Livia had decided to drop by the small hospital and was overjoyed to see it thriving.

It had only been a week's time yet with the small help she provided, many of the soldiers were on their way to recovery.

With the improved conditions, the soldiers' families could already visit and see the improvement their fathers, brothers, husbands, sons have made.

As she smiled at the people present and accepted thanks from everyone, she felt a tugging at her skirt. Looking down, she saw a little girl looking up at her with a smile.

The girl had her hair tied into two braids, and was quite young. Perhaps that was why the guards failed to stop her from getting near. With the number of people coming to see her, the guards were more nervous than usual.

"Queen Livia?" The girl asked with a small voice.

"Yes?" Livia said, crouching down to speak to the girl with a smile on her face. "What is your name?"

"My name is Aldith, my queen. I just want to thank you for taking care of my papa." The little girl said, pointing to the soldier that Livia helped Jeyne with by feeding him the milk of the poppy.

If her small acts had been helping little girls like Aldith then it was more than worth it. "Do you see that woman over there? Her name is miss Jeyne, she has been the one doing things. I have only been helping."

"Still, if you hadn't helped, Papa said he would have died. He told me I should do something for you so I made you this." Aldith said, pulling out a white cloth embroidered with gold thread forming what looked like a stag and a lion.

Livia took it from the little girl, letting out a small laugh of delight. "Such talent! You are very good at this, Aldith. Thank you!"

Aldith smiled cheerfully at being complimented. "Thank you for being a good queen. The people are saying that it's been a long time since we have had one."

Livia's heart warmed at that. With her and Robert's hands on the kingdom's reigns, it was only right that they govern the kingdom properly.

With another smile at the girl, Livia stood as Aldith ran back to her father, clearly uplifted at having been able to speak to the queen.

Livia looked down at the small piece of cloth. It was so simple, so pure. Anyone could have made one but it was made for her by one of her subjects, one of the people she had left.

Perhaps it was a sign that what she'd been doing is beginning to make amends for everything. 

Different lands have already dissolved their unease, their leaders settled thanks to Robert, completely calm at the thought of having a king and queen.

Perhaps she and Robert were already helping much by ruling. They were already helping the people. Aldith and the people of the kingdom were proof of that.

Livia and Robert Baratheon.

The lioness and the stag.

United and strong.

But trust, trust is something the two of them are still lacking, despite thinking they have it. As Livia will soon learn.

°•°•°•°•°•°

"My queen, please pardon my interruption."

Livia looked up from the correspondents on her desk. She had been working on aiding different parts of the realm with supplies they might need as she helped different structures in King's Landing.

Orphanages, hospitals, inns, taverns. All that had been ravaged by the battles.

Robert had been busy with his own problems. Apparently, some in the realm are still in a state of unrest and it was the king who saw to that, as he told her.

He said that he didn't want her worrying any more than she should. She let him focus on that as she focused on her own things.

Livia would hate to be a burden, especially to Robert and besides, she had been doing these kinds of things ever since she was a girl.

Still, some small part of her wishes to take on the same responsibilities as him, to be his equal. But it seems there was no chance for that.

Unless he truly began to care for her and actually trusted her.

"Yes? What is it?" Livia asked, seeing a soldier in gold and red. A Lannister soldier, definitely not one of her usual guards.

The soldier bowed once. "Your Grace, I am to accompany you to meet your father, Lord Tywin Lannister."

Livia put down the correspondent she was holding. "My father?"

"Yes, Your Grace." The soldier answered.

Cersei certainly hadn't wasted any time in telling their father. Maybe that was the reason why she was still in King's Landing. Not just to get a suitable match but as a spy for their father.

It was a smart move on their father's part. Cersei was more cunning than ever but Livia couldn't help but be angry at her sister.

Weren't siblings suppose to help each other when it comes to difficult parents?

Swallowing the bitterness she felt towards Cersei, Livia stood up. It wasn't like she had any choice. Even as a grown woman, her father still scared her. "Very well. Lead the way."

The soldier led the way through the many hallways and rooms with Livia and her guards in tow until they finally arrived at the room her father had stayed in the last time he had been in King's Landing.

It was a wonder why her father did not announce his arrival but knowing him, this probably meant that he had wanted to be discreet in their meeting. He might even leave before the day ends.

