[QARTH, DAENERYS'S CHAMBERS]
[DAENERYS TARGARYEN stands sadly. SER JORAH MORMONT enters.]
"You came back."
"Where did he go?" Tommen asked and Myrcella shrugged.
"As soon as I heard. Do you know anything?"
"Irri is dead."
Daenerys stiffened but felt only a little bad. Her future self was attached to her and knew her better than she did. She may feel a sense of responsibility for these people, but it didn't mean she had forged any connections with them.
"I know. She was a good-"
"She's dead. She died alone. She died for me and I couldn't protect her."
"Doreah?"
"We can't find her. She must be dead, too. I led my people out of the Red Waste and into the slaughterhouse."
This time a pang of emotion did pass through her. It was her fault in a way…
"I should have been here."
"You went to find me a ship."
"He went for a ship!" Tommen exclaimed.
Myrcella smiled and nodded.
"My place is by your side. I shouldn't have left you alone with these people."
"These people?"
"They are not to be trusted."
"And who is to be trusted? Who are my people? The Targaryens? I only knew one, my brother, and he would have let a thousand men rape me if it had got him the crown. The Dothraki? Most of them turned on me the day that Khal Drogo fell from his horse."
"Perhaps the people who stuck with you and followed you even if it was a dooming cause are your people" Elia suggested.
"Maybe they had no choice?" Daenerys asked.
"They had the same choices as the ones that left. They chose you, they are your people" Elia insisted.
Daenerys nodded. She made sense.
"Your people are in Westeros."
Tyrion snorted. The man was delusional if he thought the Westerosi would welcome her with open arms. Though… she did have dragons and many might support her for it. But they wouldn't still be her people, only opportunist bastards out for opportunities.
"The people in Westeros don't know I'm alive."
"They will soon enough."
"And then what? They'll pray for my return? They'll wave dragon banners and shout my name? That's what my brother believed and he was a fool."
"You are not your brother. Trust me, Khaleesi."
"There it is. "Trust me. " And it's you I should trust, Ser Jorah? Only you? I don't need trust any longer. I don't want it and I don't have room for it."
"Never stop trusting, dear girl. Tust scurinizingly, but never stop. Ser Jorah is right, you won't move ahead alone in this world" Elia whispered.
"Okay," Daenerys muttered. But who would she trust? Her brothers? One would sell her for an army and the other clearly cared more about the dragons than her. Who did she have to trust?
"You are too young to be so-"
[JORAH reaches for her.]
"And you are too familiar."
"He wants you in ways he shouldn't" Elia clarified to the girl.
"Why? I have done nothing to earn it" Daenerys asked.
"Such emotions aren't given, they blossom on their own. You're a beautiful girl Daenerys, it's not a surprise that a man would want you. Perhaps someone in this hall may want you too."
Daenerys highly doubted it.
"Forgive me, Khaleesi. No one can survive in this world without help. No one. Let me help you, please. Tell me how."
"Find my dragons."
"Good luck Ser Jorah" Oberyn shook his head.
[THE FAR NORTH]
[JON and YGRITTE are still walking in the desolate snowlands.]
"How long till we get back to your crows?"
"You need to kill her soon" Brandon the Elder muttered.
"Aye…" Jon nodded. But honestly, he knew he couldn't. He knew he couldn't kill a woman.
"We're close."
"What, a day? A half-day? You don't know, do you? Do you even know where they are?"
"We're close."
"Completely believable" Arya snorted.
"We could be" Jon grumbled.
Arya raised her brows and Jon rolled his eyes.
"What do you think they'll say when they hear about you and me?"
"Nothing happened between you and me."
"I swear it, Old Master King Crow, ser, we were only close together for warmth. And then I felt it, right up against my backside like a club. I can show you the bruise on my tailbone. And before I knew what was where, his Well, it was all out in the open, all angry as you like. And I didn't want to want it, but oh, I did! And he spread me legs and ruined—the shame of it. Now I can never marry a perfumed lord. What will me poor savage father say?"
