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[dragonwarder]

@daenerys.targaryen | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[northerndragon]

I am no threat to you, Daenerys.

They seemed curious. I don't know why they'd be curious about me.

[dragonwarder]

[He is robbed of her amused smile when he makes those proclamations as a result of them speaking through the implant. She very nearly agrees with him — he couldn’t possibly be a threat to her, if it weren’t for so many other things about him that very CLEARLY made him a threat to her.

And of course, the answer about the dragons’ curiosity...well, they were her dreams, after all.]

Perhaps you smelled of sheep.

[northerndragon]

I wasn't dreaming of sheep. In your dream, did you find me sleeping in a paddock before I was in your castle with you?

[dragonwarder]

Hm. I cannot recall.
As a matter of fact, as I recall, you seemed to have invited yourself into my castle.

[northerndragon]

No, I found myself there. As it might have been if I had finished my journey to meet you.

[dragonwarder]

Then I suppose that is what happened.
Though — I would perhaps not count on such a warm welcome from Drogon, should you attempt such on our return to Westeros.

[northerndragon]

I hope I'm not fool enough to give my sword hand to a dragon, whether I'm awake or asleep.

But so long as he doesn't tear me into pieces, it's your welcome that concerns me.

Something to worry about another day. We can't know everything that will come.

[dragonwarder]

My welcome?

[She tries to consider what he means, and if it had felt out of the ordinary, but nothing comes to her. If anything, her welcome to him may have been kinder than it would be the day he finally arrived on her shores.

Especially if he continued to decline to bend the knee.]

It is like you have said: I require allies.
I believe we desire the same things for a just Westeros.
And if you continue to give me no reason to doubt that, you need not worry how you will be received.

[northerndragon]

[He is going to continue to decline to bend the knee. An alliance suits them both well, but past that... her differences with Rey just now, how unnecessary it seems they might be... Daenerys hasn’t done anything wrong, anything cruel, but it reminds him of his sisters when they were girls, of how they were always fighting over the smallest, stupidest things.

He does not think Sansa would do the same now. Arya... the thought of her dismays him. She wouldn’t be a child anymore if she lived, but she is lost, and she will never be a woman grown.]

Then I’m pleased that you won’t be burning me alive or taking my head.

Is that really what the table looks like, Aegon’s table? Some of the lands beyond the Wall were on it. Makes me wonder if he once meant to be king of the Free Folk, too.

[dragonwarder]

[Well Jon, she didn’t say that.

But the way he says it — some of her feels troubled by it. Is he joking? Is that what he thinks of her? Or is this some narrative Cersei has spread?

It should not bother her, really. She wants Cersei to think these things of her, and to fear her. But not Jon. Not everyone else. She is coming to save them — and Jon, for all of his faults, paints no picture that would suggest he has anything to fear from her.

She shouldn’t ask — it will make her seem foolish. But it suddenly really bothers her.]

Is that what they think of me, in the North?
That I am coming to burn you all?

CW: Game of Thrones (passing mention of rape)

[northerndragon]

No. But my sister feared for me when I left. Stark men don’t do well in the South.

[Does he need to explain that? Her father had killed his grandfather and uncle... for that matter, her brother had stolen and raped his aunt. His own father had been killed in King’s Landing by the Lannisters, and Robb had been killed in the Riverlands.]

I’m not a Stark, but I know I’m taking a risk by coming to you. It’s a necessary risk, but it isn’t mainly a risk because you’re the Dragon Queen. It’s always a risk for one ruler to put himself at another’s mercy.

[dragonwarder]

[Some of these stories, she only knows by vague mentions from her advisors. They hadn’t really meant anything to her, having never met a Stark or anyone connected to them besides Jorah. Some of the stories, she does not know at all.

He is softening it for her, she thinks, to avoid discouraging her prospects for an alliance with them.]

I am not my father, nor my brothers.
I do not come to murder.
I come to liberate you all from a tyrant.

I hope you understand that, and that you will help your people understand that when the time comes.

[northerndragon]

I know. I do understand it. We all want Cersei gone.

The Northern lords didn't like their king leaving so soon after they raised him. As our closest ally, the Vale didn't like it either. We need to prepare for the worst of winter, that's true enough, but I cannot do it there. I'm useless sitting at Winterfell when all the dragonglass is on Dragonstone.

[dragonwarder]

[There he goes again, with talk of Dragonglass. And still, she has a hard time consoling him, when he will not commit to her cause outright.

Does there exist a man more frustrating than Jon Snow?]

If you understand it, then you have no need to be concerned of burning.
The Lannister armies are the only ones in danger of such tragedy.
Though it is my hope that setting eyes upon my children will perhaps cause them to reconsider their allegiances, if their morals do not do it for them.

But I am not optimistic in that regard.

[northerndragon]

[Back when Aegon and his sisters were conquering Westeros, only Torrhen Stark had been smart enough to bend the knee. Many of the other kings had died, and some had taken their lines with them. Maybe they had never seen what a dragon can do, before the Field of Fire. Maybe they hadn’t understood. Before walking into Daenerys’s dream, Jon’s own understanding of dragons had been a distant thing, with no real grasp of their size or their heat. Having seen a mammoth didn’t come close to preparing him for it.

He isn’t sure what else to say to Daenerys. The Lannister armies will suffer for their lords’ folly — the way it always is.]

I hope they throw down their swords. They are smallfolk. They don’t have to give their lives for Cersei.

