Chapter 2 king and queen
90 AC – The night after the wedding of Princess Rhaenys Targaryen to Lord Corlys Velaryon
Zarek Solen was having difficulty flying.
The emerald dragon did not move like a ship. He had to grab on and use the Force to steady himself until the rhythm finally settled. By the time they reached the Dragonpit, he could stay on without fighting every turn.
He kept his hood up when he jumped down. The dragon looked almost sad to see him go. The Dragonkeepers stared, shocked and worried. A house guard and the Kingsguard waiting for the princess started forward as she climbed off Deepfyre.
The green dragon felt the hostility at once and began to growl. Zarek put a hand up immediately. He already felt its intent through the bond.
*Leave. Not here.*
He did not want it agitated inside the pit. Through the bond he could tell it hated this place.
Viserra looked at the Kingsguard, annoyed. She needed to take this man to her father.
"Come on now. We need to go see my father."
The words were respectful, but the irritation under them was hard to miss.
The situation stayed tense. The guards did not loosen, but they did take him. Zarek did not fight it. He did not need his lightsaber for these men. They were strong, but not strong in the Force. They were untrained. The only person he could truly feel was Viserra, and even that was not training so much as a Force-bond with her dragon.
He said nothing as they guided him toward the Red Keep.
The princess looked at him.
"You are about to meet my mother and father. The queen and the king of this great continent of Westeros. You have to treat them with respect if you want to keep that head of yours."
She was still trying to understand how this man had tamed a dragon. He did not even look human. Green skin. Strange markings.
"How are you able to ride a dragon?" Zarek asked.
He was curious. For him it felt like sharing himself with the beast. He could still feel its emotions even at a distance. It felt like he could call it back if he wanted.
She looked at him, considering, then smiled.
"You are going to have to wait on those answers until you speak to my father."
Hours later they finally reached the Red Keep.
Zarek saw how many people lived there. The world around him was still in the middle ages. He wondered why the Force had pulled him so violently to this place.
When they came through, two new faces were waiting. Prince Daemon looked curious to see this man with his aunt. Because the prince and his father were there, more guards closed in around Zarek.
Prince Baelon stared at Viserra.
"What did you do now? And you brought this man? Most likely some dragonseed that claimed the dragon."
He looked more annoyed than pleased to even be speaking to his sister.
Viserra smiled and turned her head toward Zarek.
"Could you be so kind as to remove your hood?"
The sweetness in her voice did not hide the fox-like smile.
"I found somebody quite interesting."
Zarek pulled the hood down.
Even now the guards finally got a good look at his face. He was a reasonably handsome man. That was not the problem. The problem was that he was green, marked, and wrong. He did not look like one of them.
"I see…" Baelon said.
Before his son could get further than "Forest child—" Baelon motioned for a maid to take Daemon back to his rooms.
The group started toward the throne room. Word had already been sent to the king and queen. Zarek stayed silent while they walked. The only people talking were Prince Baelon and Viserra. Baelon looked less than pleased to speak with her. Zarek could feel the discomfort on him. Viserra was more than happy to talk. Baelon kept his distance anyway.
They looked very similar to each other. Zarek had heard of worlds that still bound family to family that way. He had not expected to see it here.
"Excuse me. How long is this going to take? Where are you taking me, specifically?"
Viserra turned her head.
"We are going to see my father in the throne hall. They should still be awake. I found them after the celebration. Am I right, brother?"
Baelon only nodded. He kept the distance. She stayed right there with a smile on her face. The tension between them was obvious, mostly from him. She acted as if she did not care.
Hours later they finally made it to the throne room.
When Zarek walked through the door, it almost felt like a pulse in the Force. It shook him. He was a Jedi — a fully fledged Jedi Knight — and strong in the Force. Then he saw the towering throne of swords melted together. It was hard to explain. It was not simply dark. It felt like a Force totem.
Then he saw the man sitting on it.
He could feel the king's connection to the Force. Dull, but still strong, like his son's and daughter's. He could feel their bonds to certain creatures. The king had a dragon, like his son. The king's dragon felt big and old. The princess's dragon felt young.
