Bronze She-Dragon

Chapter 2: Lost

YEAR 115 AC

Daena lost track of the passing days. Seated by the window, she maintained the same vigil she had upheld in Runestone, looking outside. King's Landing's days might have been sunnier and more picturesque, but to the young lady, everything seemed shrouded in shades of gray, for she was completely on her own. Though servants attended to her needs—bringing her food and attempting to entertain the lonesome child —her responses were minimal, with uneaten food left behind daily. Her father remained absent, and the memory of Daemon was tethered to the day she had arrived at the Red Keep.

The castle she once envisioned as the home of her dreams, based on her books, failed to live up to its imagery. The building's beauty was constantly ruined by the noise of clinging swords and anguished cries of men and women. The atmosphere felt frenetic, far from the tranquility she was used to back in Runestone. Wandering the castle held no appeal; Daena's mind was consumed by just two thoughts: her mother and Nilly. "Mother... Nilly... Mother... Nilly..." The words flowed in a continuous murmur, her focus unbroken from the garden below.

On one of those days, while Daena's gaze remained fixed on the trees and undergrowth, she noticed a moving shadow amid the foliage. Her inquisitive eyes followed the silhouette until the figure she had been observing so intently came into view. Daena's vantage point granted her only a view of the person's back, the face turned in the opposite direction. Yet, she seemed to have recognized the woman by her dark hair and the elegant red gown she wore. The image looked to painfully familiar to her, making her tender heart sink. In an instant, a realization dawned upon her, making is impossible for Daena to merely stay by the window: it was her mother. The very lady before her bore an uncanny resemblance to her mother. The wave of warmth washed over the little lady's body as she suddenly got up and hastily made her way to the garden.

 "Mother...My lady mother..." She whispered to herself as she ran through the halls.

 "My lady! Wait! My lady!" An echo of a servant's voice, who was following her in a similar running manner, filled Daena's ears, the voice almost sounding like Nilly's. 

Suddenly everything made perfect sense to her: Daena felt as if she was back home. As if the nightmare of her father's appearance never happened. As if all of her misery was just a mere cruel fantasy. It was quite surprising how the girl reached the garden so quickly, not being familiar with the passages of the Red Keep, but she somehow, most likely accidentally, did. Looking for her lady mother didn't take long, as Daena encountered her almost immediately. As the girl looked at her face, she was taken aback: the lady before her was not at all her mother. It was a young woman, undoubtedly a married one, judging from her big swollen belly covered with rich red robes. Her face, though, looked very kind, as she looked at the little girl in front of her. Her gaze was careful, for she instantly noticed the child's silver hair.

"You must be Lady Daena, are you not, child?" She inquired, her voice very youthful yet quite mature.

The little lady nodded, not shedding a single word to this stranger woman. The expression of her face was growing more and more suspicious, and she slowly took a little step back from the dark-haired stranger. 

The grown lady smiled, giving the child her hand.

"Oh, do not be scared, child. I am no enemy of yours. My name is Alicent."

It didn't take Daena much time to realize who was before her. She remembered her lady mother Rhea speaking of Queen Alicent of House Hightower quite often. While her mother's opinion of the Queen was quite neutral, Daena did take notice of other words shed by evil tongues, calling this pleasant young woman before her quite unappealing words, and not quite comprehendible to the mind of a young child. The girl instantly bowed to her, as the courtesy required, her expression being the mixture of awkwardness and light fear. Alicent chuckled in response.