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Lyanna Targaryen Snow wanted a new toy.

In particular, she wanted the new Night's Watch Ranger Force Queen Nerys "Snow Queen" special edition moveable action figure with accompanying dragon, dragon riding accessories, weapons, and changeable outfit from Nerys's traditional black and red ensemble to her 'Snow Queen' ensemble of white and gray, which occurred during the episode when she accidentally succumbed to the evil Snow curse and had to be saved by her stalwart hero Ranger Cregan Snow.

If she was really lucky, she maybe could get the action figure and accessories set, plus the Snow Queen costume. She already had the regular outfit because that was what she wore for All Hallows' Eve at school earlier that year. Now she wanted the Snow Queen one. She could wear it all summer long and maybe even to school on the first day, because that was a special day and she wanted it.

"Dadddddy," she began, holding his hand as they crossed the parking lot from their car towards the stupid hardware store, where sometimes Daddy took her, and she didn't want to go because it was boring. Last time they went in she got in trouble too. She was bored and went to the big wall of pretty colored pieces of cardboard and decided to take a couple, just for fun. She knocked it down-- ON ACCIDENT.

But hey they got to leave.

The thing was, the toy store was right next to the hardware store, so while Daddy got to play with his "toys"-- that's what Muna called them-- she didn't understand how come she couldn't go play with the toys that she liked. She grabbed his hand tight, sinking down and dragging her feet a bit. "Daddy pleeeease can we go to the toy store?"

He sighed, glanced at it and then at her. "Well..." he trailed off, biting his bottom lip.

Sometimes Daddy was easier to ask questions to than Muna. Muna would say 'Nope' and then they'd go do what they had to do. But she knew if she made her eyes all big and stuck out her lower lip and asked maybe another time, Daddy would probably let her. "Please?" she whispered. She blinked up. For extra, she smiled brightly. "Please Daddy? I did my chores!"

He wrinkled his nose and then gave a curt nod. "Alright, but first we go to my store, I need to get the right screws for Aemon's fan."

Aemon sat in the sling that Daddy wore on his chest, gurgling up in the gross baby way. Lyanna wrinkled her nose at him. He was fun sometimes, other times he smelled, and she didn't like how he always got to sit in the chest backpack thing slinging with Daddy and Muna. She wished she could, but they said she was way too big, she was a big girl and big sister and at six-years old she tended to agree, but it was still unfair sometimes. They wouldn't even push her in a stroller anymore, she had to get out and walk.

Aemon smiled over the side of the sling, drool coming out of his mouth and dribbling down his chin. He waved at her, and she smiled up, just as the drool came right out and landed on her face. "Ew!" she shrieked.

"Aw Lyanna, it's just drool."

"Gross!"

Daddy wiped her face with his shirtsleeve and then used some of the sling to wipe at Aemon, who laughed at her horror, shaking, and kicking, making huffing, and puffing noises. She made a face. At least Aemon would be with Daddy while she could look at her new toy. She sulked, traipsing after Daddy into his store.

He did what he needed, got what he needed, and a few minutes later they left, going next door to the toy store. The moment the doors opened, she took off for the aisle with all the Night's Watch Ranger Force toys and accessories. She knew that it would be right there.

And it was.

And it was beautiful.

"Ah!"

It was so pretty.

And there was SO. MUCH. MORE.

More than what the things on TV showed or the pop-ups on her iPad or anything she could have dreamed. There was a life-sized dragon stuffed animal to ride, accessories including Queen Nerys's jewelry and crown, more action figures, stuffed animals, and other dolls. She pushed by some of the more girly things, because Queen Nerys was a true queen and did all her own stuff herself and even when she wore dresses, she wore pants with them. She grabbed a couple of the boy toys of Cregan Snow-- ignoring his stupid dumb sidekick Stewart Larty-- also a plastic copy of his sword.

She could hardly dream of such things. She wanted them all but knew that would be impossible. no way she could get them all. Her eyes landed on the set she wanted, ignoring the rest, and picking it up from the shelf. It had even more. It also had Cregan Snow in his nice outfit, not his usual furs and armor, but a black ensemble and he was wearing a crown.

Her eyes widened, wondering if that was going to be what happened in a new episode or maybe a new movie. "Is he going to be king?" she whispered.

Aemon screamed somewhere near her. She heard Daddy's footsteps. "Find what you wanted?" he asked. He sighed. "By the way, we're just looking."

