A/N: Sorry for the delay. Been busy, as always. But I hope this will be worth the wait.
Daenerys was locked in a deep kiss with Jon, their arms feeling other's forms within the privacy of his rooms. She could feel his solid muscles, smell his thick raven hair, and be satisfied of how much he knew he liked her in everything. Once she kissed him before Sam interrupted them for the council meeting, she wanted more and more she obtained.
The reason why they were in such a tight embrace was Jon taking into a private area of his palace. She was confused as to why she was brought there, but she was not going to say no to any time and space that they could just look on each other. However, he was more stiff than usual, and she was unsure of what was going through his mind.
"Is something wrong?" Daenerys asked with concern.
"I have been meaning to ask you this for a few days now," Jon started with. "I feel that what I want to ask is only natural, given that we connected through the flames all those years ago. "And us being together only made me confirm that the feelings I have for you are genuine, not based out of lust."
Daenerys kept looking in his grey eyes. "I feel the same about you."
"And…" Jon was clearly getting nervous, as he could not get the words he wanted to say out of his mouth. But then, he got on one knee and looked up to Daenerys' eyes, causing her heart to skip a beat.
"What is this?" Daenerys asked, but she knew where this was going.
Jon cleared his throat. "To say that I do not love you would be denying what I had felt for you since seeing through the fire. And to continue to say that without saying 'love' would be a cowardly act on my part. Too long have I lived with my head cast down, and with you, I no longer wish to look to the ground. I want to share the skies with you, and I want to share the warmth that I feel with Meleys."
What made Daenerys more surprised was that Jon was speaking High Valyrian, the tongue of their ancestors. Even better, speaking in that tongue revealed a softer side to him.
"Daenerys Targaryen, Queen of Meereen, will you marry me?" Jon finally asked.
Daenerys got into the widest grin she felt in forever, before she leaned down and smashed her lips on his. "Yes. With all of my heart, yes." She jumped into his arms. "Finally, you had the courage to ask me that question, but I am glad that you did."
As they got into his rooms, Daenerys wanted to mount him there, but Jon pulled away. "Ah, ah," he shook his head while she pouted. "We better make this proper. I will marry you, officially, and only then can we have each other."
"Why? We both love each other and we are going to be married anyway. What is wrong with bedding each other right now?"
"Just… allow me this, dear aunt. I want to do things properly, because I feel that giving you a pure wedding is what you most deserve, after everything you have been through."
Daenerys looked at Jon with a loving gaze. It was more proof that Jon loved her in a way that Drogo and Daario could never match. Drogo simply took her and Daario did not care, but Jon showed her the respect that she did not know she needed. And it made her all the more assured that Jon would never abuse her, take her for granted, or abandon her.
"All right. We will get married properly, but you better be prepared, for I will not hold back when I bed you." Daenerys kissed him again, this one lasting more than a simple peck.
Daenerys felt Ghost lick her face, causing her to scratch his nose. "Come on, boy. Leave us be."
"He is my bond companion. You are going to have to get used to him licking you like that."
"But now, out of all times?"
"He likes you. That is a good sign, and like me, he will protect you now that he knows who you are and your true heart."
Daenerys did like the idea of having another bond companion protecting her, as Drogon did. She ran her hands through his hair as he did with hers, and their fingers scratching their heads made her more impatient for what his touch would be like in her intimate places, but she was going to respect his wishes. Just as he respected her by properly proposing to her, she was going to do the same.
After what seemed like many moments passed, she and Jon heard one of the imperial guardsmen step towards them. "The Princess Regent would like to see the both of you."
Daenerys and Jon eyed each other. "Why does she want to see the both of us?"
"She just told me to bring you two."
Daenerys and Jon both complied and they followed the guardsman to the main palace, specifically the emperor's in which she now occupied. One had to be blind to not know that Khiara was an empress in all but name, which would change soon since there was word throughout the palaces that she coronate herself once both Yujin and Sumeng were dealt with.
Appearing to Khiara, Daenerys saw another man seated across her. He was small in stature compared to Jon, but she could see in his eyes that he was not to be taken lightly. What was more, he had that grin on his face, the kind that those with snake-like tendencies possessed.
But Daenerys turned to Jon, who stiffened and his eyes darkened. Then suddenly, he drew Dark Sister and was about to strike the man before Khiara stood up. "Stop!"
As if still holding something over him, Jon was barely able to prevent himself from slicing the man. Which did not matter much since that man stood up and was prepared to fight him, if his combat stance said anything.
"Why is he here?" Jon growled at him while keeping Dark Sister pointed at the man.
"I have business with him, the sort that Yujin had before he became a prisoner, the sort that I will now take over," Khiara answered.
