The Wars to Come - J.S.

11 - FALLEN

— meereen —

The days following Jorah Mormont's banishment are hard for all who knew him, but especially for Aurora. She spends a few days locked away in her room, Daenerys has people bring food to her door, but the trays stay in the hall, untouched until someone comes back to deliver the next meal.

Her friends all attempt to knock on her door and talk to her but she doesn't answer. 

When she finally does come out, she heads straight for Daenerys' quarters and when the Queen permits her entrance, they sit down at the table together. 

"I wanted to apologize, my Queen. I have been trying to..." she pauses, looking for the correct words, "Figure out my feelings, I suppose."

Daenerys gestures for her to go on, to explain what has been on her mind, a sympathetic smile rests on the Queen's face as she listens to her friend.

"I was thinking about my father a lot, and I tried to write him a letter but I wasn't sure what to say. And then I was thinking about Jon, I did manage to write a letter for him, I took it down to the ships today and found someone headed for Westeros to take it there for me." Aurora is hesitant to speak about Jorah to her Queen right now, given that she doesn't know if Daenerys is still as upset as she was a few days prior. But truly she's been thinking about Jorah a lot. Which led her to thinking about her father, Jorah was a source of comfort for her here where she was without her father for the first time. He was family, and he reminded her of her father, so to have that taken away was shocking. 

"I'm glad you finally wrote to your lover." Daenerys says in a joking tone, an attempt to lighten the mood. But then her face returns to the same sad smile, "Aurora, I'm sorry." 

"Why would you apologize? He's the one that did something wrong. And besides, I believe things happen for a reason, maybe Jorah needed to be sent away to find or do something."

"Your hopefulness never ceases to amaze me." the silver haired woman replies with a small laugh. Aurora smiles as Daenerys reaches out to take her hand. "Thank you for supporting me, my friend." 

—

The girls are still sitting at the table together and talking when the rest of the advisers come for a council meeting. They are surprised to see Aurora and she receives a hug from Missandei who expresses how worried she was. 

The meeting begins with Ser Barristan announcing some grave news. An Unsullied has been killed, by the Sons of the Harpy. 

He places the mask on the table in front of them, "They left it on the body." 

"They've never killed before." Daenerys observes.

"It was only a matter of time, Your Grace." Ser Barristan answers. "Conquerors always meet with resistance."

"I didn't conquer them, their own people did."

Mossador, a former slave who has recently joined Daenerys' council, chimes in saying that they don't see the slaves as people.

Daenerys answers that they will have to learn to see things differently. She announces that Mossador did not fight for his freedom to have cowards in masks take it away, and she did not take up residence in the pyramid to watch the city decline into chaos below her.