EDITED: 7th Jan 2022. See notes for more details.

242 AC

Another lord might have been disappointed at their firstborn child not being a son, but Tytos Lannister both cried and laughed - both with pure, unbridled joy, of course - when he entered the birthing chamber after she had given him a daughter.

Jeyne found herself smiling wryly in amusement at her husband despite how exhausted and pained she felt after the ordeal of childbirth.

"She's so beautiful," Tytos looked down at the baby, watery eyes full of wonder. "Can I hold her?" He was already reaching out with clumsy grasping hands, and Jeyne fought the urge to snatch the child away.

"Sit down first," She said sharply. "And be careful, she's delicate,"

Her husband did as obliged, as he always did. He was a rather biddable man. Eager to please, both forgiving and trusting. It had annoyed her once, when they first married, but over the years that had dulled somewhat as she realised that, for her at least, a biddable husband was a good thing. Few other men would have put up with a sharp-tongued, opinionated wife such as herself, let alone loved her.

Perhaps it would not be such a good thing for the Westerlands when he finally became lord, but that was another matter entirely. Tytos had never been meant for lordship, only becoming the heir to Casterly Rock after the unexpected deaths of his two elder brothers.

Thankfully he was indeed careful with the baby when he was given her, handling the child like she was made of glass. Jeyne hovered at his shoulder despite the fact that sitting up at all, let alone for any length of time, still pained her greatly. Her first birth had not been easy, though she knew it was worth it from the moment she held her daughter in her arms.

"She looks like me," Tytos beamed with pride.

Hm. Whilst the little girl did have the cheekbones and golden hair typical of the Lannisters, there were flecks of brownish-gold in those green eyes that were reminiscent of Jeyne's own, and there was a sharpness to the baby's features even now that certainly did not come from her cheerful, friendly-faced father.

Jeyne said none of this, however.

"What will her name be, my lord?" She asked instead.

Her husband's brow furrowed.

"I haven't really thought about it, to tell you the truth. I was hoping you'd have some ideas," He scratched his head. Jeyne smiled. As I expected. "I suppose it should be a Lannister name, which narrows it down somewhat,"

"Tya," She had decided the instant she laid eyes on her daughter. "Her name is Tya,"

*

Tya was a rather fussy baby, about very specific things. She wouldn't settle if she wasn't wrapped in one particular blanket with a particular toy doll beside her, for example, and most definitely preferred one of her wet-nurses to the other. When she was displeased with something, she made that quite plain with a shrill shriek of protest and a glare that was rather intense for a girl of less than one. And she didn't seem too fond of other children, disdaining the young sons and daughters of various lords and knights that visited the Rock.

The baby made her mother laugh when she met her grandfather for the first time.

Jeyne liked her goodfather somewhat more than she liked her husband, as Gerold Lannister was an exceedingly clever, mild-mannered man, shrewd and quick-witted despite the fact he was often rather quiet, and a good ruler. Yes, there were the rumours that he had murdered his elder brother Tybolt, and later his brother's daughter Cerelle, to become Lord of Casterly Rock, but Jeyne cared little even if that was true. No one could deny that the Westerlands and House Lannister had prospered under his rule.

Gerold had looked down at Tya in the crib, idly reaching out to ruffle her hair as he spoke with Jeyne about some other matter, the latest trouble with the Reynes. He often spoke with her about such things, seeing as his two remaining sons were useless and his wife Rohanne had disappeared mysteriously years ago.

Jeyne couldn't keep the edge of dislike out of her tone as they spoke of Lady Ellyn - the scheming bitch who tried to seduce Tytos into setting Jeyne aside after the death of her own husband Tion, Tytos' elder brother - and was startled as Lord Gerold suddenly snatched his hand away from the crib.

"What is it?" She asked, concerned as her goodfather examined the end of his finger.

"She bit me," He said, mildly surprised.

"Tya!" Jeyne had tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't, lifting the baby out of the crib and settling her on her hip. "You can't do that to your own grandfather - he's Lord of Casterly Rock," She turned to Lord Gerold. "I am sorry, my lord. She hasn't got any teeth, I didn't think she could bite anyone,"

"No matter," He looked amused by the whole thing. "She seems to be a little lion for true - even without teeth, she has her claws. Knows what she likes and what she doesn't. I won't try to ruffle her hair again, that's for sure,"

*

Jeyne's second child and first son, the heir to Casterly Rock, was born two years after his sister. Once more it came down to her to choose his name - Kevan - though as Tytos was mourning his father, who had passed away three days earlier, she could perhaps excuse him for the matter not being the forefront of his mind. Kevan was a quiet and agreeable baby, though much less serious than his sister had been, and easier to settle.

Genna was born only eleven months later. She was noisy and often difficult, yet smiled and laughed as often as she screamed and threw tantrums. The now three-year-old Tya had no patience with the new baby when she cried, often demanding for her to be taken out of the room away from her, though she seemed to enjoy her sister when she was in a good mood, trying to get her to play with Kevan's toy knights and her own dolls.

Tygett was born in 250AC, when Tya was eight years old. Even as a baby he was rather serious, like his eldest sister, and didn't smile much, but was loud at the same time and easily irritated. Jeyne had hoped that her eldest daughter, now of an age to help care for the new baby, would take an interest in being responsible for Tygett as she would be a mother herself one day. But the little girl showed even less interest in looking after her youngest brother as she had for Kevan and Genna. Though she did try and play with him from time to time, she had no interest in singing lullabies or helping the nursemaids dress him.

Not a natural mother, then, Jeyne thought with wry amusement as she watched Tya glare at her baby brother when he started crying, sharply telling the baby to stop, which of course did nothing; her glare turned onto her sister when Genna laughed at her for trying to order an infant around like they understood what she was saying.

Truth be told, Jeyne herself had not been - and still wasn't - overly bothered with the squalling brats of other ladies, finding them loud and irritating, but with her own children things were different and she had loved them at first sight. Hopefully Tya would be the same.

And if not, she was a Lannister, and they paid servants for a reason.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, out of Jeyne's four children it was obvious that Tya was the leader. From the moment they could walk she often had Kevan and later Genna trailing after her in whatever activity she had chosen for them all to do. Perhaps it was because she was the eldest - and biggest, for now - that they admired her so.

Genna was Tya's opposite. Loud, smiley and sociable, the only traits the sisters shared was their undaunted confidence and unwavering stubbornness in the face of adversity. Tya was certainly protective over her younger sister, and seemed to enjoy her company where she could hardly stand being around her companions, other young ladies of a similar age.

She did seem to prefer the company of boys in general, particularly her brother Kevan. Jeyne had been rather concerned about her eldest son at first; he was the heir to Casterly Rock yet spent most of his time in Tya's shadow. But Kevan was a clever boy, diligent, good in his lessons and hardly a pushover to anyone else despite how he was generally walked over by his sister. And besides, he was well liked, whereas Tya even at eight was respected but feared.

Despite this, however, she could not stand either of her cousins, the children of Tygett's younger brother. Tya claimed that Stafford, her elder by two years, was almost a lackwit, thickheaded and boorish. Jeyne was inclined to agree; the boy liked to push around other children in the training yard, and had often tried to push Tya around as well, before realising that that never ended well for him.

However it was Stafford's younger brother, Jason, who really got under her skin.

Jason was only a few younger older than Tya; you'd have thought they would be friends, given their closeness in age, but if anything it was the opposite. The boy seemed to be able to annoy Jeyne's daughter like no one else could. He weathered her stony glares with a grin, and laughed in her face when she snapped at him, never seeming intimidated or uncomfortable of her at all. Tya hated people laughing at her - given how people often laughed at her father - and it was only Jason that managed to make her drop her icy composure and shriek, yell and stamp her foot like any other eight year old.

Jeyne had even come across the two children wrestling on the floor several times, spitting furious insults at each other; very uncharacteric of Tya, who acted more composed than many adult women most of the time.

She suspected that Jason - who had an impertinent tongue even with adults, was smart for his age and far too sly for his own good - disliked Tya for her stiff and cold manner. Her daughter had often gotten him into trouble for misbehaving, often out of revenge. Tya had claimed that one of Jason's friends hit her, getting the boy sent away from the Rock, after Jason pushed her so she fell into the sea at the Lannisport docks (which he had been caned for at the time by Jeyne herself).

In short, they were both vile to each other and neither side was completely unearned. Jeyne only hoped that they would calm down with age; it was one thing to see two eight year olds punching and kicking on the floor, but quite another when it was a young knight and lady nearing adulthood.

*

252 AC

"My friends and bannermen," Jeyne's eyes narrowed as Tytos stood up to make an announcement to the hall, full of lords and knights from almost every household in the Westerlands. "I have joyous news, which I wish to share with you tonight,"

She truly had no idea what her husband was going to say, and as usual felt rather apprehensive. It could be anything from giving a heartfelt expression of gratitude to the cooks or something outlandish like making a kennel-master a landed knight.

"I wish to announce the betrothal of my eldest daughter Tya to Emmon of House Frey,"

Dead silence for a heartbeat, two, three.

Then the whole hall erupted into a roar of shocked displeasure. Rogar Reyne stood up abruptly, face red with anger as he stormed from the room. His hateful sister Ellyn, now a Tarbeck, started to laugh in incredulity. The Freys present were preening smugly where they sat together. Gods, that awful weaselly-looking boy of fourteen must be Emmon.

Jeyne wanted nothing more than to throttle her husband in that moment. She had known nothing, nothing, of this before he announced it, not even that he was thinking about betrothals. But that could wait; she had eyes only for her daughter.

Tya had stood up sharply, her chair giving a loud screech as she glared at her father with unveiled disdain. Lord Tytos clearly felt his daughter's eyes on him, as he turned to see her, wide smile faltering for a moment. Surely even he couldn't mistake the look on her face for anything less than what it was; fury. Jeyne was soon proven wrong, however.

"Now, now," He clapped his hands good-naturedly nonetheless, and it took far too long for the hall to fall into a restless quiet. "My dear daughter wishes to speak,"

Oh, you fool. Jeyne certainly wasn't going to help him out of this one, which he'd walked himself into.

"That had better be a jape," The cold words sounded jarring coming from the pretty ten-year-old, and caught the attention of the hall immediately. Silence fell. Tytos opened his mouth to protest, but Tya cut him off. "You've betrothed me to a Frey? You'd give your firstborn child, a lady of Casterly Rock, to the second son of the Lord of the Crossing?"

There was a mocking, incredulous note to her voice that made most everyone present marvel at her nerve. Tya, of course, knew that there would be no repercussions from her father over daring to speak out so rudely. Kevan and Genna were watching their sister with wide, concerned eyes. Cousin Jason was snickering openly.

"Well Tya, Lord Frey asked very courteously, and it would have been most insulting to have refused him,"

"He asked courteously?" Tya raised an eyebrow. "Is that all it takes now? Should Genna fear being betrothed to the son of that kennel-master knight you gave a keep to, if he asks nicely enough? Will the next Lady Lannister be the first kitchen maid to ask for Kevan's hand? When did the lions of the Rock start to fear insulting a weasel-faced Frey?"

There was a lot of disgruntled grumbling from the Freys at that.

"Now Tya, you really should be more polite, you know," Tytos' tone was merely reproachful, hurt rather than angry. "This really isn't the time,"

She didn't even respond to that, aside from a withering look of disgust and anger at her father. The ten-year-old left the hall, wide eyes and open mouths following her. She didn't look back, even as her father called her to return to the table. Jeyne smiled in cruel amusement, though inside she was as angry as her daughter.

Over the last decade, Tya had grown from a tiny babe into a tall, slender young girl. She was very pretty and would surely grow into a beauty, but her mouth was most often found set in a straight line, which gave her face a rather hard and stern expression. She didn't smile often and her laughs were even rarer. Her hair was long and golden but usually worn up in relatively simple braided styles to keep it out of her face, though the braids she wore for this feast were complex and regal-looking.

Her eyes were unique. Lannister green, but flecked with gold. Hard eyes, for a girl of ten.

Even Jeyne had to admit that with her intense stare Tya was rather intimidating for such a young child. The girl had never thrown tantrums even as a toddler, but simply went quiet and glared. When told not to do something she wanted to, Tya did not argue, simply watched impassively and unimpressed then went and did it anyway if she thought it worth it, not caring for the reprimands of her maids and later on her septa no matter how they shouted. Even her father she didn't listen to, though that was hardly surprising as Tytos was more likely to either laugh or look wounded and hurt himself.

Jeyne was the only one who could give her a proper telling off and have her look remotely ashamed; she was also the only one who could get her to apologise.

Tytos mentioned to her that he was rather concerned at their eldest daughter's behaviour, wondering if it was normal for a young lady to be so... wilful. Jeyne had told him that if Kevan was acting in such a way, everyone would be talking about what a good, strong lord he'd be. It was only because Tya was a girl that it was odd. And that was the end of the matter as far as she was concerned.

Her daughter had always seemed older than her years. She had played with toys and dolls once, of course - pretended they were kings and queens (she would always be the king, Kevan or Genna the queen) - but had deemed that too childish aged seven, and resolutely refused to touch any of them, giving all her toys to her sister.

Now she spent much of her time reading. Not romantic stories like Florian and Jonquil that young girls normally loved, but dense books on subjects such as history, politics and warfare. Jeyne questioned her about it, only to receive the rather blunt reply of, 'the maester wouldn't teach me, so I have to find out on my own'.

From then on she made the request to Maester Norgrove that her children be taught more of such matters, even the girls, though Tya was still often found poring over other such books in her spare time. Jeyne also resolved to teach her daughter everything she knew about politics and the ways people behaved, recognising a sharp mind when she saw one, and that could not be allowed to go to waste.

It wasn't like Tya was unladylike. Though she was hardly charming, she was faultlessly polite when she wished to make a good impression, restrained in her manner and clearly highly intelligent. She learned to dance well, even though she didn't enjoy it, and despite having little patience for needlework she could sew and embroider passably. She flatly refused to learn to sing but was a more than capable horsewoman and enjoyed hawking, and showed a great talent for sums and running a household.

Most people had never met a child whose very presence demanded so much respect. It was hard to talk down to Tya, with that stare of hers and her rather intimidating manner. She could make grown men feel like fools, by being more well-read, keeping her composure much better and having an alarmingly sharp tongue. Anyone trying to patronise her was subjected to all three.

Jeyne thought of the Frey boy, fourteen and cocky despite his plain looks and no particular skill at arms, no doubt extremely smug at being betrothed to Tytos Lannister's eldest daughter.

Tya would destroy him.

*

Jeyne was present for the audience the next day; she, Tytos and Tya were to meet with Emmon Frey and his father, the awful Lord Walder. Despite her disdain, part of her was rather looking forward to it, in a vicious kind of way. Never mind her daughter; Lady Lannister would not hold back one bit. She hadn't held back in berating her husband last night, though as always Tytos had simply acted wounded for a while then shaken her words off like water from a duck's back.

"Lord Walder, and dear Emmon," He beamed as the door to the solar opened, getting to his feet.

Jeyne was already stood behind his chair, a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Lord Tytos," Walder Frey walked into the room wearing a smug smile, looking for all the world like he owned the place. "Lady Jeyne. And lovely Tya," He turned to her daughter, rubbing his hands together in almost comedic glee.

"Lady Tya," The girl corrected coldly, not bothering with courtesies though she knew them well.

Lord Walder was known to be a prickly man, easily taking offence at the smallest slight. Sure enough, he bristled at her words though forced himself to remain calm, smiling a sickly smile.

"Your daughter is pretty, my lord," His smile turned lecherous. "No doubt she'll be a beauty in a few years. Lucky you, eh Emmon?" He clapped his ugly son on the back with a laugh, and the boy smiled weakly, though was casting rather anxious looks at his new betrothed.

No wonder; Tya was staring him down, stare unflinching.

"Enough," Jeyne was furious. "Tya is ten, Lord Walder, and a member of House Lannister. I'll thank you not to speak of her like you're picking out a girl at a brothel,"

"Heh," Walder laughed but his beady eyes narrowed. "Your wife has a mouth on her, Tytos,"

Oh, Jeyne could've slapped him for that, and Tya likely felt the same, but her husband stepped in first, appearing stressed by the turn of events.

"Yes, yes, perhaps we should all take a seat?" He said hastily.

Coward. But where Jeyne was prepared to grimace and bear it, laying into her husband in private later on, her daughter did not.

"He just insulted Mother," Tya turned to her father. "Are you just going to sit down and ignore it?" Tytos blustered for enough time that she cut him off, turning to Lord Walder. "You can't speak about Lady Lannister like that, whether I'm supposed to marry your weed of a son or not,"

"Tya!" Tytos protested feebly. "You're being rude,"

"You're being weak," The girl said flatly. "You're always weak. Especially when you agreed to marry me to this boy," She waved a dismissive hand at Emmon Frey, who truly looked scared of her by this point.

"I - I promise to do well by you, my lady," The boy stuttered as his father's eyes narrowed in fury.

Tya actually scoffed, glaring at him.

"You're the second son of a measly house in the Riverlands," She said with remarkable scorn for a ten-year-old. "I doubt you can keep that promise," She turned to her father, cutting off Walder Frey's angry reply. "I promise that if you marry me to a Frey, I will not stay married for very long,"

Now that was rather concerning, for Tytos at least. A threat, plain and simple. Jeyne had never been more proud.

Emmon Frey blanched, Tytos did too, and Walder Frey finally lost his temper, beginning to spit furious words at Jeyne's husband, who blustered apologetically despite the fact that it was hardly his place to be sorry, and this low lord should pay for daring to raise his voice to Lord Lannister.

Nonetheless, she placed her hand back on her daughter's shoulder, squeezing in approval and leading her out of the room as Lord Walder continued to rage. Tytos looked relieved. So did Emmon.

"Well, sweetling," Jeyne said as they left the lord's solar, her tone carefully even as the door shut on the chaos. "Your betrothed is now terrified of you, which is something, I suppose,"

"I'm a girl of ten," She said with disdain. "If he's scared of me, he truly is pathetic," She sounded rather pleased nonetheless, smiling slightly when Jeyne laughed.

"Don't worry," She said, pulling the girl into a one-armed hug. "I'll sort this mess out. You won't have to marry a Frey after I'm through talking with your father,"

"Thank you," She looked slightly relieved, always less guarded when she was around her mother.

"Who would you marry, if you had the choice?" Jeyne asked out of curiosity. "Politics aside,"

Her daughter considered this.

"A high lord," She said. "Or a king. One who let me take charge of everything in private,"

"The Stark heir is unmarried,"

"I wouldn't want to waste away in the North," She sneered.

"A shame that Steffon Baratheon is betrothed already," Jeyne mused. "Lord Arryn is married too, though he's a bit older. Dorne has a princess. Luthor Tyrell is not even betrothed, however. Neither is Prince Aerys, though he'll likely marry his sister," She raised an eyebrow and Tya didn't protest. "I'll see what I can do about your father,"

*

Another what-if idea that I never knew I would publish but got away with me. Female Tywin was so much fun to write (just as much if not more so than female Jaime - see my other story 'An Honest Woman' for that).

I hope the character is still recognisable. As we never get to see Tywin's POV in canon, having him/her as the main character was interesting. Also remember that we only ever see Tywin after he lost Joanna, hence why Tya still smiles in this and isn't quite as... evil. And yes, cousin Jason here is male Joanna.

Next chapter is from Tya's POV - I chose to write from her mother's perspective in this because A) it fit the narrative better, and B) having developed a personality for Lady Jeyne I quite enjoyed her - Tywin had to get it from somewhere after all, and it certainly wasn't his father.

Anyway, what do you think? Please take a minute to let me know, I appreciate all feedback whether that's constructive criticism or nice reviews, a paragraph or just one line. Thanks for reading!

EDIT. I'm doing an edit of the whole book, mainly to change the character of Jason (along with a few minor mistakes I'm grateful for you all pointing out). He was never meant to be a main focus of the story hence why he came across as rather bland, but as many people have pointed out that this detracts from the story quite a lot, I felt like I should go back to give him more of a personality. Do let me know what you think of this.