Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken [Aegon Targaryen]

CHAPTER TWO - MUTUAL RESPECT

IT WAS AN ENTIRE WEEK BEFORE ANOTHER DRAGON ARRIVED AT SUNSPEAR. Sarella had been correct in saying that the other sister, Visenya, would be the queen who came next.

This dragon was smaller, but the rider more commanding. Her hair was bound in braids to keep it away from her face and she wore mail and a longsword at her side. Now this queen, this queen was more like Sarella than she cared to admit.

"Princess Sarella Martell," Visenya Targaryen began as she climbed off of her dragon, "you are to bend the knee, by order of your king."

"I will tell you what I told your sister, dragon. Dorne has no king. Not on this day, nor any other."

"We do not wish to kill you or your people, Princess." Visenya was more serious than her sister, her purple eyes cold as ice, yet burned into her like a raging fire at the same time. This, Sarella suspected, is what a dragon looked like up close.

"And I do not wish to kill you or yours. But we do not kneel. As long as House Nymeros Martell stands and even after, we will be Unbowed, Unbent, and Unbroken." Sarella shared a look with each of her companions, Myles and Jayne and even timid Lena, before turning her eyes back to Visenya. "I would speak with your king, if he would pay us a visit. I would see this conqueror myself, I think."

"I will pass along the message. If he declines, Princess, this will have been your last chance. The next time I am here, it will be to kill you."

Sarella's fingers ghosted over the pommel of her longsword, and she glanced up at the other woman, a mischievous gleam in her dark eyes. "Or, I will kill you." A challenging smirk formed on her lips.

"You can try," Visenya replied, even going so far as to offer a small smile. "You have spirit, Princess, and you are brave. A good leader, truly, and you have earned my respect."

"And you have earned mine," Sarella responded truthfully. "It would be a pity to have to kill you."

"And you, Princess." Sarella nodded her head in farewell, watching the Targaryen queen go. Once she mounted her dragon and flew off, Sarella turned her attention back to her friends.

"It seems as if you get on well with dragons, sister," Myles commented cheekily. "And they say that Visenya is solemn and cold."

"If we were not nearly in a war, perhaps you would be friends," Lena said, holding her hands up in surrender when everyone gave a stern look. "I said if we were not nearly in a war."

"Perhaps, Lena, perhaps."

But next Aegon will come himself, or we will all perish. No, he will come. What will he gain in killing us?

Be a strong leader, Sarella, she reminded herself. They need you to be.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts and managed a grin. "Come on, then. Stop moping. They are of no consequence yet, and we have other things to attend to."

"Yes, Princess," Lena and Jayne said.

"Myles, if you would go attend to the training in the yard. Jayne, please go with him, the archers need help desperately. Lena, if you could come with me. I have a few things to attend to that will require some help."

"Of course. Lead the way," Lena answered with a smile.

And so they went about their daily tasks, the looming threat of the Conqueror and his sisters pushed to the back of their minds. It had to be, for they had their own people to worry about. The people of Dorne came first, always, and in all of the small tasks they completed that day, was protecting it and everyone in it.