Chapter 7: Khaleesi

~o0o~

"You are even starting to sound like them…" Jeor Mormont huffed between thick spoonfulls of porridge at breakfast. When Jorah arrived at Bear Island late the night before, his father had only given him a gruff 'Hello' and said they'd talk in the morning. It wasn't the welcome Jorah was hoping for.

Jorah's family home was just as he remembered it. Large and crafted entirely of sturdy, dark-stained oak and surrounded by acres of woods. He hadn't been back in years, not since the divorce, but the crisp air and greenery brought back pleasant memories from when he was younger. The Mormonts still dominated the small island, starting as a clan hundreds of years ago – his father had their plaid hung proudly in the living room. He had many aunts and uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews, but they didn't often get together. As was being demonstrated to him right now, the Mormonts weren't very good at familial affection.

"I don't…" Jorah protested quietly, but he knew his accent had changed. It was less brogue-ish, and slowly refined by years of being around the Royal Family. Another thing for his father to hold against him. "How's retirement treating you?"

Jeor had just entered retirement about a year ago, leaving the British Army with the highest rank achievable – Field Marshall. He was legendary and ten times more decorated than Jorah. Something consistently held over him.

"Fine…living quite comfortably as you can see. You could be the same in twenty years too if you hadn't left the army and became a butler." Jeor's words hurt Jorah, who stared into his black coffee, wondering why he thought coming out here would fix anything.

"Equerry – most prestigious position in the Royal Household," Jorah corrected him, defensive. "And I worked for years with MI6, or do you choose not to remember that?"

"Oh, son, I remember…" Jeor set down his spoon and looked across the table at him. Although it was critical, he still soaked in 'son' coming from his father's lips. "Worst decision you ever made – put such a strain on Lynesse. And that was only the beginning."

Jorah sighed. He knew it was only a matter of time before his ex-wife was brought up. He decided to humor his father, knowing that he still kept in touch with her and sympathized with her for reasons beyond his understanding. "Have you spoken to her lately?"

"She's doing great." Jeor smirked. "Are you seeing anyone?"

Jorah paused. That was not a question he was expecting to be asked. He thought of Sansa, and how he had promised to get a drink with her – but that was nothing serious. He hadn't been on a real date in ages. "No."

"Shame…I'd like some grandchildren." His father's mouth turned up slightly at the corners, in almost a smirk. Jorah couldn't tell if he was being a smart-ass or genuinely wishing for more family. Jorah knew he was a disappointment to his father – the son he always wanted but who didn't follow in his footsteps. Who made mistakes. But still, Mormont blood was strong and loyal.

"Should I not have come?" Jorah asked the question that had been on his mind since last night and his father stared at him for a long moment, not betraying any emotion.

"It's good to have you back on Bear Island. Where you belong." Jeor said as he took his bowl and got up from the table. It wasn't as terrible of a response as Jorah expected. "You should get ready. Lyanna will be here soon and she's been looking forward to seeing you."

~o0o~

'Let's go out tonight." Missy suggested between bites of muesli. She and Daenerys were eating breakfast in the dining room, still in their lounge clothes. It was a striking juxtaposition between their informal appearances and the crystal chandelier hanging overhead.

"I don't know…" Daenerys picked around her plate of runny eggs and soldiers. She and her best friend had spent many a night at university going to parties, much to Grey's chagrin. But they were back in London now, with incredible nightlife to explore and they had yet to take advantage. Granted, it wasn't easy for Daenerys to just pop out to a club.

"Please? So many of our friends are living in the city now and we could use a chance to catch up." Missy pushed a little harder. Out of the two of them, Daenerys was much more outgoing and that wasn't saying much. She marveled how the job with the Prime Minister was bringing Missy out of her shell.

"Alright…" Dany smiled. She couldn't say no to her friend, especially not when they had a whole weekend just for themselves. "Can you text them? Grey…"

It took Grey less than two seconds to appear in the dining room after Daenerys had called out for him. He had his hands behind his back and his legs slightly spread, his usual stance. But when he entered the room, it was Missandei he looked towards first and then the Princess. "Yes?"

"Can you arrange for Missy and I and a few friends to go out tonight?" She asked as kindly as possible. She wasn't Viserys and didn't just demand things of people. She knew every time she went anywhere was a logistical feat for Grey.

"Of course, any preference?"

"Albert's." Daenerys decided. It was a member's only club not too far from Kensington and had two major things going for it – her brother never went there and it had the best DJs in the city.

"I'll make it happen." Grey nodded, a small smile on his usually serious face, and left the room. Daenerys looked over at her friend who had talked her into all this and just shook her head and laughed.

