I like Brienne's quest. It is like a computer RPG. Talk to NPCs. Find clues. Travel to next location hinted at by clues. Maybe get in a fight or two along the way.
Brienne does not have much luck until she reaches Duskendale. She goes to get her shield repainted. Then she has a bath, and fondly remembers Jaime getting into the hot tub with her at Harrenhal. Poor Brienne is now in love with Jaime Lannister, it appears. Then she goes to meet the castellan of Duskendale and we get a history lesson about Dontos Hollard. Did we know he was called Hollard before now? I don't remember it. But his family and the Darklyns of Duskendale once took king Aerys captive. Tywin laid seige to the city and Barristan Selmy (now hanging out with Daenerys) rescued him. But it is said this episode is what made him mad. And it did not end well for the Hollards or the Darklyns, either: Dontos is all that is left of those families. And lots of people are looking for him now.
She has a flash of inspiration when she decides that a likely destination for Sansa would be the Eyrie, since Sansa has an aunt there. If she hears about Lysa's death and that Littlefinger is hanging out at the Eyrie, she might have a further flash of Scooby-doo logic. But for now she meets a Dwarf who seems to have seen someone like Dontos at Maidenpool, which is where Sam's father Randyll Tarly is for some reason. I suppose Dontos could have been picked up by a boat there, since we last saw him in the Blackwater. He was trying to get three people across the sea to Pentos, presumably. Not sure who the other two are. But it did not end well for him, since someone called Nimble Dick captured him and turned him in for a ransom. The dwarf is headed for King's Landing -- that seems like a dangerous place for a dwarf to be going with a lordship up for grabs for killing Tyrion. Do people know well enough what Tyrion looks like?
There was a battle in Duskendale between Stark troops and Randyll Tarly troops and Brienne sees the graves. But I can't remember reading about this particular battle before. A quick search finds that Tyrion was told by Bronn about Tywin sending Tarly to Duskendale to deal with some of Robb Stark's wolves. This was in the chapter where he is waking up after his injuries at the Battle of Blackwater. Tywin confirms this later in the chapter. Tyrion wonders why Robb would risk attacking Duskendale. Brienne and Jaime later planned to to find mounts at Maidenpool and ride via Duskendale and Rosby to King's Landing, but were captured by Vargo Hoat on the road to Duskendale, where Brienne finds herself now. Possibly the fighting was going on in Duskendale then. In a later Tyrion chapter, Varys tells him that Randyll Tarly won the battle outside Duskendale. The survivors are heading back towards Harrenhal where they will encounter GREGOR waiting for them. There is no mention at all of Duskendale in the first book. It's interesting how consistent GRRM is, though. He must have worked all the movements out with wargame miniatures or something.
On the way to Maidenpool, Brienne meets Tyrion's abandoned squire, Podrick Payne, who is also looking for Sansa for some reason.
