New chapter is here!
WE GOT DRAGON EGGS! I'm so hyped, and I'm glad you are too! Another time jump is coming in a few chapters, so that's something to be hyped about too. Hope you guys are liking all the stuff that's been going on!
The three dragon eggs sat in the basket in front of Valyria. The youngest Targaryen sat for a few minutes to admire them, absolutely blown away by her own discovery and took that time to examine each egg carefully. The first egg was silver with a gold shimmer in its scales. The second egg, the one she had lifted out just moments before, was dark purple with swirls black hidden inside. The final egg was gray with a red tint to it. Valyria was more than pleased with her findings, and now she finally understood why Drogon had brought her to these ruins in the first place. She wondered for a moment how he even knew the eggs existed but didn't linger on the question too much because to her it didn't matter how he knew. Valyria had found more dragon eggs, which meant even more dragons could roam the known world.
Unfortunately, the youngest Targaryen had no idea how to hatch dragon eggs. Her mother never got to tell her that part of the story. For a moment, Valyria really started to miss her family. She wasn't sure exactly how long she had been gone but now with thoughts of her parents and siblings, she was beginning to feel homesick. Valyria longest for the forest of her homeland, and the comfort of winter.
The sun was starting to go down at this point, and Valyria wasn't feeling so good about spending the night in the ruins of this old City. She turned to the older dragon and sighed, "Drogon, we can't stay here." The dragon just looked at her then out into the distance. Valyria looked back at the basket and covered the eggs inside. She lifted the basket with all her might and carried it over to Drogon, "Come on big brother, let's go somewhere else." Still, Drogon did not reply. Valyria wasn't sure why he would listen to her mother but no to her, but figured there was a better way.
Drogon looked down at Valyria, his head now inches away from her. Keeping calm, she placed both hands on his face and let her mind wander until suddenly she was dreaming again. Now dreaming herself into Drogon, Valyria picked her own body up as well as the basket of eggs and carefully flew them out of the city. Valyria wasn't sure how long the dream would last, but as long as she got her self away from the ruins of Old Valyria, she figured she'd be fine.
"Good morning Princess."
"Hello, Princess Lyaella."
"How are you today, Princess?"
Lyaella was without a doubt absolutely in love with all the affection she was getting while being acting Lady Regent, or at least that was the title according to her mother. When she was an only child, Lyaella remembered taking daily walks around Snowhome with her parents. It was something her father did when he was first elected the true King Beyond the Wall, and continued to do once he married her mother. Jon and Daenerys continued the tradition well into their marriage and would bring Lyaella and her siblings along when they were tinier, but as they grew older and wanted to do their own things, her parents chose to do their walks just the two of them.
Now doing these walks alone; with only the lingering company of Grey Worm not far behind her, Lyaella understood the peace it brought both of her parents.
While walking through the Market District, Lyaella came across a trader from across the Narrow Sea selling beautiful jewelry. She knew he must have been from the East because his skin was more tanned than the rest of the Northerners. He was older with dark shaggy hair with touches of gray. The gems and trinkets caught her eye, getting her to stop and see whatever wares the trader had. Upon seeing the princess at his cart and stand set up, the older gentleman jumped to greet her, "You must be the Princess Lyaella, lovely to meet you."
Lyaella smiled as the man bowed to her, "Your wares are beautiful." She told the man, a few of the things catching her eye.
The man noticed the set of jewelry she was staring at and jumped to stop her, "Oh no Princess, I have a very special selection of styles for the royal family," He turned back to look threw his things, "I was hoping to meet your Queen mother and show her the collection, but alas she is not here, so in her absence you are more than welcome to look through it yourself!" The trader turned around with a beautiful box, painted black and red, and opened it to reveal the special collection he had. All of the jewelry in the box was Targaryen inspired, as well as a few pieces that well represented the Dragon-Wolf banner of her father, "Gems and Jewelry fit for a Targaryen Queen, and her Stark children of course. Please take for your mother and sister as well, it would be an honor for your family to wear the products of my work."
