The Kraken and the Lion
Chapter 07
Asha GreyjoyWhen they got to the quarters set aside for the ironborn, Hagen lay Lady Sansa down on Asha's own bed. "Find me a maester, to tend to her hurts," Asha snapped, in her "captain's" voice, and several of her men leaped to obey. "Not you, Jinjur. You and I will stay with the lady until the maester has seen to her." Jinjur nodded, and sat down beside the bed.
Sansa seemed to be in shock, staring blankly at the ceiling and trembling. Asha pulled the warm blankets up around her. "It's all right, my lady. You're under our protection, and nobody will harm you." For emphasis, she pulled out one of her axes from her jacket, as Jinjur drew her sword. Sansa finally looked at them, or at least in their direction; she didn't seem to be focussing on them. Then her eyes closed, and she just lay there, shaking.
Jinjur and her captain shared a long look. Asha knew just what her crewwoman was thinking. If Joffrey had been fool enough to show his face, the ironwomen would have taken great pleasure in giving him the thrashing of his spoiled life. In the Iron Islands, nobody would have survived with an attitude like Joffrey's. Children were loved, yes, but they were also disciplined, and discipline could be very harsh.
The door creaked open cautiously, and Rolfe the Dwarf peered in. "Skipper? I brought one of Lady Sansa's maids. She's got some new clothes for the lady." Asha motioned him to come in, and he led a frightened-looking young woman in. The woman was carrying a bundle of clothing, and at Asha's gesture, she set it down on an empty chair.
"Thank you. You may go." The maid turned and scuttled out of the room, clearly relieved to be away from the wild ironmen. Asha's mouth quirked up on one side with amusement. Her people's reputation had its uses. She seriously doubted that the King's men would be at all eager to drag his "fiancee" forth, should he be incautious enough to order such a thing.
Rolfe the Dwarf was leaning over Sansa, who seemed to have either fallen asleep or fainted outright. "I have a daughter just about her age, back home," he muttered. He raised his hand, as to stroke her red hair, before remembering who this was and letting it fall. As he turned to go, he said, to nobody in particular, "If any fiancee of my daughters' had treated her this way, I'd have his liver and lights for fishbait!" Jinjur smiled evilly, seconding that thought.
Asha looked approvingly after Rolfe after he had left. Her men were rough, there was no denying it. In the heat of battle, or while reaving, they could be ruthless and murderous. But they were still human, and none of them approved of this sort of thing. And these people dare to call us barbarians! she thought scornfully.
The door tapped, and Asha heard Tyrion: "My lady? I brought a maester." At her gesture, Jinjur went to open the door, and Tyrion came in, with a man wearing a maester's robes trailing behind him. Tyrion raised an eyebrow at the sight of the clothes piled on the chair. "Ah. I see someone anticipated the lady's needs. The clothes she was wearing were beyond salvage." He bowed slightly toward the bed. "Your pardon, Lady Sansa. The maester would like to examine you." He went toward the door. "I shall be just outside, should I be needed for anything." He fingered the collar around his neck with its hand emblems, symbolic of his office as acting Hand of the King. "I doubt anybody will try to get past me."
Assured of privacy, the maester gently pulled down the blankets. Sansa had regained consciousness, and gave him a look of sheer terror before the sight of his maester's chain told her that he was harmless. She lay there stiffly, staring straight up at the ceiling, while the maester examined her. From the way the maester pursed his lips, Asha could tell that he was not too pleased at what he found. Under his direction, Jinjur rubbed ointment into the whip weals disfiguring Sansa's smooth white skin, as Sansa lay there, only a few slight winces and gasps betraying the fact that she was still in pain.
"Very well, my lady. Please, drink this. It'll soothe your pain and allow you to sleep. When you awaken, this will all seem like a bad dream." He offered her a cup filled with a sweet-smelling liquid.
Obediently, Sansa drank off the potion, which visibly hit her hard. Her eyelids fluttered, and she lay back down on the pillows. As she drifted off, Asha heard her mutter: "No, it won't, you silly man…" before a soft snore told her that Sansa was asleep. Jinjur pulled the covers up around her, tucking her in.
"I'll leave you on watch, Jinjur. I need to talk to Tyrion and the others." With that, Asha slipped out, to find Tyrion standing with Bronn just outside the door to her chamber.
"I've stationed my clansmen along the corridors," Tyrion said. "And I see that Lady Asha has done the same with her crew. That should be sufficient to assure Lady Sansa that she is safe. You may leave us, Maester. And I thank you for your service."
The maester bowed, and left. Once he was gone, Tyrion turned to Asha. "My lady, thank you for helping. I'm glad you were nearby; I really don't think that Lady Sansa would have welcomed male assistance, however kindly meant."
Asha looked around, uneasily. She knew that Varys had ways of finding out what was going on in the Red Keep. "Maybe we could get together someplace outside of here, for a private talk?"
Tyrion winked one of his mismatched eyes. "I see what you mean. A trip into town sounds like just the thing I'd like, too. There's an establishment I like on the Street of Silk." He grinned. "They offer privacy, as well as other services. Many engaged couples go there."
