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Lannister : Chapter 6
🕑 Added 2025-03-13 14:20:29 +0000 UTC
( Joanna POV )
'My dearest Tywin…' Joanna checked her handwriting, then double-checked it. She knew her husband loved her letters. He had told her so many times, so she always took extra care to make sure that they were perfect, and to rub a little bit of her perfume along the edges of the paper before she sealed the message. It was one more little way of telling her grumpy lion that she loved him.
Surveying her script, she found herself satisfied with the results, the curves were smooth, the letters properly spaced, and the size consistent. She took a moment to compose her thoughts before she picked up her quill once more and-
"Are you writing another letter to Father?"
Her quill hovered inches above the inkpot as she stilled, turning to her side. Callum's green eyes looked up at her past his long blond hair. The boy had taken to growing it out since the tournament earlier in the year. He seemed to be imitating his father's hair as best he could, though Joanna didn't have the heart to tell him it made him look like a girl.
"Yes." Joanna gave her son a smile. He had been sticking to her side closely recently, ever since her growing belly had begun to show. Callum had decided to be her personal little assistant and caretaker while she was with-child. His eyes were always full of concern. He'd always run her letters out around the Rock for her and boss the servants around to bring whatever food she wanted. She hardly needed it, they had hundreds of servants to help her, but she enjoyed spending time with her son and the affection the small boy lavished on her. "Do you have anything particular that you'd like me to include?"
"Only that I'm doing well, and I'll have soon finished Maester Eomund's lessons on the war of the Ninepenny Kings." The boy replied cheerfully.
"Certainly." Joanna smiled, deciding to include that update, that and how the boy had written up a seven-step plan to refurbish the old watchtower stop the Rock into a private study. It was a good plan too, he had roped some of the servants into it and even had an estimate for how much stone, wood, and glass the construction would need, and how much the whole thing would cost.
Joanna wanted dearly to go ahead with her son's clever plan, but she was loathe to make any significant change to the Rock without consulting Tywin first.
She got up from her desk to go pat the boy on the head. He was working on some writing for Maester Eomund at his own smaller desk, which made her smile in affection every time she saw him working so diligently. In appearance, Callum took after her, but that quiet diligence was surely from his father.
As she moved, she felt the baby kick, and let out a sigh of air. Her hand found its way to her belly. 'grouchy today aren't you…' perhaps now that she had a son with his father's looks and one with his father's diligence, she was finally having one with his temper…
Not that Joanna hoped it was another son. She wanted a second daughter, mayhaps one quieter and less boyish than Cersei.
"Is the baby moving?" Callum asked, blinking. "Are you alright? Do you need some water?" The boy was up from his desk like a lightning bolt, but she waved him off.
"I'm alright Callum, just fine. Don't fret about me." She waved her hand back and forth. " Treat your future lady wife this nicely, and she'll be lucky to have you."
Callum seemed unsatisfied with her answer and opened his mouth to reply, only for a frantic series of knocks to sound at the door.
'now who could that be?' Joanna thought, but steadying herself on her desk, she spoke up. "Come in."
One of the maidservants burst into the room all ahuff, panting, and looking exhausted. "My lady!" She said hurriedly, "Lady Cersei and her brother were-" she cut herself off quickly as she spotted Callum in the room, looking up with an increasingly concerned expression.
"Continue," Joanna said firmly, wondering what devilry her elder children had gotten themselves into now.
"Oh-em, that is. I shouldn't say with young Callum here my lady."
Joanna frowned, what was the matter with Callum hearing what his siblings were up to? Still, it didn't look like the maid was lying to her. Perhaps it was something she didn't want the boy to repeat. "Callum, leave for a moment."
"Of course." Callum nodded, strangely stiff as he walked out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
"Alright, now what's going on?" Joanna spoke sternly.
"Swear on the seven with my two eyes I saw them together in the bath. Carnally I mean!" The maid said hurriedly. "Lord Jaime was sticking his fingers into-"
"Enough!" Joanna said hurriedly. Her face flushed. "By the Seven they're only children!" She frowned, most likely they had seen some unsubtle pair of servants coupling and decided to try it for themselves. Still, this couldn't stand. She would need to speak to them about this quickly. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. What is your name?"
"Landra, Lady Lannister."
"Right." Joanna would have to see the Maid dismissed from their service after this, put in a Motherhouse on the Fair Isle with a bag of coins to buy her silence. "Where are they?"
"Lady Cersei's bedroom my lady," Landra responded dutifully, and Joanna nodded, feeling her baby kick once again as she took off across the castle on a warpath. She paid no mind to Callum looking grim by the door. She had to go deal with this latest mess before anything more came of it.
Perhaps it'd be best to separate the normally inseparable children to opposite ends of the Rock for a few years, nip any misplaced physical attraction in the bud. It wouldn't do for rumors of childhood incest to follow them around as adults.
Seven save her from her foolish children.
...
Chronicle of the Targaryen Dynasty in the Seven Kingdoms
Maester Willem
272 AC- eleventh moon
The Maesters send out Ravens announcing the start of Winter. The Crownslands remain relatively temperate despite reports of deep snows in the Riverlands and Vale, as storms carry up the coast bringing warm rains to King's Landing. Joanna Lannister, Wife of Lord Tywin Lannister, Hand of the King, becomes pregnant with her fourth child.
