Eddard
Eddard Stark was tired. After years of fighting in the rebellion against the Mad King, he wanted nothing more than to be back in Winterfell with his new wife, Catelyn, with his new son Robb, with his new bastard Jon Snow.
However, Eddard had one final mission before he returned home to rest. He was meeting with Robert Baratheon and a group of Lannister men in Dragonstone. Rhaella Targaryen was last seen fleeing towards the island, and Robert was Hells bent on eradicating the Targaryens from existence.
Eddard would not let that happen. His enemy was dead. As far as Eddard was concerned, the rebellion ended the moment the Kingslayer struck his sword through Aerys Targaryen's back.
He rode through the North as fast as he could, leaving from a few miles outside of Winterfell the day he received a raven from Robert informing him of his intentions. That had been six days ago. He sent Jon ahead towards Winterfell with his bannermen a letter asking Catelyn for forgiveness.
Now he was nearing White Harbor. He must beat the newly crowned king to the island. He knew Robert, he knew he would execute Rhaella, pregnancy and all. The ride from White Harbor to Dragonstone would take a fortnight. A week and a half with the fastest of ships. Luckily for Eddard, Robert didn't plan on leaving King's Landing for another week's time.
Eddard payed for the fastest ship in the harbor, a Pirate vessel called The Marie, and set sail immediately for Dragonstone. He prayed to all the gods, old and new, that he was not too late.
"The winds appear gracious today, my friend. We shall experience smooth sailing if this holds up." Eddard looked up to the Captain who stared back with a crooked, yellow smile. The Captain was from across the Narrow Sea in Essos. He had a dark black complexion which contrasted vividly with his pale white hair. The Captain had quite the stomach on him from years of drinking.
"I hope you're right." Eddard had been staring into the sea for an hour or so, ever since they left the docks of White Harbor.
"If I may ask, what has you in such a hurry to get to Dragonstone?" Eddard was not in a conversing mood.
"The king." He left it at that.
"The old or the new?" The captain questioned.
Eddard gazed back at the captain reading his face, gaging his intentions. "The new."
"Ahh, King Robert Baratheon. You really believe he will be any better than the Mad King? They're all mad, my friend." The Captain chuckled at his own words.
"What's your name?" Eddard asked as he began to walk up the steps to the Captain, each wooden plank creaking under the pressure of his leather boots.
"Solemane" the Captain answered. "Don't worry, my friend. I mean you nor your king no harm. You pay too well for me to want to hurt you." Solemane chuckled again. It was an ugly chuckle that sounded more like dry coughing than laughter.
"Well, Solemane, when we reach Dragonstone I want you to wait on the docks. I'll be in need of a vessel home." Eddard once again gazed back to the horizon thinking of Winterfell.
"Not planning to stay long my friend?"
Eddard thought about his wife, Catelyn, all alone raising Robb and Jon. "Aye. I've been away from home for far too long."
"Okay, my friend. I'll wait in the harbor. I can miss a shipment or two, you payed me well enough."
"Thank you, Solemane."
Eddard left the deck to rest in his cabin. He could hardly sleep thinking about how he could possibly convince the King to spare a Targaryen. He knew the deep hatred Robert harbored. Deep hatred that was misplaced. Eddard would never tell Robert that, however, for Robert was one of rage and fury.
The journey south passed by quickly, luckily for Eddard. The days melted together as the Lord of Winterfell spent most of his time in his rented cabin thinking and sleeping. His only breaks involved going to the kitchens to sup with the crew and hearing tales of far away lands, never saying more than was necessary.
After a week and two days he spotted Dragonstone in the distant. Eddard let out a breath he hardly realized he'd been holding. Robert Baratheon was many things, understanding was not one of them. As the Marie approached the docks he saw a sickening sight, Lannister banners flying over three large galleons.
He practically jumped over the rails of the Marie in his rush to reach the castle in time. Eddard transversed the beach and took the stairs two at a time. When he opened the great wooden doors to the keep he found bodies and blood extrude across the rugged floors. Upon further inspection he glanced the Targaryen Three Headed Dragon sigil dawning their iron chest plates. 'Gods, I beg I'm not too late!' He worried.
As he ran to the throne room, he heard yelling coming from deeper into the keep. He opened the grand doors to the sight of Stannis Baratheon alone gazing upon the throne, deep in thought.
Stannis seemed to struggle in tearing his eyes away from the throne at the sound of the opening doors. His face appeared shocked for a split second before it became emotionless once again. "Stark." He all but whispered.
