The Warg Lord (ASOIAF)(SI)

[LazyWizard]

The princess sat idly on the chair in front of the vanity table in her room.


Her face was smushed between her palms, and her legs swung to and fro underneath the table as she stared at the rat, Gan, who seemed to be having the time of his life chewing through a big piece of cheese that Daenerys had ordered her maid to get.


"Is he here yet?" the girl asked.


The rat looked up, shook its tiny head and then went back to the cheese.


For Gan, the piece of dairy in front of him was far more important than answering the stupid human female who kept asking the same question again and again.


"When is he going to be here then?" Daenerys whined in a petulant tone, having grown tired of waiting. Though in fact it hadn't been longer than twenty minutes since their appointment time had passed.


Thankfully, at that exact moment, the aura of the rat completely changed, and its eyes suddenly gained a hint of extraordinary wisdom that it did not have before, even with its relatively high intelligence compared to other rats.


"I got a little busy because of a sudden meeting, Daenerys," The rat wrote with a hint of apology in its eyes, "I am sorry for the tardiness."


"N-No problem," Daenerys replied, hastily shaking her head.


The last Targaryen Princess still felt a bit unnatural talking to a rat, even though it had been more than a week since she had gotten acquainted with this strange relative of hers.


It had been explained to her quite a few times that it was not the rat that was doing the 'talking' here, but a boy named Jon Snow who was controlling the rat using... Magic.


She had, of course, been very skeptical at first, wondering if she was being duped here, but then the boy had reminded her that their ancestors used to regularly fly on dragons... so this little bit of magic was actually not strange, especially considering that there are real magics out there, among the likes of Ancient Warlocks, the Red God followers, and the others.


"So how was your day?" Jon asked as a conversation opener, like he did every day.


"It was fine," Daenerys answered with a smile, "I had lunch, had a short walk in the inner garden, and then came back into my room."


"So your brother is still not letting you out of the mansion, huh?" Jon asked with a hint of sympathy in his black, beady eyes.


"No..." Daenerys shook her head with a forced smile on her face, "But its fine, I have Gan here to keep me company," she said pointing towards the Rat that Jon had given to her as a part time pet, "Plus, I have you to talk to from time to time, so its not that bad,"


"If you say so," Jon replied before a serious look appeared on his face, "So did you read the book I sent you yesterday?"


"Oh, yes," the little girl exclaimed before she jumped up from her seat and ran towards her bed.


Kneeling on the floor, she grunted and raised her bedding with her right hand and then retrieved a thick book that had been deep inside with her left hand before she came running back to her seat, "I finished it," she said proudly while showing him the book.


"That is so fast, Daenerys. You really are a good reader," Jon praised without holding back, and the girl immediately blushed with a pleased smile on her face. "So? What did you think about it?"


"Oh, it was wonderful! I learned so many things. The names of so many of our ancestors and all the wonderful dragons they had, of how they were able to move across the continent on their whim, and how the people respected them..." The girl explained with wonder in her eyes as if she was wondering what it would have been like to live in such a place, but then, abruptly, a dreary look appeared in her eyes, "But then somehow...everything went wrong,"


"Oh..."


"It was all so heartbreaking and cruel," Daenerys said, her lips upturned in distress as she remembered the tragic tale she had read in the book that had been given such a... tame title, "They were all related to each other, brothers and sisters, uncle and nephews, but still they attacked each other so viciously... some were left maimed, some were torn apart in the sky, while others got burned and eaten by dragons, and the most cruel of all was when a mother was forced to choose between her two children," her eyes got a little wet as she remembered the tragedy that had befallen one of her ancestor, a woman who had been described as a peaceful mother, "And they did it all... so that one person could sit on an old iron chair,"


"It feels quite stupid, doesn't it?" Jon asked quietly.


"Yes," Daenerys answered with a sluggish nod, "Yes, it does. I just can't imagine why they, who had almost everything in the world at their fingertips, and were practically the most privileged people of their time, would go to such lengths for something so... useless."


