Alayne stared impassionately at her father's...at Lord Baelish's lifeless body. She watched as the blood drained into the dirt by her feet and felt nothing. She could hear Myranda's sniffling beside her and knew that sobs would be expected from his own daughter, but she couldn't bring herself to perform the mummery. As Baelish had been forced to his knees, the only thing that had gone through her mind was that little Lord Robin would be safe now. That and that she would never have to kiss him again.

Harry, her betrothed, had given her a sidelong glance and had put an arm over her shoulders, pulling her slightly closer to him in comfort. Alayne allowed the intimacy, knowing that there were more than a few eyes watching her in the crowd witnessing the sudden execution. They would expect her to be blubbering on as Myranda was doing, crying at the death of her father. For a moment, her mind went to another execution... another beheading. The girl had reacted as everyone thought she would-wailing out, struggling against the guards, even fainting... No. Alayne was not a child. She truly was losing her great protector and had great reason cry but she found her eyes dry. Hopefully people would just think she was numb in shock. She was far from numb though, as her mind whirled. Lord Baelish had been the only one to truly know her past. He had worked tirelessly to set up an elaborate plan to take Winterfell in her name and without him, Alayne would have to take care of herself. She had become confident in her abilities, but with this new development, she was uneasy.

The Dragon Queen had descended on the Vale in full force so unexpectedly. They had heard snippets of the battles in the south for months, but had not prepared for this sudden arrival. They had been too preoccupied accumulating provisions to last out the winter and arranging for Alayne's marriage. The weight of Harry's arm was heavy on her back and she couldn't help but ponder whether the wedding would actually happen now that it's greatest advocate was headless. Alayne had known that Baelish was working to make her the Lady of the Vale. Had known that he was just waiting for little Robin to breathe his last. Had suspected he was doing what he could to advance his demise. It had been more than once that she had poured the sweetsleep out of Sweetrobin's window once the Maester had left. Annoying as he may be, Robin was practically the last of her family. Even with all the unease that came with the loss of her champion, she was relieved that her cousin would now be safe. Unless the Dragon Queen found him a threat...

Alayne's river-blue eyes swept across the courtyard to the fearful woman. She was beautiful-there was no denying it, but not the icy beauty that Alayne could boast and not the seductive glamour of the Lannister queen. This woman's power radiated from her like flames. She looked magnificent even without the hulking beast she had ridden in on. They had all woken this morning to the screeching as the dragon had circled the Eyrie, waiting as her troops had pushed past the gate. The beast's cries had gone on for hours-as if they weren't nervous enough preparing the castle for her arrival. Petyr had been as on edge as Alayne had ever seen him when they had finally come together in the courtyard to greet them. He had plastered on that sly smile even as everyone else had flinched away when the dragon landed and the silver woman had climbed from it's back. He had stepped forward to welcome her to the Vale, apologizing that it's Lord was...incapacitated and letting her know that he would assist her in anything she needed. She had looked at him practically in disgust and had asked him to repeat his name. He had looked confused and confirmed his identity.

"The Lord Baelish that was Master of Coin for the usurper and his mad son?" She had raised an eyebrow at his confusion.

"The very same."

Her eyes had turned hard instantly and she waved towards her guards. "Seize him." There had been a moment of chaos as everyone had gasped and Petyr had struggled, but quickly was subdued. Strangely, no one came to his rescue as he was forced to his knees. The queen waved to one of her knights. "Ser Jorah?" An older man in armor had stepped from her ranks and unsheathed his broadsword. Alayne's eyes had gone wide as the queen began rattling off accusations directed at her protector. Treason towards House Targaryen, Lannister, Stark, Tyrell, Arryn, and the realm. Kidnapping. Theft. Murder. The list went on an on until Alayne was swaying on her feet. "For these crimes, I sentence you to death. Do you have any last words?" The dragon woman had been radiating with righteous fury as she glared down at the man at her feet.

"Do I get no trial? No argument to these accusations?" He had demanded loudly, but the queen had just scoffed.

"You do not deserve it." And his head had rolled and Alayne had watched in almost satisfaction as his body ceased it's twitching.

Now the queen made her way over to the Maester, who had stood right behind her.

"Where is Lord Arryn?" Her voice had lost the fury it had held before and now was rather respectful, although most of the crowd had flinched away at her approach.

"I'm afraid he is in his chamber, quite incapacitated..." Maester Coleman stuttered, clearly fearful. "He is but a little boy, your grace. And a sickly one at that. Surely no threat to you." Alayne's eyebrows rose at his audacity, but the queen just looked sympathetic.

