Tyrion and I had arrived at a court in chaos, for two days past Robert had named Renly - all just turned seven years of him - Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands while Stannis was made Prince of Dragonstone. Gossip was that the unflappable, emotionless, Stannis had barely held himself back from taking a swing at his brother and had stormed out in the full Baratheon fury before departing for Dragonstone later that same day.
Almost the first thing I did after formally greeting the King, or to be more precise Jon Arryn acting in the King's name, and receiving leave to access the Keep was closet myself with Kevan so that I could receive a full briefing.
The door closed and drinks barely in hand I started things off by saying "So an eventful few days, hmm?"
Kevan snorted slightly, "Don't remind me. I doubted I would ever meet someone less suited to politics than Robert, and then I had to deal with Stannis."
I gave a small chuckle before taking a sip of my wine, "So what happened?"
Kevan sighed, ran a hand through his just starting to bald hair, took a healthy swig from his own cup and said "Robert decided to formerly name Stannis his Heir after receiving the first reports of Dragonstone's fall. It was only the next morning, after a night of celebratory partying on his part, that he found out about Viserys and the babe, Daenerys apparently, having managed to escape.
"And then, only hours later, Stannis made it back to the city and when he marched into the throne room all set to report that Dragonstone was secured for Robert, the King exploded at him and insulted him for letting the "dragonspwan" escape."
A slight wince on my part before I said "Didn't go over well with Stannis I take it?"
Kevan shook his head, "No, it didn't. Although he did manage to keep his temper, that day at least. Everything was reasonably stable and calming down until the Small Council meeting three nights back. Varys brought up that with Dragonstone having fallen and Dorne having sent a raven saying they were willing to cut a deal, it was probably best that the succession be formerly decided upon like Robert had been talking about that first night. Well Robert agreed and then, the next day, turned what should have been an empty formality into a political fiasco."
When he stopped I waved my right hand in a 'go on' gesture, causing him to sigh again before finishing off his glass of wine and pouring another as he continued "Robert declared him his heir and said that since Dragonstone has traditionally been the seat of the Crown Prince it was only proper that Stannis be styled the Prince of Dragonstone and be granted the Island as his seat. Then he said that he had decided not to hold onto the Stormlands in his own person or to keep them for a future second son, instead he was naming Renly Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands."
I raised a hand to my forehead and shook my head, "So he effectively strips his brother of a castle that Stannis starved to hold for a year and sends him off to a volcanic island instead. Sometimes I wonder if that man just likes making enemies. So what was the reaction around court to all of this?"
"Restrained, Robert is still so new to the throne that no one wants to test him just yet. As for the King, he's spent the last two days drinking the wine cellar dry and fucking the servants." Kevan said.
I sighed, making a note to find Cersei once Kevan and I were done. "Any idea who will become Master of Coin?" I said to change the subject.
"Lord Ralph Buckler it seems, Arryn wants a Stormlander on the Council." he said, earning a nod.
'makes as much sense as anything else I suppose. we will just have to see how he stands up to Robert.'
"And the courts reaction to the Bank of Westeros?" I questioned.
"Surprisingly mild, so far at least. With all of the changes going on in the transition between dynaasties, counting coppers - as Robert puts it - is at the bottom of their pile of concerns. It doesn't hurt that we haven't actually been seen to do anything beyond buying a plot of land for the King's Landing branch of the bank and start building the branch. I think we will see the push back once the new coins start entering circulation and the Faith sees the Star replaced with the Falcon." he answered.
I blinked in surprise, "Truly? No one started bitching?"
Kevan waved a hand in dismissal "Oh, Arryn has decided that the King can't be left alone with us out of fear that you will convince him to give away the crown next and Olenna Tyrell has started a whisper campaign aimed at creating opposition, but that opposition hasn't manifested yet."
I gave a nod of understanding, "And Tyrion's brothels?"
"Hasn't he been keeping you informed, Jaime?" my uncle questioned in mild surprise.
"Yes, but he's also been at the Rock more often than not and is being run ragged getting the bank set up, finalizing the semaphore design, and managing the Sparrow School. So I wanted to make sure he's been able to keep on top of things here as well." I explained.
