CHAPTER: Tytos V

I remember the first time I rode a horse. What was her name again? I believe it was Fae. A simple name, yes. One deserving of such a simple horse. She may not have been the fastest, the most enduring, or even the best-looking horse, but she was the one I got for my eight nameday. She was obedient, reliable, and most importantly, she was fun to ride. The art of riding is a fickle thing, isn't it? You have to retain your balance at all times. You start slow, then you speed up into a gentle gallop, and then you start having to control your movements to try and keep yourself from falling off. It takes training, a lot of it. I'll admit that I've fallen off many a times. You must always be mindful of your steed as well, horse riding is not a one-mind game, both man and beast must agree with each other. Sometimes you may not even be aware of how unbalanced you are, like I had said, it takes training. You must be aware of not just your own faults and strengths, but that of your horses as well.

In a way, perhaps it is a bit like politics, if you twist your mind around it enough.


Tytos took a deep bow, following the instructions his father had taught him years ago, and his siblings did the same. As he bowed he took a glance at the dragon kings own personal bodyguards. Seven shields sworn to protect the royal family, consisting of the greatest knights in all the realms. For a long time, the only knight of King's Landing Tytos had known was Rhaegar's uncle, Daeron. Looking at his brothers in white now Tytos could notice many similar traits, especially with one Lord Commander, Ser Gerold.

Gerold Hightower, the 'White Bull' as many called him. A tall man, broad-shouldered with his back set straight and his head held high. Though his age had withered down many his features, grey hair slowly showing signs of falling out, baggy eyes, dry lips and wrinkled cheeks, Tytos could imagine how the man was in his prime. Despite the man being roughly five and fifty years of age one would not be judged thinking the Bull was still in his forties, perhaps even in his late thirties.

Ser Lewyn Martell a man who stood out from his fellow knights due to the fact that he was from Dorne and possessed all of the features his family and many Salt Dornish were known for. Light brown skin with fair dark hair and brown eyes to match his complexion. None could say the man was not handsome and for the Martells that was nothing new. Like his other knights though he held his head high, still as a statue with his chest puffed out. Tytos remembered being visited by Lewyn's niece and nephew, Ellia and Oberyn, a long time ago.

Ser Oswell Whent, it wasn't hard to spot the man as he was the only one out of the Kingsguard that wore a distinctive helmet, the sigil of a bat with its wings spread emblazoned on the helmets front, the symbol of House Whent. Tytos could imagine that a man such as him would be a bit of a showman as no other members seemed to have any sign regarding their noble houses, well, except for one more.

Sers Gwayne Gaunt and Jonothor Darry, both well respected knights and from what Tytos had heard both men were earnest and kind, temperate in their beliefs and true to their vows. In many ways they were the model of what a Kingsguard knight should be. They were the youngest of the Kingsguard as far as Tytos knew and that seemed to only further deepen their fervor in serving the king.

Ser Barristan Selmy, second eldest in the Kingsguard to Ser Gerold. Tall with cheerful blue eyes, with a robust physique that accompanied his handsome face. No doubt Barristan was amongst the more prestigious of the Kingsguard, his most well-known act being his battle with the last Blackfyre, Maelys The Monstrous, during the war of the Ninepenny kings. Years later, earning him his spot as a member of the Kingsguard.

And finally, what many considered to be the greatest of the seven knights, Ser Arthur Dayne, 'The Sword of The Morning'. Many say that he is perhaps the deadliest knight in all the realm, though Tytos thought that his weapon helped perpetuate that statement. Dawn, the legendary sword of House Dayne, through history only the greatest knights of House Dayne have had the honor of holding the ancestral greatsword and wielding such a blade spoke volumes about one's character, even more so their legitimacy as a knight. With features many would say were Valyrian in nature, Arthur possessed violet eyes and slicked-back silver hair. His looks not only spoke volumes of his character but that of his prowess in combat. Almost all Kingsguard bore some marks, scratches or scars on their face, except for Arthur, whose face looked as clean and polished as the stone floors of the Great Hall. Some would say that something like that would be a sign of an unexperienced knight but for Arthur Dayne it was merely a show of his skill and untouchable status as a warrior.

"Rise." King Aerys said in a slightly raspy voice.

The Four Lannisters did so, all still having their House colors shown proudly in front of the King. Tytos could notice a slight iota of pride coming from his father, he truly had trained them frighteningly well.

Aerys was not a dashing or gallant man but he had a certain charm and appeal to him. He was undoubtedly handsome, a trait many Targaryens shared, and his sister-wife and queen was a beauty in her own respect. Both shared a certain grace and elegance to their appearance that only complimented their family's traits. Pale skin and silver hair with deep purple eyes. No one could have predicted what Aerys would turn out to be, not even my father and certainly not Rhaegar. But as they say, madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin, Aerys' fate had been sealed the moment that coin hit the ground, and the world began to know of true madness.

