EDITED: 7th Jan 2022
Her arrival at Casterly Rock was a surprise to Lord Tytos; clearly he had only been expecting Kevan, and was not particularly pleased to see her. Though he'd never said it, she knew that he had always wanted a placid, empty-headed daughter to smile vacantly at his idiocy, whilst Tya had always seen exactly what kind of a man he was and not hesitated to call him out on it.
Tya had immediately demanded an audience in her father's solar upon their arrival, to which he had dithered and delayed.
"Can it not wait?" He shifted uncomfortably under the stares of his children. Genna and Kevan stood either side of her, and Tygett was there too; though only eleven, of all her siblings he had a glare closest to Tya's own. "I was having a rather pleasant afternoon with Meiri - I really would prefer to have this discussion another time,"
She wanted to raise her voice, to yell at him that lord's work - and his own children - should not be put aside to spend time with a glorified whore. Instead, she let Kevan speak the words he knew she wanted to.
"Now, Father," Her brother said sternly, and like a kicked, pitiful puppy their father followed them upstairs.
There, Tya laid out what was going to happen in harsh, simple terms. He would still be lord in all but name but leave all ruling to her and Kevan. Then he would have unlimited time to spend with his mistress - she had to force that word out from between her teeth - and do whatever he pleased. The bannermen would not take advantage of his generosity, good humour and weakness any longer, and they would restore the prestige of their house.
Lord Tytos had a few feeble protests but Tya easily shut him down, cold and uncompromising. He sulkily returned to his mistress, who would no doubt soothe him by whispering more poison about his children in his ears to raise her own standing and lower theirs, as she had been doing for years.
Once they had some modicum of control, the first move Tya and Kevan made was to accurately catalogue the mountains of gold that Lord Tytos had lent out and not pushed at all for its return. Though she had been expecting it to be bad from Genna's estimate, the full amount lent was worse than she could have ever imagined. Kevan had winced as he read out the figure, and Jason had laughed in incredulity. Tya wanted to tear her hair out by the roots; or even better, throttle the man she had the dishonour to call Father. A figure that could make a Lannister wince was no small matter.
No wonder their house was a laughing stock in their own lands! She despised the idea that each of these small lords were sat in their castles spending Lannister gold, chuckling to themselves knowing that the feeble Lord of Casterly Rock would never want it back; and even if he did, what was he going to do about it? He had not a violent bone in his body.
She, Kevan and Jason spent a day and a night writing letters to every single recipient of one of Lord Tytos' gift-like loans, demanding its immediate repayment. Those who could not repay would have to send a hostage to Casterly Rock until the debt was settled. No excuses, no compromises.
Their next move was to deal with the problem of the west now being riddled with robber knights and outlaws, who had flourished for years as Lord Lannister was too lazy to enforce the king's justice. Kevan took control of five hundred knights to rid the Westerlands of these criminals, making a harsh example that such acts were unacceptable in lands controlled by the Lannisters. No wonder their people had no faith in them, seeing as they failed to protect them even from scum such as this.
The backlash for this sudden change of policy soon came, of course, particularly for the demands for the loans to be repaid. Many lords were grudgingly compliant, or easily dealt with by a sharply worded letter from Tya or a visit from Kevan and his knights. But by all accounts, Rogar Reyne had laughed at the letter demanding repayment, whilst Walderan Tarbeck had actually ridden to Casterly Rock to confront Lord Tytos in person.
The man had no doubt envisioned easily cowing - or simply guilting - their father into rescinding the demands. Instead, he was faced with a stony-faced Tya, who had him arrested and imprisoned the moment he rode through the gates, before her father even had the chance to be alerted of his presence.
In response to that, Lord Tarbeck's wife - the hateful Lady Ellyn, who Tya's mother had despised and who always scorned Tya herself - had the audacity to seize cousin Stafford and two Lannisters of Lannisport, holding them hostage. Tya cared little for Jason's insufferable brother, but the nerve of that woman angered her more than she could express.
Her plans for bloody vengeance were halted, however, by the arrival of her father. Lord Tytos finally emerged from his mistress' chambers, blustering and highly distressed.
