A Wandering Melody

Chapter 180: Remnants of Hope

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328 AC, Dragonstone

Daenerys Targaryen clutched her hatchling dragon in her hand as the shores of Dragonstone became visible. She looked at the captain of the ship, a smuggler whom she had paid handsomely to take her there without anyone noticing. None would link her disappearance from Sunspear to the ship.

Silently, she sat on a small boat, which was slowly lowered into the sea, letting her row her way to what was the last hope, the only hope, to weather the coming storm. Daenerys had known that she would need to leave Sunspear, but it was different experiencing it.

Her father had grown quite erratic in these last few years, enough that it was quickly becoming worrisome. The fact that he flipped the colours of their house's coat of arms, to show themselves to be separate from the main branch of House Targaryen, had been a scandal that the King was said to be furious at when it had been discovered. After all, her father had done it without his permission, in a great act of defiance, citing that the main branch rarely concerned itself with the affairs of Dorne anyway.

That incident alone took her far too much effort and likely every single drop of prowess in her Divination under Helaena Targaryen's tutelage to stop a war from spilling, and for the Dragons of the royal family to burn Sunspear to the ground.

She had learned much since that fated day in King's Landing, a great deal indeed. There was more to Helaena Targaryen than she had ever thought possible, where she knew of magicks that to this day Daenerys barely grasped. That woman's divination alone was terrifying, especially in an era where magic had just begun to stabilise. To think that she had done this despite being dead for centuries through only a glass candle…

Nevertheless, Daenerys had been more than ready to do her duty as a sister of the Flame, but it required more effort to stave off her father's erratic behaviour, something that had become increasingly difficult, almost impossible, after he claimed that wretched thing.

One of his alchemists claimed that the legacy of Valyria would be found in the Stepstones. His men had attacked a Westerosi ship, a Hightower ship, killing everyone aboard, all for something that she could not truly describe. It looked akin to a giant dragon scale with stars swirling within, and she could feel the sheer power within it, thrumming in her blood.

It was then that things had truly gone much worse. Much of his behaviour became harder to foresee since the day that he claimed that strange scale, which he never moved without being on his person. It also gave him a certain… weight to his presence that he had lacked before. Shrykos, her grandfather's mount before his death, had even allowed her father to ride him, something that had never been the case before.

The dragon, himself, was growing quite quickly, and Daenerys could see the intelligence in the dragon's eye disappear over time, being filled with nought but bloodlust under her father's command, becoming less like the intelligent creature it was, and more akin to a beast of fire and destruction.

Daenerys wished that she could have stopped whatever this magical scale was, but its presence was beyond her sight, and from the moment her father grasped that cursed thing, he became just as well. He was also visibly stronger, having crushed a man's head with his bare hands during one of his rages. She had also seen him heal at impossible speeds after being stabbed by a family member who had sought out vengeance. Whatever magic she attempted to use on him simply slipped away, as if it failed to latch onto him completely.

In her panic, she had immediately moved to guarantee her family's safety as much as she could, since she could not risk having them suffer because of one of her father's bouts of insanity. The easiest way was to keep them away from Sunspear, and thankfully, she managed that.

Daenerys had arranged for her mother to grow ill enough to justify a visit to the Kindly Tree in Casterly Rock, where she remained there, under the care of House Lannister and her childhood friend Joanna, the Lady of the Rock.

For Rhaegar, it was quite easy. She simply arranged it so that his Essosi wife would suggest settling in New Wyl, which had been built atop the ruins of Old Wyl after its fall centuries ago, instead of staying in Sunspear. It had been one of the stipulations of the Triarch of Volantis for this marriage, which her father foolishly agreed to, if only to ensure that there would not be a match between the Targaryens of Sunspear and the royal family for this generation.

As for Viserys, it was easy to push him to go gallivanting in Essos, having given him the idea as a point of rebellion against their father to avoid their marriage, which their father had tried to arrange. He hadn't been enthused by the prospect of their marriage, and neither was Daenerys, and it had been for both their benefit for her to indirectly push him towards this path. The last time she checked in on him, she saw him visiting every brothel on the continent, and all in all, enjoying his life far away from their father's reach, and he was happier for it.

