ARIANNE

The ship was making her nauseous like she never been before. Arianne leaned over the railing and vomited her breakfast into the sea. Overhead she could hear the seagulls cry and wail to one another.

The closer they got to Braavos, the louder they got, much to Arianne´s irritation. She had found that she had a deep and unabating hatred for these creatures that she was sure that came from the seven hells.

"Your highness, we will soon be landing at the docks, you should come to the cabin to ready yourself." Arianne looked at her sworn sword, Ser Daemon Sand, the bastard of Godsgrace.

Arianne followed him to the cabin, even though she was having a hard time walking on this blasted ship. Arianne hadn't had any intentions of returning to Essos, especially so soon after having returned from her mother´s residence in Norvos.

But as needs must, Arianne returned, but this time she went to Braavos. She had to go the iron bank of Braavos so that she could take out a loan, as she couldn't reach her families fortune that was locked up firmly at Sunspear.

As Arianne dressed hurriedly, she cursed her cousins and Ellaria Sand. Arianne had never suspected that they would have done this, she would never have guessed that they would have murdered her father and little brother Trystane and tried to murder her.

Arianne had always loved her cousins, so she couldn't understand why they had done this. Sunspear was now firmly in the treacherous grasp of the sand snakes and Ellaria Sand. But as luck would have it, Ser Daemon had whisked her away before she could have been murdered my those kinslayers.

When they had boarded the ship, he had handed her a small wooden box, that her father had made him promise to give to her before he had been murdered.

When Arianne finished dressing, she walked over to the desk that was in the cabin and sat down. On the desk was the box that her father had wanted her to have.

She opened it yet again and looked inside. Inside was a large number of letters, one of them, the one that was at the top of the pile was from her father to her.

She had ripped it open as soon as she was alone in her cabin after they had started on their journey to Braavos. She had to read the letter at least three times before she could process the information.

She had never even suspected this information; it was so unreal that she half thought that her father had been joking. But her father would never joke about anything that involved her aunt Elia.

Arianne had been surprised at first that her beloved aunt Elia had agreed to this, but when she had read her father's letter again, Arianne suspected that Rhaegar hadn't been the only one that had loved the rose of Winterfell as she was called.

Arianne could understand, having had an affair or two with someone of the same sex herself. But there was nothing that could confirm her theory, and in the end both her aunt Elia and Lyanna Stark were dead, so it probably didn't really matter. But that brought up the question, why did her father want her to know this? His last moments in this life had been making sure that Daemon had the box and would deliver it to her and getting her to safety.

She knew that her father had counted on Daemon´s devotion to her, to make sure that Arianne would get the letters. The bastard of Godsgrace had been in love with the princess of Dorne for some years now, and Arianne knew that he had asked her father for her hand in marriage and her father had refused him. Still to this day Arianne couldn't understand what Daemon had been thinking.

Arianne heard a knock on the door. Arianne stood up and walked over to the door and behind it was Ser Daemon. "We are docking now your highness, are you ready to go?"

Arianne nodded, she felt so defeated, knowing that she couldn't go back to Sunspear, her home and the place she should be ruling now that her father was dead. The sand snakes, those treacherous cunts, should be rotting in the ground and not living in luxury in her home.

When they had docked, Ser Daemon and Arianne hurried to the building that the iron bank did its business in. Arianne could feel the anger rise in her gut, she had to go and buy an army to take back her home, sure there were some houses that would take up arms in her defense, but she knew that if she stayed in Dorne, she would be killed.

She also knew that when the sand snakes had taken Sunspear, they had acquired hostages from almost all the Dornish houses, as it was a tradition in Dorne that the heirs of the houses would be wards of the Martells.

So, now she was on her own in taking back her home, as she would most likely not get much help in taking back her birth right.

They had a litter take them to the iron bank, and the entre time Daemon tried to initiate a conversation, but Arianne wasn't in the mood for small talk, ever since the sand snakes turned traitors, she hadn't felt like herself.

