Jaime
The fire flickered in front of Jaime as he poked at the logs with a long stick, causing embers to rise briefly in the air before they settled back down. The blaze wasn't needed for its light, for the sun was just beginning to rise, but with how cold it was up in the true north of the North he needed any heat he could get. The fur cloak he wore around his shoulders helped too; it was an old bear skin, with matted hair and the scent of age from being buried within Winterfell in some chest for years. He was sure that all his family would have scoffed at such a thing, seeing it as beneath them. Hell, he would have mocked it as a pathetic scrap of fur and tossed it aside once. But that was a different time… a different life. Now he accepted it as the greatest present one could receive, wrapping the fur around his shoulders tightly and snuggling up into it even as the rays of the sunrise began to peak over the horizon.
He had taken the final watch of the night. A metal pan sat near the fire, bits of deer from their dinner the night before popping and crackling in its own fat. He decided that if he started on their breakfast now it meant that they could get going all the soon. It wasn't because he was trying to be nice to them. Of course not. Why would he be ever nice to these people? The son of the lord that had captured him? The mud-sucking twins? The wildling woman and the simpleton? No… never. He was Jaime Lannister! He didn't care what they thought of him! The lion didn't care what the sheep bleated about. He used his knife to flip the bits of meat over, remember how Meera didn't like it to be too blackened, before setting about cutting the hard tack bread into smaller pieces that could be mixed with the crackling fat to make it easier to chew on. Bran had complained that his jaw was beginning to hurt from the stuff and that would help.
"Where was I?" he said as he looked at the pan, wishing they had a bit of fruit. This was the Gift, however, and they were more likely to find Others than they were apples. "Oh right… we used to discuss it all the time in the White Tower: was Ser Duncan the Tall actually a knight? He says he was knighted but that could have easily been a lie. No one actually saw his old master knight him… the man could have died and Dunk took the armor and sword and just decided he was a knight right then and there. Others have done it… I don't blame them either. Easier to make your way in the world as a knight than it is as a squire to a dead man.
"I know the maesters debate it. My brother Tyrion read about it once and got in a spirited debate with Selmy about it. Tyrion felt that Ser Duncan had lied, that he hadn't been a knight before he came to that tourney. Barristan though was convinced that Duncan was knighted." He dropped his voice a bit and made it a touch gravellier… not that Barristan sounded like that but he'd always used that voice when quoting the old man, much as he would mimic an overly drunk buffoon with a slurred rumble when mocking Robert. ""What would it say about us if the greatest Lord Commander of the Kingsguard was a liar? That he wasn't a true knight?"." Jaime chuckled at that. "Tyrion sat there, swirling is goblet of wine, and said," here Jaime made his voice more arrogant, lingering on each word just a second too long. ""Why, I would say it made him smarter than many other Knights of the White Sword! He understood the world better than most of the pampered lordlings who are picked less so for their skill and more for their father's coin purses; that was why Egg grew up to be such a good king! And besides, Selmy, even if he were a liar that wouldn't put him in the Top 10 of worst Lord Commanders. Traitors and rapists and criminals… oh, your predecessors were a vile lot at times!"." Jaime shook his head and chuckled at that. "Selmy didn't like that."
He pulled the meat from the pan and carefully wrapped them in some leaves as Osha had shown her. For a filthy wildling she was rather clever when it came to surviving off the land. She'd taught him many things that he'd never learned when he was a squire that would have made the wars he'd found in go all the easier. He half thought about suggesting his father recruit the wildlings to help them, much as it was said his brother had done so with the Hill Tribes… if Ned Stark's Northmen could be believed. Of course they also believed that there was a War Goddess who also communed with Squirrels and it was the folly of any that mocked her. Though he did chuckle at the story Meera had told him of how in one night the goddess Doreen had fucked both the Storm God and the Drowned God then beaten them senseless for both being unable to give her any pleasure.
