Gendry Baratheon spied the ship with direwolf sails near the cliffs beside Storm's End. He had received correspondence a few weeks ago this particular vessel, led by one Arya Stark, was making a stop in the Stormlands after its journey of world exploration and making stops in the North and King's Landing.
The sun had almost set, so the light coming from over the cliffs made it difficult to see. Coming up from cliffs below, a bright white horse that could be seen from any distance away. It took a good ten minutes before it reached the same elevation on the rocks as Storm's End, but then Gendry noticed another animal running beside the horse, a large wolf.
His lady had arrived.
As Arya Stark reached the gates of Storm's End, he took particular interest in the outfit she chose to present herself in. Her tunic was grey, but her black cloak had gold trim outlining the edges. Along with her skinny sword, she carried other golden handled weapons along her belt.
"I see this place has done you good," Arya said as she dismounted her horse. " I keep hearing things about how generous the Lord of Storm's End is.
"Arya, I never thought I'd," Gendry stopped his gleeful welcome as he spied Arya's companion. "Is that a wolf?"
"A direwolf, Her name's Nymeria."
"Where did you find her?"
"I had her when I was a little girl, but I had to send her off when she hurt Joffrey. She's been in the Riverlands all these years, and when I returned to Westeros, one of the first things I did was look for her. You should've seen how many other wolves she had in her pack. She didn't like leaving them behind for me to bring her along."
Gendry left the conversation in silence, not wanting to get more information this moment. He just wanted to drink in this beautiful sight before him. As Arya made another smile, she ran the brief distance between them, jumping into his arms and gripping tight.
"Come, preparations have been made for your stay," Gendry let Arya down and lead her towards the inner doorways of the castle. Nymeria followed the two of them as an attendant took Arya's horse. "I'd like you to meet my family."
Family. Arya didn't know what to make of his use of that word. The way they both used it around each other left one or the other led to someone being hurt. As he led her through Storm's End, presumably to the great hall, Arya started dreading what she'd find. Did Gendry manage to find a lady and have himself an heir?
To Arya's surprise, as she and Gendry entered the main hall, she saw two black-haired people, a man, and a woman, both much smaller than the Lord of Storm's End. They both had short hair and similar facial features to Gendry. The man looked too similar in age to Gendry to be his son, but the woman Arya wasn't sure about yet.
"Is this the girl we've heard so much about these past few days?" the girl asked. "With a wolf, no less?" Nymeria gave a growl before lightening up.
"Yes, she is. Arya, this is my older sister Mya and my younger brother Edric."
Sister? Brother?
"You had siblings this whole time?" Arya shouted, feeling a similar sense of bewilderment as when Gendry first told her he was a Baratheon bastard.
"Well, they're also Robert Baratheon's bastards. One of the first things I did as Lord of the Stormlands was put out a decree for any of his bastards still living to come here and help rule. And they were the first two who arrived, once your brother legitimized them."
"A pleasure to meet you," Mya curtsied, looking rather odd in her simple tunic, vest, and trousers.
"I would've thought she'd be taller," Edric remarked, though Arya would've liked to say something about his big ears in return. "I trust you didn't have a hard time getting here?"
"They don't call it Shipbreaker Bay for nothing. So you three all run the Stormlands together?"
"Edric deals with other lords in the Stormlands and other kingdoms," Gendry explained. "since he's got nobility blood on both sides. Mya and I work with the common folk to make their lives better, in our own ways."
"I try to see as much of this realm as a can," Mya interjected. "Even sailing to Estermont and Tarth often. If I learned anything from my time in the Vale, it's that to gain someone's trust, let alone your subject's, you have to appear to be on their level. I'm sure you know that already from back in Winterfell."
Three Baratheons, Arya thought. Much like the three that looked over this kingdom before the war broke out. Gendry would obviously be Robert. Mya reminded her of Renly, of what she could remember at least. So that left Edric to be Stannis. He seemed aloof enough for the role.
"Do you have any Northern business to bring before us?" Edric inquired.
"No, I don't," Arya replied. "I've never seen the Stormlands before. After seeing the world, I realized I hadn't seen most of the Seven Kingdoms. So I wanted to start here."
"If you two don't mind, I'd like to show Arya to her guest room," Gendry broke the conversation off and lead her away from the great hall and to the corridors of Storm's End. Arya didn't mind since she was only here to treat with one Baratheon, not three.
With nighttime upon the castle, servants started lighting torches, but they did not light all the hallways, so some and a few staircases were mostly dark. Arya and Nymeria had no trouble keeping with the lord showing them the way.
"Did you ever discover what's west of Westeros?" Gendry asked.
"It's the funniest thing. I did sail west, but somehow I ended up in the Grey Waste of Essos. Almost like the world we live in is round like a ball."
Gendry had to laugh at that. "So you're saying all the maps of the world are wrong? That none of them can be flat anymore?"
"They absolutely can. There need to be round ones too."
