Daenerys lands to find Ser Brienne and Ser Jaime hugging tightly. Ser Alysanne is nowhere to be seen. Did she see it right then?
She dismounts Drogon and walks carefully to their direction. Soon she hears sobs, and then realizes they come from the man who is curled into his wife. "Ser Jaime", she calls, softly. "Ser Brienne."
Only the latter turns to her. Although she's not sobbing, there are tears running down her face. "It's over", she tells her dutifully.
"I know", she replies. "I saw it. I saw everything", she adds, emphasizing the last word to get her meaning across. They seem to understand; Brienne hugs Jaime tighter as he sobs once again. "Come with me", she offers. "This is no place to grieve."
The lady knight nods and slowly lifts her husband. He is numb as they climb on Drogon, and all three are silent as she flies to the Eyrie. "Go rest", she tells them as they dismount the dragon. "I'll go back and inform everyone of what happened." She hesitates, but finally decides to place a (hopefully) comforting hand on Ser Jaime's shoulder. He looks up at her, expressionless. "I know my words don't mean much to you, but you did what you had to."
He nods slowly, but doesn't reply otherwise as Brienne guides him to wherever Lord Arryn is now. With a heavy breath, she pulls Drogon up. At least this war is finally over.
Telling wights apart from casualties from the living is not always easy, but they manage it eventually. The list is long and tear-inducing.
Sandor Clegane, the infamous Hound, whose body was found near where the Night Queen was defeated. Yara Greyjoy. All of Daenerys' Dothraki bloodriders. Yohn Royce. Lyanna Mormont. Dolorous Edd from the Night's Watch. Beric Dondarrion. Quentyn Martell. Randyll Tarly. Edmure Tully. Emmon Frey, the only male member of his house to escape the massacre at the Twins. Ned Umber and Alys Karstark, the last members of their respective houses. Ser Gerold Dayne, the late Sword of the Morning's distant cousin, also last living member of his house.
They are all burned, although separately from the wights. Daenerys conducts the ceremony, telling everyone of Ser Alysanne Lannister of Tarth's ultimate sacrifice in order to defeat the Night Queen.
Small feasts are thrown in Dragonstone and the Eyrie, where most of the survivors are scattered around. Two of the surviving heroes are notoriously absent from all celebrations, but they leave them be.
Bran Stark reveals the Three-Eyed Raven no longer exists, since its mission was fulfilled at last. At his own suggestion, everyone who knows about Ser Alysanne's true origins agree to keep the fake backstory she once gave to Cersei: that she was a Lannister bastard raised in Essos. It will be better for registration in history books, and maybe, just maybe, the future Alysanne should be free of the burden of having once been a hero in a time she wasn't even born.
After the sun rises again, the snow quickly melts, and winter gives away to spring in a matter of days. They don't know yet, but soon spring will be replaced by summer, then autumn, then winter again. Every year will have three-moon seasons, just as the Bran from Alysanne's world said it should be.
Despite being king and queen, Brienne and Jaime are given leave to spend entire days in the room Sansa pointed them to when they arrived in the Eyrie. When Daenerys spread that she saw Alysanne die in their arms—not really true, for they could not make it to her before she completely dissolved in butterflies—everyone understood their need for space and solitude. They are far from being the only ones to love somebody they loved, but given Jaime was the one to kill the Night Queen, and that few others had to watch their children die, their case is treated apart.
Jaime cries for hours on end, even as his tears stop falling. Brienne cries too, although not as much, and she hugs him fiercely. "You did what you had to do", she whispers, lips caressing his cheekbone.
He buries his face on her neck. "Out of all prophecies, I got the worst of them", he says, sobbing. "Having to choose—my daughter or humanity. It was worse than with Aerys and Cersei. Why did it have to be me, each time?"
"Because you are one of the strongest men I've ever known", she replies softly and proudly. "And one of the most honorable. The gods chose you for each of these difficult tasks because they knew you had it in you to make the right choices every time, even as they broke you." She kisses his hair. "But you are not alone this time, Jaime. I'm here, and I won't leave you to your sorrow."
