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Chapter Text

A Realm of Gods and Men 
Season 2: A Return of the Queen 
Episode 1: The Turtle Island 

Sansa stood with Maester Wolkan from the watch towers of Winterfell battlement, she could not believe what she was seeing.

"I have never seen anything like this."

"Neither have I" Maester Wolkan agreed.

And neither did any northerners ever. There was no ice at all in the vast land, wolfs wood, winter town and as far as they could see. There was no fog as well, and they could almost see as far as the peaks of the lonely hills in the clear sky. It looked like they were in some southern town. 

But what was more disturbing was that they could also see outlines of the White Knife, and the river has to be far broader than its usual self to be seen from so far away, which can only mean one thing.

There was a widespread flood.

Then Maester Wolkan handed her the scroll. It was Maester Foote's handwriting. Sansa could not believe this time as well what she read. The Wall melt down. Entirety of it. All the three hundred miles long, twelve rides wide and seven hundred feet high wall. All ice beyond it melted as well. And the water rushed southward.

--------------------------

Morag finished cooking a while ago. It was time to serve. She went back to the hearth to fetch the cauldron. But something was coming out of the hearth.

Water.

"Run!"

One of the Skagosi boy was shouting, coming back from the shore. They noticed this morning all the ice around melting, and went for some fishing in case the frozen sea is melted now.

"Run!" he was running himself back. Where are his fellows. Morag tried to look behind the boy.

His fellow Skagosis weren't there. But there was something else.

A huge iceberg, a mile high perhaps, Morag thought was afloat near the shore, melting and rushing towards the shore, pushing a tidal wave that none of them ever have seen. A tidal wave a thousand feet high, touching the clouds.

Morag dropped the cauldron and ran for life. As did all of the tribe.

--------------------------

They landed near coastlines of Turrani to drop off Yara and Bronn. And waited a while for Yara's ships to reach. Turrani was a port city rich in gemstones and spice, and the Maester of Coins was soon busy investing. Rubies, Jade, Diamond - all are so cheap here that Bronn could visualize how big a fortune he can make investing his nine hundred and fifty thousands of gold dragons, now that the slavers who appointed him are no more.

They were chilling at an inn on the beach for a moment, like a very unlikely bunch of pals, before separating their path.

"Where will you take her now?" Yara asked.

"To the eastern fort, on a plateau of the Mountains of Morn." said Quaithe.

"Is it one of the five forts?"

"Yes, the chief monk lives on that plateau."

"And after you meet him?"

"She will be safe there. Yi Ti is rich and protected from before your dawn age because of the chief monks. Even Dothrakis or Asshai people fear and avoid them. They have mind powers. And they fight like the wind." 


"How long will I have to stay there?" Daenerys asked, as indifferent and careless and tired as she sounded from the time she got back sense.


"Until I get to manage the dust of unicorn's horn for you." 

"What is that thing?" Bronn asked. 


"Zoroke treated her, he cured the madness that was induced on her, but the dust will make the cure permanent for generations." Quaithe replied. 


"Madness induced? By whom?" Bronn looked back from the gemstones, now paying full attention. 


"The perfumed seneschal." 


"Varys you mean?" 


"Yes, the same way he induced madness into her father, with Basilisk's blood venom." 


"But why?" 


"He hated magic, he hated all beings of magic and that includes people with Valyrian blood. Ironically, he had no choice, he kept on opting for and against all people with Valyrian blood - Aerys, Robert, her, Jon. If he stayed alive he would surely ensure your king does not stay in power. Because your king is a also a magical being." 


"Jon?" Daenerys asked. "Yes, he is. He was my nephew, Aegon Targaryen. I was not rightful heir, he was. And yes, he had Valyrian blood."


"What?" Yara was confused. 


"Yes." Daenerys looked at her, with her tired and straight eyes. 


"So he killed you for the throne?" 


"I do not know. He did not want the throne. But he was furious at me for burning king's landing and killing the Lannister soldiers, and for arresting Tyrion." 


"No, he did not kill her for the throne." Quaithe weighed in. "But tell me queen, why do you think he is the rightful heir?" 


"Because he is male." 


"And why it has to be like that?" 


"Because that is the rule, the tradition." 


"Because it was all about cocks in the end?," Bronn quipped in, surprising all of them. "Fuck tradition. In Dorne, the girls of the family take power if they are capable." 


"You really like Dornish girls." Quaithe silenced him. "Don't you?" 


"No, he is right. Iron Islands was never ruled by a woman." Yara said, "And even when Theon was there, he supported me. I will not be able to leave a heir same like him, so what is the point making rules different to suit the person you want to put in power?" 


"But that is not how they think." Dany said. 


"Not how they used to think" Quaithe corrected. 


"Have they changed their ways?" Dany was curious. 


"They did. Westeros is now ruled by the raven, whom all the lords selected as their king." 


"Brandon? Jon's brother?" 


"Cousin." Quaithe corrected again 


"Well, that is weird, I heard he was not interested even in ruling Winterfell, why would he be interested in kingship now?" 


"May be that is why he was not interested in ruling Winterfell. He aimed for the sky." 


"It does not make sense to me. Jon told once that his brother, cousin, is no longer the boy he was, he is changed to be the three eyed raven. And who will be king after him anyway?" 


"New ruler whom all lords elect." 


"Then why did they not make it like the way I did in Dragon's Bay. In Meereen, the people chose their leader, not the nobles. The wheel will still be there otherwise." 


"Samwell Tarly asked for that." Bronn said, "I heard all of the lords mocked him and laughed at him for that idea." 


"He is such a good man. And that mocking is an example why the lords should not exist anymore." Dany said. 


Bronn choked. "All lords?" 


"Yes, lordship in general. They should not hold lands, properties, castles generations after generations. Those castles and the wealth they accumulated for generations should all be destroyed and given away to the commoners." 


"And how did you know if the commoner people wanted their lords to exist or not? And what entitled you or Jon to claim your ancestral throne then if the properties should not be held for generations?" Quaithe asked. 


"Somebody had to win the throne before breaking the norm. I had to win Meereen before I could establish people's rule there. In the throne room, I stared at the throne, I touched it, and still never sat on that. I did not crave for crowns, I never worn one, even when I was in Meereen. But if someone else would have taken the throne, I would never be able to ensure that the wheel will break. But you are right. In the dragons bay, the harpies wanted the masters back. Perhaps in Westeros as well, not every common people want the noblehood eliminated." 


"If you allow me your grace, I think there were more that you thought right was not." Bronn started, Yara was not sure if he is trying to test Daenerys pushing her to limits. "I heard that Tyrion told you to stop when the bell rang, but you did not. Why?" 


"True, I did not. And that claimed a million lives." Dany seemed to take a moment to answer. "And I am not saying what I did was right. But since you asked, I could not trust Tyrion and he himself created that mistrust with many suspicious acts, sealing it with his last action that I knew freeing his brother. I was grieving for all that I lost - my child Rhaegal, my best friend Missandei, and all my friends who betrayed me, and I was angry and mad, all that are true." She took a pause.

"But besides that I was sure it was some trick or folly." She continued with Bronn and Yara closely listening. "From above I could see what none of them could, the barrels of wildifire Cersei had put on the towers. And I was right to some extent. If you saw me I kept on burning the roadside to the gate of the red keep, and hidden caches of wildfire were exploding. If I had not cleared the roads ahead, and Jon and the northerners and my soldiers kept on walking inside thinking they have won they would have been prone to death."

"And I could not care more for my soldiers after the way they were foolishly sent to the dead without the dragons helping and got massacred, in some stupid northern decision that if I did not defy we would have lost the great war before Arya could end it." Dany continued. "In King's Landing, it was Cersei who used her citizens as human shields keeping explosives near them, and it was me who got blamed for not trusting a betrayer and instead trying to save my soldiers ahead." Dany took a pause, a breath. "But Jon was right. It was wrong to kill the million of innocent civilians, it was wrong to to order the execution of Lannisters, whom I could not trust any more. There is no innocent Lannisters - Elaria told in the war council meeting at Dragonstone. And I lost my mind. That is true. But even after everything, even after Tyrion freeing his brother, and defying and insulting me in public, I did not execute him, only ordered to imprison him. And in the war I did not really know what way other would have been safer for my people, the unsullied, Jon, the northern soldiers facing the trickster Cersei." 

"To be honest, I would have done the same facing that risk of wildfire." Bronn quipped. 


"Me too." Yara said. 


"There was a better way, a girl more suitable to kill the lion queen without causing a warfare." Quaithe said. "But you did not use her, and did not even think about her, neither did anybody else. And sadly the one who knew and could have saved the million stayed silent and allowed the carnage to happen, otherwise he could not ascend to his position. You would not allow, the King's Landing people would not accept him, and he could not be the king. So the girl who actually could win you the war without a war got left behind." 

"Whom are you talking about?" Bronn was puzzled. 

"No one".

-------------------------- 

As the kidnappers rested after capturing their slaves, Arya silently reached one of their boats, taking the astonished boy with her, and rowed back to the ship. 

"You are free now." Arya said as she untied the prisoner's hands. They have pushed him together down to the largest boat anchored to the ship. "All the rest of my shipmates are now imprisoned by the locals. You will be as well if you go to the land or stay in the ship. Go back to the Isles of Dragon. Await ships from Westeros. They will come looking for me. When they come, tell them what happened here, and the route, so they can come as reinforcement."

"What if the ships never come? What if your sister does not care to send any ships for you?" 

"She will. And if she does not, there are other people who will." 

"The lord of Storm's end?' 

"None of your business." Arya gave the prisoner a hard look. 

"Everybody knows it." the sailor grinned. "That you slept with him in Winterfell. Instead of waiting for him or coming this way if you considered my proposal at the island, you would not be in danger now." 

"It is you who is in danger I see." Arya held the dagger right below his chin. The sailor couldn't utter a word more. They came back up on deck and released the boat with the prisoner, floating eastward on the sunset sea. 

After taking the keys and other necessary things from the ship, Arya went back to the land. In the morning, they followed the kidnappers through the wilderness and the trees and the forests, along with her new companion, and learning their language on the way from him. They chased them from the bushes around in the day. In the night, when the boy fell asleep, Arya would go out and collect something from the kidnappers' camp. Food, or weaponry that she liked, or face. Typically she marked the cruelest of them and removed their faces, but not everyday, not every week. A faster killing would invoke suspicion instead of superstition. Of course, her young companion did not know about these clandestine nocturnal adventures of her.

 His name was Tala. The words in their language, Mahuayi were drawn instead of written, that made it easy for Arya to understand and learn their language faster. Soon Arya could form simple questions in their language increasing her learning faster.


"What do you call this land?" 


"Mekineka", told Tala. 

"Meki-naka? what does it mean?"

"Meki neka." Tala told again. When Arya did not understand, he took her hand and ran through the forest to the sea. Arya looked back once to mark their position and then had to run. They ran and ran until they reached on a cliff looking out to the sea. There, on the shore, something was moving. Turtles, larger than she ever seen, almost as large as a direwolf." 

"Meki" the boy pointed to the turtle. And then "Neka" - he pointed to the land and moved his hand around. 


"Turtle Island." Arya whispered to herself. Then they went back to the track through the forest. 

--------------------------

Jon stayed a few days in the forest with the children, learning a lot from them. One of the child, whom Jon named Petal for the shape of her face,  knew the common tongue. And she told him about all the history he did not know, of the children of the forest migrating from Essos far before the first men, of their longevity, the old Gods, the wargs, the greenseers and the three eyed raven. About the dawn age, war with first men, the pact, the age of heroes, the long night and later onslaught brought by the Andals. He was curious about the three eyed raven. 

"Your cousin, now. The three-eyed-raven is an ancient being, nobody knows how long he has been there. Perhaps he is from the old Gods. Perhaps he is the old Gods himself, or one of them, or all of them. Perhaps the same Gods the deep ones pray to, or perhaps one of them who were different. They were all and one at the same time, with many faces." 


"What does it mean to be?" 


"It means he can see events in the past, of present, and perhaps some events in the future if certain things are ensured to happen. But that is not easy for him as well." 

"Does he know I am here now?" 

"He does." 

"Does he know my intention? What I am thinking?" 


"No, he does not. But some other God of the many-faced Gods do know that." 


Jon looked at the face of the tree. A happy face. Smiling, like no tension or fear or angst or sadness of the world effected him. 


"Why are the faces always of men? I have seen wargs, but why no female wargs? Cannot girls have this power?"


"They can. And you are talking to one of them. You call them children of the forest. We were slender, nimble, agile, short, we loved the wilderness and the trees and the forests. We spent hundreds of thousands of years with the old Gods, and we got changed. Some of us lived in the forests and trees and underground tunnels. We got changed to what you see in us now. Some of us spent thousands of years with the other Gods under the sea, in the tunnels of darkness. And they got changed as well, to the deep ones. The old Gods blessed us with longevity, but took away our numbers so that we do not overrun the earth. They give us very few males. And ones that we have die early like your races. We carve the trees with memories of the few male greenseers we had." 

"So here you are, the three girls, what will happen you will die? Will it be the end of the children of the forest?" 

"May be. Or may be not. May be we will find someone that will stay with us. And die saving us. May be we will not." 


"I am sorry to know that.". 


"Do not be sorry. You have your own mission to pursue, Aegon. For someone taller." 


"Do you know where she is? Is she alive?" 


"We know. She is. At the kingdom of Yi Ti." 


"Can you take me there?" 

"We will. But not today."

"Why?" 


"You need to learn more, Aegon. And we are waiting for the flood. It will make our journey easier."

-------------------------- 

"There is a devastating flood in the north, and it is coming south." Sam uttered the whole sentence in one breath. His eyes were red in tension and worry that everybody in the small council noticed. Little Sam went unconscious with horn blowing, and still did not return from his sleep. Gilly and Sam kept on awake day and night beside him, and added to that now was this news. 

Bran nodded. He has already seen the flood coming. "We have to prepare, making shelters at the tallest structures that we have, and move all livestock and people there within a short time." 


"How long will the flood stay?" Asked Tyrion. 