"Their actions and decisions may seem a little unnatural and extreme, but you need to understand that these events had happened over the course of decades, and that many little things and events that influenced them may have just been left out by the Maesters, just because they were inconsequential to the realm. So we should not judge them just because of what is written in one book."


"I understand. It's just... I never assumed our ancestors were so..."


"Human?" Jon wrote with a hint of understanding in his beady eyes, "Because that is what they are... They may have had the might of dragons under their command, and they may have ruled the seven kingdoms for a few centuries, but no matter what anyone tells you, they were not gods.


They felt love, anger, greed, guilt and all the other emotions just like any other man or woman out there, and it is just because their decisions affect the whole realm that they seem so excessive in everything they do."


Daenerys remained silent for a few moments before she quietly asked, "Many people must have died during their conflicts, right?"


Jon thought for a few seconds before answering, "The Maesters say that the realm's population more than halved during that period, but there were other factors that contributed more to it, such as the spring sickness and the winter fever that hit Westeros shortly after the war, so it may have been an exaggeration. But yes, in the end, at least a hundred to two hundred thousand deaths have been attributed to that civil war,"


Even after knowing about the events, Daenerys was still absolutely shocked by the massive death toll.


"My brother... always made it seem," The girl mumbled to herself with unfocused eyes, "That the Targaryen family were the epitome of perfection, that the whole realm adored them, that seven kingdoms had prospered under our rule like never before, and that the realm wept when we were overthrown, that they secretly kept banner of our family to await our return..." she suddenly looked down at Jon with a wry smile on her face, "The smallfolks are not really waiting for the Targaryen family to take back the throne, are they?"


"Perhaps some are, who knows?" Jon wrote back with a shrug, "As far as I have witnessed, most smallfolks have short memories, and as long as they have food in their bellies they don't really care who sits on which ugly chair next,"


"Hm," The girl nodded quietly, before suddenly a bright smile appeared on her face. "So, what is the next book you are going to get me? Is it going to be one about the events after the Dance, or is it going to be a geography book? You know, similar to the one about all the wonders in Westeros, because I liked reading that..."


"You have already learnt about the history of the Seven Kingdoms, before and after Aegon's conquest, and now that you have also read about the Dance, I think it is time for us to move on to more recent history."


"R-Recent history, you say?" Daenerys gulped in a somewhat nervous voice.


She already had many of her previous misconceptions about her family destroyed by these books, so safe to say the girl was very frightened about what she would find out next.


"Yes. My friend shall deliver the book to your room sometime during the evening, and..." Here the rat hesitated for a moment, looking at the girl with something akin to pity, before his eyes firmed up, "I need you to promise me that whatever information you find in there... You will keep an open mind about it."


"I... Yes, I will,"


Jon nodded, gave her a friendly wave and then disappeared from Gan's body, hoping that the girl finds the inner strength to stand on her promise.


...


She didn't...


Red-eyes, puffy cheeks, angry nostrils, and dishevelled hair that indicated a night without sleep...


That was the condition in which Jon found Daenerys in, the next time he arrived in Gan's body.


"Hello, Daenerys, how are you—"


"Who wrote this book?!" The last Targaryen girl immediately asked while slamming the said book on the table in front of Jon, scaring the rat so much that he almost lost control of its body, which had never happened to Jon in all his career as a warg.


"Daenery, I—" Jon began to explain, but the girl was not having it that day, as she directly cleared off the ink before Jon was able to write more than a few words.


"Just tell me who?!"


"...Maester Garbald," Jon answered truthfully, not wanting to get on the girl's nerves more than necessary.


"A Maester?! One from that Citadel?" she angrily asked, tightly gripping the book as if wanting to tear it to pieces, "Why? Why would he write such lies? Who paid him to do it? Wait—was he working for the Usurpers?"


"No, Daenerys, listen to me, I—"


"No, I will not listen to you," she shouted in an enraged voice, before standing up so fast that she sent the chair flying... not that the girl cared about it at the moment, "Everything in this book is a damn lie!! Everything!" she screamed as she threw the book towards the wall.


