i yearn for details about tywin and baby tyrion, of things tyrion just wouldnt know or ever remember

did tywin ever hold him

ever watch as he was fed, stand in the nursery while he cried, watching the servants rock him?

these are moments every parent experiences with a baby and i want to know so badly

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

AFFC: Cersei II (Chapter 7)

A cold rain was falling, turning the walls and ramparts of the Red Keep dark as blood.

I'm starting to think this Red Keep might be a woeful place.

He remembered seeing the Red Keep looming ahead of him in the first grey light of dawn. The rain had darkened the pale pink stone of the massive walls to the color of blood. - Eddard IX, AGOT

x

The sun had fallen below the western wall, and the stones of the Red Keep glowed dark as blood. - Sansa VI, AGOT

It's cold, and pouring rain during Tywin's wake. This pleases me.

+.+.+

The queen held the king's hand and led him firmly across the muddy yard to where her litter waited with its escort. "Uncle Jaime said I could ride my horse and throw pennies to the smallfolk," the boy objected.

"Do you want to catch a chill?"

That feels like a bad sentence.

+.+.+

Only the highborn and their retinues were to be admitted to the morning service; there would be another in the afternoon for the commons, and the evening prayers were open to all. Cersei would need to return for that, so that the smallfolk might see her mourn. The mob must have its show. 

How does the kid have better instincts than the queen? Compare Tommen wanting to throw the smallfolk pennies to Cersei believing they care about what she's wearing, or whether she's properly mourning.

This is why the Tyrells are winning.

+.+.+

Tommen did as he was bid. His meekness troubled her. A king had to be strong. Joffrey would have argued. He was never easy to cow.

Kill the boy, Tommen.

+.+.+

"Don't slump so," she told Tommen. "Sit like a king. Put your shoulders back and straighten your crown. Do you want it to tumble off your head in front of all your lords?"

A beautiful parallel is born if you ignore Tommen, and picture Cersei giving this same advice to Joffrey.

He [Viserys] studied her critically. "You still slouch. Straighten yourself." He pushed back her shoulders with his hands. "Let them see that you have a woman's shape now." - Daenerys I, AGOT

+.+.+

He will grow into Joff's crown in time. Until he did, a smaller one might be needed, one that did not threaten to swallow his head.

That feels like a bad sentence.

+.+.+

"I thought there would be more people. When Father died, all the people came out to watch us go by."

"This rain has driven them inside." King's Landing had never loved Lord Tywin. He never wanted love, though. "You cannot eat love, nor buy a horse with it, nor warm your halls on a cold night," she heard him tell Jaime once, when her brother had been no older than Tommen.

Yikes.

+.+.+

Lord Tywin had given him that crown to replace the one that was lost when the mob killed the previous High Septon. They had pulled the fat fool from his litter and torn him apart, the day Myrcella sailed for Dorne. That one was a great glutton, and biddable. This one . . . This High Septon was of Tyrion's making, Cersei recalled suddenly. It was a disquieting thought.

[...]

What does he know of me? How much did the dwarf tell him? The High Septon smiled as he escorted her into the sept. But was it a threatening smile full of unspoken knowledge, or just some vacuous twitch of an old man's wrinkled lips? The queen could not be certain.

How is this not the funniest character in the story?

Tyrion is not funny. This? This is funny.

+.+.+

The High Septon walked slowly, leaning on a weirwood staff topped by a crystal orb. 

Is that allowed?

+.+.+

Many of her father's bannermen were here, and knights who had fought beside Lord Tywin in half a hundred battles. The sight of them made her feel more confident. I am not without friends.

Twenty seconds later:

The queen put her arm around Tommen and kissed his golden curls. He will need me to teach him how to rule and keep him safe from his enemies. Some of them stood around them even now, pretending to be friends.

Again, how is this not the funniest character in the story?

+.+.+

Her brother was growing his beard again as well. The stubble covered his jaw and cheeks, and gave his face a rough, uncouth look. He might at least have waited till Father's bones were interred beneath the Rock.

Dead Lannisters belong beneath the Rock.

+.+.+

Even in death his face is noble, she thought, although the mouth . . . The corners of her father's lips curved upward ever so slightly, giving him a look of vague bemusement. That should not be. She blamed Pycelle; he should have told the silent sisters that Lord Tywin Lannister never smiled. The man is as useless as nipples on a breastplate. That half smile made Lord Tywin seem less fearful, somehow.

[...]

"Mother." Tommen tugged her sleeve. "What smells so bad?"

My lord father. 

It's not enough he was killed by his son on the toilet, the author is going to send him off smelling rank and smirking like a weirdo, while it pours outside.

+.+.+

Lord Tywin's eyes are closed forever now, Cersei thought. It is my look they will flinch from now, my frown that they must fear. I am a lion too.

It was gloomy within the sept with the sky so grey outside. If the rain ever stopped, the sun would slant down through the hanging crystals to drape the corpse in rainbows. The Lord of Casterly Rock deserved rainbows. He had been a great man. I shall be greater, though. A thousand years from now, when the maesters write about this time, you shall be remembered only as Queen Cersei's sire.

I wonder if I'll contemplate my own greatness during my father's funeral.

That last line is probably accurate.

+.+.+

How can Lancel be among the living when Tywin Lannister is dead? Have the gods taken leave of their wits?

Lord Gyles was coughing more than usual and covering his nose with a square of red silk. He can smell it too. Grand Maester Pycelle had his eyes closed. If he has fallen asleep, I swear I will have him whipped. 

I have nothing to say, I'm only laughing.

+.+.+

To the right of the bier knelt the Tyrells: the Lord of Highgarden, his hideous mother and vapid wife, his son Garlan and his daughter Margaery. Queen Margaery, she reminded herself; Joff's widow and Tommen's wife-to-be. Margaery looked very like her brother, the Knight of Flowers. The queen wondered if they had other things in common. Our little rose has a good many ladies waiting attendance on her, night and day.

This thought happens pages before Cersei starts lusting for Lady Merryweather.

Cersei projecting all over Margaery begins now.

+.+.+

Lancel nodded, plainly miserable. "When it seemed that I might die, my father brought the High Septon to pray for me. He is a good man." Her cousin's eyes were wet and shiny, a child's eyes in an old man's face. "He says the Mother spared me for some holy purpose, so I might atone for my sins."

Cersei wondered how he intended to atone for her. Knighting him was a mistake, and bedding him a bigger one. Lancel was a weak reed, and she liked his newfound piety not at all; he had been much more amusing when he was trying to be Jaime. What has this mewling fool told the High Septon? And what will he tell his little Frey when they lie together in the dark? If he confessed to bedding Cersei, well, she could weather that. Men were always lying about women; she would put it down as the braggadocio of a callow boy smitten by her beauty. If he sings of Robert and the strongwine, though . . . "Atonement is best achieved through prayer," Cersei told him. "Silent prayer." She left him to think about that and girded herself to face the Tyrell host.

Guys, I'm starting to worry about the High Septon.

And I don't have high hopes for the other one either.

The only question would be whether Jaime cut him down in a jealous rage, or Cersei murdered him first to keep Jaime from finding out. Tyrion's silver was on Cersei. - Tyrion VII, ACOK

+.+.+

It was Lady Merryweather who truly pleased her. "Your Grace," that one said, in her sultry Myrish tones, "I have sent word to my friends across the narrow sea, asking them to seize the Imp at once should he show his ugly face in the Free Cities."

"Do you have many friends across the water?"

"In Myr, many. In Lys as well, and Tyrosh. Men of power."

Cersei could well believe it. The Myrish woman was too beautiful by half; long-legged and full-breasted, with smooth olive skin, ripe lips, huge dark eyes, and thick black hair that always looked as if she'd just come from bed. She even smells of sin, like some exotic lotus. "Lord Merryweather and I wish only to serve Your Grace and the little king," the woman purred, with a look that was as pregnant as Lady Graceford.

This one is ambitious, and her lord is proud but poor. "We must speak again, my lady. Taena, is it? You are most kind. I know that we shall be great friends."

Cersei instantly befriending Lady Merryweather because she's attractive and speaks of having Tyrion killed is so perfectly Cersei.

+.+.+

"Lord Tywin was a great man, an extraordinary man," he [Mace Tyrell] declared ponderously after he had kissed both her cheeks. "We shall never see his like again, I fear."

You are looking at his like, fool, Cersei thought. It is his daughter standing here before you.

Bran's rank as the second best POV in the series is in serious danger.

+.+.+

The governance of the realm must come first, Lord Tywin often said. And I am pleased to bring Your Grace good tidings in that regard. My uncle Garth has agreed to serve as master of coin, as your lord father wished. He is making his way to Oldtown to take ship. His sons will accompany him. Lord Tywin mentioned something about finding places for the two of them as well. Perhaps in the City Watch.

The queen's smile had frozen so hard she feared her teeth might crack. Garth the Gross on the small council and his two bastards in the gold cloaks . . . do the Tyrells think I will just serve the realm up to them on a gilded platter? The arrogance of it took her breath away.

Here's another mistake by the brilliant Tywin Lannister that gets glossed over by the fandom.

When Robert surrounded himself with Lannisters everyone with half a brain could see that was a disaster. Tywin does the same with the Tyrells, and all I hear is crickets.

+.+.+

Then his mother appeared and slid her arm through his own. "It would seem that Lord Tywin did not share his plans with our regent, I can't imagine why. Still, there 'tis, no use hectoring Her Grace. She is quite right, you must write Lord Leyton before Garth boards a ship. You know the sea will sicken him and make his farting worse." Lady Olenna gave Cersei a toothless smile. "Your council chambers will smell sweeter with Lord Gyles, though I daresay that coughing would drive me to distraction. We all adore dear old uncle Garth, but the man is flatulent, that cannot be gainsaid. I do abhor foul smells." Her wrinkled face wrinkled up even more. "I caught a whiff of something unpleasant in the holy sept, in truth. Mayhaps you smelled it too?"

"No," Cersei said coldly. "A scent, you say?"

"More like a stink."

[...]

"Lord Tywin and I were on the point of setting a date, as it happens. Perhaps you and I might take up that discussion, Your Grace."

"Soon."

"Soon will serve," said Lady Olenna with a sniff. "Now come along, Mace, let Her Grace get on with her . . . grief."

I will see you dead, old woman

These two could do this for the next hundred pages, and I wouldn't grow tired of it.

+.+.+

Qyburn was old, but his hair still had more ash than snow in it, and the laugh lines around his mouth made him look like some little girl's favorite grandfather. A rather shabby grandfather, though. The collar of his robe was frayed, and one sleeve had been torn and badly sewn. "I must beg Your Grace's pardon for my appearance," he said. "I have been down in the dungeons making inquiries into the Imp's escape, as you commanded."

[...]

"I know all this." Jaime had examined Rugen's cell, and Ser Addam's gold cloaks had examined it again.

"Aye, Your Grace," said Qyburn, "but did you know that under that stinking chamber pot was a loose stone, which opened on a small hollow? The sort of place where a man might hide valuables that he did not wish to be discovered?"

"Valuables?" This was new. "Coin, you mean?" She had suspected all along that Tyrion had somehow bought this gaoler.

"Beyond a doubt. To be sure, the hole was empty when I found it. No doubt Rugen took his ill-gotten treasure with him when he fled. But as I crouched over the hole with my torch, I saw something glitter, so I scratched in the dirt until I dug it out." Qyburn opened his palm. "A gold coin."

He looks like some little girl's favourite grandfather, therefore I trust him.

For some reason I thought Varys admitted to leaving the Gardener coin to create conflict, but apparently I imagined that.

It was most likely Varys, but there does exist a possibility that Qyburn is playing her.

+.+.+

Gold, yes, but the moment Cersei took it she could tell that it was wrong. Too small, she thought, too thin. The coin was old and worn. On one side was a king's face in profile, on the other side the imprint of a hand. "This is no dragon," she said.

"No," Qyburn agreed. "It dates from before the Conquest, Your Grace. The king is Garth the Twelfth, and the hand is the sigil of House Gardener."

Who would ever fall for this?

+.+.+

Of Highgarden. Cersei closed her hand around the coin. What treachery is this? Mace Tyrell had been one of Tyrion's judges, and had called loudly for his death. Was that some ploy? Could he have been plotting with the Imp all the while, conspiring at Father's death? With Tywin Lannister in his grave, Lord Tyrell was an obvious choice to be King's Hand, but even so . . . "You will not speak of this with anyone," she commanded.

Never mind.

We'll eventually learn Olenna travelled with these coins.

Cersei sat beneath the window. "Did you know that the Queen of Thorns keeps a chest of coins in her wheelhouse? Old gold from before the Conquest. Should any tradesman be so unwise as to name a price in golden coins, she pays him with hands from Highgarden, each half the weight of one of our dragons. What merchant would dare complain of being cheated by Mace Tyrell's lady mother?" She sipped her wine, and said, "Did you enjoy your little ride?" - Jaime II, AFFC

I doubt Qyburn would know something like that, but Varys would.

+.+.+

He is not Pycelle, that much is plain. The queen weighed him, wondering. "Why did the Citadel take your chain?"

"The archmaesters are all craven at heart. The grey sheep, Marwyn calls them. I was as skilled a healer as Ebrose, but aspired to surpass him. For hundreds of years the men of the Citadel have opened the bodies of the dead, to study the nature of life. I wished to understand the nature of death, so I opened the bodies of the living. For that crime the grey sheep shamed me and forced me into exile . . . but I understand the nature of life and death better than any man in Oldtown."

"Do you?" That intrigued her. "Very well. The Mountain is yours. Do what you will with him, but confine your studies to the black cells. When he dies, bring me his head. My father promised it to Dorne. Prince Doran would no doubt prefer to kill Gregor himself, but we all must suffer disappointments in this life."

"Very good, Your Grace." Qyburn cleared his throat. "I am not so well provided as Pycelle, however. I must needs equip myself with certain . . ."

"I shall instruct Lord Gyles to provide you with gold sufficient for your needs. Buy yourself some new robes as well. You look as though you've wandered up from Flea Bottom." She studied his eyes, wondering how far she dared trust this one. "Need I say that it will go ill for you if any word of your . . . labors . . . should pass beyond these walls?"

"No, Your Grace." Qyburn gave her a reassuring smile. "Your secrets are safe with me."

Fix your clothes, she can't have people who look poor in her inner circle.

Similar to Marwyn, I don't know what to make of Harold Shipman here. Almost every instinct Cersei has is wrong or misplaced, so her trusting him has to be a mistake, right?

+.+.+

Try as she might, she could not seem to bring Lord Tywin's face to mind without seeing that silly little half smile and remembering the foul smell coming off his corpse. She wondered whether Tyrion was somehow behind that as well. It is small and cruel, like him. Could Tyrion have made Pycelle his catspaw? He sent the old man to the black cells, and this Rugen had charge of those cells, she remembered. All the strings were tangled up together in ways she did not like. This High Septon is Tyrion's creature too, Cersei recalled suddenly, and Father's poor body was in his care from dark till dawn.

Are you prepared to watch Daenerys become this paranoid? Because it's going to happen.

+.+.+

Ser Kevan was fair-skinned and blond, though at five-and-fifty he had lost most of his hair. No one would ever call him comely. Thick of waist, round of shoulder, with a square jutting chin that his close-cropped yellow beard did little to conceal, he reminded her of some old mastiff . . . but a faithful old mastiff was the very thing that she required.

Mastiffs can be ferocious things, Cersei.

Leo yawned. "The sea is wet, the sun is warm, and the menagerie hates the mastiff."

He has a mocking name for everyone, thought Pate, but he could not deny that Marwyn looked more a mastiff than a maester. As if he wants to bite you. The Mage was not like other maesters. - Prologue, AFFC

Both Tyrion and Cersei think of Kevan as Tywin's obedient dog. Get ready to learn how wrong they are.

+.+.+

She held out her cup, and Senelle filled it once again.

x

When he was gone, Cersei poured herself a cup of strongwine and drank it by the window, watching the shadows lengthen across the yard and thinking about the coin. 

x

They ate a simple supper of beets and bread and bloody beef with a flagon of Dornish red to wash it all down. Ser Kevan said little and scarce touched his wine cup.

Guys, I think Cersei might have a problem.

+.+.+

"Better that than suffer another Tyrell on the council." His reproach annoyed her. "Rosby will make an adequate master of coin. You've seen that litter of his, with its carvings and silk draperies. His horses are better dressed than most knights. A man that rich should have no problem finding gold. As for Handship . . . who better to finish my father's work than the brother who shared all his counsels?"

"Every man needs someone he can trust. Tywin had me, and once your mother."

"He loved her very much." Cersei refused to think about the dead whore in his bed. "I know they are together now."

lmfao.

