บท 94: 94

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207 AC

Norvos

Aerion Targaryen

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"Maegor." I greet my youngest Son as I enter his room after finally settling back in after my trip south.

"Kepa." He grunts while pursing his lips and crossing his arms.

"I heard from your Mother that you are not enjoying our short stay in Norvos." I slip beside him on the padded couch he was reading on and make sure to slip his bookmark into his book before closing it.

"There is nothing fun to do." He indignantly responds making me snort while ruffling his hair.

"All you did at home was beg to ride your dragon and train..." I respond in a confused tone even knowing full well that my Son is mainly just throwing a bit of a fit at being away from home for longer than he expected.

I swear sometimes... you explain something to them and it goes in one ear and out another.

"Nuh-uh!" He scrunches up his face as he leaps onto his feet and spins on me with his hands animatedly swinging around. "I could go riding on horse back with my Brothers or even practice my warging... or I could swim in the God's Eye!" My eyes widen slightly and he quickly clamps his mouth shut.

"Gods Eye?" I close my eyes and like lighting grab him by the back of his fancy doublet. "When have you been swimming in the Gods Eye?" I ask in a fatherly tone as I wonder which of his older siblings taught him something so foolish.

I have not personally taken any of my children to swim in the Gods Eye since before Winter set in and left... which means I have not taken Maegor to the Gods Eye to swim. Instead, I prefer if the younger children want to swim they do it in the small creek that cuts through the God's wood which is walled off. Not to mention Moonfyre being in the Gods wood at most points and could keep an eye out and very easily alert everyone in Harrenhal if someone started drowning... a perfect lifeguard with a roar to shatter glass in any nearby building.

"...I thought we were going to go ice fishing." Maegor pouts and I can practically see the plan forming in his mind as he slowly tries to come up with a plan to pin this on someone else.

"Come, sit boy." I pat beside me on the couch and he sighs as I help him settle in to tell me a story.

This is the problem with so many children... even with the army of servants I have at Harrenhal they could find holes in the nets and slip through to 'freedom'. They see it as fun but to me, it's seriously concerning, not that I actually really mind them having fun but the idea that I was unaware frightens me.

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"The Red Priests have burned anything related to the Black Goat and rounded up the Priests and have them locked away." Melisandre reports to me as I sit before a table with a few of my older children looking over a map.

"Casualties?" I ask while hoping nothing too bad happened, the Red Priests can be pretty chill and pro-life at most times, but when they are facing off against another 'cult'...

"Less than thirty." I nod feeling a slight weight lift from my shoulders.

"Good, the men should almost be in place and ready to prevent anyone from fleeing." Tilting my head I momentarily eye the report that just reached my head from the Capitan who was in Dagger Lake.

Half of the ships that were used to wipe out the small pirate force in the lake are staying on the south side of the lake to prevent anyone from Volantis coming upriver. The rest have made the journey either on horseback or ship to reach Qohor and will soon reach the city. By that point, the men who left after we took Norvos to quickly make it through the mountain and down to Qohor should be ready as well.

A pincer... but with dragons coming from above as well.

Though I have yet to receive word after the men made it to the Forest of Qohor which is notoriously thick, they might have been slowed down. Either by the terrain or the wear of constant marching, or maybe even a force from Qohor... but I doubt the last one.

"Any more news from Volantis?" I ask while looking at Rhaella who for some reason has joined the spontaneous meeting.

It is good to see her up and active even with the baby getting close and closer to being born... a scary thought.

"Nothing new." I nod dismissing her and she bows with an odd look in her eyes that I ignore as she is an odd person.

"Something you want to tell me, Daughter?" I speak up after the Red Priestess leaves the room and Visenya flinches as she reaches for more cheese on the platter before her.

"I didn't do anything." My confused child responds while looking at me in confusion.

"Not you." I snort while keeping my gaze on Rhaella who looks amused.

"Nothing much, I have just missed you Father." I clutch my chest and let the sweet feeling wash over me before I let the cruel reality set back in as she keeps talking. "That and strange dreams." Rhaella sure knows how to be cruel, knows just what to say to make me happy, and then kicks my legs out from under me.

Poor Aemon, I salute you Son... it can't be easy.

"What dreams?" I lean forward stopping my theatrics and sending my baby girl Nerah a wink as she is bounced on her mother's lap.

Shiera seems to be in an odd mood as well, maybe I need to do the rounds once more and corner everyone one at a time to double-check they are fine. We have been away from home for the longest since I originally settled into it after reconstruction started. I think everyone is feeling a bit homesick even if there is still excitement in the air because of the nature of our goals in Essos.