"You make these yourself?" Lyaella asked him as she browsed the box.
The trader chuckled as he turned back to look through his stand, "No princess, I can't take all the credit, my brother makes the jewelry and I travel and sell it. We have been trading for a long time, but we have never had our pieces worn by such a well-renowned family such as yours. It would make my brother's dreams come true if your family wore his pieces."
Lyaella's eye was caught on a beautiful necklace as he spoke, it was on a silver chain and the pendant was shaped like a dragon claw holding a clear round stone. The pendant reminded her of Valyria, and she sighed at the thought of her missing sister, "My sister would just love this."
"The Princess… Valyria, am I right?" The trader asked still looking through his things.
Lyaella smiled, "Yes, may I take this for her?"
"Of course!" The man turned around holding something behind his back, and Lyaella could feel Grey Worm creep closer to her. From behind his back, the trader revealed a beautiful dark tiara with little diamonds hidden inside, "The diamonds were mined in a cave outside of Old Valyria, and the tiara itself is made with a mix of silver and obsidian."
"Obsidian?" Lyaella asked confused as he took the tiara from the man, admiring its beauty. She turned it around and realized it had a dragon and a wolf's head hidden in the front of the design.
"Dragon glass, Princess." Grey Worm explained.
The trader watched proudly as Lyaella placed the tiara carefully on her own head, "How does it look?"
"Like you're ready to be queen," The trader smiled, his eyes beaming with excitement, "I cannot wait to tell my brother how wonderful the future Queen Beyond the Wall looked in his tiara."
"Well, I hope one day when I am queen your brother will make my crown as well," Lyaella smiled as she took the tiara off her head to admire it.
The trader's smile got even wider, "Of course, Princess! We would be honored."
While Lyaella was off pretending to be Queen, Ned spent most of his time up in Wolvesden ignoring Kattra. It had been over a week since their parents had gone to Volantis to start their search for Valyria, but Ned was still not over the sense of betrayal he was left with after Kattra lied about what had happened to his sister. The Targaryen Prince felt his older sister had gotten over Kattra's deceit too quickly, and he couldn't help still holding on to his grudge. Little Ned wasn't sure why he was still so angry after everyone else had accepted her apology, but he still felt like he was burnt by her in the worst way and just being around Kattra made his chest hurt. It was a betrayal of the trust he thought they had built. Out of the three siblings, Ned felt he was always the closest to Kattra; especially after what happened in Winterfell, and thought he deserved more honesty than his sisters.
"I don't understand girls," Ned complained as he watched Aiden practice his archery, "Why don't they just say what they mean?"
"Your sister is never honest with her feelings, one moment she hates me next she's asking me to spar with her," Aiden shot an arrow at the target as he continued his conversation with the young prince, "My father says women never know what they want."
"Your father isn't really one for good womanly advice," Ned chuckled as he watched his friend fire another arrow.
"Aye, true, but he's right about the things he knows," Aiden turned around and put his bow down, "That's why the King keeps him around. Best friends stick together."
"Kattra is supposed to be my best friend," Ned sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest, "You would think she'd trust me."
"My father told me not to bother trying to decipher a woman's feelings, too messy," Aiden smirked, "Beside's if I'm too busy trying to always figure out why Lyaella is mad at me I won't have time for my training."
"Lyaella would make a much better knight than you, I don't know why you'd keep on training," Ned chuckled at Aiden, who turned around and went back to his training.
The ginger boy picked up his bow and another arrow, readying himself to fire, "Because Father told me our job is to protect the royal family, and one day I plan on becoming Lyaella's personal knight." With that final thought, Aiden let go of the arrow and hit the bullseye.
"Right," Ned replied, rolling his eyes as he turned away from Aiden. As he turned around he noticed that Kattra was watching them from a distance, "Aiden, I'll be right back."
Ned stomped through the snow over to where Kattra was watching them, and at the sight of him coming closer, the young priestess turned to walk away. Seeing that she was trying to escape him, Ned started to run towards her, grabbing her by the arm to stop her from getting away. As Ned turned Kattra around, her eyes kept its gaze away as she refused to look the prince in the eye, "Little Wolf…"
"Is there a reason your spying on me?" Ned asked with a bitter tone as he let her arms go.