"Why did you have to do this, Tya?" He practically moaned, horrified at the idea of his house causing such offence. "Enough is enough. Return Lord Walderan to his family at once, with our sincerest apologies! Forgiving his all his debts should be the least we do to make amends. Then they should return dear Stafford to us,"
That was an order, which the men hesitated to carry out but did so nonetheless; he was still officially Lord of Casterly Rock, after all. Tya had to watch as her own father sabotaged her work, and once again humiliated them all in front of their bannermen.
The look she gave Lord Tytos then was fit to reduce him to a pile of ash on the floor.
"I was planning on returning Tarbeck to his family in three pieces," She ground out coldly.
Her father looked aghast.
"Meiri was right about you," He said, shaking his head and looking distraught. "She said you were cold and heartless, that it's not right for a woman to act so. Oh, perhaps if your mother was still alive she could've softened you, but now it's too late. I'm sorry Tya,"
Men actually stepped back as the fury rose in her.
"I have never met that gutter-born whore you dress in my mother's jewels," She snarled viciously but did not raise her voice. "Who are you to listen to her poison words about me? To abandon your duty as a lord and a father to bury your head in her breasts? To ignore your own children in favour of some common wench who happened to take your fancy? If you think Mother would have made me softer, you never knew your own wife - she would've agreed, and been as ashamed by you as all your children are. You are a disgrace to our house, a pitiful excuse of a man and unfit to be lord of anything, let alone Casterly Rock,"
She didn't give him a chance to reply to that, fearing that her tirade had made him cry, which would result in her slapping him there and then. Tya swept away without another word. If Kevan was here, perhaps he could have smoothed that over, or even cut her off before she finished her tirade, but he was not, so the entire castle remained on edge.
"Bury your head in her breasts?" Jason caught up with her, grinning, and she turned to snarl at him, which he ignored. "I liked your phrasing, but yellling at the man won't make him do what you want. Fathers don't like being told what to do by their daughters,"
"Then in all your wisdom, do enlighten me," Tya snapped, stopping abruptly and rounding on him.
"If I thought you capable," He sneered. "I'd tell you to flatter him, stroke his ego, speak sweet words that him convinced it was his idea all along. As you have all the charm of a dead fish, however, just cut him out. Take things out of his hands. The man hates to have to think about anything remotely difficult, he'll be grateful for it,"
Part of her wanted to slap him. Part of her grudgingly acknowledged that he was right.
She wrote to Kevan, explaining what had happened. Her brother returned to the Rock in days, just as furious as she was at their father, and very agreeable to their next course of action.
"We'll write to them," He said, eyes narrowed. "Demand that Rogar Reyne and Walderan Tarbeck appear at Casterly Rock to answer for their crimes," Both had still refused to repay his debt, or give up a hostage. "And Father won't hear a thing until it's too late,"
So they wrote the letters, though Tya did not think it was nearly enough. So when they received a reply from Houses Reyne and Tarbeck, both of them renouncing their allegiance to House Lannister, she was angry of course but also grimly satisfied.
Together, she and her brother raised an army. Kevan knew little of the ways of war outside what his maester had taught him, but Tya did. She had learned at her mother's knee, had served King Aegon for years whilst he discussed politics and warfare with high lords and soldiers, sat in on the Small Council during the Fifth Blackfyre Rebellion, dedicated half her life to intensely studying war, strategy and matters of state.
She had no practical experience of course, but stood alongside Kevan as he consulted with the captains and generals of the army, observing and listening before making any decisions. She only ever told Kevan what to do in private, of course, not wanting to undermine him.
The men seemed to respect that their lord's heir took their advice was taken into account, and also greatly appreciated having Tya to organise the logistics of it all; the one ladylike thing she excelled in was managing a household, and this was only on a grander scale. Food, supplies, weapons, wagons, horses, transporting men.
Their father was not consulted on any of this, of course. When he rushed out during preparations to protest Genna simply took him forcibly by the arm with a wide smile plastered on her face and marched him inside loudly inquiring if his breakfast had been satisfactory. All the Lannister captains turned a blind eye, having long been tired of their useless lord, easily switching to obeying his son.
