20

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294 AC

Braavos - Near the drowned town

Eragon Targaryen

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In the distance the roar of the titan can be heard, counting the roars as they come over the water I realize we have already been playing for four hours.

"We must be having fun, I didn't even hear the other times the titan counted off the hour." We all gaze over the water to the giant titan standing with its back to us. It must have been hard to build, I sometimes wish I could have seen how they did it.

"I guess so, do you have plans or something?" Nata asks and looks a little sad at the idea of parting.

"We don't, but it would be best to head back before it starts to get too late into the evening. Better safe than sorry." Rhaenyra answers her and receives a nod in response.

"I see, are you guys going to walk me back?" She grabs Shieras hand and gives an expectant look.

"Sure, it's not that far out of the way." Shiera happily accepts, she has warmed up to Nata a lot over the short time they have known each other. I peek one last time at the titan before we head back to drop off Nata.

----

"Alright, you promised to come back sometime to play again." Nata knocks on the door and waits for someone to open it. When it opens she waves at us one last time before walking inside and the door closes.

"Alright, guess we can head back now." I still need to ask Danny about her dream, she has likely forgotten about it at this point. We take the shortest route back, only stopping to buy some jerky and I make sure to buy extra for those at home.

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"So, do you remember what your dream was about last night?" I ask as I sit next to Daenerys and hand her some of the jerky I bought. Shiera and Rhaenyra being the gluttons they are tried to eat it all before we made it back so I had to pocket some of it.

"Not really, I remember not liking it. I think it had to do with people dying though." She shivers and grabs her arms as she tries to remember. I knew this would happen but I can only blame myself for not asking sooner, but people dying makes me believe it was similar at least to mine.

"That's fine, I was just curious since you got scared and jumped in my bed." She tears a piece of the jerky off while glaring at me.

"I wasn't scared, I just felt like sleeping with you because I wanted to." I shrug and jump up from my seat and turn on my heels.

"I don't care either way, as I said I was just curious." If it's important hopefully she will dream about it again, maybe I should buy her a journal to write her dreams whenever she has them. I should do that myself as well to keep up with anything I see, the story of Daenys the Dreamer has always interested me. One dream saved our family from the doom and lead us to conquer Westeros.

I should go hit the training dummy for a while, Cynthia said that it is just as important to train to hit someone as it is to build muscle.

Muscle won't do you any good if you freeze up and don't follow your swing through because you are scared to cut someone is what she says. She took us to see some duels as well and people get cut all the time. Rhaenyra and Daenerys looked sick the first time someone's stomach got cut open, it's not supposed to happen in duels but it still does.

"Are you going out into the yard?" Daenerys follows behind me as she chews on the jerky.

"Yes, you want to come with me I take it?" She hums a response and I walk slowly beside her toward the yard.

----

"Are you scared to kill someone?" Daenerys asks and I frown mid-swing.

"I don't think I am scared since if I am killing them then I want them dead, but I am kind of nervous." She purses her lips while pushing the tip of her training sword into the dirt.

"I don't think I am scared either, Nervous is also how I feel I think." She pulls the tip from the dirt and hits it against her shoe.

I continue to swing my sword and hit the dummy, each hit making my arm feel like it's going to fall off. My mind wanders off and I remember the first time I saw someone die in a duel, the blood spraying out made my legs wobble and feel cold. I felt so bad for the man who just lost his life, but afterward, I soon forgot everything about him other than the blood.

The dream last night runs back through my mind and I think about all the dead people I saw then, people I had never seen before dying or already dead. That is how the world is, maybe someone will feel bad for a while but they will soon forget and move on. In the stories, they write about mighty warriors and all the people they slay, but never about the ones left in the dirt.

I have to be better than the rest or I will be like them in the dirt, just like the man who I watched die and later forgot his face.

----

"I feel sticky." I wipe down my arms and underarms with a wet cloth, looking at the bowl of clean water there isn't enough to dump on my body.

"Might have to send the servant to fill the water, they cleaned today while you guys were out, so a lot of it was used to wipe stuff down." I nod in understanding and debate if I feel like waiting until tomorrow when they come back with more water. After feeling the sticky feeling still on my legs I decide to run out for a bucket real quick.

"I will be back in a little while." I dodge a washcloth that was thrown at my head.

