~Tyrion~

I could feel myself slowly going insane as my drunken mind took in the new world around me. Sunlight streaming through the holes in my crate prison stung my watering eyes as my body ached from being cramped for so long. A groan escaped my lips as my head bounced against the top, my escorts being merciless as they carted me up stairs.

"It's alright. We are almost there." Elena's voice was a source of almost comfort as I took her in. She'd refused to tell me what happened before I'd arrived. The words choking on her tongue as she screamed in the night. He left her face nearly untouched. A fact I was almost grateful for as we journeyed. The bruising along her arms had been alarming enough when we'd first boarded the boat, catching many a sailors' attention before Varys procured her new apparel. She donned a man's loose brown pants and sleeved white shirt that mostly hid her womanly figure, dark curls tucked beneath a wide brimmed hat. A darkness flashed behind icy eyes, as she seemed to feel my eyes upon her, a living thing writhing inside of her.

"Varys says he has a friend that will offer us shelter." She spoke instead as she hurried to walk before me, going over to speak to Varys as I was roughly set down. The prying of my wooden cell echoed painfully in my head, nails digging into my palms before the wood gave way and I rolled out into the blinding sunlight, my body screaming with the effort.

"Be careful Varys." Elena growled as she knelt beside me, pushing my hair from my sweaty dirt streaked face as she helped me to my feet. The world swaying as I tried to regain my balance.

"Apologies." Varys spoke with little feeling. He regarded us with calculating eyes before going over to wash his hands in the water stand, drying them as I glared at him.

"I still don't see why I had to stay in that fucking crate once we set sail." My words rasped past a parched throat as Elena worried her lip, eyeing me with mild amusement.

"I saved your life." Varys stated drolly. "If they catch you, they catch me. I can't say I feel overly guilty about leaving you in that fucking crate." Elena hid her laughter behind a cough as she tried not to meet my eyes. Frustration boiled just beneath the surface, my glare casting in her direction.

"Do you know what it's like to stuff your shit through one of those air holes?"

"No, I only know how to pick up your shit and throw it overboard." I'd been immensely embarrassed the first time I'd come to that particular problem, my dignity only mildly saved when Elena announced she would go take in the view while we conducted the exchange. She looked at me now, not as the dirty savage that I felt, but with a fondness I admit I had missed greatly. Please, no more. I blinked away the image of her beaten form splayed on my father's floor. An image that haunted me every time I closed my eyes. Choosing instead to look at my lavish surroundings.

"Pentos?" I asked, as I looked up at Varys who cast Elena a worried look before nodding.

"The home of my colleague Illyrio Mopatis, a merchant. He and I met many years ago through mutual friends. A group of people who saw Robert Baratheon for the disaster he was. We tried to do what was best for the realm by supporting a Targaryen restoration. And thus began the chain of mistakes that has led us both here." I picked up the bottle of wine sitting invitingly on the table, taking a sniff and finding it very inviting. "Things have gotten worse not better. Westeros needs to be saved from itself." I poured myself a glass, taking deep gulps as I chose to ignore the bald noble behind me. The weight of the world seemed to ease as the wine worked to reanimate my drunkenness.

"Much better." I sighed as I went to pour myself another.

"My lord?"

"I don't think I am any more. A lord."

"Tyrion-" Elena silenced under my gaze, arms wrapping about her middle as she tucked her lip between her teeth. I tipped the cup once more, relishing every delicious drop as Varys' gaze tingled along my neck.

"Are you a lord if you kill your father?" I knew the look I'd receive if I turned to meet Elena's gaze, so I settled for meeting another swig of wine.

"You already drank yourself across the narrow sea."

"In a box. Why stop now?"

"Because we are talking about the future of our country."

"The future is shit." I admitted with a defeated sigh. "Just like the past." My stomach heaved painfully before all of my previously digested wine made a reappearance. Varys shook his head in disgust as I used more wine to wash the taste from my mouth, stopping long enough to whisper in Elena's ear before making his disappearance.

"Tyrion, please set the bottle down." Elena spoke softly as she came to kneel before me, hand raised to retrieve the cup hanging from lazy fingers. She was exhausted. I could see it in her eyes, the fire dying with each passing second. Though her smile remained ever hopeful when she met my eyes. She's fighting for me even now. The thought shot like an arrow to the heart as I set the bottle back onto the table, feeling boorish and selfish as I took a step back. I should find a place to bathe. I must look the beast everyone always believed me to be.

"I'm sorry. I never said it before. So I hope my apology does not come to late." The words rushed from my lips as tears burned in my eyes. I don't know anything. Please. Sobs choked in my throat as she came to stand before me.

"We're in Pentos, and free while the Gods allow it. All that was done is across the sea." She whispered as she sank before me once more, reaching forward to embrace me. Tears fell like rain, showering her shirt as she held me tighter, not bothered with the fact that I smelled of shit and sweat. We stayed like that for hours it seemed, her arms providing shelter until I could gather myself once more.

"I've been told we will be allowed a place to bathe and rest. You could use a good scrubbing and a few hours sleep in a real bed." She chuckled as she stood, reaching out to take my hand as the darkness vanished for just a moment.

"Lead the way."