Not The Plan
Well then, things are slowly getting a move on in the story and still we get closer to our final goal, hehe ;p
Thank you all again for continuously reading this story and leaving your thoughts, it really helps me with writing this story as quickly as I am!
I do not own any of the characters or the TV show, this is merely my interpretation on it. No copyright infringement intended.
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It had been weeks since the attempt had been made on Daenerys' life and after all this time the assassin was still awaiting judgement. All useful information had been pulled out of him through various manners. As it turned out the man had acted alone, wishing to make a point clear by killing the Queen. That even the one that the ex-slaves saw as their saviour could be killed and he almost succeeded. The man had been a slaver before the blonde had come to Slaver's bay.
It was on this morning a few weeks later that Yara was summoned to the Queen's quarters. Before when Daenerys was still more severely hurt she would continuously sit with her, but as time passed other tasks were presented to her. As it was the Lannister dwarf was ruling in Dany's stead at the moment until she was well enough to do so herself again.
Speaking of Daenerys, she had been getting better each passing day and could now do simple tasks by herself again, like getting out of bed and getting water for herself. Bathing was still an issue, but Yara suspected that even before Daenerys didn't bathe herself, but had servants for that. The brunette smiled to herself. She was glad that the younger girl was doing better. Not knowing why she had been summoned she quickened her pace until she was nearly jogging to get there faster. Arriving at the big door, she raised her hand and knocked. Hearing a soft utterance that bid her to enter she did so.
Yara set foot inside the room and walked with surety towards the form of the blonde that was sitting up in bed. Looking at the other girl expectantly she waited until Dany would look up or at least explain what was needed of her.
"I wished to braid my hair, but my shoulder wouldn't cooperate so I need your help." the blonde said honestly, not a trace of shame in her voice. Ever since that day that Yara had told her there was no weakness in asking for help, the smaller girl had done so more often. Reluctant at first, but in time she accepted she needed the help.
"Don't you have servants for that?" Yara asked with a smile, not minding being asked at all and moving towards the bed anyway.
"I-I just wished to speak to you. About the…uhum…execution." the younger girl said with uncertainty.
"Alright, what about the execution?" Yara said this as she lowered herself behind the blonde who was sitting cross-legged on the comfortable bed.
"I wish to have it done today… And I need to be there."
"Today, Daenerys? You cannot be serious, you are still recovering!" Yara asked completely incredulous, stopping her hands mid-air from grabbing the hair she had wished to braid.
"I have lain here like a weakling long enough, it is time for me to actually have something done about those that oppose me. Or others might start having doubts about my leadership." the girl in front of her said, as she straightened her back to omit a strength Yara knew she did not feel in her weakened state. Being unable to see the other's face during this conversation might not have been the best approach. But Yara knew Daenerys had done so on purpose for if Yara had looked her in her eyes she might have caved in. She smirked slightly at the clever girl in front of her, who had meticulously planned out the details for this conversation.
"Fine then, the assassin shall meet his end today, as you wish. Any particular method in mind?" Yara asked, keeping her emotions in check. Knowing she would not be able to convince Daenerys she just let it go. She put her hands on the girl's back not yet starting on braiding her hair.
"Kill him as he tried to kill me. It is a poison that works quite quickly now isn't it?"
"It is."
"Very well then, a poisoned arrow shall be shot through his hands which he will hang by. He will meet his end in the same way that he had wished to end me." Daenerys spoke trying to sound certain, but there was a slight hint of hesitation at the end of her voice.
"That sounds fair." Yara replied before moving her right hand behind her to reach for the hairbrush that was located on the small table next to the bed. "You are doing the right thing, Dany, the man tried to kill you." the Greyjoy tried to reassure her.
"I know. I just don't wish for people to think me unnecessarily cruel, I just wish to be just."
"And they won't. Believe me, if it was too cruel then I would tell you, but it is what he tried to do to you. To try and avoid future uprising perhaps it is best to set an example of those who oppose you. But he did not merely oppose you, he almost killed you! It is completely within your right to call for his death." the brunette replied vehemently, before continuing, stopping any further argument, "Enough about that for now, what do you wish for me to do with your hair?"
"Nothing too complicated, you may decide." the blonde replied as her back relaxed and a weight seemed to fall off of her slight shoulders.
"Okay."
Yara slowly brought the brush up to the long silver tresses and brushed it through the hair. Hair that was so silky smooth and glided through your hands like quicksand or water in a river. Repeating the calming motion the older girl slowly fell into a rhythm as she felt the silver-haired girl unwind beneath the motions and felt the tension that was coiled everywhere in her body slowly starting to disappear. Bring the brush up, pull it through the hair slowly, pull down until you reach the ends and when reaching the ends Yara slowly stroked the ends with her left hand, before bringing her right hand with the brush back up and repeating the motion.
