35 | THE LAST OF THE STARKS

The long night was over. And the thousands of dead bodies scattered around was horrifying. Reyanna found Sofina's lifeless and bloody body amongst the other corpses past the walls of Winterfell. She kneeled next to her body, her stomach almost getting in the way of her managing to do so, and brushed her sister's hair to the side. "My dear sister," Reyanna whispered, "I loved you. And I will always keep you in my memory. You were an unforgettable soul, but now your time has come to an end. I will not let you die in vain." Reyanna readjusted Sofina's corpse so that it wasn't all twisted up from her great fall. Sofina would have appreciated her sister making sure that her appearance was suitable enough after death.

Reyanna wanted to cry, she truly did, but she knew that her sister's time had come to an end for a reason. Possibly because of all the horrible things she had done to others during her reign. It was sad that her sister was gone, but Reyanna truly lost her sibling when she left for Essos all those years ago and became mad.

Later that evening, a mass funeral was held to burn all of the corpses from the battle. Everyone stood solemnly with grief stricken eyes. Jon walked before everyone left alive to give them a sympathizing speech. "We're here to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters. To our fathers and mothers. To our friends. Our fellow men and women who set aside their differences... to fight together and die together. So that others might live. Everyone in this world owes them a debt that can never be repaid. It is our duty and our honor to keep them alive in memory. For those who come after us... and those who come after them. For as long as men draw breath. They were the shields that guarded the realms of men. And we shall never see their light again." Jon then waved over those that were holding torches to light the bodies up with a blazing fire, allowing all of the bodies to burn to ashes and become one with the earth. Liberated, at last, and gone with honor.

* * *

The next couple of weeks, Winterfell spent their time grieving and recouping from their losses. Reyanna's stomach had grown double what it was before, indicating that her child was due to come at any moment. In order to reestablish order in Sofina's abandoned kingdom, Jon and Reyanna held a meeting in the castle to reestablish Reyanna as the queen of Sofina's abandoned titles. A crown was placed upon her head. "I present to you, the Queen Reyanna of House Challinder, First in Her Name, Queen of Meereen and of the North, and Lady of Dragonstone." Missandei, Sofina's old assistant and translator, announced.

Everyone in the hall cheered, hooted and hollered for Reyanna. They were relieved a familiar face was now in charge of the strange army. But, something wasn't sitting right with Reyanna. She knew Jon was the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. And, now, that there was no opposing leader to create conflict with, she couldn't just sit there and hide that from the world. She suddenly stood up and snatched off the crown from her head. "My apologies," she waved Missandei off, "I simply cannot accept this crown."

Everyone in the room gasped and began mumbling obscenities. "Because, I have no rightful claim to any throne. But, Jon does. He had been wanting to tell his people, the Northern men and women who fought so bravely in the long night, his true heritage. But, I pressured him to be patient until the battle was over. Little did I know that someone would be handing me a crown. Jon Snow is not a bastard. He is Aegon Targaryen, son to Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Two lovers who secretly married right before Robert's Rebellion. He is the true and only heir to the Iron Throne." Reyanna announced.

Everyone was silent for a moment, soaking the information up. Suddenly, Gendry began clapping. Then, everyone followed pursuit and began cheering even louder than before. Reyanna grabbed Jon's hand and made him stand up, causing the crowd to cheer even louder. "I present to you the true King!" She told.

Jon smiled small, a bit embarrassedly. "Alright, alright, you may return to enjoying your meals." Jon waved them off. Everyone struggled to contain their excitement. Their own was the true heir to the Iron Throne. It was a major key to defeating Cersei, which is what they all wanted.

Once everyone settled back in, Reyanna waved over Gendry. "Gendry, you are the son of Robert Baratheon?" Reyanna asked over the loud chatter of the others in the room.

Gendry gulped and nodded. "Who's Lord of Storm's End, now?" She inquired.

"I don't know, Your Grace." Gendry replied, timidly.

"No one," She answered for him, "that means you are the only claimant. Therefore you are the Lord of Storm's End."

"I-I can't I'm a bastard." He admitted to her.

"No," Reyanna nudged Jon, "you are Lord Gendry Baratheon of Storm's End, the lawful son of Robert Baratheon. Because that is what the King has now made you." Reyanna was subtly telling Jon to legitimize Gendry.

Gendry slowly looked over to Jon with a blank, shocked look spread on his face. Jon nodded curtly at him, agreeing with his wife's decision. Gendry's breath hitched. "Thank you, your grace." He was truly grateful for what she had done for him. She turned him from nothing into an important figure.

"Please," she waved him off, "Reyanna will do just fine. Enough of these formalities! We've through enough struggle together, I think we all have the same level of respect for each other at this point." Reyanna essentially had broken the rules that had been established hundreds of years ago. She was a ruler like never seen before, but, the people were beginning to enjoy it.

