The Worth of Ash

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Game of Thrones or any related titles, characters, plots, settings, etc. These rights are the sole property of George R.R Martin, HBO, and their various publishers and distributors. I own only the original elements of this story, the writing and publishing of which earn me no money.

Chapter Seventeen

When Kyren walked through the door of Dyser's, it was with a peculiar sense of homecoming. The crowd of tables, the rough-hewn benches, and the dim atmosphere all mingled to transport the orphan girl back to the time when she had called the small tavern a home of sorts. Shana Dyser herself was standing in her typical place: against one wall between the entrance and the door to the kitchen, near the blocked stairwell the led to the Dyser family's living quarters atop the tavern itself. It was a place where she could see everything without being readily observed, where she was in easy reach of anything she might need, and where she could easily summon Kyren if she happened to spot an altercation.

Kyren nearly smiled at the familiar sight, but stifled the expression. She had no way of knowing why she had been summoned to the tavern. It was entirely possible that Shana intended to send her to the Red Keep in the hopes of earning favor with the Lannisters, though Kyren's instincts assured her that such a thing was not likely.

"Shana Dyser," she greeted softly with a bow to show her respect.

Shana patted Tarik's arm and he warily stepped aside, allowing Shana and Kyren to speak without a block in their line of sight. "Kyren Asheworth," she returned with a fond smile. "You look well."

"As do you," Kyren said, though it was perhaps a falsehood. There were lines around Shana's eyes and mouth, lines that had not been there before her departure. Shana seemed thinner, still more delicate than she had previously been, and dark smudges were prevalent beneath her eyes. Kyren wished dearly to learn what had happened, but it seemed the height of ill manners to say such things when the two had been so recently reintroduced.

With a dry laugh, Shana shook her head and indicated that they would sit. "I had never thought you a liar."

Kyren shrugged. "I am what I need to be. I have a purpose which cannot be avoided."

"Still?" Shana asked with a lifted eyebrow, frowning at her son when Tarik blew an exasperated sigh. "In any sense, I am certain that you wonder why you have been brought here."

Smiling despite herself, Kyren admitted. "I had wondered, yes."

"Lord Varys' little birds have told me that a strange girl was in the city, listening and watching as she walked without destination and shopped without purchase. Have you learned what you needed?"

"No," Kyren said shortly. Shana did not appear ready to give her over to Cersei, but there were still a variety of reasons not to readily disclose details about her mission.

"I see," Shana said slowly, pursing her full lips. "Still, if I have learned of your presence here, you do not have long before Lord Varys is told. Perhaps he would require some time to find your identity, but he is loyal to the queen. You cannot continue as you have been."

Kyren spread her hands wide in a supplicating gesture. "I am open to suggestions."

"Why, you will stay here, of course," Shana informed her.

"I- I do not believe I understand-"

"What is there to understand?" Shana scoffed, but grew quiet when she saw Kyren's hesitation. "I promised you aid when you were here before, aid meant to settle the debt I owed you for helping me run my business when I required assistance. I could not help you when Lord Stark was imprisoned, and I could not save the Stark girls from being held captive in the Red Keep. I have been unable to repay you for the work you did here so long ago and I wish to. So, if you should choose - and I strongly advise you do so - you are welcome to stay here while you continue your investigations in King's Landing."

"I would be unable to help in the tavern," Kyren warned, testing the resolve of her would-be landlady.

"As it happens, I no longer require help in the tavern. Mellinna informed me some time ago that she would be unable to continue with her work in the kitchen. She agreed to stay on to train a replacement and I took in an ex-serving girl from the castle. She works in the kitchens to earn her food and bed and performs other tasks as needed. I believe Bracks to be quite taken with her as well."

Faced with an utter lack of options for housing, Kyren was forced to deliberate on the merits of returning to Dyser's. She would have a private room, save her precious coin, and continue to avoid the notice of Lord Varys and his little birds. It would mean trusting Shana and her family, but it appeared that they were already aware of enough to track her down.

With a conspiratorial smile, Kyren leaned toward Shana. "The ever-stoic Bracks smitten by a Red Keep serving girl? That is something I simply must see with my own eyes. When may I move in?"

Shana's hazel gaze brightened. "Immediately. Tarik will help you move your belongings."

With an involuntary glance that found a muscle working in Tarik's jaw, Kyren hastily refused. "I thank you, Shana, but I did not bring a great deal of things that require transport. I will return later this evening." She rose, but paused before she could take more than a few steps beyond the bench. "I loathe asking this, but I do have my stallion and he will require a place. Are there any trustworthy stables nearby?"

After a moment of thought, Shana nodded. "My neighbor has a three-stalled stable behind his shop. I believe I have some information he will find to be of equal value. Take your horse with you to gather your belongings and I will have found a place for him by the time of your return. Are you certain you would not have Tarik accompany you?"

