Capítulo 23: Valyrian Festival
It took a whole week for Kael to return to the camp from his trip to the center of the island. He didn't really attack any settlement, with a dragon in hand all he could do is burn and destroy, being alone would be a challenge to take over even with Neltharion as deterrence.
He did, however, manage to have aggressive diplomacy with a few scattered men that he found roaming around the Greenlands, but he decided to give it another official name, he also decided the name of his new kingdom, the name Skagos would be forever erased from the world after his takeover.
What is aggressive diplomacy one might ask? Well, when it comes to Kael it means finding people, using Neltharion to scare the bejesus out of them, and forcing them to answer questions or else they might get lost one day and find themselves inside a dragon's stomach. Kael was smart enough to pick single targets, he didn't really go for the kill or anything, those would be his future people and killing civilians just because he could, would cause more harm than good, just ask Daenerys Targaryen.
It was easier with single targets, they would undoubtedly go to the village-castle named Deepdown, Seat of House Crowl, and spread the word, but who would believe a single man? Even if they did, the fact that he survived at least would show those with a bit of a brain that the Dragonrider didn't come to destroy.
House Crowl was already in shambles, they were the first to have contact with his men, way before he even got to the island, before that damn Conclave even! Those peasants were no threat.
His biggest achievement was that he was able to map most of the area, the surface of the Greenlands was completely drawn on a map and showed key known tunnels that had access to the outside world.
Leaving this place was one of the hardest things for Kael to do, not because he didn't want to or because this place was beautiful, but because of his damn dragon. Neltharion didn't want to leave here at all! It took him a whole day to make Neltharion see reason, a Targaryen King once said "The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion", or will say in the future.
Once he returned to the camp outside, the first thing he did was order a horde of slaves to bring massive amounts of food for Neltharion, the dragon was very grumpy. Then he informed Aren Tharn and his men of his discovery. Everyone was shocked and ecstatic, the idea that such a perfect place existed in this iceberg called an island was a great relief for them.
During his week away, Aren and his men managed to take over Kingshouse, and he just got a message a day prior that they reached Driftwood Hall. Kael was also surprised by what they encountered in the western part of the island, a whole bloody forest of Weirwood trees that created what looked like a 'bubble' around the area, where no snow would taint the ground, keeping the rocky but green area perfect for a settlement.
Kingshouse, on the other hand, was as ordinary as one would think, the one thing they had was easy access to the shivering sea, with no pirates whatsoever, their whaling ships brought more food than they needed, except during harsh winters of course. Their superiority over the other two places was their contact with the world outside Skagos. Kingshouse could import goods and resources from both White Harbor and Bravos almost unimpeded, which made their houses warmer and better built, their walls thicker, and House Magnar had a proper Castle, unlike the Crowls that lived in houses of a stone-built first floor with wooden second and third floors, with flat roofs, and most buildings had two or three stores high. As the Stanes who had their settlement built on mainly wood and thatch ceilings, most single story with only the "Castle" having two floors.
If put in Skyrim terms, Deepdown would be similar to Riften, Driftwood Hall would be similar to Falkreath and Kingshouse would be Dawnstar. 'Perhaps I should rename them that in the future…' he thought as he kept writing the details about the island in a leather-covered book so his sister would have access to his findings once she arrived.
The number of Children of the Forest prisoners also increased during his absence, currently they had three and ten Children of the Forest locked in chains, with at least seven to ten more to arrive from Driftwood Hall. Kael made sure to spread the word to capture every single one of them that they find and to report the location of every 'Pale White Tree with Blood Colored Leaves that had a Face carved on it' that they find, and guess what, he already had the location of at least six different ones, three of which Aren went himself to check out and reported that none of them were as big as the one in the hidden grove so far.
Today was a special day for his people, they were all in an empty area inside the safety of their walls while everyone around was drinking and feasting, singing and playing Golden Pot.
"My Lord!" Said Aren as he approached Kael with a huge smile while carrying a barrel on his shoulders.
After placing it down, Aren brought two tankards and filled them with dark Valyrian stout, and handed one to Kael. "Merry Dragon-Flame Festival my Lord!"
Kael in return started laughing "Aye, honestly I had no idea that we had a festival for the first day of the new year."
"Oh? So, the stories were true? That you lost your memory almost a year ago?" Asked Aren while drinking from his tankard.
"Aye my friend, I've heard that the past me was meek and book-smart, but never a man of action" he laughed while drinking as well.
Aren shrugged "I can't say anything about it, my Lord. Haven't met you before this trip… but I heard that you were quite a recluse."
Everyone was drinking and chatting happily when a group of shirtless men approached the center of the vicinity, they had body paints that seemed like dragon scales of different colors, they carried long torches, and had small jugs tied to their sashes.
"I didn't know we had all of this," said Kael as he watched the painted men igniting their torches on fire, taking a mouthful of whatever was inside the jugs and spitting on the flames, creating long and colorful breaths of fire that colored the whole place, from red to indigo to yellow-gold flames, the painted men were cheered enthusiastically.
"Valyria doesn't have many special days, but the first day of each year is special to us. It means one more year of a successful empire!" Cheered Aren completely immersed in the colorful flames "And when I was young, I always wanted to be one of those Fire Dancers my Lord!"
