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123 AC, King's Landing
Helaena Targaryen walked in the corridors of the Red Keep with a dreamy expression on her face. It was not an uncommon sight in itself, though perhaps the fact that she did so while unescorted and with half of the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms nearby was somewhat out of character. However, it was the smile on her face, wide and free, that was truly a rare sight for everyone to see.
She had gotten fairly good at escaping her guards, and sometimes even the Kingsguard when she needed to. People were often focused on their own world and thoughts, and it was remarkably easy to fool them if you knew when to do so. And thankfully for Helaena, her gifts, which she once considered a curse, made these moments of distraction very easy to use. Often, people did not even notice when she left.
Her mother would likely chide her for slipping away from her guards, especially with the Red Keep being filled with strangers, but thankfully, she would be too distracted to care, especially with Grandfather's return to the Capital and the troubles that would follow him.
However, she was too happy to care about any potential punishment. The Potters were here. She hadn't seen them in some time. Ever since their expedition to Chroyane, their visit had become shorter, spending a few hours at most, with the only interesting part, aside from her lessons with Lord Harry, being Lady Daphne using her magic on her dagger's twin. She did not know why they were fascinated by it, but it seemed like Helaena's blood did something to it.
It did not matter because, for the first time in a long time, she would do something for herself. When Helaena had undertaken the responsibility of saving her family from itself, she hadn't imagined the sheer amount of effort necessary for this. Even her visions were becoming haggard, to stop Aemond from flying to Dragonstone to confront the Potters, which always ended poorly in her dreams.
Thankfully, Aegon rarely made any trouble for her, but surprisingly, her mother was. Apparently, out of guilt at her lack of prayer, she had attempted to sponsor a one-handed begging brother who was called The Shepherd, whom her dreams warned her of, for some reason. She often saw him slay her children's dragons with axes of blood.
The man perished when a loose stone fell on him during one of his walks. No one thought that it was anything more than an accident. Her mother sent her donations to a motherhouse instead, which spent them by rebuilding the orphanage that had fallen into disrepair when Alysanne Targaryen died.
However, Helaena's crime had not gone unnoticed. For in her dreams, seven inhuman voices screamed in anger at his death.
It had been the first time that she had used her gift for something like this, and she spent the next few days relishing the comforts of Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. Her greatest comfort was knowing that they would one day enjoy the beauty of riding their dragons, just as Helaena had with her beautiful Dreamfyre.
The rest was convincing the realm of her plans. She already had the Westerlands firmly in hand thanks to Brightroar's return, and in her dreams, the Wolf of the North would follow her along. She had set into motion events that would help her get the Vale's allegiance, and that of the Iron Islands, not that the latter required much. That left the Riverlands, which were troublesome because of how fragmented the kingdom was, the Stormlands, and the Reach.
The last two were troublesome, the Stormlands because the Baratheons felt slighted by the lack of attention from either faction, Green or Black, and the Reach because it distorted her visions, as if she tried to see through a thick, yet somehow bright, smoke. It was also the most sensitive one, given that her maternal family was extremely influential, likely more so than House Tyrell, their Lord Paramount.
That distortion was quite new, and one of the reasons she needed the Potters' advice in dealing with it. And so, she quickly made her way to the Red Keep's Godswood, following the void that the Potters left behind with their presence. To her surprise, the Potters were sitting carelessly, having brought a table, likely created with some kind of magic, and sipping some steaming drink, likely tea or Lord Harry's strange 'Coffee', which she did not know why he enjoyed so much. It tasted far too bitter when she tried it.
When she entered, Lord Harry smiled, "Hello there, Helaena. It has been a while, hasn't it?"
The young girl grinned and hugged them both, something that would have had her mother admonish her for hours about her lack of propriety as a princess and future queen.
After embracing them both, Helaena smiled, "Far too much, in my opinion. You've been busy."
Lord Harry looked slightly uncomfortable, "Ah, yes. We had to deal with things that are a bit… dangerous."
The young princess rolled her eyes, "I saw a young wolf bite a blizzard with fangs of fire and blood. My fire and blood."
"You're certainly getting better with your divination, haven't you? I'm guessing that this was a dream?"
"Yes. The journal was helpful. Though I have some trouble drawing them, as you suggested."
