Catelyn Stark watched the group leave the castle. She frowned. The group consisted of Ned, Robb, Jaehaerys, Daenerys, and Arya, along with a group of guards escorting them.
"An execution is no place for ladies, Ned," said the woman, looking at her young daughter, who stubbornly replied, "I am no lady."
"I'm not a lady," said the little girl on the back of a pony.
"Arya can handle it," said Lord Stark. "She's been through worse," he added. Arya had lived through the sacking of Lannisport, had seen men die, and the atrocities the Ironborn committed against the living.
"Even so..." Lady Catelyn suddenly seemed to bite her tongue.
She looked at Daenerys as if she wanted to reprimand her too, but thought better of it and returned to the castle. Her hands went to her stomach; her belly was big, and she was soon to be a mother again.
Jaehaerys watched her leave. That such a beautiful woman could be so stubborn seemed like a headache for Lord Stark. The man showed no reaction, seeming firm in his decision, even if it went against the woman with whom he shared his bed.
"You would really get along with Visenya," Daenerys said with a smile. Arya smiled a little uncomfortably. The princess, in Arya's eyes, was everything she wanted to be. She was beautiful, but she also knew how to fight, although Daenerys herself said she wasn't very good at it. Arya wanted to be like that, but without marrying an idiot like Jaehaerys.
"Let's go," Lord Stark began to ride toward where the deserter was being held. Jaehaerys rode beside him.
The prince and Lord Stark did not speak the entire way; the previous conversation had been a little awkward for both of them. They only listened to Robb joking with Arya and Daenerys shivering on her horse.
Jaehaerys stopped his horse, took off a huge bearskin cloak, and put it over his wife's shoulders.
"I'm not that cold," Daenerys said with a red nose, exhaling warm air from her mouth. The prince just smiled.
"You didn't have to come," said Jaehaerys. Dany wasn't the best in cold weather. She would rather be in the middle of a bonfire than in the north.
"I'm here now," she said as she wrapped herself up. While flying, the dragon's back kept her warm, but here she didn't have that privilege.
Jaehaerys gave up.
After a few minutes, they arrived at an esplanade, where a man was chained, guarded by two guards. The prince had already spoken to Lord Stark, who would be the one to judge him. He had told him that there was a possibility that he would send him back to the wall if he claimed to have seen the White Walkers.
Everyone dismounted from their horses. Jaehaerys helped Daenerys, who had a little trouble getting down because the cold limited her movements. Robb helped Arya just to annoy her.
"I don't need help, dumb," said Lady Arya.
"It's him, Lord Stark," said one of the two guards guarding the man.
"What is a man of the guard doing so far south?" the prince asked. The men looked at Lord Stark, who nodded.
"I have lost my way, M'lord," said the man, his voice trembling.
However, Jaehaerys did not see that primitive fear in his eyes. The kind that arises when you see something you shouldn't have seen. Like the White Walkers.
"A mistake, is that what you mean?" the prince questioned. "Were you one of the men who went beyond the wall?" he asked.
"No, my lord," replied the prisoner, trying to be polite.
Jaehaerys sighed. If the man had gone beyond the Wall and fled out of cowardice, he could have forgiven him. But that was not the case. And he had to judge him for desertion. This man fled, even though he had not seen the terrors of the night. Could he then be trusted if he saw a White Walker? The prince doubted it.
"The sentence for desertion is death," said the prince.
"Mercy, my lord, I just wanted to get out of that place for a moment. " He pressed his teeth together so hard that he may ended up breaking them. "The cold, the cold is horrible. I wanted to get away from that man. He still claims to be king. I didn't mean to go so far," the man cried as he tugged at his chains.
The prince drew his sword, the steel singing through the air. He thought of the only man crazy enough to declare himself king even in a place like the wall. The man cried even harder when one of the guards who had been guarding him made him bend over a log. Jaehaerys pronounced the sentence in the name of the king of the Seven Kingdoms.
Then he raised his sword, feeling Daenerys's gaze on his back.
Would she ask him to spare the man? Daenerys was kinder than he was, so he did not turn to look at her for a second. The man's eyes were filled with tears, and Jaehaerys made sure to look him straight in the eye. Jaehaerys's heart was not moved, but he was not completely indifferent to the man's feelings either.
But the prince did not hesitate. Jaehaerys was strong, the gods knew that, but when he lowered his sword and severed the man's head from his body, he felt it weigh heavier. Arya's gasp of surprise reminded him of the presence of the others beside him. That single death weighed more heavily on him than the hundreds of men he had burned on the back of his dragon. After all, fire has no weight.
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"You did well," said Eddard. Jaehaerys laughed a little; he was not a small child who had never touched blood. He had killed men before; he just needed to remember what it felt like to kill with his feet on the ground. He did not want to forget when a life was worth something.
"You should be with Arya," said the prince, pointing to the little girl who was looking at the head with a complicated expression. She didn't seem afraid; she looked at it with indifference.
Eddard nodded, Jaeaherys gave the sword to one of the guards, the youngest, a small recruit. He simply took it and began to clean it. He was just training to serve Lord Stark, so it was normal for him to do tasks similar to those of a squire on occasion.
Blood continued to flow from the man's neck, and a pool had formed in front of the trunk. Daenerys walked over and stood in front of him. Despite the cold, she no longer seemed to be shivering. Her boots stepped in the blood, and she didn't care about getting dirty.
"This isn't the first time you've killed a man..." she said. "Why does it feel different?" the princess asked doubtfully.
"It's not the same to wield a sword as it is to say 'Dracarys,' Dany," he said with a smile. She nodded, a little uncertain.
"He, the deserter, was talking about a man... it's obvious who he's referring to," said the princess.
She didn't remember anything about her father; he had already been at the Wall when she was born. But Jaehaerys did remember him. He even met him when he went to the Wall to meet Maester Aemon.
Aerys was no longer anything like a king. His silver hair had turned gray, he wore the same clothes as everyone else in the guard, and he had no bearing, just a hunched figure. The only thing that could betray his lineage was his purple eyes.
"You... you're going to burn them all," the prince remembered the old man saying. Those were the only words he had spoken to him.
"It's a surprise he's still alive," the prince said. Aerys was not kind to anyone, and he continued to treat the men of the guard as if they were his servants. It would not be surprising if he fell from the top of the wall one day, or if he woke up dead with a dagger in his neck.
"I want to see him," Daenerys said, surprising her husband with her request.
"Why?" asked the prince. "Dany, every bad thing about him is true. Probably even what you've heard has been toned down," he warned her.
"Even so... I just want to meet him, and Maester Aemon. It's not fair that the only living Targaryen he can be with is a madman," the princess smiled sadly. "Besides, it won't take long to get there on a dragon," she turned around.
Jaehaerys sighed. He didn't want Dany to see Aerys. But he also had to go to the wall; he had to talk to Aemon and ask him about the situation with the White Walkers.
"The wall is much colder than here," the prince said as he walked towards Daenerys.
"I'll endure it," she replied softly, uncertainly.
"Yes, you will," the prince hugged her as he mounted her own horse, climbing behind her. Dany looked at him, her eyes asking why he was being so indecorous. The prince shrugged as he took the reins. Their bodies gave each other warmth.