March, 101 AC, early spring.
In Holy Flame Tower at Dragonstone Castle on Dragonstone, Danyla Targaryen closed the book in her hands, The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms. Looking past the pots of flowers crowding the windowsill, she gazed out over the misty expanse of the Narrow Sea and drew a deep breath of fresh spring air. She was in a wonderful mood!
The Narrow Sea was the long, slender stretch of Ocean between Essos to the east and Westeros. After three or four months of raging storms, it had finally entered a calm spell.
Every year, beginning in October, cold winds from the Shivering Sea to the north threw the Narrow Sea into wild turmoil. There was no telling how many ships and brave souls who sought to conquer her she had swallowed.
Fortunately, Dragonstone had two volcanoes, one large and one small, so despite the strong winds, the temperature remained tolerable. Dragonstone Castle in particular never grew too cold even in winter, and it was one of the few places at that latitude where tropical fruit trees could grow.
Looking at the lush, flourishing plants she had tended with her own hands, Danyla felt a deep sense of accomplishment.
The flowers had grown so vibrant and full entirely thanks to the fertilizer Danyla had carefully formulated.
At the time, an old professional habit from her previous life had resurfaced. Seeing the mountains of Great Dragon droppings piled up on Dragonmont, she had suddenly felt inspired to compost them with volcanic soil and ash to see how well it worked.
Once she had people prepare it, the results had proved surprisingly good.
The grass on the hillsides, the crops in the fields, and the fruit trees in the gardens treated with the manure all flourished, their yields increasing dramatically.
It seemed anything connected to Great Dragons really was extraordinary!
This was her eighteenth year in this world, and Danyla had already confirmed that she had transmigrated into the world of the television series House of the Dragon.
As she grew older, some memories of her previous life gradually became clearer. This world truly was hard to describe!
In her previous life, she had been a recent graduate of an agricultural university's postgraduate program. While surveying an afforestation project in the desert, she had encountered a massive sandstorm and been buried beneath the yellow sand.
When she regained consciousness, she discovered that she had somehow transmigrated into the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, in the early days of the Dance of the Dragons.
She had been born at dusk just as the skies cleared after rain. Several rainbows had appeared overhead, along with countless auspicious clouds. That had immediately earned her recognition as an auspicious blessing for the kingdom.
Moreover, the faint purplish-red flame marking between her brows was taken as further proof of her extraordinary origins. It meant Danyla received quite a few extra gifts on her Name Day every year.
When she was four, Danyla had her maid secretly sell all those pretty but useless things.
That had added two large chests of Gold Dragons to Danyla's private treasury, more than fifty thousand coins in total.
Yet despite how discreetly she had done it, her reputation as a money grubber had somehow spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms before long.
To curry favor with her or test her, those noblewomen would offer Danyla handfuls of Gold Dragons whenever they saw her.
Although they tried to keep their expressions in check in front of a four- or five-year-old child, the corners of their mouths were practically twitching beyond their control. Danyla thought their acting still needed work!
If a reputation could be exchanged for money, then bring it on!
Danyla knew very well that this was a world governed entirely by the law of the jungle.
Money was almost omnipotent in this world, and House Targaryen had dragons besides.
Once she had enough money and a powerful enough Great Dragon, Danyla wanted to try pursuing her dream of becoming an empress!
But she also knew this was the era when House Targaryen had the most Great Dragons. Members of her own family could become her greatest enemies at any moment.
Although she had only skimmed the original books, she had watched the television series several times, so she was fairly familiar with the plot.
Still, some things had changed. On the day she was born, for instance, a tremendous storm had accompanied a massive geological upheaval on Dragonstone. An enormous island more than ten times Dragonstone's size had risen to its northeast.
This had considerably increased both Dragonstone's area and its elevation, and added another enormous active volcano to the island. After all these years, however, life had fully returned to the newly formed island.
To gain a greater say in matters, Danyla had bonded with Dreamfyre, the blue Great Dragon once ridden by her grandmother Rhaena, when she was seven, successfully completing Dragonriding.
