Chapter 5
Robert 2
King's Landing - 296 AC
That night after dinner, inside the King's solar. King Robert wondered about his latest debacle with Jon Arryn while sipping his cup of wine slowly.
...
"That's not everyday I heard both you an Cersei agreed to a same thing Jon, but seriously? Casterly Rock?" asked Robert while raising his eyebrows. "I thought you once said that Joffrey should spend some days on Winterfell, but..."
"Because you just revealed that you planned to betroth Prince Joffrey to one of Ned's daughters, Robert." said Jon Arryn with serious face, so serious that Robert himself noted about his usual 'Your Grace' end up slipped to 'Robert' again, not to mention how Jon ends up exuding disappointment all over his face, just like when he first heard about how Robert ends up fathering Mya Stone back when he's still thirteen.
Robert gulped, "But then, even if Jojo end up knocking one of Ned's daughter, that would not against the end result of the marriage plan, aren't they? And speaking of which, Jojo is freaking ten years old Jon, he is not yet..."
"NOT YET? You actually EXPECT your son to..."
"Hey, that's only fair, he's my son and he does took after me. Nothing is wrong with that, some bastards wouldn't hurt him, I..."
"Robert, let me be very frank to you. Have you never learned of anything? The rumors about you aren't exactly flattering in that regards, and the numbers of bastards you fathered are BOTH the subjects of ridicules and end up being the leverage the Lannisters has used, and will continue to use against you." said Jon Arryn coldly. "And there's the mention of how the influences around Prince Joffrey end up formed, you know, with people like Tyrion Lannister and Renly being the closest of your son's friends and de facto mentors, aside of him also being the Kingslayer's Squire, of all things."
"Wait what? Jon, that's not my son's fault he ends up being close to his uncles. If you only brought the Lannisters, I could understand your concerns, but... Renly? Seriously? The worst thing my son Jojo get from him are his fabulous fashion sense." said Robert in confusion. "Sure, he also brought Loras Tyrell to Jojo's circle, but that's not something..."
"And you dismissed the reports about your brother's... unnatural... behavior with said Tyrell boy. And the fact that the Tyrells want to come to visit here soon, can't you connect the dots already Robert?"
"Now that you brought it, what's the harm of a simple visit? Oh sure Jon, I knew about the daughter of Mace Tyrell that would also bring here. You don't think my son would settle quickly with her aren't you? Sure, maybe Jojo would bed her and get her a bastard or another, but meh, if Jojo don't want to marry her, he's free to..."
"And repeat in essence what happened to Lyanna Stark?" said Jon Arryn.
"WHAT? Jon, do not brought that thing again to my mind!" Robert reflexively stand up from his seat and started to seethe. "This is different, and if anything happened to Margeary, everyone will note that she went willingly! Just like Delena Florent, or..."
"And some still whispered that Lyanna went willingly with Rhaegar. Strike me down if you dare Robert, but I just want to prevent something bad to happen to your family if you don't recognize the early signs out of it." said Jon Arryn while Robert sit back on his chair and drank some gulp of wine to calm his nerves. "Not you, and certainly not Prince Joffrey, could be exempted if someone impregnates a Lord Paramount's daughter and trample upon their honor."
"Joffrey isn't promised to anyone yet Jon." said Robert, trying to be as calm as possible. "If something like that happened, wait..."
"And the Tyrell would end up dictating the terms of the marriage to your son." said Jon Arryn with a sigh. "Your Grace, I myself never preferred the Lannister outside of what we must do for the good of the realm. But this time, even the interests of the wiser parts of the Lannisters align with us."
"Heh, you've implied that my wife Cersei is 'among the wiser parts' Jon, did I misheard you or..." sneered Robert.
"Lord Tywin does, your wife, Cersei, is only required for her consent, but from the point of his arrival at the Casterly Rock, Lord Tywin would be assured to try to rein some sort of much needed discipline into the mind of Prince Joffrey." Jon Arryn said while looking out of the window toward the sea. "The other person I gauge capable of providing that is your other brother Stannis, but your actions estranged him much already, and he might not have the required patience to deal with your son, who act exactly like your younger self, just more obnoxious about that."
