Hello !
Another chapter coming in ! Thank you for sticking after this long break, thanks for the reviews, the comments, the follows ...
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Obviously, I own a computer, some books and even a cat. However, I own nothing in the Inheritance Cycle and Game of Thrones franchise. They do belong to Christopher Paolini and G.R.R Martin.
Without further ado, here comes the chapter !
The agreement between the North and Daenerys brought an end to their time in Dragonstone. Jon had wanted to go back to the North as quickly as possible to create a safe route to carry all the resources to Winterfell and the decision to leave was swiftly taken.
Soon, it was time to depart. While Eragon would have preferred to stay in Dragonstone to learn more about the Targaryen family and their dragons, he had to respect Jon's wishes. Eragon had been the one to bring them here, and he couldn't decently let them fend for themselves to go back to Winterfell without a boat. It frustrated him but there was little he could do.
However, Jon had some plans that would go in Eragon's favour. Instead of going directly to Winterfell, Jon had asked if they could go to White Harbour, where the northern ships were located. By going there first, Jon expected to ship dragonglass quicker to Winterfell, where it would be brought to be forged and moulded into weapons. A naval route had been deemed the quickest to carry the precious mineral.
Eragon would drop Jon and Davos in White Harbour before going back to Dragonstone. Saphira was quicker than any raven, and she would allow the two leaders to quickly reach the port city to start the construction of the back and forth between White Harbour to Dragonstone. They would also have to finalise the shipment from there to Winterfell. But as Jon had pointed out, this last part would probably be the safest since the North was relatively free of mercenaries during winter. Afterwards, the two leaders would probably go on their own to Winterfell and perhaps to the Wall and start to organise the defence. Eragon's -and mostly Saphira's- help wouldn't be needed at this point.
If everything went well, the first shipment would be loaded within three weeks, a gain of a few weeks had they been without Saphira. The rest was up to the Northern's efficiency and logistics.
Their packing had been rapid since they hadn't brought a lot but Jon was bringing back what he had desperately needed: a deal for dragonglass. Eragon saw that part of the tension around Jon's shoulders had faded, an opinion also shared by Davos. Nevertheless, the young man was still very reserved and kept worrying about the future of the North. He had found the resources to fight this war. Now, he would have to find the soldiers to fight it.
The climate and atmosphere in Dragonstone had also changed in the past few days with the recent news of the Greyjoy's defeat at sea. The news had been as sudden as it had been painful to Daenerys. Varys had entered the throne room to privately deliver a message to the Queen. This was a normal occurrence, and it wasn't unusual for him to come two or three times during a single day. However, the way Daenerys' face had blanched indicated this was anything but a good news.
She had quickly interrupted her activities and Varys had taken its leaves quickly.
Tyrion had shared the news moments later, allowing him to understand her reaction since he had been reading in the back of the room at this moment.
She had isolated herself a few hours in her room, refusing to let anyone enter. The dragons had felt the sadness of their mother, and the island of Dragonstone had resonated with the cries of the three dragons during a whole afternoon, consequence of this bond not fully formed between dragons and rider. This had made the decision to leave only more difficult for Eragon and Saphira.
Standing close to her counsellors and a few Unsullied, Daenerys felt her chest constrict. She had grown fond of Eragon, Jon and their friends. A breath of fresh air in this political desert. The news from Ellaria Sand and Yara Greyjoy still hurt and she was at a loss. Olenna Tyrell had advised her to be a dragon, but what was that supposed to mean? Her whole life, she had had a vague idea of what it meant to be a dragon that had been taught by her brother. He had been ruthless, wild, harsh in his decisions.
Eragon and Saphira had shattered this image. They were strong, immensely strong, and she doubted anyone had seen in Westeros the full extent of their capacities. And still, they were patient, listened and made sound advice. It confused her, more than she would care to admit.
Jon would probably advise a solution related to honour or something equally foolish, while Eragon would probably talk to Saphira before reaching an unusual solution that might go against everything she had prepared.
But soon, she would have to decide without them. She'd have to rely on Tyrion and Varys, the latter who she trusted less and less; she couldn't completely trust the man who had offered his service to different kings.
She was supposed to be surrounded by her advisors, but they kept disappearing. Grey Worm had left to capture Casterly Rock, the Sands and Yara Greyjoy had been captured, Olenna Tyrel went back to Highgarden and Jorah Mormont was gods know-where.
Tyrion was often of good counsels, but lacked some information. He had been the one to advise the Greyjoy departure, just like he had supervised these poor negotiations in Slaver's Bay. But he understood most of what was happening, was more knowledgeable on Westeros than she cared to admit and thus made a good Hand, as he had proved by bringing Jon and Eragon to her even if she knew that part of this success was pure luck. It was during these moments that she missed Jorah Mormont and his sound advice.
She had taken time to think about his betrayal. It had hurt, and it still pained her. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find a moment where his advice or actions had sabotaged her plans. He had spied on her, broken her trust. But never had his counsels been wrong, which was more than what she could say about the others.
Still, for a short period of a few days, she had felt that she was with people who understood what was happening. People who understood exactly how she felt towards her dragons. But also, how she felt, alone, without any family or judged because of her parents. Eragon and Maudria had both an aura of power and wisdom surrounding them, while Jon Snow looked like the personification of brooding, which spoke of someone who had grown up alone, surrounded by family but unable to completely call them as such.
