Team Dany returned to Dragonstone to find Shireen safe on her throne. The Dothraki and remaining Unsullied welcomed their Queen home.
Gendry, having nowhere else to go, had followed them to Dragonstone. Ornela hung on his arm. Jorah tapped Shouta on the shoulder and pointed at them, and Shouta shrugged. "I scared her off, I guess," Shouta said.
Gendry hung around the back of the group and took in all of the reunions until Fafnir grabbed him and brought him forward. "Shireen!" Fafnir called. "Shireen! I have a surprise for you!"
Shireen looked at Fafnir and the new, handsome stranger. "Who's this?" she asked.
"This is Gendry," said Fafnir. "Gendry is your cousin."
"My cousin?" Shireen asked, more interested. "But my Lannister cousins are all-oh. OH! You must be one of my Uncle Robert's...other...kids."
"Yeah," Gendry said with a slight blush. "I'm sorry about your family. Our family, I guess."
"Thanks," said Shireen darkly.
Melisandre walked up to them. "Hello, Gendry."
"OH GODS!" Gendry burst. "You're still here? Fafnir, you didn't tell me she was still here!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, do you two know each other?" Fafnir asked.
Melisandre smiled sweetly at him, while Gendry's face contorted into disgust. "JON!" he cried, running away.
Shireen and Fafnir turned to Melisandre and glared. "What did you do?" Shireen demanded.
"Me? Nothing. The boy is clearly delirious," said Melisandre.
Fafnir pulled out a dagger. "You sure?"
Melisandre scoffed. "Okay, fine. We might have used his blood in a ritual."
"Oh, is that all?" Fafnir asked.
"I only seduced the boy into a good leeching," said Melisandre.
"That's kinda weird," said Shireen.
"Oh...wait...OH! Yeah, then we imprisoned him and tried to sacrifice him to the Lord of Light," said Melisandre.
"HAHAHA!" Fafnir burst. "Wait, WHAT?"
"Melisandre!" Shireen exclaimed. "You can't keep doing that!"
Melisandre was taken aback. "What, dear? Didn't your mother and father instruct you in the ways of the Lord of Light? R'hllor requires us make sacrifices for the greater good."
Shireen stomped her foot. "No," she said.
"What do you mean, no?" Melisandre gasped.
"We're not following your Lord of Light anymore," said Shireen. "I've been thinking since my parents died. I've been thinking a lot. And I can't keep quiet about it anymore. You...didn't help my family!"
"Oh, snap," Fafnir said, backing up. Shireen had surely been growing more bold as she matured as Lady Baratheon, but this was a whole new level.
"Lady Shireen, everything I have ever done has been to serve the people of Westeros," Melisandre said.
"You burnt people alive," said Shireen. "And everyone hated my parents for it!"
"Because they didn't understand," said Melisandre.
"I understand perfectly," said Shireen. "I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm the Lady Baratheon. Melisandre, I've decided I don't want your religion in my court. Once this war is won, you are no longer welcome at Dragonstone."
"Why, you ungrateful-!" Melisandre roared, and Fafnir pressed his sword to her throat.
"Retire to your quarters, Melisandre," said Fafnir. "The Lady Shireen has spoken."
"You will regret this, dragon," Melisandre said coldly. She stomped through the hall and out the front door.
Dany rushed over to Shireen. "What was that about? What happened?"
"I'm sorry, Queen Daenrys," said Shireen. "I told Melisandre I didn't want her in my court anymore. I believe she is behind all of my family's misfortunes. I'm sorry. She didn't take the news well."
Dany considered. "I'm not entirely sure what she brought to the table...even so, you ought to have consulted me."
"I'm sorry, Dany," said Shireen. "I didn't expect this to happen now. But, this is, after all, my castle. If I don't want someone here, then I believe I ought to be able to say so." Dany and Fafnir both raised their eyebrows at this new, bold Shireen. The Lady continued, "Gendry is my bastard cousin. He's literally my only family. My family tore themselves apart over the Iron Throne. No more. I will protect this house. Dany, I intend to make Gendry my knight, if he accepts."
Dany nodded. "He was very brave to come with us beyond the Wall. I believe he will be a fine knight for you, Lady Shireen."
Fafnir handed Shireen his sword. Shireen approached Gendry, who had been listening in with Jon. "Cousin," Shireen said timidly.
