Book of the Stranger

Where you gonna go?

South.

What are you gonna do?

Get warm.

I was with you at Hardhome. We saw what's out there. We know it's coming here. How can you leave us now?

I did everything I could. You know that.

You swore a vow.

Aye, I pledged my life to the Night's Watch. I gave my life.

For all nights to come.

They killed me, Edd! My own brothers. You want me to stay here after that?

Riders approaching!

Open the gate!

This is good soup. Do you remember those kidney pies Old Nan used to make?

With the peas and onions?

Mmm.

We never should have left Winterfell.

Don't you wish we could go back to the day we left? I want to scream at myself, "Don't go, you idiot."

How could we know?

I spent a lot of time thinking about what as ass I was to you. I wish I could change everything.

We were children.

I was awful, just admit it.

You were occasionally awful. I'm sure I can't have been great fun. Always sulking in the corner while the rest of you played.

Can you forgive me?

There's nothing to forgive.

Forgive me.

All right. All right, I forgive you.

You'd think after thousands of years, the Night's Watch would have learned how to make a good ale.

Where will you go?

Where will we go? If I don't watch over you, Father's ghost will come back and murder me.

Where will we go?

I can't stay here, not after what happened.

There's only one place we can go. Home.

Should we tell the Boltons to pack up and leave?

We'll take it back from them.

I don't have an army.

How many wildlings did you save?

They didn't come here to serve me.

They owe you their lives.

You think they'll be safe here if Roose Bolton remains Warden of the North?

Sansa.

Winterfell is our home. It's ours and Arya's and Bran's and Rickon's. Wherever they are, it belongs to our family. We have to fight for it.

I'm tired of fighting.

It's all I've done since I left home. I've killed brothers of the Night's Watch. I've killed wildlings. I've killed men that I admire. I hanged a boy younger than Bran. I fought and I lost.

If we don't take back the North, we'll never be safe. I want you to help me. But I'll do it myself if I have to.

My lady.

Ser Davos.

Will you stay here at Castle Black?

I will do as Jon Snow commands.

You serve Jon Snow now?

He's the prince that was promised.

Forgive me, my lady, I thought that was Stannis.

What happened down there?

There was a battle. Stannis was defeated.

And Shireen? What happened to the princess?

I saw what happened. I saw Stannis' forces defeated in the field.

My lady, I'm Ser Davos Seaworth.

We've met before. I was Kingsguard to Renly Baratheon. Before Renly was assassinated with bloodmagic.

That's in the past now.

Yes, it's in the past. It doesn't mean I forget. Or forgive. He admitted it, you know.

Who did?

Stannis. Just before I executed him.

The Defender of the Vale!

Uncle Petyr!

My lord. Come and see.

I missed your name day. Go on.

A falcon!

A gyrfalcon. The greatest and rarest of birds.

Last time I saw you, Baelish, you told me you were taking Sansa Stark home with you to the Fingers.

Indeed I was.

And yet not long ago, we received reports that she has been married to Ramsay Bolton in Winterfell.

On our way to the Fingers, we were set upon by a large force of Bolton men. Seemed to know exactly when we were traveling and exactly whom we were transporting.

Do you take me for a fool?

Tell me, Lord Royce, how many people knew of my travel plans with Sansa Stark? I shared my intentions with you and no one else.

Slander a man in his own home, you might find yourself crossing swords with him.

Your home is the Vale. The Lord of the Vale stands before us. And only his judgment concerns me.

Shall we throw him through the Moon Door?

My lord. My lord, I have always been faithful to House Arryn. To your father, to your mother, and now to you.

Do you believe him, Uncle Petyr?

Lord Royce has served the Vale well. He;s enjoyed a distinguished military career. If we could trust his absolute loyalty, he would make a capable commander in the wars to come.

You can trust my absolute loyalty, my lord.

I think he deserves one more chance. What do you say?

Fine.

I bring good news. My friends in the North tell me Sansa has escaped Winterfell. I expect she's headed to Castle Black where her brother serves as Lord Commander. But she won't be safe there, not with the Boltons after her.

She's my cousin. We should help her.

That was my instinct as well.

Our lord has spoken. Gather the Knights of the Vale. The time has come to join the fray.

You invite the enemy into our city?

I did. As a clever man once told me, "We make peace with our enemies, not our friends."

I don't make peace with the queen's enemies. I kill the queen's enemies.

Yes, that's the military approach. And how has that worked here in Meereen? I represent the diplomatic approach.

