EDITED: 7th Jan 2022

262 AC

King Jaehaerys had always been sickly, and died after only three years on the throne, making Aerys the King of the Seven Kingdoms. For better or worse.

The new king was ambitious to make his reign a success, and one of the first things he did was to retire his father's Hand, the cautious and elderly Edgar Sloane. Unfortunately, this seemed to be a mistake, as each man he appointed to the position afterwards was utterly useless.

"Why am I cursed to be surrounded by fools?" Aerys was in one of his rages, storming into Tya's chambers without knocking and proceeding to rant at her, uninvited. "Every man I give that damned pin to disappoints me. How hard can it be to find a half-decent Hand?"

Kingship had not made him any less mercurial. He was lively and generous one minute, proud and furious the next. But that was nothing new, especially to one who had known him years.

Tya raised her eyes from the latest letter from Casterly Rock, Kevan filling her in on what was going on back in the west. Since they had forced their father to step back, not to mention their display with the Reynes and Tarbecks, everything had been running a lot more as it should do in the Westerlands.

It was a good thing that she had returned to court, too, as it gave her brother a chance to prove to the lords that he wasn't in his sister's shadow and was capable without her at his side. Though Kevan had given most of the orders in the Reyne-Tarbeck rebellion (though advised by her in private) and earned plenty of respect in his own right, that had all been rather overshadowed by Tya's actions at Castamere.

"Give the badge to my brother," She said rather distractedly, not in the mood for dealing with a kingly tantrum. "Kevan is young, capable, will listen to what you say and most importantly is able to read,"

The Hand before this one had committed a grievous financial error due to misreading a new trade agreement that had been sent up from Highgarden, resulting in a significant loss of coin from the Royal Treasury that they couldn't very well grovel to the Tyrells to give back without looking like beggars.

"No..." The king mused. "He's barely nineteen, that's too young,"

He's the same age you are. Though Kevan acted far older than his age, where Aerys often acted like a ten-year-old.

"What about Jason? He's two years older and you like him well enough,"

"He's a good friend, but wouldn't take politics seriously enough," Her suggestion was waved off again.

There was a time when Tya would have thought that herself, but now she knew better. Her cousin acted like he took little seriously, but underneath that he was just as ambitious as she was, and surprisingly diplomatic when he laid on the charm and put aside any stupid remarks.

Besides, Jason would be her husband within the year. Tya could not stay as one of Rhaella's ladies forever unless her future husband found himself a position on the Small Council or suchlike. At the moment he was at court as Aerys' friend, as well as assisting the ageing master-at-arms with many of his duties.

She felt a stab of irritation, both at the king's careless dismissal of her family and at his inability to accept a decent solution to his problem, continuing to fill her ears with his whining. With most men - all men - she wouldn't bother to restrain her annoyance so well, but with the king it was different, of course. She had to at least try to stay in his favour.

Even so, there were limits to her patience. This mummers farce had been going on months, since King Jaehaerys died, and she was sick of it.

"Have you any better ideas?" She asked sharply, reminding herself to avoid giving the king the tongue-lashing he deserved, casting her eyes back to her letter so as to not be openly combatative. "All the men who are capable don't want the position. All those who want the position are incapable. Quite honestly, by this point you might as well make me your Hand and have done with it. I'd do a better job than each one of those fools you've appointed so far,"

For once, Aerys was silent at her words. So silent, for so long, that Tya raised her eyes from the parchment to see him looking at her in a very odd unblinking way.

"I'd rather give the position to you than anyone else," The king said remarkably honestly in response to her questioning eyebrow.

Tya stared. She hadn't been seriously suggesting he make her Hand, only stating the truth that she'd do a better job than all the recent ones. Although if this was the direction things were headed... No, that was impossible, a female Hand would have the kingdoms in an uproar, and Aerys was just as likely joking as not.

"You're not serious," She said flatly, but Aerys was shaking his head, that same fire present in his eyes as it always was when he believed he had come across a genius idea, like when he had wished to extend his kingdom by invading the Stepstones.

"No, no, think about it Tya," He was positively beaming. "I've known you for years, enough to know that you're firmly on my side," When did you get that impression? She was a Lannister and always would be, but no need to disillusion him now or she really would be a fool. "You're one of the most intelligent people I know, even though you're a woman," Now that was a backhanded compliment if ever she heard one. "That move at Castamere was simply inspired. Truly, even the most ruthless generals would struggle to think of what you did," She did smile faintly at that. "And even though you're a woman you scare half the castle to death," More than half. "No one questions you - "

"They would question me being made Hand," She interrupted his monologue. "Just think for a moment, your Grace, of the uproar that would occur throughout the kingdoms at a woman being given the second-highest position in the land,"

A large part of her was tempted to just let him pin the badge on her there and then - the title of Tya Lannister, Hand of the King, was too tempting to turn away - but she was also wary of the potential humiliation of him bestowing the position on her without thinking, then being persuaded that it was a bad idea and taking it off her again within a week.

"You're not like most women," Aerys waved a hand carelessly, as though that settled that. "You're not emotional or gentle in any way, you're intimidating, level-headed, clever, and you clearly enjoy all this - this ruling business," Tya closed her eyes briefly at that. Only our esteemed king could describe governing the realm as 'this ruling business'. "Or you wouldn't be bothering with all that rubbish with your father and Casterly Rock,"

"Half the realm thinks I ordered my husband's death," She said neutrally, trying to see if he was truly serious about this. "I did order the deaths of two whole castles full of people. I am oddity enough at court being twenty years old and unmarried, never mind that I'm betrothed to Jason. Already there is foolish whispering that I'm your secret mistress - which isn't helped by you marching into my chambers uninvited every other day - let alone if you honoured me with the position of Hand,"

To that Aerys just laughed.

