Winterfell 305 AC.
Aegon Targaryen.
They were standing outside the keep when he felt it, Aegon smiling as he looked to see the familiar white blur. Moving away from Dany he raised his hand to tell them not to worry and then a moment later he was knocked to the ground. Ghost's tongue on his face had him laughing loudly, the sound echoing around the courtyard and when he looked up he saw Dany looking at him curiously, while others looked warier.
"Come boy, there's someone I wish you to meet." Aegon said wiping his face only for the wolf to lick him once more.
Rising to his feet he put his hand in Ghost's fur and moved towards Dany, giving Grey Worm and Jorah a look to put them at ease.
"Dany, this is Ghost my Direwolf." he said and looked on eagerly as Dany put her hand out, Ghost sniffing it and then giving it a lick which made her giggle.
When Ghost moved to push her to the ground, Aegon moved forward to stop him, the wolf giving him a look which he knew all too well.
"Rub him, he particularly likes it here." he whispered in her ear as he rubbed Ghost behind his.
Aegon stared at her face as she began to rub the wolf, Ghost leaning into her touch and he felt so happy that his truest friend accepted her so easily.
"He's so soft, Jon." Dany said looking at him, her eyes alight as her hands moved over Ghost's fur.
"Aye, he is. Don't let the softness fool you though, he's just like Drogon or Rhaegal, he can be deadly when he wishes to be, can't you boy?" he said and Ghost just gave him a look that had Dany laughing louder.
"If I didn't know better Jon Snow, I'd say your Direwolf just snorted at you." she said and he smirked knowing Ghost had done just that.
They were standing there when Davos walked out from the hall with Ned Umber, the boy looking at him with worry in his eyes while Davos had an annoyed look on his face. It was the boy who spoke first, Aegon looking down at him and seeing he was shaking a little.
"Do you really intend to leave your… my lord?" Ned Umber asked.
"My queen is not wanted here, Ned, so aye, I'll leave, before I do though I'll see you and yours safe, you have my word on that." he said and the young lord looked at him both relieved and with something akin to wonder in his eyes.
"I'll see to the wagons and horses, Lord Snow, Your Grace." Ned said running off.
"How goes it in there?" he asked Davos.
"They don't believe you, they want Sansa as their queen, they think you'll change your mind. Some think you're a traitor to the North. What was the old Bloodraven song again, a thousand eyes and one, well the North is worse than the Free Folk, a thousand voices and one." Davos said.
"Sansa's being the loudest no doubt." he said bitterly.
"Sansa is a better politician than I, Jon, she never says out loud what others can say for her. What are you going to do?" Davos asked.
"Exactly what I told them I would. My queen, can you order your army to make ready to depart, it seems my lesson hasn't been taken to heart." Aegon said.
"And should it not be, Jon? Will you leave the North?" She asked.
"I'll see to those who deserve to be helped, the rest can deal with the fucking Night King for all I care. If you'll forgive me I'd like to say goodbye to my gods, I may not get a chance to do so here again." he said walking away.
He looked to Ghost and motioned to Dany, the wolf taking up position by her side as Aegon walked to the godswood. Entering through the gate he felt a sense of peace he hadn't felt in some time and soon he was kneeling in front of the Heart Tree. The old gods were silent, usually, that was, but not anymore. Since he had woken from the vision on the boat he'd heard them whisper at the corner of his mind, now they were shouting.
Teach them.
Let them learn the truth.
Protect our people.
Even from themselves Aegon.
He sat back and took out Longclaw. Finding the cloth that his uncle used to clean Ice with, he began to do the very same thing. His mind rushed through the thoughts of what he would do, he couldn't force people to come with him, even if that would make things far easier. Aegon knew also that if he left the North he left them to their deaths. As angry and frustrated, even as downright bitter he was at so many of the people around him, he wasn't sure he could do that either.
Standing up he put Longclaw back in his scabbard, he'd still not resolved what he would do, though he knew it would be people he saved. The lords could go fuck themselves, Sansa could go fuck herself. He looked at the face in the tree, the scowl probably matching the one on his own face, and then he turned. He'd heard her from the moment she'd entered into the Godswood. Though he wondered if it was because he'd actually come here to wait for her that he'd been so much more alert than last time.
"You used to be much taller." she said her face bereft of any emotion.
"How did you sneak up on me?" he asked, the words not his own but he needed to know if she was his little sister still.
"How did you survive a knife through the heart?" she asked.
"I didn't.".
When he saw her smile, gods it was as if he was a boy again and she the little girl he loved most in the world. He grabbed her when she ran to him, feeling her arms around his, and knowing now what he didn't then, so he held her for quite some time. He fought the tears and held them back and then his façade broke, damn them, damn them all, she was his sister, his partner in crime, underfoot by name and nature. The one who looked like him and felt like him, Arya was an outsider here just like he had been, just like he was once more.
"I missed you, little sister, I missed you so much, forgive me, please." he said as he let her down, Arya looking to his face and seeming shocked by the tears in his eyes.
"Jon?".
"I should have come for you, found you, I should have looked for you, I'm sorry Arya, I'm sorry." he said and she hugged him again, Aegon barely hearing the words she said in his ear.