"Ah. Well he hasn't been in the city much, as you know, but the managers he sent in his stead have done a competent job. The needed property has been acquired and building crews already have the sites mostly cleared; some of the new buildings are even already up. Using the Gold Cloak's we've managed to convince the owners of the current brothels that they want out of the business as well, so at the moment we control virtually all of the active brothels in the city.
"It actually generates a good deal of coin, but Tyrion has been pouring it all into the building." he answered.
"I'm aware, the network should end up self sufficient in time. And I am glad to hear that Tyrion's reports have been accurate. To change the subject, has the High Septon been receptive to our offers?" I said, moving the conversation on.
"Of course, he is more than willing to paint Rhaegar as an abomination before the Seven in exchange for our gold.", he replied.
"And the price for the Faith's preaching?" I questioned.
"A dragon for every Septon, a hundred for each of the Most Devout, a thousand for the high septon, and ten thousand donated to the Faith as a whole. With slippage I expect it to come in a bit under twenty thousand total." Kevan answered, causing me to nod in pleasure and say "I'll dispatch a Raven to Gerion to have the gold sent, although I wish the bank was up and running already - then we could just move the gold with the stroke of a quill."
Kevan snorted at that "It will make bribery much easier for us."
I snorted as well "One of the secondary purposes for setting up the Bank actually."
We spent another thirty or so minutes talking about the courts antics before I rose and headed off to find Cersei.
I tracked her down on the top of one of the Red Keep's many towers, looking out over the bay. A wave of a hand had the guards heading through the door and out of easy earshot. "Sister." I said, holding my arms wide even as she spun around and greeted me with a hug.
"Brother! It's good to see you." she said.
"Aye, good to see you as well Cersei. It's been too long, almost four months since we last saw one another. How have you been?" I said.
"I've survived. Soris has been an excellent instructor, you and I will have to spar." she said, mentioning the Braavosi water dancer that I had had tracked down and hired to teach her the sword.
I smiled down at her, "I look forward to it, but since you bring that up; am I to assume that everything else hasn't been going as well?"
She sighed "No, things have been going as expected. Robert seems to like me much better these days but he still drinks constantly and fucks the servants on an almost daily basis.", a sly smile suddenly graced her lips as she finished "I'll be glad to be away from him."
I blinked as I processed what she had said, and it's implications. "You mean...?"
"That I carry their heir to the Seven Kingdoms in my womb? Yes, well at least I have missed my moons blood these last two moons." she said in a tone that mingled happiness, anger, regret, and wonder.
I pulled her into another hug, "It will be good to have you at the Rock for a few months at least." I said, knowing that response would please her the most.
She hugged me back and whispered seductively in my ear "You've made me promises brother, I look forward to collecting."
I whispered back "And I look forward to paying, we've been apart far too long."
After a moment of silence I said "Since I haven't heard anything about this, I assume you haven't told Robert yet?"
"No, I wanted you to be the first to know." Cersei replied.
A slight nod "Then why don't you go to the Grand Maester for confirmation and then share the news with Robert. He's bound to call a feast in celebration, probably a weeks worth of feasts actually. Regardless, do you think you will have any problem getting him to agree to your staying at the Rock for the duration of your pregnancy?"
"No," she said decisively, "I've been making sure he knows I fear being with child here. He has also been complaining regularly about missing the Rock's running water and other luxuries, so if I mention to him that I look forward to him joining me there regularly then he will probably leap at the chance to pack me off."
"Very well, I'll remain in the city for the next day or two before departing for Dragonstone. It shouldn't be difficult to time my return for the last day or so of celebrations and then we can depart." I said, thinking through the traveling and likely event schedule.
"I'll miss you. Why are you visiting Stannis anyway?" she wondered, causing me to shrug slightly "Because he is the King's brother and the King has just deeply offended him. It's a good opportunity to start making him an ally, but I'll explain it all in detail once we are back at the Rock. This isn't a conversation to have anywhere that even the slightest chance we might be overheard exists. I need to brief the rest of my council as well, now that I think of it."
