Mira is back in King's Landing, and she has some explanations to give.


MIRA II

King's Landing was a clear contrast to the Riverlands. The first time Mira came here, she was struck by the great number of people who lived cramped inside its walls. She never saw a city before the age of thirteen, when she travelled south to Highgarden. In the North, the only major city was White Harbor, and Mira never approached it of her whole life. On her father's lands, Ironrath was the closest thing to a city, and it barely qualified as a village. When she arrived in the south, she saw bigger towns. She saw from afar the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, but they hadn't stopped there on their way to Highgarden. The Reach was populated with villages, most of them with a larger population than Ironrath, but these villages were nothing compared to large cities, often located in the shadow of a great castle, from which the local lords levied many taxes that helped them to sustain their household, protect their lands and raise troops when need be. As for the Westerlands, the city of Lannisport had eclipsed everything Mira had seen so far when Lady Margaery moved to Casterly Rock. The city of the Lannisters was the third harbor in importance in the Seven Kingdoms, and now well in place to become the second harbor in this country since the signature of the Trade Agreement of Old Oak. Not that Lannisport could become a larger harbor than Oldtown, but the increase of commercial activity in the two main cities of the Westerlands and the Reach was so great that King's Landing was threatened to be left in the third place.

The capital was nothing like Lannisport or Oldtown. Mira had walked and wandered in the streets of the city overlooked by the Rock, and she had read about Oldtown even though she never visited it. Both cities were well organized, with a good city watch to maintain peace and order, canals and sewers to keep it clean, and very well organized docks and wharves. No such thing existed for King's Landing. It was as if half a million people were thrusted inside the walls and left to fare for themselves. Half of its inhabitants seemed to live in the streets, from begging, stealing or murdering. Mira had read about the poor state of the capital, but she also knew that there had been improvements made under a few kings, especially under King Jaehaerys the First and his Hand, the Septon Barth. The improvements seemed inexistent, or invisible. The capital of the Seven Kingdoms fitted the description of refugee camps as depicted in Chronicles of wars and their consequences rather than an actual city.

As she progressed through the streets with her escort, her nose was assailed by the stench of decaying excrements, her ears were filled with the noises of merchants and prostitutes all alike, and her eyes couldn't look anywhere without falling upon a beggar, a naked child or a crumbling building. There, men were working on making a new house, while others were demolishing one on the other side of the streets. Carts were positioned one each side to help either to move material to build the new house or to transport the remnants of the old one. Mira surprised men building the new house stealing bricks from the old house and bringing them to build the new one.

Ser Lyonel and his men had to force their passage through the streets, the carts narrowing it and people crowding the space between. The city of King's Landing was so overpopulated that carts were allowed inside its walls for one and only task: building or destroying human construction. Riders on their horses, people on feet and litters were accepted inside the city, but no carts except for this very specific reason. It had been an attempt from Barth under Jaehaerys the Conciliator to reduce congestion inside the city. The idea wasn't as foolish as it may seem as first sight. Barth had forbidden carts in the city during the day, but at night they were free to travel. Shops and taverns, the Red Keep and great houses with large households had to bring their merchandises and unload them at night. It was an astute solution, though one that may not have been necessary had the city been conceived otherwise. The legislation was still in place two hundred years after his instigator died and the streets were still crowded. In many other cities in the Seven Kingdoms, like in Oldtown, a similar law was adopted to reduce daily traffic, but with modifications. In Lannisport, some carts were allowed to circulate inside the city during the day but had to pay an additional fee at the moment they passed through the city gates. They were only allowed to circulate in certain streets, and the system was enforced by the City Watch. Lord Tyrion had introduced new changes after he arrived, charging different amounts depending of the day of the week and the time of the day the carts entered the city, and granting special exemptions to some products. For example, a large paved road existed specifically to allow goods to travel between one of the city gates and the harbor of Lannisport, speeding the movement of goods leaving and entering the harbor. In the wake of the Trade Agreement of Old Oak, Lord Tyrion negotiated with the Lannisters of Lannisport to reduce the fees for goods using this passage, boosting trade further.