Now, Jon was more than a little panicked, as there was almost a fifty percent chance that a maid had heard the commotion and was on her way here, so he knew he did not have much time if he wanted to keep his cover, "Daenerys! please calm down—" he tried to write as fast as he could but his claws just weren't fast enough for the furious girl.


"Why would you tell me such lies, Jon?" The girl asked in a dejected tone, "Are you working for the Usurper too?"


"No, of course not," Jon hastily wrote, cursing Gan's inability to speak, "You promised me Daenerys, that you would keep an open—"


"I do not care what I promised!" The girl replied furiously, "I will never believe these lies, that my father was a... that he ra..." her voice broke a little at the end, as big fat tears began dropping down her cheeks.


"Everyone knows this as the truth, Daenerys. Everyone!" Jon wrote quickly with a beeseching look in his eyes, "It was a well-known fact even before the rebellion."


Daenerys was silent for a few moments before she abruptly raised her eyes and asked in a soft voice, "Everyone knows you say,"


"Yes, but—"


"Then I need to speak to my brother," she calmly stated and immediately walked towards the door.


"Daenerys, no—Chi! Chi!!" Gan squeaked as loud as he could, but it was completely futile as the girl resolutely left the room.


'Ah, this is such a mess.'


Jon groaned while massaging his tiny head to alleviate the headache that he was experiencing, even in his warg mode.


He had known that her reaction would be an adverse one when she learned the truth about Aerys Targaryen, but he had still underestimated the sheer hysteria... and now he needed to deal with the fallout.


Thankfully, Jon had been prepared for such an eventuality and had Frost on standby in the sky, so it was not the worst-case scenario yet.


Barely a few seconds after Daenerys left in anger, Frost swooped into the room headfirst with her wings tucked closed to her side to fit through the window.


Her size was much too big to fly around the room, so she had to wobble on her two legs, but it still did not take her long to gather all the incriminating evidence that Jon had shared with Daenerys over the week.


Things such as maps, small trinkets, flowers from Westeros, and even a few pieces of jewellery belonging to her Mother that the siblings had been forced to sell during their hard time.


It was not actually very hard for Jon to gather information on the jewellery's whereabouts, and once he knew where they were placed... well, there were a few things in this world that he couldn't retrieve once he decided he wanted them.


Anyhow, at most a minute later, all the things had been laid on a long piece of cloth, including the book that had been roughly thrown against the wall, and, in its place, a completely mundane book was put upon the desk to serve as a substitute.


With Gan's help, Frost managed to turn the cloth into a portable bag that she could grab onto with her claws and then, with a final nod at the rat, she bolted out of the window, once again making sure that her wings did not hit the window.


All in all, the operation had been completed in under two minutes, and now Gan just needed to hide and wait for the inevitable shit show.


As he expected, some five minutes after Frost had left, the door to the room slammed open, and in came a very furious-looking Viserys, roughly pulling his sister behind him.


The girl was crying and had a clear red palm print on her face, indicating that Viserys had not been very gentle in showing his displeasure after his sister asked him her questions.


His eyes fiercely scanned the room before they stopped to settle on the book placed on the vanity table.


Having found his target, Viserys immediately went over to grab the book, "Is this one?!" he turned and asked with a sneer, and when his sister did not answer him immediately, he grabbed her arm as hard as he could and brutally shook her, "Tell me!! Is this the damn book?!"


"I—Yes!" Daenerys answered in a scared voice.


The girl just wanted it to be over, so she did not even bother to look at the book in her brother's hand.


Viserys looked at the title of the book in his hand, and for a moment, he got confused as he wondered why a book about the Geography of Westeros would have any mention of his father in it.


But he had no patience to read the whole book and find out the reason, so instead he just decided to deal with it in the best way that he could... by chucking it straight into the fireplace.


"No more books for you... ever." He ordered while turning back towards his sister, "Do you understand?"


"Yes," Daenerys nodded quietly, her eyes not raising from the floor.


