A/N. Hi, hello, welcome to the latest chapter. Okay nothing felt right with this chapter, not a single thing. Anyway, for those wondering - Arya will be back to full strength in about two chapters for reasons that shall be explained next chapter.
Sorry if anyone seems out of character this chapter.
Enjoy!
Her eyes showed her a place in the castle she had never known. Elegant and yet out-of-place, like how she was stood in the centre of the room. She was not at her height, but more and the height of herself on her hands and knees. Her head moved from side to side in low swings and she could see herself in the low reflection of the water below. A wolf's features and golden eyes staring back at her with almost giant-like qualities.
She smiled in her sleep as her dream pulled her away from being the wolf to being beside the wolf. Her hands knotting into the grey and white of the creature and wrapping the creature into a strong embrace. The creature made a noise of joy and happiness as it licked her cheek in glee. Slowly it then turned and padded away, the room not fading as the wolf phased from the room.
She stayed on her knees, lingering in the grey breeches and padded shirt she wore. Her hair long and tied back with a leather string. She stayed on her knees until she heard the clatter of leather on stone behind her and a soft chuckle she knew well filling the air.
"Arya." A thickly accented voice of the north met her ears with a glee that caused tears to well at the young girl's eyes. It was a voice she had thought she had forgotten in the time that had passed. A voice is what many forget in time that passes.
"Father." She smiled up at her father as she jumped to her feet, the small smile widening as she embraced the man before her. Tears fell freely from the girl's eyes - something that never happened as she was strong like stone, like her father. This version of her father smiled down at her, a grin visiting his lips as he wrapped his arms around his young daughter.
"You've grown." He said with an air of pain that he had missed her growth - that he would miss her marriage and her life. Arya rested her cheek against her father's leather jerkin and allowed the embossed pattern of her family sigil to press against her cheek.
"I hadn't noticed..." She murmured as her father kneeled down before her. Where he once was still taller than her now his was shorter - she had grown.
"Gendry is a good boy." Her father said, his grey eyes looking straight into hers with honesty. A smile still glistening over his stone features. "Let him look after you." He said before standing slowly and embracing her once more. She never wanted to let go, she wanted to pull him from this room and take him outside. She wanted to pull him from the room and take him to her mother and her brother. She wanted him to see what her brother was doing for him and be proud. But the room had no windows, no doors and no way out without someone or something allowing you to leave.
"Now come on, little Lady." The man beside her father, someone she knew to be Jory - her fathers guard who always cared for her - spoke to her in an almost soothing voice. His hand taking her arm softly and pulling her away from the room. "Your father is a busy man."
"No!" Her voice echoed out into the room as she tried to turn back, the soft grip on her arm slowly becoming harsher as Jory lead her away. "No! Don't take me away from him."
"You've got to go back, little Lady." He said, stopping so that he could softly say the words to the young girl before he began to softly push her towards the wall, with a push that was not harsh but still forceful.
"I don't want to! I want to stay here! There's nothing for me there." She continued to protest as she was slowly pushed through the wall.
Tears fell freely from the open eyes of the Stark girl as she lay on the bed. She weakly raised her arms to wipe the tears from her face, the palm of her hand hitting the short brown locks against the bed.
Her arm rested back down against the red and gold sheets she rested under. Silken sheets that felt harsh against her skin as if they knew her to be unwelcome.
She glanced down the bed, feeling the weight of something at the end of the bed. Not expecting to find that there were two. The first a giant wolf, grey and white with golden eyes - but those eyes were shut as the wolf laid lamely over the bottom of the bed. The second was a bull-headed boy sat half upright, half on the bed beside her body. She smiled slightly before allowing her head to fall back against the pillow in satisfaction.
She soon closed her eyes again, drifting back into the world of dreams. She dreamt of her mother, her brother, Greywind and the war. She dreamt of Gendry, Sansa, wolf pups and a ship to take them far away. She dreamed of dragons, summers, her brother Jon and the wall. But never once did her dreams show her back to the elegant room with the wolf and her father. Never once did she ever get that close.