Our queen tried to make peace with the Masters and they tried to murder her.

How many days were you a slave?

Long enough to know.

Not long enough to understand.

I bought this dwarf for a single gold honor. And somehow you've risen to the top of the Great Pyramid of Meereen. It's most impressive.

And now you speak for the Good Masters of Astapor.Here's to reversals of fortune.

We came here to meet the queen and instead we're greeted by a dwarf and a eunuch.

Let's make this simple, shall we? Tell me what you want.

We want you to leave Slaver's Bay. Take your dragons and your mercenaries and go.

Queen Daenerys won't stay in Meereen forever. Her path takes her westward.

When we last met, I offered her ships so she could return to Westeros where she belongs. She refused them.

She refused them because hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children still lived in chains.

As they have since the dawn of time.

Not anymore.

You think you're a free man now? You still follow orders. Just because your master has silver hair and tits doesn't mean she's not a master.

Friends, friends, friends, please.

There have always been those with wealth and power and those with nothing. That is the way of the world. I'm not here to change the way of the world.

Slavery is the way of our world.

You don't need slaves to make money. There haven't been slaves in Westeros for hundreds of years and I grew up richer than any of you. But our queen recognizes that she erred by abolishing slavery without providing a new system to replace it. So here is the queen's proposal. Slavery will never return to Meereen but she will give the other cities of Slaver's Bay time to adjust to the new order.

What does that mean?

Instead of abolishing slavery overnight, we will give you seven years to end the practice.

Slaveholders will be compensated for their losses, of course, at fair prices. In exchange, you will cut off your support for the Sons of the Harpy.

We do not support the Sons of the Harpy.

Fine, fine, but you will cut it off all the same. I do hope you accept, my friends. You will not receive a better offer.

Let us sail on the tide of freedom instead of being drowned by it. And as a parting gift to our honored guests…

Give freedom a chance. See if it doesn't taste every bit as good as what came before.

My friends! Large sorry...you wait so fat time.

Perhaps I should translate for you.

We speak the Common Tongue.

Excellent.

You met with the slavers today.

I did.

Our brothers and sister died fighting these scum. Now you invite them to our city and drink wine with them.

I imagine this room was built so the rulers could intimidate the ruled.

But I am not your ruler. I'm not the Breaker of Chains. I'm not the Unburnt. And I am certainly not the Mother of Dragons.

You are a stranger here. So why do you represent Meereen in these talks with our enemies?

Because our queen chose me as her advisor. Until she returns from her travels --

When does she return?

Soon. You have my word.

We don't know you. We don't trust you. We know Torgo Nudho. We fight with him against the Masters. We trust him.

And that is exactly why Grey Worm took part in these negotiations. As commander of the Unsullied, he knows hot to defeat the slavers and he knows when it is time to make peace.

You have made peace with the slavers?

We offered terms.

And you, Grey Worm? You want to drink wine with these men? The men who tore us from our mothers' arms and sold us at auction like cattle?

I am a soldier, not a politician. But if there is a chance for peace -- a just peace -- we should take it.

Missandei, you know what these men are. How can you trust them?

I do not trust them. I will never trust them.

But as a wise man once said, "We make peace with our enemies, not our friends."

Do not use me for your lies.

Those men respect you.

They respect me because they know who I am. They know I am loyal.

As do I.

I am loyal to my queen, not you. If you betray her work, you are my enemy.

I am not betraying her work. I am trying to save her city.

You promised the slavers they could keep slavery.

For a short time.

Seven years is not a short time for a slave.

You're right. Slavery is a horror that should be ended at once. War is a horror that should be ended at once. I can't do both today.

You are wrong to trust these men.

I don't trust the Masters. I trust their self-interest. They're trustworthy if they're convinced that working with me is in their self-interest.

You don't know them. You don't understand them. We are not human in their eyes. They look at me and see a weapon. They look at her and see a whore.

They look at me and they see a misshapen little beast. Their contempt is their weakness. They'll underestimate us every time and we will use that to our advantage.

You will not use them. They will use you. That is what they do.

You all right? Why don't you sit and catch your breath?

I'm fine.

I don't think you could ride the dragon. 20 years ago, maybe.

What?

Our queen. She's wild, you know. Don't let her size fool you. It's hard enough for me and I'm a young man. You, I don't think your heart could take it.

Must make you angry that our queen chose me.

Makes me sad. You'll disappoint her before long. She'll move on.

We'll all disappoint her before long.

