p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa Stark had seen and learned many, many things during the years she spent across Westeros, far from the only place she ever considered /How to conspire, listen to the rumors and the whispers, how to always think three steps ahead of anybody else. How to make herself look like a weak naive girl, keeping her head down to make herself as invisible as her name allowed. How to make herself look strong, more confident of herself than she actually felt, a young woman to be respected, even /Sansa also learned about human nature, about blind loyalty and fragil obedience -and how dangerous both were./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Cersei Lannister was a horrible, cruel human being and yet, she was probably the smartest person Sansa ever knew. Cersei was smarter than Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon, even Tyrion Lannister. Sansa feared that the self-proclaimed Queen of The Seven Kingdoms Daenerys Targaryen didn't stand a chance against /But, as smart she was, Cersei Lannister had a weakness anybody could have spotted: her children. Not matter what they did, how horrible or stupid or naive they were, she loved them anyway. Everybody knew the kind of monster Joffrey was, rotten to the core of his own soul, but Cersei always found a way to justify his actions. Tommen was a little boy the last time Sansa saw him, barely a boy of ten and two, but even then he acted like a five year old, terrified of his older brother, hiding behind his mother, never saying or doing anything particularly clever. Mycella, for her part, was a sweet little girl, always proper, the kind of younger sister that Sansa wished she had before she knew better. For a while, Sansa thought that she was as clever as her mother, but sooner than later she realised that she wasn't: it wasn't ingenuity what made her not acknowledge the fact that Sansa was a war prisoner, she just didn't seem to see it. The girl would make her spend hours planning her wedding to her brother, asking her about colors preferences and dishes and what Sansa thought about the different fabrics for her dress. Cersei treated her daughter as if she was a fragile porcelain doll: like if the mildest wind would break /Cersei Lannister would do anything for her children, everybody knew it. She was blindly loyal to them, until their last /For a while, Sansa thought that that loyalty also included her brother-lover Jaime Lannister. Maybe it had for a while in the past, but Sansa could see that it no longer did. While Jaime would have done (and did) the most terrible things to protect his sister, or if she ever asked for it, Cersei wouldn't have returned the favor, not if nothing came out of it for herself or her children. It didn't matter: Jamie Lannister couldn't see it, he loved her irrationally./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"That was a patron that seemed to repeat itself everywhere: man or woman would fall in love so deeply that they became blind to their partners true intentions. Then, the partner would use that to their benefit, taking their gold, name or status. They keeped the other person around until they were no longer useful, once they got what they truly wanted from them they would discard them. That was the main reason why Sansa didn't believe in love anymore./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Naturally, Sansa noticed the way that her little sister would fidget everytime someone mentioned the forge or anything related to it. Her little sister, who was now a trained assassin, who could slit a man's throat to the bone without blinking, fidgeting for the mere mention of their childhood home's /Sansa considered just asking her sister about it, but she knew that Arya was a much reserved person than she was before. As close as they had gotten since her arrival to Winterfell, and as much they trusted each other, Sansa knew that anything related so her past was a dedicated issue for Arya. In the three moon's turns since they reunited, Sansa had learned close to nothing about what and where and with who Arya was all those years. She learned about the faces and the training in Braavos, and that she spent a few years traveling across Westeros trying to get to Winterfell before that. Arya had briefly mentioned the Hound and Tywin Lannister, but hadn't explained how she met /So, in the end, she decided to send Brienne to investigate. She was the obvious choice, since she was her personal guard and a commander in the coming battle against the dead, which meant no one would wonder too much why she was prowling around the smithery. Sansa told Brienne to take her squire Podrick with her, to make him ask the workers about the weapons while Brienne herself kept her eyes and ears open to catch anything related to Arya. Sansa knew that Brienne was curious, but she didn't ask, and Sansa did not explain./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It wasn't that Sansa was worried about Arya doing something she shouldn't, she was worried that whatever was that thing that made her sister so nervous could somehow hurt her. As brave, clever and tough Sansa knew Arya was, she wouldn't risk it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She had been expecting a few wild things, like learning that Arya has convinced someone to secretly make one of those