The phoenix was impatient.

She became bothered quickly when, after her initial shock faded, it began to flap its wings incessantly, as if demanding that she make a choice. "I didn't plan what I would do when you were finally here," she explained to it. "You must give me a moment to think."

It cocked its head at her, looking as though it might prefer to leave if she was going to have that attitude. Rhysaenya was still processing the fact it was here, now after all her praying and hoping. She had a feeling she knew what had changed— the moment she told Aegon she loved him, she'd bore her soul open to someone. She'd been so vulnerable in expressing her need, it had no choice but to answer.

Breathing deeply, she made for the knife she kept under her pillow and cut into her hand. The phoenix trilled in excitement as she offered her hand, his beak instantly making contact with her wound. As the feathers on his tail ignited, she shut her eyes.

Visions slammed into her, past and future alike. She saw Jaehaerys being killed, she saw Daemon and Rhaenyra arguing, she saw the moment where Vhagar's jaws closed around Luke and Arrax. She saw a blue eye that became a pool of water, and in it were floating facedown two bodies with long silver hair. Resounding in her ears were screams, a dragon's roar. Aegon, seated back on the Iron Throne. Sunfyre bathing Rhaenyra in fire. Sunfyre dead against a rock. Aegon, dead and attended to by the Silent Sisters.

She drew back in shock— had the vision of Aegon on the throne been from the past or present? Would he recover well enough to kill Rhaenyra then perish? No, she had to stop that. The phoenix gave an indignant squawk, as if it hadn't been finished with the visions. She offered it her hand again but she refused.

"Fine," she said sourly. She had a bad feeling she knew what it was telling her— there was no point in healing Aegon. He would still defeat Rhaenyra only to die later on, equally as young as he was now. But she had to believe there could be another outcome. If he was already destined to kill Rhaenyra, that would happen no matter how healed he was.

She tried to think of her next steps as she held her sleeve over her hand, the bleeding not wanting to cease. It was probably best to test this somewhere first— to make certain the phoenix could heal in the way she imagined. Sunfyre was her best bet— she wouldn't waste something as precious as phoenix tears on anyone else. If he could heal Sunfyre, he could heal Aegon.

"Come with me," she said. "Fly with me to Rook's Rest and we will bring Sunfyre home. Meet me at the Dragonpit." She hoped it would understand what she meant, for all it did was stare at her while she ran to her wardrobe.

She had just finished sliding on her dragonriding armor when there was a knock at the door. "Enter," she said, imagining it must be one of her parents coming to see her. Ser Irlyn of the Kingsguard announced, "The princess Helaena, Your Grace."

She turned in surprise. Helaena had been shut up in her rooms since what happened to Jaehaerys– Rhysaenya knew she'd overwhelmed her when she went to her room still covered in blood. Helaena had been afraid, she knew. She'd even neglected going to the Dragonpit out of fear that these sort of vicious rats were still wandering about.

At last, however, it seemed she had deigned to emerge like a creature out of its shell. "I came to see if you were well," said Helaena, though she acknowledged the armor she wore. It wasn't like what Helaena donned when she rode– she always kept to dresses, though her dragonriding frock was still made of thicker fabric than the gowns she wore daily. "You are going."

"I can wait a moment," she said calmly, though she had to admit she was anxious to see whether the phoenix could do what she wanted it to. "Are you well, Helaena?"

"I have prayed in my rooms for weeks," she told her. "But I am ready to return to the sept. I have prayed much for Jaehaerys, for Jaehaera, for the babe in your belly." She wrung her hands together, refusing to meet her gaze. "I know what you intend to do."

Rhysaenya knew never to doubt Helaena when she said such things. "You know I have to do it. Aegon... he is... I should hope you never have to see how bad it is, Helaena, he is but a fragment of what he once was. What Aemond has done to him..." She realized she ought not have said that.

But Helaena was no stranger to the truth, it appeared. "I saw that," she whispered. "In a dream. It was not until Aegon was returned to us that it made sense. But I witnessed it, the way he burned him and let him fall. He will never acknowledge that he did it. Nor will any who witnessed it."

She made towards her, taking Rhysaenya's hands. "You must understand," said Helaena in a tone of desperation. "Aegon will be King again. He's yet to see victory. He sits on a wooden throne. And Aemond..." She shivered, "He'll be dead. He'll be swallowed up in the God's Eye and he will never be seen again. Let that be the truth. It will come to pass."

