Late again, but with good reason!
Just had to make sure this chapter came our right! Super duper proud of this one. Also in case I haven't made it clear enough, and I know some people are confused: Lyaella resents herself for trying to kill her sister as a baby and that's why she can't bring herself to be nice to her. She doesn't feel like she should without apologizing first, and she's too scared to say what happened and disappoint her parents. She may be smart, but she's still only 12ish lol
"No, please! Get away from me! Please! Stop! Don't hurt my family… please! Stop it! Help!"
LYAELLA!
"Lyaella!" Valyria screamed her sisters' name as she woke from her nightmare. It was her third nightmare about Lyaella this week, each about a man trying to kill her. Lyaella had been living with their aunt Sansa for about 6 months now, and it wasn't until recently that Valyria started dreaming about bad things happening to her. The youngest Targaryen rolled out of bed and put on her slippers. She headed to her bedroom door and ran out, headed straight for her parents' room. As Valyria opened the door to their room, she could see both her parents were fast asleep and moved slowly towards them in order to not spook them awake. She went straight to her father, who slept closest to the door and started to pull at his shirt, "Father, Father wake up."
Jon rolled over and slowly opened his eyes to see his youngest staring at him with watery eyes, "Bad dream, Little Dragon?" She nodded yes and Jon reached out for her, lifting her up into the air and resting her on his chest. Jon put his arms around his youngest and kissed her head, "It was alright, my love, it was just a nightmare."
"I didn't feel like it," Valyria replied. She had gotten so worked up in the time it took to run to her parents' room that she didn't even realize she was now in full-blown tears, "We need to go get Lyaella, she needs to come home where she's safe."
"Lyaella is safe with your aunt, Valyria," Jon told her as he closed his eyes and tried to fall back to sleep.
Valyria shook her father back awake and Jon could see the fear in her eyes, "No she's not," the words she whispered made him sit up in bed. The certainty in her voice made him instantly believe her, "He knows she's South… he's going to send someone to hurt her I know it."
Jon reached over and shook Daenerys awake, who turned around quickly and in a panic at the sensation of his shaking, "What's wrong?!" Daenerys realized Valyria was in the bed and reached out for her daughter as she sat up, pulling her in close, "What happened, Jon?"
"I think Valyria saw something," Jon told her as he put his hand on his daughter's head, "We need to go get Lyaella, and we need to leave now."
"Do you remember who this is love?" Sansa asked Lyaella as they stood together in the crypts. Having her niece spend time with her in their ancestral home was a big deal for her. She was so excited to teach Lyaella all she could about her Stark family. The statue they stood before was her Eddard Stark, former Warden of the North and Sansa's father. She had been quizzing Lyaella about her Northern knowledge, trying to see how much of what she told her she could remember on her own.
"Eddard Stark, Warden of the North, Lord of Winterfell and Hand of King Robert Baratheon," Lyaella smiled at the statue, her eyes gleaming in awe, "He was your Father, and my Father's Uncle, but he raised Father so he didn't call him Uncle Ned. Father says he didn't know he wasn't his father until he was much older."
Sansa smiled softly as she spoke, "What else did he tell you about him?"
"Grandfather was a good man, honorable to a fault according to those who knew him," Lyaella glanced to the other side of the crypt till they found the statue of Lyanna Stark, "So honorable that his wife died never knowing that he was actually faithful till the end and that Father was actually Grandmother Lyanna's baby."
"My Father was very loyal to his family, he was the one who taught us that we must always stick together no matter what," Sansa explained as they walked over to Lyanna's statue, "No one loved more, or fought as hard for this family's safety than my father."
"It was a Targaryen's fault that the Stark family was almost erased from this world," Lyaella told her aunt as she stared at her Grandmother's statue, "Do you hate my mother?"
Sansa sighed and looked at Lyaella, "I used to. For a long time, I blamed her for a lot of terrible things that happened to my family… but I learned to forgive her."
"A lot of terrible things have been said about my family. I don't think anyone likes us," Lyaella frowned as she looked up to her aunt, "I've heard some terrible rumors…"
"What happened in the past we must leave there," Sansa explained to her niece, "No matter how terrible it was, the only way we can get better is by overcoming it."
Lyaella sighed and looked back to the statue, "Do people still think my mother is a monster?"
