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Siren’s Hymn

Part two: Ashford Meadow and a Sea Pup

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms x Reader

Warnings: animal death, blood, swearing, slight nudity, let me know if I missed any!

Word Count: 10,472

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

Tag List: @cdragons @arkadiaphilosopher @yerhina @diorsvnz

Translation:

Ja'unndthomeva bôyza - handsome boy

Byka zaldrīzes - little dragon

Ao issa zaldrīzes, skorī syt issa ao kesor? - You are dragon, why are you here?

A/N: not beta read we die like men. Also anything I make up in here is from my mind and loosely, very loosely based on legend and folktale of actual mermaid lore

The two of you set off to the tourney in Ashford as Dunk awkwardly places you on the darkest horse.

“He’s strong, well-tempered,” his hands land awkwardly on your hips as you place your hands on his shoulders. He lifts you up on a count to three and places you so you sit side-saddled.

“Is this how ‘ladies’ sit?”

You ask as you take your hands from his shoulders, brushing your fingers off them softly as he shudders lightly.

“Yes,” he clears his throat, “yes, this is how they typically ride.”

He takes his hands off your hips quickly when he realizes they’ve lingered for too long. He quickly walks to the head of your horse and takes the reins, grabbing the reins of the other brown horse and mounts the white one quickly.

“We’re to head off now, to Ashford.”

“Ashford?”

Dunk nods from his white horse ahead of you as you try to make yourself comfy on yours. You watch as he rides with his legs on either side of the horse, tilting your head. You've seen men ride horses throughout your many years. Taken many men from their horses as well, and the way they ride seems to be better suited than the way you ride now.

You move so that you sit with one leg crossed over and shift it so that you now straddle the saddle and shift yourself so that you sit a bit more comfortable.

'This seems much better, much more sensible,' you think to yourself as you hum out a lyric less tune. Dunk turns his head back to you briefly to see you now straddling the saddle, like he is.

"When did you-?"

"This seems much more sensible," you speak calmly as you watch the scenery pass. Large trees swaying with the slight breeze, birds flying high in the sky. It reminds you of when the dragons would fly overhead the seas, long before you moved to that lake.

Dunk takes a look at your eyes the way your eyes don't leave the birds in the sky. He turns forward again, question on his tongue though he doesn't know if he should ask. It's still a half day’s ride to the tourney, there’s the night you need to pass, no sense in it being dreadful and awkwardly quiet.

"Have you seen them?"

You blink as you turn to the large man, hand absentmindedly playing with the mane of your horse.

"Seen who? I've lived many years, you'll need to be specific."

Dunk purses his lips as he clenches his reigns of Sweetfoot, who merely follows the path as if she's crossed it many a time. Maybe she has, maybe it is ingrained in her spirit, in her blood.

"The dragons, my lady. Did you see the dragons?"

You hum as you think back. How long has it been since you've seen a dragon? At least a half a century you'd wager.

"Yes, they would fly over the oceans. Some of them would even dive in and take heaping gulps of fish, rather annoying, but we never had a problem with them. At the time, we were more plentiful, but like the dragons we have begun to go extinct."

You start to braid Thunder's mane now, making tiny plaits as you keep your hands busy.

"The last dragon I had seen was a blood red one. A fierce one that one."

Dunk hangs on every word you say, ears eagerly taking in every word. He feels like a child listening to the old men telling their stories again.

"Have you ever touched one?"

You furrow your brows as you try to think, a hand lifting to move some hair out of your face.

"There was a battle. A dragon shot down with his rider, the boy had struck the water and I'd investigated. The scales were like the toughest nacre and chiton teeth. He was green and had very pale orange wings. He was beautiful, but his time had come to end."

Dunk is enraptured at your words. To touch a dragon and a Targaryen, to see one up close! His mind can't wrap around the concept.

He's quiet as the two of you move further along the trail, eventually as hours pass you are the one to break the silence this time as you see some structures. The day is coming to an end and will soon roll into the night. You grow bored of the silence and of watching Dunk's back.

"What manner of man are you?"

Dunk is startled, so used to the silence he'd almost forgotten that you were behind him.

"What manner?"

"There are many kinds. Lords, kings, princes, knights. Which are you?"

"You seem to know an awful lot about men for a sea creature," Dunk mumbles out, you catch every word as you whisper for Thunder to get closer to the man. The horse obliges, trotting closer until you are beside Dunk.

He turns to see your face close to his as you lean in, balanced despite the uneven weight distribution on Thunder's back. He flinches back in surprise as his mouth falls open.

"You think because I am from the water that I am not intelligent. I can assure you I have roamed the lands and seen much more than even the oldest kings."

Dunk faces you with wide eyes as your stare bores into his eyes. There's no anger on your face, none that he can decipher, but he's never been the most intelligent man. He'd been referred as 'Dunk the Lunk' more times than he can count and he doesn't know the first thing about women, much less their tempers, but he definitely knows that he insulted you in some form.

"I mean no offense- I swear it, I only mean that it seems strange for you to keep the knowledge."

Your eyes glint in the light, reflecting much like a cats would. You lean back into the right riding position and resume fiddling with the many plaits you’d made as you turn your head up to the sky. Not squinting even when the sunlight shines into them. Dunk takes glances at your face every now and then. He thinks that like this you seem more feline than anything.

You give a non-committed hum, "I suppose it is strange for one of my kind to keep any knowledge of men. I know you mean no offense. To answer you, you humans fascinate me. Men in power crush the ones below even though without them they would crumble because they do not want to do the labor of the ones below them. It is all very ridiculous."

Dunk thinks on your words. He supposes from your perspective it does seem a little ridiculous.

"I suppose that is fair my lady. I am one such man. Born from nothing and made a knight by my Ser. I offer nothing."

The way he speaks is downtrodden. You take a glance at him and see his face seems tired, like he's given much thought to his status.

