"The Honored Guest" Chapter 25 Gendry

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Lord Connington approached Ned and gravely said, "Lord Stark, I am not comfortable with the son of the Usurper residing in this castle."

Ned replied, "We have had a similar conversation before. I do not want to hold innocent children responsible for the sins of the fathers. Gendry has no connection to Robert besides being of his seed. I plan to take him with me to Winterfell and raise him as one would the orphaned child of a dear friend. I will give the lad a choice. He can continue his apprenticeship with my smith, or he can study with my sons to prepare for knighthood or lordship. If he chooses lordship, I am convinced that we will have a dependable ally if he eventually becomes lord of the Stormlands, and not an adversary."

Conn: "Well, I guess I can put up with him for a little while if he is going to Winterfell soon. But that does not mean that I approve of his presence."

"From what I have seen, he is a good lad, and you shouldn't have a problem with him. Besides, he was instrumental in saving my daughter Sansa's life from Meryn Trant, and I owe him a debt."

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After his introduction to Harrenhal, Gendry made himself comfortable in the forge. He liked to keep busy, so he immediately set to work on the swords and armor that needed repairing. Blackthumb, the smith in residence, was a lazy man, and was delighted that Gendry wanted to temporarily take over his job. He made himself scarce and spent his time drinking ale with his friends of the castle guard. Gendry became immersed in his work, and after a few days, looked up in surprise to see Prince Aegon standing in the smithy, studying him. Gendry was only slightly older than Aegon, but Gendry was much larger and had a more powerful build.

Aegon scowled, "Your father killed my father. I am troubled by your presence here."

Gendry bowed his head and responded, "Your grace, that tragedy has nothing to do with me. All King Robert did for me is fuck my mother and then leave her to fate. I suppose I should be happy to be alive, but being born a bastard has not been a bed of roses. I did not even know that I was the King's bastard until a few months ago, and I only learned that because I was told that the Lannisters wanted to kill me! Prince Aegon, please do not think of me as your enemy, I have no wish for that."

Aegon was an honest youth, and slowly responded, "There really is no personal reason for you to be my enemy, and I would not wish it."

Gendry saw that the prince was struggling with his feelings, and sought to defuse the situation. He smiled and said, "Besides, we both have Stark daughters as friends, and the sisters would not want for us to have differences."

Aegon haltingly returned the smile, "Mayhaps you are right, Lady Arya would be wroth with me if I were angry with you for no reason. She is most severe about using common sense, and would see no possible quarrel between us."

Gendry replied, "I have only met Lady Sansa's younger sister briefly. The soldiers speak about the 'wolf girl' in camp. She certainly does not seem like a proper lady, but she must be a very unusual person."

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Ned came to the forge and spoke to Gendry. "If you like, you may travel on to Winterfell with us, and I would like for you to think about your future. If you want to continue your apprenticeship in the forge, my armorer, Mikken, will direct you. He may not be Tobho Mott, but he is very capable. However, you are the natural son of a lord of a Great House of Westeros, and you deserve the opportunity to prepare for a noble role. I cannot promise that you will become a lord, but you will be eligible to achieve a knighthood, if you desire it. Do you have any idea what you would like to do?"

Gendry looked bewildered, "Lordship? Knighthood? Milord, I am only a Flea Bottom bastard, and I never, ever considered what you are suggesting!"

Ned looked at him kindly, "Nevertheless, you are the son of my dearest, and now deceased friend and I owe you the opportunity to improve your life. You appear to have a good head on your shoulders, and you may attend lessons with my maester and master-at-arms. My boys will spar with you, and you will learn to wield a sword as well as craft one. Gendry, do you know your sums and letters?"

"Only enough to read work orders and calculate measurements, milord. I have not read any books."

"It makes no matter, Maester Luwin will see to your education." Ned paused and smiled at Gendry, "And one of my children is already concerned about your vocational choice."

The lad was mystified. "Milord?"

Lord Stark could not help but chuckle as he recollected his conversation with Sansa. "My older daughter inquired about you, and was hoping that you would be a suitable companion. What do you think, Gendry, would you like to have Sansa for a friend?"

Gendry blushed and stuttered, embarrassed because thoughts of how the beautiful girl had smiled at him were on his mind. "Milord, Lady Sansa is a highborn lady! It would be improper for me to speak to her as an equal!"

"Nonsense, Gendry, you are a member of my household now, my children will welcome you as a sibling. Just be careful around my younger daughter, Arya the wolf girl, she is inclined to bite if harassed."

"Milord? I don't understand."

Ned laughed, "Just an inside jape, Gendry. You will know of which I speak soon enough."

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Gendry was concentrating on a particularly difficult dent in a breastplate when he looked up and was surprised to see a messy young stableboy in his forge. But the lad had too many weapons shoved into his belt to be a stableboy, so he assumed it was a squire with a repair order for him. But the squire's gaze passed from his face to the swords scattered around the smithy, and he noticed that the youth actually had an attractive feminine face and large grey eyes. Gendry realized that this visitor was the wolf girl, lady Sansa's unusual younger sister, who he had only met briefly when he entered the camp. He remembered hearing that she was known to spar like a lad of her age and had an interest in swords. Gendry ducked his head in deference, and said, "Milady, I did not hear you enter."