"For me though I have always felt that my brother and Selmy were missing the more important aspect of Ser Duncan: it didn't matter who knighted him but what he did afterwards. I've met pompous little twits who thought just because you had your spurs that made you suddenly the Dragonknight reborn and it was thus their right to boss everyone around. I've also met men who became so obsessed with honor that they failed to see opportunity when it appeared before them. Dunk though… he knew when to play at the honorable knight and when to care about filling his belly. A sensible knight… one I can respect." He pulled the hard tack from the pan and blew on it, cooling it down before he nibbled on it; yes, that would do nicely. "What do you think though? Was he a knight or was he a liar?"
"…Hodor."
"A fair point."
"What are you doing?" Meera said, walking over to him.
"Having a lively discussion with our dear friend here." Jaime waved in Hodor's direction, the giant man smiling at Meera.
She, while smiling back at Hodor, didn't grace Jaime with a grin. "That is very mean."
"How so?" Jaime asked. "I'm talking to him."
"He can only say one word," she pointed out.
"And?" Jaime said. "That doesn't mean he doesn't understand. It is entirely possible that Hodor here is a scholar who has had the misfortune of being only able to say one word. He could understand everything we say and be delighted that unlike some people I won't name I don't talk down to him."
"…I'd almost believe that if it weren't for the fact that I know you are an arrogant ass."
"What you call arrogant I call, 'being filled with a great amount of self respect'."
The Swamp Girl crinkled her nose at that. "And who did you steal that from?"
"My brother," Jaime admitted. "But he won't mind, he steals from me all the time. Why one time he managed to convince a whore that he and I had switched bodies and he was the real Jaime Lannister."
"Mmmmhmmm," Meera said, taking a seat next to him. Jaime handed over a few of the venison bacon while Meera rummaged in her bag before pulling out a few seeds, cracking them open before dropping them into their water skins. Jaime sampled a taste and was surprised to find a rather fruity liquid hit his tongue. "An old trick from the Neck."
"A very good one," Jaime admitted before the two settled down to eat. Osha would normally be up first but she'd taken second watch and was thus still asleep. As for Bran and Jojen they were curled up next to Summer, soaking in the warmth the direwolf provided. Jaime had been on watch alone when Hodor had sat down next to him; whether to keep him company or the big man just didn't need to sleep anymore Jaime didn't know and didn't judge.
"You were talking about Ser Duncan the Tall?" Meera asked.
"We were. Debating the old question if he had truly been knighted before he met Aegon the Unlikely."
"Hodor."
"We're in agreement."
"Hmmm," Meera said with a nod, sampling a piece of bacon. "That is a man that seems to inspire tales and legends. Impressive for a bastard from Flea Bottom."
"It truly is," Jaime admitted, honestly. He'd always been interested in Ser Duncan. In his youth it had been the later tales of him, when he'd already donned the White Cloak and shown himself to belong amongst the other legends of Westeros. No other man in the history of the King's Guard had a longer section in the White Book than him and considering how modest Dunk of Flea Bottom was supposed to be that was a mighty statement. He remembered on the worst days in King's Landing, when he'd longed for home and felt the agony pressing down on him of how he'd allowed Cersei to foolishly drive him to give up everything because of her mad scheme that had, at the time, appeared to have failed, he would go to where the White Book lay and read of Ser Duncan the Tall and remind himself that men had risen from far worse to become so much better.
'How had I forgotten all I learned from him?' Jaime thought to himself. Ser Duncan hadn't wanted to live in a castle being pampered… he'd turned it down when he'd been offered that for a life among the hedges! More than that he'd sacrificed such comforts because he knew that his new squire would become a better man through such a life. 'Aerion Brightflame lived a pampered life and he was hated by the smallfolk and died drinking wildfire. Aegon wore clothing filled with holes and straw hats and he ended up the last great king we had in Westeros.' Jaime stared at the fire and felt disgust well up within him once more. 'Ser Arthur had us live off the land like Ser Duncan so we'd remember where we came from. I read of Ser Duncan and how even as a Knight of the Kingsguard he'd been willing to sleep in barns if it meant someone else might have the bed meant for him. I swore… I swore that I would be just as good as him. But I wasn't.'