They left Casterly Rock at dawn after a week of preparations, marching for Tarbeck Hall.
Lord Walderan had clearly not expected a response of that magnitude, and hastily sent them a messenger with terms, saying he would repay the loan in time but suggested insultingly small instalments over an insulting long time. He also had the nerve to demand Genna as a bride for his son, to ensure such tensions never arose between their two houses again.
It was Tya, not Kevan, who sent the head of the man who delivered the terms back to Tarbeck Hall, although her brother didnt object to that decision. Though no letter was exchanged, the message couldn't have been clearer.
Lord Tarbeck met their forces outside his castle. It was Tya's first glimpse of battle in person, and she learned a great deal. Kevan led the army whilst she remained at the back, observing the entire scene and sending her advice to the front, which her brother usually enacted. The battle was over fairly quickly, the Tarbecks soundly defeated, and Lord Walderan was captured and dragged before her and Kevan.
"I suppose you'll kill me then take my lands and castle," He spat angrily onto the ground at her feet, breathing heavily and bleeding from a nasty wound in his side. "My son will never forgive the Lannisters for this. We Tarbecks have long memories,"
"Is that so?" Tya raised an eyebrow, locking eyes with Kevan - who looked rather resigned, but nodded - and Jason, whose eyes were glinting cruelly. There was a heavy pause before she continued. "Destroy the entire castle," She looked back at the now aghast man on his knees. "The people in it too. Seal the gates and level it to the ground,"
"No!" The former Lord Tarbeck choked out in horror. "No, you can't, my wife, my children!" Tya's face remained cold, and his turned furious. "You vile, hateful, evil bitch! Your father will be ashamed of what you have done. Do you truly think you will be welcome at court after this barbarity? What cruel, heartless woman orders the deaths of innocent children?"
"You just told me those children would grow up to despise my house and rise against us," She raised an eyebrow.
"You had your chances, Tarbeck," Kevan said coldly. "The scorched ruin of your hall will serve to remind others that House Lannister always pays its debts, even if its bannermen do not,"
She watched with grim satisfaction as the towers of Tarbeck Hall fell one by one under the bombardment from their siege engines, and the huge fires lit under its walls grew into a raging inferno. Lady Ellyn was in there somewhere, screaming, dying, no proud or scornful look to be seen on her face.
Her husband Lord Walderan wept on his knees some way behind her, and it was a sweet sound.
The last tower fell and Tya turned away, facing Tarbeck, the fire still raging behind her. The wind was in their direction and ash from the castle was being blown towards them. A fitting backdrop.
"Remove his head," She heard Kevan say to one of the guards.
"Don't bother finding an axe," She cut in. "Your sword will do,"
"It won't do a clean job of it, milady," The man warned, moving to obey her regardless. "The edge needs sharpening after the battle,"
"No matter," Her voice was cold.
The guard nodded, not surprised, as the other two forced Tarbeck to bend. He didn't take much forcing in truth. The man was broken.
It took four blows to sever his head. Tya watched each one without flinching, then looked up to see Jason staring at her with a dark look in his eyes.
"Did I do something to upset you?" She approached him as the crowd dispersed, her tone disdainful as her hand brushed ash from the castle out of her hair.
His lips curled into a smile.
"Yes," He said. "You're so vile and bloodthirsty that I cannot seem to tear my eyes away,"
She stopped dead at that. What?
"And that's distressing for you?" Tya raised an eyebrow.
"Very much, seeing as we haven't been able to stand each other since we were children,"
"Yes, well you should have thought twice before pushing me in the sea years ago. A Lannister always pays their debts, as Lord Tarbeck found out," The words were delivered in her usual deadpan, but Jason's eyes lit up as he realised she had made a joke. She knew he hadn't meant it like that, but didn't really want to address what that meant.
"You've never scared me, Tya, no matter how you wanted to," He stepped closer, forcing her to look up at him, which she resented but refused to step back.