~o0o~

"You never come and visit anymore…" Lyanna Mormont said matter-of-factly as she walked with Jorah through the woods behind his old home. He had promised they would go on a hike, something they both loved, when he came to stay.

"But I'm here now, aren't I? With my favorite niece." Jorah reminded her. He glanced over at her as she walked slightly ahead of him. Almost 13, small for her age at half his height, but as strong-willed as any Mormont.

"Yeah…" Lyanna agreed, her dark hair being lifted by the wind whipping through the trees. Most of the Mormonts were blonde – Jorah a prime example with his sandy curls, but Lyanna was different. She had always been. She was named after Lyanna Stark – a coincidence that didn't go over Jorah's head, especially since Ned's sister was now living across a courtyard from him.

The Mormonts had a relationship with the Starks. His father still did – often talked about how strong and brave both Robb and Jon were in training in the army, which he had overseen. Ned had served under him in the army before being appointed Duke by Aerys. The ties weren't as strong anymore but were still there. The strongest of which was Catelyn Stark's proximity to his ex-wife Lynesse, as her best friend and closest confidante.

Needless to say, after the divorce, which Jorah personally believed Cat had quite a bit to do with, his relationship to the Starks became nearly non-existent.

It was funny how things had a way of circling back and starting over again – with Princess Daenerys being roped into marrying one of the Stark boys and Sansa Stark's sudden interest in him. Clearly there was no getting away from it, even if he wanted to.

"Do you have a girlfriend yet?" Lyanna looked up at Jorah expectantly and it made him chuckle that he was being asked that question left and right today.

"I don't…otherwise I would have brought her with me to meet you." Jorah said. Of all of his family, he valued and loved Lyanna the most. He called her his 'little bear'. He and Lynesse had never had children and Lyanna was as close as he got to that type of relationship.

"That sucks – cuz mom says Aunt Lynesse is a piece of…"

"Lyanna!" Jorah had to hold back a laugh. He could imagine her mother Maege saying that. She had a mouth on her and she was hardly ever wrong in her judgement of character - one of the few people on Jorah's side after the whole ordeal.

"I'm just saying…" Lyanna shrugged as they started up a steep incline and she started to focus, placing her hiking boots carefully between the rocks as they went. Jorah stayed behind her, to catch her just in case, but he knew he wouldn't need to. She could take care of herself.

"I hope this isn't your way of leading into telling me that you have a boyfriend…" Jorah teased. He knew she went to a co-ed school on Bear Island, Maege not wanting her to go to an all-girls boarding school in Glasgow like many of the other Mormont kids.

Lyanna fake gagged. "'Course not – boys suck."

Jorah laughed and then reached into his pocket after they summited the hill when he felt his phone vibrate. It was a text from Sansa Stark.

Still on for drinks tonight?

~o0o~

"Who is coming?" Dany asked Missy as they got ready to go out later that evening. Her bed and floor was strewn with clothes as she tried to decide what to wear.

"Doreah, Irri, Daario, and Rakharo." Missy listed off casually as she checked the group text she had sent out. It was their core group of friends from Cambridge. Missy had met Irri in an Anthropology course and Dany had been introduced to Doreah and Rakharo through Drogo. Daario had started hanging with them all at a party one night and just never left.

Daenerys got a little nervous when she heard Daario's name. There had always been a bit of tension between the two of them, and after she and Drogo had broken up, they had hovered the line between friends and something more for a long while. "Sounds good. The red or the blue?"

She held up two different dresses for Missy to choose from. One was a red lace knee-length dress and the other was dark blue silk dupioni fit and flare.

"Dany, we aren't having afternoon tea. We are going to a club. Where are all your clothes from Uni?" Missy sighed. Her dresses were gorgeous, but intended for garden parties, not dancing.

"Mostly thrown out when I moved back into the palace and had to start dressing like an adult…" Dany laughed. She moved to a small chest of drawers and rummaged through the bottom of it before pulling out a short black dress much more appropriate for the occasion. It had been one of her favorites to wear in that more carefree time of her life. She slipped it on and Missy nodded her approval. She was wearing a white silk jumpsuit that cut low in the back and perfectly accentuated her tall, lean frame and beautiful skin.

Grey pulled the car around for them and drove them to Albert's and made sure they all entered through the private entrance. They were led to the second floor where they had a reserved sitting area ready for them near the upstairs dancefloor and could watch the busy bar down below. Champers was already chilling on ice for them, but Dany kindly asked their star-struck waitress for a bottle of Glenlivet as well.

"Being best friends with a Princess has perks…" Missy teased as she poured herself a glass of champagne as Grey stood a few meters away, his eyes darting around the club that was just coming to life.