When they arrived at the iron bank, Arianne vaulted out of the litter and hurried into the large grey building. Ser Daemon followed her into the building and announced her and that she had business with the bank.

One of the men showed them to a large room, inside it was a large circular desk with wooden chairs all around it.

They had to wait for an hour, much to Arianne´s irritation. She hated when she was made to wait for people, she was the princess of Dorne, she shouldn't have to wait for anyone.

The representative finally arrived and bid them to sit down. Arianne smiled seductively at the man, but for some reason he didn't seem to notice.

"Good day your highness, my name is Noho Dimittis and I will be helping you today." The man was serious looking man with small eyes.

"Thank you for meeting with us, Lord Dimittis-." Before she could continue, the man interrupted her.

"I am not a lord, your highness, just a simple banker." Arianne was a little thrown by the man. She wasn't used to be interrupted when she spoke, she was the princess of Dorne and the rightful ruler of her country.

"Pardon, I didn't mean to offend." She tried her best to be courteous, she would not shame her late father by being rude.

"It has been made known to me that you intend to ask for a loan to hire an army." Noho stated as he looked at his papers that he had put on the desk.

Arianne confirmed this and the man hummed thoughtfully.

"Before we can do this, there are a few things that we need to talk about." Noho interlaced his fingers over the papers. His gaze made Arianne feel very uncomfortable and she wanted to stand up and walk away, but she forced herself to stay. She had a mission to complete.

"May I ask why you intend to hire an army?" The way he asked was like he was asking her what the weather was like.

Arianne looked at Ser Daemon, she hadn't expected the man to ask why, why did he care? But she knew it was better to answer, she had nothing to hide. "I want to take back my birthright, my cousins have betrayed me and murdered my father and brother."

When she answered, Noho wrote something on one of the papers that he had on the desk. "As you may or may not know, Cersei Lannister, the queen regent of Tommen Baratheon, has refused to pay back the money the crown owes to the iron bank." Arianne frowned at that, that woman had done what? Was she mad?

The banker continued. "As you can imagine, the iron bank is not eager to support Tommen Baratheon when his regent is not likely to pay back the debts owed to the bank, so we must find some else to support."

Arianne started to feel very excited now, she of all people would want to see the Lannisters fall, but she said nothing as she wanted to see where this was going, but she could feel Ser Daemon start to get restless beside her from excitement.

"Now princess, there are three other claimants to the throne, besides Tommen Baratheon." Wait, three? Arianne knew of Daenerys Targaryen who was in Essos and was rumored to have three dragons, and she had heard of someone that claimed to be her cousin Aegon Targaryen, in the Stormlands. But who was the third one? Where the rumors of Stannis Baratheon´s death fake? If so, she wouldn't support him to the iron throne.

Arianne refocused on what the man was saying. "Daenerys Targaryen is one, but she does have a history of not honoring her agreements, so she is not likely for us to support. Now there is this Aegon Targaryen, but he has no proof of being Rhaegar Targaryen´s son, so that leaves the third one." He stopped for a moment as he looked at her to see if she was following him.

"What debts hasn't Daenerys Targaryen not paid?" Ser Daemon piped up for the first time since the meeting began. Noho looked at the bastard of Godsgrace, he seemed to have forgotten that the man was even in the room.

"Well, we have reliable reports that she was in Astapor and intended to buy a slave army, when she didn't have the gold to pay for the army, she promised to pay with one of the dragons she had hatched. Then when she had the army, she ordered the dragon to burn the masters so that she wouldn't have to pay them." Noho said it with such a matter of fact tone that Arianne almost didn't comprehend the meaning of his words.

But there was another thing that she wanted to ask the banker. "What about this Aegon, why do you care if he is not the real son of Rhaegar and Elia?" She really was curious, lines of succession were not what the iron bank was interested in, what they were interested in was if they would get their gold back.

Noho looked back to her, and he almost smiled. "We don't, but that brings us to the third claimant to the iron throne. He is the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark." Ser Daemon stood up so fast that his chair fell to the floor.

