Shireen Baratheon left after what seemed to be a millennium of her just talking, not that Taelerys really minded the child. The child seemed to be lonely and sad, but the way her face lit up at telling stories of the dragons of Valyria made Taelerys feel something she hadn't felt in a long time.

Home.

Shireen reminded her of home and….Arya Stark.

Taelerys felt a twist in her stomach from thinking about the little wolf. She missed the times in the study where they would talk and laugh about daily activities or how much of a ninny Sansa was. Or how Arya would relentlessly tease her over Jon Snow. Those good times were gone once again, taken from her by the Lannisters twice over. Taelerys didn't even know if Arya was still alive. No one had heard so much as a peep about her since the war had started, worrying her and Catelyn a great deal. There was plenty to be said of Sansa, who was alive and well in King's Landing. Though Taly doubted that she was treated well given what type of being Joffrey and his brethren were. Joffrey would make sure that Sansa was miserable and that the Starks suffered. What if that blond-haired bastard tortured and killed Arya? Joffrey hated her with every inch of his body for what happened at the Trident.

Taelerys closed her eyes and shifted uncomfortably on her bed, trying not to think about it. The whole situation frightened and overwhelmed her. She would get on her knees and pray the Gods if she knew they were real, if they were at all compassionate to their subjects. So far, Taelerys felt that she had experienced none.

She stayed inside her room reading some of the books that Shireen had left her until it grew dark outside. Taelerys was relieved when the long hours were at last over. Now, she could get some sleep and would no longer had to be awake. Being awake and doing nothing was the worst thing for her.

But that reprieve was short lived when the night was at its darkest. Taelerys saw a bright light pouring through her window and heard a noisy crowd from outside the castle. She tried to ignore the chatter, constantly tossing and turning in the unfamiliar bed. But found Taly found that she couldn't when she heard the voice of the Red Priestess from earlier. Taelerys wasn't listening to what she was saying, but it sounded entrancing. Yet, somehow Taelerys felt confused as it sounded as if the Red Priestess were talking right beside her. Even though she was outside on the beach.

Irritated as well as curious, Taelerys climbed out of bed and walked to the window. On the shores of Dragonstone, in the dark of the night, stood a large number of people crowded around stakes. The beach was illuminated with fiery torches. They were far away, but the first person that Taelerys could spot was the Red Priestess. Her distinctive dark red hair and attire seemed to glow like the fire surrounding her. Taelerys guessed that the two people standing beside her were Stannis and his queen, Selyse.

She pulled the blanket around her body more closely. A sick feeling formed in her stomach when Taelerys saw the stakes and realized people were tied to them. The Red Priestess held out her arms, her baggy red sleeves blowing through the wind. "Accept these tokens of our faith, my Lord, and lead us from the darkness!" She spoke to the crowd, as a couple of people stepped forward and set the stakes aflame. "Lord of Light protect us!" the Red Priestess sang aloud, throwing her head back to the dark skies in ecstasy.

"Here us now my Lord for you were offer up these tokens, that you may cleanse them with fire and you will light our way!" The crowd began to chant. "Here us now my Lord for you were offer up these tokens, that you may cleanse them with fire and light our way!"

There was one distinctive voice that shouted louder than the rest, that Taelerys could make out. The voice of a man riddled with pain and suffering. Those voices were always the ones that Taelerys noticed first. "Selyse!" A man's voice cried out desperately. "Please, I'm your brother! SELYSE! PLEASE!"

No one did anything to stop it as the flames consumed him, not even his own sister. Taelerys watched in horror and recognition as the whole beach lit up with the sickening yellow glow of fire. His cries soon turned to screams of agony, they were so heart wrenching that Taelerys had to look away. Those sounds were all too familiar to her. After a few moments, they were silent and all she could hear was the loud chanting of the crowd and the crackling of burnt flesh. Taelerys tried covering her ears but found that even as she slept, that she could not drown out the screams.

Taelerys hated the darkness and how foreign it was to her, but she preferred it over a fire any day. The blood of the dragon that hated fire. She sat at the edge of her bed, her body trembling in terror at what she had just witnessed. It had been eighteen years since she had last seen someone burned alive. Since the fall of her family, Taelerys thought that the barbaric days of burning people alive were over. She tried not to think about her father and the burnings but found that she just couldn't get it out of her head. Her stomach was starting to act up and Taelerys was doing her best not to get sick. It was always hard to eat or not lose her own sanity when the traumatic parts of her past resurfaced.

"It'll be okay. You're going to be okay, Taly," she tried to reassure herself, concentrating on her breathing. "You will be okay. You always make it out okay."