Lord Tywin was not surprised to find the boy resting next to the girl, he was not surprised that he hadn't moved from her side nor was he surprised to find the girl still asleep.
He closed the open door to their room, not particularly caring if the movement awoke once of the two in the room as they would quickly fall back to sleep - it was quite obvious from how they were resting. He continued up the stairs to a singular room with a table and many seats - not large enough to be a council chamber but small enough for more private and singular meetings.
He had called Lord Baelish to speak with him after he saw the eunuch recognise the bastard, he would see all three of the non-Lannisters on the small council. He already knew them, but with each of them being seen with them the little 'birds' and spies would not see anything special. "My Lord Hand," Baelish entered the room in sweeping movements, long, wide arms enclosing the area of the doorway as the man smiled with an unbridled alms glee. He bowed slightly and walked with long strides towards the Lannister Lord.
"Lord Baelish." Tywin moved towards the table in the centre of the room, sitting down at the head of the dark wood slab of a table and motioning for the man to sit down with him.
As Baelish sat, he spoke. "You wished to speak with me, my lord." He folded his hands on the table, a goblet of wine placed beside his hands by a new cupbearer - Baelish noted how this one was not at all like the Stark girl, since to begin with this one was male and loyal to the capital - it would seem.
Lord Tywin wasted no time with pleasantries with the man before him. "You and Varys both know the boy, correct?" He asked the sharply featured man, sitting back in his chair. He cupped his hand around the vessel of water, glancing down towards it.
"I would assume Varys knows the boy better than I, since the boy recognised him." Baelish said, mimicking what Tywin did with slightly shaken hands.
Tywin kept a straight face, but his muscles in he cheek twitched slightly as he spoke. "How did you know the boy?" He repeated his question once more before raising his goblet to his lips and sipping the water.
"He used to work at Tobho Mott's shop on the street of silver." Baelish told the Lannister Lord, placing his hand onto the table palm down with care. "Varys secured him the apprenticeship, I visited him to see why."
"You did not mention this before, when you last saw the boy." Lord Tywin said pointedly.
"I thought that they were all dead." Baelish said, rather bluntly with little care for the meanings inferred. For he had actually thought that all of the bastards were dead from the outburst with the baby Barra in his establishment.
Lord Tywin frowned once more at the small council member. "You knew he was not."
"I could not quite believe it." Baelish reasoned with the man, hoping that the simple ideal of this would quench the hand's need for questioning but knowing that it probably wouldn't.
"You told my daughter." Tywin stated, taking an almost lazy looking sip of his wine and holding his gaze. He still showed little emotion, lowering the goblet to the table and placing it down with a small pat.
"She knew when he walked straight in here next to the Stark girl." Baelish stated, pursing his lips slightly before grinning in realisation at what he said. Tywin did not say anything for a few moments, pushing his teeth into the side of his mouth.
After a few long seconds passed, Tywin finally spoke. "He will not affect the course of this war." His words were pushed out, bitter crisping in the air as his hand ran over the edge of the goblet.
"Won't he?" Baelish dared to raise an eyebrow to the Lannister Lord, somehow suddenly feeling comfortable with the situation - because he had realised something, he was not the only one lying. "He looks a Baratheon," "she is undoubtably a Stark, looks nothing like her mother - they will matter to the other sides." The plural of sides caused Lord Tywin's jaw to twitch, they were fighting a war on more than one front and the others were not fighting each other. From his own knowledge of military strategy, it was not a good thing to fight a war on more than one front.
"We have the two of them here, not in their encampment." Tywin stated, glancing towards the doorway so that Lord Baelish realised where he was meaning - for only a few doors down they were sleeping in a state that could be mistaken for peacefully.
"They're dangerous" Baelish stated, taking a sip of the weak wine.
Tywin scoffed to himself as he stood, leaving the goblet on the table and walking towards another smaller table at the edge of the room, stacked high with books and statements from the front lines. Balancing on one of the stacks of books was a thin sword which Tywin lifted slowly. It was an odd sight, seeing the man who had being a solider and leader all of his life hold such a small and thin sword - it almost seemed awkward if it was not for what the object he was holding was. "She is more than him."
