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  ====In the Free Cities====
  Having killed his father Tywin, the Hand of the King, the dwarf Tyrion Lannister is smuggled out of Westeros to the city of Pentos by the spymaster Varys, where he is sheltered by the aristocrat Illyrio Mopatis. Tyrion is sent south with a party ostensibly to aid the exiled princess Daenerys Targaryen, who controls the only living dragons, in claiming the Iron Throne; on the journey, he learns that Varys and Illyrio have hidden the presumed-dead Aegon Targaryen, son of Daenerys's late brother Prince Rhaegar, intending to eventually install him as king of Westeros with Daenerys's aid. Tyrion persuades Aegon to invade Westeros immediately, without waiting for Daenerys. Soon afterward, Tyrion is kidnapped by Daenerys's disgraced advisor Jorah Mormont, who intends to deliver him to Daenerys in order to regain her favor.
  In the Free City of Braavos, Arya is an acolyte of the guild of assassins known as the Faceless Men. Temporarily afflicted with blindness at their hands, she develops her sense of hearing, and realizes that she can "see" through cats the same way she could with her pet direwolf, Nymeria. After her sight is restored, she is tasked with assassinating a corrupt merchant while magically disguised with another girl's face. After doing so, Arya is declared an apprentice of the Faceless Men, to be sent to another assassin to continue her training.