The she-wolf and the lion

Chapter 166 - to avoid war

A couple days later.

"M'lord, there was a raven in the night, I know the letter should probably have been brought to you, forgive me, but I didn't wish to disturb your sleep, so I asked the servants to bring me the letter instead, I have it here", Bronn says as he walks in to the great hall where Jaime, Lyra, their children and grandchildren are breaking the fast together, taking the rolled up letter from his cloak.
"A raven? From who?" Jaime asks.
"Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen, the spurned dragon prince, he demands lady Jariella's return", Bronn says, reading the letter out loud to his master, mistress and their children and grandchildren.
"What more does he say?" Daemon asks as he and Gerion puts one protective hand each on their sister's arms to steady and protect her.
"If she is not returned to him within the turning of the next moon, he says he will come and claim her himself, at the head of an army", Bronn says.
"Bronn, does the little princeling's father, the king, know about this? Does king Rhaegar and my sister the queen know about this? Is there anything in the letter that points to that?" Lyra asks.
"No, lady Lyra, nothing in the letter points to that, that the royal couple has any knowledge of this letter", Bronn says.
"Jaime, send for maester Craylen, tell him that a letter must be sent to royal couple urgently", Lyra says.
"I can go", Bronn says, getting up from the table, giving his master and mistress a nod and goes to seek out the maester.

Bronn finds maester Craylen in his rooms in one of the towers.
"Maester, I hope I'm not disturbing you, lady Lyra asked me to bring you to her and lord Jaime, they wish to have an urgent letter sent to the royal couple", Bronn says.
"I shall come at once, captain, I'll bring quill, ink and paper", maester Craylen says, getting up from table and gathers what he needs before following after Bronn to the great hall where Lyra and Jaime sit with their household. "You asked for me, m'lord, m'lady."
"Yes, we wish to have a letter sent to the royal couple with one of your swiftest birds, to let them know that their son, prince Jaehaerys sent a raven to demand that his former wife, our daughter, lady Jariella of houses Lannister and Stark, be returned to him within a fortnight, under the threat of war against house Lannister and against his mother, the queen's, own house, house Stark", Jaime says.
"At once, m'lord, would you be so kind to dictate to me what you wish for me to write?" Maester Craylen asks.
"Of course", Jaime says, starting to dictate the letter. "Our honorable majesties, king Rhaegar of house Targaryen and queen Brianna of house Stark, we write to you to inform you that a letter was sent to us by your son, prince Jaehaerys of houses Targaryen and Stark, threatening our houses, house Lannister and house Stark with war if our daughter, his former wife, lady Jariella of houses Lannister and Stark, is not returned to him within a fortnight/lord Jaime of house Lannister, master of Casterly Rock, warden of the west, shield of Lannisport, the golden lion, and his wife, lady Lyra of houses Lannister and Stark, lady of the north, the she wolf of the west, the lion's lover"
"With which seal should I mark the letter?" maester Craylen asks.
"With our joint seal", Jaime says.
"Yes, m'lord", maester Craylen says, marking the rolled up letter with the joint Lannister/Stark seal.

Maester Craylen excuses himself and goes to send the letter off with a raven to the royal couple in King's Landing.
"Hope the letter is enough to avoid war", Daemon says.
"I'm sure it will be, your hotheaded Targaryen cousin will surely get some fire from his parents, your uncle by marriage king Rhaegar and your aunt queen Brianna", Lyra says lightly.
"Yeah, don't worry, my boy, your aunt wouldn't want to start a war against your mother, your aunt may be the queen of the seven kingdoms, but she wouldn't wish war on her own sister nor on her sister's children and grandchildren, nor on me, I hope, my brother, your uncle is hand of the king, after all", Jaime says calmly.
"Yeah, lord Tyrion, in his position as hand of the king, will surely be able to talk to the royal couple in a way that avoids war", Bronn says.
"Bronn, would you be so kind to ask the servants to bring back maester Craylen for me?" Daemon asks. "He needs to check my shoulder."
"I'll get him for you right away, my young lord", Bronn says lightly, giving a nod.

Bronn gives a nod and gets up to get the maester to come back and tend to his master's heir.
"What's wrong with your shoulder, brother?" Gerion asks.
Old war wounds from the attack of the Targaryen's, I was stabbed and shot with arrows while fending them off", Daemon says, moving his tunic aside to show his shoulder, wrapped in a blood stained cloth.
"Damn, that's nasty", Gerion says.
"You asked for me, my young lord", maester Craylen says, walking in with needles, clean cloth, tread and his helpers walk in behind him with milk of the poppy and a basin filled with hot water and a cloth covered piece of wood for Daemon to bite on.
"Yes, my old wound is bleeding again", Daemon says calmly.
"We need to stitch this together again, my young lord", maester Craylen says. "Lord Gerion, Captain, keep lord Daemon in place."
"Hold him in place, Bronn," Gerion says, adjusting himself so he's in front of his older brother while Bronn holds the young lion lord in place. "Daemon, look at me, look in to my eyes, focus on me."
"Are you ready, Daemon?" Maester Craylen asks.
"Do it", Daemon says, taking the piece of wood and bites down on it as maester Craylen begins removing the bandages from his shoulder

Daemon growls with pain as maester Craylen peels off the bandages from his shoulder.
"Look at me, look at me, Daemon, you can do this, no one is as strong as you, no one is as brave as you, you are the ice lion", Gerion says, holding on to his brother's wrists and making him focus on his eyes.
"It's done", maester Craylen says after a couple minutes, putting the tools away.
"You did wonderfully, both of you, you both really showed how strong you are, how strong we all are in this family", Jaime says proudly.

Two days later there's a raven from King's Landing with a letter marked with Tyrion's seal. The letter, in Tyrion's handwriting but clearly in the words of the king confirms the suspicions that Jaime and Lyra already had that the threatening letter sent to them was sent completely without the knowledge of the royal couple or the king's hand.
"What does uncle Tyrion say?" Daemon asks.
"He confirms our suspicions, the threatening letter was sent to us without the knowledge of the royal couple or of Tyrion, he says that since the marriage between Jariella and the prince was dissolved, she is not required to return to King's Landing other than at the invitation of her aunt and uncle the royal couple or of her uncle the king's hand and her aunt the hand's wife", Jaime says lightly. "He also says that there will be no war between house Targaryen and house Lannister or house Stark."