"You are kind."

He looks up to see you not looking at him, merely watching the birds flying away from the trees.

"Being kind is more than wealth, it means you care for others. It will take you far."

Dunk says nothing at your words, only letting the silence take over as he ponders over them.

Soon enough, the sun lowers and a beautiful sunset falls over the land. He stops the horses at another river for the horses to drink and get some rest. He gets off his white mare and approaches you as you sit tall. You go to swing your leg over and nearly topple back as he catches you at the hips, tunic riding up to reveal more of your naked thighs as he tries to ignore the warm feeling of your skin through his tunic and breeches.

"Careful, my lady. You should have waited for me to help you down."

You merely stay still in his grip as you feel the rise and fall of his chest to your back. You turn your head back to see his face. It's much closer now and you can see the dirt specks on his face and some of the freckles hidden underneath.

"You are here to help, no?"

He splutters as he sets you down on the grass gently, the small blades tickling between your toes as you feel the tunic fall back down and cover your thighs. It swallows your figure completely while Dunk just shakes his head and grabs something from Sweetfoots saddle.

You just stand as you watch him reveal some type of strips of something and a loaf of another something. He breaks off a piece of each and hand them out to you. You stare at it at first before slowly taking one into each hand.

You watch as he bites into his own pieces and take the strip and lift it to your nose smelling it first before taking a slow bite. You chew the tough strip before swallowing.

"What have I just consumed?"

You eat the other food he'd placed into your hand, the texture softer and crumbling as your teeth crunch into it. Dunk just watches you eat the bread slowly as he swallows his own mouthful.

"Hard salt beef and bread, my lady," he wipes the corner of his mouth as he watches your eyes narrow as you swallow.

You repeat the words to yourself as you smack your lips, the taste lingers. The salt you recognize, but the other taste evades you.

"I must admit, I am not well versed in your human meals. The texture is… strange."

Dunk just releases a short chuckle, "no, I imagine not. You eat more fish, yes?"

At his words your eyes light up, your head whipping to him as your mouth waters.

"Yes! Oh, they're delicious. The chase makes the meal all the more fulfilling."

His eyes widen a bit at your words as you approach the edge of water that the horses drink from. He watches as your eyes dart from fish to fish, tongue sticking out as your hands open and close, clenching as your nails sharpen. You crouch by the water, watching and waiting for a fish to get close enough.

"'The chase makes the meal all the more fulfilling?'"

Your hand darts into the water and leaves it faster than Dunk can blink and in it is a decently sized fish with your hand in its side. Blood dripping down its side as you quickly snap the fish's neck and spinal cord. You turn to the large man and hold the fish up with two hands proudly for Dunk to see who stands stunned at the speed that you just grabbed the fish from the water.

"How did you-? You just," Dunk mimes with his now free hand how you snatched the fish from the water, "right from the river!"

You take the fish to your nose to get a smell and bring it to your mouth to get a bite before stopping as you think for a second.

"Would you like a bite?"

Dunk takes a bite out of the bread in his hand as he looks from your face to the fish.

"No, I'm- I'm alright, you can have it," he sees the way your eyes glitter at having fresh fish and who is he to take that glee from you?

You waste no time in taking a bite out of the fish, chewing happily as blood gathers at the corners of your mouth. You're trilling happily at the taste of fresh food, nothing like that hard salt beef Dunk had handed to you.

"Careful with bone."

Dunk warns quietly as you practically inhale the fish, you spit out the occasional bone here and there, but largely swallow whatever enters your mouth. He watches in awe as you make quick work of the fish. He can see beneath the blood that coats the bottom half of your face that your teeth still hold a glint to them, sharp canines tearing and ripping into the flesh of the fish as you finish it off leaving only the spine and head uneaten.

You wipe your mouth with the back of your hand, streaking blood across your cheek as you look back out the water. Dunk wants to speak up and say something about the blood on you, but refrains when he sees the way you eye the water. Your pupils have gone to slits as your hand curls around the spine of the fish.

‘Much like a cat,’ Dunk thinks to himself, face flat as he watches you put the fish head in the water, letting other fish gather to pick off the remains.

Your hair falls over your shoulder and some even sticks to your cheek as you dip a hand into the water to cup it to your face and rinse. He comes up behind you and your ears perk up at the sound of grass rustling. You turn your head and see Dunk behind you with something curled in his hand. He gets a bit closer to you as you turn to him fully, still crouched with your hair falling over your shoulder and down your back.

He holds a small, thinner bit of rope in his hand, must have grabbed it from one of the saddle bags as he crouches himself down to your level.

“May I?”

You’re quiet at first as you don’t know what he means to do.

“You may?”

You say with a questioning lilt in your voice, not entirely sure what it is he wants to do.

He nods and gathers your hair, pulling the strands that are stuck to your cheek softly and gather them in the back of your head. He gently turns your head to face forward as you allow him to take your hair back. He takes the rope and wraps it around your hair and ties it off so that it no longer gets in your face.

He stands after that and nods his head a little stiffly. The feeling of your hair in his hands was…nice. Your hair was soft despite having dried from the lake and easily came together. It easily goes down your back as you toy with the rope in your hair, having let the fish head go.

“Thank you, Dunk,” you stand after rinsing your mouth and hands off, wiping them on your, well his, tunic. You turn to face him as you watch his expression.

“Should we be off to Ashford?”

Dunk stands stiffly, still feeling how soft your hair was when he looks at you and blinks.

“We’ll ride a few more hours then find camp fo the night, my lady.”

You let a small smile grace your face at his words.

“‘My lady.’ I never gave you my name did I?”

Dunks brows furrow as he thinks back, you asked for his name, but he never did ask for yours.

“My apologies, I never asked for yours,” he lowers his head in embarrassment as he rubs the back of his neck.

