❝With one eye a Targaryen violet and the other silver as the moon, she watched all and knew more. All of which she immortalised in bleeding black ink to be studied by the naive people of tomorrow.❞
Princess Rhaella, daughter of King Viserys I and Qu...
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BORN TO THE House of the Dragon brought expectations for Princess Rhaella. Bonding with and riding one of the great, magical beasts was the principal belief. It was their birthright.
With one, castles melt, men fear for their lives and kingdoms bow to them. Without one, they were not whole and deemed weak.
Yet, Rhaella had no dragon, nor did her dearest Aemond. Where they pretenders? Did they deserve to bear the great house's name? When the young Princess was a sickly babe, a dragon egg, undeterred by the long-standing Targaryen tradition, was not placed in her crib — Queen Alicent feared for her newborn and the Maesters thought the heat of the egg might harm her — likewise, none of her siblings, excluding Rhaenyra, were honoured in this way. Aegon, the eldest brother, jested often; Rhaella and Aemond were not true Targaryen's because they had yet to claim a dragon. He, as a youth, claimed Sunfyre — a gleaming gold scales, which shone like beaten gold in the sunlight; whilst Helaena rode the slender she-dragon Dreamfyre — a pale blue, with silver markings, she had silver crests and pale blue wings; and Prince Daeron briefly bonded with beautiful blue she-dragon Tessarion, though he had yet to mount her. Likewise, her nephews possessed hatchlings and dragons since the cradle.
Admittedly, Rhaella Targaryen was envious.
Weeping would ensure with every wicked and unsympathetic from Aegon. Why was she not worthy? Was she not a true Targaryen? Was she too weak? Inconsolable at times, Alicent spent years chastising her eldest, who cared little for her scolding and trying with all her might to soothe her youngest. Alas, her efforts were seemingly in vain. Until an idea sprung into her mind one day. The very same day The Queen, neglected her royal duties for the day, held a pure white cat with copper eyes, obtained from a ratcatcher, who said the feline slept too often and cat rats too rarely. Bright smiles and elated giggles infused the Red Keep for weeks to come. Bran — the name she gave to him, after Bran the Builder, a man featured in several of the nighttime stories told by her nurse — was precisely as described: sleeping hours at a time, eating only the best fish, turning his nose up at anything less, enjoyed being carried but just by Rhaella, scratching those he disliked and in the dead of night he would rise from his plush pillow to lay beside his silver-haired companion. Guessing were made to Bran's age, though none were certain, he was given to Rhaella at the age of more or less six and when she was five. Age did not catch up to him; instead, his own laziness and rich diet caught up to him. A distraught Rhaella was uplifted by Aemond, who detested the snowy cat but admired his protectiveness over Ella.
However, at the generosity of His Grace, a ray of hope might squash the ugly feelings: a milky white egg with specs of silver that can only be seen under the light of day laid by Dreamfyre and seemingly fathered by the young Seasmoke. Hatching an egg is a feat few are capable of, however, Rhaella trusted the dragonkeepers to care for the precious egg, which she visited numerous times, muttering sweet words in High Valyrian.
