Maya's fingers twisted the white handkerchief in her hands repeatedly as she watched them ready for war. She stood from the balcony and was not allowed to leave since she was with child.
Maya felt Jaime's hand touch her shoulder and he whispered, "This is for the best. I can't risk your life especially when you have our child inside of you."
"If I lose this child to protect our own then I will be okay because then we can have another," she said simply.
Jaime looked at her in shock and scoffed at her. She could see the disgust written over his entire face in the corner of her eye. "We could have another? You talk about the life inside of you as if they have no value. You talk the possibility of a miscarriage as if you're talking about changing your gowns, Maya. You're with child, and you can't change that. It's bad timing for us, I know, but it doesn't change anything. It's not a burden."
"Yes, it is," Maya shouted at him. "You don't have to carry it inside of you, Jaime. I am a fighter and I want to fight to protect the family I have now. I will never forgive myself if I don't fight. He wants our boy. He wants our girl, Jaime. He's got over a hundred thousand men and a dragon. We need everyone."
"I will never forgive myself if I let you fight and I lose you. I need you, Maya, our children need you."
"They need you to, Jaime," she countered. "I'll be a widow if you die and be forced to remarry just to keep our family alive."
"Unless you name yourself the Queen," Jaime reminded her.
Maya shook her head and turned to look at him. "I don't want to be queen. Besides Daenerys has already named me her heir and even then Hope will be Queen after I am gone."
"Daenerys wants to see me dead."
"Another name to add to your list of enemies then?"
Jaime smirked. "I fought for my family as does everyone else and yet I am deemed a mom eater for it. How odd the world is."
"I suppose. We will need to distract the Night King away from our children especially Leonardo. Lead him one path, but put our son in the other path. He will come." Maya told him. "Has there been any nightmares for him?"
"I don't know. He doesn't tell me anything anymore," Jaime chuckled. "He says that he needs to fight his own battles. That I can't protect him from everything."
"I wonder who said that," Maya teased.
"Our daughter becomes more like you every day," Jaime mused and kissed her head. "Quite fiery and yet icy. I think it's best if you stay here in the crypts."
"You can't keep me away," Maya reminded Jaime. "Keeping me from harm's way won't do anyone any good. I won't stay in the crypts either. I need to fight."
"I can't take the chance with you," Jaime told her. "We have no idea which one of you he will go after first. Hope, Leonardo, Bran, or you...we don't know anything except that they are coming with armies larger than our own."
"It would be easier for him to get us if we are all together," Maya explained urgently to him as she strapped on a sword to her belt.
"Just as easy as him sending one of those things to aduct each and every one of you while he keeps us distracted," Jaime countered. "I am not going to risk any of my family's lives."
Maya huffed angrily and strode to the door. "Well, you can't stop me from fighting, Jaime. You're not the King."
When Maya opened the chamber door, she froze as she saw the seven guards standing outside their chambers. Maya bit her tongue hard, trying to control her anger before she faced Jaime.
"You're right," Jaime began. "I'm not the King, but Jon is. Daenerys is the Queen as well if you want to pull that card with me. Both of them agree with me. I understand feeling useless and the frustration that comes with it. You want to help. Seven hells, you Northerners have been training for the day the dead come knocking on our doors once again. You're pregnant, Maya. I can't lose you because you want to be the hero."
Maya stared coldly at him for a moment then looked to the seven guards. She shook her head as she saw Brienne standing there. "You support this then? My captivity."
"You're are one of the best fighters here and you know it," Brienne told her. "But yes, I agree. You won't be alone. You will have Tyrion and Lady Sansa with you along with your children. I'm sure that they will be frightened and want their mother with them."
"My children are strong," Maya reminded her. "They don't need me. They understand what's at stake."
"Do they?" Brienne questioned. "As far as I know, they know that the dead are coming. They don't know what it means. They didn't grow up with those tales like your family did."
"Until those things are defeated then you are confined to this room. You will stay in the crypts with our children. Winter will stay beside you as well," Jaime told Maya.
Maya stormed past him, silent and guarded. She ignored him as she sat on the bed. "It's for the best, Maya. If something happens to you or our children...I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. You are my life and my reason for breathing. It will give us a peace of mind."
Maya watched from the window as everyone started to prepare for the dead's arrival to Winterfell. Jaime told her that already House Umber had already fallen. There was a dark cloud looming over the castle as time grew quicker than they wanted it to. She felt her daughter tug on her sleeve to get her attention.
Maya looked down at her and smiled widely. "I need you to keep my secret, okay, Hope?"
