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“I’m leaving. I’ll fight with what I have” That was his statement. And that was what he did. When Tyrion tried with his ludicrous idea about capturing a wight and showing it to Cersei he couldn’t resist the temptation of laughing into his face.
“And then Cersei Lannister would stop hostilities and agree to a truce? And you would trust her should she do it, my Lord? Even I know your sister better than this.” He could slap his face immediately after, obviously, because while Cersei refusing the truce would mean defeat, if she falsely agreed to the truce and broke it to reconquer the lost territories once Daenerys would have lifted the siege… Well, it would be a pity and a shame, but then it would be too late for Daenerys Targaryen to go back, right? If Cersei’s brother, who should have mistrusted her more than anyone else, was ready to dote on her good faith, how could a Northern bastard who barely saw her afar during her visit at Winterfell, so long ago, be faulted for her treachery?
But, no. He wouldn’t trick a Queen who was, even if not accommodating, at least straightforward and honest, into ruining her war for fighting with him, even if only by the omission of good advice. Leave deceit and tricks for Southern schemers: he was better than that.
Moreover, she could simply go back with all her armies once Cersei strikes, after all, he mused. For all her big talk about saving the world or breaking wheels, what Daenerys Targaryen was actually doing seemed to be taking all she could while playing the savior. He had heard the tales of her wars in Essos, and while certainly impressed, he was less awed than the ones who told him their Queen’s deeds would have liked. Free the Unsullied gaining an army, free the slaves gaining a city, free the Dosh Kaleen wives gaining the Dothraki hordes. But when it came to freeing Westeros from the Night King’s threat and a new Long Night, well… First, we must bend the knee. What would have been in it for her otherwise? We don't make free rescues here in Dragonstone. You must give us all you have beforehand, and then be grateful we were so kind to accept it.
Well, at least he had gained some free dragonglass. That, he was thankful for. She didn't have to gift it to him, not even as a gesture of good faith. At least, now they'd have weapons to fight with… or fly, he thought, bitterly. With their numbers, should the Night King be able to pass the Wall with his army of the dead, their only choice would probably be between dying and flying.
... Well, in that case, we will die or we will fly. But I will be there, at home, when it happens.
Lady Mormont was right: a King in the North must stay in the North. We must solve our problems alone, like we always do.
Even if (miraculously) solving them would save Daenerys and her three dragons, eight thousand Unsullied, and one hundred thousand Dothraki the effort of fighting the White Walkers and their army themselves, leaving to them half of Westeros to effortlessly conquer, because Daenerys the Conqueror still proclaimed her right on all the Seven Kingdoms, right? Even the ones she would leave to die at the Night King’s hand. Would she spare a thought about the people who she'd let die when she would ultimately come North to collect a land free from White Walkers, wights… and, probably, people?
But, before any of that, he had to face a way more frightful confrontation than the one with Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons… and it would have begun with the words “I told you so”.
* * *
It came out, instead, that the most frightful words he would have heard would have not been Sansa’s recriminations, but the ones Sam and Bran would utter just after he finished embracing Arya, Sansa, and Bran.
“You’re the heir to the Iron Throne?” For once, Sansa was speechless. For once, he wasn’t sure it was a good thing.
“The heir to the Iron Throne my ass” he grumbled, still trying to convince himself it was only a nightmare, or some mistake.
But, it explained a lot of things, didn’t it? From his father… uncle’s secrecy about his mother (how mocking seemed now Lord Stark’s reluctance about telling him who his mother was before he’d take the oath to rot at the Wall until his death - what did Lord Eddard think he would have done? proclaim himself the rightful king? disown him and all the years he spent below his roof? run away to Daenerys and her brother in Essos?), to the most bizarre friendliness Daenerys’ dragons showed towards him during his stay.
“But Jon, you are! Lyanna and Rhaegar…” Sam seemed quite intent to convince him about the importance of his claim to the throne. Which wasn’t surprising, all considering (considering he’s a southern schemer too, considering he’s my friend and he obviously would want for me what he thinks I’m owed, considering he’s angry with Daenerys Targaryen for burning alive his father and brother, and Seven Hells, did she really found such a good idea starting her fight for her father’s throne executing a Lord and his son using fire.. her father’s weapon? What kind of statement was she trying to make? But that wasn’t the time of thinking about dragons incinerating Sam’s little brother, who Sam talked affectionately even if not enthusiastically about, nor about his uncle Brandon, burned alive by wildfire while his grandfather strangled himself to save him for Daenerys’ father amusement, nor about Mance Rayder crying in pain on Stannis’ pyre - or Shireen Baratheon writhing in fire for the glory of Melisandre’s God), but failed the point.
