"To Arya Stark, the ghost of the Twins!" Jon said, lifting his goblet high. Sansa smiled and raised hers to join him, tipping it slightly towards her little sister, who had rid them of their enemies in the Freys, who had avenged Robb and Catelyn. The Boltons were gone, the Freys were gone. Tywin Lannister was dead. Robb and Catelyn, and Robb's wife, could rest peacefully now.
"When will you leave, Arya?" Tyrion asked. Rickon looked up curiously. Sansa smiled.
Arya shrugged. "Few days, probably," she said through a mouthful of food. Sansa tutted and glanced at Daenerys, who only watched her with amusement, not disgust. Only Arya could get away with eating like a heathen in the Queen's presence. "Maybe sooner. I don't know."
"How did you meet this Gendry?" Daenerys asked. Arya's lips twitched and then settled back into a scowl. Daenerys had been curious to learn that Arya knew one of Robert's bastards so well - in fact, she had been curious to learn that any of Robert's bastards survived, after Cersei and Joffrey's extermination of them.
"He was part of the troop of prisoners being delivered to the Wall that I joined when I escaped King's Landing, after my father died. He was not a prisoner but his master sent him away. He must have known that he was one of Robert's bastards."
"And when did you leave him?" Sansa asked.
Arya shook her head. "He left me. We got tangled up with Beric Dondarrion and the Brotherhood Without Banners. They offered to make him one of them and he wanted to be part of something, so he stayed. Then a red woman kidnapped him."
"A red woman?" Daenerys asked, startled. "A Red Priestess?"
Arya shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe. I didn't stick around long enough to see. The Hound kidnapped me, wanted to take me to Mother and Robb."
"The Hound?" Sansa repeated.
Arya nodded, ducking her head slightly. "He took me to the Twins. We arrived to see the soldiers sew Grey Wind's head to Robb's body and parade it around the courtyard." Sansa flinched. Jon grimaced. "The Hound got me away. He was going to bring me here, to Aunt Lysa, but Brienne of Tarth found us first." Arya inclined her head at Sansa, who had identified the woman who had tried to save Arya, after hearing Arya's description of her.
"Brienne came to me after that," Sansa told her. Arya's eyebrows raised. "She has since married Jaime Lannister." Arya's face turned in disgust, glancing at Tyrion.
"Silly mistake to make."
"I think she fell in love with him," Sansa said, amused. "He came to save her from Ramsay."
"Where are they now?" Arya demanded. "Has he gone back to Cersei?"
Tyrion cleared his throat. "He's gone to Casterly Rock, to rally the Lannister men."
Arya harrumphed, glancing at Daenerys and Jon. "If you trust him, that's your prerogative, but I think he's a dick."
"Everyone thinks he's a dick," Tyrion said dryly, "but he is loyal to Daenerys and to his wife." Arya rolled his eyes.
"You would say that. He's your brother."
"Okay, Arya," Sansa said, placing her hand on her arm. "That's enough about Jaime."
"Jaime," Arya mocked. "Of course, you're a Lannister now, too, Sansa." Sansa glanced at her husband whose lips twitched.
"Yes, I am," Sansa said strongly. Arya met her eyes and looked away, chuckling.
Her sister raised her glass. "Hear us roar," she said sarcastically. Sansa pursed her lips to hide her smile. Tyrion raised his glass to clink against Arya's.
XXX
Brienne had come to the conclusion that, when paired with Addam Marbrand, her husband was essentially a green boy. They got drunk, every night, and laughed and duelled and made jokes. And, then, on the nights that she didn't join them, he would come to bed and kiss her messily and then fall asleep against her chest. Brienne did find herself joining them more often than not though, if only to hear Addam Marbrand say nice things about Jaime. It was rare to find anybody who thought well of Jaime and she enjoyed hearing it.
"My best friend," Jaime slurred, patting Addam's cheek a few times. Brienne pursed her lips at him and he turned to look at her, cocking his head. "Don't be jealous, wench. I'm allowed to have a best friend and a wife. Who is your best friend? Is it Podrick?"
Brienne shook her head fondly at him. "You're drunk," she informed him. Jaime nodded.
