1857 AC, King's Landing, Red Keep

"I'll be damned," Hedda breathed out, wide-eyed.

"Huh?"

"You remember that theory of Dr. Clegane that one of his ancestors was a close confidant of King Joffrey and his family? I think I just found proof of that."

"Seriously? Great, he is going to be smug for months on end," Jeyne moaned.

"Is he going to come here?"

"He threatened it at least," her friend grumbled.

She and Dr. Clegane had a bit of a professional rivalry going on that amused Hedda and a large percentage of their colleagues endlessly. There was even a betting pool on when the two would finally give into their attraction and jump each other. Hedda had a hundred bucks on the next three months so she was a bit personally invested in getting her friend hooked up with the ruggedly handsome historian. Dr. Howard Clegane was a reenactor that took his role seriously and had the muscles of a daily practicing knight to show for it.

Hedda yawned and rubbed her eyes, a glance at the clock made her groan.

"When did we pass midnight?"

"An hour and a half ago, Hedda," Jeyne said dryly. "You were enraptured in your pages I believe. Ready to find a flat surface?"

Hedda just groaned once again. "I didn't even think about organizing a hotel room, I just hailed a taxi and came straight from the airport."

Jeyne raised an eyebrow. "Your luggage?"

"Left it with the porter, do you think someone is still here?"

"Oh I'm sure, the Red Keep has 24/7 patrolling with all that Valyrian steel and treasures from various noble houses present, the insurance was very specific about what they expected in the matter of security. Drove the director nuts the first two times, by now he just sighs and lets them do what they want. We can be damn glad we're subsidized by both the ministry of culture and the royal house."

Hedda winced. "A lot of money?"

"An obscene amount, Saddie from accounting once showed me what kind of bills such an exhibition racks up in only six months. You wouldn't believe the electric bill for the climate-controlled showcases or the filter system for harmful gases and particles from the hidden passages. Did you know that we have three different security companies contracted because the Red Keep is so big that not one of them had enough employees to watch all the monitors at the same time? Let's just say that I'm damn glad I didn't become an accountant like my father wanted."

Hedda yawned again and Jeyne rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's collect your stuff and you can crash in my guestroom."

"Thanks Jeyne."

295 AC, King's Landing, Red Keep

During his first few weeks at the Red Keep, Clegane took the time to familiarize himself with Joffrey's schedule and the castle. He always seemed to know where his charge was at any given hour, even when Joffrey decided on a spontaneous change in his plans. The prince suspected a collaboration between his sworn sword and Massey, the two seemed to get along just fine the few times he saw them in the same room.

Starting on the second week in the Red Keep Clegane began to test the guards Joffrey had been given two years ago, as promised. Within three days he had taken over their training and was running the 24 guards in Joffrey's household into the ground.

"Guard up, you lazy son of a bitch!" Clegane bellowed. "You are protecting the crown prince not the second son of some Lord in Lys, act like it!"

Joffrey had to bite his lip to not start snickering at the expression of the guard in front of Clegane. The prince was sitting under the roofed dais that overlooked the practice field, and was working his way through the assigned book from Maester Arwick while keeping an ear on the men practicing. Clegane had such a mouth on him.

Well into the first month of his sworn sword being part of his household Joffrey had next to no knowledge of what he was truly thinking about him – the Hound had one of the best poker faces he had ever encountered. Rarely did Joffrey find an expression other than blank sullenness on his face, and by now Joffrey had become used to that. The half-destroyed face was becoming familiar, with Clegane always lurking in the corner of Joffrey's eye, and had lost a lot of its scare value. That didn't mean Joffrey appreciated the fact that he had no idea what Clegane was thinking when he wasn't asking directly. At least the Hound didn't seem to find it necessary to lie to him or sugarcoat an answer, so if he was in need of an accurate description of a situation or person, Joffrey tended to ask Clegane first before anyone else.

And then there were times he would like to launch Clegane to the moon.

Such an occasion was three days after Joffrey's name day and was the first time the sworn sword witnessed Joffrey's regular arms training. He kept to the side of the training field but was clearly on hand to interfere should something go awry. Ser Barristan once more drove him into the ground but that was nothing new.

What did surprise Joffrey was when the Hound voluntarily spoke on the way back to the prince's quarters. "You are a decent fighter for your age… didn't expect that from a boy prettier than most girls."

Joffrey felt flattered at the first half and then had the urge to strangle Clegane for the second. He damn well knew he was prettier than most of the noble daughters at court, but Seven Hells, he had seen some of his Lannister cousins thorughout the years and those couldn't boast with a lot of masculinity in their child years either. In any case he didn't appreciate it when somebody called attention to that fact.

Instead of an answer he restricted himself to a rather childish kick to Clegane's shin that elicited a raised eyebrow but nothing else. And Joffrey was definitely not pouting, he was just nursing his wounded male ego.

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It was somewhat astonishing how quickly Clegane became a part of Joffrey's household and somebody the prince trusted to protect him when he wasn't paying attention. Only weeks into his employment it felt as if the Hound had always been there. The guards began to defer to him until it was as if he had always been fighting alongside and leading them.