“... married each other, yes, and how would that prove I’m their child? It’s written in that diary?”
“Well, no, but…”
“I saw it, Jon” said Bran. “And Howland Reed was there, he could…”
“You’re my brother, or cousin or whatever, and Lord Reed was our father’s friend. Both of you hardly count as reliable witnesses, don’t you?”
“Well” Davos added tentatively “Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons were very friendly towards you, weren’t they? We could claim it as proof…”
Not you too, he groaned. “Do you really think that the other Kingdoms would want me as their King? A Northern bastard which could be accused of breaking his oaths to the Night’s Watch, raised a King by the bannermen of a self-proclaimed independent Kingdom with barely ten thousand soldiers to his name, who could or could not be the son of the Prince who lost at the Trident and the Northern Lady he escaped with abandoning his legitimate wife and children? Would they declare for me against both the Lannister Queen who already has the Iron Throne, and a legit Targaryen Queen with three Dragons, the strongest army in history and alliances already standing in the South? They’d brand me as an imposter in a minute, if only to avoid the same death of Sam’s family!”
He breathed hard, trying to regain his composure. "And even if they wouldn't, let alone Cersei, even Daenerys Targaryen would never accept my claim. I went to Dragonstone to convince her to fight by my side, not against me. Even if we had a chance to win a war against her, we can’t fight two wars from two fronts. Or must I remind you that we are going to be invaded by an army of dead men just as big as Daenerys' army? What do we do, do we have her attack us from the south while the Night King strikes from the north and then we make us scarce so they meet and fight each other instead? " That could actually not be the worst plan you ever made, an inner voice whispered to him. He huffed.
" You're first in line before her. " Sam grumbled. "The Iron Throne succession line always chose sons over daughters or sisters. You're a man, Rhaegar's heir, and older than her. You've the highest claim. "
"Stannis was the best claimant in the Baratheons line too, and Renly made a grab on the throne nevertheless. She wouldn't care for the traditional line of succession, Sam. You didn't meet her at Dragonstone. 'I was born to rule the seven kingdoms, and I will', she said, like it was some divine will who killed all the ones who stood between her and the throne instead of war, greed and stupidity. She would either discard my claim as false or proclaim Westeros is hers by right of conquest. She would call it breaking the wheel, would proclaim it avenging Rhaenyra and Rhaenys' claims, and would feel herself just and rightful for that. "
"She conquered nothing until now" Arya interrupted. "She has Dragonstone and is fighting Cersei for Dorne and the Reach. You have the North and the Vale, and could claim the Riverlands if only we could free uncle Edmure from whatever prison Jaime Lannister put him after he took Riverrun."
"... She has Dorne and retook the Reach, that's why Sam's family died. The Lannisters have the Riverlands whatever your Uncle Edmure thinks about that, and we cannot keep the Vale if she decides to attack it with her dragons. Seven hells, we couldn't defend ourselves if she'd come with dragons. I'm saying it only once: I am not staking any claim on the Iron Throne. Whatever evidence you have, Sam, give it to me so I can burn it and end this folly for good, and then all of you will remain silent forever. "
"You won't do anything like that!" Sansa seemed incensed. "Don't even dream of giving him nothing, Sam!"
"I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with the South anymore" Jon replied "Now you want me to die trying to stake a claim I haven't the strength to sustain?"
"Obviously not. I simply don't want for you to make more idiocies than you already did. That diary Sam has, it's a weapon. Bran's knowledge of the past, Lord Reed's testimony, they're weapons. You don't want to use them now, and I agree. I agree, truly, but not using a weapon and throwing it away are two different things."
She stared at him like she always did when she was going to tell him something she knew he wouldn't have liked, and continued: "Listen, you like her. Don't deny it, you do. And I hope she deserves it.” even if she obviously doesn’t, or she would be here to fight the war for the living with us, she left unsaid. Very loudly unsaid, indeed. “And I do appreciate the fact she let you and Ser Davos leave her island free and unharmed while she could have killed you or kept you as hostages. Just like I appreciate her gifting us her dragonglass… well, your dragonglass, actually, but she didn't know it. But while I do appreciate all of this, you said yourself she is very driven about her conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. Now she is concentrating herself on the South and King's Landing is her main objective, obviously, but once she will have conquered it? What will she do? Will she reign on Five Kingdoms letting the North and the Vale remain independent? Or will she come to conquer us? And if she does… if she will want for the Northern kingdoms to bend the knee to her after she has conquered the Southern ones… well, we will need any weapon we can muster and more. And not all of them will be made of steel or dragon glass. Some of them… some of them will be made of paper, too. As a military man, would you really throw up a weapon, before you even know if someday you will need it or not? " she ended, and she had him. She knew it. Everyone in the room knew it. He knew it.