With that done, Daenerys dedicated years of her life doing her best to stop a war that her father seemed insistent on starting. His invisibility to her sight alone was troublesome, and it made it hard to predict his decisions, but she had learned to work around them. After all, even something hidden held a shadow of some sort, and she had spent years working around her restrictions. She had arranged for her father's alchemists to perish in accidents involving their Wildfire, for one, as well as arranging for pirates to attack the ships of the company of mercenaries that her father had hired, for promising mages to get opportunities elsewhere and leave Dorne…

In the meantime, she maintained the façade of the innocent Dragon Maid, who still waited for her betrothed to return for their marriage, as unlikely as it was. Her father dismissed her involvement in most things, blaming Rhaegar of all people, despite her brother being halfway across their kingdom. It wasn't as if Rhaegar would have done anything, truly, other than perhaps sing aggressively at him.

However, it seemed like her efforts had worked too well, for her father had decided to go on another bout of madness and gathered all of the dragon eggs that had turned to stone, likely hoping to hatch them all and command them against the royal family.

Her father had hated their lack of dragons, claiming that the royal family was keeping them beneath them, making them lesser, in fear of them. She did not care for the man's ramblings, but he was right about one thing. Should Dorne have access to dozens of dragons, which would grow with the same speed as Shrykos, and under the control of her father, then the realm would likely not last past the next decade, something that she could not allow.

She had arranged for a collapse to occur in the hatcheries that her father asked to be built, which shattered the eggs, or at least, they should have, except for a single one that hatched, one that somehow sought her out and bonded with her. Daenerys knew that she could not remain hidden, not with a claimed dragon, hence her current situation.

Daenerys felt something on her chest hum, and looked to see her teacher's necklace, one with a beautiful blue gem that was brimming with magic, to be the cause. It had been gifted to her at the end of her lessons, hidden within the Glass Candle that she had found so long ago. It had begun thrumming in power after she had tried to ask the Glass Candle for aid, and she took it as an answer from her teacher.

The princess of Dorne felt a gentle pull on it and gently changed the direction of her boat to take her where it wished to take her. She found herself standing near a beach, with what almost looked like a hill where the Dragonmont began, and she couldn't help but wonder why Helaena's necklace had guided her to this place. She opened herself up to the tapestry of the world, trying to find a thread that might help guide her to some of her dead teacher's motivations, only to freeze in her tracks.

The tapestry was completely and utterly empty, without a single thread of possibility within her mind. Daenerys had never felt something like this in her life. Since the day that she was able to peer at it, the tapestry had been there, always. Sure, there were parts that could be hidden from her. But this… This void was different, and she had never felt so blind.

Panic began to set in at the situation, but then, she took a deep breath, remembering the words of her teacher and muttering them beneath her breath, "I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass through me. When the fear has gone, there shall be nothing. Only I will remain."

She finished the mantra, the one that Helaena had taught her to deal with the nightmares that plagued her, the one that Helaena's teacher had taught her. Daenerys felt relaxed, more grounded, and finally focused on what she came there for.

She was certain that she was in the correct place. After all, this was not a natural occurrence. Daenerys knew that the tapestry itself, obviously still existed, but it was obscured, hidden, beyond her sight. After all, it would only end when time itself ran out. But if her divination could not be used, there were other magicks that she had learned over the years.

Her first instinct was to look for sources of heat. After all, any hidden entrances would be visible to her sight. It was then that she realised that she was not alone, for two sources of heat, humans, seemed to make their way towards the very beach she stood on.

Quickly, not knowing if they were guards or something of the like, she put herself under an illusion, hoping that the entire situation would pass without any issues, and she would go back to her search.

To her surprise, it was not guards who patrolled the beaches of Dragonstone, but a Northerner who walked alongside a rather… large man, who seemed more dressed like a Reachman. What two people from halfway across the world were doing on Dragonstone completely escaped Daenerys, yet here they were.

The Reachman spoke up first, "Are you certain that this is the place, my lord? You know that I have great trust in your instincts, but you must admit that this place seems remarkable… barren."

