#Sellsword (Gregor)

[meticulous-mage]

@incendiums continued from here

To be defenestrated by their own experiments — how tedious. To be defenestrated by their own experiments, and then caught by someone who wouldn’t hold his tongue concerning his worries — how time consuming. But, Gregor did have a point, no matter how much Miriel was loath to admit it — no matter how much it discomforted them, this interruption. Sighing, the redhead pulled away from the mercenary’s touch, already overwhelmed enough without unwanted physical contact — friend or otherwise. “Loath as I am to do so, I must credit you with veracity.

“I am no use to anyone — least of all myself — if my own experiments and research injures me.” That being said, however… “But I must correct you, however, based upon an assumption you continue to make — and that I am made quite uncomfortable by.” The scientist didn’t try to force themself make eye contact, knowing that doing so would make the situation worse, but they did set their gaze just to the right of his; as they did so, they reached up to adjust their glasses. “I am not a woman, Gregor, and I would appreciate if you did not address me as such.”

Brusque, but they wouldn’t stand for it.

[ichooseviolence]

There's a specific type of humor that I love in ASoIaF, and it's mostly sarcasm. Even characters that I absolutely loath make me laugh because the deliverance of their quips are so on point that I have to respect it. Tom of Sevenstrings, Jaime, Tyrion, Eddison Tollett, Olenna, Genna Lannister, Oberyn, Cersei, Euron, Renly, even Petyr. Dany has a couple moments that make me chuckle as well.

But I might actually add Sansa to the list, because some of her quips are perfection.. If she was in a healthy environment she would probably let loose on the sarcasm and take no survivors.

The older man in white spoke to Sansa gently. "Ofttimes Ser Ilyn frightens me as well, sweet lady. He has a fearsome aspect." "As well he should." The queen had descended from the wheelhouse. The spectators parted to make way for her. "If the wicked do not fear the King's Justice, you have put the wrong man in office." Sansa finally found her words. "Then surely you have chosen the right one, Your Grace," she said, and a gale of laughter erupted all around her. -AGoT Sansa I

"...It's almost as good as if some wolf killed your traitor brother. Maybe I'll feed him to wolves after I've caught him. Did I tell you, I intend to challenge him to single combat?" "I should like to see that, Your Grace." More than you know. Sansa kept her tone cool and polite, yet even so Joffrey's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he tried to decide whether she was mocking him." -ACoK Sansa I

"She must learn to hide her feelings better, so as not to anger Joffrey. When she heard that the Imp had sent Lord Slynt to the Wall, she had forgotten herself and said, "I hope the Others get him." The king had not been pleased." - ACoK Sansa II (this one literally took me out)

"Dontos was prattling on. "If I were still a knight, I should have to put on armor and man the walls with the rest. I ought to kiss King Joffrey's feet and thank him sweetly." "If you thanked him for making you a fool, he'd make you a knight again," Sansa said sharply." -ACoK Sansa IV

"Ser Meryn Trant held the blood bay for Joffrey to mount. Boy and horse alike wore gilded mail and enameled crimson plate, with matching golden lions on their heads. The pale sunlight flashed off the golds and reds every time Joff moved. Bright, shining, and empty, Sansa thought." -ACoK Sansa V (this one made me smirk)

"Curses are only in songs and stories." That seemed to amuse him. "Has someone made a song about Gregor Clegane dying of a poisoned spear thrust? Or about the sellsword before him, whose limbs Ser Gregor removed a joint at a time? That one took the castle from Ser Amory Lorch, who received it from Lord Tywin. A bear killed one, your dwarf the other. Lady Whent's died as well, I hear. Lothstons, Strongs, Harroways, Strongs...Harrenhal has withered every hand to touch it." "Then give it to Lord Frey." -AFfC Alayne I

[asoiafreadthru]

TYWIN LANNISTER, Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Shield of Lannisport,

His wife, [LADY JOANNA], a cousin, died in childbed,

Their children:

SER JAIME, called the Kingslayer, a twin to Cersei,

QUEEN CERSEI, wife of King Robert I Baratheon, a twin to Jaime,

TYRION, called the Imp, a dwarf,

His siblings:

SER KEVAN, his eldest brother,

His wife, DORNA, of House Swyft,

Their eldest son, LANCEL, squire to the king,

Their twin sons, WILLEM and MARTYN,

Their infant daughter, JANEI,

GENNA, his sister, wed to Ser Emmon Frey,

Their son, SER CLEOS FREY,

Their son, TION FREY, a squire,

[SER TYGETT], his second brother, died of a pox,

His widow, DARLESSA, of House Marbrand,

Their son, TYREK, squire to the king,

[GERION], his youngest brother, lost at sea,

His bastard daughter, JOY, a girl of ten,

Their cousin, SER STAFFORD LANNISTER, brother to the late Lady Joanna,

His daughters, CERENNA and MYRIELLE,

His son, SER DAVEN LANNISTER,

His counselor, MAESTER CREYLEN,

His chief knights and lords bannermen:

LORD LEO LEFFORD,

SER ADDAM MARBRAND,

SER GREGOR CLEGANE, the Mountain That Rides,

SER HARYS SWYFT, father by marriage to Ser Kevan,

LORD ANDROS BRAX,

SER FORLEY PRESTER,

SER AMORY LORCH,

VARGO HOAT of the Free City of Qohor, a sellsword.

[racefortheironthrone]

Why do you think Tywin restored a useless coward like Boros Blount to the Kingsguard.

Similar to how he's rather tight-fisted with money, Tywin is also very tight-fisted with flunkies and is really loath to give them up, even when political necessity dictates that throwing them under the bus is the best move. I think Tywin brought Blount back for much the same reason that he refused to give up Gregor Clegane when Oberyn Martell came looking for justice - Blount was a loyal stooge of House Lannister and Tywin doesn't waste stooges.

At the same time, Tywin is also just a conservative in general, and thinks that changing long-standing institutions or promoting people above their station is a bad look: he didn't like getting rid of Ser Barristan either, and he doesn't like the thought of replacing a bonafide nobleman like Blount with upjumped sellswords like the Kettleblacks any more than he likes the idea of Janos Slynt as Lord of Harrenhal.

[wpmorse]

Lord Tywin looked away, disgusted. "No longer. Ser Gregor's taken the castle. The sellswords deserted their erstwhile captain almost to a man, and some of Lady Whent's old people opened a postern gate. Clegane found Hoat sitting alone in the Hall of a Hundred Hearths, half-mad with pain and fever from a wound that festered. His ear, I'm told."

Jamie Page 853

The Mountain arrives at Harrenhal to provide payback to Vargo maiming Jamie Lannister. It turns out to be quite anticlimactic.

This is the only time you can come close to rooting for Gregor Clegane.

I first imagined having Vargo Hoat sitting on a throne but I couldn't find any evidence that there was a throne in the Hall of a Hundred Hearts. Besides, I thought Hoat would come off as more pathetic sitting alone and abandoned in the middle of the Hall.

You can see everything a week early on my Patreon Page.