" Very well, we will keep it. But I still must remind you that our problem, now, is not my aunt" and wasn't it strange to think about her in that terms? "but the Night King and his army. Bran, are you sure they can pass the Wall?"
"Yes, I am. The Wall's magic would have rejected them once, but the Night King put his mark on me. From that moment, he can overcome any protective spell meant to keep them away. That's how he could kill my predecessor as the Three-Eyed Raven. His cave was protected by the very same spells that Brandon the Builder and the Children of the Forest used for the Wall, but they stopped working after he marked me. Now that I have crossed the Wall, all he needs to do is kill every living being north of the Wall, raise them as wights and force whatever of the Wall's Gates he chooses to pass through. It's all my fault. I'm sorry. "
“Don’t think about it. You had no choice. But, if the Wall won’t stop him and we have not the men to fight him, how can we win?”
“Well… “ Sam tried. “Actually Bran said an interesting thing about Hardhome… something we can use?”
“Hardhome? What did you see?”
“Well, as I said, the Night King can see me when I walk in my dreams, but apparently, his Walkers can’t. Now, I watched your fight at Hardhome… quite a lot of times, actually… staying away from him, obviously. And once, I saw that some of the wights attacking Hardhome suddenly… well, they disembodied suddenly, like someone would have struck them with dragonglass, only no one struck them actually.”
“How it is possible?”
“Well. I’m not sure, but I believe it happened just after the moment you killed that Walker with Longclaw.” said Bran.
Jon thought about it. “You think me striking the Walker killed these wights?”
“Think about it” exclaimed Sam, excitedly. “The Night King raised the corpses of the Wildlings killed at Hardhome, right? They don’t wake up as wight by ourselves, they are risen by the Others.If all the Walkers can do it, then maybe it can be that if you kill the Walker who raised a corpse, then all the wights he raised die with him…”
Jon saw the logic. “That would mean killing the Walkers would diminish their army’s numbers. It would be useful, but…”
“Sam thinks it could be even better than that”, Bran added.
“Better than that? How?”
“The Others didn’t exist by themselves. They were created” his brother explained. “The Children of the Forest created them turning one of the First Men into the Night King , and after that, the Night King created the White Walkers, turning other men.”
“Don’t you see, Jon?” Sam was enthused. “If the Night King raised the Walkers, and the Walkers raise the wight… if killing the Walker kills the wights, then…”
He understood now. “... then by killing the Night King we can kill his entire army, you say?” He paused. “Isn’t it a bit too easy?”
He heard Arya huffed behind him: “Things are easy sometimes, you know?”
“Not when I am involved, usually, they aren’t” he replied.
“Brooding as usual, I see”
“Actually” reflected Sam “he could just have spent too much time with Dolorous Edd. That’s something he could have said.”
“Even if it’s true, how do we get to him? I saw how he fights, at Hardhome. He sent forward his lieutenants, only showing himself when they had done the slaughter. If this is his way of fighting, we won’t even see him until he’ll came to raise us as wights.”
“Not if we give him the right bait” said Bran.
“What do you mean?”
“The Three Eyed Raven. He considers us his foe. All this centuries, killing Three-Eyed Ravens was one of his main objectives. I believe he will come to do the work personally, if he thinks he is to end the Three Eyed Ravens line for good.”
“Bran… you are the Three Eyed Raven.”
“That I am.”
“You’re also mad, if you think I’m letting you be the bait for killing the most dangerous creature in the world.”
“He’ll kill me anyway if we can’t stop him, Jon. At least it will serve a purpose this way.” He smiled, almost. “Moreover, I confide you’ll stop him before he actually gets to me.”
* * *
In the end, it was their disadvantages who made the plan.
It was a bit strange, making plans founded on what force they HAD NOT, instead of what they had.
They had not the numbers to oppose their numbers, so they could not engage in combat.
