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123 AC, Dragonstone
Helaena Targaryen was lost in a waking dream. She could see a world of strings around her, each one signifying a possibility, a true tapestry of infinity lying before her. She gazed upon the sight and couldn't help but be intimidated despite it all. She had grown leaps and bounds from the girl she used to be before she came to Dragonstone, one doomed with a future that she could never evade.
Now, she understood that she could never hope to face or tame infinity, only to take a small glimpse and interpret it the best way she could. Of course, this newfound sight showed her how much Fate's strings seemed to centre around her family. They were thicker and stronger, and while a few would consider themselves blessed to have the forces of Destiny itself be so focused on their family, she couldn't help but feel horrified by it. The Chains of Fate were rarely kind to those bound by it, and despite it all, her children were the blood of the dragon and would suffer from this curse, whether she liked it or not.
But that's for the future. For now, she had a task to finish, a mission to perform. She navigated the endless seas of possibilities and frowned as the future looked cloudier the further she went. It was odd, like there was some kind of smoke obstructing it.
Despite likely considering that a blessing in the past, she suppressed the urge to curse. Before Valyria, she ached for nothing more than the silence, for her cursed knowledge to cease, and to live her life normally. Now, having gained some control, she found herself frustrated by the lack of knowledge.
Oh, knowledge. Perhaps the past would give her what she needs. Instead of looking at the strands of possibilities, she used a new trick that she learned from Lord Harry and searched for the certainty of the past. The threads morphed with one another, creating a single iron chain, powerful and glowing. She grasped it and saw a world on fire.
She had been shocked, at first, when she had first done it, but it was a blessing of her cursed line. Helaena looked at the fire and tried slowly navigating the hazy shapes inside her flaming world, before settling on the object of her desire and smiling softly.
The princess opened her eyes and pointed at the table, specifically at the red pointy hat, which was on the right of the two others, "This one."
Lord Harry chuckled and picked up the hat, revealing a small glass ball beneath it, which he threw at it. With a wave of his hand, the other hats disappeared, revealing nothing beneath them. "Well done, Helaena. You've progressed far in such a short time."
Helaena smiled at the praise, knowing that she had a long road ahead of her if she were to master her gifts. It was odd to consider her visions to be gifts when she spent most of her life cursing them inwardly and dreading their meaning.
Her lessons with the Potters changed that. Lord Harry had taught her much about her Dragon Dreams, or Divination, as he called it. She had no idea where he gained that knowledge from, only that she was grateful for it.
He taught her how to navigate the infinities of the future, that following the strands blindly, like she had, was an easy path to ruin or madness. He taught her to see much more with less effort, to understand when an event is fixed, entangled by the chains of Fate, and how to untangle it and secure another path. He taught her how to look into the past, even if she wasn't very good at it. It was still far more useful than she thought it would be, and the more she practised it, the fewer visions she had in her sleep, and the safer she felt.
If she had any other teacher, Helaena thought that she might have felt prouder of herself, but she still couldn't see the peak of the mountain that was his skill, and that felt more intimidating than anything she saw in Valyria. Well, not quite, that abominable Outsider still haunted her dreams sometimes.
She still gave the man a huff, "How did you stop my strands?"
"Oh, my dear. Fate is a powerful entity, more powerful than most can think, but Time… Time is indomitable, a fundamental force for structure to exist, and its laws are as rigid as steel."
Helaena didn't understand, and it must have shown on her face, as the sorcerer gave her a soft smile and simplified things, "The very concept of Fate, of possibility, cannot exist without Time. So, if one could muddy Time, the future becomes far more uncertain. It would be like trying to see a fish in muddy water. I figured that out when I fought a particularly powerful man who relied heavily on divination."
The young girl perked up, feeling interested. Lord Harry very rarely spoke of his battles, often glancing over them to focus on other topics, like ancient civilisations that she had never heard of, and other stories. "Who was he?"
The sorcerer looked away, as if lost in thought, "The most dangerous being that I have ever fought, Gellert Grindelwald. He was a brilliant man, powerful beyond anything, but completely and absolutely obsessed with prophecy and Fate. He mastered divinations to a degree that I hadn't seen before, and I haven't seen since then. He could foresee every possibility of a battle and know how exactly to counter it, something that would have likely fried the brain of anyone else. That kind of information is simply too much for a human to handle; then again, he was barely that, in the end. I quickly learned how to cloud his vision of the future to even last against him. It greatly unsettled him when I managed to do that."
"What happened to him?" Helaena asked, feeling curious at someone being able to fight him to a standstill.
"He's dead," Lord Harry answered, his eyes distant.
Helaena nodded, still amazed that someone might have posed a challenge to the sorcerer before her. She had thought him powerful before learning to master her sight and witnessing what happened in the ruins of Valyria, but that paled compared to what she could truly discern now.