I'm slow, I only now registered that Tywin refused to remarry, yet denied Cersei the same courtesy. What a stinky bitch (derogatory).

Also, I love that she's using Rosby's fancy litter as evidence he'll be a good master of coin. Hahahaha.

+.+.+

"So I pray." Ser Kevan studied her face for a long moment before he replied. "You ask much of me, Cersei."

"No more than my father did."

"I am tired." Her uncle reached for his wine cup and took a swallow. "I have a wife I have not seen in two years, a dead son to mourn, another son about to marry and assume a lordship. Castle Darry must be made strong again, its lands protected, its burned fields plowed and planted anew. Lancel needs my help."

Please don't tell me Kevan is a better father and husband than Davos.

+.+.+

"The realm. Aye. And House Lannister." He sipped his wine again. "Very well. I will remain and serve His Grace . . ."

"Very good," she started to say, but Ser Kevan raised his voice and bulled right over her.

". . . so long as you name me regent as well as Hand and take yourself back to Casterly Rock."

[...]

"If you are resolved against another marriage, I will not force it on you. As to the other, though . . . you are the Lady of Casterly Rock now. Your place is there."

I would normally detest a mother being separated from her children, but this is different.

+.+.+

"Jaime . . . Jaime has taken vows. Jaime never thinks, he laughs at everything and everyone and says whatever comes into his head. Jaime is a handsome fool."

"And yet he was your first choice to be the King's Hand. What does that make you, Cersei?"

+.+.+

"The king is my son!" Cersei rose to her feet.

"Aye," her uncle said, "and from what I saw of Joffrey, you are as unfit a mother as you are a ruler."

+.+.+

"Are you threatening me?"

"I am counseling you. If you will not yield the regency to me, name me your castellan for Casterly Rock and make either Mathis Rowan or Randyll Tarly the Hand of the King."

Tyrell bannermen, both of them. The suggestion left her speechless. Is he bought? she wondered. Has he taken Tyrell gold to betray House Lannister?

"Mathis Rowan is sensible, prudent, well liked," her uncle went on, oblivious. "Randyll Tarly is the finest soldier in the realm. A poor Hand for peacetime, but with Tywin dead there's no better man to finish this war. Lord Tyrell cannot take offense if you choose one of his own bannermen as Hand. Both Tarly and Rowan are able men . . . and loyal. Name either one, and you make him yours. You strengthen yourself and weaken Highgarden, yet Mace will likely thank you for it." He gave a shrug. 

Dot, dot, dot. And loyal.

Those two names again.

Varys gave him a simpering smile. "You would win, my lord. Lord Alester was indeed the first to bend the knee. Many others followed."

"Many," Tyrion said pointedly, "but not all?"

"Not all," agreed the eunuch. "Not Loras Tyrell, nor Randyll Tarly, nor Mathis Rowan. - Tyrion VIII, ACOK

Those two Targaryen loyalists.

+.+.+

Traitor, she thought. Turncloak. She wondered how much Mace Tyrell had given him. "You would abandon your king when he needs you most," she told him. "You would abandon Tommen."

"Tommen has his mother." Ser Kevan's green eyes met her own, unblinking. A last drop of wine trembled wet and red beneath his chin, and finally fell. "Aye," he added softly, after a pause, "and his father too, I think."

Final thoughts:

I hate when one character's point of view dominates a book, but this will be an exception.

-> return to menu <-

Dark Secrets (6/?)

Pairing: Oberyn Martell x Witcher Reader x Ellaria Sand

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 1.2K

The sun came up not very long ago. You heard shuffling from the bed but didn’t turn your head still not really wanting to face Oberyn at the moment. You heard him yawn and start to get dressed. Clearly he thought the same about you because the moment he was done he walked out the door.

You finally turn to see Ellaria still asleep. Getting up from the window sill and over to the bed and sat at the edge. Later you would have to talk to Oberyn so you both could talk again. It was just last night and you already feel alone from just ignoring him even though Ellaria is around.

You were pulled out of your thoughts when you felt hands on your shoulders. Jumping a bit you turned to come face to face with Ellaria.

“You know he can never stay mad at you and you have good reason not to talk to him.” She said.

You nod, “If he gets killed most likely everything will fall apart,” You tell her, “Everything I get close to eventually goes away because I barely ever age.”

“Listen dove it will be extremely hard to get rid of me and especially Oberyn.” Ellaria responds with a smile on her face.

You give her a small smile back. Each day falling for the lovers more and more that it seems like a dream. 

Ellaria leaned forward and gave you a kiss on the cheek. She pulled away and stared into your eyes and you both leaned forward and kissed. The shock that went through your whole body is hard to explain but you loved it.

She pulled away and brushed her hand down your cheek. It made you happy to finally be able to do that. Now you really needed to talk to Oberyn.

As soon as the thought passed through your head the door opened to reveal the prince dressed in his signature red and gold clothing. He looked at you two seeing how close you both were and Ellaria’s hand still holding your face.

You looked over at him and finally broke the silence, “Can we talk about last night?”

He nodded and walked over and sat next to you on the bed.

“I am sorry flower for getting mad. I see you have been through alot but we think in different ways when it comes to our family.” He tells as he puts his hand over yours that is on the bed between the two of you.

“I get what you were saying but dying and leaving behind a whole kingdom, children, Ellaria, and your family is not worth it.” You try to explain.

He looks down at his lap thinking for a few seconds and then back at you and Ellaria, “I agreed to fight and kill the Mountain for Tyrion.”

Ellaria gasped her eyes widening, “Oberyn you cannot do this please.”

“I have to, I'm sorry. The fight will be in a few hours,” He said as if it was nothing.

Your whole body felt stiff. This was not supposed to be a part of the conversation. Thoughts started to swirl in your head and you looked him in the eyes and leaned in and gave him a small kiss on the lips and pulled back. You shook your head and stood up and walked toward the door opening it.

“(Y/N) I have to do this,” He tried to reason with you.

You turned to face him, “I know but it still doesn’t feel right,” you turned back around and walked out shutting the door behind you.

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. As much as you would like to leave you couldn’t. The first reason being that Tywin will most likely have your head along with his fucked up daughter if you weren’t doing what was assigned. The second being that this could be the last time seeing the handsome prince that you couldn't get out of your head even though you wanted to.

A familiar sound filled your ears getting closer. The lyrics of the song being played always annoyed you and Geralt to no end that it was weird that you were happy to hear it again. Jaskier rounded the corner singing Toss a Coin and you looked over at him. He took notice of you and immediately stopped singing and smiled wide.

“(Y/N) it’s been a while!” He said excitedly walking toward you, “Listen word has it that a man with long white hair and yellow eyes has been seen around here.”

That sent you through a spiral. Your eyebrows raised and a surprised look on your face.

“Geralt is here?”

“Yes! But he was also spotted with a woman with purple eyes and balck hair,” Jaskier said not wanting the witch to be here as much as you do but it was the only way back to your world.

You sigh and shake your head, “As long as she isn’t messing with his head again I could care less.”

Jaskier nodded and looked at the door behind you then back at you, “Long night?” he asked, raising his eyebrow, smirking a bit.

You shook your head and rolled your eyes, “No I was assigned to watch a few people.”

“Do those people happen to be the couple that I meant at the wedding and you wouldn’t keep your eyes away from?”

You growled and bit, “Fuck you bard.”

He raised his hands up in surrender, “Scary how much you remind me of your brother sometimes.”

You slightly chuckle under your breath, “Don’t you have to entertain the royal assholes somewhere?”

“No but I’m made to be at that fight later to entertain guests if I have to.”

You tense hearing about the fight for Tyrion’s freedom again.

“I’m sorry that you’ll have to witness it as well seeing how you are so close to the prince and Ellaria. But it wouldn’t be so bad if you somehow intervene.” He says in a questionable manner, “Yeah it would be a shame if a monster slayer was there just in case.”

You smirked at him, “Good thinking bard, maybe you are useful for something.”

“Hey! I’m useful for a lot of things you just don’t know!” He exclaimed, sounding offended even though he knew you were messing with him.

“Thanks Jaskier maybe I can finally have something good for once.” You say as the door opens up behind you.

You and Jaskier both look over at Oberyn and Ellaria. Ellaria was dressed in revealing and also very beautiful gold clothing and Oberyn who carried a spear that was as tall if not taller than him and wore leather armor. Oberyn walked over to you and placed a hand on your cheek.

“I have to do this,” He said sincerely.

You nod, “Yeah and you will win no matter what,” smiling and putting a hand over his.

He smiled and gave you a soft kiss on the lips. You kissed back loving every second. The moment you pulled away Ellaria came up and kissed you as well making you smile in the kiss. Ellaria and Oberyn both linked arms and started walking expecting you to follow.

You looked back at Jaskier who was smirking, “Wait until I tell Geralt.”

You held up your middle finger to him and turned and followed the lovers. While walking you brought your hand up to your lips still feeling the sparks that you shared with Oberyn and Ellaria. You knew at that point you would protect and love both of them no matter what happened.

Tagged: @foggyturtleknightangel​

Burning Water - Chapter X

Chapter 10

Maya hated the times when she was unprepared. She had purposely tried to talk Lillia out of choosing what she would wear for Tyrion’s trial on the charges of his nephew's murder but then she realized that no one would be looking at her and agreed to wear the outfit of Lillia's choosing. The dress she wore was a deep dark Violet that came to the floor with a long flowing skirt with a thin Lacey belt around her middle which was entirely bare thanks to the top of the dress that only covered her bosom and part of her shoulders. On her wrists she wore a black leather cuffs which gave her an air of confidence. Of course, now as she stood listening to the ridiculous testimonies against Tyrion that Cersei had obviously bribed to exaggerate, she realized what a big mistake that had been. One of the judges was Oberyn Martell himself, the pain in the ass and the other... her recently arrived father. Not only that but Jaime had asked Maya to step up and testify on behalf of Tyrion since Lillia was too shy to do so and Nanteza didn't know the man at all. Of course she agreed when she saw the desperation in the man's eyes . She would have to get in front of everyone in the court in the accursed dress! She recalled hearing Oberyn question Cersei’s ridiculous accusations against her brother when suddenly Jaime's voice snapped her out of it.

“ may I call Mayaka Tyrell to the stand please to testify in favor of Tyrion Lannister?”

  Murmurs filled the Hall for the majority of those present had no idea that the girl was even alive, her death having been presumed when she disappeared years ago. Maya walked confidently up to the podium and climbed the two steps before she stood before the whole court and the judges. Her eyes first looked upon her father who grinned proudly but she knew that the proudness in his eyes was only because of the power that she possessed and he could tell people that it was genetic which of course was not the truth. Lastly she looked to Oberyn who shifted in his seat before his dark eyes scanned her up and down. Maya tried to not shiver beneath his penetrating gaze.

“ lady Tyrell,” Tywin Lannister spoke, “would you care to tell us why Tyrion may not be guilty in your perspective?”

Maya tilted her head to the side and caught sight of a smug Cersei in the corner. Oh she was going to love this.

“ I am afraid not my Lord since telling everyone here if Tyrion is innocent would be just repeating what everyone is thinking at this very moment. That the only decent man in this room over the age of 16 is in fact the very man who is being tried by his own sister and father for the murder of the boy who is probably the cause of his own demise and knocked by the actions of his uncle.”

The court was immediately silent and Maya basked in the horrified stare that Cersei and Tywin gave her and the way Lillia and Nanteza were grinning uncontrollably in the corner of the Hall where they stood with Margo. new line open quote are you accusing my son of poisoning himself?” Cersei shrieked, leaping to her feet.

Maya calmly turned her eyes to the woman, “ if I recall you are out of order. But in answer to your question, I merely meant that your son stoked the flames of the fire that scorched him. If you asked everyone in this Hall about their feelings towards your son without bribing them I would wager more than half of them hate the previous King with a passion. Who is to say that one of those present poisoned dear son? For all we know it could have been his bodyguard... or even his mother.” Maya stated, turning a cold eye on the Lannister woman who was prepared to intervene again, “ for it is no secret but Joffrey was the least of your favorites among your children .”

“ you cannot presume to know what people are thinking,” Tywin observed, noticing the way his daughter was turning red with rage and was ready to start a whole new war period

Maya shook her head, “that maybe so or we could call Lillia Arryn up to the stand and have her read your heartbeat but that is a waste of time since even without my testimony everyone present knows that Tyrion Lannister is incapable of murdering anyone even if they are as well as Joffrey was.”

Alivia shrieked but Mace Tyrell spoke first, “ so you are calling Tyrion Lannister a coward?”

Maya chuckled period of course her father would be the one to try and twist her words, “ far from it. I am saying that Tyrion has enough heart to not be a murderer. Which is more than I can say about every other man that I know. He is the only one brave enough to do the one thing that everyone else is too selfish to do.”

“and what is that?” tie when asked, getting irritated with the girls confidence.

Maya smiled, “ he asked me to marry him ... For reasons other than getting me in bed or using my powers for evil.”

The silence that had encompassed those present only disappeared and everyone was talking at once. Jaime and Cersei looked at their little brother in shock, Tywin and Mace looked like they had swallowed their tongues and Oberyn was furious, gripping the arms of his chair until his knuckles went white.

“he... he asked you to marry him despite his marriage to Sansa Stark?” Tywin asked.

Maya smiled calmly, “ he asked it of me two years ago. I had been living anonymously in Kings landing and he was one of the few who knew my real identity. He proposed marriage as a companionship contract.”

“and by your single status I take it that you refused?” Tywin questioned.

Mya nodded, “indeed, for someone like Tyrion Lannister only deserves the best which is far from what I am. Though we have remained close friends since.”

Oberyn's theory seemed to dissolve and he found himself smiling gently at the girl. The way her shoulders were naturally straight, back firm and the calm look on her face only seemed to add her natural beauty. In her rather seductive dress she wore and the way her red hair billowed to her hips, she looked like a Queen up on that podium ... his Queen.

“lady Maya.” Tywin tested, “don't you find it clear that you happen to be friends with the man who murdered the boy that was married to your sister? What if you hired Tyrion to murder your brother-in-law.”

Minus smiled. “curious observation period but there are a few things wrong with that. First off, I couldn't hire a man who is more wealthy than I could ever be. Secondly if I did want to kill Joffrey, which I have wanted to since he beat Sansa stark like a slave, but I would have used something other than poison and I would have done it myself. And Thirdly, don't you find it rather clear that you are determined to condemn Tyrion who is the first suspect? If Tyrion did poison Joffrey why did he make it so obvious that he was a suspect? Tyrion is too clever for that. He would have made sure that he was absent during the murder, not being the one holding the goblet of poison. Only an idiot would place the target upon his back.”

Cersei leapt to her feet and stormed over to Maya , “I think it is time for you to shut that mouth of yours, bitch.”

Just as the woman approached Maya, the Tyrell girl raised her hand and Cersei stumbled back as if someone had punched her in the gut and it was like water evaporated from the Lannister and formed two figures that were undeniably Cersei and... Joffrey... The watery voice of Cersei was telling Joffrey to leave the front line of the battle of Blackwater and suddenly... Joffrey readily agreed just as Cersei shrieked and slapped the two watery figures, making them disappear.

All eyes glued upon Maya who looked on as if nothing had happened, having a staring contest with Oberyn who was practically undressing her with his eyes. finally Tywin Lannister left to his feet and called for recess.

******

Maya submerged her hands into the water of the fountain and sighed in satisfaction as her previously dehydrated state washed away. She hummed as she crouched on her knees so that she could submerge her arms up to her elbows. She was contemplating stepping into the fountain as a whole when she heard voices to her left and realized that the hedges were the only thing separating her from the owners of the voices... the owners being Cersei Lannister and Oberyn Martell ! The girl bit down on her lip in order to not be given away thanks to her inability to be silent.

She couldn't make out exactly what they were talking about but knowing Cersei Lannister, it had to do with the trial by combat that would be held on the Morrow. Being the total idiot that he was, Prince Oberyn jumped at the chance to champion Tyrion against Cersei’s selected champion, the Mountain. She knew that Oberyn had not stuck his neck into the guillotine because he held some care for Tyrion. Although Tyrion was the one Lannister that he tolerated, the reason behind his chivalrous act was because of the rape and murder of his sister Elia Martell. Maya recalled listening to Evelyn tell the story of Elia Martell being jilted and practically tossed aside by her husband, Rhaegar Targaryen. This was mostly because of his obsession with Lyanna stark. Evelyn had not said it so plainly and in so many words but there was something about the way she told the story that made it sound like Evelyn hated her own aunt whom she had never met.

It was like there was more to the story that Evelyn was not letting on to.

“ I knew you were a curious person lady Tyrell but I did not think that you eavesdropped on other people’s conversations.” the all too familiar voice of Oberyn Martell commented from behind.

