CHAPTER 9

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"Everyone is here… let us start," Rheagar Targaryen began as he strode into the room with his two personal guard.

Varys smiled slightly as he stood up in respect the Silver Prince along with the rest of the occupants in the room. The room was circular with a circular stone table with five chairs. It was located deep within the bowels of the Red Keep in a section souls would rarely venture. There was only a single entrance and he could guarantee than anything said within these walls would stay secret. And he could bet his life on it… unless somebody from within betrayed them of course.

The occupants in the room were the most trusted men that the Prince could get into his service. There was him; the master of whispers who worked for the Targaryen Dynasty, Mace Tyrell; the Warden of Reach who was secretly here in King's Landing without anybody's knowledge, Leyton Hightower; the lord of Oldtown and the protector of the Citadel, Jon Connington; the Lord of Griffins Roost and the crown prince's best friend and Rheagar Targaryen, the crown prince.

Rheagar Targaryen, a boy of ten and eight years of age was the hope of the Seven Kingdoms. Due to the madness of King Aerys, the Targaryen Dynasty was crumbling piece by piece. The crown prince wanted to get things under control before the political tinder box known as Westeros exploded. As he wasn't able to overthrow his father in a direct confrontation, the prince had taken to obtaining loyalty from the various houses that dotted the continent.

Currently things were heating up in King's Landing and even the smallfolk knew that a conflict was just around the corner. Already people were fleeing areas that would one day come under direct attack slowly to other parts of the kingdom. Partly that was due to the decline of the standard of living at King's Landing to a state where even the beggars couldn't stomach. The problem was that nobody knew who would be the aggressors. Nobody knew if and when the fighting would start should it start at all. There were parties that were already profiting from the heightened tension and the crown couldn't do anything about it. The out of sight out of mind policy the Crown had taken to these poor people was coming to bit them back slowly as the capital was losing its population and revenue.

The Targaryens had lost a lot of power ever since the Dance of the Dragons. The only symbol that kept them at the top of the political food chain had died out and nobles were already starting to doubt their power. Only the threat of wildfire kept the most rebellious factions at bay. But wildfire itself was not an answer to everything despite King Aerys viewing it as that. One day their wildfire stock was going to run dry. Not because they wouldn't be able to make more, but because it took a lot of time and resources to produce a single jar. And the production procedure was a heavily guarded secret of the Alchemist Guild that even he couldn't pry out of their tightly clenched fists.

Varys was loyal to the crown. He viewed stability and order to be above anything else. So when Aerys invited him to serve as his Master of Whisperers when the king got paranoid about the crown prince's and queen's action, he took the opportunity to make things easier for the little people. He started small and he knew how the people without power were being treated. Heck, he was sold to a magician by his former troupe leader for a pretty penny. Now that he was in a position of power that even the most powerful lords feared, he took actions to prevent the hated magicians from ever rising to power in Westeros and serve his roots as much as he could. The Order of Maesters did much to keep magic out of Westeros and it helped him in his crusade against these 'evil doers.'

So here he was playing the role of double agent. He would speak to the Kings about the actions of his heir to pacify him as it was his duty while feeding the prince with information about his father, keeping both sides content and not rearing to go for each other's throats. Sometimes he let slip important details of the other party when it didn't align with his own ideals. It was a despicable act, even he knew that. But he had to take certain actions to keep the kingdom stable when the Royal family was busy infighting. He knew that he wasn't completely trusted by the prince or his closest companions, but he was a necessary evil for what the prince had in mind. So his presence was tolerated.

This was the first time he saw Mace Tyrell and Leyton Hightower in the prince's little group. He had to commend the prince for being able to hide the two nobles from his 'little birds' right in their proverbial nest. He knew of other lords who had thrown their lot with the prince opting to ignore the current king. But he had a vague feeling that the people in this room were going to be the people in power should the Silver Prince's plans come to fruition.

Gerold Hightower, the White Bull who was in-charge of the King's Guard closed the stone door behind them. Rheagar sat in the empty seat gesturing the others to have a seat as well.

