Secrets in different families

author note: A little warning about that something that might come off as human exploitation in the first third of this chapter because of how smallfolk are without rights in Westeros, but the reasons behind will be explained in-story

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Year 284, Clegane's Keep in the Westerlands:

The Clegane patriarch was dead, caused by having drunk too much in the morning to be steady in the saddle as he and Sandor was out hunting, falling off his horse when misjudging overgrown hedge to jump over as they chased their prey. At least his death had been almost instant as he broke his neck at the landing.

"Damn it, father, I did not want to inherit the lands and tower house yet!" Sandor muttered as the coffin was lowered into the newly excavated grave and the grave-digger began to shovel over earth to cover the coffin. No many from the household and the village was present, which had not surprised Sandor at all.

"And here father lamented how feared our House would have been in the service of Lord Lannister, with Gregor still alive…"

The late Ser Clegane's oldest son had not exactly been mourned by the household when the news of his death had arrived a few months earlier, but the fact that no one could explain how Gregor had died, was a mystery. Anyway, while he was displeased over not being the one to kill his brother, that Gregor had died under massive suffering in some way that involved fire was pleasant enough for Sandor.

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When Sandor arrived home, he went straight away to the great hall, where his sister likely was found if she had left her bed.

"No, no, Tysha. It is meant to sound like this…"

Two young maidens was seated at the table, a large book between them. They shared the same dark hair and similar slender body build from behind, but when they looked up at seeing Sandor, the differences became clear:

Tyshara Clegane, and the newest household maid in their service, a girl named Tysha, a crofter's daughter, orphaned a few weeks ago when her father died of an illness. With no other close relatives, she had been chased away by the landowner from the cabin where she had grown up since a 12-year-old girl would only be a unwanted extra mouth to feed for anyone who took her in.

"Tyshara, we need to talk."

As always, Sandor was blunt yet Tyshara showed no surprise over it. There might be only two years between them in age, but they had joined together as victims of their brother's cruelty.

"Help me turning this around, please, Tysha."

As Tysha did so, it became revealed that Tyshara was not sitting in a normal wicker chair. It was a wheelchair, because the sole Clegane daughter had been paralyzed from the waist down since she had been only a few months old. It had been winter at the time, and Gregor kicking over her cradle in annoyance over her crying, nearly killing the female infant as she fell down on the stone floor. Tyshara had only survived from a deadly blow to her delicate head and neck thanks to her nurse wrapping her upper body tightly with some of Sandor's outgrown clothes from his own infanthood to keep Tyshara warm from the cold. But her lower body had not been wrapped up in the same manner, for the plain reason of the nurse needing to be able to change her nappies, and that made it possible for Gregor to cripple his sister without even touching her.

Once Tysha had given Sandor a cup of wine in a wooden cup, and then been sent back to the kitchen to help the cook with preparing the midday meal, did Sandor speak:

"Last time I checked, a common household maid normally is not able of reading because they often have their origins among the smallfolk."

"And we sure are going to find a husband in a few years when I am old enough to marry, who is willing to look past my disability that is unlikely to make me able of pregnancy and the reputation that our House have thanks to fucking Gregor," Tyshara responded, showing no fear at all, as the two siblings looked each other in the eye. Ever since Gregor had died, she refused to be a scared little mouse anymore since in death, their hated brother could not harm or frighten her again. Sandor, at least, enjoyed that his sister had shown herself having a backbone when she no longer feared to be harmed. Yet she was right about something she just said; a crippled girl like Tyshara was unlikely to get married, and while Gregor was dead, their House's reputation was tainted by his deeds.

"Did you get the idea after watching our hounds?"

That would not surprise Sandor. Their grandfather had been a kennelmaster before becoming a landed knight, and his descendants kept breeding hunting dogs as a way to gain a extra income. That would also give Tyshara, who rarely left the keep because her wheelchair was prevented from moving around in rough terrain, some knowledge of how important it was to avoid inbreeding in bloodlines.

"Just look at the Targaryens, on what is known about its last king and queen. Eleven pregnancies, and only two surviving sons born seventeen years apart, with no way of telling whatever the newborn Targaryen princess is going to live to adulthood. Anyone who breeds animals knows they caused their numbers to sink by the inbreeding, and I seriously doubts that the princess may be able of leaving descendants if they tries to wed her off and have children at a too early age. Look at the late Queen Rhaella, she had her infamous son at 14 years, and narrowly avoided death in childbirth because she was so young! Sandor, can you really imagine me being a mother in two years?"

