The Dragon and the Hawke 47
Bran's eyes open to a terrible glare catching his closed eyes and turning his eyelids a bright red before his eyes. The crippled Lord turns his head from the light before he opens them, and is greeted by the sight of Meera laying in bed next to him.
The young lady Reed looks at peace, something that had been gone since her brother Jojen's death. Lines that had become to define her face were smoothed, and there was a healthy flush to her skin thanks to the heat.
The heat was something that he was not expecting, his head launching up as it finally reaches him. He was breathing in air hotter than any he'd had the pleasure of gasping in before, It was wet, heavy, and tasted of sand.
"Hodor," the familiar voice of Hodor turns Bran's attention to his faithful friend.
And like that, everything he had done to the man, to the Raven, to everyone, crashes through his mind. Tears well up in his eyes and he tells his massive companion, "Oh Willas, I am so sorry."
"Hodor," Hodor shrugs, and Bran gets the feeling that the gentle giant had forgiven him long before he had managed to make his terrible mistake.
"Why are you apologizing?" Meera, waking gently, asks.
"It's because of me that he's Hodor," Bran tells her, swallowing heavily, "When we were fleeing, when I warged into Hodor, I was in the past, and he came with me."
"You can travel through time?" A new voice asks, and Bran's attention turns from Meera to another woman, decked in plate and leather armor. She waves, "Hi, Marian Hawke, nice to meet you."
"Truly?" Bran's eyes widen, the Three Eyed Raven had taken him to the new Empire of Daenerys Targaryen before, never to the Empress or her entourage, but to the people and the cities. In all of them, Marian Hawke was worshiped as a goddess, one who acted more directly than any of the other faiths.
"Yep," Marian smiles, then points a finger at him, "So, time travel?"
"I am a Greenseer," Bran tells her.
"What's that?"
"I… experience the world through dreams."
"You do!?" Marian leaps forward and as her face gets right up against Bran's, he feels a prickling in his mind, "You do!"
"What are you doing?" Meera asks, having scooted away from the madwoman who stood against the White Walkers and lived.
"I'm checking his connection to the Fade," Marian tells her before returning her attention to Bran, "This is great! Now I have someone I can teach my stuff to!"
"You are going to teach me?" the teen is reeling at this, truly unsure of how he should react.
"I am," Marian agrees, "Can't do anything about your legs, though, sorry."
Bran, not having expected her to speak of his legs, stutters out, "I… I have grown used to it."
"Ow, well, that's a relief," Marian wipes her brow, "I thought it was a new thing."
"No, I have been afflicted for a long time."
"Ah," Marian nods, then looks between the two, "So, full names? I know you're Bran and you're Meera, but I don't know family names."
"I am Meera Reed."
"I am Brandon Stark."
Marian blinks at Bran for a moment, then stands and steps over to the entrance to the room. The teenagers watch as she pokes her head out the door and tells someone they can't see, "Trod! Get somebody to go to the White Room and tell Lady Sansa that I've found her last brother."
There is the sound of shuffling feet drowned out by Bran calling out, "Sansa!?"
"Yeah! Your sister's in Winterfell right now getting your little brother situated as the new Lord, but… actually… that's you now, isn't it?" Marian frowns to herself and then pops her head out again, "Trod! Tell Sansa we're coming through in a few minutes!"
"I understand!" is shouted in return.
Marian turns back to them once more and claps her hands, then she points to Hodor, "Alright big guy, pick up Bran and let's go!"
"Hodor," Hodor nods and steps over to Bran, who doesn't resist as the giant lifts him into his massive hands and follows after Marian. Meera manages to sneak in front of them so that she can talk to Marian as they walk.
"The White Room is where we came out, right?"
"Yep."
"And we're going back there?"
"Yep."
"Is there a chance the Walkers could come through?"
"Nope."
"Okay."
Her fears assuaged, Meera walks beside the older woman in silence. The strange party of four travel through the castle at a silent lope, traveling down, down, and down again before they reach the Throne Room, where the Empress sits upon her throne listening to her various petitioners. She raises an eyebrow at their entrance, and Marian gives her a thumbs up and then points towards the White Room.
At Dany's nod of approval, Marian pulls her three companions into the small antechamber and points towards a wall, "Through there."
"That's a wall," Bran points out, though he is ignored as Hodor trudges towards the wall without stopping to consider if it was not a gateway across the world. The young Lord of Winterfell winces as they pass through, but when he does not strike solid stone he looks around in wonder, "This is my chambers."
"Huh?" Marian asks, stepping through with Meera.
"This was my chamber!" Bran repeats, his ire coming through, "Somebody removed all of my things!"
"Well, two teams of looters probably did that," Marian shrugs, having lost all of her equipment on more than one occasion.
"Two?" Meera asks
"Yeah, this place got raided by pirates and by Boltons," Marian reminds them, then furrows her brow as she leads the way through the Keep, "Though… are they Pirates if the castle is landlocked, or just raiders?"
"They were seamen," Bran tells her, "Regardless of where they were."
"Pirates it is," Marian agrees.
"What Pirates are we speaking of?" a new voice asks, and the party turns to see Tyrion Lannister walking up behind them. At the sight of him, and he of them, both he and they stop and stare, "As I live and breath, Lord Stark, it is good to see you alive."
"And you as well, Lord Lannister," Bran nods respectfully. Much of his own family's animosity towards the Lannisters was not shared by the young Lord, due mostly to the fact that he had at no time been able to contemplate how he felt about them. Taking a moment to consider it, he supposed that he hated Jamie, Joffrey, and Tywin Lannister, but not the rest. Those three had done the most; crippling him, executing his father, and arranging the Red Wedding respectively.
"My Lady Wife will be truly glad to see you," Tyrion tells Bran, seeing no animosity in the boy, "Come, She and your brother are Great Hall!"
There is an about face as the party turns to follow the dwarf down three long hallways to the chamber he specified. Sure enough, Sansa and Rickon sit at the ancient dining table that the Stark family had had for untold generations.
At their entrance the two stop talking and stand; for a moment there is silence, and then all hell breaks loose as the three Stark children reunite.