Naveena LANNISTER :||: Queen Series #2

17) Two Halves Of A Perfect Whole

Naveena
Ser Davos arrived from Stannis' camp the morning Sam, Gilly and baby Sam left for Oldtown. Sam wanted to become a maester and fulfil Maester Aemon's role; he would study there at the Citadel. The Targaryen had passed a few days after our departure, his death being one of few caused by old age at the Wall. It had taken a lot of convincing on Sam's part to get Jon to agree. He'd used the vacant position as a reason, also saying the Citadel had the most extensive collection of books in the Seven Kingdoms, and perhaps he'd have access to knowledge that might help when the Long Night came.

Sam and Gilly, carrying the baby, had loaded up the horse and cart and started on the long road to Oldtown, further south than King's Landing. Jon and I had stood on the balcony, and I'd waved goodbye when Gilly turned to us. The Commander had been grouchy all day at the fact his best friend was leaving, and his mood would only deepen the further Sam rode away.

Davos stood next to me, and as soon as we lost sight of the cart in the distance, he turned to Jon. "I've come to ask, for King Stannis Baratheon, that you rally the Night's Watch and help aid him in his fight for Winterfell."

I tried not to roll my eyes, Jon blinking at him in exasperation. "I can't."

"Stannis!" Davos shook his arms at me. "Your brother, he needs you and the Night's Watch."

"We don't have enough men," Jon interjected sternly; I wasn't really in the mood for a guilt trip. "We won't make a difference."

"The wildings will make a difference."

Jon fully rounded on him, and I stepped back, so I wasn't in between them, his voice rising and echoed throughout the yard. "The wildings won't fight for Stannis. I told him!"

"You saved their bloody lives!" Davos spat, his eyes almost bugging out of his head. He was beyond asking, he was begging. "If they're going to live in the Seven Kingdoms, safe behind our Wall, they ought to fight for the damn place!"

"It's not their fight!"

"And you have no idea the things those people have fought," My tone wasn't something I recognised, practically hissing venom at him. "For years. Fighting a war they couldn't hope to win. All the while we've been safe on the other side of a giant wall built to keep what they were fighting out. Tell me, Ser Davos, how many of Stannis' men have abandoned him already?"

He bristled, but before he could retaliate, someone shouted an order. "Open the gates!"

We turned as Melisandre's horse walked, stiff with cold, into the yard, the three of us racing down the stairs. The woman looked crestfallen, eyes staring down at the ground, unseeing. I think she was in shock. All the visions she'd told Stannis about, seeing his victory, the Bolton banners burn. And she had been wrong.

"Stannis?" Jon asked, rushing up to her as she dismounted.

She couldn't meet our eyes, shaking her head. I stepped forward. "What about Shireen?" Davos and I glanced at each other with mutual worry for the princess.

Her mouth twitched, and her sad eyes lifted, glancing at us. I gasped, stepping back. "Oh, gods."

Ser Davos was crushed, his face crumpling in utter disbelief and despair.

...

Jon had offered his sympathies and we'd spent the rest of the day apart. I'd lost a brother, an idiotic murdering brother. And my dear niece, an innocent in the world who had been unfairly done by from a young age. Jon had lost his closest friend and was now surrounded by those who hated him. A lot of weight rested on his shoulders as Lord Commander and he no longer had Maester Aemon here to provide wise advice, nor Sam to balance out his moods.