Weiss

Being a lady in a noble and lordly house was not as easy as many painted it to be. The duty of a lord's wife was to manage the household, foster relationships with the wives of other powerful men, advise their lord husband, and bear children, an act that was more dangerous than any battlefield here in Westeros. People acted like managing a household was easy, which, well, it wasn't. Weiss had learned from watching Willow when she was sober, and then her own lessons, as to how difficult it could be to organize everything. Medical knowledge was rather primitive, and most people didn't bother washing their hands, so dying of a common cold happened often. Weiss wasn't planning on having kids anytime soon, no matter what the Redwyne boy said or tried.

"The rooms on the left wing must be prepared." Mother spoke as she walked through the halls of the Gold Keep, with Weiss following a few steps behind. A crowd of ladies followed them, mostly maids and their noble companions. Alysanne and Alis remained the closest to Weiss, only a foot or two away from her. "The sheets will have to be changed and the rooms dusted."

They were preparing for the arrival of King Robert, who was likely going to stay in Casterly Rock, but was still bringing hundreds of noble houses with him. The lordly houses and their representatives would stay in Casterly Rock and the Gold Keep, followed by any of the knightly houses should there remain any room for them. If not, the Knightly houses would have to move into the camps, or the inns in Lannisport. Their men-at-arms and levies would have to camp outside of Lannisport proper, most of the inns and brothels were already full of sellswords and hedge knights, but they would soon have to move to join the camp as their funds ran low.

Mother wore a beautiful white dress, with an even lighter star with seven points sewed onto her bodice, and sleeves that had the golden lions of the Lannisters. Her hair was done in the classic styles of the south, half done up with long locks that framed her pale face. "Have a runner sent to the market, we will need to stock up our grainery, and we will need more wine."

The entire realm knew that King Robert loved to drink, fight, and spend time with whores. Weiss had been a babe when he won his crown during Robert's Rebellion, having only seen a single nameday by the time the fighting was over. In the end, the Targaryen dynasty of close to three hundred years came to an end, all because Mad Prince Rhaegar couldn't keep it in his pants and ran off with another man's betrothed. That wasn't even mentioning the actions of his Father, King Aerys who burned some Lord Stark with wildfire while his son watched in horror.

Weiss pressed her lips in a thin line. She had heard rumors that the King hated those with Valyrian features, whether they were Targaryen, Velayron, or Celtigar. Rhaegar, who Robert personally killed during the Battle of the Trident, was said to have hair similar to Weiss' with deep purple eyes. At least she had time to prepare herself for any aggression the King would no doubt show.

"Bread and salt, do we have enough in the storehouse?" Mother turned to the lone man in their small crowd of women, Joff the steward of the Gold Keep. Bread and salt were an important part of Westerosi culture, integral to the custom of guest rights. It was a sacred unwritten law, bound to those who followed the new or old gods. Any guest who ate the food and drinks off a host's table would invoke the law, with neither allowed to harm each other throughout the entire stay. The giving of bread and salt symbolized the extension of a guest right to any visitor while also being easily accessible by even the smallfolk if need be.

"Salt we have in abundance." Joff answered. "We shall request more bread from the Street of Bread once the first riders arrive." Left unsaid was that the price would be considerably higher than it normally would've been, as the Street of Bread was occupied producing bread for the growing army.

Mother's face revealed nothing as she paused, causing the small group to come to a stop. She was mature, not even having reached twenty and four namedays, having given birth to Weiss at such a young age. "Very well, ensure that it remains within budget, and have the order placed soon."

The Gold Keep, normally only filled with Lannisters, Lannetts, Lantells, and Lanny's was going to be filled with a variety of people. Weiss' lessons today would be the memorization of houses from the kingdoms that would soon arrive, and there were going to be a lot of them. King Robert's detour to Pinkmaiden had given them extra time to prepare, at least a few more days. Based on conversations Weiss overheard between Father and Mother, the eldest of the Baratheon brothers was gathering more men for his invasion, with more houses departing for Seagard. Eddard Stark would take command there, while King Robert made for Lannisport.