The sorcerer shrugged, "It was a long shot anyway. A few dreams are too metaphorical or abstract to really draw."
Helaena nodded, thankful that it wasn't a failing on her part. However, she couldn't help but frown, "Why are you here?"
This time, it was Lady Daphne who answered, "What makes you ask that?"
Helaena suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at that question. It had taken some time to fully understand the Potters. Aside from performing acts that would help them achieve their ultimate goal, which had been revealed in Chroyane, they often showed themselves when something was afoot. It was often a danger that they wanted to stop, or an incoming disaster that they wished to foil. Revealing themselves before the Seven Kingdoms, the Capital's Throne Room, no less, was out of character to say the least.
And so, she furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Does it have to do with the succession?"
A wide smile appeared on Lady Daphne's face, "A good theory, and not one that is entirely incorrect. Your father's Grand Tourney is an opportunity for him to finally secure the incoming succession crisis, as you know. However, there are many, magical and non-magical alike, who believe that a war between Dragons would be very advantageous to them."
That… was not a complete answer. While it was true that many likely planned for the inevitable downfall of the House of the Dragon, likely as prevalent in their dreams as they were in her own, the sudden shift must have unsettled many people, to say the least. Her father's sudden recovery had pushed this downfall by decades.
It was clear that Lord Harry, Lady Daphne, and even Helaena's actions had likely disrupted many plans that involved the death of the dragons in some way, which would push many to investigate this predicted downfall. She expected many attempts on her father's life, in the hopes of returning the state of House Targaryen to what it once was, something that she was unwilling to let happen.
However, this was not something that would bring the Potters into the open and out of their manse. It would need to be something quite dangerous and sensitive to get their attention. There was something missing that Helaena did not know.
She had spent enough time with the Potters to understand when they left things unsaid. Sometimes, it was simply because they did not wish to share it, but often, they were small, unspoken tests of her insight.
For this one, she thought that it was likely the latter, and her dreams did offer her some clarity, though she did not know what it was: "You are here for the veil of light that is slowly seeping into the city, one that is… inconveniencing me."
A proud smile appeared on Harry's face, "You must have progressed well with your divination to have sensed it. It is not subtle by any means, but seeing divine influence is impressive given your lack of experience."
Helaena suppressed the urge to preen at the compliment, but given the smirks on both Potters' faces, she had failed. Still, she steeled herself and asked, "What is it?"
For some reason, Lord Harry looked somewhat embarrassed. "In a few of our adventures, we found ourselves in Oldtown, where we found ourselves confronting a deity that was… misusing its powers to secure its faith in a way that would have inevitably ended in disaster. Your brother, Daeron, was very kind to act as our guide there. In our confrontation, we ended up limiting their influence in the Seven Kingdoms to be that of a normal deity, and while that is good in the long term, we… I did not consider that this deity was protecting the Seven Kingdoms from other gods' influences, something that's currently biting us in the ass."
Helaena snorted at the crudeness of that last remark, despite the seriousness of the situation. Aside from the affair in Chroyane, she had never truly interacted with gods, only knowing that they were far beyond her capabilities to oppose. She had no doubts that what Lord Harry said was true; he would not lie to her. But also, if the Seven Who Are One were weakened, it would explain the sudden drop in the Faith that the Seven Kingdoms were experiencing, and even the riots in Oldtown.
Still, the idea of a war between gods, or the veil of light representing a god's invasion, was troubling indeed.
Her worry must have inevitably shown on her face, as Lady Daphne gently calmed her, "Don't worry, we're handling it. It's why we're here after all."
Helaena hesitated for a moment before saying, "I think that my grandfather had something to do with it."
She felt shame at telling the Potters that. The young princess did not like Otto Hightower. He was manipulative and obviously did not think much of Helaena, bar her ability to sire Aegon's children. It was not something that she cared overmuch about, but in many of her dreams, he had been the one tangling the spools of greens and black so tightly that they sheared one another. She was glad to see him out of the Capital when she left. She knew for certain that he would have made her self-imposed duty of saving her family all the more dangerous.
However, he was her grandfather, and she was betraying him, in a way, by telling the Potters what she had seen.
"We know," Lady Daphne answered.
That brought her out of her, now, short moments of melancholy, "What?"
