25

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112 AC

Kingslanding

Daeron Nymeros Martell

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I once more feel annoyed I am sidelined and not allowed to participate but the next big tourney I will be more than allowed as things will be more settled by that time. But after two days of watching the jousts the entertainment factor plummeted, and the random murder is also in poor taste. Someone getting their skull cracked open or an axe in the stomach is just not what I enjoy seeing when I am this bored. I mean this is a Tourney that is supposed to be for the birth of the King's heir and I have seen five for sure deaths, a few looked savable but I could care less.

If I was involved my rapidly beating heart would double down and kick it into overdrive but I am stuck to my seat pretending I know who these people are. I know all the banners and what House rules were but I have no idea who the actual people are and nor do I care. The only important people to remember are the Lords and their heirs, too many spares are participating for me to follow who they are.

But I am one to find the fun in anything, and since I returned from running off to get some real food I have found something interesting. People are terrified when I just blankly stare at them without even blinking. I noticed when it looked like someone was going to ask for the favor of one of the girls in the royal box. I was sitting like Ulfric Stormcloak when one knight looked hopefully up to the royal box and seemed ready to speak, until his eyes landed on mine.

He froze for a moment and I could see a wave of emotion wash over him and only the shifting of his horse broke him from his trance. I felt a bit bad as he slapped on his helmet and got unseated on his second pass. When he got back on his feet he took one last look at me before hurrying off the field. So I have been testing who else will shrivel at my gaze, and it is quite fun if I am honest.

My sister seems to have caught on as she elbows me every now and then and frowns when I don't let the fish off the hook easily.

"You look like mom when we do something stupid, I can feel the disappointment coming off of you." Myriah whispers softly and I shrug as I look away from one of the few Northmen in this tourney.

"I have seen it so much I have learned the art all on my own, I can't wait to have a child and they do something stupid so I can use it. It really nails in just how stupid something is when Mother doesn't even respond and just gives you 'the look'. I know deep inside she enjoys watching us try to explain our point of view only to fumble." My Mother is a damn good momma bear but she can be prickly as a cactus when she wants.

I love her all the more for it.

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Riding Gaelithox after being stuck all day at the joust is like getting a good stretch in, I feel in my bones a deep satisfaction. I am confident that tomorrow should be the day the Queen gives birth but who knows with the butterfly effect of what all is different. But regardless after Rhaenyra talked with her parents I will be on standby once the birthing starts. I expect it to play out much the same as canon with him choosing his son over his wife, I am not sure how I will feel when they start cutting her.

But I will be there the moment the babe is out and do everything I can.

Gaelithox lets out a rumble as we glide through the sky and I notice he is turning his head slightly looking down toward the bay. I do a risky maneuver and stand up while holding onto the reins for support as I peer over his side. I don't spot anything other than water and wonder if my partner is seeing shit until I see a massive body breach the water.

My eyes widen seeing a whale as I have not seen many in this life and never seen one in this bay, I did not even know they came here. Gaelithox lets out another rumble and I chuckle at the hungry look in his green eye.

""Let's catch you a nice snack!"" His rumbling becomes thunder as I hurry back into my seat and hold on.

He is surprisingly patient before he makes a sudden dive and I get a perfect view from over his head as he drops like a needle toward the bay. I can't spot the whale but I assume he is going to where he saw it breach and I prepare myself to aid him. The poor sea behemoth shows himself and seals his fate as Gaelithox spots him and corrects his course. He levels out with his feet almost touching the water and I feel his whole body jerk as he tries to gouge the beast with his claws.

I tighten my hands on the handles on the saddle in surprise, I expected him to boil the water trying to fry it. I guess he prefers to have it bleed out first or just overshot and had to improvise but as I look back I see the whale is gone. I am certain he hit it but it seems to have not been a fatal wound as the whale dived back down. He gains some altitude as he scans the water for his prey but sees nothing and his rumble returns with a thundering vibration that clatters my teeth.

""Go low and fly in place! I will smoke it out!"" His grumbles of dissatisfaction end and he flaps in place and slowly lowers himself with each flap until his tail is touching the surface.

I look around one last time to double-check that there are no ships that could be watching before bending a water tentacle to dive directly into. Even with feather falling it still can hurt to just leap off of something and hit a surface, I still get winded from the impact sometimes. I let go with my legs and fall directly into the water I bent up and soon am on the hunt.

Near zero visibility but I won't let a whale go to waste after we already hurt it, would be like those guys who shoot buffalo for fun. Waste not want now as a wise man once told me, and we are not wasting this whale today.

With nothing really to go off, I begin bending as much water as I can in as wide of an area as I possibly can manage. I have come far from my humble begins of not understanding how to bend and only being able to move small puddles. With minimal fluid movements, I can bend a large amount of water so long as I am not trying to do too much with it. So when it only takes me a few moments to locate a 'mass' of something in the water I grin and jet toward it.

The water is warm with blood and I cringe realizing I swam right into it before I avoid the blood trail and hoist the wounded animal to the surface. Rising to the top I once more check for any boats and can't spot anything so I freeze a platform and jump onto it.

""Now how do we get it to where you can eat it?!"" I shout up to Gaelithox who seemed to be able to locate me easily enough and is flapping above me creating a windstorm.