"She's funny" Arya mumbled, hiding a smile behind her hands. It was not always that people could rile up Jon without insulting him. But when it did happen, it was always funny.
"Turn back around."
"And I thought that we were done, but he said, 'Turn back around' I'll tell you what, Jon Snow. Since it's gonna be your word against mine, and since you can't talk about it without blushing, we may as well just-"
"Fuck me" Jon muttered immediately cringing at the choice of words. Especially when Robb gave him a sly look.
"What, right here in the muck?"
"I'll keep you warm enough."
[JON pulls on her restraints, releasing her hands.]
"Are you that afraid of it?"
"That's enough."
"It's nice and wet and warm."
"Gods be good" Catelyn muttered in disgust. Of course, it's the bastard that exposes her children to all of this filth. Not by choice, but still his fault.
"Enough!"
[YGRITTE comes closer. JON is tempted but comes to his senses and grabs the hilt of his sword. YGRITTE backs off.]
"All right! All right. Gods, you're dull."
[YGRITTE quickly snares the rope around her leg and pulls JON down to the ground. He grunts and she takes off running. Jon gets up and chases her. She disappears down a slope. Jon runs to where he last saw her and finds her bindings, cut. He hears a whistle and looks up to see YGRITTE and two other wildlings on a ledge above him. She is smiling. Jon looks around to see that wildlings surround him.]
"You're an idiot" Brandon the Elder deadpanned, Jon, hiding his face from the shame. He was outdone by a fucking wildling woman!
[KINGS LANDING, CERSEI'S ROOM]
[CERSEI and SANSA enter.]
"Your mother might have prepared you. You flowered, my dear. No more."
"Gods no" Catelyn muttered in horror. That could only mean one thing, and she did not want that for her daughter, not with that incest-born bastard abomination.
Sansa too understood what that meant, making her whimper softly and clutch her mother's and father's hands. They gripped hers back just as tightly.
"My mother told me, but I thought it would be different."
"In what way?"
"I thought it would be less messy."
"Wait until you birth a child."
[SANSA sits on the edge of the bed.]
"You're a woman now. Do you have any idea what that means?"
"I'm fit to bear children for the king?"
"I don't want to" Sansa whimpered.
"You won't. I promise you" Ned assured her, kissing the top of her head and holding her hand tightly.
"A prospect that once delighted you, bringing little princes and princesses into the world, the greatest honour for a queen."
[SANSA nods]
"Joffrey has always been difficult. Even his birth, I laboured a day and a half to bring him into this world. You cannot imagine the pain. I screamed so loudly, I was sure Robert would hear me in the Kingswood."
Robert grunted. Perhaps if he wasn't drunk he might have. But then again Cersei could also be exaggerating. Childbirth couldn't be that bad.
"His Grace was not with you?"
"Robert was hunting. That was his custom. Whenever my time was near, my royal husband would flee to the trees with his huntsmen and his hounds. And when he returned, he would present me with some pelts or a stag's head, and I would present him with a baby. Not that I wanted him there, mind you. I had Grand Maester Pycelle, an army of midwives, and I had my brother."
"The father of every one of her children" Lyanna muttered.
"When they told Jaime he wasn't allowed in the birthing room, he smiled and asked which one of them proposed to keep him out."
"She isn't shy about dropping hints of who the father of her children is" Olenna mused amused.
"Perhaps she feels nobody can touch her even with a confession at this point" Margaery suggested.
"Perhaps she is stupid and will confess in the end and rid us of that abomination."
"Joffrey will show you no such devotion."
[SANSA looks down.]
"You may never love the king, but you will love his children."
"She's speaking from experience" Tyrion stated, "She truly loves her children. Blindly in one of their cases."
Myrcella pursed her lips.
"I love His Grace with all my heart."
"That's so very touching to hear. Permit me to share some womanly wisdom with you on this very special day. The more people you love, the weaker you are. You'll do things for them that you know you shouldn't do. You'll act the fool to make them happy, to keep them safe. Love no one but your children. On that front, a mother has no choice."
