Lundenhold
POV of Domeric Bolton
After 5 minutes, they reached their destination, and the carriage came to a stop.
The stop brought Tyrion out of his self-destructive thoughts, and he turned to face him.
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Tyrion asked. "Why?" His voice had an edge to it even as it shook with grief and pain. "Why did you tell me this?"
Domeric looked into Tyrion's eyes without saying anything for a while and then said. "Because you need to face reality now, Tyrion. How much longer do you plan to spend your life drinking and going to whores and being miserable? When did you last do something you could be proud of since that infamous incident? When have you done something you could actually show your talents at?" He said, and Tyrion opened his mouth to protest, but Domeric didn't let him and continued.
"And please don't use your father as an excuse for what you haven't done. Yes, Tywin Lannister is a monster and deserves to be punished severely for what he has done to you in the past. But just as Tywin has given up on you, you have given up on yourself. But no matter what I say now, I don't think what I say will satisfy you, so you should see for yourself why I'm telling you these things."
Domeric said before he wore the hood, covered his face, and climbed from the carriage.
"Come. Let me show you," he said, taking out five gold coins and giving them to the coachman as a gesture to wait for them here.
Tyrion wore his own hood and followed him. His legs were unsteady and lost.
They walked down the road for a while before he finally reached a large building.
"Come." He said as he led Tyrion through an alley and into a back door that led inside the room.
"This is a building I created to give jobs to women who don't have any means to support their family but don't want to sell out their bodies." He told Tyrion, though he very much doubted that the man was even listening to him, as he led the man through a set of stairs and to the second floor, which gave a full view of the woman working on the various looms to create different kinds of cloth.
"Look at the woman in the fourth seat on the third row," he told Tyrion, pointing at her.
Tyrion did, and the last vestiges of blood drained away from his face as he was confronted with his past once again.
Tyrion remained like this for the next few minutes, staring at the woman he had married as silent tears rolled down his cheeks and fell onto the dusty ground.
After ten minutes, Tyrion finally managed to control himself, so he took his hand and led him down the stairs, out of the back door, and back into the carriage.
Through it all, the man remained unresponsive. As if his soul had left his body and he was nothing but a walking corpse.
The carriage fell silent for the next few minutes before Tyrion finally turned to him and asked.
"What do you want from me?"
"I don't want anything from you, Tyrion." He told the man. "I've already got what I wanted."
"You… she… do you plan to keep her as a… hostage?" Tyrion asked, some hint of anger shining through his voice.
"No. Not at all. You are free to take her and go wherever you want." He told the man. "I have no intention or any reason to keep her here as a hostage. I would even give you some gold for your future. But where will you go? You cannot return to the Rock or King's Landing with her. I doubt she would go there with you even if you take her. The only place she could remain safe is here, and the only one who could keep both of you safe is me."
"This… this can't be real," Tyrion murmured to himself.
"Oh, but it is Tyrion." He said with some sympathy. "And you owe the girl far more than you could ever hope to repay in your lifetime."
Tyrion went silent and didn't speak for the rest of the journey.
Once they finally reached Dreadfort and climbed down from the carriage, Tyrion turned to him, not looking into his eyes, and said. "I need… I need some time to think."
And then he turned around and walked away.
He looked at the back of the man, feeling like shit for what he had done.
But even beyond his own interests, Domeric knew that Tyrion needed to face the truth for his own good. Otherwise, he would always be stuck in the past and unable to move forward.
A life spent drinking and whoring was no life at all. Tyrion had only been numbing himself with his lifestyle so far to escape reality. And for someone as talented as Tyrion to waste his talents in this way was a harrowing sight for Domeric to watch, especially as someone who has experienced firsthand how hard it is to find really talented people.
What he learned today would cause Tyrion to face the truth, and it would undoubtedly be painful for him, but it would offer him a chance he had not had in a long time. An opportunity to make a choice and move forward.
Just as he decided to marry Tysha all those years ago by listening to his own heart and not caring about anyone else, after the pain of what he learned today subsided a little, Tyrion could decide for himself again by listening to his own heart.
To tell the truth, Domeric didn't care much about Tyrion's decision. Of course, he would have wanted someone as talented as Tyrion to be on his side, but he had done his best for this, and now the decision was entirely Tyrion's. Whatever his little friend decided, he would respect his decision.
He finally turned and gave the coachman another five gold dragons.
"Have a good day." He told the man.
"You too, my lord." The coachman said before he turned the carriage around and left.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.134: I'm going to King's Landing
Ch.135: A Masterpiece