Lannisport and Oldtown were able to implement such treatments because the cities developed at a slower pace, allowing the houses ruling them for a better planification. The capital of the Seven Kingdoms was only three hundred years-old and didn't have this opportunity. Despite the efforts of a few kings, the city developed following the paths of chaos and anarchy. King's Landing had become a fair representation of the state of the entire Realm, where every kingdoms were at each other's throat. Aegon Targaryen, by uniting all the kingdoms into one realm, from the ice of the Wall to the sandy shores of Dorne, from the volcanic islands of the Narrow Sea to the stony home of the Ironmen, reduced the number of wars, but increased their scale. Peace followed war, and war followed peace in a cycle that never ended, alternating like summers and winters did.

"Are you alright, my lady?" Ser Lyonel asked her.

"Yes." Mira had been lost in her thoughts, not realizing that they now stood before the gates of the Red Keep. "I am."

"Don't worry too much about Lord Tyrion's reaction. It was very likely the Starks would reject his offer of peace."

It was true, but Mira wasn't worried about Lord Tyrion's reaction to the mission's failure. What she dreaded the most was his reaction when she would tell him the truth. All the truth.

The portcullis was raised and Mira rode inside with the men who escorted her. A few minutes later, she stood before the door of the Hand's solar. Tywin Frey, his personal squire, let her in.

The Lord of Casterly Rock was sitting at his desk, writing a letter. Mira waited patiently for him to be done as his squire closed the door behind her. Apparently, Tywin Lannister used similar tactics when it came to talk to people, making them feel unimportant to him. His son followed the tradition, but Mira hoped that maybe it was just an important letter and he needed to end it before he could talk to her. Indeed, once he stamped his seal, he looked.

"Lady Mira. It's good to see you again."

"You too, my lord."

"I suppose I don't have to ask you if Robb Stark refused or accepted my terms. You're probably aware of the latest developments in the war."

"I am, my lord." She had heard about the Battle of the Kingsroad. She still didn't know whether she should rejoice or mourn over the battle. She didn't even know if her father and brother came out of it alive. "A scouting party of Ser Kevan's army reached us while we rode back to the capital. He told us what happened. He also told us the army was coming back to King's Landing."

"It is true. I gave the order. We need our men here. I also wrote to Lord Tyrell."

"If I may, my lord, why call back the men? Won't it give Robb Stark a free way to the capital?"

"Maybe, but not entirely. Some river lords are still on our side, and we're leaving a strong garrison at Harrenhal. Anyway, we need more men here. I'm sorry to tell you this, Lady Mira, but I'm afraid you came back to the capital right when it could be under siege."

"What do you mean, my lord?"

He took a small piece of paper, the kind that could be carried by raven, and gave it to her. The raven was sent from a small keep in the Stormlands.

Renly Baratheon dead. Circumstances unknown. Assassin unknown. Rumors that his kingsguards, Stannis, Lady Stark, even Lady Lannister did it. Lady Lannister's location unknown. Most of the stormlords bent the knee before Stannis. Preparation for war.

Mira felt her heart rise into her throat as she read the short message that contained vital information for the war. "Lady Margaery? We don't know where she is?"

"Not for now. But there's been no word of her being captured. I think we would have heard about it if she had. Stannis wouldn't let it go under silence. She's probably riding back to King's Landing as we speak, trying to cover her tracks."

Mira noticed he tried to sound optimistic, but that he was as worried if not more than she was.

"Now you understand why I need men here. Our garrison inside the city will likely be enough, but I would rather take no chance. Anyway, I think Robb Stark will have his own problems with the siege of Riverrun." He didn't miss the shocked expression on Mira's face. "I see you're not completely up to date in the news, my lady. Robb Stark may have won on the Kingsroad, but his grandfather lost at the Golden Tooth, and now his mother's house is in disarray. Not to mention that he must deal with the invasion of the North." He kept explaining further when Mira frowned again. "The Ironborn. It seems that Balon Greyjoy decided to take his chance again. The men of the Iron Islands occupy Moat Cailin, Torrhen's Square and Winterfell, and they are raiding all the villages along the northern coast."

"Winterfell?"

He nodded. Mira was speechless. It was way worse than she imagined.

"I told you, my lady. This war doesn't bode well for the North."

