Tyrion
As they neared Driftmark Tyrion could see the queen get increasingly nervous. "Your Grace, you've been pacing the deck since we left Dragonstone and the rain is coming on. Come, join me below decks for a bite and perhaps some hot spiced wine." he called to her. Reluctantly she obeyed, coming over after a last wistful look at the sky. "Watch your step, there you are." Tyrion told her as she stepped out of sign. The drizzle started not a moment later. He left the sailors to their business feeling a tremendous thirst. Unfortunately I'll need to be sober when we meet the Velaryons. Perhaps they'll serve wine at High Tide. He found her seated in her cabin. "I still think we ought have brought Drogon." she said almost sulkily. "The Velaryons need no encouraging to abandon Cersei and join you. You share no small amount of blood." "They have Valyrian blood. I would have liked to show them a dragon and inspire a few songs." she replied. "Once they see you, they'll be able to think of little else. You're dragon enough without the wings and the fire." Tyrion poured her a cup of wine and pushed it towards her, even fetched her a small plate of cheese. She looked at hit as if it were a full dinner. "I don't think I could keep it down." she confessed. She is so nervous. Smallfolk are one thing, but she wants so to make a good impression with Westerosi lords as well. "Your Grace, I advise you to steel yourself. Monterys Velaryon is a little boy, ten at the oldest. He will not be hard to treat with. When Roose Bolton's northern envoy arrives he will be someone the Lord of the Dreadfort trusts enough to speak for him in the south and little enough to not care if you burn him alive. He will be a man to worry yourself about meeting, and that will be on Dragonstone." Tyrion said, pushing the cup into her shaking hands. Poor thing. Half a queen and half a child. She worries about what the smallfolk think, what the lords think, over her missing children and even making Drogon and Missandei feel left behind. The Naathi girl was innocent and sweet, bringing her anywhere uncertain was foolish and so she'd stayed on Dragonstone. How Daenerys had got across to Drogon to remain on as well, Tyrion would never know, but the dragon's temper tantrum had been a thing of terrifying awe. As the island disappeared from sight jets of black flame had still been visible from the tops of the rocks. The rain was making a proper racket on the deck above and the queen hiccupped. "Perhaps you were right to stow me away. Drogon would approve." she smiled weakly. "I'm certain if you're not returned in anything other than pristine condition he will rid Cersei of me immediately." Tyrion replied, taking his own wine slowly. A bit at a time. No need to drink like I'm trying to drown myself in it.
They sat in silence as the crew prepared to bring the ship to dock. "How did you do it?" he asked her finally. Ever had Tyrion Lannister been curious about dragons and it was a question he burned to ask. "Do what?" "Get him to remain behind." She bit her lip. "I simply told him to. In Valyrian, not the Common Tongue. He understood at once but as you've seen, he was not pleased about it. In fact, I could ask the same of you." "Me, Your Grace?" Tyrion asked, eyes widening as he set his cup down. "Lord Varys tells me you freed Rhaegal and Viserion from their chains beneath the pyramid. When I led the Meerenese nobles down to meet them seemed singularly ill-inclined to accept visitors, even me. Rhaegal snapped at me more than once, a green coil that no food could tempt. Anyway, Ser Barristan had just been killed by the Sons of the Harpy and I wanted to pay them back in kind. Rhaegal got irritated at the sight of men, or me, or both.." she explained. Tyrion frowned. "As Varys could tell you my spoken Valyrian is just shy of an atrocity. I moved slow and kept my voice soft and soothing, if one could call it that. Mostly I was just trying not to shit myself unconscious, if you'll allow the expression." he said. "While Viserion was sniffing me I pulled the bolt from his collar and when Rhaegal heard it clang to the ground he allowed me to do the same for him." She looked into her lap. "Ever was Rhaegal the suspicious one. Viserion was the baby, he only wanted to ride on my shoulder even when he got too big. Drogon until recently did only what he cared to. Rhaegal kept his distance always, he has never had much love for men or their workings and I fear trapping him in the darkness beneath the pyramid has only compounded his attitude in that regard." She feels guilty. Guilty that they've quit her presence, that they've gone beyond her power to control, Tyrion realized. "Well, Asha Greyjoy brought up a good point. They're dragons, Your Grace. A dragon may know many riders over its long life but a man- or woman- will only know one mount. She was right also in that you'd only need Drogon to take King's Landing, if even him. You could buzz about in pretty circles and watch the city fall in a day without him so much as yawning. You may get lucky. Perhaps they've just gone off to find their riders." Tyrion shrugged, pouring her another half cup to steady her stomach. "I'm not sure Rhaegal is the type to take a man on his back. Were Viserys alive I suppose he'd try to ride one or the other, but they'd have rejected him out of hand. They don't like weakness and Viserys was weak." The queen's face had become a mask. "If they don't like weakness, how am I still alive?" Tyrion asked. "That's easy. You are a stronger man than you account yourself." she replied.