Deep down she knew it wasn't going to be okay. Usually her breathing techniques would work whenever Taelerys would get nightmares about her father or the rebellion. None of it was working now. Her heart was still beating fast and her mind was too full to empty. Sleep should've been the last thing on her mind after witnessing something as horrific as that, but Taelerys couldn't handle being awake. "If only I had nightshade." She sighed heavily to herself.

There was a light rapping at the door. Taelerys immediately froze from where she sat at the end of her bed. She was so startled by it that she almost shrieked. Taelerys didn't understand what anyone would want with her at this hour, but figured that it couldn't be good. Paranoid, she slowly reached for Blackfyre, which was hidden underneath her pillow. "Who is it?" Taelerys asked warily.

"Melisandre of Asshai, may I speak with you for a moment?" came the exotic voice of a woman.

Taelerys figured that it was the Red Priestess she met earlier, who burned those people alive just a few hours ago. "What do you want?" demanded Taelerys in an unfriendly tone.

"To speak with you," She replied. "May I open the door?"

The door was already open before Taelerys could say no. She was nearly blinded by the bright burning candle that Melisandre held. The red woman seemed to hold the room with contempt. "It's rather dark in here," she commented.

"A keen observation," Taelerys said through gritted teeth. "This couldn't wait until morning? I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow."

Melisandre picked up a wick from the table and started lighting the candles in the room. One by one, they soon filled the room with flickering light. "No, it could not," Melisandre answered in a bold tone. "You can catch up on your rest during the journey back to your pointless war."

Taelerys glared at the red woman with only venom in her eyes. She wanted to let this Asshai'i to know that she was not welcome here.

"Well, get on with it then, what do you want?" Taelerys snorted.

Melisandre wasn't at all bothered by the unwelcoming presence from Taelerys. She strode across the room to stoke the dying fire, much to the irate of the Targaryen. The last thing she wanted to see was a fire. Melisandre tossed a couple of logs into the kernels before standing up at Taelerys with a light smile. Her hand was extended towards the burning ambers.

"I want to help you." She simply answered.

Taelerys let out a sneer and before could give her another response, the once dying fire immediately roared to life.

Taelerys sat on her bed startled as the flames thundered and flickered wildly like a bonfire. She didn't understand how a fire could get so bright and tall out of nowhere. Her eyes squinted since the flames overwhelmed the room with its light. No fire could do that naturally. After a couple of moments, the cackling flames died down to just a simple fire.

"You have the gift of blood and fire," Melisandre stated.

That statement immediately made her blood begin to boil, Taelerys was quick to respond. "You and Stannis seem to have the gift of blood and fire as well," Taelerys retorted in a scornful tone. "Like how you burned those people alive on stakes tonight? I knew a king who enjoyed doing that too, you're not from Westeros so I'll give you a brief history lesson, it destroyed him and his family in the end. What you see is all that is left of the once great House."

Melisandre had a smile of disapproval on her full lips, looking at Taelerys as if she were a educating a child. "Aerys Targaryen was not a true dragon," The woman simply responded. "There was no real purpose behind what your father did, Lady Targaryen."

"Stannis isn't a true dragon either, he's a deer. As far as I'm concerned, there's no real purpose behind what you're doing either."

"We take no pleasure in taking their lives away but it must be done." Melisandre explained, walking to the window and lighting a candle. "They are heretics and must be purified, the fire cleansed them of their sins. They are in a better place now."

"Still doesn't sound much different from what my father did, I'm sure he thought the same when he killed people too," Taelerys replied, making herself comfortable on the bed. "And I am certain there are less drastic and less permanent measures to cleanse one's soul rather than I don't know, tying them to a stake and burning them alive!"

There was much bitterness and anger in her voice as she finished the last sentence. Melisandre gave a half-hearted smile to the Targaryen. "Life is not supposed to be rosy," She answered. "Neither is death."

"Is all you have to say about burning people alive? That life isn't supposed to be rosy? The only reason it is like that is because of people like you. There is no such thing as gods, and if there are, I have no desire to worship them. They are cruel and unjust."

Melisandre let out an exhausting sigh. It was so difficult to make the non-believers understand her. They were so steadfast in their own beliefs that they wouldn't listen to reason even if the truth dropped right in front of their feet. This woman had done the impossible and awakened dragons. Yet she refused to believe. The red priestess felt like she was talking to the female incarnation of Ser Davos. "There are no gods, just two. A god of light and everything good, and a god of darkness and everything evil."

