Gendry was about to meet the King in the North, and he wasn't quite sure what to think. Arya had talked about her brother Jon at times - she'd missed him quite a bit, more even than her trueborn brothers.

But that had been when he was a bastard, not a king, and even the hardest men often had soft spots in their hearts for their little sisters.

"What's he like?" Gendry asked Davos as they slushed through water.

Davos wasn't looking at him. "At the moment? Distracted. He just got word that his brother and sister were back in Winterfell. I understand that he was close with both of them, and he'd had no word of them in years. He'd thought they were dead."

Gendry felt his blood run cold. "Which sister?"

"Arya - Lady Sansa was there when they took back Winterfell, and she's been minding the North for him." Davos's tone was very off-handed; he didn't seem to notice that Gendry had gotten very still. "So remember - you're Clovis."

Gendry shook himself. "Right."

"The King's got a lot on his mind," Davos reiterated.

"I understand."

They went through a similar exchange two more times before they finally entered the cave, by which point Gendry had decided to ignore everything Davos was telling him and tell the king who he really was.

They stopped before a broody looking young man. "Your Grace," Davos started, "this is Clo-"

Gendry cut him off. "Gendry, your grace. I'm Robert Baratheon's son. Bastard son."

When he glanced over at Davos, the man's lips were pursed. He was clearly not amused.

Well, Gendry had seen the world and tasted adventure and helping something bigger than himself, even if the Brotherhood had sold him rather than let him join them, and even if he hadn't been able to keep Arya safe - though apparently she'd kept herself safe enough that she'd survived anyway. He was tired of working at King's Landing to outfit the Lannisters' armies. He wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity to break away from that life.

It wasn't until they were on the ship that he had a chance to elaborate. "So Davos tells me he saved you from Melisandre," the king said to him as they huddled around the fireplace. Out on the sea, the cold was biting, and even the wind howling against the windows made him feel uneasy. The king seemed fairly unmoved by all of it - Gendry supposed that was part of being a northerner. "What were you doing before that?"

Gendry stared into the flames for a moment, and then made up his mind. "Traveling with your sister."

Ser Jorah, who had been telling Davos some story or another about the queen's dragons, faltered. The room was suddenly silent.

"What?" the king asked, his tone suddenly cool.

Gendry looked over at him. The king's face was impossible to read. "My master in King's Landing sold me to the Night's Watch - Yoren, I think his name was. When we started north, he had a girl with him - she had short hair and she was pretending to be a boy, but I knew. Then she told me that she was Arya Stark and he was taking her home to Winterfell."

He wasn't sure that anyone had ever been quite as fixated on him as the king was just then. "And?"

"Well, it's a long story."

The king glanced around the small circle. "We've got time."

A/N: Reviews and favorites are always welcome! 3 If you enjoyed this story, please check out my other GoT cut scenes - they're on my author page, and you can also find them on AO3 and HPFanficTalk (under the penname abhorsen) in a more organized series.

- Branwen