Dreamfyre was the mother of Meleys, the Red Queen, and Quicksilver, the Blood Wyrm. She was currently the fourth-largest Great Dragon, behind only Vhagar, Vermithor, and the wild Great Dragon Cannibal.
When Danyla bonded with Dreamfyre, she was more than fifty meters long. Perhaps because she had spent so long confined in the Dragonpit, her growth had become very slow.
But after years of Danyla's careful feeding and training, she had begun growing rapidly again.
Now she was nearly seventy meters long, with a wingspan of some hundred and forty to a hundred and fifty meters. Deep-blue scales covered her body, formerly pale blue, while silvery-pink scales edged her blue Dragon Wings.
Backward-pointing spikes ran from her head down the back of her neck, and three pairs of dragon horns gave her a magnificent, imposing appearance. Her distinctive great tail was also covered in bony spikes, with several enormous plates of hard armor at its tip.
According to House Targaryen's traditions, a Dragon Egg was placed in every child's cradle at birth.
Danyla's was a pinkish-white Dragon Egg, but it had never hatched. It still sat in the charcoal brazier in her room, warming day after day.
Danyla had already tried dripping blood and tears onto it. The only thing left was to imitate the Mother of Dragons by holding the Dragon Egg and setting herself on fire, but she had not dared.
Although Danyla could indeed withstand high temperatures, being burned still hurt. She was simply less likely to suffer burns.
The Flame Mark between Danyla's brows, however, seemed to make it easy for her to win Great Dragons' affection in her dreams. It was thanks to this that she had easily bonded with Dreamfyre and successfully completed Dragonriding.
Danyla's reputation as an auspicious blessing, along with her greater beauty, had made her niece Rhaenyra reluctant to have much to do with her ever since she was old enough to understand such things.
Naturally, Danyla could not be bothered to argue with a little brat either. Although Rhaenyra was indeed very capable, she was also terribly proud and prickly.
Because her grandmother and mother had both passed away, she had always lived alone on Dragonstone.
Unlike Rhaenyra, who liked staying in King's Landing, Danyla preferred Dragonstone. She truly could not get used to the stench of shit in King's Landing.
After Danyla successfully completed Dragonriding, King Jaehaerys, her maternal great-uncle, granted her the newly formed island at Dragonstone. The royal family even held a celebration especially for her in King's Landing.
But as soon as Danyla had collected the gifts from the Great Lords, she mounted Dreamfyre and returned to Dragonstone.
By then, Danyla's private treasury had grown to 255,508 Gold Dragons, 5,800 Silver Moons, 12,000 Silver Stags, 8,052 Copper Stars, and assorted copper pennies.
(1 Gold Dragon = 30 Silver Moons; 1 Silver Moon = 7 Silver Stags)
(1 Silver Stag = 7 Copper Stars; 1 Copper Star = 8 copper pennies)
Ever since arriving on Dragonstone, Danyla had kept an exceptionally regular routine. Every day, she rose at seven and washed with her maid's help; breakfast lasted from seven thirty to eight; the rest of the morning was spent studying Valyrian, court etiquette, and various texts.
Lunch was at eleven, followed by a two-hour nap; lessons in geography, history, and other subjects began at one in the afternoon; dinner was at five, after which she had free time.
After dinner, Danyla generally went to feed her dragon, chatted with her maids, and did embroidery or other needlework. Sometimes she tended her plants or fed her dogs. She kept four mastiffs at Dragonstone Castle, all exceptionally large and powerful.
After seeing the remarkable effect Great Dragon manure had on her plants, Danyla also formulated several kinds of "seasoning" to test their effects on animals and humans. She began by adding a little to the dogs' food.
Fortunately, the experiment produced excellent results. These four Hounds did indeed grow much faster and larger than the other dogs from the same litter, and they were extraordinarily fierce and brave.
Once fully grown, they were more than twice the size of other Hounds, as large as half-grown calves. They loved following Danyla around, and even ordinary knights did not dare approach when they saw them.
They were no longer frightened of Great Dragons either, often accompanying Danyla when she went to feed Dreamfyre. They no longer lost control of their bowels and bladders in terror.
Things produced by Great Dragons truly did have extraordinary effects!
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