driftfleet | WE'RE ALL WEIRD PEOPLE & WE LOVE IT

[Admittedly, Riona has barely seen any of the other ships. She was on one for a bit, but there was an injured dog and that sort of eclipsed everything else. It wasn't a proper visit at all.

So she's a bit curious as she finally comes onto the Caprine. Mentally she takes in all the differences between her ship and this one. Not in a judgmental manner, but rather as simple curiosity as to how the other ships were set up compared to hers.

Eventually she wanders down the main hallway, trying not to peer in too much into the other rooms in her search for Dany. A few tries later and she spots the khalessi in her office. She knocks gently on the door and smiles.]

Found you. I hope I'm not too late.

Not at all.

[Dany is already busying herself with neatening up her desk, making sure that there's room for tea and food and no need to point out any disorganization. She missed her handmaidens, even if she had no problem cleaning up after herself, but even just casual occurrences made her feel vulnerable without her ladies or her guards. It was still taking time to get used to.]

I've only seen the Blue Fish once, I'm afraid, so I'm sure the Caprine can't compare to it.

[She'd seen it when Robb Stark had asked her to meet with him and that had gone about as well as anything, when the conversation was about her flying dragons into Westeros. He had no idea what would happen to him and she had no intention of telling him such, or that his input on her affairs or whether she united the kingdoms mattered little to her because of it. She was diplomatic with him for the sake of his sister, the eldest living Stark child that she knew of.

The Caprine didn't have separate bunks like other ships and so she stayed in her office whenever she wanted privacy or quiet. There were few women aboard the Caprine that she could talk to or relate to. Riona had quickly become her only real friend, even if the girls hadn't quite talked their personal lives completely in depth. ]

Would you like tea? I'm afraid the ship is somewhat lacking for wine unless someone brings it onto the ship.

[She used the strange machines in the kitchens to brew their drinks, finding she enjoyed it over the other strange drinks called 'soda' but juice came in a close second.]

Edited 2016-03-30 02:31 (UTC)

Oh, I would love some. Thank you.

[Tea is always good. And it seems a point of commonality amongst many. Despite all the different worlds and whatnot, tea existed across many of them in some form or another. It amused her a little, that of all the things so many worlds would share, tea would be one of them.]

You were on the Blue Fish? Were you visiting someone?

[One of the Starks, most likely. They did come from the same world, but she continues to play dumb about it for now. Westerosi politics sounded like a nightmare, and that was only from the little she gleaned from Sansa. She would not throw herself into them unless necessary.]

[Tea was nice common ground for her to walk on with so many strangers in her life. It gave her something to talk about, a needed conversation point when she was unsure of where she fit in with people at times. She felt restless not being able ot go home.]

Yes - I was. [She thought about not telling her about it, but Riona is aware enough of how politics work and Dany felt as if she could trust her somewhat. Whatever her feelings were about the Iron Throne, at the end of the day all she wanted was her home to be at peace. She wanted to go home, the same as the Starks.]

I met with Robb Stark at his request.

[Casually, she stirs her tea and watches the tea leaf dredges swirl around the bottom in little speckles that dotted the bottom of her cup.]

How familiar are you with the Starks that are aboard the Blue Fish?

[Sansa was someone she wanted to get to know as well, though Robb was making it hard for her to get along with him and find some common ground.]

[Riona takes a seat, mentally preparing herself for the conversation ahead. Whatever turn it'll take, at least she'll have some tea to go with it. She gently picks up her own cup, quietly inhaling its aroma as Dany explains her trip to the Blue Fish.

So she met with Robb. Knowing what she does of Robb, she imagines that there's a possibility it didn't go well. Though he's a decent man, he can also be stiff and far too serious at times. And who knows just what they were discussing.]

They are my crewmates, so I have some familiarity with them. [Honesty met with honesty. The siblings are not close with her, though she's spoken with Sansa and Robb on a number of occasions. Bran, not as much. And she's spoken with Jon Snow only once.]

Robb is a good, earnest young man, though he could benefit from lightening up a tad.

Ah, so he is like that with everyone, then? I had a hard time trying to speak with him.

