Reign || House of The Dragon

Prologue

italicized text indicates high valyrian dialogue

104 AC

The halls in King's Landing always felt much bigger than they were, but Alana always knew how to get through them to find her cousin Rhaenyra. She would normally find her in the sept, sometimes they liked to play hide-and-seek down there. Other times, she would find her in the godswoods, hiding from their septa; Alana practiced this often as well.

Today, Alana found her cousin outside of the dragonpit, and when she saw Rhaenyra dismounting her dragon Syrax, her eyes widened. "Rhaenyra! Were you just in the skies?" Alana asked. The gleeful 7-year-old Rhaenyra ran to her 7-year-old cousin with a wide smile on her face.

"Oh, cousin, the skies were wonderful! You have to claim a dragon soon so we can fly together!" Rhaenyra said. Alana softly smiled. A tradition that had been started by her great-aunt Rhaena Targaryen, was placing a dragon egg in the cradle of newborn Targaryen babes. Although Alana is a Velaryon by name, her mother is Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, daughter of Prince Aemon Targaryen, making Alana the great-granddaughter of the Old King Jaehaerys and his wife Good Queen Alysanne. She has the blood of the dragon.

But her egg never hatched.

Alana was devastated, but her mother reassured her that just because her egg didn't hatch didn't mean she wouldn't be able to claim a dragon. There were still many unclaimed dragons in the dragonpit, including Dreamfyre, the dragon of Rhaena Targaryen, Vermithor, and Silverwings, the dragons of the Old King and the Good Queen. Alana's older siblings Laena and Laenor had recently laid claim to their dragons.

Laena claimed their late uncle Baelon's dragon, Vhagar, who was ridden by the Conqueror Visenya before him. Vhagar was the last living dragon that had seen the Conquest. Laenor laid claim to a pale dragon named Seasmoke. Alana had felt a bit left out, but now that Rhaenyra had also mounted her dragon, she felt even more left out.

"Everyone has a dragon except for me. You have Syrax, Laena has Vhagar, and Laenor has Seasmoke," Alana said. Rhaenyra frowned as she grabbed her cousin's hand.

"Do you want to go into the pit? I'll stay with you," Rhaenyra said.

"Mother doesn't like when I go to the pit unattended," Alana said. Although her family's home is Driftmark, Alana spends a lot of her time in King's Landing with Rhaenyra. Aemma dotes on both girls. Since Rhaenyra was her only living child from the many pregnancies she's endured, Queen Aemma loves having Alana around. Alana splits her time equally between King's Landing and Driftmark.

"You won't be unattended, I will be with you," Rhaenyra said.

"And where is your guard?" Alana said as she looked around for Ser Harold Westerling. Rhaenyra smiled as she pointed a little ways away.

"Don't worry, he is a safe distance away, the dragons make him nervous. Come! You deserve a dragon," Rhaenyra said. Alana looked at the pit again and took a deep breath. She did want a dragon. She may not have come from two Targaryen parents directly, but she is still part of the Targaryen lineage, which meant she could lay claim to a dragon. She had the look of her mother Rhaenys. Her hair was silky and Baratheon dark, courtesy of her grandmother, Jocelyn Baratheon, but her eyes were the mark of Old Valyria, purple and striking.

"Yes... I will accompany you into the pit," Alana said. Rhaenyra smiled and the girls kept their hands together as they made their way into the dragon pit. Alana let out a deep breath as she heard the dragon's soft breaths. Some people would feel intimidated walking into a den of predators like dragons, but Alana felt at home. Rhaenyra stopped to visit Syrax while Alana looked around.