Hope cold water can make your burned soul feel better

i. Do you feel happy today?

Rhaena sits in the grass next to Melony, she raises her head to the sky and is dazzled by the sun, which makes her smile. If Dreamfyre were there, she would soon have taken to the sky with her.

"Do you feel happy today?" Melony had closed her eyes against the contact of the light but her head was turned towards Rhaena.

Rhaena takes a moment to think about her day. Although she had to retake her High Valyrian lessons, it wasn't a bad lesson, her teacher is quite lenient with her when it comes to pronunciation. She excels, as always, in her calculus classes and her history lessons turned into an exchange of theories about the appearance of dragons in the world between her, Aegon and Viserys. But having a peaceful day at school doesn't define her happiness. Rhaena's brow furrows, she thinks of how she is allowed to be in charge of feeding her younger sister, and how Alysanne had thanked her by saying her name (maybe not in the clearest way, but she had said it), After feeding Alysanne, she stays in the nursery room with Jaehaerys and her brother invites her to play with his wooden dragons, Jaehaerys' most prized possessions. Before meeting Melony, Vaella had shown her a handkerchief she had embroidered herself with her initial (the R was twisted but the detail is so sweet that she almost cries), Vaella assures her that she will make one for each member of the family. Then she squeezes the handkerchief with her embroidered initial and smiles.

"I'm happier than I've ever been," she whispers, more to herself than to Melony. Their shoulders bump, Rhaena blushes a little. "I missed Grandpa during Valyrian lessons, he made Valyrian fun."

"I confess I find it strange to imagine King Aegon, the conqueror, as a doting grandfather. I can only think of him atop his dragon, dispensing justice." Melony lowers her voice excessively as she says that, almost as if she fears being overheard.

Rhaena laughs because she could not imagine her grandfather as a conqueror, she could only see in him that affable old man who loved animals and bad jokes (Rhaena swears that the one thing she would not miss about her grandfather was his jokes, but she lies, she had started making them herself, to her brothers' chagrin).

"Princess" Gwayne Tully, her sworn shield, advances towards them "I must take you to the monarchs" Rhaena tenses. After her father's coronation, her mother warns her that she must improve her manners, start behaving like the lady she was. Not ruining her dresses was among those things, and she had failed miserably at sitting on the grass. She saw her perfect day overshadowed by a scolding from her mother.

He stands up and says goodbye to Melony. She thinks of a thousand excuses to avoid her mother's reprimand as she walks after Gwayne. Just before entering her parents' chambers, Rhaena thinks that her mother is right, she was almost an adult and should behave like one, she would face the scolding without excuses, it was what an adult would do.

Rhaena notices the strange aura as soon as she enters the place, she turns fearfully to look at Gwayne, Gwayne does nothing, neither can he. The door closes, leaving Rhaena alone with her parents, the monarchs. Rhaena holds her breath and takes a long moment before daring to look at them. Whatever they had to say, it wasn't about a dress, that was clear.

"Rhaena" the king calls her. That makes her look away from the door but she still can't bring herself to look at her parents. She clutches in one hand the handkerchief Vaella had given her while with the other she twirls on her finger one of her rings (one that used to belong to her maternal grandmother, Lady Alarra Massey).

"Father, Mother" when she looks up, Rhaena makes eye contact with her father, he looks at her with guilt, with nostalgia, with sorrow, and it makes her heart shrink. It reminds her faintly of when she was told that her grandfather's health was deteriorating and that she would have to be more caring towards him from then on. "Dad" the handkerchief falls from her hands, she doesn't bother to pick it up, too nervous about any bad news. She doesn't want to experience the funeral of another loved one for a long time.