pirated content

Daenerys looked through the slightly opened door as both her twin sister and her brother unleashed their dragons – a fight fist to fist where each of them used any trick they had at hand to claim victory. Even with eight years difference between Viserys and Taenerys it was a close fight. Daenerys didn't know where her sister had learned to fight, but from time to time she would impress even Viserys. However, as innovative she was in these fights, most times she would end up losing, and so, too, she lost today.

Daenerys did not know when this behavior began, if it was already there in the house of the Red Door or if it was when Viserys sold mother's crown in order to keep them alive. But as much as they fought she knew that her brother was proud of Taenerys, he called her a 'Dragon' while he called Daenerys 'A Mare between Dragons'.

Once the fight stopped, Tany having surrendered, Viserys took her up from the floor with his hands and put her in the bed as they were in Viserys room. Tany's body admitted the defeat, but her spirit would never admit it, and Dany knew that sooner rather than later they would fight again. That's how they decided things, their spirit and will was so strong they constantly fought over which decisions to take.

Dany remembered why they were fighting now, it was but the result of one of Viserys' decisions. Where he bought a lot of food and alcohol – trying to convince the Golden Company to support him in his reconquest of Westeros. But they ate the food and drank his wine without paying and abandoned him as soon he had nothing else to offer. Dany only heard this from Tany as she exclaimed that Viserys was a fool.

She looked at the white and beautiful walls of Illyrio Mopatis' house. Three days ago they were invited to stay under his protection and both Tany and Viserys accepted with great pleasure. And now again they were fighting constantly about how to reconquer Westeros. For both of them the so-called reconquest of Westeros was the only relevant thing in the world, they only cared for it, obsessed to the point sometimes it scared her.

Dany had never been to Westeros, and she knew that it would probably never be as good as it was at the house of the red door and the lemon tree. But she heard his brother talking of it, it was their home, it was theirs and someone else stole it. For only that reason they had to recover it. And she understood that – she had that same feeling when someone took something from her, the desire of recovering it.

Dany left after the fight was over, closing slowly the door in order to not be caught, Viserys had won, but his dragon could be invoked again if he saw her spying on them. He never liked her to participate in their discussions; he said that she had no right to be part of them.

Dragons can coexist if there is a dragon stronger than any other dragon, that was the lesson she learned from her brother and sister. The problems came when there just wasn't a stronger dragon, when they fight to rule they cause destruction in their path. She wished her sister was more like her, so they would have a more peaceful life, but her heart was split. Because as much as Taenerys fought Viserys, he would always love Taenerys more than her, and she wanted the same love her sister had.

She had always been near them, but she always felt so alone.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taenerys sighed as she rested on Viserys' shoulder. He had punched her in the stomach, and it was taking her some time to recover from the consequences. Her skin was as white as Viserys' and Daenery's skin, her eyes violet and her hair blonde to the point that it seemed white, beautiful from a young age many had tried to secure a marriage with her. Either for political or other shady reasons.

"If you keep doing this one day you will lose your beauty in an unfortunate fight," Viserys said to Tany as he played with her hair. The weather was warm and comfortable. The wind would make an appearance from time to time, with the silk curtains moving like a shy dancer every time a merciful breeze passed through to drop the temperature.

"If my brother wasn't stupid and heard my advice I wouldn't have to fight so much." She claimed as she groaned in order to get the needed air. "The Golden Company, I said you could not trust those bastards, but what did you do? Bought them food and then begged them to help you. Of course, they did what they did, it was just natural. But you could not see it. Be thankful that Illyrio has saved us because if not we would have died in the streets like rats."

Unable to control his impulse, Viserys raised his hand, threatening to punish her. But he quickly put it down, realizing it would serve no purpose. Tany wouldn't back down so easily, always willing to ignore his violent outbursts, and would physically fight back until she was defeated or victorious. And it wouldn't make her change her mind. She was as stubborn as him. From time to time, when he won the physical fight he admitted defeat in the debate. And victorious though he was from this battle, he admitted that violence did not make him right. His sister was right, he was a fool. But he would never admit it.