Gendry hurried off back to his seat to tell his friends and the others. Reyanna sat there at the table with Jon and Sansa by her side as she rubbed her stomach. She felt the baby flutter in her stomach. Then, a few minutes later, she felt lots of liquid pour down her legs. Reyanna looked down and didn't see any color seeping through her dress, only a clear, wet liquid. Like water. Reyanna nudged Sansa with her elbow to make her look at water going down her legs. "What is this?" Reyanna asked her, hoping she knew.

Sansa widened her eyes once she realized that Reyanna's water had broke. "Reyanna, we've got to go." Sansa whispered to her.

"Why—" Reyanna began, but then felt an enormous twisting feeling occur in her abdomen. It was extremely painful. It felt like her whole abdomen was on fire.

"Nevermind." Reyanna took a deep breath. The maester had told her that she would feel an intense cramp once the baby was to come, but never told her about the water. So she was clueless until she felt that painful contraction.

Reyanna placed her hands on the table to help herself up, her legs now shaking nervously for the upcoming event she was about to encounter. "Come on." Sansa helped Reyanna as she put her arm around her.

Jon noticed the two and widened his eyes in shock. "The baby is coming?!" Jon's loud self exclaimed, allowing everyone to hear.

Everyone went silent and shot their eyes over at Reyanna to stare. They saw her wobbling steadily over to the door, then began shrieking. So many things were happening at once and the Northerners were over the moon. Tormund hurried over to Jon with his strong Wildling booze and handed the cup to Jon. "Down it all at once, you'll need it." Tormund shoved the drink in Jon's hand.

"Not in one go." Jon chuckled.

"We have to celebrate the little one!" Tormund exclaimed.

* * *

It only took Reyanna a couple of hours to push out her child. A boy, just as she had expected. He was beautiful. He looked just like Jon. His dark hair and pale complexion mimicked both Reyanna and Jon's similar attributes. But, the only thing Reyanna saw in the boy that truly resembled her was the hue of his irises. They were the signature Challinder blue. It was quite strange that he opened his eyes as soon as he had came out. It was as if he had been expecting his birth and was very curious about the outside world after hearing so much ruckus from the inside of the womb.

Reyanna held her baby close as the maester continued his work down below. She turned to look at Jon, who was simply staring in awe at the child. "Eddard Stark." Jon carefully placed a small kiss on his child's forehead.

"Not Targaryen?" Reyanna inquired.

Jon shook his head. "I was never a Targaryen. Always a Stark. And I always will be a Stark." Jon told Reyanna. And Reyanna simply smiled in return.

"Hold on!" The maester shouted.

"What is it?" Reyanna asked, lifting her head to take a peak at what he was doing.

"There's another. She was quite hidden. Didn't want to come out." The maester chuckled.

Reyanna's eyes widened and she nearly fainted. Jon's jaw dropped. There was no way. Reyanna didn't even look so large around. She could admit, Eddard came out quite small, but she assumed swelling took part in her pregnancy, not another child. Though, it did make sense, Reyanna was a sibling to twins. It was very common in her family to have twins. Nevertheless, she never thought she'd have a pair. A wet nurse came in and took Eddard away to be cleaned and fed while the maester made Reyanna go through a tiring labor all over again. This time, it took her much longer to push the second child out. Hours and hours passed by until finally, the second child was born. "A girl!" The maester announced as he held up the screaming baby.

He brought the child to Reyanna and placed her on her chest, just as Eddard had been before. "I—"

"We can do this." Jon interrupted her. He had always wanted a large family. And starting it with two new additions was only a positive note for Jon.

* * *

In the nursery, Reyanna was rocking in her chair with both of her children in her arms. She had just nursed them and dawn was about to break when Sansa entered the room. She was still in her night clothes, but she had been so anxious to meet the babies after hearing there were two born. "May I hold one?" Sansa clasped her hands.

Reyanna nodded and handed the girl to Sansa. "What is her name?" Sansa asked as she bounced the baby.

"We don't know." Reyanna chuckled.

"How about, Sansa?" Sansa joked, managing to get Reyanna to let out a small snicker.

"We thought about the women in our lives, but, we both hardly knew them. My mother passed when I was born. I never knew her. I can only think of one woman I genuinely admired." Reyanna explained to Sansa.

"And who was that?" Sansa inquired as she took a seat next to her.

"Her name was Karsi. She fought alongside Jon and I at Hardhome. She sacrificed herself for her children." Reyanna told.

Flashback.
Reyanna was on the dock watching people load onto the small row boats to head to the large ships. She watched as the woman from earlier led her two daughters to a boat. Once her daughters departed, Reyanna approached her. "They're beautiful." Rey mentioned.

"They're scared."
"They'll be safe."
"How do I know?"
"I'll make sure of it."

