Arya didn't want to let Gendry go, but she realized that while they were so wrapped up in each other, everyone around them was still very tense. Asha still looked uneasy as she looked at Edric, Mya, and Bella, and all three of them did not put their weapons down. There was steel in them that Arya hadn't ever seen before, and she could only imagine what could have molded them into the people standing before her.
"Gendry," Edric said, and he tensed in her arms. For half a moment, she thought he was about to step away from her, and Arya didn't know if she could handle that. "Lady Greyjoy, I want to know; did you or your kin have anything to do with taking us from Storm's End?"
"No, my lord," Asha replied without hesitation. "I'm here because I met Ser Gendry and Princess Arya, and I wanted to help them. I'm also here because I wanted to sail across the ocean and see if the world is round. We came from the west side of Westeros to get here, but we had nothing to do with your kidnapping. Queen Yara mourned for you all." Edric nodded as he looked at Asha, and then he glanced at Arya. His eyes were cold, and she could see what he was thinking and what he didn't want to say out loud. Her first reaction was anger at how he could ever think such a thing about her, but then she looked at how his arm didn't appear to be working properly, at how he was missing a foot. At the way, both Mya and Bella held weapons like they knew how to take the lives of men and the wounds that were clearly still healing.
"I swear to you, no one in the North had anything to do with this. We also mourned you; I mourned you all," Arya said as she framed Gendry's face with her hands. The scar was going to take some getting used to, and there was something about him that was profoundly different, but the eyes were the same. Gendry glanced over his shoulder and nodded. The Baratheon's slowly lowered their weapons, and everyone seemed to relax.
"I suppose we need to all catch each other up on what exactly has been happening," Edric said. "This village is small but welcoming, and we can talk up there." Arya's legs shook a little as she stood up, and Gendry was just as bad. He still took her hand and threaded their fingers together, but he also walked fast enough that he was never far from his siblings. The village did greet them, and an elderly woman named Weneya seemed to relax the Baratheon's just by being in their presence.
"Oh good, you're not dead, that's a relief. I can assume that these people aren't here to hurt us?" Weneya asked.
"No, they're friends who were looking for us," Gendry said, and Weneya looked at their entwined hands. "Weneya, this is my wife, Princes Arya of House Stark. Arya, this Weneya. Her and this village have nursed us back from the brink of death twice and have let us stay here despite the danger it puts all of them in." Arya blinked and realized that this old woman was likely the only reason that Gendry and the others were alive. She released his hand and fell to her knees in front of Weneya.
"Thank you," Arya whispered, but the words weren't going to be enough. Weneya seemed to understand, waved all of their formalities off, and pulled them to the center of the village. She gave them a large table to sit down and talk, so it was time to hear what exactly everyone went through.
The Baratheon's took turns telling the story, and they seemed to finish each other's sentences in a way Arya hadn't ever seen before. They could communicate with a glance now, and no one ever tried to suggest they be out of each other's sight. They spoke of waking up in a boat and being taken to Meereen by a man named Daario. They spoke of how Daario thought that he was honoring Daenerys by selling the children of the men that ruined her life into slavery. Bella's hands trembled when she explained what she had to do to get Daario to trust her alone with him long enough to kill him. Edric explained how he got wounded as they were running, and the wounds got infected, and they had to remove his foot to save his life. Bella and Mya spoke to killing men that tried to take them in their sleep. Gendry spoke of the pain he was in being forced to carry Edric everywhere and how much it hurt. They collapsed into this village, and Weneya healed them only for the Second Sons to find them and hurt them once again, which explained their current wounds.
The way they spoke of all of this made Arya feel sick to her stomach. The absolute hell that they went through and what they had to do to survive? She didn't blame them for being so wary of them arriving on the shores of Essos. Arya took Gendry's hand into hers and held on to try and give him some comfort, but all four of them looked rather miserable.
"At least tell me that Ser Davos has been doing well at Storm's End and keeping everyone safe," Edric said, and Arya felt her heart sink. Of course, Edric would worry about Storm's End and the smallfolk, it was what he and his sisters did, and now she had to tell him that it wasn't going well.
"A Lord Connington showed up when your castle maester found your will that said Storm's End should go to him," Arya said carefully, and she watched as Edric clenched his fist. Mya reached forward and put her hand on his arm, and he relaxed immediately.
"That is not Edric's will," she said. "I was there when he wrote it, both of us were, and he left Storm's End to me, then Bella, then Ser Davos and his family. We would never leave it to Connington."
