Eddard

Vayon Poole entered Eddard's new chamber. Ned had moved to Jorey Cassell's apartment after quitting his position as hand of the King and leaving the tower of the hand.

"My Lord" the steward called out. Ned looked up, expecting good news.

"I found a vessel that leaves in three days my lord."

"Tell the captain I will give him a Valyrian steel dagger if he leaves on the morrow."

"I will do so at once my Lord." He bowed as he left the room.

As Vayon Poole left Eddard stared at the massive tome that sat at the left end of his table. The histories and lineages of the great houses of Westeros it was called, and within its pages was the reason for Jon Arryn's murder. Ned didn't like leaving that as a mystery but now he knew it was one of the Lannisters, or could Robert have done it? Maybe the fat King grew tired of Jon Arryn's counsel. Ned Stark knew he was tired of counseling the King.

It was a battle to make the King lock up his master of coin. Pycelle, Renly and the King, wanted to pardon Littlefinger. Varys was silent. Littlefinger had no real talent for making money, his only talent was to borrow and everyone in that room knew it, yet Pycelle and Renly both sang praises of how he could conjure money out of thin air. Littlefinger spoke at the end and claimed that he was irreplaceable, that no one else in the seven kingdoms is as well acquainted with the iron bank as he was. Ned was about to resign when Robert finally decided to send Petyr Baelish out of the small council chamber, instead of having him arrested as Ned suggested which compromised Ned's authority among the members of the small council.

Then came the battle Ned never thought he would have to fight and that battle had made him resign from his position as hand of the King.

The Targaryen girl was always going to become pregnant. If it wasn't a Dothraki Khal it would have been a traveling merchant. Yet the King seemed to believe that one child from her womb would end his reign. The small council was not helpful at convincing the King to spare the girl, only Ser Barristan spoke against the murder of that child. The small council was so full of heartless men that Ned even began to think the Lannisters may have been innocent of Jon Arryn's murder. None of the men in that room would think twice about poisoning Jon Arryn if they thought he was hindering their agenda.

Darkness began shrouding his apartment, Vayon Poole had come and gone informing him that the ship would leave tommorow morning if he paid them with the dagger and a hundred gold dragons. Afterwards his daughters came to ask him about his day before they went to sleep. Arya was happy when she heard that they were leaving but Sansa was more morose. Ned felt bad for her. She had gained nothing from her journey here but the death of her beloved dire wolf. At least Arya had found a sword Master, Syrio Forel.

The next morning there was a knock on the door as Ned prepared to leave for Winterfel.

"Open the damn door Ned." Ned wondered if the King had come to take his head as he had vowed to do so the day before. The King was flanked by Ser Barristan Selmy and Ser Arys Oakheart.

"Damn you to hell Ned." The King said as Eddard opened the door. "I dismissed my master of coin from the small council chamber for you and you dishonored me by throwing away the title I gave you!"

"If you keep a lying man in your council, eventually he is going to put a knife to your throat." Ned replied.

"All men lie, I know you don't so don't start. If I throw every liar into a dungeon I won't have a kingdom to rule."

"It's not about stopping them from lying it's about sending a message. If a man can lie to me and get away with it then I am no longer a man that commands respect in your small council, and a man that isn't respected cannot be hand of the King." Ned replied

"Then take your damn respect," he held out an outstretched hand. In it he held a parchment ordering the arrest of Petyr Baelish."And take this as well." Robert pinned the badge of the hand on Ned's shirt. That only made Ned angry and they began arguing about the Targaryan girl Robert wanted to kill.

Littlefinger

Petyr could not believe he had been arrested. He had always made the fat fool happy. Whenever Robert would ask for coin Baelish would have it and the King never bothered asking where he got the money from. Everyone liked Littlefinger and everyone had defended Baelish but the King's word was final. He did not expect the King to value Ned Stark so much that Robert would throw Petyr in a dungeon.

He could've had Tyrion abducted before he reached King's Landing of course, but Varys betrayed Petyr and did not inform him about Tyrion's arrival. So now he has been imprisoned by some fool drunk on power and wine.

The game of thrones is tough to play when you don't have an army. Petyr reflected silently in the solitude of his cell. I made one mistake and now I'm about to lose my head. Lord horse face could make mistakes if he wanted to, men would line up to forgive him and women would spread their legs wide open if he asks. They did that for Brandon. What reason did Hoster Tully have to give her to Brandon other than the fact that his father was a great Lord? She clearly was in love with me. Petyr remembered the face Catlyn made when she first saw the womanizer from Winterfel and realized he was lying to himself.