The Northerner, a Lord if it had not been obvious given his garments, held a hand to his chest for a moment, and closed his eyes. He opened them and looked at it with great certainty, "Aye, Sam. This is the place."

Suddenly, the man stiffened, "And we are not alone."

Daenerys barely had the time to move away to dodge the attack while shielding the dragon hatchling, which was so fast her eyes could not follow. It was pure instinct, yet it had saved her life. The man had unsheathed a glowing sword, and he himself was moving far faster than any warrior or mage she had ever met.

Without her tapestry, she was very outmatched in a martial contest, but she was not defenceless. The man had obviously expected the attack to land, and Daenerys conjured a gust of wind to further unbalance the man.

From the corner of her eye, she spied the fat Reachman, Sam, and grabbed an opportunity. While still shielding her hatchling with one hand, she raised another, with a ball of flame, larger than she expected, and threw it at him.

The man… squeaked. The sound stopped the battlefield, and Daenerys froze the ball of flame just before his flinching face, but not before seeing the glowing blade at her neck. She forced a smile on her face and said to the Northerner, "You kill me, he dies."

The Northerner, who had his weapon raised towards her, stopped and gave her a disgusting look. It was only then that Daenerys had the time to think and quickly recognised the blade. After all, anyone who cared about magic could, for it was Ice, the ancestral blade of House Stark, said to have been wielded by the White Wolf and Bran the Builder before him, which meant that the man before her was likely a Stark of Winterfell.

The Stark lowered his weapon slowly, but that wouldn't mean anything given the speed at which he could attack in, but she realised that he was looking at her features for the first time as well, given that her illusion had shattered during their brief exchange, "What is a Targaryen princess doing in this place?"

Daenerys raised an eyebrow, "This is Dragonstone, our ancestral home. The bigger question would be what a Stark would be doing so far away from Winterfell."

Stark did not answer, and instead, his gaze was completely and utterly focused on the necklace that Daenerys wore on her neck, the one that guided her to this place. "Where did you get that?"

She realised that the man had glanced briefly towards his weapon, specifically the pommel, where she saw two small blue gems that glowed much like the necklace had. Despite herself, Daenerys began to calm down. After all, given the similarities, she was sure that this encounter was likely something that Helaena had arranged somehow, despite being dead for centuries.

That woman must have been dreadfully bored during her life for her to spend so much effort just to gain some amusement from her student who would not be born for centuries after her. It couldn't have killed her to just clearly tell her what she was planning to do, could it? If the woman was not already dead, Daenerys was sure she would have done the deed herself.

With a wave of her hand, the ball of fire near the Reachman dissipated, and she rolled her eyes and asked with an exasperated tone, "Did someone arrange for you to come to this place under very mysterious circumstances without actually telling you why you're here in the first place?"

The Stark Lord nodded without saying another word and visibly relaxed at the lack of threats to his companion. So, Helaena had somehow arranged for Stark to be here, and the main question was why she did that. Helaena Targaryen did not do anything without a reason; that was a lesson that she had painfully learned over many years under her tutelage. At least Daenerys could trust, somewhat, the men before her, as she trusted her greatly, and she also visibly relaxed more. Her hatchling must have felt it through their bond, as it looked at the Stark Lord and screeched, obviously miffed with the attack, before climbing up to her shoulder.

Still, they all stood there awkwardly, and Daenerys decided to be the one to introduce herself first, since it seemed that it was foolish to expect courtesies from a Northerner of all people. "Well, I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Daenerys Targaryen, Princess of Dorne."

The Reachman's eyes widened, "You're the Dragon Maiden…"

Daenerys rolled her eyes at the ridiculous title they had given her, since she had remained unmarried with Viserys gallivanting away in Essos, and her father refused any other match with the royal family.

The man blushed at his outburst, "I am Samuel Tarly, Princess, Archmaester of History in the Citadel of Highgarden. This is Rickon Stark, Warden of the North."

So, the Lord of Winterfell was on Dragonstone, and no one knew about it, let alone the fact that he wielded his ancestor's blade, or that he was important enough that Helaena had to involve him in her schemes somehow.

