The Black Death

III: That's what family is for

The morning sun shone brightly into Visenya's room. She woke to the sound of the sea and the chatter of the servants getting ready for the day. As her eyes opened, she took in the silence of her chambers. She quite liked the silence. Being alone was always comforting, but now that a few months had passed since her arrival, she started to miss her family terribly. Her mother was busy with council meetings but never too busy to write. Jacaerys was starting to become quite good at Valyrian; he even started writing letters in the language to Visenya to practice it more. Lucerys was taken with Arax, who had finally grown enough to be flown. So, as her mother wrote, the boy rarely left the sky. Helaena really wanted to visit, but as she wrote, her mother did not deem it safe for the girl to travel alone, and her brothers did not wish to go with her. Visenya sighed at the thought. Maybe the queen would cool off and let Helaena come with her family. Rhaenyra was her sister, after all. But her family was not here, so there was no need to dwell on it any longer. Visenya had not flown in over a week, and though Vermithor did not seem to mind, given that on Dragonstone he did not need Visenya to fly, he could do so whenever he wanted, still, the girl and the dragon missed each other, and so today she woke up early just to admire the view of the waking land on dragonback.

She got dressed in her riding gear and headed downstairs to have breakfast with Tyana.

"Good morrow, Visenya, you're up quite early today." the girl greeted the princess, who was already enjoying her breakfast. "And I see you're already dressed. Taking flight today, I presume?"

"I am! Today is the perfect weather, just like you said it would be. Would you care to join me?"

"As fond as I am of dragons, I'm afraid heights are another story. But I would love to watch as you take flight."

"As it pleases you. What are your plans for the day?"

"Father has tasked me with preparing for a feast."

"A feast? For whom?"

"We have visitors arriving today. Were you not aware?"

"Visitors? Who?"

"I was told it was your family. But who, in particular, I'm not sure. Your family is quite big, after all."

"My family?!" Visenya stood up from excitement. Did her mother lie? Are they coming today? Or is it Helaena? Oh gods, what if it's her and her brothers... Doesn't matter, they could stay and drink themselves away while Visenya stole Helaena to the gardens.

"Well, I love surprises, so I won't bother asking you any more details. Thank you for telling me this much. I'll try not to take too long in my flight. See you tonight then?"

"Have a safe flight!" The girl said as Visenya was hurrying through the door.

"Always do." The princess smiled back and ran through the door with a pounding heart.

Vermithor had become so much more energetic and happier ever since they came to Dragonstone. Like rider like dragon, Visenya thought to herself as she approached him and petted his scaly head. The dragon closed his eyes in enjoyment, and she could feel his warmth overcome her own body.

"We can't stay in the air for too long like we planned, boy. My family is visiting today!" she shared with the dragon as she was climbing up his back. As soon as she was on, they took flight, basking in the warm sun and the clear sky.

After a good amount of flying near the lands and basking in their beauty, Vermithor started to ascend higher and higher above the clouds, which was easy to do on this day. He spread his wings and started calmly gliding through the sky. Visenya closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air that only dragon riders could enjoy, when suddenly a screeching sound followed by a roar startled both Visenya and Vermithor. She turned her head but could not see anything around her. She looked down at her dragon, who shared her confusion, and they started to slowly fly lower and lower when suddenly two dragons appeared from each side of Vermithor. One pale green, the other blood red. The red close in size to Vermithor, while the green noticeably smaller than the other two.