Hello Everyone! This is my first story ever so please be kind, but offer as much constructive criticism as possible. Thinking this might be a relatively short story. Mainly leading up to their reunion with flashbacks to their time together. Rating is T but will probably M in later chapters.
Happy Reading
Chapter 1
She hated herself for staying with the Brotherhood, but would have hated herself more for leaving. She had to stay...in case he returned. The months in his absence seemed like years and Arya realized that although she had felt alone in the world before she was never truly alone until the day he left her. She had promised to keep needle sheathed and not run away from the Brotherhood if they promised to do everything in their power to get Gendry back. She hadn't felt an anger like this since the day her father died and the anger seemed to be the only thing she could still grasp to. She had another name to her list now and the Red Woman's name had fallen upon her lips every night since. The name brought little solace to her as she remembered the first night he was taken.
She was preparing to lay out her furs for the night only to find them looking much to small without his next to hers. It had been more than 4 years since they had not slept next to each other for warmth. She was a child of the North and had always found comfort in the cold nights icy chill, but that night the lack of warmth next to her made her blood run cold.
They had come together under the most unlikely of circumstances. She was only 13 at the time. A scrawny little thing that easily passed as a boy or so she thought until he called her bluff one day when they were collecting water.
"Why are they after you? Did you really kill somoneone or is it just because you're a girl" Gendry asked.
"Im not a girl!" Arya shouted back in retort, her voice shaking.
Gendry's blue eyes stared down at her. "Well then pull your cock out and take a piss then" he said gruffly.
Arya froze in fear. This was it, she would be exposed. She had been traveling with the men long enough to hear them talk about how long it had been since they had a woman and what they would do if they came across one in a nearby town. She hoped they would just kill her. She doubted there even a chance that this boy would keep her secret.
"Lommy and Hot Pie can't know. No one can" she whispered fighting back tears that had been building up since the day of her fathers death. She willed herself to keep strong as she looked up at him. His jaw had slacked and his eyes softened. She saw something new in them. Whether it pity or concern she couldn't tell.
"Well they won't. Not from me he said anyway." He said as if he were taking an oath.
It was that moment that she knew she could trust him. She had always been a good judge of character and could see that the boy, as bull-headed as he may be, was loyal to his word. She had then confided in him the extent to which she was hiding. His face quickly tensed up again as she told him of her family's name.
"So you're a lady then" he said looking as though he may be sick.
"No … well my mother was a lady and my sister Sansa was one but I…" she quickly stuttered.
"No but you're a lords daughter and lived in a castle…" His brows creased again as if all this thinking pained him.
"Look all the stuff I said about cocks I never should have….and I been pissing in front of you" his voice drifted.
" I should be calling you m'lady" he said decidily, not sure whether he should remain standing or take a knee.
He thought back to the events before this when he had just thought of her as some orphan girl who saw joining the watch as her only option. He had known that he needed to look after her because it wouldn't have been long before she got herself into trouble picking fights with people twice her size. Since then he had made sure to lie down next to her as the slept and always found an excuse to be nearby whenever she went to relieve herself in the woods privately. But now it was all different, she was a lady. What could a blacksmith's watchful eye do to protect her. His thoughts were interrupted by he sudden shout.
"DO NOT CALL ME M'LADY" she said the glint of steel returning to her grey eyes.
He couldn't help but smile .Lady or not this was still Arry. If there was anyone that needed protection it was Arry, not that he would ever say that to her.
"As my lady commands" he said still smiling while leaning into an exaggerated bow.
She pushed him roughly moving him not but an inch.
"Well that was unladylike" he said laughing now. He was happy to see she had returned to her usual self and hoped he would never again be the cause of the look of fear she had just moments ago.
With a huff she pushed him with both hands forcing him to trip over a branch and send him to the floor. And that's where she left him as she stormed off hearing his deep laughter continuing.
Arya hadn't thought about that day in such a long time. She didn't need to because since then Gendry had proven his loyalty everyday since and she did the same for him. As time went on they faced unimaginable trauma and their bond grew stronger not only out of necessity, but out of something else Arya could not even name. No matter how many times he denied it, he was her family and she was his. And now he was gone and she was once again a wolf without her pack.
