12 A Peaceful Day in Valyria

It's been a couple of days since the duel by the Western Water Gate. Things in the Valyrian Freehold continued as always, common people didn't really care about the conflicts of the ruling class.

But the Dragonlord Families knew, and those who were already cooking plans to take over the Regallyon's assets decided to take a posture of wait and see. No one wants to be burned from the inside out, and if the rumors were to be believed… effortlessly…

No one came back to avenge the Targaryen, they had no backing in the freehold anymore and everyone only mocked and laughed at them even more than before. They played their role as the perfect victim, with no repercussions or negative aftereffects.

At this moment flying above the capital of Valyria, a massive red dragon could be seen. Doing many absurd maneuvers that no sane rider would try...

"Alright buddy… time for what we practiced!"

"GRAAAAAAAA"

"Do the Barrel Roll!" The rider shouted, with excitement in his voice.

The red dragon leaned to his left to get some leverage and using the momentum he twisted his body to his right, folding his wings and rotating twice in the sky before unfolding his wings and stabilizing.

"WE DID IT BUDDY! HAHAHAHA" A maniacal laugh echoed from the top of the dragon.

Not wanting to lose, the dragon blasted his green fire to the sky, celebrating with his rider. He was extremely happy with his rider; they finally shared the same love for flying. They did dangerous and exciting sky maneuvers together, and Kael trusted him with his life. A bond like that was almost impossible, yet it was what most bonded dragons actually wanted.

The people from below and other dragon riders nearby were gobsmacked and turned pale after watching the red dragon's maneuvers.

"What in the name of the fourteen was that?!" someone shouted from somewhere.

"Now to the other side!" Shouted Kael.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

And once again they twisted in the air, to the dismay and fear of the people who watched.

"Now.. UP!" Kael commanded once again and held the saddle as hard as he could.

The dragon not waiting a second instantly skyrocketed upwards, going 90º. They went higher and higher until they passed through the layer of clouds above.

"You better catch me, or I will haunt you!" Kael laughed and let go of the saddle once they reached the highest point, letting gravity follow its course.

They both split in the sky, Kael closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of skydiving, twisting and rotating in the air, once he opened his eyes he saw himself surrounded by clouds.

In a few seconds he passed through the layer of clouds and could see the whole Valyrian peninsula from the sky, he had a smile from ear to ear enjoying the feeling of "flight" on his own.

As he was enjoying the fall, the big red dragon came flying by his side aiming downwards, parallel to himself, with his wings folded. They slowly approached one another and once Kael held the saddle and positioned himself properly, the dragon slowly stabilized the flight and went back to a normal flight position in the sky.

"WHAT THE.." Kael heard from below and laughed even louder.

They both enjoyed the flight for over an hour until Kael spotted a perfect place to land, a flattened top of a mountain that overlooked the capital. The dragon followed his wishes and landed on the place and they both stood there, enjoying the morning breeze while watching the magical city together.

"You know … I don't really know how to name you…" admitted Kael while sitting on top of the red dragon's head, enjoying the view with his buddy.

"Grru?" The dragon responded, which made Kael laugh. They did have a special bond since both of them were born at the same time, thanks to his family rituals of blood bonding, they are practically brothers, arguably twins on top of that.

"… I have plans, and many rituals that I am starting to research… not just for me but for you… so I'm afraid to give you a Red Dragon name and then have you changing your colors after the ritual…"

"hmmf" Green smoke came out of the dragon's snout.

"...You know… I'm not from this world buddy…" Said Kael while watching the city with a slight smile.

"Grrre"

"… I'm not even your original owner, I'm in his body but… I'm not him… and what pains me is that… I know that I will never be able to tell this to anyone… regardless of how close I am to my family and friends in the future, I feel that there will always be this barrier, always this secret that will put a small distance between me and the others…"

The dragon said nothing but gently tapped the ground with his tail, well as gently as a dragon of such massive size could be.

"… I've heard from Vae that you and the 'previous me' never actually met, he only saw you from afar and got scared of your size… so it's no wonder that you don't actually care… but the others? … that's complicated…"

The red dragon let out small wisps of green flame from the corners of his mouth and made some dragon noises.

Kael laughed "hahaha, I agree… the 'previous me' wasn't worthy of you… and I'm much better," he said before patting the dragon's head gently. "But it's good to have at least someone to share these things in this world… at least I don't feel alone anymore" a bright smile appeared on his face.

"Graaaaaaargrrrr"

"Oh? No… there were no dragons in my previous world… we had stories and legends about it, but no… you are my first ever dragon, the same way that I'm your first ever rider"

The two of them kept "talking" and interacting with one another until it was lunchtime, Kael stood up from the dragon's head and walked all his way down the neck until he reached his saddle.

A big brown leather satchel was attached to the back of the saddle, from there he removed some fruits and dry meat sandwiches that he himself made (surprisingly this wasn't a thing even in Valyria), alongside a bottle of wine. Valyrian dragons don't need to eat every day, they only do so if their food is in small quantities, but knowledgeable Dragonriders feed big whales to their dragons so they can go without eating for days.

After a good meal on the top of his dragon's head, while enjoying the most magical view that Planetos currently had to offer, both of them enjoyed a long time of serene and calming silence and peace.

"… You know, in my world there was this legend of this big bad Red Dragon called Ashardalon, originally I wanted to give you that name, but I am afraid that you will change colors after the rituals I have in mind…"

"Grrrrrrrrrrgr."

