A/N: Prompt word: Neglect.

02x04, 'Garden of Bones'

The end of the Red Waste is finally in sight. Kovarro leads them on. The Khalasar somehow find the strength to drag itself along behind him.

Daenerys forces herself to take one step after the other, getting herself through it only be imagining the feast that could await them at the other end. Rich meats and meads, juicy fruit.

Her stomach cramps with hunger. The definitions of Jorah's cheekbones have grown more prominent. Her Khalasar are all skin and bone.

The garden of bones, Jorah had told her, lies outside Qarth. A garden that grows each time the Qartheen deny entry to those who seek shelter. They are pinning all of their hopes on a more positive outcome.

"They will let us in," she says aloud to Jorah, perhaps to give herself more confidence.

"If the gods are kind," Jorah says grimly. He is ever practical, but she won't let him dampen her hope.

She is tired of looking at the malnourished faces around her. She had promised them all that she would take care of them. Instead she has only led them into starvation and fear.

She will not fail them again.

She looks at Jorah, drawn and tired and thinner than he's ever been.

She will not fail Jorah again.