"He has nothing to fear from me, I swear to you..." She glanced around at all the terrified faces. "To any of you." She raised her voice slightly. "I would like to speak to the Lord as soon as possible though..." Alayne noticed the hesitation in her voice-clearly not wanting to linger, but equally resistant to pulling a sick child from his bed. Before she knew it, she had stepped forward and dropped into a curtsy.

"Your grace," she murmured, with her head down. "Perhaps you could wait in the great hall? Swe-Lord Robin usually just needs a short rest after such excitement as we had this morning..." Her eyes raised just enough to glance towards the dragon before returning to the ground. "I'm sure he will be well enough soon. Especially with the Maester's care." She sent a small, encouraging smile to Maester Coleman who nodded and turned to return to his little charge. The queen watched him go before turning back to Alayne and nodding.

Myranda sent her an incredulous look through her tears and Harry looked equally disconcerted as she led the queen and a few of her men into the Eyrie. They made their way into the great hall where Petyr had already ordered a welcome spread to be set out. As Alayne poured the queen a glass from the flagon of wine Petyr had selected, she had to appreciate the irony that he had gone through so much trouble to welcome the dragon queen and her party. Alayne busied herself in feeding the rest of the group and filling all their goblets. She couldn't help noticing the vast diversity that the queen kept in her company. The Ser Jorah that had acted as her executioner looked like a typical Westerosi knight, but the girl that the queen kept by her side had skin darker than Alayne had ever seen and the other guards were of all colors and wore strange armour accompanied by long spears. When all had been served, Alayne approached the queen again.

"My lord will not be long, your grace. I appreciate the patience you are showing him." The queen nodded absentmindedly, observing her.

"Of course, Lady..."

"Stone. Alayne Stone. Natural daughter of Petyr Baelish" A voice rang out behind her, sending the queens eyes widening. She turned to see Harry entering the room. He came to her and kissed her hand before giving a halting bow to the silver queen. "An interesting welcome, your grace. Beheading our lord within minutes of your arrival."

"Robin Arryn is our lord." Alayne stressed, angry that he would tell the queen of her relation to the man she had just murdered and worried how she would react. The queen seemed to recover from her shock, but was now staring at her intently.

"We all know who controlled the Eyrie, my lady and it isn't the little boy sleeping upstairs." Harry voice was dripping with irritation, making Alayne for the first time wonder how much 'The Heir' knew of her father's plans. Willing herself to push such thoughts aside, she stood and made her way towards the fire, feeling chills run down her spine. The queen followed her, leaving Harry to speak with her guards about where the rest of her army could rest.

"Lord Baelish was your father?" The silver woman spoke tonelessly and Alayne nodded, eyeing her to gauge her reaction, hoping that she didn't have anything to fear from her. "Did you know of his crimes?"

"Crimes?" What was the queen looking for? Alayne knew that he was guilty of stealing her away. Guilty of murder for sure-even regicide. Guilty of plenty that she knew of, and probably quite a bit she didn't. But she wasn't going to tell this queen, that's for sure. "I'm afraid I haven't spent much time with my father until a few years ago, when my mother died. I just know that he has given me a home where otherwise I didn't have one." At least that part was true. Petyr had given her shelter and reunited her with the only family she had left. She could see the sympathy in the queen's eyes and knew she'd have to play this right if she was going to seem innocent in her eyes. She forced tears to well up in her eyes as she looked back to the fire and spoke in a wavering voice. "I don't know where I will go now... If Lord Baelish was as bad as you say... May I...may I ask what it is he was executed for?"

Steel flooded into the queen's gaze and she opened her mouth, clearly about to launch into details, when another terrifying screech of a dragon shook the walls. Alayne and Harry both visibly shrank from the noise, but the queen just looked pleased and turned from the fire. She snapped her fingers towards her group of warriors and they all followed her out to the square again. Alayne followed hurriedly, meeting eyes with an equally confused Harry. Her mouth fell open at the sight before her in the air as two magnificent, huge dragons practically danced in the sky. The queen's black tossed and turned with another, bright green dragon as they both screamed that deathly wail. Alayne watched, horrified, but noticed a bright smile on the queen's face. As the dragons landed roughly on the ground, she moved forward, reaching up to the green's face, stroking it lovingly.

"You're late!" She scolded gently, petting the gleaming scales. Alayne watched in fascination as the beast allowed her touches, seeming to languish under her hands. She was so enthralled by the interaction, when a voice rang out, she was startled. Even more so that she recognized the voice.

"I know, I know. But unlike the queen, the queen's hand must attend to duties before flying off to conquer the kingdoms." His teasing voice rang out as the queen rounded the dragon to greet it's rider. The blood drained from her face as Sansa glimpsed her husband, Lord Tyrion Lannister.