"You say that like you scare me," She glared. "Second son of a second son,"
"Stuck-up bitch," He said, chuckling almost fondly. "I could scare you if I really tried,"
She scoffed derisively.
"No one scares me,"
"No one has ever come close enough," Was his slyly delivered reply, which made her eyes widen a fraction as she realised what he was getting at. He noticed, unfortunately. "See,"
"Wipe that awful smile off your face," Tya turned away in disgust, hating the way her stomach felt, as though she was some pathetic swooning maiden. "People are dying," She waved a hand at the burning remains of Tarbeck Hall, the remark sounding pitiful even to her own ears.
Jason burst out laughing.
"Righteousness doesn't suit you, my lady," He crowed after her as she walked away, conceding for once just so she didn't have to suffer him any longer.
*
Lord Reyne had not learned from his goodbrother's mistake.
He too met the Lannister army on the field, and he too was defeated easily. But despite being grievously injured he managed to escape and flee back to his seat of Castamere.
Kevan's army pursued him, to find that the entire household had given up the small overground keep and retreated to the vast subterranean chambers beneath it that made up the greater proportion of the castle.
Tya had been part of every war council, mostly observing, listening and learning from what the captains had to say. Kevan usually voiced the questions he knew she wanted to ask but didn't, and would generally agree with the option that he knew she favoured. She appeared the silent observer to the men, although surely most of them knew there was more to it. She had gained a reputation nonetheless for what she had ordered at Tarbeck hall.
The war council on how to deal with the Castamere siege was more fraught than any of the others.
"How do we fight them if they insist on hiding underground?" Once captain demanded, frustrated. "Siege weapons won't make a dent on those caverns, and they'll have an entire summer's worth of provisions. Waiting for surrender will take years. I doubt they ever will, not after what happened to Tarbeck Hall,"
"Those gates aren't unbreakable," Another disagreed. "Break them now before they have time to further shore them up and we'll have won easily,"
"We'll be fighting in narrow, unfamiliar halls. We can throw however many men we like down there but the defenders will only be facing three at a time. There are murder holes, traps and all sorts down there no doubt,"
"But we'd win eventually,"
"At what cost?"
This discussion had been going on for hours, round and round in circles. Tya could tell it was going nowhere and had heard all she had to hear. She spoke up for the first time that meeting and all quieted to listen.
"Cover the entrances to the castle," Her voice was cold. "Pile tons of stone over that supposedly impenetrable gate - "
"How is that any different to waiting them out in a siege?" One man interrupted but silenced immediately at the look she gave him.
"I hadn't finished," She said lowly, daring anyone else to speak. "Cover the gate. Then dam the Castamere stream. Divert it into the main mine entrance. If they wish to hide like rats underground, then let them drown down there. We'll burn their overground castle down on top of them. Anyone else thinking to mock House Lannister can look to Tarbeck Hall and Castamere and see their future,"
Silence met her words. Tya tried to ignore how Jason was watching her across the table.
Everyone here had been at Tarbeck Hall, had seen what she had ordered, but it seemed to be the consensus that she and Kevan had come up with that together. This was undeniably her own idea, and they all appeared stunned that a woman could come up with something so ruthless and effective. Even Kevan seemed rather shocked, though corrected his expression quickly.
"Do it," Her brother said as they all looked to him. "It's a good idea,"
And so they did.
The work did not take long. The Lannister army watched, silent and still, as water began to flow into the mine shaft. This time everyone knew that though Kevan Lannister had agreed to the order, it was given by his sister.
Muffled screams and panicking could soon be heard, the sounds of movement as desperate men, women and children threw themselves at the gates to the surface that wouldn't open. It lasted some hours, but the stream was fast flowing and soon the castle fell silent. All those who had taken shelter in its subterranean quarters were dead and drowned.
Tya watched the overground castle burn with hard eyes. The underground castle was now flooded and full of skeletons. The rest was an inferno like Tarbeck Hall, and would soon be another scorched shell. Even the lake from which Castamere got its name was half drained.
House Reyne and House Tarbeck had got what they deserved. Now Castamere and Tarbeck Hall stood as a harsh reminder of what fate awaited those who scorned the power of her house. And a message to her own father.