When the cog finally docked and Tyrion found himself staring at a complement of men all bearing the Velaryon seahorse on their shields, banners or jerkins. He waited for the queen to come off of Balerion rather than be the first to speak. When she did the men of Driftmark knelt at once. Daenerys smiled. "Rise, good sers. I am Daenerys Stormborn, First of Her Name." she introduced herself. "This is my Hand, Lord Tyrion Lannister." He saw more than one face twitch in a frown. Kinslaying has made me anathema to all of Westeros by now, I'd bet. No doubt the older lords all scheme to be her Hand, the younger ones her husband. We are not in Slaver's Bay anymore, she'll have so many options her head will spin. She bade the man in front stand. "Your Grace, I have the honor of being Ser Colrod of Hull, a leal man of Lord Monterys Velaryon and a keeper of your peace." "Well met, Ser Colrod. I am anxious to meet Lord Monterys, another of Valyrian look would be a most welcome sight." she said. Tyrion could hear her anxiety even if this Ser Colrod could not. The knight nodded and offered his arm to the queen, who took it, before leading her up to and into High Tide proper. Tyrion followed as best he could, ignoring the murmurs of those around him. It was bad enough when I was but an ugly dwarf. Now I've proved them right in their minds Well, the joke is on them. Daenerys made it to Dragonstone, in truth she doesn't need a tainted dwarf anymore. I could eat a quarrel right now and die a happy Imp. The thought made him smile the remainder of the way until he made it to a pair of rooms adjoining the queen's. Well, they're better than the accommodations my own father set for me after I saved the bloody Landing, Tyrion thought. A dozen maids were given to Daenerys to help her bathe and dress while he merely soaked in cold water for a few moments in the solitude of his chambers. Corlys Velaryon sailed further than any Westerosi, he remembered from reading as a boy. If only he could be here now instead of some burbling boy scarce quit of the breast. Then again, Tyrion himself had been no stranger to travels abroad, and even his journeys were paltry fare compared to those of Daenerys Targaryen.
When Monterys Velaryon joined them Tyrion saw he'd been a bit uncharitable as far as his age. The boy was about ten, silver hair pulled back in a loose knot and Tyrion knew love at first sight when the little seahorse first laid his lilac eyes on the dragon queen. Evidently so did Daenerys, who humored the little lord's innocent inquiries with patience and charm. This meeting will make the Velaryons dutiful vassals of the Targaryens for another three hundred years, Tyrion guessed, smiling to himself as Monterys asked if it was dry-hot or wet-hot in the east. Daenerys looked puzzled and Tyrion himself was lost for words. "They went east, Lord Velaryon. Not south as well." Ser Colrod explained. "Oh." the boy replied, picking at his steamed crab. "Forgive me, Your Grace. The Sea Snake of old found himself on several unclaimed shores full of leafy green jungle. He claimed them hot as any desert but wet as well, enough to soak a man in their mists." "I've been to many places but never a proper jungle. When I asked my brother if we could go to a jungle to visit he said I'd get eaten. I had nightmares for a year." the queen said, blushing just a bit and looking in her lap. Tyrion found her ability to relate to a boy she'd never before met fascinating. There are child lords aplenty in Westeros. We may turn ill luck into good fortune. The Essosi freedmen called her Mhysa, after all. The little lord did not so much as give Tyrion a glance. He can hardly be blamed, it's either look at her or me. If the lords of Westeros decided to ignore him rather than mock him as before, so much the better. Once dinner had ended Monterys insisted on showing the queen what was left of the treasures the Sea Snake had brought back from his nine voyages. Piqued, Tyrion waddled behind them, wondering what could await.
