284 BC Kings Landing Janna Tyrell I
"Stop, stop this monstrosity," her mother Lady Olenna Tyrell said hoarsely, pounding her fist on the roof of her wheelhouse for emphasis.
"Away, away from you, I can already smell Kings Landing, but I want to take a look at it before we get lost in the stench of it!"
Janna and Mina scrambled out of the Wheel House as fast as they could; being cooped up with mother for extended periods meant that any excuse to get out into the fresh air was readily welcomed. However, fresh air was probably a misnomer in this case; the stench of Kings Landing drifted toward them.
"Ahh, Kings Landing's particular bouquet," his mother croaked as she came to stand beside them, the Roseroad was on the top of a low hill about five leagues from Blackwater Rush and beyond it squatted the walled bulk of Kings Landing. King's Landing.
"Kings Landing" Lady Olenna sighed "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in all of Westeros, and that's just the Red Keep! My bones are tired after all that bumping and shoving in that wheelhouse anyway, take a good look at it, ladies, that's where your future will be determined, well, at least one of yours, I'm sure...
Janna spoke first. she, she long used to how her mother operated and the way she sought to "educate" herself and Mina. "House Tyrrell isn't exactly welcome here, we're fighting King Robert, our kingdom has been shrunk in size, and some of our bannermen are here ahead of us, even God knows what..."
"Good girl, at least there's a mind behind that pretty face of yours... Yeah, we're at a disadvantage, why do you think your jerk brother isn't here huh?
Mina shrieked.
"Yes, that probably would, therefore Lord Stannis will not be among the Lords we will court."
"And who will you sell us to mom?" Janna asked, her voice steely of hers as her eyes never left the city before them. Of course, she knew that was why Mom had dragged them all over the Reach to Kings Landing; she was looking for suitable matches for them. She at least she got away from that terrible knight Fossway, who had inexplicably survived the war and was now paying too much attention to her, and her brother Mace seemed to like the horrible creature. So if she wanted to avoid that fate, she would have to enter Kings Landing as a maiden and leave her as a married woman, or at least with a solid engagement in her place.
"Tsk, tsk dear, you make it sound like two merchants haggling over a bushel of grain. This is the great game, my dear, and one must play it whether one likes it or not. It is up to us, the women of House Tyrrell, to rescue him from the dangerous state my jester son has put him in. We have no choice, not anymore, you'll have to catch the attention of several lucky unfiancées. Lords to restore some sort of power to House Tyrrell."
"Ned Stark and Jamie Lannister…" Janna whispered.
"Yes, Janna, Ned Stark and Jamie Lannister, why am I wondering if they need me? You seem to have it all figured out!" her mother replied in her best sarcastic voice. No, I'm not going there, the trap is too obvious, Janna calculated, so she kept her mouth shut, Mina on the other hand….
"I Heard Ned Stark Is A Barbarian From The North Who Eats The Raw Flesh Of His Slain Enemies And Is As Strong As Ten Men, A Terrible Wild Heathen In Fur And Plato Who Can Barely Put Two Sentences Together..." ad younger sister do.
The mother gave Mina a withering look and said nothing in response, but instead turned her gaze to Janna.
"Jamie Lannister is a dishonorable curr who broke his vows and killed a king. He has a reputation for being quite handsome, in the Lannister way, if you're into that sort of thing..." He could be hanged by a sheep like for a lamb as they say...
"If you like that kind of thing, huh?" mother snorted, a joyless laugh escaping her lips "beauty and charm will be your weapons my daughters, although I despair for the last thing for Mina... So for the prey to be stalked. Ned Stark is a Northerner, as Mina so aptly put it. The rest is just hyperbole and scurrilous gossip though, Ned Stark has a smart and calculating head on his shoulders, and he's not bad at wielding a sharp metal stick either. He was raised in the Eyrie with Jon Arryn, but there has apparently been some disagreement between mentor and pupil recently. He has heard of the King; he killed Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and led Robert's armies to victory after victory. He is even the architect, or so it is rumored, of the transfer of territory from the Reach to the Stormlands and the Crownlands."
"Then why are we considering such a man, a man who hurt the Reach so much?" asked Mina.
The mother gave Mina a look of condescension so fulminating that the girl swallowed and lowered her eyes to avoid her mother's gaze.
"Because dear child, any man who can play Game of Thrones in that way is a formidable enemy, it is better to have him 'inside the tent urinating outward than outside the store urinating inwards', as a favorite saying of your dear deceased father says... Anyway, he needs a wife mind, traditionally the Starks marry their standard-bearers, but Lord Stark has no wife and in Kings Landing, his whole family is dead, only one brother remains in Winterfell. hahaha ides, you would be the Lady of a kingdom that is almost the size of the rest of the Seven Kingdoms put together. Now the other 'prize' is cut from a very different fabric, Jamie Lannister, eldest son of Lord Tywin Lannister. Former Royal Guard and reputed as the best swordsman in the kingdom after Ser Barristan Selmy. Handsome in the 'Lannister' way, as Janna points out."
"If you like that kind of thing," Mina said, with a malicious smile on her face.
"In fact, but you will have to deal with both her father and her sister, Cersei..."
"Why?" asked Mina "the sister I mean?"
"Jamie and Cersei are twins, they are very close to each other, or so it is said. Making us ally with House Lannister secures our northern borders and protects us against any further attempts by the Florents or others to unseat us from Lord Paramount of the Reach, as the Florents are certainly currently pushing as we speak. spoiled, that there may be sea very kind to none of the sisters