We need each other right now. After we're done needing each other --

Oh, I don't want to fight you, Jorah the Andal. What do I have to gain? If I win, I'm the shit who killed an old man. If I lose, I'm the shit who was killed by an old man.

You didn't get much discipline as a child, did you?

None.

The road running through the Horse Gate, they call that the godsway.

Eastern Market, Western Market. When Khal Drogo died, she was supposed to come here and join the Dosh Khaleen, the widows of the dead khals. That's where they would have taken her, the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen.

What are you doing?

It's forbidden to carry weapons in the sacred city.

Isn't it forbidden to sneak into their city and steal their khaleesi?

If they spot us and we're unarmed, we'll say we're traders heading for the Western Market. But if they see weapons…

You're asking a dog to hand over his teeth.

There's 100,000 of them down there. We can't fight our way out. We wait till dark, and then we'll find her.

Uh…

I'm very attached to this knife.

Don't worry. it didn't touch you.

You know what happens?

I know what happens.

I'll do it myself.

I should have been born a Dothraki.

Come on.

My friends...We wandered off from the Western Market and got lost. Could you show us the way back?

What do you sell?

Wine. Come down to my stall tomorrow, I'll give you a cask of the Arbor's finest.

You're not merchants.

Get the others.

Told you, I'm very attached to this knife.

You all right?

If they find a body with a stab wound, the whole city will be looking for us.

Huh.

Some of them don't think Dothraki should breed with foreigners. They are stupid old women. They don't realize that we have always diluted our blood. This one is Lhazareen. Her Khal found her hiding in a well after he burned her village. How old were you?

Twelve.

A year later, she bore her Khal a daughter. How did he show his happiness?

He broke my ribs.

We are not queens here, but the khals depend on us for our wisdom. Our lives have meaning.

That is more than most have.

When the khals meet for the Khalar Vezhven tomorrow night, I hope they let you live out your days with us. The other possibilities are not so pleasant.

I need to make water.

You can't run from Dothraki. You know this.

I will never run from Dothraki.

Go, show her.

I needed fresh air. The old women stink.

They do stink.

You must have been very young when your Khal died.

Sixteen.

Too bad he didn't die sooner.

Yes, too bad.

Is it true you have three dragons?

Mm-hmm.

And they breathe fire?

They do. Would you like to see them one day?

I am Dosh Khaleen. I can never leave Vaes Dothrak, until I rise as smoke from the pyre on the day I die.

No, don't hurt her.

She'll give us away.

We have to go now.

We will never get out of Vaes Dothrak alive.

All we can do is try.

No. We can do more than that. And you're going to help me.

And you...Have faith in me, Khaleesi. Do not betray me.

If I were to let you leave right now, where would you go? What would you seek out?

I'd go to my brother, my husband, my family.

Of course, but for you, that means seeking out money, finery, power. Seeking out your family means seeking out sin. I'm not maligning you. I sought those things out, too. To the exclusion of all else. My father was a cobbler. He died with I was young and I took over his shop. He was a simple man and he made simple shoes. But I found that the more work I put into my shoes, the more people wanted them. Fine leather, ornamentation, detailing, and time. Time most of all. Dozens of hours spent on a single pair.

Quality takes time.

Yes. I imagine you've worn a year of someone's life on your back. The highborn liked to cover their feet with my time and they paid well for the privilege. I used their money to buy a taste of their lives for myself. Each time I indulged, I felt myself ascending to something better.

And one day you walked through a graveyard and realized it was all for nothing and set out on the path to righteousness. Book of the Stranger, verse 25.

You know The Seven-Pointed Star.

Septa Unella reads it to me. At me.

Yes, yes, she does enjoy reading at people. You're close. But it wasn't a graveyard. It was a feast. I bought old fine wine and young pretty girls and invited my friends to come share it all. We passed around the wine, passed around the women, and soon we fell into a stupor. I woke before dawn. I could barely stand. Everyone else was asleep on the couches or on the floor, lying in heaps next to their fine clothes. The truth of their bodies laid bare. I could smell them beneath the incense and the perfume and the fine food that had already started to turn. And I saw it with perfect clarity. I saw what my sins were. The gold I had, the wine I drank, the women I used, my ceaseless struggle to maintain my position. It was all part of a story. A story I was telling myself about who I was. A collection of lies that would disappear in the light. The people I was trying to climb away from, the beggars in the street, the poor, they were closer to the truth than I ever was.

So what did you do?

I left to go and find them. I didn't even put on my shoes. I walked out the door and never went back.

