We start off a bit differently this time, at the night after the feast in Winterfell meeting two of the people that Luke would love to feed to the flames the most.

I own nothing recognisable, that belongs to either George R R Martin or HBO.

300 AC

Winterfell was quiet as the occupants of the majestic castle nursed the many hangovers that had been well and truly earned at the welcoming feast the night before. Ned however was up early as he usually was, fretting over the news he had received the night before in his solar. His thoughts were interrupted by Jory Cassel at the door.

"His Grace here to see you, Lord Stark." The Captain of the Stark Guards announced. Robert strode in through the door, the Baratheon King seemingly unharmed by the barrels of wine he had consumed.

"Thank you, Jory." Ned said, standing. "Your Grace."

"None of that Ned, please." Robert groaned, lowering himself into his seat. "Ah." He let out a content sigh, happy at being off of his feet. "What are you doing in here anyway, you can't already be working!"

Ned smirked. "I've got to get a lot in order if I'm to be your Hand."

Robert perked up at that. "You'll do it then?"

Nodding, Ned said. "Aye, someone's got to make sure you don't beggar us all."

Robert laughed from his stomach. "You're a good man Ned. Thank you." He pulled out a raven scroll from his cloak. "I want you to look at this, tell me what you think."

Ned did as he was asked and read the message. "The Golden Company sacked Norvos." He looked at Robert questioningly. "Why do we care about this? It's half a world away."

"They're growing bolder, Ned." Robert said grimly. "They sacked Lys and murdered the leadership causing the island to drown in chaos, now they've sacked Norvos and hung up the bearded priests on their sacred temple or something. In the last three years they've traipsed over half of Essos leaving corpses and flames in their wake and they are only growing stronger."

"They're sellswords. The best of them." Ned shrugged. "And they're content across the Narrow Sea."

"For now." Robert muttered darkly. "But what about when they grow strong enough to cross? What about when Viserys Targaryen decides to come claiming the Iron Throne."

Ned shook his head. "You're worrying about nothing Robert. Viserys Targaryen has no wealth. He's been fleeing city after city because he's a beggar and is receiving nothing but contempt. The day he can afford the worst and cheapest of the sellsword companies is the day I pay him any mind."

Robert didn't look happy at that. "There are still those that would join a Targaryen uprising in the blink of an eye, Ned. There are still those that call me usurper."

"And you have five Great Houses behind you." Ned insisted. "If it comes to it and they do invade, then we'll send them back into the sea." The Stark Lord stood up. "Come, Robert. Take your mind off the dragons and allow me to show you the vast game we have in the Wolfswood."

Pentoshi Magister's weren't like the nobles in Westeros, and they didn't have specified training yards for the nobles to train in swords. That meant Luke and Jon found themselves on a stone balcony out in Illyrio's gardens, both sweating in the heat so much that they'd discarded their tops already and were battering each other with blunted swords. Luke was clearly the better swordsman, driving the elder man backwards until he slapped Jon's sword away from his body, and brought his own down hard, making Jon drop it.

"Yield!" Jon panted. "I yield."

Luke grinned, stepping back and dropping his own sword before running his hands through his long hair trying to make it a bit more presentable. He stared back at Jon who was also catching his breath. "You fought well old man."

"Arrogant arse." Jon huffed. Luke grinned, picking up the water skin on the balcony and throwing it at Jon who took a grateful gulp before throwing it back. Luke looked up at the palace where he saw Viserys watching them, before the elder Targaryen skulked off inside. "He's a jealous one." Jon noted, seeing where Luke's eyes were. "That's why you left Blackfyre back in Volon Therys."

"He's just unsure of me." Luke waved off. "We've been apart for 15 years, it'll take time to reconnect I'm sure."

Jon didn't look convinced however. "What do you actually remember of him?"

Luke furrowed his brow in thought. "Not a lot. I remember him reading to me once." He shrugged. "But we are older now and we're family."

"Don't be naïve boy." Jon grumbled condescendingly. Luke turned around and shot Jon a look, but the elder man had been around Luke long enough to not be cowed by him during a lesson. "What happened to your family almost 200 years ago when the succession was questioned by a claimant."

Luke shook his head. "This isn't like that…"

"What happened?"

Huffing, Luke answered. "The Dance of the Dragons. Rhaenyra and Aegon the Elder."

