Dragonstone
284 after Aegon's conquest
Stannis
Gritting my teeth, I looked around the hall, the lords dancing and enjoying the feast, enjoying my wedding. A wedding I never chose, but I accept it because it's my duty.
Like everything else Robert makes me do, he reminds me of my 'failures' and how I have another important duty, how I can't ruin that up either. He never remembers my successes, my many successes.
The woman next to me, my wife now, it was another one of those humiliations. "If you order me to, Robert, I'll marry a mule!", I said in an argument, and it seems that Robert did his best to get such a wife.
While he's there... or at least he was there, humiliating himself in front of everyone by exchanging caresses with my wife's cousin, another Florent with big ears, the feast went on under the command of Jon Arryn.
And that's enough for me. I downed the rest of the wine from my goblet in one gulp and stood up. "Come, my lady, I think it's time."
My wife, Selyse, stood and took my hand, not surprisingly without warm. There would be no bedding ceremony or anything like that, nobody cared for this here, nobody wants to see this.
I walked hand in hand with my wife, go up the stairs to my quarters, prepared and anointed for a couple's first night, a crowd following us, to see what when I opened the door?
Robert, the King of the Seven Kingdoms, fucking my wife's cousin in my bed, the bed consecrated by the septon in honor of the wedding. He just laughed when the crowd saw him and didn't stop moving against her.
"Find another room Stannis, this one is occupied by the king!" He said before laughing. How I hate his laugh.
My teeth were grinding again, I think I squeezed my wife's hand a little too hard, and I really wanted to throw Robert out.
"Come on everyone, come on Stannis, there are other rooms you can use." said Jon Arryn as we left, always the protector of Robert's foolishness.
As another room was prepared, my anger bubbled over in silence. So much so that I just sat on the bed, not even looking at my wife next to me.
"They'll be damned, I know it! Tarnishing the wedding's bed like that!". She grumbled and I laughed bitterly. Robert cursed? The gods loved him too much for that.
"Ours is the fury" it was true. I felt that fury burning, I used that fury perhaps more than I should have that night. It wasn't... well, for either of us, I know that.
But my duty was done in short order, and that's what matters.
It was Cressen who broke the news to me two moons later on Dragonstone. "Your wife is pregnant Stannis".
'Her cousin, too'. I thought in disgust. But there was no time for that now.
I went to her solar as quickly as my duties as Lord of the Narrow Sea would allow.
And there she was, looking out the window at the waves crashing against the rocks of the island.
"I told you, the gods wouldn't punish us, didn't I, my lord?" she said calmly.
"The gods have nothing to do with this." I grumbled and stood beside him, watching the waves, with luck we'd have a boy, an heir.
"Then wait and see, our son will be a great Baratheon, greater than any Robert could ever produce."
"Silence, woman! Do not speak such words against the King". I scolded her, but deep down I hoped it was true, that our son would grow up to be great.
288 after Aegon's conquest.
Dragonstone.
Orryn Baratheon, heir to the Narrow Sea, walked the corridors of Dragonstone. The boy didn't look like his mother Florent with his big ears, he was a full Baratheon with his unruly black hair and dark blue eyes, just like his father.
"Young Lord, wait!" The master-at-arms shouted as Orryn lost him, he was fast even at four days old, and it helped that the Knight was wearing an armor.
The doors to the painted room were right in front of him, but he hadn't counted on the guards.
"Young Lord!" The guards said as they stopped him and prevented him from entering.
"Let me see my lord father Sers, please!" Orryn pleaded, but the guards were strict in their duties after years under Stannis command.
The master-at-arms arrived soon after, tired from all the running. "Young lord, please stop all this commotion! There's no need for all this just for a few cats."
"It's not right! The cook shouldn't drown those kittens, they've just been born!" Orryn stamped his foot and clutched the bag he was carrying to his chest.
The Master-at-Arms sighed and tried to snatch the bag of meowing kittens from Orryn's hands, but the doors to the room opened and Ser Axel Florent and Orryn's father, Stannis, came out.
"What's all the commotion?" Ser Axel asked as he surveyed the scene.
"Nothing my lords, just a small misunderstanding." The master said, bowing and letting go of Orryn's arm.
Orryn stepped forward and bowed as well before speaking. "Father, please don't let the cook drown the kittens."
Showing the puppies in the bag, Orryn straightened and moved closer to his father.
"All this is for damn cats?" Ser Axel said angrily, snatching the bag out of Orryn's hands. "Every damn animal in this fortress you want to adopt, Orryn, it's time you stopped making a fool of yourself and acted like a man!".
"It's not fair to them, the kittens didn't do anything! They were just born! They didn't break anything, they didn't let the mices chew the sacks, it's not fair!". Orryn said, trying to take the bag back from his great-uncle.
"Enough!" Stannis said sternly and the commotion stopped. "In your opinion, Orryn, trying to save these cats make you a fool?"
