I AM ALIVE! Obviously healthy and still breathing. It has been so long since I updated a chapter and I'm so sorry. I was supposed to update on the Anniv of Dany's death but...I was too busy with life and too depressed by what's happening to the world around me to update. Man, 2020 really sucks. 2020 really had been a roller coaster of a ride for me (and for some of you as well).

My mom had to quit her job and chose to early retire (she's a university teacher), then a frontliner relative of mine died (#supportandrespectourfrontliners), my beloved pet died and I still missed him so much, I almost decided to quit my job but offered promotion instead. And now, I'm too busy being a responsible human being for once and manage a team and shoulder their faults all the while pushing them to do their best for the company. Gosh, what a corporate slave I had become. Who knew...

Anyway, I did not write that to brag or to downplay anybody's suffering, I wrote that to remind you, dear readers, that no matter how dark and scary the tunnel is there is always an exit. I'm not the optimistic type and some issues I chose not to share to you had chipped away some of my Asian culture-hardened interior. But I didn't give up, because I thought, that's all I can do, that's all we can do.

It's almost a year since the pandemic started and look at us, still here. Still reading my crappy fanfic. Still holding on...some, barely, but still HOLDING ON and that's what matters.

And with saying that let us offer a minute to the people who faught their own battles and won. And those who faught bravely but lost...but never lose hope till the end. To those who are reading this, we're almost there...almost there just keep breathing, keep hoping, while nothing will be normal after this, let this year be an awakening to all of us.

Let are loses be our strength.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Baelor walked towards his chambers. His heart was beating too fast and droplets of sweat was flowing from his head down to his tunic.

"My Lord," a knight he passed by greeted him but he did not reply nor show any indication that he heard him.

Maesters said she was dead for about three days. Rosie even identified the body. Then who was with him for those days? Who was beside him when he woke up just this morning?

He kept on walking faster, his chest heaving as he almost flew to the flights of stairs that will take him to his chambers where the answers will be.

She will be there. It was just a mistake.

He recount the morning in his mind, it was a normal day. He woke up with Marya beside him, but like the night before and the one before that, when they were on the heat of their love she would pull away playfully from him. Teasing him.

He loved Marya, if it was a different woman he would have slapped her for leaving him wanting, but as she said, anticipation would only make their love fierce as a dragon, so he complied. She maybe a whore but she was a good lover. And she was a whore exclusive to him.

He watched Marya get dressed and went inside their secret room to await his return. There she will hide, away from the servants' prying eyes and his wife and children's knowledge. She will stay there and if she got bored, there was a tunnel leading outside with only a few miles of walk from Rosekeep, the whorehouse where she worked. Previously worked.

Content that the secret passage was hidden perfectly, he called for the servants to help him prepare for that day.

Everything was normal until the afternoon came. He was dining with Uthor, his third son, and now his heir. His favorite among the children his wife gave him, but of course he was only second to Lorlyn, his daughter, his poor defiled daughter.

He and Uthor were just discussing who would join them to King's Landing to attend the Great Council when a city guard came wishing for an audience.

"I assure you father, King Bran will choose his heir, why else would he call for a Great--"

Baelor gestured for his son to be silent as he looked at the guard who just entered the room. Uthor scowled at the man and stood up. Baelor followed suit.

Baelor found it odd.

Why did Marq of the Flowers, the bastard captain of the city guards did not come to report like he usually do?

The question was answered as he let the guard enter.

Captain Flowers was missing, he was last seen entering a whorehouse like he often do. Rowley, the guard, said that Captain Flowers was aspiring to be married to a woman there.

"Fool," Uthor said while shaking his head, a mocking smile on his lips. "Only a fool would marry a whore."

He can agree. No matter how much he loved Marya, he would never marry her. Whores are for bedding, ladies for the wedding as his father often said to him when he was younger.

"What is the name of this whore?" he said with a smirk.

The man peeked at him then uttered the name that crushed his world.

"Marya of Rosie's of Rosekeep, milord. I'm worried, milords, you see Captain Marq--"

He stood there, the words of the guard blurring from his mind. He heard it but he cannot comprehend it. And when finally he did, he fought hard the emotions that was crushing within him.

Marya. His Marya and the bastard boy he helped elevate from poverty. They were playing behind his back.

"How early is this relationship?" He must ask. He must.

Rowley frowned making his already fused eyebrows to look like it was a straight line.

"Only a week?" Rowley said with a shrug. "Milord," he added belatedly when Uthor scowled at him in warning.

Almost the same day Marya refused him to enter her. So that's why. He almost gave a chuckle.

The whore will pay.

"But you didn't came here to report your captain's marriage and him being lost, no?" Uthor asked.

The guard nodded.

"We fished a body on the bay, milord." The guard shifted his footing in worry.

He frowned. They would sometimes fish out bodies from the bay but the guards rarely inform him about it, why would the man bother him for that? Or perhaps it was the bastard boy?

"Who is it?" Baelor asked, masking the anticipation building within him.

"Marya the whore, milord."

Baelor almost flew the last flight of stairs and when he opened the door to his chambers he went straight to the secret door.

So preoccupied was he that he failed to notice the stranger sitting on his bed.

The stranger watched as the lord pulled on a candle holder beside the shelf and the wall beside it moved forward revealing a small but quite exquisite room. From the candlesticks to the ornate bed and tall beautiful mirror, all of it speaks of opulence.

Baelor walked further the room and left the hidden door open to let the light in. He turned towards the trapdoor beneath the bear-skin rug where the tunnel leading outside will be, but before he can pull it open a voice came from behind him, making him jump.

"I must commend your ingenuity, my Lord."

He froze where he squat as he tried to place the woman's voice, his heart thumping within his rib cage. He only calmed down when he realized it was not his wife. But at that moment it sinks to him, the voice did not belong to Marya either.

He stood up fast and turned around, his hand clasping the hilt of a dagger, ready to draw it. But then the stranger's face registered to him and everything was forgotten.

He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

Marya was beautiful. His wife as well, when she was at the peak of her youth. But they were all nothing compared to the woman in front of him.

She's majestic, no she's more than that. She's ethereal.

"Who..." he said weakly, but remembering his station and that the woman was indeed an intruder inside his own chambers, he straightened his back and looked at her straight in the eyes. Which was very hard. She had the most beautiful irises. Dark, but not black or flat. It shines with intelligence, making it shine like gems.

"Who are you?" He managed to ask without stammering. "You're not a servant. Nor are you any lady of the court." He would have known if she was. Her beauty wasn't something anyone would forget or ignore.

"Does it matter who I am?" the woman replied. There were no smile nor anything that indicates her emotions on her youthful face and it unsettled him.

Fear started to spread within him and he started to scream. "Guards!"

"None will come for none of them can hear you, you made sure of that when you build this room."

The woman walked towards him and his clutch on the dagger tightened. But the woman only walked past him and went towards the desk. Her back was on her and he cannot see what she was doing and then he heard a snap, perhaps her fingers and suddenly all the candles inside the room was lighted. Baelor watched in wonder and fear around him before returning his gaze back to the woman as she turned the candlestick in front of her three times then a sound of a mechanism on the wall was heard and the door that was a wall returned to its place.

They were alone now.

Before he could ask how she knew the secret of the room, or how did she do the trick with candles, she speaks.

"I would like to ask for your forgiveness for what my servants did to your lover." The woman said as she turned to him.

Finally, an emotion appeared on the woman's face. She looked apologetic. Baelor's hands trembled seeing her expression.

It must be true...Marya...

"You killed...then who...how. When?" he stammered.

He can't be dreaming. No, he must be dreaming that was the only explanation for all this madness.

"Do sit down my Lord, you look rather shaken."

Baelor followed the order and sat at the edge of the bed.

