A/N: So I blame two things for this taking a week. 1) School and mock exams 2) The fact I doubled the amount of words for this chapter. I don't know why. I blame planning. Anyway, I have a few things to go over. I'm taking the fact they aged up every character at Winterfell that they've aged up Gendry as well by the same age difference, so he would be around the same age as Robb and Jon at 17.
Tywin, having found out that he had the bastard son whom his grandson wanted dead and the missing Stark girl in his castle, promptly told them to leave for their new quarters. He did not know what he could have spoken with them about after he had informed the boy of his heritage - thus why he did not speak with them any longer. He had a war to win.
He had decided that since they would escape from a prison cell or find themselves at the hands of his soldiers, both of those options were not favourable to winning this war. Their quarters were directly across from his own, meaning that his own guards would also be watching their quarters at all times - he knew that some of the men would take the movement in an obscene and almost disgusting light; but if he found a man who would say this, he would kill them.
Arya had continued on as the Lannister Lord's cupbearer, her disdain for the predicament almost palpable in the air around her. She had continued to wear the same clothing, do the same jobs, be saturated in the same amount of information - she began to wonder if Tywin actually wanted her to escape. But the fact that he had placed her and Gendry's quarters across from his and kept her in the same role, told her otherwise.
That day there had been a mix up with the sending of information between two houses. She'd being asked to get a book, she had done - Tywin didn't ask her to tell the difference between the two houses, even though she could easily: one house was aligned to the Lannisters and the other to her brother. He yelled the name of her house, causing her to almost spill the flagon of water which she held. Tywin joked with her for a moment or two before a guard entered and announced that "Lord Petyr Baelish had arrived."
Tywin asked the men left in the room to leave before turning to her. "Girl, go and get the blacksmith boy and return here." She froze when she saw Baelish enter, her eyes fixed on the man who had supposedly betrayed her father. "Go, girl!" She knew that Baelish's eyes had followed her from the room as she ran to find Gendry. When she saw him working on a sword she almost flung herself to his side, not realising or caring for the fact he was not wearing a shirt. She hoped that Tywin did not plan of forcing her back to King's Landing with Baelish - they would kill Gendry and then hurt her.
"Gendry…" She was panting from running down the halls of the castle. "Lord Tywin…" She hadn't managed to get out her whole sentence, but Gendry understood what she had meant soon enough. He put down his hammer and work, placing the sword into the water and hearing the hiss before turning to find his clothing.
"Is this to do w' the man whose just rode in?" Gendry asked as he pulled the shirts over his torso. Glancing slightly over his shoulder as he spoke. He turned to face her again, fully clothed and prepared to walk after her.
"Lord Petyr Baelish…" She nodded slowly, and turned to walk much slower back to the meeting room that she had just fled from. Baelish would stay there for as long as they took because Tywin would want him to wait - Tywin probably had many questions of his own to ask the Crown's Master of Coin. "He's on the small council of the King…"
"Lord Tywin's going to hand us in, isn't he?" Gendry followed her at a similar pace behind her, his eyes looking longingly back towards the forge - as he would much prefer to be working there than listening to the politics in that tower.
She didn't reply to him, she wasn't even sure of an answer she could say.
When the two finally arrived to the room, Tywin motioned them to once again sit in the seats they had the few days before. Sat opposite Littlefinger and so he could see the two of them, almost face to face - that was, if the two young adults looked up from the floor they were casting their eyes to. They didn't dare though, their eyes fixed solely on the ground below. But even then it did not take long to see why Tywin had called the girl, at least, before him.
"You have the Stark girl?" He was more shocked than anything to be seeing the girl before him. She was still young but two years had passed since he had last seen the girl, and she had grown; then boy beside her could see that. Baelish was not sure who the boy was, but his eyes - when not fixed on the floor - seemed to be glancing towards Arya for what looked like support every few seconds.
Gendry smiled lightly at her when she looked up at him - and that was when both adults noticed something that could damage Robb Stark's war effort further, for the first real time. Tywin knew of the Frey and Stark agreement from when Robb Stark crossed south at the Twins - it was something that could easily be broken. Something that would be easily broken.
"How did she manage to escape your spies Baelish?" Tywin turned to look at the man beside him, fixing his eyes on the liar before him, rather than the girl who Baelish kept his eyes on. She looked at the boy beside her, eyes wishing that the man before them would disappear the way he came - because he stood there that day, he stood there and watched her father die. And even though Yoren had tried to make sure she had not seen it - there were images that would always stay in her mind, forever.
Baelish did not answer, he just looked at the girl. The man who could lie forever could not explain to the Lord before him how his spies missed her, because he couldn't understand it. Baelish looked at the girl and could see everything they could have missed, but he did not have an answer for the Lannister Lord because here the girl sat before him. "You cannot tell me, can you Baelish?" Tywin glanced down the table to look at the girl and boy - "But I bet he can."