Rhysaenya felt a throb in her chest. "A blue eye becoming a pool of water," she whispered, remembering what the phoenix had shown her. It had told her of Aemond's death too– one of the bodies floating facedown in the water with long silver hair. Helaena only nodded, as if she had seen it the same way.

"What you do will change nothing," insisted Helaena. "It can only serve to harm you."

"He will die, too," said Rhysaenya. "He will slay Rhaenyra but he will die. Young, I see him as young as he is now. I can change it if I heal him sooner. I can guide him toward a better path. Helaena, even... even if Rhaenyra becomes Queen, so long as Aegon lives, I'd change everything. I'd give it all up. I want him back."

Helaena shook her head, as if to say she wasn't understanding her point at all. "You'll only invite peril. The rats came but their ill is not gone. Be careful with this... it will not change as much as you believe it will."

She wanted to believe it could change it all. Helaena saw the future, yes, but the phoenix added a new element to it, it had the power of altering the fabric of reality. Rhysaenya could feel her skin crawling as she thought of it all, Aegon alive and Aemond dead. She wasn't sure how that made her feel, if it satisfied her or terrified her. She had wanted Aemond, she had, but she had never loved him, not the way she loved Aegon. Did she truly wish him dead after everything?

"Enjoy your time in the sept," whispered Rhysaenya. She had to at least try. Perhaps it wouldn't change a thing, but the phoenix would still heal Aegon sooner. The sooner Aemond was not Regent, the better for them. Whether he lived or died... naught improved having him seated on the Iron Throne. Helaena tried to hold onto her hand a moment longer as she started to move, but Rhysaenya kept walking, listening to the phoenix squawk behind her.

It must have understood her earlier, for she saw it circling overhead when she reached the Dragonpit. Unfortunately for her, they were not alone— Aemond was preparing for a flight, and he immediately noticed the phoenix swooping down beside her.

"What's it doing here?" he questioned, his eye narrowed. She didn't answer, brushing past him. In plain sight of all the Dragonkeepers, he seized her arm and stopped her. "And where are you going?"

"It should not matter to you," she replied curtly, failing to shrug him off. She attempted to rip herself away, but his hold was tight. "There are people watching," she snarled, furious that he would dare lay a hand on her with witnesses. Even the slightest interactions could spark rumors— this could ignite a second war if they were not careful.

"Do you think I care?" he questioned. And he made sure to say it in the Common Tongue, too, she noticed. Though the Dragonkeepers would have understood Valyrian either way, she knew he was making no attempt to hide what he was doing. He was asserting himself. She had a feeling he knew what her intention was. "Where are you going?"

"I am going to use the phoenix to heal Sunfyre," she said flatly. "That poor dragon shouldn't lie in agony because you wanted Aegon out of your way. Do you deny it?" His eye looked away. No, he could never deny it. "I will heal my husband, too." Perhaps she shouldn't have said that, but she was furious at him for underestimating her. If he wanted to be King, he'd kill Aegon before she returned. Then she'd have every reason to kill him for it. Helaena's vision would come true one way or another.

"You are a fool," he told her. "You and Helaena both." She suspected that perhaps his sister had spoken to him, perhaps she'd already told him his fate. "Why do you care for him so? What does he have?" She knew what he didn't say– what does he have that I don't?

"He understands me in a way no one else has or ever will," she replied. They each appealed to a side of her, that much was true. But Aemond still saw her as a fighter, sought in her strength. He didn't know how to be vulnerable and would never attempt it. Before they broke her, before they turned her into a killer, she'd been a girl filled with wonder. She could be like that when she was with Aegon, Aegon who found happiness in small things and did not thirst for battle to sustain himself.

"You should not be leaving at a time like this," he said curtly. She knew that much was true. Ormund Hightower's army was being harrassed by Beesbury, Tarly, and Costayne forces– soon to be joined by a host of Rowans. The Hightower and Lannister armies both wanted and needed a dragon to escort them– perhaps Aemond had meant to send her.

"If you had a task for me, you would've given it already. I am going to get my daughter her father back. After what you did, you should be lucky I am not using the phoenix to burn you where you stand." She brushed past him, knocking his shoulder aside with her own when he tried to stop her from going. She thought he would follow her, but he didn't.

Skyfall was eager for another flight, trilling when she saw the phoenix trailing beside her. Rhysaenya could feel the anticipation building in her belly— she wanted this to work so badly, she would give anything for it.

