Bone Daughter

Memories of Blood

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Three mornings had passed since Vaenya's return and most of her family had chosen to ignore her just the way they did all those years, except for Daenys and her brother Gaemon who invited her for breakfast every morning. But Vaenya never showed. Because every morning, she would be out by the armoury practicing and every morning, the entire entourage of Dragonstone would stare at her as if they'd seen a ghost.

Vaenya was out in the shooting ring when she drew her first arrow against the rising sun. It blinded her but she knew exactly where her arrow was aiming and it hit its mark dead centre. Dead. With lighting speed, she drew more two more and fired them across the other targets circling the ring, all met their marks with lethal consequence. Dead. And Dead. The archer of the lord's guard watched her elegant movements with silent admiration. Vaenya was about to go for another round but loosened her grip instead. Without having to turn around, she knew someone had entered the ring with her.

"I was wondering when you'd find the courage to talk me," she lowered her bow and turned to Fenor. He embraced her with a brotherly warmth. "The miracle of your return is something one must contemplate deeply. I still wouldn't believe it myself if you weren't standing right in front of me this instance, lady of Dragonstone," he answered her with a silent bow. Vaenya retorted with a simple smile. Fenor always knew his way around words and silent truths. "I think my brother would strongly disagree on that title."

"Perhaps, but the bloodline speaks for itself in that regard," Fenor insisted. But Vaenya didn't answer with a smile this time. "I didn't return to rule, Fenor," it was different saying those words to him. Him who had always supported her and the plans he and Aeron once had for their people and this kingdom. Another promise she wouldn't see through.

"I have no desire to lead an army West and claim that stupid chair," she continued with a certainty that there was no changing her mind. Fenor already knew everything she just told him the day she returned on Varec's back. He could see it in her eyes that burned with a different kind of flame now and in the way she aimed her arrows at those targets. Merciless and without hesitation. Something stronger than heart commanded her action now. Something much stronger entirely.

"And where do your armies lead my lady?" he pulled one of her arrows from a target with a wit in his voice that told Vaenya he already knew her answer to that question as well. "East," she said with the weight of a promise. Fenor returned to her with a silent smile. As if he expected nothing less. "Follow me then, I'll have to show you something."

Far, far down the dungeon tower he'd led her. Deep beneath what felt like the heart of the earth when a labyrinth of secret tunnels emerged underneath the prisoner cells. Starring down the unknown abyss, all light was swallowed by brutal darkness at once. It was quiet, unnervingly quiet. Even the roar of a dragon would fade on its way to the surface from here. Vaenya wondered if this was where they locked away the worst of their enemies. She had never been down here, didn't even knew such a place existed within their walls. And until now, she believed to have known this castle better than herself. Fenor guided her down one of the tunnels, the world behind them slowly deserting. Vaenya had to control her breathing as all of this struck a familiar nerve. It took a great deal of self-control to remind her that this wasn't Volantis. Those weren't the same steps of the tower that held her hostage. This wasn't the steel grave they intended for her to rot in until her flame would finally give out. This was a different darkness. One that belonged to a friend. A friend who understood the silence between her words and the gruesome intentions that rose from the most fragile places inside her.

A single torchlight was the only light source guiding them through the labyrinth of dark stone. The tunnel bend here and there, unforeseen edges and sharp corners kept Vaenya on her toes until the onyx tinted walls were caressed with strange translucent blue light. The aquatic flow of the light beams was mesmerising and unable to ignore. As someone who was born from fire, Vaenya always favoured water. It calmed her, calmed her in her very soul. Water could be harsh but not in the way fire was. And the fundamental difference between the two was the fact that water rebirthed as much as it destroyed. How many times had Vaenya pictured herself pushing off her little float towards the Narrow sea and let the tides take her during those years in her cell. Leaving all her sorrow and guilt behind on a land that didn't define her anymore. Letting the water drown all her doubts and demon whispers as she'd become once with the horizon. And found herself at peace at last.