"Yorren cut her hair short, mi'lord." Gendry looked up to answer Lord Tywin, knowing that he would see him answer even if he did not want to. "Dressed her so she looked like a boy and planned to take us to the Wall." Gendry remember the moment they first met, when he'd defended her from Lommy and Hot Pie. When he saw her as a boy before he finally realised the fact she was a girl.
"They disguised her as a boy, how could your spies not think of that simple fact?" Tywin stayed sat, he had wasted most of his earlier anger on the man-of-arms who had made a mistake with the information, but his menace stayed the same as he spoke.
"They were too concentrated in King's Landing, my lord." Baelish finally admitted after moments of time had passed. He glanced towards his empty goblet for a few moments before he heard Lord Tywin speak again.
"Now finally you admit it." He stated looking directly at Baelish, his eyes fixed annoyed on the man who seemed to not understand the trouble he would be finding himself in if anyone was to find out before their return to King's Landing. He then abruptly turned to Arya. "Arya, some wine for Lord Baelish and your friend."
"Mi'lord?" Gendry seemed hesitant by the Lord's request, it was unexpected - unneeded - and Gendry had no idea how to take it. He'd never being asked by a Lord to have wine - he'd never really drank wine before, he'd only really ever drank ales when it came to alcohols and water the rest of the time. "Are you sure? Shouldn't I return to…" Gendry felt himself rise to his feet.
"No boy, the forge can wait." Tywin snapped slightly at the boy, his eyes fixed on the boy with a slight glare telling the half-standing boy to sit down. He did. "My men have enough swords for today." Gendry nodded, sitting back uncomfortably in his chair and glancing towards where Arya was walking
"Now Lord Baelish, let's see if you can redeem yourself." Tywin turned back to Baelish, before glancing at Gendry again - raising his eyebrows at Baelish pointy, daring him to look closely at Gendry.
Seconds seemed to pass like hours as Baelish scanned Gendry's face, realisation slowly dawning in his eyes as he realised who the boy was. "Robert's basterd…" His voice seemed almost a murmur. "I was sure that they were all killed…" His voice had raised slightly, he was turning back to Tywin with a grin on his face when he heard the girl's voice raise.
"You will not hurt him!" She piped up angrily. Her eyes glaring towards the King's Master of Coin, anger seeming to brew in her eyes as she placed the jug down on the table heavily, causing a small amount of it to spill over the lip as she did so.
"Arry…" Gendry hushed her, turning from his seat to see her. He found himself not looking up at her alone but also Tywin, who he had not heard stand, who was stood beside her. "I'll be fine."
"Go back to King's Landing, inform my grandson of what you know." Tywin said, allowing Baelish to stand through his hisses. He did not like Baelish, but he was a great asset to his family. So he tolerated him for those sakes. "We will join you soon enough."
Tywin then sat as Baelish left, draining his wine and sitting in silence for a few moments. "Boy, you can return to work." He stated, not looking towards the boy behind where he had seated himself by the fire. Gendry stood, looking at Arya questioning at how the Lannister Lord was acting. She motioned at him to move, to say or do something before Tywin realised that he had only stood. He moved slowly towards the door before stopping.
"What do you intend for me, milord." Gendry turned back to face the fire, his eyes meeting with Tywin's as the Lord looked up. "As Lord Baelish said… the others are all dead…" He seemed to almost whisper the words, causing Arya to stop whatever she had started doing at stare sympathetically at him. She could protect him, she knew that - and he knew that.
"I will not kill you boy." He seemed to laugh at the boys look of sadness and how the idea seemed preposterous to him. There were plenty of other ways to use a royal bastard when they were so skilled. "You're too skilled with a hammer for that to be a good idea in this war." He justified what he said to the boy, knowing that he didn't have to. He actually didn't have to do anything to help this boy, but if the stories about his disgraceful children were true - he could use this boy to change the new crown. "No, I have other plans." He glanced towards the girl, nodding to her to bring the wine. Those other plans would change this war, that was true enough.
"Thank you mi'lord, mi'lady." Gendry then left hesitantly, still not sure what Tywin had meant but took that as his cue to leave - he did have a sword to finish after all.
A flame's lifetime passed in silence from the other occupants of the room, the sound of crackling filling the pregnant silence that stood in the growing shadows of the room. It was Arya who broke the silence "You haven't told my brother about me yet."
"I don't intend to, girl." He turned in his chair to see her, ignoring the chill that was collapsing in the air from the dying fire embers. He motioned for her to sit by the fire with him - she was not ever needed elsewhere and Tywin knew he would have to tackle this conversation at some point, then was a good a time as any. "He believes that you are at King's Landing, to tell him would make him attack here."
