Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and elements from A Song of Ice and Fire belong to George R.R. Martin. No copyright infringement is intended.

Father has gone mad.

It was the only thing that made sense as ten year old Tywin Lannister sat in the Great Hall listening to his lord father. Lord Tytos had agreed to betroth Genna to Walder Frey's second son. Genna was the only daughter of the Lord of Casterly Rock; it was her due to be wed to a great lord or his heir. The Freys were an old enough and wealthy enough family that it might have been acceptable to wed Genna to Lord Walder's heir, but to promise her to his second son…Tywin felt ill. He glanced around the hall, but no one seemed willing to put an end to the madness. Lady Tarbeck was laughing and Lord Reyne of Castamere, who Tywin knew had hoped to win Genna for his son, left the room.

Tywin stood. He normally sat at his father's right hand, but tonight he had been seated at a table beneath the dais with the other children since the places at the high table were needed for their honored guests. "Father." Although he spoke firmly, he did not shout. "Perhaps you did not know, Emmon is Lord Walder's second son."

Silence descended on the hall.

Lord Tytos seemed puzzled when he replied, "I know that, Tywin."

"It is not fitting that a daughter of the Rock marry the second son of a lesser lord."

There were shocked gasps, and then laughter. Genna looked close to tears and Tygett looked ready to go after their amused guests with his wooden sword. Tywin could see his father murmuring to Walder Frey, apologizing for his son's rudeness.

Lord Tytos rose from his seat and gestured ineffectually, trying and failing to subdue his bannermen. "My son is but a boy," he said. "He meant nothing by the remark. He does not know…" The laughter only grew louder. The lion of the Rock gave up and summoned for more wine.

Tywin should have been sent to bed. A lord should not permit his children to defy him in front of his bannermen. If a man could not control his own children, how could he hope to control lords and knights? But if his father had been able to grasp such things, Tywin would not have needed to speak up. Unable to bear the laughter and mocking whispers any longer, he took Genna's hand and led her from the hall. Kevan followed him with Tygett and Gerion.

~break~

The whore was lounging on his father's bed when Tywin entered the room, a gleaming necklace of gold and rubies around her throat. She covered herself with a sheet, but not before he glimpsed the dark hair between her legs and the pink tips of her large breasts. He loathed the involuntary twitch of his cock at the sight; it was a mere animal instinct, the reaction any stallion had to a mare in heat.

"What is it, son?" his father asked. There was no shame on his face or apology in his voice for defiling the bed he had shared with his lady wife.

"A raven has come from Tarbeck Hall. Ellyn Tarbeck threatens harm to our cousins if her lord husband is not returned to her. Grant me leave to send him home – in bloody pieces. Lady Tarbeck may have an arm today and a leg tomorrow."

"Tywin, no!" Lord Tytos chuckled weakly. "This has gone on long enough. Lord Tarbeck is an old friend… It was all a misunderstanding. He made a mistake. It's over now. Send him home."

"He defied his lord and his wife compounded the offense by taking her liege lord's own blood hostage! This is treason, Father!"

"Now, son, no harm was done. I'll see to it myself if you're still angry."

His lord father simply did not comprehend the seriousness of the situation. If this defiance was not dealt with harshly, other bannermen would take it for leave to do as they pleased. House Lannister would lose authority over all those sworn to them. But Tywin knew it was no use arguing the matter further. Lord Tytos simply was not made for such things.

The whore lowered the sheet to her waist as soon as her master had left the room. "Want a taste, Tywin?"

Tywin was speechless with rage at her lack of loyalty to his father and at her use of his given name. The woman was the daughter of the castle's blacksmith. She had served at table until her displays of her charms and her flattery had led Lord Tytos to make her his mistress. She had been given a spacious, well-appointed chamber usually reserved for highborn guests and she was permitted to dress above her station in fine silks purchased with Lannister coin. Tywin thanked the gods that his father had not seated her at the high table – not yet anyway.

"I'll give you a little brother or sister soon, I wager. How would you like that?"

He stared at her until her smile fled and she pulled the covers around herself once more. He would be lord here one day and he would not forget her insolence. Until then, however, Tywin took the necessary measures to ensure that his father did not shame himself anymore than he already had. The maester and the cook were informed that every meal the whore ingested was to be dosed with moon tea. If she bore any bastards, Tywin told them, the two of them would pay for their negligence.

~break~

When he returned to Casterly Rock after serving as King Aerys's Hand for a year, Tywin was dismayed but not surprised to find that things had deteriorated. The steward and the maester informed him that his father had loaned out more money of ever increasing amounts and none of it had been repaid.