"Not everyone knows how to let go of the past, Lyaella," Sansa told her, "All that matters is that we know she isn't and we continue to support our families." Lyaella bit her tongue, she wanted so badly to tell her aunt what she had done and how she felt but she couldn't find the words. Instead, she stared at the statue of her Grandmother and wondered what she would have thought of her family, "I know that many things are hard to understand now, but just know that everything your mother and father have done has been for you and your siblings. So that you all can grow up in peace and safety, and that you never know the trials and hardships we lived."
"Is that why Father killed Mother?" Lyaella asked her bluntly.
Sansa's head jerked quickly towards Lyaella to the sound of her question, "Where did you hear such things, my love?"
"The rumors ... and of course after Mother gave birth to Valyria… I remember hearing her tell Father her second death wasn't as terrible because she wasn't gone for as long," Lyaella face seemed to fall apart as her eyes turned red and her lip trembled, "Why would Father do such a thing? He loves Mother more than anything in the world..."
Sansa dropped to her knees and threw her arms around her niece, hugging her tight, "Of course he does, Lyaella, your father loves your mother more than life itself. Everything your Father has ever done since the moment he laid his eyes on her has been for your mother. He might be as stupidly loyal and honorable as our father Ned, but his loyalty as always lied with his family. Your mother is his family, and that will never change."
"Your Grace," a voice called out for Sansa from the entrance, "Your brother is at our gates."
She wiped Lyaella's tears away and then rose to her feet, taking her niece's hand in hers, "Come, let's go greet your father. I'm sure he's missed you very much."
As Lyaella and Sansa exited the crypts they could see Jon, Daenerys, Tormund, Kattra, and her siblings dismounting their horses. At the sight of her parents, Lyaella ran off to greet them yelling their names, "Mother! Father!" Lyaella jumped first into her father's arms, still partially feeling just terrible for thinking ill of him moments before. She wept silently as he held her, holding his shirt tight is she dug her face into the crook of his neck, "I've missed you so much."
Jon had the biggest smile on his face. It had been a long time since Lyaella had shown him this much affection, "I missed you too, my love."
"How was your visit, Lyaella?" Daenerys asked her daughter as she lifted her head to look at her mother.
Lyaella smiled as her mother wiped her tears from her face, "Winterfell is amazing, Mother! Aunt Sansa has taught me so many wonderful things about Father's family!"
"Lyaella is going to be a very wise queen one day," Sansa told them as she approached her brother and sister and law, "Your daughter is one smart lady."
Jon smiled as he put Lyaella back down, "That's wonderful to hear. Thank you for taking her for so long, Sansa."
"I just wish you leave me all of them," Sansa replied as she greeted her brother with a hug, "I would love to teach Ned and Valyria all the thing I was able to teach Lyaella during her stay."
"Lyaella!" Ned and Valyria yelled at the sight of her sister. Ned was the first to reach his sister, giving her a big hug on sight. Thought younger by a few years, Ned was almost caught up to his sister's hight only standing an inch or so shorter than her. He managed to lift her up a bit as he hugged her, and immediately put her down so she could greet Valyria as well.
They two sisters just stared at each other for a moment. A sense of relief could be seen all over Valyria's face as she stared at her little sister. The youngest Targaryen through her arms around her sister's waist and hugged her tight as she wept silently to herself, "I'm so happy you're okay." Lyaella didn't react to the hug, her eyes gazing away as she half-heartedly patted her sister on the back. Even with the time apart, Lyaella couldn't bring herself to show her sister kindness. Something inside was still holding her back.
Daenerys and Jon smiled happily at their daughters trying to be kinder to one another, in their eyes the time apart did work. Tormund approached the rest of the adults, throwing a sack of his things over his shoulder, "We beat a bad winter storm on our way down, but it's going to pass here while we head home. If it's alright with you, we'd like to stay a few days until it's gone."
"Of course, my family is always welcome here," Sansa explained as she turned back to Jon, "I'll have my men set up rooms for your family and men to stay in while the storm passes."
"Thank you, Sansa," Jon replied, "I'm going to the crypts for a moment, say my hello's."
Sansa nodded okay and Jon walked off alone. Just as he left, Grey Worm approached them. He bowed his head as he passed his king, but fully bowed as he approached Daenerys, "My Queen." He smiled as he spoke in Valyrian.
"Torgo Nudho," Daenerys smiled speaking the same language, "Everything went well?"
"No sign of Raven's men here, Your Grace," He told her with a nod.