He then remembered that Eddard was the opposite of Brandon in everything but his face and height. Where Brandon howled with laughter and hooted at women, the Lord of Winterfel would stand there silent, sulking, judging and unforgiving. Yet Catlyn loved the man all the same. When she met Eddard at the brothel she wasn't giddy with excitement or lust the way she was when she first saw Brandon. The love she had for Eddard was different, the stone man that stood before her seemed to take all her worries away.

I could have been your stone man Catlyn, I would have been your wild wolf. Baelish thought, deluding himself.

Eddard's eyes never smiled when he saw Catlyn though, the man never smiled. Never so much as grinned at anyone's jokes, not even Robert could make the man laugh and yet Robert threw Petyr into a dungeon for him.

Janos Slynt walked into his cell as Petyr lay on the floor of his dungeon writing stories in his mind about how his life would be different if he was a man of higher birth.

"My Lord I bring news from the castle." Janos said causing Petyr Baelish to sit up.

"Why do you bother? I have no power anymore." Petyr wanted an honest answer from Janos that could actually be believable. He did not want to hear anything that wasn't related to gold.

Janos Slynt walked closer and began speaking in a hushed voice so that no one else in the dungeon could hear what he said.

"Eddard Stark may have been given power by the King but the men don't like him. He's cut the pay of the Gold Cloaks and fired twenty three of our gaolers."

Ned the fool, he needs the City Watch but he gave them back to me.

"Go to my castle in the Fingers and take as much of my gold as you can. The small council cannot be allowed to find it." The gold in his castle was proof of the gold laundering he did and the joyless stone man would find out about it soon, if he bothered to read the accounting book.

"My Lord, the hand has already sent men to claim you treasures." Damn it I thought the man didn't like to read. Petyr hoped Stark would be as slow at finding out about the money laundering as he was at realizing that Cercei's children were bastards. I mean they look nothing like Robert. I did not even need the book to realize they were not Robert's children.

When Petyr first saw the book on Eddard's table he was sure that Eddard would know the truth soon enough, but soon days turned to weeks and the man still did not see the glaring truth. The only reasonable explanation was that Stark did not like reading.

Baelish told Janos Slynt to send a message to Lysa and to request an audience with Cercei.

Catlyn's beloved Ned stopped by the dungeon to meet him a later that day. His eyes were like grey stone and full of contempt.

"I was only going to keep you here for a few days, I had to arrest you. I can't tolerate dishonesty even though I know you meant well." Eddard said in the dry monotone voice that made Catlyn's womanhood wet.

"So, have you come to release me?" Baelish asked with his best smile even though he knew the answer Ned Stark was going to give.

"No, I asked Vayon Poole to look at your account book and we have found that you had misappropriated the Crown's coin." I knew the oaf didn't read, he had someone else do it for him.

At the beginning Jon Arryn checked his account book and Littlefinger kept his records clean with not a single copper unaccounted for, but eventually the Crown's dept kept getting bigger and Jon Arryn stopped caring and Petyr got lazy and stopped covering up his unsanctioned spending.

"What will be my punishment Lord Stark?" Petyr asked.

"You can either choose to be executed or you can take the black." Eddard replied with his cold, stern face. She'll never love you as much as she loved Brandon Petyr thought

"Well although it would be an honor to be executed by Lord Eddard Stark I would rather go to the frozen hell up North." Baelish said smiling. Arresting Petyr Baelish was a mistake of course, he had big friends, he did not tell Lord Stark that though. Petyr Baelis was afraid Eddard Stark might even laugh at him if Petyr tried to reason with the warden of the north.

"You chose well my Lord." Lord Eddard said before he left the dungeon.

Baelish dreamt of Sansa that night. He dreamt of burying his face in her luxuriant and soft auburn hair that was so similar to her mother's. How Lord horse face made such a pretty daughter he would never know.

Tyrion

It had been a week since his sister had sent for Tyrion and told Jaimie and him that Lord Stark knew that her children were bastards. Apparently Littlefinger had told her that the hand of the King planned on exposing their children's bastardy from the confines of his cells in hope of a royal pardon in return for this information. Tyrion did not like the idea of pardoning Littlefinger, if he knew about the scheme, he was likely a part of it until Eddard decided to throw him into a dungeon. His Lord father Tywin, however, is a man that rewarded men that betrayed his enemies, however late into the conflict it might be.

