The dragon was much larger than Drogon, but almost looked as if it could have been his ghost. Instead of colored scales, it was adorned with layers upon layers of what could have been translucent crystal that Dany thought must sparkle in sunlight though now they seemed dark underneath the clouds. The eyes were the same pale blue Dany had seen in her dreams. Curiously, they looked tired like Drogon's had been before he lay in front of the fire, as if the dragon had been having just as rough a time here.
Now, Drogon had moved to stand in front of the rows of icicles, taking turns eyeing Dany and Jon, the other dragon, and the icicles. The ice dragon did the same, looking very cautious, but not defensive like Drogon had first been. Dany wondered if Drogon's low rumble had been assurance on top of greeting, wishing desperately that she knew what he was thinking right now.
"Wh-wh-at are th-they l-l-looking at?" Jon chattered, watching both dragons' pattern of gazes.
Dany peeked forward towards the icicles, getting a roar from the ice dragon and a defensive hiss from Drogon. Both crouched protectively, guarding the cave.
"I-it's okay," Dany murmured, holding her hands up like she had done when Drogon first appeared, "I d-d-don't want t-t-to take. Just he-he-he-lp." As much as she preferred speaking Valyrian to her children, it was useless when she was chattering so hard.
Protective, but seemingly reassured, Drogon backed down and Dany could hear him rumbling to the other dragon who also backed down after coaxing, but still looked mistrustful.
Slowly, she took a couple steps closer, resisting Jon's hand pulling her back.
She peered into the cave and her shivering breath caught in her throat. "J-j-jon," she croaked in a strangled whisper, "I-it's n-n-not a mouth."
"Wh-what?" he hissed bewilderedly. Dany made a small motion for him to come next to her. The ice dragon eyed him, but didn't make any move to defend the cave again as Jon approached.
"I-i-it's a nes-st," Dany breathed, pointing to the bottom icicles. They were created to be protective, but not of the cave. In the center of the bottom ring, where the top ones pointed down to, lay three scaled eggs in a blanket of snow. Each of them were half buried in the snow and, as they stared, the ice dragon breathed frost over them causing the silvery eggs to sparkle. Two were shaking like the cold was too much for them as well. The third stayed still. It looked more dull than the shaking ones, which seemed vibrant even in the dim light.
At first glance, the eggs not seem to be as distinct as other dragon eggs. Dany remembered how Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal's eggs all looked very unique - something that was reflected in their scales once they had hatched. They all had the same magic about them, however, and Dany was struck with the same feeling that she had the first time she held her eggs in her hands.
Carefully, Dany picked in between the icicles to take a closer look. The ice dragon made a wary noise, but Drogon rumbled reassuringly again. It reminded her of how she felt about Rose the first time they had gone into the village after she was born. People seemed to swarm them to get a closer look at the new baby and Dany was pretty sure she would have turned into a defensive mother dragon had Jon not been there.
The eggs were, in fact, unique. Much more understated than her children's, but she could tell them apart. One had violet swirls running through the silver. The second had a light scarlet stripe running around the longest part of the egg. On the third, the dull one and also the smallest, some of the egg scales were faint gold rather than silver. The violet and scarlet were dislodging the snow around them while the gold merely laid there.
Drogon and his companion peeked over at the eggs expectantly.
"Jon," Dany said, "I think they're hatching." At this, the ice dragon sucked in a huge breath and Dany barely registered what was happening before Jon grabbed at her clothes, tugging her back as the dragon loosed a frozen breath over the eggs. It was the coldest one yet, and Dany was certain she would have been reduced to nothing but shivers if Jon hadn't pulled her back. Was it really this cold in Mammoth's Head? Or was it just a dragon providing for her eggs?
There were two low cracks, near simultaneous to one another, that would have been nearly undetectable had humans and dragons not collectively been holding their breath together. All of them looked into the ice nest together.
The violet egg had rolled out of its place and was teetering aggressively, jagged lines ripping across the sparkling scaled surface. Nearby, the top of the scarlet egg had cracked all the way around and a little hole was appearing through the stripe.
"Wow," Jon breathed, instantly reminding Dany of when Rose was born. She smiled, taking his hand as they listened to the crunching and scraping sounds coming from both eggs.
First came the scarlet egg. The top of it was finally loosed from the rest of the egg and immediately a tiny diamond-shaped head popped out, blinking its baby eyes as it looked around for its mother. It cooed happily when the ice dragon lowered her head down and breathed a small plume of frost over the new dragon's head. The Scarlet (as Dany named it for now) sneezed out steam, hard enough to crack the rest of the egg so that it tumbled out.
Its sibling had managed to poke legs through two of the violet swirls. The egg burst apart as the Violet stretched its wings and pushed on the weakened egg. It scrambled on unsteady legs and wings towards the Scarlet and their mother and was greeted with another small frost blast.