As Tytos stood up he straightened his posture and kept his head high, so too did his siblings. The King may rule the Seven Kingdoms but Tytos was not about to show himself a fool in front of the most powerful people in the Realm.

The Kingsguard parted way into a line of two, three on the left side and three on the right side, as Aerys descended from the Iron Throne and down to Tytos. Soon he was staring him dead in the eye. Was this an attempt to try and intimidate him? Perhaps. But Tytos' father had taught him too well, and his pride refused him even the thought of breaking the King's gaze.

"What's your name boy?" the King asked.

Was this a test again? Had his father learned the way of raising children from King Aerys?

"Tytos Lannister, you grace." Tytos said, his clear and fluent voice having a stark contrast to the King's.

Silence came upon the cavernous grey hall as he could feel all eyes were on him, his father, his siblings, the queen, the Kingsguard and the King himself. Then the silence seemed to be broken, a smile came upon the King's face, "Heh…" and suddenly Aerys Targaryen burst into laughter.

His once raspy and shrill voice replaced with a booming tone that sounded like it was coming from the most virile and lively man in the world. "Ah Seven Hells Tywin he really is your little cub, isn't he?!" the King turned his back for a moment and faced his Hand before facing Tytos once more and placing his hands on his shoulders, all the while Tytos' docile face being replaced with one of pure confusion.

"I've heard stories upon stories about you from my own son. He can't keep his mouth shut really. I'm glad to see you live up to the expectations. By the Gods, how much have grown my boy?" Aerys said, a warm smile residing on his face all the while his voice having such a drastic change it irked Tytos' ears. "And who are these fine little younglings I see behind you?" Aerys turned his attention away from the confused Lannister.

The three children, Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion, were all stumped for a moment before being snapped into reality as Cersei first introduced herself properly. "Cersei Lannister, an honor your grace." She curtsied, "These are my two other brothers, Jaime and Tyrion."

"Y-your grace…" the two brothers said simultaneously, bowing to show respect though the confusion being in their voices.

"By the Mother look at you my dear! A beauty among beauties!" Aerys said, greeting the young lady with a kiss on her hand, and turned his attention to the second twin. "And oh my what strong arms you have my boy, and such a noble standing. Careful Ser Gerold, we might have another Lord Commander in the making." Aerys pointed to the white-cloaked knight who remained standing stoically.

"And what's this?" Aerys' attention once again moved to another Lannister, this time it was Tyrion's turn. "What beautiful eyes you have my boy, a sapphire and a jewel all within your skull, you surely must have been blessed." Tyrion only looked at the raving King in confusion and fear, though his better instincts told him to stay still.

Tytos turned his attention away from the King and to his father, all the while his jaw almost on the verge of dropping. Tywin was unfazed by this behavior. Of all the things Tytos had expected of the Targaryen king, this was most certainly not it. He had known that his father and the king were close friends but this close was bordering on insanity, especially for a King. Without even noticing it, the Queen Rhaella was right in front Tytos in but a blink of an eye. He almost took a step back in surprise but quickly mustered his composure once more and bowed to the Queen.

"Your grace…" he said courtly, to which the queen responded with an equal bow, yet another thing Tytos thought unfitting of a royal family, though he did not mind seeing that even the Queen was willing to bow to another, at least as a show of politeness.

"It's been a while Tytos, you really have grown a lot since I last saw you." The Queen said in a much quieter and more composed tone than her husbands, to which Tytos' brow raised in curiosity. Before the queen could say anything else King Aerys interrupted his introductions to the three younger Lannister children.

"Rhaella for the Gods' sake you can't expect the boy to remember you, he was still just a wee lad not out of his crib when we visited him last." Aerys responded before snapping his fingers. "Gerold, Oswell, you shall escort us back to my chambers, the rest of you are relieved for the rest of the day."

The Kingsguard all looked visibly confused at their King's orders to which Aerys snapped again, "What do you expect? Little Tyrion here pulling a knife out of his pocket and driving it through my ribs?" he asked sarcastically.

"Very well your grace." Ser Gerold bowed slightly and thus the remaining four Kingsguard left.

"Oh, and Ser Arthur, do please go find Rhaegar and that damned brother of mine, tell them to come to my solar as soon as possible." He gave the Dayne knight an order, to which Ser Arthur merely bowed in response and fastened his pace to go and find the prince.

Tytos immediately perked up as soon as he heard the princes name, "Rhaegar's here?" the young lord asked with a new shine in his emerald green eyes.

