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[THE SMOKING SEA; JORAH'S BOAT]
"Where are we now? Not the Rhoyne. Long, sullen silences and an occasional punch in the face. The Mormont way. Let's start over. I apologize for before. My mouth sometimes runs away from me. This doesn't have to be an unpleasant trip. We're going to be spending a lot of time together on the way to Meereen."
"Meereen! See! I was right! He isn't taking me to Cersei!" Tyrion exclaimed with glee.
Jaime and Joanna were not pleased either way.
"We are."
"What would make our time together truly enjoyable would be some wine."
"No wine."
"I am a person who drinks. People who drink need to keep drinking."
"You're not a person who needs to keep drinking, you're a person who chooses to keep drinking" Jaime cut in with a roll of his eyes.
"Small difference."
"Not small enough" Joanna cut in with a roll of her eyes.
"Mother and brother ganging up on me... life is so unfair" Tyrion sighed dramatically.
Jaime cuffed him on the head for it.
[JORAH stands up and looks ahead. TYRION turns as well. A large bank of fog lies ahead of the boat.]
"I know where we are. You're taking us through Valyria."
"Those are not safe waters" Yara said. She'd sailed long enough to know which waters were safe and which were not. Valyria was not. She'd never been, but she'd heard enough.
"You don't have to tell me twice" Tyrion muttered.
"Have you sailed this route before?"
"No."
"Great..."
"You're going to bring Daenerys a souvenir from her ancestral homeland in case I'm not enough?"
"I think you'll be plenty."
"You know what they say. The Doom still rules Valyria. What about the demons and the flames? Aren't you afraid of the Doom?"
"No. But the pirates are."
"That sounds like a good reason" Theon muttered.
Yara reluctantly agreed.
[RIVER SURROUNDED BY WOODS]
"How many centuries before we learn how to build cities like this again? For thousands of years, the Valyrians were the best in the world at almost everything."
"That is because they used magic for everything" Rhaegar spoke. "From construction to forging weapons. Their blood and magic touched everything they made. Those who are knowledgeable do not wish to dabble in them, hence there is no reaching their level."
"Mayhaps because the magic was dark? Blood magic and all that" Varys countered.
"I did not say it is unwise to do so. I am simply pointing out why we have yet not reached that level."
"Excuses" Gendry grunted. "To be perfect you must hone your skills until it becomes second nature. The Valyrians may have used magic, but their ways can still be replicated by these" he raised his hands.
"These learned to reforge Valyrian Steel... not mine but hands in general. What can reforge can one day create as well? It's all a matter of time. And who knows if you answer correctly you may be rewarded with the ways of construction like them, Didn't Jon learn the way to create Valyrian steel that way?"
Rhaegar took in the words and let them sit for a moment.
"You are right" he finally said.
"It's simple. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. Telling yourself that you can never become something will always pull you back."
"Words of your own?"
Gendry shook his head.
"Tobho Mott said those to me the day I joined him" the boy answered.
"Words we can all live by" Varys spoke, eyeing everyone who had heard the conversation.
"And then they weren't. They held each other close and turned their backs upon the end. The hills that split asunder and the black that ate the skies; The flames that shot so high and hot that even dragons burned; Would never be the final sights that fell upon their eyes. A fly upon a wall, the waves the sea wind whipped and churned -"
"The city of a thousand years, and all that men had learned; The Doom consumed it all alike, and neither of them turned."
"I would clap."
[He holds up his bound hands. JORAH smirks. They look at the approaching ruins of the city. Suddenly TYRION spots DROGON passing overhead. He stands up. Both of them look up and watch as he passes. Behind TYRION, someone hops in the water. JORAH hears the splash and turns to see the ripples]
"What was that?"
"Considering where you are... Stone Men" Jon spoke.
[The boat passes into a tunnel. A Stone Man jumps down into the boat from the ceiling.]
Jon nods to himself. He was correct,
Tyrion swore under his breath.
"Don't let it touch you" Joanna hissed.
Shireen leaned forward. This was what people thought she would turn into...
[JORAH hits the stone man from behind before he gets to TYRION. They begin fighting. Another stone man jumps into the water and begins trying to get on the boat. TYRION tries to keep him off. JORAH manages to push the first man into the water. He then begins fighting the other one. JORAH falls into the water. JORAH climbs back onto the boat and fights off the stone man. He manages to get his sword and cuts the stone man. The other stone man inches his way towards TYRION. Jorah cuts through the stone man he was fighting and pushes him into the water. Tyrion rolls into the water to avoid the other one. He desperately tries to remove the rope around his hands. A stone man grabs his ankle and begins attempting to pull him down. The screen fades to black.]
"No" Joanna muttered in horror.
Jaime sat tense beside her. No, he refused to believe his brother was dead.
[After a few moments, we see TYRION'S perspective. JORAH stands over him as his eyes slowly blink open.]
"Thank the gods" Joanna spoke shakily.
Jaime relaxed, his grip on his brother's hand tight and firm.
Shireen looked sick.
Those men... that was what she would have become had the infection not been stopped. She had never been one who prayed much, never been a pious or devoted girl. But right now, she was thanking every god there was out there.
[JORAH inspects the Grey Scale then covers it up.]
"He was touched," Brandon the Elder said, clicking his tongue.
"He can still recover," Shireen said, hopefully, "I did. He just needs to find the healers who cured me."
"If he can find them in time," the eldest child of Rickard Stark said with a frown. "And there isn't a guarantee that he could be saved. You may have gotten lucky."
The child frowned, still hopeful but now a bit more unsure.
Ned watched the vision stoically. Jorah Mormont may die here, a slaver and a fugitive of the King's law, a stain on his family's honour.
Yet he found no joy in seeing this one meet its end.
Then again, Ned was never one to find joy in deaths, even if they were justified.
"So, those villages we were supposed to find. We can't live on berries and roots.'
"I can."
"You're not hungry?"
"Of course I'm hungry."
"But he can survive on berries and roots" Jon said with a small smile.
"He's putting on a tough face" Daenerys huffed. She was worried about the man as well, worried about the Grey Scale he contracted and it spreading and killing him. Or worse...
"You're an awful travelling companion, do you know that? Possibly the least charming man I have ever met."
"I am not your travelling companion."
"But he's travelling with you..." Myrcella frowned.
"We are travelling together. In each other's company. Therefore..."
"Great minds" Jaime mused with a smirk.
Myrcella smiled.
Tyrion smiled as well and sipped his wine.
"Do you ever shut up?"
"I sailed from King's Landing to Pentos in a crate. Without ever saying a word."
"Why?"
"He's asking him that now?" Arya snorted.
"I don't think it was that important to him to know why Tyrion was in Volantis" Sansa muttered.
"I killed my father. He wanted to execute me for a crime I didn't commit. And he was fucking the woman I loved. As miserable as you are, Mormont, at least your father was a good man."
"What do you know about my father?"