Taelerys scoffed at that. "I've learned not to put my faith in any god. My prayers have gone unanswered for far too long and I won't waste time on a god who does not care for their own creations. If you want something done, you do it yourself."

The woman only smiled wider, tilting her head to the side like a cat. Her long, bright red hair spilled to the side. "You think that folly is the truth?" The ruby in the gold choker that she wore seemed to glow as bright as the bleeding comet. "Perhaps it is because you follow false gods and idols that no one has answered your call?"

Taelerys gave her a scornful look. "It is because the followers are just as false as the gods and idols you worship, they are hypocrites who like to hide behind a book that was written by men and use it to push their own sinister agendas and control people," It was her turn to smirk. "Just like that neat parlor trick you did with the fire just now. I've seen plenty of fire breathing performances to know the smell of explosive powder from anywhere."

Despite having exposed Melisandre, the Targaryen was surprised that she showed no hurt or embarrassment at that. The arrogance was starting to eat away at her and it was pissing Taelerys off. Taelerys had to be careful not to lose her temper. 'And breathe dragon fire,' she thought.

The red priestess instead gave her a sly smile. "You're right, it was a deception to make you see the truth. Once you step into the light, you see the truth. A trick that will lead you to the truth."

Taelerys rolled her eyes. "More tricks, more lies. Just like Stannis being the supposed Lord of Light's chosen, Shireen talked my ear off about that one. What sort of spell did you cast on the Baratheons to get them to believe that?"

"They saw the truth in what I spoke, no deceit like I did with the fire tonight," Melisandre answered. "Stannis will be reborn amidst salt and smoke to wake dragons from stone. He will reforge the great sword Lightbringer that defeated the Long Night those thousands of years ago. A terrible weapon forged with a loving wife's heart. The prophesy is almost fulfilled; the dragons have returned as has his wife, Nissa Nissa."

"I believe in that as much as I do in the Children of the fucking Forest," Taelerys sneered. "That is the most asinine thing I have ever heard, as well as the most insulting. Stannis didn't awaken my dragons, I did. Not some evil god of fire who demands you to make human sacrifices to him."

"You awakened dragons from stone and have used magic on a couple of occasions…such as when you were led to Aegon's Vault…the woman looked a lot like your mother didn't she?" Taelerys flinched when Melisandre said that with a glowing smile on her face. 'How the fuck does she know that?' she thought. 'She wasn't even there.'

"You are Nissa Nissa reborn, destined to help Azor Ahai purge the world of the darkness that threatens it once more. Afterwards, you will rule these lands as its queen, for I have seen it in the fire." Melisandre continued. "You bring the fire and magic needed to defeat the darkness of this world."

Taelerys didn't understand how this red priestess honestly expected anyone to believe her, yet a stern and very logical man like Stannis Baratheon somehow did. Maybe there was a certain magic to the madness that this Melisandre preached. Somehow, she knew about the ghost of her mother leading her to Aegon's Vault. Taelerys could think of no other way on how Melisandre turned Stannis into a believer. Though she did have to admit there was an otherworldly feel about this Melisandre, not like all of the other religious or magical fanatics she had seen back in Winterfell. When she gazed into that vibrant red jewel on her neck choker, they strangely felt alive to her. Almost like it had a presence of its own. Melisandre seemed to have a different aura from any other person she had met and that made Taelerys uncomfortable. What Shireen had told her earlier had made her slightly uncomfortable.

"Father has talked about you a lot, Melisandre wants him to marry you." Shireen had said with a smile on her greyscaled face.

Taelerys had nearly spat out her cup of wine when the princess had told her this. "I beg your pardon, Your Highness?"

"Melisandre thinks you're Nissa Nissa, reborn to help my father defeat his foes as his wife and queen."

"Your father is already married to your mother," Taelerys answered back. "Even if that were somehow true, I'd shove Azor Ahai's flaming sword Lightbringer up his ass if he ever tried sacrificing me."

Her response made Shireen giggle and Taelerys felt embarrassed. She apologized to the princess for her foul language. The Targaryen forgot that she wasn't in Winterfell anymore and had to act like a proper lady, even if she hated it. But, she couldn't understand why the child seemed happy about this.

Asked about her mother, Shireen shrugged like it was no big deal to her. "Our ancestor Aegon the Conqueror had two wives and together they ruled the kingdoms," She reasoned, then smiling. "Rhaenys was his favorite wife; for every night he spent with Visenya, he spent ten with Rhaenys."

"Yeah but that was…." Taelerys trailed off, still stunned by the unpleasant thought of marrying Stannis. "What are you saying?"

