10

Chapter 10: Part X

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I own nothing, just borrowing for a while.

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"It is not the well-fed man I fear, but the lean and the hungry looking… an exception to this rule may be made for eunuchs."

King Joffrey, First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm – 302 AL

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The Red Keep - King's Landing – 298 AL

"Have you made any more progress in your investigations into the death of Jon Arryn?" Petyr Baelish asked the King's Hand as they walked together through the well-kept gardens of the palace grounds.

"No" Eddard Stark replied, wondering which of the various other people wandering the grounds and trying to subtly overhear snippets of their conversation worked for Baelish himself, Lord Varys or perhaps even the Queen. Some might even work for several of them simultaneously. "It's possible, perhaps even likely he was poisoned, but the poison reputedly used leaves no trace so who can know for certain?"

"For certain perhaps not" Baelish concurred. "But when both my little birds and those of Varys are singing the same song I find it hard to believe we could both be so misinformed at the same time" he said. "Of course the question of motive still stands given how long he had served as your predecessor before his demise" he continued. "Usually I'd point the finger at who benefited but in terms of advancement the person that did best out of his demise was you" he noted wryly.

Stark stopped walking and narrowed his eyes at the Master-of-Coin. "You suspect me?" he asked coldly.

"Well you were always the person that Robert was most likely to appoint as his new Hand" Baelish observed, "but given your relationship with Jon Arryn, plus the fact you didn't ever want the job and still don't as far as I can tell, I dismissed the idea" he said before smiling. "Also you could kill a man with steel easily enough but you'd have qualms about poison."

"It's a woman's weapon" Ned Stark responded flatly.

"Or a eunuchs perhaps?" Baelish suggested, eyes twinkling. "I jest of course, Varys had nothing to gain and in any case Jon Arryn's death would look a great deal less suspicious, and more clearly accidental, if he was responsible."

Stark looked around to see if he could spot any eavesdroppers. "That sounds like admiration" he responded. "I didn't think you and Varys liked each other."

Baelish smiled again. "Oh I think we like each other, the verbal sparring anyway" he said. "And we respect each other's intelligence, we just don't trust each other, which is perhaps a pity because we both got onto the Small Council based on our abilities, rather than our lineages or who we knew as children" he said before his expression became more serious. "Jon Arryn made me Master-of-Coin because he recognised my talents, saw me appointed ahead of other men with more influential families because he believed in me" Baelish reminded Stark. "Without him I would still be master of nothing but a small stone keep in the Fingers so believe me when I say I want whoever killed him to pay the price for their crime just as much as you do."

Stark nodded. "Jon judged a man on his merits not an accident of birth" he said, recalling fondly the man who had practically raised both himself and King Robert. "That's why he took up arms with us against the Mad King" he continued, expression hardening. "He might have been the rightful king by blood but Aerys Targaryen wasn't fit to rule."

Petyr Baelish involuntarily blinked, and his left cheek twitched infinitesimally, but he managed to stop himself reacting externally any more than that. The conversation had just veered in a direction completely the opposite of where he was wanting it to go so he decided to change the subject fast. "Oh I meant to ask" he said offhandedly, "are you accompanying the King on his hunting trip and if so who do you want to chair the Small Council in your absence?" he inquired.

"Volunteering are you?" Lord Stark asked wryly. Definitely a man on the make trying to climb the social ladder at every opportunity, he thought to himself.

"I wouldn't presume" Baelish responded innocently, "but since Lord Renly is already going hunting with his brother, and our Master-of-Ships Lord Stannis remains at Dragonstone for reasons known only to himself, someone has to be there to run the Seven Kingdoms."

"Good point, perhaps I should ask Grand Maester Pycelle?" Stark suggested. Although not renowned for witty repartee or a great teller of jokes his skill at deadpan delivery was unmatched in the Seven Kingdoms, it came from always sounding so serious and equally looking so damn grim all the time. "Or Lord Varys perhaps?"

Baelish raised his eyebrows. "Pycelle with even temporary authority is a nightmarish notion, the man's just a self-serving letch with delusions of competence, whereas Varys is an immigrant from Essos and hence unacceptable as a foreigner."

"Isn't your family from Essos too?" Stark queried, maintaining his deadpan expression.

"Not for three generations" the Master of Coin replied evenly. This was actually a sore point with him, and not one that was much of a secret. His great-grandfather had been a Braavosi sellsword who came to Westeros for employment, and indeed the Sigil of House Baelish was a representation of the head of the Titan of Braavos which stood over the harbour there. For his part Petyr Baelish had chosen not to use his family sigil as his crest, preferring to use a mockingbird instead, and although this was partially to make him seem more amiable than the image of the Titan projected he also didn't like to broadcast so obviously that his family hailed from overseas. "Aren't all our families from Essos originally though?" he pointed out.

