Some Allies Are More Dangerous

His Chains Chinked Softly. I Seldom Fling Children From Towers To Improve Their Health. Yes, I Meant For Him To Die.

Schemes Are Like Fruit, They Require A Certain Ripening.

Who Do You Think Our Champion Will Be Today? Have You Seen Mace Tyrell's Boy? The Knight Of Flowers, They Call Him. Now There's A Son Any Man Would Be Proud To Own To. Last Tourney, He Dumped The Kingslayer On His Golden Rump, You Ought To Have Seen The Look On Cersei's Face. I Laughed Till My Sides Hurt.

Ruling Is Hard. This Was Maybe My Answer To Tolkien, Whom, As Much As I Admire Him, I Do Quibble With. Lord Of The Rings Had A Very Medieval Philosophy: That If The King Was A Good Man, The Land Would Prosper. We Look At Real History And It's Not That Simple... Real-life Kings Had Real-life Problems To Deal With... My People Who Are Trying To Rule Don't Have An Easy Time Of It. Just Having Good Intentions Doesn't Make You A Wise King.

But The Real Enemy Is The Cold. It Steals Up On You Quieter Than Will, And At First You Shiver And Your Teeth Chatter And You Stamp Your Feet And Dream Of Mulled Wine And Nice Hot Fires. It Burns, It Does. Nothing Burns Like The Cold. But Only For A While. Then It Gets Inside You And Starts To Fill You Up, And After A While You Don't Have The Strength To Fight It. It's Easier Just To Sit Down Ot Go To Sleep. They Say You Don't Feel Any Pain Toward The End. First You Go Weak And Drowsy, And Everything Starts To Fade, And Then It's Like Sinking Into A Sea Of Warm Milk. Peaceful, Like.