This is a chapter that I have been so excited to get out for such a long time, and coincidentally this takes the story over 250,000 words which is incredible… I'll keep this quick however so you can all just get into the chapter!

I am using the Estermont Family Tree as stated in Option 2 of the House Estermont/Family Trees AWOIAF page. Namely that Lord Eldon had three children in Aemon, Lomas and Cassana (Mother of Robert/Stannis/Renly).

I hope you all enjoy this chapter… or at least as much as you can…

I own nothing but any OC's. Everything recognisable from the books or the show belong to George R R Martin or HBO.

307 AC

Harrenhal was abuzz with tension. Lords and Ladies from all of the Southern Realms had arrived at the monstrous black castle and old wounds were slow to heal. Loren had tried his best to stay out of it as best he could, but even then there had been occasions where Frey's from the Twins had sought him out for a verbal spat. He tried to occupy most of his time speaking with the Lords he knew would be loyal to Myrcella but also had some influence on others, Reachmen mainly, in an attempt to push his cause whilst staying away from the verbal spars becoming more physical.

One of the more interesting arrivals however had been that of Dragonstone. Tyrion Lannister, proudly wearing a silver Hand of the Queen pin on his chest had arrived with Shireen Baratheon and a foreign woman. Loren waited a day before speaking to his Uncle, and when he did, the young Lord of Casterly Rock had struggled to keep the bitterness of his Grandfather's murder out of his voice.

That meeting paled in comparison to the morning of Cersei Lannister's arrival. Loren had been outside in the courtyard with Myrcella, Jaime, Trystane and Olyvar Frey when the call of riders came up. Turning to face the main gates, Loren scoffed when wagon after wagon of supplies and food entered the castle, dozens of them each guarded by 4 men wearing golden armour.

"She knows she's lost." Myrcella whispered. "She's appealing to the empty stomachs of those most affected by the wars."

"It will not work." Trystane snarled. "That woman has angered too many people."

"It's a show of power." Loren corrected. "She has King's Landing and the Crownlands. With the Reach split she wants to make us think that she has the upper hand in supplying her forces." He turned to Olyvar. "You best go and welcome her."

The Frey Lord of Harrenhal grimaced at the thought, but he nodded and walked over to the wheelhouse that had just entered the castle. "You are well guarded enough, Your Grace." Jaime said with disgust in his tone. "If I may…"

"Go, Uncle." Myrcella nodded. "I can handle her."

Jaime bowed his head and departed as Loren watched on when Cersei Lannister, dressed all in a resplendent black and silver with a crown atop her head stepped down to the ground and accepted the greeting, before spotting the trio and making her way over to them, a pair of Kingsguard knights at her side. When she got to them, she ignored Trystane. "Daughter, nephew."

"We all agreed to no more than five guards per noble." Myrcella stated firmly. "You seem to have brought an army."

Cersei regarded her daughter with an obviously fake smile. "I had to protect the convoy." She said calmly. "They will depart once the wagons have been settled. Lord Frey is directing them now." Sure enough the wagons started rolling towards the kitchens a moment after she had said that. "Come now, it has been a long time since we have seen one another."

"Since you tried to imprison me you mean." Myrcella scoffed.

Cersei shook her head. "It was to protect you, but I see you were in on the Dornish plots all along." Se accused, glancing over at Trystane. "They murdered your brother, yet you jump into bed with them all the same."

"Tommen killed himself." Myrcella bit back angrily. "Because he couldn't handle your madness growing. His death is on your hands." She sighed. "I will not subject myself to this. I will see you at the council, Mother." And with that she twirled around and stormed away, with Trystane following her.

Cersei sighed. "And they got to you too, it seems."

Loren laughed. "Myrcella was my Queen from the moment Tommen took his last breath. Your attempt at usurping may have convinced those left in the Red Keep, Aunt, but you'll have a difficult time of convincing those of the West, especially after the stunt you pulled with Euron Greyjoy."

Cersei scowled. "You betrayed me and defied my commands, murdering a loyal general. You will pay for that, just as your Father paid for his crimes."

