7

Chapter 7: Nearby is the DragonNotes:

I realized that I needed to split this into two chapters in order to properly set up in this one what I will unfold in the next one.

Dany takes KL next, and then she arranges a Great Council and Jon shows up with the wight.

Enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

7.

Nearby is the Dragon.

304 ac.

King's landing.

"Take the city. It's now or never," said Yara Greyjoy vehemently.

With Euron Greyjoy's fleet decimated and him gone, and with the Lannister army ambushed at Highgarden, Cersei had been severely cut off from any defenses and resources, cloistered within Red Keep and the walls of King's Landing. It was no less to be expected that her enthusiastic ally believed this was the best time to attack.

"You know she will not hesitate," Tyrion argued in opposition.

"Neither would I," Daenerys cut in, looking at him sharply, "...In her place," she added.

"I know you wouldn't," Tyrion answered, cutting her a pleading look, "But I also know you wouldn't risk the lives of thousands of innocents for the sake of the Throne. Cersei would."

"Cersei is now barely protected by a small guard and the white cloaks. The rest of her army perished in Highgarden. She has never been this vulnerable. The time is now!" Ellaria Sand interjected. 

"And it's exactly why we should keep waiting. It won't be long before the hordes rush into Red Keep and force Cersei into absolute surrender," Tyrion said. "Look, if only Your Grace could let me talk sense to her—"

"No," Daenerys said flatly. All the times she recalled Tyrion had dealt with Cersei it had all been in vain. Cersei wasn't going to give up the Throne unless she felt utter defeated, and even in this hypothetical scenario, Daenerys wasn't sure what her true motivation would be for doing so. "It's not just the fact that there's no reason to speak into your sister, but also that you don't have the coercion required to bend your sister's will, sorry to inform you."

The shoulders of her Hand dropped.

"You haven't let me even try," he replied with downcast eyes.

Oh, but she had, and too many times.

But that he would not know.

Daenerys looked down and took a deep breath. Right now they were meeting in a tent in the camp they settled outside the walls of King's Landing. The Dornish army and the Ironborn were currently sieging the city. 

"You thought we should take Casterly Rock, and believed I was imprudent for suggesting that we take the Dothraki and Unsullied to Highgarden instead," she reminded him.

"It wasn't exactly that…"

"But you believed I was being unreasonable, and once again your choice was the wrong one and mine was the right course. Your brother led his army and that of Randyll Tarly to Lady Olenna's home, which they intended to sack and loot."

"I admit it was my mistake not to anticipate Jaime's moves."

Daenerys eyes searched for Lord Varys. 

"Lord Varys, would you share with the rest of the council what example of the same case we have in recent years?"

"Example of what, Your Grace?"

"Of a lesser lord rising in arms against their lieges."

The bald men hesitated and watched her apprehensively.

"House Bolton of the North," he answered after a moment. 

"And what happened to the Boltons?" Daenerys insisted. 

"The word is Roose Bolton died poisoned..."

"And Ramsey? How did he die?"

Varys glanced at Tyrion.

"He was executed by Sansa Stark. Fed to his own dogs," he quickly replied. 

Daenerys also turned to see Tyrion's expression fall. She also was very conscious now of the soft spot he'd always have for her. 

"Your former wife seems rather to indulge a ruthless streak," Daenerys mocked. She paused and expected him to defend Sansa but he didn't. So she pursued, "According to the Westerosi law, Randyll Tarly deserves execution. According to my interests, he and his son should already be a pile of ashes and charred bones just for daring to oppose me."

"Your Grace..." Varys started.

"But a friend of mine once told me, sometimes mercy is the answer to injustice. And I decided to deliberate over this matter as I fly to Highgarden, and dictate my sentence when we are there."

"We?" Tyrion asked her.

Daenerys stood up.

"Lord Varys and Lord Tyrion, ready yourselves to march to Highgarden," she commanded them, without further explanation. 

"What about King's Landing? What about Cersei?" Yara asked, bewildered. 