Varys had to agree with the smallfolk. Prince Rheagar was extremely handsome with his Vayrian looks and royal purple eyes. He as smart and kind, always looking to help those in need within King's Landing. Varys himself had seen the prince perform with his harp to raise money for orphans. He knew that Rheagar would be the ideal king for the fractured kingdom. That was why he had thrown his lot with the Prince as well keeping him safe from his own father. But in a kingdom that couldn't resist the whims of the current king who was almost a raving lunatic, the prince was hamstrung and blocked in every single way.

Rheagar couldn't actively depose his father without the support of the lords under him. The Alchemist Association were staunch supporters of King Aerys and they had a large deterring power known as wildfire to keep the masses scared. He needed a majority of the nobles within his grasp for a peaceful power transition. That was why he was searching and recruiting more and more allies. He had been doing that for over three years now. It was a tiring, slow and a tedious task since most of the nobles wished for the status quo to exist. It helped them to hold on to their power and increase it slowly as the power of the Crown slowly failed. This wasn't the first time a mad king like Aerys had sat upon the throne, and it won't be the last either. They didn't want to trade one bad king with another since they all remembered how Aerys was smart and bright like his son in the early days. They already knew how this mad king worked. But Rheagar was a wildcard since they didn't want to adjust to another bad king if the power changed hands suddenly.

It seemed like Rheagar's power grab was coming to a close since he had managed to snag the Lord of Reach into his faction. The Reach was the largest, populous, fertile and prosperous of the Seven Kingdoms when you discounted the North for its sheer size and its recent changes. Yet still, the Reach was the only Kingdom that could field an army of one hundred thousand within a short notice. That carried a huge political weight by itself.

The Warden of the Reach was not particularly a bright man. He was more a meat head that preferred clashing steel than strategies or diplomacy. Vary was able to find out that it was his mother who was running the eastern kingdom. Mace Tyrell was just a figurehead and a puppet to his mother Olenna though Varys doubted that Mace referred to himself as one. The Reachman was proud and boastful like all Tyrells in the past.

The other person was quite a surprise to Varys. The Lord of Oldtown and the Guardian of Citadel had a powerful political weight in him. The Order of Maesters had to defer to him in all things political since it was stipulated in the original treaty between House Hightower and the Order. The Order didn't take part in active conflict, but a single order from the headquarters could cripple a Lord's army. This was done secretly, of course. The Order didn't want the Lords to know of their ability to sabotage them should they go against the Order's view of governance. That was why even the Tyrells in all their pride never provoked this particular house even if they belittled and provoked ancient houses like the Florents and the Tarlys who had a larger claim to be the Wardens of the Reach.

Leyton Hightower was an old man who was surprisingly sharp and strong for a man his age. He didn't show it and concealed this with his persona of being a weak decrypt old man, but Varys could see it in his eyes. He wasn't considered to be the best in his field for nothing. It was his ability to see these little things that made him dangerous. Also, this wasn't the first man to use this disguise. There was another man, right in this very keep who acted the same way when he obviously fit in mind and body. A man who wore black robes and a chain made of steel rings.

The other man was not someone worth giving a lot of attention to. But he was the Crown Prince's best friend and the current Lord of Griffins Roost, a rather wealthy house from the Stormlands despite his tender age.

"Your highness," began Mace, "it's an honor to finally meet face to face and talk about our little situation. You do not need to worry. The Tyrells stand firm behind you," he said boisterously.

"As will the Hightowers," Leyton added discarding his persona.

"Thank you for answering my summons, my Lords. But we need to speak on some matters that mustn't fall into other ears. That is why I requested to meet like this without a single soul being aware of our presence," Rheagar said.

Leyton and Mace shot Varys a look of distrust. It wasn't surprising as he was King Aerys' right hand man now that Tywin Lannister had been dismissed from service.

"We are all here to serve," Varys said with a smooth smile.

"He's here on my request," Rheagar explained quickly. "We need him to continue with our plans. Varys wants what's best for our kingdom. He has agreed to provide us with his services, but he will still play the part of being my father's right hand man in court."

"If you say so, your highness," Leyton replied slowly. But you could still see the suspicion within his eyes. Mace on the other hand was thrilled at the prince's explanation. It was a wonder how he survived until now with his rather dull mental capabilities.

'Lady Olenna must have a rather powerful grasp on Lord Tyrell. Let me see if I can use this to my benefit,' Varys mused.

"First things first... father is going to send out request to the Lords to present their daughters in the royal court to choose a bride for me. I don't know when he will send out the order, but it will be soon."

