Dragon Princess

Rhaella's stitches were all crooked again. She scowled at them, discouraged, and she peeked over to where her mother was with her ladies were chatting. Princess Shaera's sewing work was always exquisite. Everybody said it.

"Princess Shaera's sewing is as pretty as she is," Septa Asha once told her royal grandmother. "She has such skillful hands, such delicate hands..." When Queen Betha asked about the young princess, the septa's smile faltered a bit. "Princess Rhaella is still young your grace, but she shows great talent."

`Great talent` Rhaella smiles wryly and she has to suppress a snort. At six years old, she already knows that sewing is not her thing. No matter how talented a seamstress her mother is, the princess did not inherit that talent. And it's not that she cares much about it, she would rather spend the afternoon reading a book or playing in the gardens than repeating the same stitches over and over again until her fingers rot.

But no, as a blood princess certain things are expected of her. And mastering the feminine arts is a must. Sewing, singing, dancing, and more things Rhaella is expected to master before she reaches marriageable age. Luckily she only hates sewing, the other lessons she quite enjoys, especially singing and dancing. From a very young age, the princess has loved music and the arts in general. Her grandmother says that her voice is sweet as honey and smooth as silk, the queen loves to hear her granddaughter sing; and she is not the only one, everyone in the family enjoys the singing of the young princess.

`Not everyone,` thinks the princess with a grimace. Her older brother winces every time his sister sings, Rhaella knows Aerys is jealous. He also had music lessons, and while Rhaella was praised by everyone who heard her sing, Aerys only received praise so false that even her not so bright brother could discern them as false. It also didn't help that your uncle, Prince Duncan, was brutally honest with him.

"Aerys, my dear nephew, I am sure you will have many talents in life but I assure you that singing is not one of them. When I listen to Rhaella sing I feel as if I am in a beautiful clear in the middle of an enchanted forest watching the butterflies dance, calm and happy. When I hear you sing I feel like I am caught between two old hags yelling at each other, spitting every other word." Her father had to hide his laughter with a cough, something he succeeded in but her grandfather almost choked on suppressing laughter, and her grandmother didn't even bother to hide it.

Needless to say, Aerys didn't take it well and he didn't sing again either, much to everyone's delight. But whenever he hears his sister sing he gives her sulky looks and he always makes some excuse to leave the room or tries to do something to draw people's attention away from the princess.

Once he even purposely stained her dress with white wine trying to make it look like Rhaella had 'an accident', luckily her uncle Duncan was there to witness the whole thing. Duncan gave Rhaella his doublet to cover herself and nearly ripped Aerys's ears off, making it clear to him that if he dares to bully his little sister again nothing will save him from his wrath.

At first Aerys didn't take Prince Duncan's warning seriously and he picked on her again, not an hour later Duncan appeared red with anger and dragged Aerys away. Rhaella doesn't know what happened to him but since then Aerys bit his lip and stayed away from her.

She examined her work again, searching for some way to rescue it, and finally sighed and put the needle down. She looked at her mother dejectedly. Shaera chatted happily while she sewed. Lady Velaryon sat next to her and was whispering something in her ear, which caused the princess to laugh. Lady Celtigar moved closer to hear what they were saying.

"What are you talking about?" asked Rhaella curiously. Lady Velaryon was startled and almost fell off the chair, luckily the princess held her preventing her from falling. Lady Velaryon blushes and thanks the princess who nods before turning her attention back to her daughter.

"We were talking about Prince Doran," her mother says with a soft voice and a small smile.

Rhaella raises a questioning eyebrow. She doesn't understand what could be funny about the Dornish prince. Rhaella didn't talk to him much but from what they interacted she can tell the prince isn't particularly funny. Prince Doran is polite and very intelligent, he knows how to act in court and always finds a new topic of conversation but Rhaella did not hear him tell any jokes or funny stories.

"Laena was telling me how Prince Doran kept looking at you and always tried to talk to you, my sweet child." The future queen says with a complicit smile. Rhaella blushes and looks away muttering that he didn't look at her that much.

"Oh?" Shaera answered with a sly smile. "Did you also notice his eyes on you, dear daughter of mine?"

"He only stared at me because I didn't talk to him!" Rhaella is quick to answer with a red face.

"It seems that our princess is turning redder than a tomato, your grace."

"Could it be that my dear daughter fell in love with the Snake Prince?" Shaera makes a gesture of false surprise.

"Mother!" Rhaella jumps out of her chair and runs out of the room.

"Should we go after her?" Lady Celtigar asked with a worried face.

Lady Laena reassures Lady Celtigar, who only joined Princess Shaera's ladies-in-waiting a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile Shaera looks at the door with a thoughtful face.

`He is not a bad option, the boy is intelligent and educated. He looks just like his parents so there is no doubt that he will grow up to be a handsome man...`

**

Rhaella runs through the halls muttering to herself. Ser Gerold is following her closely, the new kingsguard has been appointed Princess Rhaella's personal guard and he is taking his duties very seriously.

"Oh? Princess Rhaella?" The princess looks up and sees the reason why her mother and her ladies made fun of her.

Prince Doran walks towards her with his sworn shield behind him.

Rhaella blushes even more remembering her mother's words and thinks about what to do.

`Escape or talk to him?`

The prince seems to read her thoughts because he smiled brightly at her and says:

"Your grace, would you mind joining me for a walk through the gardens."