"And if I hear you speak this way about our father, and spread those lies ever again, then..." he grabbed her hair and ruthlessly pulled them up, "Ah!!", forcing her to look at him, "You will not like what I have in store for you," he warned in a nasty tone, his eyes taking on a dangerous gleam that scared the girl more than she had ever been before.


Daenerys tearfully nodded her head, acknowledging his threat.


"Good," Viserys said, releasing her and backing away, but suddenly out of nowhere, he brutally slapped her with the back of his hand, sending the girl straight towards the floor.


Unfortunately, that little cry was the only reaction that Daenerys gave, leaving Viserys a little disappointed, as he had been hoping to teach the girl more of a lesson, but it seemed that the girl had finally learned her place.


Snorting at the pathetic visage of his sister, Viserys left the room without a backwards glance.


For a few seconds, Daenerys just sat there on the floor sniffling, deeply regretting her impulsiveness, but then she suddenly heard a very familiar squeaking voice.


Almost immediately, a look of immense relief appeared on her face as she looked up to catch the familiar figure of Gan the rat still standing on her desk. "You're still here," she cried as she hastily got up and ran to her vanity table.


"Are you fine?" The rat immediately wrote with a look of concern on its face.


It had been very hard for Jon to watch everything that had transpired and somehow suppress his urge to just have Frost rip that trash's head clean off.


Because he knew that no matter how hateful that shit was, it would still be very traumatic for Daenerys if her brother became a headless body right in front of her... but it had nonetheless been a very close thing, especially towards the end.


"I-I am fine," she answered with a forced smile while waving away his concern as if what had happened was not a big deal, "But... I am really sorry for reacting like that," she said in a small voice.


"No problem," Jon wrote while comforting her by patting his tiny claws on her fist, "We all have our moments now and then."


"Thank you," she said with a grateful smile on her face, very relieved that she was not being blamed even when she had acted so stupidly.


"I guess from your brother's reaction that you asked him about your father," Jon asked after Daenerys had calmed down a bit.


"Yes," The girl nodded her head, "But don't worry, I did not tell him anything about you or how you gave me the book. I just told him that I had found the book when I last went to the market."


"That was quite smart of you, Daenerys," Jon replied with a hint of relief in his eyes. He was quite happy that his cover had not been blown and that his plan could still go unhindered.


"It's just a shame about the book, though," she said remorsefully while looking towards the fireplace where the book had been reduced to half its original size in the midst of the fire. "It must have been quite expensive, right?"


"It was indeed priceless, but do not worry, I didn't buy it, I just 'borrowed' it from the Citadel for a while," Jon wrote with a shrug, not mentioning that those old rats were completely unaware of any such borrowings.


"That is... good, I guess," Daenerys replied with a confused expression, before she looked down and fell silent.


Jon knew that the girl probably wanted to avoid talking about it, but he also knew that they would have to do it sooner or later; as far as he knew, it was always better to rip off the bandage in one go.


"So, did your brother answer your questions?"


"No, he did not," The girl replied after a few seconds, "At least not truthfully,"


"What do you mean?"


"I... When I asked him if our father was a good man, he instantly answered with a yes." Daenerys answered in a low voice, "But when I asked him if our father loved our mother, his answer was not so immediate..."


"Oh..."


"Yes, he tried to hide it but I could see that he was uncomfortable with the question," Daenerys said with a depressed smile on her face, "Eventually, he said to me, that our mother was a good wife who did her duty by her husband, and our father in return protected her from all the enemies like a proper husband, and that is all one needs from a marriage,"


"But even though he did not say it, I knew what the real answer was from the look on his face," The girl said with quivering lips, trying hard to stop herself from crying, "If even my brother, who practically idolizes my father, was uncomfortable with it, then I knew that it must have been all true... that my father," she practically spat the word here, "was indeed abusing and r-raping my mother,"


Daenerys' eyes were blazing in fury as they had never before, and Jon had no idea what he should do here.


Should he comfort her, or should he get angry with her and disparage her father, or perhaps he should comfort her by saying that her mother was in a better place now?


But thankfully, Jon did not have to do anything in the end, as the girl took a deep breath and managed to calm down on her own.