weapons Cersei had to kill dragons, or that she was making her weapons herself, or that she was planning to try to kill the Night King single handed. She definitely hadn't been expecting Brienne to tell her that Arya visited a smith a couple of times a day. He apparently was the one that Jon took with him north of the wall, the one that almost died trying to deliver the message that saved them. He also was the once in charge of the forge, and always seemed happy to see Arya, while acting annoyed at the same time. Brienne also told her that her sister never stayed long, but always bought food for him, and forced him to stop working to eat. And that they seemed quite comfortable with each other./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa was as surprised as alarmed. It wasn't uncharestic of the old Arya to spend time with the common folk, but the new Arya barely talked with anyone that wasn't her family and those few people they could call allies. She definitely wasn't to get out of her way to deliver food to someone who didn't have any kind of connection with her, out of the goodness of her /The fact that this smith was supposedly very reserved wasn't helping Sansa's worries. No one knew much about him, expect that his name was Gendry and that he was a bastard from King's Landing, where he lived until recently, before he decided to join a suicide mission for not apparent reason. He talked to the rest of the forge's workers, but never joined them for drinks at the end of the day. He wasn't rude to them, but also not very friendly -the people that Podrick talked to said that the only people he enjoyed talking to were Jon's friend Ser Davos, Jon himself and Arya./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa was truly lost, she couldn't come with the answer of the mystery for the life of /What did that boy -man, had on Arya, to force her to spend time with him? Did he have information that Arya was trying to make him give her, or maybe she was trying to keep him quiet? Was he blackmailing her? Was he… seducing her?br /Maybe it wasn't a bad thing at all. Was Arya talking to him because she was grateful for what he had done to help Jon? Were they friends? Did Arya know him from years ago, when they were on Kings Landing?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A few days later, when Sansa realised that she needed more information, she decided to approach Jon discreetly. Dinner at the great hall was the perfect opportunity, since Arya never joined them. She was pleasantly surprised that evening when she found out that the Dragon Queen wasn't attending, Sansa would be able to talk with Jon more /"Jon" she started, looking at the food at her plate, trying to cover how interested she truly was. "What do you know about that blacksmith that you bought with you?"br /"You mean Gendry?" Jon answered, placing his ale cup on the table. "He is a fine smith, if that's what you are asking. Davos told me the other day that he's making good progress with the dragon glass… I should probably find time to stop by the smithery one of these days" he continued, /That wasn't good, Sansa thought. If Big Brother Jon found his little sister hanging in the forge with that Gendry before she figured out what was going on, chaos would probably ensue, and definitely wasn't the right /"No, I know that, Brienne told me they made great progress" Sansa said, hoping to erase any doubts from Jon's mind. "What I mean is, why is he here? Was he a friend of yours from the Wall?" Sansa asked, knowing that it wasn't /"Oh, no exactly" Jon said, his voice suddenly lowing and his eyes starting to dart across the hall, like he was making sure no one was listening to them. It immediately made Sansa want to send someone to the forge to fetch her sister, where she knew Arya probably was. "Davos went to find him at King's Landing before we left for the Wall, while I was still at Dragonstone. He told me that he knew someone who would be able to work with the dragon glass, that he was going to go to try to find him" Jon looked around again, before continuing. "When we met, the first thing Gendry told me was that he was Robert Baretheon's bastard. He said that he never met the king and didn't have any kind of loyalty to him or his house. But that our fathers trusted each other, and if what Davos said was true -you know, about the death marching south, that he couldn't just sit and wait for other people to stop them"br /Sansa just stared at him for a moment, and realized she hadn't been breathing when her lungs started burning. "Is it true? He really is Robert's son?"br /"Davos said he is, and you know he served Stannis Baretheon. It must be true" Jon /"So" Sansa said after another second. "You just bought him here. A Baretheon, right under Daenerys Targaryan nose".br /Jon looked around again and moved in his seat before answering. "I know, I know. I am planning to tell her eventually, but I need to find a way to make her see how truly non threatening he is before that. Sansa, he doesn't want anything to do with politics, really".br /Sansa hummed and decided to excuse herself for the night, she had a lot to think about. When she stood up, she found Bran's eyes fixed on her from Jon's other side./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Arya had found out, Sansa thought that night while getting ready for bed, and was making