[redwolf17]

What do you think of these edits? (Warning, long lol)

Catelyn Stark -  Reunites with Arya, and receives confirmation that Rickon is alive and safe, and indications that Bran is as well.  Dies laughing as she manages to help Robb escape the Red Wedding.

Elia Martell-   Not only is Elia spared assault from Gregor Clegane by Jaime Lannister,  but both her children didn’t end up being killed in the sack thanks to Elia’s cleverness and Sansa’s weirwood timeline intervention.   Not only that,  but she eventually lives to see Gregor Clegane face justice.   Subverted in that Elia is still plagued with guilt and shame over what befell her fosterlings Gawen and Jonquil, the two children who were swapped with Rhaenys and Aegon.

Arya Stark -  Word of God states that although Arya has still experienced trauma,  she has been better off.   Reunites with her mother and older brother at Riverrun,  eventually reunites with Rickon at Winterfell,  and eventually learns of Bran’s survival and as of her last POV is with Sansa again.   She is also eventually freed from an unwanted betrothal to Hoarfrost Umber.   Subverted in that Arya suffers intense guilt for both Catelyn and Jeyne Westerling being directly and indirectly killed due to the Frey’s betrayal.  She believed Sansa hated her and that explained her not returning to Winterfell.   Character development shows that while Arya matures and does sincerely try in her position as the highest-ranking female at Winterfell with Robb widowed and Sansa absent,  her discomfort in this role is evident but still written without the character not falling into not-like-other-girls nonsense.   While she does escape this unwanted betrothal,  it comes at the cost of her own fertility with Part IV having Maester Luwin diagnose her with MKRH, a condition which inflicts the sufferer with no uterus.

Jeyne Poole-  Among the supporting cast,  Jeyne Poole is perhaps one of the best examples.  According to Word of God,  they wanted Sansa’s friend to have a much gentler storyline.  In the Weirwood Queen,  Jeyne’s father is still killed in the attack on Ned’s household and afterwards she is still sent to one of Littlefinger’s brothels to be “trained” this time along with Meri, a smallfolk girl from Sherrer Sansa took into her service.  Subverted in that the brothel madam Bel stalls on training Jeyne and Meri, rightly recognizing that they are not only too young but have been forced into this work by Littlefinger’s greed and Cersei’s indifference.    Bel then helps Jeyne, Meri, Arya, and Sansa escape from the city.   As of Part V,  Jeyne has spent years in a privileged and comfortable position as a lady-in-waiting to Arya,  something that other commentors have pointed out that a steward’s daughter’s would not normally be considered for in the ordinary course of things.   Thanks to everything they have been through together,  Jeyne and Arya are also now friends,  with Jeyne being among the women to console Arya after she finds out about her diagnosis.    Simultanteously,  Jeyne and Meri have been in a discreet but long-running relationship,  something that commentors have delighted in.    As of Arya’s last POV in the Part V,  the two have returned to the Riverlands with Arya’s retinue and also will reunite with Sansa soon.

Poetic Justice/Poetic Karma - Littlefinger sells Jeyne Poole's maidenhood to a paedophile sells word. Fortunately Jeyne escapes the city with Meri and the Stark sisters before that happens. Littlefinger ends up being killed by said sellsword.

Jorah Mormont sold people into slavery and lusted after a barely teenage Daenerys. After being exiled by her, he meets his end at the hands of a teenage slave.

Office Romance - Brienne Tarth and Deziel Dalt are an example of this, with both being sworn to Olyvar and Sansa. Over time, they become close and eventually Brienne accepts Deziel's offer of marriage.

I know there are a lot more obviously, lol. I'll add them when I get the chance or if someone else wants to, feel free to take my notes and update it.

I definitely agree the quotes section needs updating! Honestly each POV should get one IMO. The problem is choosing haha

I’m a little confused, because a lot of the edits at the top don’t have a trope/context?

Also, Littlefinger was killed by Bel. She framed a pedophile sellsword to whom she’d sold Jeyne’s maidenhead (after she escaped and was already out of town)

[incendiums]

[Gregor, Sellsword]

"Aiish. You need be careful!" He had a winter's bite to him, finding it... close. Too close. She had nearly been flung out open window with her whozimwhats and whatzamacallits. Her boom things. And now he was here, eyebrows deeply seated in concern. Weird it was. To be the one doing the nagging and all. "Gregor hates to see pretty lady bleeding. Imagine my surprise, when I caught you—small like little bird. If I was not there, what then?" His teeth grit uncomfortably, tasting of ginger and ale. His tight jaw slacked a little upon her reassurance, though.

"Gregor will do with the worrying. But maybe not too much. Just enough." He took a gentle hand to dust off her shoulder. No more than that. Pinched her poofy shoulders so they stood up, too. "Ha...! There. You look like mushroom again."

Perching his chin between his thumb and index, he let out a deep, low hum. One could say it was wise. Others could say he knew very little. But even so, he was a curious, curious fellow.

"Now tell Gregor what good idea you have. You seem so cloud-minded about it-- that it is distracting. It must be very good idea."

@meticulous-mage

[dwellordream]

THE DEVIL, reversed, Robert Baratheon and Rhaegar Targearon

Rhaena might have wed Robert, or his brother, if not for her father's paranoia. A Baratheon cousin with Targaryen blood might have seemed the perfect solution.

But by the time Rhaena was six-and-ten and serious considerations for her marriage were being made, her father had grown suspicious of Steffon Baratheon and believed he might be scheming with Tywin Lannister for his throne.

Any suits from Storm's End were privately rejected, and Rhaena remained unwed for another three years, until at nine-and-ten her father finally decided she would marry Monford Velaryon.

Monford had the Valyrian look, or near enough to it; pale blonde hair and startling dark blue eyes, very similar to Rhaena's own indigo. Sun-tanned from the sea, tall and handsome, he seemed a suitable bridegroom. Besides that, the Velaryons, while still wealthy and powerful, were nowhere near the sea power they had once been.

So Rhaena wed Monford, and he gave her a daughter, Alyssa, and then he died, drowned in a storm while returning to Driftmark from a visit to Tarth. To hear her father tell it, Steffon Baratheon himself conjured up the storm to kill his daughter's husband so he might put his own son in her bed.

Lord Tywin did not exactly dissuade him of the notion, and went so far as to propose that Rhaena wed his son Jaime, who was at the time a twelve year old squire.

Her father rejected the suit with a sneer, and similarly rebuked the Princess of Dorne for proposing that Rhaena wed her second son Prince Oberyn, who at the time was carving himself a bloody reputation as a sellsword overseas.

But the lords of the realm insisted- with some trepidation- that Aerys consider another marriage for Rhaena, for beyond her there was only her brother Viserys, then a mere toddler, who might not survive childhood.

Ser Arthur Dayne had begged the King to appoint him to the Kingsguard. Instead Aerys married him to his daughter. Rhaena didn't love Monford, nor he he her.

They were civil with one another from the earliest days of their betrothal, but he called her melancholy and stiff behind her back, and she thought him arrogant and mocking. Arthur, she did come to care for, though she does not know if it was romantic love.