How would have life changed had he forced Joffrey to live like that? Cersei had made it clear he couldn't be Joff's father and he had been fine with that but now he wondered why he hadn't demanded to have the boy squire for him. It certainly wasn't unheard of, to have a member of the Kingsguard train a prince.
'I could have taken him from King's Landing early on and we could have traveled throughout Westeros. I could have donned old armor and forced him to shave his head and we could have made our way through the world as Dunk and Egg did. Taught Joffrey how to fight, how to live off the land, how to fucking be a man!' He huffed. 'No… no he lived a pampered life and now he is Aerion and I'm Ser Willem Wylde, siding with a prince I do not support but do so out of loyalty.'
He knew that it would shock many, especially his family, if he said it out loud but Jaime was not blind to Joffrey's faults. Far from it… the boy was the worst of him and Cersei rather than the best. His brother and sister were treasures and he could at least look at them and know he'd done something right, left some kind of legacy. But Joffrey? Joffrey was his punishment for all he had done out of love. The Gods mocking him by crafting the worst of all those he loathed in his own flesh…
"I know a tale of Ser Duncan I doubt you know, Ser Jaime," Meera said, breaking him from his thoughts.
"I doubt that very much," he said with a smirk. "Unless you've been able to sneak into the White Tower. And I doubt that as I'd have noticed lilypads scattered about if you had."
Meera though merely smiled right back, her eyes twinkling with hidden knowledge much like Tyrion's did when he held a secret that would leave everyone staring at him in shock. "No, I haven't been there, Ser Jaime. But this is a story that would not be written in that book."
"I must warn you," he said, his tone teasing without the mocking scorn that so many were used to, including himself, "that I have heard more than one singer or storyteller try and pass off a fake Ser Duncan story. The tale about him in Essos is a favorite one but utterly false as the Battle of Pentos occurred before he met Aegon."
"This one comes from trusted sources," Meera stated.
"And that is?"
"My grandfather's grandfather."
"Oh, a trusted source," Jaime teased again.
Meera smiled that same twinkling smile though. "Did you know that Ser Duncan and Aegon traveled to Winterfell?"
He did. "Not one of the more popular tales though I think that's because there is no real fighting in it. I remember one storyteller titling it the… Interloper? No… The Trespasser, that is it. The tale of the Returning Wolf and the search for dragon eggs and the hidden Bolton."
Meera nodded. "I speak before that tale. They passed through the Neck and stayed at Greywater March for a time where Aegon developed a friendship with the lord's son and heir. When Aegon was assisting his father in ruling the realm he invited his friend to King's Landing… a rather grand honor, you can imagine. There he met my grandmother's grandmother who served as a Lady in Waiting. And where he also stood witness for my story." As if sensing that Jaime needed just a touch more to truly draw him in Meera stated, "This may also be considered a companion tale to The Sworn Sword."
The Sworn Sword. Oh yes, he knew that tale well. Of how Ser Duncan, by sheer accident became a household knight to Ser Eustace Osgrey, who had fought for the Blackfyres during the first Rebellion; not that Dunk had known that of course. Ser Eustace had fallen into a feud with Lady Rohanne Webber and it had been Ser Duncan's kindness and dedication to protecting the innocent that had saved the day. Tyrion had loved it because it showed how sometimes a simple action could win the day over a grand battle. Jaime loved the battle that there was, fought in the river and so unlike the tales of valor most knights had concerning them. Cersei, before she had become jaded about love and life, had both loved the story and wept at it, for Ser Duncan loved Lady Rohanne but could not be with her due to station.
The story was especially popular in Casterly Rock for Lady Rohanne would eventually marry Gerold Lannister, making her their great grandmother.
Jaime was intrigued. It could be a false story about Ser Duncan but if it was at worst it was an innocent child being fooled by tales told by her family, who themselves had heard it from others. And with little to do before the others awoke save eat their meat and drink their water a story was a wonderful way to pass the time. He motioned for the girl to continue.
