A/N: Since Helgen isn't exactly intact for a majority of Skyrim, I took the liberty of naming a few of its dwellings. However, the residents mentioned are all from the game, so I did not create them. That being said, I did adjust the storyline of a few minor characters, but it's nothing that would alter the entire plotline of the main quest or anything. It was just a way to bring in new people without having to deal with a shitload of OCs. You may keep that in mind as you read. Many thanks to my beta reader (and sister) GrowlingPeanut. Reviews are appreciated.
Disclaimer: Everything and everyone belongs to either Bethesda Softworks or George R. R. Martin with the exception of Dar'Jazha and Ma'ahni. They are mine.
Rating: Be careful. It's rated E for Everyone.
Though a small town, Helgen was heavily populated with, Daenerys realized only upon passing nearly four dozen of them, soldiers of the Imperial Legion. She had never seen so many in one place at once, even considering the dense population of guards in charge of cleansing Riften's crime-ridden streets.
"Why are they here?" she murmured quietly, looking up at her husband.
Drogo frowned slightly and shrugged. "I'm not sure. As far as I know, this is usually a peaceful Hold. If I find anything out, I'll let you know." With that, he followed Dar'Jazha off toward the guard barracks, leaving her alone with the rest of the caravan.
Unsure of what to tell the people suddenly looking to her for command, she glanced nervously toward the retreating form of Khal Drogo before turning back and smiling. "If any of you have any business, to attend to...feel free to do so." She was planning on visiting the tailor's shop and wanted to allow her husband's followers the chance to do as they pleased.
Apparently, she'd said the right thing because the crowd before her began to disperse and spread about the town.
Smiling in satisfaction, Dany turned around and made her away across town to the shop just beside the Black Wyvern Inn. Drogo had given her a fair amount of gold to spend and she was planning on buying herself a new dress.
When the door shut heavily behind her, the Nord woman at the counter looked up and offered a friendly smile. "Welcome to the Merry Maiden. Could I help you with anything?"
"I'd like to have a dress tailored, please," Dany said, returning the smile.
"For yourself?"
She nodded and moved to the empty area that she was gestured toward.
"Once I take your measurements, you can pick out a fabric in your price range and I can have the dress completed and brought to you by this evening. Does that all sound well and good?"
Dany nodded again and lifted her arms when the older woman placed a thin strip of cloth around her chest and then marked it with a piece of charcoal. The same was done around her waist and hips before she was directed toward the bolts of cloth along one wall.
"Might I ask your price range, miss?"
Glancing down at the coins in her palm, Daenerys considered her answer for a moment before responding. "Two hundred septims."
The other woman nodded and gestured toward the entirety of the wall. "Then you can pick any pattern you choose."
Dany was left alone to make her decision and she wandered slowly along the bolts of fabric, running her fingers across a variety of satins, cottons, and the occasional silk. A thin red silk with black trim caught her eye and she rubbed it between her fingers as the Nord returned to join her.
"How much for a gown made of this?"
"One hundred and fifty septims, please, miss."
Although she assumed that she could get it for a lower price, Dany wasn't in the mood to haggle on value so she placed two one hundred septim coins on the counter, receiving a handful of tens in return.
"This fabric isn't chosen often," the seamstress confided as she removed it from the wall and began cutting off the necessary amount. "Might I ask why it appealed to you?"
"Those are the colors of my house," Daenerys replied, earning a look of surprise from the other woman. In Skyrim, there were few noble houses. With the exception of the Starks, most came from beyond Skyrim, and each family was regarded highly by the commoners of Tamriel.
"Which house, my lady?"
Dany noted the change in address with a smile. "Targaryen. From High Rock."
"Targaryen? I heard news that the Jarl of Riften has just sided with the Stormcloaks against the Imperial Legion." She didn't try to hide her obvious disgust toward the army of Windhelm's Jarl. "He is from your house as well, is he not?"
"Yes. Viserys is my brother," Dany responded absently. After spending the past few years apart from either side of the war, the news that Viserys had aligned himself with the Stormcloaks was surprising and somewhat troubling. She couldn't help but wonder if her arrival in Helgen accounted for the heavy Imperial presence.