It was passionate in that he made her the Maiden in his mind, and so the marriage was in some ways excruciating for him, because he was certain he was committing some profane sin. Ser Ilyn Payne, before her father had his tongue out, japed that Arthur behaved so awkwardly around the Princess that it was almost as if she were his sister.

Arthur gave her another daughter, Dyanna. Then there was that nasty business at Harrenhal, and her father became convinced the lords of the realm were all conspiring against him- Stark and Tully and Baratheon- and in truth, they likely were, though not via strange mystery knights- and arrests were ordered and heads were called for and the rebellion began.

Arthur died at the Trident. Robert Baratheon came back. Men led by Gregor Clegane, who Arthur knighted with such reverence, came to kill her and her daughters, she imagines because Tywin Lannister wants his Cersei for Robert's queen, but Gerold Hightower and Oswell Whent died defending her and the girls, and now those men are dead.

So now Rhaena sits with her daughters in a small tower room. Alyssa is four, towheaded like her father, with his huge dark blue eyes. Dyanna is only six moons old, swaddled in Rhaena's arms, what little hair she has jet black.

She has had strange dreams since she was young, Rhaena, which she never could make head nor tails of, but she dreamed she would light three great fires in her life.

Once for life, once for death, and once for love. She had always imagined the first fire was the one that brought her into the world, at Summerhall, and that the second was Monford's funeral pyre- or mayhaps Arthur's? The third, she does not know. She may never know.

Robert Baratheon looks at her. Rhaena looks at him. Alyssa is sniffling but Dyanna is silent, as stoic as her father.

She assumes if they are to be killed, it will be done so quietly and quickly, before it becomes common knowledge that the rebels hold the princess and her daughters prisoner. Then public outcry would be to much to explain away the slaughter of an unarmed noblewoman and two little girls.

Robert does not look murderous- but then, he does not look pleased to see her alive, either.

"Your father is dead," he says, perhaps waiting for her to crumple and scream. As if she was not aware of what Ser Jaime had gone to do. "Where are your mother and brother?"

Rhaena smiles faintly; does he have to ask?

"Dragonstone," she says.

"Why did you not join them?"

"My father feared my husband would betray him at the final hour, if my safety was assured."

Robert's expression mottles with disbelief. "Aerys threatened to kill his own daughter? His grandchildren? You are lying, woman."

"My father only threatened," she says. "Your Lord Lannister did much more. It is already seeping through the city streets."

She is playing a dangerous game there, accusing the man who helped Robert take the city of attempted murder. But it doesn't matter.

If Tywin tried once, he will try again, and Robert is not a moron. He will need to weigh carefully if his hatred for her father- who seized and executed his- can overpower his own sense of public opinion.

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ASOS: Arya XIII (Chapter 74)

I know this inn. There hadn't been a gibbet outside the door when she had slept here with her sister Sansa under the watchful eye of Septa Mordane, though.

[...]

They know him. The silence told her that. But that wasn't the worst thing. She knew them too. Not the skinny innkeep, nor the women, nor the fieldhands by the hearth. But the others. The soldiers. She knew the soldiers.

Keep in mind there's an innkeep, women, and fieldhands nearby.

+.+.+

There are only three, Arya thought. Polliver gave her a fleeting glance and the boy beside him never looked at her at all, but the third one gazed long and hard. He was a man of middling height and build, with a face so ordinary that it was hard to say how old he was. The Tickler. The Tickler and Polliver both. The boy was a squire, judging by his age and dress. He had a big white pimple on one side of his nose, and some red ones on his forehead. "Is this the lost puppy Ser Gregor spoke of?" he asked the Tickler. "The one who piddled in the rushes and ran off?"

The Tickler put a warning hand on the boy's arm, and gave a short sharp shake of his head. Arya read that plain enough.

The squire didn't, or else he didn't care. "Ser said his puppy brother tucked his tail between his legs when the battle got too warm at King's Landing. He said he ran off whimpering." He gave the Hound a stupid mocking grin.

Clegane studied the boy and never said a word. Polliver shoved the girl off his lap and got to his feet. "The lad's drunk," he said. 

We're going to make sure this inebriated boy is as mouthy as possible.

(A Storm of Swords, otherwise known as 80 Chapters of People Making Fun of the Hound.)

+.+.+

He wore three blades on his belt, Arya saw; a longsword on his left hip, and on his right a dagger and a slimmer blade, too long to be a dirk and too short to be a sword. 

Needle!

Arya only needs two. 💅🏻

+.+.+

"So much for my brave brothers of the Kingsguard." The Hound gave a snort of contempt. "Who killed him?"

"The Imp, it's thought. Him and his little wife."

"What wife?"

"I forgot, you've been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head."

That's stupid, Arya thought. Sansa only knows songs, not spells, and she'd never marry the Imp.

Bat!

Correct, Sansa only knows songs, not spells. It's one of her best qualities.

Arya is so desensitized, she doesn't even reflect on her sister potentially killing someone.

+.+.+

The Hound sat on the bench closest to the door. His mouth twitched, but only the burned side. "She ought to dip him in wildfire and cook him. Or tickle him till the moon turns black." He raised his wine cup and drained it straightaway.

The Hound hates Tyrion more than his master Joffrey, because Tyrion emasculated him during a battle, and in the throne room when Sansa was beaten.

That should tell you everything you need to know about the Hound.

+.+.+

"So Gregor took Harrenhal?" Sandor said.

"Didn't require much taking," said Polliver. "The sellswords fled as soon as they knew we were coming, all but a few. One of the cooks opened a postern gate for us, to get back at Hoat for cutting off his foot." 

The cooks at Harrenhal are building up quite the reputation.

+.+.+

Sandor said, "The Blackfish is still in Riverrun?"

"Not for long," said Polliver. "He's under siege. Old Frey's going to hang Edmure Tully unless he yields the castle. The only real fighting's around Raventree. Blackwoods and Brackens. The Brackens are ours now."

Boo. Hiss.

+.+.+

The Hound poured a cup of wine for Arya and another for himself, and drank it down while staring at the hearthfire. "The little bird flew away, did she? Well, bloody good for her. She shit on the Imp's head and flew off."

"They'll find her," said Polliver. "If it takes half the gold in Casterly Rock."

"A pretty girl, I hear," said the Tickler. "Honey sweet." He smacked his lips and smiled.

Ew. Hands off the maid with honey in her hair.

Half the gold in Casterly Rock, I wonder how much that is. I'm reminded of how little the bounty currently is.

+.+.+

"And courteous," the Hound agreed. "A proper little lady. Not like her bloody sister."

"They found her too," said Polliver. "The sister. She's for Bolton's bastard, I hear."

Nooo, don't spiritually die.

I always forget she was told.

+.+.+

"Saltpans? How should I know? The traders are back at Maidenpool, I heard. Randyll Tarly took the castle and locked Mooton in a tower cell. I haven't heard shit about Saltpans."

The Tickler leaned forward. "Would you put to sea without bidding farewell to your brother?" 

Arya would!

Was the intention of that to show me Randyll Tarly imprisons the enemy? Lol.

