Winterfell 305 AC.
Dany.
He came back to the room after the trial and she was surprised to see him so relaxed and composed. After Sansa had been found guilty and he'd sentenced her to death, Dany had expected that he'd either seek to carry out the sentence right away or that he'd have needed to take some time to himself before he came back to her and Rhaella. Instead, he walked into their room and kissed her on the cheek before sitting down beside her and immediately playing with their daughter. As much as she wished to speak to him about what had just happened and what his plans were, watching him with their daughter soon made her find she didn't care.
So she listened as he spoke softly to Rhaella and told her that her sister and brothers wished to see her and that they already knew she was a strong and powerful dragon just like they were. Dany smiled as he spoke of how she'd own the skies when she grew up and how she and her brothers and sisters would never need to worry about anything. Aegon then told their daughter that he and her mother would make sure that when she was older her life was the best one they could give her. She had to wipe a tear from her eye when he told her that she had a mother and father that loved her with everything inside them and who would see that all she ever knew in this world was love and happiness.
"You will have the life that we did not, the family that we did not, and the love that we did not, I swear this to you, my love, I swear it on fire and blood." Aegon said as Rhaella tried to eat his fingers.
"It seems she's hungry." Dany said with a chuckle.
"I think she just likes biting things, she's sharpening her teeth for when she's a fully grown dragon." Aegon said and Dany laughed even more fully.
"Thankfully she has no teeth yet, Aegon, otherwise feeding her would be far more of a chore." she said as she undid the tie at the front of her dress and bared her breast.
She moved Rhaella closer to her only to find out that Aegon was right and Rhaella wasn't actually hungry. There was no need to look to see the smug look on his face and yet she did so anyway, shaking her head at just how proud he was of himself. When she heard the dragons outside she knew it was time and as she looked at Aegon he nodded. Dany handed him Rhaella and then fixed her dress before looking for her coat and for something warm to wrap their daughter in. Once she was sure that Rhaella wouldn't catch a chill, she and Aegon walked from the room. Jorah walked in front of them and Jaime and Brienne behind and they had barely made it to the door when she heard the dragons once more.
Lyarhaex sounded impatient to her while Drogon and Rhaegal seemed excited. When she turned to Aegon it was to see his eyes closed and she felt the dragons fly from where they were and land outside the keep even though she couldn't see it. Looking to Aegon she saw him nod and they then stepped out into the courtyard. it was odd to her to see so many people look at them and yet not at them. From the moment she'd come to the North people had stared at her and at Aegon, at first with distrust and in some cases even hate, then with grudging respect and acceptance and finally, she felt with a little love. How they looked at them now as they walked through the courtyard and especially how they looked at Rhaella was very different. There was no doubt or mistrust and certainly no hate, these people loved them, they loved their daughter, and Dany found herself almost standing a little prouder as she walked.
"The Princess of the North, Dany, that's what they called her when news spread she'd been born. She is even more of the North than I am." Aegon said softly as Dany looked at guards, servants, men who'd fought with them, and women who'd lost kin fighting for them all nodding and smiling at them as they passed by.
They walked out through the gates and she could felt Rhaella fidget and move against her, Aegon looked at her worriedly until she shook her head. She was excited too, their daughter was excited about meeting the rest of their family, and for some reason that meant the world to her. Why that was she didn't know or couldn't say, only that knowing that their daughter could feel them already was something that pleased her greatly. The closer they got to where the three dragons were waiting, the more excited Rhaella became and she then heard the dragons sounding their own excited calls to her.
"They're most eager to meet her." Aegon said and she nodded as Jorah, Brienne and Jaime stayed back a few steps behind them and she and Aegon moved closer to the dragons.
Unsurprisingly it was Lyarhaex who moved first, the red dragon was even keener than the other two to meet Rhaella and as her head came close to her rider, Dany was hit with the image of what the future would one day be like. She saw them in the sky. Aegon, her, and Rhaella. The three of them were flying over Dragonstone and she could almost hear the laughter that their happy faces showed to her. It was Lyarhaex's trill and Aegon's voice that took her from the moment.
"Yes she's small now, just as you were and just like you she'll grow bigger and stronger."
"Of course you'll ride together, you are hers and she is yours, is she not?"
"No the first time she rides will be with her mother on your big brother."
Aegon's words were interrupted by the questioning chirps of Lyarhaex, the red dragon's head brushing against Rhaella's chest and her daughter's little hand brushing over the dragon's scales. To those without their blood, the dragon's scales could feel hot or cold and Dany still wasn't sure what it was that decided which. All she knew was that to her and to Aegon when they brushed their fingers over the dragons they felt a tingle, a small shiver and she wondered if Rhaella was feeling it now. If she was then it was clear she enjoyed it immensely as her daughter wore the fullest smile she'd seen her wear so far.
"It's time to introduce her to your brothers, so you'll have to wait. No, we won't go back inside before we come back to you." Aegon said and Dany heard a happy chirp as Lyarhaex moved away to allow them to walk over to Rhaegal and Drogon.
Rhaegal was first, Drogon and he had already decided it she would wager, and just like Lyarhaex was, her son too was far more gentle than a thing of his size had any right to be. Again Rhaella's little hand touched the dragon's scales and again she wore the same smile. Dany spending as much time as she felt she could with Rhaegal before she moved to Drogon. Her son was never this patient and she thanked him for it. Aegon she saw was speaking to Rhaegal, his head touching against the dragon's own before he joined them both and she looked at her husband curiously.