"Yes, m'lady," said Gendry.
"I'm sorry for what my father and the Red Woman did to you," said Shireen. "In the new House Baratheon, that I intend to rebuild, there will be no place for her kind."
"M'lady, you didn't have to," Gendry stammered. "You don't know me at all."
"You are a Baratheon," said Shireen. "That's all I need to know. Queen Daenerys speaks highly of you, and if you are also friends with Jon, then I know all I need to know to offer you a place in my court as a Knight of the House Baratheon."
"A knight?" Gendry spat. "But I'm just a blacksmith! I've had no formal training!"
"Neither did Ser Fafnir," said Shireen. "But I'd put him up against anyone in the land. I need people I can trust at my side. And I need my family more. Please, Gendry."
"I...don't know what to say," said Gendry.
"Say yes!" Jon said.
"Ummm, okay," said Gendry. "Yeah."
"Kneel," said Shireen. Gendry obeyed. She touched the sword to both of his shoulders. "Arise, Ser Gendry Baratheon, knight of the House Baratheon."
Gendry stood up in a daze. "Did you just call me...Gendry Baratheon?"
"Oh!" Shireen gasped. "I'm sorry. That's not your name."
"Well," said Davos, "it could be. If you wanted it. You're the head of the House Baratheon, Shireen. You can legitimize him."
Shireen looked at Gendry hopefully.
"I'm sorry," said Gendry. "This is all happening so fast."
"Ser Davos, please draw up the papers," said Shireen. Davos nodded and went to his office. Shireen started crying.
"Oh my gosh," said Gendry. "You really don't have to do this!"
"Yes I do," Shireen sniffed. "Because...I have a family again!" The group gathered around her and Gendry to celebrate, except for Dany, who stormed off alone. They watched her go in alarm. "Is she mad at me?" Shireen asked.
"I'll find out," said Tohru. She followed Dany, who had gone to her chambers and was crying. "What's wrong?" Tohru asked.
"Tohru," Dany sobbed. "I'm sorry. Is Shireen mad?"
"Mad? No, she's worried about you," said Tohru. "You've been off."
"I want to be happy for her," said Dany. "I know it means so much. I just realized, when she knighted him...I'll never have that."
"Knights? What do you mean?" Tohru asked.
Dany buried her head in her pillow. "Did we really kill my brother?"
Tohru sat in silence for a moment, and then she felt incredibly stupid. Of course Dany wasn't talking about knights. She was talking about family.
"We did," said Tohru, laying down beside Dany.
"He was a terrible brother," said Dany. "He tried to rape me. He tried to rape you. He...was awful in every way. I'm infinitely better without him. But he was all I had. I have no more family. None. There's no Gendry out there to row into my life. I'm literally the last Targaryen."
Tohru gulped. No, you're not. He's here. He's here, and he loves you. But he has no more idea who he is than you do.
"Viserion's death is punishment for what we did to Viserys," Dany whispered.
"Now that is crazy," said Tohru. "I mean, there was probably a better way to deal with Viserys. Those were weird times in our lives. You had the heterosexual."
"Huh?" Dany said.
"You were hopped up on tribal hormones for Dirty Horse Guy," said Tohru. "It's okay. It's happened to many otherwise great women."
Tohru thought Dany had started crying more violently, but she was laughing. "Dirty Horse Guy! Ohh, it's been so long since I've heard that!" Dany sighed. "We were stupid," she agreed.
"We weren't worried about thrones, or ice zombies," said Tohru. "Fuck, I was just trying to keep your ass alive."
"Well, you've done an amazing job," said Dany. "Seriously. You taught me to be a dragon."
"You were always a dragon, Dany," said Tohru. "And I'm actually not sure anymore I've done so much. Sometimes I think this whole thing would have played out just the same without me."
"What? That's crazy," said Dany.
"I don't know," said Tohru.
Dany wrapped her arms around Tohru. "I can't imagine doing any of this without you," she said. "Or Kanna and Jorah, or Lucoa and Shouta." She giggled. "Or Fafnir."
"Fafnir is cracking me up!" Tohru burst. "Dany, you should have seen the old Fafnir. You wouldn't even recognize him."
"He is so devoted to Jon and Lady Shireen," said Dany.
