Chapter 25 – Tyrion – Trustworthiness
The moment Jaime had left the yard, the voices of the crowd started to grow louder and fiercer again.
"He has to die!" some of them suggested and many others agreed.
Tyrion peered at Daenerys. "My Queen, you should mitigate the people and further, not make the decision here in the courtyard."
She nodded slowly, thinking. "Yes, you're right." Louder she announced, and the crowd fell silent after the first few words: "Do not worry, proud people of Winterfell. I will hold a special council and decide what is just for the Kingslayer." She looked at her advisers when she listed them: "Tyrion, Ser Jorah, Missandei, Varys, and Jon, of course, please follow me into the Council Chamber."
Suddenly the silence of the courtyard changed, and it seemed hostile and cold all at once.
Tyrion looked around him in surprise and what he saw, frightened him to a certain extent. Queen Daenerys had conquered many places, whole cities had fallen under her strength and kindness – but the North was different. It had always been more different than the rest of the seven kingdoms of Westeros. Here the people had only accepted the Starks as their leaders for centuries. It would take decades to convince them that Daenerys was not only the right Queen but also the best of all people.
To their luck Jon Snow acted quickly, having apparently understood in a moment's notice what made the North people so tense.
"And of course, I will join this council with my own advisers. Sansa, Arya, Bran, Sam, and Ser Davos, please follow us, as well."
The relief of the crowd was almost audible, and the tension gone in a second.
Tyrion sighed his own relief and praised the sudden ability of diplomacy of the King in the North.
Gallantly, Jon then gestured Daenerys to step towards the main building and quickly the counselling party made their way through the crowd, some corridors, the Great Hall, and finally into the Council Chamber.
The moment the door closed behind them, Jon Snow's rage started.
"Are you mad?" he exclaimed at Daenerys accusingly.
"Why?" she replied innocently (and Tyrion believed her although he had seen her mistake). "What have I done?"
"You can't just evoke a council meeting in Winterfell and make decisions on your own. I've told you that the North will not accept you for quite some time, so better stay behind me, the true ruler of the North."
That apparently woke the dragon; Tyrion could see it in her defiant eyes. "But I am their rightful Queen, they have to understand this sooner or later! You bent the knee to me."
"Something most of them have not forgiven me, yet," Jon countered. "And if you continue to provoke them -"
"Provoke?!"
"-they will sooner or later rebel against you, and that is something we cannot allow while the real threat lies beyond the Wall!"
Before Daenerys could make her reply, Tyrion decided to step in. Gently he put a hand on her arm and stated calmly but firmly: "He's right. The North is special, and we should delay this treacherous behaviour after the war against the dead." Maybe most of us will die, he thought. No need to make the final decisions now…
Daenerys stared at him, then she stared at Jon. "Alright," she admitted annoyed in the end. "But as I told you before: there will never be any questioning of my authority in public!"
They all confirmed their loyalties once more and this seemed to sooth the dragon, at least for now.
"Then let's counsel together now, shall we?" Tyrion smiled in better spirits than he felt and gestured everyone to sit down around the round table. "So, what are we to do with my brother?" he began when everyone was seated and apparently waiting for someone to start (and it seemed as if the King and the Queen were too busy sulking at each other… What had only happened between them? he wondered not for the first time).
"He has tried to kill me," Daenerys started the discussion. "Who's to say he won't try again?"
"But that was during a battle," Tyrion justified his brother's actions. "We would have done the same in his position."
"There is no way to trust him," Jon simply announced and apparently that was already his final decision.
"Ser Jorah," Daenerys addressed the old knight. "You've known the ways of the Nobles in Westeros before you came to Essos. What is your opinion of the Lannister's behaviour?"
"It's difficult to say," he replied, deeply considering. "Could be a trick, could be the truth. I don't understand Cersei."
"No one does," Tyrion mumbled.
Daenerys nodded, before speaking to the next one in her round: "Lord Varys, have your little birds told you anything about this?"
The Spider shook his head. "I'm afraid not, your Grace, but I have to admit what Jaime has said makes sense to me. Cersei breaking the deal but he standing up for it. He has changed over the years, for the better, I might say."
"Lady Sansa," the Queen continued. "You have lived with him under the same roof in King's Landing. What impression did he make on you?"
"Your Grace," Sansa responded, blushing slightly. "I have barely spoken to him. Only one time more than a few words."
"What did you talk about?"