"You brought up about fostering Jojo in Dragonstone to Cersei?" Robert raised his eyebrows.
"Just as necessary distraction, you know. If I brought the possibility of fostering Joffrey at Casterly Rock, the Queen might think that as attempt from her own father to curb her influence at the court, and would fight against that. Joffrey is not as close with the Queen as his younger siblings, but the Queen do fancy herself of being good with him. With the choices being Casterly Rock OR Dragonstone, however, she would naturally think Casterly Rock as far more pleasant choice for her own sake." Jon Arryn smiled. "And as far as you knew, the Queen is not exactly on her best terms with Tyrion Lannister, and we also knew the same about Lord Tywin Lannister's relations with the Imp. While in the end, we essentially trade a Lannister influence for another Lannister, Lord Tywin would be better compared to said Imp, in the end."
"I understand Jon... but this... Why not Winterfell?" asked Robert.
"As much as I would like that in theory, you already wreck it the moment you said about your hare-brained plan to betroth Joffrey to a daughter of Ned. He might think highly of you as foster brother, but I also knew Ned well, and he would not tolerate well about a goodson who made his daughter grief with said womanizing attitudes." Jon Arryn said while looking into Robert's eyes. "Your actions in particular, did not bode well with Lord Tywin Lannister. I do never expect you to stop being yourself, I just expect you to be more discreet, but here my hopes are dashed, and everybody knew that the King and the Queen could barely stand each others' presence. Having Prince Joffrey fostered by Lord Tywin Lannister would also regain some of his goodwill, instead of trashing it even more by having his disfavored son end up with access to Prince Joffrey's ears."
"... sure Jon, your plan does make a lot of sense." said Robert. "Please give me time to think about it."
"As you wish, Your Grace. And by the way, if you want to still betroth Prince Joffrey to one of Ned's daughters, why not having him being a disciplined Prince who knew one or two things about discretion, rather than, frankly, the younger blonde version of yourself?"
...
And so, this night, instead of spending his time with some floozy, King Robert sat alone in his solar, wondering on how he shall proceed with Jon Arryn's proposal.
If both Jon and Lord Tywin Lannister actually has the same interest, why not having them have a go at it? And as far as the terms being drawn, nothing would go wrong upon it, Robert thought. The agreement to let the Queen to only visit Jojo once a year would be good enough, the formal reason would be to avoid Jojo to be softened by his mother's pampering, but the true reason in Robert's mind is the one to curb Cersei's influence from their son. Lord Tywin would also agree with the de facto ban on Tyrion Lannister AND Renly Baratheon from visiting Casterly Rock outside the schedule, with Tywin hating Tyrion being an open secret, but well, maybe Renly is necessary sacrifice because his fashion sense is too fabulous for their own good.
Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer himself, however, will stay as part of Jojo's entourage. Formally to be both present as Kingsguard, and finishing Joffrey's training as his squire, and to appease Lord Tywin's demand. Robert just never knew on why Jaime Lannister refuse to return to Casterly Rock and staying a Kingsguard, even when dispensation is just a letter away, but considering that he actually has done a very good work of training Jojo into such fine fighting prodigy himself, perhaps after Jojo is knighted as Ser Joffrey, Robert could formally offer Jaime to end up returned as Tywin Lannister's heir, framed as reward of good service on training the Crown Prince into such fine, if very tricky warrior. Lord Tywin would then agreed on that case with side effects on erasing around half of the debt the Iron Throne owed to House Lannister.
The torn look on Cersei's face when she learned about the final details about Jojo's fostering on Casterly Rock is very understandable though, Jon Arryn might already done the trick making Cersei thinking that the decision to foster Jojo at Casterly Rock is her own pick, but maybe she just realized now that this involve her being only able to meet her firstborn son after a year, and then rarely at best. Her end up freak up and bothering the Kingslayer about everything reminds Robert of how his own late Mother (blessed her name) used to bother his retinues before going fostered to the Eeyrie.
It would be done soon, hopefully before Mace Tyrell arrived at King's Landing. Even Lord Tywin agreed that binding the crown prince that early would be counterproductive at best.
