After returning from the Volcanic Mine Cave, Danyla first stopped at the Silverwork Guild in White Sheep Town. She handed several colored diamonds to the craftsmen and asked them to make a few pieces of jewelry to her specifications.
When Danyla took the gems out of her whale skin bag, the veteran craftsmen were stunned on the spot.
Their mouths fell open so wide that she could almost have stuffed all the gems Danyla had brought into them.
"P-Princess, where did you find gems of this caliber?!"
"It's been more than forty years since I became an apprentice, and I've never seen gems of such quality and size!"
"And you've brought four at once. They're simply too precious!"
Another craftsman immediately chimed in,
"Indeed! Having the chance to cut gems like these would leave me with no regrets in this life!"
Danyla had no patience for standing around listening to them reflect on their lives, so she gave her instructions.
"Use this ruby to make a gold belt. It's a gift for my mother, so it needn't be too lavish. Comfort comes first. Above all, the ruby must be able to touch her skin."
The craftsman took the ruby and discovered that it was warm to the touch. He immediately understood what Danyla meant.
"Yes, Princess, I understand! How thoughtful and devoted you are. This ruby is warm to the touch, making it perfect for the pregnant Queen Aemma..."
Ignoring his flattery, Danyla continued,
"Make a set of jewelry with this pink diamond! Follow House Targaryen's traditional designs. It's a gift for my older sister Rhaenyra, so don't make it too old-fashioned. Keep it youthful and lively."
"Use this blue diamond to make a man's belt and a brooch! For the metal in the brooch, melt down this Valyrian steel necklace!"
As she spoke, Danyla took out the Valyria Necklace Daemon had given her.
"Master O'Neill at the smithy can melt down Valyrian steel pieces. Once you've finished the designs, you can ask him to help forge them!"
Since she had begun wearing the Valyria Necklace, Danyla had indeed caught hazy glimpses in her dragon dreams of the people of Old Valyria forging Valyrian steel.
Perhaps it was because the Valyria Necklace was simply too crude, but even after trying for several days in a row, Danyla could not glimpse the whole process.
So she no longer wanted to keep the ugly Valyrian steel necklace. As for what Daemon would think when he found out, that was not something Danyla concerned herself with.
Once something had been given to me, couldn't I use it however I pleased?!
"Use this purple diamond to make a belt and a bracelet! For the bracelet's metal, just use the remaining Valyrian steel."
After confirming her desired designs with the jewelers, Danyla rode Dreamfyre back to Dragonstone Castle.
Myracis was a little larger, and her coloring shifted to pink on its own, as though through a filter.
For the next fortnight, only Danyla's family remained on Dragonstone.
Danyla returned to her routine of studying and practicing swordsmanship every morning. With her older sister Rhaenyra keeping her company, even the dull lessons became more interesting.
In the afternoons, Danyla and her older sister Rhaenyra learned needlework from Aemma. Unlike Danyla, who was enthusiastic about embroidery and found it fascinating, Rhaenyra clearly had no interest whatsoever.
Thus, while Danyla's embroidery skills were polished, Rhaenyra was still at the stage where she pricked her fingers every time!
She never missed Danyla's daily swordsmanship lessons, however. In just over a month, her swordsmanship improved by leaps and bounds. It seemed she had a fair amount of talent for it.
Of course, that might also have been thanks to Master Bronn's excellent teaching, since Danyla and Rhaenyra were not the only ones whose swordsmanship improved rapidly.
Under Bronn's guidance, the twelve Skinning Warriors had become no less skilled with a sword than Danyla's personal guards, Cameron and Harold.
Cameron and Harold, after all, were among the finest young knights in the Seven Kingdoms. Their fighting prowess was every bit the equal of the Kingsguard's.
In particular, with years of benefits from Danyla's specially enhanced Dragonfire Wine and secret seasonings, their constitutions and strength had long since surpassed those of ordinary people.
Early every morning and again at dusk, Danyla would drag her father Viserys and Rhaenyra out to hunt over the Narrow Sea on their Great Dragons.
Danyla's explanation was that Great Dragons were just like people: without regular practice, both their fighting skills and physical abilities would decline.
Whenever Dreamfyre flew out of the volcanic cave, Myracis and the Three Young Dragons naturally followed behind her, creating a curious spectacle among the Great Dragons.
Viserys began suggesting more than once that Danyla take Myracis and the three young dragons, including Grey Ghost, to Dragonmont and entrust their training and care to the Dragonkeepers.
Danyla firmly rejected him every time, arguing that allowing them to roam freely would help them grow better.
What a joke! If I handed them over to the Dragonkeepers for training, wouldn't that give other people a chance to ride them?!
Laena of House Velaryon had yet to succeed at Dragonriding. Danyla had no intention of giving their house another advantage at this critical stage of the struggle over the Heir Apparent.
Besides, in Danyla's mind, these Great Dragons already belonged exclusively to her. Only her own future children would be allowed to tame them.
Later, when Viserys saw how easily Danyla could command the young dragons, he stopped bringing up the matter.
Though Viserys had a weakness for being softhearted, he was still a fairly capable member of the royal family. Having the Great Dragons in the hands of his immediate family and having them in the hands of the wider house were two entirely different things.
Moreover, the Sea Snake, Corlys, was currently pulling every string he could over the choice of the next Heir Apparent, something practically everyone in the Seven Kingdoms knew.
With each side regarding the other as a potential enemy, how could there ever be genuine harmony between them?
After receiving Danyla's financial support, wasn't Uncle Daemon now roaming the Seven Kingdoms on his Bloodworm, Krasu, gathering followers as well?
Unlike Lord Corlys the Sea Snake's strategy of spending lavishly to cultivate lords great and small, however, Uncle Daemon focused primarily on recruiting nobles' younger sons and hedge knights.
As Danyla's Firekiss Garden spread to major cities and important towns throughout the Seven Kingdoms, Samwell began steadily gathering large numbers of displaced people and all kinds of talented individuals in White Sheep Town.
After selecting displaced people whose backgrounds checked out, the managers of the various Firekiss Garden branches gave them enough money for the journey and left them to find their own way onto the Great Lords' merchant caravans bound for New Dragonstone Island.
This also served as their final test.
Only a little over a month had passed, yet three to five thousand displaced people had already arrived on New Dragonstone Island with the various houses' merchant caravans to register as residents and settle there.
Their arrival undoubtedly accelerated the development of New Dragonstone Island considerably, and large stretches of fertile farmland were gradually opened up as they came.
Moreover, because Danyla had purchased livestock in vast quantities some time earlier, broad stretches of grassland on New Dragonstone Island had already been grazed bare, so breaking new ground took little effort.
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