Jon is already on his way. The Hand of the King rolled the letter and threw it into the fire next to him. He found it safest to always burn every letter he received. The distrust and suspiciousness came together with the years of serving as Hand. This was his third, different yet similar pin in the shape of a hand he was wearing on his chest. Daenerys Targaryen being his greatest failure, he never wanted to take this position again, but the new King didn’t give him much choice in the matter.
Oftentimes, Tyrion Lannister, would let his thoughts wander off to Daenerys. Did he do the right thing? Would the world have been better or worse with her in it? Would the Dornish and the Iron Islands rebel against the Six Kingdoms and seek independence had she ruled them? He told Jon he needed ten years to answer that question. Now, he feared he knew the answer already, but was too afraid to admit it. Yara was one of the first ones to join her ironborn armies to Daenerys’s Unsullied and Dothraki after all.
Both, the Dornish and the Ironborn accepted to be part of the Six Kingdoms when the new King was chosen. But as time passed, the ironborn were forced to change a lot of their traditions, trading conditions and way of life according to the new laws of the new Kingdoms. They had their ways of trial and punishment, but now they were forced to send the outlaws to the Night’s Watch. With each new restriction the ironborn became louder and refused to act accordingly. All this led to Yara demanding independence. Not long after, the Dornish learnt about it and as the historically famous, most rebellious house they sought independence as well. It seemed most convenient that the only independent Kingdom was The North since the King is a Stark himself. This fact served only as encouragement.
Tyrion opened the sandy-white book of the Kingsguard in front of him and for the millionth time read the page about the Kingslayer. Not a day went by when he didn’t think of his brother, he was in his dreams, he was in the books, he was everywhere but not next to him. He missed him so much it hurt, he even missed his sister, no matter what she did she was still his family. Once, if someone would have told him that he would outlive his siblings he would have laughed. Died protecting his Queen. He read the last sentence and closed the heavy book.
“Come in” he said when he heard the gentle knocking. Podrick appeared in the doorframe wearing his armour. He must have just finished with the training. Since Brienne was named Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, the white and gold cloaks trained twice as hard. When someone rebelled against the new training hours, Brianne would challenge them to a duel. That happened only twice.
“The King would like a word, my Lord.” Tyrion nodded and jumped from the chair. When he entered the room, he instantly realised that the King is physically present but not here. He knew better than to disturb Bran the Broken when his eyes were white, so he walked to the small round table and filled a cup of the finest red wine he has ever tasted. It was probably the one and only thing he missed about King’s Landing while he was serving another Queen. Not a place in the Kingdoms had a tastier wine. However, Tyrion vowed that one day, his own vinery will know no rivalry.
When he noticed that the King was back, he asked “Drogon?” Bran nodded. “He is flying around in the Dothraki sea for now. What happened in Volantis cannot happen again, not on this side of the sea at least, not with everyone rebelling. With Brienne our armies are growing fast but not fast enough. We are on the verge of war… again, not even a year has passed. What if we let the Dornish and the Ironborn have their independence?”
Tyrion took another sip from the sweet wine. “What is going to stop the others from demanding independence then? It will also mean losing half of the realm, half of the armies, half of everything. We cannot afford that.”
“How is ending up with a war better than losing half of our armies peacefully?” The King’s voice raised but so did Tyrion’s. He wasn’t afraid of Bran, not like he was of Daenerys at the very least. “And what do you imagine will happen after we give them what they want? War. War will happen.”
Bran spun the wheels of his chair and looked out the window in the direction of the Dragon Pit that was being rebuilt. “Jon?” He asked focusing on his more urgent problem. Drogon needed to be stopped.
“He is already on his way, he should arrive soon.” - “Good.” The imp bowed and started walking away when his name was called.
“Lord Tyrion…” He stopped and turned to face Bran. “Yes, Your Grace?” The King stayed quiet for a few moments, staring at the sea that surrounded his city until finally, he continued. “Have them start building the scorpions now.”
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