( ACT II; the age of the dragon. )
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chapter 10: dawning troubles and desires.

VAEGON'S heart pounded as he watched the freed slaves of Yunkai file through the city gates in quiet droves. He wasn't sure the if it was the excitement of his victory, or the sheer gratitude he felt towards being able to free people from such harsh lives, but he felt immense pride in seeing his efforts to free slaves come to fruition after taking the city. He hoped such efforts would help gain support when they returned to Westeros, where slavery had been banned for centuries. Freeing enslaved people was a noble act in itself. Seeing them leave behind the chains they once wore was an elating experience.

Standing atop a rocky outcropping that overlooked the general area spanning from Yunkai's gate, they quietly waited with Vaegon's small council for the freed slaves to venture from their tribulation at whatever discretion they felt was necessary. The people were tentative, slow to exit as their trek into the free world brought forth a somberness. Rhaellor, Haelyx, and Drokar perched on the edge of the rock in front of them while remaining dutifully quiet and observant, their heads cocking every so often as they watched.

The former slaves looked around with meek expressions, as if they feared the outside world they'd never truly been able to experience. It made Vaegon's heart falter, as he wished there was more he could do beyond setting them free. His desire to right any wrong he could possibly carry out swelled in his chest the longer he witnessed their efforts. Freeing the enslaved on their journey had been Daenerys' wish from the start, but Vaegon had grown to find joy in it as well. Justification for the innocent was a smart decision on his part for when he would reclaim the iron throne, let alone a liberating feeling that he'd done something good.

At his side, his sister watched with a slight smile, her violet eyes filled with emotion as she looked ahead. The wind gently pushed around the loose strands of her silver hair that were not secured in the braids fashioned on her head. Her happiness made Vaegon even more pleased, no matter whether they were facing tension between them or not. Regardless, he loved her and always would and seeing her joyful was elating to him.

Despite the excitement, Vaegon was worried the slaves of Yunkai would retaliate against being freed as they were treated far better than those enslaved in Astapor, he'd been told. Slavery was slavery to him, yet he knew these people didn't think the same as he did. He didn't want to face the possibility he may have been fighting for a people that wished to stay in chains. Part of him wanted to allow them to do whatever they pleased with themselves, but he knew without order in Yunkai the city would likely crumble and fall back into the hands of the slavers.

"They're weary," Daenerys noted quietly as they continued to watch them file out. Her brow furrowed as she watched.

"They've likely not known freedom in their lives, princess," Daario said at her side, hand resting on the pommel of his sword as it always did. "The foreign concept of personal liberty is expected to be daunting."

The crowd stops just before the line of Unsullied that stood between the Targaryen's and the slaves. They look up wearily, silent as can be.

Vaegon directed his attention where Jorah and Raina stood, the two northerners offering nods of encouragement. Looking back to Daenerys, he motioned for her to step forward with him with a small wave of his hand. Once the two stood at the edge of the outcropping behind their dragons, they waited. Vaegon tried to find the words to have Missandei translate, but he found his tongue tied. He wasn't sure what to say to these people he was so entirely out of touch with.

Luckily, the Naathi translator found the words for him, as she began proclaiming to the crowd in a language that Vaegon didn't know. He listened intently as she called out to the former slaves, gesturing to him as she spoke. The slow change of their expressions gave him hope as he waited. Once finished, she looked to him.

"They now know that it was the Targaryen's that released them from their suffering," Missandei told him with a small smile. He'd made a point to have her explain that it was not just he that had freed them, but Daenerys too.

The crowd of freedmen were quiet for a few moments, Vaegon contemplating if his presence was necessary anymore the longer they stared, but he was seemingly anchored to the rock he stood on.

"Mhysa!" A voice exclaimed loudly from the crowd, the origin unknown. Confused, Vaegon shared a look with Daenerys.

"Kena!" Another called out. The two words began to be repeated over and over until a hum of voices enveloped them, turning into a mottled mess of desperate cries to the Targaryens.

"What are they saying?" Vaegon asked Missandei, who stood nearby. Her small smile turned into a grin.

"In Old Ghiscari, Mhysa is the term for mother," the Naathi woman leaned in and told the king over the sound of the chanting people. "And Kena, father."

Vaegon directed his back toward the crowd. He pursed his lips. The crowd began to inch toward the guarding Unsullied, their arms reaching for Vaegon and Daenerys in a desperate attempt to reach their liberators. The Unsullied immediately broke into a defensive stance to protect the king and princess, spears and shields poised, but Vaegon was quick to call them off.

Eagerly, Daenerys stepped forward, ordering the Unsullied to part as she made her way toward the crowd. No matter if the freedmen were thankful for their liberty, they could easily harm her once she entered the crowd. Against all of his instincts, Vaegon remained silent as he watched her enter to the crowd.

"Soves," Vaegon told the three dragons before they immediately took to the sky.

Once the dragons were in the air, Vaegon watched silently as the crowd welcomed Daenerys with cries of what couldn't be anything but utter adoration. They gently touched her, risking the chance to be close to one of their liberators.

For a moment, Vaegon was able to forget the transgression that his sister had made toward him, her flaws that had become more prominent since their relationship had grown more broken. Daenerys was a far more gentle person that he'd been acknowledging in the recent past. He needed to cling to her true self.

♜

FOLLOWING the liberation of Yunkai's enslaved and a quick dispatch of the slave trade's governing properties, Raina found herself in the company of the Dragon King again, accompanying him after she was invited to converse in an open prairie of grass and rocky outcroppings outside of Yunkai where they watched his dragons carry on. The city had seemed to be benefitting from its liberation, as she had been present for the Targaryen's efforts to govern the city. They were working well for being developed in little less than twelve hours.

