A Lioness Still Has Claws | Female Tywin Lannister | ASOIAF/GOT

The Woman's Battle

EDITED: 8th Jan 2022

273AC

Tya wasn't the kind of woman to let her children hang from her skirts. Jaime and Cersei were eight now and neither would dream of such a thing; even as younger children, they had never shrunk behind either of their parents, not that either of their parents would have let them. Both were bold and proud, as befitting lions of Lannister, and Tya often (very privately) thought they would make better heirs of the main branch than Kevan's children; Gerold was awfully disobedient and foolish, with no time for his lessons, whilst Janei was painfully shy.

Unlike his father, Jaime had only disdain for archery, yet was a prodigy with a sword even at eight, with the master-at-arms Ser Willem Darry and Ser Barristan Selmy himself both remarking on how they had never seen a more naturally gifted swordsman. He didn't have much time for his lessons, and rather embarrassingly still struggled to read, a matter that Tya was considering taking into her own hands to fix.

She was just glad that her son was no pushover like Lord Tytos had been. Jaime clearly took after Jason more than her - his replies were often far too smart for her liking, and he had a definite irreverence for being told what to do - but the few things he seemed to have inherited from his mother was her pride, her refusal to seem weak and most of all her sharp tongue.

Cersei had inherited her ambition.

The girl idolised Tya, which was not near as irritating as it sounded. Her daughter could spout out ladylike courtesies and smile sweetly when she wanted, but was no delicate rose, beautiful though she was. Like her mother, she had no time for embroidery or learning the harp, but instead demanded to be taught the kind of things that Tya had sought after as a girl, and had only found herself in books on politics and war.

Cersei had a keen mind, even though she rarely applied it to anything she didn't want to, and Tya was amenable to the idea of teaching her daughter some of what she knew. Jaime showed little interest in such things, though she made him attend some lessons nonetheless, as he wasn't bad at all when he tried hard enough.

Despite her interests, however, Cersei was nowhere near as cold and careful as her mother had been as a girl. She was precocious, yes, but still acted like a child, which her mother had never really done. When she found something difficult she tended to rail against it rather than throwing herself into it, making teaching her rather frustrating. Cersei also had a rather nasty and vocal temper, and was not at all good at concealing her emotions, which blazed hot and fast. She certainly was not Tya born again.

She was also very attached to her brother. Jaime and Cersei had been joined at the hip their whole lives, even closer than Tya and Kevan had once been. Whilst Tya had ordered her brother around, and he trailed after her like a faithful shadow, the twins seemed rather more balanced. They tended to put each other in their places, not unlike her and Jason did, but they were far closer than the mutual loathing their parents had shared as children. Though they did argue, it never seemed to come from a place of dislike, and it was clear that both twins' favourite person was the other.

Tya still remembered the days when her eldest daughter would beg her father to teach her the sword, the same as he taught Jaime. The girl had given up on it when she realised her brother was far better at it naturally, which irritated her enough to declare swordplay 'unladylike' at the age of seven and turn to her mother for lessons in something she was vaguely good at (something her brother had no patience for). That was certainly a good thing. It was one thing to tolerate a woman doing work of government, but quite another to don a sword and armour.

Of all her children, Rohanne was perhaps the most like Tya in temperament. The only one of the four to have red hair rather than gold, her younger daughter was quiet and reserved even aged five. Perhaps that was due to her elder siblings being so close, but she had never attempted to follow the twins around and try and join in. Rohanne seemed to care for Jaime more than Cersei; though Cersei would always be his favourite, Jaime did make time for his younger sister too, which often made Cersei angry. Although the girl did interact with Rohanne herself, it seemed to annoy her that whilst quiet, her sister wasn't a biddable little mouse, but stubborn and strong-willed.