When he let her down a second time he looked to see the sword on her hip, his gift still with her after all these years and he felt his heart still for a moment.
"You still have it?" he said watching as she took it out and presented it to him.
"Needle." she said happily.
"Have you ever used it?" he asked knowing the answer.
"Once or twice." she said almost worried that he'd condemn her for it.
"Better them than you little sister, remember that always." he said smiling at her surprised to see the smile she gave him back was a full one.
He took out Longclaw and handed it to her, seeing the eager look she gave the sword.
"Valyrian Steel." she said, her voice, not one he expected, there was no wonder and he remembered that little girl he loved was not fully who she was now.
"Too heavy for me." she said as he took it back.
He reached out and touched her shoulder, the time had come to find out the truth. Was the girl in front of him a wolf or had she died in Braavos or Harrenhal or even way back in King's Landing.
"Where were you before? I could have used your help, with Sansa."
"She doesn't like your queen, does she?" Arya said looking at his hand.
"Sansa thinks she's smarter than everyone." he said simply, though he once again felt his heart still.
"She's the smartest person I've ever met." Arya said and he closed his eyes and sighed, the girl was gone and this stranger had taken her place, The Starks had truly died when they went south.
"You're defending her, you?" he said with a small laugh.
"I'm defending our family, So is she."
"I'm her family too."
"Don't forget that." she said hugging him but he pushed her away, the look on her face one of surprise.
"I never have, I'm the only one of us who hasn't. You think Sansa is so smart, that she cares for our family? Truly? She's the smartest person you know? Then my little sister needs to expand her circle because she's been spending her time with idiots and fools." he said angrily.
"Jon?" she said as he moved away, turning his back on her so he could gather his thoughts.
"When she arrived at Castle Black, I thought she was broken. I wanted to see her safe but it took me some time to realize something, deep inside she's the same as she always was, the same spoilt child who wants and wants and thinks she deserves. She didn't come to me because I was her family, she came because she had no place else to go." he said looking at her as he began to laugh.
"Jon?" she asked her face scrunched up, confusion, worry, concern, her emotions were fleeting and hard for him to pin down.
"The damnable thing about it was I didn't even see her. I saw you and the idea that it could have been you, not her, who came to my gate, who that monster had…."
"It wasn't." she said softly.
"Aye, I fucking know it wasn't. Had it been you then I may not have nearly died again and Rickon may be alive right now, or did she not tell you of our brother?" he asked seeing her look at him and shake her head.
"He died, Ramsay Snow killed him." she said.
"Aye he did, but there's more to it, maybe she is the smartest person you know after all, she clearly knew enough not to tell you the truth of it."
"Truth?".
"Sansa believed that the North would just come running, our name enough to make it so, nothing I said could convince her otherwise. Want to know how smart that idea was, how that turned out?"
She shook her head and he felt his lip curl.
"Exactly as I fucking told her, I brought the Free Folk, Davos got us Bear Island, we gathered some others but everywhere we went we were sent on our way. Glover, Manderly, all of them turned up their noses, the Stark name was not enough you see, not against men who'd flay you alive."
"Traitors." she said bitterly.
"Hah, the North is full of fucking traitors, even blood doesn't stop it, or did Sansa speak up for me when I was trying to bring allies here to save the North?" he asked seeing her look to the ground "Not the first time she went behind my back, at least she's fucking consistent."
"What do you mean?".
"When we were in Castle Black she met with Littlefinger, he offered her an army but she kept it and the meeting to herself. The night before we readied to fight, guess what our sister said about our brother, this sister of ours who you say who defends family so diligently?"
"Jon I…"
"I said fucking guess?" he said startling her and he saw her there once more, the little girl who'd curled up beside him in bed on a stormy night, who'd cried in his arms when she thought herself a bastard too.
"I don't know." Arya said softly.
"That Rickon was already dead, that we couldn't save him, that we shouldn't even try." he said seeing the angry look on her face "That night I knew I'd likely die on the morrow, we didn't have the men, the fight was here and we didn't have the men."
"The Knights of the Vale, she said they rode for her, that you lost the Battle of the Bastards." Arya said looking to him.
"Aye I did, I took to the field with what I had, came up with a piss poor plan but better than what I ended up doing. They dragged him out in front of me, held a knife to his throat, and then the bastard made him run. All our plans, all our chances of victory relied on them coming to me, but when I saw my brother run, what was I supposed to do? According to Sansa, leave him to die, is that defending our family?" he asked angrily.
"No."
"No. So I raced to him, he was one a few feet away from me when he fell and the bastard had lured me out into the middle of the field. My horse died and I knew it was the end, but I've died before, I'm just a bastard right, what do I have to live for?" he said and heard her whisper.
"You're my brother." she said though her words were barely heard.
"My men came for me and then we were boxed in and finally when it looked over, the Fucking Knights of the Vale came. The battle was won, and it was only my brother who had died. Do you want to know something funny though something I only found out later?" he asked.
"What?" she asked.
"I fell, under a mass of bodies, and saw the darkness. I found the will to live from somewhere and fought my way back to the top, and then the horns sounded and the Knights of the Vale were riding toward us." he said laughing.
