Daenerys
The day after returning from the mainland the weather behaved meek and mild as a contrite child. You'd swear it were like this all the time, Dany thought with a humorless smile. Anyone who landed with me knows better. "I think I'll visit the Dosh Khaleen today." she told Missandei as the Naathi girl fixed up her braid. "The wind hasn't had the chance to get at your hair, Your Grace. It would seem an optimal time, before your splendid braid becomes a sparrow's nest." Missandei replied. Dany giggled with a hand to her lips. "Somehow I doubt they'll be in much of a judging mood. Half of them are still trying to stop the ground from shifting it seems. Sometimes I…I forget how little they know of the world outside Vaes Dothrak. They are wise women all, I would show them more than the insides of horsehide tents. Perhaps all the mysteries of the world can be unwoven by such women, if they weren't hidden away behind countless arakhs." Missandei tried hard not to smile in turn. "To be true, once could say the same of you Your Grace- that is, if only Drogon would stop trying to hid you away as if you were his hatchling." She walked Dany down to the small stone yard where the Dosh Khaleen had the Dothraki set up their big tent. The night they'd arrived, if her riders told it true, the storm within the tent rivaled the one without as the old women raged at each other over whether it were proper for them to spend a night under a "hood of stone". Their usual horsehide tent was viewed as permissible, even pleasing to the Great Stallion but it seemed the more conservative among the crones quite took issue with staying in Dragonstone. They'd worked out that the yard got them out of the wind and driving rain but there was no "hood of stone" and that but for their tent the stars could still see them. The old ones grumbled even then but their objection had been rectified by majority measure. The tent itself had dried due in part to the fire that burned in the little stone pit in the middle and Dany found the stifling heat more than welcome. "Khaleesi." Ornela, a Khaleen of Lhazareen origin, came them came to her at once. Daenerys took her hand and let her lead her to the circle around the flames. That was me, once. A tiny flame flickering among these widows, Dany remembered.
The eldest of the crones had to be stirred from sleep. The milky-eyed old woman had become a Khaleen before the next oldest of their number was even born, if the Dothraki told it right. Daenerys sat down next to her and pulled a blanket snugly around the old one's shoulders. As no Khal ever would, Dany thought. "Are you unwell?" she asked in the woman's tongue. It was a long moment before she got an answer. "Not unwell, Khaleesi." her sunken mouth split in a toothless smile. "There is nothing unwell about dying so old." Her worlds startled Daenerys. "You are not going to die. You are safe with me in the halls the dragons built." she said firmly, taking the crone's wizened hand. "Even the Mother of Dragons cannot stop death.I am nine tens and two years old. I dream of things that happened before your grandsire was born, I remember things that happened many moons ago better than I remember this morning. I can hear the Ifequevron talking in their song-tongue, hear the laughter of my sons and daughters before they grew, before others took them from me." she said. "My son never had a chance to grow." Dany said, looking in her lap. "I remember, Khaleesi. I saw that your son would be the Stallion Who Mounts the World." the crone replied. "Rhaego is gone these long years, gone after Drogo into the Night Lands." "Rhaego and your son do not have to mean the same man. A woman may have many sons, but they do not share a name." Dany was surprised. "The maegi-" "The maegi's words mean nothing here. You will hear them too, Khaleesi. The woods-walkers were not fat witches or shrieking fools in red poking their fingers into what they ought not like a child into a blood pie. Womb-curses and a fire demon's slaves mean little here, I think. When I see Rhaego, I will tell him of the Moon that is Mother to the World. You will have to tell your son yourself." said the crone. Daenerys could hear the excited voices of several young Dothraki sharply hushed by the man escorting them. Ornela moved to the tent entrance to hear his words. Dany watched her come over with an odd expression on her face. "Iggo says the young ones have found something in the rocks, Khaleesi."