Kattra shrugged as she crossed her arms over her chest, "I didn't expect to run into you in the garden."
"So then why are you watching me from a distance, only to run away when I approach you?" Ned scrunched his face, clearly aggravated, "I should be the one running from you after what you did. You don't get to be the one who's hurt!"
"I told you I'm sorry, Ned!" Kattra face became flushed, and her eyes red. Though she wouldn't look him in the eye, Ned could still see she was starting to cry.
Ned grabbed Kattra by her shoulders, shaking her as he talked, "We are supposed to stick together and protect this family! You should've told us the truth from the beginning!"
"I'm not part of this family, Ned," Kattra yelled as she turned her head to face him, tears running down her eyes, "I am the family ward, and my purpose in this world is to serve the Lord of Light by helping your family. I can never be a part of it no matter what you say or do."
Watching her cry Ned felt absolutely terrible; he didn't mean to hurt her feelings, but hearing what she had to say about not being part of that family was even worse, "My parents said they would care for you like one of their own."
"Well I'm not Ned, I'm just a servant that's all," Kattra screamed as she pulled away from him.
Ned couldn't react, his blank facial expression matched his inability to find the correct emotion to describe how her reply made him feel. Poor Ned felt hurt, angry and disappointed all at the same time, but also at that moment, there was a longing sensation in the back of his throat. There were so many words he wanted to tell her, so many reasons why that wasn't true. It had been about a year since Kattra became part of their family, and in that time Ned's feelings towards her had changed drastically. She would always be more than the little priestess in training who was brought to his parents to be their ward, and while she might be a sister in the eyes of Lyaella and Valyria that wasn't how he viewed Kattra.
Little Ned Snowborn couldn't find the words to explain to Kattra how he felt about her, but he could definitely show her.
So instead of replying, Ned pulled Kattra closer by her shoulders and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. The kiss lasted not even a full minute, but the look on Kattra's face was as if Ned had stolen her breath away. As the Targaryen prince pulled away he could see the shocked and flustered look on Kattra's face, "You'll always be my family, Katt."
The young priestess held her fingers over her lips as stood there in shock. Ned waited for a reaction, either for her to say something or hit him but nothing happened. Instead, they were interrupted by Lord Davos.
"My Prince, a moment of your time?" Davos called from far behind Kattra.
Ned took a deep breath and sighed before walking off, "Coming, my Lord."
It took Jon and Daenerys a whole week to arrive in Volantis and find the Red Temple of R'hollor. Once finally reaching the temple, they were greatest by a priest who explained they were being expected and let to a room inside of the temple. Both of them waited impatiently for Kinvara to arrive, fearing the worst for their lost daughter. She had been missing over a week now, and every day she was missing they feared the worst. After almost an hour, Kinvara finally came to greet them.
"My Queen, King Jon," Kinvara smiled as she entered the room alone, "You're both just in time. We've been expecting your visit."
Daenerys and Jon jumped up from the seats they were waiting in as Kinvara entered the room, "So you know then? About Valyria?" Jon kept his grip on the hilt of his sword. Kinvara had done a lot to help his family over the years, yes, but part of him always felt she had another agenda hidden up her sleeve.
Kinvara smiled shifted into a smirk, "The Lord showed me what happened to your daughter only recently, and I've been waiting for your arrival so we could ride to her location together."
"You know where she is?!" Daenerys felt like she could finally breathe after hearing Kinvara's reply, and grabbed Jon's arm to get him to relax, "When can we leave?"
"We have time, Your Grace, as long as we leave within the hour," Kinvara replied with hands clasped in front of her, "We must arrive before nightfall, but other than that, everything will be fine."
Jon looked confused, "Nightfall? Why nightfall?"
"When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone," Kinvara smiled once more, speaking her prophetic theories like riddles, "We don't want to miss the second coming of Princess who was Promised, now, do we?"