𝔸𝕤 expected, Cersei had not taken the news well. She had accused Jaime of treason the moment she learned he had met with their brother, threatened to send someone after Tyrion to kill him before he could leave the city and scowled at both of us all throughout the conversation. It was only my trust in the plan that had ultimately convinced her to agree to Tyrion's proposition at all. I knew what he had told us must have sounded ridiculous to any of them, but having spent most of my life in the North, I took his concerns more seriously. According to him, an army of the dead was coming for us all - which could only mean the White Walkers, legends to most, known as a palpable danger to us Northerners. Winter really was coming, and if we didn't act, it would last forever. Daenerys Targaryen allegedly prioritized this threat over her quest for the throne, and wanted to meet with us to ask for a temporary truce and our potential aid in the fight in the North. So here we were, gathering in the old dragonpit for a get-together of a combination of people that was bound to end in disaster. Most of the enemy faction was already present when we walked in, though the dragon queen was nowhere to be seen. Cersei entered first, me beside her, the Mountain directly behind us, then Jaime, Euron and Qyburn followed with the military presence we had brought. I tried to avoid my siblings' eyes, but I could not help but steal a quick glance at Sansa. She had grown so much since I had last seen her! But the look she gave me, seeing me walk there beside Cersei, was one of utter shock and confused disgust. I realized then that I had never sent that letter I had started writing to her, on the day Cersei was imprisoned. Amidst all the chaos, I had completely forgotten about it. She had never received an explanation of what I had been doing here all these years. Jon was regarding me with similar surprise, but not quite such contempt. He hadn't been here with us, after all, the last and only time he had seen Cersei was at Winterfell. He did not hate her like my sister did. We took our places in the center one of the three stands erected in the pit. The feeling of the chair beneath me gave me strength, it reminded me that no matter what my family would think of me henceforth, I was the official Queen Consort. If we could convince a city to recognize our relationship, surely I would manage to convince my own siblings. Right? The Mountain had just taken up his post beside Cersei, when his brother stepped forward to meet him. Yet another family that found itself spread across opposing sides today. "Remember me?", the Hound asked. "Yeah, you do. You're even fucking uglier than I am now. What did they do to you?" The Mountain stayed as unresponsive as always. "Doesn't matter", Sandor continued, "it's not how it ends for you, brother. You know who's coming for you. You've always known." With that threat still hanging in the air, he turned and left.

We sat in silence as he went, until Cersei asked tersely, "Where is she?" "She'll be here soon", Tyrion replied. He seemed to know as well as I did that this was not helping their case. Cersei did not like to be kept waiting. "Didn't travel with you?", Cersei asked with sarcastic casualness. "No." Tyrion looked away uncomfortably. The conversation died again, and the awkward quiet seemed to stretch for hours. I exchanged an apologetic look with Cersei. After all, I had been the one to make her come here. Then, suddenly, a screech could be heard from overhead. Everyone but Cersei got up from their seats to watch the dragons approaching, and it took all my willpower not to join them. But Cersei and I had to present a united front, and neither of us could appear easily intimidated in front of the enemy. What our men did was one thing, but we were queens. We would not rise for anyone, even a living, breathing dragon. The first of them landed with a roar, the wind from its wings blowing clouds of sand our way, and the second continued circling in the sky. They were magnificent. Until recently, I had never imagined getting to lay eyes on one of these mythical beasts, and although they were fighting for our opponent, I could do nothing but admire them. Cersei on the other hand looked gloriously unimpressed, and I supposed that was for the best. The dragon roared again and bowed its head to reveal the Targaryen girl. She dismounted with ease and the dragon took off again to join its kin. Daenerys strode over to the platform and sat in the chair that had been reserved for her. "We've been here for some time", Cersei said pointedly after taking her measure. "My apologies", Daenerys spoke. She was a curious sight with her silver hair tied in a myriad of braids and her dragonscale-like coat and chain, all in all not of this land. There was no denying that she was beautiful, though, and projected a certain air of authority. I had a feeling that she knew exactly how to get people on her side, and how she had convinced my half-brother specifically. I knew the way he looked at her right now; I knew it from the way I myself looked at Cersei when she wasn't watching. He loved her. 

