The Dragon in the North

Jace

High Valyrian is in italics

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During the flight back to Dorne, Daenys suddenly heard a dragon roar. She let Silverwing fly a little slower and looked behind her. She recognised a green dragon there and, as it was still quite small, she knew that it must be her brother Jace's dragon. Vermax flew as fast as he could to catch up. At Silverwing's height, he stopped in mid-air. Silverwing and Vermithor did the same. 'Jace, what are you doing here?' 'I overheard the conversation between you and mother. I'm sorry, I know you're not supposed to eavesdrop, but I couldn't help it. She's acting so weird right now and I really don't know what else to do. She sent Aegon and Viserys away with Rhaena. I don't even know where to go yet. She wants to send me in the direction of the Stepstones. Everyone knows how dangerous it is there and Vermax and I don't stand a chance. Daenys, I want to stay with you and not go back. Mother will send us all to our deaths.' 'All right. You can come with me, but if you're only here to spy for mother, I'll tell you right now that I won't tolerate it.' 'Thank you and no, I'm really not here for mother. I don't think she even knows I'm gone.'

Silverwing and Vermithor continued their flight to Dorne, now with another dragon. Daenys loved her younger brother but would still keep an eye on him. The flight back was quiet as neither of them spoke a word. Daenys thoughts wandered back to the conversation with her mother, but just as she was about to think about what she should do, she realised something: no matter what would happen now, she would fight to the bitter end.

After some time, the three dragons reached Dorne. Silverwing landed next to Meraxes and Daenys climbed off the younger dragoness's back. 'Hello Meraxes, we have an addition. Be nice.' Meraxes let smoke out of her nostrils, as if to say, all right, I'm very nice. Daenys giggled in response. Jace also got off Vermax's back and ran to his sister. 'Isn't it far too dangerous here?' 'No, Dorne is on our side and so we can move around here without worrying.' 'Your sister is special. She has a talent that Rhaenyra doesn't have.' 'Rhaenys, you're alive!' Jace threw his arms around Rhaenys' neck and began to cry. 'We all thought you were dead.' 'You can thank your sister and Vermithor for that. If they hadn't got there in time, Meleys and I wouldn't be alive.' Jace turned to Daenys and at that moment he saw a dragon he never expected to see here. 'Why is Sunfyre here?' 'Oh, that's a long story. But one thing's for sure, he won't hurt you. I'll explain why he's here later.' Daenys turned to her grandmother and started talking. 'How are you?' 'I'm doing great. Meleys is doing much better and Sunfyre is getting stronger too.' 'That's good to hear.' Daenys took a deep breath and as she did so, Rhaenys looked at her with a worried expression. 'Mother has completely lost her mind. She really wanted to get people to claim Vermithor and Silverwing for themselves. That didn't work out at all, of course, and I have to say I was glad Meraxes wasn't there. She would have burnt everything down at that moment. We had a brief conversation at the end in which she said to me that she regretted having me in her life. I really don't know what to do at the moment. Everything is so weird at the moment. I feel like my emotions are running wild.' Jace didn't hear the rest of the conversation as he had walked forward to look around. Rhaenys looked at her granddaughter with concern. 'Daenys, answer me this one question honestly: have you been throwing up a lot recently or have you been feeling very unwell?' Daenys thought for a moment. 'To be honest, yes. I've always tried to keep it a secret from you all. What do you think is wrong with me?' A slight smile formed on Rhaenys' lips.

'You're ....