Kestrel knocked on the door and entered the tower room quickly, closing the door behind her, making it clear that Tellen and Sandor were to stand outside.
They glanced at each other and Tellen shrugged, leaning against the wall 'So, looking forward to being a married man then Sandor?'.
His response was an annoyed grunt from Sandor, who stood a few feet away from Tellen, a hand on the hilt of his sword, looking distinctly annoyed. The younger man simply chuckled, looking tired as Sandor stood stoically deep in thought, staring unseeingly at the wall opposite him.
Kestrel sat down opposite Varys, both in the same places they had been the previous time they had spoken, Varys glancing up from a heavy looking book as she came in.
Varys looked at Kestrel intently 'you have a kind heart Kestrel'. She looked confused 'what are you referring to?'.
'The servant girl, Beccas, you've given her gold coins both times you've seen her… why?'.
'She is a child, and I can afford a few gold coins, why should I not allow her the chance at a better life?'.
Varys say back in his chair, looking pleased and curious at the same time 'of course you are right, you can afford to hand out gold coins, but so can most people in this castle, and yet they don't hand out gold coins, only you'.
Kestrel nodded slightly, not really sure what to say. 'Kestrel, you have put your own life in danger to protect Lady Sansa, and you help Beccas, compassion is an admirable quality'.
She nodded slightly 'my family has a phrase... rule with fear and you will have soldiers to fight only as long as the battle lasts, rule with compassion and fairness, you will have the whole City at your feet'.
Varys looked impressed 'a City… or Seven Kingdoms'.
Kestrel narrowed her eyes 'what are you saying Lord Varys?'.
'Robb Stark is his father's son; he wants peace, not the crown. He will not declare himself as anything other than the King of the North, but he wants Joffrey deposed… who will rule the middle lands and the South?'.
Kestrel faltered, looking confused 'And what exactly are you trying to say, Varys?'.
'Your brother or you must take the Iron Throne either for the South or for the Seven Kingdoms, though I suspect the people will rally behind you first'.
Kestrel and Varys locked eyes in silence for a few seconds as she digested his words.
'Which brother... you said that Aegon survived… how?'.
Varys looked proud of himself 'He was switched, taken from the castle and replaced with the son of a Tanner, the man raised Aegon as his own'.
'And how can you be sure on this?'.
'Because I was the one who performed the switch. Aegon has been raised the son of a poor working man, he can barely wield a sword, and Jon Snow has sworn himself to the Night's Watch, and I do not believe he will stand down from them. You however, you are a better fighter than most of the Knights at the Keep, you are compassionate and fair, you can command an impressive army of Greencloaks, and you can play the game better than anyone else. You should be the one to take the Iron Throne, when the time comes'.
Kestrel was pale, quiet for a long time, staring at Varys until she eventually spoke 'I cannot be the Queen… I cannot do it'.
'You are the only hope there is. Consider it, we shall speak again soon'.
Kestrel understood the insinuation that the conversation was over, Varys going back to his book as Kestrel left the room, closing the door behind her.
Tellen and Sandor looked at her intently 'what did he say?'.
Kestrel shook her head and started to walk back down the tower steps, looking thoughtful as the two men followed her. Sandor knew that Kestrel wasn't going to be sleeping in his rooms that night, as she silently headed to her rooms, deep in thought and not even acknowledging that they were behind her.
By the morning Joffrey announced that the Archery tournament would be at midday the following day, and the Keep would be putting Balon Swann forward as their champion to compete against Kestrel, as he was apparently the best that the Keep had. Vanis and Tellen simply laughed at Joffrey's question about whether or not Kestrel would be practicing to prepare herself.
All of the men that had come with the Hightower retinue was either a current Greencloak or had been one at some point, they hadn't been wearing the cloaks at the Keep but had all brought them with them.
Kestrel was distant and distracted, keeping to herself until the day of the contest, walking out to the grassy field with her father and his retinue, all wearing their dark green cloaks and holding a quiver and bows.
