Winter's Promise

2nd Month of 299 A.C. Riverrun

Tyrion Lannister

It was strange, for so long he had been excluded from social circles that would've provided him with so much, with so much, but he had never known what those things could've been, not until this war and coming to Riverrun. He had found Tysha, the one person he had ever truly loved, and who had ever truly loved him, he had found friends in the people in Riverrun, and he had come to care for Lord Brandon Stark. All of these emotions were emotions he was not used to feeling, and it was something he was trying to come to grips with. He was happy, he realised, very happy, he had his love back, and he had people he could speak with, who were not judging him for who he was, or what he was, but were judging him on his own merits, and that was something that was incredibly rare. It was nice, and that he was being included in meetings such as the one he was currently in now, showed how appreciated he was.

Brandon Stark, Lord of Riverrun, in right of his mother, had summoned a meeting to his solar, it was late, and though Lord Hoster was alive, he was for all intents and purposes dead, and so Brandon was the man in charge. He was a tall fellow who was growing in confidence, though there was still a bit of a child in him, that was a good thing, it meant he was not turning cold. Also in the solar was Sansa Stark, the boy's sister, she was composed and only spoke when she had something to say, she was smart that much Tyrion knew. Then there were the two people from Riverrun, Ser Desmond Grell as well as Maester Vyman, both were old and experienced, and then there was Tysha as well. That she had been included in this meeting was a surprised, but a pleasant one. The clearing of a throat took Tyrion from his thoughts, and so he listened in as Lord Brandon spoke. "The situation with people fleeing from the Westerlands is stabilising for now. Though I have a feeling that it will only grow, if the fighting continues. Maester Vyman tell me, what reports are you getting from the border?"

It was a unique situation they found themselves in, being present as the people fled from war, his father was responsible for that, and that was something that Tyrion knew he would have to sort out when the war was over. He listens intently as Vyman responds. "It seems that the situation there is now under control my lord. Those who have come are mainly women and children and as such they have been set to working the land and ensuring that there is peace kept."

"You are putting children to work? Children who have escaped from a war?" Tysha asks, a strange tone to her voice.

Tyrion takes her hand and says softly. "If they did not then people would ask why they were being allowed to come in my love."

His love looks at him and says. "I am not sure I agree, these are people fleeing a war that they did not start, to get a better life. Why should they have to do something that some of the people who live within the Riverlands refuse to do?"

"Because they need to do something otherwise there will be more fights than there already are." Lord Brandon says sharply.

"And what makes you say that my lord?" Tysha asks, Tyrion finds himself wishing that his wife knew some restraint, at least something small.

"The fact that before I had order enforced at the camps, there were fights breaking out every few days. Just because the majority of those who are coming here are women and children does not mean that all of them are my lady. There are men amongst them, and it is the men who are creating all of these issues." Lord Brandon responds, sounding older than his years.

Tyrion speaks then before his wife can say something more. "Quite rightly so my lord. I think what you are doing is the right thing, giving them something to do will take their minds of the fact that they have had to flee the war, and furthermore it will make them grateful to you, thus ensuring that there is less chance that they can be bought by the enemy."

"And when the fighting is done in the Westerlands, what then?" Ser Desmond asks, his voice gruff.

"Ser?" Tyrion asks uncertain of what exactly it is that the man is asking.

"When the fighting in the Westerlands is done, what will you do with these people? You are Lord of the Rock and Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, as per the King's word. These people are from the Westerlands they are your responsibility." Ser Desmond says.

"And yet they have settled in the Riverlands, and Lord Brandon has accepted them into his lands and has accepted their offers of fealty. By the customs of Westeros that means that they are his people, not Lord Tyrion's. It is for Lord Brandon to decide what to do with them." Tysha responds fiercely.

"That oath was not done for a serious long term basis." Ser Desmond protests. "The fighting will finish in the Westerlands, but it will not stop elsewhere. You think the pretenders who hold King's Landing will stop simply because Tywin Lannister is done? I do not think so. The Riverlands cannot continue to host these people, they will eventually need to return to their homes."

"So you would just seem them discarded like a piece of cloth, because they do not suit your purposes, is that the reasoning then my lord?" Tysha asks, looking directly at Lord Brandon then.

Lord Brandon says nothing for a long time, and Tyrion notes that his direwolf is quite quiet considering all that is happening around him, eventually the boy speaks. "Once the fighting is done in the Westerlands, we shall see what needs to be done. Until then, we must make do with what we have. They stay for as long as they are useful."

