Floris
She gave her daughter a kiss. "Thank you dear," she said, taking the flower out of Elaena's hand.
Elaena turned away from her, giggling as she did, and Floris felt a little thankful as she put the flower in her hair as she often had put flowers into the girls that were once her brother's daughters.
Of late, it didn't seem like there was much that could make her glad.
She wondered why war had to be so cruel, to pit her brothers against one another.
Robert had been gored by a boar, and now Renly meant to go to war with Stannis. The thought of her younger brother trying to fight Stannis had scared her to no end. He means to tear our family apart, and there is nothing I can do about it.
The most Floris could hope for was that her children would not come to harm. She and Willas would remain at Highgarden with their babes, but she still worried.
Willas would be going with them too if he could. It had been just after the Rebellion that Lord Arryn had made their betrothal, when she was still just a girl herself. Floris could still remember just how excited she had been at the notion that she would one day be the Lady of Highgarden, and rule by the side of one of the highest lords of Westeros.
Back then, Willas had been a promising lad too, being well trained at Highgarden as his brothers later would be. But that all ended little after his twelfth nameday when he had been crippled in a jousting accident.
At first Floris had been disappointed to learn her husband was now to be a cripple, and even for the first several years of their marriage, but Willas was kind in a way that most gallant fools weren't she had learned. Each of her sons she hoped would one day grow into knights as great as their uncles, and kind as their father at least.
She had been sitting alone, sewing, but Floris decided she needed to do something else. To find time to be alone in the castle had been a struggle of late, but she knew that it wouldn't be so hard soon. Renly had announced they would begin marching on King's Landing within the fortnight.
Floris wasn't sure who or what she was looking for, but she decided to go find someone. She supposed Harwin would be with his wetnurse still, and Alester at his lessons, but Elaena and Royce must have just been playing around, or they had escaped.
In any case, they weren't who she wanted to see now.
When she looked out the window she could see the main practice yard where men trained at arms every day. In the center of it, she saw Alester practicing with who she guessed to be the Stark boy from how the direwolf was there too.
The two seemed quite evenly matched, and Floris decided to turn away.
She remembered as a girl how jealous she had been of her brothers, how they got to have swords while she got needles to sew and knit. Robert and Stannis and now Renly would get to lead men to war at the head of great armies, with men singing of their victories while her battles of the birthing bed won her no glory or songs.
Once she'd even tried to sneak into armor in the training yard to train amongst the men, but Uncle Harbert had caught onto her ruse quite quickly, and that had been the end of that.
Floris decided that it was her brother she wanted to speak with, and she began to seek him out, walking through the Main Keep to look for him. Now that her brother was a king, he was often distant, but when she wanted to see him, he always found a way to make time for her at least.
He should if he wishes to keep that silly crown atop his head, she thought ruefully. She had hardly thought it wise for her brother to crown himself king, when Stannis was older, but he hadn't listened.
Her good-father had only wanted one thing, which was to make Margaery a queen. Once they had learned the truth of who the father of Queen Cersei's children were, Renly and Loras had sought to make certain once the truth came out that Robert would take Margaery to wife, but now Robert was dead, and Stannis's older sons were all married, and that had only left Renly, claimless or not.
She had tried to urge them away from the folly. Stannis was certainly not without his friends, and even if Queen Cersei's children were not of Robert's body, that still would not make Renly the King.
When she had told her brother that he would be known as a usurper though, he had only laughed. 'Robert was a usurper too. If he lived with it, then so shall I.'
Floris had almost wanted to slap him for that. Perhaps Robert was a usurper, but he hadn't usurped his own brother and nephews at least.
Her brother was a fool, who surrounded himself with men who pleased him, but Floris could see through most of them. Renly was gallant, and beloved by the people, but behind his back she sensed few of his lords truly loved him. He didn't seem all so different from the Tyrells either in truth.
She could see her good-father's game plainly as well, how he had managed to arrange for Loras to be a squire to Renly at Storm's End, and for her to marry Willas as a way to get close to the Crown, before he set his sights even higher. To have a daughter be Queen of Westeros.
He was an ambitious man, Lord Mace. To trust in the flattering of men, and almost blind to the disdain some of his lords had for him. When it had come time to find a bride for Garlan, it had been her and Willas who had arranged to marry him to Lady Leonette, rather than the Lannister of Casterly Rock he had gotten it into his head would be a good match.
It was Willas that she found first, reading, but when he saw her pass she closed the book and invited her in. A little reluctantly she entered.
