[3RD PERSON POV]
An entire day had passed by since the birth of little Aelor Towers.
His mother had already recovered an astonishing amount of her strength after the grueling pregnancy.
She had been able to stand up almost immediately after waking from her restful sleep and lift Aelor all by herself.
This was highly unusual, especially considering she was on the older side for giving birth by the standards of this world, with Rhaena already being eight and thirty years of age.
“I feel absolutely great already, Maester. I do not need any kinds of draughts or medicines,” Rhaena reasoned to her maester.
The old man had just prescribed a special tea and firmly suggested that she drink it to slowly calm her beating heart and ease her body.
“It is strictly for your own good, Your Grace. You have only just given birth, and please forgive my treacherous words, but you are not exactly at the prime age for birthing. There are countless mothers who have given birth much younger than you, yet they sadly perished from further complications. There are plenty of tragic cases where a mother who had just given birth appeared completely healthy, only to pass away from an unforeseen complication later on. It is just a necessary precaution, Your Grace,” the maester explained.
He made his grave worries as clear and precise as possible, while also maintaining a highly respectful tone to ensure that his vital message would not be misunderstood by the fierce princess.
Rhaena, who knew deep down that he spoke the absolute truth, looked tenderly over at her child.
Aelor was currently being held by a gentle wet nurse.
Conceding the point, she reached out, took the warm cup that was being offered to her, and slowly drank the brew.
Despite its murky appearance, Rhaena was pleasantly surprised to find that it had a rather pleasant taste.
After she finished drinking the soothing tea and endured a subsequent physical checkup from the diligent maester, Rhaena finally took Aelor back into her own loving arms.
“Hello, my sweet little one. I am your muna,” Rhaena said with a deeply enthusiastic and affectionate tone.
Ever since the countless tragic deaths that had seemingly followed her throughout her entire life, she had once again been blessed with a spark of happiness.
She was terrified that this newfound joy would be snatched away from her immediately.
However, as she looked down upon Aelor’s peaceful face, a remarkably strange and calming feeling suddenly washed over her.
She could practically feel her foul mood improving and her anxieties melting away just by holding him and looking at his face.
“Aelor, I promise you that I will love you no matter what happens.
I will gladly accept every single indulgence that you could ever desire.
Just promise me you will never leave me before I leave you.
Do you understand?
I truly do not think I can take that kind of pain anymore.
Please let me be the first one to go before you, alright?
“Rhaena whispered softly into the tiny ears of Aelor as her warm tears suddenly started falling down her cheeks.
The strange melancholy that Rhaena had been feeling, along with a tidal wave of overwhelming grief, had made her say these desperate words.
She had terribly missed her father, her mother, her first husband, her lost lovers, and her precious daughters.
Now, holding her newborn son securely against her chest, she could not help but plead with him, as if she were desperately trying to prevent a tragedy that had not even happened yet.
After venting her deepest inner thoughts, she felt incredibly light in her chest.
It was exactly as if she had just released a massive burden that she had been carrying over her many long years of living.
It seemed that her dragon bond also felt this sudden relief.
In the distance, her dragon let out a loud, rumbling roaring sound just as Aelor looked toward the open window, a detail that Rhaena immediately noticed.
“Do you want to meet my magnificent companion, Aelor? Alright, we will just be brief. I do not want you to catch a cold and get sick,” Rhaena decided.
She then started her slow descent from her spacious room in the Widow’s Tower.
She was closely accompanied by the few remaining household guards sworn to House Towers.
After several more minutes of walking down the winding stone stairs, something truly miraculous occurred.
Strangely enough, absolutely none of the guards or Rhaena herself noticed that they were not getting physically tired in the slightest.
Their stamina seemed endless as they finally arrived at the vast courtyard where Dreamfyre had been staying.
“Dohaeras, Dreamfyre. Lykiri,” Rhaena commanded firmly in High Valyrian.
The massive dragon initially looked over the armed guards who had accompanied her rider, her eyes narrowing.
However, Dreamfyre quickly became docile and calm when she saw Rhaena approaching with tiny Aelor cradled safely in her arms.
Before Rhaena could even properly introduce Aelor to the great beast, Dreamfyre gently nudged her enormous snout directly toward the infant.
This bold action surprised Rhaena quite a bit.
Fearlessly, little Aelor extended his tiny arms outward toward the massive dragon.
After that touching moment, Dreamfyre pulled back her scaly snout and joyfully breathed a stream of fire high up into the open air.
Rhaena could feel something profound vibrating through their deep bond.
It was exactly as if she could sense that Dreamfyre was genuinely happy for her.
‘How incredibly strange,’ Rhaena thought to herself.
But before she could become any more concerned regarding the highly unusual actions of Dreamfyre, she noticed something peculiar resting out of the corner of her eye.
It was a dragon egg.
It was a beautiful, scaly black dragon egg decorated with striking red streaks swirling all around its shell.
Rhaena slowly approached the freshly laid dragon egg.
Since she was still carefully holding Aelor, she ordered her companion guards to pick the heavy object up for her.
In that very moment, looking at the beautiful egg and her miraculous son, she firmly decided to give this precious dragon egg to Aelor.
[AELOR’S POV]
My very first day in this new life had been extremely peaceful.
Thanks to the active effects of the purification aura from my Essence, the sprawling ruins of Harrenhal, or at least the massive Widow’s Tower where my new mother and I were staying, were becoming noticeably cleaner.
The ancient curses, lingering malevolent spirits, and other foul taints haunting the castle were slowly being cleansed simply by my very own presence in the room.
‘It seems that even the magical dragon is also being affected by my aura, as I can feel her slowly becoming stronger,’ I thought to myself.
After a few more minutes of observation, my initial thoughts were proven absolutely correct.
When my mother had brought me close earlier, I had managed to touch Dreamfyre.
I secretly used my diagnostic touch ability on the giant beast, and I could physically feel that everything wrong with her was slowly being corrected.
From the imperfect biological fusions caused by ancient magic to the sheer physical stress weighing down her wings, the purification was healing her from the inside out.
At the end of our brief visit to the courtyard, my mother had found a dragon egg.
When we finally came back inside the safety of our room, she gently placed it right upon my cradle.
‘I wonder if I can use my Essence to produce a much stronger dragon, but how exactly would I do that?
No, I should not overthink it right now,’ I thought, focusing my attention back on the present moment.
Instead of worrying, I simply channeled my active purification magic directly toward the black and red dragon egg resting warmly beside me.
‘I am incredibly excited for when my dragon egg finally hatches,’ I thought to myself.
I could not help but look forward to meeting my future dragon companion, because who in their right mind would ever reject a dragon?
‘Certainly not me, that is for sure,’ I added in my own mind, smiling.