"Your Marya was willful and cunning. Too cunning for her own good." The woman muttered while shaking her head in blatant disappointment as she too sat at the wooden chair at the front of the writing desk.

Then it registered to him. Marya was killed. Marya. Sweet Marya. The fire of his body. His Marya.

"You killed her!" Baelor roared as he stood up, looking down at the woman who remained composed.

"Calm down my Lord or someone might get hurt."

"You dare to threaten me at my own home!"

The woman raised her brows seemingly amused.

"No, I wasn't threatening you. I was pertaining to myself. You might harm me with that blade and trust me, you will not want my blood spilled here, in a very confined space."

Baelor looked at his hand, he didn't noticed he had drawn his dagger. He lowered the weapon and glared at the woman.

"Your Marya died fleeing with her betrothed after stealing from me." The woman explained.

"Liar."

"Am I?"

"Then who's the woman beside me for three nights?"

"My servant."

"Your--who are you? You are an assassin aren't you!"

"I'm not," the stranger sighed. "I do not wish you any harm, my Lord. I am here to give you what you want."

"And what do you know about the things I want, pray tell?"

"A girl."

Baelor scoffed. He admires this woman's audacity. She presumed to replace his Marya that she killed? With what? That doesn't changed the fact that Marya was murdered.

You will be avenged, my sweet. He swore, his anger over her lover's betrayal was forgotten.

"There was a lady named Lorlyn..."

Everything was momentarily forgotten. Baelor's heart thumped at the mention of his daughter. His sweet, brave, little girl whose laughter and dances and singing lights up the entire castle.

"How--"

"I know everything about you, my Lord."

"What...why me? What do you want from me?"

The woman smiled, perfect white teeth gleamed from her full lips.

"I'm but a simple woman, with simple needs. But don't you think we need to do small talks first before exchanging such personal details about each other?"

He sat down. He had to, his knees were shaking. And they talked, he listened carefully and watched every movement the woman makes and soon their conversation ended.

And Baelor felt like he was having a bad dream. Like a demon came to him in his dreams promising him treasures, in exchange for his soul. But to say he wasn't tempted would be a lie.

He could save her. She would be home. His sweet child and the grandson he never met.

"Was it...are you...you aren't lying are you?"

"Lying to a lord is a serious crime," the woman smiled, a small lift of her lips making her look almost like a child.

"What--and you. You wanted me to...how can I know you were telling the truth?"

"A moon from now, you will make your decision about everything I said."

The woman stood up. She was leaving.

"I must go now my Lord. It was nice meeting you and under different circumstances, we wouldn't have met. At least not like this. But the gods played their game once more and I am glad that we could talk and share each other's dream much much earlier than I anticipated. "

The woman turned the candlestick three times and the passage opened. She was leaving and he must ask.

"Can you do it? Can you save my daughter? Can you bring her home?"

The woman turned around and stared at him.

"I can do much more than that, only if you are willing to join me."

Baelor wiped his hands on his face and as he looked up, the woman was already stepping out of the room and towards his chambers. He looked at her retreating back intently. He had his suspicions. The way she speaks, her demeanor...her face. All of it were similar to the man he can only stare from afar. The man who stole Dorne from his House, the man he declared a rival, but he could never contend with.

"Are you perhaps--"

The woman turned around once more and that slight smile appeared then she put her index finger on her lips. Reminding him perhaps of his promise of silence.

The woman started walking only to turn to him once more.

"Your decision can save her, and the future of your House is in your hands now, my Lord. For the sake of House Hightower, ponder carefully."

With those parting words the woman with moonlit hair left him.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"More!" The Princess screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Hold!" Veena shouted to the men in return. "Loose!" A dozen scorpions fired in unison. A volley of projectiles half the size of pine trees flew towards the five dragons in the sky.

Two managed to evade, the sand-colored one flew sideways with such grace while its blue colored sister only flapped her enormous wings and the gigantic arrows changed direction then fell on the ocean not even touching its target at all. The other three dragons on the other hand wasn't so lucky. The red and black one was grazed in the belly as he tried to emulate his brother, but it still managed to remain steady and started to roar in annoyance. While the two smaller dragons were hit squarely at their chests, unbalanced and disoriented by the force of the enormous blunted arrows, they fell spiraling towards the ocean.

"Haha!" The Princess's hearty laugh echoed and they all had to smile. It was heart-warming to hear her laugh again.

"It's good to see her in a good mood," Grey Worm murmured behind her in his thick accented voice.

Kinvara nodded.

"But I believe it is better to see her like that even if she knew the truth."

Kinvara turned her head to the man and met his cold stare with her equally icy glare but she didn't reply.

"Up, you weaklings!" the Princess shouted below, breaking the Unsullied and the Red Priestess's silent argument.

Kinvara watched as the two dragons heeded their sister's command and bursts out of the ocean, spraying the guards with salt water.

The white and brown one seemed to be a little water logged as he had trouble with flapping his wings while the green and white one roared and tried to open his mouth to release fire. But it was extinguished into a cloud of smoke before it can even reach one of the scorpions.

"Jorahndal! Down!"

Then suddenly it happened. When the Princess's attention was focused to the two smaller dragons, the red one started to take advantage. Kinvara watched in horror as it opened its maw and the fire started to accumulate within it.

"Missandei!"

"General!"

Daario and Veena shouted in unison as they saw it as well.

The dragon's sharp eyes were entirely focused at one laughing soldier who released the arrow that hit him. The soldier was too amused that he didn't notice death was looming above him.

Rhaeko spit his fire and before all of them can scream or duck, the fire changed direction and it went back towards the dragon where it came from, all the while disminishing in size. The smaller flame hit the dragon in the chest and though the impact wasn't strong that would cause harm, he still got dragged by it for a few feet backwards before he regained his composure and flapped his wings frantically to keep himself from spiralling down. He blinked his eyes and looked around, seemingly confused.

And all of them were, except Kinvara who saw the Princess's hands moved before she had to close her eyes by the loud impact of the flame. Kinvara looked around, shielding her eyes from the sun's glare, looking for a small figure that was supposed to be riding atop the blue female dragon, but she was gone, instead she was floating right in front of her red sibling. Her back was on them and her beautiful wings were flapping to keep herself at the eye level of her sibling. The distance was great for her to hear but Kinvara knew the Princess was scolding the dragon.

Veena released her breath, her hazel eyes were still wide with terror and her hands were clutching the scorpion next to her tightly to maintain her balance.

"A dragon's temper cannot be taken lightly, little one." Daario murmured behind the woman mockingly, who scowled at him in annoyance.

"I'm no child, old man."

Kinvara had to smirk, hearing the conversation and the sellswords offended face. But there was truth on his words. Even her, who had been at the company of the Queen's dragons cowered at their presence sometimes. Even her Queen's temper made her tremble still.

The soldiers' earlier mirth died as the dragons flew towards their cliff beside the castle, some cowered as they flew past, fearing for a fiery attack. But it was clear that that wasn't their intention. Missandei had call the training off for the day. The only one remained was Rhaeko, still being scolded and when it seems to be over, Princess Missandei flapped her wings to soar above only to sit on her brother's back.

Rhaeko, obedient for once flew towards them.

"Practice is over," the Princess announced atop the dragon. "Rhaeko will gather the necessary wood we need to make more arrows as punishment. Isn't that right Rhaeko, you big brute?" She said and punched the head of the dragon with her Valyrian steeled hands.

Rhaeko grunted in reply. Kinvara does not need to speak dragon to understand that Rhaeko had some complaints about the order, but he didn't have a choice. The eldest sister had spoken, he must obey or face the consequences. And perhaps the dragon knew that he got away from his rude action quite easily, if he showed disobedience in front of Drogon, the younger dragon will not get away unscathed. She had witnessed that before with Neferion, the only dragon who was brave or foolish enough to challenge the Black Dread reborn for the honor of being the favorite. For that reason alone, the black and golden dragon had to be left alone in Meereen even if it's mate, Nissa Nissa was with them.