"No, it doesn't." Winterfell taken by the Ironmen, Riverrun under siege. At least, Rodrik and her father were with the army that won a battle, so the odds that they survived were higher. It was what Mira dreaded, a complete defeat for the North. The Tyrells didn't need to step into the battle for that to happen, and now that Lord Renly was dead, nothing kept them from fighting alongside House Lannister.

"There's also something else you should know. For now, we can't know for sure, but there are words of fighting at Deepwood Motte. It seems the Ironmen are trying to take the castle."

"Deepwood Motte? But Ironrath is close. Are they…?"

"We don't know, my lady. Our informants remain silent on Ironrath and anything else than Deepwood. If anything comes about your home and your family, I assure you will be the first to know. But I'm afraid there's nothing both of us can do about it for now. Robb Stark left the North with most of its forces, and Greyjoy saw an opportunity. And since now he holds Moat Cailin, it will be difficult for the Lord of Winterfell to go back into his kingdom. I'm afraid that for now, the Warden of the North is losing the North."

Mira knew Lord Tyrion enough to know he didn't mean it cruelly. Tyrion Lannister made japes all the time, even in the most inappropriate circumstances. They were clumsy attempts to lighten the mood, but she knew there was no evil intended. Still, it didn't help to hear jokes of this sort when her homeland and her family were in danger. Her mother, Ethan, Talia and Ryon may no longer be safe at Ironrath.

"I'm sorry to bring bad tidings. I don't control what happens during wars. I wish I could. Now, although I suspect what might have happened with Robb Stark, I'd like a complete report."

Mira straightened herself and pushed her worries aside as much as she could. She had to focus on the present.

"I presented your terms, my lord, but Lord Stark refused them. I think we both expected it."

"Yes, we did, but we had to try all the same."

"I also left him the bones of his father and of all the Northerners who died in King's Landing like you instructed me. I brought back the sword Ice with me since he didn't accept the terms."

The Lord of Casterly Rock nodded, expecting all this and not at all surprised. He would be for what was coming.

"And I gave them Arya Stark."

At that, Tyrion Lannister frowned. He did nothing more. He only frowned, and a very long and heavy silence followed. Mira stood still, waiting for his reply, fearing it.

"Did I mishear what you just said, Lady Mira?"

Lord Tyrion's voice wasn't threatening, but there was a certain edge in it. It told her that she should be very careful about what she would say next. It was better to tell the truth. She owed it to him and Lady Margaery.

"No, my lord. You didn't."

"From what we know, Arya Stark was last seen the day her father was arrested, and ever since we have no news of her."

He was waiting for explanations. She provided them. "I found her at Harrenhal, my lord."

"Harrenhal?"

"Yes. She was hiding among the people working for Ser Kevan's army there, posing as a servant. She wore boy's clothes, had her hair cut short, and she was covered with dirt. From what she told me when I found her, she managed to escape the Red Keep the day Lord Eddard Stark was arrested and lived in Flea Bottom until the day of his execution. Then she was smuggled out of the city by a recruiter of the Night's Watch named Yoren."

"Yoren? I know him. We met at Castle Black. So he brought Arya Stark out of the city, you say?"

"Yes, my lord. They followed the Kingsroad until they were ambushed by a patrol of your army led by Ser Armory Lorch. If we are to rely on Lady Arya's word, Ser Armory killed some of them and took the others prisoners, and they were brought to Harrenhal. Arya Stark hid there for some time, until I recognized her when I stopped there."

"And you brought her back to her brother?"

"Yes, my lord."

For now, the Lord of Casterly Rock didn't seem particularly angry at her, but she knew he was at least upset and that covered anger was more dangerous than an unleashed one. He stared at her, examining her, his gaze showing clearly that her actions were taken very seriously.

"You're lucky I'm not Joffrey. If he was to learn about that, you would probably share Eddard Stark's fate. So you better explain why you brought Arya Stark back to her family instead of bringing her here."

"It's quite simple. I thought it was the right thing to do."

"The right thing to do?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Enlighten me. How would you say this was the right thing to do for the Crown?"

