Chapter 37: Truth
The streets were busy, people were preparing for the New Year's feast to be held on the morrow and the celebrations that would be held tonight. Gendry walked quickly, making his way down to the Great Sept of Baelor, his heart hammering. He wondered if he would find out more about his mother, or if this was some sort of elaborate plot or some such. He hoped not, he was not sure if he could take that. He kept walking, up, then down, and then up again. He got to the Great Sept, said a quick prayer and then entered.
The hallway was largely empty, there were a few people saying prayers, but they soon left. He kept walking, wondering where to find the person who would tell him what he had wanted to know his entire life. He saw a figure then, standing before him, hooded and tall. The figure gestured and started walking toward a closed off section. Gendry followed wordlessly, some part of him screaming that this was a trap. He ignored that part of his mind and kept going. The figure continued walking before disappearing behind a door. Gendry followed.
The room he entered was dimly lit, there were images and paintings and figures. A half man half serpent was before him and something else, images of Targaryens and Stags, and the Black dread, and something else. A book and a scroll and other things. He ignored them, and stopped before the figure of the Conqueror. "Who are you? Why did you call me here?" He called out. He was greeted by silence. "Do you have anything to actually tell me or not?" he went to walk away but then a voice replied, it was raspy.
"I have everything to tell you and more. The truth as it has been for generations." The voice said.
"What do you mean?" Gendry demanded, he had no time for riddles or anything else, and he was already getting a bad feeling for this.
"What do you know about your mother?" the voice asked.
"I know she smiled and laughed a lot, and I know she sang to me. I know she died." Gendry said.
The figure laughed. "Do you remember what she looked like, or what she sounded like?"
Gendry's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because the time has come for you to know the truth." The figure said, its voice taking on a different tone then. "Your mother was not some common whore or woman. She was a lady of a very old and prominent house. The Hand of the King saw her as his niece and she was. Your mother was a Lady of House Waynwood, someone who had been meant to marry his nephew Ser Elbert, before Elbert died. But, this is not why I have asked you to come here. I have asked you to come here because, your mother grew up with your father. Indeed they were as close as two people could be. They laughed and loved. And your father wished to make their relationship official, but your mother would not unless he married her. And so, in order to make this so, he did. He wed her before a Septon in the Vale, before the Tourney of Harrenhal and before he was even betrothed to Lyanna Stark. He married her and they loved one another and then he was betrothed to Stark and went to war. He remained married. Even as he was wed to another. Jon Arryn found out about the marriage and had to hide the baby, and his niece, lest your father's new wife's family found out. And so he did. He hid your mother in a convent, though she took no vows, and he hid you in plain sight. In King's Landing."
Gendry looked at the figure his heart racing. "Who is my father?" He demanded
The figure laughed. "Look at yourself, lad. Look at your hair and your eyes. Look at how the royal family have reacted every time you pass them by, who do you think you father is?"
Gendry thought about it and then gasped. "No! That cannot be true. You are lying. King Robert would never do something so dishonourable. He loved Lady Lyanna."
The figure snorted. "Of course he would say that, or rather that's what his allies wanted the people to believe. Otherwise what else would he do to rebel? No. Robert Baratheon never loved Lyanna Stark. He never did and never would. He loved her brother, as a brother, and he loved your mother as a man loves his wife."
"How do I know you are not lying?" Gendry demanded. "Where is your proof?"
The figure stepped forward, and removed their hood. Gendry gasped. "Why would I lie to you lad?" Tobho Mott said.
"How? How could you know? You're just a blacksmith!" Gendry replied.
Mott laughed. "Oh, aye that's what I told you and everyone else who asked. But really, I was the witness to the marriage between your mother and father. I was their witness and I held you in my arms, when you were born."
"Who are you?" Gendry demanded.
"That does not matter." Tobho Mott said. "My name is irrelevant. All that matters now is that you know."
"But that means, that means I am the rightful King?" Gendry asked.
"Aye, lad." Mott produced a stack of papers and said. "Right here is the certificate of record, that acknowledges the marriage. But we must leave and quickly, before your brother decides to do something stupid." Mott grabbed his arm and they walked out of the room, and went through another door and down some steps, and through a tunnel, and before Gendry knew it they were on a ship.
"Where are we going?" He asked.
"To your home, to meet your mother." Mott said.