sure that he truly wasn't a threat. Or maybe, a voice that sounded like Peter Baelish's whispered in her ear, he was trying to gain her sister's favor, maybe convince her to marry him, to gain enough power in the north to have a firm chance to claim the throne./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa knew that the only way to find out the truth was going down to the smithy to talk to him. Because, as much easier it would be, Bran wasn't going to give her straight answers. Arya wasn't going to like it, but it was for her sake./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The next morning Sansa broke her fast in her chambers like she did everyday, and walked with Brienne to the forge. They saw Jon in a corner of the courtyard where Tormount and a small group of his people had setted up tents, after refusing Jon's offers of chambers in the castle. They also passed by Bran sitting by himself outside and Sansa wondered, not for the first time, how he always managed to be everywhere without no one seeing how he got there./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa told Brienne to wait for her outside the forge, wanting to draw as little attention as possible, and headed inside. She wasn't surprised to find Arya there, even if it did leave a bad feeling in her stomach. Arya was facing her, smiling at a man with short dark hair and broad shoulders across a table. Sansa couldn't see the man's face since he was facing the other way, but he was shaking his head while arranging a set of tools on top of the /Arya was smiling, Sansa tough as her steps slowed. And it was a true, open smile that reflected on her eyes. It didn't last long, her sister immediately spotted her walking towards them and her smile fell, her shoulders tensed and she started to walk around the /Sansa walked faster, her posture the image of determination, and stopped right next to the man as he started saying "Arya what's wrong?". Her sister closed her eyes for a second and signed, put her hands behind her back and faced /"Sansa, did you get lost?" Arya said, eyebrows /"No, actually" Sansa responded, imitating her sister's challenging manner. "I was looking for Gendry"br /Both him and her sister went rigid, before the man took a step back and bowed slightly. "Lady Stark, what can I do for you?"br /Sansa turned to look at him for the first time. The only thing he had in common with his father were his eyes, a deep blue that none of Robert's golden children ever had. "Oh, I'm not here to request any weapon" she said, and didn't miss the quick look he sent to her sister. "I wanted to apologize for my manners. I recently realized that I never took the time to thank you for what you did for my brother Jon. I reckon he wouldn't have survived north of the wall if it wasn't for your assistance"br /His eyes went wide even as he looked at Arya again. "Oh, there's no need, my lady. I'm glad I was able to help, it was my duty as-"br /"I didn't know you and my sister knew each other" Sansa interrupted his babbling, never taking her eyes out of his /"I- yes, my lady, we-"br /This time, Arya was the one to interrupt him. "If you wanted to know why I'm spending time here, you could have just asked. There was no need to send Brienne to spy, or to come here yourself to interrogate him"br /Sansa ignored her, still looking at Gendry. His eyes kept jumping between them, mouth closed tight. "I heard you were born in King's Landing, is that right? I can't help to wonder why you decided to come all the way north. Tell me, Gendry, did you-"br /Sansa couldn't finish her question, because suddenly Arya was grabbing her arm and softly but firmly pushed her until they were outside the /"Seriously, Sansa? Was this necessary? Any of this?" Arya said, vaguely gesturing with her arm in the general direction of Brienne, who was currently very interested on the dirty /"I don't know, you tell me" Sansa said, annoyed at the way she had been practically dragged out. "I'm just trying to look after you, to protect you-"br /"Protect me?" Arya said, her voice raising. "From Gendry? You can't be serious-"br /"From Robert Baratheon's bastard son!" Sansa said, in scremed /"He is my friend, Sansa! You don't know him, but I do, and-"br /"Arya, you've know him for a few weeks-"br /"I've known him half my life" Arya said, and stopped whatever Sansa was about to say. "I met him the day father was executed" she said, her voice low again. "He was the only person I could trust with my life for years, before we were separated. He is my family, just as you and Jon and Bran are"br /"Oh, I- I had no idea" Sansa managed to say after a /"No, you didn't" Arya responded, her voice and eyes /"Look I'm sorry, but I needed to know what was-"br /"My lady, forgive me" said Gendry, interrupting her as he stepped out of the forge. "I don't want to cause any trouble"br /"Gendry is alright, go back inside please" her sister said, with an annoyed expression on her /"No, I wanted to answer lady Stark's question. I mean, why I am here" he said with /"It's fine," Sansa said. "I don't need to know anything else"br /"But I want you to know, if you allow it" Gendry said looking at Arya, and Sansa suddenly felt like she wasn't a part of the conversation anymore. He didn't wait for a response, instead he started taking as he couldn't keep the word inside of him anymore. "When Davos came for me in