"My lord, before you sent me with terms of peace for Robb Stark, you told me it was in everyone's interest, the north like the south, to end this war as quickly as possible. I believed you, and I still believe you, but we both knew that it was almost certain that Robb Stark would refuse your offer. You already have Sansa and I didn't believe it would give you more leverage to have two Starks. I knew that Robb Stark wouldn't sue for peace even if you had both his sisters. So I decided to bring her back, thinking it might bring Lord Stark to better consider your offer. It seemed a better gesture of good faith than his father's ashes."

"Is that all?"

"I thought it would be useless to give Joffrey another toy."

He examined for some time again. "I agree with you on that point. To make things clear, this conversation will not leave this room. Did you tell Ser Kevan or anyone else that you found the Stark girl?"

"No, my lord. And don't blame Ser Lyonel and his men, they didn't know who she was. I made them believe she was a boy they sent to serve me on the way to Robb Stark's camp."

"I would find it strange had Lyonel agreed with your decision."

"I did what I thought was right, my lord," she repeated. "I have no other explanations to give you. I knew I had no chance to convince Robb Stark to stop the fighting. I had an opportunity with Arya, an opportunity I couldn't let go. You had very little to gain by having her as a hostage like Sansa, but there was a small chance, even if it was a very small chance, that bringing her back to Lord Stark could persuade him to accept your terms. You sent me in the hope to put an end to this war, and I was hoping for the same. I tried to convince Robb Stark and his bannermen to bend the knee. I went as far as to tell them they had no chance to defeat the Lannisters and the Tyrells. I hid from them that Highgarden made no movement since the beginning of this war. I failed, it's true, but I tried. If we try nothing, we accomplish nothing."

The Lord of Casterly Rock looked carefully at her for a very long time. Her heartbeat kept accelerating, and she could feel some sweat on the back of her neck. "I suppose I better understand now why Margaery likes you. You're bold, especially for a handmaiden. Maybe too bold for your own good. I appreciate the efforts you made, especially since I sent you only with the task to deliver an offer of peace, and instead you tried to talk the Lord of Winterfell into accepting it. However, the decision you took concerning Arya Stark wasn't yours to make, Lady Mira."

"With all the respect I owe you, my lord, your terms explicitly stated you would give Arya Stark back to her family."

"If they accepted to make peace. Did they?" She shook her head. "Did bringing Arya Stark back to her brother helped to make peace with the Starks?"

"No, my lord. Robb Stark refused your terms. He only made a counter-offer, but I doubt you will accept his conditions." She took a scroll hidden inside her gown and gave it to Lord Tyrion. "The conditions include the death of Joffrey."

He considered the scroll in his hands for a moment. "Robb Stark read my offer?"

"Yes, my lord, he did."

"A Lannister always pays his debts." He broke the seal and read. "You're right, Lady Mira, I cannot, and I will not accept this." He carefully placed the parchment on his desk. "So it seems your plan to use Arya Stark as bargain to make peace failed. How do you justify your choice now?"

Maybe she was being suicidal, but if she was she didn't care about it right now. "If I had told you that I found Arya Stark, my lord, would you have done things differently?"

"Maybe not," he conceded, "but this wasn't your call. You could have left Arya Stark at Harrenhal while you went to talk with Robb Stark, then promise him to free her immediately if he accepted the terms. If you had, we would have two Starks to trade as we speak. Two may not be as good as three, but it's better than one. And if you were concerned about her safety, I could have sent her to Casterly Rock instead of King's Landing. Don't you think I would have done it?"

She didn't reply. She had to admit she didn't think about this possibility. Lord Tyrion and Lady Margaery did what they could to protect the Lady Sansa from Joffrey, and they would certainly have done the same for Arya.

"My wife trusts you, Lady Mira. She sees you more as a friend than a handmaiden. You took freedoms you shouldn't have in times of war. If Cersei or Joffrey, or even the small council heard of this, the best you could hope for is to end like Sansa, a prisoner of Joffrey. Who is aware of what you did?"

"Only you, Robb Stark and his main advisors."

"No one else?"

"No one else, my lord."

"Is there anything else I should know?"

She gulped. "Yes, my lord."

