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[MEEREEN; THE GREAT PYRAMID BALCONY]
[TYRION stands and watches JORAH and DAARIO ride out of the city.]
"Hello, old friend."
[TYRION turns to see VARYS on the balcony next to him.]
"I thought we were so happy together until you abandoned me."
"How did you manage to find me?" Tyrion narrowed his eyes.
"The birds sing in the West, the birds sing in the East. If one knows how to listen" Varys smiled behind his sleeve.
"I suppose there's no point in asking how you found me."
"The birds sing in the west, the birds sing in the east. If one knows how to listen."
"Not creepy at all" Tyrion muttered.
Varys chuckled.
"They tell me you've already found favor with the Mother of Dragons."
"Well, she didn't execute me, so that's a promising start. Now the heroes are off to find her, and I'm stuck here, trying to placate a city on the brink of civil war. Any advice for an old comrade?"
"Information is the key. You need to learn your enemies' strengths and strategies. You need to learn which of your friends are not your friends."
"If only I knew someone with a vast network of spies."
"It's weird how you're always there at the most opportune times," Rhaegar said with narrowed eyes.
"I simply know when and where I'm needed" Varys smiled back in reply.
[COUNTRYSIDE; PLATEAU]
[DAENERYS looks to DROGON who is lying down in a ring full of bones.]
"We have to go home."
"He's injured" Rhaegar noted with a frown. "He will need some time to recover."
But she did not have the time. Daenerys was glad to know that she hadn't abandoned her people and that she was eager to return. She knew the longer she was away, the more the Masters had the chance to ruin what she was trying to build.
[DAENERYS pets his nose but gets no response. DROGON begins turning away from her to lick at his wounds. She climbs back on his back, but he hisses and bucks her off, then goes to sleep.]
"Guess the bond isn't as strong yet," Lyanna said kindly.
"Maybe Drogon is waiting for you to care for him," Jon said.
"I do care and it's obvious!" Daenerys said, pointing to the wall.
"Yes, but you've also only tried to get him to take you back and not once tended to those wounds. You may not be able to do that, but at least it would show that you care. Drogon might like that."
Daenerys calmed slightly and nodded. That sounded like a reasonable suggestion.
[DAENERYS begins walking across the plateau to explore. A horse gallops in the distance. The vision reveals the ponytail of a Dothraki. Three more Dothraki men arrive on horseback. DAENERYS drops her ring to the ground. Another group of Dothraki arrives, and then the rest of the khalasar. They begin circling DAENERYS, howling.]
"Well... this isn't good" Bran muttered.
"No shit" Arya muttered back.
Daenerys watched, clutching her knee in fear. It was a large Khalasa... she had Dorgon but he was injured, what would they do to her? What would they do to Drogon?
Lyanna's touch shook her out of her thoughts. The woman nodded at Daenerys, gently gripping her hand.
Daenerys understood what the touch meant, but how was she going to believe in it? She was surrounded by a large Khalasar, how was she going to believe that it was okay?
[GREAT SEPT OF BAELOR; HIGH SPARROW'S ROOM]
[CERSEI knelt before the HIGH SPARROW in the room where she was taken away.]
"I have sinned. I see that now."
"That shabby fellow managed to break her" Tyrion choked in disbelief.
"From what we'd seen so far... isolation would do wonders" Joanna muttered.
Cersei did not break, Jaime knew that well enough. His sister was plotting something.
"How could I have been so blind for so long? I want to be clean again. I want absolution. The Crone came to me with her lamp raised high, and with its holy light-"
"Okay she hasn't broken down yet," Tyrion said blandly.
"And you can be sure of it?" Joanna asked.
"Absolutely! She's being dramatic. Cersei is never dramatic in serious situations. She's plotting" Tyrion explained.
"I see" Joanna pursed her lips.
"You wish to make a confession?"
"Once I've confessed, will I be free?"
"Your Grace will be dealt with according to her sins."
"The Mother have mercy then. I lay with a man outside the bonds of marriage, I confess."
"Name him."
"Lancel Lannister."
"Your cousin. And the King's squire."
"I was lonely and afraid."
"You had a husband."
"A husband off whoring every chance he got."
"His sins do not pardon your own."
"May the gods forgive me."
"Other men?"
"Knowing her, mood boy wouldn't be such a shout" Tyrion muttered to himself. He was jesting of course.
"Speaking falsehoods before the Gods is a great crime. You understand this?"
"He knows something," Theon said with a small smirk.
Yara eyed his brother with a smile hidden. It was good to see the boy slowly gaining his previous swagger.
"There are those who say your children were not fathered by King Robert. That they are bastards born of incest and adultery."
"A lie. A lie from the lips of Stannis Baratheon. He wants the Throne, but his brother's children stand in his way, so he claims they are not his brothers'. The filth. There is not one shred of truth to it. I deny it."
"Of course you do" Robert snorted in disgust. How had he been so blind? None of the children look like him, not even one. He'd seen Mya, he knew what a child of his would look like. No Baratheon to date has been born that did not take after the Baratheon looks. He was a fool.
"There are many things you can beat yourself over, Robert. But not this" Jon Arryn said to the man. "You've never been too perspective to the finer details, you would not have noticed it until it was shown to you."
"Doesn't make it any better now does it?" Robert muttered.
"It shouldn't. It should on the other hand force you to be more perspective and observe better" Jon Arryn countered.
Robert had no reply to that.
"Good. But these are terrible charges. And the realm must know the truth of them. If Your Grace has given honest testimony, your trial will prove your innocence."
"Trial? I have confessed?"
Tyrion smirked. There goes her plotting.
"To a single sin. Others you have denied. Your trial will separate the truths from the falsehoods."
"I bow to the wisdom of your High Holiness. But if I might beg for just one drop of the Mother's mercy. I haven't seen my son... I don't know how long it's been. I need to see him. Please."
"You have taken the first step on a path back to righteousness. In light of this, I will permit you to return to the Red Keep."
"Thank you. Thank you."
"The Mother is merciful. It is her you should thank."
"I will, I will. I swear it, day and night. Am I free to go?"
"After your atonement."
"Atonement?" Jaime looked confused.
[CERSEI'S CELL]
[CERSEI is stripped naked and has the dirt washed off of her by the septas. After they scrub her clean, they sit her down and begin chopping her hair away with a knife. They leave her naked, with short hair and a bloody scalp, and then shut the door on her.]
"Her atonement is giving her a bad haircut?" Tyrion raised a brow.
Myrcella had covered Tommen's eyes when their mother was stripped naked. The boy had no reason to see that.