So did Pycelle actually give moon tea to Margaery or not?

[Scipio Africanus]

Even if Margaery doesn't know how much of a Lannister creature Pycelle is, why ask him and not Maester Ballabar, the Maester brought from the Reach the Tyrells trust?

I never gave it much thought but yeah, why did Marge go to Pycelle at all, especially for something so sensitive?

I still think Pycelle was telling the truth though but now I'm unsure as to why Marge would do something so callous.

[Ygrain]

I never gave it much thought but yeah, why did Marge go to Pycelle at all, especially for something so sensitive?

I still think Pycelle was telling the truth though but now I'm unsure as to why Marge would do something so callous.

My favourite crackpot is that Pycelle was blackmailed into making up the story to drive wedge between Tyrells and Lannisters, and killed so that he wouldn't rat it out when pressed.

[Cersei of the Kingsguard]

i dont think Tyrells are poor maybe marge overpayed what cersei was paying Pycelle ....

and now he wispers to her what marge wants her to hear .

edit : after tywins death pycelle could think its a good bet

many people consider cersei stupid ... LF and tyrion

(i know pycelle doesnt belong in their league but he must be smarter then cersei)

[Sullen]

I don't believe Margaery is a virgin and she may have had a couple of affairs, but I don't think the Moon Tea was to be used as a contraceptive. Pycelle did what was best for the realm. He is increasingly worried about Cersei's rule and I don't think he wants the Lannister/Tyrell partnership to fall.

:agree:

I also believe Pycelle was telling the truth.

He wouldn't have been so reluctant to tell Cersei if he wasn't telling the truth.

[Sullen]

edit : after tywins death pycelle could think its a good bet

many people consider cersei stupid ... LF and tyrion

(i know pycelle doesnt belong in their league but he must be smarter then cersei)

Pycelle is at the top of the Westerosi intellectual elite, he is no idiot.

[FittleLinger]

Did Olenna know of Marge's escapades? Maybe Marg was most afraid of Olenna finding out, as it would probably ruin the whole rise to power plan, and that's why she didn't ask the Tyrell meister and asked for the tea herself, instead of trusting anyone of her circle?

If what I just typed is not the case, then I don't believe that Marg asked Pycelle at all. I like Ygrain's idea of Pycelle being blackmailed and then killed (he was obviously killed but this might be the reason).

[Lord_Tyrell]

It's been awhile but I'm pretty sure that was a Cersei concocted story, where she just kept asking until he got the hint and lied.

Agreed. Even if Margeary had been drinking Moon Tea, she would have gone to her own Maester instead. Pretty much everyone has figured out that Pycelle is a mole for the Lannisters.

[the trees have eyes]

Agreed. Even if Margeary had been drinking Moon Tea, she would have gone to her own Maester instead. Pretty much everyone has figured out that Pycelle is a mole for the Lannisters.

Does she have her own master though? Is Ballabar a Tyrell master, i.e. Mace's. It seems unlikely that she would trust Pycelle but perhaps she felt it easier to approach a man who in a few years will want depend on her favour and may wish to court it now than to risk her father finding out and restricting her actions. She may have considered Pycelle more likely to be discrete than a close companion of her father's.

[Ser Luke.]

Pycelle seemed genuinely reluctant to say, so I assume he spoke the truth: He visited Marge about moon tea. He was also cut off before he could finish his sentence, what the moon tea was for. Or who it was for. I'm pretty sure it wasn't to keep Marge's belly flat. Might well have been for one of her girls.

I agree with all this.

[mrunderhill]

Further proof that Pycelle seems to be telling the truth is that he has apparently been visiting Margaery quite often according to Taena. So Taena maybe lying, but it is further evidence.