Looking!? She whipped her head up to glare at him, her pigtail braids flicking so hard around one smacked her cheek and stung. She pursed her lips, her tiny brow furrowing, annoyed at that statement. She did not want to "just look." She wanted to "just buy." If anything, she deserved it.

Daddy was already speaking. "Nope, you don't need any more of these things. You already got a new action figure set, with the castle for your birthday."

That was months ago.

And stupid Aemon had knocked over her Castle Black set broke the Lord Commander's Tower. Where was Cregan Snow supposed to sleep? She put him in the same room with Queen Nerys, she was sure they would be alright sharing a bed together. Even if boys were gross. She huffed, her fingers clutching the action figure. "But..."

"Nope."

"But..."

"Nope."

She huffed again, glaring up at him, her violet eyes flashing. They were just like her mother's and usually Daddy said that whenever he saw them, he could do whatever she wanted because she was a mini-Daenerys. "Daddy please," she began, pointing her finger to Aemon, who was blowing another spit bubble. "Aemon gets everything!"

"Aemon is a baby and he does not get everything."

"Yes, he does, he just got a bunch of new clothes!"

Daddy sighed again, ruffling Aemon's dark curls. They looked like twins, everyone said, her and Aemon, which was insulting on many levels because she was not a baby like her stupid brother. "He's a baby, Lya, and you got them too. He's growing, he needs new clothes."

"So put him in my old ones!"

"We do," he said, pointing to the pale pink romper that Aemon happened to be wearing with ducks printed on it. He chuckled. "But he's growing so fast we can't even keep him in those."

She crossed her arms over her chest, sneering at her little brother, who was squealing again, trying to drop another disgusting spit bubble right on her face. "Well stop feeding him."

"Lya, I'm not fighting with you. Take a few more minutes looking at the toys and then we're going. We'll stop and get some ice cream."

"I cannot be bought with ice cream!" she shouted, remembering that that was what Mommy said sometimes to Daddy when he tried to make her feel better back when she was all fat and rolling around the house like a ball when Aemon was in her tummy. She would yell at Daddy for something, cry, and he'd bring her some ice cream, she'd say that, eat it, and be happy. For like five more minutes.

It did not seem to be worth it, she thought, because Aemon was gross and annoying, and he peed and pooed all the time. He ate too much, they always had to get him clothes, and he was just...ugh.

Even when they said she was just like that, she did not believe them. She was better, she was sure of it.

Lyanna took a longing look at the action figure set, reverently setting it onto the shelf, her fingers lingering momentarily on the edges before she rocked back on her trainers, scuffing the heels into the linoleum, an idea forming. Her finger traced the numbers underneath the shelf, whispering them out loud. "One....five...dot...nine...nine..." She bit her bottom lip, peering up at Daddy. "That's 15.99? Crowns or Dragons?"

Daddy pointed again to the price tag. "It's fifteen dragons and ninety-nine crowns. Remember? Here." He reached into his pocket and removed some coins, showing her. He pointed them out. There were bills and coins. He pointed to the bills. "Dragons..." Then to the bigger coins. "Stags..." And then to the tiny ones. "Crowns."

In her Night's Watch Ranger Force Smokey, the Wolf coin box at home, she had five dragons that she got for watching Ghost their dog for a whole day and taking him on a walk and even giving him his food. If she got... "What more do I need if I have five?" she asked him, looking up.

"Ten," he answered, his gray eyes narrowing. His voice dropped. "Are you asking if you can buy it yourself? You will need ten more dragons."

"How do I get those?"

"Well, you need to earn them."

Sometimes when she was very good doing her chores without asking-- making her bed, taking her plate to the sink, and not being mean to Aemon-- Muna would give her a dragon or two, which she dutifully placed inside of her coin bank. There were other times, she remembered shrewdly, when Muna would be washing clothes and Daddy had left some money in his pocket. Muna took it and put it in her bag, saying it was his loss. Or sometimes in the couch she found some coins or two.

She ran her tongue over her teeth, calculating that it probably would not take too long for her to get the money to buy her toy herself. Since Daddy would not do it for her.

Muna also told her that they were Targaryens. They were dragons.

"Your last name may be Snow, issa prumia, but inside your body beats the heart of a dragon, the blood of Old Valyria, and we take what we want with fire and blood." Muna would kiss her cheek, hug her, and tell her she was a Dragon Wolf, she could have the whole world if she wanted. "You have to work for it, hard work, determination, and fire and blood."

Her nose twitched, excited at the prospect.

She was going to take her toy with fire and blood.

"Okay." She held her hand to him. "Let's go."