"I appreciate your efforts and your trust Captain Greyjoy and Lady Ellaria but if you believe my mercy is a weakness then you better side with Cersei," Daenerys declared very firmly. "Our mercy is our strength. And I'm going to show Cersei exactly that. And when the city is secured, the citizens of King's Landing will be able to rest in peace knowing that a just queen now watches over them. Until my return, you must hold the siege."

***

Highgarden

Daenerys and Drogon landed on a hill far off from the castle that afforded them a better view of Highgarden and the surrounding area. She saw expanses of fertile green land that reminded her of other landscapes further east. The famous maze that veiled the bedrock of the hill could be seen from there and even the small spots of people wandering through it. 

As she purposely delayed her arrival, Daenerys mulled over whether or not to execute Randyll Tarly and his son. The matter was, needless to say, unpleasant and tricky, being this act of delivering justice the first stone with which she eventually collided. Daenerys still clearly recalled Samwell Tarly's pale and dismayed face when he learned from her of the fates of her father and brother.

"Was it so necessary for you to do it?" was what Jon said on the matter, before he had withdrawn the word to her until the night he told her the truth of his birth.

"It was justice," Dany defended herself. "What did you do with those who did the same to your family?"

Jon looked at her in conflict then before walking away. Dany thought that his estrangement had to do with that argument and not with what he would later reveal to her.

Now she knew that Jon had been judging her just as he did at the beginning when they first met, in the same way the world judged her when they didn't know her.

Because in his eyes she was no longer Dany but Daenerys Targaryen, and perhaps pointing out that he would do the same was the way he understood they were the same in some extent. 

And he didn't like that.

A thorn of resentment dug into her chest. Daenerys swallowed hard and looked away, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath that she let go slowly. There was nothing she could do about that now. She couldn't make people's feelings change, but she could make them see how wrong they were when passing their harsh judgments on her, changing circumstances, or mitigating their consequences.

In any case, everything had to end soon.

***

To say that Lady Olenna was happy was an understatement. The old lady was buoyant. She seemed to have regained the life and joy that the death of her loved ones had taken from her. Daenerys believed she knew why, and that reason had nothing to do with the recent fall of the Lannister army.

"Honestly, darling, I didn't think you were daring enough to anticipate such a move. It was wonderful to see Jaime Lannister's face contorted as those savages of yours ate his entire army in one bite," she said, jubilant and relaxed, sitting opposite to Daenerys, while eagerly drinking wine from her chalice. Dany had politely declined the offer. "And that idiot Tarly...did he really think some of the Great House of The Reach would've lined up with him after what the Lannisters did to my poor Margaery? Imbecile."

It was not far from the truth. One of the reasons why Westeros would not find peace after Bran's coronation would be the inability to exercise any authority of the Lord Paramount appointed by Tyrion. 

The houses of the south would rise up against him and the Crown, that Bran said to her.

Daenerys felt a headache suddenly overwhelming her.

"Are you okay, darling?" she heard Lady Olenna ask.

"Yeah yeah, it's just the strain," Dany replied, blinking and dismissing it. "They told me your nephew came in last night," she changed the subject.

***

Daenerys found Lord Desmond Redwyne in the outer courtyard before where the the cells where the prisoners of war were being held. His appearance was that of a neat, overly groomed man, unlike the more austere men she had met further north in Westeros. His reddish hair and his almond-shaped eyes gave him an almost feminine and delicate appearance, only tempered by the well-trimmed reddish-brown beard that covered his jaw and sides of his face.

When she moved closer to him, his eyes scrutinized her up and down, making her feel oddly uncomfortable.

"They said that the Dragon Queen was beautiful but they didn't say that beauty was so captivating," he said, and she held back a fit of mocking laughter. 

"Thank you very much for the compliment, my Lord. It is certainly the best welcome I have received so far," she answered shortly and monotonous. 

"It is the least I can do after you have saved the lives of my Great-Aunt and the people I esteem here in Highgarden. Please know, your Grace, that the position of House Redwyne remains the same as it was in the days of your Father Aerys reign, and I hope you can forgive us for the stand we took when circumstances forced us to align ourselves with interests that were not yours."

"Well, that is a speech." She looked past him. "How are my prisoners faring? I am not used to taking them."

