Daenerys was meeting with her small council preparing for the two possible outcomes at Kings Landing. Theon Greyjoy had found his way from deaths door back to health. He was now captaining a ship in what was left of the queens fleet, though he was not leading the fleet. Daenerys was still sceptical about Arya's abilities, after all she knew so little about them. She didn't want to take kings landing this way, she wanted to be there. She wanted to be the one with the glory. This way there would be no glory, not for her, but she had no choice. Had she declined Arya's proposal she would have to use force. If she used force then so many more would die, and her people would see her as a foriegn invader and nothing more. Her small council would abandon her. But she, deep down inside, wanted to fly to the Capitol and burn the Lannisters out of the red keep.
John's final ship was nearly full, his time here would be coming to an end. It was beginning to feel empty and lonely at Dragonstone. Most of her armies were deployed under the command of strangers, which made her uneasy. Her new ally and his men were preparing to leave. Soon she would be in a castle nearly alone.
Jon stood on the cliffs as the last of the dragon glass was being loaded. All his usual thoughts were spinning through his head. Would it be enough dragon glass, would he get there in time to make weapons, did they have enough men at the wall. Jon's brooding was thick when he heard the familiar flap of wings behind him and the thud of footsteps. Rhaegal was behind him again. He had gotten accustom to the dragons as they seemed to like him, and would visit him frequently. Jon turned to see him again this time was different though. Rhaegal had a different look about him and stood with his shoulder dipped.
"Your grace, there is nothing more we can do until we hear from Kings Landing. We have done all the preperation we can. " Tyrion was standing in the window overlooking the ocean. The waters were surprisingly calm today.
"We need to move the fleet. We need to make sure they can't get hit as they did in the Blackwater. If the Stark girl should fail we will need them for a siege. We need..." Tyrion cut himself off.
"7 hells, am I seeing this?"
"What is it Tyrion?" Daenerys moved from across the room to stand next to her hand, as did Varys.
"It would appear that rumors are true. The poor soul has no idea who he is." Varys was calm in his words but there was hints of surprise.
"Why is he on my dragon. Who told him it was ok for him to ride my dragons?!" Daenerys was furious. She felt violated and betrayed.
"Your grace, perhaps Rhaegal invited him to go for a ride? After all, no one rides a dragon if the dragon doesn't want them to. " Tyrion was making a poor attempt to calm Daenerys.
"Varys. What do you mean he doesn't know who he is?" Her tone implied that she was demanding to know rather than asking a question.
"Your grace, word came from the citadel stating that Jon Snow is no bastard. That his true identity was discovered in the private journal of a maester. It would seem that Jon Snow is not a bastard of Ned Stark, but rather the son of Lyanna Stark." Varys paused for a moment as his eyes locked with Daenerys's. " and Rhaegar Targaryen. It would seem your brother had his marriage to Ellia Martell brought to a lawful end, and married the Stark in a private ceremony. Jon Snow is Aegon Targaryen 6th of his name. Your nephew. It would seem that his recent activity confirms it." Varys had no emotion to his voice but searched the face of his queen for hers.
"When did this information come from the citadel, and why was I not told?" Her anger had brewed quickly. "How can he call himself my ally and lie to my face about who he is?"
"Your grace, I know Jon snow, I can assure you he doesn't know. If he knew then he would never have joined the nights watch of his own free will. He has done nothing against you, do not hold this information against him." Tyrion had gotten worse with trying to calm his queen.
" If he is my nephew, then he has the claim to my throne. No one is to tell him. Get him off my dragon. " Varys and Tyrion looked at each other. For a moment none spoke.
"Your grace, how do we get him off the dragon exactly? Neither of us can reach him, we don't have dragons to ride. " Daenerys did not like Tyrion's truth to be buried in sarcasm they way it was.
A sudden door slamming open grabbed the attention of all in the room. Jon stood there out of breath resting against the wall.
"There is a ship coming with Lannister sales. I saw only one ship. But there must be more, a Lannister ship would not come alone." Jon stood just inside the door.
"Daenerys turned to Greyworm mobilize the fleet, capture the ship if we can. Sink it if we can't. " she moved across the room until she reached Jon Snow. "Get on your dragon, it's time you learned what they can do. " Jon hesitated for a half second. He had not thought that he would have been seen. He didn't consider Daenerys's reaction if he had been. But now he had no Choice but to ride.
The fleet was moving, Jon and Daenerys were airborne. The dragon riders were circling overhead waiting to see what the fleet would be able to do with the individual ship. To Daenerys's dismay the ship surrendered immediately when the Greyjoy's navy approached.
Daenerys waited in the throne room for the captain of the ship to be brought to her. When Bronn came prancing through the door bound, Tyrion could not believe it.
"Bronn. What are you doing here? Since when do you captain one of my sisters ships?" Tyrion was glad to see him. He always felt safe when Bronn was around. Even now with him chained.
"It's Lord Bronn now. Or didn't you hear? I'm lord of Highgarden now. Your sister saw to that." Bronn gave only a small smirk. "That is before she decided to have me killed."
"If you are loyal to Cersei why are you here? And why should I not execute you?" It sounded like she was eager to have someone die.
"Loyal?" Bronn broke into laughter. He looked over at Tyrion "want to explain to your queen where my loyalty lies?" Daenerys looked at Tyrion.
"Gold your grace. Bronn is a sell sword. But he is honest and I trust him. "
" if your loyalty lies in gold then what were you payed to come here for. To kill me?" Bronn laughed longer and louder.
"There aint enough gold in the world to pay me to come here with one miserable ship and try to kill you and your dragons. I sell my sword, but not at the risk of self preservation. "
"Then what are you here for?"
"I brought you a gift." Daenerys was getting frustrated with all the round about talk.
"Tell me why you are here before I lose my patience. " anger was building in her eyes.
" simple really. Self preservation. I took Highgarden. The queen didn't like my demands for doing it ."
"I am your queen. "Daenerys snarled.
"You, Cersei, all the other cunts who love power. I don't give a fuck who is queen. Point is, I did a job and she didn't like the price. She sent me off to get the golden company for her. Only that's not what she really had in mind. She gave me a crate of gold and the rest of the crates. Well those were ment to kill me. My guess is she took a page out of your daddy's book. "Daenerys wasn't sure what he was getting at. But allowed him to continue.
"If I had to guess, I'd say she sent Euron Greyjoy out before me. Most likely he was going to board my ship, take the gold and set us burning with the wildfire. Now I brought you both." There was a lot of looking at each other unsure about what was said.
"Then why come here? Why not go to Highgarden and fortify it, stand against her? Why not seek out an ally?" Daenerys couldn't decide if she could trust Bronn.
"That's what I did. The little guy over there and I have history. He's the closest thing to an ally I ever had. " Tyrion looked at Daenerys gave a small smile and turned back to Bronn.
"Bend the knee. You say you are lord of Highgarden, pledge your house to me and join my cause and I will let you live."
" the whole bending the knee thing isn't really my thing. I don't do all the bending and pledging thing." Bronn received the glare of rage from the dragon queen, and realized he was out of options. He bent the knee.
"Oh, if I were you, I'd ready my defenses. Cersei's gonna be pissed when my head isn't on a spike. Euron may still be coming for me."