POV: Daenerys Targaryen.
I pressed my hand against my burning cheek, tasting blood where my teeth had cut the inside of my mouth. Viserys had hit me again.
"Useless girl," he'd hissed before storming out. "You embarrassed me in front of the magister's guests. Next time, you'll learn to keep your eyes down and your mouth shut."
I'd only asked a simple question about the Free Cities. Apparently, that was too bold and forward. Like I thought I had a right to speak.
The tears came hot and angry. I hated crying. It made me feel weak, and weakness was dangerous around Viserys. But alone in my room, with the door locked and no one to see I let myself weep.
But, a sudden crash made me jump.
Something had slammed into the floor below my window with a terrible 'thud'.
"Princess?" The maid's voice came from outside my door, filled with worry. "Are you well? I heard a noise—"
"I'm fine!" I called quickly, wiping my eyes. "I just... knocked something over. I'm fine." I didn't want her to see me crying and tell others.
"Shall I come in, Princess?"
"No! No, thank you. I'm going to sleep now."
I waited until her footsteps retreated down the hallway before turning to look at what had dropped to my floor..
A bird lay on there, with green and blue feathers, larger than any bird I'd seen before. There was a spider web-like crack on the floor where it had dropped.
For a terrible moment, I thought it was dead.
However, it moved.
The bird pushed itself up on its feet, shook its head vigorously, and looked directly at me.
"Ow," it said clearly. "That hurt."
I stared, frozen in disbelief.
The bird spoke again, its voice oddly human-like despite coming from a beak. "Are you Daenerys Targaryen?"
My mouth opened and closed several times before words finally came out. "You... you can talk? Like a person?"
"Obviously." The bird ruffled its feathers, examining the floor it had crashed into. "Stupid floor."
I crept closer. The bird watched me approach, head tilted.
"Who... who sent you?" I asked. "Are you someone's pet? Do you have an owner?"
"No owner," the bird said firmly. "But I know the being who created me."
'Created?' "You mean... a god? You know a god?"
The bird nodded, a strangely human gesture.
I felt my throat tighten. "Then you're blessed. I don't know mine. My brother says we're descended from dragons, that the gods favor House Targaryen, but I've never felt any gods watching over me."
The bird stared at me for a long moment. Then it said something that made my jaw drop.
"They must be fucking shitty gods then, look at that lower back! You can hatch at least a dozen eggs at once!"
I blinked. Once. Twice. Then, despite everything—the bruise forming on my cheek, the fear, the loneliness—I started to laugh.
It started as a giggle, then grew into real laughter, the kind I hadn't experienced in months. The absurdity of it, a bird, a talking bird, cursing the gods on my behalf and trying to court me was too much.
"You shouldn't say things like that," I managed between giggles, though I couldn't stop smiling. "What if god hears you?"
"Let them," the bird said stubbornly. "If they're not taking care of you, they're shit at their job."
I laughed again, softer this time, and wiped my eyes.
"What's your name?" I asked.
The bird seemed to deflate slightly. "Don't have one. My creator was in a hurry. Forgot to give me one."
"Oh." I thought for a moment, studying the bird's brilliant green and blue plumage. Green like... "How about Vermax? After one of the dragons from the old. You're green, like Vermax was said to be."
The bird's feathers ruffled in what looked like indignation. "Vermax? That's a dragon name. I'm a parrot, not a lizard with wings."
"But you don't have a better name," I pointed out.
Long pause. "Fine. Vermax. But I don't like it."
"You'll get used to it," I said, feeling a strange warmth in my chest. It was nice, having someone, even a bird to talk to. Someone who wasn't Viserys or one of Illyrio's simpering servants.
Vermax hopped onto my desk, examining the room with those sharp, intelligent eyes. "Your brother hit you."
It wasn't a question.
"Yes," I said quietly.
"Shit brother."
Despite myself, I smiled again. "Yes. Shit brother."
Vermax nodded approvingly, as if we'd just agreed on something important.
For the first time in weeks, I didn't feel quite so alone.
....
POV: Jon Stark
I'm Warging inside one of birds that I send to Winterfell.
King's Landing sprawled beneath us like a festering wound. Two days of flying at enhanced speed had brought my flock of parrots from Braavos to the capital of the Seven Kingdoms.
Even from this height, I could see the chaos of the city, smoke rising from forge fires, the crowded streets, the stench of humanity packed too closely together.
I focused my consciousness on the smallest of the parrots, a female with bright yellow and green plumage.
'You'll stay here,' I projected through our bond.
The parrot acknowledged by peeling away from the formation, banking toward the city below.
The remaining three continued north.
These birds can use magic nodes in their hearts in two different ways: one is to continuously use a small amount of mana and enhance their body up to three times.
Or use a large amount of mana and exponentially increase all their stats, like what my raven is doing.
'Keep going in this direction.' I directed a group that was going to Winterfell.
I felt their acknowledgment, then began the process of withdrawing from the warg connection. It was like pulling my consciousness back through a tunnel.
I gasped, opening my eyes in my workshop.
Ghost raised his head.
"I'm fine," I told him, running a hand through his furr. "Just checking on the birds."
Two days of flight. Maybe three more to reach Winterfell, depending on the weather. Once they arrived, I'd have eyes and ears in my former home.
But that was for later. Currently, I have experiments to continue.
I pulled the water catalyst from my pouch.
The structure was similar to the fire catalyst but with subtle differences in the crystal-protein matrix. Different geometry meant different transformation.
I crossed to the massive acrylic tank where my electric eels swam. The three females had established a comfortable hierarchy with the male, with the largest claiming the best hiding spot beneath the driftwood. She was the one I'd work with first.
I placed my hand inside the tank, and as I did, all four eels moved towards my hand.
I carefully touched the eel I was intending to use.
The eel's body unfolded in my mind, I dove deeper finding the magical node I'd installed at her heart.
'Now,' I thought, 'let's add something new.'
Using the water catalyst sample as my template, I began constructing the crystal-protein matrix inside the eel's throat, I used biomass from nearby cells.
The geometry had to be precise, each angle, each bond, each molecular arrangement exactly matching the pattern that would transform raw magical energy into water.
It required intense concentration. Sweat dripped down my face as I worked, my hands trembling slightly from the effort.
It required intense concentration to arrange those crystal proteins in that pattern.
If I have to compare it, it was like I was trying to create an integrated circuit without a Photolithography machine.
After around half an hour I completed it.
'Now let's see if It works.'
I used the warging link to give her a simple command. While I was still using my biokinesis to observe.
"Open your jaw, Channel power through your throat.'
The eel responded. I felt the magical energy flow from her heart, up through the pathways, into the catalyst in her throat. The crystal-protein matrix began to resonate, transforming the raw power according to its geometric pattern—
A highly pressurized jet of water erupted from her throat.
It shot upward with tremendous force, striking the workshop ceiling with enough power to punch a hole clean through the wooden boards.
Daylight streamed through the opening as debris rained down around me.
'It worked.'
…
(A/N: I will upload extra chapters according to the power stones received.)