"Finally, right?" Dany smiled. At Cambridge, no one treated her differently. Besides some odd looks and people being a bit nicer to her than usual, she wasn't given special treatment by anyone. There were enough ladies and heiresses there that the novelty of it was lost and everyone was just trying to learn something and enjoy their time away from home.

"My God…D!" Doreah came out of nowhere and enveloped Daenerys in a hug.

"I've missed you…" Dany sighed as she rocked back and forth in their extended embrace. Doreah looked amazing, as she usually did. Her tight golden dress showed off almost all of her chest and she wasn't apologetic about it in the least.

Irri and Rokharo were next to arrive, holding hands. Doreah had already known about their recent coupling, but Missy and Dany spent time teasing them for it, saying they had known it was bound to happen eventually. Rokharo couldn't stop smiling and Irri blushed her way through the entire conversation.

All of them were on their second or third drinks, dancing, laughing and catching up, when Daario arrived. Daenerys saw Grey give him a wary look as he walked past him and smoothly found his place right next to her on the posh couch.

"Hey, beautiful…" Daario kissed her on the cheek before refilling her glass of whiskey and pouring one for himself. He shrugged off his leather jacket, so he was just in a white shirt and his dark jeans, way underdressed for where they were.

"It's good to see you." Dany smiled as she watched him run his hand through his chin length messy brown hair. "You in town for a show?"

"Yeah, it was last night." Daario said as he watched Irri and Rokharo dancing and Doreah and Missandei standing close and giggling about something. He was the lead guitarist of a rock band just starting to come into their own. They had just announced that they would be playing Glastonbury. It made Daenerys want to laugh that he had all of his parent's money behind him and a degree from Cambridge and all he wanted to do was be in his band. But it was paying off now.

"Oh…you should have told me."

"Well…with your brother and everything, it just didn't feel right. I was surprised to get the text from Missy this morning…" Daario said honestly, "You doin' okay?"

"Not terrible, considering…" Daenerys told him, her shoulders moving to the music of the latest song. Daario noticed and took her hand.

"Come on…dance with me."

~o0o~

Jorah walked into a little dive-y pub called 'The Crow' on the mainland after his ferry ride over from Bear Island. He had talked himself out of going all day, thinking up potential excuses – but there he was, dressed more casually than his everyday uniform in dark jeans and a light blue button-down that matched his eyes.

The pub was dark and fairly empty, even for a Saturday night at nine, which he was thankful for. Clearly Sansa favored anonymity in the same way he did, and he smiled when he caught sight of her sitting in a back-corner booth.

"I wasn't sure you were going to come." Sansa greeted him.

"Neither was I." A chuckle escaped him and it made her smile, which he found he liked very much. He was thankful she wasn't too dressed up. Her dark, tight jeans and simple black silk blouse complimented her red hair and her crimson lipstick nicely.

She ordered a Pimm's and he ordered a beer and they were left alone. Jorah didn't really know what to say or how he found himself in this situation – hundreds of miles from London sitting in a pub with Catelyn Stark's daughter. The irony.

"So…you really couldn't find anything better to do tonight…" Jorah broke the silence. He found Sansa both intimidating and intriguing in the same way his ex was. Her mere presence made him question himself, which he knew was a dangerous thing to feel. And yet it drew him to her.

"This is what I wanted to do." Sansa said it with such sincerity that it momentarily pulled Jorah out of his self-consciousness and back into the dimly lit room with her. "I've been wanting to do this since I first saw you."

Jorah downed the remainder of his first beer – needing another desperately.

"Sansa, I think that maybe you have the wrong impression here…" Jorah started. But did she? He had said yes to this. He had come of his own free will instead of staying on Bear Island and having dinner with his father.

As she looked up at him, he could see, just for a second, that she was wounded. And then it went away. He didn't want to take his past out on her. She wasn't her mother. She had no idea what had gone on with his divorce.

"It wasn't my intention." She said coolly, obviously changing her tactics on the fly. "I thought it would be nice to get to know you. You know Daenerys so well…"

"Of that, you are mistaken, my Lady. It's been only a week since I've started working with her and she perplexes me." Jorah admitted. His mind drifted to the Princess and hoped she was having fun with her friend.

"I see…she is a bit hard to read. When I had tea with her, she wasn't very forthcoming about much. But she is very beautiful…" Sansa said lightly as she finished her drink as well. Jorah was quick to order her another as he thought of a response. Was this a test? What was he supposed to say?

"Many people think Princess Daenerys is very beautiful." He said. He'd be lying if he claimed not to be one of them, but this seemed to satisfy Sansa.

