A Shadow and a Wolf

Trystane IV

"The repairs on the walls are complete. We managed to pay all the workers, something we wouldn't have been able to do a few months ago, and now the construction of the new dromonds is begun. It will take time to build them. The first will be ready in two months, at best."

"I know," Trystane replied to Branfield.

They would never be able to entirely replace the fleet of Meereen, but it would be better to have a few ships than to have none at all, and they needed to go back to Westeros as soon as the Queen would come back. News had arrived from the Seven Kingdoms recently and they weren't good. Ser Kevan Lannister, the Hand of the King, and the Grand Maester Pycelle had been found assassinated inside the Red Keep. The Crown had accused Dorne of the murders. Trystane found it unlikely that his father was behind this. He wanted to delay the war, not precipitate it. However, he had no difficulty to believe that Nymeria was behind this and that she acted of her own will, against his father's orders. He knew she and Tyene were in the capital. He hoped they got killed there. He also hoped Obara died at Oldtown, though she had lesser chance to be found there. As for Sarella... She had no part in the murder. She didn't deserve to die. Trystane hoped she was well.

"Any murder these last days?" he asked.

"None that were the doing of the Sons of the Harpy," replied Branfield with a smile.

"Why are you so happy?" Trystane asked him. Malcolm was more cheerful than usual recently. He hadn't looked that happy when Meereen started to recover and to come back to life.

"Nothing. Only, I got news yesterday, from Oldtown. I have a niece. She was in the south when the war started. She wasn't at Ironrath when it was destroyed. I just learnt she got married." His face saddened a little. "I wish I had been there to assist the ceremony. She's my last niece, and I'm all the family she's got now."

"I'm sorry."

"It's been years since I last saw her. She was still a child when she left Ironrath. She must be a woman now. I wonder how she looks like. She was quite pretty the last time I saw her. She must have grown quite beautiful."

"I'm sure the queen will let you see her when we go back to Westeros."

"Let's hope then she will come back soon. We have no news from Ser Jorah and Daario Naharis."

"She will come back. She must come back."

She really had to. If Daenerys Targaryen didn't come back immediately, House Martell was doomed. His father told him before he left that they didn't have the means to fight the Lannisters and the Tyrells at the same time. They needed Daenerys and her dragons, and her Unsullied, and her mercenaries. They needed everything she could bring them.

"Let's have a drink," declared Malcolm Branfield. "Meereen was about to devour itself not long ago. Now it's like a man reborn. It deserves a toast, and my niece's wedding as well, even if it's months late."

They drank to Meereen and his niece. They were in Trystane's apartments. The pact with the masters of Astapor, Yunkai and Volantis had proved to be a good thing finally. The Sons of the Harpy had stopped killing, and former slaves had stopped killing former masters. Trade had resumed, people were gathering in the streets and the markets. The people were behind Daenerys Targaryen again. It seemed things had worked out well. Trystane drank, though he didn't taste the wine very much. His family was still in danger and they had no word from the queen. Then again, he missed Myrcella. He managed to rule a city without her, but he missed her all the same. A dragon queen wouldn't replace her.

"I do hope me too that the queen will return soon," said Malcolm. "I don't want to linger here longer than necessary and I always feel out of place when I walk in the streets, especially with all these priests preaching everywhere that our queen is the Lord's Chosen One, Azor Ahai reborn and a thousand other things. She already has more than enough titles. There's no need to add more," he said with a nervous chuckle.