Somebody: Given the spoilers that would come from me answering most of those, I'll simply say read on.
Being the King's Hand was a curse sometimes, even more so when Cersei Lannister sat in the place of the king, and especially after she had received a very personal insult. "This is villainy!" She shrieked. "Villainy and treason, and it reaches us here in the city."
No doubt you would be twice as furious if you found out later and had not been informed now, Loren thought.
"The first letter came from Maester Frenken at Stokeworth," the Grand Maester said, gently pushing the letter forwards. "The second was delivered by Lord Gyles of Rosby," he added. The second letter was worded the same as the first, although it looked to be penned by a different hand.
"If Stannis has bothered with them, likely as not, every lord in the realm has at least heard the contents, even if they haven't seen them," Littlefinger said.
"I want these letters burned, every one," Cersei declared. "No hint of this must reach my son's ears, or my father's."
"Father has probably heard already," Tyrion reminded Cersei. "If Stannis didn't send a letter to both Casterly Rock and Harrenhal I would be shocked. And even if not, there are other castles nearby that likely have received one as well."
Varys gave a slight cough. "My birds report that knights in as many towns as ports read the letter aloud, much of the smallfolk will have heard it and their lords will hear the rumours as well."
"What does it matter?" Loren added. "It is said now and it is not as dire as you would think."
"Not dire!" Cersei turned on him. "The boy Joffrey, he calls him, and his accusations against me, they are disgusting."
"Stannis needs his claim," Loren said. "This is it. He can hardly go and claim the throne from Robert's eldest trueborn son, can he? So he names him a bastard."
"I will not suffer to be labelled a whore!"
"He didn't," Loren replied, making the table look at him. "He called you an incestuous slut and a petty, arrogant weak repugnant woman, though not in so many words. He never called you a whore."
"Do not treat this so lightly!" Cersei demanded of him. What is Cersei so scared of? He wondered. She didn't even react to that.
He sighed. "He could say that I got a lion tattooed on my cock in the east and I wouldn't treat it any more heavily. This is gossip, let it run it's course for a week or more, then let it be done. Other topics of conversation shall arise and this rumour will be quickly forgotten." Unless we lose, he thought, then lie becomes truth and truth becomes false.
"You would have us do nothing?" Cersei asked.
"Your brother has the right of it, Your Grace," Littlefinger said, his grey eyes glinting. "Rather than try to fight this minor fire, let it die out. In the meantime, light one of our own."
Cersei fixed him with a measured stare. "What kind of fire?"
"One of a similar nature to his own," Littlefinger said.
"We couldn't play the same tale about Stannis Baratheon's children," Tyrion said firmly. "Besides the fact they both look the part of true Baratheons, something that Joff could never claim, Lyonel is an archer of renown, and his sister songs sweeten the streets when she visits the city. They are both well loved."
"But they are rather close to each other are they not?" Littlefinger asked. "They are rarely seen apart."
Loren narrowed his eyes. "You suggest we say that Stannis Baratheon's children are bedding each other?" He asked.
Littlefinger spread his arms like a mummer about to introduce a grand performance. "Stannis Baratheon is already not well loved," he said. "Let his children suffer that ridicule as well. Have the rumour spread that, if Stannis wins, his children will begin the practice of incest again."
"If we say it, it will be forgotten," Tyrion said.
"Others can say it for us," Littlefinger waved the complaint away. "I can have my whores spill it to their clients. It only takes a trickle to start a flood."
"A very short lived flood," Loren said. "If the two are beloved of the people the rumour will not last long."
"We don't need it to last long, brother," Tyrion said. "Only long enough to put out Stannis' own fire."
Loren mulled it over. It wouldn't gain much for them. But if it would satisfy Cersei, and it wouldn't cost them anything to do so... "Very well Lord Baelish," he said. "Have your whores spread the rumours, then wash your hands of it. If we are seen to be slandering the champions of the people, we could give Stannis a ready army for taking the city."
"I shall be discreet, my lord," Littlefinger promised.
