After the fighting was done and everyone returned the king and the lords of the realm all had huge smiles on their faces. This might not have been a war but it sure felt like it and the simple fact they could exercise in such a manner, remove the stress of lordship in such a way, was enough to make all of them glad.
If one were to look from the outside they would see that the king hasn't smiled so broadly and cheerfully for a while now. He was extremely content with himself, this was exactly what his life was missing.
The thrill of a true fight with his brother in all but name by his side.
When they were approaching the castle's main hall they were all stopped to get the count about their 'injuries'. You could hear Rob Star asking Theon and John who they managed to hit and the king was beside Ned, the two feeling like they were back in the Vale all that time ago, getting into fights and then returning to the castle with a huge smile and the knowledge they had managed to be victorious over whatever fight they got themselves into.
However, when they entered back in the halls of Winterfell, the lords of the North, Ned, and the king all froze in place. That being due to Jaime Lannister, knight of the kingsguard, being held down by Valemen while the eldest son of Tywin Lannister was without his cocky smile, one eye already black by this point.
On the side, one could see the Queen trying to reach out for her brother in hysterics while Joffrey was calling for the heads of all Valemen, to burn them all. Seeing this the king turned to look for Tigre who was grim-faced in a corner, by his side was Tyrion who had Myrcella and Tohmen by his side, calming the two crying children down.
"What in the bloody hells is going on here!?" The king shouted, his voice so loud it broke through all the chaos and the shrieks of Cersei and Joffrey.
When everything was quiet the one to speak first was not Tigre or even Jaime, but Cersei.
"What is happening is treason! This insolent and treasonous beast must be put down for touching my brother!" She said while pointing at Tigre who did not speak up. Cersei, in her self-righteousness, did not notice the darkening of Robbert's glare at her calling the only son of the man who he considered his father a beast.
That fact was not helped when he turned to Tigre and asked.
"What happened exactly, lad?"
Tigre then simply told the truth of things.
"During the fight I pestered Ser Jaime and the Lannister camp with arrows. Ser Jaime managed to get to me and we began to fight properly with our swords, but in the middle of combat, he took out a dagger and tried to pierce my heart. I thankfully avoided it and had it not been my squire's quick thinking and actions I might have perished in his hands." Tigre said, and just like that, the king glared bloody murder on Jaime's direction.
He moved to the knight and, without a second thought, punched him so hard on the face that he lost his two front teeth which he spits out on the floor.
"You honorless piece of shit! I would have your head for it if not for you being family." The kind said furiously. He then proceeded to spit on Jaime's face, the action such that the guards were stunned. That moment in which they were stunned was just long enough for Cersei and Joffrey to bypass them and reach Robbert.
Cersei tried to claw at his face, but he just held her hand right before it reached him. He then proceeded to slap her so hard she went to the floor. Joffrey, who had just gotten close, spoke up.
"Y-You can't do this! As a prince, I say you can't do thi-"
SLAP
Joffrey too was slapped to the ground just like his mother, the boy not able to comprehend what had happened as he looked dazedly at his father.
"You are prince, but I am KING of the Seven Kingdoms! What I say, counts, so you better not go speaking nonsense, boy." Joffrey cowered at hearing this, not willing to speak anything anymore. That gave Robbert time to turn to Jaime who was trying to attack the king, his eyes burning with fury at what he had just seen.
Robert, seeing this, had come to a decision.
"You, Ser Jaime, are no longer of my kingsguard! You killed your previous king, you tried to kill the son of the man I consider my father, and now you glare murder at me, you are not worthy of being a kingsguard. No, that is not enough. I will right a wrong that should have been fixed a long time ago! I king Robbert Baratheon, first of my name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm, hereby revoke all your rights as a knight! You are the greatest disgrace of all knights of the realm, the worst excuse for what a knight can ever be and forevermore you shall be known as such." The king yelled at his face, he then proceeded to move to the white cape of the kingsguard on Jaime's back and rip it out by force, hurting Jaime's neck.
Jaime, however, could not take Robbert calling him thus so he called out.
"A failure?! I saved the lives of you and of all of those in the Rebellion army!" He said, making the king and everyone look at him in wonder.
"Explain." Eddard said, no one was paying attention to him before but if one were to look they would see how his hands rested clenched on the hilt of ice, just waiting for an excuse or an order from the king to decapitate Jaime where he stands. He, much life Robert, considers Tigre as something between a nephew or a younger brother due to their relationship with the late lord Arryn. The fact that Jaime had tried to kill a Lord Paramount while in the North, in Winterfell, and it was Tigre only made his dislike for Jaime grow exponentially.
Jaime, showing his typical smirk even as his mouth had blood on it and his front teeth were missing, spoke.
