Colossal Arrival

"So," Bellegere Otherys finally asked about twenty minutes later. "What exactly can I do for you and what does it have to do with that chest you brought all the way here?"

The two of them had just finished washing themselves in a small but private bathhouse of the brothel that was reserved only for the Black Pearl and those she allowed entry; which was just beside the room they had made love on. It was cozy and warm enough and Arya definitely enjoyed watching her beautiful bare form as it was covered in water, especially after she allowed the shorter woman to wash her exotic breasts clean.

Remembering that Bellegere had made sure to lock the door with the key she had been carrying around her neck, the Northern woman took a deep breath and walked up the stairs of the steamy bath, water dropping from her own naked body as she did so. She didn't like the idea of lying about something so big to her first lover, regarding where she got such precious cargo. However, now more than ever, she felt scared to **** of bringing down the Faceless Men upon her by accident. So, the less she knew the safer she would be.

The member of House Stark moved the chest until it was at the border of the private Braavosi tub. Then, without wasting any more time, she opened it directly before the famed courtesan. And just like that, the Westerosi got to see what the veteran courtesan's face looked like when driven by absolute shock. Despite the gravity of the situation, she couldn't help but smirk in amusement for a moment.

"Is that...is that a...?" The brown-skinned beauty trailed off, at a loss for words.

"A dragon egg? Unfortunately, yes," Arya said with a grimace. "I don't know all the details and what little I do know comes from a letter I found after, well, the writer was already dead, so it's not like I could verify his words," She began, sad at feeling the need to lie but wanting to give her an excuse to deny her involvement. "But to cut a long story short, I found this on the night I killed Meryn Trant for killing my water dancer mentor. It seems he won it on a bet in King's Landing and was hoping he could sell it in Braavos to a rich customer."

"Right," Bellegere said slowly. "And I imagine that you are afraid of keeping it in your person for much longer as it might link you to his ****, even though his delegation already returned to Westeros by now."

"You could say that," Arya said replied, trying to control the tone of her voice as she lied to the woman that made her feel so desired. "But then I remembered what you said about tracing your ancestry to King Aegon IV and I thought that, well, maybe you would be interested in buying it from for a lot less than usual but enough for me to pay passage on a good ship to cross the Narrow Sea?" She asked with a hopeful tone.

At that, the Black Pearl of Braavos finally shifted her gaze from the dragon egg to look at her thoughtfully, as if analyzing several things at once. "Well, being a courtesan of my reputation does mean I have a lot more gold than usual for women in my profession," She acknowledged. "Besides, I would definitely be interested in connecting a bit more with my ancestral blood of the dragons, and it's hard to do better these days than getting one of these rare eggs. Who knows, maybe I could even find a way to hatch it like Daenerys Targaryen did when she gained the title of Mother of dragons," Her lover said with a sudden smirk as she toyed with the idea. "Maybe I could call myself the Black Pearl of Dragons then."

Then her expression turned more serious. "But tell me, have you have grown tired of Braavos then?"

The Northern woman flinched a bit at that. She hadn't expected to get caught up so emotionally with Bellegere but she still needed to leave, for both their sakes. "Not really. But I receive news that my brother Jon is still alive and...I am afraid of being too late to reunite with another member of my family again," She admitted.

Bellegere's eyes became full of sympathy at that statement. "I understand. Not that many years ago, I was too late to see the previous Black Pearl, my mother Bellonara, in the palace of the rich merchant prince she married when she retired, before illness took her. That's certainly a terrible feeling."

Then she sighed. "Alright, I will buy it from you and instruct the captain of a ship I know, that often that trades wine from the Free Cities with White Harbor, to take you with him. I will also recommend him to give you a cabin. Believe me, he won't say no to me. And don't you worry, a dragon egg is worth more than just the price of passage across the Narrow Sea so I will also give you enough gold to take you farther than that in the North if you want. Still, I was growing fond of you and was starting to hope you would join me here. I think I am going to miss you."

"I would hope," Arya said as she teared up a bit. "Because I am sure as hell going to miss you. Like I told you before, I suspect I am going to treasure the memories of my first time forever. So...thank you," She whispered.

Bellegere sighed again, this time even harder. Then she looked at the Westerosi woman as if trying to up her mind about something. Finally, she nodded almost imperceptively.

"Last I heard, the captain I was talking about won't be heading to the docks to load his ship for departure for at least a couple of hours more because most of his crew members got drunk last night," The exotic beauty told her with softness in her tone. "So, we are going to have to wait a little while anyway before I can talk to him. And I don't have any other customers that reserved their time with me for the day so...do you want to sleep beside me before you have to leave?"

Arya's lips started quivering at that. She had expected many things when she set out on her journey to Braavos, most of them involving her quest for ****. But never had she contemplated getting her heart broken by having to leave a lover behind. Hating herself a little for showing such weakness but unable to help it, she nodded, her head trembling a bit.

Bellegere shook her head at that with sadness in her gaze and hugged her naked form for a long moment. Arya gripped her tightly, smelling the essence of her wonderful body at that moment. But eventually, they broke away and the Black Pearl led her to the room that will pass for their bedchamber for the next few hours.

And the she-wolf of Winterfell settled down, trying to get used to the idea of getting to enjoy the presence of her first mate one last time.

Jon smiled when he saw the vast layer of fog. According to the orientation senses that he was getting from his previous wish, he knew for a fact that he had almost arrived at Braavos.

"It seems making you recover your energy with my powers does wonder for your speed, girl," Jon said, stating the obvious with a smile. "We have reached the city faster than I thought we would."

His winged behemoth seemed to hum in contentment when he vigorously petted her neck. But then the wind blew much harder and the fog started to depart. Before long, the city of Braavos and it's imposing, sculpted fortress known as the Titan, emerged into view.

Jon raised an eyebrow at that. It isn't often that he saw structures that impressed him much now that he had seen the Wall but then again, this was one of the Nine Wonders Made by Man, according to the book he had always loved reading when he still lived in Winterfell, that had been written by the famous traveler Lomas Longstrider. And now that he looked at it in person, the gigantic statue that housed an entire military garrison within it certainly qualified as a wonder in his eyes.

He was snapped out of his thoughts, however, when his companion started snarling and picked up the pace. Concerned, Jon tried to steer her back up to the clouds above but she seemed determined to press on forward...and only then did he realized that his mighty she-dragon might have regarded the image of such a colossal statue of a warrior, much taller than even her, as a dangerous threat.

Before he could concentrate enough to word a wish that would allow him to calm her down and get out of sight, the only tamed Ice Dragon in the known world landed her talons on the top of the enormous bronze helmet and roared as loudly as she could.

Then, for a brief, paralyzing moment of dread, there was absolute silence in the city below. But screams soon echoed across the lagoon and countless guards and sailors pointed at them in alarm. Jon cursed. It seemed his original plan to hide his dragon while quickly searching for Arya has been shattered after getting frozen solid.

And they had just painted an enormous target on their backs in full view of a city filled with proud people whose ancestors had fleed the Dragonlords of Old Valyria once upon a time.