Sam and Gilly make it to Oldtown, despite Ironmen attempting to attack their ship. Everyone is surprised that Ironmen are so close to Oldtown and Sam is very worried about the security of the realm. An Oldtown captain is not at all happy about Cersei keeping the Redwyne fleet tied up at Storm's End (or is it Dragonstone?)
Sam plans to visit Archmeisters in Oldtown then take Gilly to his family home Horn Hill, assuming he thinks it is secure enough with his dad in Maidenpool.
Sam goes to the Citadel, which is the university for maesters. He wants to give all his information to the Seneschal, who is presumably in charge of the Citadel, but instead is intercepted by Alleras the Sphinx, an acolyte, which is at least one rank above a novice in the maester hierarchy, I think. Sphinx is an interesting name because Maester Aemon talked about sphinxes before he died. Alleras takes Sam to see the Mage, who it turns out is behind this interception of Sam from the beginning, because he saw Sam's coming in a dragonglass candle. Having heard all of Sam's story about wights and Coldhands (remember the freaky guy Bran has gone off with?), and about Dany being the prophesied saviour of the universe, the Mage sets off immediately to go and see Dany before anyone else gets to her.
The Mage seems to think that the other Maesters don't like all this magic and scorcery and will kill people who talk about it too much. It does seem as if there is a theme here about the end of magic in the world, but unlike with Tolkien's Middle Earth where the fading of magic is inevitable, here magic is attempting to make a bit of a comeback. Certainly it seems as if the Valyrians, before the Doom of Valyria, had powerful magic including the Internet of Candles. That magic and dragons were then lost. And now we know dragons are back along with assassin shadows, wargs and wights. Maybe it's a cycle, somehow involving comets or winters. But it does make me wonder if the maesters, far from believing that magic is all a load of nonsense, are in fact trying to bring about the end of magic. Or in general have an agenda beyond just being good doctors and scientists.
And what's this? The Mage's apprentice is Pate? And Pate is kind of pasty looking? Wasn't he killed in the prologue? Let me see... Yes. He stole something from the Mage for the Alchemist and then got killed by the Alchemist. Did the Mage bring him back to life Beric-style? Or is it something weirder? Is the Alchemist warg-mind-controlling Pate's reanimated corpse now, to get at the Mage? Sam has taken a disliking to Pate: that must mean something.
But can Sam really trust the Mage and the Sphynx? He's been told not to tell the other Archmeisters his story. But maybe the Mage is just trying to keep things hidden for his own benefit.
It's all getting a bit complicated.