"Who do you think will be the most eligible, my prince?" Jon Connigton who had been silent until now spoke up.

"I don't know, Jon. My father is slipping more and more into insanity. Even I can't keep him stable like I used to do. And I can't even fathom to guess what's going inside that head if his. Varys did you get the list of the nobles who are most likely to present daughters?"

"Yes, your highness,' Varys replied bringing forth a rolled up piece of parchment. He unfurled it and placed it on the table so that the others could see it.

"I wish I had a daughter," Mace complained loudly. "If I had one I would have give to you, my prince. And she would have been your queen."

"We don't know that Mace," Leyton chastised him.

"What do you mean we don't know? Tyrells are the Lords of the Reach and the king doesn't look at us warily as he looks at the old lion. My daughter could have been the perfect candidate," he lamented.

It was a relief that the walls were thick and there were nobody who actively used this part of the castle as Mace didn't seem to know what a secret meeting constituted. Varys felt a headache coming when he saw what he was going to spend the next few hours with.

It wasn't surprising to see Mace Tyrell jump the chance to produce his daughter to the prince. They had been trying to get a daughter form their family in to the Royal Household from the day Aegon Targaryen unified the Seven Kingdoms. The Tyrells despite being rather dim were a very ambitious family. They betrayed their Liege Lords, the Gardners and rose to power overstepping many houses that were higher than them in the hierarchy to become the Wardens of the Reach. The Royal family knew that and hadn't given them a single opportunity to do so. They had taken wives from other families like the Hightowers of the Reach but overlooked the family of the Wardens much to their dismay.

"Well, you don't have a daughter. So there's no need on wallowing. Let's get back to business at hand," Jon interrupted the large Reachman who looked genuinely sad. Mace looked stunned but frowned heavily at the young man as soon as he got over his surprise.

Varys smirked. This was one of the few things he liked about Jon. He was a brusque man who was to the point like those northerners, a character that was hardly seen these days south of the Neck. He wasn't just Rheagar's best friend for no reason. It was this no nonsense attitude and a rather keen mind that drew the two men together.

"Let us all be calm, my Lords," the prince interrupted seeing the heated atmosphere. "Varys… continue."

"The most likely candidates are from House Lannister with Cersei Lannister, Mouse Martell with Princess Elia Martell and House Tully with either Catelyn or Lysa Tully. We can ignore the houses on the list that are not great houses since King Aerys deems them below his standard to be related to."

"We can most certainly ignore Cersei," Rheagar said. Seeing the questioning look by the other occupants within the room he started to explain the same thing that Varys had predicted. "Father has a grudge with Tywin. You remember on what charges he was dismissed as his Hand right? He will never give the chance for a Lannister to rise into power again."

The Lannister fallout had been bad. Tywin had left the capital with his family and retreated to their family holding at Casterly Rock. Aerys had just laughed at Tywin pointing at him in his court saying that he chased away the cowardly lions. After that Tywin hasn't been seen outside his castle.

Vary knew that the old lion was mad at the slight from his sources within the Rock. He probably wanted to concoct a plan that followed the same lines as the Reyne massacre. But unlike the Reynes or the Tarbacks who were vassal underneath him, Tywin didn't have much power outside the Westerlands, despite his wealth since nobody liked the aggressive Warden of the East. So trying to massacre the royal family would only culminate to the massacre of his own. The humiliated lion was biding his time. For what... only time would tell.

To prove his superiority yet again, the King would deny Tywin's daughter a chance to enter the royal family. Despite being considered one of the most beautiful women in the kingdom, his sources said that Cersei was a petty and arrogant girl. It was probably for the best that Tywin's daughter not be the princess since she would not be a match for the prince at all. It would only cause more problems down the line with her being in a position of power.

"It will probably be Princess Elia we can put the Tullys aside for now," Leyton said with a thoughtful look.

"Yes… Dorne is currently loosely associated with the Iron Throne. Despite having several marriages with the Dornish houses and the Targaryens, Dorne doesn't consider it under the rule of the Iron Throne. Aerys will want to make it his legacy to finally pacify the Dornish and include them in the kingdom proper," Jon agreed.

"Say what you will about the king, but at times even all of us put together will not be able to outsmart him," agreed Ser Gerold as his colleague Jonothor Darry nodded.