Lord Harry snickered at her reaction, "There are ways to see past barriers when it comes to fighting another Seer. Of course, it isn't an exact science, and what we see is much more uncertain. In a way, the act of knowing the future influences it in some way, but that change could affect the original vision and so on. It's a very tricky field, in my opinion, which I call battle divination. I didn't think you'd have to face something like this anytime soon, but I suppose we'll need to rectify this in your lessons."
The young princess remained silent, grasping once more just how little she truly knew of her own gift. However, she couldn't help but ask, "I don't understand why you haven't dealt with this god yet."
For the first time since the conversation began, Lord Harry looked frustrated, "This particular god is one that I wished to speak with. He actively interfered with my efforts beyond the Wall in a way that could have ended quite badly, and seemed content to attempt to kill me. Unfortunately, this Lord of Light is elusive. Every god in this world has an origin, a beginning of it all, after which it spreads outward. Yet, this one doesn't. It seemingly appeared from thin air in every city it was part of, from Volantis, Myr, Lys, Tyrosh, and Pentos, before spreading outward. The Citadel had no source of its origin, and scrying back to the past is heavily protected, likely by the deity to protect itself. Unfortunately, given its rise in power, confronting it in any of these cities would achieve very little but needless destruction and deaths, since we still have no idea where this god's realm is."
His wife continued for him, "The Lord of Light's motivations are also too strange, too disjointed, for us to make sense of it. For an entity that is said to oppose the 'Great Other' and be a light in the darkness, it had tried to stop us from destroying the Others, using some very drastic measures to do it, and it seems to dislike us for beating them. So, when we realised that it was interested in your house's affairs and actively making a move outside its territory…"
Helaena quickly realised their plan, "You wish to draw it out in some way. Wouldn't that risk damaging the stability that we seek to achieve here?"
The Potters looked at one another, and when their eyes met, Helaena felt like they had an entire silent conversation in its duration, and Lord Harry smiled at her, "Do not worry. The god might be tricky to deal with, but not his agents. Who knows? It might even benefit your cause."
Before she could ask him to clarify, he continued, "For now, we need you to trust that we have the situation well in hand, and that we'll call on you if we need the help. Now, why don't you tell us what you've been up to?"
Helaena would admit to anyone that she was curious regarding this strange god, but she understood that the Potters were unwilling to share their plan with her, and likely for good reason. And so, she decided to push the issue with the Fire God to the back of her mind and answered, "Quite well, especially given the Rogue Prince not being quite as chaotic as he once was. I assume that this was your doing?"
She was not exaggerating. When it came to following the spools of black in her mind's eye, she had realised that most of it had suddenly untangled, and when she looked deeply, these knots were previously centred around her uncle's decisions, which were often less predictable than the wind.
Lord Harry groaned, "I swear that man was going to give me grey hairs. I had to scare him into accidentally making an oath that would prevent him from getting himself or his daughters killed, or worse, in some useless attempt at glory, and for him to finally try to be a good father. Seriously, I don't know if he purposefully tries to make everyone's life difficult, but that was, by far, one of the most frustrating conversations I've had in this realm."
This obvious frustration on the sorcerer's face made her burst into a fit of giggles despite her best efforts to appear serious in this conversation. The situation was simply too comical to imagine, with Lord Harry slowly explaining things to her uncle as if he were a simpleton, only for her uncle to choose the worst possible interpretation of that explanation every time.
It took only Lady Daphne's comment to finally put an end to her laughter, though she seemed amused as well. "Speaking of which, how much progress have you made in securing the support of the rest of the Kingdoms so far?"
Helaena was not surprised that the Potters knew of her plans, despite never explicitly telling her about them. It was obvious, from an objective standpoint, what the best path to preserving her family's fate was. Her father was seemingly working on the same goal, and Helaena supported him from the background, solving problems before they appeared.
She smiled softly, "So far, only the Stormlands, Reach, and Riverlands are proving themselves to be troublesome."
She did not speak of the many things that she had succeeded in achieving yet, choosing to focus on elements that would let Lord Harry and Lady Daphne share their wisdom with her.
After all, she did not mention the fact that she quelled the religious unrest in King's Landing, enough to not escalate things into full riots as they had in Oldtown, while maintaining the discontent with the Faith to avoid that some charismatic figure like the Shepherd to push them towards rebellion. A few well-placed words and random actions could truly achieve wonders.
