A/N: GRRM still owns everything, I own nothing. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, but I'm not completely happy with it. But I hope everyone reading enjoys it. There's a longer author's note at the end of the chapter.

Daenerys IV

The chest had arrived the day after the royal party had departed south. No one in Winterfell could tell her how it had arrived, she had simply found it sitting in her and Robb's bedchamber addressed to her as Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen. It carried a label on it declaring that it was a wedding gift from a Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos. The label only wished her well in her marriage and hoped that she would treasure the enclosed present for their beauty as the eons had turned them to stone. Inside the chest were three beautiful dragon's eggs, one deep green with bronze flecks, another pale cream swirled with gold, and the last as black as midnight swirled with scarlet ripples. Dany had never seen anything so magnificent.

However, nestled amongst the eggs was a letter from her brother Viserys that disturbed Daenerys greatly.

The letter started out well enough by congratulating her on her marriage to the future Lord of Winterfell and telling her that he was well in Pentos with Illyrio, but it quickly went downhill from there. Her brother shortly began to write about all the wrongs done to House Targaryen and how the Iron Throne was his by rights. He said he forgave Lord Eddard Stark for his part in House Targaryen's downfall because of his gentle treatment of Daenerys and his rage over the deaths of Elia and her children and that for this Viserys would allow Lord Stark to take the black when he reclaimed the throne as opposed to the deaths he would dole out to the Baratheons and the Lannisters. The dragon does not forget he said. (This reminded her of Theon always telling her that she was the blood of the dragon, except Viserys seemed to almost think he actually was a dragon.) Viserys rambled in that vein for a while as he spoke of his plans to reclaim the throne, his throne he called it, his by rights and taken by treachery. He wrote that he hoped to have her husband's support when he landed and that perhaps she could speak to Theon Greyjoy about his family's support as Illyrio had told him that he and Dany were close. He laid out no concrete plans for his conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, he merely reiterated about how the throne of Westeros was his by the right of him being the last living male Targaryen and that he knew many of the great houses would rise against the Usurper and that Illyrio had assured him that the smallfolk prayed for the return of the dragon.

Dany did not know what disturbed her the most, that he would write such treasons to her, that her only living brother seemed to be as mad as she had been told their father had been, or that he and this Illyrio knew so much about her even though they were across the Narrow Sea in Essos. Also that they had someone able to deliver this chest into Winterfell in secret exactly when the King left.

Underlying all her worry and fright, Dany felt a great sadness. She had often wondered about her brother in exile. When she had felt lonely as a child, she would imagine what her life would have been like with him if Ser Willem Darry had spirited her across the Narrow Sea as had intended. But in her imagination, her brother had been kind and patient and funny, a combination of Theon and Jon Snow. She had never pictured him as a madman. She said a quick prayer of thanks to the Seven that she had not been raised by him, or even worse, forced to marry him in the Targaryen custom of keeping the bloodlines pure.

She had run to Robb as soon as she recovered her wits. He too had been shocked and alarmed by the chest and the accompanying letter. They had gone to Lady Catelyn for advice, hoping to find the Lady of Winterfell they knew so well as opposed to the shell of the woman she had become since Bran's fall. When they had told her of a secret delivery, she had seemed herself for the briefest of moments, but only for that moment. After ascertaining that it was only for Daenerys from her brother and a Magister of Pentos, Lady Catelyn had returned her attentions to Bran and had offered no help.

"We'll go to Maester Luwin I suppose," Robb said with a sigh after they left Bran's room. "I thought she would at least be able to help us with something that was this important. I wonder why she would think someone would send her something?"

"I don't know," Dany replied, feeling more tense by the second. She did not want to go to Maester Luwin, she wanted to write her Uncle Aemon at the Wall as she felt he would understand this madness, but she was terrified to entrust all of this to a letter. So instead she followed Robb to Maester Luwin's quarters.

The maester had not known what to make of the letter or of the surprising wedding gift. All he could say was that dragon's eggs were exceedingly rare and near priceless. He had no real suggestions for what to do about Visery's treasonous letter but instead mused aloud about writing to Lord Stark for his advice and to inform him of these events.

"He's with the king though," Robb said immediately. "Will he be able to keep this from him? He will undoubtedly get angry, I don't want him to bring his wrath down on Dany. You know how he feels about the Targaryens."

"King Robert could find out on his own," Maester Luwin countered. "Clearly there are spies within Winterfell for this to be brought here in secret and for Viserys to have so much knowledge of Daenerys."

Dany could see that Robb did not like that, but she had already come to that conclusion. It was an unsettling thought. She had always heard that Varys had spies everywhere, yet somehow she had believed that Winterfell, since it was so far from all the intrigue of King's Landing, was safe.

"Write to Lord Stark," Dany said suddenly deciding. "It is better if King Robert hears it from us. Maybe he'll even see it as a sign of loyalty." She did not truly believe that but there were no other options at this point and she did not want the King to believe that she was plotting against him with her brother.

