(Video; UN: motherofdragons)

[decisiveconquest]

(Sanguis has blessed her and no one can tell her differently. Daenerys is standing before a mirror, running her fingertips over the horns protruding from her head. However those additions do not thrill her as much as the leathery wings on her back.

If her smile makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, that is understandable. The scales on her cheeks and the fact that her blue eyes are anything but human don't help matters, however there is an undefinable quality about her. Perhaps this isn't a blessing after all.)

Am I a monster? (Her hands shake as she presses her talons against her cheeks.) Is this...me? Have I always been this?

Comments

[sleepinglotus]

[He grants her his silence and attention, listening to her closely.

That was some admittedly heavy information but as always he doesn't show any sort of judgement towards her.]

The fact that the cost frightens you is reason enough to not view you as a monster, Daenerys. I have encountered people who have purposely set monsters on students and other innocents, one who killed my teammate without remorse, and her only words to us were dismissive and uncaring of the pain she caused.

[decisiveconquest]

(Tears roll down her cheeks and she doesn't bother wiping them away. Maybe there is something redeeming about her, but why does that matter? It won't revive the dead.)

I was dismissive after it was done. I tried to not feel anything but triumph; I tried to feel right. But it hasn't lasted. I dream about them every night and I wish I could undo it.

Even if it meant losing the Iron Throne.

[sleepinglotus]

[It won't, but Ren still firmly believes all anyone can do is keep moving forward.]

You tried to justify it, and you failed to. You tried not to feel anything and felt everything.

Cinder only ever cared about gaining power and I'm fairly certain if she felt even a twinge a sympathy for anyone she would die from being overwhelmed.

I don't see that in you. At all. I see someone who is remorseful and knows they can't change the past.

[decisiveconquest]

I don't think I could be like that. Gaining power was part of the problem - I felt like everything I did was right because I had so many people supporting me. I stopped listening to the only compass that counts.

(Her heart.)

Coming here has given me perspective. I can be myself; I don't have to fulfill some role or make decisions that impact the lives of thousands.

[sleepinglotus]

I find that happens to a lot of people here. Distance can be good for people. It seems to be doing the same for you. I'm glad you're finding peace with that.

[decisiveconquest]

Has it had a similar effect on you? Each time we have met or spoken, you have struck me as a peaceful man.

[sleepinglotus]

I've always been that way, but this place has expanded my understanding of relationships and made me more comfortable with people I don't have a close relationship with.

[decisiveconquest]

A wise man too. If I were a queen, I would want you on my council.

[sleepinglotus]

[He might be blushing a bit.]

I don't know about being a wise man just yet. I've got another month before I'm twenty.

[decisiveconquest]

Is that the age of majority in your country? (She was married and pregnant before then.)

[sleepinglotus]

It's eighteen, but I would be a year from graduation and a certified huntsman at twenty one.

I suppose it's more I don't feel like an adult yet.

[decisiveconquest]

I don't know if anyone ever really feels like an adult. (It's something that happens and you have to find your feet somehow while the world turns beneath you.)

There are times I come close.

[sleepinglotus]

[Their task in Remnant was daunting, something that would have anyone else breaking down from stress, and yet for some reason Ren still doesn't feel like an adult.

Maybe it was because they were doing it all without having graduated. Like the title needed to be there for him even though really it probably matters even less now.]

Maybe someday I'll come close to feeling that way as well.