Chapter 19 – Daenerys

The ending of the meeting with the northern lords and ladies rendered her speechless. While she had previously regarded Arya as a good ally, someone to be reckoned with for killing Cersei so quickly and quietly, and a good sparring partner and trainer to boot – she hadn't expected her to come to her defence so readily. To argue her case with these lords, and make them overlook who she was. She was amazed.

Yet her amazement about Arya was met with her confusion and turmoil about Jon. Or was it Aegon now? She doubted he would want to change his name after getting this far in life known as Jon.

Dany was surprised more than anything. She had thought for so many years that she was the last dragon, all alone with no family to guide or protect her, only the few friends she had met and lost along the way. Yet she had had a nephew, in age with her, tucked away in the North of Westeros all this time. She wasn't the last dragon. The Targaryens were not near extinction. A small section of her mind nagged that, as her brother's son, his claim to the Iron Throne was stronger than her own. Yet Dany knew Jon now. Seen him with the people he ruled. Seen his family. He was strong, honourable, yet reluctant in power. She knew, deep down, that it was very unlikely that he would even want to sit on the Iron Throne. But if he did… Daenerys wasn't sure what she would do. Let him have it? Ask to rule together? She remembered the night before and the way Jon had kissed her. He would probably be disturbed at the thought of this now, she realised. Not that it mattered to her. She knew that the Targaryens had married brother to sister for centuries, and knew that an aunt and nephew relationship had to be better.

She would have to talk to him, she realised. But when?

As soon as the meeting was over, Jon had left – practically run – from the hall. After a few seconds, Arya had followed him. The two of them had grown up together and been very close; Daenerys figured that she would be able to help him more at the moment.

Part of her did feel a little upset though. On the road to Winterfell, Jon had promised that they would speak in depth about battle plans, weaponry and other things after she had been introduced to the rest of the northerners. She had looked forward to it, keen to be ready and prepared, yet he had run away without a backwards glance.

She noticed many of her own supporters seemed to have left too. Tyrion had told her he would stay back for a few days; he was despised by many of the northerners and was aware that if he told her what to do all the time then they would pick up on it. Yet he had just left… presumably to go and drink the Winterfell cellars dry with someone he used to know. Missandei and Grey Worm had disappeared, presumably to report back to the Dothraki and the Unsullied respectively.

Sansa had left the minute she saw that the alternative was to be alone with her. Bran too had said he would go straight to the Godswood after the meeting to go and spy on the Wall. Therefore, Dany was all alone.

But not for long.

Hearing footsteps pass through the hall made her turn around to see Samwell Tarly hurrying past, arms full of books. Yet when he saw her, he made the effort to bow awkwardly.

"Are you alright, Your Grace?" he puffed. "Not lost?"

"No, no, I'm fine, thank you," she replied. "Well, a little. Do you know where Jon might have gone?"

Sam looked pensive. "No idea. I'm sorry. I've only been here a few weeks ago myself, and Jon never told me much about where he spent his time at Winterfell, save for his time in the yard with his brothers. Bran would probably know, though,"

She nodded. "Perhaps."

"I know he's had a fairly big shock to the system," Sam said seriously. "And I don't think Bran's indifference is helping. But he'll come back, and carry on. He always does." Dany was sure he was also referring to Jon's literal death. She nodded again.

"That's a lot of books," she said, indicating the vast stack.

"Yes, Your Grace," he replied. "Some of these are the oldest volumes in Winterfell. I figure as much information as we can get about the Long Night, the better our chances."

"It's a good idea," she agreed. "My Hand, Lord Tyrion is a keen reader. I think he brought a few books from Meereen and Dragonstone with him."

"The more the merrier," he said, smiling.

"Well good luck," Daenerys said. "With your reading."

Sam grinned, and bowed again. "Good luck finding Jon."

Dany eventually left the hall. No one stood in her way. She wandered aimlessly around the halls, trying to learn her way around the castle; also hoping to find a familiar, preferably friendly, face – Tyrion, Missandei, even Varys…

She turned a corner into yet another dimly lit stone passageway and found Arya going the other way.

"Did you find him?" Daenerys asked her straight away.

"Yes," Arya said, though she sounded a little miserable. "I tried to talk to him, but it just went in one ear and out the other, I think." Dany nodded. Arya then motioned for her to keep walking and they detoured through the castle into a quiet passageway. Dany realised this conversation was to be important, and not overheard.

"I mean, it's a big deal," Arya continued, as though there had been no pause. "Pretty much his whole life has been a lie. And Eddard Stark, thought of the most honourable men in Westeros, the liar." She shook her head. "I just can't believe he didn't tell our mother, Catelyn Stark. She hated Jon the whole time – all for nothing." Dany frowned. She hadn't known this.

Arya looked at her closely. "I told Jon, and I told Sansa, that you probably wouldn't care too much about it. That you're already on the Iron Throne, and Jon wouldn't want it, so there won't be any political problems. I was right, wasn't I?"

Dany nodded. "You were. Besides, as you have also insinuated, there are far bigger problems looming than a chair made of swords at the moment."

