"... and she will forever live on in our hearts. May the gods bless Daenerys Stormborn of the house Targaryan. Mother or Dragons, Khaleesi, friend." Barristan Selmy finished the funeral service by bowing his head, and everyone had a minute silence in honour of their khaleesi. Ser Jorah was sobbing like a child, not bothering to hide his tears as the heartache that he felt was too much for him to care what Dany's followers thought of him. He wasn't going to see them ever again after this anyway.
Jorah Mormont had tried to warn his khaleesi that dragons cannot be tamed, and that while fire cannot kill a dragon, the strong teeth of a pure dragon surely can. It was a tragic day for all and Jorah had vowed to never love again, nor would he ever follow any leader. He belonged to the gods now, though in a very different way to what Dany did.
The minute of silence ended and all of Daenerys' followers looked around at one another, not quite sure what they were going to do next. But Jorah knew what he was going to do. He was going to jump in the ocean and swim for as long as he could and maybe drown. Maybe the salt water could wash his thoughts away.
"What are your plans now, Jorah?" Ser Barristan asked him. Jorah let out a deep sigh.
"I plan on swimming to Westeros," he told Ser Barristan. Barristan laughed heartily, only realising Jorah was serious when he glared at him. "Surely you don't think you'll make it? You'll die or freeze before you reach the other shore." Jorah didn't listen, however, and instead dove into the ocean with Ser Barristan calling after him.
Jaime Lannister looked through his spyglass but couldn't seem to spot Stannis Baratheon's ships, which were supposedly coming right at that moment. He sighed and collapsed the spyglass.
"False alarm," he told the fishermen, whose boat he had jumped on board so as to appear inconspicuous. "Cersei's 'special sources' were probably just trying to get ten seconds of attention from her. Let's head back to land." The fishermen looked at one another as if deciding who's going to tell him.
"Well, you see m'lord, as we were coming out fishing anyway before you hijacked us, we was going to stay out a bit longer," one of them said. "You know, since it's still a regular work and what have you..." Jaime rolled his eyes at the fisherman.
"Fine, bring one more net in," he said. "Then take me back to shore." The fisherman nodded and muttered words of thanks. Jaime turned an empty bucket upside down and sat down to wait. This would be far more interesting if I had a book or a woman with me, he thought, tapping his fingers on his chin impatiently.
It wasn't long before the fisherman wound their net in and headed back towards the shore, singing sea shanties and laughing when they messed up the words.
Jaime glared at the net of fish as they seemed to be polluting the fresh air with an awful smell. He noticed something glinting in the sun and crouched beside the fish net for a better look at the object. It appeared to be armour, though it didn't look as if it had been in the salt water for very long. The rocking of the boat moved the armour around in the fish net and eventually a human arm emerged from the pile.
"Quick, men! I think there's a human in here!" Jaime alerted the others. "Help me get him out, he might still be alive." Two of the fishermen hurry over to help Jaime get the human out of the net while the other one continues to steer.
It didn't take the men long to pull the armoured man from the net, and Jaime put his head to the man's chest to see if he was still breathing, while one of the fishermen checked for a pulse.
"He's still alive!" the fisherman told Jaime.
"Right, well probably not for long if we don't do something," Jaime said. He started pushing down on the man's chest and breathing into his mouth to try and get him breathing again. "Come on you ungrateful..." Just as Jaime was about curse, the man started to breath again, and the fishermen all cheered. "Full speed ahead!" he called to the captain.
Jaime carried the man from the docks all the way to his own bedroom, knowing that if he let anyone know that he'd saved a man without knowing if they were friend or foe, he was likely to be beheaded. Although Tommen was a far more merciful king than Joffrey ever was, he was also more likely to be influenced by Cersei, and she was not going to be happy.
He laid the man on his bed and tucked him in under the covers. He looked so peaceful there, lying almost completely still save for the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
The man moaned and rolled over. He slowly opened his eyes and squinted with a mixture of confusion and pain.
"Ah, you're awake! Good, how are you feeling?" Jaime asked him.
"Am I... dead?" the man groaned. Jaime laughed.
"No, thankfully. You're back in King's Landing now, thanks to my excellent rescuing skills."
"King's Landing? No. I can't have made it this far. I was supposed to die... Why else would I have gone swimming in my armour?"
Jaime raised an eyebrow at the man. Nothing he said was making any sense. All of that salt water must have made him delusional. "How about I get you some fresh water? Your lips look parched and you're talking nonsense."
"Wait! Who are you? I am dead, aren't I? Let me see the khaleesi, I came for her. Tell her Jorah's finally come and we can be together." This made even less sense than his first comment. Khaleesi? What was that supposed to mean?
"Well at least you can remember your name. If Jorah even is your name... I'll get you that water," Jaime assured his guest. He left the room and Jorah didn't bother arguing this time. He was too tired and a glass of water did sound very refreshing.