She hoped he didn't perceive her hesitation. She couldn't tell him about the Braavosi coin, not until she had proofs. She couldn't find this Jaqen H'ghar at Harrenhal. He had disappeared. The men she questioned said he certainly took an opportunity to run away. She doubted Lord Tyrion would believe a story about an assassin who could change his appearance. Instead, she produced something else she hid in her gown. It was a letter.

"When we left Casterly Rock, Jon Snow gave me three letters, one for his lord father and two for his sisters. I gave Arya the one he wrote to her when I met her, and I gave him back the one for his father when I saw him on the Kingsroad. This is the letter he wrote for Sansa. I didn't have the opportunity to give it to her."

Lord Tyrion took the letter she offered him. After considering it for a moment, he opened it and read it. "Nothing to worry about," he said after he was done. "Only comforting words and the promise everything will be fine and that Margaery and I will make sure they are all reunited soon." He sighed and threw the letter in the fire that burned nearby. "It wouldn't give her much comfort now, quite the opposite. Knowing her brother trusted us to save his father, and that we failed."

There was a lingering heaviness in his voice. He regretted he couldn't save Eddard Stark, and not only because of the war that followed his death.

"As I said, this conversation will not leave this room," he resumed. "I will talk with Margaery about what you did when she comes back. You are at her service, not mine. And I suggest you to be careful in the future. King's Landing is not the North. This city can be a nest of vipers for the uninitiated." He went back to sit behind his desk. "I also have another mission for you."

A few minutes later, Mira finally walked out of Lord Tyrion's solar, exhaling deeply. It could have been worse. For now, she was temporarily free of her movements and had to wait for Lady Margaery to come back. She would decide with her lord husband what to do with her. It wasn't much worse than what she hoped so far. She was still very lucky to get out of this so well.

She went to another room in the Tower of the Hand where she found Sera. Her friend was very happy to see her again, and Mira was glad to be reunited with her too.

"I'm so relieved to see you, Mira. I was so worried about you." Her friend embraced her in a very long hug.

"I risked nothing, Sera," she tried to reassure her. "I had a strong escort with me, and anyway the Northerners would never hurt me. I'm one of them."

"Well, I'm glad you're back all the same. With you and Lady Margaery gone, I felt alone. There wasn't much to do and… I was afraid, with everything going on around here. Can you believe that the king had the Lady Sansa beaten in front of the court, and naked with all that?"

Mira was horrified by the news. "Why did he do such a thing?"

"It's because of the Battle of the Kingsroad." Sera started to arrange the bed. Mira went to help as they continued to discuss. When Sera was discussing a delicate matter, she often did something else at the same time, any task at hand. "If Lord Tyrion had not stepped in, I prefer not to imagine what would have happened to her? She was in such a sorry state when I saw her after that."

Mira shook her head. Joffrey was a monster. Executing someone for trying to overthrow you was something but beating a little girl because her brother defeated you in battle was simply cruel.

"Now Sansa lives in the Tower of the Hand, and Lord Tyrion assigned me to her service until Lady Margaery comes back."

"I know. He told me."

They kept talking, or actually Sera did most of the talk, until they were done cleaning and preparing the room for the evening. Mira listened to many gossips, some useful, many useless. She didn't say much about her journey. Even if she wanted, Sera would barely let her place a word. There wasn't much Mira wanted to say or could say as a matter of fact. She couldn't tell her friend about Arya, or about the Braavosi coin she found, and she didn't want to speak of her failed mission. She had another one now, one she was much more comfortable with, though not entirely. Still, she had to fulfill it if she wanted to avoid the worse consequences of her decision to bring Arya Stark back to her family.

When they were done arranging the room, Mira excused herself and went to the library. It was one of the largest in the Seven Kingdoms, though not as large as the one in Oldtown. Not that she had ever seen he Citadel's library, but she supposed that when she would be wed to Willas, he might be willing to bring her there one day. Maester Ortengryn once told her father that had she been a man, she would have made a wonderful maester.

Mira had explored the library before. The system of classification was complex, but no more than the one in Casterly Rock or Highgarden and she could easily find her way through the shelves. She managed to find the section that was dedicated to the Free Cities of Essos and headed for the shelves containing the works on Braavos. She wandered her index on the bindings until she found what she was looking for. The Currencies of the East by Archmaester Xenophon.