His hand slowly moved back to its original position, and he talked with her softly, as a way to admit that he was wrong.

"We would have survived, we always have. I did everything to keep the dynasty alive and I would do anything to keep it alive. I even sold… mother's crown."

His voice expressed sadness and Tany understood it. Ever since he sold her crown his mental sanity began to deteriorate. He even began to blame everything on Dany as she was the last one to leave the womb, thus becoming the "killer" of their mother. Tany had tried to change that mentality, but she never succeeded in that part.

"Would you sell me?" Tany asked, not because she was actually worried but because it had become a common way to ensure that he would not. It was her comfort question, which had begun eight years ago when a merchant offered to buy her for a lot of money, enough money for Viserys to live all his life in Essos without needing money again. Enough money too to finance a small army and navy for the reconquest of Westeros.

Viserys' answer to the merchant offer was a fist directly to the face.

That action gave Tany a sense of security that she did not have since she was nine years old in her second life. Something so simple and expected as to refuse to sell your sister became the point where she started to have an actual relationship with him. A toxic relationship as setting matters by the force was not civilized, but as uncivilized and toxic the relationship was, it still was a relationship, her only real relationship in this third life. Also, not every part of their life was toxic, Viserys was considerate with her, and he had invested in her since she showed more emotions than a puppet made of wood.

The free cities of Essos had philosophers, mathematicians, engineers, and alchemists. It was a center of knowledge and money and in order to secure her position she had convinced her brother a long time ago to invest in her studies by showing herself as a genius in mathematics and other fields.

Two lives of experience helped her in this third one. She was known as the Philosopher Princess among some members of the elite – not that they even cared to help her even with that recognition – and since then Viserys began to monopolize her even further.

She had increased her value in the world, thanks to her brother, and this benefited both of them. Her knowledge acquired in several fields had brought some prestige to a dynasty that had lost all its prestige many years ago. It also ensured that in the worst case possible, her brother would sell off Dany instead of her.

She didn't have anything against Dany. If she could, she would give her an education, one that any child should receive. But this was the real world and in the real world she had to look out only for herself, instead of for others.

She cared for his brother, but would abandon him if an opportunity came for her to live a comfortable life. She would even sign a deal with the usurper Robert Baratheon, giving up all her claims to the throne, in order to live a peaceful life.

At first, she thought that the best option for her was to marry the first rich person that showed interest. But she rapidly found that those that came for her saw in her the opportunity to have relative power, claims or prestige, viewing her as an object, a means to an end. And those that didn't want to increase the prestige, claims or power, just wanted to fulfill their sick desires.

She would not sell herself to power mongers or perverts. She needed a more secure investment if she had to marry someone but sadly that type of opportunity never appeared.

"And now what?" Said Tany to her brother. "Moneyless, we live from the charity of this man whose intentions remain hidden."

Viserys looked at the silk curtains that danced as the breeze entered the room.

"We have to convince him to support us."

Tany rolled her eyes, "We have been trying to do that for so many years, and it has delivered us nothing. Doing the same thing again and again and expecting the result to be different is madness."

Viserys patted Tany's head. "For the so-called Philosopher Princess you seem to ignore that every person is different. Illyrio is a merchant prince, he could see the opportunity of investing in the reconquest of Westeros, having a king as your ally and more, owing you favors is but one of the things that every rich man desires."

Tany did not mock him, even if she knew that he was no king and would probably never be king. A miracle would be needed for that to happen. Not that she ever raised her voice on the matter. For all her brother knew, she always supported the idea of recovering Westeros. And she did, in some sort of form, because if it happened she would probably marry him and live a peaceful life. Which would be a perfect goal but impossible to reach without an army and a navy.

Tany laughed in her core – in the time she had lived here in this medieval world she had normalized things that in her first, and even in some cases second, life would make her angry or disgusted.