"Did you share this discovery with anyone else?"
"I sent word to Sansa and Grand Maester Tarly when I stopped at White Harbor and King's Landing."
"Did you see where Daenerys' dragon flew off to?"
"I didn't get to see Drogon. The closest I came was when I sailed through the ruins of Valaryia. I could swear I heard his cries."
"A shame. It's an odd feeling knowing there's a rogue dragon in the world you aren't sure will come back."
"But I'm not just an adventurer. Since the North has to fend for itself now, I've become its main diplomat for outside of Westeros."
Gendry looked shocked. How could she've gotten that responsible for a whole kingdom while sailing around the whole of Essos "What do you know of diplomacy?"
"I've sat in my father's meetings at Winterfell and when he was Hand. And I observed Sansa's meetings with the Northern lords. It really isn't that difficult for me to negotiate."
"You just point Needle at them?"
Arya gave off some mocking laughter. "I like to think the training I got in Braavos helped, giving me the advantage to know when people are lying or not. I've always been good with numbers too. And who doesn't want to give the ruling family of the North whatever they want after saving the rest of them? It's worked from the Free Cities to the Summer Islands, Slaver's Bay, and the Jade Sea."
Arya, Gendry, and Nymeria arrived at the lord's bedchambers, which Arya noted wasn't that much bigger than her parent's bedchamber back in Winterfell. The large, solitary window looked over Stormbreaker Bay and the waves crashing into the cliffs below. There was room for a fireplace, a large table with papers and parchment scattered, and a very large iron bathtub raised above the floor. Nymeria gave some growls at the stags decorating the space.
"These are my chambers," Gendry said, expecting Arya to be amazed. But it likely wasn't that dissimilar from other castle bedrooms she has been in. "I do have one of the spare bedroom made for you if you'd like."
"And be separated from you already?" Arya retorted. "Does my room have a tub like this?"
"Yes, but it's smaller."
"I would like to use this one instead if it pleases you, m'lord."
"Draw our guest a bath," Gendry ordered his house servants. "And please escort this wolf to her room."
The servants brought up buckets of water and lit a fire underneath the tub. As they took their leave, Arya started unstrapping her Stark garments, dropping them to the ground when loosened. She pushed Gendry down to sit at the edge of his bed large enough to fit two people.
"So I couldn't help but notice that none of you Baratheons have wives or husbands," Arya noted.
"Edric is very interested in getting married. He wants to marry a girl from one of the Stormlands' houses, but my council thinks he should marry someone from one of the other kingdoms. Mya suggested her friend from the Vale, Myranda Royce, while Davos suggested Wylla Manderly of White Harbor. Mya is still fixated on some knight back in the Vale, but the maesters here are trying to convince her to marry a lord instead."
"But not yourself? No one's tried to make themselves Lady of the Stormlands?" Arya said as she pulled her tunic over her head, exposing her breasts and scars that lined her torso. Gendry had noticed that since the time he last saw her naked, she accumulated more scars.
"Some women did try, but I didn't take. I just knew there was someone out there better for me."
As Arya tossed aside her pants, her naked form walked over to Gendry, leaning over him. "I sailed through the Jade Sea to Yi Ti, the coastline of Sothoryos, seen the red priests of Asshai first hand, the ruined lands of Valaryia, the Dorthraki Sea, the Summer Islands, the brutality of Slaver's Bay, and the warlocks of Qarth. I've seen all this world has to offer. I've experienced more of life than any man has any right to. Yet, you were one of the few things I couldn't shake from my mind, along with how my family's doing."
Arya started unbuckling the clips and unlacing the laces in Gendry's outfit, pulling off his armaments, raising his shirt over his head, and pulled down his pants. He still kept himself in good physical form, Arya thought. No doubt still working in the forges.
"Come. Join me," Arya grabbed Gendry's hand and led him over to the tub. She could see how aroused he was, whether by her talking of world travels or by her presence alone. Gendry sat himself in the tub first, his arms resting along the rounded edges. Arya lowered herself in next, her back leaning against Gendry's chest. She reached out her arms to lie on top of his.
"So you're telling me, in all your travels of the world, no one seduced you in any way?" Gendry asked. "None of your crew? No one in any of the cities you visited?"
"It was the same as you. Men and women tried their best to get to know the girl who slew the Night King a little better, but none succeeded. I did visit brothels in the Free Cities to see what they were like, but it was more to see what the whores did with their customers."
"How many times?"
"Three."
Arya cupped some water in her hands and dumped it over her and Gendry's heads, both giving off smiles. She lay back down on his chest, her eyes occasionally closing as she rose and fell with the air going into Gendry's chest.
"Are you going to tell me how you got your scars?" Gendry asked.
"You want to know?" Arya replied, putting some more effort into leaning back. "I could go on all night talking about how I got a single one of these."
"You don't have to go too deep, I'll hardly know what you're talking about mostly."