Weeks later, a musician visited Casterly Rock claiming to have a new song for the Lady Tya. That night, she heard 'The Rains of Castamere' for the first time.
And who are you, the proud lord said,
that I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat,
that's all the truth I know.
In a coat of gold or a coat of red,
a lion still has claws,
And mine are long and sharp, my lord,
as long and sharp as yours.
And so he spoke, and so he spoke,
that lord of Castamere,
But now the rains weep o'er his hall,
with no one there to hear.
Tya smiled fleetingly at the refrain, even though Lord Tytos looked like he wanted to weep.
"People already say you killed your poor late husband, Tya," He took her aside afterwards. "Now you have this dreadful song of blood and cruelty to your name, and I - "
"I'm not some gentle lady content to sit humming mindless songs, embroidering and pushing out children," She interrupted him sharply. "What I did set an example. Do you think any lord will dare to make a mockery of us now?"
"They were only laughing," Her father said. "What's so harmful about that? So what that they weren't paying us back immediately? We have enough gold to scarcely miss it,"
"Because it makes us look weak," She glared. "They laugh at us, they take advantage of your generosity, your money, and before long they decide to take our lands and titles. And who could blame them? They want a strong lord who they can trust to protect and fight for them if it comes to it, which you have never been. You must listen to me, Father. I know how this works,"
He hadn't listened, of course. What she said had gone in one ear and out the other, and he had gone back to his mistress for her to comfort him after his wicked daughter's harsh words that couldn't possibly be true.
Tya had paid the girl a visit just before she left for King's Landing. It was the first time she had met her; her father seemed to have been doing his best to keep the whore away from her, perhaps understandably.
"Lady Tya, I presume?" The candlemaker's daughter had the nerve to raise a haughty eyebrow where she lounged on a chaise, not even bothering to get to her feet to greet her. "Do they not teach ladies to knock?" Her voice was full of airs but did not disguise the common accent she had been born with. Her neck, ears, fingers were adorned with Lady Jeyne's jewels; whilst they had looked regal and elegant on Tya's mother, this girl made them look gaudy and excessive.
Tya said nothing, simply stared her down from her considerable height. Slowly the awful girl's resolve faltered, she couldn't hold her gaze, and uncomfortably shifted into a sitting position, hands twisted in her lap.
"Well?" She asked, considerably more shakily. "Are you just going to stare, or did you come here for a reason?"
"I'll have my mother's jewels from you one day," Tya's voice was low and hard. "Everything else, too," It didn't help her anger that she saw one of her father's shirts on the back of a chair, one of his socks on the floor.
The girl tried to smile cockily but just came across as rather scared.
"Tytos says he'll provide for me when he's dead and gone," She said, eyes darting to the door. "He said he'll marry you off again soon, far away, so you can't touch me,"
Well that was useful to know. Tya would deal with that later.
"Do you not hear what they say about me?" She raised an eyebrow.
"That you bathe in the blood of young maidens to keep your beauty?" The girl had the nerve to snort. "That you practice witchcraft? That you must be hiding a pair of balls under those skirts to act so much like a man?"
Tya had heard all of those things too and not paid them any mind. Better be feared than laughed at, although Jason had laughed himself silly and Genna had teased her.
"That I destroyed House Reyne and House Tarbeck for daring to disrespect my family," She said coldly. "They were two of the most powerful noble houses in the Westerlands. You're a glorified whore, and will be treated as nothing more than that. Don't let yourself think that anything my father does for you will last when he's gone,"
With that, she had left, and had gone immediately to her cousin.
"Father is planning to marry me off again," She said, struggling to get the next words through her teeth. "I don't know what to do,"
She loathed admitting such a thing, especially to him. But she couldn't make another marriage that was so far beneath her; all the Lords Paramount were spoken for, it would be a marriage to a bannerman for her, a lesser lord. Once, she deluded herself that she would have been happy with that, with doing her duty so as not to shame her family. Now Tya knew that she wanted more.
Jason simply smiled his usual sly smile.