"Absolutely certain, though I thank you both," Kyren said with a shallow bow. Shana nodded, but Tarik appeared to be angered beyond word or expression. "I will return after full dark."

Sensing that the mood of the streets was tense and secretive, Kyren admitted defeat early in the day and returned to Dyser's. She had been staying at the tavern long enough to see it as a solid base for her operations, a safe haven to which she could return after a long day of seeking out information.

"Kyren!" a voice bellowed as she walked into the tavern, largely abandoned so early in the afternoon.

By all rights, she should have been startled by the sound, put on edge and ready to fight, but Kyren recognized the voice too well for such a reaction. "Bracks!" she greeted in return.

He towered over her, though it was more due his unavoidably intimidating stature than any purposeful move on his part. "I heard you had returned to King's Landing, but I had yet to see you and was uncertain. I half-believed that Mother was jesting."

Kyren shrugged and gave a sardonic expression. "I returned some days hence, but I had not seen you. According to your mother, you have been nearly impossible to keep from the kitchen."

Bracks colored slightly and Kyren laughed in disbelief. Rather than grow offended or uncomfortable, however, the eldest Dyser son grinned at her. "I understand you've heard of the newest addition to our tavern?"

"Heard, yes, but I have yet to meet her. Perhaps you would be willing to forfeit a few moments of privacy in order to allow me to see her?"

"Her time is her own," Bracks said thoughtfully, "but I made certain she was caught up on kitchen tasks for the moment. Bellin!"

"I can hear you without shouting, you great bear of a man! Your voice rumbles so deeply that it shakes the very founda- Oh, hello!"

Kyren could not help but smile at the young woman who emerged from the kitchen. Her curly blonde hair and plump face made her look positively cherubic, especially so with the roses blooming in her round cheeks from the heat of the cooking fires. She curtsied smoothly and Kyren could abruptly see the serving girl she had reportedly been.

"Hello," Kyren returned. "I am Kyren. I have heard much about you, though I do believe this is our first meeting. You appear to be quite popular; all of your time is claimed!"

Bellin shook her head in mock despair. "Naturally, I am worked to death, and this one claims of all of my time besides!" she said, indicating Bracks with a bob of her head, mischief glinting in her deep blue eyes. "But it is a pleasure to meet you, Kyren! The Dysers speak of you quite fondly, especially young Tarik! I am called Bellin."

It took a moment for Kyren to move past the not-unwelcome knowledge that Tarik did not despise her so deeply as he seemed to, but she managed. "Wonderful to meet you as well! Shana speaks highly of you, no mean feat. And I understand you've managed to ensnare Bracks here. That has been a long time in coming."

"Yes, he has been a perfect gentleman! Always volunteering to move the heavy dishes or take the scraps outside. He is invaluable to me." She reached up, wrapped an arm around Bracks's neck, and tugged him down to place a kiss on his reddened cheek. Bracks pointedly looked anywhere other than Kyren's direction, but Bellin's eyes sparkled at her. "Bracks is the best part of my new place here at Dyser's, and that is impressive indeed with how lovely the whole family has been."

Kyren laughed aloud at the discomfort on Brack's face. The moment Bellin released her hold on him, he scurried upstairs with a nimble speed that should have been impossible for a man of his stature. Only a moment passed before she sobered, however, realizing the wisdom of taking advantage of her new privacy with the ex-serving girl.

"Bellin, I understand you used to serve at the Red Keep. Is that so?"

The laughter faded from Bellin's friendly face for the first time since her entrance into the main tavern and Kyren felt a twinge of guilt. "It most certainly is so. Why do you ask?"

"I find myself curious of the royal family…" Kyren hedged.

"You may trust her, Kyren," Shana informed her from the tavern's entrance. She walked inside with a basket of goods from the market. Tarik entered behind his mother, placing his own basket on a table. "Bellin is a good girl. She will not reveal any of your secrets; she has enough of her own."

Kyren glanced to Bellin, whose blue gaze was fixed on the floor between them. "In that case, Bellin, I need to ask you some questions. I apologize if you are uncomfortable with my bluntness, but I must find answers. Innocent lives may be lost if I cannot discover the information I need. Will you help me save my family?"

Bellin glanced up at her and Kyren was surprised to find the steely core hidden inside the soft-looking female in front of her. With a firm nod, Bellin said, "I will tell you everything."

And she did. Bellin did not speak overly much of the layout of the Red Keep, but Kyren did not object. She already knew most of the important information where the structure's entrances and hidden passageways were concerned. However, the most valuable insight Bellin revealed was of the inhabitants of the castle.

"The king grows more violent by the day," Bellin informed Kyren after speaking at length of how visiting Houses were spied upon. Kyren had been listening somewhat half-heartedly, caring little how the Lannisters were running the kingdom, but Bellin spoke with fear in her tone, and it drew Kyren's full attention. "He has always been spiteful toward his siblings and horrible to animals, but he seems determined to expand his repertoire, if you catch my meaning."