[She takes a sip of her tea, feeling her hands tremble slightly as she contemplates opening up about the issues between their families. Perhaps Riona could counsel her? She wasn't sure if she should trust her to, when she's been aboard the Blue Fish with the Starks longer than Dany has known her.]

He is rightfully indignant against what we discussed. He doesn't understand I only want to help.

[Westeros was in shambles because of the War he started against the Lannisters, but honestly she planned to do the same thing, had she not? She would have in his shoes.]

He believes me something of a fishermans tale.

[She smiles evenly, looking down at her cup of tea.]

Because my family are all dead, I am the last Targaryen - the last Dragon. We have always sat upon the Iron Throne. My ancestors took it for themselves and my family has always ruled the Seven Kingdoms, until they were murdered by a Usurper because my elder brother was foolish enough to throw everything away and kidnap Robb Stark's aunt. I don't condone what he did, but it doesn't change that the King after my father only sat on my throne because he had Targaryen blood in his family. He would not have succeeded it otherwise. His heirs are not of his blood and thus not fit to sit the throne that they currently occupy and, because of them, the Seven Kingdoms are divided - including the North. He disagrees with joining the kingdoms again.

He can be kind and well meaning. I have seen him more relaxed, though I have the benefit of being a crew mate.

[More or less. Let's face it, Robb Stark is stuffy with everyone.

She takes another long sip from her tea as Dany explains in more detail what happened in Westeros. Much of it Riona already knew, though the bit with the Starks is new. It at least explains their involvement with dethroning Dany's family.

By the time the khaleesi is finished with her account, Riona is already considering how to proceed. The pieces of this Westerosi puzzle are finally coming together, between Dany, Sansa and Robb's contributions.]

I cannot entirely blame Robb. Given the current Crown's treatment of him and his family, and now a fishermen's tale comes to him with her dragons with the intent of bringing things back to the way they were before? I would be skeptical as well.

Robb does not strike me as trusting easily. You won't win him over with one conversation. Let your actions back your words and he may come around.

Granted, there is little you can do about any of that here, but be willing to work with him and compromise if needed. I do not think him so unreasonable if someone sympathizes with him and is willing to work with him.

[She wishes she could explain to Riona that Sansa is her ultimate goal, in truth. That would mean speaking upon his death, of which she only has outsider's knowledge.]

What of his sister, Sansa. Perhaps she is more agreeable? I don't want him to think I am trying to force the North into anything, but they are my people as well, whether they feel that way or not.

[She takes a sip of her tea, thinking on her goals that had yet to be reached.]

I am not my father. Nor am I the Lannisters. Truthfully, I'm beginning to learn that not all of the Lannisters are cut from the same cloth. Tyrion has elected to become my advisor.

Sansa... I do not think she is much more trusting. And again, not without good reason. Even so, she would likely defer to her brother on such an issue. Robb is the proclaimed king, after all.

[Sansa doesn't even go outside most times without a brother accompanying her, let alone make game-changing political alliances.]

You come from a land they don't know, and will pile onto the war that already is waging in their home. You are a scary figure - a frightening idea. A descendant from the family who robbed them of an aunt. That is not a perception you are going to change easily. [A pause.] Have you considered other options? Maybe you cannot bring the North back into the fold for right now. But what about counting it as an ally?

An alliance... I want that. It's just- our methods do differ. My conversation with him did not end amicably. I'm ashamed to admit I lost my composure quite easily when our families' history came up. You see... it isn't just his aunt that was a victim of the conflict. My brother's children with his true wife were murdered while Lord Stark - Robb and Sansa's father - did nothing to prevent it. He sacked my father's city but did not see fit to send men ahead to his enemy's wife, Elia, or his children.

[She takes a breath, staring down at her tea again, her violet eyes sad.]

They were children, barely old enough to be anything but babes. Aegon - the youngest - I'm told he hadn't even left his mother's breast yet. His death was... terrible. All of their deaths were. I know I cannot only blame the Starks for that, and yet both sides of the issue stand between us. It is a complicated matter and one that I don't think he will ignore.