If the information Littlefinger gave was true, the Lannisters would have to act now, maybe with poison or a crossbow. But if the information was false, killing Ned will just bring down the wrath of the King. The big man already suspects Joffrey for hiring the catspaw and he might suspect Cercei for the untimely death of his beloved Ned, which meant he might disown Cercei's children. Tyrion knew he would. All the thinking Tyrion could do did not matter as Lord Tywin had already decided what to do for the three siblings. The plan is to prepare silently and wait.

Tyrion hated Cercei and Joffrey but could not forgive himself if any harm were to befall Tommen and Myrcella. So Tyrion began working tirelessly to ensure they had more men than Lord Eddard in the Red Keep. He had hired a dozen sell swords and talked with Baratheon bannermen about prince Joffrey. Most of the men seemed unaware but some talked of how the boy looked nothing like his father. He paid the clueless ones to run errands for him in the river lands. He dispatched twenty men that way.

Next Tyrion went to talk to the low ranking Stark man next and found that they proclaimed undying devotion to Joffrey rather easily. They could never be sent away from Lord Stark's side but when he offered them gold dragons in exchange of promising to never lift a sword against the prince they took it casually as if it were silvers. He thought he was doing well with the north men until one remarked with a serious face, that he now had enough gold to buy a turnip in winter. That's when he realized the gold was wasted on the north men. When Tyrion asked a north man if he would swear fealty to Joffrey on a heart tree, he replied that there are no heart trees in King's Landing.

There were fifty Lannister men in King's Landing and Tyrion had ensured the loyalty of one hundred goldcloaks with gold. Over the last three days his father had sent twenty of his men to the red keep in small groups to avoid raising suspicions. There were one hundred and eighty two men loyal to the Lannisters at King's Landing. and if they had one more week there would be two hundred and twenty two.

Eddard

Ned had named Vayon Poole as temporary master of coin. While Ned was not hand of the King, Robert had decided to hire a faceless man to kill the poor girl and now the crown was seven million gold dragons in dept, a million golden dragons more than just the day before.

Vayon Poole had started writing letters to the Lords and Ladies of the Seven Kingdoms informing them that their taxes will be increased henceforth. He also cut the pay of the City Watch and fired unnecessary employees. Vayon Poole has predicted that the crown will be debt free in about fifteen years if Robert doesn't throw extravagant tourneys every month.

Tyrion Lannister had sought an audience with Eddard once Robert had gone hunting. He came in saying how sorry he was for the loss of Benjen then proceeded to talk about the wall and how it needed men and repairs.. Ned had heard his words before. They were the same words Geor Mormont used when Ned visited the wall with Benjen and they were the same words Yoren had used yesterday to ask for more men.

Tyrion put forth his own ideas next. Tyrion wanted to transform the Night's Watch from a prison to a three year compulsory service for all men in the Seven Kingdoms. Eddard Stark only told him that it would not be possible to Tyrion Lannister's confusion.

"If you allow men to leave the Night's Watch, you will allow hundreds of rapists and murderers to return to the realm and if you don't allow them to return with the rest of the men they served, they will get angry. Those men's talent for violence is better suited at the wall." Eddard said trying to explain why Tyrion's plan won't work.

"But your son would be able to come back home if you accept my proposal." Tyrion said, still not understanding the reason for Ned's rejection of his plans.

Tyrion proceeded to talk about how Jon was a well mannered young man and how Robb was hot tempered when he went to Winterfel, probably because he suspected Tyrion sent the catspaw. Ned sent Tyrion away before he could distract him from his duties with more pointless talk about Ned's family.

Ned missed his family of course, but he could sense plans have been set in motion and he needed to be ready. Many plans, too many plans all set in motion at once, Varys has a plan, Arya saw two men scheming to kill me, Pycelle has a plan and Maester Luwin has some secret too. The Maester spent his life studying the higher mysteries and forged his Valerian steel ring only to deny the existence of magic at every chance he got. Maybe Luwin knows as much as Ned, maybe he knows they can read his mind.

Since Littlefinger had been arrested the Gold Cloaks have become more hostile towards Stark bannermen. Ned knew the cause of course, Jorey Cassel had recommended that he should keep Stark men as guards to the dungeon entrance to see who are Littlefinger's allies and they had seen Janos Slynt and the Queen enter the dungeon as well as Mandon Moore. Littlefinger had probably told the Queen about their investigation, and the Queen was probably going to set her plan into motion too. Which meant Eddard needed evidence to get the support of the Baratheon bannermen.

Luckily enough Sansa was a very observant young girl, and when she innocently told Eddard that Joffrey looked nothing like Robert, that was the moment he realized. He flipped through the pages of the big book to the Baratheon family tree to only find black haired blue eyed portraits staring back at him. Whenever the Baratheons wedded a blonde their child would always have black hair and blue eyes. This is what I needed Eddard realized. The Queen had Jon Arryn killed after he found out the truth by looking at Robert's bastards.