Loren didn't react to the taunt, and instead just smiled. "Good luck in the Council, Aunt Cersei. You will need it." And he went to turn away then too when an almighty screech sent him flailing to the floor for cover. After unsheathing Red Rain he pointed it up at the sky when the most terrifying sight of his life was just about to touch down. Two dragons, one dark and one green, landing in the recently vacated space in the courtyard of Harrenhal. Loren pulled himself up to his feet and dropped the point of Red Rain towards the ground, though keeping it out of its scabbard and in his hand, as he watched as a man and a woman dismounted the dragons.

Another screech followed, this time though it was quieter yet somehow even more unnerving, and Loren turned his view to a flailing man, impaled heavily on a dragon spike and chained to the beast. It's arms were bound behind its back but it was still twisting itself into unnatural positions to try and escape, and its face was half rotted. Loren felt ill at the sight.

"It seems we are the last to arrive." The woman said, and Loren's attention was then taken by a small woman dressed in black and crimson, Daenerys Targaryen. The pair walked up to Loren and Cersei, stopping a yard or so away. "We have not met, but I have heard a lot about the pair of you, Lord Loren, Lady Cersei."

"Queen Cersei." The Kingsguard knight with the Kettleblack sigil on his chest plate said firmly.

"That remains to be seen." Loren bit back at the knight.

"Quite." Daenerys nodded.

The man, Jon Snow the Bastard of Winterfell, pointed up at the writhing impaled body. "That is why we needed to meet instead of fight. 100,000 of those are marching upon us all, and we need everybody living to unite and stop them or it won't matter who sits on the Iron Throne."

Loren gulped and walked around to get a better view, but the sight immediately made him turn away. "They can be killed, yes?"

"With Dragonglass, a substance found on Dragonstone that we are mining and forging into weapons as we speak." Daenerys nodded. "And fire, they dislike fire."

"And Valyrian Steel, that can kill the White Walkers." Jon added. "Sadly there is too few of those around."

Cersei shook her head. "Nonsense tales that are only for scaring children." She turned to Olyvar Frey. "Escort me to my chambers, I will need refreshments before we are to meet."

Olyvar didn't look happy, but he nodded. "If you would follow me." He said monotonously, and he led Cersei and her party away.

"A vile woman." Daenerys muttered.

"A desperate one." Loren countered. "She knows that she has lost, she will look to cause as much friction as possible to drag these talks out."

Jon sighed. "And friction is something that we do not need with the dead coming for us."

Loren looked back at the wight with a slight shiver, and he wholeheartedly agreed.

As Loren sat to the side of the Hall of a Hundred Hearths he could feel the history flowing through the room. Not only was he sat where the first ever Great Council had been held, but the bloody history of the castle left everybody inside feeling slightly smaller. Everybody had separated into their realms, with Loren and the many Western Lords all sharing one long table by the wall. Myrcella was beside him instead of sat beside her husband with the Dornish, a show of loyalty from his Queen that Loren was pleased with.

A loud banging of a goblet on the high table sounded throughout the hall as Olyvar Frey called for silence. The majority stopped their conversations, but a small gathering of Frey's from the Twins continued their loud boasts and jests. Olyvar was looking ready to burst with anger at his family. "We are waiting on you, Lord Frey." He called out.

"And you can wait longer, baby uncle." Ryman sneered. "I haven't finished talking with my new friend here." Loren noticed that a serving girl, barely of age, was looking distressed. He shoved his chair back loudly so it clattered against the wall and then all eyes were on the Lannister Lord.

"Shut your mouths and let us start, Lord Frey, or we shall have to be reacquainted." Loren said coldly. "I did enjoy our last meeting."

Ryman swore, shoving the girl to one side and ignoring her as she ran away, getting to his feet. "You're a fucking butcher, Lannister. You can come off as all noble but you're a murderer like your Father and Grandfather before you." He spat on the floor. "And a traitor too it seems."

So the Twins was with Cersei, Loren realised. So be it. "You can wave your dick around later, we have business to attend to." Loren said firmly, not reacting to the insults to his family. "Lord Olyvar, my apologies."

Olyvar bowed his head. "Thank you, Lord Lannister. We are all gathered here as men and women who clearly do not like one another, but a greater threat has arisen. One that we need to band together to stop. To do so, we must come to an agreement on who shall lead us, or else the fractured Seven Kingdom's will all fall from our own squabbles."

