Jon Snow The Literal Fire-Breathing Dragon

by Umbrakinetic

Jon Snow was dead, betrayed by his own brothers. Ghost had tried to avenge him but was eventually taken down by the same men. Wargs don't truly die however so Jon finds himself reincarnated in the body of the animal he has the next closest connection to, a dragon he's never met. Specifically Daenerys's dragon, Rhaegal. RLJ

21. Jon VII

"Y-Your Grace, a Ser Jorah Mormont is here to see you. Your uncle ordered his execution for selling slaves but he fled. He claims he is here on behalf of who he claims is Queen Daenerys Targaryen." Hother Umber told him as he stood in the doorway to Jon's solar. Too timid to enter into the room even after Jon had given him permission to do so. He supposed his cowardice was why the Smalljon had named him castellan, him giving over the castle was perfectly in character for him and because it was him he would give Lord Bolton no reason to suspect them of disloyalty.

Jon nodded. He had expected Ser Jorah a few days earlier but he had also expected to meet him at the Dreadfort and not here. He understood that the change in directions had likely delayed his journey or maybe the winds had just been unkind to him, it didn't matter at all. He wouldn't apologize for that, Rickon was alive, safe, and free because of that decision. "Send him to meet with me in the solar." He ordered.

Jon wished that Jorah had chosen a different day to finally arrive and treatise with him. His nerves were already on edge after he saw Theon again for the first time last night. He was in Meereen and seeking an alliance with his Daenerys. Jon had thought he had moved past his extreme hatred for Theon on to merely a strong dislike after he found out he saved Sansa and hadn't actually killed Rickon or Bran.

He had thought wrong, when he had seen Theon walking the streets of Meereen, on his way to meet with his Daenerys alongside his sister, he had seen red and flown into a rage. He had wanted to rip the kraken apart and show him why dragons were Kings and not fishes. He almost had too but had managed to refrain himself from killing him, not because he cared about Theon but because he feared that doing so would anger his Daenerys. So he had instead just knocked him to the ground and pinned him there. Theon Turncloak might not have murdered Bran himself but he was the one who had driven him from Winterfell and forced him to go beyond the wall where he would surely die. He was glad his Daenerys had come when she did or Jon was sure he would have lost control of his temper and killed the treacherous thing and cost his Daenerys the Iron Fleet, a crucial aspect in their quest to reclaim their throne.

Hother looked somewhat surprised by Jon's decision but nodded and went to fetch Jorah. Jon sighed and looked at the copper ring sitting on his desk. He could douse it in oil and light it aflame to show he was who he claimed to his Daenerys's ambassador. A part of him wanted to, Jorah needed to know who he was and that Daenerys was his and his alone. Sansa would urge him to do so if he asked to gain the upper hand in negotiations. Jon would once again refuse to wear a crown of fire. He wanted to save it for when the battle came and he could use the surprise of the crown to intimidate his enemies. If he wore it even once before than news could spread and it could ruin the effect of it. So he would wait and when Jorah no doubt requested proof of his impossible claims he could just show him the hole in his chest and if he required further proof still he could stick his hand into the hearth. He didn't need to flaunt his Targaryen heritage right now as much as he might want to do so.

He looked up when Hother re-emerged with Jorah. "Leave us." He commanded Hother who bowed and obeyed, shutting the door behind him. "Jorah no name." Jon greeted with some hostility.

Jorah clenched his hand into a fist. "Prince Jon." He said in return. Jon did not fail to note his failure to bow to him as would be expected even if he was just a Prince.

"King," Jon amended gently. "Have a seat."

"Daenerys is Queen." Ser Jorah insisted obstinately.

Jon nodded in agreement. "Aye, she is. She's my Queen and I am her King."

Jorah's jaw clenched but he let the issue drop, for now, he was sure they would double back to this later on. "Queen Daenerys sent me to find out if there is any truth to your absurd claims, to invite you to join her in Meereen when you bend the knee and learn all that you know about The Others."

Jon nodded and began to unbutton his gambeson shrugging the thick leather off of his shoulders so his scars were plain for Jorah to see. "Is this sufficient evidence of my claims? I died but because of a red witch's blood magic I did not stay that way."

Jorah stared silently at the obviously fatal wounds that did not bleed. "It proves that you died, not that you are truly a Targaryen. I'm told that you are unburnt."

Jon sighed and stood up walking towards the hearth where the fire roared providing the only warmth in the dreary north. He crouched down and stuck his hand in the blaze, enjoying the blessed heat of the flames tickling his fingertips. "Does this suffice? I am the natural son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen as I have claimed and as the only living male Targaryen and more importantly the eldest Targaryen and son of the crown prince, I am the one who Westeros would choose to sit on the Iron Throne."

"You're just a bastard." Jorah snarled at the push against his Queen. "You have no place in the line of succession, the Queen is graciously offering you a place on her council because you are family but you are not above her."

Jon smiled patronizingly. "My Queen means to break the wheel, she wants a world where men and women are equal and bastards grow up alongside trueborn sons with a place in the line of succession. She might have the better claim, but I am who the Lords would choose if they were called to a grand council. I am not above her, no one is but I am her equal and that is how we will rule. We will share the throne. No longer will one person hold all of the power in the country but it will be shared equally by the King and Queen making joint decisions for the Seven Kingdoms." Jon felt more than a little guilty for using his Daenerys's fears against her but he needed to approach her as an equal and since Jorah had come before he held the North this was the only way he could do so.

"My vision is that same as hers. I too want to break the wheel. The wheel for centuries has crushed too many and let the powerful hold all the power. No more. Slavery is a horror that must be abolished in all of the known world. No longer will women be forced into marriages they don't want. No longer will a family name protect criminals from paying for their atrocities but they will be judged equally as the baseborns are. No longer will a person's life be decided by their station at birth. No longer will bastards be considered vile and not true sons. They too will have a place in the line of succession. I like my Daenerys does, plan to break the wheel forever and create a new world, a better world where all men and women are equal." Jon parroted back the speech he had heard from Daenerys a thousand times before. He agreed with all of her goals, in time although implementing them all at once would almost certainly be impossible and spark a mass rebellion. The bastards one, in particular, would definitely have to wait until after they defeated the Others. In the end, though, they would happen and the wheel would break even if they had to compromise on parts of their vision in the short term to get to that place. Right now, to Jorah he needed to reassure him and by extension Daenerys that letting him rule alongside her would not destroy her plans to break the wheel as she had feared.

"Why would she accept giving you half her power?" Jorah demanded, annoyed at Jon's rightful sense of his worth. "You offer her what? Two-thousand men? Undisciplined wildlings at that. The Queen has three dragons." He said plainly. "She also has ten thousand men of her own. What do you bring that makes you a better suitor than say Quentyn Martell and the entire fighting force of Dorne? Or maybe Robert Arryn and the might of the Vale? How about Willas Tyrell and the allegiance of the Reach's armies? All of them could offer more men and wouldn't demand half of her power but would only want to be King Consort."

Jon just smiled patronizingly at him. "By the time you return to Meereen, I will hold the North or be dead and my demands won't matter in that case. If everything goes according to plan then I should hold two other Kingdoms as well to offer her as a wedding present."

Jon flexed his hands together. "Even if I only have the North, I offer her something she wants more than what any army could provide, I give her a face. The Seven Kingdoms will see her as only the Mad King's daughter and judge all of her actions extremely harshly because of who her father is. Their ideas will only be reinforced by the fact that a former slaver, the spider, and a kinslayer sit on her council. Many men would rather die than support a second Mad King, she's not mad we both know that but she will be perceived as such for a long time without someone who can change that perception. When she burns someone alive for their crimes she'll be called mad, if I did it, it would be considered justice because of who my uncle is and how I'll publicly refer to him as my father."

"I, on the other hand, am the son of Prince Rhaegar who even after Robert Baratheon's slander campaign against him is much beloved in the south. More importantly, I am the ward of the most honorable man in the Seven Kingdoms, Lord Eddard Stark. Men will take what I say at face value because of who my uncle is and when I vouch for her and she willingly cedes power they will be forced to accept that she is not her father. If she wants to rule the seven kingdoms without excessive bloodshed or through exclusively fear as I know she does, she needs me. She wants to earn the people's love and to do that she needs me by her side."

"Most importantly I am a Targaryen and dragons do not bow to anyone, even other dragons. We are the only family the other has left and we should be together as the Targaryens have done for centuries. The blood of Old Valyria needs to be kept pure if our children and our grandchildren are to continue to ride dragons for the generations to come. We both know that my Daenerys would hate to fight her family. I love my Queen and we are meant to rule together as equals."

"The Queen is barren." Jorah spat out through gritted teeth. "Even if she was to accept your absurd proposal, you would not have children so keeping the blood of Old Valyria pure is not a factor in these negotiations."

Jon was sure that wasn't information his Daenerys wanted shared and it was Jorah's own desire for the Queen's hand that had led to him sharing it but if he was going to overshare, Jon could as well. His Daenerys needed to have hope, he knew how much it hurt her that she believed she was unable to have children. Knowledge was power after all and he would be a fool to give up the chance to use this. He leaned forward. "Is she though? The witch was hardly a reliable source of information. She wanted to hurt my Queen and those words were certainly hurtful to her. Was her failure to have a living child do to the lack of Valyrian blood in her husband, coincidence or was she cursed?" He sighed. "Regardless, I never expected to have children of my own, would I want children? Yes but if I don't have them I'd still have more than I ever wanted. If we cannot have children we would both handpick our heir and our heirs would rule after us, together. No longer would the realm be ruled by one bloodline but power would always pass to someone worthy, and the wheel would be broken. If that is an issue we will deal with it when the time comes. I highly doubt that the power of some amateur shadow bender can overcome the blood of a dragon."

Jorah couldn't contain his shock and outrage. "How do you know that?" He demanded.

Jon smiled patronizingly. "That is information that I will only share with my Queen when she comes to join me in Westeros, not her ambassador. All that matters is that I know it and much more about her. She is the Queen Westeros needs and in order for Westeros to let her be their Queen she needs me by her side. We are destined to rule together, I have conquered death and she breathed magic back into the world. We are the last Targaryens and it is our destiny to rule, above both the gods and men."

Jorah made to say something in reply but decided against it and clenched his jaw, clearly realizing that like his Daenerys, Jon was too stubborn to be swayed. "I will inform the queen of your absurd demands. She also sent me here to ascertain your absurd claims about the Others and their army of the dead and learn all that you know of them on how to defeat them."

Jon nodded. "The Others have been increasingly active the last few years, they're heading south presumably with the intention of breaching the wall and conquering all of Westeros. They have the power to re-animate the dead and use their corpses as nearly indestructible soldiers that never fatigue. We call them wights."

"We've discovered three methods to kill the wights, all of them completely by accident. The first I discovered when I was first assigned to the Stewards, your former father's to be precise. Some of the Rangers were found dead by another party and we threw their bodies in the ice cells until the Maester could study them. That night the body was re-animated and tried to kill the Lord Commander, your former father, Jeor Mormont. My direwolf tore it apart and I hacked at it with a sword but it didn't die. I grabbed a lantern and threw it at the wight. It caught fire and died. That method does not work on the Others, as we later learned at Hardhome. Perhaps Dragonfire will behave differently, but normal flames are harmless to them." Jon flexed his hand that still was scarred from the burn he had suffered that day even now that flames no longer hurt him.

"The second method was discovered on the great ranging beyond the wall. Your father led three-hundred men beyond the wall to investigate the rumors of the Others and to deal with the Free Folk that had banded together behind Mance Rayder. My direwolf, Ghost found a parcel buried by the grave of a former man of the Night's Watch from centuries ago. There were dragonglass daggers and arrowheads in it. One of the members of the Night's Watch, Samwell Tarly was quite taken with it and wanted to keep them as a souvenir. That decision saved his life."

"He expected to die when he got isolated from the group and found one of the Others, as it closed in on him he desperately held the dragonglass dagger out in front of him. The Other was caught off guard and impaled itself on the thing, shattering into icy fragments on the ground. We have yet to test dragonglass on the wights to find out if it's a reliable method for killing them or just the Others are vulnerable to it."

"The final method was discovered when I led a ranging to Hardhome as Lord Commander to meet with all the Free Folk clans that had gathered there and offer them land south of the wall. One-hundred-thousand of the Free Folk were there when I arrived. The Others attacked while we were there and we were outnumbered by their army of wights, they were a horde that moved as one and slammed against the walls. There were human wights, bear wights, frost giant wights, direwolf wights, and all sorts of other creatures. They also had a horde of giant Ice Spiders. The Free Folk and the men of the Night's Watch banded together and tried to drive them off. We failed, only ten-thousand of us managed to escape, the rest of them joined the Great Other's army."

"Most weapons were harmless to the wights, we would cut them in half and instead of killing them, it would just turn one enemy into two as their legs would try to kill us and their upper body would crawl across the ground, still with the same goal of tearing you apart. The others your weapon would shatter against their body when you swung at them with a normal steel sword. One swing of their own weapon, against you and they, would pierce the thickest of shields and armor as they too blew it into smithereens."