"What about the Starks? I've heard about Zoe Stark's beauty. She is considered the most beautiful women by most of the kingdom isn't she?" Mace asked with a frown. To him the chance of joining the royal family was an honor that they should jump given the chance. It was a chance to increase their wealth and prestige as the court was usually filled with the members of the Queen's family.

"Hahaa," Jon laughed and Leyton snorted.

"What? You mean they won't participate in this event?" Mace asked.

Varys wanted to smash his head against the table. Seriously what was going on inside this Lord's head? How come he not know of the greatest falling out the Targaryens had in over three centuries of unified rule?

"Even if King Aerys begged Rickard Stark on his knees, the wolves will not answer his call. Do you not remember what happened during the court?" Leyton asked Mace.

Mace nodded remembering the day that almost ended in war. Ever since that day the North had closed its borders and almost nobody in the rest of the kingdom knew what was going on in the vast white north except for a few snippets they gleaned from travelers between the Riverlands and the North. Even Mace had to agree that if he was in Rickard Stark's shoes, he would want compensation. But the slight the Warden of the North took couldn't be compensated by any means. Until Rickard was in power in the North, there would be no reconciliation with the Starks. They could only hope to mend brides with his heirs after Aerys had been deposed by his successor.

Of course they could raise banners and go fight the North. But everybody knew that the North was the only kingdom that couldn't be invaded with normal methods. The Targaryens were able to defeat the Winter Kings only because they had an unfair advantage called the dragons. The extinct creatures were the perfect counter for the North's natural barriers. Even then the historians were divided on how a speculated war against Aegon and Torrhen would have gone. Had they fought like the Dornish, they would most likely be able to bring down at least one dragon causing a huge blow to the new Targaryen rule but at the cost of Northern lives. But Torrhen valued the lives of his men over his crown.

Without dragons, it wouldn't be neigh impossible to pacify the vast land. And that was if they ever manage to reach the Northern lands. With bottlenecks like Moat Cailin, invading through the neck was paramount to suicide. The Andals invaders proved their folly during the Andal Breaking.

"No I don't think the Starks will agree to the offer. We'll put them aside for now and get back to the main task at hand," Rheagar quickly brought the conversation back on track. Even he was uneasy about speaking of the direwolves that ruled the north.

The conversation continued and Varys kept a keen ear on every single detail discussed. Mostly it was on how to gather more allies. Then came the part on how power would be distributed after the coup. All of the gathered Lords agreed that the transition should be carried out without bloodshed if possible. All they needed to show was that Aerys wasn't the most powerful after all. Pressure from a fracturing and almost war bound kingdom would force him into their terms… or that was what they hoped for. There were also plans to infiltrate the ranks of the Alchemist Guild to fracture its chain of command from within delivering a massive blow to Aerys' deterring power.

Varys gave input now and then so that he could include certain policies that benefited the depraved and down trodden that he represented. Sure it was a king's duty to look after all of his subjects. But that didn't translate to real life policies since it was easier to just ignore them. The existence of Flea Bottom was the prime example for this. This area right in the middle of the capital was the centre where all the depraved gathered. Conditions there were so poor that it was a miracle that they didn't turn into mass murder.

According to the discussion, Mace Tyrell would be elevated as the Hand of the King while House Hightower gets the position of Master of Laws. The Hightowers will also get a grant from the royal treasury to increase their holdings. Since these two were the houses that Rheagar Targaryen wanted his lot to rally behind, it wasn't surprising to give them the most benefits. And the Reach was well known as a place where the most corrupt Lords ruled.

Plans were made for other houses that were supporting the crown prince as well. New taxation laws, trade routes were amongst the last in the agenda. The final topic for discussion was of the pirates and the dispute for the Stepstones. Mace wanted to conquer them, but Connington and Hightower disagreed as it would lead to an open conflict with the free cities. Rheagar being an advocate for peace decided to ignore the dispute about the islands but focus on flushing out and destroying the pirates that ran amok in the area. The Royal Navy would be given the full power to engage the pirates as they saw fit. The Redwyne fleet would help them in the task. With the combined strength of these two naval forces they would be able to clear the area in a matter of few months.

