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Flaps of the Butterfly

Grandmaester Pycelle may be a slimy disgusting old man with some disturbing… preferences. And a whole lot of other things, but when it came down to it you could never call him unreliable that was for sure, well at least not when he was dealing with his patron. And the information he got out was invaluable even if he was a grasping and prideful pawn and this often not being the best combination.

But the Lion Lord kept him in his service like he had been since he helped him become an Archmaester forty years ago.

But the news he sent wasn't as helpful. Robert already having an heir related to the Starks wasn't helpful at all for his ambitions of Lannister blood on the Iron Throne even if his daughter managed to pull her husband to be's cock out of some whore or other undesirable their coupling would still not eventually result in a Lannister King. This Orys would definitely need to be swept off the board eventually but there really wasn't a hurry, this could be done in half a decade, the problem now was that even if Robert did go through with the marriage, would the dimwit even do his duty now that he had an heir already.

Tywin would guess that Cersei's features whom she inherited from Joanna would at least mean that Robert would do her once, but for one, that didn't necessarily mean any offspring, and two, Tywin wasn't too sure that Robert would even go through with the marriage even with the feeble falcon desperately trying to arrange this gigantic 'alliance' of his.

"What shall we do with this information then?" Kevan says standing at his side like he usually does. "This does give this new pretender legitimacy, especially with the King's current popularity. His first son will hold great amounts of influence in the future" Tywin shakes his head "Legitimacy… is fickle, at one moment you are a godlike dynasty who has managed to hold Seven Kingdoms under one king for three centuries and in the next you are sent with your tail between your legs in exile, short term legitimacy means nothing, he will always have a bastard's stain" He turns to Kevan "Send a letter protesting this action, but do not create too much hubbub when they press us, we only want to warn them that they are treading dangerously close to the lion's tail and that if they aren't careful…"

"I will start immediately," Kevan says with a nod before turning on his heel and walking out. Tywin leans back in the chair he is seated in and stares out of one of the windows in his solar. New problems seemed to prop up as soon as he managed to fix them, life was never peaceful as Lord Lannister and without Joanna, he would never wish for it either.

Lord Eddard Stark's horse slowly trotted around a bend which revealed the high-walled castle of Riverrun. They weren't as sturdy as Winterfell's of course but in comparison to most Riverlander castles, these ones were one of the grandest, besides Harrenhal's walls of course.

The Lord of the North was tortured by his decision to leave Orys at King's Landing because he knew Robert and while he could be wrong he guessed that Robert wouldn't be the best parental figure and with no mother, his nephew may very well have a difficult upbringing even if Robert seemed to be quite invested in the child as of Ned's departure.

It was definitely a bizarre feeling as his horse slowly trotted over the hills in front of Riverrun with only ten guards and a weakened Howland Reed from the original twenty thousand Stark men and his six companions who left the ancestral castle of his new wife. That at least distracted him from the thoughts of his nephew, his newborn son who was waiting for him here along with his wife.

They arrived at the lowered drawbridge of one of Riverrun's entrances. Ned heard orders being shouted from above and when he and his entourage had made their way through the gate a majority of the Tully guards already in and around the courtyard were gathered. And as he dismounted his brother-in-law Edmure Tully arrives half-clad in armor. "Lord Stark good to see you, have you heard that the king has gotten an heir?" Edmure asks excitedly.

Just then Hoster, Ned's wife, and the maester of the castle make their way into the courtyard. Hoster has a dark look on his face and simply says "Of course he has heard you, foolish child, take off that chest plate Edmure it makes you look even dafter" Lord Hoster says roughly before turning to his son-in-law "Come we have much to discuss and such matters do not belong out in a courtyard" Ned is confused by this antagonism, he thought he and his father-in-law were on quite good terms even if he wasn't the originally imagined husband of Lady Catelyn. He shrugged and followed the Riverland lord. Catelyn and the Maester made up the rearguard, with Howland flanking Ned. Curious onlookers were numerous even if they tried to look as nonchalant as possible considering their Liege's visible anger. They walked through hallways and some flights of stairs before they arrived at Lord Hoster's solar. Lord Hoster and Edmure looking quite dejected sat and stood respectively on the far side of the desk while Lady Catelyn and Riverrun's Maester stood on the side of the desk in between the two parts, as a sort of Neutral, though the maester because of his lack of rank. And finally, Ned and Howland take two chairs on the visitor's side of the desk.