Hope nodded and then looked to her brother who sat by Winter, tugging the rope from her jaws. Maya turned her face back to her and quietly said, "No one can know what I am going to do. Don't tell your brother. He will just tell someone else. I won't be there with you all in the crypts. I am giving you dragonglass to protect him and the others."
Hope nodded and Maya discreetly handed her the dagger, smiling at her. "They are called white walkers and you must stab them with this or burn them in order to kill them. Anyone with blue eyes like them must die even if they are someone you used to know. Your aunts, uncles, your brother, your father...even me. You see blue eyes, you kill them. They are not the person you used to know. You've survived everything bad in the world, Hope and that's why I'm giving this to you. You're stronger than you will ever know and no one can take that from you."
Hope jumped into her mother's arms and wrapped her own around her neck, holding tightly onto her. It felt as if her mother was saying goodbye to her. Hope held back her tears as they hugged each other. She almost told her mother that she loved her. She would always love her.
"I love you. Always and forever, remember?" Maya asked her as they pulled away, she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You protect everyone down there, my silent hero. Silent, but deadly."
Hope nodded and wiped her eyes on her sleeves. She sniffled and nodded again.
"Why are you both crying," Leonardo grunted as his feet slid across the floor, trying to pull the rope from her jaws. Winter growled and gave one tug causing Leonardo to fly across the floor, hitting the wall. Winter ran over to him and sniffed his body, licking his cheek.
He pushed her away. "I am fine, Winter! Gods, I'm okay!"
Leonardo had grew taller and talked more whenever Hope was around. Winter always sat by his side and every once in a while, Maya saw a crow with three eyes watching over her son. Leonardo stood up and wiped down his pants. "One day, I will win."
Winter howled and banged her head against him. Maya laughed and shook her head. "You think you can defeat her? She's seen many wars and still she walks."
"She's only got one eye which means she lost to someone."
Maya frowned. "Your Uncle Robb didn't approve of my marriage and love for your father."
"Why?"
"Because your father was a different man back then," she explained. "He wasn't all that nice. He hurt your grandfather because your grandmother took your Uncle Tyrion as prisoner because she was informed that he was the one who tried to kill your Uncle Bran."
Leonardo took a moment to think about it and asked, "And you still loved him?"
"At the time, no, I had no love for your father. He was just the man I was betrothed to," Maya told him. Hope tilted her head to the side, confused at the relationship between her lady mother and lord father. "It took a long time for me to truly love him. He was a prisoner in Robb's camp when he lost to him. Robb became the King in the North. He rebelled against the Lannisters because Joffrey had killed our father, Eddard Stark. He branded him a traitor. Your father and I were on different sides."
"So why did Winter lose her eye?"
"When they tried to take Jaime away from me, I grew angry and sad," she began. "I told him I loved him as they took him away and put him in chains. Winter tried to fight them and one of your uncle's guards hit her in the eye. She fought her own brother, my brother's wolf, Grey Wind to protect Jaime. I remember hating Robb and my mother for doing what they did. They believed lies about Jaime."
"Littlefinger," Leonardo whispered in fright. "He caused all of this."
Maya nodded. "Yes, but he's gone now. Thank the Gods. He can't hurt any of us anymore and try to break us apart for that damn chair."
"Why won't you be queen?"
Maya shook her head. "What good will it do me anyways? For all that power I would have, I could do nothing with it. It would give me more enemies. I've fought for too long and I just want my family with me. I want to see you both grow up. Besides, your sister will be queen."
Hope gulped nervously and turned away. Leonardo held her hand and promised her, "If you are queen then I will be your Hand. I will be the one you can trust and I won't let anyone hurt you, sister. It will be my job to protect you, Hope. I promise."
Hope smiled and hugged her brother tightly.
"Always and forever," he whispered. "I will fight for you."
Maya smiled at them and rubbed their backs lovingly.
Maya watched from the balcony as they made preparations for what's to come in only a few hours. When she grew bored of watching, she sneaked outside of the castle.
She smiled as she saw that Winter trotted behind her. She patted her head and smiled down at her.
"Always protecting me, aren't you?"
Maya and Winter walked beyond the walls of the castle and went further north. She saw the two dragons soaring above her and frowned. Maya's gut told her to keep following them and so she did.
Maya followed them towards an opening where there were charred bones and black snow. Burnt snow. She saw then that the dragons weren't eating. She then remembered that it may be because of their lost brother.
They couldn't eat.
