Chapter Text
The air was cool, and smelt strongly of the salt water that lapped against the shore in a lazy pattern. Gulls flew overhead, gliding against the wind that was pulled in by a gathering storm.
Your eyes were unfocused in the horizon, the blur of sea foam and dark clouds at the edges of your vision remaining as soothing entities after you had spent the past ten minutes screaming at the very sight. The edges of your eyes were red and puffy, throat sore and hands still shaking from the adrenaline of it all.
He was dead.
Your brother was dead.
It was a hard thing to cope with under normal conditions, but now you were completely alone; your birth had been so hard on your mother, and your father had disappeared just a year before.
"They took everything off of the cart, y/n. Every bag of grain, every ear of corn. They didn't even leave the horse."
You closed your eyes, grit your teeth and prayed this was all a dream you could wake up from. Some horrible nightmare that had manifested. It had to be, otherwise...
"We'll bury him, y/n, you don't need to deal with such things."
The breath that left your lungs wasn't shaky as it had been. It was even now, calm; resigned in it's manner.
When you opened your eyes, they fixated on the clouds roiling about above you. Soft shimmers of lightning flashed every now and again, the rumble of thunder distant and threatening. The birds had vanished, something that was slow to register in your mind as you took a step forward.
I have to do it.... right?
The water was frigid as it cascaded around your thighs, causing your thick gown to cling uncomfortably to your body. You took another step forward though, a chill running through you when something brushed against your leg. Once the waves reached your waist, you stopped, digging your toes into the rocks and sand to try and root yourself against the ocean for just a moment. Your body trembled from the cold, but your hands dipped into the water, watching your skin grow more and more pale as you sat there.
When the next wave of thunder rolled across the sky, it sounded like a mighty roar.
"I don't know what else to do," you muttered, staring at the grey water stretched out in front of you.
You dove in head first, the air snatched from your lungs at the sudden plunge. You gasped, water filling your mouth and nose as you kicked your legs out; where did the bottom go?
"So easy to get taken by the sea," that was what her father had said before he set sail that day, the day he went missing. "She decides to turn on ya, there's nothin but the will of the Gods that can change her mind."
When your eyes opened, you could see the surface of the water not too far away, but the undercurrent was holding onto you with all it's fury. Lightning flickered from the other side, dark shapes twisting across the surface that seemed too calm given the violence happening just below it.
Your brain screamed at you to grab something! and to kick! but it was all useless, you only felt your body getting more and more tired as you fought it. You wanted this, right? To let the sea take you as easily as it had claimed your father? There weren't many ways you could think of... ending it.
Your strength had begun to fade within moments of the whole affair beginning, though it felt like an eternity to you. Your lungs had begun to slowly burn, your chest aching as the undertow finally seemed to let you go once it saw you were done for. If you did make it to the surface, it would be too late; it was as though you were slowly being tugged towards the shadows that grew bigger and scarier as they neared you.
One if the twisted shadows seemed to grow bigger than the others around it, before something crashed through the surface of the water.
And suddenly, you could breathe.
Barely, but you could finally expell every bit of water that had poured itself into your waiting mouth when dragged underneath the tide. It hurt when your lungs expanded, both due to the saltwater that had gotten inside, and the pressure that held you like sturdy irons around your entire body. You could barely lift a finger due to whatever had caught you; it was warm and rough, but the texture was... familiar? In a way, perhaps. You didn't care too much at that point, your body thoroughly on the verge of total collapse thanks to you.
Your vision was blurry, salt drying on your lashes and the rest of your body too quickly for your liking. Air came from an indiscernible location, your entire sensory system disoriented from the whole situation.
You didn't really care though.
You were just sleepy.
Did it work? Your eyes were growing too heavy to keep open. Maybe my death will just be peaceful sleep... that would be nice...
Everything came to you slowly, as though your body knew your mind couldn't handle the shock at being alive.
There was a soft crackling of embers close by, close enough to warm your back. A rumbling came from somewhere... everywhere? It was loud, whatever it was, and almost sounded like breathing.
You could still hear the ocean nearby, calmer than before. Had the storm already passed?
Your first instinct was to gently rub at your eyes, well aware that your last memory was of them crusted over with salt.
But there was nothing there.
Your skin was clean, softer than before even.
As you shuffled around a bit, you frowned at the feeling of the scruffy material against your bare skin. Heat rose to your cheeks at your realization: you were naked.
Someone had saved you, but who? If they had meant to harm you, you definitely wouldn't have been allowed the luxury to wake up naturally.
You would have awoke to violence.
After a few moments had passed, you finally opened your eyes.
The stars were out.
You blinked a few times and slowly pushed yourself up, supporting yourself on one arm for a moment as you looked around a bit.
It was hard to see in the darkness at the edge of the campfires light, making it all the more terrifying when what you thought was a rock wall moved.
Your heart began to hammer loudly in your ears as you watched the absolutely massive pair of wings stretch up and block out the stars overhead. The leathery membranes quivered as they recoiled against the dragons back. You flinched when a thick gust of hot, stinking air washing over you and found the dragons teeth just feet from your face.