The girl's eyes flashed and she immediately retorted, "Don't call me milady!"

Gendry looked confused, "But you are Lady Sansa's sister!"

"Aye, I am, but just call me Arya. I am not a lady."

Gendry was puzzled by the intruder. Arya had a toothy, but attractive smile, and spoke with the confidence, bearing, and education of a highborn girl. Why would she deny her title? He was intrigued and watched her carefully as she moved gracefully around the room, occasionally picking up a sword and testing its balance. Then she approached him and examined his recent work, including the breastplate. She is judging me!

When she was done, Arya looked at him with approval. She smiled and said, "Very good workmanship. I know something about smithing from watching Mikken at Winterfell. Here, this is the sword that he made for me." Arya carefully presented Needle to him.

Gendry admired the beautiful, almost delicate, sword, observing, This Mikken is a real craftsman. I look forward to meeting him. "This sword is sharp, light, and well-balanced, mila…., I mean Arya. It was obviously made to be your personal weapon. However, it is not a typical Westerosi sword, but appears to be of a foreign design."

Arya looked pleased with his deduction, and replied, "You are correct, Needle is modeled after a Braavosi rapier, and is not meant for slashing and hacking, but for a fighting style called the Braavosi water dance." She demonstrated a long sequence of steps with Needle, thrusting, parrying, dodging, swaying, and maneuvering.

Gendry was entranced, thinking, Lady Arya is right! It is truly like a dance, and she is such a graceful dancer! I have never seen swordplay performed so beautifully! He realized that this was no ordinary girl. She was serious about becoming a fighter, and had no patience with the behavior expected of highborn ladies. The young smith was now intrigued, and observed Arya closely. Her long brown braid had swayed seductively as she danced, and her eyes were penetrating and lovely. In her boyish breeches and tunic, she presented a strange appearance for a lady, but for all that, she was a very pretty girl. Gendry thought about what he had heard from others; that she was tough, fierce, and independent; and now he knew why Lord Stark had japed about his 'wolf girl' daughter. He realized that he was fascinated with his new acquaintance.

As Arya danced, she studied Gendry. He was very masculine, with a square jaw, broad shoulders, and muscular arms. His eyes were a captivating bright blue, and in contrast, he had glossy black shoulder-length hair. He looks so much like King Robert, but he is more handsome. No wonder Sansa imagines him as the knight of her dreams as Father has japed. Gendry was clean-shaven, but his chin was dark, she noted with approval. I expect that he could grow a thick beard like one of our Northern bannermen.

But as Gendry was mulling over his thoughts of Arya, she startled him by saying "You know, you could fuck Sansa if you wanted to. At dinner, all she talks about with her friend Jeyne is how handsome you are and how pleased she is that you are coming to Winterfell."

The young smith protested, "She is a lady! How can you talk about your sister like that?"

Arya mocked him, "Well, if you don't have the nerve to try to bed her, you should at least kiss her."

Gendry asks, "Milad….Arya, why are you speaking so coarsely about your sister?"

The wolf girl smirked, "I'd love to see my 'oh so perfect sister' get into trouble. It would be great if Septa Mordane saw her shamelessly groping you in the Godswood."

Now Gendry shook his head with a frown, "You would get me in trouble, too."

She laughed, "Father would excuse you. He knows that Sansa likes you, and he would prefer you to that awful Joffrey. Besides, he is fond of you because you remind him of his best friend and childhood companion."

Gendry shook his head again, "I still think that you a troublemaker, and I don't trust you. What kind of lady are you?"

Arya grinned, "The bad kind."

He was about to return to his work, when she spoke again. "I actually came here for a reason. I'd like you to craft a direwolf cloak clasp for Prince Aegon. You can use Nymeria as a model, and give the face golden eyes of glass beads."

Gendry saw his opportunity to disquiet Arya. "The direwolf is the sigil of your House, is it not? Is this to be a special gift?"

The wolf girl looked a little uncomfortable. "The prince is my close friend." She reached into her tunic and pulled out her necklace. "He gave me this in remembrance of our friendship, and I would like to return the favor."

Gendry recalled that the prince had made a point of stating that he considered Arya's thoughts to be important. He inspected the necklace carefully and smiled at her, "This is too fine a piece of jewelry to merely represent friendship. Is he your betrothed?" He waggled his eyebrows, "Are you in love with him? Do you swoon when he smiles at you? I wager that you are excited about marrying a prince!"

Arya blushed and was clearly embarrassed. She tried to sidestep his questions, and angrily retorted, "No! We are not betrothed! I am not going to marry him! We are just friends! I don't want to discuss this anymore! Just make the damned clasp!"

She gave him a scowl that could wither a flower and stormed out of the smithy. Gendry chuckled to himself, thinking, Lord Stark has very interesting daughters, I wonder what the sons are like?

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Note: I first brought up the idea of not holding children responsible for the actions of their parents in Chapter 6, 'A Visitor', before the concept appeared in Season 7, Episode One.