Kyren blinked, looking to Shana for an explanation, but the older woman merely watched her with a jaded expression. "I apologize, but I do not catch your meaning. What exactly has Joffrey done that causes you such discomfort?"

Bellin took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You know that the Stark girls are held in the Red Keep, correct? Last week, the king received word that Robb Stark has won yet another victory and he ordered one of his men to beat Lady Sansa, right there in the throne room with all those lords and ladies watching!"

Before she had even begun a rational thought process, Kyren had launched to her feet. Shana sent a warning look in her direction while Bellin simply appeared confused. With a herculean effort, Kyren sat once more at the table they had claimed for the duration of their discussion. "Please continue."

"Well, Lord Tyrion and the new Commander of the Watch stopped Ser Meryn before he could harm Lady Sansa."

"And Lady Arya?" Kyren prompted. "I have yet to hear you speak of her."

"None speak of her," Bellin told her, eyes wide. "It is widely accepted that Lady Arya is hidden somewhere in the castle, but none seem to know for certain where."

Kyren frowned at that. Why would Cersei treat Sansa so well, allowing the girl to appear so readily in the public eye, yet keep her second hostage hidden away? Unless Sansa was acting as bait for any who would attempt to rescue the Stark girls…

Before she could ruminate upon the theory for too long, Kyren's attention was claimed by Bellin once more - more specifically, by the way the girl's cheeks were stained a deep red. "There is something more," she whispered.

Kyren leaned forward, as did Shana. Tarik slid down from the isolated bench end he had claimed for his own at the beginning of their conversation. Kyren pushed away the realization that the motion had brought Tarik much closer.

"Two of Lord Baelish's whores were sent to service the king, a gift from his uncle."

Shana laughed once, harshly. "It seems as though there is more amiss with that boy than any frustrations in the bedroom."

"That is precisely the issue, ma'am," Bellin revealed. "He did not sleep with the women."

"What did he do?" Tarik asked, intrigued. It was the first time since her return that Kyren had heard him speak without an edge of anger in his voice.

Bellin glanced at the man and blushed still more intensely. "He forced one woman to beat the other. Both were greatly shaken by the experience, and so were the serving girls. That was when I decided that I must leave. If he was willing to harm women who work under the protection of a noble like Lord Baelish, what would prevent him from harming those under his own protection?"

"Wise of you," Kyren conceded. Despite her own feelings concerning Baelish, she could not argue that he was a man who took his obligations quite seriously. He doubtless had not been pleased by the harm that had come to two who were under his protection.

With so much new information to ponder - and a new sense of urgency - Kyren thanked Bellin for sharing what she knew and retired to her room. She had a heavily-coded message to write and send by raven to Winterfell, where hopefully, it could be sent on to Robb and Lady Catelyn's current location by Maester Luwin.

Hiding in plain sight was growing far easier than Kyren had ever dreamed possible. It was broad daylight and she stood in an open square of market in the King's Landing streets. What was more, she was well within sight of the Red Keep itself, the large buildings of the castle dominating what she could see of the sky.

Additionally, people in the more central location were much more talkative than the Flea Bottom folk. Obviously more dependent upon their relatively comfortable lifestyles to keep them safe, few appeared to possess any qualms about voicing their opinion. It was early in the day yet, but Kyren had already noted that - though these people seemed to lack the bitter hatred for the remaining royals expressed by those in Flea Bottom - the general consensus was that Joffrey was a weak and ineffectual leader who depended far too greatly on House Lannister and the strength of his armies. Naturally, Kyren was already aware of all this, but public opinion was crucial to the cause of the Starks. Robb's armies would eventually have to fight their way south, and if they were met by a people discontented with the current ruler, half the battle would be already won.

And so, with her duties already well toward finished, Kyren was content to mingle with the pressing crowds, watching and listening rather idly as people shopped and chatted. She had been in the process of information-gathering for nearly a full week now, and the time was rapidly approaching for her to infiltrate the Red Keep in her rescue attempt.

Bellin had even given Kyren directions to which of the handmaidens had been terrorized by Joffrey and were disillusioned by life in the castle - thus willing to betray the royal family with only minimal threats. Kyren was determined to save the Stark girls, and she would do much to return them safely to Lady Catelyn, but preventing the death of innocents was high on her list of priorities.

Abruptly, Kyren paused in every sense, thoughts grinding to a halt even as she stopped to press herself against a wall under the shadow from a faded blue canopy stretched over a market stall. She could only watch, frozen in the hope of avoiding notice as her wide eyes tracked the progress of two men across the crowded market square.

