[Chapter Size: 4800 Words.]

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Third Person POV

North beyond the Wall, 298 AC.

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“We need to fasten the ship to the chains.” Jon gave the order as the gigantic dragon began to approach the ship, seeming to crack the ground every time its huge wings and legs touched the earth.

“We have to get ready! Start tying down all the furniture and storing any smaller objects!”, shouted Jin Sakai to the crew, while Joy was still stunned in that moment, fixed on the dragon approaching and blocking the rare sun of the few daylight hours behind it, casting a massive shadow.

Her gaze fell to King Jon Arctic in front of the ship and then to the quick movement around her, seeing everyone preparing and entering the ship to get ready to leave.

“Wait… what is happening?”, she murmured.

All she could see there was a dragon, the king of Arctic, and the frozen desert around them, with only the cold lands beyond the wall being their only companion besides themselves. There was no other idea of how they would get to Arctic from there.

Now, everyone wore thick coats to withstand the cold since they had arrived in the North, and Joy had never felt anything so freezing in her entire life. Luckily, the Arcticans had prepared suitable clothing for her.

She didn’t understand how they were going to reach Arctic from there. They had said she would find out when the moment came. What she didn’t know was that Jin Sakai didn’t want to traumatize her by telling her that they would be carried by the dragon for hours, strapped with belts inside the ship so they wouldn’t be thrown off.

Her gaze returned to Jon Arctic, studying him as so many questions rose in her mind, but no courage emerged to ask them.

Jon, in turn, stared back at her just the same, thinking about how he should take her. It would not be appropriate to take her with the others inside the ship. His gaze then stopped on Vezofēdrur, who was approaching and casting an immense shadow over everyone.

He was already using the same harness from the first time to carry the ship; they only needed to fasten the chains to the rings now. At the same time, Jon wondered if Vezofēdrur would accept carrying Joy willingly. The dragon didn’t even allow his Targaryen wives to ride along with him. However, if it were someone under his direct custody… Jon thought.

“Jin.” Jin Sakai returned to Joy Hill’s side upon hearing Jon call him. “You need to bring the girl here. I’ll take her with me. It will be better than trying to make her stay with you all.”

Joy looked terrified between Jin and Jon, not understanding.

“What does he mean by that…?” she said in a weak tone.

“Come. I will take you to Arctic.” Jon replied, his voice firm and calm, even with the cold wind cutting through. He didn’t even need to shout, using magic in his throat to amplify his voice to the ship’s deck.

Her throat, however, tightened at hearing the king of Arctic. “You mean… we are going to fly… on the dragon? Like… all together? If we fall… I will die…” she murmured, almost breathless, while Jin Sakai gave her a kind, yet sad, smile.

“We will be in the ship. The dragon will carry us. But it seems the king has other plans for you. Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be better than for us, who will have to stand for at least two or three hours, strapped with belts so we won’t be thrown from side to side every time the wind turns the ship in the sky. The back pain after that is not easy…” said Jin.

Joy was starting to panic upon hearing that, and Jon asked Jin to give her something to calm her down, while the men continued fastening furniture, reinforcing belts and ropes to prevent them from shifting, while books and smaller objects were stored in reinforced drawers and the crew’s meals and food were placed in magical ice boxes.

They cleared the area quickly. Jin helped his men hand the chains to Jon, fastening them to the dragon’s saddle, while some were already outside working, though without getting too close to Vezofēdrur.

The dragon didn’t like anyone’s presence except Jon’s. Like a true wild dragon, he respected no one who had not been acknowledged by him — and only Jon had tamed him after hundreds of years.

Meanwhile, Joy descended the ship’s ladder to a small boat, even though it was only a few meters from land, to avoid getting wet, after being instructed to approach the king, who was finishing adjusting the last chains to Vezofēdrur’s saddle.

The men began stepping back, returning to the ship to prepare. Jon approached Joy at that moment, seeing how disturbed she was by the idea of flying on that colossal beast.

“Did you know… that you have a lot of your father in you?” Jon stepped closer, his words calm.

Joy looked at him, surprised, before lowering her gaze shyly. Then she lifted her eyes again, hesitant. “Is he okay?” she murmured. “Lord Jin Sakai said he saw my father in Yi-Ti, but… he didn’t really know him. Unlike you, who accepted his request to take me. I heard that he has… a new family.”

Jon gave a small restrained smile upon hearing the sadness in her voice. “It’s true.” He spoke calmly.

