snow and stars| jon snow

xii: first of her name

Andromeda's spirit gradually lifted throughout the duration of the next day. She sat on her throne and worked on things, she talked things out with her guests.

"So, the Baratheon and Vela feud is finally over?" Gendry asked her hopefully. "At least, between you and I."

She took his hand gently and sincerely, shocking him with her genuineness. "Gendry, if someone ever touched a hair on your head, I would have theirs. You are one of the sweetest men I've ever met, Baratheon or not. I am a friend that you can call upon." She looked to Davos. "And same to you, Ser Davos Seaworth."

"And I am honored to call you a friend." Gendry said, his grin brighter than anything she had seen on someone in years.

"Lady Andromeda," Tyrion spoke. "Do you have an estimate on how long it will take for us to be on our way back home? Westeros needs its king."

Andromeda had somehow grown more patient within the days they had been in her home. She couldn't decide if it was a good thing or not. "And Ilta needs their queen." She looked at him pointedly. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"You are denying our wish to go home." He said stubbornly, and she shook her head.

"I would like to request an audience with Lord Tyrion and King Jon Targaryen of Westeros, if someone would be so kind to retrieve him." She hadn't seen the attractive man since the night of the Honoring, and she had hoped that she would see more of him. He was a handsome man, and he was nothing short of kindhearted, even though he insists that Ilta remained his territory. She felt something strange towards him, unlike anything she had felt before. It wasn't necessarily sexual, it was more like she had known him long before he arrived. "And my own Hand." Her people went to fetch each name she gave, forgetting Tyrion was already in front of her.

When Jon entered the room, the door shut and there she was, sitting like a dream. His Hand was siting across from hers, as fierce and Dornish as she was the night before. "There is something troubling you, My Lady?"

"Quite." She responded. "I want to ask you why you feel that Ilta should remain attached to Westeros."

"Ilta is our territory, it has been for three hundred years." Jon answered slowly, sitting down across from the intimidating woman. "Ilta being our territory has never been a problem until a decade ago."

"What do you gain from having Ilta as a territory, besides hatred from the people on it?" She asked boldly, picking up her slender chalice of Dornish wine.

"The loyalty of another large kingdom." Tyrion explained, almost as if she were incompetent.

"Sometimes I can't tell with you, Tyrion." Andromeda said, wagging her finger mockingly in his direction. "You look at me like a queen, but talk to me as if I'm a child. My naivety died with my family, I'm afraid that I know what I talk about."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm not someone who wants to take part in Westerosi politics. I'm not someone who particularly matters to Westeros. I'm just a far off woman who plays with the sky." She said, rolling her eyes. "I never asked you to bend the knee, like others have. I only ask that you allow me to be a queen to the people I have been serving for years. I am their queen, and I want all to address me as one."

     "You're asking for your independence?"

"I'm asking to restore the glory to my family name." She said, desperation cutting through her voice. "These people all call me wonderful names and titles, but I know what I truly am."

   "And what is that?" Jon asked, intrigued by her line of thought.

   "I was the only one of us left." She said, and she needn't evaluate on who 'us' was. "I should have never ran. I should have died with honor with the rest of my family, I should have picked up a sword, I should have died with Hyperion." She scoffed. "I should have at least came back within the year."