Dragons Fill the Skies Ch. 02

***RHAENYRA TARGARYEN***

"Thank you for receiving me into your keep, your grace" Rhaenyra answered him. She was now properly dressed in a black dress with gold accents and no longer indecent. Both were in Bran's private chambers with Maester Samwell waiting outside the door with two guards at his flanks.

"It's not every day an ancient Targaryen queen comes back to the world of the living," Brandon said flatly, staring stoically at her.

"No, I suppose not. I must admit that...that--" Rhaenyra struggled to find the right words to describe what she felt in the moment while the young king stared flatly back at her. "I never imagined I would ever return, and if I did, not in a time so far ahead from my original time, your grace."

"Yes, I too would be asking the same question if it were me in your shoes. But I ask myself, why have you come back; I keep trying but I can't see anything past this point in your life. It's as if I'm being kept in the dark...by you, or something inside of you."

Taking a seat on his bed at his approval, Rhaenyra sighed deeply and ruffled her dress. "I will tell you why I came back your grace, but first I need to know what has happened to the realm after my stepbrother Aegon ii passed away."

"He didn't pass away, Rhaenyra, you have the same sight as I do now but better. I'm not allowed to see past certain events. If you want to find out, try to focus on your intention and desire, you'll see what became of the realm after his murder."

Rhaenyra furrowed her brows, annoyed, and confused. "It doesn't come easily to me as it does for you. Please just tell me what happened to the realm. I too have been in literal darkness wondering what became of my family after my passing."

Bran, looking as indifferent as ever, reached into the pocket of his fur coat hanging off the side of his chair of wheels. He grasped something big and pulled his hand out. Rhaenyra saw a piece of tree bark. He gripped the chunk of wood and she saw his eyes go completely white. She tilted her head curiously to the side, scrutinizing the young king as he went into this altered state of mind. He held out his other hand, offering it to her to take and hold. She leaned over slightly and extended her hand to him, although she pulled back cautiously initially, she took his hand and felt a surge of energy course through her arm, undulating throughout her body.

Everything went black and for a moment she felt like she had returned to the void of darkness she had just left. Then the darkness was driven back as a gray sky appeared overhead, and rough, rocky ground with minimal grass came into existence beneath her feet, undulating in waves until coming to a slow still. She stood in front of Bran who was standing before her.

"Where are we?" Rhaenyra curiously asked.

"Welcome to The Plains, princess, that over there is the first Weirwood tree, the memory of the whole world is stored inside there. Everything I want to know about the past, what's going on now, and what might happen in the future is stored there."

Rhaenyra walked up to the Weirwood tree that stood as large as Harrenhal, located over in the distance with Bran walking next to her. "You can walk here?"

"The Plains is my soul which has bonded with the power of the Three-Eyed Raven, I can make this place look however I want. The only thing I can't change is the tree as it is always here. I feel more at peace when I am here than I am outside."

"Can I also do the same, your grace?" She asked him.

"I don't know princess, your sight came directly from The Stranger, the rules set in place might be different for you than they are for me. If you wish to learn how to tap into The Sight, ask your God."

"I don't know if you mean to offend or to ask your grace."

"I meant no offense, princess, I just meant you need to ask your God how to tap into your power. We're here" Bran said, reaching the base of the giant tree. Its height from the base was overwhelming which made Rhaenyra feel small and insignificant, like an ant marveling at a mountain.

"All of the world's memories and dreams are stored in here, touch the trunk and clear your mind first. Focus on your intentions and let yourself go free"

Finally, she was getting somewhere with her question. Rhaenyra did as he instructed and gently placed her hand on the trunk of the tree. She closed her eyes, and cleared her mind as best as she could. All she wanted to see at the moment was the fate of her son, Lucerys.

She stood in Lord Boros Baratheon's throne room as Aemond Targaryen and her son Lucerys spoke to one another.

"Did you really think you could just fly about the realm, trying to steal my brother's throne at no cost?" Aemond spoke, his words accusingly sharp.

"I will not fight you. I came as a messenger, not a warrior" Lucerys replied.

"Yes, my son, that's the correct answer" Rhaenyra spoke proudly, though her words were as silent as the dead and neither her son or Aemond could hear her.