“Your father has a debt with a Lord Momonosuke, who is responsible for the city of Yin, the main port of Yi-Ti. He is being held there for now. I know you must be feeling hurt by this, and I won’t say you’re wrong. You have the right to feel what you feel. But your father still cares about you, even from afar. He asked me to give you a place to live.”

Joy looked at him, surprise growing in her eyes. Jon continued.

“He was considering asking for the sword to be delivered to your uncle, to grant you the name Lannister. But it seems he became fond of Arctic. Of the kingdom I built. He asked me to give you a place, even though he had nothing to offer in return. And I accepted.” said Jon.

Joy was silent. He was nothing like the savage that Cersei and everyone who disliked Jon Arctic would describe as “a Northern bastard” or “a wildling.” Nor was he the arrogant and brutal monster she heard about from the rumors of his cousin’s screams in King’s Landing. Her cousin Tyrion, on the contrary, had said that when he met him in Lannisport, he was surprised that Jon Arctic was very intelligent, polite, while at the same time dangerous — ‘a king who knew exactly what he was doing.’ That was how Tyrion described him, even though his brother had been taken hostage at the time.

Cersei screamed in King’s Landing that he was a kidnapper of women, therefore a rapist. She didn’t want Myrcella to marry him. But Joy saw none of that.

There was intelligence and strength in his gaze. He was handsome, more handsome than any man she had ever seen, and the small scar he mentioned having gotten recently above his left eye didn’t make him any less attractive — on the contrary — but that wasn’t the most striking thing about him.

What truly held her attention was his posture.

His firmness.

The quiet confidence in his voice.

The way he commanded without raising his tone, without needing to impose himself by force.

That was how she imagined a king should be.

A man clearly accustomed to leading, to being followed, respected, and admired by thousands of people. And Joy, when looking into Jon’s bright green eyes with that mix of gray characteristic of the Starks, looked at him with admiration.

“Anyway…” He then broke the silence she had created by not responding to what he said about her father, and upon realizing it, she blushed immediately. “I heard you were unhappy with the method we used to rescue you. Taking you from Casterly Rock.”

“I…” She could barely say anything more than that.

Jon continued, and she immediately panicked. In the first few days, Joy had wanted to send letters about Arctic, about her kidnapping, she wanted to be rescued and taken back to Casterly Rock. She wanted to speak about the secrets she discovered of the Kingdom — secrets that no one beyond the Wall knew, except those who belonged to the Kingdom itself. But no one from Arctic spoke much. The people of that kingdom were extremely firm in hiding information, even while traveling throughout Essos delivering goods. They always kept their mouths shut and rejected any bribe, their loyalty to the kingdom surpassing gold or the women in the ports who sought information from them. They were even forbidden from drinking in the presence of strangers to avoid such situations.

One thing or another escaped, of course. People overheard whispers when they spoke among themselves, but even then they were careful, speaking in the Old Tongue as if it were another rule among them, since no one else knew it besides the Arcticans, who had somehow recovered the lost dialect from beyond the Wall.

Still, rumors existed — especially about the flying beast. Some swore they had heard there was a dragon in Arctic, but there had never been proof. So no one took it seriously.

But Joy had discovered it in the books.

However, when she looked again at the dragon before her — the enormous black dragon — she noticed something. The book spoke of a white dragon flying over the city… It did not mention that colossal black dragon. She wanted to ask, but she was in no position to. She stared at the king, fearing he would punish her for having tried to escape in the first days and for trying to send information about the kingdom. They must have told the king about the letters. She felt panic rise in her chest. She had hidden the letters and burned them after arriving in the North, yet Jin Sakai and the others must have found out without her noticing.

Jon only gave a small smile — and began to laugh quietly, lightly. Joy tried to say something, but only trapped sounds came from her throat, almost stuttering in panic.

“Don’t worry about that.” Jon said, calm, with no trace of anger or any thought of punishing her. “It’s not as if we didn’t expect it. We were prepared. You never had a chance to deliver information about us anyway.” She couldn’t say anything, and Jon stopped laughing, though he still kept a calm smile for her.

“Let’s do this. I’m not simply going to imprison you in Arctic. I still intend to keep the word I gave your father. I will place you under the care of one of my wives and queen. You will be a lady-in-waiting and you will learn about the Kingdom, you will receive housing, food, and education in languages, trade, and everything you need to manage a land or a fief so that you will be ready to be a lady somewhere in Westeros. You will stay with us for a time and, in the end, you will have a choice.” Jon said, reaching the point where he no longer needed to hide anything about the Kingdom.