Daenerys had a somewhat complicated relationship with the Dothraki children. Some saw her as a god made flesh, others the greatest Khal to ever ride, for what horse in history could match Drogon? Still others, she suspected, followed the black dragon more than she. The Dothraki follow strength, she remembered. Without Drogon and his brothers, I'm just the girl Viserys sold to a barbarian for a chance at Father's throne. Most of the Dothraki though, after seeing that seawater was just that, seemed to be in a curiously open mood and in no rush to rail against the leadership of Daenerys Targaryen. Dothraki women and children of both sexes roamed the beaches of Dragonstone, keeping within the castle's shadow to give the port town room, and children were digging holes in the sand or building what looked like Meereen's Great Pyramid made small, or else little sand Dragonstones. At times like these, when she was with her people, there was no place in her life for Drogon. The dragon whined whenever she left the confines of the castle and snapped at the air whenever she slid out from between his coils or out from under his wing. His mood grew blacker by the day and with it his possessiveness of his mother. He would allow no man near and Missandei had too much sense to go poking a hand into the coils he became to try and pull Dany out. Only with soothing words in Valyrian could Dany coax Drogon into yielding her up when she tired of his games and still then she had to get gone quickly or else she'd find herself yet again underwing. He'd taken up on the high cliffs just outside the castle, dropping straight off to the beaches two hundred feet below. Daenerys had been excited as a child on her nameday at the sight. How many Targaryens took off from these cliffs? How many times had Aegon gone up on Balerion? Did he take off from here with Rhaenys and Visenya when they flew forth to conquer the kingdoms of the Andals and the First Men? Not that they'll see much use now, Drogon will not even take me up anymore, Daenerys thought sadly. Whenever I get near he tries to squirrel me away as if I'm a nut he's storing for winter.
The gaggle of children grew as the ones on the beach forgot their little sand buildings, rushing over to gather around her. Daenerys had a small girl no older than two in her arms, letting who looked like the babe's elder sister lead her flush to the rocks, curving off away from where the noncombatants of the khalasar spent most of their time. Suddenly Dany felt a cool chill from the rocks and the girl in her arms began to cry. She was handed promptly back to her mother while the elder sister pointed out a space in the rock face. Daenerys got closer, seeing that the passage in the rocks was situated so that only one who knew it was there or was deliberately mucking about around the space as the children playing were would come across it. The path led it seemed straight into the stone, uneven and cramped instead of wide and spacious as the Valyrians had built the castle above. Finally she came upon a cave mouth. Inside was pitch dark. The sun could pass overhead a hundred times and never see it, Dany thought. She fancied herself brave, but heading into a cave with nobody protecting her or even a torch felt more like foolishness to Daenerys, so she waited for a few Unsullied to join her. To her surprise, Ornela was with them. "The old ones sent me forth, Khaleesi. They are too frail to move and their eyes would not see well even if they could." she explained. "They argued whether it was for a Khaleen to leave the circle ever, but it came to pass that the Dosh Khaleen would see what it is the young ones have found for you." she said. Tyrion had to be pulled away from half-finished letters to the lords of the mainland. Quite literally Dany saw, for Iggo returned with Tyrion Lannister in one of his strong arms. Ornela giggled. "I take it we've received no response?" she asked him. He straightened up and cleared his throat. "The ravens might not have got through-" "They got through. The lords' silence tells me all I need to know, no need to send more courtly words after them." Daenerys said coolly as Tyrion soothed his bruised ego before seeing the cave mouth. "What's in there?" he asked. "I've no idea. I thought you'd like to be with me when I go in, as you shared my…appreciation for the relic Lord Velaryon showed us." she said. she said. At her command Iggo lit several torches and gave one each to Daenerys, Ornela, Tyrion and kept one himself. The Unsullied moved into hexagon formation around Dany and they went in.
"The Valyrians never did things so…" "Primitively?" Dany finished for Tyrion as they walked, further and further until Daenerys fancied she was nearly directly under the castle. "House Targaryen did not hold the island for all of its existence, perhaps we'll find something left of those who lived on Dragonstone before it became Dragonstone." Dany replied. Only when she stubbed her toe on an outcropping and bit her lip to keep from swearing did Dany look away from the darkness ahead and to the walls the torches brought lightt o for the first time in who knew when. Ornela gasped and Iggo muttered in Dothraki as Dany got closer. Crudely made images showed animals of all kinds. Bears, wolves, even hairy elephants. As they went, Dany could see the emergence of little green figures and towering brown ones. Ornela pointed at the green figures excitedly. "Ifequevron, Khaleesi! Look!" she cried. They were joined in turn by red figures of middling height. Men, perhaps. The First Men, Daenerys thought. The three races seemed to coexist without much trouble in the drawings on the wall. Unexpectedly the cave opened into a much larger chamber, this one oddly glittery until Daenerys saw the lodes of glassy material jutting from the ground, the walls, the ceiling. Much of it was black, but some was red or green, even purple. "Oh, look. Perhaps some jewelry can be made of this." Daenerys said, laying a hand on one of the purple veins. It took her a moment to realize her companions had gone quiet. "Daenerys." Tyrion said, her name echoing around the glittering room. She looked up in surprise, and saw what they saw. All around the room, the three races were fighting what looked like a seething sea of black figures of all sizes. One passage Dany saw had a man dying and rising again as one of the unceasing tide. At the far side of the chamber Dany saw a glint of white. The moon, she thought. Instead she saw a fourth race driving the sea of walking dead along. White slivers dotted the monsoon of dead, sometimes accompanied by white balls with eight lines coming out of their sides. Only when the weapons of the three races became tipped with glittering black dots did they drive the white creatures back. The final battle occurred on a vast plain somewhere under a full moon and a star that Dany realized was a diamond shoved high in the cave wall. "They couldn't kill them all." she saw. The white shapes suffered casualties, but few, only leaving when their losses ceased to be worth the effort. "Just drove them away." She looked to Tyrion for an explanation. He only shrugged. "Unless I'm very wrong, this is the Long Night. The Others, some kind of monsters from the furthest north, came down into mainland Westeros and laid utter waste to the place. As the account goes, the First Men, giants, and Children of the Forest were sore pressed to push them back, back to where they could no longer pursue. The Wall must have gone up after the mural-makers had quit this island." he said shakily. "Ghost grass, with stalks like milk that glow in the night and kill all else that lives." Dany said in a small voice. Tyrion looked at her uncertainly. "The Dothraki believe that it will one day cover all, and that is how the world will end."
