AN: Back before the weekend as promised! And back to the North, where you will see how this Daenerys deals with the mutiny among the Night's Watch. This is one of the chapters I have been looking forward to, just like the last one, for it explains Daenerys's feelings towards Jon much like the last showed how she felt about Tyrion. You might have noticed that this story has "Family" given as a genre - this is very important to me here. "A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing", Aemon said, and I want to take him by the word. To me, Daenerys's love for her brother and nephew is almost overwhelming because they are not only family, they are connected by a magic far older and more powerful than anything anyone has ever known. I also want to make a case that loving someone does not always mean romantic love - I know there are many stories that ship certain couples, and perhaps I will also add romance for my main characters later, but for now the only love you'll see is that of one dragon for another.

A Return of Justice

"The brothers of the Watch are in danger," Aurane Waters reported to his queen and his former liege lord. They had been riding into the darkness in the hopes of reaching Castle Black without having to camp in the cold another night. "Our scouts have seen an army of wildlings approaching. If they are to be believed, monstrous giants walk amidst them… and the doors of Castle Black are barred."

Stannis was not pleased by the news, but it could hardly be seen in his face.

"After all the Lord Commander has done for them at Hardhome, this is how they repay the watch?"

Aurane seemed at loss for words, but Daenerys sighed deeply.

"They are not the ones we should worry about. The Watch faces treason from within, and I fear we might already be too late," she said sternly. "Captain Waters, find a way to distract the wildlings. I would prefer none of them were harmed, but given their well-known temper, it might not be possible. Spare as many as you can, though, and most of all take care of my cousin. Shireen has to be safe at every moment in time, do you understand? It is of paramount importance."

Her roguish servant accepted without hesitation. "She will want for nothing."

Stannis, while most likely appreciative of the care the queen took of his daughter, did not seem pleased as he watched the man ride towards the soldiers.

"He is no commander. You have asked for my counsel, Queen Daenerys, and I request to be the one to lead our forces against the wildlings."

"I agree," she said, much to his surprise. "He is not fit to command, but I have not asked for a battle. In truth, a battle is exactly what I am trying to avoid, and if you look closely you will find that Aurane Waters has perfected the art of escaping battles during his youth."

Her kinsman was not convinced. "His pirate days, you mean."

"Call it what you wish, it matters not to me. The Watch is important now. As I said, time is most likely of the essence, and I intend to waste no more of it," Daenerys insisted rather haughtily. "Rhaegon! Rhaegon, my beautiful child, come to me," she then yelled in High Valyrian.

A roar shattered the darkness around them as the sound of his wings drew closer. Their horses, still not used to the presence of such a terrifying beast, began to shy and balk beneath them. Daenerys enjoyed the arrival of her first-born with the same glowing pride she had felt seeing him every time since his birth, but Stannis seemed unnerved by the spectacle.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"A change of mounts," she replied nonchalantly. Then she slid off her horse and trudged through the snow crunching under her feet towards her dragon. "If this is the day the fire foretold, we might still have a chance of preventing the worst. And if not… well, then I will not give these mean creatures any chance of escape."

Sensing it was somehow expected of him, Stannis also dismounted his horse and slowly walked over to her.

"What have you seen in the flames?"

She turned her fascinated gaze away from Rhaegon and looked Stannis straight in the eyes. "Mutiny."

He seemed to understand instantly. "The Lord Commander."

"Will be dead soon, if he is not already," she nodded. "But I will be damned if I do not see justice done. These are no times for traitors."

As if he had waited for precisely this moment, Rhaegon moaned and stretched out a wing to the ground. Daenerys took it as an easy means to mount her child, and from his back she looked down at Stannis.

"I gave you a choice, Stannis Baratheon, and you chose to help me. Now, you must make another: come with me and mete out justice, or if you cannot, call for Ser Barristan to join me," she almost shouted to cross the distance between them. "I will not force you to join me. This is a matter of conscience and will. But whatever you do, justice must be dealt to those who commit treason. I have made my choice – what is yours?"

Around them, the wind began to grow stronger and howl. Parts of snow and ice whirled around them as she stared down at him from the back of her dragon. He looked up with a face that, as was so often the case, betrayed not even a hint of emotion. Then he turned around and walked away. Daenerys had already dealt with her disappointment at his reaction when she saw him get close to his horse and loosen a belt on his saddle. In the pale moonlight, she could see him take a sword and tie it to his waist. That, apparently, was all Stannis deemed necessary, for he returned to her without a word. Carefully but unafraid, he climbed atop Rhaegon and found an uneasy place behind her. She turned to face him, searching his eyes for comments, before grabbing his hands and putting them firmly around her waist.

