Storm's End, 283 AC

The last food supplies Davos has brought to the castle have been eaten. The men are starving again, and start eating the leather of their boots, desperate about which end is waiting for them. As long as there has been food, Stannis has always been the last to eat. Davos has grown affection for the young boy, and respect, respect more than anything. He hardly believes he is eighteen years old. Poor lad has celebrated his name day with the last potatoes there has been in the castle. All the men had agreed on giving him this poor but so precious present. When they had presented it to him, Stannis has scowled at each and every one of them and called them fools for wasting food for him. He had shared his potatoes with Renly and Cressen, and had eaten the smallest part of it. As he has been sit on the great walls of his castle, he has remembered the good old days, when his parents and Robert were celebrating his name day, with him, giving him gifts and Robert being kind to him, as much as he could. He remembers the loud laugh of his father, the sweet strokes of his mother's hands, her eyes filled with love when she looked at him, the big slaps Robert was giving on his back. He would give anything to know these kinds of days again, but he knows this is a foolish dream: his parents are dead, and nothing would bring them back in this world.

Days pass, and men weaken more and more. Even Stannis is now close to give up, and let death take him. Davos is the one who suffered the less, obviously, and he cheers the men up as well as he can. He brings a cup of water to Stannis, the only thing he can do for him. The young Lord is sitting on the ground, his back leaning on a wall of stone. His breathing is slow and short, his eyes closed. Davos holds his head as he pours the water in his mouth. Stannis does not even have the strength to swallow and the water runs out.

"Come on", Davos groans. "Open your eyes."

Stannis can hear him, and tries to do so, but he feels so tired, and all he wants to do is sleep, sleep for hours, for days. Deep inside, he knows if he falls asleep, he will never wake up. He can hear Davos's voice insisting, almost angry at him, but he cannot react anymore. And suddenly, he hears a familiar sound, a sound he thinks he would never hear again. In the silent castle, ring out the deafening sound of a cavalry. Davos swiftly turns his head to the men watching on the battlements: most of them are not even standing, but have crawled to watch. Stannis weakly opens his eyes:

"What is it? Go, Davos…"

The knight obeys and immediately joins the men. In front of him, he sees the Tyrell forces panicking, and hundreds of horses running to the castle. But he does not see the stag of the Baratheons: it is the direwolf of the Starks which is getting closer and closer from them. Within minutes, they reach the Tyrell. An hour later, without having to fight, they get in the castle with chariots of food for the soldiers. Some men cry with joy, other insults the Tyrells. Davos stays with Stannis, who has asked him to fetch Renly for him. Stannis has found the strength to stand up, and he is holding the little boy in his arms when Lord Stark gets to him:

"Lord Stannis", he bows in front of him.

"Lord Stark", Stannis weakly says.

Renly moves his head to Ned, and looks at Stannis:

"Where is Robert?" he asks his older brother. "Why hasn't he come to free us?"

Ned smiles and strokes his hair gently:

"Your brother is King now, Renly. You will see him soon. But first, you need to eat."

Stannis nods slowly, and the Starks take care of them. Once they have eaten, and that the fear of starve does not have a grip on them anymore, they rest. Stannis walks slowly the stairs that lead to his chamber, and opens the door: he has not been in there for months, and the smell is pretty awful. He opens the windows and let the fresh air from the sea filling his nostrils. The sea is clear now; all the Tyrell's allies that have anchored here are gone. He grabs a bucket of clean water, and undresses, slowly, watching his reflection in a mirror. He has never thought he was very handsome but, now, he is frankly ugly. His eyes look like two big holes in the middle of his face, his cheeks have grown hollow, and skin seems to be missing from his face. He has lost hair, too, and will cut his hair short as soon as he has cleaned up. His eyes look down on his chest, his ribs visible through the skin, even his sternum is. His belly has grown hollow as well, and the pelvic girdle appears next to his sex. Instinctively, he places his hand on it, as to hide it, but changes his mind and observes it. A huge amount of pubic hair covers the bottom of his stomach, and his penis stands here. He is surprised to see it has not changed at all. It looks bigger, though, but he believes it is normal. He strokes it slightly, and has trouble reminding when last time he had been hard was. He shrugs: he does not care anyways. His eyes leave his intimate parts and focus on his legs, skinny, scrawny, his feet looking like their size have doubled. Once he has examined his whole body, he turns to the bucket and washes himself carefully, as his mother has showed him. The water turn dark with dirt and it disgusts him slightly. But he feels better once he had done this, and dresses up with clean clothes, knowing that soon, the castle will find back its servants, and that everything will be back to normal. He hears his stomach growl again, and he cannot help smiling. He walks downstairs again, and asks a soldier to cut his hair. Stannis has always liked long hair, but now, it would do them good to be cut, and to grow again, stronger, and healthier. When he is done, he walks among his men, checks on Donal Noye, still willing to join the Night's Watch. Lord Stark and his men stay there a bit, and then leave again south: Lyanna has still not been found, and he had hears rumors about her and Rhaegar having stayed here. Rhaegar is dead, and she is probably alone, waiting for her brother to free him, just as he has freed Storm's End.

Stannis and his men bid them farewell a fortnight later, and, as he looks at the men riding away from the castle, alone, he feels a sudden weight on his shoulder. Without even turning his head, knowing that it is useless, a huge grin curls up his lips and he whispers "Hello Proudwing. I have missed you." The cry he hears by his ear and the soft nibble she gives him let him know she has missed him, too.