Dream Of Winter | C. Stark & H. Targaryen

The Dark Arts

Cregan POV

Time seemed to stay still as the princess Helaena closed her eyes and chanted under her breath.

Her pronunciation was getting better every day. By the moon's end she'll be fluent in the old tongue, this he was sure of.

She was quite a prodigious pupil when her concentration wasn't elsewhere. Both he and Bran agreed that her easy connection to nature and the animals and insects was a boon. It was the first sign her warging is developing, however subconsciously.

But her attention span whenever a creepy crawly is near was abysmal.

And she also took to distracting him and pausing their session for other pursuits.

He doesn't protest of course. He's a happy and willing participant in their activities. But he's also trying very hard not to ravish her until due time and it's taking all of his inner will to keep that oath.

"Now place your hand on Ragnar's head. And try to have your thoughts reach his. Don't force it but let him embrace you."

The three of them, Cregan, Heleana and his direwolf were at the base of the heart tree once more.

It was best to start small before warging a familiar. A beloved house pet like a cat or a dog. Your mutual loyalty and affection nourishes the bond and makes the connection effortless.

Ragnar was even bigger than a northern warhorse and never set foot near his dragon princess before two months ago. He couldn't be called domesticated or friendly to regular people. Anyone bar his Stark partner trying to control him is an absurdity.

But he's basically a harmless puppy in his future wife's presence. He was eating from the palm of her hand for weeks.

He means that literally. He sneaked the beast to her rooms once or twice and they had a nice dinner by the balcony with the night breeze in the air.

Helaena's greensight also means her latent warging might be more powerful than everyday skinchangers. So starting to bond with Ragnar of all mystical creatures isn't suicidal but expected.

She asked he ride with her atop Dreamfyre and this was his request.

He's willing to risk his own hide and mount a dragon. Something that seemed like ludicrous just mere weeks, no days prior.

But it's as if impossibilities are more and more comman. So he'll adapt and he and his princess will make a fierce dragonwolf pack.

It's fated by the gods.

Hel's eyes are still closed with her palm on the wolf's snout. The latter was showing uncharacteristic restraint by not moving a muscle in the previous hour.

He was promised a shower of kisses and free reign of the Kingswood later on but maybe even more rewards are needed.

Suddenly, Ragnar's stillness finally came to an end. Though upon noticing his sapphire orbs have shifted to milky whites, it's not the wolf who moved at all.

The link lasted for only a few minutes but it was astonishing how far they'd gone in so little time.

And with so many delectable interruptions besides.

He scratched behind his wolf's, his dragon's ear more precisely, and mouthed off words of praise.

When Helaena's mind slipped back into her own body she almost collapsed before Cregan caught her falling form.

His own father Rickon was all too happy to let him drop into the Winterfell hot springs after he first warged Ragnar as a child of six.

Mother berated them both for recklessness but it was one of his fondest recollections. And a white furred puppy jumping in after him in a daring rescue was adorable.