"How dare you! How dare you spread such lies to the princess of Dorne." Ser Daemon was turning red and his hand was going to his sword that was on his hip.

"Daemon sit down." Arianne´s voice made the knight stop and stare at her. Arianne´s thoughts turned to the letter her father had left her in the box, was this what he had suspected? Had he known about this person who was the trueborn child of Rhaegar and Lyanna and had wanted to support them in their claim to the iron throne?

The letter had clearly stated that her aunt Elia had known about the marriage of Rhaegar and Lyanna and had approved of it.

"But, Arianne-." She sent the knight a look that made him shut up. She turned back to the banker. "Please, tell me everything you know about the child of Lyanna Stark."

The banker looked at her, and this time she was sure that he had smiled a little.

JON

He was sitting nervously at the high table in the great hall, beside Sansa and Rickon. When Jon had returned from his ride with Rhaegal, he and Sansa had told Rickon and Shireen about their engagement. Rickon had of course learned that Jon was his cousin and not his brother, was thrilled that Jon would once again become his brother, through his marriage to Sansa.

Rickon had flung himself around Sansa´s neck and thanked her over and over again for making Jon his brother once more.

But now Sansa and Jon would be telling the gathered lords that when the last of the arriving lords had come to Winterfell and Ramsay Snow would be dead, Jon and Sansa would be getting married.

Jon was trying his best at not letting anyone see how nervous he was, by trying his best to imitate his late uncle Ned Stark. As he looked over the great hall and the lords and ladies gathered in it, he didn't feel like a king, he felt like when Robb and he would play in the godswood, pretending to be the heroes from a by gone age.

Jon had felt like a child playing games when he and Sansa had talked to the Wull and lady Maege Mormont about potential betrothals between their grandchildren and Rickon and Shireen.

Of course, The Wull and Lady Maege had accepted their proposals, Rickon was the lord of Winterfell and Shireen the lady of Storm´s end, it was good matches for house Mormont and house Wull.

But Jon was sure that some lords, like lord Donnel who was the Flints son and heir, wouldn't be happy that Sansa was marrying Jon, instead of marrying one of them.

Jon had noticed that Lord Donnel was always hanging around Sansa when he could, and Jon found it very irritating how the Flint heir was always hounding Sansa´s steps and trying his best to woo her.

Jon felt something nudge his knee and he looked down and saw his faithful companion, Ghost looking at him with his blood red eyes.

Jon didn't know how the great direwolf did it, but he had managed to wiggle himself under the table, even thought he was getting way too big for it. Jon smiled at his friend who always knew how to make him feel better, Jon glanced around him to see if anyone was watching him, and when he thought that no one was, he sneaked a piece of meat to the large direwolf at his feet.

Jon smiled at his direwolf and straightened up, that is when he noticed that Sansa had seen him feed the wolf at his feet. She was trying her best not to smile at him, but her eyes were twinkling, merrily in the candlelight.

She leaned closer to him. "I think it is time for us to make our announcements." Jon sighed, his palms were starting to sweat, and his heart was staring to speed up a little. He had often had to speak to a room full of people, but they had been his black brothers, they hadn't been a room full of lords and lordlings.

But he had to do this non the less, the sooner he did this, the sooner it was over. Jon grabbed the empty mug that was close by on the table and slammed it down on the table twice to quiet down the people in the room.

It had the desired effect, and the hall became quiet almost immediately. Jon stayed sitting down and looked over the hall, every lord and lady had turned their eyes to Jon.

"My lords and ladies, there are a few announcements that lady Stark and I would like to make." As he looked over the hall, he noticed that every noble in the room was looking very interested in what he had to say.

"First of all, we would like to thank all of you for your help and contribution in saving lord Rickon Stark from the Bolton bastard." This was met with cheers and hollers from every corner of the large room. Jon let the room cheer for a moment before he continued. "But there is still work to be done. Lady Dustin, as you all well know declared for Ramsay Snow and she is still holding up in Barrowhall. But I mean to go to the Barrowlands and dispense justice as she not only betrayed house Stark, but the entre north."

