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Chapter 46: A Thousand Eyes & One
The Eyrie
Mya froze, meeting Jon's eyes as they were brought into the throne room of the Falcon Kings, she was petrified of what to say and what to do.
In her mind, in all of the planning she made on taking the Vale, she never once thought about the scenario of seeing Arthur or anyone belonging to the Northern Kingdom that might bring news to her husband that she's alive.
"Mya?" Beric asked after her, she nodded and got up from the throne to speak.
"... I am Mya Stone, Lady of the Vale." Revealing herself is inevitable now, she can't possibly keep Arthur from knowing she is alive and hasn't returned.
Realization dawned upon Jon, who looked at one of his companions then back to her. "You look good for a corpse in a tomb, Lady Mya Stark." The twin of her love said with slight anger, but mostly disappointment.
Attempting to steel herself, Mya took a deep breath then spoke to the guests under her roof. "I wish to know why you've come, Jon Snow?" She asked and Jon shook his head before answering her.
"Arthur sent me here to request aid in a war, the likes of which the Seven Kingdoms must face, together." She'll admit that the words piqued her curiosity as Arthur believed the North and Riverlands could face any force on their own, he even disagreed on getting aid from the Vale when Lady Catelyn urged her sister to act.
"As you see, the leadership of the Vale is new and I have yet to get oaths from those Houses who weren't here to liberate Robert Arryn from tyranny." She told the man who looked at her strangely, narrowing his eyes at her.
"It appears you failed in that, my Lady. Robert must be dead if you are the Wardeness, now." What she's done to seize power is a calculating one, she will answer those after she passes from this world.
She offered Jon and his people some rooms to rest, as they were being escorted she asked to speak to Jon alone as this must be done immediately. Her husband's brother's stare is as cold as his own, she never liked when Arthur looked at her like that.
"Please, do not tell Arthur I am alive. It's better for his heart that he believes I have died." She pled her case, emptying her worries unto someone- Someone who must know how Arthur might take this news, it would break him- Anger him.
Jon eyed her for a long moment. "He mourned you, fell into rage and despair because you 'died'. I will not lie to him, as he would not lie to me... And it's not that it will change what's happened since the Red Wedding." What he's done? What's Arthur done in the North since she had come to the Vale.
"What do you mean, Jon?" She asked and what he said both hurt and caused her much grief.
"Arthur, he's married again. Val of the Free Folk, now Val Stark, she is Queen of the North."
With that, Jon left to rest and she found a stool to sit upon and wept, mixed feelings finally breaking through the walls she's put up in the last many months.
She knew Arthur was doing well in the North, victories over the traitors Bolton and Frey, stopping and making peace with the Wildlings, then her uncles fall at the Dreadfort. A small piece of her heart yearned to one day return to Arthur, a fact the rest of her heart made impossible when she wed Robin and seized the Vale.
What worried her more was what Arthur will think when he learns that she is not just alive and well but in command of the Vale.
Jon sighed heavily, looking out to the vastness of the Vale, the mountains that they had been traveling through these last several weeks.
The brother to the King of Winter thought over the realization that Arthur's wife has been alive, that she's well and has risen to become Lady of the Vale. He knows Arthur needs to know about this, he needs to if he wants the Vale, North, Iron Islands, and Riverlands to stand against the army of the dead.
"Jon? Is this it, do we return now?" Tormund asked and he shook his head, wishing that it was that simple.
"I need to send a raven, let my brother know about the situation and then we speak with Mya and the Houses of the Vale about fighting the Night King." He told his friend, sitting down and finding a quill and ink for his raven scroll.
"Well, if that's the plan then you better eat. Just because you cheated death once doesn't mean you can do it again." Tormund jested before leaving, possibly to find some better ale than what they've tried since coming from White Harbor.
Walking to the rookery, he came across a pair of Vale knights and he stopped in his tracks. Attempting to turn back, he was met with two more knights and quickly concluded on the reason.
