June 24, 2018

This takes place just before the boatsex in S07E07. Jon and Dany are sailing from Dragonstone to White Harbor, on their way to Winterfell.

EXT. DANY'S FLAGSHIP - SUNSET

The evening sun reflects off the sea as Dany's ship sails north.

DAENERYS TARGARYEN stands at the taffrail at the stern of her ship, looking up at her dragons. DROGON and RHAEGAL cast elongated shadows on the waves as they soar overhead.

JON SNOW walks up and quietly joins Dany at the taffrail. She glances at him and then back up to the sky. They stand in silence, both facing the sea with their hands on the rail, watching the dragons.

DANY

(re: Viserion)

I keep half-expecting to see him.

(beat)

They were very vulnerable when they were small. As they grew, I allowed myself to forget.

JON

There's no way you could have known.

Dany glances over at him. We see Jon from her POV, looking up at the dragons.

DANY

It wasn't your fault.

JON

(doubtful grimace)

That's kind.

DANY

You're too hard on yourself, Jon Snow.

Jon says nothing. A beat, then Dany turns away from the railing to face him.

DANY

There's something I've been meaning to ask you.

(Jon looks at her)

You did take a knife in your heart. It wasn't a figure of speech.

2.

Jon's face is neutral, guarded.

JON

I never said that it was.

DANY

How did it happen?

Jon doesn't move or change expression.

JON

(deadpan)

I was stabbed.

He looks away again, as though that answers it.

DANY

(prodding)

By whom?

JON

Mutineers. In the Night's Watch.

DANY

...your own men?

(off his nod)

Why?

JON

I made decisions they didn't agree with.

A long pause. Jon finally glances over to find her still staring expectantly at him.

JON

(reluctant)

You want the whole story.

DANY

If you're willing to tell it.

JON

Why?

3.

DANY

I am a queen. I also must make decisions that people won't agree with. Perhaps I can learn something from your experience.

They share a look. Jon looks away again. A long silence passes.

JON

You have to understand that the Night's Watch had been fighting the Free Folk for thousands of years. I fought them myself, killed them, lost brothers to them. But I saw what was out there. I came to understand that we needed to band together to have any hope against the real enemy.

(beat)

After I was named Lord Commander, I opened our gates and allowed six thousand wildlings to pass into the lands south of the Wall.

Jon pauses.

JON

That was a very unpopular decision. I knew it would be. But I never thought...

He stops, then starts again.

JON

The Watch is a brotherhood. We pledge everything to the Watch, to each other.

Another silence.

DANY

(more softly)

How did it happen?

Jon looks at her. His expression is something like dread.

4.

JON

You really want to hear the gory part?

DANY

You doubt my stomach for gore?

JON

I doubt mine.

That pulls her up. It finally occurs to her that she's asking for something quite personal.

DANY

(treading lightly)

I will hear what you choose to tell me, and no more.

Another long pause. Jon's breathing is more distressed than before. Finally:

JON

(blurts)

Olly.

He pauses and gathers himself.

JON

A boy I was training up. He came to me and said a wildling had news of my uncle Benjen. Benjen was First Ranger, he'd been missing for years.

(beat)

I followed Olly to the courtyard. There was a crowd gathered -- I pushed my way through. But there was no one there. Only a sign they'd nailed up.

(beat)

It said: traitor.

Jon is silent for a long moment.

JON

I should've known what was about to happen. I think a part of me did know.

(beat)

But the other part of me couldn't...

(beat)

I thought: this is just a cruel prank. Their way of expressing dissatisfaction with me.

5.

(beat)

I turned around to tell them it wasn't funny. Then they stabbed me and left me to die.

Dany has been slowly absorbing all of this with mounting horror.

DANY

How did you survive?

JON

I didn't.

(beat)

Ser Davos tells me I was dead for a day and a night. Until the Lady Melisandre brought me back -- a priestess of a red god (called the Lord of Light--)

DANY

(interrupting)

We've met.

Jon looks at her in total surprise, breaking the somber mood.

JON

You met?

DANY

She came to see me at Dragonstone. Varys tells me she used to serve you, but that you parted on bad terms.

JON

(still flummoxed)

Aye.

DANY

Even though she raised you from the dead?

Jon considers his words.

JON

We learned of a crime she had committed in the name of her god. A terrible crime. Ser Davos wanted her executed. I spared her life and exiled her instead.

6.

DANY

She was the one who told me to summon you.

Jon makes an interested face, a sort of non-verbal: I'm glad I didn't execute her.

DANY

What did you do to those who betrayed you?

JON

(looking away)

I hanged them for treason.

DANY

Good.

JON

It didn't feel good.

DANY

Perhaps not. But they deserved it.

Jon doesn't answer. He picks moodily at splinters of wood on the railing.

DANY

Jon.

She presses one hand onto his, to stop him from picking at the railing.

DANY

I'm sorry that happened to you.

Jon looks down at her hand on his. He puts his other hand over hers.

JON

I'm not. It freed me from my vows.

He looks up into her face a moment, then gets shy and looks away again, out over the sea.

JON

This war is too big for the Night's Watch. It's better that I'm free of them.

7.

DANY

Your Night's Watch vows?

(off his nod)

How do they go?

JON

You want to hear the whole thing?

DANY

They sound important to you.

Jon regards her. He looks out over the sea. We can still see the black silhouettes of Drogon and Rhaegal against the darkening sky.

JON

Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post.

(beat)

I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.

Jon stares out over the sea a moment more, then turns to look at Dany. He freezes a bit in the intensity of her stare. There's a loaded silence.

The moment is interrupted by the sound of crew walking up the steps from the main deck. Dany pulls her hand away, finally, and they break apart like guilty kids. They both turn back toward the sea, putting their hands on the taffrail as the crew comes up onto the ship's stern. They look everywhere but at each other while the crew lights the ship's lanterns.

Finally the crew finishes their work and leaves them alone again.

DANY

That was very beautiful.

JON

Most men find it oppressive.

8.

DANY

(quoting)

"I shall take no wife and father no children."

JON

To be fair, most men find ways around that particular bit.

DANY

Hm. But you're not like most men, are you.

Jon hesitates a moment.

JON

I did break that vow.

DANY

You took a wife?

JON

No, but I...

(awkward)

I loved a girl, and I lay with her.

Dany is amused at Jon's discomfort.

DANY

I didn't hear any words against that.

JON

It's generally interpreted that way.

DANY

I thought you said men found ways around it.

Jon smiles sheepishly.

DANY

One could be forgiven for thinking you have a taste for oppressive vows.

JON

(deadpan)

An ominous thing to hear from my queen.

Big grin from Dany. Then another loaded silence.

9.

DANY

We should get some rest.

JON

Aye.

More loaded silence. Finally, Dany breaks away and walks toward the stairs leading down from the stern to the main deck. She pauses at the top of the stairs.

DANY

Goodnight, Jon Snow.

JON

Goodnight.

She pauses a moment longer, then walks down the stairs and out of sight.

We stay with Jon at the railing and listen to her footsteps descending down toward her cabin, until we can't hear them anymore.

Jon hesitates, staring thoughtfully in her direction.

He shakes his head. We follow him as he walks all the way to his berth at the opposite end of the ship. He stops just short of his own door and stands there a long moment.

Finally, he looks back over his shoulder. Then turns around and heads for Dany's cabin.