Kael laughed merrily "You wanted to be painted like a dragon and dancing half-naked?" he asked teasingly while eating salted pork and drinking his dark stout, which was the Valyrian version of Ale.
Aren laughed "AYE! With pride too, my Lord!" exclaimed an excited Aren "But what I wanted was to play with the colored flames, I always wanted to spit fire through my mouth like the Dragons!"
Kael kept laughing and enjoying the day, this was a very barebones celebration because of their location and lack of proper resources to pay respect to a new year, Kael really wanted to experience how this festival was celebrated back in Valyria, but for some reason, Kael felt that no festival would be as special as this one that he was experiencing at this moment, barebones or not.
"You know… this will be one festival that we will keep alive my friend!" Said Kael with a smile. "Even if the whole 'doom' comes, Valyrian culture will be alive with us, we are Valyria!"
Aren stared at Kael with wide eyes for a few seconds and then their tankards clinked one another "Aye my Lord! We are Valyria!"
His voice was a bit louder than normal due to his drunk self, so of course, most people heard it and started chanting enthusiastically.
"WE ARE VALYRIA!"
"WE ARE VALYRIA!"
"WE ARE VALYRIA!"
Kael was laughing and drinking and he even spent some time playing Pot of Gold with his men this time, which he failed and lost miserably, but even after losing he had a happy smile on his face.
"My Lord!" Said a slightly drunk young man approaching him. Kael instantly recognized him; it was the young man that got embarrassed by his fire magic igniting a bonfire when they were in the hidden grove's cave that day. He had golden eyes and the typical Valyrian platinum hair down to his shoulders, he was young, looking around seven and ten.
"Aye lad, how can I help you?" Said Kael with a smile, ignoring the fact that a regular soldier walked towards him like that, he wasn't really from this world so he was more open to ignoring some social protocols.
"I-is it true that… You can spit fire like an actual Dragon?" Asked the lad with slightly unfocused eyes, showing how drunk he was.
Many officers were already pissed at the boy's attitude, but Kael's smile and easy-going personality prevented them from acting. The moment that their Lord showed any annoyance, they would lock that soldier up for insubordination and disrespect towards his Liege.
Kael laughed and nodded in return "Aye!" Even Aren was shocked by the revelation, yes there were rumors but rumors were just that, the moment his Lord confirmed it, things changed!
"C-c-an you show us?" Said the lad enthusiastically.
"My Lord!" Said one of the officers while standing up "I apologize for the lack of proper decorum from my men, he will be spending his next days in a cell to repent for his disrespect"
Waving his hand Kael just settled down the situation "It's fine, I don't take it negatively…" He stood up, raised his tankard of ale and shouted.
"WHO WANTS TO SEE A TRUE DRAGON FIRE?!"
Everyone cheered and raised their drinks in return, and the celebration started to get wilder and wilder.
Kael walked towards the improvised stage where the Fire Dancers were doing their show of incredible talent.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and kept their eyes on their Lord, today was the day that they would confirm if the stories were true or not, but according to Kael's demeanor and chill appearance, they were looking forward to a show!
Standing in the middle, with the Fire Dancers so kindly giving him space, Kael handed his half-full tankard to one of them.
"Hold this for me" to which the man with dragon scale paintings nodded excitedly.
Taking a deep breath Kael closed his eyes.
'Alright Neltharion, let's show our men how strong our combined flames are…' he said while connecting himself with his dragon, who all the way from his lair raised his head, huffed green smoke from his snout and closed his eyes in return.
A few seconds passed, the crowd was staring in silence, waiting for it.
Once Kaelarys Regallyon opened his eyes, everyone gasped in shock, what were once bright, almost glowing purple eyes, turned into fiery emerald irises with slit pupils that glowed like bright torches even under the sunlight, and green smoke seemed to come out of his eyes as he stared at everyone and then faced up.
'Dracarys' he thought to himself.
ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR
A loud dragon-like roar came out of Kaelarys' mouth and a wave of emerald fire painted the skies above the settlement.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
KojiSan
KojiSan Hello there guys! Happy Halloween everyone!
I wanted to fast foward a few parts of the exploration so it doesnt becomes filler and boring, there will be time to go into more details of specific places in the future.
But what i was not planning was on creating a Valyrian Holiday, i really wasnt... but today is Halloween and its mine and my family's favorite holiday ever so i wanted to impart that in my story somehow.
I think it came out great, i mean theres no halloween and westeros or planetos for that matter, believe me i researched all festivals that were shown in the books but i found nothing, so i came up with the Dragon-Flame Festival that is basically the Valyrian's new year. Nothing like Halloween, it wouldn't make sense if it was, but it is a festival.
It took me some hours to think of the lore behind it, the details and how this one festival was special, what were the traditions of said festival and not only i came up with it, i also ended up bringing another drink to Planetos just because i love it in real life XD hahaha
On a side note, no one have been bothering me since i pointed fingers last chapter, isn't that curious? is almost like they read everything... but only comment on old chapters on purpose... how... interesting...
Thank you all for your support, i'm loving writing this fic. I have been DM for over ten years and many ideas i had for my old campaigns im adapting to this book, i hope you all are enjoying reading as much as i am enjoying writing it.
Stay awesome guys, you are all great! see you next chapter and once again...
Happy Halloween!
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