Asha's eyes went wide. Such sophistication was unknown on the Iron Islands. "Give me the address, my lord, and I'll be there." Inside, she grinned wickedly. She had always been curious about places like that, and this would be a chance to find out what they were really like!
Tyrion LannisterChataya's brothel was old familiar territory to Tyrion; he had met Shae there, many a time. He enjoyed the ambiance, not least because he knew that his pornaeophobic father would have a seizure to see his son in such a place. He sometimes wondered why his father had such a horror of whores.
That led to him wondering why his father had never remarried. It was Tyrion's private belief that his siblings would have turned out much better with a mother-figure in their lives, and between his father's position and his great wealth, he'd have been a target for every ambitious lady and her mother in the Kingdoms, and out of them. But as far as Tyrion could tell, Lord Tywin had never so much as touched a woman since the death of his wife.
Did he privately prefer boys, or men? Tyrion had thought that might be the case, but he'd never seen any signs of such a preference other than avoiding women.
At that point, Chataya made a signal, and Tyrion looked up to see Asha entering the room. He rose to greet her, smiling. "Welcome, my lady! I apologize for picking such a place, but as you know, the Red Keep is no place to discuss things. At least not if you want to keep your discussions private. Chataya, unlike Varys, knows well how to keep things that should stay secret secret…don't you, Chataya?"
Chataya bowed. "Yes, my lord. I beg leave to go. If you wish refreshments, you and your lady, you have only to ring the bell."
"You may go, Chataya." After the brothel madame had bowed and left, closing the door softly behind her, Tyrion showed Asha to a seat.
Asha grinned unabashedly. "My men talk of these places, but for obvious reasons, I've never been in one myself. If nothing else, Tyrion, being with you has been an educational experience."
Tyrion shrugged his shoulders. "I have found, Asha, that many 'respectable' ladies are actually consumed with curiosity about their 'fallen' sisters' lives. After we're done talking, you can go around and see the place. The rooms with mirrors on the ceiling are particularly interesting, as is the fountain of perfumes."
"Sex, in the Iron Islands, is in its infancy, I think." Asha squirmed up close and kissed Tyrion on his nose. "But that's not what we're here for, is it? Another thing a place like this offers is privacy."
"Too right," Tyrion answered, all good humor dropping like a discarded cloak. "Frankly, Asha, we're sitting on top of a potential disaster here in Kings Landing. The smallfolk are hungry, and resent the harsh justice in King Joffrey's courts. If one of the other contenders for the throne, such as Robb Stark or Stannis Baratheon, were to spread the rumor here that their victory would mean plentiful food, the smallfolk would likely rise up against us, and we couldn't hold the city."
"And all our heads would end up on spikes," Asha mused. "Mine, too, now that I've been publicly identified with you."
"Not to mention, my nephew Joffrey is less fit to sit the Iron Throne than anybody I know. He's spoiled, utterly unacquainted with the word 'no,' and well on his way to becoming a second Mad King. We had one of those, before Robert's Rebellion, and we really don't need another one."
"That explains how he was treating Lady Stark," Asha said, her expression going grim. "My men were furious about that. Any boy on the Islands who tried treating a girl that way would soon be on the receiving end of his father's whip, and her father's, as well, if the girl were ironborn and free. Even thralls are treated better!"
Tyrion made a mental note to inquire into what a "thrall" might be, but went on with his story. "I put a lot of blame on his mother. Cersei was always a cruel, hateful, spiteful creature. The only thing she ever really loved in all the world, I think, was our brother Jaime. If she'd been less of…whatever it is she is…she might have made a better success of her marriage to King Robert."
"Tyrion?" Asha gave her fiance a piercing look. "I had heard that King Robert was a big, black-bearded man. How is it that all his children look nothing like him?"
"Oh, King Robert had many children who looked like him. Unfortunately, none of them were Cersei's." Asha's eyes went very wide, as Tyrion went on: "Robert had many mistresses, some of them one-night stands, others on a more permanent basis. Sweet Cersei often tried to have those children killed, and their mothers. Even babes in arms."
"So, who was the father of Cersei's children?"
Tyrion grinned. "I've given you enough clues. You should be able to put it together. Let us just say that they were conceived by a very loving couple." To distract his fiancee, Tyrion changed the subject: "Do you think that your people can bring enough food to feed Kings Landing?"
Asha thought about it. "Last I heard, our ships were loading in Lannisport, and headed out to sea. The weather has been cooperative so far, but at sea, you always have to take potential dangers into account. My last raven on the subject was yesterday. I think, based on what I've been able to make a longship do, that they should arrive here in a couple of weeks."
"Excellent!" Tyrion was very pleased. "That'll be about the time I send my niece, Princess Myrcella, off to Dorne! If we can combine the events, with a gala farewell for my niece along with a food ration for everybody in Kings Landing and a promise of more to come, that'll do a lot to keep the scene serene!"
"Glad that's settled." Asha leaned closer to kiss Tyrion again. "And, you did say that engaged couples often use this place as a place to meet discreetly. I doubt that they do so just to talk. If we're creating a scandal, why not make it a real one?"
Tyrion smiled and slipped out of his tunic, as Asha unbuttoned her shirt. "A Lannister always pays his debts!"
END Chapter 07