The Dragon and the Hawke 36

Stannis Baratheon sat in the Lord's Solar within Winterfell, staring at Davos Seaworth. There had been times that he had doubted the man, times when he had questioned his loyalty, and even times when he had contemplated execution, but there had never been a time when he thought Davos was lying to him.

Until now, that is.

"M'Lord?" Davos asks, quietly, wondering if Stannis had heard him.

Heard him, Stannis had. Believed him, Stannis had not, "You want me to believe that you were face to face with a God?"

"Aye, M'Lord," Davos nods, "Tyrion Lannister called her 'The Storm God'"

Stannis tilts his head, his jaw locking for a moment before he asks, "You had Tyrion Lannister in your grasp and did not take him?"

"I never had the opportunity," Davos tells him, "He was there with the Storm God, and left with her when she went back through her crack in the world."

"Yes, you say that there is now a pathway between Lord Commander Snow's office and an antechamber in Meereen?"

"Sir, I know you find it hard to believe."

"Hard? I find it impossible," Stannis tells him with narrowed eyes, "Who has filled your head with this nonsense?"

"My own eyes, your grace," Davos tells him, bowing his head, "If you would allow, I can show you I speak truly."

Stannis narrows his eyes, "You speak of the candle holder you brought with you?"

"I do."

"Melisandre is looking it over," Stannis tells him, "If there is magic, as you say, she will find it."

Davos nods, then asks, "And until then?"

"You will remain here," Stannis tells him, "And allow the Maester to look you over."

"M'Lord, I am not ill, nor am I deranged," Davos argues

"I will let the Maester or the Priestess decide that," Stannis tells him, "Go. Now."

Davos, understanding that there is no arguing, straightens and nods once before leaving the chamber. Left alone, Stannis leans back into the chair and gazes around the chamber as he thinks. Idly he notes that like with the rest of the ancient seat of House Stark, it had been stripped bare of any possible reminders of that position. The Boltons, and Theon Greyjoy before them, had taken vindictive pleasure in destroying the ancient memorabilia of the noble House.

Where were their Old Gods now? Stannis thought with wry cynicism. The Starks had put their faith in a battered religion for thousands of years, and just like with the Faith of the Seven, it gave them nothing in return for their devotion. He knew that the Red God was different, and he could feel the intent of the divinity in his actions.

And now there was a new god playing tricks, this Storm God of Meereen. The god that was apparently in mortal form, and took a mortal bride, and counseled a queen half the world away. He knew that he was meant to be King, Melisandre had seen that in the flames, it would come to be, but now he wondered how long he would be king. If there was another god, and another monarch, and another divine mantle to be handed out, perhaps the Targaryen girl would take his place after she defeated him as he would defeat the Lannisters.

It didn't take long for the King to start falling into this cycle of repetitive revenge, and it is only when the door to his chamber opens that his nightmarish revelry is halted. Looking up, he sees his daughter walking towards him. He furrows his brow and waits for her to reach his desk before he asks, "Shireen, what's wrong?"

"Davos didn't say hello," The princess sighs, "he acted like he didn't even see me."

Stannis blinks, then nods, "That is my fault. I sent him to the Maester, and told him not to stop until he reached him."

"Oh," Shireen sags in relief, glad her friend had not simply ignored her. Then she thinks on what her father had just said and inquires, "Why does Davos need to see the Maester?"

"Because he has told me something insane, and I want to make sure his head was not damaged," Stannis tells her

"Really? What did he tell you?"

"That while he was at the Wall, a God visited and allied Meereen with the Night's Watch."

Shireen blinks, and then does some mental geography, "Meereen is on Essos, right?"

"It is."

"On the other end of Essos, right?"

"Correct again."

"Why would Davos lie?"

"I do not believe he thinks he did."

"What?"

"Davos believes he is telling the truth," Stannis tells his daughter, "It is because of that, that I want him examined."

"Oh! Did he bring any proof?" Shireen asks

"He brought a candelabra," Stannis tells her, "Melisandre is examining it now."

"Did he say what it does?" She asks

"Apparently, he was told that if he lights it, the Storm God will create a crack in the world so that she can come and speak with me."