"It was a few years into Maekar's rule and my grandfather's grandfather was preparing to make his leave of the Capital. He and his ladywife had been married in the godswood of the Red Keep and it was time to show her where they would rule for the rest of their days. But they still had time… a half a year and it was only spring.
"Aegon one day received word of an incident at Casterly Rock. Lord Gerold had imprisoned a man he said had falsely claimed to be one of the King's tax collectors. The man had been moving through the Westerlands demanding payment owed to the crown. Lord Gerold was enraged and set out to find the man himself, clapping him in irons despite his outlandish claims and dragging him back to Casterly Rock.
"'I have the King's taxman here!' Lord Georld had declared when they'd arrived back at the Rock, waving his hand at a man in finer clothing who had been staying in Lannisport for the last few weeks to settle up the Westerland's payment for the year. 'You are a thief and a poor one at that! I'll have your hand now and the king will have your head when he hears of this!' And so he did, claiming that hand as his prize before throwing the false tax collector into a cell. And then, because his wrath was so great, he began to take other things of the false collector as well. He'd planned to send first the hand to King Aegon but before he could those fingers would close around Lord Gerold's throat and threaten to strangle his entire line."
"The man was the real tax collector," Jaime said.
Meera nodded.
"Hodor."
"Yes, that was very stupid of my great grandfather," Jaime said in displeasure. He wondered what his father would say after such a mistake.
The Northgirl continued her tale. "The false tax collector was found out by a maester who determined that his Rites of Passage and Duty were false while the Rites of the imprisoned man were found in the room of an inn he'd last stayed in. It was a grand embarrassment for Lord Gerold. His lords fumed that their taxes had been wasted by the scoundrel on wine and whores and now they might need to pay all over again. And Lord Gerold and Lady Rohanne had dined with the man themselves! He'd sat at their table and ate their food and drunk their wine and all the while he was stealing from them. No, worse than that… they had given him the coin happily. And then there was the matter of the tax collector in the cells. Had he been merely imprisoned things might have gone better for them but Lord Gerold had maimed a King's man without authorization or consent from the crown."
Jaime shuddered at that, reaching over and rubbing his right wrist. The tale was making it ache something fierce, as if he could feel the blade slicing off his own hand. Feel the burning agony and the cold sensation of lose all in a second. It was a feeling all at once he could understand and then couldn't. What would it be like to suddenly lose a part of himself forever? He'd always felt that way, even as a child, and it was why during the many battles he'd fought he'd always chosen to go for the kill rather than to maim. It was merciful to end a foe's life than to sentence them to a life of being less than they once were.
"Aegon was wroth when he learned of this from the Master of Whispers and at once commanded Lord Gerold and Lady Rohanne both to travel to the Capital to answer for their crimes. Lady Rohanne did all she could during the journey to win the tax collector to their side, for she knew that for how bad the situation might be the right words from him might smooth over all that had happened. She allowed him the comfort of her own wheelhouse, choosing to ride a horse, and at night she would personally bring him food and see to it that he was full and happy. And she talked to him the entire time, told him stories about her life, of all she had done, about her family and her children. To let him see that the people who had captured him and tortured him were just that: people.
"But a few bowls of stew and some satin pillows can not replace hands and other bits of flesh and when the collector at last saw Prince Aegon, who was ruling in his father's steed, he laid out in full detail the damage and pain the Lannisters had brought upon him. He didn't even wait for the Lord and Lady of Casterly Rock to leave his sight. There, in the courtyard of the Red Keep, he named them traitors to the crown. 'They are the ones!' he declared. And to emphasis the point he used his stump to point them out."
This was certainly a story he'd never heard before in Casterly Rock and he could understand why. Their father was not one to be embarrassed or have the flaws of their house be seen by all. To know that his grandfather had been tricked by that scoundrel would have made such a tale a death sentence for any bard who dared to sing of it within ten miles of the Westerlands, let alone Casterly Rock. Tywin Lannister would never allow a legend of their family, descended from the greatest trickster of all the Seven Kingdoms, being fooled so easily become common knowledge.