Things like incest, which was a crime in her past two lives, but in the Targaryen dynasty was seen as the most normal thing to do. Tradition and culture could make people normalize things that in other circumstances they would never accept.

She saw her adaptability as a good trait to have, she rapidly understood the rules of this world and played by them. She was a woman and few things were expected from her, but what for other people would see as a reason to not do anything, she saw the opportunity to shine. Education and philosophy made people value her more than they should for the knowledge she held and the words she said.

For the rich and intelligent men of Essos, seeing a woman having so much knowledge and intellectual capacity was like for a human in her first world seeing a dog somehow driving a car. Subverting the society's expectations had opened her more opportunities than the expected behavior of a woman had closed.

She was even able to covertly finance a small project that only she was able to understand the importance of. Creating firearms in this medieval world.

Of course, it would not be as fancy as somehow having an AK-47 in a medieval era. Cannons and rudimentary firearms would be the best thing she could create. But by just investing cannons she could sell her services to any army interested in destroying the castles of their enemies. Just like the Hungarian man that ended up destroying the Roman Empire in 1453 she planned to change the world, but without dying for her efforts.

"You know brother, pursuing the idea of reconquering Westeros, is rational. It was our home." Our conquered home, she thought to herself. "But if we just think of the end goal we will die or disappear in history before we reach it. It is more relevant what happens in between our starting position and where we end. Maybe we should stop focusing on reconquering Westeros and instead focus on surviving and increasing our power here. Economically, politically, forming alliances. You constantly want to jump directly into the reconquest, and it has failed so far. What if instead we just sit down for a minute. Talking with Illyrio about how we could gain power and wealth, accumulating it for some years and then, once we are rich and powerful, plan the reconquest of Westeros. Isn't that what our ancestors did before they conquered and united Westeros?"

Viserys saw her sister laying on him without any type of defense and thought for a moment before answering. Their relationship was one of trust in some sort of twisted form. He trusted her when what she said wasn't directly against what he wanted or intended to do, and she trusted him when it was related to her protection and education.

As Tany said before, it was a relationship of mutual benefit where even the worst of the fights were nothing compared to the benefits. Her way of seeing things sounded rational, but they felt wrong. Not that Viserys cared.

"The Golden Company, those bastards…" Slowly muttered Viserys before really taking in consideration what his sister had said, and soon he had three questions for his sister.

"Don't you want to return home? To live like you should live? To recover what is ours?" An honest question that was born from the mental and physical fatigue that had been his life since his mother had died, no, it started before, it had started since that damn usurper raised against his father.

"I believe… you might have lost your ability to see. You are so focused on recovering what is ours that you forgot to keep what we had left. And now we are here, at the mercy of foreigners with unknown interests. I don't want to fight, we had already fought enough about the Golden Company banquet, but rationally speaking, we should abandon for now our attempt for an immediate reconquest of Westeros. We have tried but we failed. Now is the time to try a new strategy, and I am sure we can come up with something together."

Viserys did not answer, not because he lacked an answer but because it cost him to even visualize how to change the strategy after so many years of trying the same strategy in order to recover everything. But, remembering his mother's crown, a part of his heart felt hollow. He had humiliated himself in order to recover everything, but he had lost all he had in that path.

"I would need time to think about that…" He could not answer anything else. Such an abrupt change, after so many sacrifices.

"Our time is limited by our host's patience. Have an answer on the morrow." Was the answer Tany gave her, mercilessly placing even more pressure on the fatigued prince that no longer knew what to do.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tany covered her body with the silk blankets, with her was Dany, who always liked to sleep with her, as some sort of childish ritual that desperately cling to any sensation or approval, security and happiness. But Tany never responded to her hugs or desperation. She was a rational person, and she knew that socially she should love those members of her family. But in her eyes Daenerys was not her twin sister, but a coin to be used in order to gain a good life.

Maybe for that reason Tany clung so hard to Viserys – because he was not like she was.

