Enjoyably watching the snowfall from the lean-to turned into taking cover in the house as the temperature plummeted and the wind picked up. Night set on a bitter world of ice and frozen rain and Dany and Jon brought Ghost into the house.
Even with the big direwolf sleeping by her side, Dany's dreams were fraught with anxiety. She dreamed that she walked into Willa's house in Shadowedge, only to see that the entire Great Council from the Citadel at Oldtown had come up to meet there. Sansa was particularly loathe at the sight of her.
"You come in here and you didn't even bring any Mereenese chairs? How could you have forgotten that you were supposed to bring chairs?" the redheaded woman demanded.
Dany tried to splutter that Sansa was ridiculous for assuming that. And that she had only come to Willa's house to ask what trees goats liked to eat. Then, the scene melted away.
Dany was flying over a forest towards a sea of ice. Lowering, she nearly skimmed the tops of the trees. Right in front of her, a little clearing with a plume of smoke just visible in the midst of the blizzard caught her eye. She slowed, smelling faint fire and earthy scents under a mountain of snow. Then she flapped higher, and continued towards the sea. She was hungry. Her stomach ached. It hurt a lot actually…
"Ah, ah," Dany cried, shooting up in bed. She held her swollen belly, which felt hard to the touch, trying to breathe slowly in...and back out. The wave of pain began ebbing away and she kept taking organized breaths until it abated.
Outside, the wind was howling through the trees as if trying to whistle but only pushing the air harder and harder. Dany looked around the dim house, wondering if it was nighttime or dawn. The fire had gotten very low and smoldered faintly. Her gaze came to rest on Ghost, who was sitting up, wide awake, and eyeing her curiously. His single ear was back a little and Dany briefly wondered if he felt worried about the storm.
Offering him her hand, Dany whispered to the direwolf softly. "Hey, boy. Come here," she beckoned. He reached forward and licked her hand once before getting up to put his head in her lap and whining quietly. Gently, he sniffed at her, nose coming to rest on her stomach. His ear swiveled forward intently and he whined as Dany felt the pain starting again and her stomach tightened once more.
"Ah," she hissed again as the pain worsened, similar to what woke her up, but different to what she had been feeling over the past few days.
Is this it? Is it happening? "Jon," she whispered bracingly after it had eased off again, poking at the sleeping Northman next to her, "Jon, wake up."
"Hmm - wha - whassrong?" Jon slurred, blinking his eyes open. They stayed glazed with sleep and he yawned enormously as he tried to focus.
"I think it's the baby," she told him.
At this, Jon became fully alert, virtually springing out of the bed. "What? Our baby? Is it coming now? Right now? Are you okay? What do you need?"
Jon asked these questions at a speed that matched the wind howling outside and it took Dany a moment to process all he had said as she watched him frantically turning in each direction. He stopped, though, when she didn't answer immediately, his face panicked.
"I - I don't know," she said, her tone unsure, "I got woken up. It just hurt...different than before." Maybe I'm just overreacting from the dreams.
Her body answered her doubts, however, as another contraction started in her back and rippled through. She winced, clutching her stomach and Jon hurried forward to crouch next to her, his hand beginning to rub gentle circles on her back.
"Easy, Dany, easy," he said in a low voice, "Just breathe."
The wind screamed again outside as they breathed together. Trees shuddered and Dany heard the snap of branches being ripped from their trunks. Jon stopped rubbing circles as the contraction ceased. "I need to go get Willa," he murmured, as if the idea wouldn't sound so bad when said quietly.
"What? No!" Dany exclaimed, looking at him horror-struck.
"Dany, we can't expect her to go through that storm alone. We need her here. You need her here. I have to go get her!"
"You promised you wouldn't leave me!" she insisted, "I need you here! More than anyone else!"
He started to pull on his outer clothes, face set with determination.
"Jon Snow," she said savagely, "if you leave me here alone and go into that storm I swear to every god that watches this world I will - " She broke off abruptly as another contraction came, this one more painful than before. Instinctively, Jon stopped what he was doing to come back to her side, his hand returning to her back again.
"Please," she said fearfully between breaths, "Please don't leave. I need you. Here."