He nodded over towards Jon Snow, who walked out of the room briefly. Whispers started up again, but they quickly stopped again as Jon, with the help of both Sandor Clegane and Ser Lyle Crakehall, dragged the wight into the room in chains. Loren winced again at the sight, noticing the gaping hole in its chest from the dragon's spike just before the rotting flesh on its body. The trio led it towards the high table where Jon took over the speech.

"This is a wight. A reanimation of the dead by some kind of spell from the White Walkers. They currently roam free North of the Wall, one hundred thousand strong and looking to add to that number. If we do not stop the Night King, this is the fate of every single man, woman and child that you know." He then held his hand out and a castle steel sword was placed in his hand. "Normal steel can't stop them." He readied himself and nodded, letting the two large Westermen relax their hold on the chains and allow the wight to rush at Jon. He skilfully split it in two, and Loren was horrified to see that both halves were still moving. Jon handed that sword back and reached over for a flaming torch. "We can stop them with fire." He announced, burning the legs. The wight offered out an ear-piercing shriek that rattled the glasses on the tables, causing Loren to press his ears with both of his hands to stop the noise. "And we can stop them with Dragonglass." He pulled out a midnight black dagger before he lifted up one of the wights arms and thrust the weapon deep into its heart.

Finally, the wight expired, but Jon made sure to take the torch once more and burn the torso, leaving no sound but the flickering of flames from both the corpse and the hearths. Olyvar then cleared his throat. "Thank you." He nodded to Jon. "Now you see why it is so important that we meet today to choose a ruler. We all know the claimants and until such a time that a ruler is announced we shall name them all as either Lords of Ladies to save arguments, but I will allow anyone a chance to name a claimant for the Iron Throne for us to discuss."

Cersei immediately got to her feet. "I am Cersei Lannister, anointed Queen of the Seven Kingdom's by the High Septon himself after the abdication and retreat of my daughter. I was Queen to one King, Regent to two, and I learned at the feet of the man who ran our Kingdom's for over 20 years while the Mad King neglected his duties. I am not a child with no experience of ruling, nor am I a foreign invader."

"A High Septon that was bought!" Loras Tyrell roared. "You name yourself a Queen, I name you a murderer!" That brought cheers and jeers from either side of that particular conflict.

Olyvar smashed his goblet down on the table, getting silence. "Enough!" He roared forcefully, and Loren was becoming more and more impressed with the Lord of Harrenhal. "We all have very valid reasons to hate one another but this is not the place to air them!"

Myrcella then stood up gracefully, before stepping up even further to stand on the table so everybody could see her clearly. "I am Myrcella Baratheon, the only living trueborn child of King Robert Baratheon and his rightful heir. I have not abdicated, I did not retreat. I fled for my life because Cersei Lannister would have had me murdered under false pretences. I hereby claim what is mine by birth right."

Whispers and light chuckles were heard by Loren, but one comment of "bastard whore" stuck out to him from the Stormlander table. Loren shot to his feet once again in outrage, followed by many of his bannermen. Lyle Crakehall was the closest to the Stormlanders and marched over there, picking up the scrawny Lord Selmy by the neck and slamming him on the table.

"You say that again, little man." Lyle snarled.

Swords were almost drawn from all corners when Jon Snow roared. "ENOUGH!" He was red with rage and was almost panting. "We haven't the time for this!"

"Jon is right." Shireen Baratheon said from her seat at the Stormlander table. "Lord Selmy, you will apologise to Lady Myrcella."

Lyle stepped back, allowing the now red-faced Lord Arstan Selmy to rub his hands over his neck and he looked angrily over at the still standing on the table Myrcella. "My apologies, My Lady. I fear the wine has got to me."

Myrcella looked almost bored, but Loren could sense the rage in her green eyes. She let out a small smile. "Take care with your goblet then, My Lord, we would not want to be dragging you out of here lifelessly drunk, would we?"

Loren smirked at the hidden message and was so proud of his cousin. He held out a hand to help her back down and into her seat. "Nicely done." He whispered.