King's Landing, I agreed to go with him before I even knew what I was agreeing to. Of course, I'm glad that I came so I can help as much as I can with this mess, but it wasn't the reason I came. What I meant to say is, I'm here because Ser Davos said that I could help Jon Snow, and he is your brother. And-" Gendry stopped, as he suddenly realized that Sansa was still standing there. "And I thought that if I could serve him, maybe it would make me feel a little least of a piece of shit for refusing to do the same thing all those years ago. Because if I had gone with you when you asked, maybe we could have found you family sooner and-"br /"And then we both would be dead too" Arya said. She blinked once, twice, then looked up to Sansa quickly before walking to the spot Gendry stood, grabbed him for the arm and pushed him inside the smithy, like she had done with Sansa a few minutes early. "Bloody Baretheons, you are all so stupid" Sansa heard her whisper, as they disapeared./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa stood there trying to process what had just happened. Brienne looked as confused as Sansa felt, which made her feel a little less like an idiot for all those theories she had made /"Lady Stark" a rough voice sounded behind her. She turned around to find Sandor Clegane a few feet away, frowning with disgust at the open space that was supposed to be the forge's door. "I'll never admit that I said this, but he is a good lad. Stupid and soft like a maiden, but he means no harm to her"br /"How can you know?"br /"He idiot used to follow her around like a sick pup" he said, and spitted at the floor. "He could have sold her a thousand times, but never did" and with what, he turned around and walked away./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa meditated what she saw and heard for the rest of the day -a part of her still wanted to ask Bran about it, unable to shake the fears of her own experiences repeating themselves on her little sister. But that afternoon, when Bran called for an emergency council to announce that the army of the dead would be at Winterfell within days, Arya dragged Gendry with her to it. She wanted him to inform everybody of the progress with the dragon glass: he had apparently been able to make swords, knives, arrow heads, spears and shields, and had put sharp pieces of dragon glass over the arakhs, the dothoraki's prefered weapons. The whole time he spoke, he looked directly at Jon, and Arya looked directly at Sansa. Like she was making sure Sansa was listening, like Arya thought that the reason she was worried was the fact that Gendry was a smith and not a lord, and she was trying to make him prove his worth to /And it hit Sansa: her sister loved that man, and he loved her back. After all, he had walked right into a war that had nothing to do with him just to make it up to her. And Sansa thought that maybe, in their case, love hadn't to be about manipulation, betrayal and mistakes. Maybe, for them, it could be a good thing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Cersei Lannister was a horrible, cruel human being and yet, she was probably the smartest person Sansa ever knew. Cersei was smarter than Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon, even Tyrion Lannister. Sansa feared that the self-proclaimed Queen of The Seven Kingdoms Daenerys Targaryen didn't stand a chance against /But, as smart she was, Cersei Lannister had a weakness anybody could have spotted: her children. Not matter what they did, how horrible or stupid or naive they were, she loved them anyway. Everybody knew the kind of monster Joffrey was, rotten to the core of his own soul, but Cersei always found a way to justify his actions. Tommen was a little boy the last time Sansa saw him, barely a boy of ten and two, but even then he acted like a five year old, terrified of his older brother, hiding behind his mother, never saying or doing anything particularly clever. Mycella, for her part, was a sweet little girl, always proper, the kind of younger sister that Sansa wished she had before she knew better. For a while, Sansa thought that she was as clever as her mother, but sooner than later she realised that she wasn't: it wasn't ingenuity what made her not acknowledge the fact that Sansa was a war prisoner, she just didn't seem to see it. The girl would make her spend hours planning her wedding to her brother, asking her about colors preferences and dishes and what Sansa thought about the different fabrics for her dress. Cersei treated her daughter as if she was a fragile porcelain doll: like if the mildest wind would break /Cersei Lannister would do anything for her children, everybody knew it. She was blindly loyal to them, until their last /For a while, Sansa thought that that loyalty also included her brother-lover Jaime Lannister. Maybe it had for a while in the past, but Sansa could see that it no longer did. While Jaime would have done (and did) the most terrible things to protect his sister, or if she ever asked for it, Cersei wouldn't have returned the favor, not if nothing came out of it for herself or her children. It didn't matter: Jamie Lannister couldn't see it, he loved her irrationally./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"That was a patron that seemed to repeat itself everywhere: man or woman would fall in love so deeply that they became