A/N Another Chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 9: Bastards Lions and Royalty

After breakfast Leona crept down into the stables to watch over her Lioness.

"Off too see that marvelous creature?" She jumped to see Tyrion behind her with the young prince Tommen at his heals.

"I thought the queen said no" Leona said. "You forget whose neck is on the line if their caught"

"Tommen knows to keep quiet" Tyrion insisted. Leona glanced at little Tommen who smiled at her shyly.

"Does he now?" Leona said. "You heard what the queen said, dear uncle" She said.

Tyrion smiled. "Leona where's your sense of adventure?"

Leona eyed Tyrion. "I will throw you under the cart if I am caught uncle" She said, before turning to Tommen. "Is seeing my lion what you truly desire my prince?"

Tommen nodded. "Uncle says lions are like big cats, I like cats, I have a kitten named sir pounce."

Leona smiled. "I'm sure he's a beautiful creature" Leona said. "Perhaps I can see him, after I visit Nis."

Tommen nodded excitedly.

Leona sighed. "Well come along then, I have no idea where the royal stables are anyway."

Tyrion laughed. "Then why go searching without an escort?"

Leona smiled. "I find getting lost a perfectly reasonable way to learn one's way around, I did it all the time in Dorne."

"In between the selling, and singing?"

"Mother and I weren't selling and singing all the time" Leona said. "I had my off time too"

"I'm sure you did My lady" Tyrion smiled.

Leona paused. "I'm a bastard, I don't think the Kingslanding nobility allow for bastards to have titles" Leona reprimanded softly.

Tyrion nodded suddenly somber. "They don't, and that is an important thing for you to remember, own that title Leona, so no one can use it against you. Make it your armour."

"What is a bastard?" Tommen asked looking at Leona wide eyed.

Leona and Tyrion turned to look at each other. "A girl born to parents who weren't married to each other." Leona said.

"And that's bad?" Tommen asked.

Leona looked to the side attempting to figure out the best way to explain. "Only children of married parents can inherit." Leona said. "Unless you're from Dorne." Leona said. "Women and bastards have a lot of freedoms in Dorne."

"So, I've heard" Tyrion said. "Jaime said your mother moved there after she found out she was pregnant, I guess that was the reason why?"

Leona nodded. "It is one of the reasons I was given." Though Leona had been told that she was a Lannister in blood and name, Tysha had also told her that very few would believe it, so she took her to Dorne where bastards and women had more of a chance to survive.

"That doesn't seem fair" Tommen pouted. "Your father is still a Lannister; your blood is still the blood of a Lannister why does it matter if your parents had a ceremony or not?"

Leona looked down. "I don't know my prince, that's a question for the king I suppose."

Tommen nodded.

"I should remind you, that a bastard can be given legitimate status" Tyrion told Leona. "If the King allows it."

Tommen looked at Leona. "Maybe I can ask father-"

"That's not necessary Tommen" Leona said quickly. "It's not overly important right now."

Tommen looked confused. "But…"

Leona bent down and looked Tommen in the eye. "Tommen, who's my father?"

"Ser Jaime, but I can't say that because Jaime can't have heirs so you're the child of a distant cousin."

"If I'm legitimised, that truth may come out, and Jaime could lose his cloak, so no Tommen I don't want to be legitimised" Considering the fact that I am already legitimate.

"That's quite noble of you" Tyrion said leading them outside.

Leona couldn't quite place the tone, so she instead said nothing. For a while the three of them walked in silence until they reached the stables.

Leona hurried forward and smiled when she peered into the gate and found her Lion laying in the straw. "Tommen come here" She said. She lifted Tommen and helped in stand on the gate. "See?"

"She's huge, are you sure she's a cat uncle?"

Tyrion laughed. "Quite" He said looking threw. "Still can't believe I'm seeing one with my own eyes."

Leona opened the gate. "Do you think the Queen will mind if I remove her from the stables?"

"Why? You kept her with you all day yesterday." Tyrion said. "No harm came to anyone then."

"That's true" She turned to the young prince. "What is your decree young prince of Westeros?"

Tommen looked at Leona wide eyed before he smiled. "Release the lion" He said.

"What do you think you are doing!" Cersei cried stalking toward them. "Letting my little boy near a beast like that?"

"I wanted to see it mother" Tommen said when Cersei pulled him away. "Tyrion told me that Lions were like big ferocious cats."

Cersei glared at her younger brother, while Leona stroked Nis's fur. "I would thank you to not put ideas into my youngest child's head."

Tyrion sighed. "Dear sister, both Leona and I were both present to make sure nothing went wrong, he was completely safe."

"And if the Lion lost control?"

"I have my ways of keeping my lion from doing something stupid, My queen" Leona said ominously.