"Are you sure about that?" Veena shouted back, her face scrunched as she shield her eyes.

"Yes. He will not eat until he found and bring logs here intact."

Rhaeko roared and some cowered once more.

They all watched as the dragon flew after his siblings.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Where is Mother?" She asked for what seems to be a thousand times now.

"I don't know my Princess." Kinvara replied what she always replied for a thousand times as well.

"I can't see her. Why?"

"The Lord of Light had reasons." Kinvara put the kindling she gathered on her arms to the enormous fireplace in the Table room.

That was what she called it, for it was where the Painted Table was located. She loved that room. Her mother used to tell her stories about it. How it was supposed to be older than Aegon's dynasty, that it was built before the conquest. As a child, she always dreamed sitting there, pretending to be Aegon as he sat on that chair, planning the war that would make the greatest dynasty there ever was. Now, as a young woman, she was sitting on it, but it serves no purpose to her other than being a good way to enjoy her invented game.

Having a good view of her siblings playing on their favorite playground beside the castle didn't hurt either.

She put down the small dragon piece she was twirling on her fingers and stood up, abandoning her game and walked towards the balcony, looking at them.

Willem was flying low again, hunting for his favorite meal. Of all her siblings, he was the most gluttonous. Except Drogon, of course, but at least his hunger was justified, he was too huge after all.

Nissa Nissa, on the other hand, was watching the two youngest dragons as they eat the fish that they just caught. Jorahndal and Barriston was too big to fit on their cages any more and they often wrecked her mother's room while she was away--which was often--so Missandei decided to let them free and asked Nissa to take care of them for her. That was for the better, she knew her dragon misses her Neferion and taking care of the younger dragons kept her distracted when she wasn't flying with her. Neferion was too competitive for his own good, besides, he and Nissa shared a unique connection that was beneficial on keeping track on Essos while they were away.

She heard a loud grunt below the balcony and she had to look down.

Rhaeko was still sulking. His head was hidden beneath his bloodred wings. Missandei watched as the grumbling building within his throat suddenly turned in to a roar as Jorahndal and Barriston's noises grew louder and louder and disturbed his sleep. The smaller dragons hid inside their sister's wings, intimidated by the angry shriek. But Nissa, unfazed and unamused by Rhaeko's attitude, opened her maw but no sound escaped her and that was enough warning. Missandei saw Rhaeko's long neck and tail tremble in fear, then he shuffled and turned around his siblings then hid beneath his wings once more.

Missandei nodded and then sighed. She thought she had to break the fight, for that will not bode well with Rhaeko. She felt Nissa's annoyance, and she knew that one unnecessary movement from Rhaeko will cause him to be flightless for weeks. Her dragon was rarely angry, but when she did, there will be bloodshed.

Missandei knew Rhaeko was still angry after what happened. It took him the whole day before Missandei let him eat his sheeps. He just doesn't get it. He kept on coming back to her and then opening his mouth to spit ashes at her face. It took him six tries before he thought of using his clawed feet to pick up trees and uproot them.

She didn't know if he was doing it intentionally to provoke her or to get even at the scolding she did earlier or perhaps he was just plain stupid. Maybe it was the latter.

Well, there must be atleast a dimwitted one in the family I guess. Then her smile simmered down her face.

As she look at her siblings she cannot shake the feeling that the cliff was strangely empty despite having five dragons lounging on it.

The biggest dragon wasn't around.

When Daenerys Targaryen acted strangely, Drogon did as well. He became despondent, and sometimes, he acted violently. His moods became more erratic, unpredictable. Like Mother.

He must be with her, she thought. At least there was a small comfort that Drogon might have followed their mother to protect her.

"Princess, please do not worry too much. Queen Daenerys knows what she's doing."

"And what exactly is she doing?" Missandei turned around and approached the table once more. "The last time she talked to me normally was when we are going here on her ship and that was over a moon ago. She is avoiding me."

"She didn't--"

"Oh, don't you dare try to lie to me Kinvara. You know full well I don't want to be treated like a fool." She said with a snarl.

She can feel her temper rising now. She knew, she knew they were hiding secrets from her, Kinvara, Grey Worm and Daario. And she also knew they only kept it from her to follow the orders that their Queen must have commanded. She understand duty and loyalty fully and it comforts her that her mother's most trusted confidante were such people, that they would lie to her just to uphold the Queen's orders; even if keeping their secret would pain her, their Princess. It only meant the Queen weighed more to them than her, and that was fine.

But it does make her worry, and beyond that, sad.

Is this what Mother usually feel whenever I ran away without her permission? The irony of it all wasn't lost in her.

The priestess fortunately did not speak further. She continued to put the logs one after another into the hearth.

"Mother was rarely here. And when she is, everytime I went to her she would look dazed. What's going with her? What was she doing? When we came here I knew the nightmares she had were back but she didn't seek for my comfort like she usually do. Tell me Kinvara, is it my fault? Is it?" She pressed as she gripped the edge of the table tightly.

Kinvara was still by the fireplace and poking the logs with a steel poker calmly. Her face and her hair was bathed by the flames turning her red as the fire reflected on her. Missandei resisted the urge to control the flame and make it swallow the priestess whole. But she held back.

A useless death, a useless loss that will do nothing but put herself in misery and guilt.

Never hurt your friends. That was one of the rules she set upon herself. And the first rule her mother thought to her siblings.

She breathed deeply and make her rising temper heed her command. As she did, the flames not only from the furnace but the candles inside the room, flickered. They rise, then fall. Rise and fall, a synchronisation from her breathing.

"Your mother must do something to regain herself." Kinvara said after awhile.

"What does that mean?" She said more calmly this time.

"Exactly what it means, Princess." Kinvara smiled cryptically at her.

Missandei gave her a scowl and the priestess's smile only became wider. She knew she would gain nothing from her.

Missandei huffed in annoyance and sat down once more on her chair at the head of the table. She let her hands wander on the uneven edges of the table then she picked up one of the carved piece from the table and moved it forward.

She was playing again. Alone. She was supposed to play with her mother but she left her without saying where she was going and only imparting a warning. She must have really upset her mother for her to say those things, that was the only reason she could think of to justify her mother's recent actions. Daenerys Targaryen had never been really angry at her before, even when she disobeyed her orders or do something reckless. Even when she left and go to Qarth without her permission, she was always quick to forgive.

But it was so unfair! She only did what she thought was right. What she thought will make her mother happy. If only her mother saw the face of the Raven perhaps she would be less worried and more grateful to her.

She huffed once more, a loose curly tendril floated on her forehead--making her cross eyed for awhile--before settling at the top of her head.

She heard the scraping of the chair beside her and Kinvara sat on it, she was smiling patiently at her like she was still an entertaining toddler she used to coo at.

Missandei frowned in reply and roll her eyes. She continued playing, taking the figure of the lion off the table with her elephant.

"I could play with you." Kinvara said invitingly.

Missandei lifted her eyes and pouted at the priestess.

"I taught you before, remember? You kept losing. You're no challenge at all."

Kinvara had the grace to laugh.

"True. But I rather lose to you than see you pathetically cheat yourself in a game."

Missandei's face warmed. She was playing as the opponent as well and it was true that whenever her favorite piece, the Dragon was about to be taken, she would change tactics and purposely avoided it to be taken off the game.

"Fine. One game."

Kinvara grinned.

Xxx

She was back on the pretty temple, staring at a statue of a man with fires for a face. She had waited for so many moons to see him again. The statue had no eyes, but she felt like he was looking down at her. Or perhaps someone was indeed looking at her. She looked around. The priests that tend his house was gone. They were below, she knew. She saw them. They were doing their praises below with a slave boy in tow. A sacrifice.

