Requested by evanlilydanser on tumblr. Their request was Arya's reunion with Gendry years after her voyage? She comes back with his daughter.
As the Storm's End enters Arya's line of sight a chill crawls up her spine. It was the first time in years that Arya felt nervous about anything. She stands proudly and grips the railing tightly. She was Arya Stark. Kingslayer, world savior, Azor Ahai to some, and the daughter of Ned and Cat Stark. She would not fear returning to a place she never called home. After all, she was heading back to Winterfell after this. Davos already swore to deliver her maps to King's Landing once she got them to him.
"I can see the castle! It's so big!"
"Not as big as Winterfell my little Snowflake." Arya teases as the little girl next to her starts to get excited.
"Is this Westeros?"
"Yes, it is. You see that is just the bay up ahead but the towers in the distance are your father's castle. Then we'll go to visit your aunt and uncles." Arya promises as she has promised a hundred times before.
"Like Uncle Bran. The raven man who visits my dreams?" She bends down and wraps her arms around her daughter. She didn't fear the raven's visits but her daughter's behavior was often erratic afterward. The last time the Raven had visited was a week ago. The night after she had decided to sail back home to Westeros. She was twice as energetic afterward. Sometimes even picking up Needle and running throughout the ship below deck with the weapon swinging wildly in her hands. It was days before she had calmed down. Arya had had to take Needle and hid it so she didn't hurt anybody. Now after long travels, her daughter would finally be able to put faces to all the names she knows.
Arya sets her daughter on the rail in front of her. Instinctually her hands grab for the rail. Arya wraps her arms around her daughter's stomach as her small hands hold them both against the rail. Seven years she had been gone. Seven years she had spent mapping out the west that was West of Westeros. The mysterious seas and lands no others have had the chance to know.
Arya had seen so much of it. Almost all of it with her daughter by her side. She squeezes her daughter closer to her as they get closer to the land. She had only written Gendry one letter. A letter to tell him that she was pregnant with his child back after she had gone a third month without her moon blood. She never got a reply so she never wrote another letter. When she wrote to her sister about deciding to come back Sansa had insisted she dock south at Storm's end first. When Ser Davos sent her a letter he wanted much the same.
So here Arya was returning home to confront her child's father and her family. She hopes her findings are enough to smooth over any hurt with her family. Yet with Gendry she knows it won't affect things. It won't fix them.
"Mommy are you okay?" Her daughter asks as she squirms in her grip. She wiggles until she was able to look at her mother's face.
"Of course it is my little kitten," Arya promises as she pats down her daughter's hair. Her hair was a gorgeous black. While her father's had looked like coal her's was an inky color. Solid, and glossier then Gendry's ever was. Her face was long but her jaw was shaped like his as well. Arya remembers tracing her fingers along that jaw before leaving. It was all in an attempt to remember him as well as she could before she would leave. Was she remembering it well at all?
"You're sad." Her kitten claims as she frowns.
"No, I'm not sad. I just haven't been back for a long time." Arya explains.
"Docking! We're docking!" The men shout back and forth as the crew prepares to dock and tie down the vessel. Arya squeezes her arms around her daughter once more as the men behind them start running back and forth. Her kitten always became frightened whenever the men began to run on the deck. Ever since Addam fell off and drowned when he went running. Arya had told her it was only because it was raining and the deck was extra slippery. None of that helped, however.
"Mom! There are people there!"
Arya chuckles as her daughter starts to count them. She never realized how much she took for granted that people worked on docks. This would be her daughter's first time meeting someone who wasn't their crew. Hopefully, it'll be a positive experience for her. Arya lifts her little girl up, setting her on top of her shoulders.
"Is my little kitten ready to meet Westeros?"
"Yeah! I'm going to kick it!"
"You can't kick a whole country sweetie."
"She can try!" Shouts Durran her second in command. He was wearing his finest clothes today in anticipation of getting to see home. The Stormlands man had sailed for two decades before Arya had found and hired him in Kingslanding. He had almost as much of an interest in the West as she did.
"Uncle Durran! Wanna kick Westeros with me?" She asks excitedly basically jumping on her mother's shoulders.
"I thought I did when I left it. Or that I would kick it before I got back at least." Durran jokes making a swift move across his neck with his finger for Arya to see.
"Glad you survived. Now you can help guide us to the castle in Storm's End." Arya points out pleasantly.
He offers her a raised eyebrow. "I thought the captain would want to go North first." He points out as her little kit reaches out for him. Durran takes her in his own arms and holds her still as Arya looks back out towards the docks.
"In time, Durran, I will." She looks softly at her daughter. Her black hair flying in the wind. The way the strands fly reminds her of the way a squid's tentacles move when it was first being dragged out of the water. She almost looks more like a Greyjoy then a Baratheon. Arya frowns as the thought floats through her head.