Varys knew that these were the topics the Rheagar wanted him to hear. He was absolutely certain that these men would meet together again without him to discuss about more sensitive matters. But he did not worry about that. Sooner or later he would hear about the entire thing. If not… he liked surprises as well. It was these surprises that kept him on his toes.

"Thank you for coming, my Lords. We will see each other soon. For now everything will go as we discussed," Rheagar said with finality bringing the meeting to an end. "Varys, you stay behind," he added with an afterthought.

"Your highness," said Mace, Leyton and Jon as they got up and bowed to the prince. With Rheagar's nod they filed out of the room closing the door behind them leaving Varys with the prince and his trusted bodyguards.

Rheagar watched as the other occupants walked out of the room. He wanted Varys to wait since he had some important and sensitive things to discuss with the Spider without the others. The meeting had gone as he had planned and now he had two large pillars he could depend on in the upcoming storm. Sure, he was yet to gain support from another Great House, but he still had time to maneuver. All his work until now was mostly done secretly because if his father got a single whiff of what he was doing, it wouldn't end well for his mother... or him for that matter.

Aerys was never a father to him. All his life he watched his father descend more and more into madness and watched helplessly as his own family and kingdom suffered for it. Aerys was never meant to be king. If the tragedy in Summerhall had never happened, they wouldn't be meeting like this in secret to depose his own flesh and blood. His mother wouldn't have been abused both physically and mentally while he watched helplessly. Fate was cruel and now the Seven Kingdoms were slowly bleeding itself to death.

Sometimes he couldn't but get stray thoughts on whether his father's madness was a ruse enacted by the man. It was because some of the orders his father gave was sound and quite beneficial. For an example Rheagar agreed on father's decision to strip Tywin Lannister from his power within the Capital. The man was becoming more and more powerful and his family got away with things that other families would have paid for dearly. The man, who was a ruthless tyrant, was not the best choice to be the Hand in a kingdom that was politically convoluted such as the Seven Kingdoms. The Lannisters benefited from his father's instability while other families suffered. The last stroke that really irked him was the fallout between the Crown and the Starks. He wasn't sure who started all the rumors, but he knew for a fact that Tywin was somewhere in the scheme as well. The man couldn't bear to see the up rise of another house that wasn't connected to his in any way or benefited his as well.

The best man for the position of the Hand would have been his uncle Steffon Barratheon. But the man died on his return journey from Essos just as he was nearing his destination. If it wasn't for his father's orders to not return without a suitable Valyrian bride for him, the tragedy would never have happened.

The incident had caused the tensions between the Throne and the Stormlands to rise again as Steffon's son Robert Barratheon viewed the Targaryens as culprits on the demise of his parents. Robert, who fostered in the Vale under Jon Arryn, was now holed up at Storm's End doing who knows what. Despite being a loud brute that slept his way through the Seven Kingdoms, the man was an astounding commander and was politically sound. Rheagar was a little hesitant in reaching his relative as they didn't get along very well. With the tragedy at Storm Coast, he was actually afraid in contacting Robert. That was why he had reached out to other influential families like the Connigtons. Barratheons may be the Wardens of the Stormlands, but it didn't mean they were the only powerful family in that region.

Dorne was silent as always despite considering themselves as part of the Seven Kingdoms and having representatives in the Royal Court. They didn't have much contact with the Targaryens because of the actions of Daeron I Targaryen and Queen Rheanys. During the First Dornish Conquest, Dorne was burnt again and again until Mexarys was killed along with Queen Rheanys. The Daeron began his conquest only to be killed by the Dornish too. The Martells who were descendants of the Rhoynar were never on friendly terms with the Dragonlords. Their cultural and historical conflicts saw to that. Yes, they may have married Martells and the Daynes in the past, but to them the blood the Targaryens spilled was never going to be forgiven.

That left Rheagar with the Westerlands, Riverlands, Vale and the North. Tywin was the last person he wanted to visit. Rheagar was sure that the man would want benefits that he couldn't possibly give. The most likely clause he would put up was to marry his daughter. He didn't have a good impression of Cersei Lannister. So he put the Westerlands to the back of his mind. He already had multiple houses giving him their loyalty in both the RIverlands and the Vale. He needed to slowly approach the Arryns and the Tullys and he would have their support as well.

But that left him with the biggest headache. The North... his father had burnt that bridge so hard that even he, who was considered to be one of the smartest males to ever grace the Targaryen line was left stumped.

