10

----

292 AC

Braavos - house with the red door

Eragon Targaryen

----

Walking quickly to my mother's room I arrive at her door and begin to knock impatiently.

"Come in." I hear her shout and crack the door and slip in and quickly shut it behind me and in the process even lock it for good measure.

"I did it, mom, I found out what he is doing and even made some money myself!" I run over to her and pull out the coins I made today, it's a bit disappointing but I couldn't carry anything heavy and could only grab the small stuff from ships.

"You did?" She asks confused and I hand over my coins for her to inspect, after seeing them she hands them back to me. "Alright Eragon, what did you two even get up to?"

"We worked at the Ragman's harbor unloading ships, it wasn't that hard really." Her eyes go wide.

"You guys went to the harbor where countless people are and worked out in the open?!" she hissed and yet again I am the one suffering her wrath for Viserys deeds! Well, I did go to but that's actually her fault!

"You told me to find out what he is doing so I went with him under the cover of needing money for myself. He was pretty happy to have someone there to talk to since all the other workers ignored us for the most part." She puts her hand on her head and lets out a sigh.

"Gods be good, what if someone decided to throw you in one of their ships and lock you in and sail off?" I could see how that is a problem.

"We were careful and there were also other Valyrian people there working so it's not like we stand out or anything." I will probably bring a knife with me when I go next time, just in case.

"I will need to speak with him." I walk back to the chest and kneel next to it, she watches me while shaking her head.

"You will have to keep it a secret, it's for later on if we need to rent a sellsword company." I nod eagerly even more excited to see what is inside. Much to my displeasure she sits next to me and pulls me into her lap while unlocking the chest.

Choosing not to struggle since she might change her mind while saying some nonsense like she is the mother and can change her mind if she wants to. The lid is soon opened and inside the chest is a slightly burned and folded banner of House Targaryen. She grabs the corner of it and lifts it up and my eyes go wide seeing seven of the most beautiful gems I have ever seen. They have scales carved into their surface and they are all the same size and shape.

Wait.

"Mom?" She lays the banner on the ground beside us and wraps her arms around my waist and hugs me from behind with her head beside mine.

"Yes?" She answers and I can tell she is sad by the tone of her voice.

"Are these dragon eggs?" she nods her head and her silky hair tickles my ear so I lean in closer to look at the eggs. "I thought all the dragon eggs were gone?" She snorts.

"Who told you that?" I try to remember why I thought that and realize I concluded on my own.

"I guess no one did, if we had eggs though why didn't we hatch them?" If we had dragons like in the stories Viserys told me about then we would still be living in the red keep. I assumed there were no eggs when the dragons all died and that's why we couldn't have anymore, but right here are not just eggs but a total of seven of them.

"They tried baby, trust me when I say that they tried." I lean back into her hug feeling that she is holding back from crying and wonder what happened. What story am I missing out on that has her so sad?

"Why are you so sad about it, because it didn't work? They could of just not been ready yet and needed more time in the egg." She shakes her head.

"It's not that, they have turned to stone and won't ever hatch. People tried to hatch them wanting to bring the real power of our family back and horrible things happened. Really bad things happen to the Targaryens that try and hatch the stone eggs. They are cursed and have pulled many of our family to an early grave." I wonder what has happened, I will ask Shaena about it and see if she knows and she will keep it a secret I told her about the eggs.

"I see." I haven't been able to take my eyes off of the solid white egg, it slightly reflects the light and looks very beautiful. I try to scoot toward the chest and touch it but mom won't let go of me. "I just want to touch it one time to see what they feel like." She tightens her grip and only lets me go after a moment of hesitation.

I put my whole hand over the egg and gently place my hand on its surface, it feels smooth and yet also has sharp little edges from the scales. I try and grip it and see how much it weighs and I have to lower my hand to the base of it and grab it from the bottom to lift it properly.

It feels surprisingly light and as I lift it up the white reflects the candlelight in a low glowing light.

For being made of stone you would assume that it would be heavy and cold, instead, it's light and a little warm.