"You mean to say that you have business with this fuck?" Jon was seething. "Do you know what this man did to me?"
"I am sorry. Who is he?" Daenerys asked.
"Queen Daenerys, before you stands Wah Sing Ku, a prominent leader of the underworld. Whatever vices that the people partake in, be it yapian or women, nothing happens without his approval," Khiara said.
Daenerys met cutthroats like him. "Jon, what did he do?"
"He killed me."
In an instant, Daenerys grabbed Jon's dagger and moved to stab Wah, but Khiara slammed her fist on the table.
"There will be no violence now!" she shouted once more. "As I said, I have business with him."
"Are you going to tolerate his presence, after what he did?" Daenerys gritted her teeth.
"Well, your mate is alive, is he not? Besides, it seems as if his death made him stronger, so everyone gained something from his temporary death."
Daenerys, as well as Jon, should not have been surprised at how callous Khiara was, but considering what she knew about what Jon did in Khiara's private chambers, this was a new low for her.
"Give me one reason why I should not cut off his head!" Jon looked as if he was going to kill him anyway, something that Daenerys wanted to do herself.
"Because he is going to invest a lot of money into your return to Westeros."
"I do not want his coin," Jon spat.
"I also pardoned him and in return for my protection, all allegiances that he commands in the criminal underworld will go to me," Khiara continued.
"Why should I, and you, care about what shits like him promise?"
"Because he is going to control all trade between this empire and Westeros."
Jon looked at her, shocked. "What?"
"As I said, the merchants will invest in your campaign, but in the aftermath of their support to the late prime minister, I had to have someone who can control them, someone that they will fear. And Wah is that person."
"What about the warrant for his arrest, for my murder?" Jon's fist tightened around Dark Sister.
"Overturned. I also made him a lord and granted him land."
Daenerys' eyes widened. "You what?"
"You do not seem to understand, both of you. By making him a legal subject under the rule of law, he can no longer work in the shadows. If he makes one wrong move, I can just kill him. But for now, he is more useful to me alive and he will make sure that the merchants will not try to cheat you."
Wah did not understand what they were saying, for he did not speak the common tongue, but he did sense the air of the room and spoke to Jon in guanhua. Jon barked back, but Wah stood his ground and merely smiled at whatever Jon was promising to do. Khiara said something else, which prompted Wah to leave the room, but he gave Jon another nasty look before leaving.
"You are willing to support the man who killed me? I do not care what he is going to do for me." Jon was incensed, as was Daenerys.
"Is that the attitude you will have when you come back to Westeros? Punish everyone who has wronged you?"
"There are some who will not be spared for what they have done to our family," Daenerys said. "That, you can be sure of."
"I will not dispute that. But if you punish everyone who has committed a crime against you, you will not have anyone left to rely on."
"But this is different. He killed me."
"Not that it changed much," Khiara shrugged. "You are still alive and you are still going to obtain an army from me. And here is the deed," she pulled up a scroll. "That makes my support for both of your claims on the throne official. You will succeed, with my help."
Jon could not deny that Khiara was a powerful backer, but him seeing her with Wah made him all the more enraged. "I might trust your help, but you protecting my murderer makes me believe that you prioritize yourself over others."
"Not necessarily true, but then again, I have to make small men work for me. You are not small, so that is why you were my partner."
"Still…" Jon could say no more, and Daenerys led him out.
"Princess Khiara, be careful. Who knows what may happen now that I have seen my lover's killer's face," Daenerys warned. With that, they left the quarters, to relieve their worries on each other.
Margaery, as did the rest of the small council, had to endure another bout of Joffrey's whining. The war with Stannis was still not going anywhere despite the many thousands of troops that were thrown against the stormlands and the efforts of the Dornish spears. And now, there was talk among the court that the crown was going to have to rely on sellswords to do the fighting, because there was simply no more bannermen left that the Lannisters, the Freys, or even the Reach's marcher lords could call upon. At least the ones who were called upon at the start of this war and only few were left.
"Stannis only has less than thirty thousand men to call upon and even though we have three times as much, he is still outfighting us. What is so hard?!" Joffrey complained.
"It appears that we underestimated Stannis as a tactician and strategist." Margaery's father pointed out the obvious. "Indeed, the forests and the mountains are simply insurmountable for our troops to overcome."
"And there is talk amongst court that we will have to rely on sellswords. Is this true?" Oberyn asked.
Tywin nodded. "Yes. We simply cannot call upon more bannermen, because we have none left that are able to fight."
"That is a lie, grandfather!" Joffrey shouted again. "The final stage in any war is the children, the seed corn. How about we send in the boys?"
