Lady of the West

Chapter Three

Tygett let out a yawn and rubbed the back of his eyes, he had wanted to be abed hours ago in truth, but the cares of manging Casterly Rock until Cersei came of proper age, though his proper title should be Lord Regent of the Rock he had never allowed anyone to call him that. Instead, he had claimed the title of lord castellan which gave him the authority to manage the Rock and act in its defence and interests but there could be no doubt that he had no ambition to usurp his niece.

He would not suffer anyone to claim otherwise. this was how it started in all the songs after all, the wicked uncle who tried to steal the rights of the rightful heir. His place here was temporary and that was how he wanted to be.

And quite frankly a part of him hoped that Cersei would become a woman grown sooner rather than later, the sheer boredom of most of his duties felt like they were slowly driving him to madness. Give him a war to fight and win and he would be happy, checking how much grain the mills had produced within the last moon's turn was something out of the seven hells sent to torment to him.

But that was still easier to deal with than the pecking of crows, the lords and landed knights of the west all wanted something even if it was just attention and it was exhausting to deal with. It was a letter from Harys Swyft that was currently causing him the most trouble, apparently there had been talks between marrying his daughter Dorna to Kevan before the plague had hit and the arrangements had gotten quite far, not that either of his older brothers had ever deigned to inform him of it.

Which now meant that Ser Harys wished for a new marriage to be made for his daughter and in his letter, he had suggested that he would like it if Tygett would consider taking Dorna for his wife and the awful truth of it was that Tygett could not dismiss the possibility of it out of hand, he needed to take steps to ensure that their House had many allies as possible and if in order to do that he would have to consider taking Dorna Swyft for a wife.

Tygett had meet the woman once, she was not what he would call beautiful, the only feature of her that he could call to mind was that she did not have much of a chin but aside from that she was hardly what he would call ugly. Yes, if he had to take her for a wife then he could hardly see himself having to screw his eyes shut in order to do his husbandly duty.

But the problem was that both House Farman and House Crakehall had sent his letters with similar proposals in them, and if he choose one to take to wife then the other two would no doubt be insulted by his choice. Tygett never had much love for either of his older brothers but right now he would give all the gold within the Rock if he could ask Tywin or Kevan for advice.

He was about to call and end to it for the night and blow out his candle when he caught sight of the door to the solar was slightly open, and perchance was that a flash of golden curls? Despite his tiredness and sour mood Tygett could not help but smile. "Cersei," He called out, his voice stern but not unkind. "You were meant to be abed hours ago, and don't try and hide I know it's you."

With a soft little sigh, the Lady of Casterly Rock, Lady Paramount of the Westerlands and Shield of Lannisport pushed the door open fully and padded into the room, her golden curls glowing softly in the light of the candle on Tygett's desk and her cloth lion doll dragging behind her on the floor. "Uncle, I am your lady and I do not think you have any right to tell me when I should be abed."

"Oh, don't you?" Smiles had never come easily to Tygett, not even when he had been a child himself but somehow this little girl always managed to bring them out of him. "Well, when you are a woman grown and have the full rule in Casterly Rock then I swear to you that you may set your own bedtime not only for yourself but for all the rest of us as well, until then you are still only a little girl of six and little girls must have their rest."

A very familiar pout crossed Cersei's face then, but she did not argue the point, though she did not leave the room either. Instead, she stepped closer to him while her head tilted downward to avoid looking at him and all of that was enough to tell Tygett that something was wrong. "I don't want to go back to bed, I had a bad dream."

Tygett sighed and frowned but all the pushed his chair back and opened his arms, at the sight of the familar action Cersei ran around the desk and hopped into his lap and Tygett wrapped his arms around her tightly. "What did you dream of?" He asked gently, rubbing her back much the same

"There was a dragon, it picked me up in its claws and flew me away from the Rock and locked me in a tower and I couldn't get out, I banged on the door and commanded to be let out, but no one came to let me out, I heard fighting out my window and people calling my name, but the dragon burned them all to ashes." Cersei looked up at him then. "I don't like dragons."

Tygett sighed, Cersei was still too young to understand most of it, but she knew that the Targaryens were not to be trusted and that it was dragons that the Targaryens bore on their banners, what else would a little girl have nightmares about. "All the dragons are dead now sweetling, and nothing else shall ever hurt you. I will kill anybody who is foolish enough to try, you know that do you not?"

"Yes uncle," Cersei said with a nod and Tygett pressed a kiss to the top of her head, after he had done so his niece looked up at him once again. "Can we still play swords in the morning?"

It had been Tygett's idea to teach Cersei how to use a weapon, Genna had been against it, and she had made that point very clear to him, but he had not allowed himself to be dissuaded from it and ever since the girl had seen her fifth nameday Tygett had taken it upon himself to show her how to use a sword, not that he had given her a real one and instead had simply given her a long wooden stick like any boy her age would have.

"Of course, we can but sweetling you have to remember that a sword is not a toy, and it is not something to be used for fun. It is a weapon, that you should only use to defend yourself from harm or to kill the enemies of House Lannister, do you understand? And we do not play swords, we train with them."

"Yes uncle," A yawn followed the girl's words, and a chubby fist came up to rub at her eyes, Tygett smiled again and wrapped his arms around her tightly and rose from his chair and carried her out of his solar and up to her bedchamber, once they arrived, he placed Cersei in her bed and pulled her covers up to her chin and placed a kiss to her forehead.

Tygett stayed until Cersei had fallen asleep and then quietly left her bedchamber and made his way to his own, he must have been more tired than he had realised as when he laid his head down on his pillow's darkness claimed him and moments later rays of the sun were shinning on his face, that and the hammering on his door told him it was time to wake up.

He broke his fast with his sister, as he did most days, and told her about the marriage offers so he could gain her advice. "I would rather you not accept any of them, yet, though if you did then I would suggest taking Helena Crakehall for a wife, the Crakehalls are fierce warriors and they tend to be a lot of them and my own goodfather married a Crakehall once, it would cement certain bonds. However, as I said I would suggest no marrying any of them and instead writing back to all who offered with the idea of offering take some children of their houses to ward, Cersei is old enough that she could do with some companions after all."

Well, that was certainly true enough. Cersei was a happy enough child more often than not, but it was simply a fact that there weren't that many children around the Rock, the plague had ravaged the nursery after all, the only true ones were her cousin Cleos who had been born two years after her and was currently with his father at the Twins and the children of servants.

It wasn't a bad idea at all, it would ward of any chance of Cersei growing lonely and it would keep the other houses in the west from demanding too much of them, if he took a boy and a girl from each of the truly important houses then none could claim that he was ignoring them and it would leave the possibility open that he could also bless them with a marriage later, none could dare refused.

And if worst came to worse, he would have some hostages.

He told his sister his thoughts and he was glad to have her agreement, once they were finished Tygett rose from his chair and made his way out towards the courtyard.

It was time to play swords.

End of Chapter Three