"The Prince's rage was not a dragon's fire. No… it was as cold as the Wall itself. He commanded Gerold Lannister be imprisoned at once in the Black Cells and his wife be shown to a fine room. All knew that this was not a courtesy being given to Lady Rohanne; she was a prisoner as well, for the King to do with as he saw fit."
'I know something about that,' Jaime thought, thinking backing to when Aerys had made him a member of the Kingsguard and commanded him to return to the Capital, unable to compete in the greatest tournament Westeros had ever seen. In fact he'd never compete in a tournament again until Robert took the throne; the White Cloak had been his prison, the White Sword the bars of his cell.
Meera looked at him, clearly waiting to see if Jaime was going to protest and demand she stop telling lies about his family. But while he didn't quite know why she'd chosen this story, though sure there was a personal reason for him, he still silently motioned for her to continue.
"For nearly a week Lady Rohanne sat in her room, not saying a word. If any thought that she was in mourning or despairing what had happened then they proved they didn't know her at all. Even before she'd been the Lady of the Rock Lady Rohanne Webber had never been one to grieve. Her every action had a purpose."
Jaime chose that moment to speak up. "She did grieve though. She wept at the grave of Ser Osgrey's son."
But Meera merely shook her head. "True tears? Or a way to gain comfort from a man that saw her as a thief? We all must rely upon what we are given… and sometimes a woman will weep when inside she cackles and schemes."
He snapped his mouth shut at that. How many times had Cersei wept in his arms about this disaster or that… and then asked him for a favor?
How many times had she cackled the moment he was gone?
"Finally she requested to be allowed to speak to the Prince but even then he let her wait another two days before agreeing to see her. My grandfather's grandfather was in Aegon's solar that day, chosen by his highness to serve as witness. Lady Rohanne came to him dressed in a fine gown of red and gold, smelling of exotic flowers my ancestor had never even heard of before. Even after birthing four strong boys she still held beauty and grace and my grandfather's grandfather, Jonnar, thought her to be the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.
"'What might I do for you?' the Prince asked, never bothering to look up from the paperwork he was working on, for he had been taught that a king should rule his kingdom by his own hand. A Small Council guided but never truly rule… the moment they did a king was no longer a king. And even if Aegon was not a king he would follow that rule.
"If she was startled by his brusque nature she didn't show it. 'I come to speak for my husband. I come to beg you to be merciful.'
"'Mercy is a strange word to come from your lips,' Aegon answered. 'Was mercy shown to my man that was maimed while you dined with a thief?'
"'We only did what we thought was right,' she said. 'Had he been a fraud we would have been thanked by your grace.'
"'If my brother Aerion hadn't been a fool none of us would be here,' the king stated. 'Had Bloodraven failed in battle to arrange his bowmen properly Ser Osgrey would have claimed back his castle and you would have been reduced to begging landed knights to care for you. The world is full of 'what might have been' but you will find you have an empty cup if you try and use them to slate your thirst.'
"Jonnar could tell that she was struck by his dismissal but she quickly rallied, seizing upon his mention of their shared past. She finally took a seat across from the Prince and with a smile that could melt all the snows of the deepest darkest winter she said, 'You have grown since I have last seen you.'
"'And you are the same,' the king said and all knew it wasn't a compliment.
"'Where is Ser Duncan?' she asked.
"'I sent him away when I summoned you,' Aegon declared. 'He has been sent to Summerhall with my ladywife, for she wished to escape the stench of this city.' Only then did he look up from his paperwork. 'If all goes as I desire you will never see him again.'
"Lady Rohanne was affected by this, Jonnar would later say. He didn't know the tales of Aegon's youth, of how Ser Duncan had shown himself superior to all men in the eyes of Lady Rohanne Webber. But he could tell that the king's comment was a blow as staggering as any from a lance during a tilt. 'You would punish him then?'
"'I would save him from the likes of you,' Aegon told her, setting his quill aside. 'I was young and naïve when we met last. I didn't understand the world. I do now. I see how you used Ser Duncan… how you mocked him and blamed him for things he was guiltless of. How you lied to him and used his feelings for you to get all you could want.' Lady Rohanne denied this but the King would not listen. 'And when you had opened your legs for Ser Osgrey and gotten what you desired you tried to hold onto him, like a child might a kitten they spot in the street. But Ser Duncan had proven once he was better than most men and he did so again. He refused you.'