"It's so weird," said Tohru. "Back in the day, Fafnir was a hermit who only came out of his cave to kill people."
"WHAT?!" Dany cried. "Kill? PEOPLE?"
"Oh yeah," said Tohru. "He was one of the Chaos Faction's best."
"Explain to me again why you guys started hanging around people?" Dany asked.
Tohru sighed. "It's a long, strange story."
"I've got all night," said Dany. "I don't want to think about anything important."
"Very well," said Tohru. "Her name was Miss Kobayashi..."
The inhabitants of Dragonstone began to retire to their chambers, but Shouta couldn't sleep. He went to the throne room with Ser Wightsworth. He looked around, and then he walked up to the throne and sat. Ser Wightsworth followed him and stood beside him as an obedient knight.
"Well, Ser Wightsworth," said Shouta. "With the Red Woman gone, I guess that makes me Head Mage around here now." Ser Wightsworth said nothing because he had no tongue. Shouta didn't mind. He ran his hands up and down the arms of the Baratheon throne. It felt satisfying. "I get it, you know. This obsession with these things. When I was a young boy, studying magic, do you know who I wanted to be most?" Ser Wightsworth stared vacantly at him. "Hades, Greek god of the Underworld."
Someone walked into the room. Shouta pushed himself off the throne and pretended he'd been on his way out. He ran into Jon.
"Oh, hey," said Jon.
"Hey," said Shouta. "Looking for someone?"
"No," Jon sighed. "I just couldn't sleep. I was going to go outside and enjoy the beach some more while I still can." He peered around Shouta and gestured to Ser Wightsworth. "How's he doing?"
"Good," said Shouta. "We were just having a chat."
Jon smiled. "You really freak people out, you know that?"
Shouta shrugged. "For a world with so much magic in it, people sure are sensitive about it."
"That's for sure," said Jon.
"Hey," said Shouta. "Can I ask you something personal, man to man?"
"Ummm," Jon responded.
"You getting pretty close to the Queen?" Shouta asked.
"I think we trust each other," said Jon. "But of course, that's not what you're asking, is it?"
Shouta grinned. "She's crazy hot, ain't she?"
"I don't think this is an appropriate conversation," said Jon.
"Ahhh, you're no fun," said Shouta. "Fafnir got so weird when I asked him."
"That's because Fafnir sees us as animals," said Jon. "But yeah. Dany is really hot."
"Ayyyy!" Shouta exclaimed. "You're kind of her type, too!"
"Am I?" Jon said, trying to laugh it off, but in reality wanted more information.
"She's a queen. You were a king. You both have dragons," said Shouta. "You know? I think out of all of us, you might stand a chance!"
"Wait, what do you mean, 'out of all of us'?" Jon asked, annoyed.
"Let's see...Jorah had the hots for her before Kanna got her shit together," said Shouta. "I wanted her, but, of course, I want everyone. Tyrion fucked a prostitute cosplaying as her. Played Fuck, Marry, Kill with Gendry, and let's just say he never opted to kill her. That Sandor guy on the boat was straight up nasty--"
"Okay, okay, I get it," said Jon. He turned to leave.
"But I think...you could actually land her," Shouta said.
"Maybe if this place weren't crawling with dragon people," Jon muttered.
Shouta heard it. "Oh! Oh oh oh!" Shouta began walking with Jon up the stairs, with Ser Wightsworth trailing ominously behind. "Is that all? You just need a little bit of privacy, eh?"
"I mean, I'm not saying that's all all, but it could help," said Jon. "I mean, I love Fafnir and Tohru, but they need to let up sometimes. Fafnir followed me into the bathroom. The bathroom!"
"I got it," said Shouta. "As proud companion of a proud dragon, I know how to work around these things. Also, I know magic, so that helps."
"I don't want you to use magic for this," said Jon.
"Oh, it is my pleasure! Jon, sex is a beautiful thing, and I wish my friends could get as much of it as possible!" said Shouta.
"Well, that's...creepy, but oddly charming," said Jon.
"I get that a lot," said Shouta. They entered the corridors. Shouta stopped Jon and Ser Wightsworth. "Shhh," he said. "Jon, where's Fafnir?"
"He was with Shireen," said Jon. "I'm not sure if he went to bed or not."