"Will she survive?" Baelish asked, as if he was actually interested in the life of the younger Stark Girl.
"It is unlikely."
Sunlight poured into the room, glinting off the old wood and metal which adorned the rather small room. In the centre of the room it poured onto the bed of the young Stark girl, who was slowly awakening to the sound of the courtyard wakening outside.
She cracked her eye open slightly, groaning at the sound that she heard. It was not one which gave her any joy - she much preferred the bitter yells of criminals to the giggles which danced above the airs of the courtyard.
Arya tried to get more rest, as she had being told to do by many Maesters who had given her this elixir and that treatment to make her feel better. Most of them just purged her of any food she had managed to eat and left her feeling worse than before.
She groaned once more at the thought another day like that and pushed her head further into the pillow.
After a few long moments, the weight on her legs moved and raised its head so that it was facing her. "You're awake" Gendry's voice filled her ears as she slowly turned to look towards him.
"Have you moved from this room?" Arya glanced around the room, noticing how Gendry was still wearing the clothing from the throne hall and that faithful day. She frowned slightly, noticing the worn look cast in his eyes.
Gendry frowned at her question, ignoring it as he spoke. "I got you fresh water."
"Thank you." She was too tired to question his failure to answer her question. She just simply smiled out her response.
Gendry got up from his seat, pressing the cricks out of his back before walking towards the side table and pouring her a goblet full of water. As he walked back and passed her the goblet, he posed her his question. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better, surprisingly." She gladly took the water, sipping it down with haste before placing the empty goblet beside her on the table. After a few moments of getting comfortable sat up, her skin still hollowed and harsh but she was still sat upright, she finally spoke again."When will I be allowed to leave?"
"How would I know?" Gendry laughed out his own question, sitting back down in his chair beside her bed as he spoke. He took both of her meanings quite quickly, replying to the one that he felt she meant the most. "And probably never, they don't really want us to leave, do they." He did not really phrase what he was saying as a question - he had seen the guards, the armour and the swords that surrounded their doors; he knew they had no choice.
"No they don't." Arya said, glancing down at the sheets which had pooled at her waist. She frowned, folding the top sheet slightly and messing with it between her fingers angrily. "We have to leave." Her voice came out just below a whisper, almost unheard by Gendry.
"Shut up." He hissed between his teeth, growling it out as he glanced worriedly towards the door. "Just…Stop talking about it." All of the anger dissipated from his voice, as if the sight of the closed-door managed to somehow calm him.
"And we what? Live here?" Arya asked him, her voice still low but not whispered. Raised slightly with her anguish at the subject.
"It might not be that bad…" Gendry said hesitantly, glancing down at his hands moments after saying what he had said - not wanting to face the look of shock and anger bubbling on his friends face.
"Stop lying to your self Gendry." He was surprised she hadn't called him stupid, her voice still in a raised whisper as she spoke out her words. In her head she was repeatedly calling him stupid, yelling at him louder, saying more - but she wasn't
"Fine. But what else can we do whilst we are here?" He asked, returning his voice back to a normal sound - deciding that they had spoken in hushed tones that guards would notice for too long.
"I guess we could keep trying to get away." Arya mused before laughing slightly, it wasn't a true laugh - it seemed weak and forced. She glanced towards the doorway, shuddering at the sight of the Lannister garb decorating the
"That will work for now, but when they keep bringing us back?" Gendry asked, his tone quieter again, careful as he heard movement behind the door opposite. He pursed his lips, biting his lower lip slightly with hesitation.
A silence hung in over the room for a few moments, as if something had suddenly stopped all joy that was almost there with an iron grasp. "Why did they do this?" Arya asked, a hushed tone taking over her voice once again as she glanced around the room with panic in her eyes. "Why did they have to kill him?" She asked the air more than Gendry, her eyes filling with tears which she wished that would wash away with out falling.