"I ran back into the village that had been overrun with wights and a handful of the Others to try to retrieve the dragonglass we brought with us to convince the Free Folk that they could be killed. I encountered an Other on the way into the burning hut. I expected to die without the dragonglass but I fought anyway, he took a swing at me and I raised my own sword in defense expecting it to fail. To both of our surprise, my sword held against his own icy spear." Jon stood up and unsheathed his sword and held out Longclaw for Jorah who had also stood when he pulled the blade to inspect it. "I took advantage of the confusion and killed him with this, Valyrian Steel is another of their weaknesses. Looking back on the battle at Hardhome, the wights that I struck with Longclaw did not rejoin the fray. Valyrian Steel can kill both wights and the Others."

Jorah took a step back when he mentioned the name of the blade. "Where did you get the Mormont family sword?" He demanded.

Jon frowned. He had forgotten that Jorah was a Mormont for a moment, his opinion on Jon would likely be skewed by the fact that Jon had stolen what he wrongly felt should have been his. "The man you once called your father gave it to me after I saved his life from the wight."

Jorah clenched his jaw. "That sword belongs to the Mormonts. It should be mine."

Jon frowned. "You are no Mormont, Jorah no name. You lose that right when you sold men into slavery and ran from your punishment. Lord Jeor gave it to me so it is mine, if Lady Lyanna Mormont would like it back then I will return it to her family." Jon would if she requested, but he was almost certain that she would not do so. Who wouldn't want the King to proudly wield their family sword when it had already been gifted to them for saving the swords previous owner's life. It showed that Jeor had considered him some sort of a pseudo-son. In a way, that was the case, Jeor was like a father to Jon, by him carrying it he was practically hailing himself as a Mormont. It was as close to a crown as the Mormonts would ever get and would get their name remembered in the annals of history. They would be fools to deny him the right to wield it.

Instead of arguing further, surprisingly Jorah hung his head and nodded. They fell silent for a moment and just when Jon was going to dismiss him Jorah spoke up again. "You said you were my father's steward, how did he die?"

Jon chuckled darkly. The same way I did, a mutiny." He sighed. "I wasn't there, I was undercover with the Free Folk pretending to desert to discover their plans and report back to the Night's Watch with highly coveted intel. I am told that it was Ollo Lophand who delivered the killing blow, I avenged your father myself with his own sword."

Jorah nodded and fell silent again for a long while, likely grieving his father. Jon let him be he needed to grieve and while Jon wasn't at all fond of Jorah but he wasn't as cruel as to interrupt his grieving. After a long while, Jorah spoke again. "Do the Others have any way of breaching the Wall?" He did not mention his father again, instead diving right back into the business.

Jon shook his head and heard Jorah sigh in relief. "Not that I know of- yet but it's only a matter of time until they do. They can't swim- thankfully so they have to go through the Wall. Perhaps they'll find the Horn of Joramund from legend and knock the Wall down. Perhaps, they'll dig underneath it, with their numbers and inability to be affected by weather and fatigue they could certainly do so. They might even just make a ladder of corpses to climb up the wall, they have more then enough men to do just that with ease. The wights don't feel pain as far as I'm aware so they wouldn't be bothered by men climbing up them and well we might knock most of the wights down by dropping boulders and barrels from atop the wall they would just get up and try again since it would not be enough to kill them. If they were smart and kept an Other at the front of their lines then any rocks or even flaming barrels we drop would shatter on impact and leave them completely unfazed as they all made it atop the wall. It's not a question of if but when they breach the wall."

Jorah frowned, clearly concerned, and then nodded. "I already know your answer but my Queen told me to ask so I must, would you like to return to me with Meereen? If you choose to bend the knee she is willing to offer you a place on her council." He was clearly reluctant to ask, afraid that he would accept and she would then accept. That he would take the spot he so badly wanted by her side and in her bed.

Jon wanted to accept so badly. He wanted to finally be with his Daenerys in person, to be by her side, to speak to her instead of just listening with the occasional head movements to express himself but actually use words. To tell her that he was Rhaegal.

But Jon was not his father, and he would not repeat his mistakes and choose love over duty. Jon was certain that Maester Aemon had at least suspected who Jon was when he gave him that advice so long ago, it fit too perfectly with who his parents were.

Jon had a duty to the Free Folk who fought for him, he couldn't abandon them to die against the Boltons when he could stop it. He also had a duty to be the shield that guards the realms of men and protect it from the Others. He had a duty as King to protect the North from the Boltons and he had a duty to his uncle who had saved his life at the cost of his honor. He had to free the North and liberate Winterfell. He had to get vengeance on the Lannisters for executing his uncle and the Freys for butchering his brother at a wedding when he was protected by guest right.

More importantly to save the realm they needed all the seven kingdoms fighting on their side, especially the North and if Jon abandoned them to go to Meereen, he would find no aid in the North even after he and his Daenerys ascended to the throne. Right now he was in the perfect position to gain the allegiance of three kingdoms and he would be a fool like his parents had been to give that up and let all his men and likely his sister as well, die just to be with his love sooner. He would not be his father.

Jon sighed. "Unfortunately, as much as I would love to accept her offer, I'm afraid I have to decline. I'm needed here in the north and I am King, I will not bend the knee. Tell her that I urge her to return to Westeros as soon as possible, Meereen will still be there when she returns. I know she wants to wait until things are stable to prevent her work from being undone when she leaves but the Others have us on a time limit, and urgency is required to claim the throne and unite the seven kingdoms under one banner before the Others arrive."

Jorah nodded. "I will inform her of your wishes, My Prince. I will warn you to expect a negative reception." He stood and rose to leave.

"Don't leave yet, I insist that you stay the night here, we will provide you with a fresh horse and enough coin for your journey in the morning. I will also give you a letter in the morning detailing all that I told you today and more for the Queen and the Queen alone to read, I'd rather not have you forget any of the details or let your own love for the Queen and jealousy of me affect your presentation of me." He, of course, would be vague and cryptic just in case Jorah got intercepted on his way back to Meereen and the information fell into the wrong hands, he wanted to tell her everything but he had to put the kingdom first and some of that information could be catastrophic if their enemies got a hold of it. He could not tell her he was Rhaegal through a simple letter as much as he wanted too.

Jorah's jaw clenched but he nodded. "Thank you for your hospitality, My Prince."

Jon nodded and watched as he left the room. He would give him a letter detailing much more than what he had told to Jorah. He knew everything about his Daenerys it was only fair that she knew the same about him. He wasn't able to tell her that he was Rhaegal, he wouldn't risk that information in a letter that could be read by anyone but he would make sure that she knew him before she made a decision on his offer. He prayed that she would accept because if she didn't then Jon would be forced to kneel for her aid in the battle against the Others which would likely cause the north to rebel and turn on him. If she still refused and went back to denying their existence then he would be forced to crush her.

He knew he could defeat her in battle. Rhaegal would fight for him as long as he promised to let his Daenerys live which he had every intention of doing. He was sure Viserion would stay neutral at the very least. Drogon might be persuaded to stay neutral as well if his Daenerys was safe from any harm, but he wouldn't bank on it. He would have more men by that time if it ever came with at least the north behind him. Realistically, if she refused to believe in the Others and rejected his proposal then he would have never told her he was Rhaegal and could just use their connection to carry an unsuspecting Daenerys to him where he could hold her hostage to stop a war and gain control. Once the others were dealt with he would free and even Queen her perhaps but the Others had to be his priority. He couldn't live without her but he would have to. He was not his father or mother and selfish enough to let thousands die for his own love.

"Can I come in?" Jon asked as he knocked on the door to Sansa's chambers. He had to inform her of his offer of betrothal to Daenerys before she figured it out through other means and turned on him for it. He could control how the information was presented to her and by doing so could partially control her reaction.

Sansa opened the door almost immediately and lifted an eyebrow in amusement. "You are the King, Your Grace, you don't have to ask."

Jon grimaced and took a seat on the edge of her bed gesturing for her to join him. "You can still call me Jon, you know. In private at least."

Sansa smiled at him. "King Jon," she teased.

Jon just sighed resigned to her antics. "I came here because I have some sensitive information you should know."

Sansa sat down. "Should I be worried?"

Jon shook his head. "No, it's good news."

Sansa grabbed his left hand and placed it on her lap. "Then tell me, King Jon."

"Cersei Lannister is dead." He said quietly. He had heard this days earlier from one of his wargs when the Boltons had found out told him and later again from Daenerys on one of their morning conversations but he had saved this news to use when he told her that he offered Daenerys his hand in marriage and half of his power. The gates of Last Hearth were closed to the outside world as they prepared to come under siege so there was little risk of her hearing it from elsewhere first. He knew the news of his proposal would upset her so he had planned on using the news of Queen Cersei's death to soften the blow and catch her in a good mood.

Sansa did not smile. "What? Are you sure? How?" She blurted out.

Jon frowned slightly before wiping his face and putting a blank mask on. "I'm sure." He couldn't exactly tell her how he knew. Wargs and especially his connection to Rhaegal were too dangerous of information to trust her with, she had already betrayed him once even if accidentally. "She lost her trial by combat, Ser Loras Tyrell killed Ser Balon Swann and Cersei was executed for her crimes."

"How can you be certain? She wouldn't have died in a trial by combat, Ser Balon would have never been her champion." She insisted stubbornly.

Jon's nostrils flared. "I trust my source. I won't divulge them to you, I can't but I trust their report." Jon sighed and rubbed his brow. He wanted her happy, not to get in another fight with her. "Ser Gregor fled with Qyburn after he was arrested. The Kingslayer had left the Kingsguard, Ser Loras was fighting for the faith and Ser Osmund Kettleblack was injured. She had no good option to defend her in the trial. She is dead, u-father has been avenged." It was crucial that the North think that he considered the honorable Ned Stark his father and not the lovesick or mad depending on who you asked Prince Rhaegar.

Sansa smiled hesitantly. "She's really dead?" She asked quietly, afraid to admit it and then find out it was not true.

Jon nodded. "She is, I assure you of that."

Sansa smiled wider and hugged Jon. "She's finally gone!" She cried happily. Jon awkwardly held her and patted her back and then she pulled away and sighed wistfully. "I wish I had been there to see it."

Jon frowned briefly. He hated that his sister had to see this side of the world, that she had been forced to grow up from the girl who dreamed of being a princess and knights and songs into this twisted being who was driven by a desire for revenge. It was obvious to him that she had gone to Jon for help in getting her revenge and she had been pushing him to the throne for more revenge. He had never been close to her and while he was trying to have a relationship with her now they likely never would be but that didn't mean he was glad that she had suffered so much even if it led to her being a more tolerable kind person at least to him.

Sansa stopped smiling and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You said you had sensitive information, if Cersei died in a trial by combat then that would be public information not sensitive information. What did you really want to tell me?"

Jon sighed. Sansa was far too perceptive now, when they were children she had always been rather oblivious but now almost nothing snuck past her. Her cruel experiences had warped her to the point she had to regard everyone with suspicion like he did. This isn't how he wanted to tell her this, he had wanted to bring it up not her but he was backed into a corner. "I met with an envoy of Queen Daenerys Targaryen today and sent her an offer of betrothal where we would rule as equals."

She took a step back. "Why would you ever do that? Do you know how valuable of a prize your hand is? You are King. Did you even think-" She spat before Jon cut her off.

"Daenerys legitimizes my claim, without her I am just a bastard." Jon tried to defend himself by appealing to what she would say was logical and not tell her tales of Daenerys's goodness when as far as Sansa knew they had never met, he couldn't argue that she had dragons either since Sansa didn't believe in them yet and it was too soon to reveal that they were truly real to Sansa.

Sansa scoffed in derision. "No one will care about that if you claim the name Targaryen as you have already done. No one wants a Lannister bastard on the throne, if the son of Eddard Stark proves he has Targaryen blood the Lords will rally to put you on the throne."

Jon grit his teeth. "Tell me then, dear sister, why haven't we had a dozen lords showing up to here to swear fealty to me and offer their aid in defeating the Boltons?"

Sansa scowled. "You haven't proved you are worthy of their support, when you defeat the Boltons you will do just that. People rally behind the strong."

"I've defeated death as you bloody well know, what greater enemy is there left for me to conquer?" Jon snarled. "No one wants a bastard on the throne so I'll marry the trueborn heir and get their support that way, even if the Lords of the North don't care which they very much do, the Lords in the south will."

"Those who haven't seen it won't believe you've conquered death, when they do they will worship you like your wildlings do. They think you are just a bastard oath breaker desperate for power like my mother feared. Maybe if you took my advice for once you would have proved otherwise. Maybe you wouldn't have given away an army and half of your kingdom for the sake of being as honorable as our father, his honor got him killed as did Robb's."

Jon had to stifle a laugh, she thought he had offered a betrothal to his Daenerys for the sake of his honor not wanting him to take the throne as just a bastard. It was quite the opposite he offered a betrothal because he was selfish like his father and wanted the women he loved and because she had dragons, that too. "I didn't give away an army-."

