Missandei wandered through the courtyard of Winterfell. Despite torches flickering all around, she was colder than she could ever remember being. There were two things she was certain of since coming North, first that she would follow her queen to the ends of the earth… and second that she would prefer those ends to be some place warmer.

She noticed two girls sitting on crates and eating their supper.

"Hello." She said with a pleasant smile.

The two girls got to their feet and hurried away as though she'd threatened them. Yet another reason why she did not like this place. It was cold. Both the temperature and the people.

She looked up to find Grey Worm approaching her and her heart sped up in happy anticipation as it always did when she saw him. Unlike the nauseating discomfort that came every time she had to watch him walk away to face a danger from which she wasn't sure he'd return.

"When Daenerys takes her throne there will be no place for us here." He said in his usual measured tone which reflected none of the emotions she knew brewed beneath the surface. Those he reserved for her on the rare occasions when they could be alone and undisturbed. "I am loyal to my queen. I will fight for her until her enemies are defeated, but when the war is over and she has won… Do you want to grow old in this place?"

There were many things Missandei wanted. Most of which seemed perpetually out of her grasp. She would like a normal life with the man she love, away from intolerance and violence, but they had both been too marred by former atrocities to ever obtain that normal life.

"Is there nothing else you want to do, nothing else you want to see?" He pressed.

"Naath." She admitted, her thoughts straying back to an almost forgotten time before enslavement had fundamentally changed her. "I'd like to see the beaches again."

Perhaps, if any place would allow her to be the girl she'd once been, before all this, it would be her idyllic homeland.

A half smile curved one side of Grey Worm's mouth. "Then I will take you there." He promised.

Missandei's heart hammered at his words because they'd given her something she hadn't had or aspired to in longer than she could remember… Hope.

"My people are peaceful." She said. "We cannot protect ourselves."

"My people are not peaceful." Grey Worm said. "We will protect you."

Missandei smiled softly. She'd never dared to imagine an after… after the war… after the wheel had been broken… But now, in the most hopeless of places, she'd found the will to hope for not only Daenerys's better world, but for a better future for herself as well.

Missandei made her way to her bed chambers after her conversation with Grey Worm. Even with the weight of all the death and destruction to come, her steps felt a little lighter at the prospect of something after all of this, something good.

She stopped short as she spotted a tall figure with auburn hair approaching the chambers of her queen's beloved Jon Snow. She drew back into the shadows to avoid being seen as Lady Sansa looked around to make sure she wasn't observed and slipped discretely through the door.

Missandei's heart hammered in her chest. She'd seen private counsels and she'd seen secret rendezvous and she had no doubt that this encounter was one of the later. Why else would a sister care if she was seen entering her brother's chambers, unless it was for some shameful purpose.

And even if it was innocent of the desire she imagined she saw in the eyes of the Lady of Winterfell, there was still something suspicious afoot, something her queen needed to be aware of. While Jon had bent the knee, his sister had not and had refused to and that meant she was not to be trusted.

She had to warn Daenerys, if this was a threat to her queen's safety or happiness, she had to be aware.

Missandei turned to change her direction to that of her queen's chambers instead of her own, but froze when she felt something cold and sharp press into her side.

"I wouldn't, if I were you." A low voice warned.

She looked around and met the dark gaze of the other Stark sister at the other end of a thin, elegant blade.

"Lady Arya." Missandei said in uneasy greeting.

"I'm no lady."

"What are you doing?" Missandei asked, holding up both her hands to indicate she would offer no opposition and there was no need to press the blade any harder.

"Defending my family." Arya told her.

Short chapter, I know. I hope you enjoy it regardless.

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