"Aegon Targaryen?" one of the attendees stammered in sheer disbelief after moments of complete silence.
Jon nodded with a small smile on his face. "Yes."
He could understand their perplexity. This news was no so casual as he had dropped.
"My father, Rhaegar Targaryen, had not kidnapped my mother, Lyanna," he explained further, not wanting them to misunderstand. "My mother loved my father, and both of them fled willingly."
Each word that Jon spoke was like a hammer, drilling more and more shock into them.
"Why did they take such an action?" he continued. "Why did they not inform anyone, even after the war broke out? Why did they let everything fall as a landslide and let situation turn bad to worse?"
"I do not know the answers," Jon admitted. "But I intend to find them. For I believe there are some people who might have a fair idea of what truly happened."
Jon did not elaborate any further, nor did he intend to. And more than people to find the truth, he wanted to rely on his abilities as a greenseer.
"I am telling you all this because I trust you," Jon said. "And I hope that my words do not leave this room. I do not want to hear anything about this whispered as rumour."
Though Jon's words were calm, there was an edge in his voice that sent a cold chill down the spines of those present on the terrace.
"Am I clear?" he boomed.
"Yes, my Lord," everyone answered without a moment's delay.
Jon flashed a content smile.
"Now," he said after a few moments of silence, "let us move to the second secret."
"This secret might appear more relevant to those who have been staying here in Meereen. For those who have only arrived today, this section of the manor was restricted for everyone except certain few individuals. No one could enter this area without my explicit permission."
"People staying here must have wondered why," he added, his gaze settling on Grey Worm and Asmund. Both of them gave awkward smiles. Surely, they had wondered.
Jon chuckled in amusement at their reaction. He could not really blame them for being curious.
"There was a reason for me taking this measure," Jon continued. "And perhaps I can display it better than by speaking in words."
Jon nudged a slight mental command. For the first few moments nothing seemed to happen, and the gathering looked at him in confusion, wondering what Lord Aeos was doing. And then it happened.
A sudden flurry of wings filled the air, and five great creatures landed on the terrace behind Jon. The dragons did nothing special but their presence loomed over the gathering and a dangerous current seemed to fill the air.
Every person, except Jon and the three ladies, reeled in shock as they shot up from their seats. A few were so stunned they nearly lost their balance and stumbled to the ground. This was not something they could have even expected in their dreams. Perhaps, they could have not expected anything that had happened today in their dreams. And it was the biggest of them all.
"Dragons?" Freydron mumbled, his eyes bulging in sheer disbelief. He could not comprehend what he was seeing. Five dragons. Grey Worm, Asmund and Missandei too had their eyes bulging and expressions of pure shock on their faces.
All of them wanted to ask the same question. Dragons? If Lord Aeos had merely told them in words, they might hardly have believed him but now the truth was staring them in the face. They could not deny it.
Their hearts beat frantically, sweat drenched their bodies, and fear slowly crawled into their chests as they looked into the eyes of the beasts. They instinctively wanted to take few steps backwards out of terror. The ominous and dangerous presence of the dragons screamed at them that this was no dream. It was reality. A reality staring straight into their faces.
Thankfully, the dragons did not continue to fix their gaze on them for long. They simply walked away and sprawled lazily in the corner of the terrace. Only then did the officials' breathing return to normal.
"Seat down everyone," Jon said.
His words snapped the attention of the gathering. They took deep breaths to calm themselves and one by one they took their seats. Even so silent reigned in for the next few moments. Their eyes constantly darted towards the dragons and then they exchanged glances among each other. Jon did not interrupt them and allowed them get their best state of mind. He could understand their shock and the awe that they had been feeling. A dragon was not something whose presence could be acknowledged so easily.
"Relax," Jon's voice pulled the gathering's attention back to him and away from the dragons. "These are dragons only. It is not the first time they have existed in the world. It has just been about a century since they died off."
They stared at him with unblinking eyes. Dragons only? So casual? It was a thing of legend. Although they had known that dragons had existed in the past, seeing it with their own eyes was a different matter altogether. And dragons had been brought back in the world.
"It is not as though I have placed an undead or a White Walker in front of you," Jon added with a chuckle.
A ripple of uneasy laughter, thin and nervous, passed through the gathering, mingling with the fading anxiety.
Jon understood well enough, they took the mention of the undead and the White Walkers as nothing more than a jest, bedtime stories. Even in the North of Westeros, where people should have been most familiar with the tales, they were treated as myths. He could only imagine what the people of Essos thought of them.
But one day, he knew, he would be placing those very creatures before their eyes. Not a lot of them would be fighting against the undead, most of them would remain in Essos but everyone will learn the truth.
Jon's sharp gaze did not miss the slight tension that flickered through Melisandre at the mention of White Walkers and the undead. Apart from him, perhaps she was the only one at the terrace who truly knew the danger lurking beyond the Wall.
"Now that I have revealed about the dragons," Jon said. "It is time we discuss our next phase of plan. Cities which we will be capturing."
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