Maya turned sharply, having not heard his approach and she dried her arms off on the sky-blue Lacy dress that she wore, probably the most modest thing that she had worn since she moved to Kings Landing .

I was not dropping any eaves. I came here to hydrate myself and I heard voices across the hedge. I was unable to discover exactly what you were talking about with Cersei Lannister if that is what you were worried about.” she snapped back defiantly.

Oberyn looked very smart in his yellow robes, his chest partially on display and his hands clasped behind his back as he grinned at the girl, “but you know I was speaking with Cersei Lannister.”

Maya shrugged, “ it is rather hard to not notice her grinding voice. Besides, the past few days she has been making my life a living hell so it is only natural that she was the woman that you were talking to.”

Over and raised an eyebrow in amusement, “a living hell ? Pray tell my lady, were you jealous of my excursion with her?”

Maya scoffed but the Prince did not fail to notice the way her cheeks pinked in a blush , “hardly. She is due to wear the man that my friend is in love with who also happens to be my idiot of a brother.”

Oberyn's eyes widened when he grasped the hidden message behind maya's words. “Ah, now I think I understand. You are perturbed with Cersei because she is making your friend's life miserable and you will be stuck with the Lannister as a sister-in-law.”

Maya smirked as she sat down on the side of the fountain, “ exactly. You are learning to catch on a little quicker.”

Open shrugged as he took a seat at the small table near the fountain, “and I do not suppose any ounce of this loathing is due to jealousy?”

The girl shot the Prince a scowl and over and raised his hands in surrender. As the man pulled out pen and paper, Maya realized that she had stumbled upon the Prince’s quiet area and she moved to leave when the man's voice stopped her.  

“do not go. Your presence is soothing and I could use some company while trying to write this poem.” he mumbled.

The girl furrowed her brow for a moment before she sat down opposite Oberyn and folded her hands in her lap.

“may I ask you a question?” she asked.

The Prince did not glance up from his writing but he nodded all the same.

“ I understand your desire to make the Mountain pay for what he did to your sister, but why choose combat? You know you cannot kill him in a trial by combat. It is a fight until someone yields.” the girl observed .

The Prince’s pen stalled and he finally spoke, “I don't care. I intend to make him suffer even if I cannot kill him. It is the least I can do for my sister.”

Maya sighed heavily , “ then do both yourself and me a favor... come to the fight in the morning sober and with a clear head.”

The girl rose to her feet and brushed off her skirt and began to leave when Oberyn's broken hearted voice cut through her like a dagger.

“what do you care if I am sober or not? At least the Mountain will suffer. Is that not enough for you or should I hand you his head on a silver platter?”

The girl turned on him and her face radiated pure fury in such a way that made Oberyn's face go pale , “I am not the one struggling to write a poem to my daughter whom I named after my dead sister because I am too frightened to move on from the past! I care if you are sober or not because it will dictate how the fight will go on the Morrow and if you lose then you defending your sisters honor will go to hell! Why are you even waging war on the Mountain when you should be waging war on the snobbish, self-centered family of Rhaegar Targaryen for if he actually cared for his wife instead of betting the next prettiest thing then Elia may still be alive! The Mountain did Elia favor after he raped her! I know that error in pain Elia experienced after she was held down by that monster but at least he killed her rather than letting her live with the anguish and misery he gave her! I didn't get that mercy! I had to keep on living damn it all!”

Oberyn's face went red with fury when he realized what the girl had meant... she had been raped... he leapt to his feet, about ready to apologize and demand the name of the man who had committed such a crime but Maya spun on her heel and was long gone with a flurry of skirts before he could even untangle himself from his chair , her scent lingering behind her.

Oberyn sunk down to his seat and rubbed his forehead when suddenly he realized something . She had guessed who the poem was for... Correctly guessed...

That goodbye scene is an insult to my intelligence

I can’t get over how much that scene is incongruous and dissonant with pretty much anything we have ever known about Jaime and Brienne as individuals, as a pairing, and as storylines.

I’ve criticized a lot of things about the show, but one thing I kept saying all along and I firmly believed was that Jaime and Brienne’s dynamic was one of the very few consistent parts of the show. All their interactions, from their first meeting until the moment they consummated their relationship, made perfect sense. 

They all followed the same, consistent pattern of strong, mutual feelings of respect, admiration, trust, longing, love and attraction simmering under the surface and kept in check due to their political and personal conflicts. Once they finally ended up on the same side of the fight, Jaime’s behaviour was a perfectly logical and consistent consequence of that change of context: he was free and safe to openly admire her, serve under her and, yes, court her. Brienne’s initial weariness, eventually giving way to acceptance that his intentions were genuine and the lowering of her walls, was also a perfectly believable evolution of her perspective on things. 

Sure, the fact that Cersei was still pregnant, and Jaime’s baggage regarding that relationship, was always going to be a complication of some sort, but it wasn’t one that couldn’t organically fit within their new context to provide some level of conflict and drama to what would have otherwise been a relatively idyllic situation for these two. It wasn’t an insurmountable obstacle, especially for two people who had gone through the traumas they experienced together and knew each other this deeply.

They fought the dead, side by side, saved each other countless times and survived. The happiness of the celebration was a natural consequence of surviving the greatest of wars, and that fuelled an inevitable consummation that had been brewing for years. 

Everything made perfect sense for the characters and their relationship and the contexts they found themselves in year after year. 

And then... they morphed into something unrecognizable, both in terms of individual characters and dynamic.

I don’t know who the people in that goodbye scene were, but they were not the Jaime and Brienne I watched on my screen, with my own eyes, for so many years. NOTHING in that scene was consistent with anything they ever were to each other or their dynamic:

1) I am meant to buy that Jaime, the man who held Brienne in the highest regard, who would only “humble himself” to serve under her and “would never do that for anybody else”, who who time and time again chose Brienne’s way over Cersei’s, would try to sneak out in the middle of the night without so much of a goodbye so he could crawl back to his sister.

2) I am meant to buy that Brienne, the one person who always had a stronger influence on Jaime than Cersei in literally every. single. instance in the past, suddenly would lose such influence in the name of some “addiction”, after Cersei reached her absolute worse, insulted him, betrayed him and tried to have him killed twice. 

3) I am meant to buy that Jaime, the man who couldn’t even stand the sight of Brienne being embarrassed by Tyrion or her chin fucking wobbling in previous seasons, the one who could be affected by the smallest word coming out of her mouth to make monumental decisions, would somehow be completely cold and indifferent to her tears the one time she finally truly opens her heart to him.

4) I am meant to buy that Brienne, the woman who stood in front of a room full of people ready to chop his head off to defend him by listing his honourable deeds, would simply meekly surrender to a mere 3 examples of dishonourable deeds (one of which he didn’t even commit), instead of knocking some sense into him like she has time and time again through the years.

5) I am meant to buy that Jaime, the man who has defied Cersei or tried to contain her far more than he ever enabled her, somehow has just accepted, after years, that Brienne was wrong, all those people who do not know him and never have (Edmure, Olenna) were right, and he was all along just as bad as his sister and so they only belong to each other.

So not only my rage comes from the assassination of the characters and their dynamic, but also from the insult to my own intelligence and ability to follow what is shown on screen. You might as well tell me that Dany never really cared for her dragons and the throne, that Cersei only drinks wine because she’s forced to, that Jon actually secretly loves being in command, that Jorah only had mild respect for his Khaleesi, that Sam spent most of his free time in brothels, that Tywin would have actually preferred having Cersei as his heir than Jaime, that Melisandre was agnostic... should I go on? 

I just cannot get any feeling of closure over something so dumb. 

All That Silence Said

AN: I am so amazed by the feedback and response I got to The Sound of Silence, honestly guys it just means so much to be that everyone has enjoyed it. This is the second part of the story and I hope you enjoy it. I won’t be writing anything for the next few weeks as I’ll be at home visiting family without my laptop but I’ll be uploading soon.

Mute AU

Brienne could sense the nervous tension in Jaime as they walked through the Red Keep. She had heard the stories, legends and myths surrounding Tywin Lannister and although she had never met him; she could tell there were truths intertwined with the myths. Jaime kept his little finger tightly looped around hers and she could feel his hand tremble slightly. He didn’t seem like the boastful, arrogant Lannister she had met, rather he seemed like a little boy, worried about getting in trouble. It stirred her resolve. She would speak for them both and she would not be intimidated by or kowtow to Tywin Lannister.

She faced a bear armed with only a wooden sword.

She would not tremble before the lion.

When they entered the room, Brienne looked at Tywin; tall, slim and carrying the arrogance and honour that came from the Lannister name. His eyes were apprehensive, the mind scheming and plotting behind them as he took in their haggard appearance; Jaime’s scruffy hair and beard; their filthy clothes, he barely cast a look in Brienne’s direction. All of his attention was focused on Jaime.

“What took you so long?” Tywin asked in a cold, yet commanding voice. Clearly he had expected Jaime returned to the capital months ago.

Jaime looked at his father. He crossed his wrists together, as if bound before he shook his head, opened his lips and dragged his finger across them in a single, swiping motion.

We were captured. They cut out my tongue.

“Speak boy,” Tywin ordered and Jaime glanced at Brienne; he still had apprehension in his eyes as she stepped forward.

“Jaime cannot speak; one of your men cut out his tongue when they captured the two of us.” Brienne explained and Tywin looked at her for the first time.

“And who exactly are you?” Tywin asked, although he could hazard a guess. The few witness reports he had of his son mentioned the tall woman in armour accompanying him.

“Brienne of House Tarth, I was Catelyn Stark’s sworn sword, ordered to being Ser Jaime back to the capital in exchange for her daughters. I am aware it is no longer possible.” Brienne replied calmly. They had heard the news one night when they had stopped in a tavern; they were still close enough that a few of the voices whispered their disgust at such a slaughter, especially at a wedding.

“Indeed; the younger Stark girl has not been seen since her father’s execution; Sansa Stark has married my son Tyrion.” Tywin replied as he pushed forward a quill and a scroll of parchment. “You might not have a tongue but you have both of your hands. Write.”

Jaime glanced at Brienne and glared at the parchment and scroll. He had always struggled with reading and writing; the letters would move around the page and he could spell the words in his head but never when they were formed by his hand. He did however, have one question for his father, one he was struggling to think of the actions for.

What will hapen to me now? Jaime scrawled on the parchment and pushed it to Tywin. If Tywin noted the misspelt word, for once he did not comment on it.

“You cannot remain in the Kingsguard. You can’t give your king the warning of an attack, or give orders to your men. I will speak with the king and you will be respectfully withdrawn from service. You will take my place as my son and heir and we will find you a bride.” Tywin explained; of course he had it all planned out. Tywin Lannister always had everything planned out.

Jaime wished he could speak; that he could rant, yell, swear and shout. He had spent months in captivity, travelled the length of Westeros, been captured, had his tongue removed, almost died several times and now that he had returned; what had he returned to? He would be removed from the Kingsguard, forced to take the role in life he had never wanted to take; lordship, marriage, heirs. Maybe it was foolish for him to have hoped for the slightest sign of care and consideration from his father.

Brienne had removed her finger from his when they had entered the room. She now linked it around her own again and turned her hand so that she was stroking the back of it with her thumb. With her other hand, she held it flat against her chest and pushed it downwards.

I’m here with you. Calm down.

Jaime nodded at her and unlinked their fingers. He looked at Tywin again and pressed his fingers to his chin and held it outwards to him. It was his own show of defiance. He would not write, only sign.

Thank you.

“You will need a bath,” Tywin said finally. “You still have your bedchamber.”

With that, Tywin opened the door and ordered one of the men standing outside to fetch a servant who would arrange a bath for Jaime. Upon the servant’s return, Jaime nodded at Brienne and left the room. He would find her later, hopefully unlike him, she would be in one piece. When the door slammed shut behind Jaime, Tywin fixed his attention on Brienne.

“You’re Selwyn Tarth’s daughter.” It wasn’t a question. He knew exactly who she was, about her House, her homeland, her suitability for his son.

“Yes, I am.” Brienne replied, not that Tarth was anything too special. Well, it was to her at least. It wasn’t one of the large, powerful houses or lands, however it was one of the best ports and places for trade with Dorne, Essos, Mereen, even as far away as Yi Ti.

“Tarth has declared neutrality in this war; how is it that the Evenstar’s only child and heir was sworn to the Starks?” Tywin asked and Brienne kept his gaze. She still did not see what was so intimidating about him. She knew of his power, of his plots and schemes, yet he did not intimidate her. He did not frighten her. They both knew that if anything, he owed her. She had returned Jaime to him; alive, if not fully well. Tywin Lannister owed her a debt.

And a Lannister always paid his debts.

“I was part of Renly Baratheon’s guard; after his death, I helped Lady Stark return to her son. I was sworn to protect her, not to the Starks. Protecting one person does not mean I protect or stand with them all. As of her death, I am sworn to no one and I respect my House’s neutrality. I want no sides in this war.” Brienne replied carefully. Although not one of her preferred lessons, she knew how to play politics. How to say the right thing in the right tone. How to play her part in the game.

“And my son,” Tywin prompted and still Brienne held his gaze. “You understand those actions he makes?”

“I do, he rescued me from a bear pit in Harrenhall when your ally Roose Bolton had me flung into it. Despite his inability to speak, we were able to communicate by developing a signing language. He is my friend,” Brienne explained before adding the next two words. “Nothing more.”

Tywin contemplated her words in silence for a moment before he spoke. “Then I thank you for returning my son to me. I owe you a debt. For now, you may stay in the Red Keep and serve as his interpreter.”

“Thank you,” Brienne said; they both knew he was making it sound like an assignment. Like he could control her, make her spy on Jaime and report back to him. It was actually a pitiful sign to her that Tywin held no interest in learning how to understand Jaime’s signing. To him, Jaime was perfect this way. A silent son couldn’t contradict, criticise or complain; three things Tywin loathed above all else.

For the second time, Tywin got a guard to arrange for a handmaiden, a bedchamber and a bath for Brienne. As she scrubbed weeks of dirt and filth from her skin, Brienne wondered how Jaime was going to cope. The two of them had built a strong knowledge and understanding on the road together; now that they were back with the rest of his family, they would have to begin again. His father had already refused to learn, she had to wonder how Cersei and Tyrion would react.

As it turned out, Cersei was able to outdo Tywin’s ignorance by completely ignoring Jaime. He had tried to visit her, yet she refused to see him. She had already been informed of his lack of tongue and she was repulsed and disgusted by him. Tyrion, on the other hand was proving his worth as the most decent Lannister by at least trying to understand him. Even if he couldn’t get all of the signs right.

“Let me try;” Tyrion said as he pointed to himself, pointed to his nose and dragged his middle finger down his arms three times.

I smell toilet.

Brienne tried to bite back a smile as Jaime grinned and opened his mouth in a silent gesture of the laughter he would have been making. Tyrion shook his head and sighed. “What did I say?”

“You said that you smell like a toilet.” Brienne replied and repeated the gesture of dragged the middle finger of her right hand down her left hand three times. “This sign means toilet.”

“At least I’m trying,” Tyrion argued as even Sansa gave a shy smile as she measured Brienne’s arm span. After their slightly awkward first meeting, Sansa had offered to make Brienne some clothes that would be suitable for her size. Although Brienne was reluctant in the young girl’s ability; she supposed it was better than nothing. Plus, anything that gave Sansa Stark a positive focus after the death of her mother and brother was fine by Brienne. “Has Father spoken to you any further about this marriage?”

Jaime frowned and shook his head. He made a cross with his arms in front of his face and twisted his hand around his ring finger twice.

I refuse to marry.

“You don’t want to get married?” Tyrion asked and Jaime glared and repeated the cross motion again.

I refuse.

“You won’t marry?” Tyrion guessed and Jaime nodded. Close enough. “You can try but Father will see this through. He might give you a choice, considering you’re the golden son. Do you think you’ll have a say in the matter?”

Jaime pulled a face and gave his smirking brother the middle finger. One of the few signs that was universal and needed no translation.

As the days passed; Jaime and Brienne began to settle into a new routine in the Red Keep. Now that Jaime had been formally dismissed from the Kingsguard; he and Brienne spent a lot of their time sparring and fighting. When they weren’t sparring, they were either practising their signing or teaching it to Tyrion and Sansa. Although Sansa was learning quickly, Tyrion was still stumbling over even some of the most basic signs and reliant on Brienne to translate for him. Jaime couldn’t deny that he was pleased that there was at least one area wherein he was cleverer than Tyrion. The rest of Jaime’s family remained distant and were either unable or unwilling to communicate with Jaime.

