Chapter 39 - Spies and Talks

𝗔𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲

She loved Casterly Rock, gazing out onto the endless miles of the sea was calming; a great way to relax was for her to just sit on the balcony with a glass of wine in one hand and admire the view. The castle had a magical feel, she didn't know whether that was due to its architecture, its history or just magic; living in the streets of Volantis and seeing the Red Priests worship their God had convinced her that it was real.

She was earning a well deserved rest. Ever since Cerion had marched off to war with Monty, she was responsible for managing his work the West's development, on top of her businesses in Lannisport. Speaking of which, she was by now, one of the richest people in the region, barring noble Houses. The gold she made via her brothels was spent on business takeovers and an expansion to towns littered throughout the Westerlands as well as funding for her spy network.

Her network was large and well-trained. Over the years, she had picked up street urchins and orphans, teaching them how to read and write as well as things such as espionage and acting. Alysanne had done this because relying on gold to buy information was too expensive and not always accurate, by training them from a young age, she was making them skilled at what they do and cementing herself as the one who saved them, earning their loyalty.

It was a long term solution, one which would get better as the years go by and her spies rise to higher positions. She had set up orphanages around the city and the West, housing her spies-in-training as well as a method of recruitment. People with more money than they can spend donate what they can to the orphanages, meaning she can cut back slightly on the amount of gold she puts into it.

"My Lady, this came from under the door." Marilka told her, handing her a letter. Marilka was her protégé of sorts, intelligent, quick-witted and perceptive, she showed the most promise out of everyone she recruited and had decided to take her under her wing as a handmaid.

She was a dainty girl, small and slight, though her temperament was anything but delicate. Her hair was long and curly, blonde in colour, she could've passed as one of Cerion's cousins if not for her brown eyes.

Alysanne broke the seal of the letter in half, unfolding the letter and reading it.

𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘴.

It was a simple message, gibberish to anyone else, but she understood. This was another one of Cerion's projects, educating the masses, he described it. She had her doubts, after all, those with knowledge want power and those with power want even more. Cerion understood my stance and agreed with my reasoning, however, he told me that he has no plans on limiting his power in the future; she has no reason to doubt him, she has yet to see a problem that he couldn't solve.

With the amount of intellectuals migrating to the West, they had a large number of people willing to teach children. The subjects were only the basics, literacy and mathematics, this was mostly because Cerion and a group he had selected were tasked with writing books suitable for children and beginners. She knew Cerion had grand plans, ideas on creating his own citadel in the Westerlands.

Children weren't the only ones being taught how to read and write, adults were also joining in, though they went later on in the day than the children who started in the morning.

The letter was from a team of her spies she had sent to the Citadel of Oldtown, tasked with infiltrating the home of the Maesters. The Citadel has the largest collection of books in Westeros and one of the largest in the Known World, its library possessed scrolls and tomes from the Age of Heroes. Her spies were novices in the citadel, some had even earned their first link and became an Acolyte, they were to make transcripts of the books, before dropping them off at a warehouse (which is not under her own name) where they would be shipped off to Lannisport and copied by the printing press.

Alysanne had seen the potential in the printing press. Like she said, knowledge is power and if she could alter that knowledge slightly then it would be extremely useful. Cerion was impressed with her when she brought it up, propaganda he called it, though apparently you weren't meant to call it that if you made it.

She had hired both writers and artists to develop her idea, a pamphlet of information, free to everyone who could read it, there were even drawings to help illustrate it to those who are illiterate. Its content were slightly biased, but there was no one to oppose her in distributing information. Cerion had brought up the idea of producing a newspaper, a more detailed pamphlet with a variety of subjects but she lacked the manpower to do that yet.

The Westerlands was going to usher in a new age and she was going to be a part of it.

A strong knock on her door had drawn her out of her musings, "Marilka, go and see who that is." Alysanne tells her student. Marilka does as she is told and opens the door to find a Redcloak on the other side.

The Redcloak bows his head at Alysanne, "My lady, my Lord has requested your presence in the Hall of Heroes." Shock was one of the main emotions running through Alysanne's head at the moment, though she showed none of it on her face. She shouldn't have been so surprised, she knew something like this was bound to happen at some point, even more so when Cerion was currently away.

"Then I shall be there as soon as I can." Alysanne said, "You may leave."