"Varys, any news from your little birds in the North?" he asked the spymaster.

The reason why he wanted to speak with Varys was to gain any sort of intelligence to help him coax the Starks into giving him their loyalty.

"No, your highness. Everything has gone dark above the Neck. I don't even know whether my little birds are still alive. Everything we have now is the first hand accounts from the sailors who travelled to White Harbor and the peddlers who travel in between the two regions," Varys replied with a worried look. For a man who was known as the best in his line of work to be stumped in his own game... it meant the Northerners were aware of the spymaster's network and took action against it. This silence was the cruelest thing Rickard Stark could do right now when the kingdom was in turmoil. Nobody knew or could guess what the North was up to, to figure out where their loyalties laid.

"What have you found?" Rheagar asked almost happily since they had lost contact with the North for over a year and a half. Everything he had heard were self contradicting and he wanted what the man who knew about everything knew.

"Nothing solid, your highness. From what I've gathered from the sailors, White Harbor had been developed to a state that it didn't even resemble the place they knew. They were not given leave to enter the city. All sailors were given quarters in a new section by the docks. It was where foreigners who weren't Northerners and didn't have permission to enter their lands were being given board. I don't know how the system works, but I can tell you that they have effectively put up a barrier denying us any chance of finding the real situation in their land. But from what I've heard, New Castle has expanded and as have the White Harbor. The sailors also noticed that Widow's watch had also changed," Varys said.

You could see the disappointment in Varys' eyes. He a man who wanted to know every single detail in the Kingdom was kept dark in the matters of the North. Rheagar knew that the personal spies the spider employed to travel through the neck had also gone missing. Varys said that to him on an earlier date. But so have the soldiers sent secretly by the Throne and various Lords.

Rheagar cursed his father for his folly. He remembered distinctly the day Rickard Stark was humiliated in front of all the nobles in court. The Massive Wolf didn't say a word. He just stared at the Royal family until his father was done. But unlike when Tywin had stormed off after his dismissal, Rheagar saw something in the Northern Warden's eyes that chilled him to the core. It was this cold silent fury that promised death and destruction. The wolves unlike the lions were very subtle in their revenges. Tywin was like a mad lion that lashed out furiously and quickly saw to the destruction of his enemies. But what he had seen in Rickard's eyes was something else. It was the promise to slowly destroy everything the Targaryens held dear until he personally delivered the killing blow. That was the last time anybody saw a Northerner down from the Neck. Despite king's orders, the Northern contingent that came with the Warden disappeared that night.

Rheagar thought back to the incident that prompted the king to call the Starks down to King's Landing. Varys had gotten wind of the new port that the Starks were building at Sea Dragon Point amongst many other conflicting news. The Starks had stopped importing grain from the Reach and Riverlands and had opened trade with Braavos instead. There were also rumors about the heir of Winterfell. Charles Starks was said to be a genius that invented things that put maesters to shame. He had used that intellect to help his people and Wintertown, a place that even Varys had no news from, was said to have developed beyond compare. There were rumors on public baths, improved drainage systems and whatnot. Varys on the other hand had learnt of the influx of skilled craftsman from Essos to the North from his little mice.

The Reachmen were the first to complain since they had lost their major exporter. Tywin was also ready to fan the flames since he and Rickard had never seen eye to eye after the Reyne incident. The courtiers were already hounding to increase tax from the North, which according to the laws the Throne couldn't do unless the Northern Lords gained a massive profit from trade. They hadn't done any from what they could find and the entire continent was curious about the Stark's newfound wealth.

So Rickard Stark came to King's Landing with only three other men. Granted they were large and probably stronger than two normal warriors, it raised a question on what their identities were and why the Lord Paramount of the North would travel with such a small protection detail. Highwaymen didn't discriminate on the origin of a person. If they found a walking money bag, they attacked with force. King's Road was full of these vagrants despite being put down again and again.

But soon the discussion turned sour as various Lords wanted to know where the Starks wealth came from. Even the king questioned and accused him thoroughly. All Rickard did was explain that they were using the money the Starks had saved up to create a port and a navy to safeguard their lands from the Ironborn again and again. But his explanations fell into deaf ears as the king wanted to see the Stark wealth.

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