"I had, of course, been very angry after that, so I blurted my next question without thinking." Daenerys continued while looking down at her hands, "I asked him if he remembered what Aerys was like during his last days, if Viserys remembered what he looked like, if he really became so paranoid that he stopped bathing, stopped cutting his nails in fear of assassins, and if he revelled in watching people get burned to their death, I asked him if he knew that our father was insane..." Daenerys finished in one go before turning back towards Jon.


"...you can imagine what happened next," she said, pointing towards the red prints on her face with a miserable smile, "I was quite stupid, wasn't I?"


"No, Daenerys, you were not stupid... You had every right to be angry, and you did what any child would have done if they found out that one of their parent was a..."


"Monster?" the girl supplied with a detached look in her eyes, "Anyway, he asked me where I learned all these 'lies' from, and I told him the lie about buying the book from the market... and, well, you already saw what happened next,"


They sat in silence for a few moments before Jon wrote once again, "You need to remember, Daenerys, that your Father was not like that from the beginning... I mean, he was never a good king or even a good person, but he was at least sane."


"But then, some bad things happened, and they completely broke him from the inside, they turned him into the man he was at the end, and I am not trying to absolve him of his faults here by telling you that.. I just want to caution you that we all, especially we of dragon blood, have a deep darkness inside of us, and it was only because of his weak will that he so easily succumbed to it, and let it take over his heart."


Daenerys looked thoughtful for a few seconds before quietly asking, "Is my brother walking on the same road as my father?"


"I...yes, perhaps," Jon tried to answer as truthfully as he could, "You could never be sure of these things, but I think that if he continues like he has, then eventually... yes, your brother, too, would become like your father."


The room fell silent after that, and for almost five minutes the girl did not say a single word.


She just stared at her reflection in the mirror with unseeing eyes, wondering if her mother's face had resembled hers after her father abused her.


"Don't worry, Daenerys, everything will be—"


"I want to take you up on your previous offer, Jon," The girl interrupted while looking at this strange relative of hers with a determined look in her eyes, "I want to leave the mansion."


There was a short moment of surprise where the rat just looked at her with its mouth wide open, but then a large grin appeared on its face as it hurriedly nodded, 'Yes, finally.'


///

You know where to go if you cannot wait to read ahead...

 

[LazyWizard]

"Are you sure that this is the place, Father?" Nymeria asked with an eyebrow raised in scepticism as she squinted to try and see through the darkness.


The time was just before dawn, with only a hint of light from the half moon shining down giving them just a hint of visibility otherwise, they would have been completely blind and would not even have made it to this spot.


"Yes. I am quite sure," Oberyn replied distractedly while untying the luggage from his horse.


He had been expressly told to travel light, so the only things the man had bought with him were his weapons, his other weapons, his poison kit, and two changes of clothes.


"But there is nothing here," Nymeria cried in a confused voice, "I look left, I see nothing but sand, I look right, the same. And there is nothing behind us for leagues and leagues. With the big wide ocean in the front, how is anyone even supposed to find us here?"


"Nymeria is right," Sarella commented while unloading her luggage with a thoughtful expression on her face, as if trying to solve a puzzle, "How did your contact even manage to give this location to you? There are no distinct landmarks around us..."


"He did not need to," Oberyn answered with a shrug as he went on to unload his daughter Nymeria's luggage, who was too busy scouting the surroundings to do it herself. Hers was almost twice as heavy as Oberyn's luggage had been, and this was after he had reprimanded her thrice about excess load, "My friend just told me to find the nearest isolated coast and head towards there. He is supposed to meet us here at the break of dawn."


"Is this friend of yours really trustworthy?" Nymeria asked in a doubtful tone, her hand unconsciously sheathing and unsheathing the dagger at her waist, "Are you sure you were not duped by a crook, I mean I know that—Wait!! What are you—"


But her shouts went ignored as Oberyn commanded, "Go!" while slapping his horse's backside making it loudly neigh and take off, with the other two startled beasts following it soon after.


