Some loud knocks on the door made Tyrion jump. Those weren't the usual discreet knocks from the servants who brought his meals or cleaned his quarters. He had a suspicion about who might be, and almost ran to the door with his heart beating frantically.
Brienne's tall figure loomed in the doorway, and her altered expression did nothing to assuage Tyrion's fears.
"Has something happened to Jaime?," he asked without preamble. He knew that she'd slept in his brother's chambers, as she did whenever she didn't have guard duty at night. She, Tyrion and Maester Kylan took turns, and Pod sometimes also devoted some of his free time next to the sickbed, despite his resentment for Jaime's betrayal and abandonment. He'd emphasized that he did it for the times Jaime had been kind to him in the past, as well as for his bravery during the Long Night, saving Brienne's and Pod's lives on several occasions.
The maester had taught them how to take care of Jaime: how to feed him only liquid food with a lot of patience, wash him and exercise his muscles to prevent muscular atrophy. Tyrion had thanked Brienne for sacrificing a great part of her time off duty to help Jaime, but she'd played down the whole matter as if it was nothing of great importance. However, she hadn't fool Tyrion even for an instant.
"He's conscious and talking," she announced, also to the point." But be warned that he doesn't remember having come back to King's Landing or what he did here. He suffers from a partial memory loss, but otherwise he looks fine, though time will tell," she added, trying, and failing a bit, to keep her voice neutral. It was obvious that she was very affected. A renewed wave of gratitude for that selfless woman, and of sympathy too, washed over Tyrion.
But most of all, he felt a surge of joy at the news, the bit concerning the memory loss registering in his mind in passing, as a secondary concern. At least he'd recovered his consciousness and that was a giant step. "I'll go right away! Thanks for telling me." He kissed her hand in an impulsive gesture of affection, making her blush, but he was in too much a hurry to waste a single second.
When he arrived at Jaime's rooms, panting and sweating from the effort of running at full speed, he didn't bother knocking, and the maester visibly jumped at the irruption. The mature man was evidently examining the patient, who looked mildly exasperated. Tyrion felt such a relief that he was on the verge of tears. "Jaime!," he almost shouted. "Are you all right? How do you feel?," he barraged, getting close to the bed.
"Like I'm going to have a headache if you go on yelling," Jaime retorted with his trademark snark in his hoarse voice, and displaying a small smile. Tyrion would have crushed him in an embrace if it weren't for his brother's weakened condition. He'd lost considerable weight and every movement must be an exertion for the time being, until his body began getting stronger again.
The maester made his excuses, seemingly done with his examinations, and discreetly left the chamber. Tyrion had been as much a caretaker as the maester himself, so the man didn't need to offer him further instruction.
"I'm so glad to have my pain-in-the-ass brother back," Tyrion replied in return, with his heart swelling with happiness. It had been very hard to spend the last month fearing that his only remaining closest relative and the one person he loved the most in the world would never wake up.
"I'm not sure I can say the same," Jaime added with a soft snort.
Then they smiled at each other knowingly, but Jaime became restless. "What's happened? Brienne's only told me that I abandoned her to come here, and Maester Kylan tells me that lots of things have changed. I'm sorry, but I can't remember anything beyond my stay at Winterfell. Would you mind updating me, given that no one else is very much inclined to do so?" Tyrion noticed that, when his brother had mentioned Brienne, his face had contorted slightly in a tortured expression.
Tyrion sat down on one of the cots next to the bed, the one he'd used quite a few times for the last weeks. There were three cots in the spacious room, where Tyrion, Brienne, the maester and Pod slept when it was their respective turn to pass the night nursing Jaime. "You remember what Bronn did back there, or anything beyond that point?," Tyrion asked, because he was certain that Bronn's appearance in the North threatening them and Daenerys's officers had triggered a strong reaction in Jaime. Brienne was not technically one of Daenerys's officers, but to Bronn, it was all the same. Anyone who didn't side with Cersei was an enemy to her, and she'd paid Bronn to eliminate her enemies, her brothers among them. Fortunately, the sellsword's insatiable greed had bought them time because he still expected to be better paid by Tyrion and Jaime (with the promised castle), but his threat and the news he brought about Cersei getting ready for an inminent attack (with forces that outnumbered Daenerys's by far, including the Golden Company) must have unbalanced Jaime's fragile mental stability about all the situation. He was not done with Cersei, Tyrion knew, and perhaps his love for Brienne wasn't enough to stop him, as indeed happened. Maybe he would always love Cersei more than anyone else, and felt compelled to return to her sooner or later, and he'd been a fool to delude himself believing otherwise.
Jaime raised his eyebrows in puzzlement. "Bronn? What does he have to do with anything?"