Sansa cut him off. "You did. You could have offered your hand in marriage to Arianne Martell to gain the allegiance of Dorne and retained half the kingdom as she would have been fine being Queen consort and not an equal. You could have offered your hand to Yara Greyjoy and gotten the Iron Fleet or-"

Jon stood up and cut her off. "Queen Daenerys has an army too, eight thousand unsullied, two-thousand sell-swords and she's negotiated for half of the Iron Fleet. She also has fucking dragons in case you weren't listening." Admittedly Jon didn't know if she had actually gained the allegiance of the Iron Fleet but he would assume negotiations had gone well even after he had almost killed Theon this morning. When his Daenerys decided she wanted something she would always get it.

Sansa scoffed. "Slave soldiers. You lost the North as well as any other prospective army by siding with the Mad King's daughter, by marrying your kin you are proving to them that you are just like your Targaryen ancestors."

"She is not her father." Jon hissed dangerously. "And Starks have married closer relations before."

"You don't know that, I've heard tales of what she did in Meereen. She crucified 200 men and left them there to die, she burned men alive in Astapor. She rode with the Dothraki as they enslaved entire villages. She is just like her father-"

Jon lost it at her voicing Daenerys's greatest fear and bringing it to life. "She has fucking dragons." He roared. "If she was like her father then King's Landing would be a pile of rubble! If she was her father I would be dead for daring to contest her claim, she wouldn't have sent an envoy to meet with me and offer a place by her side but assassins to kill me and the rest of the Starks. She changed her Dothraki, she made them stop enslaving men and broke their chains off of the slaves. She is the breaker of chains and Mhysa to the free men. She killed slavers, evil men, and if it had been me I would have done the same if not worst."

"She sent a slaver to you as an envoy, what does that hypocrisy say about her?" Sansa retorted.

Jon wanted to laugh. He never thought he would be one to have to defend Jorah but he had to do so to defend his Daenerys. "Jorah no name sold men into slavery and was sentenced to the wall for it. He chose instead to flee as a coward. He changed while serving under my Queen Daenerys and he's saved her life multiple times over. Even still, she didn't forgive his crimes but stripped him of all his rank and titles as reparation for his crimes. She still delivered justice even when she owed him her life. She is not a hypocrite." Most of that was a complete lie of course, but Sansa didn't need to know that. He hadn't changed, his Daenerys himself had claimed that herself even one night. He just fell in love with his Queen and did what she wanted. He was a loyal dog, nothing more.

"You'll still lose the North," Sansa protested half-heartedly.

Jon closed his eyes and took deep breaths. He had to keep his calm, he had already revealed more then he intended and he knew Sansa would pester him about it later. "There are ways to keep the north and legitimize my claim. With certain concessions I can keep them in line, they'll still want someone with northern blood on the throne and to do so means to fight for me as I'm their only option. I'm not going to proclaim the Mad King as some misunderstood good guy nor will I pardon my sire and neither will Daenerys, she's not stupid."

Sansa made to say something in protest but thought better of it and closed her mouth. "How do you know so much about this Daenerys Targaryen, you've never met." She spoke in a rush.

Jon closed his eyes and thought of a believable lie. He had revealed far too much to her. If she ever learned of the existence of wargs and saw him Rhaegal he expected her to figure it out. He wasn't sure how long he could keep wargs secret from her anyways, for his plans to progress as he wanted, he had to trust her a little. "Maester Aemon Targaryen exchanged letters with her, he would have me read them to him on occasion. I trust his judgment more than anyone else's. He was a Targaryen and a great man, not at all like his grand-nephew. My Daenerys is the same way, if he vouches for her then I believe him." It was a lie but the only person alive who could claim that was Daenerys and he would hopefully be able to tell her the truth before Sansa had the chance to mention it and cause awkward questions.

"You'd trust a Targaryen over your own family?" Sansa said quietly.

Jon closed his eyes and sighed. "He is my family as is she." He stopped himself from adding a mean more then you've ever been comment or something of the sort to hurt her. He wouldn't lower himself to use petty insults that only hurt his cause even if they were true. He needed her to trust him for his plans to progress.

Jon had an epiphany, that's what this was about. Not the fact that he had offered marriage to his Daenerys but because he hadn't thought to consult her first, this was largely about her wounded pride. He didn't trust her as much as he needed to and he wasn't sure he ever would but he had to give her something to stop her stupidity from betraying him again.

"I should have consulted you first," Jon lied. "I will not apologize for offering her a betrothal and to rule as equals, it's the only choice I could make. Westeros cannot survive a second dance of the dragons and the Others at the same time. We need her dragons to survive the Long Night, and that has to be my priority. We can defeat Dorne or whoever in battle but we cannot have her as an enemy. I should have listened to your concerns and addressed them before I acted but… trust is hard after…" He trailed off letting her fill in the gap with the obvious being murdered thing. She had to think he didn't tell her because he didn't trust in general not because it was her specifically or because of how much the offer meant to him.

Sansa nodded mutely in agreement. "If she really has dragons then why would she accept giving you half her power?" She asked hesitantly, still not entirely certain of their existence.

Jon smiled genuinely. "She's not her father, she cares that I am her family. She sent her envoy to bring me to Meereen so I could be by her side." He shook his head. "More importantly she wants to be loved by the people and as the ward of the honorable Lord Eddard Stark, I offer her a chance to be seen as more than the Mad King's daughter, as the Lord Commander who died for the Night's Watch and to let innocent men live. I offer her a reputation of being good and that offers her a chance to be loved like she wants to be."

Sansa nodded begrudgingly. "You've clearly thought this through." She reached out and grabbed his left hand squeezing it once before letting go. "Just in the future consult me first about such big decisions. We need to trust each other and work together, we're family."

Jon nodded in agreement. He would consult her on issues that pertained to her but never about things between him and his Daenerys that were their business alone and he wouldn't let anyone interfere with them.

Sansa fell silent as did Jon and just when he was about to excuse himself Sansa spoke up again. "You said she had half the Iron Fleet, is Theon…" She trailed off seemingly to nervous to finish her statement.

Jon cursed internally. He had accidentally let that slip in his anger at her refusal to accept his Daenerys, now he had to give her information before a raven could travel with it if they left immediately. The day it had happened in fact. If someone ever corroborated the timelines with her then his secret could be exposed. Still, he had let it slip so he might as well tell the truth, a lie would only look worse.

"Euron Greyjoy was made Lord of the Iron Islands after the death of Balon Greyjoy. Theon and his sister fled to Meereen and offered Queen Daenerys the Iron Fleet in exchange for her support in reclaiming the Iron Islands from their uncle. I don't know the exact terms of the deal they agreed to but Queen Daenerys has secured the Iron Fleet."

Sansa nodded and fiddled with her hands. "You said your Queen is good… she wouldn't kill Theon, right?"

"She is good, which means she should kill Theon!" Jon snapped at her harshly, his own frustration with Daenerys's decision to let Theon live and only be banished to the Iron Islands bleeding through here. He understood why and it was tactically the right decision but emotions were rarely tactically wise.

"He saved my life." Sansa protested.

"He killed Bran!" Jon snapped back at her.

"He didn't, he killed the mi-" Sansa tried to rationalize and excuse him for the crime of murder on account of the boys he killed not mattering. That angered him but not nearly as much as Bran's death by Theon's indirect influence.

"He murdered innocent children then! Theon might as well have murdered Bran himself, his death would be more pleasant that way at least. Because of Theon, Bran went beyond the wall. Rangers die out there all the time, the Others are out there, a crippled boy stands no chance. Bran is dead." He said his voice hollowing at the end as he accepted the facts.

Sansa frowned. "Don't say that, he's still out there."

Jon snorted dismissively. "Regardless, the Queen is not stupid and didn't kill Theon and lose the Iron Fleet. She has punished him from what I've heard but he'll escape with his life."

Sansa nodded. "Thank you, Jon. I appreciate you sharing this with me."

Jon said nothing and just stood and left her room, emotions spiraling. He had lost the upper hand there and revealed too much information when he let his emotions rule him. He had given her too much information that could possibly expose his secret. He feared what Sansa would do if she knew he was Rhaegal, how she would use that information to get whatever she wanted accomplished. He had to get a grip on his newfound anger that had likely bled over from when he had eaten human flesh, like Varamyr had warned him perhaps the dragon was affecting his personality or perhaps it was just dying that had done it to him. Regardless, he needed to get a handle on his temper or he would make a very poor King.

"Good morning Rhaegal," Daenerys yawned as she padded out to their balcony covered in just a sheer nightdress. She gently stroked the top of Jon's snout and he hummed in contentment at her actions. All too soon these conversations would come to an end when he was forced to call Rhaegal to him. Jon was eager to have Rhaegal by his side but he would miss these conversations they had together.

"You attacked someone in the streets yesterday," Daenerys stated plainly. Jon did the closest thing a dragon could do to groaning although it sounded more like a growl. He didn't need to be lectured on this, he already knew his attack was a mistake it had just been his anger at the sight of Theon that had caused him to react in such an adverse way.

"When I first saw you standing on the Greyjoy boy I was terrified that he was dead, that you had caused me to make an enemy of the Iron Islands and had thrown away the lives of my unsullied so we could take the Iron Fleet by force."

"I was terrified that I was going to have to lock you and your brothers up again." Jon and Rhaegal growled at the reminder of their wretched time in that cave chained up like a common dog. "I locked you up the first time because Drogon murdered an innocent child. He burnt Zalla alive and then ate her remains. I chose the good of my people over you once and as much as I love you and your brothers I would do so again. I want to build a new better world and no one, not even you can be exempt from the rules of the world."

That was why she had locked them all up? Drogon had killed one child and they were imprisoned for it? Drogon should have been punished not him or Viserion.

She sighed. "But you didn't kill Theon when I thought you had even though you probably should have." Jon was taken aback by that response even Jon thought that not killing Theon would have been the better decision there was no way his Daenerys was suggesting otherwise.

His Daenerys chuckled at his shocked expression and his Daenerys stroked the smooth scales under his chin. "I want to build a new world where your family name doesn't pardon you for the sins of the past, where everyone is judged and punished equally but I was intentionally ignoring my own rules to suit my purposes. The punishment for murder is death or the wall and I was letting Greyjoy be judged separately."

"So I changed the deal. Theon Greyjoy will join the Night's Watch when we head to Westeros and I got a hundred ships out of the exchange. You changed my mind, Rhaegal. I had ignored his slights against my nephew for my cause but you knew that he had wronged the blood of the dragon and demanded proper retribution. He will pay it now thanks to you, Rhaegal."

Jon smiled and flashed long sharp teeth. Theon deserved to die but the Night's Watch was a more than suitable alternative. He would serve on the wall the rest of his days with men as evil as he was and the wall always needed more men. Jon hated Theon but he would be an asset to the Night's Watch so Jon would allow him to live, for now at least.

"Theon Greyjoy told me about my nephew," Daenerys said quietly, her voice barely a whisper. Jon couldn't help but groan again, now instead of a blank slate, now she would have the opinion of someone who hated him influencing her opinion. "They grew up together, you know. I can't wait for Jorah to return to Meereen with him so I can finally meet him in person, he sounds wonderful."

Hell had truly frozen over. Theon speaking kindly about Jon? Was Sansa right and he really had changed? She said he was completely broken by Ramsay Snow. The old Theon would have made Jon out to be the lowest of the low and complete scum, that had always been his favorite habit.

"You were right about my nephew suffering, Rhaegal. He might not have been sold for an army or lived his entire life on the run but he suffered all the same. He was treated as an outcast in his own home. His aunt treated him like dirt and refused to let him be with the family, she treated a hostage better than her own nephew."

She gritted her teeth and ceased her petting of his smooth scales. "That vile woman treated a prince as a slave. If she wasn't already dead I would burn her alive for how she treated my nephew. When his uncle went to be the Usurpers hand she forced him to leave too. She forced him to give up his life and birthright to serve in the Night's Watch. She practically sold him into slavery." Daenerys snarled.

Jon couldn't help but feel vindicated by his Daenerys's outright hatred of Lady Stark. He was surprised Theon had told the truth so clearly, sure he had likely left out his own parts in Jon's mistreatment but he hadn't made Jon out to be the guilty one for once.

"Despite that bitch's treatment of him, he still is a good man. He still inherited his uncle's sense of honor according to Greyjoy, he still wanted to help people. I am told that he would often cover for his youngest cousin, Arya. That he would shield her from punishment and even throw himself to the wolfs in order for her to escape. That he would distract people from insulting her and instead let himself be insulted. The more I hear the more excited I am to finally meet my nephew."

Daenerys sighed. "Yet I worry that I never will get the chance to meet him." She stroked behind his ear and looked away from him. "If Tyrion and Greyjoy are at all close to the truth when they tell me about my nephew, then he won't abandon his people to return to Meereen with Jorah. There are seven-thousand men marching towards the Last Hearth where he is holed up according to Varys. He has two-thousand."

She sighed once more. "I'm told that he faced worst odds at the wall, but that was against the Wildlings that now are his army, not disciplined knights like he'll be facing this time. No one will say it but my entire council thinks he is doomed except for maybe Varys. I'm going to lose my nephew before I even get the chance to know him. I finally find out that I have family out there, that I'm not alone in the world, and now he's just going to die again."

She hugged Jon's head to her chest. "What kind of cruel cosmic joke is this that my nephew would come back from the dead only to die again? Why give me hope of having a family only to cruelly snatch it away while I'm stranded here, helpless in Meereen, completely unable to help as he dies again? Even if I left Meereen now and sailed there with all of my unsullied we wouldn't arrive until he was already dead. There is nothing I can do for him." She cried into Jon's neck.