"A fight would be a little challenge. No, I want you to put out your eye, as payment for mine. One will serve," he threw his dagger at Lucerys, "I will not blind you. Mmm, I plan on making it a gift to my mother." Hissed Aemond.

"You son of a whore!" Rhaenyra cursed at Aemond. "Son don't do it! Reject his offer!" she yelled.

"No," Lucerys said, standing his ground.

"Then you are craven as well as a traitor."

"Not here!" Lord Boros commanded.

"GIVE ME YOUR EYE OR I WILL TAKE IT BASTARD!"

"NOT IN MY HALL!!" Lord Boros shouted this time, shooting up from his throne.

Rhaenyra, shaken and relieved, Lord Boros stopped Aemond before he could hurt her son.

"Princess Rhaenyra, Princess" she heard king Bran calling out to her. his voice sounded so close yet so far, as if he was calling her name through a long tunnel.

Her mind was in the stormy clouds of Storms End, watching Lucerys and Arrax attack Vhagar and Aemond. They barrel rolled under the clouds and ascended upwards until breaking through the clouds. Her mind became one with Arrax, switching between looking through his eyes and viewing her son from outside of him. the sun and brilliant radiance beaming above the stormy clouds was a thing to behold. For a moment, Rhaenyra watched her son's face go soft with relief and one more moment she could have reached out to hold him close to her.

Then out of the blue, monstrous Vhagar pierced through the clouds from beneath and with one swift powerful bite, ripped apart her son and Arrax.

"LUCERYS!!" Rhaenyra cried out in horrible agony.

"PRINCESS!" Bran's voice broke through her trip into the past. She was forcefully pulled back into the real world.

She shook like a wild beast on his bed, only finding calm when Bran held her wrist and brought her mind at ease.

"My son, my, my baby boy..." Rhaenyra huffed, tears streaming down her eyes in utter disbelief at what she witnessed. "It was that son of a whore Aemond! I only wish I could have seen Daemon murder that little!"

"Princess, I did not bring you to The Plains to revisit the past, there is nothing you can do about what happened two hundred years ago. The past is already written, the ink is dry."

Rhaenyra, whimpering and sobbing, wiped the tears away from her eyes that still had so many more tears to shed. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. When my son Lucerys was still alive, I only heard that he had died on his way from meeting with Lord Boros. They would not say how he died, but now I see it was murder." She said sobbing uncontrollably.

"Would you like time to grieve for him, princess? I will leave you to-"

"No, please don't! I'm sorry. I will tell you why I am here. Forgive me for taking advantage of your gift, your grace. Give me a moment to gather my thoughts and clear my heart."

Bran gave Rhaenyra her requested space and wheeled himself around the room to pass the time. When she was ready to share, he wheeled himself back over to her and listened to her.

"you say I've been dead for over two hundred years. When I was murdered, time came to an abrupt stop. Imagine wading through a river and then the river freezes around you, and you can't move any further. I suppose that's the closest way I can describe the feeling of death. But you already know how I died, and you know my stepbrother did, what he said."

"Yes, he saved your last piece for The Stranger."

"What Aegon didn't know, what no one knows now except you is that when you offer anything up to The Stranger, you are offering it up to a real God to keep for itself. The Stranger is a God that doesn't really care about its followers, but occasionally uses them for the fulfillment of its own agenda, whether it's right or wrong, is not up for the follower to decide. I was brought back to the world of the living because of the threat that is slumbering at the top of the world, the last point in the north."

King Bran tried to look past the white veil of snow that cascaded past the lands of always winter. "Its still snowing" he said flatly, though the first signs of concern crossed his eyes. The further his sight moved northward; a sharp pain akin to being stabbed with a dagger rocked his head. The overwhelming pain forced him out of the sight. He jerked back on his chair of wheels, visibly shaken.

"Before I tell you what is lying up there at the top of the world, It is imperative I tell you now that I did not come back to reclaim my throne, my family's honor, wear any crown or take up any royal position besides what I was brought back for."

"Show me why The Stranger brought you back, princess Rhaenyra," Bran asked, getting right to the point.

Rhaenyra reached over and took a hold of Bran's hand, gently squeezing It between her two hands. "Okay, show us." Bran breathed softly, sighing, but as he did he saw his own breath. The temperature in the room, possibly the entire world dropped drastically. It turned as cold as the frigid north but perhaps the most frightening thing he witnessed was the sun setting early and night setting in, turning darker than normal.