"We are going to visit my father first!" her little kit announces. Durran hugs her tighter to him careful to press a hand over the ear that wasn't against his chest.
"Does the lord know you're coming?"
"His Lordship probably does." She looks over to see they were being tied down at the docks now. "I guess we'll find out if my brother sent him notice or not."
"Pardon me captain, but I know we were out of paper yet I feel like you should have tried to send some sort of message to him. Lords don't like sudden interruptions." Durran's voice is low as he talks. His eyebrows burrow down and his usual smile was gone. He was concerned about them. After all these years away Arya's crew had grown to be her family. Her pack. His concern was valid but Durran didn't know Gendry. No one knows Gendry like she does.
"Don't worry Durran. It all be okay."
"If you say so Captain. I still insist that Coratt, Rufus, and I come with you."
"If you three come who should we trust command of the ship with?"
"Hugh can watch it. He been taking on more responsibility as of late. I trust him not to run off with the ship." Durran explains letting go of her daughter's ears as the girl pulls at his hand.
"Fine." Arya looks around to see that Hugh was currently hanging off the side of the ship. He tugs on the rope to check it's strength. "Hugh guess what?" She shouts across the deck. Hugh looks up with surprise. He lets go of the rope for a minute only to immediately start falling back. Arya offers Durran a speculative glance. Only for him to smile proudly as Hugh scrambles back up by using the rope.
"You're in charge while we're gone! Corrat, Rufus, you're both coming with us to Storm's End!" She rolls her eyes as they Durran's smile grows. "Happy now?"
"Yes, Captain!"
"Good. Now, do you wanna go on shore Little Cat?" Her daughter cheers as she scrambles out of Durran's hold. Arya grabs Durran's shoulder as her daughter runs towards the ramp the men were still setting up. She squeezes it before offering a small smile. After everyone, she lost Arya was finally home. All those years without payment, without ever knowing what would happen next he had remained steadfast. A loyal ally on the cold, un-caring seas.
"Your welcome milady." Durran rests his hand on top of hers. He squeezes it in return as Arya watches her daughter touch Westerosi soil for the first time in her life.
"I'm no lady Durran."
"No. I don't imagine you ever were Captain."
"Mother!" As her kitten's scream fills the air Arya's heart constricts. Feeling as if someone had just punched her square in the chest, she runs. Letting go of Durran Arya pulls out her valyrian dagger. She leaps over the side railing of her ship and lands on the edge of the boardwalk.
Almost immediately she spots her men running for her daughter. As she runs with them she finally spots her. Her daughter was standing in front of a man looking as if she was about to cry. The man however was was on his knees waving his hands up and down. His face was covered in a hood, and judging from the rest of his attire he was a commoner.
"Don't cry! Please stop crying," the man begs. As he looks up and sees all fourteen of the men and her running at him his face pales.
Arya grabs her kitten and pulls her away as Tomas and Brandon tackle the man down. She points her dagger at him as she looks over her daughter. "Are you hurt? Why did you scream?"
"I was running to land and then out of nowhere, the man was there. I could get past him. He looked scary. Mom I think he's a giant!"
"He didn't touch you, or try to pick you up?"
"No." Her daughter looks up a ther with big, confused steel grey eyes.
"Sweetie there are going to be lots of people you won't recognize. You should only scream like that if you feel unsafe."
"But he's a giant!"
"The last giants died in the last great war of Westeros. I've told you that my dear. Just because the men of the crew aren't as tall as him doesn't make him a giant."
"You're shorter than all your men!" The man announces boldly as he tries to push off Tomas. Brandon was barely helping to keep him down as his arm stays on the man's shoulders.
"You should know better than to scare a little girl." Arya retorts waving Brandon off. The brown haired riverlander motions for Tomas to let go.
"Yeah well you're little girl shouldn't be alone on the docks. I thought she was lost."
Arya holds her daughter's hand tightly as she glares at the man. "My name is Arya Stark. Sister to Queen Sansa Stark of the North. If you touch my daughter again my men won't be the ones you have to deal with."
Somehow the man's hood had stayed on during the attack. His face was covered but she could see his lips make a little o shape. He hadn't been expecting royalty to come through. Arya knew she shouldn't be so quick to threaten a stranger, but strangers were dangerous in Westeros. They often brought death on their heels.
"Throwing titles around like that. How do I know you are who you say you are? Princess Arya has been lost for years."
"I've returned." She growls through gritted teeth.
"Aye and with a little girl!" He was angry, his tone vicious and accusatory. "From what I heard Arya Stark loved no man. Now you say you're here and even have a child. How old is that girl?"
"I'm eight years." Her daughter answers as Durran comes up. He rests a hand on Arya's shoulder. His eyes asking her what she wanted to be done.