One man was utterly unfamiliar to her. His dark hair was slicked back in the style typical of lowborn men, but the lethal grace in his leanly-muscled body and the way his wary eyes scanned every inch of the square warned that he was no one who should be readily dismissed. She desperately schooled her expression into one of uncaring boredom when his gaze was turned in her direction, but Kyren feared that he had lingered a fraction of a moment longer on her than he had the others in the market. Never once during his assessment of the area did he pause in conversation with his companion.

Now, there was one Kyren did recognize, but the sight of his face caused a variety of emotions to cascade through her middle. Lord Tyrion Lannister looked much the same as he had so long ago at their last meeting on the Kingsroad before he departed north to the Wall with Jon. He seemed to have survived his time in Lady Catelyn's captivity rather unscathed, and appeared to be in much better condition than his brother in the cage Robb had built for him.

His face was a familiar one, and it brought sensations of warmth and well-regard, feelings that Kyren rapidly pushed down. If he was guilty of no other thing, Tyrion Lannister was still a member of the family that held Sansa and Arya hostage, the family that had killed Lord Stark. Though her rational mind informed her that the dwarf had not been in the city at the time of Lord Stark's death, Kyren did her best not to care. At this current moment, he was her enemy, as was the man beside him.

The very moment both men had disappeared from her sight, still deep in conversation, Kyren scurried back to Dyser's. It was high time she began forming plans to infiltrate the Red Keep.

"I confess myself less than shocked to hear that the people are angry with Joffrey," Tyrion revealed, glancing to his path. Being a dwarf was undignified enough as it was; tripping over debris on a path through the outer markets of King's Landing would place him firmly in fool territory. "His rule has brought nothing but pain, fear, and strife."

"And he's a cunt, besides," Bronn contributed.

"Yes, thank you Bronn," Tyrion responded dryly, "but my point is that I should not be blamed for the boy's shortcomings! I had considerably less contact with him than any other of our family and would have had still less if Cersei could have managed it. Why do the people persist in blaming me?"

"Dunno," Bronn said with a dismissive shrug before returning to his habitual scanning of their surroundings.

"Have I mentioned recently what a great help you've been to me?" Tyrion asked rhetorically. "I am truly fortunate for your keen insight into human nature."

Bronn sighed, turning a look on Tyrion that was filled with as much irritation as the dwarf's voice had been. "My guess? You just happen to be an easy target. Dwarves are seen as low beings, and you're in a high position. People are jealous and threatened, so they blame you for anything that goes wrong."

Tyrion found himself at a rare lack of response. He wanted to rail that such treatment was unfair, though he restrained himself. While he debated the merits of other retorts, Bronn shrugged again.

"Not that I agree with them, mind. When I see you around, the only part of me that feels threatened is my wineskin." Tyrion laughed in appreciation of Bronn's rare levity. "I may be in the minority, though. I've never seen a girl go as pale as the one in that last market. Looked like she had seen a ghost."

Frowning, Tyrion rubbed at a spot on his forehead that was beginning to ache. "That seems a rather extreme reaction. I cannot claim to know many young girls, unless she was a whore."

"Nah, too many clothes for a whore," Bronn dismissed. "She was a strange little thing, though. Looked like she don't get scared by much."

"Everyone is frightened by something," Tyrion countered. "For instance, I am greatly frightened by the idea of my nephew continuing to be in power. But, for the sake of argument, how does one know the fearlessness of a stranger at a glance?"

"The eyes. You can always tell by the eyes."

"And mine? Do I have fearless eyes?"

Tyrion twisted to blink rapidly up at Bronn, both chuckling at the poor impression of an insipid, somewhat less-than intelligent female.

"Not as fearless as hers," Bronn proclaimed, though he paused for a long moment then. "'Course, it could have been because her eyes looked the way they did. Maybe she has got as many fears as you do, my lord Hand."

"Was there something the matter with her eyes?" Tyrion asked curiously.

"No, they were just… strange."

"Strange…" Tyrion mused,memory sparked by the topic. "Perhaps even, 'witch's eyes'. But it could not - she could not…"

"What are you nattering on about?" Bronn asked, black eyes flicking over their surroundings once more.

"I have decided that I should like to test myself. This girl, did she have red hair, a strong waist, and a crooked nose? Not pretty, though not entirely objectionable, either? Middling height?"

"Sounds about right, yeah."

"Bronn, I have a new task for you. I have reason to believe that the girl you saw was a member of Sansa Stark's extended family. I need you to - quietly - find her and bring her to my quarters."

"Consider it done."

Author's Note - Ahhh! Bronn is one of my very favorite GoT characters and I hope I can do him justice! And the return of the Dysers! I'm actually really happy they're back. I love that little family.

Well, there were no reviews on the last chapter and no details that need clarification (at least, none that I am aware of), so that's it for this week. Thanks for reading, leave a review if you want to make a poor aspiring author very happy, and have a great day!