snow and stars| jon snow

viii: westerosi men

She had been sitting on Ilta's Throne for three years. In those three years, Ilta flourished. She annulled her marriage to Camorra, who ran back to Dorne. People flocked to Ilta, giving her more to rule over and more strength. The people loved her, and so did royalty. She had aged well with the crown. Andromeda could not say the same for Westeros. In those three years, Westeros had practically burned to the ground, literally. The Night King had been defeated in the North, Daenerys Targaryen had burned Kings Landing, some Jon Snow or Targaryen or Stark had become the King of Westeros, and Sansa Stark was sitting on her own ancestral throne as the first female to be crowned the Queen in the North. Andromeda thought everything was as it should be. She was distant from Westeros, and that was fine. Until she received a raven.

Ramona, who would forever sit in the chair beside her throne, was reading the letter aloud to her. "It's from King Jon of Westeros."

Andromeda's eyes bulged and her head came forward, almost losing her crown. Even the guards at the entrance to the throne room were shocked. "A King of Westeros?" She tapped her fingers on the arms of her throne. "Don't read it." She remembered what had happened the last time her family didn't respond to a letter from a King of Westeros. Warning sirens blared in her head. "No, read it, please."

"Apparently it's written by his Hand for him. It says," Ramona cleared her throat and ran her hand through her dark hair. "Lady Andromeda Vela of Ilta, I message you for the king. I would very much like to speak to you on the terms of Ilta being an independent country. Ilta is a territory of Westeros, and therefore, you are no queen. I mean this in no ill manner, but the King of Westeros and Westeros itself pleads for you to come to Kings Landing and swear fealty to the new king, Jon Targaryen." By the time she finished reading the letter, Andromeda's face was that of one of disgust.

"I'm not a lady," she began with. "And I will not bow to a Westerosi King." She said. "Not after what happened, not ever again. Ilta bows to none."

"If we don't bow, we may break again." Ramona said gently. "The last time we did this, we broke. We lost seven members of House Vela, and we had only one beacon of hope. If you die, Ilta will become an abandoned country."

Andromeda put her hand over her face for a moment, and shook her head. "I don't know what I am going to do." She sighed. "Do I kneel for my people so we don't die or do I stand and die with freedom?"

"That's for you to decide as a queen." Ramona said wisely. "There are many things that I can do with you, but deciding the fate of the kingdom is not. I can advise you as your own Hand, but I cannot force a decision."

"What do you think we should do? What do you think I should do?"

"I think it would be a good idea for the two of you to meet before anyone starts another war. You see, the only bad thing about being independent is that we have no true allies. And because the crown is a Stark and Targaryen, he has many." She shook her head, looking off into the distance for a moment. "And you do not want to wake a dragon, trust me."

"Please, I've heard that the man is much more of a kicked puppy that wants to be a direwolf." She almost aborted, but her smile cleared and she got back to business. "I never understood the things with Starks over there in little Westeros. Starks are friends of Baratheons, who are no friend to me." She said. "But they appear to be honorable, with all the stories I've heard of their father and his before him. I'll write them back, do you have pen and paper?"

§

The raven that King Jon Targaryen of Westeros got was tired by the time it got to him. It looked like it was ready to collapse, and it almost did. He took the note off of the black bird, who continued to just lay on the table. His Hand, Tyrion Lannister, sat there, waiting for him to read the letter. Jon Stark opened the letter, but Tyrion interrupted him.