Jon is beginning to understand that for whatever reason, Targaryens (Valyrians?) are simply built different.
Not just the feat that he's witnessing now with a man old enough to be his grandsire by Westerosi standards casually swinging himself up into a dragon's saddle in midair, but tales of other Targaryens he heard through poems and songs, not to mention his aunt.
Daenerys was known as The Unburnt, and the forces she brought with her from Essos had spoken of her hatching her dragon eggs in her Dothraki husband's funeral pyre and walked through and inferno that claimed the lives of many powerful horselords. All without being scorched, not a single flame left marks upon her.
Which left him. Unremarkable Jon Snow, former bastard, former corpse, current knower of absolutely nothing.
Like why Dany never bothered to fit any of her dragons with saddles, as clearly saddling a dragon was possible. Even with only mounting Drogon, it made no sense to simply hold on and hope for the best. The spikes on Rhaegal's back had cut into his fingers the first time he took flight, and it was a feat in and of itself for someone so woefully unexperienced as he was to not topple off the dragon's back into the sea.
He's made a point to keep a pair of gloves on his person at all times since and is thankfully already donning them now, allowing him to rush over to Rhaegal and shimmy up the dragon's side. Lacking the finesse (AND SADDLE) to seat himself as swiftly as Daemon does, it takes him a moment to get situated before the green dragon spreads his his wings and lifts up into the air.
A valiant effort is made to catch up to Caraxes, but it's clear that Jon has had no formal instruction in how to do any of this. Rhaegal is young and agile, but his rider is inexperienced and prior to laying claim to the last remaining Targaryen outside of his mother, he had spent the majority of his time either chained up or trailing obediently in Drogon's wake.
rewrote this tag for better wording at an hour not 3AM
Not just the feat that he's witnessing now with a man old enough to be his grandsire by Westerosi standards casually swinging himself up into a dragon's saddle in midair, but tales of other Targaryens he heard through poems and songs, not to mention his aunt.
Daenerys was known as The Unburnt, and the forces she brought with her from Essos had spoken of her hatching her dragon eggs in her Dothraki husband's funeral pyre and walked through and inferno that claimed the lives of many powerful horselords. All without being scorched, not a single flame left marks upon her.
Which left him. Unremarkable Jon Snow, former bastard, former corpse, current knower of absolutely nothing.
Like why Dany never bothered to fit any of her dragons with saddles, as clearly saddling a dragon was possible. Even with only mounting Drogon, it made no sense to simply hold on and hope for the best. The spikes on Rhaegal's back had cut into his fingers the first time he took flight, and it was a feat in and of itself for someone so woefully unexperienced as he was to not topple off the dragon's back into the sea.
He's made a point to keep a pair of gloves on his person at all times since and is thankfully already donning them now, allowing him to rush over to Rhaegal and shimmy up the dragon's side. Lacking the finesse (AND SADDLE) to seat himself as swiftly as Daemon does, it takes him a moment to get situated before the green dragon spreads his his wings and lifts up into the air.
A valiant effort is made to catch up to Caraxes, but it's clear that Jon has had no formal instruction in how to do any of this. Rhaegal is young and agile, but his rider is inexperienced and prior to laying claim to the last remaining Targaryen outside of his mother, he had spent the majority of his time either chained up or trailing obediently in Drogon's wake.
Newbies. Both of them.