[A/N] - This Pre-Timeline arc is coming to an end. Which means it is voting time!
There are two ways the next arc can start. 1) We follow Trystan as he is now older and he goes with Robert and the Royal Family to the North. There will be a chance to see his character and interactions with the Stark children, especially Sansa (for they might or not might not be a future romance between them)
OR
2) We head straight to Tyrion's capture by Catlyn and Tywin's appearance in S01E7, going for small cameos before the true return of the powerful couple in the capital; with Joffrey as King.
Take your time to decide, for I will also need days to focus on my other stories and then of course; download the episodes and do more book research.
284AC – King's Landing, CrownLands – Seat of Power: Robert I Baratheon
After the coronation, Visenya and Tywin had returned to Casterly Rock; both were in a sour mood. However, a change seemed to be coming with favourable wind towards their direction.
Lyanna Stark was dead and Robert needed to marry, for the realm would need Heirs to continue after him.
Tywin had wasted no time to propose his daughter, Cersei, as an eligible bride. After all, she was at the proper age of 8 & 10; still a maiden. She had grown to be a beautiful woman, whose beauty could hardly be compared with her golden locks and bright green eyes.
John Arryn, the new Hand of the King, knew that the Lannisters were extremely powerful and rich. Unlike Aerys, Robert listened to the person he saw as a second father and agreed on the proposal, even though his own heart was still beating for Lyanna.
This is how the Lannister family had all arrived in King's Landing once again, merely half a year since the coronation. Tyrion and Trystan had also joined, as did Kevan while Gerion and Tygett had remained back at Casterly Rock. Genna was feeling unwell and had also remained back, to be looked after by her sons and brothers.
Visenya walked the halls of the Red Keep, no longer feeling as if this was her home. Changes already had taken place, many grand rooms now bearing the Baratheon Sigil and paintings portraying hunting moments.
Once, those halls were part of her home but not anymore. Now, whenever she thought of home she thought of the beauty of Casterly Rock. The marble floors and the smell of the sea as it crashed against the cliff.
She was walking proudly, a red dress matching the shade of the blood she had spilt across the years with basic jewellery bearing similar gems. Tywin had chosen well, making sure that she would represent all the strong and beautiful aspects as the Lady of their House; and she did.
Servants stepped out of the way, some being more familiar to her in faces and some were rather new.
The sound of a woman shouting made her come to a halt in front of Cersei's chambers, hearing her voice as she screamed and cursed at someone. She motioned for her escorting guard to wait outside as she opened the door and entered.
A brush was thrown her way but she moved her head to the side, allowing it to hit the wall at her left instead. The room inside was upside down, clothes and items were thrown to the floor while a maid was slowly cowering away from an enraged Cersei.
The maid looked at Visenya with fear in her eyes, pleading for help and the Dragoness let out a rather heavy sigh of disappointment.
This family sometimes thought and focused on the young girl. "Go and speak none of this. I will take it from here"
After what she witnessed, the maid did not dare to disagree and merely slipped through the door like a scared mouse. The door closed behind her and the two women were left alone in temporary silence.
"Are you done throwing a tantrum?" Visenya asked, arching her white eyebrow.
She understood why Cersei would react that way, having been against the idea of the wedding. Truth to be told, Visenya did not like the idea either. From a political view, it was the perfect opportunity to fully tie their house to the Throne and increase their influence and power.
But from a more personal point of view, she did not wish to see someone that she considered family into the hands of the man she dreamt of killing most of the knights. She still wished revenge upon Robert, she wished disaster and pain; curses if one would call it.
"The Noble Princess has come to correct me, hasn't she? Did my father send you? Thinking I would be more willing to listen to my good mother?" she asked, venom and hatred evident in her voice but at that moment; it was not clear to whom it was directed to.
"I have come on my own but if you wish to remain alone, I will respect your wishes," she said and turned her back on Cersei, before marching towards the door.
"Wait" Cersei pleaded, causing her fingers to stop inches away from the door handle. "Don't go" she continued, her voice much lower tone to hide her embarrassment.
A ghost smirk played on Visenya's lips, having manipulated the young woman with relative ease. Cersei might not like her, might not trust her but right now she was a little girl about to get married.
She was a young motherless girl soon to give her maidenhood to a man she had never met and she did not love. At that moment, she did not wish to be alone and there was truly no other woman to stay with her.
Slowly, the Dragoness turned and marched her way. She walked with elegance, the air of royalty always around her even when she no longer bore any titles. That was a thing Cersei admired but also hated about her, feeling jealous of how easy Visenya made it look.