Gendry leant up from the chair, hesitantly moving closer to her and placing his large hand on her thin shoulder. "I don't know…" He tried to comfort her, moving his hand slowly up and down her arm before stopping. She seemed so brittle to him, so fragile like she would break under too much pressure. He raised his head to look her back in the eyes, speaking a little louder. "I don't know…"
They stayed like that for what felt like a long time. Time seemed to have slowed down, allowing the tears that remained to fall down her cheeks as she allowed him to pull her thin form towards his large chest. Time passed with edging care, trying not to slip through any cracks or reach any problems.
"Tell me about him." Gendry finally broke the spell, moving back slightly from Arya and allowing her to look him in the eye. She seemed to not understand what he was meaning, so he quickly clarified. "Your father."
"He was so brave." Arya heard her voice say the words as she thought back to her father and every time her and her father had spoken before. "And honourable." She smiled meekly, trying to find words to describe the man who had just visited her in her dreams. "He was just my father, he cared a lot about us all." After spending so much time around the people in the servants quarters and Gendry - her once proper voice and speech had lessened over the year and time they had spent together. "And… and I just want him here. He would know what to do." As she spoke, her smile slipped from her lips and fell from her face into a frown."Him and you're dad fought these big wars and… and…"
"I met him once." Gendry broke her worried, obvious words with words of his own. His eyes were fixed on her face as he spoke, watching as her eyes darted to his face with such excitement at his statement."He came to see me in the forge." He explained, understanding her interest slightly - having felt the same interest whenever someone had talked about his mother. "I doubt my father knew, but then I doubt he cared." Gendry frowned slightly,
"I wonder what would have happened if your father had known." Arya said, seeming almost mystified by the idea. The smile lingered on her lips as her eyes betrayed the thoughts that truly sunk in her mind.
"There's a lot of things that could have been different." Gendry glanced away from her face, fixing his eyes on the ground with a bite sinking into his lower lip. "A lot of things that could be different."
Movement from inside the room stopped, the man outside the door noted. He heard their final words and what he wanted to hear. The pointed features of the man scanned the doorway, staring at the plain wood slab before his eyes. He grinned to himself, a familiar grin greeting the thin man's lips. He turned on the balls of his feet, folding his hand over the leather bound book clasped to his chest.
Like most nights in the Red Keep, Bronn and Tyrion sat down in the smaller man's quarters to share a flagon of wine. Red, Dornish and somehow too sweet that evening. It wasn't quite dark yet, like most evenings, when they started to drink. They did not say very much as the evening begins, their eyes fixed on the courtyard opposite through the open window.
They noticed as Gendry walked through the courtyard with two buckets towards a pump of water at the edge of the yard. "The boy, whatever his name is, cares for that girl a lot," Bronn motioned towards where the boy was, noting how he was glancing back towards the door he had come from with a look of uncertainty. He didn't check his back, nor did he look towards the group of young girls in the corner of the courtyard - who were, for some reason, out in the last lights of the day.
"Thank you for stating the obvious Bronn," Tyrion remarked towards his sellsword-turned-ser friend. He sipped his wine, before placing it on the table and continuing his sentence. "next time I need you for that I'll let you know."
Bronn turned to his friend with an almost look of annoyance in his eyes, but honesty took over that. "It'll be what will kill him." He said bluntly, no smile on his lips but honesty through and through.
The smaller in height man was half-way through a drink of his wine when his friend finished speaking. "I'm pretty sure that will be my sister." Tyrion said, raising a finger slightly from his goblet of wine as he made his remark.
"Not if that girl has anything to say about it, you didn't see her in that battle." Bronn laughed sharply, taking another drink of his own wine.
Tyrion was quick to fire back his own words. "Neither did you."
"No but I 'eard about it from the men." Bronn admitted to Tyrion, taking another drink of his wine before continuing. "Who is she? Your Lord Father seems quite invested in 'er."
"She's Sansa Stark's younger sister." Tyrion responded, not really caring very much to be discussing the Stark girl's and why his father was interested in the younger one. Nor was he interested in the Stark girls at all. "Not much younger it seems."
"How old is the girl?" Bronn asked, purely interested in her age and not her. There was something about the ideas of the men that worried him slightly - even with the amount of whores he'd had.