"'I wished to reward him,' Lady Rohanne declared, growing hot and angry at the Prince's words. She had never been one to manage her temper well, something Jonnar would later say most likely came from being given so much while doing so little.
"'You wanted him to warm your bed,' the king charged, never raising his voice even as Lady Rohanne's words grew louder. 'But Ser Duncan would never do that. He could not serve one he did not respect. He could not serve you.'
"'You were a boy… a foolish boy that knew nothing,' Lady Rohanne declared, all thoughts of charming Aegon leaving her with his insults.
"'You used me as well, trying to get me to speak in your favor,' the prince once known as Egg said coolly. 'And when that failed you tried to guilt him with gifts. But Ser Duncan once more proved a better man that me. He refused your Flame… had I understood then what I do now I'd have slit Rain's throat and left you with the corpse.' He then looked at Lady Rohanne's hair, which barely came to her shoulders, and said, 'But he left you with something to remember him. Do you keep your hair so short to remember him? Or to remember your failure?'
"'You cannot talk to me like this!' Lady Rohanne declared. But the moment she said the words she understood how wrong she was. He was the King's son… it was his right to speak to her however he wished. He had baited her anger and she had fallen for his trap and revealed herself in full to Jonnar Reed. She could have stripped naked and bared all of her body to him and not been rendered as exposed as she was in that moment."
Jaime grimaced at that. "That is my great grandmother you're talking about."
"Hodor."
He looked at the giant who was grinning slightly and shook his head. "No, you don't get to think of her like that either!"
Meera chuckled at his complaints before continuing on with the tale. "Aegon let her wallow for a few moments before he finally spoke. 'The Lords play their games with knights. Ladies too. But they forget that a prince can play the same game… with far more powerful pieces.' He let her once more consider those words before he spoke again. 'I almost pity your husband, Lady Rohanne. He has only himself to blame. He chose you and then chose to listen to you when any man with a taste for history would know that a woman such as you, so cold hearted and cruel, would lead him to disaster.'
"'My husband is a good man who is faithful to you,' she said, trying to undo the damage her outburst had caused.
"'And yet he listened to you when you commanded him to take the tax collector's hand.' The king then stared at her, so long and so hard that Jonnar thought that at any moment he would suddenly leap over the desk and drive his quill through her eye. He even moved forward, just a step, to try and protect her; for she was beautiful and could charm any man within moments. Any man save Aegon the Unlikely. 'I remember how you dealt with men who offended you. You threatened Ser Duncan with the same, did you not? To sew them in a sack and toss them in a river. Did you run out of thread?'
"'Your grace,' she said only for the prince to cut her off.
"'If you lie to me again I will punish you in kind,' he warned her. 'I have grown tired of the falsehoods that seem to forever drip from your lips. Lie again and I will sew you in a sack and toss you into the Blackwater.'
"Considering what he'd threatened Lady Rohanne carefully asked, 'When have I lied to you, your grace?'
"Here the prince smiled for the first time. A terrible thing that was so unlike Jonnar's friend. The prince and he had been close in their youth, for however brief their time together at Greywater Watch had been, but the smile Aegon wore now was nothing Jonnar had ever seen on his face before. The Stranger's Smile he had called it, for the South's Seven Gods.
"'You claimed the river, Lady Rohanne. And it was given to you. But in the agreement Bloodraven made you were not to change its course or divert it in any way, for the river flowed not just through your lands but other lands of loyal subjects. You knew you had the wrong of it but still you needed to fill your moat, did you not?' The Lady of the Rock cringed at that and even though my grandfather's grandfather knew little of what they were discussing he could tell the king had caught her in an old falsehood thought buried by time. 'You would have slaughtered all of us, had it not played into your own plans to take Ser Osgrey as your husband after beguiling Ser Duncan.'