Daenerys, what are you doing right now? Come down to Red Wings, if it suits you. I’ll give you a cup of wine if you want it.

[dragonwarder]

[The next message is delayed. She shouldn’t be attempting to entertain company right now. She is stressed, and upset — those two emotions don’t mix well in a Targaryen.

But he says the magic word. And while it is only a slight encouragement, it turns out that is all she really needs.]

Nothing of import.
I will meet you within the hour.

[northerndragon]

[When she arrives, she’ll find him behind the bar. It’s not very crowded; more experienced bartenders will show up when the crowds do. Jon’s black sleeves are rolled to nearly the elbow, exposing lean, tightly-muscled forearms.

This work is honest work, but it’s a dreary task. It makes him feel like a boy again. Not youthful, only immature and powerless.

He raises his hand in a little gesture of greeting: a wiggle of his fingers, nearly a wave, and then tilts his head to indicate a seat at the bar in front of him.]

It doesn’t taste like the wine I know. But it will serve.

[He has yet to pour any.]

[dragonwarder]

[Daenerys is, for once, modestly dressed -- or as modest as the Mother of Dragons could possibly be. She wears a pair of plain black slacks, with a buttoned up black blouse to match. A red scarf is tied around her neck, fashioned with a dragon broach.

There was obviously some attempt to disguise the fact that she had not been sleeping well.]

Indeed.

[But it does its designated job, at least. Kylo Ren had been kind enough to keep a modest stock in the apartment for her, just to keep her mind off of other things.]

It is an acquired taste, like most everything in this city.

[northerndragon]

[Women in this world wear breeches, if they wish it. It’s a little strange to him, but he approves. Why shouldn’t they? Anything that might befall a man might befall a woman.]

The colors of your house.

[He looks more like a man of the Night’s Watch today than anyone with any allegiance to House Stark. Clothing here isn’t cheap, but it is probably cheaper than anything he’s ever worn at home, and possible to find secondhand, though locating a few shops had taken him a while.]

So we have one that is only a little like summerwine, and another that is only a little like a Dornish red.

[He is apologetic about this. But which does she want?]

[dragonwarder]

[She smiles for him, bemused at his attempts to normalize the taste of this world's drink. She'd learned through a sampling that it wasn't really what it was meant for, here -- of course, it was not as if it was impossible to achieve inebriation in Westeros, only...expensive.

Granted, it was expensive here as well. But that did not matter to her. In that vein, she decides to lighten the air some:]

Whatever there is more of.

[A jest, of course. But it is a sign of respect, allowing Jon to make the decision for her, which was a liberty she did not allow many people anymore.]

[northerndragon]

[When she had prepared a meal for him, it had been light, on the sweet side, not spicy or sour. He settles on a pale wine, the one more like summerwine. And, in its way, more like the Northern mead he’s used to.

He pours it out and sets it in front of her.]

At least I know what wine is. I have more trouble when there’s a lot of custom in the place. I’d never heard of half the things these people want to drink.

I was angry, when I was a boy. When I was given my place in the Watch and they made me a steward — sweeping floors and pouring wine. I’d wanted to be a ranger, fighting to protect the Kingdoms. But if had not been a steward for a year or two, I wouldn’t know what to do in this city. It would be harder to find work as a guard than it was to find work here.

[All of this, he tells her to explain his work: why it is easy and why it is not. The last reason why it is not, because he has grown used to having command, goes without saying.]

[dragonwarder]

[She nods along after he's passed her the wine, polite enough not to take a sip until he is well into his explanation.]

Indeed. Not very much work for a queen, here.

[And she wasn't about to be someone's trophy wife, which was the only other job she'd ever held. If one could call it that.

Kylo Ren's arrival back to New Amsterdam had been timely. Another month of absence of her roommate, and she'd have been homeless for certain. But she does not offer that, either.

Instead, she lifts the glass she'd drank from to inspect it, offering him a pleased smile.]

Good guess.

[northerndragon]

[He nods at the praise, smiles slightly, looks down, looks back up.

He has never been truly good at making conversation.]

We know how to lead, but we don’t have the chance. And we wouldn’t know what we need to know to do it. I knew — I know — all my men as much as I can. The ones I don’t know, I try to learn about. But here, I hardly know the next street.

If you could choose any work here, what would it be? Not the simple things they set us to.

[Anything.]

[dragonwarder]

[Her smile fades some, at his question. She shouldn't be so frigid, she knows. It is part of the reason she is in her current situation, after all. Stubborn, but not entirely blind -- given enough space from the problem.]

I want for very little in life. I was happy where I was -- with what I was doing. It was important work, something I was uniquely qualified for. It is hard to imagine anything might recapture it.

[Yikes, Dany.]

I suppose ... there is something of interest. A curiosity, of a sort.

[She leans in just enough to make it clear that she does not want this information spread too far.]

Do you perhaps recall some of the animals that wander about here?

[northerndragon]

[Nothing can recapture what either of them was doing before being unceremoniously deposited in this city glowing like the eyes of the dead, but losing his position, not being the leader of anything, makes it harder to aid people. He is not sure that much he’s done here since he’s arrived has really helped anyone, apart from a few other new arrivals.

The way her smile recedes makes him regret his words a little — of course nothing is the same as taking cities, ruling them, having three dragons and a strong claim to the Iron Throne — but he listens to her, answers her question.]

The strange ones, with golden eyes?

[He remembers the disquieting feeling that they were watching him.]