"How is that funny?"
"Because they only started to ride when I fell, not when we were fighting, not when my men were dying, not when Rickon died or not when we were being surrounded, they rode when I fell."
"What are you saying, Jon?" she asked looking to him.
"Later she apologized, she should have told me about the Knights she said, sorry she said. As if that brings back the men we lost, good men, men who fought for me. As if that brings back my brother. Defends our family, Sansa defends herself, and now she's going to have to." he said moving away and heading to the gate.
"Jon." Arya called after him.
"She doesn't like my queen, good, she can fight without her, without the armies she brings, the dragons she bring. She can fight without her and without me, maybe she has another secret force in reserve, we'll soon find out."
"Jon." Arya shouted as he moved further away, Aegon stopping to look back sadly at her.
"I Should have gone to the ends of the known world for you. Arya, I'm sorry I didn't, believe me, I'll always be sorry for that."
He walked out the gate to see some of the lords walk from the hall, enjoying the shocked look on their faces when they saw the Unsullied and Dothraki pack up their things. Aegon found himself whistling as he walked by them, the glares they gave him not even registering as he went looking for Dany.
Winterfell 305 AC.
Sansa.
She couldn't believe it, it was just as Littlefinger had said her brother, no her half brother, had lost his mind and more between the dragon queen's legs. Lord Glover had put it in far cruder terms and while she agreed with him, she'd not lower herself to say such a thing. Seeing Daenerys Targaryen in the flesh had left her unimpressed. This tiny thing had somehow managed to bring dragons, savages, eunuchs, and now Jon to her side.
Cersei had the right of it, tears weren't a woman's only weapon, the best one was between her legs. Sansa though wasn't like these weak men, she'd not be enraptured or denied. It was her that won the Battle of the Bastards, Jon had lost and would have been dead if not for her. Should she have held back longer? Waited to be sure that he was? She hadn't wished to see him dead, hadn't wanted it, but the more she thought of it, the more it was looking like a mistake that she had not.
Littlefinger had told her they'd name her queen and she'd believed him. Surely they'd pick her father's trueborn heir over his bastard son. She'd see that Jon was looked after she had thought, he could be the general in her armies. She would even name him Lord of something, not the Dreadfort or anything too important, that may be dangerous, but she'd not see him out on the streets. Then she'd watched on in horror as it wasn't her that was named, or given her rightful credit for winning the battle, instead, they'd named Jon, and for why? Because of what he had between his legs and what she didn't.
But then over time, she'd heard the whispers too, men calling her brother a traitor and saying they should have named her queen. Even now in this hall men named her brother a liar, an oath breaker, and a traitor to the North. Oh, not loud enough so Jon may hear, none of them were that brave. Some were calling the army of the dead and the Night King a myth, a way for Jon to exert control. Others speaking up about the dragon queen herself, she sighed when she heard Robb being mentioned and Jon now being claimed to be just like him.
Both of them were fools, who'd lost their crowns because they believed themselves in love. Sansa knew better, love was a myth, a tale told in books she no longer read or believed in. Love didn't compare to duty and the words of her mother's house rang in her ears. Family, Duty, Honor, Jon had honor, he loved family, and he would do his duty, as would she.
"My lords, My lords, please, this is getting us nowhere?" she said her voice as regal as she could make it.
"My lady, your brother, if he leaves?" Lord Wyman said.
"Jon would never leave the North, my lords. I have no doubt of that." Sansa said assuredly.
"But Lord Snow, just threatened to do so, you think that's a mummery?" Lord Cerwyn asked.
"Jon loves the North Lord Cerwyn, our family, Winterfell, he would never abandon us. This is merely a power-play trying to get us to accept a foreign queen." she said.
"You don't know your brother as well as you think you do, my lady." a voice said from the back of the Great Hall, Sansa struggling to see who it was before Ser Davos stepped forward.
"Ser Davos, I believe I know Jon's intent better than you, he is my brother after all." she said and looked to see some of the Lord's look on while nodding their agreement.
"Jon Snow brought you all the greatest army the world has ever seen to face the greatest threat any of us have ever faced. He told you all to your faces he'd do that, and now he's told you what he'll do based on your welcome to his queen. My lady, do you think your brother a liar, a man who spreads falsehoods? If he says he's leaving, then my lords, my lady, he's leaving." Davos said.
She heard the loud mumbling and the looks from one lord to another, the arguments, and so she glared at Davos.
"Ser Davos may claim insight to my brother's intent, but he is not a Stark and only a Stark would know what's in the heart of Ned Stark's son. My lords we have a choice, we can give up what we all fought so very hard for, what my brother died for and accept a foreign queen." she said hearing the hisses and trying not to smile at the shakes of the heads "Or we can accept that we are of the North and the North remembers, just as Jon surely will."
She watched as Davos looked at her and shook his own head. As he turned and walked away she allowed herself a small smirk, certain now her words had carried the day. Lord Royce looked at her proudly and she saw one or two of the lords speaking in hushed whispers and felt her heart begin to race. Was this it, would they do now what they should have done after the battle?