"I do not know. If I had to stay looking and waiting, I would have to pass the same amount of time awaiting and counting the time. Sadly, the trees do not understand time, they do not understand weeks or moons. Earth, water, sunlight - these are the kind of stuff they understand." 

The council did not understand what he said more than a tree. But still they nodded. Then Tyrion broke the silence again. 

"There is still no news from the Maester of Coins." 

"And Maester of Ships?" 


"He reached Storm's End and is working with Lord Gendry there." 

-------------------------- 

They walked past the corridor and reached the library, where two curious eyes were following them from away. 

"Maester Jurne, we need your advice." Gendry went direct and straight.

"Please my Lord." 

"Ser Davos, the Master of Ships in King's Landing has proposed us a design of this ship." Gendry spread out the paper on the table. "It is fashioned after the pirate ships and can be very fast." Gendry looked at Ser Davos, who nodded. "Could you give us an estimate how fast we can catch up with Arya Stark's fleet if we follow with this and what would be the shortest way possible?" 

"There is no shorter way, I am afraid my Lord. You have to pass by Oldtown and then sail west straight following her course. I believe she sent a raven North describing her course." 


"She did." Ser Davos agreed. "Here is a copy of her itinerary." 


Gendry looked into those with great curiosity. It is only recently that he had learnt to read and write, but he could tell handwriting from one another. Those were definitely not Arya's. Perhaps of someone who copied the scrolls. 


"They reached three islands named after the three dragonlords Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys, which were previously named by Lady Elissa Farman. From there they sailed further west." Ser Davos said.

"From the route it seems like at least three moons." Maester Jurne commented.


"This ship probably will make it less than two moons." Ser Davos was confident. 


"Mayhaps. But there is no shortcut route my Lord." Maester Jurne was firm as well. 


"Very well." Gendry looked at the Maester. "Please make the fastest arrangement possible to make a ship with this design. And make arrangements for Commander Anguy and his companions for the journey." Anguy nodded as well. 


"As you command, my Lord." 

"And this little lady" Gendry introduced Martha to the Maester, "Please admit her to your institution and arrange for her accommodation." 


"Sure my Lord. But may I ask how we can accommodate so many girls? There are already more than a hundred. And what use will a girl have in this education." 


"This map you see, and those routes, were drawn by a girl who can beat you in knowledge." Gendry seemed irritated. "And take some space out of my palace. I do not need all those fancy rooms, and make arrangement for the girls to stay." 


"As you command, my Lord." Maester Jurne bowed and exited with Martha. She looked back to Ser Davos and this young Lord and smiled. They smiled back. 


"So?" Gendry sounded frustrated again. "There is no shortcut way. You will be three moons behind her, and anything could happen." 

"I think she is strong enough to defend herself." Anguy said. "I am only going for her as there may be unforeseen lands and dangers. And we all were brothers." 

"I think so too. I have seen her fighting in the great war." Ser Davos agreed. Then he turned to Anguy. "If you do not mind, Commander Anguy, can I pass a small gift for Lady Arya with you? Please let her know if you find her that this is just a small piece of tribute from me, who have seen her fight and defeat the dead. I do not know whether she would care for an ornament. But tell her that it may come handy to her in times of danger." 

"Sure, Ser Davos. What is it?" 

Ser Davos brought out a wrapped stuff from his pocket, unwrapped it, and gave it to him. It was a choker. With a ruby shining bright inside it. 


"That was the necklace the red woman used to wear." Gendry remembered. "How did you find it?" 

"She left it before her suicide." Ser Davos replied. 

"Does it have any special things? Like some power?" 

"Who knows? Only a woman who would wear it can tell. And surely we are not women." 

"And you are not intelligent." cut in a young voice that they did not expect. A little girl who were observing them all along came out behind a bookshelf of the library. 


"Shierra, what are you doing here?" Anguy was surprised. 


"I was listening to you." The girl was swift, prompt and bold. "You asked the Maester for a shortcut path west, and he could not tell you. Well, he does not know. But I do." 


"You do?" Ser Davos was amused and curious, "Then please tell us." 

"Should I?" Shierra took her seat in the table beside an astrolabe. "You love the girl, my Lord, don't you?" 

Gendry was reddened, but he smiled. "That is not how you speak to your Lord, child.' Anguy admonished her a little. 


"He does not look like a Lord to me." she giggled. "He looks like... a friend. Just a little bit grown up." 

"You are right." Gendry smiled and went in front of her. "I am no Lord. I am a friend, now tell me what you think is the shortcut way." 


"Hmm.." the girl moved the Astrolabe around. "This is the place we all live, you know? I mean, they call it a planet. And it is round." 

"Yes, so?" 


"So it means, if you chase someone who went to West, you can send two ships to two directions." She drew an imaginary line on the astrolabe with her fingers. "One to West, and the other to East." She looked at them. "Then probably you will reach somewhere nearer, may be not the same place though, may be thousands of leagues apart." She kept on talking like a grown-up person. "But one of the ships will reach her earlier." 

"Are you sure, my child?" Ser Davos was interested, and curious. This is a possibility nobody thought. 


"I am." Shierra was confident. "I can show you some proof from the books I read, if you promise me one thing." 


"What is it?" 


Shierra looked straight. "Maester Jurne says a girl cannot be a Maester. Is that true?" 


They looked at each other. 


"When I grow up," Shierra seemed resolute, "I want to be a Maester." 

-------------------------- 

"Maester Samwell, have you shown her the ring that Lord Varys had hidden before his arrest?" Tyrion asked.

"No, Lord Tyrion, here is it, Lady Mina." Sam passed the ring.

Mina looked at the ring carefully. "There are poison holes." she said.

"There was poison. They were filled with sacks of Basilisk's blood." Sam said.

"So you have your answer then." Mina turned the ring back to Sam, and then looked at Tyrion. "The Master of Whisperer before me did something that Whisperers are not supposed to do. He poisoned your queen, with the help of that little bird girl Martha, and slowly induced her into depth of madness." 

"I still don't believe he did this." Tyrion was resolute. "What Dany had was hereditary madness, not induced with Basilisk's blood, it was passed down from her father, she deserved to die." 

"About her father", Mina turned a page on the book she was toying with. "The books tell different. Do you know Lord Tyrion, that King Aerys's first twenty four years of reign were very peaceful." 

"Until?" Tyrion was trying to guess what Mina was getting to. 

"Until someone joined his court." 

"That cannot be. That is insane." 

"Insane, yes, when the mere insanity can be induced, what else is needed to overthrow a ruler? Lord Tyrion, can you tell me how Euron knew that your fleet will be returning to Dragonstone? How did he know your plans?" 

Tyrion was humbled. 

"Can you tell me, how he knew Yara and Elaria were on the same ship? How could he promise your sister that he would bring her the gift she likes beforehand? Could you tell how Ser Jaime knew the Unsullied and not dragons would attack Casterly Rock?" 

Tyrion could not answer.

"When you received the scroll from Winterfell, the news of Brandon Stark and Arya Stark returning safe was there, as well as the news of the dead approaching. Why did Lord Varys tell 'nothing good'? Weren't their safe return good to his eyes?"

Tyrion looked at Mira with surprised eyes.

"In Winterfell, Lord Varys commented on Daenerys and Jon Snow's relationship that 'nothing lasts'. How did he know at that point of time that it will not last? Did he know the future?"

Tyrion sat speechless.

Mina looked straight at him. "Kings come and go. Big fishes eat the little fish. And he kept on paddling." 

Tyrion kept staring at Mina. "What a fool I have been!" he could not think any more.

Chapter Text

A Realm of Gods and Men 

Season 2:  A Return of the Queen

Episode 2: The Mountains of Morn 

 They flew over the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, passing forests, astonishingly huge cities and highlands. 

 "Yi Ti mayhaps is the richest of all nations in Essos or Westeros. It has more cities than any known lands." Quaithe taught her on the flight. "It is an ancient land, ancient and rich in culture, and their culture is very different from the rest of the world." She continued. "It is called a land of a hundred princes and a thousand Gods. The provinces are ruled by the hundred princes all independently, yet they follow the rule of one God emperor." 

"God-emperor?" 

"It is customary for the Emperor bloodline to know and practice powers of magic understood only by themselves. First God emperors lived and ruled for thousands of years, or so it is said." 

"And the princes all accept him?" 

"They do not care much. In a nation abundantly rich and wealthy, there is little to war over. The princes live in houses made with solid gold. There is no poor known in Yi Ti. You will not see much of immigrants from Yi Ti anywhere else because they are happy and satisfied in their own nations and do not ever need to leave. Their roads and streets can be compared to Valyrian roads. The people do mostly trade of spice and silk and gemstones. The emperors are known by colors. The current emperor, the Azure one, is timid instead of tyrant, and a rebel emperor is claiming himself as the Orange successor while another one is claiming to be the Yellow one - next in color."  

"What will happen when the colors run out?" 

"Some of them believe that will be the end of the world, and some of them believe that it will be a recycle of the wheel." 

Wheels everywhere, Dany thought. Not much to worry though as long as the people living are happy here. 

"Do they know about the dragon?" 

"They have Valyrian blood mix. The fourth emperor married a Valyrian noblewoman and kept a Dragon in his court. A few people there worship dragon Gods."

"Dragon Gods?" 

"Yes, they have a thousand Gods. One of their Gods they worship is from the sky. The people who follow that are called the Church of the Starry Wisdom. Their God is a faceless one, who can assume many faces. He has a thousand faces and one, and has a thousand eyes and one. He ascended into this world on a black stone that they worship, and he is a representative of the Gods of the sky, and people cannot fathom his messages or words are said to go mad." 

"Why are Gods so cruel?" 

"Gods are more like unexplained rather than cruel. Nobody understand their purpose, their meaning and what they want us to do, that make their acts cruel. People also call you cruel, and mad, are you Daenerys Stormborn?" 

"But I am no God, I am just a person. A woman." 

"Woman, Man, Gods!" Quaithe sighs "Who knows who duels inside whom. We live in a strange realm of Gods and Men, so strange that we often confuse one with another. You are the unburnt, and when you came out of fire, the Dothrakis worshiped you, did that make you a Goddess?" 

"No" 

"Still you are, to their eyes only, The three eyed raven, the one who rules Westeros now, is a messenger of old Gods to the children of the forest and also to the northerners. Who cares who is a man, and who is a God, when there are so many of both."

Daenerys wanted to look closely and enjoy the beautiful empire of Yi Ti below. The talk about the Gods and men were becoming confusing, and she had enough of confusions for her mind to digest already before. So she did not answer or continue the discussion. They were now leaving the forests beneath and rising to high lands. Very, very high. 

"We are near to the east fort." Quaithe said. 

From the sky, Daenerys stared at the fort with wonder.

She has never seen such a huge fort at such a high altitude. The fort alone can take two King's landing inside it. It was made with huge black stones, each piece of which can dwarf the entire dragonstone castle, decorated with golden plates that shone bright in sunlight. But that was still competing with the beauty of the mountains surrounding the plateau. The ice caps on the mountains were shining golden in sunlight. Those caps looked very fresh frozen with water crystals still shining and reflecting bright, as if ice melt very recently there before refreezing from the cold. There was a lake beneath with melt water in full brim that rushed down to a gorge a thousand feet below.

"This is one of the five forts, that shielded Yi Ti for ages, from the long nights, like the walls of Westeros. It can house ten thousand combatants." Quaithe told her.

"Is it? Is there a Night's Watch?" Daenerys asked. "Do there men take celibacy as a vow?"

"Not exactly Night's Watch. But there are Onabukesha. And men? Why do they have to be all men?"

As Drogon circled around the mountains, Daenerys looked down to watch a combat training ongoing on the plateau. From above, they all looked like white ants, so she did not understand if they were men or women, but they were thousands, moving their body like winds, in unison. All Dany could see was their white costumes and red belts binding it.

"They are the Onabukesha. And with them you will stay while I return, and learn." said Quaithe.

"Me?" Dany felt excited and surprised at the same time. "What will I learn?"

"Everything!" Quaithe was firm, "And serve until I return. Valar Dohaerys. All men must serve. And you, my Queen, are no exception."

---------------- 

"Why do people serve different Gods? Who are the Gods?" asked Jon, eating from a bowl of a paste of some kind. It was a mix of vegetables, corns, meat and what looked like blood.

"The old Gods were beneath the earth for long time, before you, before even us. Nobody knows where they came from. Perhaps they came from the sky. The Red God, the Gods of the Bloodstone emperor and the Church of the Starry Wisdom, the ones that the deep ones pray to, they came later from the sky as well. The cold Gods, they are some of the old and elder ones, sleep in the very north and very south. One of their souls whom your cousin destroyed, was summoned by one of our kins in Westeros with ancient magic and obsidian, to defeat your ancestors. " said Petal.

"Why cannot we see them? What do they want?"  

"Nobody knows what the Gods want. We cannot see them, but we can hear them whisper in the winds, and in the sound of the leaves, and of streams. They want to teach, to know, and to learn." 

"What do they teach? And what do they learn?" 

"The old Gods? History. Of us, of you the men, and of all in this world. And the cold Gods want to erase the history." 

"Why?" 

"We do not know. May be the living things in this world have warmth, the fire of the Red Gods in their souls. And the cold Gods do not like that. The warmth endangers them, they were habituated in extreme cold and they want this world to be not hostile to them." 

"Will they come again?" 

"Not until summoned. The cold Gods cannot rise up on their own, they sleep, unless somebody invokes them with old magic and obsidian. Last time they were invoked by our kins in Westeros, but they had chosen a wrong person to represent them, who turned into evil." 

"Not every soul of the cold Gods are evil then?" 

"No. Remember your uncle? He was not. He was stabbed with a dragonglass in his heart, same as the Night King, but he fought for the living, he fought for you. It is like every time a cold servant is created, the Gods flip a coin." 

"That is what they tell about the Targaryens." 

"Valyrians, yes, offsprings of fire and blood, of the Red Gods and men. They are the other side. And only two sides of the coin together can make a balance, a song that can save this world."  


"I thought the world was saved already." 


"It is not. With all the ice melting in the very North and very South, flood is coming, a flood that people have never seen." 

