XIX

Twelfth day of the seventh moon of 297 AC. Braavos, Essos.

"Meria: I will not fight you, nor will I kneel to you. Dorne has no king. Tell your brother that.

Rhaenys: I shall, but we will come again, Princess, and the next time we shall come with fire and blood.

Meria: Your words. Ours are Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. You may burn us, my lady ... but you will not bend us, break us, or make us bow. This is Dorne. You are not wanted here. Return at your peril. "

Meria Martell to Rhaenys Targaryen Fire & Blood, The Conquest

Even though the sun was just beginning to set, Rhaenys felt extremely tired and was barely paying attention to the guests at the inn. It had been two moons in which she could hardly sleep.

And when she did, dreams, nightmares and 'Madness?' chased her in the shadows of the night in her slumber.

For two moons, the dreams that she had from time to time since Nys was little and that she had never dared to share with anyone for fear that they would think that she was just as sane as her grandfather, had constantly tormented her.

Every night in her dreams, Nys relived the day that her life changed forever. She could still remember how she ran as fast as could wit her little wobbly legs to her father's room. Nys' mother's anguished screams still echoed in her head, echoing through the castle, as the seven-time cursed of the Mountain Who Rides had his way with her poor mother.

In Nys' dreams it seemed as if she was reliving the arrival in her father's room. The moment she rushed inside and closed the door, desperately looking for a place to hide. Nys could hide under the bed waiting for her father to come to rescue her, but surely there they would look for her first. She didn't have time to think of a better place, as the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard from outside. Moving as fast as her little legs would allow, she slid under the bed. And Nys did it just in time, when the door slammed open and someone entered.

From under the bed, she could only see the boots gnawed and stained with mud and blood. Not wanting to alert the intruder of her presence, the little princess did her best to remain still. She even held her breath, hoping her breathing didn't give her away.

After waiting what seemed like an eternity, Rhaenys realized that she could no longer see the man, but saw flames begin to catch on the curtains and furniture in the room. She bit back a strangled sound, letting out a small sigh.

Almost as quickly as Nys let the air out, that sigh turned into a scream. Rough hands grabbed her legs and tried to pull her out from under her father's bed. Nys prayed that her strength and the kicks she was giving her aggressor would stop the stranger from hurting her. But deep down, she knew that there was no use praying for the gods, when not even her father had been able to save her mother.

The man who had grabbed her, clearly desperate began to insult Rhaenys visibly angry for her resistance "Come damn Dornish bitch, I will teach you.." said with a voice that sent shivers through Rhaenys entire body.

Before she knew it, it seemed as if the ground was moving underneath her, but it was the man who had definitely grabbed her, throwing her against the wall opposite where her father's bed was.

When Nys hit the wall, she felt a pain like the one Nys had never felt in her back. A pain that went beyond physical pain. A pain like no other had felt or would feel in her life. A pain that made Nys feel like she was on fire from her insides. Flames that spread a fire that consumed her and threatened to melt her from within.

Next, Rhaenys was overcome by the feeling of fire engulfing her and she was unable to see anything but darkness. After that, she lived a dream or a nightmare, of which Nys never dared to talk to anyone

'Or even come to think about it'. Because even Nys herself doubted of her sanity 'What would anyone think if the mad king's granddaughter told about that experience?' Rhaenys thought fifteen years after that day.

It was a dream that made her feel as if she had lived a whole life, which had ended in fire and blood over a castle in the middle of a desert.

When after whatever that was, she was able to open her eyes again, she woke up in the arms of Ser Jaime, while the knight was cleaning her in the Blackwater. Unable to process anything that had happened that night, she closed herself in, turning over the image that had been imprinted on her retina.

'The one with the ice demons and the dragon in the shadows who died at their hands and how they later killed her.' Every time Nys thought about it, a chill ran down her spine.

Nys was unable to speak until Davos knocked Ser Jaime unconscious on the boat. Despite her young age, she knew that she could not allow the person who had cared for her as if he were her brother or her father, to suffer for her.

At that moment it never occurred to Nys that the man who had left Ser Jaime lying down, like the man's children, would end up becoming members of her family. Being Davos and his wife Marya like their grandparents. For their part, although Dale and Allard were sworn swords to her and her grandmother Rhaella, they were practically like her cousins. And even if rushed, Mathos, the closest in age to her, might consider him almost like a brother.