Mya Stone doesn't mean for Arthur to know of her survival, Jon closed his eyes for a second before unsheathing Longclaw and wouldn't be apprehended without a fight.
Castle Black
The horn blew upon the arrival of the King of the North and his family, some looking and disappointed when realizing that Jon Snow wasn't with the visitors.
However, this visit wasn't a random one but a sudden shift... Brandon is here, the last trueborn son of Eddard Stark.
Arthur was so shocked to hear of Bran's survival that he didn't care to bring his cloak, he even forgot Dusk and Grey Wind. He's alive, I haven't lost all of my brothers. The Dread Wolf was fit to burst with anxiousness and fear that this may be a dream, a jest by the Old Gods.
Sansa all but lept from her horse, joining him as he approached the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch who was sided by his advisors.
"Where is he?" That was all Arthur asked and Edd Tollett nodded before escorting him to the commander's chamber.
The King in the North thought heavily on coming to the Wall, the others and he were ecstatic and somewhat doubtful on the raven from the Night's Watch and on whether or not this Brandon was even who they say or just some lone Wildling that finally decided to join his people in the Gift.
Opening the doors for them, Arthur and his sisters walked in and gasped at the sight before them. The girl standing at Bran's side must have noticed the bronze and iron crown and knelt to one knee, his little brother simply looked at them for a long moment then smiled the smallest smile.
Sansa ran to Bran, wrapping her arms around the younger brother's neck which did nothing to change his expression.
"How did you survive out there?" He asked his little brother, still very much bewildered on Bran making it out in the wilderness of the far North.
Bran's lips lifted into a smirk, "Not without hardship, and loss." Loss, Arthur looked to the girl for answers which came quickly on an explanation, and frankly, it is almost impossible to believe.
His brother, Howland's children, Summer, and Hodor left past the Wall in search of the Three-Eyed Raven. They were captured by the mutineers of the Night's Watch, Jon later killed those men. They were hunted by Wight's and saved by Children of the Forest.
What was stranger was when Bran told him about his visions, how his ability to Warg became enhanced by the Three-Eyed Raven, an old man stuck inside of a tree, if it wasn't for Val telling him about his night-time walks then he might have not believed in it.
Meera Reed then talked about her brother dying, about the Night King's attack on them, and the deaths of the last Children, Three-Eyed Raven, Summer, and how Hodor held the dead back so she and Bran could escape.
"Bran, that's remarkable... You shouldn't have gone through such things like this, none of us should have." Sansa said with regret, he put a hand on her shoulders as a way to say he's forgiven anything that was done before the arrest of their father.
"What happened, if the Night King was hunting you then you wouldn't have been able to defend yourselves." He was curious, and on what the army of the dead's strength.
Bran sighed, looking to the fires before turning back to them. "Our uncle is alive, Benjen. He is a Wight, much like Jon is but turned by the Night King's magic." His little brother didn't wait before continuing, "You are not ready for him, and you have little time."
"I have some Lords from the Iron Islands joining us, I sent Jon to the Vale to treat with Robert Arryn and Arya to see her uncle at Riverrun- " Bran cut him off, shocking him with the use of his new abilities gained from the death of the old man.
"Not Robert Arryn, he has died. Mya Stone now rules as the Lady of the Vale. Arthur, three kingdoms cannot stop the Night King... We need all Seven to be united."
It came to him as more than a shock, it was like being struck by a charging destrier and made his chest heavy with grief.
"How is that possible, I saw her and felt her face. She was dead." He stated, and Bran shook his head no to the fact.
"You have been fooled, lied to... Just as you have been lying to Jon." His violet eyes widened to the words and Sansa looked at him, curiosity on her face.
Arthur didn't know what to say, apart from Bran being alive to Mya also walking amongst the living despite the sorrow and days he had mourned her, it's all so difficult to handle among one of the more pressing issues that might cause problems.
Bran's alive, so would the Lords of the North and Riverlands feel hard-pressed to have him abdicate to his little brother, who is by rights the Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.