She brought it to a table and began to turn the pages. Coins of all countries and of all times streamed before Mira's eyes. There were so many different currencies with details about when they were introduced, how their use and their value changed through history, even anecdotes about how some played an important role in the history. She knew that in the last pages, they showed the few coins from Asshai or Yi Ti the maesters had knowledge of. There was even a drawing of a coin that was supposedly being used by the Thenns, wildlings who lived in a mountain valley north of the Wall. She supposed the maester couldn't resist the envy to put such a rare thing in his work, even though it was being dedicated to the currencies of the east.

She didn't need to go that far since Braavos was among the first cities whose coins were studied. She came upon the page she was looking for. It was there. She took the coin Arya Stark dropped in her tent so many nights ago. Despite the wear, there was no doubt that it was the same. The inscription, the pattern, everything was so similar that it couldn't be a coincidence. Mira read the short text under the drawing that she had already read years ago in Highgarden.

A particular coin, probably the most feared in Braavos. No one dares to speak about it, but rumor has it that when someone presents a Braavosi this coin, he will do everything that person asks of him. It is not used for trade, but most likely as a method of identification. Very few in Westeros have ever set eyes on this coin, and when they are asked about it, they dare not speak. It is hypothesized that it is being used by a secret organization, and logic directs to the only one in Braavos that can cast so much fear: the Faceless Men of the House of Black and White.

The rest of the text was about the details of the coin and their many possible meanings. The letters obviously stood for Valar Morghulis but the other symbols were indecipherable. According to Xenophon, no attempt to translate the inscriptions around the outline of the coin was conclusive or worth of note. The few maesters who struggled to understand the other forms couldn't make any sense of them either. The mystery remained complete.

This wasn't of much help. She already knew or suspected most of what was written there. She had to find more information. She went back to the shelves and came back with several books. In every one of them on Braavos, the Faceless Men were mentioned, but that was the problem. They were only mentioned. All she could get were details. Some theorized the Faceless Men came to Braavos at the same time than the slaves who fled Valyria, for example, but there was never any proof. Everything related to them was at best rumors, or legends, or myths. There were stories of some of the assassinations they supposedly conducted, but again there were no proofs. No murder had ever been officially attributed to the Faceless Men. A thick veil was covering the mystery of this group of assassins, and Mira was unable to penetrate it.

She was reading an account of the unsolved crimes of Braavos, stumbling on some that may be the work of Faceless Men, when a voice surprised her from behind.

"My lady, you're still here?"

She looked over her shoulder to see the septon who was responsible of the Red Keep's library, a candle at the hand. "Yes, why?"

"It's very late, my lady. We are in the middle of the night."

Mira looked around. She realized when she looked through the small windows that darkness had fallen. She didn't realize how quickly time had gone while she was buried in her search.

"You should go to sleep, my lady. This is not good to stay awake all night."

Indeed. She wondered how Lord Tyrion could do this sometimes, because she knew he did. Lady Margaery told her and Sera more than once that she would wake up in the middle of the night and find her lord husband reading.

"You're right. I should go," she said.

"I'll take care of these books. Go and get some sleep, my child."

"Thank you."

She verified that the coin was safely placed inside her gown before she left. Truth be told, she wasn't very tired. She came back from a long journey but didn't feel exhausted at all. She didn't feel like she could sleep if she went back to her room right away. Instead, she proceeded to another place of the Red Keep where she would be alone.

Maybe fifteen minutes later, she knelt before the weirwood tree of the godswood of King's Landing. She didn't have the opportunity to pray much on their way back from the Riverlands. Despite the darkness, Mira wasn't afraid. Back home, she often went to the godswood of Ironrath in the middle of the night. She would pray, and whatever bothered her, she would always feel better after talking to the Old Gods.

She also felt better after she prayed to the Seven. Her lord father following the Old Gods and her lady mother the New Gods, Mira was raised in both faiths and was taught to worship both. She didn't really favor any over the others. She respected both gods, but after she left Ironrath, she had turned more towards her father's gods. They were her bond to the North and to her family, and with the war going on and the house she served fighting the one she came from, she felt she needed to pray to them more than ever.

