90
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207 AC
Norvos
Aerion Targaryen
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"Heyo!" My eyes open wider knowing what is about to happen and I adjust myself at the table to prepare. "Here you go!" I shake my head as Bellenora sets down my nearly seven-name-day-old Daughter in my lap.
She copied my technique...
"Hey sunshine." I press my lips on her forehead while Ariel adjusts herself in my lap so she can reach my plate.
"Kepa!" She cheers a she grabs ahold of my fork and quickly uses it to stab at a fatty piece of bacon. "Here!" She lifts it over her head which causes a bit of the grease to drip into her recently cleaned hair.
"Thank you." I quickly take the food before her Mother can see what she did... too bad everyone else has seen it and is subtly signaling her Mother with their eyes.
"What did she do?" Belle asks with exasperation as she turns toward the both of us.
"Nothing." I stop my sweet Daughter before she can repeat what she did.
"Nothing." She mimics me and quickly catches on to there being something 'wrong'.
"Keep it that way." Belle narrows her eyes at the both of us before taking some of the food being served for herself before starting to chit-chat with Elaena.
"Smart girl." I kiss my daughter's head right on her curly black and silver hair.
Even with a little grease drippings in her hair, it's still some of the most unique and beautiful I have ever seen. A mix of her mother's hair with mine, it reminds me of how all of my children with Shiera have Heterochromia eyes.
"Kepa, can we play with Greed today?" Ariel asks sweetly while trying to grab my cup that is filled with juice.
"We can." I nod in approval of her request, like all of my children she loves her dragon.
Greed is an odd dragon... but I guess he also acts the most 'dragon' out of all of the dragons. He has an obsession with shiny things regardless of what they are, I even have seen him peeling the beaten silver off of a castle tower's roof in the Crownlands. He does not care even if the shiny thing is alive, much to his silver Mother's annoyance as she constantly has to swat him away when he tries to steal her scales right off her body.
"You want to ride with your Father with me to go and peek at Lorath?" Daenerys asks from my side as she herself finishes off her breakfast.
"Lorath?" Ariel tilts her head before her eyes widen a bit. "The island Free City with the mazes that are located in the Shivering Sea?!" Ariel brightens at the idea as she remembers her lessons and her wide smile brings me great joy.
"Yep, that very one." Danny nods while lifting her hand to pinch Ariel's cheek.
"I want to go!" Ariel nods while looking thoughtful, completely ignoring her stretched cheek. "I will need my book..." Danny snorts after letting go of the sweet girl's face and gives me a content look.
God, I love this woman.
----
""Greed! You can't fly so close!"" Ariel commands her dragon with authority as it swoops close to Moonfyre as we fly over the water toward our destination.
"If he keeps messing with Moonfyre then Drogon is going to chew him up." I 'warn' Ariel as she sits before me with extra safety straps holding her to the saddle.
"Really!?" She looks back with a horrified look and quickly turns to the large black dragon on our left with its red wings spread wide as it glides through the air. ""Don't eat Greed! That is Kin Slaying!"" I roll my eyes at my Daughter but they soon widen as Drogon returns a loud grumble that I can feel in my chest even from on top of Moonfyre.
My eyes travel to the other black dragon who is much smaller and has copper wings and horns who quickly puts distance between himself and my silver mount. Ariel looks pleased with herself as she looks between Drogon and her dragon and I can't help but ruffle her hair.
"My little dragon tamer." She preens under the attention as she clutches her book tightly with a wide smile.
It won't be long before she is commanding a sky full of dragons if she keeps that up...
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207 AC
Lorath
Daenerys Targaryen
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"It's... huge." Standing on the edge of the large maze wall we landed upon I look down at the city built on the edge of the maze. "I feel a deep desire to know who built this place and for what reason... I mean look at it." Turning around I look at the wide expanse of tall maze walls that we are perched on top of.
"My book told me that the maze makers are long gone." Ariel speaks up a bit sadly as she tries to flip through the pages of her massive book.
Cute girl, she looks so small with that thing held in her arms.
"The wall was built for the Others..." I hear my Husband mutter and I shiver remembering the blue eyes. "The Five forts were apparently built to keep out demons... likely something to do with Asshai." I take a deep breath as I approach Ariel and place a hand on her shoulder so she won't fall down as the book weighs heavily upon her.
