Capítulo 7: Owls
Skagos; The North; Sixth Moon of 97 AC
Lynara Dovahkiin POV
Lynara Dovahkiin was a simple child; at eight name-days old, the little she-dragon of Skagos was well-loved by everyone around her. The little girl was a combination of her father and mother, both in looks and behavior. She, like her father, loved walking around Winterhold and talking to people, giants, and Children of the Forest, much to the citizen's delight as the little girl had a unique view about things that, most often than not, made people smile. Lynara, like her mother, felt comfortable in both her training clothes and dresses; she was as good at sewing as she was with a sword and as good at her academic lessons as she was with her magical studies, and that meant something as Lynara was a prodigy at swordsmanship and was almost as talented as her father in specific fields of magic; However, she disliked the less "shiny" kinds of magic, something her father attributed to her age.
Lynara spent most of her time with her father, either being trained by him on magic and sword or simply enjoying the man's presence, which went both ways, as most often than not, Dacey would find Lynara on Ragnar's solar, either sleeping on her father arms or working on her lessons while her father worked on his Lordly tasks. Lynara also liked to spend time with her mother and siblings, but the age gap of five years made it difficult for Lynara to spend time with her siblings, something her father assured her would change once the twins started their lessons.
Lynara held her training sword firmly as her father guided her through the dovah sword-style stances with a careful eye and a smile on his face
"Your right foot is wrong… you have to move it a little to the right." Ragnar said, and Lynara did as instructed
" The Dovah style relies on strength and speed; you are strong; we both know that; you are stronger than anyone other than me and perhaps the giants; however, a good cut in the neck will kill you, all the same, so you will need to be fast," Ragnar said, and Lynara listened.
" Change stances…" Ragnar said, and Lynara did
" Go back and do it… again" Ragnar said, clearly displeased with something; nonetheless, Lynara obeyed
" again," Ragnar said, and Lynara obeyed, this time a little faster
" AGAIN" Ragnar shouted, which scared Lynara due to how suddenly he did it; she, however, held herself in place and didn't flinch; she moved stances as her father ordered, faster than the first two times.
" Again," Ragnar said slowly, this time Lynara didn't move but looked at her father
" What am I doing wrong, Papa?" Lynara asked and was relieved when her father gave her a smile
" You are doing it fast enough but not fluently enough; your "change" is too stiff. In the change of stances, you must consider "the change" as one step as well," Ragnar said, and Lynara nodded " Again," Ragnar said, and Lynara changed stances fast and fluidly as her father instructed.
"That is good for now… It needs improvement, but you are on the right way. You have discipline, which will help you be as good as me someday." Ragnar said, and Lyanna smiled
" Nobody will ever be as good as you, papa. Not me, not Björn, and not Lyanna. You are Dragonborn." Lynara said, not in a bitter or cold tone, but a tone filled with admiration and respect. Her father had told her about Dovahs, Dragonborns, and dragon blood and how it affected her and her siblings. Lynara was fascinated to know she had the blood of dovah and that it made her stronger and better at magic than most men.
" And you have the blood of Dovah, my blood. That makes us special; being Dragonborn gives me advantages, but there were many Dragonborns before me, and none were as powerful as I am." Ragnar said as he walked to her and crouched so he could look into her eyes.
" I've worked hard for my power. My magic and abilities with the sword and axes are the fruit of hard work. You could be as good as me, perhaps not as strong, but you could compensate by being faster than me; or by making your sword style more precise. As improbable as it is, in the right circumstances, an arrow could kill me; we are unique, aye, be we bleed all the same. We die all the same. We win because we are determined; disciplined, Not because we feel ourselves superior." Ragnar said as he kissed Lynara on the forehead.
" Aye, papa," Lynara said; Ragnar nodded as he got up.
"Now… continue," Ragnar said
Lynara trained for a few more hours under her father's watchful and expert eye. She was anxious to get better as her father promised to teach her the way of a Battle Mage, of how to implement magic on her fighting style, as he does. There were many years to go before her battle-mage training could start.
After training with her father, Lynara went to see Frostwing, that much like her, had spent the first part of the day with its father.
She found Frostwing perched on one of Frostfall's towers; Lynara spent almost an hour tending to her dragon, scratching its scales and petting it. Frostwing was a unique dragon, not a Dovah but an improved Ice Dragon. It could not speak, but it could understand everything Lynara told it, from small, simple things to more complicated and specific things. Ragnar told Lynara that Frostwing would be more powerful than its mother but less than Midstinul.
Lynara then went to her lessons with Maester Marwyn and then to her lessons about the Old Gods with Acorn, the Child of the Forrest. The lessons about the Old Gods were held under a Heart tree, usually the one at the Godswood of Frosfall. Lynara, much like her father, mother, and siblings liked the Godswood; it was peaceful and quiet there, perfect for meditation and sleep.