You wave him off as you walk to Thunder and take out the small braids you’d put in. You hum lightly as you see the small waves left behind in his mane and card your fingers through the hair.

“(Y/n), that would be my name in your language.”

Dunk repeats your name several times on his tongue, the name tasting foreign. He goes to your side and clears his throat as he waits for you to stand in front to get on Thunder. You turn your head and move to stand in front of him holding your arms up above your head, tunic riding up.

Dunk pointedly doesn’t look down as he puts his hands on your hips and places you on Thunder, side saddling as you push your lip out and move so that you instead straddle the horse correctly. Unknown to you, the tunic doesn’t cover your pubic region as Dunks eyes flash to the curls that are placed delicately over your privates. His face flushes a deep and dark red as his whips his head away so fast there’s a lingering ache in his neck.

He can feel the blood rushing south as he coughs and settles a palm over the front of his breeches to hide his growing erection, trying to will it away as you move your hips forward to get comfortable. Dunk is very aware of the fact that you have no bottoms on, the tunic is the only thing covering you and shielding your body from his eyes. He needs to find a way to get you clothing, fast.

He moves swiftly with his hand still covering his front as he grabs the reigns and mounts Sweetfoot.

He clears his throat, face still a blazing red, and motions his head forward.

“We’ll find camp for the night and ride to Ashford in the morning.”

You hum at his words as you watch the sun dip lower on the horizon, the bugs start to sound as you ride on. You hum out some more as you continue to pass the greenery. You’re not familiar with an ‘Ashford.’ Your time on land having been spent watching and learning the human customs and how they lived, you'd been with your sisters then. You wonder how they are now. If they're still alive. If they're at home at the reef. Though there was a time you’d met a young prince, you'd been in the ocean still. You wonder how he is now. It must have been over two decades since you’d last seen him. You remember his eyes well.

“Who rules the land now, Dunk?”

Dunk’s head perks at your voice, brow furrowing lightly.

“King Daeron the Good, my lady.”

You purse your lips at the name.

“‘The Good,’ what king has ever been good,” you mutter as you try to think on the last king that you remember ruling.

“Daeron, Daeron,” you try to remember the name.

‘Ah, Daemon that’s the name I’m thinking of,’ you think as your eyes linger on every water source you see. Soon enough, night falls as Dunk stops the horses by a large tree with billowing branches.

He dismounts his horse and goes to you to help you down. He pointedly looks up at the sky as he helps you down and rips his hands away from you and goes to pull out his pack and blankets. He lays them down on the smoothest patch of grass without rocks and also pulls out a pair of extra breeches he has and holds them out to you.

You take them and hold them out. They’re long enough to come up to your ribs. Dunk stands in front of you and mimes how to put it on as you follow his lead and pulls the pants up. They swim on you as you hold them up.

“Oh,” Dunk pulls out a rope and hands it to you as you just stare at it. He slowly takes the rope back and ties it around your waist to keep the bottoms up as you pull the tunic over the breeches. You look and feel like a pup in his clothing.

Your toes wiggle in the grass as Dunk begins a fire for the night and goes to lay down on his blanket after getting it going steadily. You follow suit as he places the pack on your blankets and munches on some more hard salt beef before laying down fully.

“Good night, my lady,” Dunk mumbles as his eyes close and he drifts off to sleep. You’re left on your own as you sit on the blankets and stare at his form for a bit before your gaze starts to linger elsewhere. Your eyes go up to the sky and watch the stars, thinking back to how the ocean would look at night. The deep blue and oceanic lanterns of the night were gorgeous under water.

The various structures that used to be filled with others of your kind would be glittering and colorful. Bountiful in sea life, coral, and fish swimming around while you would rest under the water. Sometimes you would go up to the surface and watch the night sky. It reminds you of home. You wonder if anyone still lingers there. Home or what was your home, it’s been many years since you’d been in the ocean. Maybe the salt has been scrubbed from your veins.

You take the rope out of your hair and lay it by the pack Dunk placed for your head to rest on and turn to watch him sleep. The rising and falling of his chest and his light snoring are what sound through the night. Crickets chirping and other bugs singing throughout the land. Leaves rustling at any slight movement.

You close your eyes at the thought of morning, what Ashford will be like and if there will be any names you’ll recognize. Distantly, in your mind, you can't help but think of the eyes of that one boy you'd met when you were still in the ocean.

You hear rustling when you open your eyes next and see that Dunk is no longer laying down next to you. You rise slowly, wiping the sleep from your eyes and crust that you're not accustomed to. Dunk is brushing Sweetfoots mane as he feeds her an apple. He's just finished packing his blanket that he laid on and he looks to you.

"We'll be heading off soon, did you sleep well?"

You blink slowly, one eye opening after the other as you lick your lips, canine catching on your lip lightly until you lick your lip back to normal.

"I slept. Not used to the quiet or the sound of bugs."

Dunk nods as you stand, stretching your arms high above your head, hair messy as you card your fingers through it and untangle the knots as you grab the rope from beside you and place it in your mouth. You twist two small bunches of hair on each side and smooth down the bumps, then braid your hair back and use the rope to tie it off as you throw your hair back over your shoulder.

"I'm ready whenever you are," you grab the blankets and pack you were laying on and awkwardly bunch them together, trying to mimic the folded blanket that Dunk packed away.

Dunk watches in earnest as you do your best to fold the blankets and takes them from you gently as he unrolls them and folds them.

"You take this side here," he takes the blanket and drops one side down and takes one corner and pulls it so that it goes into the other corner then folds it over into a rectangle. You watch with apt attention as he talks you through the motions.

"Fold this here and now it's ready to be put away, did you want to try?"

He holds the other blanket out for you to try and fold as you take it and messily follow his movements. Take one corner to this side and fold it over, it comes out messy and a little rumpled but you fold it.

