278AC 

The betrothal of Doran Martell - whose first wife, some foreign-born woman, had died birthing a stillborn daughter two years prior - to the young Catelyn Tully was announced that year. It was a surprising match, even to Tya, whom her old friend Princess Loreza had written to of the betrothal beforehand. Dorne and the Riverlands were far from each other, although importantly did flank the Reach to the north and south. 

Not to mention that whilst Lady Catelyn was a maid of four-and-ten, Prince Doran was a man of thirty. Hoster Tully's ambitions seemed to overpower any desire to see his daughter wed someone her own age, although he had wished to marry her to Brandon Stark, before Lord Rickard agreed to the betrothal with Rohanne. No doubt he would be trying to throw his younger daughter at the Tyrell heir before long, even though the boy was five years old and the other Tully girl was twelve.

It seemed that all the Lords Paramount were, consciously or unconsciously, arranging marriages between them for the first time in generations. Tya did not pay the matter excessive attention, however; she was busy plotting herself.

She had started thinking up her plans long before the death of Steffon Baratheon - long before Duskendale, or even the tourney at Lannisport - although the Lord of Storm's End untimely demise did require her to accelerate them slightly, with a letter of her own to Princess Loreza.

Since the princess' visit to the Red Keep during the early years of Aerys' reign, Tya had kept up a steady correspondence with Loreza ever since, and was always glad of her company whenever the older woman was in King's Landing. The last time she had seen her friend was shortly after Tyrion's birth five years ago. At the time, Tya had not yet returned to her duties as Hand, still being unable to stand for very long, and it was over lunch in the Tower of the Hand that Loreza had proposed a betrothal, between Cersei and her son Oberyn.

She had cordially refused, of course, given her plans for Cersei at the time - which, if she was honest, she had not yet given up on and her eldest daughter remained unbetrothed - and there were no hard feelings, although perhaps that was due to her hinting to Loreza of her possible plans for the future.

Since the Baratheons had been unable to find a bride for Rhaegar, she knew that Aerys was considering other options. He had not discussed the matter with Tya at all, which for once she was grateful for, as she could deny any accusations of plotting. 

Pycelle still told her everything, of course. The most likely candidate was currently Princess Elia of Dorne for her traces of Targaryen blood, although the king had not yet made his mind up. He was reluctant to marry his son to a Dornishwoman out of pure snobbishness, and the fact that Elia was known to have been sicky in her youth. Although she did have the most recent Targaryen ancestor and was as close to a Valyrian bride as he was like to get in Westeros.

That was enough for Tya.

She felt no guilt in writing about the matter to Princess Loreza, taking care to include the king's more unsavoury insults against her friend's daughter, and Dorne as a whole. Tya was under no doubt that her friend would see this letter for what it was - a ploy against Aerys and a chance for Tya's own daughter to be queen - but she did not intend to hide that, for once being extremely candid. 

It was certainly her taking advantage of Loreza's desire for her only daughter to be happy. Though extremely capable, her friend was not all that ambitious when it came to matters outside of Dorne, and Tya doubted the woman would care that Elia would miss out on a chance to be queen, unless that was what the girl herself wanted.

She also mentioned in her letter that Lord Arryn's nephew was currently on a visit to court and was as yet unmarried. The old lord himself was unlikely to have any children himself at this point, making young Elbert the heir to the Vale. He was a handsome and courteous man of four-and-twenty, all who met him agreed, fairly quiet but personable and clearly intelligent. 

Loreza's response was surprisingly positive. Tya had wondered if the other woman would resent such blatant manoeuvring on her part, and though the princess made it clear she would not be leaping to do the Hand's bidding, she would consider the possibility and talk to her daughter herself; they were in fact due to embark on a tour of Westeros, unofficially to assess potential husbands for Elia, and had not intended to travel to the Vale but now they would consider it.

Although she did thank Tya for her warnings about the king, and bade her to be careful.

Months later, Tya smiled when the raven came from the Eyrie announcing the betrothal of Princess Elia Martell to Ser Elbert Arryn, heir to the Vale. 

Aerys' face darkened as he heard the news himself. He accused his Hand of meddling, ranting and raving about how she had supposedly colluded with the 'traitors from the Vale' to steal his son's bride. However, as the king accused her of meddling and plotting against him on a daily basis, whenever anything went wrong in court, no one paid him much mind. 

No one could truly accuse her of anything nefarious, besides. She had never officially been told of any intent for Rhaegar and Elia to marry, and even if she had, she did not control what the Princess of Dorne decided for her daughter, nor the Lord of the Vale for his nephew. 

Never mind that she had helped orchestrate the whole thing in private.

Things seemed too good to be true, however. Perhaps the gods were trying to punish her for her misdeeds - something Tya may have considered, if she were a godly woman - but scarcely two weeks after the raven came about the Martell-Arryn alliance, as the year drew to a close, another raven bore dark words from Casterly Rock. 

Kevan wrote that their brother Tygett had been travelling with his wife Lady Alinor, to visit her home of Deep Den. A snake had spooked his horse and he had fallen, a stone gouging a deep cut on his arm. The stubborn man had brushed it off, bandaging it himself and not even going to the maester four days later when they arrived at the castle. It had festered nastily, and the infection had spread. By the time anyone noticed something amiss, the fever had kicked in. 

Tygett had died two days ago.

Tya had not felt so much for someone's death since her mother died. Her father's death was more of a relief than anything, despite the fact she didn't rejoice in it, but the death of her brother, who she remembered as a child toddling around a nursery, a fierce youth training to exhaustion in the yard, a scowling young man at his wedding... 

"It's a shame," Jason had been sombre as she read him the letter, the news having been delivered by Pycelle late at night, just as they were about to retire for bed. "He wasn't even thirty," 

Then he saw her face and held his arms open wordlessly. She wanted to ignore it, but then gave in, letting him press her head to his shoulder. 

Tya didn't cry, but thought once again how it was somehow a comfort to have one person she could be weak in front of, at least. One person in her life with whom she didn't have to make every single decision herself.

"He resented me as soon as he was old enough to know me," She couldn't help but say. Her brother had not liked being told what to do, and had always taken her control and influence over his life grudgingly.

"Perhaps," Jason did not soften his words. "But he loved you all the same. Any sibling who outshines the rest so thoroughly will always inspire resentment, true, but I know Tyg admired your strength, and loved you dearly despite not liking you some of the time,"

She said nothing to that, but was grateful for his words nonetheless.

279AC

Though she never mentioned the matter in front of Aerys, or anyone else except the children, Tya wore black for a month after her brother's death. She wore black rather often anyway, so it was not drastically different from her usual apparel, but she could tell others noticed. 

At first she was suspicious when the king didn't rub the tragedy in her face, and rather concerned at the sly little smile he often wore around her, asking Pycelle to discover what he was so smug about.

"He's determined to find any other bride for Prince Rhaegar aside from Lady Cersei, my lady," The old man shook his head in disapproval. "He's planning to gloat to you about it in front of the court, when the betrothal is announced," 

Tya's eyes darkened. It was simply pure spite, at this point, to refuse a match between Rhaegar and Cersei.

"Does the king have any idea who will marry his son?"

"Does the king have any idea about anything he does?" Pycelle chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm afraid not,"

For this reason, part of her suspected that when Aerys finally announced the betrothal of Prince Rhaegar to Lady Ashara Dayne, he had decided on the matter that morning and the letter to Starfall had only just been sent. 

That did nothing to assuage her fury, however. If anything, it incensed it. Everyone at court was forced to put up with her foul mood for the next month. Jason bore the brunt, though not graciously, often making jibes of his own in response to her own sharp tongue and easily-roused temper. Anyone else, and she'd have reduced them to a quivering wreck with one stare, but her husband biting back did remind her - eventually - that she was acting unreasonably. 

Lady Ashara arrived at court four weeks later, and took almost everyone's breath away. The young woman, aged six-and-ten, was stunningly beautiful with long dark hair, large purple eyes and a face perhaps even more comely than Tya's own daughter Cersei, who was said by many to be the most beautiful girl in Westeros. She had an air of mystery and grace about her, similar to the almost otherworldliness of Rhaegar; in that sense, they made a good match. Ashara was not the most outgoing girl, though spoke courteously and eloquently, her quiet voice somehow making her more engaging as everyone quieted themselves to listen.

Cersei, of course, despised the girl on sight no matter how Tya and Jason tried to impress on her to make a good impression. Admittedly, she was all sweetness and smiles on the outside - the girl could be more than charming, when she wished - but Tya did not miss the poisonous looks she shot the older girl when she thought no one was looking.

The wedding occurred rather quickly, only a month after Ashara's arrival. It was a lavish ceremony planned by Queen Rhaella, who seemed delighted to undertake the task, seeing as Aerys refused to attend the ceremony or even the feast, paranoid of assassination. He still had not left the Red Keep since Duskendale, over a year and a half ago. Tya enjoyed the occasion for his absence, though not much else; it signalled the end of all her ambitions for Cersei.

Rhaegar and Ashara made a handsome couple, all would agree. Both almost ethereal, tall and graceful, though she was dark where he was fair. She didn't seem proud in the way that Cersei was, didn't hold her head high at every minute, but seemed a future queen nonetheless, more quietly confident. 

Tya wished she was bumbling, ugly, awkward, or clumsy enough to trip down the stairs, or choke on her food, or fall from her horse. Unfortunately, Ashara was none of those things.

The new royal couple moved to Dragonstone after the wedding, which of course set people whispering that Rhaegar was planning to take the throne with the help of his wife's homeland of Dorne. In all likelihood, the pair wanted to enjoy the early days of their marriage away from a court where people were burned alive once or twice a fortnight. Aerys' obsession with wildfire was only growing worse and worse.

This seemed to be supported when, scarcely nine months after the wedding, it was announced that Princess Ashara had given birth to twin daughters. The pregnancy had not even been announced prior to the birth - perhaps Rhaegar had learned from his mother's miscarriages - yet by all accounts the girls were healthy. 

The prince had named them Rhaenys and Visenya, after the conqueror's wives. 

"Best hope he has a son next," Jason had snorted. "Rhaenys, Visenya and Aegelle doesn't have quite the same ring to it,"

280AC

The twin princesses were presented to court half a year after their birth. Aerys very rudely refused to touch them, claiming that they smelt Dornish. Rhaella, mortified, had fussed over her first grandchildren like they were her own, with tears in her eyes as she embraced both her son and his wife.

It was to everyone's surprise that during the visit, Lady Ashara announced that she was already with child again; three months pregnant, in fact. People seemed to brush it off as newlyweds being newlyweds, though Tya hadn't missed the concern in Rhaella's eyes at the news. She herself knew well enough the dangers of pregnancies too close together; Tyrion had been born a year after Damon, of course, and his birth had near killed her.

Princess Daena was born just under a year after the twins, in King's Landing. Oddly enough, Rhaegar seemed very disappointed the child not a son. That in itself made sense, but he had only been married two years and already had three heirs; surely more would soon follow? And besides, the prince did not seem the type to push his wife's body to breaking point for the sake of an heir a few years sooner. 

Once the baby princess was old enough to travel, Rhaegar hastened to bring his household back to Dragonstone before the year's end. It was rather obvious why. Aerys' madness was growing by the day, and the Red Keep was practically a battlefield between the king and his Hand. 

Not only that, but pyromancers had become a fixture of the court. Wildfire burnings had replaced hangings and beheadings, and even became standard for petty crimes that would ordinarily only warrant losing a hand or a public flogging. 

Tya had strongly protested when Rosshart, the head pyromancer who pretentiously called himself 'Wisdom Rosshart', was named to the small council. This had ended in yet another public row between the king and the Hand; Aerys ranting and raving as always, whilst Lady Lannister was cold, quiet and immovable. 

It was no use arguing with him over anything, let alone wildfire. Aerys seemed to enjoy the burnings far too much; he would always leave and head straight for Rhaella's chambers to brutally claim his marriage rights.

Having seen Rhaella looking like she had been savaged by a wild animal, Tya would have happily ordered Lannister guards to stand outside her friend's chambers, but the queen insisted that it would make things worse. 

"You're treading a very fine line as it is," She had said in a hushed tone, as the maid Tya brought to the queen's chambers cleaned the woman's wounds. "Aerys is scared of you, that's why he hasn't harmed you yet. The small part of sanity left to him knows he needs you to run his kingdom, besides. But sometimes I don't even think he realises it's me he's hurting. He called me Tya, last night, with his hands around my throat. He's done that before,"

Tya sent the maid away before replying, starting to dab at Rhaella's wounds herself.

"If he lays a hand on me, he will pay for it," She replied coldly, wringing out the bloody rag in the now soiled basin. "He would pay for hurting you, if you'd let me,"

"Kingslaying is a sin," The queen shook her head, clearly gathering her meaning. "Let alone kinslaying. Otherwise I would have stuck a knife in his gut years ago," 

Tya was silent for a moment, locking eyes with her friend.

"And what if he wasn't killed?"

*

And here we start to diverge properly from canon...

Also, just for context, I don't think everyone here realises how bad things with Tywin and Aerys in canon actually got; just go and look at the asoiaf wiki page for either of them to see that everything insulting Aerys does here (minus the sexual harassment) was also done to Tywin, including the rumours (not actual threats, but rumours) that once Steffon came back with a bride for Rhaegar, Tywin would be deposed as Hand and executed.

And for those asking why Tya puts up with it all; Tywin put up with it for years, so so does Tya.

Thanks so much for reading! This is fast becoming one of my most successful stories, and I'm very grateful to all of you.