Chapter Text
When the thought first came to me of Lys being a useful bolthole in the event that unpleasantness of a near-terminal kind was encountered, it was on the basis of there being few other (read: no other) places where a pair of valyrian descended children could hide their heritage as easily. As a bonus, there was a decently competitive banking sector in place. Both of these factors still hold true, and I do need to be able to stop and get organised for a time, possibly leaving the two of them in place while I’m away. But...
There are some details, which, while I can’t say I wasn’t aware of them, are rather different to face in reality than as an abstract note about a city continental distances away. And by details, I mean slaves. Living in Braavos does somewhat spoil you for when you set foot in any other Essosi city. I’m not claiming any sense of egalitarianism is present, but there is a line that the people there recognise as not being OK to cross and will stand together to not allow, and that makes one doozy of a difference.
To be honest, I feel a bit dirty inside having to go to a slave trader to set up a household staff, for all that they’ll be freed at the first opportunity, and I can’t even rely on the Braavosi sense of less-is-more to only have a couple. No, there needs to be a number comparable to a Westerosi noble’s household if we want to blend in. Viserys, bless his inbred little heart, did go very quickly from ‘of course I should have my every whim obeyed’ to ‘this feels both hollow and unsatisfying’. It may not be the lesson I'd love him to take away from the situation, though there’s still time, but at least I don’t need to worry about him going drunk on power.
An account has been opened with Lys’ third most respectable bank, and thanks to the value of real estate in Braavos there isn’t any immediate need to transfer more from the Iron Bank (I had the money raised from the house with us in the form of a letter of credit secreted on my person). Hats off to the engravers at the city mint, the naked lady on the reverse of Lysene coins leaves nothing to the imagination, except perhaps those of teenage boys. A house in what might easily be called the city’s genteel poverty district has been rented for a year, fully furnished. Overall they are far less taken with the use of credit than in Braavos, so it might be a good time to advance Viserys' lessons in financial responsibility for in the event he’s left with the purse strings.
I also have my own money matters to deal with, but all going well the letters I wrote en route should see most things covered. In the spirit of apology and pragmatism, I‘ve offered to transfer rights to the dip pen to the Guild in return for a good letter of reference, continued membership (including pension provisions), and what I’m sure they’ll agree is a modest annual fee. Half of my savings in the Iron Bank are going into shares with their good self, and the rest should arrive as a credit note with the next ship registered and insured to handle transfers for them coming this way, along with a few key items from the Targaryen deposit box.
An issue I hope to address, now that the drama has calmed down, is that, as in many occasions, there is never a responsible adult when you need one. Now, there is a good deal that I will do for the children, both within the vague bounds of my job description and as a decent human being. But there comes a point when what you really need is someone in the way of a legal guardian to hand things over to. Not just for my benefit, but theirs too, going by what I recall of the future having in store. And, I think this might be the best time I'm going to get to take steps in that direction.
There are a couple of potential problems I can see ahead of me, the main one is that I only know of two people that have any familial connection to them, the next being that they are both Princes of Dorne, and there are obvious difficulties in that regard with getting an audience. On the other hand, I haven’t heard of anything going down with the Ironborn. So if there hasn’t been a rebellion yet for people to rally against, then Prince Doran might still be looking to follow through on the marriage contract. On which, I’m going to need to have a small (large) chat with Viserys since it’s going to be news to him that he has a betrothed. Any option, in fact, needs him on board, though I don’t predict there being many he’ll be inclined towards, which is a pain since he has a lot of them once becoming King gets taken off the table.
In theory I could also put forward the notion that if he were to officially renounce his claim to the Iron throne, then Lord Arryn would most likely be willing to see his and his sister’s lifestyle supported by the crown, just so they can be kept an eye on. But that may need careful wording.