"I wish that I could but I have to put my people first. I'll kill every single Bolton, and Lannister for their murder of my nephew but it'll never be enough. Surely, even he can't cheat death twice. He will die and I'll be alone again."

Jon shook his head in her grip. He wouldn't die. Soon they would be united in person and together ruling as one. "You know what I meant, I know you would never leave me even as your brothers hate me and stay away, you're always here for me. With you, I am not alone but soon I'll be without any human family. I'll be the last Targaryen once again. My House will die with me."

Daenerys pulled back and kissed the top of Jon's head. "I woke up too late today so we only had a short time together, I have to go prepare for my day. I'll speak to you again tomorrow morning and tell you more about my nephew, Rhaegal."

Jon watched as she retreated from him and couldn't help but feel guilty. He was responsible for her pain. He couldn't do anything to stop it yet and when he finally won he would cause her pain in a different way. He could only hope that she could one day forgive him for all of this.

Once she had dressed and left her chambers with Missandei to go see the day's petitioners, Jon prepared himself to return to his human body but then he heard a voice calling for him. "Rhaegal!" A voice called out to him from the left.

Jon turned towards the voice intent on showing the voice and found Lord Varys waiting on the public terrace of the pyramid, available to all of the Queen's guests and soldiers to explore. What did the eunuch want with Rhaegal? To study him? Sell information on how to defeat him to their enemies? Lord Varys had betrayed multiple Kings in the past and Jon had no doubt he would do so again, his Daenerys was smart to use the eunuch for information, there was no one better at gathering it than him, his little birds had a way of knowing impossible things. Jon would have done the same in her place but neither of them would ever be foolish enough to trust him.

"Or should I call you Prince Jon?"

Well, fuck. Try as Jon might but he couldn't stop himself from reacting to the spider knowing his secret, he had never told anyone that but the spymaster had managed to puzzle it out, sure it might have just been a suspicion but the way that Jon flinched back at the accusation had given himself away to possibly the least trustworthy person possible. He had forgotten that Varys had sources amongst the Free Folk and almost certainly had already known wargs were real as a result.

Perhaps Jon should just murder him to keep his secret. His Daenerys was sure to assume Varys had betrayed her and that's why he had acted against him. She was sure to side with her beloved Rhaegal over the treacherous spymaster in any matter. But Jon didn't want to lie to his Daenerys and when he finally revealed to her he was Rhaegal, she would be upset with the lengths he went to keep this secret from her. Or more realistically if he killed Varys she would ask him about it tomorrow and he would be forced to say he killed him for reasons other then Varys's betrayal or lie about it.

He probably should have quickly retreated into his human body and given Rhaegal control of this one. Rhaegal would have snorted dismissively and flown off. Make him think that he had imagined his flinch. Except had he done that he could have brought his suspicions to his Daenerys who he would tell the truth to when she asked him and he didn't know how she would take it but he knew that Varys would find out and have his confirmation either way.

"Don't worry, I have no plans to tell the Queen, yet," Varys reassured him quickly. That did not reassure him at all. Varys had no loyalty to his Daenerys he knew. That he wouldn't tell her such revolutionary information was betrayal in a way. He had only promised not to tell a Queen not a King or a Lord. He could still give the information to King Tommen or a Bolton. He had to kill Varys or else he could lose the battle for the North.

"Although I do find myself quite curious as to how you warged into a dragon. That is impossible, warging into a magical creature, let alone one you've never met, but then again there has never been a Targaryen warg before."

"I suspected it from the moment you were brought back to life, your human-like intelligence had been so odd since you escaped, which was only shortly after the death of Jon Snow. But the day Jon Snow was brought back, Rhaegal started acting more like a dragon again during the days; still a dragon mostly but as if only a little bit of human behavior was rubbing off on him. Then during the night and in the morning, he would have human-like intelligence as if he was two separate people in one body- one of them distinctly human."

Varys clicked his tongue. "How you only spoke the common tongue was a major hint. The fact that you were the one who persuaded her to trust Prince Jon and that it was you who persuaded her that the Others were real were major clues to your identity. Your attack on Theon Greyjoy yesterday was the straw that broke the camels back and confirmed my suspicions for me but I would have figured it out eventually either way."

That gave Jon pause. If he were to kill Varys to keep his secret then would he do the same to the next person to figure him out? Tyrion was intelligent, soon Jon would be forced to kill him as well if he went down this route. He hadn't exactly tried to be subtle. He had relied on their lack of awareness to the existence of wargs to keep his secret. That had been naive. These events would only anger his Daenerys and destroy their alliance when she figured out the truth. Varys knew that Jon couldn't do anything without upsetting his Daenerys too. That was why he had been comfortable confronting Rhaegal because he knew Jon couldn't do anything to him. He was safe under Daenerys's protection.

"I didn't inform you of my knowledge just to gloat. I have sensitive information for Prince Jon or King Jon if you would prefer since I suppose that's how you are stylizing yourself now. The Mormonts are sending a little under a hundred men to rendezvous with you at Last Hearth, they want to fight to put you on the throne and avenge the Red Wedding. They're a small house that had been hurt severely in your cousin's war but they want you on the throne and the Starks to rule the North.."

Jon nodded. That was unsurprising news to Jon, Lady Lyanna Mormont had been the one who had told Stannis that "House Mormont knows no King, except the King in the North whose name is Stark." He had expected them to rally behind him especially with him being essentially being named an honorary Mormont by Jeor and their loyalty to the Starks was incredibly fierce. The fact that the Mormonts were only sending a hundred men might have upset Jon if he actually planned on battling them with an army. For his plan to work it hardly mattered how many men he had.

"House Slate also plans on coming to your aid with 300 men of their own. The young Lord Brandon Slate is furious over his father, and elder brother's death in the Red Wedding and is sending all 400 of his men to aid you with him at the front of the charge. He should be arriving at your gates within a sennight." Varys explained jollily.

Jon was slightly surprised by that one. House Slate and House Stark had never had close relations after they bent the knee to the Starks and gave up their own crown to the Stark King. Tactically it was a rather poor decision for House Slate, Jon on paper had no chance of winning this war without at least one Houses Glover, Manderly, or Umber on his side. He probably needed more on top of that. Children were always rather susceptible to being ruled by their emotions so it didn't surprise him that Brandon Slate had ignored the advice of his councilors and focused on his lust for revenge by teaming with Jon and working to destroy the Boltons. Assuming Varys was being honest of course which Jon thought that he had no reason to wish him dead but he couldn't actually say.

"House Whitehill is sending seven-hundred men to the Last Hearth as well, claiming they wish to side with you against the Bolton's but they plan on betraying you and bringing your head to the Boltons in order to gain their favor."

That was a big piece of news that Jon hadn't heard. Highpoint was close enough to the Last Hearth that they would arrive at least two weeks before the Boltons did and if he were to let them inside they might lose before Jon could even enact his plan. At the same time, he couldn't turn away seven hundred men or he'd lose the support of his people so he would have been forced to accept them. Now, he could procure evidence of some sort to give him legitimate cause to turn them away, even if falsified or paying a steward to lie about overhearing something. He now knew he had to turn them away if there was even a chance Varys was right. He might be lying but Jon could win without those seven hundred men.

"That's all I have for you now but I'll be out here again when I have more information that you need to know," Varys replied happily. "Do try not to die again, King Jon. I would hate to see what that would do to our Queen's mental state." He giggled at the thought of it and Jon watched him walk back into the pyramid and possibly to his Daenerys or even to send a raven to King Tommen and tell him the truth of his identity. He said that he wouldn't tell and Jon had no choice but to hope that he wouldn't.

Jon sighed once more and then opened his eyes as a human leaving Rhaegal behind. He couldn't count on no one finding out his identity because they didn't think wargs were real anymore, he was sure that when he called Rhaegal to him and he was seen riding Rhaegal Tyrion was smart, surely he at the very least would also figure things out and anyone else with knowledge of the events in Meereen could potentially put things together. If he started killing them all then his Daenerys would never forgive him. Perhaps he needed to accept that it was never going to remain a secret. He needed his Daenerys to hear it from him first or at least make an effort for him to be the source that she heard first, she had to know that he had wanted to trust her. Ideally, it would be in person but realistically, that was never going to be doable.

Jon picked up the scroll he had sealed with the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen and broke the seal. Lord Varys's unexpected and unwelcome knowledge at least gave him a chance to tell his Daenerys without there being a risk of the letter being intercepted on its way to Meereen. He grabbed a roll of parchment and tore off a small strip.

Tell Lord Varys he has my express permission to share my source. He wrote before shoving that too in the scroll and stamping it shut with the Targaryen sigil once again.

He had rewritten this letter nearly a hundred times, making sure to remove all the possessive words he had used regarding his Daenerys. The letter needed to be perfect and he couldn't come off as a creep. He had to be her equal and well him calling her his was never about him trying to control her, she might view it as if he was. He called her his just like she called Rhaegal her dragon. They were each other's, it was simply the vocabulary and way a dragon thought of their people. She was no possession but she was his Daenerys just like Arya was his sister.

His Daenerys would know that he was Rhaegal when she made the decision to accept his offer of betrothal and equal power. She wouldn't be able to hear it from him and Rhaegal almost certainly wouldn't be there when she learned it but she would know and hopefully still love him all the same. The message was cryptic enough that anyone who stole the message wouldn't understand it but as long as Lord Varys remained in Meereen and answered honestly his Daenerys would.

Even still, he would order Jorah that the contents of the letter were more important then his life, and if he was intercepted that the letter was to be destroyed. He would warn him that the information within could be used to hurt his Daenerys if it fell into the wrong hands.

Sure enough, as Varys had warned him the Slates arrived within a sennight at his gates with four-hundred men of their own. Jon would have been prepared to receive the Slates whether Varys had warned him of their coming or not but he appreciated the warning all the same. He had been sending his wargs out as scouts flying as birds high above the ground looking for any upcoming armies, they obviously couldn't cover all the ground with a one hundred mile radius but they could cover a lot of it and they would usually spot any large host that was approaching. A single assassin or a small party his wargs would be useless against but large armies were easy to find and a bird flying over an army was not an uncommon sight, he could get as close as he needed and not have to worry about his scouts being killed.

He had a few birds traveling with the Bolton's forces that had been joined by a number of hoses in Winterfell when they had called their bannermen. House Hornwood, Karstark, Umber, Flint, Dustin, and Ryswell had all joined hands with Roose Bolton in the battle for the north. Jon didn't particularly care for their reasoning and another bird had joined up with the Lannister army at Riverrun. On top of those birds, they had a handful of scouting birds that went out to the east, west, and south about a hundred miles or so in search of other enemy forces so they couldn't be blindsided.

He was definitely overworking his small brigand of wargs as they spent most of their time in bodies that weren't their own and the effects were showing as many of them were picking up some of their birds quirks the longer they spent as the animal. The Free Folk had yet to complain to him at least of the long hours so Jon would continue to work them into the ground until the Boltons were defeated, then they could rest when he got to be on the offensive. He suspected the lack of complaints from the workload had to do with how restless the Free Folk were when they essentially trapped behind the stone walls of the Last Hearth. They were the Free Folk who lived wherever they chose and they were essentially trapped in the castle Jon had chosen to make his stand at.

The Free Folk understood why they had to stay here but that didn't mean they were at all happy about it. They hadn't acted out too much because of both their respect and fear of Jon after he had let them south of the wall and they had seen him walk out of the fire, defeating death. That didn't mean they didn't complain, however. They were growing restless and well they trusted Jon at least somewhat and understood the need to have him on the throne so they could survive the Others but that didn't mean they were happy to fight for him. The Free Folk had been forced to leave their families behind at the gift as they marched south with him to declare war.

He expected that once the Boltons were actually outside the walls the panic and fear would set in and they would certainly speak against him and likely insult him repeatedly as was their way, they had done the same to Mance even Jon knew. Jon expected that and was fine with it. They, like everyone else in the North, would once again kneel when he won and he didn't need the Free Folk anymore besides his wargs. They were here to give him a castle to hold where he would make his stand. He needed to keep them in line to show the other Lords he was a King and not a foolish green boy but he did not need them raring to go just present and in line.

That likely meant that he would need to keep the Free Folk separate from the men the Slates and Mormonts sent him. There was too much history between the Northerners and Free Folk to not expect conflict and it's likely that the conflict would revolve around the King they had come here for. If Jon sided with the Free Folk in any issue then the Northern Lords whom he needed would take offense and if he sided with the Northerners then he would lose the Free Folk's respect and possibly even service. The easiest way to deal with that would be to keep them separate and postpone any conflicts until he truly had all of their fear and not just awe. Once he had Rhaegal by his side he would break down those wheels and drag them into the new world he and his Daenerys were building whether they wanted it or not. They would have to set aside their vendetta's for the good of the realm but that wasn't something he could force yet.