"I do,"
It was a most un-Tya-like plan, to say the least. She still wondered how he had gotten her to agree, stubbornly blocking out thoughts of her swooping stomach.
Her cousin had hardly got through explaining it without laughing at her incredulous expression. She had to admit though that it was likely the best way to get what they both wanted, ludicrous though it might be. She didn't have any better ideas after all; if she did, she wouldn't have even considered... this.
They must have almost given her father a heart attack. He had been walking through one of the more deserted hallways near his mistress' chambers, which he was known to pass through for the view of the sea. He rounded a corner to see that Jason had her up against the wall, kissing her fiercely; no more than that, but it looked a lot worse given that Tya's skirts had ridden up and her legs were clasped tight around his waist.
Lord Tytos had let out a very unlordly shriek, flapped around a bit, half-heartedly scolded them both but then realised this was his opportunity to get back in Tya's good graces. He suggested that they become betrothed, immediately, for propriety's sake.
Tya had left the hallway with her heart beating in her chest and Jason's arm around her shoulders as her cousin shook with silent laughter. Once out of sight and hearing of her father, he started to laugh in earnest and spun her around like a dance partner, ignoring how stiff she was.
"I may live to regret this," She warned him. "I still detest you. Your only desirable quality is the name Lannister, which I already have," But her words lacked any real bite.
"You don't kiss someone you hate like that," He smirked. "Or perhaps you do. Either way, you seemed to enjoy it well enough,"
"That was for show," She replied sharply. "Elsewise my father would've had you thrown in the dungeons for raping his daughter,"
"Would he? He hates conflict, after all," That was... unfortunately true. "And I have never heard such a shameless lie - you're hardly adept at pretending you like something,"
"You are," She pointed out. "You just never bother to pretend to like me,"
"Because I dislike you greatly," Jason - her betrothed, gods - said conversationally. "You're cold-hearted, stiff, charmless, often vicious and think far too much of yourself,"
"You're infuriating, immature, over-talkative, arrogant and cruel," She snapped back. "You'd make a better woodsman than a knight, seeing as all you're good at is that bow, and running your mouth,"
"And you'd make a better tyrant than a wife, but for whatever twisted reason, I still wish to marry you," He pulled her closer, pressing a hard kiss to her lips. Tya hated how she melted slightly, leaning into him. No one else had ever managed to make her concede so easily. She had never realised that kissing a man could be something that didn't make her skin crawl.
Jason wasn't the best match for her politically, that was true. But Kevan was the heir, the one who mattered, and he would be marrying into a bannerman house. Genna, Tygett and Gerion would all do the same, as well as Jason's brother Stafford.
Tya had been married once and it had been unbearable. She couldn't stand the idea of having to be a biddable and demure little wife, her only role in life being to push out heir after heir for some small, irrelevent castle. It went beyond her snobbery of marrying beneath her. She couldn't stand the idea of a man's hands on her again, rutting on top of her like she was some dumb animal. She disliked her cousin, but doubted he would force her like that; she cared not if he sought his pleasure with whores, so long as she heard nothing of it.
Most importantly, with Jason she could remain at court. He was heir to nothing, same as she was. She still had her place on the Small Council; admittedly a minor position as a note-taker, but valuable to her nonetheless. And if she had to, she could return to Casterly Rock whenever she wished to help deal with Father.
Perhaps it was selfish to take it upon herself to arrange her own marriage. No, it was definitely selfish, but she didn't care. Tya had done more for the family in a matter of weeks than Lord Tytos had done in almost two decades of lordship; she was allowed to do one thing for herself and herself alone.
*
Yes I know it's not the best match politically haha. Someone did mention a marriage with Rickard Stark, which was very tempting and a good idea but that would take the story in a direction I wasn't planning on. Perhaps I'll do an extra chapter at the end, about this eventuality.
Anyway what do you think of this chapter? It was one of the hardest to write so far given how I wanted to get Tya's big moment just right. It's tricky writing the balance between Kevan and Tya as well, because he is the heir and cannot be seen to be in his sister's shadow the entire time, so I tried to make at least appear more equal.
Thanks for reading, please leave a comment!