"Stannis, where is your brother? Where is Robert?" Eddard demanded.
"He's in the lord's chambers. Rhaella Targaryen seems to have died in childbirth." Stannis' eyes harbored a hint of saddness as they lingered on Stark's for half a second before they drifted back the the throne.
Eddard quickly raced to the lord's chambers but was stopped by a Lannister bannerman's hand upon his upper arm before he could reach the door. "Hands off me Lannister. I need to see Robert." Eddard shoved the man against the solid wall and barged into the room.
Robert turned around at the sound of the door hitting the wall. "I told you fuckers not to b- Ned?" Robert's red, angry face was momentarily replaced with one of shear confusion. "What in the Seven Hells are you doing here?"
Eddard looked from Robert's eyes to the lifeless body of Rhaella Targaryen covered in her own blood. The scene brought back awful images of her poor sister, Lyanna, so pale and frail. He then turned his attention to the crying wet nurse sitting in the corner hiding a round figure from view against the wall. It was a babe. Eddard positioned himself between the wet nurse and Robert.
"What are you doing, Ned?" Robert demanded.
"I will not let you harm the babe, Robert." Eddard swore.
"This is no concern of yours!" The King howled in response, anger flashing behind his eyes. Robert's outburst caused the babe to began wailing in fear, the wet nurse softly tried to 'shush' the babe back to sleep.
"This is madness Robert."
Robert struck an accusatory finger in Rhaella's direction. "That whore has given birth to a girl, a girl who will challenge my claim to the throne. She posses Targaryen blood, Ned, we are trying to overthrow the Targaryens."
"We have already overthrown the Mad King, Robert. The Lannisters have already committed atrocities in King's Landing with the murder of Aegon, Rhaenys, and this babe's brother, Viserys in their very cradles. I wonder if those animals even had second thoughts before they butchered those children. And poor Elia Martel, unspeakable cruelties were acted upon her. Put an end to the bloodshed Robert, you have already claimed the Iron Throne." Eddard and Robert stared each other down, each willing the other to surrender. When Robert made no move to speak, Ned continued. "Look at her, Robert! Look at her!" Eddard pointed to the babe in the wet nurse's shaking arms. "She is merely a babe, and you want to what, slaughter her? Execute her for the crimes of her father?" Eddard questioned.
"She is the blood of the bloody dragon! She has the blood of the Mad King! Seven Hells Ned, whose side are you truly on?" Robert's face reddened.
"You know I am loyal to your cause Robert. But, I will not allow my loyalty to blind me. What you suggest is murder, of a babe no less, and I will not allow it. Eddard's mind raced to find a solution. He knew the babe would never be safe on her own, he had to take her in. "Allow me to take her as a ward, allow me to raise her in Winterfell."
Fury flashed through Robert's eyes. "You would let this Targaryen filth walk the same grounds as Lyanna, Ned? Let her sleep in the same castle your dear sister once called home? Her brother stole Lyanna from me, from you. Her brother raped the women I loved." Robert bellowed from his lungs, the sound echoing from the stone walls.
Eddard knew that was not true, but telling Robert that would only make matters worse. Believing Lyanna was raped angered him enough, Eddard dared not to see Robert's reaction to learning the women he loved loved another. "She is not her brother, Robert. You seem to forget you have Targaryen blood in you, or do you forget your Grandmother so soon? Shall I slay you where you stand, will that bring Lyanna back?"
"How dare you, Ned." Robert's spit flew in anger.
"Banish me. Execute me if you must. But, I will bring no harm to this babe. And I will die before I allow you too either." Eddard never let his eyes leave Robert's, hoping he may transfer reason through them.
The minutes seemed to slow to ages as Robert studied Eddard's face. "Damn you, Ned. Damn you and your Stark stubbornness." Robert paced the room from bed post to window for another age before he finally broke the silence. "I will allow this babe to live. I will allow you to take her as a ward. But I swear to all the Gods, old and new, if she ever even hints at the idea of taking the Iron Throne, I will hang her head from the walls of the Red Keep myself."
Eddard thanked the gods. "I will not let that happen, Robert." He assured.
"Get it out of my sight before I change my mind." And with that Robert made his leave.
Eddard walked over to the trembling wet nurse kneeling in the corner who clutched the babe to her bosom. "What is your name?"