----

""This is just brilliant!"" I had to put some effort into completely lifting the massive whale out of the water enough to make an ice raft for it, now I just slowly 'push' it to shore. I put it out of its misery with an ice spike through the brain so I wouldn't feel so bad as it struggled.

Worst comes to worst I let the thing sink if I see someone within seeing distance using one of those far-eye from Myr. But now Gaelithox is much happier and is trilling much like Syrax does when I come to the Dragon pit with Rhaenyra. I wonder how often the big guy gets to eat something this large.

This thing is no blue whale but it's at least two-thirds what a blue whale should be, a healthy lunch for Gaelithox. He will nap like a fat cat after he finishes this but I want some time alone before the next few days anyway. I need time to clear my head and spending time with Gaelithox on the beach is not the worst way to get my thoughts in order.

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112 AC

Blackwater bay

Rhaenys Targaryen

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Taking some time to myself and my girl Meleys is always nice, just the sky and us and no problems to worry about or observant eyes. I can also sift through my thoughts of everything that has happened recently with the engagement of my children. They seem to get along well enough with their future betrotheds, if not a bit concerned with how much Laenor seems to favor Lewyn his sister's betrothed.

I get pulled from my thoughts by a curious little trill from Meleys, she looks down toward the ground as she glides at an angle. I look down as well and see a black mass on the beach and realize it's a dragon, specifically the Cannibal or Gaelithox as he is known now. How Daeron managed to tame that beast is a mystery but he seems to have it under control completely, you wouldn't be able to tell how aggressive it used to be.

""Let's take a look!"" Meleys trills once more before making a quick dive toward the beach.

As we get close I can make out more detail and I can see the black dragon look up before lowering its head back down. Meleys seems bothered enough even with the dragon's disinterest and corrects her path to land a bit further away. She comes down gracefully and only tosses around minimal sand as she touches down on the beach.

The beach is burnt and bloody and a cracked-open whale's head is roasted not too far from the black dragon. I am surprised to see Daeron is actually here as I was only wanting to take a quick look, Gaelithox does not stay in the pit so I thought I might have found where he slept. It seems instead I caught Daeron out on a hunting trip with his dragon and they managed to hunt down a whale.

I regret my curiosity as now it would be rude to fly off without saying something, he is the brother to my two future good kids. I should at least climb down and ask how he is doing and see if he is all right before I get back to my silence. I sigh as I make my way down Meleys and she aids me by lowering herself to the sand while keeping her eyes on Gaelithox.

"Need help?" I hear Daeron shout but I shake my head as I land softly on the sand and turn around toward him.

I run my hand over Meleys as I walk toward him until she is out of reach and I am stepping away from her and closer to Gaelithox. The large dragon seems content to laze around with its eyes closed but I expect it is paying attention more than I would like.

"No thanks, I was just coming to see Gaelithox, I didn't expect to find you out here." I spot him raising a brow at that and he opens and closes his mouth a few times before closing it.

I look down at the bloody and burnt sand before I take a closer look at the whale's head.

"You would fly up to Gaelithox without me being nearby? That seems a bit reckless without you ever meeting him before..." He seems pretty exasperated and I smile while facing away from him.

I have not spoken to Daeron much at all other than greeting mostly and he seems nice enough around others but right now he seems relaxed. I wonder if it is the confidence in his dragon's size or if this is just how he is under the mask he wears around for people to see.

"I am confident in Meleys escaping should the Cannibal take offense to us getting too close." The black dragon rumbles and I look up to see one of its piercing green eyes open and glaring down at me.

Meleys rumbles as well but after Daeron pats the side of his dragon the rumbling stops and I am shocked at how well he has his dragon under control. He has not even had the dragon claimed long but their bond seems strong, maybe even as strong as someone who has had their dragon for years. Gaelithox was wild before adding more to the surprise and I can't help but look at Daeron differently, he seems much more capable after that demonstration.

"He hates that word, he seems to pick up on it whenever it's said and gets pissed so it's best to stick with Gaelithox." I nod and find myself wondering just how Daeron went about taming the fierce dragon that has been wild all its life as far as we know.

It was on Dragonstone before the Targaryens even arrived according to what is written about it, so hundreds of years possibly. How he was able to make it as tame as a dragon that grew in the dragon pit with handlers I can't even begin to fathom. But it brings attention to the need to know more about the Martells and hammers in how important the marriage alliances we made are. With my husband planning on going to war in the Stepstones soon it is important that someone this promising is at his side. Young men love getting glory anyway and I can tell sitting out of the Tourney had bothered him as I watched him in the Royal box. He is likely to lead the Dornish while riding Gaelithox to my husband's aid and I almost pity the crab feeder.

Gaelithox has burned many people over the years with his wildfire-colored flames and I expect him to make quite a showing of it during war. My hope for the war to be short-lived has grown just from that small display, I can rest a bit easier knowing Daeron will be completely in control of this massive dragon. The second biggest living behind Vhagar with one only a bit smaller behind it belonging to his brother. If he also has this level of bond with his dragon then the Triarchy's forces will be in danger as their scorpions will do little to nothing to dragons of their size.