"Sovegon," she then said – the High Valyrian command for her dragon to fly.

They soared high into the darkness and shot through the night, the wind making her hair its plaything as coldness embraced them. And yet, beneath them, the dragon's eternal warmth battled the freezing cold. It was then that Stannis Baratheon understood what she had meant by saying dragons were fire made flesh. However, he did not have long to ponder this thought nor the strange sensation of ice and fire around him, for soon the few dim lights of Castle Black appeared underneath them.

"Hold tight," Daenerys ordered him.

He obeyed and clung to her waist in a way that made him uncomfortable, but only briefly, since soon after he learned what uncomfortable really meant. With a great, hungry roar, Rhaegon plunged down from the sky with them on his back. Beneath them, panicked screams soon turned into a cacophony of fear. As he saw the ground drawing closer, Stannis too felt afraid for a heartbeat, but then the dragon unfolded his wings. Their race to the ground slowed down significantly, and when Rhaegon finally landed inside the courtyard of Castle Black, his flapping wings had made sure of a safe and gentle landing.

"By the Old Gods and the New…" people whispered around them.

In the sparsely lit courtyard, Stannis and Daenerys remained all but invisible as they carefully dismounted the dragon that everyone was staring at. Hollow-eyed men of the Night's Watch came tumbling from the buildings, torches in hand and mouths wide open. They pointed at Rhaegon and whispered frantic words. Then, the dragon let out another roar and stretched out his wings, and from behind them, two shapes appeared.

"It's Stannis Baratheon," one Black Brother pointed out.

"Aye, and Queen Visenya reborn," another remarked.

Stannis looked around and, for the first time, felt he was being looked at with the awe he was due. Well, perhaps it was not only him they looked at, but strangely enough he felt as if he was standing on the right side. He briefly turned to the dragon queen, and she nodded at him encouragingly.

"The Lord Commander. I demand to see him urgently," he said in a strong voice that his father would have been proud of.

A few hushed whispers flew through the courtyard before someone in the dark faceless mass of black-clad men in a black castle in a black night admitted: "The Lord Commander's dead."

Stannis' eyes immediately found the queen's again. She seemed worried, sad even.

"I must see him. And we will need the Red Woman," she whispered.

He understood. "You, open the gates for my soldiers. And you, lead the way towards the Lord Commander," he ordered the men around.

No one obeyed.

"Was my command hard to understand?" Stannis asked rather impatiently.

"Forgive me, Your Grace, but you are not our commander," a white-haired man reminded him. "And until we have held the Choosing, as the senior ranger, I give commands around here."

Many of the men nodded at that and grouped together as if they sought to scare Stannis and his companion into submission. Rhaegon's roar, accompanied by him rising up to his full height, reminded them of how utterly futile any such attempt was in the presence of a dragon.

"No, Ser Alliser, you will find that the one who controls a dragon gives commands," Stannis snapped back. "Now do as I said or face the consequences."

Rhaegon breathed out air so hot it made the night air tremble in small clouds. That seemed to do the trick, for without even asking the elderly ranger for permission, Black Brothers began to rush to the gates, and some of them opened up a pathway towards some stairs.

"This way, Your Grace," they said, and Stannis followed with Daenerys by his side.

As they came close to the man who had spoken against their authority, the queen leant over to her companion and remarked in a low voice: "Do not let that man get away."

"I had no intention to."

The men leading them knocked on a door, once, twice, but there came no answer. The Black Brother who had knocked the hardest shrugged angrily.

"See? 'Ey've barricaded 'emselves in 'ere. Bloody fuckers."

"Go away," someone screamed through the door.

Stannis pushed aside the men of the Watch and stepped forward. "Ser Davos."

Moments later, the door was indeed opened by an old man with a very confused expression on his face.

"Your Grace? How…"

No explanation was given as Stannis pushed inside the room, Daenerys closely following him and then ordering the puzzled men inside to lock the door once more. Only after she was sure they were safe did she allow herself to turn around and look at the man lying on the table – look at the mayhem she had not been able to prevent. Seeing him lie there, his skin as pale as milk and scarred by far too many cuts filled with barely dried blood, made her want to weep. Stannis, too, seemed appalled by what he saw.

"Who did this?" he demanded of them.

"Brothers of the Watch," Ser Davos replied.

A man of the Watch nodded at that. "It must have been Thorne. He was no friend of Jon's, never, but those last days he spoke about the Lord Commander with such hatred…"

"And you are?" Stannis asked him.

"Eddison Tollett, Your Grace. They call me Dolorous Edd."