With the opportunity to be in Vaegon's presence again, she wished to once more discuss the matters of assisting Robb on the war front back home, as she hadn't been able to send any word of success. As much as she knew the direness of the situation in Westeros, she found herself far too entranced with the dragons that tussled nearby over a mangled lamb carcass to think much on it in the moment. The first time she'd seen Vaegon's dragons, she'd been half convinced she was going mad, yet she sat there watching them as if they were simple beasts.

"They've grown in just the short time that I've been your guest. I still find myself in disbelief that they are real," Raina remarked as she stood next to him, the two watching the dragons tussle. The white one, Rhaellor if she remembered correctly, seemed to be the most dominant out of the three.

"Most do," Vaegon smirked as he crossed his muscular arms. "My ancestors brought their inevitable decline with the Dance of Dragons. After the civil war, they were locked in the dragon pit to wither and become smaller and small. The last one was the size of a cat. It angers me to think they were so careless as to allow such a thing to come about."

Raina had heard the accounts of the Targaryen's history when she had lessons with the Septa in Winterfell, the thought of dragons a spectacular image in the mind of a little girl. She wished she could tell her younger self she would miraculously one day see them come to life again, but she realized there's more than dragons she would warn her younger self about.

Taking the opportunity to speak with him while he was in high spirits after the victory over Yunkai, Raina decided to finally bring up the conversation of his aid once more.

"Your Grace, if I may ask plainly," she said. She pulled away a strand of her dark hair that was whipped in the wind, her hand reminding at the side of her face as she held it there.

He looked down at her with his violet eyes and nodded his head once. "Of course."

She cleared her throat and pursed her lips. "I know that I have already approached you about supporting my brother back home," she began, hoping the subject wouldn't anger him. She prayed his victory in Yunkai might make him more susceptible of her pitch. "But I was hoping to revisit the topic. I'm afraid for my family and the North as they fight off the Lannister's."

Vaegon cocked a brow, but his expression softened. "And as I have told you, Lady Stark, even if we were not liberating Slaver's Bay, I'm still without a fleet of ships nor the size of army I'd feel comfortable with invading King's Landing with. My dragons are far from fully grown yet," he gestured to the dragons, where they were pulling apart the carcass viscously. "Let alone, your brother sent you with the intent of asking for my aid without bending the knee."

Raina frowned, her heart pounding. "I apologize, Your Grace. Being my brother's emissary has put me in a hard place. I am only the messenger."

The king sighed, crossing his arms and turning to look down to her. "Send word back to Westeros. If your brother agrees to bend the knee to me, I will consider moving on past Mereen for the time being to aid in his war. But I expect that he will support me once I go to claim the throne."

A fair trade off, Raina thought.

"Of course, Your Grace," she replied, a glimmer of hope taking seed in her chest. "Thank you, truly. In my current station, I try my best to do what I can. And I find myself fortunate to have been given the opportunity to meet you."

She didn't want to acknowledge that little pit of desire that had taken root after she'd first met him. She meant it truthfully that she was grateful to have met him, but she was sure he didn't expect it to be for the same reason she did.

Raina found the Dragon King attractive; the first man to ever cause the Stark woman to feel herself falter with almost unfounded reasoning. She wasn't sure if it was the dragons that made her gravitate toward him or perhaps his cocky, bold personality, or even his tall, muscular body and silver hair. Seeing his softer, kinder side when they freed the slaves of Yunkai had given her even more of a reason to find herself silently swelling with admiration. She couldn't help herself with the thoughts that decided to appear whenever she thought of him.

Yet with Vaegon's help, they could truly defeat the Lannister's. Perhaps they could see a just ruler take over the Seven Kingdoms once more. Robert Baratheon had not been a cruel monarch, but he was far from a good one.

"I truly wish to see you on the throne, Your Grace," she told him after they'd stood there for a moment, the wind blowing by with scents of grass and a tinge of burning meat from the carcass the dragons were roasting as they ate. "I have not been in your company long, but I can already see that you will be a king that makes up for the transgressions of those before you."

Vaegon's violet eyes glanced to the left where she stood, a small smirk appearing on his lips.

"Thank you, Lady Stark," he murmured, before stepping forward to greet Rhaellor.

The presence of another drew Raina's attention to Jorah, knight making his way to stand at her left side. The two northerners watched as Vaegon squatted on his heels, speaking to his dragon in hushed Valyrian as he tried to quell their fitful anger caused by their dominance over the meat.

"I still find myself almost unable to believe they are real," Raina told the Mormont knight softly. She looked at the beauty of the beasts, their incredibly structured bodies of meat, scale and bone. She prayed she would one day see them as large as the Conquerors dragons had been, Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar.

Before Raina could realize what had happened, a sudden snap of jaws and a snarl from Rhaellor had Vaegon reeling back. He landed on his ass in the grass, frozen in place as the pearlescent dragon turned his attention back to the carcass after his frills had fallen from their defensive position. A warning to not interfere.

Managing to get to his feet and brush away the grass and dirt that covered him, Vaegon looked to Jorah and Raina with an expression of utter disbelief.

"They are growing quickly, Your Grace," Jorah murmured with a slight frown. "They may be outgrowing your influence. They cannot be tamed by their mother, or their father."

He appears visibly shaken, his wide violet eyes looking in the direction of the tussling dragons once more. "Something will need to be done," he muttered. Raina could see the true fear in his expression the longer he looked at the beasts. "We will pursue a solution."