As they took to the skies, she felt the presence of the phoenix with them, like a warm sensation within her that told her it was following along despite it being nowhere in sight. In the hours it took to reach Rook's Rest, she kept thinking of the visions it showed her, of what Helaena had seen. Trying to interpret everything would give her a headache, she knew, but she had to try.

She believed that the two figures she'd seen dead in the water were Aemond and Daemon. Helaena had confirmed one to be Aemond, and she knew that only one other male in the family had such long and silver hair so as to appear in her mind that way.

She wanted to believe that Aemond would die killing Daemon, dealing a large blow to Rhaenyra's cause. Yes, she liked that... Daemon getting what was coming to him. She would rather give it herself, but perhaps that would change now that she would tip the scales in Aegon's favor. Perhaps she could have her revenge personally after what he'd had done to her son.

When she reached Rook's Rest, the smoke had fully cleared from the broken battlements and the damaged forest. Men were milling about the castle– their men or Rhaenyra's, she did not know or care. Shields and armor still littered the battlefield. It would take time to clear the wreckage completely. She heard shouts below her as she approached, but she paid them no mind. She turned Skyfall towards the clearing in the forest where Sunfyre had last been.

She learned that Cole had at least done what she commanded, when she found the bodies of traitors piled up near where Sunfyre lay, still broken and weary. He was feeding well, carefully regaining his strength. But he did not look as though he would be able to fly again, not for a long time. Here would be the test for the phoenix– could it give him back his strength? Could it repair those tattered wings? Could it give her back her husband, her King?

Skyfall landed outside the clearing, trilling and chirping at Sunfyre as if in encouragement. She heard the low bay of the dragon returning her greeting, though it sounded so pained. The phoenix cooed overhead, sweeping down and landing on her arm when she stretched it out. It was heavier than she expected, but she ought to bear it without complaint, lest it abandon her when she needed it the most.

Sunfyre was too weak to be aggressive when she approached, though she knew he was probably eager to defend himself. Had she been a stranger, she was sure he would have found the strength to bathe her in fire. Gently, she told him what she meant for the phoenix to do– perhaps he'd find respite from his wounds soon.

The dragon could hardly object. He flattened himself to the ground, moaning in agony. Rhysaenya looked at the phoenix, who tilted its head and regarded the great beast. "Well?" she told it. "Work your magic. Heal him. Feel my desperation, feel his suffering. Alleviate both things."

She wasn't sure whether the phoenix understood how urgent the matter was. She saw him picking at his own feathers, lifting his wing lazily despite the sight of Sunfyre's own torn wing. She was starting to get angry with it when it flew to Sunfyre, landing over the dragon's head. Sunfyre growled but made no effort to move as the phoenix dipped its head down. Rhysaenya saw a tear pool in its eye, saw the droplet fall against Sunfyre's scales.

But nothing changed, not in the first hour nor the next few that followed. Night was falling as Rhysaenya continued to watch over Sunfyre and the phoenix, who had cozied itself up to the dragon and did not seem eager to move. Neither did, for that matter.

Resigned to spend the night there in the company of rotting corpses, she gathered wood for a fire and had Skyfall light a small blaze. Her dragon wiggled as close as she could, clearly wishing she could be pressed up against Sunfyre in comfort. He looked at her wearily, possibly comforted by her presence. Rhysaenya wondered whether the dragons were bonded the way she and Aegon were. Skyfall had yet to lay eggs, though many thought her to be a female dragon. Rhysaenya wondered why she hadn't– perhaps this would be a moment of change for her, too.

She found it difficult to sleep, curled up against a warm dragon and listening to the sounds of the forest with the stench of death so close to her. She missed Jaehaera dearly, but she told herself that this was in her daughter's best interests– she would have her father back, the father who loved and cared for her more than anything, the father who would spin her around and make her giggle. No matter what happened with this war, Jaehaera needed as normal of a childhood as she could possibly have. Half of her had already been taken– Rhysaenya would not let her lose more.

As the morning light broke through the branches, she noticed the change immediately. Sunfyre was no longer laying mournfully on his belly– he was sitting up and staring at her expectantly. Skyfall trilled in excitement as she jumped up, the dragon spreading his wings to show that the tatters had been mended. The phoenix was perched up in the trees, stretching its long neck towards the sun.

"Gods be good," she muttered, rubbing the exhaustion out of her eyes to be sure it was so. Indeed, the same sight held true afterward. "You really did it, you healed him."

