The War of Wings

Arrival

120 AC:

"When news reached King's landing of Leana's death, the court spiraled into a state of shock and prayers. Ladies of the court wept for a dear friend, and Lords wept for what they feared would become of Daemon in his grief. Upon hearing the news, King Viserys was said to have stood from his throne, ignoring his hand, and vowed to make the journey to Driftmark. Despite the Queen's reluctance to attend and her insistence for their children to remain in King's landing, she was overruled. Unknown if it was because of spite or show of authority, but the King declared that his youngest four children would join him on the journey. The rage of the Queen only grew worse when three of her children rode their dragons to the island. Even young Daeron, only nine at the time, rode his dragon Tessarion to Driftmark on his father's declaration. It was from this decree that created the largest assembly of dragons ever seen in Westeros." 

I had never been to a funeral before. I didn't even know there was a ceremony for death before Mother explained it to me. She had just returned from fetching my brothers from Dragonstone when she sat us down. While she had already explained to my brothers that Aunt Laena had died, she talked to all three of us about the funeral. We would be in attendance, just like Baela and Rhaena, but Mother explained that we had to be on our best behavior.

But when I asked about what a funeral was, my Mother seemed to realize I didn't know. Before she explained the event, I knew only the good ceremonies. The ones for celebrations like name days and weddings. I had been to those ceremonies and heard about the joy, and thus, they made sense to me. It was a gathering to share the good fortune and love of the individuals. But funerals, despite my mother's best efforts, they didn't make sense to me.

But maybe that was because I didn't know much about them. I only knew that at funerals, you wore black. Which wasn't odd to me; I wore black all the time. The Targaryen house colors were black and red. But this dress was different, apparently. Muted in a way, as if colors didn't exist. But I knew to wear black. And I remembered something about prayers to the gods, so I assumed they prayed. Luke mentioned that he knew funerals sometimes had flowers during the warm season. Jace said Targaryens are wrapped in white cloth before being burned by dragon fire. Mother confirmed both sentiments were true, but she stopped any talk of the Targaryen funeral when she saw my face.

The mention of the funeral made me remember how Aunt Laena died. The image of her bleeding on the steps haunted my dreams, but it was the image of Vhagar burning her alive that terrified me. My mother assured us that a Velaryon funeral differed from a Targaryen, but I didn't know what that meant. Would the dragons still be involved? Or would a ship take her to sea? None of my questions were answered, though.

Jace gave a theory that they would put Aunt Laena in the sea somehow, as that is the Velaryon title, Lord of the Tides. But when we concluded that was the best idea, Luke worried it would get lonely for her to be submerged at sea. His pug nose would scrunch, and his brow furrow in concern as he feared that no one could visit her in the ocean. But I put my hand on his shoulder before saying, "Maybe, but maybe it means no matter what part of the ocean you're at, she will be with you somehow." Jace nodded and nudged his brother as he said, "Maybe this allows them to defend the Velaryons during battles at sea. Having ghosts on their side seems like a benefit."

Luke's eyes grew wide in alarm, and he quickly tried to reason with Jace that the Velaryons didn't fight with ghosts. However, he seemed to be trying to convince himself more than anything. Luke quickly became terrified by the idea that he, as Lord of the Tides, would one day fight beside ghosts, and only my mother could calm him from that panic. She scolded us for teasing Luke, and any discussion of a funeral was over after that.

Despite us not being allowed to discuss the funeral, the bleakness on Driftmark continued. My brothers and I were told to stay out of the way. Which worked best for them; Jace always did what he was told, and Luke never enjoyed being around people, but I wasn't content sitting alone. But I couldn't be with Baela and Rhaena as they were helping our grandmother and my mother prepare. I couldn't bug my father as he was off during the day. But even if I could find him, I wouldn't want to. I fear since my Aunt's death that, he was either inconsolable or reeked of something sour more now than he had before.