Lynara would spend the rest of her day with her mother and little siblings, telling them about the joys of magic and sword, asking her mother about ways to better her fighting style and things about some Houses in The North.
Ragnar POV
Since returning from King's Landing, Ragnar's days had become less chaotic. Things had finally returned to normal, and House Dovahkiin was formally presented to the southern realms as a strong and powerful House, both economically and militarily. House Stane and Crowl were finally allowed to send their ships south to trade their goods, not that they were dissatisfied with trading with Braavos, Ibben, and Lorath, but their preferred trading with the south as the waters of the Narrow Sea was infinitely less dangerous than the waters of the Shivering Sea. One of the few bad things about formally presenting House Dovahkiin to the south was the sheer amount of marriage offers for their children. From Tyrells in the Reach to Graftons in the Vale to Farman in the Westerlands, marriage offers were sent, only to be politely declined by Ragnar and Dacey.
After he returned from Kingslanding, Ragnar decided The North needed a more secure way to send messages between Lords, one that didn't require a third person to be involved like the Ravens needed a Maester. Ragnar wanted to cast the Maesters from the North and let the Lords keep the mages. The Mages were better than the Maester in every single way; mages had a more solid education than the Maesters as they needed to understand how the world worked before being able to modify it, so in general, his mages were masters in mathematics, astronomy, warcraft/magical Warcraft, healing, geography, farming and a few more fields of knowledge. Ragnar asked Marwyn to help him with that task, and the both of them spent weeks trying to find a bird perfect for the job, but due to his lordly duties, Ragnar couldn't spend much time thinking about it every day, so when Marwyn discovered one good enough, Ragnar was happy to start his plans to send all Maesters in The North back to Oldtown
( Small flashback six moons)
Ragnar calmly read the report sent by Kingshouse port's steward, Sven, about the influx of merchants from the south, Braavos, Ibben, and Lorath, docking in Skagos to trade, when he heard a knock on his solar door
" Come in…" Ragnar said
The door opened, and Maester Marwyn entered the solar with an owl on his arms
" Why do you have an owl on your arms?" Ragnar asked
" My lord, I finally found the bird to serve as personal messengers for Lords. I discovered that owls are extremely intelligent animals, highly adaptable, and top-tier predators in the skies. So I thought if we enchant the owl's eggs to make them more intelligent, more magically inclined…." Marwyn began
" That would be a waste of time… how would we be able to make owls learn the castles and Lords?" Ragnar asked
" You could grant the knowledge of where the castles are…." Marwyn began
" That doesn't work like that," Ragnar said
" If you enchant the eggs, then maybe… a semi-sentient bird with magical sensitivity. We would only have to train the owls to recognize the Lords… something you could do on the next harvest." Marwyn said
" Hum… that might work… let me get a paper right here," Ragnar said as he grabbed a paper on his desk and opened it " I will begin scathing the enchantments and necessary alchemical items to do this… You have my authorization to go to the Archmage's quarters in the college to fetch some of them. I will allow you to see this whole enchantment process to serve as a guide for you." Ragnar said, and Marwyn nodded eagerly before leaving the room.
Ragnar spent a whole week locked in his solar drawing schematics for the enchantment of the owls' eggs; Ragnar considered the reproduction of this new intelligent king of owls, its lifespan, and its capacity to learn as the essential things to enchant. Ragnar based the enchantments on the ones the High Eleves introduced in the second era on their hound companions, highly intelligent hunt dogs, some capable of understanding battle tactics.
Two weeks later, Ragnar enchanted the eggs in the presence of all enchantment students at the College of Winterhold; most of them left the room with a book full of notes. Marwyn himself couldn't stop talking about the "pinnacle of magic" performed by Ragnar.
(Flash back end)
From the windows on his solar, Ragnar saw hundred of Owls flying around, delivering small messages from the trainee mages at Winterhold to the other 50 first mages in the North. Ragnar instructed the mages of Winterhold to send messages to their seniors to ask about magic and other things. The Owls worked even better than expected; the Owls had developed a special connection to mysticism magic, something that, for the first time in years, Ragnar couldn't explain how it happened. The Owls, similar to Dovahs, had developed a particular brand of "soul magic" connected to names, but instead of the names reflecting on the beings, as it happens with the Dovah, the Owls' "name magic" allowed them to find someone or any living thing as long as provided with a name.
" Sometimes my geniality knows no boundaries…."
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A/N: what up my friends; here's part 1 of this chapter, part 2 is coming soon.
Do you guys want more Lynara PoV?
What other POV do you want for this fiction?
Do you guys want see Ragnar interact with a specific someone?
Soon there would be Maesters in the North…
Any suggestions on how to do that?
Thank you all for your support! May god bless you all
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