+.+.+

Arya took a step backward as the long steel song began. The Tickler came off the bench with a shortsword in one hand and a dagger in the other. 

I have to say, I'm liking this dual blade strategy.

+.+.+

Polliver was a grim, methodical fighter, and he pressed Sandor steadily backward, his heavy longsword moving with brutal precision. The Hound's own cuts were sloppier, his parries rushed, his feet slow and clumsy. He's drunk, Arya realized with dismay. He drank too much too fast, with no food in his belly. 

The Hound embarrassing himself during his final fight is beautiful.

+.+.+

They're killing him. Arya had no more cups, but there was something better to throw. She drew the dagger they'd robbed off the dying archer and tried to fling it at the Tickler the way he'd done. It wasn't the same as throwing a rock or a crabapple, though. The knife wobbled, and hit him in the arm hilt first. He never even felt it. He was too intent on Clegane.

Dagger!

+.+.+

Even the chunky brown-haired squire was up, fumbling for his swordhilt. She snatched her wine cup off the table and threw it at his face. Her aim was better than it had been at the Twins. The cup hit him right on his big white pimple and he went down hard on his tail.

[...]

Arya grabbed it with two hands, but as she lifted it someone grabbed her arm. The flagon slipped from her fingers and crashed to the floor. Wrenched around, she found herself nose to nose with the squire. You stupid, you forgot all about him. His big white pimple had burst, she saw.

"Are you the puppy's puppy?" He had his sword in his right hand and her arm in his left, but her own hands were free, so she jerked his knife from its sheath and sheathed it again in his belly, twisting. He wasn't wearing mail or even boiled leather, so it went right in, the same way Needle had when she killed the stableboy at King's Landing. The squire's eyes got big and he let go of her arm. Arya spun to the door and wrenched the Tickler's knife from the wall.

I have no problem with this.

It's unfortunate it's another kid, but he would have hurt her (or worse).

+.+.+

The Tickler backed away. Arya could smell his fear. The shortsword in his hand suddenly seemed almost a toy against the long blade the Hound was holding, and he wasn't armored either. He moved swiftly, light on his feet, never taking his eyes off Sandor Clegane. It was the easiest thing in the world for Arya to step up behind him and stab him.

I have no problem with this.

+.+.+

"Is there gold hidden in the village?" she shouted as she drove the blade up through his back. "Is there silver? Gems?" She stabbed twice more. "Is there food? Where is Lord Beric?" She was on top of him by then, still stabbing. "Where did he go? How many men were with him? How many knights? How many bowmen? How many, how many, how many, how many, how many, how many? Is there gold in the village?"

I- uh. Um.

+.+.+

Her hands were red and sticky when Sandor dragged her off him. "Enough," was all he said. He was bleeding like a butchered pig himself, and dragging one leg when he walked.

"There's one more," Arya reminded him.

Arya.

+.+.+

The squire had pulled the knife out of his belly and was trying to stop the blood with his hands. When the Hound yanked him upright, he screamed and started to blubber like a baby. "Mercy," he wept, "please. Don't kill me. Mother have mercy."

"Do I look like your bloody mother?" The Hound looked like nothing human. "You killed this one too," he told Arya. "Pricked him in his bowels, that's the end of him. He'll be a long time dying, though."

The boy didn't seemed to hear him. "I came for the girls," he whimpered. ". . . make me a man, Polly said . . . oh, gods, please, take me to a castle . . . a maester, take me to a maester, my father's got gold . . . it was only for the girls . . . mercy, ser."

The Hound gave him a crack across the face that made him scream again. "Don't call me ser." He turned back to Arya. "This one is yours, she-wolf. You do it."

She knew what he meant. Arya went to Polliver and knelt in his blood long enough to undo his swordbelt. Hanging beside his dagger was a slimmer blade, too long to be a dirk, too short to be a man's sword . . . but it felt just right in her hand.

"You remember where the heart is?" the Hound asked.

She nodded. The squire rolled his eyes. "Mercy."

Needle slipped between his ribs and gave it to him.

I have a big problem with this.

That is not the type of mercy he was asking for. There was no compassion accompanying this act. This was not about ending his suffering.

There's an innkeep, women, and fieldhands nearby. Leave him alone.

+.+.+

The innkeep came scurrying back with two stone cups and a flagon on a pewter platter. Sandor lifted the flagon to his mouth. Arya could see the muscles in his neck working as he gulped. When he slammed it back down on the table, half the wine was gone. "Now you can pour. Best pick up those coppers too, it's the only coin you're like to see today."

"We'll pay when we're done drinking," said Polliver.

See? Sandor Clegane isn't such a bad guy. He pays the innkeep, and chastises the men who won't...

"Saltpans." He put a big hand on her shoulder to keep from falling. "Get some wine, she-wolf. And take whatever coin they have as well, we'll need it. If there's ships at Saltpans, we can reach the Vale by sea."

Never mind. I guess it's not that imperative the innkeep is paid what he's owed.

+.+.+

"Maybe Lady Lysa will marry you to her little Robert. There's a match I'd like to see." He started to laugh, then groaned instead.

Guys it's funny because Sansa will marry her little Robert.

+.+.+

When the time came to leave, he needed Arya's help to get back up on Stranger. He had tied a strip of cloth about his neck and another around his thigh, and taken the squire's cloak off its peg by the door. The cloak was green, with a green arrow on a white bend, but when the Hound wadded it up and pressed it to his ear it soon turned red. 

Maybe that fandom should spend less time dissecting green cloaks, and more time recognizing comic book references.

+.+.+

When he got the fire going, Sandor propped up his helm in the flames, emptied half the wineskin into it, and collapsed back against a jut of moss-covered stone as if he never meant to rise again.

Loving every word of this.

+.+.+

If Sansa was gone too, there were no more Starks but her. Jon was on the Wall a thousand leagues away, but he was a Snow, and these different aunts and uncles the Hound wanted to sell her to, they weren't Starks either. They weren't wolves.

So Jon's not a wolf? Damn, brutal.

+.+.+

Sandor moaned, and she rolled onto her side to look at him. She had left his name out too, she realized. Why had she done that? She tried to think of Mycah, but it was hard to remember what he'd looked like. She hadn't known him long. All he ever did was play at swords with me. 

I give you permission to be reminded of Daenerys, and laugh.

(I'm not comparing them!)

+.+.+

Arya glanced over her shoulder, but there was nothing behind them but a crow flitting from tree to tree. The only sound was the river.

BRAN?!

+.+.+

When he saw Arya staring at him, he said, "I'd skin you alive for a cup of wine, girl."

She brought him water instead.

Water for the dying man. Number three!

+.+.+

His eyes opened. "You remember where the heart is?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

As still as stone she stood. "I . . . I was only . . ."

"Don't lie," he growled. "I hate liars. I hate gutless frauds even worse. Go on, do it." When Arya did not move, he said, "I killed your butcher's boy. I cut him near in half, and laughed about it after." He made a queer sound, and it took her a moment to realize he was sobbing. "And the little bird, your pretty sister, I stood there in my white cloak and let them beat her. I took the bloody song, she never gave it. I meant to take her too. I should have. I should have fucked her bloody and ripped her heart out before leaving her for that dwarf." A spasm of pain twisted his face. "Do you mean to make me beg, bitch? Do it! The gift of mercy . . . avenge your little Michael . . ."

