Dragonmont

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Vira and Edmund arrive at the Dragonmont. "I'm going to climb up to the smoking vents," Vira said. "I've heard the Ghost roosts up there."

"The gold one is pretty," Vira agreed. "And no, I don't know exactly which vent belongs to the Ghost. I suppose I had been hoping you would know," she said with a laugh.

Vira sighed. "I heard about Dake. Well, it was either climb the mountain or wait around until the Ghost comes to fish like he usually does. Climbing the mountain and then waiting would exhaust me too much to face the dragon afterwards. But I know the Ghost fishes because the fisherfolk see him diving into the waters besides the volcano - maybe I'll just walk right up to the beach and wait."

"Good luck, Edmund," she replied with a smile. "I hope we will both reunite as riders, instead of joining the skeletons." And with that, she departed. She circled around the volcano till she reached the beach, and then dipped her feet in the cool water. It was a great relief, for she had walked for hours that day. She drank from her water skin, and ate some of the cheese and salted beef that she had brought, while letting the water soothe and clean her feet.

Eventually she cleaned her mouth and hands, and walked barefoot up the beach, her toes digging into the sand. In one hand she held a whip, another a whistle. She watched, and waited.

Vira's eyes lit up at the sight of the ivory dragon flying towards her, his pearl horns gleaming in the setting sun. She raised the whistle to her lips and gave a low, gentle whistle.

Vira had never been this close to a dragon in her life. Up close, Aegerys towered over her, and for a moment she was also too intimidated and awed by his immense size to speak or act further. But the dragon was waiting, and watching, and she knew she was on thin ice.

"Come to me, Aegerys," she said, in a clear voice that nevertheless sounded very small all of a sudden. The whip was uncoiling. "Come."

OOC: I am controlling my delight.

Vira moved forward, her heart pounding so hard that she though it would beat out of her chest. She approached him, steadily meeting his eye the whole time, and climbed up onto his back carefully. She clutched the whip as she did it, but a part of her knew not to fear. When she was finally seated where his neck met his back, the powerful wings stretched out on either side, her fear left her entirely. She gripped one of the pearly horns and lashed Aegerys with her whip. "Fly!" she commanded.

Vira felt exhilarated as Aegerys climbed into the sky. The salty sea wind blew her hair back and made her eyes water, and when Aegerys banked to the left, she clutched his horn tightly and squeezed with her thighs out of fear. The great volcano was shrinking behind her as the Ghost flew into the Narrow Sea, and looking back, Vira could see the dragons on it. A golden dragon was sunning himself on the rocks, his scales shining even at this distance. A cobalt blue dragon with orange horns was flying in circles around the mountain, hunting. She wondered if Edmund Waters was down there somewhere, trying his luck as well, or if he'd died, or given up. In an instant, her life had changed. Moments ago she was nothing but a miller's daughter. Now she could state she was dragonseed, and nobody would question her. It filled her heart with pride.

Vira suddenly noticed with a twinge of panic that Aegerys hadn't changed course. They were flying further and further out into the Narrow Sea, and the isle of Dragonstone was shrinking behind them. Nobody had taught her what to do at this part. Truth be told, nobody had taught her how to tame a dragon either. But somehow, taming a dragon seemed in hindsight much more straightforward than learning how to ride a dragon.

What should she say to make Aegerys turn back for land? Did the dragons take commands in Valyrian? No, that couldn't be. She had just commanded him to fly in the Common Tongue, and he had obeyed.

She decided to try using the whip - not to lash the dragon or hurt it, but to gently guide it. "Left, Aegerys," she commanded, and she gently used the whip on the left side of his long, serpentine neck. It seemed to her that a dragon would turn in the direction of the whip rather than away from it. Aegerys was nothing like her old mule, after all. "Turn around."

OOC: really Maekar? I don't remember what Dany did with Drogon, though I THOUGHT it was left turn = whip right side, right turn = whip left side. Although your reasoning makes MUCH more sense hahaha. I'll edit in a bit.

Vira clutched the pearly horn in fear as Aegerys dove into the sea, certain she was about to be drowned on her first flight. When it appeared that all he had been after was a fish, she slapped her forehead in exasperation. Getting a dragon to turn left and right had turned out to be easy enough, apparently but what about up and down?

Maybe this required a voice command, instead of a whip. "Drop the fish, Aegerys," she said. "Rise. She wondered if Aegerys had been trained in Common Tongue commands. It seemed likely. His only rider had been the Queen of Shells, a woman as common as her name was ambitious. Like me, Vira thought.

Vira realized she would have to learn to discipline him. It had been decades since he had had a rider, and he had learned to follow his whims again. Perhaps all dragons did, even those bonded to a rider. As the mountain approached, and the beach beneath it, Vira leaned forward. He would not feel the pressure from her heel, but she tried to steer him in the direction of the beach. "Land, Aegerys," she said.

After finishing up at the village, Aemon heads for Vhagar's cave, he has his whip tucked into the back of his trousers hidden behind his shirt, over his shoulder being held by one hand are multiple small sacks of unwashed clothing that Aemon had gathered over the trip. In the other hand is a lead that trails behind him to a fattened cow sullenly walking along behind him with a cloth tied over its eyes so that it wouldn't be able to see where it was going.

After the trip up the mountain Aemon stands in front of the cave that was said to be Vhagar's, he drops the clothes over to the side and continuing to lead the cow, Aemon approaches the old dragon's home and stops a short distance from the entrance.

With no sign of vhagar in or around the cave, Aemon ties the cow up to a rock nearby then gets to work with the large sacks of clothing. Putting his clothes down on the ground and underneath nearby rocks in a half circle around the cave's entrance to spread his scent around the area. Once finished with that, Aemon takes a peek inside of the cave to see if Vhagar was inside sleeping, and taking his last sack of clothing, tosses it along the wall of the cave inside to get the smell both inside of the cave as well as outside.