"But of course, where'd you expect him to be? Valyria? Hah!" Aerys laughed and put his arms around the two Lannister twins. "You all simply must tell me more about yourselves. I've tried to have Tywin over there leak some information though his mouth becomes stiff as a clam whenever any of you are mentioned, so I guess you can say nothing's really changed haha…"

As King Aerys laughed the Lannisters siblings couldn't help but have a smile start to creep up on their faces, even Cersei seemed to be enjoying the Kings company. The stories of him being incredibly charming seemed to be proving true, however, this is King's Landing, and even the King himself might have a scheme somewhere in that head of his. It was something Tytos had to keep in his mind and not get distracted by a kind face.

"What do you say about having dinner with us?" the queen interjected.

"Dinner? Yes! Of course! What say you children, it would be a perfect opportunity, and your bellies must be quite empty after such a long journey." Aerys exclaimed.

"We… humbly accept the offer, your grace." Tytos said rather dumbfoundedly.

"PERFECT!" the King clapped his hands in the air and began walking forwards to the back door behind the Iron Throne. The Lannisters, including Tywin, said nothing and simply followed the jolly King along with both the queen and Ser Gerold and Ser Oswell. "I know that you all must be very tired but I must insist you talk to me all about yourselves, like I said your father here has been as aggressively secret about you children as he possibly could."

And talk we did. Come evening all five of us Lannisters were dining on the same table as the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, not only that but with the entire royal family. I still remember Rhaegar's father that day, how much he liked to talk and jest about his time with both my father and Lord Steffon during the war of the Ninepenny Kings, recounting old war stories, even my father joined in on a few conversations, though most of them were simple answers to questions addressed at him. Tyrion certainly felt comfortable, I don't think I had ever seen him smile as much as he did that day.

When Rhaegar and I first met again after almost two years apart I remember having the most foolish smile on my face, cursing myself when I noticed it and praying to both the Old Gods and the New that my father hadn't seen me with such an expression.

The conversations lasted well into the evening, before night had fully fallen and our father exclaimed that we should get ourselves some rest. The King and Queen agreed though the expression on Aerys' face looked like that of a child having to say goodbye to some new friends he had just met. My first expressions of Rhaegar's father were… confusing. On one hand he was an extremely charming fellow, though on the other hand Tytos had not forgotten what his father had taught him, trust no one in King's Landing except your own blood.

Though this little story is just beginning and despite my eyes becoming heavy perhaps I can recount to you what happened the very next day, when Rhaegar and I had met early in the morning near a secluded little courtyard near Blackwater Bay.

As the waves hit the marble stone and the sun had begun to fill up the sky Tytos stood beside Rhaegar and admired the view.

"It's been a while since you and I just managed to talk to each other alone hasn't it?" Rhaegar broke the silence.

"It has indeed." Tytos said, "You've certainly let your hair grow out, trying to compensate for the fact I'm taller than you now?"

"Heh, believe me I've long accepted that inevitability." Rhaegar spoke with a chuckle. "But there is a reason I've called you here, something I needed to tell you, two things in fact."

"Is that so?" Tytos raised his brow.

"Last night, after our families had that dinner, my father told me something." Rhaegar sighed before letting a smile come down his face. "He plans to join our two houses."

Tytos' eyes shot up. "Join? Your father wishes for to marry you to one of us?" he said before the realization had hit him, "He plans to-…"

"Yes, he wishes for me and Cersei to be wed in two years time." Rhaegar interrupted Tytos, his smile still present. "From what I know, your father had already agreed to it a few months back, once Cersei and Jamie had turned four and ten."

Tytos couldn't really know how to react to something like that. He didn't know how he should react to it. "And what do you think of this whole arrangement?" he asked, carefully listening to the prince's words.

"What do I think? Heh…" Rhaegar laughed, "I'm not sure what to think really. I've spent so long with you all back in Casterly Rock, you, Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion. Over the years I have come to see you all as my family and yet now comes a decision that might make my vision a reality. If Cersei and I marry then our houses will have a pact made whole by the Gods, and I will truly come to see you as my family, even more of a family than you already were to me."

Tytos put a hand on Rhaegar's shoulder, "Then I look forward to the day I can call you my brother." He said with a smile to which Rhaegar once again laughed.

"Are you sure it isn't so you can just call me Rhae in public now rather than in private."

"My prince you wound me so, I would never stop so low." He feigned offence before pointing to the flask of wine in Rhaegar's hand. "Is that to celebrate our future kinship then?"

"No, my lord…" a voice came from behind them.

As Tytos turned around he saw an old haggard man in his 50s, perhaps 60s. He did not look Westerosi, nor did he look like an Essosi. With a look that bordered between beggar and common traveler the stranger put down his hood to reveal Valyrian features present on his face.

"This was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about." Rhaegar exclaimed.

"Who are you?" Tytos questioned the old stranger.

The Man gave a smile even the Stranger himself would be afraid of, "A question to be answered in due time my lord, for now…" he reached out his old and frail hand with prolonged nails and veins showing from the top of his skin, "…if you will, the alcoholic refreshment I had requested your grace."

