23
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112 AC
Kingslanding
Daeron Nymeros Martell
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"Did we really have to go for a flight to get to a place to 'talk' about whatever it is you want to tell me?" Rhaenyra asks with a bit of hesitation and nervousness that she has never shown before, likely after the legs thing and not the engagement though.
"Well it is something only my family knows and now that the engagement is official I think it's time I showed you. I probably should wait until after the wedding but I think it's fine to put forth some trust and show you now. But I hope my trust is not misplaced, I have kept it a secret through pain-staking efforts thus far." She stops looking as nervous as she was as I take her hand and sit us both down on the sandy beach.
No boats or houses in sight, only someone walking around possibly hunting could see us but I don't plan to make a big show of it... at least not too big.
"I won't tell anyone if you do not want me to, I do not see why I would want to share a secret of yours, to begin with. If you are keeping something a secret through 'pain-staking efforts' it must be important or dangerous enough that you have to. I would only be getting on your bad side by exposing something you want to be kept a secret so you can trust me with this." She seems pretty genuine and I am willing to trust her on this.
I plan on using my bending in the Stepstones if the war gets going and people will obviously figure it out then. But for now, I want it to be kept secret so I might be able to surprise my enemy if I get the chance.
I nod at her and slowly bend the blackwater before us and form a sphere with it and bring it toward us. She was not paying attention to the water but once she sees it her eyes widen in disbelief as her eyebrows shoot up. I bring it over my palm and freeze it dropping it onto my palm and then holding it out to her.
"What was that? How did you do-." She grabs the frozen sphere and drops it in surprise before picking it back up. "-magic is how you did that, I guess you can use magic." I nod and give her a moment to process what she just learned and she runs her fingers over the ice sphere.
She looks between me and the sphere before cocking her arm back and tossing it out into the waves. She wipes her hands against her dress and then holds them together to get rid of the chill and looks at me with an odd look.
"Rhoynar magic? I looked into water magic and found Rhoynar magic after we heard about you claiming a dragon and a dragon being pulled into the sea. The ice was also spotted by Daemon so it was undeniable that something magic happened on Dragonstone." She seems to have thought about it being possible before but still looks surprised.
"Yea I did pull him into the sea and then froze him before riding him back to shore and then taking him to the sky where the claiming really began. He chased me around the Dragonmont when I discovered his cave and I had to fight back or die." Her eyes widen even more and she grabs my arm.
"He chased you around?" I chuckle and nod as I look over my shoulder at Gaelithox who is watching us with one green eye open and the other closed.
"I was in his cave and I was distracted at the time..." The cave paintings can be used strategically if I play it right and I might be able to convince them of some things. "I was strolling around looking for a dragon to claim and also avoiding the guard's sight on the island. I ended up in his cave and was looking at all the broken eggshells and bones and he just appeared as silent as a grave until his scales scratched the wall. I ran out after seeing green flames and ended up in the ocean and fought back." She rolls her eyes about the guards and seems amused but frowns hearing about the near-death experience.
"That was stupid of you, he could have burned you or just snapped you up like a cat does a rat." She shakes her head and looks back at the water with her lips quirking up. "But I am glad he did not eat you, if he did I would be short a husband and would have to search the whole seven kingdoms to find one as fit a match, or marry your brother." I lean over and shove her gently with my shoulder jokingly.
"A great tragedy for you, if you had to look elsewhere for someone that can match me you would become an old spinster or settle for something inferior." She shakes her head while smiling and I pull some clean water from my waterskin instead of the murky black water.
She looks at it in wonder as I make different shapes and swirl it around us slowly.
"I am glad you showed this to me now, I have something in mind for your magic. You can drop some water on someone's head for me at the feast tonight." She seems almost too excited at the thought of me ruining someone's night as she pokes at the water floating around us.
I take a small blade from my side and bring it to my palm, she notices it but doesn't react either trusting me or hiding any fear well. She reaches forward quickly when I slice my palm and she tries to knock the blade from my hand.
"What are you doing?!" She hisses as she grabs the hand with the blade and shakes it from my hand, I drop it to appease her so she will watch what comes next.
