Born in Flames || Game of Thrones

Chapter XXXVIII ''King's Landing''

Theon and his crew set sail the same day they arrived at Dragonstone. It was already late in the evening, but Visenya stood on the cliff and watched the ship leave the port. She kept thinking about whether she should have at least given him more men, but no... The Ironborn would do best in their own company, and she needed her army with her. Part of her fleet has already sunk, attacked by Euron Greyjoy, and another part should soon dock in the port of Meereen and take the remainder of her army to Westeros. But it will still take at least four months... Until then, she has to make do with what she has.

She shouldn't have any problem with this, considering she has the support of Dorne and the Tyrells. And dragons.

Yes, dragons... They all found a place to sleep for the night near where she was standing. Viserion lay closest, because his head was almost resting against - or rather nearly crushing - her feet.
Not so long ago they were so small... They used to lay on her lap, cuddle up to her, and before that they even climb on her. Now the roles were reversed, she relied on them more than they on her. However, this did not change the fact that she still saw them as her children, perhaps the only ones she would ever have.

She stroked Viserion's head as he slowly blinked his eyes, slowly falling asleep. She leaned down and kissed the top of his head before turning to do the same to the rest of the dragons. Then she noticed that Robb was standing quite far away - at a safe distance - looking at her.

"Are you afraid?!" she exclaimed. She didn't move from her place. She smiled and pointed to the beast lying next to her. "It's Viserion." then she pointed at the green one. "Rhaegal is there. And there's Drogon and Maelia." here she pointed at a black and a white dragon lying next to each other. But she still didn't take even a step forward, as if inviting Robb to come to her.

"Who wouldn't be afraid?" he replied, but took a step closer, even though he wasn't sure if he wanted to approach.

He had no confidence that Visenya was able to control them all, that one of them wouldn't suddenly attack him. Like Grey Wind, he reacted on his own when he felt that Robb might be in danger. He was terrifying enough, especially when he was up to his waist and still growing, and these... beasts were so much bigger. When Visenya was sitting on the back of one of them, she was barely visible. And they probably kept growing too, as if they weren't already scary enough.

"You don't have to be afraid. Come." she encouraged him with a nod of her head. Her smile widened a little when she saw Robb slowly taking steps. "They won't hurt you, I promise. They listen to me"

It wasn't entirely true, but he didn't need to know that. They usually didn't do anything against her, they never hurt any of her friends, but they kept their untamed nature. She never forgot how the charred bones of a child were brought to her in Meereen. She promised herself it wouldn't happen again, but she couldn't keep the dragons locked up - that's what she swore to herself as well. She will not make the mistake of her ancestors.

Robb wondered why people called her the 'Mother of Dragons'. She didn't give birth to them, did she? Then why is she called their mother? It sounded more like a title designed for self-aggrandizement rather than making any real sense. Why did she talk about them as her children? The story talked a lot about the Targaryens and their dragons, but there was no mention of this bond being parent-child like. It was deep, but not like this.

Just like he didn't understand why she was called 'The Unburnt'. This must be some kind of metaphor, right? Just something to do with her origins or dragons, right?

"They're still animals. You never know what they'll do." he said, but moved even closer until he was standing two steps away from her.

It was practically night, and when he went out for a walk, he didn't expect to find her. If he were to look for her, he would say that she was probably already in her chambers and getting ready for bed. But here she stood before him, illuminated only by the moonlight. It matched her silver hair perfectly, giving her an even more unique, almost magical look.