The sight of another contraction seemed to work in her favor and Jon nodded. "Okay," he agreed, "I'm sorry. I won't leave."
"Tell me another one," Dany said. She and Jon were slowly pacing the house for the fourth time that hour. A thin sheen of sweat coated Dany's body. Her contractions growing closer together and more painful. Jon had begun trying hide hisses of pain from each time she gripped his wrist with a surprising amount of strength for such a small person. She had shed her trousers, finding them uncomfortable, and was wearing just her shirt, which had started to cling with the light sweat on her body.
"Okay," he started, thinking for a second, "Once, there was a crannogman from The Neck that attended a tourney. Though grown, he was small in stature and became the target of three squire bullies who served knights in the tourney. He lost his weapon against them, and was facing certain defeat, but then a she-wolf came and saved him. She brought him back to her den, cleaning his wounds and introducing him to the rest of her pack: the wild wolf, the quiet wolf, and the pup. At the feast that evening, the crannogman and the she-wolf recognized the bullies and who they served. One served the pitchfork knight, one the porcupine knight, and one the knight of two towers. But, even though he was encouraged by the pack, the crannogman was torn about avenging himself by besting the squires' knights. He hadn't the skill, and did not want to bring any more shame unto his people and himself."
He broke off as Dany's grasp closed tightly around his wrist again while she sucked in a sharp breath and held her other hand to her belly.
"They're getting worse," she said through clenched teeth, her eyes scrunched up. It had been three hours since she had woken up from the first contraction.
Jon stroked her hair with the hand that wasn't being crushed. "I know. Just breathe, Dany, you're doing really well. Do you want to sit back down?"
She nodded, relaxing her grip on him slightly, and he guided her back to the bed, helping her to sit comfortably with her back against the wall and her pillow supporting her.
"Where was I?" Jon asked himself, preparing to continue his story as he started rubbing Dany's belly, "Oh, yes. During the next two days, the bully squires' knights each won in jousting. But then, a mystery knight came along on the second afternoon. He was short, with mismatched and ill-fitting pieces of armor and a shield emblazoned with a weirwood tree that had a laughing face. The knight defeated all three of the other knights, winning their horses and armor. When the defeated knights asked for their property back, the mystery knight asked in a booming voice that they teach their rude squires honor as ransom. Immediately, the defeated knights chastised their squires sharply.
"Other people wanted to unmask the mystery knight, and were determined to beat him in the tourney. But the next day, he had disappeared. Though many men were sent to search for him, he was never seen again. All that was found of him was his shield, abandoned in a tree."
Another contraction had come during the end of Jon's story, and Dany cried out from its intensity. Her body broke out in a sweat that left her feeling cold and there was a loud cracking noise outside.
Crash! It sounded as though a great tree had been ripped straight out of the ground by the wind fallen right into the clearing.
What if one falls on the house? Dany thought briefly through the pain as one contraction ebbed away and another started almost immediately.
"You're doing - " but before Jon could finish his statement, a great gust blew past and threw their door open, nearly blowing it into the house. Snow began to drift in and they could see how dark it was outside even though it had to be daytime by now. Jon quickly hopped off the bed and, with great effort, pulled the door shut again before hastening back to Dany, still in the midst of her contraction. A trickle of water ran down her legs.
"It's okay, Dany," he said, stroking her hair again, "You're doing really, really well, my love. Just breathe...in...and out." Her hairline had become wet with sweat, her face agonized.
"It - hurts - Jon," she told him desperately, "It - hurts."
"I know, Dany, I know," he soothed, now tracing her face as she fractionally relaxed and was given a slight reprieve from the contractions, "But you're doing it, Dany. You're really doing it! You're the strongest person I've ever met."
She barely managed a smile at the compliment before the next contraction came and she cried out. They're getting even worse, she panicked, How can I do this? Jon stiffened at her cry, hand stuttering over her face, and Dany felt her gut wrench somewhere deep behind the pain, realizing how hard this must be for him to watch and wait out, unable to do anything but let it happen.
The door was flung open again, but before Jon could get up someone else heaved it closed.
