Baelon King of all Dragons

7th Moon, 97 A.C.

Baelon walked through the red keep, intending to find his grandson, who had not been by Viseryses and Aemmas side as Rhaenyra had been born. As he walked through the corridors of the keep, he thought about what could distract his grandson so much, that not even the maids in front of his door could bring him to see his family.

As he reached the door of his grandson's chambers, he was greeted by the smell of burning wood. As he opened the door, he saw the reason for his namesake's tardiness.

"Baelon, what did you do to hatch that dragon?"

"Well, I used the ritual we were talking about. I thought that waiting for you to find it in all those books was a waste of time, so I tried the ritual that Great-Grandsire Jaehaerys and I talked about a few days ago, and it worked perfectly."

"And what did I say a few hours ago about hatching the dragon with a ritual?"

"That it is fine if the ritual is in one of the books."

"And what did you say?"

"I said that I had understood and had no problem with it."

"And you hatched a dragon anyway without consulting an elder?!"

"Well, I assumed that it was in one of the books and did the ritual."

"It wasn't in the books."

"Nobody said that I had to have an elder by my side."

"Only because you look like you are 6 years old doesn't mean you are 6 years old, and even that would be too young to do a ritual to awaken a dragon egg."

"I didn't need to awaken Arrlithox; he just needed a bit of reassurance to come out of his shell."

"You named him Arrlithox?"

"Yes, why? Don't you like the name? It's a combination of Arrax and Gaelithox."

"I know what it is, but why did you combine the names?"

"Well, I couldn't just let the best dragon ever just get one name, and even then, I couldn't decide what would be better for him."

"Okay, so let's just forget this ever happened and go to your new little sister and welcome her into the family."

"I got a little sister?"

"Yes, and you will have the next 6 moons to learn all about her."

"Why only the next 6 moons?"

You have your whole life, but in the next 6 moons you are grounded to the red keep and later Dragonstone for disobeying my orders and trying to sneak away. I thought that it would be perfect as you now have more time with Rhaenyra.

Okay, fine, but Arrlithox stays with me. I promised him to never chain him away so that he could fly across the sky and see as much as he wanted.

"That's fine; we will be going to Dragonstone in a few weeks, and there he can be free. For now, he isn't big enough to be a threat anyway. Just raise him right, and we shall have no problems with the promises you make to a dragon, which are already more important than the promises you make to an old man like me."

Said Baelon, the elder, as he laughed on their way towards Aemma, Rhaenyra, and the rest of the family.

In the following weeks, the rest of the castle would be introduced to Rhaenyra and the new dragon that was with Baelon nearly all the time.

While the people would think of Rhaenyra as the cutest little thing that ever resided in the world, Arrlithox would be feared and respected. After only one week, he was as big as a bloodhound and as vicious as one if someone disrespected his bone or the sister of this bonded. At one time, he nearly fried a maid who was fed up with being talked down to by a 3-year-old about the food his sister should get in the absence of his mother, who was resting at the time. The maid, furious about being told how to do her job by a green boy, walked to him menacingly with her hand raised.

But as she was only two feet away, Arrlithox came through a window. Having sensed his master's panic, he stood before the maid, fletched his teeth, and growled.

At this moment, the door opened, and Ser. Redwyne came through, concerned over the young prince and princess, as he heard a growl from outside.

After the maid was taken outside, she wasn't seen in the red keep ever again; some say she was banished; some say the dragon found her and saw himself to a lengthy meal in human shape.

The next two weeks progressed rather fast; the only unusual thing was the fast growth of Arrlithox. In those 4 weeks it took from hatching to flying to Dragonstone, Arrlithox would grow from a small kitten to a pony in size. In the end, he couldn't live in the reed keep and went to Dragonstone to wait there for Baelon the younger to arrive.

After 4 weeks, it was time to say goodbye to the King and his wife and fly to Dragonstone so that Baelon the Elder could rule it as the prince of Dragonstone while his family stayed there as a sign of support and simply of wanting to live with family.

In the next 5 moons, Baelon would grow to a height unusually big for a 7-year-old, and he was still only 3 years old at the time. But the biggest change happened in Arrlithox, who grew to the size of Caraxes in those 5 moons.

But not only would they grow physically but also in mind, as Baelon would feast on every detail that the gods would give him, including information on Valyrian culture and religion, as well as the nature and raising of dragons and why the Doom of Valyria was necessary to prevent the Doom of all dragons.

But the most remarkable development was the Boon Gaelithox gave to him and his dragon. It would allow them to communicate not only by the spoken Valyrian word or the understanding of Rider and Dragon when in battle or by heightened emotions. The boon would allow them to communicate with each other if they concentrated lightly and thought of what they wanted; the other would receive it, and so the bond between the dragon and rider deepened to a new level.