Samwell Tarly was not what Dany had expected when Jon had announced that another man of the Night's Watch had found them on the road and wanted to speak with them both. The man of the Reach was large, enormously so, but fat not muscly as one would expect of a Crow, and he travelled with a wife, a small, timid girl who held a baby. They travelled with nobody else, in their carriage, and were obviously nervous to be doing so.

Dany greeted Sam kindly. She knew, had heard from Jon, that he was brave, in a less obvious way than most men, and that he was clever. More than that, she knew that he was Jon's very best friend, that Jon considered him to be his brother.

"I come from Winterfell," Sam said when Jon and Dany had settled at one side of a table across from him. Jon's eyebrows flew up.

"When did you arrive at Winterfell?" he asked. "If I'd have known that you'd left Oldtown, I would have sent somebody to travel with you." Sam shook his head.

"It wasn't too long ago. I was looking for you, to discuss something that I found out there, but I found your brother instead."

Jon's eyes widened. "My brother? Bran?"

Sam nodded. "Bran is- Well, he was beyond the wall for a long time, Jon. He's changed from what you last knew of him. He's - he can see things."

"What things?" Dany asked, arching a brow. "What do you mean?"

Sam looked bewildered even as he spoke. "He calls himself the Three Eyed Raven."

Jon shook his head. "That's a fairytale told to Northern children."

Sam's throat bobbed. "Jon, Bran can see the past. He saw your past, more specifically." Dany laid her hand on Jon's leg. "When I was in Oldtown, I found a marriage certificate, for Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark."

"Impossible," Dany said immediately.

Sam met her eyes and continued, "I came to tell Jon about it, to see if he understood it, what it meant. And then I met Bran and he already knew what I'd seen and knew even more. Jon, he saw your father, at the Tower of Joy." Jon looked up hesitatingly. "He saw your father - Ned Stark - defeat Arthur Dayne and then he saw Lyanna Stark give Ned a baby and make him promise to protect it, before dying."

Dany stilled. Jon shook his head. "Sam, what are you saying?" Dany understood what he was saying. Lyanna Stark was Jon's father. Ned Stark had never fathered a bastard. All of the rumours were false. When Rhaegar had kidnapped Lyanna, he had loved her and married her and gotten a child on her.

And that child was Jon.

Jon was Rhaegar's son.

And Dany's nephew.

"How would nobody else know?" Dany asked coolly. "All this time, they say that Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna. If she went willingly, how would nobody else know?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know much else, I'm afraid. I just thought you ought to know."

Dany dismissed him with her thanks, ordering him to find himself something to eat, for his wife and child as well, and then she turned to Jon. He was staring into space. He hadn't said anything to Sam.

"Jon," Dany said and she placed a hand on his arm. He flinched but finally met her eyes.

"My father lied to me," he said hoarsely.

Dany nodded. "I know."

"I'm your nephew." Dany nodded again. "That doesn't mean I'm going to stop loving you. Gods, Dany, how am I supposed to deal with this?"

"It puts you higher in the succession than me."

"I don't want it."

Dany shook her head. "Then nobody can know. If the chance to have a male on the throne is there, the people will want it."

Jon looked away from her. "This is - Rhaegar is my father. Lyanna is my mother. How can nobody have known? My father cannot have been the only one to know."

"No," Daenerys agreed. "He must have taken people with him to the Tower." Jon nodded slowly. "Jon, what does this mean?"

Jon met her eyes again. They weren't steady anymore, just scared, just worried. Dany felt her stomach roil. He shook his head. "I love you, but I have to - I have to deal with this."

Dany nodded. "Of course. I love y-"

Before she could finish, he had stormed out of the tent and disappeared, leaving Dany to close her eyes and force the tears swelling in her eyes to disappear.

XXX

Arya relished the wide-eyed look on Jaime Lannister's face and the yelp that came from his lips as she jumped down from the trees in front of his column. She would remember that look and sound for a long time. Hauling herself back onto her feet, she found Jaime and his wife, Brienne, watching her with astonishment.

"Arya," the lady knight that Arya had identified as Brienne of Tarth said. Arya grinned.