He had to tell Robert's bannermen, but which ones to trust. He decided to start with Thoros of Myr. He was always drinking with Robert and seemed to be a close friend. If he were to betray me, then let Robert be damned for not making a single trustworthy friend in 15 years as King. Ned thought

He called Jorey Cassel. "Summon Thoros of Myr to my solar." He said.

An hour later Thoros arrived dressed in red silks, he had his sword in his scabbard and carried a thick red book.

"Do you have questions about the Lord of light, Rhollor, my Lord?" He asked presenting the red book to Ned.

"No, I have questions about your loyalty to the King." Ned said bluntly.

"My Lord I am a good friend of Robert and I drink to his health every day." Thoros reminded Ned of Robert, and it was hard to doubt his loyalty.

"Good, Robert needs loyal men near him. Daggers are coming for him."

"Who are? My Lord." Thoros asked with concern in his face and voice.

"Let show you why they will try to kill him then can figure out for yourself." Ned Stark pulled out the massive tome on the lineages of the families of Westeros and flipped to the page about the Baratheons.

"Look over here, this Baratheon married this Lannister and their children have black hair. This one too." Ned pointed to more examples of where the stag bred with a blonde to produce children with black hair as Thoros watched in silence.

Thoros finally spoke after Ned was done talking. "Robert had always told me the bitch never let him touch her, I guess this was to be expected. What do you plan to do Lord Stark?"

Tyrion

When Lord Stark had sent a letter to Cercei summoniing her to the God's wood, Tyrion was certain that he had summoned Cercei with the intent of arresting her in there. Tyrion had warned Cercei to not go and had pleaded with her to wait for the Lannister men to ready for battle but Cercei had decided to trust Lord Stark. Jaime and Tyrion both had no choice but to follow her expecting an ambush, but to his surprise he found Eddard Stark all alone, sitting under a great oak. His grey eyes,usually cold and reserved, shined with empathy that day.

"Your children are not Robert's." It was a statement and not a question. To Tyrion's horror his sweet sister admitted to all of it, she had admitted to the incest before Tyrion could deny it and she had admitted to trying to kill Bran before Jaimie could challenge Lord Stark to a duel.

Apparently the reason Cercei was summoned was because Lord Eddard Stark wanted to spare them, he wanted to give her and her children the chance to flee the city before Robert returned. The man doesn't realize what would happen if his plan fails. Tyrion realized. In Another week or so the Lannister men would outnumber men loyal to Robert and Eddard's coup will fail and his family would suffer for it.

But then again, in another week Robert would return with old Ser Barristan at his side. Barristan was three and sixty. A maester would be glad to live to Barristan's old age but even now Tyrion thought there was a chance Ser Barristan could beat Jaime in a sword fight. He seemed like a character from the age of heroes and Tyrion would have never believed the tales of his deeds if the stories didn't come from, his Lord father, Tywin's mouth.

During the war of the nine penny Kings, Barristan won the final battle single handedly when he cut his way through the golden company and slew Maelys. He had also rescued Aerys single handedly from Duskendale and slayed two armoured guards in the process even though Barristan wore no armour. When Barristan left that night to rescue the King, Tywin had hoped that Barristan would fail and he would be able to crown prince Rheagar but Barristan had foiled Tywin's plan.

Barristan in his white cloak was like the avatar of the stranger, the face of the faith of the seven that represented death. For once the siblings of Casterly Rock agreed, Robert had to die before he could tell Barristan to kill them all.

Varys

I'm sorry Lord Eddard, I'm a bigger ally than you can possibly know but I cannot let you win. If you win, Stannis will rule and Stannis will make the kingdom strong again. Aegon needs the kingdom to be weak. Varys walked up to Renly's apartment and begged for an audience with the dying King's brother.

"What news do you have for me Lord Varys." Renly asked politely.

"I bring grave tidings from Dragonstone, my Lord" Varys answered looking into Renly's eyes with his own eyes full of grief. It seems your brother has taken to liking burning queers, thieves and murderers alive." He didn't know if the men he killed were queers but Renly won't know that

"I guess you have heard of my meeting with Lord Stark and have come to me to convince me to take my men and leave king's landing. Who have you told?" Renly asked while contemplating whether or not he should kill Varys.

"I didn't need to tell anyone, Lord Stark has told the queen the truth himself in a bid to save her children from Robert's wrath." Renly didn't seem surprised and instead chuckled to himself, probably because he remembered the day Lord Eddard tried to save the Targaryean girl.