When no reply came from Cersei, Daenerys looked to Tyrion to speak. He got up with a resigned sigh and paced as he spoke. "We are all facing a unique-" But Euron interrupted him. "Theon!" Only now did I notice my father's old ward, sitting beside Sansa. "I have your sister. If you don't submit to me here, now, I'll kill her." Theon stared back at his uncle uncertainly, while Tyrion's face was all confusion and irritation at this unprompted intervention. "I think we ought to begin with larger concerns", he said slowly. "Then why are you talking?", Euron scoffed. "You're the smallest concern here." How original. "Do you remember when we discussed dwarf jokes?", Tyrion asked. "His wasn't even good", Theon added spitefully. "He explained it at the end. Never explain, it always ruins it", Tyrion agreed. I looked over at Cersei doubtfully. Maybe we had expected too much from this summit. These grown men could not go through two lines of conversation without acting like little children. "We don't even let your kind live in the Iron Islands, you know? We kill you at birth. An act of mercy for the parents", Euron continued. Jaime at last stopped their squabble. "Perhaps you ought to sit down." "Why?", Euron countered without taking his eyes off Tyrion. "Sit down or leave", Cersei ordered firmly. When the Mountain took a step forward, hand on his hilt, Euron finally returned to his seat, leaving Tyrion to smile smugly as he was left standing in the middle. "We are a group of people who do not like one another, as this recent demonstration has shown", he said. "We have suffered at each other's hands. We have lost people we love at each other's hands." I did not miss the subtle, almost apologetic look he gave Cersei, nor how she blinked back emotion in response, swallowing hard. "If all we wanted was more of the same", Tyrion went on, "there would be no need for this gathering. We are entirely capable of waging war against each other without meeting face-to-face." "So instead, we should settle our differences and live together in harmony for the rest of our days?", Cersei mocked. Tyrion remained unfazed. "We all know that will never happen." "Then why are we here?", Cersei asked. To my surprise, Jon rose. "This isn't about living in harmony. It's just about living. The same thing is coming for all of us. A general you can't negotiate with, an army that doesn't leave corpses behind on the battlefield. Lord Tyrion tells me a million people live in this city. They're about to become a million more soldiers in the Army of the Dead." "I imagine for most of them it would be an improvement", Cersei joked, and I snorted involuntarily. "This is serious", Jon insisted, regarding me out of the corner of his eye but not letting his face slip. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't." 

"I don't think it's serious at all", Cersei prompted. "I think it's another bad joke. If my consort has informed me correctly, you're asking me for a truce." "Yes. That's all", Daenerys confirmed. "That's all?" Cersei smiled coldly and leaned forward. "Pull back my armies and stand down while you go on your monster hunt. Or while you solidify and expand your position. Hard for me to know which it is with my armies pulled back, until you return and march on my capital with four times the men." "Your capital will be safe until the northern threat is dealt with", Daenerys assured her. "You have my word." "The word of a would-be usurper", Cersei shot back. Tyrion took leadership of the exchange again. "There is no conversation that will erase the last 50 years. We have something to show you." On cue, the Hound returned from the underground staircase with a heavy-looking chest on his back. He hefted it onto the ground and unbolted it in a lengthy procedure. Cersei looked over at me, exasperated. I placed a hand on her arm. "Just let them finish their little show", I said quietly. "You can still deny them then." I hoped she wouldn't, of course. Briefly, I registered Sansa looking at me with that strange expression of disgust and disappointment again. I averted my eyes. "Here it goes", I whispered to Cersei as Sandor finished opening the chest and stepped away from it quickly. Nothing happened. We waited silently, impatiently, Cersei's face growing more and more annoyed. Finally, the Hound kicked over the chest, and out lurched a hideous, rotten creature, snarling and running right for us. Cersei flinched back in her seat and I jumped up to stand in front of her when, less than a foot away, the thing was stopped short by a chain attached to its neck, the other end held by the Hound. He pulled it to the ground, where it writhed and screeched. It ran back toward Sandor, and he cut it cleanly in half with his sword... but it didn't stop moving. Its two halves continued crawling over the ground, growling angrily at all of us. I could not decide whether to be fascinated or sickened. Qyburn had clearly chosen the former, for he walked up to the creature, studying it. The Hound chopped off its hand and Qyburn picked it up. Its fingers still wriggled. Jon took the hand from him and put a torch to it. "We can destroy them by burning them", he said, and the hand went up in flames, unmoving at last, while the dead man's head shrieked in pain. "And we can destroy them with dragonglass." He pulled out a dark, shining dagger that seemed to be made out of some sort of crystal. "If we don't win this fight, then that is the fate of every person in the world."  He stabbed the creature in the heart and it collapsed, truly dead now. "There is only one war that matters", he said as he approached Cersei, still pointedly ignoring me, "the Great War. And it is here." Cersei seemed not to know what to say in response. "I didn't believe it until I saw them", Daenerys added. "I saw them all." "How many?", Jaime asked. "A hundred thousand, at least." Jaime's look was one of pure shock. 

