"Your Grace," Ser Mandon Moore said after I bade him enter. "The High Septon is here."
"Let him in." I said, a weariness in my voice.
My announcement regarding the alterations to the system of Knighthoods in Westeros sent shockwaves throughout King's Landing. Some people supported it, some people did not. One group however more than disliked it; they despised it. This group was of course, the Faith of the Seven.
The Faith were a group who held ideas above their station. They wished to exert more power than they did, believing that just because they were representatives and teachers of the Seven that they should be able to control certain things, and have sway over those who were in charge. It annoyed me to no end. Not only did it undermine my authority, but it caused things to remain as they were, simply because 'the Seven willed it'. Needless to say, I wasn't a big fan of the Faith as an institution. Occasionally they could be useful, but nine times out of ten they just got in the way. The problem was that they couldn't be ignored entirely because they did influence much of the Westerosi people. How much influence was debatable, but they certainly could cause trouble for him if they wanted, so I was wary about annoying them too much, if it could be helped.
I came out of my internal reverie as the High Septon entered the room, I stood for him as he approached and kissed his hand, as was customary, before he bowed his head and we both sat. The formal exchanges over, we began to speak.
"I was told you wished to speak to me Your Holiness."
"Indeed, Your Grace. I'm afraid I must protest to the changes you have proposed to the system of knighthoods. Knighthoods are an especially sacred institution, and these changes completely eradicate the will of the Gods where knights are concerned." He said passionately, his jowls jiggling as he spoke, and a sheen of sweat gathered on his forehead.
"Your Holiness, I simply disagree. The religious aspect of the process remains, a knight must still swear a vow to the gods, so in reality there is no change."
"No change!" He shouted. "Your Grace people can now swear oaths to any god they damn well please! How is that preserving the will and primacy of the Seven!"
"Your Holiness, despite what you may believe, there are many religions in Westeros, all of which are perfectly legitimate."
The High Septon looked as if he were about to faint from shock at my words. His crown wobbled precariously on his damp, bald head.
"Your Grace! You were made king in the light of the Seven!" He protested. "You follow the Faith do you not?"
"I do." I lied through my teeth. "But the fact remains, Your Holiness, that many of those in Westeros follow the Old Gods, or the Lord of the Light, amongst others. They should not be excluded from being knighted simply because they do not pray to the Seven."
"I fear Your Grace that you aim to weaken the Faith."
"Your Holiness, I swear in the name of the Seven that this is not true. I believe that the Seven are the true gods, and the Seven-Pointed Star speaks the truth, but by the same token, I do not believe Lord Stark is inferior because he believes in the Old Gods."
"The Seven-Pointed Star says that Kings should bow to the Seven."
"The Seven-Pointed Star also says that a man who is pious would not be harmed by wights, but we also know that that is not true, Your Holiness. Either way, I do bow to the Seven, but I also accept that others bow to other gods, that is their right, and no other man has the right to stop them."
I stood, and the High Septon did too.
"I know you do not agree with my reasoning, Your Holiness, but I am the King of many men, and I cannot push my faith onto them, it is your job to convince people that the Seven are true, not mine."
The High Septon did not respond, he simply nodded and walked out of the office.
I sighed. That could have gone much better.
A day later and I was walking, slowly, towards the Small Council chamber. It had been a while since I had made the familiar journey, and in some ways it was good to have a sense of routine once again. There was of course, one major difference, in that I was relying on a cane to walk towards the Council chamber now. The heavy wood bashing against the floor as I walked. Ser Preston and Ser Boros were guarding me today, and even they gave me looks of pity as I slowly started to make my way from my office towards the chamber, and I hated it. Kings should be looked at with admiration, maybe even fear, but never pity.
We finally reached the Chamber and I entered, it seemed I was the last to arrive. Everyone stood as I walked in and then, after I pulled myself onto my chair, they seated themselves once more.
"My Lords it is good to be together once more." I opened the proceedings. Everyone voiced their assent.