"My lady, I speak for all of us when I say we can see now the mistake we made, the North is a free land, a land all of us have bled for. It will be my honor to bleed for it again and to serve the Queen in the North." Lord Cerwyn said drawing his blade and taking a knee.
"Aye, the Queen in the North." another man said as he did the same, Sansa watching on as other lords and their men joined in.
Lord Wyman didn't kneel, nor did he cheer. Neither did Lady Mormont and Sansa knew she'd need to win them over, though she had no doubt that she would.
"My lords, I thank you for the honor you've bestowed on me. I swear it here and now the North shall not bow to any king or queen not of the North ever again. Never again shall we allow southern rulers to decide our fate and never shall we bow to a foreign queen." she said to cheers.
She spoke to some of the lords and moved to speak to Lady Lyanna and Lord Wyman, only to find they'd left the hall. Moving to her father's solar, her solar now, she readied to make a proposal to the dragon queen for her help, one she was certain she'd accept. As Queen in the North and by that authority the head of House Stark, she'd legitimize Jon and allow him and the queen to marry.
Let them have the six kingdoms if they wished, she'd even see the Vale and the Riverlands sworn to them, though they too were hers by right. Yes, she'd make an alliance with the dragon queen that would serve her needs, and who knows, in battle anything can happen. People even queens can fall and maybe just maybe this wouldn't be the only crown she'd end up wearing.
Winterfell 305 AC.
Dany.
Grey Worm and Qhono did as Jon had asked her, while Missandei, Varys and Tyrion went about their own business. Varys was looking into events in the south while Tyrion she believed went to ensure his wine was being loaded, something which irked her but she allowed slip for now. Jorah asked her to come with her to meet a young man, the man responsible for saving his life and Dany felt it was the least she could do before she left.
Leaving, she didn't know how she felt about that. She'd lost a dragon to the Night King and had wished to see him and his army of dead men burn for it. Knowing now that he had her son enslaved only fanning the fire in her heart even more. That Jon was willing to abandon his family concerned her, though seeing him tell young Lord Umber that he'd not abandon him made her see that he was doing this for her. She smiled as she looked down at the white wolf that walked beside her, the servants, guards, and lords all looking at her and Ghost with shocked looks on their faces when they saw them walk together.
She leaned over and rubbed her hand in his fur and felt the wolf lean into her touch. A sense of peace and contentment that she usually only felt when she was with Jon, soon relaxing her as they came to a library. A fat man sat at the table reading a book and she looked to Jorah who bid her forward. Ghost though beat her to it and she smiled when the man stumbled back in his chair and jumped to his feet.
"Jon?" the man said and she smirked, her eyebrow raised as she looked at the man and saw he was no more than a boy still.
"I've been called many things, but that may be a first." she said to a chuckle from Jorah and she herself giggled when Ghost pushed past the boy to lick at her hand.
"Forgive me your grace." the boy said.
"There is nothing to forgive. You're the man who saved Ser Jorah when no one else could?" she asked.
"They could, they just wouldn't." Jorah said from behind her.
"I'll have to make some changes in the Citadel when I take my throne, a great service merits a great reward." she said smiling.
She found herself almost laughing aloud when the man told her that he may need a pardon, turning to Jorah to smirk even more when she heard his crimes, book stealing, and the taking of a sword.
"From the Citadel?" she asked confused, the Maester's not know for weapons to her knowledge.
"From my family, it's been in House Tarly for generations, would have been mine eventually, anyway." the boy said, and yet she barely heard any of it.
House Tarly, House Tarly, gods, how did she not know, why didn't Jorah tell her, this man, this boy. Could there be another? Please let there be another she thought to herself as the boy mumbled on and said words that barely registered. She had to know, though she feared the answer, she had to know.
"Not Randyll Tarly?" she asked.
"You know him?" the boy said surprised.
"I offered to allow him retain his lands and titles if he bent the knee, he refused." she said trying her best to keep her own voice steady, her heart going out to the boy in front of her as she saw him almost crumble.
Something he came ever closer to when he tried to play it off and spoke of his brother, Dany then having to tell him even more terrible news.
"Your brother stood with your father." she said her own voice choked now.
"Thank you for telling me your grace, may I.."
"Of course." she said quickly and watched as he boy hurriedly ran from the room, Jorah looking at her with sympathy and yet it was Ghost who came to her.
She felt the wolf grab her coat and she went to brush him away but he seemed insistent, almost dragging her with him. Looking from the wolf to Jorah she felt herself frown before she began to move away only for the wolf to practically drag her again. Before she knew it she was following him and were she not still so upset at her conversation with the boy, she now knew was Sam Tarly, she'd have laughed.
The wolf and Jon were likeminded it would seem as she followed him to where her dragons were. Only to find herself stopping halfway when she saw Jon Snow standing away from the camp looking at Rhaegal and Drogon.
"Your Grace." he said turning quickly even though she'd not made her presence known "Dany?" he said a moment later his voice soft and full of worry as he moved to her.
