Chaos never came in short supply at the Crossroads Inn, Gendry thought to himself as he was repairing the exterior of the Inn after the most recent wolf attack. The attacks did not occur too often, but often enough that Gendry and some of the Brother's had to make a small underground shelter for the children to stay in when the wolves got too close.
Gendry usually always heard the howling in time to round up the children, or Willow would come and grab him. But last night, Gendry had been so wrapped up in his work in the forge that no sound touched him. He had only realized the wolves were close when they had already reached the small Inn, and he saw several of them outside. He wasn't sure what to do and could only hope everyone was in the shelter. Gendry had been contemplating what to do, when his gaze was met by the fiercest yellow eyes he had ever seen. The wolf had just been sitting and stared at him. She didn't seem like she was going to kill him, so Gendry just held her gaze, letting his mind wonder to a girl he had known who often spoke of a wolf with yellow eyes. As he let his thoughts turn to her, the girl he tried not to let himself think of, he had heard the scream. He broke the wolf's gaze and turned toward the scream. When he looked back, the wolf was gone.
Luckily the scream hadn't been from anything extreme, just the wolves scaring the children as they had tried to enter the shelter containing Jeyne, Willow and all of the orphans. And here he was now, fixing the doors of the shelter, making them sturdier for their next wolf encounter.
When he finished, he returned his tools to the forge and then headed to the Inn for some food where Willow was there waiting for him. "Took you long enough to fix that Gendry", she said smiling.
"I didn't realize I was being timed," he replied, offering a small smile. "What's for dinner?"
"Who knows? Our stores are running really short after the wolves last night, so we are just mixing all the food together to make some sort of meal."
Gendry sighed at that, hoping that the Brotherhood would be returning soon with more food. "Well we will just have to make do." Gendry let Willow return to her duties and went into the main part of the Inn and sat down at an empty table waiting for dinner to be served.
Moments later, Jeyne and Willow came out of the kitchen with trays of food for all the orphans. All the children quickly sat down to receive their food, which Willow began handing out, while Jeyne headed towards him and set his dinner on the table, "Here ya go Gendry, wish I could give you more, but we don't have much left."
"It's fine, Jeyne, really. I just hope the Brotherhood comes soon."
"Me too. Those wolves got way too close last night. We were lucky to all get to the shelter in time. But we were all so worried about you" Jeyne expressed longingly.
Shaking his head, Gendry replied "I'm fine. Luckily the wolves only seemed interested in the Inn, not the forge." Well except one wolf he added to himself, not being able to get that wolf out of his mind.
Jeyne gently placed her hand on his arm, "Well I don't know what we would do without you."
Feeling uncomfortable, Gendry just turned his gaze to his food, "The Brotherhood would just send someone else to watch over the young ones. Nothing to worry about."
"Well even so, we would all miss you." He refused to meet her gaze, knowing the longing that would show in her eyes. Everyone, including himself, knew that Jeyne had feelings for him. Jeyne was a very generous person, a bit plain, but with a kind heart. However, he could never return any sort of affection that she had for him. I'm far too broken for that, he thought.
Getting lost in his thoughts, he hadn't realized that Jeyne was still speaking "…for a few nights."
"Sorry, what did you say?"
Jeyne sighed, shaking her head and repeated herself "I said that you should stay in the Inn for a few nights to help care for the little ones. They are just so scared from the wolves. And who knows if they will come again?"
Jeyne often tried to request that Gendry stayed in the Inn, however he never did because he didn't want to give Jeyne the wrong impression. And really, he was just in the forge, which was close enough for him to get to the Inn within seconds if anything were to happen.
When he looked up to meet Jeyne's gaze again, her cheeks were flushed and she quickly looked to her feet. "The wolves had their fill so they shouldn't be back for a while. And you know I'm not one for soothing children."
"They like your strong presence."
"Well thanks for the offer, but I will stay in the forge. If anything were to come, the forge has all the weapons, so that's where I should be."
"Okay. Just let me know if you change your mind." Jeyne drew back reluctantly and went to join Willow and the other children as they ate together. While Gendry did enjoy Willow and Jeyne's company, the children needed them more, and he had always been fine on his own.
While eating, Gendry's thoughts turned back to the wolf, wondering why she didn't attack him. He had been so caught up in the moment, he hadn't even had his hammer in his hand, he would have been easy kill. But instead she had just left. Gendry couldn't help thinking of a certain wolf girl who had left him. It had been over five years since he'd last seen her, everyone thought her long dead. He never wanted to believe them though. She was the strongest person he had ever met, she could survive anything. Gendry only wished that he could be there with her, wherever she was.