There is a fickle creature that exists, and it is called drama. One of its greatest weapons is the creation of time, and the even more important byproduct of time, Dramatic Timing. Almost as soon as Stannis Baratheon tells his daughter of the candelabra, Melisandre is lighting the wick of a candle that had been stuck into it.

The Red Priestess watched the candle burn a dull red, and then shift with the universe around it into a violent green for an instant before depositing a tall dark haired woman in the air a few feet above the ground.

Melisandre watches as the woman yelps and manages to land on her feet before looking around. The dark haired woman spots Melisandre almost instantly, and the candle with her, and smiles, "Oh, perfect, you must work with Ser Davos!"

"Indeed I do," Melisandre replies after a few seconds in which she has to recollect her composure, "Any may I ask who you are?"

"Right! Hi there, Marian Hawke," Marian extends her hand in greeting, "I'm here to break a hole in reality so your king can talk to my queen."

"How do hope to accomplish that?" The priestess asks

"Well, first, I'm gonna open up a breach into the Fade, then I'm gonna send… i guess we could call it spirit me… into the Fade to find the way to the antechamber in Meereen, and Spirit me is going to break a hole in reality there, and then I'm gonna connect the two parts so there's no intervening space. Should only take a minute."

"And His Highness knows you're coming?"

"Well he should," Marian frowns, "You lit the candle, didn't you?"

"I did."

"Then of course he knows I'm coming!"

"I lit it to see if it would act as Davos was told."

"Why wouldn't it act like I told Davos it would?" Marian asks, confused

Melisandre raises her eyebrows and asks with restrained scepticism, "You are the Storm God?"

"What? No!" Marian cries, "There is no Storm God! People keep calling me a god cause I do crazy stuff that nobody else can do, but I'm not a god!"

"That is good to hear, for there is only one true god," Melisandre nods, "Come, I will take you to Stannis. Do we still require the candle?"

"No," Marian shakes her head, "I'm here, we're all good."

Melisandre nods, sets the candelabra down, and leads Marian from her chamber. They trek through the halls of Winterfell until they come upon the King's door, where they hear from within Stannis and Shireen discussing something. The exact context of the conversation is lost through the heavy wood, but Melisandre recognizes both voices.

She pushes the door open, takes a few steps in, and then waits for Stannis to acknowledge her presence. He does so quickly when he notes the second presence alongside her, "Who is this?"

"She claims her name is Marian Hawke, My King," Melisandre tells him, "And she appeared when I lit Ser Davos's candle."

"So that means you're the Storm God?" Shireen asks Marian, excited.

The Mage turned God sags and sighs, "Fine, sure, yeah, I'm a God. Yippe!"

Stannis stands, "Why are you here?"

Seeing that they were getting down to business, Marian tells him, "Your man Davos asked my Queen if she would speak with you, peace talks, negotiations, all sorts of things like that. Queen Daenerys agreed, so I gave Davos a way to summon me so I can create a breach."

"A breach?" Shireen asks

"Yeah, It's a way to walk halfway across the world in about ten seconds," Marian nods, "I've done it a few times."

"A few times?" The princess asks

"Yeah, first time I did it I helped Tyrion save his wife from some creepy guys with pink Xs on their armor."

"You saved someone from the Boltons?" Shireen asks in excitement

"Yeah, I think that was what Tyrion said they were called," Marian nods, and before she can go into more detail, Stannis interupts.

"So you are here to initiate peace talks?" He demands

"Oh, no! I am a terrible negotiator!" Marian waves her hand in front of her, "Last time I negotiated with anyone, I ended up melting like twenty faces off. I'm just here to make the connection so that you can talk to the Queen yourself."

"And you can do this so casually, how?" He asks

"Magic," is the shrugged response

Stannis thinks on this for a moment, blinks a few times, and then just nods in acceptance. If it came to it, he could have one of his men kill the woman. He was sure that cold steel worked just as well against magicians as it did everyone else.

Seeing his nods, Marian claps her hands together and asks, "Alright, where do you want me to put your interdimensional portal?"