"We shall require your help to see justice done. Whoever was responsible for this, we will see him pay," Stannis assured him. "Anything else must wait. Titles, too. No 'Your Grace'. For the time being, at least."

Davos Seaworth frowned at that. "My king, I don't understand…"

Stannis, still barely able to look away from the battered body of Jon Snow, pointed towards Daenerys. "Ask the queen."

That only confused the Onion Knight even more, it seemed. "The… queen? What happened to Queen Selyse?"

"She is alive and well and should be here before the morning," Daenerys now spoke up. "I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, Queen of Dragon's Bay, and your overlord, Ser Davos, has promised to help me in my endeavours, as I will aid him in his. We must save the North before it is too late."

Davos did not appear entirely satisfied, but he let it be and instead turned his sorrowful gaze to the body lying on the table. "I fear you might already be too late."

"Perhaps," she agreed in a soft voice as she carefully touched the body's cold hand. "But perhaps there is still a chance."

There was a moment of silence, one which Dolorous Edd broke. "But how? Jon's dead."

Stannis, standing on the opposite side of the body, looked at her with much the same question in his eyes.

"There is power in the blood of kings… and in fire," Daenerys simply replied, and he understood.

As did Ser Davos, apparently. "The Red Woman…" he whispered.

"No one must touch him. If we are to have any chance, we must keep the others away from his body," the queen insisted, speaking only to Stannis. "Can you see to it and maintain the order of the Castle? I would hate for any culprit to sneak away on a stolen horse."

"He would not get far," Stannis remarked calmly. "Our men would get to him, or else the wildlings will."

Beside them, Davos frowned anew. "Our men?" he wondered quietly.

"We cannot take any risks, and I am not in the mood for hesitation or mercy. Look at him. Look at him and tell me he does not deserve justice," Daenerys urged.

"I have seen enough," Stannis however remarked. "Tollett, open the door, and when I am gone, bar it to anyone who is not me. No one enters, no one leaves. And you, Ser Davos… guard the queen with your life."

He did not wait for a response, nor did he care much, for he felt she was right. This was neither the time for hesitation, nor did he feel like restraining himself. Seeing this grave injustice with his own eyes, he felt like living up to his house words for the first time in a long time – his was the fury.

Hours later, when he had all but taken over command of the castle, torches appeared in the distance. To his surprise, Stannis saw not only his own men and those of the queen, but also wildlings in their rugged garbs and even giants, just as the scouts had said. Gods, what days he was living in… When he saw that smirking bastard Aurane Waters entering with Shireen on his horse, a red-haired wildling by his side, he briefly wondered how the scoundrel had managed to convince the barbarians to join him. It was a question for another day, however – his mission now was to see his daughter, and to tell the Lady Melisandre what had transpired. For a moment, as he walked towards the horse, he considered seizing the moment to speak with his daughter, for no dragon queen was there to stand in his way, and he would be able to deal with a nuisance like Waters. Yet, he simply shot her a smile before informing the scoundrel of what had trespassed and then searched for the Red Woman. He found her, together with his wife, in the care of Ser Barristan, and he could not deny the Kingsguard a look of approval for his services.

"You are needed with Queen Daenerys and the Lord Commander," Stannis told Melisandre, and she followed him there.

Only when she entered the room and saw what was expected of her, she made a step backwards and shook her head sighing.

"I cannot do it."

"You must," Stannis gave back sternly.

"I cannot. Forgive me."

At that, Ser Davos took a step towards her. "But you have seen it done?"

"I have seen a man who came back, but the priest who did it… it shouldn't have been… I have never possessed such powers."

Her words made everyone's spirit drop, everyone's but Ser Davos's, it seemed. He came even closer, unwilling to let her flinch, and asked: "But have you ever tried?"

The Red Woman looked at him with confusion. That he, of all people, would ask her to attempt such a thing… and then a brazier lighting up in a corner of the room caught her eyes. Behind it, she could see the silver hair of the dragon queen. Like a moth being drawn to the flame, Melisandre slowly approached her.

"Fire is life," Daenerys said. "You know it, as do I. And I have studied the mysteries of fire much like you, although I do not serve R'hllor as you do. But if you are the woman I took you to be – if you are willing to give everything, to try everything, to risk everything to save this world from darkness – then you must prove so now. Come, Melisandre of Asshai. I will assist to the best of my abilities, as will everyone here, but only you can make it so."

"You are a remarkable woman," Melisandre replied in High Valyrian.

Daenerys nodded slowly, handing her a dagger made from dragonglass. Its ruby-encrusted hilt reflected the fire's glow.