She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, calming herself after the long hours of frenetic search she went through. She talked to the Old Gods, asked them questions, questions she tried to answer herself, hoping they would give her an answer. She asked them what she should do, wondered if she was truly doing the right thing. She asked them to end this war, to protect her family and the people she loved, for the winter to come to be short. She prayed for her father, her mother, for Rodrik and Asher, for Talia, Ethan and Ryon, for Sera, for Jon, for Willas, for Lady Margaery, for Lord Tyrion, and for all the people she cared about.

The leaves rustled. Again. Lately, it had happened more often than ever. The first time was at Old Oak, during the signature of the Trade Agreement. She had thought it was her imagination, but the first time she prayed at Casterly Rock when they came back from the Reach, she heard it again. Then it had happened twice or thrice afterwards before they left for the North. She heard it again on her first day at Ironrath when she visited her family, and the day she left for Winterfell. At the seat of House Stark, the same thing happened again the day she arrived and the day she left. At their return at Casterly Rock, she couldn't deny it anymore. It was now almost every time she went to pray. And she was sure it wasn't Jon. He was often praying with her and that wasn't his voice, and whenever she heard it and looked at him, there was absolutely no sign showing he said or heard something. Even when they didn't pray together she heard it.

"Why?" she asked.

No answer, like always. She went back to her prayers, begging for answers. What was she supposed to do? It troubled her, to hear the same thing every time and to not be able to understand what it meant.

She missed the godswood of her home, and she missed the godswood of Casterly Rock. She had spent years in the Westerlands, so much time that it almost became a second home. It would never occupy the same place in her heart as the place where she grew up, but she had very good memories of her time there, and she wasn't eager to leave it, to leave Sera, to leave Lady Margaery, to leave the friends she made there and all her memories behind. It felt… wrong. It felt like it wasn't the right thing to do.

"What are you doing here?"

For the second time tonight, Mira was taken by surprise by someone who stood behind her. Only this time, it was a female voice. Dawn was coming at the horizon, so she could see well enough the face of the intruder when she opened her eyes and looked behind her. The girl was younger than her, though she was almost as tall as Mira already. Unless she was wrong, Sansa Stark had grown up in her short absence. She wore a gown of a dark color. Mira stood up and faced her.

"I'm praying, my lady."

Jon's sister looked confused. "I'm the only one who prays here."

"Well, not really. I was raised in both faiths, just like you."

"Who are you?"

"Mira Forrester."

Sansa's eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock. That reminded her of her first meeting with Jon last year. He and Sansa might look very different, but their reaction was very similar.

"You're Sera's friend?"

"Yes, Sera is my friend."

Sansa Stark may not remember, but they had met before. Not when she arrived in King's Landing after Lord Stark's death. Mira had only seen Sansa from afar back then. Neither when Lord Tyrion and Lady Margaery visited Winterfell. Mira had been gone to Ironrath and joined her lady only after Sansa left for the south. It was when Mira journeyed south for the first time and she and her father stopped by Winterfell. Sansa was much younger back then, barely ten-years-old. Mira was older than her, but they exchanged a few words. However, it had been very brief, briefer than with Jon Snow, and he could hardly remember her when they met again years later.

"We met, four years ago," Sansa said. Mira was surprised. "You were with your father, Lord Gregor Forrester. He said you were going to Highgarden. You were wearing a blue dress made of cotton, and you had your hair arranged just like today."

"My lady has a good memory," Mira replied. She had to confess she was impressed. Mira had braided her hair in a more northern fashion while she was travelling in the Riverlands. She would need to go back to her previous hairstyle.

"I should have known when Sera told me. She even said you were from House Forrester. I should have remembered right away."

"Don't worry, my lady. Your brother needed much more help to remember me."

"You've met Robb?"

"No, I was talking about Jon Snow. But I've seen both of them recently."

Sansa approached. "Are they alright? Is everything fine for them?"

"Yes, they're alive, and well. They're trying to save you."

All of a sudden, Sansa's expression changed from excitement to know about her brother to a close face that let nothing show off. "My brothers are traitors. In time, Joffrey will defeat them and I only hope he can show them a mercy they do not deserve."