"'If he loved me it was because he chose to,' Lady Rohanne snapped back, once against forgetting her temper. 'Despite the claims of so many I am no witch.'"
'But you were cunning,' Jaime quietly thought to himself. He remembered the tale Meera was referring to, of Ser Duncan meeting with Jaime's great grandmother. She had chosen to appear to him as a warrior… a beautiful warrior, yes, but a warrior nonetheless. And while the tales did say she enjoyed riding and archery only in that one did such things play a role. Singers so did love women who were fierce and brave and could fight, for it was a rare thing, so why not include it more often when Lady Rohanne was sung about? 'Unless she only did it for Dunk.'
The sun was now visible through the trees and he could hear the others stirring but Jaime was focused entirely on the story. It wasn't one of daring adventure or grave threats but instead of the dangerous dance that was politics and words. Normally something Tyrion would have enjoyed while Jaime pretended to yawn and stretch but in that moment all he wanted was to hear the end of Meera's tale.
"'Why do you bring up old tales?' Lady Rohanne demanded. 'Are there not enough problems in the world? Why bring up more from events long gone?'
"The prince though wasn't moved. 'The past never stays buried. What happened in the Dance of the Dragons effects us still. And it, in turn, was caused by the actions of the Conciliator. And before him Maegor and before him Aegon the Dragon. So too are your crimes just another link in a chain.' And here the prince finally rose from his desk and for a moment Jonnar was sure his fears had come true and Aegon would strike off the woman's head with his sword. But instead Aegon moved to the window and looked out upon the courtyard of King's Landing. 'You will answer truthfully. The moment you lie I will take your life.' Lady Rohanne protested that if the King knew the truth already why must they play this game. 'Because your prince demands it,' Aegon said simply and she bowed her head in defeat. 'Did you give the command to take the tax collector's hand?'
"'Yes,' Lady Rohanne admitted. She told Aegon how she had enjoyed the company of the fraud and when the real one had come she had struck out so out of love for her secret thief. Now she felt only shame. She tried to go on but the king raised his hand and never again did they speak of the man.
"He asked her of the forest that had burned when Duncan had served under Ser Eustace. Here Lady Rohanne could state that she did not give the command. The prince heard her words though and pressed if she knew who had and she admitted that she did but they were all long dead. Ageon asked if she had truly cared for Ser Eustace and she stated he was a good man. She was careful with her words, slinking through a field of truth and lies like the lioness she now was. But it was Aegon's final questions that trapped her.
"'You waited a long time to ask to see me, Lady Rohanne,' Aegon reminded her. 'Why was that? Was it because you thought on your mistakes? Pray to the Crone to grant you wisdom and the Mother for mercy? Or were you hoping that Ser Duncan would come to you and you might convince him to spare you the punishment you deserve?'
"She had no answer for that. There was none needed. Even my grandfather's grandfather knew the answer, with the little knowledge he held of these events.
"'I could end your house today,' Aegon finally said when the silence had stretched on for too long. 'You deserve it for your crime. Not the tax collector… I will personally pay him for his suffering and see his family cared for. Not you. I will not force him to accept your coin.' He sneered out the words like they were a vile curse. 'No, it is the crime you have committed all your life: you dream too big.' He finally moved from the window and stared right at her. 'You have always felt yourself better than you were. Prettier. Smarter. More lordly and powerful. Better than everyone else. You think yourself a queen able to rule as you wish and woe to any that ever think to challenge you.
"'I will correct you of this mistake.'
"Lady Rohanne opened her mouth to protest, to humble herself as she never had before. But the King spoke once more and she forced herself to remain silent, lest she only serve to prove him right.
"'I will take your husband's right hand for bringing harm to one of my men. While you were the one to whisper in his ear to do the deed he failed as a lord and a husband to push aside your council so the crime is still his. Perhaps it will teach him never to listen to his 'clever wife' ever again. You may keep your hands-' And how this would sew scorn in her husband against her was clear, '-for you will need them. The day after Lord Gerold breathes his last you will set aside all claim to the Rock and join the silent sisters; he will be your last husband, Lady Rohanne. As for payment to the crown I believe the Master of Coin will be more closely monitoring your wealth… and will find old laws you have failed to honor when it comes to payment to the Crown.'