Because although Rhaenys had never had a brother, she had been looking forward to meeting the son of her second mother, of whom her mother and father spoke so well. Also, even if she didn't know how to explain it, Rhaenys knew what it was like to feel one's brother love. This feeling was like a memory thread that she was never able to unravel, but from which every night Nys was able to sleep, flashes appeared.

This flashes were memories of a shadow that was always with her, that cared for her and protected her against everything and everyone. A shadow with eyes like the ones Nys never seen before or after. It was the only thing she knew of the mysterious memory. Those two black wells with purple and silver streaks running through them, emitting sparkles that seemed to glow.

Along with the memory of the shadow, Nys had the memory of having felt free in the heavens, but she did not understand how could have experienced such a sensation. 'What I would give to be free and to be able to fly to the ends of the world, where no one cared who my real father and family were'

"Hey Nys !? Have you heard what I asked of you girl? " Ballaquo Pahraenor, the spice merchant and regular customer of The Green Eel, suddenly exclaimed, snapping her out of her reveries and thoughts.

"Sorry Ballaquo, I've been resting badly for a few days. What did you ask of me?" she answered in a friendly tone, as Nys tried to compose herself from the thoughts that kept her from resting at night and kept her distracted during the day.

"I wanted sardines fried crispy in pepper oil and served so hot it burns my fingers. And some watered down wine. Tomorrow I have to go to sea and I can't be hungover Ha!" ordered the plump ship captain. His dark brown hair was beginning to lighten and the occasional gray seemed to appear, however Bellaquo would not have even forty days of his name. The skin, tanned by sea salt and darkened by countless days in the sun.

'Surely before whatever happened me in the Sack, my skin had to have that hue. Jaime and my muña Rhaella have told me many times, that before that night my skin was typically Martell, to become a pale complexion typical of Valyria,' Nys thought after nodding to the braavosi, for then go towards the bar where Nys' grandmother commanded the Inn with the help of Davos and Marya.

Davos's wife was the cook and manager of the tavern, while her muña Rhaella was in charge of hosting the inn customers and take the orders from the clients of the tavern. Davos, so to speak, was responsible for unifying both jobs, while Gerion was supposedly the owner.

That was the reason why the most recognizable of them all, barely showed the face around the common room or the inn tavern. Although Gerion had been missing for seven years and rumors from Westeros left him for dead on the way to Valyria and the Doom, no one wanted to risk that they could put all the pieces together and end up being recognized.

"Mother, they have ordered crunchy fried sardines in pepper oil and a jug of watered down wine." Nys told hergrandmother Rhaella, who was posing as her mother to the public. In this way they explained the color of her hair dyed entirely in silver, despite the fact that only half of Nys' mane actually had the typical Targaryen color.

Nys's alleged father, which is as she called herself now, had been a Tyroshi mercenary who visited Lys and got her supposed mother pregnant. Alone and pregnant, her mother Jenny of Lys met the smuggler Davos and his family, who helped Jenny to start a small sales business.

Shortly after Nys was born, her father's brother, uncle Aucturum came to Lys, to announce that Nys father had died in the Disputed Lands, but not before making Aucturum promise to protect his daughter with his life.

From then on, they roamed the Free Cities in search of making a living, until they found Garrion Hestar, a wealthy merchant who fell in love with Nys mother and had the idea of taking over the inn at The Green Eel to settle the family in Braavos.

When Rhaenys thought of the charade they had created, she couldn't help but laugh at the ironies surrounding the story they had created.

'As Davos always says, the best lies are those that contain a bottom of truth,' Nys mused as she gazed at the former smuggler, now innkeeper, who was standing at the back of the tavern serving boisterous sailors clamoring for ale.

"Now I ask Marya to make the food. In the meantime, take him the jug of watered wine, Nys" grandmother replied as she gave Nys a small mud vessel that was with the others behind the bar, as well as a jug to serve it.

Although it seemed degrading that the last two women descendants of the Forty Families of Valyria were working tending an inn, Rhaenys had many times thanked for the simplicity that her life had acquired since their arrival in Braavos. Until arriving in the city of canals, she had lived in fear.

Fear of being discovered, fear of being enslaved, fear of being handed over to the usurper, and even fear of meeting someone from her Dornish family. The last thing Rhaenys wanted after the war that triggered her father's actions and led to the overthrow of her family, was to go down in history as the name that would serve as an excuse for another bloody civil war.

'Westeros didn't have a queen even when she was the first in line of succession and the Targaryen had dragons. My grandmother or I could never be queens.'

