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Lannister : Chapter 21: Dissaffected Youth
🕑 Added 2025-04-13 17:24:14 +0000 UTC
( Cersei Lannister POV )
Cersei grinned as she felt the leather handle of her sword soften in her sweat, her eyes tracking her opponent carefully as she dodged deftly to the side, parrying his blow and bringing her own longsword in towards his neck.
It didn't hit of course. Ser Loric Payne had recently taken over as Master at Arms in Casterly Rock, and by Cersei's understanding, he was far more fearsome than old Ser Swyft, who had recently returned to his family's home at Cornfield. Not that she'd ever managed to land any particularly good blows on Ser Swyft either.
"You're slipping today, Jaime." Ser Loric chastized, and Cersei felt a thrill run through her, the same thrill that she always felt when someone mistook her for her brother. "With a thrust, you'd have had me dead to rights!"
"The spar isn't over yet!" She said, affecting Jaime's tone with an eagerness she couldn't hide, rushing forward she slipped into his guard, though he changed his footwork to push her back out, forcing her back as he suddenly changed grips and knocked aside her blade with the pommel of his own. She recovered well enough though, having taken nearly as many lessons in the yard as Jaime over the two years since they'd started training, and she was able to bring her blade around swiftly. Fast enough that even Ser Loric didn't see it coming.
The wooden sword, for that, was what it was, glanced off of the knight's fingers, eliciting a wince from the brown-haired man, but it was quickly replaced with a proud smile. "That's the third time you've managed to hit me, boy. That's the fire I wanted to see."
He reached over and patted her on the back, hard enough to nearly knock her over, though Cersei was able to recover. No, that wasn't the third time Jaime had hit him, it was the first time Cersei had! Still, the smile on her face was radiant as he informed her that she was done for the day, laughing and telling her she ought to have some wine with dinner to celebrate.
Cersei thought she'd take him up on that, but she had quite a bit of time before dinner, and unlike her own terribly dull embroidery lessons, Jaime often had all the afternoon to go out and explore the castle, as Ser Loric had started giving Callum basic lessons in the afternoon after his eighth nameday.
Cersei was slightly annoyed about that. Jaime, and thus her, used to sometimes get sword lessons from late morning for the rest of the day. And what did Callum need a sword for? All he did was read and play with his toys…
Cersei sighed. She knew why, it was because Callum was a boy. It didn't matter that he was short and thin, or that he was better suited to sitting in a tower than fighting in the yard. No, even though everyone said he was mediocre compared to Jaime (and by their gullibility, compared to her also), he would go on to be a knight someday and Cersei would be expected to sit around chatting with her bedmaids about hair and clothes and flowers.
It was infuriating. Cersei knew quite well how to do her hair, and how to pick a nice dress. She had learned it years ago, but it was as if all her teachers had just expected her to stop learning then, to be satisfied that she knew the names and ways to care for flowers. Jaime could, if she asked him, do her hair better than any of her "teachers" could, but every day she was expected to waste her time with them, and all she'd ever be good for was wasting time if she let them have their way!
That Callum, her waif of a brother was to be a knight while she, who was better in the yard than most of the household knight's sons, was forced to become a lady who sat about and talked about worthless things all day, it was offense, unfair. He was only being allowed to do it because of the bits between his legs, but anyone could see he was better suited for her life, and she better suited for his. If only he were born a woman and she were born a man!
If she'd been born a man, she'd be father's heir as well, she was older than Jaime, he'd been born grabbing her foot and followed her out of their mother's womb after all. Mother had told her that story many times, back before the Imp killed her.
Cersei wanted to pull her hair in frustration, but she knew that that would show, and she couldn't have that, so instead she set off on her own through the passages of the Rock.
The yard was some ways away from the living quarters, a little over a mile in fact, it was set outdoors near the Godswood, on the "lions back" really the second summit of the mountain.
It was nearly five hundred feet below the main summit, where Callum's study sat up on top of the rock, and there were more than three dozen different passages and hallways you could take that would guide you between the two. She always liked taking the narrow stone tunnels that ran up the northern face of the mountain, with their low ceilings too short for most adults to follow comfortably.
They were some of the oldest carven tunnels in the whole of Casterly Rock, ancient mines that dated back to the time of House Casterly, when they had built their hill-fort on top of the rock millennia ago and had it stolen away from them by Lann the clever.
There were several versions of the story of how their House's mythic founder had stolen the Rock from the Casterlys, but all of them made her smile. In some he covered himself in butter and slipped naked through a cleft in the stone, before wreaking secret havoc on the Casterlys, setting traps and causing them to fight each other.
In some, he pushed many mice and rats into the walls of the rock to drive the Casterlys out, and in another still, he smuggled in a pride of lions that ate the Casterlys whole. Cersei's favorite, which she had heard from a couple of scullery maids in the kitchens, he had snuck into the castle and slept with Lord Casterly's wife and daughters while they slept, and nine months later the castle had been filled with blond-haired children though none knew how it had happened.
