Surprise! I'm thirty minutes early!
I didn't think I'd be done by now but work was slow today. Not gonna sit on this any longer so enjoy! Gotta say thank you for all of my ever-growing followers; you motivate me beyond words! Also to all of those who always leave comments, your words inspire me and keep me working hard to give you better chapters!
"Your Grace," Daenerys stood before Sansa on her wooden direwolf throne, and before a court of Stark Bannermen and others loyal to Sansa's throne. On Sansa's left was Ayra and off to the right was Jon and Davos. Not far from Daenerys herself was Tormund and a few other of her clansmen; making sure that she was safe, "Being Queen suits you."
Sansa glared at Daenerys as she stared at her dragon inspired crown and pretty summer dress; she was dressed as a queen for sure but she didn't see her as one. She sat there impatiently, fingers tapping on the arm of her throne, "Flattery will not get you anywhere; so I suggest you start saying what you came here to say."
Daenerys looked out to the crowd of people who stood in the room, "For those who don't know me my name is Daenerys Snowborn of the House Targaryen, Queen Beyond the Wall, the Reborn, Sister of the Keep and Mother of Dragons."
"Dragon." Sansa corrected her.
"My children will be dragons," Daenery told her, her hands over her now visible belly, "And wolves. You may not like it any more than I do but we are all family now. We need to come together as a family to build a better world."
Sansa clasped her hands together and rested them on her lap, "The North kneels to no one."
"I'm not asking you to, nor did I come here to bend the knee myself. I come before you today," Daenerys smiled, her hands over her chest, "To ask for your forgiveness."
Sansa was taken back by her words, "Forgiveness?"
"Yes. Its the only way we can move on from the past and look towards creating a better future for everyone. The last time I was here I made many, many mistakes. Daenerys Stormborn made more mistakes and hurt more people than I could ever hope to make up for, but I swear to you that person is not me." Daenerys faintly smiled as she looked around to the people, "I work hard every day to make a better world for my people, to try and amend for the horrors of my past, but The Southern King, Bran the Broken, still thinks I'm the monster I was before. He has sent men twice to come to kill me. What kind of Queen am I if I don't stand up for myself and try to make things right." As she looked back at Sansa, Daenerys held her head high, "I won't let any more blood spill in my name."
Sansa sat in silence for a moment, her eyes drifting from Daenerys to Davos, "Why would my brother try to kill a pregnant woman?"
"He doesn't know," Jon replied for him.
Arya looked at Jon, "He has his sight, what do you mean he doesn't know?"
"I had my men burned down our weirwood trees," Jon explained, and the Northerners gasped at the idea of the tree's they worshipped being destroyed, "It's how he could keep his eyes on us but not beyond the Narrow Sea. It had to be done, to keep us safe."
"You and I are similar, Your Grace," Daenerys tried reasoning with the Stark Queen, "We will both do whatever we can for our families, and our people. You may think I'm standing here asking for your forgiveness just to try and wipe clean the mistakes of my past but that's not true. You and I know that I'm not the kind of person who begs for the things that I want, but I'm not here asking you to protect Daenerys Snowborn. I don't care about my own safety. I am only here asking you to protect your niece or nephew, and I will do whatever it takes to keep this child safe."
When Sansa didn't reply, Jon took a step out from where he stood next to Davos, "Sansa, we have to stand together. No more fighting, no more wars; just peace. Our future depends on it. Our House's depend on it. Both Stark and Targaryen."
She took in all of their words but did not reply. Instead, Sansa looked around the room at all of her Bannermen who were not whispering amongst themselves as they too tried to figure out where or not they trusted the words of this new Daenerys. With hands raised to her mouth and her eyes closed shut, Sansa thought about everything she had learned, and what her next move must be.
"When the snow falls and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies..." Arya repeated their father's words as she looked out to Daenerys, then down to her sister.
"But the pack survives," Sansa finished her sentence with open eyes glancing down then looking back up to Daenerys, "For my families sake, I want to believe you've changed-"
"All I'm asking for," Daenerys smiled, "Is the chance to show you that I have."
Sansa stood up and walked closer to Daenerys; who could see her men tense up and reach out for their weapons. Daenerys raised her hand to stop them and let the Northern Queen approach her. Now only an arms reach away, Sansa inspected Daenerys with her eyes; looking back to Jon and Arya, then back to Daenerys with a slight smile. "You've done many things I don't agree with, but you have also done and given up a lot more for my brother and my House. We should have loved each other more, back then, but we've been given a chance to make things right. A chance for both our House's to survive, and to thrive," Slowly, she reached out for Daenerys's bump, and she could see Sansa's frustrations fade away. Sansa looked up at Daenerys and both girls smiled, "If we cannot do this for us, then we must for our future. I will give you that chance, for our family."
After the meeting was over, Sansa let Jon, Daenerys, and their clansmen go. They were packing up their horses for their long trip back to the Fist when Sansa, Arya, and Davos came to see them off. Jon nodded at Tormund to go ahead, and give his family a moment to say their farewells.