"All the ice melt?" 

"Yes, even the wall. When your friend's child blew the horn. He woke the cold Gods from dream, without a body they can warg into. So they lost their control, and all the ice melt."  

---------------- 

Little Sam felt restless in his comatose sleep. The horns keep on sounding in his dreams, but he could not wake up. He could feel the urge of waking up, of a lot of souls, but they could not. A sweet song kept them asleep in dreams like a lullaby. A song so sweet that it almost brought tears to his little eyes even in sleep. A song that has sound and smell and taste, of ice cracking in fire. He saw huge icebergs melting. In his bed, little Sam moved uncomfortably, and tried to wake up, but he could not. 

From afar, something was breaking the sweet song that he heard, smelt and felt. A caw, a Raven's caw. "Wake up, little Sam." the raven was telling him. 

---------------- 

Morag could not count how many times she woke herself with force falling senseless or asleep, and she did not know how she got that much force. They were clinging to branches of a tree that was floating on the flood stream. She could not locate all of her daughters, let alone all of her sisters. She could not locate her Skagosi husband, most of them were too large to be supported on tree branches, and not all of them could escape. 

The stream rushed down through hills, high lands and forests, taking away everything it could with it by brute force. Morag watched in shock as their tree rushed to embrace a huge rock, and let herself got loose at the last second. Something hit her hard. 

She regained her sense in a boat. It was pain all over her body, all over her mind. Her daughters, where are her daughters? Where are her sisters. She tried to move and see, but could not find them. There was someone whose face she recognized though. Elizapy, and the red bearded man who married her. 

"Where am I?" 

"You are at land, or what was land before, near White Knife." Tormund said.

Morag did not understand. "What does that mean?" 

"The entire north washed away in flood, we are on land, on a boat. Somewhere near to White Knife. And we are lucky that loyal fishermen near Eastwatch came with the boats to rescue as from, the wall. There is no wall anymore." 

"Where are my daughters? My sisters? Our tribesmen." 

"We didn't find any of them. Both her and me tried." Tormund looked back to Elizapy, who was sitting with eyes full of tears. Morag noticed she is not crying herself. Why would she? She has suffered grieves of losing children all her life. "Where are we going?" she asked. 

"Winterfell, if the castle is still on land yet." Tormund replied. 

---------------- 

All livestock were in the upper floor now, as well as the refugees, but Maester Wolkan warned Sansa that the old castle may not hold strong for long, the hitting waves of flood is already damaging the ground floor which is underwater now. And the water is increasing each day, soon the upper floor will get drowned. 

"You should leave my queen." Maester Wolkan tried to convince her. 

"I cannot. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell." Sansa was hesitant. 

"If you pardon me my queen, who was there in Winterfell when you went to attend the Kingsmoot at King's Landing?" 

Sansa could not reply, but she could not think as well. There were not enough logs, her people are trying to build a boat on the rooftop, but that will not carry plenty of people. Winterfell did not have access to a sea, there never was a need for boats. 


"Have you sent the ravens?" 


"All of them." 


"And?" 


"Westeros assured their support, from King's Landing Lord Tyrion offered shelter. Lord Reed said he will attempt to assist whatever he can. From Vale, Lord Arryn asked you to go there as well." 


"But how will we get there to King's Landing or to the Vale? And how does the useless old Lord Reed expect to help us from the marshes except his fancy words? The boats are yet not ready. And there are people coming each day. How will we carry all of them? How will we feed them?" Maester Wolkan felt a little weird. There were not enough privacy in the crowded situation. People, refugees are listening to their conversation. Out of nowhere a little boy came forward. 

"Pardon me my queen, my Maester, may I ask a question?" 

"Go ahead, boy." Maester Wolkan said. 

"I could not find my father and mother after the flood, and many people in the winter town. I fear if the flood rises we may not find our queen, she gave us shelter. My maester, can you send a raven to the dragon queen? I saw her the day she came, from a tree. I heard her fight for us from the sky. If you ask her to come, she can help our queen. She can take her away safe flying. We lost everything, we cannot lose our queen in the flood." 

"The dragon queen is dead." Sansa felt embarrased. "And she was a tyrant, mad queen. She burnt King's Landing. Do you understand?" 

The boy seemed puzzled. "Yes, my queen. But if she was mad, why did she spare us my queen?" 

"Do not talk to your queen like that." some relative of the boy came forward and took him back. "Apologies, my queen, please forgive his stupidity." 

Sansa nodded. They heard the relative scold the boy in a low voice as they went. "How many times I told you, do not talk about the dragon queen, and less in front of our queen, she cannot tolerate her. Will you ever learn?" 

Sansa could not think anymore. She rushed back to her chamber. To her annoyance there were refugees around there as there was not much room for all the refugees. Sansa looked at the people. People with dirty cloths. A child was vomiting on the floor. Her room was full of commoners. Poor. Lowborn. 

She closed her eyes. They are men and women, they are her subject. The crowd is the crown. "I am a slow learner." She said to herself. "But I must learn."

---------------- 

"Everything? How can I learn everything?" Dany asked Quaithe, or to herself. 

Drogon landed on the plateau facing the fort where the onabukeshas were training. Dany was curious and surprised as he did not screech, is this a magical place? 


The onabukeshas stopped when the saw the dragon landing, standing in their places, not scared at all, Dany noticed, and so were not the old men standing in front of them. There were twelve of them, old men, or women, Dany could not guess from their looks for some reason, and in front of them a very old man or woman, staring at them. Quaithe took her to him. 

"Erico Sha Ri sima, we came from Asshai for your help. Perhaps you remember me. And this is." Quaithe stopped as the old man or woman nodded, and came forward. Dany could understand her gender for the first time when she spoke. 

"Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen, thank you for bringing her here, Lady Elissa Farman. She has suffered so much torment on her mind from her youth. Welcome my child, welcome home." 


Dany did not remember her mother. She never heard somebody calling her name so sweetly, with so deep care and affection all sincere, and in such a mild and gentle voice. Her heart melt, and her eyes melt in tears. The Chief Monk took her by hand, and hugged her like a baby. Dany never knew this woman, but she broke into tears, tears of her whole life glistened on her face in the warm Sun of the Mountains of Morn. 

---------------- 

"So she is in the Mountains of Morn now? What is she doing there? Preparing for the invasion?" 

"What invasion?" Bran asked. 

Tyrion got confused. It will take him a long time still to properly understand Bran, he figured that out already. "Invasion of Westeros, taking it back." 

"I do not know about such preparations yet. I did not see any. She seemed to join the wall." 

"The wall? That melt?" Tyrion was even more confused. 

"The wall of Yi Ti, that guards them from the Long Night, the Dothraki, shadow people and other threats from north." 

Tyrion envied Bran about his capability of acquiring knowledge. 

"So they have guards for wall too? Men join there to remain celibate? Taking the black?' 

"Yes. Men and women, I do not know if they vow to be celibate or not, I have not trying seeing that and I do not know their language. And taking white." 

"What will she do there? Recruit them? To fight for her?" 

"I do not know. As I said, I do not know their languages in the east, and they have dozens of languages in the east so it is not possible for me to understand what language they are speaking when. I saw her, and a masked woman talk to people who look like high priests there. Then I saw her in some kind of training." 


"Training?" 

"Yes. they sit together closing their eyes for hours, sometimes they chant. They have some physical exercises." 


"That's interesting, and at least not as intimidating for now as the flood." 

"Winterfell is drowned. Icebergs of a frozen sea north of the land of always winter melt. Those icebergs were miles high and hundreds of miles wide. That is going to add to the flood that came from the wall melting down." 

"What do you suggest, Maester Samwell? And I forgot to ask, how is your son now?" 


"Yes, soon we have to move on the three towers on the three hills. I do not know how many people we can accommodate there, I have to take a look. He is now out of danger, but he still did not wake up." Sam looked up with a swollen face and red eyes from the stress he is undergoing.


"Let him be." Bran said calmly. "He needs to have to rest, to wake up as someone else." 


"Someone else?" Sam was shocked visibly. 


"He is the next three-eyed raven." Bran continued with calm words, but there was a hope of light in his eyes. "I have seen him. And he will be much more capable than me. He is capable of seeing things half a world apart without sending ravens." 

---------------- 

"Do not kill the ravens." Arya stopped Tala before he could shoot his catapult. 

"That one is following us from the beach. From your ship." Tala complained. They were speaking in Mahuai tongue that Arya picked up rapidly being the fast learner she is.

"Let it do. May be it is my brother. May be not." 

"Your brother?" Tala finds it more matter-of-fact than amusing. 

"Yes." Arya said without further explaining, letting the boy's imagination to flourish, but he seemed to know better than that.

"So he can fly with the raven?" 

"Yes." Arya looked at Tala. Do they understand warging? Do they have wargs as well in this side of the world? 

"My brother." Tala said on without seeming to be much astonished. "He had a different capability." 

"What is that?" 

"His name is he-who-walks-with-the-wolves." 

Arya's memory took her back to Westeros. To his brothers Jon and Bran, and to Nymeria. Tala seemed to notice her absent-mindedness. 

"Who else do you have in your family?" 

"I have another brother. He was the king before of our place, and was supposed to be the king of the entire land. But he made a mistake, about his aunt. He loved her, and she loved him. But he could not carry it on, and she went mad. She went mad and wanted to keep the throne, and killed thousands of innocent people in the war. At last, he had to kill her, and was sent to guard the north as punishment. The land got split and my other brother and my sister now reigns two parts of it." 

"So you are from a family of kings and queens?" 

"No. I mean, yes. But I am not a king or queen." 

"No, you are not. But you are a princess." 

Princess? That word made Arya laugh. She never even wanted to be a lady, and fate made her a princess. 

"What is funny?" Tala did not understand. 

"Nothing" Arya said. "Tell me about your family." 

"I have eight brothers and four sisters. I am the third child, and the second son. My father is chief of our small tribe. My mother died when I was fourteen moons old. My elder brother walks with the wolves, so my father wanted to train me for chief to compete after his death. So I ran away." 

"You don't want to be chief?" 

"I don't. My elder sister wants, she is like you. And I want her to be." 

Arya liked the boy. "What do you want to do when you grow up?' 

"I want to see things. And learn everything. And go to the other side of the sea. And learn magic." 

"You remind me of my brother who flies with the raven. He wanted to see things far away." Arya smiled. 

"Does he know magic? Like you?" 

"Like me?" 

"Yes. Do not hide from me. I have seen you look like one of the king's men, and then you pulled off your face, and became you again." 

So the boy sometimes pretend to sleep? "I should have been more cautious." Arya thought. 

"Will you teach me how?" Tala insisted. 

"I cannot. And those who can teach you are very.. hard people. And they live far away." 

"Where? On the other side of the sea?" 

"No, even further, there are other seas on the other side of our land. And they live beyond that sea." 

"Like there is another sea on the left of the turtle?" 

"Is there?" Arya went curious. 

"Yes. There is, though I have not seen it. Our people say that sea is deep and vast, and it formed when a moon fell down from the sky." 

"A moon fell down from the sky? The moon is still there." 

"There were two. One of them came too close to the Sun, and drank its fire, red." 

"Was it?" 

"Yes, our people called it the blood moon." 

---------------- 

They sat under a full moon. Round, three of them, the chief monk, Quaithe and Dany and no one else. "Breathe." said Erico Sha Ri. 

Dany breathed. Deep from her inside, a storm came out, with all memories of her life. Viserys threatening her. Khal Drogo forcing her. Mirri Maz Durr laughing at her, and the traders of Qarth, and the slave traders of Astapor and Yunkai. The dothraki khals, and the people in the hall of Winterfell, all busy with themselves leaving her as an outcast who came to help but still not one of their own. The storm came out with her breath, like her birth, with all the dogs in a town howling in the darkness of night. 

"You are trying too hard, child." 

Dany opened her eyes. The chief monk was staring at her, with the ambient smile that always were on her face. "Do not breathe so hard." said Erico Sha Ri. "You are not breathing a storm, child. You are breathing .." 

"A flame" Dany cut in. 

"Aaa!" The chief monk was appreciative, and Dany smiled, looking at Quaithe for support, whose eyes behind the mask smiled with approval. Then she breathed again. 

---------------- 

Sansa could hardly breathe. The flood reached the upper floor base. All around them is water as far as the eye can see. And in that water, something weird and huge was slowly moving to Winterfell. It was an entire castle, floating an a huge crannog, all rowing and coming to them. "What is it?" she asked. 


"The floating castle of Greywater Watch." Maester Wolkan replied. 

A small boat soon took of from the castle that slowed down smoothly. There was an old man and a girl on it, Sansa saw, and both of them were rowing. As the boat came near Winterfell gate she recognized them. Lord Howland Reed and Meera Reed.


"Your grace, greetings from the Greywater watch. We thought Winterfell might have problems holding all the people in the God's wrath that has fallen. So we rowed our floating castle to yours." Lord Reed said as the boat reached the balcony of the upper floor.


"You and your people are welcome to our small castle, if it pleases you.." said Meera, "your grace." 

(End of episode)

Chapter Text

A Realm of Gods and Men

Season 2: A Return of the Queen 

Episode 3: The Golden Town 

The entire plateau shone bright in the sun like a flawless piece of paper, and they were the only dots on that paper. 

The other girls looked at Daenerys with an apathetic stare. It was not a look of underestimation or attitude, and neither was it judgement or jealousy - it was careful measurement. They walked in a circle looking at each other. Quaithe was with them making the number four. "I do not know how to fight. What do they expect me to do?" Dany thought as she followed the circle-walk. 

One of the girls had black hair bound tight. Everything about her was tight, Dany could see her muscles move through her sleeves as they walked. The other girl had more of a free city look. Her reddish golden hair was a sharp contrast to her blue eyes and lips. "Have I seen her before?" Dany could not recall where she had. 

Suddenly they stopped. Dany was almost about to trip over, but she did not. She learnt to be mindful in the last few days. The girls all came forward and bowed to each other, so did Dany, and they went back again in the circle and stood calmly for a few moments. It was the calm before the storm, she learnt watching their fighting practice for last few days. 

