Velaryon: A Game of Thrones Fan Fiction

Homecoming - Rhaena

[A/N: If anyone has read Rhaena's first chapter, you might notice this is the same track, 'Breaker of Chains'. That track has been moved to this one and her first chapter now has 'Before the Old Gods'. Thank you all for 3k reads as well! :D]

     "Go ahead and tell Lord Daemon I am here." Rhaena pauses, looking up at the large castle of her birth. "No doubt he wants to see me." She continues to the Stark soldier sworn to protect her. He bows before mounting his horse and riding away quickly.

     "Yes, my Lady."

     As he hurries off, Rhaena closes her eyes and inhaled the misty ocean air deeply. He will no doubt want to see her immediately. She has heard nothing of her brother or Driftmark since she had fled that dark night almost two years ago now. She has matured and grown stronger than she could have hoped and she found herself wishing the same for her brother. In her absence, she thought little of him and even less so of their mother, but when she had thought of him, she pondered every possibility of why he had treated her like he did. It was sudden, she now understands. She remembers how they had spent every day in their youth together and how he was the second to hold her after she was born. Every day, they laughed and climbed the seaweed covered rocks outside the castle. He opted to teach her history instead of their maester and taught her all he knew about Westeros and it's Houses. He was five years older and didn't understand much himself at the time. Then one day, he changed. He was in his sixteenth year, and she her eleventh. It's when he taught her of their Targaryen descent and kissed her. Now, looking back, it seemed planned and he seemed as confused as her.

     She opens her eyes when another of Jon's soldiers speaks. "Lady Rhaena?" She turns her head to him slightly. "Are you alright?" She smiles and nods once.

     "I am fine. Let us head out. This is the only town we need to pass through to get to the castle and I know the shortcuts." One soldier moves swiftly to her and helps her to mount her horse. With her growing belly, she hates how she could no longer simply vault onto her silver mare. Now she needs to be hoisted onto it like she was old and frail. As the other soldiers mount around her, she leads them through the only town on Driftmark where all travelers must pass after docking to reach the Lord - the town of Pearl's Eye.

     The town has always been far from quiet. Being the only town with a freely accessible docks, it was always bustling with people and traders who sought out unique goods only Driftmark had to offer - like pearls. She and her few guardsmen stride into the town and some townspeople instantly recognize her. "My Lady." They said, with some even shocked and relieved to see her. "Is it really her..?" Rain pulls up the hood on her cloak to avoid further attention drawn by her silver hair and lilac eyes. The guards will give it away further, but for now it would suffice. Those who looked up at her had glints of hope in their eyes and relief she would never understand. What happened while she was gone?

     Did Daemon raise the taxes on the poor? Has he executed the meager thieves trying to support their families? Their mother must still have her claws in him and they must have dug deeper. She is the true ruler here, with Dae as nothing but a puppet.

     The castle of Driftmark grows closer and closer. The seagulls that fly high above them cry louder even when the party reaches the great wooden doors of the castle. Great pillars of mossy green and pale white stone that touch the clouds. Towers and halls she ran through as a child. She laughed and danced in these halls decorated with waves sculpted into the hard, cold, bluish stone. Crashing waves and gentle waves alike woven into the walls that gave the appearance and feel of being in an underwater castle. As she walks with her guards, she can hear the echos of her past self laughing or crying or screaming.

     Down that hall is the way to the stables, she recalls. She knows because she took that path everyday to be with her pale mare. And after, she had to know which path to avoid completely. The memory of what happened there terrifies her still.