[And this topic treads dark waters for Riona, as this is something she's experienced. Not quite to the scale Dany may have, but in a way it's worse. Dany had not yet been born when this happened, and knew none of these people. Riona saw it with her own eyes. She knows of the anger both Dany and Robb hold, and of that want to never forgive or forget what happened.

The answer is likely in the vein of "Let it go and move past it", but can she honestly tell Dany that? How much of a hypocrite would it make her? She, who robbed the remaining Howes of their land and titles because of what Rendon did. And what would she do if she met one of his children? ~~Which, she will eventually but that's neither here nor there~~]

It seems there are many pieces to this puzzle. [And it's hard to advise when she knows so little of what happened.] I take it Lord Stark came after your family in part because of his sister?

In part, yes.

[Gods, there was so much more her father had done. She didn't want to lie to Riona about it, but she also wanted to make her understand that she was nothing like him. She had not inherited his madness. All of that madness had been for Viserys and perhaps even Rhaegar. She didn't want to think she was like that.]

Lord Eddard Stark, Robb and Sansa's father... I am told he was an honorable man but I don't know what to believe. I understand that there are many sides to war - that my family was not blameless. My own father was a vicious man, I'm told. He had madness in him that was beyond imagination. He burned people alive - Eddard Stark's father and eldest brother among them. I was not alive when these things happened but I have heard enough of them to last me a lifetime. It is all some sort of cautionary tale by now - to never trust a Targaryen on the Iron Throne.

[She laughs a bit at that, biting back shaking in her voice and drowning it with more tea that she gulped down.]

[Riona can't help but grimace as Dany speaks of her father. Maker, but that was brutal. She cannot blame the people of Westeros for overthrowing him. Though that did not mean those involved went about it the right way.]

War brings out the worst in people. Sometimes, we don't always have a choice and we must do awful things in times of war, but that means it's all the more important to do the right thing when the option is presented. I know he was your father, but clearly he needed to be stopped. It does not forgive what Lord Stark did - or did not - do to the rest of your family.

[It just sounded like an awful mess all around. One that just needed to be acknowledged for what it was and let go.]

Let me ask you this: say you manage to hold your cities and manage to get ships to cross to Westeros. you land there with your armies and dragons. What would you do next?

Truthfully, I have no love for my father. I never knew him. He had no impact on who I am. I am glad that I did not see what he did - for those things shaped my brother Viserys in a myriad of horrible ways. It is merely the part that Lord Stark played in displacing me from my home that I detest. If we had stayed, my mother would have died the way Elia had and I would not be here.

[She hates to speak ill of the dead but Viserys had every bit of cruelty that she imagined her father had. It didn't change that she had loved him once, that he had been her whole world for as long as she could remember. At Riona's question, she sits up more squarely, her posture giving off the confidence of her answer.]

I would seek justice of those seated on the throne, for they have played the worst part of all of this, and anyone remaining of House Lannister or the other Houses would be asked to bend the knee. There is no other need for bloodshed and the people have suffered enough tyrant kings. I am not a tyrant. I did the same in Yunkai, Astapoor and Mereen. I made those who hurt those below them suffer and liberated those who needed liberation.

[It isn't all so cut and dry, unfortunately. There were many who opposed the changes she made to their slaver's lifestyle.]

[Bryce had been such a huge part of her life; it's hard to imagine Dany's situation where she felt nothing for the father. Not that she blames Dany, but it's still bizarre to her.]

And if they do not bend? Out of fear for another Targaryen sitting on the throne, fearful of reliving the reign of terror of your father? And what justice would you place on those on the throne?

[In sum: how far is she willing to go? That's where a person's character is defined, in those crucial moments where options are limited.]

My people need me. I won't just abandon them. Not to the lords and ladies who play games with their corpses.

[So... yeah she'd go pretty far.]

I have three dragons and an army of 8,000 and more. I find diplomacy works well enough when you show enough of your cards to make the other player nervous, don't you? I won't force anyone but they would be foolish not to see what is best for their people. Divided, all there ever will be is war. War between kings and queens and those who want power. I want power to set it right, to unite people so that they no longer have to be afraid of who sits on the throne. And yes I intend to kill Lannisters if I have to. They deserve no less, I assure you. Lord Tyrion and Robb Stark would agree with me on that.

