Prologue: Tytos I
My name is Tytos Lannister, first born son of Tywin Lannister and Joanna Lannister. Once upon a time many knew me as the heir to Casterly Rock, the place I was born in and where I spent my childhood. There's not much I can tell you of my early life, perhaps becuase it was so long ago that those memories have faded away from me. My mind has not aged well it would seem. However, there are some things I remember. I remember my father and mother, I remember Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion, I remember Lia, and Russ, and Harold, I remember Rhaegar and his uncle Daeron. The memories that have managed to stay with me are all good, and for that I am ever thankful to the Seven. Those are memories of a time long past for me I'm afraid. Now I am King Tytos Lannister, third of my name, ruler of the Rock, shield of his people and protector of the realm. Since we are still talking about the past, let me tell you about mine.
Many Years Ago...
Tywin paced about the hall, his hands behind his back, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Meanwhile around him wetnurses ran inside and outside of the room, with fresh towels and bowls of water in their hands. From the room screams could be heard that echoed across the entirity of Casterly Rock. They were the screams of his wife, Joanna. With every one Tywin could feel a thousand needles piercing his ears, the pain was so great that Tywin was visibly disturbed at each scream. Whilst Tywin had nothing but nervousness in him his brothers, Kevan and Tygett had nothing but neutrality on their faces.
"Tywin please, calm down, it's going to be fine." Kevan desperately tried taming his brothers anxiety.
Those words made Tywin want to throw Kevan out of the window immediately. He instantly shot his younger brother a steel hateful gaze causing Kevan to become silent. Calm down? Calm down?! Has Kevan not been living with Tywin all this time? No matter the time, no matter the place, Tywin knew how to keep his calm.
"Honestly brother you really should stop it with this act of yours, we all know you couldn't give two shits about any of us, much less your wife." Tygett said while leaning on one of the walls of the hallway.
"Be quiet Tygett, before I come over there and finally beat some respect into that mouth of yours." Tywin threatened his other younger brother.
'I should be in there with her, by her side, not out here being useless.' he thought to himself.
The more his thoughts drifted away from him, the more Tywin began to blame himself for this. Joanna was having an early labor, the Maester had been warning Tywin for days that his wife might have to give birth earlier than expected due to complications with Joanna's health. Tywin, full of responsibilities and busy with cleaning up his fathers mess had simply ignored the Maesters warnings seeing as whenever he saw his wife she looked to be in perfect health, only now did he realize that she was faking it all not to burden Tywin even more.
Speaking of messes, here came Tywin's father, Tytos, slowly lumbering himself towards the three Lannister children. Over the years after the death of his wife Tytos had grown fat from grief and seeked comfort in the arms of other women. Those actions turned Tytos from the 'Laughing Lion' into the 'Toothless Lion'.
"I'm here... I'm here... Came as soon as I can..." Tytos struggled to speak through his exhausted breath.
"Father, would you please tell your ever prestigious son that everything is going to be fine." Tygett said.
Tytos' brow went up once he heard his son Tygett. "Tywin, what's wrong my boy? Are you really that concerned?" he spoke to his son, who only stared back with emotionless eyes. Through his tired composure Tytos managed to let out a hearty laugh, placing his hands on Tywin's shoulders. "Don't you worry yourself. We have the best Maesters and wetnurses in the realm, your Joanna is in more than capable hands." all the while Tywin continued to give his father a glare capable of a bear.
"Get your filthy hands of off me." he said to his father slowly, "Now."
Tytos did so, his warm and fatherly smile turning into a sad and defeated posture. As he did so another scream, one much louder and more painful than the others, it filled Tywin with such grief that he visibly flinched at the noise. However, that was when everything went silent, Joanna's screams went mute and replacing them were the cries of a newborn babe. Tywin's entire body froze for a moment , his legs, his arms, even his head, none of his body responded. And then Tywin snapped out of his fear and ran into the room, his father coming slowly behind him.
Inside the room he saw his wife lying exhausted on the bed in a white gown, he hair left loose and spread out across the pillow of the bed. Wetnurses surrounded her and in the hands of one of them was a small child wrapped in cloth and blankets as they patiently and gently washed the small little newborn. Right next to Joanna was Maester Russ, who had performed that procedure.
"Joanna! Joanna are you alright?!" Tywin yelled out as he ran to her side by the bed.
"I'm... I'm fine love... just tired..." she said through her breath.