"What do you intend for me, my lord?" She repeated Gendry's question, sitting down where the Lannister had motioned for her to. She could feel the warm embers of the fire warming her skin - it felt almost foreign to her, for she hadn't felt truly warm since she sat with Yorren - what felt like lifetimes ago.
"You'll marry the boy, I'll legitimise him if needs be - but he will renounce all claim to the throne if I do so." Tywin said it blatantly to her - if he had to do this for his own children then she would have to ordeal the same. At least she knew the boy, at least they cared for each other in friendship, at least he was not forcing her into marriage with one of the many Frey children or grand-children. "If he doesn't, there are other blacksmiths and other lordlings." He hoped his threat round true to the girl - but it was a threat that came from dead meanings. The boy did not want to be king - at least that was how Tywin saw it.
"Why?" Arya asked, staring up at him confused and what seemed to be almost hurt.
"Because your brother had an alliance with Walder Frey which involves your hand, it would break that deal." Of course Tywin had known about this deal, nothing could happen in this war without a Lannister or Stark man overhearing. He half expected Robb Stark to already know about Arya's location in his camp - but he was not so sure. "Now girl, go get some wood for the fire… Stop by the forge if you must…" He glanced towards the fire after he spoke, he knew she was like Cersei, only stronger in her wills and, according to one of his men, sword fighting skill. She reminded him of Lyanna, Robert's original betrothed. He had not disliked her, she seemed a nice girl in the times they had met, he disliked how because of her his daughter's marriage was not happy. Once Arya had left the room, Tywin stood and collected his flagon of wine and poured himself another goblet. He knew she may be a while - it was a good thing that the flagon was only full to around a third of its capacity.
"Arya…" Gendry was shocked to be seeing her again that day - there were very few times Lord Tywin had allowed her to leave this often and not all of those times she allowed herself to see him. "What are you doing here?
"Lord Tywin plans for us to marry." She blurted out, saying her purpose so blatantly that Gendry almost dropped the scolding metal he had worked onto his feet. He stumbled, eyes wide, into dropping the heated metal, that he had shaped, into the water.
"What?" His voice raised slightly, causing some of the surrounding men to turn and look towards them. Eyes narrowed towards the young girl and boy. They waited for the surrounding men to return to their work before Gendry grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the edge of the empty stone corridor which led through the grounds. "What's going on, Arya?"
"He plans for us to get married, stupid." She hissed out to him, watching him glance around the lengthening shadows. He knew someone would overhear, he wasn't as stupid as Arya had called him up on often.
"Hey! It's not my fault I didn't hear you right." Gendry said, dodging the fact he had honestly disbelieved the idea to start with. Even with Arya repeating it, he felt confused. "Why?" He glanced away from her to look at the three men who had just passed, both seeming to sneer at the two of them.
"He plans to break an agreement between my brother and the Freys… through marrying the two of us." Arya said, keeping her voice low as her eyes followed the path of Gendry's. She wished that there was a way to never be over heard, but even their room was guarded at all times - because she did not want the men to find out about who she was. Because, for some reason that she could not understand, Lord Tywin was guarded about who she was - even to his war council
"How would that break an agreement?" Gendry's words broke her trail of thought, her eyes darting back to his face as she mulled over the same question.
"Probably was a marriage agreement, or something…" She murmured out her answer, unsure. Sure, she had known of the marriage agreements between families, she'd seen it with Sansa, but in war she assumed it would be different. This was the first time Gendry had seen Arya not be sure of what she was saying. She seemed unsure if Robb would have agreed to something as hurtful to her as marriage seemed to be.
Long moments passed before Arya spoke again. "I don't want to do it."
He nodded, prepared to allow her into his arms for comfort. She accepted a small hug before stepping back into the silence once again; she had not planned to accept the embrace - she hadn't needed it or particularly wanted it, but she accepted it anyway. Gendry broke the silence with a question of his own. "Can he even do this? It's not like he's your family or mine." He was trying to understand the facts behind it all, he had never thought of marriage in such away since he never thought he would be going through a process as complicated.
"Since he's a lord and he can say we are his wards." Arya explained to Gendry, not doubting that Tywin would say that if anyone argued with what he was planning. She just hoped he did not plan to trap them in King's Landing. "It's not like I can say no." She said in a hushed tone, hoping that Gendry wouldn't hear.
"Arya… Why?" Arya looked up at Gendry as he spoke. He had overheard her murmurings for they were only steps apart. The crackle of the torches drawing out very few of their words, although they may have covered most of their conversation from the men of the camp they did not cover the words from each of the participants.
"Because he'll kill you, stupid!" She almost yelled, her voice raising over the crackling of the torches and echoing down the corridor. She glanced around the corridor to check if anyone else had overheard. She couldn't see anyone, but as she glanced around she saw Lord Petyr Baelish pass the end of the corridor and head towards the main structure of Harrenhall. "Why is Baelish still here? I thought he left a long while ago."
"He's probably staying the night, like most Lords do." Gendry led her from the corridor and back to the forge, noticing that their conversation had mostly completed it's course. He thought it was best for him to return to work, since he needed to if he wished to survive in the encampment. It was not Tywin Lannister he worried about, but any of the other men - he didn't have to worry about Lord Lannister, for the man actually cared for him.
"Hopefully he's only staying the night…" Arya noted as she followed Gendry to the forge. She glanced over the surrounding swords, wishing to hold one again. Wishing to practise fighting again. Maybe she could see if Lord Tywin would let her. She wasn't sure why she wanted to ask him, maybe because out of all of the Lannisters he seemed to show some kindness towards her, maybe because he seemed to care, maybe because he wasn't there that day.
"Don't you have work to do?" Gendry asked when she did not move from the forge. His eyes fixed on the sword he was working on but not on the girl before him - but it was obvious she was still there to him.
"Lord Tywin will call for me if he needs anything, stupid." Gendry knew Arya was lying - he knew that Tywin had probably sent her down for a reason. But he also knew he had sent her down to talk with him, for she wouldn't have taken so long with their conversation if it was otherwise.
"Sit there then, some of us actually have to work." He motioned to an area near the forge, it was a table, slightly lower than the work space but it allowed for her to sit. He was actually meant to use it to place armour down to cool - but he was often asked to repair swords over armour so the area had very little use. He was paying too much attention to his work when Rorge walked in, he hadn't seen him until he heard the man snarl.
"Why if it isn't the little girl?" Arya had jumped down from where she had perched, her eyes staring widely at the man as she backed towards Gendry. "Where's your stick girl, I promised to fuck you with it." The man snarled out bitterly, following Arya further into the forge - not seeming to notice the boy working at the fire.
"You will not get anywhere near her." Gendry turned to him, pulling Arya behind him. She glanced towards the pile of swords at the edge of his workspace - all of them having excellent balance and weight, she'd seen Gendry work on them before. They were good swords, good for hurting stupid men.
"How do you plan on doing that, dead boy?" Rorge seemed to laugh out his question. Gendry then promptly lifted the sword from the embers of the fire, raising the heated metal towards the man.
He never swung it, he didn't get chance. Before he could even move to, Ser Kevan Lannister entered the forge, stopping the boy's words that were bubbling in his mind - causing them to cool blankly and disappear. "By following my orders." He said, his eyes baring into the man. "Boy, help her with her chores and take her up to Lord Tywin's war room - I will deal with this man." He spoke to Gendry but kept his eyes on the man before him, narrow and biting like the edge of his sword. Gendry didn't know quite what to do, glancing behind at Arya who was stood slightly behind his left side. When he didn't move, Ser Kevan glanced towards him once. "Boy, Go."
He dropped the sword in the water and walked out of the forge, expecting Arya to follow him. She hadn't straight away, she was saying something to Rorge. "Arya, come on." Gendry yelled out to her, looking towards her with uncertainty and confusion.
Baelish had planned to stay the night at Harrenhall, with or without Lord Lannister's consent. That was why in the cusp of the night, beside a torch of the castle was he watching the shadowed faces of Robert's bastard and the Stark girl collecting wood. I was then when a figure approached him, hooded but he was the man that Baelish had wanted to speak to. "What are his plans for the girl?" Lord Petyr Baelish had very little need for pleasantries that day, so his questions were abrupt and blatant - to the point.
"His plans? He never speaks of them. In case you haven't noticed we're fighting a war Lord Baelish." The man scoffed slightly at the Lord, rolling his eyes at the fact that this was Lord Baelish's first and only question.
"I pay you for information, not for stating the obvious."
"I'm not completely sure, but from what I can tell - it involves the boy and the Stark agreement with the Frey. At least that's all I've overheard." The man said, accepting the coinage that he was then given for his words.
"That's enough for now." Yes, that was enough for Baelish to mull on. Yes, that told him enough for him to report back to Cersei and the others in King's Landing without threatening his position - not that it ever had threatened his position. Not ever. Not after he had help orchestrate the death of the girl's father.
Baelish watched the interaction between the two hidden wards of Lord Tywin, noticing that Arya was still as wild as she was when she apparently chased cats and fought the water dance in King's Landing. He watched the boy seem to protect her, but laugh at her through their conversation. What ever had happened on the King's Road had meant that these two cared for each other, perhaps that would be good for them - but he didn't work in what was good for them, he worked in what was good for the realm and, most importantly, himself.
He looked forward to the Lannister Lord's return to King's Landing.
A/N: Also, here's a thing: the scene where I wrote Gendry back into the chapter, I was writing it in my English class and I was really tired. So I must have rewrote the same paragraph four times - all saying 'Gendry was surprised to be written back into the chapter so soon after I had written him out'. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.