"He's one of the Houses that was threatening an uprising against us," Bella added. "He also told us that we should lock Gendry in the dungeons after that trial." Arya went on to explain everything that she knew but left out the part about killing the maester. She could feel Gendry's eyes on her, and he seemed to know that she was lying or omitting something. Weneya brought them some food, and they all got to eat and drink to their fill. Asha and Weneya went off to talk about what kind of work her people could do to earn their place. Arya sat back and watched the four Baratheon's have a completely wordless conversation.
"Let me show you our home," Gendry said. Arya smiled, but she felt something in her heart crack at the word 'home.' She expected Mya, Bella, and Edric to stay behind, but they followed close behind until they got to a small hut. The other three Baratheon's seemed to find something to do nearby, and this wasn't exactly privacy, but it was the first moment she had alone with Gendry. The hut was small with four beds pushed close together in the corner, taking up most of the single room, a hearth to keep them warm, a small trunk of clothes, and that was about it. "It's not much, but it's all we have."
"It was smart to push the beds together so you would have more room," Arya said, and for some reason, Gendry stiffened. He released her hand and sat down on the bed closest to the door. It had been almost a year since they were in the same room, and Arya didn't know what to think. She made sure to telegraph her movements as she sat down and reached forward to touch the scar on his face.
"It's bad," Gendry whispered, and Arya shook her head. She reached down and unwrapped her hand to show him the three missing fingers from the Kraken attack. He touched the stumps gently and somehow looked even more devastated. "I got you maimed so you could come looking for me."
"I would lose more than a few fingers to find you. You have to know that," Arya said as she took his hand into hers. "When you come back to the North, and you're home again, you'll be safe."
"Arya," Gendry said as he reached forward and ran his thumb along her cheekbone. "The reason why the beds are pushed together is because the mere idea of being away from my brother and sisters makes me feel sick. Just being inside this hut where I can't see them is incredibly difficult." He looked down at their hands. "It's like when we were together before the Brotherhood. We couldn't be apart from each other, and it took a long time before we were able to be away from each other for extended amounts of time. The Riverlands were bad, Arya, but this was so much worse. They were all I had to lean on; to trust, they're all I've had since the day of the trial. I can't be away from them." Arya felt another crack in her heart as she tried to take in his words. She remembered how she felt in those early days when all they had was each other and how him being away to hunt for even a little while set her on edge. She couldn't imagine going through that but worse, but she still couldn't process the words she was hearing.
"Are you saying you don't want to come home?" Arya whispered. Gendry visibly hesitated, which was answer enough for her at that moment. She thought about releasing his hand and walking away. She thought about screaming at him and demanding how he could possibly think she'd be okay with any of this. None of that was going to help; while she was processing his death and trying to find revenge, Gendry was fighting for his life. Arya knew that that sort of thing changed people because it changed her all of those years ago. To go through again and make it even worse? She knew, on a logical level, that the person coming out on the other side wouldn't be the same. That didn't make it hurt any less. "You're all I thought about the entire time we've been separated."
"I tried not to think about you once we were in Essos," Gendry confessed, and Arya had to close her eyes to keep the tears from falling. "I didn't want to stop thinking of you, but it hurt too much knowing you were over there, and you could someday move on. That someone else might be lucky enough to claim your heart again once you moved on from me. I wanted you to be happy."
"I could never move on from you-"
"You don't know that, Arya," Gendry interrupted. "How long did you think I was dead for? A couple of moon turns? That isn't long enough to grieve and move on but a couple of years? A decade?" He shook his head and looked down at her hand. He touched the wedding band that he made for her all of those years ago. "You deserve better than someone who would try to forget you." She could see where this spiral was going, and she refused to let it happen. Arya leaned forward, slowly enough that Gendry could stop her if he wanted to, and silenced his doubt with a kiss. It was their first one since the trial, and despite how different they both were, it still took her breath away. When Gendry released her hand to put his on her hip so they could move a little closer to each other, her heart skipped a beat. When she reached forward to thread, what fingers she had left through his hair it made her feel weak in the knees.
Arya broke the kiss and stayed close to him, so they were only a hair's breadth away from each, and she could feel him breathing.
"You have always and will always deserve me," Arya said as she tried to get through that thick head of his. "You beautiful, kind, strong, fucking irritating man, you have always deserved me, and I decide who is and is not worthy of me. I know you respect me enough to honor my own decisions. And I will choose you every single time, Gendry Stark, and there is not a realm of reality where I wouldn't choose you."
"Arya," Gendry whispered as he closed his eyes. "I'm not sure who I am anymore. I see my reflection, and I see a stranger."
