Chapter 3

Varys was worried. That in itself was odd, because he was rarely ever worried. As he sat waiting for the King's small council to begin with the arrival of the King's Hand, he began to think and remember. He had spent nine tiresome years fully integrating himself into King Aerys' small council at King's Landing, trying to mollify the King's insanity, or at least guide it in the right direction, for the good of the realm, of course. He'd had everything almost perfect; Tywin Lannister as Hand of the king to guide the realm into a good tomorrow, with Varys himself as Master of Whispers, to reveal those tidbits of information, provided by his little birds, necessary to give the others a push in the needed direction, if not the right one.

But alas, it seemed that the king's insanity was not as easily controlled as Varys had believed. He had begun burning alive minor lords and small folk alike with wildfire, for all manner of crimes both real and imagined. Tywin Lannister had resigned as Hand, due to some undisclosed personal incident or argument between the two. And, to make matters worse, the king's youngest son, Viserys, had died of a sudden fever, which only served as more fuel for the already raging inferno that was Aerys' madness. While that could have been eventually factored into Varys' plans, what he had not counted on was the new man who had been handpicked by Aerys himself, oddly enough, to be his new Hand. Upon that thought reaching Varys' bald and powdered head, the king's Hand himself entered the chamber.

Lord Cedric Velshoraan was, physically at least, an impressive specimen; tall, reasonably muscular, and handsome with a strong chin and a lean, symmetrical face that was framed by a cascade of shoulder length black hair with a white stripe running through it, finishing off the effect with a short beard adorning his chin. A smile always seemed to grace his lips, one that on the surface spoke of benevolence and kindness, but, to Varys' trained senses, seemed to hide something dangerous. He wore dark purple robes, trimmed with black, that were of an undeniably rich quality, and oddly enough, always carried, strapped to the side of his belt with a length of chain, a medium sized tome, which he would occasionally leaf through, as though looking for something amongst its words.

The man was, however, effectively a mystery to Varys. No matter where or how hard his little birds searched, nothing could be discovered about the current Hand's past. He claimed he was from the East, and though Varys was sure it was a lie, somehow, there had seemed to be a sense of truth to it, as if it was a truthful lie, though the concept itself was rather absurd, of course.

As Varys contemplated, Lord Cedric cleared his throat, and spoke. "Thank you my lords, and now, let us begin." The man's voice was rich, deep, and commanding, like that of a general's.

As the meeting began, and later continued to wear on, Varys, pretending to listen with an occasional nod of the head when necessary, continued to contemplate. Lord Cedric had, in a way, been a boon to the Six Kingdoms of Westeros. His policies of tax reform, his numerous charities throughout the city, and the amnesty extended towards criminals who had committed lesser crimes made him popular with the small folk. He had helped broker peace between noble houses whose feuds went back centuries. And, despite Aerys' occasional immolation of a minor noble or peasant, somehow Cedric would manage to mollify the victim's house or family, perhaps with honeyed words and promises of a monetary or marital nature. Though, what worried Varys was that before, the King's burnings had made some semblance of order, gruesome though they might have been, since each victim had made some murmurings of complaint towards Aerys' reign. When Cedric had taken over the position as Hand, the burnings had become bizarrely random.

In Varys' opinion, despite all he had done, something about Lord Cedric Velshoraan seemed….wrong, almost as if he was too perfect. Varys' little birds often reported that Cedric would be seen in deep conference with the king, apparently sometimes letting him leaf through the book that hung at Cedric's waist, like an adult letting a child hold the adult's sword. As for the king, whenever it suited his madness to attend council meetings, he would hang on Lord Cedric's every word and endorse his every decision, just as many of the other lords of the council did.

Lord Cedric aside, however, there had been reports of some questionable activity along the border separating Westeros from Ikemmu, possibly bandits, and that King Razvahn XI had begun to increase patrols of his kingdom's Border Guard. But, Varys decided that it was not necessary to mention now, though perhaps at a later date.

Before he knew it, the meeting had ended, and all the lords bowed to one another as each left the room to purse their own agendas. Varys himself left to view King's Landing from atop the battlements of the Red Keep, as he was wont to do when he need to think in relative serenity.

As he stood upon the battlements, breathed in the fresh air, and tried to ignore the stench emanating from the city below, Varys heard footsteps echoing behind him, and, out of the corner of his eye, noticed Lord Cedric come to a stop next to him.