He would never sell her to a merchant for money, but Tany would definitely sell Dany to live a good life. Morality was a luxury when you were a homeless person without money and the law allowed her to do it.

In her past two lives, selling her sister in exchange for money would be seen as something bad, and Tany agreed, it was bad. But in this third life she could legally do it, make her marry to someone with money in exchange for money and no one would blink in surprise at that action. That was how this world worked, and she would play by the world rules.

Another reason for which she had to increment her personal value, so if her brother ever changed his mind and decided to sell her at least he would sell her to the richest bastard possible. Being prisoner of a pervert or a power monger seemed far more enjoyable if the man that she married was rich enough to give her a comfortable life.

For her there were three plans.

Plan A) Convince Viserys to set roots on Essos, sell Daenerys in order to gain enough capital and then begun a trading company in order to support both of them – creating toys in order to sell them to nobles and weapons to sell them to kingdoms and the free cities of Essos. This plan was based on her ability to gain enough capital to start this type of commercial and production operations. There was no demand for goods that did not exist, but she was sure that with enough money she could create goods that would sell better than bread in a besieged city. This plan had alterations for the possibility of Viserys somehow being able to reconquer Westeros, but Taenerys did not see that as a possibility.

Plan B) If Viserys decided to sell Taenerys and Daenerys then she had to ensure that he would sell her to the best bidder in order to be able to use that bidder's money for her own benefit. More fast pathed than the first plan, but more humiliating and damaging to her than the first one. Plan B was the risky option; the one that depended more on luck and unchecked assumptions than on palpable realities and her own skills. A rich man to marry, manipulable enough so she could extract his money and began a trading company on her name and for her own profit. Once rich enough she would break the marriage or keep it depending on how profitable the marriage was. Still, the idea of selling her body like a whore and suffering the sexual needs of an unknown man terrified her. Was she a hypocrite for wanting to sell her sister to the same fate that terrified her? Yes, but moral integrity is a privilege for those that don't suffer, her personal benefit was above anyone and everyone, and she would break her own morality as many times as needed in order to survive, no, not survive. To live a good life.

Plan C) If Viserys decided to sell her to an unfit man that could not allow her to carry out plan B, then she would simply run away. She had academic prestige in the free cities of Essos. If the only figure of authority in her family tried to sell her to a destiny of misery she could seek asylum in the academic institutions of Essos. Philosophers, engineers and more had fought for their rights, and so they had the right to avoid persecution in their buildings. She just had to convince them of her value. So many institutions and possibilities and she could give all of them her acquired knowledge. Philosophy from the 19th and 20th century; simple machines that did not exist in this world but she remembered how to create, the alchemy she had studied, access to and monopolization of long range weapons. She was sure that she could enter any institution and be protected from persecution. The least appealing of the options, but she had to be prepared for everything. Murphy said that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and she agreed; this idea was also applied to military doctrine. Only a fool would walk to a battle with a plan, expecting it to remain the same as the battle advanced, but only an idiot would walk to a battle without a plan just because he knows it could become useless as soon as the battle begins. And, for her, Essos was the terrain where the battle of her future would be fought – one she did not plan to lose.

"Sister," Dany said. Tany thought she was asleep, but it did not surprise her that Dany was not. It was hard for her to adapt to new places, always changing where they lived, always changing the conditions of life. It was not a good situation for a kid.

"What?" Tany asked, as Dany forced her to leave her inner world where she planned carefully every step she did in this world. Even the fights she had with Viserys were planned for her own benefit.

"Why are we so different if we are twins?"

Tany knew the usual answer. People wanted to be special, individuals. Twins were the contrary to that philosophy, they were similar in everything, and thus they would change their desires, wishes and attitude to differentiate themselves from their twins. But in this situation that answer could not be applied, because Tany was living her third life, she was completely another person by the time she gained consciousness.

"Because you refuse to fight and I fight all the time. Maybe that's our difference, we have learned the wrong lessons from our surroundings."