blind to their partners true intentions. Then, the partner would use that to their benefit, taking their gold, name or status. They keeped the other person around until they were no longer useful, once they got what they truly wanted from them they would discard them. That was the main reason why Sansa didn't believe in love anymore./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Naturally, Sansa noticed the way that her little sister would fidget everytime someone mentioned the forge or anything related to it. Her little sister, who was now a trained assassin, who could slit a man's throat to the bone without blinking, fidgeting for the mere mention of their childhood home's /Sansa considered just asking her sister about it, but she knew that Arya was a much reserved person than she was before. As close as they had gotten since her arrival to Winterfell, and as much they trusted each other, Sansa knew that anything related so her past was a dedicated issue for Arya. In the three moon's turns since they reunited, Sansa had learned close to nothing about what and where and with who Arya was all those years. She learned about the faces and the training in Braavos, and that she spent a few years traveling across Westeros trying to get to Winterfell before that. Arya had briefly mentioned the Hound and Tywin Lannister, but hadn't explained how she met /So, in the end, she decided to send Brienne to investigate. She was the obvious choice, since she was her personal guard and a commander in the coming battle against the dead, which meant no one would wonder too much why she was prowling around the smithery. Sansa told Brienne to take her squire Podrick with her, to make him ask the workers about the weapons while Brienne herself kept her eyes and ears open to catch anything related to Arya. Sansa knew that Brienne was curious, but she didn't ask, and Sansa did not explain./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It wasn't that Sansa was worried about Arya doing something she shouldn't, she was worried that whatever was that thing that made her sister so nervous could somehow hurt her. As brave, clever and tough Sansa knew Arya was, she wouldn't risk it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She had been expecting a few wild things, like learning that Arya has convinced someone to secretly make one of those weapons Cersei had to kill dragons, or that she was making her weapons herself, or that she was planning to try to kill the Night King single handed. She definitely hadn't been expecting Brienne to tell her that Arya visited a smith a couple of times a day. He apparently was the one that Jon took with him north of the wall, the one that almost died trying to deliver the message that saved them. He also was the once in charge of the forge, and always seemed happy to see Arya, while acting annoyed at the same time. Brienne also told her that her sister never stayed long, but always bought food for him, and forced him to stop working to eat. And that they seemed quite comfortable with each other./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa was as surprised as alarmed. It wasn't uncharestic of the old Arya to spend time with the common folk, but the new Arya barely talked with anyone that wasn't her family and those few people they could call allies. She definitely wasn't to get out of her way to deliver food to someone who didn't have any kind of connection with her, out of the goodness of her /The fact that this smith was supposedly very reserved wasn't helping Sansa's worries. No one knew much about him, expect that his name was Gendry and that he was a bastard from King's Landing, where he lived until recently, before he decided to join a suicide mission for not apparent reason. He talked to the rest of the forge's workers, but never joined them for drinks at the end of the day. He wasn't rude to them, but also not very friendly -the people that Podrick talked to said that the only people he enjoyed talking to were Jon's friend Ser Davos, Jon himself and Arya./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa was truly lost, she couldn't come with the answer of the mystery for the life of /What did that boy -man, had on Arya, to force her to spend time with him? Did he have information that Arya was trying to make him give her, or maybe she was trying to keep him quiet? Was he blackmailing her? Was he… seducing her?br /Maybe it wasn't a bad thing at all. Was Arya talking to him because she was grateful for what he had done to help Jon? Were they friends? Did Arya know him from years ago, when they were on Kings Landing?