They left Maester Luwin to his letter writing and returned to their duties, but Dany could not keep her mind off of the dragon's eggs. She returned as soon as she was able to her room to examine the eggs at greater length. She was holding the black egg in her lap when Theon entered the room.

"Robb's just told me the news," he said as he walked towards her. "Direwolves and dragon's eggs. Perhaps someone will send me a kraken next."

Dany was about to scold him for making a jest at a time like this but then she realized that he was not smiling for once. He looked as serious as she had ever seen him. "Would you like to read the letter?" she asked instead, handing the incriminating paper to him upon his nod.

As he read the letter, an unfamiliar frown graced Theon's face. Dany stared hard at him, remembering mistaking him for her brother as a child when they were the two wards of Lord Eddard Stark. He was her brother, and Robb's, in the ways that mattered even if they were not tied by blood, she realized that now. When he looked up at her from reading, she took his hand and squeezed it.

He squeezed her hand back and said, "Don't be afraid."

"I'm not," she said smiling. Dany realized that she truly meant it, it was surprisingly easy to be brave. Maybe it was the fact that she felt safe in Winterfell or maybe it was the fact that she had a family with her here.

Or maybe, she thought as the week continued, she drew some strength from the dragon's eggs. After all, Theon had always teased her about being the blood of the dragon, and Uncle Aemon had told her that the dragons were the grief and glory of their House. With the eggs around her, she could see the fascination that the dragons must have held for her ancestors. Though she was not like Viserys, and did not believe she was actually a dragon, she loved the beautiful stone eggs, they felt like they were meant for her. She kept them in their bedchamber and she often found herself running her hand over them anytime she was close to them. She knew it was odd, but somehow it helped her as she took over many of Lady Catelyn's duties as the Lady of Winterfell, something she had not expected to have to do for a great many years. The largest of which was watching after little Rickon who was distraught and clinging to her and Robb after all the changes that had occurred within his family.

She had been telling him a story about Aegon the Conqueror's dragons a week after she had received the eggs when she heard the direwolves begin to howl. Remembering how they had howled when Bran had fallen, Dany was instantly alarmed. She walked with Rickon over to the window to see if she could discover what the cause of their distress, but before she got there she heard shouts of "FIRE!" from the yard followed by the frantic sounds of men running about.

Dany grabbed Rickon by the hand and took him outside with her to see if she could be of use and to make sure of their safety. The fire was in the library and Robb had quickly taken charge of the situation. She and Rickon stayed outside but out of the way while the men attempted to stop the fire. In all the ensuing commotion, Dany almost failed to notice that the wolves had gone silent, and she completely failed to notice that Lady Catelyn was not outside with them.

After the fire had been mostly handled, she turned to Robb and asked where her good Mother was. Robb sighed and said, "She's still with Bran. I was with her when the fire broke out and she was just happy that he was safe from the fire, it did not even seem to bother her that the library was ablaze."

"I suppose we should go check on her," Dany said worrying about Lady Catelyn's mental state. "We should at least let her know that the fire has been put out."

Robb nodded and called a serving girl over to take Rickon to his room, the boy had been through too much excitement in one night for a child so young. They then began to walk back to the castle to go to Bran's sickroom with Grey Wind trailing after them.

"I'm worried about her," Robb murmured to Dany. "Nothing I say seems to bring her back around."

Dany could only nod as she felt helpless as he did. She did not know what would aid Lady Catelyn except for Bran waking up. As they mounted the stairs towards Bran's sickroom, the shackles on Grey Wind's back began to raise, and a low growl emanated from his throat.

"I smell blood," Robb announced suddenly. "Guards! With me! Dany, go to our room, I will be there soon."

Dany felt her heart pounding as she walked away from Robb towards their room. The guards and Ser Rodrik joined Robb to run up the stairs with their hands on their swords. She went quickly to their room and sat down in front of the dragon's eggs once again. She cradled the cream one to her chest for comfort.

She was still holding the egg when Robb returned to her soon thereafter looking panicked with a tale on his lips of a dead man, a knife, his mother's injured hands, and Bran's direwolf.

A/N: I figure Illyrio and Varys would still be hatching their schemes about the Targaryens even if Daenerys was not in Pentos and I wanted to Dany to have the dragon's eggs as I think they're important to her character development. And I assumed Viserys would still be mad as a hatter. I think one of the biggest consequences of this AU scenario is that Dany would start out as a much stronger character than she did in A Game of Thrones because she would have a much better upbringing. I love Dany's warrior side and am still working towards that side of her showing up as things get worse for the Starks. Anyway, like I said at the beginning, I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I just had some problems with the flow. I hope everyone enjoyed it anyway though. I'll update again on Sunday as I'm going to try to update on Wednesdays and Sundays. Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/subscribed/put this as a favorite story. You guys rock!