"Please take my daughter Durran. I do not want us to have to chase after her on our entire way to Storm's End."
"Yes Captain Stark," Durran adds emphasis on her name as he takes her daughter.
The man was as quiet as stone now. His lip was pressed in a thin line. The edges of his frown twitching as he stares at her. "I imagine that's the girl's father. He should better watch her too. What if I had been someone dangerous?"
"I still don't know that you aren't." She retorts lifting her blade up towards his neck. Arya doesn't even bother to respond to the notion of Durran fathering her child. This random man had no right to that information. She takes a few steps at the man. His frown deepens as she gets closer. His arms were shaking at his sides and from the lack of bulges in his pockets he had no money. He could have been trying to ransom her little girl. Unless he spoke the truth and honestly had no idea who she was. Arya somehow doubted that. There weren't many women who were captains around this part of Westeros. When she was only her blade's length away from the man she realizes the sides of his face were wet. He was crying.
"Who are you?"
The man pulls his head down furiously. Wet, blue eyes meet her gaze. Arya freezes as she realizes that this was his lordship, Gendry Baratheon. He takes a step closer to her, completely ignoring the tip of the dagger. It digs into his shirt as he takes another step closer. Arya pulls the weapon away from him as Gendry speaks.
"Bran said to watch for your ship. I've been here for three weeks. Ever since I received his letter. Davos has been taking care of Storm's End for me." He explains still watching her. His tears still flowing freely from his eyes. "You have a daughter?" His voice sounds heartbroken. Arya suddenly becomes acutely aware that her men have all started heading back to the ship. All save for Durran who remained steadfastly by her side. She looks down at his feet. She knows she has to look at some part of him. Even if it wasn't his face like he deserved.
"We have a daughter," she explains suddenly feeling breathless. She waits a moment for him to yell, to accuse her of lying. To demand that she leaves, but when nothing happens she looks back at him. He was staring at their daughter now. Arya reaches out for his face. She stops herself and leaves her cupped hand there. In the air between them unsure of if she was even allowed to touch him anymore. She hadn't imagined it going like this. Arya hadn't felt so unsure of everything when she first arrived. How had he changed everything in a matter of moments? How was he always able to do that with her?
"Her name is Cat."
"Your mother," he realizes finally looking back at her. "Arya, why did,"
"I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure if I would ever come back. Then there was an accident and we haven't had ink in years. We ran out of paper a year ago. So only Bran knows." Only because Bran did not need letters to know.
Gendry looks hurt as he grabs her cupped hand. He pushes his cheek into it and holds her there.
"He should have told me. You should have," His breath catches and Gendry squeezes his eyes shut. "Gods Arya I've waited so long for you to return. I thought you dead, and now," he looks back at Little Cat. His tears slowly dry up and his lips curl up. "I've missed so much."
Arya rubs her thumb over his cheek. "We'll catch each other up." She makes the promise without thinking. She realizes after that they may never be caught up. He had missed so much of their daughter's life thanks to her. She had stolen it all away from him. From them.
"Little kitten, meet your father." She nods to Durran. The man sets Cat down and whispers something into her ear.
"My father is a giant?" The girl asks in all seriousness.
The three adults laugh together at her. "She's bull-headed," Arya explains apologetically.
"Just like her father." Gendry lets go of her and bends back down to Cat's level. This time with his hood down and a smile on his face. "Hey there Cat."
"Are you my Uncle Jon? You have dark hair like Jon is supposed to."
Arya sighs. "Cat I just said this was your father. Don't be rude."
Cat laughs and holds her stomach as she bends over. "I know that. I was playing a joke. Uncle Bran said dad likes jokes."
Gendry looks at Arya, confused. Arya shrugs and motions to her head. Bran was always doing weird mind things. Gendry smiles, half-understanding. That was as much as anyone could understand. "I have no idea where your Uncle Bran got that idea, but I am far taller than your Uncle Jon."
Arya steps away as the two talk. Durran follows her lead. Gently he takes her arm and guides her a few feet away from them. His face was a mix of joy, and concern. "Captain?" He looks back at Gendry and Cat. "Are you sure this is okay? If this is how your Lord Gendry reacts, how will your family?"
"Better than him," Arya admits smiling at her family. Sansa and Gendry were the two she was expecting to react the worse. If this was how little drama there was from Gendry then she expects even less from her sister. Especially since Bran had more than likely told her or Tyrion. If it was the latter then Tyrion had definitely written to her sister. Cat grabs Gendry's hands and compares them to her own. When she grabs parts of her hair and places them on top of his head Arya realizes she was seeing how much of her father was in her. A child's curiosity was an amazing thing.
"It's good to be home." As Arya speaks Durran smirks, and for a moment she thought she saw a strand of white in the first mate's hair. As she blinks the sun out of her eyes it's gone again.
"Welcome home Arya Stark."