"Boys who are barely able to hold a sword, let alone kill? That will not end well, my king." Kevan was reaching the end of his patience with Joffrey, but he was hiding it very well.
"They are my subjects, and I am their king. They will do what I say."
"Anyone who has to insist on that is no true king at all." Tywin was quiet up to that point, but he reminded Joffrey of what he said when they got news of the Red Wedding.
Joffrey, to his credit, remembered the last time that he openly challenged Tywin and thus shut his mouth. "Reach out to the Iron Bank, and tell them that we need another loan. We certainly do not have the coin to pay it at this moment."
Margaery was surprised that Joffrey actually listened to the meetings.
"We are already reaching a debt of seven million and five hundred thousand golden dragons. Any more golden dragons we borrow, and we will definitively reach a point of no return, particularly since the Iron Bank are losing their patience with how we are not defeating Stannis no matter how many bodies we throw at him," Kevan pointed out.
"What is the going cost of a sellsword nowadays?" Cersei scoffed. "We can find any common sellsword on the streets now."
"But one that can match the quality of the Golden Company, who are not available at the moment, Queen Mother?" Kevan pointed out. "Yes, any man with a sword will fight for gold, but not every man can fight as true warriors. And we need that."
"What about the Reach? Oldtown? The Honeywine?" Joffrey looked to Margaery. "Perhaps the Reach can show their loyalty further by providing us more troops."
"Your Grace, what you are suggesting will cripple my family," Mace Tyrell said.
"Oh, and your family is more important than your king?" Cersei scoffed once more. "You let Lord Tarly and Lord Peake do most of the fighting for you. I think it is time that more of the Reach spill their blood for their king, their true one."
As always, Cersei showed to all how much she coddled Joffrey by smiling at him.
"Then it is settled." Tywin eyed the Lord of Highgarden. "Lord Mace, I expect thirty thousand more bannermen to join the fighting against the stormlords. That is a royal command."
"There is one more matter that we should discuss." Qyburn leaned forward. "I have received reports that from the Slaver's Bay. Robb Stark is alive."
That stunned the council. Even Tywin, who raised an eyebrow.
"That is impossible." Joffrey could not believe it. "We have seen the head of his wolf pet and the pelt."
Qyburn shook his head. "No. He is alive, Your Grace. Alive, at the head of a combined army of sellswords from the Company of the Rose and the Wolf Pack, and he is at Meereen defending against the Volantene tigers."
Margaery remained outwardly unemotional, but this was news that she never thought to expect to receive.
"That bastard Bolton, and Frey!" Joffrey flung into his whiny rage again. "They betrayed me! They lied to me!"
"They lied to us all, it seems," Kevan noted. "We never should have left the work of suppressing the northern rebellion to the hands of turncoats. It is like sending idiots to the do the work of more mentally capable men."
"We should strip them of their titles, of their lands, of their castles!" Joffrey continued to yell, which began to hurt Margaery's ears. "We should send armies against them, against Winterfell, against the Twins!"
"Enough," Tywin calmly said, but Joffrey became silent. "The Bolton traitors will be dealt with eventually, but we should allow the wildlings who have breached the wall and the Valemen take care of him first."
The council was aware of the Valemen that followed Sansa Stark, and her reappearance enraged Cersei the most, while Margaery could not help but be amused that the scared northern girl that she met at the Red Keep had it in her all along to pull off something like that.
"As for the Freys, they are already dealing with a rebellion in the riverlands, led by the Blackfish. Our punishment for him as of this moment is to ignore his call for help and let him fight the Blackfish all on his own," Tywin continued. "If the Blackfish succeeds, we will kill him. If by some miracle Lord Frey manages to defeat the Blackfish, we will kill him also and raze the Twins to the ground."
The small council agreed.
"What should we do about this Robb Stark, now that he is alive?" Mace asked.
"He is far away from Westeros and I doubt he can take on the Volantene tigers all on his own," Qyburn stated. "Unless the Dragon Queen reappears. In the meantime, we should investigate how he managed to escape and how he was able to escape Westeros in the first place." The small council nodded their heads. "And also, I have more reports concerning the dragons. Rhaenys Targaryen has also been revealed as alive, and she has claimed a dragon as her mount."
Margaery blinked, for that bit of news was even more surprising than Robb Stark's survival. But as she eyed to Tywin, she could see his teeth clench in anger. Everyone knew that Lord Tywin was at least complicit in the Mountain killing Elia Martell and her children, but to hear that his greatest warrior had failed must have been a blow to his pride.