They had not enough experienced blacksmiths to forge dragonglass into weapons more complicated than arrows or points of spears - Gendry and Arya had invented some very creative weapon, but they had not the time to produce it extensively AND train the soldiers to use it, so they did not waste too much time on that and concentrated their efforts into training everyone able to use a bow into archery.
It should have been a revised version of the battle on the Wall, when a handful of ragged soldiers had resisted the mightiest Wildling army possible with bows and arrows. And they should concentrate the most on the Walkers, so as to thin their numbers before they could enter the Castle.
Because they would have to break through, in the end. First, they would be too many to not be able to, and second, the entire plan was to lure the Night King in the Godswood to Bran.
It must simply be done without seeming too much of a trap, and trying to control the invasion just enough to permit the trap to work. Jon and Brienne would be there, the obvious champions who would have engaged the enemy with two dragonsteel swords, one of which had already slained a Walker. Lord Royce, Edd and Tormund would have coordinated the attack outside, archers on the Walkers and flaming pitch on the wights. Arya would have been hidden on the weirwood, no more than a meter from Bran, should Jon and Brienne fail, her stature and skills into hiding and killing used to their advantage.
And if they’d lose, well… they would die, and then they would come back. Our ghosts would haunt Daenerys Targaryen and her advisors in the South in VERY material terms, mused Jon when he was in the mood for dark humour.
* * *
At some point news came that the war in the South had ended. Cersei had forced Daenerys’ hand recruiting the Golden Company. To avoid having to divide their forces she had conquered King’s Landing (only one dragon on the city walls while the others two destroyed the Ironborn fleet, their enformers said, the city had yelded almost immediately, Cersei was apprehended while trying to escape, Jamie Lannister and Euron Greyjoy had killed each other while the Ironborn was trying to abandon the city); the Golden Company had decided their contract would not stand when their employers were dead or would-be-dead. Peace reigned on the Five Kingdoms, at last.
So easy, Jon thought. He didn't understand why Daenerys wasted so much time with a siege when she had the possibility of ending the war so easily.
It wasn’t her, he concluded. It was Tyrion. He probably wanted to exhaust his sister's resistance so as to have a negotiation to conduct instead of a simple surrender against brute force. That way, he would have been the one to end the war with his mind, he thought, instead of Daenerys with her dragons. She would have agreed, because that would have spared her from waging war against a city full of innocent people. She was not in any way a bad person, she had simply started to believe too much to her own legend. She would have preferred the least bloody conquer possible, he thought. Provided they did bend the knee, in the end, at least.
Good, commented Sansa. And while he was to joke that at least Daenerys had unwillingly made them a favor ridding herself of their enemies for them she surprised him adding: "it's time to tell the Kingdoms about our war."
The ravens went to all the major Houses, and some of the minor. They called everyone willing to aid the brave King in the North and his people in the Great War to save all the living from death. That not answer the call, letting the scarce and already battered forces of the North fight alone to protect all of Westeros and its people from legends turned deadly true, would be vile and selfish was hinted so veiledly it wasn't even insulting, and Daenerys wasn't mentioned at all. It was a call for knights, not monarchs, not even for Lords.
"And you really think they will come?" Arya said to her smirking sister and younger brother, who both seemed very satisfied with the letter they had concocted.
"They won't even believe it" Jon whined. How many times should he repeat it?
But Sansa surprised him again: "You're right, they won't." she agreed. "until the night comes."
"They bring the storm," Bran said, and he recognized his own words. "they do. But they bring the dark too, and when they overcome the Wall, the Long Night will be on Westeros again.
Then, they will believe. "
"That doesn't mean they'll come," Arya said, but Jon interrupted her.
"It doesn't matter if they'll come or not, right, Sansa? Those letters are not meant to fight the Night King. It's Daenerys you want to fight."
"Fight? I don't intend to fight anyone. I only want it to be clear, that should Daenerys Targaryen declare war on us, she'll be assaulting a hero, and a kingdom which bled to fight a force which if not stopped would have overwhelmed all the Kingdoms, the ones she reigns on included. A kingdom, I could add, she refused to aid while she could. And before you say anything - she anticipated his remark - they will know she refused, because otherwise, she would be the one to call her bannermen, not us. And even if they don't realize it, she will know it. You said she likes to be the heroine of her story. I don't believe she would like being remembered as the one who let us fight alone on behalf of all the living men while she conquered the lands we are shielding with our blood, and then came to take for herself what remained of us after we exhausted ourselves saving her and the rest of humanity from the Others. It would be an effective move, surely, and could even gain her ruthlessness some praise among the Tywin Lannister likes of this world, but it would mar her savior halo. "
"Are you really so sure we will win? Thanks for your trust… I think."
