Silver Stag

In The Riverlands

[Lannister Camp - Riverlands]

"Summoned to court to answer for the crimes of your bannerman Gregor Clegane, the Mountain"... Uh, "arrive within the fortnight or be branded an enemy of the Crown." Jaime read aloud to his father, Tywin, who was preparing to skin a stag. "Poor Ned Stark... Brave man, terrible judgment."

"Attacking him was stupid. Lannisters don't act like fools." Tywin told him, cutting open the stag and removing its intestines. "Are you gonna say something clever? Go on, say something clever."

"Catelyn Stark took my brother."

"Why is he still alive?"

"Tyrion?"

"Ned Stark."

"One of our men interfered, speared him through the leg before I could finish him."

"Why is he still alive?" Tywin repeated.

"It wouldn't have been clean."

"Clean. You spend too much time worrying about what other people think of you."

"I could care less what anyone thinks of me." Jaime told his father/

"That's what you want people to think of you."

"It's the truth."

"When you hear them whispering "Kingslayer" behind your back ... doesn't it bother you?"

"Of course it bothers me."

"The lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of the sheep. I suppose I should be grateful that your vanity got in the way of your recklessness. I'm giving you half of our forces... 30,000 men. You will bring them to Catelyn Stark's girlhood home and remind her that Lannisters pay their debts."

"I didn't realize you placed such a high value on my brother's life."

Tywin laughed. "He's a Lannister. He might be the lowest of the Lannisters, but he's one of us. And every da that he remains a prisoner, the less our name commands respect." Tywin and Jaime stood in a stare off for a few moments before Tywin returned to skinning the stag.

"So the lion does concern himself with the opinions of..."

"No, it's not an opinion. It's a fact. If another House can seize one of our own and hold him captive with impunity, we are no longer a House to be feared. Your mother's dead. Before long I'll be d*ad. And you and your brother and your sister and all of her children. All of us d*ad; all of us rotting in the ground. It's the family name that lives on. It's all that lives on. Not your personal glory, not your honor, but family. Do you understand?"

"Hmm." Tywin grabbed a rag, cleaning the blood from his hands. "You're blessed with abilities that few men possess. You are blessed to belong to the most powerful family in the kingdoms. And you are still blessed with youth. And what have you done with these blessings, huh? You've served as a glorified bodyguard for two kings ... one a madman, the other a drunk." He set the rag aside, walking up to his son. "The future of our family will be determined in these next few months. We could establish a dynasty that will last a thousand years. Or we could collapse into nothing, as the Targaryens did." He placed a hand on Jaime's face. "I need you to become the man you were always meant to be. Not next year. Not tomorrow. Now."

Seeing his father return to the stag, Jaime stood watching for a few moments before turning and exiting the tent.