“Like this?”

Dunk takes it and smooths it a bit with a small smile.

“It’s good, let’s pack it and get going.”

You smile as you walk to your horse and stand in front waiting for Dunk to lift you. He approaches from behind and puts his hand on your hips lifting you as you throw a leg over to sit saddled. Now with the breeches on you can sit comfier without your skin sticking to the saddle.

He gets on his own horse, reigns in hand as he leads you both back onto the trail. Morning light just breaching over the horizon as you trot for hours until you start to see small settlements of houses and tents. The further you get the more the small settlement starts to take shape. There are tents up and knights walking around.

“Is this Ashford?”

Dunk turns his head to you and the back forward.

“Aye, this is Ashford Meadow.”

Your eyes glance around as you take in the scenery. Some men stumble around, others are at their stalls and putting their wares out. There are some women and you take notice of their clothing. You briefly glance down at your own and back at the women.

'It seems I am incorrectly dressed,' you lift a hand and mess with the pearl beaded necklace around your neck as a means to keep yourself busy and then push it back between your breasts under Dunk's tunic when you see a man cast his gaze to them. Your pupils turn to slits as you growl lowly, the rumbling running through your chest and seemingly spread through the ground.

A melodic hum emanates from you threateningly as you pass the man. His eyes glaze over as he seems to follow your form until Dunk calls to you, breaking your focus. The humming stops as your eyes go back to normal and your head turns to Dunk.

"I’d prefer you not lure men, my lady.”

You just give him a slow grin, one that shows a bit of your pearly teeth and attracts attention as the light seems to glitter around you.

“I make no promises.”

You pass by an area where there are fence posts lined in multiple rows. The rising sun coming over the horizon lights up the area, casting a light glow as your eyes streak across the scenery. Dunk pauses on his horse, causing you and the other to stop as well as he takes in the sight.

"What are they setting up?"

Dunk casts a glance at you briefly before bringing his eyes back to where the jousting is to commence.

"This is where the tourney is to be held, the jousts."

"Jousts, jousts," you mumble the words, "what is a joust?"

"Um, y'know it's where you- two knights ride on a horse across each other and ride toward each other with lances."

You blink at his words trying to imagine what he says.

"What's a lance?"

Dunk turns to look at you now, pursing his lips as he tries to think about how to phrase his next question.

"It's a large stick, basically. Um, if you don't mind me asking, what do you know about humans?"

You hum to yourself as you pull your long braid forward and play with the ends of it while you think.

"Whenever I went onto land I spent most of my time watching and listening to the men near the docks, though there was a time where I would watch this girl who would read her books by a large tree. She had long silver hair."

Dunk thinks on your words as he tries to get a grapple on just how old you are. You've seen dragons, you saw a Targaryen princess, clearly, so just how old does that make you?

He decides not to pry on the matter and kicks his horse forward, pulling you forward as well as your eyes continue to scatter around. Taking in the sight of stalls and men and women setting up their tents and wares. You see one that sells fabrics and look down at your own clothing before looking at some of the women and girls and their clothing.

'Is that what I'm meant to be wearing?'

Dunk turns toward the castle of Lord Ashford, clenching his jaw before turning Sweetfoot around and bringing the group of you forward to a post where horses may be tethered.

"We have stopped," you observe as Dunk unsaddles before turning to you.

"I've to see the master of the tournament, get my name in the lists to ride."

He nears you as you turn to be taken down, hands landing on his shoulders as he brings you down by the hip. He lets go and thinks for a moment. He's not sure if leaving you alone is the best choice, you attract too much attention. Then again is bringing you with him the best choice either? He glances down at your shoeless feet. You could step in something awful.

He inhales before placing a hand on your shoulder and pointing at you sternly, you merely give him an amused glance back. It's like he's talking to a child and not a creature well over two hundred years old. At least he thinks your two hundred years old, truthfully he has no idea.

"I'm going to get my name in the lists, stay with the horses and please," he looks you in the eye sternly, "do not lure men to their death. Even if they leer."

You blink at his words.

"I will stay here."

"And?"

Your face falls as you lick your teeth, tongue catching on your sharpened canines, "and I won't lure men to their death."

He nods with a stern look.

"Good, I'll be back soon."

He glances down at your feet once more, "and we'll need to get you some shoes."

At that you curl your lip.

"My feet are fine, I've no need."

Dunk just sighs and decides this will be a discussion for a later time and goes to move to the castle, casting one last glance at you as you stroke through thunder's mane. He shakes his head and moves forward, already thinking on the trouble you're going to cause. He turns back to look at you once before shaking his head and leaving to find the master of games.

You watch him leave as your eyes flit around. Stalls, drunken men, women setting up their wares with their soon to be drunk husbands. Nothing has changed from the last time you'd been up on the surface, it seems.

You plait thunders mane with some small braids, as men pass you by. Some call out to you, but you largely ignore them in favor of braiding the horses manes.

"You look very handsome like this thunder, ja'unndthomeva bôyza," you mutter.

(Handsome boy)

A man stops before you as you ignore his presence. The man scoffs before turning your shoulder so you face him. You merely give him a blank face.

"Pretty horses for a lone maiden, how much for 'em?"

You glance at him, before looking back to thunder who stomps one of his hooves. You shush him as you look at the man once more.

"They're not for sale, they belong to my knight."

He scoffs as he puts his hand on one of the reigns only for your hand to dart out and grab his wrist, crushing it in your grasp. He gasps in shock as he feels pain radiating from his wrist.

"They are not for sale."

He curses as he tries to pull his wrist from your grasp, only to struggle immensely. It feels iron clad, the grip you have on his wrist. Like his arm has been tethered. You grip tightens until your nails draw blood from him before you release him.