"Just watch, this is a part of what I wanted to tell you." I bring the clean water to my cut and start healing it, it ever so slowly closes over a few moments.
My healing is much quicker than anyone else, and that also includes when they take some Shimmer into their bodies. Without Shimmer a cut like this would take over five minutes but with it, it's half that time or less but my own body heals in seconds. Her surprise is evident as the water is thrown out and she rubs my palm looking for damage. She looks at the bloody knife on the ground and then back at my palm.
"That's amazing, you can heal with water magic." She keeps rubbing my palm until I grasp her hand lacing our fingers together.
One of the rare moments I have seen her blush and she tries to play it off by deadpanning at me, she even grabs the knife with her free hand and 'threatens' me.
"I can heal, I withheld some information about the massage I gave you since it uses some of my healing to make it so effective. I wanted to treat your mother using my magic and to ensure she has a much easier time when she gives birth." She sets the knife down while looking down at her lap and tightening her grip on my hand slightly.
"But why would you do that? Would you not be risking someone finding out about your magic?" She asks skeptically but also with a touch of warmth.
"I have seen a lot of people die on the birthing bed and many of them went onto it in a much better state than your mother. She is in constant pain according to you and I am worried about her meeting a tragic end on that bed. I did not know if we would for sure be wed but even so, I did not want you to lose a mom as I have grown fond of your normal happy attitude. So to me, it was worth the risk of being exposed since I am also confident in getting away if need be." I could say I saw her mom passing away in a dream but I would rather only have one big revelation at a time.
Laying it on too thick might end up with her being overwhelmed and stepping back, so I need to take it slowly. I can use dreams for foreknowledge at a later time since I proved I am magical with my water bending its easy to believe. Well, it's easy so long as I can prove I have 'visions' to begin with and that is a simple matter.
If I want to prove I have 'dreams' I can talk about the coming long night and how Aegon foresaw it and wanted to unite men against it. That alone would have Viserys wide-eyed and likely to believe me since it's only been passed from heir to heir and I should not know about it. I could even use the cave paintings and say I saw of the coming long night and a dream lead me to Gaelithox's cave and the paintings.
She has gone silent hearing my reasoning but kept our hands laced together, she eventually scoots close and sets her head on my shoulder. She doesn't speak but I take that for her accepting my reasoning and just leave her to her thoughts. It is a lot to take in and she is probably thinking of ways to help me treat her mom.
"Let's say she does have a bad birth and she is going to bleed to death, could you save her?" I purse my lips and give a hesitant nod before stating my thoughts.
"I have healed some pretty grizzly wounds, I have helped with births before because I actually do practice healing. I know some recipes for different mixtures and one has shown promise in helping with my magic. I have used this potion and my healing to heal some pretty bad wounds that would have meant death, and people have lived. I won't say it's guaranteed but if something does go wrong I will say without a doubt I am better than a Maester." She takes that news well and just nods against my shoulder as we watch the waves together.
I do not want to give her too much hope but I am positive I can heal her mom before they cut her open and have her birth the baby naturally. But then I would be blamed for the death of the heir and everything is ruined and most likely even war will be waged. But if I wait until after she is cut open the chances are obviously lower.
I can shut her open womb and flesh and stop the bleeding but it will all come down to how much Shimmer I have to use. If I use too much she will likely be fried out or ruined by it in some other way, maybe even transforming into a monster. But Shimmer is necessary for such a bad injury, the body can only heal so much with my bending.
My best guess is the water-bending healing still uses the body's natural ability and cranks its way up. The body only can use the resources it has to heal a wound even if bending is forcing it to hyper-focus on a wound. But Shimmer added into the mix is like giving it rocket fuel and powering the whole process without the body straining. Shimmer is packed full of power for healing and that is going to be a key factor in shutting her cut-open body and healing the damage done.
"Let's go see her together, we will have to do it before the feast and that does not leave us much time so we have to be quick. If you can help her feel better now and prove it works then I will break down the doors myself when she is giving birth if they try to stop us." She stands up and tries her best to pull me to my feet so I push off the ground with my free hand.
"Ok but let's stop by my room so I can grab some clean clothes for the feast." She nods and we head off to our dragons with Syrax flapping her wings excitedly as Rhaenyra approaches her.