Chapter 3

Daenerys

Her father hadn't said much since Viserys left.

Dany knew that she had spent an inordinate amount of time looking at him since they had brought him back to the house. She catalogued the details of his face and compared them to the image that her mother had drawn, latching onto every crease and line that she could see. She drank him in, hungrily, as if he would disappear if she looked away.

He seemed to feel similarly though for every few seconds, his attention would be dragged away from the room and their surroundings back to her. His sharp eyes were hard on her face and though it took all of her effort, she forced herself not to look away from his intimidating stare.

"Would you tell me about yourself?" he asked and Dany smiled sadly. "There's not much to tell. I've been living here with Vis for the last sixteen years since we went into exile. There hasn't really been anything else worthy of report. We've kept our heads low, tried not to give anyone a reason to look at us too closely. Mother did not let us leave the house very often. She claimed it was far our own safety, and mayhap it was, but looking back, I am certain that it had as much to do with people figuring out the truth as it was to keep us from harm."

The god sighed but nodded. "Your mother was always an astute individual. She saw far more than she let on. I remember showing her certain spells and she would demand to know how they worked and whether or not they could be replicated by a human."

Dany soaked up the information like a sponge. While she would always cherish the twelve years that she had had with her mother, this god knew a part of her life that she never would. He'd be able to tell Dany what her mother was like when she was young and somewhat carefree.

"How…How did you meet?" she asked.

He paused to examine her for a moment and there was something in his gaze that made her think he was not really looking at her, but remembering certain instances from the long buried past.

"I am a traveller," he began slowly, his eyes being drawn out to sea and she watched him, cataloguing his movements. "There was a time when I only remained in my home for a few weeks before departing to wander the Nine Realms."

Dany listened with rapt attention. In her mother's journals, Rhaella had written about the two countries in this realm being only a small part of a greater series of realms, one single point among the stars. The blonde had been awed by the idea that their might be life living amongst the stars, that there were other humans and beings like her father living far away in realms that were altogether exotic and foreign to her. She had felt a great tug in her heart upon reading those words; a longing to see those realms for herself and to escape the life that suddenly seemed so small.

"And Asgard is the realm that is first and foremost?" she asked.

Her father smiled at her and made a motion with his hand. Suddenly the room was filled with a soft glow and Dany beheld before her a tree filled with glowing amber light. She gasped, pressing her hands to her mouth as she took in the awesome sight.

The tree seemed to pulse with light as if it were alive, strands of illumination fanning out like great branches, the ends of which throbbed with a brightness all their own.

Her father pointed to the brightest point at the very top of the tree. "This is Asgard, my home."

"And what does it look like?" Daenerys asked eagerly.

The god waved his hand again and suddenly the tree had vanished in favor of an image beyond Dany's imagination. She perceived a bridge made of pulsing rainbow light leading to what looked like a city made of pure gold. Rising above the buildings was a palace made also of gold, resembling something like a pyramid but its form was tubular shaped and rising to a point like a mountain. It gleamed in the sunshine, a picture of power, wealth and magic beyond anything she had ever seen before.

"The palace of Gladsheim," her father said softly. "Where I was…raised."

The slight pause between his words did not go unnoticed by Dany, but she chose to file it away for further examination later. He seemed sad even though his expression hadn't changed and she wondered at the source of it.

"Will I be able to see it one day?" she asked, her previous excitement returning.

"Perhaps," the words were softly spoken, prompting no suspicion from her but if she had looked up in that moment, she would have seen the expression of pain and rage on her father's face. "Perhaps in time."

"It's beautiful," the blonde whispered. "Mother never drew it in her diaries, I always wondered what it looked like."

Her father waved his hand again and the image disappeared. "Now you know. But there will be time for discussions of such things later."

Dany glanced out the window, noting the position of the sun and wanting curse Viserys for his stubbornness. He still hadn't come back to the house even after her tongue lashing from before and she was saddened. Vis could be terribly stubborn when he put his mind to it and sometimes Dany was thankful. He had taken his role as her protector quite seriously these last few years, the sentiment firmly placed in his mind by their mother. Whenever they were children, they would go about from place to place, his hand constantly holding hers. He never liked it when she was out of his sight for too long and whenever she had complained to her mother, Rhaella had said they must never be without one another, for a Targaryen alone in the world, was a terrible thing.