Before Rhaegar could give the man the flask of wine Tytos stopped him. "And why pray tell would we need to give this to you good Ser." Tytos said, an air of politeness and yet very hostile questioning being obvious in his tone."

"Well my lords," the old man cackled, "because no great story ever started with someone eating a salad."

Note:

Skidaddle Skaddodle this chapter is now compleddo (yeah I know I'm terrible at rhyming).

Anyway guys, your friendly neighborhood writer man is back at you again with another chapter. Now there's not much really to say about this chapter as it is mostly setup for future events however it is nice to start getting into the swing of things again after being away for so long.

Besides the introduction to Aerys and Rhaella in this chapter, who are much different than their canon counter-parts (or at least Aerys is), there is also the big reveal, yes, Rhaegar will be marrying Cersei but fret not for that does not mean that the pairing votes for Tytos are done.

One little thing I wanted to ask you my lovely readers before we head off to the review answering section is the age pronunciation in this story. Now I was always confused with how age is used in ASOIAF as they use the "2 and 20" approach of saying ages and up until now I have simply used the normal pronunciation so I wanted to pass this question of to you guys. Should I keep more of George's original writing style or should I just keep doing my my own thing?

Anyways, OFF TO THE REVIEWS:

Shu Ouma GC: 'Yeah thanks for the Reply, Yes Lyanna is somewhat similar to Sansa, which is why Tytos could bring the reality into her eyes and show her the world is not a prince in shining armor but a world full of blood and betrayals, plotting etc. Who knows they might fall in love as time goes on if they ever marry.

My guess is you are being a lazy autistic faggot :D ha'

Now this is just a reply to my previous reply of the previous review and there isn't much to talk about. I do still hold the opinion that perhaps Rhaegar (we're talking about book-Rhaegar right now) might not have actually loved Lyanna but rather might have chosen her as a bride to fulfill the prophecy he was so obsessed with.

If any of you are interested in looking up a what if story that sort of explores that idea then I would highly recommend a story called "Wounds" by 'strangebloke' the writing is absolutely superb and the story itself does not waste much time in getting to the main thing people want to read about (unlike my autistic ass).

Anne: 'Yeah, you're back!

Tywin seriously needs to turn everything in to a test doesn't he.

If you're still taking suggestions for pairings, then I'd like to give my vote to Elia for multiple reasons:

1. It is what Joanna would have wanted, she had made plans with her friend the princess of Dorne to betroth their children in canon, so it would be nice to see Tytos honoring her wishes in this story.

2. Elia was raised by the ruling princess of Dorne and while not the heir, she was probably given a more thorough education of ruling than other noblewomen since women can inherit in Dorne and she was the 'spare' for Doran.

3. She was said to be kind and witty but also sensible and knows her responsibilities, so she probably wouldn't piss off Tywin like Lyanna with her wild nature probably would.

4. She deserves more love and appreciation since she mostly gets ignored (and sometimes even villainized) by a large part of the fandom simply because her existence is inconvenient for those who want to romanticize and justify Rhaegar and Lyanna's actions. and she definitely deserves better than cannon!

5. She would make a great queen and you know it ;-)

Now that I've broken my lance for my girl Elia (Elia/happiness is my ultimate OTP) I'd just like to say thank you for taking the time to write this story and I'm looking forward to the next chapter!'

Alright now there's a lot to unpack here but first off lemme say I have to thank you here as I am also a true believer in the OTP that is Ellia/happiness and that fact you're looking out for our sweet little Dornish girl is truly great, you are a godsend. Other than that, I have to agree with you on a lot of the points here especially about her skills in rulership as she probably would have been taught due to her nature as a dornish princess. Now the whole villainized thing I really didn't know about but would like to hear more about due to the fact that I always assumed many people would be more sympathetic to her not just due to the way she died but because of her situation in general, I know I definitely was. That fact that Joanna and Ellia's mother were also friends lends even more credence to their pairing as it truly would be what Joanna would have wanted.

And once again, thank you for the kind words, it's always appreciated.

Shrednector15: 'Welcome back lol. The descriptions of kings landing and the red keep were very well written. I liked the ending there where Tytos wishes he knew what the mad king was going to become so he could have saved Rhaegar. So, does that mean the rebellion is still going to happen and Rhaegar is going to die?'

Thank you for both the kind words and frequent reviews my friend, they are all extremely appreciated. And now to answer your questions… well you'll just have to wait and see.

Before I go I just want to thank you all for giving me a warm welcome back to the world of shitty fanfic writing and I hope that I can finally keep this train of regular updates going. It really does warm my heart to see people complimenting both my writing and my story and being invested enough to post reviews. It's always a good pick me up.

And with that, I'll see you boys and girls next time.