Dany was awakened one morning by someone pounding on her door. "Queen Khaleesi!" Felldoh the squirrel was crying. "You've got to come quick!"

Dany jumped out of bed and rushed to open the door. "What's the problem?" she asked. "Is Clogg back?"

"No, but a mouse has been murdered down in the courtyard!"

"Okay, I'll be right down," said Dany. "And by the way, Khaleesi means queen in Dothraki language. So, when you call me Queen Khaleesi, you're calling me Queen Queen."

They went down there. It turned out that the dead mouse was Rose's brother Brome. Rose was standing over him crying. Martin had an arm around her and was comforting her. Ser Barristan was also there.

"I'm so sorry, Rose," said Dany. "How did this happen?"

"We don't know who killed him," said Ser Barristan. "He had guard duty last night. He must have been crossing the courtyard back to the main building after his shift had ended, when somebeast jumped out at him and stabbed him."

Felldoh clenched his fists. "I bet it was that dirty rat Wulpp!" After she finished interrogating Wulpp, Dany had kept her word and not killed him. She had not let him leave the fortress, but she had allowed him to wander around freely. Now it seemed that was a mistake.

"Bring Wulpp to me," Dany said fiercely.

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A short while later, Martin and Ser Barristan dragged Wulpp out to the courtyard. Dany was standing there, flanked by her three dragons. The dragons were growing by the day and were the size of large horses now.

"What is this?" Wulpp protested. "I didn't do nothing!"

Dany pointed at Brome's body. "Does this mouse look familiar to you?"

"What are you looking at me for? I didn't kill him!"

"Spare me your lies, rat," said Dany. "You're Clogg's creature. You probably did this on Clogg's orders. He must have told you to infiltrate this place so you can sabotage us from inside."

Wulpp fell to his knees. "No! Please! I didn't do it! Some other beast must have! You've gotta believe me! You're making a mistake!"

"The only mistake I made was not killing you right away," said Dany. "Dracarys!"

The three dragons incinerated Wulpp instantly.

Then two mice approached Dany. "I am Groot," said one.

"And I'm Groot's wife, Purslane," said the other. Purslane was holding a charred corpse in her arms. "This was our infant son, Fuffle. He wandered too close to your dragons this morning and they burned him to death! You've got to keep them locked up, for everybeast's safety!"

It pained Dany to think of restraining her children, but she knew she had to for the sake of her other subjects. She didn't want any other children to get burned. "All right," she said. "I'll keep them in the prison pit." She had stored them in there during the battle with Clogg for their protection, but hadn't wanted to keep them in there 24/7 until now because she wanted them to be able to stretch their wings and fly about freely.

Rhaegal and Viserion went into the pit willingly enough, but Drogon refused. When Dany tried to make him go in, he simply spread his wings and took off into the air. He flew over the wall and out of sight. Dany watched him go with tears in her eyes.

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That night, Keyla the otter was standing guard on the walltop when a vole named Druwp approached him.

"Have you come to relieve me of the watch?" Keyla asked.

"You could say that," Druwp sniggered sinisterly. He drew a knife. "After tonight, you'll never have to stand guard duty again- or do anything else!"

He leaped at Keyla and tried to stab him, but someone grabbed him from behind and stopped him. It was Ser Barristan!

Dany, Martin, and Felldoh came out of a guard tower. They had seen everything. "Druwp, what are you doing?" Martin cried in dismay.

"He was trying to kill me!" said Keyla.

"Yes, I can see that," said Dany. She looked at Druwp. "It was you who killed Brome too, wasn't it? Not Wulpp."

The vole didn't even try to deny it. "That's right."

Dany was heartbroken. "Why? Why would you betray me like this when I gave you your freedom?"

"I was never a slave," Druwp sneered. "I was part of Badrang's horde the whole time. He placed me among the slaves so I could pretend to be one of them and pass information to Badrang. Until you came along and ruined everything by killing him! So, what are you gonna do now?"

"I'm not going to do anything," Dany said. "I'll let my dragons take care of you."

The expression on Druwp's face changed to one of horror. "No! Not the dragons! Anything but that! Mercy!"

"You will have to ask Rhaegal and Viserion for mercy," said Dany.

They threw Druwp into the prison pit with the dragons. Judging by the sounds that issued from within, it didn't appear the dragons were being very merciful.

Dany hung her head. Since she had banished Jorah, everything was going wrong. "I'm a failure as a queen. I let Rose's brother die today, and then I let an innocent beast take the blame and be executed for it."

"Don't fret yourself over that rat's passin', marm," said Felldoh. "Remember, Wulpp was a corsair. He may not have killed Brome, but he did his share of slaying and murdering."

"And poor little Fuffle is dead too," Dany said. "He was only a baby. His parents probably hate me now. I wanted to bring freedom to the Eastern Coasts, but I've only brought death and destruction. I'm really no better than my father Aerys."

"You mustn't say that," said Barristan. "You're not like your father at all. He burned people just for fun. He was a madman who heard voices in his head. I've been watching you, Daenerys. The Targaryen streak of insanity is not present in you. You have a good soul."

"Yeah, don't be so hard on yourself," said Martin. "Everybeast makes mistakes. You're a great queen! I'd much rather be ruled by you than by Badrang."

Dany forced herself to smile. "Thank you, my friends." But she had trouble believing their praise.