It's nostrils flared and gangly, sharp teeth were all you could see.
The scream that came from your mouth was shrill and embarrassing. You scrambled back in the sand, away from the dragon and into the fire. You hissed in pain and recoiled from the heat source, the palm of your left hand throbbing. The dragon jerked it's head back slightly, the agitated growl it gave enough to cause your heart to nearly drop out of your a-
The hand on your shoulder was not nearly as frightening as the dragon had been, but you still whipped your head towards this stranger with an incredulous look on your face.
You immediately bit your tongue, choking on all the words you wanted to say.
He held the scratchy 'blanket' up for you to take, keeping his one eye trained on your face. Your eyes roamed around his face for a moment - the hair, the eye patch, the fucking dragon.
You take the blanket with a soft thank you, wrapping it around yourself. The man nodded and stood up, raising a hand up to the dragon that made him look no bigger than an ant. A deep rumble came from the dragons chest as it sniffed at it's riders open hand. If it wasn't such a scary thing, you could mistake it for the purr of a kitten.
Watching him closely, you listened to him speak to the dragon in some foreign language. His voice was soft, but he sounded older than he looked.
"You pulled me out of the ocean," you mumbled.
He looked over his shoulder to you, arching the eyebrow over his good eye. "Why were you in the ocean?"
He sat in the sand across the fire from you; the fire made his hair appear golden. He didn't take his eye off of you, his stare intense and almost daring you not to answer his question.
"I was trying to kill myself." Monotone. Numb. It had really happened. "Why did you pull me out?" You paused, casting a glance at the dragon that watched you as intensely as its rider was. "How did you pull me out?"
"My dragon pulled you out," he waved a hand at you. "Why were you trying to kill yourself?"
.... Really?
You curled your knees up to your chest, truly uninterested in adjusting the blanket and you felt the cool air hit your bare skin. There was no pressure for you to answer him this time, he just tended to the fire and patiently waited for you to speak. But what could you say to him? It's not like he really cared.
"You should have left me," you murmured.
You could feel his gaze fixated on you, but you couldn't look away from the flames that flickered in front of you. The sadness had hit you once again, a painful yearning in your chest that you had no idea how to fill.
It was not just the fact that you were alone now that was weighing you down.
It was so much more.
You didn't know where to start looking for work, and you couldn't even begin to take care of your family's small patch of farmland alone. You would have to sell. Or the land would die. Perhaps bandits would take it over, after learning their last victim had left behind a younger sister and decent lodgings this far from King's Landing.
"Why?"
You did look up this time, thought you saw sympathy flicker off of his face the moment he saw you look at him.
"My... My brother was killed a few weeks ago," your voice quivered at the end. "I have nothing left, so you should have just let me die."
The stranger had nothing to say this time, and you were thankful for it. Surely he couldn't have asked whether you wanted rescuing or not, but that still didn't make it feel right to you. You had thought allot about this decision and he had just taken it away from you.
A stupid decision... but mine nonetheless.
"What's your name?"
When you looked up at him this time, your expression evened out from annoyance to confusion. The empathy on his face was real, and not something he tried to hide like he had moments ago. It looked awkward on him without you even having to know a damn thing about him, and something about that made your chest tighten up and you smiled a little.
"Y/n."
He nodded, picking up a stick that lay at his side. While he broke it into smaller bits for the fire, you looked at his dragon. It had seemed to relax, though you had no idea what relaxed looked like on a dragon. It was laying it's head in the sand, but it's eyes were open and fixated on the ocean to your left.
Peace.
It was peace in the dragons body language.
It sniffed languidly at the wind, rumbling ever so often. The smell that hit you coming from the dragon was the least pleasant thing you had ever smelt in your life, but it wasn't too bad. You supposed, considering the blanket that kept you covered reeked of the scent, that you had some time to adjust while unconscious. Something in the layers of the smell was familiar, the image of your father tending the coals of the stove coming to mind.
"Give me a reason to live," you murmured, still staring at the mighty dragon that thoroughly protected you from the darkness on the other side.
You could feel his gaze boring into the side of your face, but couldn't bare to look at him. You were embarrassed that the words had even come out of your mouth, that you had meant them.
"And why would I do that?" He didn't sound annoyed, but... intrigued.
"You saved me... so you don't want me to die." You groaned a little as you pushed yourself to your feet; everything hurt. "Then... give me a reason to not go and jump right back in."
Your heart beat in your chest loudly as you looked down at him, blanket hanging off of your shoulders. He looked you up and down slowly, the muscle in his jaw jumping when he clenched it.
He was thinking about it.
He huffed and looked at his dragon, at the waves that slowly drifted back and forth nearby. The eye patch made it hard to read his face from this angle.
Who were you to impose your life onto him?
Him, of all people.
"Can you give me a month?" He whispered, his gaze holding yours against your will almost.
You clenched your fist hidden beneath the cover of the blanket. You were nervous and disappointed in so many things right now, but this?... This was -
"Okay," your voice came out softer than intended.
He graced you with a smile then, quick but genuine, holding out your damp gown and boots.