"Well, um, he wanted to congratulate me on marrying his brother and he welcomed me into the family." She gave Tyrion a quick glance that showed her horrible memories of her time in King's Landing and everything that had to do with it.
He offered her a small smile and it seemed to calm her.
More self-composed she added: "Ser Jaime has never wronged me, and the one time we spoke he was kind to me. The rest of the time we ignored each other, so I can't really say if we should trust him or not."
"Well, he's still responsible for father's death," Arya claimed spitefully. She was truly as wild as ever, especially in her unforgiving hatred.
"Why do you keep saying that? I'd like to remember that it was not my brother who ordered Ned Stark to die, but my nephew," Tyrion felt the urge to defend his brother. He had done many mistakes, loving Cersei probably the worst of all, but he was still the only one in his family who didn't hate the Imp.
"Yes, Joffrey spoke the sentence," Arya conveyed her hatred to him now, "but it was because of your brother's attack that our father was wounded and then put into jail."
"You seem to have forgotten that when Ned Stark recovered from his injuries he was still a free man," Tyrion replied, trying to stay calm.
"But Jaime killed Winterfell men. Jory, Heward, and Wyl," Arya listed the fallen. "The only reason I didn't kill him at first side is because my mother had enough trust in him to set him free. If it hadn't been for him, Father could have fled the Capital sooner. Along with Sansa and myself!"
"But-"
"He would have survived!" Arya interrupted him passionately, but Tyrion kept speaking.
"It was his move against the King that had put Ned Stark into prison. My brother had only attacked him in the first place because Lady Catelyn had abducted me."
"Because you tried to murder Bran," Ser Davos added.
"No," came the response of a cold voice that had not spoken yet.
All eyes turned on Brandon Stark.
"Tyrion has never tried to hurt me; he was the one who made me a saddle with which I could ride again." A very small smile reached his lips, and for a moment he was the lively boy again he used to be, and not this haunted shell of a person. "It was Littlefinger's assassin who tried to murder me in my sleep after Jaime Lannister had shoved me out of the window in the tower," he declared firmly, "because I had seen him together with his sister."
There was a moment of silent shock, and Tyrion's face reddened in shame, luckily hidden under his beard. He knew his siblings could be merciless but trying to kill a seven-year-old to hide their secret a few years longer…?
"Definitely, a man without honour, the Kingslayer," Ser Davos muttered.
"You know he hates this name," Bran told them quietly. "He saved the city when he murdered the King. The Mad King wanted to burn the whole city, even the Red Keep with all its citizens, and furthermore had ordered Jaime to bring him Tywin Lannister's head. So instead of murdering his own father and destroying King's Landing, he killed the King."
They stared at the boy in shock.
"Why does no one know this?" Jon finally whispered, apparently believing every word his brother spoke.
"It seems that Father never asked for an explanation when he found Jaime and the dead King, blood still dripping from the King's Guard's sword."
Jon made an ashamed face. "Now I can understand Jaime's actions better," he then murmured.
Tyrion frowned at the King of the North. Suddenly, he pitied his brother? How could that be? But even his sisters – even the fierce Arya! – looked down at their hands rather than protesting. Something was definitely off here.
And his Queen had the same idea: "Why are you all believing this story? Brandon, where is your proof?"
"Um, your Grace," the timid voice of Sam Tarly spoke up for the first time. "Bran is the Three-Eyed Raven."
"The what?"
It took the Starks and Sam a while to explain to the others the concept of what being the Three-Eyed Raven meant, and only after many questions especially from Ser Jorah, Varys, and Tyrion himself, did they finally begin to believe that the boy could truly see the past, present, and future. A quite startling idea to be sure.
Had the boy seen how he had killed Shae? Tyrion started to fear. How he had killed his father? The many times he had visited a brothel? Sansa's and his wedding feast? There were many scenes in his life that he wished no one to know, especially not Brandon Stark of Winterfell. And even if the boy had not seen all of this, yet, the day could still come where he might… A truly startling idea.
Apparently, the rest of the room had similar thoughts, all with horror on their faces of terrible scenes of their past, for Bran told them soothingly, that he would never just tell anybody what he sees. "Only, if the truth matters, I will speak up. Like in this case, where I have seen the moment the Mad King died."
"I still don't believe this," Daenerys suddenly exclaimed in frustration. A not very prudent move, seeing the reaction of Jon Snow, Tyrion thought.
"What is there not to believe?" he questioned her incredulously. "If Bran says that's what happened I believe him no matter what."