Jon also suspected that the Free Folk were the ones more likely to openly defy Jon and having them separated from the Northerners would let him keep the North's respect and not make him look weak or unworthy. He had to be two different people for each faction and the easiest way to hide his duplicity was by only letting each group see one version of him. Once he won here he could send most of the Free Folk back to the gift to help reinforce the Wall since Jon knew they needed it. He would only need his wargs soon and not the rest of them once he had a much larger army of his own. A King could not be friends with those who served beneath them or their equals and Jon couldn't keep the Free Folk loyal yet while being distant and aloof.

Additionally, since Jon presumed the Boltons and Lannisters both had spies amongst the armies on his side this arrangement allowed him to keep the existence of wargs away from the Northern Lords who thought it a myth. That was only a minor concern that they would overhear but keeping it secret was paramount and he would do everything he could to ensure it stayed that way.

"Lord Brandon Slate," Jon greeted cordially from the top of the walls as the small army that the Slates had brought to fight for him congregated outside the gates. "Thank you for coming, Houses Stark and Targaryen will remember this service." He gestured to one of his men to open the gates and they did just that.

"Lor-Your Grace," a boy who presumed to be Lord Brandon Slate replied in a somewhat squeaky voice. "House Slate remembers their oaths of fealty to Houses Stark and Targaryen and as promised we will honor them in perpetuity. House Slate is yours to command, Your Grace." Lord Slate recited as they had likely practiced before coming here.

Lord Brandon Slate was a boy who was at most had only had eleven name days to date. He was a small child on a horse to large for his feet to comfortably reach the stirrups. They had likely switched him off of the pony not too far before meeting here as it would be an embarrassment to have the Lord of their house seated at the smallest horse, one could even take it as an insult to greet a King in such an uncouth way. The young Lord had long black hair that desperately needed to be cut and stood somewhat slouched in his saddle. If Jon hadn't known who was coming then he never would have recognized the small boy who looked so unkempt as the Lord of House Slate.

Jon forced a wide smile. "As King of the Seven Kingdoms, I appreciate your aid in our time of need. Lord Hother Umber will show to the barracks where we have had rooms prepared for you and your men. If you have need of anything don't hesitate to ask."

Lord Brandon spoke up with a surprising ferocity for his age. "I only ask that you allow us to fight by your side and destroy the Boltons. Avenge my-our father's deaths at the Red Wedding."

Jon smiled once again. "I can promise you that you and your men will be on the field beside me when we destroy the Boltons and put the North back in the rightful hands of Lady Sansa Stark." That wasn't technically a lie, they would be beside him on the field they just wouldn't be fighting, only he would do that. He felt slightly guilty at taking Rickon's inheritance and giving it to Sansa but if he was to break the wheel then that would be only the first time that he gave someone's inheritance to an elder sister who in the new world would have the better claim. Perhaps he would give Rickon another castle somewhere that had belonged to some traitor but Winterfell was Sansa's by right not his.

"We also ask that you give us a share of the land once held by the Flint's after they chose to side with the Boltons against the rightful King?" Lord Brandon had started sounding confident but the voice cracks and his uncertainty at his request had turned it into more of a question.

"I cannot promise you that. The Flint's have not yet chosen to side with the Boltons against their King or the Lady of Winterfell and Warden of The North, Sansa Stark. They march in their army but their ignorance excuses them. Like all who come with the Boltons, they will be given the chance to surrender and bend the knee or die. Only then will I punish the Lords who fought by the Boltons' side, not their children. I will not punish a son or daughter for the sins of their father or else I would be forced to execute myself." Jon said dryly.

His reason for his refusal of their demand had been two-fold. He didn't need their men and he was almost certain he wouldn't lose them because of his decision to deny him the land they had requested but more importantly his refusal to punish any children for their parent's crimes would go a long way in smoothing things over when he announced his engagement to Daenerys. They would hopefully be unable to use the Mad King's daughter argument against his decision with his stubborn refusal to punish any child for their father's crimes was a predominant characteristic of his reign before he was even betrothed to her. He also needed the support of all of the Northern Houses and making the Flints upset with his reign by giving away their land would not earn their support. Also, it aligned with his vision for their ideal world but that was the least important aspect of the decision he had made.

Lord Brandon ducked his head in acceptance and deference before him, it was obvious he had hardly cared about the second part but his advisors had pressed him on it. Before he and who Jon assumed was his chief advisor rode through the gates to settle in and prepare for war with their men trailing behind them,

Jon stepped back from the wall and hurriedly returned to his chambers where the moment he was alone he sighed and slumped in exhaustion. The Slates would be a valuable resource that he was glad to have already secured before the Whitehills arrived in just three days. He had already arranged to have certain stewards paid to lie about overhearing the Whitehills treachery so he imagined that he would be able to publicly out them as traitors but he didn't imagine they would just give up and kneel over to die. He would have to defeat them in open combat in order to stop them from being able to betray him and to do so he would be glad to have all the men he could. He had wanted the Mormonts first but the winds were unkind so Lord Whitehill would arrive before them.

Everything couldn't have gone better in his arrangements to take care of the Whitehills. He had sent Jerji out with fifty gold dragons in an attempt to persuade some of the men in the Whitehills army to testify of their planned treachery against him. He didn't care if they were actually aware of the plot of just willing to lie, as he had told Sam all those years ago, there could be honor in a lie if it was told for the right reason.

Jerji had done her job better than he expected. He had asked for her to get two men willing to speak on his behalf and testify of their plot but that was not to be. Instead of the two men, he had asked for her to bribe on his behalf she had managed to secure the loyalty of five men- well four men and one woman with only a mere thirty dragons. Either, the Whitehills were cruel overlords they wanted to be disposed of desperately or they were trying to gain the favor of a King, regardless of which it was it worked in his favor.

Once again Jon stood up on the ramparts of the walls of Last Hearth looking down on the encroaching army. The Free Folk as they had always been were armed to the teeth and prepared for battle. They were too used to having to fight to survive to let themselves be weaponless unless it was completely unavoidable. That worked in Jon's favor as it made them prepared for the conflict that was sure to come when he outed the Whitehills without Jon having to share his plan with them so they could betray him.

He was glad Rickon had taken a liking to Lord Brandon Slate in their brief time together, it meant he could keep the Slate men uninvolved in the conflict here. Children are volatile and easily manipulated, it wasn't impossible that his actions against the Whitehills would anger Lord Slate or that Lord Torrhen Whitehill would manipulate him and the Slate men into siding with him against Jon.

With Rickon having coincidentally gone to play with Lord Slate right before the Whitehill army arrived removed the chance of the Slates choosing to join them since his advisor, Ser Carrund Slate did not have the authority to tell the Slate's men to change their allegiances and side with the Whitehills. Lord Slate had no interest in the politics of ruling his household and had leapt at the chance to get out of the boring welcoming that the Whitehills were widely expected to receive.

"King Jon!" Lord Torrhen Whitehill called up in greeting to Jon.

"Lord Torrhen Whitehill," Jon replied cooly with a blank mask in place. "What business do you have here?"

Torrhen knelt and plunged his sword into the ground. "I've come here with all my seven-hundred men to pledge myself and my army to the service of the rightful king, Jon Targaryen." He declared with a loud voice. "A Northerner will finally sit on the Iron Throne."

Jon chuckled. "Really?" He smirked. "I was told a different tale, one where you planned on lying about joining my army then taking my head and delivering it to the Boltons on a spike so you could be granted control of the ironwood found in the Wolfswood and take Ironwrath from the Forresters for yourself."

Torrhen fell silent for a moment- not long but long enough that Jon could tell Varys's accusations had been proven true. "How dare you accuse me of such treachery, you besmirch my name! My father died at the Red Wedding that they orchestrated!" He roared in protest. "What traitor dares to spread such vile rumors about me and my house?"

Jon smirked at his indignation. "I believe it was your steward, Jorun. Isn't that what you told my spy Jorun?"

A somewhat weedy boy who was of no more than twelve namedays stepped forward. "I did, My L-Your Grace." He stuttered faltering under the attention of Jon.

Lord Torrhen guffawed and tried to shrug off the accusation. "You would trust the word of a single steward boy over the noble Lord Whitehill? The boy is obviously lying in hopes of gaining a reward from the King. Your naivety betrays you, Your Grace."

"It is you who is mistaken, Lord Whitehill. I've been a Lord before, I'm not a fool enough to only trust one source, I have multiple willing to speak on your betrayal." Jon replied cooly.

Lord Torrhen huffed and puffed out his chest. "Bring forth these traitors then so we can hear their lies and deal with them."

Jon smiled. "I concur. Let's find out who is telling the truth and deal with the traitors." They had very different definitions of the term but the same concept. "Before I call forth the other witnesses, let me remind you that lying to the King is an act of High Treason and as such punishable by death. I will give you once chance right now to confess your treason and I will allow you and your men to leave here alive. If not, then any traitors will lose their heads." Jon warned one final time. He did not want needless bloodshed, there would be enough of that when Winter came.

Lord Torrhen huffed once more. "I am no traitor, Your Grace, House Whitehill wishes to stand by you and avenge the Red Wedding by destroying the Boltons and Lannisters. Do you prefer to die without our men?"

Jon sighed and ignored his question. "Very well then, the crofter's son, Janus, Briann Snow- your half-brother, and the guard Robert all told me the same tale."

Lord Torrhen turned to glare at them as they timidly stepped forth at Jon's call. "I am told that you agreed to lie about the Whitehill's planned treachery? To betray your House?"

One of them spoke up, with some indignation at Torrhens insulted tone. "I did not agree to lie, I would never do that to my King. It is the truth, the Whitehills are planning on taking your head, Your Grace, to the Boltons in exchange for land."

Lord Torrhen sneered. "And do tell me how a bastard would know that?"

Who Jon could only now assume was Briann Snow replied with surprising passion about a lie he had agreed to sell. Perhaps he wasn't treated properly as a noble bastard and held hostilities towards the trueborn Whitehills as a result. Regardless, it only served Jon's purposes so he was more than okay with the turn of events.

"I overheard a conversation between you and Harys." He spat. "You told him and I quote, "When we deliver the Targaryen bastards head to Roose he will be forced to finally acknowledge that Ironwrath is our land. The Lannisters will owe us as well. This is our chance to make our name great. We would be fools not to take it, in spite of the risk."

Torrhen actually paled slightly and Jon couldn't help but wonder if this was a conversation, Briann Snow had actually overheard and not made up. Torrhen quickly regained his composure and chuckled lightly. "I see what this is, Your Grace, do you not?" He asked Jon.

Jon raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"This treacherous bastard is framing me in hope that you will name him Lord of House Whitehill for his testimony against you and paid Jorun as well. I should have expected this behavior out of a bastard. They are all like this-"

Jon cut him off with a snarl. "You forget yourself, Lord Torrhen. I too am a bastard."

One of the other witnesses Jon had paid to speak up spoke next, judging by their armor, it was the guard, Robert. "Y-Your Grace, I am ashamed to say that Lord Torrhen speaks truly. I ask your forgiveness but I accepted a bribe from a woman to tell of this scandal. I thought it was true at first, and they just wanted me to provide, His Grace, with evidence since that is what they told me but hearing of this bastards treachery, perhaps it is all a ploy by him to claim the ancestral seat of House Whitehill for himself."

Jon resisted the urge to scream in rage. He had been a fool to expect the Free Folk to know how to handle bribes. When they said they would do something they did it, they expected the people south of the wall to handle things the same way. They had no form of currency either and only traded, they had been a poor choice to send on this mission to bribe people to lie. They had assumed a bribe would take care of it, without needing to pay them more after the fact. They might have approached some loyalists with the offer, that Jerji had failed to recognize as the wrong people to bribe. Perhaps this entire negotiation was a ploy to cause his army to desert him. To make him seem as mad and paranoid as his father so no one would fight for him. If it was then it might be working.

To Jon's horror, Sansa spoke next. "I'd argue that this is what Ramsay and his father want." He had once again made the mistake of not trusting her enough so she had betrayed him. "This is their ploy. They want us divided or else they know that we could win. They fear us and are trying to have us defeat ourselves. Ramsay used the same tactic against Stannis and it worked. I implore you, brother to see reason and accept their aid. Don't make the same mistakes that Stannis did."

He really should have learned that she had to know his plans or she would screw them up by now. But then again how was he to tell her that he had heard from Varys in Meereen who happened to know that and he had received the information faster than a raven could even travel here. He wondered how she would unintentionally foil his plans next. Would she warn their enemies in jest that Jon had a dragon? Perhaps it would be best to share that part with her before she screwed it up too. He could even claim his Daenerys had sent Rhaegal to aid him to help her accept their marriage and see that she wasn't the Mad Queen.

He would have to wait until Rhaegal was in the North to tell her but perhaps she could know beforehand. Even if someone overheard or she blabbed that would just cause him to accelerate his plan slightly, not ruin it completely. He needed to trust her at least a little if she was to play maybe the most crucial role in crowning Jon.

Jon pinched his brow to stop himself from delving too deeply into that rabbit hole. He had to pay attention to the matter at hand, the Whitehills. This situation was salvageable, he could keep them out of his gates and stop them from betraying him, he might have to turn them away and might lose a good portion of his army but truthfully he didn't need them, he only wanted them, for the statement he would send. If the Slates, Mormonts, and even the Free Folk abandoned him then he would just have to rapidly accelerate his plan and lose some of the fear and power he hoped to display. Rhaegal could pick off their armies while they marched here just as easily as at the Last Hearth while Jon stood atop the gates and declared himself as King. This was about making a statement, like Aegon the Conqueror had at Harenhal. Not just killing the Boltons.

