AN :
Next goal for another extra chapter is 100 power stones.
In the Game of Stones, you either win or you wait. The more Power Stones you offer, the faster the chapters come.
...
"I'd… well I'd prefer if you took a different role with me. A more equal one Cersei. You're only two years older, I don't need to be constantly comforted like a baby. If anyone needs that it's poor Tyrion." Callum spoke softly.
"I just… well I'm not sure what that role should be, but I would much prefer if you treated me normally as your brother than trying to be my mother."
...
Cersei frowned, looking at the pretty boy in front of her with new eyes. He really wasn't much younger than her. It was true, perhaps she could stand to… well, treat him less like a baby, even if they were both still children. "In that case… I will do my best to protect you, Callum, not as if I were your mother, but as your elder sister." She grinned, feeling her confidence return.
Callum smiled at her, and it was such a beautiful, pure smile. She didn't think she could ever remember him smiling at her like that. "If you mean that Cersei, I'd appreciate it greatly," Callum said. "And I'll… try not to be scared of you in turn. I never meant to hurt your feelings by it. I was just uncomfortable with you hugging me tightly practically every time we talked."
"Of course I mean it!" Cersei said proudly, placing her hands on her hips. "How could I not want to protect you when you're practically a mirror of my own circumstances?" Cersei said, trying to sound heroic.
Callum paused again looking at her slightly confused. "Elaborate."
Cersei blinked, had she really never explained this to him before? "Well… you know I'm the oldest of our siblings, and I'm a woman, but I have a manly heart- I'm nearly as good with a sword as Jaime, I hate embroidery and all those girly things, and I'm strong, fast, and I've a clever wit," Cersei said proudly, before leaning forward, placing a finger on Callum's chest. "Meanwhile you, Callum, have a girlish heart and are blessed with the very beauty of the maiden. Like a mirror of me. Obviously, since I have a manly heart and I'm older- it's up to me to protect you and keep your pure, soft heart safe." Cersei giggled. "I'm just jealous of Jaime, he's the only one of us that came out with both halves matching you know?"
If Callum had looked confused before, now he looked positively dumbfounded, but that made sense. His mouth hung open slightly as he leaned back in his seat on his bed. It made sense of course- if he'd never thought of it before of course he'd be shocked when Cersei explained the truth of everything. "Uh…"
"Don't worry too much about it." Cersei grinned, taking his soft hand in hers. "Just know that I'll always be here to protect you, Callum." Looking at her beautiful brother, she smiled, before feeling her heart stir with passion, she leaned forward and pressed her lips into his, placing a kiss onto his open mouth. Taking the back of his head in her hands, she felt their breath mix for just a moment, hers strong and hot, his quick and breathless, before she drew back, a wide grin on her face.
"Cersei-what- did you just kiss me?" Callum sounded disbelieving, baffled, but Cersei only laughed.
"Of course I did, now my promise is sealed with a kiss!" She grinned, "that way you'll remember it when you leave." Cersei smiled broadly as she turned to the door. She had done everything she came here for, now Callum wouldn't be scared of her anymore, and everything would be perfect. She would stop mothering him, and treat him as he ought to be treated instead. She could hardly keep the smile off her face as she headed back out into Casterly Rock, the air tasted as sweet as Callum's breath.
"Cersei, that's not, bleagh, ah…" Callum's voice followed her for a short while. No doubt he was shocked by her assertiveness, but that was what it meant to have a male heart wasn't it? Her brother shouldn't be surprised when she took his first kiss, she had already taken Jaime's after all.
Cersei walked back to her chambers with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. Callum wasn't scared of her anymore and everything was going to be alright.
...
( Tygett Lannister POV )
Tygett Lannister looked down at the man in front of him with a frown. The man, or more accurately boy, was likely not sixteen yet, not at the age of his majority, but he was certainly motivated. Tygett couldn't deny that.
"Please S-My Lord! I've nothing left to return to!" He pleaded. "The squids took everything. There's nothing left!" The despairing boy had ridden some fifty miles on a battered horse through the pouring rain after the Ironborn had looted his family's land and burned his home. It was a distressingly common story and one that made Tygett feel like a failure every time he heard it.
Looking the boy in the eyes, Tygett sighed. Another mouth to feed, another man in need of training. But he couldn't turn the man away either. It was just another drop of the poisoned chalice his brother had served him with his Lord Temporship. "Fine. I'll have you as a man at arms then. Go talk to Ser Klimmeth, he'll see to your lodging, and teach you to fight."
The man nodded. "Thank you, Lord Lannister! You won't regret it!" He smiled gratefully, before turning to rush out the door, off to find Ser Klimmeth and join Tygett's band of horsemen.
Tygett sighed and turned towards the map of the North Coast he'd had hung up on the old stone wall.
It mocked him.
In terms of land, Tygett as Lord Tempor had more of it than any other Lord in the Westerlands, save for his eldest brother. The North Coast was five hundred miles from end to end, and save for a peninsula on the western side that was under House Banefort, it was all technically Tygett's demesne.
His holdings ran from the coast to the mountains roughly twenty to fifty miles inland depending on the region, and extended as far south as the valley north of Ashemark. There were five major rivers as well as more useable bays, inlets, and natural harbors than the rest of the Westerlands combined, as unlike the western shore, the land here ran smoothly down to the sea with no great red cliffs.
That was the source of the region's problems, in Tygett's opinion. It was perfectly good land, fertile, warm enough, and with access to the plentiful fish of Ironman's Bay, but with no natural defenses and its proximity to the Ironborn, it had been a favorite raising location since the Age of Heroes. The gentle sloping rivers made it easy to sail a longboat up for access to the interior, and the many available harbors and smooth beaches made it impossible to predict where a raiding party might land.
While many small houses had, over the history of the Westerlands, tried to establish themselves in the region, all had failed to deal with the Ironborn threat. Even the Ironborn themselves, ironically, had found that the region gave them no natural protections from Westerlands hosts that would attack from the mountains when they settled there. The North Coast was thus a nearly lawless borderland, and one Tywin had seen fit to give Tygett charge over.
'What a joke.' he grimaced as he looked at the map, placing another pin in it for the most recent raid.
"Lord Lannister!" One of his horsemen, Tion came into the hall. "Your Nephew's party has been spotted approaching."
Ah, and there was the other thing Tywin was saddling him with. Tygett would have much preferred his elder nephew, Jaime as a squire. That boy showed promise in all things knightly, but Callum? While he didn't dislike the boy the few times he'd spoken to him, he never seemed particularly interested in martial valor. Kevan's letters only confirmed as much. It was a rare boy who would skip out on sword lessons to go read, much less write, books.
The sentiment seemed to be that Callum was neither especially talented nor particularly poor at arms. He just didn't find them interesting. Tygett had a hard enough job as it was protecting the North Coast. It would have been a much better fit if young Callum went off to squire for Gerion instead.
Tygett sighed as he stepped out into the courtyard of Eagle's Nest, the sounds of hammers and saws reaching his ears.
The Castle was pathetic, even compared to lesser keeps in the Westerlands, an old dilapidated rectangular stone keep with a broken down wooden curtain wall set on top of a hill looking down across the delta of the Greystone River. It was no great bastion, but it was Tygett's home for the moment, one of a half dozen bastard-castles he'd occupied during his time as Lord Tempor thus far.
While no Lord had ever successfully occupied the Northern Coast for long, many had tried, and the ruins of their attempts dotted the landscape. This one had been chosen due to its proximity to the Greystone, which was an easy path for raids into the inland of the region.
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