"He's a shit." Myrcella muttered. "Ser Barristan, may the gods take care of his soul, was a hundred times the man."

The attention was finally taken away by yet another Stormlander however, as Lord Aemon Estermont rose to his feet. "My countryman worded it poorly, but it is a fine point to make. Would we vote for a bastard, or the woman who cuckolded our King with her brother? Not I, I would lay claim for the only Baratheon I name kin in this room. Shireen, of the House Baratheon. Daughter of King Stannis and the only true heir to King Robert!"

A few nervous cheers came from those around him, but Shireen immediately stood up and shook her head. "Your faith in me is flattering, Uncle, but I cannot claim the throne when I am pledged to another." She smiled nervously, and Loren felt bad for the greyscale scarred girl. "I withdraw my name."

Whispers went around the room once more, and finally all eyes moved to the table which housed the silver haired Targaryen. She stood up gracefully and said directly to Olyvar. "I am Daenerys, of the House Targaryen. The Mother of Dragons. The Unburnt. The Breaker of Chains." She listed off. "My rightful throne was usurped, my brother and I forced to flee. For years we lived on scraps fending off the Usurpers knives but now here I am, standing before you as a ruler in my own right. I am the Queen of Meereen, I united all of the Bay of Dragons and rid them of slavery. I birthed three dragons, bringing magic back into the world after so long without it. I am the fire that will win us the war against the Others, and I am the steady hand that will guide Westeros past this period of bloodshed into a new dawn." Once she had finished talking, she sat back down equally as gracefully as she got up.

Olyvar gulped, nodded, and then spoke loudly to the occupants of the hall. "Very well, is anybody else willing to stake a claim to the Throne?" Nobody said a word. "Then we shall move on to the voting. You each have different tokens. Square for Lady Cersei, a circle for Lady Myrcella, and a triangle for Lady Daenerys. You may place only one upon the correct stand." He gestured to his table where three wooden poles were in place. "If after the first round of voting no one candidate has over half of the votes, then the claimant with the least number is eliminated and we shall vote once more where the claimant with the majority of votes will be our Queen."

And so it began, the lengthy procedure of all of the Lords and Ladies gathered casting their votes. As Jon Snow was the only Northman in attendance he had produced a letter with the stamped seals of all the Lords and Ladies of the North claiming Daenerys as their Queen, while for the most part the Southerners only had their own votes to worry about. It was about three hours into it when Loren got to place his counter for Myrcella onto her pole, and he grimaced at seeing Daenerys ahead, though not by enough to win clearly.

The whole ordeal took two further hours, by which time it was clear to see that a second round of voting would be needed. Thankfully, Myrcella had the second highest number of tokens after Daenerys, meaning that Cersei Lannister would be eliminated. Of course, however, she took exception to that. "This is a folly. I am the anointed Queen and I hold King's Landing." She snarled at everyone. "If you wish to remove me from the Iron Throne then you will have to pry my corpse away." And with that she stormed off with her Kingsguard retinue, leaving everybody bemused.

"We will be serving dinner in an hour, My Lords and Ladies." Olyvar announced. "The second round of voting will commence mid-morning tomorrow. Please enjoy the hospitality of Harrenhal until then."

Loren really needed to piss, so he went to stand up and leave the hall for the first time in ages. "What are you doing?" He asked Myrcella.

Silly question, as Myrcella's gaze was locked to a certain Dornish Prince making his way over. "I shall meet you here for dinner, Loren." Myrcella smiled. Loren simply bowed his head, not thinking of anything else at that moment but relieving his bladder.

Many people had left the Hall of a Hundred Hearths, but there were still some faces of note that Myrcella could see around her. The Westerland contingent was now mainly Crakehall's, but all throughout the room she spotted some very important people. She spied Shireen Baratheon having a kind word with Myrcella's uncle Tyrion before the latter departed, closely followed by Jaime Lannister. Myrcella watched as Lord Rowan was engrossed in a heated arm wrestle with Baelor Hightower with the heir to Oldtown winning.

"What are you staring at?" Trystane asked her with a smirk.

"I'm just watching." Myrcella admitted. "Most of these people would have me dead."