Then something happened which never did ever since she was going there. She heard a voice. His voice. So deep, so calming.

"Bring the light! Where's the light?" The voice shouted outside the temple, almost drowning the god's voice. "That beast!"

She was supposed to tremble in fear, the Master was looking for her. But she didn't mind him, she walked nearer the tall statue and touched his feet.

He spoke to her, words that gave her hope.

Then she jumped as a hand clutched at her shoulder. Slowly she lifted her head, but it was not the Master or the head slave. It was one of the scarred men; a priest. But this one was different, this had kind eyes.

"You are here again."

She bowed her head, fear spreading within her. She readied herself for the punishment that will surely come. But it didn't.

The man lowered his hand and looked at the statue in front of them.

"Do you know who this is, slave?"

Slave. She lifted her hands and stared at the chains wrapped at her wrists. She touched her neck and the heavy iron collar around it.

Slave.

She shook her head in reply. The kind priest smiled.

"This is the Sun God, the Fire God, the giver of Light and the Master of Shadows. And to some; the God of Death. Do you know his story?"

She frowned but did not reply.

The man looked displeased and she cowered. She will be beaten. But the priest continued to speak as if not sensing her fear.

"Then why are you here if you don't know? His worshippers came here simply because they knew who he is. Ah, no matter. We had thousands of gods now, didn't we? He was almost forgotten." The man shook his head but he offered a smile to her.

"He was worshipped because he was the one who gave these all to us." The priest opened his arms indicating not only the Temple but also the whole world.

Va...ly...ria.

The world.

"But with a great sacrifice. Some say he was punished greatly for intervening with us, that he had to give something up in return. We didn't know what it was but it was written that after his sacrifice he had been called Death. But he was also the guardian of heroes, some say the greatest heroes even Neferion worshipped him. And to make them His heroes they must give him something in return, something of the same price."

"Light bringer!" A man shouted. It was the Master not the head slave.

She was doomed.

Darkness fell on the man's face that the burned part of it resembled a monster. A gargoyle. But the anger only lasted a few seconds as he smiled at her once more. Then he looked at the door as the Master rushed in. The priest walked towards her Master.

"Good day--"

"Move, eunuch." The Master pushed past him.

She stood there, not wanting to run even if that was what she wanted.

The Master is angry.

When he reached her the Master pulled at her chains and dragged her outside. The priest could only look away and she had never seen such kindness. Sometimes men and vermins alike would jeer at her as she was punished, but the priest wasn't. She wished nothing more but to be a man to be His priest as well or...if she wasn't worthy, being a sacrifice would suffice. But her dreams vanished as the Master smacked her at the head causing for her small body to fall on the hard, cobbled street right outside the temple and hit her head.

It hurts. But she didn't cry. There were no tears for slaves.

She struggled to stand up but the Master helped her. The Master was kind, no master would help his slave to stand up. He lifted her by the chain attached to the loop of her collar behind her neck.

The collar pressed her wind pipe. She can't breathe. She fought her gasping for sounds were not for slaves either.

"Go to the mines. We need light, Beast!" He growled as he shake her like a dog.

Beast. That's her name. Beast. She fought the urge to touch her aching, wrecked back. Every moon's turn his Master would take something away there. It was painful, too painful that she peed herself or faint.

He walked and she was dangling in the air, but she didn't struggle. She can't breathe, but she managed to crane her neck towards the pretty temple. The priest was gone but the statue remained and below it, the last of her food that she had offered to the kind god.

She closed her eyes and prayed.

Please. Take away my fire. I don't want the mines. Please not the mines. If only I had no fire...

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Missandei opened her eyes. It was already night. She rubbed the sleep off of her eyes with the knuckles of her hands and started stretching.

For a few seconds she was disoriented. Where was she again? She was lying on her pillowed bench, hugging a dragon egg and she had a good view of the dark room with dark walls. Then she remembered; Dragonstone.

She yawned and as she did, she noticed the flames on the fireplace had turned to glowing embers, making the room a little bit dim. She wasn't bothered by the darkness or the cold, rather it was out of habit to have good fires within her room. She opened her palms and gestured upwards. Soon, fires were roaring once more and for a while the shadows rejoiced. Then the flames stabled and so did they, hiding on each crevices of her room.

Missandei turned sideways and stretched her wings. Sighing as the blood circulates in them once more. She must have laid on them in an uncomfortable position.

Still a little bit sleepy and quite bored, she wandered her eyes around her room.

It was sparsely furnished. She had tried to make it as presentable as possible but it seems to be 'comfortable' was all she can manage. At least the 'man' smell was eradicated from the bed and the walls. It took the priestesses and some of her warriors some time to dispel the putrid scent using her perfumes and their incense. She loved the smell of incense they used in the Red Temple. Very calming. Milana, Kinvara and the rest often said that before she sucked at her mother's breast it was the incense that quelled her cries, lulling her to sleep.

Missandei scratched her head and as she looked around once more, she can't help but wonder who had the room before she invaded. Maybe a captain from the Raven's delegated army? It was too grand to be given to a mere soldier. She knew the Commander's chambers, it was the one her mother claimed as her quarters, but before the Stark army lived there, before the disaster that was the Northern alliance, Grey Worm said it was the Queen's room.

Then a sudden realization came to her. Being too preoccupied for weeks, she only thought now that perhaps her room was the previous Missandei's room. She sat up from her bench and laid the dragon egg beside her, and looked around, seeing the room in a different light. She tried imagining how the place was when her mother's dear beloved friend used it. But she can't. Missandei of Naath was a former slave, perhaps she did not have much nor need anything extravagant for her room.

Missandei looked at what she had. It wasn't much.

Her ornate pillowed bench were she sat was placed in the corner next to the balcony and her floor length mirror was placed near her couch, giving her a view of her naked self. She was supposed to bring the gilded mirror Xiao Li had given her for her previous name day but she feared it might be damaged. It was too precious to her that she cannot risk it.

In addition to that, there was also a table for writing and a chair beside the bed, and also a trunk at the bottom of it. All of those were there when she came. Her two armors were standing on either sides of the enormous furnace, acting like a sentinel guarding her flames.

But atop the huge furnace, her three silk banners were hanged. At the far left was the banner of her army; Dragonspawns, named after the insult Robert Baratheon had made as Tywin Lannister laid Rhaegar's children at his feet. The banner was ash white with twelve-headed dragon at its center, the color from their neck to their head were different from each other, the body on the other hand was both a mixture of green and silver a tribute to her mother's fallen sons. While the dragon heads were derived from her living siblings. The last two dragons though, she had to guess as per their shells as they were yet to hatch. The one beside her had the color of dusk. Pale pink with swirls of white, while the one her mother had taken with her to whatever she was doing had the color of yellow with slight metallic sheen that it was almost gold.

Dusk and dawn, as she liked to call them. She was yet to think of a proper name though. Her mother usually let her name almost every siblings that would hatch.

Thinking of her mother made her turn her gaze to the banner at the center. It depicts House Targaryen's sigil. A red three-headed dragon in a field of black; Aegon the Conqueror's banner. And lastly, was her own banner of choice. A sky blue, single headed dragon with its wings spread widely, its neck outstretched and its mouth open with red flames seemingly erupting from it. The figure of the dragon was hazy at the edges making the dragon seemed to be on flames. The field was pure white.

It was a shame that the seamstress she commanded to make the banner didn't managed to give it to her when she went to King's Landing. The three banners would have been a beautiful sight.

She leaned her head and smiled sadly as she looked at her sigil of choice.

If the Blackfyre Rebellion did not transpired, her banner would have been like them. Targaryen banners in reverse; a bastard's banner. But that name and their sigil was taboo. She had to make another one for herself. Black the opposite of white, red the opposite of blue. Nissa Nissa's color. It was only logical what color she had to choose.

