The Darkness of Day

Jon: North of the Wall

Jon

"Breathe in."

He rests his hands against her elbows, trying to hold her back from the edge she was feeling. He feels her back move against his hands, as she takes a deep breath, her eyes focused on her target.

"Now let go."

The arrow soars through the air, landing straight through the eye of a rabbit more than 100 feet away. The girl jumps up in joy and turns to him, her brown eyes wide with excitement.

"Did you see that?! I got it!"

She runs towards the dead animal and Jon chuckles, watching her go.

Dan had grown. A lot.

He had taken it upon himself to start calling her that after the name Dany evoked far too much pain within him. Yes, it did sound like more of a man name, but for now his little girl was okay with it and he didn't mind.

But it was strange. She was...strange.

From the moment he found her, all alone in that house, he knew she was special, that she was meant to somehow be his. But something changed that neither he, nor the freefolk thought would happen.

She aged twice in one year. And it happened, again, and again.

That sounded strange, but it was hard to explain. Dan was more at the age of ten now, but it had only been five years since he had found her, all alone as a babe. She walked, spoke intelligent sentences, smiled at others and helped – she was even learning how to use a sword and other weapons, like the bow, as soon as she could, because she can.

It was like her body, or whatever it was, just skipped those years and decided they wanted her to be older than everyone else. He didn't know how to explain it, and neither did the others, but they were happy to just live with the idea that she just grew quicker.

Fuck knew magic was everywhere. Maybe she was the cause of it. He just hoped she didn't grow up too fast. He quite enjoyed the way she was now.

Dan truly had been the light of his life for the past five years. She had shown him hope, happiness, a pathway to helping someone achieve greatness. And while he doubted Dan would ever rule any castles or marry a fine lord, he could at least be happy knowing she was happy.

She was his world.

The freefolk loved her too, despite the weird happenings of her age. She would run around and help as much as she could, greet everyone, even 'attempt' to join them on hunts, but Jon kept her away. There was no way he was risking his little girl getting hurt out there.

And then she would pout and be angry, but be happy when he returned.

The freefolk had no ruler, but Tormund would often slide to him and say they considered her the 'princess of the freefolk' because she treated everyone so well and would help others as she would want them to help her. Jon just took that as the one good thing in parentage he had done.

Of course, there were still her looks.

When Jon first saw Dan, he knew there was something different about her. He still even to this day didn't know if there was some relation to Daenerys herself, but he could see the clear similarities. Maybe one day he would force himself to really think about who she was and consider that a possibility. But for now, he would say faith gave her to him.

As much as a part of him wished dearly that it was hers.

Her eyes had stayed the same, but Dan's face had started to take the mold of the woman he loved – still loved, even now. She had the same smile, same twinkle in her eyes, same laugh, and of course, the same light blonde hair that was almost as white as the snow beneath them, but every part of him just kept saying 'she can't be hers. She is dead.'