Several dark disused rooms held wooden crates of all sizes, dust flying when Monterys pulled the sheets off a sort of dress made entirely of songbird feathers. "Not this one…" he muttered when he opened another of arakh-like weapons longer in the curve. Less sickle more sword, Tyrion thought. Monterys Velaryon showed them all manner of curious oddities. A palm-sized jade figure of an ape with arms to its chest, a necklace of shark teeth, even the skin of a snake that would have been twenty feet long. "My lord, surely Her Grace would like to rest…" Ser Colrod said exasperatedly. Suddenly the boy gave a gasp and dropped the lid of a large crate, evidently having found what he was looking for. "The Sea Snake dared not venture deep into Sothoryos. It's a helljungle without end full of diseases and danger, not remotely a place for a Westerosi. He met a troop of them, the Sothoryi brindled men." he explained. The queen nodded. "Several of them were in the fighting pits. I never did get close…" she prompted him. "When they decided he wasn't a threat, they kept giving him gentle shoves back the way he came. I guess the Sothoryi aren't so much beasts as people suppose, at least the ones on the coasts who must get visitors often enough to know they don't do well in the jungle. They gave him something as a parting gift and followed him to shore to make sure he left." Monterys said, trembling with excitement. Daenerys was all patience while Tyrion's boyhood dreams had him waiting with bated breath. Monterys grunted with the effort of shoving the lid off, coughing a bit as the dust rose. When it cleared his face was ashen but the grin on it was unmistakable. "See what they gave him." he said, and the queen looked inside. Tyrion saw her purple eyes go wide as plates. The Mother of Dragons is amazed, he thought wonderingly, climbing on a smaller crate to look inside himself. His jaw dropped. In the crate lay a skull. From tip to tip it might have been eight feet long, too heavy to move for a dozen strong men. Teeth like daggers filled both jaws and the top was honeycombed with holes. "What is it?" the queen whispered. "I have no idea. Neither did the Sea Snake, he just kept it near and dear and only showed it to the royal family." It isn't a dragon skull, Tyrion thought. He'd seen the things in the depths of the Red Keep, black with iron but curiously gracile. This animal's head was so thickly reinforced that even a skull weakened with age could have capped a battering ram. It would have weighed thrice as much as a dragon of comparable size, Tyrion thought. The bones alone…and the muscles needed to hold them up… "But what do they eat?" the queen asked suddenly, bringing Tyrion back to the waking world. "Surely to reach that size there must have been plenty of food, but it isn't like there are herds of livestock in the jungles of Sothoryos to gorge on." "I only know that the Sothoryi the Sea Snake met thought this one a juvenile. See, there's no scratches or scars." They get bigger, Tyrion thought dizzily.
Shortly after Ser Colrod insisted it was time for the little lord to go to bed. Of course he'd wanted to stay up and talk with the queen some more, but when she told him sleep was a blessing there was nothing for it but for everyone to go to bed immediately. Tyrion's thoughts were utterly devoid of dragons for the first time he could remember, instead thinking of colossal god-lizards that shook the ground as they walked and made a dragon's roar sound a kitten's mewl. However he could never quite picture what their prey looked like. He always came back to them eating livestock as the dragons did, which he was sure wasn't the case. Likely I'll never know, he thought. I'm not exactly going to Sothoryos to check. Or maybe he would. Perhaps I'll stick my head down one's throat and see what's in its gullet. I'm so small and they so large it might not even notice! I could prop its mouth open, walk in, have a cup of wine and leave without it noticing! However his flights of fancy managed to upset his dreams, and in them he was the giant and the creatures below so small he couldn't manage to see them clearly, even on hands and knees and squinting. I can see the world from up here, but all I wish to see is too small for me to spot. Maybe it's good I'm small in life. Then suddenly he was being chased by a giant seahorse that breathed lightning. The dreams got more and more absurd until he dreamed Jaime's golden hand had a face in the palm that would only talk backwards, ensuring his elder brother was the only one who understood it. He always gets the letters backwards, I helped him trick Father into thinking he'd learned them rightwise, Tyrion thought. When morning broke he got up stiff as stone, almost falling out of bed. Once dressed he made his way to the sitting room, waiting on the queen's pleasure. He could hear her maids giggling and whe she walked in she started at the sight of him. "Goodness, you look like you hardly slept." she said. "Wine and monster bones definitely don't mix." he replied.
