It was during one of the rare times he'd gone on a hunt alone.

The air crisp as a new winter wind as he slows his mount after spotting something moving amount the bushes off to his right.

He drew his bow notching an arrow in the same breath as he takes aim but just as quickly, he begins to lower his weapon when he picks up on the deep warning growl on the wind before they are on him.

He'd known about the wild pack prowling the Riverland's of course but hadn't thought much of it until now.

His mount spooks when one of the larger males bares its teeth at them, but the rest of the pack had already had him encircled before he'd been thrown free and his stallion racing off in a panic in the opposite direction.

The young lord rolls onto his feet readying for one of them to attack, he even draws out a blade from under his sleeve for protection as he attempts to keep each one of the encircled pack in view at the same time. Mainly the larger one that any other time would have reminded him of the Northern Queen given the similarities between the color of his fur and the coppery red of Sansa Starks hair.

A darker black male snaps his jaws when Gendry makes a start toward it's coppery furred packmate before the wolf had found its opening in the human man's defenses.

A deeper growl stops the flurry of movement dead before either animal or man had made more than a step toward one another.

Gendry's knees buckled under him when the she-wolf and obvious pack leader pads into view.

He knew who she was or at least who she once belonged to before she'd returned to the wild rather than be put to death as her littermate sister had been in her stead.

"Nymeria."

The name was a whisper on the air. His breath coming in a small puff of foggy air given the steady drop of the changing seasons.

The she wolf's lip curled in a growl, but she made no move to attack as she stared him down until he broke her gaze in favor of memorizing the forest floor under his knees.

The Lord of Storm's End submitting to a wild wolf.

'Wouldn't be the first time' he reminded himself thinking back to that treasured time with his Lady before the Long Night had closed in on them.

The soft whine had Gendry's head lifting a fraction higher from its bowed submission.

A silvery-white she-wolf was padding into view a scrap of wriggling brown fur held delicately between her jaws as she moved. A dark black male moving with her offering some kind of protection.

Gendry's eyes flicker back toward Nymeria when the smaller white wolf stops a few paces away her black-furred protector pacing a single pace away, hackles up and teeth bared in a threatening growl when the second of the she-wolves dipped her head to place the offering before the human man.

It was the exact match for his Lady's hair color the shivering pup possessed that had him sucking in a surprised gasp rather than the obvious meaning behind the odd act of these wild wolves when all, but Nymeria disappeared back into the trees once the 'gift' had been given.

The brown-furred pup snaps it jaws in warning when Gendry first attempts to pull it closer once he noticed just how badly the poor animal was shivering now it was always from the warmth of its littermates, he'd spotted being minded by a white-furred male that had he known better he would have mistaken for the one he'd seen following Jon Snow around Winterfell and another also male wolf with a more sun-kissed golden pelt.

A softer motherlike huff sounds this time as the looming shadow of the pack leader falls over them both.

Gendry keeps his head bowed even when the larger she-wolf gives the smaller pup a light nudging in his direction after the pup had tripped it's way back toward her after rolling back to its paws.

Three more times this goes on before the pup seems to understand just what the elder female wanted.

"I guess this means I'm your family now little one." Gendry murmured when soft amber, grey eyes find his own shocked blue ones after the pup had lost her balance and had fallen onto her back, so the pair were now looking at one another upside down.

Nymeria pads a step closer, so the pair now face to face with only a breath's length separating them.

"I'll keep her safe." Gendry pledged

Nymeria dipped her head one last time giving the smaller wolf one last affectionate nuzzle before she turns her back on the pair melting back among the trees.

Rather than attempting to follow the elder wolf the dark-furred pup was now nuzzling her furred head against Gendry's braced hand.

"Come on little princess," Gendry whispers gently lifting the wolf pup from the ground. "Time for Storm's End to meet its Lady." He adds with an amused smile as he starts back in the direction he thinks his runaway mouth headed off in.

"Rya." He decides as he watches the fisty wolf pup's new attempt to bite through the thick leather sleeve of his hunting shirt.