NOT MY WORK I TAKE NO CREDIT ALL CREDIT GOES TO GHOSTQUEEN187

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A Battle of Wits

Here's the next chapter! Things are getting steamy in this one! But not sexually so don't take it that way you perverts. Anyway hope you enjoy.

Loki dismounted his horse at the edge of Winter Town, smiling pleasantly at the man who came to take the reins off of him. Reputation was important in this world, it was ideal that he treats everyone he meets with respect, lest they run their mouth off with anything other than pleasantries to the 'Master of Whispers.'

Loki had used his own network to spy on the Essos Spider, Varys was a crafty and intelligent man who had built his own human network from scratch so to speak, Loki could respect that. He had a suspicion that the whore that had blabbed his reputation to the King was one of Varys 'little birds.'

Loki was planning on keeping a closer eye on him upon reaching King's Landing, determine if their desires line up, and if they didn't, swiftly dispose of him. A man such as that was simply too dangerous to keep alive if he wasn't willing to bend the knee to him. The same could be said for Littlefinger, Loki wasn't afraid of the two men. He knew if push came to shove he could easily outmaneuver both of them. However, Loki grudgingly admitted that the two of them could cause kinks in his plan should they discover his ruse too early.

Loki shook his head, clearing his thoughts and swiftly continued through Winter Town on foot. He needed to find this imp quickly so that he may return in time for Arya's lessons. Mother's orders be damned Loki was not about to miss teaching his sister how to defend herself. Perhaps Sansa would show up this time? She did promise him that she would learn one move of defense from him.

Loki nodded at his fellow Northerners, who bowed their heads upon glancing at him, as he made his way to the whorehouse. He had never visited himself, however, he had heard tales about it from Theon, who after a couple too many ales, wouldn't stop talking of the whore Ros and her sexual prowess.

The whorehouse quieted down as he stepped inside, the chimes of the door jingling madly at his entrance. Upon noticing Loki returning their staring, they immediately bowed their heads, each muttering a 'Milord,' as he walked past them. Loki took the opportunity to look around.

The whorehouse was shabby, and run down with two broken windows in the back and a loose stair at the top of the rotted wooden staircase. Near the staircase was a wooden counter, where who Loki assumed was the owner leaned hunched over, reading over some notes, There were a couple of tables scattered around each with a patron sitting with a whore on their lap, and an ale in their hands.

Loki strutted to the counter, causing the man to look up from his notes and bow his head stiffly at him, "Welcome Milord, how we may be of service for you today?"

Loki smiled charmingly, crossing his arms on the counter and leaning forward over the counter "No pleasure for me today I'm afraid, here on business, have you perhaps seen an imp pass through here?"

The man grinned at him, showing his rotted teeth, before pointing up the stairs, "He's upstairs at the moment, first door on the left, Ros is entertaining him at the moment, usually I wouldn't have bothered giving him one of my best but the imp had gold, lots of gold, guess that's whatcha would expect from a Lannister."

Loki nodded, thanking the man for his time, before promptly making his way upstairs. Loki carefully stood over the loose step and turned his gaze to the door on the left. Loki could hear the sound of faint moaning and laughter coming from behind the door.

Loki rolled his eyes, before knocking on the door. "Go away were busy at the moment!" a slightly slurred male voice shouted from within, followed by a feminine giggle.

Ignoring him, Loki swung the door open causing both occupants to immediately turn to face him. The woman, Ros he believed, had long auburn hair tied up in a bun and was completely naked, nippled hardened slightly and her bottom half of her body only concealed by the blanket currently covering the two of them. The imp, on the other hand, Tyrion Lannister, was dressed in a red and gold robe, whilst his head was of ordinary size his body was small almost that of a child. He had sandy blonde hair and bright green eyes, green eyes that were currently staring at him in drunken annoyance.

"I thought I told you we were busy!" he slurred turning to cup the chin of Ros, whose face lost its playful smirk upon recognizing him.

Loki smirked, closing the door behind him "and I thought you were supposed to be traveling along with your family so that we may greet you with the honor and dignity of a lord of your status, however it appears that neither of us has gotten what we wanted today." Loki turned to Ros "leave us."

Ros immediately rose from the bed, exposing her nude body, and practically scampered out of the room. Tyrion shot him a sour look as he climbed out of bed and grabbed the goblet from the small table within the room "I fail to see why my presence is required, Cercei is the Queen, not I, I'm simply a humble drunkard who seeks enjoyment in the misery of my twisted existence," he said sipping from the goblet.