"Perhaps you are both right, perhaps this is just a ploy by Lord Bolton or his son. I can not take the chance that you are actually planning to commit treason and risk not only my life but the lives of all my men and the lives of every man and woman in the seven kingdoms on a maybe. If I turn you away I might still win, but if I give you entrance and you betray me I am guaranteed to lose. I cannot tell you if this treachery is real-"

"I can!" A voice called out from a few pace behind Lord Torrhen Whitehill. He was similarly dressed, albeit less fancily with a plain steel suit of armor with the crest of House Whitehill on both the chest plate and the helm.

Jon lifted a single eyebrow. "And who are you?"

The man trotted his horse forward to stand in front of an indigent Lord Torrhen. He removed his helm and revealed the same blond hair and hard face as Lord Torrhen. "Gryff, Your Grace. Gryff Whitehill."

"I would like to testify of my brother's planned treason." Jon had to bite his lip to keep himself from smiling at this wonderful turn of events. Gryff was likely only testifying in hopes of becoming Lord Whitehill but Jon was completely fine with that, he had a real reason to refuse them now beyond simple suspicions. The Lords would be offended that he took the word of bastards and stewards over the word of a Lord but Gryff while not being the Lord was an heir and taking his word at face value was a totally justifiable decision.

"We did indeed plan on betraying you, Your Grace," Gryff confirmed causing Lord Torrhen to sputter. "My brother planned to pretend to join with you in hopes of betraying you and being able to take your head to the Boltons demanding Ironwrath from the Forresters as compensation for his service as you have accused him of."

Lord Torrhen was outraged at the accusation from his own brother. "My brother is lying!" He spat furiously. "He is obviously trying to usurp me of my birthright as Head of House Whitehill!"

Jon said nothing as Gryff tore into his brother. "Your birthright?" He laughed. "You are the third son, you crippled Ebbert's sword hand so he would join the citadel and you could be the heir."

Torrhen swore and stamped his feet. "I did no such thing, you have always had it out for me. You have always wanted to be our father's heir." He sneered with disdain.

"I do not care about being the heir-"

"Silence!" Jon roared annoyed with their pointless arguments and they fell silent.

"Lord Gryff," Jon addressed the younger Whitehill in a stern tone as if he was scolding children. "Tell me honestly, why are you telling me of your brother's treachery?"

Jon of course expected some bullshit about how Jon was the King and his loyalty was to him alone or some lie about how it was the honorable thing to do so he was pleasantly surprised by Gryff's heartfelt response.

"My brother is a cruel and evil man." Gryff sighed sadly. "He wanted my eldest brother sent to the greyscale colonies when he came down with the disease so he would be out of his way in the line of inheritance. He then crippled the second son, Ebbert in a spar where he nearly severed his wrist. Ebbert was pressured by our father into joining the citadel afterward, he wouldn't be embarrassed by having a cripple as his heir. Torrhen was the heir after that."

"Your Grace, this is slander!" Torrhen roared.

"I said silence!" Jon declared firmly and he fell silent at his glare. Jon gestured for Gryff to continue his tale.

Gryff's hand drifted down to the sword he carried on his belt and his gloved fingers danced across the pommel. "I never cared for any of my brothers, all of them were awful towards me. They treated me as beneath them and as worth less than any of them. I still mourned my eldest brother's death, I still felt Ebbert's pain. Torrhen did not."

Jon could understand why Griff had felt the pain of his cruel brothers suffering. Sansa had been nothing but awful to him all his life but he had still worried for her when she had married Ramsay Bolton, he had still feared for her safety when he heard that King Tommen was demanding her head for murdering Joffrey. It was natural to care for one's family regardless of their behavior.

"Still I was loyal to my House and to him. He was still my blood even after all that he had done." Gryff sighed. "But he did something else that was unforgivable. He betrayed my sister, Gwyn. She was the only one ever kind to me, who ever loved me as a brother."

"Gwyn fell in love with Asher Forrester and they carried on an affair for a little over a year, I knew about it from the beginning. I knew that they were in love and even lied to protect their secret. She was with Asher's child and Torrhen found out. He spiked her drink with Moon Tea to kill the babe in her womb. He told our father and sent a raven to Lord Roderik Forrester of the location of their next date. The two arrived there and caught them in the act."

"Our houses have always been at conflict. Our father and Lord Roderik hated each other more than anything. They viewed their romance as a betrayal. They caught them in the act during their next tryst. They tore them apart. Lord Roderik banished his son to Essos and our father put our sister under house arrest. She is barely allowed to leave or see anyone other than her family and the stewards. He viewed her as soiled goods and tried to pawn her off to a husband."

He sighed once more and his hand tightened around his sword. "When my father died at the Red Wedding, Lord Torrhen was a thousand times worse to her. My father at least tried to find someone decent for her, my brother wants to sell her like a used whore. He doesn't care how ugly or cruel her husband is, simply how they benefit him.

"She is broken. Her spirit is crushed with the loss of her lover and the death of her unborn child. She is constantly depressed and hates everything. She was always so strong and stubborn, but now she is just a shell pining away for her lost love. My brother tore away her happiness and that is not something I can ever forgive, even if it means I must betray my house."

Jon nodded at the end of his tale. "Lord Torrhen, is what he claims true? Are you trying to marry her to some wealthy Lord for your own self-interests?"

Torrhen had no reason not to answer this question truthfully, it would be too easy to verify if he lied here. For the same reason, he knew Gryff was speaking the truth. There was too much detail that could be easily proven false for it to be a lie.

Torrhen huffed and batted the question away. "I am trying to marry off my sister yes, as every Lord has done since the days when the North had their own kings." He said defensively.

"No more," Jon spoke simply. "No longer will women have their choice taken away from them, and be sold into awful marriages. Slavery is outlawed in Westeros yet we still sell our daughters sold off to the highest bidder. My Da-sister was sold to the Boltons and was worse off than any steward or even some slaves. She was raped and abused for her husband's enjoyment. The only person who has a say in who a woman marries in my Kingdom is the woman herself. No one will be forced to marry ever again as long as I am King. If she chooses to marry Asher Forrester and he also wants to marry her then they can marry without any objections."

Torrhen was furious at Jon's explanation. "I am the Lord of House Whitehill, not you!" He spat angrily. "I decide who my sister would marry as all of our forefathers have before me. I will not marry her off to some Forrester who would only steal our land! You overstep your boundaries, bastard."

Jon smirked at him falling for the bait he had given him. He had spoken truly when he promised to end arranged marriages. He knew the pain that they had caused his Daenerys and Sansa in the past but he had only brought up the bit about Asher Forrester in hopes of giving him a legitimate reason to execute the traitor. "You just disobeyed an order from your King, which is an act of treason and punishable by death."

He looked past Torrhen and at the rest of the Whitehill men congregated there. "You have two choices, you can apprehend your treasonous liege lord or you can disobey a direct order from your King and die alongside him. I have twice the men that you do and a wall to stand upon. Make no mistake, if you choose to defy me and protect the former Lord Torrhen Whitehill then you will lose any conflict that arises. Your choices are to side with me or death, there is no third choice."

Jon was unsurprised when Lord Torrhen was immediately swarmed by men on all sides, wanting to apprehend him and not suffer Jon's wrath or promises of death. When the dust had cleared he was slightly disappointed to see that Lord Torrhen was already dead and covered in blood that gushed out of his slit throat with cuts riddling his entire body. Jon was not at all surprised by the outcome although the dragon regretted that he hadn't been able to kill him himself, it had been far too long since he last killed someone. Besides, as Lord Stark used to say, The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.

He grabbed Sansa's arm from where she stood behind him and dragged her close to him so they could speak quietly without being overheard. "Who is older, Gryff or his sister Gwyn?" He asked quietly.

Sansa's brow furrowed and she pursed her lips. "Gwyn if I'm remembering correctly, Gryff is the youngest. Why?"

Jon smiled at her but did not respond to her instead, just stepping forward once more and addressing the Whitehill army once more. "Lord Torrhen Whitehill is dead. By the decree of King Jon, of Houses Stark and Targaryen, the first of his name, rightful King of the Andals, the Rhyonar, and the First Men; I hereby declare Gwyn Whitehill as the eldest living sibling of the previous Lord as Lady Whitehill and the Lady of Highpoint."

Jon was surprised to see Gryff grinning at his declaration that the Lordship would go to his sister and not him. Perhaps he really did care for his sister's happiness so much and not just the power that being the Lord of House Whitehill would grant him. His reasons did not matter so much as long as he accepted it and didn't oppose him. He knew that his decision to allow Gwyn to marry Asher Forrester if they were truly in love as Gryff claimed should buy him the loyalty of their new head of house for years to come. House Whitehill was a moderately powerful house and their support was valuable.

He spoke directly to Gryff now as his sister was seemingly not here. "I cannot allow you in my gates after hearing of your brother's plot that you conspired to take part in. I will not risk my men on hoping that you are loyal."

Gryff nodded. "As you shouldn't, Your Grace, it's good to see that you have more sense than your cousin."

Jon clenched his jaw at that not so subtle insult of his brother but he didn't rise to the obvious bait, he was sure he would be hearing a lot worse directed towards his brother when he called all the Lords to reaffirm their vows of fealty to House Targaryen and Stark.

"I ask that you return home to Highpoint, if you choose to side with the Bolton's then you will be shown no mercy and die alongside them."

Gryff frowned. "If I may, Your Grace, I would like to decline your offer. We will fight with you against the Boltons and avenge the death of our friends at the Red Wedding they orchestrated."

Jon's face scrunched up in confusion. He had said that Jon was smart in not allowing them within his walls but now he was refusing to leave or side with the Boltons? For once Jon had no clue to his reasoning.

"I ask that you allow us to camp in the woods and when the time comes, come from behind and attack the Boltons from behind, cutting off their avenue of retreat," Gryff explained. "House Whitehill is yours to command, Your Grace, we don't have to be within your walls to fight by your side."

Jon couldn't turn them down even if he wanted too, the worst-case scenario was they joined up with the Boltons and gave them another thousand men which were completely irrelevant to Jon's plan. They had no real secrets to sell. The Whitehills were offering to take the most dangerous position in the battle if Jon had any intention of letting things get that far. They would be on the ground, facing a retreating horde that was fighting just to escape, a desperate man fought harder than any other and they would surely be desperate when they fled from a dragon. Turning them away would look even more terrible now and there was no legitimate reason to do so if they didn't demand to be within the walls.

"Very well I will grant your request, when you hear three blasts of the horn, you will know it's time," Jon said with a nod to Gryff. "Houses Stark and Targaryen thank you for your brave and loyal service in our time of need."

Gryff bowed as well and Jon turned away from him stepping down the wall with Sansa trailing behind, no doubt eager to discuss that interaction with the Whitehills and to try to advise him on battle plans as if she had any experience there.

Jon didn't say anything to her until they were seated in his solar, hopefully, free from any listening ears. He sat down in his hard-backed chair behind the desk and Sansa remained standing. Jon braced himself for what was sure to be a lecture on how they needed the men or whatever. Sanasa had a habit of forgetting that he was King except for when it was convenient for her to remember.

"That was clever," Sansa admitted.

Jon was taken aback. "Huh?" Was his extremely eloquent reply. Sansa rarely if ever complimented his plans. Usually, she was too busy sabotaging them, this was a very pleasant surprise and it gave him hope that it would not cost him when he gave her his planned role for her once he defeated the Boltons.

"Not the trusting a steward over a high Lord part or turning away seven hundred men, that was a foolish decision." Sansa clarified. "The way you baited Lord Torrhen into giving you a reason to execute him and-"

Jon frowned. "How?" Jon demanded, cutting her off. "I knew they planned to betray me, if I had let them in the gates they would have slaughtered half of our men. How was it a poor decision to not let my men die?"

Sansa shook her head. "You didn't know, you trusted the word of a handful of commoners who had every reason to lie without a second thought and admitted to being paid to do so. You presumed that they told the truth when they had every reason to lie. You still don't know, you just know that Gryff has no plans to betray you, not that he didn't use a bad situation you created."

Jon scowled. Sansa had to know things if they were to work together, he had to remember that, he couldn't keep her as distant as he did everyone else. He needed her almost as much as she needed him as much as he wished he didn't. "I was the one who paid them to lie, I wasn't going to divulge my source on something so trivial."

Sansa frowned at being proved wrong but remained as obstinate as ever. "How can you be so sure that your source was telling the truth? That they are loyal to you? You just tried to turn down seven-hundred men on the word of one source? You might have risked everything by accepting them but while I'm no expert in military matters the Boltons have twice the men we do and you just turned down seven hundred men, how do you think you could win? They hold every advantage here, Jon."

