Daenerys found herself utterly stunned by Jon Snow's persistence once they stood together in the dragon glass caves. She'd given him permission to mine it for his war effort against The Night King and his army, and now here she stood - in utter awe - of the history of Westeros spread out like children paintings across the walls before her.
She should've known it was a ploy to bring her to his side, to fight a war she didn't entirely believe in.
"They fought together against their common enemy. Despite their differences, despite their suspicions. Together." Dany met dark eyes through the flickering of her torch. "We need to do the same if we're going to survive." Both of them looked back up to the etched drawings of the White Walkers. "Because the enemy is real, it's always been real."
"And you say you can't defeat them without my armies or my dragons?"
"No." Jon replied. "I don't think I can." Daenerys stepped forward to close the gap between them, eyes locked with his own. It was hard to ignore the draw she felt towards him.
"I will fight for you." Daenerys said. It was a proclamation, a promise, one that eased the tension in his shoulders and made Jon sigh with relief. "I will fight for the North, when you bend the knee."
His hopeful expression fell flat.
"My people won't accept a Southern ruler." It was the truest thing he'd uttered all morning. The people of Winterfell wouldn't do it and Sansa definitely wouldn't trust a Targaryen on the Iron Throne. Maybe if it was Dany's sister who she was somewhat familiar with. "Not after everything they've suffered."
"They will if their King does." Daenerys persisted. "They chose you to lead them. Isn't their survival more important then your pride?"
They stared at each other for a long moment before leaving the dragon glass caves, only to find Varys and Tyrion waiting for them outside.
Her face fell. "What is it?"
"We took Casterly Rock." Tyrion replied. Going by the lack of vigor in his expression, Daenerys assumed that even though they'd taken one of the most impregnable fortresses in Westeros that something still hadn't gone according to plan.
"That's very good to hear." She said. Tyrion and Varys looked at each other uncertainly. "Isn't it?"
Rhaella glanced up from where she was standing ankle deep in the tide, keeping watch over Alice and Ada as they took the boat out for their weekly fishing excursion. Her thoughts were on the armor Daenerys had presented her with earlier that morning when she'd gone out for her training with Rhaegal. It was a beautiful obsidian armor with red accents along the arms and torso that reminded her of dragon scales, and a hand crafted Targaryen emblem on the breast. It was probably the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
"Rhaella!"
And she was hoping she'd never have to put it to use.
"Dany?" Rhaella asked. Pushing unkempt hair behind her ears, Rhaella furrowed her brow at her sisters infuriated expression. "What's going on?"
"All of my allies are gone." Daenerys stopped in front of her sister and straightened her shoulders. There was absolutely zero trace of the girl who dreamed of the house with the red door and the lemon tree outside her window. "Cersei has taken all of the available food from the Reach while her brother has taken Highgarden with his armies and killed Olenna Tyrell." Rhaella felt her heart drop into her stomach at the thought of House Tyrell finally being obliterated with the swing of Jaimes- no. If he was going to kill her, he'd do it his way. Not the way of his sister. "Enough with the clever plans, I have three large dragons and a dragon rider sister. We're going to fly them to the Red Keep."
Finally.
"We've discussed this-"
"My enemies are in The Red Keep." Daenerys snapped back, her voice hard and cold. "What kind of a Queen am I if I'm not willing to risk my life to fight for them?"
"A smart one." Tyrion replied.
Daenerys turned her attention towards Jon. "What do you think I should do?" It was an innocent enough question, especially for someone who would've been acting on impulse were it not for the influence of her older sister and her Hand. "I'm at war and I'm losing. What do you think I should do?"
The dragons roared once again from where they flew over the tide.
"I never thought dragons would exist again. No one did. The people who follow you know you made something impossible happen. Maybe that helps them believe you can make other impossible things happen. if you use them to melt castles, you're not different. You're just more of the same."