Lord Desmond escorted her into the narrow corridor where they found more soldiers and some Bloodriders. Tyrion and Lord Varys were already there when Daenerys arrived.

"I guess this is where they have Jaime Lannister," Dany said, not surprised.

"Your Grace," Tyrion said walking towards her hurriedly, bowing slightly and looking at her with worried eyes. "Perhaps we should go upstairs to calmly deliberate the fate of the defeated."

"I've already end my deliberation," Daenerys said, crossing her arms in front of her and staring at Tyrion with cold poise. "Lord Tarly and his son have committed a transgression that cannot be lightly excused, but as I know that in war circumstances sometimes force us to align ourselves with interests not akin to ours," Lord Desmond shifted next to her, with what she believed to be enthusiastic pride, "I will lay two options before them: bend the knee or take the black."

"What if they are not willing to take any of those options?" Lord Varys asked.

Daenerys turned to see Lord Desmond.

"So what would be the decision that a man like you would make in my place?"

Lady Olenna's nephew blinked in surprise, taken by surprise. His answer however, came without hesitation.

"Immediate execution, Your Grace."

The years had taught Daenerys that confrontation was the only way to expose a man's true intentions.

She turned her gaze from her to Tyrion and Varys.

"All prisoners will be offered the same," she said, "All but your brother."

***

Before Tyrion began to protest, Daenerys ordered him to go in and see to it that his brother would agree to an audience with her. Tyrion obeyed, almost trotting his way to the cell. Then, Dany commanded Lord Varys to establish a network in Highgarden, a task that he enthusiastically accepted.

She watched him go, always suspicious of whether his poison was or not about to burst.

"I will speak on her favor, if Her Grace will allow me," Lord Desmond told her, still standing beside her.

Daenerys sighed and continued through the corridor until she found Jaime Lannister's cell. She dismissed Lord Redwyne there.

"Nearby is the dragon when the sheep grazes," was what Jaime Lannister said, in what was the second time she met him for the first time.

Scruffy, smelly, and with his chained wrists propped up on his lap, he sat on a bench looking at her with a half smile.

"And the lion, aged and defeated, is the carrion of the crows," Daenerys replied, unmoved and looking at him without a hint of apprehension. "My brother Viserys used to tell me a story to sleep, about the things we shall do to the man who, breaking his sacred oath, drove his sword into our father's back."

Jaime nodded first looking at her and then at Tyrion, shrugging.

"I see that she is in very good mood, and that she is totally in a stance of peaceful negotiation."

"I didn't come to negotiate," Dany said before Tyrion could intervene further. "I came to speak to my father's murderer head-on, at least once before sending him to his certain death."

"Your Grace, please—" Tyrion squealed.

"I'm going to send you back to Cersei," Dany announced, shutting Tyrion up and causing Jaime to lean forward in his seat, surprised. "I am going to send you back to your sister and lover, where I am sure that you will meet your end. Because I know that this is your inescapable fate. You came into this world with her and you will leave it in the same way. I do not care. I am the less inclined to judge you. Of you, Jaime Lannister, I only want to know one thing."

Jaime swallowed hard.

"What thing?" the kingslayer asked.

"My father," she replied, her voice cracking in vulnerability. "Did he rape my mother?"

Nothing would make her father any better in her eyes. Not. It was about herself. 

Dany needed that matter solved for herself.

"Yes," Jaime replied. "Every night after burning someone with his precious wildfire. And her screams of pain and pleading could be heard throughout the Red Keep." His eyes narrowed at the memory haunting him. "I know because I heard them. I was forced to listened to them without being able to do anything for her. And as much as I protested, it was not my duty to defend her, not from him. There was no way to protect her from him."

Daenerys nodded. She did not let the Lannister brothers see through her, as another part of her soul fell to pieces on the floor.

"Alright. Thank you for your sincere answer," she said, turning on her heels and marching out with tears streaming freely down her cheeks. 

Notes:

This will not be Jaime's last conversation with Daenerys. I feel like there are things Jaime knows that Jon and Dany NEED to hear. Also it works to draw a nice parallel to their relationship.

Of course, Lord Redwyne is an OC.