CHAPTER 13: FEATURES
He was certain he would be sick if they did not get to Storm's End soon. He had slept through half of the journey, and he would still be hidden inside his cabin if Andry had not gotten bored and demanded for him to go fishing on deck.
Davos had tried to teach him the basics about sailing, and explained how When properly positioned, the sail's leading edge—the luff—points into the wind, creating higher pressure on the windward side (the side facing the wind) and lower pressure on the leeward side (the side away from the wind) and then The sail "lifts," or moves, toward the lower-pressure side causing the boat to move. This happens because the sail isn't a flat sheet of cloth, it's curved, like a wing and the air traveling over the topside of the curved portion travels faster than that traveling on the underside. (The curvature, or "draft," is built-in by the sailmaker, through careful cutting and sewing of the narrow panels that make up the sail.) He remembered the conversation word by word, but he was not able to understand halve the things Davos told him. He was too busy not vomiting in front of 150 people, anyway.
Having Andry back with him was entertaining to say the least. He was excited to see his family again, and he loved the idea of living in a new place, as long as he could play his piano. He had been asking about Storm's End since Gendry told him they where sailing there. That is why Gendry started asking everybody what they knew about the place. He mainly heard stories about its huge keep, details about how wide it was on one side and how narrow on the other. However, he knew that Andry would not like those stories so he told him the legend that surrounded their new home.
According to legend, the castle was raised by the first Storm King, Durran Godsgrief, who married the goddess Elenei. Because this marriage doomed her to die a mortal's death, her parents, the god of sea and goddess of wind, raised a great storm that shattered the castle and downed the wedding party, save for Durran, who was protected by Elenei.
When the storm had ended, Durran rebuilt his castle, but again the gods destroyed it. Refusing to give up and move inland, he built five more castles in succession; and four where battered down by storms. The seventh was finally built strong enough to withstand the storms blowing in from Shipbreaker Bay. There are several theories about the building of the final castle; one myth is that a child who would become Brandon the Builder told Durran how to build it, another that the children of the forest helped raise it with magic...
Nevertheless, the stories did not prepare him for what he saw when they arrived in their new home. The castle stood tall and strong, like a fist provoking the skies and Shipbreaker Bay was stunning.
When they finally got off the ship Gendry and Davos leaded the group of men and women to the castle. That is when Gendry spotted her, his cousin Shireen. She was not as unlovely as a lot of people had said: yes, the poor child was unlucky enough to inherit her mother's large ears and her father's square, jutting jaw, but she had a pair of beautiful blue eyes. Gendry tried not to look too much to the greyscale on the left side of her face and neck and smiled warmly.
"Let me introduce myself, my lady: my name is Gendry Baratheon and this is the Steel Company."
Shireen smiled and Gendry noticed she was prettier when she did so. She curtsied and offered him her hand. Gendry took it and followed her through the castle while she explained every detail regarding the building.
"How have you been, my lady?"
"Cousin, if you are to be king, I believe you can call me by my name."
"How have you been Shireen?"
"I have been well, thank you. Storm's End is beautiful and the weather is nice, even if it suddenly starts raining. How was your journey?"
"Entertaining, to say the least. I do not enjoy travelling by ship, I prefer walking or riding to my destination, but sailing was faster and saver. I assume this castle has never seen so many people in a while, I am afraid you will have to get used to the noise."
"I will manage... Will you?"
"I have been living in a place full of loud men for the past months, and before that I lived with Ally an Eddrick... Believe me, there is no way a human being can win either of them on a shouting contest." Shireen giggled when she heard that. "Have you heard anything about the Targaryens?"
"No, not yet. As you know y father wanted me here for my safety, but we have not heard from them..."
"Do not worry... No news is good news, right?"
"That is what they say... I should let you get changed, you must be tired and supper will be served soon..."
"I will get myself ready, then." Gendry accompanied his cousin to her chambers. Before he left he noticed she was looking for something or someone. "Do you need any help?"
"My handmaiden appears to be missing, again. Do not worry, she does it some times... When she gets overwhelmed..."
Gendry asked a serving boy to take him to his chambers after that. The blond boy guided his through the hallways until they reached what Gendry supposed had been Renly's chambers. They were big and luxurious, as big and luxurious as the ones he had had in Lorath: rich pale golden sheets, black rugs, golden curtains, a white piano... He asked the boy to prepare his bath and chose his outfit for the night. He found a folded note on the bottom of his trunk, and he could not help but smile when he read it. Ally had clearly written down witch colour combined with witch, and witch did not; she had also explained the whole science behind that. He suddenly realised that, according to Ally's standards, he was committing clothing murder if he wore what he had chosen.
He was walking to the Great Hall when he bumped into someone. That someone was a girl, a beautiful girl, a few years younger than him, with beautiful features and dark hair. She had a frightened look on her deep green eyes, and she ran away before he could apologise.
He entered the hall and greeted his men. He saw Shireen saving him a seat at the main table, so he headed that way. He sat down beside her and talked to her the whole time, only leaving her side when he left to tuck Andry in. He even danced with her a couple of times, trying not to step on her feet.
