Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Ice and Fire Novels, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon TV shows. However, I decided to have a little play around with the characters. I do not earn any money from writing these stories, it is for my entertainment and is something I like to share.

Sam VI

Sam hated ships, boats and anything that floated on the water, it made him sick. Even small rowing boats on lakes would be enough to make him feel nauseous. Therefore sailing from Kings Landing to Dragonstone was always going to be a hellish day of travel, no matter how good the sailing conditions were. As they rowed out, the conditions were fine, however the moment he set foot on the yacht, the winds rose, the heavens opened and Sam began to vomit. The wind and rain did not begin to abate until about an hour before they disembarked from the ship they had been travelling on. To be fair, the men had been very good to him, helping him with his tonic to settle his stomach, which for most could cure their seasickness, for Sam he only got mild relief from the symptoms. His legs were wobbly as they approached the intimidating, daunting island. In Sam's eyes it was as unpleasant as place as could be. It made the wall look picturesque in comparison. Eventually they disembarked the ship on a small man-made area port, which once housed a village which included taverns and a weathered looking abandoned inn at the end of a stone pier with a weathered looking waist high gargoyle outside, which looked as equally grim as the rest of the island.

It was at this point Sam noticed other ships were approaching the port, looking ready to dock.

"We need to make sure we're comfortable." Aelon grinned.

"Lucky Bronn was kind enough to spare some whores from one of his brothels, although I bet they were his worst ones." Jaemon laughed.

"A man will fuck 'owt when he gets desperate. Those women will make more coin here in a week than a year in Kings Landing." Aelon agreed. "What do you say Sam?"

"I'm a happily married man." Sam shrugged. "I'd never betray Gilly."

"No man is truly that honourable." Aelon smirked. "There's no shame in fucking a whore when the need arises."

"There is for me." Sam insisted. "I was a man of the Night's Watch before it was disbanded. We swore an oath there to father no children." he said, delicately remembering how he had abandoned that oath for Gilly. "I was relieved from my vows to train at the Citadel. But I was married by then. They changed the rules to let me become a Maester."

"Have you ever wondered why?" Jaemon asked.

"Because the King trusted me and believed in me . He has a special gift and he knows more than they do. So they listened and obeyed." Sam told them.

"You were given the ranking and qualified because you knew the King, not because you were better than other maesters. But he seems to think you are good at finding things that even he cannot see. So make sure his faith is not misplaced." Aelon said with a smile, although Sam knew it wasn't a compliment, it was a veiled threat.

"Let's find somewhere to sleep." Jaemon sighed as they headed over towards an old ramshackle inn which looked like it had been closed down for decades. "This will suit for tonight until we can find somewhere in the castle itself." he said.

"Why here and not there?" Sam frowned.

"The castle hasn't been slept in since Daenerys was last here. I doubt it is in much of a fit state right now. It is late and I think we should explore on the morrow." Aelon said as he managed to break down the door of the inn, which was damp and dusty, a scuttling noise suggested rats were the current residents. "This is dry and warm. It'll do for the night, unless you want to go back to the comfort of the ship." he asked Sam with a smirk.

"No..no." Sam nodded with a smile. "I'll be fine here. I've slept in worse places."

"Good. There's a room over there. We'll stay out here." Jaemon said, handing Sam a candle. "Night Grand Maester."

"Good night." Sam replied, taking the torch and closing the door of the room behind him.

Inside he was pleasantly surprised to find a comfortable bed, dry logs on the hearth, a bed which looked almost comfortable and plenty of candles. Once he'd got his room feeling warm and habitable, he looked out of the window up at the castle itself. A monstrous looking place, built by the Targaryens, hundreds of years ago. Jon's family, as well as Maester Aemon's too, he thought sadly. The people who built this place had fearsome reputations, which the Dragon Queen had lived up to. She epitomised everything this place was about, power and dragons. Sam wasn't a man to hate, but he hated Daenerys Targaryen, and so far, he hated this place.

The next morning, Sam broke his fast on fish and bread, washed down with weak ale. His stomach felt good for the first time in over a day and he had been starving as all he'd done was throw up the food he'd eaten at the wedding feast. Once breakfast was over, Sam, Aelon and Jaemon mounted their mules to take them to the castle. Mules had been chosen for the journey as they were sure-footed creatures who were better suited to the terrain than an expensive horse.

The party made their way up the hillside and onto the what looked like a pathway which zigzagged its way up to the castle. For this the riders had to dismount and the mules follow as the path was too narrow and dangerous to ride on, especially as it was full of steps and steep drops either side. Sam was happy to walk, he hated heights and felt much more comfortable now he had a chest height wall either side of him. Eventually, after two hours of walking, they arrived at the entrance. The doors were swung open, allowing Aelon and Jaemon to lead the way. Sam meekly followed them, all three carrying a torch.

"I hope we don't have to walk all this way and back every day." Sam complained. "We'll never get any work done."

Aelon laughed. "Don't worry, today's job is finding suitable quarters and settling in. Tomorrow we get to work." he said. "Follow me."

They walked down a large hall which led to a grand staircase. "Do you think this is where they slept?" Jaemon asked, his voice hushed as if he didn't want the dead to hear him.

"I hope so. I want a bed for the night." Aelon laughed. Sam wanted to participate in their banter, but he was scared, and he suspected Jaemon was too, but he was just covering up his fear with jokes.