"Pleasure to meet you," she said. "I've been watching you for three days." Jaime narrowed his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Brienne stammered. "Does Sansa know-"

Arya nodded. "Saw Sansa and Jon at the Vale then got called down here to fuck some stuff up."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, first we were just doing silly things, like giving Cersei rashes and spilling pigs blood in front of her chamber door." Jaime's eyes went wide. "But then we stole her crown and melted it into a pool of metal on the streets of Flea Bottom. And then we had more people to help, so we started slaughtering her men in their beds."

Brienne blinked. Arya smirked. "We want to put you outside the city. I have to say, I wish I'd been able to see Cersei's face when she realises that the Lannister troops camped outside her city are here to fight against her." Arya paused, glancing at Jaime. "Provided they are?" Jaime snarled. Brienne lay her hand on his arm. "I mean, your brother told me that you are on our side, though we did agree that you're a dick."

Jaime smirked. Brienne scowled. "Have you heard from Sansa and the Ironborn?" she asked. Arya tore her narrowed eyes away from a smirking Jaime to look at Brienne. She nodded.

"They aren't far off. Probably another fortnight. Things are closing in for Cersei." Arya paused and then met Brienne's eyes. They were a startling shade of blue. "I want to discuss the idea of attacking now, without Daenerys' troops, with only Westerosi."

Jaime and his wife shared a look. "And why would you want to do that?"

"To steal the throne," Arya said simply and then let out a great peal of laughter as she saw their faces. "No, of course not. To show Westeros that it is Westeros fighting for Daenerys, not an army of foreigners."

She watched her words settle on Jaime and Brienne. "And you'd have our troops join the people of King's Landing?"

Arya nodded. "I think that a joint attack by the Lannister troops and the people of King's Landing on the Lannister queen ruling from King's Landing would be a powerful message."

She saw Jaime's eyes flicker and remembered that this was the man that Robb had been fighting, all that time ago. "How many people has Cersei got?"

"She has the City Watch and it's been expanding. All the upshots in the city want to defeat the Flea Bottom scum." Arya said it proudly. She was part of the Flea Bottom scum that was rising up to take down its oppressors. "She has the starts of the Golden Company, but it's barely a tenth of their number. The rest are on their way."

Jaime nodded consideringly. "And how far are they away?"

Arya shrugged. "A fortnight to a month. They could arrive before the Ironborn or they could not."

"And the Northern army?" Brienne asked. Arya inclined her head.

"A week, at most."

"I'd advise caution," she said, glancing at Jaime who nodded. "Losing a battle this early would be - catastrophic. It would strengthen Cersei's resolve, would anger the people fighting. We should wait for the Northerners."

"But you will fight, even if Daenerys is not here?"

Jaime and Brienne met eyes and then nodded. "Yes," Jaime said. "I understand what you mean about it being a powerful image."

"And you will fight, even if it means killing your sister?" Arya challenged. Jaime narrowed his eyes.

"I'm here, aren't I? I've brought troops to destroy her, haven't I?"

Arya smirked. "I suppose we'll see, won't we?"

"We will," Brienne said through gritted teeth.

XXX

"Jaime," Brienne said, heading into Jaime's tent. He looked up from polishing his sword and met her eyes, smiling. "How are you?"

"Better for seeing you." It was true that they had not seen each other much in the five nights since they had arrived in King's Landing. They were both working with the troops or meeting with Arya and Gendry or making plans with the commanders. Brienne had seen more of her father and Addam Marbrand since she'd arrived than Jaime.

Brienne let herself be drawn into Jaime's arms, placing herself between his legs, even though it made her head and shoulders taller than him. She bent to press a kiss to his golden curls and he pressed his face deeper into her chest. "You want to eat here tonight?"

Jaime sighed. "Yes. Just you and me."

"Good," Brienne said, pulling away. "Because I have something to tell you."

"Ominous," Jaime teased, looking up at her. "Come and sit down with me," he said, patting the small amount of bench at his side. Brienne did try to squeeze herself on and Jaime scooched himself up so he was only half on the one-person bench too.

"I'm pregnant."

She watched Jaime's breath hitch, his eyes widen and his posture stiffen. "Pregnant?" he repeated, his voice catching halfway through the word. Brienne nodded. "With my baby?"

"Yes, Jaime," Brienne said exasperatedly. "With your baby."