"Do you all know what the mad king did on his last days of rule? Why he put the head of the alchemists as Hand of the King? I can tell you all why, he put WildFire all over Kingslanding. On every key location, he stashed hundreds, if not thousands, of bottles of the substance. Had I not killed him after he had ordered me to take my father's head he would have set it all alight. All of kingslanding, every part of it, would have burned with you all inside! I SAVER al of you, and in exchange, I got known as kingslayer and looked down upon."
As Jaime finished saying that everyone was quiet for a moment and then a buzz of murmurs everywhere started, everyone talking about this revelation and if the information was trustworthy.
However, just as some of the lords mellowed a bit towards Jaime, thinking he might have saved them, the sound of mocking claps could be heard.
Everyone turned to the source and saw it was Valentina who was calmly clapping at this development. She moved forward, her pose as she walked was such that many could confuse her for a queen and Cersei, who had finally managed to compose herself again, looked at Valentina with anger and resentment, especially when she remembered the words of so long ago from Maggy the Frog.
'Queen you shall be... until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.'
The thought of that prophecy and the appearance of Valentina, just as it was with any of the other girls with Tigre, was enough to make Cersei fearful and furious at the thought they might one day replace her.
Valentina, seeing the fury in Cersei's eyes, actually smiled at her which made the Queen even more infuriated. Valentina didn't care as she directed her attention to the king.
"My majesty, I am afraid to say but Jaime Lannister here is lying." Valentina said, making the former knight grit his teeth in anger as he spat out.
"I speak the truth."
"No, you really don't." She then turned to the king. "You see, while working from the Vale with the help of Tigre we helped the former hand of the king with some matters regarding infrastructure. John Arryn actually wanted to help Kingslanding infrastructure regarding its cisterns and drains in hopes of improving the life quality in the city. While it did not succeed as we had hoped we did began the work and while we did so we had to investigate the underground of the city. While the projects did not work we did obtain some understanding of the underground and we never found any traces of wildfire."
Valentina, of course, was lying as she did find the wildfire, but she had long since taken care of it and now the city had none of it stashed away. Even if someone were to search in hopes of proving Jaime's words, they would not find anything.
But, for the king and the other lords there, these words only cemented the idea that Jaime was a liar, and a liar of the worst type.
Of the type that is caught lying.
"You little golden shit, I feel ashamed of having you like family. You not only attacked a weaponless boy during a spar, you even made this sort of excuse to try and look good, you coward little shit. Be glad I am not taking your head, Jaime Lannister, the lying coward."
"Lying shit." One of the lords of the North said. Cersei glared at the lord, but it was only her since the other Lannisters and Westerman were looking down in embarrassment. Especially when other lords started chanting it.
"Lying coward."
"Lying coward."
"LYING COWARD."
"Jaime Lannister, the LYING COWARD!"
The jeers only grew worse and the king told the guards to throw Jaime out of the castle, not wanting to see him anymore.
"No, no you can't do this! You can't take my brother away from me! Guards, Lannister Guards!" Cersei shouted and despite knowing this was a bad, BAD idea, the Lannister Guards had to obey. "Take those beasts away from my brother!"
The Lannister men, seeing no real choice, moved to do as they were bid. However, there were a few things worthy of notice. First, the number of Lannister men in the hall was only 15 and the number of soldiers of the Vale in the hall was about 40. Second, they were not expecting this act so they were not fully equipped while the Valemen were all equipped perfectly and to the teeth. And finally, after Tigre returned he took his bow back so he was fully prepared for anything.
Not that this was needed as Robbert shouted loudly.
"EVERYONE, STAND DOWN AND STOP THIS MADNESS NOW!" as Robbert said that the Lannister soldiers stopped and so did the Valemen. Taking a deep breath the kind spoke. "Lannister soldiers, you will pack your things and you shall escort Jaime Lannister back to Casterly Rock. Tell the old lion he can have his precious little shit back, but he is not and will never again be a knight!"
The king then turned and left, wanting a moment of peace after having his good mood ruined so thoroughly by Jaime's stupid actions. Even IF he were to believe Jaime took out a dagger out of reflex he still took out a dagger and tried to kill a Lord Paramount during what was effectively little more than a spar.
That he did so while being a kingsguard, thus representing the crown, only made it many times worse. This could have started a war and Robert knew that Tywin Lannister would likely want to make some complaint about bad mouthing his son, but he lied to his king in a stupid manner to get some honor back and was found out lying just like that. He had made excuses when there were none and was now a stain on the Lannister name.
Tyrion, on the side, could only wince. He could not predict what his father's reaction to this would be, but it was entirely possible that he could try and get some sort of revenge for this insult, most likely against the Vale as Tywin would see no point in going after the king as his grandson would be the next king. Tyrion, however, was not stupid.
While he was not fully sure what the extent of the current military might of the Vale is, he knew enough. He had visited many times due to Sofya and he had seen the Vale army and navy before, he did not know how good the Vale generals would be but he certainly would not be an easy nut to crack. If anything, Tyrion was quite sure the Vale was at least the equal to the Westerlands while they had more staunch supporters from the Stormlands, North, Dorne, and the Riverlands. Meanwhile, the Westerlands had no friends whatsoever due to his father's own actions and hubris.