As she crossed the opening, she saw Daenerys and Jon kissing each other passionately. Somehow seeing her brother and sister kissing each other made her want to vomit. She knew that they had been together and Jon claimed to love her, but Maya didn't want to believe it.
She heard Winter growl viciously beside her, sensing her mistress's distress. Maya shushed her wolf, but it was too late as the dragons turned around and started to bare their teeth.
"Stop it," she scolded both animals. "You're both ridiculous."
Jon and Daenerys turned to her, curious to know why she was there.
"I don't approve of your union," she confessed to them. "I never will. Jon is my brother, Dany and Jon, she is my sister. It's not right."
"Why aren't you happy for me?" Daenerys asked her, shaking her head. "Why can't you be?"
"It's not right," she repeated.
"It doesn't matter," Daenerys told her. "You can't stop us, Visenya."
Maya did not bother to correct her on her name as she didn't want to fight with Daenerys when the real war begins in only a couple of hours.
"It's not right to love the man who ruined our entire family," Jon reminded her and Maya narrowed her eyes at him. "But yet I don't say anything about it. You're happy and he's given me a niece and nephew. I have no love for Jaime Lannister and I never will, but I don't tell you who to love."
"It's not the same thing," she tried to say, but was at a loss of words when Jon said angrily, "It is the same thing. You're uncomfortable by our love, but no one else is."
"Arya and Sansa are," she added. "They don't trust her. She is an outsider and instead of trying to gain their trust, she is out here with you."
"How can I gain their trust when they all they've done is been rude to me ever since I got here," Daenerys seethed. "Your sisters are not so welcoming. They are cold and hard hearted."
"They don't trust pretty smiles," Maya said bluntly. "They've been through so much since my father. So many people betrayed them and hurt them purposely. The most recent one was Petyr Baelish."
"We shouldn't be quarrelling about any of this," Jon said to the both of them. "We would only go in a circle. Maya, you are not allowed to leave the grounds. You're safer in the keep and in Winterfell."
Maya scoffed. "You mean the keep where the Night King is coming for us all? I didn't realize that stones stopped them. I guess they should've informed the men on the Wall...before it fell."
"You are not allowed to be out of Winterfell especially your chambers," Jon repeated, his voice harsh.
"It doesn't matter. You can't stop me," Maya coldly threw their own words back at them. "I'm not a child anymore, Jon. I'm older now and I have a family I want to protect. You can't stop me."
Maya turned around and started to walk back to the keep with Winter walking beside her.
"At least ride with us back," Daenerys called out to her.
Maya ignored her and continued to walk. When Maya had walked over a mile, she heard rustling behind her. She took out her sword and slashed at the bushes. She heard her sword clank against another.
Jaime stood up with his sword to hers and shook his head. "It is cold out here and you're with child."
"You don't need to keep reminding me of something I know every day by throwing up in the chamber pot every morn."
Jaime sheathed his sword and said, "I'm only concerned about the both of you. I want to make sure you're safe, Maya."
"You saw them," she stated.
Jaime nodded. "I heard them as well. They're right. If Jon doesn't put his nose in our marriage then we should do the same for him."
"I don't like it."
"They could be happy together."
Maya smiled sadly. "She's too strong for him. He doesn't fight back, not with her at least."
"You can't control how they feel for each other."
Maya shook her head. "It just doesn't feel right."
They heard a rustling in the bushes on the other side of the road. Jaime pushed them aside quickly, his sword raised to strike. Maya narrowed her eyes at her son who stood tall. In one of his hands, he held rocks and in the other, he had a slingshot.
"What are you doing out here in the winter," Jaime asked, his voice hard.
"Following the both of you," he replied meekly.
"Do you know what could have happened to you had you lost us?"
He held up his weapon and said to Jaime, "I have this to protect me. I've been practicing my aim. Watch, I aim for the tree."
He put a rock into the band and planning to aim for the tree trunk, but missed it entirely. Jaime and Maya watched as it missed its mark before they turned back to their son. Maya raised a brow at him and shook her head.
"You missed," Jaime reminded him. "You weren't even close to your mark."
"I'm trying," he huffed. "I'm only a child still."
"Yes, you are a child," Maya told him gently. "Which is why you shouldn't have followed us. You and your sister are my entire world, but you cannot protect us from harm. Perhaps when you are grown, but for now, be a child."
Leo scoffed at his mother. "How can I be a child when the white walkers come for us? They're coming for us. I see him in my dreams. I don't see his face. I just see his eyes in the dark, watching me."