She wondered if the former queen had been thinking of their father when she had said it.

"She loved you," she said softly, not even really thinking about the words before she had said them. "Every time I asked her to tell me about you, a look would come into her eyes. She looked wistful. I think…I think besides our elder brother and us of course, that you were the only person she ever truly loved."

The blonde stared at her hands as she revealed this information, feeling vulnerable and raw as she said them. A set of pale hands with long elegant fingers reached out and gently took hers, prompting Dany to look up.

Her father was kneeling in front of her and the look on his face caused tears to spring to her eyes. He seemed at a loss for words, but even she could see the grief that he did not try to hide. It was then that she knew he cared for their mother. She was more than a tryst to him and that Viserys was wrong.

It was enough for her.

"I should have returned sooner," he said softly, his fingers gently stroking her knuckles. "I cannot tell you how sorry I am little one."

She gripped his hands back for dear life. "You are here now. That is enough for me."

He held her eyes for several long moments before turning to look back out at the beach and she knew he was thinking of Viserys. "I am glad for that."

"Do not be too troubled about Viserys," she burst out. "He will…He will understand. Ever he has been stubborn, but with time he has always relented. My brother has always liked to work out his own thoughts in the quiet of his mind. There are times when he would pace up and down in front of me in a rage and all I could do was simply listen to him until he had tired himself out or else come across a solution that he had not thought of before. He will come to see you as I do. I promise."

The god turned to look at her, his gaze once more piercing. "And how do you see me little one?"

Dany could feel her face turning red as she tried to put her thoughts into words. "You…You are my father," she said at last. "The one I have always wanted to have. When mother would tell me stories, it was as if I knew you already. I….I missed you like a wound that has never fully healed and I can recall praying every night that you would come back to us. And now you have. It….It is all I've ever wanted."

Her voice broke at the last line but before the tears could begin to fall again, her father's arms were around her, the tightness of his hold grounding her and reminding her that her grief at his absence was over.

"Hush now," he said, his voice muffled, the words breathed into her hair. "I am here. And I will never let you or your brother go. On that you have my word."

Daenerys muffled her sob against his chest and nodded. She didn't have the words to describe how happy she was, but also how sad. She wished her mother were with them, that their father had come in time, that they could all be a family together.

We could have been happy, she thought wistfully to herself. We four could have been all that we needed. I do not need a throne, or a palace, just this.

She slowly relaxed against her father's chest, content with the feeling of his arms around her and the safety that they promised. She would never need to fear the king's assassins or slavers ever again.

Being near her father was grounding but also liberating. She could practically feel the power that coursed through him and she wondered at the magic he had shown them earlier, if one day she could wield such abilities too.

"What will happen now?" she asked.

"I intend to take you and your brother away from this place," he said, his tone growing determined. "Your mother was a jewel amongst women but this realm was not the place for her. My children will not grow up in such a barbarous uncivilized realm."

"It is not as bad that surely," Daenerys asked frowning up at him. "We do not even live nearer the poorer parts of Myr. The slavers do not often come here."

"Slavers?" her father asked in a strange voice. There was ice in his tone and she wondered if she should have kept that information to herself. "There are slavers in this city?"

"Some," Dany said carefully. "But they do not bother us."

A hand slid under her chin, gently but intently forcing her to look up at him. His green stare bored into her and Daenerys shivered, once more reminded of who she was conversing with.

"Do not lie to me child," his voice was smooth but sharp as steel. "I am well versed in being able to detect untruths. Tell me of these slavers."

Daenerys swallowed hard at the barely leashed violence in his tone. "It does not matter. It was a year ago."

"What. Does not matter?"

Daenerys looked away and for the first time feared him. She knew he would not harm her but the rage in his tone promised swift and painful retribution for those who had harmed her.

There was no getting away from telling this story. She closed her eyes. "Viserys and I have always drawn…attention. Mother used to say this was because we were so fair. Under the sun, everyone in Essos is dark. But Vis and I are noticeable in a crowd." She swallowed hard and continued.

About a year ago I went with some of the magister's servants to the market. Vis came along but I became distracted by some of the wares at a merchants table and had become separated from the group. It was then that my arms was grabbed."