[tze]

We might never know for sure now that Pycelle is dead, but personally I lean towards the "moon tea" story being a complete fabrication. There's really no logical reason whatsoever for Margaery to go to Pycelle for moon tea (for the reasons others have already pointed out), even if it was on behalf of one of her retinue rather than for herself---she has to know the danger if even a hint of her being "unfaithful" to Tommen should get out. Even Ned figured out relatively quickly that Pycelle was a Lannister toady, and I sincerely doubt Marg hasn't figured out the same. Tyrion sent Pycelle to the black cells, but Tywin later released and reinstated him---as both Tywin and Cersei clearly hate(d) Tyrion, this isn't going to look to House Tyrell like "Pycelle has had a falling-out with House Lannister", but rather "Pycelle hates Tyrion alone, but is clearly still siding with the other Lannisters".

If Pycelle was spending time with Margaery, it's possible he was at least considering throwing over House Lannister once Tywin was dead and Cersei was in charge (though his allegiances were clearly 100% back to the Lannisters once Kevan took over for Cersei). It's made abundantly clear that Pycelle thought poorly of Cersei's rulership decisions once she was ruling on her own: he speaks out against Cersei's decision to re-arm the Faith, against the choice of captains for the new dromonds, against Qyburn's presence on the Small Council, etc. I doubt Pycelle enjoyed being castigated by Cersei because of what happened to Tywin's body, and she's called him a "witless cretin" to his face, for goodness's sake. When Cersei is imprisoned, Pycelle immediately seeks to have Kevan take over the regency, so clearly Pycelle wasn't willing to stick with Cersei for the duration. Spending time with Cersei's political enemy could have been Pycelle hedging his bets, perhaps even testing the waters for some anti-Cersei plots, and when "caught", Pycelle chose the clearest way to throw Marg under the bus so that she'd have no credibility should she try to implicate him in any anti-Cersei plot she might have had going on (via poisoning, perhaps? Pycelle is certainly well-equipped there).

That said, it's worth pointing out that it's not necessarily true that Pycelle even was spending time with Margaery in the first place. The person who tells Cersei this is Taena, who's not exactly a reputable source (since she's clearly manipulating Cersei). Qyburn, Cersei's Master of Whispers, never once mentions Pycelle visiting Margaery (and since Pycelle is Qyburn's clear enemy, that particular oversight seems kind of noteworthy, had such meetings actually been taking place). Of course Pycelle later "admits" to the visits, but I don't think we can necessarily assume he was any more truthful there than he was elsewhere. Pycelle's "reluctance" to speak about the moon tea isn't necessarily a symptom of truthfulness---I think this whole conversation can very easily be read as Pycelle simply having a great deal of difficulty figuring out what Cersei wanted him to say in the first place, and when he did finally figure it out, wanting subtle reassurances that saying what Cersei wanted him to say wouldn't come back to bite him.

I think the context of Pycelle's "admissions" is pretty key, because this entire scene (especially the beginning) had to have really thrown Pycelle for a loop: Cersei starts out berating him for something he logically couldn't have changed (the death of Gyles Rosby, an old and extremely sick man whom everyone had long assumed was a dead man walking), and then segueways into castigating him for actions---letting Jon Arryn die, counseling Aerys to open the gates of King's Landing to Tywin---that Pycelle clearly did on behalf of House Lannister. She also starts screaming about how Pycelle let her "own beloved husband" Robert die, and how Pycelle "would" have let Ned die if given a chance . . . from Pycelle's perspective, this entire diatribe had to come across like the rantings of a crazy person.

It's only after this litany of bizarre complaints and accusations that Cersei "makes her charge" about Pycelle spending time with Margaery. This is what Pycelle says in response:

[Cersei's] lips tightened. “You have been much in Lady Margaery’s company of late.”

“Yes. Yes, I... Queen Margaery has been most distraught about Ser Loras. I provide Her Grace with sleeping draughts and... other sorts of potions.”

