Lana leaned back into her chair, the soft breeze of the salty, summer morning gently brushing over her skin.

She laid her hand on the table, running it over the fine wood. She found all of this quite entertaining. Here she was, in King's Landing, where if fate allowed it, she would be back one day with her half-sister to steal it back from all of those idiots that currently ruled over it.

Gods she hated the Lannisters. Especially Joffrey.

It had been a long six months since she had last seen Dany, and being in King's Landing didn't make it easier.

It was fairly obvious that the boy king was not a Baratheon, which only resulted in Lana losing respect for the Lannisters. They put a bastard on the throne, and he had all the makings for a second Mad King. They were a selfish and narcissistic house.

It was tempting to say fuck it and strike down the king himself without any orders. When Joffrey had handled Sansa Stark like she was nothing more but a common wench, all because her brother was at war with him, it took everything that Lana had not to call him a cunt right there and then.

The petulant king didn't realize that he was giving his usurpers more cause to take the throne from him. Abused dogs all eventually bit their masters, or given the chance, abandoned them for something better. It wouldn't be long before the seven kingdoms thought similarly. It was already happening in the north.

Either way, in some small sense, Lana was grateful that she got to experience Joffrey as king before waging war against him. It made her feel justified for Dany's desire, even though she wasn't supposed to be in King's Landing in the first place.

When Lady Morganna Hornley purchased Lana from a handmaiden's trainer in Essos, she was supposed to live in the Horned Castle.  But they didn't anticipate Lady Hornley being offered a betrothment to Tommen Baratheon, which prompted a move to the Red Keep, to live among court until Tommen was of age. It was an age difference of about nine years, with Lady Hornley at only twenty.

Lana looked at the green gemstone necklace on the table, spotting a small dullness in the shine. She grabbed the rag next to her and continued to rub at it, the morning candlelight aiding her in sight. The shape and color made her think of a dragon egg, like the ones she saw as a child. The priestesses of Asshai would give them away on rare occasions to very high paying bidders. It was what she had been traded for at birth.

Somewhere, in these halls, are the very eggs that father traded me for.

The door to her shared room opened. "Lady Hornley has just woken, Vaella," Ellyn said, using Lana's pseudonym. 

"Thank you, Ellyn," Lana said with a smile as she rose from her seat, wrapping the necklace in the handkerchief. The maids all rose an hour before dawn in order to dress and style their hair, and to be awake for their ladies instead of sluggish and tired.

"I will walk with you. I have to tend to Lady Jolton," Ellyn said, straightening out the thin fabric of handmaids after a small gust of wind toyed at it.

"Excellent," Lana said. She liked Ellyn, and hoped she survived whatever wars were to come for the iron throne.

It was an odd storm of conflict inside of Lana , to both desire the potential life of a lady and to want to preserve the identity that she had spent twenty-three years forging for herself.

She hoped that she'd have handmaids like Ellyn. The thought made her furrow her brows, as something felt so foreign about that thought.

"So, I heard rumors of Stannis Baratheon, and that his fleet is coming to sack the city," Ellyn said as they passed by torches that had licked the walls too many times, staining the stone black.

"Surely we will be safe here?" Lana asked, wondering if a siege was really coming. If it was, then what was she was supposed to do about Lady Hornley? Did she follow through with her mission and kill Lady Hornley before the siege? Lana didn't have any direct orders to do so. I am not supposed to be here, in King's Landing. This was unexpected.

"Lady Jolton seems worried. There's a chance she is going to flee back home," Ellyn said and looked to Lana with worried brown eyes, the gentle curls of her black hair bouncing as they walked.

Lana tutted. "Lady Hornley would never leave. She is too devoted to Cersei." I may have to just kill her and run for it, and hope it was for the best.

"Your lady seems, ah, difficult, at times," Ellyn said quietly after they passed by a guard in red armor, which glinted softly in the torchlight.

"She has faced many obstacles that produce someone of a tougher kind," Lana said in the most politically correct way that she could.

"Well, you seem able to handle her. Good for you," Ellyn said, shivering slightly from the cold morning. The winds from the ocean always brought a salty chill.

They rounded a corner, and the sky was brighter on this side, facing the rising sun.

