Manor of Aziezal Torios, Harbormaster of Braavos

[Horas]

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mandon asks, angry despite the risk.

[The Smith]

"Wear it... it will cover your eyes." He smiled and motioned toward the man's face.

[Horas]

Mandon grimaces, but does as he is told.

[The Smith]

Mandon is lead out into the streets. A long time passes before he is ushered into a building. They wait for a moment, and eventual he is shoved into a palanquin. They begin to move through the city.

[Horas]

"Where are you taking me?" Mandon asks, though he doubts he will get an answer.

[The Smith]

Jalena's voice replies, "The King's abode. He lives in the city. At the moment."

[Horas]

Mandon waits in silence.

[The Smith]

Eventually the palanquin stops, and he is dragged from it. Then a voice speaks, "You may speak freely, you are in the presence of your King."

[Horas]

Mandon removes the bag from his head.

[The Smith]

He is in the bowels of a ware house.

Directly in front of him is the man with the tattooed head. And beside him is a man with a forked beard dyed blue. His naked chest is covered only by scars, and he wears a red leather kilt. Around the bearded man's neck is a necklace made of human finger bones.

Behind them both there sits a man covered in shadow.

Beside the man is a woman wearing red with dusky skin, and red hair.

On the other side of the seated man the boots of another man can be seen, but he blends into the dark of the room better then the seated man.

[Horas]

Mandon looks on with barely concealed disgust at the group assembled before him, barbarians and foreigners all. His eyes move from the tattooed man to the bearded man to the woman.

"I do not see him," Stonecrab replies.

[The Smith]

The man sitting leans forward into the light, and Callen Baratheon's face is clear, except for the right eye has grown dark red. He speaks with a dramatic, voice, "You may speak, my errant subject."

[Horas]

"You fool," Mandon begins, throwing the bag that was around his head to the ground. "I came to this city seeking my king, but what I have found instead? A man who employs... assassins and mummers," he sweeps his arm in an angry gesture that encompasses the other men in the room. "Who murdered an innocent child, and have treated me with nothing but contempt and disrespect." Stonecrab's face is beet red, and his moustache quivers angrily. "If this is how you intend to win back your kingdom, Your Grace, you are doing a piss-poor job of it."

[The Smith]

"Better then perhaps you know." Callen replied, "You speak as if these tools are not those a King has at his disposal. I act as I must to rip down those men who ripped my throne from me. What would you advise me to do? Lead my armies, or sail my navies and crush the pretender?"

[Horas]

Mandon shakes his head, but his fury begins to ebb away. "You will never win back the Seven Kingdoms relying on foreigners. There are good men left who fought for your father, men who might be persuaded to fight for you too. And others too, who did nothing before, but have seen that the dragon's peace has brought only the rise of schemers with grasping hands."

"At times a king must be hard, aye, even ruthless. But murdering some merchant's family?" Stonecrab shakes his head once again.