Tyrion took some time to think about the young girl, for he had not really thought much about it himself. He knew she has being on the road with her 'friend' since Eddard Stark died, and a long time had passed since that day had set the war and the events of their lives in motion. "Thirteen, Fourteen? I'm not sure that even she knows."
"What do you mean?" Bronn looked at the shorter man with confusion.
"She probably does not know the year or the day - they have been on the road and in my father's company for a rather long time now." Tyrion explained the subject carefully with what he knew, hoping that it would finally finish the conversation with an explanation, but with his friend's sudden interest in the younger Stark girl - he knew it would have to continue. "Why are you interested?"
"I'm wondering why your father's interested." Bronn stated and Tyrion believed his explanation, regretting the ideas that had sprouted in his mind about his friend.
"He probably sees a way to win this war." Tyrion replied briskly, the words turning the wine in his mouth sour as he drank another sip. He stared down at the blood red wine with a bitterness towards what he had said - wishing that they were not true. That the reason he had uttered was not the only logical reason for
They sat in silence for a few long moments, both taking long drinks of their wine as they thought over what they had discussed. Bronn then spoke up, his tone turned dark and truthful rather than the almost curiosity which had passed before. "She'll kill us all if she ever gets up."
"How would you know?" Tyrion asked, knowing that the man was speaking the truth but finding little belief in his words.
Bronn scoffed out a laugh and took another drink before replying. "Would you want to go up against her?" He asked, continuing to laugh lightly as he asked his question.
"She's just a girl." Tyrion said bitterly, glancing towards where his father's tower stood. He was hoping that with that the conversation would finally be over, but he soon found that nothing was ever what he wished.
"Soon enough she won't be anymore." Bronn scoffed again, ignoring the distasteful look that cast over the face of his friend.
"We are not talking about this." Tyrion cut in, his jaw twitching with slight disgust. He was not wanting to speak about the Stark girl's future because he knew full well what would take place. He also did not want to entertain the idea for much longer, since it was down to his father that these things would be taking place.
"What? Are you too honourable to talk about what the Stark girl will become in less than a few years" Bronn laughed, taking another drink of his wine and continuing to chuckle over the smaller man's reply.
"No, I just don't want to talk about it." Tyrion said bluntly, hoping that Bronn would cease his pressing into this girl's life with this. He had other things to think about, other ideas to question.
Bronn did stop, but only for a few moments. "Men marry younger than her." He said pointedly towards the man - taking another sip of his wine after he finished speaking.
"Men like that don't care about their dignity." The bitter words were beginning to seem like the only thing he would remember from this conversation, as if he would have the bitter taste of these words in his mouth for days to come.
Bronn laughed slightly. "You do?"
"More than the men who marry little girls." Tyrion protested, taking a sip of his wine to sweeten the words in his mouth before placing the goblet down on the table and refilling it, ignoring the small drops that fell onto wood.
"The boy will be Prince of the North." Bronn noted, his idea seeming quite valid in his head.
"Prince Consort." Tyrion corrected, picking up his goblet once more before continuing briskly. "He's not royal so he can't be a prince." He took a long sip of his wine before motioning to the Pod to bring more wine.
"But he's got royal blood in 'im" Bronn looked over at the smaller man with confusion, raising his eyebrow slightly at the problems of the subject. As if the court life would never make sense to him.
"He's not legitimate." Tyrion explained, leaning over his goblet and taking in the reflection of his still marred face. He was glad the wound had was not that deep from an enemy knight. "So he's not royal."
"But say if I became a Lord and married one of the Stark girls, what would I be then?" Bronn asked, honestly interested in this subject.
"I guess you would be a Prince, it's not something I've ever really thought to read about." Tyrion answered honestly, taking a sip of the wine he had stared down at, savouring the taste before grimacing and turning back to the taller man. "Don't we have more interesting topics to talk about."
"I'm learning." Bronn said smugly, knowing full well how Tyrion was annoyed by the subject but continuing to press on anyway - mostly for amusement more than anything.
"Have you heard Baelish has a new whore?" Tyrion soon posed another topic to his friend, knowing it was something he had heard from one of the girls he had seen leaving the Keep.
