Daenerys

The Stark ship was far off in the distance. The rowboat had just made it ashore and the occupants were being greeted by Tyrion and Missandei. From atop of the balconies of Dragonstone, Daenerys could practically see the whole island. She could see the company of Jon Snow walking up the many steps of Dragonstone, one of the few things she disliked about the castle. Drogon had all the sudden decide to fly over them as if he was trying to show off. She could see her guests had all ducked down, while her friends were unaffected. Daenerys decided that now was the time to be ready and made her way to the throne room.

The throne of Dragonstone was beautiful the way it was carved into the formation of the rocks that protruded the floor. From what she had heard about the Iron Throne, it was forged to be uncomfortable, the same could not be said about this one though. She sat down in her lean posture, making sure her regal mask was on. 'Show him who you are' she repeated in her mind before the doors swung open.

Missandei and Tyrion entered and quickly made their way to their designated spots in the room. Tyrion off the steps to her right, and Missandei next to her on the left. They were soon followed by two men. One of them was young and the other was old. The young man wore black boiled leather armor and a steel gorget that had two direwolf heads facing each other on the front. He had a long black hair that was tied back and a very short beard. He wasn't bad on the eyes at all. 'Jon Snow' she thought. For who she believed to be her last remaining kin in the world, he had none of the Targaryen traits. But there was something familiar about him that made her feel a slight unease within.

The man standing behind Jon Snow was much older, wearing similar clothes in regards to their style. Daenerys wasn't expecting them to be dressed to look so low class as they were. They both approached and stopped as soon as Missandei began her introduction.

"You stand in the presence of Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen. Rightful heir to the Iron Throne, Rightful Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains." Daenerys hoped she wouldn't gain any more titles during the conquest of Westeros. What she had already was an earful. She watched as the two men looked at each other, unsure of what they were supposed to say.

The older man finally said his introduction. "This is Jon Snow." There was a stale silence that followed.

Jon Snow seemed a bit embarrassed at the moment as the older man followed his name up.

"He's King in the North."

She kept herself from being amused. They obviously didn't plan on this. That or Northerners were very humble. She doubted it was the latter reason. 'This will be interesting.'


In a way, Varys's interruption of the meeting with Jon Snow helped calm the situation down. Daenerys was beginning to fail at keeping herself composed as much as Jon Snow. Though she did have a certain respect for his loyalty to his people. He wasn't like other leaders she met in the past.

But right now, the news of the attack on the fleet was most troubling. Varys informed of the desolation that befell the Greyjoys and Sands Snakes. "Were there any survivors?" She asked her master of Whispers.

Only a handful. Who among them I have yet to learn."

"I can't believe I forgot that there were a thousand other ships out there," Tyrion said, pacing over to the throne while looking to the ground.

"The faults not all yours," Daenerys told him. "I was expecting him to come to us first and try to sway me to allying with him instead of Yara."

"He must have known it would be folly once the alliance was made with her and Theon. We can only hope that they evaded capture and survived. All we can do is wait until we learn more."

Varys turned to her. "I shall have my birds double their efforts, your grace. Despite the grim news, there is more I have to bear on a lighter note. The reports about the King in the North have been delivered as well."

Tyrion frowned at the mention of Jon Snow. "Our first meeting with him could have gone better. It's a shame we ended things contentiously."

"I don't think so. I expected him to be more like me for having the blood of the dragon, but I was wrong."

Missandei interjected. "You could not be wrong about what you did not know. He does not present himself like he is above others, but standing with them as you do."

She was right. But where Jon Snow stood figuratively was the concern. "What have your birds sung to you, Lord Varys?" Daenerys asked.

"They call him the White Wolf and the Winter Dragon. His brother, Rickon, named him the new Lord of the Dreadfort, and they say he's the greatest swordsman since Arthur Dayne."

"He could've used those when he was introduced," Tyrion jested.

"What about his dragons?" Daenerys asked.

"They say he calls them his daughters. One as white as his direwolf, and the other as blue winter roses."

Daenerys cracked a smile hearing the dragons being called 'his daughters', "he mustn't have known dragons have no gender."

"Something that puzzles me is their size, your grace."

"What about them?" The smile faded from her lips. For Varys to be confused or puzzled was a rare thing and when it did happen, it usually wasn't good.

"He's had them for less than a year, yet they're said to be bigger than horses."

This was puzzling. Daenerys had her dragons for nearly three years before they were that size. Her interest in them grew immensely. "How is that possible?"

"The climate, perhaps?" Tyrion suggested, though no one was sure if he was being serious or not. "They are creatures of fire, and with winter upon us, they need to adapt to combat the cold."