As they walked through the corridors, they lit every torch they saw, which soon had the castle looking far less gloomy, although Sam wouldn't describe the place as homely or cosy. Instead the best description would be cold, wet and dark, even with all of the torches lit. that was until they entered a room which had the most incredible view out to sea. However that was not what caught Sam's eye, it was the giant table in the middle which was in the shape of a map of Westeros. As Jaemon lit the fire, he noticed there were coals under the table, to which he also lit, shining lights through all of the names of great houses and the important places. Sam had to admit, it was a thing of beauty.

A knock came on the door and one of the servants walked in. "We've found three bedrooms all along the corridor from here. They would be suitable for you to stay in." he said as Sam, Aelon and Jaemon all followed. The servant had been right, all of the rooms were clean and had been used. They had nice views out to sea and were more than comfortable. Sam wondered if these were the quarters of the Princes and Princesses of Dragonstone from long ago.

They settled into their rooms, before continuing with their exploration. They discovered the Great Hall, which lived up to its reputation, however, much like the rest of the castle, it was gloomy with a damp feel about it. Castle Black was beginning to feel warm and cosy in comparison. He was glad Jon hadn't stayed long, this was not a place his friend would like. Although, Sam had to admit, the Jon he once knew may have changed. He doubted it, but Jon had been different since he died, and it was known how a Targaryen could change when they bonded with a dragon. What had begun to concern Sam was that Jon's dragon was the one responsible for destroying the Red Keep, a dangerous beast, what if it was turning Jon into another Daenerys? He shuddered to think, wishing there was some way he could prevent it from happening. The more he thought about it, the more he realised he was in the best place to find out how to prevent Jon changing into a monster. Whichever way, he was the only person who could stop Bran without Bran knowing. It wasn't like he had any choice in being on Dragonstone, Gilly and his children were at risk if he didn't do what Bran wanted.

The next day, they went to search for the Maester's quarters. According to the map layouts they had, it was at the top of one of the towers, which made sense as that was where a rookery would usually be kept. When they eventually made it to the top, one thing stood out, the room had recently been disturbed. Fingerprints left in the dust, something had been dragged across the floor, a chest Sam supposed, probably heavy. He knew Jon had been here and as Jon was very strong, the chest must have been full. Sam looked around and saw books had clearly been disturbed, but it was organised in a typical maesters way. At a quick glance, from what he could see, no book was missing, he just hoped Aelon and Jaemon didn't know how maesters organised their quarters, because he suspected he was going to have to lie to cover Jon's tracks.

"I think Jon was here." Sam said.

"We know that." Aelon said. "Can you see what he took?" he asked.

I'll need some paper to go through the books." Sam told them. "It will take a few hours, I'll need to know whether these are old or new books. We often keep more than one version of the same book as the newer versions have different perspectives." he smiled. "If you don't mind leaving me here and closing the door, I can get to work." he said.

Aelon and Jaemon looked at each other wearily, and then back at Sam. "I'll give you two hours." Aelon told him, but you will be searched on the way out." he added.

"I would expect nothing less." Sam smiled. "We need to trust one another and I need to prove I am worth trusting." he added as the men left him alone, closing the door behind them. Sam put his ear to the door and heard the mens footsteps fade into the distance, before looking around the room. "Oh Jon, what did you take?" he whispered to himself before getting to work.

There were books missing, nothing too dramatic, books that may not have even been around the last time a Targaryen was in charge, although maesters had been on Dragonstone under Stannis Baratheon. Sam made a not of those books. A few second editions were also missing, he noted those down as well. Many of the herbs and poisons which would normally be expected to be in a maesters office were gone. A book of herbs was missing, which made Sam smile. This was making his job easier as he knew Jon would never have thought to take the missing tomes.

As he got to the last bookshelf, he noticed the dust on the floor looked odd, as if a door had been opened where the shelf was. Sam hadn't delved into the maester hiding spots, which only other maesters would know about, but this area was certainly not where he would expect to find one such place. He felt around and realised there was a door behind the bookshelf, and as he looked carefully, he could tell there were multiple footprints from this particular room. Whatever Jon had taken, it was from behind this door, and he knew this was what Bran wanted. There was no way he was going to be able to hide it from the Silverwings, but he knew he had to hide Jon's discovery of the room. The only way to do that, Sam decided, was to go in and make a mess of his own, before revealing to Aelon and Jaemon of his discovery.

Sam opened the door and looked inside. Like the rest of the castle, it was dark and gloomy. He brought a candle inside and lit every torch and candle he could see. The floor was covered in footprints which had recently disturbed dust, although dust was already gathering on top of those too. Sam walked around the room several times, allowing his robes to brush the floor, removing the traces of Jon's footprints. He ran his fingers along the desks and books, ensuring a trail that could only be led back to him.

Ashe brushed the spines to read the titles of the books, he realised these weren't anything a typical maester would have in his study. This was all about the Targaryen's of old. Books teaching the language of High Valyrian, poultices and medicines for dragon health, lineages of the Targaryens and diaries from the people themselves. Deciding he'd made sure nobody could tell Jon hadn't been around, he knew he should tell his captors, as that was what they really were. To gain their trust, this was news he needed to share. He knew Jon had taken books as there were empty spaces, which he had managed to cover up, but he hoped they would fall for his duplicity.

Sam rushed back into the maesters chambers and opened the door. "Aelon, Jaemon, I think I've found something." he called out. The two men came rushing into the room and followed Sam into the secret room. "Look, its a secret room." he grinned as Aelon walked in front of him and began to look at the books.

"I think this might be exactly what we came for." he turned to look at Sam and smiled, before glancing over Sam's shoulder. All of a sudden Sam felt something hit him on the back of the head, and everything went dark. The last thing Sam heard was the thud of his body striking the ground.

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