Daddy drew back, surprised. He narrowed his eyes again, studying her. She beamed up at him, placing an extra bit of batting her eyelashes like Muna sometimes did to him. He drew his mouth into a thin line, murmuring. "Hmmm." He said nothing, shoved his money into his pocket and took her hand. His other hand, he placed around the sling in front of him, Aemon bouncing up and down, squealing.

Lyanna smiled wide again, cocking her head, still planning.

All she needed to find was ten dragons.

How hard could that be?

"Grrr!"

Another set of Daddy's pants thrown aside, Lyanna sat in the middle of the laundry room, annoyed that her hunt in all of the clothing in the house had only unearthed four stags and a crown. Nothing!

She swiped the coins that she had been able to find, deciding next to approach the couch. She glanced at Ghost, their big, white, super fluffy wolfdog, who patiently stared back at her with his big red eyes and wagged his tail. She smiled at him, crawling on all fours to where he'd taken residence on a pile of Muna's work clothes, turning the black pants and jackets slightly gray from the amount of fur wafting off him. "Come on, you can help me. We need to get more money."

Ghost popped to his feet, trailing after her. They got to the laundry room door just as it swung open, Muna standing on the other side, holding a half-naked Aemon under her arm. Her stupid brother continued to giggle, kicking his feet. He smelled. She pinched her nose shut, scowling. "He's so gross!"

"He just had an accident is all." Muna swept her violet agaze across the laundry room, instantly suspicious. "What are you doing in here?"

"Nothing."

"Hmm."

They always said that; Lya had no idea why. She pointed at Aemon. "Why did he have an accident?"

"He laughed too hard; his entire lunch came up. Do you know where the clean onesies are? Can you help me find them?" Muna always tried to include her in things with Aemon. Lya did not want to be included because he was gross, and she wanted to stay away from him when he threw up and stuff.

She shook her head. "I'm good." She didn't know what that meant, but Auntie Arya always said it when people asked her to do things. Sometimes Arya also said that she "had no chill", whatever that meant too. Lya didn't care. She liked things her way and that was that.

Muna continued to study her, bouncing Aemon against her chest. After a moment under her mother's intense, sometimes 'mind-reading' gaze, she nodded and stepped aside, allowing Lya to escape. "Alright. Why don't you go outside with Ghost? It's a nice day."

"Can I take Drogon?"

"If he will let you but don't bother him." Drogon was Muna's ancient fat black cat with orange eyes. He was part dragon, she always joked, and only Muna and Lya could get him to do anything. Sometimes Daddy tried to move him from the bed or the counter and Drogon would hiss, scratch, and then go pee or poo in Daddy's closet to get back at him. Lya thought it was hilarious. Daddy did not.

She took what little coins she'd been able to find in the laundry room up to her room, depositing them in the bank, and sighed, shaking it wordlessly. It really did not sound like a lot. She consulted the paper she had drawn out on her desk, the quest to get to the 15.99 dragons she needed to buy her new toy. Daddy also said something about 'tax', later on in the car, and so she had to 'round up'--- whatever that meant-- to seventeen dragons.

It was still so far away.

Ghost padded into her room and jumped onto her bed, turning in a few circles, and settling his head upon his paws, watching her dolefully. She turned around in her desk chair, scowling. "So much money Ghost, how are we going to get it?" There was no way she'd be able to find that much in the couch or anywhere else. She could always go searching in Muna and Daddy's room.

There was an idea.

Lya leaped from her desk, running into the big room at the end of the hall, and straight to the walk-in closet. It had a little entryway and then there was a door to one side with Muna's stuff and the door to the other with Daddy's limited wardrobe. It was almost all black. She rifled through his jeans, trying to see if there was any money left, but nope. She went back into the little standing entryway, pulling open drawers, and other than finding some grown-up versions of Queen Nerys's outfit and Cregan Snow's-- they liked playing dress up too? So cool! -- she found nothing.

"Grr," she growled, leaving their room.

And bumped into Muna again.

"What are you up to?" she demanded. This time Aemon was in clean clothes, blowing spit bubbles. "And don't say nothing, I know that look."

Lya smiled brightly. "Looking for Ghost's toys."

Ghost whipped his head sideways, whining. Muna scowled, saying nothing. She grinned wider. "We're going outside. Where is Drogon?"

"On the couch."

"Cool."

As she went down the stairs, she heard Muna chattering in Valyrian to Aemon, saying how sweet he was, and how anyone would want to just eat him up and she could "get a pretty penny for you, you're so sweet!"