Before they could do anything, Daenerys felt her necklace hum faintly, and in Rickon Stark's hand, she saw his sword do the same. The jewels released a small pulse of light before returning to normal.

She would have thought that this was the end of it, were it not for the fact that she began to hear the sound of stone groaning on one another. She turned towards its source and saw the side of the Dragonmont before her, seemingly take shape, the stone almost melting as if it were nothing but clay that was shaped by invisible hands. It was a display of magic that she had not seen before, one made to build and not to destroy.

After a few moments, the groaning stopped, and the three of them found themselves standing before a manse that had not existed before, and which looked like it was carved out of the stone itself. The doors of the manse opened on their own, and the invitation to come in was clear, which they did.

The moment they stepped inside, Daenerys couldn't help but gasp in awe. After all, the interior seemed much larger and much greater than before. They stood before a giant room that looked almost as large as the Red Keep's Great Hall. In the middle was a great round table, illuminated by windows that somehow existed despite it being impossible.

The room was strangely barren in terms of decoration, except for two paintings, one depicting a man with mischievous green eyes, and a woman with the hair of a Lannister yet with blue eyes. The paintings looked almost life-like, and she swore that she could almost see them… move.

She jumped in her track as the painting came to life and spoke, "Hello there."

Daenerys raised her hand to release a ball of flame at her attacker, only for the small jewel beneath the painting to glow, and the man to melt away from it. Instead, he appeared before her, a great display of illusions. The man seemed to make a show of stretching, "Ah, that's the stuff. It's nice to get out of there every once in a while."

By that time, Daenerys had steeled herself, ready to burn down the painting into crisps. The man looked at her with a raised eyebrow and casually waved his hands, "None of that, my dear. To think that one of Helaena's little students would finally find this place, and the first instinct was to burn it to the ground. It must be the Targaryen genes, I swear."

Rickon walked next to her, with his sword unsheathed, "Who are you, sorcerer?"

"Oh… So, Cregan finally found a successor. He's always been picky, that one. Do you like this place? I was a bit bored near the end of our time here, and I decided to replicate a project that I've been working on since I was a teenager. It's not quite as flexible as the Room of Requirements, since I don't have a half-sentient castle helping me out, but it does the job, huh? What do you think of the décor? Yeah, I think I like green better."

The man flicked his hand, and the world shifted. The colours of the wall turned dark-green, and even some of the torches had a greenish tint. The round table darkened, and Daenerys found herself clenching her fist at the discomfort she felt.

A voice interrupted them, "Stop teasing them, Harry."

Daenerys turned and saw the golden-haired woman from the painting appear behind her. To her surprise, the Tarly man gasped in shock, "You're Harry Potter!"

The man's eyes looked like they were almost twinkling in merriment, "That I am. Well, I am a painting of him, so I guess technically…"

The woman raised her voice, "Harry!"

The man blushed and looked away, "Oh, right… If you are here, then it means that both your teachers believe that there are no other options, that something is coming that even you cannot handle alone, something that would require... additional help. And so, as legacies of Helaena Targaryen and Cregan Stark, I welcome you to the Manse of Secrets. May it be of help during the coming threat. Good luck; if you're here, then you're probably going to need it."

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Of Aerys's Rebellion and its Impact on House Targaryen

By Archmaester Maelor of King's Landing

Aerys the Traitor, often referred to as Aerys the Mad, or sometimes, the Blackfyre, was the instigator of the second civil war in the history of House Targaryen. Little is known of the man before his rebellion, with only rumours of his instability and his fascination for Wildfire, though he was notably disliked by his family, who had all left Sunspear, his seat of power, whenever they could.

By all accounts, preparations for the rebellion had been underway for years before it began, enough that even King Jaehaerys II had expressed much discomfort in that time. It was said that the Prince of Sunspear had received many setbacks during his preparation, often attributed to efforts made by the king to discourage the coming conflict without showing a divide in the House of the Dragon. The rebellion itself came in earnest in 329 AC, during the coronation of Baelor Targaryen, after his father, King Jaehaerys II, suddenly perished from a burst heart.