"Cersei paid him to kill us, and he made the whole journey to the North. He found us at a tavern in Wintertown and threatened us with a crossbow. He also hit me in the nose with his best regards (that was extremely annoying) and revealed that our sweet sister had ordered him to kill us as well as Daenerys's officers, and that he intended to follow her orders unless we had something much better to offer him, like seemingly a castle like Highgarden, no less. Luckily for us, his greed knows no bounds, and he still trusted us to reward him with a more substantial reward than our snake sister. He also revealed that Cersei was preparing to launch an attack. Well, be that as it may, you looked perturbed after that episode in the tavern, and even in the middle of the madness of organizing Daenerys's contingent to depart for the upcoming war, I watched you, Jaime. You looked lost and conflicted. You'd told me in Wintertown that you'd decided to stay with Brienne, but I suspect that Bronn's news changed things for you. Anyway, I had to follow my queen. We sailed south and Euron's fleet caught us by surprise, sinking lots of our ships, killing Rhaegal and capturing Missandei. I believe that those great blows unhinged Daenerys definitely, and madness took hold of her, especially when Cersei had Missandei beheaded in front of her."
Then Tyrion recounted all that had happened during those terrible days and their aftermath. Varys's execution by dragon fire, Jaime's arrest, Tyrion securing his brother's escape with Cersei by boat and freeing him from the cell the Unsullied had put him in, Daenerys burning King's Landing, Tyrion and Jaime trying to stop the destruction futilely, Jaime returning to the Red Keep and almost dying when the ceiling of the tunnel where he and Cersei were in collapsed. Cersei had died then, and Tyrion rescued Jaime from the pile of bricks and rocks, keeping him hidden from Daenerys. But she charged Tyrion with high treason for helping an enemy to escape and had him thrown in a cell as well. Knowing that she loved Jon and probably trusted him still, Tyrion talked to Jon to persuade him to dispose of Daenerys because she had turned into a huge menace for the whole realm after the horror she'd bestowed upon the city, murdering brutally thousands of innocents. Jon stabbed her in the heart and that put an end to all the terror. Drogon melted the iron throne, took his mother's corpse and fled far from Westeros forever. Afterwards, Daenerys's remaining forces sentenced Jon to the Wall and he accepted his return to being a crow gladly. Most of the surviving Unsullied (among which Grey Warm was) and dothraki were done with Westeros and left it behind them, but others decided to stay. As for Euron's fate, he was found dead, and his fleet had scattered or sunk, no one knew exactly how. On another note, Tyrion had the idea to call for a gathering in which the heads of the remaining great houses would vote for the next sovereign, and surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, Bran was the elected one. He chose Tyrion as his Hand (as retribution for having subtly influenced the voters in his favor). On her part, Sansa demanded the independence of the North, and her demand was granted, so she became the Queen in the North. Bran requested Brienne for the position of Lady Commander of the Kingsguard, and she accepted, but she also proposed Pod for the Kingsguard, and the new king acquiesced. Bran was also changing the Kingsguard vows.
Jaime had listened attentively to the whole tale and still looked confused. "Brienne is very hurt. I broke her heart. But I'm sure I didn't did it because I chose Cersei over her, Tyrion. It doesn't make any sense to me. I'd already stopped loving Cersei that way and realized that Brienne is the one I love. I feel it. I know it. The only logical reason for my actions is that I must have done that to protect Brienne and to try to stop Cersei, to persuade her to end the war. Surely I was a stupid to believe that she whould listen to me, but I guess that I had to try. Otherwise, I have no other explanation for hurting Brienne so badly."
"Well, brother, you have a hard path ahead, if you wish to win Brienne back. You know how stubborn she is. But if it's any consolation to you, I don't believe she's fallen out of love for you, Jaime. Since she came to King's Landing, she's taking turns with the maester, myself and even Pod to look after you, a great effort on her part considering that she also carries out her duties as Lady Commander. So I'd say that she still cares a great deal," Tyrion encouraged with a shrug and a smile.
Jaime looked deeply touched. "Thank you, brother, for being there for me, always."
Tyrion waved a dismissive hand. "You're welcome, but it's Brienne, and Pod, you should thank. I can tell that the lad has lent a hand for the sake of old times and because he regards Brienne as a mother figure. He's angry with you for having letf her and is of the opinion that you alone brought this upon yourself."
Jaime's face fell. "I'll apologize to the both of them. And if I could grovel, I would, but I'm afraid that in my current state, I can't do much more than barely lifting my arms."
Tyrion chuckled. "Who would've thought. My arrogant golden lion of a brother groveling."
Jaime's expression sombered. "Believe me, I've come a long way from that arrogant golden lion."
Tyrion nodded, also serious. "I believe you. Well, I have to go attend to my duties, but if you need anything from me, give me a holler."
"I will," Jaime assured.
Right when Tyrion was turning around to walk out of the chamber, his brother's next statement stopped him. "I love you, Tyrion."
Tyrion grinned, more moved than he'd been in a long while. "I love you too, Jaime," he confessed without turning, and stepped into the hallway, with the grin lingering on his lips.