This statement was met with even more cheers, all the lords knew by now that Lady Dustin and her father had only sent a small part of their cavalry south with Robb, and that would not soon be forgiven by the people of the north.

But Jon was not finished. "After that I intend to go south to the Riverlands and liberate our brothers and sisters, that the Frey´s betrayed and are keeping hostage in their dungeons after the Red Wedding." If Jon had thought that the statement before about dispensing justice to lady Dustin had been met with cheers, it was nothing compared with what he was saying now.

The people gathered in the room were shouting and cheering so loudly that Jon thought that he would go deaf. They were all shouting king Jon, the white wolf and the last dragon, they must have been cheering for a few minutes before the Flint of the mountain clans jumped on the table. "A TOAST TO KING JON, THE AVENGER OF THE RED WEDDING AND THE KING OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS."

All the gathered lords cheered and emptied their cups in record time. After they had finished, Jon hurried taking back the attention of the lords. "Thank you, my lords, but there is another matter I would like to talk to you about tonight as well." Jon took a deep breath before he continued.

"After much discussion, Lady Maege Mormont and I have come to the decision that my cousin Shireen, of house Baratheon and the lady of Storm´s end, shall be betrothed to lady Maege´s eldest grandson, Jeor Mormont." As more cheers filled the room, Jon glanced at his cousin, who was sitting beside Sansa, Shireen was blushing at the attention she was receiving and thanking everyone who was now congratulating her on her betrothal.

By now Jon was getting really tired of talking, but he pushed on. "Lady Sansa and I also talked to lord Hugo Wull, and we have decided to betroth lord Rickon Stark to Lord Hugo´s granddaughter, lady Branda Wull." This statement was followed by more cheers and congratulation to both the Wull, and Rickon who was sitting beside Jon and looking embarrassed.

Jon could see that the northern lords were looking relived at Rickon being betrothed to a northern lady, instead of a southern one. Jon glanced at Brynden Tully, who was sitting beside Rickon, in a place of honor. The blackfish seemed a little thoughtful at what Jon was announcing to the gathered lords, but Jon could also see that he didn't seem displeased with this news.

But Jon was more worried about how the older man would take the news of Jon´s own betrothal to the man´s grandniece.

Jon took a deep breath to make the final announcement of the night, but he was interrupted. Lord Donnel Flint had stood up, despite his father trying to drag him back. "You grace." The man yelled over the crowd and Jon had to force the irritation away as he watched the man approach the high table.

"Your grace, I would like to formally ask for your cousin, Lady Sansa´s hand in marriage" Jon could see the Flint bury his face in his hands, and the lords and ladies around the hall were starting to murmur to themselves.

Jon really wanted to punch that man in the face, he could feel Ghost stir by his feet and Jon knew that he had to calm himself down so that he wouldn't influence the direwolf to attack the young lord.

But as luck would have it, Sansa herself decided to take charge of the situation. "Thank you lord Donnel, I am very flattered." Jon could see that the young lord started to puff out his chest like a proud rooster. But regrettably for lord Donnel, Sansa continued.

"But I am afraid that I have promised myself to another." This caused the chatter in the hall to increase and Jon could practically hear Brynden Tully whip his head to look at Sansa in shock.

Sansa looked to Jon for a moment before she kept on going. "When Ramsay Snow has been executed, I will be marrying my betrothed in front of all the lords and ladies of the north." Sansa had barely finished speaking when lord Donnel started again.

"Lady Sansa, I would hear your betrothed name, so that I may challenge him to a duel for your hand." The young lord declared loudly, and Jon could see the Flint shake his head at his son. Jon could understand the Flint´s dilemma, if he stopped his son, he would be undermining his own heir and that wouldn't look good for him when he would eventually take his place as the Flint of the mountain clans. So, for now all he could do was to shake his head at his son´s brashness.