"Stay," he said, mostly to Ser Wightsworth, but also kind of to Jon. He went to Jon and Fafnir's chamber and peeked in. Shouta threw a thumbs up to Jon. Then, Shouta turned into Fafnir. Jon was so surprised, he nearly fell backwards into Ser Wightsworth.
Shouta went upstairs, leaving Jon feeling confused. Jon was also not very comfortable standing in the landing beside Ser Wightsworth, so he went to his room.
Meanwhile, Shouta went upstairs and carefully cracked open Dany's chamber. He saw Dany and Tohru sprawled out together on the bed, snoring, and unfortunately fully clothed. He went in and carefully jostled Tohru.
"Wah!" Tohru awoke. Dany stirred, and Tohru carefully repositioned the pillows and tucked her in. Tohru grabbed Shouta by the ear and dragged him out of the room, then carefully closed the door. "Fafnir?!" she whispered. "What is going on?"
"Sorry," said Shouta. "I just wanted to know what was going on. You and Dany stormed off, and we were all hoping to plan our fight against the White Walkers."
"Yeah," said Tohru. "Sorry about that. Dany just really needed a night off. So much has happened, and Fafnir..." Tohru looked around and drew him closer. "Let's talk about this in my room."
"Ohhhhkay!" Shouta said, way too excited. Tohru looked at him strangely, and then continued towards her chamber. He followed her inside and looked around. It was done up like a regular bed and breakfast. "Where did you even get this stuff?" he asked, picking up a teddy bear from a stool.
"I made it, silly!" Tohru beamed. She sat down on her bed and sighed. "Fafnir, my girl Dany is really hurting. I'm totally torn on what to do."
"Okay," said Shouta awkwardly. "What...what's going on?"
"The reason Dany stormed off when Shireen announced she would legitimize Gendry is because she thinks she has no family left," said Tohru. "Fafnir, I...I think we should tell her about Jon."
"Tell her...about...Jon," said Shouta.
"I know what we talked about before," said Tohru. "Ace in the hole and all that. I get it. But, you more than anyone know how happy Shireen is at finding Gendry. Don't you think that if Dany knew Jon was a Targaryen, it would make all of this so much easier?"
Shouta was speechless. Jon. Targaryen. Dany. Sex. "Oh gods. What have I done?" he whispered.
"Fafnir, you feeling alright?"
"NOPE!" Shouta cried.
He rushed out of the room, and Tohru scowled. "What the hell?" she said. She followed him out of the room and down the stairs to the lower level of sleeping quarters. Shouta, still disguised as Fafnir, opened up the door to Jon and Fafnir's chamber and found himself face-to-face with the real Fafnir.
"What the fuck?" Fafnir asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Exactly!" Shouta shouted. "Where did Jon go?"
Fafnir looked back into the chamber and pointed to the other bed, where a body was snuggled up the covers. "Phew," said Shouta. "Okay, thanks! Keep him there!"
Shouta turned around and smacked into Tohru, who had her hands on her hips. "Shouta?"
Shouta poofed back into himself. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" he said.
"What the devil were you doing disguised as me?" Fafnir asked, closing the door behind him.
"Nothing," said Shouta. "Just practicing. It's fine. Everything is fine. Nobody is fucking...everything is fine."
Tohru placed her hand on her forehead in frustration. "You can't tell anyone what I just told you. We will end you."
"Right. Right," Shouta whispered, still disoriented. He wanted to ask more questions, but decided he better just let it go for now.
"Wait," said Fafnir. "What did you tell him? You don't mean-"
"Ace in the hole," said Tohru.
"Fuck!" Fafnir cursed.
"It's fine," said Shouta. "I'll just go to bed now."
"No more games," said Tohru. "This isn't the time for that."
"Lesson learned," said Shouta. "Seriously."
Tohru nodded to Fafnir and followed Shouta back to his room, which was just around the corner. Fafnir went back inside. "Fucking kid," he whispered. Even though Shouta was a good 60 years old now, he had used magic to preserve his 20-year old self, and still acted like it most of the time. Fafnir sat on the bed. Jon didn't seem to have stirred at all. Fafnir laid back down and noticed a suspicious lack of breathing from the body in the bed. Alarmed, he reached out and jostled Jon.
The pile of pillows fell out of place. "No," he whispered. Above him, the royal bed creaked ominously.
