first. }{ video.

[iwillnotlookback]

 [ The girl on the screen looks younger than her years, and she is still rather young. Only sixteen, the burnt-away stubble of silvery-blonde hair highlights her sharp cheekbones and draws attention to her large violet eyes in a way that makes her look like a doll. A very feral sort of doll. Her expression can be best described as a mixture of irritation, weariness, and childlike curiosity. And over it all a mask of regality. Nearly bald and ragged-looking she may be, she still looks every inch a queen. ]

Tell me, are all our dear hosts so exceptionally skilled in making obeisance and providing obfuscation for their master? I ask the reason for my presence and they tell me that knowledge is the Emperor's. I demand to know where my dragon is and they simper and apologize. Not one will deign to give me a clear answer, only riddles. More riddles. I am weary of riddles.

[ Dany sighs, a certain something in the way her eyes slip briefly closed betraying just how very tired she is. It never ends, does it? At least she is clean now. The first thing she did when the kedan led her to her quarters was bathe, soaking away her aches and pains and scrubbing off the accumulated weeks' worth of filth and blood in water heated near to boiling. Merely world-weary is marginally better than being both world-weary and filthy. ]

Very well. If we are to be companions in entrapment, we might at least know one another. I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, a khaleesi of the Dothraki, Queen of Meereen and rightful Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. I would know you, and whatever you can tell me. [ Pause. ] And if you have seen a dragon, say, the size of an aurochs, colored black and red, I would know that too. You will be well rewarded, I swear. Though I beg you not to approach him, as his temperament is…quite volatile.

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[iwillnotlookback]

Then you are a king. It would only be meet to address you as such.

[ She cools a little, the faintest hint of a blush in her cheeks. Embarrassing to get caught acting the girl, moreso to be singled out for that by a fellow ruler. ]

Indeed it is. Like your own people, the home of my ancestors and their dragons was lost to them when it was swallowed by the Doom. Their dragons eventually died out, and all the others as well, until only bones and stone eggs remained. Yet I hatched three of those eggs, and my people named me Mother of Dragons thereafter.

[traitre]

[he doesn't seem to catch the blush or the remark-- too occupied as he is, now raising both brows at her story.]

The same feat on my world would make you a legend. That's... Incredible.

[so maybe she does deserve all forty of her titles.]

[iwillnotlookback]

A legend in mine as well, if truth be told.

[traitre]

What's legendary is the patience required to rear three young dragonets. Just one -- a black dragon, especially -- can be difficult enough on its own.

[a sigh. there's a hint of a long-suffering tone in there-- after all, he'd been stuck with a baby grougaloragran for the past few months and it's a miracle he got out with the only five fingers he had left.] One learns to douse fires efficiently. Or dodge them.

[iwillnotlookback]

[ She laughs and touches a hand to the burnt-away stubble of her hair. ]

How truly you speak. The largest of my brood, Drogon, is colored black and red, and his temper is hot as his fire.

[traitre]

[well, he supposes that does explains the hair-- or lack thereof. he's just glad all his is intact...

he pauses thoughtfully before breaking into a smile that crinkles the corners of his eyes.] If the dragons of your world are anything like mine, you'll find him very possessive of you. You won't find a truer friend or a more trusted companion anywhere-- don't forget it.

My sister was a gentler, kindlier soul. More fit for rule than our fiercer brothers, but then again, they'd always been more suited for fighting the wars we so rarely saw.

[he's starting to take on the air of an old person talking about the good ol' days-- dany you're entering the danger zone]

[iwillnotlookback]

As I am of them. They are all the family I have left to me. Worry not, my lord: I will not soon forget it.

[ She's caught up enough in the novelty of meeting another who possesses the dragon's blood that she doesn't mind. ]

The your people rode their dragons to war as well?

[traitre]

[and when it comes right down to it, family really is all that matters, isn't it?

for the first time his smile falters; there's the briefest of hesitations, as if he's trying to decide just how to word this, before he replies.] On the two occasions in our history that it was needed, yes. By and large, we were a peaceful people-- which, I suppose, made us ideal targets for those who came to covet all we possessed.

But I'm sure I needn't elaborate how fiercely an Eliatrope and his dragon will fight to safeguard what is rightfully his.

[she should know; the emphasis on 'rightful queen' had said it all. where there was a throne to be won, there was always a struggle -- and didn't he know it?]

[iwillnotlookback]

[ Family is all there is. ]

No, there is no need. I know it well enough. Dragons are creatures possessive by nature, and those in whose veins runs the dragon's blood, we are wont to jealousy as well.