His hand unconsciously went to his arm where the blue spot was. "I want to be ready for him when he does. I want to fight."
"You will not fight," Maya said firmly. "It will not come to that. What else have you dreamt?"
Leo looked away and back to the path towards Winterfell. "Ice. Lots of it. Hope dreams of fire. Uncle Bran says that we have to be ready."
"You shouldn't listen to him," Jaime said. "He doesn't understand that you're still a child."
Leo huffed angrily, his face twisted in frustration at his lady mother and lord father. He strode towards Winter and got on her back. He whispered something in her ear and she darted towards the castle, leaving Jaime and Maya behind.
"He's becoming more like you each day," Maya said to Jaime with a knowing smile. "If he were like me, he would have stayed and fought more, but he knows how to pick his battles."
"Good trait I suppose."
Hope stared at the maps littered over the table. She studied the layout of the castle and where the armies would be. She heard voices then in the silence of the room as she awaited the arrival of her Uncle Jon and Aunt Sansa. Robin had left her to go sort out where his men could sleep for the next couple of hours.
She looked towards the flames that licked the logs. Hope heard what they said to her, she was frightened of them and of the things they told her.
Kill, kill, kill, kill, burn them all, they chanted at her in raspy tone.
Hope's hands tightened around the dragon figurine in her hand. She was confused as she didn't even remember picking it up. She set it back down onto the maps and walked towards the flames. Her hand reached out on its own accord as she felt his desire to touch it. She felt the heat at her fingertips and the flames so close to her skin.
"Hope!" Jon called out to her and she felt herself being pulled away from the fire. Her vision was once filled with orange light, but as Jon knelt in front of her, all she saw darkness. "What are you doing? You could've hurt yourself. Fire is not something you play with."
He held her shoulders, and shook her a little bit. She could see the worry shaped onto his face and the concern in his eyes. Hope felt guilty for causing him that. He had been nothing, but kind to her and she had frightened him.
"What's the matter? Why did you do that?" Jon asked, suddenly curious as to why she would want to burn herself.
Hope wrapped her arms around his neck as she hugged him tightly, trying to show him that she was sorry. He hugged her back and said, "I'm sorry if I frightened you. I just don't want you to get hurt. Your mother will kill him."
Hope laughed, her voice soft and cheerful. It made Jon happy. He pulled away and looked to Sansa who stood behind the maps, she picked up the dragon figurine that had been misplaced. Jon and Sansa shared a knowing look before he gave Hope an assuring smile.
"Fire is dangerous," Sansa told her, pushing her white hair back from her face. She placed her hand under her chin and looked her in the eye. "Fire can kill them. Remember that."
Hope nodded and held her aunt's hand. She looked to the maps, and then started to write something down for them. She quickly gave it to them before she ran off.
Jon smiled as Sansa shook her head and started to read it aloud, "Use plenty of fire."
. . .
"Do you think we will be safe in the crypts?" Leo asked his sister who ran her hands through Winter's fur coat. She shook her head and Leo's bottom lip quivered. "They're going to die, aren't they?"
Hope nodded and held her brother's hand into her own. Leo had a fierce look on his face as he said to her, "We need to help them. I think I found a way."
Leo ran off of the bed that they sat on with Winter. He went to the piles of books on his table and grunted as he took a big book and set it onto the bed. He flopped down beside it and smiled his sister before he started to search the pages for the passage he found.
"We need to find him," he stated. "Azor Ahai. He defeated them once before. We also need to find the Prince that was Promised too. I've heard that they are both the same prophecy. It said that he will rise again. We need to find a hero's sword for this person."
Hope read what her brother pointed to in the book and then rolled her eyes. She slid off of the bed and kept shaking her head at him.
"I know it's true," Leo said. "I've seen it. Help me find the sword in the crypts. It must be there. All Starks are heroes since before the First Men. It was Bran the Builder who built the Wall and he must've had a sword lying around down there somewhere."
He ran after his sister and pulled her sleeve and continued, "A bleeding star is said to appear which means that he is here. I've asked Uncle Tyrion and he said that there was a red comet in the sky many years ago. It was after they killed our grandfather, Ned Stark. He has to be born amongst salt and smoke, he will come when the darkness rises again. There also has to be the return of dragons as well. He will be the song of ice and fire, Hope!"
Hope turned away from her brother who started to yell at her as he read from the book, "There will come a day after a long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world! In this dread hour a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword! And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him!"