Come, let's go and see him.

Who?

Your brother.

Loras. Loras.

Listen to me. You need to stay strong.

I can't stay strong. I never was strong.

You are strong. You are the future of our house, the future of our family.

I don't care about that.

Shh. Have you -- have you told them that? That you don't care?

I just want it to stop. Help me.

They want me to help you. They want me told help tear you down. That's why he's letting me see you, I know it is. And if either of us give in to what they want, then they win.

Let them win. Just make it stop. Please.

All right.

And now, how to avert disaster with our current predicament. This High Sparrow. I have dealt with fanatics of every description, Your Grace. Not setting them off, that's the most important thing. You are beset with enemies both within and without.

What are you doing here?

I am advising the king on our current predicament.

Leave.

I am a member of the Small Council. The king's small --

Is this a Small Council meeting?

Obviously not. I'm here to lend my wisdom and my support.

Thank you for your counsel, Grand Maester. That will be all for now.

Your Grace.

Since I've missed the past several Small Coucil meetings, I wanted to speak to you about a few things.

I've been thinking about the High Sparrow.

As have we all, unfortunately.

We need to be careful in dealing with such a man. To prevent things from escalating any further. We have to be careful not to antagonize him. He has Margaery. We can't put her at risk. He's dangerous.

Look at me. What did they do to me? To the king's own mother?

It's all right. It's done. It's in the past. And of course Margaery's safety is paramount.

You don't like Margaery, do you?

Whether I like her or not is completely unimportant. Margaery is the queen. Queens must command respect. Kings even more so. Not just for their own sake, but for everyone's. The High Sparrow has no respect for kings or queens. No respect for anything in this world. He has no use for the things of this world. He want to knock them down and replace them with what? With fantasies. With beggars in the street. With nothing.

Mother...there's something I want to tell you. Something the High Sparrow told me.

You've spoken with him?

I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone. If he found out I told --

It would be a breach of confidence which he would not take lightly, given his constant prattling about the truth. I am your mother. You can always trust me.

The Small Council meeting has been postponed on the king's orders.

I would have thought we were perfectly clear the first time. You're not welcome.

You once spoke of your respect for our father because he understood the necessity of working with one's rivals.

My dear, you have been stripped of your dignity and authority, publicly shamed, and confined to the Red Keep. What's left to work with?

Cersei is the mother of the king. She has the king's ear and his trust. And the king has been speaking regularly with the High Sparrow about Queen Margaery and Ser Loras.

The High Sparrow seized power knowing full well we'd bicker amongst ourselves instead of seizing it back. Here we are. Well done to us. Now the future of the Seven Kingdoms rest in his dirty, peasant hands. In a few days, he'll have a trial for me. But before that, Queen Margaery will make her walk of atonement. Yes, Margaery will repent her sins before the good people of the city.

Oh, no. That cannot happen. That will not happen.

I agree.

You've got the second largest army in Westeros. You'll bring them into the city, stop queen Margaery's humiliation before it starts, and take her back into Crown custody.

The king has ordered me to take no action against the High Sparrow or the Faith Militant out of fear for the queen's safety.

You'll take no action at all. When the Tyrell armies come, you will stand down. Are you expressly forbidden from standing down?

No, but if the king should call on me --

The whole thing will be over before anyone can call on you to do anything. When the High Sparrow is in custody or dead, preferably, and Margaery's back at Tommen's side, do you think the king will be angry at the outcome?

You hate these fanatics as much as we do. You hate what they've done to your son. Do you want Lancel back or have you given him up for good?

Of course I want him back.

Then stand aside and let the people that took him from you be destroyed.

If it doesn't go as planned, the Sparrows have many friends in the city. We'll have civil war. Many will die.

Many will die no matter what we do. Better them than us.

They told me you were home and I didn't believe it. "Theon Greyjoy?" I said. "He's dead. He's been dead a long time." He let you go?

I escaped.

I can't hear you.

I escaped.

Look at me. Look at me! Men died trying to rescue you. Good men. My men.

I'm sorry.

You were my brother. You're a spoiled little cunt, but you were my brother and I risked everything for you and you betrayed me.

I know. I know and I'm sorry.

Stop saying that.

He broke me. He broke me into a thousand pieces.

I know.

You don't know.

He send us one of those pieces. That's why I came for you.

Why did you come here?

Where else could I go?

You heard father was dead and thought you'd claim the crown?

No, no. I only heard he died after we docked.

You happen to show up on Pyke right before the Kingsmoot?

