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On a stormy night, a dream came to her, one that foreshadowed the beginning of the end, one like Daenys the dreamer had centuries ago, and had foreshadowed the fall of ancient Valyria.
The dream began with the birth of a little girl, and then the birth of her dragon, then the painful death of the mother of the little girl, next the remarriage of her father the king, and the births of the offspring of both monarchs and the ill-fated nuptials of the young woman. The dream continued with the birth of the heir of the heiress and his brothers, their corrupt coloring, being considered by faith, as children of sin.
She felt her body warm, as it resembled the sensation of being covered with blood... specifically dragon's blood.
An eye was removed violently, then the dragons flew to opposite places and blood continued to run through the fingers of the cursed family. Until a stormy night, in a place where the tides struck incessantly against the rocks, and storms besieged the surroundings, the first of the dragons fell, and the rider was reclaimed by the waters and their depths.
The end had begun, and no one knew.
Saera woke up agitated, felt her chest beating incessantly, and the sweat soaking her face. The air entered with difficulty into her body and after deep breaths she gradually relaxed her hands, where began to run blood in fine threads, her nails had been embedded in the palms so strong that she had pierced her own skin.
She looked through the windows and saw the raindrops crashing violently against the glass, just like that weary night; the lights and thunders illuminated the sky, and if she looked at it for a long time, they seemed to illuminate the silhouettes of two dragons, one escaping the other and then one falling into the void.
She walked away from the window and looked at herself in the mirror, looking very carefully at each of her features, her platinum hair and violet eyes.
Saera remembered her father and her mother, both compassionate and selfless with his people, but negligent as parents; she remembered her brothers and sisters, the ones who were still among the world of the living and those whom The Stranger had already claimed. She felt disgusted by what her appearance meant and represented.
She went back into the sheets trying to sleep again, but every time she closed her eyes, she felt the heat of the flames, the edge of the swords running through her body, the poison running through her being, the arrows and the stakes embedded in it, the pain of the fall, the madness, the loneliness, the sadness, the suffering.
The light that proceeded from the storms had begun to mark a new dawn, meaning a new day; everything seemed brighter and clearer, and then Saera understood that she still had one last duty to his family.
The woman waited silently for years and commanded spies to watch the capital and the members of the royal family. She was tempted to ruin the coronation of her nephew Viserys, but did nothing, then she learned about the constant sabotage of the maestres in every pregnancy of the Arryn girl, and later how her grandniece was chosen as heiress.
Years passed by since Saera´s Dream, and then she carefully create her plan, trying to decipher when was the best to intervene. She thought, that perhaps the crown should have gone to Aemon and his daughter Rhaenys, but the prince who was promised did not come from that line nor from their descendants. Then she thought about going and saving Daella’s little girl or getting the Hightower girl and her offspring out of the way, but ambition was a hard root to cut out, so she let fate run its course.
She heard from her spies how Princess Rhaenyra had had her first child and Saera felt the bells that used to ring in the capital when some monarch died in her head. She used this warning as a signal; she started her way to the capital, hiding, intruding into the darkness of the night, staring at the Red Keep, observing the carriages that went out in the direction of the Dragon Pit; she saw blurred shadows of platinum, reddish, and brownish hair, but what called her attention was how the abdomen of the king’s firstborn, began to swell as the moons passed. At that point Saera had her spies infiltrate the castle.
One night outside the capital, she hear the bells in the capital that only warned a thing... danger. Saera saw clouds of smoke rise to the skies, the sound of the roaring of the dragons in The Dragon Pit.
One of the men who worked for her came swiftly stained with blood and holding a lump in his arms, when he handed it to the Targaryen, she looked into the blankets at a plump face, with pink cheeks, still stained with the mother’s blood, an barely a noticeable black-hair. The woman looked at the baby in disgust and covered him again, tying the newborn to her chest; then she looked at the man, who waiting for his pay. The woman threw him a bag of coins.
"Before you go, I need one last thing". Saera approached the man, then put a knife in his throat, causing his death. Blood began to flow from the wound as if it was a fountain, and even that, what wetted her face was not the red liquid of the dying man, -who was now lying on the ground-, but the raindrops of the storm that had settled upon the capital.
Saera quickly climbed on her horse and headed as fast as she could toward the south. She knew beforehand, that the fire in the castle would give her some time of advantage, however, both the princess and her consort possessed dragons and she did not doubt that Ser Laenor’s sister and their mother would join the search if he were the one to ask her, even she knew her nephew Daemon would enter in if he required.