"Will you come back?" Sansa asked them, "For another visit, I mean."
"We'd like to once the baby is born." Daenerys smiled as she went in to hug Sansa goodbye.
Jon went in for a hug next, "You're always welcome at Snowhome, Sansa."
"I'll be coming to visit soon. I have some things I have to do before I can, but I'd like to see what the Freefolk have built," Arya smiled as she hugged her brother and new sister goodbye, "I've never been Beyond the Wall before."
"You're always welcome in Snowhome as well, Arya." Daenerys smiled as she let the girl go. Jon looked at his wife and nodded for her to go ahead, and Daenerys walked away to join Tormund at the horses.
Once she was out of range Sansa spoke again, "Do you think he knows now; that you've come all this way to see us?"
"If Davos was right about Bran's obsession with Daenerys and Drogon," Jon replied while watching Daenerys mount her horse, "I'm sure he has eyes on us as we speak."
"What does that mean for you?" Arya asked him.
"I don't care who he sends to hurt my family," Jon turned back to face his sisters, "I will defend my people and my wife from anyone that Bran sends. I know he's our brother but-"
"If the rumors about his change are right; he might not fully be our brother anymore," Sansa sighed, "You're right, we only survive together."
"I guess time will tell." Jon looked at both his sister and nodded at them before heading over to Daenerys and the rest of their clansmen.
"Jon," Sansa called out for him, making him turn back, "Father would be proud."
"Yes," Jon smiled, "Of all of us, I'm sure of it."
Jon caught up to the rest of the Freefolk and mounted his horse. Tormund whistled and the men headed out of the gates of Winterfell, Daenerys leading the way. Jon watched as the people moved forward, and looked back one more time at his childhood home and his sister. He could see Sansa whispering something in Davos's ear. Seconds after, he could see Davos head off. Jon turned away, not thinking much about it and started to follow after his clansmen.
No more than five minutes after he started to ride away, he could hear Davos call out his name, "Jon!"
Jon turned around and could see Davos riding out to meet him, "Davos?"
"Your Grace, I'd like to join you," Davos asked of him, "That's if you have space Beyond the Wall for a smuggler like me."
"I thought your fealty lied with my sister?" Jon smiled.
"Those girls don't need the advice of this tired, old man," Davos joked, "But you, my friend, need all the advice you can get."
It had been a week or so since they had returned from Winterfell. Davos had settled in as Jon's right-hand man, and Jon spent a lot of time discussing improvements for Snowhome and the surrounding clans and settlements with him. With Tormund and Davos at his side, Daenerys joked that he was starting to form a council of his own. Jon didn't want it to feel like he was ruling the North in the same way a Southern king would rule, but having men help him make the big decisions helped remove the pressure of being King. Meanwhile, Daenerys was spending some time at Widow's Keep. She wanted to get a better feel of what motherhood was going to be like; since she truly hadn't gotten the chance to experience it before. Her belly had grown a lot over their month-long return to Snowhome, and the more along she grew the more nervous about being a mother she seemed to become. Jon didn't mind her spending some time away, knowing that the Keep was somewhere she felt at home and that Rosemary would without a doubt keep her safe. After all; Tormund had gone with her as well, so he knew she'd be fine.
Davos and Jon were taking his daily stroll through Snowhome; admiring its growth, as one of his clansmen approached him. "King Crow, a letter from the East." The clansmen held up a letter for Jon to take; on it the seal of House Targaryen.
Jon took the letter slowly, "That's my families sigil," He glanced at Davos before he started opening it.
"You said East, correct?" Davos doubled checked with the clansmen.
"Of course, a rider from Hardhome brought this as quickly as he could," The clansmen explained, "Said it was delivered by someone traveling from... Nathe?"
"Naarth?" Davos correct the clansmen.
"Yeah, there." The clansmen corrected himself then walked away.
Davos looked back to Jon, who has a pale look on his face as he read the letter, "What does it say?"
Jon faced the letter towards Davos to reveal the red; almost blood stained looking, message that was written in large letters. Jon gulped as he repeated its words, "It says Queenslayer."
Just wanna say a quick few words how I'm writing the Stark sister, mainly Arya: I feel like both of them, especially Book!Arya, are much more 'family over everything' then portrayed on the show. I like to think that both of them would not do things that would jeopardize their family and take great pride in protecting each other. After all, Sansa did bring her whole army down with her after finding out that the Unsullied took Jon prisoner.
Also to anyone who might feel my Daenerys is being OOC; Dany is PREGNANT if you think she 'mama-bear'ed her dragons how do you think she's gonna be when people are coming for her ACTUAL baby? I'm not trying to say I was getting hate I just feel like we gotta consider that Daenerys is not dumb enough to act out in a way that'll put her baby in danger. Especially after losing Rhaego.