Renly
Renly is six when his parents die. They had left by sea to go visit some lord or another, leaving their eldest son, Robert in charge. The day they were due to return, Renly had positioned himself by the watchtowers, looking out over sea for a sign of the storm lord returning. When he sees a ship in the distance, he runs down to find his brothers.
"Stannis! Robert! They're back!" He said "Come look!"
Stannis sighed, never interested in Renly's enthusiastic cry for them to come look at every little thing. At 12, and looking for an excuse to get out of lordly duties, Robert stands and follows the enthusiastic child back to the watchtower, Stannis following.
He never showed enthusiasm, but the middle Baratheon was excited to have his parents back.
The three of them stood on the edge of the wall, looking down the cliff side where the waves crashed against them.
"The winds are rough today." Stannis said
"They're always rough." Robert said, always quick to annoy Stannis
"Robert, can we go meet them at the docks? Please?" Renly pleaded
"No, they'll be here soon enough, we can wait here." He said.
They watched for a while, waiting for the great ship to pull into dock.
Stannis noticed it first.
The ship seemed to be steering out of course, away from the docks. Stannis realized that the winds had picked up. He looked to his older brother, who had picked up on what was happening.
"Take Renly inside, Stannis. Now!" He said, turning away from the wall and calling orders to some guards
"Come on, Renly." Stannis said, grabbing the boy's arm.
"No! He said, dragging his feet "I want to stay and see mother and father!"
"Renly, I will drag you to your room if I have to, now come on!" He said, trying not to let his voice shake. Renly pouted at his elder brother before following him, feeling the urgency.
"Maester Cressen, take Renly to his room now, and stay with him. Something's gone wrong." He said. The maester looked at him for a moment, worried, before nodding and taking Renly by the hand.
"Stannis, what's going on?" Renly cried after him as his brother ran back to help Robert.
"Come now, my lord" Maester Cressen said, guiding him to the tower in Storm's End where the children's room was.
Renly immediately ran to his window to try and see what was going on, but it overlooked the forest, not the sea.
"Maester Cressen, what's happened?" He pestered "I want to see mother and father, why won't Robert and Stannis let me? I promise I'll be good!"
"Come on, my boy, they'll come and find you when your parents come ashore, they've just run into some trouble." Cressen said "Don't you fret, it'll be alright."
Renly didn't sleep at all that night. A fierce storm crashed outside, and he could hear yelling from downstairs. Maester Cressen had fallen asleep in a chair sometime ago. Renly got out of his bed and quietly walked out of the room and crept down the stairs to the great hall. He could hear Stannis and Robert from outside the door, they were yelling at each other. They usually did.
Renly opened the door to the hall and peered inside. Robert and Stannis were in each other's faces, both sopping wet and wearing the same clothes they had been that afternoon
"I told you the winds were bad! We should have set out a signal for them to turn around, like I said!" Stannis screamed
"Oh, so now it's my fault, eh? I hate to break this to you, Stannis, but I DON'T CONTROL THE WEATHER!" Robert yelled back
"what's going on?" Renly called from his place at the door "where's mother and father?"
Stannis stopped glowering at Robert and looked at his younger brother, then back to Robert.
"Renly, go back to bed." Stannis said coldly "we'll talk later."
"No." He said stubbornly "I want to see them!"
"Renly, please." Stannis said
"You got to meet them on the walls! I want to see mother and father now!" The little boy cried
"Renly!" Robert boomed "go back upstairs or I will string you off the walls if the keep!"
Renly looked at him, looking like he was about to start crying. Robert never yelled at him. He turned heel and ran back into his room.
Back in the hall, Stannis looked after him "You didn't have to yell at him." He said
"Yes I did. I'm not going to tell him about this tonight." Robert said, face remaining stone cold, lacking his usual cheer. "Go to bed, Stannis." He said, turning towards the doors himself. Stannis watched him leave and walked up to find his little brother, passing Cressen on the way "my lord Stannis, what had happened?" He asked
"My parent's ship crashed into the cliffs. There were no survivors." He said coldly, moving past the man, leaving him in shock.
Stannis climbed the steps to the first room in the tower and walked in. Renly sat on his bed with his knees on his forehead
"Renly." Stannis said
"Go away." He sniffled
"I need to tell you something." Stannis said. Renly lifted his head
"I want to see mother and father." He said
"That's what I need to talk to you about. Renly... Mother and father won't be coming home." He said
"But their ship was right there! I saw it coming in! You're lying!" He said
"Renly, I'm not lying. Their ship crashed into the cliffside. The wind was too strong.
The boy shook his head "No. That must have been another ship. A trader or somebody else."
"No, Renly, it was their ship." Stannis said, swallowing down a lump in his throat.
"But how can you know for sure!" He cried out , tears in his eyes
"Because Robert pulled their bodies out of the ship!" Stannis yelled out. He immediately regretted saying it when he saw the look on the boy's face.
"No... No, they were supposed to come home; they promised they'd be home today! They promised" he cried.
"I know." Stannis said, standing up.
"No, don't leave me, Stannis, please." He sobbed
Stannis sighed and walked back over to Renly, sitting on his bed and letting his little brother hug him close
"Everything will be fine." He said "Robert will make sure everything's okay."
Stannis stayed the night at Renly's side, keeping himself from crying to reassure him.