Daenerys sat cross-legged on the narrow bunk in her cabin, holding a dragon egg in both hands.
It was heavy, heavier than anything she could remember.
Dark red veins wound across its deep green shell, like dried blood, or sleeping fire.
Since the day they had boarded the ship in Pentos, she had kept it out of its crude wrapping, swaddled in a soft scrap torn from an old dress, never letting it leave her side, day or night.
She could not say why.
Perhaps... it was only the occasional, almost illusory pulse, so faint it was barely perceptible, coming from within that cold, hard oval.
Like a heart encased in stone, beating softly in its deep slumber, with an entire world between them.
"Dany!"
The cabin door burst open. Viserys stood in the doorway, his face flushed with an excitement that days at sea had done nothing to diminish.
He had changed into his finest brocade robe, the only one he owned embroidered with the Targaryen sigil. His silver hair had been carefully combed, and his chin was held high.
"We're about to enter the waters of Lys!"
His voice rang bright, every word brimming with barely contained excitement.
"Just like Tyrosh, it's Targaryen territory now! Come up on deck and look at our lands!"
Daenerys lifted her head and gently settled the dragon egg back into the soft cloth on her lap.
"Brother, what is there to see out at sea? You said the same thing yesterday when we entered Tyroshi waters, but there was nothing except water."
"That is our territory!" Viserys strode inside, seized her wrist without another word, and pulled her off the bunk.
"Even the water belongs to House Targaryen! Even the sky! You should look at it, take a good look!"
"If going