She was only grateful that, beneath all of this power, was a kind man. She had spent enough time with him to know that this kindness was not some kind of mask, but a fundamental truth of his being. Oh, he was a curious person, one who delighted in learning new things and understanding the world around him, but it was his kindness that truly stood out to her. She often imagined what anyone in her family could have done with that much power and shuddered at the thought.
His wife was different. There was a kindness there, but it was surrounded by unbendable steel. She, too, liked exploring things as well, but much of the passion was because she did it alongside her husband. The love they shared was remarkable, subtle in public, but with so much depth. There was also something else, an ache that both of them shared, but that brought them closer somehow.
They were different people, and their magic showed that. Where Lord Harry felt like an endless mountain, Lady Daphne was more akin to a giant tree of power, which truly contrasted their nature. Where Lord Harry liked to outsmart people, get them to fall into their own traps, his wife was far more vicious. She would ruin their lives without mercy, should they show themselves to be threats to her, or even an inconvenience.
Helaena watched as Lady Daphne gave him a cup of that odd black liquid with the rich smell that he so loved, and he gave her a small smile in thanks as she sat down next to him and started to read a book. No words were spoken, and Helaena found herself envying it all the more.
She looked down and saw that the transparent ball in her hand had some smoke appear in it, and it turned red. The princess threw it in the air in surprise, only for it to float gently down towards her hand. Helaena turned towards the smirking sorcerer, "What was that?"
"This is more than a normal ball. It's called a Remembrall, a nifty little item that turns red whenever you forget something. It doesn't tell you what you forgot, though."
Helaena stared at the ball, not knowing what to say, "That sounds…"
"… useless, huh?" the sorcerer continued for her, "I thought so too, once. Except that a powerful user of divination could use it as a focus to peer into the past, far easier than normally and see what they forgot. Why don't you give it a try? It's yours now, if you want it."
Helaena stared at the red ball and wished that Lord Harry had given her more instructions. Instead, she shrugged and decided to watch her world of fire once more, and it was there, except that there was a path that seemed far more detailed. Curious, she walked into it and saw a familiar scene of a conversation between her mother and father that she wished to bring up to the Potters. Immediately, she let go of her connection and turned back towards the sorcerer, "It works. Thank you."
It truly was marvellous. Where normally, especially when gazing into the past, she could barely see what happened a few minutes earlier, the small ball was able to let her see something that happened hours prior, something that was completely beyond her.
Her ease in seeing the future and the difficulty of seeing the past had baffled the sorcerer completely, as it was a reversal of every 'Seer' he had ever known. Even then, they still had some issues with her 'clairvoyance', a way that she interpreted the world that somehow morphed into her visions of the future, but not the past, which made many of her visions more akin to metaphors than actual true sights. She was learning to see properly, which was very difficult.
Either way, the Remembrall in her hands would help her, which brought her to what she had forgotten and made her faint smile turn slightly bitter, "We'll be leaving tomorrow. Father made the preparations to return to King's Landing."
The sorcerer stopped before nodding, "Ah! I suppose we all knew that this would happen eventually."
She tilted her head in agreement, "I will miss these lessons."
"And we'll miss you too. It's been a while since I had a student, especially one as talented as yourself."
Helaena blushed at the compliment. Lord Harry had told her that she was one of the most talented Seers that he had ever met, even if that talent did not translate in any way to other magical fields. With the Scourge of Valyria being gone, magic made a resurgence, and she could feel it strengthening her bond with Dreamfyre, which she could sense from afar, and it made her feel more at ease near flames. Lord Harry had tried to see if she could control her magic, much like the pyromancers had, and yet nothing came of it. They focused more on her divination, as it was the main priority, so nothing truly came of it.
Lady Daphne spoke up, having closed her book without Helaena noticing, "I assume that the King expects our presence for his departure."
Helaena nodded, "I think he'll send a messenger tonight."
Lord Harry clapped, "Well, that means that I'll have to see if I have a few gifts ready. I should be able to find a few things in the Basement."
His wife rolled her eyes, "Only you would call an extra-dimensional space a basement. Why couldn't you just expand the actual basement?"
"Then I'd need to go back here every time I need to take something out," he complained.
"Then why even call it 'The Basement' if it's not attached to any building?"
The man huffed, but didn't answer, and Helaena decided to interject, "You don't need to bring us any gifts. And the Remembrall is more than enough for me."
Lord Harry ignored her and just looked lost in thought. His wife answered for him, "Trust me, it's not a bother. Harry finds it funny to give stuff that's not worth much to places we visit, which would amaze everyone here. He's thinking of stuff to give out now."
Helaena gaped at them, "What? How?"
The Potters' gifts were the gossip of most of the fortress, especially when Jace, Luke, and Joffrey showed off their gifts with every moment. It was said that each one was likely worth a small fortune, and things that none had ever seen before.
"All of the gifts together, other than Rhaena's, of course, could be bought for a few silver stags at most."
Helaena stared at the woman, trying to understand the comparison. She knew that a small mountain of gold had been offered for Jace and Luke's gifts. It was odd, because Rhaena's gift was the one that people spoke about the least, some bracelet that didn't seem that interesting.