Euron rose, disgruntled. He knelt to touch the dead man's ashy hair. "Can they swim?" "No", Jon replied. "Good. I'm taking the Iron Fleet back to the Iron Islands." "What are you talking about?", Cersei pressed out through gritted teeth. Clearly, this summit was not going as she had anticipated. Truth be told, I didn't think she had even fully believed me about the White Walkers until now, but had come for my sake anyway. "I've been around the world", Euron said. "I've seen everything, things you couldn't imagine, and this... this is the only thing I've ever seen that terrifies me." He walked over to Daenerys. "I'm going back to my island. You should go back to yours. When winter's over, we'll be the only ones left alive." And with that, he strode out of the pit. "He's right to be afraid", Cersei commented, "and a coward to run. If those things come for us, there'll be no kingdoms to rule." I looked up at her, surprised. Was she agreeing to the truce this easily? I had expected for it to take more to convince her. "Everything we suffered will have been for nothing, everything we lost will have been for nothing. The Crown accepts your truce." I nodded my agreement. In another case, I might have minded her speaking for my part of said crown without consulting me first, but I concurred with her in this, and she knew it. "Until the dead are defeated, they are the true enemy." Jon let out a relieved breath and seemed to be thinking about how to wrap up this meeting. But Cersei wasn't finished yet. "In return, the King in the North will extend this truce. He will remain in the North where he belongs. He will not take up arms against the Lannisters, he will not choose sides." I realized with pride that she counted me as a Lannister too. Yet even so... Jon was still my family, even after all this, and a part of my heart ached at the thought of losing that connection. Could I not be both a wolf and a lion? Did I have to choose sides? But even as I thought it, I knew what my choice would be. It was Cersei. It had always been Cersei. "Just the King in the North? Not me?", Daenerys asked. Cersei chuckled. "I would never ask it of you. You would never agree to it - and if you did, I would trust you even less than I do now. I ask it only of Ned Stark's son. I know Ned Stark's son will be true to his word." She smiled at me, and I returned it. "Do it, Jon", I urged, speaking to him - or anyone here - for the first time. "It's only fair." Jon was silent for a long time, looking at me, at his men, at Daenerys, then back at Cersei. "I am true to my word, or I try to be. That is why I cannot give you what you ask. I cannot serve two queens." No, Jon, you loyal fool!, I thought.  "And I have already pledged myself to Queen Daenerys of House Targaryen." Cersei regarded him contentedly. This was exactly what she had been hoping for, I realized. She had never intended to accept the truce. "Then there is nothing left to discuss." She stood, and I rose with her out of reflex more than anything else. "The dead will come north first, enjoy dealing with them. We will deal with whatever is left of you." 

