"Mommy, where are we going?" A small boy with ice blue eyes looked up at his mother. She smiled down at him, her face smudged with soot and nose red from the cold.
"We are going to King's Landing, sunshine." She squeezed his hand tightly a few time, and listened to him giggle. She smiled sadly. She walked slowly toward her destination towing her little bright eyed 4 year old behind her. His eyes were wide; he looked at everywhere to try to take in as much as he could. He looked at the sparkling trees, still covered in dew from the chilled night. He looked down at his feet as the wet ground made small squishy sounds as he and his mother stepped through the muddy ground. He smiled at the small spittle of mud that kept flying up his legs and his mother's. The small boy was so enthralled in his little discoveries that he barely noticed the tears streaming down his mother's face. She cried silently as the small boy frolicked beside her, never letting go of her hand.
His trust is so definite. She thought. My poor boy… She looked forward and through her tears, she could see the skyline and King's Landing peaking as they scampered up the hill.
"I'll race you, Momma!" exclaimed the little boy. He ran up the hill, his jaunty little legs carrying him, letting himself be pushed by the wind toward the top of the hill. The young woman smiled and wiped her tears away as she chased her toddler up the hill. When the dark haired boy reached the top he stopped, and gasped. His mother stepped up behind him and kneeled to his level.
"This, my son, is King's Landing."
The little boy's eyes glowed at the tall towers that stretched high beyond the walls that surrounded the city. "Who lives there, Momma?" He turned to face his mother, meeting her eyes. She blinked back a few tears, knowing that what she should be saying. You do, dear, sweet Gendry. You shall live here. , but instead she kissed him sweetly on the brow and told him "The King lives there, sunshine."
Gendry's eyes lit up, making tears well in his mother's eyes. "King Robert?"
"Yes, sunshine. King Robert lives in that tower, right there." She pointed upward to the largest, tallest tower, where she believed the King slept. "And his Lord Eddard Stark lives there." She pointed to a tall tower off the left side of the King's tower: the tower of the Hand.
"Can we go there?" Gendry looked up at his mother, tugging her hand eagerly.
"No, sunshine. We can't go to the castle. It's no place for common-folk like me… or you, sunshine." Smiling sadly, she pulled her beloved son into her arms to hug him tightly. "Come, this way." She led him towards a side entry into the Kingdom of King's Landing. There, a man stood, waiting for something.
Gendry cooed and sighed at the beauty of the barrier wall as they walked closer towards it, blind to where his mother was leading him.
The man that stood on the edge of the wood was a burly, hardened man. His eyes were cold as he watched the woman and her small child waddle towards him.
"Momma, who's that?" The little boy asked his mother. She shushed him and tugged him along, stopping in front of the enormous man. The woman met the waiting man's eyes and nodded solemnly.
"I am Tobho Mott, and you are my new smith hand." Tobho's voice boomed, making the small child move to cover his ears. "No crying, boy!" The man boomed again. Gendry cringed, feeling tears of fear gather along his long bottom lashes.
"Gendry, you mustn't cry. Be a big boy, please. Be a big boy for Momma." His mother's voice now showed her fear; cracking and breaking as she hypocritically told her son to be strong. Kneeling down to be eye level with her little boy, the light haired woman ran her fingers through her son's dark hair.
"Gendry," she started. "Gendry, I must leave you here, with Tobho. You need to stay here, and work with him, to be an ironsmith, and to work for the King." Tears had begun to flow freely down his mother's face, and wee Gendry's eyes softened in confusion.
"Momma, why are you crying?" He raised a hand to soothe his mother. "Just come with me!" He smiled hopefully, waiting for her response. At this, his mother began to cry harder, yielding small wailing noise.
The large man laughed. "No, we don' need another bitch 'round to complicate things! Just you, boy!" He reached for Gendry, grabbing him firmly by the upper arm.
"Ouch!" The boy exclaimed. "You're hurting me!" At his exclamation, the boy received a quick blow to the back of the head. His young mother wailed harder as the Ironsmith hit her son, but knew that he was no longer in her care.
"That'll be whatcha get e'rytime you be talk back, boy." He held the boy close to his face, Gendry's feet dangling several feet from the ground. "Now, say goodbye to your mother!"
Tobho dropped Gendry onto the dirt ground, and watched him leap into his mother's arms.
"Don't go, Momma!" It was now that the boy started to cry, tears smearing the dirt that had settled onto his pale face, contrasting into his dark hair, which was also ridden with dirt.
"Go, Gendry!" His mother pried his arms off her, which were squeezing tightly around her neck, and shoved him into Tobho's arms. Then she watched the horse sized man lumber off, holding her 4 year old son, as he kicked and fought with every breathe to get back to her arms.
"Momma!" He cried for her. "Momma! Momma, no!"
"Goodbye, my Gendry." She whispered, tasting her salty tears run into her mouth. "My sweet, sweet boy…" She watched until the gate was closed and she could no longer hear the sound of him calling for her, though she sensed that the man had hit him again.
She suddenly felt cold, and she pulled her small, tattered shawl tighter around her shoulders and stumbled off back home, still crying. When she got to the top of the hill, she looked back and saw the shimmering city of King's Landing where her boy would grow up. That was where he was meant to grow u. She thought. His father truly was the King, that boy his bastard. But I've hidden him where no one else may look for him; right under Queen Cersei's nose.
So long as Robert was King, she knew that neither she nor her son were in any danger. Robert would never visit him again and he would never dare bed the same whore. She was safe, and more importantly, her son was safe.