Chapter 42 - Home
After a bit of consoling and reasoning, I smiled a little at her.
"Come. Let me show you where you'll be staying."
I bent down and lifted Viserys onto my shoulder. He weighed almost nothing. He was little more than skin and bones and carrying him took almost no effort. I lead in front while Daenerys, Leaf, Val and Emma followed behind me.
We were in the western region of Wolfswood, near a large weirwood tree. Not far from it stood the ruins of an old holding.
I had found this place earlier looking through the weirwood network. Many ruins like this were scattered in the North.
It lay deep inside the Wolfswood. It is situated not far from the Stony Shore. It was almost equally distant from Winterfell, Torrhen's Square and Deepwood Motte. Beyond the western hills nearby, lay the coast of Sunset Sea.
This whole area was largely abandoned. There were no fishing villages or farms nearby. There were no signs of people coming here. Nearest human activity here was miles away and that too many years back.
Here there was only the forest, old stones and animals.
The holding itself had once been a small fortified residence but time had not been kind to it.
Most of the roof had collapsed. Many of the wooden beams had rotted away and parts of the upper floor had fallen in. Even so, the stone walls still stood strong and several rooms remained usable with a little work.
Daenerys looked around at her new residence uncertainly.
The place was far from comfortable, but after everything she had lived through during the last few years, even this felt great. This was much better than constantly moving from one place to another and constantly looking for food and safety.
Ever since leaving the house with the red door and the lemon tree, she had never truly had a stable residence.
As we stepped into what had once been the main hall, I looked around before turning to her.
"This will be your home for the next few years," I said. "Maybe even longer."
Home.
The word seemed to catch her by surprise.
To Daenerys, home had always meant the house with the red door and the lemon tree in Braavos.
Westeros was not her home. It was a distant land she had never seen until today. Now I was telling her this ruined place would become her home.
She looked around again before speaking.
"It... looks difficult."
"It is," I admitted with a smile. "But only for now. We'll clean it up. We'll repair it and make it comfortable enough to live in."
She gave a small nod.
Without wasting any more time, I laid Viserys down against one of the walls where he could rest peacefully.
Then the five of us began cleaning.
We started with the main hall, clearing away broken wood, loose stones and years of dust. After that, we moved through the rooms one by one, making whatever space we could usable.
By the time the sun was beginning to set, most of the inside had been cleaned. The damaged roof and broken beams would have to wait for another day.
For tonight, at least, we had shelter.
Viserys still hadn't woken up. Emma looked a little guilty.
"I think... I may have hit him a little too hard," she admitted.
Daenerys looked worried, but after checking him herself, she saw that he was breathing normally and sleeping peacefully.
"He'll wake up," I assured her. "He's only unconscious."
Emma bowed her head slightly.
"I'm sorry."
Daenerys looked at her for a moment before giving a small nod.
"I forgive you."
After a short silence, she asked, almost shyly,
"...Can you teach me how to do that?"
The three girls looked at her in surprise, but I was not surprised by her request.
From what I had already known and seen, Daenerys was a naturally curious person. Whenever she saw something new, she wanted to understand it and learn it.
That curiosity would serve her well in the years ahead.
Emma smiled, "Certainly. I'll teach you. But how much you learn will depend on you."
Daenerys straightened a little and answered with unexpected confidence.
"I'm a good learner."
I smiled to myself as I thought, 'She and Arya are going to get along well one day, They're both stubborn, curious, and never afraid to learn. Like what they say in North, They have wolf blood in them.'
Then another thought crossed my mind. No it's not quiet right. Arya has the blood of the wolf, while Daenerys has the blood of the dragon.
I shook my head inwardly.
Whatever. No point thinking about technicalities now.
By the time we finished clearing the house, everyone was tired. Hours of sweeping away dust, moving broken wood, and clearing fallen stones had left us exhausted.
It was already dusk and also it was time for dinner.
"I'll be back in a moment," I said as I walked outside.
A short while later, I returned carrying plenty of food. There were loaves of bread, fresh fruit, dried berries, and a few other things.
All of it had actually come from my HOT, where I had stored supplies beforehand. For now, though, I wanted to keep that a secret. To everyone else, it simply looked as though I had disappeared somewhere and returned with food.
No one questioned it.
At the moment, they were too hungry.
We sat together in the main hall and ate quietly. The room was still old and worn, but at least it was clean enough to sit in comfortably.
As we ate, I noticed Daenerys looking at me several times. She looked as though she wanted to ask something but couldn't decide whether she should.
I smiled at her, "Is there something you want to ask, Dany?"
She hesitated before speaking.
"How... how did we get here?"
I looked at her and she continued.
"We were in Pentos, in Essos. That's very far away... isn't it?"
I nodded.
"It is."
"If we had travelled normally, we would first have needed to sail to White Harbor. That alone would take at least a couple of months. After reaching White Harbor, we would still have to travel overland to reach here, which would take about another month."
I picked up another piece of bread.
"So, under normal circumstances, it would take at least three months. And longer if storms or pirates or bandits delayed the journey."
She blinked.
"Then... how did we get here so fast?"
"It's magic, Dany."
She frowned.
"Magic? But... there's no magic anymore... right?"
I couldn't help smiling.
"Really? You're saying that?"
She looked confused, so I elaborated.
"You're a Targaryen. The family that had dragons with them. The family everyone says that carries the blood of the dragon."
"And you're telling me magic doesn't exist?"
She looked down.
"But... the dragons are dead. People say that when the dragons died... magic disappeared too."
"They're wrong," I replied calmly.
"Magic isn't something that simply disappears because people stop believing in it."
I pointed towards the sky outside.
"Tell me, when the sun is not visible every night, does it mean it has disappeared?"
She shook her head.
"No. It simply isn't visible at night."
I nodded.
"And what about the moon? Does it disappear every morning?"
Again, she shook her head.
"No."
"Exactly. They're always there. At times you can see them and at other times you can't."
"Magic is much the same. It has not vanished. It is simply waiting to come back."
She quietly thought about my words.
I looked at her for a moment.
"And as for dragons, they are not gone forever either. They will be back."
'And you will be the one who brings them back, Mother of Dragons', I finished silently in my mind.
I wasn't ready to tell her that. Not yet.
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End of Chapter 42 - Home