"He wonders when we'll fly together." Aegon said as he joined them "I think Drogon does too, they heard what I said to Lyarhaex and I think it excites them both."
"Flying?" she asked confusedly.
"Flying with her." Aegon said smiling as he touched their daughter's face.
"She's not ready yet, Aegon." she said looking away from Drogon who was just as the other two dragons had been before him, now being stroked by the smallest of all their hands.
"Aye, I know. But when we leave here it'll be on their backs and for you, it'll be just like the Dothraki riding their horses with their babes on their chests." Aegon said and she looked at him before nodding reluctantly.
She knew of course that they would be leaving soon and that it would mean flying on Drogon but whether she'd not giving it much thought or the reality of having Rhaella with her was only now settling in. The practicalities of that flight weren't something she'd given thought to either.
"Dany?" Aegon asked seeing the worried look on her face.
"What if I can't? Taking her up there Aegon, what if I can't?" she asked.
"No one is as at home in the sky as you are, Dany. The Night King couldn't control Viserion better and I haven't got the same bond with Rhaegal as you and Drogon do. When you're together in the air you're as one, would you fear for Rhaella on your Silver?" Aegon asked and she shook her head "Then why fear for her on Drogon? As well as you ride, Dany, you fly so much easier."
"I.." she said looking to Rhaella.
"Aye, I know, I do too. We're supposed to, we're supposed to fear for her, that's our job. To be the ones who fear so that she doesn't need to. She'll be fearless because you and I will take that fear from her and make it our own. There will be times when we'll feel almost unable to move because of how much we fear for her and yet she'll never know that we do. Our daughter will never know the lives we both had, she'll never know because we'll make it so. So feel some worry about taking her up and I promise you that when her time comes to fly on her own, she'll feel none for herself." Aegon said.
"No, she'll not." she said determinedly as Drogon trilled when Rhaella's hand touched his snout.
Dorne 305 AC.
Arianne.
She had buried him as a son of House Martell rather than a Prince of Dorne and she mourned the boy he was rather than the man he grew up to be. Quentyn and her had never truly gotten along. Arianne had always felt him weak, stupid, and far too ambitious. What he'd felt about her, she could only guess and she doubted any of it was good. Their father had fuelled a competition of sorts between them, played them off against each other, and sought to replace her with her brother at one point.
That it was a plan to put her on the Iron Throne had been unknown to her and had led to their own falling out and her exile and even then she and Quentyn had been at odds. Four years she spent in Essos and he just as long and yet not once did he come to see her or speak to her. That she was with her mother should have been reason enough to even see him and yet it was not, as he never once visited Norvos in all his time in Essos.
"Ari?" she heard Daemon call out and she turned to him, her paramour, her love, rising to his feet when he saw the look on her face as she stared out the window of her room and looked up at the night sky "Ari, what is it?"
"I have no family left." she said softly "It just hit me that I have no family left in Dorne. Father, Oberyn, Trystane, and now Quentyn, they're all gone, Daemon. They're all gone and I'm the last of House Martell."
"Ari." he said softly as he moved to her.
"A babe, I need a babe, Daemon… I…"
"Come to bed my love, come back to bed."
Usually, when they lay together it was a long exploration of each other, at times they'd be frenzied and hurried of course but more times than not they'd bring each other to the brink over and over before they gave in to their needs. Tonight it was different, her need was different and after it was done she found herself crying as he held her in his arms. She wept over the life that she didn't have, the family that wasn't here, and the sheer bloody stupidity of it all. They had gone up against the Lannisters for taking their family from them and had set themselves on a path that ended with her alone.
Her father who had been ever careful and who planned things out to the end had made moves that in hindsight were dumb and dangerous. He should never have let Oberyn go to King's Landing, Why did he? Why allow him to go there when he'd not been given leave to do so for twenty years? Why didn't they join with the wolves to seek an end to the lions when they had a chance? Why wait and then not? It made no sense to her and she found sleep to be hard to come to her. Instead, she rose early and kissed Daemon as he slept before she strolled the halls of the Old Palace.
Had they but waited, he but waited a few more years then their vengeance and justice for the lives taken from them would have come. Daenerys Targaryen would have come, Jon Snow or Aegon Targaryen as he was now would have come and they'd both seen done in a couple of moons what her father and uncle had waited for years to see happen. If only they had waited then she'd not be alone, her father's advice, her uncle's smile, Trystane's enthusiasm, and even Quentyn's sneering would be things she'd have been able to experience each day.
"Why didn't he wait?" she asked softly to no one and Areo surprisingly answered her.
"He felt he could not and that he'd missed his chance." Areo said forcing her turn to face him.
"He had missed his chance, but why didn't he wait until the next one came along?" she asked curiously.
"Your father feared it would not, Oberyn was growing restless and the War of the Five Kings was all but won. We had no idea where Daenerys Targaryen was other than rumors and he wished you back, princess, he wanted you back here in Dorne." Areo said.
"All he had to do was send for me." she said her voice barely carrying in the hall they stood in "I'd have come, I wanted to come."