Tywin held Joanna's hand as tight as he could, her fingers were as cold as ice and he could see she was trembling from head to toe. On the other side of the bed Maester Russ was handed the child to see if everything is alright. After a minute of silence the Maester let out a sigh. "Congratulations my lord. It is a perfectly healthy boy." he said, slowly rocking the baby in his arms to calm it down. "Here you are my lord." slowly Russ handed the baby over to Tywin, this time his hands were the ones that were shaking.
As soon as he huddled the newborn up in his arms the small child calmed down, it's cries turning into small coo's. The child had finally opened his eyes to reveal the Lannister emerald green color that their family was so well known for. Whilst Tywin stared at the baby's eyes, a smile beginning to crack upon his face when all of a sudden the same happened to the baby as it let out a miniscule smile. Tywin knew it wasn't because of him however, it was because of Tytos looking over his sons shoulder, wide eyed and face filled with glee.
"Congratulations my lord... you are a grandfather..." Joanna said, a warm smile on her face.
"Please my lady it is I who should be congratulating you two. Congratulations Joanna, you're a mother now." Tytos said with an equally kind expression.
"He has your eyes..." Tywin murmured, still staring at the child. His words made Tytos look at his son with bewilderment. After that Tywin hadn't said another word, only continuing to cradle the child. The last thing Tytos would have expected from Tywin was a compliment, much less something like this.
"Well I'll leave you two here for some privacy. Just don't stay here too long yourself Tywin, your wife could use some rest." Tytos said, quickly slipping out of the room.
All the wetnurses had already left and Maester Russ had left with Tywin's father. Now it was just him and Joanna left in the room, with their child. As Tywin looked towards his son's features he felt nothing but pride, but that made him wonder. It wasn't a lie that his son had Tytos' eyes but they were... different. This was not the gaze of a pathetic, broken man on his last legs. These were the eyes of someone much more greater, someone with a purpose. His stare was broken by Joanna as Tywin felt her slightly tugging on his sleeve. "Let me see him..." she said.
Slowly he passed the child off into his wife's arms as the baby once again began to smile when he saw his mothers face. Joanna's face lit up as if she became a shining star. The baby's small little arms reached up, trying to reach up to his mothers face. In one of his little hands Joanna put her finger and saw her child grip the finger.
"What do you think we should name him?" Tywin asked, sitting down at the side of the bed beside Joanna.
"You said it yourself, he has your fathers eyes. What about Tytos?" Joanna proposed.
Tywin visibly flinched at the proposal, he didn't deny what he saw but for his own child to be named after that pathetic sniveling manchild was something he couldn't live with. "Do you have any better name?" Joanna asked. He always thought that if he had a son he would name it Jaime, or if he had a girl she would be named Cersei however Tywin remembered a moment ago of his childs eyes. This child would not grow up to be a pitiful toothless lion, no, he shall be a mighty lion, he shall be the pride of house Lannister.
"Very well, Tytos it is."
I never really remembered why I was always afraid of our Maester, Russ, during my early childhood years. He was never an intimidating man, he had no threatening features, no scars, no deformities, anything. As far as I can remember he was also not rude, mean or bad to me. Maester Russ was, as far as I can remember, an older-aged man wise far beyond his years. He had a full head of greyish-brown hair and a trimmed bear along with the traditional Maester's robes along with the chains that accustomed them.
To get off topic there is one memory that is coming to me right now. A man never truly forgets the first time he sees a dead body, it sticks with you till the day you yourself become a corpse. I don't know why, but when I was 6 years of age I managed to wind up in Maester Russ' study room.
6 years later...
Russ rubbed his eyes to try and stay awake. His head struggling to stay up as sleep slowly began to overcome him. For three straight days Russ kept working on the bodies, dissecting, identifying and researching. Despite his lieges best efforts Lord Tywin still couldn't spare so many men to take care of all the bandits and highwaymen infesting the lands of Casterly Rock and Lannisport. The woods and caverns made excellent hiding spots and hideouts for scum like them. As Russ once again felt his eyes growing heavy the door to his study opened. It was the Rock's Master-At-Arms, Harold.
"Still locking yourself away from the world old man?" Harold said, his arms busy with carrying a large object wrapped in cloth.
"Is that another body?" Russ said, grabbing a quill to mark yet another one on his ledger.
"A girl, one of the servants said they found her washed up from the water." Harold put the body down on one of the empty tables.
Once the body was on the table Harold unwrapped the cloth around it. The body itself was wrapped in mud and the thick stench of dirty sewage water. "So..." Russ began as he put on his gloves and began his examination. "... another case, another unindentified body. No one recognises her?" Harold simply nodded in response. It wasn't unusual for the servants in the castle to be complete strangers to one another as Lord Tywin would usually replace them every month as a sort of safety precaution. The selection was carried out by Russ himself, who Lord Tywin seemed to trust with these matters. "Harold, get me my scalpel." Russ said.
