The Long Winter | Jaime Lannister X Stark OC | GOT/ASOIAF

By The Shadow

The Targaryen girl hadn't believed them at first. Who would? But Ren was convincing, as were his fellow envoys, and slowly, surely, despite the doubt of her advisors and open disbelief of her husband, Daenerys' doubt began to wane, and her horror starting to grow.

She didn't say much after, merely left with a promise that she would think on what they had said. Judging from the pale look of her face, and the fact that she took off on the big black dragon shortly after, she believed them but needed time to think on what to do. Drogon, that great beast was called. The green one was Rhaegal, and there was supposedly a third named Viserion, but they had yet to see the white dragon at all. Daenerys still had not revealed the identity of its mysterious rider, which was concerning.

Or perhaps the beast had died and they were just covering it up. If only.

Ren did not quite know what to make of the young woman yet. The flashes of fire in her were plain to see - she had not conquered Slaver's Bay by being a doormat - and could perhaps be taken as signs of a latent madness that would manifest later on, yet he also remembered the look on her face when Tyrion carefully posed the subject of Tommen, Shireen and Myrcella. Daenerys had been nothing short of horrified when he told her that if she was unprepared to spare them then it would make things much harder than they had to be.

"My reign will not be built on the blood of children," She had declared strongly, indignant, even. "I am not the Usurper, nor Tywin Lannister,"

She had also promised not to seize any lands or titles from those who had fought against her father, though remained tight-lipped on the subject of Lord Tywin and Jaime, both of whom were personally responsible for the deaths of members of her family. None of them had pushed that matter, for now at least.

All things considered, however, meeting with Daenerys Targaryen had gone considerably better than anyone had expected. Though young, she was reasonable, and willing to listen. The hints of kind-hearted naivety balanced out the flashes of fiery anger and impulsivity. It was curious, how she reacted to her own anger. As though she was almost... ashamed, quickly correcting herself. Something must have happened to make her afraid of herself, or perhaps someone had told her the truth of her family's madness

The same could not be said for her husband. It was clear that Aegon disagreed with many of the Queen's decisions. It was good that the first meeting in the throne room had unsettled him so much, for it knocked aside the polished, kingly exterior and revealed the arrogant, hot-tempered boy underneath for all to see. Aegon wanted revenge for the family he thought was his; he wanted war, wanted the Starks and Baratheons to pay. And when he realised that Daenerys was the true power here, in the eyes of the envoys at least, that had enraged him.

But he seemed to matter little and less now. Aegon rode no dragon, and of the army the Targaryens had brought west, only commanded the Golden Company and several other sellsword groups for himself. The only trouble he could truly cause was irritating his wife, and the state of Daenerys' marriage bed was not something that mattered overmuch to anyone.

Everyone was supposed to be getting ready for dinner now - which would surely be a tense and joyless event - but Ren watched Drogon in the sky for a moment longer. The girl did have the bearing of a queen, the desire to be good, and the skills of a conqueror and inspiring leader if not quite a ruler. But Joffrey had been mad and cruel, when only his parents were siblings; Daenerys had one set of great-grandparents. The signs might be passed off as mere anger now, but in ten, twenty years they could have another mad Aerys on their hands.

The call of the dragon, far out to sea now, with the tiny figure on its back reached his ears. And that was the crux of the problem. Aerys was a madman, but had been fairly quickly removed once he overstepped the mar. His daughter, on the other hand, had three huge fire-breathing beasts at her command. The consequences of handing over power to her were considerable.