Varys was in a lot of trouble and confusion. He was nervous, anxious and unsure.
His initial life had been one of struggle. Born a slave, sold to a warlock, then castrated and turned into eunuch and then thrown on the streets. But after that, Varys had achieved a great many things. From not being able to find enough to fill himself up to becoming the master of whisperers in the small council of the king of the seven kingdoms.
He was hard working, sharp of mind and had many more qualities. But there was one attribute which Varys credited greatly for his success.
Decision making. He was decisive. He was not a man who would linger in confusion. He would think about an idea, plan for it, mark ways for its execution, and then commit fully to it. He was not one to linger in indecisiveness. He took a decision and followed it through. This was one of his greatest strengths.
To outsiders, and even to people who were closest to him like Illyrio, Varys might have been one of the most indecisive men they had known in their lives. He barely came to any decisions, always seemed confused, and talked in riddles. But that was what he showed to the world. Inwardly, he was completely opposite.
But the last few days, or months, had been extremely tough for him. All the meticulous planning he had been doing for years had come collapsing. All the planning he did, the webs he had woven and the decision he had made had to be undone. He had been forced into unsurety where every day, he would have to think and plan about some new eventuality. All because of one single man. Lord Aeos
He was winning, winning every war and battle. As of now, he was the most powerful man in the entire Essos, and no one had the strength to oppose him. He was that powerful.
And given that Varys lived so far away that the delay in the information reaching him was making things more difficult for him.
His original intention was to let Viserys and Daenerys wander in Free Cities for a few more months, and then Illyrio would have appeared before them, giving them help and offering advice on how to retake Westeros. To be honest, one glance at Viserys and one could tell that he was in no manner fit to rule the Seven Kingdoms. If he somehow became king, he would only lead the realm towards destruction.
On the other hand, Lord Aeos was an ideal king. He had a perfect balance of benevolence, ruthlessness, power, kindness, and compassion. Not only was he a powerful conqueror, he was also a very fine ruler. Under his rule, his empire had been flourishing and rising. The common folk were happy. Their lives had improved by a lot. There were rare few nobles, lords, magisters and kings who thought about the king. And Lord Aeos was one such man.
He was a man whom Varys would have loved to see on the throne. And that was why he had intended to make a match between Daenerys Targaryen and Lord Aeos. The only problem was that Viserys might not have been willing to accept a Stark, even if a bastard, as his brother-in-law.
But a few words from Illyrio and the greed to take back what was 'rightfully' his and Viserys relented, choosing to forgive the Starks after an apology. It would have been such a wonderful thing. Lord Aeos wedding Daenerys Targaryen.
He had sent Illyrio to probe Lord Aeos about Daenerys, but Lord Aeos had given no response. He had been unresponsive, neither rejecting nor accepting.
Even so, Varys had hoped that in the future, when Lord Aeos would settle with his conquests, he might push his propaganda once again. Maybe a setback of some kind would convince him to make allies, and Daenerys, along with Illyrio and the so-called Targaryen loyalists in Westeros, would have served as those allies. But Lord Aeos was not willing to suffer any setback. What ingenuity he had shown to repel the combined attack of the Dothraki and the sellswords.
That battle had all but declared him invincible. And it was only a matter of time before he would take over one or two of the Free Cities.
Varys, despite being such a genius, could have never imagined the plan Lord Aeos had come up with to defend his city. Caged insects, snakes, animals and beasts. Unbelievable.
He had once again been pushed toward uncertainty. He had been drafting a letter to Illyrio, asking him to contact Lord Aeos once again and, this time, put forward the proposal of Daenerys's marriage directly, and convince him that it was a very strong alliance. Through this alliance, Lord Aeos could expand his empire into Westeros. After all, he wanted the greatest empire of all time. He had even asked Illyrio to convey that if he agreed, immediate benefits in the form of trade relaxation would be made for Lord Aeos. Varys was willing to burn his rare few personal favours to secure this alliance.
But he had barely written a few words, when he had received a signal. A specific pattern of bells near his residence. It was a signal of an incoming message. Another piece of information had come from Essos.
Hurriedly, he folded the parchment and placed it in his breast pocket, then marched towards the dungeons, the hidden cellars beneath the Red Keep. He reached the designated spot and found a middle aged man, one of his informants apart from the little birds, was waiting there for him.
"Lord Varys," the man said, bowing, as he pulled out a sealed parchment. "Message from Essos."
Varys took the parchment, handed the man a gold dragon, and dismissed him. He stuffed the parchment into his pocket and returned to his residence. Sitting on his chair, he hoped it was not another earth shattering piece of news as he opened the seal.
But whatever gods Varys believed in, they did not hear him. As Varys read through the parchment, his face turned white. His hands were trembling, his lips quivering, his eyes bulging in shock and sheer disbelief on his face.
He had not felt this much shock when Lord Aeos had captured Astapor, when he had conquered Yunkai and Meereen, when he had learned that Lord Aeos was Ned Stark's bastard, or when he had learned how Lord Aeos had defeated the sellswords and the Dothraki.
By the time he finished, the parchment slipped from his hand, and he himself stumbled from his chair, barely protecting himself from collapsing.
"Dragons?" he mumbled to himself in extreme shock. "Rhaenys Targaryen is alive?"
Varys was barely able to hold himself up as he learned of what had happened in Qohor.
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