Jon wasn't stupid enough to trust Varys blindly, he certainly wasn't loyal to Jon and Jon doubted that Varys was even loyal to Daenerys. From what he understood, Varys served the realm not anyone King or House but whoever he saw as the best candidate. Varys had no reason to want Jon dead, he needed a contingency if Daenerys died or went mad. Varys also had to know that Jon losing seven-hundred men was ultimately inconsequential in his chance of success against the Boltons. He knew Jon was Rhaegal and he was almost certain that Varys knew that Jon planned on calling Rhaegal to him for the battle. If he wanted Jon to lose then he would warn the Boltons of him having a dragon, not stop him from acquiring a few hundred men that would hardly matter in the affair. If they killed Rhaegal then the Boltons would win, and if they didn't then he would win. Seven hundred men would hardly make a difference in the outcome.

Jon, of course, couldn't tell Sansa any of that, so he settled for being as vague as always. "Do not lecture me on trust, sister." He consciously chose to rub where the hole in his chest was from being murdered hoping she would drop the issue if he connected it to his murder, a topic even Sansa was somewhat sensitive around. "Seven hundred men will hardly matter in this conflict. I have a plan." He reassured her placatingly.

"You think your plan will let you overcome an army twice your size? You're not…" She trailed off and then smiled. "You have another army." She said quietly, drawing her own conclusions. "One larger than the Boltons army."

Jon blinked before nodding. "Something like that." He could find out how loyal Sansa truly was to him now, what she would do with their new information. If the Boltons and Lannisters thought that he had another army, it wouldn't hurt his plan at all. They wouldn't choose to construct more ballistas because of it or to pack up and turn around. They would dig trenches to stop themselves from being cut down from behind by a mounted cavalry force as Stannis had done to Mance's army and they might station guards facing out into the woods but he doubted it. The trenches would hardly matter to Jon when he could fly and all it would do was cut off their avenue of escape, forcing them to bend the knee or die instead of fleeing. There was no harm in her knowledge. If anything, it was actually better that this knowledge leak out to the Boltons. They would only be dooming themselves that way.

Sansa frowned. "Are you sure that they will come? Can you really trust them?" She pressed.

Jon closed his eyes and nodded. "I'm willing to stake my life on it."

Sansa smiled. "I'll trust you then Jon… just know that if we lose I'll kill myself before I let Ramsay touch me again."

Jon grimaced. "It won't come to that. I promise."

Sansa nodded and fell silent for an awkward moment. "Did you- did you actually mean what you said? Were you just trying to bait Lord Whitehill when you said only a woman could choose who they marry now? Not their fathers or brothers or…" She trailed off trying not to be too hopeful at the idea of his ideal world.

Jon nodded. "I did. You were sold to three different husbands, two of whom abused you. My Da-betrothed was sold by her brother to the Dothraki for an army. That can no longer be allowed to continue, maybe most of the marriages end up like father's where he ended up loving your mother but if even one out of one-hundred ends up like the ones you and Daenerys suffered then they must all come to an end. We want to build a world where men and women are equal, where no one is a slave and arranged marriages are just that, a glorified version of slavery."

Sansa smiled brighter then he had ever seen her smile before. She leaned over the desk and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Jon." She then turned and left without another word.

Jon smiled. Perhaps there was hope for them working together, after all, perhaps they could truly be family and not just allies. Maybe he did need to be more transparent with her. All she needed was to be trusted and for him to look out for her. To keep her safe. He could use her as he needed too.

Jon could not put this off any longer, the Boltons were only a week out and the Lannisters a few days behind them. He had to call Rhaegal to the North. He had to say goodbye to his Daenerys until she returned to Westeros to join him in their conquest. He was waiting for her atop their balcony for the final time before he left. He had been waiting for probably an hour now as he had come as soon as possible, even before his Daenerys was done with the days work so they would have as much time as possible together before he had to leave. Hopefully, she would be done early enough that they would be able to go somewhere first.

Jon was ecstatic to finally see Rhaegal as a human and ride on his back, destroying all their enemies but that also meant leaving behind his Daenerys, and Jon would never want to do that. It meant betraying her, she had confided in him that she was afraid of all of her council leaving her to serve him. She had told him that he was the only one who would never side with her nephew over her and now he would be doing just that. He would still side with her and never try to put himself over her but he knew his leaving would crush her.

The door pushed open and Jon's heart sped up as he watched his Daenerys enter the room, enthralled in her conversation with Missandei in High Valyrian so Jon was clueless to most of what they were discussing, although his recent attempts to learn the language let him pick up some fragments of it. The moment she caught sight of him she said something indecipherable to Missandei who bowed to his Daenerys and left him and his Daenerys alone.

Daenerys quickly closed the distance between them and stroked the top of his snout. "What's wrong, Rhaegal? Why are you here so early?" She asked in a rush, knowing that Jon wouldn't have come this early without a reason or perhaps she just felt something through her bond, he could sense traces of her strong emotions, could she do the same? That might be something worth looking into.

Jon didn't know how to share his sadness that he would be leaving her with her so he settled for just rubbing his head into her bosom once more, trying to get as close to her as possible- possibly for the final time.

His Daenerys pulled away from him and made to sit in the lounge chair that she always sat in on their balcony when she would tell him stories while stroking the smooth scales on his neck. As much as Jon would love to do nothing but listen to her talk, they had to go somewhere before he could leave. So with that in mind, Jon lunged forward placing his head between her and the chair in order to block her path.

His Daenerys backpedaled. "Why can't I sit?" She demanded as she put her hands on her hips. There was no anger in her voice, just mild annoyance, and confusion.

Jon said nothing seeing as how she wouldn't understand it, instead just pressing his head lower to the ground and shaking it in what he hoped was a come hither motion.

His Daenerys was as perceptive as ever and placed a hand on his scaly head. "You want me to climb on?" She asked in apparent confusion. Jon eagerly nodded his head, dislodging her hand from atop his head and tearing at the skin on her palm. Jon had to be more careful, his Daenerys was only a human-dragon, not a true literal fire-breathing dragon, like he was and was vulnerable to being hurt by his sudden movements.

To her credit, she did not cry out in pain or do anything more than bite her cute lip between her pearly white teeth to stifle her cry. "Why?" She asked absentmindedly, a question Jon again couldn't really answer without showing her. "I'm not your rider." She whispered faintly.

From Jon's observations, she was torn on if to go with him or refuse. A part of her seemed to want to fly again, she had loved it last time, that Jon knew but a part of her no doubt felt it would be irresponsible to leave Meereen with him. Last time she had left on Drogon's back she had been gone for weeks, Jon wasn't Drogon but there was no doubt some apprehension because of his abandonment. He was sure there was also some resistance to the concept of riding a dragon other than the one she was the rider of. As much as Jon might wish that he was, Jon was not who Daenerys was destined to ride but Drogon was. Jon was to be his own rider.

To Jon's horror, his Daenerys turned away from him and walked back inside. She had to come with him, or at least sit out here and tell him stories. He couldn't leave her like this, with one brief conversation that couldn't even really be called that before they likely went months apart. He growled at her in an attempt to get her to come back but she ignored him and pushed open the doors to her chambers, stepping outside and turning to face the guards stationed outside her room.

"If a person is jurnegēre for me, ivestragon them that I went on a kipagon with my dragon Rhaegal." From the little Valyrian that Jon had learned, he was able to understand the gist of her statement, none of her message was all that complicated and it was easy to fill in the blanks. She wasn't abandoning him or leaving, just being responsible and informing them that she would be leaving. She would be going for a ride with him for one final time before he left.

His Daenerys closed the door quietly and turned towards Jon with a huge grin that could feel. She practically sprinted towards him and clambered onto his back, her hands gripping his spinal ridges tightly- too tight in fact as she gripped at the base and caused Jon considerable discomfort. Still, Jon couldn't truly care, he understood that she had no way of knowing that it hurt him. He seriously doubted that anyone had ever been able to talk to a dragon and feel their pain like he did in order to learn the proper form. He would correct her on that, along with a number of other things when they finally met in person.

"Sōvegon" He heard his mother declare happily once she was properly settled and Jon eagerly took to the skies with a flap of his wings. His mother cried out in glee as they soared high above the world.

His mother was enjoying flying too much to tell him stories this time but Jon still had a great time with her on his back. He dove down and his mother would squeal out in delight as he made his descent only to pull up at last second so his feet dragged along the water in the bay they flew laps around. They played around doing all sorts of daring dives for what was likely an hour before Jon finally turned away from the bay and flew towards the place he needed to take his Daenerys.

"Turn around, Rhaegal." His Daenerys urged him. "We can't go too far, I have to get back to Meereen soon." She pleaded. As much as it pained him to do so, Jon ignored her complaints. He knew that they had to do this before he left and that she would thank him for it later.

About an half hour into their journey, his Daenerys had enough of his ignoring her gentle suggestions. She kicked at Jon's thick scales and tried to forcefully turn him around. He was mildly irritated by her actions but they didn't hurt him and he knew why she was doing it and how his actions were hurting her. He wanted to turn around and bow to her demands to go back to Meereen but he couldn't. They had to do this before he could leave.

Not too long after it became apparent that her blows did not faze Jon at all, his Daenerys resorted to pleading. "Please Rhaegal, we have to return to Meereen." She begged. "They'll all be worried sick. There's nothing out here, let's go home." She pleaded. "The sun is almost down, we need to get back now!" Jon tried to tune out her requests that tore at his heart but it was not at all easy. He was extremely relieved when she fell silent once more, resigned to his stubborn refusal to listen to her in this matter.

When Daenerys realized where they were going she panicked once more. "Please Rhaegal, let's go back!" She begged desperately. Do you plan on abandoning me here as Drogon did?" She demanded when her begging once again fell on deaf ears. Jon ignored her again, they were almost there.

"Is that…" His Daenerys asked as she caught sight of Drogon and Viserion nested on the top of a hill and immediately her protests fell silent. He knew she had struggled with them rarely present in Meereen and even more so with them refusing to come to her. They had to move past their issues or else Jon wasn't sure his Daenerys would be safe without him in Meereen.

Drogon had killed a child and Jon and Viserion had been locked up for it. Drogon was mad at Daenerys for locking up her brothers and Viserion was even more furious for the same reason. Jon had been upset with her at first but after their first meeting in the Dothraki sea, he nad moved past it. She had hated her decision and thought that it was fro the best. Jon probably would have made the same decision in her shoes. Daenerys was furious with Drogon for killing the child and even more upset about him abandoning her here in the Dothraki sea where Jon had just now taken her back to.

Jon was no fool, he knew that him leaving Meereen would cause problems for his Daenerys. He knew that his presence and willingness to brutally slaughter anyone he caught murdering had almost single-handedly destroyed the Sons of the Harpies rebellion. When he was gone, he hoped that the presence of Drogon and Viserion in Meereen would at least temporarily deter any uprisings and he needed them to keep his Daenerys safe while Rhaegal was gone.

His Daenerys sighed quietly and only because he was a dragon could Jon hear her. "How is it that you always know what I need better then even I do. Thank you, Rhaegal."

Jon chirped happily and started his descent causing Daenerys to grip his ridges even harder at the base causing him more pain. They landed right next to Drogon and a sleeping Viserion.

Daenerys clambered off of his back in a rush to get to Drogon after going so long without seeing her or Viserion.

Drogon was not nearly as excited to see her again as she was to see her. He roared loudly to show his displeasure and woke Viserion from his slumber in the process.

Viserion was even more displeased and joined in on the cacophony with his own roars of protest to Jon having brought her here.

Jon roared as well, trying to convey that they needed to protect their mother while he was helping himself fight in the Northern parts of Westeros.

"She locked us up!" Viserion hissed moving towards his Daenerys, intent on incinerating her even though Jon was sure Viserion knew that she was unburnt by now, after his last roasting of her failed miserably to harm her at all. Jon was sure that he didn't actually want Daenerys dead or else he would just bite her head off, even as unburnt she could still die at the hands of a dragon if one wanted her dead.

"Drogon killed a child," Jon argued calmly through a quiet roar. "She was going what she had to do in order to protect her people. It was awful to punish us for Drogon's crime but she was doing what she thought was best."

Drogon snorted at the accusation. "I did no such thing. I followed all of my mother's rules and only ate the animals."

Jon paused at that revelation. He knew that Drogon was not lying so his Daenerys had to be wrong about Drogon killing a child. The man who had claimed that Drogon had killed their daughter was lying. His Daenerys had to know that with how troubled Jon knew she was by it. He didn't know how to tell her, he might be able to convey it if she brought it up again tonight but otherwise, this rift would never heal between the two of them and he wasn't sure that the man who had lied and caused him and his brother to be chain up would be punished if the news wasn't delivered before they met in person in Westeros in a few months.

"She chained us up for no reason!" Viserion declared with righteous anger at the bombshell that Drogon had just dropped. Jon supposed in a way he was right, she had thought she had a reason but that reason was false and they were imprisoned on false charges.

In hindsight, this revelation made it much easier to understand Drogon's erratic behavior since. Drogon hadn't avoided his Daenerys because she had been angry at her for locking her brothers up but because she was scared that she too would be locked up for no reason at all. She had been upset that his Daenerys had blamed her for something that she hadn't done. Drogon still cared for her which is why he'd saved her at the fighting pits but he had wanted her to feel the pain Jon and Viserion were feeling imprisoned and starving, betrayed by the one they had trusted so he had abandoned her to fend for herself until Jon had come along.