"Mycah." Arya stepped away from him. "You don't deserve the gift of mercy."

No, he doesn't. Get your shovel ready, dog.

Hey, remember that time the ASoIaF wiki claimed Sandor Clegane rescued Sansa during that beating?

Fucking riot. Even the Hound isn't that deluded.

+.+.+

The Hound watched her saddle Craven through eyes bright with fever. Not once did he attempt to rise and stop her. But when she mounted, he said, "A real wolf would finish a wounded animal."

Maybe some real wolves will find you, Arya thought. Maybe they'll smell you when the sun goes down. Then he would learn what wolves did to dogs.

+.+.+

She turned her horse and rode away from him, and never looked back once.

Goodbye fuckhead.

On Reddit, someone said this was the end of Sandor Clegane's story, and the gravedigger is his epilogue.

I thought that was perfect.

+.+.+

And there were ships.

Three, thought Arya, there are three. Two were only river galleys, shallow draft boats made to ply the waters of the Trident. The third was bigger, a salt sea trader with two banks of oars, a gilded prow, and three tall masts with furled purple sails. Her hull was painted purple too. Arya rode Craven down to the docks to get a better look. Strangers are not so strange in a port as they are in little villages, and no one seemed to care who she was or why she was here.

Everyone is your friend at the docks!

+.+.+

I need silver. The realization made her bite her lip.

[...]

She couldn't go back, no more than she could beg for help. Begging for help never gets you any. She would have to sell Craven, and hope she brought enough.

Is... is Arya going to trade a horse for a ship?

+.+.+

She liked Craven at first look, asked Arya how she'd come by her, and grinned at her answer. "She's a well-bred horse, that's plain enough, and I don't doubt she belonged to a knight, sweetling," she said. "But the knight wasn't no dead brother o' yours. I been dealing with the castle there many a year, so I know what gentleborn folk is like. This mare is well-bred, but you're not." She poked a finger at Arya's chest. 

Guys it's funny because Arya is highborn.

+.+.+

A half-dozen other Saltpans folks were around, going about their business, so Arya knew she couldn't kill the woman. Instead she had to bite her lip and let herself be cheated. 

Arya.

+.+.+

The captain was turning away when she said, "What ship is this, my lord?"

He paused long enough to give her a weary smile. "This is the galleas Titan's Daughter, of the Free City of Braavos."

The Titan's Daughter! Everyone gets to play.

+.+.+

"It's not silver." Her fingers closed on it. "It's iron. Here." She pressed it into his hand, the small black iron coin that Jaqen H'ghar had given her, so worn the man whose head it bore had no features. It's probably worthless, but . . .

The captain turned it over and blinked at it, then looked at her again. "This . . . how . . . ?"

Jaqen said to say the words too. Arya crossed her arms against her chest. "Valar morghulis," she said, as loud as if she'd known what it meant.

"Valar dohaeris," he replied, touching his brow with two fingers. "Of course you shall have a cabin."

Like a Faceless Man!

I just now realized George intended for Lady Stoneheart to be wreaking havoc in the riverlands for five years, waiting for Arya to return.

Crazy.

Final thoughts:

Sad to see this duo part ways.

He taught her so much, like... um... hm. Let's see. Uh. Oh, where the heart is located? Sure, we'll go with that.

-> return to menu <-

[henrylovescrows]

My FE Awaking character paired endings

My Robin is named Alexander

Alexander and Chrom

"Many wrote of Robin's legendary exploits, but accounts of their origins and character varied. Scholars, poets, and bards agreed on one thing alone—she loved her husband, Chrom, above all else."

Lissa and Lon'qu

Lon'qu returned to Regna Ferox and served as Basilio's right-hand man. Lissa decided to leave Ylisstol and join her husband, strengthening the bond between the realms even further.

Frederick and Sumia

As Ylisse's new knight captain, Frederick took charge of keeping the peace and training new recruits. His wife, Sumia, traded her lance for a peaceful stretch of pasture and raised a happy group of pegasi.

Sully and Stahl

Sully and Stahl became the left and right arms of Ylisse and conducted crucial missions across the realm. Their red-and-green banners soon became know everywhere as a symbol of justice and strength.

Virion and Cherche

Virion returned home to Rosanne, where he was labeled a traitor and a coward, or else ignored entirely. But Cherche's smarts and kindness eventually brought her husband back into good standing.

Miriel and Gregor

After the war, Gregor briefly sank into a life of excess, but when his wife began to treat him like part of the woodwork, he resumed work as a sellsword. Miriel helped out by researching Gregor's targets.

Kellam and Panne

Once the fighting was done, Panne vanished. Some say she returned to her warren alone; others claim she found fellow taguel survivors. Her husband's name has been lost to history.

Donnel and Tharja

Donnel returned to his tiny village and built a happy life with his mother and his wife, Tharja. The latter never warmed to the villagers, but she was said to smile around her family.

Ricken and Maribelle

While continuing to study magic, Ricken realized how childish some of his actions had been. Maribelle went on to be a magistrate, and the couple leaned on each other for the rest of their days.

Cordelia and Gaius

Gaius never lost his sweet tooth, though he ultimately returned to less savory enterprises. As his wife, Cordelia, was in charge of keeping law and order, Gaius dreaded the thought of seeing her on the job.

Nowi and Libra

Many an unfortunate child found joy in the small orphanage Libra and his wife built after the war. Nowi tried her best to take care of the children, but more often than not, they took care of her.

Olivia and Henry

Henry settled down with Olivia and turned out to be a surprisingly good father. Their newborn son inherited both his father's grin and his mother's undying love for entertaining others.

Owain and Cynthia 

Owain set off on a lengthy quest with Cynthia to "stay his sword hand." Their semidelusional journey was said to be one of much mayhem and mirt

Gerome and Lucina

Gerome and Lucina were married and settled down near Wyvern Valley. While her husband never minced the few words he had to say, Lucina understood, and the two built a happy life.

Severa and Yarne

Yarne tried desperately to find a safe haven after the battles were done, but even that journey was fraught with danger- especially as Severa continued to take on dangerous jobs to make ends meet.

Nah and Morgan

Morgan's memory never returned, but he didn't seem to miss it much and lived happily with Nah. Later, scholars would speculate he had come from a different future than the other children.

Brady and Noire

Brady left the priesthood to become the world's scariest violinist. Noire tried to talk him out of it for fear his divine talents as musician and composer would curse them both to an early grave.

The others are lonely

[x-amoromnibusidem]

Aegon VI Targaryen 

Prince Aegon Targaryen is the second child and only son of Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Princess Elia Nymeros Martell. Aegon was an infant during Robert’s Rebellion, having been born a few months before its onset. In preparation of the Battle of the Trident, Aegon’s grandfather, King Aerys II Targaryen used him, his mother Elia, and his older sister Rhaenys as hostages, gracelessly reminding Aegon’s great-uncle, Prince Lewyn Martell of the Kingsguard, that the three were in Aerys’s hands. Lewyn took command of ten thousand Dornishmen, but died in the battle, as did Aegon’s father, Rhaegar.