'Dunk said to not lure men,' you look at the man who grips his wrist with a scowl on his face and a nasty look thrown your way. He reaches forward to grab your hair and yank you down as you shift away, just out of reach.

"Filthy whore," the man grunts as he thrusts his hand out to grab Dunk's tunic and pull you forward only for your hand to imbed itself into his torso. He grunts as he looks down and sees red blooming from his wound.

He takes a deep breath, about to scream until he looks at your face and hears a low hum coming from you. He ceases any movement as his eyes glaze over, hands falling to his side as you slowly take your hand out of his torso.

You look at your hand, smelling his blood and pinching your face in disgust as you wipe it on his tunic.

You lightly push him away from you muttering, “seek a maester.”

The man stiffly walks away to find the nearest maester as you watch him leave. You look at your sharpened nails and see blood underneath them. Bringing your hand up to your face you lick the blood off as Dunk walks back to you with confusion on his face.

“Why are you licking your hand?”

You ignore him as you clean off any remaining blood and instead look at him, pearly teeth glinting a slight red.

“Are you really curious?”

Dunk thinks it over for a second before untying the reigns of his horses and grabbing your elbow.

“I’d rather not know,” he sighs, urging you to follow him as he walks. You follow him as he walks further into the small town until he spots the banner of the lord he's meant to find and ties the horses to another post. He gives you a look, only for you to smile back at him. He purses his lips as he thinks over leaving you again, but sighs and just motions for you to follow.

"Please don't say anything strange, I've to find a Ser Manfred."

You simply hum as you follow close behind him, carefully stepping to avoid getting too much muck on your feet. He approaches the tent as two men leave and tries to speak with them, only to be pushed aside as you bristle beside him.

A woman with red, coppery hair kindly tells him that the man he's looking for is napping as she casts a glance at you.

"I, uh," Dunk clears his throat and follows her to where she sits beside another red haired woman, "I don't- I don't have a stag."

The woman beside the one who just sat glances at you and your pearls.

"For her necklace, we'll wake him."

You smile and reveal your very pearly, very sharp teeth, "I'll rip your throat out if you even attempt to take my pearls."

Dunk whips his head towards you as you lock eyes on the two women. They both swallow their spit as they nod at you.

"Course, well, what kind of knight doesn't have a stag?"

"It's a hedge knight, ain't it?"

The paler of the two women look over Dunk and his simply clothed form. The other woman glances at her companion in confusion.

"What?"

Red, as you've dubbed her, tilts her head as she speaks next.

"It's like a knight," she pouts, "but sadder."

Dunk splutters at her words as he clenches his fist.

"No, I'm- I'm not-"

Red continues with her words as you fix a hard stare on her.

"He's gotta sleep in the hedges 'cause no lord'll have it."

The other red-haired woman glances at Dunk and gives him a look over, "aw. That is sad."

While you normally have no qualms with women, blatantly insulting someone is something you don't take kindly too. Especially if they do it to someone who you've claimed as your own. You lift a hand, nails sharp and glinting as they extend beyond human capabilities, only for Dunk to snatch your wrist and lower it. He gives you a look as you keep your gaze firm on the two women.

The other red-haired woman continues, not seeing this display, "and Ser Manfred's fucked its wife, too."

She glances back at you to see you with a flat face and an unyielding look, you haven't blinked at all during this encounter. Dunk interrupts with a stutter.

"No, I- I don't have a wife."

"Then who's she?"

Red gestures to you. You only smile back.

"I've joined him on his journey."

The two women nod to themselves, to each their own, going back to Dunk.

"Cause we're used to husbands coming 'round."

"Likes fucking wives, that one."

The woman closest to you turns to Red.

"Near as much as he likes fucking us."

The two exchange a look as you boredly look away, no longer interested in the conversation with the two women. Instead, your attention is taken by some girls running by. They chase each other with large grins on their faces. It reminds you of your own sisters, when you were much younger pups in the large ocean.

Your attention is brought back when Dunk shuffles a bit on his feet.

"Evenfall."

You look to him as he glances away from the women, you pull on his cloak and look to the horses as he clears his throat, only for the women to motion him off as well.

"Goodbye."

"Right," he turns the wrong way, before turning around once more and going the right direction, "arse."

You follow silently with one last glance thrown to the red-haired women, before finally turning forward once more. Dunk leads you with the three horses through the meadow as he mutters to Sweetfoot, "why'd she say that, huh?"

He turns to the horse and then to you, "We're not sad."

You don't comment on it as you walk forward, watching the people of the tourney as you pass them by. Some men stop and gawk at you as you pass, some women stare at your outfit in curiosity and pity. There are older, far older men that give you wary glances, the shine of your hair and those pearls. They don't get a good feeling from it.

You tune back in to Dunk and his mutterings as you stop in front of where some knights are fighting.

"Won't be sad then."

You turn to the noise of metal clanging, the ringing sounding through your sensitive ears as you hiss lightly, ears twitching at the sound. Grunts and groans of men colliding sound as you watch the men fight.

Sweetfoot makes a sound as Dunk halts in his footing, turning to her with his brows furrowed.

"I know. Said if we did win."

He clenches his jaw at her turning her head away as you smile at the horse, running your fingers through her hair.

"Look, it's not a crime against the king to enjoy a nice thought for a trice."

You turn to Dunk to say something, only to be interrupted by a man being pushed through the fence post and collapsing.

"Do not muck about with me, Raymun."

The larger of the two knights with flaming red hair spits out, staring down at the smaller man on the ground.

"You're a good-for-nothing useless rat."

The smaller man rises and swings his mace at the other, only for the taller of the two to deflect the blow, pushing the weapon away.

"What the fuck?"

Dunk whips his head to your form behind him as you watch Raymun get smacked by his cousin.

"That's no language for a lady!"

You just stare blankly at Dunk who pinches between his brow.

"Seven help me," he mutters as you grin back, canines glinting in the light.

