Chapter Text
“Rek! Ajjin!” (That! Now!) Jungwon yelled, pointing at the bowl standing on the ground inside the tent. One of his men ran over to fetch it for him and brought it back while the others placed Jay on the ground. Jungwon quickly took the bowl and knelt down beside Jay; he pulled the sleeve out of the way before pouring the content of the bowl over Jay’s wound, making the latter flinch away and twist his arm while still unconscious. Jungwon held his arm with a firm grip to make him stay still while he used his other hand to wipe the wound with a cloth. Jay remained unconscious but still tried to pull his arm away. It undoubtedly hurt, but it needed to be done.
“Jif anha fichat jin maegi, imesh Khal?” (Should I bring the witch, young Khal?) One of the men asked, but Jungwon shook his head.
“Vo! Anha avvos zala rek chiori qisi anna!” (No! I don't want that woman near me!) Jungwon yelled. He then turned back to Jay, who had finally stopped moving and was now looking like he wasn’t in such pain anymore. His wound was still there, but it didn’t look as bad as before, and instead of looking infected, it looked completely clean. Jungwon sighed in relief before gesturing for his men to leave the tent, so they did. Jungwon remained by Jay’s side for hours until the latter finally woke up.
“What happened?” Jay asked groggily while trying to sit up.
“You almost died,” Jungwon answered.
“I what?” Jay looked over at the other, no longer caring that his head hurt and that his shoulder hurt. “Was it the wound?” He asked, and Jungwon nodded.
“Seems like the dragon isn’t immune to the diseases of the wild,” Jungwon chuckled a little, but Jay got the feeling that he had been more worried than he wanted Jay to know.
“Why are you helping me?” Jay asked. Jungwon tensed up a little, and it took some time for him to answer, but once he did, it wasn’t what Jay had expected.
“Because you were not meant to die here, killed by a Dothraki warrior or some infected wound,” Jungwon finally said. “And your brother…”
“How do you know I have a brother?” Jay was surprised, to say the least. He didn’t think a Dothraki Khal would know of his brother, or him, for that matter. Jungwon smiled a little before answering.
“You’d be a fool not to know of the dragon brothers, those born with the pure blood of the dragon,” Jungwon said as he looked over at Jay. “You might not know it yourself, but your brother is meant for something big. Something many people have been waiting for since the death of the last Targaryen…”
- - - -
“I’ve sent some of my men out to look for Jay and Yuma, but I cannot promise they will find anything. If the Dothraki took them with them, then there’s no guarantee they are even alive, and if they are, they could be anywhere in the Dothraki Sea, and that place is much bigger than you think,” EJ said as he returned to the tent where Nicholas was. The latter sighed but nodded his head.
“Thank you,” Nicholas said. He was about to sit up when he remembered what EJ had said earlier, so he stopped and leaned back down. EJ smiled a little as he watched Nicholas, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he walked outside the tent again, only to return a few seconds later with a plate of food.
“Here, you need to eat something,” He handed the plate to Nicholas, who gladly took it and began eating. “Don’t eat too fast, or you’ll choke,” EJ chuckled. Nicholas was about to say something, but instead, he began to cough. This made EJ laugh even more before handing Nicholas some water. “Seen? I’m not planning on having to save you from your own stupidity so soon after saying you from dying of all those wounds you have,” Nicholas had stopped coughing and placed the plats down on the ground beside him.
“I’m grateful that you saved me, but if you won’t let me go look for Jay and Yuma, then can you at least take me back to Meereen? My brother is there, and since everyone else from our traveling group was killed by the Dothraki, I assume he thinks I am dead, too,” Nicholas said.
“I’ll take you there. It’s a short ride from here, but it will take longer since you are not able to ride just yet, so you’ll have to be patient,” EJ answered.
“Thank you. Again,” Nicholas said, earning another small smile from EJ. EJ then walked over to sit down on the ground beside Nicholas and picked up the plate, which still had food left on it. He held out the plate toward Nicholas again, and the latter took it.
“You’re not from Meereen, though, are you?” EJ suddenly asked.
“I am,” Nicholas answered before eating some more of the food on the plate. “What made you think I wasn’t?”
“You just don’t seem the type, I guess. I can’t really imagine you running a household without mercy, having slaves, and being a great master high up on those walls,” EJ said, and now it was Nicholas's turn to chuckle.
“As much as I’m pleased to know you don’t associate me with those costumes, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. I am part of one of those great master’s households, but it is my father who runs it, and I have nothing to do with either the way he does it or the slaves he has, per my own request,”
“Then it does not make you one of them,” EJ pointed out. “You can’t choose what you're born as, only what you do with the life you’re given,” Nicholas eyed EJ as the latter spoke, and then something struck him.
“You have some kind of past with similar circ*mstances, don’t you?” Nicholas asked.
“I do,” EJ answered but said nothing more. However, he didn’t look to be offended by what Nicholas had asked, so he continued.