"She didn't know any better," Jon said quietly to the dragons in their tongue. "She was wrong and she freed us because she knows she was wrong. She is still our mother and we have to protect her- you have to protect her when I leave to be with my rider."

Daenerys butted into their conversation that she no doubt had no ability to understand and placed her hand on Viserion's snout who surprisingly did not attempt to burn Daenerys but instead just stared at her and exhaled thick black smoke from his nostrils. "I'm sorry Viserion," She said as she rubbed the white scales between his eyes. "I should have never locked you up, I just… after Drogon killed Zalla… I panicked. I feared that the next person my children killed would be Missandei or Grey Worm or Ser Barristan… I shouldn't have punished you for Drogon's crimes, you suffered through no fault of your own, and for that, I can only apologize. I won't make that mistake again."

Jon roared loudly to try to get Daenerys's attention so he could rebut that story. Drogon did not kill Zalla, she had to know so their bond could reform. His tactic was successful as she spun around immediately to look at him but she did not move away from Viserion at all.

Jon shook his head back and forth rapidly, trying to express that she was wrong.

His Daenerys looked at him for a moment and then quirked one delicately arched eyebrow. "You think I should have punished you and Viserion for your brother's crimes?" She asked in complete confusion.

If Jon was in his human body then he would have no doubt facepalmed at the completely idiotic guess. She knew how much they hated that cave, how could she even think Jon thought that was a good idea? Jon shook his head instead and jerked his head over towards Drogon, he needed her to get to the real issue, Zalla.

She followed where he was pointing at and looked towards Drogon. She chewed her bottom lip between her teeth and thought over what Jon could mean with his miming. "You think that I should have imprisoned Drogon for murdering Zalla instead of you and Viserion."

Drogon growled menacingly at the very idea of being imprisoned.

Jon groaned which sounded more like a growl coming from a dragon. She had to realize what he was trying to say. He shook his head at her answer and once again jerked his head to point at Drogon.

His Daenerys closed her eyes and spoke softly as she came to the realization that Jon had intended for her to come to. "Drogon didn't kill Zalla," She whispered before re-opening her eyes and being treated to the view of Jon bobbing his head up and down.

"Then who did?" She asked rhetorically, not getting an answer as she had certainly expected of him. "Was it you or Viserion?" She asked with one eyebrow raised ever so slightly.

Jon shook his head once more and his Daenerys finally figured things out. Her hands clenched into fists at her side and her voice took on a dangerous edge. "Goatherd lied to me, my dragons were not responsible for Zalla's death. He just used my hospitality for his own gain." Jon nodded to confirm that what she said was true.

His Daenerys no longer had eyes for him or even Viserion, instead opting to tiptoe towards a surprisingly docile Drogon. "I'm sorry Drogon," She said quietly. "I should have trusted you before any random commoner. I should have known you would never have murdered an innocent little girl for no reason. I need you, Drogon. I'm your rider and together we'll take back the seven kingdoms and burn all traitors starting with the vile man whose greed made me imprison your brothers."

Drogon lowered her neck and his Daenerys climbed onto her back, while flashing the biggest and most jubilant of all the smiles he had gotten from her. A part of Jon was jealous that Drogon had been the one to coax such ecstasy out of her but this was his doing. Jon was the reason they had reconciled.

His Daenerys apparently agreed with him as she personally thanked him. "Thank you, Rhaegal… for setting all of this up. I'm sorry for how awful I was to you on the ride here, you were right I did need this."

Jon smiled and gave a slight nod as he watched Drogon take to the skies with his Daenerys and Viserion chasing at their heels. They would keep his Daenerys safe in Meereen and hopefully help fill some of the hole in her heart that there was sure to be when she realized that Jon had abandoned her.

Jon took one last long look at the retreating forms of his siblings and his Daenerys before turning away and taking to the skies himself, heading in the opposite direction- northwest. It was time to finally head home and roast the Bolton and Lannister armies, declaring himself as their King in a show of public dominance.

---

Holy shit this was a long one, almost twice as long as any of the previous chapters. In fact, if you include the author's notes it is over twice as long as any other chapter. Perhaps, I should have broken it up but I don't like having back to back chapters from the same POV.

Things between Jon and Jorah were always going to be tense. Jon is in a lot of ways, everything Jorah wishes to be. He wields the Mormont family sword, has an actual chance of being with Daenerys, and is the object of her fascination in a way he never was. Jon was never going to be kind to a slaver who two of the biggest father figures in his life despised. Jorah was never going to be kind to Jon with him in his mind usurping Jorah's position. How easily they got along in the show was stupid and unrealistic.

Jon is very much so manipulating Daenerys and praying on her hopes and fears in these negotiations but when this takes place, Jon has no expectation that Daenerys will know that he is Rhaegal and he has to do this to her in order for her to possibly accept his offer. He is trying to get her to accept no matter what, and he can apologize later when she knows who he is.

The fact that the Lords of Westeros would choose him over Daenerys if it came to a Grand Council is pretty much a fact. Regardless, of his bastard status, there is a huge difference in the perception of being the foreign daughter of the Mad King and being the son of the much-beloved Prince Rhaegar, and the ward of the most honorable man in Westeros. Even the staunchest of Targaryen loyalists are likely to side with him if they had the choice between the two discounting military might.

Perception is everything in politics and when it comes to manipulating people. It doesn't matter who you truly are, only what people believe you are. Daenerys is a good Queen who cares about the people and is of a reasonably sound mind but people will never believe that of her when she is the one controlling people's perception of her. If Jon portrays himself as an honorable Stark primarily in his words, rather than a mad Targaryen; all of a sudden his opinion surrounding her can sway others because they believe him sane and honorable so if he supports her and is willing to share power with her then they will be forced to see, that she is not her father. If Daenerys tries to break the wheel, it's foreign, mad, and oppressive but if Jon does it then it's progressive. It is not actions that matter but how they are perceived. He knows from Daenerys's own admission that she desires to be seen as more than her father but whether it's fair or not, she won't be seen as that on her own for a long time.

I realize that keeping the bloodlines pure sounds like madness in most instances but Jon is an actual dragon. He knows that they are hostile towards those without Valyrian blood, and as such keeping the Valyrian bloodlines strong was always going to be a priority for him. He is going to be a bit of a blood purist in general when it comes to the blood of Valyria because of his connection to Rhaegal who cares about blood.

The value of Jon receiving such an important family heirloom from the Mormonts often goes understated. He was given their family sword, a Valyrian steel one at that. That's not something to be taken at all lightly. If House Mormont had died off entirely, it's fairly likely that Jon would have inherited their lands since Jon had been in a way declared as Jeor's heir. Having a King wielding their family sword especially since he received it before becoming a King, is going to be a good reason to support him as King because it means they will in a way have one of their own on the throne. The sword's of Kings are remembered in history and as such they would be remembered in history if he claims the throne.

The Others were always going to find a way through the wall with or without Viserion. Once the magic had weakened enough for them to be active again, the wall was always only going to be a temporary solution. I could probably name a hundred different ways to get around the wall, hoping they won't cross it is naive.

It is my headcanon that Jon didn't push Daenerys away because of their relation, in spite of his claiming so. Finding out who his parents were would absolutely make him terrified to love. His brother chose to love, lost his Kingdom for it, got tons of people killed and his love died because of it. Rhaegar chose to love, lost his Kingdom for it, got even more people killed, and his love died because of it. After finding out Rhaegar is his father, it is totally in character for Jon to refuse to let himself love in fear that history would repeat itself. He's selfless enough to choose others happiness over his own every time. He might also refuse to tell Daenerys his real reason for pushing her away, knowing that if he said it was because he feared their love was destined to end in tragedy, she would refuse to accept it. His pushing her away because of their relation, she would hate him for it but she would accept it and not think she could persuade him otherwise.

The argument that she is like her father is something that's going to come up often especially, before everyone truly believes that dragons are real. The people the Westerosi interact with most from Essos are the Masters and those in power who can travel to Westeros, slave owners, and merchants. Their sources are always going to be biased against her and play to their fears. Jon is very swift to destroy that argument from Sansa here.

Varys was always going to be the first to discover Jon's identity, if only because he is the only one with such intimate knowledge of the timelines surrounding his death and Rhaegal's behavior. Also, there are other better reasons that I won't spoil.

The Umbers considered joining Jon with the intent of betraying him but decided that it wasn't worth the risk. They weren't the only person who considered that, lots of people likely did such but the Whitehills were the only ones bold enough to actually try it.

Children are easily ruled by their emotions so it's not at all illogical that at least one child lord would ignore their advisors and join up with Jon in hopes of revenge for their family's deaths at the Red Wedding.

Why is Varys trying to make Jon survive? He cares very much about Westeros and doing what is best for the realm. The death of Jon, and Rhaegal would no doubt cause damage to Daenerys's mental state and could compromise her ability to rule. He also wants a backup in case Daenerys goes mad. Also also he believes in Jon's tales of the Others and killing the only person (To his knowledge) that had killed one before is setting them up to fail which obviously would not be what's best for the realm.

Jon is letting Daenerys know he is Rhaegal, if Varys does his part at least. For better, or for worse.

Jon learns that bribery and arranging evidence is not as easy as it sounds.

People are going to rage at me for the Whitehills not being accurate to the games but the games are technically not canon. I've never played the games, and have no intention to ever do so. The extent on what I know of the games is what is written on the House Whitehill AWOIAF Wiki page. The only reason I used them as the betraying House is that they and House Forrester are pretty much the only named lands closer to the Last Hearth than Winterfell. I knew people would be very upset if I portrayed House Forrester in a negative light at all so I used Whitehill.

Every fanfiction that I've seen that includes the Whitehills has Gryff and Torrhen as borderline psychopaths and clearly evil men. I took a different approach to Gryff's character. In the character bio on the wiki for every member of the Whitehill family it says that they were never kind to Gryf. The lone exception being Gwyn, rather than have him become hateful and psychopathic I had him develop an obsessive loyalty to the one person who treats him kindly. When her happiness was ruined, he's going to lash out and be hateful.

You can decide for yourself if Gryff is actually telling the truth when he exposes his brother's plot or is just seizing the opportunity that Jon provided him with to get rid of his much hated elder brother. Did Varys tell the truth about the Whitehill's deception or did he lie to truly test that Jon was Rhaegal and see if he would act on the fabricated information? That will never be answered.

If you hate the Whitehill's portrayal in this chapter then good news but they'll have a very minimalistic role in future chapters.

I originally had the scene with the dragons at the end going very differently with Jon trying to explain to Drogon that they couldn't kill humans without Daenerys's permission and convincing them to forgive her as he attempted to explain how humans thought. Then I rewatched the scene where she learns of Zalla's death at the hands of Drogon and came to the startling revelation that in the show universe, I can say with 99% certainty that Drogon did not kill Zalla.

If you watch the scene when Goatherd comes in cradling the body of Zalla, the skeleton is perfectly intact, not a single break anywhere. Was this likely just bad show-writing where they didn't think and just wanted the body to be easily recognized as a human? Almost certainly but that doesn't change that in-universe, the skeleton is intact.

First off, the idea that Drogon would attack a three year old girl for food like is commonly suggested is stupid. An adult goat is larger than a child, and has much more edible meat. Secondly, if Drogon had eaten the poor girl then her skeleton would almost certainly not be at all intact. It's established very early on that dragon bone is as strong as steel and the teeth are the strongest bones on 99% of all life. If he chomps down on a childs bones, they are going to be destroyed without a question. When we see his lair after he takes Daenerys to the Dothraki sea, the bones on the ground are in pieces not an entire skeleton without a single part disconnected.

Even if we accept that Drogon did not kill the girl for food, and did it because she touched him or something it's still highly unlikely that the skeleton remains intact when exposed to his flames. A three year old girl has fingers that are only 3MM's thick at the smallest parts. Her hands were entirely intact. Calcium melts at 1548 degree Fahrenheit. Drogons flames have gotten up to and probably over 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit in the show. Drogon would have to be intentionally holding back his flames to not damage the girl's bone structure at all, why would he do that if he did not intend to eat her and he was just attacking the girl for no good reason or because she angered him?

The bones were blackened but not melted at all. The only way that would happen is if the fire was under the melting point of calcium, like say the average temperature of your standard campfire which is only 930 degrees Fahrenheit, would destroy all of the skin and organs but not damage the bones at all.

Either Goatherd killed his own daughter to get money from Daenerys, the Harpies framed Drogon for it and intentionally went to someone who was sympathetic towards Daenerys so no one would suspect it was a trick, and because they knew he would agree to be sworn to silence on the matter, allowing people to believe make their own inferences about what happened to Zalla, or he is a Harpy who killed his own daughter to further the Harpies mission, hoping that she would chain her dragons as they know that Daenerys has a serious weakness when it comes to children. The point is that there is no plausible way that Drogon could realistically be responsible for Zalla's death.

Now in the books, Hazzea might have actually been killed by Drogon since her skeleton was just a pile of bones in a bag with no description of how damaged they are, also the power of dragon fire has not yet been shown to be as significant in the books. Zalla was not in the show though.

Next Friday we finally get another Arya chapter as she finally attempts to carry out her mission to kill Daario. It's another long one although not this long obviously.