At first I assumed Pycelle mentioned "other sorts of potions" as an oblique reference to the moon tea . . . but it's kind of bizarre that Pycelle would reference the moon tea at all, even subtly, but then have to be dragged kicking and screaming into actually stating what "potions" he later means. If he isn't intending on specifying, why mention "other potions" in the first place? And it's very, very interesting that Pycelle's story here is that he was providing Margaery with "sleeping draughts" when, in Cersei's own previous chapter, Cersei herself asked for Pycelle for that exact same thing, and his immediate response was to suggest she drink some wine before bed! What are the chances that Cersei has to bully Pycelle into giving her a sleeping draught, but that GRRM would have Pycelle tell her in the very next Cersei POV chapter that Marg coincidentally needed Pycelle to give her "sleeping draughts" as well? I mean, it's technically possible that Marg went to Pycelle for sleeping draughts (even though she has her own maester, and even though Pycelle's prescription for that exact same ailment was "wine" for Cersei, so why not just advise wine for Margaery?) and that Pycelle was a dumbass who wanted to add in an oblique reference to the moon tea while never expecting to actually have to speak plainly about it . . . but that strikes me as pretty bizarre, all things considered.

I think it's possible that what's actually happening here is this: Pycelle is scrambling to think up a story that will go along with what Cersei seems to want him to say, but has no idea at this point what Cersei actually wants him to say, and is afraid to flat-out deny the "spending time with Margaery" accusation because 1) Cersei sounds like she's off her meds here, and arguing with a powerful crazy person isn't a good idea (something Pycelle, who served the Mad King, would know better than most), and 2) Taena Merryweather is standing right there, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Taena, a lady of the Reach and a once-companion of Margaery's, is playing a role in Cersei's accusations here (and obviously Cersei's going to believe her BFF Taena over Pycelle). It's pretty clear by this point that this isn't a fact-finding interview, it's a fact-creating interview, but Pycelle is having an awful lot of trouble sussing out what Cersei wants him to tell her (clearly it isn't the truth, given the overall context, but Cersei takes so long getting to the point that Pycelle is kind of lost for most of the diatribe). So Pycelle "admits" that he's been spending time with Margaery because it sounds like Cersei very much expects him to agree to that "charge", but the only accompanying story he can think of on the spur of the moment (that makes him look innocent of any wrongdoing) is just a rehash of his last meeting with Cersei herself: that's why his story has Marg wanting sleeping draughts, just like Cersei did. If that's true, the "other sorts of potions" wasn't a reference to the moon tea at all---it was Pycelle's version of "et cetera, et cetera", basically him trying to invent a plausible story on the fly but being unable to think of some good accompanying details.

Cersei accuses Pycelle of letting Joffrey die of poison, then of poisoning Gyles on Marg's behalf, and Pycelle's reaction is pretty interesting:

“No doubt. Tell me, was it our little queen who commanded you to kill Lord Gyles?”

“K-kill?” Grand Maester Pycelle’s eyes grew as big as boiled eggs. “Your Grace cannot believe... it was his cough, by all the gods, I... Her Grace would not... she bore Lord Gyles no ill will, why would Queen Margaery want him...”

Pycelle's response to an accusation of him poisoning an old man on behalf of a queen is "Margaery would never want Lord Gyles dead", not "I would never kill Gyles on behalf of Queen Margaery." The context is interesting, because it definitely seems to reference the poisoning of Jon Arryn, which Pycelle believes was done by Cersei, and which Cersei probably thinks was done by Pycelle. In either case, Cersei's seemingly referencing something that reads as "Pycelle helping take out the person threatening House Lannister" in both her and Pycelle's minds. And after that, Cersei segueways into this:

You began to dance attendance on Maid Margaery before Ser Loras went to Dragonstone, so spare me further fables about how you want only to console our good-daughter in her grief. What brings you to the Maidenvault so often? Not Margaery’s vapid conversation, surely? Are you courting that pox-faced septa of hers? Diddling little Lady Bulwer? Do you play the spy for her, informing on me to serve her plots?”

It's only after this that Pycelle seems to suss out exactly what Cersei really wants him to say, which makes sense, because Cersei makes sure to give him all of the necessary trigger words---"Maid" Margaery (not "Lady" or "Queen", but "Maid"), located specifically in the "Maidenvault" (where, hey, at least one Targ princess was infamously screwing around on a husband she'd never actually had sex with), questions about Pycelle "courting" a septa or "diddling" an 8-year-old (i.e., having sex with two women who aren't supposed to be having sex), informing on one queen to serve the plots of another queen. Pycelle's immediate response to this kind of "leading" is this:

“I... I obey. A maester takes an oath of service...”