Weiss remained silent as she observed her Mother at work. While she had been raised at the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, taking care of an entire household seemed much easier, yet difficult in another way. It made Weiss appreciate and miss Klein a lot more, and her cake butler. As delicious as apple and lemon cakes were, Weiss really missed the delicious frostings and sweets from back home on Remnant. Once the war was over and she had time for herself, Weiss was going to have to find a way to recreate such treats, even if she wasn't the best cook or baker. Tea and coffee were easy, but edible food was a completely different matter. She had burned a pot of boiling water once, trying to make ramen for a sick Blake, but succeeded with the cat faunus' favorite tea.

"Am I missing anything, Weiss?" Mother's voice pulled Weiss from her thoughts. It was a test of course, to see if Weiss had been paying attention and not zoning out the entire time. A simple test, yet one that would be useful in determining if her child was paying attention to even the more basic details. After all, it would take simply forgetting one house to potentially spark off some chaos.

Weiss licked her lips as she thought for a moment. They had to clean the rooms, food, and bread and salt. What else were they missing?

"Room assignments?" Weiss tilted her head cutely. Many houses had long and old grudges against others, ones that were capable of pushing guest rights to the very edge of dishonoring their host. Brackens and Blackwoods were a prime example, ancient houses with rivalries so old no one remembered the original cause. Their rooms would have to be placed at opposite ends of the Gold Keep, and probably assigned some extra guards to be safe. And that wasn't counting houses that were friends and so wanted to be as close as possible, and finding all the rooms for the nobles and their servants, all roughly close by.

Mother smiled, her sapphire eyes kind and soft. "Correct. Maester Harmune has started to receive ravens from lords that wish to stay within Lannisport. We now have the duty of organizing which houses shall be our personal guests." A normal lady's war would not be on a battlefield, but within their very homes, within their families.

Weiss hoped she could make her new Mother proud.

Cedric Payne

Lannisport was a busy and bustling city. The outskirts of the great city formed a second, temporary city, one made out of tents and pavilions instead of proper buildings. Cedric and Rod's tent would soon join them as soon as his squire was done setting it up, or more accurately, after Cedric was done setting it up after Rod failed to set it up, again. They found an opening beside a small pavilion, its banner displaying nine strawberries on a white saltire on a field of green, and red vairy in point. Cedric didn't remember what house it was, he preferred spending time in the courtyard than in a maesters room. From the icon, if he had to guess, they were from the Reach. Nobody else would brag about having fruit on their shield.

"Get our tent ready." Cedric ordered Rodrick, who was dismounting Nut. They needed to claim and have their tent ready before another lord or knight took the small clearing. "And make sure our coat-of-arms is displayed." The banner of House Payne, checked white and purple with a golden coin in each square. Hopefully Cedric would be able to find some lord that would take the two of them into his service, that should earn them enough coin to buy more supplies.

"Aye." Rod grumbled as he grabbed the cloth for their tent. Cedric remained on Lemonhead, watching his cousin start to work.

"Keep an eye on Nut and Cheese, we don't need urchins trying to steal them for a ransom." Cedric turned his eyes away from his stupid squire. He should've picked that Hawthorne boy, Or maybe even considered Nut and Cheese as his squires. At this rate, they at least had more brains then Rod had. "I'll be heading into Lannisport to buy more supplies." And find a new master to serve.

Rod opened his mouth to say something, dropping their tent on the dusty ground.

"No, we don't have enough coin for lemon cakes." Cedric gave him a sharp glare. Rod closed his mouth shut and picked up the tent, grumbling curses under his breath. He angled Lemonhead back onto the makeshift path, heading towards the tall walls that protected the largest city in the Westerlands. "And don't let anyone steal our supplies!"

"Aye!" Rod waved him off, already struggling to set up the tent despite all of his practice. Cedric made a note, first he'd go get a drink in Lannisport, then he'd go looking for a new master to serve.

He urged Lemonhead onward, disappearing into a sea of waving banners.

The streets of Lannisport were as full as the tent city on the outskirts. Filled with beggars, whores, drunks, merchants, and noble knights such as Cedric. He didn't pay the beggars any mind, though he did sneak a peek at a few of the whores as Lemonhead trotted past a brothel. Some redhead gave him a wink and yelled from her window to give her a visit later. Cedric would do just so once he had coin to spare. The last time he spent it on a whore instead of supplies, Rodrick complained for an entire moon's turn about how hungry he was, and in hindsight, Cedric would admit, it made more sense to get food rather than a whore, if only to avoid the complaints. Cedric approached a small inn that had several horses tied outside. A short stableboy stood by the horses, guarding them, a hound by his side.