That night the storm Tormund spoke of came, bringing with it a blanket of snow that sat one foot and growing. Daenerys and Jon shared a room together and not far away from them were Lyaella in her own room and the rest of the children in another. The storm brought strong winds that kept the children up all night.
"I don't like this snow, something doesn't feel right," Kattra told the others as she stared out the cracks in the window shutters.
Ned looked over to Valyria who looked very worried, Ghost's head nuzzled into his lap, "Do you think Lyaella is awake?"
"We should go make sure she's okay," Kattra told them as she approached the other children. Ned and Valyria nodded as they all grabbed they're winter cloaks and left the room. They moved quietly, trying not to wake the adults and get in trouble.
Ghost started to growl as they approached Lyaella's door, making all the children stop, "What's wrong, boy?"
That's when they heard the scream, "No, please!" It was Lyaella. The fear in her voice had all the kids running to her door, "Get away from me! Please! Stop! Don't hurt my family… please! Stop it! Help!" Ned threw the door open as they reached it and inside was a man none of them recognized approaching Lyaella with a dagger in his hand, "Ghost!"
Just as the boy screamed his name the direwolf ran for the man trying to attach Lyaella and pounced on him, biting at the stranger's throat. Lyaella jumped out of the bed and ran to her siblings, "How did you know!"
"Valyria dreamt about a man trying to hurt you, that's why we came!" Ned explained, both of them turning to their youngest sibling.
Before they could say anything they heard a voice call out from behind them, "You're not supposed to be out of bed." They all turned thinking it was one of their aunt's men but to their surprise, it wasn't. The man standing at the end of the hall was dressed similar to the man in the bedroom, making all the children panic.
"Run!" Lyaella yelled as she grabbed her sister's hand and sprinted the other way. Ned grabbed Kattra and the three kids ran through the halls. Too scared to think straight, the children ran outside into the snow to lose the assassin. As they stood out in the storm, the four children followed each other hand in hand. Lyaella headed to the one place on her mind, the crypt. As they got down there they realized that Ghost did not follow them and that the four of them were alone, "Where is Ghost?"
"We aren't safe down here," Ned told his older sister, "We need to find Father."
"That man is out there, Ned, we can't go back out th-" The sound of a door creaking open made them all stop talking. All the children scattered behind the nearest statue to hide from whoever was entering the crypt. As the four of them hid Lyaella cursed herself for not carrying her bow. She had gotten so comfortable staying with her aunt that she never felt the need to carry as she did when she was home. She now knew why her father always wanted them to carry a weapon.
"Come out little dragons, I won't hurt ya," the voice called out for them.
Scared, Kattra hid her face in Ned's shoulder while Valyria reached out to grab Lyaella's hand. They could see the shadow of the man creep forward until he was standing right in front of where they were hiding. Lyaella watched the shadow move its head side to side and then move forward. Once he was gone, she turned to the others and whispered, "I'm going to sneak up on him!"
"No!" Valyria whispered back, trying not to cry.
Lyaella let her hand go and smiled, "It's okay, I'm going to protect you." Slowly the oldest Targaryen rose up from the floor. As she moved out from their hiding spot she grabbed the candle that sat at the feet of the statute and picked it up with her bare hands. She turned to the assassin and yelled, "Hey! I'm over here!'
The man turned around a wicked smile on his face, "There's one dragon. Come, I want to take you South. It's much warmer down there for a dragon."
"If you want to take me anywhere you better come and get me!' Lyaella stood her ground as she taunted the man who fell for the bait and rushed right for her.
Lyaella tried to run but he grabbed her by the collar of her cloak and pulled her in close, "You're not going anywhere!"
"You forget a dragon breathes fire!" Just as Lyaella spoke her words she went to light the man with the candle but the stranger knocked it out of her hands.
"No no no, child. No fire today." He chuckled as he held his dagger to her throat. Lyaella started panting as the man held it to her tight, but from behind them, he was distracted by a bright light.
As he turned around a ball of fire rushed at them and jumped on top of the man, setting him up in flames. He screamed as the fire consumed him, falling to the floor and letting it take his life. Lyaella backed away to the foot of the statue as he watched the stranger burn. It took her a moment to realize that the light that attacked the assassin wasn't a ball of fire, but her sister on fire. Valyria stood up and walked towards the sister to make sure she was okay. Now naked, she turned back to watch the man burn, "Next time he'll know, the dragon has three heads."