Summary: Daenerys
Daenerys realizes she must leave Qarth. She tells Jorah about the things she saw in the House of the Undying Ones. They go to the docks to hire a ship, but none of the captains will take them. Jorah notices a fat man and an old man following them and worries they are assassins. A man approaches Daenerys and offers her a jewel box as a present, but it contains a poisonous manticore. The old man knocks it away with his staff, saving Daenerys’s life. He tells her that he is Arstan and that the fat man is Belwas and that they work for Magister Illyrio, the wealthy merchant who once protected Daenerys and her brother. Arstan tells Daenerys that Westeros needs her. They hire three ships, which Daenerys names after her dragons.
Summary: Arya
Arya serves Roose Bolton in Harrenhal, but Roose’s men are even worse than the Lannister men. Arya overhears that Bran and Rickon are dead, and she wonders if she still has a home. Roose tells Arya that he will turn the castle over to Vargo Hoat of the Brave Companions and that she will stay on with Vargo. Arya goes to the godswood to pray, where she hears a lone wolf howl and her father’s voice. It tells her that she has the wolf blood in her and is Arya of Winterfell, a daughter of the North.
Arya convinces Gendry and Hot Pie to escape. She steals a map from Roose, intimidates a stableboy into preparing three horses, and has Gendry bring swords from the smithy. When they see a guard, Arya tells Gendry and Hot Pie to wait while she deals with him. She approaches the guard and tells him that she is to give him a silver piece on Roose’s orders for his service. Arya drops the coin Jaqen gave her. When the guard bends down to pick it up, she cuts his throat. Arya picks up the coin and flees with the boys.
Summary: Sansa
The lords and ladies of King’s Landing gather in the throne room. Tywin is named Savior of the City and made the Hand of the King, to govern until Joffrey is old enough. Several of Renly’s knights pledge allegiance to Joffrey. Ser Garlan Tyrell asks Joffrey if he will marry Margaery. Joffrey pretends to be committed to Sansa, but Cersei and the High Septon say that his vow to marry her no longer holds, so he agrees to marry Margaery, uniting the Lannisters with the powerful Tyrell family. Sansa tries not to look happy, as Cersei instructed. She is to stay at court as a ward of the Lannisters.
Littlefinger, who arranged the alliance with the Tyrells, becomes Lord Paramount of the Trident with his seat at Harrenhal. Many of Stannis’s men pledge allegiance to Joffrey, but some yell about Joffrey’s incestuous parentage. Joffrey angrily demands they be killed and cuts himself on the Iron Throne. He cries out for Cersei to take care of him. That night, Dontos warns Sansa that the Lannisters will never let her go and that Joffrey may try to rape her. He says the plan is set to sneak her out of the city on the night of Joffrey’s upcoming wedding. Dontos gives Sansa stones from Asshai and tells her they are magical. They will be her vengeance and her way home.
Summary: Theon
Luwin tells Theon that he must yield Winterfell to Rodrik, whose forces greatly outnumber his. Theon has only seventeen men, and several of them no longer trust him. Rodrik calls for a parley. He notes that Theon cannot defend the castle against so many men, and that Robb will soon arrive. Theon says that his uncle’s forces at Moat Cailin will block Robb. Just in case, he has Rodrik’s daughter and will kill her and the other civilians in Winterfell unless Rodrik puts down his sword.