"W-Why would you do that, Father?!" Nymeria asked in a dumbfounded voice, "That was our way back!! What are we going to do if no one shows up?" she whined, her voice sounding a little hysterical, "We would have to walk for days to reach the nearest village, and we did not even bring any food because you wanted us to travel light,"


"And?" Oberyn asked back with a raised eyebrow, unmoved by the panic on his daughter's face, "Were you two, not the ones who wanted to go on an adventure with your old man? So why are you so scared of just a few days of walking? How are you then going to cope with all the difficulties ahead? Are you really sure you are ready for this trip?"


"But—"


"Calm down, Nymeria," Sarella interjected after taking a deep breath, having calmed down from her shock of seeing their horses run away, "Father is right. We promised him that we would follow all his orders while we are with him, so if he says it is fine for us to lose our only mode of travelling in the middle of nowhere then... we just need to believe in him." she told Nymeria in a serious voice, making the girl look away with a pout at the sudden lecture, "That said, I don't think our father would have done it if he did not have some kind of assurance that we will be quickly found," she whispered to Nymeria with a smile, "Though for the life of me I can not figure out how," she mumbled to herself with a frustrated glance at her surroundings.


"Oh, do not be so sure, my dear daughter," Oberyn said with a smirk, "Maybe I just wanted to teach my girls a lesson and this is all just an elaborate hoax,"


"No, that is not it," Sarella replied with an confident smile on her face, "Not only would that be too complicated for you, but you are also lazier than Arriane when it comes to trivial matters, so lesson or not, there is no chance of you waking up so early if you were not sure about the time of our pick up."


"Hm, I feel like there is an insult somewhere in there," Oberyn mumbled with a frown on his face, "What do you think?" he asked while turning towards his other daughter.


"Ugh! Who knows?" Nyermia replied raising her hands in exasperation, before she unceremoniously sat down on the sand, "I don't understand half the things she says... so how long do we even have to wait?"


Oberyn rolled his eyes but replied nonetheless, "Like I said, he will arrive at the break of dawn, and—"


"Which if I am not wrong..." Sarella interrupted while pointing towards the horizon in the East, "is already upon us,"


And she was right, as just a few seconds after her pointing it out, the first rays of the sun shone upon the sand dunes of Dorne turning them a beautiful gold.


"So, the dawn is here... but there is still no sign of that ship of yours," Nymeria murmured while scouting the dark wide ocean with her eyes narrowed, trying to pick out a ship-sized shadow.


"Give it a few minutes," Oberyn said calmly, while placing his far-eye on his eye, "I am sure he will—Oh, there it is,"


"What? Where?!" Both of Oberyn's daughters exclaimed as they followed his line of sight, and sure enough, after a few seconds of searching, they were able to pick out the pebble-size shape of a dark ship that was steadily getting bigger as it approached the shore.


"They really managed to find our exact location, huh," Nymeria let out in an amazed voice.


"B-But how is this even possible?" Sarella asked in a disbelieving, "They shouldn't even have been able to see in the darkness. How did they even know that we would be here?"


"Oh, that's Jon for you," Oberyn said with a shrug as if that explained everything, "He does these kinds of things from time to time, so it would be good for your mental health if you do not try and figure him out, and just go with the flow... otherwise, you will be left pulling your hair out all night long, with no answers to show for,"


"You say that as if he is a witch or something like that," Sarella said with a snort but got stunned when her father did not deny her immediately.


"Who knows," Oberyn murmured with a nonchalant look on his face, "I don't,"


"Here they come," Nymeria interrupted in an eager voice as she stood up from the sand, "But, wait! Why are they stopping all the way there?"


That ship was still more than 15 knots away from the shore when it suddenly stopped approaching them and just floated there, bobbing in its place up and down.


"Considering the ship's size and the shallow water along the beach... it makes sense that they stopped there," Sarella said with a frown on her face, "But still... they don't expect us to swim all the way there, do they?"


"Of course not," Oberyn answered with a shake of his head, "Jon knows that we have our luggage with us so he would not make us swim to the ship, especially not in these currents."