"That's enough Eragon, put it up before you drop it and damage it. If we want to sell them then we need to make sure they are in good condition." I don't want to part with it but if she thinks something is wrong then she might not ever let me see them again.

Taking one last look as she spreads the banner on them again I try to remember them as best I can.

"Alright." she pats me on the side and I stand up and move out of the way. "Remember to keep it a secret ok?" I nod and forget my plan to ask Shaena later about them, maybe she doesn't even know and then mom would know I lied when she rats me out.

"I won't tell anyone." she smiles and I dodge out of the way when she tries to mess with my hair.

"We need to cut your hair if you're not going to wear it back, it keeps getting in your eyes." I run out of the room and head to the training yard, I have already missed most of the day and need to get my training in.

----

292 AC

Braavos - house with the red door

Daenerys Targaryen

----

"Eragon." He walks out into the training yard and when he turns and sees me sitting on the side resting he smiles and approaches.

"Hello Danny, you already worn out?" I have been out here for half the day and he was off goofing around with Viserys and he asks such a stupid question.

"I have been out here all day. Whereas you were off with Viserys doing who knows what." He sits against the wall next to me.

"I was spying on Viserys for mother and I even got some coins for my trouble, if you got enough fire left to complain let's get out there and fight." I roll my shoulders as he stands up and when he offers a hand I grab it and he pulls me up.

"Alright." After helping me up he heads to grab two training swords and throws one in my direction and I catch it and make my way into the open.

"Let's just start slow and let the flow take us, you may not admit it but I can tell you are tired and I don't feel like bruising you up for you to complain about it later." At least he has some sense in his head, though I won't admit it and choose to just glare at him.

He walks toward me and when in distance twists and presents his side and I hold my position and wait to counterattack. After he decides to lunge toward my left side I twist to the right and step toward him while he tries to back up.

He doesn't make it in time and I swipe my training sword and lay it across his gut.

"Dead." He nods and takes a step back.

"Alright, you were just pretending to be tired weren't you?" I shake my head and get in a stance once more and he mimics me.

We walk a circle around the center of the training yard and wait for one to make the first move, getting tired of waiting I choose to step in and make the first move. As I take my first step forward breaking the circle we were walking he lunges faster than before and places the tip of his training sword against my chest.

"Dead." After nodding we get back in position and continue our looping waiting for an opportunity.

----

"You brought your full weight into that last one." He grunts as he lays on his back and looks up at the clouds.

"Well, your the one who hit my knee like you were trying to break it." It still stings.

"You tried to kick me so I had to stop you somehow." He sits up and narrows his eyes, I ignore him and twirl my training sword around my hand. "Whatever, today was going to be a short day anyway since I missed so much time outside with Viserys. I am going to go read until they call to come and eat, do you want to come?" He seems off for some reason, I don't know what happened but it seems to have caught his attention.

----

292 AC

Braavos - House with the red door

Eragon Targaryen

----

Looking through the books we have led to disappointment since there is none with dragons that I haven't already read. I want to know what had mom upset earlier, I feel like it was important. But there is nothing I can do as of now so I just grab a book about someone traveling the Rhoyne and meeting a big turtle.

While sitting in my bed I open the book but can only think about the dragon egg from earlier, it didn't feel like a stone to me. But surely mom has held one before and wouldn't call them stone unless they were stone.

Thinking about it none stop won't help me in any way so it's better to just forget it for now and when an opportunity to talk her into seeing them again happens I will have her touch it and tell me what she feels.

"You're doing it again." Daenerys calls out from across the room, I look at her from over the top of my book with a raised eyebrow.

"Doing what?" She rolls her eyes and closes her book.

"You keep zoning out, you have done it since you got back with Viserys and talked to mom. What happened?" She walks over and sits next to me.

"I can't tell you yet but when I can I will, mom made me promise." She doesn't seem too bothered and shrugs and leans onto my shoulder.

"Is this the turtle book?" I nod.

"The guy gets eaten in the end." I look over at her shocked that she would spoil the book for me and she has a mischievous smirk. "Keeping secrets from your twin is going to cost you." I can only sigh and set the book to the side since there is no point in reading it now.