King's Landing…

Visenya glanced behind her, seeing only darkness. She wore a dark cloak over her dress, pulling the hood tightly over her head. Ser Harras led the way, holding a torch that illuminated the empty tunnel as they walked.

There were over fifty miles of tunnels that ran beneath and through the capital, built by Aegon's descendants in the years after the Conquest. Since Maegor Targaryen had had the original architects and engineers executed, none had fully mapped the network. None apart from her brother, who had grown up in the lower levels of the Red Keep until he was into adulthood. Drakon had explored the near entirety of the network over the years, fully mapping where each of them led. He had shared this knowledge with her, pointing out which tunnels would lead out of the Red Keep or into any given chamber within.

Now, she and Ser Harras were walking through a tunnel that would take them to the docks. Ser Benedict and Ser Eustace were protecting her children, a duty that was all the more critical, given the danger posed by the High Sparrow and whomever plotted against her and her brother.

Doing her best to remember the directions Drakon had given her, she guided the Ironborn knight, giving him directions as he lit the way with the torch.

Visenya inwardly cursed, marveling at how her brother could memorize all this.

Eventually, though, the directions proved true, as they emerged into the city's harbour. Night had fallen, and the sky was cloaked in darkness as they spotted three figures standing nearby. They cautiously approached, and Ser Harras kept a hand on the handle of his Valyrian Steel sword as Nymeria's face came into view from the torchlight. Beside her stood a woman with a hard-set face wielding a spear and another with a playful twinkle in her eyes.

"Your Grace", Nymeria said, gesturing to the other two, "allow me to introduce my sisters, Obara and Tyene."

Visenya nodded. "There are those in this city who would see me fall. My enemies wish to discredit and destroy me, and I ask you to aid me while my husband is away."

"Your husband avenged the deaths of our father and aunt" Obara said. "He destroyed the Lannisters, and for that, he has our gratitude. We would be honoured to help you kill your enemies."

Visenya smirked.

The Twins…

"For House Halfhand!"

There was a cheer from all the guards and servants. Everyone raised their cups and drank from the best wine any of them had ever tasted. Gerold Halfhand, formerly in the service of Drakon Blackfyre, downed his wine in a single gulp.

"Eat, drink, and be merry! As your new lord, I want you all to be happy. Bring out the girls!"

There was another cheer as a number of whores he had purchased for the occasion entered the dining hall. Gerold sat down in the lord's chair, which, like the Twins themselves, used to belong to Walder Frey. When Drakon Blackfyre, now King Drakon, had had the Frey family all put to death, he had given the castle to Gerold, as a reward for his faithful service. He had taken the Freys' castle and their sigil for his own, creating House Halfhand. Even though the king had taken most of Walder Frey's jealously hoarded riches, there was still quite a bit left. Gerold had ensured that the place would be 'spruced up' considerably, as he did not want to live in a shabby castle filled with leaky roofs and broken furniture.

He had spent over twenty years in the service of this lord or that lord, infiltrating castle after castle in an effort to root out dirty secrets that men's rivals could use against them. No one was better than Gerold at disguising himself; he had even given himself a nasty cut along his brow in an effort to look like some dead man.

The Twins and its riches were his reward, and every few weeks, he made sure to throw the most memorable parties for his new household to celebrate his new lordship.

A dark-haired whore walked over to him, her hips swaying in the candlelight. He reached out and grabbed her, pulling her onto his lap. "Come here, my dear. Why don't you do your best to give me my money's worth?" She pressed her lips against his, and he moaned in delight at the taste of strawberries as he roughly pawed at her breast. Noticing movement from the corner of his eye, he broke the kiss and looked to the right.

Standing in the doorway was a boy of ten, with curly brown hair.

Sighing, Gerold kissed the whore on the lips and said "Don't go far, love." He then stood her up and walked over to the boy. "You're supposed to be in bed."

"Couldn't sleep" he replied, looking around at the drunken revelry.

"Come on" Gerold said, gently ushering the boy out of the dining hall. They idly walked through the castle, and the new Lord of the Crossing asked "Is there anything I can get you? Food? Drink? What do you want?"

The boy stopped walking and said "I want to go home."

Gerold smiled sympathetically and got down on one knee, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know, lad. But remember what I told you: outside these walls, there are enemies everywhere. Bad people who would want to hurt you."

The boy looked down at the floor. "I miss my family."

"Of course you do. But the world believes that Rickon Stark is dead, so none of the bad people are looking for you. Remember, you're Arthur Halfhand, and…"

"And I'm your son" he finished, earning a nod from Gerold.

"That you are. Now, go back to bed and try to get some sleep."

He watched as the last surviving Stark boy turned around and started walking back to his room. Gerold stood up and exhaled, knowing the sort of punishment he would receive from the king if he ever cocked up his assignment and let the boy loose on the world.

Running his intact hand through his hair, he turned and walked back to the party.

And there we have it: the end of Season 5! This was quite interesting for me to write, and I very much look forward to exploring this story in the future. Again, please don't hate me for bringing in the Sand Snakes! I promise to do my best!

So, I thought I would try something different (and hopefully fun) going into Season 6. I'd like you lovely readers to submit a character for me, specifically the commander of the garrison at Casterly Rock. I've already decided the characters' role in the story (mostly), but I thought it would be fun for one of you to submit his/her physicality/history/personality. You can submit characters to me either through a review or as a PM. They can be from an existing Westerlands House, an original House, or even a Lannister bastard, if you want! Man, woman, noble, knight, sane, psychotic, it's really open-ended. For format, this is what I'd like:

Name:

House/Bastard Name (or no surname, if commoner):

Physical Appearance:

Personality:

Brief History:

Favoured Weapon(s):

Family:

I'll take submissions until October 4th, three weeks from now, so as to give people some time. NO SUBMISSIONS AFTER THE 4th. We'll see if this little experiment adds a fun dynamic to the story moving forward, or maybe it'll crash and burn. I don't know. Let's see how it goes!

I'll most likely resume posting next summer. Then again, I might just lose patience and start posting in a couple months. Most likely you'll see the next chapters in the summer, because I'm currently re-writing my Sci-Fi novel. Until then, all I can say is…

Valar Morghulis!