Was it a good enough answer? Tany did not know but neither did she care. Daenerys was for her what a lamb was to a farmer. An opportunity and something to care for until that opportunity came.

"Is it really that simple?" For Dany it was not that simple, but she had learned to believe and trust what Viserys and Taenerys said.

"It is, just change your attitude if you want to be like me or keep it if you want to stay as you are. Whatever choice you use, remember that you have the free will only the humans enjoy and use it accordingly. There is no point in living as a slave when you can live as a Queen, and I am going to ensure everything to live the best possible thing available for me."

"If you ever become strong and powerful, would you bring me with you?"

For Tany the answer was 'it depends'. If she could complete Plan A without marrying her off she would keep her around, but that possibility was very slim. Yet, she would not tell her the truth, like the good meat needed calm and good living animals. If she wanted to marry Dany to another person she needed to assure that she was kept calm and lived a good life until her matrimony came.

"I would always bring you with me and protect you, you are my twin sister, and we have only ourselves in this harsh world."

A lie. It was a lie, but one that gave Dany the comfort she needed to sleep that night.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Viserys was alone in the room given to him by Illyrio, he thought about what Tany said to him – the simple concept of abandoning what he had done for so many years was insulting, humiliating, and frustrating. How could a woman understand the pain of being the only man left of a dynasty that once ruled a continent? A man that had sold the last thing that he had from his mother in order to feed his two sisters, a man that saw when he was young how all his family died. Knowing that he and his two sisters are the only Targaryen left in this world.

He would have dismissed what she said, just because she never had been able to understand the pain the head of the dynasty could suffer.

But Taenerys was not just any woman. She was a Dragon, and a Dragon's opinion had to be listened to and debated.

First he thought about what he had gained in all these years of moving around the free cities of Essos. What had he achieved, aside from keeping his two sisters alive? Had he created an army? A navy? Had he advanced in any of his goals of revenge and restoring what is right?

There was an answer to those questions, and it hurt him to know what that answer was.

Could all these years of suffering have been for nothing? A waste of resources that Tany had always warned him about, but he refused to acknowledge until now? Sixteen years, sixeen years trying to reconquer Westeros to gain nothing in exchange.

He felt tired, fatigued. He had only continued this path he found himself on because he had hope; hope of reclaiming a future that was taken from him at a young age. He was but a young kid when all happened. The news of his brother Rhaegar's death came to King's Landing like a storm. Then everything happened so fast, his father died, killed by Jaime Lannister the Oath Breaker, his mother died because of Daenerys and later the treason of Sir William's servants.

Life had been so unfair with him that it had to become better at some point.

He looked at his hand, the bones could be noted under the skin. He at times looked more like a skeleton than a human, all the years of suffering, what had brought him?

Maybe, Tany's plan made sense, maybe she was right, but more than that he realized that he was wrong, and he had ruined himself and his family's memories for nothing.

He cried for the first time in years.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The three Targaryens ate the food on the table with the manners expected from a royal family, but Illyrio could see in them how the hunger was eating them alive, and thus they ate in desperation. They have not enjoyed a good meal in so much time. Each bite exposed them for what they truly were, a dynasty that fell from grace sixteen years ago which once no one could dare to face, but now everyone looked down to.

"Are you enjoying the food?" Asked Illyrio, he had given them normal food, nothing too fancy but still better than they had eaten in months. It was a king's meal for those that had never eaten like kings.

"It is excellent," not a thank you came from Viserys mouth, neither did Illyrio expect it.

"It is very good, thank you," Daenerys said, trying to be nice in contrast to her brother. She gained a side eye look from Viserys.

"You don't need to thank me for something that is to be expected." He had failed to reconquer Westeros, but he had to give Daenerys the education she would have received in Westeros… not having territory to control did not mean they had to act like peasants or lesser houses.

Tany thought little of the arrogance that this attitude showed, but she understood where it came from. In her second life, when the war was over, and she lost her position in the military, she still acted with the authority it had given her and expected to be treated like when she was part of the military. The human mind is not prepared to easily accept the reduction of their standard of living once they have normalized their situation.

