AN: Nothing you recognise is mine. Mostly it belongs to GRRM. Apologies for any mistakes regarding form, but I think I got practically everything.

TRIGGERS: Vague descriptions to Underage sex, alusions to non-con/dub-con, canon typical sexism and mysogyny, unexplicited bullying, brief mentions to a possible abortion (it is not specify if there is a pregnancy or not), mentions to some canon deaths, D-parenting Hoster Tully.

I think that's all.

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Court Life is Nasty

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Lord Tully mentioned Lord Arryn Lysa's lack of maidenhead, although he didn't say anything about a possible pregnancy and abortion. Since not even the Maester had been able to indicate if there had been such pregnancy or not and with Lysa's moonblood arriving a week earlier than expected, it felt foolish to go looking for problems.

Lysa and Lord Arryn had married at the same time as Catelyn and the tragically new Lord Stark (Please call me Ned, like my siblings do). Seven days later, the men had parted with the army, leaving Lysa and Cat in the castle like half a hundred other new war brides, all hoping to see their husbands back. Lysa didn't exactly want her husband back, but neither did she want him dead. Some weeks after they left, Lysa's moonblood had come but Catelyn's hadn't, and then Catelyn's middle had started to grow in size until she lost the ability to see her own feet. While Lysa had known what a pregnancy entailed, she hadn't realized how much she had to grow before the child came. It was Lysa's first time with a close relationship with the pregnant woman (her mother had died in the birthing bed, but Lysa's recollection of her mother were few and not very accurate). Lysa, who was herself a small thin girl (even though her septa and the female servants and the rare highborn ladies from other houses that came to Riverrun when their Lord Husbands were called told her that she still had growth to do) and she wondered how she could grow so big as if she had attached a generously sized pumpkin to her tummy. Some of the mature female servants, when asked, let her know that while a pregnancy was a blessing, it was also quite dangerous especially before the body (and the hips) had completely grown and perhaps it was the Seven's Will for her to grow more before she became a mother.

Then, Catelyn had had baby Robb, and Lysa had been green with envy for a while until she had seen how exhausted Catelyn was. About the same time, a war veteran had been sent to Riverrun ostensibly to supervise the defenses, although Lysa thought it was because he had lost a hand in the battle and a cripple had no point in the war camp. He had gotten quite drunk one night and had told the ladies when he encountered them in the corridor that Lysa was lucky and Catelyn not so much because if the war was lost, Catelyn would have to watch her son die or be sent away but Lysa would perhaps be able to marry again without much issue. Catelyn's sobs had been so heartbreaking that Lysa had been unable to consider her lucky anymore. Next morning they had both gone to pray and then play with Robb. As if the Seven heard their prayers, the war ended not long after and the sisters received news from their father and uncle. Both were to return to Riverrun and stay with them for a short time, just like before. Ned Stark had gone South to retrieve her sister and would then go straight North and requested Cat to meet him in Winterfell. Jon Arryn and Robert Baratheon had been working to establish a new reign, but after a month or so, Lord Arryn also requested his bride to be at his side in the capital. Both sisters left Riverrun the same day in different directions, while Edmure cried big fat tears and Father told them to make him proud. Each of the sisters were taking with them a contingency of guards and servants, together with their dowries and any children mementos they wanted to keep in their married life.

Life in the capital had not been what Lysa expected. For one, since King Robert Baratheon was still single, and Lord Stannis (his heir) was too, Lysa, as wife to the Hand of the King, was the most powerful wife in the Realm. That meant that every single lady that was in King's Landing (and there were a lot) were trying to ingratiate themselves with her in order to gain favours or a good recommendation from Lysa to her husband the Lord Hand so that the King might look at them more favourably.