No, he really did not want to imagine her in bed with a much older man on top of her and nine months later risk her own life to birth a damn baby she would be too young to have. Sandor himself did not even want a future wife yet, Gregor had been betrothed to the youngest daughter of a merchant, similar to how their late mother had been a merchant daughter before marrying their father, but the death of Gregor had put a end of it, as the merchant did not want his daughter wed to a "boy who is not even of age yet", for all of that it was not uncommon for a younger son to take the role of the bridegroom among the nobility if the older brother died. But the Clegane family was landed knights, and with Sandor as the third generation, they did not have that ability.

"If Tysha passes herself off as a Clegane daughter of good health and no disability, and we finds a way to have me spend the rest of my life in a motherhouse, then not only will she bring in fresh blood into the family she might marry, she will also be saved from a future working as a common housemaid or worse, ending up in a brothel. I know, my reasons for helping her rise in status are not that noble or well-meant, but if I can mess with Tywin Lannister for wanting Gregor as a attack dog in order to make people fear House Lannister, I will be pleased."

Sandor grinned, the closest to a tender smile as he gave his sister. If Tyshara was right, Tywin Lannister would have no idea about how a peasant girl might end up married into one of his other bannermen of lesser status.

"I will find you both a septa that will be able of keeping quiet about this. Maybe we can tell her that you and Tysha are twins, just in case, and that she takes after mother more than the rest of her siblings."

Tyshara had been educated by a septa since a few years ago, but the old woman sadly found herself one of Gregor's last victims before his own death. Until then Tysha could read and write reasonably approved, as well some basic manners, as a part of forming her into Tyshara's look-alike, a septa could not be part of the Clegane household for the sake of secrecy.

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At the same time, Casterly Rock:

"Marriage?"

Jamie was gaping with open mouth in shock over what his father just had said, making Tywin glare in disapproval and Jamie hurried to close his mouth again at realizing why. Then, he spoke up again:

"I can not marry yet, I am only eight-and-ten…"

But Tywin would not hear any protests from his oldest son and heir. Cersei was doing her duty as a royal wife, being only a few months away from giving Westeros a new crown prince or princess, so it was just as good that her twin brother got married too.

"I was three years older when I married your mother, who was two years younger than myself, but do not think that is a excuse escape your duty. You are of age, healthy and heir to House Lannister. Your reputation, soiled as it is by killing Aerys and being kicked out of the Kingsguard, would improve if you got married and get your own heirs."

Jamie opened and closed his mouth, unable to say a single word in protest. His head was spinning with dawning horror at the realization of what this would mean for his love for his twin. Desperate for a way out or at least delay the whole thing, he recalled what once had been close to happening: that he would have the younger Tully daughter as his bride, had things been different.

"Lysa Tully was wed to Jon Arryn…"

"I have already found you a betrothed. A girl from our cadet branches in Lannisport, from House Lanny, with nobody questioning the reputation of her modesty or anything else that might cause a scandal. You will wed her as one of the events at the tourney I plan to hold to celebrate the birth of Cersei's child as the first royal heir of the Baratheon dynasty, in three months."

It took everything in his ability to not faint at those words. Three months left of freedom, and no way of escaping to Cersei in King's Landing as his father had no intention to obey King Robert's orders that Jamie was banished from the capital until the royal heir was born. Somehow, Jamie managed to express a thank you to his father for the effort to cleanse his reputation by the use of marriage, and then left.

But Jamie did not go to his chambers. No, instead he was soon found in the training yard of Casterly Rock, taking out his anger and frustration over the news on the straw dummies with a training sword.

I will not have Robert be the father of my children! I will find a way to make this parasite die once I have given birth, if I am not lucky to have it be a stillbirth, and you shall be the father to the next one, the real heir to the throne that shall be a pure Lannister lion instead of a Baratheon stag, we only need to find a way to be alone long and enjoy our bodies as one enough much for me to conceive…

Those words, written in the newest letter from Cersei hidden in a pocket near his heart, seemed to burn against Jamie's skin right now. His dear sister would never accept him married to another woman and siring children on her. And it was his banishment, his inability to be present at the wedding, that had caused Cersei to carry the cursed offspring of Robert Baratheon. Jamie knew from their letters that she had tried to abort the child with moon tea, but for some reason his poor sister had ended with no other result than feeling violently ill and needing to throw up the medicinal herb tea that would have cleaned her womb from the Baratheon seed that had taken fruit.

"Her next child...her next child will be mine…!"

