Catelyn, Winterfell Summer 292 AC

Lady Catelyn Stark had felt at first only a bit worried when she hadn't received the now regularly letter from her sister in the first week of the new moon. This worry turned to despair when she received no letters from Lysa in the following two moons too and her own three letters remained unanswered. She feared for her sister and her family in the Capital but since no tragic news made their way to the North, she was unsure of how to handle her despair. Her husband tried to calm her down, said that maybe there was not much to write about or that maybe Lysa was currently to involved with her children and thus just to tired. Surely others would have written, Jon Arryn the most, if something would have happened and Winterfell received letters everyday and nobody had written abozt anything other than the usual problems which every Lord had to deal with in Peace times.

Catelyn knew that her husband meant well but she also knew that this surely would not stop Lysa from writing nor from answering for three moons.
And she, Catelyn was sure that there would be more than enough which her sister could write about too, seeing as she had written in her last letter that the Lady Baratheon of Dragonstone was just less than three moons away from giving birth and that the Queen was a good four moons along now too and that young Lord Renly Baratheon would be married in a moon time.
So much must happened now, thought Catelyn to herself, so much must have happened and some must have stopped her sister from writing and answering her in the nearly four moons since the last letter.
But how could it be something truly bad if no truly tragic news from the Capital and neither father nor Lord Manderly had mentioned anything alarming or problematic in their letters which had both arrived last moon.

Indeed, Father especially had been full of praise for Lysa's husband and Lysa herself, seeing as they had managed to find a good wife for Edmure too during the search for a bride for Lord Renly.
Catelyn had been a bit astonished all those moons ago, when Lysa had written her in one of the third to last letter in the last year that she and her husband, the Lord Hand had been ordered by the King to search for a wife for his youngest brother and that they had invited a dozen young Ladies from very good Houses to find a fitting bride.

And they truly had done so, though as Lysa had written two letters later, not the one which she and her Lord Husband had decided upon but the one who the King himself had found to be the most promising one, a already quite buxom young Lady from the Vale.
It that same letter, Lysa had written her that she had asked her Lord Husband and the heads of the Houses from which the other, unsuccessful Ladies had been sent, for the pleasure and permission to find the next best matches, which she had then received from all.

And the two following letters in which Lysa had written about the now other new matches which she and the Lord Hand brought together, this all had been so exciting to read for Catelyn. And then no new letter came from Lysa and now it was nearly four moons since the last one from her and the only thing that father had written in his letter last moon about her, his younger daughter, was the praise that she had not only found such a good bride for Edmure but that she and her Lord husband had also managed to make Edmure finally agree to get married. Catelyn had written her father a letter, full of congratulations but also with questions about the bride and most especially about Lysa, if he had knowledge about her and why she had not written herself. There had yet an answering letter from Riverrun to arrive her in Winterfell.

And the other letter about a new bridegroom for a bride sent southwards to the Baratheon bride show, the one from Lord Manderly, had also been full of praise about the Lord and Lady Arryn for finding such a magnificent match for his oldest Granddaughter, but it had not spoken about anything else, had not mentioned any troubles in the other Kingdoms. Though maybe, had Catelyn then thought to herself after reading the letter when it had arrived in the middle of the last moon, maybe the Lord Manderly just had not cared for much else but a great match for his Granddaughter and the endlessly brought food in the Red Keep's Banquet hall, which barely filled his bottomless stomach.

...
Just a day after she had been thinking once again about her sister and the lack of letters from her for three moons now, Maester Luwin brought her a thick letter with a smile on his lips.

He told her that it was from her sister while he laid down the letters in Catelyn's hands.

She thanked him and opened Lysa's letter before he had closed the door behind himself. She noticed that her hands were slightly shaking while she started to read the letter. Hopefully all was well.

...

To my dear sister Catelyn, Lady Stark of Winterfell

My beloved sister, I ask for your forgiveness that I had not written to you for so long now. Nearly four moons had went by since I had at last sat down and informed you about the life and situations here in this dreadful City and so much had happened since then.
I had received your letters in the last few moons but had not dared to write back to you, for we had much troubles here in the Royal Court and my sweet Lord Husband had asked of me to not mention it to anyone, not even the Lords and Ladies who were here as Guests for Lord Renly's wedding to Myranda Royce nor to those who were here for agreeing to the other betrothal contracts.

I like to believe that my sweet husband, Lord Tywin and Lord Stannis had really managed to make sure that nobody but the immediate Royal family and us, as their absolute closest surrounding persons had really any knowledge about the tragic issues which had happened during the last few moons.