A silence ensues where Hoster simply glares at his fellow Lord Paramount, Ned who isn't easily affected by such a pathetic attempt at a powerplay and simply sits there confused about the apparent interrogation about to take place. The silence is broken by an intake of breath courtesy of Hoster before he begins "So, you tried to abandon my daughter and grandchild did you? If so you arrived at the wrong castle" Hoster says frowning heavily. Catelyn blushes embarrassed "Father, he was probably ordered by the King to do something important" Hoster huffs "Hmm, you never know with these lordlings daughter, one day they're in your bed and the next they're on a ship halfway to Essos" Hoster looks the shocked Stark lord up and down "So what made you abandon your newly wedded wife after Storm's End?"

"I-I would never abandon my wife! But circumstances led to me being stranded in Dorne as our horses were dead tired in the desert. Before we had a very slow journey up to King's Landing" Ned says incredulously. Ned looks around and only Howland and Catelyn seem to be on 'his side' though his wife only half-heartedly because she clearly looks hurt by his apparent abandonment.

"And what were you doing in Dorne?" Hoster questions doubtfully.

"I had gotten information in King's Landing that my kidnapped sister was held in Dorne. And when I arrived there we had to defeat three of the Kingsguard leaving Howland and I the only surviving of our original seven. There we found my sister dead in her birthing chamber with my newly born nephew just about alive" Hoster's eyes narrow "Seven against three with you two being the only survivors? The Kingsguard were of course very proficient in combat, but those three managed to kill five of you?" This time Ned narrows his eyes "Do you doubt my story, Lord Tully?" Hoster and Ned gaze at each other holding each other's stare captive. Hoster shakes his head slowly "I believe you and it does line up with the narrative we have been told about the new heir of Robert, so I have no reason to not believe it"

Ned seems a bit pent up and angry still at the allegation against his honor but lets it go "But if you ever leave my daughter again I will personally drown you in the Trident" Hoster says with finality. "Will I see you at the feast tonight?" Ned nods and Hoster gestures for the door behind the Northmen. They take the hint and walk out with Lady Catelyn and the Maester... Vyman Ned believes he is named.

Maester Vyman with a hurried courtesy beats his retreat and leaves only Ned, Howland, and Catelyn in the hall outside the Tully lord's solar. After a few moments, Catelyn steps forward hesitantly "C-can I show you something, my lord?" Ned deep in thought jumps a bit before nodding "Of course, Howland see if you can find a steward" Howland nods at his liege lord's command and walks back the way they came on their way to the solar. Catelyn however starts leading the pair in the opposite direction.

"So… wife how are you today?" Ned asks awkwardly. Catelyn smiles timidly "It is fine, we don't have to interact if you feel uncomfortable concerning our relationship-" Catelyn starts but Ned interrupts her "Of course we do! I will not let my wife remain a stranger even if it can be a bit awkward at the beginning" Ned replies vehemently. "Thank you" Catelyn says quietly before turning her head forwards. They continue in a comfortable silence until they reach the chambers of the Tully's

"He is in here" Ned's wife states simply. Ned opens the door carefully and walks in where a crib is placed at the side of the room and a bunch of toys on the other side. Ned looks over the edge at the auburn-haired child sleeping peacefully in the crib. "He's beautiful, can I hold him?" Ned asks hesitantly. "Of course, he is your son" While Ned carefully picks up the child Catelyn looks at him curiously. "You are worried" Ned looks at her "What?" Catelyn repeats herself "You are worried about something… or someone?"

