The Provenance || Jon Snow | Game of Thrones

9.07

Valyrion screeches above their heads, and Gabrielle has to wonder what he is trying to tell her as they make their way towards the front lines with four wolves at their back. That they are in danger?  That's true. That Daenerys is mad?  Yes, she sees that. Indeed, the falcon's calls seem to be of little meaning as she stares intently at the sometimes daft bird she also loves. But huffing with the knowledge she cannot understand animals, Gabrielle turns her gaze back to the path before them, between the lines of the North and the Unsullied as Jon walks at her side.

"You think we'll win this?" Jon asks from her side, not particularly close but not needing to be. She looks at the man and sees the comfort they have in each other, that the desire that once made them always wish to be touching was now the opposite—a confidence that they are stronger than ever, even when apart.

But these thoughts do not answer his question, instead looking to the Golden Company across from them with little fear of their fight, "Yes, I believe we will. The better question is if Daenerys will stay her word."

Jon turns to her profile, seeing the sentiment and steadiness in her eyes and nodding thus in agreement at the woman's judgement. He leaves them to silence then as the world seems to darken around them at the impending battle, arriving at the front of the troops where Stannis has already found his position. The stiff man stares at the rather pompous Golden Company leader across from them, the man giving Gabrielle a couple of glances—wondering why a woman is on the battlefield—before she practically snarls in warning and he quickly looks away.

She's still got it.

But her play is forgotten the next moment as an explosion sounds from their right—from the depths of Blackwater Bay as fire leaps into the air and two dragons divebomb the ships of Euron Greyjoy. And as perfectly planned, Viserion swoops in from behind her head, casting a shadow over the troops and then Gabrielle as the ice dragon appears suddenly before the enemy, like a rocket that unleashes a hailstorm of blue fire on the gates of King's Landing and then on the scorpions alike. And—to the horror of the soldiers and Cersei Lannister as she watches from safety—the scorpion's torpedoes do nothing to the undead beast as he works in quick form to destroy every last scorpion before the other two have done the same with the boats.

Gabrielle bears a proud grin—at her dragon—when Jon looks to her, struck but pressed by the upcoming surge into the remaining enemies. He asks her promptly as her head turns towards him, "Stay near me will you? I'd like to know you're safe should things go wrong."

"Of course," she acquiesces without a fight, and he's again struck by how much she's changed. And yet, she reminds him, "But if I'm obliged to go deeper into the field to help others, I will do so. Will you follow me?"

Jon stares deeply into her masked blue eyes—not masked in their feeling but in their color, now green—as he wonders how he was so lucky to have found her in this dire world. Pressing a soft kiss to her lips, he looks to her as she looks to him with perpetual love that will bring them through this war and hardship, and he promises her, "Never doubt that. Now, watch out for Valyrian steel."

Gabrielle smiles softly and he echoes the sentiment, drawn back quickly to the moment as Stannis Baratheon shouts the charge and they are all suddenly dashing at the enemy—into the lingering lines of the Golden Company's men as the true battle begins.

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When Oberyn rises from the cesspit tunnels beneath the city, the streets are a blur of red and tan as men rush towards the gate and the civilians—mainly women and children—towards the castle...all in a mad dash to fight and flee the conquest of the Dragon Queen. And yet, Oberyn recognizes the terror for what it is: that no matter where the people run, they will be in danger upon this day. It's not so much a question as to if King's Landing will fall—but when. And he can only pray for the sake of the women and children that they find solace in the Keep before the Unsullied make their mark on the alleys of this hostile town.