Even if she had time, it would not be enough to return to Volantis by boat from the capital. The plan indicated that her spies,-with which she had already arranged moons before-, would help her move towards Westeros to Dorne, without anyone knowing her true identity, coloring her platinum hair to dark, trying to resemble the baby's that she has just taken from his mother; the lack of distinctive features belonging to the Targaryen made their travel easier.
Sometimes she saw the dragons flying over the skies, a yellow one, resembling the gold coins and a pale grey one, she heard the baby crying when he saw the beast passing over them; when time passed by, three more joined him, and she recognized Vhagar, Caraxes, and Meleys.
The moons passed and both were finally able to reach Dorne, where she and the baby climbed one of the ships that would take them to Tyrosh and then to the continent of Essos, where she knew that once she and the child stepped on those lands, the baby in her arms would be lost forever to the Targaryen family.
Moons came and went and the first name of the baby arrived, the nannies had insisted to Saera celebrate the little one, but she refused... Daenys had warned the family of the curse of ancient Valyria, but never warned them of the doom of their own blood, the destruction reincarnated in an infant. Every time her eyes lay on the baby, she felt anger; she was supposed to be free from her family, she was supposed to be away from them, maybe Daenys saw this, and wrote it in the book she wrote and was lost. Saera just saw the boy and saw the reasons she run away from the Targaryens.
The spies continued to inform her about what happened that night; they had told her that after the fire was appeased and the flames of fire were silent, the desperate cries of Princess Rhaenyra broke the stillness of the night, and her baby had disappeared. The sounds of the metal armor of the Golden Cloaks and the Guards were heard all over the capital, founding no trace, except some corpses, one of a servant at the gates of the Red Keep, and stabbed in her stomach, a maiden in the nursery, with her throat slit and a man outside of the city, also covered in blood.
All the knights searched for days until they found the blue and red blanket near a hut overlooking the sea. The crown princess traveled in her dragon to the place and fell to her knees holding the blanket tightly, crying and screaming.
Even so, the woman did not give up.
Although all those Targaryen and Velaryon who possessed a dragon set out to search, no one ever found anything. The King offered a reward, and although many offered to had found the lost prince, each baby that Rhaenyra held hoping to have her son back in her arms once more, always turned out to be a lie, making the heiress’ heart more plastered.
The spies had said to Saera, that since the disappearance of the prince, Rhaenyra prayed to the gods of the faith of seven, spending as much or more time as the Queen herself; in there reflowered the friendship that years before had withered, spending more time together than they had spent in their youth, this reunion had caused the princess to approach her siblings, protecting them fiercely, as she did with her son; she guarded the door of Princess Laena’s chambers when she gave birth, and watched the twins every time they were in the nursery.
The loss of the princess’s second son caused her to join her family and her people, and although there were still ambitious men around, their pain was as immense as her fear of losing someone else; The dragon’s blood was united once again as it had done when they had to flee their home in the ancient Valyria to find refuge in Dragonstone centuries ago.
Informants had told her that the lost prince’s dragon egg had hatched, fanning the flames of hope for the princess, her consort, and the family in general. However with the passing of cruel time, the rumors of the small folk had said that it was simply a consolation of the gods for the lost prince, a life for a life, and the prince indeed lay in the depths of the ocean, and year after year, in his name day of the prince, flowers were thrown by the cliff outside of the city, towards the sea.
Saera remembers to laugh strongly.
The news that had come to her from the city was that the King, Queen, and Heiress had engaged Prince Jacaerys to his aunt Helaena, and how both lovers wandered around the castle, they used to rest under the shade of the trees, and also how prince always gave flowers to the sweet princess Helaena; it was said that long ago there was no marriage founded on love until their arrangement, people said it was one of the purest love some saw.
Prince Aegon despite falling occasionally into mundane temptations, always he and his siblings Aemond and Dareon with Princess Rhaenyra were seen together, chatting, laughing, living side by side, and flying through the skies together; the prince didn't seem to be the same as her dream; Prince Aegon had meddled in politics, becoming appointed representative of the crown, of his father and his sister, taking charge of receiving the lords from other noble houses, his parties that the prince organized were famous, and every head of a noble house wished for an invitation, because of the business negotiations that took place at those meetings.