Huh.

Lya paused on the stairs and then ran back up to her bedroom. She grabbed her bin of art supplies, dumping them onto the floor and picked up a piece of cardboard, starting to draw and write.

She knew exactly how to get the money to pay for her new toy.

"Brother for sale! Ten dragons! Fifteen with stuff!"

The stuff happened to be the bag that they always took with them out and about, stuffed with some diapers, bottles and wipes, and a few toys. Aemon bounced in his chair, which she'd dragged out of the house while Muna was working in her office. She had put him in her wagon and dragged that down the driveway and to the corner, her table and sign set up to take offers from anyone interested in purchasing her brother.

It was a brilliant idea; she could not believe she had not thought of it before.

They lived on a nice tree-lined street in the North, nearby her cousins and Daddy's family. her Uncle Rhaegar lived in the South and most of Muna's friends too, but sometimes they visited. She liked living in the North, it was never very hot, the winters were awesome, and she got to see Auntie Arya and Uncle Gendry at the castle where her Daddy used to live. Also, her other cousins and stuff.

But now she was not quite a fan, because there was NO ONE around. The street had a lot of big houses like theirs, old farmhouses, and stuff. She sighed, wondering where everyone might be.

An older lady from down the street was walking her dog and paused, staring at her. "Lyanna Snow!" she exclaimed, reading the sign. "You cannot sell your brother!"

"Why not Mrs. Mormont?"

Maege Mormont opened and closed her mouth a couple times and shrugged. "It is not done." She chuckled and ruffled her hair, then pat Ghost on the head. "You're so silly. Have a nice day."

Lyanna huffed. That was not planned. Oh well, Mrs. Mormont was too old, maybe Aemon should go to someone with kids. She pondered this, sitting on the table, swinging her legs back and forth, while Ghost watched after Mrs. Mormont, no doubt wishing he could have more head pats. She leaned over and scratched his head, Aemon still making stupid noises and bouncing in his chair.

"Ahhhhh!" he shouted, laughing, and waving his fat fists. "Ahhhh!"

Aemon could not talk, but he made sounds that sounded like words. She had been working on "Bye bye" with him and took the opportunity to lean over, loudly sounding it out. "Byeeee, byeeee.... say it Aemon. Byeeeee, byeeee...."

"Bahhhhh!"

That was as good as she was going to get, she supposed. She turned back to the road, a few more people walking their dogs and sometimes waving at her. "Brother for sale!" she shouted, pointing to him. "Comes with stuff! Cheap! Take him now!"

"Bahhhh!" Aemon yelled, waving his fists, and kicking his bare feet. He had been too wiggly she could not get his socks on, but it was warm, so he was fine. He was really cute, with his thick curls and his bright eyes, and sometimes when she looked at him when he was sleeping sweetly on Daddy’s chest or even in his crib, with Ghost watching him through the bars, she had to think…yeah alright, he was a little cute.

And then he woke up.

"Look more.... cute," Lyanna ordered Aemon, who had wrinkled up his face and now resembled a tomato. She poked his face cheek and then went to his foot, lightly running her finger along it. He let out a giggle and waved his hands, kicking her hand. She nodded smartly; glad he was listening. For the first time in ever.

She consulted her notebook, which she had been using to note her progress towards her goal of 17 dragons and some other ideas if no one would buy Aemon. There was selling Ghost pats, which she thought he might really like. One dragon for a few minutes of petting him. She figured she could get a whole bunch more money that way, if necessary.

Thing was, she didn’t like to share Ghost much, so it was at the bottom of the list.

No, Aemon would have to do.

"Lya? What are you doing?"

She heard a soft voice calling her name, lifting her head to see, a joyful grin pulling on her lips, her Auntie Missandei. "Missy!" she squealed, running around the table, and throwing herself at her favorite aunt ever. Well, Arya was one of her favorite aunts, but the thing was she never got to see Missy ever. "What are you doing here!?"

Missy laughed, hugging her tight. She frowned at the sign, gesturing to Aemon. "Are you...selling your brother?"

"Yes, I need money."

"For?"

Lya took a deep breath, launching into her plan. Missandei would understand, because as she knew, she understood, because Missandei was just perfect like that. Plus, Missandei loved her very much and wanted her to be happy. And the new Night's Watch Ranger Force Queen Nerys toy would make her very happy indeed.