[She falls quiet for a moment after that fierce speech.]

I cannot say what I can do for the North. I do understand their mistrust. There is more to it that Robb Stark does not know about and I will not speak of it unless Lady Sansa has spoken to you herself. Needless to say - the North no longer has a Stark sitting in it, at the time I have arrived from. That is all I know of the matter.

[It feels like a cold stone has lodged itself in the pit of her stomach by the time Dany is done. Most of it comes from what she's said about the North. A Stark no longer ruling... what happened to Robb?

Dany knows more than she's letting on. The question hangs on Riona's tongue, and it's likely obvious in her expression that she wants to ask... but a part of her is afraid. Does she want to know? Maybe, but it should come from Sansa or Bran, if nothing else.]

Then things are worse than I thought.

[She blows a sigh through her nose.]

...tell me this, at least: do most of the Starks still live?

Edited 2016-04-24 03:56 (UTC)

That, I don't know. I only know what is told to me by my advisors and messages that are carried across the Narrow Sea.

[She could only imagine how any of them felt to be with one another, knowing back home they could all be dead. It was a burden she did not want for herself.]

Shit.

[Not what she wanted to hear, though she didn't blame Dany. She hoped to the Maker and back that some still lived. Her eyes closed, a hand rubbing over her face. No point in getting upset about this. All she could do was pray Robb was the only casualty so far... and find the strength to still face him after learning this.]

That's why you wanted to know about Sansa's opinion? If she has no one to defer to... I still don't know.

Maker, your political climate makes Thedas's look tame in comparison, and that's saying quite a bit.

If it is chaotic that is only because others have made it so. I don't envy the Starks. Their house is in a similar position to mine, though I cannot confirm the truth of that or not. I do know their lord father died and that is what sparked the War of Five Kings when Robb Stark chose to march against the usurpers holding the crown.

[And they could have been allies in that because the Starks were wronged just as much as her own house but the only thing stopping them was stubbornness on her and Robb's parts.]

I want Sansa to join me in taking back our homes.

Ah, so that's what made him rebel. [Another piece to the puzzle falls in place.] I do not know if Sansa would be in a position to be able to join you. The details are unknown to me, but I know the Crown has not been kind to her. She was its ward, from what I heard.

[She withholds a bit of information. She does know Sansa has... escaped, or so it seems. But she does not know what her current situation is, and if she would risk earning the Crown's ire. And with Margaery to be queen, would she really want to march against her own friend?]

I suspected their father had died, but hearing it confirmed... [Her tone hardens; she knows their pain all too well.] I sympathize with them. What was done against you, and against them... I do hope justice is rendered in due time. [Hopefully by their hand.]

Yes. I would have done the same had I been able. I was only an infant when my House was led to ruin. My brother was all I had for a long time, just as Sansa has hers here.

[Though, unlike Sansa, she would not wish Viserys to be here in the fleet. Who knew what would happen and she was not the same meek little girl anymore. Even so, without Drogo or her Khalesaar she would be incredibly vulnerable.]

I imagine she will make the choice that suits her the best, whatever that will be. I don't plan to force her into anything, only hope that we can reach our own goals. She is a smart girl and so many girls are taken advantage of and don't know their own strength. It is a curse upon our gender, I suppose.

The world perpetuates and enforces that "curse". And by world it's usually the men. While it happens in Thedas, it does not seem as prevalent there as it is in your world. I know so many women who would laugh at and stab anyone who tried to force them to do anything. [Herself sort of included.]

Usually, if there is a man I don't like and he chooses to treat me that way - my dragons tend to be convincing enough without me having to do much in the way of lifting a finger. Here... everything is so different. My crew has been kind and no one is left out. It's been lovely.

Honestly, I've heard next to nothing about that sort of thing going on. Of course, I hardly have tabs on anyone, but no news is still good news. And if someone tries, well, that's why you learn how to break someone's thumb.

WE'RE ALL WEIRD PEOPLE & WE LOVE IT

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