"Get it your own damn self I'm not your assistant old man." Harold exclaimed whilst crossing his arms.
"It's right on the table over there..."
"I'm not getting your little knife dammit."
"Right next to the jar with poppy's..."
"Just listen to me will you?!"
"Less talking, more helping."
"Seven Hells fine, here's your knife."
"Good, now grab a quill and parchment. Write down what I tell you." as he said that Harold begrudgingly pulled out a quill, some ink and a few papers for writing, mumbling the entire way. He sat down on a seat, placing everything on the table close to Russ as the Maester began his autopsy and identification.
"Woman, somewhere the age of..." he paused for a moment, "... between the ages of 15 to 2-... no wait... write it down... between the ages 15 to 35." he said as Harold wrote everything down. "Skin decomposition suggests prolonged exposure in the water, it did no favors to her complexion. Write that down as a summary for her age." Harold continued to write with ease, years of experience with Russ made him a better writer than most other Maesters. "Weight: average, hard to say without scale. Height: ... let's average it at around 5 feet and 1 inch. Hair: black, sparse..." Russ used his two index fingers to carefully open her eyes. "Eyes: brown, decomposed due to exposure to water."
"Clothes are torn and wet, blue dress of poor quality, we can immediately cut her out as nobility. Three teeth missing, not at any more noticable spots, a shame, usually a good way to identify a victim, even if only by people who knew them very intimately." Russ averted his attention from the head to the body. "Birthmark in the shape of a strawberry, around 0.04 inches long, on her right thigh, 6 inches above her knee." he then turned his head to Harold, "hand me a shred parchment Harold..." he gestured with his hands. As soon as he got the piece of paper Russ drew a semi-crude sketch of the birthmark for further reference.
"I've been trying to get Lord Tywin to spare me some more men but he keeps being as persistent as ever." Harold said as he organized the papers, "We can't be everywhere at once, those whoresons have been busy raiding the farms outside of Lannisports walls and before we even manage to get there they've already dissapeared with everything they could find. It's been a whole year now and it seems they're only getting bolder with their raids. Who knows, this could be the start of another Ironborn great raid or something."
"I doubt it's the ironborn, if King Aerys or Lord Tywin even found a hint of Ironborn attacking another Westerosi lord they would have all the countries combined might raining down on them." Russ assesed as he wrapped the body back in cloth. "From what I hear this Quellon fellow is not like his other Ironborn ilk, for the first time in many recorded years Maesters have started being sent over to the Iron Islands and I hear one of Goodbrothers children got married to a Fossoway. It would seem the dear Lord Reaver has tried to change the Ironborn ways, for what reason though, I don't really know. Or perhaps the better wording would be I don't really care."
"Who knows, maybe the king got tired of hearing those Ironborn spit and pratle about their "Old Way" and ordered them to finally integrate with the rest of Westeros." Harold suggested, putting the papers in the drawer with the rest.
"Hah! If that were the truth I would probably proclaim him the greatest targaryen ruler right here and now. Somehow I doupt that is the case though." Russ said.
"Anyways, I'll be leaving you now, despite what you believe I do actually have my own duties to attend to besides being your little assistant."
As the doors of his study opened and closed again Harold had left Russ to his thoughts. He would never admit it but Russ did enjoy the young man's company, it kept him awake, though at times he would bore the Maester with his incesent boasting. Once Russ took another look at the corpse he was examining not a few seconds ago he began to feel dizzy. All those days without sleep made Russ think he had contracted a sickness or something, of course being around corpses the whole time didn't really help calm his fears.
'It's a real damn shame you didn't live. I don't know who you are but you looked like someone who might have had a future in this hellhole of a world we're in.'
All of a sudden Russ heard a bump and what sounded like a muffled yelp coming from his storage where he kept the records, scrolls and maps. Slowly he walked over to the door of the storage room. He grabbed the handle of the door as he heard another sound, more bumps and things falling. He opened the door to reveal a young boy in dark red clothing desperately holding on to several scrolls, struggling to keep his balance. It was Lord Tywin's eldest, young Tytos.
"H-Hello Maester..." Tytos said nervously, regaining his footing as well as his hold on all of the caught scrolls.
Russ let out a sigh as he knelt down to meet the lad at eye-level, "And what exactly are you doing here young lord."