Livia was about to enter the room when the soldier who led her there spoke, his eyes glazing over. "Your Grace, I wish to thank you for what you did for the soldiers in the capital. My younger brother is alive because of what you did."

The young queen smiled at the soldier and upon closer look, she saw how stricken with war the man had been as she smiled, warmly. "I'm sure there's still plenty of time before my father has to leave for Casterly Rock. Make sure to make time to see your brother, Ser..."

"Fendrel, Your Grace. Just Fendrel." The soldier returned her smile, before bowing once more. "Thank you, my queen. I am in your debt."

Taking a deep breath, Livia knocked once before entering the room, her head held high as she remembered the last conversation they had exchanged.

The day that her father left King's Landing."Do your duty, provide him with an heir, perhaps then he would give you the respect you want."

Lord Tywin looked up from his own desk, seeing his daughter before commanding. "Sit."

He still hadn't changed. Ever since she was still a child, her father's greetings were still the same cold, stoic greeting.

"Father." Livia greeted as she sat down, plastering a smile on her face. "What brings you to King's Landing?"

Her father leveled her with a long hard look, searing her with his gaze. "This isn't a social call."

"I know it isn't." She answered, crossing her arms in front of her.

"From what I have heard, you have already gotten close to your husband and yet your sister tells me that you refuse to have his heir." He glared as if she was one of his vassal lords.

She frowned at him. "I am not refusing to have his heir. I only mean to...let nature take its course."

Gods, it was difficult to talk of pregnancy with her father. It was almost as if he was asking her how much she laid with Robert. To be fair, no daughter would like to have that conversation with her father.

"If nature took its course, we'd all be frozen from the cold or drowning in the ocean." Her father answered. "Your only job is to bear the realm's next king and you cannot even do so."

Livia tried not to let it seem that his words had affected her despite the pain his words granted. "It's not that I cannot. We do wish to have children of our own. Robert and I, he says he can wait. There is still plenty of time."

"Plenty of time? Is that what he says to distract you? Does that blind you from all his drinking, all his whoring?" Lord Tywin asks, eyes glinting dangerously.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "He is not like that. You judge him so harshly. The rumors target him so harshly."

"And do you think wrong of me for judging the new king, your husband, on rumors of the people of the court?" Her father asked, sitting up straighter.

"Yes. After all, they judge Jaime the same way yet he saved them from death." Livia retorted.

With that, she was sure that her father would have struck her off the face of the earth. No one would have dared correct the great Tywin Lannister. But he surprised her by putting on a calm and stoic face.

"Do you think that he loves you?" He asked, his face blank, almost calculating.

Livia blinked, surprised. Of all the things her father could have asked, he asked her that? She wishes to say yes, to say that he loved her but even she does not know if he does. 

She did not even know if what she felt for him could be seen as love. 

"He cares for me. I know he does." She breathed out, before meeting her father's eyes. "Would that be so hard to believe?"

"No. I suppose not." He answered, looking down at the rest of the letters, and placing pen on paper.

With the silence, Livia took it as her dismissal, standing from her seat. "I believe we are finished. I still have much work to do. Goodbye father. Have a safe trip to Casterly Rock."

However, before she could leave, mere steps from the door, Lord Tywin spoke. "I loved your lady mother. You do know that?"

"I do." She paused by the door, hand hovering over the knob before she made up her mind, turning around to face her father. If her father loved anyone in this world, it would be her late mother.

"I told her about everything. About every letter, every correspondent, every scandal, every secret." He said, before a bitter smile decorated his lips. "I suppose your husband told you about the uprising."

Livia's eyes widened and at her reaction, Lord Tywin's smile widened. "What uprising?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you? It must mean that he does not care for you as much as you think if he didn't tell you how dire in need of stability the realm needs. How much it needs an heir." He said, still feigning indifference, before asking and making her sound like such a fool. "Why do you think I am here in the first place?"

"What uprising?" She emphasized her words, dragging each word.

"The uprising in Dorne, of course, led by your dear friend, Oberyn Martell. You didn't know?"

As her father's lips morphed into a smirk, Livia swore she felt her heart drop to her stomach.

Oberyn was leading an uprising.

She had not known about it. 

Yet Robert knew all along.

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