Part 35:

"Red and black, and black and red, the fire's all the same.
Red and black, and silver and gold, what difference is a name?
Waters flow, and rivers run, and grass grows still the same,
But rivers turn to bitter steel when waters turn to flame.

Fire red and fire black, and red grass field of blood.
Fire black and fire red, the truth is like a flood.
Blackfyre and Bittersteel, come lay with me my love,
And I will tell you secrets known by the gods above."

Gendry woke up with a start, he had been dreaming of his mum again, the dreams had become more frequent of late, and more vivid. This time he could almost remember her face… almost. He reached over towards where Arya should be on the bed but there was nothing but empty space. He opened his eyes and looked around the tent, there was no sign of her, but her armour and weapons were still there. He sighed and pushed himself out of bed, dressing quickly.

He wandered the camp for ages before a nervous guard pointed him towards the edge of the camp. "She didn't want any guards, m'lord, but I sent three to follow at a distance anyway." The man stammered.

Gendry nodded, he had finally learnt not to flinch whenever somebody m'lorded him but he was still not comfortable with it. "Thank you." He replied and started moving in the direction that the guard had pointed.

"M'lord?" The guard asked nervously.

He turned back to the man and smiled. "The three guards will be enough."

The man nodded and returned to his duties. Gendry continued the way that he had pointed, he hadn't gotten far from the edge of the camp when he saw the three guards, and beyond them Arya. She was standing in the middle of a field with her back to him looking up at the moon. She was barefoot and her hair was loose, she had on a long shirt and a pair of breaches. The shirt was far too big for her and hung almost to her knees, he instantly recognised it as one of his.

She looked beautiful.

He cleared his throat as he approached the guards so as not to startle them, the one in the middle turned and placed a hand on his sword. Gendry recognised him as Ser Bennon, one of Swann's men, one of the ones that had drawn a sword on Tobho Mott. Gendry stood still and waited for the knight to recognise him. The moon was over half full and the light was good yet it seemed to take a few seconds for Ser Bennon to make out who he was, slowly the man's hand moved away from his sword and he gave a stiff bow.

"Lord Baratheon." He acknowledged.

"Ser Bennon, you may stand aside." Gendry replied.

"Come to talk some sense into her, I hope." The knight muttered.

Gendry gave him a deadly look. "If I didn't know better I would think you weren't fond of that tongue." He retorted. "You are dismissed." He raised his voice. "You are all dismissed."

"You are unarmed," Bennon observed. "What if somebody attacks you?"

"Then you will no longer be forced to bow to an elevated blacksmith." Gendry replied coldly. "Although I doubt that there is anything out here that Arya cannot defeat, you are dismissed."

Ser Bennon let out a huff of disapproval. "You heard him, men, back to camp."

Gendry ignored them and took a few steps closer to Arya, she had paid no attention to the entire exchange, her face was still upturned towards the moon. Her back was straight and her shoulders square, the posture of a well-trained fighter, her hands rested lightly on her stomach… they still didn't know if she was pregnant and he knew the idea of being a mother terrified her. She had lost so much in her fight to survive, given up so many parts of herself, she knew how to be a soldier, to fight. She was even a good general, but then she had learned tactics from being a cupbearer at Twyin Lannister's table… but beyond that… it was surprising the things that made her uncertain.

Add to that the visions, the nightmares and the fever and you had a very volatile, very dangerous, very sensitive and breakable woman. Not that he would ever call her sensitive or breakable to her face, she'd hit him. She came across as cocky, arrogant, uncaring, but underneath it all was still the scared little girl that refused to cry. The angry little girl who had wanted to take on the Hound with her bare hands for killing her friend… The loyal little girl that had won his respect long before he had met the beautiful and deadly young woman that she had grown into.

Slowly she turned towards him and he could see the concern in her brow. He took a step closer then paused. "Arya?"

"It will be a full moon by the time we take King's Landing." Arya said softly.

He frowned. "I guess so, does it matter?"