"Then how are we supposed to cross the—"


"Aha, there comes our ride," Oberyn exclaimed with a smile on his face while pointing towards a small boat that suddenly came into view from around the ship.


"Finally," Nymeria said with a hint of excitement in her tone as she hurriedly bent down to pick up her luggage from the sand, "Let's go,"


"Wait!" Oberyn said with an absurd expression on his face, "Am I seeing things or is that boat completely empty?"


"What? Don't be absurd." Sarella scoffed while snatching the far-eye from her father's hand, "How can a boat move without anyone to row..." the girl trailed off and her jaw dropped down when she realised that her father was right, there indeed was no one on the boat, "How is this even possible?" she whispered dumbfoundedly.


"There is always something new to see with that lad," Oberyn muttered while shaking his head with a wry smile on his face.


"Huh? Maybe they just pushed it a little from behind and the flow is carrying it the rest of the way towards us," Nymeria suggested with an uncaring shrug.


"Not only is that completely unreliable, but the flow is very erratic and would have carried it away from the shore, not towards us," Sarella immediately replied without looking away from the boat.


"Then perhaps they used a rope,"


"How in seven hells would that even work?" Sarella asked with an exasperated look on her face.


"How the hell would I know," Nymeria replied with a roll of her eyes, "And who cares how it arrives here, anyway. What matters, is that it is here," she said as she bent down and picked up her luggage before walking towards the boat that was now only a few seconds away from the shore, "So you need to stop all this useless thinking and just get on the bloody boat."


"Easy for you to say, when—AH!! What the Fuck!!" Sarella abruptly screamed, lurching backwards as she tripped over her own feet and fell down while looking at the boat with her eyes widened in terror.


"What?! What happened?" Oberyn and Nymeria hurriedly asked while vigilantly scouring their surroundings with their hand on their weapons.


"A-A Monster!" Sarella replied while pointing a shaky finger towards the water under the boat where she had, just for a moment, seen the scariest shadowy tentacle that was large enough to crush all three of them in its grip, "T-There! Under the boat! I-I saw something there!"


"That's all?!" Nymeria asked with an irked look on her face, as all the tension left her body, "Here I thought we were getting attacked or something, and instead, you were just getting scared of a bloody fish," she said in annoyance while standing up, "Did reading all those books at the citadel fry your brains or something?"


"But—" Sarella stammered while trying to calm down her breathing, wondering if she had really been overreacting, 'Fish can't get that big can they?"


Unlike his daughter, who had immediately dismissed her sister's claim as a trick of the eye, Obeyrn was looking towards the sea with a serious frown on his face, wondering if this was a new trick that Jon had learned during the short time that they had separated, 'I would not put it past that boy,'


"Come on now," Nymeria shouted as she went through the shallow water to grab the boat. After placing her luggage inside, Nymeria jumped into the boat and turned towards the other two before impatiently waving at them, "Hurry up, or else that Jon fellow would think that we are getting cold feet and do not want to go with them."


"Are you fine?" Oberyn asked as he took Sarella's hand and pulled her up.


"I-Yes," Sarella nodded before taking a deep breath as a forced smile appeared on her face, "Nymeria is right, it must have been just a big fish,"


"If you say so," Oberyn said with a searching gaze before he whispered with a smile, "Good, let us move to the boat then, otherwise your sister may just leave us here in her excitement,"


"I would not put that past her," Sarella snorted wryly as they went and took their seats on the small boat that had just enough space for the three of them to sit comfortably along with their luggage.


Oberyn and Nymeria took over rowing from both ends while Sarella sat in the middle and held onto the luggage so that it didn't fall off.


The ocean waves were thankfully calm, so it did not take them too long to reach the big sleek ship, where the helpful sailors had already lowered a rope for them.


After tying the heaviest luggage on his back, Oberyn became the first one to grab the rope and climb up.


It was a bit strenuous for him to pull his whole body along with the bag with just his arms, what with the side of the ship being slippery and wet under his feet.