When she finished explaining why she was selling Aemon, she exhaled hard, tired now. "Whew! That was a lot." She glanced at Aemon, scowling at him. In the end, it would be good to get rid of him. He took too much time away from Daddy and Muna. She wrinkled her nose. "I just don't want him anymore. He's always in the way. We always have to do everything for him."

"Hmm..." Missandei murmured. She crossed her arms, studying Aemon. After a moment, she took a deep breath and smiled politely. "Perhaps instead of...selling your brother to earn money for a new toy, you can do something for me."

Her eyes narrowed to slits, staring at her aunt. "Oh?" The thing with selling Aemon meant that he wouldn't be around anymore. That was the best part of it all. She got a toy and she got rid of stinky Aemon.

"Yes. I'm going to be visiting for a week and I could use some help with some things." Missandei reached into her tote bag, removing her wallet. She flicked it open and removed two dragon bills, swishing them out to her. "If you get my bag from the front of the car and take it inside, you get two. If I need other things throughout the week, I can also pay you...until then..." She leaned down and picked up Aemon's carrier, arching her dark brows, a tiny smile still on her lips, even though she was trying to look disapproving. "Let's not sell your brother. For one, it's illegal."

"What's that mean?"

"Well, it is against the law. It means it is against the rules and you do not want to get in trouble, plus..." Missandei glanced at Aemon and then to her, reaching her free hand out. Lya offered it, walking with her up towards the house, her voice soft. "Your Muna and Papa would miss him very much. They love him, they would be so sad without him. Just like they would be so sad without you."

She scuffed her heel on the driveway, walking up towards the house, Ghost ambling behind them. Yeah sure, they'd be sad, but she thought they would get over it. She mumbled, not looking up, because she did not like it when Missandei was upset with her, because Missandei was her favorite. "But then I would be with them again. All the time."

"Hmm....yes, I know, it's hard, but you have to understand not long ago you were just like Aemon, you needed help too...and it will not be for too much longer. He is getting bigger and bigger, and you can help them too you know." She swung their hands together between them, her soft voice comforting Lya. "And I know you want a new toy, but sometimes we do not always get what we want."

That was what Daddy said a lot. She sighed harder. "But Missy..."

"No buts," she said firmly. She reached the door, opening it and gesturing for her to go inside, smiling warmly. "Now if you want to go get that bag for me, you can get your two dragons, how about that?"

Lya sighed, staring momentarily at Aemon, who was blowing kisses at her. She scowled and nodded. "Alright...I guess."

"Alright. I'll see you in a minute, let me go bring Aemon back to your Muna, I think she will be missing him soon."

Lya nodded and was about to turn around to go back outside when she froze, hearing Muna screeching from somewhere in the house. Missy's eyes widened, apparently even too late to head her off at the pass.

"Lyanna Rhaella Arya Davosa Targaryen Snow, are you trying to sell your little brother!?" 

And it was in Valyrian.  Muna was so mad.

Missandei jerked her head towards the outside.  "I'll head her off at the pass, you go get my bag."

Lya gulped and took off for the car, Ghost chasing after her.  Better Ghost than a dragon, she deduced, still hearing her mother shouting for her.

There was one thing Lyanna Rhaella Arya Davosa Targaryen Snow happened to be afraid of.

It wasn't spiders.  Or snakes.  Or any other assorted creepy crawlies, although she did not like them anyway. 

No, it was when her Daddy was upset with her.

It was somehow worse than Muna.  Muna would get mad and would use all her names and rattle off something in Valyrian so fast even she couldn't understand it, then she would take a deep breath and calmly react to the situation later.  She had to just "burn something down first", as she said.  

But Daddy...well...he got very quiet.  He got very quiet and then he got this look on his face that he was disappointed.  Then he would take away something from her.  Or he would bargain with her in such a way that later on she realized she lost something really big on the whole deal.  

So yeah, right now, she was a little afraid of her daddy's response to selling Aemon.

Muna had gotten angry like usual, but Missandei calmed her down.  She said simply that she would need to talk to Daddy about the whole thing, but until then, she could go straight to her room and sit on her bed and think about how wrong it was to try to sell her brother.  

"Humans are not commodities, Lyanna, you cannot buy and sell them, it is wrong and a crime and unethical and..." And she used a bunch of other words she didn't know yet.  She knew was "commodity" was because sometimes Muna used it a lot when she talked about work.  That was when Missandei then told her quietly, before she left her in her room, that Muna's job was a lawyer, and did she know what that was?

"She does law stuff," was all she understood it to be.