"A possible answer, but I'm afraid my little birds have heard no whispers of answers to that question. I do have a contact in the Citadel who can look into it, however. You need only to give the order."

Tyrion nodded in agreement. "That does sound the wisest course for that matter. When you do, see if you can find out the circumstances of his release from the Night's Watch. I've read of the Wall and the Order, but never once heard of any man being released from his vows. Jon Snow is not one to abandon such an oath like that. He's too much of a Stark to do that."

"Perhaps not," Daenerys argued. "He seems more like the Blackfyres. All of them rebellious and delusional. I had my expectations of him higher than they should have been." In truth she didn't know what to expect. Even though she was finally in her home country, the people were completely foreign to her. In Essos she had to deal with the Masters' goals for domination of slavery and power, but Jon Snow presented a new argument to defeat, one she was unsure how to handle.

"But you remained as we advised and treated Jon Snow as expected," Tyrion reminded. "Do you think things would have reached better resolve if you spoke to him as your own kin?"

He did have a point. Despite what she knew about Jon Snow and whether the man knew it himself or not, it would not have changed the outcome of that meeting. "I will admit, he is loyal to his people, but even honorable men can lie to get what they desire. But maybe we have been going about our understanding of him the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"The letter from my uncle said that there was one more with the blood of the dragon. It is undoubtedly Jon Snow, but perhaps it might not be the kind we thought of. He may be kin, but how close is he to me? For all, I know he could be the bastard of a Valyrian ancestor with barely a drop of the ancient blood in him."

"But given that he has two dragons under his wing, I think it is safe to say that it is more. He could be like you said, a Blackfyre descendant. But the Blackfyres had the Targaryen blood as much as you have it. They just didn't inherit the name, but instead a sword. Jon Snow has a Valyrian Sword. Or had one until we confiscated it, but unlike the Blackfyres he has dragons."

"And that's supposed to convince me that he won't be like Daemon Blackfyre or his spawn?"

"Forgive me for reminding you of this, but you are in fact the daughter of one of the most tyrannical Kings Westeros has ever known." The truth of that hurt to hear after years of being told otherwise by Viserys and his supporters. "Yet here you are, the opposite of what everyone thinks you are to be. Granted there is a bit of a fire in you…"

Daenerys glared at Tyrion before turning to gaze away in a form of solace.

"But you are learning to keep it from spreading out of control. You have only just met the King in the North, maybe tonight we can share supper with him and talk like regular people instead of those of the court."

Regardless of Tyrion's council, Daenerys remained unconvinced. But as she thought over what words were exchanged, she found herself coming back to what Jon Snow had said. He didn't know her and she only knew whispers of him. Torrhen Stark Bent the knee to Aegon the Conqueror only after knowing of the catastrophic battles that occurred where he and his sister wives went. If perhaps Jon Snow learned of the good she has done in Essos, maybe that could influence him to rethink his decision.

She turned back to her Hand. "And what of his nonsense about the Army of the Dead? To my knowledge, those are merely legend."

"Everyone thought that dragons were forever gone from the world until you proved them wrong. The same can be possible for legends of the North. When I first visited the Wall, I spoke with Lord Commander Mormont and your uncle. They told me about reports of Wildlings abandoning their villages and fleeing south in numbers greater than the last thousand years. They said it was because of the White Walkers, and a deserter of the Watch claimed that he saw them right till the moment Ned Stark took his head."

If Tyrion said that her late uncle reported the same thing, then she was willing to be intrigued by the matter, but it wasn't enough for her to believe it.

"May I be excused, your grace?" Tyrion asked.

"Where are you going?"

"To see if I can mend things. If we are to make allies of Jon Snow, we should try to find a common ground to begin with."

Daenerys nodded in approval for him to do so. She turned to Missandei and Varys. "See to it that the King in the North's ship is brought with ours and his men are given proper accommodations. But keep a guard with you." She told Missandei. "Send word to your contact at the Citadel. I would like to know what they have to say." She told Varys.

Both of them bowed their heads before departing the Throne room of Dragonstone.

Before Varys left though, Daenerys had one more question for him. "Who is Jon Snow's mother? Do you know?"

"There's not a living person who does I believe. I've heard a rumor that he was the son of Ashara from House Dayne, but that was proven to be false seeing as she birthed a stillborn girl. But I do know that despite having the name Snow, he wasn't born in the North. It seems No one but Ned Stark knows anything about his mother, and we all know how fruitless it is to ask dead men questions."

