(King's Landing: 9/22/298 AC) Cersei II
'What are those two plotting?' Cersei thought to herself, subconsciously leaning in, as she saw that foreign interloper sit by her Lord Husband and whisper something into his ear. The Lady Azula's 'Fireguard? Flameguard?' Or whatever laughably unimaginative title she bestowed upon them remained, on guard, below. It's as if they somehow knew they had no place with royalty. 'Good, Cersei thought, at least the whore knew enough to teach them that, now the only thing needed was for 'Lady' Azula to follow suit and remain below with the rest of the commoner rabble.' It was enough that Jon Arryn's suspicious death had put everyone in King's Landing on edge, herself included, but the continued whispers in court of supposed betrayal from wronged nobles, like the Martells and Tyrells, to blatant attempts by the various 'lesser' houses, and Lannisters to gain additional influence, were becoming most grating and, worst of all, distracting. 'Ha! As if we didn't control King's Landing already.' Several individuals responsible for fanning any hints of Lannister betrayal were found out by Lord Varys, or Cersei herself, and summarily silenced. 'But that woman. That woman had accompanied them all the way to Winterfell all those months ago, for Robert's fool choice of his next hand, and had proven herself to be a most vexing annoyance.'
After years of silence from Dragonstone, following the Greyjoy Rebellion, and prior to the death of Jon Arryn, the Lady Wife of Stannis Baratheon suddenly emerged and imposed herself within court. She brought with her those fire worshipping fanatics, and 'whatever caused such blind devotion made those cretin impossible to turn to her side,' Cersei thought. Every attempt to quietly kill them off to reduce that woman's influence was met with abject failure as more sprang up from the very ground, it seemed, to replace their losses. The only bright side to this mummer's play was that this seemed to bring a certain resolve to the eunuch. He appeared to be much more amicable to cooperation than usual, as evidenced by his constant need to weed out the woman's spies. Even so, while fervent, her spies proved to be very slippery indeed, and even Varys had a hard time locating all of them. While her spies had clawed their way into the cisterns and shadowy places of King's Landing, the Lady Azula, herself, was mostly idle and remained in the open. From all reports, she was only seen visiting a few blacksmiths and the Guildhall of the Alchemists, accompanied by her two Flameguard and an elderly man bearing the look of a maester. She began enlisting the services of those she found capable of keeping up with her demands and offered gracious amounts of gold and promises of stable incomes at Dragonstone if they chose to enter her employ. Commoners they may have been, but stupid they were not. Many of those approached saw it as a lucrative deal, which could change their fortunes, so they quickly uprooted themselves and their families and set sail for Dragonstone.
After what appeared to be an eternity of thought, Cersei noticed the Master of Ships rise and excuse himself. 'How odd,' she thought, 'what would cause Stannis Baratheon to leave without preamble?' Before having the chance to dwell on the thought Cersei heard a loud 'CRASH,' signifying the competitors; Ser Hugh and Ser Steffon had clashed. Deep in thought, she had forgotten about the match entirely and hadn't even heard the horn signaling them to start. Cersei cursed to herself, 'yet another, gods damned, distraction! Now she could not even think about the high level of stress brought about by Arryn's death without bringing up the added stress of Stannis' whore!'
It was then that Cersei realized that Jon Arryn died after the Lady Azula arrived from Dragonstone. 'It couldn't be, could it? What possible reason would that woman have for murdering Jon Arryn?' Granted, it had apparently been a boon to Cersei, as it was later reported the late Hand had been investigating Robert's bastards. From the information Pycelle had given her, Arryn had seemed to be close to knowing of her children's true parentage. It was sheer chance that old man had fallen ill when he did, otherwise, all her work would have been undone. The only reason, she could think, that Azula would have to assassinate Jon Arryn would've been to add chaos to King's Landing, in the form of rumors of hidden plots and quiet assassinations, and add animosity between Houses Stark and Lannister if the new Hand ever found out. If her children proved to be bastards, then Stannis would be next to inherit, but such would have been easier if Jon Arryn had lived. 'So what was her game?' Cersei questioned herself, eyes boring into the back of the foreign woman's head as if trying to read her very thoughts. After a few moments of trying to divine the woman's mind, Cersei relented, looked up and saw Ser Steffon trot off the field. His Lord Father having already departed.
Just then she heard the Master of Coin announce, "It appears my patience for these tedious games has run its course, Lord Renly, I am going to retire to my chambers," noticeably louder than necessary, given Renly was only a few seats away, even she heard him... 'Baelish!'
Baelish knew Jon Arryn more than any other man save Robert and Eddard, and if Jon told anyone of his suspicions, it was Baelish. Stannis himself had obviously not been privy to this information otherwise he would have gone straight to Robert, then again it may have just been seen as a naked grab for power. Even so, if Stannis had known, he was not very good at being subtle, and the death of Jon Arryn should have caused him to flee. After all, he only had a handful of Flameguard at his command, and if it came to blows, Cersei and her Lannister guards could have certainly ended his life and that of his meddling Lady wife's too.
"No need to shout, Lord Baelish, I am not deaf nor do I care what dank corner you care to retire into," she heard Renly reply.
To which Baelish responded, "Perhaps not, Lord Renly, but what you might care about are the hundred gold dragons you now owe Lady Azula in the absence of her Lord Husband," before shuffling off out of the tourney grounds.
The Queen saw Lady Azula, turn her head, slightly, to the side, acknowledging the commotion.
Motioning for a servant to come, Cersei whispered to him. "Find Lord Baelish, and tell him the Queen wishes to speak with him…" before quickly adding, "…about the wasteful spending done in this tourney," in order to mask her intentions in case this servant was not hers. The man bowed and scampered off to find the Master of Coin. Satisfied she was going to get answers from the simpering little man, she turned her attentions back to the Lady Azula.
"What's this about gold dragons, Lord Renly?" asked the woman, a smirk playing at her lips.
The Master of Laws sat silently before he relented and spoke of his ill-fated bet with his brother. "T'was a friendly wager between my brother and I involving the recent match between Ser Hugh and your Knightly Son," he then added with a playful grimace, "I chose poorly."
"I take that to mean you did not choose my son? Tsk. Tsk. How petty of you to choose against family simply because he beat you," she added in that grating voice of hers, having arisen and walked towards Lord Renly, "No, I was not here, but I certainly heard of that humiliating defeat." Jutting out her hand, the woman asked in the most nauseatingly sweet voice she could muster, "Where is my husband's gold? He would ever so wish to have it with him, he doesn't approve of unpaid debts…" she glanced towards Cersei, with a smirk.
'Take a good look, this will be the last face you see, Cersei fumed, inwardly, at this foreigners brazenness. Perhaps I will have Ser Gregor teach you some manners before you die.'