She spent most of the rest of the day dealing with the Lords and Ladies. Arianne and they speaking on their needs or on Dorne's place in the new Seven Kingdoms and under its new king and queen. Dorne may never love Aegon Targaryen, though he was not to blame for his father's actions he was the one who lived, and so blame him they would and did. His actions with Quentyn, his words, and the words of his wife that night had earned him their respect. Now they wished to be a part of the new regime, to seek favor and for Dorne to prosper and so she fielded their questions and requests.
In Ned Dayne, she had an ally and one she was most happy to name as such. The Lord of Starfall had stayed a little longer in Sunspear at her request and she'd spoken to him about matches, finding he had both no desire for one and yet a need for one too. She asked for and received his permission to look beyond Dorne for him, though she hadn't decided where to look as of yet. Desmera Redwyne was the one name she kept coming back to when she really thought of who would be best suited for him and for Dorne. Her father was Master of Ships and though they and the Reach had always had a fractious relationship it was one that she felt could be repaired. So she'd resolved to speak to him about the girl and ask him if she should make the approach.
His aunt was a different matter and Ned had explained to her about Allyria's own failed betrothal and the reasons for it. So Arianne had decided not to look into a betrothal for her and to leave it to Ned and Allyria herself to decide who she would marry. She was just about to head to the evening meal when the first of the ravens arrived. Arianne reading of the birth of the princess and smiling at the knowledge that the realm now had an heir. The next one brought very different news and Aegon's words at the feast the night they'd taken back Sunspear felt far truer now.
"Fire and blood indeed." Daemon said when he read the scroll.
"They attacked the North, had Quentyn been with them the this is what he'd have faced, he's far luckier he came here." Arianne said and she shuddered a little imagining what it would have been like to see an army face the true might of the dragons.
News filtered through to the Lords and Ladies of Dorne over the next few days about what had been done to the army that had taken their city and Arianne could see the message was understood. Be Leal and True and there was a place for you in the new world that Daenerys and Aegon intended to build, be disloyal and it would be different dragons you would answer to. Her time from then on was far more simple and serene. Dorne was prepared for Winter, her father had seen to it and Ellaria and the Sand Snakes and then Sarella and her sisters had only added to it even during all the chaos.
She set about solidifying her hold and her vassals' loyalty both to her and to the Targaryens and things soon fell into an almost boring routine. Once again it was a raven that took her from her normal daily activities and this one made the other two seem almost irrelevant in a way. That it was then followed by a man delivering a far fuller letter left her worried and fearful. Her mother needed her help and not just hers and so Arianne for the second time since she had returned to Westeros readied to travel to meet with a king and queen and to seek their aid.
King's Landing 305 AC.
Varys.
Despite them not being in the city their presence was felt everywhere. Disguised as he walked around it, Varys listened to people speak about the king and queen and each word he heard was music to his ears. Cersei he knew had tried to poison their minds in relation to Daenerys especially. The crazed lioness had filled the streets with people who spoke of the horrors that the Dragonqueen would inflict upon them. Tales of Daenerys being her father reborn and of enjoying watching as people were fed to her dragons had not worked as well as Cersei had hoped, however.
Perhaps because her own cruelty and madness was apparent to the men and women of King's Landing or perhaps because of the company she kept. Allying with Iron Born was bad enough but with Euron Greyjoy by her side, it was so much worse. Tales of the Crow's Eye had swept King's Landing even during Vary's time on Robert's Small Council. Monstrous tales that had taken hold in people's minds and which the man himself and those under him had only proved to be true once they'd arrived in person. The smallfolk had suffered as Iron Born reavers were let loose on the city. Ally or enemy it mattered not to Euron and those who followed him and so compared to an actual threat or a made-up one, the people had made their own minds up about Daenerys.
As for the King, nothing spread as quickly as a tale of war and heroism. Other than tales of love it was what the people wished to hear about more often than not and Jon Snow as he was then known to them had many such tales for them to get their teeth into. Holding back Wildings at the Wall with barely a few men against the Largest army the North has ever seen. Coming back from the dead and marching to regain his family's home and of course beating back an army of dead men. Cersei may not have given much thought to the Army of the Dead but the people did. They'd seen or at least had heard about what was shown in the Dragonpit and so they knew who was standing against it and who was not.
Were all that not enough, they then had to go and throw love into the mix too, just to make sure the people had all they wished for from the tales. Jon Snow had gone and married the Dragonqueen, this only proving Daenerys even more true and when the truth had been outed and they'd found he was not Jon Snow but was actually Aegon Targaryen, the die was cast. As he moved through the streets, Varys listened and when he reached his destination, he waited with bated breath. When Davos stood on the steps of what had once been the Great Sept and began to speak, Varys looked to the crowd to judge their reactions.
"Good men and women of King's Landing, I bring tidings from our king and Queen." Davos said as the crowd hushed "The army that sought to invade the North has fallen to their graces but that's not the only or truest reason we have to cheer this day. It is my great pleasure to announce that her grace has given birth to a babe, a girl, The Princess Rhaella of the House Targaryen." Davos said to loud cheers.
Varys stood and listened as the gathered crowd shouted out their joy at the news, he smiled as he heard the princess's name being shouted out even more so than the king and queen's.