"I… the dreams I've been having lately… it's a full moon." She was quite again.

He took a couple of steps closer and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. "These are the dreams with Melisandre in them?" He asked.

She hugged him tightly. "Yes." She replied.

He pulled back a little and stroked a strand of hair away from her face. "Tell me about the dreams." He asked. She went to shake her head and he caught her face. The dreams were killing her, maybe talking about them would help, he needed to find a way to get through to her but he didn't know how. He decided to take a risk and tell her what he had already worked out. "Nissa Nissa, tell me." He whispered.

Her eyes widened for a moment and she studied his face. "Not Nissa Nissa," she replied slowly. "Nyssa."

He swallowed thickly and nodded. "Nyssa H'ghar." He said slowly. "Sister of Kinvara H'ghar."

"Twin sister." She corrected.

"Well that makes sense." He muttered. "And you were both married to Jaqen?"

She nodded. "Gendry…"

"This is hurting you, Arya, I know you're trying to protect me but stop. Trust me, trust that I love you, all of you, and that I will accept whatever it is you are trying to shield me from. So you were once married to Jaqen in a former life and he recognised you. Am I concerned? Yes. Am I jealous? Also yes. Do I love and trust you and know that you love me? Yes. He may have been your blacksmith then, you may be somehow linked to him, but I know that you love me. I am not going to lose you to him any more than you are going to lose me to Melisandre, do you understand?"

She reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him. "I love you." She whispered when their lips finally parted.

"I know." He replied with a smirk. "Now talk to me."

She nodded. "Let's sit."

They sat in the field under the moon for over an hour. Arya told him about the recurring dream, about how it always started and ended with the red hand going over the moon, about how the hand would grab at Rhaegal and Daenerys would fall, about her daughter trying to escape her belly as the black goat waited underneath. She talked about how Kinvara, Nyssa and Jaqen were all born under the red comet… about her memories of that life.

She talked about how the ruling houses of Valyria had not only insisted on their union but incorporated some sort of blood magic into the ceremony. Dragons had been present and they had been forced to consummate the union in front of representatives from the highest families. She talked about how she believed that in becoming the first priestess of R'hllor Kinvara had somehow perverted death for all three of them, about how Jaq had tried to set her free and send her somewhere cold. Centuries later she had woken up inside of a Weirwood. "Tree's souls are different to people's souls." She said quietly. "I'm not Nyssa, I'm just a small part of her, my Aunt Lyanna was a small part of her also, and my grandmother… when the soul of Nyssa became aware again she had become part of something so much more, but finding her way back into human form was so much harder."

"And Jaqen?" Gendry asked.

"When his masters discovered that he could not die they used it against him. It was through him that they learnt how to create Valyrian steel. In time he started to give the gift to others that he could not take for himself."

"So we have to defeat Kinvara to set Jaqen and Nyssa free." Gendry said quietly. Arya nodded. They were sitting side by side on the ground, she was leaning into him and he had his arm around her. He tightened the grip for a moment, hugging her, and then voiced the question that freeing Nyssa raised. "And when Nyssa is free, what happens to Arya?"

"I don't know." Arya replied quietly, the fear evident in her voice.

He wrapped both arms around her and hugged her tightly. "And you think it's all going to come to a head this full moon?"

"Yes." She whispered.

Gendry held her closely. "That's not enough time." He whispered. "What if defeating Kinvara means that you die?" He felt hot tears on his cheeks. She held him just as tightly as he held her and he soon realised that she was also crying. He rubbed her back and buried his face in her hair. "That's not enough time." He repeated.

Tears soon moved to desperation, gentle touches quickly became something more, he pulled her fully onto his lap so that she was straddling him and lifted her chin, bruising her lips with his own. She responded with a need equal to his, her hands were fast and nimble as always, she only had to pull away from him for a few seconds to remove her breaches. The moon bore witness as they took comfort in each other. He tried to convey in every touch how much he needed her, how much he loved her. It was almost dawn when they finally made their way back to their tent and the camp was already stirring.