"If what you're saying is true then this coup is doomed and if I return to Dragonstone my brother will burn me. Why are you trying to help me? Lord Varys."

"When I was a small child in Lys I was captured by the red priests and they cut off my genitals and burnt them. And from the fire a voice spoke." The memories came rushing back to Varys, the pain, the blood, when his manhood touched the fire he could feel the fire burning through the skin though the part had been detached from his body.

Varys stood there transfixed by the past when Renly apathetically asked.

"What did it say?" He asked with a mocking smile on his face, his blue eyes twinkling with feigned interest.

"What it said is not your concern! The point is I don't have any love for the red sorceress Stannis has with him and I would gladly see you or the Lannisters sit on the throne instead of him!" Renly was surprised to see Varys lose his composure in such a manner. Varys had an ulterior motive for wanting Stannis to lose of course, but the reason he gave was real. Tears began filling his eyes as he felt the ghost of his manhood constrict in a unnatural manner that left his head buzzing with pain for an appendage that was no longer there.

"I'm sorry I must leave." Varys said before turning to leave Renly in stunned silence.

Now that he had ensured the the Stark men would be outnumbered, Varys had to make preparations to save his life when he loses.

Eddard

The day Ned had dreaded had finally arrived Robert was dead and he had given Eddard the regency. It was up to Eddard Stark to reinstate the rightful ruler upon the iron throne.

The day hasn't got off to a good start. Renly had taken seventy of his brother's loyal bannermen and fled King's Landing leaving Ned with only a hundred and seventy loyal men in the Red Keep. There also seemed to be a drastic increase in the number of Lannister soldiers in the red keep even though he sent his men to the gates of king's landing to keep the Lannister men out of the city. This will be a bloodbath. Ned thought.

He thought of his daughters who were still inside the city. He vaguely recalled telling the Lannisters that he was better than them because he doesn't kill children. The Lannister never rebuked his accusation, what has he been doing keeping the girls here Ned will never know. I have to win. Ned realized

Once the King had died Eddard had called for a small council meeting held in the tower of the hand. Barristan Selmy, Lord Varys and Vayon Poole were in attendance.

"What is the purpose of this meeting Lord Eddard? I have to resume my vigil at the King's funeral."Ser Barristan asked him with his face full of grief.

Barristan will be on our side when he knows the truth and when he does the kingsguard might listen to him and make our life easier.. Eddard thought.

"We are here to discuss the content of Robert's last letter." Eddard replied.

He passed it to Barristan Selmy for him to read

"I'm glad to hear that a man as competent as yourself will be assuming the regency." Ser Barristan said as he passed the letter to Varys.

Just after he spoke the sound of men shouting and steel clanging against steel was heard throughout the tower of the hand. Jorey Cassel came up to the meeting soon afterwards to tell them that the men were fighting.

"I must go to the King's side at once." Barristan said.

"Stay by my side Lord commander, I need a King's guard knight to take me to the King's side." Eddard replied.

"You are right your grace, I must guard you." The Lord Commander stood up to wait for Ned to wear his armour

"Vayon, explain to the Lord Commander why the men are fighting."

The men were not supposed to be fighting yet of course. But tensions flare in situations like these and it cannot be helped. Vayon Poole set the huge tome on the lineages of lordly families before Ser Barristan Selmy as Jorey Cassel helped Ned into his armour. Ned was sure Varys already knew why the fighting was taking place, but he still looked at the book as if he was intrigued by it.

"As you can see here every time a Baratheon has taken a golden haired partner in marriage, their child has had black hair and blue eyes." Vayon Poole explained. Ser Barristan's eyes lit up when he realized what Vayon Poole was trying to tell him

"Are you suggesting that the children of the Queen are bastards?."

"Yes my Lord, Tommeth send in the bastard."Vayon Poole ordered the guard The guard came back with a tall muscular boy wearing plate armour painted in Baratheon gold. In his left arm he carried a bull's horn helmet he had crafted himself and in his right he carried a war hammer. The boy was the spitting image of Robert when he was battling in the trident. Ser Barristan stood up, his mouth gaping.

"Gendry tell the Lord commander how your mother looked like." Eddard ordered him in a quiet but firm voice.

"She was blonde my Lords." Gendry said. Ser Barristan slammed his fist against the table in despair.

"If Cercei's children are bastards, is it my duty as a King's guard to put the rightful King in power or is it my duty protect the boy the King raised as his son?" Barristan's uncertainty about his duty was an unpleasant surprise to Eddard.