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A few days later, when Sansa realised that she needed more information, she decided to approach Jon discreetly. Dinner at the great hall was the perfect opportunity, since Arya never joined them. She was pleasantly surprised that evening when she found out that the Dragon Queen wasn't attending, Sansa would be able to talk with Jon more /"Jon" she started, looking at the food at her plate, trying to cover how interested she truly was. "What do you know about that blacksmith that you bought with you?"br /"You mean Gendry?" Jon answered, placing his ale cup on the table. "He is a fine smith, if that's what you are asking. Davos told me the other day that he's making good progress with the dragon glass… I should probably find time to stop by the smithery one of these days" he continued, /That wasn't good, Sansa thought. If Big Brother Jon found his little sister hanging in the forge with that Gendry before she figured out what was going on, chaos would probably ensue, and definitely wasn't the right /"No, I know that, Brienne told me they made great progress" Sansa said, hoping to erase any doubts from Jon's mind. "What I mean is, why is he here? Was he a friend of yours from the Wall?" Sansa asked, knowing that it wasn't /"Oh, no exactly" Jon said, his voice suddenly lowing and his eyes starting to dart across the hall, like he was making sure no one was listening to them. It immediately made Sansa want to send someone to the forge to fetch her sister, where she knew Arya probably was. "Davos went to find him at King's Landing before we left for the Wall, while I was still at Dragonstone. He told me that he knew someone who would be able to work with the dragon glass, that he was going to go to try to find him" Jon looked around again, before continuing. "When we met, the first thing Gendry told me was that he was Robert Baretheon's bastard. He said that he never met the king and didn't have any kind of loyalty to him or his house. But that our fathers trusted each other, and if what Davos said was true -you know, about the death marching south, that he couldn't just sit and wait for other people to stop them"br /Sansa just stared at him for a moment, and realized she hadn't been breathing when her lungs started burning. "Is it true? He really is Robert's son?"br /"Davos said he is, and you know he served Stannis Baretheon. It must be true" Jon /"So" Sansa said after another second. "You just bought him here. A Baretheon, right under Daenerys Targaryan nose".br /Jon looked around again and moved in his seat before answering. "I know, I know. I am planning to tell her eventually, but I need to find a way to make her see how truly non threatening he is before that. Sansa, he doesn't want anything to do with politics, really".br /Sansa hummed and decided to excuse herself for the night, she had a lot to think about. When she stood up, she found Bran's eyes fixed on her from Jon's other side./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Arya had found out, Sansa thought that night while getting ready for bed, and was making sure that he truly wasn't a threat. Or maybe, a voice that sounded like Peter Baelish's whispered in her ear, he was trying to gain her sister's favor, maybe convince her to marry him, to gain enough power in the north to have a firm chance to claim the throne./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa knew that the only way to find out the truth was going down to the smithy to talk to him. Because, as much easier it would be, Bran wasn't going to give her straight answers. Arya wasn't going to like it, but it was for her sake./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The next morning Sansa broke her fast in her chambers like she did everyday, and walked with Brienne to the forge. They saw Jon in a corner of the courtyard where Tormount and a small group of his people had setted up tents, after refusing Jon's offers of chambers in the castle. They also passed by Bran sitting by himself outside and Sansa wondered, not for the first time, how he always managed to be everywhere without no one seeing how he got there./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa told Brienne to wait for her outside the forge, wanting to draw as little attention as possible, and headed inside. She wasn't surprised to find Arya there, even if it did leave a bad feeling in her stomach. Arya was facing her, smiling at a man with short dark hair and broad shoulders across a table. Sansa couldn't see the man's face since he was facing the other way, but he was shaking his head while arranging a set of tools on top of the /Arya was smiling, Sansa tough as her steps slowed. And it was a true, open smile that reflected on her eyes. It didn't last long, her sister immediately spotted her walking towards them and her smile fell, her shoulders tensed and she started to walk around the /Sansa walked faster, her posture the image of determination, and stopped right next to the man as he started saying "Arya what's wrong?". Her sister closed her eyes for a second and signed, put her hands behind her back and faced /"Sansa, did you get lost?" Arya said, eyebrows /"No, actually" Sansa responded, imitating her sister's challenging manner. "I was looking for Gendry"br /Both him and her sister went rigid, before the man took a step back and bowed slightly. "Lady Stark, what can I do for you?"br /Sansa turned to look at him for the first time. The only thing he had in common with his father were his eyes, a deep blue that none of Robert's golden children ever had. "Oh, I'm not here to request any weapon" she said, and didn't miss the quick look he sent to her sister. "I wanted to apologize for my manners. I recently realized that I never took the time to thank you for what you did for my brother Jon. I reckon he wouldn't have survived north of the wall if it wasn't for your assistance"br /His eyes went wide even as he looked at Arya again. "Oh, there's no need, my lady. I'm glad I was able to help, it was my duty as-"br /"I didn't know you and my sister knew each other" Sansa interrupted