A few months later, during Joffrey's yearly visit to Oak Hall Valley, Clegane proved that the trust in him wasn't misplaced. Their traveling party, this time consisting only out of Joffrey's household, was maybe a day's journey away from the castle and already on Joffrey's land when brigands attacked them on a heavily wooded stretch of the road. While most of the guards had to recover from the suddenness of the attack, Clegane had already decapitated two men who charged directly at Joffrey.

Clegane's dark muttering and insults could be heard over half of the battlefield while he grabbed the reins of Joffrey's gelding Autumn and pulled him closer to Stranger's side, fending off those daring bandits who tried to charge the Hound and Joffrey, even after seeing the fate of their comrades. The fight took less than a quarter of an hours in total and then it was over. Most of the brigands, a group of maybe forty men on foot, were on the ground, either dead or dying and the handful who escaped wouldn't be able to trouble the royal party.

"How many of ours died?" Joffrey asked tonelessly.

He was still staring at the dead bandits on the ground, after all the violence he had already seen in his life he shouldn't be so shocked about what had just happened. Maybe it was because they were charging at him, trying to kill and rob him, not somebody else. He realized he could have died today if Clegane hadn't acted so swiftly.

Beside him his Sworn Sword grunted and pulled on Autumn's reins to lead the prince in the middle of the baggage train. Only once Joffrey had dismounted and four of his guards had stationed themselves around him did Clegane leave to inquire about the casualties.

The target of the attack was clearly the heavy baggage carts in the middle of the train, and it had spectacularly failed because once his guards had recovered from the shock, they had rode most of the brigands down. On their side, three of Joffrey's guards, six footmen and two Lannister maidservants had died, and there were nine more servants and guards who were slightly injured. None of the bandits had been able to make off with any of Joffrey's name day horses or did they find an opportunity to grab any of their chests.

All in all, they had been lucky. For a definition of lucky, anyway. Joffrey had their own dead prepared for the remaining journey to Oak Valley Hall, where they would be buried, before sending a small hunting party out to find the last of the brigands. Clegane oversaw the looting of the attackers so that nobody pocketed anything before Joffrey could decide what would happen with it. Then the outlaws were promptly thrown into a ditch some feet away from the street. The wildlife and the elements would take care of their remains within a few weeks. Joffrey couldn't quite bring himself to care about it – he may have the memories of a world with a rather different moral code but he was a child of Westeros.

The rest of the journey was a somber one, they arrived at the castle just before nightfall, and on the next day their dead were in the ground. Joffrey set part of the loot aside, three of the victims had still family who would receive a share, before distributing the rest among his household. The lion's share of course went to Clegane and the guards but even the lowest servant and footboy received a few coppers. People mourned for maybe a day and then life went on.

Joffrey himself was so encumbered with work that he couldn't dwell further on the deaths. In the last few months the first of their yearlings had been sold to various houses and private buyers. The best had been kept back for future breeding purposes and for Joffrey's own riding pleasure. His breeders were also very happy about the additional animals he had brought along and that Stranger, Clegane's giant beast of an animal, had been won as stud horse for their mares. It had not taken Joffrey very long to convince his Sworn Sword that this was a good idea, especially after he had seen the amount of money he would gain for every successfully bred mare in Joffrey's stud.

The surroundings of Oak Valley Hall had changed once more – alongside the new paved road that ran from the castle to the village and beyond, there were more huts inside the village. The smallfolk from around the area, but especially craftsmen had moved closer to the castle in hopes of finding work and increasing their income. As far as Joffrey could see, they were needed, and quite a few parts of the castle's original buildings were being repaired or newly painted.

Ser Edmure, who had become castellan in truth when Ser Lancaster had passed a fortnight ago, showed Joffrey with no small pride the numbers in his ledgers. They were not breaking even yet but it wasn't far off either, and in a year or two the horse stud would finally turn a profit.

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Several days later Joffrey finally had the conversation that he wished to have for a few months now, ever since he remembered about the rabbit's fast breeding habits and how efficient they were in their feed consumption. They also produced a not inconsiderable amount of fur if they were bred on a certain scale. With winter only a few years away he wanted to have at least a handful of people on hand who knew what they were doing, and could then scale up the production on short notice. Joffrey also found that he liked the taste of the meat, especially with gravy, berry jam, and dumplings.

"… I have acquired a taste for the meat and I would like you to have a stock on hand whenever I am at Oak Valley Hall," he said to kennel master Henrik, who also organized the hunts in the castle.

"With respect, my prince. That will be nigh impossible, sometimes even my lads can't sniff out the little buggers… I mean the rabbits," The kennel master said carefully, aware that nobility didn't like to be told no.

"I am aware of that. That is why I task you to hunt down several rabbits of both sexes and bring them back alive. I am curious if they are breedable like farm animals and horses."

"Rabbits, my prince?" the man asked, honestly confused.

"Are you deaf or what?" Clegane growled. "Your prince told you to breed rabbits, so you will breed rabbits or may the Gods have mercy on your soul for I shall not."

Joffrey snickered for a moment before he took the bite out of Clegane's threat. "Peace Clegane, this is really not a task for a kennel master," and to said kennel master he said, "find somebody who is not completely inept with animals, preferably somebody who grew up on a farm or similar, and let them try their luck breeding the animals in the castle. I will reward them should they succeed."

Beta'd by Lyova