“If you want to return to Westeros, I will guarantee you a safe passage, along with the sword Brightroar. On the condition that you become a Lannister, if that is what you want. If you want to stay in Arctic… well, you can be a Lannister there. I don’t care what name you choose to carry, or if you want to keep Hill. You may choose — we will not care about your status.” He paused, studying the surprised expression on the girl’s face before continuing.

“That is why I ask that you be patient. I could not leave you with the Lannisters after the conflict that happened in Winterfell, as you may have already heard. The simple fact that I know your father and accepted his request could be used against us. And I do not want the South, or anyone there, to have advantage over us.” Jon said with a serious tone.

Joy shifted a little, restless and uncertain, but nodded. She could agree to that after everyone had treated her so kindly, and even though she had been rebellious, it didn’t seem she would be punished for it. Certainly she would have acted more calmly if they hadn’t taken her from bed in the middle of the night after drugging her with some scent thrown into her room. “I… I will go with you, then.” she murmured in the end.

Her gaze shifted to the enormous dragon, who suddenly stared back at her. She could see one of its gigantic eyes — larger than her entire body. The other eye was closed, but just that one was enough to frighten her.

Jon saw this and tried to calm her. “Do not worry, he will not harm you. However… I will have to make you appear as my hostage. This is the only way to convince him to allow a safer ride than trying to keep you inside the ship with the others. So do not be too scared.” Jon said, taking some ropes from his belt, which he had grabbed on the ship when Jin Sakai handed them to him.

He stepped closer to Joy, who immediately took a step back, suspicious of his approach. She had no time to react. Jon grabbed both of her arms and pulled them behind her, pressing them against her waist.

“Do not worry. The dragon needs to see that you are my prisoner. If you feel uncomfortable, that is even better.” Jon said, while beginning to tie her, forcing her arms behind her back.

“What are you doing…?” she murmured, her voice trembling and frightened.

“As I said… I need to show Vezofēdrur that you are my prisoner. Otherwise, he will not allow me to take you on his back. Forgive me for this, Lady Joy, but it is necessary.”

Joy had no time to respond. She found herself being pushed gently, but firmly, as Jon laid her down on the snow and began tying her legs over the dress and the bearskin coat she was wearing.

Panic rose in her throat. She did not understand — perhaps she was too scared to think — why he needed to tie her like that.

Jon finished fastening the belt at her waist, which he would use to secure her onto the dragon, and then simply pulled her up by the arms and lifted her over his shoulder with ease, as if she were a sack.

Jon could see some birds leaving the ship, confirming that everyone was strapped down and ready.

“Let’s go.” Jon said as the birds landed on the dragon’s back, since it was better to stay there than inside a swaying ship.

Jon continued carrying a nervous Joy toward the enormous dragon. Vezofēdrur watched them with narrowed, attentive eyes. Joy swallowed so hard under the weight of that gaze — cold, ancient, aware — that she could not even scream in fear of her situation.

The dragon was evaluating. His instinct said: no one should fly upon his skin except Jon. But upon seeing Joy struggling in the king’s arms, the dragon relaxed slightly. That made sense to his ancient beast logic: she was prey, taken by his rider as a prize. There was no reason to reject her there with Jon. He simply would not allow her to feel comfortable on his back as if she were on a leisurely ride — the dragon would never permit that to anyone except his acknowledged rider.

Jon climbed the rope ladder without difficulty while pulling Joy with one arm, and settled into the saddle. He placed Joy in front of him, fastening her so she would not fall with the belt he had put on her. With a curved knife, he cut the ropes binding her legs. Then, carefully, he cut the ropes from her arms. It was uncomfortable, humiliating to be handled that way, and yet… she was free. She did not understand why Jon needed to do all of that just to deceive the dragon.

Now she was safe.

“Now you can relax. You’ll be safe. Just try not to scream.” Jon whispered low into her ear, already expecting that she would be loud once facing the open sky.

Joy was nervous, almost trembling. Everything felt unreal. She didn’t even notice when Jon pulled her against him, placing his arms around her waist, so she was more secure than with the belt alone, holding her while keeping his gaze on the dragon above the golden head of the girl in front of him.

“Sōvēs!” With the command in Valyrian to his dragon, Vezofēdrur began to move, each step making the ground shake. She felt tiny, like an ant trapped on the back of an ancient god.

Then Vezofēdrur spread his wings. Joy nearly screamed.

The dragon beat them with force, lifting snow, raising wind that made the nearest trees bend under the strength of those wings, as the dragon began to leave the ground.

The creature pulled the chains as it rose into the air and lifted the ship along with it, taking it out of the water. Joy could barely breathe — a dragon was carrying an entire ship through the sky while they ascended upward.

