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"Well!" Olenna said, carefully selecting another sweet. "One can hardly blame you for staying where you're loved and wanted and safe and what-not, of course."
Dany felt Jorah stir next to her, too alert to any hint of insult or threat; she reached out to touch his arm, briefly, it's all right; it's just words. She was not her ancestors, to burn people for mere words, for opinions and thoughts and feelings.
She smiled a dragon's smile at Olenna - novice player to experienced veteran. "But?"
Olenna smiled back, all roses and thorns. "But nothing. Yet."
Dany leaned back. She didn't bother to hide her emotions - treat others as you wish to be treated; be honest and receive honesty in turn. A dangerous position when it came to politics, but when one had three dragons, one might dare much. "Really."
Olenna flicked some sugar off her fingers. "Well, you know what Northerners are like. 'Winter's coming', they say. Armies amassing behind the Wall. White Walkers. All that superstitious nonsense."
"Is that why you are here? Superstitious nonsense?" Dany permitted herself a smile, a feint.
Olenna ignored it magnificently. "Sometimes, what people believe is true counts for much more than what is true. And personally, I know I'd feel much safer knowing someone with three dragons was keeping an eye on things. Just in case."
"Just in case Winter really is coming," Dany said, and Olenna's expression turned briefly, exquisitely disappointed, a teacher seeing her favored student stumble.
"My dear, Winter's always coming. That, at least, is not in question."
In Essos, people prospered under her rule. Cities celebrated her name. Loved and wanted and safe, but what was love, want, safety to a dragon?
She asked, "Then what is?" and Olenna looked at her.
"Why, whether you are too, of course."