During the coronation, Aerys the Mad proclaimed himself to be the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, that his line was the legitimate one, and using his dragon, the bronze beast, Shrykos, to burn Princes Baelor Targaryen and Daeron Targaryen, and creating a succession crisis, as no member of King Jaehaerys' line had survived the attack, with the Mad Prince even taking the ancestral sword Blackfyre from their burnt corpses.

Thankfully, most lords had remained relatively safe thanks to the efforts of Rickon Stark, the Warden of the North, who seemed to have claimed his ancestor's weapon and used its magic to shield most of the spectators. It is said that the man had even scarred the prince of Dorne across his face, a wound that would not heal, and caused the prince to flee, but not without releasing a burst of Wildfire in the Dragonpit, and while most dragons survived, though young ones did not have developed sufficient magical resistance to survive despite being creatures of fire. The Mad Prince had somehow enchanted unclaimed dragons to follow his will, and they fled the city before any further retaliation.

Most historians believe that this was a cleverly directed attack, meant to act as a coup. After all, the death of the heirs to the throne resulted in a succession crisis, one that normally would be resolved through a Great Council where any Targaryen could present their candidacy. Given the Mad Prince's display both in terms of control over dragons, calling himself a Dragon Master, and the sudden increase in size of his mount, Shrykos and its deadly black flames that burned hotter than that of any dragon before it, it was understandable that most lords would be intimidated enough to choose him in fear of retaliation.

The Mad Prince's brief reign of terror ended on Dragonstone, where he had hoped to control all unclaimed dragons in the world. The prince's daughter, Daenerys Targaryen, had seemingly known of her father's ambition and had set up some kind of trap on the island, protecting it from the dragon through some kind of shield. It was said that she conjured a giant golden dragon of flames that she and Rickon Stark rode, slaying the great beast, Shrykos. After a lengthy battle on the sands, the Mad Prince perished at Rickon Stark's blow, being impaled by the legendary blade, Ice, in the heart.

To this day, very little is known of the magic wielded by the Mad Prince and his ability to control dragons. It is said that it resembled the famed dragon horns of old, but his strength was also unusual, especially given that Aerys Targaryen did not succeed in his studies in magic in his youth. Though he might have failed in his attempt at a coup, the cracks in the unity of House Targaryen had been shown, as well as the damage of a single rogue Dragonrider. Most importantly, it was a princess of Dorne and the Warden of the North who defeated the rebellious prince, while the royal family scrambled around without any leadership.

This showed a very concerning image of the unity of the Seven Kingdoms, especially of the clear independence of two kingdoms, one whose leader had rebelled, and one that fought without the leave of the Crown. Princess Daenerys also claimed the seat as the ruler of Dorne without the approval of the royal family, making her the first female ruler of Dorne since the kingdom fell before House Targaryen. Her brothers did not protest, especially as she named her brother Rhaegar's firstborn, Rhaenys, to be her heir, and the royal family did not protest the reward of the woman who had fought her own kin to their defence, but the cracks in the foundations of the Seven Kingdoms since Aegon's Conquest began to appear, and would not fade for decades to come.

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AN: So, this is the last historical chapter. It got away from me a bit, but I thought it would be neat to sort of combine a bit of the other ones into a single resolution, like the fact that Aerys took the Elder Dragon scale from Malora Hightower, the reunion between Daenerys and Rickon, and both Helaena's and Cregan's students, respectively. I also thought that it was neat for Harry and Daphne to leave their manse to be used in the case of an emergency. The idea to stop Aerys was to turn Dragonstone into a trap, since he would be attracted to it given his ability to command unclaimed dragons. The wards would weaken him and Daenerys, and Rickon would have prepared the attack to kill Shrykos beforehand. Without their involvement, Aerys would have commanded the dragons and burned every castle whose lord refused to bend the knee, which would translate into an actual civil war more devastating than the Dance of the Dragons would have been.

As most of you probably noticed, we're nearing the end of the story, so if you want to see some other loose ends being tied up or any particular chapters for this story, please let me know in the comments. I already started working on a sequel, which will take place in the Star Wars universe, which I'm very excited about. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions on them, so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.