She felt his arms around her and were there not people surrounding him she thought she'd cry against his chest. Jon seemed to sense this and almost as if he was protectively shielding her, he began to move her, and then she found herself in front of her dragon's once more. Ghost stood with Jorah some distance away and she looked up to Jon, her eyes tear-filled as she could hold it no more and began to cry.
"I didn't know, Jon, I..I didn't know he was his son, his brother, I…." she felt his arms around here once more, the smell of him in her nose, the scent of him comforting her as much as his arms were.
"You did the right thing, Dany, had I been there I'd have killed them both myself." he said and she moved her head from his chest, looking into his eyes to see if he was telling her the truth.
"You would?" she asked hopefully.
"Randyll Tarly made his son's life a living hell, but that's not why I'd have taken his head. He betrayed his liege, a house his own were sworn to for hundreds of years, not only did he go against them but he sacked their home. The man was no better than a Bolton." Jon said his mouth curled up and an almost feral look on his face.
"His son?"
"No better than his father, he took part did he not?" Jon said and she nodded.
"Then he'd have lost his head too." Jon said.
"I burned them, Jon, I didn't take their heads." she said softly.
"Aye, because you had no sword, now you have mine." he said and she felt herself feel a little better "Besides had I a dragon then I'd have burned them too."
She chuckled at that, though not a full of mirth laugh. It was the earnest way he said it and then before she knew it, Rhaegal was beside them. Dany looked on surprised as Jon still holding her reached out and touched the green dragon, the sound her son making one she knew all too well. Rhaegal welcomed his touch, no, he seemed to almost yearn for it.
Dany looked to her other son and could feel it in her head, the need, the want to ride and she wondered, could it be so? Could Jon be like her, was he magic too? Giving the life he'd led, the death he'd suffered, she thought he was. Looking at him as he leaned against Rhaegal's head, his eyes closed and her son's closed too, she had to know the truth.
"I think I wish to fly, care to join me Jon Snow?" she asked and he nodded without hesitation.
She moved to Drogon and Jon moved with her, Rhaegal letting out an annoyed snort, Dany turning and looking to see Jon seeming to say something to the dragon.
"No Jon Snow, if you wish to fly then you better find a different place to sit." she said as she moved away from him and looked on excitedly when after she'd climbed up onto Drogon, Jon did the same on Rhaegal and with a smile on her face she took to the sky.
Flying gave her great pleasure, almost nothing in her life gave her more. Certainly, nothing until she met the man who was now flying beside her. He was a natural, he showed no nerves and the smile on his face matched her own as they swooped low and then flew high. Pretty soon they were chasing each other through the sky. When she quickened up so would he and as she slowed he flew around her, taking Rhaegal in a wide arc before coming back close to her once more. Then he pointed down and she smiled as she followed him, Jon landing before she did.
"You've completely ruined horses for me." she heard him say to Rhaegal, her son's trill loud as he rubbed himself against Jon's hand.
Walking with him, she looked around and found the place they were in to be beautiful, the large waterfall was like nothing she'd ever seen before.
"We could stay a thousand years, no one could find us." she said and saw him smirk.
"If it was with you then it would feel but a moment." he said and she felt herself still as she looked at him, the look he was giving her one which she'd wished all her life to see.
Moving to him she kissed him and felt his tongue seeking hers out, breaking away from him reluctantly when she heard the dragons behind them. Turning to look at them as they watched them both, the dragons seeming ready to judge if he was worthy of her or not.
"Don't be afraid, Jon Snow." she said and felt the smile fall from her face as he looked for the first time to her eyes to be almost terrified of something "Jon?".
"I don't fear the dragons Dany, only that what I tell you may change things between us, I pray it doesn't, but no matter what you are my queen, always, remember that." he said and she felt her chest go tight.
"Jon?".
Winterfell 305 AC.
Tyrion Lannister.
This was madness, sheer madness, all they'd done to get here, and now just like that they were packing up and readying to leave. Why? What was the game here and why couldn't he see it?. He drank the wine and sat by the fire, outside the unsullied and Dothraki made to leave, and inside he drank and didn't know things. Hearing the door open he looked to see Varys make his way inside to join him.
"What's happening with our northern friends?" he asked taking another sip of his wine.
"Apparently they've named a new queen and are already wondering if they've made a terrible mistake." Varys said.
"As am I." he said bitterly.
"He's a remarkable man, Jon Snow. I have to say I'd have never expected the son of Ned Stark to be so politically astute." Varys said.
"Astute?" he asked with a snort.
"The North doesn't want our queen, Tyrion, Jon Snow saw that and so he's threatened to take her away, will it bring the North to heel, I can't say but it's the best play any of us could ever have made."
"We could have made them accept her." Tyrion said and heard Varys tut and he looked back to see him shake his head.
"What good would that do us? We lost our chance at that when we accepted Jon Snow's crown." Varys said.
"He knelt by himself." he said defensively, though it had been what he'd wished him to do.
"Yet we should have been there to pick him up off his knees. A king for a queen, Tyrion, that's what we should have proposed, marriage gave us this kingdom and the North couldn't have claimed she'd come to steal it." Varys said.