“A grand maester swears to serve the realm.”

“Your Grace, she... she is the queen...”

“I am the queen.”

“I meant... she is the king’s wife, and...”

“I know who she is. What I want to know is why she has need of you. Is my good-daughter unwell?”

“Unwell?” The old man plucked at the thing he called a beard, that patched growth of thin white hair sprouting from the loose pink wattles under his chin. “N-not unwell, Your Grace, not as such. My oaths forbid me to divulge...”

Pycelle appears to have finally picked up on what Cersei wants him to say ("I . . . I obey", and we know that Pycelle plucks at his beard when he believes he knows the answer to a particular problem), but before he'll come out and say what Cersei wants him to say, he wants to make sure he's in the clear---I'm pretty sure it's treason to help the Queen "cover up evidence" of her own treason, and Pycelle doesn't want to be thrown to the wolves. This is why he emphasizes his oaths, and how serving Queen Margaery can be read as him keeping those oaths---he wants to make sure he can hide behind the oaths of his position to shield himself from a treason charge. It's only after Cersei threatens him with the black cells, and specifically after Pycelle points out to Cersei the loyal service he's done for her in the past (so that, in his mind, Cersei has to recognize how much she owes him), that Pycelle is willing to "admit" to the moon tea:

Pycelle collapsed to his knees. “I beg you... I was your lord father’s man, and a friend to you in the matter of Lord Arryn. I could not survive the dungeons, not again...”

“Why does Margaery send for you?”

“She desires... she... she...”

“Say it!”

He cringed. “Moon tea,” he whispered. “Moon tea, for...”

The "dungeons" reference is interesting because readers know why Pycelle ended up there the first time around: he was informing on Tyrion to Cersei herself. It's not necessarily clear that he's genuinely afraid of being sent to the dungeons here---he might actually be reading Cersei's "dungeons" threat as a reference to Pycelle's loyalty to Cersei back in ACOK, as an assurance that she remembers what he's done to benefit her in the past and therefore that he can say what she wants him to say without fear of being charged with treason for "helping" Marg do what Cersei wants Pycelle to tell her Marg did. (Whether Cersei actually means it that way is another issue entirely, of course.) But even if he thinks it's a genuine threat, the point isn't that Pycelle is finally telling the truth, the point is that he's decided it's better for him to lie and make enemies of House Tyrell rather than tell the truth (there was no moon tea) and get thrown back into the Black Cells.

But essentially, I think Pycelle's "reluctance" in telling Cersei about the moon tea reads less as "he doesn't want to speak the horrible truth" and more as "he takes a while to figure out what horrible lie Cersei wants him to say in the first place". At the beginning of her rant, Cersei was making accusations that made no sense at all to someone with Pycelle's knowledge base, so Pycelle had to have been terribly confused and thrown off-balance. Cersei took a while to "get to the point", which is why Pycelle didn't mention the moon tea story earlier---he didn't immediately realize that was what Cersei wanted him to say. And though Cersei doesn't flat-out ask about Moon Tea, she makes sure to pepper her accusations with enough "clues" to allow Pycelle to pick up on the fact that she's planning on taking Marg down for sexual misconduct.

[The Mother of The Others]

Tze said: We might never know for sure now that Pycelle is dead, but personally I lean towards the "moon tea" story being a complete fabrication.

I hope you're right. My wish for Margeary is for her to remain truly impenetrable down there, the stuff of legend. I want her to run the table and be vaginally undefeated at series' end. She was pitching a no-hitter until this moon tea business came up. Hopefully, it was misinformation meant to draw Cersei into a trap. Which would restore Marge's record to a perfect 4-0.