"No, Father." Orryn replied much more subdued. "It is not fair to them that this should happen, and standing up for justice will never make me a fool."
"By the Seven Stannis, it's just cats and a childish tantrum! Punish the boy and make him watch the cats drown, then he'll know how the world works!". Axel complained again and received a stern look from Stannis.
"Give me the sack Ser Axel". Stannis demanded and as soon as he received it, he handed it back to his son. "You defended law and justice for these animals, now they are your responsibility. Their mistakes will be your mistakes, as will their punishments too. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Father." Orryn said smiling as he bowed.
"Now go and fetch your mother and sister." Stannis dismissed Orryn, but remembered one thing: "And no running by the stairs!"
Orryn stopped himself at his father's command and began walking to his mother's solar, where she would surely be with her newborn baby sister, Shireen.
"Mother, my father has sent me to you." Orryn said from the door, as politeness demanded, and waited for his mother to admit him.
The answer was positive and Orryn came to her mother for a hug. She was in the company of other ladies from the families of the Narrow Sea, some ladies from the Reach and her new companion, a red priestess named Melisandre.
Orryn hugged his mother and smiled as he bowed almost properly to the ladies. "What are you carrying, little one?" Selyse asked as she ran her fingers through her son's messy hair, it was impossible to keep Orryn's hair under control.
"My kittens! Father let me keep them when I saved them from drowning," Orryn said as he sat down on the carpet and finally took the kittens out of the bag.
"This black one I'll call Vhagar, this light one is Sunfire, this sulky one is Grey Ghost, and this little white one I'll give to Shireen!". Orryn said excitedly, showing off each of the cats and taking them into her lap.
"Shireen's just a baby, she can't have an cat Orryn" Selyse said softly, many knew of the temperament of Selyse Florent, now Baratheon, and her husband.
Married for a few years, many thought it was a miracle they had two children.
The only thing that seemed to bring them together was Orryn. An energetic but polite boy that everyone in the fortress had a crush on, especially when he smiled happily.
"I know Shireen is still a baby, but one day she'll grow up, and until then I'll take care of the cat for her. Just like I'll take care of her in the future, and you too, Mom!" Orryn said, smiling and hugging her mother once more.
All the ladies accompanying Selyse smiled, real smiles this time. Even with the parents he had, Orryn Baratheon would probably be a lord adored by his vassals if he maintained such a charisma.
"Come here, my little prince." Lady Melisandre called. Orryn looked suspiciously at his mother, who just smiled and motioned for him to approach the priestess. It was no news that she was gaining more and more of his favor.
"My lady." Orryn greeted her, still a bit nervous, but the priestess continued to smile at him.
Bending down to Orryn's level, Melisandre held the boy's face with both hands before giving him a long kiss on the forehead. "Grow up well my prince, I will protect you by the grace of R'hllor."
"What about my little sister? And my mother? And my father?" Orryn asked, always curious.
"R'hllor will protect all who accept the grace of the Lord of Light."
"I'm not a prince, my father is a prince, I'm not, that's what Maester Cressen said." Orryn said suddenly, almost as if he hadn't heard what the priestess had said.
"Oh yes, you're right." Melisandre smiled and stroked Orryn's cheek a little more.
"I think you should feed your kittens, don't you Orryn?". Orryn seemed to remember and ran back to his mother, begging to be excused, and she could only smile and agree.
After leaving his mother's solar, Orryn went to his chambers, escorted by a servant. He asked her to make a bed for his kittens and some take milk as soon as he entered.
A few minutes later, when a maid had made the bed with pillows and blankets, a knock sounded at Orryn's door and he opened it to let in a new maid, a girl about his age, carrying a milk jug with a saucer.
"Cirilla! You brought the milk!" Orryn said happily and hugged her.
Cirilla laughed, but was forced to pull away from her future lord's embrace.
"Lord Orryn, please! Don't make me spill the milk!".
Orryn was embarrassed when he realized this, but smiled again as he took the girl's hand and led her to the kittens. "They're all here, look! My lord father allowed me to keep them."
"They're so cute!" Cirilla said as she put the milk in the saucer and brought a kitten closer.
"Thanks for helping me distract the cook, Cirilla, I wouldn't have been able to catch them without your help."
Cirilla giggled, she really had helped Orryn trick the cook, in fact it was she who had told the young lord what the cook was going to do. Servants rarely talked to their masters, but Orryn was different, he always acted the same in front of everyone.
"They don't drink the milk from the saucer." Cirilla said in confusion as she watched the kittens continue to meow and not drink.
"Ah! They can't drink, they suckle!" Orryn thought suddenly and ran to get a sock.
With Cirilla's help, Orryn poured the milk into the thin sock and held the crumpled end near the mouth of one of the kittens.
So they sucked, spilling a lot of milk on the floor, but they sucked, and the two children watched happily as the lives they had saved snored away, oblivious to everything around them.