Missandei smiled gently, shaking her head.  "Not really, she does that yes, but what she does is she helps people who are bought and sold, who are treated like that.  It's why she's very upset, even if you did not mean anything wrong by it."

Lyanna knew it was wrong.  She was sorry for it.  She just...she was just sad.

Then Daddy came home.

Now she sat on the couch, in front of Muna and Daddy.  Aemon was with Missandei, who took him on a walk.  

"I'm sorry," she blurted out, since it was so quiet, and Daddy had not said one single word.  He had just stared at her, his gray eyes cool, and his lips in a tight line.  She gulped.  "I didn't mean it."

He cocked his head.  "Mean what?"

"To sell him."

"Is this yours?"  Daddy reached over and picked up the poster that said, 'Brother for Sale.'  He arched his brow.  "Or someone else?"

"It's mine."

"So, you did mean it."

"I think so."

"Why?"

"Why?" she echoed, confused.  

Daddy continued to speak softly.  "Why did you mean to sell your brother?"

"I wanted a toy.  The Night's Watch..."

"Ranger Force action figure, yes, I am familiar.  I told you that you had to get your own money and so you thought the best thing to do was..."

"Well, I wanted to find the money in the laundry or couch cushions, but I did not find enough so I..." She trailed off, her father's eyebrow rising to his dark hair, and she swallowed hard, knowing she was not supposed to interrupt him.  Her eyes downcast, she muttered, "Sorry."

He nodded slightly, leaning forward over his knees and brought his fingers together, chin touch them.  After a long, surveying moment, he spoke, quiet.  "You did this because you wanted the money, but you also did not want your brother here.  That is not good Lya.  We need to talk about that."

She nodded and mumbled again.  "I just...he's so...." She did not know how to put it to words.  

Muna leaned on Daddy's shoulder, quietly breaking the silence.  "You think he is getting too much attention, is that it?  That we are not spending time with you?"

"Well...no... I mean..." She huffed again, shaking her head, and swinging her legs back and forth on the edge of the couch.  It didn't make sense to her.  Sometimes she liked him fine.  Other times she hated him.  "He's cute and stuff and I thought maybe someone else wants him and I could get the money."  She sighed.  "And he'd be gone.  Stop being smelly and... and..." She huffed again, blurting out.  "And yes!  You can take me to the store without him and...and we can do stuff and not him with us!"

Maybe that was it.  Maybe she wanted them for herself.  She missed the walks with Daddy and Ghost.  Or going with Muna to the store, just them.  Aemon was always there.  

Daddy and Muna exchanged a look, one of their secret silent looks, she wished she knew what they said.  They must have been able to speak in each other's heads, like superpowers or something.  Whatever they said, eyes narrowing and eyebrows lifting, back and forth to each other for a few minutes, it was Daddy who spoke, addressing her firmly.  "I know you know it is wrong, what you did."

"Yes," she whispered.  She did.  She knew it was bad and she would not do it again.  

"Aemon is here to stay.  You both were very...." Daddy's face softened, the lines relaxing in the corners of his eyes.  "Wanted," he whispered.  He took Muna's hand, squeezing it hard.  "And when you're older we will explain what that means."

"I understand," she blurted; they always said she would learn when she was older, because she couldn't understand now, but she did.  She could.  She knew it was wrong to sell Aemon.  And you had to find ways to make money to get what you wanted.

Muna smiled, shaking her head, chuckling.  "No issa prumia, you're still a little too young, but one day you will understand that Daddy and I had to work very hard for you and Aemon and we love you so much and wanted you both so much, that we could never bear it if you did not exist."  She got up from her seat and went across to sit by her, wrapping her up into her arms and kissing her brow.  Muna smelled like lemons, she always did, and Lya loved it a lot, so she squeezed her mother back.  "And you might be new at the big sister thing, but we are new at the mommy and daddy thing, with two of you.  We promise we will do better to make sure you get some time with us both, is that okay?  Just us, not Aemon."

"But," Daddy said, before Lya could agree, excited and wondering where they could go first.  He lifted his finger, stilling her.  He spoke firmly.  "You will need to help with Aemon and even though you are going to get money for helping Missy out while she is here, we are going to keep it.  When you have enough and when we say you can, you can get your toy.  But not right now."

Her insides squirmed, wanting to say how it wasn't fair, but she wisely kept quiet, because he was right.  She nodded.  "Okay."

"Alright, now you have to say you're sorry to Aemon and you have to help give him a bath tonight."

