(Lord Osric Stark, Heir to Winterfell POV)
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He was staring up at the tower with irritation. Anger really. With the adrenaline still running, his blood flowing, and his temper cooling, he'd forgotten to have Bran do something other than climb the damned tower. That was on him; he'd not forgive himself for a while, as he'd hoped to avoid Bran falling from that damned tower and give his brother some lands. Well, now that plan was shot to hell. He has no choice now, Bran would become the Three-Eyed Raven, and Osric…
Osric would need to change his plans slightly. It'd been his hope to grant Bran dominion over the soon to be reclaimed Gift. Which would have given Arya the Land of Sea Dragons Point and Rickon Stony Shore. Now he had land to give, but no one to really give it to. For the foreseeable future, Arya would inherit both Stony Shore and Sea Dragon Point, while Rickon would inherit the Gift. Which also meant replanning who he planned to approach as potential spouses for his siblings.
Had Bran not fallen, then Osric would have arranged for him to marry Alys Karstark. But that was no shot to shit. Which meant that Osric had to change plans.
Fucking lovely.
''Lord Osric, your father wants to see you.'' He turned to face the guardsman.
''I'll be there shortly, I have something to grab first.'' He replied as he entered the broken tower. Tower first, then father….
Then Jaime Lannister.
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Grabbing the long blonde hair of Cersei for himself, to use to spook Jaime and extract a promise. He met with his father and the King. He wasn't expecting the King.
''Father?'' He asked, before inclining his head to the King.
''I have spoken with Ser Garlan Tyrell, and he has informed me of his father's desires.'' Wait… what the fuck was going on.
''Bah! Speak plainly Ned, this is the Queen of thorns decision, obviously.'' The King interrupted.
''Father? I don't understand.'' He ignored the King's interruption.
''Lady Olenna wishes to offer her granddaughter to you. Lady Margaery of Highgarden.'' He couldn't help the smirk. ''Why do I get the feeling that was what you wanted?'' Father asked.
''Because it was. The Tyrell's are natural schemers, with Sansa being betrothed to the Crown Prince, there is a natural concern of them still supporting the Targaryens if they return, potentially marrying Daenerys Targaryen to Lord Willas or Lady Margaery to Viserys. With the Martells getting whatever Targaryen isn't married to House Tyrell. Marrying Lady Margaery myself secures an invaluable ally that rivals House Lannister in Wealth, exceeds their army by roughyl twenty to twenty-five thousand men, and is the Great House of the primary breadbasket of Westeros. My Sister becomes Queen, I remove a potential alliance with a pretender to my future nephews and nieces.'' It was hard, lying to father, but the King nodded appraisingly to him.
''You're boy's got the right of it, Ned. The last thing I want is for those Dragoncunts to have more men than us or more supplies, not to mention more coin.'' Says the King.
''So I take it you approve?'' Father asked him.
''I do, in point of fact, I planned to ride to Highgarden myself to arrange it at some point. I assume you'll be sending the offer with the King's personal seal of approval?'' The question needed to be asked, as a letter bearing the seals of House Stark and Baratheon was one thing. But one bearing the personal royal seal of the King carried much more weight. Mace Tyrell or his mother would not be able to ignore it and honestly Mace would take it and agree.
''My name and my seal will be on it.'' King Robert supplies.
''Then if that's all, your Grace, I have a forge to get to.'' The king waved him off, and Father nodded that it was alright for him to leave.
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(POV Shift: Ser Garlan ''The Gallant'' Tyrell)
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He'd been summoned by the Heir of Winterfell to his Forge.
''Lord Stark?'' He spoke up as the Heir raised a hand for him to wait before striking the blade before him a couple of times and then picking it up and placing it in some kind of mechanism.
''You can tell your grandmother the offer is accepted. In point of face I planned to ride to Highgarden myself at some point and make the offer. I'm supposed to be making a sword for the King and his royal guard. This sword will be wielded by the Heir of House Tyrell from now on. I'll make three more soon enough. One for your father, one for yourself, and one for Ser Loras. Consider them bridal gifts from House Stark to House Tyrell. They'll be ready for when you depart for Highgarde bearing my fathers and my own personal letter.'' He felt himself startle a little at that.
''Four swords for House Tyrell?'' He wanted to make sure.