"NO." Rickon´s sudden shout made Jon almost jump out of his skin. "You can't marry Sansa. I am the lord of Winterfell and I forbid it." Where had Rickon learned the word forbid?

Rickon had turned red with anger and was now glaring at the young lord that was trying to win Sansa´s hand. Everyone in the hall was now looking at the young lord of Winterfell is shock.

"You can´t marry Sansa." Rickon´s high, childish voice sounded like he wanted to cry. "Sansa has to marry Jon, so that he can be my brother again." The silence that filled the room was deafening and now everyone was looking between Jon and Sansa.

Jon had never in his life wanted the floor to swallow him up, more than in this moment. Jon noticed that lord Donnel was most likely feeling the very same at this moment. The Flint heir was looking pale and his eyes were opened wide as he glanced between Sansa and Jon.

"Lady Sansa." The Flint heir´s voice was hesitant. "Are you marrying your cousin, the king?"

Now every eye in the hall was on Sansa again, but she just smiled gently. "Yes, the king and I will be marrying when the rest of the lords arrive and when Ramsay Snow has been executed."

Jon spotted Howland Reed looking very amused by the entire situation as he sat beside lord Galbart Glover.

Then Jon noticed that Maege Mormont stood up to address the lords. "My lady, I think that I speak for all of us here gathered, when I say that we can think of no one better to serve as queen beside our new king. Not only have the two of you restored house Stark back to where it belongs, but now you are here leading the north against our enemies that are coming for us from the north of the wall and have pledged to dispense justice to those who have betrayed the north and our friends in the Riverlands." The lords were nodding in agreement at the lady of Bear island´s words.

Lady Maege grabbed a cup from the table and raised it high. "To the dragon king, and his wolf queen." She shouted; her words were echoed by the other lords gathered in the great hall of Winterfell.

SER BRIENNE

Brienne was following her lady around Winterfell. Brienne felt a great deal of pride serving Sansa Stark, she was a good and kind person who treated everyone around her well. Brienne had come to look at the young woman as one of her closest friends. Brienne couldn't count the hours that they had spent in the evenings talking about everything under the sun.

So, it hadn't come as a surprise when lady Sansa and the king had made their announcement the night before, that they would be marrying each other. Brienne had seen the little glances that they sent each other when they thought no one was looking.

Brienne was certain that the King would treat his future queen with nothing but kindness, he seemed like that sort of man. She could honestly say that she liked the young man that the lords of the north had declared king of the seven kingdoms, and she was sure that he would do a good job ruling with lady Sansa by his side.

And Brienne was sure that not many kings would have knighted her like king Jon had done. The moment when the dragon king had asked her to kneel and say her knightly vows, was the proudest moment of her life. She had dreamt of being a knight since she was a little girl, and now she was the first female knight in Westeros, and she had been knighted by the king himself.

Brienne looked to lady Sansa, as the younger woman was talking to maester Wolkan about the grain stores, the direwolf Ice was beside Brienne, no doubt to keep an eye on her mistress and to keep her safe.

It seemed that direwolfs took keeping their human companions safe, very seriously. Brienne had also noticed that when the king was keeping his feet on the ground and not on dragon back, that he was never without his faithful albino direwolf.

Brienne had heard the stories of Robb Stark, who had gone into battle with his direwolf, Greywind by his side, before she had seen him in person. The direwolf of the king in the north was very large indeed, but Greywind had turned out to be smaller than his albino brother.

Ghost was the size of a small horse, and Brienne was sure that if lord Rickon would decide to use him as a mount, the direwolf would be rather too big for the boy. Brienne had to admit that Ghost unnerved her more than his brother, Greywind had done. It must be the blood red eyes that spoke of more intelligence than the grey direwolf had, even though lady Catelyn had often said to Brienne that Greywind was incredibly smart.

