Tom stared after the fleet footed woman, amazed at how fast she dashed across the sand. By the time he had started after her, she was already a good thirty yards away and that distance was quickly growing.

Tom muttered a curse and decided to follow her though he kept his distance from her not wanting to get in the way of her search. She darted down the beach stopping to check each body she came across before darting away from the body yet again. They kept this zigzagging chase up for a good two or three minutes before the Targaryen woman reached a uncomfortably familiar shape a distance away from the water. His companion had come to a complete stop and was standing next the shape, her head was angled towards the body of Aegon Targaryen. When Tom saw this he came to a complete stop, not wanting to intrude.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the woman suddenly threw herself onto the man and clutched his body then began to shake him, begging him to wake up and not leave her. She repeated this over and over until it became and almost endless barrage of sound as she seemed to descend into madness then she went silent for a moment before she snapped her head up to face the sky and emitted one of the most piercing, bone-chilling, and pain laden shrieks of despair he had ever heard in his entire life. To call it a scream would be to belittle the primal grief and agony contained within her deafening cry. He almost hated himself for thinking it, but The Princess Bride was right. Ultimate Suffering really did have its own sound.

She held her wail for what felt like an eternity, long enough that Tom was left idly wondering about her lung capacity. When finally she seemed to have exhausted herself, she hunching over the body of the dead man and simply wept, her body shaking with every one of her sobs.

Tom stood, unsure as what to do before he finally marshaled the resolve to bridge the distance. He knelt beside and, expecting her to strike him for doing this, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a one armed hug. She flinched as his touch at first, but after a moment she turn into his side and continued to cry into his chest clinging to him like a drowning man to a lifeline. He proceeded to run his hand up and down her back in an instinctive attempt at comforting her.

She simply wept for at least ten minutes before her sobs finally subsided and she continued to cling to Tom, exhausted from her crying and her early misadventures. When Tom was sure she would hear it, he cleared his throat and said, "If it is any consolation M-Lady Targaryen," He tripped over using a prefix that she would actually recognize, "I was here when he passed on, the only thing that was on his mind was of you and your sister. He... refused to let go until I made an oath that I would do everything I could to find you and your sister."

She was silent for a moment, then muttered, "Thank-you, for saving me and for holding to your oath. As for Rhaenys, I fear that she may be dead. My memory is not that clear but one thing I do remember during storm was that she was thrown overboard before the ship capsized." She shuddered at the memory of that horrible experience.

Tom grimaced, thrown overboard in a storm? While people may survive that in stories all the time, there is a reason you only hear of that happening in stories. She was likely dead at the bottom of the ocean or somewhere miles away rotting on a lonely beach. But he looked to the blade at his waist and recalled the mad desperation in a dying man's eyes."Even if she is dead, there is always a chance. And I made an oath to him to find both of you."

Talks of oaths reminded him that his own oath was only half fulfilled and also their current location while picturesque sans the grounds, were not conducive for long term residence so to speak. "Lady Visenya," He ventured, "we need to be going. We still need to find your sister and you need something beyond a coat that barely covers your hips. You may have missed it earlier but your clothes are drying by the fire I made back that way" He jerked his thumb back towards the fire behind him.

Visenya looked down at herself and blushed slightly in embarrassment, but nodded in agreement, "You are correct Ser...?" She gave him a inquisitive look.

"Oh right!" He shook is head then gave a slight bow at his waste with own arm across his chest like he had seen in a hundred period pieces. "Tom Brodie at your service."

"Ser Tom Brodie..." Visenya seemed to test the name as she spoke it, though for what Tom couldn't tell. "Tell me Ser Tom where are you from? I have never seen such clothing before. Is that what the Nightwatch wears when they travel to the South?" She indicated the black t-shirt with a small pocket over the left breast Tom had slipped on when he had gone after her.