Tywin ignored anything Jaime did unless it was written on paper. Cersei maintained her stance on outright ignoring him. Tommen was unsure of how to react and kept as quiet as Jaime. Joffrey thought the whole situation was hilarious and spoke as if Jaime was deaf as well as mute. At least he did until Joffrey made a derogatory comment about Brienne that turned her cheeks scarlet with humiliation.

Jaime didn’t sign or write anything. Instead he stared Joffrey in the eye and drew his sword from its scabbard before raising his eyebrows testily at him. The point was made clear and Joffrey cowered back. He knew what happened to kings that angered Jaime. Yet once Joffrey had scuttled off to hide behind Cersei’s skirts, Jaime turned and kicked the wall in frustration. Hs lips were mouthing words that he couldn’t say, his face screwed up with the emotions that he couldn’t verbalize. Brienne knew that if he could speak, he would have been ranting and yelling at the top of his lungs.

Jaime stopped kicking the wall and instead leaned against it. His face was still screwed up, he was forcing himself not to cry as he made one gesture. He signed crowning himself and slitting his throat before pointing to himself.

Kingslayer. I’m the Kingslayer.

Brienne tilted his chin up with her right hand and made a sign with her left. She held out the index and thumb of her left hand before using them to point to herself, at Jaime and herself again.

Jaime. You are Jaime.

Jaime wiped his eyes and Brienne put her arms around him. She hadn’t meant to hug him but he seemed so helpless, devastated and alone. She had felt those feelings before and had no one to show comfort, that they cared. Brienne knew that she had made the right choice when Jaime latched onto her with the force of a drowning man clinging to his salvation and buried his head in her neck. Brienne tightened her hold on him and tracing circles on his back to reassure him and calm him down.

Jaime felt tears slip from his eyes and tried to wipe them on Brienne’s shoulder without her noticing. He was never more pleased with her decision to stay in the capital; he had no idea how he would have coped without her at his side. She was the only one who could physically understand him, the only one who could speak for him when even his own signing failed him. Sometimes, it was as if she could see into his head, like she could hear the words he was screaming in his mind and able to say them for him. She was the closest and truest friend that he had ever had. And yet, she had no idea how much he appreciated her. Even now, just being with him, offering that strong, silent support, he didn’t just feel like she was calming him down. Being held in her arms, felt like home.

As Jaime stepped back from the hug, he looked at Brienne and attempted a smile as he held his hand to his chin and held it out.

Thank you.

The hug seemed to unlock a door between them. Until that point, physical contact between them had been limited to linked fingers or rare touches on the hand or arm. Now physical contact came easier to the both of them. Neither of them had been particularly tactile people before but now it felt as natural as signing. They would lean against the other when sitting, hands would naturally reach out and hold the other’s when walking, each conversation at the end of the night ended with a hug and Jaime signing sweet dreams at her. Their daily fighting and training became more of a dance between them and if one helped the other up from a fall or knock to the ground, they held on for a moment or two longer than they should have.

Just a moment. Or two.

The thought struck Jaime one afternoon when he and Brienne had joined Tyrion and Sansa in their chambers. Sansa had made Brienne a dress to wear for the wedding and she was eager to see Brienne in it and any possible changes she could make. The thought had struck Jaime when Brienne had stepped out from behind the screen; not because she was wearing a dress made of deep sapphire blue which highlighted her eyes and was tailored to flatter her body, but it was the look in her eyes. A look that he had never seen in her eyes before. Jaime knew she felt beautiful in the dress; something he knew that she had never felt before. Jaime felt a rush of affection, more intense than he had ever felt before and a thought struck him.

He wanted Brienne to have that look in her eyes every day. He never wanted her to doubt that she was beautiful ever again. Because she was beautiful. She was the most beautiful woman in the world to him; not just in her looks but in her heart and soul too. She was compassionate, kind hearted, brave, loyal, intelligent, and witty and the realisation hit him as forcefully as a brick to the head. 

How had he not realised it before?

He was in love with Brienne of Tarth.

“It’s wonderful Sansa,” Brienne said truthfully as she admired the dress in the mirror. Instead of trying to show a femininity that didn’t exist, like other seamstresses had attempted in the past, Sansa had chosen to make the dress sleeveless, showing her arms and coming in slightly at her hips before falling into a full skirt that moved easily as she walked. It didn’t bare her bust like other dresses or cling to places it shouldn’t cling, it was the sort of dress she imagined when she indulged in rare fantasies. Ones where she was a beauty and could wear a dress with ease.

“Thank you,” Sansa replied. “I thought the loose skirt would be better for moving or dancing, like when you’re fighting, you wear looser clothing.”

“I think it would,” Brienne said as she held out the skirt, feeling the smoothness of the material against her fingers. Brienne looked at Jaime and Tyrion, who had been carefully quiet in their discussion before she pointed at them with two fingers and tapped her temple with the same two fingers.

What do you think?

“You look marvellous Lady Brienne,” Tyrion replied verbally, not trusting himself to sign the wrong thing. Brienne looked at Jaime who smiled at her before pretending to swoon dramatically onto the bed. Jaime sat up and with his right hand, traced a circle across the edge of his face twice. One word, one sign that he’d never used before, not to Brienne, not about Brienne.

Beautiful.

Brienne smiled softly and pressed her hand to her chin and held it out, thanking him, before returning back behind the screen to change into her clothes. She tried to not think too much about Jaime’s response. She did feel that she looked beautiful in the dress and Jaime had started to playact with his signing; especially when expressing his emotions he chose to be more comical and overdramatic unless he was genuinely frustrated or upset. Things had started to change between them. Brienne wasn’t sure how to describe it; they were close friends, of that she was certain. Although it was also possible that they weren’t just close friends anymore.

Later that evening, Jaime led Brienne out into the gardens for a walk. The sun was beginning to sink below the horizon as they wandered through the water gardens towards the worn out steps that led down to a small cove of Blackwater Bay. As they walked across the pebble cove, Jaime glanced nervously at Brienne. He had been thinking about this all day, although if he was honest with himself, this thought had existed in the back of mind since he had returned to the capital and was informed that he was going to be married. It had been a reckless thought then; now he was certain of nothing else but this.

Brienne could tell that there was something weighing heavily on his mind. She signed his name but Jaime just gave her a reassuring smile before he wandered down to the water’s edge. Jaime picked up a pebble and attempted to skim it across the waves. Brienne smiled and did the same, taking the time to choose a suitable stone and flicking it with the right amount of force to send it skipping across the waves. Jaime grinned at her before he pointed back up the direction they had come from. Brienne turned to look at where he had pointed but couldn’t see a thing.

“I don’t see anyth-“ Brienne trailed off as she turned back to Jaime to see him knelt down on one knee on the pebbles. They were close enough to the edge of the water that the waves were ebbing and flowing over their shoes and Jaime’s knee. “What is this?”

Jaime took a deep breath and he held her hands in his. He set Brienne’s hands over his heart before turning her hands back towards her.

My heart is yours.

Jaime then let go of her right hand and kept a hold of her left hand. He traced his finger over her ring finger twice before pointing to himself.

Marry me.

“You want me to marry you?” Brienne asked and Jaime nodded, placing her hand over his heart again.

My heart is yours.

“Your heart is mine?” Brienne guessed and Jaime nodded again. He placed one finger to his temple and pointed to his heart before pointing at her. One finger at the temple translated as I feel.

I love you.

Brienne’s eyes widened at that. She knew that things had been changing between them, she hadn’t dared to even dream or hope that they would be changing like this. That they would have these feelings for each other. Had they been there all along or had they found them along the way; their experiences bringing them together instead of tearing them apart? She wasn’t sure, the only thing she knew for certain was that this was real. This wasn’t a joke or a cruel trick. She could see the anxiety in Jaime’s eyes; she hadn’t given him an answer, he wasn’t sure if she felt the same. He knew that she was afraid that this was an attempt to mock her, to make fun of her.

Jaime held three fingers to his temple and set them over his heart again.

I know I love you.

Brienne mimicked his actions, setting three fingers to her temple before setting them over her heart.

I know I love you.

Jaime beamed at her and with his fingers trembling nervously, he traced his finger over her ring finger and pointed to himself.

Will you marry me?

Brienne grinned at him and nodded her head. She took his left hand and nodded as she traced two circles around his finger.

Yes, I will marry you.

Brienne helped Jaime to his feet and they wrapped their arms around each other, hugging over another tightly. Brienne could feel Jaime’s lips against her cheek. He wasn’t trying to kiss her, he was mouthing words. Brienne moved back so she could see him; Jaime looked at her and mouthed the words again. Although it was slightly unclear, Brienne knew what he was saying.

“I love you too,” Brienne said, gently cupping his face in her hands. Jaime closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to hers. Brienne kissed him back and in that moment, nothing else existed. Nothing else mattered.

It was them against the world. It always had been and it always would be.

Family, Duty, Honor Chapter 4

Celia II

Avari was truly the best friend Celia had ever had. True, Cat had almost always held a place, but now she was relegated to favorite sister. Although she was four years younger than Celia, they had plenty in common when it came to conversation and Avari was teaching Celia some Valyrian as well.

“How are your parents settling in?” Celia asked as they did some sewing.

“They are settling in well,” Avari answered. “Mother is pleased to have access to better fabrics and Father enjoys a full use of a forge.”

Celia smiled. “And you?”

“I have never had so many books within my reach.” Avari blushed. “I even found an old book on the Targaryens in Old Valyrian.”

“Oh? Is it so different from High Valyrian that you cannot read it?”

“No, the words are similar enough that I can understand what is being said. A few words seem to have been lost though.”

“How terrible that parts of a language have been so utterly lost. I have no real love for Valyria for their slaves and such, but to lose a language is such a horrid thing. Think of the histories we shall never truly learn from.”

“It lives on in High Valyrian, I suppose.”

“True.”

“Ah,” Tywin entered Celia’s solar. “There you are my dear.”

Celia and Avari stood, curtsying when they did. “My lord.”

He waved his hand at them both. “I have letters from my son. I have already read mine and know there is good news for you in your own.” He smiled kindly as he handed her a sealed letter. “There you are, my dear.”

Celia politely took the letter and thanked her good father before opening the letter gently. She pulled the letter from its casing and read it carefully. Her husband had not written her in weeks.

Dear Lady,

I write to tell you that I should be returning to Casterly Rock within a few days time of you receiving this letter. I left Cersei in the capital in high spirits. She sends her love to you and Arthur and would enjoy it greatly if you or Arthur could join me in a visit King’s Landing at our earliest convenience.

I await the next chance I have to see Arthur again and to see how he is progressing as you have stated in your previous letters. I fear his chance of picking up love steal or riding anything without one of us present is a few years or so off. So, there is no need for him to worry. I believe the only one that should worry is Tyrion for he will once again be the smallest Lannister at that point in time.

Cersei has informed me that it is customary for a husband to bring his wife something when they return after a long time away. I have bought a Myrish necklace with a sapphire rose and rubied leaves for you that I shall give to you upon my return as well as a wooden child sword that Arthur might use by his second nameday. I would suggest my old one, but I know not where it is nor if it would even be in any condition for anyone, much less a child to use.

I shall see you in a few days time.

Your husband,

Ser Jaime Lannister

Celia rubbed her thumb across her husband’s name. He would be returning to her. Happiness swelled in her chest at the knowledge that her husband would be returning to her.

She looked up to find her good father and Avari both smiling at her. Celia blushed. “We should prepare for my husband's return. He has been gone for so long. Perhaps we might throw together a small feast? All of Ser Jaime’s favorites?”

“I have already sent word to the cook,” Tywin said gently.

“My lady, my mother is almost die with your newest dress,” Avari said happily. “Perhaps we could have the fitting done before Ser Jaime returns?”

Celia’s cheeks burned into a deeper scarlet. She wondered how her husband might look at her in such a dress. “That would be lovely Avari, thank you.”

“Off you two go then,” Tywin instructed. “Perhaps we might expect another child within a year’s time.”

Her good father actually winked and Celia felt she might faint at the thought of having another child. A child Ser Jaime would be present for. A child she would not have alone.

Continue on Ao3

META ON BEING CHALLENGED TO ORDER AND JAIME’S LEAVING I trust in Lena Headey’s acting, not in D&D’s writing. Thus the only reason I am giving this any thought. And then special shoutout to @cerseilionesslannister for helping me with the Cersei and Jaime scene and helping me regain perspective on Cersei’s mental state of this and how this should be view rather than a YAY! BREAK UP TIME. And how logic really is concerning this subject. AND ALSO META-ING WITH ME IN OUR TEXT MESSAGES. Bless your heart okay. Scarlett. This is as much your meta as it is mine. Seriously.

         When Cersei was challenged by both brothers to kill them there were two different things that happened. One of which affected the other. After Tyrion had done it, it became a matter of broken pride. Once a challenge was issued by Jaime, it was tinged with a sense of betrayal by the one who had promised her always that he would be there for her. First I want to take apart the Tyrion scene, take apart the Jaime scene, and what would drive Cersei to do the things that she does. Again, I am not condoning D&D but more so relying on my faith in Lena Headey.

      First and foremost I want to point out how Cersei is always, at this point , throwing herself into the tactics to keep the iron throne. She was once a mother of all three, and now they are all gone. Every thing that she is doing is an extra way for her to push her grief away for them. Unhealthy coping mechanisms aside this makes her angrier, more colder, and taking that final step to be like the man she has always wanted to be like. (see. Tywin Lannister.)  And Cersei never talks about her children because it’s too painful so when that Tyrion scene came up I literally teared up. Anywho-

      TYRION:

       It’s so easy to dismiss this relationship as evil sister and pour innocent man. But we all know that this relationship is so much more complicated than that when you start digging into the roots. And we find that Cersei’s reasoning isn’t all that horrible, we discover the WANT to love him like a little brother. Then we discover that Tyrion hasn’t exactly been acting like a sweet little lamb. Cersei has her flaws, I’ve always state this, but so does Tyrion. We all know this. OKAY. SO. Since I am keeping this ONE scene without changing anything (aside for a tiny piece of dialogue at the end about the wrath)

       So I want to talk about the interesting part for me; so HERE is the timestamp. Look closely at Cersei’s expression while Tyrion challenges her to finally kill him. And don’t misunderstand the silence, she is deeply considering just ending his life right then and there. And really? What’s to stop her? Cersei has LITERALLY been expressing her need to see him die since the very day he was born? While it was impulsive grief in the beginning it quickly formed into a living form of paranoia due to the prophecy. He had killed her mother, and father, and she had just laid Myrcella and Tommen’s death at his feet. She wants nothing MORE than to kill him right then and there. Her eyes flick to him- considering, reveling, and hungry. And then her eyes flick up to Ser Gregor and there is a moment where she just thinks to herself; how easy it would be just to smash his little head. And the urge takes over and oh how she wants to see it down. She had needed this done all this time, all these years, and she thinks of all of his mockery and his cruel japes. And moves to give that one order she has dreamed to speak.

       Only she doesn’t.

      And that makes her angry. She twitches, almost smiles, and breathes in. The URGE is THERE but she can’t bring herself to do it. After all of this time and all of these years of dreaming of killing him, a willing sacrifice she would make to void out the prophecy. And she can’t bring herself to do it. Instead the order dies on her tongue and she throws herself back, and quickly looks away. Now why is that? Why didn’t she kill him after promising him every day of his life that she would do it the first chance she had? Why is that she looks away and chooses to let him go? Even while they go RIGHT back to disagreeing when she refuses to drink? These are interesting points in all honesty and it was something that I had actually noticed in my reading of A Clash of Kings, it’s something I noticed in every scene that Cersei and Tyrion have together in the show.

      Cersei wants to love him like a genuine little brother. The NEED to care for him is there, the want to love him like family has never went away. He killed her mother, her father, and is blamed for her youngest children’s deaths. But- he DID love them, and that is one thing that she cannot deny him. We notice that when he mentions them again her fight is gone. She starts to say- “i will not hear-’ lowly but he cuts her off and says  “I don’t care I LOVED them. You know I did. You know it in your heart if there is anything left of it.” and it doesn’t matter how mean she got after- it as the very fact that she LET him cut her off and LET him finish speaking. And then after their usual style of conversation has begun, when all of the anger and the tension and the words had gotten out. Their tone had faded back into the tone that it held back when Tyrion was the Hand of the King under Joffrey, and that was a need to love your youngest/eldest sibling sitting across from you.

       JAIME:

     Let’s flash back for a moment to the moment that Cersei announced to Jaime that she was pregnant. She told him, never betray me again right here. Let’s consider for a moment what just happened. Jaime had met with Tyrion, a man who is openly conspiring to have them all thrown from power without consulting her first. 