Margaery then looked at Oberyn, who was strangely calm at this. This was becoming too strange for Margaery, and she had to find out exactly what he knew about the whole set of circumstances surrounding Rhaenys' survival.
"That is not possible." Cersei was the first to deny it. "We have seen their bodies, her at least. How is she alive?"
"We can thank the Mountain for that, Your Grace, for their bodies were so unrecognizable due to his own blood lust," Qyburn answered. "That alone caused doubts, and it would seem that someone well placed at court was able to smuggle the real Rhaenys out of King's Landing before the Sack and raise her to be a dragonrider."
"What about the one calling himself Aegon Targaryen? Is he the genuine article?" Mace was also worried, for he feared the return of the Targaryens despite his house siding with the Mad King.
"That is still unknown, but only those with dragon's blood can ride dragons."
"The Blackfyres had dragon's blood." Kevan pointed out. "She could be a long-lost descendant."
"Not likely. Dragon eggs were found throughout Essos and yet, not one Blackfyre was able to hatch them," Qyburn reminded them all. "Of course, Ser Kevan might be correct, but instead of just the Dragon Queen riding her own dragon, we now have one more dragonrider to contend with."
Margaery was rightfully afraid of more dragonriders, especially since there will unconfirmed rumors of a red dragon flying through the skies above the Land of a Thousand Cities. However, she had faith that her grandmother knew of how to get their family to avoid dragonflames.
Once the small council was dismissed, with no clear solution to the dragonrider problem, Margaery saw Oberyn catch up to her. "My Queen. I have been meaning to talk to you, if you can spare a moment."
"What do you want, Prince Oberyn?" Margaery was also meaning to talk to him, but she could not let him know that.
"What is your view on the survival of Rhaenys Targaryen?"
Oh, we are going straight into the issue. "I am not sure if that is really her, but being a dragonrider does reinforce her case that she is the daughter of Rhaegar Targaryen."
"It more than reinforces her case, Your Grace. Which is why I believe that the news provides a most great opportunity for the both of us."
"How so, Prince Oberyn?" Margaery crossed her arms.
Oberyn looked around, no doubt looking for Qyburn's little birds. As if to make Joffrey angry, Oberyn pulled her close and began to whisper in her ear. "Both of our houses have a history of fighting with the dragons. And with their return, we can climb higher than before."
Margaery whispered back into his ear, not caring what Joffrey felt since he was probably whoring with some common servant girl somewhere in the Red Keep. "That is a risky proposition, Prince Oberyn, even for you."
"Truth be told, Queen Margaery, there are some things that you do not know about the Rebellion, things that cannot be revealed until at the right moment. But what is important now is that sooner or later, the dragons will come back, even the rumored rider of the red dragon in the East. If you want to avoid the fate of these Lannister shits, you will do well to hear what I have to offer. The same goes to your grandmother, the Queen of Thorns."
Margaery was struck. "Why are you telling me this, Prince Oberyn? You are risking much by doing so."
"Because I know that you are chafing under Joffrey and now, Tywin wants you to sacrifice more Reachmen. Are you not tired of following his orders?"
Margaery was not afraid of Tywin, but she knew that she could not fight him all by herself. Before anyone could suspect, she pulled out of the embrace. "Perhaps we can discuss the matter in more… secluded settings."
Oberyn smirked before walking away. As for Margaery, she went to her grandmother's quarters, as she had to tell her what was just said between herself and the Red Viper of Dorne.
Arya escorted Benjen's woman Mingyu as she was to appear before the leaders of the Jade Order. Both of them were dressed in ceremonial white and their hair tied up in court fashion before they neared the main compound of the Jade Order within the imperial palaces.
"So, it is true. You tried to have my uncle killed." Arya had to point out.
"That was before I saw him as different from all of the fucks that I met." Mingyu spoke plainly, which Arya always preferred. "While I did not kill him because I was curious, him being different was what motivated me to spare his life. He must have told you that I saved his life."
"And for that, I am grateful." Arya saw that she had many reasons to like Mingyu, for she was deadly, she was honest, and she saw how much Benjen cared for her no matter how he tried to hide it. "But is it true, the sedition charges against you?"
"I was pardoned for that."
"That does not mean anything to me. You deserted the Order because you charged for that. While Princess Khiara might have pardoned you, you are still a deserter and you have to answer for that."
Mingyu sighed. "In that case, it is not true. It was a fiction created by the late emperor because I saw something that I was not supposed to see, which was evidence of his connections to the criminal underworld. However, my word would never hold against an imperial magistrate despite my years of service to the emperor and so, I had to run. You know what happened next, if your uncle said anything."
