DRAGONS REBORN: The Era After SI (GOT story)

Part 18

Chapter 18

Dragons. The mythical beast that allowed Valyria to rule the world, and then after Doom, allowed the House of Targaryen to forge the savage lands of Westeros into a single unified Kingdom. They were the symbol of power for House Targaryen even a century after Aegon's conquest.

Yet the Dance took them away from the world. For two hundred years after the Dance, the Targaryen family continued to revive these beasts in order to regain their symbol of power, yet they didn't succeed. It was one of these very attempts that brought the Targaryen family to near extinction due to the tragedy of Summer Hall.

Yet where his ancestors failed, King Aerys Targaryen succeeded. In the funeral pyre of the greatest King of Westeros, three dragon eggs hatched, bringing back the mythical beasts that once allowed Aegon the Conqueror to forge the seven kingdoms as one.

The rebirth of the Dragons was nothing short of a miracle. And historians consider it rather fortunate that the Dragon Pit had begun its reconstruction just a few years prior to this and had been modified and expanded with an open structure to allow dragons to fly out with ease.

With the dragons, the House Targaryen regained much, yet there was always a lingering fear that the Royal House would fall prey to its hubris once again, and there could be a repeat of the tragedy that once burnt half the Kingdom. A valid fear, especially with the amount of power the Royal family possessed at the time. King Aerys was aware of that and, in his death, gave his children another partying gift which we today call the 'Dragon Rider Edict.'

These documents had remained classified until now and had become public only half a decade ago when the Royal family chose to disclose the contents of the diaries of King Rhaegar and Princess Daenys.

Even today, the Royal family is said to hold a number of frozen dragon eggs, according to some rumors, and have provisions in the law to try and hatch them in case of any emergency. Some even speculate that the Royal Family has a small herd of dragons on one of their private islands, yet these reports and rumors are without any substantial evidence.

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RHAELLA TARGARYEN

Rhaella Targaryen, the Queen dowager of the Seven Kingdoms, sat in her room with her three children surrounding her, the questions raging through their minds evident in their gazes as they sat there in pin-drop silence.

The three newborn dragons were under the care of Qyburn and the rudimentary dragon keepers that had been trained by the man in secret on her husband's orders. In the end, it was her eldest who broke the silence.

"Did you know?" he asked, and she saw all three of them look at her as she shook her head.

"No, though I had my suspicions," she began. After she had read over the diary Aerys had left her, she had pondered quite a bit over the past to look for hints and had berated herself for missing all the signs over the years. Though, Aerys deserved some credit for making it so difficult to spot his gift over the years, and now it was only in hindsight was she truly able to see the whole picture.

"Though you might not believe me, your father was quite different in his youth. He was loud, brash, and often given to fantasies of grandeur and majesty," and she chuckled slightly at that, for that was a quality he hadn't quite lost though his dreams had become much grounded, and his perseverance to make those dreams a reality had been quite a change.

"Even in those days, he spoke of rebuilding King landing and establishing an army and fleet, yet at that, they were nothing but words, and then the announcement of our marriage was made," she said somberly. She had been against the match initially, especially given the rumors about his debauchery.