I didn't know.

You think any Ironborn wants you to be king? After what you've done?

I don't want to be king.

What do you want?

I should've listened to you. You're the only one --

That doesn't matter anymore. Stop crying. Look at me. Tell me what you want.

You should rule the Iron Islands. Let me help you.

They've cleaned you up nicely. You know who I am?

A lord?

Yes. A lord. You've seen my banners?

The flayed man.

Does that worry you at all?

You eat them after?

No.

Then I've seen worse.

You served the Starks?

Aye. They put me in chains and put a sword at my throat, so I've served them.

The Starks have been gone for a long time, but you kept protecting Rickon.

He'd fetch a good price to the right buyer. I served his family a long time. Didn't get no wages. Way I see it, I'm owed.

Be that as it may, Rickon's not yours to sell anymore. He's mine. So what use could I possibly have for you?

I can give you what you want.

Are you sure you know what that is?

Same thing men always want. And when they really want it, they give it a bath first.

You're a good talker.

I like that.

You're a much better talker than Theon Greyjoy.

That so?

I had to work hard to get him talking. But he talked. They all do.

He told me everything. All about the Stark boys. Who helped them escape, and how she did it.

Open the gate!

Sorry about the food. It's not what we're known for.

That's all right. There are more important things.

A letter for you, Lord Commander.

I'm not Lord Commander anymore.

"To the traitor and bastard Jon Snow. You allowed thousands of wildlings past the Wall. You have betrayed your own kind. You have betrayed the North. Winterfell is mine, bastard. Come and see. Your brother Rickon is in my dungeon.

His direwolf's skin is on my floor. Come and see. I want my bride back. Send her to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you or your wildling lovers. Keep her from me and I will ride north and slaughter every wildling man, woman, and babe living under your protection. You will watch as I skin them living. You --

Go on.

It's just more of the same.

"You will watch as my soldiers take turns raping your sister. You will watch as my dogs your wild little brother. Then I will spoon your eyes from their sockets and let my dogs do the rest. Come and see. Ramsay Bolton, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

His father's dead. Ramsay killed him. And now he has Rickon.

We don't know that.

Yes, we do.

How many men does he have in his army?

I heard him say 5,000 once when he was talking about Stannis's attack.

How many do you have?

That can march and fight? 2,000. The rest are children and old people.

You're the son of the last true Warden of the North. Northern families are loyal. They'll fight for you if you ask.

A monster has taken our home and our brother. We have to go back to Winterfell and save them both.

It is forbidden to spill blood in the sacred city. It is forbidden to carry weapons in the sacred city.

So we don't spill blood.

Well… there's always a little blood.

Someone crushed his head with a rock.

Aggo belonged to my khalaser. He served me well. He got his head smashed in by a rock. Fuck Aggo.

Bring in Drogo's widow.

Who cares about her? She's a midget.

I like her.

She's paler than milk.

I'd like to know what a khaleesi tastes like.

Good. You can suck my dick.

She belongs with the Dosh Khaleen.

The Wise Masters of Yunkai want her. They're offering ten thousand horses In exchange. What's worth more, one pink little girl or ten thousand horses?

Fuck the Wise Masters in their perfumed asses. I'll take their horses for myself.

Don't you want to know what I think?

You'd rather be sold to slavery? Or maybe you'd like to show Rhalko here what you taste like?

No. I don't want either of those things.

We don't care what you want. This is the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen. You have no voice here, unless you are Dosh Khaleen. Which you are not, until we decide you are.

I know where I am. I have been here before. This is where the Dosh Khaleen pronounced my child the Stallion Who Mounts the World.

And what happened? You trusted a sorceress, like a fool. Your baby is dead because of you. And so is Khal Drogo.

This is where Drogo promised to take his khalasar west to where the world ends. To ride wooden horses across the Black Salt Sea as no khal has done before. He promised to kill the men in their iron suits and tear down their stone houses. He swore to me before the Mother of Mountains.

And you were dumb enough to believe him?

And here, now, what great matters do the Great Khals discuss? Which little villages you'll raid, how many girls you'll get to fuck, how many horses you'll demand in tribute. You are small men. None of you are fit to lead the Dothraki. But I am. So I will.

All right. No Dosh Khaleen for you. Instead we'll take turns fucking you. And then we'll let our bloodriders fuck you.

And If there's anything left of you, we'll give our horses a turn. You crazy cunt. Did you really think we would serve you?

You're not going to serve. You're going to die.