"Why her? Who is she?" the big man, Harwin, asked in confusion.
"She is..." The old maester shivered violently when he met Dany's "deep and cold" gaze. "She... she is the heir of an exiled lord."
Then he smacked his forehead and cried out in frustration, "Ah, I made a mistake—it has nothing to do with her! She's only sixteen. Though she's now more cunning and ruthless than Tywin, back then she was still young and weak, and should've had no power to interfere in the affairs of the Seven Kingdoms."
I was planning to send you directly to the Wall for service, but now it seems I'll have to take you beyond the Wall for a glimpse of the northern snows.
Yes, let you properly communicate with the true masters of the lands beyond.
"I still don't believe it," the old maester continued to ramble, completely unaware of his precarious future. "Maybe it's all just coincidence, an accident. I don't believe Littlefinger alone could stir up turmoil across the Seven Kingdoms."
"It is indeed hard to believe," Hyle and Barristan nodded in agreement.
"I've seen Littlefinger," Harwin said, glancing at the grim-faced Lady Stoneheart, smacking his lips. "That kind of small fry—I could take on ten of him!"
Dany couldn't be bothered with these fools and asked the old maester, "Forget the others—do you really not understand how powerful wisdom can be? Compared to the Dance of the Dragons, how is today's situation?"
The maesters, though powerless and landless, still managed through schemes to bring down the once-glorious Targaryens.
"This..." The old man's expression changed drastically as he fell silent and began to ponder deeply.
"What did Littlefinger do?" Lady Stoneheart asked, her voice as cold and sinister as a snake's hiss.
"How did Littlefinger deal with Lord Stark?" Dany turned to Barristan.
He had a hand in everything that happened at court after Robert's death.
The old knight thought for a moment and said, "I don't know what Littlefinger promised Lord Stark, but he definitely betrayed him. At the time, Eddard Stark believed the Gold Cloaks were under his command."
"But when he gave the order to arrest Cersei, the Gold Cloaks slaughtered the Northerners instead. Clearly, they had already pledged themselves to Cersei."
"Petyr himself held a dagger to the Lord Hand's throat and smiled as he said—'Didn't I warn you not to trust me?'"
"You are..." Catelyn stared at him for a long time. "Barristan?!"
"What? The Barristan the Bold?" Everyone was stunned.
Harwin and the third Hound both drew their longswords, eyeing the old knight with suspicion.
"Are you really Ser Barristan?" Brienne couldn't help asking.
Barristan nodded, removed his helmet to fully reveal his face, walked up to Lady Stoneheart's table, and bowed. "My lady, I am Barristan Selmy. I deeply regret what happened to you and Lord Stark."
Dany rubbed her forehead, looking helpless. Meanwhile, Perystan—lost in thought until now—grinned gleefully, as if enjoying the drama.
"You—" Lady Stoneheart glared venomously at the White Knight.
"Why blame him?" Dany sighed. "Joffrey even stripped him of his white cloak. Since the Kingsguard was founded, no one has ever suffered such humiliation. Did you think he'd be Cersei's lapdog?
I'd bet neither Eddard Stark nor Cersei ever thought to win him over. Throughout the entire ordeal, he was just a clueless bystander."
"I do know a few things," the old knight said awkwardly, his face reddening.
"And you—who are you?" Lady Stoneheart turned her cold, blood-tinted eyes on Dany.
"Take a guess."
Lady Stoneheart looked at the old knight, then carefully examined the girl's delicate face, illuminated by firelight, with her silver hair and violet eyes...
"Barristan... never leaves the king... you are... a Targaryen... Daenerys Targaryen!"
Hatred surged within Lady Stoneheart. In an instant, the cave turned into a frozen pit of hell. A chilling air burst forth with her voice, seeping into everyone's soul, freezing them to the bone. So much so that those shocked by Dany's identity didn't even dare to gasp.
"Uh… what did I ever do to you?" Dany asked, completely baffled.
Lady Stoneheart stood up for the first time, one hand clutching her throat, the other pointing at Dany. She spoke an extended, hate-filled monologue.
But she spoke so fast and so long that Dany couldn't understand a word.
"The lady says you cursed King Robb," Harwin said awkwardly, his expression strange. He hesitated, stammered, and stole several glances at her. Seeing her determined expression, he reluctantly continued, "About a year and a half ago, after the Whispering Wood, King Robb dreamed of you..."
"You were cursing him in the dream—a nightmare. There was a great hall, a mess of food and drink, corpses everywhere. King Robb himself had been decapitated and had a direwolf's head sewn onto his body. And you... you laughed and said—'Serves you right.'"
"Isn't that what happened at the Red Wedding?" Perystan exclaimed. "Robb Stark actually foresaw the Red Wedding? What... what is this?"
"My lady, were you telling the truth? Your son really dreamed of that scene?" Barristan stepped forward in shock. "We also—no, it was Her Majesty Daenerys who foresaw the Red Wedding."
"What?! You foresaw it too?" The old maester nearly broke down. The world had become so fantastical—everyone could see the future. How could the Citadel still play their game of conspiracies?
"What's going on?" Harwin muttered.
"Let me think... Her Majesty saw the Red Wedding prophecy in the House of the Undying. In Westerosi time, that would be around..." Barristan thought for a moment, then gave a date.