      Alright now let’s consider the fact that Cersei is indeed PREGNANT here in this scene, as Scarlett and I discussed IN THIS POST RIGHT HERE, we have to realize first that Cersei’s body is going through the beginning stages of change when it comes to having a child. All of which included and it not limited to any of the following;

Regular Nausea and vomiting

Sore and tender breasts

fatigue

full bladder, or as scarlett put it, having to literally pee all the time

heartburn, and acid reflux

diarrhea and/or constipation

mood swings

bad headaches/migraines

new levels of anxiety.

      So on top of all of the normal feelings of anxiety (including that which has stemmed since she was a child), worry over the well being of her child and herself, PTSD over the abuse suffered at Robert’s hand, denied grief over losing THREE children, there is all of the experience of the physical changes of pregnancy listed above, and anxieties over Jaime leaving her to go into battle while she is going through these.changes all on her own, a pregnancy through war time, and a pregnancy that has it’s own dangers of not going well.

      Now that we have the physical and emotional aspects noted, lets move onto the mentality.

      What was Cersei and Jaime thinking? I’ll tell you first and foremost; THIS WAS NOT A BREAK UP! CERSEI AND JAIME HAVE NOT BEEN TOGETHER FOR OVER 30 YEARS JUST TO LEAVE EACH OTHER NOW. THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO LOVE ANYONE ELSE EVEN IF THEY HAD WANTED TOO. 

      Anyway, to put it simply their end goals were the same, only each had different intentions of doing so. And to put that to words exactly. Would the one word; Survive. Yet each had their own idea in doing so. Let’s remember THE most important aspect of Cersei’s character that makes up a HUGE part of who she is. And that is her role as a mother, Cersei cherishes her children above ALL else. And her intentions here is thinking of the child she is soon to have. I’ve said, Scarlett has said, we all know this, that Cersei would DIE for her children. But now that she has lost her first three, this next child that is growing inside of her is far more important because it is all that she has left. The prophecy never told Cersei of a fourth child born to her, and unlike so many other times. Cersei has a major hand of power to play for this, to protect this one light that she has left in this cruel world.  She has a kingdom, she has Lannister men at her beck and call, she has MORE coming from across the sea, all that she could dream to keep her child safe.

      “Yes the monsters exist. But let them fight each other.” were along the lines of what she said. Cersei is literally modeling her decision after what Tywin Lannister had done when the Rebellion had occurred. And by protecting HERSELF- she is protecting the only thing that mattered in the world at this moment. The thing that is far more important than even the power that she had pursued all of her life. And that is her child growing inside of her.

      Again; JAIME IS NOT HAVING A REALIZATION THAT CERSEI IS INSANE, or that she is ‘wrong’ for him, or he is ‘tired’ of her. Jaime literally does what he ALWAYS has been able to do when Cersei threatens him, when Cersei slaps him. He calls out her shit because he KNOWS that she loves him so much that she never means any of it. Be it playing, or having an argument ,he literally calls Cersei out so much and that is all this was. Jaime has literally been spending the entire series (both book AND show) acknowledging how she is and refusing to budge from her side. (even when he is angry at her at the end of the series, his thoughts STILL revolve around Cersei.)

       When he speaks his plan is to protect her, her reign, and their child, through direct battle. There is no interior motives happening here. All intentions are on the board, nothing hidden between the two of them. What secret Cersei DOES have she spills to Jaime, which ensues their next disagreement. Which our main Jaime touches upon a little IN THIS POST. (Not to mention that Jaime is also going through his own grief, PTSD, and mental anxieties). His plan is literally going in the order of; protecting the Realm, for his own form of honor, and the reign of Cersei and their child. All the while resotring the family name and relationships with Cersei. (and sure yes, Tyrion). All the while Cersei wants to protect their own, the legacy she promised for their child, and relationships with Jaime. While each is aiming toward the same end goal, the road toward said end goal is viewed differently from both Jaime and Cersei.

      Both are aiming toward the restoration of their family, for the safety of their child that is yet to be born. This is not one casting off the other, or washing their hands of the dirty evil one at their back. And neither is there anything that has ever existed called the REDEMPTION ARC, it’s not back on, and it was never on in the first place? Because Jaime is literally doing what he is doing FOR Cersei, FOR their child. As he said in his very own words;

     ‘you don’t matter- CERSEI matters, and i will kill every Tully if I have to, to get back to her.’

Sorry if you answered this before, but how and why do you think the incest started between Jaime and Cersei?

Hi! Wow, I wrote way too much for this. I think first a timeline and some text will be useful before we get started.

266 - Jaime and Cersei are born at Casterly Rock

272 - Jaime and Cersei are taken to KL for Aerys’s Anniversary Tourney, though Cersei does not see Rhaegar there. “When she was just a little girl, her father had promised her that she would marry Rhaegar. She could not have been more than six or seven.” (This art by @bidonica​ is my favorite thing.)

273 - Jaime and Cersei are seven. They are discovered by Joanna’s maid. Joanna dies soon after. After the Martells arrive, Cersei sexually abuses Tyrion by twisting his penis; she physically abuses her baby brother on more than one occasion. 

276 - Jaime and Cersei are 10. Tywin hosts a tourney. Maggy the Frog tells her prophecy. Cersei sees Rhaegar for the first time. Aerys refuses the Cersei/Rhaegar betrothal and he refuses Jaime as Rhaegar’s squire.

277 - At eleven, Jaime is sent to squire for Lord Sumner Crakehall. 

278 - Tywin brings Cersei to court. She is 12. Cersei wept and Jaime raged. 

279 - Jaime wins a squire’s melee, though where this melee took place is unclear. Possibly at the tourney held at Storm’s End?

279 or 280 - Tywin visits Casterly Rock with Cersei. Jaime visits home too. The twins are 13 or 14. Jaime dares Cersei to kiss Tyrion, which she does. Cersei laughs at Tyrion’s tumbling, until Tywin puts a stop to it. 

281 - Jaime wins his spurs against the Kingswood Brotherhood. Jaime and Cersei are known to have slept together at Eel Alley. They are 15.

The text tells us about Jaime and Cersei’s childhood:

Your brother?“ Ned said. “Or your lover?”

“Both.” She did not flinch from the truth. “Since we were children together.” (Eddard, AGOT)

He could never bear to be long apart from his twin. Even as children, they would creep into each other’s beds and sleep with their arms entwined. Even in the womb. Long before his sister’s flowering or the advent of his own manhood, they had seen mares and stallions in the fields and dogs and bitches in the kennels and played at doing the same. Once their mother’s maid had caught them at it … he did not recall just what they had been doing, but whatever it was had horrified Lady Joanna. She’d sent the maid away, moved Jaime’s bedchamber to the other side of Casterly Rock, set a guard outside Cersei’s, and told them that they must never do that again or she would have no choice but to tell their lord father. They need not have feared, though. It was not long after that she died birthing Tyrion [in 273AC]. Jaime barely remembered what his mother had looked like. (Jaime, ASOS)

“I can’t remember when we first began to kiss. It was innocent at first. Until it wasn’t.” (Jaime, AFFC)

From the official WOIAF app, for Cersei Lannister:

As children, Jaime and Cersei look so similar that occasionally Cersei dons her brother’s clothing and takes lessons from the Maser-at-Arms in his stead, without anyone realizing. The two are extremely close–to the point that, even as children, they began to play at being lovers.

What I conclude from the above quotes is that Jaime and Cersei have always had a very close and intimate relationship, and it’s always been very physical. I don’t think that Jaime and Cersei lost their virginity at seven years old – they only “played at being lovers” – but they were interested in sex even at such a young age, and they wanted to imitate it, as much as their limited understanding would allow at seven. Though note that Cersei considers Jaime to have been her lover “since we were children together.”

The text doesn’t tell us exactly what Joanna’s maid caught Jaime and Cersei doing, but it was something inappropriate enough that Joanna felt it necessary to send the maid away to keep it secret. Joanna also moved Jaime’s bedroom to the other side of the Rock (a distance perhaps as great as seven leagues – basically from one side of a modern major city to another side) and she placed a guard outside Cersei’s door as a precaution. Gossip and rumors spread easily throughout Casterly Rock (see: Gregor’s crimes) and it’s hard for me to believe that Jaime’s new bedroom and the guard outside Cersei’s door occasioned no whispered comment from servants and other Lannisters. Joanna obviously felt that whatever happened between Jaime and Cersei was bad enough that it was worth the gossip. I don’t think that should be easily dismissed in a family that is so obsessed with reputation. 

Also note that Joanna wanted to send one of her children to be fostered with the unnamed princess of Dorne, even though everyone agreed that Tywin would object to such a plan and Joanna would have needed to persuade him. 

So basically Joanna wanted to put a continent between Jaime and Cersei, even against Tywin’s wishes. Even if you think Joanna overreacted, I don’t think Joanna’s actions and plans are the type of reaction that happens when your kids are just playing maester. (And Lannister maesters do some weird shit themselves ok.) And Joanna seems to have been ok with Jaime and Cersei "creep[ing] into each other’s beds and sleep[ing] with their arms entwined” or at least we aren’t told that she objected to it. (And btw a lot of Westerosi people sleep naked, including Lannisters like Tyrion.)

Again, I don’t think Jaime and Cersei were having penis-in-vagina sex at seven years old, but I think they were doing something … Extreme. I mean … this is the family of 77 course feasts and cloth-of-gold capes that are probably worth kingdoms. Extreme is their middle name, with Tywin’s line the most Extreme of all. I mean, we’re talking specifically about two people that, the moment they were reunited, fucked on the altar of the sept next to the body of their dead son. And we’re talking about Cersei, who, as a little girl, stuck her hand in a lion’s cage and taunted a witch and murdered her friend. Frankly, if Jaime and Cersei weren’t doing something Extreme together at seven years old, I’m gonna be Extremely disappointed in GRRM. I’ll save my Extremely Specific Headcanons about what happened between the twins when they were seven for another day, but I personally consider the events of 273 to be the forerunner of Jaime and Cersei’s sexual relationship.

I think an important thing to consider is that Cersei was already being sexualized in 272 or 273, when she was only “six or seven,” when Tywin promised her that she would be Rhaegar’s wife. Westeros is an extremely patriarchal society, and Cersei was being raised to think of herself as a man’s sexual possession. She even drew pictures of herself “with her arms wrapped tight about [Rhaegar’s] chest”. And if you wanna get Freudian, in her drawing, she was riding on Rhaegar’s dragon … isn’t my blog great, friends?

And so here you have baby Cersei being raised “to smile and sing and please”. “I was to be sold to some stranger like a horse, to be ridden whenever my new owner liked, beaten whenever he liked, and cast aside in time for a younger filly.” 

Even as a child, I think Cersei understands that she must please Rhaegar, and be a good wife to him. Even now, even years and years and years later, Cersei thinks of how she would never have given Rhaegar cause to stray from her bed, how she would have given him sons, how she would have pleased him as his queen: 

“If she had only married Rhaegar as the gods intended, he would never have looked twice at the wolf girl. Rhaegar would be our king today and I would be his queen, the mother of his sons. She had never forgiven Robert for killing him.”

Cersei thinks to herself how there was no “better man” than Rhaegar. And this is Tywin’s daughter we’re talking about. The Lannister children have defined themselves as Tywin’s children, and that’s shaped so much about all of them, but it’s really fucked Cersei up, arguably even more than her brothers. (We debate about whether Tyrion or Jaime will live, whether they will do heroic things in future books, etc; we’re all pretty certain Cersei will die, and will die a villain, given her strict adherence to Tywin’s philosophies. Tywin fucked Cersei up beyond hope.)  “Lord Tywin’s daughter was the first through the flap”. Cersei has lived her whole life trying not to disappoint her father, to be the boldest, the bravest, the most beautiful, the best at everything. 

How do you get to be the best? Why, you practice, of course. 

Cersei is told at “six or seven” that she will be Rhaegar’s wife, and then (covertly, without Jaime understanding the reasons) Cersei ~researched~ how it was done by observing “mares and stallions in the fields and dogs and bitches in the kennels” and then at seven she “began to play at being lovers” with Jaime. (I believe Cersei initiated this “play”.) I think this is something very sad, very tragic. 

(Plus, I’m very fond of the idea that Tywin has contributed to All The Problems by upholding Westerosi patriarchy and sexualizing a six year old girl and shoving her into the idea of marriage.)

I obviously think there’s a lot more to Jaime and Cersei’s relationship, since I ship it like FedEx (in a gouge-your-eyes-out-no-happy-endings-allowed sort of way), but that’s how I think the relationship first got … real inappropriate. 

But what are some other reasons why Jaime and Cersei would embark on an incestuous relationship?

Well, like I said, they were twins, so that immediately establishes a close bond between the two of them that excludes everyone else (”everyone who isn’t us is an enemy”). I quote @inkandcayenne‘s beautiful fic like it’s canon (it is canon to me) but like

There was a time before he began to think of them as separate.  In the sept she bends her head to hear his whispered joke and locks of Jaime’s hair fall over her slender neck, and when their hands entwine you cannot tell whose fingers are whose.  They move in tandem, with a grace Tyrion can only imagine; at breakfast he slides a pot of jam toward her, she a pitcher of milk toward him, without either having to ask.  He first learns to say their names as one, holding his arms out when they walk past his crib: up, Jaimencersei, up.  Only one of them ever stops to pick him up, but he expects that.  They are two halves of the same whole, one cruel and one kind, the way the moon has bright and dark faces.  

The world is divided into the twins and everyone else, and everyone else must not know of it: the whispers and creakings he hears coming from her room, their flushed faces, a tangle of limbs and golden hair happened upon in a dark corridor, though it’s years before he has a word for what he sees.  Nothing could seem more natural to him, yet he knows it’s a secret without knowing what a secret is.  Jaime brings him lemon drops and ruffles his hair: you mustn’t tell Father.  He wouldn’t even know how to describe what he saw.  

If you love something you must keep it secret.  It’s the first time he learns the lesson, but not the last.  [x]

Cersei and Jaime have a bond between each other, it makes them think of each other as “more than brother and sister. We are one person in two bodies.” Combine their identity as twins with Tywin’s philosophy that Lannisters are “worth more” and no one else is worthy of them (Robert killed the only person who Cersei thinks might have been a worthy husband), and add in the idea that the world is divided into Lannisters and enemies, and I think it’s clear Tywin really fucked them up, long before they actually started fucking. 

Also, you have to remember that Jaime and Cersei were dealing with the trauma of their mother’s death around this time, and I think they were dealing with it pretty much alone (except for, like, y’know, 777 servants). 

King’s Landing had never loved Lord Tywin. He never wanted love, though. "You cannot eat love, nor buy a horse with it, nor warm your halls on a cold night,” she heard him tell Jaime once, when her brother had been no older than Tommen [Tommen is eight or nine here].

Jaime was seven when Joanna died, and after her death Tywin is like, “Fuck love, what good is it?” I don’t think Tywin offered a lot of emotional comfort to Jaime and Cersei, and I think they grew more dependent on each other emotionally after Joanna’s death.

And then I think you have Jaime and Cersei’s relationship developing as a backlash against what Cersei feels is the injustice of patriarchal institutions. 

“at your birth, Jaime […] You and Cersei, pink and perfect, as alike as two peas in a pod … well, except between the legs.”

“When we were little, Jaime and I were so much alike that even our lord father could not tell us apart. Sometimes as a lark we would dress in each other’s clothes and spend a whole day each as the other. Yet even so, when Jaime was given his first sword, there was none for me. ‘What do I get?’ I remember asking. We were so much alike, I could never understand why they treated us so differently.” 

“She dreamt she sat the Iron Throne, high above them all.”

“Jaime’s lot was to be glory and power, while mine was birth and moonblood.”

“A pity Lord Tywin Lannister never had a son. I could have been the heir he wanted, but I lacked the cock.”

“When he is in me, I feel … whole.” The ghost of a smile flitted over her lips.

With Jaime, Cersei can be the person she always felt like she deserved to be. She can go hang out with her dad and have Tywin treat her as his heir (“even our lord father could not tell us apart”) and, per the WOIAF app, she could take up a sword and train with the CR Master-At-Arms, and she can pretend, at least for a day, that her destiny is “glory and power” and she can feel what it’s like to be Tywin’s “most beloved child” (WOIAF app) and to ask the question, “What do I get?” and not be left empty handed. 

And every other male in the world, everyone except Jaime, is going to see Cersei as someone less. What a torment for a Lannister – to be less. But it’s not like that with Jaime. Jaime sees Cersei as his twin, his mirror, his equal – “if I were a woman, I’d be Cersei.”  

Like, by AFFC, Jaime is the only person left in the world for Cersei, and she hates it. She hates that no one else will treat her with the respect she deserves, that Jaime is the only one who will recognize her as a full human being. (FFS, Cersei’s own uncle let her walk naked through the city streets while she was pelted with garbage. !!!!!!!!) 