Should the overthrow of the Baratheon, Lannister, Arryn and Stark succeed, the rest of the great lords would never accept being ruled by women. The Dance had clearly taught that. Not to mention that the possible candidates were two women who had been dead for fifteen years in the eyes of all of them.

'If only Lyanna, my brother and their King's Guards had survived, we might now have a base on which to plan the invasion to reclaim the Iron Throne.'

Rhaenys desire for revenge for the deaths of her mother, father and unborn brother were tempered by putting things into perspective. Another of the great lessons learned in her essosi journey.

Despite having recovered her grandmother's crown in Myr, they had found no sign of Viserys or Daenerys to Nys grandmother's infinite sadness. Whom, although she did not want to admit it and put on a stoic facade, still had hopes of one day finding her children.

What little she remembered about uncle Viserys made Nys think of grandfather, which caused her mixed feelings about seeing him again. While she hadn't even met her aunt and if she was alive, she was almost four days of her name younger than her.

"... Yes, a shadow suddenly covered my entire boat, covering the sun completely ... For a moment I thought it would be the end of the world, but as quickly as it left, the sun returned and the shadow that covered it disappeared" heard Rhaenys comment to one of the boisterous sailors being served by Davos.

"That is sure an invention ..." replied another after taking a long drink from the jug that Davos had just served him.

"I swear the captain doesn't lie. I was on deck when it happened. Something covered the sun for a moment." said a third sailor, supporting the words that the first of the sailors had spoken, who apparently was the skipper of some boat.

"And will you also tell me that you saw a kraken? Har! Har! If you wanted me to buy you some jugs, lads you didn't need to tell me fantastic stories!" replied the interpellated, finishing the jug in one gulp.

Davos's face when listening to the story of talked by the sailors, made Nys think that it was one of the thousand typical stories of sailors and that she should not pay attention.

When she got to Bellaquo's table, Nys started to serve him the wine, when suddenly began to feel a great internal tightness in her chest. As if it were on fire and something was calling her from within. For a moment, to Rhaenys it seemed to feel like the night of the Sack.

The sensations were so strong that she began to tremble, causing her to let go of the pot and jug she was carrying.

"Crash!" the noise of the pottery smashing against the floor echoed, causing almost everyone present to look at her, while Dale subtly appeared a few steps from Nys to make sure everything was in order.

However, she was not attentive to the mud vessel and jug now broken on the floor and its contents spilled on the cold wet stone paving. Nor did she pay attention to the fact that she had suddenly become the center of attention of the inn.

No. The moment the artifacts she was carrying hit the ground, she could swear she hadn't heard them break. She would swear at her father's grave, if he had one, that just at that moment there were three unnatural, but strangely familiar roars. As if Nys had known them all her life and that something in them attracted her like honey to a bee.

Without thinking twice, she quickly stepped onto the street that connected to Happy Port, followed by a Dale who was unable to hide the concern was experiencing for her.

"Nys! You're good? What's wrong? You have turned paler than usual and your eyes... your eyes seem to be surrounded by a shine that had never been present in them." said Nys's sworn sword

with a nervous and worried tone.

But Rhaenys couldn't pay attention to him. She felt that there was something close that was calling her. The tightness in her chest had given way to a sense of inner warmth that seemed to have been dormant in her, her entire life, but felt natural and her own.

'As if i had always possessed this inner fire.' Rhaenys thought, still ignoring Dale, that was grimacing more and more worried.

However, Rhaenys's gaze was focused on the sky, where despite her multiple scans, she was unable to find anything. 'I must have heard the Titan receiving a ship from someone important.' thought quickly, discarding any other option that might haunt her mind, putting the most impossible theories that came to mind on her terrible dreams.

"Hey! Nys are you in here? What's wrong? Shall I call your grea... "Dale began to say in an accelerated and increasingly shrill tone.

"I'm fine." Rhaenys cut him short dryly, before Dale could say anything that could be overheard by someone who might cause them trouble.

"It was nothing Dale. I have had a little dizziness, probably caused by how bad I am sleeping lately and the humid heat that is today." Nys tried to explain herself in the calmest, most natural tone possible, although her voice trembled a bit.

'Should I explain to Dale my dreams and what I have felt, or should I discuss it with Grandma? No ... Grandma rejects everything that smells of magic. Summerhall, the witch's prophecy and Aerys make it impossible to mention these things to her.' Nys thought internally, as looked at Dale, who seemed to have relaxed a bit, but still showed concern in his eyes. Almost the same gaze Davos looked at me with on the Duskdale shoreline fifteen years ago.'