She couldn't help but ask, "And how much was Rhaena's gift worth?"
"Priceless," the golden-haired woman simply answered, with a smirk on her face that told Helaena that she wouldn't say anything more on the subject.
She couldn't help but pout at that, and Lady Daphne snorted, "Oh, don't be like that. You still have that Lannister Valyrian Steel sword from our trip to Valyria. What was its name again?"
"Brightroar," she answered, having researched the sword properly afterwards, "And I can hardly use it, can I?"
She had attempted to learn how to use the sword and quickly realised that it was luck that let her survive using the weapon intact in Valyria. The sword was simply too sharp, and using it before knowing how to wield a regular sword was known to be an easy recipe for injury. Personally, she thought that Lord Harry might have done something to the sword, but she wasn't sure.
Anyway, she didn't have to use her gifts to know that asking her parents if she could learn how to use a sword would end well, and she had tried to get Lord Harry to teach her, only to realise that 'Stick them with the pointy end' was the true extent of his knowledge on the matter.
Despite wielding a scythe, Lord Harry never truly learned to fight using a weapon and instead preferred to use his magic, which he excelled at.
Her last option was to ask Aemond to teach her when they returned to King's Landing. He was discreet enough and wouldn't look down on her for asking. She was curious if she would like it, and if not, well… she had other ideas on what to do with it.
The memory of her return to King's Landing made her grimace. She didn't know why people thought that the affairs of the Court were appealing. She would miss the comfort that she would find in the manse, as well as the Potters.
Then, the words came out of her mouth before she even thought of them, "I wish to come with you to the land of rot and stone."
Suddenly, Lord Harry perked up, having woken up from his daydream, and turned towards her with an intense look in his eyes, "You wish to come with us to Chroyane? Was this because of some vision you saw?"
Helaena shook her head, "I cannot see there. I just find myself… curious, given what we saw in Valyria."
She thought that she might have overstepped, but for some reason, that put a grin on the sorcerer's face, "Who am I to get in the way of a curious mind? We'll send Hedwig when we decide to go on that expedition, but it won't be for some time. We haven't found a lot of reading material on Chroyane in the library here. I guess Valyrians did not want that knowledge to be shared. We're hoping to find more in the Citadel. We'll probably make a trip of it and take Rhaena and Baela with us to Oldtown. It should do them some good, at least."
The princess stiffened at the thought of the Potters in Oldtown. Their presence would likely complicate things, and it would be better if it weren't known. She didn't want the Faith being involved in the Potters' affairs, let alone her mother's house. She closed her eyes and looked at the strands and grimaced as she saw them being obscured. She turned towards Lord Harry, who had a smug smile on his face.
She huffed and instead replied, "Baela's flames have gotten brighter as of late."
The man before her nodded with a faint smile on his face, "She is. I'm happy that she took my words to heart. It seems like she and Rhaena are closer than ever. They'll miss you, you know."
Helaena nodded in agreement. They weren't as close as they could have been, but the girls had spent some time with them and her children since that fateful dinner when Baela ran out of the manse and Lord Harry returned with her after a few hours. She wasn't sure what happened, only that Baela was better for it. "I will speak with them tonight."
Lord Harry smiled, "Alright, go on. I have something special planned for your gift."
They all got up and walked out of the manse, and Helaena's body moved without even meaning to and ran at them, enveloping them in a giant hug, wrapping her arms around them before either could respond. Lord Harry gave a surprised laugh, and Lady Daphne blinked before smiling gently and returning the gesture.
"I'll miss you both," Helaena said softly, "more than you know."
"We'll see each other again," Daphne murmured, brushing a hand through her hair.
Harry nodded, "Of that, I have no doubt, but we'll miss you nonetheless."
Helaena let go at last and stepped back, blinking quickly to stop more tears from forming. She gave them one last look before turning away, knowing what came next.
The young girl blinked her eyes, and the world changed, and the black walls of Dragonstone met her. She walked slowly through the familiar corridors, her hand brushing the cold walls. She would miss this dreary place, despite her mother's loathing of it.
When she first came here, she had no idea how much she would gain from it, only a possible reprieve from her nightmares. The Potters had been so much more than she could have ever imagined.
She entered her chambers, wishing to change her clothes and visit her children for a while before spending some time with Rhaena and Baela. Of course, this all stopped when the door slammed open and her mother entered, followed by Ser Criston, who had become akin to her shadow as of late. From the look on her mother's face, Helaena didn't need to use any divination to know that this conversation would not be a happy one.
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AN: I know that this chapter is a bit slow, but I think it needed to be after the Naath arc, so I showed a bit of the progress on Helaena's part, especially as Harry's student, and how different she is growing after starting to master her 'Dreams'.
A part of me wanted to prolong the royals being on Dragonstone, but I think it was time for the plot to move forward a bit, which Helaena will play a central role in. I'm still kinda excited about the trip to Oldtown already. It should be interesting, at the very least. 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.