Her glee could not be contained. She was quick to urge Skyfall and Sunfyre into the sky after they had eaten– her own belly growled hungrily, but she would need to wait until they were back at the castle to feast. The four of them flew together, the phoenix's wings shimmering beneath the sunlight as it guided them home. One would not think Sunfyre had been so grievously wounded before– that had to mean he could make Aegon whole again, he could bring him to sit back on the Iron Throne instead of the wooden one that Helaena had mentioned.

She thought that Helaena and the phoenix perhaps might've been showing her slightly different things. There was overlap, of course, the fact of Aemond's death was undeniable. But perhaps the phoenix had been showing her some fragments of what would happen if Aegon was or wasn't healed, while Helaena had only seen what would happen if Rhysaenya did nothing. That worried her a bit– was the part of Aegon dying related to what would have happened without her intervention, or was it related to her actions? Was it still worth the risk?

King's Landing looked too quiet when she returned. There was an absence of people in the streets, of noise beneath her as they marveled up at the dragons. The Dragonkeepers had told her at once that she missed a great revolt the day before. Dowager Queen Alicent and Helaena had had fish lobbed at them, all part of some 'gift' that Rhaenyra had sent over the Blackwater. The people felt they were being starved, what with no relief yet to come from the Reach. Not without a dragon escort, not without the Tyrell say-so.

At once, she felt guilty. Her mother told her there would be a price to pay for using the phoenix's magic. Had this been it? Alicent and Helaena nearly being maimed all to heal Sunfyre? No, she had to believe there was something else to it. They could have been seriously hurt but they were not– she learned upon returning to the castle that the worst was a cut on the Dowager Queen's arm. Overall, they were fine. She convinced herself it was simply a coincidence.

Aemond was less than pleased when she returned. She knew he would have yelled at her in front of the whole castle, had it not risked so blatantly exposing their affair and why he cared so much. His face was tight and contorted with anger when she strode back in, her guards flanking her at once. The Ignividosi men that now populated the castle's guard all looked to her for guidance first– they acknowledged no Regent over someone of their own blood. All made note of her unkempt hair and the absence of a spear in her hands– they knew she had done something, and soon they would see the fruits of her faith.

"Aegon." She knelt at his bedside, carefully holding his hand after she'd bathed. She'd asked Orwyle to take his fellow maesters and go, she'd opened the windows to let air in and coaxed the phoenix into nesting at his side. "Aegon, my love." She kissed his hand, causing him to groan. "You will be better soon. You're going to be just fine." She looked at the phoenix, nodding her head. "Heal him. Heal him, please."

Obeying her, the phoenix dipped its head and began to cry. She smiled as she saw the tears wash over Aegon's forehead. She crawled into the bed beside him, wanting to be there when he woke.

He still wasn't better when dinner was brought to the room. She ate quickly so as to not miss a moment of his recovery– she asked for Jaehaera to be brought to them so that her daughter could be there when he was better. Her little girl was glad to see her, fussing and holding onto her as they lay by Aegon's side, Rhysaenya singing lightly while the phoenix nested over his head, comfortable on the many pillows.

Nighttime had come when she began to feel a stirring in her belly. She remembered the sensation from before, when she was carrying the twins and still did not know there were two babes inside of her. It excited her– it was as if the babe was eager to see Aegon well again. She got to her feet to light the candles, leaving little Jaehaera curled up beside Aegon. She pressed her hand down on her stomach, stretching the nightgown over her still-growing belly.

But as she walked, she started to feel heavy. As she stretched her arms up to take the candles nearest her, she felt a sharp pain in her side. By the time she'd lit the first candelabra, she was feeling dizzy. While light began to fill the room, strength began to leave her. She put a hand on her belly as she felt a sensation between her legs. She lifted her nightgown, gasping in horror when she saw thick, red blood running down her knees.

It was how Orwyle found her the next morning. The candles had not been snuffed out– Jaehaera had slept soundly beside her father while Rhysaenya sank to the floor by the window, breathing heavily and crying silently while she felt the babe die within her. The Grand Maester entered to the sight of her in a pool of her own blood, pale and weak.

But naught could be said or done, especially not when they heard a gasp from the bed. Rhysaenya's eyes were still red from crying as she looked to Aegon, who sat up on his own and began to remove his bandages.

-

A/N: Having a really tough time working on this story, I have had like zero motivation to write. Sorry about that! Hoping to get back into it soon.