But, of all the precious things within her room nothing compares to the trunk at the bottom of her bed. No, not exactly the trunk, rather, it was what she hid in there. She smiled and resists the urge to open it to take a peek at her treasure one more time.

She can't wait to see her mother...this time she will give it to her.

Still with the foolish grin on her face, she stoop up and picked her nameless sibling and walked towards the furnace. She settled the egg there, at the middle of the roaring flames. Then she walked to the balcony of her room. The doors were open, she liked it that way. She stepped on the awning and leaned beside its frame. One of the advantages of her room was the view of the sea and the beach below. The wind lapped at her skin and she felt her naked body react to it. Her nipples puckered but not from the cold--her body was mysteriously immune from it--it was from pleasure. She felt...aroused by it. It was like a careful caress, a tease from a playful lover. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply and when she opened them again her breathing halted and her heart started beating erratically.

Her eyes were sharp, as sharp as a dragon, perhaps because she was half a beast herself. She saw him a distance away from where she stands. At the beach, walking as if she had summoned him from the dark abyssal of the sea with her lust.

He followed me! She screamed internally.

Unknowingly a grin spread on her face. Her heart thundered within its cage. He came for me!

Xxx

"I love you," he said with his most serious tone.

She giggled.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said as earnestly as possible with a shake of her head.

"You insult me."

She lifted her head that was laying on his chest to look at him.

"No! No. It's just that...you had no fire."

His eyes widen with horror and pain. He was offended.

"No fire!"

Missandei shifted and propped her head with her elbow and with her hand, she framed his face and caress his lips. "Like this; I love you." She said fervently.

Her lover closed his eyes and his breathing alters when he opened them again, his bright purple eyes shined with desire.

He pulled her head to him and he kissed her hungrily and pushed her on her back. It was uncomfortable for her to lay that way for her wings and spikes were pinned by the weight of their body on the hard ground of the cave, but she couldn't care less. She put her hands on his head and bury her fingers to his now loosely braided hair and kissed back, her tongue, playing with his.

When he pulled away he gazed down at her before laying face up once more, his arms outstretched. His naked upper body was exposed to her. She rested her head on his arm and lay sideways, her wings and hair wrapped around her body like a cocoon. She grinned mischievously as she nuzzle his hairless armpit.

He smelled good.

He felt rather see his grin.

She edged closer, wrapping her leg to his leather clad ones and traced the strong and wide expanse of his smooth chest. Then her hands travelled lower, to his perfectly chiseled abdomen. He was beautiful, like a marble statue made by the gods themselves. So smooth and perfect.

"No." He grabbed her hand tightly on his as her wandering went towards the lace of his breeches.

"Why?"

"You know you can't."

She lifted her head once more to look at his face. "You've touched me and tasted me everywhere, don't you think it's unfair on my part if I don't do the same to you?"

"You will. Soon," he said with a patient smile.

Missandei felt the irritation boil within her. That was always his reply. She won't accept that, no more.

"Now." Missandei insisted as she pulled her hand from his grasp but to no avail. His clutch was too tight for her to fight off.

"No, my goddess."

"Just a peek?" She tried pouting at him and making her eyes wide to look adorable. It always work with her mother and their servants, but it rarely worked on him.

"No," he said, the smile gone.

Missandei's face turned cold and she laid back from her position earlier.

"You are a eunuch."

"No, I'm not. You know that."

"Then let me see!"

He laughed this time. He had regained his humor.

"This isn't enough for you?" He gestured at the visible erection within his breeches.

She had seen men naked before. But no one could compare to him. No one. Base on the bulge Missandei knew it was of considerable length than what she saw in her young life. She gulped.

"Well...I'm familiar with illusions. How do I know it wasn't that if I don't touch it?"

"Illusions rarely work on you, my love." He kissed the top of her head and embrace her, his long arms wrapping her up.

She grunted. She knew she cannot win an argument with him. She just laid there and relish the feel of his skin with hers. And enjoy his hardness rubbing on her leg. She sighed, knowing that was the closest she could ever get with that body part of his.

He must have felt her disappointment as one of his hand caressed her scales, to appease her. Then it moved to the last spike at the bottom of her spine. He pressed on it and she squirmed as it send sensational tingles all over her body.

"What are you doing? Stop that!"

He knew it was a sensitive part of her body. She wanted to pry his hand away but he hugged her tightly, pressing her face to his chest. A moment after, he started to pull at that spike and she cannot contain her moan anymore. She felt herself quicken inside. She's close again.

No. Not like this.

"No! Rhollo, no!"

"Yes," he whispered at her his voice almost sounded like an animal's growl.

It's too much.

"Rhollo, if you can't let me touch you...please don't make me suffer like this." She said breathlessly.

He stopped and he pulled away to look at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

She was too disoriented to reply to him, she just lay there, her wings trembling in perfect synchrony with the throbbing of her womanhood. She closed her eyes to not look at her lover beside her, his beauty was too much for her and she knew her traitorous body might betray her if she saw his arousal.

He was quiet as she tried to regain control over her body.

When her breathing returned to normal she opened her eyes and looked up at his sad face.

"Better?" He asked, worry etched on his face.

"Why?"

He frowned slightly at her.

"Why can't we...why can't you own me?"

He closed his eyes and cover his face with his arm as if ashamed of what he was about to reveal.

"If you touch me, I may not be able to contain myself."

"Then don't! Forget about control, forget everything. Everything but us."

"You're not ready."

Missandei felt her temper rising. The floating ball of fires she had summoned a while ago flickered, enhancing the marking on the walls and the shadows seemed to celebrate and danced around them. She sat up and crossed her legs, then pulled at his arm to look at his face. She was rewarded with his most contrite expression and it was so adorable that she almost falter.

"Not ready?! We've been doing this since I was ten and two! When will I be ready? When I'm a hundred?"

His apologetic face suddenly breaks as he grinned at her. Soon he was laughing.

He had the grace to laugh at her!

"Don't you dare make this a jape!" She strike him hardly at his taut stomach, but he wasn't fazed at all. She had no choice but to look at him with daggers and let him finish his laughter.

He sighed as he finished. He lifted his hand and with long fingers tried to tuck a strand of curly, ash hair behind her ear but she moved her face away, annoyed at him.

"I had offended you, my goddess."

"Oh, surely not, my Lord!""She said sarcastically.

"Please, do not call me that."

She rolled her eyes and he had to sigh once more.

"Missandei."

She turned away from him and he clutched her knee to stop her. Soon, he was sitting as well, cross legged beside her.

He breathed deeply and she knew he was watching her. She doesn't care anymore. She had missed him dearly that she almost forgot how he can rouse many emotions within her. And how annoying he can be! He was laughing at her! He always laughed at her, no one does that except her mother or her most closest friends. Her servants, her soldiers knew she doesn't want to be made to look like a fool. But this man, this man beside her that was made by the gods with gems for eyes, ivory for his skin and flowing river of hair can and will laugh at her despite her mood. She guessed he likes it, pissing her off. Annoying, exasperating, beautiful, untouchable man.

"You can't touch me yet, you know that."

She did not reply.

"Enough of this." He pulled at her and before she can struggle from him, she was already in his arms, her wings and spikes digging at his chest.

"I love that you want me and only me but...If I can't control myself I might get you with child." He murmured as he buried his face on her hair as if ashamed of his admission.

Missandei scowled.

"That's your reason?"

He kissed her head and she felt him nod.

She was dumbfounded that it took her awhile before she could talk.

"You...you know full well I can drink medicine, right? You know...to stop the growth--"

Suddenly his grip on her tightened and she had to stop, not because he was hurting her, but because it was the first time he had held her that way.

"You will not kill my child with mortal poisons." He said, his voice a deathly whisper.

