Dany could hear them before she saw them. Several pairs of boots crossing over the light snow that had fallen overnight through the town. Surprisingly, it did not sound as if that many people had come ashore, but she did not know how many were on the ship either and doubted that many of the regular crew would have made the first journey.
Most of the villagers who were around had come closer to Willa's house to see what was to take place. For all the discussion about treating them like everyone else, nobody was about to not look on as Southerners came into the village. Dany had taken Rose from the table and into her arms. Whether or not she and Jon were currently speaking, she took up the more comfortable position of standing with her back to him and he brought his hands onto her shoulders.
So Tyrion came on a Stark vessel, Dany thought, sounds like there's a story in there.
The disembarked members from the Stark ship became visible moments later. Immediately, Dany recognized Tyrion amongst the dozen or so people. After which, she saw Ser Brienne with Podrick next to her, the marked red hair of Sansa Stark (Jon's hands gripped her shoulders tighter) and, surprisingly, Gendry Baratheon.
She vaguely remembered the other men who had come from her time at Winterfell, but could not remember any specific names or houses. To Dany now, that time felt like a complete whirlwind of ice and death. Jon, on their journey, had taught her the dozens of names of Northern houses, but she had no faces to put the names like Hornwood, Dustin, and Tallhart too. Had those houses survived? In her quest for the throne, Dany had never remembered to find out.
Soon, the small group had stopped before the congregation of Shadowedge villagers. Dany scanned over them, avoiding catching Tyrion's eye, before settling on Sansa. The redheaded woman's eyes widened at the sight of Jon; she looked surprisingly shocked and unsettled.
Briefly, Willa looked around at her cohorts before addressing the group. "Welcome to Shadowedge," she said, "We've been expec - "
"Jon!" Sansa exclaimed, the shock evident in her voice as well. She looked from him, to Dany, confusedly to Rose, and then back at Jon. He obviously heard, but Jon remained tight-lipped behind Dany, although his hands were now on the verge of crushing her shoulders.
"As I was saying," Willa continued while Dany shifted uncomfortably under Jon's grip to get him to loosen it, "We've been expecting you since we saw your ship yesterday. I hope you didn't have too much trouble mooring."
Dany shifted her shoulders again, dislodging Rose slightly and making the baby begin to fuss. Although it did what was intended and Jon released his grip, Rose started making frustrated noises and fidgeting in Dany's arms. Though she didn't cry often anymore, being moved from comfortable spots was one of Rose's least favorite things and Dany could see the meltdown brewing.
She did not have a chance to hear more of the conversation, but began whispering softly to Rose and attempting not to draw even more attention to them. "It's okay, Rosie. Mama just needed to move a little. It's okay enta, you just settle right back in. Mama's still got you," she murmured, bouncing her ever so slightly. The meltdown appeared to have been averted as Rose settled down in Dany's arms again.
"Sorry," Jon whispered almost inaudibly, "Is she okay?"
Dany nodded, refocusing, but the strange exchange of pleasantries seemed to have broken up.
"Come on," Jon said, placing a gentle hand on the small of her back, "We're meeting at Willa's."
It was as if her nightmare from the night Rose was born had begun to come true. Except Dany did not want to talk to Willa about goats, and only a piece of who could have been at the Great Council was there.
Willa had offered the Southerners a place to make up camp near the west edge of Shadowedge, right off the path Jon and Dany took home. While the dozen or so Northmen had gone to pitch camp or back to their moored ship to bring supplies and other people, Tyrion, Brienne, Gendry, and Sansa were now standing awkwardly in the healer's home.
They were staring around the modest one room home, taking in the eccentric sights that Dany had become accustomed to. Most of Willa's home was taken up by baskets (both woven and incomplete) growing an abundance of plants; a small table consistently strewn with herbs, barks, spices, and instruments; and a bed (feather, courtesy of Dany). She had a small fireplace as well, and a ladder in the center of the room that made walking around the home slightly annoying. Up the ladder was Willa's loft where she kept most of her drying herbs and an array of other odd things she had collected as payment for her trade. In particular, Dany enjoyed the collection of beads and fasteners Willa had up there, which sometimes made their way into her hair. She had offered repeatedly to put them in Dany's as well, but so far Dany had been resistant to the idea.
