The Dragon & The Wolf (Daenarya)

chapter 17

She didn't want to leave Arya for an instant, but Sansa was owed a few minutes alone with her sister. When she crossed the yard to the main building she saw a flow of soldiers trickling in. Without a dragon to fly on, it had taken them hours to get back to Winterfell. Most were injured and even with an untrained eye she could tell many wouldn't survive the night. She couldn't let Arya join them.

She slipped into the rear of the room without ceremony. It was crowded, and everyone's attention was elsewhere. She worked her way through a few clusters of people and stopped when she was close enough to hear what was being discussed clearly.

"They murdered themselves?" Tyrion said in disbelief. "Are you certain?"

"That's what it says," Missandei answered confidently.

"It requires a merger of both light and dark," Melisandre explained. "The father was the dark, his wife the light."

"So," Yara said, sounding displeased, "to save Arya we need to find a person who is light and a person who is dark and kill them? Great, should we dispatch ravens asking them to come to Winterfell?" By the end her tone had turned sarcastic.

Daenerys felt as if her heart might break through her chest. Were her ears deceiving her? There was a way to save Arya? With a new sense of purpose, she pushed her way to the front. By the time she did, Jon had already decided. "I'll do it," he said. "I was Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, I took the black, I'll represent the dark."

No one objected to his suggestion. "Who will be the light?"

Daenerys didn't have to think about it. "I will," she said clearly.

Violet eyes moved around the room, each face wearing a different emotion. Missandei looked sad, Jorah horrified, Tyrion regretful, and Yara stunned. Jon, her husband, was the hardest to come to terms with. His handsome face flickered between understanding and fear. Bran and Melisandre acted as if she hadn't spoken and Sam was doing everything he could not to look at her.

"Khaleesi no," Jorah said. He left his seat and moved to her side as if being closer might give him more sway over her choice. "You mustn't. You're needed here, and you have the baby to think about."

The baby. She'd been so focused on Arya she hadn't considered the child. Her life had come back to its beginning again. Once again, she was forced to choose between the baby she wanted and the person she loved. The Gods, if they existed were cruel indeed. Things hadn't gone her way last time. She sacrificed her son to try and save Drogo, and in the end, lost them both. It had been the right thing then, to risk everything to try and save the Khal and she was willing to do it again now, for Arya.

"He's right," Jon said, sounding almost disappointed to have to say so. "The Realm needs you, the baby needs you and Arya will need you when she's back."

Didn't he understand? Arya wouldn't be back at all if she didn't do this. She'd once thought she'd be willing to give up everything she had or would have for Arya. She was being put to the test. This was her chance to prove it was more than just boastful talk.

"Would it work?" she asked, the question posed to Bran. If anyone could tell them if she stood a chance representing the light, it was him.

"No," he said, dashing all of her hopes. "You are not the sacrifices the ritual demands. Arya would hate to return to find the two of you gone."

All too clearly, she could imagine Arya's furious response to what they were suggesting. Bran was right, she would be enraged. Arya would gladly die to keep Jon, Daenerys and the baby alive. She knew that, but it wasn't up to Arya. Daenerys wasn't willing to let her go.