Just like her father, she commanded rooms with barely talking. She remained beautiful, powerful and no matter the circumstances not once did she show any fear or shame. Even when she walked to bend her knee, Cersei heard that not once did the talk of the crowd affect the Targaryen woman.
Visenya stopped in front of Cersei, the two women were of similar height with the primer just a tad taller than her step-daughter.
"I don't want to get married to him" Cersei finally confessed, her anger slowly subsiding as her emotions were getting the best of her.
She refused to shed tears, she refused to look weak but the faint cracking in her voice made it clear how she felt. For years Cersei grew up without a mother figure, she grew up with fake promises that she would be married to a powerful Lord or that she would find a way to be with Jaime instead.
Now, she was sold like a broodmare to the man with the most power in the room. She was not ready for it, she did not want to do it but her father barely even glanced at her or thought of what she truly wanted.
"I know and I do not wish you to marry him either" Visenya confessed, earning a surprised look from her. "However, we do not have the power we wish we did. Instead of hating the choice, better sit down and see the best that comes from it.
Cersei scoffed. "What good does it come from this marriage? Other than the price of my freedom?"
"Power" she reminded him, earning her full attention. "You will be Queen, Cersei and there will be no more powerful woman than you in the 7 Kingdoms. You will have the power, you will command, you will order and you will have the freedom to do things most women dream of doing"
The young Lioness listened carefully as her good-mother was explaining the cons of marrying Robert. They were things she had thought about it but there was something, in the way she brought them up; that made them sound far more important than they did in her mind.
The idea quickly planted inside her head, imagining how for once she would have the power. She would not be commanded by anyone, let alone her father. She would have the power to make decisions, her soldiers to command and she...she would be with Jaime again.
He was a King's Guard and he could be her protector. They would be together again and no one would be able to separate them.
"You talk as if the Queen rules but last time I checked, it's a fat man wearing a golden crown" she pointed out, her temper now in check.
Visenya smirked and kept her chin up high, a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. "The man might be the head of a family but the woman is the neck. She is the one, who in the end, controls which direction the head will turn" she said, gently tapping the girl's neck with one finger to emphasize her point.
Cersei looked at her with her lips parted in surprise, her voice silent but her green eyes did all of the talking. She had never heard of such words, she had never thought of marriage that way but now...it all made sense!
In her mind, she replayed how her mother was so certain she would stop Tywin from marrying the twins to the Dornish heirs. She brought up theories she had when she was younger, of how Visenya had made her way into their family.
She finally understood why she was always so confident in everything, why she had bound herself to Tywin in the first place. Women alone did not have any power but they could get plenty by controlling a powerful husband...and who was more powerful than the King himself?
In the end, the Lioness understood that her good-mother was right. In her own way, she had come and offered her the comfort she needed. She might not give the physical one of a mother but she did know how to use her words, to convey the message to the woman's cunning mind.
For the first time since she first met her, Cersei saw Visenya differently than she was used to. With her emotions still out of control and with the stress of the wedding that would take place the day after, the cold-hearted Lioness did something she hadn't done in years.
She embraced her good-mother in a tight embrace, a silent way to thank her for her words but also to get some sort of comfort from another woman; from a mother.
The Dragoness returned the action, bringing her arms tightly around the teenager's body and holding her close. One hand went to her golden locks, gently massaging her head as her chin rested on top of the head.
"It's alright" she said in a low tone, like a mother comforting a scared child. "You will be alright and you will make us all proud" she continued, her words passing through all of Cersei's lifted spiked walls and reaching straight to her.
The only other person, who had ever hugged her like that was Jaime, but he was more of a brother and a lover. Hers, on the other hand, was that of a mother and Cersei found herself truly missing such moments.
Visenya remained quiet, taking every detail of that moment and memorizing it. She had always been the one to comfort others, to comfort her sister mostly. The news of her death had taken a toll on her sleep and her mood, although a part of her expected it.
Her dreams had warned her and her sweet sister perished on the birthing bed, just like it had been foretold. It did not make the pain easier, especially when Visenya would look herself in the mirror and realize she was the last dragon left.
Her nephew Viserys and his newborn sister, Daenerys had escaped thanks to Ser Willem. They were the only thing keeping the tiniest amount of hope in her cracked heart, a faint light into the darkness as a reminder that not all of her family was gone.
However, that family was far away from them; safe in exile. She could not approach them, she could not find them but she could focus on the family in front of her.
On the day of the Wedding, as Cersei stood next to Robert and heard the Sept; she felt cold sweat down her spine. She was not ready to bind her life to a man she did not know, to bear his children and be away from home.
She looked around and her eyes fell on Visenya, who stood with Tywin and the rest of the Lannisters to the side. She had her head high but there was pride and power in her amber orbs.