The following day Jorah was feeling slightly better and Jaime was finally able to get a coherent explanation from him. Jaime handed him some bread, cheese and grapes for breakfast, things that the kitchen staff weren't likely to miss too much.
"So tell me Jorah, what were you doing in the ocean yesterday?" Jaime asked, picking off a grape and popping it into his mouth. Jorah swallowed a mouthful of bread and took a gulp of water before answering. He knew better than to reveal everything in King's Landing, so he decided to go for a simpler answer that was less risky.
"Someone I loved was killed," he told Jaime. "They were everything to me and I didn't know what I was going to do, so naturally I thought I'd jump into the ocean in my armour, hoping that if it didn't kill me it would at least help me think straight."
"And did it?" Jaime wondered. Jorah looked into Jaime's eyes and smiled.
"More so than I expected it to," he replied. Jaime smiled back, blushing slightly. He looked down at his hands awkwardly, wondering why Jorah had this effect on him. It was like when he'd first started having feelings for Cersei, or even that brief attraction he had to Brienne.
Jaime had always thought he was 100% straight, but even if Jorah weren't so mysterious he knew he would be intrigued by him anyway. He cleared his throat.
"I should get back to my duties. I'll be back around lunch time to bring you some more food," he said, standing up.
"I look forward to it," Jorah called after him.
Over the next few days, Jorah and Jaime found themselves getting much closer. Though they only saw each other briefly at meal times and at night when the rest of the castle was asleep, they still had enough time to really get to know each other. Not everything about each other, of course. Jamie never mentioned who was in power or anything of battle plans, and Jorah never mentioned Daenerys, which was good because it didn't take long for him to forget her completely.
While at first Jaime had taken to sleeping on the couch as Jorah occupied the bed, he soon began to sleep beside Jorah. It was a strange feeling at first but they became so comfortable with each other so quickly that it seemed as though it had always been that way.
Everything was perfect, and as Jaime's affections for Jorah grew he knew something had to go wrong very soon. No one remains happy for very long in King's Landing. Except for Margaery Tyrell, that bitch was always chirpy.
Anyway, Jaime was right. It had been two weeks since the rescue of Jorah, and they were laying next to each other in bed. Jorah felt a certain trust between them and knew it was time to come clean.
"Jaime, I'm telling you this as a... friend. Though I was born in Westeros, I've been living across the narrow sea. My father is Lord Mormont, commander of the Knight's Watch, and the person I loved was Daenerys Targaryan. I've been worshipping her for the past few years but when one of her dragons ate her I decided I didn't want to follow anyone anymore so I tried to swim back here, expecting that I would die. But... now that I've met you I'm glad I didn't." Jorah breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have that off his chest even if it did mean getting beheaded. But Jaime wasn't angry or upset, he just smiled.
"I don't care about your past," he told Jorah. "Because I have something to confess to you too. Jorah, I lo..." Before he could finish his confession, Cersei stormed into his room and both men sat upright in shock and fear.
"I knew you were hiding something! Why else wouldn't you want to have sex with me for the past two weeks?" she cried. "Who is this man? Why are you sharing a bed? Guards!" The guards came in and grabbed Jorah. "Take this man to the dungeons. I'll sort him out later."
The guards did as they were bade and dragged Jorah from the room kicking and screaming.
"Don't worry Jorah, I'll think of a way to release you!" Jaime called after him. Cersei gave Jaime a smug smile. She kissed her fingers and pressed them to his lips.
"I don't think so." With that she turned and left Jaime sitting on his bed, trying not to cry.
As soon as he knew Cersei was asleep, Jaime snuck into the dungeons. The guards had fallen asleep and Jaime rolled his eyes as he passed them.
"Typical," he muttered. He spotted Jorah in a cell and hurried over to him. "Jorah! I'm so glad she didn't just have you killed.
"Jaime! What a surprise. But you shouldn't be here. That bitch could be back at any second," Jorah warned. Jaime pressed his finger to Jorah's lips to shush him.
"I don't care. I just wanted to finish telling you what I was saying before. And that is... I love you. I don't know why or how and I don't care. I love you Jorah, and I'm going to help you escape so we can run away together."
"I love you too!" Jorah said happily. He grabbed Jaime's face and pulled him into a kiss. He had never done that with Dany, but he was sure it would never have been as good as this one. It was perfect in every way. Well, except that they were in a dungeon.
Jaime pulled away, smiling like an idiot. Silently, he retrieved the keys from the guard's uniform and unlocked Jorah's cell. He'd brought a change of clothes for Jorah to change into. Once Jorah was dressed, Jaime replaced the keys and the two snuck out to the docks. They stole the closest boat.
"Where to?" Jaime asked. Jorah grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
"I don't care, as long as I'm with you," he said. They shared another kiss and sailed off as the sun began to rise.