Joanna's eyes softened at her daughter's words. What could have happened that skewed her daughter's perception of love? It couldn't just be Robert or Jaime, there had to be more.
[RIVERLANDS, STARK CAMP, NIGHT]
[A guard checks on the prisoners in the Stark encampment. JAIME and ALTON share a cell.]
"Who did you say your mother was again?"
"Cynda Lannister."
"I have never heard of her" Tyrion blinked in surprise.
"Perhaps she's from the lesser branch" Myrcella suggested, her voice slightly strained.
"Perhaps" Tyrion shrugged, ignoring the strain in her voice. She's been exposed to a lot of emotions, the imp wasn't surprised much.
"Is she the fat one?"
"Well, perhaps she's gotten a little larger than she-"
"No, no. There's only one fat Lannister. If she were your mother, you'd know it."
"Our Aunt Genna would whip your hide if she ever hears that" Tyrion teased, making Jaime roll his eyes.
"Aunt Genna is not fat. She is thick from childbirth but not fat" Jaime clarified.
"Whatever you say brother" Tyrion smirked.
"I squired for you once, you know."
"When?"
"The tournament, the day of Willem Frey's wedding."
"I went to Willem Frey's wedding?"
"You did. Your squire had gotten so drunk the night before that he threw up."
"Is your memory always that dull?" Joanna questioned her son almost amused.
"I don't remember things that are not important" Jaime shrugged, finally at ease seeing his mother not ignore or glare at him.
"He threw up on his horse on the way to the tourney grounds. What was his name?"
"Bryan."
"Poor lad. That was my brother's doing, I seem to recall."
"It was" Tyrion cackled.
"I remember you. You'd never squired for anyone before."
"That's right. I ran up and volunteered. My father was furious. Afraid I'd embarrass our family in front of the Family."
"You didn't, though."
"You remember?"
"You knew when you were needed and when to go away. It's a rare talent. Most of my squires, they mean well, but young men with big jobs, they tend to overdo them."
"Am I to assume he is important then?" Joanna asked with a brow raised.
"You are bound to remember when probed that much" Jaime defended himself with a smile. He remembered it now too, though not in exact detail.
"When I think back to that day-"
[GUARD rattles their cage and shushes them before walking away]
"You were saying?"
"I- Never mind. It's embarrassing."
"More embarrassing than being chained to a post covered in your own shit?"
"I remember everything about that day, your helmet, your horse, the rake lines in the dirt along the list, where the sun was in the sky when you knocked Balon from his horse, and the dent in your shield when you handed it back to me. I'll remember it all until I die. That was the best day of my life. And I remember being on the field after it was over. All the competitors were done. I was the last one out there. And I couldn't leave. I couldn't bring myself to go and sit with my family at a table so far on the edge of the feast you could barely even see the bride. And I couldn't bear to tell them what it had been like squiring for you when I knew that they could never have the faintest idea what I was talking about."
"I understand completely."
"You do?" Tyrion raised a brow.
"I was a squire once, brother" Jaime rolled his eyes.
"I was sixteen once. I also had to replace someone's squire on short notice."
"Which knight was it?"
"Barristan Selmy. The fight against the Kingswood Outlaws. Before your time."
"You never told me you squired for Ser Barristan once," Tyrion said in surprise.
"I tend to not since it was so short" Jaime shrugged. "Lord Sumner had joined the hunt for the Kingswood Outlaws with the Kingsguard sent to take them down. For a small while, I was squire to Ser Barristan as well.
"What was he like?"
"He was a painter. A painter who only used red. I couldn't imagine being able to fight like that, not back then. And to help him do that, to be a part of something that perfect. I don't need to explain how that felt, not to you."
"Jaime Lannister, a poet? You are still full of surprises brother" Tyrion teased.
Jaime rolled his eyes.
"It's like stepping into a dream you've been dreaming for as long as you can remember, and finding out that the dream is more real than your life."
"Did you squire for him again?"