She had her head high but there was pride and power in her amber orbs.
You can do this, they told her.
She glanced at her father, seeing true pride in his eyes after all those years of being ignored. Warmth filled her chest upon seeing two parents, proud of her for the woman she was about to become.
She focused back at the Sept and spoke her words with new confidence, the conversation she had with Visenya fresh in her mind. She would be the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and she would have the power no one else could have.
She was going to make it worth and she was going to take back what had been taken from her all those years because she was born a woman.
Unbeknown to Visenya, her conversation with Cersei might have shrunk the gap between them but had also planted darker ideas into the head of the Lioness; ideas that would eventually shape her character for the worse to come.
Casterly Rock, WesternLands
The marriage had been a huge event, the crowd cheering for the new King and Queen. The Lannisters had returned back to Casterly Rock, where they continued with what they had to do.
Now, there were only two children present those being Trystan who was 4 Tyrion who was 12. The dwarf had become rather close to his younger brother, often reading him books and having him follow him around the Castle.
If that were not the case, both boys would be in the presence of their mother; who was always happy to have them around. After her return from the Trident, Tyrion had noticed that she did not smile that often and there was this coldness in her eyes; sometimes looking more like her husband than her previous self.
She was still looking after them, she tutored them and let them be around but the motherly warmth she once had was partially gone. Often she would let them in the room with a book, mostly focused on handling the affairs of her House.
She spread her network of spies and allies, finding many more than were loyal to the Dragon even if she was under the banner of the Lion. She arranged deals, trade and new soldiers for the Lannister army with such efficiency; as if she was born knowing how to do it.
The mines kept producing gold and silver, the coffers as per usual overflowing and Lannisport was one of the biggest ports in Westeros; hardly falling behind King's Landing.
She did her job well as Lady of Casterly Rock and as Lady Lannister, acting more and more like a lion in the eyes of many. Eventually, she even became pregnant again before the year could end.
That seemed to bring back the spark of life she had let diminish from her loss of her nephew and even Tywin seemed to be in a better mood, even when he was around Tyrion. Trystan was excited to have another sibling to play and even the dwarf seemed to be looking forward to the event.
However, none would get their wishes.
Visenya was on her 8th month, about to enter her last one and once again her belly had blown. However, unlike her first pregnancy, there were complications from the beginning. An acute pain came and went far too often, unusual shortness of breath and even trouble eating full meals.
Maser Val, who had come with Visenya to Casterly Rock after her marriage; truly had no explanation of what was going on. He gave her milk of poppy and kept a close eye on her, suspecting that perhaps it was just a tough pregnancy or she carried twins and her body was trying to accommodate them both.
The answer came one day, when Visenya felt a pain she had never felt before. She had bent forward, her vision blurring and she would have fallen forward if Kevan had not been by her side and held her.
She could barely breathe from the pain, she could not focus but she could feel that something was wrong. Blood started to drop down her legs and it was not just a small amount, it was a lot...
If her first pregnancy had made her scream, this one made her shout loud enough to be heard even outside the Castle Walls. The pain she was in was harming her from the inside and she fought with the Maester, demanding to remove the child from within her because she could not take it any longer.
In the end, the baby was pushed out by her own body but it was not alive or even fully formed. What Maester Val held in his hands, was a baby too small for the month his mother was in. It had grown skinny and compressed, legs and hands having been glued to its side and its head was small.
Something had gone wrong while it was growing in her belly and after giving milk of poppy to Visenya, he did his inspection. The Dragoness had lost a lot of blood and it was a miracle she was alive so far. She was out of Danger by the time Maester Val stitched her but he had finally understood what had gone wrong all along.
While Visenya was pale and sleeping on the bed, Tyrion and Trystan were holding her hands and watching her with silent fear and worry at her weakened form. At the same time, Tywin had met with the Maester in his office and listened to the results of his examination.
"This sounds ridiculous" he commented, his mood sour after almost losing another wife to labour. "How certain are you of this?" he asked next, standing behind his desk with his hands behind his back.
"Very, my lord," the Maester said. "If what Lady Visenya had told me about her injuries is true then it makes sense. Her uterus has been altered by the blow. She can still bear children but the risks of both of them dying are only going to increase. Even if a child is fully formed and somehow survives, she certainly will not"
There was silence between them once again as Tywin clenched and then unclenched his jaw. "You speak none of this to anyone, is that understood?" he asked and the man gave at least half a dozen of quick head nods.
After almost a week, Visenya had recovered enough strength to move; although Val had advised her to take it as easy as possible for at least the first month. Tywin had been the first to see her once she was more aware and stronger but the news he bore was far from pleasant.
