A Lioness Still Has Claws | Female Tywin Lannister | ASOIAF/GOT

The Ninepenny Kings

EDITED: 7th Jan 2022

Aerys and Rhaella had been eventually been married at their parents' insistence, despite the wishes of their grandfather and Rhaella herself. Aerys, however, had seemed to have come to the conclusion that he needed a 'pure' Valyrian bride as fit a proper Targaryen future king, even though he was not necessarily attracted to his sister.

Predictably, there was no fondness between the siblings on their wedding day. Rhaella was only fourteen, the same as Tya had been when she married Emmon Frey, and was rather frightened about it all. To Tya's surprise, the princess had come to her and hesitantly asked what bedding a man was like, as her mother had simply told her to lie back and do her duty.

"It hurts the first time," She had said bluntly, and the girl had blanched. "Then after that it's just a little uncomfortable," In an unusual display of kindness she spared her friend the truth, that it hurt every single time and she had despised every degrading minute of her unworthy husband rutting and grunting on top of her.

"You were right," Rhaella told her the morning after the wedding, wincing as she sat down. "It did hurt,"

"Didn't he care for your comfort at all?" Tya frowned. "He's your... brother after all," The practices of the Targaryens would never cease to be strange, but surely he cared enough for his sister to try to not hurt her.

"You know Aerys," The princess gave a rather strained smile. "When does he take care with anything?"

She wished she could say she was surprised.

Rhaella had become pregnant within months and was glad for it seeing as it meant Aerys no longer visited her chambers trying to get an heir on her.

"You realise he's down on the Street of Silk every night bedding whores with my fool cousin and his other little friends?" Tya asked her, not wanting the princess to be kept in the dark about something that was her right to know about. Aerys told her of such excursions with relish, seeming to think he was making her jealous, but she doubted he told his sister the same things.

"I truly don't care," Rhaella replied honestly. "So long as he's not fathering Blackfyres all over King's Landing, he can do what he likes if it keeps him away from me,"

That was fair enough, she supposed.

*

King Aegon died in 259AC, the result of the tragedy of Summerhall. The fire claimed many other lives including Prince Duncan, his wife Jenny of Oldstones, Ser Duncan the Tall of the Kingsguard and very nearly the pregnant Princess Rhaella. Ser Duncan had carried her out of the burning palace before heading back inside presumably to rescue other royals, and had never made it out again.

Rhaella had given birth to her son Rhaegar there on the lawn, screaming in pain as her family died in the inferno behind her. Since then, despite the violent circumstances of his birth, Rhaegar had grown into a robust boy of a year old. He was a quiet baby, calm and well behaved, which Tya appreciated as the princess often had the child with her whenever they met. Motherhood suited her friend, and she cooed over the little prince in a way Tya could never imagine doing herself.

Aerys and Rhaella's father had ascended to the throne after Aegon's death. King Jaehaerys II was a clever and amiable man, but rather weak-looking and sickly. For this reason, when the Fifth Blackfyre Rebellion - which was fast becoming known as the War of the Ninepenny Kings - broke out on the Stepstones, he did not lead his men to battle, trusting the command of his army to his Hand and goodbrother, Lord Ormund Baratheon.

Aerys went to war too, of course; though he was not the best with a sword, he would be surrounded by the Kingsguard at all times and the actual risk would be very low. Jason was going with him, and Tya found herself fearing for him a lot more than the prince, though she would vehemently deny worrying at all. Her cousin had been a knight for a year now; hopefully he would find it in himself to look out for Kevan, who was a year younger and as yet unknighted.

Blocking all thoughts of her cousin and younger brother battling sellswords and pretenders on the Stepstones, Tya distracted herself very effectively during her time in the Red Keep, which was rather subdued now a large proportion of the men had gone to war.

Much of her time was spent studying the war closely; what strategies were used and how they were effective, the politics behind the battlefields, even the logistics of keeping an army together. It was fascinating, and she found she had a gift for predicting which strategies would work or not before word reached the city of the outcome of each battle.

Helping her with her studies was the new Grand Maester, a middle-aged man named Pycelle who seemed delighted by a young woman being so interested in matters that usually concerned knights and lords. Though often unintentionally patronising, he was eager to share with her his knowledge on the matters at hand, as well as (rather usefully) the goings-on in the Small Council.

Befriending Pycelle turned out to be worth its weight in gold. It only took a small suggestion from her to have him agreeing to take her to Small Council meetings as his scribe and note-taker, claiming he wished to make records of what went on, something the studious and academic King Jaehaerys was in support of.

Sat quietly in the corner with her quill and parchment, none of the other members noticed Tya's presence past the first meeting, and she was able to fully observe first-hand the trials and woeful incompetencies that went on there. Until that point, she was simply hearing about her father's failures in the west from Kevan's letters, and writing to tell him what to do to try and smooth it over, but this gave her a much clearer idea of the truth of government and war.

The War of the Ninepenny Kings was won by the end of the year, and Aerys came back triumphant with a knighthood. Jason had been the one to do the honours of knighting the prince on the battlefield after Aerys did something vaguely heroic; not heroic enough for her to remember what it was, mind.

Tya had no time to congratulate the prince, much to his displeasure, not that she cared. Genna had written to her of their father in Kevan's absence, and the latest letter had been the last straw; her sister had rather craftily got an idea of how much money Lord Tytos had been lending to his bannermen, money which he had never pushed for the repayment for. Even the rough figure had been enough to make Tya's blood boil.

"And what can you possibly do about it?" Jason asked her with a raised eyebrow. "Your father is Lord of Casterly Rock. If he doesn't want to do something, he won't,"

"I'm his heir," Kevan had replied instead of Tya. "He'll listen to me, surely. We can make him collect those debts,"

"Or collect them ourselves," Tya put in darkly.

"You and what army?" Jason looked amused.

"His," She replied, and his smile faded.

She set off with her brother, cousin and the Lannister army three days after they returned to King's Landing from the Stepstones, heading for Casterly Rock. Enough was enough.

*

A little bit of a filler chapter, but everything here had to happen; already Aerys and Rhaella's marriage is off to a slightly rocky start, there's a new king and Rhaegar is born. Also, Tya is getting more involved in government which is a crucial point. Next up, the Reynes and Tarbecks...

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