She trembled. For the first time since she followed him on that small alley when she was four, she felt fear. Her instincts that was sensitive from all the battle and training she had went through screamed for her to run, but her body was frozen in place right there at his arms.

She felt death.

He gasped and loosened his hug on her.

"Forgive me, Missandei."

She closed her eyes and listened to his voice as he offered an apology, over and over. He was back. Her lover, her best friend and not the dangerous creature that was holding her awhile ago.

"I'm sorry. I am so so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"You don't." She managed to not make her voice tremble but it was so tiny she almost sounded like a mouse.

He rested his head on her shoulder and kissed her neck repeatedly and murmuring an apology in all the languages he knew. And that's plenty, there were even some she wasn't familiar with. After a few moments she relaxed in his arms and he murmured his love for her. When she grunted as a reply, she felt him give a small smile on her skin. He knew he was forgiven.

"I love you and please forgive me for scaring you. I'm not angry at you but at the fact that you would willingly kill our unborn child within you."

Despite the fear he caused, she had to smile as she heard his words, especially when he said 'our'. The word was so simple but sweet and at the same time, bitter to her heart. Our...when can she use that simple word? When can she feel it within her?

"My apologies for thinking that way."

"No, there's no need for your apologies, my goddess. It was my fault, I had...not restrained myself."

"Clearly."

They grew quiet once more and Missandei relished their time together. She commits his warmth, his scent and the rhythm of his breathing to memory, she didn't know where or when they would see each other again. It was always like that, their time, like the life of the shadows; borrowed.

"Promise me, Missandei."

"What?"

"When I get you with child, you will not kill him."

"Of course!"

He relaxed on her and rocked her body slowly, happy from the promise she had made. She wondered if her spikes bothered him, she asked him but with a shake of his head told her he didn't mind it at all.

"So...are we going to do it now?"

"What?"

"You know..."

He laughed at her. Again!

"I told you, no."

"I promise I won't drink medicine!"

"You're too young to be a mother."

"My mother is younger than me when she had Rhaego," she persisted with a scowl.

"And where is Rhaego now?"

Missandei grew quiet. Dead, that's the answer.

Her mother rarely talk about her brother, but he was supposed to be The Stallion Who Mounts The World, and some say he was like her; a winged one. But he died. She had to ask her mother's Dothraki to find out the truth for her mother doesn't like to talk about what happened. It was Qholo who told her after much bribing. Qholo's mother told him that the then young Khaleesi trusted a witch to save her husband. The first husband and the first love; Khal Drogo. But Rhaego paid the price for it.

Rhaego...her mother loved him still. After all, she named the first dragon that hatched from the one that Quaithe gave them after him; Rhaeko. Now she felt bad for scolding him and making him starve earlier. When the dawn came she promised to herself to take him soaring and they will eat sheeps. Lots of them and goats as well from one of the merchant's ships her mother brought and those that Aunt Yara had given them.

"You've grown quiet, my goddess."

"Just thinking of what me and my siblings will eat tomorrow."

She felt his smile on her skin.

"My goddess? Our time is almost up."

Missandei sighed. "Yes."

"But before you leave I have something to give you."

Her full attention was piqued.

"Gift!" She said jovially.

"Yes, a little early for your name day, but I want it also to be a peace offering for scaring you. Would you please take my robe?"

Missandei grinned at him and crawled to his discarded priestly robes next to hers that they were lying on. When she volunteered to use her robe as a shield from the sand on the ground, he didn't object, now she knew why. It was because he was hiding something on his.

"It's on the right pocket."

She had no trouble looking and she finally found it. She frowned as she looked at it. She went back to his embrace and lifted the spherical object on her hand.

It filled her palms but not so much that she wouldn't be able to grasp it. In fact, it fits the palm of her hand perfectly. As she lifted the object to better look at it, she saw the familiar waves of Valyrian steel. It wasn't discernable, the waves was so refine and so perfect that it almost became one with the color of the metal. And god, the metal.

"It's white." Missandei pulled the metal ball towards her face, almost kissing its surface as she inspected it thoroughly.

"Beautiful, isn't?"

She paid him no mind as she turned it around and around her hands, inspecting the object further and the deep but tight furrows that surrounds it. The deep cuts doesn't twirl like that of a vine, rather it was sharper...like flames as it spread to devour everything in its path. She felt herself frowning as she tried to guess the purpose of the item. Perhaps...it was a container? She digged her fingernails on the grooves and tried to pry it open with force. But to no avail.

Normally when he gave her something, it was straightforward and mysterious at the same time. When she was four he gave her dragon eggs, when she turned five he gave her a beautiful harp made of dragon bone. Then at six, a scroll from Old Valyria detailing how to convert ordinary metal to Valyrian steel. Then at he gave him gems and metals by the heaps. At first, she was at a loss, but then she realized that those materials would be used to build her armors. Then when she was eight, he gave her plants with beautiful, red flowers. At nine, a beautiful long sword that resembled Aegon the Conqueror's Blackfyre. He always gave her what she needed even before she knew she needed it. So this gift was of great importance as well. She just didn't know it yet. Sometimes she almost forgot how powerful he was. Much stronger than any of His priests. He was gifted as much as she is.

"You're not going to ask me what it was?"

She waved him away with her hand. He chuckled and kissed her neck.

"Where do you get it?" She asked after tiring herself from opening the ball.

"Guess."

Missandei groaned.

"You always make me guess."

"I thought you like mystery?"

Missandei leaned her head. "True," she answered after a second.

She felt his grin on her skin, but slowly it faded. She lifted her gaze at him. She knew already what he would say and sadness suddenly filled her.

"You need to go," he said, almost a question. Pain could be heard in his voice and she felt her heart clenched.

"I don't want to," she said with a small sob, his gift was forgotten on her lap.

"I will see you again. I promise." He kissed her eyelids and forced her to stand up.

"When?" She asked as he wrapped her body with his red robes.

"Soon. My goddess, soon."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Three knocks resounded on her door.

"Enter."

The door opened and the Queen's Master of War stepped inside her humble quarters.

"Priestess," Grey Worm greeted her with a slight nod.

Kinvara forced herself to smile.

"Anything amiss?"

"None."

She turned her eyes away from the map she was studying and waited for the man to speak.

"The Queen..."

Kinvara fought her smile. She didn't need the fires to know what the Unsullied needed from her. She rolled the map and pat the chair next to her but Grey Worm remained standing, refusing her offer.

She leaned her head and tried to read the Captain of the Unsullied. Though his face remained emotionless, she knew what was in his mind. He was worried.

"The Queen is alive. She had Milana, Black Bug, and Mhogo. You don't need to worry."

"She is back there."

Kinvara closed her eyes. Yes, that was something to be worried about. But they did not understand the struggles the Queen had within her, for weeks she was troubled. She was torn apart between survival and pride. But when she finally decided, Kinvara had never seen her so determined. The Dragon Queen had really came back from the dead. They; Daario and Grey Worm can not understand it. She opened her eyes and looked at the man...the soldier in front of her, standing so rigid.

"Have faith, Grey Worm."

"I do have faith in Daenerys Jelmazmo...but Perzys Dārilaros--"

"I'll deal with her." Kinvara said dismissively.

A muscle at the corner of his mouth twitched. He was annoyed.

"Deal with her...you speak like Missandei is problem to you."

She should have chosen her words wisely as the Unsullied Captain was easily offended when he felt or heard any hint of disrespect towards the princess he protects.

"That's not what I meant. The Princess cared for her mother greatly like the Queen cared for her. When she found out the Queen's plans, she will act rashly and might destroy the Queen's--"

"When will you tell her? Queen Daenerys's plan is happening now, as we speak. Missandei cannot damage anything."

Kinvara pursed her lips and turned away.

"I have nothing to tell."

