"Patches! Where are you?"
Devan turned around to search for the owner of that voice. It was a girl's voice. He wondered if she was the daughter of one of the castle's household staff. Not the daughter of Ser Axell Florent the castellan of Dragonstone, Devan knew, for Ser Axell was not yet wed.
Ser Axell does not like me. And he does not like Father either. Devan quickly pushed that unworthy thought aside.
And who was Patches? It was quite an odd name, Devan thought. But then again, Dragonstone was quite an odd place. Nothing his father and brothers had told him about Dragonstone had prepared him for the actual place. It was terrifying and fascinating at the same time, much like the lord Devan was serving.
"Stop hiding. You come back here right this minute, Patches." The girl was coming closer and closer, the pitter patter of her feet audible to Devan now alongside her voice. She turned the corner, and immediately collided with Devan.
"I'm sorry –"
"Forgive me –"
He saw her scarred cheek, and knew immediately who she was. "Lady Shireen," Devan immediately said, bowing his head slightly.
The girl blushed red. "You don't have to call me that," she said. She stared at him for a long while, studying his features. "You're my father's new squire. The onion knight –" she stopped and blushed again, "-I mean, Ser Davos' son."
Devan nodded. "Yes, my lady."
She waited, as if expecting him to say something else.
"My name is Devan," Devan continued. He wondered how she knew who he was; they had never been introduced, and this was the first time he had seen her since he arrived at the castle five days ago.
"I saw you arriving with your father," she said, as if she knew what was on his mind. "And Mother said -" she stopped suddenly, her brows frowning. "Never mind," she said firmly.
Devan was curious what Lady Selyse had told her daughter about him, but he knew it was not his place to ask Lady Shireen about it. "Are you looking for someone? Can I help you in any way?" He asked her instead.
"I'm looking for my friend Patches. We were exploring the castle, and he ran ahead of me and disappeared," she said, her expression solemn. "What about you? Where are you going?"
"I am looking for Maester Cressen's room, my lady. To deliver a message from Lord Stannis," Devan replied.
Shireen looked confused. "This is not the way to Maester Cressen's room."
It was Devan's turn to blush. So he was going the wrong way after all, as he had been worried all along. He was still finding his way around the large and confusing castle. Devan was embarrassed to admit to Lord Stannis' daughter that he had gotten lost, but he knew he had no other choice.
"I'm going to Maester Cressen's room as well, to see if Patches is there. We can go together," Shireen said, smiling shyly, before Devan could speak. Devan was relieved, and very very grateful. Shireen led the way, and Devan followed close behind. Neither of them spoke on the way to the maester's room. Devan stayed silent because he did not think it was his place to speak first, and Shireen glanced at Devan from time to time, but did not open her mouth.
It was Shireen who knocked on the door and called out for the maester. "Come in, my lady," a trembling voice replied from inside the room. Devan had never met the maester either; Bryen Farring, Lord Stannis' other squire had told him that the Maester Cressen was ill and confined to his room.
Maester Cressen was sitting up on his bed, his hands busily tidying up the blanket. He looked pale, and he closed his eyes tightly from time to time, as if trying to avoid grimacing in pain. But he smiled brightly when he saw Shireen. "My lady. How kind of you to visit a sick old man."
To Devan's surprise, Shireen immediately went to sit on the edge of the maester's bed. She was not shy or cautious with the maester. "How are you, Maester Cressen? Are you mending well?" She asked.
"Getting better all the time, my lady. I will be as good as new in no time," the maester assured Shireen, smiling. But the smile did not reach his eyes this time. He finally noticed Devan standing silently close to the door. "And who is your friend?"
"This is Father's new squire, Maester. His name is Devan Seaworth," Shireen replied. "He has a message to deliver to you from Father." She looked at Devan encouragingly. "Go on, tell him."
Devan moved closer to the bed. Maester Cressen was looking at him carefully. "You have the look of your father," the maester said, smiling kindly.
Devan smiled, involuntarily. He remembered himself and immediately wiped the smile off his face.
"It's a compliment," Shireen said. "Maester Cressen is very fond of Ser Davos, aren't you, Maester?"
The maester nodded vigorously. "Ser Davos is a very fine man. A good man." He paused. "Now, what is the message you are supposed to deliver to me, Devan?"
Devan remembered his duty. "Lord Stannis wants you to know that the new maester from the Citadel will be arriving tomorrow. He wishes you to speak to the new maester regarding his duties at Dragonstone," Devan recited the message from memory.
Shireen looked anxious and apprehensive. "A new maester for Dragonstone? Are you going away, Maester Cressen?"
Maester Cressen looked sad. "No, no, my lady, I am not going away. But as you know, I have been ill for some time, and I have not been able to carry out my duties as I should. Your lord father thought it best to have another maester at Dragonstone, to assist me with my duties."
Shireen looked extremely relieved. "Has Patches been here, Maester?" She asked after a while.
Maester Cressen shook his head. "No, he hasn't. Is he not with you, my lady?" He asked, looking concerned.