''Four, free of charge. I'll forge the Lady Margaery a stiletto or two for personal protection when all else fails as well. Don't tell anybody that this was before the King's order. I'll forge a set of armour for you and your brother later on as well. Right now I have some quality Control to get to. This Blade can only soak up so much before it gets a little to powerful.'' He said turning back to the Forge and spinning a wheel as the sound of steam reaches his ears and Lord Osric pulls the Sword from the device.
''How do you do it?'' He asked the young Lord who would soon be his goodbrother.
''Instinct and feelings mostly. Come over here, let me show you something. You see the inscriptions here? Every sword iss different. I have a different set of inscriptions for different blades. Different inscriptions in different orders. Each one serves a purpose. When I pound the Lyrium and Energon into the Elementium the inscriptions became words of power. The inscription on this sword is for an edge that never dulls, a sharpness that remains akin to that of a razor, and to never shed the blood of the Innocent. Each time this sword cuts down a guilty man, it will become stronger and sharper. But for every innocent and not guilty man it strikes down it will dull and become weaker. This Sword will bear a name worthy of the Heir of House Tyrell'' He said as he began placing ingots into the cauldron before pouring a couple vials of liquid into said cauldron.
''Incredible.''
''You should leave now, you'll cook in your armor if you don't.''
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(POV Shift: Ser Jaime ''The Kingslayer'' Lannister, Kingsguard)
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''The things we do for love.'' He could not stop himself from going completely still and rigid at that.
''Pardon?'' He turned to find the young Stark looking at him.
''I found evidence that someone who has hair the same shade as yours was present when my Brother fell. But it is rather obvious when I look at the Crown Shit and his so-called father. How long has she held you by the balls, I wonder? That night you shared together before the King got it in his head to name you to the Kingsguard? Before your mother discovered the two of you together? Or was it when the young Lady Heatherspoon was thrown down that well because she voiced her desire to marry you?'' He felt his blood run cold, and his face pale considerably.
How in the seven hells did the young Lord Stark know ANY of this?
''I can't prove it was you, nor can I prove you were copulating with her. But someday soon Kingslayer, you and I will cross swords, and only one of us will walk away intact. If you succeed, it dies with me. On that, you have my word. But if I win, your eldest bastard son, your lover, and your father will die at my order. And there won't be fuck all you can do to stop it.'' He palmed the dagger at his side.
''Naughty naughty Ser Jaime. See, I told people I was coming to see you. Now, am I bluffing? Or is it the truth? And if I told people? Who did I tell? Are we even alone? Despite your actions, Ser Jaime, you and I both know, you're not so dishonorable to as to stick that dagger in my throat. Well, at least not in my own home, with so many potential witnesses.'' He seemed so sure.
''How can you be so sure?'' He needed to know, because he himself wasn't so sure.
''Burn them all. Perhaps your sworn brothers would have let it happen. Perhaps not. The Point is you did not. In that moment, your damned yourself to your seven hells to save tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. For that, Ser Jaime… For that you will have my eternal respect. But you love a woman who would kill just as many just to prove a point and herself. Now that, that's something I can't respect. A reckoning is coming, Lannister. And we're on opposing sides, you and I. Have a good day, Ser Jaime.'' His heart was pounding in his chest. Somehow, that boy knew things that he had no way of knowing.
And it scared the living hell out of him.
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(Author's Note:)
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And with that, the chapter is done. Been playing catch up last couple of days because I had no sleep Sunday night. Honestly, I went to bed about ten o'clock and was up from basically seven am Sunday morning until 8:30 Monday. I just could not get to sleep at all. When I finally did, well, like I said, my body has been playing catch-up ever since.
Anyways, regarding this chapter, I've been playing around with that scene with Jamie in my head for a while now. Finally went downstairs and disconnected from everything except the wifi and my laptop, and got the scene and the chapter done. Got more content than I expected for it to. About 1,575 of pure content overall. I was going to include the hunt as part of it since I do have content for that, but honestly, I did it in Antlers and Claws, and I felt silly just reusing it with some minor tweaks. Anyways, next chapter will take a little bit, because honestly I'm busy as fuck tomorrow and I'm injured. I've literally got two classes tomorrow followed by training.
Fuck my life sometimes.
Anyway, on account of that I'll be sleeping half the day… actually, now that I think about it, so much for my break. Tomorrow is Thursday at the time of this writing, so I'm guessing I'm busy till Saturday, which is when I will be sleeping half the day and spend the rest writing and gaming. My addiction to Football Manager has reared its head again, so I'll do some of that before heading back downstairs and completing a chapter in a couple hours.
Anyways, see you guys next chapter.
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