During the Sack of King’s Landing a fortnight after the royal forces had left for the Trident, Ser Jaime Lannister killed Aerys in the throne room of the Red Keep. Jaime, though the only Kingsguard member left in the city, did not think his father Tywin, whose troops were attacking the city, would harm little Aegon and his young sister, Rhaenys. While Jaime was standing over Aerys’s corpse, Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Amory Lorch scaled the walls of Maegor’s Holdfast and then killed Aegon, Rhaenys, and Elia. The deaths of the children caused a dispute between Lord Eddard Stark and the new king, Robert I Baratheon, and also began the feud between Houses Martell and Lannister.

Tyrion Lannister meets “Young Griff”, a young man who is introduced to Tyrion as the son of the sellsword “Griff”, aboard the Shy Maid. The company is headed for Volantis, to await the expected arrival of Daenerys together with the Golden Company and more ships for her cause. After some time on the Shy Maid, Tyrion concludes that “Griff” is Lord Jon Connington, and that “Young Griff” is not his son, but instead Aegon Targaryen. “Young Griff” explains his apparent survival to Tyrion while they play cyvasse. According to his account, the infant killed during the Sack of King’s Landing was a tanner’s infant son born at Pisswater Bend, a street of King’s Landing. The child’s mother had died at birth. The tanner sold his boy to Varys for a jug of wine, since he already had other sons, but had never tasted Arbor gold. Varys arranged the swap between the two infants. Elia received the tanner’s son, whom Tyrion dubs the pisswater prince, while Varys took custody of the real Prince Aegon.

|| The Sun’s Dragons Mini-Event || Day 1 : Canon 

|| Children of the Sun ||

#SummerIsForDorne

#SunDragonsWeek

[agentrouka-blog]

Seeing as how Sansa's prayers often come true , it could be Harrold dies in the tourney after being kicked off his horse or maybe he dies bravely like Waymar Royce, another arrogant Vale lordling when he journeys North to battle the Others ?

I vote a later death.

Harry dying doesn't upset Littlefinger's plans all that much. He remains Lord Protector. Sweetrobin is much more important to him. Sansa stands to lose much more of her immediate gain in that case, but Littlefinger could still “reveal” her as Sweetrobin’s betrothed and do the same thing as with Harry, essentially.

So the shock isn’t Harry dying. (IF he does.) It’s the how.

Also, Sansa’s prayers do tend to come true, but with a delay and a twist.

Horsefaced and homely, Alayne thought.

Harry, though...

My Harry. My lord, my lover, my betrothed. (...)

She smiled just for him, and said a silent prayer to the Maiden. Please, he doesn't need to love me, just make him like me, just a little, that would be enough for now. (...)

No tears, she prayed. Please, please, I must not cry. "As you wish, ser. And now if you will excuse me, Littlefinger's bastard must find her lord father and let him know that you have come, so we can begin the tourney on the morrow." And may your horse stumble, Harry the Heir, so you fall on your stupid head in your first tilt.  (TWOW, Alayne)

We already guess what the twist on Handsome Harry’s contrast to his horsefaced cousin will be, as well as Sansa’s prayer to the Maiden to be liked, if she cannot be loved “for now”. The language is ardent. That’s promising.

Not so much the second part. I doubt Harry will suddenly break the pattern and fulfill Sansa’s prayer to the letter on the dot by actually being damaged in the tourney by accident.

We know he is no experienced warrior. His knighthood was won in a pre-arranged melee and there has been no fighting for the Vale knights. His “first tilt” is just as easily his first experience with actual battle. GRRM takes care via Brienne to show us just how excruciating it is on a mental level.

“When I was a squire young as you, I had a friend who was strong and quick and agile, a champion in the yard. We all knew that one day he would be a splendid knight. Then war came to the Stepstones. I saw my friend drive his foeman to his knees and knock the axe from his hand, but when he might have finished he held back for half a heartbeat. In battle half a heartbeat is a lifetime. The man slipped out his dirk and found a chink in my friend's armor. His strength, his speed, his valor, all his hard-won skill . . . it was worth less than a mummer's fart, because he flinched from killing. Remember that, girl." (AFFC, Brienne IV)

Considering that Littlefinger’s entire plan hinges on Harry being a willing tool to reconquer the North for her, a physically dangerous endeavor, it would actually be rather horrific for Sansa if Harry ended up dying in battle, perhaps even nobly, after she wishes him ill.

It would mirror the death of Ser Hugh in his fancy new moon-and-falcon armor in the Hand’s Tourney, only escalated to actual warfare. Arrogant, knighted too soon, little experience...

That boy today, his second joust, oh, that was a pretty bit of business. You saw that, did you? Fool boy, he had no business riding in this company. No money, no squire, no one to help him with that armor. That gorget wasn't fastened proper. You think Gregor didn't notice that? You think Ser Gregor's lance rode up by chance, do you? Pretty little talking girl, you believe that, you're empty-headed as a bird for true. Gregor's lance goes where Gregor wants it to go. (AGOT, Sansa II)

A chink in the armor is also the downfall of the similarly moon-and-falcon attired Ser Vardis Egen by the hand of dirty pragmatist Bronn.

Bronn was on him in a heartbeat, kicking what was left of his shattered rondel aside to expose the weak spot between arm and breastplate. Ser Vardis was lying on his side, pinned beneath the broken torso of the weeping woman. Catelyn heard the knight groan as the sellsword lifted his blade with both hands and drove it down and in with all his weight behind it, under the arm and through the ribs. Ser Vardis Egen shuddered and lay still. (AGOT, Catelyn VI)

Vardis died senselessly for Lysa, and Tyrion is released to go and befriend the mountain clans.

What are Harry’s arms?

The arms of Hardyng and Waynwood were displayed in the first and third quarters, respectively, but in the second and fourth quarters he bore the moon-and-falcon of House Arryn, sky blue and cream. (TWOW, Alayne)

Uh oh.

There is impending violence with the mountain clans, more than likely, which is one way for it to happen, or he could actually survive long enough to fight and die in the North when Sansa calls the knights for help. Either way, he will die for Sansa and it will be his blood on her hands, to a certain degree. I bet he will even die half a hero.

The man may not be a virtuous paragon of chivalry, but he is no monster and he is a father of soon enough two children and he has done nothing to Sansa to warrant a terrible punishment. She is the one who is induced to make use of him. If little Alys Stone became an orphan because Harry defended her interests, Sansa would regret her petty wish, and likely reconsider her approach to the lives of men who fight in her name.

The twist might be the bitter lesson for Sansa: tourneys are games, but there are no toy knights, only men of flesh and blood.

What was the first thing Sansa said about Harry?

She did not want to look stupid, though, so all she said was, "I pray he proves a worthy knight." (AFFC, Alayne II)

She prays. And her prayers come true.