"What were you looking for with your eyes out here?" Dale asked curiously, having noticed that she had gone out to look for something.

"To be honest I have no idea. I felt as if something had called me ... but you can see that there is nothing. Surely my moon is about to come and that's why I have these sensations and my body is so strange today." Rhaenys settled, claiming as responsible for her ills a subject that she knew no man would delve into.

'Able to kill another human being as if nothing, but scared by a natural process of a woman's body. Men!' she muttered to herself at the simplicity of the male gender on some issues.

Dale upon hearing the words moonly moon, seemed that had been exposed before one of the Others or the Stranger himself. Such an attitude would have been a great deal of amusement to Nys on another occasion, but today she didn't feel like making Dale an object of her tireless mockery.

"Easy, I'm fine. I only ask that you do me the favor of taking my place in the tavern for tonight, as I think I would feel better if I go up to my room." Rhaenys said to Dale, with a tone and a gesture with which Nys knew he wouldn't deny her anything.

She was aware that with her looks, she could easily manipulate many men. Even those who saw her as their family. And Dale was no exception. Although this possibly always acceded to all Nys's whims more for affection towards her person, than for sexual attraction.

After snorting into the void, Dale smiled at her saying "I'll do you the favor if you can convince your uncle to let me wield his ancestral steel at least during a stances practice"

It seemed like this time it wasn't going to be for free for her convince Dale for to fill Nys position at the tavern, but she could certainly convince Jaime to let the middle son of Davos use Brightroar for at least some random training, right?

'Considering that Jaime loves that sword more than his own uncle, I am not so sure about it... But I need to retire to my room for today.'

She went back to the door through which had left the tavern and which Dale had left ajar behind it. By the time Nys reached it, she turned and addressed Dale.

"You've got a deal done, Dale. You know that my uncle cannot refuse an order from me." Nys said with a smile from ear to ear, as she winked at her sworn sword.

Although no one said it often, everyone knew that Jaime was with them because of her and therefore, Jaime continued to consider himself a Queen's Guard and she, the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne, hence he was at Nys call and command.

Although Rhaenys had rarely commanded Jaime anything in all her life.'Don't forget what you ordered him to do in Myr' an accusing voice inside her told Rhaenys.

At times, she was truly convinced that she was a worthy heir to her grandfather. Since that terrible night, Nys had always had the company of an inner voice. A travel companion in her life, who at times seemed to take control of her own actions, mind and body. But nonetheless, that voice, that presence within her, did not feel alien. 'On the contrary, it feels like an extension of myself.'

'Because as I have explained to you a thousand times, you and I are two people and one at the same time ... damn ... I don't know how to explain it better ... my sister could explain better what happens to us. But trust me, you're not mad, and you won't be.'

Answered the voice of 'Herself?' with a certain tension for not knowing how to explain herself better, but always with the love and trust that she had had with her.

Once her inner voice explained that the dreams she had were the memories of her previous life. Although the voice never clarified the previous life of which of the two. IF from her or her inner voice.

'Nor will I clarify it until I have the proof of what I say.' the presence declared in Nys head, after which it seemed to cut every thread between them, at least for the moment.

Taking the disconnect with her inner voice as a cue, she made her way rapidly through the tavern to the stairs that led to the upper floor. In it, the western wing of the first of the two floors of the inn, belonged to her family and was where Nys was going.

"Nys, what are you doing here so soon? Is something the matter? Is it because of the lack of sleep, right?" Gerion asked her as soon as she entered the room that was used as a family solar. The lannister was behind the desk, with notes and account books covering every space of it.

"Nothing happened to me Uncle, really. It's just... I've been sleeping badly for two moons and a while ago I've had some very strange sensations, but as I already told Dale, I think it's because my Moon is about to come that I've suffered a little dizziness." she said calmly and warmly to Gerion.

Despite being Tywin's brother, she certainly regarded Gerion Lannister as an uncle. Where Davos and her grandmother were strict and imperative most of the time, Gerion had always indulged her in everything. Gerion had always treated her like an adult, not hiding his racy jokes, or foul language. There were even times when he told Nys that since he couldn't be a father for his natural

daughter Joy, at least he had to pamper someone.

It was in moments like those, when Nys felt guilt for having dragged Jaime, Gerion, Davos and Davos's family to live on the run and under false identities. Lying about their past, all with the goal of protecting her.

And when Nys saw that the concern on Gerion's face did not disappear after having mentioned that it was probably the coming of her Moon that caused her illness, Rhaenys understood that the excuse that worked with Dale, would not work with Gerion.