"Exactly." Jon said warningly, looking back up to the manse. "I'm not saying you'll war. I'm saying that your family are proud, prouder than most. And while that is one of your biggest strengths, it's also a big weakness. Just keep your eyes open, and don't be fooled by the notion that family means everything. My own cousin betrayed me, remember, when I lost at the Stoney Sept he turned his cloak and fought for the Usurper." Luke nodded, and went to grab his discarded shirt. "Now go and get yourself ready, you've been invited to meet the Khal later and I want you to look the part. If you want him to take you seriously, then you need to be ready."

Luke nodded again, shaking wrists with Jon and departing, determined to make an impression on the horse lord.

Once he had dressed himself in his best clothes the colours of his house, Luke retrieved from his things the gift he had brought for his sister. He made his way over to the bathhouse where he knew she was getting ready and saw her putting a pair of dragon adorned pins on her shoulders. "Daenerys." He said to get her attention.

She looked over at him and smiled weakly. He moved over to Dany and looked her over. "You're a rare beauty, sister."

She looked away shyly. "Do you think the Khal will like it?" She asked.

Confusion ran through Luke's mind. She was only in a thin, slightly translucent dress and he could just about see bare skin through the material. "I apologise, I thought that was a night dress."

"No." Dany admitted with a frown. "It's a gift from Illyrio."

Luke shook his head. "I shouldn't be surprised. The man does have his perversions. You can see everything, Daenerys. Are you not uncomfortable?" Dany didn't say anything, but her shift to cover up subtly gave Luke the answer that he needed. "Here, this is my wife's, but she rarely wears it." He held out the pale blue fabric for her to inspect. "The finest seamstresses in Volantis made this. It's a gown fit for a Princess, and a Khaleesi."

"It's beautiful." Dany admitted. "But I don't want to offend the Magister…"

Luke scoffed. "We are the blood of the dragon, sister. The scions of Old Valyria. Illyrio should be doting to your every need, not forcing you to wear a gown fit for the pleasure houses of Lys." He told her softly.

Dany nodded, running her hand along the dress. She turned to her maids. "I want to try this on." She told them in their native Valyrian.

Luke bowed his head happily, handing one of the girls the dress and moving over past the bath to the balcony. He stared out to the Narrow Sea and tried his hardest to find any hint of land on the horizon but failed to do so. A few minutes later, Dany's voice came from behind him and he turned around to see a completely different young woman. She looked almost taller, not slouching so much as she had done before. She also looked a lot more like a Princess than she did before, her head being held high. "How is it?"

"Wonderful." Dany beamed. "Thank you."

Luke waved off the thanks, moving back towards her. Sighing, he told her. "I know we've not known each other long, but you are my sister and I want you to be happy… We don't need the Dothraki, not really. If you'd rather not go through with this then just let me know and I'll sort it all out."

Dany's eyes widened in slight terror. "Viserys…"

"Viserys is our brother. He'll understand." Luke tried to say.

Dany shook her head. "No, he… he won't. It's ok Lucerys, I'll do my part for us." She tried to smile.

Luke sighed. "Very well. But if you do decide against it, then tell me. The Dothraki are good, but the Company are better."

Dany smiled at the thought and held her hand out for him to take, which he did happily. "Come, we're already late and Viserys will be going mad."

Luke laughed. "I wouldn't worry. The Dothraki aren't the most punctual of people."

The air had a hint of a breeze that made the heat of Pentos bearable. Lucerys and Daenerys had arrived at the spot in the gardens that they were due to meet Drogo to see a fretting Viserys.

"Where have you been?" He whispered, incensed at Dany. "He's going to be here any minute!" He then noticed what she was wearing. "That's not Illyrio's dress." He stated.

Luke looked over at the cheesemonger first and replied to his brother. "It's a unique dress from Volantis, made for my wife, Valarra of House Rogare. We felt it looked more noble than the see-through cloth that was provided. You are selling a Princess after all, not a whore, Magister." Luke directed the last bit to Illyrio.

The cheesemonger smiled, but again Luke could tell it was faked. "And like a Princess you look, my dear. A wise decision, the Khal will be delighted with you."

They would find out then, as the thundering of hooves was heard growing closer, Luke wasn't surprised to see the four horses of the Khal and his three blood riders enter through the stone archway. Illyrio immediately moved to greet him.

