Valaena Fireborn of House Targaryen has been in exile her entire life. Robert's Rebellion twenty years ago forced her and her siblings out of their home to Essos. Valaena was sold to Khal Drogo as his wife so her brother could use her husband's arm...
"A dragon never stops growing, Your Grace, so long as he has food and freedom."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It took me several minutes to find the rooms Kovarro and I were given. My saddlebags on the table across from the bed told me that I had entered the right one. I must have been wandering the halls longer than I thought because the bath was already drawn. I quickly stripped out of my clothes and sank into the hot water.
The heat did wonders for my muscles taut from the cold and sparring match earlier. I hadn't eaten since this morning, but the hot water made my exhaustion more important than finding dinner. I bathed quickly and dried off, climbing under the furs on my bed hastily to avoid the cold in the room. It didn't take long for me to drift off into a peaceful slumber.
The next morning I broke my fast with some bread from the kitchens. I left King Jon's cloak on a chair in my room. I was planning on sparring today and didn't want to get the fine material dirty. I paid for my dresses and hated them. I could bear the sight of dirt stains on them, but not the King's expensive cloak. He let me borrow it, and I wouldn't ruin his trust by damaging it.
Kovarro was sparring with Tormund in the courtyard when I passed by. They were evenly matched, which was surprising given Kovarro's skill in battle. He had trained to be a warrior for most of his life, as had I. Tormund must be a very capable fighter to hold his own against my dothrakhoyi.
Kovarro didn't need my help against Tormund, but I wanted to join them. When they broke apart, I darted in between them and raised an arakh to each of their necks. A sly grin crept across Tormund's face as I dropped my weapons and moved from between them. We formed a small triangle, with both men facing me.
I moved toward Kovarro first. I knew how he fought and would likely be able to defeat him easier than the bearded wildling. However, he had other ideas. Before I had time to make a move, Kovarro placed the side of his arakh on my shoulder and spun me around to face Tormund. Kovarro's boot roughly kicked me in the back, forcing me to stumble towards the red haired man. He would pay for that.
Tormund used the momentary distraction to his advantage. His sword was up near my head in seconds, but I managed to raise an arakh and block his attack. He used one sword while I used two. That should provide an advantage but you could never underestimate your opponent. With a one handed swing, he aimed to slash my belly. I managed to block it, but the amount of strength he put into the attack nearly knocked the blade from my hand.
I took a step back, briefly glancing behind me to make sure Kovarro wouldn't attack me from behind. He was standing nearby watching, so I took it as a sign that I didn't need to be on guard around him just yet. Tormund tried to use the glance against me by hacking at my chest, but I was able to raise an arakh in time and caught his sword in the curve of my own. When he realized such tactics wouldn't work on me, he threw a punch and hit me in the stomach while I was focused on keeping his sword away from me.
