Game of Thrones: StormBorn

"We can rule out the Alchemists I think…" Obara said, stepping into the room with a dismissive roll of her eyes. "The lot of them are cowering away right now for fear of retribution, but I managed to snag one off of their Wisdoms, and they said Frey was slightly injured, but nowhere near fully cooked when he left their place."

"I didn't think it was them, to begin with, but thanks for checking anyway." Tyene smiled, turning back to the wide list of suspects they had drawn out on the table. "That puts us down to only about a dozen with the resources and motivation…"

Nymeria stood across the room, her eyes out the window as she sat on a small cushion by its edge. "I still think it's the red cult. They tried to kill Prince Arthur way back in Sunspear, and fire magic was definitely their specialty."

"Was being the operative word." Tyene continued. "They haven't operated here in years, and most of Essos kills them on sight."

"Near Essos at least." Nymeria nodded, "they might have chapters as far as Yi Ti, or perhaps even the dark city of Asshai."

"That's a fairytale," Obara grumbled though Arianne felt compelled to shake her head from where she stood at the table with Tyene.

"No, it isn't, while Arthur's company ships have never gone that far, we have taken on a few crewmen and merchants that have. The city exists, but it doesn't matter much to us in this matter. If the Red cult does still exist they would have had to pass through the Stepstones to get here, and we would have caught them."

Nymeria paused for a moment, then sighed. "I don't know, it just seems right."

"I don't think so." Arriane shook her head, "I think we have four or five top suspects."

Taking a pen in her hand and wetting its tip with ink, she began to write.

"First, and most obvious, Tywin Lannister is in the city, but this really isn't his normal behavior, or at least it isn't the style of his henchmen. From what I saw Gerald was intact save for the burning. I doubt Lorch or the Mountain would have left him that way." She sighed. "Still, he's got a clear motive, and he's a clever player, so we can't rule him out."

"Didn't father say we might be-" Tyene quickly shushed Obara, gesturing that Arianne ought to continue.

"Thank you. Next, we have Jon Arryn, more of a wild card, but he doesn't really seem like the type to hire assassins. Still, the word is around town that he's been moving together a power block to oppose Arthur. He has the motivation to kill Arthur's people, even if he probably didn't know how important Gerald was."

"Doesn't seem his type, the old man thinks in war and marriage, not knives in the dark."

"I know, of them, he's the least likely." Arianne continued, before writing down the next two names quickly in succession. "These two, I know too little about to say anything for sure, but Arthur strongly impressed on me that they were enemies and that I should come to him if I saw any inclination of them at all." She lifted the paper. "Petyr Baelish the Master of Coin, and Varys, the Master of Whispers."

"I can see Varys, but the Master of Coin? I heard he was a jumped-up whoremonger." Nymeria said, casually flicking her hair back. "Should we really be wasting time on him?"

"Arthur impressed on me that he was a ruthless and cunning man, and utterly without limits. He also has extremely deep pockets from filling them with royal expenses." She tapped her chin. "He said it was unlikely he'd bother moving against us specifically, but that he was almost certainly planning something at any given time."

"I wouldn't have thought him the type," Nymeria said, before glancing quickly at Tyene. "Perhaps that means he's more dangerous than you thought."

"Maybe, but I don't want to go leaping at shadows either." She tapped the other name. "Varys is similar in that regard. He keeps tight lips as the Master of whispers should, but I have no doubt he's capable of having Gerald burned to death away from any suspicion. I have no idea how he knew, but Arthur said he maintained a large network of mutes to spy for him, and that some of the older ones might also be assassins."

"That's a little…"

"Creepy."

"Yes, very much so. It sounds like something the Essosi would do." Arianne said, writing out the final name. "And then there's the wildcard of the bunch, Queen Cersei."

"Not her," Tyene said decisively, and Arianne almost jumped with surprise, turning to look at her surrogate sister. "What? This isn't her style. She's too erratic, and she'd probably try to have you or Arthur killed instead. Have you met her? She isn't the type to pay attention to other people's servants, though I'd bet her own are petrified of her."

Arianne placed her finger on her lip, she didn't want to rule out any of them so easily, but it wasn't as of Tyene didn't have a case.

"It's none of those," Obara said, at last, her eyes narrowed on the paper.

Now it was everyone's turn to be shocked, turning to the Eldest and strongest sand snake, whose eyes remained fixed on the paper, as she justified her statement. "None of them, 'cept Varys or Baelish maybe, are the type for this, and neither of them has means to know how important he was." She tapped her foot on the ground. "Call it a warriors intuition or whatever you please, this is an outside party." Her eyes swapped to Arianne. "Don't go to the party tonight. With the Essosi. I'd wager this spawned from that continent. Prince Arthur has more enemies there, and they know him better than anyone in this city, they'd have the knowledge to Target the Frey, and to do it this way." 

Arianne paused for a moment, then nodded. "I'll speak to Arthur about this." She said slightly. "He may want to go just to sniff them out, perhaps with his guard in proximity."

"Whatever," Obara said, seeming to relax, her muscles loosening as she turned from the paper. "I just know it's not one of them. I wish I could just find the asses who did it and gut them, but it's never that easy." The eldest Sand Snake turned towards the door, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Just let me know if you find the bastards so I can kill em, presuming your darling leaves any leftovers."

As the woman departed, her sisters were left half agape, with Arianne only a tad more composed.

Tyene was the one to finally break the silence. "Who would have thought Obara had it in her…" she paused for a moment, before turning to Arianne. "As much as I trust that intuition of hers, I think we should be on our toes anyway." The blond paused for a moment, before grinning widely.

"Still, I hadn't been planning on accompanying you to a party tonight. I wonder what I should wear?"