"Rhaenyra?" he asked quizzically.

"Let me show you the threat we are facing, your grace." She said softly wheeling him over to the doors of his chambers and opening them. In a shocking turn of events, Bran saw that they moved from Kings Landing, past the wall, and into the lands of always winter. Cold air blasted into his chambers, causing Bran to shield his face with his hands.

Rhaenyra stepped in front of the doorway and her dress billowed forward from the cold howling air blowing in. She didn't look bothered by the below-freezing air, as if her skin was already used to it. "You see your grace, The Night King was only the avatar of the true threat resting atop the world, slumbering inside an icy castle as black as the ancient long night." She wheeled him to the other side with him while their minds took them into the deepest recesses of a black castle that was as tall as the wall itself.

Bran didn't know if their minds were transported down the darkened earth and snow, or if they were physically taken here, whichever it was, Bran witnessed black monstrosities, not undead wights or polar bears or even the giant spiders which old nan used to tell him about when retelling her scary stories.

He witnessed creatures, humanoids, and amalgamations of these two that could only be conjured up in the blackest of nightmares. As his mind finally felt stable enough, he saw what Rhaenyra saw the first time around. Something with eternally long tentacles, thousands if not millions of arms belonging to all sorts of animals, humans, and insects; including thousands of eyes dotting its body. Its body was either too big or too horrible for his mind to fully comprehend it, but as soon as it felt a disturbance in its atmosphere, the thing turned all its eyes on the peeping pair and unleashed a deafening roar the likes Bran would never forget.

He felt his soul being dragged out of his mouth and opened to shout in fear, an emotion that had up to this point ceased to exist for him.

"TAKES US OUT!" Rhaenyra shouted and The Stranger snagged them before its child could.

Bran carefully opened his eyes and realized once his eyes were open that Rhaenyra was still sitting down on the bed as If everything that had just transpired was a fleeting dream. Her hand held his, but his hands trembled uncontrollably.

"That...that wasn't a vision was it, did we,"

"The Stranger took us, both of us, it did so by taking our souls not our minds."

Bran's head and face dripped with sweat as more of it collected on his forehead, neck, and chin. She released his hand as began to shake violently on his seat of wheels. "MAESTER!" she called out panickily for Samwell who came rushing inside.

"Your Grace! Your grace!" Maester Sam came rushing inside. He pulled out some leaves he kept in a small bag hanging on a belt strapped around his waist.

He placed the leaves, black in color and wet in texture in Bran's mouth and kept his mouth clamped shut in his grasp. Bran's uncontrollable shaking died down until his grace finally went limp.

"What is that?"

"his grace Bran suffers these shakes we the maesters call Seizures. He gets them when he spends too much time away from his body. Whatever he finished witnessing pushed his mental state past the edge. Please, I need to lay him to bed so he can rest and recover."

"Sam...wait!" Bran commanded through labored breathing. "Princess, please stay here as my honored guest. I'm not sure if you remember the layout of your old home, but please stay here. Don't go outside, not yet. And if what we saw is true and to come, then we must prepare. The earliest the better."

"That's enough your grace, you need to rest. I'll get the guards to help me undress you and bathe you. Princes Rhaenyra, I have prepared a room for you, your eggs are in there waiting for you. Sir Malcolm will escort you to your room."

A tall muscular guard stepped inside the chamber with two of his other companions, while his subordinates helped Sam, he showed her to her bedchamber.

"I never knew his grace to still be interested in women, but by the look of it, he's got great taste."

Rhaenyra said nothing and only focused on following Sir Malcolm. From the back she saw that he kept his hair slicked back. It was black like a raven. When he turned to look at her and show her to her chamber, she saw Sir Criston Cole for a passing moment. But whereas Sir Criston was young and dashing, Sir Malcolm was a few years older than the previous knight of her memories and a little gruff looking.

"Here you are my lady, your bed chambers. Should you need anything...or anyone, don't hesitate to call for me."

Rhaenyra may have been dead for over two centuries, but she recognized the wanting gaze of men when she saw and felt it. She smiled and bowed her head lightly, "Thank you Sir Malcolm. I am tired and will retire for the day."

"Just remember what I told you." he reminded her, shooting her a wink.