She wanted to protest, but thought against it, because yes, this was her punishment.  Sometimes when she did things, she wasn’t supposed to she got a time out or her favorite toy taken away or she wasn’t allowed to watch Night’s Watch Ranger Force for a week.  It didn’t matter, she thought, getting off the couch and trudging towards the back of the house, out onto the large stretch of seating area in their backyard garden, where Missy was sitting with Aemon.

Aemon saw her and pointed, laughing and waving.  “Laahh!” he babbled.

“Aemon,” she began.  He tried to pull at her hair when she leaned over him.  Instead of getting mad, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and rattled out her apology.  “I’m sorry Aemon, I did not know what I was doing was very bad and I will not do it again.  Just…do not pull my hair, okay?”  He gripped her hair, yanking, and she yelped, drawing back quickly, rubbing her head where he’d torn her hair.  “Aemon!”

He began to cry, fussing and turning pink.  “Aemon, no,” Muna chastised, pushing his hand back towards himself and not her hair, which he now wanted to pull.  “No pull.  No pull.”

Daddy ruffled her hair.  “See Lya?  Even Aemon gets in trouble.”

Yeah, but he’s a baby, she sighed.  She glanced at Ghost, who had come up to get pets, rubbing his head.  “I guess.”

“Come on, let’s go take Ghost on a walk.”

“With Aemon?” she mumbled, suspicious. 

Daddy shook his head and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, squeezing tight.  “No, just us.  Maybe you can tell me some…legal means of making money?”

“Oh…well…” She went with him, holding his hand while they walked Ghost, telling him about how she was thinking she might sell pets for Ghost’s soft head, because he liked it and she could get money and well, “people like Ghost a lot.”

Daddy said it was a good plan, but for now, hold off, since apparently Ghost was “not all a dog” and it might not be good if he decided he didn’t like someone and bit them or something.  She had a sneaky feeling that Daddy might have been breaking the rules, smirking when his cheeks turned pale pink as he told her that.  

He chuckled again, “And I heard you were going through all my jeans for money?  I hope you know that I don’t keep my money there.  I’m better at that than your Muna.  She leaves money in her pockets all the time.”

“I didn’t find any, but hey, how come you have a Cregan Snow costume and Muna has a Queen Nerys costume?”  She blinked up at him.  “Do you play dress up?”

“Uh…” Daddy turned all pink again.  He swallowed hard.  “It’s a long story, hey…look!  A dragon!”

They stopped at the corner of the street and right in front of her was a whole dragon coin, shiny gold and staring up at her.  Eyes wide, she knelt, picking it up and peering at it, the sun glinting from the edges.  “Can I keep it?”

“You found it.”

“Cool,” she giggled, pocketing the coin.  She skipped along next to him, still waiting for an answer on the dress up, but she figured after a few more minutes, Daddy talking about the weather and the traffic, that she wasn’t going to get an answer to that one.  

Probably something she wouldn’t understand until she grew up anyway.

It had been four weeks since she tried to sell her brother to make money for her Night’s Watch Ranger Force toy.  

And today she was going to get it.

Like they told her they would do, Muna and Daddy took the money that she earned helping Missy when she was in town—taking her bag from the car, helping make her bed in the morning, and even folding clothes with her—plus some extra coins she earned from Uncle Robb by helping him paint some doors at Winterfell, helping Aunt Arya clean up her self-defense studio, and the worst thing of all:  cleaning up Ghost poop in the backyard.

That was the worst.

All the money she earned through her hard work, Muna put in a jar for her, always left on the counter and she watched it fill until she had more than the seventeen dragons, she had twenty-five!

So, she planned to get a Night’s Watch Ranger Force toy and maybe with the money leftover a book at the bookstore, one that Muna and her could read together before bed each night, since they were almost done with their current one.  

“Are we going to go to the toy store today?” she asked.  She was helping Daddy with Aemon, handing him the wipes while they changed his diaper.  It was not her favorite thing to do, but she was trying.

It had gotten a little easier too, with Muna and Daddy making more time for her. Aemon was still gross, but she…well she didn’t dislike him as much as she used to.  He was still stinky. 

It was just she heard from her cousin Eddy that his little sister, who was younger than Aemon, was even louder and cried allllll the time and didn’t Aemon do that?  She couldn’t remember it really.  He never really cried.  He screwed his face up and kind of shouted sometimes, but that was it.  He was really happy all the time.  

Daddy hoisted Aemon up, tugging his little pants up over his diaper-clad bottom.  “I think we can arrange that, but first, Aemon has something for you.”