"Hail to Queen Daenerys."
"Long Live the King."
"To the Princess."
"Rhaella, our princess."
Once he knew the crowd's cheers were as true as he hoped, Varys then moved back away from them and began walking down a side street and through an alley until he reached yet another crowd. This one was being addressed by Lady Kinvara and while Davos's words showed how much the man himself cared for House Targaryen and its king, queen, and princess, Kinvara's were those of a woman far more used to speaking and holding a crowd's attention.
"Good men and women of King's Landing, I come to spin you a tale of our good king and queen.
Of Her Grace Queen Daenerys Targaryen, The Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, The Mother of Dragons, The Unburnt, The Breaker of Chains.
And His Grace King Aegon Targaryen, The Resurrected, the Prince who was Promised, the King Beyond the Wall, The Song of Ice and Fire.
I come to you to speak of the child the gods themselves have gifted to them. Princess Rhaella Targaryen, Heir to the Iron Throne and to the Bay of Dragons, Khalaka of the Dothraki, The Princess of their Hearts.
I come to speak to you to let you know that Three Heads of the Dragon's fly high once more." Kinvara said.
Varys moved through the streets and listened as Septas and Septons spoke, as Missandei addressed a large crowd with Ghost standing beside her. The white wolf only a further sign of who she spoke for. He made his way to the taverns and inns and sat and listened a people spoke about the king, queen, and princess.
"Named for Queen Rhaella she were."
"A fitting and true name, a good name."
"To the King and Queen and to our Princess."
He joined in with the toasts and then made his way to some of the other brothels and finally to Chataya's. Alayaya led him to the small holes in the wall and he watched as some of the richer merchants, knights, and lords entertained themselves while Chataya's girls spoke of the news from the North. None did he find speaking against the princess and though it was harder to judge a man's mood when he was trying to bed a young girl, he felt them all to be as true as he hoped for. He bid both Chataya and Alayaya a good night and they both expressed their own best wishes on the news and Varys finally made his way back to his rooms.
Over the next week, he read the whispers his little birds brought him of reactions through the realm, some of the nearest only as it would take time to hear from the most far flown of his little birds. He spoke to Kinvara and to the Lady Malora and found both to be of the same mind as he and when it was brought up at the Small Council meeting, Lady Anya and Lord Jon both said the reports they'd heard matched his own.
"Then the news has gone down well?" Davos asked.
"It has Lord Hand, most well. The choice of name especially, while Aerys is thought about as what he was at the end, everyone loved Queen Rhaella and to see the princess named so." Lord Paxter said with a large smile on his face and Varys nodded.
"Then it'll please them all to know that we'll be seeing our new princess soon enough." Davos said holding up a raven's scroll "The king and queen are ready to depart and should be with us in a couple of days." Davos said.
"Their business is done in the North?" Lady Anya asked.
"It is, my lady." Davos said and the smile the man wore was one of both relief and joy, Varys felt.
After the meeting, he spent the day reading more whispers and sending out his little birds to find out had the excitement and good cheer over the news diminished in any way. He'd taken a few more disguised walks around the city to find that other than wishing to see the little princess and to have the king and queen back in King's Landing, life had pretty much just returned to normal. People were back at their daily routines and their lives were once again about their needs. Needs which for the first time in years the crown was actually addressing.
When night fell he was ready for his bed and would have been asleep had the little bird come but just a little later. Instead, he had only just lain down when the door opened and the little bird stepped in from the secret passage. Rising, he took the whisper from the girl and made his way to his desk, the candied fruit and the few coppers garnering him a smile before the girl was gone so quickly that it was as if she'd not been there. He sat down on his bed and unwrapped the piece of paper, almost dropping it to the floor when he read what was written on it.
The greatest city that ever was or will be, now lies snugly in the hands of a tiger. Volantis moves on Mantarys and Norvos grows fearful as does Pentos and an old friend calls out for aid.
He could barely believe it, it was bad enough that Belicho had taken Meereen from the queen but he'd now taken Qarth as well and with such ease, Norvos was right to worry as was Pentos and he'd imagine that Braavos would soon reach out for help too. Essos without the Golden Company had little to raise to stop the man's march and with the Dothraki and the Unsullied along with the dragons here, who was there to stop him?.
As for his old friend, it had been many years since he'd spoken to Illyrio and he'd expected him to have sought him out by now if he was being honest with himself. Perhaps news hadn't reached him or perhaps his notes to him had been intercepted by the Maester who had taken over his role under Cersei. It mattered little, Varys climbed into his bed and pulled the sheet over himself as there was not much he could do until the king and queen returned anyway. He covered himself and closed his eyes and found he was a boy once more, a boy who was cut and who had heard a name spoken from the flames as his parts burned and he shuddered now as he remembered it.
" The Bloodstone Emperor."
King's Landing 305 AC.
Daario Naharis.
He'd seen it for himself when they traveled to Dorne, his presence not welcome on the same ship that the queen had sailed on. Once they'd arrived he had at least been allowed to take part in things, albeit reluctantly he felt. The king didn't see him as a threat which at first had irked him greatly and were it not for the tales he heard and the spars he'd seen, then he'd have thought the man a fool, even more so than he had when he'd found out about him.
