The throneroom was filled with an eery silence. The young queen, the mother of dragons, had summoned a list of people for sentencing. It was her first official act as queen of the seven kingdoms. The people of the court were clearly worried and curious to see what sorts of sentences she would hand out. Would she be merciful or would she be cruel? The guilty persons were brought up from the dungeons and escorted in by two guards, one prisoner at a time.
The court had expected a larger group of prisoners. There were only two. One of them was recognizable to everyone present. The other prisoner's identity was unknown.
"Ser Jaimie Lannister, you may approach." Dany said in her regal tone.
The two guards who held him, let go of his arms and gave him a shove forward. He caught himself before falling and made the short walk to the foot of the throne.
The queen gazed at him for a long moment. "I have known all my life that my father was murdered by Ser Jaime Lannister. I had expected you to look more like a monster." Dany finally said.
Jaime said nothing. He wouldn't even look her in the eyes. Everyone knew he was guilty of this crime. He had no desire to deny it.
"Just tell me why. Why did you break your vows and kill the king you were sworn to protect?" She demanded.
"His last two orders," Jaime began, "Were to burn the city, kill everyone in it… and to bring him my father's head...it was not an order I could obey."
"Lies." Dany fumed. "Those are lies!"
"Khaleesi." Jorah said from his place behind the throne. Just the sound of his voice seemed to calm her.
She took a breath. "Ser Jorah, reminded me this morning that the people called my father the mad king for a reason. Even if what you say is true, I can not let you go unpunished. I can not abide my father's killer wandering freely in Westeros. You are hereby banished to Essos. The guards will escort you to your ship shortly. Do not set foot in my kingdom again or I will have your head."
The two guards stood with Jaime at the back of the room while two more guards brought the other prisoner in, a young woman. At first glance he thought it might be Lyanna Stark but realized it must be Arya.
"Arya of House Stark, you may approach." Dany said.
Arya did not approach gracefully. She yanked free of the guards, they caught her and dragged her to the foot of the throne, depositing her there before walking away.
"Do you deny your attempt to kill me two weeks past?" The Queen asked.
"You owe the iron bank a great deal. They sent me to collect." Arya shrugged.
"Tell them they will have their money. But they will not have my life. Chain her to the Lannister. I want them both out of my sight." The queen commanded.
Arya was dragged to the end of the room where Jaime and his two guards waited. A fifth guard brought a chain and shackled one end to her right ankle. The other end, three feet away was shackled to Ser Jaime's left ankle. It took them some time to figure out how to walk in sync with one another but they had figured it out by the time they reached the harbor. The guards walked with them all the way down the docks and onto the deck of the ship. The key to their shackles was given to the captain, not to be removed until they reached Essos. Before the guards were gone, two ship crewmen took them below deck and locked them into a dark cabin room.
As their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they could see that the room was sparsely furnished, There was a table in one corner with a bench on each side. A shelf held several loaves of bread, a wheel of cheese, and jugs of water. A slop bucket sat on the floor and a single bed was aligned with the opposite wall. This cabin had been intended for one passenger, not two. Certainly not two chained together.
Jaime had not seen Arya Stark in at least twelve years. She had been a skinny child who quarreled with Joffrey the last time they had met. He doubted she liked Lannisters any better now than she did back then. This was not going to be an easy journey.
"Maybe that table has nails." Arya was the first to speak. Jaime understood her thinking. If the table had nails, they would be able to pick the lock on their chains. They turned the table over together and discovered to their disappointment that it was held together with wooden pegs. All the other furnishings in the room were the same.
"It was worth a try." Jaime shrugged.
"Of course it was worth a try." Arya said, irritated. "I wouldn't have said it otherwise."
"Right, because every idea you have, always works out so well." Jaime mocked. "Did you really think you could just sneak into the queen's chambers and kill her?"
"I was never meant to kill her. Only to scare her. My mission worked out just fine."
"Really?" Jaime said, jerking the chain between them.
"If anyone else had slipped into the queen's chambers and put a blade to her throat they would be headless by now. But she's more afraid of the Iron Bank than anyone else. She can't execute me. That was the point, to remind her where the real power is."
"And you just do the bidding of the Iron Bank? No matter how powerless it makes you?"
"I'm not powerless. We're going back to Bravos. I'm free there." She said.
Jaime sat on the bench nearby. Arya had little choice but to sit with him. "Not powerless? You have to go everywhere I do. Did your faceless men even warn you that this mission could get you chained to a Lannister?"
"You've got that wrong. You have to go everywhere I go. We're being sent to Bravos for my sake, not yours."
"I'm not talking about our destination. I'm talking about the next six weeks on board this ship. I just forced you to sit on this bench with me. I could easily do worse." He said.
She glared at him. You'd like that wouldn't you. Lannisters always want to fuck the Starks."
Jaime grinned. He had no intention of harming her. But she didn't need to know that. "I would say that the Starks are always trying to fuck the Lannisters. And here you are alone in a cabin, chained to a Lannister. I guess you got what you wanted."
Arya punched him. She didn't take time to think it through, she just did it. Given her size and angle it was a pretty good blow to the jaw, but not enough to really hurt him. In an instant they were both on their feet. Arya was pummeling him with both fists but Jaime had the advantage of size. A few sweeping steps and he pinned her against the wall of the cabin. She continued to struggle against him for half a minute more.
"Are you done now?" He asked when her movement stopped.
"I'm done." She sighed. Though both of them knew this wasn't the end. They weren't friends. Nothing had changed.