But Daenerys' musings came to an end when the small delegation stopped walking around. She had unconsciously followed their steps, lost in her own thoughts. They were present to properly see the departure of their guests and they were back in the fields surrounding the castle, where they had also arrived a few weeks ago. This was also where she had been taught to connect to Drogon during many afternoons.
Their goodbyes were much less frosty than their welcome. She took the opportunity to have a look around. With the absence of many of her Unsullied and some Ironborn, the island had grown more silent and was much less crowded. But she knew that the coming departure would be more felt than the departure of her army of Unsullied for instance.
Her dragons were present and stood close to Saphira. There was no hostility coming from them. They too had felt the coming departure of Saphira, and she was certain that she felt part of their disappointment through their bond. Or was it her own?
This bond made her wonder about all the small changes that operated in only a few weeks. Some were more obvious than others. For instance, they could feel part of each other's emotions like she could now. But some had been more discrete, and Daenerys thought that only her, and maybe Eragon, could spot them. She had noticed that Viserion had better control of his wings and Rhaegal was more agile in the air. He had always been the most graceful in the air but she had recently seen him perform figures she had never thought possible!
All these progresses had been made possible thanks to Eragon and Saphira, and she was at a loss about their relationship.
She couldn't deny that their unique relation was something she craved to develop with Drogon. Their bond was already stronger thanks to the few lessons they had had, but they still had a long way to go. Feeling her children's affection had affected her deeply. In the comfort of her bedroom, when she had tried it fully for the first time, she had been overwhelmed. The love she had felt from her children had brought tears to her eyes. But she had also heard their cries of worry the day she had learnt of Yara's capture.
Still, she felt uneasy about the vow Eragon wanted. She had witnessed first-hand how much damage magic could produce in the hand of someone trusted too easily, and if she was right, Eragon was infinitely more dangerous and powerful than Mirri, the witch who had killed her unborn child.
So far, Eragon hadn't offered any suspicion but she couldn't help to be cautious. Her family had a lot of enemies in Westeros and the North wasn't the place where she expected to find lots of strong allies. He hadn't made any mention of the Ancient Language recently, but they both knew it was a thorn in their studies and their trust.
Continuing her silent observations, she noticed Saphira, who had been saddled and was curled in the grass. The leather was of quality and she had never seen such exquisite work in Westeros or in Essos, and yet she knew Dothrakis took great pride with anything related to their horses, including the saddle. She couldn't even fathom the idea to try this with Drogon, but Saphira looked calm and was instead eying her three dragons.
The four mighty creatures had found their leadership, with Saphira being the leader and Drogon acting an intermediate for Rhaegal and Viserion.
Saphira must have felt her because her gaze shifted and her two deep blue eyes focused on her for a few seconds. It always unsettled Daenerys, unsure on how to react whenever she saw the wisdom and intelligence shining in the dragon's eyes.
"Trust your instincts but remember to take into account all the advice. You are a dragon, and we bow to no one, but that doesn't mean we don't listen," came the deep voice of the blue dragon inside her mind.
Except for her small shivering, nothing betrayed the silent exchange which had just happened. But she saw the gaze of Saphira on her and she discreetly nodded to the great dragon, silently thanking her for her sound advice before the blue dragon turned her attention back to Eragon and Daenerys was left to ponder on her advice.
In her own thoughts, she also caught Jon also looking at the dragons with a concerned and pensive look. She had seen this look on his face a lot in the past days but he had refused to tell her the reasons of his troubles when asked and her own activities had stopped her from overthinking on this. She expected that his thoughts were related to the edge her dragons could offer against the dead.
Next to him, Eragon was chatting with Tyrion and both had a genuine smile on their face. Since their adventure together in the skies, Tyrion had started to get friendly with Eragon and wouldn't accept any negative remark towards the Rider, which irked Varys to no end.
Finally, noticing her presence, Eragon and his friend Maudria came to formally greet her, bringing an end to her internal observation. It was quite formal but the tensions had been eased between them for a long time now. She was surprised by how graceful and sincere their farewell sounded. Jon and Davos came after, with a more formal and stiffer goodbye but she wasn't overly bothered by it.
She was confident that their opinion on her had changed and she hoped that her decision to let them mine the resources on her island for free would bring some support for the conquest of the Throne later on. Tyrion wasn't very optimistic but as she had pointed out, dragonglass was utterly useless for them and no one had ever found any use for it before Jon Snow had come.
As soon as the two northerners started to walk in their direction, her three dragons left but she saw some reluctance from Rhaegal. She hadn't forgotten about his attack on Jon but Eragon hadn't made any worrying comment about his behaviour.
She was grateful no one had been hurt or her conquest would have become a lot harder with the death of the King in the North, burnt alive by one of her dragons.
Once again lost in her own thoughts, she hadn't seen them getting on Saphira. The blue dragon didn't seem to be bothered by the four people on her back while she knew how complicated it would be to let other people mount Drogon.
Saphira opened her wings, brushing the grass on a large radius around her. Seconds later, she was gone. There was no sign of a recent departure: no horse noises nor boats you could follow on the horizon.
Sometimes, the biggest creatures were also the most silent.
This is the end of the chapter! I hope you've enjoyed it! This wasn't the longest nor the most action but it was necessary to set everything in place. There's only one line of dialogue here.
As always, reviews and critics are appreciated! A good incentive to publish faster! Critics help me a lot to improve and adapt! I try to answer all your messages and take them into account! Can we reach 10 reviews ? That would be amazing!
Thank you all and stay safe!