"Before I start, is there anything anyone wants to bring before the Council before I move on to today's agenda?" I asked.
"I only wished to congratulate Your Grace on your victory against the traitorous rebels." Lord Wylde began. "And to thank Lord Stannis for the wisdom he imparted onto me regarding the Royal Fleet. I believe, Your Grace, that if your fleet is ever needed in battle, I am now prepared to take charge of it myself, and will not need the assistance of the Lord High Admiral."
I heard, rather than saw Stannis grinding his teeth beside me.
"Thank you for your kind words, Lord Wylde. Believe me when I say that whilst I am sure of your ability in the bureaucracy of maintaining the Royal Fleet, there are few naval commanders who are as experienced and accomplished of my uncle. It is important to work to each other's strengths if we are to succeed in any endeavour."
"As you say, Your Grace." Lord Wylde said, but he didn't sound convinced.
"Now, my Lords, there are a few things I wish to address today, the first being the vacant position of Master of Coin."
The men looked at each other, no one had any inclination as to who I would choose, and neither did I.
"Do you have any suggestions, Your Grace?" Lord Varys asked.
"I do not, this is why I have brought it before you, as my chief advisors, I would appreciate any advice."
"It may be prudent to give it to one of the defeated, rebels, Your Grace, to ensure their further loyalty." The Grand Maester spoke for the first time today.
"Rubbish." Said Stannis, the Hand of the King. "To raise a traitor to high office so soon after the war ended would be a slap in the face to those who served His Grace faithfully."
"I agree. I would prefer to not have to give the position to someone who has so recently rebelled against me." I said. Traitors should not be rewarded. If someone wants to have my favour, it should be through loyalty and good work, not by trying to get rid of me.
"What about the Martells?" asked Tyrion.
"The Martells are hardly loyal." Noted Lord Stannis.
"That is true, my Lord, but they also did not rebel against His Grace in this war."
"It may go a long way to repair ties between Dorne and the Iron Throne." Said the newly named Warden of the South.
"Mayhaps a house from the Vale would be useful as well, Your Grace. Currying favour with a vassal of House Arryn may help to soothe tensions after the Vale cut all ties with the Crown." Said Lord Wylde.
Lord Varys tittered, "especially since Lord Tyrion effectively seized some of the Vale for the Crown."
I raised a brow in Tyrion's direction. He cleared his throat before replying, "I seized all of Lord Baelish's assets, it may potentially include the holding that he was Lord of."
"Wouldn't the land have gone back to Lady Arryn, since Lord Baelish died without an heir?" Asked Lord Tarly.
I nodded, "typically yes, that is what I would have thought."
"Lord Tyrion did say that the Crown was seizing 'all of Lord Baelish's former assets and possessions'." Said Stannis.
"Either way, it matters little at this time." I interjected, wanting to get back on track. "I believe both propositions so far are good, getting better ties with both the Vale and Dorne would be useful. Perhaps as well a Lord from the Iron Islands would be beneficial."
The Lords looked shocked. No Iron Islander had ever before sat on the Small Council.
"It would certainly help to bring the Iron Islands into the fold some more, Your Grace. Despite the replacement of House Greyjoy with House Harlaw, the Iron Islands have still not done much in terms of integration with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms." Pycelle said.
"Those of us who live on the coast are certainly grateful for the huge reductions of pillaging however." Lord Wylde laughed.
I smiled before saying, "I think that we should either go with a Lord from the Iron Islands, or the Vale. There are other ways to bring Dorne back into the fold, which I intend to discuss with Lord Tywin later. Grand Maester, see if you can find a Lord from the Vale who may be willing to defy Lady Arryn, Lord Stannis, look into the Iron Islands, and see which houses are the most supportive of Lord Harlaw. I do not wish to take a Harlaw out of the Iron Islands just yet; the political situation there is still untenable according to what he has told me." They both nodded.