"He has said enough to me and to Jon." Benjen was not one to hide who he was intimate with and like him, Jon was cautious against Mingyu. However, Arya saw that her feelings for her uncle were genuine and so was not inclined to put blame on her.
"It is quite something, for a white devil like yourself to join the Jade Order. Either you really impressed Khiara, or you were able to get past Gong-Er."
"You know her?" Arya asked.
"Everyone who wants to join the Jade Order must be able to be selected by her, for she is the gatekeeper of the Order. Do you know how she became blind?"
"The Order's powder stores ignited and exploded, and she was just too close to the explosion. The last thing she saw was the fires," Arya answered.
"You know the 'how.' Do you know the why?"
Arya was intrigued. "I do not."
"Well, let us just say that the inner workings of our guns are still not perfected and in an effort to catch up with the rest of the army, we were too careless. At the same time, someone in the army was afraid of seeing women with tanegashima, so both factors played a role in that sabotage."
"How do you know this?" Arya asked.
"We were able to catch that man, and Khiara was able to break him before they had him executed."
This did not surprise Arya, for whatever she did, it no longer surprised her.
Finally, they came before the three leaders of the Jade Order in addition to Gong-Er, who was seated behind them. But watching the whole proceedings was the entire Jade Order, all of them packed in the hall as they watched the fate of someone they only knew as a deserter.
"Mingyu," the leader of the Jade Order addressed her. "You have come here on our orders to answer for your desertion of your fellow sisters while still appointed as part of this most great order. While the Princess Regent has granted you a pardon for your charges against sedition, those charges are separate from your actions of the Jade Order. You took on an oath, you fought alongside us, and you fled instead of answering the charges, thereby abandoning your sisters."
"Beloved sister, I—" Mingyu opened her mouth.
"Hold your tongue!" The second-in-command of the Jade Order barked. "You were always too useful with it, from what I can remember of you."
"Sisters, please. Let us continue with the trial." Gong-Er urged while keeping her eyes on the floor, although she could not see.
"As such, the penalty of desertion from the Jade Order is being struck from the rolls of the Order and undergoing a public ceremony, where we rip off your white robes and leave you bare in the streets. You also are aware that we are to break your swords and cut your hair off, to demonstrate our abandoning of you as payment for you abandoning the order." The leader of the Jade Order was merciless. "If you have anything to say before we proceed, you may say so right now."
Mingyu eyed each of the three members judging her. "I do not know if you were in my position, beloved sisters. I have served the emperor faithfully for over ten years. I have devoted my life, my soul, and my body to the protection of his family, particularly the one who is now the Princes Regent. But because I saw something that I was not supposed to see, I was charged falsely. You might say that I should have stayed where I was, where I was to undergo a trial and receive a fair judgement. You might claim that if I was truly as innocent as I claimed to be, I was to put my faith in the magistrate. However, the emperor would never allow the magistrate to let me live, not after what I had seen. The trial would have been a death sentence no matter what path I took, so I had to flee. And while I was on the run, there were not many legitimate ways for me to survive given the skills and training that I had obtained while with the Order."
"That does not excuse the fact that you used the very training that is supposed to protect the family to conduct crimes and commit other villainous deeds," the third Jade Order leader stated. "You tainted the good name of the Order by doing such things."
"As I said, beloved sister, you were never in my position. How could you understand me, as someone who was falsely charged and had to go on the run?"
"Let us go back to the charge you face here today," the leader of the Order said. "No matter the circumstances, you still deserted the Order. Under no circumstances were you to leave under your oath, as you either had to die honorably or be killed in order to leave. Or if our beloved sisters consented to you leaving the Order. As none of these happened, it appears that you do not have any other recourse left to defend yourself against the charge of desertion."
Arya and Mingyu stood still, as it seemed that there was nothing that could be done to change their minds. However, to the surprise of everyone, Gong-Er stood up.
"If I may, beloved sisters. It is only right that I speak on behalf of one of my pupils." The leaders said nothing as she came close to Mingyu, with her cane to guide her way, before she used her hand to feel Mingyu's face. "Hmmm… you are still the same from the first time that I saw you."
"And you have not changed at all, Sister Gong-Er," Mingyu replied.
Gong-Er turned around to the leader, as if sensing where they were. "Beloved sisters, it is true that she did desert. And yes, we are right to blame her. She ran away when she saw the first sign of trouble and she therefore did not trust her sisters to protect her when she knew that the charges she faced were false. It would seem that her trust in her sisters was not that strong."
The other sisters of the Jade Order whispered to each other while Arya eyed Gong-Er with alarm. Mingyu, however, remained stoic. "What are you doing, teacher?" she whispered to herself.