The tailor seemed to notice the change in Daenerys' demeanor and she subtly changed the subject as she returned the bolt of red silk to its place on the wall.
"I will make the gown to fit your current measurements, and I will send an extra bit of the silk with you so that it may be adjusted as you grow."
Dany stared at her in confusion. "I beg your pardon?"
"As your body begins to change, my lady," the seamstress stammered. "I heard of your recent marriage to Khal Drogo and I only assumed...I didn't mean to cause offense, my lady."
Dany's hand traveled lightly to rest on her stomach and she nodded, a bit dazed. "Of course. I-I wasn't thinking." She turned to leave and paused only when the older woman called out after her.
"Are you staying at the Black Wyvern, my lady?"
"I believe so, but if you give the gown to anyone in Khal Drogo's caravan, it will get to me in due time."
Without waiting for a reply, she opened the door and stepped back out into the street, her mind reeling with the unrealized possibility that had just been presented to her. A tug on the edge of her skirt broke her from her trance.
"Khaleesi..."
She looked down to see a young Khajiit by her side, her small paws striped with a familiar shade of grey. She had never thought to assume that Dar'Jazha had a family of his own and realized with a pang of guilt what she was keeping him from when he offered his protection on the road.
Kneeling down in front of her, Dany smiled softly. "What's your name, sweetling?"
"Ma'ahni," the Khajiit replied proudly.
"And is there something I could do for you, Ma'ahni?" Khajiit names still felt foreign on her tongue.
"Would you like to play tag with us?"
For the first time, Dany noticed a young Nord boy standing a few paces away. He looked a bit like the seamstress and if she had to guess, she would say that she was his mother.
Smiling, she turned back to the Khajiit and stood up. "I would love to."
The young boy ran over to join them when he heard her answer and tapped her lightly on the arm before racing away. "You're it!"
With an expression of feigned shock, Dany took off after them, following the high-pitched peals of laughter through the winding streets and occasional crowds. She managed to catch up to the young Nord boy and answered his taunt of, "You can't catch me!" with a laugh as she tapped him on top of the head.
"Oh yes I can."
"That's not fair!" he complained half-heartedly, taking off after her when Ma'ahni darted by with a shout. "Get her, Haming!"
Running away with the young boy on her heels, Daenerys started off in the opposite direction and she was just glancing over her shoulder to check the distance between them when she ran right into the man emerging from the guard barracks, nearly falling if it weren't for the hand that grasped her arm.
A familiar chuckle revealed the identity of the Redguard standing before her and he knelt down to the level of the two children that had stopped beside him.
"Managed to get my wife to play with you, I see, Haming," Drogo said in amusement, earning a nod from the young boy. He laughed quietly and handed each of the children a ten gold septim. "Go on and get yourselves something. I need to steal Daenerys away."
Not having to be asked twice, Haming ran off with his coin and Ma'ahni was only stopped by a hand on her shoulder.
"Ma'ahni, run and tell your mother that the trading should be done tonight. If she asks why, let her know that your father will be there shortly to answer her questions."
The Khajiit nodded and darted off in the opposite direction with his message. After making sure she had reached the caravan, Drogo straightened up, his smile quickly fading to be replaced by a look of wary discomfort. He took Daenerys' hand and started walking toward the inn. "Come. We need to talk."
"Is something wrong?" Dany asked, struggling to keep up with his long strides. He refused to respond until they were safely inside their room at the inn with the door shut tightly behind them.
"I found out why the soldiers are here."
"Is it because of me?" she whispered, sinking down onto the end of the bed and resting her hands in her lap.
Drogo shook his head and sat down in the chair across from her. "No. General Lannister is setting a trap. His armies somehow found out about the Stormcloaks' battle plans and they're planning on capturing Ulfric Stormcloak himself."
"How?"