It had never occurred to him that she'd find an actual man in these lands, Westerosi were far lesser than Essosi in every way in his mind. Yet a man she had found and so it had both presented him with a challenge and with a problem. Only for him to soon find out it presented him with neither if he was being truthful with himself. She didn't want him and it was not because he had lost her city or because of some advice spoken to her by the malignant dwarf. Daenerys didn't want him because she'd found someone to replace him, a warrior who he was now sure he'd be outmatched against.
This wasn't Hizdahr, a perfumed noble who couldn't carry his Arakh let alone wield it. Aegon Targaryen or Jon Snow as he'd been known had fought against men and things that had once been men. He flew on a dragon and controlled the largest wolf that Daario had ever seen and he had one more thing that Hizdahr had never laid claim to, his queen's heart. That was clear to him each and every time that he saw them together. Her smiles, the little touches, and the way that she and Aegon himself looked to each other constantly.
So when he returned to King's Landing and Missandei had spoken to him, he'd spoken back not out of belief or even hope, but out of pride. The words she'd said had cut deep but not as deep as they may have had he not already come to the same conclusion. Whatever chance he had of replacing Aegon Targaryen in the queen's bed, he had none of replacing him in her heart. The man had given her a babe and she'd not seek any other man than he from that point on.
"It seems you wish to go again." the girl said and he nodded, the coupling was satisfying and yet not at the same time and it was not her face he saw when he spent.
Later he sat and he drank, thinking about the same woman he'd thought about since the first time he saw her. Though it was more the last time he spoke to her before he'd come to this place that his mind soon went to. The words he spoke, she spoke, were still as fresh in his mind as if it were only today she'd said them to him.
" I'm not angry, I'm full of self-pity. Who comes after you, who can ever follow Daenerys Stormborn, The Mother of Dragons."
" A great number of women I imagine."
" You'll get that throne you want so badly, I'm sure of it. I hope it brings you happiness. I pity the Lords of Westeros, they have no idea what's coming for them."
Little did he know at the time just how prophetic those words would turn out to be. There had indeed been a great many women after her and he had been proved right, none could follow her, how could they?. She was everything he'd always wished for and for the briefest of times she had been his and he, hers. Now she had her throne and though he had meant it as a slight when he'd said he hoped it would bring her happiness, happiness too she had found.
He wanted to scream out, to rant and rave and tell her to her face that it should be him, that he was who she belonged with not this, not this Aegon Targaryen. That he would give her everything she had ever dreamed of just as she had given him all he'd ever hoped to find. Daario wanted to and yet he could not, for he knew it was not true and that was hard for him to accept. As he got drunker and drunker he wallowed in his sell pity and then as he left the brothel and made his way through the streets, accept it he did.
She was not his, she would never be his and so what was he to do? Fight Aegon and die in the process, for he was sure that if it came to a straight fight between them that would be the outcome. Try another way to see the man dead, by his hand or by another's? If he did and she found out then it would be Drogon he'd face and though death would be quick, if he was lucky, death it would still be. He could leave, seek a life elsewhere and fuck, drink, and kill until the gods called him home, but he'd had a life of that, and even in these few weeks he'd been here close but not close to her side, he'd felt more alive than he had since she'd left Meereen.
"What am I to do?" he called out, the sound of his voice ringing around the quiet of the street.
He saw the white shadow as it moved silently through the street and drunk as he was he followed the great white wolf. It led him down alleys and through side streets and he felt himself sober up as he followed it. The tower it led him to was white and close to the Red Keep and it waited for him by the door or at least seemed to be doing so. Shaking his head he walked over to the wolf and opened the door, chuckling when it licked his hand.
It led him up the steps and into a room and he looked at white wall hangings and above the hearth where a white shield with two swords crossed hung. There was a large white table in the shape of a shield that rested on what appeared to be three white stallions as its legs and had seven chairs surrounding it. On the table, a large white book lay open and Daario looked on as the white wolf placed its large paws on the table as if it wished to read it. He shook his head as the wolf tilted his own and he found himself looking into its deep red eyes. Opening the book he began to read and the names meant nothing to him at first.
Corlys Velaryon and Robin Darklin, Ryam Redwyne, Criston Cole, Prince Aemon Targaryen, Daario read the names as he turned the pages. Gwayne Corbray, Duncan the Tall, Gerold Hightower, and Barristan Selmy, the last name stopping him long enough to read the words written below it. Words of deeds done and honors earned, of a life that had ended far too soon and he wished the man was here today as he had always thought him good and true.
He read other names, Arthur Dayne The Sword of the Morning and Jaime Lannister who he had seen at the king's back. Daario closed the book and looked to the wolf, following it as it led him around the tower. On the wall there were tapestries and paintings of men in white cloaks fighting, kneeling, and surrounding both kings' and queens and as he looked at them he felt the white wolf lick his hand once more. Beside her, he was alive, and though he knew now she'd never again be his how she once was, beside her was where he wished to be.
Winterfell 305 AC.
Tormund.
Seeing him with his babe, the look on his face as he held her was something he felt no man deserved to wear more than Jon Snow. It was the same look he wore when he was with the Dragonqueen only truer somehow, more pure and innocent. He had worn that look himself over the years, none more so than the first time he'd held her in his arms, and looking at her now he could only be proud of how fierce she was.
