A Little Lion

                                    

                                          
Tyrion Lannister
                          
Absent-mindedly and whistling softly he came into Casterly Rock's quiet and deserted library. As he expected, the only one who was there  was the septon in charge of it, and he was grateful for it. It wasn't  that he disliked to have company, but most people either regarded him as  a baby or shied away from him because of the way he looked, and that  annoyed him. Besides, reading was always a more pleasant activity when  he was alone and in a quiet place, as he was then.
                          
Tyrion walked  to the bookshelves to look for something interesting to read. He chose  an old and dusty volume with hard red covers, which was about a topic  that had interested him since he was a little child: dragons. He could  still remember perfectly the disappointment he had felt when his uncles  had told him that those fascinating creatures were extinct. Tyrion had  been sure that Tygett and Gerion, who were some of the few who were fond  of Tyrion, would give him that gift he wanted so much. They were  Lannisters of Casterly Rock, like him, and they had enough gold to buy  anything. Except dragons, it would seem.
                          
Back to the present,  Tyrion sat on an armchair and opened his book. It had information about  all the dragons of the Targaryens. He found the usual data, which he  already knew, about their sizes, colors, riders, feeding and more. But  aside from that, Tyrion came across some new information about the  saddles the Targaryens used for riding dragons. They held the riders  with straps, so that there was no danger of them falling off during  their flights. A fall from a dragon would most certainly be fatal, and  dragons could turn violently or plummet down, jeopardizing their riders'  lives. That was why the Targaryens had commanded the production of the  special saddles whose plans Tyrion studied with fascination.
                          
Looking  at their pictures, Tyrion suddenly had an idea: if there could be some  special saddles to ride dragons, surely one designed for a dwarf could  also exist. He could only ride ponies, and he found it degrading,  because nobody took him seriously. To ride an actual hose he would need  some sort of special saddle. But dwarves didn't interest people as much  as dragons did, and there weren't many of them who wished to ride.  Nobody was likely to make a saddle seat especially for him. However,  Tyrion could very well design his own.
                          
Thus he asked the septon  some parchment and ink, and he set to work on his new project. He was so  immersed in the task that he did not notice the time that went by as he  drew his saddle, which slowly started to take shape. He pictured  himself sitting on a tall and strong horse, as the ones Jaime rode in  his tourneys. He was not so naive to believe he could enter the lists,  but that didn't matter to him.
                          
His work and daydreams were  suddenly interrupted by the maester, whose footsteps Tyrion hadn't  heard. "Lord Tyrion, your lord father sent me to give you some news."
                          
"What is it?" Tyrion asked, with little interest.
                          
"There  came a raven from King's Landing. The Royal Family will soon come to  visit Casterly Rock. Queen Cersei wishes to introduce Prince Joffrey to  her father."
                          
"Will Jaime come too, maester?" Tyrion asked then.  Cersei had always made clear that she would have preferred her little  brother not to exist, but Jaime, on the other hand, had always been a  good older brother, and he was the only person Tyrion missed and wished  to see.
                          
"Yes, my lord, Ser Jaime will come with the Royal Family  as a member of the Kingsguard. Besides, Lord Tywin will send ravens to  his siblings, inviting Ser Kevan, Gerion, Genna and their  families. So, all the Lannisters of Casterly Rock will be here soon."
                          
The  news delighted him: he was going to see Jaime and his uncles again.  They were the only people who loved him and were kind to him, and it had  been a long time since he had last seen them. The last 2 years he had  been living only with his father, who rarely spoke to him, and the few  times he did, Tyrion was grateful for the infrequency of their  conversations.