Daenerys recoiled with everyone else when the first punch was thrown. The bodyguard of Tanda Stokeworth thought that Leo Edgerton stepped too close to his lady as they passed in the corridor. He had shoved Leo aside, and Leo's bodyguard lashed out in retaliation and before anyone could cry out for assistance, the two bodygards were brawling, fists smacking into flesh. The few in the corridor recoiled. A mother took her child and hurried away, despite the child's protests, husbands shielded their wives and backed away from the fight as one of the bodyguards slammed the other into a suit of armour with a resounding clang. Leo's bodyguard backed away, almost dancing on his toes, while Tanda's prowled forwards, curling fists as large as bowls. Leo's bodyguard struck, aiming several blows at Tanda's' face, but the Slab caught the blow with one hand and sank the other into his stomach. Dancer dodged back, gasping for air as Slab retaliated, swinging heavy blows. Dancer checked the blows before ducking and weaving, delivering flurries of bodyblows to Slab's torso and an uppercut.
"Stop this now!" Everyone turned to see Leonette Fossoway storming down the corridor, a clutch of guardsmen at her back. The two bodyguards sprang apart. Slab had a split lip, while Dancer's face was swelling guardsmen got between the two, their hands on their swords. "This is the Red Keep, show some dignity! Leonette insisted. Leo Edgerton made to speak, but Leonette was having none of it. "No, I care not who disturbs the peace, it ends now. Everyone carry on." Daenerys bowed her head to avoid all gazes and hurried away.
This was the second fight Daenerys had whispered. The first hadn't gone beyond words, but one of Queen Margaery's Tyrell cousins accused a knight of the west of hiding a blade under his cloak. The accusation alone had been enough to make bodyguards prepare for a fight and those that were permitted swords to reach for them. The knight hadn't taken it kindly and leapt for the lady. Only the fact that Ser Balon was right there prevented violence, he caught the knight around the middle and settled the matter by forcing the knight to remove his cloak and show he bore no blade, then forcing the Tyrell lady to beg his apologies. No royal decrees had been introduced, but since then, cloaks were rarely worn, and those who did wear them were viewed with them were given a wide berth. Daenerys followed the trend and left her cloak behind. It did mean that her dagger was no longer on her person as it had been in the godswood.
She hadn't expected the Hand of the King to come across her there, no one ever came to the godswood since Sansa left and suddenly there he was, unarmed and unguarded, and Daenerys had her dagger. And now the keep was in turmoil again. In her wanderings at night, she heard the whispers of the guards, some were begging for reassignment out of the keep. They didn't fear the assassin so much as the consequences of not finding them. And anyone was a suspect, some had mentioned her name, but alongside her they named knights of the Kingsguard, hired assassins of Shireen Baratheon, Faceless Men, Joffrey's ghost and his mother. She had been curious that Jaime Lannister was named. "Killed one king, what's another," one of them had claimed. "And who knows where he goes when no one can find him."
Jaime Lannister, the man who had killed her father. His death would deal another blow to this regime, and all those who had wronged her. But he seemed to go almost everywhere armed and armoured, his skills as a warrior were legendary, and she was unlikely to be able to sneak up on him. In all her wanderings she hadn't found a path leading into the White Sword Tower.
She walked aimlessly until she found herself standing before a knight of the Kingsguard, guarding a door into one of the gardens. "You may not pass." Ser Arys said, his hand on his sword. She remembered him as one of the kinder knights of the Kingsguard. When she and Sansa were ordered beaten, he had held back from full force. You still did it though. You could have just said no. But all that kindness was gone now, his eyes were alert and hard.
"Why not?" Daenerys asked.
"Who is that, ser Arys?"
Myrcella appeared at Arys' side and her face lit up at the sight of Dany. "Daenerys! Why are you here?"
"I was just walking," Daenerys said. "I had no purpose."
"Do you want to come and see my garden?"
Ser Arys's grip on his sword tightened. "Princess, that is not advisable."
"Please, ser Arys. You can search Daenerys for weapons if it will make you feel safer. I won't tell my mother."
It seemed Myrcella at least could still move Arys to sympathy, and he gave her a quick search for weaponry and allowed her to enter the small garden.
This was far smaller than the main gardens, perhaps ten square metres in an alcove facing out to the sea. Most of the flowers were potted, but some were growing from dark soil. A silver can hung from a hook next to a trough that collected rainwater.
"Welcome to my garden, you haven't been here before, have you?"
"I haven't."
"I've had it for years, let me show you around." Myrcella talked her through the plants, when she got them, how much water each one needed, their names and what they represented.
Myrcella showed her the details on a plant of blue lilies she had been given when she last went to Winterfell. Daenerys didn't want to think of Winterfell and Sansa, so she asked. "Why are your hands dirty?"
"It's just soil, I've been planting a new flower," she pointed showed Daenerys an autumn asper, freshly potted. "It's a hardy flower, hopefully strong enough to survive winter, when it comes."
"Do you think it will be soon?" Daenerys asked.
Myrcella shrugged. "I don't remember my last winter. I can't remember what it's like. But it must come eventually." She smiled up at Daenerys. "Winter is coming, as the Starks say." Her smile faded when she saw Dany's expression. "I'm sorry. That was cold of me."
