2nd Month of 289 A.C. King's Landing

Lord Jon Arryn

His bones were old, they ached and groaned under the weight and stress he put them under, and yet still he kept going, through and through as he always had done. Jon Arryn was not a man to complain about things when there was work to be done, even if it perhaps might have done him well to do so, he kept going. As hand of the king, that had become only more true, for Robert, the boy he had helped raise was not so good or willing to sit through the tedium of running a kingdom, he would fight for it, but when it came to doing the hard nitty, gritty, Robert would rather whore and drink his way out of a problem. Jon would often despair of the errors that his King made, but he was determined that Robert could be a good King if he had good people around him, but the Lannisters it seemed were determined to get their own way into court, just as they had during the reign of King Aerys the mad. And so Jon spent most of his time working hard to collect and cover Robert's mistakes and thwart the Lannisters.

This was partly the reason he supposed that he was still largely without an heir of his own body. For he and his wife spent a great deal of time away from each other, he in King's Landing and his wife in the Eyrie. Though at first, in the years following Robert's coronation and before Prince Joffrey had been born, Lysa enjoyed her life in King's Landing and seemed fond of him, something had happened, something had changed within her that made her despise King's Landing. Perhaps it was the stillbirths that she continued to produce in King's Landing, all of them malformed and lifeless, all haunting Jon as if there was something more than what he could truly fathom. He felt sorry for his wife, he did, he was not young, hells he was older than her father, and yet she still did her duty by him even if there was no pleasure in it for him. He worried about what would happen when he died, should Lysa and he have no children, the Lordship of the Vale would pass to his sister's children and then from there he knew not where it would go.

Right now though he had to put aside his worries and concerns about Robert and the Vale, for the king had called a meeting of the council and was actually in attendance. Jon looked at the members of the council and assessed which ones were likely to turn tail when the moment came. Grand Maester Pycelle was a Lannister man through and through, and so long as the Lannisters were kept happy he would serve Robert, master of laws Lord Simon Staunton, a relic of Aerys' reign served and did as he was bid but he was old and failing, then there was the new master of coin, someone Lysa had been insistent on sending her childhood friend Petyr Baelish a smart boy if a tad unsettling. Master of ships was the ever steadfast brother of Robert, Stannis Baratheon. And then there was Varys a snake if ever there was one and Ser Barristan Selmy the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Robert was still strong and proud and when he spoke all fell silent. "Now then, Varys tell me what news do we have of what the squids have been doing?"

The master of whispers was silent for a moment before saying. "They have finally left port, and set the torch to the fleet at Lannisport Your Grace. It appears that they mean to move forward from there and already there has been sightings of them raiding and reaping their plunder in the Westerlands."

There was a moment of stunned silence and then Robert thundered. "And what was my blasted goodfather doing when this was happening? He is the shield of Lannisport is he not? Surely he should have known about this?"

Pycelle tried to come to the man's defence. "It does appear as if this attack was a surprise move. There was no chance that Lord Tywin could know that they would go to such lengths. After all the attack on Fair Isle was some years ago."

Lord Staunton speaks then. "That is still no excuse for this apparent laxidasical response from Lord Tywin. The man should have learnt from when his own father sat in the Rock. The Ironborn are full of idiots and people wanting a return to the old way, they will take this as a sign that they can continue."

Varys speaks then. "Indeed it seems they have. My little birds report that Balon Greyjoy has crowned himself King of the Iron Islands, and means to bring back all the lands that the Hoares had in the days before the conquest. Already ships are sailing for the Reach and the north."

Robert speaks then. "I will not allow this to go unchallenged. The man wants to cause trouble and pain to my realm? He shall have to answer for it. Stannis I want you to have the royal fleet ready, we shall destroy the Iron Islands and tear them asunder. Jon I want ravens sent to the lord paramounts, tell them to call their banners and to be ready to meet the royal army on the Iron Islands."

Jon nods and then asks. "And what of those of your lords whose lands are going to be threatened by the Ironborn raiders?"

Robert is silent a moment and then he thunders. "Tell Ned and Lord Tyrell to have their men prepared and ready. The Ironborn shall be crushed and then they shall be broken once and for all."

With that Robert stands and leaves, and once he is gone most of the other small council members leave, apart from Lord Varys who waits for the door to shut before he speaks, his voice no louder than a whisper. "Lord Tywin will be most aggrieved to hear about what the King was saying my lord hand. Perhaps the King ought to tread carefully around Pycelle?"