"Give it time, your grace." Tyrion tried to soothe his queen. "The North has never been quick to welcome strangers."
Daenerys paced in front of her raging fire, she moved like a caged tiger, both tense and fluid and riddled with an understated power.
"It was to be expected that they would be resistant to Jon's decision to bend the knee." Tyrion said. "And until he convinces Lady Sansa…"
"Lady Sansa?" Daenerys snapped, her eyes flashing like wildfire. "What do I care for Lady Sansa."
Tyrion let out a slow breath, realizing his misstep a moment too late. His queen was deeply threatened by the Northern beauty. While well loved across the sea, here she was a foreign conqueror to be treated with suspicion. Here she was not the alluring white-haired Targaryen beauty, but a figure to be mistrusted. Here, Sansa Stark was the one to whom men's eyes drifted with both respect and desire.
"The Starks are the key to the North, my queen." Tyrion said, feeling as though he was repeating himself, but he feared his advise was falling on deaf ears. "Without their allegiance, no Southern ruler, no matter how powerful, can hope to hold the North."
"I have the Starks allegiance."
"Begging your pardon, but you do not." Tyrion said, bringing the full focus of her wrath down upon himself. He tried not to squirm beneath her venomous glare.
"Jon has pledged himself to me."
"Yes. Jon Snow has pledged himself to you. He may have the Stark blood, but not the name. You still need the name."
Daenerys sank into the chair across from Tyrion. "What do you suggest?"
"Not so much a suggestion as a warning." He reached out and placed his hand over hers. "Do not over play your hand. You're a queen, yes. You have earned Jon's respect and admiration, yes. But do not put him in a position where he must choose between you and the Starks. I do not believe you will like where his allegiance lands."
Daenerys stared into the flames, the light flickering in her large eyes.
"You believe he would betray me."
Tyrion considered his words very carefully before committing to them. "I believe he would never betray her."
"You mean the Starks." Daenerys corrected.
Tyrion frowned slightly, but chose to allow Daenerys her correction. It would not be wise to rile her further.
"You have given me much to think about, Lord Tyrion." She said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand.
Tyrion looked down on the yard where the Baratheon bastard supervised the unloading of the carts of Dragonglass. There was heaps of the glistening black rocks, but would it be enough to battle back the onslaught coming for them? Only time would tell.
He knew that the moment the stone reached the forge, those fires would be raging around the clock until the horde of frozen dead reached them. He just hoped that there would be enough time to craft enough weapons.
He saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye and his gaze followed it to find Lady Sansa deep in conversation with her advisor Yohn Royce.
She had been a beautiful child, but she had grown into a breathtakingly beautiful woman. Though, if she realized the effect she had on men, she seemed to actively ignore it. Not that he could blame her. If half the stories he'd heard where true of what she'd endured, he would not blame her if she desired to quit the company of men for the remainder of her days.
He'd liked the girl he'd known in Kingslanding. Liked her enough to wish there was more he could have done to spare her from the torment that was inflicted on her there. He'd done what he could, respecting her chastity and staying far from their marriage bed. Still, he wished he'd done more. He wished he'd been able to protect her from all that came after Kingslanding. He only knew a small portion of what she'd endured since leaving and it was enough to make his stomach turn.
"My lord." He said as he approached the two of them. "My lady."
Yohn Royce gave him a look that made it clear they were not friends. That was fine, Tyrion wasn't looking to make friends in the North. He was looking to survive.
"My lady." Yohn Royce said to Sansa with a respectful tilt of his head to excuse himself.
Silence fell between Tyrion and the lady who had once been his lady in name only.
"The Lady of Winterfell." He said. "Has a nice ring to it."
"So does Hand of the Queen." The Northern beauty acknowledged. "Depending on the queen, I suppose."
Tyrion noted the distrust in Sansa's voice, just as he had noted the iciness she'd treated Daenerys with during every interaction. He knew he would not change her mind through debating, so he could only hope the actions of his queen would convert the Lady of Winterfell to her side. That was, if the Mother of Dragons could learn to control her temper.
Sensing it would be for the best, he changed the subject.
"Last time we spoke was at Joffrey's wedding." He said. "Miserable affair."
"It had its moments." Sansa said, with a slight edge of amusement in her voice. "Apologies for leaving like that."
"Yes, it was a bit hard to explain why my wife fled moments after the king's murder."
He'd almost been put to death as a result, after all. Though, had she stayed, he had no doubt Cersei would have seen her dead for the crime, guilty or not.
Sansa did not look overly remorseful for his suffering which she'd contributed to. He couldn't really expect her to regret leaving him, not when she'd been a pretty little pawn at the time, moved around by more powerful players.
"We both survived." She said.
Tyrion studied the woman before him for a long moment. He saw very little of the delicate child he had briefly called wife. She was no longer soft. She was no longer the pretty little thing Jeoffery delighted in tormenting. In truth, if she had a goblet of wine in his hand, he could almost think she reminded him of Cersei. Though her eyes lacked the sharp edge of cruelty which his sisters always held. No, she was better than Cersei. Unlike his sister, she would make a wise leader, both just and merciful. The North was lucky to have the likes of her.
He couldn't suppress the faint expression of awe on his face. Not only was she one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen, but she had a mind to rival or perhaps even surpass his own.
"Many underestimated you. Most of them are dead now." He observed.
Sansa said nothing, but Tyrion thought he saw a hint of pride glimmer in her calculating eyes.
"I'm sure you weren't thrilled to hear the Lannister army's marching north. You have every right to be fearful of my sister. No one fears her more than I do." He continued. "But I promise, you'll be safe"
He noticed something close to amusement in her expression and realized that while she was wary of Cersei, she did not fear her. She'd grown too much to be a quaking child when faced with her childhood nightmares.
"Cersei told you her army was coming north to fight for you?" Sansa asked
"She did."
"And you believed her?"
The cold dread of doubt filled his gut for the first time since his private conversation with his sister.
"She has something to live for now." Tyrion said, as much to convince the Lady Sansa as to reassure himself. "I believe she wants to survive."
"I used to think you were the cleverest man alive." She said. There was no mockery in her words which only serve to make their sting more keenly felt.
She swept away before he could think of a clever retort.
His chest tightened with a sudden anxiety that perhaps he had been wrong about his sister's intentions. Mind troubled, Tyrion looked out across the yard. He spotted the crippled Stark boy looking at him. No… looking through him.
Alright readers! So far my plan is for the Episode 1 story to follow the actual episode fairly closely. There will be some added scenes and lots of added subtext. But if there a character you felt was wrongly ignored in the first episode that deserves to be a POV character, give them a shout out! I'd love to hear from you via Reviews and PMs, and while I might not be able to make all requests works, I will definitely take anything under consideration!
Please review, it makes my day!