Arya thought for a moment, then cocked her head to one side. "Do you think some of the swords in the Iron Throne are Valyrian?"

Dany thought back to her lessons, and to her own recent experiences. "They didn't look Valyrian," she said. "Not the way Dark Sister does. Besides, I think the Iron Throne is made from swords that were fused together using dragonfire, whereas Valyrian steel is –"

"Spell-forged," Arya finished. "A pity. We could do with a few more."

"Arya," Daenerys thought suddenly, and spoke. "How do you feel about the news?"

Arya shrugged. She honestly looked as though she hadn't paid it much thought. "My worries are for Jon, both in terms of how he now perceives things, and how the reactions of others will affect him," she said. "As for me? I don't care. He's still my brother, in all the ways that matter. All I'm going to do is refuse to call him Aegon."

"Why?" Daenerys asked her.

"I'll end up nicknaming him Bacon. Besides, Jon suits him. He's been called Jon his whole life. He is Jon."

It took Dany a while to understand. "Oh, Arya!"

"I don't want to offend you, obviously, since Aegon's an important Targaryen name, but I just don't think it's really something that fits."

"It's fine," Daenerys said, with a wave of her hand. "I'm almost glad you're mostly indifferent. Maybe between the two of us we'll be able to talk some sense into him."

Arya nodded, then looked more sympathetic. "How do you think things will go between you two?"

"How do you mean?" Dany asked.

"It doesn't take anyone smart to realise your relationship is more than just tolerant allies," Arya said, shrugging. "And obviously, you're related now."

"You probably know that that doesn't matter so much to me, given the history of my family," Daenerys answered. "As for Jon… who knows?"

Arya clucked her teeth. "Fair enough."

"I was thinking of going to find and try to talk to him," Dany admitted.

"Go for it," Arya said. "Good luck finding him." She suddenly grinned. "Don't use Bran, though. That's cheating."

Dany laughed with her, then became more serious again. "I also wanted to thank you, Arya, for earlier. For defending me against all of them. I certainly wasn't expecting it, but I think it did a lot of good."

"They just need to get over themselves," Arya said, rolling her eyes. "Who cares if you're a Targaryen? We're probably all going to end up dead soon anyway."

"A great optimist, you are."

"Everyone knows it. Anyway, go and find Jon. I'll see you later." She didn't curtsey, just headed out of the passageway. Dany was almost glad for it; she was glad someone here was comfortable around her. Although a part of her was a bit unnerved that Arya had just left her.

She began wandering around the castle again, not having a clue where she was, where anything she knew where was, like the Great Hall or her own chamber, or any idea of the direction she was heading. She went around towers, up and down stairs, until she was well and truly lost. What she did notice was that the passages were getting considerably darker. Dany knew that it was still only early afternoon, and that even by Winterfell's standards it couldn't be getting dark yet. Therefore, this made her realise she must be underground, and a distinct lack of windows seemed to prove her theory.

Eventually, Daenerys found herself in a long space, with nothing but a single door. She pushed it open and was relieved to find some candlelight. Perhaps she wasn't completely lost after all. She could find her way back using the light…

It was then that she got a small shock. Something big and very fluffy bumped into her from behind, making her turn at once. Her chest constricted when she noticed the thing in front of her. It wasn't a dog. She doubted it could even be a wolf, since it was so big. Nothing but a huge mass of white fur. The beast had red eyes, which in the candlelight looked very unnerving. Dany gasped, sure that the thing was here to guard, and possibly maim anything that came into its path. But the creature did not attack. Instead, it gradually approached her. Dany tried to relax. Viserys had once told her that dogs could smell fear, when she was very young and cried when a small hound in Pentos had run over to her and scared her. But this thing wasn't seeming to try and scare her. It sniffed her, gently, and licked her wrist after a few seconds. Then it bounded a few paces backwards, looking over its shoulder to see if she was following. After a few seconds, Daenerys did follow the beast, solely out of curiosity.

It led her down another passageway. Dany mostly watched her steps, not wanting to trip on her dress or risk stepping on the creature should it stop. But when she noticed her surroundings it startled her: there was nothing to see but rows and rows of stone statues, lining every part of every wall.

After a few minutes, the large animal stopped moving altogether. Dany noticed why – a lone figure stood at one end, just standing there. She looked at it, then back at the person, and began to cautiously make her way over.

About ten paces away, the creature let out a ferocious sounding bark, making Dany stop in her tracks. But the voice that answered it was friendly and familiar.

"What have you found now, Ghost?" Jon said gloomily. He turned, and did a double take when he saw Daenerys. "Or should I say, who?"

"Where are we?" Dany asked, looking all around her.

"This is the Winterfell crypt," Jon said, very quietly. He looked at the creature. "And this is my direwolf, Ghost."

A/N: Felt like putting a cliff-hanger on this because I'm cruel and because why not.

Thank you for reading; let me know what you thought of this. The next chapter will be in Jon's POV and will pick up where this left off. I will try to update asap.

Don't forget to review! Thanks again, until next time.