Cersei started walking away and I followed her, not ready to let this go yet, but a hand at my wrist held me back. I looked up surprised to find Sansa standing next to me, tears of old grief and hatred in her eyes. Cersei looked back at me questioningly, and I gestured to her that it was alright, I'd find her later. She turned around again and left for good, and I turned my attention to Sansa. "Why, Vallery?", she breathed. "Why did you betray your own family?" "What do you mean?", I asked defensively, despite being all too aware of the answer. She chuckled mirthlessly. "You know exactly what I mean, godsdamnit, for once don't lie to me." I swallowed, saying nothing. "Your 'friendship' with the queen... All those years, after everything she's done... Tell me, did you start fucking her before or after she killed Father?", Sansa shouted, the words breaking out of her like water through a burst dam. "She did not kill him, I thought we've been over this-", I began, but she cut me off. "Before or after? How long ago did you turn your back on our House?" I crossed my arms. "Before", I said curtly and looked away. Her voice was cold when she spoke. "Then you killed him as much as she did." My head whipped back around. "How dare you?", I said, rounding on her, my voice no more than a low, dangerous whisper. "I loved Father just as much as you did. And I love Cersei, I would marry her if I could! She's not the monster you are determined to see in her, no matter how you twist and turn reality to fit your personal vision. If she had truly killed our blood, do you think I would love her the way I do?" Sansa studied my eyes. "I don't know, would you?", she asked and walked away. I hurried after her. "Don't you walk away from me now", I thundered. "Not like this." She spun back around. "I haven't seen you in years, Vallery", she screamed. "I didn't know if you were dead or alive, if you were still a hostage or if you had escaped, and then I come here and see you whoring for that cunt of a woman-" I slapped her straight across the face. I didn't know how it had happened, nor had I wanted for it to happen, but it had. And I couldn't exactly say I regretted it. "If you speak about my queen like that again, you will regret it sorely. So go run back to your usurper that you like so much better than her and spare me your laments. Have a good life, Sansa." She looked up at me in shock, holding her cheek and backing away from me. "Who are you, Vallery?", she asked tonelessly. "I don't recognize you anymore." I did not deign to answer. Instead, I turned on my heel and made my way back to the Red Keep, looking for Cersei to have a much needed talk with her about what had just happened.

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An hour later, we returned to find our 'visitors' still waiting in the dragonpit, just as I had expected. I had run into Tyrion on the way inside the Red Keep and advised him to let me talk to Cersei first. Knowing that she would likely make good on her promise to kill him if she caught him alone, I had told him I would send Rhaenys over to him when Cersei and I were done with our conversation - to his knowledge only if it went bad - so he would have time to return to the pit before she saw him. It didn't feel good, plotting behind her back like this, but I needed to keep Daenerys' party in place while I convinced Cersei to reconsider, and Tyrion had presented himself as the perfect tool for that. As for my talk with Cersei, it had taken a lot of begging and desperate, extensive explaining on my part, but in the end I had been able to make her see the unique circumstances of this situation that required action from all of us. So now here we were, ready to propose this new plan. "My armies will not stand down", Cersei announced when we stood in front of the others. "I will not pull them back to the capital." My half-brother looked as if he was about to object. "I will march them north", Cersei said, "to fight alongside you in the Great War." Jon looked at Tyrion in surprise, as if it was his doing, then, guided by Tyrion's nod, at me. Oh, now that it benefits them, they're suddenly glad I'm so close to her, I thought cynically. Much worth in that kind of appreciation. "The darkness is coming for us all", Cersei continued. "We'll face it together. And when the Great War is over, perhaps you'll remember I chose to help with no promises or assurances from any of you." She studied their incredulous faces. "I expect not." Turning to Jaime, she instructed, "Call our banners. All of them." She held Jon and Daenerys' gazes for another moment, then marched back toward the Keep, leaving them to wonder about what had caused this sudden change of heart. I took Cersei's hand as we walked and smiled at her. "Thank you", I whispered. She smiled back, but something about it felt off somehow, as if her mind was preoccupied with worries she was not yet ready to share. But I had no doubt she would tell me in time. She always did. We could trust each other, after all, and neither of us would ever be alone in our fears and concerns. That was what lovers were for.