Now that Eddard got a good look at her he noticed her eyes were two different shades of blue, the left darker than the right. The wet-nurse looked at his face but avoided his eyes. "Sarah."
"Do you speak Valyrian, Sarah?" Eddard wanted to ensure the survival of the Targaryen culture, he believed he owed at least that much to the poor babe.
"Ye-Yes my lord." Sarah trembled. She must be well learned if she knew Eddard was a lord.
"Good, I want you to come with me to Winterfell. You will continue to nurse the babe, and teach her Valyrian as she comes of age." Sarah shook her head in confirmation and slowly rose, still avoiding Edward's eyes. Eddard picked up Rhaella's lifeless body and carried her across his chest. Sarah 's mismatched eyes grew in shock and her face seemed to contort in fear. "Do not worry, Sarah. I plan to burry her in Winterfell where the babe may honor her. I fear what the Lannisters would do to her body if I left her behind."
He guided Sarah and the babe to the Marie. Along the way he traded glances with Stannis Baratheon, the lord almost looked relieved to see Eddard with the Queen and the babe. Sarah held the babe so firmly against her bosom it seemed she the babe would stick to her. Once aboard the Marie, Eddard payed the Captain for a cabin next to his own for Sarah, and the babe. He placed Rhaella on his own bed as to keep her away from the babe and slept on a makeshift bed on the wooden planks of the ship.
The journey home felt much longer than the journey to Dragonstone. He spent the vast majority of the time watching the wet nurse and the babe, making sure they were safe amongst the crew of men.
He spent his nights thinking of Catelyn. Eddard wondered if their son Robb looked more Stark or Tully. He had still yet to meet his son. He wondered how Catelyn would react to him bringing yet another babe home from southern lands. At least this time he did not have to pretend this babe was his bastard. This girl babe looked nothing like him anyways.
He thought of Jon, the boy looked almost too much like him. He looked Stark through and through, thank the gods. A Targaryen babe was one thing, but a Targaryen babe born from the love of Lyanna and Rhaegar would never reach age with Robert's wrath.
He thought of Jon's relation to this girl babe. She was his aunt despite Jon being almost a year her senior. Maybe it was because he knew of their relation, but Eddard swore he saw a passing resemblance in their eyes. Not in color, as Jon's were grey and the babe's violet but in intensity. It was almost as if they shared a common fire burning behind their pupils. 'It must be the dragon in them' Eddard pondered.
On the morn of his final day aboard the Marie, Eddard entered the kitchens to break his fast amongst the crew. The dinner hall smelled strong of liquer and meat, and the entire crew sat along the wooden benches beside the grand table that was worn tan from usage and old age. Eddard accepted a plate of venicine sausage from a plump, round faced cook and took a seat becide Solemane.
They dined a moment in silence, the only sounds being the clattering of forks and knives and hearty laughter from the other side of the table. Solamane seemed lost in his own thoughts, not that Eddard mined, he cared little for small talk.
It was Solamane who broke the silence asking, "You do not care much for wine do you, my friend?"
The statement was true enough, Eddard had hardly endevored into their wine, not for lack of supply. "I find the sweetness does not suit my taste."
Solamane chuckled, "I would expect as much from a Northerner, you are hard men. Especially you Starks."
Eddard coughed on his venicine in shock, he had yet to inform the pirate of his name. "How do you know me to be a Stark?"
"Do you mean besides the brooding looks and heavy jaw?" The Captain gaffawed a hearty laugh that somehow managed to be even more obnoxious than his chuckling, "Even us lowly pirates of Essos have heard tale of the Warden of the North." Eddard didn't know how to respond. Luckily Solemane continued, "So tell me friend, what is the Warden of the North doing aboard the Marie with a dragon babe?"
Eddard studied Solemane's face, searching his eyes to discover what secrets they held. If Solemane planned on harming himself or the babe, he would have attempted to do so days ago, surely. He would not attempt to harm them mere hours from White Harbor, would he? Solemane smiled his crooked smile awaiting Eddard's response.
"I am taking the babe in as a ward of Winterfell."
Solemane seemed to ponder the answer a moment, weighing it's meaning. "You plan to make a ward of this babe dragon? Zaldrīzes buzdari ikos daor. A dragon is not a slave."
"And she won't be. I plan to raise the babe among my own children, in my own keep. She will know a soft bed and a full stomach, I can swear you that." Eddard assured the man.