A servant girl approached him after their third dance, and offered him some water. She was not the girl he had seen before, this was even more beautiful than the previous one. Her face was not as round and her eyes were grey, the perfect tone of stormy grey. He was about to smile like a fool when a blond lock of her got out of the kerchief she was wearing on her head. Gendry smiled and thanked the girl, before excusing himself and getting out of the hall.
He was almost running to his chambers when he bumped into someone. He realised that someone was a woman when she started swearing like a sailor. He got up as soon as he heard her say the words You stupid bastard... That was it, that was her, dressed as a man, dark brown haired, dark brown eyed... no, those eyes were wrong, her voice was wrong too, the shape of her face was not the same... He sighted and left the place without looking back.
He got into his new chambers and undressed himself. He had been acting irrationally the whole night. Her ghost was suddenly everywhere. He had almost been able to let her go, and suddenly he was seeing her everywhere again. He was not sure if it was his impending marriage or the stress that being on his own again caused, but he had been constantly dreaming about her, just as he had in Braavos.
He opened the window in order to get some fresh air in the room and he saw a rider arrive to the stables. He was not thinking about he was doing when he put his boots on and ran outside the keep. He quietly opened the door, and saw a girl brushing a horse.
Gendry got ready for another disappointment. She was short, dressed in men's clothing and was humming softly. Her hair was on a braid and the features on her face were the same as seven years before. She was there, right before him and he was frozen.
"Arry?"
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He did not want to go back to the castle. He would do anything to avoid the awkward situation he would have to face if he went back. He had to admit that locking her up in her chambers had not been the best idea, but he had known she would have not been needed... It did not matter. She would kill him the moment she could set her hands on him, that was at least what Eddrick's eyes said.
It had been weeks since Gendry left to Storm's End and Jon had done anything he could think of to make the youngest Baratheon warm up to him. Their relationship was definitely better now, but Ed did not fully trust him yet.
His relationship with Ally had been going better the last few weeks, but he was sure that would change today. He had locked her in her room when Sam told him they had seen wildlings trying to climb The Wall. He was not sure why he had done it, it had been a decision made at the spur of the moment, but he deeply regretted it then.
He walked all the way that separated the yard an Ally's chambers. He found Gilly before he took his last turn to the left.
"How have things been here?"
"I've seen caged wolfs who were calmer Lord Jon... She's angry..."
Jon took a deep breath before unlocking the door and getting into the chambers. He had only taken a step inside when a rather large vase smashed extremely close to his head.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"
"Ally, calm down..."
"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN JON! YOU LOCKED ME UP ON MY OWN CHAMBERS AND YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHY DID YOU NOT LET ME FIGHT?"
"They were just some wildlings... We were never in real trouble..."
"I DO NOT CARE IF THEY WERE JUST A DOZEN OF BIRDS ATTACKING THE WALL I HAVE THE RIGHT AND THE OBLIGATION TO HELP."
"Ally... Your brother, your uncle and I..."
"Will be burned to ashes if you do not stop treating me like if I were a damsel in distress. I was the one that saved your sorry butts on our first battle here, Āeksion and I have been helping The Wall for the past months... I expect my overprotective brothers to treat me as I were a child, but not my future husband… I thought you understood that, Jon."
"I do… I really do… I just…"
"You just... What?"
"I just do not want you to get hurt. I know that it is an irrational fear, and that you can take care of yourself, but I would just prefer if you stayed out of this meaningless fights..."
Jon knew that their relationship would not be an easy one. Ally was a lady, a rebellious lady, but a lady after all; and he had forgotten how to deal with women a long time ago. She was different to anyone he had met before, even the features of personality that she shared with Ygritte or Arya were expressed in a different way.
"I did not mean to..."
"What do you want Jon?"
"I am aware that I do not know how to treat you... And I am not promising not to make any more mistakes, because I am sure I will make plenty of them... You are fierce when you feel that you family is in danger... Do not get me wrong I believe it is an admirable quality, however, I was not sure you would be able to restrain yourself from burning those wildlings if they dared touch a hair on Eddrick's hair. I need those wildlings... I need to get information from them... That is why I did what I did. I am not saying it was right... I am just saying..."
"That I am unpredictable... I understand Jon, but I would have preferred if you had talked to me instead of locking my door."
"I know... I brought you something." Jon walked out from the room and took the small blue trunk he had left on the floor beside the door. "I heard you making a fuss about it the other day, and I decided to deliver it myself. Although, I must admit I thought it would be bigger and heavier."
"The trunk id not important Jon, the thing that it contains on the other hand..."
"Will you tell me? Or will I have to guess?"
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It was necessary... Everything he was doing was necessary. They had to pay, they could not get away with what they did, that is why he did what he did. They deserved it. The men following him thought the same way he did, so that ensured that what he was doing was right.
He was walking around their camp when he heard it again, something stepping on a branch. He stood still for a moment, and then turned around very slowly, that is when he saw the wolf again.
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