Lana's gaze latched to another that was walking in their direction, towards the king's chamber.

He was a man that they called the Hound. He was taller and broader than most men, with a burned face that was hard to miss. He was one of the few men walking the halls of kings that bore such scars, which Lana found curious, as who would want an un-scarred man with no dents in his armor to guard a king? The Hound was the only man to fit such a description.

Sandor Clegane glanced at the two of them, to which Ellyn looked away immediately. Lana, on the other hand, nodded in his direction, fascinated by such the contrast that he made to all the others. Among the few talents that made her a crimson assassin, one of them was judging characters.

And he was an enigma. She liked those. They were a challenge.  "Good morning, ser."

He immediately revealed disdain, throwing her a firm, livid stare, wrinkling the scars on his face. "I'm not a damned ser."

Lana paused in her walking, and Ellyn made sure to take a few steps away before stopping herself. "I thought it was only sers that guarded a king?" Lana asked with a furrowed brow, quite confident that she had that right. A mystery, perhaps?

He scoffed and said with an arrogance. "It's a bunch of idiots that become sers, and they have just as much honor as the back-alley whores that they fuck."

Lana closed her eyes for a few seconds, truly taken aback by the coloring of his words. A mystery, indeed. "So, then, how are you the one to guard the king? Isn't that a knights job?" she asked.

He turned to face her fully, his eyes lacking any bit of warmth, and he reminded her of the pit fighters in Meereen. Even though the scar was horribly ugly, with the flesh forming valleys and ridges, marring him something terrible, she couldn't help but wonder if he would have been more handsome. Which was surprising, because everyone talked about him as if he was like one of the stone men. Perhaps that is why he is so grouchy.

Clegane said, "If you have to ask, then you are not worth explaining it to. Get back to your work, girl."

He turned around and continued about his day, the sound of his armor clinking with every heavy step he took, towering over those around him.

She turned back to Ellyn and they continued about their morning. "Well, he is definitely not a knight. But you know, I think that's better. If I were a king, I'd want someone like him defending me. It's like getting through a bunch of lions only to realize you have to fight a direwolf at the end, one with a missing ear and scar over its eye," Lana said, thinking it through. It was like the Lannisters to do such a thing. In truth, she loved learning about others. It was what made her astute in her trade.

"Lana, don't talk to the Hound," Ellyn warned. "You are right. There is a reason he guards Joffrey. A soul mad enough to confront the Hound winds up in the grave. They say that half of his victims turn to ghosts because of how terrifying he is before death," she said, and looked over her shoulder for good measure. "Plus, that scar is atrocious, and terrifying."

"His scar is not so unbecoming. I have witnessed worse," Lana said, surprised that everyone focused so heavily on it. His hair covered most of it.

"Well, true, that he might be somewhat handsome without it, but it has completely spoiled him, and further, his demeanor," Ellyn said. "He's just so uncouth, and ill-mannered."

"Why is he always so crass? How does someone get employed on a kingsgaurd who behaves so poorly?"

"He isn't like that to the lords and ladies, obviously. Like the rest of us, he knows how to behave when he needs to. But to anyone else, he makes the jagged mountains of Dorn look soft. I say just leave him be and let him drink, whore and kill to his heart's desire."

Lana smiled, knowing not to push it further without seeming odd for a lady of her role. "Thank you for the warning, Ellyn. I heed your caution."

They eventually parted their ways, and Lana arrived to Lady Hornley's room, standing in front of a finely carved wooden door with two ram's horns on it. She heard coughing on the other end. Poison. Lana had poisoned the lady of twenty name days, to induce a slow death, as she was paid to do.

It would be over soon for the lady, however. Lana would soon give the Lady of Horns a lethal dose, and then return to Essos.

To Daenerys. To her half-sister.

It made Lana sad to think that she'd never see her friends of the Crimson Company once she came here permanently. Although, maybe a few could come and serve her. She would need guards. She was good at killing, but she was small, and easily overpowered. She was lethal like a snake, but needed the strength of a bear to protect her among men with plated armor. She already knew of a few that she could ask.

Yes. It won't all be sad.

Lana touched the cold metal of the handle and opened the door, smiling as she bowed.