Stark rubbed his chin. "Yes, but I think my family has been here about five hundred generations or thereabouts" he remarked before smiling gently, he had yanked the poor man's chain of office enough for now. "I hadn't decided whether or not to go on the hunt, but if I do and someone has to keep my seat warm it'll be you" he told Baelish. "My wife considers you an old and dear friend and even if I didn't trust her judgement, which I do, you're dead right about the alternatives being unacceptable."

Baelish smiled. "You might trust her but you really shouldn't trust me" he warned. "Not with my reputation" he joked.

"If the man in charge of raising taxes and collecting duties hasn't made a few enemies, and doesn't have people casting aspirations on his character, he isn't doing his bloody job properly" Stark replied.

"Probably true alas" the Master of Coin agreed. "Oh, I also meant to say, Lord Tyrion mentioned to me that your son Brandon was evidently on the mend when he stopped in at Winterfell again on his way back from visiting The Wall" Baelish seemed to suddenly remember. "Wonderful news, I was very happy to hear it."

"He'll likely never walk again but he's healthy enough otherwise" Stark confirmed. "I haven't seen Lord Tyrion since he got back to King's Landing, I need to offer him my thanks for designing a saddle so that Bran could ride" he said. "According to Catelyn's messages by raven it's become difficult to get the boy off a horse" he added with a smile.

Baelish smiled himself. "I've long held that it's only a pity that the good head on Tyrion's shoulders isn't supported by a body that's further off the ground, so many people only see the dwarf not the calibre of the man" he observed sadly. "Of all three of Lord Tywin's children he's the one that most takes after his father in brains, if not necessarily disposition" he said. "Not that Tywin appreciates that of course, he still seems to blame his youngest for the death of his wife in childbirth, and hates him for it, which isn't exactly fair."

"Indeed" Stark concurred, "It's not as if you can hold a mewling new-born accountable for anything they might do."

"True, but I was rather thinking that Tywin might consider it might have been his fault in a way" Baelish responded.

Stark frowned. "How so?" he queried.

"Tywin and his wife Joanna were first cousins, not an illegal marriage of course, nor one that the Faith holds as an abomination, but breeding too close to home isn't good for a blood-line, as anyone with knowledge of animal husbandry can tell you" Baelish explained his thinking. "Perhaps if he hadn't married his uncle's daughter all his children might have come out normal" he suggested. "I mean it's not as bad as doing what the Targaryens did and wed and bed your own sister but it can't be a good idea."

Stark nodded. Although the power of the Targaryen dynasty had made incest acceptable for them, and them only, in the eyes of the Faith and the great houses, the fact that Aerys was by no means the only monster in their line certainly helped demonstrate the wisdom in looking further afield than your own family for a spouse, or at the very least further away than a first cousin of the same generation. "From what I've heard, up north of the wall wildlings even take their own daughters for wives" he told Baelish with a grimace.

"Savages" Baelish responded with a look of distaste which only lasted a moment before he suddenly started laughing. "Sorry" he apologised to Stark who was looking at him quizzically, "an amusing thought just popped into my head" he explained. "If the Lannisters kept on marrying their close relatives would their hair get blonder and blonder until its silver like the Targaryens?" he wondered. "Maybe it's a pity Cersei married a Baratheon instead of her cousin Lancel or we might know for sure" he suggested, laughing again.

"Only a twisted mind would come up with something like that" Eddard Stark told him sternly before laughing himself, although the laughter soon gave way to a frown as a very nasty thought popped into his own head. Jon Arryn's interest in the book The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, his visits to Robert's bastard offspring, and his last words, repeated over and over according to Grand Maester Pycelle, "The seed is strong".

Notes:

Note from the author:

The Targaryens practiced both incest and polygamy, both of which were frowned upon by both Westerosi tradition and the Faith of the Seven... but they had armies and dragons so they got away with it.

Joanna Lannister, wife of Tywin, mother of Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion was Tywin's first cousin (Tywin's father Tytos was her father Jason's elder brother). Petyr Baelish is more than clever enough to work that into a conversation he's trying to steer for a purpose. Thanks to different circumstances Eddard Stark needed more of a push to put two-and-two together but to use a metaphor with a Westerosi twist the Glass Candle just went on above his head.