"No. I didn't have your gift. He couldn't take a step without stepping on me. I was awful, a complete liability. Until one of the outlaws decided to take on a sixteen-year-old squire. It's a good thing I am who I am. I'd have been useless at anything else. I'm not well-suited for imprisonment. Shocking, I know. Some men are. Ned Stark, I imagine he made an excellent prisoner right up until the end. Not me, though. My life has left me uniquely unfit for constraint."
"And you were doing so fine until then" Tyrion sighed, the Stark contingent turning to glare at the Kingslayer.
"I apologize for nothing" Jaime smiled, much to the eye-rolling of his mother and brother.
"And have you thought about escaping?"
"Of course. Every day. Good prisoners breed good jailers, apparently. The Starks are very careful. But there is a way, I think. It wasn't possible until now."
"What is it?"
[JAIME looks out at the guards.]
"It's actually quite simple."
"Well, let me help you."
"You'll only have to do one thing."
"Jaime…" Tyrion groaned. He knew exactly what his brother was about to do.
Their mother on the other hand did not.
"Tell me."
[JAIME whispers]
"You'll have to die."
Joanna stares in shock at how easily her son killed Alton. It was not that she was repulsed by the act of killing an enemy. No, she was a Lannister and was raised with what her sons had to do in mind. It was the fact that Jaime killed his cousin, another Lannister, his blood of all things!
"Do you think that might earn him the monicker of Kinslayer too?" Obery questioned, his tone dripping with amusement and condescension.
"Of course, it would be him of all people who would do it" Ned Stark scoffed. "An Oathbreaker can't be expected to do better."
Jaime let the criticism come to him and roll off him. What was the opinion of these sheep to a lion like him?
But he was bothered seeing the look of horror on his mother's face.
[QARTH, COUNCIL OF THE THIRTEEN]
[DAENERYS appears before the Thirteen to plead for her dragon's return.]
"I did not leave the comfort of my home to come to yours and be called a thief."
"No one is calling you a thief. Who is she to accuse us?"
'Please, they're my children. I'm begging you."
"Begging us? It wasn't very long ago you were threatening us."
"This is why you do not go threatening everyone around you and think yourself better. Bigger men have fallen from that sort of pride" Olenna stated calmly. By her definition of calm, her tone was sharp and cutting.
Daenerys lowered her head, soaking in the words of the woman. She had more to do than just go in by force.
"Without me, the dragons will die."
"You overestimate yourself, girl. There have been wild dragons before, dragons that came from nowhere and lived longer than tamed ones" Olenna cut in again.
"I didn't know that" Daenerys muttered.
"It will be for the best. Your dragons will bring the world nothing but death and misery, my dear. If I knew where they were, I would not tell you."
"You are cruel, my friend. The Mother of Dragons is on the right. She must be reunited with her babies. I will help you, Khaleesi."
"He's the thief" Bran muttered.
"How?"
"I will take you to the House of the Undying where I have put them."
"I knew it!" the Stark boy grinned.
"When I learned you were coming to our city, I made an arrangement with the King of Qarth. He procured them for me."
"But there is no King of Qarth."
"There is now. That was the other half of the arrangement."
[XARO stands.]
"And there it stands, the reason he was willing to support you" Oberyn clicked his tongue. "Always the ones that come from nothing and lust for more."
"You would keep your gates and your minds closed to everything outside your walls, but Qarth cannot remain the greatest city that ever was if it refuses to change. I will open Qarth to the world as I have forced it to open itself to me."
[PYAT PREE joins XARO's side.]
"Your ambition is an inspiration. But like all upstarts, you overreach. Three dragons the size of cats and an alliance with a charlatan do not make you a king."
"An upstart and a charlatan? Empires have been built by less. Those on the margins often come to control the centre, and those in the centre make room for them, willingly or otherwise."
"The Mother of Dragons will be with her babies. She will give them her love and they will thrive by her side, forever."
"Why does it sound like he wants me as well?" Daenerys asked a tremble in her voice.