'I'm sure this man would not be missed,' you think as you slowly bring a hand up, nails sharpening to blade like points.

Dunk sees your hand lift and your sharp nails and quickly takes your wrist and brings it down, pearl bracelets lightly tapping against his hand as he frowns and shakes his head at you.

He harshly whispers to you.

"Why must you resort to death first?"

The look on your face is unnerving as you respond back lowly.

"Fighting is encouraged, but when others are mistreated, we deal with them swiftly, especially the men."

Dunk chooses to not think on what implications your words carry as he keeps a hand on your wrist, watching your nails go back to normal human nails. He slowly lets go, making sure to serve a sharp look at you as you only keep your eye on Ser Steffon.

You get a weird glance from the man as you keep a careful watch of him and the younger man beside him. Raymun glances at you and swiftly glances away, he finds himself nearly lost in a trance. You look otherworldly and he does not mean that lightly. You look like a creature from myth, surely there’s no way some man and woman came together to create you. You had to have been formed from clay or brought to life from marble, something to explain the look of you.

You tilt your head as you meet eyes with Raymun until he quickly looks away with a flush to his face.

"As you see, me cousin here is not ripe yet," the taller man, Steffon, gestures to his cousin, only for the cousin to look to Dunk.

"Do it, Ser. I may not be ripe, but my cousin's rotten to the core."

His eyes flit to you before going back to Dunk.

"Knock the seeds out of him."

"Quiet!"

Dunk furrows his brows at the cousins, glancing to you quickly before responding in turn.

"I- I thank you, but I have manners to attend."

"What, matters of the hedge, I have no doubt."

Steffon laughs, leaning on the broken post as he goes to the other knights, looking for another fight. Not before giving Dunk another nasty comment and being on his way.

Raymun looks at the two of you and shoot you an awkward upturn of his lips before going back to his cousin. Dunk stands for a moment before turning to you with a furrow in his brow and a clench to his jaw.

"Perhaps we should seek quieter accommodations."

Dunk leads the five of you away from the hustle and bustle of the meadow to a quieter area, one rich with foliage and a stream nearby as he comes upon a large elm tree.

The two of you settle, taking the packs off the horses and getting comfortable under the large tree. You watch Dunk pull sticks together to make a fire for later as you follow him with your gaze. When he deems the camp fit enough for the two of you, he turns to you.

"I'm going to wash up in the stream, stay here."

As soon as the word 'stream' leaves his mouth, you've already taken off his shirt and pants and jumped into the water. He's left slack-jawed as he hears chirping coming from the water, only to turn and see you on your back in the water, hair floating around you.

"What- I was going to wash up!"

You open an eye toward him as you hum out, webbed hands swaying lightly in the water, "I make no motion to stop you."

Dunk goes red in the face at your words, looking around in shock as you stay face up in the water with your eyes closed. He relents eventually, taking his clothes off slowly, looking to you to ensure your eyes are still closed before stepping into the water slowly.

He washes himself, eyes flitting to your form occasionally to ensure you're not looking as he finishes rinsing himself. Your eye cracks open, getting a look of his backside as he exits the stream and goes back to his clothes, beating them against the hedge.

He takes in the smell of his breeches, shuddering with a disgusted face before resuming beating them against the hedge. As soon as he dries and dresses himself he walks back to where you reside in the stream.

“I’ll be returning to the meadow to speak to Ser Manfred.”

“Ser Manfred?”

You tilt your head as you float in the water, bringing a hand up and pooling water on your stomach. Pearls glittering in the water and skin shining that same iridescent light.

“Aye, the knight with those two red-headed women.”

You hum at his words, moving upright in the water and move yourself to the bank. Your tail dries and comes together forming two legs, scales being shed as you collect the shiniest of them and throw the rest in the water.

"I will join you."

Dunk scratches the back of his neck as he peeks at you before turning fully to hide his face and front. You'd pulled your hair back revealing your chest. He leans down and gathers his discarded tunic and breeches, along with the rope used to tie it around your waist and holds them out for you to take.

"You've no need to join."

You take the clothing and pull it on, pulling your hair out from where it was tucked into the tunic and let it fall around you. Still wet, it shimmers and sits down your back in ringlets.

"I enjoy this, what is it called again, tourney. The smells are different."

You twist two small rows in your hair on either side of your head, leaving the rest free. You stare expectantly at Dunk as he just sighs and rubs the back of his head.

"Right, come along then."

He places you on Sweetfoot as he walks beside you, back to the meadow to see Ser Manfred. As soon as you arrive in the meadow and Dunk ties her to a tethering post, he gives you a look. You only look away, arms flat at your sides.

"I'm aware, don't say anything strange and don't lure men."

He gives you a small smile before walking forward as you look around. It seems livelier, the more the sun lowers the more boisterous the inhabitants get. How fun. He talks to Red as you people watch. Very interesting characters around, it reminds you of the numerous merfolk you once knew.

Red stands from her seat and walks into the tent, Dunk following her as your mind drifts. Only for you to turn to look at him and see he is not in your sights anymore.

'It is best if I stay here,' you think as Dunk disappears from your view. A quick smell in the air and you can follow his scent into the tent of that man that he was searching for. No sense in you following. Instead your eyes follow the different people, the way they move and speak.

Soon enough Dunk exits the tent with a pensive look on his face, meeting eyes with you and gesturing only for you to follow. Seems whatever was discussed was not in his favor. No matter, your eyes watch his back as he nears a keg to grab ale. He'll get into the lists. A man as large as him would fetch a hefty some to watch fight. Humans are all the same, watching others go through torment for their own amusement.

Your ears twitch at the sounds of knights passing by in their armor. Your attention is brought to a tent where some performers are doing their show. Dunk walks forward as you follow silently.