Like the old nobles that lived as if they were still rich and the wanna-be rich that lived like they were rich even if they were poor.

She had become used to living with a good standard of life only to lose it rapidly and without notice. She could survive these changes, she had grown adapted to the roller coaster that was her life.

The rest of the meal was uncomfortable, with Viserys watching over Daenerys' attitude like a hawk would watch his prey. Once the food was over, only the wine remained on the table together with fruits and some sweets for dessert. Tany and Dany eat them slowly, trying to not expose their weakness for this type of treats but ultimately failing to keep their desire hidden.

"I was surprised to find that there are still people who can clearly see the benefit of hosting the Targaryen dynasty. After so many years I have found most people are incapable of understanding the greatness they are hosting." Viserys said, the closest thing to a 'thank you for sheltering me,' he had said since he had been allowed to live in Illyrio's mansion.

"Well, how could I not support a King whose realm desires his return."

Tany's eyebrows raised in surprise but also fear. 'What did he mean by that?' Was the question she asked herself. What did he mean by saying that the realm desired his return?

"Do you have information from Westeros?"

"I do."

Illyrios' smile creeped out Tany and Dany, "I have heard that the bards sing of the good days when the Targaryen ruled, now instead of stability and order there is robbery and problems. The usurpers' rule over the Seven Kingdoms had been nothing but disastrous from the start. Stories tell that King's Landing had lost all its past glory after the sack and subsequent pillaging done by the usurper and his allies. In every house of Westeros a Targaryen flag is hidden, waiting for your return. So when you say that they don't know who they were hosting, I do, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, Viserys the Third."

Something in Viserys' eyes gained light and Tany could not hide her distrust from Illyrios words; she was more pessimistic and realistic. Since when the population had cared who ruled them? For the "realm" the difference between a Baratheon and a Targaryen is little, most times not even perceivable.

Yet this man claimed that the realm longed for Viserys return.

"Do you have an army and a navy to support me?" Viserys asked, with hope of a child.

"No, I do not."

Viserys still did not lose the hope that filled his eyes, not talking and instead hearing what this strange man had to offer.

"But I do have money, and the contacts to find an army and a navy…"

Oh, no. Thought to herself Tany, not knowing if she had to fear the idea of going to Westeros for a reconquest or fear the idea that they were now hosted by an idiot with too much initiative.

She looked at her brother and then at her sister. The brief idea of calling Illyrio a liar appeared in her thoughts, but she dismissed them as she wanted to enjoy three warm foods a day, a roof to sleep under and a warm bath.

"How can you be sure of this information you give us? Have you been to Westeros? Walked into every house to make sure they had a Targaryen banner hidden under their beds?"

Her skepticism was measured so it was not insulting but still giving the message she desired, that she did not believe a word he said.

"Princess Taenerys, I have been myself in Westeros and is from that visit that I have decided to host the Targaryen royal family, because I am sure that if a reconquest was launched, not only would it succeed,"

"But it would also give you great benefit," Tany finished, her eyes widened like plates. She could not believe it, maybe, maybe the usurped had become worse than the tyrant he overthrew, and the population really wanted the Targaryen to return? And all this time they had been dying of hunger moving from shelter to shelter like homeless persons?

"We have to plan everything now, every minute wasted..." Viserys could not finish his sentence before Tany interfered. For Tany this was madness, maybe, Illyrio believed that the population wanted a Targaryen return enough that he thought the investment was worth the risk. But that did not make it true, she needed to have more proof before throwing herself into a war that if failed would mean her head would be a new decoration on the walls of King's Landing.

"Brother, we have to discuss this. In private."

Tany gave a defiant look to a confused-looking Viserys. In the middle of the storm that would assault these two dragons, Dany looked terrified, because she knew a new fight would soon begin as soon as there was no one to see it.

Oh, how much she missed the peaceful times of the house with the Red Door..