Merry Christmas everyone! I meant to update my "Lions in the Red Keep - A room for lions" fic next but I'm a bit writers blocked on it atm. Hopefully soon.
This here is a fic I posted on AO3 years ago. Feel weird publishing it before Golden Age is done just as felt weird publishing it then, but alas. You can either pretend this is the future conclusion of Golden Age or read it as a stand alone.
Cersei looked on with pride as her eldest son's arrow pierced the stag right between the eyes and the crowd cheered loudly.
Beside her, her youngest child held a big fat cat close to him, and she quietly scolded him that a royal feast was no place for a cat, but she smiled and did nothing to remove said cat.
"Mother, will you play cyvasse with me later?"
She turned towards her only daughter. "I don't know how."
"I'll teach you. Please, mother!"
She smiled. "Of course then."
Her eyes opened and suddenly she was somewhere else. A medium-sized bed with emerald-colored sheets.
She cracked a bittersweet smile as she realized what had happened; she had dreamed a long sweet dream where Jaime was her husband and Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen were all still alive.
The three she had dreamed of were indeed dead, but the sister they would never meet was alive and well, as was the babe, or babes the healer suspected, kicking her incessantly.
Perhaps soon she would again have multiple children to hold in her arms, to catch butterflies with during the day, and sing to at night. Not that she would ever forget her first three. Her daughter was not yet two but already she could see some of each of her children in her. She was bold and unafraid, just as Joffrey, yet she had Tommen's kindness and love for animals, in particular cats. She looked the spitting image of how Myrcella had at this age; except her golden curls were wilder, and no matter how often Cersei ran a comb through it they never looked well kept.
Her daughter and her future children were her whole world
No, not her whole world. Almost her whole world.
There was her Jaime. Her sweet sweet Jaime. Her brother. Her best friend. Her lover.
Her husband.
Life was good now. She was happy. How could she be so? Just last night she'd done the work of a servant, washing dishes and pots with Jaime. She never would have thought it possible. Her, Cersei Lannister, happy living without any power, without a palace, without anything but her child, Jaime, and their modest six-room home.
But she wasn't Cersei Lannister anymore. Nor could she ever be again. The Dragon Queen was dead, and the Bastard shipped off to The Night's Watch, but it was still too risky. She still had enemies all over, many she didn't even know their identities, but they hated her because of the sept, and still, others who hated her long before. The Stark girls, one of them rumored to be in Essos at this very moment, were among them.
She was Saerlena Drumm now.
Saerlena. She liked the sound of it, and it fit the free cities naming traditions perfectly, and it wasn't all that common either. Just as she wouldn't find another Cersei, she wouldn't find another Saerlena.
House Drumm.
A small house from the Iron Islands, its sigil a bony hand on a crimson background.
The house words "From Death Comes Life." were so very fitting for them.
They'd seen death, and from it had come this new life, thanks to R'hilor, and a Red Priest hired at Tyrion's behest.
Thankfully no one but her had ever known any of his Qyburn's house or heritage so to declare they were of House Drumm was of no risk. She was proud to be a Lannister by blood and a Drumm by choice.
She was six and forty, married to the only man she had ever loved, Jaime Lannister, now Janos Drumm, living a quiet, peaceful, perfect life in Essos.
Well. An almost peaceful and perfect life. Peace from war and strife, she certainly had. Peace and quiet on the other hand...
Having a very active and loud twenty-month-old who had as of recently started getting into everything was far from peaceful. And If her child wasn't waking her, then it was the incessant urge to piss. Being pregnant was not fun, especially at her age.
Jaime, gods bless him did his best to help, but he was often busy tending to the garden or animals, work he for the most part did on his own.
She rolled over, taking in the scent of the empty pillow next to her and hugging it close to her. Briefly, she considered going back to bed and getting more sleep. But the light was already filling into the room, and when she shoved aside the curtains she could see that the sun had fully risen and it had been morning for some time. It was time for her to break her fast and she was, she realized, quite hungry.
Jaime would likely be outside now. Days that he chose to not wake her had been becoming more common as her pregnancy progressed and he had taken to cooking extra in the mornings so that she wouldn't have to. He'd gone into town just the previous day to buy food and supplies so she was certain whatever he had made would be much better than their typical morning meal of porridge and eggs. Perhaps some freshly baked pastries would be waiting for her. She smiled at the thought as she headed to wake their daughter and start the day.
Please review. Have a few more chapters to edit, the next one is very sweet. And if you're wondering what Cersei's daughter's hair looks like think of a blonde Merida.