Willas was handsome, nearing almost a man of five and twenty, but shorter than both his brothers, because of his leg. She remembered how when Alester was growing in her womb, how she had prayed day and night for a perfect son that would look just like Willas. But when the Maester had placed her son in her arms he had her same black hair and blue eyes.
She had found herself disappointed when her next two children had been the same, looking much more like her than Willas. They had hair as black as coal, just like Stannis's children and Robert's bastards, but it was only when Renly had visited Highgarden it had suddenly made sense to her.
When she had learned she was with child again, it hadn't come as a shock to her that time. Renly's children with Margaery will be the same too, assuming he ever has any.
In truth she wondered why her good-father had been so eager to marry Margaery to Renly. He wasn't like to marry another woman, and if he died without issue it would be her sons who would follow as king afterwards.
But some men were just fools.
"How are you?" Willas asked her, running his hand through her hair. He had always loved her hair, and hadn't been so disappointed when their children had come out with heads of black hair.
Floris took a few moments to answer. "Well," she finally said.
"Have you seen the children anywhere?"
"Alester is out in the yard practicing, and Elaena was just with me. She gave me this," she said, pointing to the flower in her hair, a red rose.
"Should we find them?" He wondered.
Floris shook her head. "Soon enough we'll have them and the castle all to themselves," she told him. Willas would be the Castallen of Highgarden while his father was away, leaving him in charge. She couldn't say that she wouldn't think it an improvement.
He nodded. Before they could say anything more, another figure entered. It was Maester Lomys, carrying a letter in his hand.
When he realized that it was her and Willas, he started to turn away. "Wait," Floris called to him.
The Maester turned back to them, with a troubled look on his face.
"Can we see the letter?" Floris asked.
"It would be better if your brother or good-father-" Lomys began before Floris interrupted.
"I'm the King's sister, and Willas is the future Lord of Highgarden. We can read a letter just as well as they can," she told him.
Hesitantly he gave her the letter, which bore a seal she didn't quite recognize, with red wax. But there was another seal that she guessed quickly enough, grey wax that seemed pressed into a wolf on top of the button.
"Where is this from?" She asked curiously. It must have come from Winterfell, but she wasn't certain who would be writing to them from Winterfell save for perhaps Myrcella.
After considering the seals she broke them and opened the letter and began to read. It was from Riverrun, and for just a moment she wondered if the Young Wolf might have been writing to declare fealty to Renly, but she realized it wasn't that quickly enough.
When she put the letter down she was shocked. Willas had read the letter too, and he looked at her with confusion in his big brown eyes. She wanted to say something to him, but she didn't know what to say.
"I need to find my brother," she finally said, picking the letter back up again. She didn't wait for Willas to get up or follow her, or explain herself further.
In the end she found him where she supposed she should have looked for him first, in Lord Mace's audience chamber, holding a court of sorts. It seemed the petitioners were almost at their end when she entered, though a newly arrived lord was swearing fealty to him.
When the lord had finished swearing his fealty, Renly saw her and the two shared a look with one another. He seemed to understand that he needed to speak with her urgently, as he rose from the chair he was sitting on.
"This session is at its end," he announced to them, and she saw his queen rise as well as they started to walk down, towards her, and others began to leave the room.
Queen Margaery was a pretty girl of five and ten. She had tried to urge Lord Mace to marry her off to some other man, like the young Florent lad who had instead married her cousin Desmera, that might give her happiness but Mace Tyrell would have none of it. Hopefully he does not thing to make Tyanna and Elaena queens too.
She waited as Renly spoke privately to several others and even sent Margaery to go off her own way, while he came to her. "I need to speak to you… Alone," she told him.
He seemed to notice the letter in her hands, and must have guessed it was about that. "As you wish," he said to her, and the two of them walked out from the audience hall together.
As they walked, he was King, and she was the wife of the Heir to Highgarden, but once they were alone he removed his crown, and they were Renly and Floris once more.
Her brother was a beautiful man, and certainly looked the part of a king, but so had Robert for a time. "You are a fool," she told him, placing the letter in his hands. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
He seemed confused by it, and took the letter, and began to read. When he looked up, his face seemed to show disbelief more than anything, as though he were not sure whether or not to laugh.
"The Young Wolf crowned Prince Rhaegar's son?"
Floris nodded.
Renly didn't seem as troubled by it as he should have been. It was almost as though it were an amusement to him. "Stark will bend the knee to us soon enough," he said. "We have his brother, remember?"
"No less than the Lannisters have his sister and mother. If he won't bend the knee to the Lannisters for their sake, he won't bend it to you for his brother's either," she said.
"Stark is not a threat. While he and Lord Tywin wage their war it will only clear our path," Renly insisted.