Solemane smiled again, obviously happy with the answer. "You are an honorable man, Lord Stark, more honorable than most." Solemane took a long swig of his wine before continuing, "I have a gift for this dragon babe. A treasure I came across in the Free City of Braavos. It was quite an expensive treasure I might add, but I feel the babe dragon may discover it to be more useful than I ever could. Come, I'd like you to take it for safe keeping."
Solemane rose from his seat and led Eddard out of the kitchens and to the hall that led to his captain's chambers. Eddard walked closely behind him hoping the Captain was not wasting his time. The Lord of Winterfell hated wasting time.
Solemane opened his chamber's door and left it open for Eddard to walk through. His chamber had a large wooden desk in the center of the room and an elegant bed in the top left corner. Eddard was taken aback by how organized the chamber was, he would not have taken Solemane to be the organized type. Eddard waited akwardly in the door frame while the Captain knelt before a trunk adorning the front of his bed. The trunk was a rich velvet with silver braces.
Solemane slowly opened the lid of the trunk and seized a smaller metallic box from within, he carefully placed the box atop his desk and unclapsed the locks. He stepped back with his usual smile and motioned for Eddard to come forward. "Go ahead, my friend, open it"
Eddard obliged the Captain's command slowly. "Seven Hells" Eddard wondered if his eyes were decieving him, "These, these are dragon eggs." Three of them, the leftmost one of grayish silver, the right one of various greens, and the middle one, the largest of the triplet, was a scaley black a red.
"Yes, my friend. Unfortunately, or fortunatley, depending on who you ask, these eggs have long since fossilzed. Still beautiful, are they not?" Solemane did not wait for an answer, their beauty was undeniable, "I want the dragon babe to have them, something to honor her glorious history. Give it to her when the time is right, Lord Stark."
"How will I know the time is right?"
"You will know the time is right, because the dragon babe will tell you."
Eddard carefully closed the mettalic box and thanked Solemane for his generosity. He was still in a shockened state, the dragons had died out a centry ago, yet in his hands he held the eggs of legend.
Upon arrival to Sarah's cabin, Eddard found her nursing the dragon babe. He had grabbed a sausage from the kitchens so Sarah may break her fast. She hardly ever spoke more than a word or two, and only put the babe down when she laid the girl to rest. Eddard had stashed the eggs with his possesions in his own cabin before making sure to check on the girls.
Sarah looked up at his face briefly at the sound of the door, still avoiding eye sight, before once again returning her attention to the babe suckling at her breast. "How is she?" Eddard questioned. The babe had slept through most of the journey, only wailing a few times when she was burdened with hunger.
"Well, my lord." Sarah had a soft, respectful voice. Eddard had to strain to hear her at times. He hoped the girl would cease to fear him, not that he could blame the poor women. She looked no more than twenty years of age, and she was rather small.
"I brought you venicine from the kitchens, thought you might want to break your fast." Eddard sat along the foot of the bed, Sarah nursed the babe in a wooden chair in the corner near a small window to his left.
"Thank you, my lord." Sarah gazed through the window to the waters of the Bite.
"We shall make land fall in White Harbor before night fall, we will bargain a horse and leave for Winterfell immediately, I want to get home as before the next moon." Sarah simply nodded in undertsanding, still gazing upon the rippling waves. Eddard wondered if she was thinking of her own home. "Where were you born, Sarah?"
The girl remained silent for a moment, her face not exposing her inner thoughts and emotions, then she spoke, "I was born in King's Lannding, my lord, in Flea Bottom." Eddard put the conversation to rest, he didn't want to scare the poor girl into silence.
he returned to his own cabin and put the bed to use, one last time. He had a long journey ahead of him, six days at least.
Eddard smiled for the first time in what seemed like ages at the sight of White Harbor. He was so close to home. Eddard thanked Solemane one last time as he carried Rhaella ashore being closely trailed by the wet nurse and the babe. Not wanting to waist anymore time, they bought a horse and wagon for Rhaella's body, and left for Winterfell immediately. Sarah rode behind Eddard, never relenting her grasp on the babe even for a second.
Eddard got hardly any sleep as he watched over the nurse and the babe's sleeping forms near the fire. Sarah and Eddard exchanged very little dialogue on the trail to Winterfell, and the babe hardly fussed. Eddard was thankful for that, he hoped the babe would continue to be this well behaved as she grew
After five days of travel through the rolling hills and forest of Northern Westeros, they stopped to rest a few miles east of Winterfell, they would reach the keep in the morn. Eddard once again thought of home. He could almost smell the food in it's kitchens, the liquor at the dinning tables, he could almost hear the laughter of it's guards, feel the warmth of it's crackilng fires.