That was the only comfort Jamie would find right now, the wish to make his twin pregnant with their shared child and hopefully have that son as a King of Westeros instead of a son sired by Robert Baratheon. That would please their father as well, for all of that it had to be kept secret from him, a grandson that would make House Lannister the royal House of the Seven Kingdoms.

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A day or so later in Minas Tirith, Gondor:

Faramir was no stranger to this kind of scene since Boromir had came of age and thus would be old enough for offers of betrothals that could lead to a future marriage with the passage of time. His brother was popular with their people, not only as the future Steward but also for being a skilled warrior. Yet this was sadly a scene bound to displease their father when he learned about it:

That Boromir once again had rejected a noble lady as a possible future wife. Not that it was anything wrong with current lady in question, she was from the nobility here in Gondor which meant a lineage of high Númenórean blood, was rather pretty in appearance and well noted for her skill at playing the harp. Yet that was not enough to charm his brother into love.

"Did she leave with tears?" he asked once the lady had left, and the elder brother seemed half ashamed at the question.

"She...seemed to also half expect to be refused, since she is hardly the first one that have came to me with the hope of marriage…"

Boromir could not explain why he was not drawn to either men or women. He had never sought a sexual relationship even when he had been at a age where it was normal to start noticing girls in a different manner than before, or even his own gender. But he was sure of one thing: he truly was more interested in arms and warfare, caring little for love save for the tales of old battles.

"You are like king Eärnur of old, brother, your love being battle and your mistress the glory of those battles."

Eärnur, the last King of Gondor who most likely had died in Minas Morgul after that the Witch-king of Angmar had challenged him to single combat, leading to the Stewards becoming the new rulers as Eärnur had never married and sired children.

"At least I have you to be my heir, should I never marry. I can dote on whatever nephews and nieces you ends up giving me with the help of whatever your own future wife might be. Heh, you could perhaps annoy father in the afterlife by marrying a lady from Rohan!"

The two brothers laughed, agreeing that a such scenario would be pleasant for them both, and it was not like Faramir was unaccustomed to ladies of the Mark, since lady Laywyn had once joked about that if it had been possible, she would gladly adopt Faramir as her own, being fond of him as if he had been a son born from her own body.

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Author note:

The father of Gregor and Sandor is unnamed in canon, so I am having him addressed as Ser Clegane as a sign of being a landed knight. The Clegane sister is also unnamed, but I also wanted a way to let Tysha escape her horrible gang-rape in canon and also to make her Tyrion future wife in a legal way, so she is being trained by Tyshara to be able of passing herself off as the Clegane daughter

the name Tyshara comes from Tyshara Lannister, a member of House Lannister during the reign of Aegon III Targaryen and one possible choice to be his second bride in the year 133 A.C

According to the ASOIAF wiki, if a nobleman who has been betrothed dies before a political marriage can occur, a sibling or heir may take his place. An example is the case of Brandon Stark, who died before he could be wed to Catelyn Tully, after which his younger brother and the new Lord of Winterfell, Eddard Stark, married her in Brandon's place during Robert's Rebellion. But since the Clegane family are landed knights, the lowest rank of nobility, I doubts that Sandor would be a attractive replacement as a bridegroom because of his young age (about 14 currently in-story, if he really killed his first victim at age 12 during the Rebellion that lasted for nearly a year) and the horrible facial burns Gregor gave him seven years earlier

According to the timeline, Tywin was 21 years old when he married Joanna. Personally I prefer Joanna to have been born in A.C 244, making her 29 years old at her death when giving birth to Tyrion, since if she had been born in A.C 252, she would have been only 21 years old when she died and with Jamie and Cersei being 7 years older than Tyrion along with that the Lannister twins were born three years after the wedding of their parents, I seriously doubts that Joanna would have been physically mature enough for childbirth at the age of fourteen! As a adult woman, it is more reasonable to see how her influence on her husband was such that people would say that Tywin ruled the Seven Kingdoms as Hand, "but was ruled at home by his lady wife."

In case it was not mentioned clearly enough in my previous author's notes or chapters, Namo and the Stranger made a agreement in that Cersei is now allergic to some of the herbs used in moon tea so she honestly can not abort Robert's children when she is pregnant with them. Joffrey is planned to be a stillbirth, while Myrcella and Tommen will have four Baratheon half-siblings as a result of this

Since Boromir never marries anyone in canon, my personal headcanon for his sexuality is that he likely is asexual, meaning that he is a person with a lack of sexual attraction to others, or low or absent interest in or desire for sexual activity.