"I am the one you were supposed to meet on Dragonstone. I am one of the princes that was promised," she said in her mother's tongue as their fingers touched around the dagger. Their eyes met in an intense gaze. "And so is he."

The Red Woman asked no questions, then, she simply looked at the dead body of the Lord Commander, and she understood. She had seen him in the flames before. Now, it was she who had to make it come true.

"Let us begin."

The prayers were long and full of dark whispers. The Black Brothers shuddered at what they saw, and even Ser Davos's resolve seemed to falter at times. Only Stannis and Daenerys watched and assisted calmly, the latter because she had studied this ritual in detail to be prepared for exactly this eventuality, the former because he found himself oddly trusting in the dragon queen's judgement.

When it was finally over, and Melisandre proclaimed that all they had left now were prayers, it felt to Stannis as if he woke up from a trance. He exchanged but a glance with the dragon queen before nodding at the Red Woman and Ser Davos.

"Stay here until he wakes. I will deal with the brothers of the Night's Watch. By morning, their guilt will be clear."

Then he left, and silence engulfed the room. The remaining Black Brothers looked at each other with unease, and they barely managed to hide their stares at the two women in the room, both equally beautiful and terrifying. Only Ser Davos seemed to be willing (or able) to speak.

"When will he wake?"

The Red Woman looked at him, the dragonglass dagger still in hand. "It is impossible to say."

Ignoring them, the dragon queen seated herself next to the table and took the Lord Commander's hand into hers. It felt warmer than before, and that gave her hope.

"Come back to me, blood of my blood," she whispered in High Valyrian. "You have given this world so much, yet you are needed still. I need you. Your dragon needs you. Please, beloved nephew, come back to me."

She pressed her lips to his hand, wondering if anyone else had ever caressed him that way. Had he ever felt the warmth of true family love, aside from the friendly affections some of his presumed siblings had given him? And what were they in comparison to the love of a dragon for its own kind?

"What is she doing?" Dolorous Edd asked no one in particular, but he received no answer, for none but Daenerys and Melisandre understood the language of Old Valyria.

"Wake up, please. You will never be alone again, I swear to you on any god you wish," she continued in High Valyrian. "Jon. Jaehaerys. Please."

And with a loud, yawning gasp, the body rose from the table. The man who had been dead drew the first breath of his second life in shock, and everyone else reacted just as shocked in their own way.

Dolorous Edd and the others staggered backwards in disbelief.

Ser Davos put a hand in front of his mouth to suppress any words he might have said.

Melisandre stared at her doing with incredulous fascination.

And Daenerys let go off his hand to wipe away tears from her eyes.

It took the man who had once been Jon Snow a long time to understand where he was, and most importantly, why he was. He sat on the table, the marks of his death still clearly visible on his chest, as Dolorous Edd and Ser Davos explained all that had occurred in the past night. The recently resurrected asked few questions, but always appeared to wait for more explanation. Finally, it was the Red Woman who stopped the men from confusing him further.

"We should give the Lord Commander some space and time. Our work here is done."

His sworn brothers did not wish to comply, but the Onion Knight for once agreed with his red-haired nemesis and convinced them to join him as he informed Stannis of the news. So they did, and Melisandre closed the door behind them looking at the living, breathing miracle she had created one last time.

He who had been Jon Snow once stared into the emptiness they left behind for a long time before realizing not all of them had gone. Turning around towards the fire, he took in the armoured figure of a pale-haired woman he had never seen before. But why did she look at him with such kindness? Why was her smile so warm and comforting?

"Forgive me, we have not been properly introduced," she said in a melodic voice, one he was sure he had heard before, somewhere in the darkness. "I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen."

"I'm Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch," he replied monotonously.

Her slender fingers danced over a brazier burning in one corner of the room, which she slowly walked around.

"You were Lord Commander, but you are not anymore. Remind me of the oath they asked you to swear… 'I shall live and die at my post', is it not? You have died. Your watch has ended."

"I… why are you here?"

"To help you," she said with a smile, one that confused him profoundly. "There must be so many questions that bother you right now, and I wish I could answer them all. But first, we must deal with the issue at hand. You were the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and your own men killed you, despoiling their oaths against all honour. Such a crime cannot go unpunished."

He sighed with the wariness of an old man who had fought far too many battles to look forward to another.

"If I am no longer Lord Commander, we must wait until a new one is elected. If what you say is true, I am powerless here," he said. "I have failed."

"And you will fail again. And again. Such is the nature of life, and you are alive now. So live!"

She came closer, and he could not decide whether he liked the way this stranger made him feel. There was something about her that was eerily familiar…

"Allow me to help you bring justice to your murderers. And once we are done, I will answer all questions you have, and I will give you what is rightfully yours."