Her heart beat so fast she thought she would faint. She squirmed, restless and desperate, and Jon tightened his arms around her, encasing her in the valyrian-steel gauntlet, holding her firmly against him.

“Calm yourself. You are safe. We will not fall. We have already made this journey, taking this ship from Arctic, and now we are returning to the Kingdom. You are strapped in and I am here, behind you, holding you. I will not let you fall.” Jon said in a calm and confident tone.

She tried to calm herself, but how could she stay sane with only gentle words? She was still just a girl. Her heart continued to race, and she closed her eyes when the freezing wind cut across her face as Vezofēdrur gained altitude. She didn’t want to look down or anywhere while rising into the sky. She kept her eyes tightly shut as her heart seemed to leap and a nervous emotion unlike anything she had ever felt filled her stomach.

Jon said nothing more. Vezofēdrur climbed quickly through the sky, returning to the Kingdom.

Joy kept her eyes closed for a long time, refusing to accept that she was flying on a dragon. Until she grew tired of running from her reality and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times and saw the clouds around them. The icy wind struck her face, her cloak whipped violently in the air, and chills ran across her skin.

She then looked down — and swallowed hard. Beneath the clouds, the ground was painted in stretches of mountains and northern forests with a few frozen lakes, all miles away far below, in the middle of the sky.

She saw the ship being carried, swaying slowly, bound by chains. She looked forward and saw the enormous dragon, its massive head pointed toward the horizon, its wings beating with enough strength to make her whole body tremble.

She was flying on a dragon.

On a dragon.

How was that possible?

“Are you alright?” The voice behind her pulled her out of her frantic thoughts.

She felt his armor pressed against her back like a hard chair, and he rested his forearm across her thigh to keep her secure. He no longer held her waist tightly — he was more relaxed now, letting his arm simply stay there.

It made her blush immediately. No man had ever been so close to her, not even during her riding lessons in Casterly Rock, and that had been many years ago, when she was still a child. As a young woman of marriageable age, the idea of her own backside pressed against a man’s lap behind her made her even more nervous, almost making her scream — but she held the sound in and closed her eyes again.

“I… I’m fine. It’s just… this is madness.” She broke, her voice shaking.

“What troubles you? I can hear you. You may speak, since we don’t have much to do besides look at the scenery…” Jon Arctic asked calmly, and that was the limit for her. For in the very next moment, she burst.

“I am flying on a dragon after being kidnapped because of a promise my father made, a man I haven’t seen in so many years and who should have returned to me, but is raising another family while I was abandoned! I am in the sky and I panic every time I look at the ground. I am in such an embarrassing position in front of a man holding me — no matter how pleasant he is to my eyes — and I can feel my… my bottom bumping against you every time the dragon beats its wings! It’s shameful and improper! I am saying all of this in the middle of the frozen sky, in a land beyond the Wall, going to a hidden kingdom. So other than all of that, I am really fine, my lord… my king… I don’t even know what else to say!” She closed her eyes, regretting it the instant she finished speaking, wishing she could disappear after letting it all out.

But instead of the harsh, cold scolding she expected… Perhaps even being thrown off the dragon, the man behind her simply laughed.

His laughter blended with the wind and the beating of Vezofēdrur’s wings, echoing softly yet strongly through the skies. She did not find it unpleasant to hear at all.

“Well, I cannot blame you for that. You will have to forgive me, Lady Joy, but this was the only option. We are in the middle of a war. We no longer have access to the east, and we took the opportunity that no one would expect us to come from the north, by the western side of the continent. That is why my men were able to enter Casterly Rock with the help of the dragon. You are safe. And regarding the… compromising position, let’s keep it a secret. Your future husband does not need to know about this.” Jon replied in a gentle tone.

“…” Joy said nothing, just kept closing her eyes occasionally in the following minutes, nervous but relieved by the man’s response.

Jon also remained silent. All she could think of was trying to calm herself. She hadn’t responded to anything he said. After long minutes, she began getting used to the sensation. Her heart slowed and the cold and emotions in her stomach eased a little — though they never went away completely.

She looked at his hands still firmly on her thighs, holding her so she wouldn’t slip. Even with the belt, she felt safer in his arms than with the saddle or the ropes.

“You were a… bastard, like me?” she asked suddenly, breaking the silence. She thought her voice had been carried away by the wind, since she spoke it almost as a thought instead of a question, but she clearly heard the answer behind her.