He raises his head and kisses her lips. Before they know it, they are naked in bed and interwined with each other to the point it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. "If I am the gods' chosen one", he whispers into her mouth, "then you are their gift to me. I could not have survived any of this without you, my queen."
"And I could not have done half of the things I did without you either, my king", she replies evenly, kissing him. "It will be alright, Jaime."
"With you beside me", he hums, "I know it will."
Two months after the end of the Long Night, Brienne tells Jaime the magic words. "I'm pregnant", she tells him softly. "Sam just confirmed it."
His eyes shine for the first time since that fateful day. Slowly, he kneels before his wife and lifts her shirt. He places a long, gentle kiss on her still flat stomach. "Alys", he whispers, like a prayer.
She caresses his hair. "We can't know for sure if it is her", she warns him, albeit weakly.
"The timing fits", he replies, his forehead touching her muscled abdomen. "And if it isn't her, we'll try again until she comes. I made a promise, and I intend to fulfill it."
She keeps caressing his hair as she feels hot tears running down to her tights. Although she's never said it aloud, she made that same promise too. And, if she's being honest with herself, she doesn't mind trying and trying again and again until they get Alysanne.
Almost seven moons later, she successfully gives birth to a girl with blonde hair and mismatched eyes. There is no question on her name, only tears in her parents' eyes as they hold her.
They decide to work on giving her siblings soon after.
Twenty years later
It's been sixteen years since Alysanne last went to her parents' chambers in the middle of the night—she learned very young that it is the most inconvenient time to come to them. Tonight, though, she needs their comfort desperately.
On her way, she's met with one of her three sisters, Joanna. "Up this late, Alys?", she asks.
"I could ask the same of you, Jo", she rebutts.
"Oh, but I always wake up for my nightly snack", she whispers conspiratorially. "What about you?"
"Nightmare", she says simply. "Need some fresh air." No way she, the Crown Princess in the South, will admit to her sister that she's going to her parents' room.
Joanna believes her easily and waves her goodbye. As quietly as possible, she makes her way to her destination, climbing the stairs to the highest level of Casterly Rock
She was told she was born in the second year of her father's reign, although it was the first under his current title—not King of Westeros, as the rulers before him, but King in the South, ruling over the so-called westerlands, Reach, Dorne and stormlands.
After the War for the Dawn, won in great part with the sacrifice of a Lannister bastard raised as a warrior in Essos—her namesake—the three rulers of Westeros at the time sat down alongside their main bannermen to settle matters. Her father had wanted to give up his crown altogether, but most of his subjects did not want to bend the knee to neither a Targaryen nor a Stark. It was a lengthy conversation that nearly ended up in fights multiple times, but eventually they settled on a division: Southern Westeros, ruled by the King in the South, Jaime Lannister, from Casterly Rock; Northern Westeros, ruled by the Queen in the North, Sansa Stark (crowned after Jon Snow abdicated), from Karhold (passed to the royal family after the death of the last Karstark in the Long Night); and Central Westeros, ruled by the Central Queen, Daenerys Targaryen, from Dragonstone, which covered the former-called crownlands, the riverlands, the Vale and the Iron Islands.
She grew up with her father complaining about having to remain King until his dying day and coming up with ideas to retire to Tarth and pass the throne to her while still alive. However, she also grew up entirely sure that her father is a great king, one of the best in the realm's history, and she's immensely proud to be his daughter.
It also helped that he had her wonderful mother by his side to rule as his equal—for he insists it shouldn't happen any other way. Queen Brienne Lannister of Tarth, also Evenstar and Lady of Evenfall, is a just and kind ruler, and her story inspires many girls to become warriors like the first female knight of Westeros.
Once, Alysanne dreamed of following her parents' steps and standing among the best knights in history. Being two-handed, it'd be all too easy to improve her skills and surpass Ser Jaime and Ser Brienne; from what she heard, her namesake was a walking deadly weapon with her dual swords. However, as she grew up, she saw little value in learning these abilities when her parents' reign was one of strong peace. Sure, they had their armies, but the three Westerosi sovereigns prioritized diplomacy over war, and everyone who fought in the Long Night agreed they had enough bloodshed for two lifetimes; none of them wanted to see another war.