He informed her of what Maester Val had uncovered, what that would mean and what had caused it. Once he was done, Visenya was sitting at the edge of the bed and staring at the wall.
She did not know how to process it all, with what to start and what emotion to let out first. Should it be anger against Robert for ruining her? For taking away her chance to offer a sibling to her son?
Should it be a shame, for she was a broken woman? She could no longer bear heirs, she could not expand her family even if she wanted it.
Should it be disappointment in herself, for getting injured in the first place? Or perhaps acceptance for she was cursed like the rest of her family for the sins of her ancestors?
"Whatever you are thinking about it, quit it," Tywin said as he stood a few feet away and was studying her.
He knew her well enough by now to know what she was thinking, to what she was feeling when she pulled certain faces. In the outside world, she had the perfect mask but she could not keep it around someone as sharp as him.
"Quit what, exactly?" she asked with mild annoyance, feeling he should not comment for he was not in her place. "The realization that I will bear no more heirs? The fact that there will be no more legacy?"
Her words ticked him the wrong way as he fully turned to face her. "There are heirs, four of them even if one of them is half as competent as the others. There is legacy, Trystan is our legacy" he marched her way, stopping in front of her. She was forced to crane her head up to look at him. "I did not accept tutoring you in that Library because I had heirs in my mind. I did not take you as my partner in handling the affairs of the realm because I wanted you to bear my heirs. I did not accept your idea for a cover marriage to secure my position as hand, because I wished you to bear my children" he started, his tone sounding more like a scolding than anything else. "We started this when I already had 2 children and now they are 4, whether I like it or not. There is enough legacy to continue and it doesn't have to come from you"
Silence between them as his words dug deep through the thick skull of his wife and snapped her from whatever self-pity and self-loathing she had started to throw herself into. She did not say anything for a moment, just stared forward at the wall behind him as her hands were tightly holding her knees in a secure grip.
"You are a Lion, Visenya and Lions do not let their emotions control them" he finally added, his tone slightly softer but there was this authority and strictness behind it.
Tywin was never one to offer words of comfort, never one to be a devoting father or a man, who showed anything of the likes of sympathy or even empathy. Those words did not exist within him and there was only one way he would ever show them, a much colder but far more fitting way.
To others, it would be cruel but Visenya had learned to accept it, embrace whatever she would get and never complain. It was not that different from how she had been raised with her father and brother, who ignored her existence the majority of the time.
Yet, the way his words sounded more like a scolding was the reason they were so effective. She did not need sympathy or pity, she needed someone to slap her on the cheek a few times and snap her out of this ridiculous feeling.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself to stand despite the weakness she felt on her knees. She kept her balance in the end and looked Tywin in the eyes, who had not made a single move to even help her because he knew she did not want it.
"I am and I am in control of myself" she finally said, lifting her chin up while never breaking eye contact with him.
Tywin smirked, placing his fingers beneath her chin to keep her head high. "Good" he praised, pridefully looking down at the woman he had chosen to be his wife.
Seeing her standing there after listening to the news, after almost dying; he knew he had made a good choice. She might not bear him any more heirs but she had already given him one, an intelligent boy that he could shape properly to be his true legacy.
She would not be a mother to any more children but she had been a mother to his children all this time. She would remain standing, her eyes glowing with determination to continue what they started and let nothing stand in their way.
She was his prideful Dragoness, whom he had cloaked in the colours of his house. She was his intelligent partner, who would assist him in securing the future of their house. She was the Lady of Casterly Rock, to proudly stand by his side as they took over the world with their plans and schemes.
What the two of them did not know, was that at the same moment, someone had spied on their conversation. Tyrion had hidden himself beneath the bed when he heard his father entering, not wishing to be caught since Tywin had made it clear he did not approve of how close the dwarf wished to be with his good-mother.
The very same dwarf listened to their conversation and he would be the third person, other than the two of them, to ever learn the true reasoning behind the marriage of the Dragon and the Lion.
[A/N] - Awww, a moment between Cersei & Visenya, who would have expected that? But honestly, I thought it would be fitting for Cersei to be just about to marry a stranger, be away from her family and consider her overall character; think it was expecting such a reaction. However, I also wanted to show the beginning of her hunger for power and who might have unintentionally helped start it.
Robert has taken more than Visenya's nephew now, he really is a cursed man. I do wonder if any one of you suspected any consequences after the very specific hit Visenya received from his war hammer. If you did, please let me know in the comments. I am dying of curiosity.
And of course, Tyrion learned of things he shouldn't and will most likely tell someone in the future; proving he knew what was going on behind the schemes.