[thebluelemontree]

What would a victorious King Stannis Baratheon have done with the remaining Kingsguard in Kings Landing, in your opinion? For that matter, what was Renly’s former Rainbow Guard’s role in Stannis’ army, following his brothers death? Do you think it was Stannis’ expectation that Guyard Morrigen, Parmen Crane, and Lord Bryce Caron, were to stay on in their roles as members of Stannis’ Seven, after the fact?

This is just my best guess since I haven't had a reread in a while. I think there would be a lot of taking out the trash.

What would a victorious King Stannis Baratheon have done with the remaining Kingsguard in Kings Landing, in your opinion?

Meryn Trant: life spared if he swears fealty to Stannis and converts to R'hllor, but also dismissed from the kingsguard.

Boros Blount: same as Meryn. He and Trant were purely Lannister crony appointees. Has an earned reputation for cowardice. Surrendered Prince Tommen without a fight to Ser Jaclyn Bywater. Utterly useless.

Balon Swan: has an older brother, Donnel, who fought for Renly, but swore fealty to Stannis after Renly's death. With a Stannis victory, Donnel isn't captured and does not bend the knee to Joffrey. Balon, who is fairly well-regarded, stands the best chance I think of remaining a kingsguard if he swears fealty to Stannis and converts to R'hllor.

Osmund Kettleblack: He's a whole lot of WTF was Cersei thinking. Really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. If he was strongly interrogated on how he came to be raised to the kingsguard, he would crack like an egg. Bottom line, he's a sellsword, through and through. I think the most mercy he could expect is to be sent to the Wall.

Sandor Clegane (deserted): While he's not in KL anymore, Stannis would uphold the warrant for his arrest and execution if he's ever captured.

Arys Oakheart (away protecting Myrcella in Dorne): This is a little trickier. His mother, Arwyn Oakheart, followed the Tyrells in siding with Joffrey. Assuming Lady Arwyn or any of her sons are captured, they could be useful hostages. Even though Arys would have forsworn any familial loyalties, emotionally, this is easier said than done. Stannis might promise to spare the life of her son, Arys, if he turns over the abomination, Myrcella, willingly. Assuming both Arys and Arwyn bend the knee to Stannis, keeping Arys as a kingsguard (but semi hostage like Jaime was to Aerys), could be a way to start de-thorning the Tyrell powerbase. But Arys might also find the cojones to lay down his life for Myrcella if Stannis's men came for them in Dorne. At least I would like to think he would. This is all tied up with speculation on Dorne's response to a Stannis victory, which I don't really have the brainpower for right now. Stannis might be more inclined to give Doran justice by executing Gregor Clegane and Tywin Lannister, but I'm not sure about that. Tywin is pretty shit out of luck with a defeat in KL. As a result, the Red Wedding never happens if Walder Frey has no strong allies to back him now.

Jaime Lannister: Nothing but trial and execution for treasonous and incestuous adultery against Robert, along with Cersei, and the children. Jaime is currently Robb's prisoner at Riverrun. With Stannis's victory, Sansa becomes Stannis's hostage. There might be some grumbling that Robb didn't come immediately to Stannis's side, but in a show of goodwill, Stannis might negotiate trading Sansa (still Robb's heir as she is unwed to Tyrion) for Jaime with the stipulation that Robb gives up his crown and bends the knee. Robb would probably be amendable to this since he needs to return north to oust the Ironborn from WF.

For that matter, what was Renly’s former Rainbow Guard’s role in Stannis’ army, following his brothers death?

All we know of Bryce Caron is that he fought at the Blackwater and was killed by Ser Philip Foote, who received all his lands and incomes as a reward. It's not said if he held any position of honor or command. On the other hand, Guyard Morrigen was placed in charge of leading the van, which is considered a decent place of honor. Parmen Crane was tasked with taking control of Renly's forces at Bitterbridge and bringing them over to Stannis's, but he was defeated by Loras Tyrell and imprisoned at High Garden.

Do you think it was Stannis’ expectation that Guyard Morrigen, Parmen Crane, and Lord Bryce Caron, were to stay on in their roles as members of Stannis’ Seven, after the fact?

Would he have had a Seven (kingsguard) if he publically renounced the Faith, burned a godswood and statues of the Seven, and embraced R'hllorism as AAR? I don't know. I think he might still have a kingsguard but reframed as something less steeped in the Faith, at the bare minimum. The matter of religion is going to be a real problem for Stannis, as the majority of his kingdom is not going to be keen on conversion, especially if he did something stupid like burn the Sept of Balor. (Hard stare at the show that shall not be named).

"Davos, I have missed you sorely," the king said. "Aye, I have a tail of traitors, your nose does not deceive you. My lords bannermen [Caron & Morrigen] are inconstant even in their treasons. I need them, but you should know how it sickens me to pardon such as these when I have punished better men for lesser crimes. You have every right to reproach me, Ser Davos."

This is the sausage-making of coalition building. Stannis does not have Renly or Robert's charisma, and he's prone to dressing down lords in his service that are not accustomed to being spoken to that way. Doling out honors and appointments is his best way to keep people on his side. Assuming they had lived or not been captured, yeah, Sers Morrigen and Crane stood a chance of being raised to Stannis's hypothetical kingsguard, though Stannis would begrudge ever doing so. Maybe not Lord Bryce Caron as he's the last lord and heir to Nightsong, having only a bastard half-brother. There are other ways he could be rewarded, like lands, incomes, or an appointment to the small council.

Thanks for the question.

[sayruq]

you know doran's most persistent criticism is that all of elia's murderers are dead but he won't stop looking for justice. this is not even accurate. most of doran' moves happened before tywin's death. there's oberyn calling the banners for viserys, there's the marriage pact between viserys and arianne, there's the attempt to get the two of them to meet, there's oberyn's travels and him forming a sellsword company, and quentyn being sent to daenerys. all of these more or less happened before tywin croaked. 

quentyn left around the same time as tywin's death. now the question antis ask is 'why didn't doran stop? he got his justice.' but did he? the lannisters lied about elia's death being carried out by gregor on his own volition and everyone involved in the murders and cover up, with the exception of the mountain, died randomly without ever answering for what they did. elia's torture and murder as well as that of rhaenys and the little boy (i believe aegon is real, let's just move on) is still being covered up. i mean they cremated their bodies in order to hide the evidence of the crime. has dorne been compensated? no it has not.

it's apparently greedy for doran to want his children as royalty on top of getting justice for his family but does anyone think that of robert, ned and jon arryn? when they arrived in king’s landing, aerys was dead. shouldn't it be considered greedy for robert to take the throne? i mean he got his justice. aerys and rhaegar were dead. why did not they call a Great Council? robert didn’t even want the throne and he took it.

doran is accused of wanting the throne more than justice so i guess that applies to robert, ned and jon arryn too. but if it doesn't apply to those 3, it doesn't apply to doran. i mean doran is the only one who even cares about the price the smallfolk and his children will pay when the war starts and unlike those 3, the war that will remove the lannisters started without doran's direct involvement. aegon has landed and he will go after the lannisters whether doran wants him to or not. just as it was right for ned to go war because his family was threatened, it is right for doran to support his nephew. 

if grrm punishes doran for that by killing the martells, he is not saying, 'vengeance is wrong,' he is saying, 'i am racist who holds my brown characters to a harsher standard.'