Come on, Dany thought, wrenching her eyes from the baby dragons to look at the third egg, come on, hatch! She was filled with a sudden, more uncomfortable cold that had nothing to do with the continued frosts from the ice dragon.
Jon and Drogon both seemed to think along the same line and leaned closer to the gold and silver egg that sat perfectly still where it had lain all along. Gently, Drogon nosed the egg, but it did not respond.
The ice dragon, too, had come away from her new hatchlings to check on the third egg. She gave a quiet rumble, nosing it gently as Drogon had done, then harder in what Dany expected was desperation.
Her heart clenched as she watched both dragons try to help their failed hatchling along. When Drogon let out an unmistakable cry of anguish, Dany crossed over to him and reached her hand out to press against her child's scaly side.
Drogon hissed, making Dany jump as he ferociously whipped around to face her, but he backed off when their eyes met. The look he gave her was full of pleading.
"I don't know," she whispered helplessly, gazing down at the small egg. No human in over a hundred years had hatched a dragon egg except for Dany, but even she didn't know what to do for an egg born of ice instead of heat. I barely knew what I was doing the first time.
She looked to Jon, who shook his head, his sad eyes quickly averting from the egg every time it crossed into his line of vision. Impulsively, Dany knelt down and wove her arm through the icicles to place a hand on the egg. It felt cold and hard through her glove, like any other stone out in the north. She shivered, suddenly feeling how frozen it was again after forgetting in the midst of their findings.
Drogon had leaned his head over her shoulder, cocking it to eye the egg closely and then retreating when nothing happened. His scales already looked dull again - whether it was from no fire or despair, Dany did not know. She could imagine being only more hopeless herself if it was Rose in this situation instead of the egg.
Rose. Dany looked from the egg to the ice dragon to Drogon to the Scarlet curled up with its sibling, breathing little wisps of steam. Only one thing could bring color and warmth to the hatchlings of a crystalline dragon.
"Jon," Dany murmured, motioning him over.
"Is it hatching?" he asked eagerly, kneeling down beside her.
Dany shook her head. "No...but I have an idea. Just listen first, okay?"
Raising his eyebrow, Jon nodded for her to continue.
"Rose has brown hair and purple eyes," she said.
Jon blinked. "That's a fact, not an idea," he replied.
"No, I mean, she's a mix of us! If we had another child they may look different. Why can't the same be true of dragons? If an ice dragon's the mother and Drogon's the father - "
"Maybe what hatches some won't hatch the others," Jon finished, nodding but furrowing his brow, "And what if we're wrong?"
She looked to the egg and its concerned parents switching between watching the Scarlet and Violet, and their unhatched child. "It can't be any worse than right now," she said grimly, "If we take it to warmer weather and it doesn't change, nothing changes, but if it brightens…"
"Dany," Jon started, his face serious, "We live in a wooden house. We didn't even know ice dragons existed until today. And the last time you hatched a dragon was in a funeral pyre and you didn't even know what you were doing. I know you want to help, but - "
"We need to bring the egg back with us," Dany told him, stopping his sentence short. Although he made a lot of sense, she once again felt a compelling need settling deep in her stomach. "Please, Jon, just let me try. What if this was Rose? We have to do this." She turned to the dragons before Jon could answer and reached back down towards the small egg with both hands.
Please understand, she willed them as she brought the egg out of the nest and into her arms. If dragons could look bewildered, they both would have and for a split second, Dany was sure the ice dragon was going to freeze her to a point where even Jon's fire could not help. Then, the dragon blinked her blue eyes slowly and dipped her head to Dany's arms, nudging her unhatched egg one final time. Cold wafted off of her crystal scales, but Dany noticed that she stopped shivering again, as had Jon. She was beginning to feel a cold tiredness creep into her mind, as if she could curl up in the nest and just stay there forever.
They had to leave.
Jon knew it too, standing up and pulling Dany up with him. Her heart wrenched as she realized that Drogon had made no move to leave with them, but simply eyed Dany. We have to protect our families, she thought, but why does that mean I can't protect you?
Jon squeezed her arm tight, signaling her to leave. Both mother and son looked down at the egg cradled in Dany's arms and Dany took one last gaze around at Drogon, his new family, and the now empty nest. Unable to bring herself to do any more than jerk a nod at Drogon, knowing she may never leave if she touched him again, Dany turned to follow Jon
Her throat had begun constricting from more than the cold as they headed out of the cave and into the forest again. The grey clouds had begun to lighten, and the trees no longer swayed with the weight of the wind.
Dany looked over her shoulder as they left, spotting Drogon still at the mouth of the cave watching them leave.
"May we meet again, my son," she murmured, holding the egg close as they began the journey home.
This is the end of Book I: Shadow. See you all in two weeks!