Lady Stoneheart's pupils shrank instantly. "That's... the very day!"
"Someone tried to change history—and failed," Dany said darkly. "Damn it, that bastard dumped the consequences on me!"
"Who tried to change history? What are you talking about? Isn't that the future?" the red-nosed old man asked, confused.
"If you're speaking from a point after the Red Wedding and you warn Robb Stark beforehand—then for Robb, it's changing the future. But for the one who warned him, it's changing the past."
"This..." Most people still looked confused, but the old maester, with his intelligence and education, understood Dany's meaning—and because he understood, he found it even harder to accept.
Foretelling the future is one thing. Prophecies have happened more than once or twice already. But someone from the future altering the present (or the past?)—isn't that a bit too fantastical?
"How is that possible? Who is he?"
"Who else would try to save Stark?" Dany countered.
"It must be another Stark then. Could it be the son of the Young Wolf?" the red-nosed old man asked in confusion.
"His son?" Lady Stoneheart's eyes widened, and she asked urgently, "Is Jeyne... pregnant?"
The "Jeyne" she was referring to was certainly not the female bandit beside them—Long-legged Jeyne.
"No, I mean a bastard. Did the Young Wolf have a bastard child?"
"My son was chaste and proper."
So your son left no heirs.
Dany shook her head and said, "Your daughter-in-law will never bear Robb's child. Her mother won't allow it!"
"Why not?"
"You still don't know your in-law is a spy planted by Duke Tywin?" Dany asked in surprise.
"No, that's impossible. Raynald was loyal—he'd rather die than surrender!" Lady Stoneheart gasped.
Raynald was Jeyne's older brother. He had followed Robb to the Red Wedding, but he was unaware of his mother's collusion with Tywin. During the incident, the Freys kept urging him to surrender, even bluntly telling him that his mother had played a part in the Red Wedding, saying, "We're all on the same side."
Yet Raynald fought to the bitter end. After Grey Wind (Robb's direwolf) was killed, he was filled with despair and shame—and threw himself into the river.
A true loyalist to the core.
That's why Lady Stoneheart had never doubted the Westerling family until now.
Dany sighed. "Maybe Raynald didn't betray you. But his mother—your in-law—only received benefits from the Lannisters, not a single punishment.
For example, Jeyne's uncle, Rolph Spicer, has been elevated to Earl of Castamere.
Just a mere merchant, and now he's a nobleman overnight. The Earl of Castamere, no less. You can imagine how much he did for the Lannisters."
"No, it's not possible. It can't be." Lady Stoneheart shook her head repeatedly. "Jeyne wouldn't betray Robb."
"It's true," the old maester sighed. "You've been cut off from news here. You probably don't know—just a week ago, Riverrun was taken by Jaime Lannister. Your uncle, the Blackfish, disappeared, and your brother, Edmure, has been stripped of his title and lands. He'll spend the rest of his life under supervision at Casterly Rock.
On the other hand, Lady Sybell (Robb's mother-in-law) and her three children not only avoided punishment, they were richly rewarded by the Lannisters. In addition to titles and marriage alliances, Queen Jeyne herself was spared and granted permission to remarry."
"Heh... heh... heh..." Lady Stoneheart collapsed into her chair and let out a ghastly, owl-like laugh. "Betrayal. Traitor."
"Lady, have you forgotten something?" Dany reminded her. "The Westerlings of Crag are vassals of the Lannisters. Northerners looted and pillaged the Westerlands—they were enemies of all Westerosi lords. Did you not understand who was friend and who was foe?
And do you know what kind of man Tywin Lannister is?
'The Rains of Castamere'—everyone knows that tale.
What made you believe the Westerlings would abandon their ancestral castle of Crag, risk annihilation at the hands of the ruthless Tywin Lannister, just to side with the North?
Sure, they were captured by the Young Wolf, but noble captives can pay ransom. Everyone knows that.
Being captured doesn't mean losing your title and lands.
Even without the Red Wedding, if Jeyne Westerling had gone North and become queen to the King in the North, what would the Westerlings gain?
New land grants?
Everyone knows that's impossible. The North has no land left to grant.
Abandon an earldom, give up the wealthy, ancient Crag, and go North to become penniless knights? That would be the end of the Westerling family. No sane person would make that choice."
Dany said a great deal, and the others all nodded in agreement.
But Lady Stoneheart wouldn't hear any of it. She kept clawing at her own face and tearing at her hair, cursing in a chilling, eerie voice: "Betrayal. Traitor."
Dany finally understood—despite all the virtues of House Stark, they had one fatal flaw: they always assumed the world worked the way they thought it should.
Seeing Lady Stoneheart in a frenzied, near-possessed state, Dany felt that same unease one gets watching a horror film. Damn it, she was dealing with a dead person!
And a dead person with a mental illness, no less.
That thought alone was terrifying.
So she decided to stop provoking her and tried to say something comforting instead: "My lady, there's no need to be so heartbroken. In the end, out of your five children, only one has died."
"What?" Lady Stoneheart's head snapped up.
"This morning—well, yesterday morning—we saw your youngest daughter, Arya Stark, by the river."
"Which river? Where on the riverbank?" Lady Stoneheart asked urgently.
(End of Chapter)
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