#fyeahstannis

my belated entry for stannis prompt month (june 2018, written for @eliaequense and tagging @fyeahstannis

prompt: [fanfiction] [Stannis is asked to be Hand of the King to Robert.] [eliaequense]

_______

It was a prank, another one of Robert’s cruel japes, another public humiliation. Yet when he looked around him, he saw Eddard’s long face, Jon’s white head nodding gravely, Renley looking at him in shock, Tywin glaring at him, and finally Robert’s pained expression. That was when he knew it was true.

Of course, Robert did not want him to be Hand. His brother probably wanted Eddard, his Ned, but the young Northern lord must have declined as he had duties to the North. And Stannis knew that his brother felt betrayed when Ned yelled at him about the violent deaths of the princess and her young children. Mayhaps his brother did not ask his closest friend afterall.

But why not Lord Arryn? The old man loved Robert (and Robert’s Ned) like his own. The King is more wont to listen to the old lord than his own brothers. In fact, Robert barely said anything to Stannis after, after their parents’ death. It just did not make sense.

Clenching his fists and grinding his teeth, Stannis nodded brusquely. It was done.

One by one, the lords all pled fealty to Robert, with those who fought for the mad king laying prostrated before Robert, begging and crying for mercy. He expected his brother to angrily cut them down, smoting them with his giant war hammer, but instead he stared blankly as Jon conferred with them both about whom to send to the Wall; whom to seize their lands; and whom to grant clemency, after appropriate recompense.

“Stannis?” the old man prompted.

Again, he nodded, approving Jon’s recommendations even though he wanted so badly to behead Lord Tyrell or at the very least imprison the fat man, watching the rats feast upon him. But he understood the need for the grains and foodstuffs from the Reach as well as the dilemma the fat lord faced, that he himself faced. Looking at his brother blithely ignoring the scene in front him, he begun to question his decision to fight for his brother and now his decision to be the Hand.

Finally, the mummer’s show was over. The room was vacant but for Lord Arryn and his brother. Ned finally left after Robert stubbornly refused to talk to him, much less look at him. When the door was closed behind the Northern lord, Stannis saw Jon envelope the big man, whispering as Robert cried for all he lost. Stannis saw his brother, not the war god, the fearless military leader, but a man thoroughly broken. He was no king.

—————

Stannis repeated to himself the last words the old Lord said to him before he left to the Vale. Words he knew his parents would say to him if only they could.

“Brother’s keeper - I am my brother’s keeper.”

The seven kingdoms went dry. It was far from a popular decision but they needed the grains to feed the people who rebuilt the towns and tilled the razed fields - none could be spared for something as frivolous as wines and ales. Stannis reluctantly ceded to Davos’ many entreaties to provide barrels of wines and ales from the mad king’s many wine cellars to all after each plentiful harvest.

Even without Varys whispering about what his little birds overheard, Stannis knew that there were many sycophants in the Court who sought to curry the King’s favors, plying him with women, rich foods and wines and laughing at his damn jokes that were not in the least funny. Those vile cesspools cared naught for the good of the Kingdom, much less the King, but only thought of filling up their already rich coffers with even more gold. He dealt with them the same as he dealt with his Onion King. They could still contribute with one or two less digits. Littlefinger became known as Fingerless.

Mayhaps Lord Tywin thought Stannis stupid or weak or both, throwing his own daughter at him. He scowled, remembering how close the wretched woman was to him, trying to entice him with her false smiles and her obvious parroting of her father’s words about how just and powerful he was and how he was his brother’s heir. They did not understand that it was never power for power’s sakes that drove him. It was duty - he was his brother’s keeper. The Lannisters were lucky that he did not have that whore paraded down the streets of Kingslanding as Lord Tywin did to his father’s last mistress but instead allowed her to join the Silent Sisters.

Stannis Baratheon Week:

Day 3:  Memorable character trait/physical trait

stannis week 2017 // day one: stannis the son

His brother is King, Stannis is his Master of Ships (like their father once was, though it was unlikely that Robert even remembered that), the one who helps rule his kingdom and ensures his reign and, more importantly, Stannis was Robert’s brother - if only by blood if nothing else.

Despite all of that, it is Jon Arryn who tells Stannis of his betrothal. His brother was a coward or a fool, or both. Robert knew how much Stannis would have rather it had been Robert to speak to him but Robert was Robert, after all.

“His Grace thinks it time you were wed,” Jon Arryn had said to him, the two of them in the Hand’s solar. (It should have been mine, if Robert cared even a little for me, for his own blood. Or maybe he could have just given Stannis his rightful seat of Storm’s End, would that have been so hard?)

“His Grace couldn’t have told me this himself?” Stannis had asked, knowing full well that Arryn would do all he could to defend Robert. He is my brother, you old fool, I knew him. It’s sad that Stannis wasn’t the one defending Robert…but had ‘his grace’ left him any choice?

Arryn shook his head, sighing. “Our king is still new to all of his duties, he is learning still, he will need our help with his new rule.”

“You speak as though he is a child learning to read, Robert is the king! And speaking with your brother isn’t a duty!”

“Yes, well, Robert’s always found it difficult…” Arryn had trailed off, gesturing vaguely with his hands.

Oddly, Stannis had found himself wanting to laugh. “Are you trying to tell me that Robert finds speaking difficult? I never fought you mad Lord Arryn.”

“Gods, no, no. I’m sure one thing about being the king that Robert truly likes is that he can speak whenever he likes.”

Because you know him so well. Stannis didnt say that though.

Instead, he had changed the conversation back to his betrothal, “And who am I to marry?”

“A niece of Alester Florent. Selyse, her name is.” When Stannis said nothing, Arryn had added, “A pretty name. I’m sure she is a pretty girl. Her cousin is wed to Leyton Hightower, I hear.”

“I’m not marrying her cousin though, am I?”

Arryn had shaken his head. “No, you’re not. But this marriage is important to ensure a peace in the realm. We have to marry into the Reach somehow, not the Tyrells of course, they went against Robert and, well, they harmed Lord Renly’s people.”

If he had had any of Robert’s fury, Stannis might have hit him. But Arryn had continued, “But the Florents, they didn’t fight against us, or rather, they didn’t want to. And they have a claim to Highgarden and the Reach - like most Reached Houses say they do - but the Florents have a strong one, stronger than the Tyrells do. If say, the Tyrells were to rebel against our king, we could get rid of them and seat House Florent in Highgarden and -”

“Do you think i was about to deny my duty? Say no to this marriage? When, Lord Arryn, in this short time you’ve known me and in the longer time you’ve know Robert and what he says about me, and in the time you knew my father, when, when have I said no to my duty?”

“Not once, my lord. I was just making sure you understood.”

“I’m not some silly child, alright? I do understand! I will do this as I have done everything else for Robert! Everything! Just as everyone has always done everything for him, without a second of hesitation. Even you! You followed Robert into war, went against your king for some boy.” Stannis shoved his chair back and grounded his teeth.

Lord Arryn just looked at him with a patience which mistake have been how he got through so many years with Robert. “Lord Stannis, are you implying that I didn’t truly know Robert? Because I knew him very well, him and Ned Stark, they were sons to me, in all but blood. I loved them and I love them. I would go to war for them any day. As your father would for Robert and you, and Lord Renly too. But I know Robert, I think of him as my son. And you don’t let people even think to harm your son.”

“He isn’t your son,” Stannis said quietly. “No more than Eddard Stark is his brother. I’m his brother, the one he never loved, the one he always, always the unloved one. But I lived through it, not for my undying love for our glorious conquering hero of a king. But because he is my mother and father’s son; he is my great-uncle’s great-nephew; he is my younger brother’s brother. And he is my brother. Nothing will change that, nothing.”

With that Stannis got up, moving past Jon Arryn.

“Stannis…”

“Tell His Grace that I shall marry Lady Selyse whenever he commands it, my lord.”

Stannis left the room and decided that he’d go to Dragonstone, at least he could have peace there. With no Robert, with no one who loved and adored Robert.

Stannis Baratheon Week:

Day 1:  Memorable quote 

Stannis Baratheon Week:

Stannis Baratheon Week:

Day 2:  Memorable book moment/show scene

 ↪  Stannis' victory at the Wall 

“It's done, Jon thought, they're breaking. The wildlings were running, throwing down their weapons, Hornfoot men and cave dwellers and Thenns in bronze scales, they were running. Mance was gone, someone was waving Harma's head on a pole, Tormund's lines had broken. Only the giants on their mammoths were holding, hairy islands in a red steel sea. The fires were leaping from tent to tent and some of the tall pines were going up as well. And through the smoke another wedge of armored riders came, on barded horses. Floating above them were the largest banners yet, royal standards as big as sheets; a yellow one with long pointed tongues that showed a flaming heart, and another like a sheet of beaten gold, with a black stag prancing and rippling in the wind. 

Stannis Baratheon Week:

Day 6:  Stannis the king