And obviously the incest during Cersei’s marriage to Robert was meant to be revenge, because Robert was still obsessed with Lyanna, because Robert abused her, because Robert was a disappointment. idk, I like the idea that the incest evolved as a response to Cersei trying to conform to patriarchal institutions and eventually turned into Cersei’s way of saying “Fuck what patriarchy did to me and what it denied me.”

And I realize I’ve given a lot more reasons why Cersei benefits from an incestuous relationship than Jaime does, but this post pretty much says everything, how Jaime lives for Cersei. So “Why incest?” Because Cersei means so much to Jaime (unfortunately, a lot of that meaning that Jaime has ascribed to Cersei isn’t who she truly is)

I think Cersei gets more out of the relationship than Jaime, tho. and I think that’s on purpose, and I think that’s why in AFFC / ADWD you see Jaime doubting their relationship and they move away from each other. 

I think Jaime’s just … always loved his family, and in this case he loved his family a little too much. It was something natural for Jaime. Cersei was his best friend, he enjoyed her company (“He could never bear to be long apart from his twin”), they were twins, they thought of themselves as special. So by AFFC Jaime realizes he basically has no friends. 

And Jaime just … Jaime thought they were gods together, “I thought I was the Warrior and she the Maid” – who is a god to love, save another god? 

(Also “keeping the bloodlines pure” I SWEAR I’M STILL WORKING ON MY LANNISTER FASCISM ESSAY, JUST GIVE ME TIME)

(Cersei was extremely jealous of Jaime’s company as children, she didn’t want other girls to even think about taking him away from her, so I think Cersei just made a point of hanging out with Jaime.)

ok I could probably talk more about the “why” part of your question, but I’m gonna wrap this up with the “how” part right now. (If I had more time, I would make charts and diagrams and shit for this post, I love Jaime and Cersei so much.)

Like I said above, I think of the discovery by the maid in 273 as a stepping stone to Jaime and Cersei’s fullblown incestuous relationship. 

When Cersei and Jaime were fifteen years old:

“Is it a rock you want? Or me?”

He remembered that night [in 281AC] as if it were yesterday. They spent it in an old inn on Eel Alley, well away from watchful eyes. Cersei had come to him dressed as a simple serving wench, which somehow excited him all the more. Jaime had never seen her more passionate. Every time he went to sleep, she woke him again. By morning Casterly Rock seemed a small price to pay to be near her always. He gave his consent, and Cersei promised to do the rest. (Jaime, ASOS)

She smiled for him, so sweetly. “Do you remember the first time I came to you like this? It was some dismal inn off Weasel Alley, and I put on servant’s garb to get past Father’s guards.”

“I remember. It was Eel Alley.” She wants something of me. “Why are you here, at this hour? What would you have of me?” (Jaime, AFFC)

I don’t think this time on Eel Alley is the first time Jaime and Cersei had sex. It’s the first time Cersei dressed up like a peasant (first costumed sex!! first roleplay!! so proud of my babies!!) (but not the last time?) but “Jaime had never seen her more passionate” so he had seen her passionate before? Cersei seems like she knows what she’s doing here. 

So I would put the beginning of their sexual relationship before this, although this is the first textual example we have. 

Like I said earlier, Tywin sexualized Cersei at a very young age, and she was already at age 7 treating sex acts like a weapon (ie twisting Tyrion’s penis).

While for Jaime … here’s a very short list of Westerosi men and the ages at which they lost their virginity. (I put Jaime with a question mark, cuz the above is what we have documented.) I think I would put Jaime in the 13 or 14 age group, during the time when Jaime is a squire and he would be facing pressure to perform the ~~“rituals of masculinity”~~ to lose his virginity. 

We know that Jaime visited Cersei at Casterly Rock when he was 13 or 14. Maybe Cersei first started menstruating at 11 or 12, and they had sex at 13. I guess one of them secretly crept into the other’s room, like they usually do? 

I can see them doing a lot of experimentation /  mutual masturbation that just eventually evolves into sex.

I hope that answers your questions?

…I have way too many opinions about Lannister sex lives. 

Tyrion

They have my son," Tywin Lannister said. "They do, my lord." The messenger's voice was dulled by exhaustion. On the breast of his torn surcoat, the brindled boar of Crakehall was half-obscured by dried blood. One of your sons, Tyrion thought. He took a sip of wine and said not a word, thinking of Jaime. When he lifted his arm, pain shot through his elbow, reminding him of his own brief taste of battle. He loved his brother, but he would not have wanted to be with him in the Whispering Wood for all the gold in Casterly Rock. His lord father's assembled captains and bannermen had fallen very quiet as the courier told his tale. The only sound was the crackle and hiss of the log burning in the hearth at the end of the long, drafty common room. After the hardships of the long relentless drive south, the prospect of even a single night in an inn had cheered Tyrion mightily . . . though he rather wished it had not been this inn again, with all its memories. His father had set a grueling pace, and it had taken its toll. Men wounded in the battle kept up as best they could or were abandoned to fend for themselves. Every morning they left a few more by the roadside, men who went to sleep never to wake. Every afternoon a few more collapsed along the way. And every evening a few more deserted, stealing off into the dusk. Tyrion had been half-tempted to go with them. He had been upstairs, enjoying the comfort of a featherbed and the warmth of Shae's body beside him, when his squire had woken him to say that a rider had arrived with dire news of Riverrun. So it had all been for nothing. The rush south, the endless forced marches, the bodies left beside the road . . . all for naught. Robb Stark had reached Riverrun days and days ago. "How could this happen?" Ser Harys Swyft moaned. "How? Even after the Whispering Wood, you had Riverrun ringed in iron, surrounded by a great host . . . what madness made Ser Jaime decide to split his men into three separate camps? Surely he knew how vulnerable that would leave them?" Better than you, you chinless craven, Tyrion thought. Jaime might have lost Riverrun, but it angered him to hear his brother slandered by the likes of Swyft, a shameless lickspittle whose greatest accomplishment was marrying his equally chinless daughter to Ser Kevan, and thereby attaching himself to the Lannisters. "I would have done the same," his uncle responded, a good deal more calmly than Tyrion might have. "You have never seen Riverrun, Ser Harys, or you would know that Jaime had little choice in the matter. The castle is situated at the end of the point of land where the Tumblestone flows into the Red Fork of the Trident. The rivers form two sides of a triangle, and when danger threatens, the Tullys open their sluice gates upstream to create a wide moat on the third side, turning Riverrun into an island. The walls rise sheer from the water, and from their towers the defenders have a commanding view of the opposite shores for many leagues around. To cut off all the approaches, a besieger must needs place one camp north of the Tumblestone, one south of the Red Fork, and a third between the rivers, west of the moat. There is no other way, none." "Ser Kevan speaks truly, my lords," the courier said. "We'd built palisades of sharpened stakes around the camps, yet it was not enough, not with no warning and the rivers cutting us off from each other. They came down on the north camp first. No one was expecting an attack. Marq Piper had been raiding our supply trains, but he had no more than fifty men. Ser Jaime had gone out to deal with them the night before . . . well, with what we thought was them. We were told the Stark host was east of the Green Fork, marching south . . . " "And your outriders?" Ser Gregor Clegane's face might have been hewn from rock. The fire in the hearth gave a somber orange cast to his skin and put deep shadows in the hollows of his eyes. "They saw nothing? They gave you no warning?" The bloodstained messenger shook his head. "Our outriders had been vanishing. Marq Piper's work, we thought. The ones who did come back had seen nothing." "A man who sees nothing has no use for his eyes," the Mountain declared. "Cut them out and give them to your next outrider. Tell him you hope that four eyes might see better than two . . . and if not, the man after him will have six." Lord Tywin Lannister turned his face to study Ser Gregor. Tyrion saw a glimmer of gold as the light shone off his father's pupils, but he could not have said whether the look was one of approval or disgust. Lord Tywin was oft quiet in council, preferring to listen before he spoke, a habit Tyrion himself tried to emulate. Yet this silence was uncharacteristic even for him, and his wine was untouched. "You said they came at night," Ser Kevan prompted. The man gave a weary nod. "The Blackfish led the van, cutting down our sentries and clearing away the palisades for the main assault. By the time our men knew what was happening, riders were pouring over the ditch banks and galloping through the camp with swords and torches in hand. I was sleeping in the west camp, between the rivers. When we heard the fighting and saw the tents being fired, Lord Brax led us to the rafts and we tried to pole across, but the current pushed us downstream and the Tullys started flinging rocks at us with the catapults on their walls. I saw one raft smashed to kindling and three others overturned, men swept into the river and drowned . . . and those who did make it across found the Starks waiting for them on the riverbanks." Ser Flement Brax wore a silver-and-purple tabard and the look of a man who cannot comprehend what he has just heard. "My lord father—" "Sorry, my lord," the messenger said. "Lord Brax was clad in plate-and-mail when his raft overturned. He was very gallant." He was a fool, Tyrion thought, swirling his cup and staring down into the winy depths. Crossing a river at night on a crude raft, wearing armor, with an enemy waiting on the other side—if that was gallantry, he would take cowardice every time. He wondered if Lord Brax had felt especially gallant as the weight of his steel pulled him under the black water. "The camp between the rivers was overrun as well," the messenger was saying. "While we were trying to cross, more Starks swept in from the west, two columns of armored horse. I saw Lord Umber's giant-in-chains and the Mallister eagle, but it was the boy who led them, with a monstrous wolf running at his side. I wasn't there to see, but it's said the beast killed four men and ripped apart a dozen horses. Our spearmen formed up a shieldwall and held against their first charge, but when the Tullys saw them engaged, they opened the gates of Riverrun and Tytos Blackwood led a sortie across the drawbridge and took them in the rear." "Gods save us," Lord Lefford swore. "Greatjon Umber fired the siege towers we were building, and Lord Blackwood found Ser Edmure Tully in chains among the other captives, and made off with them all. Our south camp was under the command of Ser Forley Prester. He retreated in good order when he saw that the other camps were lost, with two thousand spears and as many bowmen, but the Tyroshi sellsword who led his freeriders struck his banners and went over to the foe." "Curse the man." His uncle Kevan sounded more angry than surprised. "I warned Jaime not to trust that one. A man who fights for coin is loyal only to his purse." Lord Tywin wove his fingers together under his chin. Only his eyes moved as he listened. His bristling golden side-whiskers framed a face so still it might have been a mask, but Tyrion could see tiny beads of sweat dappling his father's shaven head. "How could it happen?" Ser Harys Swyft wailed again. "Ser Jaime taken, the siege broken . . . this is a catastrophe!" Ser Addam Marbrand said, "I am sure we are all grateful to you for pointing out the obvious, Ser Harys. The question is, what shall we do about it?" "What can we do? Jaime's host is all slaughtered or taken or put to flight, and the Starks and the Tullys sit squarely across our line of supply. We are cut off from the west! They can march on Casterly Rock if they so choose, and what's to stop them? My lords, we are beaten. We must sue for peace." "Peace?" Tyrion swirled his wine thoughtfully, took a deep draft, and hurled his empty cup to the floor, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. "There's your peace, Ser Harys. My sweet nephew broke it for good and all when he decided to ornament the Red Keep with Lord Eddard's head. You'll have an easier time drinking wine from that cup than you will convincing Robb Stark to make peace now. He's winning . . . or hadn't you noticed?" "Two battles do not make a war," Ser Addam insisted. "We are far from lost. I should welcome the chance to try my own steel against this Stark boy." "Perhaps they would consent to a truce, and allow us to trade our prisoners for theirs," offered Lord Lefford. "Unless they trade three-for-one, we still come out light on those scales," Tyrion said acidly. "And what are we to offer for my brother? Lord Eddard's rotting head?" "I had heard that Queen Cersei has the Hand's daughters," Lefford said hopefully. "If we give the lad his sisters back . . . " Ser Addam snorted disdainfully. "He would have to be an utter ass to trade Jaime Lannister's life for two girls." "Then we must ransom Ser Jaime, whatever it costs," Lord Lefford said. Tyrion rolled his eyes. "If the Starks feel the need for gold, they can melt down Jaime's armor." "if we ask for a truce, they will think us weak," Ser Addarn argued. "We should march on them at once." "Surely our friends at court could be prevailed upon to join us with fresh troops," said Ser Harys. "And someone might return to Casterly Rock to raise a new host." Lord Tywin Lannister rose to his feet. "They have my son," he said once more, in a voice that cut through the babble like a sword through suet. "Leave me. All of you." Ever the soul of obedience, Tyrion rose to depart with the rest, but his father gave him a look. "Not you, Tyrion. Remain. And you as well, Kevan. The rest of you, out." Tyrion eased himself back onto the bench, startled into speechlessness. Ser Kevan crossed the room to the wine casks. "Uncle," Tyrion called, "if you would be so kind—" "Here." His father offered him his cup, the wine untouched. Now Tyrion truly was nonplussed. He drank. Lord Tywin seated himself. "You have the right of it about Stark. Alive, we might have used Lord Eddard to forge a peace with Winterfell and Riverrun, a peace that would have given us the time we need to deal with Robert's brothers. Dead . . . " His hand curled into a fist. "Madness. Rank madness." "Joff's only a boy," Tyrion pointed out. "At his age, I committed a few follies of my own." His father gave him a sharp look. "I suppose we ought to be grateful that he has not yet married a whore." Tyrion sipped at his wine, wondering how Lord Tywin would look if he flung the cup in his face. "Our position is worse than you know," his father went on. "It would seem we have a new king." Ser Kevan looked poleaxed. "A new—who? What have they done to Joffrey?" The faintest flicker of distaste played across Lord Tywin's thin lips. "Nothing . . . yet. My grandson still sits the Iron Throne, but the eunuch has heard whispers from the south. Renly Baratheon wed Margaery Tyrell at Highgarden this fortnight past, and now he has claimed the crown. The bride's father and brothers have bent the knee and sworn him their swords." "Those are grave tidings." When Ser Kevan frowned, the furrows in his brow grew deep as canyons. "My daughter commands us to ride for King's Landing at once, to defend the Red Keep against King Renly and the Knight of Flowers." His mouth tightened. "Commands us, mind you. In the name of the king and council." "How is King Joffrey taking the news?" Tyrion asked with a certain black amusement. "Cersei has not seen fit to tell him yet," Lord Tywin said. "She fears he might insist on marching against Renly himself." "With what army?" Tyrion asked. "You don't plan to give him this one, I hope?" "He talks of leading the City Watch," Lord Tywin said. "If he takes the Watch, he'll leave the city undefended," Ser Kevan said. "And with Lord Stannis on Dragonstone . . . " "Yes." Lord Tywin looked down at his son. "I had thought you were the one made for motley, Tyrion, but it would appear that I was wrong." "Why, Father," said Tyrion, "that almost sounds like praise." He leaned forward intently. "What of Stannis? He's the elder, not Renly. How does he feel about his brother's claim?" His father frowned. "I have felt from the beginning that Stannis was a greater danger than all the others combined. Yet he does nothing. Oh, Varys hears his whispers. Stannis is building ships, Stannis is hiring sellswords, Stannis is bringing a shadowbinder from Asshai. What does it mean? Is any of it true?" He gave an irritated shrug. "Kevan, bring us the map." Ser Kevan did as he was bid. Lord Tywin unrolled the leather, smoothing it flat. "Jaime has left us in a bad way. Roose Bolton and the remnants of his host are north of us. Our enemies hold the Twins and Moat Cailin. Robb Stark sits to the west, so we cannot retreat to Lannisport and the Rock unless we choose to give battle. Jaime is taken, and his army for all purposes has ceased to exist. Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarrion continue to plague our foraging parties. To our east we have the Arryns, Stannis Baratheon sits on Dragonstone, and in the south Highgarden and Storm's End are calling their banners." Tyrion smiled crookedly. "Take heart, Father. At least Rhaegar Targaryen is still dead." "I had hoped you might have more to offer us than japes, Tyrion," Lord Tywin Lannister said. Ser Kevan frowned over the map, forehead creasing. "Robb Stark will have Edmure Tully and the lords of the Trident with him now. Their combined power may exceed our own. And with Roose Bolton behind us . . . Tywin, if we remain here, I fear we might be caught between three armies." "I have no intention of remaining here. We must finish our business with young Lord Stark before Renly Baratheon can march from Highgarden. Bolton does not concern me. He is a wary man, and we made him warier on the Green Fork. He will be slow to give pursuit. So . . . on the morrow, we make for Harrenhal. Kevan, I want Ser Addam's outriders to screen our movements. Give him as many men as he requires, and send them out in groups of four. I will have no vanishings." "As you say, my lord, but . . . why Harrenhal? That is a grim, unlucky place. Some call it cursed." "Let them," Lord Tywin said. "Unleash Ser Gregor and send him before us with his reavers. Send forth Vargo Hoat and his freeriders as well, and Ser Amory Lorch. Each is to have three hundred horse. Tell them I want to see the riverlands afire from the Gods Eye to the Red Fork." "They will burn, my lord," Ser Kevan said, rising. "I shall give the commands." He bowed and made for the door. When they were alone, Lord Tywin glanced at Tyrion. "Your savages might relish a bit of rapine. Tell them they may ride with Vargo Hoat and plunder as they like—goods, stock, women, they may take what they want and burn the rest." "Telling Shagga and Timett how to pillage is like telling a rooster how to crow," Tyrion commented, "but I should prefer to keep them with me." Uncouth and unruly they might be, yet the wildlings were his, and he trusted them more than any of his father's men. He was not about to hand them over. "Then you had best learn to control them. I will not have the city plundered." "The city?" Tyrion was lost. "What city would that be?" "King's Landing. I am sending you to court." It was the last thing Tyrion Lannister would ever have anticipated. He reached for his wine, and considered for a moment as he sipped. "And what am I to do there?" "Rule," his father said curtly Tyrion hooted with laughter. "My sweet sister might have a word or two to say about that!" "Let her say what she likes. Her son needs to be taken in hand before he ruins us all. I blame those jackanapes on the council—our friend Petyr, the venerable Grand Maester, and that cockless wonder Lord Varys. What sort of counsel are they giving Joffrey when he lurches from one folly to the next? Whose notion was it to make this Janos Slynt a lord? The man's father was a butcher, and they grant him Harrenhal. Harrenhal, that was the seat of kings! Not that he will ever set foot inside it, if I have a say. I am told he took a bloody spear for his sigil. A bloody cleaver would have been my choice." His father had not raised his voice, yet Tyrion could see the anger in the gold of his eyes. "And dismissing Selmy, where was the sense in that? Yes, the man was old, but the name of Barristan the Bold still has meaning in the realm. He lent honor to any man he served. Can anyone say the same of the Hound? You feed your dog bones under the table, you do not seat him beside you on the high bench." He pointed a finger at Tyrion's face. "If Cersei cannot curb the boy, you must. And if these councillors are playing us false . . . " Tyrion knew. "Spikes," he sighed. "Heads. Walls." "I see you have taken a few lessons from me." "More than you know, Father," Tyrion answered quietly. He finished his wine and set the cup aside, thoughtful. A part of him was more pleased than he cared to admit. Another part was remembering the battle upriver, and wondering if he was being sent to hold the left again. "Why me?" he asked, cocking his head to one side. "Why not my uncle? Why not Ser Addam or Ser Flement or Lord Serrett? Why not a . . . bigger man?" Lord Tywin rose abruptly. "You are my son." That was when he knew. You have given him up for lost, he thought. You bloody bastard, you think Jaime's good as dead, so I'm all you have left. Tyrion wanted to slap him, to spit in his face, to draw his dagger and cut the heart out of him and see if it was made of old hard gold, the way the smallfolks said. Yet he sat there, silent and still. The shards of the broken cup crunched beneath his father's heels as Lord Tywin crossed the room. "One last thing," he said at the door. "You will not take the whore to court." Tyrion sat alone in the common room for a long while after his father was gone. Finally he climbed the steps to his cozy garret beneath the bell tower. The ceiling was low, but that was scarcely a drawback for a dwarf. From the window, he could see the gibbet his father had erected in the yard. The innkeep's body turned slowly on its rope whenever the night wind gusted. Her flesh had grown as thin and ragged as Lannister hopes. Shae murmured sleepily and rolled toward him when he sat on the edge of the featherbed. He slid his hand under the blanket and cupped a soft breast, and her eyes opened. "M'lord," she said with a drowsy smile. When he felt her nipple stiffen, Tyrion kissed her. "I have a mind to take you to King's Landing, sweetling," he whispered.