"But at the same time, we also have to consider who is the most powerful when she was charged. In that case, it was the emperor and we all know that his word is law. Even if we did try to protect her, there was nothing that she could have done. And after conversing with the lead interrogators of Yujin, I know exactly what she saw that made the emperor bring false charges against her. It was evidence that the emperor himself was in league with baseborn criminals and cutthroats, all of them involved in the yapian trade."
The leaders clearly did not know that fact, which shocked them and the others.
"Whatever crimes committed by Mingyu, I hear that she has clearly redeemed herself by bringing forth the live article that is Prince Sumeng and the dead article that is the head of the Prime Minister, both of them involved in treacherous rebellion against the Princess Regent. To throw her out of the Jade Order after what she did would send a very bad message. We might continue to be seen as keeping in tradition, but we might lose future recruits into the Order when they see how we reward Mingyu here today. That is why I argue for Mingyu's case from a practical perspective, for we must be able to maintain the dignity of the Order without being seen as stubborn."
Arya was struck by Gong-Er defending her student, but Mingyu was stunned that after all of the years she went missing, her teacher did not hesitate to come to her defense.
The leaders were also surprised and Arya saw them glancing at each other. "What would you suggest, dear teacher? You present a good case, but she is still a deserter."
"Strike her name from the rolls if you must, but leave it at that. If you are still not sure of which course to take, then I suggest we ask our sisters assembled here today," Gong-Er waved her arms to the entirety of the Jade Order.
"All right. What say you, sisters? If you are in favor of punishment for Sister Mingyu for desertion, step forward," the leader called out.
Arya waited, as did Mingyu and Gong-Er, for one of them, or all of them to step forward. Moments passed, and not one did. That left the leaders more surprised.
"As no one is favor of punishment, Mingyu is hereby free from the burden of desertion." The leaders were obviously not pleased with the response, but there was nothing they could do and they thus stormed out.
Arya sighed in relief, for she did not wish ill upon her uncle's lover. She, along with Mingyu and Gong-er stepped outside of the palaces to walk on the streets of the capital, which had become calmer as of late.
"Why did you defend me like that, teacher?" Mingyu asked Gong-er.
"The truth is, I knew that the charges you faced were nonsense. However, there was nothing that I could have done then. Who would listen to a blind woman? But I am glad that I was able to help you now."
Mingyu gave a small smile. "Whatever the case, teacher, thank you."
"Do not mention it. Now, shall we get something to eat?"
Before Arya could say what she wanted to eat, she was surprised to see the Hound in the capital and right in front of her. He was driving a horse-drawn cart, with the back of the cart covered with a tarp. She ran up to him.
"You are back," she said to him.
"Indeed, girl," the Hound said after he stopped the horse. "I got what I needed from the wastes and I decided that I spent enough time chasing bounties."
"Any coin?" Arya asked.
"Not here with me. I am not that stupid. Come, I have something to show you." Guiding Arya to the back, he threw off the tarp and Arya recognized Vinh, the one who sold the yapian to Sandor and made him an addict. "His name is Phuc. It sounds like it is spelled as the word pheasant, so it sounds like phu-hock."
Arya squinted her eyes in confusion. "So it is Phu-hock?"
"Yeah. Anyways, I saw him outside of the city in a tavern and I was able to knock him out before he could run away."
Arya eyed the yapian dealer, who was connected to Wah. "Looks like we have some work to do."
"Indeed. But first, I have some business to take care of. Can you watch him for a moment?"
Arya was confused. "Where are you going?" she called out to him.
"Have to see a physician nearby. I will be back."
"Physician?" Arya was confused as to why he needed that, for he seemed fine.
"A yapian dealer?" Gong-er smelled the unconscious Phuc. "What did you get yourself into, Lady Arya?"
"It is a long story, teacher."
"We can talk about it, over some food."
Sansa waited outside of the walls of Ramsgate, the only fortress besides Widow's Watch on the eastern side of the Northern kingdom that remained out of the hands of the wildlings. She was flanked by members of House Lynderly, Ser Harrold, and Littlefinger alongside Wyman Manderly.
Once they got reports of a wildling attack on their advance guard towards Castle Cerwyn, the Vale lords and the bannermen of White Harbor wanted to conduct an all-out attack on the wildlings. However, Littlefinger and surprisingly Lord Manderly recommended caution, for they both knew that despite having troops that outmatched the wildlings in terms of combat skill, they were still outnumbered by many times.
That was when Sansa got the idea to meet with the wildlings, an idea that Lord Manderly and the northerners who assembled under the banner of the Starks so far were vehemently against.
"Would you rather that we fight over one hundred thousand wildlings, when we must use every available man we have with us to take Winterfell?" Sansa asked them all.