Marriage, he had wanted that for her once, suggested it in Meereen, and yet not once when Jon Snow came did he suggest it once more. If anything he had been relieved when Daenerys didn't bring it up herself, why? He knew politics, how it would look, and what message it sent. A just woman and an honorable man, that was a tale to stir the hearts.
Stark and Targaryen joined in marriage, if anything was more certain to stop people thinking she was her father that would be it. Yet he'd not wished it for her, not wanted it, and as he wondered why the voice in his head called out.
He's not worthy of her.
A bastard is no consort fit for a queen.
Jon Snow is not better than you.
You could make her happy, he doesn't deserve her, you do.
"He was a bastard." he said drinking the remainder of his wine and pouring himself another glass.
"He was a king." Varys said "You need to finish that, we'll be leaving soon I believe."
He watched as Varys walked to the door, the eunuch stopping to turn and look at him, Tyrion unable to figure out the expression on the man's face.
"He's a remarkable man, Jon Snow. What he and our queen could do together, Tyrion, there is no limit to it, nothing that's beyond them and it's our job to see it so."
He took a large swallow of his wine and sat looking into the flames, his mind not cooperating and not seeing the picture he wished to see.
" He wasn't the first to love you, and he won't be the last".
The words feeling empty to him now, as if said by a different man in a different time. He hadn't known it then, not until he'd seen how she looked at Jon Snow did he know it truly, and even then he'd tried to deny it. Was that the true reason he'd not brought it up? Was it not that Jon Snow wasn't worthy of her, but that he feared deep down she loved him too? That unlike Daario or any other man, if he allowed it to happen there'd be no breaking them apart.
When she'd flown over the wall to rescue him, a part of him had cried and raged against it. Not for the danger, it posed to her, though that was a part of it too but because it proved it, simply, truly and without doubt. It proved she loved Jon Snow. Which proved more than anything that she'd never love him. If she married for duty, for politics or position that he could forgive, accept, and move on with. To marry for love? To marry a man who yes while he brought a crown, brought no name, and had suffered scorn and abuse just like he.
If she married Jon Snow then it wasn't that Tyrion was a dwarf or a Lannister that made him unworthy of her, it was because he was Tyrion, the imp, the demon monkey that everyone thought he was. To lose her would be heartbreaking, to lose her to a bastard would be an insult to his very core.
"If she could love Jon Snow, then why can't she love me?" he asked the flames as he drank his wine.
The Waterfall 305 AC.
Aegon Targaryen.
Fucking Sam, he'd forgotten about it, that Dany had gone to him to thank him for Jorah and found out who he was. That had been part of the beginning of the tailspin, the first crack in the armor she had built around herself. It wasn't that she'd killed his father and brother, nor even that it had hurt her to see Sam in pain. It had set the thoughts in her mind that she was no better than her father, his grandfather, let it sit and fester and he only hoped he'd cut it out quickly enough.
He gave her his support unequivocally, left her in no room to doubt that she'd done the right thing and he'd have been happy to stay there with her in his arms for the rest of the day. Rhaegal though was having none of it, his dragon wished to fly and Aegon could feel him at the back of his mind demanding him to do so. He'd tried to put him off but the dragon and Dany herself weren't going to let him off that easy.
It had been different, better, the feeling of the dragon in his head and then the click as their bond formed. The first time he'd flown had been terrifying, this though was exhilarating and Rhaegal's joy was clear to him as they swooped down and chased after Dany and Drogon. When he'd landed he'd thanked the dragon and told him it was time for his mother to know the truth, if she accepted he swore he'd never let him fly without him. What had happened before would not happen again, not even if Dany rejected him. He'd see Greyjoy dead before he allowed him to hurt his dragon this time.
It was hard looking to her and knowing what he was about to do, to lose her again was something he couldn't bear but she had to know the truth, and so closing his eyes he prayed that his gods gave him their favor still.
"Jon?" he heard her say and he felt the papers in his pocket, a secret hidden for four and twenty years about to be spoken aloud.
"All my life I wished to know who my mother was, Lord Stark refused to tell me and when we parted and I went to the wall, he told me that he'd tell me when next we spoke. Looking back on it now, I know the real reason why he wouldn't tell me before then. Lord Stark knew that once I swore my oaths then his secret would be safe, his friend would face no challenge and he'd never have to choose between blood and the brother he chose."
"Jon, what are you saying?" she asked looking to him.
"I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall hold no crowns and win no glory. Oh there's more than that, but that's the key part you see, that's why I had to swear my life away and that's my uncle wouldn't tell me the truth of who my mother was." he said, his voice bitter as he thought of the man he'd once considered the most honorable man alive.
"Uncle?"
"Lord Stark wasn't my father, Dany, he was my uncle. My father was Rhaegar Targaryen and my mother his wife Lyanna Targaryen." he said looking at her and seeing the shocked look in her face.
He moved to her and she brushed him away, turning to walk from him.
"Dany, wait." he said pleadingly and had to run to grab her, Drogon roaring when he did and Rhaegal roaring back at him just as fiercely "Dany, please."
"Jon, is that even your name?" she asked angrily.
"No, my mother named me Aegon, after my brother I think, though I'm not certain."
"So you wish to take your throne, what am I, a way for you to do it?" she asked her worry clear.