“Yes. Just like you, I was Jon Snow.” Jon replied, the tone melancholic and even nostalgic.

“How… how did you become what you are today?” she murmured.

She had never seen Arctic, but Jon Snow was far more surprising than anything she had imagined.

“The gods blessed me. That was how my life changed, how my journey began. But I also discovered that, although I was raised as a bastard… it did not mean that I truly was one, in the end.” Jon said.

Joy tried to turn her face to look at him, but she could only see part of his shoulder, stretching her neck uselessly.

“What do you mean…?” she asked in surprise. She knew he was smiling as soon as she asked, even without seeing his face.

“Do you not find it strange that we are flying on the back of a dragon who obeys me?” She fell silent.

Of course she did.

She had a thousand questions — but she had no courage to ask any of them, not while she was tied like that, so close to him, on the back of that dragon, crossing the sky with the wind making her tremble slightly from the cold.

“I am a Targaryen, my birth name is Aegon Targaryen…” Jon simply said. What use was there in hiding this information from the girl who was going to Arctic? She would eventually learn it anyway. Jon continued, watching her freeze upon hearing that.

“I am the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark. They were married in secret. My mother died giving birth to me, she was still alive when my uncle found her in Dorne and brought me to Winterfell, where I was raised as a bastard until my eighth nameday, as you must know.”

Joy shivered. He was not a bastard, in the end — he was a Targaryen prince? That shook her even more, remembering the stories of those dark days when the Lannisters took King’s Landing. There had been whispers that her uncle ordered his men to kill Targaryen children.

“I suppose you think I hold hatred for your family. And you would be correct.” Jon had already guessed her thoughts.

“Your uncle, Tywin Lannister, ordered the massacre of my stepmother and my half siblings when they invaded King’s Landing. I will not say that I love him — I will kill him at the first opportunity I have in the future. But I do not hold anger toward you. There is no guilt on you for sharing his blood; just as I did not blame your father when I met him for the first time.” Jon spoke sincerely.

As for Rhaenys, his sister who survived the sack of King’s Landing — it was different — she seemed to always hold resentment for anyone tied to the enemies of her family, and her first reaction when she saw Geron Lannister had been wanting to kill him. Jon had not liked that, though he understood the bitterness.

Jon made her calm down, he knew how his sister, as much as he loved her, was stubborn and vengeful. She even held resentment toward his mother.

Jon, however, had already spoken seriously with her. Rhaenys tried to avoid public displays of dissatisfaction regarding Lyanna Stark in front of him, and Jon tolerated that as long as it did not become a problem, because of the love he felt for her — he respected her, and she obeyed him because she loved him, even though he was the son of Lyanna Stark.

Jon knew his sister’s temperament and knew how to handle the situation. Rhaenys had even been displeased and opposed to the idea that an agreement had already been made with Geron, and that they intended to bring his daughter to the kingdom to live with them.

He hoped Joy’s presence would not become another problem for Rhaenys. For that reason, he would place her under Seryna’s care, who, unfortunately, had lost her lady-in-waiting a little over a moon ago — killed by an undead bird that had invaded the castle when she stepped out of hiding. Jon knew Seryna would care for Joy and teach her about the Kingdom.

Joy remained silent. She had realized Jon had unfinished matters with her uncle Tywin and that those threats of killing him would likely happen. She grew thoughtful for a while, until Jon broke the silence once more:

“Why don’t you tell me about your life? I would like to hear the details. In truth, I’ve never met a bastard who lived in a castle as you did. I’m sure we have many similarities to share.”

He spoke in a calm tone, and Joy, touched by the kindness, began to speak after a few seconds hesitating, still avoiding looking down as they continued toward Arctic, with the dragon carrying the ship and the deck swaying side to side, the men still secured with belts.

The others inside the ship had certainly already felt the terrible back pain in the first days of the journey, and had to take herbal painkillers they had brought after being thrown into the sea, and they would certainly feel it again upon reaching the Kingdom.

—–

Raccoon Here:

I don’t know how I ended up with this, but I wanted to create a romance here. I’m still not sure what to do with the girl yet; she won’t be a queen, but she could be a lover of the king.

I want to include some more well-known ladies-in-waiting among the queens, but the only ones I had named so far were Missandei and Maerin. I never bothered naming the others because I didn’t want to detail them in the chapters. I still need to think of a better one for Rhaenys, Ygritte, and Val.

Hiyori should be a companion from Yi-Ti. I need to name her in the future, since she came along as one of their attendants in Yi-Ti, because bringing nobles from that place would be somewhat improper for a journey to the other side of the known world.

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