"An what pray tell would that be?"

Leona smirked. "Ask your brother next time you see him."

Queen Cersei looked as though she had been caught in a bear trap. "Excuse me?" she asked.

Leona looked at the Queen confused by her attitude. "Did I say something wrong? He's a member of the Kings guard, you're the kings spouse is it wrong to assume your occasionally in my father's company?"

Cersei looked at a lost for words, before she composed herself. "Keep your beast away from my children" She said, before turning around and marching off Tommen clutched tightly in her arms.

Leona looked at Cersei's retreating form confused before turning to her uncled father. "What did I say?" She asked.

Tyrion eyed his sister's retreating figure. "Who knows, my sister has always been odd, even when she was little."

Leona clutched at her Lions fur. "She seems to especially dislike me"

"Bastards are considered to be disgraces to their respective families." Tyrion said. "That may be why."

"I knew they couldn't inherit, even in Dorne, the line of succession is such that the bastards are placed last, but to be so hated for something they- I couldn't control?" Leona shook her head. "It does not make sense."

"Bastards are treated differently in Dorne"

"Bastards are considered to be born of passion" Leona sighed. "Prince Oberyn himself has many bastard daughters, all of which live in the palace, 4 of them born of the same woman."

"You ever meet them?"

Leona shrugged. "Maybe once or twice" She said.

"Tell me of your mother"

Leona's lips stretched into a thin line. She looked away as tears threatened to spill. Tyrion said nothing as Leona tried to compose her self.

After a few moments Leona took a deep breath and turned to him. "What do you wish to know?"

Tyrion crawled closer to her. "Whatever your comfortable telling me" He said softly.

"We lived in a small cottage" Leona said. "Smaller then my room in the palace, but I never felt cramped, she spent her entire day finding a way to make money and cutting as many corners as she could so she didn't have to spend as much. She was a shrewd woman and could nearly anyone down on prices. We always kept the seeds from our produce and replanted them. My mother had learned from her father how to use a bow and arrow, and that's how we got our food."

"The pray tell what was your mother saving for?"

"A tutor" Leona said. "Mother thought it best that a child, know how to read and write and also know the histories of Dorne and the other 6 kingdoms."

"Your mother sounds like a wise woman" Tyrion said. "It's a shame I never got to meet her."

Leona eyes flicked toward him before looking away.

"Leona!"

Leona turned to see her fathered uncle hurrying toward her. "Ser Jaime" She said. "To what do I owe the honor" She asked.

"My sister came to me in distress" Jaime said. "She said your trying to have all her children killed."

Leona and Tyrion shared a glance. "An exaggeration I assure you" She said. "I just showed Tommen my Lion."

Jaime sighed. "After the display from yesterday, I would have thought you would now better then to antagonize her."

"It was Lord Tyrions idea" Leona said with a mocking smile at Tyrion. Who suddenly reminded her of when she was little and her mother had caught her trying to sneak a piece of pie that had been cooling on the windowsill. "I said it was a bad idea. Am I to disobey a lord?"

Jaime glared at the young Leona. "Leona" He said.

"'Father'" Leona said with the same deadpan tone.

Jaime lowered his head. "If Cersei does not want you here I may have to send you away to Casterly Rock, to stay with your grandfather. Is that what you want?"

Leona looked down. "No" She admitted.

"Then do try not to upset your aunt" Jaime said. "I've cooled her off now, but don't think I can continue doing so."

Leona blew the hair from her face. "Yes Father" She whispered.

"Don't much like your grandfather?" Tyrion asked.

Leona turned toward Tyrion. "Some stories I've heard haven't been pleasant."

"Ahh" Tyrion said. "Yes some stories of the man are most certainly not pleasant."

Leona looked away. "No" She sighed. "They aren't."

Nis stood and growled at Jaime, Leona stroked her fur. "It's ok Nis, I'm fine."

"How'd you find her?" Tyrion asked reaching out he held still as the lion smelled his hand before petting her softly.

"I came across her while hunting" Leona said. "She was a babe then, and her mother was dead, so I took her in as my own."

"How old were you?" Tyrion asked.

"10" Leona shrugged. "I had been out hunting with my mother plenty of times before then, but that day my mother had fallen ill so I went by myself. I picked the little Lion up and carried her home, mother was not pleased to say the least. But she agreed that I could keep the Lion, and that I would feed it, care for it, and should I need too kill it myself. " Leona lay on her Lions side. "I haven't regretted it yet."

Tyrion scratched Nis behind the ears and Nis groaned in contentment.

"She's a beautiful creature" Tyrion murmured. "Just like you."

Leona blushed and bowed her head.

A/N Hope you enjoyed that please leave review.