The tension from the beginning of their little conference was there again.
Angrily, the Dragonqueen stood up from her chair and glared at the Stark bastard. "Just because he's your brother, doesn't mean you have to believe him everything!"
"Khaleesi," Jorah tried to calm her, touching her arm gently, but she shook him off.
Jon also stood up, his chair falling on the stone floor with a loud chunk. "As long as we are in Winterfell, I'm in command. This is my castle, so to speak. And so it doesn't matter what you believe or don't, as long as I do!"
"I am still the rightful Queen!" Daenerys spoke slowly through gritted teeth.
"Well, not exac-" Jon began before stopping himself mid-sentence and turning pale, while Sam hissed a warning.
Tyrion frowned. What was going on here? It was certain, that the King in the North was hiding something – but what? He needed to speak to the boy alone – soon.
The tension stayed for a moment longer in the room, everyone exchanging nervous glances and looking between Daenerys and Jon, before the latter sat down again, giving up on their controversy.
Another moment later, the Mother of Dragons sighed to calm herself and sat down, as well.
"Right," Tyrion slowly spoke. "Let's just move on. Anybody interested in my opinion what to do with the Kingslayer?" He looked around questioning the other consultants but met only indifferent stares. He just wanted to start, when he was interrupted by his Queen.
"No, we're not interested in your opinion," she snapped annoyed.
"And why is that?" he wanted to know a bit hurt. He was the Hand of the Queen, was he not?
"Because you're biased," Arya spat at him. There was her fierceness again.
"He's your brother," Ser Davos added. "And we all know how we try to protect the people we love."
Even his lovely Sansa only smiled at him sadly. "They're right," she agreed in a quiet voice.
"Alright," Tyrion retorted in defeat, falling back on his chair and crossing his arms. "Shall I get some vine then for everyone?"
"Tyrion," Daenerys told him in a soothing voice. "Of course, I want you to stay and, of course, I want your advice. But Jaime is your brother who has done you many favours. This makes you automatically biased even if you don't want to be."
He sighed and nodded in acknowledgement of her words. "Fine. Then what do we do?"
"I could fly to King's Landing," Bran then offered matter-of-factly. "If Ser Jaime says the truth, the troops should still be stationed in King's Landing and I won't see any preparations to go north."
"What do you mean by 'flying to King's Landing?'" Daenerys asked warily. "I hope you don't mean on my dragons."
For a moment Bran stared at the white-haired girl before he started to laugh.
The Queen looked irritated at Jon, who was smiling himself.
"Bran is also a warg," Jon explained. "He can get into the mind of animals and look through their eyes."
Daenerys looked at the crippled boy in awe. "Even into a magical creature like a dragon?"
"I have not tried this, yet," the youngest Stark replied, thinking. "But since I can get into a direwolf and they are magical creatures, why not also a dragon?" He seemed to see something before his inner eye, before whispering: "It must be wonderful to fly this high and burn your enemies to the ground."
"That sounds like a decent plan to me," Tyrion quickly announced before the situation got out of hand again. "Bran will look for us what is going on in King's Landing and till then, my brother will be further guarded, but maybe in a better room. If we afterwards still can't trust him, we ignore him, and if we do, we should listen to what he has to say. My sister probably has told him everything."
Everyone looked at each other and it seemed that no one was opposed to this plan, albeit Arya still looked as if she wanted to kill Jaime any second.
"I'd further like to add that I truly think that he is telling the truth," Tyrion insisted and quickly lifted his hands in a defeated manner, before continuing: "I know, I know, he's my brother. But honestly, he came alone – not even Bronn accompanied him and he would have for the right sum – and almost died on the journey. Sounds like a stupid plan to me, especially if my sister is supposed to have concocted it…"
He saw Daenerys and Jon exchange a certain glance before the latter announced. "Bran flies to King's Landing and we wait for his report to discuss this matter further. Until then Jaime stays in his prison cell."
And with these words, the meeting was suddenly over, and the counsellors followed their leaders out of the room.
Only Tyrion stayed, trying to think of a prudent way to save his brother just as he had saved him before. But he knew that he would not be able to just free him of his prison cell; the northern threat was too important as if Tyrion could risk his position as Hand of the Queen. Besides, where would his brother go if King's Landing, Casterly Rock, and Winterfell were out of bounds for him? He pondered for a while but with no struck of genius until he left it for now. At least I can bring him some blankets and something to eat, he told himself trying to feel better about the whole situation but failing miserably…