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 very convincing, as were his fellow envoys, and slowly, surely, despite the doubt of her advisors and open disbelief of her husband, he saw that Daenerys' doubt was starting 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 by the rather pale look of her face, and the fact that Ren saw her taking 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. There was Rhaegal too, the green one, and supposedly a third named Viserion but they had yet to see the white dragon at all, or its mysterious rider. Daenerys still hadn't revealed who that was, which was rather concerning. Or perhaps it meant the beast had died and they were just covering it up. They could only hope.

Ren did not quite know what to make of the young woman just yet. The flashes of anger and 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; not quite coldly, there was too much indignation and emotion in her tone. "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 rather 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 seemed reasonable and willing to listen at least, and the flashes of naivety and kind-heartedness balanced out the flashes of fiery anger and impulsivity. It was curious, how she reacted to her own anger too. Like she was almost... ashamed, quickly correcting herself. Something must have happened to make her afraid of herself, or perhaps someone had just 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, and did not share her temperament. It had been good that the first conversation they had in the throne room had unsettled him so much, for it knocked aside the polished, kingly exterior and revealed the rather 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 meant 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, true, and the desire to be good, and the skills of a conqueror and inspiring leader if not a ruler. From first impressions alone, she would not be a terrible queen.

But Joffrey had been mad and cruel, when 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.