"Then we'll get to know this new Gendry together," Arya said. "I love you, and I will always love you. I would do anything for you." They both shifted until they were lying on Gendry's small bed, pressed together, and facing each other. Arya reached forward and touched the scar again as she thought about who could be responsible for all of this. "I want you to know that the maester of Storm's End was involved in what happened to you. He was the one who faked the bodies, so everyone thought you were dead." Arya hesitated because she hadn't really told anyone this aside from Asha. "I killed him because of what he did to you and your siblings." Gendry pulled one of her hands forward and kissed the knuckles.
"I'm sorry that you have more blood on your hands," he said. Arya's immediate reaction was to tell him that she wasn't sorry, not even a little, but this thing between them felt so fragile. For as long as she'd known Gendry, everything about the two of them always felt solid, but it felt like sand slipping through her fingers, and she was powerless to stop it. So she said nothing and pressed her forehead against his. They were silent as they stayed close together, and the moment was lovely.
"Gendry, if you're fucking on our shared sleeping place, I am going to string you up," Bella called out, and the moment was broken. Gendry smiled for the first time since she had seen him, and he laughed softly. The smile was barely there, and the laugh sounded like it was punched out of him, but he was the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen.
The next couple of days were strange, and Arya didn't quite know what to do with them. The Baratheon's agreed to let her stay with them as long as no one had sex, which was fair. She didn't think her and Gendry were ready to have sex again anyway. They did share his bed, and Gendry wrapped his arms around her as they slept back to front. It reminded her home in the best possible way and waking up to Gendry breathing on the back of her neck reminded her of everything they have lost.
The village was nice, and Arya was thankful that they managed to find such a great place to stay. Weneya clearly adored all four of them, which wasn't that surprising; all four of the Baratheon's were easy to love. She got proper hugs from all three of them, which was nice. They were all self-conscious about their various wounds, but they were also healing. Arya could see that the scars would remain, but they wouldn't be as bad as everyone thought. She also noticed exactly what Gendry meant about them never being far from one another. They all had their work to do, but if any of them looked up at any given time, they would see each other. Arya smiled and tried her best to understand, but it was hard.
What was even harder was noticing that while Gendry was burdened by his wounds and what he went through, the tension in his shoulders whenever they were around the nobility was gone. He seemed more secure in his position here like he knew where he stood, and Arya didn't know how to deal with that. None of them had spoken about what they were going to do when Arya and Asha needed to leave. She wanted to assume the four siblings would come home with them, but as she watched how easily they all fit into this tiny village, maybe it wasn't the best choice. Maybe they were all better off here where the legacy of their father couldn't touch them, and they could just exist in a way they never could in Westeros.
The thought was keeping her up at night despite how good it felt to be in Gendry's arms. She couldn't stop thinking about how he moved around here and how he moved around in Winterfell. She didn't know how to stop herself from thinking that maybe he would be better off if he stayed here. He spoke about how he wanted her to move on if she thought he was dead and that he wanted her to be happy. She wanted his happiness, and Arya was beginning to doubt if Gendry's happiness was with her.
"Arya," a voice called out, and she saw Edric sitting in the shadow of one of the small trees around the village. He trained the men but seemed to tire quickly still. His wounds were the worst of all of them, and he was very much still healing. "Want to come sit with me?" he asked.
"Yeah, thanks, Edric," Arya replied as she joined him in the shade, and they both watched the other Baratheon siblings work in silence. "He seems lighter here."
"This is a good place," Edric said. "We were lucky this is where we collapsed." Arya held her breath a little because Mya told that part of the story, but Edric was awake when the three of them collapsed. "I thought they were dead when they fell. When we first got here. I couldn't wake them up, and I couldn't walk. I was pulling myself through the dirt and just screaming for someone, anyone, to come and help us. All I wanted was someone with kindness to come, and Weneya and her village came. They helped us, gave us somewhere to stay."
"They gave you a home," Arya said, but Edric immediately shook his head.
"The hut is nice enough, and it does what we need it to do considering that we don't like being away from each other, but this place isn't home. Our home is in Westeros, in Storm's End, helping the people who need it," Edric said, and he looked at her. "Gendry's home is always going to be with you." Arya didn't know what she was supposed to say to that, and she watched as Edric worked on picking up small rocks with his bad hand and doing his best to lift it. "We spoke last night, the four of us," Edric said, "and we'll be on the ship with you and Lady Asha when you leave to go back to Westeros. Someone stole something from me, and they hurt my sisters and my brother." He looked up, and Arya noticed an all too familiar glint in his eyes. She wasn't the only one who wanted revenge. "We cannot let that stand."
"No," Arya whispered and smiled at Edric. "No, we cannot."
