Pate is training to be a “maester” in Old Town, a city in the southwest of Westeros. Maesters are men of learning who, once confirmed in the role, have the right to practice medicine and advise Lords on matters of state. He drinks with the other apprentices in a tavern while waiting for an “alchemist.” This man promised to give Pate a golden coin in exchange for a skeleton key that Pate stole from one of the maesters. Pate wants this so that he can afford to marry a local girl, Rosey, whom he loves. However, when Pate meets the alchemist on his way home and receives the coin, a strange poison on it kills him.

Aeron Greyjoy, a priest for the maritime people of the “Iron Islands,” is partially drowning men in the sea then reviving them as part of a religious ritual. As he does this, a local lord informs him that Balon Greyjoy, King of the Iron Islands and Aeron’s older brother, has died. He was swept off a bridge during a storm. There is now a problem of succession. Of Balon’s two children, one is Theon, a hostage in a rival kingdom, and the other is Asha, a female which precludes her from ruling by Iron Island custom.