And Lord Tytos was even more besotted with his whore. He had given her a suite of rooms and her own maidservants. The whore was seated among her betters in the Great Hall, and when Tywin saw her, he could have slain his father in fury. The whore was dressed in his lady mother's gown and bedecked in her jewels. Mother wore that very same gown at Tygett's name day feast. She had one just like it made for Genna too, and everyone said how beautiful they were. And that tiara, Father gave it to her when Gerion was born and he told her no jewel could outshine her. Has he forgotten?

It was not his lord father's fault. Tytos Lannister was old and he had never been a strong man. The whore had ensnared him and befuddled his mind with her cunt. Tywin considered having her murdered, but he discarded the idea. Her death would grieve his father and it was possible he would console himself with someone even more unsuitable.

There were other things that troubled Tywin as he observed his family. Gerion jested with serving men, drew serving girls into his lap, and finally left the high table to sit among the household knights. Tygett was well-behaved enough, until he got into an argument with a fellow squire and they began to brawl. Worst of all was Genna. She sat beside her husband, but her attention was solely for the visiting lord seated on her other side. She laughed at his bawdy stories and permitted it when the man presumed to slip a grape into her mouth. Only Kevan comported himself with decency.

"House Lannister has become a house of fools, Kevan."

Kevan did not prove himself also a fool by denying the reality of their situation and mouthing platitudes. "We have prospered here since the days of Lann the Clever," he said. "A few years' folly will be forgotten in the same span of time."

That was true enough. Tywin hated that his father was so weak he made it necessary for his sons to long for his death. Mayhaps…No. There was no man so cursed as the kinslayer.

After dinner, he joined his father in his study. He accepted a cup of summerwine, but he did not drink it. He was certain what his father's answer would be to the question he was about to ask, and he was ashamed of himself for asking it, for taking advantage of Lord Tytos's weakness.

"Father, I am here to seek your permission to wed."

Lord Tytos's lined face broke into a smile. "I'm happy for you, son. Who is she?"

"Lady Joanna."

Joanna Lannister was a companion to Queen Rhaella and had been since she was a girl. Tywin had not known his cousin well before taking up residence in King's Landing as the Hand. She was a beautiful woman, and gracious and well-spoken. He often thought she should have been queen, not Rhaella. However, a marriage to her would not increase the family's wealth, lands, or stature. Lord Tytos should arrange for his heir to marry the daughter of another great lord, one who came with a large dowry and a military alliance.

There were many things Lord Tytos should do that he never did and this proved to be another one of them. "Our Joanna?" His smile grew even wider and he bounded out of his chair to hug Tywin. "She will make you an excellent wife. Love each other well."

Tywin returned his father's embrace stiffly and silently cursed himself for his selfishness. It is only this once. I have never indulged myself before and I will ask for no more after this. Everything I do from now will be for the improvement of my family.

~break~

He could not say it grieved him to receive news of his father's death. Tywin felt only relief. At long last the mummer's farce playing out in the westerlands would end. He left King's Landing immediately, though the journey was not as speedy as it could have been for the sake of Joanna and the babes.

As he stood over his lord father's funeral byre, Tywin tried to remember him with love. He had loved him once, when he was very young. His father had played with him and given him all he wanted, and Tywin had been happy as a lion cub safe with its mother, unable to realize the dangers outside its pride. It was no use. He could only see the old man chasing after a whore dressed up like a lady, heedless of the mockery heaped upon him. Tytos had never realized that people were laughing at him, not with him.

Lord Tywin began to set everything right as soon as his father's bones had been interred beneath the Rock. He gave orders for the lands and possessions of debtors to be seized, and he expelled all the unsavory persons who had been allowed to loiter at the castle. Most satisfying of all, he dealt with the whore.

He took his lady mother's jewels away from her; they would be thoroughly cleaned before they were given to Joanna. He would have liked to tear that red velvet gown with its golden Myrish lace from her back himself, but that was not fitting for a lord. Her former maidservants performed that task, and they did so with glee, pleased to show their hatred for a woman no better born than themselves. When she stood naked and sobbing, he ordered her put into a cart and paraded through the streets of Lannisport.

"You will confess to every man you meet that you are a whore," he commanded her.

She tried to cover her nakedness with her hands. "Please, m'lord, no. Have mercy. I loved your father. Please, for his sake, have mercy."

He folded his hands behind his back so he would not give in to the temptation to strike her. "You will confess, or you will serve every man as a whore."

There was no laughter from the assembled crowd. That pleased him. There would be no laughter at House Lannister ever again. After the whore was led away, he went to the nursery. He smiled as he stroked the golden hair of his son and his daughter. Though only babes, they were beautiful and strong. He could see them grown up in his mind's eye: Jaime would be the greatest knight in the realm and Cersei would be queen. Everyone would admire them and House Lannister would stand above all other Houses. Lord Tywin would make it so.