When the king's focus settled on him, it felt as if the totem itself was looking too. For a moment Zarek saw Force-ghosts of men who looked similar to the one on the chair. Different faces. Close resemblance. It was as if they were constantly judging him. When he got close enough to the bottom of the throne — not too close — he felt their eyes. A hundred eyes of men who looked like the king. One among them seemed more in tune with the Force than the rest. He wore a crown. He almost felt like a dragon himself.
Jaehaerys had been highly annoyed.
He had been in his solar, finishing needed work, when one of his advisors told him an unknown rider had claimed an unclaimed dragon. He had been furious. Then he heard that his daughter had brought the man here. That made it worse. She had put herself in danger for a stranger who had taken a dragon.
Every time he sat the seat, he felt a pressure. Always judging him. Uncomfortable. A king was never meant to sit that throne in comfort.
People were starting to gather. Alysanne had been told as well. She looked tired, but still noble, standing next to him with a hand on his shoulder while he sat the throne. She looked at Viserra with worry, wondering if this was another of her daughter's reckless turns.
She spoke first.
"Viserra, what have you brought to us? Who is this man, and why is he wearing a hood in the presence of the king and his queen?"
Alysanne thought this was a dragonseed who had thought himself brave enough to claim a dragon. She was already wondering who could have fathered such a bastard.
Viserra had an amused smile, curious to see how this would go. She had been shocked herself when she first saw him. He was reasonably handsome. Almost more handsome than she wanted to admit.
She decided to speak.
"Mother, he is no Targaryen. He has no dragon's blood of our house. That is the reason I brought him here. He is unarmed. Well, I would not say that, but he has no weap—"
Zarek cut her off.
He reached to his belt and drew a cylindrical tube. His lightsaber. None of them knew what it was. He gave it to one of the guards. The men almost drew their swords, thinking it a hidden dagger.
"I am armed, in a way. I am sorry to cut you off, princess, but I am not accustomed to your culture. If I stayed quiet, it would be ill-advised. Especially if you have people here you do not trust. If I am going to speak of my origin, it is because the princess may have already guessed what I am. Or where I came from, to be more precise."
Prince Baelon looked at him, then waved the extra guards back, except the one holding the saber. Some of the others he did not trust to stay close. He kept the Kingsguard. The king looked at him approvingly for that. Jaehaerys had two of them stationed next to him, both resting on their swords, ready to draw and strike.
Jaehaerys approved of what his son had just done. His face stayed serious. If this man had something to say, the way his clever daughter was looking at him had the king worried.
Then the man reached into his satchel. That looked bad enough on its own. He drew out a cube, then pulled his hood down the rest of the way and showed his marked face.
That was when they really saw him.
The king and queen both looked shocked. The man was green. The Kingsguard stared at him like an oddity.
"What are you?" Alysanne asked.
It was curiosity, not fear of the unknown, though distrust still sat in her eyes.
*Interesting,* Jaehaerys thought. He knew of the children of the forest. This was something different. His wife had asked the question he most wanted answered.
"I am what you would call a Mirialan," Zarek said. "I come from a species that is not from this world. And yes, I mean a world. I do not know if your people have that concept. I come from a different galaxy, from far, far away. I crash-landed here because the Force pulled me to this world."
He used the Force to float the holocron and opened it. It began to glow, showing a star map of an unknown galaxy. The light caught on the swords of the throne.
"I did not mean to cause you any harm, or to take one of your beasts. I used the Force to connect with it so I would not have to kill it. I am a Jedi Knight. I would rather not kill an animal if I do not have to."
Jaehaerys began to stand. He was astounded. The map showed different worlds. He was a man of great knowledge. The idea of other planets and stars did not fly over his head. It was hard to believe, looking at the man. Looking at the map, he had to believe it.
Alysanne stared, amazed at the floating light. She did not call off the guard.
"Magic. What is the Force?"
"No. There is no magic. There is only the Force, and some technology. I come from an ancient order. In my eyes it is already falling apart. We were supposed to be masters of the Force. It is everything. I do not want to seem like I am a threat."
Zarek looked worried, but he still smiled. He could feel their emotions in the Force.
The king's children looked at the star map. The prince looked at it and knew that if anyone else saw this, they would brand the man a heretic, a witch, a monster.
The princess looked at the map, then turned her head toward Zarek with a simple smile, already thinking of ways to wrap this strange man around her finger.