Arya looked down at her arms, examining the various healed cuts and small patches of discolored skin. She did the same for her legs underneath the waterline. She could also feel Gendry's right arm reaching down her side, touching the scars along her ribs.
"That's from when one of the faceless men stabbed me on the streets of Braavos," Arya plainly admitted.
"You were stabbed?"
"It happened during my training there. I left once I killed the girl who did it. It doesn't get any better."
Arya drew attention to some discoloration on her forearm, a notable shade of pink against the rest of her skin. "This is from a red priest in Asshai. He tried to burn me when I stopped him from trying to needlessly sacrifice a little boy to their red god."
She raised a leg out of the water to rest on the rim of the tub. The remnants of a long gash went along her calf. "That's from one of the Son of the Harpy in Slaver's Bay. They were supposedly killed off when Daenerys retook Mereen, but a few were still trying to reclaim their old ways. I saved some young girls from one who was trying to force them into becoming whores, and I got this mark right before killing that man."
Arya leaned forward a bit to draw attention to her back, with more gashes running vertically to her spine. "And those are from Dothraki I ran into in the northern parts of the Dothraki Sea. Had to fight off a khalasar that tried raiding my crew."
As she resumed her position from before, leaning back against Gendry's chest, Arya took hold of his hands and dragged them underwater, letting them rest across her stomach.
"I've had two years to see the world, to think about what's most important in life. What I can do to make the world a better place. What's the point of experiencing life if you're not able to do it with the people you love by your side? So I'd like to propose a compromise with you."
Gendry gave his full attention.
"I would like for you to come see the world as I've seen it. You can observe how other cultures live their lives, how they rule. It would do you some good. It wouldn't be around the world like I did, just shorter trips to the Free Cities at first before going on longer travels. And in return, I would like Storm's End, or wherever in the Stormlands, to be my base of operations, when I'm not spending time in the North. Spend time with you. Get to know the Lord you became and for you to know the princess I am."
"You call yourself Princess now?" Gendry asked.
"That title suits me more than lady. And if things progress well enough, if we're ready, maybe we can have a wolf pack to call our own. Or herd of stags."
"So does that mean,"
Arya interrupted Gendry by dragging his left hand over her breast. She should still feel his erection against her backside, so she raised herself, grabbed it, and lowered so that her sweet cunt surrounded it.
"You have quite the start of a family now. I would be honored to be a part of it," Arya softly said into his ear.
The she-wolf then started gyrating her hips, rising up and down on the lord's cock. She heard Gendry's groans as their motions made the water in the tub rock like the waves battering the cliffs of the region.
"Are you seducing me, Arya?" Gendry asked, ever the stator of the obvious.
"What gave it away?" Arya said, dumbfounded that her stag could still be as dumb as she remembered. "It's working, right?"
Gendry grabbed Arya's waist to spin her around and face him. He reached a hand behind her head and pushed her lips towards his. Arya draped her arms over Gendry's shoulders as she reciprocated.
"You needn't go through all this," Gendry got out as Arya continued kissing other portions on his face. "I would've said yes to anything you had to say."
"It's fun. You can't tell me you're not enjoying this."
From the way Gendry continued kissing her and gripping her body, still causing the water to vigorously splash, he was.
"Let's move to the bed," Arya commanded.
The two didn't bother drying off as Gendry stood up from the tub holding Arya in his hands, the two still kissing. The thick bed sheets absorbed all the excess water from their bodies as Arya was plopped down and the stag climbed on top of his wolf mate. His hands dug into the sheets as she dragged her fingers across his abdominal muscles. Gendry's manhood entered her again, thrusting hander than Arya ever felt. More than the first time they made love and moreso than on her travels.
"Gods, I missed this," Arya moaned.
"So did I," Gendry breathed back.
The lord's back was arched so that his muscular body wouldn't have the chance to crush his lover. Arya grabbed his hips and swept a leg against his, throwing Gendry onto the bed so that Arya would sit firmly on his lap. She bounced up and down on his cock, her hands firmly planted against his shoulders. The two maintained eye contact, and as Gendry occasionally let his eyes drift down to gaze at the rest of her body, Arya ran a hand along his chin, urging him to look back up at her face.
After they climaxed, Arya fell off onto the large bed, remembering that Gendry had one of the spare bedrooms made up for her. She had the feeling she wouldn't be using it this evening.
"I hope didn't take away any more of your honor than I already have," Gendry japed.
"I've seen acts at the pleasure houses of Lys much more foul than what we did," Arya retorted. "So, what do you think of my proposition?"
"I'm thinking of saying yes. There are more than enough Baratheons here to manage if I'm gone. And Edric's a natural at this lord business."
Arya walked her fingers slowly along Gendry's chest to his shoulder and along the length of his arm. She gazed into his blue eyes, taking in this long-lost feeling inside of her.
"If not now, I'm sure I can convince you by morning."
I don't know if I want to continue this from here or not, though Gendry in non-Westerosi environments sounds fun.