As heir to the Crown, Alysanne turned her interest to other subjects. Reading and writing were a pain in her ass, just as they were for her father, but music came to her easily. At the age of twenty, she is well-acquainted with several musical instruments, and has composed countless songs—with her siblings' occasional help, since her handwriting tends to be so horrible, even she can't read it after a time.
Whenever she has nightmares, Alys grabs her guitar and strum until sleep returns to her. Tonight, though, her dreams have been too real to sing them away, and her parents featured in them too often to ignore.
She knocks on her parent's chambers' door, hoping that they are not trying to make an eleventh child. To her luck, they are not, and her father opens the door fully clothed. "What's wrong, Alys?", he asks, sounding alarmed.
"N—nothing", she stammers. "Just… a nightmare."
His face softens and he hugs. "Then it isn't nothing", he whispers, as if she was a child of eight again. "Come, your mother is awake too."
He guides her sit at the edge of their bed. Mother sits up and hugs her as well. Their warmth already makes her feel better.
After a while, they break their hug, and Father asks what her nightmare was about. "I dreamed—I think it was the Long Night", she begins. "There was no sun, and no stars either. Moonless, too. Only an extremely dark sky. At first, I only saw Mother and Uncle Tyrion; the few times Father was mentioned, it was as if he had died long ago."
She feels her father stiffen beside her, but she ignores it, hugging herself as she goes on. "We were in Asshai. Mother called Bran Stark king, but he said he was king of nothing. Apparently we were running away from the Night Queen, but Bran wanted me to go back north. Since he was apparently my king, I obeyed. Mother was supposed to come along, but she—she died in my arms when we were close to our destination." She sobs, and she feels her mother's strong arms encircle her.
"Some wooden-looking people performed a magic ritual on me, and I woke up in the past. I—I don't know how I knew, but I did. And I saw Father, and I was so—thrilled to see him for the first time." She feels a kiss on her forehead, and she knows it's from him.
She continues with her tales, telling them all about how she fought the Army of the Dead seemingly twice, and how her own father had to kill her to save humanity. "I turned into butterflies as I died, and I was happy", she finishes. "But I didn't feel happy when I woke up."
"Of course you didn't", her mother replies soothingly. "You dreamed of terrible things."
"But those were just that—dreams", her father adds with a firm voice. "You're probably just anxious that you're going to Asshai next fortnight."
"Maybe", she mumbles. Her grandfather, on her father's behalf, traded with Asshai frequently—water and marble in exchange for some of their most useful inventions. The Essosi city was known both for being a place where all kinds of sorcery are practiced and where its people resort to rather creative ways to survive. When her parents made the trip there, when she was six years old, they found many things of their interest, and Lord Selwyn has been behind regular negotiations ever since.
As the Crown Princess, it is important that Alysanne knows her future kingdom's main trade partners, and that includes Asshai.
"Byron will go with you, sweetling", her mother reminds her gently. "There is nothing to fear."
She smiles. Byron was the son of Ser Bronn, made Lord of Starfall after the last Dayne died—apparently, Princess Arianne said he had the spirit of a 'true Dornishman' and gave him the castle her father had supposedly denied for years, along with a bride from House Qorgyle. She and Byron fell in love when he came to Casterly Rock to squire under their master-at-arms, Ser Podrick Payne. They are to wed after they come back from Asshai, and Alys is looking forward to it.
"I know it's childish", she whispers, "but may I spend the rest of the night here? I can take the floor. I just want to be near you."
"Nonsense", her father rebuffs. "Our bed is large enough for us three."
They place her between them, just like when she was a child scared of the dark. She falls asleep facing her father, who tells her everything will be alright and she will soon forget those terrible dreams.
He's right, of course; by the time she meets with her betrothed in Tarth, she can scarcely remember what frightened her so that night.
