The Death of Duty

Chapter 4

BRIENNE

She had been on and off bed ridden for a fortnight, constantly nauseated and unable to do her job as Kingsguard. But still being the stubborn warrior that she was she refused to see the Maester, electing to believe it would be gone soon enough.

One of these days, however, she was so weak she was unable to get up from her bed to protest. Samwell did multiple tests and once he came to his conclusion he looked towards Brienne warily. "Um Ser Brienne."

"What is it, Samwell," she spat.

"When was the last time you um, had your moonblood?" Sam asked.

"What?" she said as she raised her head from the bed to look at him.

"I'm sorry but I am afraid that you are pregnant," Sam mumbled. "Could you tell me who the father might be so I may fetch him."

Brienne looked into the open space dumbfounded. The last and only man she laid with was Jaime, Jaime Lannister. She carried Jaime's child inside her, this child would grow up without a father. She didn't know anything about raising a child, and she was Kingsguard. The Kingsguard cannot have children. What was she supposed to do now that she everything had seemingly came crashing down around her.

JON

"So, what do you think?" Jon asked as he sat in his hut, his makeshift fire lighting the face of his friend after telling him about the letter he'd received.

"Are you sure he's right, that she's alive?" Tormund asked. He'd seen his friend raised from the dead but it didn't mean everyone needed to be brought back.

"If anyone would know it would be Bran," he said as he read over the letter one final time. As soon as he saw the letter he pocketed it immediately, not wanting Sansa to see it. Part of him was able to forgive or even look past Sansa's betrayal, she was really the only family he had left. Even still there was no way in all the seven hells he would ever allow her to see this note.

"So what are you going to do?" Tormund asked. Jon sat there for a moment and pondered his thoughts, he didn't know what to do. Who would? He killed her and she killed thousands of innocents, it wasn't like either could really forgive the other so easily. Jon rose from his seat and headed out of his hut to look over the horizon. The clouds had cleared that day and allowed the sun to glimmer over the beautiful bay.

The sight reminded him of Dragonstone, when he would sit along the cliffside and observe the dragons flying over Blackwater Bay. Sometimes he'd watch from his chambers as Daenerys flew atop Drogon with her other two children. "Do you have any input?" Jon asked to Tormund who was now standing at his side.

"I think you need to go," Tormund said. "Even if she's still the mad woman she apparently became, even if she'll kill you as soon as she sees you. You will regret it for the rest of your life if your brother kills her and you never got to see her again and to be honest, you're miserable enough as it is."

Jon tilted his head back, shutting his eyes closed and letting out an exasperated sigh. Did he really have it inside of him to see her face. Would it help to see her face again, would she be the Dany he fell in love with. Or would it break him even more if she had become even more far gone. The odds of him being miserable if he stayed outweighed the odds of him being miserable if he went.

"I need a horse," Jon said. Tormund gave him a nod as he descended the hill and Jon changed into his Stark clothes so he wouldn't appear a deserter if he was seen.

Once Jon had changed he descended the hill to meet with Tormund. "How do you plan to get there?" Tormund asked.

"My brother will have quickly realized that Sansa didn't receive the message and will have sent a rider. The rider will most likely arrive at Winterfell by the time I arrive at the destroyed Eastwatch. Once I arrive at White Harbor men will most likely be on their way across the Narrow Sea and I'll board one of the ships."