The Dragon and the Hawke 42

It was startlingly cold.

That was the first thought that Dany had as she crossed through the White Room into Jon Snow's office. The Lord Commander quickly handed her a heavy black cloak to stave off the bone chilling wind that blew even beyond closed doors. She took it with thanks, and noted with some relief that she was not the only one to have underestimated the temperature; Barristan too was taking a cloak gratefully.

When he sees her looking at her he can do nothing but shrug, "I've been across most of Westeros with your father and the Usurper, your Grace, but never the Wall. Neither was willing to make the trip."

Dany nods, smiles a bit, then furrows her brow and asks, "Does it make me more for coming at all, or less when I came when it became so easy?"

"Your Grace," She turns to Jon Snow, and the Lord Commander bows his head, "That you would come, regardless of circumstances, speaks highly of you."

"Thank you, Lord Snow," the Empress nods in thanks

With pleasantries done with for the moment, and that small existential crisis cleared up, Jon holds the door open for Dany, Barristan, Sansa, Marian, and Tyrion. They shuffle out, then he takes Longclaw from the table beside the door, and follows. He leads them only a short distance, and they can see why. Just outside, in a large courtyard, twenty men stand on a raised dias with nooses around their necks. Their dias is held up by a series of barrels, all looped with chains connected to a pulley. In front of them is a single rope, which leads upwards to the pulley. Even from halfway across the courtyard, the party could hear the rope groaning under the weight of the pulley.

Dany and her party stop on the balcony that looks over the courtyard while Jon Snow descends the steps. All of them watch, with uncharacteristic silence from both Tyrion and Marian, as the Lord Commander moves through the Black Brothers and Wildlings gathered to watch the deaths of the traitors. They watch as he stops at the rope and then tells the men he is about to hang, "My Brothers, you sought to kill me. I know you were doing what you thought was right. I know you did not relish it. But you broke your vows with each dagger you stabbed me with. All of you are traitors to the watch and will be hanged until death. Do you have any last words?"

He steps forward and listens as each man makes his plea. Some ask for mercy, some for a measure of comfort sent to their families, and some simply try to spit on him with dry mouths or dark words. Only one is calm, the leader of the conspiracy, Alliser Throne just nods at his most hated adversary, "I had a choice, Lord Commander. Betray you, or betray the Night's Watch. You brought an army of Wildlings into our lands. An army of murderers and raiders. If I had to do it all over, knowing where I'd end up? I pray I'd make the right choice again."

"I'm sure you would, Ser Alliser," Jon agrees, and though he cares little for the former Master at Arms, he could at least respect him for standing for what he thought was right. He had done much the same, the only difference was that he had not resorted to assassination to do it.

"I fought, I lost, now I rest," Alliser tells him, "But you, Lord Snow, will be fighting their battles forever."

Jon does not have any response to that, and does not try to think of one. He knows that for all his faults, Thorne was a blunt bastard. After him, though, there was only one man of the Watch left, Olly.

A boy of fourteen, who had conspired to see him murdered, who would have plunged the last dagger into his heart. Jon could barely stand to look at the boy, but eventually he managed it. He wished he had not, for all he saw in Olly's eyes was hatred.

"I wish I hadn't hesitated," The boy whispers.

Jon knows the moment he speaks of; that last moment before he was to die and Sansa had called to him and turned all of the conspirator's heads. Jon's eyes close, his mouth twitches into a terrible grimace, and then he steps over to the rope and draws his sword.

Longclaw makes a hiss as it is pulled from its sheath, the slide of metal on metal the only sound within the courtyard. He takes the sword's grip in both hands, and for a moment that seems to go on for an eternity, hesitates. Eyes all across the courtyard stay on him as he wages war within himself, but in the end, he knew that Olly was not a boy as soon as the dagger was grasped.

And so the blade rises, and then descends, and cuts the life from twenty traitors to the Night's Watch.

….

….

….

It is hours later when the second reason the Mereen party had come to the Wall was addressed. They had been moved back into Jon's office, and were waiting for Edd Tollett to bring Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne to them. There is a knock on the door, and Jon pulls it open.

"Your guests," Edd waves the pair in, and in comes an unassuming young man and a woman larger than any they had ever seen adorned in plate armor. There is a moment of silence as the Queen's party assess the pair, and then Edd breaks the silence, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to clean up the shit Thorne and his friends left us as a going away present."

And then the door is closed and Tyrion exclaims in joy, "Pod! Good to see you still in one piece!"

"My Lord?" the young Payne blinks a few times and his head rears back as he realizes exactly who is in the room with him and Lady Brienne, "Lord Tyrion, you're alive!"

"That I am, Pod," Tyrion agrees, and steps over to the lad and his tall companion, "Now, allow me to introduce to you Empress Daenerys Targaryen, Ser Barristan Selmy, Lady Marian Hawke, and you of course know my wife Sansa."

Sansa, for her part, steps up to Podrick and Brienne and smiles, "It is good to see you again Podrick, and you as well Lady Brienne. You cannot imagine how good it is to see you again, and how much I wished I had taken you into my service on the King's Road."

"Everything happens for a reason, my Lady," Brienne tells her, "And while it would have been good to travel with you, it would most likely have led to our deaths at the hands of the Boltons. And though you did not take us into your service then, will you take us now?"

Sansa nods, and Brienne kneels. There is silence as the pair exchange vows, and when they are done, all Tyrion can think to ask is, "So I suppose there's no chance of me getting my squire back, is there?"

The tension is broken by a few chuckles, and Sansa rolls her eyes indulgently at her husband's antics, "I'm sure if you ask nicely enough, she'll think a moment before saying no."

Tyrion chuckles and slaps Pod on the small of his back. Brienne gives him a mirthless stare, raising an eyebrow at the Imp's cavalier attitude. Instead of resorting to pettiness, as had eventually been the case with his elder brother, she asks, "And may I ask how you came to be in the North, my Lord?"

"Oh, that was me!" Marian tells her, waving her gauntleted hand, "I'm also the reason Sansa isn't with the purple X people, and Stannis holds Winterfell."

Brienne blinks, and rises to her feet, "How is that possible, my Lady?"

Marian smiles and holds out her hand, and purple flames spring to life, "Magic!"

Pod, who had been gifted with rather more curiosity than sense, waved a hand over the fire. Thankfully he wasn't stupid enough to wave it through the fire, and so he had the privilege of telling the room at large, "It's warm!"

"That it is kid!" Marian dispels the spellfire and claps him on the shoulder, "And you are gonna have to get used to the heat, let me tell you, cause Mereen doesn't get cold… ever."

"But… Mereen is on the other side of Essos?" Pod asks, looking to Tyrion for answers

"That it is," Tyrion nods, "But what did Marian just show you?"

"Magic?"

"Exactly!"

"Oh, then how are we going to get to Mereen?" The boy asks

"Through here," Marian waves, and the wall shimmers, the entrance to the White Room fading back into existence.

"My Gods," Brienne steps up to the wall and waves a hand through it. She doesn't say anything for a moment, and then turns back to the room and tells Jon, "Lord Commander, I thank you for your hospitality. As repayment, I offer the horses I and my Squire rode into Castle Black on, and all of the supplies stowed in their packs."

Jon nods, "I thank you, Lady Brienne, for the gift, and wish you well on your journeys ahead."