He looked down, and had to laugh at bit at it, "Oh no I'm not part of the Nightswatch, as to where I am from," He paused to think of something to tell her that wouldn't convince her that she had been saved by a lunatic. "I am from far away, you would likely never have heard of it. I am something of a wanderer, I've only just come into the region." He left it at that, hoping that she would accept it.

She looked at him long and hard before nodding, "Very well, I will not pry into the affairs of the man who saved my life without his leave."

She then turned back to the body and said, "I agree we do need to go but first," and she paused as a sad look reappeared on her face, "We need to bury my husband, and see if there was anything he had we could use for our journey."

Tom was somewhat surprised at how she seemed willing to search her only now cold husband's body but he acknowledged the logic behind it, he would no longer need it and anything they could find on him would be essential for the future. But the thought of a woman having to search her own husbands corpse seemed abhorrent to him. "Here let me do it, you can go and dress yourself I should be done and ready with a grave by the time you get back."

She looked at him again, her emotions clouded in his eyes but she nodded and said, "Thank you Ser Tom." She then, after giving Aegon's body one last look, turned back towards the fire and walked away from Tom. She took a few steps then stopped and turned back to where Tom had stood watching her walk and made a final comment, "We Targaryens burn our dead, it is not the way of Dragons to be laid into the ground to rot. *Aegon was a dragon he deserves better than this."*

Tom looked at her, the pained look in her face made his guts twist and he wished there was something he could do. Then a thought flashed through his mind, yes that could work but he needed a bit more time. "Lady Visenya, this might take a while why don't you check the other bodies for anything we could use. My coat has plenty of pockets you could use to keep them in."

She nodded and turn back on her way to her clothing.

Tom sighed then turned to the dead lord of Dragonstone and said, "Well let's see what you had on you Mr. Targaryen."

After a few minutes of searching he found a gold and ruby amulet in the shape of a three headed dragon, much similar to the Targaryen family heraldry, a pair of rings one gold with a red stone, and the other silver with a black stone. Then on the man's hip was a small money pouch with three gold coins with a dragon on one side, and about forty silver coins with a stag shaped emblem on one side. A fair amount of money and enough to get whatever supplies they needed in any larger settlement, though that raised the question of where a larger settlement was located.

Once he'd found everything he could from the man's body, he strode towards the forest again and began to gather as many sticks and branches as he could find, making several trips. He then proceeded to make a large mat of wood on the beach. Then he grabbed the dead Targaryen lord under his shoulders and dragged him over the mat of wood. Making a Sign of the Cross he then said a short prayer, "May you be with your loved ones who have gone before you, Aegon Targaryen, Lord of Dragonstone."

He then took a glance down to check for Visenya, then when was sure that she wasn't there, he took a deep breath and concentrating on the shout for fire he bellowed out, "YOL!" A ball of flame half as tall as he was shot from his mouth and enveloped the pyre. While the wood burn he was cooking the man more than turning him to ash. He was on the right path but he needed something more to get this job done. Concentrating on the flames another two words bubbled up from the depths of his mind. Standing up he took a few steps back and then taking a deep breath he bellowed the words at the top of his lungs, "YOL TOOR SHUL!" This time instead of a fire ball, his rewards was a gigantic stream of scarlet flames that consumed the pyre and left only red hot embers behind of what was the earthly remains of the lord of Dragonstone. He was standing there watching the embers burn when Visenya returned with her dress on, his coat draped over her shoulders like a shawl, and with prizes wrestled from the broken ships and broken men from up and down the beach.

She stopped and stared in wonder at the embers that burned in front of her and she turned to Tom who was flushing a little at the intensity of that look.

"How did you...?"

"I gathered up some wood, and as you said, he was a Dragon, he deserved to go out like one."

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, then she took a deep breath and said, "Thank-you I am grateful for the gesture and I am sure Aegon is as well."

She turned back to the pyre and stood incredibly close to it, closer than Tom would ever had before she spoke some chant in a language which Tom guessed was Old Valyrian. She then stepped back and stood by Tom as the two of them watched the pyre burn.

