I AM A DRAGON - HOTD AU

Chapter 31

Dinner was good, it wasn't a feast, they didn't really have time for that, but there was some chicken and some vegetables, mead and wine, and some sweet pastries, that he didn't know the name of. Maenera ate with gusto and Daemon could see that she was steadily getting tipsy. The sweet mead she was consuming like water was starting to affect her. Daemon didn't saw her drink alcohol much, preferring water or orange juice instead of the watered wine they usually consumed throughout the day. She seemed relaxed. Her hair unbound, laughing and smiling, telling jokes, some of them only understood by her and Jon. Jon was of course having dinner with them, Maenera insisted. Lord Stark and Harwin sending uneasy glances in his direction now and again. Even her accent was getting thicker, more pronounced, her northern heritage rearing its head. She was an enigma to him, She had so many masks and layers, and he had the opportunity to see some of them. The loving sister, the nurturing aunt,  the crazy seer, the immovable princess, but this was new. Daemon believed that this, right here, right in this moment, it was the closest to her true nature. Maybe. He didn't think he ever saw Maenera being so peaceful, maybe it was the fact that she was home, maybe it was because of Jon, he didn't know but what was certain was that he liked her that way. She looked younger, she didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"How about a song Princess?" Jon asked.

"I don't sing anymore, don't remember the words for them songs." Maenera responded trying to sound dismissive.

"Just one more song, your Grace. " Insisted Jon. Daemon didn't know why he insisted, but to be fair a lot of things didn made sense about the man (creature?).

"You always ask for just one more." Maenera said and Daemon could see her denials dying on her lips. Daemon was curios and by the looks of it Viserys was as well."Fine".

He was sure that if she didn't have so much mead in her she wouldn't have agreed. They were all concentrating on her, waiting for the song to start. She seemed to think about something for a few moments. Mayhaps trying to remember the words. At last her mouth opened and the verses of a song he didn't hear before began pouring from her lips.

High in the halls of the kings who are gone
Jenny would dance with her ghosts
The ones she had lost and the ones she had found
And the ones who had loved her the most

The ones who'd been gone for so very long
She couldn't remember their names
They spun her around on the damp old stones
Spun away all her sorrow and pain

Daemon could see from the way her eyes were moving from place to place that she was remembering a different time. He could almost see a skinny little girl, running around the room, his father chasing her, her mother in the doorstep following with her eyes, a kind smile on her face. The little girl laughing and crying out when father caught her in his arms and began tickling her. His father's stubble scratching at her soft cheeks as he kissed her. He remembered a similar incident when he was young, his mother still alive, mayhaps from there came the association.

And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave

They danced through the day
And into the night through the snow that swept through the hall
From winter to summer then winter again
'Til the walls did crumble and fall

And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave