#stannisprompts

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]

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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.