Hope stopped walking away from him and turned around to face him with her arms crossed over her chest. Leo showed her the writings. "See? He must be here. The prophecy is in Valyrian, the prince that was promised...it could prince or princess. Who do we know has dragons? It might be Daenerys! Come on, Hope. We need to help them. We gotta find that sword."
Hope glared at her little brother before letting out a heavy sigh, he smiled widely. She opened the door as Leo followed her down to the crypts. Leo and Hope were quiet as they went into the crypts. Leo held his sister's hand as he was frightened of how silent and dark tunnels were. He couldn't help, but look at every statue that they passed. They stopped in front of the statues of their grandmother and grandfather. Hope had a look of sadness on her face as she wished she could've gotten to know them. She looked across and saw the statue of her Uncle Robb. All the men had stone swords on them or beside them. Hope frowned when she saw her brother running back and forth.
"Where is he?" Leo whispered in frustration. He then went to each grave and started to put his hand on every part of the stone. "I need to find an opening. They have their sword with them."
Hope was appalled at what her brother was suggesting they do. He wanted to disturb the dead for a sword. Hope held her brother back as they heard the sound of footsteps coming towards them. She shushed him as they hid behind the statue of Ned Stark. They peeked over and saw Jon staring at the statue intently.
They heard other footsteps before someone falling to the ground and groaning in pain.
"Sam?" Jon questioned as he helped Sam back onto his feet.
"I'm sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be down here," he panted.
"Were you hiding from me?" Jon chuckled before hugging him.
"Of course not."
Jon nodded. "What are you doing in Winterfell? Or did you read every book in the Citadel already? What's wrong? Gilly? Is she all right?"
"She's good."
"Little Sam?"
There was a moment of silence before Sam asked, "Don't you know?"
"Know what?" Jon asked curiously.
Sam licked lips and told him, "Daenerys she executed my father and brother. They were her prisoners...she didn't tell you."
Jon looked at his friend with sympathetic eyes."I'm so sorry. We need to end this war."
"Would you have done it?"
"Well, I've executed men who disobeyed me," Jon reminded him.
"You've also spared men," Sam countered as Hope looked to her brother who hung onto every word that was being said. "Thousands of wildlings when they refused to kneel."
"I wasn't a king."
"But you were. You've always been."
"I gave up my crown, Sam. I bent the knee. I'm not King in the North anymore," Jon told him, his voice frustrated.
"I'm not talking about the King in the North," Sam said. "I'm talking about the King of the bloody Seven Kingdoms. Bran and I worked it out. I had a High Septon's diary. Bran had whatever Bran has."
Jon backed away from his friend, shock and doubt on his face. "What are you talking about?"
"Your mother was Lyanna Stark." Jon exhaled a shaky breath as Hope and Leo turned to each other quickly. Leo smiled at her, pointing to Jon. "And your father-your real father was Rhaegar Targaryen. You've never been a bastard. You're Aegon Targaryen, true heir to the Iron Throne...I'm sorry, I know it's a lot to take in."
Jon turned away from Sam and tried to gather himself, but found that he couldn't believe what he was told. It was impossible for him to think about. He looked towards the statue of his father before looking to Sam again. "My father was the most honorable man I ever met. You're saying he lied to me all my life."
"No," Sam replied quickly. "Your father Well, Ned Stark. He promised your mother he'd always protect you...and he did. Robert would have murdered you if he knew. You're the true king.
Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of His Name, Protector of the Realm, all of it."
"Daenerys is our queen," Jon repeated. "My sister, Maya is next in line for the throne. Her daughter, Hope is said to be queen after her. You want me to take that from them? From my own niece?"
"She shouldn't be."
"That's treason!"
"It's the truth," Sam said. "You gave up your crown to save your people. Would she do the same?"
They heard Jon walk away from Sam who tried to catch up to him. Hope shook her head at Leo who grinned.
"I was right," he whispered. "I think we just found our prince. The song of ice and fire! It's Uncle Jon! Part Stark, part Targaryen. Ice and fire."
Hope bit her lip and helped her brother up from their crouching position. She put a finger to her lips, indicating to her brother that they should keep what happened down in the crypts a secret.
"Do you think mother knows?" Hope shook her head. "I don't think so either. He's right, you know? He is the true king and not Daenerys or mother. It should be him."
Hope sighed and nodded in agreement with her brother. She knew he was right. She liked Daenerys and the idea of her being queen perhaps one day with Robin by her side, but if their Uncle Jon was the true king then she would support him. It was the right thing to do and he was as good as a person could be in their world.
She thought that he would make a good king.
TBC…
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