There Will Be Blood

For the next week or so, everything was going swimmingly. We played with our little dragons, fully explored Dragonstone, and most importantly, I connected our old island to the new one via a bridge. I say that, but it was just stone slabs, carved from the bottom of the island, loosely stacked on top of one another and connected with magic. 

That makeshift bridge might have looked like a disaster waiting to happen, but with magic holding it together, it was as sturdy as a mountain, at least that's what I told myself when I stepped onto it for the first time. But hey, I didn't plummet down into the sea, so that's nice, right? Who needs stuff like engineering when you've got magical superglue? Not me, that's for sure.

Then a raven from Stannis arrived.

To Maester Cressen,

You write with good intent, as you always have. But your concerns change nothing.

Shireen remains at Dragonstone. Her mother has turned away from her. It is regrettable, though not surprising. What is done cannot be undone.

You fear for her safety. You ask that I come. But I am not a man who abandons duty for sentiment, nor do I barter with those who have taken what is mine. Dragonstone has fallen into new hands, and they believe themselves to be rulers. Let them think it. They hold the fortress, but they do not hold me. They do not hold my will.

You have cared for her as best you can, and for that, you have my regard. But you must understand—I will not come. I cannot. The path before me does not lead to Dragonstone, nor to my daughter. It leads forward to the war that must be won. 

Guard her, as you always have. Teach her, as you always have. And if the day comes when she must stand on her own, see that she does so with strength. That is all I can ask of you.

Stannis Baratheon

"Well, that's not good. Not good at all." I sighed once I got to the end. Looks like the maester was right. 

"Have you told her yet?" Pyra asked with concern. 

"Yes, the moment I read it. I think that… despite everything, she was hoping he would come, or at least send somebody." Cressen said with an aged voice. 

"Fucking hell, how is she taking it?" I asked. 

"She is devastated. How else could she take this?" 

"... I'll talk to her." 

"And what words could you possibly offer?" He said in an unpleasant tone. But I get it, the man is angry. At me, at Stannis, and probably at himself too, though, mostly at me.

"Just words." I shrugged and left the room in search of Shireen. I found her in the courtyard, seated on an old stone bench. She wasn't crying, at least not anymore from what I could see. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her face was pale. I sat beside her, in silence. 

"I–I read the letter…" She murmured after a long moment.

"I know, kiddo. I know." I nodded. 

"I thought he would send Davos. I really did… Hah. I'm so stupid." She let out a self-deprecating laugh and hung her head. 

"Do you want me to fly to King's Landing? I will if that's what you wish." I offered gently, and she gave me a strange look.

"Why? He chose war over me. He always chose something else over me." She said bitterly.

"Yeah, well he's a dumbass. Do you think he would turn you back when you're right in front of him?" Shireen scoffed at that, but there was only exhaustion and acceptance in it.

"I don't know. Probably not, but what would that change? He left me to die here. Anyone else, after reading that letter, would realize I'm useless as a hostage and would get rid of me."

"Then it's good I'm not anybody else. I told you that you could stay, and I'm not taking it back."

"Why?" She asked quietly.

"Honestly? I feel bad for you. I kinda caused this whole war in the first place." 

"W–what?!" 

"Yeah… Long story short, I told the king a secret, he got like super mad, threatened to kill his children, I hid them somewhere secret, and now there is war. Sorry." Shireen stared at me, her mouth slightly open, as if waiting for me to say I was joking. When I didn't, she let out a breathless, disbelieving laugh.

"You—what?" 

"Well, there is a bit more to it than that. Incest, bastards, Targaryen revenge, all neatly packaged into one war." 

"And I got left behind because of it." Shireen sighed and looked up at the sky.

"That's the part I do feel bad about. I didn't expect Stannis to just… cut ties like that." I winced. 

"Me neither." I didn't say anything to that. There wasn't much to say. For a while, we just sat there in silence, but eventually Shireen turned to me. She studied me, long and hard, like she was trying to decipher if I was lying.

"Do you regret it?" 

"Regret what?" 

"Starting the war." She said like it was obvious.

"No." 

"... Why?" 

"Because I want the king and Tywin Lannister dead." Shireen frowned at that. 

"You want them dead?"

"Dany does, and that means I do too. They both deserve it." I shrugged.

"Dany?" 

"Daenerys Targaryen. She's the kid who's with me." Shireen blinked at me, processing that information. 

That was a step into a much longer conversation. One, that lasted for hours, and somewhere in the middle of it, the girls joined in. They were not happy with me just dumping everything on the kid, and I got to hear it over and over again. My argument of getting the traumatic stuff over with in one fell swoop didn't land with any of them.

 But still, I was glad they came because once they took the reins of the conversation and tried to smooth over the mess I created, everything went… well, certainly better than if it were just me.

After it was done, she sat there quietly for a long time, staring at the horizon, processing. We didn't push her, didn't rush her. She had just been handed a whole mess of truths, and forcing her to react quickly would be rather pointless. 

"What am I supposed to do now?" When she finally spoke, her voice was small and careful.

"That's entirely up to you, kiddo."

"I've never really had an 'up to me' before. " 

"Well, now you do."

"I–I have to think about it. This is all too much." 

"Take your time. Talk to Cressen, he should be able to help." 

"You don't mind? What if he tells father?" She looked surprised. 

"And who would he tell? The king already knows, and I doubt Stannis would ever share this with Tywin. So it's pretty inconsequential." I shrugged. It didn't matter to me or Dany. The revenge would happen no matter what anyway.

—

And so a few days went past. Shireen did decide to stay on Dragonstone, and not go to Stannis, mostly out of spite, which is something I wholly support. But our idyllic time was once again interrupted. This time not by me! I swear. I was quite content at the moment. 

One day, we went for a bit of shopping, and as soon as we stepped a foot into the Red Temple in Pentos, a distraught red-haired priestess approached us. 

"Holy Daughter! I'm afraid I bring terrible news. The directive was going according to your plan, but the further east we go, the harder and harder the resistance." What plan? I don't remember planning anything. 

"What kind of resistance?" 

"Mostly unsullied and the Dothraki. Although the Unsullied are harder to deal with. We simply do not have the manpower to accomplish your vision." She almost cried when she told me. 

"Hmm~ Kay, I'll look into the Unsullied." I nodded, and the woman looked relieved and happily left us to our own devices. 

"What the hell are the Unsullied?" I turned to the girls once the coast was clear. 

"Eunuch slave soldiers." Kinvara succinctly said. 

"Eunuchs?! Jesus… and what makes them so difficult to deal with?" I was horrified at the image my mind conjured. Kinvara, meanwhile, recounted everything she heard about them, from their upbringing to their training, and even mentioned some strange goddess they all seemed to worship, but when she got to the final part, about how each of them had to earn their helmets, I lost it. 

"A baby?! In front of their mothers? Savages, all of them…" I was pacing and planning how to deal with this new godforsaken information. I couldn't just let it be, could I? 

"This won't do… this won't do at all… I might as well, no? Yes." I was muttering to myself like a madman, and I realized that I was probably about to do something that would irrevocably change this world. 

"Let's go." 

"E-Emmy…? What are you going to do?" Dany asked hesitantly.

"Something that will make the Doom of Valyria look like a fucking sparkler."

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Emily losing her shit about the Unsullied, and the way they finish their training was something I had in mind from the moment she sent the Red Priests to deal with slavery, but I had no idea how to introduce it, so I just did it like this. 

Hope it doesn't feel as jarring as I think it does.