"Now the next thing I wanted to talk about was the changes to the knighthood system. There will be no further debate on the issue, my mind is made up." I said sternly as Pycelle opened his mouth. "As I said in court, those who have had their knighthood revoked are to petition the Small Council to have it reinstated. Now, it will be your jobs to meet and discuss the petitions but the one with the final say will be Ser Barristan." He looked surprised when I said this but simply nodded in acquiescence when I looked at him.
"Will you not be taking an interest, Your Grace?" Tyrion asked.
I shook my head. "I imagine there will be far too many to look at for me to dedicate too much time to it. If we have time during meetings then I shall of course take a look with you all, but it will be up to Lord Stannis to call a meeting dedicated to reviewing the petitions."
"What will be the parameters for reinstating the knighthood?" Asked Lord Tarly.
"Simply whether to the best of your knowledge, the knight has honoured his vows. Obviously, if you can it is best to investigate, if you find, or know, that the man has violated the vows he swore, then do not give him his knighthood back."
The Small Council nodded their heads.
"Now, my Lords, before I end this meeting there is one more thing I wanted to do. You have all, as has all of King's Landing, seen the damage Ser Loras inflicted upon my leg. Now, because of this, I struggle to walk, let alone swing a sword. There is no way I could fight if it was needed of me. Because of this, I believe it would be in the best interests of the Seven Kingdoms to name someone else as Protector of the Realm."
The Small Council collectively choked.
"Your Grace!" Lord Tarly sounded almost outraged.
I held up my hand to prevent further protest. "There is precedent, kings have done so in the past if they have been unable to fight."
"Your Grace you do not need to fight! The title is pretty much ceremonial, there are kings who have been a poor swordsman and have never walked into a battlefield and they have still held the title." Tyrion said.
I nodded. "Indeed there has, but I do not believe in ceremonial titles, Steward Tyrion. If I am Protector of the Realm, I should be able to charge into battle to protect my Realm. If I cannot, then I should name someone who can do it for me."
"Do you have anyone in mind, Your Grace?" Lord Varys asked.
"Indeed I do, but I will announce it later, I just wanted to give you forewarning before I announced my decision to give away my title to court.
"Now, one final thing before I dismiss you. I wanted to thank each and every one of you, particularly the ones who remained in King's Landing during the war, for keeping the Realm running whilst I was absent. You are all dismissed. Steward Tyrion, please remain behind."
Once everyone had left, and the doors to the chamber had been closed I turned to Tyrion.
"Uncle, how have you been whilst I was away?"
"I have been well nephew. I must say I am thankful I am not Hand, it prevented me from having to sit on that blasted throne."
I laughed, "it is rather uncomfortable; I'm still not used to it."
"The perils of being the King." He chuckled before he became serious once more. "Joffrey, you do know that having a bad leg doesn't make you any less of a King?"
Internally I disagreed, but I nodded anyway, not wanting to argue with my uncle.
He clearly saw through my deception. "Would you think I would be a bad king?"
"Of course not!" I shouted indignantly.
"Yet I have two very short legs, an oversized head, and cannot hold a sword. What separates a good king from a bad king is inside here." He tapped his head.
I sighed, what he said made sense, but it didn't really make me feel better.
"Alas, uncle," I changed the subject, as he took a sip of wine, "I wanted to ask what you have found about the Spider."
He frowned, "very little, Your Grace. I tasked Lord Stannis on it, but he got caught up working on the Royal Fleet, he then sent a man named Ser Davos Seaworth to collect information, but I have heard little from Ser Davos."
I frowned as well before replying, "let the man work a little longer, he may have found something important and is looking further into it, but if you hear nothing for much longer ask Lord Stannis to talk to him. Do not approach him yourself, it will look suspicious."
He nodded and I stood, wincing as my leg stretched again after being sat for so long, I leaned heavily on my cane for a few moments. As I headed towards the door Tyrion called my name, and I looked back to him.
"I meant what I said, Joffrey."
"I know uncle," I replied, "I know."