Sansa followed him outside and yanked on his arm, he turned and met her fierce gaze. "I know this is all impossible but what did Bran mean by that? What are you hiding from Jon, from all of us?" He didn't want to say it, or speak in this place so he took Sansa's hand and took her somewhere more private.
"Listen to me, Sansa." He started and looked for eavesdroppers before continuing. "Everything I will say to you must remain secret, it is important that no one knows." He added and Sansa crossed her arms.
"I know, Arthur, I promise to not tell anyone." She swore and Arthur sighed, this wasn't the way that things were supposed to be.
"... The truth is, Jon isn't our brother, not my twin. He is the son of our aunt, Lyanna Stark, and her lover, Rhaegar Targaryen." Sansa was shocked into silence by the truth, she backed up and leaned against a wall and looked at the ground.
The Eyrie
The Sky Cell opened and Jon, Tormund, and several of their companions rose to meet their captors.
The resistance from three days ago might have gone better if Ghost was at his side, he had defeated those four knights and met up with a few dozen of his men, and got to the gatehouse and courtyard before they were surrounded by Mya's newly found soldiers.
Seeing that there was no way of escaping, he begrudgingly surrendered and he and his companions were then seized and escorted to cells with openings to a long way down to the ground.
He could've sworn the winds called to them, asking to jump to their deaths.
"You are all free to go home," Mya said, her eyes worn from exhaustion and tears.
"Why let us go, I assumed you would have us all killed, so Arthur wouldn't know." He wondered and Mya nodded, crossing her arms before looking right at him.
In her mind, she did consider it and almost immediately felt terrible as it wouldn't just affect her morality but Arthur would send armies in revenge as he would assume Robert Arryn had his brother murdered.
The Vale might be impregnable, but they also said the Mountain was unkillable until her husband did so. She doesn't want to put herself through that, nor the people that live here in the Vale of Arryn.
"I realized in these last two days that avoiding Arthur is impossible, and harming his brother would be a further plunge into his heart that I do not want to inflict." He understands that way of thinking, he wouldn't want that either.
"... He has to know, it's the only way the kingdoms of the Vale, Riverlands, North and Iron Islands can unite against what's coming." He said in one last effort to succeed in his mission here.
Mya took a deep breath, "Tell me what it is?" She asked and he told her everything, about the dead, about the Night King, he even showed her his wounds which had killed him despite it causing some to gasp in shock.
He expected her to not believe it, to say that it wasn't true and the monsters coming for them is nothing but a tale.
Instead, Mya looked him in the eye and said for him that she will speak with the Lords of the Vale on going to war with House Stark, Greyjoy, and Tully in stopping this threat.
After a day of better rest, some hot food, and more furs, Mya allowed them to leave back to the North.
"We will see you soon, my Lady." He told the Lady of the Vale who smiled warmly, cheeks red from the cold.
"You are free to tell Arthur, I will be coming to the North soon after meeting with my Lords and Ladies on the war." She said and he nodded, wishing there was a better way to go about this than what he has to do.
Moments later, he and his men were riding out of the gatehouse and down the path, perhaps he'll go through the Bloody Gate and ride the Kingsroad than going through the mountains and crossing the Bite to get to White Harbor.
AN: A Merry Christmas Chapter to you all (Or Happy Holidays if that's what you prefer). This chapter was short and I apologize for that, it should get going faster after the next update which should be on, before, or after New Years' unless I see another story being updated.
Again, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and the many others in my other works.
(OG Wulf) Thanks, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
(Guest) Yea, sorry about that. After the first chapter, I wanted to avoid triggering anyone further.
(SilverCrow) I'd like to develop Arthur and Edric's kinship, the younger did rescue him at the Twins. The couple are enjoying themselves very much, the milk names are good ones. A lot of tension will be in the air, when Mya and Arthur meet again.
(CEW) It is sad, more so when it's probably going to happen in the books. She is, enough to imprison Jon for a couple of days but her morals overcame her hurt feelings. The North and the Vale have been friends for a long time, let's hope it lasts. As for Dany, she will make her appearance soon.