The Dragon Of Harrenhal - H.S.

Ābrazȳrys

Earlier that day, Daella had seen Syrax flying in the sky above King's Landing. Earlier that day, Daella had assumed her sister had just decided to take her dragon for a ride as she usually did. After all, after having been locked up in the library the whole morning with her books on High Valyrian, Daella missed the commotion that took over the Red Keep over the disappearance of the princess Rhaenyra. And, really, it hadn't been for the way Rhaenyra had burst into her chambers later that, practically buzzing with energy, Daella was sure she would've been none the wiser to it all.

But of course, Rhaenyra Targaryen would miss the opportunity to tell her sister the - slightly prohibited - adventure she had gone on.

"You went where?" Daella gasped, stopping her sister's rambling as she sat on her bed, watching the way Rhaenyra stood before her, practically bouncing on her feet.

"Dragonstone." She repeated.

"For what reason, exactly?"

"To avoid bloodshed." She said. "I went to retrieve Baelon's egg that our uncle stole."

"For what purpose?" Daella frowned.

"He says he is to have a child." Rhaenyra rolled her eyes. "He says he is to be wed."

"Uncle Daemon is married to lady Rhea Royce." Daella said.

"Officially, yes." Rhaenyra nodded, moving to take a seat beside Daella at the edge of her bed. "But he is known as the Rogue Prince for a reason, hāedar. He follows his own rules. And now that father has named me heir after him, he feels threatened."

"And so you went to meet with him. Talk with him? Reason with him?" Daella frowned. "You? The very object of uncle Daemon's ire."

"I knew he would not hurt me." Rhaenyra said, to which Daella scoffed.

"You knew?" She asked. "You guessed."

"He did not."

"It was stupid of you to go, mandia." Daella said, her words sharp but her tone soft - softer still by the valyrian name, older sister. "You are the heir now, Rhaenyra. The one thing standing between Daemon and the throne. He knows it, I know it, we all know it. You cannot just risk your life like this whenever you feel like it. Especially not for a damn egg."

"It was Baelon's egg." Rhaenyra argued.

"And Baleon's dead." Daella frowned. "And his egg did not hatch. It won't. You know it."

"Hatching or not, this was our brother's egg." Rhaenyra said. "It belongs to us."

"Maybe so." Daella conceded. "But was it really worth it risking your life for it?"

"You sound like father." Rhaenyra sighed heavily, letting herself fall back against her sister's soft bed sheets as Daella let out a laugh and climbed up the bed again to lay sideways beside her sister. "Daemon would not have hurt me."

"We cannot know." Daella insisted.

"He did not."

"A stroke of luck." Daella said, shrugging when Rhaenyra snapped her face in her direction. "Uncle Daemon is unpredictable, Rhaenyra. He is reckless. I mean, stealing the egg of a royal prince, taking Dragonstone, proudly showing off a mistress while married to a noble lady miles away... He is inconsequential. He does not understand the weight of his titles and he does not pay the price of duty."

At her words, Rhaenyra scoffed, looking away from her sister to look up at her four-poster bed instead.

"Sometimes I wish I was more like him." She said, as Daella frowned at her. "Uncaring of the consequences of my duties. Unbound from duty. I mean, I got the title of heir but otherwise, did I gain anything else? I will still have to marry some high lord I barely know and barely like."

"Father would never-"

"Father cannot do anything about it." Rhaenyra interrupted her sister. "He is the king and he is being forced to remarry soon. Can you imagine the pressure there will be for me to marry then?"

"I suppose it is expected of you." Daella admitted, following Rhaenyra's lead and looking up at her bed. "It is expected of all of us. Me, father... All we can do - all we can hope to do, I suppose - is make the best out of our situation as far as our position will allow us."

"I suppose." Rhaenyra gave in then, giving up the fight easily in a way she only ever did with Daella as she turned her face to the side to look at her sister properly. "How do you reckon father will make the best of his situation?"

"Who he will marry, you mean?" Daella asked, looking over at Rhaenyra as well just in time to catch her nod. She shrugged. "I do not know. Mayhaps we will have to wait for his announcement to know."

And just as Rhaenyra was about to say something else, the doors to Daella's chambers were pushed open and in stepped ser Harwin Strong, his eyes attentive as they fell over Daella, who was quick to sit up on her bed and fix her hair as she looked back up at him.

"Forgive me the interruption, princesses." He said, bowing at the pair of them in a way he never would've done had been just him and Daella in the room. "But the King has requested your presence at the Small Council room. Urgently."

"For what purpose?" Daella asked, even if she already moved up from the bed and walked around her chambers in search of some decent shoes.

"An announcement is what they told me, princess." Ser Harwin said, watching the way both sisters exchanged a glance with one another.

"Ābrazȳrys?" Daella asked, speaking one of the very few words Ser Harwin himself had sought out to learn in High Valyrian in a foolish hope of one day, using it properly: wife.

The king was about to announce his new wife, Ser Harwin realized. Or at least, that seemed to be what Daella thought was about to happen. Though juding by the nod from Rhaenyra and the somber look on her face, she too seemed to agree to that statement.

"Ābrazȳrys."