Robert drank more of his wine while looking gloomily outside the window. Time do flies fast.
And he caught something, like moving shadow, crawling? or climbing? At the side of the other window in the dark of the night.
"WHO'S THERE?" Robert shouted and said shadow moves fast and climb even higher, disappearing from his sight by climbing the supposedly smooth surface of the castle wall, leaving only some faint yellow ripple marks who quickly disappear from the wall, which puzzled him some, but the possibility of some kind of assassin or spy. "GUARDS!"
Ser Barristan Selmy and Ser Mandon Moore swiftly move into the solar with their swords drawn, and they called even more guards to their attentions.
"There might be intruder at this castle!" said King Robert while pointing out toward the outside of the window. "I see him, or whatever it was, climbed the wall."
The ruckus happened in this night end up waking everyone in the Red Keep, and through sweep done by men at arms end up taking the rest of the night. With Three Kingsguards stayed together with Robert at all time, The other three end up guarding the Queen and the two younger royal children... And Jaime Lannister end up promising that Prince Jojo would be fine and after some time, appeared with very drunk looking Sandor Cleagane and very dishelved and also wine-drenched Prince Jojo at his side.
Everything seems fine, but Robert did not want to took any chances.
So the morning come, and several guards looking at the wall where King Robert first took notice of the 'intruder', with no other witness, and much to their surprise, found no mark of being climbed at all. The wall end up still relatively smooth and there are no obvious signs of climbing efforts like rope marks or something around that.
"I don't feel as if I was drunk Jon." said Robert toward Jon Arryn at the morning, "But even that, it is definitely real."
"Our current suspect is that a faceless man has slipped inside the Red Keep. But to climb the outside of your solar like that... and to climb vertically on the smooth stones as you describe. Is downright impossible feat without some sort of inside assistance such as with rope or something." said Jon Arryn.
"Nobody are permitted to get into the lower levels before the searches are completed, and anyone suspicious has their face forcibly pinched and searched to look for possible impostor." said Robert. "Everyone who come from the upper levels end up searched for mask or disguises, even including my son and the hound, who somehow getting drunk their asses off on the uppermost balcony. No suspicious things are found."
"I hate to said this Robert, but are you sure you are not drunk?" asked Jon Arryn.
"... better safe than sorry, eh Jon?" questioned Robert rhetorically.
"And both Prince Joffrey and Sandor Cleagane did not notice anything about that, despite from what you said, the shadow apparently climb using some sort of yellow ripples on the wall directly upward near their positions. Well, they're drunk, but if what you said was true, it could be an attempt against the Prince's life." said Jon Arryn.
"Cersei practically shouts at her whitecloaked brother to guard her son with his life, or something to that extent, or else." Jon Arryn said softly. "If not for the possibility that this might be a very serious assassination attempt, I do thought that as amusing. And if this turned to be a false alarm..."
"Oh well... what Jon?" asked Robert while fidgeting nervously. Was he drunk that night? "How's the report of the surviving Dragonspawns and Dorne?"
"That's too early for that conclusion Robert, honestly." said Jon Arryn. "While that's true that Viserys Targaryen apparently has settled in relative comfort as a some kind of sellsword at Braavos, he didn't seem to be the one who would hire an assassin to do his dirty work."
"The fact that he apparently tamed a mysterious sand monster in place of a dragon should be a sign enough that he wanted his father's throne back. If he dare to finally sent assassins against us, we would send our own!" said Robert.
"And if not? You do not want to disturb a beastmaster who successfully repelled Dothraki raid on Pentos more or less single handedly. True, his sand monster is not a dragon, but we shouldn't take chance to disturb him." said Jon Arryn.
"Hmm... maybe this is a chance though, we could speed up sending my son to Lord Tywin. Jojo's grandfather would definitely spend the best for his protection, and unlike this pit of snakes, Casterly Rock is firmly under Lord Tywin's control." said Robert.
"Agreed Your Grace."
NOTE : Dun. Dun. Dun. Did Viserys somehow get ahold of some coffee flavored gum, or something?