"You mean to assume that the wildlings can be reasoned with, those barbarians from the icy wastes north of the Wall?" a Valeman belonging to House Lynderly asked her.
"We have to try, good ser. So far, the wildlings have been winning and taking every castle that they come across. That means that they know what they are doing and whoever is leading is at least competent. If they have the mind to take castles, they must also possess a mind for negotiation," Sansa stated.
"I would back that, good ser," Littlefinger came to Sansa's defense. "We men from the Vale practice valor and each knight with us equals ten wildlings. However, it is close to winter and these wildlings do not fight battles in the same manner that we do. Who knows what kind of tricks that they are capable of committing, especially since they were able to come so far down here?"
After Sansa directed Lord Manderly to hold his position and continue to secure White Harbor, she and six thousand Valemen went to reinforce Ramsgate. She also sent a raven to the Flints of Widow's Watch, asking them to answer her call for reinforcements. Unexpectedly, the Flints showed up with two thousand men, all of them led by Lady Lyessa Flint. Although she was in her forties, she was still plain looking and was dressed in heavy furs and leathers.
"I sent you a raven over a moon ago. Why did you show up now, my lady?" Sansa asked.
"Good. You are starting to behave like your father, Lady Sansa." Lyessa nodded. "I lost my son at the Red Wedding and there is no woman alive in the North who has more reason to help you than myself. Because of the bastard traitors of House Bolton, my house is on the brink. The Boltons took away my future, so it is only fair that I help you reclaim yours."
Sansa was struck at her candor, but she slowly grew to appreciate the ways of her people, ways that she had failed to recognize prior to this war. And she saw that Lady Lyessa would be very useful to her in the future.
Now with eight thousand men, Sansa reinforced Ramsgate, which she recognized had just as good of a harbor than White Harbor itself. The only problem with Ramsgate was that it was too far north and the Manderlys controlled all access to the north, meaning that they would not allow Ramsgate to supplant them as the only city of the northern kingdom. Maybe Ramsgate could be an alternative port, she pondered.
"My lady!" A Vale knight called out after looking through his Myrish eye. "We have riders approaching, and… Seven hells."
"What is it, good ser?" Sansa asked.
The Vale knight simply gave her the Myrish eye, and Sansa could see what made him silent. Besides a group of fifty riders, all of them clad in heavy furs and wearing what were the proper garments for wildlings, she also saw two giants running with them.
Sansa passed the Myrish eye to Littlefinger, who was also struck at the sight. "Never in my life did I expect to see giants alive and well."
"Indeed so, my lady." Harrold also saw the giants, and he also could not believe it.
Sansa and her company stood their ground while the riders stopped in front of them. She recognized a middle-aged man at the front, a blonde hair woman at his side, and a red-haired woman with a bow and quarrel among the leaders. But what caught her attention was one of the riders, for she never thought to see him again after all of this time and after what he did.
"Theon?" Sansa let out.
But the squid boy that Sansa grew up with had somehow been replaced by someone else. The one who took on the body of Theon had that hardened stare in his eyes, or eye since one was covered by a patch. He no longer walked with the arrogance that he so pushed in the faces of the Starks before King Robert came. Most importantly, it seemed as if he was walking with a limp. Whatever Theon went through, it somehow changed him, as many things have done to everyone in Westeros.
Theon was also shocked at seeing the girl he never expected to see for a long time. "Sansa?"
"Wait. My lady, do you know him?" Harrold was confused, for he never laid eyes on Theon before.
"Ser Harrold, standing before you is Theon Greyjoy, only living son of Balon Greyjoy, the rebel lord from Pyke," Littlefinger introduced.
Ser Harrold scoffed before he spit in Theon's direction. "A fucking squid among wildling barbarians. Who would have thought it?
"Hey!" the leader of the wildlings barked at Ser Harrold. "We come here in peace, and your first action is to show disrespect to one of us?"
"One of you?" Lyessa Flint pointed at Theon. "Do you realize how much damage this bastard had caused to the North? The Starks took him in when they did not need to and when other families would have killed him, and he repaid the Starks' hospitality with betrayal!"
Sansa was inclined to agree with Lady Lyessa.
The giants, on the other hand, sensed what was going on and readied their clubs. That put Sansa and the others on edge, before the leader held up his hand and stayed them.
"So, you know who I am," Sansa began. "But I do not know who you are, besides the Greyjoy here."
Sansa and Theon were not close, but she could tell that it hurt him when she did not say his name. Now you know what the consequences are.
