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They're on Dragonstone when Syrax delivers her first clutch of eggs. Her gorgeous girl is in her castle, bringing forth her own hatchling, when one of the eggs begins to crack.
A little golden dragon fights his way through the hard shell of his egg with a defiant shriek. Syrax waits until he has escaped the crumbling prison before nudging his small body with her head. He looks up at her, eyes as bright as his scales. His wings had a faint pinkness to them, on the underside, reminding Syrax faintly of Caraxes.
A week later Syrax realized why her egg had hatched so soon. A little human boy, with short hair the same silver-gold as her Rhaenyra's stumbled in to her lair. He stepped inside, covered in dirt and soot, with a wide smile and a curious laugh.
Syrax roared when he entered, nostrils flaring at the intrusion. She had no more than stepped forward to block her young hatchling from view before the golden dragon himself was racing forward, wings flapping excitedly.
"Sunfyre!" the little boy called him and Syrax could only approve of such a name for her beautiful offspring. She settled back in her lair, coiling loosely around the newly bonded pair while they raced about, playing. Sunfyre could not yet take flight, but he flapped his wings about all the same, wrapping himself around his chosen human.
The boy, Aegon, grew much slower than Sunfyre. He was the same size a few weeks later, when Sunfyre managed to take flight for the first time. Already half the size of his human and flying around the boy's head. Syrax had never been so proud.
When her sweet Rhaenyra returned to the red castle across the bay, little Sunfyre went with them, sailing on a boat with his boy. Syrax watched over their ship from the sky.
It would be a few weeks more before Rhaenyra could ride her again properly. The babe she held had been worth it though. Swaddled in red and black, with hair to match, the little Jacaerys was quite cute. For the human hatchling, another of her eggs was selected, and he curled around it in his sleep.
Or so little Aegon said, when he snuck out of the castle to visit Sunfyre.
"I picked the egg myself!" Aegon told her, smiling brightly with a few teeth missing. "Nyra said the egg came from you, like Sunfyre, so our dragons will be family too!"
All dragons were family. Even their little human ones. They all descended from the same place, birthed from the same fires across the sea. The human dragons seemed to have forgotten that though.
"I wish I could bring you inside," Aegon whispered to Sunfyre, pressing his forehead to golden scales. He sniffled, when the men in metal clothes came to retrieve him once more.
When Syrax had been small, her human had taken her into the castle with her. The boy wished to do the same with Sunfyre, she knew, but he was denied, despite the tears he cried each time they were separated.
It grated at her nerves, those tears. Aegon was Sunfyre's. Her little hatchling shrieked and roared, crying out for his human just as the boy did for him. It was unnatural, to separate bonded dragons in this way.
Rhaenyra would be upset though, if Syrax burned the men in their metal clothes. Even if they made Sunfyre's human cry when they came to retrieve the boy. Aegon was not in danger from them. They meant him no harm. They stunk only of fear. Not an uncommon stench on humans really.
Years passed. Her Rhaenyra had another babe, swaddled in blue and silver now. Little Jacaerys slept with a green hatchling wrapped around him instead of his egg. Vermax he was called. Her Rhaenyra knew well to let the hatchling stay with his boy. A proper dragon, her Rhaenyra. Little Vermax had a temper too. One to rival even Caraxes, she expected. He would not react half as well as Sunfyre did if he and his boy were forced apart.
The new human hatchling, Lucerys, had an egg from Seasmoke's clutch. A pale white egg his brother had picked out. That was important, Aegon said. The boy didn't look like a dragon, so his egg had to hatch, to prove it.
Humans were quite silly about those thing, Syrax knew. Rhaenyra fretted over her hatchlings. They did not have her silver hair, like Aegon, or the man who rode Seasmoke.
Not all dragons looked alike though. Vermax had come from her egg, but his sclales were green. No one questioned that. Yet many seemed to forget that Sunfyre was hers as well, despite his golden scales being so similar to her yellow ones.
"We could fly away," Aegon's whisper echoed from Sunfyre's lair. He sniffled. "Mother says I'm too little to ride you, and Nyra - Rhaenyra said you're not big enough."
Syrax stepped from her own lair, approaching the two as Sunfyre snapped and snarled. Aegon chuckled. Sunfyre's low rumble shook his lair.
"We'll both be bigger soon. And then we'll escape. We'll fly across the Narrow Sea, to Pentos maybe! As long as Uncle Daemon isn't there. Or we could go to Braavos! Fly over the Titan himself and never leave."
Nostrils flaring, Syrax growled when she turned the corner, ducking her head in to Sunfyre's lair. She did not want her hatchling to fly away. Even if he was a proper young dragon now, with his own lair and everything.
Aegon startled and he stumbled away from Syrax Sunfyre snapped at her, coiling around the boy as best he could. Not quite large enough to hide him fully. Certainly not intimidating.
There was a red mark on the boy's face. And tears in his eyes. Syrax snuffled and retreated. Sunfyre's boy needed comfort now. He reaked of sadness, desolation almost. That was odd, for a human so small, and without the scent of grief in the air as well.
The man who came for Aegon this time did not wear metal clothing. He wore green cloth and had fur on his face. Syrax returned to Sunfyre's lair when Aegon's fear reached her nose. She tittered at the entrance, watching Sunfyre snap at the man. Aegon was sobbing.
"Leave me be! I want to stay with Sunfyre! I don't want to be king!"
Sunfyre roared. An impressive feat for one so young, but it did not halt the man in green. Syrax roared for him and the stone around them shook.
The man's grip gave and Aegon ran back to Sunfyre. Syrax took two steps, chest puffing out as she blocked the entrance to her hatchling's lair. Sunfyre was cooing at his human, curling around him, coiling with him as Aegon clung to his body.
When the man fled, Syrax moved deeper in to the lair. It was smaller than hers, too big for Sunfyre still, but she could not fully extend her wings inside. With a snap of her jaw, she curled around the two young dragons. They settled, her tail wrapping around, creating a makeshift nest.
Rhaenyra arrived sometime later, tentative, eyes fluttering. She smelled confused. She approached slowly. Sunfyre growled at her and Syrax snapped her teeth in his direction. He huffed, wrapping his wings and tail around the slumbering boy in his hold.
"Oh," Rhaenyra smiled softly, "Hightower said you attacked him, attacked Aegon." She shook her head and Syrax scoffed at her Rhaenyra even as the girl laughed, "I suppose Sunfyre's not big enough to defend Aegon by himself just yet, is he?"
Syrax hummed, chest rumbling. Rhaenyra stroked a hand over her scales. She knew her human would understand. Dragons must protect their own.
"I'll have to take him back up to the castle," Rhaenyra told her and Syrax grumbled. Rhaenyra lowered herself to the ground, leaning back into Syrax's scales. Her eyes fluttered shut, "That can wait till he's had some time to rest. Ser Harrold said Aegon's not been sleeping since Daeron left. Alicent's been beside herself as well, hasn't left her chambers in days."
Oh. Syrax had listened well enough to know Daeron was one of the boy's clutch mates. Her head turned to glance at the slumbering boy. His splotchy face, with the tear tracks and a faint bruise forming on his cheek.
With a growl, Syrax settled. Aegon was not hers, but Sunfyre was. If he could not defend his boy by himself yet, Syrax would simply have do it for him. Hot air blew from her nostrils in to the air.
The man with the fur on his face would not return to their lairs again. Of this, she would make certain.