"I think father would much prefer you over mother; you're young, beautiful, tough…" Shireen trailed off. The thought left Taelerys feeling disgusted although she could understand why Shireen was happy about it. She didn't love her mother. Stannis was old enough to be her own father and wasn't a very attractive man. The only way Taelerys would marry him was if Robb ordered her to do so.

"Mother approves of you too," Shireen told her. "She thinks you would be a better wife and give father the sons he's always wanted. I'd like to have a little brother or even a little sister, but I just don't want father to forget me."

"I hope he doesn't either," Taelerys muttered, knowing how cold a man Stannis was. "Maybe he was meant to just have you, but that isn't a bad thing, princess. Look at how far I've come and I'm a woman."

Shireen smiled and hugged the Targaryen. They were very distant cousins, but the princess couldn't help but feel that they were close relatives. Taelerys patted the small girl on her head. The light had refracted off of the dry grey scales on her face.

Taelerys didn't want to end up like Lysa Tully did in having to marry Lord Stark's father figure, Jon Arryn. The thought of marrying Stannis nonetheless disturbed her. There was only reason he would want to marry her. Stannis did want her children, but he didn't want her sons.

He wanted her dragons.

Those were her children and Taelerys wouldn't give them up even if Robb ate Mad King's berries and ordered her to.

The fire crackling loudly brought Taelerys out of her cloud of thoughts, as did the incoherent mumblings of Melisandre. She knelt before the fireplace, poking at the burning wood with a metal rod. Her red eyes met the Targaryen's violet ones through a curtain of crimson hair. "If you want proof, my lady, all you have to do is look into the flames," Melisandre told her. "There's a great power in you, you resist it and that's your mistake. Stannis has Valyrian blood in his veins, as does Shireen, but so do you, my lady."

"Just a drop of dragon's blood," Taelerys sneered. "But that seems to be more than enough as Stannis is already burning people alive like the last king did."

Melisandre ignored her comment, reveling in her religious conviction. "The dragon has three heads, you have only two for now." she described dreamily, gazing into the fire

"That sounds even more far-fetched than the visions," she scoffed. "I do believe in magic, but unlike you and Stannis, I don't need it. I use my two hands and feet to accomplish my goals."

"You're going to need more than just your two hands and feet to defeat the great darkness, my lady,"

"The only darkness I see here is people," Taelerys retorted, letting out a yawn. She was growing tired of this conversation and needed her sleep. Taelerys noticed the flames reflecting within the red eyes of the red priestess. She knew that the priestess was fanatical in her beliefs and wouldn't stop anyway. The Targaryen wondered if she really could use magic. Melisandre was staring into the vibrant orange and yellow flickering flames. "You won't stop using magic, Lady Targaryen, for I am seeing it right now," she replied with a slight gasp. The red priestess was in a trance. "I see…the third dragon…it will be born soon. You know what it takes to bring a dragon back to stone, and you will do it again. The dragon has three heads after all, you only have two."

"Well unless a stork wants to drop that third dragon egg in my lap, that isn't going to happen anytime soon." Taelerys retorted with irritancy.

The red priestess seemed amused by her foul language and impudence. As she gracefully walked towards the doorframe, Melisandre stood in front of Taelerys. "We will meet again, my lady," she told her. "I hope with time that you will change your mind and join us. There is so much I can teach you."

"There is nothing I can learn from you, witch."

"If you don't believe me, say a prayer to the Lord of Light and gaze into the fire," Melisandre explained. "But be careful, for the night is dark and full of terrors."

"The night is late and I need my sleep," Taelerys said, motioning her hand to the door frame. "There's the door."

Her dragon dreams were filled with wildfire that night. The screams of all the men and women burned alive by her father rang throughout her mind. The deranged smile and yellow teeth of her father. His eyes glistening with rage and paranoia. Taelerys woke up at dawn, just as it was starting to get light out. Her head collapsed on the pillow after realizing it was just a dream. To calm herself down, Taelerys sang a quiet tune that Shireen had taught her the day before. The soft voice of her song remained stuck in her head until she fell asleep in darkness once more.

'It's always summer, under the sea

I know, I know, oh, oh, oh

The birds have scales, and the fish take wing

I know, I know, oh, oh, oh

The rain is dry, and the snow falls up

I know, I know, oh, oh, oh'

Super sorry for the long update, was finishing up my CNA course at college and FINALLY had spare time to finish this chapter. I was waiting so long for Taelerys to talk with Melisandre and boy did they have a lot to say to each other. The next chapter gets more interesting, I promise. Please leave a review or a like and hopefully I'll be more frequent in my updates. That Season 7 trailer though! I'M SO EXCITED! :D