"I never learned fighting." she told Quaithe when she heard she has to practice with them. "Will that bother them?"

"Nothing will bother them my child." answered Erico Sha Ri while Quaithe remained silent. "If you will be bothered is the question. They will show you no mercy." 

"I do not need mercy." Dany thought for a moment, and then told them. "I will learn." 

The chief monk gauged her for a while. Then she looked at Quaithe. "You will be with her. You know why?" 

Quaithe nodded. 

The girls began moving for a second time. With every footsteps, they are watching her, Dany understood. How she is moving, how she is making her footsteps, what stance she is walking with, where her eyes are. She fixated her eyes on the space between the two unknown girls. Quaithe was here to protect her in case of anything goes severely wrong. 

Suddenly both the girls moved. 

In unison. As if they were communicating in their mind. In a blink of an eye Dany saw the both girls were flying, she has never seen anyone to take such a long jump. The girl opposite to her jumped to Quaithe, and the girl with the blue lips jumped to near her. Dany could not have the moment of scope to look at Quaithe, but from the corner of her eye she could feel that Quaithe has moved too, because the girl who jumped at Quaithe flew back and landed straight down - Quaithe may have resisted her with some strong blow. The girl did not show any expression, but it seemed she had to try hard to get up again. 

The other one who jumped near her did not wait for Dany to notice all or any of these. She began serving blows, and Dany tried her best to doze, in vain. Soon she got punched at the face and down on the ground. The blue-lipped girl did not stop and walked towards her. 

But Quaithe intervened. "Pause" she shouted in the language of Yi Ti that Dany was learning in bits and pieces in these days, and when the blue-lipped girl did not pause, Quaithe appeared in front of her suddenly out of nowhere. So swiftly she moved that let alone Dany, even the girl looked surprised. That is the first time Dany noticed an expression in any of the Onabukeshas' face. 

They kept fighting, while Dany tried to pull herself up. The world was moving around her, she felt dizzy, and watched the other girl is moving at her now that Quaithe has taken over the blue-lipped girl. Dany tried to stand on her feet, but the world was still moving, she had never been hit with such a hard blow let alone in her face. But she stood, and took a protective stance. 

But the other girl did not attack her. She examined her closely, then looked back to Quaithe and the blue-lipped girl fighting. Both of them were fighting and switching positions in such an astonishing speed it almost looked like they were vanishing and reappearing. "Pause" - she shouted. Both of them stopped now, and looked and Dany, who was collapsing. 

Why is the world moving around so fast? Dany tried to grasp at something but she could not. Quaithe and the other girl ran towards her and held her as she fell, watching the blue lipped girl standing away, smiling. Where had she seen that girl before? Dany tried to recall as she fell to Quaithe's lap. The Sun above looked brighter than ever, and she felt something little moving inside her abdomen, like a small butterfly fluttering. Dany passed out. 

------------------------------------------

"Look, a kemma!" Tala held out to Arya the butterfly he just had captured with a smile of victory. The butterfly had patterned stripes like a tiger. 

"Release it." Arya replied. She loved the butterfly, but the way it was struggling for freedom between Tala's fingers reminded her of Nymeria's free spirit. 

"You eat meat." Tala let it go. "But do not like animal captured. Why is that?" 

"When you kill for eating, there is a purpose, and many animals in nature go by that way." Arya tried to explain in whatever extent she learnt the language Mahuay. "But when you capture and imprison for no reason, that is cruel." 

"Like them?" Tala asked, pointing at the captured crew in the wheeled cages drawn by the horses of the Mahuay soldiers. They were now on a cliff, hiding and looking at the soldiers and the kidnapped crew. They followed them all the way from the sea so far. 

"Perhaps." Arya was not sure if the analogy is right. Surely they have not captured her crew for pleasure of storing enslaved beauty like a butterfly. "What will they do with them?" 

"They will take them to the Golden Town." 

"The Golden Town?" 

"Yes, the capital of the Mahuay kingdom, where King Atayan lives. All houses, roads and temples are made of gold there." 

Arya found it hard to believe, she tried to dismiss it from her mind like the mosquito that had been bugging her for a long time, these mosquito breed here are different from those in Westeros, can be painful in their bites. 

"Is that really true?" 

"What?" Tala was confused. 

"That the town is made of Gold?" 

"Tala does not lie." the boy seemed hurt. 

"I mean, have you been there? Did you see it with your own eyes." 

"No. And I will never go there." 

"Why?" 

"They will capture us and make us slave. To build zikaruts." 

"Zikaruts? What are they" 


"High temples. They are like those." Tala tried to draw on sand something like the pyramids of Meereen that Arya saw in books before, but these are not tetrahedrons, rather pentahedrons. 


"What do they do in those temples?" 

"They keep their dead. And do magic with the stars. Why do you look so red?" 

Arya could not answer. She had been feeling feverish for a long time, she tried to brush it off, but somehow she felt very dizzy. 

"Did you get those white mosquito bites?" Tala asked. He looked real concerned. 

"Yes. A lot of them. Why?" 

"I have to take you to my family. Right now." Tala pulled her hand. 

"No! I cannot leave my crew here." Arya was firm. 

"Then you will accompany them dead." Tala's face looked pale white in worry. 

------------------------------------------

"What if I find her dead?" Anguy asked, deliberately to see how Gendry reacts to that, looking at the armor-like dress that Gendry gave him to to give Arya. 

They were in the port. Gendry had come to bid Anguy farewell for the journey, the ship will leave soon, Gendry did not seem to get Anguy's joke, "Then you will cover her with this, and bury her at a place suitable for her, on a hill, with the sun and clouds above her, a place that we can find." 

"What are these?" Anguy pointed at some chains probably opening to holes or some holders in the armor. 

"Pockets." Gendry replied. 


"Pockets? In an armor? And one for a girl?" Anguy was still amused. 


"Yes, pockets. She is the kind of girl that will like pockets in her dress instead of fancy buttons. She would like to put small stuffs necessary in these. She likes things that are flexible, can be changed, can be switched. If people could switch faces or bodies, then I am sure she would be learning do so." Gendry tried to explain. 

"That is why she switched you for the sea? And you made this armor yourself? For her?" 

"Yes." 


"Well, Lord of Storm's End, farewell then. Until I find her." 


"Until you find her and get back with the news of her well-being, safe and sound." Gendry rectified. 


Anguy nodded with his branded smile. They hugged each other. The children behind Gendry who have come with him to bid farewell to Anguy waved their hands. 


"So are you sending two ships like I said?" Little Shierra asked.

"Yes." Gendry turned back to her. 

"Where is the other one?" 

"Still in making." 

"Who will go in that ship?" 

"Me probably." 

"You? Who will then look over Storm's End then?" 

"Somebody wise and capable. May be Maester Jurne." 

Shierra did not like the idea. Gendry could notice that in her eyes. 

"Well, if Maester Jurne messes up things, I have friends like you and others here who will stand by me."  Gendry pointed to the other kids. "Won't you?"

Little Shierra smiled. She liked the Lord of Storm's End so much. 

------------------------------------------

It was a simple village, picturesque and beautiful, so was the road down the hill. An old lordly man was riding down the hill. Little Joanna ran to her grandma. 


"Susan, Maria, come and see. A lord has come to our village!" 


Maria was busy with cleaning, she put the broom and the tub aside, cleaned her hand with a towel, went out to see who came, then dropped the towel. 

And ran. 

From the horse, the old lordly man dismounted. His beard has grown longer, and ages had put many more marks on him than the last time Maria saw her, but she did not take a moment to recognize him. 

"You were gone so long." She said in a voice mixed with joy, grief, wonder and anger, all together. 

"And here I am now home again, my Lady!" said Ser Davos Seaworth,"If you still allow to let me in".

After the small feast, the village people who gathered together to meet their Lord took leave one after another. To some of them, Ser Davos was still Davos, and to some of them he is a pride of their village. Ser Davos returned to his home from the yard after bidding everybody farewell, Maria was there starting to clean stuff up, and he joined her with a helping hand. 

"A Lord should not clean dishes." Maria's voice had satire, mixed with a mild complaint for his staying away for so long. 

"Neither should a Lady. Should she?" Ser Davos was still in a light mood, as if getting reunited with the family and village after so long time reduced his age to a decade.

 "What a life of a lady I have been spending." now Maria's voice was a bit broken, and Ser Davos noticed the teardrops at the corner of her eyes. He promptly went forward, and held her tightly, moving her to face him. 

"You won't, anymore. I have come to take you all to King's Landing." Ser Davos tried to reassure her, but Maria seemed upset. 

"I will not go anywhere." she said. "You have work, you have to go back, go. God bless that you remembered your children and had a thought at last to visit, that is good enough. Go, do your duty. And if after decades past you decide to check we are alive or dead, come and check back." 

"Maria, listen." Ser Davos tried to cajole, and Lady Maria did not seem to object much this time. "I am serious. I have come to take you all, and I will. There is a flood coming. Our village is downhill. Everything will get drowned by the time we reach King's Landing. We have to hurry." 

Maria now understood, and looked around. Where will she go leaving this house she adorned and cared for so long? What will happen to the cattle, the pets, the homestead? A myriad of thoughts surrounded her, and Ser Davos could see that in her eyes. "When will we have to leave?" she asked. 


"There is no time." Ser Davos was firm. "We have to take what we can, and leave tomorrow." 

------------------------------------------ 

 "Tomorrow?" Jon was waiting for that, but Petal has told it so sudden that he could not grasp it for a moment. 

"Yes, tomorrow. The water is rising, the shivering sea crossed the coastline. We have to start now." 

"Which way will we go?" Jon tried to remember about his whereabouts to take. Petal pointed to the Earth. 

"What?" Jon did not understand. 

"That way. You just asked." 

Jon looked down to the Earth. 

The next morning after breakfast, Petal guided him towards a hole inside the tree. Jon looked down and found from it went down a tunnel through which a man can barely enter. 

"Ghost?" he asked. 

"He will need to stay here. He will be happy in the woods." Petal explained. "And you will not want to attract attentions in Essos walking with a direwolf"

She jumped inside the hole into the tunnel, and Jon followed. They climbed down for hours through what seemed like an intricate network of tunnels, until they reached room lit by fireflies. A cave was gaping on a side of that room, and Petal walked towards it. Jon remembered his dream at the Heart of Winter, and stopped. 


"Come!" Petal called him, and he followed her hesitantly to the entrance of that cave. 

------------------------------------------ 

Little Sam was dreaming that they all were climbing stairs of a damaged tower and his father was carrying an unconscious him there. At first Brienne was hesitant, but then she lifted Bran as if he was a small kid, and carried him upstairs through the tower. Podrick followed carrying the wheel chair along with another man of the Kingsguard. Tyrion followed them, then Sam carrying little Sam, Gilly and her daughter, Mina helping her climb, then Kingsguards and citizens. 

"How much high is the water now?" Bran asked. 

"Almost as high as a two-storied building, your grace." Tyrion replied. 

"Did we have any news from Sansa or from Ser Davos?" 

"Lord Reed and his people of the floating crannogs rescued your sister, you were right about him." Tyrion exchanged glances with Mina. "And they are coming south now. Also, Ser Davos is coming back to King's Landing with his family. We don't have any news of Jon." 

"Jon reached Essos." Bran replied. "I do not know how, but right now he is with the children of the forest there. They are going to take her to Daenerys Targaryen." 

"What?" Tyrion stopped. "Is he their prisoner? Or is he acting like a fool again?" 

"Neither." Bran paused a bit before replying. "He does not look like a prisoner. Nor a fool either." 

"Is there a flood in Essos?" Tyrion asked. 

"Not yet. But soon there will be. They were talking about a flood." 

The stair went spiral upward on and on. Little Sam felt like floating, he remembered a smell from the past, long past. Was it when he was born? Was it that of his grandmother about who mother used to tell her? Where is she now? Little Sam drifted away like water, to a boat. 

------------------------------------------

Morag lost count of days and nights by the time they reached Winterfell. They had been surviving on captured fishes, and could get to cook or clean only when they were lucky enough to anchor near hilltops that were still not under the flood. As they approached Winterfell, they watched the castle getting unloaded into the crannogs that came for rescue. 

"My apologies, Lord Reed, I had been rude to you. And perhaps you were right about the wraths of the old God." Sansa was talking to Howland Reed as they watched the boats from North approach the floating castle built on crannogs. 

"There is nothing to apologize, my Queen." Lord Reed assured. "We do not know about the Gods well. Think about this wildling boat coming, If not for his wish, these wildlings could not have reached us in time before we left." 

"That is Tormund Giantsbane." Sansa noticed. "He was Jon's friend. He helped us to free Winterfell. He fought for us in the great war." She ran to the deck of the floating castle where they were boarding. 


"My Queen, we come from the wall." Tormund smiled at Sansa. "We have injured people with us." 


Sansa nodded. "Where is Jon?" 


"He left us on the coast of the frozen sea far north. He wanted to map the whole North. Since then we don't know. But a fisherman ship told they have heard a story of a direwolf aboard an Ibenese ship going East towards Essos." Tormund clarified, as they brought Morag in. "This is Gilly's mother. She saved Jon when he was in trouble." Tormund introduced them. "This is Queen Sansa, Jon's sister." 


"What happened to you?" Sansa asked. 


"Nothing, my child." the old woman seemed unaware of royal conventions just like the other wildings, Sansa thought. "Just I got hit in a tree floating in the flood. Where is my daughter?" Morag asked back. 



"She is at King's Landing, with Sam, Jon's friend." 


"Could you take me to her?" the appeal in Morag's voice was plain, simple and commanding. 


Sansa nodded. She was thinking of taking the refugees to King's Landing, and this appeal just another pretext to that. She was planning to revisit her brother, but was that all? Deep inside her, Sansa felt she had one more hidden longing. Who was it she wanted to meet? Ser Brienne? Probably, but also someone else. Who was it? Sansa tried to think, to know herself, and suddenly she realized. 

------------------------------------------ 

Tyrion stared at the ship from atop the tower. It was from the Greyjoy fleet, a fleet that once had been a fear for him. Not anymore. The ship once anchored in the port of King's Landing. Not anymore. The port is under water, and the anchor could not be placed. The ship remained afloat sending boats to the the town. 

