Everlasting

Not long after Gryn returned to his residence in Hook Harbor with Mutton, the Queen's attendant arrived under the escort of several Lannister guards, bringing twenty bags of Gold Dragons. Each bag held a hundred, for a total of two thousand Gold Dragons. Very Lannister.

The Queen's attendant also brought a message. In essence, Princess Cersei wouldn't ask how Gryn planned to use the Gold Dragons, but he had to deliver an impressive result.

Ha. Very Lannister.

Gryn decided to play it safe and set half aside for now.

His first thought was of his own people, as if he'd just come home from working away and, the moment he got paid, thought of his family.

After putting the Gold Dragons away, Gryn sat at the table and rubbed his chin.

First, he sent someone galloping to Crabb Manor outside the city to urgently summon twenty household guards for duty in the city.

Gryn regretted bringing so few soldiers this time, but he understood that plans never kept pace with change.

Things had gone a little more smoothly than he'd expected. Since he'd arrived in King's Landing without a position at the Red Keep, bringing too many soldiers would have invited criticism. He'd needed to avoid that.

Now he had an official position in the Red Keep, along with an assignment, so he could bring more soldiers over from Whispers.

Gryn tapped his long fingers on the tabletop for a while.

Cersei's Lannister guards in King's Landing numbered around three hundred... He couldn't rush things. He'd take it one step at a time and summon another fifty soldiers from his lands first.

Gryn wrote the order to summon the soldiers and sealed it.

He had no ravens of his own, and in King's Landing he knew no other noble who could send one at a moment's notice.

Since it was official business, Gryn didn't hesitate to have someone take the letter to the Red Keep and find Ser Jaime, asking him to send a raven.

King's Landing, Queens Quarter.

Speed was of the essence. That afternoon, Gryn made a public show of personally inspecting much of the Queens Quarter with his guards, while secretly hiring people to gather urgently needed information.

Gryn found many courtyards in the Queens Quarter that had been uninhabited for so long they were nearly ruins.

Looking at the vacant courtyards, Gryn reflected that the Queens Quarter must once have been prosperous.

After the inspection, Gryn requisitioned several large courtyards in the Queens Quarter, chose one as his temporary headquarters, and ordered his men to clean it through the night.

The next morning, just after dawn.

Jaime and Lancel arrived at Gryn's temporary headquarters in the Queens Quarter with a hundred Lannister guards.

In one corner of the courtyard, a large pot sat over a fire, filling the air with the aroma of meat. Mutton squatted beside it, swallowing eagerly from time to time.

After a brief handover of the Lannister guards, Jaime went into the courtyard and sat down in a chair beside the pot.

Jaime looked at Mutton and smiled. "The lamb looks good. From the smell, it should be about ready."

Mutton nodded earnestly. "Yes, my lord. It just needs to cook a little longer. I cut the lamb myself. It's very fatty."

Gryn came over from elsewhere and took a seat too, smiling. "Ser Jaime, have you gotten used to the Queens Quarter?"

Jaime treated Gryn a little better than before. Gryn's efforts hadn't been in vain.

Jaime spread his hands. "I've been in King's Landing for a long time, and the only thing I can't get used to is the city's indescribable stench. It's tolerable here. Not too bad."

Gryn stifled a yawn. "My men spent the whole night cleaning..."

"I heard you arrested several of the Queens Quarter's constables last night?"

After inspecting the Queens Quarter the day before, Gryn had taken control of its constables overnight. Jaime had his own channels for information and soon learned what Gryn had done.

That was why Jaime had brought the Lannister guards over first thing in the morning.

Gryn's voice turned grave. "Strictly speaking, I should say I took control of them, not that I arrested them. I need them to provide information and assistance. My intention was simply to keep them under control and even give them a chance to earn merit. But after looking into things more closely, the crimes these constables have committed are... hard to describe."

"They're the real powers in the Queens Quarter. Their patron is Janos, the commander of the City Watch."

Jaime was a superb swordsman and a capable commander, an excellent general. But he hadn't inherited or learned his father Tywin's political acumen. Perhaps he simply lacked the talent for it.

Jaime furrowed his brow. "Could Janos be the mastermind behind the rumors about Cersei?"

How could it be that simple?

Gryn shook his head, outwardly denying Jaime's guess, while inwardly scorning his political instincts.

Someone had been constantly needling Cersei, intensifying the conflict between King Robert and Princess Cersei and deepening Queen Cersei's hatred of King Robert.

Gryn couldn't say why, but his thoughts turned to House Tyrell, far away in Highgarden. The Golden Rose endured, flourishing generation after generation.