Here There Be Dragons

Where Wild Dragons Roam

119 AC

Aemma worried the chain between her fingers as she paced the small alcove. She and Aemond had found the secluded spot the previous year when running from the angry septa when they had tracked mud and ash from the Dragonpit all throughout her study. Tucked to the side of a window on the keep, it only needed a small jump to get from the window ledge to the stone railing. The dense hedges below kept them concealed from those wandering the paths of the garden, but kept the view of the sea unhindered.

Aemma was staring out at the sun rising over that sea when, with a grunt, Aemond came leaping down next to her. "There you are! Everyone has been looking all over for you."

"My mother's in labor," Aemma turned her gaze from the grey-blue of the ocean to the dark blue of Aemond's eyes. "No one should be worrying about me."

"Ah," Aemond nodded in understanding. "You need not fear, Rhaenyra has given birth twice now. There is no reason to believe this will be any different."

"Labor is the war women fight, my mother has said so and her mother before that. And my father speaks of war often. I know there is no guarantee in battle. Seasoned soldiers fall all the time."

"Yes, but your mother is a princess and attended by the most skilled midwives in all of Westeros. The chances of anything going wrong are slim to none."

"But not impossible,"

Aemond sighed. "I suppose not impossible, but you know what I think of odds."

"We make our own," Aemma admitted, finally breaking a smile at Aemond's pointed look.

"Exactly, so you can continue stewing in your worries here or you can accompany me on an adventure."

This finally piqued her interest. "An adventure?"

"Wild dragons have been sighted on the edge of the Kingswood...I intend to claim one, and I want you to come with me."

Aemma blinked at him, at a loss for words the first time in her life. She came back to her senses when Aemond reached over and closed the mouth she did not realized had been opened. "I apologize, I must have misunderstood you."

"You heard me! Let's go claim a dragon!"

"Then you must be mad! Wild dragons, Aemond!" Aemma shook her head. "They are nothing like the ones in the pit."

"Exactly! None have bonded to us, so there must be ones in the wild that would!"

Aemma bit her lip. "They would never let us go,"

"That is why we must sneak out. I believe I found a tunnel through the Red Keep."

Aemma was torn. She adored and obeyed her parents and she knew with all certainty that they would absolutely forbid her from doing anything so dangerous. But the other half of her, the half that was haunted by dreams of flying, saw it as her only chance. "Lead the way,"

How Aemma and Aemond managed to sneak out of the Keep, and furthermore the city, she would never recall. It involved changing into a page boy's outfit and donning caps to hide their hair—her for its length, Aemond more so for its telling silver—and sneaking along tunnels that appeared undisturbed for centuries by others, save rats and mice. There was a moment they believed themselves caught when guards came sweeping by the walls surrounding the keep, but a perfectly sized bush hid them well enough. Once they reached the gate, it proved easier than expected to dissolve into the crowd of people walking in and out. It was the city proper that caused Aemma the most anxiety.

She had clung to Aemond's hand until he shook her off with a hissed reprimand. "Two page boys would not be walking around holding hands!"

But with Aemma's persistence, and probably the fear no doubt shining in her eyes, Aemond relented to her keeping a tight hold of his shirt. But despite the smell of filth and the citizens pushing past her and shouting at each other—be it angrily or to hawk ware—no one paid the two of them any mind. They reached one of the seven gates surrounding the city, and though members of the City Watch peered down at them as they left the gate, they made no move to stop them. As they started walking down the dirt path, the uncertainty hit her full force.