'And of course, no matter how much confidence I have with him, I'm not going to tell him what's wrong with me. I don't want to see that look of concern for me change to one of concern towards me.' she thought, with a certain selfishness and fear that if they knew she was possibly crazy, they would abandon her to her fate.

"It's nothing, seriously Gerion. I need to lie down in my room for a while and for dinner I will be as good as new." Rhaenys said warmly and with the best of her smiles.

Although Nys was well aware that the smile did not reach her eyes and Gerion was not going to stop worrying about her, it seemed that for the moment he was going to let her be. With a sigh and an affirmative nod, Gerion smiled up at her and went back to the inn numbers.

When Nys finally entered her room, the first thing Nys did was to lock the door. Except for her grandmother with whom she shared it, no one else entered the room and Nys did not expect her grandmother to be going up immediately.

The second thing she did, almost unconsciously and without realizing it, was to go to the chest where all evidence of who they really were was kept under lock and key. The crown of her grandmother; the birth certificates of her and grandmother Rhaella; the annulment of father's marriage with her mother due to problems in her health; the copy of the marriage certificate between father and Lyanna Targaryen; Ashara Dayne and Brandon Stark's son's birth certificate; And above all, two banners of House Targaryen.

It was one of those banners that seemed to be calling her to the chest at that time, and so she opened it. To be able to finish embroidering it.

Ever since Rhaenys began having dreams two moons ago, her inner voice convinced her that it was time to start embroidering her own war banner, in case it was necessary to get out of the charade. And something inside Nys agreed, because from that day on, every night before going to bed, she had the urge to work on the huge black silk cloth that she had gotten in exchange for almost everything she had gained in two moons of work in the tavern.

Her personal sigil was not going to be strident at all, nor was it going to leave the pattern of the black field and a single quarter. But Nys wanted to add a personal touch to it, something that showed her two roots. That is why in the claws of the three-headed rampant dragon in wine red thread, was embroidering in silver thread a silver sun pierced by a spear with the same thread of the dragon.

'At the end of the day, just as I am a descendant of the Forty, I am a descendant of Garin the Great and Nymeria.' Nys was proud about it, while feeling strangely conflicted every time she thought about the lineages from which she came. As if something inside her lived in constant conflict with her Rhoynar part.

'Another of the things that I will probably never understand why they happen to me' thought as she

lost track of time while working on the banner, noting that in the absence of a couple of stitching, it would be ready. Ready to be kept forever, but at least there would be some memory of who she really was.

"Pom! Pom! Pom! Pom! Pom!" the door banged abruptly, pulling her out of her fleeting melancholy. The beating sounded agitated and urgent.

"Yes?" she asked in a small voice, fearing the worst.

"Princess come out ... Something has happened in the Square of the Iron Bank... We have to return there immediately" was heard from the other side of the wooden door to an agitated and very nervous Ser Jaime.

'Now that I think about it, DID HE JUST CALL ME PRINCESS? HAS GONE MAD!? We are not the only ones who occupy the first floor.' she thought quickly, terrified at the repercussions that the slip that Jaime had just committed could have.

"You are wrong, there is no princess here. Only the daughter of the owner of the inn." She answered Jaime as loudly as possible, as Nys went to open the door to verbally admonish her Queen's Guard. 'Our titles were never supposed to be pronounced even in private! He will hear me ...'

"Pom! Pom! Pom! Pom! Seriously Rhaenys, just stop playing! Come out and grab the banners before you leave! Quick, we have to get back before they leave!" Jaime's voice could possibly be heard even in the street, so he would have to have some reason to have broken the farce in such a dramatic way.

Jaime was also asking for the banners they thought they would never use, to find for someone. 'But whom?' Nys wondered as she quickly retraced her steps to the chest, to pick up both banners.

As she did this, Nys began to hear the hissed, nervous and trembling voice of her grandmother, arguing with Ser Jaime in the solar. Davos and Allard appeared to be also there. 'I have to get out quick and find out what the hell is going on.'

"I swear on my mother's grave, your grace, it was them. I only saw her in passing at Harrenhall, but he... he was the same as when I last saw him before leaving for the Trident . If your grace will forgive me the expression, I almost pissed on myself when I saw them. It was like seeing the ghost of..."Ser Jaime explained to Rhaenys's grandmother, who had an expression on her face that Rhaenys did not know whether to qualify as infinite joy or absolute panic.

Seeing her leaving the room, every voice was silenced, while all eyes were on her.