"Athchomar chomakaan, khal vezhven." Illyrio said, and Luke didn't understand a word. "May I present my honoured guests, Viserys of House Targaryen, the third of his name. The rightful King of the Andals and the First Men. Captain-General Lucerys of the Golden Company, and the Princess Daenerys of House Targaryen." Illyrio introduced them all. It had been agreed to not spread the truth of Luke's tie to his siblings, rather using simply his first name and rank, which everybody in Essos knew about. He then walked closer to the still mounted Khal repeating himself in Dothraki.

Dany went to move closer, but Viserys held her wrist to stop her, pulling her in closely. Luke noticed this in his peripheral, but he kept his steely eyes trained on the Khal. He heard Viserys talking quietly to Dany. "Do you see how long his hair is? When Dothraki are defeated in combat, they cut off their braid so the whole world can see their shame. Khal Drogo has never been defeated."

"Not yet at least." Lucerys interrupted quietly.

Viserys smirked. "You could take the great Khal Drogo?" He asked mockingly.

Luke didn't move, as the Khal's eyes were firmly on him at the moment. Instead he just replied to Viserys saying. "We've had to face Dothraki before. They're good, they're deadly, but they are unstructured, unprofessional, and they die just the same as any man."

"Come forward my dear." Illyrio called to Dany.

Luke leant in to her this time. "Stand tall, stand proud, and meet his eyes unflinchingly." He whispered. Dany moved towards the Khal then, and Luke stood closer to his brother.

"What are you doing?" Viserys asked. "Don't ruin this."

"We don't need them." Luke muttered back. "We have an army now, we can call this off."

"And anger an entire Khalasar? Are you mad?" Viserys asked.

Luke bit back his initial response, and instead answered diplomatically. "The Dothraki will never sail across the Narrow Sea. I will, Lys will. Save her for House Martell, or House Tyrell."

"I am the King, brother." Viserys said bitterly. "Not you."

"Of course." Luke replied as the Khal looked Dany up and down. "But I am only advising you that we don't need these savages."

Viserys was about to bite back again, but the four horses were urged away, leaving Daenerys at the bottom of the steps alone. The eldest of the siblings ran down the steps like a petulant child. "Where are they going?" He asked.

"The ceremony is over." Illyrio answered.

"But he didn't say anything!" Viserys whined. "Did he like her?"

"Trust me, Your Grace." Illyrio answered. "If he didn't like her, we'd know."

The three Targaryen's were escorted by Illyrio out to one of the balconies, where Viserys stared out towards the Narrow Sea. Luke was stood to one side with his sister, and he smiled down at her. "You did well there." He told her quietly. "You didn't show any fear, and bravery matters more to a Dothraki than almost anything."

Dany smiled upwards at him, but they were both captured by Illyrio's voice to Viserys. "It won't be long now." The man was saying. "Soon you will cross the Narrow Sea and take back your father's throne. The people drink secret toasts to your health, they cry out for their true King."

Suddenly it all made sense to Lucerys. The entitlement, the sudden fits of rage when things weren't going his way. Viserys had been brought up believing falsehoods his entire life, believing that the people loved their family and that their father had committed no crimes.

"When will they be married?" Viserys asked, walking off. Dany and Luke followed him at a bit of a distance.

"They don't need to marry." Luke repeated himself, even though he knew it would fall on deaf ears. "Do we really wish to traipse to a city that's closer to Qarth than Pentos, only to travel all the way back? Come to Volon Therys, we'll amass our armies and invade Westeros together."

"Do you have as many men as Khal Drogo?" Viserys whipped around and asked accusingly.

"We do not have the numbers it is true, but we do have the better men by far." Lucerys shot back.

"Then wouldn't it be wise to have both?" Illyrio asked.

"Yes." Viserys nodded. "Yes, it would be better."

Lucerys felt frustrated. "They will never set sail!" He exclaimed angrily. "This is all a folly!"

"We've known you for less than two months!" Viserys bit back harshly. "You may lead a sellsword company now, brother. But I have lived and suffered with Daenerys all her life. I think I know what to do for us better than you do."

"I don't want to marry him." Dany said quietly, cutting the tension between the brothers.

Luke turned to her, quickly losing his feistiness and looking down at her softly. "Are you sure?"

"Of course, she's not. You're influencing her." Viserys shot at him, before turning to Dany. "What do you want then, sweet sister?"

"I want to go home." Dany told him.

Viserys looked at him incredulously. "So do I." He told her. "So does Lucerys. I want us all to go home, together. But they took it from us." He stepped closer to Dany, peering down at her. "So tell me sweet sister, how do we go home?"

"With the Golden Company." Dany answered, more hopeful than sure. "With Luke."