Yara and Bronn reached the tower through the opening that was created making a hole in the third floor where boats can enter. Tyrion was waiting for them. 


"Lady Yara Greyjoy. What a pleasant surprise! How did you get to meet the Master of Coins, why are you together?" 

|
"The same reason I came here with my ships, in case you need an escape from the floods to a safer place." Yara answered dryly. 


Tyrion nodded, then looked at Bronn. "And you? Lord paramount of the Highgarden and the Reach, have you conquered the Iron Bank?" 


"No" Bronn pointed at the trunks they were carrying. "Much more than that."





Later they met at Bronn's new room at the tower. Tyrion heard all that Bronn had to say, but after finishing he asked a question Bronn did not find logical. 


"So, you are trying to tell me nothing happened between you?" 


"Between whom?" Bronn was irritated and confused, after so much to tell. "Lady Yara? She does not like men." 


"Well, you seem to have a soft corner for Daenerys as well, you told she did not look mad to you?" 


"You don't need a soft corner to notice that. She did not look mad to me, only upset and sad. Perhaps she is changed after getting a new life." 


"And you think she will not attack King's Landing again?" 


"I cannot guarantee that. If she does, I will remain safe at least." 


"So you have a newfound loyalty? How can I trust you then?" 


"You would if you have any brains still left at all that did not melt down with your drinking. See what I brought. A loan of a million gold dragons. And in a much lower interest than the Iron Bank." 

"Loan from whom?" 


"From me." 


"From you? How did you earn all that much in a single voyage to Essos." 


"Perhaps your choice of the Master of Coin was right after all." 


"And you haven't even thanked me once for that." 


"Didn't I? Oh yes, here's my thanks." Bronn took something shiny out of his bag and gave to him. 


Tyrion couldn't believe his eyes. The thing that he longed for his entire life, from his childhood, he could not believe he is holding one in his hands. 


A dragon's egg. 



(To be continued)

Chapter Text

A Realm of Gods and Men

Season 2: A Return of the Queen 

Episode 4: The Flames

They entered the tunnel from the tree hole through passages that went narrow to narrower. There was no sunlight deep inside these tunnels, but fireflies lit the walls. They walked, climbed down, crawled and slid until they reached something like a stream, or river. 

"Come" Petal told Jon, and then she proceeded to a corner where an wooden dinghy was ready to ride. 

"How far does this river go?" Jon was hesitant. 


"As far south as you want to go, but we will leave the river and climb up again before a half-moon" Petal said. 


They passed through tunnels, caves, holes, caverns rowing the boat on that underground river. Eventually Jon lost count of days and nights. When they made stops, Petal would catch fishes from the river and would make fire to cook from the magical ball she carried. The fishes did not have eyes. Jon noticed that. 

"They do not need eyes" Petal explained. "They do not need to see." 


Jon went silent. The whole underground was silent as a world of the dead, and there were no noise except only for the sound of the water flowing. 


And they rowed on towards eternity. 

-------------------------------------------------

 
"You are trying too hard, my child, do not try at all."

Or were they? She was at her room, Quaithe was attending her, and was Erico Sha Ri. So it was all a dream?


"How do you feel my child?" The chief monk asked gently. 


Dany tried to answer, but some memories blocked her way. She remembered waking up like this sometimes, once long before, inside a tent. And the question that came in her mind weirdly was the same question that came into her mind when last time she fell unconscious and woke up. "Where is my child?" 

"Why am I even thinking that?" Dany tried to clear her thoughts, she is no longer Khal Drogo's wife at the Dothraki Sea. She is Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen, a resurrected queen who died getting stabbed by her lover, who showed her the hope of a child. Dany sighed, and told to the chief monk "I am alright". 

"You clearly are not." said Erico. "From tomorrow, you will be assigned to a different training." 


"No!" said Dany, "I can handle it." 


The chief monk stared at her for a while, and then she turned to Quaithe. "Tell her" she said. 


Quaithe looked at her. "When did you have your last moon blood, my Queen?" 


Dany could not remember at first, then it came to her mind. 


Quaithe held Dany's hand. "You are carrying a child, my Queen."

-------------------------------------------------

"You have got to go with me." Tala could not insist more, but Arya was reckless. They kept on following the prisoner shipmates and now they were on the border of the golden town. Arya climbed up to the peak and from behind a rock, they looked at the Golden Gate. 


And Tala was right. It was made of Gold. Pure gold, shining bright in the daylight. 


"I will now go and hide inside one of their trunks before they enter the city gate."  Arya looked back to Tala. "And you will go back to your family." 


"No!" Tala was no less stubborn than her. "I will NOT go without you." 


"You will." 


"You will die in this fever. You don't know it." Tala tried to make her understand. "I can take you to our village, the druid can cure you, and then you come and save them." 


"I don't have time." Arya said. "If they go inside the town and the gate is closed, I will lose them. So go now, run!" 


Tala stood silent for a while, then reached out to Arya his hand. Arya smiled and shook it. "Go! Now!" she said. 


Tala looked back once. And then he ran. 




Before it was dusk, she could manage to climb down the mountain and reach near the cages where the prisoners were kept. The soldiers stopped in front of the gate and were waiting for permissions to enter. Arya sneaked to one of the cages where her shipmates were kept. Bonifer noticed her. 


"Captain! What are you doing here?" 


"Ssshhh!" Arya silenced him, and then crawled to the other side of the cage to reach the trunks of the soldier. But before she could open that, a butterfly danced it's way and sat on the lock. 


Arya tried gently to move the butterfly away before opening the lock, and she could. Then the butterfly danced it's way up above the trunks. 


"Look, a kemma." one of the Mahuan soldiers said. Arya learnt the language quite well enough to understand that by now. Only there was urban rushed accent.


"Where did it come from?" another soldier said. "The kemmas dance on top of the mountains. They do not come down the land like other butterflies do." 


Arya froze in silence. The guards are coming this way. She felt his Valyrian Steel dagger, and looked for places to hide around. There was none nearby. She located a rag yards away, and got underneath it. A bunch of big red cockroaches ran through all her body. But she kept silent. 


"There it is." said one of the soldiers. 


"You cannot catch it." said the other soldiers. "Why bother chasing it?" 


A cockroach went up Arya's lips, and tried to get inside her nose. Arya kept silent. 


"My nephew would have liked one if I could." said the soldier 


"Who? The one who walks with wolves?" asked the other one. 


"No. The younger one. Let's go." replied the first soldier. 


The cockroach was now entering her nose, and Arya could not help sneezing. The soldiers looked back. 


Arya moved as fast as she could amid the burning fever. She sliced the second soldier, but the first soldier shouted and ran. Soon there were dozens of them, surrounding her. Arya tried to defend, holding out needle and the Valyrian Steel dagger in both hands. But they looked blurry and moving. The whole world was moving. One of the soldiers threw something hard at her head. And the world started moving so violently. 

Arya fell down on the ground. 




Not much far from the shorelines, a Westerosi ship with an wolf sigil approached a boat. The prisoner shipmate whom Arya released smiled at the crew. 

------------------------------------------

The council is sitting today at a small room in the tower. Ser Davos returned. Bronn rejoined as well. Yara Greyjoy is attending as the King's invited guest. They already have updates about Bronn's finance, Dany's revival, and her apparent changed stance. The discussion is moving towards the imminent danger at hand - the flood. 


"So, Lady Yara, how do you wish to explain your loyalty to Daenerys?" Tyrion asked. 

"That is nothing new. I did vouch for her. In your trial, I asked for Jon Snow's trial as well for killing her." Yara answered straight. 

"Which he had." Tyrion was unabated. "He was sent to the wall. But now that you are a lady ruler, your allegiance towards anybody except King Bran is to be considered a treason, do you understand that?" 

"My allegiance to King Bran still remains, and that is only because my Queen is not interested anymore to invade King's Landing." 

"Why?" The question came from Tyrion, but it spoke for everybody in the council save Bronn, Bran and Mina. 

"Because.." Yara hesitated, "I don't know how. But the Queen has a changed personality after undergoing a magic treatment in Asshai." 

"And how do you know that is not feigned?" Tyrion tried to stick to his skepticism. 

"Because I know when somebody feigns something in front of me." 

There was no answer to that. The council had a moment of silence that Ser Davos ended. Returning from his house today he was not updated about many things that Bran saw. 

"What is she doing now?" 

"She is at the eastern fort of Yi Ti, near the mountains of morn." Yara replied. "She is for learning something there." 

"And what is that?" 

"She is learning skills from the monks. Skills of knowing," Bran replied now, " that I do not understand very well since I do not know the language of Yi Ti or any other eastern languages, and skills of fighting." 

"If she gave up on King's Landing then why is she learning fights?" 

Nobody could answer that. So everyone looked at Bran, who noticed it. 

"I do not know." 

"But if you can see the future.." Sam was about to insist. 

"Trying to see future is costly, as I said." Bran did not seem interested. "There are always multiple ways. If I follow a way, there is always a chance that I can cause people's sufferings in seeing that way, and if I abort seeing a path, I have to follow that. It is not about my whim and Gods will not allow me to find the best course trying to see many ways one after another" 

"But you could see the Night King's defeat, and you could see what Daenerys did, and you gave Arya the dagger and told me it was the best time to inform Jon about his parents." Sam was pursuant still. 

"And both costed lives. Many many lives. I am sorry." Bran said very calmly. 

Again, silence fell over the small council. This time it was Tyrion's to break.


"Let's focus on the more immediate problem then. What to do about the flood? Ser Bronn had loaned us an amount of a million gold dragons. How to spend it to save the land? We have nearly half a million survivors in King's Landing, and more refugees are coming each day. Queen Sansa and the northerners will arrive in Lord Howland Reeds' crannogmen's boats any day. Where will we buy foods for them? Where will we arrange shelter for them? How long is the flood going to last? Is it going to increase, or decrease from now? We do not know any answers to these." 


"Storm's end is nearby and can shelter a lot of people. I am sure Lord Gendry will accept the refugees." Ser Davos suggested.


"I believe he will. But how will he arrange food for all the people? We have to plan ahead for that." Tyrion was learning from experience. "When Daenerys went to Winterfell with her Dothraki and Unsullied, Queen Sansa did not receive them well." The last sentence was pointed to Bran. But Bran sat calm and said nothing in his sister's defense. 


"We made a stop on our way back at the Island of Leng in Yi Ti, at the port Turani." Bronn weighed in. "The island is very rich, and whole nation of Yi Ti is. It is my trade with the jewels I bought there and sold on the way back that made me rich enough to lend you and still have handsome for me. We can buy food from there. And we did not notice significant rise in the water in South Essos yet on our way back. May be Essos did not have the flood, or may be they will be hit later being South to us. It would make sense to buy earlier." 

That seemed a good plan to everybody. "I can use Iron fleet to buy and carry foods back here." Yara proposed. Mina looked at her, there was something in that look which made Yara conscious about even her own decision. Was she longing to go back there for someone? 


"You have to remember though, that the Dragon Queen is now at Yi Ti. With her dragon." Mina said. 

"So you think she would interfere? Do you suggest we do not go to Yi Ti?" Tyrion asked. The whole situation seems so much of a weird mix-up, of deeds of the past, for everybody. 

"I do not think the Dragon Queen will object if I go with my ships." Yara was confident. She had reasons to be for sure, and everybody sensed it. 

"I am not saying she will interfere or we will step back." Mina dropped a bomb. "I was saying we take a step forward, by talking to her." 

"And who do you suggest would take the risk?" Ser Davos told what everybody was thinking. 

"Me." Mina said effortlessly. "Lady Yara is loyal to her, she cannot represent or speak for us. Ser Bronn I fear may lack the tact we will need to communicate to her. We cannot risk making her angry now after everything that happened. You people think she may burn you alive. But she does not have any hostility with me, she does not even know me." 

Everyone was silent. But Bran nodded, that came like a sense of relief. And then Bran broke it again. "Which way do you plan to go? The fourteen flames came back alive after Daenerys's death, and the mountains are erupting now." 


Yara and Bronn saw that on their way back, but Sam was confused. "You saw this?" Sam asked. 


"No." Bran turned to him, "But your son did." 

------------------------------------------

Little Sam floated in his dreams. The raven in his dream took him to a land far, far away. There they saw clouds. Black clouds of smoke raging from mountains set on fire. Little Sam was afraid, and the raven did not want to go further. 'You have to see it.' it said, 'I cannot.' 

'How?' Little Sam was confused and scared. Is the raven suggesting he would go alone? 

'Look at the candles.' the raven said. 'The glass candles may tell you.' 

'Then I have to go back home.' Little Sam said. 

'You are at home.' the Raven replied. 

'I am not. You brought me to this place far away, I do not even know where it is.' 

'You know. It is Valyria, and you are at your place, King's Landing. Wake up.' 

With that word, the raven vanished, and Little Sam began to fall, into a mountain raging with fire. 

He woke up, gasping. 

(To be continued)

Chapter Text

A Realm of Gods and Men 
Season 2: A Return of the Queen 
Episode 5: Kill the Girl

"Where are you from?" 

"White Harbor. I was in the ship of Lady Arya Stark." 

"And why did you leave?" 

"I did not leave. She freed me and told me to row back into the three Islands of Dragon, to bring the news." 

"What news?" 

"That we discovered a huge land. She named it Nymerica. And there are people, soldiers, who enslaved our shipmates. Our captain is the only one who could escape. And she has a red faced boy of that land with her." 

"That means she is in danger" One of the shipmates told to Ser Rodrick Flint, who nodded. "They are in danger." 

"Send a raven back to the Isles of Dragon. Tell the mates whom we left there to carry the message forward. We need backup, we need a lot of ships and army." 

"To Winterfell?" 

"Yes, to Winterfell.. and to King's Landing where her brother reigns, and to Storm's End. Lord Gendry asked the Queen to keep him informed about any trace of Lady Arya." 

"But Storm's End is not in the jurisdiction of the North." 