The field was surrounded by people on two sides, a platform to one side with seats filled with Joffrey, Cersei, Sandor, Tyrion, Bronn, Rhonda Hightower, Margery and several others.
There were several targets at the other end of the field and Kestrel moved off towards the line where the firing would be from, seeing Balon Swann standing there already, checking over his arrows.
Kestrel was wearing a powder blue dress that she had borrowed from Margery in a deliberate effort to impress and distract the men of the court. It was the dress her cousin had worn to the Keep on the day Joffrey had agreed to Loras's proposal of marriage, and it was low cut and distracting.
Swann and Kestrel were slightly removed from everyone else as the crowd continued to speak loudly and the Royal retinue started to settle down.
Swann smiled slightly, his voice gentle 'a pretty girl like you shouldn't be playing with weapons Kestrel'. She laughed, aware that he was joking 'we do things a little different down south'.
Swann glanced over her 'times like these, we all need to be able to protect ourselves my Lady'. She blinked in surprise at his honest point, one which she knew he wouldn't have said if Joffrey was in ear shot.
After another ten minutes Joffrey declared the competition was to begin, and there was a loud round of applause.
Kestrel pulled the string back and fired immediately, taking only a split second to look before releasing the arrow. Not only was it a Bullseye, but it was in the centre of the entire board, a perfect shot.
The crowd cheered and Balon Swann narrowed his eyes at her, taking nearly a minute before he fired his arrow, falling on the line just off the bullseye, lowering his points. The applause from the crowd was polite and Kestrel again fired her arrow immediately, seemingly without taking any time to think or adjust.
The arrow hit the bullseye perfectly, splitting the previous arrow in half as it went to the exact same place as before. The crowd gasped and she had already cocked a third arrow before any of them had even had time to notice, and yet again the previous arrow was split in half.
Balon tried but he was nowhere near a match for Kestrel, who smiled sweetly and gave him a curtsey, the knight looking confused about what had actually happened.
It had all happened so quickly that few people had even realised that Kestrel was scratching the tip of the arrow against her fingertip swiftly as she had cocked the arrow.
Swann fired two more shots and both were around the bullseye, but Kestrel was the clear winner. Swann was good and Kestrel was impressed, but she was the clear winner, without any question.
Everyone had cheered and clapped loudly, even Swann had looked impressed, kissing her hand lightly with a genuine smile.
'You never cease to amaze me my Lady, as ever, it has been a pleasure'.
She'd laughed and Swann had been a surprisingly gracious loser, joining in the applause for Kestrel, which died down and was replaced with interested murmurs as a row of Archers came onto the grass, Swann stepping aside to let them past.
There were four Greencloaks in a row, Vanis one of them, and Kestrel was standing at the end beside him. Everyone watched intently as an apple was placed on the top of each target and the servant boys hurriedly moved out of the way.
In one swift movement the five of them moved in unison, scratching a fingertip on the end of their arrow, loading it into the bow, raising it and firing immediately, all five arrows splitting the apple in front of them in half at the same moment.
The crowd applauded and cheered loudly, Joffrey sitting forward, looking intrigued as they repeated the process again, this time getting perfect bulls eyes, the crowd cheering loudly again.
Next, five servant boys moved onto the grass with five lit and flickering lanterns, which seemed to confuse the crowd, muttering to each other as the boys moved into position, one in front of each of the archers.
Without any communication between them, Vanis scratched his finger against the head of one of his arrows and passed it to Kestrel, who loaded the arrow as the four Greencloaks prepared their own arrows and loaded them up.
At a nod from Vanis, the lanterns were thrown high into the air and they all fired their arrows. The crowd could not see for sure what had happened until the servant boys picked up the five lanterns, arrows directly through the middle of the candles in each one of them.
The crowd jumped to applause, cheering loudly as they all put down their bows, Kestrel noticing that even Joffrey was clapping, looking mildly impressed. They all bowed to Joffrey and Kestrel did a polite curtsey, her eyes meeting Tellen's, seeing that he had a wide smirk on his face, giving her a slight nod.