"What is mine?" he wondered.

The warrior queen nodded. "I promised Stannis Baratheon to save his life, that of his family and his men, and to help him take Winterfell. I would promise you the same."

"Winterfell?" He looked at her with woeful eyes. "Lead the way."

They exited his rebirthing chamber together, still unsure of the other but somehow strangely at ease for the time being. As they stepped out in the cold morning air onto a small wooden balcony, Daenerys could not help but be reminded of her own balcony far away in Meereen. She closed her eyes and thought of the warmth and the scent of the city lost to her for the foreseeable future. Then she opened her eyes again. This was the path she had chosen.

The courtyard was packed, but no trace of Rhaegon. Hundreds of eyes stared at them in even greater disbelief than they had the night before. A dragon was one thing, but they had all heard stories about the time when dragons had still roamed the sky. It seemed possible. But for a dead man to walk again…

"These are the men," Stannis Baratheon's voice cut through the awed silence. Aided by the unlikely team-up of Ser Davos the Onion Knight, Ser Barristan the Bold and Captain Aurane the Pirate, he moved forward a group of men bound by the wrists. The oldest and tallest of them was Ser Alliser Thorne, who had refused Stannis's authority merely hours ago. Daenerys however shuddered more at seeing the youngest of them, a boy barely grown. The man by her side, too, seemed taken aback seeing the boy who had driven a dagger into his heart, literally and figuratively.

"You have no right to accuse me. The Lord Commander is dead," Thorne persisted in his claim.

"The Lord Commander's alive," Dolorous Edd spoke up against him and pointed towards the balcony. "And I accuse you all of treason."

"Lord Commander Snow is dead. Aye, we killed him, but none of you are fit to judge us. Only the Lord Commander could, and that," Thorne now pointed the same direction as dolorous Edd, "is no longer him. I don't know whatever black magic the witch has used, but it was ill done. This monster is no commander of mine."

Heated words were forming among the men, but a loud voice interrupted them.

"You are right, Ser Alliser." It was the man they were all arguing about. "I have died, and am no longer Lord Commander of this brotherhood. I will not judge you."

Everyone stared at him in befuddlement, even Stannis seemed unsure of what to do. Then, a clear yet firm voice added itself to the former Lord Commander's.

"Let the gods decide, then," Daenerys said.

"Yes. Queen Daenerys, I have always served your family well, even to the bitter end, and I was rewarded with his black coat for it. But now I am glad to have you here, and I shall do as you say," the Black Brother said solemnly before turning to his rival again. "A trial by combat. Yes."

"Your champion against his?" the queen asked.

The accused looked at each other before Ser Alliser nodded approvingly. "Agreed. Untie me and let us end this here and now, Snow."

To gasps and shocked whispers, Stannis himself cut loose the man he so clearly despised. Then he handed him a sword and looked up towards the balcony. He could not shake off the feeling that the dragon queen was up to something, and he would not stand in her way.

"Come. The Bastard of Winterfell finally faces judgement for his crimes against his sworn brothers. Or are you too afraid, too weak to face me?" asked Ser Alliser in a mocking tone as he pointed the sword towards the sky. "Too bad little piggy isn't here to help you. Which of your weakling friends will you send against me instead?"

"Me."

Everything went silent as Daenerys stepped down the stairs. People withdrew from her path in fear and awe while she drew closer to a shocked Ser Alliser.

"My queen, I… I can't…"

"You have agreed to the terms for everyone to hear. You have chosen your fate, Alliser of House Thorne. Now face it. Or have you no honour left?"

His hands were shaking as he came ever closer. "No, it's impossible. Forgive me, but you are the last of House Targaryen. I cannot fight you. My sword has always been yours!"

At that, she smiled darkly, and the man who had once been Jon Snow found that he quite enjoyed it when her mouth twisted like that.

"I am not the last remaining Targaryen, and I have no need for your sword," she declared. "I have my own."

She unsheathed a darkly shimmering blade to wide-open eyes and the eternal horror of Alliser Thorne. Almost everyone here had heard tales about this blade, so they instantly understood what it was, and for those that did not, many willingly explained their shock without knowing as they whispered its name.

Ser Davos, too, seemed baffled. He looked at his friend and lord in confusion. "But that is…"

Stannis nodded. "Blackfyre."

AN: Have always wanted to include that bloody sword in a story. Here it is! But how did it get into Daenerys's hands? And will she be able to fight against a trained knight, or what is her plan? How will Jon take it when she finally tells him why she has come exactly? Stick around to find out! Next update by early next week!