"Throne, you think I care for that chair? Do I want to be king, aye, I'll admit it I do, but only if you're by my side, only if you're my queen. Ask it of me, tell me to deny my name, ask it of me and I will." he said and she looked to him, her mouth open as she tried to process what he'd said.
"I…"
"I learned this on the way back here, Dany, I swear that to be true. I didn't know it when we met, nor all the time we spent together, here, in the North I learned it."
"How? Where?" she asked curiously and not angrily he was glad to see.
"I saw it, the night we, the first night we were together. I saw a vision of a woman and my uncle, she lay in a bed and she was dying. I could feel her dying, my mother… she made him promise to protect me, and then she told him my name." he said as the tears began to fall.
"Jon." she said moving to him and he shook his head.
"That's not my name, please, Dany.." he begged.
"Aegon, Blood of my Blood." she said and he was in her arms before he knew it.
The cloak lay on the snow and despite the cold and that they were out in the open, he found he didn't care. He almost ripped the buttons on her coat and felt her as she took him from his britches, her hand feeling so very warm as she held him. Aegon pulled her own britches down and then he was on his back, feeling her as she lowered herself onto him. The warmth of her on top on him made the ice at his back feel like nothing, his eyes focussed on hers as she moved up and down on him.
He felt her squeeze him inside of herself as she came and then saw her smile when she realized he had not. Aegon rolling her onto her back as he began to take control, moving hard against her and feeling her move up to meet every single thrust. His eyes never left hers and when he saw her bite her lip he felt himself ready to explode.
"Aegon." she said and then he was lost, spending inside her before collapsing on top of her.
Though he'd have loved nothing more than to just lay there with her, the cold finally did begin to have an effect and he felt her shiver as he did. Both of them quickly fixed their clothing, Aegon smiling at her as Dany quickly looked like she had just been taking a stroll, rather than what they had been doing.
"What does this mean, Aegon, for us, for me?" she asked her eyes worried and he reached out to softly brush her face.
"Marriage is the best way to make alliances, and I love you Dany, truly, with everything I've got. Marry me?" he asked and she smiled.
"It's what you want?" she asked though it was clear she could see it was.
"More than anything in the world, aye, it is, more than a throne, a kingdom, you're what I want, what I need, only you." he said and she nodded, Aegon taking her in his arms and spinning her around, laughing as she did.
He knew they still had more to talk about and though he'd not wish to let anything intrude on this moment, there would be no other chance.
"For now, I have to remain hidden, Dany, to the world let them think me, Jon Snow. When your crown is secure when we are safe from any who would seek to do us harm, then I'll be who I should. Until then let them think me a northern bastard." he said almost spitting out the last words.
"You think others would seek to come between us?"
"Aye, our family fell to the ambition of greedy men, this place is still full of ambitious men, not only men either."
"Sansa?" she asked.
"Sansa, Arya, Tyrion, Varys, those around us are not people we can trust with this, not until we're in a position where we're so tied together that none can break us apart." he said and she looked to him, a little doubt in her eyes and it hurt to see it.
"You're telling me I can't trust anyone but you?" she asked and he shook his head.
"No, Missandei, Grey Worm, Qhono, your people are your people Dany, they always have been and always will. Tyrion is a Lannister, he's been playing the game so long he doesn't know how not to, there are other reasons why I doubt him also. Varys can be turned to support us, together we'll show him and bring him completely to our side, my sis… my cousins."
"Aegon?"
"Arya is not the girl I remember, she's in there, hidden, and I hope to see her one day, but until that day I'd not trust her, not with you." he said and the look she gave him was one he'd cherish for a long time.
"Sansa?"
"The little spoiled girl who got everything she wished for just by throwing a tantrum or going to her mother and father hasn't changed, other than now she has to get it for herself. I don't think there's anything she wouldn't do to get it, no one she wouldn't hurt or use." he said trying to keep calm as he did so.
"Very well, my people will be the only ones who know the truth." she said and he nodded.
They moved to the dragons, Rhaegal leaning against him as Drogon did to Dany, Aegon looking to her as she was to him.
"Tyrion, you said there were other reasons?" she asked.
"He loves you." he said simply and she snorted.
"No, he doesn't."
"He does, I see it in how he looks at me, he sees me as unworthy of you." he said and she went to say something only he moved to her and put his finger to her lip "On that he's right, though each day I'll get closer to being so I swear." he said and she kissed him.
"You're worthy." she said and he smiled.
"To Tyrion's mind, it's the idea that I am and he's not. Why didn't he suggest marriage? I was a king coming to a queen, it's how alliances are formed, why didn't he suggest it?" he asked and she shook her head before looking at him.
"Why didn't you?" she asked a moment later.
"I'm a northern fool." he said to a small laugh "I was a bastard, coming to a queen, all my life I've been told I was something I was not, it never occurred to me and yet to these smart political minds, I find it hard to believe it never occurred to them. I may have known nothing then but they should have and Dany, I know something now."
He reached into his pocket and took out the letters, handing them to her and letter her read them when she did he saw the last remaining doubt she had go from her eyes, Dany moving to him.