"The letter--"

"Is the Queen's possession. It was up to her if she wanted to show it to her daughter or not, if she wanted her daughter to be a privy to her plans or not, it is not up to us to decide it, Torgo Nudho." Kinvara's voice went higher as she restrained her rising panic.

Grey Worm merely stared down at her, his expression did not changed a bit.

"You fear that she will know and she will hate you."

Kinvara laughed and stood up.

"How kind of you to care for me, Captain. No, you only care about yourself. You're afraid as well, more than I am, that Missandei will know now and she will hate you more than she will hate me by allowing her mother to go to the place she was most unwelcome."

The Unsullied's eyes grew colder, his jaw tightened, but did not speak out his anger.

"She's our princess, yes, but don't forget that we serve her mother. And the mother's order was to stay here and protect the child. Protect, Grey Worm, I know you're familiar with that word."

"I am protecting."

"Are you?"

They both grew quiet for a while and Kinvara shook her head. She knew it was no use to argue with a close-minded man.

"She's not your child Grey Worm, remind yourself that. The decision laid entirely on the Queen as she is the sole parent of the Princess. I did not convince Daenerys, you know that, I even dissuaded her of the plan she made, but Daenerys Targaryen's resolve cannot and will not be bended. I thought you of all people knew that, Captain."

They grew quiet once more, staring at each other. Testing each other.

"Daario thinks the same like me."

Kinvara suppressed a groan of frustration.

"Ask yourself this, who do you serve?" She asked, clasping her hands tightly together.

"Our loyalty--my loyalty is not wavered. I believe in Daenerys. Always will. But--"

"But nothing, Unsullied! Follow her commands. That is all we can do."

Kinvara turned her back.

"You are dismissed, Torgo Nudho."

"One week. When the Queen didn't come back by then, you will tell Missandei, or we will. Or you feared her anger? You're selfish Priestess, by denying her the truth."

Kinvara turned to the eunuch, but he was already outside her room.

"She's not my child, yes. And neither is she yours to decide what she needs." Grey Worm closed the door.

Kinvara turned away and sat at her chair. But she can not concentrate anymore. She stood up and paced around her quarters. Irritated by her conversation with the Unsullied Captain and the fact that he was right.

She was torn apart between following the Queen's order of secrecy of the plan she wished to execute and the reason behind it, and giving the Princess what she wants: protect the Queen at all cost.

She felt the room closing around her and it was too much.

She can't breath.

She stopped walking and gripped the table in front of her, trying to even her breathing. Finally when she felt the panic slowly ebbing away, she opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was her scarred hand. The mark calmed her almost instantly.

Kinvara straightened herself and after a small deliberation, she decided to have a walk, take a deep breath of the sea, calm herself and perhaps an answer will be provided to her there.

Soon, she was walking down on the great stairs outside, a torch in her hand. She was planning to spend some time on the beach, light a bonfire and watch what the Lord of Light wished to convey. Then she stopped as she heard a familiar sound. A beating of wings. It wasn't a dragon, she knew their sound, this one was more quiet, more subtle.

She looked up and she saw a tell-tale ashen hair standing out on the inky sky. It was so bright that for a stranger it might look like a specter. But she was familiar with her princess, she had almost raised her, she was with her from half her childhood up to now. She would recognise her even in the next life.

She watched the paleness of her hair disappear as she flew higher, hiding on the thick clouds. But she knew where the princess was headed. She would return to her quarters through the balcony.

Kinvara clutched her chest. Her heart was beating fast, but it wasn't out of fear. Her hand that was holding the torch was shaking, she was nervous and she didn't knew why. She walked down the stairs in a daze and before she knew it, her boots already crunched as she stepped on the sand.

With a renewed resolve, she waved her torch, looking for something below her. And she saw it; footsteps. She walked near it and saw that it would lead her inside the cave.

There was only one pair of footsteps on the sand, and it stopped after fives steps before the last one left deeper markings on the sand as if the owner jumped. There was no doubt that was the princess's. Kinvara walked towards the entrance fo the cave, walking beside the footsteps, not knowing what she would find.

Kinvara switched the torch to her other hand while the other reached for a hidden dagger tied on her leg. It was a gift from both her Queen and the Princess. The blade was Valyrian steel and with hilt that resembled flames. She unsheathed it and with fire and blade in hand, she walked deeper. She didn't know what she will see inside, but she feared the fact that there was only one pair of footsteps. Someone might still be inside the cave.

She walked further and stopped at what seemed to be the end of the cave. She stared at the markings on the wall. It was her first time to be there. She appreciated them for a while before kneeling and looking for things she didn't know what yet. And there it was. She leaned her head sideways and stepped back to get a better view.

She almost stepped on it, and she almost didn't noticed it. The ground had minimal sand, but the steps are still visible. There was the smaller one, barefoot, small like a child; Missandei's. And another, bigger, clad in boots. A man's feet. She stepped further back and noticed that the sands on one part of the cave was brushed. As if someone sweep it or...someone laid on the ground and...

The tinkling sound of a fallen metal rang around her. She didn't noticed the dagger fell from her clutch.

She kneeled down and took the blade and placed it back on the scabbard tied on her leg. It was apparent she won't need it, she was alone. She stood up and walked towards that place, careful not to disturb it and study it. It was obvious now as she looked at it closely. There was her wings as she laid back, her body as she laid sideways. And beside that...base on the disturbed sand, she pretty much can imagine him. He was a tall man.

The Princess had a lover.

It wasn't supposed to be a big deal, but...the princess was of marrying age. The young crowned prince of Yi Ti already showed interest towards the Princess and she thought, that Missandei shared the same affection. The son of the Qartheen representative, and Xerah of Volantis' grandson also stared at Missandei with wide eyes of wonder and desire. And although the Queen did not want to show it, but her interests to her daughter's relationship towards men were very...closely guarded. And Kinvara knew, Daenerys might not look like it, or sometimes, in denial with it but she knew she already desired a child. Not her own, but the Princess's.

Who was this boy? When did this start? Did she still had her maidenhead? Did Veena--Missandei's closest friend--knows this? What would the Queen say?

As she was walking outside, her mind was churning with questions but it wasn't later when she was inside her chamber that she thought of one crucial thing.

If the Princess wasn't alone inside the cave, and she headed back outside alone. And the cave was empty when Kinvara came, then...where is he?

Xxx

Kinvara was riddled with curiosity and anxiety that he barely slept that night. When the sunlight broke to the window of her chambers she decided to know once and for all the truth. She will ask the princess herself.

She went down to the kitchen, knowing that Missandei often cooked her own food to break her fast.

The women working on the kitchen turned their head towards her as she stepped on the kitchen, but it was the scarred man and the mute woman who looked at her with curiosity.

"Soleil, Moqorro." Kinvara said in greeting.

The tall, dark skinned woman smiled, her dark almond shaped eyes sparkling in delight.

The man grinned as he bowed, the burned scar from the left side of his face stretched and looked like the skin was about to be torn.

"Good day, sister. We were just finishing the Princess's food. If you need anything we could--"

Kinvara waved her hand in dismissal.

"Don't bother. Bread, bacon and boiled eggs is enough for me."

"As you wish." Moqorro bowed his head once more and started preparing the food she had ordered on a different tray.

"I wish to dine with the princess. She was on the Painted Chamber, I assumed?"

Soleil looked at her, her brows knotted then she nod slowly.

Kinvara looked back at the woman before the latter sighed and busied herself on putting the food Moqorro prepared and placed it on the tray with the Princess's food.

"A word of warning, sister, Princess Missandei wished to be served by Soleil. You know what that means, right?"

Kinvara smiled. The princess wanted silence. And for once she had seen the pattern. Missandei would often call for the mute priestess to serve her when she was...dazed. Now she knew the reason behind that peculiar changes of the princess's mood.

"Of course brother. And dear sister, forgive me if I took your position today. I assure you, I will make it up to you."