Ned sighs "How did you know?" Catelyn walks closer and her eyebrows scrunch together "I don't know, but you just didn't seem… alright? It's hard to describe, does it concern your father and-" Her voice breaks before she can end the sentence. They of course both know who she means and Ned shakes his head. "No, well not entirely it is my nephew Orys I have known Robert since he was thirteen and I twelve and he has never seemed like a good father figure, I love him like a brother but no one is perfect and he's especially not. So I worry for the future of my nephew" Catelyn nods understanding "Life's always hard for children without their mother's, you do know what happened to my mother or?" Catelyn says as she reaches for their son. Ned places the little child in her arms as he shakes his head "We in the North rarely get such news or even care about them" He says grimacing at how wrong that sounded.

"It's fine, you are often more concerned with the winter correct?" Ned nods "It is understandable, survival is more important than the death of some far away noble I would guess, well anyway my mother was Minisa Whent and before me, she had already had two stillborns and Lysa was a hard birth I heard later" Catelyn stares out the window of the nursery while slowly swaying side to side with her son in her arms. "And she, unfortunately, passed away birthing my little brother Edmure, I was thirteen and already thinking I was done with needing parents, I was proved wrong that day, but the ones who took it worse than me was my sister Lysa who was ten and eventually Edmure when he noticed that his wet nurses weren't his mother" Catelyn finishes melancholically with a small smile and a pearly tear slowly making its way down her cheek.

"Thank you for sharing, you may or may not know that my mother Lyarra died when at least my youngest brother was a child and he has always carried a hidden sadness since, and that's what I fear will happen to Orys" Ned also reveals. Catelyn nods "Maybe we can foster him at Winterfell when he gets older? If the king allows it of course"

"That sounds nice" Ned says quietly while looking at his firstborn son and heir.

Lord Mace Tyrell the Lord Paramount of the Reach sat in the gentle summer sun that often graced the beautiful Reach. He saw Willas and Garlan play with wooden sticks in one of the many gardens of Highgarden. And the world was perfect with his fairly recent victory over the new King at Ashford he had earned himself glory and came out of it with minor consequences even if he was one of the 'losers' in the rebellion, and then recently his wife Alerie had birthed his newest child Margaery Tyrell a beautiful little one-year-old with Alerie already pregnant with another child the Maester reported to his mother.

Speaking of his mother, she was sitting beside him bossing a poor servant around about the consistency of her newest cheese. When she finally let him go after laying into him she turned to Mace "You would think that they could manage to make a simple cheese that wasn't as droopy as your beard" She says shaking her head. Mace nods in agreement before suddenly stopping "Wait-" Olenna interrupts him. "Have you heard about the new child of the king then?" Olenna asks absentmindedly while poking one of the other cheeses.

"New child? I didn't know he and the Lannister Queen had married yet, we should have been invited, I need to get Maester Lomys here and write a strongly worded letter about this" He says while looking around for a servant. "No, you oaf, it's of course yet another bastard. But apparently, this one was special enough to be legitimized" Mace processes this "Oh, a… bastard?" He says the word like it's dirty. "Legitimized but yes a bastard nonetheless, and as of now our future ruler. The one who will be sitting on the Iron Throne when King Robert eventually drowns in tits or is suffocated by alcohol, of course, he will probably be assassinated long before then by either the Lannisters or other great house long before then"

"Sitting on the Iron Throne?" Mace completely ignores the last part and looks at his wife walking out of the keep with a bundle in her arms. "No! Don't even think about it you doofus, I would wait for it to make it to at least childhood before we foolhardily bind ourselves with the sinking boat that is the Baratheons" Mace opens his mouth. "Close your mouth, you're not four years old. And I will not hear any more idiotic suggestions from you today" Olenna looks down on him. "Go shave or whatever it is you do with your free time" Mace sufficiently chastised lowers his head and begins waddling back to the keep and his chambers taking her words as a literal suggestion.

Olenna shakes her head in disbelief "What did I do to deserve him?" She looks at the little bundle in the arms of her daughter-in-law "At least the future is up in the air, and not a lost cause"

Lord Paramount Jon Arryn of the Vale of Arryn and Hand of King Robert I is in disbelief. "He did what?" Maester Caleotte looks confused "I said he-" The Hand of the King interrupts him "I heard what you said maester, thanks for the news and goodbye" The Hand says irritated as he turns his back on the maester who takes the signs and leaves.

