High Valyrian Guide (David J. Peterson)

Shrubbery, by Maester Mikkellion

Daemon has a copy of Shrubbery in his library in Pentos.

Shrubbery was written by Ti Mikkel, George R.R. Martin's assistant, and translated into High Valyrian by David J. Peterson for "The Princess and the Queen," the sixth episode of the first season of House of the Dragon. The prop is used among many others, but its contents are not shown on screen.

Shrubbery, Being a History on the Flora of the Valyrian Freehold, by Maester Mikkellion

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The Doom of the Valyrian Freehold saw a peninsula and its people consumed by fire and smoke. An entire civilization, its inhabitants and their gods, their loves, grudges, guilts, and pain all drowned in a sea of ash and sorrow.

None who dwelt there survived, nor did their histories. The Library of Tyria, the largest and most renowned repository of knowledge of its day, was destroyed. Books, scrolls, and tomes turned to cinder. But while the fate of memory seemed sealed, not all was lost.

Elsewhere on the continent of Essos were dragonlords, spending time away from their homelands. Some were on patrols, and some to exact punishment upon anyone who dared deny the power of Valyria. Yet one other, whose name has come down to us, was away to take stock of the foliage, plants, and teal mosses known throughout the resplendent forests of Qohor.

Jaehaelor Mataeryon, a freeborn landowner and gardener by trade and passion, was at work collecting samples when the earth shook and the sky turned red. As the days passed and news travelled, it became clear that Jaehaelor's home, family, and people had been destroyed.

Not knowing if he were the last of the dragonriders, Jaehaelor packed his bags and flew to the southeastern most of the free cities, Valyria's first daughter in Volantis. It was there, if tales can be believed, where he spent the remainder of his life scratching everything he could remember of his gardens on sheets of parchment so long they rivaled the broad stone highways of his people.

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(Jaehaelor's dragon died in captivity not three years later. Unable or forbidden to ride her, who can truly say, her leathern wings are said to have shriveled after refusing sheep, goat, dog, and horse. Jaehalor himself did not long outlive his dragon, passing from this mortal coil at the age of five and fifty while traversing the Long Bridge. It was there he saw two masters exacting punishment against their slaves. Tearfully, the gardener flung himself between the victims and the whip, collapsing after being lashed for nigh on an hour. That is a tale for another time, however, and beyond our current purview.)

Bound in twine and stored expertly within the Black Walls, Jaehaelor's writings were gifted to the Citadel on this, the fourth day of the fourth moon of 36 AC. It has now passed to me to cement his memories into the bold minds of those who pass through this, the greatest repository of knowledge in the known world.

Fortunately for us, the majority of Jaehaelor's accounts detail his passion for plant, leaf, moss, and tree. Further is an exhaustive description of his glass orb greenhouse, which is said to have been built into the topless tower of the Matareyons, held in place by no less than thirtythree stone Sphinxes, with eyes of garnet.

Let us so begin with the base of all things-soil. It must be emphasized that the volcanic soils of Old Valyria were much different than those found in Westeros, save for Dragonstone, that small island sitting at the mouth of Blackwater Bay. It is from this soil that our first plant springs: the silk grasses of Valyria. Blossoming and stretching their glossy fingers up, as if alive, these tendrils are written to have braided and folded themselves apart and together again like coils of rope. If Jaehaelor can be believed, these grasses also laid the foundation for almost every meal on the Valyrian Peninsula, as garnishment. Though it must be noted that while this variety of vegetation was enjoyed by dragonlords and their kin, it was forbidden to slaves.