"Here Lady Rohanne finally spoke. Where others would have accepted their punishments with silence the Lioness of the Rock could not. Whether it was purely just her anger or a woman who had never been told no lashing out or some ploy to try and sneak her way out of payment Jonnar couldn't say. Perhaps Lady Rohanne simply wanted to have the final word. But she spoke all the same.
"'You speak of the chain, my prince,' she said to him with a thunderous look. 'What links will my family add after you have harmed us so?'
"But Aegon the Unlikely had been ready for her words. 'Perhaps you are right,' he said but his tone made it clear he did not agree with her. 'Perhaps I should instead give House Lannister a chance to earn back some honor. You have twin sons… boys should know adventure. I did and it made me a better man for it.' He pulled out a piece of parchment. 'I will make a decree that your sons are tasks with finding your house's ancestral sword Brightroar. They will take your son Tytos with them. He too could use an adventure.'"
Jaime winced at that. Brightroar… the search for it had killed his Uncle Gerion, he knew that. To send boys after it would be a death sentence. The sword had last been seen in the hands of a Lannister king who'd sailed towards Valyria; those waters were haunted by the Stranger himself.
"'As for Jason,' Aegon continued, 'he is but a babe, is he not? Barely weaned? He will be brought to King's Landing. I will raise him amongst my own children. A great honor. And every night I will tell him of your family and all you have done, so he might understand House Lannister.'
"The warning was clear: accept your punishment with humility or the Prince would force Lady Rohanne to see her children die and turn her youngest against his own family, so that when he became Lord of the Rock he would only bring hatred and scorn for his blood with him. For perhaps the first time in her life Lady Rohanne bowed her head meekly and whispered her consent, the spider that had become a lion brought low.
"It was only as she was leaving that the Prince spoke once more. 'A final command, Lady Rohanne,' he told her. 'Do not ever seek out Ser Duncan so long as you live. Do not find him so you might see how grand he has become. You are beneath him.'"
Meera leaned back, signaling the end of the story and Jaime considered all she had just said. Many would have claimed the story to be false. His father certainly would have. It didn't paint their house in a fine light at all. Yet it explained so much. Tywin Lannister never spoke of his grandparents, despite Lady Rohanne being such a cunning and interesting figure in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. The Maester had taught them that Ser Gerold lost his hand to a bandit raid, which perhaps had happened or perhaps had been a lie to hide his shame. Lady Rohanne had disappeared from history, never joining the Silent Sisters but rather disappearing in full… and the rumors of what had happened to her were whispered in the darkest wine sinks in Lannisport. Both Gerold and Tytos had been known for being rather lax when it came to punishing those that committed crimes against House Lannister; some thought it weakness but now Jaime wondered if it was fear.
"Is there a reason you chose that tale?" Jaime finally asked with a slight smile. "A warning?'
"Guess why I might have chosen it," she answered back sweetly.
"I hate these games. They are my brother's favorites. I prefer swinging a sword. No bandit or outlaw demanded I answer a riddle… no, I take that back. There was one bandit who asked me a riddle about a king, a septon, and a rich man. I think there was a sellsword involved. I killed him while he was explaining it so I could be wrong."
Meera though merely smiled at him as she rose, the others moving towards the fire. "Then I suppose you will need to think upon it, Ser Jaime."
Jaime was quiet for the rest of the day.
~MC~MC~MC~
Omake
Tywin and Kevan opened the heavily barred door to the private study that could survive a wildfire explosion (stupid pyromancers experimenting with the Substance before the fucking wedding! What were they thinking!). "We'll be fine, Kevan. Not a single flame can get in… or out." He entered the study... only to find Jon sitting in there, eating a sandwich. "Wha... who the devil are you?"
'Don't panic, just give him a good story!' Jon smiled. "My name is Tywin Lannister."
Jon blinked.
'D'oh!'