"That is none of your business." Ser Flint replied, and then pointed at the prisoner they rescued. "Take him, and make sure he is taken care of. I will ask him more questions later." 

The question was from far away, from other side of the narrow sea, but in Mahuay. 

"Who are you?" 

"No one." Arya replied, trying to see who asked the question. She was bound to a cage, inside a stable with a golden door. They had tried to rip off her clothes but could not get the tight armor moved as it seemed to her. A guy with a yellow teeth probably asked the question. Because he just slapped her hard. 

"Who are you, again, and why you feel so fucking hot?" 

"She has the mountain fever. Don't touch her." Another soldier warned. "You will catch it. She was so fucking hot, and we did not dare to touch her, could not even get to see her naked."

So the killing fever is her armor this time? Arya could not help laughing even in this dire situation thinking how lucky she was, she began laughing hysterically and could not stop. The soldiers looked at one another, and the men in the stable. The whole stable is full of her shipmates, it should be so bloody hot here, but she was shaking, shivering in cold. 

"Not just the fever, she's caught demons. Why did you bring her inside the city? She will spread the fever and bad luck, and she is not even worth enjoying. Take her and throw her away out of the city walls." 

"No. Throw her in the river. Only that way she will drown and drift away instead of spreading the fever. Go!" 


Two Mahuyai soldier, probably of lesser rank, came and untied her, and before Arya could move, pulled her by her clothes into a sack avoiding skin contact. Before they tied the sack, Arya started shouting, in the common tongue. 

"Mates. Don't die. Live, all of you. Do whatever they bid you to, and live. I will get back to free you all. Till then, live, and learn the ways and the streets and the secrets of the city as much as you can." 

"She is already speaking demon tongue, she will die tonight." one of the Mahuay soldier quipped.

Arya was falling senseless, feeling claustrophobic and suffocated in that sack, but she tried to keep counting steps, and turns. They took her to a horse-cart, then to some place where there is a sound of some very large wheel moving. Then they moved up through some kind of stairs.

"Take her up the dam and throw her away." commanded one of the soldiers to the other. 

"You?" 

"Do as I command! I have my children and wife. Don't want to die from cursed demon carrying mountain fevers."


The younger guy looked at his senior with vicious eyes, and then at last he carried forward alone, went upward, and threw her away into water. With the hard splash the sack got wet, and Arya started trying to tear it with her hands and teeth as a wolf would do. 

 

-------------------------------------------------

Far away somewhere an wolf howled. Or did he fall asleep? Jon moved a little. There were no sound anywhere around except for the rowing and the water stream.

"How long will it take for us to reach Yi Ti?" asked Jon, as they passed from tunnels to tunnels rowing on the strange underground river.

"That depends on many things, Aegon." replied Petal, rowing with him. "We are passing beneath the Dothraki sea now. These underground rivers and tunnels are everywhere in Essos, and Westeros. Our ancestors used these ways long ago, when the blood moon reigned the sky, the wolves reigned the first men of Westeros, and the dragons were growing, to cross continents and the seas. Some of the tunnels go deep down to the center of the world, and some of them to the other side.But in between them, there are areas where Wyrms and Wyverns reign. Those we have to avoid going up into the land. And when we go walking the land we will have to go hiding. That is why I cannot tell you how long." 

"Wyrms and Wyverns? What are they? Where did they come from?" Jon was scared to ask, but he had to know.

"Once there were two moons." Petal sighed, as if she did not want to remember the story. "And one of them came too close to the sun, and drank it's fire..."

-------------------------------------------------

Fire from the coals have warmed the two eggs for days, but Dany could not be sure yet how hot they were or whether they are ready yet to be hatched. She lacked the sensation for high heat, and she could not ask anybody else to understand that for her burning their hands. Dany remembered her days in the tent, when she longed for the dragon eggs to be hatched and her son to be born at the same time. This is her second life, and she is doing the same. Only there are two eggs instead of three, and Drogon has grown large, and the child inside her did not feel like a naughty boy. 

"A rider came today, my child." The chief monk said as she watched her hold a hot egg in her lap. "The great Azure emperor Bu Gai has asked for you, News reached them that you are here, and he wants you to meet him." 


"For what?" Daenerys was not sure how to respond to this news. 


"May be the Emperor wants to marry you. It will help his weak position in the Golden Empire revive. Like the old Valyrian empress he wants you to brighten the days of the empire and it's court." the Monk smiled, there was clear satire in her smirk and Daenerys did not fail to notice that. But she replied bland.

"I cannot. I am carrying a child of someone else. If I marry him and keep the child, it will be cheating with him." 


The monk nodded. "You are truly a queen. Most women are not so strong. It is not easy to turn down the richest of all emperors of all kingdoms. But what if he sends an army to capture you." 

"By force?" Daenerys had fire in her eyes now. "Then I will burn his castle to the ground." 


The chief Monk smiled. She held her hand, and took her to the window. On the plateau, a girl onabukesha was feeding doves. "Tell me, my girl, if one of those doves snatch away food from others, will we stop giving food to them altogether?" 


"No. But they are animals, innocent and pure, they would do as nature taught them to survive. Not greedy and selfish and cruel like men." 


"True, men are cruel. But they are animals too. Once upon a time our ancestors lived on trees, just like monkeys. Do you know why we wear Monkey's tail hats?" 


"Why?" 

"It is a respect to our ancestors. If monkeys rob you, it is your ancestor claiming their share." 


"Monkey are our ancestors?' 

"They are not. But we have common ones. Don't you remember your dream, my child?" 


Daenerys nodded. She did. The Sun rose on the west and set in the east in her dreams, just like Mirri once said, and she is carrying a child now. Mirri said Khal Drogo will come alive when it happens. Where is he? 


"Somewhere in the flames," the chief monk started again as if she was answering Dany's question, by now Dany got used to all her allegories and references to her thoughts so she did not get surprised when the monk carried on a different context. "there would be children, housewives, innocent people if you burn the emperors castle." 

"I did. I killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people when I burnt King's Landing. It is me who deserves to die." Dany returned to her sadness, her deep melancholy inside the eyes.

"You already died once, my sweet girl." said Erico Sha Ri. "Yes, you killed so many. But you did not kill yet the most important one."

"Who is it?" Daenerys was far away still, trying to lift her eyes sunk deep in that depression. Today was a sunny day, and the ice caps on the mountains north of Yi Ti shone like crystal. Drogon circled around the the vast plateau of the Mountains of Morn beneath the fifth fort.

 "A girl. Who is proud of her lineage. Proud of her child. Proud of her gifts of immunity from fire that Gods have given her." continued the Chief Monk, with her motherly affectionate yet resolute tone as always. "Kill the girl Daenerys Stormborn. Kill the girl, and be a woman."

Dany looked back at the monk, her face was calm, but her eyes gave her strength. She nodded. 

The next day they took Dany to a different area on the plateau. A girl was waiting there with a spear, and a bow, and arrows. The girl with the blue lips. First, the monk gave her the spear.

That instantly brought Dany back to her past, to Jorah, who saved her life once with a spear, and to the Night King who killed Viserion. She touched the spear, with the same sad face she had since she was brought back to life. The chief monk noticed it all too well.

"You miss your friend." She said, as if she was referring to Quaithe who left in search of the so called dust of Unicorn's horn thing. But Dany knew better about her words by now. She gave the monk a blank stare.

"The art of spears, and all weaponry, is dance." the monk said, ignoring her emotion. "Long ago, when our ancestors used to hunt in the forest, they used to gather around their prey and dance. It distracts the prey, it moves your muscle, it makes you able to move swift, and sudden, without letting your foe know where you will be. Have you ever danced before?"

"No!" Dany could not remember dancing ever. Except for in the sky.

"Come, dance with me, my child." The monk held her hand, took her to the middle of a circle drawn on the ground, and smiled at her, "and let me dance with the dragon."  

 

------------------------------------------------- 

"Dragons are not slaves. If you rename the slaver's bay to Dragon's bay, it does not become one by itself, unless you have dragons." 

Reznak tried to grasp what Skahaz meant, and Daario fixed his eyes on the leader or the Brazen Beasts. Azzak and Grazhar exchanged strong looks, clearly they did not like what Skahaz meant, and Jezhene worried that they might react at any moment. What she missed however, was Quezza's sly smile from the corner of the room. 


"There is a flood spreading north of the continent. Rumors say that the land beyond the narrow sea is already covered with the flood. People are saying it's curse of the harpy." 


"Masters are saying, not the people. And people also tell that its the Lord of the Light's revenge of the killing of the Queen. The Queen renamed it." Reznak replied. "Her dragon still lives, so it is still Dragon's bay and will be so." He raised his voice a bit and looked at Daario for support, who nodded slightly in response. "And that is my command. I am the people's chosen representative, and it was the Queen's order that people chose their own rulers. It does not matter what the other Masters think." 

Skahaz gave a wry smile. "It may not matter to you. But you do not visit the streets with the Beasts as I do. You do not get to listen the words that the families of the Masters are spreading around." 


"Very well." Reznak seemed unconvinced, and that seemed to assure the two former cupbearers Azzak and Grazhar, both were now grown up and learnt well in fighting from Ser Barristan.  If Daenerys were there, these two child hostages she had from the noble families and loved so much could give their lives for her, only that she is dead now to them. The same could be said for Jezhene, but not for Grazhar's sister Quezza. "Let me hear from them then." Reznak continued. "If any one from the Masters' family have something to say, bring them to me, with respect." 


Skahaz nodded, but clearly he seemed unconvinced too, he gave Daario and the noble family boys a hard look before he left the court. 


"You did well, my Mayor." Daario said. "The Queen named it and there cannot be a question about the names. These are small things from which eventually big discords may rise up." 


"What do you think the Queen would have done?" Reznak asked him. Daario noticed his insecurity behind his strong face. Not just him, there is a feeling of hopelessness spreading around the pyramid from the day the news of the Queen's death reached Meereen. Mourning is over, but the shadow the news cast on the town is not. 


"She would have called the Masters in a meeting." Daario replied. 

------------------------------------------

"Meeting you is the most pleasant thing that happened since this unpleasant flood began." Tyrion welcomed the guests. "Welcome back to King's Landing, Queen Sansa." 


Sansa smiled briefly and ignored Tyrion's flattery. "Where is the King?" she asked. 


"The King is busy, talking to my son." Sam replied. 


"Your son?" an old woman came forward from among the guests, Sam didn't take a moment to recognize her, so didn't Gilly. She came forward to and ran to Morag, hugging her mom and breaking into tears. 

The emotional reunion was brief, as Lady Yara Greyjoy came forward and cut in, "Excuse me please, but there is no time for this. My ships are ready, and we have to leave for Storm's end soon. All of us. The flood is rising every day, and the rebuilt structures are no longer safe drowned and damp in flood water. And after that I have to leave for Yi Ti to buy food and supplies for everybody." 

Sansa felt surprised at this rushed welcome, but Tyrion reassured her with a nod, and Bronn gestured the guests to come in. The whole tower full of people seemed to be preparing for leaving. 

"Thank you for your aid in allocating the Maester for the wall." Tyrion walked next to Sansa, "Though it melt down anyway." He tried to relive the conversation. "How have you been since we last met at Winterfell?" 

"I was fine, thank you." Sansa could smile even after the tiresome journey and the stress. "But there came the flood." 

"Maester Samwell says all the ice in north and beyond the wall and the frozen seas have melted. Is that true?" 

"I don't know." Sansa replied. "But from what I have seen, the North can be called a vast sea itself now. And so can be the countryside all over the other kingdoms," 

"Lord Gendry ensured us that Storm's End is still safe. It was built for protection from storms and water rising." 

"That's good." Sansa paused. "Did you know that he had asked many questions to me about Arya when he visited us?" 

"He did to us and our King as well when he visited King's Landing." Tyrion replied. "Apparently they are old friends from the Brotherhood without Banners, and they saved each other's life when they both escaped the reign of my wonderful nephew. You should know better. You.." 

"..escaped too, leaving you behind. I think I have apologized once for that in Winterfell." 

"I did not ask for apology at all. Especially in such horrible days, those memories are sweet." 

Sansa looked at Tyrion, trying to see if he is still flirting, it was a full moon evening and though the environment was not suitable for a romantic mood she has been suspecting Tyrion getting weak about her recently times and again. But Tyrion just gave him a smile and changed the subject. "Do you have any news of your sister?" 

"The last raven I had for her told she found some Islands, that she is safe, and she left those Islands to find something even bigger to more west." 

"Apparently you have missed the latest news about her then." Tyrion looked concerned this time as he brought out a scroll from his pocket. "This is from the ship you sent in search of her, and the ship's captain says she found a very large continent, named that Nymerica, got attacked by inhabitants there, and all her shipmates are prisoners except her." 

Sansa quickly snatched the scroll from him and read it quickly. "Nymerica? That would sure be true news about her, she named it for her direwolf." Sansa got lost in thoughts. "She told me she met her on her way back to Winterfell. And I have traveled through half of Westeros to reach King's Landing. All the forests and lands are now drowned. Only Gods can tell where she is." 

"Apparently she is in danger." Tyrion did not understand that Sansa was meaning danger for the wolf. "The ship asked for reinforcements." 

Sansa looked at him, but there were so many thoughts going on her minds at that moment. Thoughts about Arya, Nymeria and Jon, and she did not meet Bran yet. Far away, somewhere an wolf howled, and Sansa looked back before they lost sight of the crannogs. 

------------------------------------------

They have rushed past the marsh lands and woods of the crannog men down to the crownlands and the the arms of Dorne, reaching near the sea with an unrecognizable shore. Swimming at times, taking shelter on hilltops at time, floating on woods at times. All the wild, wolf and deer together. And there is now a full moon leaving them trapped on a hilltop, with no sights of land nearby. 

Nymeria looked above from the top, and howled, the deepest howl that any Gods and Men have ever heard. And her pack echoed.

No Gods neither men replied, but there was a ship floating nearby. The ship had a stag's head, but the danger brought the wolves and the stags together on this hilltop. And a distant song from there that did not sound unfriendly to the wolves. 



"The ships reached the shores where the Sun meets the spear 

On distant south in the Dorne. 

