Born in Flames || Game of Thrones

Chapter XXII ''What the Seven Kingdoms need''

Tyrion was leaning against the railing and drinking wine - something he had been doing for a long time. He killed his ex-lover, he killed his father, and now he can drink himself to death. Unless Varys has some plans after he got him out of the dungeon before his execution - and that's probably the case, because he saw him getting closer to him...

"Eunuch, Spider, Master of Whisperers." he greeted him with these words, without taking his eyes off the beautiful waters of the sea.

"Imp. Half human." Varys retorted, to which Tyrion merely raised a toast. "There are faster ways to kill yourself."

"Not for a coward."

"There are many things that can be said about you, my friend, but you are certainly not a coward." the eunuch assured him, leaning his back against the stone railing.

"You didn't tell me why you actually freed me." he noticed.

"Your brother asked me to do this." he replied as if it was the whole truth, but Tyrion knew there was more to it.

"You could have refused."

"Refuse the Kingslayer? Dangerous."

"Not as much as freeing me. You risked your life, your position, everything. Why? We are not a family. You don't owe me anything."

He really, really wanted to understand his motives before he got so drunk he couldn't understand. He knew Varys doesn't do anything without a reason, and Jaime's simple request wouldn't be enough to convince him.

Well, maybe the threat would work...

"I didn't do it for you, I did it for the Seven Kingdoms." Varys turned to face the beautiful view before them. He seemed convinced that he was right.

"A drunken dwarf will not save the Seven Kingdoms."

"I don't believe in saviors." he assured, leaning lower over the railing and leaning against it. "I believe that wise people will be needed in the coming war."

War? Is one already over and there will be another one soon? Who will fight in it, most of the soldiers have not yet had time to bleed out?

"You'll have to find someone else." he said, even though he still didn't know what war he was talking about. "I'm done with Westeros, and Westeros is done with me."

"You have many virtues, but self-pity is not one of them." Tyrion just rolled his eyes at this statement, even though he knew it was true. "Any fool can be born into a powerful family and rise to power. But getting it yourself - it takes hard work."

"I'm not cut out for hard work."

"On the contrary." Varys assured. "You have your father's talent for politics, but at the same time you have compassion."

"Compassion?" this word in his mouth sounded stripped of all its meaning. "I killed my lover with my bare hands, and I shot my father with a crossbow."

He kept thinking back to those two moments. The way Shae lied and then he saw her in his father's bed... He had to do it, he couldn't just walk out of there with this knowledge.
But when he stood with a loaded crossbow in front of his father... He knew that from that moment there was no turning back. He could kill him or die, dealing with Tywin Lannister never ended well, because he only wanted to get his way. Win, no matter how many lives it costs.

"I never said you were perfect." Varys shrugged.

"What do you want? Exactly."

"Peace. Prosperity. Kingdoms, where the powerful do not exploit the weak."