It was Mira's turn to be confused but only for a very short time. Lord Tyrion was right about Jon's half-sister. She was really terrified. She should have asked Jon to write her another letter while she was in Robb Stark's camp. Only to see Lord Tyrion burn it as well?

"Sansa, I know this is not easy, believe me. I am in a position very similar to yours. I have a brother and a father who are fighting Joffrey, and I have family back in the North too, and they are in danger." She didn't mention directly the threat of the Ironmen. Who knew what happened to Sansa's youngest brothers? She wondered how Jon was feeling right now. She prayed for Brandon and Rickon Stark to be alive. "However, treason or not, history shows us that the Starks survived when they bent the knee to Aegon Targaryen, just like the Mad King died after killing two Starks in the throne room."

She hoped she conveyed the appropriate message and that Sansa understood it. "Yes, it's true."

Mira nodded. "I suppose you came to pray. Does it bother you if I stay? I haven't prayed to the Old Gods in a long time, and at Casterly Rock I got used to pray with Jon. I'd like to pray with someone again."

"Yes, of course."

Sansa knelt down and Mira followed her example. She closed her eyes and started to pray again, for Sansa this time. The girl needed it. From time to time, Mira would discreetly open her eyes and look at the eldest daughter of Eddard Stark. If Arya looked a lot like Jon, Sansa was more like her mother, just like Robb Stark. Mira had met Lady Stark on one occasion, and to be true, she had found her behavior in front of Jon highly inappropriate. She had been cold towards him, without reason. She had told her so before she left the inn, in a gentle manner, but she told her all the same. She could understand that Jon wasn't her son, but that was no reason to be so cold or indifferent to him. Bastards didn't choose their parents, whether they were girls from the Reach or boys from the North.

Right now, Sansa didn't look at all like Catelyn Stark. She seemed at peace, calm, something she wasn't before when she entered the godswood. Mira understood that she chose to come here to pray. There was nothing better to soothe yourself. The sun rose up in the skies, warming her skin. Mira hadn't slept of the whole night, but she felt invigorated, revived. It was always like this when she prayed. She remembered the good time she spent at her home in the godswood, whether it was alone or with her brothers and sister. Sometimes at Highgarden, especially in the beginning, Lady Margaery or Sera would walk with her around the many weirwoods. And at Casterly Rock, there had been Jon to share this time with. She felt better when he came with her than when she prayed alone.

Mira was done praying after some time, but she remained there, to be with Sansa. She needed help, that was beyond any doubt. Hours later, Jon's sister finally stood up.

"I will go," she said.

"I'll accompany you," Mira said. Sansa didn't object and Mira followed her.

After some time walking in silence, Sansa broke it. "You know Jon, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. He's a very good friend."

"Sera told me you invited him to your wedding."

"Yes, I did. It should take place soon." Once the war would be over, probably.

"You… you've spent time in Casterly Rock, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have. The last three years."

"Can you tell me more about it? The godswood, for example?"

Mira began to tell Sansa everything she knew about the seat of House Lannister.


I hope you don't find the long description of the streets of King's Landing too long at the beginning of the chapter. I think it is important to understand the world of Game of Thrones outside of courts and big castles to see how people live, and Mira's traveling through the streets gave me an opportunity to show it. By the way, regulations allowing carts to move in the streets only at night, except for those dedicated to construction, truly existed in antic and medieval cities. In Rome, this law was specifically designed by Julius Caesar.

It may seem that Tyrion was quite tolerant with Mira in this chapter. After all, giving Arya to Robb is no small action, even if it could be justified from the perspective of negotiations, up to a certain point. Mira's origins and nationality makes her situation even more precarious in light of her decision. However, like Tyrion said, he's not Joffrey. That doesn't mean he will forget about it, or that there's no practical reason why he allowed Mira to remain free. There's the other mission he gave her, after all.

For those of you who have read "A Shadow and a Wolf", this will not be the first time you will see a friendship develop between Sansa and Mira. However, the dynamic between the two girls will be different this time, Sansa being much more vulnerable in ARAAL than in ASAAW at the time she meets Mira, and Mira already having met most of Sansa's family.

Please review

Next chapter: Margaery