She shifted uncomfortably on the hard ground as she tried to find a comfortable position. Months, had past since he was taken and she had still not been able to sleep without the comfort of his arms wrapped around her when they slept. Her nightmares began to wake her from her sleep once again, but this time there was another face that haunted her along with her families', that of a boy with striking blue eyes. And it was this boy who had comforted her from her nightmares when she was young. This boy who would listen to her recount her nightmares fighting sleep from his eyes. This boy who would pull her in close and stroke her hair until she once again was able to go back to sleep.
Arya drew a deep breath as she turned over in her furs once more and began to drift in and out of sleep until dawn began to break.
She awoke the next morning to the sounds of the rest of the brotherhood going about their work. Begrudgingly she got up and rolled her furs up. She had gotten up later than usual and knew that a few of the men would already be down by the river bathing and she had missed her opportunity to do the same.
Anguy had offered to keep watch by the river as Gendry had always done, but Arya rejected the offer opting to just bathe early enough that everyone would still be asleep. It wasn't that she didn't trust the Brotherhood, but Gendry had reminded her enough times that they were men with certain desires. Arya rolled her eyes at the memory.
"But they wouldn't want me" Arya had said frustrated as if explaining to simpleton. " I'm just a brother to all of them and there's nothing to see."
Gendry huffed loudly making him look more like a bull then ever. He had no idea how he got roped into this conversation.
"Arya" he said in a tone reminiscent of her father, " You're not 13 anymore, you haven't passed as a boy for quite some time now and you can't just be walking around like that.
This had all started because the group had gotten caught in a rainstorm. Arya had never been one for the confines of layers of clothes and never had seen the purpose of wearing a breast band anyway. The rain had soaked through her shirt leaving it soaking wet and as sheer as possible.
" Well I bloody well can't control the weather!" Arya threw back at Gendry.
If she was being honest she had noticed that men had began to look at her differently. Some would leer a bit more than she liked and Anguy had become a little more hands on in their archery practice…not that she would ever admit this to Gendry.
Gendry mumbled a silent prayer to the Gods, something about giving him strength with this wolf girl, before sighing patiently.
"Look all I'm saying is to be a bit more careful. From now on I'll stand watch while you bathe and I'll make sure you get some better shirts." Gendry said knowing this was bound to start another argument he really didn't want to have.
"And before you start shouting at me, I promise that if you don't fight me on this I'll make you a new sword at the next inn we come to with a decent forge."
"Deal!" said Arya hurridly knowing that an extra layer of fabric was a small price to pray for the new sword she had been begging Gendry to make her for weeks.
He had been true to his word and after that day he always stood a few feet away while she bathed. He always kept his back turned as they talked, her splashing in the water and he picking at the grass. But now she had no friend to talk to as she bathed, so her baths were quick and quiet, no longer something she looked forward to.
She figured since she already missed her bath for the day she should find Anguy to see if they could have their archery lesson before breakfast. She was one of the, if not the most, skilled swordsman of the group but the bow still caused her trouble.
When she found him he was already sitting down with a bowl in one hand, she noticed another bowl next to him.
"Saved you a bit of breakfast since you decided to sleep half the day." He said jokingly.
She rolled her eyes at his exaggeration , but thanked him anyway. Sometimes she was angry at him for thinking he could just fill Gendry's role, but other times she was thankful to have somebody close to her she could still talk to.
"Ca' ee actice ay" she said her mouth full of gruel.
He laughed again.
"It isn't very ladylike to speak with food in ones mouth" he said smiling.
She swallowed quickly.
"Can we practice today?" she asked again.
"Sorry love, were on the move as soon as your finished." He said scraping the last bits of food from his own bowl.
"But we're not suppose to leave until tomorrow" she said indignitley " We still have to hunt some food to store."
"Well if you would rather stay" his voice drifting a bit "But word is there's been sighting by the docks of some large angry looking fellow that came in on a rowboat….and he's carrying a warhammer."