Dealing with the Grand Maester's new aides had not been as easy. The Citadel had sent them without warning, and while they claimed that their purpose was to ask for aid from the Crown regarding the thefts that the Citadel suffered, the thefts that she was sure Lord Harry and Lady Daphne had committed, they seemed to have a great interest in our dragons and their diets.
It had taken convincing her father to command the Dragonkeepers to increase their rotations to deter them, as well as planting a small suggestion that they leave any unhatched eggs with their nested mothers, and for the dragons to be fed live meat, instead of cooked meat, in fear that the young would not learn to hunt well. The Maesters became more frustrated every day, and Helaena often had to act to stop one scheme or another to study their dragons.
Lady Daphne was the one to answer, "You give yourself very little credit for your achievements. The Riverlands are too divided. It wouldn't be cost-effective to try to convince them of anything, since you'll probably have to deal with every strong house independently. The situation with the Reach will be resolved soon, so don't worry about that. However, you should have spotted an easy way to bring the Stormlands. Specifically, the Dornish Marches."
The start of a plan started to appear in her mind, and her normally dreamy smile sharpened, "Thank you."
The Potters inclined their heads in response, and they all sat near the Godswood, taking in the silence, before remembering something. She hesitated somewhat to bring it up with the Potters, for she doubted that they might be interested in it.
Pushing herself not to overthink it, she turned to them again, "Do you have anything you must do now?"
Lord Harry blinked, surprised by the sudden change in tone. "No, not particularly."
"Nothing urgent," Lady Daphne echoed.
Helaena stood, smoothing her dress, while suppressing how anxious she felt. "Good. Then follow me. It is my turn to give you an adventure."
Both Potters exchanged an amused glance, though she could see some curiosity leak inside it, before rising from their seats. To her surprise, the table, chairs, and drinks disappeared as if they had never been there. She glared at Lord Harry, who whistled innocently while looking away.
The young princess huffed and silently led them out of the Godswood and into the outer courtyards. Finally, after a few minutes, they reached a narrow alcove tucked between two older walls. Helaena ensured that they were not followed when they discreetly slipped inside, and she pressed her palm against a faintly discoloured brick.
She heard a small click, and the wall slid aside, revealing a cramped, steep stair descending into darkness.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "I heard that Maegor the Cruel built secret passages inside the Red Keep… but I didn't expect something this extensive."
Helaena retrieved a torch resting beside the entrance, which she had placed there earlier and smiled proudly as she lit it, "A great tapestry, he weaved in fear. But I did not bring you here to witness the results of a fearful, cruel man."
She led them deeper into the tunnels, making sure not to activate any of the traps or enter a false end. Helaena had used this place to practice when she returned here, using her gift to navigate the maze of tunnels inside the Red Keep without knowing its layout.
However, there had been something that she simply could not see within her tapestry of the future, something that was before her.
It was a smooth black wall, seemingly entirely made by a single stone, that obviously did not match any material that made up the Red Keep. Helaena had tried to use her novice skills at peering into the past as Lord Harry taught her, and the wall manifested as something that stopped her from seeing it. She quickly concluded that it was something made of magic.
Lord Harry had a wide smile on his face when he looked at it, "This is certainly familiar."
Helaena turned towards him and asked, "What is that?"
"A warded wall, made through some kind of Valyrian magic. I saw one in the Dragonmont, sealed by old Valyrians who perished."
Before she could respond, small glowing symbols appeared above the sorcerer's hand, and he pressed it against the wall gently. To her surprise, the solid, almost indestructible wall rippled like a liquid before slowly moving to show a door that led to a passageway behind it.
Lord Harry smirked as he looked inside, "Well. Isn't that interesting?"
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AN: Phew, that chapter got away from me a bit. The idea was to show Helaena's character's progression, essentially acting like a guardian angel to House Targaryen, using her divination, and which is essentially like herding cats (only these cats have dragons) while also dealing with threats that try to manipulate them.
The Citadel stuff will be explained a bit more in a later chapter, but the whole Shepherd thing is about a figure that was instrumental in getting the smallfolk to storm the Dragonpit and kill the dragons in Fire and Blood. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me, check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions on them, so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.