"What's your name?" The woman asked.

"Reyanna. And yours?" Rey asked.

"Karsi." She introduced herself. Little did Reyanna know, that name would mean much more to her in the future.

"I think that's a beautiful name." Sansa stated her approval of the name.

"Then I guess it's settled. Her name is Karsi Stark." Reyanna smiled, looking over at her daughter. Her heart was filled with joy and uttermost love.

Suddenly, Karsi opened her eyes and looked up at Sansa, curiously. Sansa gasped. She had Reyanna's bright blue eyes as well. "She's certainly a Challinder. Are all your children going to come out looking like this?" Sansa laughed.

* * *

Jon and Reyanna had a week of utter bliss with their children. They didn't have to worry about Cersei or walkers or anything. All they did was care for their children. One night, Reyanna came into their room and saw Jon sitting before the fire with a contemplative look on his face. Reyanna took a seat next to him a sighed. "We can't keep ignoring Cersei. The more we wait, the stronger she grows." Jon was very stressed about the whole thing, and he had a hard time not showing what was on his mind through his facial expressions.

"You're right. I've been practicing riding the dragons while the children nap all last week." Reyanna informed him.

"I saw." Jon sniffed.

"We call for a meeting tomorrow morning. Plan our attack." Reyanna told him.

* * *

And just like that, the leaders of every remaining troop and any significant member left alive from the long night was there at the meeting. Everyone had rested well in those three weeks and were more than prepared to attack Cersei. Yet, the numbers of the army couldn't compare to Cersei's. "Half are gone." Grey Worm, the Unsullied leader, told as he took off half of the pieces that represented the Unsullied off of the map of Westeros.

"The Northmen as well." Jon added as he took off more pieces from the board. One by one, different leaders of different groups came up and removed their pieces from the board, leaving a small number.

"And the Golden Company has arrived in King's Landing, courtesy of the Greyjoy fleet. The balance has grown distressingly even." Varys sighed.

"When the people find out what we have done for them, that we saved them—" Missandei began to ask.

Reyanna interrupted. "Cersei will make sure they don't believe it. We will hit her hard. We will rip her out root and stem."

"The objective here is to remove Cersei without destroying King's Landing." Tyrion reminded Reyanna, a now emotional and extremely hormonal woman.

"Thankfully, she's losing allies by the day. Yara Greyjoy has retaken the Iron Islands in her queen's name. The new prince of Dorne pledges his support." Varys noted.

"No matter how many lords turn against her, as long as she sits on the Iron Throne, she can call herself Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. We need the capital." Reyanna snapped back at those trying to take a less aggressive pursuit.

"I watched the people rebel against their king when they were hungry, and that was before winter began. Give them the opportunity and they will cast Cersei aside." Tyrion told Reyanna.

"They've had weeks. The more we wait, the more time she has to grow her power. Anything that happens to the people, she will blame on us. I met your sister only once and instantly knew the kind of person she is. She doesn't care about the people. She only cares about herself. I'll tell you exactly what she'll do. She'll crowd the people within the walls of the Red Keep, telling them she's offering them protection, when in reality she's making them her shield. She knows we wouldn't want to harm civilians, so she will surround herself with them. I have two plans, either we tear through the people and look like horrible rulers, or we cut off her sources." Reyanna placed her hand on the table.

"I say we surround the city. If the Iron Fleet tries to ferry in more food, the dragons will destroy them. If the Lannister's and the Golden Company attack, we'll defeat them in the field." Jon told.

"Once the people see that Cersei is our only enemy, her reign is over." Tyrion added.

"Alright." Reyanna clasped her hands together, liking the plan.

"So, if we're all in agreement. The King and Ser Davos will ride down the Kingsroad with the Northern troops and bulk of the remaining Dothraki and Unsullied. A smaller group of us will ride to White Harbor, and sail there from Dragonstone with our queen and the dragons accompanying us from above. Ser Jaime has chosen to remain here, as a guest of the Lady of Winterfell." Tyrion explained the plan.

Everyone turned to look at Reyanna if she had anymore input. "What? Am I supposed to make a motivational speech now? Let's kill the whore... no offense, Tyrion." Reyanna turned to leave, Missandei following her out.

* * *

That same evening, Reyanna took off on Drogon down south to Dragonstone with Rhaegal following close behind. The further south the dragons flew, the happier they seemed to be. They certainly did not like the cold North. The warmth was were they belonged. She planned to leave them in Dragonstone, where they belonged, after taking out Cersei. They were wild creatures, creatures not to be tamed or chained. They were meant to be free. But, because both were male dragons, they'd be the last dragons to ever exist. It was quite sad to think about. The end of a species. Reyanna thought of all the houses that ended their lineage because of the long night, and now because they will fight for Jon and Reyanna against Cersei.