They left Driftmark that morning, heading south across the Gullet for Sharp Point. Monterys Velaryon had wanted to treat them to breakfast but Daenerys explained that Drogon was likely eagerly anticipating her return, and so they went after bidding him farewell. "Well, its unlikely Sharp Point will prove quite so stimulating. Lord Duram Bar Emmon is older, near your own age, but feeble if my father's word is to be trusted. Bar Emmon was one of the houses sworn to Stannis during the War of Five Kings, so in this regard I would think him correct." Tyrion told her. "Well…at least that means we should be able to return to Dragonstone within the day. We needn't stay overnight, they aren't kin…or if they are, not nearly so close as the Velaryons. Tyrion felt inclined to agree. "Once we return Drogon will promptly sweep you off your feet and curl up and that's the last we'll see of you for a week." Tyrion said, sighing. She giggled. "Leaving him behind was hard but you were right. I can't imagine him taking kindly to…well, me being courted." she explained, blushing a bit. Tyrion pursed his lips. "Are those his feelings on the subject or your own?" he asked in reply. "He didn't start this streak of trying to hog you to himself until you began to worry about his brothers. He didn't much seem to care to be around you in Meereen, maybe because you didn't want him around because you were trying to keep the peace and be a queen. I would think it obvious he follows your lead, or at least can pick up on how you're feeling. Unfortunately a young woman's feelings and a bloody dragon's are quite disparate as far as meaning. You can't exactly breathe fire or eat a sheep whole. "I can if I'm hungry enough but the wool gets stuck and tickles my throat." the queen said, smiling slightly. They spent the rest of the voyage trading such jests and when they arrived at Sharp Point Daenerys was in a much better humor.
Duram Bar Emmon was all Tywin Lannister had said he'd be, Tyrion discovered. That is, not very bloody much at all. They discovered that it was the master-at-arms and the maester who truly ruled at Sharp Point, each more eager to flatter the queen than the other. She saw them for what they were immediately, parroting their courtesies back at them neatly. All ceremony, just what she can't stand. Tyrion knew. The three of them knelt as one, a puppet split between two puppeteers. There's a pun in there but I've not the patience to try and tease it out, Tyrion thought. After collecting their oaths to support her in her bid for the throne Lord Bar Emmon hosted them in his modest hall for a bite of swordfish and politely inquired if Daenerys had brought the dragons with her. She merely stuck to the story Tyrion had concocted- two were hunting and one could not be bothered to follow the ships another foot after the interminable journey from Meereen. Their absence seemed to stem his stuttering if only a bit. He looks too jumpy to face down a mule. A dragon would make him keel over, Tyrion thought. Again the problem of finding the queen a worthy husband sprung up in his mind. When they had gone back to Dragonstone and Drogon predictably curled up around his mother, shrieking all the while, he broached the subject with Missandei. To his shock her soft Naathi manner vanished at once. "She is not a silver mare for you to grind foals out of. Whether she takes a husband or no is not for us to worry about. You want her to do so to make an alliance as you call it. How conducive to ending slavery was her alliance with the House of Loraq? You would tie her to some noble here who can offer her no lasting benefit, the politics of the world you've brought us to are as changing and uncertain as the one we left. The Mother of Dragons woke life from stone, walked through flame while khals burned, drove the harpies from the sky, razed their nests and freed their slaves. What man in this Westeros of yours has something she does not? You say you want to find the proper husband for her. Look the rest of your days in lands known and unknown, he does not walk upon this earth. The full moon has no husband, little lion. No light in the night sky is the equal of she."