Chapter Text
Rhaenyra found her father staring up at the clouds, a faint smile gracing his pale face. Following his gaze into the sky she found the object of his attention.
High above the clouds, no more than a scarlet speck amongst the white, a dragon soared. A mere mortal might think it a bird, but no mortal creature moved that fast, no feathered being could be seen from the ground so far above the clouds. She glanced around their ship but no one else took notice. They moved about the rocking deck utterly unaware of the giant creature that tracked their approach. Only her father had noticed. Even a former dragon rider knew well what secrets the sky could hold.
“It has been far too many moons since I laid eyes on my mother’s old dragon. Watch how she soars,” Viserys said with a grin, gripping her shoulder and holding her to look with him.
They watched in awe as the dragon streaked across the sky, silent and swift. Rhaenyra soon lost sight of it as it shrunk against the horizon.
“I was only a boy when Rhaenys claimed her. Daemon was younger still, and oh was he enraged. But alas he could not tame her. The Red Queen is a proud creature, my cousin too, they were fated to fly together.” Viserys smiled, lost in memory. “By the age of ten she knew the caverns of the Dragonpit better than any. We would bother her like little cousins are want to do, she would tease us and then we would chase her beneath the Dragonpit. We’d grow tearful, lost in the dark halls waiting for one of our parents’ dragons to snap us up for supper. Then she would appear to wipe our tears and lead the way. It was as though she could-”
“-see in the dark. You and everyone else has told me this story a thousand times.”
“My cousin is as fierce as a dragon, always has been. You would do well to have her as your mother in law.”
“She frightens me sometimes.”
Viserys chuckled, “Do not tell this to anyone… but she scares me too at times.”
“Do you think there will ever live a dragon as swift as the Red Queen?”
Viserys hummed and turned to smile at her, “It is not likely, daughter. Certainly not in our lifetime. That dragon can split the sky with her wings, you’ve seen it yourself. And with my cousin in the saddle, they are matched by none.”
~
Her younger cousin, Laena, poked about the kitchens screwing her nose up at the platters of rare dishes with exotic spices from her father’s trades and instead picked up a tray of freshly baked honey cakes. The graceful girl perched herself in an open window looking out at her family’s gardens below. Sunlight filtered through her silver ringlets and left her golden skin glowing.
“It’s alright,” Laena mumbled with cheeks full of stolen sweets, “we won’t eat them all.”
Rhaenyra grinned and joined Laena by the window to feast. Every piece of clothing, each glimmer of jewellery dripped with the gold of her Velaryon house. Now with her own mount, the largest dragon in the world, Laena looked every bit a Targaryen princess as her mother. And she would have been, Rhaenyra thought, Had father not been chosen over Rhaenys at the Great Council, Laena would be a royal princess, Rhaenys would have the throne. Instead, it would all be hers one day because the king said it would be so. Laena sparkled with such a fearlessness for life, so sure of herself. She charged headfirst at any challenge just like that dragon of hers. Rhaenyra wished she could be more like that and praised for her boldness, not scolded for her insolence
A majestic trill drifted in on the breeze as the castle walls began to shake. The Red Queen dropped from the sky, with veins of gold glimmering on her wings beneath the sunshine. She trilled as her rider leapt from the saddle and swung like a Braavosi pirate to the ground from a braided rope. Rhaenyra grinned. One day Syrax would be large enough to do that. The crown of thorns adorning the great dragon’s brow flared as her rider ran a hand under her armoured chin. The two shared a quiet moment, heads bent together, before the dragon whistled and leapt into the sky.
Princess Rhaenys arrived breathless and flushed with delight from her flight. She found them in the window, her gaze immediately finding the stolen tray on Laena’s lap.
“Want some?” Laena spluttered, spitting crumbs in her mother’s face as she gestured to the tray.
Rhaenyra ducked her head, waiting for the reprimand she so often heard back home. But the Princess only smiled and took her daughter’s round cheeks in a gloved hand.
“I’m surprised there’s any left,” the Princess teased squeezing Laena’s cheeks before pressing kisses to her forehead. “Did you offer any to our guest?” she said turning to Rhaenyra. “Rhaenyra, it is good to see you though unexpected.”
Rhaenyra smiled shyly feeling a stab of jealousy as Laena was encircled in her mother’s arms.
“My father wished to speak with you and Lord Corlys.”
“I’d best not keep him waiting them.”
The Princess smoothed down her daughter’s hair and pressed a kiss to her cheek before making to greet the King. She moved like her dragon, steps assured yet graceful like a dancer, her hair flicking over her shoulder like a tail.
“You stink of dragon!” Laena called after her mother’s elegant form.
“Now, so do you!” the Princess countered without looking back.
~
She left the very next day with an invitation from Laenor. Come fly with us tonight, Princess. I’ll meet you over the Blackwater. Who was she to refuse her newly betrothed. It had been years since they’d flown together. She was keen to see how Laenor had grown after the Stepstones and she’d yet to fly with Laena on her mighty mount.
“You made it!” Laenor called.
Seasmoke sparkled under the moonlight. Syrax roared soaring closer as Seasmoke fluttered before her. They grinned for each other as their dragons embraced.
“My father doesn’t like me flying out alone in the middle of the night.”
“What could he have to worry about when you fly with four of the realms dragons? You will be safe tonight, Rhaenyra.”
“You fight in one war and now you’re some great protector. Why I’ll never have to worry again,” she teased.
Leanor laughed freely as Seasmoke chattered and they made their way across the bay side by side.
“I have no illusions of my own limitations. But as my betrothed you also have the protection of my family and that is no small thing.”
