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

The Wayward Daughter And The Golden Son

283AC

The midday sun in the Red Mountains was merciless.

Jaime had never been so far south before, and the heat of the Dorne was getting to him. The fifteen or so of his Uncle Kevan's men accompanying them, riding under his command, did not favour the weather either. The Westerlands were much farther north, far more temperate even in the height of summer; none of them were used to this.

Among those men were his old friends from his days as a squire, Addam Marbrand and Lyle Crakehall. His ten and eleven-year-old brothers Tyrion and Damon had also been eager to continue to travel with them on their search for Lady Lyanna, after they returned from visiting Oldtown, and he saw no real reason to object. Tyrion in particular rarely left King's Landing, and while he swore he was enjoying his lessons with their mother, Jaime thought it was good for him to be out from her shadow for at least a few months.

Theirs were one of the many groups of riders (though the only ones not from the North or Stormlands) out searching for Lady Lyanna Stark, and the man who had stolen her out from under the nose of her father and betrothed. 

Jaime had spent his early childhood in the Red Keep, and had thought he knew the prince well enough, though he would not consider him a good friend. He been very surprised to hear that Rhaegar would do such a thing, particularly with Tya Lannister looming over every move he made. He grinned slightly at the thought of what his mother would do to the prince when - if - he returned to King's Landing. 

What he would do if it was their party who found the elusive pair? Jaime wasn't exactly pleased with Rhaegar himself. Not only had the man wed Cersei - and of course he would loathe anyone who married his twin on principle - he had disgraced her, upset her, abandoned her while she birthed his son and heir.

Jaime had been in turmoil after Rhaegar had vanished. He wished more than anything to comfort his sister, who hid her pain and anger behind her usual charming public mask. He knew she would not receive it well, however. Neither would Father. Things had not been the same between any of them since some time before the Harrenhal tourney, a fact that still pained him. 

He grimaced at the memory. 

Father had always been the parent that he and his siblings had gone to for comfort. Jaime loved his mother, he truly did, but she was not like any woman he knew. Most mothers were kind and gentle, singing their children to sleep, soothing their fears and wiping their tears. The idea of the Lady Hand doing any such thing was laughable, though Jaime did not mind that particularly. There were other reasons he and his mother often clashed. His father had always been plenty kind enough to them all to make up for it.

The look on Jason Lannister's face had been anything but kind that awful day.

It had been just before they were due to leave for the tourney at Harrenhal; Jaime had been in the city after helping to defeat the Kingswood Brotherhood. Cersei had come to him late one night - their chambers in the Tower of the Hand were adjacent, the only ones on that floor - and neither of them had been thinking. They knew that their mother had gone to bed, but had not counted on their father climbing the stairs at just the wrong moment.

Who knew what he had heard that prompted him to open the door, but he had done so nonetheless. Cersei had smothered a scream at the sound of someone entering the room. Jaime had leapt off her, instinctively reached for his sword, only to realise who it was that stood in the doorway.

He had never seen his father look quite so much like Mother. The man had shut the door with a quiet click and a face of stone as his son and daughter hastily covered themselves, straightening their clothes.

"Father - " Jaime began, but was silenced with one look.

"I thought I put a stop to this when you were eight," He said, and Jaime heard the pain in his voice. The shocked revulsion and fury as well. "Then, I thought you were just children, foolishly playing without knowing what you were doing. But this..."