Chapter 30.3- The Seadragon's Roar

“Tell me about it” She said, tone suspicious, and I began the tale of how exactly I had threatened our Maester into subservience.

—

Funeral rites could be fascinating things, I thought. They said a lot about what a culture valued. This was not the first time I was thinking about it. House Velaryon’s funerals were supposed to signify that we were sailors first and foremost. We had salt and sea in our blood even more than the dreaded Ironborn did. We just didn’t make as much noise about it, until it mattered. Targaryen funerals were modeled after Valyrian funeral customs as much as they could be, however with a distinctly andal twist to represent the capitulation of the House to the Faith of the Seven.

Well, no Targaryen would use the word capitulation. They would prefer terms like influence, mutual blending of culture, things like that. But I could see it simply, and this particular dead man had been able to see it just as simply in his own ways. I guessed for his soul’s peace of mind, it was a good thing we were yet to return to Westeros.

The body had not decayed a bit. Near a week since he had died, and he looked much the same. There was a smell to it, but that was the only sign, beyond the stillness of his person and the pallor of his skin, that he had departed this plane. Mother had the body brought outside before us. And she presented it to Caraxes.

“What if the Blood Wyrm just sets it on fire? I don’t think the King will be much pleased” Ser Ben whispered to me, uncharacteristically curious.

“Rarely happens. The Dragons know better. They’ve known better for centuries. It used to be customary for the body of a fallen warrior to be presented to their dragon before being taken back to Valyria. Well, that was something from the Ghiscari wars most likely since we don’t have accounts of dragon riders dying in combat or battle en masse beyond that period. Since he’s seen the body now, we should be able to fly straight back to King’s Landing, and Caraxes will follow. He will follow that body best he can until it is destroyed. In Valyria, after that, the closest relative to the fallen dragon rider would try to bond the dragon” I said.

“Oh.” He said, and I realised I’d given him an exposition dump when he had probably just intended to tell me a joke. Oops. I turned to the side, seeking out Laena.

“He’s been a right old arse to me whenever I tried getting close to feed him or anything. Weird that he’s, dare I say it, docile around Mother” She said, and I near chuckled.

“Caraxes was her father’s dragon, sister. Of course he’s behaving himself”

“Oh. I forgot that even. He and Daemon had matched each other so fully I can’t even think about him having been anyone else’s” She said, and that was true. From everything Rhaenys told us about the man that had birthed her, he and Daemon had been as close to polar opposites as you could get.