Sandor wasn't sitting far away from him and his eyes met with the younger woman, a look of mixed emotions on his face. As impressed as he looked, he was clearly also a little taken aback at how good she had been.
Joffrey stood up and the crowd quietened a little 'well, Lord Hightower you should be proud of your daughter and your men, I have not seen skill like that for quite some time. I believe we have a feast to attend do we not?'.
Baelor nodded, looking somewhat smug as everyone attending the feast stood up and started to make their way towards the Castle.
Still sitting at the platform, Tyrion glanced at Bronn, his voice quiet so they weren't overheard
'They all scratch a fingertip against the head of the arrow, it is meant to be good luck, that another arrow won't be coming back towards you… You know where that practice comes from?'.
Bronn shook his head and Tyrion glanced briefly at Kestrel again as she was still standing talking to two of the Greencloaks 'I have heard about it in Braavos and the other Free Cities, it is said to come from the Faceless Men… Interesting'.
Bronn blinked in surprise and remembered the promise he had made to Kestrel about not admitting that she had been the one to kill Magir. He wasn't exactly a man of honour and nobility, but he had promised her in front of her father, and Bronn knew better than to upset the man with a far bigger army.
Tyrion was still watching Kestrel closely, talking more to himself than to his sell sword 'but why did she change the arrow at the end? She had a quiver full still…'.
Bronn noticed the expression change on Tyrion's face and saw that it was a mixture of horror and realisation.
'Bronn, I need you to do something for me. After the feast?'.
His sellsword nodded slightly, not happy with the tone in Tyrion's voice 'What is it you want me to do?'.
There was a long pause before he got his response 'If I'm right... then we are going to be uncovering the biggest secret in the bloody seven kingdoms'.
Bronn didn't look comfortable and looked up to see that Kestrel was now talking to Baelor Hightower a little way away from the crowd and the retreating group, still holding her bow and arrow. It was clear they were having a private, muttered conversation.
Baelor looked over her intently 'one hundred archers, they will be here by the weeks end. Joffrey asked me to 'loan' him a few… regardless of what they say to Joffrey, they are to swear fealty to you Kestrel'.
She looked surprised 'to me? Why?'.
'Because I cannot stay here forever, and I will not leave you here on your own at the mercy of the Lannisters. You are the heir, and you are my daughter, whatever they may say to the King and the Lannisters, they are under your command, not theirs'.
'And why are you doing this Father?'.
'Because Robb Stark will not take the middle lands or the South as his own, the people will follow you Kestrel, I cannot leave our future Queen without protection'.
Kestrel rolled her eyes slightly with a sigh 'I've heard that twice in three days now… do I have a choice in this?'.
Baelor gave her a weak sympathetic smile 'when the raven was sent about you and Sandor, I was with the Tyrell's… Mace Tyrell suggested it before I did. It's not a path I would want for my daughter, and you don't have to take it Kess, it's your choice ultimately. If you choose this then you have the whole of the South on your side, Mace knows the truth Kestrel, and he is willing to stand behind you for Queen above having Margaery marry Joffrey'.
'Doesn't he want her to be Queen?'.
'He does, but he doesn't want her married to Joffrey, my sister has told him what's been happening at Court, and he's not willing to have his daughter brought down by a madman. He wants Margery to be married to a Knight or member of the Court. Well, your court. I would suggest Tellen could marry Margery or maybe Sansa? We'll see, but you can say no Kess, you can always say no'.
She was silent for a long time, looking out over the grass for a while before she looked back at her father, eyes steely.
'You know what they say Father- never piss anyone off who's got a bigger army than you'.
Baelor looked amused, looking around to check they were still alone 'winter is coming, and so are the dragons'.
Kestrel simply nodded, walking with purpose back to the castle, deep in thought and still holding her bow tightly. Baelor watched her for a second before catching up with her 'do not act rashly Kestrel'.
She shook her head 'of course not, but I'll be needing the archers as soon as possible'.
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