"I was... uhm... I was-... uuuh..." Tytos fumbled through his words, the fear in his voice becoming apparent.
The Maester let out another sigh as he reached out his hands. "All right, hand them over." as Tytos passed all of the scrolls and exited the storage room Russ entered and put them all back in their respected categories. Every single paper had it's own category in the shape of a shelf as to be more efficient. In around a few seconds Russ managed to place all the papers, around 14 of them in total, back in their own little shelves. He had all their places memorized for years now due to how many times he went into this room. When he exited and closed the door Russ found the young lord still standing outside right next to the table, his shoulders slumped and head low.
"I heard about what you and Harold were talking about." Tytos said quietly, avoiding eye contact.
"Did you know?" Russ raised his brow and rubbed his chin in intrigue for a moment.
"Yes, her name was Lia." the boy's face visibly turned dark as his eyes slowly began to water.
"You knew this girl my lord?" Russ said as he slightly opened the cloth to reveal the bodies face.
"Whenever Septa Elis was off taking care of Jaime and Cersei she would be there to help me read." Tytos looked at the corpses face followed by a slow nod. "I remember that sometimes she would spend more time with me than the septa. She used to talk to me about the Reach and King's Landing. When I had trouble sleeping I remember she would sing to me." the boy's expression went from sad to visibly disturbed, his eyes went from the corpses face back to the ground as Tytos lowered his head once more. "She was always kind to me..." the boy seemed to be on the verge of crying however he held back his tears.
Russ quickly covered up the body once more and put his arms on the young lords shoulders. "Alright now my lord that's quite enough. A boy like shouldn't even be here right now and besides, I believe we are having an honored guest arriving today, we wouldn't want to welcome them with teary eyes and a mopy face now." Russ tried his best to calm Tytos, though it did prove hard for him. The maester was already used to dealing with adults however he had learned that with children he would have to adopt a much more lenient approach if he wanted them to listen.
"Y-... Yes maester."
Russ didn't know if the boy was agreeing with him or just saying 'yes' to leave. A tear seemed to drop from his left eye which Tytos quickly wiped away from his cheek and eyes. His teary-eyed face soon became something resembling stern although the maester knew it was the boy trying to act like his father. "All right now, run along and wash your face, it'll help."
Tytos simply nodded and left, running back to his room to make himself presentable.
Later on these attacks started to become unbearable and a menace to all the farmers outside city walls, somehow even the servants of merchants and lords became affected as bodies began to pile up more and more. In the following years this group of savages came to be known as the Knights of The Red Lion. But that is a story for later. Right now there is a memory in my mind, one of which I'm very fond of. It was the first time I met Rhaegar...
Later that day...
After he washed his face Tytos ran to the window of his room to see his father in the courtyard with uncle Kevan. The two stood tall and firm as men in armor began riding in on their horses, swords strapped to their sides and shields on thier back . All of the men had silvery armor with strange engravings on them. They wore helmets that covered their faces and said helmets had something that resembled wings to their sides. All of them had white capes and the buttons around their belts were also white.
'Those are... those are knights...' Tytos didn't know if those were the Kingsguard. He remembered his father telling him about the order of knights that protected the king and his family but from what he heard the Kingsguard are supposed to wear all white, not just white capes.
As the armored men rode in so too did a carriage, adorned in red, black and gold, all heavily decorated even on the wheels. One of the knights, a tall one with broad shoulders and from what he could see from under his helmet, a white beard, dismounted his horse and walked over to open the carriage. As the doors to the carriage opened a young boy who looked around Tytos' age stepped out. The boy had short hair that was the color of silver, the sun seemingly radiating off of it, his eyes a violet color. The boy wore heavily decorated clothes, from where Tytos was looking it made him think that his clothes were glistening. It took him a few moments but when the boy walked over to Tytos' father with a proud strut and Tywin bowed before the boy Tytos finally recognized who this was. From a distance he barely heard it...
"Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, welcome to Casterly Rock."
End of Chapter 1
Edit:
Righto here's the first chapter. I've been thinking about this story about some time now and thought it would be a nice starting point for my return after a year of silence. Tytos, while maybe an original idea is something I don't really see a lot of. Lannisters don't really get much love except if it's with Jaime or Tyrion and I've noticed there's not a lot of pure Lannister fics, it's either about the True Heir stories or about the already existing characters. So yeah, this is my attempt at writing a Lannister-centric story.
My english hasn't really improved at all so if I make any grammar mistakes or if sentences don't make sense then please inform me I'll try to fix. Alongside that reviews and suggestions are also appreciated.