"Well, if we'll lose we'll die, so it won't matter what we wrote to the other kingdoms, don't you think? But should we survive, it's better to build whatever advantage we can."
* * *
The funny thing was that, in the end, they came. Not many, not great Lords, surely, but some third or fourth son, some knight searching for a quest, or simply some opportunity to gain some glory or land - and in at least two obvious instances, the opportunity to woo the Lady of Winterfell or even her sister. Some former Lord came who preferred flying from home than bending the knee or confront her judgement. Most precious of all was Edric Dayne, who showed himself asking for Beric Dondarrion and Arya accompanied by a woman who claimed to be his wet nurse and could finally talk to him about his mother and his birth.
Meera Reed came with a letter from her father which promised every aid possible and excused himself by bad health - I think he's torn, Jon - said Bran - Father made him vow to never speak a word about your birth, and now he doesn't want either break his oath nor watch you in the eyes and lie to you about your origins. - and she was sent back with all the children, women and elders who were able and willing to leave the now unsure land of the North. If we die and you cannot sustain them, escort them to King's Landing and have them bend the knee to Daenerys Targaryen, not her advisors, not her Unsullied soldiers, more than surely not her Dothrakis, to Daenerys herself, he instructed. She won't abandon them.
And if a verbal message, for her father's ears only, was delivered that his secrecy was still requested to everyone, but not for the King in the North and his siblings, this was a thing only Meera and the Starks knew.
He was almost at peace with their decisions when a raven came from King's Landing, phrasing very diplomatically the message:"If you're so desperate, why not bending the knee?"
An ugly letter who worried him - the Daenerys he believed to know would have either ignored their call to her bannermen, or openly protested their right to appeal to her kingdoms behind her back, or flyed directly to Winterfell to offer either aid or fire and blood - until Bran reassured him it was all Tyrion's doing. She didn't even know about the ravens, he explained. She was called back to Essos to fight an uprising by the former slaves.
"I thought she had won against the slavers" Arya frowned.
"She did. With her dragons and her Dothraki. Then she took her dragons and her army and left, apparently for good. Slavers thought she had abandoned their lands now that she took all she wanted from them and was coveting what she thought a better target for her conquest and that it was their occasion to retake their power."
" So, that's what happens now? " Sansa commented, sourly. "She lets her advisors rule here while she quells revolts in Essos? They could directly crown Tyrion, in that case."
"Maybe the slavers will learn their lesson when they see her coming back." Jon tried to appease her.
"Maybe. Or maybe they won't, and Westeros Lords will be called to fight in her wars, after all the fighting they just survived in their lands."
"Or, maybe the Night King will kill us all, and peace will reign on all kingdoms" Jon cut short. "Daenerys Targaryen's wars have nothing to do with us, at least for now. Let's worry about the one we are fighting for, please."
* *
But, apparently, his family was very committed to involve him in the southern wars. He understood it when one the lords made a remark about his father which very clearly was not about Ned Stark. He was going to feign ignorance when another Lord - a southern knight this time - chuckled as if perfectly understanding his meaning. Which he, obviously, did.
Because when Sansa Stark did something, she always had it thoroughly done.
Most of all the ones who could lead to her family's death, it seemed.
And the most infuriating thing was how unfazed she was by his rage.
"I would suggest lowering your voice" she chirped like he had stumbled on some minor matter. "Or you would be the one telling to whoever still wouldn't know."
"How many of them did you tell?"
"Oh, not many. The safer ones. Then, obviously, they chatted around, like it's natural. But I'm sure the untrustworthy ones will be the very last to know. That should give us time."
"Time for what? I thought we were waiting to see what Daenerys would do, before deciding how to manage the matter! What was all that crap about weapons to conserve if you meant to expose me like that?"
"I was perfectly truthful, I assure you. It's only… I thought about it. I believe a more aggressive strategy would be better."
"Aggressive towards who? ME? You know you're painting" Please kill me" on my back, right?"
" Now, let's not be dramatic, please. You're staking no claim. You didn't even declare yourself publicly as a Targaryen. It's only a rumor, that's it. She would not kill anyone on a mere rumor. She will hear it and will demand explanations. And then she will seek a deal to retain her claim on the kingdoms. "
" My burnt corpse will be the better deal she can seek! " And yours, right after mine.