“Care to tell me?” Nicholas asked as he placed the now empty plate on the ground.
“My uncle is Lord Nakloz, a slave trader in Astapor and one of its Good Masters. My father was one as well before my uncle killed him for the slaves and riches he had and forced me to flee the city. Luckily, due to who my father was, many of his men chose to follow me rather than stay in Astapor, and as thanks, I freed them all, and now they fight with me, not for me,” EJ explained. Nicholas was very surprised to learn of EJ’s background, and he couldn’t help but feel bad for him and what he had gone through, but EJ seemed to catch on, and he didn’t want anyone to feel bad for him. He was good enough to do that himself. “I don’t need your pity, though; my father was a bad man, just like my uncle is. I would have left Astapor sooner or later regardless of what would happen,”
“And now you’re here,” Nicholas said.
“And now I’m here,” EJ smiled before standing up again. “I’ll go see if any of my men have found anything. You should rest, I’ll be back later,”
- - - -
Ni-ki looked away from his dragons, who were sleeping in a pile on his bed, and over to the door. He was prepared to fend off anyone who might have come to take his dragons, but he calmed down once he saw his grandfather enter his room.
“Word has it, my little grandson was given quite an extraordinary gift from the old Shadowbinder,” Jin said. Ni-ki smiled as he watched his grandfather sit down on the side of his bed. “They’re really something, aren’t they?” Jin chuckled as he watched the three dragons move around slightly in their sleep. It was quite hard to tell which leg, tale, or wings belonged to which dragon since they were pretty much piled on top of each other, but they seemed to be comfortable nonetheless.
“They are,” Ni-ki said.
“Your father told me you already named them, so let’s hear it!” Jin said.
“The violet one is Evolet, and I think that is a girl, but I don’t know. She just seems like one. The white one is Halo because that one is the calmest and nicest of the three, and I think he is a boy. And the black one is Tenebris like that black kitten Jay found in Tyria and brought back here when we were younger! And I think he is a boy, too,” Ni-ki said, excitement written all over his face.
“Those are some pretty names, I can tell you that,” Jin chuckled. “I’m sure they’ll all be great and strong dragons one day,” Jin ruffled Ni-ki’s hair before he went to stand up again, but Ni-ki stopped him.
“Grandpa, why do you think the silver-eyed man gave me the dragon eggs? What makes me so special?” Ni-ki’s violet eyes looked up at Jin as the boy spoke, and Jie sword he could see all the purest and brightest lights that had ever existed in this world light up those very eyes.
“You are special because you are you,” Jin said, but Ni-ki didn’t look very convinced.
“Grandpa, I’m serious! Like, why didn’t he give them to Jay? Or to dad, or Haruto, or anyone else with the blood of the dragon? Even you have it! So why give all three eggs to me?”
“Because you are different, and only you and Jay have the pure blood of the dragon, reunited through all the surviving houses of the Last War of the Dragon, and you, my little prince, have the eyes of the last Targaryen king, King Sunwoo. And that makes you very special,” Jin explained.
“But I am no Targaryen, and I only have dragons because of that silver-eyed man, and-“
“Which is exactly what makes you just as great as the Targaryens once were!” Jin interrupted his grandson. “Taemin might be a very old and somewhat challenging man, but he knows more than we could ever imagine, and he knew the Targaryens. And he knew of their downfall long before it happened…”
“Then why didn’t he do anything about it? If he knew they would die, why didn’t he help them and save them from themselves?” Ni-ki asked.
“Because I cannot change what is meant to happen,” A voice from the other side of the room said. Ni-ki and Jin both turned to look in that direction, only to find the same silver-eyed man who had given Ni-ki the dragon eggs standing in the shadows in the corner of the room. Ni-ki tensed up a little, but Jin placed a calming hand on his arm.
“Taemin,” Jin greeted.
“Prince Jin Baratheon,” The silver-eyed man, Taemin, greeted back, giving Jin a slight bow with his head. He then moved his eyes to look at Ni-ki, and silver met violet once again. “Prince Ni-ki Baratheon,” Taemin gave Ni-ki the same kind of bow he had given Jin before he slowly began walking closer to the bed they were sitting on. “And to further answer your question, I couldn’t save them because they would have killed each other sooner or later either way. I could only make sure not all of them died burning with fire and sacrificing their own blood,” Taemin said.
“So it is true? Soul Baratheon was taken to Valyria after the war so his bloodline would not end. And you were the one who took him here!” Ni-ki asked.
“Him and his father’s husband, Eunseok Dayne,” Taemin said.
“The Sword of the Morning?” Ni-ki’s eyes lit up as he recognized the name, but then his face turned into a confused one. “But what happened to them?”
“They lived out their lives here, away from Westeros and all the danger that came with being associated with the name Baratheon. They lived on, so you could be here today,” Taemin said. “So you could take back what was stolen from their family and what is meant just for those with the pure blood of the dragon: the iron throne!”