Loki raised a brow "oh yes it must have been such a miserable existence indeed, tell me, which caused you the most suffering, having servants wait on you hand and foot, or having enough gold in your pocket to essentially buy every single whore within this establishment?" he asked dryly.

Loki was aware of Tywin Lannister's treatment of Tyrion. Cersei's attitude earlier merely confirmed it, so Loki knew that there was some truth to what Tyrion had said about having a miserable existence. However, Loki was also wanted to judge Tyrion's character. Would he acknowledge that others in his predicament do not share his lordship and therefore have it rougher than him? Would he ignore it to focus on his own suffering? Loki was extremely curious about this supposed drunkard.

Tyrion paused mid-sip, and Loki noticed a slight flash of both amusement and annoyance in his eyes "You have a quick wit boy," he said, lip twitching up slightly. Loki almost scoffed. He was thousands of years older than him and yet he was calling him a boy?

"I'm the only one here who does I'm afraid," Loki told him as he stepped closer to him, smirking lightly, "most Northerners are rather dull in that regard, they'd much prefer dueling with their firsts then their words."

Tyrion set his goblet down, pulling out another one and pouring some wine into it, "I take it you don't share the same sentiment?" he asked holding out the second goblet for him.

Loki nodded, grabbing the goblet off of him, but not drinking from it yet "I'm afraid not."

Tyrion smiled "that's good, you'd be terribly dull if you were, most men are unable to appreciate a good battle between the minds."

"I would challenge you to a battle of wits," Loki said in a mock-serious tone before gesturing to Tyrion's drunken state "but it appears you are unarmed at the moment, how would I be able to rub my victory in your face for the rest of your stay here if my opponent can barely stand on two feet?"

Tyrion let out a strange wheezing sound that appeared to be a cross between a laugh and a scoff "So sure of your victory, If I didn't know any better and If you were wearing some gold with that green and black get-up of yours I would have mistaken you for a Tyrell, not a Stark. Are you sure you're not the bastard of Winterfell?"

Loki smiled a bit tightly at the mention of his brother, but slightly respecting Tyrion's witty remark. Not one to back down from a challenge Loki quickly fired back "your one to talk, with that silky robe of yours I could have easily mistaken you for one of the whores here, tell me, are you sure you are not considering a future career here?"

Tyrion chuckled before smirking and gently fiddling with his robes, "If I did I'd at least be worth five hundred gold dragons, I wouldn't go around offering my roguishly handsome self around for free."

Loki gave him a mock look of outrage "five hundred gold dragons? That's an awfully expensive price, are you sure it wouldn't be two hundred and fifty gold dragons? Half price for half a man."

Rather than look offended, Tyrion merely chuckled raised his goblet to him "It appears I have been defeated," he said "although I do expect a rematch later when I can feel my legs and the room isn't constantly spinning.

Loki nodded "of course you can challenge me as many times as you like for the duration of your stay in Winterfell," Loki then shot him an arrogant smirk "I ever so look forward to defeating you time and time again."

Tyrion smirked back shooting him a competitive look "you are on Stark," he raised his goblet towards him "to our many battles to come."

Loki smiled at him raising his own goblet, "To our many battles to come."

As the two of them clinked their goblets together and took a sip of their wine, Loki gave Tyrion a calculating look. He had no idea how right he was.

The ride back was rather uneventful. Tyrion had sobered up during the trip, something which Loki was grateful for as he did not want to deal with a drunk for the duration of the trip. As they rode back into Winterfell, a light Summer snow having just starting to fall around them, Loki was immediately created by Ser Jaime, who must have been waiting for his brother's arrival.

"I see you finally decided to grace us with your presence Tyrion," Sir Jaime said crossing his arms over his armored chest. Sir Jaime turned to look at Loki "I thank you for troubling yourself with finding my brother."

Loki shook his head, forcing a pleasant smile on his face "oh it was no trouble at all, your brother was pleasant for the whole trip here," Loki motioned further into Winterfell "may I be excused?"

Sir Jaime nodded. Loki moved to walk passed him, noticing how Sir Jaime's gaze found his two swords once more. Loki got about a third of the way in when Sir Jaime called out to him.

"Why do you fight with two swords?" Loki turned to face him, a critical look on his face as he scanned Sir Jaime's. Ser Jaime didn't seem to be asking with malicious intent but rather curiosity.