The rest of those present were pale and with expressions of disbelief, although strangely Gerion's forehead was beaded with cold sweat. Ser Jaime was agitated, half undressed, hair totally disheveled, and his King's guard armor that was procured in Qohor was being arranged between Mathos and Dale.

Rhaenys was unable to understand anything that was before her eyes, so she said the first thing that came to her mind, pretending to keep up the mummery.

"Is it okay wit Marya that we're all here while she takes care of everything downstairs? And Aucturum, why in the seven hells are you referring to us by those names !?" Rhaenys said with the countenance of normality that she could conjure up right now.

Something about her question made Ser Jaime lose his composure and start laughing like a

madman. To which her grandmother reacted with a nervous smile and as if self-affirming herself, before clearing her voice.

"You see, my riña ... I don't know how to tell you in a softer way, so I'm going to tell you what apparently just happened before the Iron Bank." grandmother Rhaella said tenderly, as when Nys was little and she sang lullabies to her when she had nightmares at night.

Something in her grandmother's tone had set off all her alarms. 'Except in situations of extreme danger or great stress, she never use that tone.' Nys reflected, while her grandmother shot Ser Jaime a reproachful look, that if looks could kill, the one grandmother's had just shot, would have. Several times. Ser Jaime immediately stopped his practically maniacal laugh, to regain some composure, which grandmother took as a foot to continue the explanation.

"Ser Jaime was accompanying the Sealord to the Iron Bank, when apparently three roars rang out ..."

"I thought I had imagined them! Can't be! They had been in my mind!" Nys exclaimed suddenly interrupting her grandmother. Apparently Dale and Gerion had put the pieces together instantly, for they both asked at the same time.

"Is that why your state from before?" with some alarm and concern in their voices.

She nodded, causing her grandmother and Ser Jaime to exchange glances in a strange way, to look at her again.

"Have you ... heard them?" her grandmother asked with some disbelief.

"Do you know at what do they belong to?" Ser Jaime questioned Nys at the same time.

If the atmosphere was one of some concern and disbelief when Nys entered the solar, now everyone seemed absolutely worried, except Jaime and grandmother, who had lost all hint of panic in her expression, to reflect a joy and a radiance as rarely had seen before.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?" Nys asked, tired of not knowing what was wrong and what this had to do with what she had thought she heard and felt.

"According to my nephew, the three roars that you claim to have heard belong to three gigantic dragons." Gerion sentenced from his position behind the desk, as if speaking of a normal occurrence.

'Okay, they are the ones who are going mad. Dragons haven't existed for over a hundred and fifty years.' thought to herself, seeing that no one contradicted what Gerion had just said.

'You are a dragon and yet, you exist. Maybe it was just a matter of time before you met the being you were destined to bond with.' her inner voice suddenly answered a question never asked.

Seeing that she had suddenly fallen into a state of shock, her grandmother quickly continued telling what had caused Ser Jaime's irruption in that already, nightfall.

"Myriña... that's not all. In two of the three dragons were people. In the largest, a lad who according to Ser Jaime will be approximately five and ten days of the name, typically Valyrian in appearance, accompanied by a younger boy with copper hair and a younger girl with dark brown hair, both pale in complexion. None of the children wore sigils, but the lad... the lad wore the rampant dragon of our house in his cloak ... and the younger boy displayed on a pole the war banner of House Targaryen, accompanied on the other side by the personal banner of Lord

Brynden Rivers..."

That her grandmother spoke freely Jaime's name and house Targaryen had totally surprised her.

The existence of a boy from her house, a couple of years younger than her, to whom a dragon was bonded, was something that directly made her rethink everything she knew. Because if there was one thing for sure, it was that if Viserys by some miracle of the Seven was still alive, this was almost four days of his name older than her and she very much doubted that Viserys had a dragon. 'And if he has one, he's not even going to have a gigantic dragon like the one they are claiming this lad has.' her inner voice reminded Nys internally.

The fact that after a hundred years absent, the banner of Bloodraven had once again made an appearance, accompanying the young Dragonrider only added to the unreal of what they were explaining to Rhaenys.

It can be seen that the skepticism provoked by what she had just heard was reflected in her face, because before she could question her grandmother, Ser Jaime interrupted her.

"Your Excellency, I have never lied to you about anything and I swore that I would always protect you, just as I promised your father that I would." Ser Jaime said, staring at her with his huge emerald green eyes, almost imploring her to believe him.

