November 18, 2018

A secret meeting convenes at Dragonstone.

INT. DRAGONSTONE AUDIENCE CHAMBER - DAY

Lemore enters Dragonstone's audience chamber. And standing there, waiting for her...

VARYS

Septa Lemore, so very good to be meeting you at last.

VARYS approaches and clasps her hand warmly in both of his.

22.

LEMORE

Lord Varys. You speak very prettily, but you must know I haven't been a true septa in years.

VARYS

A title of courtesy, if it pleases you.

LEMORE

An insult to the title, in the eyes of the Faith.

VARYS

(pointed)

And whose eyes would that be, at present?

Lemore regards him.

LEMORE

Do you know what I saw, on my way to your island?

(off his look)

A merchant ship was destroyed by wildfire, on its way out of King's Landing. We sailed past the wreckage. Saw the burnt corpses floating in the Blackwater.

VARYS

Your queen appears to be developing a habit for wildfire.

(beat)

I appreciate that you are taking a great risk in accepting my invitation here. But after all, we do share a common enemy. Your Great Sept destroyed, your High Sparrow murdered, your Faith Militant turned to ash. All the Faith's power destroyed, in a single stroke.

LEMORE

Buildings can be destroyed, Lord Varys. Men and women can be killed. But Faith does not die so easily.

VARYS

Indeed, it does not. It carries on, doesn't it? In orphanages, poorhouses, humble neighborhood septs. Day by day, the work continues. And you, my friend. You have an impressive capacity for work. You weren't easy to identify, but I imagine you are now the closest thing the Faith has to a leader, in practice if not in title. Don't you want to avenge your murdered brothers and sisters?

23.

LEMORE

I want a great many things, Lord Varys. But you are not interested in removing Cersei to punish her for her sins, are you? You're interested in clearing the way for a new queen.

VARYS

I am interested in the same thing you are. To see the common people prosper again.

LEMORE

(politely dubious)

And that's what will happen under the Mad King's daughter?

VARYS

Queen Daenerys has always kept cause with the lowest of her people. She freed countless slaves across the Narrow Sea. The people under your care may not be slaves, but they suffer chains of their own -- hunger, injustice, the murder of innocents. Daenerys Stormborn is here to break those chains.

LEMORE

It's said that she burns men alive.

That pulls Varys up short, for a brief moment.

VARYS

War is war, I'm afraid. But when the peace is won, the realm will prosper in a way that it never will under Cersei.

He steps closer to her.

24.

VARYS

The Targaryens and the Faith worked together peacefully for hundreds of years. You are needed now more than ever. The people look to their holy men and women for strength in these troubled times. If you spread the word that Daenerys is the true queen, the rightful queen, the common people will listen. And Cersei shall be queen in name only.

LEMORE

(with an edge)

You mean to ask the poor to take up arms against the queen?

VARYS

Nothing so ostentatious as that. We are not asking you to fight.

LEMORE

Then what would you have us do?

VARYS

Pray. Pray for the return of your true queen. Drink secret toasts to her health.

Lemore eyes him, saying nothing.

VARYS

I understand you will need time to consider all of this. Our queen appreciates that she must earn your allegiance with time. This conversation is but the beginning of a new relationship. But before you return to your ship, I have something for you.

LEMORE

Lord Varys, if you think you can buy my confidence with gold...

VARYS

Not gold. Grain.

Men enter the room, bearing large chests between them. They open them, revealing their contents, as Varys continues.

VARYS

Clothing and shoes. Linen and medicine. Provisions for your orphanages and your poorhouses. We both know you are in desperately short supply.

25.

Lemore stares at the open chests. She slowly reaches down and picks up a child-sized shoe from one of the chests. She turns it over in her hands. Her face betrays how badly she needs such supplies.

VARYS

I only ask...

Lemore looks up, waiting for the inevitable catch.

VARYS

...that you continue the work you have been doing.

A beat.

LEMORE

(still doubtful)

You're saying this is a gift? That you expect nothing in return?

VARYS

Not a gift. A duty. From a queen to her people.

Lemore absorbs that. She stares as more chests are brought in, full of their humble-yet-precious cargo.