"Your Grace," Tyrion greeted as those inside caught sight of Dany. She heard chokes of laughter from both Tormund and Willa and was sure they were only thinking one word: "kneelers."
It felt strange to be addressed in this way, even uncomfortable, but Dany quickly figured it wasn't worth fussing yet and instead extended a similar greeting. "My Lord," she replied. She could feel Willa's eyes roll behind her.
"Is this…?" Tyrion trailed off as his hand extended towards Rose.
"Our daughter," Jon answered as he came up behind Dany.
The receipt of this information ranged from surprise, to shock, to acceptance, and lastly to Brienne, who simply knit her eyebrows together a little more tightly. Dany did not know Brienne of Tarth particularly well, but expected that very little reaction from her probably meant better news than if the information had phased her.
Sansa, who was looking the most shocked, spoke first. She did not sound cold and hard the way she had when last Dany had heard her speak, instead she sounded...there wasn't a particular word for it. Her voice had the brittle quality of cracked ice and her look of shakenness carried into it as well. "Jon," she asked, "How are you here?"
"You knew I was here," Jon told her.
Sansa shook her head. "We thought you had died," she said.
"But, you - "
"Wait," Willa butt in, cutting across Jon, "Aren't you here for Jon? If you thought he was dead, why did any of you come north in the first place? Wasn't it cold enough for you in the South?"
"Actually," Tyrion answered before Sansa could do more than open her mouth, "We came to speak to…"
He trailed off again, but had gestured at Dany. At this point, I don't know what to call myself in this situation either, she briefly thought sympathetically towards her former Hand. She found herself matching Brienne's face of serious expression and knit eyebrows at the insinuation. Why would anyone, particularly Sansa, be coming to speak from the South with her?
"Why do you need to speak to Dany?" Willa asked defensively, not giving anyone else time to respond.
Tyrion did not answer her, instead turning to Dany and taking a couple steps forward. He looked up, his scarred face grim. "We need your help," he said to her, "all of us."
"I think you'd better start from the beginning," Dany replied.
In a word, the Seven Kingdoms had become a stage of bedlam.
"The beginning," as it turned out, started on the night that Jon and Dany had disappeared into the darkness off the shores of Dragonstone.
The search for the missing Queen and the King in the North that ensued stretched through the night. Although the first thought from many of the Unsullied and the Dothraki after the fruitless effort had been that Jon kidnapped Dany, they were able to be pacified by a combination of Tyrion and Davos's efforts.
"We knew two things by the end of the search," Tyrion explained, "Or at least we thought that we did. We knew that the Queen would have never left willingly without her dragon. And we knew that Jon was too honorable to have participated in kidnapping. So we turned to the next option."
"So you did think Cersei had us initially," Dany said to him, "And that's why you started the siege."
"You know about the siege?" Brienne asked, speaking for the first time.
Jon shrugged. "Only that there was one. We heard it from a traveler in the Vale. And that King's Landing was destroyed from the inside by wildfire. We heard that before we left Sisterton. After that, the only news we found out was that you were taking part in the Great Council at the Citadel. We went past the Wall the next day." The coldness in his voice was gone, replaced by the interest that Dany felt as well. They were finally going to know the full story of what happened after they left. And the full damage, Dany thought darkly. Rose shifted in her arms again and it seemed to push the thought away. Whatever had happened, Rose had come from the choices she and Jon made that night. You are not a coward to trust your choices.
The interest in Jon's hints as to his and Dany's travels was palpable, but Tyrion remained undeterred. "That is why we started the siege," he said, launching back into his story.
They began only sieging the land side of King's Landing, and sent a messenger to arrange a parley between Cersei and Tyrion, who had taken on the commanding role in Dany's place. It was simple: release the King and Queen without harm and the city would be spared. They planned to backup the threat, as a message had been sent to Yara Greyjoy informing her of what had happened and asking her to bring her forces down to meet what was left of the combined naval power that had survived Euron Greyjoy's attack. Dornish forces were also called upon to come up and bolster the siege.
The messenger's head was returned.
To the forces outside King's Landing, this confirmed their suspicions: somehow, some impossible way, Jon and Dany had been taken by agents of Cersei and were imprisoned in King's Landing.
"Looking back," Tyrion said, "It doesn't seem as plausible. But with Drogon still at Dragonstone, we didn't think either of you had left willingly."
Guilt pierced Dany's stomach, but she pushed it away. "How did you get from half a siege to King's Landing being destroyed?" she asked.
