Game of Thrones: StormBorn

As always, the man who they called the spider sat at the center of his web, listening for the singing of his little birds in the late of the night.

And oh, what songs they sang today.

Not only had the King bedded yet another lady of the crownlands, a distinctly unsurprising thing that nonetheless was placed carefully in his files with the rest, but it seemed the enigmatic Baratheons of Dragonstone had finally shown a crack, albeit only to reveal the fire that sat beneath their opaque secrecy.

'So it is the young stag, and not his father, that drives the wheels…' Varys inserted the note carefully into the hidden drawer. 'It appears I had misjudged things.'

It had always been his belief regarding young Arthur Baratheon that he was likely an intelligent boy, but probably a puppet or excuse for his father or some up jumped maester to work his will on the narrow sea. Now however a different picture was painted. It seemed that the young man was preparing a fleet to invade Essos through his trading company, an admirable endeavor, were he to succeed, but something that Varys could not allow if he wished to sit young Aegon on the throne at the end of all of this.

'But how to counter the boy…' The ship at Port was formidable, he could not deny, and looked equipped to carry a great number of Ballistae, or perhaps those cannons that the boy's father was so proud of. He had had his little birds watch lord Tywin's experiments at replicating the weapons, and largely dismissed them. Even the Iron Eater that now sat on the deck of the Fury had not lasted more than a few shots, and he doubted much significant advancement could be made in just a few years. Still, the ships themselves were another matter, they would outrun most pirates he could maneuver to disrupt them.

'Tyrosh perhaps. They would be the first to be besieged if he were to invade Essos.'

He thought it unlikely that the boy could take the city, but then it was always a possibility that he might do so through subterfuge or subversion, but if the free city was to cut off the boy's attempts to trade through the Stepstones, and he had no doubt that they could, if sufficiently motivated, then that would cripple his ability to grow so rapidly.

That in mind, he penned a letter to his contacts with the archon of Tyrosh, he needed to be careful, else the man would suspect foul play, but most likely it would have the intended effect. He wrote another such letter to Lys just in case the Tyrosh was feeling particularly mistrustful.

That done he quickly handed the envelopes off to one the birds, who dashed away to their duty.

'Now, what to do about the queen…' She had overheard the conversation as well and in her infinite wisdom had set a pair of maids to spread rumors that the young Stag had been struck dumb with love at the sight of Brienne Tarth. While he suspected this move on the part of the queen to be a play to saddle the young boy with a wife who she thought ugly and unfeminine, he doubted that it would go that far without Stannis permission. Still, to be safe he would ensure to quash the rumor and make the maids disappear. There was no need to give the Baratheons a stronger alliance simply because the Queen was an immature brat.

He often wondered whether Lord Tywin actually understood how much of a bungler his daughter was. He and the Littlefinger both had to clean up her messes so frequently. One would have thought the Lion would keep a better eye on her.

'Then again, perhaps he has his hands full at Caster rock.' It could not be easy managing all of that wealth after all. It was why Varys ensured he only ever had precisely what he needed. It kept his light on his feet.

'Mhm, I wonder if young Arthur will face the same issues?'