Trystane scoffed. "Most of these people are pompous fools." He countered, gesturing over to the Riverlanders where Lord Karyl Vance and Clement Piper were fighting for the attention of some serving girl. "But a lot follow the Targaryen."

"And she won't want me around after she wins." Myrcella said quietly.

"If she wins." Trystane argued. "You have a chance now that your Mother is defeated. We can speak with the Crownlanders today, make them remember the Mad King…"

Myrcella scoffed. "Trys, I love your optimism, but be serious. We only have the West and Dorne. The North, the Vale and the Stormlands all voted for Daenerys, and more will follow now my Mother is gone." She sighed. "Promise me something."

Trystane angled his chair to directly face his wife. "Anything." He told her sincerely.

Myrcella noticed more people leaving the room, this time Shireen Baratheon and her guard. "Promise me that as soon as this is over, if we lose, you'll take me away. Hide me somewhere. You saw what the Stormlanders like today. I will not be used as propaganda for a Targaryen rule, nor will I be used as some rebel upstarts cause. Take me away to the Water Gardens, or Norvos. Anywhere."

Trystane looked surprised, but he nodded. "If the worst happens, then I will write to Mother, she will be delighted to meet you I am sure." He smiled. Myrcella returned the gesture before leaning in and capturing the Dornishman's lips with her own.

And then the entire room erupted in a green flash.

As Tyrion left the main hall he knew exactly where his Queen would be, and sure enough just outside the castle walls he spotted Daenerys with a large bucket of raw meat feeding the two dragons. They didn't look happy at the mere snack, but Tyrion could honestly say he didn't think he'd ever seen a happy dragon.

"We have won." He announced cheerfully.

Daenerys turned around, a cautioning look on her face. "Not yet."

Tyrion looked to the distance and noticed the faint figures of a wheelhouse and riders, Cersei. "Cersei is fleeing, Myrcella cannot hope to gain almost double her current support overnight. My Queen, the Seven Kingdom's shall be yours."

Daenerys didn't want to believe, he could tell. But she allowed a faint smile on her lips. "I did think to fly off now to King's Landing, take the Iron Throne while Cersei was away. But no, as satisfying as that is I know that it will take a war, not trickery, to win the people over truly." She threw some meat to Rhaegal. "Will your nephew follow me?"

"If you grant Myrcella her freedom then yes, without hesitation." Tyrion was sure. "Allow her to live in Casterly Rock, or stay in Dorne and Loren will…" The ground shook and a large boom almost deafened Tyrion as he was knocked onto his arse. Shaking himself off and getting back to his feet, he looked over at Daenerys who was also on the ground, staring back towards the castle in horror. Tyrion turned his gaze and saw the green smoke pluming over the outer walls. "Wildfire…" Tyrion whispered in horror. "She can't have…"

Without thinking, Tyrion ran back into the castle courtyard where people were screaming and crying all over the place. Almost immediately he came close to breaking down into tears as the fires bellowed. He heard Daenerys gasp beside him as she joined him, but then Tyrion saw something which horrified him even more.

Shireen was on the ground, her clothes darkened with soot and rubble and her head was bleeding. Running as fast as his little legs could carry him he got to her, pushing through a guard. "Let me through!" He roared, and he knelt before his wife. "Shireen…"

"She missed the worst of it." A guard panted. "But there were so many people…" The guard turned and vomited on the floor.

Tyrion wiped his eyes and started bellowing orders. "Take Shireen away to a Maester. Set up a camp outside the walls, we don't know how far this will spread." He then looked around at the gathering injured or survivors. "Get all the injured out of the castle and find as much sand as you can!" He barked.

People started moving, and Tyrion held his wife's hand as she was picked up by a guard and taken away, although he let go once he had re-joined his Queen, who was now with Jon Snow, Loren, and Loren's red headed Turnberry friend.

"Is she…?" Daenerys asked, fearing the worst.

Tyrion shook his head. "She still lives, for now." He said mournfully.

"Then she is lucky." Loren choked out, and Tyrion now noticed that he had tears streaming down his face. "Cella…"

"No." Tyrion cried as he realised, looking back at the burning keep.

"She was in there." Loren wept, before that turned to anger. "I will kill Cersei with my bare hands when I get a hold of her."