his babbling, never taking her eyes out of his /"I- yes, my lady, we-"br /This time, Arya was the one to interrupt him. "If you wanted to know why I'm spending time here, you could have just asked. There was no need to send Brienne to spy, or to come here yourself to interrogate him"br /Sansa ignored her, still looking at Gendry. His eyes kept jumping between them, mouth closed tight. "I heard you were born in King's Landing, is that right? I can't help to wonder why you decided to come all the way north. Tell me, Gendry, did you-"br /Sansa couldn't finish her question, because suddenly Arya was grabbing her arm and softly but firmly pushed her until they were outside the /"Seriously, Sansa? Was this necessary? Any of this?" Arya said, vaguely gesturing with her arm in the general direction of Brienne, who was currently very interested on the dirty /"I don't know, you tell me" Sansa said, annoyed at the way she had been practically dragged out. "I'm just trying to look after you, to protect you-"br /"Protect me?" Arya said, her voice raising. "From Gendry? You can't be serious-"br /"From Robert Baratheon's bastard son!" Sansa said, in scremed /"He is my friend, Sansa! You don't know him, but I do, and-"br /"Arya, you've know him for a few weeks-"br /"I've known him half my life" Arya said, and stopped whatever Sansa was about to say. "I met him the day father was executed" she said, her voice low again. "He was the only person I could trust with my life for years, before we were separated. He is my family, just as you and Jon and Bran are"br /"Oh, I- I had no idea" Sansa managed to say after a /"No, you didn't" Arya responded, her voice and eyes /"Look I'm sorry, but I needed to know what was-"br /"My lady, forgive me" said Gendry, interrupting her as he stepped out of the forge. "I don't want to cause any trouble"br /"Gendry is alright, go back inside please" her sister said, with an annoyed expression on her /"No, I wanted to answer lady Stark's question. I mean, why I am here" he said with /"It's fine," Sansa said. "I don't need to know anything else"br /"But I want you to know, if you allow it" Gendry said looking at Arya, and Sansa suddenly felt like she wasn't a part of the conversation anymore. He didn't wait for a response, instead he started taking as he couldn't keep the word inside of him anymore. "When Davos came for me in King's Landing, I agreed to go with him before I even knew what I was agreeing to. Of course, I'm glad that I came so I can help as much as I can with this mess, but it wasn't the reason I came. What I meant to say is, I'm here because Ser Davos said that I could help Jon Snow, and he is your brother. And-" Gendry stopped, as he suddenly realized that Sansa was still standing there. "And I thought that if I could serve him, maybe it would make me feel a little least of a piece of shit for refusing to do the same thing all those years ago. Because if I had gone with you when you asked, maybe we could have found you family sooner and-"br /"And then we both would be dead too" Arya said. She blinked once, twice, then looked up to Sansa quickly before walking to the spot Gendry stood, grabbed him for the arm and pushed him inside the smithy, like she had done with Sansa a few minutes early. "Bloody Baretheons, you are all so stupid" Sansa heard her whisper, as they disapeared./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa stood there trying to process what had just happened. Brienne looked as confused as Sansa felt, which made her feel a little less like an idiot for all those theories she had made /"Lady Stark" a rough voice sounded behind her. She turned around to find Sandor Clegane a few feet away, frowning with disgust at the open space that was supposed to be the forge's door. "I'll never admit that I said this, but he is a good lad. Stupid and soft like a maiden, but he means no harm to her"br /"How can you know?"br /"He idiot used to follow her around like a sick pup" he said, and spitted at the floor. "He could have sold her a thousand times, but never did" and with what, he turned around and walked away./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sansa meditated what she saw and heard for the rest of the day -a part of her still wanted to ask Bran about it, unable to shake the fears of her own experiences repeating themselves on her little sister. But that afternoon, when Bran called for an emergency council to announce that the army of the dead would be at Winterfell within days, Arya dragged Gendry with her to it. She wanted him to inform everybody of the progress with the dragon glass: he had apparently been able to make swords, knives, arrow heads, spears and shields, and had put sharp pieces of dragon glass over the arakhs, the dothoraki's prefered weapons. The whole time he spoke, he looked directly at Jon, and Arya looked directly at Sansa. Like she was making sure Sansa was listening, like Arya thought that the reason she was worried was the fact that Gendry was a smith and not a lord, and she was trying to make him prove his worth to /And it hit Sansa: her sister loved that man, and he loved her back. After all, he had walked right into a war that had nothing to do with him just to make it up to her. And Sansa thought that maybe, in their case, love hadn't to be about manipulation, betrayal and mistakes. Maybe, for them, it could be a good thing./p