They soared over the Blackwater and into the Gullet’s calm waters. Soon Driftmark’s silver shores glistened into view like a glowing kingdom of light in the night. The island’s many ports never slept, always ready to receive visitors from every corner of the known world, forever bustling with life and the warmth of golden firelight.
Vhagar’s looming form circled into view under the high moon and Meleys greeted them with a whip of her tail. The two mighty she-dragons flew as one, barely a wingspan apart as they tilted on the wind towards her and their shadows melted together. The four dragons twirled about each other in an elaborate dance.
She screamed in delight as Vhagar lit up the sky with her mighty breath and the smaller dragons danced about on tongues of fire. Seasmoke and Syrax twirled together reshaping the clouds with their dance. Meleys glided around them twisting across the water with a trill of glee. Laenor followed his mother up into the clouds with a challenging roar. Rhaenyra gasped as she watched their two dragons lock talons and go tumbling playfully towards the water. They spun over each other fluttering for the upper hand until they broke apart and Seasmoke was sent skidding across the water.
The dragons soared over Dragonstone’s hazy mountains, vibrating proudly at the heat rolling from the black island. As the three Velaryon dragon riders moved over the Dragonmount they went quiet and the dragons shifted tensely. Passing an unspoken marker, all three exploded forward and streaked away across the open water. Seasmoke pulled ahead first lunging towards the open ocean, whooping with glee. He quickly had to duck away as Vhagar pushed to the front with her mighty bulk.
Rhaenyra quickly urged Syrax to join the race. They soon caught Seasmoke and slipped across Vhagar’s shoulder sending her swerving with a glancing kick to her wing to take the lead. She grinned looking back triumphantly. Laena scowled and jumped to her feet in the saddle flicking her reins as Vhagar roared and shook the air around them in frustration. Seasmoke caught them then riding a gust of wind and overtook Vhagar but Syrax proved too fast and snapped her tail in his face.
A flash of red spun around her as Meleys flipped from beneath the storm of dragons and looped over Rhaenyra’s head so close she could see Princess Rhaenys grinning from where she hung upside down in the saddle. Rhaenyra dropped her reins, gaping in disbelief as the upturned dragon righted herself with a flick of her shoulder and surged forward. The Red Queen left them all in her wake and tore across the night to outpace them all with ease.
Rhaenyra flew in second place ahead of Seasmoke and finally Vhagar’s hulking form. They followed a trailed of frosted waves to a sandy isle where Rhaenys waited having already dismounted.
Her cousins leapt from their dragons and charged their mother with shouts of indignation and delight. Laena ran into her mother and the two wrestled each other into the sand until Rhaenys lifted Laena upside down by her waist.
“When will you ever let someone else win!” Laena squealed as her mother spun her around and into the sand.
Rhaenys peppered kissed to her daughter’s cheeks as Laena squealed, “Where’s the fun in that?” Rhaenys cried laughing.
“You cheat every time!” Laenor growled as he joined and bowled his mother over lifting her away with a victorious roar.
Rhaenys tried to give chase as Laena escaped and sought refuge behind Rhaenyra. Her cousin wrapped her in her arms and threw her up as a shield for her pursuers with a squeal of laughter.
They were both taken down as Rhaenys collided with them without time to stop and sent all three of them crashing into the sand in a mound of laughter.
With a truce called they settled into the sand dunes as their dragons muttered to each other and shifted about in the shallow waves together.
“Syrax is fast!” Laenor said grinning, “you fly well together.”
“You must help us beat Mother and Meleys. She’s too proud, someone needs to knock that smirk from their faces.”
“I don’t know,” Rhaenyra said glancing shyly to the Princess, “I don’t think anyone will ever out fly the Princess.”
To her cousins the woman beside them was always their mother, they teased her and wrestled in the sand with her, and she ran her hands through their hair. But the Princess was her father’s older cousin, a stern example she was forced to live up to, a distant authority always watching, always scrutinising. Tonight though, flying with her children as they did so often, she was a different creature entirely, so careless and free.
“Laenor’s right, you and Syrax flew well. Not well enough to outfly Meleys though,” she teased with a smirk.
“You and Meleys are only so good because you’ve been together for a hundred years,” Laena whined with a glint of cheek in her eyes.
“Are you daring to call me old, my lady?” Rhaenys challenged with a formidable glare.
“My sister is quite mistaken,” Laenor cut in, “I believe she means a thousand years,” he said patting his mother over the head.
He did not have time to smile before his mother grabbed his shoulder and pushed him face first into the sand.
Her cousins returned to their home in Hightide, stifling yawns and dusting handfuls of sand from their clothes. The princess accompanied her back to King’s Landing allowing their dragons to drift about each other under the stars. Syrax roared joyfully, ecstatic from a night of adventure.
The Princess did not dismount but landed with her dragon to watch over her as Syrax returned to the dark caverns of the Dragonpit. When Ser Harrold scolded her, she could only smile and watch as the Princess ignored his grumbling with a sly smirk.
“You fly like a true dragon, as is befitting the heir to the throne. But a dragon should never be alone in this world. Fly with us again, Rhaenyra.”
The night had reminded her what it felt to live amongst dragons. She and Laenor had not flown together in so long, all because of a rift between their parents. Yet, for the first time in years Syrax experienced what it was to fly with her own kind and the thrill left them both buzzing, like a long lost sense had been brought to life. Dragons could be savage and fierce like Rhaenys, but warm like Laenor and brave like Laena. She missed all of that.
“I would like that very much, Princess,” Rhaenyra replied.
The Princess dipped her head with a soft smile and urged her dragon into the sky again with a powerful sweep of her wings.