The guard she fought against had her beat in size and experience but he didn't have her heart or her will and while he and her mother watched, their little she-bear knocked the man's sword to the ground and the smile she wore was beaming. Maege had told her of what she had seen, of their daughter's death in a life that was not to be, and for the first and only time he'd known her, she'd cried in his arms after they'd lain together.
"A giant, a giant killed our daughter, Tormund, and even though she killed him before she fell, she fell all the same." Maege said as he held her.
" But that was not this life, Sheila, not this world. In this world Jon Snow slew that icy fucker and your nephew took down the giant. She lives, Sheila, she lives and the world has already seen how fierce she is. In time she'll grow and put even mine own tall tales to shame." he said as Maege chuckled.
She already had, each tale he heard about her only made him even more full of pride. Just like Jon Snow wore a look on his face when he looked at his daughter, Tormund too wore that look when he looked at Lyanna. It was a look that only a father could wear and one that his daughter had earned with all she'd done. He'd laughed when he heard of the letter she'd sent in response to the Stag King who'd seen Mance dead. When he'd heard of what she had said to Jon Snow and to Davos and the girl whose name he'd not speak, he'd almost cheered.
That he'd been there to hear her speak her words at the parley was one of the highlights of his entire life. Faced with an army that would make men twice her size shit their pants, she'd looked them in the eye and told them to fuck off. He grabbed his ax and moved to face her. The mace she carried in her hand was too big and too heavy for someone of her size unless they had the heart of a bear beating in their chests and he nodded to her as she moved towards him.
Tormund didn't hold back, her mother would smack him upside the head if he dared to do so and that would be the least of his worries. Lyanna herself would see he paid in pain and blood was he to treat this as less than a fight with King Crow himself. So he swung and swung hard and she moved away from each and every blow he aimed her way and even caught him with more than one. The end came not because he had struck her but because his ax had crashed down on the mace and knocked it from her hands.
"You got lucky." she said scowling at him.
"Aye, but luck is sometimes more important than skill. How you win matters not, little bear, that you win is all that counts. Speak to King Crow and he'll tell you the same as I say now." Tormund said as Lyanna listened intently, his daughter like he himself saw more in Jon Snow than others had at first "The only thing you need take from a fight is your life, little bear. The only blood you wish to see spilled is the fucker you face and so you do whatever it takes to win and then you go to your bed that night and not to your grave."
"That's stupid fucking, advice." Lyanna said as she turned from him to pick up her mace and Tormund chuckled when he saw the little smirk on her face as she did so.
They ate together and were he a different man then this is the life he'd seek. He, Maege, and their daughter, it was a beautiful dream although one that would always remain as such. Maege tolerated rather than loved him, their time together was best if it was fleeting and it was something they'd both known from almost the first time they met. As for Lyanna while she now knew who he was and a part of her wished for him to stay, again he knew it was but a temporary thing. Far better that he dropped in and out of their lives on occasion and spent the rest of his by Jon Snow's side. She'd think better of him that way, she'd love him more knowing that he was out there protecting the king.
So they ate, japed, laughed and he told his tall tales. Lyanna asking him about Dorne and had the king really broken parley and Tormund explaining what had happened and seeing the nod on both her and Maege's faces. They spoke of Malaquo who'd died screaming in the night and his little bear proved she was as much him as she was her mother when she said how much he'd deserved it. When talk turned to Jon's cousin was when things became a little tense. Both Maege and Lyanna wondering what it was that Jon would do.
"He'll take her head." he said as they both looked at him.
"She's his kin, Tormund." Maege said.
"Who sought his death and the death of his wife, a wife who was carrying his babe." he said and yet neither seemed convinced.
"She sought him gone, Tormund, not dead, nor the queen dead." Maege said.
"Gone, dead, it's all the same. You weren't there when those Bolton scum sent their men in and when they had us surrounded. Time stood still while they moved with their spears and cut us down and then I saw Jon fall and couldn't reach him, I was knocked to me knees and near-death meself and only then did those fuckers ride. She wanted him gone, you say, I say she wanted him dead and thought him so before she sent the men to ride."
"He's right, mother. We knew we hadn't the men, yet she held the Knights of the Vale back all the time, had we known, were we sure." Lyanna said angrily.
"I care not whether she loses her head, were it me swinging the sword I'd see her dead. That's not my concern, my concern is for my king, cursed is the Kinslayer and that boy's been cursed enough." Maege said as she looked at him and he nodded.
He finished eating and said his goodbyes before then moving to the door to head to Jon's room to speak to him. As he looked back he saw Maege and Lyanna laughing about something and he was glad they'd moved from thoughts of what Jon was going to do. Tormund felt that smile on his face again as he looked at them both and at Lyanna especially. A thought coming to his mind as he then turned to walk down the hall and saw Brienne standing guard.
"I already have a giant who'll conquer the world, what need I of another." he said softly.
Winterfell 305 AC.
Aegon.
Spending time with Dany and Rhaella was what he wished to be doing, sitting with them and just enjoying every single moment he could, was what he should be doing. Yet he was putting off something else he needed to do and each moment he stayed in this room was another that people would raise questions about. So it was with great reluctance that he kissed his wife and daughter and readied to deal with his errant cousin.