She paused here and swallowed again, talking herself into retelling the horrid memory. "I was surrounded by men who were armed to the teeth in sword and scimitars. Some were missing teeth, others were scarred. I had never been so frightened in my life."

Next to her, her father went very still and his grip on her hands tightened. Dany focused on it, the feeling grounding herself.

"They started to drag me off. I tried to scream, but one of them backhanded me across the face and it stunned me. I was quite certain then that I was about to be kidnapped and sold."

It was then that she became aware that all the furniture in the room was shaking. She glanced around in shock to see the couches and various end tables had risen a few inches off the floor. She whirled to look at her father and was shocked to see his clenched fists engulfed in green spheres of light. The same light suddenly seemed to engulf the furniture and Daenerys, without thinking, grabbed for one of his hands.

"It's alright," she said. "Father it's alright. I am fine, I managed to escape."

"How?" the god asked in a tone that was as sharp and hard as any of her brother's blades.

Daenerys swallowed, which took some effort given her suddenly dry throat. "It was Viserys. He fought to free me. My brother's always been good with a sword but I had never seen him truly tested until that day. But he fought like a wild animal. I did my best to help, but I've never used a blade and there was only so much that I could do."

"He fought them all off?" her father inquired. His temper didn't seem to be abating but at least he wasn't tearing the furniture apart as she had expected him to do.

She took a deep breath and braced herself for the next part of the story. "No. When Mother was exiled a member of the Kingsguard was sent with her to keep her and us safe. His name was Ser Barristan Selmy. He was one of the finest knight of King Aerys guard and had earned the nickname Barristan the Bold. During the war of the bastards, when House Targaryen was warring with Blackfyres, Ser Barristan cut a bloody path through to the last of the pretenders, Maelys Blackfyre and slew him in single combat. Mother told us that…that our elder brother Rhaegar had insisted that he be sent with us to ensure that we all survived. I'd never seen him truly fight before this, but it was a sight to behold. The ones that Vis didn't kill; he slew. The marketplace was a massacre, I was covered in blood but it couldn't be helped because by the end of it all, I was free."

Her father's hands were shaking in her grip but Dany knew it had much to do with his barely suppressed rage than any other emotion. "Was Ser Barristan killed in the fighting then?"

Dany closed her eyes, feeling the pressure build behind them and the burning in the corners of them. "No, he died later. One of the slavers had poison coating his blade and somehow during the melee, Barristan got nicked by it. He succumbed to the poison a day later and none of the healers we called knew what the poison was called or its antidote. There was nothing we could do."

Her voice broke on the last word and the tears finally came them, pouring down her cheeks in rivulets. Her breath hitched in a wet sob and she let go of one of his hands to press her own against her cheeks in order to stave off the emotion that felt as if it was going to overwhelm her.

A moment later, her hands were removed from her face and two larger ones took their place, wiping the tears from her eyes, thumbs gently smoothing the wetness from her cheeks.

She reached up and grasped those hands with a shuddering breath, trying desperately to remind herself that their grief was over and they hadn't been abandoned after all.

"Sweetling."

She sucked in another breath and tried desperately to get her emotions under control.

"Daenerys, will you please look at me?"

She was powerless to disobey and looked up into her father's face made blurry by her own tears. There was immeasurable sorrow and grief in his eyes and barely leashed rage there as well. He slowly leaned forward until his forehead rested against hers. She took a shuddering breath and closed her eyes, absorbing his presence and using it to drown out the storm raging in her own mind.

"Forgive me."

The whispered words caught her off guard and she opened her eyes to see that he had closed his own. "Whatever for?"

"For abandoning you and your brother through my own ignorance," he replied. His voice was hoarse, but his tone was steady and Dany used it to try and calm her racing heartbeat. "It never should have come to this. If I could turn back time – "

"But you cannot," Daenerys hurried to interrupt him. "And I do not say that to pain you, but the past is simply that. I cannot look back too often because it will remind me of what I have lost and what I did not have. It will remind me of Mother and Ser Barristan and the absence of you and I do not wish to dwell on sadness any longer. I have been sad for far too long."

"So you have," he said after a time. "And I would not see you in sorrow any longer."

He gently wiped the rest of her tears away and kissed her forehead, prompting Dany to curl closer into him.