[mrunderhill]

We might never know for sure now that Pycelle is dead, but personally I lean towards the "moon tea" story being a complete fabrication. There's really no logical reason whatsoever for Margaery to go to Pycelle for moon tea (for the reasons others have already pointed out), even if it was on behalf of one of her retinue rather than for herself---she has to know the danger if even a hint of her being "unfaithful" to Tommen should get out. Even Ned figured out relatively quickly that Pycelle was a Lannister toady, and I sincerely doubt Marg hasn't figured out the same. Tyrion sent Pycelle to the black cells, but Tywin later released and reinstated him---as both Tywin and Cersei clearly hate(d) Tyrion, this isn't going to look to House Tyrell like "Pycelle has had a falling-out with House Lannister", but rather "Pycelle hates Tyrion alone, but is clearly still siding with the other Lannisters".

If Pycelle was spending time with Margaery, it's possible he was at least considering throwing over House Lannister once Tywin was dead and Cersei was in charge (though his allegiances were clearly 100% back to the Lannisters once Kevan took over for Cersei). It's made abundantly clear that Pycelle thought poorly of Cersei's rulership decisions once she was ruling on her own: he speaks out against Cersei's decision to re-arm the Faith, against the choice of captains for the new dromonds, against Qyburn's presence on the Small Council, etc. I doubt Pycelle enjoyed being castigated by Cersei because of what happened to Tywin's body, and she's called him a "witless cretin" to his face, for goodness's sake. When Cersei is imprisoned, Pycelle immediately seeks to have Kevan take over the regency, so clearly Pycelle wasn't willing to stick with Cersei for the duration. Spending time with Cersei's political enemy could have been Pycelle hedging his bets, perhaps even testing the waters for some anti-Cersei plots, and when "caught", Pycelle chose the clearest way to throw Marg under the bus so that she'd have no credibility should she try to implicate him in any anti-Cersei plot she might have had going on (via poisoning, perhaps? Pycelle is certainly well-equipped there).

That said, it's worth pointing out that it's not necessarily true that Pycelle even was spending time with Margaery in the first place. The person who tells Cersei this is Taena, who's not exactly a reputable source (since she's clearly manipulating Cersei). Qyburn, Cersei's Master of Whispers, never once mentions Pycelle visiting Margaery (and since Pycelle is Qyburn's clear enemy, that particular oversight seems kind of noteworthy, had such meetings actually been taking place). Of course Pycelle later "admits" to the visits, but I don't think we can necessarily assume he was any more truthful there than he was elsewhere. Pycelle's "reluctance" to speak about the moon tea isn't necessarily a symptom of truthfulness---I think this whole conversation can very easily be read as Pycelle simply having a great deal of difficulty figuring out what Cersei wanted him to say in the first place, and when he did finally figure it out, wanting subtle reassurances that saying what Cersei wanted him to say wouldn't come back to bite him.

I think the context of Pycelle's "admissions" is pretty key, because this entire scene (especially the beginning) had to have really thrown Pycelle for a loop: Cersei starts out berating him for something he logically couldn't have changed (the death of Gyles Rosby, an old and extremely sick man whom everyone had long assumed was a dead man walking), and then segueways into castigating him for actions---letting Jon Arryn die, counseling Aerys to open the gates of King's Landing to Tywin---that Pycelle clearly did on behalf of House Lannister. She also starts screaming about how Pycelle let her "own beloved husband" Robert die, and how Pycelle "would" have let Ned die if given a chance . . . from Pycelle's perspective, this entire diatribe had to come across like the rantings of a crazy person.

It's only after this litany of bizarre complaints and accusations that Cersei "makes her charge" about Pycelle spending time with Margaery. This is what Pycelle says in response:

At first I assumed Pycelle mentioned "other sorts of potions" as an oblique reference to the moon tea . . . but it's kind of bizarre that Pycelle would reference the moon tea at all, even subtly, but then have to be dragged kicking and screaming into actually stating what "potions" he later means. If he isn't intending on specifying, why mention "other potions" in the first place? And it's very, very interesting that Pycelle's story here is that he was providing Margaery with "sleeping draughts" when, in Cersei's own previous chapter, Cersei herself asked for Pycelle for that exact same thing, and his immediate response was to suggest she drink some wine before bed! What are the chances that Cersei has to bully Pycelle into giving her a sleeping draught, but that GRRM would have Pycelle tell her in the very next Cersei POV chapter that Marg coincidentally needed Pycelle to give her "sleeping draughts" as well? I mean, it's technically possible that Marg went to Pycelle for sleeping draughts (even though she has her own maester, and even though Pycelle's prescription for that exact same ailment was "wine" for Cersei, so why not just advise wine for Margaery?) and that Pycelle was a dumbass who wanted to add in an oblique reference to the moon tea while never expecting to actually have to speak plainly about it . . . but that strikes me as pretty bizarre, all things considered.