"Makes you wonder what this was built for?" I raise a brow at Aerion and he nods slowly as he looks across the maze with a complicated look.
"I just hope it is not the fish people... I am really not looking forward to fish people unless they look like Ariel's namesake." I snort and shake my head remembering the 'Mermaid Princess' that Bellenora named her Daughter after.
Every time that Belle went to relax in the private section of the bathhouse in the steaming hot water Ariel would kick around inside of her during pregnancy. She started calling her a fish until Aerion took a disliking to the title and called her a mermaid at worst and a sea dragon at best.
That is how this sweet girl got her name.
"The tall folk from under the waves?" Ariel asks while shutting her book and giving her Father her entire attention as she shuffles closer to me.
The children love the scary stories... until they get scared.
"Hmm." He hums and nods as he looks over the maze with narrowed eyes. "Ice people, Shadow people, and even fish people... all of them will burn if they rear their ugly heads." I kneel and hug Ariel as she puffs her lips and looks a bit bothered.
"I don't want the fish people to steal me away like in the stories..." She mutters quietly next to my ear.
"I won't let them." I respond with conviction and she hugs me tightly with the book in between us as she nods against my shoulder.
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207 AC
Norvos
Shiera Targaryen
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"Hmm..." Watching the Glass candle closely I catch my reflection in the black inky reflective surface.
"Muna!" Vaegon excitedly climbs into my lap not minding at all that I am focusing on something. "I saw Moonfyre and Drogon!" He happily informs me of the return of the two largest dragons as if I did not hear them roaring as they passed over the city.
"Really... what did they look like?" I force myself to keep a neutral expression as Vaegon quickly turns to look at me from the candle that had grabbed his attention.
"You don't know what Moonfyre and Drogon look like?" He raises a silver brow at me and I shrug.
"I forgot." He sighs and dramatically runs a hand down his face... he gets it from his Father.
"Moonfyre is silver with bright blue eyes... Drogon is black with red wings and eyes." I hum while nodding along as he looks toward the window squinting his eyes.
"You don't have to wait on me if you want to go see your Father return, I am sure one of your older siblings would not mind walking with you if you do not wish to be alone." I wish to return to trying to work with this candle, ever since the comet it has been flickering with an odd white flame and I wish to understand it.
"But I want to walk with you... Muna." He gives me a pitiful look as I wrap my arms around him.
"Fine." I roll my eyes as his own eyes light up as he squirms from my grasp and rolls off me and onto the floor.
"Let's go!" He charges like a wild animal for the door as I shake my head pushing my chair out so I can stand.
"Magic later I suppose." I glance at the candle catching a brief flicker of white flame and I sigh before heading to grab Nerah.
I won't leave behind my baby girl if I am going to be heading out, I am sure she will enjoy some of the excitement anyway, she is excitable just like her Brother.
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"Welcome back." I hug my Husband as if he has been off to war for years and not just a quick flight to look at the mazes of Lorath.
"You smell like blood." He takes Nerah from me with one arm and holds her on his hip which she quickly latches onto him with a small smile. "Let me see." His free hand goes from my hip to my arm and then down to my hand which has a wrap compressing where a wound is.
"It's not bad Aerion." If one was to look at his face they would assume I am missing a few fingers or something. "A little blood never killed anyone." He finally breaks off his gaze from my bandaged hand and raises a silver brow at me.
I smile despite the displeasure on his face as I spot all the similarities between him and our Son who not long ago gave me a similar look when I said I did not remember the dragons.
"I think a little blood has killed some people... especially when they are bleeding on some strange glass candle." I roll my eyes but still feel sweet inside as his concern is well received and it warms my heart.
"I will figure it out soon enough and then you can do the bleeding if you are so concerned about it." He scoffs and turns his head to whisper something in our Daughter's ear causing our 'baby' girl to giggle.
"Muna is goofy." I frown as my Daughter nods along with her Father after he obviously bad-mouthed me... until I smile as their shared humor fills me with some as well.
"Let's go see how Aemon has been handling things." I nod as he loops an arm with mine and begins to lead the way away from the horde of Targaryens who are asking Danny questions or scratching the large dragon's scales.