Eastwatch / S7E5

Sam and Gilly The news of the Night’s King is sent to the Citadel from Bran the 3 Eyed Raven … DUDE totally believable I mean put yourself in the Maester’s shoes or sandals more likely. if some kid sent me a letter claiming to be the 3 eyed Raven (who?what?) and claimed the army of the undead are coming lead by the Night’s King, I would totally laugh my ass off. Bran is more impressive face to face when he starts telling you things that you did or were done to you in your life but sending a Raven? He’s an angsty crippled teen who Listened to old Nan’s tales too much. OK so as you would expect the old codgers ignore Bran even though Sam is pleading with them that the Night’s King is real and something needs to be done.

Flash ahead and Sam and Gilly are in a room Sam trying to study while Gilly practices reading. BIG reveal here when Gilly reads that Rhaegar annulled his marriage to Elia Martel and married somebody else name not revealed because even though the entire world knows it is Lyanna the show needs to string you along a bit more. This of course would mean Jon is not a bastard but a legitimate Heir. Sam finally is fed up and packs his scrolls we’re leaving I am tired of reading about the great feats of better men. Of course before he leaves he loots the Library. It’s a long trip he’ll need something to read.

Things to watch on them… They are headed to Winterfell with a lot of books and scrolls with ancient data they have no money or means so will be looking for a free ride or assistance. Plan on them encountering ‘Nobody’ on their quest to get to Winterfell. Also, my guess is Sam has more than info about Jon’s parents in them there books he stole. Perhaps the secret to Valeryian Steel?

Bran “lets the pigeons loose” (Count Malachi – Happy Days) ok Ravens he can control an entire flock at once and spy on everyone nice skillset he has there. He can also send them out with a message. He must be gaining tons of info now. I wonder if he can see in all the trees at one time,  as well.

Danni  I am not here to burn your cities… just you. I need the real estate. Err ok so Mad Queen? Nah frustrated one while she held back her Dragons she lost 2 major battles. So she used only one Dragon and won a major battle. Now the survivors of her Carnage are being given a choice bend the knee or die. Really she should have rephrased it to make it sound a bit better? Something along the lines “ Bend the knee and declare an Oath of Fealty to me as your Queen or be considered in Open rebellion and declared an Enemy of the Crown and will be punished As is fitting of your crimes” Historically in Westeros the punishment is death anyway but it sounds better than kneel or die. The idiot Tarly’s stand in open rebellion staring down the gullet of a monstrous Drogon so Danni hosts a BBQ for all those Kneeling. And those not suddenly kneel (except for those Tarlys) Tyrion pleads with her not to do this blah blah blah ok..

So, Mad Queen or not? Historically Kings have called for people to bend the knee or be considered an enemy of the crown in open rebellion. Which essentially means we are at war and once we have you in custody we will chop off your head. It should also be pointed out that the Tarlys are OATH BREAKERS sworn banner men of Lady Oleana and Rob had beheaded Karstark for being an Oath Breaker nobody called him the mad king. Yes she cooked them but dead is dead… Unless you are in the North then the dead rise. As Lady Oleana once said “ you are a dragon be a dragon” I’m ok with this.

SO, she heads back to Dragonstone and in a complete wtf moment Jon pets Drogon who seems to know he is a dragon.

Danni will not let this stabbed in the heart gaff by Davos go she needs to hear the story ..We then see the return of Jorah… to the friend zone!!! thanks to Jon replacing Dario poor dude cannot catch a break. Oh well continue the stabbing story another day.  They soon get Bran’s Raven s well at least one of them.  Jon must return home to save the world from the army of the dead because he is a super soldier who cannot die, just like somebody else who can’t be burned… interesting. Anywho Tyrion comes up with a better plan.. er strategy uhhm since in service of Danni how many of his plans actually succeed? Ok guess we’ll hear him out ok so we need to capture a wight because why the hell not no risk there. Bring it to Cersei because clearly, he wants to team up instead of watching his family burn.

So, Davos smuggles Tyrion in to King’s Landing to parlay with Jamie when they get there Davos ditches poor Tyrion much to his dismay and heads to flea bottom clearly looking for a “bowl of brown’ nah he’s checking up on Gendry see how the boy he set free is doing and try to recruit him for the cause, after all who doesn’t need a big strong kid in a fight or a blacksmith/armorer. Gendry of course joins him, much better than hiding under Cersei’s nose or making armor and weapons for the people who killed his dad who he never knew and all his siblings he never knew. So, he grabs his massive war hammer and off they go.

In the meantime, Tyrion meets Jamie they have words over Tyrion having killed Jamie’s father blah blah. I do think I pointed out Tyrion is likely the Mad King’s son. OK so Tyrion agrees to cease attacks they come to an agreement and off Tyrion goes.

Meanwhile down at the beach… Davos is loading the boat ready to go as soon as Tyrion gets there and 2 Gold cloaks show up Davos buys them off and all set until they recognize Tyrion.. Cue Gendry and his big hammer ok time to go before somebody else comes by since it will be tough to hide the bodies.

Back at Dragonstone the plan to capture a wight ensues. Jorah looking to be Danni’s hero and love volunteers to go, as does Jon and Gendry and off to Eastwatch. Special note there was a Ned and Robert moment when Jon and Gendry met. We’ll revisit them in a bit.. Also note Danni is staying back to protect her claim from Cersei and does not want Jon to go. She is ok with Jorah going though.

Special note on Gendry and his importance He is an Armorer trained by none other than Mitkin. Mitkin is the Armorer who Tywin had reforge Ned’s sword considered the last smith to know how to work Valeryian steel… I think Gendry knows as well. Additionally, he is Robert’s bastard and while Danni has issues with Robert she believes in not holding children to the deeds of their fathers. Expect him to be legitimized by Danni and house Baratheon to return. My prediction which we may only get eluded to at the end of next season Gendry to wed Arya and be given Storm’s End the Baratheon stronghold. That is pure prediction for next season no spoiler there.

I’ll just continue with this arc for now. Ok So Jon and his 2 travel buddies head to Eastwatch where they hook up with Tormund. We head to the cells where we find Beric, Thoros and The Hound. Gendry is not a fan of them as they sold him, Tormund does not like Jorah since his pops hunted his people. Jon please why can’t we all just get along… ok so they all group up and head out.

The Jon Snow wight co.:

Jon Snow –AKA Aegon Targaryen Bastard– King of the North – hidden Targ – true rightful heir to the Throne… Un-killable machine – fire wight – Azor Ahai – wonder if I can drum up enough titles for him to rival Danni?

Gendry – Bastard – only Heir to Storms End – swings a mighty hammer

Jorah – just happy to be here maybe he can trip Jon and get off the friend zone with Danni- son of the old Bear – If given back all lands and titles by Danni the true heir to Bear Island.

Tormund – leader of the wildlings

Beric Dondarian – king of being returned from the dead

Thoros of Myrr – returns him from the dead – red priest

Sandor “The Hound” Cleagan

And they’re off… cue the credits see more next week

As we know Jamie and Bronn got out of the water via Bronn becoming super human and dragging that metal clad idiot out of the water. Bronn is pretty much ready to bail on this whole situation.

So, time to go home lick his wounds and tell Cersei about the attack. He informs her they cannot win and points out the carnage of just one dragon imagine all 3? Cersei is still Cersei so will not back down or relinquish her crown. Jamie informs her it was Lady Oleana who killed Jeoffry not Tyrion. But Tyrion did kill their daddy so not free pass.

Later that day after Jamie meets with Tyrion, Cersei is a tad cross that Jamie went behind her back lets him know never to betray her again.. it is sound advice we all saw what she did to the sept. Anyway we discover Cersei is pregnant and will openly declare Jamie as the father. She is way off the reservation folks. But face it this kid is not going to live Maggy the frog in her fortune telling to Cersei declared she would have 3 children and they all would die. 3 up 3 down this one won’t survive birth. Cersei also pulled a Bran on Jamie she sees all and knows all.

Back in Winterfell Sansa meets all the northern lords and the lords of the Vale give little support for Jon against their complaints of his absence and so it goes. Arya confronts her and accuses her of wanting power and not supporting their brother…err cousin.

Arya decides to spy on Little Finger who also decides to lead her to something he plants for her. So, she follows him and follows until she discovers… dun dun dun The letter Sansa wrote to Rob calling Ned a traitor and demanding he come bend a knee. Clearly, He is looking to divide and conquer by creating a rift between the sisters in his personal quest for power.

Predictions

Sam and Gilly are heading to Winterfell they will need help if they are going to make it. They will look for help but find Nobody ;) Sam will also definitively discover Jon’s Legitimacy. He will meet Bran when he gets to Winterfell. Bran will tell Sam of Jon’s mother Lyanna and Sam will tell Bran she was married to Rhaegar. Bran will 3 eyed Raven away and come back and be like WTF how did I miss that?

Some of Jon’s party will die but word will get to Danni maybe from Bran, and she will head out with her Dragons to save the day, but it will cost her one gold dragon to pay for her actions.

Arya will confront Sansa and Sansa being a bit savvier than she was a long time ago will turn the tables on Little Finger who will eventually get killed by Arya

Bran will continue to mess up the world :p ok either Sam will have books detailing info on Valeryian steel or Bran will 3 eyed raven it. And Gendry will be able to forge it. If he is among the survivors.

Jon will find out who he is and sit the Iron Throne with less titles than Danni

A Wight will be shown to Cersei she will agree to team up against the Night’s King then stab everyone in the back.

The Citadel will notice they are missing some books.

By the way Danni should have the ability to excuse Sam from the Night’s Watch oath. Technically he is now Lord Samwell Tarly Lord of Horne Hill especially since he did not finish training to be a Maester.

That would mean 2 strong houses return with Fealty to Danni. Tarly and Baratheon

WHERE IS GHOST????

Gendry and Arya will be married and live in Storm’s End Arya will kick his ass every time he calls her My Lady

Sansa will become Wardeness of the North

Cersei will lose her child no chance she can have a 4th according to Maggie the Frog. Jamie will kill Cersei… ok Arya wearing Jamie’s face will kill Cersei

2 episodes left ☹

The Lannister Wolf - Part 2 Chapter 1

Jaime wound his fingers through Evelyn’s, finding her fingers vastly intriguing as the two lay in bed. Jaime looked over at Evelyn who looked on the verge of falling back asleep, her amber eyes half lidded and her black hair billowing around her on the pillow. The sheets just covered her stark-naked body and her face was still flushed from what they had done that night.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing each of her fingers and then her palm.

Evelyn smiled at him and waited till he kissed her palm before she touched his cheek with her fingers. His face was smooth and soft to the touch, but she could still feel the muscle when he smiled or clenched his jaw.

“Do you ever worry?” Jaime asked, giving her a quizzical look. “Ever worry that you’ll lose someone.” “Always,” Evelyn replied. “Because I know death is inevitable whether it is tomorrow or next year or another fifty years, we will all die eventually, and it does worry me sometimes, but I have grown to accept it.” “Why?” Jaime asked, propping himself on his elbow.

The girl smiled and ran her fingers up and down his bare chest, “Because even if I do lose people physically, they will still be with me in my heart.” Jaime’s blue eyes flickered with pure adoration and love for the woman beside him. How had he gotten so lucky to have Evelyn as his wife?

Jaime wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her over till she was laying on top of him, “There is one thing you do not have to worry about ever.” “And what is that?” Evelyn asked, pushing her hair out of her face.

Jaime smiled and reaching up, helped her remove the long black tresses from her hair before stroking her cheeks, “You’ll never lose me. Ever.” A huge smile appeared on the girl’s face and Jaime found himself grinning back before lifting his head to plant a strong kiss on her lips.

“I love you Jaime,” Evelyn whispered. “I always will….”

“NO!” Evelyn screamed, snapping out of sleep. Ugh! Why couldn’t she just wake up slowly and peacefully like normal people huh? Just once?

The girl looked over at the other side of her bed and saw Sansa sleeping there. Her sister had been sleeping in the same bed as Evelyn since their father’s execution and Arya’s disappearance almost a month ago. Evelyn groaned. Her head was swimming. She had sat up too fast. Carefully getting out of bed so as to not rouse her sister, Evelyn slipped into the bathroom and splashed her face with water. That seemed to help the headache. She sat down on the privy for there was no seat in the bathroom and leant back, trying to calm her racing heart. She could never stop having those dreams…. Well they were more memories than dreams. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have them…. They always felt so real but when she woke up she was always sweating or crying and she would spend the day paining over the memory and waiting with bated breath for sleep the next night so that she might be in Jaime’s presence again at least in her dreams.

“You need to calm down Evelyn Stark Lannister,” the girl sighed, smacking her head.

She heard the door of the bedroom open and assumed that either the maid had come in or Sansa had roused. Tyrion had been returned to Kings Landing and in doing so, had brought a woman Shae with him whom he had installed as Sansa and Evelyn’s handmaiden.