"With all the men you saw outside. Apparently, the Stormcloaks are going to lead a raid somewhere nearby and when they do, the Legion will set up an ambush and take Ulfric and however many men he has with him. They're hoping to catch Robb Stark as well. After they've been captured, they'll bring them back up here to Helgen and formally execute them all under the official decree of General Tywin Lannister himself." He paused and frowned in sudden realization. "Why in Oblivion did you think they were here because of you?"
"Well, I went to tailor's shop earlier and when I told her my name, she said that my brother had just sided with the Stormcloaks."
"Viserys sided with the Stormcloaks? That means Ulfric controls the entirety of Eastern Skyrim now."
"And what exactly does that mean?"
Drogo shrugged. "It could mean nothing. It could mean an end to this war. What it does mean is that we aren't safe here. We need to get you as far away from Imperial troops as possible."
"Do you think they'd try anything?"
Sighing, Drogo looked down to meet her gaze and took her small pale hands in his large dark ones. "I don't know. But I'm not willing to risk it if they are. You mean too much to me." He leaned forward to give her a kiss and then rested his forehead against hers. "I don't ever want to see you hurt again."
She looked away and turned her gaze down to their joined hands, trying not to think about the abuse she'd endured at her brother's hands. She knew as well as her husband did that she would always bear the scars as a reminder of Viserys' anger and her own weakness. Having grown stronger since then, she wished she didn't have to carry the pain of her past with her in her new life.
"We can't leave." Drogo looked at her in confusion and she quietly elaborated. "Right now, we are here as a caravan, distanced from the war in our neutrality. If we flee, they will have reason to suspect an allegiance that we do not have. It will only be more dangerous if we try to escape."
She could tell that her husband realized she was right and although he still looked troubled, he nodded in agreement.
"Be that as it may, I don't want you going anywhere else alone while we're here. I would stay with you, or have Dar'Jazha accompany you wherever you may need to go, but that would only raise their suspicions. If you must leave this room, take his wife with you. Her name is Ahkari. I'll let her know that she's needed."
The mention of Dar'Jazha's wife reminded Dany of the seamstress' comment and she moved one of her hands to rest lightly against her stomach.
"How did they meet?"
"How did who meet? Dar'Jazha and Ahkari?"
She nodded.
"Well..." Drogo settled back in his chair and laced his hands behind his head. "You've heard of the Khajiit caravans, haven't you?"
"Yes. One of them used to trade in Riften, but I was never allowed into the market when they were there. Viserys said they were all filthy savages."
"Your brother was an ignorant fool."
Dany smiled slightly. "No, he was a dragon. He was the dragon."
Drogo snorted in disbelief and amusement. "I've heard rumours of dragons returning to Skyrim; didn't think they were talking about a scrawny Breton with control issues." Daenerys laughed along with him and then he sighed. "Anyway...Ahkari was the leader of the caravan from Dawnstar to Riften, but she still worked under Ri'Saad, the owner of the two major trading groups, so she wasn't really giving anything up. She met Dar'Jazha the first time we both ended up in Riften and I guess things just went from there. Her sister Zaynabi took over the caravan, she and Dar'Jazha got married, and they had Ma'ahni about a year later. That was eight years ago. Ahkari has proved a valuable asset."
"Asset?" Dany teased. "Is that how you think of her?"
"Well, how else do you want me to think of her? She's my partner's wife."
"I'll have to ask Dar'Jazha if he sees me as an asset to the caravan." Though she meant it as a joke, Drogo's expression suddenly turned serious.
"I pray to the gods that no one ever sees you as an asset. If they do, you'll end up like the poor Stark girl."
"Which poor Stark girl?" Dany asked with concern. She knew little of the Stark family aside from Robb Stark's position in the Stormcloak army.
"The eldest. She was merely an asset, to both sides of the civil war, and now she's been captured by a rogue soldier for ransom or worse." He shrugged. "I suppose everyone's a pawn in the game of thrones."
"It's not a game when lives are at stake," she murmured, earning a nod of agreement.
"And yet that's how they treat it. Lannister and Stormcloak could care less about how their war is affecting the people of Skyrim. All they want is the High King's throne and they'll do whatever they deem necessary to obtain it."
He looked at her grimly and sighed. "When you're playing the game of thrones, you either win, or you die."