black flames in the east | book one | house of the dragon

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐢

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"what a plot twist you were,"

IT had been two days since Rhaenyra gave birth, news of Daemon and his family returning to Kings Landing had come in the form of a letter just the day before. However, no reason was stated for their return so the descent North was still in action.

Currently, Vasarez was mounted on her dragon Soul Catcher (name appointed after he burnt several keepers alive when they tried catching him after an escape) and flew comfortably above the cloud line. Catcher was a relatively large dragon for his age, he would eventually grow to be just over three times as large as Seasmoke however now he sized about a third smaller than the other dragon.  He was quite fierce, decorated in black and red scales and similar looking to that of Balerion the Black Dread. However the beast had formed a close bond with his rider, often knowing what she wanted him to do without her needing to say it.

Vasrez's father, Laenor, rode just beside his daughter, still making sure nothing happened while riding since she wasn't the most experienced rider yet. She always appeared so content while riding, talking to Catcher as if she was just having a normal chat with him. The trees surrounding Winterfell grew denser the closer they got, making an almost black circle around the large area. When Soul Catcher dipped down slightly, faint ant-like people were seen frantically moving about. Soul Catchers drowning roar bringing unnecessary fear to the civilians — the loud bang that sounded when he made impact with the floor didn't help either. Vasarez remained on her dragon, looking down at the Starks who were waiting just outside their gates.
Her father landed beside her, climbing off of Seasmoke and making his greeting, introducing Vasarez as she continued to remain on her dragon.

A young boy, around Vas' age, stared at her. He was stood beside his growing Dire Wolf as he folded with a piece of jewellery in his hands. He watched her as she mumbled to Soul Catcher, something about the cold probably before climbing off of him, pulling her gloves off as she made her way over. The blonde looked at the new family, noticing the small boy with the nervous twitches and smiled at him, deciding to converse with him first.

"Hello!" she said father happily, looking at him, "you're Aris right? Aris Stark?"

He smiled at her, slightly shocked she knew his name, "That's- that's right! Yeah, yeah that's me. You're Vasarez Valaryon, the princess' oldest daughter," the mentioned nodded, shifting slightly as she thought of something to say, "Oh! I made this for you your majesty-" he mumbled slightly, holding out the choker-styled necklace with four points to it. The ribbon it was attached to was black while a small but noticeable gem lay in the middle, it was icy-blue in colour and stood out nicely against the silver metal.

"You made this?" she asked, running a thumb over the details, "yourself?"

"Yes ma'am,"

"Wow," she mumbled, "that's amazing- I don't think anyone in my family could do that," what she said was genuine too, unless it was harming people with swords and risking taking eyes out, her family was useless for the most part. Barely lifted a finger — they had people for that.

Aris smiled, relaxing his tense shoulders, "do you want me to put it on you?" Vasarez nodded and turned around, slightly bending her knees so he could reach. Despite the two being the same age (as well as having similar days of birth) Vasarez was notably taller than Aris and seemed to tower over the boy. It didn't bother either of them, in fact Vasarez enjoyed being taller than most kids her age — she was taller than her uncles too and it was no doubt she would remain taller than them for the rest of their lives.

Once the accessory was clasped onto her neck she turned back around, fingers touching the metal, "thank you, Aris," she smiled, he nodded and smiled.

"Aris, Princess, please come into the grounds, the winds picking up out here," his father and Lord Stark, Rickon, said. Gesturing inside with his gloved hands, Laenor nodded to Vas to go inside which she happy obliged with. She wasn't exactly made for the cold seeing as her lineage was quite literally coated in fire, "might I ask where your.. dragons" he paused to look at them a second, "will be staying?"

"We've brought enough food with us for the days stay, and they have thick skin. They should be alright in a closed off area to wind,"

"Well in that case, I'm glad Vhagar didn't come with you, she wouldn't fit anywhere. Those two there should be alright to fit in the empty tombs," Rickon smiled, chuckling with Laenor as they followed their kids inside.

The Starks were never slow to throw a party to welcome their guests, if it weren't for the obnoxiously large wolves they would be known for their obnoxiously large parties. And it's safe to say today wasn't an exception. The main hall was filled with tables and benches, accompanied by a multitude of candles and even more food to accompany that. The decor and layout was so different to that of a Targaryen party, nothing was perfect or somewhat clean, but instead people seemed to actually be enjoying themselves. That was probably the most stark difference.

☼

Vasarez was led to a table by the young boy she had met just a bit earlier, sitting beside him and was offered multiple types of food. Some of it she'd never had, native plants or animals to the north that Kingslanding never tasted. She didn't like all of it but there were certain things she was fond of and made a promise to come back to try them again at some point. Aris decided to make a promise too, "when you come back, I'll have made a charm similar to yours for your dragon,"

"Oh I think he'd love that," Vas smiled, thinking about Soul's more logical reaction of burning the poor boy alive, "I'll have to put it on him though, he isn't exactly the most friendly I'm afraid,"

Aris laughed, "that's fine, our Dire Wolves are similar, they aren't nice to anyone except their owners really,"

"You have a wolf?"

The boy nodded, "he's called Basar, looks like an average Dire but he's far sweeter than Cregan's wolf. His wolves like him,"

Vas blinked and looked over to Cregan Stark, noticing his height immediately, "Small?"

"Berserk," Aris laughed, not really expecting the Princess to insult his older brother. Vas chuckled a bit, shoving some food down her mouth, "how long are you planning on stay-"

"Vasarez," Laenor said, suddenly appearing next to her, "we have to head back in the morning,"

Vasarez's brows furrowed, noticing the concern in his voice "Father?"

"There's news from Daemon, Vas, it's about my sister,"