And though she lost some of her folks on the fleet 

There was no time to mourn. 

Some of them got lost at Sothoryos 

In the strange town of the Yeen 

Some of them gone for so long she couldn't 

Remember their names and their kin..."  

Nymeria looked above again and howled once more with all her strength, and the song stopped.


The crew at the ship came running aboard, as their commander looked at the hilltop. The ship came closer. 


From the deck, Anguy stared aback at the hilltop, watching the largest wolf he had ever seen in his life. This must be a direwolf, the only direwolf he had heard about. Could it belong to one of his brotherhood fellows a long time ago? Is it in danger of the flood? He ordered the ship to anchor near the hilltop. Anchoring was not possible there, but they somehow could align a part of the deck to the corner of the hilltop avoiding fraction.


In front of the scared and astonished crew, the few remaining wild animals, wolves and stags and bulls alike, lined up and marched towards the ship, and jumped on to the deck. Anguy and his shipmates stared at them with wonder and awe.

Chapter Text

Episode 6: The Deep One 
Season 2: A Return of the Queen 
A Realm of Gods and Men 

Near northern shore of Braavos. 

The Ibbenese ship was trying hard to reach the port as soon as they could. The fog on the rising water levels made it difficult to see why they were in such a rush. Was it the water level itself? Or something else? 

Suddenly the ship shook sideways heavily as if something had pushed it from under the water. 

The crew ran crazy, trying to pull the mast down, trying to balance the load, trying to get hold of whatever they can near at hand. But the ship shook violently again, and then they could see it. 

Nor could a man in a hooded cloak watching them from an eye of the Titan.

'It' was huge for sure, humongous, of a size that they have never before seen in the sea. From the shape of it they could not tell what it is, or whether what they saw was in part or a whole, except that it looked like a lizard, or a tail of a squid or an octopus, or a large snake. There was not time enough to see. Because the ship was turning upside down, or because they were all falling of its deck, or because they were being swallowed in whole by that giant and enormous thing. 

Quickly the ship and the thing were vanished, what remained was a trace on water of yellowish red, of oil and fat and blood.

A man stared at the sight silent, and took a long breath, a deep one. 

The Monk's words about the Azure Emperor and the prospective threat on the fort could not let Dany sleep well that night.

So the next morning she took blessings from the chief monk, and got on Drogon on her way to meet the Azure emperor. Slowly the east fort became a point on the land. and the lush green forests and hills of Yi Ti rushed behind her way. Dany felt surprised how she had grown a strong attachment for the onabukesha and the monks. She remembered the smile of the chief monk as she was giving her the blessings. Soon one day, after Quaithe returns with the so called unicorn's horn, she will have to leave the training. Where should she go back? And why would that be painful? Dany almost fell like she doesn't want to go anywhere leaving the wall of Yi Ti, leaving her Onabukesha sisters. "I don't have a family." she whispered to herself, "Never knew what a family feels like." Is this why the chief monk sent her to meet the Azure emperor Bu Gai? To get used to leaving the wall? Is it a part of her training? Or has she got so in routine and discipline that everything seems like a training to her now? 

By the time she reached Yin, it was almost evening. The palace of the Azure empire looked beautiful in the cityscape just before sunset.

Daenerys circled the city for a few times in a relaxed leisurely manner to make it look easier on the citizens and to adjust them to comfort, but she knew it was never an easy task seeing a dragon on the sky. "The emperor had sent me letters." she thought. "They should have prepared about my arrival". She slowly landed Drogon in the open area of the garden within the palace.

"Lyka" she whispered to Drogon, prohibiting him to roar, and slowly came down on the grass. Two women of traditional royal garbs were in that area, with a few children and their slaves. One of them ran, but the other stood frozen, and her two children clung to their mother. Daenerys went near the children with a smile.

"Ni chewo" she said as politely as possible to the woman and the children in the small Yi Ti vocabulary she learnt in the few days.

The woman stayed silent, so did her son. But the daughter took her tight grip away from her mother, and managed to answer "Ni chewo".

"I am Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen, I came to meet the respected Azure Emperor, on his invitation." Dany said slowly to the girl to make sure her naive pronunciation is well understood. "Can I be your friend?"

They escorted her through long and wide corridors where a few elephants could easily walk side-by-side, Dany actually saw one in the gardens, and through huge grandiose hall rooms that Dany thought would be able to contain a dozen throne rooms of Red Keep, or what was once the red keep. People, children and women of royal garbs, finest silks that Dany has so far ever seen and in ornaments that she has only saw pictures of in books, peeped through windows, doorways and corners of the archways at her. Their eyes shy and curious, their faces carrying little or no expressions. At first Dany thought they all were royal people, but many of them had objects like mops or tools that led her eventually to understand that they are either serving people or slaves and their families. "Are slaves so well maintained here?" she thought. 


The King's court was gigantic, and Dany figured out that even Drogon can fly within the walls of it. That led her to the question in mind. "Did they have dragons once? Why is the courtyard so large?" 


At the end of the court hall, they had to climb at least a hundred stairs if not less, Dany was almost exhausted but did not let that out. There above it, on a distance, sat a king on his throne on a dais made of pure gold, emblazoned with designs and decorations painted azure. On the throne, sat the emperor. The throne was wide enough, but his own width has claimed two third of the space already. On the dais there are other people, royal courts men, serving men holding fans, and a person with some sort of musical instrument played with strings that Dany had not seen before. A tall man announced her presence in the language of Yi Ti, Dany understood they are referring to her as the mother of dragons. The king rose and bowed with courtesy. Dany by the time knew Yi Ti customs pretty well, everybody here from the king to peasants bow to each other. She bowed in response. 


"Welcome to Yi Ti, mother of Dragons." the emperor spoke in clear Valyrian. "Hope you did not find the journey troublesome." 


"Not at all, honored God-Emperor." Dany smiled. "My son brought me safe and sound." 


"Your son?" The emperor looked at her with questions in his eye without any noticeable facial expression. "I did not know you had one. Is he here with you?" 


"I left him in the gardens, I guess his presence here in the courtyard could have created panic." 


The tall man whispered something to the king's ears. He seemed to now understand. 

"You and your son must be tired. I would be honored if you kindly accept our hospitality. Lian will show you your quarters. Then if it pleases you, join us tonight's dinner on your honor." 


"Thank you for your kind hospitality, honored God-Emperor. I am not tired though. If you want we can talk right now regarding why you wanted me to visit." 


The tall man and the King looked at each other. Then the tall man spoke, in clear Valyrian with a mild accent, "Pardon me, mother of Dragons, let me introduce myself. I am the chief visor serving the God Emperor and you may call me Li An. Perhaps you know that we at Yi Ti do not discuss with guests any matter of importance just on arrival. Please kindly accept our hospitality, feel comfortable, allow us to have your presence in the dinner, have a good night's sleep, and then in the next day perhaps the God-Emperor may chose to discuss with you." The tall man bowed. 

Dany bowed back. She knew it is the custom here, and it cannot be avoided. 


She didn't have to wait till the next day though. After a gracious dinner of nearly a hundred items of delicacy and wines, they sat in the gardens where musicians were playing flutes and the string equipment. The vocal pitch of the chorus were going into sopranos so high that Dany almost could not differentiate between voice and flutes. She got acquainted with his family. His two wives, and his little daughter and one of her elder brothers. Dany did not get to ask why the other brother is not in the dinner as none of them have mentioned him, thinking whether it will be polite or not, but soon after the dinner the family left in the King's guesture. That is when the king seemed to grow eager for her attention by each hour. Dany noticed the rapid advance and went straight to the point. 

"Perhaps I can guess what the God-Emperor wishes to ask. But I am afraid that is not possible. I am carrying another man's child."

The God-Emperor got silent for a little while, and then looked at his chief adviser, who seemed to understand the gesture and waived the musicians and the rest of the audience to leave. The Emperor needs to talk privately. 

When they left, he said just as courteously, 'And why would that be a problem? If you do not mind me asking, are you betrothed to the man, or wish to be?' 

'Why would you even want to know that?' Dany thought she should answer, but instead she replied, 'No'. 

'Then it should not be an issue. Your child will be raised with our princes and princesses, as our prince or princess.' 

"You are thinking it far too ahead and you don't even know me." Dany thought, and again instead she replied. "But I cannot let that happen, honored God-Emperor, because that will be a lie." 


The king went silent again. And then spoke in a more softer tone, Dany felt like he will soon melt in his polite humility. "If you do not wish so, I would not force you to. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, far more beautiful than my wives. And you are the mother of dragons. But I ask of this affiliation for more reasons than my ardent desire for you." he took a break, then continued. "Long ago, our courtyard was honored by another Valyrian queen. We respect Valyrians and dragons, each new year our royal procession wears a cloth dragon to honor that tradition. Right at the moment, our great golden empire is in danger. A few generations ago, we lost control over Leng, and they are now a free island. People mistake my benevolence for weakness. One among my generals, a traitor named Pol Qo has declared himself as the Orange emperor in the Traders Town. A dark sorcerer that I exiled a long time ago had himself situated in the island Carcosa in the middle of the Hidden Sea. He falsely claims himself as the sixty-ninth Yellow Emperor. Grey Plague has been spreading in the empire, and there is no known cure of it in the world." He paused. 

"There could be" Daenerys thought, remembering Samwell Tarly, but she let the king continue instead. 


"In this dark times, we need a national unity. Your legendary tales have spread to each and every corner of Yi Ti. The mother of dragons as the queen of Yi Ti will boost the morale of the people of the empire like nothing else. There is a tale in our history, of a woman with a monkey's tail who saved the world from a long night. Today when you arrived, Lian showed me your braids. He believes you are the prophesied woman, no woman before in the history had worn a hair braided like that. And we have also heard rumors that you are unburnt, that you were murdered and you got revived." The King looked at Daenerys with questions, request and with a longing for her reply. 

Dany took time to reply him, it was not easy to turn down such a polite and humble king who does not seem to own much pride for his enormous wealth. But she has to find her way out of this. The garden was open and spacious, the breeze soft and calm, but something inside Dany was suffocating within this egregious wealth. There is no way she is going to be 'one of the wives' of this fabulously rich king. Her mind was left behind somewhere else, somewhere. Where is it? She did not dare to ask herself. 

"I see your point, honored God-Emperor." she replied at last. "I will help you." she looked at the King, who suddenly seemed elevated at the positive turn, Dany sighed, "not through a bond of marriage perhaps, but other ways that I can. My best friend caught greyscale once, and he found a cure. If Greyscale is curable, Grey Plague should be as well, as I heard these two form of illnesses are cousins." remembering Jorah made her take another breath. "And I will also help you to win over the rebels. Let your subjects and enemy together know that Daenerys Stormborn is an ally and a friend to the God-Emperor, and she agreed to help you. I have quiet a bad reputation destroying cities, and that should be enough menacing your opponents and strengthening your support among your subjects. We can also bind Yin and Meereen in a friendly bond together as sister cities." Dany looked at the king. "Will that be useful to you?" 

The King's eyes went down at first when Dany was refusing his offer, but slowly they turned bright as he listened to her counter-offers. He nodded. "Thank you!" 


She felt relieved, but then the king spread out his hand for hers, "Come with me." then he quickly said, "Do not worry, as an ally, as a friend." 


Dany smiled, and took his hand. 




From the garden they went into the courtyard, and from there to the back side of the dais, where the king uttered a passkey, and a door slid open on the wall. He nodded at her to get inside. 

"Is this where he rapes and murders me?" Dany thought, but she asked instead smiling - "Where are you taking me?" 

"To a place only few people know." The king smiled assuring her. "It is one of our treasury chambers. The deep one." 

The words sound familiar. Where did Dany hear something like that before? At Asshai? When the maze was chanting? And sacrificing Yara to feed that greasy thing that came out of that hole. They went down through a stair with perhaps a thousand steps if not more. At one point Dany lost count and lost hope. The murals along the wall beside the stairs portrayed grotesque creatures that had many faces and many eyes on their spiral branches like trees or roots or squids or octopuses, but she held her courage within. Eventually they reached a huge hall room, almost as large as the King's courtyard. 

And everywhere around the hall, in every direction that she looked at, were gold, and jewels, and ornaments of out-of-the-world design. The king did not however looked at her bewilderment or stopped for her reactions. He went straight to a corner of the hall taking her hand with him, and there opened a locker on the wall. 

"What I am going to show you now, has been only for eyes of my family and close people for many generations now. But I chose to share this secret with you because we value in words. And with your words, I now count you as a close ally and friend. So keep this between us." 

"I will." Dany said. 

The King brought out a box of gold ornate with all stones that Dany had seen or knew in her life, beginning from Pearl to Amethyst to Blood Stone and what not? From inside the box, he brought out an amulet of Ruby pieces carved on Dragonglass. 

"These amulets have been a part of tradition of us in generations. You know that some of our ancestors lived for hundreds and thousands of years?" 


"Yes, I have heard." 

"Many people believe those are myths. But those were not. As God-Emperors of Yi Ti, we have to know magic and sorcery of many forms. This was one of those. It was said in the family that our ancestors had to perform a ritual, wearing this amulet standing inside fire, touching the Ruby. This gave them their longevity. We, the later generations neither possess the courage nor the faith strong enough to withhold such tests. But since you are rumored to be the unburnt, perhaps you will be able to." 


"Isn't it something too precious to give away?" Dany was suspicious. "Why do you want to give it away, to someone you just have met today."

"It is. But within our family there is no use of it remaining as none of us dare to use it. You may be able to. I have met you in person today. But I have met you in flames of dragonglass candles many times. We God-Emperors do know some magic, like your Valyrian ancestors. And that is why people call us God-Emperor. That is one of the reasons I wanted to make you part of our family. Because this amulet of Ruby can do something extraordinary in which you may help." 

"And what is that?" Dany felt that her voice is trembling. 

"It can bring back a dead person to life." 

"Does it?" Dany asked him, but her mind was elsewhere. Jon also came back to life from death, she herself also came back to life from death. Is this how they do that? She remembered Viserys, Drogo, Ser Barristan, Ser Jorah, Missandei, Grey Worm. "How many people can it bring back? What if the person does not have a body anymore."