The flames burned down to ashes after several hours leaving little but the occasional bones fragments which Visenya took and scattered them into the sea, all the while muttering some prayer in the same language as before. When Tom asked her about it she told him that is was an old traditional send off for the dead that had been passed down in the Targaryen line since the ancient days of Valyria. The tradition was to toss the remains in the direction of Valyria, that the soul of the dead might find its way to their ancestral homeland to be with their ancestors.

Tom didn't know what to say to that so only nodded in acknowledgment, he then looked up at the sky and noted that it was beginning to set into the West hidded behind the hills and forests further inland. Making a decision he turned to Visenya and said, "Well, it seems that night will coming soon, I'm sure your exhausted, and hungry," he grimaced himself when he realized that he hadn't eaten anything all day himself.

As the two of them walked to his earlier fire he turned and asked, "And what were you able to find?"

She dug her hands into the coat pockets and pulled out two copper-wire rings with semi-precious stones set in them as well as about six pieces of silver and easily forty copper stars and pennies. "There were also a pair of chain mail hauberks we might be able to use, though there will be rust if they aren't dried quickly, as well as a few knifes."

Tom nodded and the two continued on in silence. When the two of them reached the fire, Tom saw, to his relief, that the fire was still hot enough to keep going, he tossed a few more pieces of wood and blew on the embers until they caught the new logs. When he was sure that it would remain burning for a while, he made sure that his pocket knife was in his jeans pocket, grabbed one of the larger knives Visenya had found, and proceeded to head into the forest telling Visenya that he was going to try and bag a few rabbits for a spit.

When he'd left Visenya's line of sight, he turned to the late afternoon forest and wracked his brain as to how he was going to find anything, he was no hunter, he'd had only one experience in hunting which had resulted in absolute failure, with nothing found. How could he even track anything down?

His thoughts went back to the different powers he'd exhibited today, he'd fired a blast of kinetic energy within minutes of arriving here, and over the course of the day he'd breathed fire no less than twice with one word. While those words seemed to be familiar to him, in more ways than one, he couldn't tell why exactly they seemed so. But that conundrum paled compared to how was he supposed to locate any animal in this forest. As he stood there more words appeared in his head, three of them, organized into a certain order.

Tom was wondering just how many of these phrases he knew and as to how he knew them in the first place? But in a situation like this he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Putting his musings to the back of his mind he took another breath and spoke the three words, "Lass Yah Nir." When the shout did its work, Tom was nearly floored by the sensory overload, he had heard in fiction about those who 'became one with nature' being able to detect living things with an almost supernatural ability. But this? Words failed to describe how he could now sense not just the sounds, the sights, or the smells, he could sense through some sixth super sense the very being of every living animal within a quarter of a mile of him. Insects, birds, smalls animals, their sheer number nearly overwhelmed him. He could have just stood their in awe of the sheer amount of LIFE that was in just such a short distance from him.

He had to force himself to get a grip on his senses and zero in on specific signatures, he zeroed in on each larger signature, marking what they were then moving on trying to spot something easy to bag and had plenty of meat on it.

Bird
Bird
Bird
Squirrel
Rabbit
Bug
Boar
Bir...

Boar!

Tom, still using the the senses granted him by the shout zeroed in on the largest life signature he could sense in his range. It was a wild pig alright, not a large one, fifty pounds at the most. It was also only about sixty yards away snuffling through the woods, most likely digging for mushrooms, acorns and the like.

Tom stalked his way towards the pig, his senses never leaving the thing until he was around a good forty feet from the thing, he held his breath, scared of breathing too hard and giving away his position. The power of his most recent shout faded away at that point but he was close enough to track it with his eyes. When he tried to take another few steps, the pig suddenly snapped its hairy head in Tom's direction before squealing in rage and charging the stunned man.