"Fill me up a bucket please." She covers herself up and I grunt in response.

"I am not your mule." She just smiles and I roll my eyes. I open the door and walk out using my foot to pull it closed behind me.

Finding two clean buckets I walk for the front door while letting out a sigh.

----

I sit on the edge of a fountain that is filled by the Sweetwater river, resting my arms for a moment before carrying two full buckets back. I should have checked for water before training, my arms feel like they are asleep and my grip is weak.

I close my eyes for a moment and lean against a carved statue on the edge of the fountain. A shadow blocks the setting sun and I scoot toward the statue to let whoever it is fill up their container. When the shadow doesn't move I look up and see what is going on.

A woman with red hair and eyes and pale skin stands Infront of me with a smile on her face. A bright ruby is in the center of a collar-like necklace and she wears a red robe. Her unique face is hard to forget, mainly due to the manner of our first meeting. Though this time I don't feel nearly as nervous as last time, I am aware of the red priests standing in the city now.

They are constantly monitored by others, leading this are people who don't agree with their ways of worship. So she might be able to do something to me if I was in some dark alley but not right here surrounded by people. People would love for a red priest to cause a scene with a kid in public, they would use it to their advantage.

"Can I help you?" I ask and her smile widens as she walks closer and sits next to me.

"I was concerned about you, but now that I am looking at you in person that concern is fading." I give her a raised brow as I grab one of my buckets and fill it up with one arm.

"Why are you concerned about me?" I set the full bucket down and grab the other to repeat the process.

"I saw something that was concerning so I was concerned, but I am starting to think I misinterpreted the signs." That only confuses me more.

"If you saw something, how could you misinterpret it in a way that would make you concerned for me? I mean you don't know me, like at all." She looks thoughtful before shrugging.

"Signs don't always mean what they show on the surface, you could see a field of flowers that represents a place or even a birth. There is also the chance you see something dangerous that ends up being helpful, it takes a cautious approach and lots of experience to get the best results." I push the second full bucket next to the first and sit up straight.

"So you have a lot of experience reading signs?" I ask while wondering what she would make of my recent dream. I don't know how she sees her 'signs' but it might be similar, I hope the mass of people burning wasn't literal.

"I have some, you seem a bit more interested in hearing me out this time." She states with some amusement in her voice that makes me groan.

"Just curious, but keep in mind that like a sign that doesn't mean what you think it does." She laughs at my attempt to brush it off.

"I was just wanting to check on you but if you are curious I can try to help you in any way you would like. For example, if you had seen a sign that you needed help with, I could give my opinion. Just for curiosity's sake, nothing more than that." Her voice tempting me to accept her offer also puts me on alert.

"Well, I might be interested but I would like to know more about how you do what you do first. I can't just give away anything that might be important without getting something in return." Telling her I dreamed things up might just cause her to laugh at me anyway, or take it seriously and use it to her advantage. I mean her religion does enjoy burning people, if I told her I dreamed about people burning she might have me snatched up for real.

Her eyes go a little wide and she looks around slowly.

"You are interested in how I do what I do?" From what I have heard and read about it seems the red priests and priestesses use magic. I would love to see magic in person, but I have to be careful because one thing I have seen from stories is magic can go very wrong. That and the person I am potentially seeing it from is a fire worshiper.

"I am, but I also don't trust you to not try something crazy." She goes silent and then laughs for a moment.

"That is a good attitude when dealing with people who can do what I can. But I don't have any bad intentions for you, I even helped you make a friend didn't I?" I narrow my eyes, either she is stalking me to know about Nata or she actually can see something.

"Like that, you just made me feel like you are up to something." She nods her head but keeps smiling.

"You aren't scared to talk to me here, so how about we meet in a place like this? With lots of people to see what I do and you don't have to worry about me doing anything to you." I tilt my head and she continues. "We aren't aloud many privileges in Braavos, very seldom are we aloud to preach outside of the temple. But we have a scheduled event coming up in a few days and I can meet you there and show you some things in the flames if you would like." I think about it seriously, the red god haters will be there to watch over the event, so nothing too bad should happen.

But I should ask Cynthia to come as well, Ser Barristan would never sneak out with me to see a flame god showing. Coming up with a viable plan I start to nod.

"Ok, tell me when it is happening and where and I will show up if I can."