"Targaryen blood has magic in it. No doubt he wishes to siphon it from you for whatever he plans on doing with the dragons" Elia explained, tone cold and unhappy. It was obvious she was not liking this.
[PYAT PREE's doppelgangers slit the throats of the other members of the Thirteen, simultaneously. DAENERYS is horrified and flees. She encounters another PYAT PREE clone. KOVARRO comes to her side to defend her, but JORAH stabs PYAT PREE from behind first. JORAH removes his sword and PYATT PREE collapses into a pile of empty clothes, an illusion. Another clone appears.]
"A mother should be with her children. Where will you run to, Daenerys Stormborn? Your dragons wait for you in the House of the Undying. Come see them."
"I survived" Daenerys let out a shaky breath.
"And you know where your dragons are" Rhaegar stated harshly. "Go and get them."
"They are warlocks who practice magic!"
"And they have your dragons! Do not sit idly by and let those warlocks have them! Those dragons are important for the fate of the world!"
Daenerys glared at her brother before looking away from the man.
Nobody missed that interaction between brother and sister, and almost all of them agreed that the man was out of line. One wolf, in particular, was furious and began to wonder if the prophecy was all Rhaegar ever cared about.
[RIVERLANDS, THE CAMP]
[JAIME is being led in chains by a mounted soldier, back into camp. The other soldiers assault him verbally. They jostle at one another in an attempt to make the assault physical, but his captors keep the other men away.]
"So much for escaping" Brandon the Elder snorted. "Became a Kinslayer for nothing!"
Jaime clicked his tongue, more bothered his plans were foiled than being berated.
[They proceed further into the camp, but the angry soldiers eventually overpower JAIME's protectors. One man clubs him over the head and JAIME falls. The crowd gathers around to further abuse him. JAIME lies in pain. The horseman rides away, leaving JAIME in the hands of his captors, with a thick crowd behind him. They bring JAIME to his feet. He walks a few paces and then falls to his knees under the pressure of the crowd.]
"You need to handle the situation quickly before something stupid ends up happening" Brandon the Elder stated harshly.
"I probably am" Robb defended his future self, though he didn't know where he was."
[RICKARD KARSTARK swiftly approaches the crowd and draws his sword.]
"Get back! I want his head! Any man who stands between a father and his vengeance asks for death."
"Where the fuck are the guards?!" Ned demanded. The fact that he cursed so violently had his family and Robert stare at him in shock.
[CATELYN, BRIENNE, and JACKS enter.]
"Lord Karstark, this man is our prisoner."
"This monster killed my son."
"And crippled mine. He will answer for his crimes, I promise you, but not here."
"I will have his head. And if you try and stop me—"
"You will strike me down? Have you forgotten me, Ser? I am the widow of your liege, Lord Eddard Stark. I am the mother of your king!"
"And where is our king now?"
"You know very well. He has gone to the Crag to accept the surrender."
"Oh… I'm not getting there" Robb muttered.
"Aye, gone to the Crag, but not to negotiate. He took that foreign bitch with him."
"Taking her along was a bad idea it seems" Varys noted with a small hum.
"They don't trust him after he's lost his castle. They don't know what he took her for" Rhaegar grunted.
Varys eyed the deceased Prince critically but said nothing.
[BRIENNE starts to draw her sword.]
"Threatening my lady is an act of treason."
"Treason? How can it be treason to kill Lannisters?"
"I understand your grief, my lord, better than most, I understand it. But in the name of my son, the King in the North, stand down."
"When your son returns, I will demand this murderer's head."
"Wise men do not make demands of kings."
"You're doing nothing to calm him, Cat" Ned muttered, still on edge.
"I am telling him as things stand" Catelyn countered.
"Fathers who love their sons do. I will have his head."
[RICKARD KARSTARK exits.]
'Thank you for fighting on my behalf, Lady Stark. I would have come to your defence, but-"
"Take him to the stockades. Bind him with every chain you can find!"
"You've become a real she-wolf in your later years. There's not much fish left in you."
"She is trying to help you" Tyrion sighed.
"Honour binds her to help me" Jaime shrugs.