He nodded. "Good, now, is there another matter?" He hoped not, he had to prepare the defences of the city, and these Council meetings, while vital, often didn't help him with this.
"There is the matter of the announcement," Cersei said, significantly calmer now they were fighting Stannis with accusations of their own.
He sighed. "I have already said, Cersei, I will not make such an announcement. Ever."
"What harm could it do, my Lord?" Varys asked him innocently, which made him guilty in Loren's eyes, though he wasn't sure what of yet.
He looked at them all. "I could go and sit on the Iron Throne and say, in open court, that we will trade Lord Stark's two daughters for the Kingslayer. But I will not."
"Why not?" Cersei demanded. 2Robb Stark or his mother may consent to that trade, and if not, it doesn't harm us."
"You are wrong," Loren said. 'Robb Stark is calling himself King, and he is as likely to release Jaime for his sisters as I would be to trade my own son away for Joffrey. But what if he did? What if he sent us Jaime in expectation of his sisters, what then? We give him back one and say, I'm sorry Robb Stark, we actually lost your other sister?"
"The realm would be laughing at him if he did," Littlefinger said.
Loren nodded. "They would, for a while, and Stark may face dissent amongst his bannermen. But then the realm would begin to question us. We said that we would trade them both, but we never had them both. We lied. How could our word be trusted again? We have precious few allies as it is, I would like to keep them, and the option to get more. I wouldn't like to be striking an alliance deal only for the other lord to decide that they couldn't trust us to keep our word. And Robb Stark will win another victory and remind his lords who they backed. No. I will not declare that we will make that trade."
"We need to work on getting Jaime back!" Cersei declared. "Every day the Lord Commander is imprisoned is an insult."
"We wouldn't have that problem if Barristan Selmy were still the Lord Commander," he reminded Cersei and she fell back into her chair, huffing like a child. Any of his three daughters would be better suited to that chair than his sister, and two of them hadn't even bled yet "Is there anything else?"
"News from the east, my lord," Varys said.
"Oh," he said, with only passing interest. "Tell me."
Varys bowed his head. "Of course, my lord Hand," he said. "A man claiming to be a dragon has conquered Myr with the help of the Golden Company. He is calling himself king."
"Dragon?" Littlefinger asked, but Loren had to speak up. This wasn't relevant.
"In Essos, half the people there claim to be Valyrian," he said "Half of those that remain claim to be half valyrian and the rest claim a drop or two. It means nothing."
Varys nodded. "I quite agree."
"If there is nothing else...?" He looked to the others, none of whom made to say anything. "Then let us reconvene at a later date."
They all got up and filed towards the door. He sat back in his chair, looking at the ceiling. Sometimes he wished he could find something treasonous on all three of those cretins, and have Ilyn Payne deal with them all. He heard the door shut and slid off the badge of the Hand, tracing his fingers over the warm golden badge of his office. He put the point into the table and spun it between his fingers, thinking about what to do about Renly. He had hoped that Stannis Baratheon would support his nephew, freeing up his eastern flank and allowing him to focus on Renly. That was out of the window. He wondered, had Cersei stripping him from the council done this, or had he always been planning rebellion. No, it had to be opportune, otherwise he would have had to know that Robert was about to die, and Stannis Baratheon was not a visionary. Still, it made him feel good about requisitioning the city's smiths for his boom chain, it was not time wasted from Cersei's swords and spears.
He felt someone watching him and turned, his hand going to his dagger, but it was only his sister. Cersei had shut the door on the others and returned to him, she must have something to say in private.
She took a seat at the table. "I hear you have ordered the smiths of the city to begin work on something, a chain?"
Loren nodded, fixing his gaze on his sister. "I have" he said calmly.
"Why?" She asked, a great deal calmer than she had been when discussing Stannis Baratheon's letter.
"This is no ordinary chain, he said. "It is a boom. I intend to span it across the Rush. That will prevent Stannis Baratheon's fleet from attacking our harbour."