Prince Aemond had meddled among so many books and spent too much time between the maestres and the library. When he was a child, and the crown princess in her melancholy hid among the books, the prince simply gave her his company, then he did the same but outside those walls; for some reason was the favorite to be present during tea meetings between the Princess and the Queen, some times the boy was attacked by kisses at the cheek and his temple as a way to thank him for his company, also his hair was combed by both women. Having no dragon, and feeling no connection with any, he limited himself to observing them, from afar; he adored when his elder sister invited him to the evening flights in Syrax to see the dawn, and he enjoyed when Jace and Aegon competed to know which dragon was faster, sometimes he climbed up with his nephew, sometimes with his brother, and these constant journeys, made the dragons recognize him and let him approach sometimes; for some reason the one who also let him approach was Arrax, allowing him to caress his scales, sitting alongside him when both of them rested and just one day Arrax let him ride him, becoming his rider. To Saera’s ears heard rumors that when Rhaenyra found out, she locked herself in her room, all the people listened to her cries throughout the castle, because the dragon had been destined for her sweet son, and had already found his other half in her brother, indicating that perhaps his little baby would never return; those days when the princess refused to leave her chambers and refused to take food; Prince Aemond was camping pleading to her to let him pass, crying, apologizing and promising that he would never ride the dragon if it was necessary for her forgiveness. On the fifth day, the princess opened her room, and with a hard stare she looked at her brother, but little by little her face broke into a sad face, and she embraced her little brother, both crying together; Aegon, Jacaerys, Helaena, Daeron, and the Queen arrived and covered them both in a big hug. After the beast was seen flying over the capital, followed by Syrax and the other dragons.
She learned that Laena Velaryon died trying to give birth to her son; and that the princes helped one of her daughters claim her dragon. Months later Daemon, Laenor, and Rhaenyra joined in marriage, as Aegon, Visenya, and Rhaenys did in their time.
The last thing she knew was that the Crown Princess had brought the Velaryon heir into the world... the new heir Velaryon. A baby with curls, and half-white and half-black hair with lightly roasted skin, they called him Joffrey, after more babies came to the world of that marriage.
Saera had sighed in relief, she saved her family; then told whoever was bringing the news to her, not to do it anymore. She thanked them for their work and said goodbye.
She looked out the window of her working space and saw that baby, already turned into a young man, walking through the gardens, chatting with boys and girls who looked at him as if he were a god; She once heard one of the nannies who take care of him as a child that he was the delight of Volantis, even could be from all over Essos. His fluffy and wavy black hair, swaying with the wind, and his big eyes could express innocence and at the same time lethality, sometimes depending on light, the color of his eyes went from brown to dark violet.
For years the young man was instructed to be educated by the best masters, trained by the best mercenaries and knights, and prepared by the best sailors and merchants, for one day became her heir.
Years before, when he was snatched from his mother’s arms, many times she thought about ending the life of the little boy, even when they came to the woman’s home, she thought about it several times even once she tried to take a knife and end his life, but a thunder woke the little one, forcing him to look at her with his big eyes. Then, she just left him in charge of the nannies. Saera never spoke with the child and when both crossed words was a cold and polite interaction.
"Mother". The small boy at the young age of five called for her, and the woman reacted by rising abruptly and taking the small arm, hurting him.
"Never call me that again, I am not your mother". The boy cried in the arms of one of his nannies. The boy had become timider in her presence.
Over the years, she saw the boy blossom from afar. He became charming and intelligent, compassionate and kind. And Saera understood that his dream was not only to save the future of his house but also the present and that also included the young man. When she tried to reconnect with the boy she understood why his death had caused the destruction of his house; in her time as a novice in the faith, they had told her that the seven punished the death of the innocent, and the heart of the boy and his spirit were.
Despite the time and coldness with which Saera educated him, Cerys, as he had named him, starting from his original name Lucerys, never closed the doors of his heart to her, although at first, he was confused and undecided, the boy still smiled at her, because he had never stopped loving her.
Saera cried that night because neither her parents nor her siblings had offered her a love as unconditional as the little one gave to her.
When the young man felt her gaze, he looked up, searching for her in the windows, finding her in his study, and the Targaryen woman watched as he politely bid farewell to his companions to rush into his home; The woman waited patiently until some soft knocks were heard asking for permission. When the door opened it was revealed the young man who smiled so openly. Saera raised her arms to the young man, who approached and caught the older woman in his arms.
"Hello, Mother". Cerys kiss the back of her hand and kissed her on the cheek, always smiling.
"Hello, my sweet child". ISaera answered, with a smile so gentle that she had reserved only for the boy, handing out small kisses on his temple.
"Everything is alright?". Cerys asked.
"Better than in my dreams"