"Shit!", he shouted, he was unarmed save for a knife and now he had an enraged pig charging down on him. What should he do? He wracked his brain and then he remembered the first shout he'd done. He smiled that should do it. He took a breath and shouted, "FUS RO...cough!" he didn't manage to finish the shout but the first two shouts proved more than enough for the job, the pig was knocked clean off its feet and was slammed into a tree where Tom could hear the crunch of bone as it slammed into the wood.

The pig crashed to the ground and lay there unmoving. Tom stood there for a few minutes, expecting the pig to get up and charge him again at any moment. When it failed to do so, he inched closer and closer to the pig, he finally took the new knife and pricked the thing. When it failed to move again he pricked again. Yet again the pig didn't move. A large silly smile spread across his face and he couldn't help but feel like he had achieved a great accomplishment. He'd taken down a pig that had to be forty pounds. Now how was he going to drag this thing back to Visenya and the camp?

Vesenya's look of stunned shock as Tom walked back to the fire with a forty pig draped over his shoulders would remain in Tom's memory for years. When he dropped the pig to the ground only half an hour after walking into the forest, armed with one side knife, she started to sputter, "How did you...?"

Tom couldn't help but grin at her awe and tease her a bit, "I guess I have a way with animals."

She continued to stare but she didn't comment further.

Tom went back into the forest and a few minute he came back with a trio of long pieces of wood which he tied together into a tripod shape using one of his shoe laces. Then he took the pig by the feet and tied its ankles to the center of the tripod so that he could hang the pig off of the ground.

He took the knife, took a deep breath, and began to carefully and somewhat haltingly prepped the pig, then he made another two tripods using some strips of cloth borrowed from a few of the bodies from the beach. He then set the pig on the impromptu spit and sat back and watched it roast.

As they sat by the fire Tom turned to Visenya and asked her, "Well where do we intend to go tomorrow?"

Visenya was silent for a moment before she replied, "You intend to go with me?"

"Of course," He answered as if it was the simplest thing in the world, "I swore and oath to Aegon that I would find both you and your sister, and to help you in anyway I could. The way I see it, I've only fulfilled part of that oath."

Visenya, stared at Tom and replied, "You truly are going to fulfill your oath?" When Tom nodded in answer, she seemed surprised and somewhat impressed, "There are many men, born into great and noble houses who would never have held to an oath given under such circumstances. Maybe my husband found the best man to entrust Blackfyre to. But do remember that it is only a loan though I promise that this will not be forgotten and House Targaryen will reward you for your services."

Tom shrugged and said, "If a man's word is no good than what good is that man?" He then picked himself up and while helping her to her feet he continued, "I gave an oath and I will fulfill that oath come hell or high water."

She made a slight smile and said, "I am truly in the hands of a proper knight then." Her features then hardened as her eyes glazed over in thought. "I need to get back to Dragonstone. With the fleet, our dragons, and Aegon gone, it won't be long before a raven brings word to the coastal and island lords, especially Driftmark, that Dragonstone has lost it defenders and is open to attack. I need to get back so I can marshal our defenses." She looked to Tom, "You seem to be a strong fellow, I am sure that we could make great use of your services.."

Tom smiled at the complement and bowed saying, "It would be an honor to serve your house, Lady Visenya." All the will Tom was somewhat apprehensive, while it would secure himself a means to support himself, he was worried about what sort of forces would array themselves against the house that must have only until just recently held all of Blackwater Bay in terror of their dragons.

About then the first bit of roasted pig was ready to eat. Tom took his knife and sliced a piece of pig and after allowing it to cool he passed it over to Visenya.

She smiled and said, "Thank-you Ser Tom." She took the meat into her hands and began to eat it with surprising decorum. Tom shrugged his shoulders and sliced a piece for himself. The two of them stuffed themselves on roasted pig and after washing themselves off at the river and getting a drink as well the two them hunkered down for the night and Visenya went to sleep with Tom volunteering to take the first watch. He sat watching the fire crackle for several hours before, the events of the long day finally getting to him, he dropped off to sleep with Blackfyre in his hands.