While Hoster Tully had married his daughters quite advantageously, he hadn't married them wisely (not Lysa at least) and she had had enough in her plate meeting and trying to form bonds with the Ladies and Lords of the Vale (her new Lords and Ladies) without needing the extra chore of meeting and juggling her favour between courtiers. Nevertheless, she has tried to rise to the occasion and to be just with her favours and words, not insincere but neither cruel. It was quite apparent that the courtiers found her lacking, but then again, she found them lacking at her tender age of sixteen. In these circumstances, it was a blessing that her aunt Whent has decided to join her for her first year or two in the capital until she found her footing. Lady Anya Waynwood, an older Lady of the Vale, has also taken it upon herself to set a good example in court of what a Vale Lady should be. Between the two of them, they'd set some standards and hoops that the courtly ladies would have to pass before obtaining their good opinion. The court lacked a strong young feminine presence (as opposed to these two matrons), but Lysa was in no rush to fill in this gap. Princess Elia has been well-loved when her health allowed her, and with the Realm just out of war, there was no immediate need for a young royal lady to imitate.

On the other hand (hehe) was her husband, the Lord Hand, who hadn't said a word about her sister bearing an heir while Lysa remained un-pregnant. Nevertheless he visited her rooms once every two nights and it was clear he was hoping his seed would take root before too long.

Lysa remained still unconvinced about the wisdom of getting pregnant at sixteen, but the rest of the world didn't seem to think much on the opinions of a perk-breasted teenager. And so, Lysa's courses failed to arrive for the second time in the three moons she'd been in the capital. Although it was not a certainty, it was quite a good omen and her Lord Husband ordered a feast in her honour, with all kinds of new and exotic plates and decadent wines. The courtiers invited were kind to the wife of the Lord Hand and mother of the future Lord of Arryn, the musicians played many delightful songs and there was a lot of dance, but something in the desserts hadn't agreed with the Lady Lysa and her health declined so hastily that nor even the closest maester could attend her before she fainted. For two weeks she was ill in the most indignifying ways, with her body complaining about something she has been fed and letting its displeasure be known, accompanied by a fever trying to beat down whatever remnants of the offending food was still in her body. In between all these trials, Lysa's courses came. One of the older maids clicked her tongue when she saw it. "Too much stress in your body" she said "Begging your pardon, m'lady. But women's bodies are wise. If it thinks it better to keep itself alive and become pregnant again later, best thing we can do is take care of you and pray".

Jon came to see her, and although disappointed that his heir was no longer growing inside her, he didn't fault her. He had, after all, organized the feast. She was still weak and just made non-commitment noises when he held her hand and told her that the next one would hold.

Lysa remained in bed another week regaining her strength and then her Lord Husband came to bid her farewell, for he was leaving for Dorne with the afternoon tide. His intentions were to treat Prince Doran Martell to try to bring Dorne back into the fold of the Seven Kingdoms. It would take some time before he was back, certainly not before Lysa turned seventeen and a half. Lysa wondered if she could go back to Riverrun to wait for him, but it seemed cowardly and Lysa was trying everyday to be braver. Besides, it would defeat the work she has been doing with the ladies of the Vale and the Court. So Lord Arryn left and Lady Lysa remained at Court.

While Lysa has been ill, it has come and gone the marriage of King Robert to Cersei Lannister, now Queen Cersei. It has been whispered about since word got out that Lyanna Stark was dead. Cersei was one of the few remaining unmarried great ladies of the realm and, although late in the war, her father had joined the winning side of it. As such, and to consolidate the new reign of King Robert, this marriage has been organized, and not even the illness of the most important wife in the realm (at the moment) would put a stop to it.

As such, when Lysa returned to court, without her husband's presence, it was to play second fiddle. Queen Cersei took to being a leading lady of flamboyance and ostentation as a duck to water. The ladies of the Court whose opinion Lysa has worked to gain were no longer interested in her. It would not have been so bad had Queen Cersei not made every effort to also obtain the favour of the young Vale Ladies and to set them against Lysa. Although the matrons were quite kind and candid to Lysa (for Queen Cersei had no interest in the doings of old hags too set in their ways and therefore did not take the trouble to court those opinions), Lysa was hurt by the younger ladies' inconstancy. Thus, Lysa spent more time with the matrons, and each day became a little wiser (although some silliness still remained) and a bit bitterest about the Queen. She also started to use her new free time (that she didn't have to spend entertaining the court young ladies, rearing children or embroidering clothes to impress her future husband) to walk around each day a bit further. On the one hand, it meant less time spent with Queen Cersei and her cronies. On the other hand, her young body seemed to crave some exercise to compensate for all the time she has spent in bed when ill.

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