Arya is chasing an old black tomcat around the Red Keep. Syrio has had her chasing cats night and day, and she has caught every one in the castle save this one. She finally catches the cat when she is startled by the appearance of Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella accompanied by a septa1 and two guards. They mistake her for a boy, and the septa orders one of the guards, Godwyn, to seize her. She darts away and manages to avoid them all, but ends up in an unfamiliar part of the castle. When her eyes adjust to the dark, she discovers she is in a storeroom containing the dragons that used to hang in the throne room. She proceedes down a dark hallway until she hears voices and sees two men coming up steps from below. One is a scarred man who seems strangely familiar and the other is a fat man with a forked yellow beard.2 Yellow beard tells scarface that he must delay until the khal is ready to stir, which he will not do until his child is born.3 Scarface says that Eddard already has the bastard and the book and will soon know the truth.4 This combined with the attempt on his son and Catelyn's seizure of Tyrion means that the Starks and Lannisters will soon be at each other's throats and that the Tullys will probably be dragged in too. Furthermore, Lysa and Stannis have fled beyond scarface's reach and are gathering swords, while Loras is writing his father to bring his sister to court so that Robert can wed and bed her, and Petyr remains unpredictable as always. Yellow beard suggests killing Eddard, but scarface says that is untenable. Scarface says they must move now, but yellow beard says this is impossible. Scarface ends by asking for fifty more "little birds," young boys who can read and write but have their tongues removed.5 After that, they are out of hearing, but Arya follows their torch to get out of the passage. She ends up at the mouth of a sewer far from the castle and has to walk back. The guards at the gate almost do not let her in. Finally, Tomard and Harwin march her in to see Eddard. She tries to tell him what she heard, but gets it all mixed up in her head, and he thinks she just saw a mummer's troupe. Desmond interrupts their conversation to announce Yoren, who has just arrived in King's Landing. Yoren asks to speak to Eddard in private,6 and Eddard has Desmond lead Arya away. On the way to her rooms, she asks Desmond if the guards will be able to protect Eddard. Desmond says yes, each northerner is worth ten southron swords.
