he was and the danger that the presence of that boy meant for her. The sound of Rhaegal's wings reached her ears and seconds later the dragon attacked the boy and he was thrown to the ground and a white dog stood protectively between the boy and the dragon.
Without even thinking, she had walked over to where the white dog snarled at Rhaegal in an attacking position and touched the dragon's warm flank to calm him down and the dragon closed its wings and lay down, watching her and the other animal's every movement. The dog had stopped snarling and stared at her as she carefully approached him and knelt beside the unconscious boy. Carefully, she had turned him over so she could see his face and was surprised at how handsome and young he was, maybe he was the same age as her. Under the watchful eye of the dog, she had carefully examined his wounds and was relieved to see that although his black curls were soaked with blood, there was only a small cut on his forehead.
With Rhaegal's help, she had taken his unconscious body into the forest and placed him against a tree. Both animals watched her as she gathered firewood and built a fire with the help of her dragon (one of the advantages of having a dragon as a guardian was that you always had fire at your disposal) and then used pieces of her dress and river water to clean and bandage the wound with some herbs she had collected in the forest. While she was bandaging the wound, the boy groaned in pain and opened his eyes, staring at her with gray eyes for a few seconds before he lost consciousness again.
She had been surprised when the dog, before lying down beside his companion, had approached her and licked her hand, as if to thank her for helping its friend. It was only when it was so close and lit by the fire that she noticed that it was an albino dog with beautiful red eyes, nose and mouth. She then watched the boy and examined his features for some time while his chest rose and fell in a calm breath and it was only when he moved again, as if to find a more comfortable position, that she managed to muster up enough courage to leave him. Daenerys had added a few more firewood to the fire, and after taking one last look at the boy and his dog, she had mounted Rhaegal and the dragon had taken her safely back to the village.
Back in the safety of her village and ignorant of the angry pair of brown eyes that watched her in the darkness, Rhaegal merged with her and reappeared on her forearm in the form of a tattoo. She quietly entered her house and went straight to her rooms. While trying to calm her heartbeat enough to fall asleep, she couldn't help thinking about what had happened. She knew that the barbaric people of the plains were her enemy and that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, but that boy whose wounds she had taken care of looked nothing like what she had imagined them to be. When she finally fell asleep, she dreamed of her wedding day. She had smiled when she saw that instead of Drogo's brown eyes, they were gray eyes that looked into hers as she said the marriage vows.
Explaining about her disappearance to her family the next morning was easier than she had imagined it would be and as everyone ate and talked about her wedding, Daenerys realized that the girl who had run away from her engagement party the day before was not the same girl who woke up that morning.
The girl who had run away was resigned to live to honor her family, but the girl who woke up that morning had a heart full of hope.
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Jon couldn't get the girl out of his thoughts and something told him that this wouldn't be the last time he saw her.
He hadn't even told his mother about what had happened last night and had made up some excuse to justify his head injury. Lyanna knew her son very well and knew he would speak when he was ready. Even though it was a forbidden place, he always managed to sneak around his village without calling someone's attention so he could cross the river and stay for hours in the forest waiting for the girl to appear.
What he had no idea was that the girl did the same.
Hidden by the trees, Daenerys watched him from a distance. All the times she had managed to sneak out of her village, she had seen him there at the edge of the forest. She wanted to be able to approach him, talk to him, but she couldn't find enough courage to go to him, so she stayed there watching him until the day the albino dog found her. In an instant she was alone and in the next she felt its icy snout touching her hand and before she could stop herself, she screamed.
The dog sat down, its tail wagging happily, and stared at her and seconds later she heard hurried footsteps coming towards her and then she saw him standing just a few steps away, dark curls, flushed face and marvelous gray eyes.
He raised his hands “Please don't be afraid. Neither he nor I will hurt you.” he said in a calm voice "Ghost, come here boy." he said and the dog went to him.
Daenerys took a deep breath when her eyes met his and the two stared at each other for a few seconds.
"You are real." he said, his voice almost a whisper. His eyes wandered over her body and back to her face and she felt her heart racing.
"Aren't you afraid of me?" she asked, unconsciously taking a step towards him.
"I’m not. And you?" he said, also taking a step towards her.
"I’m not, too."
"I know I should." he said, his eyes fixed on hers and a little excitement in his voice "But my curiosity was much stronger than my fear."
She nodded "Mine too."
“I'm sorry if I scared you that other night. When I saw you, I was so fascinated. It was as if the moon itself was walking right before my eyes.”
She felt her cheeks heat up and gave him a faint smile. “Sorry about what my dragon did to you. Rhaegal is my guardian and he felt that I was in danger and attacked you to protect me.”
His eyes widened with a mixture of surprise and excitement “A dragon? Was it a dragon that attacked me?”
She nodded and lifted her right arm sleeve and showed him a dragon tattoo with green scales and bronze spines on her forearm.
"So the stories are real." he whispered and he took a step closer and the tattoo moved on her forearm and Jon could have sworn the dragon's eyes were fixed on him, watching his every move. "Thank you for taking care of me." he offered.
"It was the least I could do."
The sound of splitting branches echoed in the forest, she looked around in alarm "You must not come back here." she said with a mixture of urgency and fear in her voice.
"What? Why not?"
She frowned. Did he not know the story of the great war? “Because of the treaty between our people. Or have you never heard that each people promised not to step on the other's territory again?”
"I know the treaty, but I come here almost every day and you were the only one of your people that I saw."
"You are our enemy and you should stay away from here." Before someone who's not as curious as I find you and kill you, she wanted to add, but she stopped herself.
"I will not hurt you." he said taking another step towards her "My name is Jon Snow."
“It is dangerous here for people like you. Go away and don't come back.” she said and turned to go.
"Please, at least tell me your name!"
She hesitated before looking at him and saying "I am Daenerys, from the Targaryen clan."
He gave her a mischievous smile "Well let me tell you, Daenerys, from the Targaryen clan, that talking to you only increased my curiosity and I will be here tomorrow and the following days too!” he shouted when she was out of sight and disappeared into the trees.