[ROBB'S CAMP AT NIGHT]
[The soldiers mill about. Two of them are engaged in an argument. BRIENNE and CATELYN watch from a distance, concerned about the lack of order.]
"You should have left someone to oversee these men" Ned stated, "You have enough Northern Lords at hand for that."
"I—" Robb started.
"Ned we don't know whether he left someone and they're not doing a good job" Catelyn cut in. "He probably left Lord Karstark and he's grieving."
Ned grunted, still looking displeased. It was a critical moment in the war and any infights would spell disaster for the Northern host.
"Your son returns at dawn, my lady?"
"So they say."
"The Kingslayer won't last the night. The more they drink, the angrier they'll get. And when the Karstarks draw their swords Who wants to die defending a Lannister?"
[BRIENNE follows CATELYN. A guard leads them into JAIME's cage. He is covered in blood.]
"I need to be alone with him."
"Cat, whatever you're planning—"
"I don't know what I'm planning because I am not planning it. This hasn't happened yet" Catelyn challenged.
But she was no fool. She knew what her future self was planning.
"My lady, our orders-"
"Your orders, which I just gave you, are to leave me alone with him."
[The guard exists. BRIENNE moves outside the cage.]
"Come to say goodbye, Lady Stark? I believe it's my last night in this world. Is that a woman?"
"Do you hear them out there? They want your head."
"Old Lord Karstark doesn't seem to like me."
"You strangled his son with your chains."
"No wonder" Tyrion muttered.
"Oh. Oh. Was he the one on guard duty? He was in my way. Any knight would have done the same."
"You are no knight. You have forsaken every vow you ever took."
"So many vows. They make you swear and swear. Defend the king, obey the king, obey your father, protect the innocent, defend the weak. But what if your father despises the king? What if the king massacres the innocent? It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or another. Where did you find this beast?"
Tyrion eyed her brother curiously. King? Father? Innocents? Why did he have the feeling that Jaime was hiding something major?
Little known to him, Joanna was thinking the same.
As were a few more people in the room.
"She is a truer knight than you will ever be, Kingslayer."
"Kingslayer. What a king he was. Here's to Aerys Targaryen, the Second of His Name, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, and to the sword I shoved in his back."
"You are a man without honour."
"Do you know, I've never been with any woman but Cersei. So in my own way, I have more honor than poor old dead Ned. What was the name of that bastard he fathered?"
Catelyn stiffened.
"Brienne."
"No, that wasn't it. Snow, a bastard from the North. Now, when good old Ned came home with some whore's baby, did you pretend to love it? No. You're not very good at pretending. You're an honest woman. You hated that boy, didn't you? How could you not hate him? The walking, talking reminder that the honourable Lord Eddard Stark fucked another woman."
Jon sunk into his seat at the little reminder. He was reminded of it many times before, but he hadn't been in a while and this was almost like a slap to his face.
Lyanna dared not glare at the Kingslayer or her sister-in-law. How could she? Were they to blame for Ned's lies? They didn't know any better. It was her fault that her son was born into such a circumstance in the first place, her fault that her brother had to besmirch his honour to protect him and keep his word to her.
It was her fault. But it didn't mean she liked hearing about her son's suffering.
[BRIENNE unsheathes her sword and hands it to CATELYN.]
"Cat—"
"I haven't done it! You said it yourself. No holding anything I have yet to do against me!"
Ned glared at his wife, who glared right back.
[WINTERFELL]
[THEON address the crowd.]
"I told you what would happen. All of you. I told you what would happen if you served me loyally. And what would happen if you did not."
[DAGMER and an Ironborn raider lead LUWIN through the crowd.]
"What are you doing? What have you done?"
"If there are any who still question whether your new lord means what he says, here is the answer to your question."
[THEON gestures behind him. The raiders raise two bodies of children, hanged by their necks and burned beyond recognition. The crowd is horrified.]
"No!"
[THEON looks upon the bodies, and then looks down, feeling a pang of guilt.]
"NO!"