The only person Tyrion explained this to was Evelyn, whom he told that he had done this so as to avoid Shae getting into trouble. Evelyn honestly didn’t mind for Shae was nice and offered a companion to Sansa.

Evelyn was about to rouse herself and go change when she felt something surge from her stomach. Jumping off the privy, she turned and threw up everything in her stomach into the chamber pot. What had she eaten the night before?

The door of the privy opened and Shae stepped in. She took one look at Evelyn retching and grabbed a towel, soaking it in cold water and pressing it to the girl’s neck.

“There you are my lady,” the woman soothed. “Are you alright?” Evelyn nodded.

“Do you think you’re coming down with something?” Shae asked.

“No,” Evelyn replied. “It’s a natural turn of events.” Shae looked at her puzzled. Evelyn just smiled at the woman, knowing full well that if anyone would have found out without being told it would be Shae for, she cleaned the bed sheets and probably knew when Sansa and Evelyn’s cycle was.

Shae’s eyes widened when she saw the color rapidly return to the girl’s cheeks. Her hand shot up to her mouth.

“My lady!” she gasped. “Congratulations!” “Sh!” Evelyn whispered. “Sansa cannot know.” Shae frowned, “Why ever not?” Evelyn knew she could trust Shae. Sansa had confided in Shae about trying to avoid marrying Joffrey by not telling Cersei that she had bled but that had failed when another maid saw Sansa bleeding. However, Shae had tried to help, and Evelyn knew that the only Lannister Shae held love for was Tyrion and he was more than trustworthy.

“If Cersei finds out that I am carrying her brother’s son who could stake claim to the throne should anything happen to Joffrey, Tommen or Tywin, then she will try to kill him.” Shae nodded, “But what if it is a girl?” Evelyn smiled, “I’m praying it is, for the child and Jaime’s sake…. But with how this world is determined to make everything go wrong, I have a feeling it might be a boy.”

Shae smiled at those words and nodded, taking the girl’s hands into her own. Evelyn was much younger than Shae, but the woman had grown fond of the girl, especially seeing how Tyrion loved Evelyn as a sister and how much Evelyn reminded her of herself: strong but kind.

“I will do whatever I can my lady.” Evelyn nodded and went about soaking in a Lukewarm bath that Shae had prepared for her. That helped relieve some of the dizziness which made it easier to fake perfect health at breakfast that morning. She slipped into her outfit and allowed Shae to do her hair before she headed off for a after breakfast walk.

She walked for about thirty minutes until she became aware of a presence nearby. Turning, she saw that Tyrion had been following her for some time but had remained silent.

“Thinking about Jaime?” the little man asked.

Evelyn nodded as Tyrion motioned to a small patio where they could sit. A maid soon appeared and began to pour them tea. Tyrion set to work serving sugar while Evelyn handled the cream.

“What were you thinking about?” the man finally asked.

Evelyn sighed and clasped her cup gently as the maid poured her tea. Neither of them seemed to notice the maid leaving without giving Tyrion any tea.

“I had another nigh…. dream,” the girl replied.

Tyrion smiled, “Why do you call them nightmares? Do you ever see something terrible in them?”

Evelyn shook her head, “For the longest time I didn’t know why I would have such wonderful, peaceful dreams and wake up sweating or crying. Now I know…. I’m being haunted… by the past. It’s trying to tell me everything is okay when everything really isn’t.”

“Evelyn,” Tyrion sighed, placing his hand over hers in a comforting manner. “There is no way that is possible. You are having those dreams because you are clinging to the good memories you have had with Jaime. Those dreams and memories are what will see you through all the hardships you will face until you and Jaime are reunited.”

Tyrion could sense that the girl was on the verge of tears, so he patted her hand and the girl took a long drink of her tea to cool her nerves. “And what if we’re not?” Evelyn asked, feeling tears prick her eyes. “What if we are never meant to see each other again? What if….”

When the girl stopped, Tyrion thought it was because her tears had swarmed her breathing, making it hard to speak…. But something was wrong. The girl suddenly went a strange color… a green color that he had never seen on anyone, not even someone seasick.

“Evelyn?” he asked, “EVELYN!” The girl reached a hand up to her throat, “My bag…. Tyrion…” she croaked.

Tyrion didn’t waste any time in rushing over to where the girl had left her medical bag. He hurried it over to her and Evelyn began to rummage through. Finally, she came upon a vial and opening the stopper, poured a few drops into her mouth. She clamped her mouth shut with her hand since for some reason her mouth didn’t want to close.

She began to wheeze heavily, her body pulsing as if someone was electrocuting her when it suddenly all stopped.

“Evelyn?” Tyrion whispered, his hands still on her shoulders.

The girl lifted her eyes and he saw with relief that she had returned to her normal color.

“I’m okay,” she whispered.

“What was that?” Tyrion demanded.

Evelyn shook her head before something clicked in her brain. Standing up, she approached the table and looked down at her cup of tea…. She hadn’t noticed it before, but it had a bluish color to it.

“Poison,” she whispered.

“The servant,” Tyrion spat, “CLEGANE!” The Hound and Podrick were there in a second and taking one look at Evelyn sitting on the stone ground with Tyrion at her side, the two men rushed off, knowing exactly who to look for.

Tyrion turned back to Evelyn who had gone deathly pale and had clasped her hands to her stomach, “no….” she breathed. “Please no….” The man looked at her quizzically until he saw Evelyn reach into her bag and pull out a leaf. She quickly ate it before swallowing it hastily. She was silent for a moment before she jumped to her feet and rushed to the nearest bush to vomit up everything in her stomach.

Tyrion was lost to say the least and began to search through the girl’s bag. He came upon the small sachet that contained the leaf. Lifting it to his nose, he smelt it. It had a strong smell and slightly repulsing but not much…. Then something clicked.

“Evelyn….” The girl turned around, having finished emptying her stomach and the girl took a long swig of water, ensuring it wasn’t the poisoned tea.

“Yeah?” she asked.

Tyrion held up the pouch and Evelyn’s face fell. “Is there something you’ve been meaning to tell me?”

*****

Evelyn squirmed. In her almost four months in living as Jaime’s husband, she had never found Tyrion frightening… at least not toward her. Tyrion could be quite intimidating when he wished but had always treated his sister in law with great care and kindness. However, as Evelyn sat on the edge of her bed, Tyrion standing before her with a deadpan look on his face, Shae standing behind him with a puzzled and slightly concerned face, Evelyn found herself uncomfortable.

“How long have you known?” Tyrion asked.

Evelyn looked over at Shae before replying, “Ever since Jaime left. I found out directly after his departure.” Tyrion’s eyes widened in shock, “That was almost two months ago!” The girl nodded, “I was already a few weeks by then.” A smile spread across the youngest Lannister’s face to the point where his face almost split in two. Walking over to Evelyn, he grasped her hands tightly and smiled up at her.

“Congratulations dear sister,” he said, his voice low but full of excitement. “I only wish they were in better circumstances.” Evelyn nodded, agreeing with his statement.

“Does anyone else know?” Tyrion inquired.

“No,” Evelyn replied. “Only Shae. I don’t trust the other handmaidens to not tell Cersei and I cannot tell Sansa. She would tell someone the moment she thought it would save someone….” “But it would end in someone getting killed,” Tyrion muttered.

Evelyn nodded solemnly, “If Cersei found out, the child wouldn’t have a chance.” Suddenly, Tyrion’s eyebrows furrowed in perplexity, “What do you mean? You do realize that my father is dying for a Lannister grandchild.” “I know that,” Evelyn replied. “I do not doubt that Tywin would protect the child especially if it is a boy… but the child if it is a son, would stand as a threat Cersei’s line.”

Tyrion cocked his head to the side, showing his perplexity. Evelyn smiled and sighed.

“My child, if it is a son, is the heir to the Iron Throne. All of Robert’s children are illegitimate, thus, my child would hold a claim to the throne, threatening Cersei’s rule,” Evelyne explained.

“So, you know about Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen?” Tyrion asked, stating it very cautiously in case the girl didn’t.

Evelyn nodded and Tyrion bowed his head respectfully in apology.

“You do realize that you will not be able to hide it from Cersei for long,” Tyrion pointed out. “You are very fit for a woman Evelyn but Jaime… let’s just say his offspring have a very low chance of being small at birth. Even Joffrey was a large child when he was born.” “I know,” the girl replied. “I’ve already added some weight, but no one has noticed yet… that is why I need to leave before I do.” Tyrion’s head snapped up at this, but Shae was not the least bit surprised. She had guessed the girl would escape and Evelyn had confided in her about the plan.

“You’re leaving?” Evelyn nodded, “Without Jaime, I am not safe here and if I am not safe, my child isn’t. Should anything happen to me, Jaime’s child will die as well.”

“You do realize that even if you never bore Jaime children, he would still love you without regret,” Tyrion pointed out.

Silence enveloped the two. Tyrion and Evelyn often spoke of Jaime at length. They discovered that it offered consolation and comfort with his absence. Both had discovered new things about the knight from the other. Even Tyrion learnt some new things about his brother from Evelyn.

“I know,” Evelyn whispered. “But I would never forgive myself if I failed to protect my child. My mother once taught me to never take a child’s life for granted. Even if it is a child from a raping, or illegitimate, or a threat or whatever, never ever try to take life and death into your hands… for, that child may one day grow to do something good for the world.” Tyrion nodded, “I understand sister; but where would you go? Escaping doesn’t exactly mean you will get escort and supplies to take you anywhere you wish.” Evelyn smiled at this statement before she looked over at Shae who nodded, “I will be traveling alone and in secret.” If Tyrion had been shocked at Evelyn’s revelation of her plan to escape, he was even more shocked at this revelation, “Alone? You mean…. With no one else?” Evelyn nodded, “I considered taking Sansa with me, but she isn’t built for the wilderness. Besides that, she is safer here than I am for she is not pregnant with the heir of the Iron Throne and she is engaged to marry the king. She is much safer here than she would be with me.” “But alone Evelyn,” Tyrion objected. “You do not know the wilderness.” “I grew up in the wilderness,” Evelyn pointed out. “Besides, Zinzi and Lady will come with me. They aren’t safe here.”

Tyrion sighed. There was no point in arguing with the girl. Even though she was a Lannister, she was still a wolf and as stubborn as one as well. He had to admit, the girl knew how to survive and there was no other way they could protect her if she stayed there. “Where will you go?” he asked softly.

“To my mother and Robb,” Evelyn replied. “At least for a while.” Tyrion nodded. She would want to be with her family when she gave birth to her child. But after that she would have to stay on the move to protect the name of her child. No one must know that the little one even existed. It was better that way.

“What do you need?” He asked.

Evelyn nodded her head toward the bottom of her bed, “I’m all packed with what I need. I just need a way out.” “Leave it to me,” the man whispered.

**********

“Are you sure about this my lady?” Shae inquired.

Evelyn carefully slipped into her outfit. She couldn’t travel quickly through the woods in a dress so she had procured herself an outfit with pants which was also flexible, wouldn’t tear easily and waterproof. The girl wrapped a cloak around her shoulders and sat down on her bed. Now all she had to do was wait for Tyrion’s signal.

“This has to be done Shae,” Evelyn replied. “I made a promise after my father died to protect my family no matter what. And I will.”

Shae nodded as she finished tying off the girl’s two bags tightly so they wouldn’t open while she was on the move. Zinzi and Lady looked up from where they were laying on the end of the bed. Evelyn quickly grabbed her medical satchel and grabbed the notebook where she wrote all her medical remedies.

She grabbed a pencil and prepared to write a letter to Sansa, Myrcella and Tommen when she froze. There was a small note sticking out from the center of the book which hadn’t been there before. Pulling it out, she carefully unfolded it and felt her heart freeze. She would recognize that handwriting anywhere.

My dearest Evelyn,

Forgive me for leaving you the way I will. I know you will not see this note for a while, and I hope by then you have not developed any contempt for me. Forgive me, I can no longer stand by and watch people tear my family apart. You are safe in Kings Landing and that is the only thing that is keeping me going. I do not know if your mother and brother will take my life or will set up a ransom, but should the former occur, there are a few things I want to tell you.

Do not hold it against your family if you really love me that much, for I have done things that a man should never even dream of. If I die before I return to you, then I wholeheartedly deserved it. If I do manage to survive, I will return to Kings Landing with all haste for it is my deepest desire to hold you and not leave you again.

If I keep writing this Evelyn, I may very well convince myself not to go so I must close. I am sorry for everything I have done to your brother, you and for leaving like this. Forgive me sweet Evelyn.

Yours, Jaime

I love you.

Shae looked up from where she had been folding some clothes to see that tears had sprung to Evelyn’s eyes as the girl stared at the letter.

“Everything alright my lady?” she asked.

Evelyn nodded and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, “Yeah…”

Without another word, she set to work writing a letter of explanation to Sansa before she closed her notebook and shoved it into the drawer of her nightstand.

Dear Sansa,

By the time you are reading this, it will be morning and I will be well on my way. I cannot tell you why or where I am going but I will say this, if I didn’t, people would die, and I cannot see anyone else die. You are safer in Kings Landing than you would be with me. I asked Tyrion to take care of you. Go to him if you ever need help. I promise I will do whatever it takes to return to you one day and to keep the rest of our family safe. Arya is safe, I know that much, and I will be safe as well. I love you Sansa. Be strong.

Love, Evelyn.

She laid the letter to Sansa on her pillow, knowing it was short, but Sansa was always to the point.

Getting off her bed, she grabbed the backpack and slung it onto her back before grabbing the smaller satchel and tying it around her waist. Just as she finished, Tyrion quietly entered the room, nodding to the girl.

Evelyn turned to Shae and quickly embraced the maid, “Thank you for everything.” Shae nodded, “Stay safe Lady Evelyn.” Evelyn pulled her hood over her head and turned to Zinzi and Lady. Both wolves leapt off the bed silently and followed her on padded feet.

Tyrion walked quietly down the corridor, checking every corner before moving on. Finally, they managed to get out into the garden and Tyrion led the girl through the paths until they came upon the back of the stables.

“Now listen,” Tyrion whispered, causing the girl to crouch behind a bush. “There is a horse saddled and ready for you in the first stall on the left. Use him to get out of here as quickly as you can but travel on the road. Get at least three miles from here before leaving him. He’ll return here before anyone notices he’s gone. Take to the woods right after. No one will be able to track you after that. Kings Landing does not have dogs meant for tracking so as long as you do not leave tracks, you will be fine. The quickest way to your brother is northwest. Here.” Tyrion held out his hand and Evelyn saw that he held a compass. She took it carefully and slipped it into her pocket where it would be safe, “Thank you Tyrion.” The man nodded, “It is the least I could do for what you have done for Jaime.” “Speaking of which,” Evelyn said, reaching into her satchel and pulling out an envelope, “I don’t trust Cersei to not find it unless I give it to you…. When Jaime returns… can you give him this?” Tyrion nodded before taking the letter and slipping it into his tunic, “How can you be sure he’ll return? You may find him before then.”

Evelyn shook her head, “I know my mother. She will do anything to see Sansa and Arya return. She does not know that Arya is missing so she will use Jaime as bait to get my sisters back. He’ll return to Kings Landing.”

Tyrion smiled before wrapping the girl into a hug, “Stay safe. Both of you.” Evelyn nodded before touching her hand to her stomach, “We will.” With that, she slipped through the bushes with Zinzi and Lady behind her. When she reached the back of the stables, she listened at the door for any noise from a stable boy. There were none. Quietly she slipped in and found herself in the tack room. She was about to slip through the door that headed into the stable area when she paused.

Rushing over to where the freshly cut leather hung, she grabbed a sack and stuffed it with jet black leather. She also grabbed plenty of tacks, a bottle of glue, a hammer and shears. She had plenty of sewing material in her bag. She tied the sack closed before slinging it over her shoulder and slipped through the door.

She quietly slipped to the door of the stable and peered in. It was a lovely brown chestnut thoroughbred. He would make three miles easily. Opening the gate, she slipped inside to find that the horse was indeed saddled. Grabbing her backpack and the sack, she tied them to the back of the saddle before she mounted up silently.

After she rode the horse out of the stall, she closed the gate to buy her some time. She didn’t pick up pace until they were out of earshot of anyone possibly hearing them. Her greatest fear was the gate… but Tyrion already solved that problem. There was a small door near the back of the castle which was guarded but Tyrion had told her the secret: the guards do not swap places at the gate but in the barracks, giving her a good ten minutes. She waited in the shadows for about five minutes until she saw the guards leave, then she bolted for it.

She was leaving Kings Landing… leaving Cersei…. Sansa…. Myrcella…. Tommen… Shae…. Joffrey…. And any concrete hope of seeing Jaime again. She was on the run now. A fugitive. A lone wolf.