"It's. R-r-really. Cold," Willa stated once she turned around. Her clothes seemed to be frozen stiff on her body and her face had minuscule icicles decorating her nose and eyelashes.
Jon looked at the healer open-mouthed, while Dany managed a few words through her grimace. "Nice...of you...to show up," she breathed before another contraction had her cry out again.
"Nearly got blown to Thenn," she replied idly, shedding her outer layer and gloves. Surprisingly, none of her clothes crunched with ice.
Rubbing her hands together for warmth, she wasted no time getting straight to work, sitting near Dany's legs and taking a look.
"Seems I've gotten here on time to do some work, though. Good timing on your part - just don't break your man's hand, all right? I prefer having only one patient to deal with at a time." She patted Dany's leg encouragingly as another contraction came on.
Jon began stroking her hair again with the hand Dany wasn't ferociously gripping. As the contraction subsided, he leaned down next to her. "Are you ready?" he asked softly.
No. She was terrified. But she nodded, knowing she had no choice, and weakly turned to Jon to find some vestige of strength in his grey eyes. He smiled at her and kissed her hairline.
"Okay," Willa said, "When I tell you to push, you'll do it through your contraction. Then you can rest. Then it will start up again, okay?"
Dany nodded again and she felt Jon's hand squeeze around hers in encouragement. "You can do this, my Dany. I know you can," he murmured, bent close to her ear.
Her contraction came and distantly, she heard Willa tell her to start pushing.
With all the energy Dany had, she did as she was told. The pain was unimaginable. It dropped the world out of focus and she could feel tears spring from nowhere and run down her face as she cried out, gripping Jon's hand with as much force as she was pushing.
Far away, Willa told her to relax and Dany obeyed, chest heaving with the effort she had just put forth. She had to do this again? She felt like she barely had time to think before Willa was telling her to push again.
And again.
And again.
They continued to go through the same motions more times - Dany lost count - each time worse than the last. The house shook with an enormous gust of wind and she heard another tree fall as she was trying to relax again. She was too tired to wonder if the house would get crushed anymore.
Jon continued stroking her hair as Dany felt another contraction come on and heard Willa's direction once more. Her cries mixed with the howling wind from outside and she felt a burning sensation, vaguely noticing that Jon, though still clutching her hand, briefly left her side and Willa had told her to stop pushing.
"Wow," she heard him breathe in disbelief. He moved back up to her side as Dany tried to work past the burning.
"W-what?" she panted, waiting for Willa's direction again.
"The baby's head," Jon replied proudly, "You're nearly there, Dany. You're nearly there. I love you so much."
"Okay, Dany, you can do this," Willa said as Dany felt another contraction coming. "Come on," she encouraged, "You can do this - push now."
Summoning all her strength again, Dany pushed through the terrible burning. Distantly, she heard Willa tell her to stop as the burning began searing and felt Jon brush her sweaty hair more saying, "Nearly there."
"That's it, Dany, push again," Willa said evenly, "You're so close!"
Dany listened to her, crying out with the effort and managing to drown out the wind. Her ears rang and she felt tears streaming down her face and then…
The pressure changed and she heard a baby cry. Willa made a strangled sort of laugh and Dany watched as her baby was lifted away from her legs. Instinctively, her arms stretched out and Willa placed the baby on her chest.
"It's okay, baby, it's okay," Dany crooned softly to the crying child in her arms, pain forgotten for a moment, "Mama's here."
She looked up to Jon to see that he had tears rolling down his cheeks as he stared, awestruck, at what he was witnessing.
"Our daughter," he choked out as if he could not believe his own words.
"Our daughter," she repeated, looking down at the perfect life on her chest and marveling how she had not always been there.
Welcome home, little one.
So, just in case because I can't remember if it was in the show, The Knight of the Laughing Tree is a real story from ASOIAF. It's one of my favorites and I thought it drew a nice parallel from the potential origins Jon's future conception to now the birth of his own child. This was a very fun chapter to write, and I hope I at least was able to make it mildly authentic from Dany's perspective.
"Jelmāzmo" means "Stormborn" in High Valyrian.
Until next time.