Cast (in this chapter):
Emilia Clarke as Inés Targaryen/Daenerys Targaryen
Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen
Rose Leslie as Rachel Lannister
Richard Madden as Robb Stark
Ed Skrein as Daario Naharis

After a day of waiting, Daenerys and Viserys arrived in Meereen. Rachel remembered the last time she’d seen them, a very long time ago. She and Daenerys had always gotten along just fine, but she and Viserys had never quite seen eye to eye.
And from the moment Viserys was introduced to Robb, Rachel could see that they would not be the best of friends, either.
“So, what’s new?” Daenerys asked as she, Inés and Rachel were sitting on the balcony on the night before they were to leave. “Why are you here with a Stark?”
“I’m his prisoner”, Rachel said. “He took me as leverage so that he’d leave King’s Landing.”
“So now he’s just your captor?” Inés asked quietly.
“Seems to be so.”
“Am I missing something?” Daenerys asked.
“Not really”, Rachel didn’t feel like talking about it. “Inés is getting quite friendly with Daario, though.”
Daenerys turned to look at Ines with a smirk on her face. “Oh, really?”
Inés smiled. “I’ll admit, he is quite charming.”
“Not really my taste”, Rachel said as she took a sip of her drink.
“Of course not, because you prefer cold, distant, curly-haired Starks”, Inés smiled.
“Ah, so I did miss something”, Daenerys smirked.
“Stop it”, Rachel said. “Stop. Yes, I… I did think we had something for a moment, but not anymore.”
“But I told you-“
“I’m not a very patient person, Inés, you ought to know that”, Rachel said. “Let’s just drop the subject. Let’s talk about Daenerys."



The rest of the night went by rather quickly until it was time to go to bed. Inés walked over towards her bedchambers and almost ran into Daario, who was heading in the opposite direction.
“My queen”, he smiled pleasantly. “Headed to bed?”
“Yes, we have an early start tomorrow morning”, Inés said.
Daario gave her a long smile before walking a bit closer. “Those things I said to you, the other night… I meant them. But I think I forgot to mention a few things that make being in your service quite… tempting.”
Inés raised her eyebrows. “You’re drunk.”
“No, I’m not, just being honest”, Daario smiled. “Is it a Westerosi custom to only speak the truth when intoxicated?”
“I wouldn’t know”, Inés stepped back a little. “It is very nice of you to say such things, and I admire and appreciate your loyalty, but I do have to go to bed.”
In truth she wanted nothing more than to kiss him right there and then, but she knew it would be a mistake.
And in a way she enjoyed this, this game of cat and mouse, the anticipation. But anticipation usually led to something eventually happening in the end, and she knew that this might not be the case with her and Daario.
“Good night, Daario”, she forced herself to say as she backed away from him, heading inside her bedchambers. She felt his eyes on her as she walked inside her room and closed the door.
She breathed in deep and sat on her bed. Why was she so attracted to him? She was already letting it affect her queenly duties. And that was not appropriate. She needed to focus on what mattered, and for the time being it was spending time with her friend Rachel on their trip to Westeros.



The next morning it was time to go. Inés said goodbye to Daenerys and Viserys before following Rachel, Robb and Daario to the ship. The 2,000 Unsullied were with them as well, in separate ships.
“Are you alright?” Robb asked as he and Rachel got on the ship. He had a right to be worried. Rachel hadn’t spoken much to him sense their conversation about the sunny weather.
“Don’t concern yourself with my problems, Stark”, Rachel said, trying to appear as cold as possible. If he didn’t care about her, then she couldn’t show that she cared about him. “After all, I’m just your prisoner, nothing more. You made that very clear.”
Robb opened his mouth to speak, and Rachel could see the shocked expression on his face, but thankfully just then Inés called Rachel over to her, and they watched on deck as the ship left Meereen behind.



“Are you excited about going home?” Rachel asked.
“I don’t know”, Inés said. “In a way, but Westeros was never such a home to me.”
“I understand”, Rachel nodded. “When we get back to King’s Landing, I think I’m going to be handed back to my brother like the prisoner that I am.”
Inés smiled a little. “I think you’re being too hard on him. Maybe he’s just confused.”
“Maybe”, Rachel admitted. “But I just…. I…”
“I understand”, Inés didn’t even let her finish. “You were expecting something different after that night you shared. And maybe you’ll have it. Just… not yet.”
Rachel chuckled. “Well, you’re a terrible liar, but I’m glad you’re here. I could use the company.”
“Any time”, Inés smiled. “And hey, it’s a long ship ride. Anything can happen.”
Rachel turned over to look at Robb, who had his eyes on her, too. He still had a confused look on his face, which seemed to be mixing with something that resembled guilt. Rachel tore her eyes away from him and turned to look at the sea. She was going home. And Inés was right; it was a long ship ride indeed.

Inés walked over to Daario, who was standing at the other side of the ship, staring at the ocean.
“Have you ever been on sea before?”
“Of course”, Daario smiled. “But I have never been to Westeros before, I do admit that. What is it like?”
“I don’t remember”, Inés shrugged. “We’ll find out soon, I suppose.”
Daario nodded. “You look worried. Don’t be, I’ll protect you.” He had a smug smile on his face.
“I don’t need protecting”, Inés pointed out.
“Perhaps not, my queen, but I wish you’d let me do it anyway, for my own peace of mind. I do worry about you”, Daario said after a moment of silence.
Inés looked at him in confusion. This was the first time he had ever said anything as meaningful as that to her.
“As you wish”, Inés smiled.
Daario nodded, leaned forwards and placed a kiss on Inés cheek before walking off with a small bow.
Inés found herself watching as he walked off, really cherishing the thought of how long the ship ride would be, and how many chances there would be for them to encounter like that again.