The King and his Hand are always to blame, this Danos knows with certainty. Every day more people flood into the city. Every day food becomes more expensive and harder to find. Luckily a large rat nest was found in the Dragonpit. He takes three rats a day to the pot shops to feed himself and his sister. They are large, vicious rats, but that gives them enough food for a day. He remembers living with his mother at the dyer's shop and eating regularly, but those days are long gone. He would have gone north with the recruiter from the Night's Watch when he was in the city if it had not been for Daena. The Watch only takes men and boys, he had to protect his sister.

He considers himself lucky when he manages to find work at a stable. The job only pays a copper every two days, but he is fed daily for the work. He slips the bread he is given into his tunic and sneaks it to his sister who lurks in the shadows behind the stable. He knows that he needs to find work for her as well, but she is still a child. He is too tired from his long days in the stables to hunt rats across the city in the pit, but he knows that she sneaks up there alone some days to kill and sell rats. He worries that men will take her and sell her to the Street of Silk, but she promises to use her knife on anyone who tries to touch her.

This day she is still outside the stables. Normally she hides in a crawl space between the houses, but today she is speaking with a larger man in a hooded robe. His hand reaches for his knife but stops when she smiles brightly at him.

"Danos, he offered to pay for me to apprentice as a dyer!"

He grabbed her hand and stared at the strange man. He had a kind face, but cold eyes. "How many times have I told you not to speak with strangers?"

She wrinkled her nose at him. "He's not a stranger, he used to talk with mother!"

The stranger gave a gentle bow of the head. "I have been looking for the two of you ever since I learned of her death. Your mother wanted to ensure that the two of you were well cared for. I can buy you an apprenticeship as well."

"Why?"

"Your mother was a kind, gentle woman. I feel a certain duty to her children, and to orphans. I was orphaned myself at a very young age. Do you accept my offer?"

His sister responded before the man was finished speaking. "Yes!" Danos had to smile at Daena's fire. He was still wary of the stranger, but had nothing to lose. "What will I apprentice as?"

The man smiled. "As it so happens, I know a blacksmith who recently lost his apprentice. I am sure that he would willingly take on another."

"And what do you want from us in return?"

"Not much, only whispers that you may hear while plying your trades. Meet me here on the morrow and I will take you to your new homes."

True to his word, the man returned the next day and took them to the shops where they would apprentice. The dyers Rainbow Street was only a few streets away from the Street of Steel. They both worked from morning to evening, but would sneak a few precious hours together before returning to their master's homes to sleep. They were working when the Princess left and riots killed hundreds of people.

Occasionally the man would visit. He would ask if they heard any interesting tales, and they would tell him everything they knew. He had given them homes and protected their lives, a few strangers secrets were a cheap repayment.

The most interesting thing to tell him was of a song the children were singing in the streets. It was not particularly well worded, but it was written in the slums of King's Landing, not by a bard.

The Kings make war

The children cry

By and by

By and by

Winter is coming around the bend

Will the war be at an end?

They took of the direwolf's head

He killed the king in his bed

Revenge was promised

Blood to be paid

An angry child

An angry king

Started the war

Now this we sing

A lion's son upon the throne

More a lion than most

Led by a monster

Ugly and gross

Oh winter is coming

By and by

All the children will starve

All the children will die

Will Stannis come and win the day

This we vow

This we pray

They'll burn the city to the ground

Ashes of children

All around

It was hard to tell whose side the singer was on throughout the course of the song. Danos forbade his sister from singing it, and she agreed though sometimes he would catch her humming the melody. The stranger thanked them for telling him of the song and went on his way.

When Stannis Baratheon's army came to King's Landing Danos ran with his sister to the Dragonpit to hide. Countless children were already inside when they arrived. They could have stayed with their masters, but fear was spreading throughout the city and no one felt safe anywhere. In that pit though, the children felt safe. If the city fell the men would be killed and the women raped. No one would think to look in the Dragonpit. When everything calmed down, the children could return to the streets like before, alive.

Few of the children slept that night. Shouts could be heard ringing out across the city. Then the sky lit up a bright, sickly green color. Danos and Daena snuck out of the pit to see what was happening. Atop Rhaenys's Hill a small crowd was gathered, watching green fire light up the world beyond the walls of the Red Keep. They trembled in fear as they watched the wildfire burn.

In the morning cheers of victory rang out across the city. Soon after, the children began singing a new song.

The stag wanted to trample

The city into dust

But the lions arose

The lions arose

And saved the day

The lions and roses

Saved the day