Chapter 23: Epilogue 4
5 Years Later: Brienne
The trenches around Winterfell are filled to overflowing with bodies, a few already set ablaze by the dragons. It's hard not to choke on the smell filling the courtyard, but Jon is insistent on finding his family.
Lord Stark survived the Wall's fall, but he hasn't walked a single step since that day. He and the other noncombatants sheltered in crypts and my heart clenches at the sight of the broken open door.
"Jon?" He was going to stay in they South, until Arya pointed out he only needed a new name.
Something that I could provide my friend with just a simple marriage.
"No..." He denies what his eyes are confronted with and forces his way inside the crypts with a frantic desperation. "Father!" The call is answered at once, by a massive shadow blocking our path.
"I held the door Ser Jon." The burly man who Jon claimed was once called Hodor, stands bloody with a dozen broken wights at his feet. "I didn't let any of them get past me." He wheezes in pain and slides down the stone wall. "But is it okay if I take a rest now?"
"Don't even think about it!" The gruff voice of Lyanna Mormont barks at him as she starts clearing the doorway. "Not until the Maester looks at that head wound."
As she emerges from the darkness with a swagger I still wish I could find, Jon rushes towards his revealed family. Sansa the betrothed of our new King Aegon, pushes her father's wheeled chair with relief filling her eyes.
On either side of her is little Rickon and his mother Lady Stark. The newborn Annalee, squirming in her mother's arms. She'll never believe what we had to face and that's enough to make me chuckle.
"It's finally over." The sound surprises everyone and I just can't seem to stop.
It having been days since anyone had heard genuine laughter at Winterfell. And for Brienne the Brick to be the one to start it off... was just enough for everyone to share the moment.
Lady Catelyn recovers first and I feel Jon tense beside me when he notices her gaze. It darts between my husband and his uncle.
Jon did some investigating and was able to cross a few names off his list of possibilities. But I was as shocked as Gendry and Samwell, when my husband greeted Daenerys as his aunt. It made our victory possible, having three ridden dragons to scorch the dead.
"What about Aegon? And Robb." Sansa blurts out when she notices the absences. "Where are they?"
"Fine last time I saw them," Lord Jaime enters through the nearly cleared doorway. He clutches the lion pommelled Longclaw with one hand, even as his face tries to appear relaxed.
Stannis told the late Lord Tywin of who had a sword and a very desperate need for gold and men alike. And after tripling the number of men in the Watch and a million gold offer, the Lannisters finally had the precious blade.
Though after seeing Lords Robb and Jaime wield their Valyrian steel swords so expertly... I can think of few who would have used them better.
"Robb had a good plan with the bones." I can see the relief warring with bitterness in Lord Stark's eyes. "They started to rattle around, which really started to worry me. but separating them even a few inches... stopped them from being an actual threat."
As we leave the crypts and rejoin the survivors outside, my mind starts to drift towards a far happier future than I had ever dreamed of. With Princess Daenerys and Renly moving to Dragonstone, Lord Stannis has been offered his families seat and position as Lord Paramount.
Which means not much will truly change for Jon and I. Most of our friends will remain near us in the Stormlands and we still answer to Lord Stannis. Though the way he eyed Jon and I last... makes me worry he's already plotting out how to betroth any daughter we have, to his own newborn son.
Notes: Well, this is the end. Family stuff got worse and I just can't get the 5
th one out with a happy mindset. This one was almost impossible after my uncle had a stroke and died. I was getting prepared for bad news from grandma and this took me by complete surprise.
I know the epilogues are a little off tonally, but I'm not going to be able to right anything happy for months. Sorry for not landing the epilogue as well as I handled the whole story.