"If only," He said, laughing more at the unimpressed expression on her face. "If your only worry is a bunch of quarrelsome old lords and some gossiping ladies then you can have the pin right now. Maybe then in your gratitude you could hold back some of your disdain towards me,"

"Aerys," She used his name rather than his title to get him to listen. "You realise that if you make me Hand, it won't be some joke. I won't be a friend there to help you out at Small Council meetings and agree with every word out of your mouth. You'll have to listen to what I say, take me seriously and trust my judgement,"

"Of course," He said with such conviction that she almost believed him. "I can't imagine we will disagree. You enjoy all the dull work that I do my best to avoid,"

That was actually a good point. She could run the kingdoms whilst the king planned tourneys, eyed up young maidens and organised masked balls.

Tya was silent for a long moment.

"Very well," She said, though held up a hand before he could interrupt. "Although I want you to swear you will not strip me of this position on a whim, or I will return to Casterly Rock for good," He nodded. "And I tell you now, I will remove a finger from anyone saying I slept with the king to get the job," From anyone else that might have been a joke. She was perfectly serious.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Aerys grinned. "Lady Hand,"

Even Tya's lips twitched, soon relaxing into a proper smile, even allowing him to take her hand and kiss it to seal the deal. Hand of the King. This was more than even she ever expected.

It secured the future for her and Jason; both of them were heir to nothing, and though she would always have a place at Casterly Rock, the idea of leeching off her brother's generosity was repulsive. She had planned to persuade Aerys to give Jason a position on the Small Council when one opened up - the Master of Laws was so elderly she was surprised he could find his way to the council chambers, and would no doubt be dead soon - but this... this was so much better.

The first time she sat on the Iron Throne, Tya felt at home. Her arms easily found places to rest amongst the sharp blades; better than Aerys, who cut himself at least once a week on the chair. Her back was straight and proud and her eyes slowly surveyed the people below her, so far below. The only woman to sit here aside from Rhaenyra Targaryen, her voice carried across the hall, more of a queen than that ill-fated woman would ever be even without a crown and title.

There had been outrage at the king making a woman his Hand, of course, especially one as young as her. But rather surprisingly Aerys had stuck to his decision firmly, not letting anyone sway him no matter how they bribed, implored or flattered; no raging, for anyone who dared raise their voice to the king would immediately convince him of the opposite.

For Tya, it had been a matter of waiting to prove herself, and she had not been waiting long. Within six months of becoming Hand she had demonstrated that she was ruthless, capable, shrewd and a brilliant administrator. The benefits to the realm were already showing.

After writing to Kevan, she had covered the crown's debts to the Iron Bank with gold from Casterly Rock, which would, of course, be paid back but gave them more time and freedom to do so; and most importantly, the royal treasury was indebted to her own family. She had won the favour and loyalty of many lords by repealing many of King Aegon's idealistic reforms that favoured the smallfolk. She had done wonders to support trade already, so the merchants rejoiced under her administration.

By far the thing she was best at was the raising of coin, however. The crown's debts to House Lannister would be paid off far quicker than expected given her talent at it, much to Aerys' delight.

"I've heard people saying you must shit gold," He crowed, both pleased and amused.

Tya was not.

"Yes, because how else would a woman do so much of a better job than decades of men before her?" She said dryly.

"I don't know how you do it, but keep doing it," The king said, pleased. "I knew making you Hand was a good idea. I bet all those men asking me how you persuaded me to give you the job are regretting it now,"

It was like she hadn't been the one to suggest it, albeit not seriously.

"Lots of them are missing a finger - I wouldn't be surprised,"

True to her word, Tya had removed a finger from anyone heard to be claiming that she fucked the king to become Hand. It had been a popular jest in the first few days after her appointment but had become significantly less so very quickly. Both men and women said such things of her, but the men said it louder, and seemed the most surprised that she actually stayed true to her warning and enacted the promised punishment.

She had recruited and organised her own personal guard who undertook this duty (amongst others). They mainly consisted of men who had already been in the service of House Lannister, but they now answered only to her and contained a higher calibre of fighters than the average household guard.

"Why do you need guards of your own?" Aerys asked her. "It seems a bit paranoid. Just have Lannister men around you,"

"You should know by now that I don't care how things seem," She replied. "You were singing my praises a moment ago - let me work as I please,"

Though disgruntled, the king listened to her and did not mention the matter again. Aside from instances like that, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that Aerys did not interfere with her work much, mostly because he didn't understand a lot of it. He was an active king, attending most small council meetings and doing his best to follow what was happening, often making outlandish suggestions that had to be gently shut down, but most of the actual ruling fell to his advisors.

As she had hoped, he mainly stuck to organising feasts and tourneys, commissioning paintings and supporting plays and musicians. Visitors to court were greeted by the charismatic, generous king, the gracious and gentle queen, and on Aerys' other side the stern, hard-eyed Hand.

And for now, the realm prospered.

*

I hope the scenario of Tya becoming Hand makes sense, obviously there would be outrage at a female Hand (which I've alluded to here but didn't go over in detail) but Aerys is so proud I think if anyone questioned his decision he would deliberately ignore them.

Anyway what did you think of this chapter? Please leave some feedback, and thanks for reading!