In Cersei's dreams, she often thought of herself as Lann, slipping in naked between the stones and stealing the Rock away from the Casterlys with no one the wiser.
Cersei giggled at her thoughts as she passed through the ancient passages, not minding the stairs that she had lived with all her life. Indeed, she could imagine Lann sneaking through these very same tunnels, a clever Lannister bent on defeating a world of fools. In her mind, he had looked like Jaime, and thus like her.
So lost was she in these dreams of adventure, that she wasn't paying much attention as she turned a corner, and with full speed knocked straight into a slightly smaller figure, walking in the opposite direction.
"Hoof-" Cersei groaned as she lost her balance and fell backward, falling to the stone floor with a grunt as her bottom took most of the impact. She shook her head, blinking as she looked up from the ground to find herself staring at her younger brother's face.
"Ouch…" Callum groaned. He had taken her chin right to his forehead when he'd bumped into her, and he rubbed at it with his hand. "Ah-" His green eyes met hers. "Cersei, sorry, I didn't expect anyone to be in this passage."
"Callum…" She saw the pained expression on her brother's face and remembered Aunty Genna's lessons. When talking to those younger than yourself, it was best to be kind but stern. " I accept your apology, but next time you should try to pay more attention," Cersei said, though her tone changed as she noticed the slight red mark that had appeared on her brother's forehead. "A-are you alright?"
Callum blinked, then pointed at his forehead. "Oh, this, it stings a little, but it's not too bad." he rubbed at the red spot a little more and quietly let out another grunt of pain.
Cersei nodded, standing up from the ground while Callum winced. This was another thing Aunt Genna had taught her. Her brothers might get into a fight with each other someday, so it was important that she be a loving, caring person to both of them so that they'd listen to her and stop fighting when she asked. (Obviously, that didn't apply to Tyrion. The Imp wasn't her brother, and she doubted he'd ever be strong enough to fight Callum, let alone Jaime.)
Cersei moved forward with purpose, kneeling down beside her brother, she pulled him into her arms, patting his back. "There there, Callum, it's alright, I'll take you to Maester Eomund and we'll make it better." She held his head against her chest. "I'm here for you."
Callum seemed to stiffen with surprise in her arms, and she smiled. He must not have been expecting her to help him. Callum was the kind of person who enjoyed being off on his own, not like her or Jaime who liked to be with each other all the time. He probably wasn't used to anyone trying to help him or take care of him since mother died.
She gave him a little squeeze and a smile, leaning in and kissing the red bump on his forehead. "Alright, can you stand Callum?" she asked, trying to make sure she sounded tender like she was supposed to. It was an honest question, she had never seen Callum get hurt at all before, at least not that she could remember, and he seemed very fragile.
"Y-yeah…" Callum made a choking sound as he spoke, and Cersei felt her heartbeat accelerate. Was he that badly hurt? Still, even if he was small and thin, he was definitely a Lannister, and he forced himself to his feet regardless of how badly he was hurt, slipping out of Cersei's embrace. "Thanks, Cersei, but I'm uh… I don't want to be late for lessons," he said, talking very quickly, and Cersei blinked in surprise even as he squeezed past her in the tunnel.
"Wait-Callum you're hurt!" she raised her hand to catch him, but he'd already slipped past and was walking very quickly.
"Not enough to miss lessons!" he said, in a very panicked manner. It made her wonder if Ser Loric was being rough with him. He sounded quite scared. She watched him hurry away down the tunnels until he was out of sight.
It was only afterward that she realized she ought to have chased after him so that she could be a proper, caring figure as Aunty Genna had instructed, and she cursed in her mind as she stared down the tunnel… there was no way she'd catch up with this much distance, these mines were a maze and there was no guarantee she'd be able to take the same tunnel he did.
Cersei let out a sigh, straightening out her pants and fixing her hair as she shook her head. She wasn't sure what Callum was thinking, Jaime would have let her dote on him, but perhaps her younger brother was just less receptive to love and care.
As she fixed her shirt she blinked, the baggy fitting of Jaime's clothes bringing a new thought to her mind.
Hadn't Callum called her Cersei?
...
Chronicle of the Targaryen Dynasty in the Seven Kingdoms
Maester Willem
276 AC- Second Moon
Queen Rhaella gives birth to a new son, who is named Prince Viserys Targaryen. King Aerys orders the stationing of Kingsguard to watch and protect his son at all times. He also orders all gifts sent for the child from across the realm to be burned in the Red Keep's Courtyard. King Aerys' envoys to Essos return to King's Landing, having been unable to find a wife of sufficient standing for Prince Rhaegar in Lys, Myr, Tyrosh, Pentos, or Bravos.
King Aerys has all of the envoys dismissed, except Ser Rogar Velaryon, who returned from Pentos with news of an information broker in the city, who claimed he could help find Rhaegar a bride amongst the old blood in Volantis.
Plans for a new expedition to Volantis are put on hold due to Prince Viserys' birth. Hand of the King Tywin Lannister announces a celebratory tournament for the Prince's birth to be held halfway through the year.