"Why not?" Loki replied before promptly turning away from the Lannister brothers as he moved to continue into Winterfell, relishing in Sir Jaime's sour face at not getting a true answer.

Loki could hear Tyrion laughing at his brother "careful of that one Jaime, your sword may be sharp but that boy's tongue is sharper."

"You're late!" Arya yelled, throwing a rock at him as he came bounding into the courtyard. The courtyard was empty at the moment apart from the two of them and surprisingly Sansa who appeared to be sitting further away writing on a piece of parchment that was most likely a letter to Willas.

Loki huffed at her "well if that's the case I suppose I'll simply go, I did not fight mother for weeks to have rocks thrown at me simply because I'm a minute late."

Arya pouted, fiddling with the wooden sword in her hands "I'm sorry," she said softly looking down at her feet "I'm just really excited, you said we were using real swords today."

"That we are," Loki said pulling out both his swords before offering one to Arya. Arya immediately grabbed it, a beaming smile on her face which immediately fell when her arms dropped the sword to the ground due to the weight.

Arya frowned "It's so heavy! How the Seven Hells am I supposed to lift this?"

Loki chuckled and he could hear Sansa giggle a little further back. Loki turned to look at her, causing her head to immediately drop back to her letter. Loki smirked. For someone who was so against learning, Sansa was certainly interested in watching what they were doing.

Loki turned back to Arya, who had finally managed to lift the sword with great difficulty. Loki watched Arya's arms begin to shake from the weight of the sword. "This exercise is to build your arm strength," Loki told her lifting his own sword up "I'm having you use my sword so that way when the sword Jon's having made for you is ready, you'll be able to spin it around much faster making you a quicker fighter."

Loki demonstrated by doing a couple of spins with his metal sword than picking up Arya's wooden sword and spinning it the same way, only twice as fast.

Arya nodded lifting Loki's sword up in an attempt to copy what he did. Arya managed to do two whole spins before her arms gave out and she dropped the sword. "It isn't working!" she said, wheezing slightly from the exertion "the sword doesn't feel any lighter!"

"That's because it takes time," Loki told her patiently "your not going to be able to lift and wield it properly overnight."

"Well I think she shouldn't be lifting it at all!" a snide voice echoed in the courtyard, causing both Loki and Arya to turn towards the voice and Sansa to look up from her letter.

At the edge of the courtyard was Prince Joffrey, who had an arrogant expression on his face "what sort of lady wields a sword?"

Loki grabbed the sword of Arya as well as his own and placed it back in his belt. "I'm merely teaching my sister how to defend herself, my Prince, there are all sorts of terrible people in this world, I'd hate for her to meet one of them whilst defenseless," Loki gave him a pleasant smile but his eyes flashed dangerously towards the Prince.

Prince Joffrey took a step back at the look in his eyes but steeled himself upon spotting Sansa watching on uncertainty, he sneered at them "my mother told me about how savage you Northerners were compared to us, I don't know why my father wishes to associate himself with you lot."

Arya stepped forward before Loki could pull her back, an angry look in her eyes that reminded Loki of his visions "say that again and I'll show you just how savage we Northerners can be!" she snapped.

Joffrey stepped towards Arya, an arrogant look on his face as he spoke, "Oh, are you? Go on then, show me what a little savage cunt you are."

Loki was about to reply when someone beat him to it, "leave her alone!" Sansa, who had cautiously made her way over, said in a shaky voice causing Arya to look at her in shock. Upon seeing the look on Arya's face she continued, her voice no longer shaking as she spoke up "this is our home, not yours, you may be the crown prince but what we do in our own home is our business, not yours .

Prince Joffrey's mouth was open in shock as Loki shot Sansa an impressed look and Arya squeezed her hand in gratitude. Sansa shot Arya a shaky smile before turning her head to stare Prince Joffrey down with them.

Humiliated and not willing to back down, Prince Joffrey turned to him, pulling out his sword. Sansa immediately grabbed Arya, tugging the pair of them behind him. "If you're so tough then prove it! They call you Bran the Bright right? Prove it! Show me how bright you are when my sword is buried in your gut! SHOW ME!" he shouted at him stepping forward to put his blade at his throat.

Loki, with a bored expression on his face, turned to face Sansa and Arya, who both held fearful expressions. Keeping their expressions in mind, Loki turned to face Prince Joffrey once more, whose face had reddened in anger. Loki clasps his hands behind his back with a smirk on his face as he opened his mouth to respond.