"Are you sure you don't wish me there?" Dany asked as he tied Blackfyre to his hip.
"I know you should be and that you may even wish to be there, but I need to be focussed on this and this alone and with you, with Rhaella, my mind deserts me." he said with a chuckle that she joined in with.
"Your father becomes a northern fool once more because of us little dragon, we can't have that can we?." Dany said giggling as she played with Rhaella.
"I know my mind on this and what needs to be done and I don't want to lose my resolve or to feel my anger rise when I need to be calm." he said and Dany nodded.
"Then go be a dragon, Aegon, and put this to rest finally." Dany said and he kissed them both once more.
Jaime was waiting for him and he could see the sympathy in the man's eyes as he too had said goodbye to a sister though his own feelings were very much different in that regard and Aegon no longer saw her as such. He had found out that Malaquo had died screaming in the night and that Theon had already left and he felt a little more sympathetic towards the latter than he had previously, even if in truth he hoped never to see him again. Tormund was standing and waiting for him at the end of the corridor, his friend clearly not sure if he was in his right mind to do what needed to be done.
"Are you sure about this, King Crow?" Tormund asked.
"Aye, I am, for the first time in gods knows how long I have clarity regarding Sansa, Tormund."
"Kinslaying is an offense to the gods, Jon, even to a man like you who cares not about them." Tormund said as they walked.
"I care about the gods, Tormund, I follow their will and their rules but Sansa is no kin of mine." he said with a smirk as they entered the courtyard.
He could see the way the men and women looked at him, all of them eager to see and yet wary about what he would do. For him though there was no doubt, her fate had been decided by him a long long time ago, a lifetime ago.
" I wish there'd been another way, can you forgive me?"
For more than fifty years those words had preyed on his mind, he'd chewed on them, contemplated them and for more than fifty years he'd hated them. He hated them even more now as he'd shown there was another way. Over time he'd come to realize that just like with Sam and his cowardice, Sansa's plea for forgiveness was an act. It had taken him far more time than it should have to understand that, Jon Snow was a northern fool after all. Aegon though, Aegon had realized it almost immediately, just as he had with Sam, with Bran, and with Tyrion. He'd understood words and people far better this time around. It was how he'd known he could turn Varys to their side and Jaime too. How he'd realized that Arya wasn't lost to him but that his little sister was in there hiding and scared and hoping he'd come and rescue her, even though he'd failed to do so before.
Sansa used contrition as an act and she had never truly sought forgiveness from him. Not at the docks the last time he'd seen her during his life as a wolf, or at the Wall when she'd come to him for help. She didn't wish for his forgiveness and he wagered if she was asked about it and answered truthfully, something he wasn't sure she knew how to do anymore, then she'd have said the very thought of needing forgiveness from anyone would repulse and disgust her. No, she didn't care whether she was forgiven or not, only that in knowing that if you did so then you could be used by her.
Perhaps that was why she'd not sought him out once he had been sent to the Wall the second time. His silence when she'd asked the question had created even more doubt in her mind that he could be used again. Or perhaps it was simply that she feared having him free would somehow put her reign in question. It mattered not, nor would it change what he needed to do. As he walked into the Godswood he nodded to the Maester and looked to see Edd, Maege, and Lyanna, Wyman, and the men who'd fought two battles for him all looking at him with concern in their eyes.
"Bring out the prisoner." he said loudly, his voice firm though he did not shout.
He closed his eyes and felt their presence, the Old Gods were looking on and were ready to judge him for what he did today. Their voices whispered at the back of his mind, telling him they had brought him back and that he was their servant. Aegon shaking them from his head when he felt the dragons close by. When he opened his eyes it was to see her being led in front of him. Sansa was crying tears that could be true or may very well be just another of her mummeries. Her eyes moved from Wyman to Maege, from Edd to Tormund, and then to Jaime and she found no allies in any of them.
"Jon please… Jon I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please…." she pleaded.
"My name is Aegon Targaryen, Jon Snow is dead, Lady Bolton." he said and saw her shrink back at his words and his tone.
"You're my brother, you can't, it's Kinslaying, it's Kinslaying." she shouted out looking to each of those present for help.
"Leaving Rickon to die was Kinslaying, seeking my own death was Kinslaying. What other kin have you sought dead over the years, Lady Bolton? But fear not, I would never kill my kin." he said and he almost laughed when he saw the relieved look on her face "But then again, you are no kin of mine." he said a moment later to her loud screams.
Maege and Lyanna both looked at him, their expressions were schooled but their eyes told a much different tale. Edd, Tormund, and Jaime too almost gasped when he drew Blackfyre and Sansa was pushed down to her knees. Wyman was the hardest to judge as he stood beside Galbart Glover. Aegon feeling the man was waiting for him to act before then deciding on the actions themselves.
"Sansa Bolton, you have been found guilty of treason and sentenced to death, do you have any last words?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please forgive me, forgive me." she cried out, her eyes on his own and on the sword in his hands.
"Some things can never be forgiven." he said before raising the sword.
The steel glistened in the sun and all around him men and women held their breaths as he raised the sword and as he then brought it down before stopping it a hairs breath away from her neck.