"What good will that do?" She asked. "He could just land a host north of the city."
He nodded. "They could," he admitted. "But the quays are along the Rush, without them, he would have to disembark his host on small boats, and he could never land the whole force at once giving us time to attack them piecemeal. Trust me Cersei, this boom will be of benefit to us. It will serve us far better than a few more hauberks, helms and spears will against Renly Baratheon's host."
"How do you mean to defeat them?" She asked.
"I have plans," he said. It was partly true, he had some ideas, not that many of them would help them when Renly Baratheon's hundred thousand strong host was outside their walls. In truth, he could only hope to delay them until father's host could come south and take them against the walls. If he was going to stop Renly Baratheon, he would have to destroy his siege weapons, prevent him from attacking until the Lannister host could rout him.
Cersei considered that. She seemed convinced. "Very well," she said. "Now, Janos Slynt."
He sighed. He had wondered when Cersei would confront him about that. Tyrion had identified a knight of the watch who would better serve them. Loren had promoted him and had Slynt and his closest officers removed. He had wanted to keep them in the dungeon, but a recruiter for the Night's Watch said he could make better use of them and took them with him to Castle Black. He had wanted to go by ship, but Loren had sent men to seize all ships. He needed them all for the coming battle, war worthy or not, and it wasn't like they would get past Stannis Baratheon's blockade of the Gullet anyway. The Black Brother meant to take them to Maidenpool and get a ship there. He wondered if the ships from Duskendale would be arriving soon, or at all. He had sent the order, but he wouldn't have put it past the Lord of Duskendale to tip off the merchants who came to his port and let them go.
"What about him?" he asked, remembering that Cersei had brought up the former commander of the City Watch.
"What gave you the right to remove him?" She demanded.
"His incompetence," Loren replied. "And he betrayed the last Hand of the King for gold," he added. "Tyrion assures me that his replacement has a spine that is worth more than a few coins. The city was falling to rot under Janos Slynt's oversight," he reminded Cersei. "I sat the Iron Throne not two days ago and food sellers came demanding protection after a baker was baked in his own ovens by an angry mob for overcharging. Order must be restored. Stannis Baratheon is a skilled soldier. Renly may not be, but he is a jouster. Skilled soldiers and jousters know if your thrust meets only softness and weakness, keep on pushing. We must be strong, or we will fall."
Cersei looked him over before nodding. "Very well, keep me informed of all developments." He nodded a lie and watched as she left.
She was replaced by Ser Gerold Lydden. Ser Gerold was a stout man, broad of thigh, arm and shoulder, who shaved his head and face fully to avoid the distractions of grooming. He was also the head of his soldiers, the Hand's personal guards. "My Lord," he said. "The foodsellers in the city have brought the prices you requested."
He nodded, holding out his hand, Ser Gerold placed a scroll in his palm and stood back. "Are there any men of note?" He asked his knight.
"A few knights and men at arms are worth recruiting. I have found four archers as well to be added to your personal guard."
Loren nodded. "Ensure their loyalty, then offer them placements. I'd rather have them myself than let them be gobbled up by my sister or one of the others."
"At once, my lord," he said, bowing and turning on his heel. As the door shut once more, Loren unfurled the scroll. He had fixed the price of varying foodstuffs in the city to allow the people to buy it, as long as there was food to buy. The sellers had complained, but he had told them to bring the actual prices to him, that the crown may pay them the rest of the cost once the war was done. His sister would likely complain, but if they won, it would be just one more debt to pay off, if they lost it would be one more debt for whoever defeated them to pay. First he had to make sure that these prices were right, if they weren't... if they were upping their costs so they would get more money from the crown... he might have to send for Ser Ilyn and make a few examples.
His mind drifted back to Casterly Rock, to Tion, Lelia, Joanna and Myrielle, their smiling faces he had been too long without. And to Alysanne, the wife who was ever dutiful and loving, even after he had run from the Rock. When this war was done he would be with them again... if he won that is.