Are you really so blind Renly? "Those lords of yours are not your friends Renly. Rowan, Tarly, Fossoway, Penrose, Oakheart, Crane, and all the rest fought against our brother. They aren't like to have been so quick to forget their loyalties as our good-father was, and the rest that haven't will want to support Stannis. Perhaps one in five of those lords who named you king will remain true to your cause when you are forced to face them."
Floris felt scared almost. For herself and her children for a certainty, but most of all Renly. That crown of his is like to get him killed.
"Stannis is not a threat. He'll bend the knee or be destroyed, and Dorne-"
"-Isn't to be relied on," Floris finished. "Prince Rhaegar's son is Prince Doran's nephew too, or he'll support our nephew, but he won't support you."
"What would you have me do then?" Renly asked. For a moment she saw almost a look of pleading in his bright blue eyes, like he would sometimes give her when she came to him with his troubles as a boy.
"Bend the knee while you can," Floris said to him. "Aegon will surely allow you to remain Lord of Storm's End, or Stannis…" Even the Lannisters would be better, but she left that unspoken.
Renly shook his head. "I can't," he told her.
"That crown is going to be your doom brother," she said pointing at it. "Melt it down while you can… If not for your sake then for mine." The thought of her brother dying was too painful. They had always been close as children, after mother and father had died while they were still young, and Robert and Stannis being so much older than them. She could still remember how her brother had cried on her wedding day, as Robert had given her away to Willas, and how she had tried to assure him that it would be alright, that they could still see each other often.
Her brother simply remained silent, and Floris felt a tear in her eye that she started to wipe away furiously.
She remembered why Renly had crowned himself, beyond wanting to be Queen. He feared that Stannis would replace them, make one of his sons the new Lord of Storm's End, and replace House Tyrell with another house more to his liking.
Floris had tried to assure him that Stannis would do nothing like that but he wouldn't listen, just as he wouldn't listen to her now.
"Please…" She pleaded.
"I'm sorry Floris," he said to her, as he started to get up and leave.
When he closed the door behind him, she started to cry, wondering when the boy she had loved had changed into this stranger. If he wouldn't listen to her, then she didn't think he would listen to anyone else then.
As much as she hoped that Renly could win, all she wanted was for him to be safe. If he failed and died, it would only be worse. If he got a son by Margaery then she was certain Mace would crown the boy, and if not, he'd put a crown on Alester's head, no matter how much she tried to tell him not to.
Would you be satisfied with his death? Or would Royce need to die too, and Harwin after him?
Floris wished that she could run. Take her children and Willas, and ride along the Mander until they found a ship. She wondered where they would go though.
The Arbor seemed best she decided, where Willas's uncle ruled as Lord. Surely he would give refuge to them, and both his sons were hostages of the Lannisters in King's Landing, so he would not crown them. If not there, further away then, to Stannis on Dragonstone or one of the Free Cities. More than anything she wanted her children safe.
Suddenly she heard the door creek open, and a head poked through, with black hair. It was Alester that stepped in. "Why are you crying mother?" He asked curiously.
Floris tried to wipe away her tears. For you sweetling.
Her son came to her, and gave her a hug, which made her smile a little. She thanked the gods at least that they had given her children as sweet as their father.
She kissed Alester and let him sit on her lap. "I saw you fighting… You fought well," she told him, and he beamed with pride.
Floris looked her son over for any bruises, and saw a few on him, but nothing that was particularly worrying. She hadn't truly seen much, but at least the compliment made her son happy.
He was a tall boy for his age, and strong. Let him grow taller than me and his father, to know manhood.
She tried to assure herself that Stannis wouldn't hurt her children. Crowning Renly had hardly been her notion, and she hoped her brother would know that.
He isn't the one to worry about now, she realized. It was the new dragon king that truly made her worry.
Author Notes:
So I went back and did my first major rewrite in a while, which is switching Arianne's husband from Drey to Darkstar, and removing the bit about him remaining at Winterfell (which… Props to anyone who still remembers that, I myself kinda forgot about it), and making him the father of her daughter, Coryanne. We'll get to see that in the next Daenerys chapter I guess.
I want to be clear that Floris's thoughts on Mace are not entirely my own. Floris herself does perceive Mace to be a fool certainly, and while he is to an extent, he is more competent than people give him credit for.
Also, I guess I'm just not sure how I feel about the fact that I managed to crank out this 3k word chapter in pretty much a day without very much of an idea for what the chapter would be, but… Here we are I guess…
Thanks for reading of course, and for all your feedback. Even critiques help me out tremendously.