The murals would not fade no matter how many times Dany blinked. "Why have I never heard of this?" she asked. Tyrion could only shrug. "I doubt nine-and-ninety of a hundred living people could tell us as much as these cave-painters have dead ten thousand years. All this happened long before the Andals came with knights and the Seven and ironworking. There are such legends in the east as well, Your Grace. The Bloodstone Emperor. The Rhoynar tell of a time when the river dried up. All of them occur during a common period of darkness when the sun was gone from the sky for years. Perhaps they were…interconnected. Perhaps not. Maybe the darkness was just a boon the Others took advantage of. Certainly the Essosi never speak of them in their histories, never speak of winters that lasted generations. At any rate, the darkness receded and with it went the monsters. The Bloodstone Emperor was overthrown and the black starstone he worshipped thrown into the sea. The Rhoyne flows fast and strong as ever. And the Others it seems were turned back when the poor bastards facing them figured out to use…this." he laid a hand on a black vein and swore loudly. Dany heard blood dripping. "Fucking sharp!" he hissed. "Khaleesi, we should put a rock in front of this place and forget it. This is a place of evil." Iggo said, face pale and hands twitching. "Not evil, blood-of-my-blood. This is a warning." Daenerys replied. "Evidently the people who made this place thought another Long Night was possible, hence why they left plenty of this glass behind. To arm whoever fought these Others next." "The Wall is seven hundred feet high and runs the breadth of Westeros, Your Grace." Tyrion said. "Walls are not proof against all that comes. You told Roose Bolton as much in your letter." she reminded him. "If I had ten thousand years to ready for the next…darkness, I think I'd find away around, over, or through a wall, no matter the length or height. She bid them follow her and left the chamber after a last look at the last mural. The full moon gave light enough to see without need for the sun, she saw, and the mysterious star glinted like the jewel in a crown.
When she made it back up to the castle that evening she let Missandei pull off her leathers and unbraid her hair. Daenerys waited until she was up to her shoulders in a hot bath before she took the Naathi girl's hand. "Are their stories of…darkness on Naath?" she asked. The island was much closer to Sothoryos than Essos, and Dany wanted to hear of a place that had never fallen to such terror. Missandei poured a bit of lavender scent in and Dany sunk further, up to her chin. "Why do you ask this?" she inquired finally. Daenerys was surprised by her answer. "Below the castle, we found a cave that…that detailed the coming of a race from the north. They had to be driven back before the sun would rise again." she said, feeling foolish and a frightened child both. Missandei pursed her lips. "It is not for me to speak ill of the ancestors of your people, Your Grace." "Please do." Dany said, squeezing her hand. "Tell me what you are thinking, Missandei." The Naathi looked uncomfortable in a way Dany had never seen her. "People fear what is unknown to them. The Dothraki feared the poison water until they realized it was merely a little salty. Their horses could not drink it, but fish live in the sea, no? They came to understand it, even in that minute context. When a thing ceases to be unknown, people lose their fear of it." she said, making Dany's head spin. "What does that mean?" she asked, feeling stupid. "On Naath, we say that life takes many forms. There are butterflies of all kinds, sizes, colors, but when the sun goes down moths emerge. We see them little and know less of them, but that doesn't mean we're afraid of them. Look at your dragons. How did such creatures come to be? The workings of a god? A bloodmage? Or do dragons predate the gods? They are alive as we are, and that is all that concerns the Peaceful People. Naathi do not chase crowns or thrones or build empires or strike down tyrants. Naathi see the wonder, the magic that is life itself, and are content." she finished, picking up the shell comb and moving to Daenerys' hair.