Daenerys had many thoughts going through her head as she made her way to the Painted table. When she got there, she must have spent an hour just looking all across the table, thinking about what to do. Most of her thoughts revolved around salvaging the messes laid before her today. With the loss of the Iron Fleet, the Greyjoys, Elliara, and the Sand Snakes, the Martell army had no one to rightfully command them to go to war. The blood of House Martell was now thinned out to several bastard daughters. The eldest was nowhere to be found and Eliara's remaining daughters were all younger than ten, unable to take the reigns of their mother.

Daenerys hoped that the remainder of her fleet carrying the Unsullied would be able to slip past Cersei's gaze and avoid confrontation with Euron Greyjoy. If he could easily take down a hundred mighty ships crewed by Ironborn, then defeating the Unsullied at sea would be a laughable matter for him.

She wanted to go out with her dragons and fight back how she could, but she also had to heed Tyrion's counsel. Acting rashly caused problems for her in the past. She had to have patience and trust in him.

Her gaze wandered North, to Winterfell. There were two more dragons there, dragons that were not bound to a Valyrian Houses, but a bastard of the North. She looked up to the Northeast and spotted Bear Island, Ser Jorah's home. She worried for him and the pain caused to him by the Greyscale. How much had it taken him by now?

Daenerys sighed and tried to keep herself standing tall and not dwell on the possibilities of mortal outcomes. She lost allies, but not the war. If needs be, the Dothraki could lend their support to siege King's Landing with the Tyrell army when it happens.

But still, she needed to find more allies. The North had lost its greatest strength when Robb Stark and his host were butchered at the Twins, but Jon Snow was able to find more from what remained. A leader like that would be a great benefit to her cause. She just needed to convince him that hers was the right one and to bend the knee.

While she was thinking on it, Tyrion returned and presented himself to her in a mood more pleasant than when he left. He must have had success.

"I've discovered something interesting about Dragonstone. Did you know that beneath the island is a mine full of dragonglass?"


On the long steps of Dragonstone, Daenerys calmly watched as Viserion and Rhaegal flew together far away. Drogon had always been more independent and kept to himself. The strong and silent type. Her peace was joined by a certain Northerner's voice. "I'm always amazed to watch them fly. Even more so at that size."

She turned to face the King in the North as he stopped just a few steps from her. "I named them after my brothers, Viserys and Rhaegar. They're both gone now." She looked back at him, trying not to be as regal as she was when they first met. "You lost a brother as well?" He nodded quietly. "People thought dragons were gone forever yet here they are. Perhaps we should all be examining what we think we know."

The pleasantness in his face dimmed and became more of brooding expression. "You've been talking to Tyrion?" He stepped up right next to the railing, watching the dragons as he spoke.

"He is my Hand." Tyrion proved time and time again that he deserved his position.

"He enjoys talking." It didn't take a close friend of Tyrion's to know that. Only one meeting was enough.

"We all enjoy what we're good at."

Jon Snow's tone change into disappointment, but in himself instead of her. "I don't." He said truthfully.

His statement surprised Daenerys. There's not a swordsman she ever met who didn't enjoy to swordfight. Ser Barristan took pride as a Kingsguard and talked many times of the battles he fought in. He also talked about Rhaegar, and how he didn't like to fight, he liked to sing. Perhaps he did have the blood of the dragon in him, but a kind that her brother had. 'I've got to find out who his mother is.' She couldn't help but just look at him. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn't remember. "You know I'm not going to let Cersei stay on the Iron Throne?"

He finally turned away from brooding and faced her. "I never expected that you would."

"And I haven't changed my mind to which kingdoms belong to that throne?"

"I haven't either."

They seemed to just keep going in circles. Daenerys realized that she wouldn't be able to get anywhere else with this unless she did give him something to show good faith. "I will allow you to mine the dragonglass and forge weapons from it. Any resources or men you need, I will provide for you."

He seemed surprised, but also grateful. "Thank you." She turned back to watch her children, but Jon Snow lingered. "So you believe me then, about the Night King and the Army of the Dead?"

'Not yet' she thought, she just didn't want to admit it. "You'd better get to work, Jon Snow." Jon began walking back to the castle and Daenerys had to get another look at him. Maybe there was more to him that she was let on to see. There was an easy way to remedy that.

The rest of the daylight was spent with discussions of the plan for taking Casterly Rock. Tyrion was certain they would which gave Daenerys the assurety that his plan would not fail.

The hour of twilight was soon upon the lands. Daenerys sitting by the hearth of her solar as Missandei walked in. "You sent for me, your grace?"

Daenerys stood up from her chair and faced her. "Do you know if Jon Snow has had his supper yet?"

"He has not, your grace."

"Good, invite him and Ser Davos to dine with us tonight."