Now though, these issues will become known to not only the Court but also way beyond and you too, my dear and far away sister and your husband will hear about the Royal marriage, or more to say, about the End of it.
Yes, you are reading this right, the marriage between Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister is at an End. As I write you this letter, the King himself and my sweet Lord husband, Lord Stannis Baratheon, Lord Tywin Lannister, Lady Olenna Tyrell, Lord Renly Baratheon, Lord Franklyn Fowler, Lord Commander Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard, Lord Anders Yronwood, Lord Yohn Royce, Lord Beric Dondarrion, Ser Kevan Lannister, Ser Wylis Manderly, Ser Stevron Frey, the new Grandmaester Marwyn and our own brother Edmure (he sits here in father's stead though) are holding currently Council for Judgement with the High Septon and a Congregation of the Faith about the marriage of the King and how to end it officially.
The Lords were already here by the Time this Council was decided upon because of the betrothal Contracts for the Ladies which had not been chosen for Lord Renly Baratheon but for whom there were future husbands found.

So sister, before other and maybe wrong news will reach you and your family, I have now the permission of my dear husband (given only because by tomorrow morning a declaration will be made public) to tell you now, with this letter, this tragedy which plagues the Royal family.

I had written to you already of trouble in the marriage between the King and the Queen after she had lost her Child nearly two years ago now.

And then, for many moons afterwards, she had denied the King his right to try for a new Child, though it must be said that he tried his rights not often and was most likely happier in other arms and beds.

Alas, after quite some moons, my sweet Lord husband had decided to not only start corresponding with the Queen's father about it but to also remind our King of his duty to the Realm.

And so the King once again visited every couple of days his wife, to her and his displeasure since the early Summer of last Year, no doubt that the Queen only allowed it after she had received letters of her Father.

Still, she became not pregnant, even though they followed their duty every couple of days for a few moons. My Lord husband grew concerned about it, especially since it is a open secret that our good King has more than a few illegitimate children, not only in the Capital but in other places too and thus is known to be quite fertile.

And all knew that the Queen can get pregnant since she had born her son and lost the girlchild nearly two years ago.

So, my dearest Lord husband had asked for Lord Tywin to come, it was around the same time when the King decided that his youngest brother would be declared of age and should be betrothed.
The Houses of the potential Brides had then sent first their active interest and then their daughters with their escorts while in the meantime Lord Lannister had arrived here in the Royal Court, with his interest only into making sure that the line of his daughter and our King was not just there by one boy but instead secured by more children.

As you surely remember, dearest sister, I had written you back then that finding a fitting bride for Lord Baratheon was not only a more pleasant task but also an easier one than the heavy burden which Lord Lannister had put on his own shoulders.

You remember that I had written you about how Lord Lannister had made sure since he had arrived that the King and the Queen had spent each Night together in the same room and that he had also made sure that the King was not finding chances for encounters with other women, in short that Lord Lannister himself tried everything to make sure that there would be soon enough another been born in the Royal family by his daughter.

It was a curious thing then and it had remained so in the following moons, this behavior of Lord Lannister, this nearly manic behavior of his and while my Lord Husband too was greatly worried about the Royal marriage and the lack of more children in it, even my sweet Jon found Lord Lannister's behavior quite overbearing and had mentioned often to me that it was curious about how involved Lord Lannister was in the marriage and that it was as if he was fearing that his daughter was doing everything to not get pregnant by the King at all.

Whatever Lord Lannister's reasons were, they had brought fruit, since the Queen got pregnant again, as I had written you then.
Lord Lannister though continued to stay near his daughter, as if he was fearing that the Queen would do something erratic if she would be left alone and all her meals were controlled by him. My husband mentioned that seemed that Lord Lannister was fearing that somehow someone could smuggle a poison or moon tea into anything of what his daughter would consume and I have to tell you my sweet sister, that I still have no idea why he had had these mad thoughts.
The Mother is my witness, we all were praying that the Queen would give birth to a healthy child once again.

Now, I can see your face in my mind as I write this, I can nearly hear your voice too, asking me why I am writing all this information from way back of the last year about I had already written to you, instead of just telling you why the Royal marriage is ending.

TThe answer is simple, sweet sister, I needed to mention this all again to show you how much Lord Lannister was already involved in the marriage of his daughter since last year.
For he is one of the three persons who had found out that our (now former) Queen, his own daughter, had knowingly done treason in aborting the child of the King with the help of her brother, Ser Jamie Lannister of the Kingsguard and a rather infamous midwife.

It had happened three weeks ago, when my sweet husband, Lord Lannister and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard were on their way to a Small council meeting with Lord Stannis Baratheon (his wife had just four days before this now infamous day, given birth to a healthy son by the way) for Lord Baratheon is as you know the Master of the Ships and since Lord Lannister had become Master of the Law a few moons ago to give him an official work besides that of a near overseer of his daughter, my own beloved husband and Ser Selmy were making their way to the Council chamber together.

On their way to the chamber, a small servant had run into them out of pure accident and before this boy could have escused himself by bowing down and then make his way, he was grabbed by Lord Lannister and shaken roughly by Lord Lannister. (I swear to you, this all happening was exactly what my husband had told me later)
The boy tried to get away but not ask for it as all three then found out, for the boy had no tongue.
Lord Lannister threatened the boy, for he found the behavior very suspicious and he then forced the frightened boy to lead them back the way from where he came and just a couple of corners and hallways later, they found themselves in front of a small door, which my Lord husband then quietly opened. The boy escaped as soon as the three men were in shock about the scene upon they had stepped in to.