"Fucked her already." Bronn's smug grin continued as he felt a need to brag at his accomplishment.
"Already?" Tyrion raised an eyebrow towards the sellsword who seemed to have moved on from the conversation about the stark-girl. Something that Tyrion was very glad to be over with.
"Yes already," Bronn continued to smile, taking a long, pondering sip of his wine before continuing his now meaningless conversation with Tyrion. Neither of them remarking back to Arya Stark or the bastard boy she kept so near, nor the fact that the duo were publicly known to be sleeping in the Tower of the Hand. No, neither of them thought of those facts again that evening.
The tent of the war council was often guarded by Karstark and Bolton men, but since the latest Northern victories - this number had only increased.
But when Robb came to visit his mother that day - he requested that they leave. He needed to speak alone with his mother. So he had left his men to discuss what little was left to discuss whilst he sat with his mother.
Half-way into a conversation about home, two Karstark men brought a young boy to the opening of the tent. "This boy has something he wishes to tell you, your grace." The boy was young, possibly a little older than Arya and three times her size besides. He was afraid, and rightly so - neither Catelyn nor Robb knew what had happened to the boy before he stepped through the door.
"Go on boy…" King Robb looked at the boy who seemed to be trembling on his words. "Speak." He repeated his words, narrowing his eyes with confusion at the young boy who was looking, wet eyed and dazed at the two Starks.
"Lord Tywin has taken Arry... I mean Arya back to the Capital, your grace" The boy spat out, glancing quickly back down to the ground in case of offending the two before him - the royalty he never expected to see with his own eyes.
Catelyn insisted at the young boy, sure of what Petyr had told her only months before. She was sure that Arya was safe, but she assumed she could not have been wrong. "She had, my lady, she'd gotten to Harrenhal with me and a few others before Lord Tywin recognised who Arry was."
"Harrenhal? But that means that she was-" Lady Stark stopped whatever thought was in her mind before she spoke it - keeping it silent in her mind and not letting the others in the room know what she was thinking.
"Lord Tywin recognised her?" Robb asked, staring down at the young boy from across the area between them, the empty wooden void which filled the air between
"She hung around with Gendry and then he sent one of the knights to collect her and that was the last I saw of the two of them. Well before they came to say good bye." The young boy before them explained, his eyes still staring down at the ground before him
Robb and Catelyn both looked confused at the boy, not saying anything for a few moments before Catelyn asked the boy: "Who is this Gendry?"
"He was a blacksmith," the boy said, feeling his eyes prick with instilled sadness from before, from when they left before. "and my friend."
"But that means Arya's alive." Robb smiled to his mother, ensuring that she saw his smile of almost joy and relief. Relief that was quickly washed away with realisation
"And would explain why they never mentioned her…" Catelyn stated, understanding finally.
"Thank you boy." Robb smiled towards the boy, turning to his mother and away from the boy. He allowed his feet to push into the stone heavily, working against the stone and smiling lightly towards his mother. "You may leave us now…" Catelyn's eyes scanned the room with slight worry casting over her face.
"Arya will be okay…your grace" The boy stepped forward slightly, noticing the slight worry that cast over the woman's face before her. She turned at the words, smiling slightly towards him "her and Gendry will manage."
"What's your name boy?" Catelyn asked him, hoping he would look her in the eyes as she realised he really did understand - and he was telling the truth.
"M'names Hot Pie, your grace." Hot Pie smiled, finally looking up to see the two before him in the eyes - something he was avoiding doing out of respect. "Arya was my friend and she'd mentioned her brothers to me, it's an honor to meet you."
Arya and Gendry had being sat in a comfortable silence since they had realised that they no longer had anything to talk about. They had talked about how they thought Hot Pie was, they had talked about how she was feeling and they had talked about King's Landing. They had only really just finished speaking to each other and were sitting in the comfortable silence formed after conversation when Lord Tywin Lannister entered the room. He glanced around with little care, noticing the lightness of the room and the odd smell of fur which hung in the room.