Jon sighs "How could he and why did he legitimize one of his bastards right now as Jon was occupied down in Dorne while pacifying these damn snakes. Jon was of half a mind to just assassinate the child because of the complications he created by existing. But he couldn't do that so he would have to find a way to remedy this situation. He knew that Robert was quite childish at times, and he unquestionably wasn't too mature for his age, but couldn't he at least be a little responsible for once.

Ned would have been a much better king but he wasn't the one with a Targaryen grandmother so they had to use Robert's paper-thin legitimacy instead. Jon took a bottle of Dornish Red and filled a glass with the drink. He sipped slowly while thinking. Well, the situation wasn't as hopeless as he was making it out to be. This new heir did mean that Stannis wasn't the next in line to the throne if Robert managed to cut his life short or was assassinated.

And the child was quite young too as far as Jon had gathered so he had would have a lot of time to mold this child into the perfect heir even if he was unfortunate enough to be a legitimized bastard. Legitimized bastards never were particularly popular especially as children if they didn't have a lot of support in the first place. And they made bastards envious and trueborns jealous which made them the worst of both worlds, even if they stood the chance of inheriting something before their whole family were six feet under or otherwise incapacitated.

But right now he was trying to finish this deal with the Martells which really was a pain, to say the least. Well, he should hold his drinking to a minimum if he wanted to keep a cold head. Well, maybe just one more sip…

Maester Caleotte had asked for an audience with him and his brother which was highly unusual. Oberyn didn't like the slimy rat anyway so he was very close to cutting his patience short when he stumbled into the Water Gardens huffing and puffing like he had run from an invading army and not walked fast-paced through barely a hundred feet of a hallway after he arrived from the carriage that had taken him here.

He arrived in front of Oberyn and his brother Doran breathing heavily and holding his frail knees, before straitening up. "My Princes," He says nodding to them both. "I bear news" Doran shifts in his seat grimacing slightly "And why couldn't this be formatted through a letter sent with a raven?" Maester Caleotte looks a bit unsure "Because this information is of such great importance" Oberyn cuts in "Just get on with it Maester or you may have to find your handbook concerning poisons…" Oberyn says threateningly. It was always amusing to offset his former teachers and fellow acolytes from the Citadel. "Ehh of course, news arrived from King's Landing, The King had legitimized one of his bastards as his heir"

Doran shifts in his seat again and gestures to Areo Hotah at his side. "Alright, little Maester no longer welcome" He says while walking forward his massive ax. Maester Caleotte swallows heavily at the gigantic blade and nods shakily before leaving.

"So brother are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Oberyn says to Doran as Areo walks a few steps away to give the illusion of privacy. Doran nods "It would be quite destabilizing for the kingdoms as a whole don't you think?" Doran replies and Oberyn smiles. "The question is who? Local, Silent, or loud?" Doran shakes his head "Silent definitely, this does not need any pointed fingers, you will get the capital you need for it, what are your estimates?" Oberyn smiles mysteriously "Oh you never know with them, it all falls to the signs of their patron, but I'll contact a few friends across the sea and see what I can do" Doran nods "Very well, I want it paid for within the year"

Cersei Lannister the newly crowned Queen of the Seven Kingdoms looked up at the decorated roof of her room. She and her… husband's marriage took place two months ago, and she already despised the drunk fool. The fucking brute not even managing to put his thing in her on their wedding night and instead visited the abomination he had been infatuated with, luckily her brother had been able to start and finish.

And since she was now already pregnant she could only guess that the gods had blessed their union since no other man had managed to get near her privates other than her beloved brother. This would have been a problem only months ago but now it was thankfully covered by her recent nuptials with the Baratheon brute.

But her pregnancy wasn't what she was thinking about now. It was that damn abomination who dared to live in the room next to the Queen's chambers who she had claimed for herself. She had no idea why everyone was so infatuated with the bastard anyway, she was pregnant for the Seven's sake and besides her brother, they already considered her unborn child as a spare to the already born 'heir'.