Eddard was removed from his daydreams by the sound of Sarah's voice. "My mother was a whore, my lord. I never knew my father. He could have been some lowly peasant, he could have been a high lord, he could have been the king, it hardly matters, he wasn't there." Sarah paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, starring intently into the flames of their fire. Eddard could barely make out the mismatched blue of her eyes.
The lord dared not make a sound in fear that she may stop speaking. After another moment, she continued, "My mother never wanted to be a whore, she loved to draw, she was good at it, but she was a slave, and slaves weren't meant to draw, she'd say. One day, when I was still young, maybe having reached my fith name day, my mother decided she no longer wanted to be a whore, she would run. She would take me, a small stache of coin she had saved, and run. I'm not sure she even knew where she planned to run too, but she could not stay in Flea Bottom any longer. I had very little time to pack anything, I packed the clothes on my back and my favorite drawing of my mother's. It's all I have left of her.
Sarah began to tear up at the memories, "Her master found her, h-her master did unspeakable things to her, my lord. I-I was made to watch. The master wanted me to know what happened to a slave who tried to run. When the master...when the master was done with her, h-he murdered her. He butchered my mother, plain for my eyes to see, and he laughed. I will never forget that laugh, I still hear it sometimes when I close my eyes, taunting me. I see his face, his evil face. I was next, my lord. He planned to do those very same unspeakable things to me. He placed his cold hands around my throat and he held me in place. I was so afraid, I am still afraid. The master had layed the dagger beside me when he grabbed my throat, it was still covered in my mother's blood. I took it. It was cold, it was too big for my nimble hands, and heavy, but I took it. I-I drove it into his neck, over, and over, and over."
Sarah's voice cracked as her body began to tremble. Eddard quickly embraced the girl and placed a supportive hand on her upper back. She cried into his chest, drenching his leathers in her salty tears. "Shush, child. It will be all right."
His hand formed comforting circles on her back for a few moments until Sarah released her self partly from his grasp. She took in a few breaths before she continued, eyes blood red, "At times I can still tas-taste h-his blood upon my lips, my lord. He fell upon me, lifeless, were he ramined for several hours until a Golden Cloak found us. The Golden Cloak took me to the Red Keep to see the King to pass judfement. The King decided I deserved to die for murdering the master, but the Queen, Queen Rhaella, she convinced him to spare me. She took me on as a maiden, she fed me, she clothed me, she bathed me, she treated me as her own. I shall do the same for her babe, I owe it to her."
Eddard thought the tale over in his head for a long while, not knowing what to say,where even to begin. He felt soft breathing against his chest and realized Sarah had fallen asleep. Eddard whiped the wetness from the poor girl's eyes and laid her to sleep beside the babe. He laid awake for another hour processing her words before he too felt the tug of sleeps.
In the morn the pair finaly reached the gates of Winterfell. Sentries atop the castle walls had spotted their Lord riding down the trail and had opened the gates in advance. They must have given word to the Lady as well, as Catelyn was awaiting his arrival. He smiled when he saw her in all her glory.
Eddard dismounted his horse and quickly embraced Catelyn. He basked in the warmth of her skin, he was finally home.
"I missed you so, Ned." Catelyn whispered into his ear.
"Aye. As I did you, my love." They remained embraced in each other's arms for a moment more before Eddard remembered his lordly duties. He reluctantly removed himself from his wife's arms and grabbed her hand as he led her towards the wet nurse and the babe. Eddard felt her hand tighten around his and saw her eyes sadden. 'She must think this Jon's mother' Eddard presumed.
"Catelyn, this is Sarah, she is the babe's wet nurse." Sarah bowed courtly and mumbled a soft 'my lady'.
Catelyn looked heart broken as she noticed the babe. It was evident she believed he had fathered another bastard in less than a year's time. "I saved this babe at Dragonstone, her mother died in labor."
The Lady of Winterfell hardly moved as she processed the information he had just laid upon her. "What is her name." Catelyn begged in a broken voice so soft Eddard had to strain to understand its meaning.
He realized he had never received a name. He wondered if Rhaella had even lived long enough to name the poor girl. He looked to Sarah expectantly.
She looked into his eyes for the first time and spoke her name, "Daenerys Targaryen."