I think it's possible that what's actually happening here is this: Pycelle is scrambling to think up a story that will go along with what Cersei seems to want him to say, but has no idea at this point what Cersei actually wants him to say, and is afraid to flat-out deny the "spending time with Margaery" accusation because 1) Cersei sounds like she's off her meds here, and arguing with a powerful crazy person isn't a good idea (something Pycelle, who served the Mad King, would know better than most), and 2) Taena Merryweather is standing right there, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Taena, a lady of the Reach and a once-companion of Margaery's, is playing a role in Cersei's accusations here (and obviously Cersei's going to believe her BFF Taena over Pycelle). It's pretty clear by this point that this isn't a fact-finding interview, it's a fact-creating interview, but Pycelle is having an awful lot of trouble sussing out what Cersei wants him to tell her (clearly it isn't the truth, given the overall context, but Cersei takes so long getting to the point that Pycelle is kind of lost for most of the diatribe). So Pycelle "admits" that he's been spending time with Margaery because it sounds like Cersei very much expects him to agree to that "charge", but the only accompanying story he can think of on the spur of the moment (that makes him look innocent of any wrongdoing) is just a rehash of his last meeting with Cersei herself: that's why his story has Marg wanting sleeping draughts, just like Cersei did. If that's true, the "other sorts of potions" wasn't a reference to the moon tea at all---it was Pycelle's version of "et cetera, et cetera", basically him trying to invent a plausible story on the fly but being unable to think of some good accompanying details.

Cersei accuses Pycelle of letting Joffrey die of poison, then of poisoning Gyles on Marg's behalf, and Pycelle's reaction is pretty interesting:

Pycelle's response to an accusation of him poisoning an old man on behalf of a queen is "Margaery would never want Lord Gyles dead", not "I would never kill Gyles on behalf of Queen Margaery." The context is interesting, because it definitely seems to reference the poisoning of Jon Arryn, which Pycelle believes was done by Cersei, and which Cersei probably thinks was done by Pycelle. In either case, Cersei's seemingly referencing something that reads as "Pycelle helping take out the person threatening House Lannister" in both her and Pycelle's minds. And after that, Cersei segueways into this:

It's only after this that Pycelle seems to suss out exactly what Cersei really wants him to say, which makes sense, because Cersei makes sure to give him all of the necessary trigger words---"Maid" Margaery (not "Lady" or "Queen", but "Maid"), located specifically in the "Maidenvault" (where, hey, at least one Targ princess was infamously screwing around on a husband she'd never actually had sex with), questions about Pycelle "courting" a septa or "diddling" an 8-year-old (i.e., having sex with two women who aren't supposed to be having sex), informing on one queen to serve the plots of another queen. Pycelle's immediate response to this kind of "leading" is this:

Pycelle appears to have finally picked up on what Cersei wants him to say ("I . . . I obey", and we know that Pycelle plucks at his beard when he believes he knows the answer to a particular problem), but before he'll come out and say what Cersei wants him to say, he wants to make sure he's in the clear---I'm pretty sure it's treason to help the Queen "cover up evidence" of her own treason, and Pycelle doesn't want to be thrown to the wolves. This is why he emphasizes his oaths, and how serving Queen Margaery can be read as him keeping those oaths---he wants to make sure he can hide behind the oaths of his position to shield himself from a treason charge. It's only after Cersei threatens him with the black cells, and specifically after Pycelle points out to Cersei the loyal service he's done for her in the past (so that, in his mind, Cersei has to recognize how much she owes him), that Pycelle is willing to "admit" to the moon tea:

The "dungeons" reference is interesting because readers know why Pycelle ended up there the first time around: he was informing on Tyrion to Cersei herself. It's not necessarily clear that he's genuinely afraid of being sent to the dungeons here---he might actually be reading Cersei's "dungeons" threat as a reference to Pycelle's loyalty to Cersei back in ACOK, as an assurance that she remembers what he's done to benefit her in the past and therefore that he can say what she wants him to say without fear of being charged with treason for "helping" Marg do what Cersei wants Pycelle to tell her Marg did. (Whether Cersei actually means it that way is another issue entirely, of course.) But even if he thinks it's a genuine threat, the point isn't that Pycelle is finally telling the truth, the point is that he's decided it's better for him to lie and make enemies of House Tyrell rather than tell the truth (there was no moon tea) and get thrown back into the Black Cells.

But essentially, I think Pycelle's "reluctance" in telling Cersei about the moon tea reads less as "he doesn't want to speak the horrible truth" and more as "he takes a while to figure out what horrible lie Cersei wants him to say in the first place". At the beginning of her rant, Cersei was making accusations that made no sense at all to someone with Pycelle's knowledge base, so Pycelle had to have been terribly confused and thrown off-balance. Cersei took a while to "get to the point", which is why Pycelle didn't mention the moon tea story earlier---he didn't immediately realize that was what Cersei wanted him to say. And though Cersei doesn't flat-out ask about Moon Tea, she makes sure to pepper her accusations with enough "clues" to allow Pycelle to pick up on the fact that she's planning on taking Marg down for sexual misconduct.

Very good post and analyst even if disagree with you. Pycelle's loyalty is primarily to the realm. I know Taena cannot be trusted, but Margaery's suggestions from Tommen are a little too good. Not much evidence, but I felt Pycelle was influencing her with certain things. Giving her the moon tea would be part of the deal in order to ensure the best course for the realm.

[poostorm]

Part of me wants to believe it was some scheme by Margaery, who then says Pycelle was giving it to her for Taena, which Taena backs up at the trial. But, I think her reaction to Cersei when she is being held by the septon was honest. If she were playing a game this whole time, I'm not sure she would have managed that good of an acting job to make Cersei feel that she won. At her trial, I think Margaery is either going to tell them Pycelle lied or that the moon tea was for one of her cousins.

[Lady of Castamere]

I actually hope that he didn't.

In TV-show there is the feeling, that Margaery is not a virgin, but in books, I could vow that she's a virgin.

It just seemed to me, that Pycelle said that moon tea thing just to please Cersei. Not because it was the truth.

But, we will find out it likely in the next book, so GRRM hurry the f*ck up!

[NedStark2013]

Truth is if people actually believed that Margeary was a virgin even when she met Renly I well then have a Bridge to Sale to some of these believers.

[KronetHjort]

Pycelle's loyalty is formost to the realm, he has always been under the impression that Tywinn's interests were best for the realm. In Robert's and Joffrey's court Pycelle saw Tywinn's interests represented by his daughter. After the mess of Cersie's rule, and the insults he suffered durring, it became clear to him that House Lannister could no longer rule the realm, and that the torch must pass to House Tyrell. Rather or not Margery is aware of what he told Cersie is unclear to me, but what is clear to me is that she did need moon tea. Not to claim that she is unspoiled, but even in real life the lose of a madienhead/hymen does not always coincide with the loss of virginity. This fact will come up in the trail. The only thing that is clear to me is that House Lannister wanes.

[FittleLinger]

I seem to be misremembering something essential, so it's probably a naive question to say the least, but what was Marge's official story about Renly? It was a public secret that they probably didn't have sex, but officially, what was the story?

[Riptide]

snip

Hmmmm, this is honestly the best idea I've seen with regard to the situation. (I was beginning to get worried that GRRM had done something really contrived). It's sertenly better than my theory that the moon tea was just for one of her ladies.

[Damon_Tor]

Pycelle seemed genuinely reluctant to say, so I assume he spoke the truth

Dangerous assumption. It's been made clear to us that Pycelle is far from the clueless, doddering old man he likes to pretend he is.