"I'd hope so. My father only bought the good stuff," he said, raising his goblet. "You're not drunk. Is it because your father is in the castle?"
Shaking her head at him, Brienne remembered that her father had indeed arrived the night before. He had set off from Winterfell sometime after them, having cemented an alliance with Daenerys that made him the new Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, given that very few prominent Stormland families remained and Lord Tarth was the most senior and most respected of them.
He had been a very welcome face to Brienne, when he'd arrived, along with Podrick. As happy as Brienne was here, with Jaime, there was quite a bit of suspicion about her and quite a bit of distaste. Brienne understood that she was not what anybody had expected of Jaime. Most people had likely not expected him ever to marry. Generally people were married by twenty or not at all. And here was Jaime, marrying an ugly girl from a small island in the Stormlands, at nearly forty.
She heard the whispers, heard the women who said she wasn't good enough, heard the men who said that it was emasculating for their lady to wear breeches and spar with their lord. She knew that she didn't fit this role of being Lady of Casterly Rock. Often, she would reach their chambers at night and feel like she had made a huge mistake - and then Jaime would smile at her, would kiss her, would touch her.
And she would be reminded that she was Lady of Casterly Rock because she was Jaime's wife, and she would not give up being Jaime's wife for anything.
"You're thinking too loudly, wench," Jaime's hot breath purred in her ear. Brienne shivered and Jaime smirked. "Have some more wine."
Brienne met his eyes and acquiesced. It was good wine, after all. She sipped at her goblet and Jaime grinned. "How did you two meet?" Addam asked, his voice a lot steadier than Jaime's. Jaime did not drink often enough to be able to hold his wine.
Jaime poked Brienne's upper arm. "You tell Addam," he slurred. "Tell him how I made you fall in love with me." Brienne regarded him, amused.
"I was Jaime's captor. I took him to King's Landing."
Jaime let out a loud boo. "You're not telling it right, wench." Addam watched them and Brienne felt her face flush. "What happened, Addam, was that she was my captor. She was supposed to take me to King's Landing but then I managed to get a sword and we were sparring -"
"- Fighting -" Brienne cut in.
With a roll of his eyes, Jaime allowed, "Fighting." He continued, "Anyway, we were too noisy and got caught. They were going to rape Brienne but I fought them off-"
"With an idiotic comment," Brienne reminded him. Jaime's lips twitched.
"Worked, didn't it, wench? So then she got naked in front of me and held me in a bath-"
"Because you passed out," Brienne added through ground teeth. He smirked at her.
"So romantic," he teased, brushing his finger along her jawline. "And then I jumped into a bear pit to save her life-"
"-After abandoning me-"
"Shush, wench," Jaime said, eyes wide. "Then I bought her a suit of armour and gave her a sword." He shrugged. "And she's been in love with me ever since."
Addam was laughing, raucously. "I'm sure you were just too charming to deny, Jaime."
"See, Brienne? He knows." Brienne smiled fondly at her drunk husband and cupped his cheek in her hand. He gave her a soft, goofy smile. "I'm sleepy, wench."
"Let's go to bed," she murmured.
"Propositioning me?"
Brienne harrumphed. "I'd like to see you try anything in this state, love."
"I'll show you," he promised, his head lolling slightly. Brienne turned to Addam with a smile.
"We'll see you in the morning," she told him, hauling Jaime to his feet. At the door, Addam called her name and Brienne turned back.
He shook his head. "Sorry. I - just, thank you."
"For what?" Brienne asked, bemused.
Addam gave her a grim smile. "For saving him."
Brienne shook her head slightly. "You heard him," she said, glancing at Jaime, "he saved me." Addam sniffed out a laugh and inclined his head at her. With one small smile, Brienne left the room and headed for her chambers, her arm wrapped around Jaime's back.
XXX
"Sansa," Daenerys greeted, standing at Sansa and Tyrion's entrance. "Tyrion. How are you?"
"Well, thank you," Sansa said, puzzled by the summons. "And you, your grace?"
She inclined her head. "Very well. I have a favour to ask of you." Sansa arched a brow. "You've done well in dealing with things here, Sansa. Robin Arryn and Lord Royce have things under control here and they have sworn what men they have to me. I need you to go to Yara Greyjoy and have her summon her troops and bring them to King's Landing. I would send a raven but I don't believe she is the sort of woman to just be sent for."
