Tyrion looked in the bronze mirror again. Still, after ¾ a year, he couldn't believe this was him now. No longer a dwarf but a full man… he didn't know what to think about it. He knew he should be happy, who wouldn't be? But whenever he closed his eyes, he could still see his deformed face which he had grown up with. And the tests… the endless test by the maester. Reaction time, recovery times, muscle growth and so much more. It was exhausting and the sword training wasn't any better. He had never held anything more dangerous than a butter knife and now he was supposed to wield a sword.
He was no longer the imp but what was he now?
To find that out, he'd set out to sea dragon point, accompanying the gold shipment. Lord Veyne's hand had remade his form and maybe his guidance could help him discover his new destiny.
"Lord Tyrion, the city is in view"
Tyrion set the mirror on his nightstand and walked above deck, where he saw sea dragon point, or rather the city built on it, 'god's hand'. He was surprised with what he saw. Stone roads, a proper port, dozens upon dozens of stone buildings, greenhouses but no keep. He hadn't expected it to be so… refined or well organised. Most noble houses, which took generations to build their domain, didn't have this level of structure.
Perhaps that was the difference of laying houses brick by brick as opposed to in one swift motion.
Working and reworking designs left plenty of room for error. The ground floor of a tavern might've one day been a stable for pigs or the like before, after decades, it was reassigned. The natural growth of a city, especially a large one, was messy but this? This was planned and executed with a maester's precision.
As they docked, Tyrion walked up to one of the many stone buildings. Thick walls, made not of bricks but of one solid mass of rock. It was sturdy, water proof and meant to last. Even in Casterly Rock, not all buildings were made of stone, there was plenty of wood constructions, especially on the outskirts and as you got farther away from the centre, wood overtook stone and in the far reaches, there were also mud buildings.
This was a fate that most likely would never occur here. When the Lord in charge could create buildings out of nowhere, it removed all the inhibitors which prevented every building to be stone, mainly manpower and money…
Tyrion walked over to Lord Veyne's residence, a simple stone building, not totally dissimilar to the others, though it was bigger and from it hung the crest of house Veyne, the shattered silver hand on a field of gold. Pretty fitting, destruction at his fingertips. Lord Veyne stood in front of it, counting the coins which had been brought via ship, "I can assure you that the shipment is complete. My lord father owes you a great deal and a Lannister always pays his debts. He is too proud to try and trick you"
Max Veyne's eyes snapped onto his'. Mismatched eyes meeting those haunting golden eyes with slit pupils. It was a daunting sight, which could rattle anyone. Those eyes didn't belong on a man, which only elevated the sense of wrongness, "I don't doubt that but one of the guards tried skimming off a few golden dragons last month… let's just say Tui and La had plenty to eat", his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. It looked like a strange perversion of a true smile, "that reminds me- Tui, La, have you caught anything good?" It seemed as though he was talking to the air. He saw no one but the Lannister guards around and he was pretty sure that none of them had these strange, exotic names. It took a few seconds of silence, Tyrion was about to ask, when out of the sea rose two serpentine forms, about twice the length of a man's body and with wings on them. In one of their mouths, it held a large fish. The other creature didn't carry anything. Were these the same sea dragons that he had seen on Lord Veyne's wrist under a year ago? They had been so tiny then but looking at them now? They were big and -if the stories were true- they wouldn't stop growing anytime soon. Sea dragons were supposed to be -on average- even bigger than dragons when measured from head to tip of the tail.
"I believe you have already met? I- No La, you may not eat him"
"You can… talk to them?" Tyrions fear of the mighty creatures was overcome by his thirst for knowledge. As a dwarf, knowledge had been everything he could rely on and even now, he was as curious as a cat and he couldn't not ask.
"Yes I can. La is the more talkative one though", he stroked one of the sea dragon's scales gently, "they love exploring the open sea and sometimes they bring me back some interesting finds. Of course to them, food is the most interesting but sometimes they bring back magnificent finds, like this"
He pulled out a dagger from a sheath which Tyrion hadn't noticed. The blade shimmered in the sunlight. Its unmistakable pattern identifying it as- "Valyrian steel"
They had fished this out two moons ago and that was when he discovered that he couldn't change Valyrian steel. It's innate magic, which kept it ever sharp and free of rust also made changing it impossible.
"Have you broken your fast yet? Tui was so nice as to bring us a fish. It would be a pity to let good food go bad. I am sure you didn't come here for the hells of it but we can talk about the real reason you are here once we have some food in our bellies"
Tyrion nodded slowly, eyes still transfixed on the two sea dragons, which now dived back into the water.