Except fifteen years ago, Nys had never seen such a look in Ser Jaime. 'It's the look from when he recognized me aboard Davos boat, before he passed out for three days.'

Without a doubt, Jaime had Rhaenys complete confidence, so she let him know. "Ser, you know that if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here today. By now you should know that I trust you implicitly. What you tell me is true, I will believe it. So I order you, tell me at once what is happening. Is Viserys the dragon boy? No, no? Do you know who he is? What relationship do they have with us?" Rhaenys spoke to Jaime in a tone that she rarely used and that Mathos called her Queen's voice.

"Your Excellency, the two persons who descended from the second dragon, are your father Prince Rhaegar and Princess Lyanna Targaryen" Ser Jaime pronounced slowly, deliberately and in a rhythmic manner, with a vibrant and exuberant tone of hope, as well as with some mysticism.

Rhaenys at the time really didn't know how to react. A thousand and one thoughts came to her at once, but she was unable to say anything or even to move. She was only able to stand still under the lintel of her room, gazing into the faces of those who were in the familiar solar of the inn. She could see her grandmother's lips moving, but she didn't hear any sound.

After, somehow, managing to regain her senses and compose herself, they quickly prepared themselves as best they could, hurrying towards the nearby Square in front of the Iron Bank.

Upon arriving there, an expectant crowd seemed to have gathered in the vicinity of the gigantic building that was the headquarters of the Braavosi usurers.

Without a doubt, the reason for this was the two massive dragons that flew over the sky above the Iron Bank and the even more humongous and massive dragon, which was leaning like a gigantic gargoyle on one of the towers that finished off the great building. Its black color made it blend in with the shadows of the building's finials in the night darkness, except for the gleam of its enormous reddish-orange eyes, which immediately reminded Rhaenys of the color of the ever- present flame in the temple of Rhllor in Volantis.

The weight of the mythical creature seemed to have collapsed part of the roof of the tower, observing how rocks and bricks fell from time to time from the top.

'By all the gods, Ser Jaime hadn't made it up. They are monstrously huge. Yet they are strangely familiar to me. As if I had seen them often and dealt with them.' Rhaenys thought, trying to rationalize the absence of fear towards the mythological creatures that were in the distance before her eyes.

When some of those present observed her and the retinue with she was accompanied, as well as the banners displayed by Dale and Mathos for everyone to see, murmurs began to surround them, until they were practically surrounded by people. Preventing them from advancing to reach the bridge over the channel that separated the part of the square with the part of the building itself.

Ser Jaime and Allard, who were trailing her and her grandmother like shadows, immediately tensed, reaching for the hilt of their swords, a gesture imitated by Gerion and Davos in front of her.

When it seemed that the situation could escalate to major, a deafening roar that seemed to approach towards them, immediately dispersed the crowd gathered around them.

At that moment Rhaenys felt the warmth and tightness of her chest that she felt when had thought she was listening to dragons at the sunset in the tavern, but this time was multiplied infinitely.

She didn't quite understand what was happening, as Nys suddenly felt frozen in place. Unable to move from the site. But at the same time, she felt like she was watching herself from the sky as she soared through it.

"By the New Gods, that beast is coming straight here!" Gerion screamed in horror as he drew his longsword. This gesture was imitated by Davos, Ser Jaime and Allard, causing her to come out of the trance in which she had been induced.

However, Nys did not understand the reason for the panic of her companions, or the fact that her grandma squeezed her left hand as if life were in it.

'The black dragon is still so calm, perched at the top of the bank building, while the smallest I am watching it fly overhead right now ...' She tried to understand the horror of her retinue, but was unable to do so until Rhaenys realized that no one there was looking straight ahead except for her. Everyone was watching in her back direction.

Turning around, Nys also understood.

Less than a hundred meters high and fifty meters away, descending at breakneck speed, wings folded into an arrow-shaped body, a mass of glowing silver scales, was heading without any hesitation directly towards them.

The head of the incredible and wonderful dragon would be the size of a carriage and would be nearly fifty meters long, and its wings would possibly be around one hundred meters wide when unfolded.

However, it was not the size, nor the gracefulness in its flight, nor even its splendid and brilliant color that had immediately captivated her of the mythological creature. No.

Its gigantic eyes were two brilliant amethysts that stood out between the white and gray color of the scales that made it appear silver. Eyes of a purple color, tending to lilac that resembled Nys's own eyes.

When she stared into the eyes of the extraordinary being, for a moment she felt again as if she were looking at herself from outside. It was as if it were just her and the dragon.