"At once, your grace." Missandei left immediately and Daenerys followed after her but made her way to the dining hall instead. Inside was very similar to the throne room, there just wasn't a throne. In the middle of the hall was a large, black, stone table. It was very long and shaped hexagonal so that that only one person could sit at each head of the table.

Daenerys stood next to her seat and waited for Jon Snow to enter. Missandei came through the doors, followed by Tyrion, Varys, Ser Davos, and Jon Snow. He was out of his armor, but what wore under remained. "I'm glad you decided to join us. Please, have a seat." She motioned her hand to the seat next to hers on the left. Jon Snow walked up and stood next to it, waiting for everyone else to find their seats. As soon as they all sat down, Daenerys's servants, some of the Dothraki women, entered the hall with trays of various foods. "I was hoping we could take a break talking about politics and just talk as people," she said to Jon.

A small smile grew on his face as he looked at her. "It would be nice if we could, I never did thank you yet for sending men to the Wall."

Daenerys returned the smile as a plate of food was placed before all of them. "I didn't send anyone, I offered those who had nowhere to go somewhere they could. I hope your brother of the watch was pleased."

"Grenn?"

"Yes, forgive me, I had forgotten his name. Did he return safely to Castle Black?"

"He did, and he talked about you quite a bit while he was there."

"What did he say about me? Good things I hope." Hopefully, the impression she had left on Grenn was a good one and was spread to others he told.

Jon seemed embarrassed to answer, but he did anyway. "He kept on talking about how he met the most beautiful women in the world. Though he never knew many women to begin with."

Daenerys's brow arched. "You disagree?" She could see Tyrion smirking as he drank some wine.

Jon cleared his throat before answering. "There's nothing to really argue about."

'Well played' Daenerys thought. "You said he talked about me while he was at Castle Black, was he sent to a different castle?"

She noticed the smile faded from Jon's face when she asked. "He was killed a month after he returned by raiders on his way to Eastwatch."

Daenerys's smile faded as well. "My apologies, I was unaware."

"He died fighting to protect my dragons, I'll always be forever grateful to him."

"What was he doing with your dragons?"

Jon didn't answer, he seemed to be upset with himself. "I tasked him with bringing them to you." This shocked Daenerys and the others around her. He was going to give his dragons to her? "When they first hatched, I didn't think I could handle raising dragons. I had to get them away from the Wall and the threat that was coming. I thought you would be the best one I could trust to keep them safe. And I knew nothing about dragons at the time. I still don't."

Daenerys had to recollect herself for a moment. If she wanted to establish a good relationship with Jon, then sharing her knowledge about dragons could be a foundation to build upon. "I heard that you call them your daughters."

"They are girls from what my friend and I saw… or rather didn't."

Daenerys couldn't contain her amusement. "Dragons don't have a gender, they each lay their own eggs."

Jon was wide-eyed. "Oh, well that's good to know." There was a brief pause so everyone could take a moment to enjoy their food.

"Lord Snow," Varys said but was interrupted by Ser Davos.

"King Snow." He corrected but suddenly looked uncertain about that. "No, that's not right. King Jon?"

Jon Snow merely shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

Again, his words surprised everyone. He was a King that cared not about being called one. He was certainly humble.

"As you probably have guessed," Varys continued, "my spies have told me many things about you, but I was curious, do you really sing to your dragons?"

This was surprising and it seemed to catch Jon off guard as he choked on his drink. He looked over to Daenerys and could tell she was very curious. "I do on occasion. It calms me down as much as it does them."

There was another thing that made Jon remind Daenerys of Rhaegar. Ser Barristan told her that Rhaegar liked to sing to the people. Daenerys could tell Jon was getting uncomfortable, so she decided to lead the conversation elsewhere. "If might ask, who did you name your dragons after? I haven't even heard you say their names. Only one is White and the other blue."

"Ygris and Lyarras." He looked over to her, looking grateful for what she did. "I named them after the people they remind me of. Lyarras after my aunt Lyanna. The color of her wings is the same as a winter rose, and my father would always place one on her crypt every year. Ygris I named after a Wildling girl named Ygritte. She was the one who convinced me that the Free Folk weren't our enemies. She's gone now."

"What about Ygris reminded you of her?"

"Ygris' eyes are fiery orange, the same color of Ygritte's hair." The way he spoke of this Ygritte was with a small amount of sorrow in his voice. It was clear it was someone he once loved.

They all continued until the light of the sun was completely gone from the sky and the stars began to appear. They each excused themselves from the dining hall, Daenerys walking with Jon to the doors. "We'll have to pick up where we left off tomorrow evening."

"I look forward to it." He said as he bowed his head and left.