Honestly speaking, Tyrion knew that his grandfather would have likely ruined their family due to being too soft, but Tyrion was fairly confident that Tywin might do just the same due to his arrogance.
'I feel that perhaps I should go out there on a tour throw the Free Cities, that should help me not get killed.' Tyrion thought amusedly, not really thinking he would do so but liking the thought of leaving his father to do as he pleases. Since having a kid of his own Tyrion had gone past his desire for approval by his father. He now could care less about that, only worried about what was best for his own family.
He was also fairly sure that Jaime would be fine. No longer being a knight would be a heavy blow, sure, especially since Jaime's whole life was centered on this singular aspect and no longer being one would certainly sting something fierce, but he did something really stupid and he was only lucky the kind didn't completely strip him of all his titles and noble rights, but being known as a liar and a coward would make it where, no matter what, he would never be able to control the Westerlands that well.
The next day, Ned accepted the offer to be Hand of the King and one week later left for kingslanding besides the Royal Procession. The Queen and the Royal children were notably distant, Myrcela and Thomen sad about their uncle, while Joffrey was furious over the fact his 'faction' during the mock battle got the least results, which he cared far more than what happened to Jaime, while Cersei felt like the world was falling apart due to how her brother was no longer there with her. Her mind imagining how she would extract her revenge over this act.
As for Tigre and the others, they decided to return first to the Vale before heading to Kingslanding. They could easily return with the Royal Procession, but on this last week, they heard of how unbearably slow they moved and that Cersei convinced Robert to go in the Westerlands for them to talk to her father and explain everything to him over what happened.
The king accepted this without much care, in his honest opinion the longer he spent away from the capital and that accursed chair the better. Tigre wasn't sure how good an idea this would be, but Valentina assured him it would be fine.
Tigre accepted her word for it, he might not fully believe in her but he knew that she wouldn't try and scheme against him. Not when the fate of the world was literally on the balance. Well, that and she honestly grows to care for Tigre enough to not end up killing him for amusement.
And of course, the fear of actual divine retribution and being killed by the Faceless Men if she tried anything to displease their goddess certainly helped keep her in line.
Valentina could see through what the Queen intended, either kill Eddard Stark in Casterly Rock and make her father Hand, and with him, Jaime going to the Capital, or killing the King and proclaiming Joffrey king then and there.
Honestly, Valentina was fairly certain both moves would be scoffed at by Tywin Lannister and her ideas promptly ignored. That Jaime had gotten a bad reputation to the worst degree would certainly displease the old lion, but he got his heir back and the one to do the stupid things one after the other was Jaime anyway. He should instead be just grateful Valentina hasn't revealed that the Royal children are actually bastard children.
Meanwhile, Tigre and the other's plans on how to deal with the dragons' situation would not work quite as they wanted. The reason being an event that was about to take place in Essos, something big.
Pentos burns, the Golden Company changed commanders to the former lord of Griffin's Host, John Connington, and he sacked the city. Taking in the sacking more than just gold and slaves, but a dragonness, a lizard, and three eggs.
While, on the far North, Mance Raider found a certain horn, the Horn of Winter, and, with this, his host of 70000 grew 4000 new heads, Giant heads. And with this new addition more and more people moved to join him. Many, many more.
AN:
Chaos, a tempestuous storm will be growing everywhere and if you thought the War of the Five Kings was bad you just have to wait for how bad things will be in the coming future.
Jaime got the worst dishonor possible, the king just not killing or maiming him because the old lion might try and revolt should that happen. But remember, in Westeros being a knight is a symbol of respect, of honor, and having it taken away like this will certainly make everyone look down at Jaime quite a lot. I could have done more, but I honestly like Jaime.
It is like the character Adrastia say in Discordant North (a fanfic I totally recommend), Jaime is a perfect example of someone who could have been the classic white knight in shining armor, but his father, sister, and reality screwed him over so much he is just a wreck right now.
As for Essos, some of the people with Tigre will still go there, but what they will do remains to be seen. John Connington and a fake dragon have now what they need for the prophecy of Rhaegar, but how will this go for them? We will have to wait and see.
And as for the Beyond the Wall, Mance Raider now has 4000 giants, and, with the power of so many giants, more tribes are willing to listen to him and follow him. His host will be even larger than 100000 that was in CANON.
I am even having to wonder, will it possibly be necessary for Tigre and the Vanadis to obtain their Viralt (Draconic Tools) and Black Bow again. Well, getting them would not be hard, Valiria had control over many of the cities across Essos and the Black Bow certainly look like something to be in Ashai or Vollantis, places of worship by H'loor. Well, I will leave the decision making for you all, should I give them these weapons or not?