Entering the tent, Dunk keeps watch on the woman narrating the knights tale. You only watch the dragon puppet with sharp eyes.

'Looks like that one large black dragon,' your eyes move from the dragon to the girl.

'Tall.'

Dunk watches with keen intent, eyes set strongly on the girl before the performance ends with the dragon 'breathing' fire. You only walk out, not all too interested in puppets as Dunk soon follows behind. He downs the rest of his ale and drops the cup off before walking ahead only to be called.

"Halfman! Halfman!"

He stops and turns to the source of the cries, stopping you as well as you watch the same man from earlier, you think his name was Raymun, calling out to the larger man.

"Do I look like a half man to you?"

His voice is exacerbated as he looks down at the shorter man, only for him to scoff.

"Aye. Half man, half giant. Look, I'm sorry. I should not have urged you to try my cousin."

The two start to walk as Dunk grabs onto your elbow to pull you along as your mind was off. You wordlessly follow as the two converse. They speak on the tourney and who's to fight in it. Meaningless to you, until Raymun asks if the two of you are hungry. Your eyes perk up as they meet his. He looks away as he leads you to a large tent, filled with people and laughter and music.

You garner strange looks from those at the entrance. Your shoeless feet striking oddly against the pearls on your wrists and around your neck. When one tries to get a better look you only bare your teeth, sharp canines glittering as they step back warily.

Dunk pulls you inside before you can act.

Your seated as Raymun pours the both of you a drink. Dunk takes his with an awkward smile before looking at the laughing man at the head of the table. You take your own drink, taking a sip before letting it run out back into the cup.

You push the cup to Dunk who takes it none the wiser as you look at the man in antlers at the front who calls out for attention.

"I've had a profound thought, if anyone would care to listen."

His hands are slightly up as the guests in his tent quiet down to hear this profound thought of his.

"Four thousand years ago, our ancestors gathered in that," he gestures to the field outside the tent, "big field outside to blood each other with sticks and have a little bit of gay fun."

You watch the man with the antlers as he speaks.

'Good jawline, strong hair. He could be muscular,' you stare intently at him as Dunk pours himself some more ale. He follows your unblinking gaze to Lyonel before waving a hand in front of your face. You blink at the movement only for him to give you a bewildered look, you only give a blank face in return.

"Fuck it. A hundred gold to the man, beast, or god who sticks me best."

He tosses a bag of presumably gold coins at the front of the table as the people cheer, food being brought out.

"Now, eat your birds so we can dance!"

Dunk grabs a giant leg of some beast taking a large bite with wide eyes as you stare at the food in front of you. You stab a piece of meat with a finger, bringing it to your face as you smell it. Someone pushes a plate of what looks to be bread and some other sort of food items in front of you.

You stare at it as you place the meat into your mouth, chewing slowly. It's much better than whatever Dunk had given to you a night before, so you swallow it without trouble. You spend much of your time poking at the food and slowly eating to get used to the taste of food as Dunk wanders from the table. Likely to ingest more food.

You poke some more at your food before being pulled up to dance by a woman, you blink in surprise at first. You watch the way the others dance and move their bodies before mimicking as you spin with the girl, hair flowing around you.

You glance up to see Dunk speaking with that Lyonel man at his large table. You make eye contact with the lord before turning back to the woman you dance with.

"What creature is that, that you've brought into my tent?"

"Pardon?"

"The girl with the silken hair that shines under the candles."

Dunk glances at you before clearing his throat, "she- she has joined me on my way here."

Lyonel glances at you before glancing back at Dunk.

"She your woman?"

Dunk's eyes widen as a flush comes to his face.

"No! No. She is a companion."

Lyonel's mouth opens lightly as he leans in to Dunk.

"You like to dance?"

Dunk joins Lyonel in dancing as he awkwardly moves his arms in the circle, linking arms with a woman as they spin. You pass by Dunk with a small smile on your face, one that he mirrors before he is face to face with Lyonel who jabs his foot onto Dunk's with a challenging look in his eye.

The two dance around each other for moments as the rest of you watch, waiting to see which man sticks who, only for Dunk to finally stick Lyonel in his foot. The man slumps forward at first before sticking his tongue out and winking at the larger man. Dunk shoves the man forward as they both now dance wildly, you joining with the rest of the gathered.

Soon enough the two men make it back to the larger table as you continue to dance with more women, unknowing to their conversation.

When you glance ahead from where you step with a woman, you see Red with some man. Further from that you see Dunk and make eye contact with him, you point to the two, now three as he links hands with another woman and his eyes widen as he stands.

The three of them exit the tent as you stalk behind, Dunk not too far from you. He first grabs his things before exiting the tent to see you standing stock still a little from the three. There's no movement from you, not even an indication of you breathing. Your eyes locked on Red, who eyes you warily. Ser Manfred looks you up and down before giving a sleazy smile, one that has your gaze darkening as it flits to him. Men, such wasteful creatures.

Before he can say anything to you, Dunk is behind you and calling out to him. His hand lands on your shoulder as he does so, pulling your gaze off the man and onto your knight. Your gaze falls back to its wide, wet-eyed look. Harmless, Red thinks as she looks at you, like a puppy.

You turn back to look at the man as he denies Dunk. Your lip curls at his lackadaisical response to your knight. Before you can make a move forward, Dunk grabs your elbow and pulls you behind him, stepping forward as he does so to follow the man.

"But Ser Arlan took a wound in your father's service. How could you have forgotten him?"

Ser Manfred turns around with his brows raised in almost mock pity.

"My lord father took eight hundred swords into those mountains. We've forgotten men who reaped much more than a wound."

Dunk's brows crease in worry as he pleads to the man to your distaste, he is not deserving of his pleading in your eyes.

"Please, ser, I- I will not be allowed to challenge unless a knight or a lord will vouch for me."

"And what is that to me?"