But his dedicated training in the recent weeks had paid off, so with his strength and stamina at their peak, he at least did not falter and embarrass himself in front of his daughters.


The moment Oberyn went over the hull of the ship, the first person that came in front of him was the familiar figure of his favourite Northerner which immediately brought a smile to his face.


"Jon, my friend, it is so good to see you again," he greeted with his arms wide open for a hug, but unlike the cheerfulness he sported, his friend's face was completely blank with not a hint of amusement at seeing him, "Er, Jon?" Oberyn asked confusedly as he was left standing there awkwardly, in front of all the sailors, with his hands in the air.


"You brought your daughters with you," Jon stated with a raised eyebrow that betrayed the irritation he felt at the moment.


"Ah, that," Oberyn said while scratching his head with an uneasy smile, "You see there were... some unusual circumstances— that were completely out of my hand— due to which, ahem, I was forced to bring them here," he explained in a low voice so that the nearby sailors who looking curiously at them did not hear, "But do not worry Jon, they are good warriors with specialised skills, so they will not be a burden to us, I assure you."


Jon looked at him with narrowed eyes before he sighed, "We are going to kill one of the most dangerous men in Westeros and you thought bringing your 'brats' along was a good idea,"


"Like I said, I had no choice in—"


"Who the hell are you calling a brat?!" a voice loudly interrupted them, as a long pair of legs agilely landed on the deck.


Jon had only bought his most trusted Northern sailors on this trip, who had been with him from the very beginning, so he had not bothered lowering his voice, which had the unfortunate effect of irking the beautiful and deadly Nymeria Sand.


After a quick glance at the sailors on board the ship, who all looked very strong and skilled in her eyes, Nymeria turned towards the one who had so derisively called her and her sisters 'brats.


The moment she did, the sand snake was immediately taken aback by how young (ironically) and handsome the man was.


He was almost as tall as her father and had the tight wiry muscles that only years of daily training in the yard produced. He was carrying a sword on his hip and had a big sturdy bow at his side, and carried himself with the air of a warrior who was very confident in himself.


But no matter how tall or strong he looked, his face gave away the fact that he was nothing more than a teen.


"Jon, meet my beautiful daughter, Nymeria," Oberyn introduced with a smile, relieved to be able to move on from the topic, "And Nymeria, this Jon Snow, the Captain of the ship, the one I told you about—"


"Wait!! Him?!" Nymeria exclaimed with an absurd look on her face, "He is the captain of this ship? This Child?!" she asked with an exaggerated look of shock on her face to which Oberyn nodded with an amused smile while Jon rolled his eyes at the obvious revenge the pretty dornish girl was taking against him.


"Can you even tie a rope, little boy?" she asked with a snort as she slowly sauntered closer to Jon.


"Nymeria, please—"


"How about the fancy sword on your waist? Do you know how to swing it, 'Captain Jon,'" she talked over her father while looking disdainfully at Jon, which looked a little comical considering that she was almost a head smaller than him, "Or is it just a show piece?"


"I am average," Jon replied dryly, trying hard not to let it show how entertained he was at this little show of dominance.


"Then how about we go for a round or two to get acquainted with each other?" she taunted while looking at him with big innocent eyes, but her fingers gripping her dagger gave her eagerness away, "You would not be scared of a weak little girl, would you?"


"Nymeria, back down!" an exasperated voice suddenly interjected before Jon could give an answer to the sudden offer.


Sarella was quite irritated to find, when she finally reached the top after a long excruciating climb, that her stupid sister was threatening the very Captain of this ship that they were on, with dozen of his men surrounding them.


"I am sorry for my sister's conduct—" Sarella began apologetically but the moment she put her luggage down and finally caught sight of Jon's face, her words died in her throat as her eyes bulged in shock.


"You!! What the hell are you doing here?!!" the girl shouted in shock as she recognised the so-called Captain Jon as the same boy who had once held her hostage so many months ago at the Citadel.


'This is going to be a nightmare,' Jon thought with a tired sigh, knowing that his mission just turned a whole lot more troublesome.


///