The acting regent of Rickon Stark, stopped suddenly and looked over the railing and into the training yard, they must have been walking for some time while Brienne had been distracted by her thoughts.

Brienne looked over the railing to see what her lady was looking at. They could see the lord of the seven kingdoms teaching his younger cousins the how to hold a sword. While Brienne wasn't surprised to see king Jon teaching lord Rickon how to handle a sword, she was pleasantly surprised to see the young lady of Storm´s End wearing trousers and holding a wooden sword in her hands.

Brienne also noticed that Podrick was attending the lesson with several others, she couldn't help but to smile, Podrick was very eager to learn more and Brienne had a feeling that his grace was a more patient teacher than herself.

When king Jon was done correcting lord Rickon´s hold on the sword he let his cousins start practicing their swinging.

Beside her, Brienne head lady Sansa giggle softly. The knight looked at the lady of Winterfell with a raised eyebrow. Lady Sansa was smiling fondly down into the training yard, and Brienne thought that she seemed lost in her memories.

"Arya would have loved this." The lady of Winterfell stated as she looked fondly at her family in the training yard. "She was always trying to get Robb and Jon to teach her how to use a sword."

The longing in her voice was heartbreaking for Brienne. They stood there, looking down to the training yard in silence for some time, until they heard the sound of footsteps from behind them. As she turned around, Brienne put a hand on the hilt of Oathkeeper, ready to defend her lady.

But it turned out that it wasn't needed. The person that was walking up to them was Ser Brynden Tully, lady Sansa´s granduncle. As Brienne looked him over, she noticed that he seemed troubled by something.

"Can we talk, Sansa?" His voice was ruff and deep, but lady Sansa smiled non the less at her granduncle.

The maester bowed to lady Sansa and hurried away, but when Brienne showed no sign of leaving her lady, Ser Brynden spoke again.

"Alone." His voice was even rougher, and he was furrowing his brow.

But again, lady Sansa just smiled. "It is alright uncle Brynden, I don't keep secrets from Ser Brienne." Brienne could feel her heart soar like it always did when she was referred to as a Ser.

The older man looked at Brienne and then he nodded once. "Alright, I was wondering about the fact you are getting married to…" Ser Brynden fell silent as he gestured to the king, the older knight seemed a little embarrassed about talking his young grandniece´s upcoming marriage.

Lady Sansa looked at her cousin in the yard, and then back to her granduncle. "Jon is not my brother; he is my cousin, and cousins marry all the time. It is perfectly respectable."

The young woman stared down her uncle with a glaze that seemed at home on a person that was a lot older than her.

Ser Brynden turned a little pink. "Yes, I know, but isn't it a little soon after…" He fell silent for a moment and seemed to be looking for the appropriate words to use. "Wouldn't it be better for you to take more time to heal?"

Lady Sansa looked him over, then she smiled gently. "Yes, it would, but I don't have the luxury of time right now." She looked back to the training yard where the king was correcting the grip of the lady of Storm´s End on her sword. Then she looked back to her granduncle. "But thank you for your concern, I really appreciate it, but the King and I don't have a lot of time and we need to make sure that we are protected."

Ser Brynden looked mildly confused. "Protected? Against what? His grace has six dragons and you both have direwolfs, what can they not protect you from?"

Lady Sansa looked at her uncle with curiosity. "There are things that dragons and direwolfs cannot protect us from uncle, like plots and things of that nature. Robb had a direwolf and he was murdered at a wedding, Jon had a direwolf when his black brothers betrayed him. We need to be careful now uncle, we have a lot of enemies that will be wanting us to fail."

Ser Brynden nodded. "Yes, the Lannisters and the Freys are chief among them." Lady Sansa said nothing to dispute than, the Lannisters and the Freys were among their enemies. But Brienne doubted that they were the ones that kept the lady of Winterfell and the future queen awake at night.

No, the enemies that Lady Sansa was worried about, were coming for the north and the one that was making his way to Winterfell, by the way of the king´s road, pretending to be her friend while he was anything but.