As all the tangles had been removed, Yara carefully put the brush back on the small side-table. The brunette ran her fingers through the hair, to remove any final tangles while mulling over how she would braid the beautiful hair. Deciding on a certain pattern, she slowly reached forward and grabbed a piece of hair from the crown of Daenerys' right side of the head and splitting the piece into four equal sections. Taking the strand that was completely on the right, bringing it over the one that was to its left, than bringing it under the next and then over the final strand. The new right strand then also went over, then under and then over again. Repeating this weaving motion until she came to the end of the piece of hair, before tying it off with some leather.
Taking a piece of hair from the other side of her head, she repeated the braiding process until she reached the end. Then Yara took a piece of hair from below the first strand of the braided hair on that side, but this time she merely braided this normally with only three strands, as it was a smaller braid. She did this on the other side as well before returning to the right side again and making another small braid and repeating this on the other side. Having individually tied all these small braids she now brought them together at the back of the blonde's head and tied them off deciding to leave the braided hair below the tie braided as it was.
Looking at her work, Yara decided that she had never looked this intensely at anyone's hair before, but it made her realize how beautiful and slightly magical the silver hair looked.
"It is done." Yara said, hoping to shake the girl out of her slight haze.
"Can I see it?" Daenerys replied with curiosity in her voice.
Yara smiled before reaching over to the side table where a small piece of polished silver was located and picked it up. Handing the small mirror to the blonde she realized her slight nervousness and hope that the blonde would like it. Daenerys brought the mirror up and Yara looked over her shoulder to see her facial expression. She saw blue eyes studying her handy work and Yara held breath.
"It is beautiful, but so different from what I normally wear." Daenerys said before turning around and looking Yara in the eyes.
"I just thought that during the events of today you would like to look as queenly as possible and I thought this would help with that." Yara said before adding what she had thought about when she started her design, "A crown of braids."
The admission may not have seemed as much to anyone else, but Yara saw that Daenerys understood. For Yara hadn't simply done that which was easiest to braid, she had thought of the image the Queen wanted to portray and the older girl would do everything she could to help her achieve this.
"Thank you." the blonde spoke, before asking, "Who taught you how to braid?"
"My mother did. She always used to braid my hair when I was little." Yara admitted while looking down.
"She was very important to you, wasn't she?" the younger girl asked her and Yara simply nodded, no more words needing to be said on the matter.
"You don't talk that much about her, do you?" Daenerys asked.
"I'll tell you about my mother someday, Dany. But that day is not today, okay?" Yara said with a wry smile, hoping to convey that it was a sore subject. The blonde understood and she let it go.
And that was that, after the braiding session, Daenerys had gotten someone else's help to dress while Yara went to take care of the preparations that needed to be made for the day's proceedings. The execution would be at sundown.
Sundown had come and now she was standing next to the blonde who seemed to be doing better, but she still seemed to be in pain sometimes. Those were the aftereffects of the poison that had run through her veins, leaving her in a weakened state. But she was getting stronger again. In front of them was a platform on which the assassin was tied to a pole, not quite tightly enough for him to keep hanging in place if the floor beneath him disappeared. The rope would give slightly and there would be a slight drop.
She looked at Daenerys – who she in that moment couldn't describe as anyone other than the Dragon Queen and Mother of Dragons, as that's how she looked, giving off an aura of authority to her entire vicinity – as the blonde gave a nod. It was the signal and in the next second the arrow which was dripping with poison was shot straight through both palms of the man on the platform. The second that the arrow bore itself into the pole behind him, a lever was pulled and the floor beneath him was dropped. His body made a slight drop until the arrow which had pierced the man's hands and the loosely tied rope stopped him from falling any further.
And that is how his last moments were spent, hanging from his hands and experiencing the effects of the deadly poison. About an hour of pained screams followed until the man's eyes rolled back in his head and his body finally slumped, succumbing to the effects of the poison. Yara couldn't stop herself from thinking that this man had gotten what was coming for him, justice was served. Even if his death was gruesome. As Yara looked over to the blonde next to her again she saw that the girl had put on her stoic mask again. But her eyes betrayed her. The man may have tried to kill Daenerys, but seeing any person die in such a way would shake a person.
As she looked into those blue eyes, she knew that even though the man had deserved it, that Daenerys would carry the weight of his death with her. As she did every death that was made at her command, an unbearable weight that Yara hoped the girl would share in due time, so that it wouldn't crush her when it became too much to bear.
"You don't have to bear everything on your own." Yara said looking forward again towards the recently-deceased man.
She saw blue eyes look at her in her periphery, but she didn't turn to look into them, she knew Daenerys understood the meaning behind her words. The crowd had mainly dispersed and it was time for them to leave as well. When she turned to leave she felt a small hand grab her calloused one and squeeze it slightly before letting go again. Yes, Daenerys knew what she had meant. Now hopefully she would also take the words to heart, Yara thought silently to herself as they walked back together with some soldiers towards the Great Pyramid in the quiet and dark night.
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Xoxo
Vera