Lambert Turnberry placed his hand on Loren's shoulder. "We don't know what caused it."

"We do." Tyrion nodded. "Wildfire is produced in only one place that I know of in Westeros. And nobody else brought wagons upon wagons of supplies, placing them in a building next to the keep." He sighed. "Cersei did this."

Almost 2 and a half thousand miles away from the horrors at Harrenhal, Gendry Waters found himself stood atop the Wall lying watching. Around three days ago the horn had blown three times, and an army of corpses had stood in waiting. The entire Night's Watch had been repurposed to Castle Black, though that wouldn't make much difference given that there were only roughly around 500 men total left guarding the Wall.

Thankfully for Gendry Lord Commander Tollett had known that the Wall was doomed and had sent riders out to all of the major Northern houses in a hope to get the message across. The Wall was soon to be overrun and the dead were coming. That left those remaining to hold the inevitable onslaught off for as long as possible.

Gendry gripped his bow tightly. He was much better with the Warhammer on his back of course, but he was hundreds of metres in the air so a flaming arrow would have to do. Grimacing, he readjusted his stance and wiped the sweat off of his brow.

"Something's happening." One of his brothers said nervously, pointing out to the left slightly. Gendry peered over and sure enough, the crowd of dead were moving to one side to create a walkway. Watching carefully, Gendry spotted the Night King for only the second time in his life, although this was just as scary as Hardhome had been. Gulping, Gendry turned around and spotted the best archer out of those on the Wall.

"Fire at him. Just you." He commanded. How in the Seven Hells he was one of the more senior brothers he would never know, but fate had made it so and the men around him looked up to the Fleabottom born bastard. The archer did as asked, firing a flaming arrow out, though it just bounced off the Night King's armour. "Fuck…" Gendry whispered harshly. Wracking his brains, he ended up staring dumbfoundedly as the Night King simply held up one hand, and then dropped it again.

The Wights all charged at once. Gendry franticly looked from side to side at the scared faces beside him. "Ready the scythe!" He roared out. "Pick your targets and make sure you fucking hit them!" He lit his first arrow and fired out, watching as it hit a dead body. Whispering to himself, he started reciting the oath that he had made all those years ago as he prepared for the most important battle of his life. "Night gathers, and now my watch begins…"

And so we come to the end of Season 7/start of Season 8 and wow… a lot has happened!

The Night King obviously doesn't have a dragon this time so getting past the Wall will be more of an assault, but the Night's Watch have very few numbers at this point so it's only a matter of when.

The main event, however, was Harrenhal. Cersei may be mad, but she isn't stupid. She knew that she would lose and so went in with a contingency plan to destroy her enemies, though more on that next time…

I hope you all thought the chapter was good, as I think it's hard to enjoy something like this! Thank you all for reading.

Next Time: The survivors gather outside of Harrenhal to discuss the future, whilst Jon has an intimate chat with Daenerys inside the Harrehal Godswood…

Reviews:

McMysterio: I wasn't going to make it that easy for everyone with Cersei!

Mister LaGuardia: Quentyn wouldn't have lost his title, but of course that doesn't matter anymore and Dorne is going to be even more pissed. It's an interesting point about Loren and Robb.

WildK: Daenerys was the strongest given she had the Stormlands, North and Vale behind her at the start. I'm also standing by my numbers.

Supremus85: What Tyland was doing worked… for a time.

flame55: I'm not one to write fluffy stories so there was always going to be lots of death and anguish, though the North are rebuilding now for sure. I hope you liked this update!

MaesterDunn: We will see more of Cersei in the next few chapters, but I don't go into too much detail on her ruling style.

jimbo: Well I hope this explosive chapter excited you!

Jason Kreuger Myers: At this moment in time the only person who truly knows the truth about Tysha not being a whore is Jaime so I wasn't going to have anything relating to that because I don't think Jaime would want to tear his family apart even further.

BlackWatcher1234: She was always treated fairly by Loren so killing him wouldn't have come into her mind. She also doesn't want anything to do with House Lannister, so wouldn't plot to put Artos in as Lord of Casterly Rock. Sansa has had her revenge now, all she wants to do is live in the North in peace.