" But that will make her a kinslayer. The kinslayer of a hero, if all goes like we want with the Night King. And she was, well, partial to you, wasn't she? Ser Davos said she seemed quite like you. "
" Not enough to consign to me the kingdoms she conquered with her armies and her dragons, I can assure you of that."
" But she would not have to do it! There are other ways for her to keep her conquests. "
"If she takes that annulment seriously, I have the better claim. And if she doesn't, I am either a pretender or an imposter. "
" Or you're her brother's child, with an unverifiable claim that every kingdom which is not already yours to rule has no reason to support, just like you always said since Bran told us. Unless she'd prove herself her father’s daughter, a cruel or unfit ruler, in which case they could support anyone who'd rebel with some chance of winning, had he a claim or not. But your claim, it's uncertain you can do anything with it. You can renounce it and recognize her as the rightful ruler of the other Kingdoms, in exchange for independence for the North. For example. "
"... Oh, it's an example. It's not like it was your objective since the beginning. "
" Well, it would be a very sensible solution to the problem. But, if you want alternatives… you could marry her. You would unite your claims and reigns of all the Kingdom. "
"I don't know if she'll accept" Davos sounded doubtful. "If I'd be her advisor, I'd caution her about the danger of marrying a King with a better claim on her Throne and a reputation as a war hero. The Lords could get confused about who would be the ruler and who, well, the consort."
"The one with dragons and armies would be the ruler" grumbled Jon "The one without any of them would be the consort. It's not so difficult to understand."
"Maybe. But even so, many Lords, Southern or Northern, will always perceive a man like the rightful ruler. It would be a struggle. And frankly speaking" he added "I didn't get the vibe they would be open to a marriage alliance in our time on Dragonstone , even if it would have been a good solution to solve the problem of you not bending the knee"
"She won't share power" summarized Arya.
"That's my understanding, yes. She could, maybe, marry a Lord with enough power or connections to help her maintain the peace in some troubled territory, but a King in his rights? He'd be a rival even without wanting to oppose her. I don't believe she would want to take that kind of risk. An independent kingdom could be better, even more if impoverished like the North will be if we survive the war… but not if its' King is a competitor for her throne. I agree with the king, my Lady… this could have been a mistake, revealing the truth to the world. "
"As I said, we didn't stake any claim. "
"No, we're only dangling it before her eyes! " Jon snapped.
"There's another possibility," mused Bran. "Maybe."
"Which possibility?"
"Another type of accord."
"Care to explain?"
"She can't have children, apparently."
"What? How would you even know it?"
"I saw her talking about it with Tyrion. Apparently, a witch cursed her in Essos."
"A witch? Really?" Arya seemed flabbergasted.
"Wait a minute, are we spying on her, now?!"
Jon’s remark only earned him an exasperated glance by Sansa: "Well, she has the army and the dragons. If you ask me, exploiting our only advantage is the minimum we can do."
"Sansa…"
"Begging your pardon, that means she cannot have an heir of her own blood?" Davos mused before Jon could silence him in any way. It didn't need a political genius to understand the direction that this conversation was about to take.
In fact, Sansa was smiling. "Right? But Jon can! We could…"
"I'm sure she already has a plan for that." Jon cut short, hoping it was the truth. After all, who in their right mind would conquer a land only to leave it rulerless on their death?
"She has not, apparently." Bran countered. "That was the point of the discussion. Tyrion wanted her to appoint someone or choose some method of succession - he mentioned Night Watch's election of their Lord Commander as an example - but she has postponed the matter to after she'd actually conquered all the Kingdoms. "
" Wonderful." grumbled Jon. His headache was jumping to unheard heights. Then he was struck by a thought:" Wait, and the dragons? Who will control them if she dies? " Like the prospective of being annihilated by White Walkers wouldn't be enough. Now they'd have to worry about three dragons roaming the kingdoms in the foreseeable future?
"Maybe they will return to Essos?" Arya tried.
"And if not? We can't let…" he started, and then stopped himself.
Sansa was actually beaming, now. "Well, then it's very lucky we can provide a solution both to her problems about heirs and to our problems about dragons going wild after her death." She watched him intently. "If said solution stops being an idiot, obviously."
Jon stared at her and wanted to tell her that she would surely never sell any of his yet unborn children with his yet unknown wife as heirs to his yet unknowing aunt in exchange of North independence, he really, really wanted, but the headache won, and he found himself keeping his head into his hand, groaning a prayer to all the Gods, old and new, for the Night King to came and kill them all.
Starting with him.