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[JOJEN REED begins to spasm in his sleep. MEERA goes to him and places a leather belt between his teeth. The spasm continues. RICKON STARK wakes.]
"What's happening?"
"He's grown so much" Catelyn commented, holding back a sniffle. Rickon her darling youngest....
"What's wrong with him?"
"The visions take their toll."
"Is that how greensight works?" Rhaegar asked. He'd never seen Greenseer, and seeing one now was unsettling. Dragon dreams were so much more peaceful compared to this.
Or at least he expected them to be, since they were called dreams after all.
[JOJEN comes to his senses and sits up.]
"I saw Jon Snow. He was on the wrong side of the Wall surrounded by enemies."
"Not ominous at all" Jon muttered. But then again, he was with wildlings, so it was expected.
Lyanna gripped her brother's hand in worry.
[NORTH OF THE WALL]
[The Wildlings pack up their camp in the woods. TORMUND GIANTSBANE, ORELL, JON SNOW, and YGRITTE are among them.]
"Used to be you couldn't find a tree within a mile of the Wall. Crows would come out every morning with axes."
"With the diminishing numbers.... " Ned sighs. Another way he could help the watch was by sending men out there to help them collect timber. They could sell those and earn for themselves.
"You ever climbed it before?"
"No. But Tormund's done it half a hundred times."
"Well, he's a fucking madman then!" Tyrion exclaimed.
"Or just fucking desperate" Jaime suggested.
"That too" the former Imp conceded.
[YGRITTE hands him some climbing cleats to strap onto his boots.]
"I brought a pair for you. They're too big for you, but they're good."
"You kill someone for them?"
"Nah. I didn't kill him, but I bet his balls are still bruised."
"The girl likes you" Lyanna whispered to her son.
"Or she's playing pretend to be close to me and stab me in the back when I inadvertently turn my back to them" Jon suggested though he knew that Ygritte did love Jon Snow.
"He wasn't good to me the way you're good to me. He didn't do that thing you do with your tongue."
"Oh, she definitely likes you" Robb barked with a slap on his brother's back. "I never knew you could do things with your tongue."
"Wouldn't it be weird if you did?" Margaery of all people asked teasingly.
"He is a handsome..." Daenerys added, though a lot more shyly than the other two.
"Shut up!" Jon growled. It made the three and a few others laugh.
Olenna eyed her granddaughter curiously though. What was she playing at right now?
"You're a proper lover, Jon Snow. And don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."
"What secret?"
"Do you think I'm as dumb as all those girls in silk dresses you knew growing up? You're loyal and you're brave. You didn't stop being a crow the day you walked into Mance Rayder's tent."
[JON Freezes. YGRITTE comes closer, furtively.]
"But I'm your woman now, Jon Snow. You're going to be loyal to your woman. The Night's Watch don't care if you live or die. Mance Rayder don't care if I live or die. We're just soldiers in their armies and there's plenty more to carry on if we go down. It's you and me that matters to me and you. Don't ever betray me."
"She cares, deeply" Lyanna whispered to her son. "She's basically given herself to you now."
And Jod betray her at some point, Jon thought then shook his head as if remembering that things would be different this time.
[RIVERLANDS, WOODS]
[LADY ARYA STARK practices with a bow, shooting arrows into a straw man. She says a name with each arrow she lets fly. ANGUY watches, while THOROS OF MYR sits nearby, drinking. A party of mounted travellers approaches. ANGUY takes the bow and meets them on the path. A woman lowers her red hood revealing to be MELISANDRE]
"What's she doing there" grunted Robert in displeasure. He was having such a good time not seeing her blasted face.
[THOROS and MELISANDRE speak Valyrian]
"Valar Morghulis."
"Valar Dohaeris. I don't see many priestesses of R'hollor in the Riverlands.
"You are Thoros of Myr."
[THOROS nods]
"The High Priest gave you a mission. Turn King Robert away from his idols and towards the Lord of Light. What happened?"
"I failed."
"You quit, you mean."
"He saw reason and sense, is what he means" Robert stated calmly. He knew Thoros, shared cups with the man and funded him in many tourneys he'd been in. The man was nothing like that woman, which meant he had seen sense in the senseless and moved.
Good for him.
"The heathen continue to slaughter each other and you continue to get drunk."
"You worship Him in your way, and I'll worship Him in mine. Do you speak the common tongue? My friends here don't speak High Valyrian. Why are you here, my lady?"
[EXT: RIVERLANDS, CAVERNS OF THE BROTHERHOOD WITHOUT BANNERS]
[LORD BERIC DONDARRION sits by the fire. MELISANDRE and THOROS enter. He stands. MELISANDRE scans BERIC with both her eyes and her hand. She is fascinated by his scars.]
"How many times has the Lord brought him back?"
"Six."
[MELISANDRE and THOROS converse in Valyrian]
"That's not possible."
"The Lord has smiled upon me."
"You should not have this power."
"Somebody is jealous" Renly said with a satisfied grin.
"I have no power. I ask the Lord for His favour, and He responds as He will."
[THOROS sits and begins to drink again.]
"I've always been a terrible priest. Drank too much rum. Fucked all the whores in King's Landing. It's a terrible thing to say, but by the time I came to Westeros, I didn't believe in our Lord. I decided that He, that all the gods, were stories we told the children to make them behave. So I wore the robes and every now and then I'd recite the prayers, but it was just for show. A spectacle for the locals. Until the Mountain drove a lance through this one's heart. I knelt beside his cold body and said the old words. Not because I believed in them, but because he was my friend and he was dead. And they were the only words I knew. And for the first time in my life, the Lord replied. Beric's eyes opened and I knew the truth. Our god is the one true god. And all men must serve Him."
"He doesn't sound like that woman, yet he still believes" Stannis noted with a frown.
"She's an extremist" Robert shrugged. "You get those in every religion, and each of them is the worst kind."
"Just the red god's ones are worse with their people burning" Renly added.
"You've been to the other side."
"The other side? There is no other side. I have been to the darkness, my lady. He sent you to us for a reason."
People shivered. All their lives they thought there was a better place, that after death they would end up in a better place or a worse one. To hear that it was darkness...
"Is it all darkness?" Daenerys asked Elia, "Or is there something after it?'
"I'm... unsure. I remember the darkness, but nothing else. Yet there is an itch I can't scratch" Elia explained.
It was the same for the other dead ones in their midst.
[RIVERLANDS, WOODS]
[ANGUY, ARYA AND GENDRY are conversing, with ANGUY showing GENDRY an Arrow Head. MELISANDRE, THOROS, and BERIC approach.]
"Forgive me, lad."
[Two of MELISANDRE's guards grab and bind Gendry. MELISANDRE leave with sacks of gold being given to BERIC and The Brotherhood. ARYA tries to stop her but MELISANDRE speaks of darkness and eyes before moving along.]
"They intend to burn me for my blood" Gendry spat in disgust. Of course, it was too good to be true. No man was ever looking out for anything or anyone unless it profited them! Brotherhood his ass.
Robert's face grew grave and angry. If he was ever going to show mercy to the witch, he was not going to do it now. Nobody killed his blood and got away with it.
Maybe after all of this, after Cersei and that golden bastard, he'd bring Gendry to the capital. Even Mya might finally be brought to the capital. He still had children. He'll name one of them his heir.