So, disclaimer at the very beginning. This is purely self-indulgent for me, which means I make no promises to complete it or if this has an actual ending.

This is post-Valor. It is a series of chronological one-shots, but it does not have everything in it. As in, each shot has time and distance between them and I will not likely explain the minutia. And they might be short in length. But I do think they are fun.

I am posting this as a present for the year's end and a new beginning.

Enjoy! And come say Hi


The Silver Prince and his Emerald Queen

But Azalea Sage loved her Rhaegar, and so the realm persevered.

Jaime I

Being back at Rock was good. Home always was. The court had been hell.

Tyrion had missed him and had probably made him recite about the new Queen's dragon several times over. Jaime had not realized how much he had missed his little brother. Or that he did not mind talking about the dragon or the queen.

There were hiccups.

The opening feast of Harrenhal and the conversation with Lady Azalea had shaken him. But even beyond that, the night had been horrible. He had never seen his father quite that mad.

His father had not been pleased with him about the Kingsguard situation. His father had also rightly deduced that it had been Cersei who had put forth his application. Nobody in King's Landing would be foolish or bold or influential enough to pull it off.

Jaime had quivered and kept her name out when he spilled his guts, trying to protect her. It had not quite worked that way.

Cersei was smart. Jaime had always thought that. But his father's withering glare was enough for anyone to cough things up.

She did cough up but she had spun a tale of Jaime forcing her to do it. Jaime had been shocked and hurt.

Her father had yelled at her for not being able to gain Rhaegar's affections. And then taking away his heir.

I would be glad if my heir were capable of those machinations but he is not. You are not as good a liar as you think you are. You put the Lannister legacy in jeopardy, Cersei.

She had thrown a tantrum. How she was her father's heir. How she was to be Queen. How she had to marry Rhaegar. How their father had failed her.

She was to marry Rhaegar? What about Jaime and her?

His father had come close to slapping her. Jaime supposed that he only didn't because everyone said that Cersei looked like their mother, whom his father had loved dearly.

We can save it. We can poison her and I can be the queen.

She sobbed. He had never liked Cersei sobbing but at that moment her hate-filled gaze, his father's anger, and their plans had all but paralyzed and numbed Jaime.

She saved the Lannister legacy. I won't hurt hers.

His father had returned in a measured tone. Cersei was shocked. Jaime was not because:

A Lannister paid their debts.

Cersei was to leave at the crack of dawn the next morning and be on house arrest. She had fixed him with such a look of hate that Jaime had staggered as she was taken away by maids.

And then Uncle Kevan and Aunt Genna and father had surrounded him.

"You said she talked to you, I want her exact words, Jaime. Do not trifle with me," Father had said.

Cersei's hate and his father's severe tone and expression overwhelmed him.

And Jaime had spilled with unshed tears in his eyes, word to word, everything she had said.

Honor, what he was giving up, trapped in the capital with Targayens, The King and Tywin's equation, the burning realm.

"She said that the realm would forget a single defeat of a green boy but it would not forgive or forget if I started something…"

"And she told you about it indirectly Tywin so that Jaime could not win." Genna would complete, putting a supportive hand on Jaime's shoulder.

The three siblings had exchanged significant looks.

"You will not disappoint me again. You will do as she said. You will lose." Tywin had said.

Cersei was shipped home with Aunt Genna. Jaime did not try too hard to see her. She was on house arrest completely until her Father figured out what to do with her.

In the end, his attempt at bad performance was unnecessary. So were the knights his father paid to unhorse him.

The Mystery Knight was exceedingly good. And of course, it had to be Azalea Sage.

And she accepted the royal command for marriage.

There was no mention of Kingsguard anywhere in the blur of the wedding announcement.

For once, his father did not mind the loss of limelight.

Jaime had been under strict guard and watch since then. One move out of line and he knew that Father would make him pay.

He had been angry at everything and everyone. He loved Cersei. He very dearly loved her. And while he had thought of being with her, she was concentrated on Rhaegar. He could not shake that look of hatred. He had seen it before, being directed at Tyrion, at lesser people, but never at him and Jaime could not cope with it.

He hated the world that suggested that they could not be together.

He hated Rhaegar for being the one that Cersei wanted to be with.

He hated his father, for not being there, for being absent and hard and so demanding. What was Jaime supposed to do?

He hated Cersei because she hated him.

Most of all he hated Azalea Sage Lightbringer. He did not even know why he was angry at her.

She had been right. She was marrying Rhaegar. Father would have waged a silent war on Targaryens for stealing Jaime, and Cersei would have no business in the capital.

He would have been alone in King's Landing, away from everyone he loved.

But he still could not shake his anger. Why did she have to meddle?

It was in the Great Council that his father would divine something.

"She is in love with Rhaegar and he with her, that's all there is to it." His father had told Uncle Kevan.

"Cersei…" Ser Kevan would hesitate.

Cersei would harm the Lannisters more by becoming queen. She would not have Rhaegar's favor and even if she did, she thinks she is smarter than she is.

His father had supported Rhaegar's claim and he could have demanded his sister marry the prince. But he had not.

His father was not wrong. Azalea Sage was more beloved in the realm under six moons than his sister ever was.

She was very beautiful. Even Jaime knew that despite being partial towards Cersei. She was an honorable warrior. She had a dragon who obeyed her. She was an excellent tactician. She was merciful but also ruthless. Even his father was hard-pressed to find a fault in her and Tywin Lannister had a high bar. Her only fault was that she was not a Lannister and someone who his father could not easily manipulate.

He had not run into her at the court or the coronation. She had been at the backdrop. But she was there.

His father had new things to discuss with Uncle Kevan every day.

It was not until the royal wedding that he would approach her. It was not without personal trepidation and nudging from Uncle Kevan. He had to act the part if he were to regain his father's favor. It would have looked odd if the Heir of the Rock had not asked the queen for a dance.

She had known about Cersei and him. And she had not told anybody. And she had not even reproached him for the incestuous relationship.

He agreed with his father. She was so hard to read and utterly infuriating.

Learn the game, Jaime Lannister. There are more dangerous predators than Lions.

That sentence had haunted Jaime for days. It still did haunt him.

She knew her way around swords. The King knew his way around swords. They were both so noble, so knightly. And so much in love with each other. She could be with Rhaegar and Jaime could not be with Cersei.

And then she had to go and help Jaime. She had to do it consistently during his time in the capital. She had to be kind. Ladies were supposed to be courteous but she had to be kind.

Jaime's anger had ebbed away by the time he was traveling back to Casterly Rock. She was trying to teach him, to give him tools. Nobody had done that before. Always telling him what to do.

One day when they broke for camp, his steps would find his father's tent and make him ask.

Teach me the game, Father.