Jaecerys I
297 AC, Illyrio’s Manse, Pentos
“Now boy do you know what your task is,” Illyrio asked him.
“Yes. I am to befriend Prince Viserys and Princess Daenerys, and spy on them reporting their actions directly to you my Lord,” Jaecerys responded.
“Good,” said Illyrio, “now Varys recommended you for your talents in infiltration and eavesdropping. Your past experience as one of Varys’s little birds, will aid you in your next task.”
“Yes my Lord,” Jaecerys responded not knowing where Illyrio was going with this. To be honest he himself was quite nervous about his next assignment. He himself had never seen the Prince or Princess and heard varying accounts about him from the servants that Magister Illyrio employed to aid and observe them. Prince Viserys based on their accounts seemed to be a bit mercurial to him. He was reported to have been arrogant and prone to having a temper towards anyone who displeased him. But then suddenly as if flipping a coin, he became more reserved and studious. Jaecerys was also hastily trained in the basics of highborn society here to –
“Jaecerys are you listening to me?!” Illyrio asked with a hint of displeasure laced in his tone.
Jaecerys interrupted from his thoughts replied, “Y..yes my Lord. You were talking about Lord Varys and the specifics of this task.”
Illyrio’s face suddenly darkened and he then stared down Jaecerys stating bluntly, “Do not fail me child, or I shall send you back to streets and slums from which you came. There you will suffer poverty, and never again know the comforts of a warm bed and a roof over your head. Do I make myself clear with you boy,” Illyrio said jabbing his fat finger into his chest.
Jaecerys gulped and replied, “Y..yes my Lord. I shall not fail you”
Jaecerys was a street urchin as Magister Illyrio described him as. He was born in squalor within the slums of Lys for most of his life. His mother died when he was very young, and he took to working with a gang of thieves in order to avoid starving to death like most of the other orphans around him. He was actually quite good as a thief he had to admit when looking back retrospectively. His small hands, and short stature as a young and malnourished youth, allowed him to I better able to sneak through small nooks and crannies. This made evading guards much easier while also allowing him to pilfer valuables from unsuspecting strangers. This was how he had lived until he made the mistake of stealing from Lord Varys. Jaecerys still remembered how scary this event was for him.
It was one day after he was wandering the streets looking for someone to pickpocket that he spotted Lord Varys. On a first glance the Eunuch seemed like an ideal target for such an endeavor. The fat eunuch was dressed in ornate gold-trimmed robes which made him look very out of place for person within the slums of Lys. Jaecerys had thought the man to be some unsuspecting rich nobleman that he could easily pilfer a coin purse from. Men like these were rare within the crime-infested and poverty-stricken slums, and taking a small trinket from any of them would have been enough to feed him for weeks if not a whole month. But the Eunuch was far cleverer than he had anticipated, much unlike the typical aristocrat that he was used to pilfering from. The man possessed a shrewdness that Jaecerys had never seen before, and he remembered the fear he felt when he had caught him by the arm. Instead of trying to run he was paralyzed with fear thinking that he was about to die.
But instead of simply killing him, or handing him over the city guards who would have surely executed him, or sold him into slavery as a punishment, the fat eunuch took him in. He was given a warm bed to sleep in for the first time in his life and given a proper hot meal. Jaecerys recalled how Varys had recruited him into becoming one of his “little birds” as he called it. At the time he was more than happy to serve the man out of gratitude for him sparing his life, and taking him into his employ. Varys initially treated him with kindness and had him act as his messenger scurrying across the city gathering information on the most prominent noblemen within the city. His short stature and small hands which allowed him to pilfer gold now allowed him to steal something far more valuable than gold and silver: a man’s secrets. During his service under Lord Varys, he learned how men’s secrets were far more valuable than any mere amount of gold, as their secrets allowed the Eunuch control over seemingly more powerful men who ordinarily would have swatted the Eunuch as though he were a fly. This power of secrets had truly fascinated him, and he was motivated to improve his craft to learn more about this art from Lord Varys and to please the closest thing that Jaecerys had to a father. After all that was how he presented himself to the other children in his employ. With false acts of kindness the spider managed to snare unsuspecting children like him into his web to be used for his own benefit.
A few months into his newfound trade, he learned the darker and more sinister aspects of his role as a Little Bird. Jaecerys had noted that the children Varys had him work with never spoke. He had thought them to be mutes, or shy children unused to his presence. He had thought that Lord Varys had simply preferred to recruit mutes into his service so that if they were caught, they wouldn’t divulge his secrets. He was utterly mortified when he found out that the Eunuch actually had ordered the children’s tongues ripped out. Jaecerys feared that this too would have been his own fate had he not been lucky enough to be employed by Magister Illyrio of Pentos. He escape becoming a mute because of his Valyrian features by virtue of him being a Lyseni in origin. Varys had transferred him into the employ of Illyrio to spy on Prince Viserys whom he was close enough in age to, and had a passing resemblance to the Princeling.
In preparation for his new role, he was hastily trained in etiquette, High Valyrian the language of the elite, and he was given instructors to help him improve his literacy. While he had some basic knowledge in matters such as counting sums and reading phrases in letters, he received a proper education to help fill in the gaps in his knowledge. Jaecerys was grateful that he now lived in this new and comfortable position away from the gutters and ditches he used to sleep in. He knew however that this was only due to the nature of his new mission, and Jaeherys feared the consequences should he fail to be useful to Magister Ilyrio who would no doubt cast him out on the streets to rot away in squalor.
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