"If you don't know the Princess well, surely you must know Prince Viserys a bit better? My father thinks he and I would make a good match and I quite agree."

Jorah almost spit out his sip of beer. "I do know him well, Sansa, and I have to disagree with your father. Viserys would make you very unhappy."

"Oh?"

"Trust me on that one." Jorah finished. He didn't know what Sansa was trying to get at, but one potentially arranged marriage with Daenerys and Robb was enough for him to think about at this point.

"Then who do you think would make me happy?" The flirtation in Sansa's voice couldn't be missed as she looked at him over her drink.

He knew he should slow down, that they both should. That he shouldn't order another beer – but he was being pulled along on Sansa's rollercoaster of a conversation and he didn't know how to get out of it.

~o0o~

"You look very handsome tonight…" Missandei told Grey. It was nearing midnight and Rokharo and Irri were entwined on the couch making out, Doreah was surrounded by five entranced men downstairs at the bar, and Daenerys and Daario were dancing and talking and had been for hours. She had no one and it didn't matter, because she was drunk and all she wanted to do was talk to Grey.

"Missandei…" Grey said softly, waving away the drink she was trying to hand him. His voice held a warning but also an apology. He had a job to do – to keep all of them safe – and yet she was distracting him. He couldn't take his eyes off of her and her compliment warmed him.

Grey had started working for Princess Daenerys when she started University. He was only seven years older than all of them, but highly trained and serious. He wanted to make a name for himself and being security for the Princess of England was a surefire way to do that.

It wasn't long after Daenerys started school that she became fast friends with Missandei. He had never believed in love at first sight until that day. She was the most gorgeous creature he had ever laid eyes on and his feelings for her only festered throughout the years.

Missy had kept her feelings well-hidden on her side, but now they were showing, plain as day. Grey had no idea she felt the same and was cursing his luck that there was nothing he could do to reciprocate in that moment. Maybe he could have a private conversation with the Princess and find out if this was acceptable to her. But he still had a job to do tonight.

"Do you want to dance?" Missy asked hopefully, getting caught up in the song that had just come on. She moved her hips back and forth and Grey used all of his willpower to keep his eyes straight ahead and scanning the room.

"Missandei, I'm working…" his voice was softer this time, breaking just a little bit. He dared to look at her, to look at how she was moving to the music.

Daenerys, wanting some fresh air and Daario, wanting a smoke, quietly made their way past their friends and downstairs to the street. Daenerys sighed as the cold air hit her skin, flushed from all of the dancing, and Daario leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette.

"What are you doing the rest of the night?" he asked her. There were a few more people trickling into the club and the doorman was trying not to stare at her, recognizing her.

"Going home and going to bed…" she laughed. She was wonderfully buzzed and had had such a nice night being with her friends. She didn't want it to end, but it eventually had to.

"A quick ride before you do?" Daario gestured to his motorbike, parked not far away. It made Daenerys laugh and shake her head.

"There is no way you are getting me on that thing."

"You didn't come to my show…this is how you can make it up to me." Daario smiled.

"I didn't even know about your show!"

"Doesn't matter…come on Princess…" he looked at her with big brown eyes and she made him promise it would be quick. He handed her his helmet, which she strapped down over her platinum hair, and straddled the bike. She situated herself behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. A moment later they were off into the London night.

~o0o~

It was half past one when Jorah and Sansa stumbled out of the pub, her arm through his. They were both laughing and had talked for hours about everything from their shared taste in music to annoying idiosyncrasies of nobles and royals that they knew. It had bordered on flirtatious the entire time, mostly coming from Sansa, but Jorah found he never once minded. It had been a long time since he had the undivided attention of a pretty girl and he wasn't going to take that for granted.

She had said her hotel was in walking distance, but he hailed her a cab anyway, not wanting her to be out alone. It was only a short walk back to the ferry and since he knew the man who ran it, he'd still be able to get back at this time of night for the right price.

"This was fun. Let's do it again soon?" Sansa asked as Jorah opened the door for her.

'Soon." He promised, and she leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek, but her drunkenness resulted in poor aim and she caught the corner of his mouth instead.

She closed the cab door, smirking and he smiled to himself as he walked the opposite direction towards the water.

He was brought of his thoughts when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Concerned that someone would need to get a hold of him this late, he quickly pulled it out. It was a text from Grey.

S.O.S. Khaleesi gone

"Shit…" Jorah whispered under his breath. Khaleesi was Grey's codename for the Princess, roughly meaning 'Queen' in his native language from where he grew up in the outback of Australia.

He had left him alone for twenty-four hours and Grey had lost her. The thought sobered up Jorah quickly.

And his night had been going so well.