Sansa nodded. "Of course, your grace. When should we leave?"
Daenerys smiled. "You can leave when Lady Arya does."
"Wonderful," Tyrion said, a tone in his voice. Daenerys grimaced.
"I apologise for the long journey to the Iron Islands but I want Yara to know that she is valued and, as much as I appreciate your political acumen, neither of you are particularly militarily-minded."
Sansa sniffed out a laugh, glancing down at Tyrion, who cocked his head. "We are happy to go. You want them to come immediately?"
Daenerys nodded. "Yes, to support Gendry's troops in King's Landing. I want Cersei as weak as possible before we arrive, to give the people time to decide that they want to support a stronger monarch." Tyrion nodded slowly.
"Okay. That makes sense. We'll leave with Arya tomorrow and head for the Iron Islands."
"Thank you," Daenerys said, meeting Sansa's eyes and then flicking to Tyrion's. "Your loyalty means the world to me."
XXX
Arya, Sansa, Tyrion and their troupe, which included Rickon, did leave together, early the next morning, having wished Jon farewell the night before, but their paths diverged early on into the journey, as Arya was heading south and Sansa and Tyrion were turning west. It had been painful to say goodbye.
"I feel as though I'm losing you again," Sansa had said as they stood on the road together, Arya's back facing south and Sansa's facing north. "Things don't go well when Starks go south."
Arya's lips twitched. "You survived."
Sansa sniffed out in laughter. "Try to do better than me."
"Impossible," Arya said, her lips in a straight line. "I never would have imagined that you would do so well, Sansa."
"I always knew that you would," Sansa said and then shook her head, stepping forward to hold Arya for a moment. "Please be safe, Arya. Don't trust anybody."
Arya stepped away with a sad smile. "You neither, Sansa. Stay safe. I'll see you soon."
Sansa closed her eyes against a surge of tears. She heard Arya say, "Be good to my sister, Lannister," and, when Sansa opened her eyes, Arya was gone and only Sansa's husband remained, along with their soldiers, Rickon and Shaggydog. Tyrion took her hand.
"Come on, Sansa. Let's keep going. The sooner we get to the Iron Islands, the sooner all of this is over." Sansa wasn't sure that that was necessarily true but she believed him even so and took a few strides before straddling her horse and ordering the column on.
XXX
"What's wrong?" Daenerys asked Jon softly as she joined him around the campfire that he kept outside of his tent. There were a few others there and they looked up as their queen joined them but returned to their own conversations upon seeing that she was talking with Jon.
Jon's lips were set in a line. "News from Beyond the Wall." Daenerys furrowed her brow. "Tormund Giantsbane says that the Others are becoming bolder, massing together."
Daenerys bit at her lip. The Others were an almost constant worry of hers, ever since she had spoken with Jon about them. "Are the Wild- the Free Folk safe?" she asked. Jon smiled at her and Daenerys knew that he appreciated that she called them by the name that they preferred.
"Tormund is bringing them into the Gift, on this side of the Wall. I'm going to send a raven back to tell them to come further down, as far as Winterfell, and start working the land there. They can prepare for themselves as well as the rest of the North."
"Good," Daenerys said, nodding. The Others were - Cersei was an enemy that Dany could imagine. She could see how she could defeat her and the repercussions on both sides. The Others were less clear. Dany could not even picture them, never mind come up with a plan to defeat them, though Jon said that dragonsteel - or Valyrian Steel - and dragonglass worked.
Daenerys wished that she could just ignore the threat, until she had defeated Cersei and had the might of all of Westeros at her back, but she knew from Jon's stories that it was more pressing than that.
She shook her head. "Jon, I promise, that if we have not taken the kingdoms by time that winter truly comes, we will retreat north and protect the kingdoms."
Jon met her eyes. His eyes were stormy but hard, like steel, like dragonsteel. Daenerys knew that this was the man that she would defeat the Others with. "Dany," he started, his voice gruff. "I love you."
Daenerys' breath hitched as she met his eyes. She allowed her lips to spread widely. "I love you too."