"It okay, princess, I'll have to get used to never seeing Sansa again some day." We will see each other again. Sansa had told her hand went to the bracelet on her wrist. How she longed to be able to feel through it and its twin that Sansa was safe and okay. But she felt nothing. She took a deep breath. "So, princess, why are you in the garden, do you not have lessons today?"
"I've finished them." Myrcella said quietly. "I wanted to spend time with Tommen, but mother won't let me." She bit her lip so tightly she nearly drew blood. "I so rarely see him now."
"You worry about him. I would too, in your place."
Myrcella nodded. "I try to distract myself here, but that flower." She pointed at a potted rose. "Tommen and I planted it together, and now when I see it I-" She wiped tears away from her cheeks. "He was so scared when we last spoke."
"Why?"
"He thinks whoever killed Joffrey will come for him next."
"Why does he think that?"
"Because mother tells him that. She says he has to be strong, because they are coming for him. But he's nine. How can a nine year old be strong?" Myrcella sat down on a stone bench amidst the flowers and hugged herself tightly. "And how can I be strong for him if I can't see him."
Daenerys nodded slowly. Tommen was safe, she had no way of getting to him now. She may have a route into Maegor's Hodfast, but she would never get into Tommen's bedchamber, and would never get within a blade's strike of Tommen before the Kingsguard took her head. She sat down next to Myrcella. "His grace knows you are there for him. He knows you care," Dany touched Myrcella's back gently, trying to be kind. "Even if you can't see him, he knows."
"Does he? What if mother makes him think I am a danger to him?"
"Do you believe Tommen would think that of you?" That would be like trying to convince Dany that Sansa was not on her side. She would never believe it. Myrcella shook her head. "Then do not give up on him."
"I would never give up on him!"
"Give up on who?" They jumped as Cersei entered the garden.
Daenerys took in Cersei. She was changed. On the surface she retained her beauty, her grace and nobility. But it was stretched and near to breaking. Like a sheet of glass hanging by a thread, only a little more and the thread would break, the glass shattering.
The Queen-Regent saw Daenerys and her grace faded, a snarl of fury twisting every feature. "What is she doing here?!" Daenerys opened her mouth to reply, but Cersei didn't stop. "Ser Arys, you let someone close to my daughter!"
"I asked her to come mother." Myrcella said, a meek defence before Cersei's fury, who continued as though Myrcella had said nothing.
"What do you want here?!" Cersei seized Daenerys, her nails digging into Daenerys' cheek. "I heard what you did the night of my son's murder." Daenerys' heart skipped. She knows!? "I know you were bedding that northern savage. Who knew that the last Targaryen would be such a slut. Is that what you were doing with Sansa? Do you see my daughter as her replacement?" Cersei's spit speckled her face and she tried to defend herself.
"Mother, please stop."
Cersei released Dany's cheek. "Leave now, and if I hear you were with my daughter again I will have your head."
"Mother, Daenerys is my friend!"
"You have no friends, only those who would use or kill you." Cersei turned back to Daenerys. One of her eyes was bloodshot and twitched as she looked at Daenerys. "Leave now, and be thankful for my mercy."
Daenerys bowed. "As you say, my queen." She hurried as fast as she could without running.
Back in her room she breathed a sigh of relief. She had done everything she could to avoid Cersei since killing Joffrey. During court sessions, the few that Cersei attended, Daenerys had been careful to stay out of her eyeline. At a word from the Queen Regent, Daenerys was dead. Cersei's power was absolute in the Red Keep. She was in charge until Tommen comes of age, and that was seven years away. Any plans of outwaiting her until Joffrey came of age and her rule ended were gone. Worse, she was not as cold and implacable as she had been. She raged like a fire, burning bright and hard. And Daenerys was a Targaryen. She knew that fire could not be contained forever. Killing Joffrey had terrified the court, killing the Hand of the King had thrown it into near-complete disarray. One more murder and she could bring it all burning down.
Cersei herself was unreachable spending most of her time in Maegor's Holdfast and the rest surrounded by soldiers, Daenerys would only be able to kill her in a sacrificial killing. Good for revenge, but not bringing down the family that had brought down hers. No, the next killing had to be like the others, she had to be able to slip away, let the terror of the unknown spread. And even so killing Cersei would not unleash the fire, she needed it to burn and burn and burn until there was nothing left.
But Myrcella…
From what Myrcella and Tommen had told her and Sansa before Joffrey's death, Cersei seemed to pay little attention to her youngest children. But that was not what Daenerys saw today. Cersei had been furious to see that she had even been within arm's reach of her. If she could find a way through the tunnels into Myrcella's garden, a quick strike - she did not want the girl to suffer - and a quick exit and Cersei's rage would be unleashed, and bring the entire court down with it.
And when the court fell she could leave and find a way north to Sansa. Somehow.
A/N: Emanuele1809: No, she was released once the ironborn started attacking the Westerlands and Reach.
Guest: I don't think I ever said what happened to Brienne, so I just said so that the question of where she was, given the death of her father, was answered, and that seemed an appropriate time to bring it up.
The Imprint: Presumably that's exactly what he is doing.