"Blood of my blood." she said again smiling.
"Aunt." he said kissing her.
After they were done, he moved to climb back onto Rhaegal's back before stopping and turning to her.
"I have a dragon's egg." he said as if he was just informing her it was cold outside.
"What? How?"
"I found it with my mother's things, it's alive Dany, there's movement in it and it's warm to the touch." he said and she looked at him.
"You mean to hatch it?" she asked.
"It's going to hatch, soon." he said and saw her look eagerly at him, he'd cost her a son, he'd give her another.
They climbed up and within moments they were flying back to Winterfell, slower and more relaxed and Aegon felt himself enjoying this flight even more. The flight to the waterfall had been exhilarating, the one back from it was calming. When they landed he walked to her, he had one more thing to tell her before they walked to the keep itself. They'd seen the tents pulled up, her army was ready to march and he wondered if the northern lords still hadn't come to their senses but that could wait, this could not
"Dany, all my life I've felt alone. I thought it was because of being a bastard. I was a part but not a part of my family. I've realized now that's not what it was." he said.
"What was it?"
"You, I needed you. You are my family, a wise man once told me that a Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing. I was alone Dany, now I'm not." he said.
"No, Aegon, you're not, neither am I." she said and he smiled at her as they turned to see Varys, Tyrion, Missandei and Jorah walk their way.
"Who was this man?" she asked as they watched the others get closer to them.
"Our uncle, Aemon Targaryen." he said and her head turned to his.
Before she had a chance to ask him about Aemon, he looked to see the concerned and annoyed faces on each of the four in front of him. Missandei though looked curious, smiling when she saw Dany smile, Jorah also relaxed once he saw his queen was happy. Varys looked at them both, his face not showing his emotions while Tyrion tried not to scowl and Aegon knew he'd have to deal with the dwarf soon.
"It seems the North has a new queen, Sansa Stark has been named Queen in the North." Tyrion said glaring at him.
"She's welcome to it and I wish her the best in trying to defend it. Are we ready to march?" he asked and Dany just smirked.
"Almost, within the hour." Jorah said.
"Do you need anything else from here my queen?" he asked and she shook her head "Then if you'll excuse me, I'll go and find Davos and Ghost." he said walking away.
He quickly found them both in the courtyard, Davos was speaking with some of Tormund's people, Aegon seeing the woman and man look to him as he walked towards them.
"You heard?" Davos asked.
"Aye, you ready to leave?" he asked and Davos nodded "The chest?"
"I have it, Jon. Ned Umber has set off for Last Hearth, Jon." Davos said.
"Good, I'll meet him on the road, cheer up Davos, we're about to piss off a queen." he said with a chuckle, Davos smirking but shaking his head.
"You would leave us, King Crow, truly?" the woman said.
"The Free Folk are under my protection, Harla, you and yours are welcome to join me and our queen. We travel with her army, her dragons, we have food and tents available, spread the word, and make ready to leave. The North comes to its senses or falls to the Night King, there is no third option." he said and Harla nodded before running off, her face far more relaxed than it had been a moment earlier.
Davos said nothing for a few moments, Aegon feeling him looking at him, the man though was not questioning him outright but he knew he had questions.
"Speak your mind, Davos." he said.
"Is it really worth this, just to make a point, Jon?"
"I was stabbed by people I trusted Davos, for doing the right thing. Remember what you told me when I woke up, when I told you I'd failed?"
"Aye, Good now go fail again." Davos said.
"I'll never fail again, never." he said as he walked away.
He saw Lord Wyman, Lady Mormont and some of the others look at him, Bran sat in his chair, though where the others were he had no idea. Sam was off sulking somewhere no doubt, Arya was now a mystery to him and then he looked up to the walkway and saw her, Sansa looking every inch her mother's child. He was about to say something when he heard the footsteps behind him, Grey Worm and some more of his unsullied with him and he chuckled thinking his queen had been worried about him.
"Queen Daenerys is ready to leave, Jon Snow." Grey Worm said simply.
"Aye, good, we should go then." he said turning away and moving towards the gate before stopping.
When he did he saw the smile on Sansa's face, a smile he knew far too well. If he thought she'd looked like her mother before then she looked even more so now. That smile was one that Lady Catelyn would wear when she'd gotten her way, when he'd been refused something or when he'd held back in a spar so Robb had beaten him. Back then he was too afraid to wipe it from her face, here now with Sansa he was not.
"An army marches this way, an army I came back to help you all beat, an army I brought a queen to you to help you beat. I see you have a new queen now, so me and mine will take our leave and bid you farewell. I wish you all good fortune in the war to come, you'll need it." he said and turned to walk away, whistling and soon being joined by Ghost who walked beside him.
"Jon."
"Jon."
"Jon."
He ignored the voice of the woman he'd thought a sister once, the woman who now called herself a queen. She was not his queen, she would never be his queen. As he walked out the gate he saw her, sitting on her horse, her white coat and silver hair standing out just as much as her smile did when she saw him. He walked over to her and climbed up onto his own horse, Dany looking at him and as they rode away from Winterfell her turned to her.
"My queen." he said softly.