[her-gentle-prison]

Warm like the winter sun

(some fic I had written for Aegon week and never posted, tagging @sayruq bc I promised you! I’m sorry this took so long!)

This takes place in the canon-verse. A little after Aegon takes King’s Landing. Told from Arianne’s POV.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Winter is here, Arianne thought as she laid a hand on the cool stones of the Red Keep, her fingers already nipped with cold.

She would never get used to the weather. She missed Dorne, and the sun, the fresh sea-salt breeze and the smell of lemons wafting through the air. In King's Landing the very air was foul and heavy, cold and unfamiliar.

It was her duty to stay here though, and so she would.

As she descended the stairs, her footsteps echoing like ripples of water, she thought about Quentyn. He had not come back, and if these sellswords were to be believed, he would be caught in the middle of a war. Arianne felt a shiver down her spine at the thought. She would remember to lit a candle in prayer for him.

She was looking for Prince Aegon in that labyrinth of walls and stairs. 

Siding with him had been bold, and no easy choice by any means. She had made sure Dorne’s allegiance would not be given without a price. Lord Connington had not been so happy about this. As for the prince, he had seemed neither angry nor surprised about it. Perhaps he understood better than others that they were strangers to one another, more than they were family.

She found him standing in an abandoned room, shrouded and silent, and were it not for the warm light of the torches, she would have barely seen him standing there. He looked as if he were carved out of ice. A lonely, etheral figure in the dead of the room.

Arianne stepped in, the bottom of her gown pooling across the blood-red stones. Somehow the room felt even colder. She wrapped the cloak tighter around herself.

"The people are missing you, Your Grace." she said, her breath fogging the air between them.

Dark-blue eyes settled on her, curious. "What are you doing here, Princess?"

"I wished to thank you, for justice." for vengeance

"I should be thanking you, I think," he smiled, "for your spears and for your help. For home."

She studied him carefully, wondering if she should be bold and put his words to the test. The prince had proved easy enough to parley with before. But he would be a king soon, and a prince no more.

"Words are winds, Your Grace. Dorne needs more than justice. As do I."

He took a step closer. "What is it you want?"

If he had asked her a few moons ago, she would have had a ready answer. She had wanted Dorne and her birthright, and the sad girl who had cried herself to sleep had wanted nothing more than her father's love.

She was a princess of Dorne though. It did not matter what she wanted.

"I want a place in your small council", she decided, "and for the rest of ser Gregor's body to be sent to Dorne."

"So you mean to stay here?"

For now. It would take some time before the letter reached her father. Until then she was still to be his eyes and ears.

She smiled. "Are you so eager to be rid of me?" 

Arianne stopped to give the room a closer look. She had not noticed at first glance how unkempt the place looked. Like it had not been used for a very long time. The great hearth was full of ash, and the chair seated next to it full of dust, as if frozen in time. Perhaps in the past a woman would sit there, nursing her babe by the fire. 

"What is this place, Your Grace ?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. It called out to me. I heard a voice, it sounded like a laughter, like a cry... Tell me, is that odd?", he cocked his head to one side. " I heard ghosts roam this castle. I hoped it would be true, so I could kiss the stones here and tell my mother and sister they have not been forgotten."

Arianne watched him curiously. To her, the Red Keep was a bleak and desolate place. She had never thought that to him, it might feel like home.

Arianne remembered her own mother, whom she had not seen in many, many, years. 

She remembered her mother’s small figure, the dancing laughter shining in her eyes... And Quentyn, her sweet doe-eyed brother, would follow the lady Mellario like a little shadow. Like a moth ever drawn to her flame. 

Arianne remembered watching them, envious despite herself, as if she could never truly belong with them. Too much like her father and yet too little as well.

She had not noticed her hand tightening around her gown until he placed a hand over hers.

His hand is warm, she realizes with surprise when he laces his fingers with hers, and covered in nicks and scars.

It's his thank you.

For help, for home.

[butterflies-dragons]

CASTLES BATTLEMENTS & BEDCHAMBERS

Jon: I'm having the lord's chamber prepared for you.

Sansa: Mother and Father's room? You should take it.

Jon: I'm not a Stark.

Sansa: You are to me.

Jon: You're the Lady of Winterfell. You deserve it. We're standing here because of you. The battle was lost until the Knights of the Vale rode in. They came because of you.

—Game of Thrones - Season 6 - Episode 10 "The Winds of Winter"

***

As Ghost Hill slept that night, the princess donned a hooded cloak against the chill and and walked the castle battlements to clear her thoughts. Daemon Sand found her leaning on a parapet and gazing out to sea, where the moon was dancing on the water. "Princess," he said. "You ought to be abed."

"I could say the same of you." Arianne turned to gaze upon his face. A good face, she decided. The boy I knew has become a handsome man. His eyes were as blue as a desert sky, his hair the light brown of the sands they had just crossed. A close-cropped beard followed the thin of a strong jaw, but could not quite hide the dimples when he smiled. I always loved his smile.

The Bastard of Godsgrace was one of Dorne's finest swords as well, as might be expected from one who had been Prince Oberyn's squire and had received his knighthood from the Red Viper himself. Some said that he had been her uncle's lover too, though seldom to his face. Arianne did not know the truth of that. He had been her lover, though. At fourteen she had given him her maidenhead. Daemon had not been much older, so their couplings had been as clumsy as they were ardent. Still, it had been sweet.

Arianne gave him her most seductive smile. "We might share a bed together."

Ser Daemon's face was stone. "Have you forgotten, princess? I am bastard born." He took her hand in his. "If I am unworthy of this hand, how can I be worthy of your cunt?"

She snatched her hand away. "You deserve a slap for that."

"My face is yours. Do what you will."

"What I will you will not, it seems. So be it. Talk with me instead. Could this truly be Prince Aegon?"

"Gregor Clegane ripped Aegon out of Elia's arms and smashed his head against a wall," Ser Daemon said. "If Lord Connington's prince has a crushed skull, I will believe that Aegon Targaryen has returned from the grave. Elsewise, no. This is some feigned boy, no more. A sellsword's ploy to win support."

My father fears the same. "If not, though... if this truly is Jon Connington, if the boy is Rhaegar's son... "

"Are you hoping that he is, or that he's not?"

"I... it would give great joy to my father if Elia's son were still alive. He loved his sister well."

"It was you I asked about, not your father."

So it was. "I was seven when Elia died. They say I held her daughter Rhaenys once, when I was too young to remember. Aegon will be a stranger to me, whether true or false." The princess paused. "We looked for Rhaegar's sister, not his son." Her father had confided in Ser Daemon when he chose him as his daughter's shield; with him at least she could speak freely. "I would sooner it were Quentyn who'd returned."

"Or so you say," said Daemon Sand. "Good night, princess." He bowed to her, and left her standing there.

—The Winds of Winter - Arianne I