The greatest hardships Daenerys had endured over the years were sweating through sword practice, suffering the occasional scrape or bruise at worst, and sleeping rough on the journey she and Arya had made by dragon from Valyria to King's Landing.
Beyond that, she had scarcely tasted true hardship. Precisely because of this, many things he considered perfectly ordinary seemed to lie beyond the reach of her imagination.
Until now, Daenerys had assumed that Viserys and Rhaenys's journey to the North had been much like their stay at Casterly Rock today.
When they stopped for the night, there would be a room sheltered from the wind and a decent bed. They would simply rest at different castles and towers along the way, with longer stretches of dragon riding and perhaps a little more physical strain.
Viserys fell silent for a moment before chuckling softly in the darkness. Lowering his voice further, he murmured against Daenerys's ear, "Why do you think I never took you with me before? I was afraid you would suffer. But now that you've grown a little older, there are things you need to experience at least once as a Targaryen."
As he spoke, warm breaths brushed Daenerys's ear and temple, making the few loose strands of her silver hair tremble.
"Besides, once we pass the Neck, the weather is completely different from the rest of Westeros. The winds are fierce, the snow comes hard, and the cold is beyond belief. People are few and far between, too. The North is almost as large as the other six kingdoms combined, yet only Dorne has fewer people. We'll be lucky even to find a wooden hut with a roof."
"Sometimes night falls when there's no village or inn anywhere nearby, and all we can do is find a sheltered