AEMOND I

Dragonstone, the original home of the Targaryen, once a part of old Valyria.

The gargoyles were scary enough during the day, the shadows of twilight made Aemond feel like they were going to come to life and swallow him whole.

The young prince made his way outside the castle to the small village, the hoodie he wore covered half his vision, but it kept him hidden well, or so he believed. He arrived at the docks just as everyone was packing.

"Excuse me." He approached one of the many vendors who reeked of fish. "I would like to buy some fish."

The man looked at him. "How much?"

Aemond pulled a sack about a third of his height. "This much."

The man raised an eyebrow and looked Aemond in the eyes. The prince could only sweat and avert his gaze, this trip was supposed to be him and Aegon learning about his ancestors, not him going out in the night to tame a dragon, Aemond knew if he was discovered he would be sent back to King's Landing, there was a reason his father had never let him tame one of the dragons in Dragonstone, even if Aemond himself didn't know what that reason was.

The man gave a sigh. "Dragonseeds." He grumbled under his breath. "That will be 20 ten silver stags."

Aemond took the coins from a sack around his waist, he had been saving his allowance for this.

The man took the coins and helped the incognito prince fill the sack.

The path to the first cave was simple and not difficult to get to, and unfortunately he found it empty, no problem, there were more caves to be explored.

The second and third proved to be as empty as the first one, but the fourth one wasn't.

"Hello?" Screamed the prince into the cave. "Is anyone there?"

There was, black scales slowly made its way out of the darkness, the piercing green eyes staring into the prince's soul.

"Lyka, lyka." Aemond said, the beast stared at him before opening its mouth.

"Lykiri! Lykiri!" Aemond screamed before throwing the sack of fish to the beast who closed its mouth and stared at it.

Aemond could fill his heart pounding with anticipation.

Thankfully the beast took it and went back to its cave.

Aemond breathed a sigh of relief before emptying his stomach on the grass out of fear, maybe tomorrow he could find sheepstealer or Grey Ghost.

-- The next night Aemond did the same, fish, sack, and explore. He had asked about the wild dragons to Rhaenyra, but she didn't seem very keen on answering his questions about them, so the prince was forced to trial and error his way into taming his dragon, he went to four different caves and found nothing, the fifth was larger, he went inside it and found nothing, on his way out he heard the sound of wings, could one of the dragons be returning?

Aemond hid away, he saw black scales.

But he had seen the Cannibal in a different cave yesterday, didn't dragons live in only one cave?

The Cannibal hadn't been very happy the last time he saw it.

The prince stayed hidden behind a rock, his breath threatening to give him away so he covered his mouth.

After a few seconds the prince looked once more and was met with green eyes.

The prince screamed and went to the ground, the beast looked at him, and then to the fish, the beast huffed smoke at the prince and took the fish.

Aemond watched as the beast went away… And he had an idea.

– The Dragonstone library was a treasure of learning. Aemond read many books that spoke of dragons and their diets, dragons can eat anything, but they prefer cooked meat. Most dragons in old Valyria had a diet composed of caddle, sheep and fish.

When one book failed to tell him what dragons liked most he would move on to a different one until he found. "The Origins of dragon riding." Rhaenyra's voice made Aemond jump.

"Didn't mean to scare you, brother." She said while looking at the book in his hands. "All dragon keepers must read this book, do you have aspirations to be a dragon keeper, brother?"

"I… maybe? I don't know yet."

"You should, you may find that the position would suit you." She stated while studying him. "Your domain over High Valyrian is impressive for your age."

"Thank you. I will keep that in mind." He said hurriedly before leaving to his room with the book.

The first few pages talked about the life of Aurion, the first dragon rider, his family was made of shepherds, but Aurion had bigger dreams, they say that he found a small dragon inside of a cave, but unlike his brothers and sisters, who would run upon seeing such beasts, he did not, Aurion shared a sheep with the dragon and every night he would come and eat sheep with the dragon.

One day raiders from Ghiz came and began to ransack the small shepherd village. In order to save his home, Aurion went to the dragon and begged it for help, the beast allowed Aurion to mount it, and together they burned the raiders to ash.

That was only one tale, as many others existed, but they all began with the information that the Valyrians were once shepherds who went on to control dragons and then conquer the world.

– With the information in mind Aemond bought a goat from a shepherd on the island, he was pretty sure the woman charged him a lot more than what the goat was worth, but he wasn't in a position to haggle with her.

The goat was certainly not helping as it continuously thrashed against the rope being used to pull it.

It was only in the seventh cave that he found the Cannibal.

"Rysta." He greeted the beast. "Nyke maghagon nykeā irudy." (I brought a gift.)

He struggled against the goat, but managed to tie it to a stick he shoved on the ground to make a pole.

Aemond took a few steps back and the beast approached the pole.

The goat screamed, pulled and struggled, but it was for nothing. The Cannibal's green flames engulfed the goat then the beast swallowed it whole.

Aemond approached the Cannibal, the dragon looked at him… and then went back to its cave.

– For a week Aemond did much the same, he even decided to ignore Sheepstealer in favor of finding and placing all his efforts into the Cannibal.

The beast ate its goat outside today instead of bringing it inside like it always did. Aemond approached slowly. He reached his arm and brushed against the scales only for it to move back and make the prince flinch back and nearly fall.

The beast then took the rest of its meal to its cave and left the prince behind.

– A month had gone by, and tomorrow they would leave first thing in the morning, it was either now or never, he approached the cave. A storm was forming, chances are that if he returned to the castle without a dragon it would be in the middle of the rain. He tied the goat down and called for the beast.

The cannibal emerged and went for the goat, burning it and beginning to feast. Over time the Cannibal allowed the prince to touch it and even shared goat meat with Aemond, but the prince would rather not eat dragon toasted goat again.

Aemond touched the dragon's hide. "Dohaeris. Dohaeris." Aemond screamed, the beast looked at him and the prince felt euphoric. "Demās." (Sit down)

The dragon laid down and Aemond climbed on its wing then to its back. "Sōvēs."

The Cannibal got up and began to run, Aemond held tight on the spikes of the dragon as it took flight.

Up and up they went to the clouds, Aemond felt himself slipping as the spikes became wet. "PAERĪ! PAERĪ!" (SLOW! SLOW!)

The prince couldn't see anything in front of him, just clouds and rain as the dragon advanced towards the skies until they went above the clouds.

The sun shined against the wet dragonrider, the cold wind not bothering him for the dragon's heat kept him protected, Aemond scratched the Cannibal's back. "Bisa iksōs gevie." (This is beautiful.)

Together they enjoyed the view until sundown, at which point it was time to return, the storm had mostly left.

Slowly the dragon descended. "Ninkiot." Aemond commanded as they landed near the castle, bringing the attention of the guards and kingsguard.

"Ser Harrold! Send a message to my father, I'm a dragon rider now!"