"Leave us, boy." He finally turned to the two children, looking straight into their upturned faces. Both had turned quickly to face him when he entered and were ready to greet him when he cut off their empty greetings. Gendry stood quickly, bowing slightly and leaving the room. A quick glance swooped over his shoulder towards Arya before he left the room, shutting the door behind him.
Lord Tywin stayed stood for a few moments, looking Arya in the eyes. She had pushed herself up so that she was sitting up on the bed, her hands pushed down by her sides to keep her upright. Lord Tywin sat slowly, placing one hand on his arm of the chair and seeming to hide the other. "I have something to give you girl."
"My lord?" Arya looked at the Lannister Lord with more confusion as she'd had moments before. She cocked her head slightly to the side and narrowed her eyes slightly at the lord, as if trying to understand why he was doing it. Her actions more obvious than how they would be normally if she was standing or well.
"I overheard some men mention you used to have a sword." Lord Tywin said nonchalantly, staring the girl almost blankly in the face as he spoke. He didn't seem to really care for what he was saying or what he was meaning.
"No…" Her eyes widened, her voice lessening in the word she spoke. The hollow of her voice dropping slightly with the word she had managed to gasp out.
"Don't lie to me girl." Lord Tywin said bluntly, moving his arm sharply so that he was placing the thin sword onto the bed. He gave little emotion doing so, noticing how the young stark wolf jumped back slight at the sight of silver in the room. "Here, take it."
Slowly she moved leant over the blankets to hold the light blade, a smile reflecting in the light of the shimmer. She held it in her left, appreciating it as if it was a gift from the seven or her own gods. She smiled heartily towards Lord Tywin. "Thank you, my lord."
Lord Tywin felt a small pull at the sides of his lips, something he quickly put a stop to. He briskly left the room with a quick "You're welcome, girl." to allow her time with her sword. He had to speak with the boy on another matter anyway.
Gendry left the room carefully, his eyes scanning the full tables of empty things which faced him. Books he could never read, paper he could never understand how to use, ink that would never give him any worth. Goblets of a liquid he never wanted to drink too much of, food he had never seen before, blunted instruments he'd never really felt a need to use on the road.
He looked at every red silk and golden shimmer, at every old wood desk and every decoration which adorned the walls. Rooms in the past few days he had grown too used to. He needed to get out but he knew of no place to go.
So he soon found himself sat outside of their rooms, he arms resting on his knees and his eyes cast towards the ground. His head hung heavily in the gap created as he contemplated how right his lord had being about the rest he'd not had.
He hadn't noticed the groups of lords and ladies passing him. He hadn't noticed their confused or annoyed glares. He hadn't noticed a younger lady stop with her handmaiden, at least not until the lady spoke up. "What are you doing out here, Gendry?" The auburn haired girl smiled, her hair falling naturally over her shoulders as the boy slowly lifted his head to face her.
"You know my name, my lady?" Gendry asked, quite confused and racking his brain to see if Joffery had mentioned his name in the only time he had left the rooms. But he could not remember.
Sansa Stark laughed lightly at her sister's friend, causing the boy to feel almost stupid in what he had said. But then, to her, it almost made sense for him to be confused - for King's Landing still confused her.
"I'm waiting." Gendry answered her earlier question with a sigh, realising that the girl was only right in what she was saying. More right than he would ever understand.
"Waiting?" Sansa asked, raising her eyebrow at the older boy with a slight glaze of confusion.
"Lord Tywin is visiting your sister." Gendry explained briskly, the words and meaning noted by both Sansa and Shae.
"Ah." Sansa sat down slowly beside the bull, folding her hands in her lap and smiling sweetly at the boy. "Well I'm sure you wouldn't mind me sitting with you?" She continued to smile even after the sweetened words had left her lips.
"I'm not sure-" Gendry spoke as hesitantly as he may have before, carefully finding the words in his mind before being cut off by the Stark girl.
"If you are about to talk to me about the others in the court, I have had worse." She stated in hushed tones, her eyes glancing around the courtyard to see if anyone was there, as if she knew that they would be watched. But she did know that, because she knew that "But it sounded like King Joffery was subjecting you to worse."