She would have to fix this and soon so her child got the respect it deserved! It would be a beautiful Lannister baby but no one seemed to care. So she would have to make these sheep care about the lion cub she was supposed to birth. That's why she had the loyal Ser Meryn Trant talk with some connections he had in Flea Bottom and get a Karl Tanner to agree to kill the little abomination. So now she only needed to wait…

Suddenly the door slammed open to her chambers and her dear brother Jaime rushed in with raised blade looking wildly around before laying his green eyes on her identical eyes. "There has been an assassination attempt! Have you heard any suspicious sounds around here?" Cersei's eyes widen from their previous lazy state. "Attempt?" She squeaks. Jaime misunderstands her "Yes a cutthroat of some sort managed to make his way to Prince Orys' room and was just stopped by a Stormlander knight named Ser Willis Fell who died of his wounds a couple of moments ago"

"So the assassin was… unsuccessful?" Cersei asks nervously. And Jaime doesn't notice it "Yes he was luckily stopped in time, and then Ser Mandon arrived for his shift protecting the crown prince, and he reported it to the rest of us. Ser Willis also managed to only incapacitate the assassin so he is being interrogated now by Ser Barristan and the King" Cersei panics "He survived?" Jaime frowns. "Yes I thought I mentioned it already, Ser Willis managed to cut the assassin's spine and paralyze him, but was unfortunately stabbed in the gut in revenge and bled out"

Jaime eventually left after insuring one final time that she was safe and she began to shake uncontrollably before eventually blacking out from the stress.

"My Queen, my Queen" Someone shook her awake.

"Y-yes what is it?" She asks Ser Mandon who was the one shaking her. "The king has requested your presence in the small council chambers" She jumped awake "And why exactly did he request it?" Ser Mandon became stern-faced "It is related to the assassination attempt yesterday, and I would suggest following his order immediately" Cersei nods shakily, and with the help of some nervous maids she gets dressed in a fancy garment fit for a Lannister Queen even if that wouldn't be the case soon.

"Good, follow me" Ser Mandon says gruffly at the door and he begins to walk down the hall. When she walks out she notices the ten Baratheon men encompass her on all sides as she begins to follow the Kingsguard. She felt more and more trapped, like a lioness with hyenas on all sides.

They walked in a tense silence all the way to the council chambers. And she felt the sharp footsteps of the armored men escorting her reverberate throughout her body.

When they arrived at the grandiose doors of the council chambers she took a deep and shaky breath before walking forwards when they were opened by yet another pair of Baratheon guards. The assembled men were all debating but her arrival stopped all conversations. She silently sat down in one of the empty seats beside Robert and he started "Finally now that we are all here I have some information for you"

Cersei looked around and saw that Baratheon men lined up with their hands on their hilts along every wall ready to draw their blades at a moment's notice. "As you all know there was an assassination attempt on my son's life yesterday and we managed to capture the would-be assassin, I would like to inform you that he is dead" Stannis the Master of Ships and acting Hand of the King instead of Jon looking emotionless scrunched his eyebrows "And why is that? I thought he was supposed to be interrogated?"

Robert looked a little embarrassed "Well after we managed to get his name and a threat he dared to spill his feelings towards the situation and in retaliation, I may have... spilled his blood" Stannis looked dumbfounded "And what did you get out of him then?"

Varys chimes in "Well his name is Karl Tanner a cutthroat from Flee's Bottom quite famous down there for being very ruthless, and he and I quote said 'You should watch out Usurper, my employers were the highest of patrons' which while quite vague points a finger at least a noble family of some sort as far as we have gathered, I have my small birds on it but all the information is hearsay and nothing is solid" Varys finishes and the focus of the conversation shifts but Cersei gets caught by Varys with a knowing look.

End of Chapter

That was the second installment of the story hope you enjoyed it!

We hopped all around Westeros this time and saw the consequences of the legitimization, we had an assassination attempt already, and again like the last chapter, I hope it was believable, or if nothing else entertaining.

Next: A Dragonfawn

Thank you for reading