Beneath his arm, she felt safe for the first time in years and she couldn't help but close her eyes as she breathed in his warm familiar scent. He smelled of cedar and wild herbs, the wind through a field of sage. He smelled like safety.

But there was something else there too, a barely concealed edge of danger, like a storm on the distant horizon, far off but approaching with irrevocable promise. He was her father, but he was also a god, and that was something that she could not allow herself to forget.

Nevertheless, she took a deep breath and steeled herself to say the words that she wished she could say to him ever since she had seen his picture. "I…I love you."

He stilled against her and for a moment, Daenerys feared that she had said the wrong thing. Perhaps those words of endearment were not the sorts of things one uttered to a being such as him.

But then he relaxed and the arm around her tightened.

"And I, you," he replied quietly and she sagged with relief against him.

"Perhaps we should find your brother," he said after a long silence. "The sun appears to be going down."

Selfishly Daenerys did not wish to move. If her brother chose to be a stubborn fool than that was his affair not hers. She did not wish to speak to him at the moment as she was still stinging from their argument earlier.

And Viserys was nothing if not obstinate.

"He can handle himself," the blonde heard herself saying. "Barristan trained him well. I have never needed to worry about him when he is on his own."

That wasn't completely true, but Dany felt that she had earned the right to be selfish…just this once. If her brother was going to come back and bring his storm cloud with him, than she wanted just a little more time with her father. Every time she thought about what Vis had said earlier, she wanted to rub her head from its persistent ache.

Her father hummed slightly and she tilted her head up to see that he was still looking across the terrace, out towards the beach where her brother was likely still sitting on that rock in the gathering dark.

"He will come back," she said again, knowing it was the truth. No matter how angry Vis got, no matter how furious or upset he became, he always came back. Despite his words and their argument from earlier, she knew that that would always be true, even in spite of their fight earlier. She would be foolish to let go of it.

"I take it that your faith in your brother is always warranted," the god mused and Dany sighed, feeling suddenly tired. The last few hours had been emotionally exhausting and at the moment, all she wanted to do was sleep.

"It is the one constant I have relied on throughout my life," she explained quietly. "Vis has never let me down."

The muscles beneath her cheek tensed before forcibly relaxing and she winced, realizing how that sounded. "I did not mean – "

"No," their father interrupted. "I….I understand."

Still feeling the need to reassure him, Daenerys spoke again. "It is not as if you ever did either. You didn't know of us."

"And yet," the god replied after a long moment. "I knew of your mother. We shared many things, the most important of them being you and your brother. The fact that I did not know does not excuse me of my obligations to her."

Daenerys felt her eyes burn and with it, a surge of anger. She had wept far too much in the last few hours. The time for sadness was over, she was exhausted by it.

"Enough of this," she ground out, scrubbing at her eyes. "We cannot continue to hold onto regrets so tightly. I do not want that for me or Viserys and I…I do not want it for you. You're here now, and that's all that matters."

The god huffed. "You have your mother's wisdom."

"She said that you were very wise as well," the blonde replied, smiling against his shoulder. "She said that you told her all about the universes beyond the stars and how you could walk amongst them."

"What else did she tell you?" her father asked and Daenerys remembered the journals then, the ones locked in a trunk in her chamber upstairs.

"I can show you," she said, forcing herself to sit up. For a moment the arms around her tightened, as if protesting the movement before letting go.

"She wrote everything down," Dany explained. "All of her encounters with you, everything that happened at court with…with the king, all the political alliances and decisions, the war, Rhaegar, all of it."

Her father pushed a hand through his black curls before running a hand down the smooth face that Dany now knew was ageless. "I would like to see that."

He glanced out the window, a muscle jumping in his cheek. "But perhaps not right now. It appears as if your brother has returned."

Daenerys nearly jumped from surprise, looking up into the gathering dark of the shore and the waves beyond the house in time to see a familiar figure standing looking out at the waves with his back to them. In the dying light, his hair looked almost white. His shoulders were hunched and she was certain that his posture had little to do with the gathering chill.

"Wait here," she said to her father absently. "I will return in a moment."

Without waiting for his response, she got to her feet and hurried from the room.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Enjoy the new chapter and let me know what you think!