He leaves with the two women, but not without Red giving a last sorry look to the both of you as you watch them leave, unblinking. Red can feel your gaze as they leave, sweat falling down her back and gathering at her neck. Something about you is off.

You turn back to Dunk who's eyes have gone misty as you hold onto his arm as he turns to leave. The two of you hie back to camp without so much as a word.

You tilt your head up as you smell the air near camp. A fire and cooked fish! You pick up speed as Dunk calls out to you, feet kicking small rocks and dirt up as you swiftly walk back to camp.

Dunk follows soon after you as you abruptly stop, hair loose around your shoulders and giving you a wild look. The rope you'd had in your hair is on the ground as he leans down, taking the rope in hand and grabs your hair gently to tie it back when he glances at the middle of camp and sees a fire going and a little stowaway.

“Food and a pup?”

You mutter as your eyes zero in on the fish being cooked on a skewer. You briefly glance at the boy who stokes the fire with a small stick with a questioning gaze.

You take note of his hairless head and his own questioning gaze thrown towards you.

“Why are you bald?”

The nameless boy is taken aback as he rubs his head as if forgetting he was in fact bald before giving you a strange look.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

You don’t answer as you just blink at him and go back to smelling the air while Dunk converses with the boy, judging by his tone you get the indication that he is not all too pleased to have the boy at the camp which is a shame as he seems sweet. He made food!

"I like him, he made food," you say as you hold the fish now in your hands and take a bite.

"Hey!"

You stop your chewing as the boy comes closer, curling your lip as he points a finger at the fish.

"I was going to eat that!”

You look at the fish you’d taken a bite out of and use one hand to wipe the side of your mouth.

“I’m sorry, pup,” you hold the fish out to him with an apologetic look on your face.

“I was in such a hurry to eat something normal I forgot myself.”

“Pup? My name is Egg.”

You blink at the boy who gives you a strange look now that you’re closer to him. He looks at your hair, how it shines despite your appearance. By all means someone dressed like you shouldn’t have shiny hair, but yet you do, unnaturally so. He glances at the string of pearls nestled on your chest and the pearls around your wrists.

No common woman could ever dream of owning pearls, even noblewomen seldom had them. They had to pay near dowry amounts to own them, so how in the seven kingdoms did you own them? Not just a full string of pearls as a necklace, but also multiple sets of bracelets?

"Did she steal those?"

Egg whispers to Dunk, pointing to your wrists as Dunk sighs and watches you ingest the fish, leaving only the head and spine left.

"They're hers, not stolen. She's," he glances at you once more before turning the younger boy around and pushing him to help set up the packs for bed, "not like us."

Egg watches as you walk to the stream and hold the head and spine in the water waiting for more fish to eat at it before resuming setting up the packs for the three of you.

After they're all set up and laid out for the night the two of them lay as you sit by the fire, watching the flames.

From up above, a shooting star streaks across the sky, tail end burning out as it travels hundreds of thousands of miles away to give you all a one glance of it.

"A falling star brings luck to those who see it," Egg states, watching the star run across the night sky. Dunk glances at him from the corner of his eye as you turn your head to the boy.

"Go to sleep, boy."

Egg ignores Dunk, "all the other knights are in their pavilions by now, staring up at silk instead of sky."

Dunk turns his head to the young boy now, annoyed.

"Do you want a clout in the ear?"

Egg only turns on his side, but not before you get a last glimpse of his eyes. They're familiar and he has a scent to him. Old dragon's blood.

Dunk continues to watch the sky as you look up to watch the stars yourself.

He stutters first before asking, "So, the luck is ours alone?"

Egg only smiles as he stays turned while Dunk continues to look to the sky. You look to Dunk, sure that he's closed his eyes, and you know well enough that it doesn't take long for him to sleep, and cast your gaze to the young boy.

You stand and step away from the fire, now in front of the boy and looking down at him.

“Byka zaldrīzes.”

(Little dragon.)

Egg looks up startled, eyes wide. You narrow your eyes at him as you hum. A small, low thing, hardly noticeable, but it makes Egg's head spin lightly.

"How do you-"

“Ao issa zaldrīzes, skorī syt issa ao kesor?”

(You are dragon, why are you here?)

Your words echo in his ears as you stare harshly at the boy as he withers under your gaze. You’d seen the Targaryens over their long reign, you'd had many years to watch. From their escape from Old Valeria to now, you know of the old saying regarding their tempers and have grown distrustful of them and of mankind as a whole. Dunk is currently a sole exception. So what does this boy want?

"What do you want with my knight?"

You stand directly above the small boy now, hair free and falling down your shoulders, like tentacles from a leviathan. He may be young, but even younglings can be dangerous.

From this angle, your face is barely illuminated, only your eyes really being seen and the sight sends a chill down his spine. He quietly speaks as to not wake the larger man.

"I want to squire for a knight, a proper knight. Not my drunk of a brother."

The fire reflects from your eyes, but there's nothing human about them. It reminds Egg of his cat, how the fire would reflect from its eyes and he would only see the shine. Whatever you are isn't natural, isn't human.

"Is that all?"

He swallows harshly and nods. He reminds you of the younger pups you'd see, following after their mothers, staying close for protection. Your quiet before you give him a smile, teeth glinting. The humming ceases entirely and Egg's shoulders lower slightly.

You reach forward and pat his head, the younger boy flinching at first before looking up at you with his lip jutted out. You're very strange, almost animal-like.

"If that is all, then stay little dragon."

You step away from him then, moving to your own pack beside Dunk and lay on your back, gazing at the sky.

"Sleep well," are the last words you say before you shut your eyes and doze off. Mind already drifting with wonders of what this means now that you have a Targaryen prince with the two of you. There is bound to be some trouble growing now, you're sure of it. But that is a problem for another day. For now you sleep contently.

@cursed-carmine for the divider!

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