A/N: Hope you guys like this story! This story happens after the end of the last season, I really couldn't help myself. This is part of some promps on Tmblr I'm trying to do: like all my stories lol.
While the world was preparing itself to welcome Spring the servants at Casterly Rock were preparing the castle for something better: the Northern Queen had accepted their Lord's petition for a betrothal. And the courting would take place right there: their lord called it neutral ground. Most of the household couldn't comprehend why their little lord called his ancestral home neutral, but they let it be: they were used to his eccentricity, some due to shock while others had years of acclimation.
Only two people heard the unspoken words uttered by Lord Tyrion Lannister with that declaration. It's untainted by the memories of fathers, of Joffrey, of Cersei, of a forced union of us, we have no memories of us here and it's also untainted by the memories of wars or the long night and all that happened there. One of those who heard these unspoken words was Maester Creylen who had served the Lannisters for longer than any Maester and had seen the birth of Lord Tyrion and the condenable way most of his family treated him due to things out of his control, and he had done his best to take the lordling under his wing at a tender age. The other person was once upon a time outside of the Lannister clan Joy Lannister, who loved her cousin Tyrion most and was loved in turn by him.
It was only two days until the arrival of the Queen of the North when Joy decided that she had to get her beloved cousin out of his solar for a couple of hours or at least get him to stop working for a while, so, with a smile, she knocked on the door of his solar: a place she had avoided at all cost most of her life, the solar of the Lord of Casterly Rock.
"Come In." Called a distracted voice from inside.
Joy waltzed into the room only to come face to face with the disheveled appearance of her cousin. His hair was in disarray: part of it was in its natural stubborn ringlets, some part showed that at one point it had been bravely tamed and was just curly while most of it was sticking up at odd angles. As for his clothes: his reddish gray doublet was crinkled in at least a million places and it had ink stains all over it, just like his hands and face. All of this caused Joy to throw all etiquette out of the closest window as she started to laugh out loud, in a very unladylike manner. This caused Tyrion to raise an eyebrow and press his lips together while he waited for Joy to compose herself.
"You look like a fright." She told him once she calmed down.
"Thank you." The Lord of the Rock replied fondly knowing that her words were not meant to be unkind: she simply said what she thought. It was so refreshing.
"No dear cousin, don't look at me like that. I'm surprised that your solar is almost pristine and that you have gotten work done in your state." She said looking around at the neatly ordered room and the parchments on the practically immaculate desk. "Did you sleep last night? Did you break your fast this morning or eat anything today? You know it is well past noon." She asked him concerned, this was a frequent problem with her cousin: he'd start working and forget to take care of himself.
"Seriously, Joy, mostly pristine?" Asked Tyrion in mock offense.
"Yes Tyrion, no place with you in it while you are in that state can be called pristine and don't deflect my questions, my lord. I'm not some servant girl you can oh so cleverly outsmart: I'm the acting Lady of Casterly Rock." Mocked Joy back with a gentle smile.
"Yes I did sleep last night… some, but don't worry I'm the halfman, I only need half as much as the rest, as for food, well…" Hearing her cousin's self-deprecating joke, Joy rolled her eyes grabbing his arm. By the gods he needs a wife! If only to have someone that makes sure he doesn't kill himself by working too much or by following one of his brilliant ideas that almost always puts his life at risk. He may be a clever man, but he is still only a man: he might be a bigger danger to himself because he is clever.
"This halfman will come with me and we shall have tea with some snack for now and then you'll be spending the rest of the day with me playing cyvasse or reading or doing anything as long as it isn't work related: not as the Hand, not as the Warden of the West." She told him firmly as she dragged him along the halls of the rock, much to the staff's amusement, towards their destination. One of the smaller rooms that can be used to entertain guests with a balcony from which one could view all Lannisport and a great deal of the Sunset Sea, it was the place where her cousin had taught her many things from her letters and numbers to agriculture, mining and economy: as if he were her secret and private maester.
"But I'm Hand of the King and Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Shield of Lannisport and whatever." Complained Tyrion half heartedly huffing.
"As you said, whatever, plus when it's just us, you told me you were just my cousin." She told him and felt giddy when she saw that the servants had prepared the room and that their tea awaited them. "Now sit." She ordered.
"My dearest Joy, you are turning into one bossy woman." He told her while he resigned himself to do as she told him.
"What, don't you like it? You are the one that plans to court and marry a Queen, a Northerner if I may add: if you want meek and obedient go looking for a lady from the Reach or maybe the Fingers." She said, serving their tea and turning the metaphorical table on him.
"Oooh, but I never said that I didn't like it. I do: it means you trust me and care enough to call me out on it if I ever act like a fool." Tyrion said with an approving smile before sipping his tea. "And I'll love spending some time with you, but as I said, I'm Hand of the King and, as you just mentioned, soon I'll be busy courting a Queen." He added while he looked at the baked goods.
"Yes, good try, but the only reasons you are leaving me today are to take a bath and for bed. Besides Davos is the acting Hand of the King in your stead at the moment, the realms won't disappear while you take a day off or a couple of weeks. And, as you said, you are the halfman, that also means that you should get half the amount of work."
"Joy, for a half Hand we already have Davos, I can't take that from the man!" Lamented Tyrion while his mismatched eyes laughed at the joke he had just told her. " But what of the West? The reconstruction of the castle of Castamere and the mining of its mines?" Asked the man fidgeting in place.
"Maester Creylen shall do the day to day work, with my input when necessary and if there is an emergency we will involve you." Joy explained to him patiently, knowing that her cousin needed to occupy himself to feel worthy of.. well of anything. Tywin Lannister had really done his youngest a huge injustice, she also knew that he was desperate to not dwell on how things could go wrong with his Queen. "Now be useful and tell me some more things about Queen Sansa, I still have to plan some last details for her stay and may need your opinion on the do's and the dont's."
At those words her cousin seemed to relax, and she knew she had done the right thing as he started to ramble passionately about the beauty, cleverness, intelligence and hobbies of the Queen of the North. Yes, while the rest of the world welcomed Spring, Casterly Rock would welcome Sansa Stark, Queen of the North, owner of Lord Tyrion Lannister's soul and heart.
A/N: Please leave a review and lets all thank my wonderfull beta elliecat78, with who I had a funny conversation where i realized that maybe, just maybe I have killed Genna Lannister indirectly with this story... if any of you wonders where she is. She took a vacation to the Summer Isles!