"Did you really think it would be so easy? That death would be how you paid for your crimes? I've faced death, I've seen all that awaits you when you fall and that's not a true and just sentence for all you've done, Sansa Bolton. No, death is not your sentence. I sentence you to life, I sentence you to the Traitors Watch." he said to relieved and confused looks from most of those present. relieved for him and not for the woman on her knees, confused by his words.
He raised his hand and the boy ran out through the gate, the ravens flying but a few moments later. They covered the sky and each of those in the Godswood looked up at them with confused looks on their faces, none more so than the one on Sansa's own.
"Those ravens are being sent to every House and every Kingdom south of the Neck. The message they carry is simple. If you're ever seen on lands that aren't the North then you're to be executed on sight, with no trial and no ceremony. You leave the North and you lose your head."
He could see the confusion continue to grow on the faces of those around him and it wasn't until he spoke again that the confusion began to clear up.
"Your crimes weren't just against me or my wife, they weren't just against the crown. They were against the North and the North Remembers. Each man and woman in the North now knows the truth of you, of what and who you truly are and what you did. It was their brothers and sisters who fell at the Battle of the Bastards, their lives that would have been forfeit had my wife not come to their aid in the War for the Dawn. They know and they'll remember each time they see you, they'll remember each and every day they have to suffer your presence. They'll remember, The North Remembers." he said, speaking the last words loudly.
"The North Remembers." Lyanna Mormont shouted.
"The North Remembers."
"From this day until your last day, you will watch the realm and not be a part of it. You'll see the world my wife and I intend to build, the world our daughter will grow up in and one day be the queen of. You'll see all you could have had and now never will. From this day forward you are not part of the realm but only of the Traitor's Watch.
Night Gathers and now your watch begins, it shall not end until your death. You will take no husband, hold no lands, mother no children. You shall wear no crowns and win no glory. You will die alone at your post. You are the watcher from afar, the woman alone in the darkness. You are the unwanted, the uncared for, the unforgiven. The tale that others will tell in the same vein they speak the Rat Cook's name. The traitor in the night, the woman without a family, without a friend. I hereby sentence you to live your life with no chance of pardon or respite."
He turned to the two guards and gave them the nod, and as they helped her up to her feet he looked at her expecting to see hatred in her eyes, and yet there was nothing he could name in what he saw in them.
"Take her to her room in Wintertown. From the moment she leaves through the gates she's no longer welcome in Winterfell. This is no longer her home and never will she set foot on its grounds again." he said as she slumped against both men.
Looking around the Godswood at those present he could see that there were none that disagreed with his decision. He could have killed her and they'd have accepted it, even if he had swung the sword himself they'd have accepted it. They'd have been disappointed in him and would have wished he had not, but they'd have accepted it. Yet while Aegon did not see Sansa as kin any longer, he knew there were those around him who still saw her as his sister. Then there was his true sister to think of. Arya would never forgive him for taking Sansa's life, even were he to allow another to do so. Things would break between them and that was the last thing he wished for.
Dany had left it up to him, his wife telling him that it was his choice to make and that whatever choice he settled on, she would stand by it. In truth though the choice had been made many years earlier in a cold land as he'd sat and contemplated the choices that had led him there. Death was a mercy, it was one he'd sought many times beyond the Wall and one that had been denied to him. After what he'd done he didn't deserve the peace that death would bring, the blackness and quiet where thoughts and past actions didn't exist. No, for what he'd done he deserved to live and to wake daily with those actions, to wake and know he'd killed the women he loved because he'd chosen the wrong family.
Would Sansa ever regret her actions the way he had? Probably not, and yet she'd come to understand the pain and regret too. The North knew of her and each day they would remind her, scorn her and while he could have sent her to Bear Island or to a life beyond the Wall just as his own had been, it would not be enough. A room in Wintertown, barren but for a bed a chair, and a table, he'd see her fed and clothed and that was all. Sansa was a prisoner in all but name and her jailers would be the people who surrounded her. He'd picked the room out himself, made sure it had the view he wished it to and he hoped she enjoyed it for it was as close as she'd ever come to Winterfell again.
"I'll take a moment to pray." he said to Maege and Lyanna, they, Wyman, Galbart, and Edd all nodding to him, while Tormund slapped his back softly before he too left.
Taking a knee, he reached out to the Weirwood and felt the Old Gods in his head once more. They were pleased he'd not taken her life and they promised him they'd see she suffered the life she deserved. Like him, they named her a kinslayer and like him, they cursed her for it. He asked them to look after his wife and daughter, that should they decide that his own time was done in this second chance they'd given him, they'd see his family safe and he felt them agree. Though he swore he heard them tell him that his own life was far from done with and he had many years left before he would be called to their side.
Rising to his feet, he nodded to Jaime and they walked out from the godswood. He made his way into the keep and to his room, opening the door once he got there and smiling when he heard Dany laugh as she played with Rhaella. After he unstrapped Blackfyre from his hip and laid it against the wall, he sat down beside them both. His fingers went to Rhaella's face and his daughter bit them almost immediately making him laugh. Dany looked at him and he nodded before he then felt her lips brush against his cheek.
"I think I'm ready to leave, Aegon." Dany said.
"Rhaella?" he asked and his wife nodded "Then we leave, my love. Tomorrow we fly, little dragon, you're first of many flights" he said looking to his daughter who smiled happily at his words.