Barely realizing it and without anyone being able to stop her, she began to advance in the direction the dragon was approaching. When it saw her action, it immediately closed the distance between itself and the ground, landing immediately, causing a tremor throughout the square that almost made Nys lose her balance.

She could hear her grandmother yelling at her to stop and Ser Jaime being stopped by Gerion and Davos, but she couldn't help it and continued advancing towards the dragon.

When Nys was less than fifteen paces from the dragon, it raised its neck and body to its full extent, emitting a deafening roar at the same time that it released a huge blaze of silver fire, almost white that lit up as if it were a new sun on the night.

The heat from the flame was so strong that even some forty meters below where it had been expelled, seemed as if it were scorching her. But it was a warmth that felt good, that completed her. It was something that she had always been missing and that until that day Nys did not know that she had been missing.

Nys wouldn't know if it was her, or the voice inside her, but she suddenly addressed in High Valyrian to the dragon with a tone that bordered on euphoria, "[Meraxes !!! It's me girl! I am Rhaenys! We are back together!]"

'Meraxes? As in the Meraxes of Rhaenys Targaryen, the Dragon's sister?' Rhaenys asked herself, not expecting an answer.

However, that was being a day that no one would have been able to foresee what would happen next, because the voice inside her answered 'And who did you think I was all the time? Or who do you think you are? All this time? Are you really still unable to accept it?' the voice asked Nys.

Nys had no opportunity to answer to 'Herself?' as 'Meraxes?' suddenly brought its snout to ground level, placing itself only a couple of feet from Rhaenys. Its enormous jaws gave off a terrible stench of fish and sea. Its two huge eyes were fixed on hers. Meraxes exuded an almost unbearable heat, but one that Nys was able to resist and to some extent, thanked and comforted her.

Unable to react or move, the dragon suddenly gave Nys a 'caress?' nudging her lightly with its nose on her chest, while emitting a murmur like satisfaction, which reminded Rhaenys of her cat Balerion when it purred.

"[It seems you want us to be friends]" she said tenderly in her hissed High Valyrian to Meraxes, whom responded by increasing the reverberation of its murmur and bowing it head even more before her, in a gesture of submission.

There would have been no dragons in over a hundred and fifty years, but even Nys was able to understand when a being, however mythological, showed submission. Seeing such a gesture she was unable to avoid it and directed her hand towards the gigantic snout, stroking her right hand between the two amethyst eyes of the dragon while being on tip toe.

Excited screams made Nys aware of her surroundings. When she took her eyes offMeraxes, to return her gaze to where her grandmother and Ser Jaime were, she saw something that although the latter had told Nys it was like that, she could not finish accepting.

"Daughter!" her father yelled heartbreakingly, starting a mad rush to where she was.

Before she knew it, her father was holding her so tightly that he was almost hurting Nys, as he was bearing his armor. But feeling her father hug her again was unimaginable. Without realizing it, she began to cry uncontrollably. Something that after a few sobs she had just realized, her father Rhaegar Targaryen was also doing.

"Dad! I never imagined that I would see you again! I can't believe it! You are alive! And you look the same as in my memories!" she uttered excitedly, her voice trembling and agonized, revealing part of her disbelief at what she not only saw, but also touched. In this case, she was hugging with all her might.

Nys's father seemed to understand the plea that she had made for explanations, as he contained his until then emotional crying and collected himself as best could, but not before giving Nys another hug that almost took the air out of her lungs.

As her father stepped away from her, she could see that indeed, he looked the same as the last time Nys saw him before leaving to confront the usurper. Even his armor that had been broken in the now called Ruby ford, was completely unscathed. It seemed as if five-and-ten years had not passed for Nys's father.

"It's because I really was dead until two moons ago, when a ri ..."

Father tried to explain, but was interrupted by a voice with a steel timbre, but melodious. Tough, but vibrant. A voice that awakened something within her that she was unable to explain.

"Hāedar"

As she headed towards the issuer of those words, suddenly all the shadows of her memories and dreams disappeared.

The veil of darkness, fear of madness and sleepless nights finally had an answer, although this did not mean that Nys suddenly accepted it.

"EGG??!!" she yelled stridently, almost unable to control herself.

"It can not be, it can not be! All was a dream! Just a dream!" After Nys finished saying those

words, her body felt like jelly and a cold heat began to run down her neck and back.

Nys did not understand how, but suddenly it was as if the ground were moved under her feet and she was put on her side,

"RHAEEEEEE!" It was the last thing she heard before lost consciousness.