twin flames | daemon targaryen

thirty-five

"It truly has been too long since we have last been under the same roof."

Rhaella held back a sigh and turned away from the waters of the Blackwater Bay to look at her sister. Under the golden glow of the rising sun, her sister truly looked like the Realm's Delight with her glistening violet eyes and a hopeful smile on her lips. Rhaella struggled to keep her apprehension at bay.

The next day had come, bringing with it promises of dragons and adventures. Rhaella could practically smell it in the air alongside the smoke drifting down from the Dragonmont and the sea salt spraying up in the air from the rocky waves below the castle of Dragonstone.

Viserra and Elaena had kept Rhaella up half the night begging her for stories about Gaelith and her adventures with Daemon and Caraxes. Normally, Rhaella would have sent her daughters back to their rooms as was proper, but it was the first time that it had just been her and her little girls together without Daemon or their other siblings.

Rhaella knew that after today, one way or another, her daughters would be dragonriders. While the Peaceful Princess could not be more excited for her daughters to experience such a bond, part of her was sad that her little girls wouldn't need her so much anymore.

No matter how she tried to stop it, time kept marching on. That fact was clear as she looked up at Rhaenyra then. Seven sons and four daughters, three marriages, and a lifetime of memories were between them. They were once the best of friends and the best of sisters, yet the eight years of silence between them had rendered them strangers.

"It has been," Rhaella said lamely to Rhaenyra, wrapping her cloak tighter around her as the wind whipped past her. The older woman hummed, fiddling with her fingers in front of her. They stood like that for several moments, the sisters too awkward and afraid to talk once more. Then, Rhaella took the leap.

"Simon is very sweet," The Peaceful Princess said. "He has the Targaryen fire in him but also Harwin's kindness. I wish that, despite our differences at the time, I had been able to be there for you during the birth.

"I do as well," Rhaenyra replied, smiling gently. "But truth be told, Simon was my easiest labor compared to my older sons. I can only pray that the next time I am with child, I can have such an experience."

"I hope so," Rhaella agreed, though her heart was in turmoil. She knew that it would not be the case, no matter how much they prayed.

"Simon reminds me of you, little sister," Rhaenyra continued with a small laugh. "And perhaps some of our mother in his gentleness."

The two sisters shared a smile, both happy that memories of their mother lived on in their children. Aemma Arryn's absence, even all these years later, weighed heavily on her daughters, haunting their dreams and filling their minds with what-ifs.

"Elaena and Viserra seem to be the perfect mix of you and Daemon with muña's Arryn blue eyes. I have never seen hair as white as theirs before," Rhaenyra said.

"Rhaenys said that her father Aemon used to have hair of the same shade," Rhaella said, remembering the stories Rhaenys had shared of how her father's hair looked translucent it was so white. Rhaenys had said that while the twins shared Aemon's hair, they could not be more different. While Aemon had been serious and quiet, Elaena and Viserra were full of life and mischief.

"Well, Simon has become very taken with them," Rhaenyra said. "He could not stop talking last night about the stories they shared of their adventures on Driftmark. Did they truly dye Damion's hair black?"

Rhaella grimaced at the memory. It had happened a year before. From what she and Daemon had found out in the aftermath, Damion had accidentally broken the seahorse figurines Lord Corlys had gifted Elaena and Viserra for their name day.