Viserys scowled. "I thought I'd made it clear that that is not enough." He said sharply. "Drogo has 40,000 men in his tribe." He stroked Dany's cheek. "And so long as it meant us sailing across the Narrow Sea to win back our home, I would let Drogo, his blood riders, and all 40,000 men fuck you. And their horses too, if that's what it took."

Luke couldn't sit and take that, and he grabbed Daenerys' arm and pulled her away, standing face to face with Daenerys. "She is our sister." He growled. "Not some whore."

Viserys stood firm. "She is our bargaining power, and it is what we will use. I am the King, Lucerys. My decision is final. Daenerys shall wed the Khal, and we shall sail across the Narrow Sea with an army of over 60,000 men. Am I understood?"

Luke didn't answer but stayed in between his siblings unmoving. Viserys stared him down for a moment but scoffed and walked off with Magister Illyrio.

"He's right." Daenerys said unhappily. "The more men we have, the better chance we have of winning."

"Daenerys…" Luke said pleadingly, but she shook her head and followed Viserys, leaving an exasperated Luke pondering on what he could do.

From the balcony he immediately went to Jon's room, where the elder knight had spent the rest of the day. The Targaryen slammed the door shut, and Jon barely raised an eyebrow.

"He's still going through with it!" Luke raged. "She explicitly said that she didn't want to marry him, and yet he's still pushing it along no matter what I say, and she goes with it!"

"Of course she does." Jon answered him calmly, writing a letter at a desk. "She's been with him for 15 years, and she's known you a couple of months. She doesn't know if she can trust you fully yet, the poor girl has been let down by city after city. The question is, what are you going to do about it?"

Luke sighed, throwing himself onto an armchair. "What can I do?" Luke asked. "He's my King."

"You were raised better than this." Jon reprimanded. "You rose to the rank of Captain-General at the age of seventeen, think."

"I can always force it." Luke sighed again. "Go over his head. Bring the Company in to Pentos before the horde get here."

"Better." Jon nodded, holding up his finished letter. "I'll deliver it myself. Maar has reported that everything is in place for a battle if we need it."

"Everything?" Luke raised an eyebrow."

Jon nodded. "This won't be easy. Lots of men will die."

"Maybe there's a way I can avoid that." Luke thought aloud.

Jon grinned. "There is. The Khal is only the Khal because he shows strength, if he appears weak…"

"The Khalasar crumble…" Luke finished.

"So, what do we do?" Jon challenged him.

Luke thought for a moment and noticed that Jon had a map of Pentos on his table. He looked at it for a few moments, grateful that Jon allowed him the time. "We set up our infantry and mounted sections here, just outside the city. Archers on the walls." He pointed to the positions. "I challenge the Khal to a single combat duel and win."

"Don't be over confident." Jon warned. "He is a vicious killer."

Luke stared up at him, venom in his eyes. "So am I."

He's getting frustrated here isn't he… Luke and Viserys were never going to get along for too long, their ideologies are just far too different.

But how will Viserys and Dany react when they know what's about to happen? I guess you'll have to find out next time! I'm not sure how soon that will be yet, but I'll hopefully have a good writing day tomorrow.

See you all then!

Next Time: Luke and Khal Drogo face off...

Reviews:

TheOnlyKing: Thank you for the praise!

fdiggin: He's certainly starting too!

Vcg: I upload when I've finished the chapters, keeping up with that same review won't make me type any quicker!

Hail King Cerion: It's starting to happen… Dany and Luke have a good relationship, which is why he's so exasperated with her as to why she just blindly follows Viserys' decisions.

ChimChim84: You'll have to wait and see… As for Rhaenyra's crown… that's a bit difficult as it went to a Braavosi ship, a nation that Luke hasn't had an issue with as of yet. I'm not saying the pairing yet, that'll be for around 10 more chapters or so.

Guest (Valarra): Well he did… And there's a reason for it.

Cormelyvandimion: I'm surprised at how few there are really, but I'm happy to add to the list!

Oneironaught101: I never do change it, but I do find often that readers are extremely impatient when something they don't like happens even if I know it's for a good reason.

Silver crow: Braavos are also antislavery, so while they don't hate him, they don't love him either.

C.E.W: I think the Dothraki followed Dany because she rose unscathed from a burning building and she had the greatest mount of all, a dragon. They would likely go into their usual disarray if Drogo dies.

Guest (pretending): No he wasn't pretending, he had just built an image up in his head and wanted them all to be a family.