"I guess he doesn't enjoy that his grandfather won't force me to leave." Gendry mused to himself. He had not really thought to care if anyone heard, because he hadn't thought that any one would care.
"Lord Tywin brought you here, didn't he?" Shae asked from where she was sat beside Sansa, she was leaning forwards slightly on her knees so that she could see Gendry nod lightly at him. "Why would he make you leave?"
"I don't know." Gendry said softly, hardly above a whisper. A frown sitting on his lips as he knew exactly why, he just didn't want to discuss "Maybe because I'm King Robert's bastard." He frowned at the words as if they offended him in some way.
"L- I was told they all died." The girl said, frowning slightly as if her almost muttered word also offended her. She leaned back slightly as Gendry leaned around his knees so that he was facing the two women more - enclosing them in conversation more.
"They tried to kill me, until he found me - I was dead." Gendry stressed on some of the words, his voice returning to a normal volume as he spoke with them. His storm blue eyes daring to look into the eyes of the others there.
"What do you mean?" Sansa asked, confused at what the older boy than her was meaning. She had no idea what he was meaning, other than he assumed that the 'he' was the Hand of the King. But the whole subject of the conversation had turned to something she had very little ideas about.
"Your sister, she lied to cover it up." Gendry smiled slightly to himself, the smile seeming grim on his lips as the memory of what had happened haunted his eyes. He glanced to the side, swallowing before continuing. "She became 'Nan' and I was never asked my name." He explained to Sansa, hoping that she would somehow understand the almost whimsical nature of it all. "It never mattered." He smiled slightly, turning to face away from the Stark girl slightly so that he was facing the wall.
The door then opened just behind him, causing him to jump from his thoughts and Sansa to also be surprised by the sight of the Lannister Lord looking down at the trio. "Boy." Tywin frowned down at the boy who quickly stood and bowed his head.
"Lord Tywin." Gendry replied courteously. He didn't glance towards where Sansa and her handmaiden sat and watched the exchange, nor did he think to look up fully at the lord in the face.
"Your friend is resting," Tywin told Gendry promptly, keeping the same straight face throughout every word he spoke. "I'm having a Maester come and see you later to begin teaching you lessons." He paused for a moment, causing Gendry to look him in the eyes. Tywin kept very little emotion on his face but saw some sort of confusion or appreciation on the young boy's face. "He will be here later today."
"Thank you, m'lord." Gendry muttered, loud enough so that it sounded clear to the Lord but still hesitant in how it sounded.
"My lord now boy, you are going to need to say it like that from now on." Tywin corrected the boy, watching as confusion glazed over the boy's eyes.
Gendry wasn't really sure how he was supposed to react, he wasn't quite sure what was happening and was still hesitant in his words. "Thank you, Mi- My Lord." He stuttered, almost repeating the saw words that the Lord had corrected him on. The words seemed foreign and odd. A clarity and sound which seemed like it was from another world to the one he had being brought up in.
"Good day, Gendry." Something threatened to pull at the sides of Lord Tywin's lips once more, but the Lannister Lord quickly stopped it and clasped the boy on the shoulder before leaving.
Gendry stayed stood where he was, frozen for a few moments before turning back to face where Sansa and Shae were sat. "Come and visit your sister at some point this week, m'lady." He smiled, not caring for what Lord Tywin had just said about his pronunciation and more for how Sansa could see her sister. "She should be well enough to see you soon."
"Are you sure she would want to, Gendry." Sansa spoke hesitantly, carefully testing the words with hesitation. She was worried her sister still would not want anything to do with her.
"You're her family." Gendry reassured her, a small smile almost gracing his lips as he spoke. "I never really had a family, but if I did - in these times." He paused, something stopping him from speaking as if it was hard to say the words he meant. "I would never want to let them go."
The two sat in silence, Sansa taking in what he had said before Gendry raised himself to his feet, "Good day Lady Sansa." He spoke clearly and smiled towards the Stark girl before walking back into his rooms and towards his own Stark girl.
He did not tell Arya about his conversation with her sister, he just sat down in his seat he had come to occupy often and listen to how she spoke of her sword.
No Maester had to tell him that she would survive this, even if he was not sure how.