The Redcloak didn't move from his place in the doorway, "With all respect my Lady, my Lord has asked me to escort you to the Hall of Heroes." He replied, a show of power if anything, he really needn't worry about her arriving late, the last thing she needed was to be in Tywin Lannister's bad book.

Alysanne nods her head at the guard, "Then give me a second to get ready at least." The Redcloak nods his head and backs out of the doorway, giving Marilka the chance to close it.

"Will my Lady need any assistance?" Marilka asks her, a concerned look on her face.

Alysanne just shakes her head at the girl, "No, no that won't be necessary Marilka, go and do your study whilst you wait for me."

Alysanne busied herself for the next two minutes with making sure she was ready, checking over her appearance before opening the door and nodding at the Redcloak, signalling that she was ready to go.

~

The Hall of Heroes was at the bottom of Casterly Rock, opposite the Golden Gallery. The Hall is where any Lannisters who had died valiantly were interred, along with their armour and close personal possessions.

The entrance to the Hall of Heroes was a large pair of double doors, big enough for maybe two carriages to pass through, it unnecessarily extravagant, however from her association with Lannisters in these last few years, it doesn't surprise her. A handful of guard were outside the hall, standing by the doors, it took two of them to push one of the doors open, at least wide enough for Alysanne to pass through.

The Hall was massive, easily dwarfing the great hall in the Temple of Trade in Lys, it really puts into context the fact that the Rock was three times the height of the wall. Alysanne had to span her eyes around the hall to find Tywin, spotting him on the left side near the wall.

"My Lord." Alysanne said as she bowed, having just reached Tywin. The man shows no sign that he had even noticed her presence, just staring at a smooth stone coffin.

"Do you know who this is?" Tywin asked, indicating to the coffin in front of him. Alysanne doesn't answer his question, she could tell that it was meant to be rhetorical from his tone.

"No? I would be surprised if you did." He told her, "This is King Loren I, the last King of the Rock during Aegon's Conquest. You can even see the slight charring and ash residue on his armour from Field of Fire. I've heard people call him a coward, spit on his name and how he bent the knee. They are fools, nothing more and nothing less, Loren Lannister bent the knee to ensure that his House would live on, I and all my kin owe our position in this world to him, for we may not even have been born if it weren't for him that day."

Tywin had begun walking down the hall, looking at each of the rocks that houses his deceased ancestors. "This hall was meant to be where those who bore the Lannister name and had died valiantly were to be buried. Fortunately, someone had enough sense in them to realise that there is little bravery in death, and so every King and Lord of Casterly Rock since Lann the Clever has been buried here."

She had yet to speak, apart from her greetings, she had heard from Cerion that his father liked to control the conversation.

"King Gerold the great.... King Lancel I..." He named every single coffin that they passed as he led her towards the very end of the hall.

"King Tybolt, a favourite of Cerion's... Loreon the Lion, the first true Lannister King.... and Lann the Clever." Tywin finished as he stopped right beside the smooth rock.

"This man is responsible for the formation of my House. If all of Loren I's descendants should be thankful to him, then every single Lannister who has ever lived should be grateful for Lann the Clever." Tywin declares, staring her in the eyes.

"He left behind a legacy that will forever be known in this world, it is the duty of every Lannister King and Lord to protect that legacy to the best of their abilities. And so, as protector of my Houses legacy, I ask you, Alysanne of Lys, do you pose a threat to my son? To the legacy of House Lannister?"

"No, my Lord." She replies, "Cerion saved me, if it wasn't for him then I would still be a slave and a whore."

Tywin nods his head slowly in response to her answer, "Then let me ask you another question. Do you, Larra Rogare, pose a threat to my legacy?"

She knew it was only a matter of time before someone figured out who she was. Alysanne was merely a name given to her by her former masters, it eventually stuck as she was scared of telling people her real name, there are people around the world who would like to see the last Rogare dead.

"No, like I said, I owe Cerion everything that has happened these last few years, I owe him my life." The newly named Alysanne answered.

"And yet you put his life in danger by not telling him the truth about you." Cerion's father shoots back, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I was going to tell him after he came back from the war, I swear on it." Cerion had always known she was more than who she said she was, but he had never pushed her to tell him the truth.

Tywin nods his head, "You are still of use to my son and House Lannister, however, the moment you even do anything that harms my son or House Lannister, then I will make sure you suffer a fate worse than Elia Martell."

Tywin maintains their stare for a moment, before heading towards the entrance to the Hall of Heroes and making his way out, leaving Alysanne by her lonesome.