After a few minutes of silence between the two men, Cedric spoke. "It is a rather wondrous view, is it not, Lord Varys?"

Varys pondered the question, and then replied in his demure fashion, "I would suppose, though far be it from me to judge, as I am no architect, only a mere servant of the realm."

Cedric let loose a short but powerful laugh. "Aye, I suppose you would be right about that. I noticed you did not have much to say at today's council meeting. Indeed, you seemed lost in thought. Not a positive reflection for a man of your position, Master of Whispers. No interesting tidbits from your little birds?"

"I apologize for my silence today, my lord, but anything I had gathered from my little birds recently have been of no importance, great or small. Merely everyday events of the realm and its borders, and thus hardly worth mentioning."

Cedric smirked, and then was quiet for a several moments. "Do you know what it is that I admire about humanity, Lord Varys"?

Though taken aback by the sudden question and change of topic, Varys let nothing show on his face as he replied "Not particularly my lord Hand."

At this, Cedric smiled. "What I admire is their ability to tell lies, and keep secrets." Varys began to feel a slight unease creeping down his neck, though his face remained impassive.

"Yes, for you see, what I have observed in the past is that when faced with being true or being false, most men will always choose the course of action that suits their own needs the most. Sometimes, that means they will tell the truth, but usually, they end up lying, as if that were an integral part of their nature, doing the wrong thing, and being quite selfish. In addition, most men more oft than not will always have a secret. One tiny, little thing about them that they feel must be hidden from all. That is rather fascinating, wouldn't you agree, Lord Varys?"

The chill running down his neck began to increase. He felt a tiny bead of sweat forming upon his brow. "Yes…that does sound rather intriguing, Lord Hand".

"And", Cedric continued, "At that moment, when the man begins to lie, with his secrets and his falsehoods, do you know what creature he reminds me of?" At this, Cedric's seemingly friendly smile turned darker, more predatory, like the sort of smile one gave their enemy when promising death, destruction and all other kinds of horrors upon them, or when a predator has cornered his helpless prey and begins toying with it. "The creature he reminds me of…is a Spider."

Hidden beneath his voluminous robes, Varys' hands began to tremble.

"By themselves, Spiders are such sad, disgusting little creatures; eight legs, eight eyes, and a hairy, bulbous body. So very distasteful. Yet, when they spin their webs, they have something to support them, to help them rise up over all the other little insects, to make it seem as if they, and their little birds, hold all the real power. But", at this, Cedric put his hand on Varys' shoulder and began moving it in a crawling motion up and down, "each strand of that web is so deceptively fragile. If you cut one thread, the web starts to sag. Thus, if you cut enough threads, the web falls apart, and the spider lands on the ground, waiting to be crushed underfoot by a passing boot. You do not even have to destroy the entire web, just cut certain strands, strangle a few little birds, and it unravels all by itself. Remarkable, isn't it?"

By now, the sweat upon Varys' brow was intensifying, and it took much willpower to keep his entire body from shaking.

"Now, despite you being a man who has many secrets and many lies spun throughout much of our fair kingdom, I see no reason why we cannot be friends, or, at least trust one another, don't you agree?"

"…..yes, my lord Hand."

"Good. I am so very glad that you understand."

Varys could not have left those battlements more quickly. But, as he left, he turned back for a moment to observe Lord Cedric. The man was still looking down upon the city of Kings landing, though, to Varys' mind, it was not as an observer enjoying a relatively wonder view, no, it felt more like a king, seeing all that was his to rule and dominate. Then, Cedric turned his head and smiled once again towards the Master of Whispers.

It was all Varys could do to not run away at that very moment.

Later, he would receive reports that a few of his "birds" were found dead with broken necks.

Having read some reviews, I understand that Cedric is being unsubtle. That is the point. It was intentional on his part. What makes him dangerous is that he is intelligent and straightforward, and intelligence does not always require subtlety. In my own opinion, one of the things about Varys is that he is used to intelligent people using endless, subtle metaphors, and to not so intelligent people being blunt and direct. In essence, Varys has dealt with intelligent people, straightforward people, and dangerous people. Rarely has he dealt with someone who is all three, and, adding to the fact that Cedric is a complete mystery, both in past and in his apparent motives, this worries and scares Varys. Also, there is a great deal more to Lord Velshoraan than what meets the eye.