I predict every time we stop in a city there will be a drop in 'morale' until we take flight to the next city.

"I think I saw Chroyane in my dream and... the fogs left the city after a dragon visited it." I hum while nodding along to her words.

"Did you write down any detail-" I stop as she sets her dream journal on the table and I smile at her and nod once. "I will look it over later." Having all of my children write down their dreams after waking up has been a habit since they were learning to write.

It helped improve their skills in a way that excited them thinking they were showing me something 'cool'. It also helps keep track of any potential dragon dreams they might have that could show important future events.

"Will we still walk through the city and disperse food?" Shiera speaks up after clearing her throat which she did to silence the room so everyone else hears her.

Seems she is not going to let anyone slip through her fingers this time, she along with Danny loves to gift food to the poor. Sure it's kind of fucked up, in that we are flaunting our wealth while also 'helping'... but most of us genuinely enjoy doing it even if it's kind of propaganda.

"As soon as we leave from this meeting I will have everyone rounded up and we will set off." I smile placatingly seeing Shiera narrow her eyes, she one hundred percent thought I was trying to sneak out of 'helping'.

Jokes on her though, I am still 'tired' from my long flight and I won't be able to make it through a full city-wide tour. I will call an end to the trip early and we will finish it before we are set to leave the city at some point. There are some 'benefits' to getting older... even though I still fell in my prime and likely am because of my gifts, but no one else needs to know that.

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207 AC

Qhoyne

Dustin Tarth

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"You think we will get to see the dragons burn down anything?" Narrio Penlia my Brother in all but blood asks as we slowly settle in for the night after arriving at the last stop before Qohor.

"As odd as it is to say... I hope so." He snorts at my words and I smile lightly as I remember the time the great silver dragon visited Dragonrest while I was still in training.

"It's not odd." I raise a brow at him before I turn to take an offered bowl of stew from one of the camp maids.

"Thank you." I nod once at the woman and she blushes before quickly spinning around and 'escaping'. "Why is it not odd?" I muse aloud as I sit down on my bed roll and look at Narrio in confusion.

I think most people would think it's odd to actually want to see a dragon burn something... because when they do burn something it's usually to kill whatever it's burning.

"I swear all these damn women..." He clucks and shakes his head while tilting his head to watch the backside of the woman who left moments ago. "But I was saying that because you are far from the only person wanting to see Balerion reborn burn an army to ash." I hum while lifting the wooden bowl and sipping the stew and humming a bit louder as the pleasant warmth fills my stomach.

"Well we will see soon enough I suppose, they would not have sent us from Dagger Lake if they were not soon to attack. We are exposed to a Dothraki horde when we stay in the narrow parts of the river like this." Their bowmen are some of the best in the world and undisputedly on the back of their horses, they are certainly the best.

They would ride us down till the river widened back into the main Mother Rhoyne... we would take heavy casualties before then though.

"I think we would have heard from the scouts if there was a horde nearby... you have not heard anything?" He looks around before leaning forward to ask me as if I would know more than he does.

Sometimes he seems to think my name means I have more 'pull' among the men than he does just because he is from an Essosi family. But if anything he would be the one getting favoritism as Essosi families are the ones that are going to benefit the most from this conquest... so long as they are on the right side of it at least. So if either of us was getting word from a higher up it would be him and not me when I am a fourth son of a House that is not that close to House Targaryen like many others.

Though that has not stopped my Father from sending me letters when I stayed at Dragonrest, asking me the impossible of trying to catch the eye of one of the Dragon Princesses.

"-are you even hearing me?" I shake my head and look around to see if I missed anything but soon realize I just got lost in thoughts and he must have been talking.

"Sorry, I did not." He snorts and passes me a half of his bread with a smirk.

"You lady friend came back by but you looked like your soul left your body and I took the bread for you." Oh, so it's my bread... I was wondering why he was being generous. "Why not visit her later on." He smirks and I suddenly wish I was lost in thought once more as I dip my bread into the still warm stew.

"I wont lay with a woman if I am not to wed her." He barks a laugh that makes my irritation rise but I push it aside knowing he just does not understand as we come from different places with different upbringings.

I slowly let my mind wander back to the memory of dragons and once more wonder if we will soon see them flying over us once more. It excites me to think about how I will soon see something with my own eyes that will be written down in books to be taught to people in a hundred years or even further. I never thought I would get to go on a 'Conquest' but I have not regretted this outcome even once since I learned where we would be sent.

Many who have joined are simply after coin or glory... but I have always been looking for something more than that even back when I left Tarth. Day by day I feel like I am closer to understanding and or finding what it is that I have sought out and I can't wait.