"There are many different forms of this magic." as if the Azure emperor could read her mind. "Some do it by praying to their God. Some do with blood sacrifice where only death can pay for life. Some with natural magical objects like Dragonglass or enchanted Ruby. But in all cases, a living or dead body will be needed. If the body of the person you wish  to stay alive or relive does not exist, then the body of another person who will host the mind will be needed. The more people you want to bring back, the more people you will need alive or dead. Are you sure you want to bring back many?" 

"I don't know. But who will the person be after I bring him or her back? The one who was before, or the one whose body it is?" 

"Both.  This amulet already have the Valyrian prayer engraved in it. Take him or her with you in the fire, touch with the Ruby, and utter the name of the person you want to bring back to life. He or she will come back, the mind merged with the person who you took with you in the fire. Both will live in one body." 

"That is horrible." 

"Yes, it is. But such horrible souls do exist. I have heard the boy who rules your sunset kingdoms is one that carries a raven's mind along with his own in his body. I don't know if that is true, but it is possible. Perhaps they can try to learn from history how a raven got to live in a human's body when it did for the first time." 

"Then his life is truly pathetic." 

"It is. But it was how our ancestors used to live long. And it is how we will have to live long. And you are the only person I know who can perform this magic standing inside fire, if what I heard about you is true." 

Dany moved her head in denial. 

"Please, please promise you will do this for me when the time comes. If not for me, then for my eldest son. Once you do it for him, the gem will be yours to use, forever." 

"Why your son?" Dany remembered the eldest son did not show up in the dinner.

The King felt silent, and his eyelids drooped. "Very few people know this." He said after a sigh. "And you are one of them now." He looked at Dany with desperation in the eyes. "He has caught the Grey Plague." 

They boarded from King's Landing to Storm's End for a couple of days now, but in a sloth's pace being overloaded. They had all ships from KL and all ships from Iron Islands, but even together that could not accommodate even a third of survivors. It was obvious that they will have to make two more trips. On the deck, a bard was singing a song, and everyone gathered around. Sansa did not hear a song for ages, she looked at Tyrion, and they went together to listen:


One moon a boar pierced the stag wide apart 

Two moons the wolf was begone

Three moons the dragon drank fire and gave birth 

Four moons the packs howl and run 

"Perhaps in fear, or perhaps it is true." 

"So she is living. Is the rumor true?" 

"Apparently yes." 

"How did she get to live?" 

"Perhaps the same way Jon did." 

"But if she lived, then what was the point of Jon's punishment?" 


Tyrion looked at her. "Your brother did punish the people who killed him. Didn't he?" 

"So are you taking side with her again?" 

"I am not" Tyrion shrugged. "I am just telling you the fact." 

"And do you know what happens if that fact is right? You will die, I will die, everyone of us dies. She will burn us alive." 

"Perhaps." 

"Perhaps? You don't know her nature after all this? And what have you done so far to prevent that?" 

"What do you suggest I should do?" 

"Send someone strong enough to kill her off before that happens." 

"Do you think I did not try that yet? I sent the best man I knew. And he failed. She is too powerful and popular in Essos." 

"Why is she? Do they not know her nature?" 

"Her ruthlessness is legendary, but only to highborn slave masters, she had always been freeing the slaves and executing the slave masters." 

"There must be some way. Have you tried poisoning her?" 

"What is the guarantee that she won't be resurrected again. Varys did poison her while he was alive. And it was discovered that her madness was the result of his poisoning." 

"What?" Sansa was shocked. 

Tyrion nodded sadly. "It's true. Now we took her down, made Jon kill her, all for a wrong and induced cause. And we made the strongest enemy possible that seven kingdoms could ever imagine." 

"Then we are doomed." Sansa looked at Tyrion with concerned eyes. 

"Indeed, we are. Our only options perhaps would be to surrender to her and plead for mercy if she attacks."  

"She would burn everyone." 

"The highborns at least. You, me, and all of us." 

"Who will rule Westeros then if all the highborns are gone?" 

"Commoners, perhaps." 

"Commoners" Sansa looked at Tyrion again. "You are out of your mind. How will be they able to rule without any experience of ruling?" 

"I don't know." Tyrion shrugged. "May be we will get to know. We are about to meet one without the experience soon anyway." 

Despite their very slow pace, the wind helped the way, and they reached Storm's End within the same fortnight. The fort looked clean and modest, just a bit bare, no extravagance or extra decorations. After the brief welcome, Maester Jurne brought them to the open courtyard amid the trees. There, Gendry was sitting in the stag chair waiting for them.

"To find princess Arya Stark?" Tyrion exchanged looks with Sansa. "How or where are you going to find her? And not sure when last time she was called a Princess." 

"I am also not sure what you call a lady whose Brother and Sister are both King and Queen of two Kingdoms." Gendry returned the skepticism. "The previous scrolls from her outline the route she took to the Isles of Dragon. And the last scroll outlines the way Ser Flint's ship took to find her captive near the new continent where she is now." 

Tyrion was impressed, but Sansa was still at shock. "And you are going to find her yourself? Why?" 

Gendry blushed, apparently he was not accustomed to lordly expressions that well yet, Sansa thought. "Well, we were fellows in Brotherhood Without Banners." he said. It is sweet though, she thought, and wished someone cared for her that way. But she didn't understand why she looked at Tyrion, who was oddly for the moment, wearing a smirk on his face. 

"Brotherhood without Banners. I believe that was the band of outlaws formed by Thoros of Myr. I heard you both were there. I would be interested to hear those stories some day." 

"Sure, my lord." Gendry smiled. "Not sure if they will sound like the best stories to you, but the group was formed by Lord Beric Donderrion on the instruction of Lord Eddard Stark, former hand and best friend of my father." 

The name of her father brought Sansa back to context, and she looked at Gendry with a newfound respect. "I would like to thank you, Lord Baratheon, for your concerns for my sister. Your well wishes for her are appreciated." 

"Thank you, your grace, it is my responsibility as a fellow of the brotherhood." 

"As a fellow of the Brotherhood? So you are like a brother to her?" Tyrion kept on his naughty sarcasm, but Sansa silenced him with her gaze, and gave a nod of approval to Gendry. "Please continue your mission, Lord Gendry. I wish you good fortune in your voyage. And you can use my men with you in your quest." 

"Thank you, your grace." Gendry nodded. "Please find some rest within my humble facilities of accommodation."

Arya woke up in a humble facility of accommodation. A round hut made of straw and burnt mud. She was lying on a bed of straw, on the floor, with little of no furniture around her. The hut was no larger than a small-sized tent, and Arya doubted if a tall guy can stand within without his head touching the ceiling. But the ceiling was round as well, like a cylinder or a bowl turned upside down, with the middle of it being the highest point. She tried to get up, and that is when she felt the immobility and fatigue, and the pain all around her body. She didn't know when she fell senseless. 

The next time she woke up she was no longer alone though. She could see Tala looking at her from one side, and an unknown girl with a square face but the eyes and ears of Tala, must be his kin, looking at her. Tala seemed relieved and gave her a broad grin with all his teeth exposed. 

"You slept for half a moon." he said.

"What?" Arya was shocked. Are her crew all dead by now then? She must hurry. She tried to get up again, but was gently was pushed back to bed by two strong hand with firm grips. She could feel the girl's strength from the ease with which she pushed back Arya into bed. Then the girl shook her head, a disapproving 'no'. 

"She is my sister, Chianna." Tala introduced her. "She took care of you day and night, and dragged you back from death. My brother, the one who walks with the wolves, found you near the river. He said you were hot like a hearth. Then my sister and him and me carried you back to our village. Here you are now, safe." 

"Thank you." Arya uttered in the best of Mahuay that she could, but her voice sounded like coarse like that of an aged man to even herself. The girl, Chianna, smiled slightly and nodded.

"It's the great frog in your throat. He will stay for a week or so." 

"I need to go to the Golden Town. My crew are prisoners there." 

"You can go nowhere, child." said a third voice now, entering the tent. Arya looked at the man, wearing a garland made of wolve's teeth. So is this his brother? 

"He who walks with the wolves." Tala answered her unspoken question. 

"Thank you for saving me." Arya tried her best of Mahuay. "Thank you both." she looked at Chianna, then to Tala, "thank you all. But I must go, now." She tried to get up. The girl did not resist her. But she did not need to. As soon as Arya got up the world started moving so violently, and she fell down on the bed. 



It took days before she could walk again. The village was small, ancient. The houses were small, antique looking. Tala acquainted her with everybody of their tribe. With his father, the head, and with her mother's soul, at a tree which looked very close to a heart tree but no face woven on it. Arya paid respect, standing silent with him, and remembered the Godswood of Winterfell where she unexpectedly killed the Night King. 

She still remember the horrible, long night. Everybody was expecting Jon's lead to kill the night king. Or the dragon fire from the queen to make the work. But at last it was she who got the kill. How? She still sometimes questions herself on that. "It's all the red lady's credit." she thought. And then, "perhaps not. If Bran did not give me the dagger, and Beric and Hound did not save me and Jon did not bring his Queen, and the Queen did not burn the wights in thousands, I would have been one of them now. The long night would never have ended." 

She felt sad that everybody except her family died. Beric, the Hound, the Queen, she felt strange that she was feeling sorry for the queen. "Why? She was not my family." she thought, and answered herself from within, "but so was not Beric and the Hound, and without them I could not live now." 

But Beric and the Hound knew her for long ago to support and care for her. The Queen did not, yet she heard the Queen cheered for her as the hero of Winterfell, that helped her take her decision when even after learning that the Queen is Jon's aunt Sansa was wry about her. She hoped to kill Cersei, she hoped that will help the Queen's victory, but she was wrong, the Queen decided to wipe them all root and stem in King's Landing. 

That reminded Arya of something else. The moment when she wiped out the Freys, you have to kill them all "root and stem. Leave one wolf alive, and the sheep is never safe." she said. Was she wrong? Or was the Queen wrong? Or both of them wrong? Or right? Arya felt lost in thought. 

And when she suddenly came back to her senses, she was lost in the woods too. It was dark and deep woods around the village, and now she has reached a point of it where she could not even see the sunlight although she was pretty sure it was noon time. Is it safe to shout here? "Tala!" Arya called out. "Tala!" 

"Mewao" a cat replied from beside the bush next to her. A brown cat, with yellowish stripes all over it's body, a cat with a bold and beautiful look, that took Arya quickly to her childhood again. She chased the cat. 

They ran and jumped around the bushes, on and on, and Arya forgot her fatigue. It was so great, so enticing to get back to her sweet childhood just for a moment, that Arya truly felt she was the little Arya again, not a faceless girl, not an assassin, not an explorer searching for new worlds. 

They jumped and ran around the trees, and soon Arya lost track of the cat, and that is when she found the tree. 

A large heart tree with a hole in it, and from the hole there went down a tunnel, deep down below. Has the cat vanished through it? 

"Don't go there." said somebody from beside her so suddenly that Arya almost instinctively got into a fight stance. But it was the brother, the one who walks with the wolves, what is his real name? Don't they ever call him by his real name? 


"Why? Where does it go?" 

"It goes to many places. It goes also to the place you want, inside the golden town. But if you go there yourself, it is more likely that you will lose your track, and it will take you deep down below." He looked at Arya. "To the deep one." 

It's a couple of days they left the boat and the underground river, walking and climbing slowly upwards. The tunnels got darker again, and narrower, some so skinny that Jon thought only Arya could fit in. Where is she now? What is she doing? Jon so much wished that these tunnels lead to some place West of Westeros, where he could pop out from a hole in a tree and find Arya standing in front. 

And suddenly something stood in front. 

In the darkness Jon could only see two candles glowing side-by-side, he remembered the candles he saw at his dreams at the Heart of Winter, and only could hear Petal's cry  'Run!" 

Run? Where is he supposed to run? There is not even space enough here even to move or crawl. Jon could only think for a moment when he saw that creature open it's mouth and the fire inside it, and then he jumped. The creature chased him and fell with him. 

Jon eventually fell on a soft, muddy, greasy, cold, black earth. It looked ancient. It felt smooth as if of the future. If he hadn't moved immediately, he might have been crushed, because the creature fell just after him. It was small as a dog, had a tail and scales like a dragon and no legs. Jon recognized from Petal's tales. It is a Wyrm. But there was not much time to think about the name, because the creature opened it's mouth, and breathed fire. 

Two things happened together. Jon dived at his left, and Petal fell on the Wyrm, probably breaking it's bones in a large thud. Then one small creature sat on another, and from it's back Petal kept on stabbing it repeatedly. The Wyrm tried to look back and breathe fire to it's backside, but it failed. So eventually it got itself laid in the mud and circling there trying to crush Petal with it's weight. Petal whistled like a bird in pain. 

Jon came forward, brought his Valyrian Sword out and cut the lizard in half. Fire burst out from it's inside and the whole tunnel got lit. Jon looked at Petal, smiling, but she was not. 

Jon looked back to see what Petal saw, and he froze too. 

At first, it looked like a trunk, then roots, many roots, many branches, then it looked like many trees. Parts of it were curling up, and the other parts of it were unwinding at the same time. Then it looked like some tentacles, with eyes all over it. Eyes staring back at Jon. Cold, calm eyes. From that eyes it seemed to him everybody is staring at him. It was Bran's cold stare, Dany's warm passionate look, Arya's strange new stair that he could not recognize for a moment at the Godswood, the red lady's burning stare - all in it. He stared at the eyes, hypnotized, frozen, until Petal caught his hand and pulled. "Come! Run! It's a deep one!" 

The 'thing' that Petal called a deep one was swallowing the Wyrm's body, slowly in its cold grasp, binding it like a tree's root, or like a snake, or a squid, or an octopus. Jon ran with Petal as fast as he could through the cave, and it glowed like the cave full of dragonglass like the one in Dragonstone where he first held Dany by her hand, or like the one in his dream at Heart of Winter when he ran from Ygritte. They ran and jumped, jumped and ran, through the dark cobwebs of caves and tunnels under the earth. 


(End of episode 6)