The mute woman only nodded once then turned away once more, chopping carrots and onions with unnecessary force.

"Do you want me to help you, sister?" Moqorro asked, holding the tray.

"There is no need, brother. Besides you had mouths to feed."

Moqorro grinned once more as he passed the tray to her.

"Best of luck, sister. Let us hope she is starving enough not to shout at you. Missandei is quite busy."

"Missandei never shouted. Not to me, at the least."

"Then let us consider ourselves the lucky ones," Moqorro said as she turned her back.

She was walking towards the great staircase leading to the Painted Chamber, when an Unsullied, Spawn and Daario rushed down it. They all looked distraught.

Daario stopped beside her and told her in a panicked voice what had happened.

"Those two troublemakers did it again!" He growled, almost panting from running down the stairs.

Kinvara pushed the tray she was holding towards an Unsullied who was running past her.

"To the Painted table," she ordered to the eunuch who nodded at her and run back up the stairs.

"The Princess is not there," Daario informed her as she walked down the stairs fast to be beside him.

"Where is she?"

"The guards alerted her first since she's the only one other than Daenerys who could tame those beasts. She must have been there right now."

Kinvara quietly nodded and walked faster trying in vain to match his much longer strides.

After a few seconds they were at the Queen's chambers. The doors were opened and the whole room was ravaged. Parchments scattered everywhere, the down feathers of the Queen's pillows were floating on the air alongside the two culprits. They were flying below the ceiling, circling the chandelier above like an unusual ritual, screaming their hearts out and below them was their sister.

Missandei's hair was loose and her body was half-armored with Mercy on her hip. She must have been up early and flew with a sibling like she was ought to do every morning before dawn. She must be on the process of unbuckling her armor when she was summoned as per her appearance.

Kinvara was about to approach her when Daario stopped her by grabbing her forearm tightly. She looked at him, then to the princess who was slowly rising from her kneeling position on the ground.

She was holding a metallic ball on her right hand, and on the other she was clutching a small piece of parchment.

Parchments...

Kinvara felt the warmth of her body left her.

Missandei lifted her head and directed her eyes on hers and Kinvara fought the urge to step back.

The Princess's face was devoid of smile and the warmth she usually exudes where gone. Her eyes were cold but her voice was colder as she asked her the one question she was kept on asking her.

"Where is mother?"

Kinvara swallowed her fear and break free from Daario's clutch.

"She--"

"Lie to me and that lie will be the last thing you will utter, priestess." Missandei all but hissed at her. Kinvara felt her shame gathered on her cheeks by the Princess's tone towards her.

She had never called her that. She was always her Kinvara...

"Westeros. She's in Westeros." Daario said as he stepped forward hiding her trembling body with his from the princess's cold stare.

Missandei doesn't look surprised at all in Daario's admission. Rather she looked unamused.

Behind Kinvara, she felt the other soldiers that arrived with them inching away from the door, hiding like children from a punishment they believed will come, then she heard their rushed footsteps as they hurried out of the Princess's anger.

Kinvara smirked. They were lucky. The ones who would have to endure the Princess's boiling temper was them; Daario and Kinvara. And where was Grey Worm at? He must savor this moment, wasn't he the one who wanted this? Him and Daario both. It was oddly convenient that hours before their argument these had happened. Very odd for a coincidence.

Kinvara looked up at the sellsword and she noticed the strain on his eyes and the genuine worry from it.

It was just Grey Worm then...

"I know that by now," Missandei said quietly. She lifted the letter she was holding to show them then crumpled it and threw it at the man in front of her. The paper bounced at his chest before joining the other broken things on the floor.

"We don't know 'exactly' where she is. That is the truth to it, Missandei. She did not make us privy to all her plans. You know her."

The Princess narrowed her eyes before sighing.

"Silence." She said with her uncharacteristically sad voice. The two dragons heed her command.

Both of them flew down and looked at their sister as if worried. Or afraid.

While Missandei was rubbing her temples as if thinking, the white and brown one started stepping back slowly, edging towards the opened balcony door. The green followed suit rather shakenly.

Then Missandei laughed.

Kinvara didn't know which dragon emitted a fearful scream but both of them flew like their life depends on it, squeezing themselves on the frame of the balcony door almost smashing it just to get away from there.

Kinvara felt Daario's arm trembled beside her.

"Missandei--" he said, stepping forward, the shattered glass crunched on his feet.

Missandei waved him away while fighting the laughter that she seemed having a hard time to supress.

"I'm fine. Still angry, but fine." She said, breathless. "Gods, mother really out do me this time." She straightened up and opened her wings and started stretching it.

Then she looked back at them, wings folded behind her back once more and there were no longer a hint of resentment from her eyes.

"You're--"

"Perzys!" It was Grey Worm, jogging to reach them. He only scanned the room and their faces before knowing what had transpired.

Kinvara narrowed her eyes in accusation.

"Missandei, please let us explain."

But the Princess lifted a hand and smiled good naturedly at him.

"I think I knew what happened. I may look like an imbecile to some, but I am under the impression that I am not." She lifted an eyebrow to challenge them to contradict her statement, which they did not do, not because they fear her anger, but because she was quite correct.

"I was upset and angry," she said as she lifted her head towards the ceiling, "And that anger got the better of me once more. But I see it clearly now. She did this to protect me didn't she?" The princess asked as she turned her gaze towards them once more.

Grey Worm reluctantly nodded, Daario murmured his agreement while coughing and Kinvara, who was threatened earlier of being killed if she lied once more had to be the one to say the truth.

"The Queen wanted to protect you, yes, but she...she did it to...she wanted--" Kinvara was so lost that she cannot form the words, even she did not comprehend perfectly the reason behind the Queen's action. She assumed at first the Queen was just upset, then angry, then maybe afraid but never would she associate what the Queen was doing now with how she think the Queen must have felt when she read the threats from the Broken king.

"To break." Missandei said. "No...she wanted to...she wanted to play a game. Interesting. Very interesting." The princess started pacing around back and forth, the feathers floated above her as she disturbed it and it clung to her black armor and loose hair. It looked almost like she was being covered in snow.

Kinvara did not like the image she had conjured at all.

While the Princess walked contemplatingly, she kept on tossing the metallic orb on her palm onto the air then catching it.

Then, she stopped and she had the most garish grin on her face.

"Well, let us give her a surprise shall we?"

Kinvara had to sigh.

"You can't, we had to stop--"

Before those words were entirely out of her mouth, Kinvara knew she had just wished for her death. Missandei was hard to anger, and when she did, she's always quick to suppress it. But that doesn't mean she would not reach her breaking point. Her anger was similar to a burning coal. Unassuming, not entirely a threat, but when left unattended with strong winds fanning it, it's fire would be fierce enough to devour everything that would block its path. And she, Kinvara, just fanned that same coal that would start the fire that would consume them all.

The Princess's palms became warm, too warm that they could almost saw the heat formed around it. Grey Worm and Daario clutched each if her arms hard, but before either of them could pull her away, it happened already in a blink of her eyes.

There was a sound almost like a scream of pain, or pleasure...but different. If weapons would have a voice, it would be like that. The metallic shriek came from the ball-like object Missandei was holding. Was holding..the ball a second ago was now a five foot spear with prongs extending all over its body like a branch of a thorny tree-except at the center where Missandei was holding it-and one of it, the one at the tip of the rod was pointed just below her chin. She had to take a step back to avoid her neck being pierced, she felt the the men's sweaty palms pulled her farther. And even that wasn't enough to truly consider herself safe, the tip of the spear that was pointed at her emitted such heat that if it made contact to her skin, it would melt instantly like candle. She knew, for she felt this heat before the day Queen Daenerys opened her eyes to her new life.

"Are you my enemy?" Missandei whispered her eyes filled with sadness and unfathomable anger.

She had woken the dragon.