They found the midwife just in the process of cleaning up the up the Queen and Ser Lannister in holding the small babe to its mother.
It was still alive by the time, though of course it was brought into the world moons before it should be.

My sweet husband had told me about the following moments as a pure scene of Chaos, of Lord Lannister shouting at his children about what they were doing, about the midwife trying to escape only to be slain by Ser Lannister, who then turned against his father and my sweet husband, only to be stopped in his frantic attack by Ser Selmy.
My sweet Jon, who is a brave Warrior himself of course and a good Knight for decades as you know, cleverly kept himself out of the fight between the two Kingsguards and Lord Lannister himself had grabbed his daughter very hard and was shouting at her.

My dearest husband had later told me that Ser Jamie was completely concentrated in his fight against Ser Barristan and both white brothers were fighting in a lethal but clean way till, yes till the Queen screamed for her brother as their father was shaking her.

As soon as he had heard the voice of his sister, Ser Jamie turned his way of fighting into an unknightly one, for he rushed away from Ser Barristan and towards my dearest Jon and threw him against Ser Barristan, so that Ser Barristan had to steady my husband so that he would not fall. Then Ser Jamie rushed toward his sister and father, pushed his father hard, grabbed his sister and tugged her forcefully out of the small room.

Ser Barristan, by then untangled from my husband and Lord Lannister tried to stop them, only for Ser Barristan to have flensed of his cheek by Ser Jamie and for Lord Lannister to loose his left hand to the sword of his son. Ser Barristan tried nonetheless to stop Ser Jamie and the Quuen from leaving the room, even though that he was bleeding heavily from the wound of his face and both white knights were fighting then again, while Lord Lannister was try to bound his arm.

It was my husband, my sweet quickthinking husband who forced Ser Jamie down though, for when Ser Jamie had once more starting to fight Ser Barristan, he had to let go of his sister and my Jon had then grabbed her and hold her then in front of himself, the thin blade which I had once gifted him in his walking cane was in his hand and against her neck then and this forced Ser Jamie to finally back down.

Ser Barristan was then the one who ran out into the hallway and screamed for help and not a few minutes after that had happened, the Kingslayer and his now really weakened sister were brought into Cells.
The new Grandmaester was sent to the Cell of the Queen, to make sure that she would become healthy again (for remember, she had just been cleaned out and was still heavily bleeding by the time when she was put into the Cell) and Ser Jamie was shackled to the Wall of his Cell.
Sadly the child who had been forced into the world in the small room, was already dead by the time when my sweet husband had ordered for a wet nurse to be brought.

Now, this whole tragic situation had now happened a few weeks ago and thankfully my Lord Husband had managed at that early morning to make sure that not only the Guards (nearly all Vale men and Lord Lannister's men, just four of them from the King himself) kept quiet about this horrible situation till they will speak today in the Court holding, but also the new Grandmaester had very quickly not only managed to stop the Queen's heavy bleeding and to give her a Sleep wine but had also stopped the gruesome bleedings of Lord Lannister's and Ser Barristan's wounds, so that both men had by now recovered well enough to sit in the Court about the Queen and her brother.

My beloved husband said often during these last few weeks, that the hardest thing to do was to stop the King killing Ser Jamie outright, because as soon as our King had been informed about what had happened, he had stormed to the Cells in a murderous rage and could only be stopped by my Jon and by Lord Stannis from beating Ser Jamie to death with his bare hands.

At first, during the first week of the Queen's stay in the Cell, I had often asked my sweet Lord husband if the situation might have been different than what they had thought to have seen and the Queen had just really lost the child, unwillingly and that the midwife had just help her to not get ill and that Ser Jamie had just overreacted because he had Bern full of worry for his sister and thus out of his mind.

This though was a question to which my husband and the King and Lord Lannister had soon heard an answer to, from the Queen's own mouth nonetheless.
She was delirious, high in Fever at the times when her husband, her then rather weak father and my Lord husband visited her in her Cell and this fever made her speak about countless abortions, about her unwillingness to carry any child of the King and that the only children which she would ever give birth too would be those of her and her mirror, just as her Joffrey was.

I must not tell you the consequences of these words, I am sure that you can imagine them.

And so, today the King and his Lords are now holding Council and the King will become known as unmarried by tomorrow morning, which means by the time when this letter reaches you, the people of King's Landing will already knowing this for three to four days
I will sent you another letter in a few days with more details and with news about my own family.

I am still deeply shocked by all what had happened during the last couple of weeks.

Your loving sister
Lysa Arryn, Lady of the Vale

...

Lady Catelyn Stark was still holding the letter in her hands and stared at it with unbelieving eyes when half an Hour later her husband entered the room. At his worry about her behavior, she gave him the letter to read and he soon too looked at it with unbelieving eyes.
How could this crazyness had happened in the damn Capital without anyone knowing of it before it was too late.?

...

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Next update will be once more happen in Winterfell