✶|𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺|✶ 𝘈𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘯 𝘐𝘐𝘐 𝘛𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘦𝘯

✶𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 16✶

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Become a Ghost

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Year 129

Westeros

Starfall, Dorne

The room was quiet except for the occasional rustle of pages and the scratch of quills as Serena and Cassian worked their way through the mountain of books. It had been over an hour, and the stacks beside them only grew taller, their efforts yielding nothing but frustration. Serena sighed deeply, setting down yet another book with a heavy thud.

"This is impossible..." She muttered, rubbing her temples. "There's so much here, and none of it seems to be what we're looking for."

Cassian, seated across from her, glanced up from his own reading. His pile of discarded books had grown even larger than hers. 

"Research is rarely straightforward, my lady..." He said, his voice calm but edged with weariness. "It's not like these books come with a convenient index for solutions to the chaos in Westeros."

Serena rolled her eyes but couldn't help a small laugh. 

"Would it kill the ancient scholars to be a bit more organized?" She teased, leaning back in her chair. "It feels like they wrote half of this just to confuse anyone who'd bother reading it."

"Maybe they did. Keeps the unworthy out, perhaps." Cassian smirked, flipping a page.

For a moment, Serena stared at the high stacks of books, her frustration bubbling beneath the surface. She tapped a finger idly on the table, her thoughts drifting. 

"Cassian..." She started hesitantly, breaking the silence again.

He hummed in response, not looking up from his book.

"Do you think... Vaelis Dayne knew all of this? Like, everything we're reading?" Her voice carried a mix of curiosity and doubt. "I mean, he was the one who brought these books here, wasn't he?"

Cassian finally looked up, closing the book he was holding. He studied her for a moment before responding. 

"Vaelis Dayne..." He said, his tone thoughtful. "It's hard to say what he knew for certain. The fact that he brought all of these texts here suggests he had a keen interest in knowledge, particularly Valyrian knowledge."

"But why?" Serena pressed, leaning forward. "Why would he go to such lengths to bring this here? To hide it?"

Cassian shrugged slightly, though his expression was serious. 

"Maybe he foresaw the value of preserving it. Or maybe he feared that this knowledge could fall into the wrong hands. Either way, Vaelis seemed like a man who understood the weight of what he carried."

Serena nodded slowly, her mind racing. "You know..." She began, her voice quieter. "If it wasn't for him, I might've never known what I could do. If I hadn't found that hidden study of his in the garden, I wouldn't have discovered my powers. Or that these books even existed..."

Cassian tilted his head. 

"You were incredibly lucky to stumble upon it." He said, leaning back in his chair. "Or perhaps it was fate."