Cersei gave a nod of agreement, pleased that I was including her in my council. "Still, how do you plan on making him an ally? The Prince is a dour man who seems to do nought but fuck duty."
I smiled at her turn of phrase, "Dragonstone is a poor fief, it's not really meant to be supported without the crowns continued support. And Stannis's duty won't let him skim from the coin he controls as Master of Ships, so I figured I would just offer to buy the one thing Dragonstone has in abundance; dragonglass."
She blinked, "And do what with it? Dragonglass is pretty enough I suppose but it has no practical use. Nor is it worth all that much, for you to send Stannis enough gold to impress him you are going to have to buy the 'glass by the shipload."
"Aye, I'll buy every bit his smallfolk can mine and pay well enough to encourage more mining to start. As for what I will do with the stuff? Well I plan on telling Stannis that I've decided to sheath a couple levels of the Rock in it. Seriously though, I figure most of it will just end up sitting in storage for a while - there is bound to be a use for it someday."
As I had predicted, Robert was thrilled at Cersei's news and had called for feasts along with a tourney in ten days, one with fifty thousand in prizes on offer. Still, I managed to escape to Dragonstone two days later with Tyrion in tow.
"You know, brother, that I really am just making this trip to start forming an alliance with Stannis; correct?" I said as King's Landing fell away behind us.
He looked up at me, "What about the vault you said was here? The one you wanted to empty?"
"You mean the one that will only open if Targaryen blood is shed on its lock?" I questioned rhetorically before shaking my head "No, that's something that can wait for the future. This trip really is just about convincing Stannis to sell us all the Dragonglass he can mine."
Tyrion shook his head, "Something I still don't understand Jaime. There are plenty of cheaper ways that we could help Stannis out and earn his favor."
I glanced around to make sure we were still alone on the ships stern walk before saying "I've never told anyone this Tyrion, but I knew I was going to kill Aerys the day I took the cloak."
"What?" he said, only just managing to strangle his instinctive shout and keep his voice low.
I gave a nod "Two days before I left the Rock for Harrenhal I was wandering the halls when I came to the Stone Garden and for some reason I can't explain, had the urge to sit before the Weirwood. When I did, I saw things.
"At first I thought them just idle dreams, but then Aerys's named me to his Kingsguard exactly as those "dreams" had shown me. That was just the start though, I saw the Stark's burn that day and I saw them burn months later with my own eyes. The dreams didn't end with just the Rebellion or Aerys's death though."
Tyrion opened and closed his mouth but said nothing, stunned completely silent.
I gave another slight nod and continued "I've seen things that will? might? could? come to pass and one of those things is the return of the Long Night. And considering that a prophecy old before the Doom of Valyria that concerns just that event is what drove Rhaegar to his actions with Lyanna, I'm disinclined to doubt. Within our lifetimes the Wall will fall, dragons will again fly the skies of Westeros, and the White Walkers will march out of legend with an army of the dead at their back."
"Are you sure you didn't just have too much to drink Jaime? This is all so unbelievable." Tyrion questioned, clearly trying to come up with any explanation that wasn't "Jaime is mad" or "Jaime has seen a horrible future".
I gave a bitter chuckle "I wish, but just like Daenys the Dreamer predicted the Doom and so managed to save her family, I seem to have predicted our Doom and now it falls on my shoulders to save our family."
Tyrion sighed and gave a slight nod "Prophecy isn't unknown, but this stretches far beyond the bounds of credibility. I'll keep your secret, I mean even if I told anyone they would just think it a poor attempt on my account to paint you as mad so that I can seize the Rock from you. But that doesn't explain what you want with the Dragonglass."
"Oh, but it does. In my visions, I saw that the only weapons truly useful against the Walkers and the dead were those made of dragonglass or Valyrian Steel; and it is much easier to acquire enough obsidian to equip an army than it is to do the same with Valyrian Steel." I explained, causing Tyrion to chuckle "There doesn't exist enough Valyrian Steel in the world for that task."
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