Time. Tyrion explained that it took a month for the other forces to join up with the main siege. In that span of time, they had continued to just sit and wait at the edge of the city. Once every few days, they sent a message asking for the release of the King and Queen, but each message went unanswered.
It was at this point that Tyrion began to wonder if Cersei truly did not have them. After the flashy performance she had put on with Missandei, why did she suddenly stay holed up in the Red Keep? She had an obvious advantage, and yet never moved against them.
When the Iron Fleet arrived, the real planning began. Because all land access was cut off, the sea was the only way to travel or ferry in new supplies. Instead of a true siege, which most believed would be crushed by Euron Greyjoy, Yara began using sneaking attacks against the ships escorted by the Lannister, Greyjoy, and Golden Company forces.
Thinking they had complete control of the sea, the outgoing ships were considerably vulnerable. And, patiently, Yara and the rest of the ships began to pick them off. By sheer luck or simply because they knew what they were fighting for, it worked and their forces suffered very minimal damage as they sunk ship after ship after ship.
They worked in pairs, stationed all over the bay and just outside of it. A few times, enemy ships went out with the specific purpose of mounting an attack, and the fleet would outrun them and then melt away. As the attacking ships turned around without victory, another pair from Yara's fleet were always ready to meet them, and as Cersei's forces tried to return, they too were destroyed. It nearly became more treacherous just for ships to attempt crossing out of Blackwater Bay because of the number of sunken ships than for the risk of being attacked by Yara.
"Nothing else seemed to change though," Tyrion said, eyes unfocused as he remembered the events, "The Dornish joined up with us and we just stayed there waiting. It would have been suicide to attempt to enter the city and we were still hoping that eventually the smallfolk would get hungry enough to revolt. Until that morning."
It had started like any other morning in the two months of the siege. The commanding lords gathered together to discuss any developments, particularly news from the bay, and if anything had changed. Just as they were finishing, the ground shook underneath them.
They ran out of the meeting tent to find soldiers gaping at the remnants of what had been a sudden green blast. King's Landing was beginning to smoke. Immediately upon this recognition, more blasts shook them. Green flames licked through the city as those outside could only stand and watch in horror. Screams began to resound, heard even outside on the siege line.
Davos was the first to find his voice. "Get the people out!" he had shouted, "They'll burn alive!"
Soldiers jumped into action, everyone ran in different directions. Men mounted their horses to ride to the other parts of the siege and relay Davos's call. The gates of the city wall burst open in moments as hundreds upon hundreds began running out, trampling over the confused guards who did not know whether to run or stay at their post as the city burned in ruin.
More blasts went off throughout the city, blowing huge chunks of stone and blazing flames every way. The outside forces scrambled to gain control of the crowd and stop a stampede. Others had ridden and began driving carts to Blackwater Rush to fill buckets and canteens with water under the guidance of their commanders.
Meanwhile, those closer to the bay had been fleeing in fishing boats and scrambling to get onto any vessel they could. The smallfolk overran the ships' crews, forcing ships to disembark with no plan in mind. Blackwater Bay was becoming overrun, and the guerilla fleet, which had seen the discharges of wildfire, made the decision to head into the bay to save any people they could
The crowds became reasonably controlled until the survivors of the detonation zones began emerging. People badly burnt, and some still on fire, dispersed into the crowds. They set others ablaze as they ran, starting new fires and causing panic ensue.
"Let them pass!" was the call echoed on all sides as chaos began to take hold again. The hope of gaining back any control disappeared, replaced with the stench of burning flesh and the blood-curdling screams of five hundred thousand people.
Those who had water tried to douse the people still on fire and help them, but there were too many as more and more burning people spread throughout the crowd.
Still more explosions of wildfire came from within the city as the siege forces began a disorganized retreat, unable to do much more than run to save themselves from the carnage. It was during this retreat that the final explosion of wildfire went off and Tyrion, along with so many others, turned to witness the destruction of the Red Keep, virtually incinerated in a cloud of flame and dust.
Twenty-three chapters later, here's the other side of the story. I ended up splitting the chapter up, as there was a natural break and it just seemed enormous as one chapter for this kind of writing.
The next chapter will explain more, and hopefully the next few chapters will answer a lot of the questions you all have had and that you may have with the end of this one. Until next time.