"Grandmother!" Margaery loudly called out as she hurried along with her guards towards the approaching Tyrell party, "The King is here too," she revealed as soon as she came close, while pointing behind her, with both the guards merging and creating a large circle around the two Tyrell women to try and isolate them from the incoming crowd of smallfolks.
"I know. I saw him from the nnn when he came down the road," Olenna answered as her eyes went towards the large open area close to the shore where the King could be seen along with his Kingsguard, "Couldn't have missed the pig, even if I wanted to," she muttered with a snort.
"Grandmother!" Margaery rebuked in a low whisper, as she discreetly glanced around them.
Thankfully, though, only Olenna's giant twin guards were in earshot, while the other guards were far enough that they should not have heard her Grandmother insult the King so casually.
Even though Margaery placed a lot of trust in the personal guards that her family had cultivated from a young age, she knew it was always better to be cautious. Especially here in King's Landing, where there are plenty who are willing to pay a man considerable gold to buy their tongue, and she knew well that every man had a price in this world, no matter how loyal.
"Yes, yes, I know," Olenna replied dismissively, rolling her eyes at her granddaughter's skittishness, "So did you get the opportunity to speak with the boy?" she asked while trying to scrutinise the Northerner boy from afar, and what she saw pleased her very much, as from what she could make of him, he had grown up to be quite the dashing man over the years, the kind that silly maidens would fall for at the first sight, 'It seems Essos was quite good for the lad,'
"Indeed, I did," Margaery answered with a hesitant nod, feeling nervous for some reason, "We only conversed for a little while, but I think he seemed glad to see me again,"
"Good, that is a promising start, then," Olenna nodded with a satisfied expression, feeling grateful that the Gods had taken pity on her and blessed her with such a competent granddaughter, after cursing her for so long with that fool for a son, "You need to be careful though, the boy had always been unusually cunning for his age, and would see through any crude manipulation immediately. But I am sure if you take it slow and show some sincerity, he will eventually succumb to your beauty and grace. It will not be easy, but I have every faith in my granddaughter," she smiled with a proud expression as she patted Margaery's hands.
'I do not think it would be hard at all,' The girl thought to herself with a strange expression on her face, but she did not believe it prudent to tell her Grandmother that the 'cunning' boy she was speaking about had already invited her to supper in the evening.
Because she herself was still a bit muddled about whether Jon was simply making a jest, if he was being polite and asking as just a friendly acquaintance, 'Or if he had any other intentions,' she thought, her face feeling hot for some reason, 'Because no one would be that bold, right? Especially not after meeting a girl for the first time in years,'
Not noticing the unusual emotions playing on her dutiful granddaughter's face, Olenna continued, "Do you know what they are waiting for over there?" she asked as he jerked her head towards the gathering of the Baratheon party and the Northerners.
"The last I heard, Jon was telling the King something about gifts that he had prepared for him," Margaery replied with a small frown on her face.
She had stayed on the periphery of the group, trying to subtly eavesdrop on their conversation until she had caught sight of Olenna and the guards coming out of the city gates, and hurried to meet her.
"So that is what those boats are for then," Olenna muttered in understanding as her eyes moved towards the sea, where a procession of seven boats was slowly moving towards the dock.
Each of the boat's deck was covered with a very large red cloth which hid most of the space so that only the man rowing the boat was visible, "I didn't know the boy was so eager to suck up to the King," The eldery Matriarch murmured as she closely examined Jon with her eyes narrowed in contemplation, unsure whether it was a simple ruse from him to gain leverage over the gullible King or if he was being genuine here.
Unfortunately for Olenna, even with her years of experience as a player of the game, she had to admit that she could not reliably predict the brat's intentions, 'And we can not have that,' she thought with a troubled frown.
After all, the woman was about to bet the future of her family on the boy, so she had to know for sure that he was not just a foolish honourable boy who was loyal and faithful to his king, and would never think to go against him. 'It seems I need to find an opportunity to have a good heart-to-heart talk with the boy.'
"Lady Olenna!!"
A playful voice suddenly called the Tyrell Matriarch from behind, breaking her out of her thoughts, as she and the others turned around only to see the infamous Lannister dwarf swaggering down the road towards them with a wide grin on his face, "We meet again, My Lady. What a wonderful coincidence it is!" he greeted with a raised hand as he came to stop in front of them with his half a dozen lannister guards surrounding him on three sides so that he does not disappear amidst the surging crowd, which was showing no signs of slowing down.
