Interlude IV—Season Five

Court duty is Jorah's least favourite part of his job. He never attends in the capacity of consort, which makes it worse, but he will never pretend to have the same influence or reach that Daenerys does. Instead, on the occasions that he's forced to attend, he stands behind his wife, dressed in his Lord Commander's finery, his feet aching for the length of time he's stood on them.

"Perils of old age," Tyrion drawls, lounging in his own seat by Daenerys' right hand side. Jorah bites his tongue.

The one upside is having the opportunity to watch Daenerys at work. She is masterful, guiding her subjects with a deft hand, listening to their concerns and coming up with sensible solutions.

He wishes he'd been able to see more of that in Meereen. Regrets every day his stupidity in not being honest with her. He should have been there to help her. She'd struggled at times, her grip on the city loosening, war waging between her ideals and a dragon's reactionary snap when its tail is yanked. Barristan Selmy gone, Daario Naharis thinking with his cock and not his brain, Missandei and Grey Worm still coming to terms with their elevated statuses.

I should have been here, he'd said to her once, in the opulence of Qarth. He regrets not being there as much as he regrets anything else.

But he never would have given up trying to get back to her side. If she had banished him again and again. If she had finally taken his head. He would have at least died pursuing something that had brought meaning to his life.

Of course, he is infinitely glad that she hasn't taken his head. That she accepted him back into her fold.

That she loves him. As a friend, as a lover.

And now he will apply himself every day to be there for her the way he couldn't be in Meereen. Watch over her becoming the greatest ruler Westeros has ever seen.