Rhaenyra smiled softly and closed the door gently in front of her. at the sound of the door locking, she shook from toe to head as if to shake off worms crawling all over her. her bedchamber was already lit with flaming torches and candles. The light of the setting sun cast shadows all throughout her room, she turned around and saw her shadow resembling fire; black fire to be exact. Around her head, a similar flaming halo was cast on the stone floor.

"This is strange, being back home, back in my old bedchamber. This doesn't feel right. Father, mother, my children, you should all be here with me in my new life. but you're all gone and have been for a very long time." Rhaenyra, unable to suppress her emotions, laid on her old bed and cried uncontrollably into her pillows "Mother...father....Lucerys, Jaece, Joffrey" she whimpered each name and sobbed and sobbed until sweet sleep embraced her at last.

-LATER THAT DAY-

Seated in a large and wide stone bath, Rhaenyra had maids bathing her and brushing her hair while adding rare fragrant oils into the waters that steamed. The maid in addition to brushing her hair and washing her face and breasts, they massaged her back and arms, and neck as were the king's orders.

"My lady why are your muscles so...tense. I feel like I am trying to massage the trunk of a tree."

"I...I've been on a long journey, a very long journey."

"You must be a foreign royalty, where are your servants, maid, and other attendants."

"They're... they got left behind. It's only me."

"Where are you from my lady, you're so fair and your hair feels like silk and shines so beautifully in the sun, might you be a divine immortal?"

The other maids giggled but Rhaenyra tensed up, worried that they were on to her.

"We don't even know your name. will you tell it to us, our lady"?

"She will be doing no such thing" the voice of Bran broke the giggling and chatter of the handmaids.

Rhaenyra was just as surprised and shocked to see Bran wheel himself inside her bedchamber. The handmaids stood up and lowered their heads out of respect and subservience. But one of them spoke out of turn to ask his grace what he was doing here.

"Your grace, forgive me, but you can't be in here while her lady is bathing. She isn't decent, and to see a woman like this when she isn't even your--"

"--Wife? I plan on making her my wife, now please leave me alone with my future wife."

Rhaenyra covered her breasts with her arms, blushing, smiling softly yet looking away. One of the handmaids tried giving her a towel to wrap herself with but was rejected. On the sounds of the doors closing and locking, Bran rolled past Rhaenyra and stopped in front of her window.

"Forgive me for invading your personal time, I will make it up to you."

Rhaenyra watched him like a hawk, still blushing awkwardly at him. "It's quite alright, as you said, you're going to be my wedded husband so it's right to walk in on your wife bathing. What brings you here, your grace."

"I meant to speak to you about a dream I had. I dreamt that I saw you giving birth to a crown of lightning that scorched the earth and illuminated the darkness that enveloped the entire world. You took that crown and set it on a boy's head. Do you know who the father of that boy is"

"No, but I can take a guess as to who it might be. Why are you telling me this now your grace?"

"Because...I'll tell you later, please finish your bath, my lady. I will send the handmaids back inside." King Bran wheeled himself towards her door to knock to be let out.

"Your grace" Rhaenyra called out standing up from her steaming marble tub.

Bran turned and stared at Rhaenyra's glistening nakedness. Her small blonde patch of pubes glistened with the water and her small but ample supple breasts let off steam. Her long blonde hair dripped with water and her violet eyes gleamed at him.

Bran blinked three times, gently, and looked down at his hands. "I look forward to enjoying dinner with you this night my lady." He rolled out of her bedchamber. The handmaids returned and finished helping her bathe.

"I can't believe you're going to marry his grace, we all thought he wasn't interested in marriage given his...state."

Rhaenyra looked back at herself in the mirror, she was wearing a black dress with golden accents and trims. The handmaids worked on combing her hair, placing rings on her fingers, and checking her heels.

"The only thing that's missing is...the dragons" she whispered to herself. She leaned in closer and saw herself as the queen she was meant to be two centuries ago. But that dream, that ambition died a long time ago. "Now, I have a new dream" she whispered to herself once more.

"What was that my lady?" asked one of her handmaids.

"It's nothing. I was just reminiscing."

When it was time, Rhaenyra stepped out of her bedchamber with Sir Malcolm waiting for her along with two of his knights, whereas he winked at her, she kept a stoic face and followed him and the two other knights to King Bran's dining room.