"He was, but I lost him. Don't worry Maester, he'll come back. He's probably just hiding from me. He likes that, he loves it when I find him," Shireen said, smiling reassuringly at the maester.
But she wasn't smiling when they were out of the maester's room. She looked worried. "Father does not like seeing Patches wandering around the castle on his own. It's fine if he is with me, but on his own …. it might make Father very angry," she said, her voice soft and barely audible.
"Why, my lady?" Devan blurted out, and then immediately turned red, regretting the question.
Shireen considered the question. "Patchface is very different," she finally replied. "That's his real name, Patchface, but I call him Patches. It's our special name," she giggled. "Other people said he is strange and scary. But he is my friend," she said firmly, putting a great emphasis on 'friend'. She paused, watching Devan carefully, as if trying to decide if he could be trusted. "But some of his songs do scare me sometimes," she finally whispered. "And he won't stop singing them, even when I told him to."
Devan was quite curious what Patchface's songs were about, but he was worried the subject would make Shireen anxious and uneasy. Maybe Bryen would know. He would ask Bryen Farring about it later, he resolved.
There was something else that was pricking his curiosity, and he gathered the courage to ask Shireen about it. "Why is Lord Stannis not angry if Patchface is going around the castle with you, my lady, instead of on his own?"
The question seemed to stump her. She frowned, concentrating hard. "I've never thought about it," Shireen finally said. "I suppose … I suppose it's because Father does not want me to be lonely. I don't have many friends," she said, but without any trace of sadness or self-pity in her voice.
"We can look for Patches together," Devan blurted out, and then immediately admonished himself silently. He did not know what was wrong with him; he kept blurting out things he was not supposed to in front of Lady Shireen. "Only … only if you want me to, of course, my lady."
Shireen was smiling. "Will you? Two heads are better than one, that's what Maester Cressen said." The smile faded slightly. "But what about your duties? Won't Father need you?" She asked.
"No, Bryen Farring the other squire is on duty this evening. That was my last task for today, delivering the message to Maester Cressen," Devan replied.
"We should look in Aegon's Garden. We play hide-and-seek there sometimes, Patches and I," Shireen said. They started walking to the garden, Shireen asking Devan questions after questions along the way. Questions about his family and his home, how many brothers and sisters he had, what were his mother and father like, what were Cape Wrath and the Stormlands like. She also wanted to know if Devan had ever been to Storm's End, and if he could tell her what it was like.
"I wish I could see the place where Father grew up," she said wistfully. "The garden where he used to play, the beach where he used to run and swim, the woods where he used to go riding."
Devan was taken aback. "You have never been to Storm's End, my lady?"
Shireen shook her head.
But Lord Renly, the lord of Storm's End, was her uncle. Devan wondered why she had never been there.
"I have not been away from Dragonstone all that often," she said. "Only to King's Landing a few times, for special occasions like Uncle Robert's nameday celebration." She did not look too enthused about the thought of King's Landing.
"I have never been to King's Landing," Devan said. It was his turn to sound wistful. He had never seen King Robert either.
Shireen was the one looking surprised now. "But your father was from King's Landing, wasn't he?"
Devan blushed. "Yes, my father was from Flea Bottom. My older brothers were born there, and my family used to live there, before Lord Stannis gave my father the knighthood and the land. But I was born in Cape Wrath, after Father was knighted, so I have never been to Flea Bottom, my lady. I only heard the stories from my brothers."
"It must be strange," Shireen said, looking thoughtful.
"What is, my lady?"
"Well, your brothers growing up very different than you. Flea Bottom and Cape Wrath must be quite different from one another," Shireen said.
And being a smuggler's son was very different from being a knight's son, Devan thought. He wondered why he had not fully realized that before. Dale, Allard, Matthos and Maric grew up in much tougher circumstances than him.
"Tell me about your younger brothers. What are they called?" Shireen finally broke the silence.
Devan brightened up again. "Stanny and Steff. Well, that's what we call them, but they are actually named after your lord father and your lord grandfather, my lady."
"Stannis Seaworth and Steffon Seaworth. That's wonderful! I must tell Father," Shireen said, looking very excited.
Father said he had asked Lord Stannis' permission before naming the boys, so Lord Stannis must already know. But Devan did not have the heart to diminish Shireen's excitement, so he said nothing.
They looked for Patchface all over the garden, shouting his name, but he was nowhere to be found. A lady's maid finally interrupted their search. "Your lady mother is looking for you, Lady Shireen," she said, looking grave.
"I'm looking for Patches," Shireen replied. "We've searched the whole garden, but we can't find him anywhere."
The lady's maid's mouth curled up in distaste at the mention of Patchface. "The fool is in his room eating his dinner, my lady," she said.
Shireen looked extremely relieved. She started following the lady's maid back to the castle, but turned around suddenly and ran back to Devan's side. "I hope we can be friends," she said shyly. "The three of us. You, me and Patches. I would like that very much, Devan Seaworth."
In his head, Devan was thinking that as a squire, it was not his place to befriend Lord Stannis' daughter. But his mouth said something completely different. "I would like that too, my lady. Very much."