The Iron Bank of Braavos demands that Cersei repay the debts it is owed by the crown. She also learns that Ser Osney has so far failed to carry out the first part of her plan and sleep with Margaery, despite there being attraction between them. To make matters worse, she worries about the influence Loras Tyrell, brother of Margaery, is having over Tommen. With his displays of martial skill, especially in jousting, Tommen is increasingly looking up to him. This, along with Margaery getting Tommen the kittens that he asked for, increases Cersei’s anxiety about being usurped by the Tyrells.

Brienne, along with Ser Hyle and Podrick, try to find the Hound—and by extension Sansa—in a place to the west of Maidenpool called Saltpans. He was allegedly sighted there committing atrocities. They also meet and continue their journey with a priest known as Meribald. He tells them about the difference between outlaws and “broken men.” The latter are ordinary men forced to go to war who become psychologically and physically traumatized as a result. They abandon their lords and armies and eke out an existence, living “from day to day, from meal to meal, more beast than man” (421).