Daenerys turned back around to Rhaella, blue eyes flickering up and down to gaze at the armor she'd had made for her sister. The one she polished and displayed in her chambers was worn with age, a gift from their brother, and Dany had wanted her sister to have something new for the new world she intended on bringing. For the new Targaryen dynasty.
***
You will know the moment when you are most dire. Wait for it.
Rhaella had never been on a battlefield before. She'd heard war stories from Jaime, whispered in dark corners of the Red Keep over the years she had distanced herself from him, but she'd still heard them. She had seen the Bloody Mummers cut his hand off and had watched Brienne of Tarth take lives without so much as breaking a sweat. She'd heard the stories about the Red Wedding and the blood that had stained the halls of Riverrun. She'd seen the carnage of the Sack of King's Landing and the bodies of the men she'd been forced to kill. Rhaegar's soldiers.
But none of that compared to what was happening right in front of her eyes.
The Dothraki went first. The Lannister soldiers flew into a frenzy to try and protect their newly obtained gold, fabricating a formation three men deep that spread several feet outward with their spears brandished and poised between the blazing Lannister shields they held.
She watched on.
Rhaella had seen fire. She had been there when her father had burned Rickard Stark in the Throne Room. She'd been there when he'd burned the Hands he didn't like and people who opposed him. Watching Daenerys obliterate the scattered remains of the Lannisters reminded her way too much of Aerys. The thought of her turning into that sent shivers down her spine.
Rhaegal whined at the obvious discomfort from his rider.
"Ȳdra daor zūgagon. Kesi ērinagon kesīr." (1)
She didn't emerge from behind the hill until the bolt of a large weapon flew through the smoke that had settled in the midst of the spreading fires and pierced the underside of Drogon's wing. Rhaella pressed her hand over her mouth and watched as the dragon flew through the air, her sister struggling to control the beast before it slowly settled onto the ground.
"Rhaegal, Sōvegon!" (2)
Rhaegal did as he was told, taking off through the air and flying high above the carnage on the ground. Rhaella watched the ashes of the men who had fallen victim to the dragon fire scatter across the scorched Earth, remains of fallen soldiers who would have had no way to prevail against such an opponent. Such is war.
The Lannister soldiers were screaming. Most of them were running, and the Dothraki were cutting them down as they went.
Burn them all, he said. She could hear him, hear The Mad King as he screamed from his Throne. Burn them all. She could hear her mother's cries for help and she could feel the way Viserys trembled against her as they sat in their chambers, two children helpless to protect their mother.
Rhaella allowed her eyes to flutter shut.
"Dracarys." (3)
The world exploded in a flurry of orange around her.
***
Jaime.
"You idiot," Her heart began pounding as she moved herself to sit on her haunches, hands still gripping the spines of Rhaegal's back. "You absolute idiot- Rhaegal, Ilagon!" (4)
The dragon's wings snapped outward to steady his flight as he descended towards the ground, and Rhaella poised herself angled on his wing for the precise moment when an opportunity opened to dive. Wide blue eyes watched Jaime as he charged towards Drogon with the spear extended, expression dead set with the intention of killing Daenerys and ending the War of the Two Queens.
Careful, Targaryen. You're bordering on sentimental.
His bravery was admirable though, she'd give him that.
Bump bump. Bump bump. Bump bump. Rhaella had thought she'd be more afraid to pull such a reckless move when Daenerys was right there and still had no idea about the nature of her relationship with Jaime, but she'd spent so much of her life being selfless that it was high time to be a little bit selfish. If it meant he'd lived, she'd be okay with that.
Her feet propelled her off the side of the dragon, and into the air she went.
Falling. Falling. Fallen.
Jaime gasped as a unseen object collided with his side and together they plunged into the river, down into the dark, and the last thing he recalled before the darkness claimed him was the sight of bright blue eyes that seemed to never leave his memory.
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Valyrian translations:
1: Do not be afraid. We will win here.
2: Fly
3: dragon fire (this is literally what dracarys translates to LOL)
4: down!