Arrival

After six more days of travel for Lucas and his entourage, the walls of King's Landing finally came into sight. A couple of riders had already sped ahead to inform the city of his arrival.

King's Landing was exactly as Lucas had heard and expected it to be. Overcrowded, dirty, and stinking.

It was a place where vast wealth and extreme poverty existed side by side. You could find some of the richest people in Westeros here, alongside those who could barely scrape together enough to eat. The city's population was slightly more than half a million, and it was, by any reasonable measure, a shithole. Crime was rampant and was readily ignored by Lannister stuffed City's Watch. Despite being the capital of the entire Westeros and the seat of the king, King's Landing was probably the worst city to live among all the major cities of Westeros.

Lucas' arrival was most likely to bring some much-needed reform to the city if his negotiations with the king, or more accurately with his Hand, were successful.

It took Lucas only a few minutes after entering the city to reach the gates of the Red Keep. There, quite an influential delegation was waiting to welcome him.

Jon Arryn, the hand of the king and Warden of the East. Grand Maester Pycelle. Master of Whisperers and one of the most mysterious men of the entire Game of Thrones Lore, Varys. And Jamie Lannister, one of the Kingsguard and his cousin.

"We finally get the chance to meet the rising star of Westeros," Jon Arryn said as he stepped forward. "Welcome to King's Landing, Ser Lucas Lannister."

"Lord Hand," Lucas replied, "it is a pleasure to meet a man of your calibre."

He then turned to face the Grand Maester. Any other Maester might have been hostile to him, but not Pycelle. His loyalties lay more with Tywin Lannister than with the Citadel.

"Grand Maester," Lucas greeted the old man.

"Ser Lucas," Pycelle beamed. "Welcome… welcome."

"Lord Varys," Lucas greeted the bald eunuch.

"Ser Lucas," the Master of Whisperers said with his usual unreadable expression. "I must admire that you have done your homework well. You recognize all of us even though you have not seen us before."

Lucas let out a small laugh. "Recognizing all of you was not really that difficult. You are quite famous personalities in Westeros, after all."

Varys gave a final nod to Lucas, after which Lucas moved toward Jaime.

"Cousin," he smirked.

"Lucas," Jaime greeted him with a wide grin. "We are meeting after years."

"Yes," Lucas nodded, then turned his attention back to Jon Arryn.

"Ser Lucas," Jon Arryn said respectfully, "all the arrangements for your accommodations have already been made."

"You must be tired after such a long journey. Please rest and recover today. The king has organized a breakfast for tomorrow morning."

It was a messaging that the meeting with the king and all kind of negotiations thereafter will be happening tomorrow.

As if on cue, a group of servants emerged from the sidelines, ready to guide Lucas and his men to their accommodations.

Lucas gave one final nod to the assembled group and then followed after a pair of servants.

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The next morning, Lucas woke up early. A small section of the Red Keep had been allocated for Lucas and his group, and they had settled in quite well.

Tillie, who had mingled with the servants assigned to them, had already prepared a bath for him. Lucas refreshed himself and enjoyed his first bath in Kings' Landing.

Used to the almost modern plumbing amenities of the Casterly Rock, Lucas was not very pleased with the facilities of the King's Landing. And the constant stinking smell of the sewage and waste waffing in through the windows almost irritated him.

After getting dressed, Lucas, followed by Gary, departed for the scheduled breakfast with the king.

"Young Master," Gary said as he walked behind Lucas, "we might encounter some additional guests during the breakfast."

"Additional guests, you say?" Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Gary replied. "Lady Olenna Tyrell, Lady Margaery Tyrell, and Loras Tyrell arrived in King's Landing a day before we did."

"Lord Renly Baratheon has taken Loras Tyrell as his squire, and his grandmother and sister accompanied him partly to see King's Landing, but more importantly to pay a courtesy visit to the king," Gary added.

"By the time I learned this information yesterday, you were already asleep, so I did not disturb you."

Lucas nodded. Though he kept walking, his mind was now turning over thoughts of the Queen of Thorns and the Queen of Roses. He knew that, like the majority of people, Gary had likely misunderstood their presence. The courtesy call on the king was, in all probability, just a façade.

Lucas knew Olenna's schemes ran deep, and the sudden arrival of the grandmother-granddaughter pair in King's Landing was no simple matter. The only thing that could have drawn them here was, quite simply, himself.

And now he was quite interested in what they were planning which he already had a rough idea of.

Although Olenna was a sharp woman, the only strategy the Tyrells had adopted in the canon was to wed Margaery to whoever had the best prospects of becoming king. Renly Baratheon, then Joffrey, and finally Tommen.

And though Lucas knew he was an important player in the Game of Thrones, he was not really in the race for the throne at least, not in any way visible to the world.

Thus, Olenna's interest in him was truly curious. He was eager to see what approach the grandmother and granddaughter pair would take in reaching out to him.

As Lucas walked through the corridors of the Red Keep, soldiers greeted him with deep bows and clear reverence.

And why not? Most of them were Lannister soldiers who had, in one way or another, benefited from Lucas' innovations and changes brought about by him around the Lannisport area.

After walking for a few minutes, Lucas finally arrived at the hall where breakfast was to be served. By the time he reached it, many people were already there and quite a few interesting faces as well.

It was going to be a fun day, Lucas thought as he strode into the hall.

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