Of Lions, Wolves, and Dragons (Jon Snow)

17. An Impossible Choice

Since Tywin Lannister had arrived in King's Landing, he would be taking his place as Hand of the King.  One of the consequences of his arrival was that Tyrion would now be housed elsewhere in the Red Keep.  Joellyn was unhappy with where Podrick was leading her.  When she entered the room she was unhappier still.  The room was tiny, sparse, and had no real windows to speak of.  Tyrion would not be happy if he woke up here.

Joellyn was not ready to look at Tyrion yet, so she turned to Maester Pycelle and asked, "Is there any way that he can be moved to my chambers?  I would not have him here, so far away from me.  I will wish to visit him regularly."

She grew frustrated as he stumbled his way through his response, "Well, my lady, I can, uh, understand your wishes.  But I serve your sister, the Queen.  She specifically requested this room for Lord Tyrion.  I would not wish to go against her command."

Joellyn rolled her eyes in return, "I'm not askign you to go against the Queen's wishes.  I'm asking you would it hurt my brother terribly if I went against the Queen's wishes?"

Pycelle danced around an answer again, "I, well, I would not suggest moving him, for he has been injured very gravely."

Joellyn finally turned and looked at Tyrion.  There was a large bandage covering most of his face and she saw that blood was beginning to creep it's way through the bandage.  Turning back to Pycelle she asked, "Is there more to the injury than that?"

He shook his head, so she turned to Podrick and said, "I do not know where Bronn is, but I'm sure you have a better indication than I do.  I'm sure my brother has had much milk of the poppy to put him to sleep.  I wish for you and Bronn to take my brother to my chambers and have him rest there.  He should not be alone and so far away from everyone."

Podrick nodded to Joellyn, turned, and ran off into the Keep to find Bronn.  She had not taken the time to get to know him very well, but Podrick seemed to care about Tyrion.  There were few people in the world that she truly felt like she could trust, but Tyrion trusted Podrick, so she would have to as well.

Pycelle got her attention and said, "My lady, your sister will not be pleased with  you interfering.  It might be wise to rethink..."

But Joellyn cut him off, "My sister, the Queen, cares for her children and my brother Jaime.  I'm not sure she cares about many people past that, and I'm not entirely sure that she is mentally stable.  She'll just have to deal with the fact that I love and like our brother and want to make sure that he is well taken care of."

With that, Joellyn walked to Tyrion's bedside and whispered to him, "I know you cannot hear me, but know this, I will make sure that we are by each other's sides.  We need each other.  I will not leave you alone."

Joellyn stood, cast one last glance at Tyrion, and walked to the Tower of the Hand.  It had been a long while since she had really seen her father and she was curious to see how he was handling all of the things that had been happening in Westeros.

When she arrived at her father's chambers, she went to knock on the door, but the door was opened almost as immediately as her fist contacted the door.

"Joellyn," she heard her father's deep voice question, "I had not sent for you.  Do you have urgent business that you require me for?  We are expected to be in the throne room shortly."

The great Tywin Lannister was not usually so verbose.  Talking to her father usually consisted more of him listening and staring at her.  She did suppose it had been a while since they had seen each other, so maybe that was his way of showing that he did miss her some amount.  The two of  them had never been exceptionally close.  Tyrion always told her that their father had taken more an interest in raising her and educating her than he had done with Tyrion.  He had always supposed that was because Joellyn was his youngest daughter and it had been their mother's dying wish that he still love all his children.  Joellyn didn't buy into that theory.  Their father was far too harsh and cold with Tyrion for that to be why he invested into her more than he had with the rest of their children.