"Yes, yes, how coincidental it is," Olenna replied in a dry voice, "After all, it is not as if our destinations were similar and we set off from the same inn."
"Exactly," Tyrion nodded with a smile as he ignored her sarcasm and turned to the younger Tyrell, "And you must be Margaery, the most beautiful Rose of Highgarden. I must say I have heard a lot of good things about you."
"Lord Tyrion, it is a pleasure to meet you." Margaery replied with a graceful bow, feeling a bit confused by the sudden understanding between her grandmother and the Lannister's second son, because as far as she was aware, these two had never spoken to each other before, 'So how could they have gotten so familiar with each other after a simple interaction at the Inn?'
"So is that the rumoured pirate slayer that the whole city has been talking about?" Tyrion asked as he peered out into the distance, trying to make out the boy standing beside the red-haired Stark he had already gotten acquainted with, "Hm, is he not too pretty to be a warrior?" he murmured out loud with a dubious look on his face.
"Do you think you, of all men, should be saying that, Lannister?" Olenna scoffed with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh? Why would I—" The Dwarf began confusedly before his expression abruptly cleared, "Ah, I had forgotten about my brother," he said as he shook his head with a wry look, "You are right, My Lady. I guess there is indeed a precedent of warriors who are not only prettier than a woman, but also decent with a sword."
"Prettier than a woman, huh?" Olenna murmured with a small smirk, very much liking the way the insult rolled off her tongue, "I should remember that, the next time I see your brother."
"Ha, He will probably just take that as a praise," Tyrion snorted with a smile as he turned his back towards the shore, "So the boy is really going to give the King seven gifts, huh?" he said as he looked at the boats that were almost at the docks now, "Seems awfully pious for a Northerner,"
'Perhaps, the Lady Stark had more of an influence on the boy's upbringing than the outside world knows,' the dwarf guessed with a smirk on his face, as a distinct image appeared in his mind, of the stiff devout lady from Riverland, standing in a sept with a stick in her hand, teaching the sinful bastard about the seven,' The thought was very funny even if not very probable.
"How did you even know that they are gifts?" Olenna asked with a suspicious look on her face, as the woman knew that the dwarf had left much later than her. And since he did not have a granddaughter as an insider to tell him the details, he should not have learned about the gift so soon, 'And it was too far-fetched for it to be a simple guess,'
"From the crowd, of course," Tyrion replied with a confused tilt of his head, as if asking why that was even a question, "Is that not what all of them have been whispering about?" he asked, waving his hand at the excited commoners around them, who had by now more than doubled from the few minutes ago when Olenna had entered the gates.
Now that the two Tyrell women were paying close attention to it, they could catch many a snippet of conversations from the eager smallfolks passing them by, and sure enough, they immediately realised that the Lannister dwarf was right.
"...What do you think the gifts are? Do you think it is the head of the Pirate King he killed?"
"...What is that going to be worth? It must have rotted to bones by now..."
"...I heard he is going to give him all the loot he picked off of the Pirate King he killed, and also..."
"...You are wrong, because I heard that he is going to give him a large ship filled with just gold and jewels..."
"Ah! Really?! How much money would that even be?"
'How is it possible for so many of them to know about this so quickly? It is too unnatural... even with the nosy nature of King's Landing small folks,' Olenna thought as she looked around her with a frown on her face, 'Could someone be deliberately spreading the news? But why? For what reason?'
Olenna mused distractedly as she turned back towards the party at the shore, which was now slowly being surrounded in a large semi-circle by a crowd of enthusiastic smallfolks, and almost intinctively she focused in on the face of the charismatic boy standing next to the king, the one who seemed to be the focus of every eye at the moment, 'Don't tell me...is he...'
"Perhaps, it would be wise if we all moved a little closer," Tyrion said as he helplessly watched his vision slowly being narrowed by a sea of heads, and being the smallest, he was obviously the first one to be affected, 'I would rather die than suffer through the indignity of standing on my men's shoulders to watch the excitement. Once was enough.'
"The Lannister is right. Let us move." Olenna decided with a nod as their party set off, 'Perhaps, by seeing the brat up close, I can more easily make out his intentions.'
...