"Lady Sansa, I am Mance Rayder, King Beyond the Wall and appointed leader of the Free Folk. Here with me are Val, sister of my wife Dalla, and Ygritte, the wife of Theon. The giants that you see here are Mag and Wun, Mag being the leader of what is left of the race of giants," Mance Rayder introduced them all.
"You know, I never thought that I would see giants this far south, but considering everything that happened to me these past few years… anything is possible." Lyessa made clear to all how bitter she was, and that was something that Mance also saw.
"How do we address you, King Mance?" Littlefinger asked.
"Do not say 'Your Grace.' We Free Folk are not like you southrons," Mance said while narrowing his eyes.
Sansa was confused as to why that was, but she also knew that she knew nothing of wildling customs and therefore simply nodded her head. "As you wish. I am sure you understand the object of our meeting here today."
"Yes, your messenger talked about a way we can work together and not have bloodshed break out between us, or no more," Mance said.
"Indeed. Although there are many who want to fight you, considering that it was your people that attacked our scouts nearby Castle Cerwyn."
"Lady Sansa, I do not know of who was at Castle Cerwyn, even after I had asked those who knew, but I can assure you that had we known, we might have practiced restraint," Mance answered.
"Might?" Ser Harrold addressed Mance with incredulity. "I am surprised that you people even know what restraint is."
"Ser Harrold, please," Littlefinger pleaded as he eyed the giants with nervousness.
"I am surprised that no one has called you an ass," the woman named Ygritte said before she, along with the others laughed. Ser Harrold blushed in embarrassment, for he was also aware of what people said behind his back while in the Vale but no one actually dared to say it to his face.
Sansa had to keep the meeting focused. "However, I believe that we can help each other, despite the problems that have been caused between us so far."
"Respectfully, Lady Sansa, I do not believe that you can help us at all. We came because we needed shelter and protection from a great evil that is coming, and the farther we get, the more of both we can gain," Mance answered.
"A great evil, you say?" Littlefinger asked.
"Mance, they are going to laugh at us, just like every other shit we came across," the woman named Val told him.
"I see giants here today, even though I thought that they were extinct," Sansa pointed to the two giants. "What is so dangerous to you people that you had to run from your homes and enter ours?"
"An evil that has awoken from its slumber after many thousands of years, an evil that plunged the world into the Long Night," Mance answered.
Out of all of the reasons that Sansa expected, that was certainly not what she was prepared to hear. Like many others present, the very idea of it was simply ludicrous.
"All right. Now I have heard everything," Ser Harrold laughed. "Giants, I can see before my eyes. But you are saying is ridiculous. The Long Night, the white walkers, they are all a myth. You people are more prone to frights than I had expected."
"See? I told you," Val said to Mance.
"You might laugh now, but you never saw the terror that we had to face. You never saw an undead body rise from the grave and a malevolent spirit with blue eyes turn a baby into something worse." Mance show his fear to Sansa and the others. "We came here to protect our families, just as you are fighting us to protect yours. And nothing on this land can stop us because our children's future is at stake."
Sansa, on the other hand, was not ready to disbelieve it even though she was also inclined to dismiss what Mance was talking about. "King Mance, I might not be ready to believe you on what you claim to have seen, but I am ready to make a deal."
"She does not speak for us," Ser Harrold interrupted her. "We will never work with barbarians such as yourselves. It is also clear that all of you are insane."
"And you are just an asshole!" Ygritte shouted back.
Ser Harrold drew his sword, while Ygritte drew on her bow. Meanwhile, the others raised their weapons, but also eyed the giants, who readied themselves.
"It appears that we cannot gain anything more by talking." With that, King Mance and the others mounted their horses and proceeded to gallop back north. Theon and Sansa shared another glance with each other, but Sansa narrowed her eyes at the one who betrayed her family.
"Well done, Ser Harrold." Lyessa Flint groaned. "I might not like working with wildlings, but you should just ensured that we are to keep fighting with them."
"And why should we work with them? They are raiders and they are now saying such ridiculous things that they clearly lost their minds."
"Enough." Sansa turned around to her betrothed. "How about next time, I do the negotiations? I thought knights are supposed to be calm when receiving insults."
"Then you do not know me." Harrold walked away in a huff.
Sansa shook her head. "I was close to getting through to Mance Rayder, but he ruined it."
"Best let him say his words. Who knows when they will be useful to you the next time?" Littlefinger suggested.
Unlike other times, Sansa saw his meaning, which made her ponder on how else she could use his temper so that she remained in control the next time.
A/N: So, Jon finally is going to marry Dany. But oh man, is he pissed.
What will Margaery get up to with Oberyn?
Arya defending Mingyu was sweet, and she is reunited with the Hound.
SMH for Harrold for messing things up.