“What?” That as weird, Aemon couldn’t get her anything.

“Hmm, he got you something for being such a good big sister to him the last few weeks.  He knows you didn’t mean to sell him, that you learned your lesson, and you’ve been helping a lot around the house.”  Daddy bounced Aemon on his hip, smiling at the baby, who squealed again, beating his fists in the air.  “Where is it Aemon?”

“Bahhhh!”

That didn’t sound like a word.  She narrowed her eyes.  “He doesn’t have anything for me.”

“I won’t be so sure, why don’t you go downstairs?  Check your seat at the breakfast table.”

That’s weird. Suspicious, she bolted by him, heart racing and mind wondering.  She skidded around the corner to the kitchen, stopping hard with Ghost beside her, eyes wide on the wrapped box in front of her seat.  “Oh wow!” she exclaimed, diving for the box, awed at the bright sparkling Queen Nerys paper.  “Is it for me?”

Muna set down the dishtowel she had been using to dry the dishes and leaned on the edge of the counter, smiling serenely.  “I think it might be, it is at your seat.  Read the card.”

The card that happened to be tucked into the corner fell loose when she rummaged for it.  She unfolded it and read the handwriting that looked suspiciously like Daddy’s scrawl.  “Thank you for being a good big sister to me and I hope you like this.  Keep being good.  I love you, your favorite little brother, Aemon Rhaegar Benjen Robb Targaryen Snow.”  She set the card down, heart thudding against her ribs, excited at what might be under the paper.  

A random thought invaded her mind, tumbling from her lips as she ripped into the box.  “Muna why do we have so many names?”

“Because your Muna couldn’t decide when you were born,” Daddy explained, holding Aemon against his chest, smiling over at her.  “And because you guys are just such big personalities, you need big names.”

Whatever that meant, she figured, pushing by the paper, and revealing… 

Night’s Watch Ranger Force Queen Nerys and Cregan Snow Special Edition Snow Queen and Snow King Moveable Action Figures With Accessories and Bonus Dragon and Stormy the Wolf Companions!

The shriek that left her lips might have cracked the glass.  Aemon shrieked in unison, startled, but he didn’t cry.  Instead, he tried to lunge for her.  “Lahhhh!”

“Aemon!” she shouted, almost dropping the box set onto the floor, laughing and grinning wide at him.  “Thank you!”

She didn’t know how Aemon could have the money to get this, but oh well, because it was amazing!  

The box clattered on the table when she released it from her grip, going around to take Aemon from Daddy, which was hard sometimes for her because Aemon was so wiggling, and he was getting heavy.  She held him tight, bringing him to the couch and put him down on it, running to get the new toy and carrying it back, pointing out to him the characters.  “And that’s Queen Nerys and she is the best character ever and that’s Cregan, he’s very brave but sometimes very stupid and Nerys is always saving him and so this is the episode when they become the Snow King and Snow Queen and it is an evil curse and it takes like five episodes to break the curse but it’s so cool and when you are big enough we can watch it together!”

While she showed him the action figures in the box, too excited to even think of getting it open and actually start playing with them and putting them with her other ones, she remembered something.  

Daddy came to sit down next to her, taking out his little pocketknife so he could cut through the plastic and ties that kept the figures locked in place inside their box.  She held Aemon in her lap, Muna sitting next to them on the other side. “But what about my money?” she asked, glancing at her.  “The money I got?”

“You can get something else maybe.  Or…” Muna trailed off, shrugging.  “You can get Aemon something.”

Lips pursed, she shrugged, considering.  It was a possibility.  She would think about it.

Until then, she would play with her new Night’s Watch set.  

And Aemon even took her Stewart Larty figure and threw him so hard on the floor his head popped off.  She gave him one of the other toys—the stupid dwarf advisor who never shut up named Lyon Tannster—pleased when he broke that one too because both those characters were stupid.  

“Good boy Aemon,” she said to him, rummaging in the bin with all her other characters.  She took out the redheaded wildling who was always going after Cregan and trying shoot him with arrows.  “Here, break this one too.”

Aemon squealed, hurling Ingrid the Wilding and then biting hard on her head, drooling over her before he smashed the toy into the ground again to join the others.  

She leaned over and gave him a hug.  “You’re not so bad Aemon.”

He blew a spit bubble at her, popping it in her face and getting it on her nose.  

“Ew!  Daddy!  He spit at me again!”

Maybe he wasn’t bad, but he was still gross, she thought, scowling at him and returning to her new toys.