".. I agree I like that name too… and then there's this one big badass dragon called Neltharion, he was so powerful that he almost caused the cataclysm of his world, he was known as Death Wing… but he was a black dragon not a red one…"

The red dragon spewed a small green flame after doing some guttural dragon noises.

"Yeah, that name is awesome, his moniker was cool too… and it's not my fault that they were all villains, in my world… most dragons from these legends were feared… there were quite a few of good-natured dragons, but they weren't as awesome and strong as the evil ones…"

"hnnf" the dragon huffed green smoke from his snout again.

"Actually… let me show you one of the skills that I have thanks to my previous world…" Kael stood up again and fully unwrapped the big satchel, taking out a big blank canvas, a small ornated cloth satchel that, according to the sound, had many glass flasks inside, a foldable wooden stool and something that Kael himself ordered to be crafted alongside the canvas, a proper support for it made of goldenheart wood.

He unfolded everything near the edge of the huge cliff, placed everything in the right places, opened the ornated satchel and pulled out many flasks of different colored paints and a set of different sized brushes, alongside small round charcoal slabs.

"… it might take a while, so be patient..."

For the next four to five hours Kael stayed there, sitting on his stool, slowly painting the magical view of the capital of Valyria. A sight that in a decade would never be seen again. He decided to have as many memories of this place as possible, and record as much as he could.

As he was painting the big towers of Valyria on his canvas, he heard a dragon's roar in the distance. Both he and his dragon turned to the source of the sound and saw a big blue dragon coming closer from above, gently and elegantly landing nearby without causing any ruckus.

A gorgeous female figure came down from the blue dragon's saddle and slowly and awkwardly walked toward the duo of Rider and Dragon by the end of the cliff.

"… I've heard of a crazy Dragonrider doing absurd air maneuvers above the capital..." she said with her soft and gentle voice

"Oh? See that buddy, we are famous already!" Kael chuckled before going back to his painting and the dragon huffed smoke, amused.

The girl kept staring at her brother for several seconds, then she saw what he was doing and was amazed by it, it was so pretty and well done, almost like someone stopped the time above Valyria and captured its glory permanently.

"I didn't know that you had that skill… brother…" Vaela said the first part with an amazed tone, but then dropped into a distant, awkward and ashamed tone when it came to the last word.

Kael looked at her and gave her a gentle smile "Oh yeah? If you wish I can teach you Vae, it is not that hard, but it does take some dedication and effort."

They haven't talked since the day he came back from the duel; Vaela has been in her corner doing God knows what, she didn't join him for meals, nor did she walk around the tower. All she did was stay inside her quarters.

Seeing that her brother didn't sound angry, disappointed or even distant after all that happened she felt relieved, and gave him a soft smile ".. yes… it would be great if you could…"

She walked to his side and sat on the flat ground, watching her brother painting and enjoying the view herself.

"Brother…"

"Stop that, we already had that talk… if you are going to be my wife, call me like a wife would… if you keep calling me brother, I will get angry" he instantly cut her off, Kael didn't want to distance himself from the only family member he had in this world. Even in his previous world, his family meant the world to him, and after spending over two weeks here he got really close to this girl, even if he didn't see her as a sister, he felt really close… close enough to marry her and not feel too awkward about it. Honestly, he could see himself loving her.

She stood there for a second before starting over "Kael.. about what I said that day… about how I behaved… I'm sorry… I know that it's not your responsibility to save everyone. It's just… this place is our roots, our father and mother lay here… to think that everything that made us... us… will vanish from existence…" She lowered her head.

"Our things, our people and their family, our parents, grandparents and ancestors' remains will be moved" said Kael "We are not Regallyon because of Valyria… Valyria is Valyria because we are Regallyon… wherever we go, Valyria will be with us." He said while gently painting some light effects on the tower, adding some sun rays of the beautiful sunset of the peninsula.

After a few seconds of silence, she nodded "Aye, Valyria will always be with us… and I will not fail you brother, wherever you go… whatever your plans are… I will always be by your side, I know you displayed a lot of trust in me and Valanar to speak your plans out loud that day… and I want to repay that trust, you can trust me brother!" she said with determination in her eyes while staring at him

"Tsk" Kael clicked his tongue, turned to her and painted her nose black with his brush "What did I tell you about calling me brother one minute ago, girl?" he went back to his painting, leaving a shocked girl with a black nose staring at him "I've always trusted you; it was not a case of 'if' for you to come and talk to me, it was a question of 'when' would you do it, you never disappointed me. I lost my memories, you didn't, so obviously you hold this place and its people way more dearly than I do, in my head... I've only been living here for a little over two weeks now..."

She kept staring at him in shock until she frowned, not taking it lightly she poked her finger inside one of the bottles of paint and brushed it on his cheek, leaving a deep purple mark.

Kael stopped painting instantly and stared at her with wide eyes, which made her burst into laughter.

"You naughty girl" He let go of his brush and tackled her, tickling her sides and making her laugh even louder until her eyes were in tears.

They both rolled on the ground tackling each other until he came on top of her and the laughs stopped. Both kept staring deep into each other's violet eyes, his hand gently touched her cheek, her skin was smooth and delicate, her arms gently wrapped around his neck, she had fire in her eyes.

The stare down lasted for several seconds, no one felt uncomfortable, Kael was the one to take the initiative, their faces slowly approached until their lips gently touched.