As the next day goes by, Jaime's thoughts are all about Brienne. Now that he knows who she is and how she came to be the Red Keep's ghost, it feels unfair to label her as the cold-hearted assassin he initially deemed her to be. If he does this, he's no better than Ned Stark and those who decided he's an unredeemable kingslayer without asking him why he did it in the first place.

Speaking of which, he is now even more determined to have her know why he killed Aerys. She knows about the wildfire already; his tale will simply explain to her how it ended up there. However, even if she still thinks he should die for his sins, her knowledge of why will make her a better judge than anyone else in this realm—his beloved siblings included.

Perhaps, if his story moves her enough, he may use her newfound trust to take her out of King's Landing and back to Tarth. Unlike her, he finds it hard to believe that Lord Selwyn won't happily take his daughter (and heir) back. Even Tywin, who only cared for his children when it benefitted his goals, would take delight in seeing one of them back from the dead—even Tyrion, he thinks. The memory of the Lord Tarth's crestfallen posture on the occasion of his departure comes again to his mind, as if confirming his thoughts.

So, the next step is to convince Brienne to hear him out. Then, if she believes him, find a way to sneak her out to a ship heading to Tarth. For that to happen, he must first convince her to leave the tunnels for longer than it would take to get food or water, then go to the docks with him, then pay for the captain to take a 'nobody' to the Sapphire Island. It's a complicated and risky plan, but better than just leaving her in the castle's undergrounds to fend for herself, risking her life and arguably allowing her to kill more people.

It is with this in mind that he goes to meet her later that night. After roughly an hour training, he asks for a pause. "I'd like to talk to you about something," he announces.

Although the mask and the near darkness makes it impossible to truly see her expression, he'd bet she's frowning. "What about?"

"A couple things," he says. "First of them… you told me my father deserved to die because he did dishonorable things for dishonorable reasons." She nods slowly. "What if you found one of your targets did something dishonorable with honorable intentions?"

There is a short silence before she answers. "I find that hard to accept, Kingslayer." Although the word itself is insulting, her tone is inordinately neutral. "But if you know such an example, enlighten me."

"You do speak like a noblewoman," he comments first. Now that he knows, it's impossible not to notice the small details, especially her speech. "What do you know about Aerys and his reign?"

"He was called the Mad King," she replies easily. "I… I don't know details about how Robert's Rebellion started, but it had more to do with him than Prince Rhaegar, even though the spark that ignited the war was his abduction of Lady Lyanna Stark. Am I right?"

"Yes, though it's a rough summary. Do you know anything else?"

"No… Father barely told us about him and the war. We were too young to understand, I suppose."

He sighs. "Aerys chose me to join his Kingsguard," he begins, "because he wanted to piss my father off. It worked—he finally quit his office as Hand due to that. When the war began, I was essentially kept hostage. My role as Kingsguard was more for show, another way for the king to entertain himself."

He tries to watch for a reaction, but Brienne is very still. He hopes it means she's listening. "Robert Baratheon, Ned Stark and Jon Arryn declared war against the Crown after Aerys burned Rickard Stark and made his son Brandon strangle himself to death trying to save him. I saw everything… It's impossible to describe how awful it was." He shakes his head. "Afterwards, he demanded Robert's and Ned's heads for no real reason. That's how it all began."

"I had no idea," she whispers.

"You were a child," he says, in an impulsive attempt at comfort. It doesn't fit him, but neither does baring his darkest moments to a near stranger who wants to kill him and his family. "Aerys was obsessed with wildfire. He used to execute any perceived traitors, and, as the rebellion went on, everyone could be a traitor in his twisted mind. I can't remember a day, during that time, when the throne room didn't smell like rotten flesh."

He hears her sharp breath. Good. "When we got news of Rhaegar's death," he continues, "he got worse and worse. One by one, he dismissed all sane advisors and replaced them with pyromancers. Still, I didn't know the extent of his madness and obsession until my father knocked on the city gates.

"Varys told him not to open it. I told him not to open it. But instead he listened to Pycelle, who claimed 'the Lannisters were always good friends of the crown'. Damn him." He takes a deep breath. "When my father's bannermen began sacking the city, Aerys decided to call for Rossart, the leader of the pyromancers' guild. That's when I found out about the wildfire."

He shifts his weight from one foot to another. "Those caches you see around here? There are many, many more of those under King's Landing. He put them everywhere. Beneath the city gates, the dragonpit, the Sept of Baelor, under several buildings… More than enough to destroy the city, which was Aerys' goal."

Brienne takes another sharp breath. "And he called this leader… Rossart… to have it ignited, right?"

"Exactly," he replies, slightly proud that she figured it out. "I tried to dissuade him. Instead, he told me to bring him my father's head. So… I had two options: kill everyone involved in this wildfire thing, including the king—especially the king—or kill my own father and let King's Landing burn. The rest is history."

It takes a long while for her to say anything in reply. "Does anyone else know about this?"

"I think Varys knew about the wildfire," he offers, "and who ordered it made and spread. I don't think he linked this to my kingslaying, though. He'd have approached me if he knew, I think. But… no. Nobody asked, everyone saw what they wanted to see: Tywin Lannister's son making his father's job easier." He sighs. "Also… I feared what could happen if someone knew. The only people I'd have trusted to tell, if they came to power, were Queen Rhaella and Princess Elia, but you know their fate as well as I do."

"You didn't trust your father? Your sister?"

He let out a mirthless laugh. "To this day, I can't imagine Father doing anything good with this information. As for Cersei… I figured that, if she didn't care enough to ask, I wouldn't care enough to tell." Sometimes, alone in his room, he dares admit to fear what his twin would do with that knowledge; he allows himself to see Cersei as her father's daughter, more so than he ever was.

(Of course, such a line of thought doesn't linger for long. His other half would never follow the Mad King's footsteps, right?)

"Ser Jaime," she calls quietly, taking him out of his reverie. "If you may, I'd like some time to… process. You are dismissed from tomorrow night."

"I won't be available the next night," he replies, then mentally slaps himself for it.

"It's alright. Come back in the other one. Just—"

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving."

Once again, he realizes he'd had plenty of opportunity to kill her; this time, though, he rejects the idea.