"You, Brienne, are pregnant with my baby."

"Jaime," Brienne sighed. He was still staring at her like she had told him something completely revolutionary. "What did you think would happen? I don't drink moon tea and you don't pull out of me."

Jaime shook his head, bringing his hand to his mouth. "I just- Never expected it would be so soon. With Cersei-" he cut himself off and Brienne cupped his cheek, forcing him to look into her eyes.

"You are allowed to talk about her."

Jaime shook his head, pressing a kiss against her palm. "You're pregnant," he said, his voice breathy and not confused anymore. Brienne nodded. "You're pregnant," he repeated.

"Yes," she said, biting her lip.

"You're pregnant," Jaime said again before he was kissing her, cradling her neck in his hand. Brienne leaned into him, pressing her forehead against his when he pulled away. "Pregnant. We're going to have a baby."

Brienne saw the second that Jaime realised what that meant for Brienne. His eyes went stony. "You can't be- you can't fight anymore."

Brienne sighed. "I know."

"You can't risk the baby."

"I know, Jaime," she said more pressingly. "I promise that I will stay as safe as I possibly can."

Jaime shook his head. "Safer," he said pleadingly, pressing another kiss to her lips. "Safer, Brienne. I can't do this if- You have to be there when I get out of this, with our babe."

Brienne nodded. "I promise, Jaime."

XXX

Jon found Daenerys in her pavilion, looking over plans for the attack with Ser Jorah. They were another week yet from King's Landing and Dany was getting more and more antsy every day that they didn't arrive. They knew that the Ironborn should have arrived, and the Northern soldiers too. The contingent from Dorne were perhaps slightly slower, because, so Jon supposed, they didn't really want to fight but just make the appearance of it. But he couldn't be sure. And it was enough that they weren't fighting Daenerys, when the amount of people on their side was considered.

"Can I have a moment with her grace, Ser Jorah?" Jon asked politely from the entrance. Ser Jorah looked up and Jon saw the glint in his eyes that suggested he was not entirely happy to leave. However, with a nod from Dany, he did leave, brushing his shoulder briefly past Jon's on the way out.

"We've not spoken in a while," Dany said, turning her eyes back towards the plans. Jon took two strides and looked at them too, from the other side of the table.

"I'm sorry," Jon said, focusing on the plan of King's Landing. He had never visited the city so he did not really have anything to add, not like many of Dany's other advisers. Dany swallowed audibly, the only sign that she had anything on her mind except the map of her capital.

"What's changed?"

Jon shook his head. "Nothing." Dany looked up. "Nothing has changed. I still love you. I'm going to love you every day for the rest of my life." Dany's mouth opened and then closed again. "The honourable thing to do would be to return to the wall."

Dany's breath hitched. "You are very honourable-"

"Instead I'm going to marry you. If you'll have me," he added at second thought.

Dany's eyes widened. "Marry me?"

Jon nodded. "I want to marry you."

"Rule together?" Dany said, her lips twitching into a smile. Jon nodded seriously. "And if I can't have children?"

Jon shrugged. "We'll pick an heir from my sisters' children."

Dany nodded slowly. "Okay, then. Let's get married." Jon smiled. Dany smiled back at him.

XXX

"What's on your mind, my lady?" Gendry asked, joining Arya on the front step of the small home that he lived in, that she had joined him in. That they lived together in. She scowled at him for old times' sake.

"Don't call me my lady."

Gendry pushed his shoulder into hers. "But you are my lady." Arya ducked her head to hide her smile. After the nights they'd shared together, she could say quite definitively that she was his lady. "Go on, what has you thinking so hard?"

Arya looked out into the dark street. The stars were shining above. She leaned her head on Gendry's shoulder and was able to see the surprise on his face. She enjoyed surprising him, a lot. "You ever worry that this isn't gonna work?"

Gendry nodded. "Sure. Every day. Every night I dream about an army of those monsters Cersei created coming out of nowhere."

Arya swallowed. "How do you go on?"

Gendry smiled at her. "I did all this for you. I'm carrying on for you too."

Arya nodded slowly. "I came here for you."

"Good," Gendry said, wrapping his arms around her. Arya stiffened before accepting the embrace. "Then we're both on the same page."

Arya smiled. "I guess so."