Cedric approached the horse stand, and easily dismounted, his worn boots squelching as he stepped in horse shit. The stableboy laughed at Cedric's grimace, evidently well used to this happening, while Cedric started rubbing his boot against the dirt beside the smelly horse shit in an attempt to remove it from the soles of his boots.

"How much to keep watch over my horse?" Cedric asked, taking a more careful step over the shit, his boot as clean as can be, aside from the dust. Still, it would probably be a good idea to find someone to properly clean his shoes.

"A copper penny, goodser." The stableboy said, extending a filthy and calloused hand. Highway robbery, such a duty was normally only a half-penny. On the other hand, the stable was already filling up, and there was no promise he'd find a better deal elsewhere in Lannisport.

"Fine." Cedric pulled out a copper penny from one of his doublets pockets and placed it in the stable boy's hand. He discreetly wiped his hand on his trousers afterwards. Better to pay the urchin now than have Lemonhead stolen.

"Many thanks." The stable boy bowed his head and bit into the copper, obviously having been tricked in the past with fake coins. Cedric continued to pay him no mind and entered the inn.

It smelled of spilled wine and burned pig fat, among other things. It was a familiar smell,the odor of almost any inn anywhere in Westeros. In the corner, Cedric could see a pair of Dragonseed bounty hunters, a man and across from him, a woman oddly enough, playing a card game.The rest of the inn was filled up, hedge knights and their squires, townsfolk out for a night, even a few nobles seeking a night of respite. A group of what looked like sellswords and hedge knights gathered around a table at the far corner.

"A mead and roasted duck!" Cedric said loudly, raising his hand in the direction of a buxom serving woman. He took a seat at a nearby table near the entrance, his dagger at his waist. Cedric had left his sword with Rodrick, which was a bad idea now that he thought about it. On the other hand, being drunk and carrying a sword around was how you lost your sword or wound up picking a fight with someone you shouldn't have.

The buxom woman approached him with a wooden mug of mead. Her clothes were well-worn and old, a dark gray when it might've been white a few years ago, showing obvious signs of wear and tear. The neckline was low, revealing her generous cleavage. "Ten copper pennies."

This entire place was run by robbers! From the stable boy outside to this serving woman! With a slight grumble, Cedric pulled out her ten pennies and placed them in the palm of her hand. The woman placed his mug on the table with a sly grin. Well, at least he had a decent view, even if she had an ugly, pox marked face. The woman turned to walk away, but paused when Cedric grabbed her arm.

"Say, have you heard of any lordlings looking to hire a strong man such as myself?" Cedric gave her a grin. "I'm a knight you see, in need of honest work."

The buxom woman stared at him for a few seconds before motioning her head towards the crowded table at the far end of the inn. "There's a Lanny looking for swords, hiring in the name of Lord Lannister. They've been here a week looking for men such as yourself, Ser."

Cedric released his soft grip on her arm and nodded his head. "Thanks." The woman shrugged and sauntered away.

This was excellent news! Lord Tywin Lannister was a generous man, Cousin Ilyn had told them so back when he still had his tongue. Cedric didn't care much for the Lannisters of Lannisport, aside from sharing the same name, they were powerless outside of their great city. But the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, if Cedric managed to gain their favor then all of his issues with coin would be solved. He could afford a week with that redhead whore and still have enough coin for food and new armor!

And Rod could buy his whore-wife the Lannisport house he always wanted Cedric supposed. Finally, this streak of bad luck he'd been enduring had broken at long last. Taking a long gulp of his mead which dribbled onto his chin, Cedric slammed his half-empty mug on the table. Standing up, he sauntered over towards the table of his hopefully new patron, catching a glimpse of blond hair.

Time to make a good impression.

A/N

Cedric and Rod make another appearance! And now we have another piece of art I commissioned from ARJART featuring Weiss in a dress inspired by Sansa Stark! FFN readers will have to find it on AO3, Space Battles or Sufficient Velocity

Enjoy!