Before Tysha can say something that would likely only inflame the tempers within the room, Tyrion speaks. "And when the time comes that we need to discuss what needs to be done, I will gladly do so my lord. Until then, I am sure there is something more that you wished to speak of my lord, to have us meet at so late an hour?"

The boy looks at him for a moment and then says. "You are quite right, there was another reason I asked you here. Our men found that there were not the false King Joffrey's men who were raiding the southern Riverlands, but instead they were from the other pretender, the bastard Gendry Waters. And as such they had some very interesting things to say, the foremost amongst them was that there was a spy amongst our ranks, who was feeding them information." Silence falls then, as they all wonder at that, and then Lord Brandon continues. "Needless to say I looked into this matter with some severity," something in the young lord's eyes makes Tyrion shiver, he does not want to know what was done. "And I learned some interesting things, there was one main spy who reported things back to the bastard stag, and it seems they were gathering information from one specific source, a source who could only know through tales and tribulations. Now, before I proceed, is there anything anyone wants to say?"

As the man looks around the entire solar, Tyrion notices how his eyes fall on Tysha and anger fills him. "None would dare break the King's confidence and reveal plans that were not theirs to reveal my lord. None here, that much I know."

Lord Brandon's eyes rest on him for a moment, and Tyrion swears that they flash red briefly, before turning back to their normal colour, the sight leaves him unsettled, but not more than the boy's words do. "Tell me Lady Tysha, do you know a man named Qaro?"

Tyrion feels Tysha stiffen, and he feels his heart sink, surely not? "Yes, I do. What of it?" his wife asks.

"Do you trust him?" the man asks.

Before his wife can reply, Tyrion speaks. "I do not understand why you are asking Tysha about this man, what does this have to do with anything?"

For the first time during his time here, the Lady Sansa speaks, her voice soft but commanding. "It is important my lord, because we need to know what Lady Tysha thinks of this man."

Before he can ask why, Tysha puts a hand on his arm and says. "Tyrion it is alright." He falls silent then and watches as she replies to the question that had originally been asked. "I have known Qaro since I was a girl, he came with me when I first married Lord Tyrion and then again when I was banished, he came with me and helped me, so yes I do trust him, why?"

Tyrion sees Lord Brandon's shoulders slump then, and Tyrion is reminded of the fact that for all his authority, the boy is just that, a boy, a boy with the weight of a land and its people on his shoulders. "Then I am sorry to say that it is Qaro who was the spy."

Tysha gasps, and Tyrion takes her hand. "What?! How?" he hears her ask.

"It seems he met someone whilst travelling who agreed to pay him a hefty sum in return for giving information, and for returning you here." Lord Brandon says.

"But it was your father who brought me back to Westeros, and your father is dead." Tysha points out.

Once more Lord Brandon sighs, and Lady Sansa speaks. "There was someone else who was involved in your return and it seems that my father was not completely sure of their involvement. Lord Renly has many friends amongst the traders of King's Landing and one of them approached Qaro when things were growing heated, and made him an offer he could not refuse."

That confuses Tyrion, but his wife gasps. "They were going to return his wife to him if he gave them what they wanted?"

Lady Sansa nods. "Yes, they were. And so it seems he has done what they asked, and as a result, good men died fighting an enemy they were not expecting."

"I did not know about this, truly I did not." Tysha says her voice pleading.

Tyrion speaks then. "No one is claiming that you did Tysha. This Qaro fellow needs to be dealt with."

Once more, Lord Brandon looks at him, and the look he gives Tyrion makes his skin crawl, it's either that or the colour of his eyes, for some reason he gets the feeling that it is not Lord Brandon who responds to him. "Qaro will be dealt with appropriately, I thought that it was merely polite to inform you of why the man must die. Now, is there anything else you can tell me about this man?"

Tyrion expects Tysha to simply give a response and for things to move on from there, but instead she says. "So you're just going to kill him? You're not going to show him any sympathy? His wife was going to be brought back to him, surely you would do something similar if it were you in his place!"

Lord Brandon's voice is ice cold when he says. "He swore an oath to the King. He has broken it, the penalty for that is death."

Tysha goes to say something more, but before she can, Tyrion speaks. "Tysha, sweetling, please, he has committed a crime, it is better this way."

She looks at him as if he has betrayed her, and he supposes he has, but they cannot afford to anger Stark, and so he bares her glare, and breathes a sigh of relief when she says. "He is quick, but not quick enough to outrun a direwolf." Tyrion wonders why his wife would mention such a thing, and then the look that crosses Stark's face makes him realise why, and the thought horrifies him.